After Zhao Yanhao saw off the senior Ryukyu officials, he looked around in the Angel Hall. The main hall of the Angel Hall is the Salu Hall, with three rooms on the left and right. In the middle of the hall, there is a letter written by the Ming Dynasty envoy Du Sance, "Every wish is beyond reach."
There are four big characters and several Chinese-style tables and chairs on the wooden floor. This is the office space used by the canon for working and receiving Ryukyu princes and nobles.
Passing through the Salu Hall, there is a two-entry house at the back. There are three study rooms for the canonized envoys to live in. Zhao Yanhao moved in without any ceremony. There were three more houses after that, and Zhao Yanhao arranged for Xu Liang and Zheng Jue to stay.
, Li Renjun, Xiao Ziyue and a group of naturalized civilian cadres lived there; between the study and the residences of ordinary officials, there were six squad rooms on the left and right, which were the residences of indigenous naval officers and sailors. There were several Arhats scattered in the courtyard.
There are pine and iron trees, and there are several pots of quietly fragrant orchids and some unknown subtropical plants that have not yet bloomed.
While Zhao Yanhao was arranging everyone's residence, an official wearing a yellow ruffled cloth led twenty servants in red turbans and ran over panting. When he saw Zhao Yanhao, he bowed his head.
Zhao Yanhao had seen a lot of kowtows in Ryukyu, so it didn’t matter anymore, “Everyone, get up.”
It turns out that the leader is Zhou Guosheng, the general secretary of the Ryukyu Affairs Department. He is a native of Kume Village from Ryukyu. He leads a group of servants who live outside the Angel Hall and are responsible for the daily affairs of the canonized envoys and his party. In addition to the Library Affairs Department, there are also
There is a reception office, an animal care office, a supply office, a banquet management department, a writing department, and an evaluation department, which are respectively responsible for the repair of facilities in the Angel Hall, the supply of food, the exchange of letters and letters, etc. The other six departments are responsible for each department.
There is one officer and three servants.
The setting here is actually quite similar to the Huaiyuan Station in the capital. Ryukyu's political system can be regarded as a mixed Han and Han system. However, in terms of performance, it still has more influence from Chinese civilization.
Zhou Guosheng was extremely respectful, and with a humble smile, he quickly ordered his servants to bring in all kinds of food supplies. The variety was so diverse that it was dazzling to see: in addition to the specific kilograms of noodles and rice supplied per person, live pigs, and raw sheep
, live chickens, fruits and vegetables, sauce, oil, salt and other various seasonings, there are also octopus, starfish, sea urchins, moray eels, various crabs, scallops and the like that you may or may not know have just been delivered from Naha, Tomari Port
Fresh seafood comes.
Fresh seafood is very rare except under the rule of the Senate. Zhao Yanhao was very interested and looked back and forth on several baskets of seafood, and randomly grabbed a three-foot-long black slender sea creature from the seafood.
Tail, “What is this? It feels slippery to the touch?”
"Reporting to your lord, this is a sea snake..."
"Nani?" Zhao Yanhao thought of the weird looks of people who were poisoned by sea snakes that he saw on the Internet before traveling through time. He quickly let go and threw the sea snake back, "Can this thing be eaten?"
"Reporting to your lord, the envoy, this sea snake is quite nutritious and can be used to make soup. It has the effect of killing insects, curing diseases and curing diseases. It was specially caught for your lord."
"interesting."
Zhao Yanhao is generally quite satisfied with the service attitude of the Ryukyu Kingdom. At least the soldiers of the Fubo Army are provided with four liters of rice and three kilograms of pork a day, which is a good thing for the cash-strapped Ryukyu Kingdom.
Quite a big deal.
At this moment, a red-turbaned officer ran in, leaned over and whispered a few words in Zhou Guosheng's ear, and then Zhou Guosheng said with a flattering smile on his face: "Your Majesty, today is the fifth day of the Lunar New Year, and two officials from our country are here.
To keep you company…”
"Oh? Where are these two now?"
"When the envoy was walking in the Angel Hall just now, the two adults were already waiting at the Tinghai Tower."
The custom of Ryukyu people is to only have two meals, but in order to take care of the envoy's habit, they specially added one meal today. Zhao Yanhao thought that the Ryukyu country was good at handling things, so he called a few naturalized cadres to go with him, "Very good.
Lead the way."
"As commanded."
Zhou Guosheng led everyone to the westmost building of the courtyard of the Angel Hall. Although it was not decorated, it looked very exquisite. A two-story Chinese-style building. On the door plaque was written by Yang Luan, the deputy envoy of the Ming Dynasty two years ago.
The two characters of "Listen to the Sea".
Walking up the boxwood-paneled staircase to the second floor of the small building, you can see that all the partitions on all sides are open. There are no other tall buildings in front of the building. The scenery of the Ryukyu Islands is unobstructed. The buildings on the mountains in the distance are sometimes hidden in the clouds.
Nowadays, the breeze blows, which is also refreshing.
At this time, two Ryukyu officials hurriedly came forward to greet them: the older official looked to be in his seventies, with white beard and hair, wearing a purple rug on his head, a large green robe, and a pair of wooden clogs on his feet;
The official looked to be less than twenty years old, with splayed eyebrows. He was not old enough to have a weak crown, so he only had a gold hairpin stuck in his crooked bun. However, he was wearing a big green robe, and his status seemed to be higher than that of the older officials.
"Wu Xiangxian, the chief minister of Yudi, came to see the envoy from the Kingdom of Heaven." The young man reported his family name first.
"Yi Jian's wife, Ma Pingping, is here to meet the envoy from the Kingdom of Heaven." Then the older official reported back.
