Of course, with the precedent of their scrambling, Kuroda Tadayuki, the head of the Fukuoka Domain's Kuroda clan, and Nabeshima Katsushige, the head of the Saga Nabeshima clan, finally gave up their struggle.

Seeing the other lords' daimyo being released one by one, especially the clan's branch daimyo, they had long been secretly worried.

On the early morning of the tenth day of August, Kuroda Tadayuki, who had been tempered by Yang Zhen and had lost his temper, and Nabeshima Katsushige asked to see Yang Zhen again, and at the same time asked again to send an attendant back to the domain.

Yang Zhen, who was also a little anxious himself, readily agreed to them this time and "lowered" their requirements slightly, specifically allowing them to pay two taels of silver, one stone of rice or one stone of sulfur, etc., in exchange for silver or double the weight.

Copper offsets rice.

The names of these feudal lords are held in Yang Zhen's hands like meat tickets. If they cannot be cashed in as soon as possible, then there is no point in detaining them.

The plague that has spread from Hirado since last year has had a great impact on the surrounding vassal states.

Although they had completed the autumn harvest at that time and collected all the annual tributes that each feudal lord should collect, but people eat what horses chew, and now they are asked to collect tens of thousands of dan and hundreds of thousands of dan of rice at once, which is indeed quite a lot.

Difficulty.

In particular, the Kuroda family, the lord of the Fukuoka clan, and the Nabeshima family, the lord of the Saga clan, are different from the other daimyo.

According to their worth and status, the former needs to pay more than 400,000 dan to redeem him, while the latter needs to pay less, but still needs to pay more than 300,000 dan to redeem him.

No matter how wealthy Fukuoka Domain and Saga Domain were, this amount of supplies would never be available in a short time.

Correspondingly, there are many mountains of silver and copper in the Wonu Kingdom, so the price of silver and copper are relatively low.

And Yang Zhen just needed a lot of silver and a lot of copper materials.

In this way, each other will benefit from each other.

Of course, unlike Yang Zhen who was worried that the other party would not be able to raise enough gold and silver and other materials, Kuroda Tadayuki and Nabeshima Katsushige were most worried about not losing money in terms of gold and silver.

What they are most worried about is the long nights and many dreams. Once the lord of the clan is released, and they do not return to the clan for a long time, their position as head of the clan and the position of the lord of the clan may be usurped.

When that time comes, it will be all over for them.

Therefore, Yang Zhen fully understood their request, and very considerately asked Yu Haichao to lead the fleet to personally send the people they selected to the coast of Hakata Bay.

The coast where Hakata Bay is located is the territory of Fukuoka Domain.

Although it was a bit far from the feudal hall of the Saga Domain, the Nabeshima clan's retainers could successfully reach the territory of the Saga Domain by disembarking from Hakata Bay.

Because Kuroda Tadayuki and Nabeshima Katsushige repeatedly sent people to urge them, and Yang Zhen agreed to their workarounds, at noon on August 13, the Kuroda family of Fukuoka Domain and the Nabeshima family of Saga Domain

Finally someone sent someone to deliver the news.

Fukuoka Domain and Saga Domain together prepared gold, silver, rice and other goods to redeem their feudal lords, including other materials to offset the rice, such as sulfur, horses, cattle, cloth, copperware, etc., east of Iki Island, Hakata

To the west of the entrance of the bay, hills were piled up on the coasts of Saga Domain and Fukuoka Domain, just waiting for ships sent by Yang Zhen to transport them by sea.

In the afternoon of the same day, Yang Zhen ordered Yu Haichao to take the boat to check. After confirmation, he sent people to Iki Island and Tsushima Island to summon the fleet that evening.

In the early morning and noon of August 14th, the 14th year of Chongzhen, the fleet led by Yan Shengsan and Lin Chongfan, who came from Tsushima Island, joined forces with Lin Qingye, Yu Liangtai, and Guo Xiaowu who had arrived outside Hakata Bay earlier.

Moreover, from the beginning of the fleet at noon that day, it was not until noon the next day that the mountains of property and supplies on the coast were counted and loaded in batches, and were gradually transported to Hirado West Bay from that day until the evening.

Then, also in the evening of the same day, Yang Zhen sent Lin Qingye, who returned to Iki Island, to lead a fleet to bring the dejected Kuroda Tadayuki, Nabeshima Katsushige, their retainers, and the captured Ashigaru back to the coast where supplies were shipped.

