Now, Maeda Toshiie and Tokugawa Ieyasu didn't know what reason they could use to object.
Previously, the opposition was very loud, and the opposition from the Mikado was even more intense. But now, the situation was different. After the war, those who opposed dared not say anything. Those who didn't oppose to the war in the first place strongly advocated to admit defeat and think about it in the future.
The Toyotomi clan and Tokugawa clan considered that Xiao Ruxun had become the Emperor and had no more constraints. Whether or not to start the war was entirely up to him.
Not to mention that he had just established the country, if they really angered him, he would send troops to attack them. If they played a capricious game, everyone would be in trouble.
So, they secretly discussed for five times and finally decided to adopt a two-sided policy. That was, to declare themselves subjects to Qin, and internally, they would still call themselves the Mikado.
This was the game rule that everyone in the former Ming Dynasty agreed on. I respect you as my lord, but you can't interfere when I'm the ruler of my own country.
They thought that Xiao Ruxun was still the same as the previous Emperor. He cared about his face and didn't care about the inside. His words were harsh, but his actions weren't as harsh.
As long as the Mikado appeared to be subjects, it would be fine. But internally, he was still the Mikado of Japan.
So, they formally sent a note to the envoy of Qin, expressing their willingness to accept the request of the Daqin Emperor.
Externally, they agreed to the envoy of Qin's request. They removed the title of Emperor and forced the crying and unwilling Mikado to call himself the Emperor of Japan.
But internally, the Mikado still called himself the Mikado. After the envoy of Qin left, he sent a secret edict to all the feudal lords, detailing the humiliation that the Daqin had inflicted on Japan. He called on everyone to remember today's hatred and work hard to develop themselves in order to take back the Mikado in the future.
Basically, every powerful daimyo had a copy of this edict. Tokugawa Ieyasu was no exception. Every time there was a gathering of different names, Tokugawa Ieyasu would always ask everyone to read this edict, so that they could remember the hatred.
For now, they can't compete with the Qin Army. But after all, they only have 20,000 people in Japan, and the rest are in China.
Tokugawa Ieyasu had also been paying attention to the war in the southwest where the Qin Army had mobilized more than 100,000 soldiers. At that time, his heart was pounding. If the Qin Army had been defeated and the 160,000 soldiers had been wiped out, then they could almost immediately send out their troops to destroy the Toyotomi clan and dominate Japan.
One month later, he received accurate news that the Qin Army had won the war. The Chieftain who dared to resist Xiao Ruxun had been killed, along with his entire family.
This battle allowed Tokugawa Ieyasu to further see the strength of the Qin Army. Although the Qin Army had only been founded for more than a year, its strength could not be underestimated. After all, it was such a big country. Tokugawa Ieyasu now felt that the beautiful future that Toyotomi Hideyoshi described was a bit ridiculous.
Could the Qin Army be defeated so easily?
Was it so easy to enter Beijing?
Now they were still firmly suppressed in their own territory, not to mention other strategies. If they did not take back the territory and unify it, how could they talk about attacking the outside world?
Japan was indeed too small. A qualified leader should have the vision and goal to desire a bigger territory. However, when the target of this goal became a giant, Tokugawa Ieyasu felt that he should think rationally about whether it was worthwhile to do so.
Seven years of development, in the end, was still not as good as the combat power of the Qin Army, which had been established for a year. What else was there to say?
Tokugawa Ieyasu felt that as long as he could take back Ishijian, and then work hard to destroy the Toyotomi clan, unify Japan, and establish a stable regime, that would be enough. He had nothing else to ask for.
As long as the Daqin did not have any designs on Japan, he would be extremely happy.
To be precise, after learning that the Qin Army had won a complete victory in the battle of Bozhou, Tokugawa Ieyasu's goal had become to preserve his territory and not ask for anything else.
Just like these daimyo in front of him, when they were humiliated just now, they were all filled with righteous indignation and tears when they read the imperial edict one by one. But now?
Now the humiliation was still there, but they were no longer filled with righteous indignation like at the beginning.
They had already felt that the Daqin's strength was too terrible.
In the face of such a country, the best outcome was to retreat and protect themselves. Just like North Korea, they could be Daqin's loyal and firm henchmen. Their country had suffered two disasters before, and both times, it was the suzerain who helped them clean up.
It seemed that the Daqin did not intend to annex North Korea at all.
With such a country as an example, many daimyo who were rational or pessimistic had the idea of not wanting to compete with it. They were unwilling to continue spending money on armaments. They just wanted to work harder to develop the local economy and did not want to continue to be enemies with the Qin Army.
There were more people with this idea in the camp of Tokugawa Ieyasu.
Because they did not participate in the battle of North Korea. They only suffered some losses after the landing of the Ming Army. The losses were not big, and the blow they received was not big. There was no blood feud between them, so these people were easy to waver.
On the contrary, many of the daimyo in the Toyotomi clan were related to those who died in the battle of North Korea.
Because at that time, Toyotomi Hideyoshi mainly recruited these troops. During the battle of North Korea, many of them had a blood feud with the Daming and the current Daqin, not to mention the commander-in-chief of that time, the current Qin Emperor Xiao Ruxun.
Make peace? Admit defeat? It was completely unimaginable.
The one they wanted to kill the most was Tokugawa Ieyasu, and the second one was Xiao Ruxun.
After Wu Weizhong showed his muscles, the Tokugawa clan all gave up and admitted defeat. Most of the Toyotomi clan admitted defeat. The iron men who continued to clamor were all diehard members of the Toyotomi clan. They even tried to assassinate Tokugawa Ieyasu and Toyotomi Hidetsugu when the Tokugawa clan and the Toyotomi clan worked together to force the Emperor to issue the imperial edict.
Of course, the result was tragic. They were basically wiped out. Maeda Toshiie would not allow these people to do anything that would damage the fate of the whole Nihon.
Even so, with the suppression of Maeda Toshiie, the Toyotomi clan still brooded over this humiliation. Different from the Tokugawa clan, the Toyotomi clan still had a strong pro-war atmosphere. Many daimyo studied the fighting methods of the Qin Army in the last battle, trying to find the weakness of the Qin Army.
Then, they hastened to recover their strength.
In the past year, they did not slack off. This greatly improved the military strength of the Toyotomi clan, surpassing that of the Tokugawa clan.
Maeda Toshiie increasingly felt that the Toyotomi clan's pro-war forces were on the rise. He did not know where these people got the illusion that after studying the Qin Army in the last battle, they had found a way to deal with the Qin Army. Now, they were working hard to develop their cavalry, guns, and cannons, ready to fight the Qin Army to the death at any time.
What worried him even more was that Toyotomi Hidetsugu seemed to have the same idea, and they were strongly leaning towards the generals of the Owari faction. As for Ishida Mitsunari's civilian faction, because they supported peace talks and did not support war, they were gradually alienated by Toyotomi Hidetsugu. Now, they were leaning towards him.
Maeda Toshiie was very worried about this, especially when he received the news that the Qin Army had quelled the rebellion in the country a few days ago. He was even more convinced that the Daqin, which was growing stronger with each passing day, was not something that the current Nihon could challenge. However, the generals just refused to back down.
Every day, they hugged the imperial edict and cried bitterly, accusing the Daqin of being a tyrant. They swore that they would do their best to help the Mikado regain the right to be called the Mikado. They swore on the sabers in their hands.
Maeda Toshiie felt a headache coming on.
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