I was living at the end of the Ming Dynasty, and I dealt a brutal blow to the Eight Banners!

A tavern next to the dock.

Up in the attic on the second floor.

Katsushige Nabeshima knelt on the ground with his feet turned inward, a perfectly standard kneeling posture.

He slightly raised his eyes.

The Earl of Pinglu of the Ming Dynasty sat in the same spot he had previously occupied, while the seat of the Tokugawa patriarch remained empty.

When the Ming warships approached, he led a group of feudal lords to the dock to greet them, while the Tokugawa patriarch waited in the tavern.

It's likely that after realizing something was wrong, the Tokugawa patriarch left the city immediately under the protection of his guards.

Anyway, it's good to get out of the city.

There is an army of 800 men outside the city. Hopefully, the Tokugawa lord can bring the troops here and retake Nagasaki.

"Is the vassal lord waiting for the eight hundred vassal soldiers outside the city?" Zhang Jingchuan asked.

A Ming Dynasty merchant fluent in Japanese translated Zhang Jingchuan's words verbatim to Nabeshima Katsushige.

Katsushige Nabeshima was taken aback at first, then silently lowered his head.

Zhang Jingchuan grinned and said, "It's alright. The lord can send a trusted confidant to mobilize troops outside the city and see if your troops can take Nagasaki Castle, which is defended by this lord."

Katsushige Nabeshima frowned but remained silent.

"I'll take all the goods in the city. You don't have any objections, do you?"

"These are all Dutch goods..." Nabeshima Katsushige said with a hint of threat, "Does the Ming Dynasty intend to go to war with the Dutch?"

"Heh heh, did the Dutchman pay a deposit?"

Katsushige Nabeshima was stunned, his eyes filled with horror.

Zhang Jingchuan has already made his point so clear; if he still doesn't understand, he wouldn't be worthy of being a vassal lord.

“I’m not taking these goods for nothing,” Zhang Jingchuan said leisurely, sipping his sake. “From now on, I will protect your Hizen Domain. If the Tokugawa family can have these things, why can’t you, Nabeshima Katsushige, have them too!”

Nabeshima Katsushige raised an eyebrow, looking at the daimyo before him with surprise, and couldn't help but say, "I, Nabeshima Katsushige, am deeply trusted by the Tokugawa family, and I would never do anything to betray my lord!"

"Excellent!" Zhang Jingchuan praised with a smile, "The vassal lord is indeed loyal and righteous!"

"But..." Zhang Jingchuan changed the subject, turning his gaze to a group of vassal lords standing outside the tavern downstairs, and asked, "I wonder if your vassal lords are as loyal to you as you are?"

The implication is that,

I can support you, and I can support others.

If you were to support one of your vassals to become a vassal lord, how do you think he would treat you, his former master?

To consolidate their authority and rule, they'll probably kill your whole family!

or,

If you cooperate with me, I'll help you rise to power and establish a Nabeshima Shogunate.

You can get things you could never get now.

or,

If I help someone else rise to power, you'll see if the newcomer later kills your whole family and that's it.

Katsushige Nabeshima's face was extremely grim.

Zhang Jingchuan gave him a choice, but in reality, he had no choice at all.

Some things, once you possess them, you can never easily let go of them, because the consequence of letting go could very well be the death of your entire family.

Katsushige Nabeshima knew this better than anyone else.

The human heart is the most vulnerable thing, and Katsushige Nabeshima would not gamble his entire family's lives on human nature.

"Your Excellency, what would you like me to do?" Nabeshima Katsushige asked helplessly.

Zhang Jingchuan was not surprised at all by Katsushige Nabeshima's compromise.

Because the profession of "collaborator" transcends time and national boundaries; as long as the threats and benefits are sufficient, people will voluntarily take on this role.

Zhang Jingchuan smiled slightly and said, "I plan to establish a Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere..."

Then,

Zhang Jingchuan then shared his thoughts.

The general idea is that...

Economically,

Strengthen trade between Japan and Liaodong Guam, sell more valuable goods such as silk, ceramics, and jewelry to Japan, and then buy cheaper items such as samurai swords, sulfur, sappanwood, and raw copper.

