Emperor Ming Dynasty

Chapter 928 Whale
Baoke Zhengzhi sat upright, talking about the past and present with the King of Yue.

Unknowingly, an hour passed, and the two of them didn't even notice.

Baoke Zhengzhi looked at King Yue's upright and delicate appearance, and said with a smile: "Your Highness is very knowledgeable, and I am invincible."

"It's nothing." Yue Wang shook his head and said with a wry smile, "I was enlightened at the age of five, and entered school at the age of seven. Last year, I watched politics in six departments. I only had three days off in January. It's very pitiful."

"Such knowledge is forced out."

Talking about the suffering of going to school, King Yue couldn't explain it in words, and finally sighed: "Even if the prince is married, he has to study hard, and it is difficult for the prince of Ming Dynasty."

Baoke Zhengzhi said with emotion: "It is precisely because of being so outstanding that His Highness is able to leave the feudal clan to take over the country!"

Speaking of this, King Yue unconsciously sat upright, his face gradually serious: "That's why I came to Edo this time."

"Although the Ezo land is close to Honshu, it is an unclaimed land. Your country will not hinder it?"

Baoke Zhengzhi also said seriously: "The land of the barbarians is the land of the barbarians. Your Highness is willing to take over our country, but I have no objection. It's just that this place is barren, with only a few hundred people and a stone height of only two thousand—"

"I understand." The King of Yue breathed a sigh of relief: "After the establishment of the Yue Kingdom, I would like to have friendship with your country and be friendly for generations."

"In addition, I am also willing to marry the eldest daughter of your country."

"Wife?"

"To be honest, I already have a marriage contract, but I can be a flat wife, not a concubine."

Baoke Zhengzhi left the mansion and came to the West Hall of the General, which is where Zhongao is located.

The famous Da'ao is the general's harem.

At this time, the young general Tokugawa Ietsuna was wearing a black toga, without a black hat on his head. Years of pampering and pampering made his face full of nobility that refused to be far away.

Tadakatsu Sakai, the elder of the shogunate, was drinking a little wine and watching the singing and dancing, sitting beside him, he was very interested.

"General 様——" Bao Ke Zhengzhi saluted, found a seat on his buttocks and sat down.

The young Tokugawa Iezuna was the fourth-generation shogun of the Edo shogunate. He was also the general who ruled the country with literature and brought the entire shogunate into a prosperous age.

At this time, he was only 23 years old, with a short beard on his mouth, he looked very mature, but his face had a strong bookish look.

Hoshina Masaoyuki has always been proud of this, because he was the one who educated the generals since he was a child, that force cannot last for a long time, and the rule of law is the foundation of the shogunate's long-term survival.

"Uncle, what about King Yue?"

Tokugawa Ietsuna suppressed his curiosity, and asked only after the song and dance ended.

"The Yue King of the Ming Dynasty came to Edo mainly for two things."

Baoke Zhengzhi said in a deep voice: "Firstly, the Yue Kingdom will be established in the land of Ezo, so it will intersect with our country; secondly, it will ask the eldest daughter to be the side concubine."

Tadakatsu Sakai frowned when he heard the words: "Ezo is even more barren than Kyushu. How could the Ming Dynasty think of establishing a vassal state there?"

"It's probably in the inner city." Tokugawa Ietsuna said enviously: "I heard that the Emperor Ming has more than 20 sons. Except for the crown prince who can ascend the throne, the others will naturally come when they go."

After several years of marriage, he doesn't have a single son, how can he not be envious?
"I'm afraid that Ming people have plans for our country."

Sakai Tadakatsu said seriously.

"The Ming people were greedy for fame and fortune. Now we pay tribute to their country, become the king of Japan, and open the Nagasaki Trading Company. What else?"

Tokugawa Ietsuna showed anger.

Obviously, for him, paying tribute to the Ming Dynasty and being canonized as the king of Japan is a shameful and humiliating thing.

There are endless voices of opposition at home and abroad, which makes him feel nervous.

"General, the Ming Dynasty is very powerful." At this time, Tadakatsu Sakai advised instead: "Only in Ryukyu, the navy of the Ming people can reach Edo..."

This word, hesitant to say.

As long as there is no war, the authority of the shogunate is still there.

But once they fight against the Ming army, it will be nothing if they win. If they lose, the authority of the shogunate will be shaken, the world will shake, and even the shogunate will be in danger of overthrowing.

The bureaucrats know this.

Tokugawa Ietsuna waved his hand to show his understanding.

Losing some prestige, changing from a Japanese maharaja to a Japanese king is nothing, he is already a mature monarch.

"I want to marry my eldest daughter." Tokugawa Ietsuna showed a thoughtful look on his face: "Unfortunately, I don't have a daughter, and my younger sisters have already married."

