In the early years of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang sent emissaries to Japan as an envoy. The purpose is to inform the Japanese state that the Central Plains have changed hands and that the Ming Dynasty is ruling the world, and urge Japan to congratulate Daming as soon as possible and pay tribute.
However, Japan, far beyond the heavy ocean, was in civil war, and there was no time to care about who ruled the Central Plains. Moreover, some Japanese ronin frequently invaded the people of Daming in the coastal areas, making the Daming frontier unstable.
Zhu Yuanzhang angrily rebuked the "king" of Japan: "If you do not ban the behavior of the Wokou again, you will send troops to fight back!" Unexpectedly, the Japanese "king" not only did not buy Ming Taizu's account, but even beheaded the emissaries sent by Daming.
Zhu Yuanzhang was furious and prepared to send troops to attack Japan. At this time, his senior staff officer Liu Bowen came out to urge Zhu Yuanzhang not to send troops, and in the end, Zhu Yuanzhang's plan to attack Japan did not go on.
The angry Hongwu Emperor
If you want to rank the fierce emperors in Chinese history, the Ming Hongwu Emperor will definitely be able to rank in the top ten.
Because this great tomorrow's son, whether in the folk or in the court, is notoriously fiery temper and iron fist. Therefore, ordinary people did not even dare to say more in front of Zhu Yuanzhang, for fear of being guilty of words.
But there is such a group of people, they not only do not take the fiery temper of this great tomorrow's son seriously, but even become fearless. These people are Japanese nationals on the other side of the ocean.
At that time, the Northern Expeditionary Army sent by Zhu Yuanzhang had successfully entered the Capital of Yuan, and the Yuan Shun Emperor fled north to the desert, and it can be said that the Central Plains was already under the control of Daming.
During the Yuan Dynasty, China was the suzerainty of East, South, and Southeast Asian countries, and they not only paid tribute to the Central Plains every year, but also sent emissaries to participate in the celebrations at major ceremonies.
After Daming sat in the world, the clan kings who originally belonged to the vassal states of the Yuan Dynasty expressed their congratulations to Daming and their determination to be loyal to Daming.
Although the feudal states of East and Southeast Asia have basically come, there is only one country that has no news, and that is Japan. Not only did the Japanese state not come to the pilgrimage, but it also connived with its subordinates to rob their homes and houses along our coast, disturbing the Ming frontier very unstable.
Zhu Yuanzhang, who was the son of the Great Ming Dynasty, was naturally very angry, so he sent emissaries to Japan, first, to ask why he did not come to the pilgrimage, and second, to strictly order the Japanese state to ban the matter of wokou.
After the emissaries arrived in Japan, they found that japan was in a civil war, and the island of Japan in the land of bullets was divided into four countries, and they basically occupied one island in one country, and could not form a unified national power at all.
This also explains why when the capitals of other countries came to the pilgrimage, the Japanese countries did not hear from them, because they had no time to care about who sat in the central plains.
As for the matter of the Japanese Wokou, the emissaries of Daming found the monarch of a country that was considered orthodox at that time and clearly expressed to him Daming's position and propositions.
He handed the Japanese monarch an edict from the great tomorrow's son, Zhu Yuanzhang, which said: "If Er waits and does not ban the behavior of the Japanese ronin, he will send troops to attack and arrest you!" ”
However, the Japanese monarch did not buy Zhu Yuanzhang's account, not only did he not take Ming Taizu's words seriously, but he also almost killed the members of the emissaries who came, leaving only one person to return to report the news.
It can be said that those who dared to challenge the authority of the Hongwu Emperor in this way were no longer crushed to pieces in the Central Plains and no longer existed. And it was precisely this small country in the land of bullets that brazenly insulted the Ming Dynasty at the risk of the world's great disobedience.
For a monarch like Hongwu The Great, it was obviously intolerable, and he gathered his courtiers and angrily said: "We will destroy Japan!"
