On a spring afternoon, the East China Sea sparkled under the sunlight, and a few seagulls soared freely between the cliff and the sea. Kitayama Supervisor Xiang Suozu stood on the edge of the wall of Nakijin Castle Ouchihara, frowning.
He scolded a few Nakijin village militiamen holding six-foot sticks while looking intently at the endless blue sea.
Since Ryukyu was conquered by Satsuma, it has actually lost its army. Except for a small number of pro-army troops in Shuri, it has no weapons to speak of. It even lacks iron weapons - there is no local iron production, and weapons are all imported by merchants. Therefore,
The dignified Beishan Supervisor has only militiamen armed with sticks under his command.
Xiang Shengzu is thirty-four years old this year. He is the fifth grandson of Shang Zhen, the third generation king of the second Shang Dynasty. In terms of seniority, he is the nephew of King Shang Feng. Because the terrain of Beishan is dangerous and the people's customs are fierce, he is named after his great-grandfather Shang Shao.
When he became powerful, he was sealed in the Kitayama area of Ryukyu, and served as the governor of Kitayama and the priest of Nakijin for generations. It was passed to him for the sixth time.
In his already somewhat vague memory, Nakijin Castle was a spectacular mountain city, even better than Shuri Castle. The commercial prosperity of Nakijin Castle's castle town was also among the best in Ryukyu.
However, all this disappeared with the flames of war when he was eight years old. The Satsuma clan's army captured Nakijin Castle without any resistance from the Ryukyu Magiri Army, and then burned the city to the ground. His father Katsuki Kaji also died.
This battle.
Although he has always believed that his father died in battle, there have been rumors that his father committed suicide out of fear of crime or fell off a cliff on the way to escape. Xiang Shengzu was very depressed. The Beishan area was originally not as prosperous as Zhongshan and Nanshan.
, such a war severely damaged the vitality of Nakijin, and it has not yet returned to its original prosperity.
Xiang Shengzu heard the message from the envoy from Shuri, saying that this time a Chinese envoy from the "Great Song Dynasty" came to Beishan for the first time to inspect and build a business hall here. Xiang Shengzu didn't know that this was a blessing.
It's a disaster. In short, he will be the only warden in the five and six generations of his ancestors to be received by the "Celestial Envoy". Although he said that he also received the Satsuma Domain from Ryukyu Zaiban, but since the other party is the "Celestial Envoy", how can he say it?
Have to work harder.
At this time, Xiang Shengzu suddenly saw a large black ship suddenly appearing on the clear blue sea in the west. The hull was emitting extremely uncoordinated black smoke, and it was still approaching at an alarming speed even in the absence of wind.
"Is this, is this the canonization ship for the envoys of the Celestial Dynasty?" Xiang Shengzu was stunned. Such a strange giant ship had never appeared even in dreams.
Before he could recover from the shock, the giant ship had already sailed past Kouri Island and was about to enter Yuntian Port. Xiang Shengzu quickly straightened his clothes and scolded the militiamen to line up, while he quickly asked the guards to hold Li Mao.
The Ryukyu horse then got on his horse with his sword in hand and rode towards Yuntian Port.
"Chief, that island over there is the place where the ancestor of the Ryukyu people descended from the sky." Zheng Jue introduced to Zhao Yanhao.
"oh?"
"Legend has it that the ancestors of the Ryukyu people were a man and woman who fell from the sky. They lived naked on this island and lived a happy and carefree life eating rice cakes that fell from the sky. Later, they were afraid that one day the rice cakes would no longer fall from the sky, so they left them alone.
Every day, they accumulated some rice cakes left over - and as a result, no more rice cakes fell from the sky. So the two began to fish and collect shellfish on the beach to make a living. Later, they saw seahorses (dugongs) mating, and they knew
In order to avoid the shame of nudity, they began to use palm leaves to make clothes to cover their bodies. The two later reproduced and became the ancestors of the Ryukyu people."
This kind of creation myth is similar to the creation myths of various ethnic groups around the world, and there is nothing special about it. However, Zhao Yanhao was a little confused because he remembered what the Ryukyu official national history "Zhongshan Shijian" said,
The ancestor of Ryukyu is a goddess named Amo Miku. She came to earth on the order of the Emperor of Heaven and created the Ryukyu Islands. She later gave birth to three sons and two daughters. The five descendants are the ancestors of the Ryukyu people... It seems to be talking to Zheng Jue
Not quite the same.
"What Mr. Zheng said is absolutely true," Xiang Heling nodded slightly, twirled his lips and smiled. Then he cupped his hands and said, "Mr. Envoy, ahead is Yuntian Port."
Zhao Yanhao heard this and looked around. This Yuntian Port is located on the northwest coast of the narrow north-south bay between Ryukyu Island and Yagaji Island. It connects to the East China Sea in the north and the Hato Inland Sea in the south. In 1609, during the Ryukyu expedition of the Satsuma Domain, they landed on Ryukyu.
This is where we landed on the main island. Although Unten Port is not big, it was the second largest port in northern Ryukyu in the old days and one of the most important ports for trade between Ryukyu and Satsuma Domain.
