"Although this treaty is very uncomfortable, it is not unacceptable if you look at it carefully." Maori Motonari coughed twice and explained it to his retainers one by one:
"Let's look at the first one first. The Mori clan gives up their navy. I've said before that we won't be able to rebuild our navy in a few years. Without a navy, we naturally can't protect our ports, so it doesn't matter whether you agree to this one or not. In addition, the Ming Dynasty fleet is willing to provide us with maritime protection, which is actually a stopgap measure."
"Hmm..." The retainers nodded, as if it was really like this. Someone laughed and said, "It would be a great honor to ask the Ming Dynasty people to be our guard dogs!"
"How can you say that about the Celestial Empire?" someone asked hurriedly.
"Oh, sorry, it should be said Respected Watchdog Sir." The man corrected.
"Hahaha!" The retainers burst into laughter. With a few words of comfort behind their backs, they accepted the result of handing over the coastal defense to someone else.
Therefore, whether it is the Joseon Dynasty or the Japanese, there is actually no essential difference. After thousands of years of living around the Celestial Empire, the spirit of "serving the great powers" has long been ingrained in their bones. It's just that the former have been beaten more times and are more docile; the latter, separated by the sea, must be taught a lesson before they can remember who is the big brother and who is the little brother.
"As for the second point, since we are asking them to take care of the coastal defense, it is only natural that they should pay for arrows. It makes no sense not to pay for them to help us fight the war." Maori Motonari then explained:
"As for the third point, the Oki Island has now surrendered to the remnants of the Amago clan and provided assistance to Kanosuke. Even if there is no treaty this time, I will deal with them as soon as I have time."
"The fourth point is to open up the Onsenzu trade. This is a good thing. Otherwise, if we want to purchase overseas materials, we can only go through merchants in Hakata or Sakai City. Those vampires even blackmail our allies, not to mention that they are still hostile to us. Therefore, having a trading port that belongs to us will bring us a hundred benefits and no harm."
After a pause, he continued, "As for the 40 miles around Wenquanjin, it is basically mountainous and not very populated, so it is not a big problem whether to station troops there or not."
"But there is Iwami Silver Mine, my lord!" the retainers reminded.
Onsenzu is actually the outer port of Iwami Ginzan Silver Mine. Its main function is to serve as the export port of silver and the unloading dock for materials needed for mining operations. Naturally, it is not too far from Iwami Ginzan Silver Mine, only less than 20 miles away.
If this rule is implemented, wouldn't the defenders of Iwami Ginzan also have to be withdrawn?
This should be what the Ming Dynasty people were thinking, because Article 5 clearly stated that either they had to pay 5 million taels as war compensation and ransom, or they had to hand over the Iwami Silver Mine!
Although the Mori family owns seven or eight silver mines, including Iwami Silver Mine, Sadō Silver Mine, and Yamabuki Silver Mine, the output of silver mines is limited due to Japan's backward mining and refining technology; the Mori family has been engaged in wars for many years and has incurred huge expenses; and the Ryōkawa system has limited control over its subordinate families, so the Mori family cannot even take out one million ryō, let alone ten million ryō.
Given how well the Ming Dynasty people knew about the Mori family, they must have known that they simply could not come up with so much money, so of course they could only be after the Iwami Silver Mine.
"Iwami Silver Mine produces one million taels of silver per year. After deducting the cost, the annual income is only more than 800,000 taels. It will take twelve years to collect 10 million taels of silver." Maori Motonari laughed at himself and said, "Besides, Kanosuke keeps harassing Iwami. Before his forces are eliminated, the silver mine will not be able to produce normally. It is not completely unacceptable to give it to the Ming Dynasty first."
Although the combined output of the other seven silver mines was less than half of that of Iwami Silver Mine, it was still much better than carrying a heavy debt of 10 million taels.
Moreover, Japan in the Warring States period lagged behind the Ming Dynasty in terms of economy. Their main hard currency was rice. They could pay for all kinds of goods, including weapons, with rice. Therefore, the main indicator for measuring the strength of a daimyo's territory was rice production, which was the so-called "stone production".
For Japanese daimyo, although silver and gold are valuable, they can only be used as gifts for wealthy merchants or diplomacy. They are not as practical as rice or copper coins for ordinary people. Therefore, neither Mori Motonari nor Otomo Sorin regarded the silver mine as something that cannot be separated. It is about the size of a finger...
Although it is painful to have your fingers chopped off, it is not fatal.
And there is one most important point that Mori Moto did not mention. That is, in the eyes of the Warring States daimyo, the treaty is not absolutely unbreakable. As long as the power comparison between oneself and the other party changes, the treaty can be broken at any time as needed.
Let's not talk about anything else, just say that he and Otomo Sorin have signed a contract several times? Each time, it was forced by the situation and they had no choice. When he was free, he tore up the contract with a "swish" sound.
Therefore, he did not think that the contract with the Ming Dynasty could last for more than ten years. When his two sons came back and eliminated the remnants of the Ouchi and Amago families, he could consider taking back the silver mine.
Exchange time for space, exchange reputation for real benefits. This is the wisdom of Zhuge Liang in Japan. Pah!
