1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 902 Visiting the North ([-])

The two warships brought by Wu Mori are expedition-class and exploration-class, and they are equipped with more than 30 cannons in total, so it is no problem to deal with the Japanese pirates on the shore.It's not that no one on the Japanese pirate ship found that they were outflanked, but almost everyone went ashore to attack the targets on the coast, and no one was wary of the sea at all. As a result, they could only watch as the two ships approached. Bombarded.

Although the Hachiman ship has tall boards erected on the side of the ship as a cover, this kind of cover can only block bows and low-speed musket lead bullets, but it is not much different from a piece of paper in front of the shells. the difference.After a round of shelling, the fragments of the ship's planks scattered in all directions became the best weapon to kill the deck crew. Few of the Japanese pirates who tried to hide behind the ship's plank to resist with matchlock guns were directly killed by the shells, and most of them were killed by the shells. Injured by debris from the ship's plank.Fortunately, the target of the Haihan warship was near the waterline of the Hachiman ship, with the purpose of paralyzing the enemy's ability to move, and did not concentrate its firepower to clean the deck, otherwise there might not be any survivors left.

When the gunfire sounded, the Japanese pirates on the shore realized that the targets of their trip should have been those large Haihan ships. They thought that the Haihan people had hidden the ships in some hidden harbor and were waiting to take them to the shore. After these people started questioning slowly, they didn't expect that Haihan sailing boat would come out to outflank their rear, and it was equipped with such a powerful artillery. Now it's really hard to say who is going to trouble whom.

In the front is the defense line of the Haihan camp, which is difficult to break through, and in the back is the Haihan boat that is bombarding its own sailboat with artillery. This situation makes the Japanese pirates suddenly fall into a dilemma.

Naturally, Chen Yixin would not miss such a great opportunity to counterattack, and immediately ordered the attack.After all, the Japanese pirates are just a group of bullying bandits, not an army with a strong will to fight, and fighting against the wind is not the combat environment they are good at. Once they find that they have no hope of turning the tide of the battle, they immediately flee in all directions.Of course, escaping back to the boat at this time would be tantamount to committing suicide, so I could only flee along the coast of Sasebo Bay to the uninhabited inland.

Chen Yixin didn't intend to spend more time and energy to wipe out this group of Japanese pirates, he only ordered to gather the formation and compress the Japanese pirates who couldn't escape in time into a narrow area on the coast.These people did not have the determination to fight to the end. When they found that they had no way out, they quickly gave up resistance and chose to surrender to save their lives.

After the two ships commanded by Wusen at sea found that the battle situation was under control, they stopped bombarding.However, at this time, several Hachiman ships moored on the coast have been bombarded beyond recognition. There is too much water in the cabins of two ships, and the hulls of the ships have already shown obvious rolls.

The soldiers carried out a simple cleaning and statistics on the battlefield, and found about 70 corpses of Japanese pirates.The reason for the vague number of "approximately" is because the shelling of the Haihan warship caused several broken corpses that could not be put back together.In addition, there were more than [-] Japanese pirates captured, but judging from the preliminary interrogation results, the leader of this group had escaped in the chaos just now.

But this is harmless. According to the captives, this group of people almost came out in full force. Almost all the people who could participate in the battle were here, and there were only 30 to [-] people who escaped in the chaos just now, and they could no longer change the direction of the battle.They originally wanted to follow Haihan's fleet all the way to a secluded place to attack, but obviously they didn't do enough homework beforehand, and they didn't even know that Haihan, a tiger's butt, was untouchable.Back then, so many armed forces along the southeast coast of Ming Dynasty wanted to attack Haihan, but in the end they all fell into Haihan's hands one by one. Although the number of people participating in this Japanese pirate army was almost the same as that of the Haihan fleet, the actual combat effectiveness of the two sides was different. Too far away, the battle situation is one-sided from beginning to end, and it is basically sent to Haihan's military training.

Chen Yixin and others are actually mentally prepared for such a small episode in the itinerary.As the saying goes, wealth is not exposed, but their fleet not only exposed their wealth in Nagasaki Port, but also was very high-profile, and it is reasonable to be targeted.But after doing this, Chen Yixin can no longer take the risk of splitting up the team to carry out inspection missions. This time he was lucky and only encountered a small group of Japanese pirates. Many, Chen Yixin can't guarantee that his party will be able to escape unscathed.

