1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 903 Visiting the North ([-])

Since the last century, many Ming merchants have come here to trade across the sea, so Hirado, like Nagasaki, has many Chinese-style buildings and Han Chinese-inhabited neighborhoods funded by Ming merchants.However, compared with Nagasaki Port, which has a strong atmosphere of Han culture, the commercial atmosphere here in Hirado is more prominent. Most of the Ming merchants built shops here, while Nagasaki has many schools, Temples and other religious and cultural facilities.

Although Chen Yixin is young, he has traveled far and wide to many places. He believes that the reputation of Hirado Port is far greater than the actual operating level here. There is still a gap between Penghu Magong Port, which Haihan took over last year.If Haihan were to choose a location to build a commercial port, Hirado probably wouldn’t even be eligible to be selected. After all, the Japanese’s management of sea trade is still a little bit worse. If Haihan settles in the south of Sasebo Bay in the future, then Hirado The Matsuura family basically doesn't need to play anymore, just be a distributor for Haihan honestly.

After Matsuura Shinichi left, people from the Portuguese business house also came to visit Chen Yixin.Western colonists came to Hirado much earlier than Haihan. In 1543, the great pirate king brought the Portuguese to Kagoshima. In 1550, Portuguese merchant ships entered Hirado Port, accompanied by missionaries. Francisco Xavier.After this missionary who had not been successful in spreading Catholicism in Kagoshima arrived in Hirado, he received hospitality and support from Takanobu Matsuura, and Catholicism was able to spread widely in northern Kyushu.By the time Chen Yixin came to Hirado, there were already quite a few Catholic churches and believers on the island.

The Dutch set up a business house in Hirado in 1609, and the British were a little slower, entering Hirado in 1613 and introducing sweet potatoes to local cultivation.However, the local operations of the British were obviously unable to compete with their European counterparts. In 1623, they closed down Hirado's trading house and completely withdrew from Japan.Now the Spaniards and the Dutch are also in the same situation as the British. The spices, glass products, and weapons they transported from far away Europe are basically unable to compete with the Haihan goods transported by the Portuguese from Hainan Island.Whether it is freight costs or production costs, the Portuguese obviously have a clear advantage.

The person who came to visit Chen Yixin was Ricardo, the consul of the Portuguese Chamber of Commerce. He also visited Sanya and other places under Haihan’s rule more than once, so he still has a certain degree of understanding of Haihan.Hearing that a Haihan ship had arrived at Hirado Port, Ricardo immediately rushed to the inn where Chen Yixin was staying.Haihan's output accounted for nearly half of the Portuguese's current export to Japan, so no matter what the purpose of the Haihan fleet's coming here, Ricardo was all set up to deal with it.

Ricardo had never met Chen Yixin before, so after the meeting he was inevitably surprised by Chen Yixin's youthful appearance, and even wondered in his heart whether this was the son of some high-ranking Haihan official. In addition to personal professional ability, prestige is also a very important factor for ocean-going fleets to go to other countries, otherwise the orders issued will be difficult to convince the subordinates.

Ricardo did not have the language skills of Matsuura Shinichi, so he could only communicate with Chen Yixin through a translator. At this time, he learned from the other party's self-introduction that this young Haihan was actually a colonel of the Haihan militia.As far as he knew, this was a very high-ranking military officer, and it was said that the Haihan militia ranked seniority based on military merit. Chen Yixin was promoted to colonel at a young age, obviously he had made a lot of military merit.

For Chen Yixin, Ricardo is an unplanned source of intelligence. Considering that the cooperation between Haihan and Portugal has been relatively close in the past few years, the information obtained from Ricardo will have a relatively high degree of credibility. It can also save Hai Han a lot of hands and feet.So Chen Yixin seized this opportunity and asked him about various local conditions in Hirado, including politics, economy, military, geography and so on.He knew that the Portuguese business houses were not just for business. Collecting such information was a function that every business house stationed abroad would have. The difference was only in the amount of specific results.

Of course, Ricardo could more or less guess Chen Yixin's purpose, but the information Haihan people needed was not of great confidentiality value, and Ricardo didn't mind giving it to Chen Yixin to gain a little favor.The Portuguese currently need to rely on Haihan in many aspects of their operations in the Far East, especially when dealing with their two old opponents, Spain and the Netherlands. Providing the Haihan people with some help within their ability is also a beneficial measure to promote the development of bilateral relations.

