What are some stories about "translation" in ancient China?

The story about translation that I want to share with you today is definitely a miracle. It happened during the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty. Although the story itself is not very well-known, it is closely related to the famous "Three Great Conquests of Wanli". This story is not only legendary, but also has a very strong sense of humor, which is impressive and makes people laugh and cry!

During the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty, Toyotomi Hideyoshi unified Japan for the first time in the Warring States Period in 1590. Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who was immersed in the victory of the war, became arrogant and ambitious, and attempted to use North Korea to attack the Ming Dynasty. After being rejected by North Korea, Toyotomi Hideyoshi resolutely launched a war against North Korea in 1591. The Japanese army with high morale quickly took over important Korean towns such as Busan and Kaesong, and almost wiped out the entire North Korea. As a satellite state of the Ming Dynasty, North Korea asked the Ming Dynasty for help at this time. The Ming Dynasty quickly sent troops (non-elite troops) to aid Korea, but was unexpectedly defeated. The reason was that the Ming Dynasty underestimated the strength of the Japanese army and thought that the Japanese army this time were ordinary Japanese pirates. So the Ming Dynasty quickly assembled hundreds of thousands of elite troops, led by Li Rusong, the son of the famous general Li Chengliang, and sent troops to North Korea and defeated the Japanese army. The Japanese army that had not been wiped out retreated to the Busan area, so the armies of both sides reached a stalemate, and negotiations ensued, which led to the farce-like story I am going to tell today.

Since it is a Sino-Japanese negotiation, it must be someone who is proficient in the two languages. However, since the maritime ban in the Ming Dynasty, communication with Japan has been almost cut off, and naturally no one in the country can speak Japanese. But for some unknown reason, a man named Shen Weijing from Jiaxing, Zhejiang Province was proficient in Japanese and was recommended to the imperial court as the Chinese negotiator. Historical records show that Shen Weijing was originally just a rogue in the market. The Japanese representative in the negotiations was a man named Konishi Yukinaga. This man was originally a businessman and later became a subordinate of Toyotomi Hideyoshi. This man advocated the resumption of trade between China and Japan. This had a lot to do with the subsequent development of the story. Big impact.

So President Konishi started negotiations with Shen Weijing with the seven "dream conditions" proposed by Toyotomi Hideyoshi (because most of them were very unrealistic). What's even more amazing is that Shen Weijing initially agreed to Toyotomi Hideyoshi's "Seven Dream Articles", and then compiled a separate Japanese condition and presented it to Emperor Wanli. The content was roughly as follows: Japanese troops will withdraw from Korea and no longer intrude. ; The two sides ceased war and made peace; Japan was willing to become a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty. Emperor Wanli looked at this condition and was naturally confused. This was too unexpected and unbelievable, so he sent someone to confirm with Japan.

The person sent by Japan this time is a confidant of Governor Konishi, so it is not difficult to imagine that the result of the confirmation is naturally correct. The Ming Dynasty was naturally very satisfied with Japan's conditions, so it agreed with Toyotomi Hideyoshi. The delighted Emperor Wanli wrote an imperial edict based on the false conditions reported by Shen Weijing, and sent people to Japan to read it to Toyotomi Hideyoshi. Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who was originally happy, became even more confused after learning the true content of the imperial edict. So the farce caused by the translator's nonsense finally revealed its true colors, and the peace talks collapsed, and Japan quickly restarted The end of the war. Such a seemingly incredible farce actually happened in the Ming Dynasty.