1635 Han style rises again

Chapter 888 "Fukuyama" incident
April 1674, 4, Osaka, Japan.

During the Warring States Period in Japan, Osaka was a battleground for military strategists. Beginning in 1570, the 10-year Ishiyama War broke out between Oda Nobunaga and Ishiyama Honganji Temple. In the end, the two made peace, and Honganji Temple seemed to withdraw from Honganji Temple.However, Xianru burned down the building of Honganji Temple before exiting Honganji Temple.

After entering the Taiko period, Toyotomi Hideyoshi built Osaka Castle on the land of the old Ishiyama Honganji Temple in 1583, with Osaka Castle as the central city under his rule.However, after Hideyoshi's death, after the Osaka Summer Battle in 1615, Osaka Castle was captured by Tokugawa Ieyasu, the Toyotomi clan perished, and Osaka was once reduced to scorched earth.However, the Tokugawa shogunate later rebuilt it and designated it as Tenryo (that is, the territory directly under the shogunate), which shows that the important status of Osaka has not declined due to the change of regime.

Although the population of Osaka is not as high as that of Edo, it has a population of tens of thousands, far exceeding other cities in Japan. Even if it is compared in the world, it can be called a big city.

However, the "character" of Osaka and Edo is quite different.People in the world often compare Kyoto, Osaka and Edo, the three most important cities in Japan, saying, "People in Kyoto are delicate, people in Osaka are greedy, and people in Edo are pompous." People in Osaka are more murderous and value wealth, while people in Edo are more polite and value official positions."

Osaka, which is far away from the center of power, has re-emerged on the stage of history as Japan's largest commercial center after a facelift.Because of the convenient transportation, Osaka has become the national logistics center and the largest commodity transfer station, where all kinds of daily necessities will gather, merge, and then be transported to other places.Without political turmoil, Osaka has become a city full of freedom and vitality that belongs to businessmen.

The rise of Osaka depends on well-developed water transportation.In addition to natural rivers, people dug many large and small canals and waterways inside and outside Osaka City, crisscrossing and turning the whole city into a water capital.

At the intersection of these waterways, large-scale trading places gradually appeared, the most famous of which are the Tangdao Rice Market, Tianma Fruit and Vegetable Market, and Zahouchang Fish Market - it is not difficult to see from the names that most of the transactions are Commodities are the necessities of people's daily diet, so Osaka is also affectionately called "the kitchen of the world".

The merchant ship "Fukuyama" was moored quietly in a secluded bay near Osaka. The sailors were yelling and gently hoisting bags of goods down the side of the ship. Five or six small boats shuttled back and forth in a relay way. Transfer the cargo on the big ship to the distant shore bit by bit.

The "Fukuyama" is a [-]-ton three-masted transport ship affiliated to the Qi State Ryukyu Trading Company. It set off from Ryukyu a month ago and first went to Kagoshima. It stayed for a few days and unloaded most of the cargo. Passing through Shikoku, sailing into Osaka Bay, approached a newly contacted Osaka businessman, and planned to sell the wood, sugar, spices, canned food, and some hardware tools on board to the other party.

It stands to reason that Osaka is a territory directly under the shogunate, and Qi merchant ships should not have taken great risks to trade here.What's more, in recent years, the shogunate has been in constant disputes with the Qi State due to smuggling trade, and even threatened that once the smuggling businessmen are captured, they will definitely be dealt with severely.

However, the Osaka businessman introduced by the Satsuma clan is said to be able to handle the local shogunate officials and garrisons. In addition, the price offered by the other party is really attractive, which is twice the price given by the Satsuma clan and the Changzhou clan. times.

More importantly, Osaka is the most developed commercial center and an important material distribution center in Japan. It is adjacent to Kyoto and is the location of the Gyeonggi region of Japan.If the Ryukyu Trading Company can open up a business route in this place, the trade volume will definitely exceed the total smuggling trade volume of Satsuma Domain and Changzhou Domain combined.

