According to the analyses of Tokugawa Ienari and Matsudaira Sadanobu, as long as Zhu Jinsong still considered himself the legitimate heir of the Great Ming and Zheng Jiangfu was willing to speak a few good words for Wa Country, then Zhu Jinsong would have to give Zheng Jiangfu some face.
This was because Zheng Jiangfu was the seventh-generation descendant of Tagawa Shichizaemon, Zheng Chenggong's younger brother. He was related by blood to the Zheng clan, whose surname was Zheng, and Zheng Chenggong. Moreover, Shichizaemon had once "personally visited Edo and requested to go to Ming to exert himself for Chenggong, to destroy the Jianlu and avenge them." Therefore, some familial affection was due.
Unfortunately, Shichizaemon's lineage did not have a very good relationship with the Tokugawa Shogunate.
As everyone knows, the short and stout people of Wa Country were somewhat mentally unstable.
Zheng Zhilong initially had a decent relationship with Wa Country and the Tokugawa Shogunate. He not only traded extensively with Wa Country for a long time but also married a Japanese woman. He was even treated with great courtesy by the lord of Hirado Domain, Matsuura clan, and owned property in Hirado.
However, when Zheng Zhilong wanted to bring his wife and children back to the Central Plains, he was repeatedly obstructed by Wa Country. In October of the first year of Longwu of the Southern Ming, Zheng Zhilong once again attempted to bring back his wife and second son, who were residing in Wa Country. As a result, Wa Country detained Zheng Zhilong's second son, Shichizaemon, as a hostage, and their relationship became very strained.
According to the records in Huang Zongxi's "A Chronicle of Ming Seeking Aid from Japan" and "Records of the Traveling Expedition," when the Great Ming was facing decline, the Royal Surname Lord also sought troops from the Tokugawa Shogunate on several occasions. Although the short and stout people provided some supplies, they could not lend any significant troops.
"...did not dispatch troops but provided bronze cannons, flintlock guns, and Japanese swords as equipment."
Even Shichizaemon's desire to go to the Central Plains to join the Royal Surname Lord in seeking revenge was thwarted by the Tokugawa Shogunate, forcing him to continuously supply manpower and materials to the Royal Surname Lord, helping him maintain the lifeline of maritime trade until the Tokugawa Shogunate implemented its isolation policy.
Given all these complications, it was purely absurd for Tokugawa Ienari to be confident he could persuade Zheng Jiangfu.
However, to Tokugawa Ienari's surprise, Zheng Jiangfu agreed to be an envoy to the Great Ming without hesitation.
...
As Zheng Jiangfu boarded the ship to head to the Great Ming, the war between Wa Country and the Eight Banners of Maoxiong had entered a white-hot stage.
Eight Banners of Maoxiong and Maoxiong Eight Banners are two completely different concepts that many people easily confuse. If the number of Maoxiong captives was sufficient to be fully organized into eight banners, their organization would be Maoxiong Eight Banners. However, like the current situation where the number of people was very small, even less than the establishment of one banner, they could only be called Eight Banners of Maoxiong.
It was like when Nurhaci began his rise, the grassland tribes who defected to the Jianlu were organized into the Eight Banners of Mongolia. When the Great Qing was fully established and all the tribes on the grassland had defected to the Jianlu, the Jianlu then organized the grasslands into the Eight Banners of Mongolia.
The problem lies in the insufficient troop strength of the Eight Banners of Maoxiong.
In terms of not fearing death, the short and stout people of Wa Country and the Eight Banners of Maoxiong were about equal. However, in terms of physique, stamina, and logistical support, the Eight Banners of Maoxiong far surpassed the short and stout people of Wa Country.
The only advantage of the short and stout people was that the samurai of Wa Country were not valuable. Compared to the Eight Banners of Maoxiong, of whom every loss was a reduction in force, the short and stout samurai of Wa Country could continuously replenish their numbers. Moreover, the short and stout people adhered to the spirit of Bushido, often engaging in head-on confrontations with the Eight Banners of Maoxiong with their short legs, resulting in a continuous decrease in the numbers of the Eight Banners of Maoxiong.
