Ping Qiusheng imagined that ships returning from Japan could sail to Jeju Island first, load Korean ginseng in Jeju Island, and then return to Shanghai. After selling in Shanghai, they could load local cloth, silk, and daily necessities, and then transport them to Japan for sale.
However, whether the facts can be as he imagined has to be proven by practice. Especially the most important aspect of trade with Japan: Shanghai still relies heavily on Zhao Yingong's work. After all, ships, cargo sources and terminals all rely on him to organize.
Before setting off, he had written a long letter on this issue and had it sent to Hangzhou Station by hand.
Although Lao Zhao did not have much friendship with him, he would not let go of this kind of dungeon to gain merit.
However, Ping Qiusheng couldn't wait for Lao Zhao's work, so he decided to put aside his five-island strategy for the time being and start with the most convenient Tsushima route.
The clan on Tsushima Island, which is located between the Japanese archipelago and the Korean Peninsula, has a national stone of 100,000 koku. But in fact, Tsushima’s land is so small that even including the enclave’s food production, it does not even have 20,000 koku. This so-called 10
A large part of the ten thousand stones is actually the economic income from trade with North Korea.
Throughout the Tokugawa era, although Japan pursued a seclusion policy and only opened one port, Nagasaki, Tsushima was always able to engage in trade with North Korea and the Qing Dynasty. This trade channel theoretically had nothing to do with the shogunate and did not have many restrictions.
It is a convenient channel that can be used immediately.
The Zong family can be called a roly-poly in the history of Japan's Warring States Period. During Toyotomi Hideyoshi's invasion of Korea, the Zong family's governor Soyoshi and his father-in-law, Konishi Yukinaga, engaged in double-dealing and launched a war of aggression against Toyotomi Hideyoshi. The first peace negotiation failed and the second
He had unshirkable responsibility for the invasion of Korea, but Toyotomi Hideyoshi died of illness and escaped prosecution.
During the Battle of Sekigahara, the Sou clan joined the Western Army together with Konishi Gyōchō. Neither the Toyotomi generals who defected to the Tokugawa clan, nor his own allies Ishida Mitsunari and other major names in the Western Kingdom had a good look towards the Sou family. When they arrived in the west,
The army was defeated, Ishida and Konishi were beheaded, but Soyoshi was forgiven by Tokugawa Ieyasu, and after the Battle of Osaka, he was promised not to reduce the seal or change the status. It was much better than the fate of Kobayakawa Hideaki and others.
Of course. In a sense, the clan's good luck may also be related to the insignificance of its territory. To the rulers and powerful daimyo of the four Japanese islands, Tsushima is just a barren island far away from the mainland, just like Hokkaido.
As long as the daimyo kowtows in time to show their loyalty, no general will think of dealing with them.
However, some work still needs to be done to bring Tsushima to heel. Historically, after Japan failed to invade Korea, the clan secretly negotiated peace with Korea. It was originally a treasonous thing. However, with the disintegration of the Toyotomi regime, the Tokugawa family conquered the world - Germany
Kawa Ieyasu did not participate in the invasion of Korea. He was not enthusiastic about the invasion of Korea, so the peace negotiation of the Zong family took credit.
In 1607, Tsushima and North Korea signed another trade agreement. The relationship between Tsushima and North Korea was quite good: Tsushima became a vassal of the Lee Dynasty and was considered a vassal town of the Lee Dynasty. Therefore, it was able to establish a military base in Miura, the southern part of the Korean peninsula, which was also closed to the country.
Japanese Pavilion. The trade exchanges between the two sides are quite frequent.
Ping Qiusheng knew that this kind of trade was actually one-sided. North Korean business groups generally did not send ships to Japan. It was mainly Tsushima merchants who sent ships to North Korea for trade - so it was impossible to count on North Korean ships.
Furthermore, the trade between Japan and North Korea, apart from the Chinese goods re-exported by North Korea, includes North Korean handmade products, medicinal materials, furs and the like - these are not Jeju's main products, so Tsushima's ship will not go to Jeju for several years.
If we have to wait in Jeju for the Japanese merchant ships to visit, we really don’t know how many years it will take.
The first thing is to let Tsushima's ship come over. Anyway, with the current power of Australia and Song Dynasty on the Yellow Sea, whether or not whose ship is allowed to come over is a matter of thought.
So before Ping Qiusheng set off, Skade set out to find the Navy Ministry. He asked the Navy Ministry to send a telegram to the Jeju Island squadron to intercept the trade ships sent by Tsushima to North Korea in batches and capture the ships. In the order, he specifically ordered
The captured Tsushima merchants and Zong family retainers were released. Ordinary crew members and passengers were given preferential treatment if they laid down their weapons, and the safety of the ship's cargo was ensured as much as possible. The ship and cargo were detained in Jeju Island for disposal.
Seizing ships during inspection is a basic skill of the navy. Therefore, by the time Ping Qiu Sheng arrived in Jeju, the Zong family had already captured three or four ships. By now, everyone in the Taimashou Jung Domain should know that a large band of bandits was intercepting their ships.
vessel.
As the largest financial source of the vassal, it is impossible for them not to solve this matter. Both Skade and Ping Qiu Sheng are very sure of this.
After Ping Qiu Sheng arrived, he had some perfunctory socializing with the military and political elders on the island as usual. Feng Zongze knew that Ping Qiu Sheng came here to carry out trade between Japan and Korea, and was very enthusiastic about Ping Qiu Sheng - if this plan came true, Jeju
The island will become an important trade node, not to mention how great the benefits will be. Just the establishment of a local processing industry to process export products makes him laugh in his dreams - he will not have to make some hard-fought bows and arrows.