At the same time, considering the large scale of its own merchant ship and equipped with more than a dozen cannons, even if things go wrong and the shogunate navy patrols, they can escape by force.As long as they sailed into the open sea, the small sampans owned by the shogunate navy did not dare to chase them at all. A swell several meters high could overturn their boats in the sea.

After the "Fukuyama" sailed into Osaka Bay, for the sake of safety, it did not approach the shore, but parked far away on the sea hundreds of meters away from the sea, and asked the Osaka merchants who received the goods to organize a number of small boats to transfer the goods back and forth .

"What time is it?" Captain Sheng Fangchun raised his head and looked at the setting sun in the west, and the multicolored rays gradually began to dim, and the sky was about to get dark.

"Twenty past seven." Xu Shijin, the second officer, took out his pocket watch and said softly, "Should we stop unloading now?"

"Well, inform the small boat below that after the transfer, stop unloading immediately. Then, we will temporarily transfer to the open sea and come back tomorrow morning."

"Hehe..., you are too cautious." The Osaka businessman Eguchi Laizhong next to them saw their actions, and said with a smile: "The patrolling navy will not come here. You know, they are docked on the pier. Dozens of hundreds of large and small merchant ships have taken up all their energy. Therefore, there is no need for us to worry about being checked by them."

"Be careful and make no serious mistakes." Sheng Fangchun glanced at the Osaka businessman after listening to the interpreter's translation, and said calmly: "This place is deep inside the bay, and the wind and waves are calm. If the shogunate navy finds out, I'm afraid it will be difficult to escape."

"You wouldn't have taken our gold and silver and just sailed away." Jiangguchi Laizhong looked at the boat below and was still busy connecting the goods, and then asked with his head tilted.

"How could it be!" Sheng Fangchun said solemnly: "Our Ryukyu trading company has always been based on honesty since its establishment. How have you ever cheated on customers' money? Besides, you are so afraid of having the Satsuma Shimadzu family as a guarantee! The value of your goods this time is only 5000 taels of silver, which is only an insignificant figure to our trading company..."

"Beep beep..." A warning horn sounded suddenly from the watchtower on the ship.

Sheng Fangchun's expression changed, and he looked up at the watchtower, where he saw the vigilant sailors waving a red flag left and right while blowing the horn.

"There are eight small boats approaching quickly from the north!"

"There are more than twenty small boats approaching from the south!"

"... There are more than a dozen small boats coming from the west!"

"... an army appeared on the shore, the number of which was around 300!"

"It's over, it's over..." Eguchi Laizhong's face was full of panic, his hands were tightly grasping the side of the boat, and his eyes kept looking around.

In the twilight, countless small boats came from several directions on the sea, and there were many soldiers standing on them, and even from the nearest few small boats, soldiers could be seen on the bow with bows and arrows, and flames were burning on them, obviously It is prepared to launch a rocket attack when approaching a large ship.

"Damn it, you didn't attract these shogunate officers and soldiers!" The second officer Xu Shijin glared at Eguchi Yorichu.

"...How could I attract the shogunate army?" Eguchi Laizhong paled, "This..., this must be because the businessmen in the city reported us to the local officials and the garrison in Osaka for fear of being punished by sitting together!"

During the period of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, the extremely strict law of joint sitting was stipulated. If one person commits a crime, the whole family and even the neighbors and market merchants are all guilty of the same crime.After the establishment of the Tokugawa Shogunate, this joint sitting system was inherited, and the parents and the five-person group (five neighboring farm families or market merchants) must be jointly and severally responsible for the criminal acts of their members.

Moreover, the shogunate usually imposed severe punishments on those who violated regulations and laws, especially in large towns in the territories directly controlled by the shogunate.Besides beheading, there was roasting, burning, crucifixion, dragging by four rams (exotic punishment), and boiling in oil or water.Through the above-mentioned severe punishment laws, to prevent any potential instability and strengthen the ruling order of the shogunate.

