Water Margin: The opening scene involves assassinating Emperor Huizong of Song and forcibly taking L

Then he framed his second uncle for the crime.

Second Uncle and his son were killed by Yuan Weiyi.

Third Uncle was killed by Second Uncle's grandson.

The remaining forces of the two families had no choice but to obey Yuan Weiyi.

Fujiwara no Tadashi is now trying to win people over and sow discord.

The second great-uncle's grandson immediately responded.

He declared that he wanted to avenge his grandfather and father.

Furthermore, after this orphan raised an army,

They did not immediately engage in battle with Minamoto no Tameyoshi.

Instead, they launched a surprise attack and killed the descendants of the third uncle.

He successfully took over the manor and the warriors under his command.

Following this, a split also occurred within the Taira clan.

Some members of the clan sided with Emperor Sutoku and Fujiwara no Tadashi.

The two armies clashed in a decisive battle on the outskirts of the border region between Heian-kyo and Nara.

The number of monk soldiers involved in the battle alone exceeded two thousand.

Because of the samurai under Taira no Tadamori and Minamoto no Tameyoshi

They suffered heavy losses in the Battle of Iwami Province.

The clan members who remained in their hometown split up again.

After several days of fighting, they suffered a defeat.

Local gentry arrived one after another.

They became the force that turned the tide for Emperor Toba.

He bestowed twenty noble titles upon them in one go.

Although only a low-ranking noble

But that's enough to make local powerful figures fight tooth and nail for it.

Noble families who did not obtain noble status

He also obtained local official positions below the level of the State Administration Commissioner.

This can also motivate powerful figures to fight for it.

They fought from early summer to early autumn.

The intensity of the war is increasing.

The phenomenon of "one-man raiding" is becoming increasingly rare.

In order to achieve victory,

Even the low-ranking samurai in the countryside,

They all became bold enough to swing their swords at the armored samurai.

Fujiwara no Tadashi looked down on local powerful clans.

But after suffering a series of losses,

They also promised noble titles and official positions to powerful families.

They successfully won over the powerful clans west of Heian-kyo.

In September, the two sides fought a decisive battle again.

Emperor Toba suddenly appeared on the battlefield.

The morale of the army dispatched by the retired emperor was greatly boosted.

The Emperor's troops were terrified.

Fujiwara no Tadashi was so frightened that he dared not go into battle and ordered his troops to hold their positions in the camp.

They immediately sent someone back to the capital to bring Emperor Sutoku back.

Taira no Tadamori commanded the retired emperor's army.

Let Minamoto no Yoshimi only bring a small number of samurai.

They suddenly detoured and attacked Naniwa Kyo.

The Minamoto family had been operating in Osaka for generations.

He promised benefits to merchants and Buddhist followers.

Within two days, they had managed to muster several thousand troops.

Although these few thousand people,

They're all a rabble.

Composed of merchants and monks who adhered to the Buddhist chanting school,

But suddenly being thrown into battle is still quite frightening.

Chapter 3254 The Emperor's Enjoyment

The two armies are facing off, and Emperor Sutoku has also personally come to the battlefield.

Yuan Weiyi, leading a motley crew of several thousand men, waving all sorts of flags, suddenly appeared on the flank of the battlefield.

The morale of the Emperor's army plummeted, while the morale of the Retired Emperor's army soared.

During the battle, the local warlords who had pledged allegiance to Fujiwara no Tadashi surprisingly chose to defect to his side.

Fujiwara no Tadashi fled in panic, and the Emperor's army collapsed instantly.

Emperor Sutoku cowered on the spot, trembling, while the samurai who had charged at him dared not make a move.

Instead, they knelt in a circle before the Emperor, which can be considered as them capturing the Emperor.

.....

Emperor Toba returned to Heian-kyo and began a series of clean-up operations.

More than thirty court nobles, including Fujiwara no Tadashi and his son, were exiled—after all, they were relatives of the emperor and nobles, so they could not be killed directly; exile was already the most severe form of punishment.

The prominent families represented by the Fujiwara clan officially became the direct line of the Fujiwara Northern Family and took over the power left behind by Fujiwara Tadashi.

Fujiwara no Iemoto himself served as regent, and his younger sister married Emperor Toba.

Emperor Sutoku was not deposed, but abdicated and became Emperor Emeritus, with his second brother succeeding him as emperor.

Emperor Toba became a monk and continued to rule Japan.

Taira no Tadamori and Minamoto no Tameyoshi were granted the right to be promoted to the inner palace for their great merit in suppressing the rebellion.

The former served as the governor of Bizen, concurrently holding the positions of steward of the Toba Institute and the Right Governor.

The latter served as the governor of Owari Province, concurrently holding the positions of Right General of the Imperial Guard and Vice-Minister of the Central Secretariat.

Among the powerful figures in various prefectures and kingdoms, twenty-eight were granted noble titles, and more than fifty received hereditary government official positions.

Monks from Nara and Osaka acquired vast amounts of land from various temples in Heian-kyo, causing the various sects of monks from Mount Hiei to decline from then on.