As the Eight Banners of Maoxiong dwindled and the soldiers from Manchuria and Joseon could not be relied upon, the morale of the soldiers on the Great Qing side became increasingly low, while the short and stout people became more spirited as the fighting continued.
This was quite frustrating.
Especially with the drastic decrease in the Eight Banners of Maoxiong's forces and the continuous loss of territory in Joseon, when the news reached Zhili, Heshen, the Grand Secretary, was almost driven mad.
Grand Secretary He understood very well that to resolve the current predicament, they either had to transfer the Gurkha Eight Banners to Joseon, or obtain a large number of Maoxiong captives to replenish the consumption of the Eight Banners of Maoxiong, or for the Manchu Eight Banners of the Great Qing to suddenly rise to prominence. Otherwise, there were basically no good solutions.
The Gurkha Eight Banners stationed in Gurkha naturally could not be considered. Those Gurkha Eight Banners sent by the fifteenth prince Yongyan to Zhili, along with the Joseon Eight Banners, had all gone to confront Maoxiong with the eighth prince Yongxuan.
As for the Manchu Eight Banners of the Great Qing...
Saying more would bring tears!
Under such circumstances, what could Grand Secretary He do?
Rely on the Qianlong old dog?
Qianlong, who boasted of Ten Complete Victories, had never actually led troops or fought in a battle. His greatest ability in life was to make six tours of the south, inspecting countless river projects on the bodies of young women.
Faced with this situation, the Qianlong old dog could only express his powerlessness in anger and then pass the problem to Grand Secretary He for handling.
Grand Secretary He even complained privately, "This Grand Secretary is about to become a patcher!"
Of course, despite his complaints, Grand Secretary He, who had managed to reach the position of Grand Councilor, possessed true capabilities. Even in this frustrating situation, Grand Secretary He still thought of a way to break through the deadlock.
After carefully analyzing the battle situation in Joseon, Grand Secretary He believed that the Manchu Eight Banners of the Great Qing were afraid of fighting and death because they were not short of money, while the soldiers of Joseon were afraid of fighting and death because their compensation was not adequate.
It was just like the Green Standard Army soldiers that the Great Qing had previously dispatched to suppress the rebel Zhu.
What were those Green Standard Army soldiers like?
They bullied civilians, kicked open the doors of widows, and dug up the graves of those with no heirs. They did everything that was immoral. On the battlefield, they retreated whenever possible, and when facing the rebel Zhu, they even tidied up their equipment and surrendered on their knees!
And what about some of the Green Standard Army soldiers who defected to the rebel Zhu and then turned back to attack the Great Qing?
They were fearless of death! They charged under artillery fire! They could make the Eight Banners of the Great Qing shit themselves!
The same group of people, with such a huge contrast between before and after, why?
It was still because the Great Qing did not treat the Green Standard soldiers as human beings. The higher-ranking officers embezzled salaries, drank soldiers' blood, and even enslaved soldiers. It was simply a model of one person serving in the army and burdening the entire family. Under such circumstances, who would be willing to fight to the death?
In contrast, the rebel Zhu never delayed military pay and even provided various preferential treatments to the soldiers, as well as various considerations for their families. It was simply a model of one person serving in the army and the entire family benefiting. Naturally, their soldiers would fight fearlessly.
Therefore, Grand Secretary He easily arrived at a conclusion: it was not that the Joseon soldiers were useless, but that they lacked motivation!
Since this was the case, they would recruit another batch of Joseon Green Standard soldiers and directly offer them great benefits: as long as they fought bravely, they had the opportunity to be promoted to the Manchu Eight Banners through military achievements, and from then on, they would be superiors among men!
However, what Grand Secretary He could not understand was that even with the promise of promotion to the Banners and the full payment of military salaries, the performance of those Joseon soldiers remained the same. Those who were lazy were still lazy, and those who were afraid of fighting and death were still afraid of fighting and death.
