People in the Song Dynasty were lawless

Chapter 416 Civilization and force
Starting from the Tang Dynasty, Japan imitated the Central Plains dynasty and divided its administrative regions into five kingdoms, seven provinces and sixty-six kingdoms.

Below the country is the county, and below the county is the village.

Therefore, since the Nara period, Japan's administrative regions have been divided into four levels: kido, country, county, and village, corresponding to the Dasong road, state, county, and village.

The Iwami Silver Mine is located in the mountain valley of Iwami Province, Annon County. The area is mountainous and hilly, with only a plain along the coast.

The plain is not vast, but there are dozens of miles of fertile fields, and some villages once thrived here.

After the discovery of the silver mine, Annan County instantly became lively and a large number of outsiders flowed in, allowing the place to develop a population of more than 100,000 in just ten years.

In the afternoon of February 9th, after Ning Haijun rested for a while at the port of Zhifuli County, he officially set off towards Anon County.

It was the first time for Song Cai to board a navy ship. He watched curiously, especially the main ship, the armored ship. The black chimneys with thick smoke billowing out made people feel terrified.

The fleet moved south in a mighty manner, with the armored ships leading the way.

Although the armored ship is only slightly larger than an ordinary assault ship, it cannot even compare to the Sea Falcon attack ship, let alone the Flying Tiger frigate and the Fuchuan battleship.

"Song Palace."

He planned to report the matter to his superiors as soon as possible after returning.

Ma Mao also told them about the great scenes of the Song Dynasty and introduced them to muskets, cannons, steamships, trains and other novelties.

As a member of the Fujiwara family, Fujiwara Yoshitsuna is obliged to submit the information he currently knows.

Coming and going, it's so lively.

Fujiwara Yoshitsuna was secretly glad that these terrifying warships were not here to attack them, otherwise Ishimi Kuni might have shed a river of blood.

Fujiwara Yoshitsuna hurriedly bowed to Ma Mao, leaving Ma Mao confused for a moment, not knowing whether to bow in return or to bow in return.

When Ning Haijun stopped the boat, Ma Mao waved his hand, and then the boat began to be lowered from the boat and took them to the shore.

Many of them were going to the port of Zhifuli County. When they saw Ning Haijun coming from a distance, they were full of fear and panic.

Ma Mao is very satisfied with this deterrent effect.

The port on the shore was crowded with people, and everyone looked at the terrifying ships in the distance in shock. Compared with them, the Japanese felt like uncivilized people.

The purpose of his trip was to demonstrate his force in Japan to ensure the smooth development of trade between Song and Japan.

Song Cai then said to Fujiwara Yoshitsuna: "Commander Ma came here to eliminate pirates under the orders of the Song Dynasty court. Many pirates attacked our ships, which made the Song Dynasty court worried, so they sent Ning Haijun here. "

As the distance got closer and closer, the distant port came into view, with ships coming and going, including fishing boats, merchant ships, cargo ships, human-powered ships, etc.

The boat quickly reached the shore. On the shore, the guardian of Iwami Kingdom and the head of the local wealthy family were already waiting. Naturally, the local dignitaries had already seen such a big movement.

"I see, Ma Dian will be our most distinguished guest."

The mountains are not high, but they are lush and green, covered by countless trees that block the sky and the sun.

Afterwards, under the leadership of Song Cai, Fujiwara Yoshitsuna and others, Ma Mao and others went ashore and entered the streets of Anon County.

Further away, there are rows of houses and markets, with various shops, vendors, and buildings rising from the ground, and countless signboards swaying in the wind, which is quite a scene like a Kaifeng market.

The port over there doesn't even have shelter from the wind. The port is just densely packed with countless small boats, and goods can only be transported by small boats.

Ma Mao stood on the bow of the ship, standing side by side with Song Cai. Looking to the south, he saw that the first thing he could see in the distance was a mountain range hidden in the mist.

Even the people of the Song Dynasty found it terrifying, let alone the Japanese who had never seen it before.

Song Cai said in Japanese: "Fujiwara-don, I would like to introduce to you, this is my Grand Song Ning Navy Commander."

Not only did it shock the entire country of Japan, but some pirates also had to be eliminated.

Ma Mao handed over his hand.

These people, often composed of Han Chinese, Koreans, and Japanese, arbitrarily robbed and killed trading fleets, bringing great instability to shipping routes.

"Oh."

Many Japanese pirate ships were even swaying, as if the helmsman's hand was shaking, and they almost capsized in the sea.

They introduced Ma Mao to the current prosperity of Iwami Country, introduced Japanese culture and handicrafts, and took him to visit the Iwami Silver Mine that was being excavated in the distance.

With the steam ship making a huge roar, the fleet finally stopped about three or four nautical miles away from the port.

Because in addition to possible civil strife and high-level threats in Japan, the biggest and most important threat to Song-Japan trade was rampant piracy.

