Xiao Ruxun was also satisfied with Tokugawa Ieyasu's obedient attitude. He praised Tokugawa Ieyasu's loyal behavior and praised Tokugawa Ieyasu's loyalty. He said that Tokugawa Ieyasu was the most loyal dog of the Daming Army. All the small daimyo had to listen to his orders obediently. Otherwise, they would all die miserably!
When they parted, Xiao Ruxun noticed that Tokugawa Ieyasu's expression did not seem to be very good.
Hmph! Old fox, you have to pay a price for using the tiger's might, right?
Borrowing the military might of the Ming Army, he forcefully took away the most fertile piece of land. He was still a daimyo with a million stones and did not lose anything. The property, family members, and retainers in the territory would be politely sent over by the Toyotomi Clan. His position was preserved. However, it was different for the other daimyo. Some of them obtained more land, while some obtained less new land than before.
Under the pressure of Xiao Ruxun, they did not dare to say anything. However, they would transfer this anger to Tokugawa Ieyasu. Tokugawa Ieyasu would be isolated because of this, and these daimyo would also become his subordinates.
In this way, if he wanted to ensure his position and not be taken advantage of by the Toyotomi Clan, he had to get the support of the Ming Army and become a loyal supporter of the Ming Army. Once he lost the support of the Ming Army, not many of these daimyo would be willing to stand on his side. It was very likely that they would be the first to rebel when the war started in the future.
Furthermore, he had also noticed that Xiao Ruxun did not have any good intentions. Nominally, the four countries that were given to him were worth more than 1,300,000 stones. However, these regions had suffered the greatest losses during the war in North Korea. Most of the men had been transferred away, and most of the manpower and resources had been consumed. Other than a few regions, most of the regions were riddled with holes and needed to be reorganized. There was no way for him to strengthen his army for battle.
He still had a debt of four million taels of silver. Although his personal wealth was enough to pay a considerable part of it, it was still his personal wealth. It was the foundation of his family's prosperity and one of the foundations to ensure his status. He could not use it carelessly. If he handed it over to Daming, his foundation would be shaken. He needed a large amount of money to maintain his status and dignity. This money was the source of his confidence as a lord.
Of course, he was not worried that there would be a war in the next few years. He had suffered heavy losses, but the Toyotomi Clan was not much better off. The daimyo under him did not gain any benefits. The daimyo under the Toyotomi Clan had either died or were injured. There were only a few left. The remaining small daimyo might instead become the biggest beneficiaries of this war in Japan. They would get some empty territories.
This war started by Toyotomi Hideyoshi had come to an end. However, everyone knew that this war was not truly over. The distribution of benefits was uneven, the defeat of foreign countries and the signing of unequal treaties, the demands for benefits were not satisfied, and the blood feud had not been pacified. There were too many fuses for the war. If it was not for the strong suppression of the Ming Army, this war would not have stopped.
It was the same for Toyotomi. Toyotomi Hideyoshi was dead, and Toyotomi Hidetsugu barely managed to stabilize the situation. He replaced the previous functions of Toyotomi Hideyoshi's retainers with his own group of retainers and barely managed to maintain the situation. The war was imminent, and the bad guys were also quietly waiting for the result. They did not know whether they would help Toyotomi or Tokugawa. However, the situation had changed. Both Toyotomi and Tokugawa had been defeated by the Ming Army. Under the mediation of the Ming Army, the two parties shook hands and made peace, dividing up Japan.
Some people were dissatisfied with the unreasonable demands of the Ming Army. They demanded that the whole Country of Japan should gather the strength of the Ming Army to fight a life-and-death battle to regain the dignity of the country. However, such voices were too weak. Most people were more concerned about how much benefits they could get under the new situation and whether they could become the final winner.
For this reason, they kept running up and down, building bridges, and fighting for better land for themselves. No one had the mood to think about fighting with the Ming Army to take back the Shikkan Ginzan.
Anyway, even if they took it back, the silver from the Shikkan Ginzan would not fall into their pockets.
The new situation now was that the Toyotomi clan controlled two-thirds of the land of Japan, while the Tokugawa clan occupied one-third. From then on, only a small amount of the production from the one-third of the territory would be sent to Kyoto in the name of offering to the Mikado. Other than that, everything else would be handled by the Tokugawa clan themselves. In order to promote such a situation of barely peace, with the support of the representative of the Ming Army and the mediation of the three parties, the Emperor of Japan finally decided to appoint Tokugawa Ieyasu as the Western Conquering General to guard the west.
The Western Conquering General was the representative of the shogunate. Being appointed as the Western Conquering General meant that one had the qualification to open the shogunate and become the common master of the martial families and feudal lords in the world. However, the Toyotomi clan could not get this position, let alone allow Tokugawa Ieyasu to get it.
Under the operation of Maeda Toshiie and the obstruction of the Toyotomi clan, the Emperor of Japan had to appoint Tokugawa Ieyasu as the Western Conquering General and could not open the shogunate. However, Maeda Toshiie still felt that it was inappropriate. Under his strong request, the word "General" was removed, and Tokugawa Ieyasu could only become the Western Conquering General.
This nondescript title made Tokugawa Ieyasu very dissatisfied. However, due to the actual situation, he did not have the face to ask for a higher position. He could only put what he got into his pocket, and then use Xiao Ruxun's prestige to distribute the compensation of four million taels of silver to more than 20 daimyo. In order to alleviate the conflict to the greatest extent, he took on the most responsibility, and for this, he even paid a big price.
At the same time, in order to calm the people's hearts, to further consolidate the power, and to prevent any internal conflicts in the Toyotomi clan, Maeda Toshiie strongly requested the Emperor to officially appoint Toyotomi Hidetsugu as the Western Conquering General, allowing him to open the shogunate and stabilize the position of the world's ruler. This request was strongly opposed by the Emperor's puppet imperial court. If Toyotomi Hideyoshi wanted it, they would not give it to him, let alone the second-generation Toyotomi regime that was already greatly weakened. How could a person of humble birth get such a position?
However, considering the Toyotomi clan's kindness to the Emperor's court, and Maeda Toshiie's threat of secretly killing a few of the fiercest ministers, the Emperor himself decided to give the title of the Eastern Conquering General to Toyotomi Hidetsugu. In addition, Toyotomi Hidetsugu still held the position of Guan Bai, to ensure that their positions were equal, or even higher.
Since then, there were two generals in Japan, one Eastern Conquering General, and the other Western Conquering General. In the end, no one knew who would become the final Western Conquering General and open the shogunate.
Therefore, everyone was even more certain that the final war would come, but no one knew when the war would start again. The only thing everyone knew was that the next war would be the end of Japan, and now, it was just a temporary truce.
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