It was as if they did not care about being promoted to the Banners, nor did they care about whether their military salaries were paid on time and in full.
In comparison, the remaining Eight Banners of Maoxiong became even more fearless of death.
The problem was that no matter how fearless the Eight Banners of Maoxiong were of death, it could not change the fact that their troop strength was too small. Joseon continued to lose territory, and the King of Joseon, Yi San, even followed in the footsteps of his ancestor Yi San, fleeing to the Yalu River, declaring, "It is better to die in one's homeland than to fall into the hands of the enemy."
The problem was that the "Wise, Martial, Sage, Reverent, Diligent, and Filial King," Yi San of Joseon, whom the Koreans so highly praised, wanted to "die in his homeland" because he had a good father, the Great Ming Father, who truly sent troops to help Yi San.
And the father whom Yi San had just recognized...
When the Qianlong old dog learned that Yi San intended to submit, his first reaction was to happily agree, his second reaction was to change his recently promoted title of Eleven Complete Elder to Twelve Complete, his third reaction was how much money the Joseon treasury could produce, and his fourth reaction was how to help Yi San defeat Wa Country.
This series of actions by the Qianlong old dog was unbearable not only for Yi San, the ruler of Joseon, but also for the Koreans.
Seeing that the Great Ming Father did not care about Joseon's life or death, and that the Great Qing and the Qianlong old dog merely treated Joseon as a bank that could be freely withdrawn from, coupled with the continuous territorial gains by the short and stout people of Wa Country, the Three Guard Rebel Army once again rose in Joseon.
These newly emerged Three Guard Rebel Army, along with the Joseon gentry who supported them, unanimously believed that Yi San's surrender to the Great Qing was a complete betrayal of the ancestral will to resist the Qing and restore the Ming, and that he was no longer qualified to continue serving as the ruler of Joseon. They decided to replace him with Li Yan, the grandson of the "Winged, Literate, Virtuous, Martial, Prosperous, Reverent, and Filial King" and the son of Crown Prince Zhuangxian, Li Xuan, as the new King of Joseon.
Upon his enthronement, Li Yan immediately rallied under the banners of "Acknowledging Ancestry and Returning to the Clan" and "Resisting Wa and Rejecting Qing." At the same time, he sent envoys to the Great Ming, not only to seek enfeoffment from Zhu Jinsong, the Emperor of the Great Ming, but also for the matter of internal submission.
Unlike Zheng Hua and Meng Yun, who had directly come to Jinan Prefecture to request internal submission, En'en-gun Li Yan did not personally come to the Great Ming. Instead, he followed the etiquette of previous Joseon rulers towards the Great Ming and wrote a memorial to Zhu Jinsong.
Li Yan first inquired about Zhu Jinsong's well-being in the memorial, whether Zhu Jinsong's wife and children were well, and even whether the dog Zhu Jinsong raised was well, before discussing the main business:
"Without the decree from His Imperial Majesty, the Great Ming Emperor Grandfather, I, your subject, dare not ascend the throne and proclaim myself king. I am temporarily governing the affairs of Joseon in the capacity of En'en-gun. Joseon is a filial son of the Great Ming. The people of Joseon long for the Great Ming as an infant longs for its parents. I earnestly implore His Imperial Majesty, the Great Ming Emperor Grandfather, to remember Joseon's consistent obedience, overlook the wrongdoings of Li San, and once again accept Joseon under your wing."
Yes, Li Yan used a memorial instead of a state letter. Not only did he address Zhu Jinsong as "His Imperial Majesty, the Great Ming Emperor Grandfather," as previous Joseon kings had addressed previous Great Ming Emperors, but he also re-emphasized that Joseon was a filial son of the Great Ming, hoping that Zhu Jinsong, the Emperor of the Great Ming, would "not remember Li San's past transgressions and once again accept Joseon as his son."
In any case, whether it was from the perspective of etiquette or wording, Zhu Jinsong could not find any fault.
If one were to nitpick, it would be that the memorial contained too much pleasantry and superficial inquiries, with only about a hundred words being truly useful.
