The vice-president of Sogenji Temple, the royal temple of the Ryukyus, Imori Lord asked: "Why are you so eager to help our little feudal nation?"
Ji Zai sat up straight and said seriously: "Help the people of Ryukyu,"
"You are businessmen, are there any businessmen in the world who do not seek profits?" Master Yimoli was a monk in his late middle age. He was tall and energetic, but had a cunning look on his face. He tried Ji Zai's patience for a long time, and then he said: Tell the truth: "Young man, you are very patient and can tolerate my neglect and procrastination. I can see that you are here sincerely. It is not because of my laziness. In fact, the fate of our country is hanging by a thread. My king has to be cautious. Therefore, I have to examine you,"
Ji Zai cursed in his heart: What kind of tricks is this bald donkey doing? He is wasting his time in a ruined temple.
He nodded and said sincerely: "It is my Chinese company's interest to keep Ryukyu from falling into the hands of Japanese pirates."
"What about the Ming Dynasty?" Lord Yimoli asked with a faint smile: "Among the whole country, is your lord the only one who wants to help Ryukyu defend against Japanese pirates? You don't have to hide it from me, I have heard about you a long time ago. In half a year, you have become a celebrity in Ryukyu Zhongshan Kingdom, but it is useless, no one will believe you, and no one will believe your company,"
Chen Zhongji shook his head indifferently: "Among the officials of the Celestial Dynasty, my captain is the only one in the Ming Dynasty who cares about the national security of the Ryukyu Kingdom. I don't care if anyone in Zhongshan believes in me. My captain often says that Ryukyu is a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty. Naturally, We cannot let the Japanese pirates get their hands on it; moreover, our Chinese company gets tens of thousands of jins of sulfur and tens of thousands of sucrose from Ryukyu every year, and we sell you the silk, silk, tea, and ironware produced in China. This is beneficial to everyone. We We don’t want these interests to be controlled by Japanese pirates, so whether Zhongshan needs our help or not, we will go to war with Japanese pirates in Ryukyu,”
Upon hearing this, Lord Yimoli shook his head and smiled bitterly: "Boy, what you said is very straightforward."
"I'm telling the truth. You are the abbot of His Majesty the King's royal temple. You can often meet with the king, and this time you went to Satsuma Domain again, so I came here specially to inquire about the current situation of Satsuma Domain. The company can make preparations; secondly, I hope that the host can clear things up in front of your king..." Chen Zhongji did not have the patience to play Tai Chi with this group of Ryukyu aristocrats anymore, and said very bluntly: "No matter what, our company is absolutely Japanese pirates are not allowed to occupy Ryukyu,"
"Our country has the Royal Guards, and we share the same enemy with the Japanese pirates, so we may not necessarily fail," Lord Yimoli said with obvious lack of confidence.
Chen Zhongji lowered his head to drink tea and smiled coldly: "Master host, Satsuma is a powerful vassal in the southwest of the Japanese. Its population and land are much larger than Ryukyu. There are nearly 5,000 tiger and wolf soldiers. To be honest, I have observed the defense of this island. Except for the more than a thousand members of the Royal Guards, the other five or six thousand people are just a temporary gathering of rabble."
Lord Yimoli touched his monk's bald head and said with a wry smile: "Young man, according to legend, you are a humble and polite scholar, how can you speak so ruthlessly?"
Chen Zhongji sighed: "There is no way, none of the adults in your country are willing to listen to my good advice."
The presiding monk hesitated for a while and sighed: "Well, although I still don't believe that a group of businessmen can be of much help, seeing that you are here sincerely, I will say a few good words for you in front of the king. "As for the situation of the Satsuma Domain, I have written it down here." Lord Imori took out a roll of paper from under the coffee table behind him and handed it to Chen Zhongji: "Don't make it public. This is the transcript of my report to His Majesty the King. Look at it. Then burn it,"
After Chen Zhongji returned to the Zhonghua Commercial Store, he went straight to the warehouse. Two staff officers from the advance detachment of the Operation Department had already laid out the Ryukyu map in a corner of the commercial store's warehouse.