Facts have proved that Yang Zhen's previous worries were completely correct.

Although the Kuroda family of the Fukuoka clan and the Nabeshima family of the Saga clan have large territories and large businesses, it is simply impossible for them to produce 300,000 to 400,000 koku of rice in a short period of time.

If a workaround had not been adopted later to offset the payment of gold, silver, bronze and other materials needed for the use of Kinkai Town, Kuroda Tadayuki, Nabeshima Katsushige and their retainers would probably have stayed in Hirado Island for a long time.

.

Yang Zhen's detaining these people has no use other than making them work as coolies, and killing them is also meaningless.

Therefore, Yang Zhen was very satisfied that he could use them to exchange for a large amount of real money and a large amount of property and supplies as expected.

At noon on August 15th, all the gold, silver, bronze, rice, cloth, sulfur and other materials that have arrived at Hirado Island since August, including cattle, horses and other living animals, including Lin Qingye, Yan Shengsan and others

The seizures after the occupation of Iki Island and Tsushima Island were counted one by one.

"Captain, we have made a fortune, a great fortune! The total amount of rice is 397,000 taels, silver is 878,000 taels, gold is 113,000 taels, and all kinds of bronzes are about 132,000 taels.

One hundred catties, 27,000 stones of sulfur, 7,000 pieces of silk, satin, and cloth, 1,230 cattle, 1,760 horses..."

In a courtyard with square stone walls and winding paths at the highest point of the basically rebuilt mountain city, Li Lu held a thick stack of registration books and reported to Yang Zhen while smiling with a red face.

Can't close my mouth from ear to ear.

The place where this courtyard is located is where the castle tower, the highest point of the former Hirado Castle building built by the Matsuura clan, was.

However, Yang Zhen doesn't like titles like Honmaru Castle Tower, nor does he like that kind of architectural style.

For the Matsuura clan who once owned Hirado Island, perhaps the towering castle tower on the top of the mountains in Hirado Port could serve as a symbol of its authority, announcing its existence to the ships entering and leaving Hirado Port and the citizens listening at the castle.

.

But for Yang Zhen, doing so is not only unnecessary, but also full of danger.

In the age of cold weapons, it is indeed necessary to be at the commanding heights of a mountain. After all, the higher you are, the safer you are and the less likely you are to be breached by the enemy.

However, in an era when artillery has been widely used on naval warships, tall buildings like the castle tower are very unfavorable for defense in the face of heavy artillery firepower.

It can even be said that the higher you build your pavilion, the more impressive and fancy it looks, and the more dangerous you will be when facing enemies equipped with heavy artillery.

Therefore, when Yang Zhen commanded the troops and thousands of prisoners of war on the island to rebuild and expand the new Hirado Mountain Castle based on the old site of Hirado Castle, he did not restore the original so-called castle tower.

Instead, at the original location of the Hirado Castle Honmaru Castle, eighteen extremely strong stone kilns were built in square directions in the southeast, northwest, and tens of thousands of stone strips with a large amount of glutinous rice mortar.

There are five bays on the north and south sides, four bays on the east and west sides, and there is a passage in the middle of the five bays on the south side. On top of the stone kilns on all four sides are dense forts. They surround the large platform at the highest point of the entire mountain city into a self-contained small

fortress.

Although such a fortress-like building is not very tall and not very beautiful, and is more like a fortress than a residence, such a fortress-like building can definitely withstand heavy artillery bombardment from the sea.

Yang Zhen named this small fort located at the highest point of Hirado Mountain Castle, Zhenwa Fort.

In the middle of the courtyard of this newly built Japanese castle, Yang Zhen sat on a stone bench next to a stone table, leading several major generals around him to listen to the statistical results reported by Li Lu.

Regarding this result, Yang Zhen actually already had some idea in his mind.

However, he was still very happy when he heard the series of numbers Li Lu reported excitedly in person.

Of course, those who were happier than him were the generals he called to discuss matters together.

"After all, the governor is smart! Who would have thought that a few lords of the Bird domain, plus thousands of Japanese slave captives, could be exchanged for so many things! The Japanese are not poor!"

"Yes, the Commander-in-Chief is still smart. I remember when I was in my humble position, I thought it would be satisfying to kill them all. Then the Commander-in-Chief landed with his troops and went straight to rob them!"