"I heard that Song Ji, the daughter of Princess He Ji, is lovely-looking, smart and sensible. The general can adopt her as his adopted daughter and marry the King of Yue as his side concubine."

Sakai Tadakatsu said suddenly.

"Yes."

Baoke Zhengzhi also has no objection.

He also has no daughter.

Tokugawa Iezuna thought about this and agreed.

Princess Kazuhime is Tokugawa Iezuna's aunt, Matsuhime is her cousin, and she takes her cousin as her daughter. It seems unreasonable, but it is indeed the norm in Japan.

Even some warriors have no sons, so in order to train their younger brothers as soon as possible and establish an heir, they will adopt their younger brothers as adopted sons so that there will be no successors.

The king of Yue couldn't take care of any cousins ​​or adopted daughters, as long as he could marry the princess, complete the marriage mission, and make good friends with Japan, he could marry anything.

After the task is completed, all that is left is to wait.

At this time, he was on good terms with Tieyi and Baoke Zhengzhi, a master of Confucianism who was knowledgeable and spoke pure Chinese.

The two of them wandered around the entire Edo city in a boat, leisurely and poetic.

While chatting, a group of sloppy men suddenly appeared in front of them to open the way. The worn-out samurai uniforms described their predicament and at the same time their identities.

Those who were guarded by them were wealthy businessmen sitting on chairs, chubby and extremely weighing on the scales.

"Isn't the warrior of your country the leader of the four peoples?"

King Yue was puzzled.

"When Toshō Daquanxian (Tokugawa Ieyasu) unified Japan, he had [-] banners under his command, fighting in the south and in the north, but now there are only three or four generations of samurai, and the number of samurai has increased sharply."

"The salary of the shogunate is innumerable, and the knowledge and behavior bestowed are also unchanged. Therefore, many samurai are destitute and can only serve as guards with merchants."

"But even so, the long knives on their waists cannot be pawned. It is the symbol of their warriors."

"There are many such warriors?" King Yue said softly, with a faint hint of joy in his tone.

"There should be a lot in Edo." Masanoyuki Hoshina said, "The world's great names came to Edo to give advice, and many samurai settled here, and there were quite a few poor people."

The corner of Yue King's mouth curled up: "Instead of leaving these people to disrupt the order, why don't I recruit them to go to Yue Kingdom? Kill two birds with one stone, right?"

Bao Ke Zhengzhi shook his head and said with a smile: "It's okay for them to leave Edo Castle, but the price is a bit high!"

"Land, I only have land." The King of Yue turned his head and said seriously: "Become a wandering warrior in Japan, or go to Yue to be a rich landlord, I don't think there is a choice at all!"

After entrusting this task to Hoshina, King Yue left the prosperous Edo city and went to his land of Ezo.

When he arrived in Ezo, there were already residents here, and there was a small town - Fukuyama Castle.

It turned out that this was the Matsumae family from the Mutsu area. As early as six or seventy years ago, they crossed the sea to Ezo, reclaimed wasteland, and built Fukuyama Castle.

The shogun had no idea.

After all, the family is a vassal state system, and the headquarters under their hands may not be able to control it, let alone the powerful families below.

"Hahaha, I am indeed blessed by the heavens, and I harvested a city when I first came here."

Hundreds of guards and ten large ships are enough to make the entire Matsumae family tremble with fear.

The owner of the house, Matsumae, was lucky enough to have to come to see him.

The king of Yue declared without hesitation: "From now on, the entire Ezo land belongs to the country of Yue, and you are also citizens of the country of Yue."

After Matsumae Kounari knew that the person in front of him was King Yue of the Ming Dynasty, he groveled and surrendered.

But when he returned home, a group of generals and retainers still refused to accept it, and raised three hundred troops to attack at night.

Naturally, he was killed and defeated.

Afterwards, the Matsumae succumbed completely.

After some statistics, my good fellow, the entire Fushan City has an area of ​​less than 43 mu, and is divided into seven villages, with more than [-] people and [-] warriors.

This is the result of decades of hard work.

Although Fushan City is called a city, it is nothing more than a wooden village. It was built at the mouth of the river, which is a dangerous location.

"The city was renamed Gusu."

The king of Yue said seriously.

"Your Majesty, it should be Kuaiji."

Zuo Changshi on the side corrected him.

"Kuiji is a mansion." King Yue shook his head: "A city is a city, these are two different things, they should not be confused."

……

Heilongjiang General Mansion, Heilongjiang City.

As early as February, the sea surface began to thaw, while the land was still covered with heavy snow. Until mid-March, merchants began to appear at the pier.

Heilongjiang City is four feet high and twenty miles in circumference, enough to accommodate 10 people.

Outside the city, there are two satellite cities.

