Late Ming sea owl

Chapter 332: Meeting Ruan Siqi Again
"Captain, there's a ship coming." The stone wall pointed to the mouth of the Han River. A sloop with a tall mast was heading towards the Dingyuan against the wind.

"Go and call Takahashi Uemon over." The man Lin Hai was talking about was originally Li Guo's assistant. He could tell at a glance that this sloop was a Japanese Benzai ship. He saw many such ships in the Seto Inland Sea when he went to Kyoto last time.

Benzaisen is a small to medium-sized pointed-bottom ship without bulkheads. The mast is relatively high compared to the size of the hull. The ship usually only has one cloth sail without a lower boom. The sail is caught by the wind by tying the feet of the sail in different positions. The sail is more efficient in headwind conditions and is suitable for sailing in near-shore areas with changeable wind directions.

Takahashi Uemon had followed Li Guozhu to Guangnan for trade many times. He spoke fluent Minnan dialect. When he came to Lin Hai, he said, "Boss, this should be a ship sent by the chief of Toulon."

"Toulon Town, are you talking about that place?" Lin Hai pointed to the village on the west bank of the Han River estuary. He knew that since Toyotomi Hideyoshi started the red seal ship trade, many Japanese towns have sprung up all over Southeast Asia like mushrooms after rain, but he did not expect that the sparsely populated Da Nang actually had a Japanese community.

"That's right. Hoi An is a river port after all, and it's inconvenient for large ships to dock. When some red seal ship owners come to Guangnan to trade, they will choose to dock at Tuonang Haimen and then send small boats to Hoi An."

The Hoi An mentioned by Takahashi Uemon is the maritime trade center of Quang Nam, located in the lower reaches of the Thu Bon River about 30 kilometers south of Da Nang and about 5 kilometers from the mouth of the Thu Bon River.

Since the port is located on an inland river, it is not easy for large sea-going vessels powered purely by sails to enter. Moreover, the water depth of Hoi An Port can only accommodate sea-going vessels with a load of less than 300 tons. Large ships like the Dingyuan cannot dock at all.

However, compared with Da Nang, Hoi An Port has a decisive advantage, that is, it has a stronger radiation capacity to the inland. The Thu Bon River is known as the mother river of Quang Nam, and its numerous tributaries connect the vast economic hinterland. In contrast, the Han River in Da Nang originates from nearby mountains, and there is no one along the way.

For this reason, Nguyen Phuc Yuan, the King of Quang Nam, established an office for the management of overseas trade in Hoi An. The office was affiliated to the Lingshi Department and had a total of 175 people. It also had a branch in Tonang Haimen, responsible for contacting foreign merchant ships.

Half a century later, the Southern Ming generals Yang Yandi and Chen Shangchuan met the Nguyen Lord of Guangnan here. After that, they led their men to the Mekong Delta to colonize and open up a paradise for the Ming Dynasty survivors who were unwilling to shave their heads and change their clothes. Their descendants are the so-called Mingxiang people...

The person who sailed on the Bencai ship to Dingyuan was a clerk stationed in Tuonang Haimen by Guangnan, accompanied by the Japanese chieftain of Tulun Town and several interpreters. These Japanese were equivalent to non-staff members of Guangnan Customs. They made a living from overseas trade here and worked for the Nguyen Lord for free, and the benefit was that they obtained the right of residence in Da Nang.

Since Li Guozhu had come here as a scout not long ago, the Guangnan Lingshi had already received instructions from his superiors to report immediately once he had contacted the envoy from the Shangjinhe Kingdom.

So he asked Lin Hai about his identity and then asked, "Your Excellency, are you here in Guangnan for diplomatic mission or for business? Do you want to go to Hoi An with me?"

The main duty of this clerk was to guide foreign merchant ships to Hoi An for trade. However, Lin Hai was a foreign envoy and his status was different from that of ordinary foreign merchants, so he asked this question.

"I am here on a diplomatic mission under the order of the Queen of Jinhe. The water in Hoi An is shallow, so how about I wait here for the summons?" The three ships that Lin Hai brought this time were all fully armed and fully staffed. The Dingyuan could not enter the Thu Bon River, and the schooner could not carry much cargo, so there was no plan to go to Hoi An for trade.

"It's up to you." Guangnan Lingshi looked at the Dingyuan and swallowed his saliva. He was not an old-fashioned man. Portuguese merchants from Macau often came here to trade, and the Kapitan More fleet from Goa to Nagasaki also occasionally stopped here. He was very familiar with galleons, but it was the first time he saw one with up to 40 broadside guns. While instructing the Japanese leader to entertain Lin Hai well, Lingshi went to Hoi An to report the news to his superiors. The Japanese leader had extensive overseas travels and was very familiar with Li Guozhu, Araki Sotaro and others, so he had heard about the naval strength of Jinhe Kingdom. After seeing Lin Hai, he naturally tried to curry favor with him, and even proposed to host a banquet for all the officers and soldiers on the three ships.

Out of caution and also because he didn't want this free worker to spend too much money, Lin Hai politely declined the other party's kindness. He still ordered Shibi to lead the naval officers and soldiers to guard the ship, and only brought a team of personal attendants to the banquet.

The banquet lasted until the evening, and afterwards the leader sent two Japanese women to sleep with him. Lin Hai, who was leading his troops outside, refused them as usual, just like he did in Macau.

In order to avoid the host from feeling that he was not giving face, Lin Hai suggested that he wanted to visit Toulon Town tomorrow. But there was nothing to see in this shabby place. There were only 60 households in total, and the total number of Japanese people was only about 200. It didn't take long to finish the tour.

Afterwards, the Japanese chief took Lin Hai to a temple, where he saw three Chinese characters "Songjiang Temple" written on a plaque hanging at the door.

Lin Hai asked curiously: "What kind of temple is this? Who is enshrined in it?"

The chieftain spoke a lot of Japanese language, and Takahashi Uemon translated, "Master, this is the temple of General Nguyen Phu of Annan. More than a hundred years ago, he was ordered by the King of Annan to fight against Champa. He took shelter here when he encountered a storm, but was punished by the King for delaying the battle. After his death, he became a local god."

"So that's how it is." Lin Hai nodded when he heard this. This place is not far from the Nguyen Lords' camp and is considered the core area of ​​Guangnan Kingdom. However, two centuries ago, this place was still the territory of Champa. It was not until 1471 that Emperor Le Thanh Tong of the Later Le Dynasty sent troops to capture it.

But if we trace it back further, the Thuan Quang area in central Vietnam was still the Rinan County of the Celestial Empire during the Han Dynasty. It began to be continuously encroached upon by the Linyi Kingdom, the predecessor of Champa, in the late Eastern Han Dynasty and was not abolished until the Southern Qi Dynasty.

As for Jiaozhi County in the Red River Delta in northern Vietnam, it had been under the rule of China since Zhao Tuo, the King of Nanyue. It was not until the Southern Han Dynasty in the Five Dynasties that it became independent. After that, the Jiaozhi Provincial Administration was established only in the early Ming Dynasty.

Lin Hai sighed: This is the Chinese homeland that our ancestors have managed for a thousand years. I don’t know if I will have the chance to take it back in this lifetime…

A few days later, Guangnan sent someone to welcome the delegation, led by Nguyen Siqi, who was on a diplomatic mission to Jinhe Kingdom last time.

Ruan Siqi spoke Chinese very well. After arriving at Tuonang Haimen, he did not take Lin Hai to see Lord Ruan immediately, but instead proposed to visit the Dingyuan.

(End of this chapter)