Therefore, among the information provided by Ricardo to Chen Yixin, the information about the Matsuura family and Hirado Port accounted for only about half, while the other half was about the operating conditions and movements of the Dutch and Spaniards here.He didn't know the real purpose of the Haihan people coming here, but if he could persuade Chen Yixin to teach the Dutch and Spaniards who were active in Japan a lesson, of course he would be happy to see it.

Chen Yixin's mentality is not as young as he looks on the surface. Of course, he also noticed the rhythm that Ricardo wanted to lead him. Chen Yixin didn't mind Ricardo's careful thinking. The Han are all in a state of hostility, and it is normal for the Portuguese to want to borrow a knife to kill people in this regard.Especially the Spaniards, after the two sides fought on Taiwan Island at the beginning of the year, there was no formal peace talks in any form.However, what Chen Yixin is really interested in is another matter that has little to do with the Dutch and Spaniards.

"Mr. Ricardo, Zheng Zhilong, you should know, right?" Chen Yixin changed the subject and mentioned another matter: "He also made his fortune in Hirado in his early years, and he should have some assets here. Just now I told The Matsuura family also mentioned it politely, but the other party did not respond to me, it must be some inconvenience. I wonder if Mr. Ricardo can help me?"

"Zheng Zhilong?" Ricardo was slightly taken aback when he heard the name, and immediately regained his composure: "Of course I know that Zheng Yiguan is a well-known figure in Hirado. The relationship has always been very good. His manor in Hirado is not far from here, but his family has moved out of Hirado and no longer lives here. Chief Chen doesn't have to worry about the attitude of the Matsuura family. I will definitely remain neutral and will not choose sides because of the grievances between you and Zheng Zhilong."

Zheng Zhilong’s nickname is Yiguan, because he was given the Christian name Nicolas when he was baptized by the Catholic Church in Macau in 1621. Westerners, especially Portuguese, used to call him Nicolas Iquan, that is, Nicholas Yiguan. Zheng Zhilong used the name Zheng Zhilong in Ming Dynasty. On the contrary, not many people call it by name.Zheng Zhilong then came to Kyushu, Japan, met and married Tian Chuan, the adopted daughter of the overseas Chinese blacksmith Weng Yihuang, and joined the pirate businessman Li Dan as his wife. In 1624, Zheng Zhilong's wife gave birth to her son Zheng Chenggong in Hirado Qianlihama. In the same year, Zheng Zhilong left Kyushu with his family and joined Yan Siqi.The following year, Yan Siqi and Li Dan passed away successively. After Zheng Zhilong inherited their properties, he formed Shibazhi, which later dominated the southeast sea.

After that, although Zheng Zhilong still maintained trade relations with Hirado, he never came back to live here.After Shibazhi was defeated in Penghu, he fled all the way east to Miyako Island between Taiwan and Ryukyu.It is not known whether Shibazhi and Hirado still maintain secret trade relations after that, but it is obviously impossible for the Matsuura family in charge of Hirado to offend a wealthy and capable force like Haihan for a down-and-out pirate leader. Maintaining neutrality is their knack for managing Hirado Port.

Ricardo believes that Chen Yixin's initiative to mention Zheng Zhilong should have two purposes. One is to understand the current attitude of the Matsuura family towards Zheng Zhilong, and the other is to find out whether Zheng Zhilong still has business contacts with Hirado.As for why he wanted to inquire about these news, Ricardo believed that the Haihan people had finally freed up their hands and wanted to exterminate the Eighteen Zhiyu Party who escaped from Penghu.

Although Ricardo is in Hirado, he still has a certain understanding of the changes in the situation in the south. After the Haihan people captured Penghu in May last year, they did not pursue Shibazhi. At the right time, they stationed in Taiwan directly under the nose of the Dutch, and forced the Dutch to swallow their breath and sign a peace agreement.After clearing away the Dutch, Haihan continued to fight against the Spaniards entrenched in the northern part of Taiwan Island without stopping, and uprooted the two colonial strongholds they had finally built in Taipei. The Spanish tentacles in the Western Pacific had to start from Taiwan Island. Back to the city of Manila in the South China Sea.

