Prince Chongzhen

Chapter 445: Tsurumaru Castle. It’s over!

Morning of September 9
Ryukyu North

At this time, the sun was rising, and a golden glow appeared on the horizon. A huge fleet flying the sun and moon flags was chasing several merchant ships.

The core of the fleet is composed of more than ten majestic galleons, which are like mobile castles on the sea. Each ship has a thick wooden deck and towering masts covered with canvas that swells with the wind, pushing these behemoths through the waves.

Surrounding these galleons were more than 60 large and small sailing warships, which were agile and fast, like loyal knights guarding the emperor. Although these warships were not as large as galleons, each of them was equipped with sophisticated weapons, and the gun muzzles extending from both sides of the ship flashed coldly in the sun, proclaiming their combat power that should not be underestimated.

After dealing with the thousands of Japanese occupying Ryukyu, Zhang Pengyi's fleet did not stay long. It sent a message to Yingtian and headed straight for Japan along the dotted islands.

His abilities were indeed not strong, but his position was fairly stable.

When the Tartars marched south, the four towns surrendered. Seeing that he was unable to defeat them, he led his navy directly to Chongming Island.

Later, when the people of Chongming learned that Zhu Cilang was still defending Yingtian, he also stood on Shen Tingyang's side and supported trying to contact Yingtian first.

Although he did not achieve any merit later, he did participate in several major battles in Jiangnan. When the Dutch were driven out of Taiwan, he led a fleet of new warships and stationed in Jingwu City in Zeeland.

At first, he was somewhat resistant to this appointment.

After all, the island of Taiwan is located overseas and can be considered a place of exile in traditional concepts. Although he has no merits, he has worked hard. Even if the thunder and rain are all grace from the emperor, he can't help feeling depressed.

This is the difference in perspective.

Zhu Cilang not only built a huge fleet, but also maintained constant exchanges with overseas countries. Many civil servants had long seen that His Majesty's heart was overseas, and they also understood that Taiwan had become an extremely critical strategic location.

If they were sent here, they would probably feel that they were being used and that as long as they did their job well, high positions and generous salaries would be a piece of cake.

However, there were very few military generals who had this vision. Except for a few people around Zhu Cilang, they all thought that Taiwan and Qiongzhou were remote and barbaric places.

At this time, the connections you have in your daily life come in handy.

Zhang Pengyi and Shen Tingyang can be said to have a close relationship, and as the minister in charge of all maritime affairs, Shen Tingyang knows the importance of this appointment.

Therefore, after some suggestions, Zhang Pengyi, the naval commander who moved from inland rivers to the open sea, showed great enthusiasm for all matters concerning the maritime border.

By this time, he not only had a clearer understanding of Jingwu City's maritime trade business, but was also no longer completely in the dark about naval battles.

It is said that opportunities always come to those who are prepared.

With more than half a year of energy invested, Zhang Pengyi appeared extremely calm when he was exterminating the Satsuma samurai.

He first asked Jin Yingyuan to lead the delegation back to the Ryukyu Royal City, and then he landed on the Ryukyu Island at night after the people of Satsuma Domain relaxed their vigilance.

Needless to say, what happened next was that the reorganized navy camp took only half an hour to annihilate the Satsuma clan's slightly weaker troops. By dawn, Ryukyu was back in the hands of the Ming Dynasty.

Facing the Celestial Empire's army that came to rescue him, the Crown Prince of Ryukyu was filled with mixed emotions. However, to his surprise, although the Emperor allowed him to inherit the throne, he severely reprimanded everyone in Ryukyu in the imperial edict.

Does it make sense?

Of course it makes sense.

The Satsuma Domain had been paying tribute to the Ming Dynasty under the name of Ryukyu for several decades. During such a long period of time, no one in Ryukyu reported the truth to the Celestial Empire. What did a few words of reprimand from the emperor mean?
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Over the past few decades, Satsuma Domain sold a lot of Japanese specialties through this channel. During this period, some officials of the Celestial Empire discovered something unusual, but the Ming Dynasty only restricted the number of times Ryukyu came to pay tribute and did not really pursue the matter.

Obviously, this was something that all three parties knew well, but the Ming Dynasty was suffering from severe internal friction and was unable to take care of other things.

At this time, the Emperor of the Celestial Empire used this reason to rebuke Ryukyu, which was somewhat unreasonable.

But then again, if it hadn't been for this unreasonable behavior, there would have been no need to launch a military campaign to punish the Japanese. In order to protect the Ryukyu Kingdom, the upper country was willing to impose a light punishment on the Japanese.