An excessively young officer was looking at the copy in his hand and pointing at the map to explain to Luo Aquan, Zhang Hai, Mai Yangtian and others: "...the Ryukyu Army has also deployed 3,000 troops on Tokunoshima, led by Zheng Jiuzhi. Son-in-law Ong Shengtong is stationed there, but there is no Ryukyu Army stationed on Amami Oshima, the island closest to Satsuma Domain."
Zhang Hai and Mai Yangtian were originally the garrison commanders and supervisors of Taiwan's Gangnan Fort. Zhang Hai was a hero in the Battle of Fengguiwei on Penghu Island. This time he was sent to Ryukyu to help Chen Zhongji defend the Chinese Commercial House.
When everyone saw Chen Zhongji, several young staff officers immediately stood at attention and saluted. Luo Aquan, Chen Hai and others just said hello.
The staff officers were all interns who had just graduated from the military academy. They often saw Ji Zai following Yin Feng when he inspected the military academy. They had also attended classes with him. Although they were familiar with each other, they did not dare to neglect him.
Chen Zhongji had no interest in formalism. He raised a volume of documents in the hands of several young staff officers and said: "At last, I didn't run away in vain. The old bald donkey gave me these documents. They are all what he saw and heard when he was on an mission to Satsuma. Hurry up. Take a look and extract the important information and report it to the ship owner. Okay, you continue to report the situation and let Brother Chen and others get familiar with the situation on Ryukyu Island."
The staff officer nodded and said: "Yes, let's continue... The inclusion of Amami Oshima into the rule of the Ryukyu Kingdom was just a matter of the previous generations of King Nakayama. It can be said that Amami Oshima was not effectively ruled at all, so the defense of the island was only It was entrusted to the local prominent family Gu Zhi'anchen (called Daqin) to handle it."
A map of Ryukyu marked all the garrison locations of the Ryukyu Army. The staff officer continued to point to the map and said: "Mie Castle and Yaraza Mori Castle are both known as the North and South Forts of Naha Port, forming a crossfire, facing the sea of Naha. They jointly guarded the Naha Port. Most of the Ryukyu defense forces were deployed here, and fortifications were built on this front. It was said that there were 3,000 elite soldiers stationed there. The head of the three division officers, Zheng Jiong, personally took charge of the town and was ready to prepare. Another Ryukyu area Nakijin Castle, an important town in the north of the mountain that is heavily guarded by the army, is garrisoned by 500 troops led by Kitayama Warden Xiang Kezhi; Shuri Royal Castle is garrisoned by Urasoe Chaoshi, one of the three commanders, who is also known as thousands of elite soldiers. In addition, one of the three commanders is garrisoned. Ma Liangbi (named Liangfeng Nago) led more than a thousand troops to garrison the country, waiting for an opportunity to support Nakijin Castle guarded by Beishan. This man is said to be close to the Japanese pirates and specializes in treating the Japanese well."
The staff officer swallowed his saliva and continued: "It is estimated above that the total number of soldiers and civilians is about five to six thousand. However, based on my observations in the past six months, there are only royal guards under Zheng Jiong in the entire Ryukyu. In fact, there are only more than a thousand people. If you can fight, the others are just a temporary gathering of people. Once a war starts, they will all disperse. Moreover, the Ryukyu Kingdom is led by civil servants who have no knowledge of military affairs and their soldiers are neglected in training. When the time comes, they will not be able to compete with the Satsuma Domain's hundreds of warriors."
Chen Hai babbled repeatedly and said with a bitter smile: "Zhi Niang, isn't it true that when the time comes, we will have to rely on our own troops to defend it?"
