Facing one tribal group after another from the grasslands coming to cause trouble, Qianlong, that old dog, was not flustered at all—based on the principle that the essence of the world is a race to the bottom, the grasslands, ravaged by the policy of population reduction for a hundred years, were actually three points worse than the Manchurian Eight Banners, which were already bad enough.
After being troubled by the grassland Eight Banners several times, Qianlong's capital actually increased.
Where could one even begin to reason about this?
Then, Qianlong, leading over a million of his Eight Banners disciples, galloped straight towards Shengjing.
Not even the East Sea Fleet could intercept Qianlong near Jinzhou.
Upon arriving at Shengjing, Qianlong immediately ordered the Shengjing General to take stock of the Qing Dynasty's troops and provisions outside the pass, and then retreated en masse into Shengjing city.
As for those million-odd Eight Banners disciples…
A single Shengjing city could certainly not accommodate so many Eight Banners disciples, so only the elite soldiers of the Manchurian Eight Banners were qualified to remain in Shengjing city. The remaining commoners were led by the Shengjing General and were sent ahead to Yakesa.
Qianlong's thinking was clear: if the Qing Eight Banners continued to run like this, they would likely become afraid at the sight of the "Ming" banner in the future. Therefore, he, as the emperor, had to stay in Shengjing with them, waiting for the Ming army to arrive, defeat the Ming army, and boost the confidence of the Qing Eight Banners.
This news amused Zhu Jinsong immensely.
Ever since Tokugawa Ienari and Kanenari decided to pay homage to the Great Ming as vassals, Tokugawa Ienari had directly relocated the Satsuma Domain to the Ezo region. He then personally found the descendants of the Ryukyu royal family and returned the Amami Islands to Ryukyu, declaring that all past events were misunderstandings and that from now on, as fellow vassals of the Great Ming, they should look out for each other.
To prove his sincerity and determination to become a vassal, Tokugawa Ienari, along with Matsudaira Sadanobu, captured a group of "Wokou" pirates. Regardless of whether these pirates had ever been to the Great Ming, they were directly steamed alive on the coast of Wa, and then word was spread that anyone who dared to be a Wokou pirate in the Great Ming would face the same fate of being steamed.
Afterward, Tokugawa Ienari commissioned Zheng Jiangfu to make a trip to the Great Ming, expressing that Tokugawa Ienari would personally lead the petition for vassalage, tribute goods, and envoys to the Ming to pledge allegiance and pay tribute.
Looking at Wa, and then at the clueless Qianlong, even Zhu Jinsong, a seasoned player of "Zu'an" (a notorious online insult game), couldn't figure out how to express his thoughts for a moment.
Of course, not knowing how to express himself did not prevent the Grand Secretariat of the Rear Army's forces and the Solon Battalion from teaching Qianlong a lesson, nor did it dampen Zhu Jinsong's curiosity about Tokugawa Ienari.
At this time, Tokugawa Ienari was about seventeen or eighteen years old. Although he was nominally the Shogun of Wa, and his mind and abilities were not lacking, a large part of the shogunate's power was held by Matsudaira Sadanobu. xxs壹贰
Therefore, Zhu Jinsong was naturally curious: was the decision to pledge allegiance and pay tribute to the Great Ming a testament to Tokugawa Ienari's exceptional ability, allowing him to decide such a significant matter alone? Or was Tokugawa Ienari a puppet, with Matsudaira Sadanobu being the true mastermind behind the scenes?
...
When Qianlong retreated to Shengjing with the Eight Banners elite, Tokugawa Ienari had just arrived in Ningbo.
Upon arriving in Ningbo, Tokugawa Ienari asked Zheng Jiangfu, who had come to greet him, "Is this the most prosperous city in the Great Ming?"
Zheng Jiangfu looked at Tokugawa Ienari, bewildered, and shook his head, saying, "Cities like Ningbo are nothing in the Great Ming. There are at least eighty, if not a hundred, cities more prosperous than Ningbo."
This time, it was Tokugawa Ienari's turn to be bewildered.
He gestured in front of him with his hand, then waved his right hand, making an eight with his fingers, and asked, "At least eighty, if not a hundred? Is this a vague statement like 'a thousand feet of white hair,' or is it true?"