Under such circumstances, the only emotion people in Ryukyu were feeling was regret.

In any case, Ryukyu finally escaped from the control of Satsuma Domain, but Zhang Pengyi went straight to Japan after announcing the decree.

It was not that he had any dissatisfaction with the people of Ryukyu. It was just that this place was only seven or eight days' journey away from the Satsuma Domain. If there was any delay, the news would inevitably leak out.

This is the result of more than half a year.

With Shen Tingyang's advice, Zhang Pengyi realized the importance of Taiwan. In the past six months, in addition to improving his tactical level, he also gained some understanding of the maritime situation.

He knew that although Japan had embarked on a path of isolation after its defeat in the Korean War, the Satsuma Domain, relying on its geographical advantages, had taken control of all trade with various countries.

At this time, not only did this prefecture gain power due to maritime trade, but there were also many merchant ships traveling back and forth. If someone was so blind as to pass on the situation in Ryukyu, it would definitely cause trouble.

"Marshal, the ship has turned around and is heading to North Korea."

Zhang Pengju, holding a telescope, did not respond to the general's words immediately. Instead, he compared it with the nautical chart before signaling the fleet to proceed along the original route.

They were the official fleet of the Ming Dynasty. According to common sense, they should not have chased a few merchant ships. However, as soon as they encountered those merchant ships, the other side fled at full speed as if they had seen a ghost. He could not take it lightly.

"Did you take note of the size?"

"Noted. There is an armed merchant ship among them that is particularly easy to identify. I have recorded it in the file."

At first, Zhang Pengyi was worried that the other party was a Japanese spy, but now it seems that smuggling is more likely.

If it were an ordinary time, he would have arrested him and brought him to justice, but now he had the emperor's order and he didn't have the time to spare.

However, this does not mean that he will let these guys go. After all, each ship has its own unique features. As long as he writes them down, he can settle the accounts the next time he encounters them.

For Zhang Pengju, this was just a small episode. After making sure that those merchant ships had no possibility of leaking the information, he headed north to Japan according to the original route.

Unlike the Ming Dynasty, Japan was a true feudal system. Although its national affairs were controlled by the Shogunate, there were still daimyo who had a certain degree of autonomy under it.

The Satsuma Domain was one of the vassal states of Japan. It was located at the southernmost of the four islands of Honshu, Japan. After two generations of daimyo, it occupied most of Kyushu Island and became the top domain in Japan in terms of strength. To be honest, even if it was just a small domain, it would not be strong enough for the Ming emperor to send a fleet. However, Zhu Cilang knew that Japan was small but ambitious. As long as it was stable for a few years, it would always want to compete with the Central Plains Dynasty.

This time, he wanted to take advantage of the Ryukyu incident to teach Japan a lesson, so as to prevent these short guys from having such thoughts again, and to make the Ming Dynasty more stable.

Two days later, the density of the surrounding islands gradually increased. After comparing with the nautical chart, Zhang Pengyi determined the distance between his fleet and Satsuma Domain. Afterwards, the huge fleet entered the Jinjiang Bay along the southernmost gap in Kyushu, and the slight punishment from the Ming Dynasty would fall on Satsuma Domain.
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Kyushu. Tsurumaru Castle

This city is located on the west side of Jinjiang Bay, only about two miles away from the coast.

After the Shimazu family was granted this place by the Tokugawa shogunate, the first lord of Satsuma Domain, Shimazu Iehisa, built a castle here in Hirayama. The name Tsurumaru was taken from the family crest of the Shimazu family.

In fact, the proposal to build a city here had been put forward a long time ago, but Shimazu Iehisa's father always thought that it was inappropriate to build a city near the coast, so the plan was shelved.

But later, the Shimazu family was defeated in the Battle of Sekigahara, and the Satsuma domain had to give an explanation to its superiors. As a result, Shimazu Iehisa's father took all the responsibility, and he started this huge plan after he came to power.

By this time, this huge fortress, which took three years to build, not only became the residence of the lord of Satsuma Domain, but also became a prosperous city due to its convenient location close to the coast.

Of course, such a city is nothing in the Ming Dynasty, but Japan is so small after all, and the Satsuma Domain only occupies half of Kyushu Island. Tsurumaru Castle, with a population of more than 200,000, has earned the reputation of being the commercial center of Japan.

"Daimyo, the fleet bound for Luzon has returned."

"Oh? Did you miss any information?"

After hearing what the retainer said, Shimazu Mitsuhisa, who was leaning on the couch, straightened up. It was obvious from his words that he attached great importance to this.