After disputing these two, Haihan has basically controlled the coastline of Taiwan Island, and it seems logical to deal with Shibazhi's overseas remnants.After all, if the Haihan people want to open up routes to Japan in the future, Shibashi, located on Miyako Island, will be a huge hidden danger.Since Haihan has the ability to drive Shibazhi out of the Fujian Strait, of course he doesn't mind spending a little more time to get rid of them completely.

Although Zheng Zhilong had some friendship with the Portuguese in the past, after the appearance of the Haihan people, the Portuguese have completely stood in the Haihan camp.In terms of his attitude towards Shibazhi, it was already a matter of nostalgia not to help the Haihan people deal with them, so Ricardo didn't intend to deliberately hide it from Chen Yixin, he knew how much to say.As for how the Haihan people plan to deal with Zheng Zhilong, although Ricardo is also curious, he is not ready to get to the bottom of it. Anyway, the destruction of Shibazhi will not harm the interests of Portugal, but the Haihan people control the route to Japan via the Ryukyu Islands After that, it is very likely that the Dutch and Spaniards' northward passage will be cut off.

From Ricardo's narration, Chen Yixin also quickly sorted out a few things.First, Shibazhi still maintains a trade relationship with Hirado officials in a non-public form; second, Zheng Zhilong has not appeared in Hirado after his defeat last year, and the last time he appeared here was Qiba It happened years ago; thirdly, Zheng Zhilong has no relatives to settle in Hirado, but there are still some real estates like land and houses, but these real estates are of little significance to Haihan.

Ricardo's expectations were not bad. One of Chen Yixin's missions in Hirado was to collect recent information about Zheng Zhilong and Shibazhi, so as to prepare for possible strikes in the future.Although Shibazhi did not set foot in the Fujian Strait this year, and even kept a very cautious distance from the waters near Taiwan Island, the military did not intend to let Shibazhi continue to survive like this.After the incident in Zhejiang is over, the next target of the Haihan militia is Miyako Island. Before that, the military hopes to safely block all of Zheng Zhilong's escape routes to prevent him from escaping again.

The survey fleet stayed in Hirado Port for two days, had a short rest and supplies, and then continued to sail north.After passing through the strait between Hirado Island and Kyushu, it is the Korean Strait between the Korean Peninsula and Japan.The first stop of the fleet was Iki Island, which is located in the north of Kyushu Island and only more than ten nautical miles away from Hirado.

The island covers an area of ​​more than 130 square kilometers, most of which are terraces, and the highest altitude does not exceed 200 meters.In addition to the main island, there are 21 subsidiary islands. According to the information obtained in Hirado, a small number of fishermen settled on the islands here.

The fleet did not choose to land on this island, but just circled half of the island along its west coastline at close range, and then sailed to the next stop, Tsushima Island.Tsushima Island, which consists of five islands, has a land area of ​​nearly 700 square kilometers and is only 50 kilometers away from the Korean Peninsula. From the heights at the northern end of the island, you can even overlook Busan on the Korean Peninsula.However, this place has always been under the control of Japan and is the gateway for maritime traffic between Japan and the Korean Peninsula.

The early history of Tsushima Island is recorded in the Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms written by Chen Shou in the Jin Dynasty.During the two expeditions to Japan in the Yuan Dynasty, they captured Tsushima Island. At the beginning of the 15th century, the Joseon Dynasty sent troops to Tsushima Island in the name of "fighting Japanese pirates" in an attempt to occupy the area, but it was still recorded in the "Haidong Zhuguo Ji" compiled by the leader of the Joseon Dynasty, Shen Shuzhou, in 1471. Tsushima Island belongs to Japan.

The Battle of Wenlu broke out in 1592, also known as the Wanli Korean War in the history of Ming Dynasty, and Tsushima Island became the frontier base for Japan to send troops to Korea.The relationship between the two countries after the war was basically maintained by the trading house opened on Tsushima Island.By the time Chen Yixin led the fleet to arrive here, Tsushima Island was still under the control of the Tsushima clan, who was loyal to the Edo Shogunate.

Regarding this place, the Haihan military has no special ideas for the time being. Tsushima Island has neither a natural harbor nor natural conditions suitable for development.Although the land area of ​​this island is not small, it is almost all mountainous, and the difficulty of colonization will be relatively greater.

(End of this chapter)