One is a wharf port, and one is a granary.

One big and two small, acting as horns of each other, not only have a diversion effect, but also can completely control this bay.

Over the years of reclamation, 20 mu of arable land near Heilongjiang City has been reclaimed to grow corn and rye.

It is now self-sufficient.

It took only three to five years to build Heilongjiang City, and it has already become the center of Heilongjiang, with a settled population of more than [-].

"Oh wow-"

At the pier, a thousand-stone fishing boat dragged a huge black monster slowly into the port, causing a lot of waves along the way, and there were countless sharks following it.

A huge harpoon, fastened tightly to it, with a rope attached to the end, was pulled straight by the boat.

Seeing this, more than a dozen small fishing boats in the port quickly gave up their positions and watched it enter the port with envy.

"Whale, what a big whale—"

"It's time to make a fortune, Zhao Datou—"

The captain, Zhao Datou, stood proudly at the bow of the ship with his hips akimbo, feeling very unsatisfied: "I can't help it. I found this thing after just three days at sea. This is Mazu's blessing."

"I deserve it, Zhao Datou wants to get rich—"

The sailors on the ship were also beaming, and each of them hooked their shoulders, thinking about how to spend the money they earned.

The catching of whales is very hard. In return, the captain must spit out part of the money to reward the sailors.

Of course, the reward can also be fixed directly, but the success rate of capture is not necessarily high.

Naturally, the captains will get used to the method of sharing the profits. After all, once they are not caught, they don't need to pay any more, right?

The arrival of a whale makes the whole port noisy.

Dozens of businessmen eagerly waited on the pier, and then boarded the boat directly to measure the size of the whale at close range.

Zhao Datou, just like his nickname, has a bigger head than ordinary people, which is extremely conspicuous on the deck.

Facing the eager observation of the merchants, he sat with a bag under his eye and sat with great interest, smoking while saying: "You have to take a good look, I won't follow if I don't give up."

The merchants agreed casually, but their eyes were fixed on the whale, muttering in their mouths, without letting up for a moment.

"Light the incense—" Zhao Datou lit a stick of incense, and waited while smoking, enjoying himself.

The sailors are also used to it, and while wiping the deck, they take out the fish in the cabin and sell them to the small traders.

They are all familiar merchants, so the price is transparent, and they are all weighed and sold out in less than half an hour.

Only those merchants who were watching the whales were still thinking about it.

In Heilongjiang, this belongs to a special way of buying and selling - pocket fish.

As the name suggests, it is to buy the whole whale directly, instead of picking up parts to buy.

At this time, a group of businessmen relied on the observation of the naked eye to calculate the profit, and then bid, so that the highest price won.

If the whale is larger than the estimate, it will make a lot of money, and if it is smaller than the estimate, it will be a loss.

Fishermen are also willing to sell whole fish because of the convenience.

The whale is very large, and it is very troublesome to divide it. It takes several days, plus the wages of hiring a butcher, which is time-consuming and expensive.

Rather than doing this, it is more convenient to get cash directly.

Of course, the premise of this kind of trading is that the whale must be intact.

Once a mistake is made, it will be rejected by the entire chamber of commerce, and no matter how many fish are caught, it will not be sold.

So both buyers and sellers are very honest.

"The incense is almost burnt out—" Zhao Datou suddenly put away his cigarette bag, and shouted: "All shopkeepers, hurry up and make an offer!"

A loud shout brought the merchants back to their senses, and the abacus in their hands stopped.

"I'll offer 500 yuan—"

"One thousand and six!!"

"One thousand seven—"

Prices fluctuate one after another, and the competition among merchants seems fierce, but they have already reached a tacit understanding with each other, and they will never make a loss-making business.

So, half an hour later, the price stopped at 870 yuan.

Zhao Datou nodded, expressing his satisfaction: "It's 870 yuan."

At this time, the businessman who made the bid came out with a sad face, holding his abacus: "Hey, the bid is too high. It seems that this one will lose money."

Zhao Datou squinted his eyes and didn't believe a word.

The rest of the merchants are not discouraged, because there are plenty of whales, and there will be cheap ones.

In a blink of an eye, several men came to the deck carrying a box of silver coins, paying with one hand and delivering with the other.

Zhao Datou distributed the money on the spot, and divided half of the silver coins according to the size of the credit.

The businessman, with dozens of people, pulled the whale to his own slaughterhouse and began to divide it.

Fish fat can be used as candles, fish skin can be used as armor, and even leather boots...

Whales are full of treasures. In the eyes of businessmen with a lot of connections, buying whales can only make more money and less money.

The soap official had already arrived, smiled and watched, and received a tax of 100 silver dollars while sitting.

Everyone is profiting from it and smiling.

(End of this chapter)