Liu Bowen's vision
You know, the Ming Dynasty at that time was not the Ming Dynasty in the late Zhu Yuanzhang period. At that time, the elite generals of the Ming Dynasty were still alive, and they had the Yangtze River water division that defeated Chen Youyu and the submissive Korean Peninsula.
It can be said that if Daming had taken Korea and crossed the Sea of Japan from there to invade the Japanese mainland, the Japanese state in the civil war would not have been able to resist.
However, at the high-level meeting held by Zhu Yuanzhang, when the generals expressed their intention to attack Japan, one person stood up and put forward different opinions, and he was Liu Bowen.
The world often compares Liu Bowen with Zhuge Kongming, believing that the two of them are: "Zhuge Liang in three parts of the world, and Liu Bowen in the country and mountains." As a result, Liu Ji is often considered to be the most intelligent and the most intelligent figure.
In fact, it is also true that Liu Bowen does have a strategic vision that ordinary people do not have. He resolutely opposed the question of whether or not to destroy Japan, and his reason was two words: not worth it! Therefore, he analyzed the situation in detail to Zhu Yuanzhang:
First, the destruction of Japan will certainly be successful, but the cost will be enormous. He first acknowledged and affirmed the ability of the Daming Water Division, but also analyzed: After all, the Daming Water Division was at war with Chen Youyu in the Yangtze River.
Now to go to the heavy ocean to attack Japan, although it will certainly be victorious in the war, because the Japanese country is indeed vulnerable, but the consumption must be huge, and perhaps some soldiers have already died in the sea before they reach the japanese territory.
Second, the problem of northern Mongolia remains unresolved. Although Zhu Yuanzhang had already ascended the throne as the Son of the Great Tomorrow at this time, the Northern Yuan forces that fled to the desert did not completely disappear, and they were always thinking of counterattacking the Central Plains and retaking Dadu.
In this way, the Ming Dynasty must take out the most elite troops to deal with the northern Mongols, and if it starts a war against the Japanese state at this time, it is bound to increase the burden of the initial Ming Dynasty. Therefore, the destruction of Japan is only a "pain of the skin", and the Mongolian Northern Yuan is the "heart of the heart".
Third, Japan is mostly mountainous and hilly, and even if the Japanese country is destroyed, it will be difficult for Our residents to successfully carry out agriculture on small islands full of mountains and hills. In addition, once Japan was destroyed, officials would be sent to administer it.
Separated by a vast ocean between the Central Plains and the island of Japan, the dispatched officials will not only be sluggish, but also inconvenient for the central government to manage. Over time, on the contrary, it will develop an independent force that is separated from the central jurisdiction, and the tail will not be able to fall, and it will be difficult to deal with.
These three points were analyzed layer by layer, and the situation between China and Japan was explained very thoroughly, and it also successfully impressed Zhu Yuanzhang.
The country of non-conquest
Although Zhu Yuanzhang was a monarch with a strong personality, he was by no means a monarch who did not distinguish between right and wrong. After listening to Liu Bowen's thorough analysis, he also calmed down. He summoned Liu Bowen to come to a detailed exchange, and after rationally thinking about the situation in the country, he finally decided to cancel the plan to attack japan.
Not only did he not carry out his own plan to destroy Japan, but he also warned his descendants not to use military force, and listed 15 overseas countries, including Korea and Japan, as "countries without conquest," which means never to be conquered.
It can be said that although this Hongwu Emperor fought in the south and the north all his life and fought all over the world without encountering opponents, he was by no means a monarch who launched a war at will and with great merit and military force.
He warned his subjects to be cautious in the use of soldiers, saying: "Fighting with soldiers is like a doctor prescribing medicine, and a person who is not sick takes medicine frequently, and he wants to eat people badly." ”
It was this remarkable statesman's vision, coupled with Liu Bowen's proper analysis, that made the plan to destroy Japan in the early Ming Dynasty ultimately fail.