Of course Itakura Shigemune knew about Zen Master Ryuki's sect.

Because his duty and mission as the Chief of Staff in Kyoto is to guard Kyoto and monitor the Kyoto royal family and its small court.

The news of the attack and destruction of Kyoto reached Edo, and Itakura Shigemune was extremely ashamed. If Tokugawa Iemitsu had not personally ordered him not to commit suicide, he would have died by caesarean section two days ago.

Before him, Osaka Castle Abe Masaji was not as lucky as him.

When Osaka Town was burned down and the news that Osaka Castle Honmaru was occupied reached Edo, Osaka Castle Representative Abe Shoji asked to see Tokugawa Iemitsu, but was not received, and then committed suicide by caesarean section outside the Edo Castle Honmaru gate.

"You haven't fought a single battle? Itakura Shigemune, if you start a war with the enemy, can you win the first battle?"

Faced with Itakura Shigemune's sad and indignant questions, Tokugawa Iemitsu did not answer him. However, Sakai Tadakatsu, an old minister whom Tokugawa Iemitsu relied on, asked him a question in return.

However, Shigemune Itakura, who was already determined to die, didn't care about the rhetorical question from Tadakatsu Sakai, the elder of the shogunate.

"Victory and defeat are common matters in military affairs. Who dares to say that a battle will be won?"

If in the past, a shogunate daimyo serving outside the shogunate had spoken out against the shogunate Nobushige in front of the shogun, even if what he said was reasonable, it would have been considered an extremely rude act and would have been investigated and punished.

.

But now, Itakura Shigemune obviously didn't care anymore, so as soon as Sakai Tadakatsu finished speaking, he immediately retorted with a cold eyebrow.

Regarding Itakura Shigemune's rebuttal, Sakai Tadakatsu, a veteran shogunate who was already quite old, was not angry at all. On the contrary, Sakai Tadakatsu just said calmly:

"If we cannot win a battle, then we must not fight this battle lightly. Because the consequences of defeat in this battle are not something we can bear."

"If defeated, I am willing to die!"

"The honor and disgrace of your life and death is a small matter, but the rise and fall of the shogunate is a big matter. Itakura Shigemune, as the minister of Kyoto appointed by the emperor, how can you not understand the importance of the big and the big?"

"You——, you——"

Faced with Sakai Tadakatsu's rhetoric and rhetorical questions, Itakura Shigemune didn't know how to reply for a while, so he looked at other important ministers. However, the other important ministers all looked at their noses and hearts, and no one came out to support his proposition.

This scene made Itakura Shigemune feel disheartened and angry at the same time.

Just last night, among Tokugawa Iemitsu's current shogunate ministers, the war faction and the peace faction were almost evenly divided.

Moreover, the main war faction is fierce and has the upper hand, while the peace faction is much weaker. They only dare to secretly express that they should consider the long term, and they do not even dare to stand up and express their attitude of advocating peace.

However, just one night later, the situation changed.

The few shogunate veterans who stood with Itakura Shigemune last night and advocated a bloody battle with the invading enemy were actually speechless at this moment.

"In this way, the Dutch barbarians and the Ming people dared to invade Edo, relying on the sharpness of their giant ships and heavy artillery. In this way, I can temporarily endure today's humiliation and imitate the ancient Yue King Gou Jian, who suffered hardships by lying down and eating daring, and then built ships in five years, and built ships in five years.

Pao, it’s not too late to avenge this shame in ten years!”

"Load the sample!"

Just as the atmosphere in the palace hall was extremely solemn, another important shogunate official, Yagyu Munenomi, who had always been trusted by Tokugawa Iemitsu, suddenly spoke.

Moreover, what Yagyu Munenomi said was more clear than Sakai Tadakatsu, almost bluntly saying that peace should be negotiated.

Muneniki Yagyu, who was now over seventy years old, was the swordsmanship and art of war teacher of Tokugawa Hidetada and Tokugawa Iemitsu for two generations, and he had great trust from Tokugawa Iemitsu.

As soon as his words came out, they immediately served as the final word.

Of course, as soon as Yagyu Munenuki finished speaking, Itakura Shigemune once again shouted with grief and anger towards his master, the shogun Tokugawa Iemitsu.

"Ten years from now?"

