New Shun 1730

The officers judged that there was no fraud. Zhao Baiquan thought for a long time and decided to go.

Holding the short gun with lead bullets and springs pulled, Zhao Baiquan was somewhat panicked.

Several officers and one agreed to accompany him, and took a small boat to Tsushima Island.

The warriors and merchants on the island were very nervous.

Some were holding Japanese swords, some were holding matchlock guns and iron cannons. The military appearance was not neat, but there were many people after all.

This was the first time Zhao Baiquan saw so many enemy troops. He was a civil servant and had learned archery, but he had never lived in a military camp, let alone experienced military training.

Last time in Ryukyu, even if there were some enemy troops, the military strength was absolutely superior. There was also the reputation of Liu Yu in charge of the army. Although he felt that Liu Yu was too heavy and domineering, Zhao Baiquan was convinced in leading troops to fight, so he was not afraid.

This time, looking at dozens of warriors standing with swords and angry eyes, Zhao Baiquan took a deep breath and silently recited Prime Minister Wen’s song of righteousness in his heart.

"The heaven and earth have righteousness, which flows in all shapes and forms. Below, it is the river and the mountains, and above, it is the sun and the stars. In people, it is called the great spirit, which fills the sky..."

After reading it several times, it was as if a great spirit rose from the bottom of his heart, suppressing the fear of seeing so many enemies for the first time, and his brilliance was revealed, and he once again became a standard envoy of the Celestial Empire.

In front of so many people, he read out what he wanted to say, a long speech, but it was nothing more than two parts.

First, the Celestial Empire's attack on Japan is just, because...

Second, the Celestial Empire is a benevolent and righteous army, and you are allowed to return to Japan, publicize the benevolence and righteousness of the Celestial Empire, and tell the feudal lords and generals in various parts of Japan to surrender as soon as possible. The navy is heroic and brave, and disdains to fight such a war of bullying the minority with the majority. Let the samurai return to Japan and reorganize the army to fight again.

After reading it, there was a complete silence on the other side. Zhao Baiquan saw that there was no deception yet, and knew that it was all right, and his demeanor became even stronger.

He turned around expressionlessly and boarded the boat to leave. Before boarding the boat, he heard a cheer from behind. Zhao Baiquan smiled and thought that the matter was done.

Shortly after Zhao Baiquan boarded the boat, 85,000 taels of silver were also shipped to the Dashun warship for delivery.

Among them, 80,000 taels were official money, which was clearly asked for by the navy. The other 5,000 taels were Zong Yiru's meeting gift and thank-you gift. Zhao Baiquan followed the rules and took 2,500 taels, and gave the rest to the navy.

…………

In the castle, several retainers knelt in front of Soujiru and cried, "If the lord dies here to serve the country, we should follow the lord and die."

Soujiru was furious and said, "Stupid! Haven't you heard that Han had the humiliation of Baideng and Tang had the Weishui Alliance? Even the great men like Han Gaozu and Tang Taizong knew to retreat temporarily. Don't you understand this truth?"

"The general ordered me to be the guardian of Tsushima, so I must defend this place to the death and not retreat. But you are different. If one person retreats, there will be one more person on the battlefield in the future. What's the point of dying here?"

These retainers said one after another, "If the lord dies, we should not retreat either."

These people are very loyal, but Soujiru doesn't want to cause trouble.

Are these people loyal to him? Or loyal to Japan? Or are they loyal to both?

If they are loyal to both, what should they do when they have to choose between the two?

Normal, perhaps these people will follow Soujiru's choice.

But what if there are a few people with bad brains who get excited and think that Soujiru's surrender will damage the honor of the samurai.

For the honor of the lord of the family, he decides to chop off the lord's head and say it is seppuku to save his reputation. What should he do?

It's not impossible.

It's very likely.

There are not many people who are truly loyal to him and his true confidants, and it's impossible to have too many. They have all been selected.

The rest of them are either those who really believe in the so-called glory of the samurai, or those who really believe in dying rather than surrendering. Anyway, they are all suitable for praise, and this kind of people are exactly what Soujiru is most worried about at this time.

Facing these people, Soujiru sighed and told a very old story.

"In the past, Tu'an Jia killed Zhao Dun and exterminated his clan. Zhao Shuo's retainer Gongsun Chujiu conspired with him and hid Zhao Zhen's orphan in the mountains."

"My wife has no children, and my concubines have no children. However, I have doted on them a lot these nights, so maybe I can leave blood in them."

"You are all loyal people. I implore you to follow the example of Gongsun Chujiu and Cheng Ying and send my concubines back."

"If the general defeats the Tang people in the future and the clan continues to exist, it all depends on your efforts!"

After saying that, he bowed to these warriors and retainers.

Of course, his wife couldn't go with him, but as for the concubines, he thought that if he went to Dashun, he would be granted a title and have money. Would he still need it?

Although none of the concubines were pregnant, he was indeed very busy at night these days to set up this scheme.

It was not to leave a descendant, but to make this lie look more credible.

Who knows if someone will really ask the concubines if they really did it these days?

If he really stayed, he would defect to Dashun, and most of the people who stayed would die.

Zong Yiru was a wise man. In his opinion, Dashun should win.

This navy determined that as long as Dashun wanted Tsushima Island, Japan would never get it back.

He was the only daimyo in Japan who could engage in cross-sea trade. No one in Japan knew the level of the Japanese navy after the country was closed.

When the Dashun navy lined up on the sea outside Tsushima, he knew that he could not defeat them at all.

In this case, if he ran back to Japan, he would die.

Now that the war has begun, it's time to kill the chicken to scare the monkeys. If Zong Yiru leaves the defense without death, wouldn't the rest of the people be able to run away?