His career was also criticized by a group of elders.
At the wine table, we decided to allocate three rooms to him in the newly built customs building in Chaocheonpo - after all, there are tariffs only when there is trade. Then he patted his chest and said that he wanted people and things, and in short, the Jeju Island Front Committee had no conditions.
Support this trade action.
Ping Qiusheng moved in with his men and luggage, and the Japan-North Korea trade working group was launched silently. He is doing nothing now, waiting wholeheartedly for people from the Zong family to come - he lost a few ships
Large ships are no small matter to the Zong family, not to mention that trade with North Korea is the lifeblood of the Zong family's economy.
Without overseas trade, the finances of a poor domain like Tsushima would have been ruined long ago due to the shogunate's two major policies of "participation in attendance" and "hand-transmission of requests". The first three generations of shoguns in the Tokugawa shogunate were known for their strict laws.
, known as "arbitrary politics" in history. This policy reached its climax during the Iamitsu era. The shogunate frequently reduced and changed titles for daimyo and minor daimyo, eliminating many feudal lords. Although the clan clan had received a promise from the Tokugawa shogunate that they would never change their names,
If Edo was informed about the fact that the route was cut off by "Japanese pirates" or other pirates, the third-generation shogun who had recently come to power might be directly replaced. Even if he was not changed, this could be an excuse for him to commit seppuku and then send his retainers over."
"Assist the young master".
However, it is impossible to attack Jeju Island with just the strength of Tsushima, and it is impossible to solve it by force. After all, Jeju Island is the territory of the Lee Dynasty, and it is not his turn as a nominal "foreign vassal".
Fight, I'm afraid the pirates won't be solved by then, and the relationship with Li Chao will fall apart first.
Since war is not an option, Tsushima Fuchu Domain's internal attitude towards the unknown armed group occupying Jeju Island has naturally become very hesitant. The family faction represented by the chief family member Yanagawa Tiaohe controls the entire Japan's diplomacy towards North Korea.
The overall situation is that the vested interests in the Japan-North Korea trade naturally do not want to create complications, and they advocate ignoring the forces of Jeju Island to avoid irritating the Lee Dynasty.
The head of the family, Zong Yisung, was less than 30 years old at this time. At the same time, the Zong family was also nominally a territorial vassal of North Korea. This was also the legal basis for the Zong family to dispatch officials to the Japanese government in Busan. Naturally, they tended to be pro-DPRK faction.
But ignoring it will not solve the problem, especially since this group of pirates has blocked the route. Even if the detained cargo is no longer needed, should we continue to send ships to North Korea?
The Ministry of Colonization and Trade and the Great Library had done their homework in advance, and understood the little things in Tsushima, so they adopted the strategy of fighting first and then paying homage - intercepting and detaining Tsushima ships first, and blocking the shipping route to Japan. This led to the disastrous situation in the DPRK.
The Japanese museum is alone overseas. The Japanese museum is just a small market with no agriculture. If trade is cut off, the Japanese people will have no life and riots will be difficult to end.
More than 100 years ago, the Li Dynasty closed the Japanese Imperial House in Sanpu to prevent Japanese pirates, which led to the Japanese Imperial House rebellion. Thanks to the full support of the Zong family, all the Japanese Imperial Households were saved from being completely annihilated. Although the Zong family was useless in Japan during the Warring States Period, it was at least better than the Li Dynasty.
The Li Dynasty could not sustain a long-term conflict and quickly resumed trade with Japan. However, the current Zong family did not have this confidence - after several wars in the 16th century, the powerful men of Ma Fan
Almost all was lost.
In the 16th century, the Zong family was repeatedly involved in the melees between their master and ally Shao Er family in Kyushu and China, resulting in considerable losses. In the end, the Shao Er family was defeated, and Zong family's own enclave in the mainland was left with few.
Before Toyotomi Hideyoshi invaded Korea, Mingzong Yoshitomo negotiated with Li Chao to "take advantage of the situation to defeat Ming". In the end, the negotiations did not come to an end. There were many frauds and deceptions, which were exposed. In order to show loyalty, the first war of invasion of Korea
Tokimune Yoshitomo mobilized all men aged 16-53 in Tsushima and assembled an army of 5,000 people to follow Kato Kiyomasa and Konishi Yukinaga to land. However, just like other wars in which the Mune family participated, the fishermen of Tsushima were attacked.
On the mainland, there were more defeats than victory and heavy losses. By the second invasion of Korea, the Zong family could only scrape together about 1,000 people despite their old capital.
Nowadays, it is naturally impossible for the Zong family to independently launch an offensive war, not to mention the returning retainers and businessmen who have made the pirates' "big black ships", "big guns" (artillery) and iron cannons so terrifying that they
The Zong family very much suspected that the other party was some kind of new Nanman rather than a simple pirate.
As a minor daimyo in the Zong family, the only thing they could eat was the Japanese-North Korean pipeline, otherwise they would not have to pay attention to the Australians. In the end, although seven were reluctant and eight were reluctant, after some discussion, they finally decided to send the "detective envoys" like North Korea.
Just as they went to Tsuima to test and discuss peace, the Zong family also sent a "thief-detecting envoy" to Jeju to negotiate. As long as any good guy in Jeju can return the ship and lift the blockade, other things will be easy to discuss.