"Boom! Boom!..." In order to intimidate the approaching shogunate naval warships, the porthole of the "Fukuyama" opened fire, and several shells hit the distant sea fiercely, causing several huge waves of fire. spray.

The small boats gathered around were not deterred by the artillery fire, but instead sped up their speed and quickly approached the merchant ship.

The sailors on the "Fukuyama" hurriedly pulled up the anchor chain and raised the sails, trying to escape the narrow sea area before the boats surrounded them.

However, the murdered shogunate navy obviously planned it long ago, taking advantage of the cover of twilight, they quietly approached the big ship.When they were discovered by the "Fukuyama", the distance was already very close. Under the sailors paddling their paddles desperately, they rushed towards the big ship quickly with the momentum of leaving the string.

"Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!..." More than a dozen rockets were fired, and although most of them fell into the sea, a few rockets still landed on the ship, causing the sailors to panic and rushed to fight the flames.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!..." Several flying claws were thrown up, and the soldiers of the shogunate navy began to climb towards the big ship.

"Captain, are we going to make a final counterattack?" The boatswain asked sternly, holding a musket in his hand.

"...Damn it, I'm afraid I won't be able to get away!" Sheng Fangchun looked at the shadowy shogunate navy boats on the sea and more and more flying claws thrown onto the boat, and said dejectedly: "Order brother Let's put down our weapons and stop resisting...Damn it, I hope the trading company can send someone to redeem us soon after learning the news of our capture!"

On the evening of the same day, the merchant ship "Fushan" of the Qi State Ryukyu Trading Company was captured by the shogunate navy in Osaka Bay. All 62 people on board were captured and detained in Osaka City.
-
On May 5, Yunzhou, Hechuan County (now Shachuan City, Hokkaido).

"How much coal can be produced in this mine every day?"

Yongwang Zhu Cizhen of the Ming Dynasty stood on a platform in the mine, watching hundreds of miners below dumping baskets of coal into mine carts, and then, driven by the supervisor, they immediately rushed to the mine pit and continued to transfer coal.

"Returning to Your Highness, this mine can produce more than 100 tons of coal per day." Jia Yingdong, the director of the mine, replied with a bow.

"One hundred tons?" Zhu Cizhao was taken aback for a moment.

"Your Highness, one hundred tons is roughly equivalent to more than 300 shi." A eunuch said in a low voice.

"Oh." Zhu Cizhao couldn't help laughing bitterly after hearing this.

Today, the entire Yunzhou is deeply influenced by Qi State. Not only the local governance and military system imitate Qi State, but even the weight unit adopts Qi State's standard.

"The output is still a bit low." Zhu Cizhen said: "You need to know that in winter, whether it is all over Yunzhou or the territory of Bitter Leaf Island, it is necessary to store a large amount of coal for heating through the winter. In addition, bricks, stones, cement, and porcelain are fired everywhere. The kiln production also consumes a lot of coal. In this way, you need to increase the coal production of this mine by at least two times on the current basis."

"Your Highness, the mine doesn't have enough coolies..." Jia Yingdong couldn't help crying.

"If you don't have coolies, go to the mountains to catch the natives." Zhu Cizhen didn't want to hear Jia Yingdong's complaints, waved his hand and said: "If the natives in the mountains are also lacking, then find a way to go to North Korea, Kuye Island, and Zhenzhou to get them." The manpower you urgently need. At worst, you can go to the Japanese island to recruit those ronin who can't afford to eat."

After hearing this, Jia Yingdong could only look at Wu Pingyi, the governor of Yunzhou Town, for help.

Wu Pingyi smiled wryly.In recent years, Yunzhou Town has immigrated from the mainland desperately, and the number of people is around [-] to [-] every year.As a result, it not only put great pressure on the food supply of the territory of Yunzhou Town, but also posed a severe challenge to the development of the new colony.

As we all know, Yunzhou Town was almost a barren land before.The aborigines (Ainu) here have lived the most primitive life of gathering and hunting for thousands of years, and have never had a history of farming.As a result, almost all the land on Yunzhou Island is undeveloped habitat.