Moreover, this trade relationship was unilateral and exclusive, meaning that Japan could not do business with any other country except for Zhang Jingchuan. If discovered, it would be suppressed by the Liaodong Navy and the Ming Army in Liaodong.

In this way, Japan's trade imports and exports would still be conducted in Nagasaki, and the resulting tax revenue would not be handed over to the Tokugawa Shogunate, but would be divided between the Zhang Jingchuan family and the Nabeshima Katsushige family.

In this way, the profits facing Katsushige Nabeshima will increase several times over.

In military terms,

Zhang Jingchuan would help Nabeshima Katsushige establish a puppet army in the Hizen Domain. Zhang Jingchuan would send people to train the army and provide them with advanced firearms, with the aim of suppressing the domain lords who opposed him.

At the same time, it can also consolidate Katsushige Nabeshima's regime and position.

In terms of culture,

The Hizen Domain promoted Chinese language education, deeply integrating Confucianism and Mencianism into Japan, thereby increasing the Japanese people's cultural identity and sense of belonging to Chinese civilization.

At the same time, some Japanese children will be selected and sent to Liaodong to study.

In this way, a large number of pro-Ming factions will be cultivated, and when the time is right, these pro-Ming factions will be supported to become the de facto rulers of Japan.

on the other hand,

Zhang Jingchuan would recruit a large number of laborers and young women from Japan and send them to Liaodong under the guise of labor dispatch to help Liaodong develop and build.

Of course,

Zhang Jingchuan did not reveal any details about the Japanese puppet army.

In his vision, the role of the Japanese puppet army was not only to maintain Zhang Jingchuan's influence in Japan, but also to be able to be deployed to the Liaodong front to fight against the Qing army at any time.

After hearing Zhang Jingchuan's ideas and plans, Nabeshima Morishige was greatly shocked, but he did not show any resistance.

After all, for Japan at this time, the concept of a nation had not yet fully taken shape, and the emperor was merely a political symbol in the minds of the people.

In Japan, actual political power remained in the hands of the samurai class, such as the Tokugawa Shogunate.

Zhang Jingchuan wasn't worried at all about the Tokugawa family using the Emperor's name to cause trouble, because the old tricks of using the Emperor to command the feudal lords and purging corrupt officials were things that their ancestors had already done. What truly determined success or failure was the hard power in their hands.

Two days later,

Zheng Zhilong, who was waiting for orders on Hansan Island in Korea, landed in Hirado, Hizen Domain with a thousand warships and 20,000 pirates after receiving instructions from Zhang Jingchuan. He conquered the city and seized territory at an astonishing speed and then joined forces with Zhang Jingchuan in Nagasaki.

Zhang Jingchuan left with his soldiers and warships laden with cargo, and Zheng Zhilong officially took over Nagasaki.

……

At the end of June,

Zhang Jingchuan returned to Fuzhou Guard and began training cavalry.

The battle at Guangning has reached a stalemate.

Dorgon's main Qing army surrounded the entire city of Guangning, leaving Ma Shaoyu, who was inside the city, isolated.

Subsequently, Huang Taiji wrote a letter to Wu Sangui, who intended to rush to Guangning's aid, urging him to surrender. Ming generals who had surrendered, such as Deng Changchun, Chen Bangxuan, Jiang Xin, and Zhang Cunren, also wrote letters to Wu Sangui urging him to surrender, but Wu Sangui did not respond.

Minister of War Chen Xinjia sent someone to deliver Emperor Chongzhen's decree to Li Ruolian of Zhongqiansuo in Guangning, and instructed Li Ruolian to send the decree to Fuzhouwei.

Zhang Jingchuan looked at the imperial edict in his hand, then raised his eyes to Li Ruolian and said:

"His Majesty ordered me to quickly lead my troops back to Guangning to provide reinforcements, saying that if I disobeyed the order, he would cut off my troops' food and supplies."

As he spoke, Zhang Jingchuan pointed behind Li Ruolian.

Li Ruolian gave a bitter smile.

Turning around to look at the granary behind him, he saw that the huge granary was already full of grain transported from Goryeo.

Zhang Jingchuan grinned and said:

"I, Zhang Jingchuan, can support my own troops!"

……