Chapter 899: Inspection to the North (1)
The day before departure, Xu Yuzhuo, who got the news from nowhere, hurried to the headquarters and asked to send someone to join the expedition fleet. Qian Tiandun originally wanted to argue that the rated capacity was full and it was inconvenient for more people to board the ship, but Xu Yuzhuo seemed to have expected that Qian Tiandun would find such an excuse and offered to send his own ship to join the ship, without any cost or supplies. Responsible.
The reason why Xu Yuzhuo actively participated in the inspection mission was naturally because he had understood the behavior habits of the Haihan people through long-term contact. In Xu Yuzhuo's opinion, this so-called inspection activity means that the Haihan people are already preparing to attack the next target. Such actions are often followed by a series of engineering construction and commercial development, and the benefits that can be obtained in the future are worth looking forward to.
The previous example is Haihan's actions on Taiwan Island. At that time, Haihan did not inform the Fujian government when he was scouting the Tainan area. As a result, the Fujian side fell into a series of passivity in the development process of Tainan's Kaohsiung Port and was almost defeated by their Guangdong counterparts. It squeezed out the competition of this emerging trade port. Since then, Fujian officials have been very concerned about Haihan's so-called "inspection", "exploration" and other activities. As long as there is news, they will definitely apply to participate, in order to avoid missing opportunities again. The small cost of participating in such an operation is nothing compared to the possible benefits later.
Qian Tiandun didn't know whether to laugh or cry about this. Although Xu Yuzhuo's judgment was correct, even if Haihan wanted to go northward next, he would probably have to wait for a year and a half until the situation in Zhoushan stabilized before he could act. Otherwise, this base will not be stable, and how will it provide for the early development of the next stronghold. Xu Yuzhuo was afraid of missing the opportunity to make a fortune, but he didn't know that it would take a relatively long time before he could see the hope of getting his money back.
Qian Tiandun couldn't defeat Xu Yuzhuo, and finally gave him a quota. This expedition to the north is considered a military operation, and it is not convenient to bring too many irrelevant people with us. It is enough to go and see the local situation on behalf of the Xu family.
The candidate arranged by Xu Yuzhuo is not unfamiliar, it is Xu Ke, the secret agent arranged by the Xu family in Ningbo. Xu Ke lives by the sea all year round and has pretty good sailing skills. Memorizing the route will definitely not be a big problem. Moreover, he is not a member of the military and follows the Haihan Militia, so his identity is not that sensitive. After Haihan gradually took over the Ningbo government, he didn't have much to do on Zhoushan Island, so Xu Yuzhuo simply arranged for him to follow him to the north to see what good things there were.
On the morning of July 20, a fleet of four ships slowly left the Dinghai Port pier. The destination of this fleet was kept secret from the outside world. In order to avoid attracting too much attention from the outside world, neither Qian Tiandun nor Shi Diwen showed up at the dock to see them off. Only Gao Qiaonan made a trip on behalf of the headquarters.
According to the route set by the navy, this fleet will first visit the west coast of Kyushu Island, then go all the way north through the Korean Strait to Jeju Island, and finally return west to the Daming Coast. Under the command of Wu Sen, the fleet sailed eastward along the coastline of Zhoushan Island through Qitouyang, and then passed through Puchen Waterway between Shenjiamen Fishing Port and Putuo Mountain, and sailed into the East China Sea.
It is about 500 nautical miles from here to Kagoshima Bay at the southern tip of Kyushu Island in Japan. There are basically no islands or ports for supply on the way. In order to be able to confirm the location after arriving at the local area, Shiro Amakusa, a Japanese naturalized citizen who belongs to the special operations battalion, also set off with the fleet this time.
Amakusa Shiro's hometown is Kumamoto Castle in Kyushu, Japan, and his background is not as good as Takahashi Minami. He does not even have the status of a low-level samurai, and his name only comes from the local place name and the ranking of his brothers in the family. However, his luck was not bad. Takahashi Minami was very unhappy when he recommended him to the headquarters. This kind of opportunity to return to his hometown to visit relatives may only be once in his life, but Takahashi Minami himself was busy with military affairs. Unable to make the trip, I could only recommend Amakusa Shiro, who was also born in Japan.
