Section 7: The Secret Treaty in the East China Sea (Part 2)
When Zhao Yanhao saw that Yamada Yurong had so readily conveyed the message and agreed to the trade request, the atmosphere immediately became relaxed. Zhao Yanhao asked Zhao Kui to bring the foreign trade company's product manual - the same series of products that Heping Qiu Sheng showed to Zhou Xingru
.The exquisite brochure and the dazzling array of various products in the book opened the eyes of Yuei Yamada, who was born in a remote rural area in Japan, and made various sighs from time to time.
"They are all worth buying..." Yuei Yamada reluctantly put down the booklet and said.
Similar things have actually appeared one after another in the Satsuma Domain. People only know that they are Australian goods coming from Sakai Port. No one in Satsuma knows what the Australians are like and what the Australian ships are like.
I never thought I would be able to see it with my own eyes today.
Next, the two began to discuss a specific trade agreement, with a total of sixteen items, the main ones being three:
1. The Ryukyu Kingdom was annexed to Satsuma, according to the Ming Dynasty. It became a vassal to the Song Dynasty, and the Senate consecrated the Ryukyu King as the King of Zhongshan; at the same time, Xi'an was appointed to be in charge of the correspondence between the Song Dynasty and Satsuma Domain;
Second, Ryukyu has an open port, and merchant ships under the Senate can enter and exit freely with seals, and enjoy the most favorable treatment from each other; Ryukyu can also freely go to Kaohsiung, Lingao and even Jeju for trade.
Third, the Song Dynasty could set up a trade consulate in Ryukyu to facilitate trade with Satsuma and Ryukyu.
Zhao Yanhao and Yamada Yuei had a brief discussion and decided to locate the consulate near Nakijin Castle in the northern part of Okinawa. Nakijin Castle was once the residence of the king of the Kitayama Kingdom and was very prosperous in the past. However, during the Satsuma Domain's invasion of Ryukyu,
Nakijin Castle was captured and burned. Although there are still ruins here and there are still a few old, weak and sick Ryukyu militiamen guarding the place, most of the Ryukyu people who originally lived here moved away due to the war.
It is not easy for conflicts to arise. The northern area where Quy Nhon City is located still has a large area of virgin forest with abundant timber reserves, which can be used for ship repair industry. In addition, there is a lot of flat land nearby, and several farms can be established to grow vegetables and raise livestock.
Convenient for merchant ships to replenish.
"Having said so much, the King of Ryukyu will not agree, right?" Zhao Yanhao suddenly thought after signing the treaty.
"How can he be unreasonable?" Yamada Yuei was very disdainful.
Xi'an quickly explained that they had already met King Shangfeng when they went to Shuri Castle. King Shangfeng naturally did not want to have another master in his family, but Yamada Yuei and others who came to spread the message were very arrogant, saying that if they did not agree,
The Satsuma Domain deprived him of the title of King of Ryukyu and demoted him to the title of "Ryukyu Kingdom Secretary". King Naotoyo had no choice but to submit under the power of the Shimazu family, and then Kian and Yamada Ariei came here the next day.
Then the three of them negotiated about the products to be purchased from Ryukyu and Satsuma. There are currently very few products that can be purchased from Japan, mainly fans, gold, silver, copper, sea cucumbers, abalone and shark fins and other dried seafood products, the so-called "war"
"Things"; the katana has been marked with a cross by the Planning Institute early on. Therefore, in fact, Nintendo can meet the needs of Jeju and Lingao to a large extent, so this purchase mainly targets products from Ryukyu and Satsuma.
Among the commodities that are in urgent need of purchase now, the largest one is sulfur - the sulfur on several volcanic islands in Ryukyu is an urgently needed industrial raw material for the Senate. In addition, Kagoshima itself also has large volcanoes such as Sakurajima, so sulfur resources are also natural.
It is very rich. The supply of Hainan Wanning pyrite has been completely exhausted, and Kaohsiung's sulfuric acid production is somewhat unable to make ends meet due to the Guangdong-Guangxi strategy. Buying large quantities of sulfur from Ryukyu and Satsuma can temporarily relieve the pressure on Kaohsiung's sulfur production. This transaction has
Both parties were very happy.
Then Yamada Yuei presented a gift list, which contained various gifts from Shimazu Tadahashi. Since Satsuma itself is a remote place, most of the so-called specialties in later generations were plagiarized from Ryukyu, so except for one set, it didn't look fancy at all.
, except for the armor that is too small for even the female senator to wear, most of them are local products of Ryukyu - Kumejima, Miyako cloth, Basho cloth, Yomitan mountain and Yaeyama cotton cloth... Zhao Yanhao really likes these products that will be rated by Japan in the future.
National treasures, various colored cloths with unique styles. Although they have no actual value, they can be used as handicrafts for maids to wear, so I decided to purchase more.
Another important item on the gift list is Ryukyu lacquerware - lacquerware decorated with mother-of-pearl and maki-e using luminous salamanders as raw materials was an extremely unique luxury product in the old time. The red lacquerware produced in Ryukyu is even made with pig blood as the base.
―This is not surprising, because the lacquerware produced in China at that time also used pig's blood. However, there is no known special process, and the vermilion color is very bright and shiny. It is called "pig's blood", and its beauty is not comparable to other lacquerware.
Therefore, lacquer ware is also the main tribute and foreign trade item of Ryukyu tribute. For this reason, Ryukyu even established a special Kaizhe Office to manage the lacquer trade. Zhao Yanhao also added Ryukyu lacquer ware to the purchase list. Although the demand for lacquer ware from the Senate was limited,
But it can be used as a profitable re-export trade item.