Xu Ke, who represented the Xu family, seemed very calm about this sudden battle. He had already seen the power of the Haihan militia in Zhoushan, and he had already vaguely had the concept of "Haihan is invincible". The skirmish that took place only further confirmed his view.Although this expedition team was only two to three hundred people in size, Xu Ke felt that he was under the protection of thousands of troops, and there was nothing to worry about in terms of safety.

Amakusa Shiro gathered the captives together and asked them to dig a big hole on the coast and bury the dead Japanese pirates' bodies in it.How to deal with the remaining Japanese pirates has become a thorny issue.Haihan didn't set up a base here, and the ship couldn't hold such a large number of captives.But it seems a little too inhumane to execute all these captives on the spot.

Amakusa Shiro had to ask Chen Yixin for instructions, and handed over this problem to his superior.But Chen Yixin didn't feel embarrassed. The inspection schedule at the back of the fleet was still long, and it was impossible to take such a group of prisoners on the road. It would be inconvenient to manage and consume a lot of supplies.After much deliberation, Chen Yixin could only order the prisoners to be released on the spot when the fleet left here.

Two days later, the Haihan Fleet, which had completed its inspection of Sasebo Bay, finally set off to leave. Before leaving, they released the Japanese pirate prisoners who were concentrated on a damaged Hachiman ship.These Japanese pirates probably won't be able to leave here in a short time, because only this one of the few ships they drove in was left, and all the others were scuttled in the bay.The Haihan people also damaged the mast, sails and rudder of the ship, which may be difficult to repair given the local environmental conditions.

All the released Japanese pirates knelt down on the coast and did not dare to look up. They were lucky to be able to save their lives. Some of them were even mentally prepared to be executed.However, the following days are still a great test for them. The Haihan people are not kind enough to leave them any supplies and tools. To survive in this desolate bay, they still need to face the test of nature.

The Haihan fleet sailed out of Sasebo Bay and continued to sail north. It was only about [-] nautical miles away from the Goto Islands where Japanese pirates frequently Be very careful.The next stop of the fleet was Hirado, one of Japan's former foreign trade ports, located at the western end of Kyushu Island.

Hirado Island is located in the west of Matsuura Peninsula. It is about 30 kilometers wide from east to west and more than [-] kilometers long from north to south.

Hirado Port is located on Hirado Island, which belongs to the territory of the Hirado Clan. The Matsuura family who controlled this area was a warrior group known as the navy a long time ago. Because of its geographical location close to the Korean Peninsula, it used to be He did not do little to engage in Japanese pirates. He was once called Mishima Japanese pirates by North Korea because of his bases in Tsushima Island, Iki Island, and Hehu Island.After Japan entered the era of the Muromachi shogunate, the three-generation shogun Ashikaga Yoshimitsu expressed his favor to the Ming Dynasty to develop exploration and cooperation trade, and began to strictly ban piracy, and the Matsuura family began to focus on the development of trade.

Later, the prestige of the Muromachi shogunate gradually declined, and its control over the local daimyos declined. The Matsuura family resumed their old business again, and opened Hirado Castle as a private city, allowing fleets from various countries to enter and exit, relying on smuggling trade and sea Looting accumulated a lot of wealth. In 1599, Matsuura Zhenxin, the 26th generation of the Matsuura family, built Hirado Castle on the basis of Hinoyake Castle in Kameoka Mountain, Hirado Island. This castle is located on the highest point of the hill surrounded by the sea on three sides. Overhead, you can clearly see Kyushu Island on the other side of the strait.

As a free trade port, this place once surpassed Nagasaki Port in its trade volume. However, with the country-locking policy implemented by the shogunate in recent years, Hirado has inevitably gone downhill.At present, Hirado Port has been revoked as an officially recognized foreign trade port, and the prosperity of the port city is gradually becoming a thing of the past.It is worth mentioning that the trading house established by the Dutch in Hirado still exists. According to historical records, it was not moved from Hirado to Nagasaki until 1641.