"Ma Hebao?" Zhao Yanhao suddenly became interested. This Ma Hebao was originally from Shinwa Shikiri Ma Yima, but he was extremely interested in agriculture, so he once learned the method of growing sweet potatoes from the manager of Noguni, and promoted it to the entire country.
Ryukyu; after being captured by the Satsuma army with King Shoning during the Ryukyu expedition and brought to Japan, he did not forget to learn the method of growing kapok from two Japanese women, Umechiyo and Michiyo, and after Tokugawa Ieyasu released the Ryukyu monarchs and returned to Japan,
He brought cotton textile technology to Ryukyu. Later, he sent people to Fujian to study and popularize the brown sugar manufacturing technology.
However, although he made great contributions to the development of Ryukyu's agricultural production, the introduction of brown sugar technology brought endless disasters to the Ryukyu people. The Satsuma clan regarded Ryukyu brown sugar as a rare commodity and forcibly annexed Amami Oshima, which is rich in sugar cane.
, all the men between fifteen and sixty and the women between fifteen and thirty on the island were recruited as "servants". They were actually "serfs" specially used by Satsuma Domain to grow sugar cane. All the rice fields on Amami Oshima and surrounding islands
It is used to replant sugar cane and make brown sugar. The produced brown sugar is shipped to Japan and sold at a high price. Due to lack of food, the islanders have to eat sweet potatoes and cycad fruits to satisfy their hunger. Cycad fruits are poisonous, and many people died of poisoning due to improper cooking methods.
, the five northern Ryukyu islands that were directly ruled by Satsuma at that time became a "cycad hell".
If he knew that his "achievement" had become a "hell" for the people, he didn't know how he would feel. Zhao Yanhao sighed secretly in his heart.
At this time, the five northern islands had been ceded to Satsuma. Even though they knew that their compatriots were suffering from this, they were helpless. This is probably the tragedy of being a small country. Speaking of which, the tribute system of ancient China also guaranteed to a certain extent.
Few small countries can maintain their own national system. At least Ryukyu is an example.
Zhao Yanhao sighed with emotion. The Senate has set up a trade consulate in Ryukyu. The supply of merchant ships naturally requires various agricultural products. Ryukyu's climate is more suitable for growing fruits and vegetables. Unfortunately, there are not many varieties of vegetables produced in Ryukyu, which is not suitable for the senators.
In this way, the promotion of vegetable varieties brought from Lingao in Ryukyu requires cooperation with Ma Baojun, who understands agriculture and is in a high position.
"Invite the envoy to take a seat," Wu Xiangxian quickly bowed and invited Zhao Yanhao and his entourage to take a seat.
"You're welcome." Zhao Yanhao also said the courtesy and took his seat. After everyone was seated, Zhao Yanhao took the seat of chief, Wu Xiangxian served as the host, and Ma Pingping served as the deputy. The other naturalized cadres took their seats one after another. Zhou Guosheng's official position was too low to be seated.
Then he went out to prepare for the banquet. Zhao Yanhao looked around and saw several seasonal fruits and snacks on the table. They were nothing more than banana fruits, citrus, March fruits, sand cakes, light cakes, and flower pine round cakes.
kind.
Wu Xiangxian gave an order, and several five or six red-turbaned servants came over with small flasks to pour wine.
"Please bring wine to the envoy."
This wine looks like white wine, but the color is lighter, but the aroma is richer. Zhao Yanhao took a sip and found that the rice aroma was mellow and round. Wu Xiangxian introduced it, and Zhao Yanhao knew that this was a specialty of Ryukyu.
: Awamori, the brewing method, and the raw material fragrant rice were all introduced during the trade with Siam. However, the Ryukyus further improved it by using local Aspergillus niger, forming this as an important tribute to the trade between China and Japan.
Zhao Yanhao thought this was quite unique, and he could buy some to give to the elders who were good at it to try. Then he also asked Zhao Kui to bring two bottles of Guo Shi Wushuang - although Guo Shi Wushuang was sold overseas, the supply far exceeded the demand, and Wu Xiangxian only had
Two years ago, when Du Sance, the envoy of the Ming Dynasty, came, he drank a small glass at a banquet as a nobleman. The wine tasted pure and sweet, and there was no impurity at all. Wu Xiangxian was unceremonious when he saw a real Australian.
At the small banquet, I randomly took out two bottles and couldn't help but feel overjoyed. The atmosphere at the wine table immediately became lively.
Zhao Yanhao then ordered Zhao Kui to bring a few more bottles of orange soda. Ma Balance had lived a long time, but he had never seen such a fizzy drink before - just a thick glass tied with wire and covered with a wooden lid.
Bottles are already very rare among Ryukyu people. Although Wu Xiangxian has never drank it, when he was studying abroad in Satsuma Domain, he heard that there were Chinese businessmen in Nagasaki selling Australian orange soda, and the price was extremely expensive.
.
Wu Xiangxian thought to himself that the Australians were really generous. If Ryukyu could really get close to the big tree of the Australians, it would not necessarily be a blessing. He had read a lot of books from the Ming Dynasty, and he did not believe the Australians and their words from the bottom of his heart.
Is there any inevitable connection between the "Great Song Dynasty" in the talk? However, when many Ryukyu princes and nobles were at a loss what to do, King Shangfeng even deceived himself and pretended to be sick so that Prince Shangwen went to greet the canonization envoy, but he had a problem with the Australians.
I was so interested that I immediately took a boat back from Kagoshima and applied to be the banquet accompaniment of the "Envoy of the Song Dynasty".