Amakusa Shiro himself didn't have any special feelings about the opportunity to return to Kyushu this time. His situation in his hometown was not very good, otherwise he would not have been exiled overseas. As for the idea of returning home in glory, he has no idea at all. He has spent about the same time in the militia as Gao Qiaonan. If he can sneak into the battalion commander and lead this unit like Gao Qiaonan, he may still have some pride, but he Now he is just a deputy company commander, and there is also a young leader in the fleet, Chen Yixin, so he can only behave honestly.
Amakusa Shiro just hopes that this mission can be completed smoothly without any glitches. After returning, the headquarters will definitely report the merits to the Military Commission. Then he may have the opportunity to add to his military resume. As a result, his position as chief was changed to a regular position.
Wu Sen, who was also a naturalized officer, felt a little different at this time. He was captured in the Battle of Hue in 1629 and later surrendered to Hai Han, but his promotion speed in the army was not affected at all by his status as an enemy general. This time, Shi Diwen boldly handed over the navigation command of the expedition fleet to him, which fully demonstrated the trust of Haihan's military leaders in him. The destination this time was a completely unfamiliar sea area to Wu Sen, so he was holding back his energy to perform well in front of Chen Yixin and prove that he was capable of commanding a fleet to perform missions in an unfamiliar area.
Four days after setting off, an island finally appeared on the sea in front of the fleet. After identification by Amakusa Shiro, it was confirmed that it was an uninhabited island called Kuroshima. The voyage from here to Kagoshima Bay was only less than fifty nautical miles. . Takemori secretly breathed a sigh of relief. The four-day sea voyage basically did not deviate from the scheduled route. He almost drew a straight line from Zhoushan to Kagoshima Bay at the southern tip of Kyushu Island. His role as a commander can be considered to be fully played. So vividly.
Compared to the Haihan fleet that came here for the first time, their allies the Portuguese must be more familiar with this place. In 1543, the Portuguese settled on Tanegashima, south of Kagoshima Bay, and in the next few years, they introduced Western muskets and religion to Japan. Although Japan's isolation policy has been implemented for a long time, and the prohibition of Western religions in the Kyushu region has been promulgated for many years, it is said that there are still some Portuguese people settled on Tanegashima, doing some smuggling that has been expressly prohibited by the Edo shogunate Business.
According to the information provided by Amakusa Shiro, the attitude of local officials towards overseas visitors was not very friendly, so the fleet was not in a hurry to sail into Kagoshima Bay. Instead, it found a fishing port to dock near Sata Cape at the southernmost tip of Kyushu.
There is a small fishing village on the coast of this place. Perhaps the people here have seen the Portuguese from the west, so they did not appear panicked when they saw the large ships of the Haihan fleet.
Since the water on the coast was not deep enough for the fleet to dock directly, Takemori ordered to anchor about a hundred meters away from the coast, then lowered the small boat from the ship and asked Amakusa Shiro to lead the team to row ashore to buy supplies from the locals. This village is located in a mountainous area near the sea. There are only about twenty households in total. The population is less than a hundred people. The supplies it can provide are also extremely limited. In addition to fresh water and seafood, there is only a little green vegetables. It is so poor that it does not even have poultry or livestock. .
After Shiro Amakusa determined that it was safe on the shore, Chen Yixin also boarded the land in a small boat. He had never been to Japan before traveling through time. This was also his first time setting foot on this island country, so it was still somewhat fresh. However, there is really nothing to investigate in this place. The situation of the villagers reminded Chen Yixin not only of what he saw when he landed at Victory Port six years ago, but the Yulin Fishing Village at that time was almost like this.
The villagers did not reject the arrival of this group of strangers, because these visitors were very generous and took out silver ingots. After the village chief took the money, he happily mobilized the villagers to quickly buy supplies for these rich men.
The fleet only rested here for one night, and set off the next day, heading north along the west coast of Osumi Peninsula. However, the fleet did not intend to go deep into Kagoshima Bay. When it reached the southern tip of the Satsuma Peninsula, it turned west and cut across the entrance of Kagoshima Bay. The Kagoshima area is not the focus of this investigation, and Chen Yixin does not intend to waste precious time here. It is enough to check the coastline changes on the map while passing by.