Zheng Jiangfu replied, "There are indeed that many."
Tokugawa Ienari felt a pang of envy.
Amaterasu Omikami had favored the Han people too much, giving them almost all the good things, while granting Japan only earthquakes, volcanoes, and wars.
Especially after touring Ningbo city with Zheng Jiangfu, Tokugawa Ienari's feelings became even more pronounced.
The common people throughout Wa were generally less than five feet tall—assuming each foot was equivalent to 33.333 centimeters, the average height of these "Wa slaves," who were actually between 148 and 151 cm tall, was indeed less than five feet.
Even Tokugawa Ienari, at 1.55 meters tall, could be considered a "tall person" in Wa at that time.
The common people on the streets had an average height of around 1.62 meters. Although this was a few centimeters shorter than the 1.66 meters during the Ming Dynasty (for detailed information, please refer to Chapter 160, "The Great Qing's Hundred-Year Plan," which details the profound harm caused by the Great Qing to the common people), they were still a head taller than Tokugawa Ienari.
If one or two people were taller than Tokugawa Ienari, he could still accept it. However, when almost everyone he met on the street was taller than him, Tokugawa Ienari's feelings were truly indescribable.
After strolling for a while, Tokugawa Ienari sighed and said, "The Yuan Dynasty wronged my Wa for a hundred years; this hatred will never be extinguished!"
Zheng Jiangfu, who was accompanying Tokugawa Ienari, was somewhat bewildered.
If the Yuan Dynasty had enmity with Wa, Zheng Jiangfu acknowledged that, but to say that the Yuan Dynasty had wronged Wa for a hundred years seemed a bit too far-fetched.
Zheng Jiangfu carefully inquired, "Why does the General say this?"
Tokugawa Ienari sighed and said, "If not for the Yuan's invasion of the Central Plains, our Wa's migration and intermingling with the Central Plains would have been continuous. If that were the case, why would our Wa people be so short now?"
Upon hearing the word "intermingling" (渡种), Zheng Jiangfu didn't know what to say.
After strolling for a bit longer, Tokugawa Ienari couldn't help but ask curiously, "The way the people of the Central Plains look at me, they don't seem to carry hatred? Could it be that the people of the Central Plains have forgotten the Wokou incidents of the past? They don't resent my Wa?"
Zheng Jiangfu chuckled and replied, "Reporting to the Great General, the people of the Great Ming do not resent Wa, because General Qi has already avenged them. If not for General Qi, the situation would likely be very different now."
"There is an old saying in the Central Plains, 'A gentleman's revenge is never too late, even after ten years,' and another old saying, 'Duke Xiang avenged his nine generations of enemies, and the Spring and Autumn Annals praised him.' If possible, Wa must never come into conflict with the Great Ming, otherwise, even after a hundred years, two hundred years, the Ming people will remember to take revenge."
Tokugawa Ienari nodded and said nothing more.
After dealing with the goods he had brought on this trip, Tokugawa Ienari began his northward journey.
What made Tokugawa Ienari envious and jealous was that all along the way, the cities, each larger and more prosperous than Kyoto, were merely ordinary cities of the Great Ming, not the capital cities.
When Tokugawa Ienari finally reached the outskirts of Jinan city, he became absolutely certain that his and Matsudaira Sadanobu's decision was correct.
Zheng Jiangfu, looking at Tokugawa Ienari, who resembled a lowly peasant from the Kanto region, said, "This is the temporary capital of the Great Ming, Jinan City."
Tokugawa Ienari pointed at Jinan Prefecture, utterly bewildered, and asked, "This is merely a temporary capital?"
Zheng Jiangfu affirmed with a nod, replying, "Yes, this is the Great Ming's temporary capital. The Great Ming's true capital is actually in Zhili. It is estimated that in about a year, the Great Ming court will move to the capital of Zhili."
Tokugawa Ienari grunted, and after a long silence, he looked up at Zheng Jiangfu and said, "If there is truly an eternal divine lineage in the world, it should be the Emperor of the Great Ming, not the so-called Emperor in the Imperial Palace in Kyoto."
