At noon on the second day after Yang Zhen led his army to join Le Maia at Saru Island, that is, at noon on September 21, after the two discussed it, they sent Longxi Zen Master Zongqian with the peace conditions of the coalition forces and the Japanese

The peace treaty that the Kyoto court had signed went to Edo.

In order to deliver the peace conditions of the coalition forces to the shogunate army as early as possible, Yang Zhen asked someone to send a ship to take Ryuuki Zen Master Zongqian directly from Sarushima to the nearest coast on the west side of Edo Bay.

Yang Zhen originally wanted to send Genjiro Rokkaku who had already taken refuge with him, but after thinking about it, he realized that Genjiro Rokkaku was his guide in attacking Kyoto and would be easily killed if he went there, so he gave up.

In the end, only Longxi Zen Master Zongqian, a monk who had a general understanding of the situation in Kyoto, was sent to deliver the message.

Of course, Yang Zhen knew that the position of Longxi Zen Master Zongqian was definitely in favor of Emperor Gosuiweiyin.

But this slight bias is not a big problem.

For Yang Zhen, as long as he can deliver the peace conditions of the coalition forces to Tokugawa Iemitsu intact.

As for other matters, such as whether Longxi Zongqian would disclose the strength and whereabouts of Yang Zhen and others to the shogunate, Yang Zhen was not worried.

Longxi Zongqian generally understood the situation in Kyoto, but he did not fully understand it.

For example, he did not know the details of the death of the First Emperor, and he did not even know that the First Emperor had died.

Because when Yang Zhen led his troops to evacuate Kyoto, return to Osaka, and come all the way from Osaka to join Le Maia and others, he was not imprisoned on a boat with the royal family members.

Instead, he was locked up with hundreds of ministers and nobles from the small imperial court in Kyoto.

Therefore, Longxi Zongqian knew nothing about Tokugawa Kazuko's situation after she was asked to come back by Yang Zhen.

In this way, he knew what he should know, and he happened to not know what he shouldn't know, and it would not further intensify the hostility between each other after going to Edo.

However, it is said that at noon on September 21, Yang Zhen sent someone to send Zen master Longxi Zongqian to the coast near Yokohama Port in later generations. Longxi Zongqian went north along the coast with the peace terms of the coalition and the Kyoto peace treaty in mind.

In the afternoon of the same day, he was captured by the shogunate troops patrolling along the coast, and was quickly taken to Edo Castle, where there were heavy troops stationed on the inside and outside.

On the morning of September 22, Shogun Tokugawa Iemitsu led a group of shogunate elders, senior and middle-ranking ministers, and some of the trusted leaders who rescued Edo. They summoned the people who were sent to Edo in the Honmaru Palace of Edo Castle.

Longxi Zen Master Zongqian in Hucheng.

It was not the first time that Ryuuki Soken came to Edo, but it was the first time that he entered the Ohiro Room of the Imperial Palace where Tokugawa Iemitsu usually summoned important ministers in the inner city of Edo to pay homage to the actual ruler of the Japanese people.

Therefore, he acted extra cautiously. After being led into the palace hall where Tokugawa Iemitsu was, he knelt down on the wooden floor covered with a layer of rush mat and did not dare to raise his head.

Just after being sent to Edo Castle last night, the peace conditions and the Kyoto peace treaty brought by Zong Qian had been taken away.

So Zongqian was very sure that Tokugawa Iemitsu and other senior officials of the shogunate present were already aware of his purpose.

Next, it depends on whether Tokugawa Iemitsu and his ministers have the intention to cease the war and make peace.

If the shogunate had this intention, then he, the middleman, would be safe, because he would have to travel back and forth to send messages.

If the shogunate does not have the intention to cease the war and make peace, then he, the middleman, will be in danger and may be killed in the next moment.

"Are you Zong Qian, the Zen master next to the emperor in Houshuiweiyuan?"

"Reporting the sample, the young monk is Zong Qian."

"Then, where is the Emperor of Houshuiweiyuan now?"

"The Emperor is on board the Ming-Dutch coalition ship."

