Daming Yuanfu

Chapter 1542 A Game of Chess in the Far East ([-])
After lunch, Gao Wushi went to the household department again, but because of Huang Zhiting's return to Beijing, he took time to return to the mansion in the afternoon.

As soon as he returned to the mansion, he was told that Cheng Guogong had sent someone over.Gao Wushi was stunned when he heard this, and then he remembered that Zhu Yingzhen didn't want to come in person, he was just arrested by the emperor, and he just left this morning to go to Tianshou Mountain as a substitute.

In fact, offering sacrifices and the like are the most important errands of the princes of the country now, and because they are performed on behalf of the emperor, the etiquette is very high and must not be sloppy.It is impossible to skip work, so I can only send someone to see him.

But the visitor didn't have anything special to tell Gao Wushi, he just brought Zhu Yingzhen's personal letter.The letter was written to his family's fleet in Japan. It didn't explain anything in it, but only asked them to obey Jinghua's dispatch at any time.

This is enough, because the fleet of Zhu Yingzhen's family is second only to Jinghua, and it is the default "big brother" of the other nobles. His family's fleet completely obeys orders, and other families will definitely follow suit.

Then, even if more than half of the fleet's cruise to Kyushu Island has been completed, and the specific execution is high and pragmatic, I don't bother to ask, anyway, nothing can go wrong.

Although there are at least dozens of Japanese "water armies", they are actually just pirates of various sizes. After watching the game, there are Kumano Navy, Murakami Navy, Shiozu Navy, Goto Navy, Ando Navy, Tango Navy, Awaji Navy, Bungo Navy, Bojin Navy and so on.

Don't look at the name of the "naval army", which seems to be very formal. In fact, many of them only have the ability to sail offshore, and they don't have any big ships. If they can have a few Anzhai ships, they are considered a big force. In front of the Maritime Trade Alliance Don't dare to speak loudly.

Of course, this is for sure. After all, the captain of Wufeng was just the leader of the pirates of Ming Dynasty, and he dared to be called the King of the Sea in Japan.

Speaking of this, I would like to mention it by the way: Wang Zhi left for Japan after the Ligang Incident in the 32nd year of Jiajing (1553), and stayed on the territory of Kyushu Island to "claim king".

According to Tian Rucheng's "Wang Zhizhuan": Wang Zhi "according to Songjinpu in Samozhou, he is called Song Dynasty, and he calls himself King Hui. He deploys officials and has a reputation. He controls the vital points, and all the barbarians on the 36 islands are ordered by him."

However, the so-called "Matsutsuura of Satsuma Prefecture" here is wrong, but it is confused. In fact, Wang Zhi's base in Japan's Kyushu Island is Hirado Island in the Hizen Kingdom.

When Wang Zhi passed by, it was almost before and after the conclusion of Japan's "Kaxiangshun Alliance" (Takeda, Hojo, and Imagawa Alliance). However, there was no trend of any single party dominating the western Kyushu Island, and it was probably very chaotic.

Hirado Island, where Wang Zhi is located, may not be well-known as "Hirado", but if you say "Nagasaki", everyone should be familiar with it.At that time, it was controlled by a not very powerful daimyo named Matsuura Takanobu.

This person is the 25th generation family governor of the Matsuura family, the son of Matsuura Xingxin, and his legal name is Daoke.The Matsuura Clan is a wealthy family active mainly in the southern and northern Matsuura counties of Hizen Kuni.It has a strong economic strength because of the trading port Hirado with a very advantageous geographical location.Because of this, the Matsuura family has always been coveted by the neighboring Arima, Omura, Ryuzoji and other families.

After Longxin succeeded the family governor, he surrendered to the rising Longzuosi family.Then vigorously developed the trade of Hirado Port, which made the Matsuura family achieve unprecedented development.He was very active in dealing with Neibu (Catholicism) and foreign trade, and he had a good personal relationship with Wang Zhi-of course, that was the friendship brought about by the bond of interest.

Almost ten years before Wang Zhi went to become king, the Portuguese went to Japan in search of the golden country described by Marco Polo, and died in Tanegashima. It was Wang Zhi who brought them to Hirado. Under the reception, the maritime trade between Japan and Europe was opened.

