The Han culture is spreading strongly in Southeast Asia

Chapter 549 Ryukyu - Echoes of History

In the Ryukyu Kingdom, thirteen nautical miles east of Naha Port, the armed merchant ship Huang'en, carrying twenty-three guns, was taking advantage of the trade winds and sailing rapidly towards Naha Port.

Behind the Royal Grace, there were more than ten armed merchant ships of various types following.

For the Eastern world, this is a powerful fleet, stronger than the fleets of countries like North Korea and Japan.

It is even the most powerful maritime force besides the East China Sea Fleet of the Fuxing Navy headquartered in Mawei, Fuzhou and with its port in Keelung, the South China Sea Fleet headquartered in Guangzhou, and the Nanji Fleet headquartered in Ha Tien.

It was also because of this that when the emperor organized this ocean-going development fleet under the name of Fuxing Company, no one dared to take over.

For traditional Chinese people, this is too taboo.

Therefore, it was not until Ye Mingyue had seen the grand scene in Nanyang and showed great interest that Emperor Mo Zhao gave the important task of establishing a pioneering fleet to Ye Mingyue, who was only nineteen years old at the time.

Because Ye Mingyue was one of the first group of students to study in France, he knew what the emperor wanted to do.

In Ye Mingyue's view, Fuxing Company is not the tool for the emperor to make money as the outside world thinks.

In other words, although Fuxing Company is very profitable, making money is not the original intention of its establishment.

The emperor established the Fuxing Company because he hoped to have a giant enterprise that he could control at will to lead the development of China's new industries with coal, iron, arms and shipbuilding as the main directions.

The money earned by the Fuxing Company must also be used to provide financial support for some things that the court cannot fully spend, or that are difficult to get approval from the court in a short period of time, but must be done immediately.

This ocean-going development fleet, which is registered under the name of Fuxing Corporation, will definitely be transformed into another large enterprise similar to Fuxing Corporation in the future.

Or, it can be called China North America Company.

"Ah Hui, His Majesty has already given me instructions. Ryukyu is just a test. We will then serve as a vanguard in the attack on the Japanese mainland. Ultimately, with our fleet as the support, we will form an Eastern-style East India Company to develop North America."

Ye Mingyue stood at the bow of the boat and spoke to Wu Wenhui, the eldest son of Wu Rang, Marquis of Songcheng, with her face full of longing for the future.

Both of them are second-generation colonists and have outstanding abilities, but their different experiences have led to different personalities and perspectives on the world.

Ye Mingyue studied in France for four years, and including the time spent traveling back and forth, he spent more than six years dealing with Europeans. These are also the most important six years in a person's life for the formation of their worldview.

At the same time, Ye Mingyue was in France, living in the house of a French Count, and served as a trainee guard officer of Louis XVI.

Therefore, Ye Mingyue still highly respects this European system and feels very close to European culture.

He is also one of a group of vested interests in opening up the sea that have emerged over the past decade as China has continued to open up and integrate with the world, willing to recognize that the citizens of European powers are Chinese just like the Chinese people.

Most of them have strong ties with overseas trade, and some even make a living by introducing European culture, science and technology to China.

When studying abroad, one naturally has to protect the place where he studies, at least the school where he studies.

If this is not maintained and the school where students go abroad to study is described as garbage, then what will become of the person who goes there to study abroad?

This is human nature. It is very normal to give two or three points of praise and protection based on objective facts.

So even someone like Ye Mingyue is no exception. He firmly believes that the European East India Company can help China gain a foothold on the east coast of North America.

Of course, Wu Wenhui also thinks so.

Because there are so many good places in China now, besides setting up the East India Company and looking for gold mines on the east coast of North America.

There was no other better way except to seize part of Spain's property in Mexico and use the ready-made cultivated land to trick the people over there.

It’s just that Wu Wenhui grew up completely locally and had always served in the army. Although he was said to be the son of a vassal in Southeast Asia, he actually had a lot of naval experience.