Seeing that Ma Mao was a little confused, Song Cai smiled and said: "This is their etiquette. It is said that it came from the Buddhist bowing ceremony with palms together after Jianzhen's eastward journey hundreds of years ago. It is only for the most distinguished people. To salute, the commander just arches his hands."

Historically, during the Southern Song Dynasty, Song-Japanese trade ships were often plundered by pirates, and this was even more common in the Ming Dynasty.

"woo woo woo woo!"

As Song Cai said, there is no shelter in Annan County, and the water on the seaside is very shallow and there are many rocks, so it is not suitable for large ships to dock.

Therefore, in order to combat pirates and protect trade routes, it is natural to deploy the navy.

Most of the other ships hurriedly took a detour, not daring to come near at all. Even the nearest Song merchant ship was at least a mile away.

After Song Caimao and others disembarked,
Ishimi Kuni Shou Fujiwara Yoshitsuna came over with several powerful family heads. He looked at the tall Ma Mao next to him in awe and said, "Is this?"

But the ferocious armor, the roaring sound, and the thick black smoke still made people feel scared.

"Horse Palace."

At this moment, countless onlookers have gathered on the shore, including Song people and Japanese, but most of them are Japanese. At a glance, they are all densely packed with dwarfs.

Even if they didn't see it with their own eyes, just hearing Ma Mao talk about it shocked the Japanese people.

Most of the businessmen in the Song Dynasty did not speak Japanese, and they came and went in a hurry. They rarely talked to them about the domestic news of the Song Dynasty. These rapid changes made them feel the differences in civilization.

Compared with the Song Dynasty, they were like uncivilized savages.

So for the next seven or eight days, Ma Mao lived in Anon County, the warships were mainly parked in Zhifuli County, and the soldiers took turns entering the port for entertainment.

The scale and consumption of five thousand people brought the prosperity of Anon County to a higher level, and the soldiers of the Song Dynasty also brought many novel things and gadgets, which filled the local Japanese with a sense of inferiority.

The message quickly spread outwards and was sent to Heianjing. However, due to the long distance, it could not be delivered in a short time.

Moreover, Heian-kyo is inland and cannot be crossed by ship. Unlike the later U.S.-Japanese black ship incident, the ship could be driven into Tokyo Bay and cause a greater shock.

But even so, when the news reached Heian Jing, it caused a sensation.

This made Japan's top officials realize that the power of the Song Dynasty was unimaginable.

Ning Haijun spent a few days in Shijian Country, venting his youthful anger, and then set off again.

Their next step is to go to Sado Island.

The Iwami Silver Mine was developed in the first year of Hogen, ten years ago. The Sado gold mine was discovered in the second year of Qingli and mined in the third year of Qingli, which has been more than five years.

In addition to the Cao family, Song Cai also held a certain share in it, and Song Cai actually represented the interests of the Song Dynasty court.

This part of the shares belongs to the internal funds of the Emperor of the Song Dynasty and Jiaoziwu. Now Jiaoziwu has a large amount of gold and silver as anchors, and is preparing to sell silver coins and banknotes. The income from these mines is very important.

Therefore, after inspecting the Iwami Silver Mine, Ning Haijun had to go to Sado Island.

Even though Sado Island is now inferior to Iwami Country in terms of development and entertainment, military orders are as strong as mountains.

If Ning Haijun slacked off, once his superiors found out, Ma Mao wouldn't be able to keep going, so he could only have fun for a few days before leaving Wenrou Township.

It is more than 800 kilometers from Ishimi Country to Sado Island, and it is expected to take seven or eight days.

And just when the Song Dynasty warship left Ishimi Kingdom and headed for Sado Island, Echigo Kingdom also ushered in a new national defender.

In early February, just a few days before the Song warship arrived, the Japanese court sent Fujiwara Nozuna and about a thousand soldiers to set off for Echigo Kingdom.

Don’t underestimate a thousand people.

Except for the special reasons of Mutsu Kingdom and Dewa Kingdom, where local dignitaries served as prison chiefs and controlled many criminals and prisoners to have thousands of people, the rich and powerful in many countries may only have dozens of subordinates.

Therefore, basically even if there is a local rebellion, thousands or even hundreds of soldiers can quell the rebellion.

Fujiwara Nozuna traveled for nearly twenty days and arrived in Echigo Kingdom in late February. Then he immediately took out the emperor's edict and announced that he would relieve Echigo Kingdom of Tachibana Morinaka from his post and nationalize the Sado Gold Mine.

This action directly caused the local wealthy families of Echigo Kingdom and the merchants of Song Dynasty who were mining gold mines to explode on the spot. They raised objections one after another, but were suppressed by Fujiwara Nozuna.

