Jingnan Strategy

Chapter 294 Aikawa Gold Mine

"It's so embarrassing..."

When they were on the ship of the Toyo Fleet, Ashikaga Mitsuru and Kyogoku Koko felt that the sitting position was more uncomfortable than kneeling, and their faces couldn't help but turn red.

Fortunately, Zheng He and the others did not laugh at them, but seriously discussed the terms of both parties with them.

"I have already read the credential of the king, and most of it is fine. As for the business tax matters, we can also discuss them in detail."

Zheng He mentioned business tax as soon as he opened his mouth, which made Mitsuru Ashikaga and Kyogoku Takako feel anxious.

Fortunately, Zheng He didn't keep them waiting for long and directly expressed his thoughts.

"The merchant tax of your country is mainly ten taxes and one tax. This commercial tax will be deducted when settling the merchant trade. Your country can go to the island to collect the tax at the end of each month. The tax amount will be divided equally between the two sides according to what the country's leader said. "

Zheng He's open and honest appearance won the favor of Ashikaga Mitsuru and Kyogoku Koko. They did not expect that Daming with such force could be so easy to talk to, so they were no longer as scared as before.

"I would like to ask the angel if I can hand it over to the king of the country for distribution regarding the verification of the talisman."

Ashikaga Mitsuru bravely spoke, but Zheng He, who heard the translation, chuckled: "This is natural. Our country never interferes in the government affairs of other countries, and we have no territorial disputes with Japan, so we naturally want to exchange what we have and have friendly exchanges."

Huang Wei translated Zheng He's words. Ashikaga Mitsuru couldn't help but feel relieved after hearing this, and began to negotiate on the trade price in the "Trade Documents".

Of course, what is called negotiation is actually weak consultation.

However, since Zhu Gaoxu promised Zheng He that he could do things cheaply when he came, Zheng He also reduced the trade prices in the "Trade Documents" as appropriate. After all, even in his own opinion, some of the prices for commercial commodities given by the Ministry of Rites were a bit too high. horrible.

After discussion, some unreasonable porcelain prices were reduced by about 80%, and other products were reduced by 10% as appropriate.

Even so, the goods on the Eastern Fleet could still be sold for 1.72 million yuan.

For this batch of goods, Ashikaga Mitsuru and Kyogoku Takako could not make the final decision. They could only let Zheng He and others build commercial markets on Oki Island and Sado Island, and discuss with Ashikaga Yoshimitsu after returning to Honshu.

But at this point, Ashikaga Mitsuru also said bravely:

"The ship trade matter can be finalized, but Xiaguo is still worried about one thing."

"But it doesn't matter." Zheng He said without thinking. After hearing this, Ashikaga Mitsuru also tactfully talked about the Ming Dynasty garrisoning too many troops.

"The Lord of the Kingdom hopes that Masato can reduce the garrison of Okini and Sado to about 3,000 people."

Seeing what Ashikaga Mitsuru said, Zheng He also said cheerfully:

"This is not a problem. We are here for trade. The troops are only here to protect the goods."

"Since your country is worried, we will reduce the number to 3,000."

"Thank you, sir..." After receiving the answer, Ashikaga Mitsuru's heart finally fell to the ground.

"This is the golden seal and gift given by the imperial court to the king. Please accept it and pass it on to the king."

Zheng He raised his hand to signal, and several soldiers appeared holding wooden trays.

On those wooden plates, there were placed the gold seals given by Zhu Di to the Japanese king, the county king's regular clothes, the county king's crown clothes, the county king's leather bean clothes and other gifts.

The exquisite embroidery and luxurious silks and satins successfully attracted their attention, and the "Seal of the King of Japan" given by the emperor on the side, the seal was the nine-fold seal used for the official seal of the Ming Dynasty, the whole body was made of gold, and the sides were engraved With the ink inscription "King of Japan Chenyuan".

"I accept the grace of the emperor on behalf of the king. Long live long live long live long live..."

Ashikaga Mitsuru and the two performed five bows and three kowtows according to the Ming Dynasty etiquette, and then carefully took over the clothes and the gold seal representing the Japanese king.

"With this golden seal, the king can mobilize a thousand soldiers and horses from the Shifu Division, but he needs to be responsible for their food, and each of the war dead will receive a pension of fifty guan."

As soon as Zheng He opened his mouth, Ashikaga Mitsuki bowed excitedly and thanked him again and again.

After everything was settled, the two successfully disembarked from the ship with their escort under the escort of Zheng He, and returned to Yinqi Island on a sand boat.