Chen Zhongji smiled and said: "Brother Chen, are you still afraid of defending the city? You and Captain Zhao defended Fengguiwei, and you were not afraid at all against officers and soldiers more than ten times your size."
Chen Hai waved his hand and said: "Ji Zai, don't use this set of compliments. After all, your elder brother Chen has gone to the military academy for a few days to attend classes. Although he still can't recognize a few characters in Douda, he also knows a few things about the terrain and terrain when fighting. The truth is; the current Chung Hwa Commercial Building is backed by the Naha Port City, with flat land on three sides and only a shallow drainage ditch surrounding it. It is surrounded by enemies on all sides and has no terrain advantage at all. How can it be compared with Fenggui Oo!"
Chen Hai stood up and walked around anxiously: "For this plan, we have to ask the ship owner to send more people to assist in the defense..."
Chen Zhongji immediately interrupted him and said: "Don't think about it, I have been running around on Ryukyu Island for half a year, and the king and the third commander have refused to allow us to increase the number of people stationed..."
"Then, increase armaments and purchase cannons, rockets, grenades and gunpowder barrels. At the same time, we need to dig deep and wide the drainage ditch surrounding the business building to become a real moat. Also, once the war starts, how to notify the ship owner in time,"
Chen Zhongji nodded and said: "The flying pigeon message line has been established. Five carrier pigeons have been trained in Ryukyu in the past six months, which means that we have five opportunities to report messages. Other matters will wait until the next time the Sea Spirit comes to Naha In Hong Kong, it can basically be solved,"
Luo Aquan raised his head and asked: "Ji Zai, when will the Sea Spirit come to Naha? It's the season when the north wind blows. Even if the Sea Spirit runs fast, it still has to rely on the wind. If it goes north against the wind, when will the Sea Spirit come to Naha?" Can get to Naha,”
Chen Zhongji shook his head and said: "The last time the carrier pigeon sent a message, the shipowner sent news that the Sea Spirit had set off ten days ago. This may be the last time we get supplies before the wind direction changes."
Chen Zhongji thought for a moment, then raised his head and said: "Brothers, no matter what, we must carry out the captain's order. At that time, the captain will make a big move against the Japanese pirates, and we are also an important chess piece in it. If the war starts in March, under the influence of strong north wind, Next, the company cannot send large troops to support us, so even if we can get support, it will be very sparse and scattered. It will not change the direction of the wind until May, and we may have to hold on here for two months. ,"
At this time, a young man dressed as a clerk quickly ran into the warehouse and whispered: "Shopkeeper Chen, brothers, the Sea Spirit has arrived,"
This time, the Sea Spirit sailed against the wind after setting off from Taiwan. All 100 crew members exhausted their energy to turn the rudder and adjust the sails. After fighting the howling north wind for more than ten days, they finally arrived at Naha Port. The Ryukyu officials in the port were surprised. No, no Chinese ship has ever come northward here at this time of winter.
The Sea Spirit used the excuse that it was transporting supplies to the merchant house. After bribing the port officials with a large sum of money to make them turn a blind eye, the Sea Spirit then took ten small field guns, 200 flintlock muskets, and 200 of the latest hand grenades. Tens of thousands of kilograms of gunpowder and bullets were moved into the Zhonghua Commercial Building. At the same time, several thousand kilograms of corn, sweet potatoes and other easy-to-storage foods from Luzon were transported into the Zhonghua Commercial Building. Together with the previous grain reserves, it was enough for three hundred Many people have been taking it for four months.
In the eyes of the Chinese, the situation in Ryukyu is already very tense, but the preparations for the war in Ryukyu are indeed protracted and ineffective. The training of soldiers is simply a show. The weapons and equipment of the Royal Guards are even more disappointing to the Chinese. The Ryukyu Royal Guards have basically nothing. The only firearms available were imitation Chinese cannons, and it took half a day to load them once.
Now, Chen Zhongji has absolutely no confidence that the Chinese Commercial Center can defend itself for three months.