He arrested some wealthy families on the spot, and even several businessmen from the Song Dynasty. For a time, the people of Echigo were panicked, and the mining progress came to a standstill.

On February 21st, businessmen from the Song Dynasty headed by Riku Chao immediately contacted the Abe clan of the Mutsu Kingdom and the Kiyogen clan of the Dewa Kingdom, hoping that they could send troops to drive away Fujiwara Nozuna and take back the Sado Gold Mine.

Abe was quite loyal and sent more than a thousand soldiers. After all, if he wanted to continue trading with the Song people, he had to have Echigo Country and Dewa Country as outlets.

Once the Sado gold mine was controlled by the imperial court and the merchants from Song left, he would no longer be able to buy and sell weapons and equipment with them, which would obviously harm his own interests.

Originally, he expected more than a thousand soldiers to deal with Tsunade Fujiwara, but what Abe didn't expect was that on the way to Echigo Kingdom, his army was ambushed by Minamoto no Yoriyoshi and suffered heavy losses.

With the emergence of Minamoto Yoriyi, things also become complicated. Because the prestige of Minamoto Yoriyi and his son in the north is so high, not only Mutsu Country, but also Dewa Country was once the garrison of Minamoto Yoriyi and his son.

It can be said that their disciples and former officials are everywhere here. Many of the soldiers recruited by the Abe family were soldiers under Minamoto no Yoriyi and his son.

As soon as Minamoto no Yoriyoshi appeared, the result was that many Abe's soldiers fled or even defected on the battlefield.

For a time, Abe Yoriyoshi and Kiyohara Takeshi were full of vigilance in the face of the menacing Minamoto no Yoriyoshi, and they did not dare to send any more troops to Echigo Kingdom.

On the other hand, Fujiwara Tsuna mobilized more than a thousand people from Shinano, Etchu, Ueno and other countries, and went directly to the island to expel the power of the major wealthy families and Song merchants.

In just a few days, the Sado Gold Mine, which took Song merchants more than five years to develop, was occupied by others.

On February 28, after protesting and asking for help to no avail, Lu Chao decided to return to China for help.

In the early morning, outside the small port of a fishing village on the seaside of Iwafune County in the north of Echigo Kingdom, the Riku Dynasty and the former Echigo Kingdom Shou Tachibana were together, as well as the Takada clan and the Muramatsu clan of the powerful families in Nicho County, Koshi County, Uonuma County, Gabara County and other places. , Nagaoka family, Murakami family and other families gathered together.

Everyone sent Lu Chao and some of his followers to the port. A large merchant ship common in Song-Japan trade was parked at the port. There are very few merchant ships left on Sado Island. Song merchants were either caught or escaped long ago. .

The key is that Fujiwara Jizuna also confiscated a large number of Song merchants' ships, so that most Song merchants could only leave by land, which greatly increased their danger.

If the Lu Dynasty had not been the strongest and most powerful, and had not made timely preparations, I am afraid that something unexpected would have happened long ago.

"The Sado Mine is our common wealth with you. It was discovered by us Song people and it is also your local mineral. Your court allowed it at the beginning, but they wanted to take it away by force. This is obviously unreasonable behavior. "

Lu Chao stood on the shore and said to them: "I think this must be because there are rebellious ministers in the court who are causing trouble. I must report this matter to my heaven, so you can just wait and see."

Ju Weizhong hesitated and said: "Lu Dian, after all, this is the will of the emperor. Shouldn't we do it?"

Lu Chao frowned and said, "Ju Dian, your Ju family is from a royal family, and you were once a powerful family with ministers from generation to generation. I think you know better than me why we have become what we are today."

"."

Ju Weizhong fell silent.

The others all said: "Lu Dian, just go ahead, we are waiting for you."

"Don't worry, as long as we are here, we will never let the Fujiwara family succeed."

"I also ask Lu Dian to come back safely."

Everyone bowed again and again.

Echigo Country has the Echigo Plain, which produces abundant grain, and the strength of the local wealthy families is not bad.

However, most of the grain had to be handed over to the court as tribute. This was Japan's system. The Abe family rebelled just because they did not want to pay tribute, and thus their strength was severely weakened.

In addition, there are many wealthy families in Echigo country, and the interests are unevenly distributed, making it difficult to unite.

As a result, the overall strength of the Echigo Kingdom was stronger than that of the Abe family. Even if everyone's combined strength could exceed 10,000 troops.

But because there are too many wealthy families and they are too scattered, with dozens and hundreds of people in each household, and they cannot be unified, Fujiwara Nozuna can drive them away with a total of more than 2,000 people.

However, no one wants to give up the huge profits from the gold mine. If they cannot unite, they can only place their hope on the Lu Dynasty.

"rest assured!"

Lu Chao nodded and immediately got on the boat.

He was actually feeling quite uneasy, wondering if he could ask the imperial court to send troops from Ma Island.