"Where is Emperor Ichinomiya Oikoko today?"

"Jin Shang should also be on the big ship of the Ming and Dutch coalition forces. However, Jin Shang has been controlled by the Dutch. Since the chaos in Kyoto, I have never seen Jin Shang again."

After Ryuuki Soune sneaked into the grand room of Shogun Tokugawa Iemitsu's palace, what he feared did not happen.

Tokugawa Iemitsu did not get angry or angry at him, but stared at him quite calmly for a while, then asked him several questions in succession.

As soon as Longxi Soqian heard Tokugawa Iemitsu's question, he immediately breathed a sigh of relief.

Knowing that he was safe, he naturally let go of his worries and dared to take advantage of the opportunity to give a correct answer and peek at Tokugawa Iemitsu in the distance.

Thirty-seven-year-old Tokugawa Iemitsu is taller and burlier than the average person. He has a square face under his tasseled crown. His large black robe is embroidered with a white trefoil pattern. He looks calm and intimidating.

, looks dignified.

"Where is Dongfumen Temple?"

"Dongfumenyuan is also on board the ship of the Ming and Dutch coalition forces, and is now under the control of the Dutch together with the present."

"Um."

Tokugawa Iemitsu sat there on the ground like a dragon, staring at Ryuuki Sokin. After asking about the whereabouts of Tofukumon-in, he just hummed, and then looked at the others thoughtfully.

The question Tokugawa Iemitsu asked was certainly not a casual one.

In addition to confirming Zong Qian's identity in person, several other questions asked about the whereabouts of the most important people at present.

Among them, Emperor Masahito of Gomizuoin, needless to say, as long as he is not dead, he will always be the controller behind the small imperial court in Kyoto.

As the most powerful person in the Tokugawa shogunate and the actual ruler of the Wonu Kingdom, Tokugawa Iemitsu was naturally very concerned about the whereabouts of Emperor Masahito of Gomizuoin after the destruction of Kyoto.

As for the remaining two people, the female Emperor Ichinomiya Koiko is Tokugawa Iemitsu's niece. Although this niece has some aspirations for the royal family, she is after all the first emperor to have the blood of the Tokugawa family.

The so-called Higashi Fukumonin was none other than Tokugawa Kazuko, the biological sister of Tokugawa Iemitsu's mother, who was naturally a person he was more concerned about.

In fact, various news that Osaka and Kyoto were attacked and burned by the Ming-Dutch Allied Forces Squadron have been urgently reported to Edo City in the past few days.

And it wasn’t just Osaka, the news from the direction of Kyoto reached Edo. Urgent news was also sent from the direction of Iwami Province, which was further away from Edo but of greater significance to Edo, Mori Ginzan.

Iwami Ginzan, who was appointed by the shogunate, sent people to report to Edo Castle that since September, a large number of fleets of Ming and Chodo coalition forces had appeared near the western coast of Iwami Kingdom.

The allied forces of the Ming Dynasty and the Joseon Dynasty that invaded the coast of Iwami Province had hundreds of large and small ships, and they were equipped with cannons. The Japanese ships along the coast of Nagato, Iwami, and Izumo were no match at all, and they were almost wiped out.

Although the allied forces of Akito and Chori have not landed on the Iwami coast yet, anyone who takes a look will know what their goal is.

For this reason, Ishimi Omori Ginzan had no choice but to send people to the shogunate for help.

When these news were sent to Edo one after another, Tokugawa Iemitsu and his shogunate ministers gradually became a little uneasy and fearful from the shock and anger of the previous days.

Osaka fell and Kyoto fell. Due to the sudden incident, the shogunate army had no time to send rescuers.

At the same time, the shogun Tokugawa Iemitsu and his ministers all knew which of Osaka and Kyoto was more important than Edo Castle.

But Iwami Yinshan is different.

Although the shogunate took Iwami Ginzan's status into consideration when recruiting the daimyo armies of each domain to come for reinforcements, and did not recruit any of Iwami Ginzan's soldiers, Iwami Ginzan was an important financial source for the shogunate and related to the foundation of the shogunate.