At that time, one of the Portuguese ships carried Xavier, one of the founders of the Christian Jesuits who came to the Far East to preach. He took this opportunity to introduce Catholicism to Japan for the first time, and in just one month, there were 200 people in Hirado. People because of his conversion to Catholicism.

From this perspective, Wang Zhi had a huge impact on Japan, both economically and culturally, which is why there was a bronze statue of Wang Zhi outside the Matsuura Museum of Historical Materials in Japan.

However, whether it was the so-called "Fangjin Navy" controlled by the Shimadzu family or the "Mishima Navy" controlled by the Matsuura family, they all chose to avoid the battle when facing the Jinghua Fleet.

This makes sense because naval operations are very different from land forces.Throughout the history of wars in ancient and modern China and foreign countries, there are often classic battles in which the army wins more with less, but such examples rarely occur in the navy.

There is nothing to hide above the sea, and there is no way to hide. The vision of both sides is in the same situation. It is very difficult to lay an ambush, and you can see clearly from a long distance.If you have a large ship and many ships, you are the superior party and will almost certainly win; if you have a small ship and few ships, you will be the inferior party and will almost certainly lose.

This is why the Portuguese and Dutch navies were defeated by Ming in the South China coast in the original history.At that time, they actually had the advantage of larger ships and more advanced armaments. It is a pity that even though the Ming Navy has declined badly, at least they still have a huge advantage in numbers when fighting at home. The staggering numerical advantage was crushed.

When Shimadzu and Matsuura faced the Jinghua fleet at that time, they were the ones who were crushed regardless of the quality of the single ship or the size of the fleet.At that time, Japanese small boats with 1600-[-] materials such as Guan Ship and Kohayaya Ship (these are the most owned by pirates, and Anzhai Ship is basically their main battleship), dozens of single-ship [-] materials in Jinghua The armed transport ship in front of them is nothing more than a children's toy.

That situation is like the opponent is holding an AK47, and you only have a broken wooden sword played by a child in your hand, so why fight?Therefore, the reaction of the two families at that time was very rational, and they took the initiative to send a small boat there, and politely asked where the guest came from.

There is no need to elaborate on the following things. The guests from Jinghua did not come to fight, so the two sides started to do business.Moreover, in view of the astonishing sea power displayed by Jinghua, which was much more exaggerated than that of the original Wufeng captain, the Japanese also showed great sincerity in business, and did not dare to make any tricks at all.

The situation in the rest of Japan is similar. Although it is an island country, in the Warring States Period, the level of each family is almost the same, so the fleet of Jinghua—later the Maritime Trade Alliance—can do business with peace of mind wherever it goes. However, it is very rare for an accident to happen like the previous one, and it can only occur in the special situation where the two families are fighting on land.

Although the main force of the Beiyang Fleet has gone on an expedition to Luzon, the basic trade has not been interrupted. The Sea Trade Alliance should still have [-] or [-] armed transport ships around Japan.

This strength is really nothing in the eyes of Gao Pragmatism, but it is still a giant in Japan. Unless Toyotomi Hideyoshi gathers the national "naval army" in a unpredictable way and launches a sneak attack in Hong Kong, these twenty or thirty armed transport ships only need to Gather together to form a temporary joint fleet, and they can still walk sideways in Japan.

If you have to say that there is something that can cause them danger, it is probably the twelve gunless transport ships that were also produced in Jinghua that were sent to Japan before. If Toyotomi Hideyoshi did not add "iron armor" to them, but If you add artillery to them.

Of course, in theory, if fighting in the Seto Inland Sea, there is another danger.Because the sea conditions in the Seto Inland Sea are relatively special, specifically the wind conditions are relatively special, and the Japanese call it "Nagi".

"Nagi" usually appears in the morning or evening, representing the sea breeze and land breeze preparing to switch. At this time, the Seto Inland Sea is often calm suddenly.Generally speaking, calm and calm is a good word, but it is very bad for naval battles in the age of sails. It means that the maneuverability of ships has dropped significantly, and they can only float by ocean currents.

In this situation, the giant ocean-going sailing ship will be at a disadvantage against those offshore ships that can temporarily use paddle power.Considering that the "roasted jade" often used by various Japanese "naval forces" in civil wars is a kind of incendiary bomb, when the armed transport ships almost lose power, the danger has increased significantly-after all, they are not equipped with "iron armor".