Afterwards, Zheng He also sent a horse boat to transport the 2,400 shogunate soldiers and horses on the island to Izumo.

On the ship, Ashikaga Mitsuru and others saw the Ming army holding matchlock guns and artillery.

They didn't understand the former, but they knew about the latter's artillery, having experienced the Mongolian War and Ashikaga Mitsuru and others. However, their impression of the artillery was still in the past, so they didn't ask any more questions.

Their conservatism allowed Japan to successfully miss a firearms leap. They did not understand the power of matchlocks and artillery until they disembarked.

After returning to Izumo, Ashikaga Mitsuru led the cavalry back to Kyoto and conveyed the diplomatic results to Ashikaga Yoshimitsu.

Ashikaga Yoshimitsu was very satisfied with this, and at the same time he was surprised by the power of the Japanese fleet.

Not only him, but also many nobles and retainers in three or four positions in Kyoto were surprised.

If the people who were on this mission were not Ashikaga Mitsuru and Kyogoku Takamitsu, they might have thought this was nonsense.

Precisely because two people were in charge of this mission, the nobles and retainers had no choice but to believe it. However, even so, they sent their trusted people to investigate the unknown size of the Ming army.

While they were discussing this batch of trade going to the Eastern Fleet, they began to compete for twenty reconnaissance charms.

Faced with the competition between nobles and retainers, Ashikaga Yoshimitsu did not rush to discuss qualifications, but waited for the attitudes of the guardians, third leaders, and fourth officers in various places.

Soon, the retainers they sent to investigate Yinqi returned, and the news they brought shocked Kansai and Gyeonggi.

The intelligence of the Ming army was indeed the same as the intelligence brought back by Ashikaga Mitsuru and the others.

With such strength as support, the guardians had to reconsider their foreign policy with the Ashikaga Shogunate.

Ashikaga Yoshimitsu was waiting for this time. Although he could still coerce the guards everywhere, he also knew that the Ashikaga Shogunate's control over the entire Japan was very weak.

But now, with the canonization of the Ming Emperor, the Ashikaga Shogunate has become the only official force recognized by the Ming Dynasty in its diplomacy with the Ming Dynasty, and Ashikaga Yoshimitsu himself has become the king of Japan recognized by the Ming Dynasty.

So when Ashikaga Yoshimitsu summoned the nobles and retainers again, he appeared in the Golden Pavilion already wearing the regular uniform of the prince given by the Ming Dynasty.

The Yishan crown covered his bald head after becoming a monk, and the red coiled-collared narrow-sleeved robe had gold woven dragons on the front and back and on both shoulders.

This outfit, coupled with the jade-belted leather boots, would have looked a bit majestic if he hadn't grown a beard.

Of course, what is more important is the golden seal with the "Seal of the King of Japan" printed on it.

With this gold seal, Ashikaga Yoshimitsu can mobilize the Ichibo Division's thousand Ming army. This is what he cherishes most.

He had learned about the strength of the Ming army from Ashikaga Mitsuru. If a thousand Ming troops were used well, they could defeat tens of thousands of ashigaru.

This right represents that Ming Dynasty has taken a stand, and the Ashikaga family's status at home and abroad will also be unprecedentedly improved.

Seeing his appearance, the leaders of the Shiba, Hosokawa, and Hatakeyama clans looked at each other.

Everyone knows that Ashikaga Yoshimitsu has the support of the Ming Dynasty, and the news that Jin Seal can mobilize a thousand Ming troops has long spread.

With Ming's platform in hand and the twenty Kanfu Talisman in hand, Ashikaga Yoshimitsu's ambition is also growing.

However, as his son, Ashikaga Yoshimachi seemed very dissatisfied, and even thought that his father's act of becoming a minister was very embarrassing.

"I have already decided on the destination of the twenty matching talismans. Here is the list. Take a look!"

"Yes!"

Wearing the imperial uniform given by the Ming Dynasty, Ashikaga Yoshimitsu felt his waist was a little stiff.

Although he was the Taizheng Minister of the shogunate and forced the emperor to recognize his wife as his prospective mother, in fact the Ashikaga family's reputation in Japan was not good.

Ashikaga Yoshimitsu knew very well that the current peace was not real peace. Once he died, the glory of the Ashikaga family would gradually decline with his death.

Not to mention that the supporters of the Southern Dynasty were always ready to make a move, but they did not dare to attack because of their own obstacles.

After his death, those guys will appear, and Daming is the foreign aid he is looking for for the Ashikaga Shogunate.

For the sake of the long-term development of the shogunate, the loss of dignity of being a minister is nothing at all.