He was the eldest son of Shimazu Iehisa, and inherited the position of lord of Satsuma Domain after his father's death.

According to previous trends, he should have lived a smooth life with his wife and children, but more than ten years ago, the shogunate issued an order to close the country. If Satsuma Domain had not been able to pay tribute to the Ming Dynasty under the name of Ryukyu, the Satsuma Domain would have been left with nothing after losing its foreign trade.

But then again, Ryukyu was only a small country after all, and the amount of tribute allowed by the Ming Dynasty was only a small amount. In addition, the Ming Dynasty reduced Ryukyu's tribute from twice a year to once every two years, so this amount of income was even less than enough to support the huge Satsuma Domain.

Fortunately, Guangjiu had a quick mind and quickly found the key to breaking the deadlock.

In the past few years, while mining gold and developing new fields, he secretly sent merchant ships to Southeast Asia. Even though the gold mining was stopped by the shogunate, the power of the Satsuma domain became stronger day by day due to other measures, and his position as the domain lord gradually became stable.

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“The news didn’t leak, though.”

The retainer obviously had more to say, but Mitsuhisa leaned back on the couch after hearing the first half of the sentence.

In his opinion, the feudal lords were just chickens and dogs at that time. As long as they were not discovered by the shogunate, everything would be nothing. But who would have thought
"I heard from people in Luzon that the Ming Dynasty was hit hard by the red-haired devils and even Taiwan was taken back."

"Ah?! Daming?!"

"Yes, Daming."

After he finished speaking, Guangjiu sat up again, his body leaning forward much more than before, obviously shocked by the news.

"Tell the Ryukyu people to be careful. If they let anyone slip, then..." Guang Jiu paused for a moment before adding, "Anyway, we can't let a war start."

After hearing this, the retainer was stunned, as if he did not expect his lord to say such words. But then he changed his mind and thought that more than 3,000 elite warriors were a powerful force even in the early years. If they were really damaged, it would be a serious blow to any daimyo. It was reasonable for his lord to react like this.

"Yes."

After responding obediently, the retainer looked at his lord again. Then Shimazu Mitsuhisa asked him in detail about what he saw and heard on the merchant ship. After understanding the situation outside, he couldn't help but feel confused.

As far as he knew, the Ming Dynasty at that time had fallen into civil strife, Beijing had fallen, and the Tartars had invaded the pass. The Central Plains dynasty that had once defeated Toyotomi Hideyoshi was on the verge of destruction.

But the news from their own caravan could not be false. The Dutch had most likely suffered a great loss at the hands of the Ming Dynasty.

This is a contradiction.

With this in mind, Shimazu Mitsuhisa glanced towards the roof, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't understand why these two pieces of news that were confirmed to be true conflicted with each other. After a long while, he could only give orders to his retainers again.

"The envoy sent by Ryukyu to ask for a title will be back soon. Send someone to ask about the situation in Ming Dynasty."

"Yes."

As soon as he finished speaking, the retainer was ready to take the order and leave, but just as he retreated to the door, a man hurriedly ran in.

"Lord! Something terrible has happened! There is a huge fleet outside!"

"Fleet? Westerners?"

"It looks like the Ming Dynasty."

Shimazu Mitsuhisa's reaction was not slow. When he heard this, he immediately thought of the Ryukyu issue. He then sent his retainers to negotiate with the Ming fleet, and he hurriedly climbed to the highest point of Tsurumaru Castle.

At this time, there were nearly a hundred warships of all sizes crowded in the bay, and more than a dozen of the largest ones had turned their hulls sideways, with their black gun muzzles facing the shore.

Seeing this situation, although Shimazu Mitsuhisa was extremely surprised, he was not panicked at all.

After all, Japan has been located around the Celestial Empire for thousands of years, and since the Han Dynasty bestowed the seal on it, it has a very good understanding of the style of this old empire.

Don’t think that the Ming fleet is about to open fire at this time, but once your envoys get in touch with it and show some humble attitude, it seems that there is no possibility that the black muzzles of the guns will spew out flames.

Thinking of this, Shimazu Mitsuhisa finally calmed down a little, and then he saw a figure with a white flag going straight to the shore from the civilian settlement area.

Just assume nothing happened.

Seeing the figure holding the white flag approaching the shore, Shimazu Mitsuhisa finally breathed a sigh of relief. But when he was about to ask his retainers to prepare the ceremonial guard, flames suddenly spewed out of the black muzzles of the cannons, and then he saw black spots coming straight towards the city.

Tsurumaru Castle is finished!

(End of this chapter)