Zheng Jiangfu also nodded and said, "Yes, therefore, I implore the Great General to pay close attention to the etiquette when meeting the Emperor of the Great Ming. According to the rules, you can meet him as the Shogun of Wa, but it would be best for you to choose to meet him with the etiquette of a Prince of Shunyi, as enfeoffed by the Emperor of the Great Ming."
Tokugawa Ienari naturally understood this.
In fact, through what he had seen and heard along the way, Tokugawa Ienari had gained some understanding of Zhu Jinsong, the Emperor of the Great Ming.
For example, "slaughtering like a butcher," "cold-blooded and ruthless," "cruel and wicked," "self-disciplined," and "loving his people as his children" were all contradictory descriptions that Tokugawa Ienari had attached to Zhu Jinsong.
The reason for calling Zhu Jinsong a butcher, cold-blooded, ruthless, and cruel was that Zhu Jinsong could directly order the Portuguese barbarians to be built into a "Jingguan" (a pyramid of enemy heads or corpses).
As the Shogun of Wa, Tokugawa Ienari of course knew what a Jingguan was.
The reason for calling Zhu Jinsong self-disciplined was that Zhu Jinsong had consistently used the Shandong Provincial Governor's yamen from the Qing Dynasty as a temporary palace, never spending money on grand construction or personal enjoyment.
As for loving his people as his children, this was judged from the news published in the "Great Ming Daily" and the living conditions of the Great Ming's populace.
It was precisely because of these contradictory labels that Tokugawa Ienari intended to diligently learn the rules from the officials of the Ministry of Rites, lest he be treated as a negative example and dealt with.
However, after Tokugawa Ienari had finished learning the rules and finally received the summons from Zhu Jinsong, he found himself a little unable to walk.
Even though he was already very familiar with the streets of Jinan City, even though he had learned the etiquette of meeting from the officials of the Ministry of Rites, and even though Zhu Jinsong's "temporary palace" was not particularly grand.
According to the ceremonies of the Qing Dynasty, the Shandong Provincial Governor's yamen was not qualified to use palace buildings with yellow glazed tiles, white marble railings, and red brick walls. And after Zhu Jinsong moved in, he was reluctant to spend money to renovate it, so everything remained as it was.
The problem was that such a low-rise temporary palace, in the eyes of Tokugawa Ienari, seemed like a giant beast that had resided between heaven and earth since time immemorial, exuding an indescribable majesty and dominance.
Especially the soldiers standing guard with spears from outside the palace gate to the palace halls, which made Tokugawa Ienari inwardly tremble, fearing that he might make even the slightest mistake.
Step by step, prostrating, bowing, rising, and kneeling—Tokugawa Ienari meticulously performed the etiquette taught by the officials of the Ministry of Rites.
After prostrating himself on the ground, Tokugawa Ienari pressed his forehead tightly to the ground and bowed, saying, "Your humble subject, Tokugawa Ienari, pays homage to His Imperial Majesty, who reigns for ten thousand years, ten thousand years, and ten thousand thousand years!"
Tokugawa Ienari remembered very clearly that the officials of the Ministry of Rites had said: no matter when, whether kneeling on the ground or standing in the court, unless the Son of Heaven commanded it, one must not arbitrarily raise one's head to look at the Son of Heaven.
Raising one's head without the Son of Heaven's permission would be judged by the guards and generals in the hall as plotting rebellion, attempting assassination, and so on. The only consequence would be the immediate separation of the head from the neck.
Zhu Jinsong looked at Tokugawa Ienari, who was obediently lying in the "great hall," and said with a smile, "Rise."
After Tokugawa Ienari got up from the ground and stood obediently in the "court," Zhu Jinsong continued, "朕 has heard that the past cannot be pursued. The misunderstandings of the past have now been resolved. I hope you will diligently restrain the common people upon returning to Wa, and do not initiate any more conflicts!"
Tokugawa Ienari prostrated himself again and bowed, saying, "Your humble subject, I respectfully obey His Imperial Majesty's sacred edict."
Foreign subject? Inferior state subject?
No, no, no. That was the etiquette and self-appellation used by Kanenari, that lowly commoner. I, Tokugawa Ienari, the Prince of Shunyi of the Great Ming, enfeoffed by the Emperor of the Great Ming, of course cannot be like that lowly Kanenari.