Therefore, his perspective on the issue is different from Ye Mingyue's.

"Yes, the world's great powers are all planning their operations there. We are already several steps behind. Time really is of the essence!"

Wu Wenhui sighed, then coughed a little impatiently and said to Ye Mingyue:

"Brother Ye, I think the name North America is inappropriate. Before the Florentine Amerigo discovered this continent, the natives from my hometown in China had already arrived here.

Then how can we say that it was the Tessiods who discovered this continent? Didn’t the people here become human before they went there?
So I think we can only say that Amerigo and Columbus discovered this continent for the Europeans, but we cannot say that they discovered this continent, so if they hadn't discovered it, this continent would not exist. "

The name of America comes from the name of the Italian navigator Amerigo Vespucci.

It was his letter that first conveyed the news of the discovery of the American continent to the whole of Europe.

So at the beginning, Europeans called this continent the continent discovered by Amerigo, and then it gradually became the continent of Amerigo.

Finally, they called the Spanish-controlled Greater Mexico and the British-controlled New England the North American continent, and the Portuguese-occupied Brazil the South American continent.

Ye Mingyue thought about it. Although she felt that it was pointless to dwell on the name, she also felt that what he said made sense. "Then, in your opinion, what should we call the North American continent?"

Wu Wenhui immediately replied, "The Buddha once divided the world's continents into the Eastern Continent of Victory, the Western Continent of Amur, the Northern Continent of Kuru, and the Southern Continent of Jambudvīpa. Now it has been proven that China is indeed in the East and has been called the Continent of Gods since ancient times, which is in line with the Buddha's words.

I also heard that Your Majesty named New South Wales, discovered by Captain Cook of England, Zhanzhou. I think he also agrees with this statement.

Therefore, I intend to write to the Ministry of Rites, requesting that Western Europe be renamed Upper Hezhou, and Africa be renamed Lower Hezhou. Our Central Plains is the Divine Continent, and what Europeans call America is the Victory Continent.

Mist grass!

Ye Mingyue was shocked. He looked at Wu Wenhui seriously. This was not an ordinary division.

If we do as Wu Wenhui said, it implies that America is China's America.

Because among the four continents in the Buddhist scriptures, the East is the Continent of Victory Gods, then China is the Continent of Gods, and North America is the Continent of Victory. They are all one!
He called Europe Upper Hezhou and Africa Lower Hezhou. This is not only a slap in the face, it is simply shitting on the heads of Europeans!
What is Africa? It is the hometown of black slaves. If you put Europeans on the same level as black slaves, what can they do?
They finally got the emperor's recognition and believed that the people of the European powers were the same as the Chinese people, all civilized white people. But then you turned around and lumped them together with the black slaves. Even if you killed them, they would not accept it.

Moreover, if this matter is taken seriously, it could become a dispute over the orthodox doctrine, and there is a high probability that it would lead to a fierce fight.

"Brother Ye, do you support me? If so, you can sign your name with me. Once the title is finalized, it will be a great achievement that will go down in history!"

Wu Wenhui looked at Ye Mingyue with some hope. In his opinion, Ye Mingyue and he were both the second generation of meritorious officials, so she must be able to understand where his starting point was.

"Ah Hui, isn't this too radical?" Ye Mingyue pondered for a moment and whispered to Wu Wenhui:

"You call Europe the Upper Hezhou, and put it on a par with Africa, the Lower Hezhou. Doesn't that mean Africa is the continent of black slaves, and Europe is the continent of white slaves?"

Wu Wenhui chuckled, "If they're not satisfied, they can apply to give up the division of Europe and be in the Eastern Continent like me."

Ye Mingyue shook his head. He did not agree with this approach.

He also knew that some people in the army saw that the emperor had successfully conquered the Mongols in both the north and south of the desert, and that China was thriving again, at least the production of guns and gunpowder was really developing very, very fast.