However, in Haihan's view, the original history will definitely change. Because of the appearance of Haihan, an unexpected guest, the Dutch's space for activities in the Far East has been severely compressed. At present, only the city of Zeelandia in Taiwan has remained The normal operation is barely maintained, and the business hall in Hirado is already facing the painful situation of making ends meet. It is only a matter of time before the establishment is abolished, and it is impossible to persist for another seven or eight years.

The Haihan fleet bypassed Nanlongzaki on August [-]. At this location, the Hirado Bridge was built in later generations, connecting Hirado Island with Kyushu Island.After rounding this cape, you can see Hirado Castle on the east coast of Hirado Island.There is a bay on the north and south sides of Hirado Castle, which is the famous Hirado Port.However, the area of ​​these two bays is relatively small, and the scale of the wharf that can be developed is also relatively limited. Not to mention compared with Sasebo Bay, it is even worse than Nagasaki Port. The trade center was moved to Nagasaki Port. The layout of Hirado Port is really too small.

Chen Yixin is not worried about being denied access to Hirado Port. Although this port has been crossed off the list of foreign trade ports by the shogunate, judging from the information collected by Haihan before, it is actually still in operation, only operated by the public It turned to a semi-public underground transaction.The Matsuura family neither wants to confront the shogunate head-on, nor is it willing to give up the way of making money that they have managed for several generations. Anyway, there are policies and countermeasures. Do it right.For the Matsuura family, Haihan people, who are economically powerful and good at doing business, are undoubtedly an excellent business partner, and there is no reason to refuse such a good offer.

Perhaps considering the feelings of the Dutch, the head of the Matsuura family did not personally meet the "Haihan Merchant Group" who came from afar, but sent a young man named Matsuura Shinichi to receive Chen Yixin and others.However, this Matsuura Shinichi is not easy. He speaks Chinese more smoothly than Amakusa Shiro, who has been in Haihan for several years, which saves the trouble of translation.

"I went to Daming in my early years, went to Suzhou, Hangzhou, Ningbo and other places, and learned the language of Ming Dynasty at that time." Matsuura Shinichi seemed to see Chen Yixin's question, and took the initiative to explain to him that he could speak Chinese The reason: "There are many merchants from Ming Dynasty in Hirado Port, and it is more convenient to talk to them after going to school."

After hearing this explanation, Chen Yixin was stunned. He dared to love this little Japan and had been to Daming. It is no wonder that Chinese speaks like a Jiangsu-Zhejiang dialect.Now that the other party can understand, it will be much easier to communicate, and there is no need to worry about misunderstanding due to translation problems.Chen Yixin first explained to Qidao why he came here - to build a trade route from Zhoushan to Hirado.

"Previously, there were merchants from the Ming Dynasty who sold a small amount of Hai Han goods to sell here, and each piece was expensive. If you can transport the goods here by yourself, the price must be more advantageous." Matsuura Shinichi saw it all at once. the nature of the problem.

Chen Yixin didn't deny it either, nodded and said, "We have learned from many sources and think that the Matsuura family will be an excellent business partner, so I also want to take this opportunity to ask if the Matsuura family is willing to cooperate with us?"

Matsuura Shinichi did not immediately respond directly to this question, but instead asked: "Can I have a look at your sample first?"

"Of course it's no problem. In fact, I've already prepared a sample. It's supposed to be a gift for Matsuura-kun." Chen Yixin clapped his hands twice, and immediately someone came in carrying the box.

Of course, what Chen Yixin gave away was not a sample, but a gift specially prepared by the Ministry of Commerce. Simply put, it was a special customized version of various high-profile products, which would never be found in the market.Although the cost of this box of gifts is not too high, if you want to discuss the price in terms of commodities, it is definitely not a small amount.After Matsuura Shinichi saw it, his expression relaxed a lot. He even praised Chen Yixin for being too polite, and said that he would try his best to meet Haihan's request, such as setting up a business office in Hirado Port.

Chen Yixin didn't think about such a long-term thing. He was thinking about how to complete his inspection mission now. As for whether to set up a shop or not, that was a matter for the Ministry of Commerce and would not be decided by the military.

(End of this chapter)