Merchants from Osaka were granted special privileges in maritime trade, and apart from the imperial family and members of the royal clan, only they were allowed to trade directly with Ming Dynasty merchants.

From court nobles and aristocrats to powerful samurai, monks, and merchants, all levels of power in Japan underwent a major reshuffle.

Buddhist monks representing the lower classes and Nara monks representing past religious forces both gained a voice in Buddhism.

On the one hand, they befriended high-ranking officials, and on the other hand, they associated with lower-ranking nobles and merchants, thus popularizing Buddhism in Japan.

From this point on, powerful clans and merchants began to rise and gradually grow stronger.

Subsequently, the reclusive Emperor Toba ordered that official documents could only use the name "Recluse Toba".

Emperor Sutoku, who was formally appointed King of Japan by the Ming Dynasty emperor,

Now that he has abdicated, he can only be called the Venerable King Chongde from now on.

The second son who had just ascended the throne was referred to as the Heavenly King in official documents.

All these actions were taken to curry favor with the Ming Dynasty.

King Toba also formally selected and dispatched Ming envoys, who were filled by meritorious officials, nobles, monks, powerful families, and merchants, to travel by boat to Kaifeng to pay homage to the Ming emperor.

They requested the Ming Emperor to send envoys again to confer titles upon the Japanese king, on the grounds that the previous king was too ill to govern.

He even took the initiative to send grain to Zhao Xiaozhong, indicating that he agreed to the previous negotiation conditions, and also offered to compensate him with an additional 150,000 shi of military grain.

However, due to the war this year, the compensation grain needs to be paid in installments.

Out of fear of the Ming army and in order to seize the power of discourse, Prince Toba hired Zhejiang merchants as advisors.

The first reform was to change the makeup of aristocratic women.

He instructed his concubines and ladies-in-waiting to put their long, loose hair up and style it like the hair buns worn by women of the Ming Dynasty. They also changed their small, bean-shaped eyebrows to thin, willow-leaf-shaped ones.

Only the black teeth remained unchanged, since this stuff can't be erased overnight.

However, His Holiness Toba ordered that his underage daughters should stop dyeing their teeth once they reached the age for it.

He even wrote a letter to the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, expressing his admiration for the Celestial Empire and his desire to marry a noblewoman of the Ming Dynasty as his concubine.

Given the formidable military power displayed by the Ming Dynasty, the Japanese court nobles were filled with awe and admiration.

They also sent people to contact Ming Dynasty merchants and learned that the most popular literary form in China was "ci ling".

So they sent waka poets to Zhejiang with Ming Dynasty merchant ships to learn Chinese lyrics, dances, and operas.

It's purely about admiring the strong, and has nothing to do with self-reform.

These nobles and aristocrats had long been corrupt; they had no interest in developing productive forces and were only chasing "advanced" fashion trends.

As long as one learns the lyrics, music, dance, and drama of the Ming Dynasty, and then adapts them slightly to local tastes, one can claim that this is a fashionable "Ming style" and will surely gain countless admirers and praises in Heian-kyo.

However, long-term people-to-people exchanges will certainly lead to the development of productivity; this is a gradual and subtle process.

When news of Japan opening five ports for trade reached the Ming Dynasty, merchants from Zhejiang, Fujian, Huainan, and Shandong immediately took action.

Before the great battle between the two sides was over, the first batch of Ming Dynasty merchant ships had already sailed into the Seto Inland Sea to do business with Japanese powerful figures and merchants.

Chapter 3255 Barter

In the first year, it was just bartering; next year, we'll probably need copper coins.

With insufficient copper coins in circulation, the Ming Dynasty's opening of trade with Japan inevitably led to a greater outflow of copper coins.

However, copper ingots can be obtained from Japan.

The Ming Dynasty court has issued an order that merchants who bring back precious metals or grains from overseas can receive certain tariff reductions.

Among the first batch of goods, the most sought-after items by Japanese nobles, besides silk, were surprisingly paper.

This stemmed from advancements in Chinese papermaking technology, and was intentionally promoted by Zhao Guoxiang and Zhao Yuan.

The Yangzhou bamboo paper technique has long been spread throughout Sichuan, and in the past two years it has spread to other southern provinces.

The improvement of movable type printing technology over a decade, along with the rapid prosperity of the printing industry, also spurred the development of papermaking technology.

Not only bamboo paper making, but also bark paper making has made breakthroughs, with the cost of Fujian bark paper and Jiangxi bark paper both decreasing.

The inexpensive and high-quality paper was very popular in Heian-kyo, severely impacting Japan's fragile paper industry.

In a temple on the outskirts of Heian-kyo, the monk Toba has moved in.

He looked at his new concubine (Fujiwara no Ienari's younger sister) and found her more and more beautiful.

This young lady is only fourteen years old. She recently had her teeth whitened, but she has now stopped doing so and brushes her teeth with white salt every day.

With her hair styled in a traditional Ming Dynasty updo and her delicate, arched eyebrows, the Toba Dharma King surprisingly exuded an exotic charm.

She's absolutely stunning!