So some people believed that China, under the leadership of the emperor, could sweep across the continent from east to west, just like the Mongol Khan in the past.

Ye Mingyue was of course very disdainful of this. He believed that the ocean was the future. It was a different era now, and they were still doing Genghis Khan's thing. Europe now had tens of millions of muskets, and they were going to conquer them with their heads!
Therefore, he looked at Wu Wenhui, who was ordered to retire from the Guards and work with him to form this ocean-going development fleet, very seriously.

"Ahui, you have to know how our two families got started?" Ye Mingyue's face was very serious, a seriousness that Wu Wenhui had never seen before.

"Only by opening up the seas, only by placing your emphasis on the oceans, will the empire have a future, and only then will our family have a future."

"I know." Seeing his good brother and immediate superior Ye Mingyue so serious, Wu Wenhui quickly nodded.

"I just feel that the naming of this world can no longer be decided by Europeans.

Besides, we are in the northwest, and sooner or later we will have to fight the Europeans. Making things clear early on can also boost people's morale."

Ye Mingyue flatly rejected the idea, "The Rus Empire in the northwest is just a marginal part of the European powers. Moreover, Transoxiana and the Xianbei Wasteland are not their core interests, so a war with them won't be big."

Moreover, the Europeans have awakened and it is impossible to conquer them by force with tens of millions of muskets and bayonets.

But at sea, the fierce competition has just begun. Only by developing the navy on a large scale and cutting off their ties with the colonies can they be made to surrender, just like pinching the throat of a strong man.

In the future world, whoever controls the sea will control everything!"

Wu Wenhui opened his mouth to say something, but a wave hit and the Royal Grace shook violently twice, making the two men's words return to their stomachs.

Immediately afterwards, intermittent gunshots were heard on the sea. The two men hurried over and raised their binoculars to look. After a while, they both showed strange expressions at the same time.

Because the firing came not from their own fleet, but from several small Ryukyu boats on the sea chasing and attacking each other.

Not long after, the person who came to pick them up, Wei He, one of the thirty-six surnames of Fujian people and the grandson of Wei Shizhe, a famous Ryukyu doctor, arrived in a small boat.

As soon as Wei He got on board, he paid a great tribute to the deck, shaking with excitement all over and his voice trembling.

"Descendants of the Thirty-Six Clans, today we finally see the warships of our motherland. We have launched an expedition to expel the Japanese search ships of the Satsuma Domain from the port of Naha.

Now, 1,771 men from 36 surnames have donned their armor and wielded their swords, willing to lead the royal army. The old, weak, women, and children are all at the Mazu temple, praying for the army!"

"Please stand up quickly, old man!" Ye Mingyue laughed and helped Wei He up personally. "Today, the officers and soldiers of our fleet have come here on the orders of His Majesty to speak up for our compatriots!"

When Ye Mingyue said this, the bells in the Ba Tianfei Temple in the distance rang loudly, as if in response, or as if it was a response coming from the mist of history.

Historically, it was 1894, during the Sino-Japanese War of -.

Led by Ryukyu royal family members Xiang Zhili and Mao Youqing, the thirty-six surnames Cai Dading, Lin Yibao (father of Lin Shigong) and others, a large number of people gathered in Tianfei Temple and Ryukyu temples to pray for the Qing Dynasty to win the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895.

At that time, it was rumored that the Qing government had sent a fleet flying the yellow dragon flag to Ryukyu to expel the Japanese. The thirty-six surnames then launched an uprising in response. The Japanese on the island were in a panic, thinking that their death was approaching.

But then, the Beiyang Fleet was completely wiped out, and news of the Japanese victory in the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895 came. The Thirty-Six Surnames Uprising was brutally suppressed, and a large number of Ryukyu people who refused to submit to Japan fled to the mainland. Japan then completely controlled Ryukyu.

(End of this chapter)