Being defeated is not a reason to run away. He didn't want to live and die with Tsushima, nor did he want to go back to being a chicken to scare the monkeys, so there was only one way to go.

If you cast a straight, you probably won't be able to dominate the opponent horse again.

In this case, it would spread a bad reputation to Tsushima, and he might never come back again in his life.

Even after arriving in Dashun, he changed his appearance and adopted a Chinese surname. No matter how much ridicule he received, what does it matter?

Moreover, it is impossible for him to do the horse trade anymore, so what will his retainers eat? What to drink? Why are you still loyal to yourself?

When a person like Mengchangjun loses power, all his followers will run away.

How could I be so virtuous as to think that after joining Dashun, these warriors would still be able to follow him without Tsushima's fiefdom and trade?

After understanding this, Zong Yiru simply divided his warriors into three parts.

A very small part of them are their absolute confidants.

The number of people is very small. Even if you go to Dashun, you still need some confidants. This very small number can follow you until death.

Most of them are just a bunch of villains.

Villains are easy to deal with. They are eager for Dashun's offer. As long as they can ensure that Dashun's warship will not fire and sink after they board the ship, it is better to run back to Japan quickly than wait to die here.

The smaller half can be considered a group of gentlemen or warriors.

This group of people gave Zong Yiru the biggest headache. Gentlemen or those real warriors are stubborn, and there is not much confidence in letting them surrender after you.

However, a gentleman can deceive others.

If they tell the story of the Zhao orphans, these people will definitely think that "retreating is not a humiliation, but a feat of righteousness like Gongsun Chujiu and Cheng Ying in ancient times."

Different people have to have different deception methods. This is exactly the talent and talent that a feudal noble should possess.

Without such ability, it is impossible to be a feudal noble.

Sure enough, these warriors and retainers cried in the ground one by one: "Master, don't worry, how dare we not try our best?"

With the loyalty and courage of these people and a little deception, they succeeded.

After using this reasoning to deceive those warriors he thought were the most difficult to deal with, these most difficult warriors never said anything nonsense about dying together with him.

Zong Yiru, with tears in his eyes, took out some gold and silver and said, "Put these away. I see that the people of the Tang Dynasty claim to be benevolent and righteous, and they will not search you. If you go there, if there is someone in the side room in October, you will be appointed as the heir apparent and help you with all your heart." . If the general attacks the horse again in the future, I will have no regrets!”

"Don't repeat the talk of dying together. Retreat today in order to advance tomorrow. I leave the blood of the Zong family to you."

"Master..." The warriors cried bitterly, finally got up and left Zhanyuan City.

Escorting Zong Yiru's side room, they boarded three ships that had been prepared in advance.

On the pier, businessmen were vying for ships. Some were willing to pay high prices for a spot, some had their own ships and hired samurai to guard them, and some even risked their lives and money to move everything from home to the ship. It was extremely lively.

Although Zhao Baiquan said that Dashun was a teacher of benevolence and righteousness, the wealthy businessmen didn't really believe it, so it was better to run away.

The remaining businessmen who don't have much money, or are businessmen who run shops, don't have to worry.

He neither took money nor wanted to leave, so he could only place all his hopes on the benevolence and righteousness of Dashun's army.

Zong Yiru went to the dock to see him off in person, and felt relieved when he saw with his own eyes that the upright and loyal people he was worried about were all boarding the ship.

The fleet set sail, and Dashun's navy kept its promise and did not intercept them, allowing these ships to leave Tsushima.

This makes Zong Yiru feel more relieved. It seems that Dashun does not know about the special silver on Tsushima Island. Even if someone tells Dashun in the future, it can be said that the special silver was evacuated with the people at that time. Taken away together.

With tens of thousands of kilograms of silver and the savings in the city, as long as Emperor Dashun needs an example of surrender, life will not be bad.

After the last ship left, one hundred and fifty soldiers boarded the deserted dock.

Soon, several broken cannons in Zhanyuan City were thrown out. If Zong Yiru knew that he couldn't defend these cannons, he might as well obey the Dashun Army's request.

As expected, Dashun's army did not attack Zhanyuan Castle, but issued a notice in the castle town.

Three chapters of the agreement.

All lords' ownership of acres was abolished, and taxes were based on the reformed Wendeng Prefecture's ten-acre system. Each acre of land received a certain amount of rice, which was approximately one tenth and one tax.

One public and nine citizens. This year's taxes will be paid to the dock as soon as possible. If there are villagers or house owners who are bullying them, they can complain to the castle town.

The mu tax in Dashun is not high in theory. What's high is the landlord's rent, apportionment, and other messy things.

The situation in Japan is special. After expelling the samurai, there are basically no landowners. One public and nine citizens are one public and nine citizens. There are no middlemen to make profit differences. It is just the right time to win the hearts of the islanders in order to completely occupy this important place.

The second is to abolish all usury contracts, return the pledged land to its original owners from now on, and all those who owe usury will hand over their contracts. If the usurious loans of merchants who have left Tsushima are all burned; for those who have never left, the interest on the maximum principal amount can be paid off, and the previous ones will also be counted.

The third is to require all shops to open as usual, and everyone must exchange their copper coins for Taixing Tongbao within one month.

The era cannot be a certain year of Yuanwen, but should be changed to a certain year of Taixing.

All people are prohibited from shaving their heads for a month.

The sword hunting order is abolished, and the people can buy weapons permitted by the Dashun law.

The weights and measures stipulated by the shogunate will be abolished in the future. Each store will be the first to do so. Those who still use the old weights and measures after three months will be fined.