Zhao Yanhao gave Shimazu Tadahashi a glass tea set, raw silk from Hangzhou and some tea leaves from Fujian in return. Yamada Ariei received a 1629-style machete, and Xi'an received a bone china tea bowl - the old monk's eyes couldn't help but shine.
He greedily took the tea bowl and touched it again and again, mumbling something to himself, just like Elder Jinchi in "Journey to the West".
After discussing the matter of trade, Xi'an briefly introduced the ceremony to welcome the envoy. Finally, Yamada Yuei said that he would go back to Satsuma to explain to the family owner, and by the way, prepare the gold, silver and Satsuma specialties to buy goods.
"The poor monk will go back now and arrange for the three envoys to be picked up and the welcoming ceremony to be carried ashore." Xi'an also clasped his hands and said with a sincere face.
"The two Japs just sold Ryukyu." Zhao Yanhao muttered to himself, holding a telescope and looking at the boat going away.
After seeing off the two envoys, Zhao Yanhao and a group of people on the boat waited quietly for three days, and then sailed the Waverider and Yangbo into Tangchuankou near the mouth of the Kokuba River at the agreed time. In the past, the King of Ryukyu was enthroned
The crown ships of the Ming Dynasty were often near here, and were fixed by boatmen on hundreds of small boats using fiber ropes, and the fiber ropes were used to prepare the crown ships to be pulled into the dock of Naha Port. However, Xi'an said that the big ships of the Song Dynasty were too big.
If you can't get into Naha Port, you can only hold a three-way pick-up ceremony offshore.
Zheng Jue pointed to the two low towns on both sides of the river mouth and said: "Chief, the north bank is built on the rocks and connected to the long embankment is the Sanchong City; the south bank is similar in shape, but the slightly smaller one is the Uraza Forest Castle."
Zhao Yanhao looked at the two "cities" connected to the long embankment on the north and south sides of the river mouth, and rubbed his eyes in disbelief: "You dare to call it a city if you build two layers of stone walls on the rocks?"
He now understood why the two cities that looked very dangerous on the map had fallen as soon as the Shimazu family attacked them. They were not as effective as the walls of Bairen City without a power grid!
There are hundreds of similar stone fortresses throughout the Ryukyu Islands, and they can be said to be the main part of the Ryukyu defense system. However, its actual effect is very questionable, especially without the support of firearms.
At this time, hundreds of rowing wooden boats in Naha Port, called Shibune by the Ryukyu people, started almost at the same time, heading towards the fleet. One of the larger Shibune was a sailboat, made of red kapok cloth.
There were two large golden characters "Gong Jie" written on the completed square sail, which was particularly eye-catching. The boat quickly rowed to the side of the Waverider, and two Ryukyu officials wearing yellow crowns (eight rolls of cloth) flexibly followed the boat with their hands and feet.
The thrown rope ladder climbed up to the deck.
"Cheng Bingxian and Yang Mingzhou, the chief ministers of the Ryukyu Zhongshan Kingdom, met with the envoys of the Song Dynasty to congratulate the Kingdom for thousands of years. They wish the Emperor of the Song Dynasty a long life and a happy life, and wish that the king's servants would be as blessed as the East China Sea, and Ma Zhongshu would live as long as the Southern Mountains."
Two middle-aged officials from Kume Village were very polite when they saw Zhao Yanhao. They immediately kowtowed and then respectfully presented a gift list. Zhao Yanhao took the gift list and looked through it. It was just the same Ryukyu.
The specialty agricultural and seafood products are generally nothing new.
However, Zhao Yanhao saw that two officials from Jiume Village were stunned when they saw Zheng Jue. However, one of them, Cheng Bingxian, quickly smiled thoughtfully, but did not say much, and just gave instructions to the people on the ship.
The Ryukyu sailors loaded all kinds of goods onto the boat. Zhao Yanhao also followed the usual practice and gave them cotton cloth and some raw silk in the name of giving to the king, princes, law ministers, etc. The two envoys knelt down to thank them, and then directed the sailors to hoist the gifts off the boat.
Then we got off the boat with great gratitude.
"Did the official see anything funny about you just now?" Zhao Yanhao asked Zheng Jue after the two got off the boat.
"I'm also curious. That Cheng Bingxian is actually a Ryukyu native. His real surname is Yu. His ancestor is Yu Jianji, who invented the Ryukyu hand. However, the Cheng family, a Chinese family in Kume Village, lacks heirs. The king couldn't bear that the Henan Confucius family was not the best in Ryukyu, so he gave up the family in the past two years.
He's just an heir, and he really doesn't have much friendship with my family." Zheng Jue also looked confused.
At the same time, a second small boat with the same shape as the previous one came from Naha Port and nimbly rode the wind.
The people who boarded the ship this time were two old officials wearing yellow crowns. The two old men with yellow crowns knelt down and bowed. One of them said in relatively fluent Mandarin: "Uncle King of Ryukyu and Naha are going to show off on horseback.
I am discussing with the official Hucheng, Zheng Zixiao, please visit the envoy of the Song Dynasty. The country of the Song Dynasty will be peaceful and the people will be safe for all generations."
"No need to be polite."
"Thanks to the envoy of the Song Dynasty, Long..." Zheng Zixiao, an old man who spoke Mandarin, was about to take out the gift list from his sleeve. As soon as he raised his head, he was stunned and stared behind Zhao Yanhao, showing a complex expression of surprise, joy and anger.
It also turns from red to white and then blue.
"Nani?" Zhao Yanhao looked back and found that Zheng Jue behind him also looked wrong.
"What are you doing?" Zhao Yanhao didn't react for a moment.
Zheng Jue squeezed out a trembling voice from his throat: "This Master Zheng is my father."