Ashikaga Yoshimitsu glanced at everyone, and everyone took the list and looked back one by one.

This list is basically a list of the local guardians that Ashikaga Yoshimitsu has attracted and alienated. All the families that have obtained the approval certificate are all families close to the shogunate.

As long as they are not close to the shogunate, no matter how many troops the other party has and how many people they have under their rule, Ashikaga Yoshimitsu will not grant them the caliphate.

He is strong, but few people dare to openly oppose him.

The Onaga Rebellion two years ago was still fresh in my mind. The Ouchi clan guarded by the Six Kingdoms were all defeated by the Ashikaga Shogunate. Ashikaga Mitsukane of the Kamakura Lord would not have been able to escape defeat if he had not been dissuaded by Uesugi Kensada.

Due to this war, the nobles and retainers did not object. After all, Ashikaga Yoshimitsu gave them Kantoku, and their interests did not suffer.

Compared with these, they care more about Ming Dynasty's goods.

Seeing that no one stood up to object, a smile gradually appeared on Ashikaga Yoshimitsu's face.

The commercial shipping trade between the Ashikaga Shogunate and the Ming Dynasty was finalized, and soon the guardians from various countries who had the agreement began to go to Oki to conduct commercial shipping trade.

At the same time, Zheng He also sent people to take over Sado Island and called it Treasure Island internally.

Time passed little by little until mid-June, when Treasure Island welcomed dozens of warships and thousands of Ming troops.

Thousands of soldiers unloaded the cement produced from Yingtianfu on the ship, used rocks and sand to enclose the sea for drainage, and continued to expand the original crude dock.

Relying on the largest Jialong Lake on Treasure Island, the Ming army spent several days building a simple camp, the future Shibo Market Town.

"After searching for several days, I just couldn't find any gold or silver."

"I guess it's hidden too deep. Anyway, let's build the Shibo Market first. Fortunately, there are enough trees here, so there is no shortage of wood."

In the tent, Cui Jun complained to Yang Zhan, but Yang Zhan appeased him and continued to build the market town and dock. At the same time, he sent out mountain workers with the army to search for gold and silver mines.

Although they have not yet found the gold and silver mine that Zhu Gaoxu said, they did not doubt Zhu Gaoxu's words. After all, Zhu Gaoxu has been famous for his ability to spot Shandian mines for many years and has never made a mistake in his assessment.

Looking at the map of the Sea of ​​Whales (Sea of ​​Japan), Yang Zhan set his sights on Vladivostok in later generations.

"According to the time, Zheng Jun and the others should have separated their horse boats and searched for Whale Sea Guard along the eastern part of North Korea."

Cui Jun saw Yang Zhan's gaze and couldn't help asking. Yang Zhan nodded when he heard this: "His Highness said that this is one of the few ice-free ports in the Whale Sea. Once the post road from Jilin to here is built in the future, we can start from here. Obtain supplies from Jilin." "With His Highness's arrangement, I always feel that the Japanese master will go to war with us in the future." Cui Jun was keenly aware that Zhu Gaoxu was trying to make the future Dongyang Fleet independent.

The Ming Dynasty has only two enemies in the Whale Sea, and the only one that needs to set up a garrison in the Whale Sea Guard to deal with it is the currently respectful Japan.

"Absolutely, but we don't have to worry about that much now. We just need to follow His Highness's instructions."

Yang Zhan interrupted Cui Jun's thoughts and brought the topic to the construction of the navy.

"The navy is organized into seven groups: Donghaiwei, Dongyangwei, Whalewei, Nanyangwei, Nanyangwei, Xihaiwei, and Xiyangwei. It mainly controls the East, South, and West."

"I have discussed with His Highness that the three armies of Dongyang, Donghai and Jinghai are the Dongyang Fleet. It will be composed of 15,000 men in the future, 50 treasure ships, 60 blessing ships, and 100 horse ships."

"The Nanyang and Nanhai fleets are the Nanyang fleet. In the future, there will be 10,000 troops, 30 treasure ships, 50 blessing ships, and 60 horse ships."

"The Western Fleet and the Western Sea Fleet will be composed of 10,000 troops in the future. The fleet organization will be the same as that of the Nanyang Fleet."

"Judging from this arrangement, His Highness is most concerned about the safety of the East, followed by the South and West."

Yang Zhan spread out a larger map, almost equivalent to Zhu Gaoxu's "General Map of the Four Barbarians in the World".

"Although His Highness drew this map based on ancient books, we are not familiar with the hydrology of various places."

