Late Yuan Dynasty: I am the true emperor

Chapter 513 The Adventure of the Yuanwang Ship (Part 3)

Upon learning that there was only one local family on the shore, and that they were quite friendly, Wang Dayuan disregarded everyone's objections and left Zhang Chao on the boat to guard it, while he went ashore with the small boat.

Wang Dayuan was very experienced in trading with foreign natives who did not speak his language. He went to sea at the age of 19 and traveled to places such as India and Persia. He even met Venetian merchants in the Mediterranean. In his book "Dao Yi Zhi Lue", he recorded no less than fifty instances of trading blue and white porcelain with foreigners. In fact, Wang Dayuan was very good at business.

On the small boat going upstream, Chen Youliang, worried about Wang Dayuan, insisted on coming along. He asked in bewilderment, "Sir, you are the envoy personally appointed by His Majesty for this trip. Why do you have to take such a risk yourself?"

Upon hearing this, Wang Dayuan said, "We've already faced danger just by going out to sea. What's a little more danger now? Besides, Wang Zong has already made it clear that there's only one family of natives on the shore. There are over sixty of us. Are we afraid of that family of natives?"

Chen Youliang didn't know what to say, and after a long while he finally managed to say, "Sir, you are indeed very brave. However, a wise man does not stand under a dangerous wall. Besides, you are the backbone of our ship. Whether the hundreds of people on board can return alive depends on you."

Wang Dayuan nodded repeatedly, "I know, I know. Don't worry, if there's any danger, I promise to stay on the ship."

A moment later, Wang Dayuan led his men ashore. As expected, the old general was worth two men. Although he did not understand the Ainu language, he managed to figure out the situation here by using gestures and guessing, based on his years of experience dealing with the indigenous people of other regions.

The Ainu people believe in animism, also known as shamanism. Their social structure is mainly based on matrilineal clans and tribes. Elderly women usually serve as shamans, called "Tusu," who are in charge of matters such as sacrifices, witchcraft, and medicine. They enjoy a high status in the tribe and have absolute power in the distribution of resources within the tribe.

However, this is normal, because the entire tribe consists of her children, sons-in-law, or grandchildren; generally, a tribe is one family.

Older, experienced, and respected men usually serve as 'elders', known as Nishpa, and are responsible for mediating disputes between tribes, diplomacy, and making decisions on daily affairs.

The Peika that Wang Zong encountered was the Nishpa of this tribe. In Ainu, Peika means water light or ferryman, and usually represents a wise elder. However, unlike Nishpa, Nishpa is a 'position'.

However, although Peika was called an elder, he was actually not very old, only in his forties, about the same age as Wang Dayuan, only he looked older. The shaman of the tribal family they encountered was Peika's biological mother.

After Wang Dayuan landed, he quickly led a group of soldiers to Peika's tribe. There were several thatched stilt houses there. The tribal shaman was very happy to see them and sent four or five of his daughters to "entertain" these guests.

This action left Chen Youliang and his soldiers dumbfounded. Wang Zong immediately asked in confusion, "What do they mean by this? Could it be that they want to pin this on us?"

Wang Dayuan, however, was knowledgeable and immediately explained, "They are a matrilineal clan, where women are the most important in the family. Although they have husbands and family values, they also use women to entertain guests, just so that we can continue our lineage."

"There shouldn't be many people here. If no outsiders come, they'll just keep intermarrying with their own relatives and they'll be doomed sooner or later. If any of you can bring yourself to do it, go ahead, but just don't hurt the women."

"So it was for sperm donation. I didn't know there was such a custom." Chen Youliang and Wang Zong suddenly realized, and then they looked at each other with a group of soldiers. Neither of them dared to go.

The Ainu people simply don't fit the Han Chinese aesthetic. They are very short, even shorter than the Japanese. The tallest man they saw in the tribe was just over 1.4 meters tall, and the women were even shorter.