"Haha, if it's really like what you said, it would be a pleasure, but who will help us build the city defense? Besides, our brothers will rob it. Not to mention how many casualties there will be, just whether we can rob it so smoothly.

It’s better to talk about two things!”

"That's right! The Commander-in-Chief is still smart! Now we have wiped out the three Japanese feudal clans of Xihai without even taking any action, and we have also made so much gold and silver. Our trip has been considered a complete victory!"

As soon as Li Lu finished talking about all the gains, Zhang Guogan, Zhang Tianbao, Li Lu, Yu Haichao and others saw Yang Zhen smiling and nodding, and they immediately started talking boldly.

Seeing that what they were saying was starting to go astray, Yang Zhen immediately waved his hand to stop their slaps, and said with a smile: "Okay, okay, although the decision to do this was made by me, but the specific things

, but it was you who did it. To achieve this, everyone deserves credit!"

Yang Zhen stopped everyone's discussion with one sentence. He first asked the generals to sit down, and then asked a soldier to bring teapots and bowls to pour for the generals. Then he took a sip of tea himself, and then continued:

"I called you here today. Firstly, I want you all to hear the final results of our Battle of Hirado. Secondly, we also want to tell you about our next plan?

"The Dutch are already here. Our troops, at least our main troops, cannot stay here for a long time. Although I have some ideas in my heart, I also want to hear your opinions."

"Captain, you give the order, we all listen to you!"

"Yes, Governor, what good ideas can we have? Listen to the Governor!"

"We'll fight wherever the governor points us to!"

As soon as Yang Zhen made it clear his intention to come to them, Zhang Guogan, Li Lu, and Zhang Tianbao immediately expressed their determination to obey their orders, which made Yang Zhen shake his head and smile bitterly.

But seeing them like this, Yang Zhen had nothing to say. He looked at Yan Shengsan, who was sitting and drinking tea without saying anything, and asked:

"Yan San, please tell me first, after the main force of our fleet leaves Hirado Island, what will happen here, what will happen to Iki Island, and Tsushima Island? Will the Japanese counterattack again?"

Yan San is the nickname of Yan Shengsan. When he first joined Yang Zhen, Yang Zhen called him Yan San.

Later, when he grew up, Yang Zhen felt that he should be given some dignity and everyone respected him, so he stopped calling him Yan San for a long time.

However, now Yan Shengsan has become the commander-in-chief of the newly-organized South Naval Battalion with powerful firepower. Recently, a separate leader occupied Tsushima Island and eradicated all Ma Zong clan. His abilities and status are already well known.

.

In particular, his steady and fierce fighting style on Tsushima Island not only won the praise of Yang Zhen, but also won the praise of almost all the generals under Yang Zhen's command.

Yan Shengsan, who has not been very prominent in recent years, has become a newly-rising general under Yang Zhen after the battle on Tsushima.

Under such circumstances, calling him the nickname Yan San can actually highlight Yang Zhen's closeness to him.

In addition, Yang Zhen felt that no matter calling him Yan Shengjiang or Yan Shengsan, it seemed a bit too crude, so he called him Yan San again.

"Well, if I go back to the Governor, Tsushima and Iki are two places. In the long run, Tsushima Island is naturally more important, but for now, Iki Island is more critical. To prevent Japanese slaves from counterattack, Hirado Island

There is no room for error, and Iki Island must be on guard against it.”

Faced with the kindness shown in Yang Zhen's words and expression, Yan Shengsan naturally knew that his method of occupying Tsushima Island had won Yang Zhen's heart. While feeling at ease in his heart, he immediately answered Yang Zhen's question.

"Of course, in view of my humble position, Hirado Island and Iki Island used to be the territory of the Matsuura clan and have nothing to do with the Kuroda clan, Nabeshima clan and other feudal lords.

"After this incident, even if the Matsuura clan cannot swallow this breath, they will still counterattack. The Kuroda clan, Nabeshima clan and other feudal lords who are seriously injured will probably not send out troops again to save the Matsuura clan!

"And the Matsuura clan themselves not only lost their prestige this time, but also suffered the heaviest losses in the Japanese slaves, horses and warships. It will be difficult for them to launch a powerful counterattack in a short period of time. Unless——"

"Unless what?"
Chapter completed!