It's too important to make any mistakes.

However, the Omori area where Iwami Ginzan is located is not close to Edo, so it takes a lot of time to get there.

At the same time, if the shogunate sends too few troops to support them, it will be ineffective. It is better not to send them at all. But if we send too many troops, what will happen to Edo Castle?

As the saying goes, care leads to chaos. When the shogunate didn't know how many back-ups the Ming-Dutch coalition forces had, the shogunate elders who were originally excited and had high morale soon became divided. Many people began to worry about defeating the Ming-Dutch coalition forces.

Feeling pessimistic.

So last night, when the peace conditions of the Ming-Dutch Allied Forces, that is, the armistice and peace terms, as well as the Kyoto Peace Treaty signed by the Kyoto Court and the Ming-Dutch Allied Forces were presented to them, they also rarely remained "calm"

.

At least Tokugawa Iemitsu himself and several of his close advisors were no longer as furious as they were when they first received the news of the attack on Nagasaki and the armistice conditions sent by Shima Tsumitsu, the Satsuma Domain.

At that time, Tokugawa Iemitsu was shocked and extremely angry, and his ministers in the shogunate even shouted that they would rather be broken than destroyed, and vowed to send troops to fight and die.

But now, when the Ming-Dutch coalition forces actually came to the city, when the Tozuo Navy, the Edo Navy, and the Nagato Navy were wiped out one after another, and when Osaka and Kyoto were successively attacked and burned, their initial enthusiasm has been exhausted.

Half of it.

Because they have clearly seen that the invading enemy this time is different from the two Yuan soldiers that happened hundreds of years ago.

This time the invading enemy did not aim to land for a decisive battle, but to exploit their strengths and avoid weaknesses, move forward and retreat quickly, and specifically took advantage of strong ships and sharp artillery to attack key points along the coast.

It is true that the shogunate had many generals, but their navy was far behind.

At the same time, facing the maritime invasion of the Ming-Dutch coalition forces, they had too many places to defend and too many loopholes to guard against.

In the past few days, there have actually been many debates with different opinions in the palace in Honmaru, Edo Inner City.

Some people still hold on to the enthusiastic attitude of preferring to die rather than live in ruins, advocating fighting to the end and never giving in.

However, there are also some people who have quietly changed their attitude after learning about the attack and destruction of Kyoto. They believe that hard things are easy to break, while soft things are permanent. They suggested that Tokugawa Iemitsu think twice before taking a long-term approach.

Correspondingly, Tokugawa Iemitsu himself was a little confused about the current situation.

For example, in the face of the Dutch fleet heading north to invade Edo Bay, the shogunate ordered the lords of various feudal lords to lead troops to defend Edo. Was this decision wrong?

Of course there is nothing wrong with that.

If we don't do this, are we going to watch the foreign fleet arrive at Edo Castle and destroy the foundation built by three generations of the Tokugawa family for decades?

However, this correct and impeccable decision directly led to the fall of Osaka and Kyoto due to lack of defense.

Just last night, Tokugawa Iemitsu had summoned the senior ministers of the shogunate and the trusted daimyo gathered in Edo to present to everyone the peace conditions jointly proposed by Lemaia and Yang Zhen.

The senior ministers of the shogunate and the feudal lords and daimyo who were ordered to come to help each had their own opinions. They argued for a long time but could not reach an agreement.

Including Tokugawa Iemitsu himself, he did not express his attitude in the end.

However, this morning he once again summoned the close ministers who had been arguing over the matter yesterday to discuss the matter, and publicly summoned Longxi Zen Master Zong Qian who came to deliver the letter, which was tantamount to expressing a certain attitude.

"Excellent! Is this it? We have to humiliate and make peace with the enemy without even fighting?!"

Kneeling down on the rush mat in the main room of the imperial palace, itakura Shigemune, the Kyoto governor who accompanied Tokugawa Iemitsu to receive Ryuuki Soqian, saw that Tokugawa Iemitsu asked Soqian a few words and then stopped talking. He was full for a while.
Chapter completed!