Moreover, their appearance is like that of a mixed Mongol and European, their skin is not fair, their hair is black but naturally curly, and their body hair is particularly abundant. All the adult men have long and thick beards, and their entire faces only show their noses and eyes. They are like dwarves who have walked out of Lord of the Rings. They are not as good-looking as the Gowa people of Southeast Asia, at least the Gowa people do not have as much hair.
Seeing the group of soldiers discussing amongst themselves but unwilling to go up, Wang Dayuan looked at them and said, "Didn't you see the look in their eyes? In their eyes, we are like giants who are seven feet tall and only come once every eight hundred years. They really care about you."

“Now they are the hosts and we are the guests. What does it mean to follow the host’s lead? Not leaving them a seed is disrespecting the host. You’ve been cooped up on the ship for so long, haven’t you thought about letting loose a bit? This is with my consent, and it doesn’t violate military discipline.”

One of the soldiers immediately asked, "Sir, if we really keep the offspring, who will the children be? We can't take them with us."

Upon hearing this, Chen Youliang immediately cursed, "Look at you, so pathetic! Taking them away? Do you expect to redeem the girls from their brothels after visiting one?"

"Hahahaha." Everyone burst into laughter upon hearing this.

One of the soldiers gritted his teeth and finally said, "Never mind, three years on a ship, even a sow can rival Diao Chan. Brothers, I'm going, you can do whatever you want."

After saying this, the soldier led a woman into the thatched hut. The others burst into laughter again, while the tribe's shaman watched them with a smile. It was clear that the old woman was very satisfied with these 'giants'.

With the first person taking the lead, the others stopped pretending and encouraged each other, with several more leading women into the house. Meanwhile, Wang Dayuan directed the crew members who had come with him to start a fire and cook. He also generously took some rough porcelain bowls, cloth, steel needles, scissors and other small items, and traded them with Peika for some wild vegetables and fish that they had just caught, as well as deer that the men of the tribe had caught.

Chengzhou Island is isolated from outsiders, and all kinds of daily necessities are in short supply. For example, Pei Ka's family was still wearing clothes made of animal skins and fish skins even in May. Therefore, they were very fond of Wang Dayuan's supplies and would rather go without a meal than not have these supplies. They were happy to trade.

But how could Wang Dayuan let the host just watch his own people eat there? So he immediately invited Pei Ka's family to eat with him.

It really was rice, plain rice. But to everyone's surprise, the family started arguing as soon as they saw it. Two adult men looked very angry, their faces showing wariness and suspicion as they looked at Wang Dayuan and his group. In the end, it was Pei Ka who explained to the two men, pointing to the height of Wang Dayuan and his group and gesturing back and forth, which finally dispelled their hostility.

Wang Dayuan was curious, wondering if the locals had some kind of taboo regarding rice. So he tentatively asked Pei Ka, "Do they mistake us for Japanese pirates from the south? Japanese pirates? Japanese pirates?"

To everyone's surprise, Pei Ka guessed pretty much the same thing. He nodded, then shook his head, gestured to indicate the height of Wang Dayuan and the others, pointed south, and then gestured to Wang Dayuan's armpit, implying that the Japanese pirates in the south only reached this height and were not as tall as them.

Furthermore, Wang Dayuan and his men all wore their hair up with headscarves or hats, while the Japanese pirates in the south all had bald headscarves. Even the longsword that Wang Dayuan carried was different from the scimitars of the Japanese pirates. Therefore, Pei Ka assured his people that Wang Dayuan and his men were definitely not Japanese pirates.

Wang Dayuan, however, keenly noticed a problem and immediately asked Pei Ka, "How do you know what the Japanese pirates look like?"

Pei Ka seemed to understand his words. He went back to the thatched hut next to him, retrieved a Japanese pirate wakizashi, pointed south, and took off his fish-skin clothes to show Wang Dayuan an old knife wound on his shoulder. Judging from the scar, it looked like he had been slashed in the shoulder. Strangely, the Japanese pirate's sword hadn't dislocated his shoulder. Perhaps he had blocked it with something at the time.

Seeing this, Chen Youliang also became curious and asked, "You also went to the south to fight against Japanese pirates?"

Pei Ka immediately adopted a proud demeanor, pointed to the boy beside him, then pointed south, and began chattering away, apparently having been there when he was about the same age as the boy. Chen Youliang asked in surprise, "How did they cross the sea?"