According to the Ryukyu legends of the old time and space, Unten Port was the samurai of the Minamoto family at the end of the Heian period in Japan. Minamoto Weiyi, the ancestor of the Eizo dynasty, fled here from Izu Oshima. He encountered wind and rain on the way, so he sighed, "My destiny is determined by heaven." However,
It finally arrived safely and was named after it. However, Xiang Xiangxian, the originator of the theory of "the same ancestors of Japan and Liuzhou" - now Wu Xiangxian, is still on the boat with Ping Qixiang, and he has already published the theory of "theory of the same ancestors of Japan and Liuzhou"
Once it was forgotten, there was no way to talk about this legend.
"Measure the depth of the water." The captain ordered.
The sailors on the Waverider immediately put down a rowing boat and used the rowing boat to measure the water depth while guiding the warship. The water depth in the shallowest part of Yuntian Port is five meters, the water quality is relatively clear, and the parking conditions are quite good. The Waverider sailed on
After entering Yuntian Port, they chose a spot with suitable water depth to anchor. Then Zhao Yanhao, Zheng Jue, Xiang Heling, Wu Xiangxian and other people, together with the guards, boarded the landing boat and sailed towards the dock of Yuntian Port.
As soon as Zhao Yanhao landed, he saw a Ryukyu official wearing a red gold and five-color floating woven crown on his head, a green robe, and a sword hanging on his waist. He was lined up with dozens of civilians holding various strange "weapons" in their hands.
The team welcomed the arrival of Zhao Yanhao and his party.
When the leading official saw Zhao Yanhao and his party landing, he immediately shouted a few words that Zhao Yanhao couldn't understand, and knelt down to worship with the militiamen. Then the official introduced himself in a language that Zhao Yanhao didn't understand at all.
, which made him confused.
Zhao Yanhao turned his head and glanced at Zheng Jue. Unexpectedly, he also looked embarrassed: "Chief, Mr. Xiang's Beishan dialect accent is too strong..."
"What?" Zhao Yanhao was also shocked, "This is the only Ryukyu land you have and you still have a dialect that you don't understand well?"
Zheng Jue couldn't laugh or cry, "I can understand it if I can understand it, but the dialect in Kunigami and Nakijin is really difficult to understand. If it were replaced by the Nanqi Islands and Nannan Jiu Islands, it would really be like chickens and ducks speaking."
"No courtesy," Zhao Yanhao felt that he could not leave the supervisor Xiang Sheng aside, so he said a few polite words of encouragement.
However, Xiang Heling, the third officer who was also born in Beishan, briefly translated a few words, and Xiang Shengzu also responded with a few words respectfully. All the members on the boat were present, and Xiang Shengzu quickly ordered the sedan chairs to be brought up.
Zhao Yanhao was invited to get on the sedan chair, and his subordinates, the visiting ministers and relatives, were asked to fetch horses, and the group walked toward Nakijin Village in a mighty manner.
Nakijin Village is less than half an hour away from Yuntian Port. It is located at the foot of Mount Otowa. It has a population of thousands and is considered the largest village in the Kitayama area. It is called a village because there is no industry or commerce here. The residents are only officials.
In addition, most of them make a living by farming and fishing. In fact, strictly speaking, Ryukyu does not have a serious "city". Even in the golden age of the Second Sho Dynasty, Nakijin Castle was not a city.
It is only the "castle" where the ruler lives. Its castle town has a slightly urban meaning.
Most of the buildings in the village are low wooden houses with four-corner eaves and a stone wall outside the house. Compared with the villages near Shuri, they have a more Ryukyuan style.
Zhao Yanhao sat in a sedan chair, walking through the streets and alleys, looking at the Ryukyu people and nobles who came to see the excitement, and felt very emotional in his heart. He had been in Ryukyu for many days, and most of the Ryukyu nobles were "elegant and clean.
"The basic necessities of life are not that of a vulgar person, but that of a superior person." Although many people do not speak Chinese, they can read Chinese characters and can have "written conversations" with them. In contrast, the ordinary people of Ryukyu are "few literate people.
"Wearing naked clothes and lying on the ground, we have a barbaric attitude." The difference is huge.
The old house of the Mukazo family was originally located in Nakijin Castle. After the Satsuma Domain set fire to Nakijin Castle, Nakijin Castle was abandoned and has never been rebuilt. The newly built palace is located in Nakijin Village.
.However, due to the financial constraints in the Beishan area, the scale of the Ryukyu-style palace newly built by the Xiangsheng family may not be as large as the Gou family compound that Zhao Yanhao and other elders attacked. So how to arrange it?
The residence of "Celestial Messengers" has become the biggest problem.
No matter how Xiang Shengzu arranges it, several "adults" must live outside - because most of the Ryukyu officials are members of the royal family, and due to unscrupulous intra-clan marriages, these ministers and relatives are more or less
We are related to Xiang Shengzu. Except for Wu Xiangxian, they are all Xiang Shengzu's uncles and even ancestors. Even though Xiang Shengzu's wife is four years younger than him, he still calls her "grandma" in terms of seniority.
", so a large group of officials who married their cousins or nieces regarded him as a joke. Therefore, when Xiang Shengzu went to Shuri for an audience every winter solstice to the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, he was always very embarrassed when he saw his colleagues. Envoys from the Celestial Empire
Living in one's own home has basically become the consensus of everyone. As for where other grandparents and uncles live, it has become a brain-racking question.
The group discussed for a long time, and finally decided to live in the house based on their status: Xiang Shengzu took the lead and took his wife, children and several relatives to live in the homes of several nearby noble families, while Zhao Yanhao and several ministers lived in Xiang Shengzu's house.