康、乾時人夏敬渠之作《野叟曝言》，以「托於有明」的策略模糊虛、實，寫出中國軍隊橫渡海洋，生擒木秀（豐臣秀吉），直搗日本東京港的想像，布局可謂大膽。夏敬渠筆下的日本在木秀、寬吉夫婦統治之下，篤信佛教，荒淫無度，因此渡海之戰象徵的首先是「正統∕異端」的對抗，這場戰役可以說是「宗教的戰爭」。其次，明軍與倭兵決勝之地點，從飽受倭患蹂躪的東南沿海或朝鮮，轉移到了臺灣，當是受到康熙平臺的啟發；小說言日本收入中國版圖後「洵東瀛之雄鎮，而遼海之屏藩也」，也與施琅主張臺灣沿海「左護」的地理價值有關。此外，儘管洪武曾宣稱日本為「不征之國」，興兵不祥，採取保守、自衛的海洋戰略，但實際上洪武、萬曆都曾萌生過征倭搗巢的構想，只不過基於現實考量與外交方針，最終未能付諸實現。職是，《野叟曝言》中的情節看似荒誕不羈，卻非全屬杜撰，作者乃是於說部之中，做足了天子及讀書人未竟的大夢。

During the High Qing, Xia Jingqu 夏敬渠 imagined a plot where the Ming army crossed the sea, took Mu Xiu 木秀 (Toyotomi Hideyoshi 豐臣秀吉) captive, and invaded the capital of Japan with relative ease in his work Humble World of a Rustic Elder 野叟曝言(Yesou puyan). In this novel, the Japanese were ruled by a dissolute couple, Mu Xiu and Kuan Ji 寬吉(the two characters xiu and ji when placed together become Hideyoshi in Kanji), who both believed in a Buddhist heresy. Hence, the war which crossed the ocean may first be considered as religious—orthodox agaisnt heretic. Secondly, the battlefield where the Ming and the Japan engaged each other shifted from the southeast coast of China and the Korean Peninsula—which was ravaged by the Wokou 倭寇 during the Ming dynasty—to Taiwan, which was inspired by the Kangxi Emperor and Shi Lang’s 施琅 annexation of Taiwan. After being incorporated into China’s territory, Japan was also regarded as an imposing garrison of East China within the novel; this plot point was related to Shi Lang’s position on Taiwan which advocated for its geographical value as a “protector.” Additionally, although the Hongwu Emperor declared that Japan was one of the “Nations not to be Subdued,” in reality both the Hongwu Emperor and the Wanli Emperor had planned to invade Japan; however, the invasion was never carried out due to a mix of foreign affairs and realistic considerations. Accordingly, this episode in the Humble World of a Rustic Elder seems to maintain a level of absurdity, but may also realized the unfulfilled dream of the Ming emperor.