1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 2129
A few days after the war started, there were no ships near Hirado Port that could go to sea, and the Hirado Strait outside the port has been occupied by the enemy's strong ships and guns. For the people currently trapped in Hirado City , the vast majority of people cannot escape this predicament.

In fact, many people do not know who the foreign enemy is currently attacking Hirado, and what caused the war. They can only believe the official statement that the purpose of the enemy's war is to invade Hirado and plunder Wealth and population, if you don't rise up to resist, then most people will be killed or become slaves after the defeat, and the property will naturally be looted by the enemy.

This kind of publicity did help the government to win the support of some public opinion. Although many people still have doubts about Tagawasuke's sudden rise to power, the enemy still obeyed the official recruitment and contributed money and effort to participate in this war.

But not everyone fully accepts the official statement. In a port city like Hirado that is engaged in international trade, the proportion of foreign population is not small, and these people from other countries and regions may not be as closed to those news. The locals trust the official statement as much as the locals.Especially those foreign businessmen who had dealt directly or indirectly with Hai Han, they would naturally think that Hirado would provoke Hai Han's army from thousands of miles away to call him. The matter is definitely not as simple as the official claims.

However, in the absence of sufficient information, ordinary people have no way to guess who is the party representing justice between the two warring parties. In such a time of chaos, they can only choose to ensure the safety of themselves and their property.For these outsiders who don't have a clear position, no matter who wins or loses in this war, the most important thing is that they can survive well.

Yu Chengli is a textile merchant from Daming. He travels back and forth between Daming and Japan at least twice a year, selling high-grade textiles produced in Suzhou and Hangzhou to Japan for profit.The business scale of Yu Chengli is not small, so there is also a shop in Hirado. Every time he delivers goods, he will live in Hirado for two or three months. After selling the textiles, he will buy from Hirado. Some Japanese native products were shipped back to Daming for sale.

Yu Chengli has been engaged in this kind of transnational trade for some years, so he has always had a good relationship with Hirado officials, and he was even a special supplier of the former feudal lord's Matsuura family, providing high-quality textiles for the feudal lord's family's clothing.However, not long ago, the Matsuura family suddenly suffered an inexplicable fire, which affected Yu Chengli's business to some extent.

Yu Chengli is no stranger to Tian Chuansuke, who took over the position of feudal lord. After all, Tian Chuansuke was the number one retainer under Matsuura Takanobu before that, and he had a large group of Han Chinese generals under his command, which made the businessmen from Ming Dynasty more or less increase him. very close.Yu Chengli even heard a rumor that Tian Chuanjie's adopted son also has Han blood, and his biological father is the famous Zheng Zhilong.

Based on these reasons, Yu Chengli still has a good impression of Tian Chuanjie, so although there are many doubts about the demise of the former feudal lord, Yu Chengli decided to deal with the relationship with the new feudal lord as soon as possible, and strive to put his special Supplier qualification continues.

For Yu Chengli, this qualification is not only an effective live advertisement, but also with the care of the feudal lord, he will encounter much less messy problems in business.If he wants to continue to operate in Hirado for a long time, it is necessary to find such a strong backer.

But Yu Chengli never expected that within a few days after Tian Chuansuke took over, there would be news of a possible war.Then Tian Chuansuke sent someone to find him, and without any explanation, he confiscated dozens of gauze in his warehouse for combat supplies.Of course, for billing and so on, it will probably have to wait until after the war to calculate slowly.

At first, Yu Chengli thought that Hirado clan was going to start a war with other forces in Kyushu, but he didn't take it too seriously.He knew that the strength of the Hirado Army in the Kyushu region should be considered second to none, and the possibility of winning the war against the outside world was extremely high.When this battle is won, then I will voluntarily give up the payment and ask Tian Chuansuke for the qualification of a special supplier, presumably the other party will follow suit and agree.

But soon there were more rumors on the market, saying that it was not the local forces in the Kyushu region who were going to fight Hirado this time, but the frightening Haihan people.

Yu Chengli has traveled around Suzhou and Hangzhou all year round, and has many social connections in various aspects, so he is no stranger to the deeds of the Haihan people.He even went to Zhoushan Dinghai Port once, where he saw the Haihan Armed Fleet moored in the port from a distance, and was very impressed by it.