Although Tsushima is stationed in Japan, they are basically fighting against pirates.

And this time it is to deal with Japan. It is still unknown whether the Song Dynasty court will mobilize troops to fight across the sea for this matter.

But you have to give it a try anyway.

Otherwise, not to mention Lu Chao's unwillingness to see such a big piece of fat go out of the Sado Gold Mine, the Cao family behind him might also have to hold him accountable.

The merchant ships set sail in the early morning, and a light mist floated on the sea. At the end of the morning, the sun hung high in the sky, and the mist slowly began to dissipate.

Riku Chao's ship sailed on the sea for more than three hours, and by noon, it was about to head towards Noto Country.

'Alas, the Sado Gold Mine was discovered by us Song Dynasty people. We hired people to mine it, and we also used real money and silver to buy business shares. We also attracted local wealthy families and paid a lot of money to the Japanese dignitaries. We paid such a high price, but in the end it was all in vain. . '

'I hope the Cao family can persuade the officials and the magistrates. Even if they can't send a large army to the Japanese island, they should at least send envoys to question them. Maybe those ministers, forced by the power of the Song Dynasty, will return the gold mines? '

'I heard that Song Cai has a background in Chiyuan. He also has a lot of business shares in the Sado Gold Mine, and his share is even larger than that of our Cao family. Maybe I should go to him immediately to discuss it. '

'Just thinking about it carefully, there is little hope. How could the imperial court send a large army across the ocean to the Japanese island just for this matter? '

Lu Chao stood on the bow of the ship, with his hands behind his back, looking down at the deck, filled with pessimism about whether he could find reinforcements.

Who would have thought that the Japanese court would be so shameless and come directly to seize the minerals that had been allocated long ago?

Although this is a Japanese mineral, they had received permission from the Japanese court before. They also paid a lot of money to pay tribute to the Japanese court and gave them shares before they were allowed.

In other words, including the Iwami Silver Mine and the Sado Gold Mine, they are all mined legally. This is also an insurance policy in case they are coveted by others in a foreign country.

Who knows that others are not coveting it, but the Japanese court is no longer satisfied with this share and the benefits delivered every year, they want more.

After the merchants of the Song Dynasty finally matured the mining industry and had the technology and tools in place, the Japanese court came to pick peaches. This shameless behavior was unexpected.

Lu Chao let out a long sigh, and then, amidst this frustration and uneasiness, he was about to go back to the cabin to rest.

But suddenly someone shouted: "Master, it's broken, there's a boat chasing us."

"what?"

Lu Chao quickly ran to the side of the ship and looked behind him.

I saw many large ships speeding towards me from behind. Those were the Song Dynasty merchant ships confiscated by Fujiwara Nozuna, and there were also many small speedboats.

Naturally, Japan also knew that taking back the Sado Gold Mine would affect the interests of the Song Dynasty, so their plan was to block the news first, arrest Song businessmen, and not allow them to spread the news.

After bowing to the Song Dynasty in diplomatic situations and currying favor with the upper echelons of the Song Dynasty, making them feel that the gains of sending troops to Japan outweigh the losses, then using the benefits of recovering the Sado gold mine to purchase weapons and armor from the Song Dynasty and equip themselves, they would have enough strength to negotiate terms.

Otherwise, if the Song Dynasty is really angered and attacks with all its strength, the Japanese senior officials are not sure whether they can defeat it.

This is a sensible approach.

Therefore, although Fujiwara Nozuna could not catch all the Song merchants who escaped on land, there was definitely no problem in using the confiscated merchant ships to block the sea.

"Quick, move forward at full speed!"

Lu Chao shouted.

Their ship accelerated desperately, and the Song sailors hired in the cabin rowed and paddled frantically.

But the speed of the big ship is obviously not as fast as that of the speedboat.

The boats came like arrows.

Lu Chao's heart sank.

broken.

Once caught by the Japanese, the news may not be sent back.

Even if the Cao family finds something is wrong and sends someone over, or if Shi Jianguo notices the situation, it will probably take a few months for him to leave.

At that time, we don’t know what the situation will be like.

Lu Chao looked back from time to time and saw the boat getting closer and closer, and couldn't help but feel despair.

Are you really going to be caught here?

However, at this moment, someone shouted: "There is a boat ahead, and there is a boat ahead."

Lu Chao felt even more desperate.

But I instinctively looked up.

Just raising his head like this made him stunned.

I saw more than ten huge warships rumbling towards Noto Point in the vast sea in the distance. They were mighty and mighty, with their flags and sails covering the sky.

That is?

Our Song Dynasty’s navy?
Lu Chao looked at the military flag. He came from the Cao family, how could he be unfamiliar with the military flag?

In an instant.

Lu Chao's face showed an expression of ecstasy.

The Song Dynasty Navy is here!

They were saved.

(End of this chapter)