Before Pei Ka could explain, Wang Dayuan said, "The narrowest point of the Tsugaru Strait to the south is only eighty li. When the weather is good, you can see the other side from the top of the mountain. It's not even as far as the distance from Laizhou in Shandong to Liaodong. You can cross the sea in a small sampan. It's not surprising that they were able to cross."

"I see." Chen Youliang suddenly realized, and then said excitedly, "If we use this island as a base, wouldn't it be easy to cross the sea and invade Japan? No wonder His Majesty values ​​this place so much."

“That’s right.” Wang Dayuan nodded immediately. “Moreover, look at this place. It’s open, with mountains and rivers, fertile land, and a pleasant climate. This place is much more comfortable than Xinjin Prefecture. If we settle and cultivate the land here, we can support an army of 100,000 people to be self-sufficient. We can deploy 100,000 troops behind Japan. How can they have the spare strength to harass the coast of the Ming Dynasty?”

"Indeed, it's truly unexpected that Your Majesty possesses such broad knowledge, even knowing that there is such a large island here," Chen Youliang couldn't help but exclaim in admiration.

Next, Wang Dayuan asked Pei Ka whether he still crossed the sea to Japan and whether there were still Ainu people there. Pei Ka shook his head and explained that he was too old and had stopped going long ago, but some people still went to Japan to plunder.

Surprisingly, even the wicked have their match. Japan, which enjoyed plundering Korea and China, was also frequently raided by the Ainu people during this period.
In fact, it wasn't just the Ainu who raided Japan; the Ainu on Sakhalin Island in the north also frequently raided the Jurchens in the lower reaches of the Amur River.
The most amazing thing is that although this Pei Ka could not speak Chinese or read, he could draw maps. He picked up a twig and drew the general outline of the northern part of Honshu Island on the ground. Wang Dayuan looked at the nautical chart every day and recognized it at a glance as Mutsu Bay in the north of Honshu Island. So he immediately took out the nautical chart and pointed to Mutsu Bay for Pei Ka to see.

The old man examined it carefully, then nodded excitedly, pointing to the mountains surrounding Mutsu Bay, indicating that it was still their area of ​​activity.

Seeing that Pei Ka could actually read a map, Wang Dayuan followed the southern tip of Chengzhou Island all the way to Sapporo, pointed out their current location, and Pei Ka thought about it carefully before smiling and nodding, indicating that Wang Dayuan was right.

But then Wang Dayuan unfolded the map and gestured south from Chengzhou Island, past Japan, to the vast continent to the west. He then pointed to his group, indicating that they came from there. Pei Ka's eyes widened in disbelief.

Although he was illiterate, he could still distinguish the size of the colored blocks on the map. In the eyes of these Ainu people, Japan was already so powerful that it was invincible. They never expected that the place where Wang Dayuan and his group were located was many times larger than Japan. How could this not shock them?!
Peika immediately started chattering to the younger members of the tribe, which attracted several young people to come and look at the map. Peika then pointed to the map and explained it to them. Suddenly, the way those young people looked at Wang Dayuan and the others changed, and they looked at them with awe.

Wang Dayuan immediately gave Chen Youliang a look and whispered, "We need to open the eyes of these natives and let them know how powerful our Great Ming is. This will make it easier for us to immigrate here in the future. Maybe we can even recruit soldiers from among the natives and take them with us to fight against the Japanese."

Chen Youliang immediately asked, "How can we open their eyes?"

"See that Japanese sword? They're short of iron here, so they treat a Japanese sword like a divine weapon. But Japanese swords are brittle. They're fine for cutting meat, but if they clash with a steel sword, they'll definitely break. Find a good sword and break that Japanese sword in front of them. Then give them one of our swords, and they'll know how powerful it is."

"That's easy, watch me."

Chen Youliang immediately obtained a steel sword with goose feathers from the soldiers and showed it off to Pei Ka and the others. He even compared it with the Japanese sword. Then, holding the Japanese sword horizontally in his left hand and the goose feather sword in his right hand, he swung it down suddenly. With a clang, sparks flew everywhere, and the short Japanese sword was cut in two on the spot. The group of natives were dumbfounded.