As far as Yu Chengli knew, the Haihan people started by occupying Qiongzhou Island of the Ming Dynasty, and they have continued to expand outward by means of conquest over the years. Even the Zhoushan Island in Ningbo Prefecture was also seized by Haihan by military means.The local officials in Jiangsu and Zhejiang were afraid of its power and did not dare to send troops to expel it. Over time, Zhoushan Island really became the territory of Haihan Kingdom.Moreover, Yu Chengli also heard that the Haihan people took Jinzhou from the Qing people in Liaodong, and they also took it as their own, and had no plans to return it to Daming.

The Haihan people, who are so powerful that even Ming Dynasty dare not stroke their beards, are now going to send troops across the sea to attack Hirado, and Yu Chengli's expectations for Hirado officials have suddenly dropped greatly.Regardless of whether the Haihan people came to burn, kill, loot, or seize Hirado Island, he believed that the chances of Hirado Clan winning would be very small.

Of course, although Yu Chengli was not optimistic about the prospects of the Hirado Clan in this war, he believed that he at least had a way out and didn't have to stay in Hirado and wait for the war to happen.But when he was about to leave here and return to Daming, Tagawasuke ordered the imposition of military control on Hirado, all personnel were not allowed to leave the island, and the young and old were recruited as peasants, soldiers and civilian husbands to participate in the next battle.

Not only was Yu Chengli unable to leave, even his cargo ship was temporarily requisitioned by the Hirado Navy.In desperation, he could only spend another sum of money to bribe the officials in charge of recruiting young and strong, skipping the shops under his own name, so as to prevent himself and his subordinates from being captured by the Japanese as civilian husbands, and then being involved Into the flames of war, it really doesn't even know how to die.

As for ordinary people in Hirado, after all, there are only a very small number of people who have the means of Yu Chengli, and most of them have to do labor and military service according to official arrangements, and there are many situations where they need to be sent out to forcefully take people away.During this period, those who refused to serve life and death, those who took advantage of the fire for profit, and those who fled to the mountains to seek refuge, all kinds of situations emerged one after another, and the whole city inevitably became chaotic because of this.

The next door to Yu Chengli is a Portuguese firm whose owner is Gonzalez. He also did business in the southern coastal area of ​​Daming in the early years, and later he settled down in Hirado, earlier than Yu Chengli.This Gonzalez has been in the East for a long time, and he can speak both Chinese and Japanese, so he usually has a lot of contact with Yu Chengli.

Both of them are outsiders in Hirado, and the similar situation allows them to have a lot of common language. In addition, Gonzalez is an extrovert, so they get along pretty well as neighbors.And just after Tian Chuansuke ordered the closure of the city to prepare for war, Gonzalez went to find Yu Chengli and asked him if he planned to leave Hirado.

"If you want to leave, you have to go!" Yu Chengli smiled wryly, "The boat you're getting off has been requisitioned by the government. Did they make you an exception?"

"There is no exception. My boat was also requisitioned." Gonzalez shrugged and said, "It seems that if we don't plan to swim out, we can only stay on the island until the war is over!"

Swimming out is of course impossible. They all have businesses in Hirado for many years, so how can they just give up.And before the flames of war swept across this place, there must still be a fluke mentality, thinking that it is still possible for him to survive this catastrophe safely.

The two exchanged the amount of money spent to bribe officials to exempt from labor, and found that each of them had been slapped hard, but at this time there was no way to bargain with the people in the government, even if they knew they had suffered a loss, they could only I can bear it first.

As for the purpose of Haihan sending troops to attack Hirado, Gonzalez is very optimistic: "The Haihan people will not come here to occupy this place, it is too far away from Ming Dynasty, and there are no valuable souvenirs, and Look at the terrain of Hirado Island, the area suitable for construction is too small, this is not a place that Haihan people would be interested in. They must come here for other reasons!"

Yu Chengli nodded and said: "The government said that the Haihan people are coming to rob Hirado, so I guess it means leaving after the robbing?"