In the midst of Itakura Shigemune's cries of grief and indignation, Tokugawa Iemitsu didn't even look at Itakura Shigemune. He just looked at Yagyu Muneniki, who had white hair and beard, and asked softly.

However, Tokugawa Iemitsu's rhetorical question couldn't be more clear about his true attitude at this moment.

Obviously, Tokugawa Iemitsu agreed with most of Yagyu Munenori's statements, but he just felt that the ten-year period was a bit too long.

"Even ten years later, Shangyan will only be forty-seven years old. It is the heyday of the Spring and Autumn Period, and it is the right time for a gentleman to take revenge. And by that time, if Shangyan succeeds in building ships and cannons, the Toyotomi clan will cross the sea and march westward.

The unfinished business will also be completed in the hands of God."

"Yes, that's right. Those who can bend and stretch for the sake of their achievements and endure hardships are the most powerful people. If Han Xin couldn't bear the humiliation at the time, how could he have achieved such unparalleled achievements in the future!"

"Yes, Sir, the most important thing for a man is to be able to bend, stretch, be strong and flexible. In the current situation, the Dutch and Ming allied warships are powerful and powerful, and I cannot match them. Sir, only by enduring a momentary humiliation can we achieve our long-term plans."

!”

…

After Yagyu Munenomi finished his words of comfort to Tokugawa Iemitsu, the situation in the palace's grand room became clear.

Because if Tokugawa Iemitsu didn't have the heart to make peace, he wouldn't have made false remarks to Yagyu Munenomi.

Moreover, if Tokugawa Iemitsu had no intention of making peace, an old fox roly-poly like Yagyu Munenomi, who was good at adapting to the changing circumstances, would certainly not express his attitude easily.

Therefore, as soon as Yagyu Munenomi finished speaking, other important ministers of the shogunate began to agree with him.

In fact, the Tokugawa family's current status depends on their ability to be forbearing enough when they are weak.

You must know that Tokugawa Iemitsu's grandfather, Tokugawa Ieyasu, was the "first ninja of the Warring States Period".

In the face of the strong, he would be humble and petty; in the face of the weak, he would be merciless.

In the end, he not only succeeded in killing Toyotomi Hideyoshi, but also killed all the orphans and widows of the Toyotomi clan, and finally became the one who had the last laugh.

Tokugawa Ieyasu's family history naturally influenced his descendants.

"In this case, let's discuss the conditions for peace! Among the conditions proposed by the Dutch and Ming people, which ones we can accept and which ones we cannot accept, we need to discuss carefully. Because even if we are negotiating for peace, we have to

We have our conditions, we can’t just have the final say!”

"Hai!"

After Tokugawa Iemitsu finally made his attitude clear, the senior officials of the shogunate in the Honmaru Palace Ohiro Room in Edo Inner City almost unanimously obeyed their leaders and gave the order.

Immediately afterwards, Tokugawa Iemitsu handed over the peace negotiations to the leaders of his veterans Sakai Tadakatsu, Yagyu Munenomi and Matsudaira Yinzu who were also present, and he stood up and left with a frustrated face.

Correspondingly, the Kyoto governor Itakura Shigemune, who was bent on war and wanted to wash away his own shame, couldn't bear it. He made peace under such circumstances. He left Edo Inner Castle Honmaru that morning and committed suicide by caesarean section outside the gate of Honmaru.

Already.

However, the death of Itakura Shigemune had no effect. Shogun Tokugawa Iemitsu was determined to negotiate peace, and no one among the senior officials of the shogunate came forward to remonstrate or stop the peace negotiation.

In their view, both Emperor Taicho and Emperor Konjo were in the hands of the Ming and Dutch coalition forces, and Emperor Konjou had agreed to the peace terms of the Ming and Dutch coalition forces, and Emperor Taijo also used the seal of Gomizuoin on it.

As long as the peace terms they negotiated are somewhat better than those agreed by the current Emperor and the Supreme Emperor, things will be settled internally and externally.

Moreover, as soon as the Ming-Dutch coalition forces withdraw, it is another matter whether the terms agreed to by the shogunate will be implemented in the future.

After all, the Dutch East India Company was far away in the southern barbarian land. The distance was more than thousands of miles, so traveling back and forth was not an easy task.

Although Akito's warship fleet was close, once the Dutch fleet's giant ships and cannons were gone, the senior officials of the shogunate did not take Akito seriously.