"You will send a flying pigeon to send a message to Tianyi, and ask Pingjiang Hou (Chen Xuan) to send two small fleets to the South China Sea to survey the hydrology and prepare for the fleet's voyage to the West in the future."

After Yang Zhan finished speaking, Cui Jun said in surprise: "The voyage to the East is not over yet, are you now preparing for the voyage to the West?"

"Do you think this expedition to Japan was successful?" Yang Zhan raised his head and asked Cui Jun. Cui Jun was also very understanding.

The purpose of this voyage to the East has been achieved, and the goods carried by the fleet have begun trading in Yinqi.

Judging from the trade speed of Yinqi Ships before they set off for Treasure Island, the goods are expected to be emptied soon.

This time on my voyage to the East, I not only harvested the Yinqi and gold and silver islands, but also made millions of dollars in profits through trade.

If such an outcome is not considered a success, then what else can be considered a success?

"This voyage to the East has been successful. The group of people in the temple can't find fault, so they can only keep their heads down and do things."

"I estimate that soon after we return to Jiangnan, His Highness will start making preparations for a voyage to the West."

When Yang Zhan was talking about this, there were also rapid footsteps outside the tent.

He and Cui Jun looked outside and saw a Qianhu official running excitedly with more than ten soldiers.

"My lord, I found it!"

Seeing the excitement of the Qianhu officials, Yang Zhan and Cui Jun subconsciously had a premonition.

But a premonition was a premonition, and when the news was actually conveyed, the two of them couldn't help but be excited for a moment.

"This is gold sand found in the river. Liu Shanggong has followed the river to the mountains. According to him, the amount of gold in this mine will not be small."

"In addition, we found open-pit ore not far from Jinsha in the southwest, which is very easy to mine!"

Qianhu hurriedly took out a stone from his arms. The stone was heavier than ordinary stones, and there were many silver stripes in the lines.

"Okay, okay!" Yang Zhan took the silver ore, held it fondly, and said excitedly: "Use the trade fleet to send the news to His Highness, just in case the walls have ears!"

"Yes!" Qianhu officials bowed in response. Yang Zhan also said to Cui Jun, "Let's go and take a look!"

The two of them did not delay, but rode directly towards the southwest.

Although Treasure Island is "barren", it is a hundred miles long from north to south and more than thirty miles wide from east to west.

Previously, the Ueno clan and the exiled Japanese scholars and defeated people lived here, but the number was not large, only more than 2,000 people, which was smaller than the population of the Oki Islands.

The difference is that there is no one to accept the population here, so after Yang Zhan and others landed here, they controlled the villages and towns living in the southern plain.

The people of the Ueno clan were very obedient, because after the Ming army arrived, they immediately let them eat rice that they had never imagined.

Compared with the people of the Ming Dynasty, the people of the Ueno clan can only eat high-end dishes such as tofu and fish during the Chinese New Year.

The three main meals of farmers on weekdays are miso mixed with soy sauce and pickled vegetables made of white radish. The staple food is also porridge made of millet, millet and oats.

Even so, many people on Treasure Island are still struggling to make ends meet.

However, after the Ming army arrived, they immediately organized the Ueno clan's civilians to sow vegetable seeds brought from the Ming Dynasty and began to distribute rice to the Ueno clan's people.

Although it was only one and a half kilograms of rice per person per day, the food with such a taste still conquered them.

Not only that, the horse boats in the port catch tens of thousands of catties of fish from the sea every day.

The fish that the Ming army couldn't finish would be distributed to them in a centralized manner.

For a time, the civilians on Treasure Island were grateful to the Ming army, but Yang Zhan needed them to mine gold and silver mines for the Ming Dynasty on the island.

There is gold sand on Sado Island, but the production has never been high, so it has not been taken seriously by the shogunate.

If Zhu Gaoxu hadn't ordered the exploration, it would have taken two hundred years for the gold and silver mines here to be discovered.

But now it's better. The gold and silver mines here will become the forbidden area of ​​the Ming Dynasty. The Ming Dynasty will not only take good care of the people on Treasure Island, but also recruit people from North Korea and the Northeast to land on Treasure Island through the Whale Sea.

“It’s indeed Jinsha!”

Standing by the river, looking at the Ueno civilians fishing out the gold sand from the river, Yang Zhan subconsciously looked at Cui Jun, and then pulled him aside.

"You will send people to the market town of Ueno shortly and rename it Beihai Town. At the same time, you will register them and register the cultivated land on the island."

"People on the island, if they are willing to change their surname, change their surname to Jin. You can bring a few officials to name them, build schools at the same time, and tell them to stop distributing relief grains in half a month."

