Three days ago, the fleet Nick was with had been attacked by pirates. After resting and regrouping, the admiral had ordered them to continue onward. This time, there were clearly far fewer civilian vessels traveling with them. Nick could imagine that they likely intended to pay tribute to the pirates in exchange for safe passage through these waters—unless the Qing navy wiped them out or defeated them.
How to write the memorial would probably give the admiral quite a headache. The emperor did not want to see his supposedly invincible army attacked by pirates. Though they had not lost, the mere fact that pirates dared challenge Great Qing naval power was enough for the emperor to send troops.
Provided the Qing Empire still had enough money and manpower to eliminate the pirates while suppressing the White Lotus Sect rebellion.
Toyotomi Hideyoshi could not continue pursuing his dream of a new East Asian order while also dealing with domestic disorder. Thus, he issued the Sword Hunt Edict and confiscated all weapons from the peasants. Though it was ostensibly because he had forbidden piracy, it was actually to prevent "ikki," a term for peasant uprisings. Many of the Japanese pirates had themselves been ruined peasants.
After confiscating all the weapons, Toyotomi Hideyoshi used the metal to make the nails needed to build the Great Buddha Hall of Hoko-ji.
Supported by Kyoto's great temples, the small Hoko-ji concealed so many secrets. Then there was the period after the Battle of Sekigahara, when Tokugawa Ieyasu established the categories of related daimyo, hereditary daimyo, and outer daimyo. The Mori clan, lords of Choshu Domain, had their holdings reduced after defeat. They had been followers of Toyotomi Hideyoshi and were outer daimyo Tokugawa Ieyasu needed to guard against. Their domain was even smaller than that of