This memorial completely bewildered Zhu Jinsong.
Frankly speaking, Zhu Jinsong's impression of the Koreans was mediocre, perhaps no different from that of the barbarian Japanese or Westerners.
If Zhu Jinsong were to directly send troops to conquer Joseon, there would certainly be no problem. However, to enfeoff Joseon as a tributary state would definitely be absurd.
But Zhu Jinsong had not expected that there would actually be a group of filial sons of the Great Ming in Joseon, and the newly appointed En'en-gun Li Yan was directly requesting internal submission.
This made things quite troublesome.
If he were to directly acknowledge Li Yan as a godson, Zhu Jinsong would feel somewhat disgusted. But if he were to directly refuse, it would also be somewhat unreasonable.
What made Zhu Jinsong even more troubled was the arrival of Zheng Jiangfu.
Frankly speaking, Zhu Jinsong originally did not intend to meet Zheng Jiangfu. After all, more than 150 years had passed, and who knew if Shichizaemon's lineage still acknowledged them as descendants of the Zheng clan?
If they were willing to acknowledge it, it would be fine. But if they were not willing to acknowledge it, what should Zhu Jinsong do? Kill them, or not kill them?
Therefore, rather than meet him, it was better not to. When he eventually conquered the islands of Wa, for the sake of the Royal Surname Lord, he would spare Shichizaemon's lineage.
The problem was that Zheng Jiangfu had directly come to Jinan and presented the token of appreciation that the Royal Surname Lord had left for Shichizaemon in the past, which forced Zhu Jinsong to meet him, even if it was for the sake of the Royal Surname Lord.
However, when Zhu Jinsong summoned Zheng Jiangfu and bestowed a banquet upon the Wa delegation led by Zheng Jiangfu, and summoned Zheng Jiangfu in private, Zheng Jiangfu once again presented the token of appreciation left by the Royal Surname Lord for Shichizaemon and performed the ritual of four kowtows: "Your subject, the deceased Yanping County Prince of the Great Ming, the Earl of Loyalty and Filial Piety, Zheng Jiangfu, the seventh-generation nephew of Zhu Chenggong, pays his respects to His Imperial Majesty, the Great Ming Emperor. May Your Majesty live for ten thousand years, ten thousand years, ten thousand years!"
After the kowtow, Zheng Jiangfu stated, "This mission is entrusted by Tokugawa Ienari to secure the status of a tributary state and a non-aggression country for Wa Country. However, this mission is by no means Jiangfu's own intention. It is only because I fear that if I do not agree to Tokugawa Ienari's request, I will never have the opportunity to set foot in the Central Plains in my life, which is why I have shamelessly come."
Zheng Jiangfu's original intention was to ask Emperor Zhu Jinsong of the Great Ming to help him avenge his grievances, so that Shichizaemon's lineage would have the opportunity to eliminate the Qianlong old dog and his descendants to avenge the Zheng clan's past grievances.
Zheng Jiangfu stated that if the Great Ming could also eliminate the Tokugawa Shogunate, it would be even better, because Shichizaemon had wanted to join the Royal Surname Lord in rebelling against the Qing in the past, but the Tokugawa Shogunate had constantly obstructed him, and Shichizaemon had died in depression as a result.
In short, since you, Zhu Jinsong, consider yourself the Emperor of the Great Ming, then see if you recognize the Yanping County Prince enfeoffed by Emperor Longwu, and if you recognize Shichizaemon's lineage as subjects of the Great Ming.
As long as you, Emperor Zhu, recognize Shichizaemon's lineage, then Shichizaemon's lineage will faithfully lie low in Wa Country and guide the Great Ming army when the Great Ming attacks Wa Country.
If you, Emperor Zhu, do not recognize them, then you can sell me to Tokugawa Ienari, or pretend I never came. In the future, you will walk your plank road, and our Shichizaemon lineage will walk our single-plank bridge.
Zhu Jinsong pondered, what is there that I,朕, dare not recognize?