Under such circumstances, the development of a new colony became extremely difficult. In the first two years, there was basically not much output, but it required a lot of manpower, material resources, and even the lives of countless people.In order to reduce the loss of immigrants, Yunzhou Town will recruit (loot) a large number of aboriginals, Koreans, and Japanese for early development or to engage in the most difficult work.

When they first landed in Yunzhou more than 20 years ago, there were still 3 to 8000 indigenous people on the huge island.But now, according to rough statistics, the local indigenous population has not increased over the years, but has greatly decreased, and the remaining number may be less than [-].

What's more terrible is that the conditions of Bitter Leaf Island in the north and Zhenzhou in the west are even worse, both of which are places of bitter cold, and will consume more people.

In addition, with the assistance of Qi State, Yunzhou Town has established a series of primary industries such as mining, food processing, paper making, fur processing, salt cooking, and wood processing, which require a lot of manpower.

Therefore, Yunzhou Town will ruthlessly squeeze the Korean Kingdom regardless of the cost, and plunder all kinds of handicraftsmen in North Korea to feed back its own development.At the same time, it is also eyeing Japan, which is close at hand, trying to obtain more nutrients and territory from this huge neighbor.

"Your Highness, there is an important piece of news from Japan." A Jinyi guard Qianhu rushed over suddenly and bowed to play.

"speak!"

"More than 20 days ago, a merchant ship from the State of Qi was captured by the Japanese shogunate in Osaka on the grounds of violating the trade ban, and all the more than [-] people on board were locked up."

"Oh?" Zhu Cizhao's expression changed, "What's Qi's reaction?"

"The representative of the Ryukyu trading company stationed in Nagasaki has passed local officials and is negotiating with the shogunate." The Jinyiwei Qianhu said in a deep voice: "It is said that the representative of the trading company tried to pay a fine for the ship and people. Redeem it first."

"Hehe.... Take money to redeem people. This way of handling it is a bit cowardly!" Zhu Cizhao chuckled a few times, not paying attention, and waved his hand to repel that Jinyiwei Qianhu.

"...His Royal Highness, we can send warships to the coast of Japan, use force as a deterrent, and help the state of Qi obtain captured ships and people." The Jinyiwei Qianhu suddenly whispered.

"Huh?...how can we intervene in the affairs of the people of Qi?"

"Your Highness..." That Qianhu knelt on one knee with eager eyes, "Your Highness, if our Yunzhou Town threatens the shogunate with force to release the captured Qi merchant ships and sailors, how will they react?"

"Even if the shogunate wants to calm things down, but under the threat of force, it will definitely..." Zhu Cizheng's face suddenly changed as he spoke, "...the shogunate may be agitated, and may take even tougher actions!"

"What Your Highness said is absolutely true!"

"Come here!" Zhu Cizhao called out.

"Your Highness!" a Lingwei officer promised loudly.

"I ordered the Yunzhou navy to immediately dispatch warships to the waters near Japan to put pressure on the shogunate and ask them to release Qi's merchant ships and sailors."

"Yes, Your Highness." The Lingwei officer took the order and left.

"You are clever." Zhu Cizhao looked up and down the Jinyiwei Qianhu in front of him, "From now on, just follow me around."

"Thank you, Your Highness!" The Jin Yiwei Qianhu was overjoyed, knelt down on his knees, and kowtowed three times to Zhu Cizhao, "The final general is willing to die for His Highness!"

In the future, Sun Kewang hoped that the traitor would usurp the Ming Dynasty and stand on his own, and King Yong would definitely succeed the Ming Dynasty and become the emperor.Then, I am a minister of the dragon, a close servant of the emperor, and I have a promising future!

"It's time for our Yunzhou Town to fight a big battle." Looking at the rolling mountains to the east, Zhu Cizhao said leisurely, with a look of anticipation on his face.

(End of this chapter)