Yin Feng has a bad temper recently, but he only gets angry at middle- and high-level officials. His attitude towards middle- and lower-level soldiers and employees is still approachable.
Yin Feng is worried about the war in Ryukyu, and the shadow of his wife's death is still lingering in his heart. Few people can comfort and persuade him, except Li Lihua. However, now there is a Western missionary who is gradually able to say a few words in front of Yin Feng. .
The Jesuits in Taiwan sent a missionary to Yin Feng as a consultant in the war against Japan. This consultant had been in Japan for more than ten years. He was the former Tokugawa Ieyasu who was expelled from Japan because of the Arima Harunobu incident. Trade agent, Jesuit missionary, Portuguese Lu Ruohan, was implicated in Arima Harunobu's revenge action because he was the "general word" and translator of Andre Pessoa, commander of the Portuguese Sino-Japanese Trade Fleet. After being expelled from Japan, he arrived in Macau just as the Catholic Church in Taiwan was about to reopen, so he was sent to Taiwan by the Jesuit Chinese Diocese.
Yin Feng is very interested in this talented diplomat; in the historical time and space that has not been tampered with by Yin Feng, Lu Ruohan is not only able to directly climb to the top of Tokugawa Ieyasu in Japan, he is also proficient in Japanese. After two years in Japan, he He was able to write a Japanese-Portuguese dictionary; when he came to China later, he was able to write letters in Chinese very quickly. He also connected with Xu Guangqi and other high-ranking officials of the court. He was also able to sell batches of Portuguese mercenaries to the Ming Dynasty and bought a batch of them. Cannons gave the Ming Dynasty and the Ming Dynasty army the first batch of artillerymen who were proficient in Western-style artillery. It is said that the cannon that injured Nurhachi in the Battle of Ningyuan was fired by the gunners trained by the mercenaries brought by Lu Ruohan. The cannon used was also bought by Xu Guangqi on behalf of Lu Ruohan.
Such a flexible, resourceful and versatile person, Yin Feng hired him as his special consultant as soon as he met him.
In Lu Ruohan's view, Yin Feng is also a strange person: he is very popular and prestigious, and has a supreme status in the Zhonghua Company he founded, but his daily life is very civilian. He saw with his own eyes that Yin Feng sometimes behaved badly in the factory. He sat at the same table with the coolies and handymen to eat, and the ordinary people treated him as kindly and naturally as if they were a member of their own family. This was completely different from the hierarchical and class-clear situation Lu Ruohan saw in Japan. .
Therefore, Lu Ruohan, who was born in a poor family in Portugal, has a sincere feeling of closeness to Yin Feng.
On this day, he came to see Yin Feng with a stack of Dutch navigation information. The guards on Yin Feng's ship, the Flying Wolf, saw him and knew that this Western monk had just become the ship owner's adviser, so they immediately let him go.
When Lu Ruohan saw Yin Feng, he clasped his fists and saluted according to Chinese etiquette, and said bluntly in Portuguese: "Your Excellency, shipowner, I obtained their navigation information from the Dutch merchant house. According to their logbook on the Taiwan-Japan route, According to records, the southwesterly wind will blow in another ten days or so." Lu Ruohan has just left Japan. Although he has studied Chinese before, he still cannot speak fluently.
Yin Feng leaned against the window, watching the sailors practicing shooting and fighting on the front deck, and said in Portuguese without interest: "Thank you, Mr. Lu, for us right now, the difference between ten days and a month is Not big,”
He sat back at his desk, pointed at the map of Ryukyu and said: "The purpose of our intervention in the Battle of Ryukyu is to eliminate the threat of Satsuma to Taiwan. Regardless of whether Ryukyu will fall in a short time, we must send troops after the wind direction changes. Going north, what I am worried about these days is the safety of our personnel left in Ryukyu to contain the Japanese forces. If the climate and wind direction do not change for a long time, the pressure on our personnel left in Ryukyu will increase day by day. What if they If it fails, then when our fleet goes to attack the Satsuma Domain, the Satsuma army that invaded Ryukyu will be free to return to support their base."
Yin Feng smiled bitterly and pointed to the sky outside the window and said: "Father Lu, if you can let your God change the direction of the wind for us, I can accept your baptism immediately."
Lu Ruohan had no choice but to smile bitterly at Yin Feng's somewhat blasphemous words. As for Lu Ruohan himself, he had no ill feelings toward the Japanese. His expulsion from Japan was more the result of intrigues within the Jesuit order.
More than 10,000 troops were stationed in Taipei, which brought a lot of popularity to the two towns of Jilong and Tamsui. The family members of Xie Mingqing and Zheng Jiong, who escaped from Ryukyu, were arranged to live in the Navy Army Old Camp Military Area in Tamsui Port. .
These two ports already had tens of thousands of mainland immigrants, engaged in mining and fishing, and the scale of the towns began to take shape. Now, with the help of tens of thousands of troops stationed, various businesses are becoming increasingly prosperous, and the bustling towns with people coming and going have begun. The increasing prosperity attracted many immigrants from Fujian and Zhejiang, laying the foundation for the later formation of the Greater Taipei town cluster.
In early May, summer is approaching in the Taipei area. The wind direction on the sea surface changes from south to north, and sometimes heavy rain swirls on the sea surface in the north of Taiwan Island, forming small storms.
In a tavern near the port terminal, brothers Guo Yi and Guo Huai were drinking and chatting with scholar Chen Dong.