~~
As a result, Mori Motonari only made one request, asking Zhao Hao to persuade the Otomo army to make way so that his two sons in Moji Castle could lead their men to safely cross the Kanmon Strait. To this end, he was willing to persuade Tachibanayama Castle, which was still resisting, to open the city and surrender, and to let Takahashi Kantanezane and Akizuki Fumitane and others withdraw to Honshu Island.
Seeing how sensible he was, Master Zhao readily rejected his request and stated his basic principle of "not interfering in the fights between vassals."
Upon hearing the news, Lord Mori laughed bitterly. When did I, the great Mori Motonari, become your vassal? However, this young master of the Ming Dynasty is really a master that cannot be deceived. It is too difficult to take advantage of him.
He did not mention it again and accepted all of Zhao Hao's six conditions.
Therefore, the two sides decided to hold a signing ceremony at Akama Pass, which belonged to the Mori family, on the tenth day of the winter month.
Moreover, Master Zhao decided to attend the signing ceremony in person, which made Jin Ke and Gao Wu very worried. After all, they could only dominate the sea, but when they were on land, they could not guarantee their absolute safety.
But Zhao Hao had made up his mind, and no one could persuade him. They could only be extremely alert and do a good job of security just in case.
~~
On the tenth day, the sky was blue and the wind was light, and the Guanmen Strait was unusually calm.
The warships of the Ming Dynasty's Royal Coast Guard Fleet were lined up neatly on the sea outside Chijian Pass. The decks and hulls of each ship were cleaned, with no traces of gun smoke or blood. The yellow-orange cannons shone brightly, with their black muzzles pointing at Chijian Pass not far away.
On this memorable day, all the coast guard officers and soldiers took off their wrinkled training uniforms, put on straight dark blue high-collared police robes, tied cowhide belts with copper buckles, wore long black leather boots, dark blue helmets, and white cotton gloves, and stood neatly on the side of the ship that was close to the shore.
At the exact time of Mao, three earth-shaking cannon shots were fired from the flagship, followed by the cannons of all the warships, which frightened the Mori family members outside the Akama Pass so much that they almost ran away. They didn't know that it was a salute without a warhead, and thought that the Ming Dynasty people were going to execute them with cannons.
After the cannon fire, the exciting sound of military drums rang out. To the sound of drums, teams of tall and straight Marines, carrying their shiny Longqing rifles with bayonets on their shoulders, marched down the docked battleship 101 in neat steps.
The average height of men in the north of the Ming Dynasty was 1.66 meters, and the average height of men in the south was 1.63 meters, which was taller than European men of the same period, not to mention the average height of Japanese men who were less than 1.5 meters.
In order to show off his power today, Master Zhao specially selected tall people to come out. As you can imagine, when these marine police members, who are over 175cm tall and wearing thick-soled police boots, are about 1.8 meters tall, marching in neat steps and marching towards them, you can imagine how great the impact on the Maori family is.
Looking at those neatly dressed, majestic and powerful Ming Dynasty people, the "elite soldiers" of the Mori family, who wore straw hats, hunched backs, and tattered cloth jackets, looked like dwarfs. Mori Motonari's heart sank. He didn't expect that after landing, the gap between the two sides was still as big as heaven and earth!
"It seems that the Celestial Empire is still the Celestial Empire, and the Ming Dynasty has regained its glory of the Han and Tang Dynasties..." Somehow, Maori Motonari still felt a little proud. It was like watching his father's youngest son finally cheer up, and he felt so at ease.
In fact, Maori Gong made a wrong judgment. The Ming Dynasty's official army was not so cruel. In fact, the army of the guards was not as good as his Maori army.
The Coast Guard was built by Young Master Zhao with his money! The money Young Master Zhao used to support one soldier was enough for him to support ten soldiers. If the difference was not big, wouldn't it be a waste of money?
After the Marines disembarked in two columns, they stood opposite each other every five steps on the road leading to Chijian Pass. Once standing still, they looked straight ahead and stood still like pine trees, appearing even taller and more majestic.
After the five hundred Marines had lined up between Chijian Pass and the dock, the drumbeats stopped and "The Qin King's Battle Music" began. Then, accompanied by Zheng Ruozeng, Gao Jie and a group of senior police officers, Master Zhao slowly stepped down from the flagship and walked towards Chijian Pass with a solemn expression.
When he arrived in front of Akama Pass, Mori Motonari quickly led the people to prostrate themselves on the ground and greet him respectfully.
Zhao Hao looked at Maori Motonari who was lying on the ground, with the corners of his mouth slightly raised. This was exactly the effect he wanted.
How can we show them the might of the Ming Dynasty without setting foot on their land and without making them kneel at our feet and sing "Conquer"? How can we leave them with an indelible mark?
The feeling of being a conqueror is really good. Zhao Hao enjoyed it for a moment, then raised his hand slightly and said, "Please stand up, Lord Maori."
After saying that, he went straight up to the city wall of Chijian Pass.
Only then, with the help of his retainers, Mori Motonari followed the energetic young man and struggled to climb up the city wall.
ps. There are only two updates today, as the domestic plot still needs to be considered...