Three days later, at noon on September 25th, Ryukei Munaki led Tokugawa Iemitsu's peace envoy Sakai Tadakatsu, the elder of the shogunate, Matsudaira Nobutsuna, the elder, and Yagyu Jubei, the son of Yagyu Munenki, in Yu

Following the response, the tide ship arrived at Ape Island, where the main force of the Ming-Dutch coalition fleet was stationed.

Regarding the arrival of the shogunate's peace envoy, both Maximilian Lemaier and Yang Zhen, commander of the Dutch fleet, were very happy.

However, they all had a city and didn't show it very much, but they all breathed a long sigh of relief in their hearts.

Because the war has progressed to this point, whether it is the Jinhai Navy Division under Yang Zhen or the Dutch fleet commanded by Lemaia, the ammunition they carried with the ship has been almost exhausted.

Of course, the largest consumption is the ammunition used for artillery, especially the ammunition for heavy artillery. As for the ammunition used for muskets, there is still a lot of it, at least for Yang Zhen's troops.

However, the reason why the Ming-Dutch Allied Forces were invincible this time was that they mainly relied on heavy artillery. What the Japanese were most afraid of and feared was the ship-borne heavy artillery of the Ming-Dutch Allied Forces.

Therefore, heavy artillery ammunition has bottomed out, which is by no means good news for Le Maia and Yang Zhen.

Therefore, Lemaia and Yang Zhen, as well as the officers and generals under their command who knew the consumption of heavy artillery and ammunition by the coalition forces, all hoped to reach a peace agreement with the Japanese as soon as possible.

In this way, Sakai Tadakatsu, Matsudaira Nobutsuna and Yagyu Munenori's son Yagyu Jubei and their entourage were received politely and warmly by the Ming-Dutch allied generals on Sarushima.

With both parties interested in reaching a peace treaty as soon as possible, the negotiation process between the shogunate envoys, Le Maia and Yang Zhen was full of back and forth with each other, but two days later the final text of Tomorrow's Peace Treaty, the Dutch-Japanese Peace Treaty, was finalized.

In the final text of the Tomorrow Peace Treaty, the Tokugawa shogunate recognized the peace treaty that the Matsuura clan and other southwestern vassals of Kyushu had reached with Yang Zhen. At the same time, it recognized Yang Zhen's occupation of the Goto Islands and Tsushima Islands, and agreed to use them in the next five years.

Within the year, every year before the first day of October, he would go to Yingzhou Island to deliver 200,000 taels of silver, 100,000 stones of rice and 50,000 stones of sulfur to Yang Zhen as war compensation.

There are also three conditions for the shogunate:

The first is that Yang Zhen must lead his troops to withdraw from Edo Bay before the first day of October, promise not to invade the coast of Japan again, and give up his land claim on Kyushu Island.

The second is that Yang Zhen must order the Ming and Korean coalition fleets cruising on the west coast of Iwami to immediately withdraw their troops and give up their demands on Iwami Ginzan;

The third is that Yang Zhen must return the captured Emperor Gomizuoin, Empress Dowager Tokugawa Kazuko and their captured children.

Of course, Yang Zhen agreed to the shogunate's conditions.

Moreover, it was through negotiations with the shogunate envoys that Yang Zhen learned that Lin Qingye, Qiu Guangyi and others had actually led the fleet to the Iwami coast.

Although in the peace treaty, Yang Zhen gave up his demand for Ishimi Yinshan, the peace treaty was a peace treaty, and the future was the future.

Today, Tokugawa Iemitsu and his shogunate ministers have not lost much strength, but they are so forbearing. Unsurprisingly, it may take as long as five years or as short as three years before the shogunate recovers and will definitely regret it.

At that time, I will just make a comeback and carry out the unfinished business to the end.

Of course, because the Tokugawa shogunate was unable to pay the war reparations demanded from the Tokugawa shogunate in one lump sum, in order to reach a peace agreement as soon as possible, Yang Zhen had no choice but to agree to the shogunate's five-year payment period, which would be completed in installments within five years.

It was precisely because of this that Yang Zhen had an excuse not to return the Emperor Gomizuoin and his daughter's heirs for the time being. He only promised to return Tokugawa Iemitsu's sister, Tofukumonin, after the peace treaty was reached and the first batch of compensation was delivered.

Empress Dowager Tokugawa Kazuko.
To be continued...