These three people are all former Fujian Dusi and Wuyu Shuizhai commander Shen Yourong's personal spies. Now Shen Yourong is serving in Zhejiang. He has been promoted to deputy commander-in-chief of Zhejiang and Ning Shao because of his efforts to suppress mining pirates and quell civil unrest in Wenzhou and other places. The general was once again in charge of the navy in northern Zhejiang. After a year, he sent people to Taiwan to contact the three spies.
After Chen Dong has gone through hardships, he no longer has the arrogance of claiming to be a Confucian scholar. He has been deeply involved in the commercial and military system created by Yin Feng, because he is a rare talent in Taiwan who can read and write and has passed the imperial examination. , he was promoted from a school teacher to a secretary at the company headquarters, and now he has become a secretary of the old camp of the Yin Feng Guards. Although he is still on the periphery of the inner circle and only does some ordinary daily paperwork, he can Learned a lot about the trends and secrets of decision-makers in Chinese companies.
He is very careful and never goes beyond his authority to care about any extraneous matters. He just listens and watches passively, and then remembers it in his heart. The remuneration he receives in this position is also very high, basically higher than the salary of Fuzhou Prefecture Judge. It is much higher than the nominal legal income of the county magistrate in his hometown.
"... Yin Feng's army has been here for a month now. The wind direction has not changed and the army cannot be dispatched. In my opinion, the company's army will definitely win this battle..." Chen Dong took out a stack of He handed the paper to Guo Yi from under the table and said softly: "This is the information on some new firearms of the escort that I copied. Time is tight, and Yin Feng's old camp has strict document management, so I can only get these firearms instructions. stuff like that,”
Guo Yi put away the paper, took a sip of wine and whispered: "Mr. Chen, why does Mr. Shen want these information? Didn't he fail in the trial production of new weapons?"
"Master Shen is just a deputy general soldier. It is not easy to do these important things." Chen Dong couldn't help but sigh. When Shen Yourong took office as a new official in Zhejiang, he proposed to reform the military system, create new firearms, and increase the number of soldiers. All of this was It would subvert the existing military system and arms supply system of the Ming Dynasty, not to mention that Shen Yourong did not have the talent to invent and manufacture firearms at all. Therefore, these plans have only remained on paper on Shen Yourong's desk until now.
"Your Excellency wants to recruit people from the Chinese Company. Your brothers are currently working in the navy. Do you have any firearms talents..."
Guo Yi interrupted Chen Dong rudely: "How much labor and food money can the imperial court give to firearms craftsmen? Don't even think about it, Mr. Chen. An ordinary craftsman in the company's weapons research department can earn labor and food money every month." There are twenty taels of silver, and there are red envelopes at the end of each year. Firearms craftsmen above the master level all have shares in the company. It is said that the monthly salary and food silver are over a hundred taels... Is it possible for the imperial court to do this?"
Chen Dong covered his head and took a sip of wine, then shook his head dejectedly: "You're right, this matter is difficult to handle."
Suddenly, the street outside the hotel was filled with people, and the noise suddenly erupted from every corner. The three people were surprised. While they were wondering, three cannon shots were heard in succession from the direction of the military camp and the dock where the fleet was docked. , followed by a long conch trumpet sound, a group of cavalry galloped between the market streets, and the messengers holding high the red flag representing the supervisory army came all the way and shouted: "The ship owner has an order, all soldiers of the escort army, stop immediately." Take all leave and fly back to your own unit immediately, as ordered by the captain,"
The sound of countless people running suddenly sounded on the street. The escort soldiers who were eager to return to the team cheered and ran towards the military camp. The merchants and hawkers who were bargaining with them a moment ago waved their hands: "Well done, brothers, kill more Japanese pirates." Devil,"
The Guo brothers stood up together and said in unison: "This is the assembly order, the troops are dispatched."
…
In the 37th year of Wanli Wanli, on May 12th in the 14th year of Keicho in Japan (1609), Chen Zhongji led the Chinese Merchant Company to repel the Shimadzu Army's first attack on the city. On the 19th day, the Chinese Company's escort army Nearly ten thousand people in the army began the Battle of Satsuma.
Yin Feng still published a "Message to Send Troops to Satsuma", enumerating the feud between the Satsuma Domain and the Zhonghua Company for several years, and denounced the crimes of the Satsuma Domain's Japanese pirates' sneak attack on Taiwan Harbor one and a half months ago... At the same time, Yin Feng promised the meritorious personnel of this battle, Will be able to obtain allotment of land on the newly acquired land originally owned by the company.
At this time, Chen Zhongji was spending his days in the Zhonghua Commercial Hall.
On the fifth day after he defeated the Shimazu army of the Hirata tribe, news came from the direction of Shuri: King Shoning surrendered to the Shimazu army of the Kayama tribe.
In fact, the Battle of Shuri never took place at all.
After the defeat of Zheng Jiong's troops, the most elite part of the Ryukyu Royal Guards was completely destroyed. The Ryukyu Army of the Eschikata Division guarding Shuri had already disintegrated on the spot after Zheng Jiong's troops failed, because Zheng Jiong's troops Kaguyama Kutaka, who had suffered some losses in the sneak attack, cautiously approached Shuri. For several days, he was busy consolidating his camp and sending people to recruit the King of Ryukyu to surrender, so he did not attack the Ryukyu capital.
After a few days, King Shangning couldn't bear the situation of being surrounded without fighting, so he surrendered.