Gonzalez said disapprovingly: "This statement is even more ridiculous. The Haihan people are much richer than the Japanese. They need to cross the sea to rob Hirado? I'm afraid the wealth they robbed is not enough for their military expenses! I heard that Boss Yu has been to Zhoushan, so he should know something about it, right?"

After thinking about it, Yu Chengli felt that Gonzalez's argument was also reasonable. Since Haihan wanted to cross the sea to fight Hirado, he must make a big move to ensure victory.Although Hirado is a regional trade center, it seems that it is far from rich enough to attract Haihan people to fight for it. Otherwise, wouldn't it be more cost-effective for them to directly loot the rich land of Jiangsu and Zhejiang adjacent to Zhoushan than to attack Hirado?

Yu Chengli also knew that the Portuguese and the Haihan people maintained a close trade relationship, so he immediately lowered his voice and asked tentatively, "Could Boss Gang know the inside story of the Haihan people's attack on Hirado?"

Gonzalez has become accustomed to Yu Chengli's nondescript name, and he didn't bother to correct his surname. He just shook his head and said: "There is no inside story, I just think the government's statement is unreasonable. I think the government should be hiding it. In some cases, the truth was not revealed to us."

"But what can we do even if we know the truth? Can we still mediate and let them give up the war?" Gonzalez said helplessly: "All we can do is to find a way to protect ourselves and not be involved in the flames of war. .At least when the Haihan invade Hirado, don't be treated as an enemy by them."

This is exactly what Yu Chengli was thinking. He actually believed that the Hirado Army would be defeated, but it was difficult to predict how far the war would go, and he hadn't thought about how he would protect himself if the Haihan Army invaded Hirado. It is the most appropriate.

"Boss Gang, what are you going to do?" Yu Chengli believed that Gonzales had insight into the current situation, so he wanted to hear his opinion.

Gonzales was silent for a moment, but he asked a question that puzzled Yu Chengli, the second monk: "Boss Yu, do you still have any cloth in stock?"

"Yes, yes...but what's the use of using cloth at this juncture?" Yu Chengli asked rhetorically.

Gonzalez refused to tell the truth right away, but asked Yu Chengli to take him to see things.Yu Chengli didn't understand what he meant, but he still complied with the other party's request and took him to the shop's warehouse to check the inventory.

"That's all these goods. They are all good things shipped from Hangzhou at the beginning of the year! But the best goods have been sold to merchants in Kyoto, and the ones in stock are relatively ordinary." Yu Chengli pointed to the number of them that were placed in the warehouse. There are not many more than 200 pieces of fabric, and I signaled Gonzales to check it by himself.

If Gonzalez intends to lower the price to eat this batch of goods at this time, Yu Chengli doesn't care about suffering a small loss. It is better to exchange these goods for gold and silver and bury them underground than to let them be stored in the warehouse. It was confiscated after the war.

Gonzalez stepped forward to pick and choose, but in the end he only picked out two pieces of fabric, put them under his arm and said to Yu Chengli, "Just these two pieces."

"That's it?" Yu Chengli was slightly surprised, it was obviously not about packing his inventory.Unexpectedly, at this juncture, Gonzales can still enjoy shopping.

Before Yu Chengli could make an offer, Gonzalez said again: "Whether you and I can save the store after the war, it depends on this thing!"

Yu Chengli was puzzled and said, "What's the meaning of this?"

Gonzalez saw that Yu Chengli's subordinates were beside him, but he winked at him but didn't answer.Yu Chengli understood it, so he asked someone to take the two pieces of fabric, and they went back to the flower hall together, and then retreated, before asking Gonzalez's intention again.

"Haihan Kingdom uses the red and blue flag as its national symbol. As long as we prepare the flag in advance and hang it at the door of the store when the Haihan army enters the city, we should be able to keep it safe!" Gonzales explained, lightly Gently stroke the two pieces of fabric placed on the table.

One is as bright red as blood, and the other is as dark as the sea. These two silks may have been shipped to Japan this year because their colors are too bright. have such an effect.

In fact, he had seen the two-color flag of Haihan before when he went to Zhoushan. It was only when Gonzalez reminded him that he remembered this detail.Whether this method is effective or not is not yet confirmed, but at this moment, there is no way to care so much, and the method that can save life must be tried.

(End of this chapter)