Then Chen Youliang threw away the Japanese sword, carefully wiped the goose-feather blade, and handed it to Wang Dayuan. Wang Dayuan then handed the sword to Pei Ka, which immediately excited the old man.

Wang Dayuan then said, “Why don’t we take another national flag, a suit of armor, and a bow and arrow and give them all as tokens, so that they can spread the word about the power of the Ming Dynasty to the other natives on the island?”

"When His Majesty sends people over again in the future, even if it's not us, they will know who the newcomers are as soon as they see our national flag."

"That's a good idea." Chen Youliang nodded and immediately ordered someone to row back and fetch these things.

A moment later, Pei Ka accepted the artifacts with trepidation. Having no gift to give in return, he could only retrieve a precious black bear skin from the hut as a token of his gratitude.

Wang Dayuan accepted it with a smile, then gave them an iron pot. He pointed to a boy in their tribe who seemed to have great respect for them, and then pointed to the Yuanwang ship, indicating that he wanted to use the pot to exchange for the boy.

This deal immediately caused a stir in the tribe. They had never done anything like buying and selling people before. However, after Peika and the shaman discussed it, they decided to agree. They were a matrilineal clan, and the men born in their tribe would eventually be "married off" to other tribes. Since marrying into another tribe was the same as marrying into another, they figured it was better to marry into the Wang Dayuan group; at least Wang Dayuan had given them a pot as a dowry.
Although the two sides had different understandings, they finally reached a deal.

Wang Zong was puzzled. "Why would the magistrate buy this half-grown child with a pot?"

Wang Dayuan immediately explained, “His Majesty said that the languages ​​of Sakhalin Island in the north, the Liugui Kingdom, and the Inuit people in the Qingqiu Islands are similar to those of the Ainu people. If we buy this child and teach him to speak Chinese, he can at least serve as an interpreter in the future.”

"If we bring him back to China and train him, let him witness the power and strength of the Celestial Empire, and then give him a minor official position, we can send him back to Chengzhou to help the Celestial Empire pacify the local people. He will be of many uses. Is it not worth it to exchange a pot for a person?"

"I see. Your Excellency is indeed very thoughtful. I hadn't thought of these things," Wang Zong said with great admiration.

The boy's name is Qin Keni, and he is only thirteen years old. In Ainu language, his name means "son of the owl," symbolizing a hunter with eyes as sharp as an owl. Wang Dayuan gave him a Chinese homophone, changing it to Qin Ke.

The soldiers led the child to bathe and tie up his hair, and changed him into soldiers' clothes. The group only stayed in Sapporo for two days. After replenishing their supplies of fresh water and firewood, they boarded the ship again to head to the next stop.

When they left, Pei Ka and his family escorted Wang Dayuan and the others to the seaside. They watched as Qin Ke boarded the ship with them, and then saw the Ming Dynasty flag being raised on the mast of the Yuanwang. Pei Ka also waved a red flag on the shore. This would be their future means of communication; anyone who came with the same flag would be a citizen of the Ming Dynasty.

However, after leaving Sapporo, the Yuanwang did not continue north along the west side of Hokkaido. Instead, it first went south, circled halfway through the Tsugaru Strait, reached the east coast of Hokkaido, and then continued north along the coast.

Their voyage was not only to find seeds in Lizhou, but also to survey the terrain and local customs along the way, in preparation for the future migration of people from the Ming Dynasty to Hokkaido.

After sailing along the coast of Hokkaido for two days, the Yuanwang finally left the Hokkaido waters on May 15th. It then sailed north along the Kuril Islands for two days before finally arriving at Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, the capital of the Kamchatka Peninsula. There was a natural harbor where ships could dock, and a freshwater river flowed into the sea from there, providing fresh water and firewood.

After resting for three more days in this place, which Lu Jin named "Dongping," and making thorough preparations, Wang Dayuan and his group officially set off from Pavlov, riding the prevailing westerly winds, heading east along the Aleutian Islands and crossing the Pacific Ocean.

(End of this chapter)