This area at the southern end of Kyushu Island belongs to the territory of Satsuma Domain, which was also one of the southwestern territories during the shogunate period. The Satsuma Domain not only controlled the Kagoshima area, but even the Ryukyu Kingdom in the south was under the control of the Satsuma Domain during this period. However, the reason for controlling Ryukyu is not that the Satsuma clan covets the little sea land, but because the Edo shogunate implements the policy of seclusion. The Satsuma clan wants to trade with the Ming Dynasty across the sea, but cannot openly confront the shogunate, so they use Ryukyu as a cover. Use it as a window for trade with the Ming Dynasty.
However, this inspection trip did not include the Ryukyu Islands in the south. The focus of the Kyushu region was still on Nagasaki, Sasebo, Hirado and the Goto Islands in the north.
From the southern tip of Kyushu Island to Nagasaki Port, there is a voyage of nearly 100 nautical miles. The fleet specially slowed down its speed in order to inspect the coastal conditions, so the voyage took nearly two days to complete.
Nagasaki is located on the west coast of Kyushu Island. It has been Japan's external gateway since ancient times. As early as the Sui and Tang Dynasties, most of Japan's envoys to the Sui Dynasty, envoys to the Tang Dynasty, and monks set out from here to go to China. By the Ming Dynasty, a large number of maritime merchants from China's coastal areas also went to Japan to do business. In the mid-16th century, the Portuguese and the Dutch also arrived here and began to establish trade relations with Japan. Beginning in the 17th century, the Edo shogunate gradually restricted the trading venues of foreign ships. By 1635, two years later, Nagasaki would become Japan's only foreign trade port, and this continued for nearly two centuries. Unique status. Of course, due to the addition of a group of time travelers like Haihan in this time and space, perhaps Japan's future trend will no longer be exactly the same as its original historical trajectory.
"Nagasaki is a port city with many different aspects. You will see Tang Dynasty Town, Confucius Temple, and Western churches. It is similar to Haojingao in Guangdong and Laoshuangyu Port in Zhoushan." During the voyage, Amakusa Shiro introduced the local situation in Nagasaki to Chen Yixin. He had lived in Nagasaki for a period of time, so he was familiar with the local area. Maritime merchants and sailors from various countries brought different cultures, making Nagasaki's local customs and customs uniquely diversified.
When the fleet sailed into Nagasaki Bay, Chen Yixin felt more intuitively why this place has been a common choice for sailors and merchants from all over the world for a long time. The long harbor here, surrounded by mountains on three sides and facing the sea on one side, is indeed in good condition. A natural harbor. From a military perspective, the pincer-shaped highlands on both sides of the harbor entrance are also excellent defensive terrain. Only a few artillery can be mounted to completely block the access channels to the port area. If the radical elements of the Navy and the Ministry of Shipping were to see it, they would immediately clamor to take over this place.
As a comprehensive trading port that brings together merchants from all over the world, the attitude here is very friendly to outsiders. After the Haihan fleet sailed into the harbor, it did not cause any chaos. However, after the blond European sailors on the shore saw the red and blue flags on the mast, they couldn't hide the surprise on their faces. They must have been surprised to see Haihan's sailboat here. Those with quick thinking are probably already figuring out the real purpose of the Haihan people appearing here.
Someone on the dock led them to an empty berth and docked. Then the port management staff boarded the ship and asked them about the purpose of their visit and took notes. In addition, you need to pay a certain amount of docking fees to use the pier here. Chen Yixin asked someone to pay for three days in advance, because this place requires a longer stay for inspection.
As soon as Chen Yixin landed on the shore surrounded by a group of guards, a group of locals surrounded him. They were not here to beg for money, but to ask the new businessman to hire one of them as a local guide. Chen Yixin was too lazy to pay attention to these trivial matters, so he handed them over to Amakusa Shiro.
Although Shiro Amakusa lived in Nagasaki for a period of time, that was many years ago. He dare not say that he knows the current situation here better than these locals. However, he still cautiously asked the price first. Basically, it was one denarius a day. There were also one or two guys who claimed to have special connections and could pass messages to local officials on their behalf, and the price was three denarius a day.
Amakusa Shiro knew that those who shouted high prices might just be bragging, so he planned to hire one of those with low prices, but Chen Yixin stopped him from doing so: "Just hire the ones with the highest price, and we won't hire as many as you want." It’s just a little short of money.”
Although Amakusa Shiro didn't know what he meant, he still followed Chen Yixin's wishes.
(End of chapter)