"After the announcement, miners will be recruited from civilians, and they will be paid ten kilograms of rice per day."

Yang Zhan has a quick mind, and he knows very well that he must provide enough benefits to make these miners willing to be driven by the Ming Dynasty.

Ten kilograms of rice per day is equivalent to two stones in a month and twenty-four stones in a year.

For Treasure Island, whose land is not very fertile, if you want to grow 24 kilograms of rice, you need at least 20 acres of farmland. However, the cultivated land on Treasure Island is only over 5,000 acres.

This amount of cultivated land cannot guarantee the survival of the people on the island, so people starve to death on the island from time to time.

Now working as a miner for the Ming Dynasty, one person can earn enough food for the whole family in one day. Who is still willing to farm?

If these two thousand people all worked as miners, they would only earn 50,000 to 60,000 kilograms of gold per year at most. However, the gold and silver ore they dug out could be worth tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of kilograms after smelting.

This was his conservative thinking. If His Highness truly believed it, the gold and silver mines produced every year on Sado Island would be worth no less than a million dollars.

Because of this, he was anxious to send the news to Ming Dynasty.

With this huge sum of gold as evidence, I believe Zheng He also knows how to present the report.

Thinking of this, Yang Zhan turned his attention to the mountain called Aangchuan.

The next day, with the gold sand found, a Qianhu official led a warship and two horse boats to Yinqi.

After five days of traveling, they finally arrived at Okigo Island on June 22.

By the time their ships docked in the harbor, the port on Okigo Island had been built large enough to accommodate fifty or sixty thousand-horse ships.

The brand-new concrete port was bustling with activity, with many teams coming and going, all merchants under the guardianship of various countries who came to Yinqi to do business.

They brought the prospectus and passed the inspection by the Ming army at the port, and then drove a short carriage into Yinqi with boxes of silver, copper coins, or copper, sulfur and other goods that the Ming Dynasty lacked.

After more than half a month, most of the original low-rise houses on Yinqihou Island were demolished and replaced by a new market town being built.

Thousands of Ming troops wore mandarin duck war coats and worked enthusiastically under the command of craftsmen.

Not far from the market town, a place surrounded by a wooden fence has become the trading point of Tomorrow Shibo.

Qianhu officials could see many merchants carrying goods and money at the trading point to count transactions, and then exchange carts of Ming products.

Their faces were filled with smiles, because the goods they bought from Yinqi could be resold at one or two times the price in the main state.

For them, they didn't care about losing their dignity by becoming a vassal. They only knew that they no longer had to travel across the ocean to the Ming Dynasty to conduct smuggling trade. Not only was their safety guaranteed, but the profits from the trade were not reduced too much.

"Wang Zuo, the official of Qianhu of Whale Sea Guards, requested to see the envoy according to the military order of the Duke of Yue (Yang Zhan)!"

Wang Zuo walked to Zheng He's camp and took out the tooth plaque of the Qianhu officer of Jinghaiwei and Yang Zhan's military order badge from his arms.

After inspection, he was able to enter Zheng He's camp. At this moment, Zheng He was making tea and discussing Taoism with Yang Qiu in the camp.

Seeing Wang Zuo come in, Zheng He looked at him questioningly, and Wang Zuo also took out a cloth bag the size of a baby's fist from his arms.

"There is progress on Treasure Island, please send a fleet to escort the general back to Yingtian!"

As soon as Wang Zuo spoke, Zheng He and Yang Qiu stood up quickly. The soldiers in the tent also took the bag from his hand and turned around and handed it to Zheng He.

In front of Yang Qiu, Zheng He opened the bag and saw a handful of golden placer gold.

"Okay!" Zheng He excitedly clenched the bag, and then told Wang Zuo: "We will set off tomorrow at nine o'clock. I will send an accompanying eunuch back with you to report this matter to His Majesty."

After that, he carefully placed the cloth bag into a wooden box and repeatedly warned: "This placer gold must be handed over to His Highness and Your Majesty. In addition, I will have the credential of the Japanese leader sent to Yingtian. You have to keep it safe."

"General, take your orders!" Wang Zuo took the wooden box with both hands and then slowly exited the tent.

After he left, Zheng He had not yet come out of his excitement, but Yang Qiu stroked his short beard: "Now, the group of people in the temple have nothing to say."

"Haha..." Zheng He smiled when he heard this, and his eyes seemed to see the city of Nanjing thousands of miles away through the tent.

"More than just having nothing to say, I'm afraid that after this incident, all the coastal merchant gangs will be wiped out!"

(End of this chapter)