At dinner time, Meng Gu Zhezhe had already gone back to see Xin Zhai, saying that Liu Xin, a teacher, had not finished the homework assigned to her.Of course Gao Wushi knew that this was not the main reason. In fact, since she knew the reason why she didn't consummate the marriage with her today, she had no reason to stay, not to mention that Huang Zhiting came back, she would definitely not stay as a light bulb.

Oh, she doesn't know what a light bulb is, but she always does.

But what surprised Gao Yushi even more was that Liu Xin was not there either.

Huang Zhiting said that after Liu Xin talked with her in the afternoon, she went to see Xinzhai with Meng Gu Zhezhe, saying that she wanted to explain something to Meng Gu Zhezhe, and then set homework for the next month or so. She would leave for Kaiping tomorrow morning ——Gao Wushi knew about this, she was going to visit Liu Xian, and she had told him in advance.

But... so rushing for time, I'm afraid it's better to consciously give Huang Zhiting a chance to be alone with herself.

There were only the couple, and the meal could have been a lot quieter, but Gao Wushi was a person with no family rules, so he ordered Gao Yuan to be brought over, and wanted to feed his son himself.

Who knew that Xiao Gaoyuan didn't really buy it, even though he didn't refuse when the father was fed, but he always stretched out his hands and feet to crawl over to his mother, Huang Zhiting couldn't help laughing.

Gao Pragmatic's patience was as good as ever, and he kept bringing the kid back to continue feeding him.Huang Zhiting saw that he didn't seem to care about the child's food intake, and when it seemed that he had eaten too much, he couldn't help but said: "Okay, this meal is enough, and he will have another meal later in the evening." Stop it, I can’t feed it now, or I’ll vomit later.”

It was only then that Gao Wushi remembered that the stomach of a child of this age is not fully developed, and he usually eats small meals, and he really can't eat too much in one meal, so he gave up with regret and handed the child to Huang Zhiting.

However, Huang Zhiting just teased Gao Yuan a little bit, and then handed it over to the nanny—it was said to be a nanny, but because of Gao Yushi's previous instructions, she did not actually breastfeed her, but acted as a nanny.

After the nanny took Gao Yuan away, the table was also withdrawn, and Gao Wushi took Huang Zhiting to the side of the house near Shichahai for a walk.After walking not far, Huang Zhiting asked, "Master, do you remember what I said in my concubine's letter last time?"

Gao Wushi didn't intend to talk about "business" tonight, but since Huang Zhiting asked, he had no choice but to answer: "What's the matter? What happened in Malacca?"

"That's right." Huang Zhiting said, "It's the guardianship that the Portuguese asked for. I always feel that it is useless at all, but the Portuguese said it seriously. I suspect there is some conspiracy here that I don't understand. .”

When it came time to "talk about business", Huang Zhiting even forgot about "concubine" and used the word "I" directly.

Fortunately, Gao Shishi didn't care, and even liked it better.

He laughed, shook his head and said, "You really have wronged the Portuguese. There is actually no conspiracy in their request for the guardianship right, at least for us, there is no conspiracy. If you have to say who are they asking for the guardianship right against? , then they are actually targeting the Spaniards."

"Oh?" Huang Zhiting was very puzzled and said: "It seems that I still don't quite understand what you mean by the 'union of kings'. Obviously, Portugal and Spain both wear the same king, but they are still fighting so fiercely, even trying to find ways to undercut each other. Tripper, really inexplicable, hopeless."

The matter of Malacca is of course important if you want to say it is important. This stronghold that controls the Straits of Malacca cannot be overemphasized. Huang Zhiting actually succeeded this time directly by coercion. Even Gao Pragmatic is a bit inconceivable.

Of course, it's not so magical when you think about it in retrospect. The crux of the problem lies in the serious imbalance in the balance of power.After the avalanche failure of the Spaniards in the Philippine Islands, the Portuguese had already realized the fact that they could not engage in a hard confrontation with Jinghua in the Nanyang region. Therefore, it is not uncommon for the Portuguese to take the initiative to admit defeat with the European thinking of "surrender and lose half". thing.

Of course, the contract has not yet been signed, and Malacca City has not yet switched defenses between the two armies. In theory, it is not a safe bet.However, Gao Wushi believes that there should be no major accidents in this matter. Even if God made a big joke and the Spanish Armada defeated England, it would not change the facts in Malacca.

After all, it is absolutely impossible for Spain to transfer the Armada to the Far East and Jinghua for a decisive battle at sea.

So what if it's even transferred?Fighting at the door of his house, Gao Wushi is really worthy of Philip II... Besides, he still owes a huge debt.

So although this matter is important, since Gao Yushi thinks that the issue of "guardian rights" is not a big deal, the two of them easily decided on the matter.

Immediately afterwards, Huang Zhiting began to report to Gao Yushi on some development issues in southern Xinjiang.These questions are very complicated, but one piece of news caught Gao Wushi's attention.

Huang Zhiting said that in accordance with the previous mineral resources "checking" plan, Jinghua carried out a large-scale prospecting in southern Xinjiang.Because this action was carried out under the banner of high pragmatism but actually it was the target provided by Liu Xin, so most of them did find the corresponding mining areas and points.

However, finding it doesn't mean it can be exploited.Since Liu Xin can only remember where there are mines, it is impossible for Liu Xin to figure out whether those mining areas and mines can be effectively and profitably developed under the current conditions, so Jinghua Mining finally ruled out more than half of them.

In the remaining small part, Gao Wushi heard the news about the discovery of copper mines in Huishan area and Champasak area in the north of Xiengkuang, Nanzhang, and according to the current judgment of Jinghua, the scale of these two copper mines may not be small.

There should be many large-scale ore spots on the Xiengkhouang Plateau. This is what Gao Yushi has known for a long time. Liu Xin had analyzed professional knowledge such as metallogenic belts for him.

However, the development of that area is very low. Even in later generations, due to the backwardness of Laos, its development is still poor. Many mining areas are simply discovered and estimated, and no actual development has been carried out at all.

But this time, Jinghua discovered that not only did copper mines exist in the Champasak area, but the copper mines were of high grade.According to the sample survey, the level of 1%-2% abounds, and many even reach 5%-6%. This data is already quite amazing for copper mines.

The reason why Gao Yushi suddenly paid attention to the copper mine is also because he is now in charge of the financial affairs of the whole country of Ming Dynasty, and recently he pays special attention to the trend of Japan.

How are these two things connected?Because he remembered that the reason why the Oda family rose first was actually because of making money—what is embroidered on the battle flag of the Oda family?Three Yongle Tongbao.

Even, the armor and flag of his Oda family samurai are actually printed with a huge picture of Yongle Tongbao. As a result, whenever Gao Yushi thinks about this, he will wonder if Oda Nobunaga's army looks a bit like the imperial association of Ming Dynasty military.

Oda Nobunaga attached great importance to the role of commerce (his family actually relied on Tsushima’s trade), which led to Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who was born as his groom, also attached great importance to commerce. Not only did he build a new Osaka Castle near Ishiyama Honganji Temple, but also All the great merchants in Sakaimachi were forcibly relocated to the castle town of Osaka.

The Daming Yongle Tongbao, which was originally the main currency in circulation in Japan, has almost lost its source (because of two points: the Kanhe trade was interrupted by the Ningbo incident, and the smuggling of copper coins in the south of the Yangtze River was interrupted by Jinghua after the opening of the sea), resulting in the current Japanese commercial circulation. This is one of the important reasons why Toyotomi Hideyoshi is very dissatisfied with the construction of the crystal building in Satsuma.

However, the Yongle Tongbao of Daming was originally minted in large quantities as a gift during the Yongle period when the country was powerful. Later, because Daming itself was short of copper and its own copper coins were not enough, this matter has long been abandoned.

Now that Huang Zhiting mentioned the copper mine, Gao Yushi remembered that his original plan to use currency to control Japan hadn't been fully implemented. Now that he has started to step up his deployment in Japan, it is obviously time to raise the agenda for this matter.

However, Gao Pragmatic has not yet decided whether to mine the copper mine in Champasak.The reason is... At this time, the three major copper mountains in Japan are still there.
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(End of this chapter)