The Han culture is spreading strongly in Southeast Asia

Chapter 550: Your Majesty, please don't leave. I am a loyal minister.
The king of the Ryukyu Kingdom in this generation is King Shangmu. He was born in the fourth year of Qianlong's reign (1739) and succeeded to the throne in the seventeenth year of Qianlong's reign (1752). He is forty-three years old this year, but he has been in power for a full thirty years.

He was also canonized by Emperor Qianlong in the 1755th year of Qianlong's reign (), making him a Ryukyu king with a very solid foundation, the kind that even the Satsuma Domain did not dare to replace easily.

In Shuri Castle, listening to the noise outside and the faint sound of gunfire, King Shangmu suddenly felt that he seemed unable to decide anything.

The political center of Ryukyu at that time was Shuri Castle, which was later known as Naha of Ryukyu. Shuri was divided into the Royal Castle, the Outer Castle and Naha Port.

The king lived in the royal city, and the main aristocratic class, the Shuri clan, lived in the outer city.

The 36 surnames of the Fujian people, known as the Kume clan, are a separate group three kilometers east of Shuri. Their architectural style is similar to that of the Fujian region, and their population is basically Chinese, with Fujianese as the head.

The total population of the Ryukyu Kingdom at that time was about 150,000. It practiced both centralized and feudal systems, and implemented a semi-feudal system in all major regions and islands except Shuri.

Most of the towns in the country (equivalent to villages) are ruled by feudal lords, and the smaller ones even have only one village.

Among them, the leader of a royal family member is called a prince's land head, and the leader of an Ansi noble is called an Ansi's land head.

At the same time, the one who rules an area is called the chief land head, and the one who rules a village is called the assistant land head.

However, the Ansi were not allowed to live in their own fiefdoms, but were all concentrated in Shuri.

The people kept half of the output from the fiefdom and then transported it directly to Shuri for the lords to enjoy. This is the origin of the Shuri clan.

Ryukyu was already so small, and there were so many feudal lords under it, so one can imagine the resources controlled by the royal family. It was basically a Baili Hou, who was only a county magistrate in size.

If there were no overseas trade transit point at Naha Port, the Ryukyu King's wealth would definitely not be as good as that of a large landlord in the Central Plains.

Therefore, due to the limitation of such economic strength, Ryukyu had a very small standing army, with only twelve teams of Shurikoku troops under its jurisdiction, each with twenty people, for a total of 240 people.

These 240 people were reduced to five standing teams, or a total of 100 people, after the Satsuma clan took control of Ryukyu.

In addition, Ryukyu also had conscripted soldiers called the Kankiri Army, but as the name suggests, they were recruited from the feudal lords' territories.

However, in the current Second Sho Dynasty, feudal lords were required to live in Shuri, and the territory changed from a real territory system to a remote territory system. How could they have the ability to summon the Maekiri army?

The only ones who still have some military power are their own illegitimate sons and a small number of servants, who can form two or three hundred people.

So, King Shangmu looked around and had a lot of options, but the Shuri clan who were asked to live in Shuri were just like him, staring at each other in confusion, with no idea what to do.

However, outside the Shuri clan that surrounded him, two groups of people were glaring at each other.

On the left are the thirty-six surnames of the Fujian people known as the Kume clan.

The descendants of Zheng Zhou, the younger brother of Prime Minister Zheng Zhuo, who was boiled to death by Satsuma Domain more than a hundred years ago for defending Ryukyu, suddenly returned from the territory of Satsuma Domain.

This descendant of the 36th Zheng family named Zheng Zan could only speak the Mindong dialect haltingly. It was said that when he was found, he looked completely like a Japanese ronin.

But he quickly got into the role and brought back to Ryukyu a small number of Zheng family members who were exiled by Satsuma Domain.

Of course, there are not more than 1,700 able-bodied men among the 36 surnames of the Fujian people as Wei He told Ye Mingyue. That number includes ten-year-old boys. The actual number of those who can really fight is about 350.

At the same time, of course, it was impossible for everyone to wear armor and wield a sword. Before receiving support from their motherland on the mainland, they had only thirty sets of armor, more than a hundred spears and short swords, and a dozen muskets.

However, considering that King Shangmu himself only had a guard of one hundred people, this was already a very powerful armed force in Shuri Castle.

They were also one of the guarantees that the Shang Dynasty was still firmly on the throne of Ryukyu, because in order to subdue these people, the Satsuma Domain had to dispatch at least 1,500 to 2,000 people.

But it is obvious that the Satsuma clan had no such plan and could not afford the money, so the powerful military force of the 36 surnames of Fujian people guaranteed the status and safety of King Shangmu to a certain extent.

In contrast to the thirty-six surnames, there was a group of Japanese people from the Satsuma domain, led by Kawanishi Heizaemon, the Ryukyu magistrate of the Satsuma domain.

The Zaiban Bugyo was the agency of the Satsuma Domain that controlled Ryukyu. The Bugyo lived in Shuri Castle and his guard consisted of about twenty samurai. Among his subordinates was a search and capture officer in Naha Port who was responsible for collecting taxes at the port.

In addition, a total of 180 Satsuma soldiers and about 300 Ryukyu vassal troops recruited by the Japanese were stationed in the Yurayazamori Castle Fort on the south bank of Naha Port and the Miejo Castle Fort on the north bank. They were considered the basic military force of the Japanese in Ryukyu.

King Shangmu looked at the two groups of people. Behind the Banbugyo was the Satsuma Domain. If they angered the Satsuma samurai, they would have to invade Ryukyu again.

The Thirty-Six Surnames are even more untouchable, because they have the Central Plains Celestial Empire behind them, and the Celestial Empire’s army is about to attack.

"Yibin, the sound of gunfire has reached Shuri Castle. Have you received the imperial edict from His Majesty the Great Emperor?"

After thinking it over, King Shangmu could only turn his attention to his brother-in-law, Cai Yi, from the Cai family, one of the thirty-six surnames.

This Cai Yi married King Shangmu's sister, Princess Shang Kuanshi of Ryukyu Tsugazan, and was therefore called Yibin.

Cai Yi's father was Cai Wen, one of the five great men in Ryukyu history and the most famous prime minister of Ryukyu.

Cai Wen died twenty years ago in 1762. When he was alive, he developed water conservancy and agriculture at home, stabilized relations with the Satsuma Domain abroad, helped Ryukyu open up a tribute route to the Qing Dynasty, attracted a large number of maritime merchants to trade, and even led to the revival of Ryukyu.

It can be said that Cai Wen’s position in Ryukyu history is equivalent to that of Zhang Juzheng in the Ming Dynasty.

However, although his ending was much better than Zhang Juzheng's, with the death of Cai Wen, his reforms were basically abolished, Ryukyu returned to the control of Satsuma Domain, and foreign trade and maritime commerce decreased significantly, becoming a lifeless state.

The only political legacy he left behind was that he obtained the Qing Dynasty's enthronement for King Shangmu, which made the Satsuma domain afraid that the Qing Dynasty would take the opportunity to interfere and never dared to do anything to King Shangmu, allowing the Ryukyu King to rule safely for twenty years.

So now that he encountered trouble again, King Shangmu placed his last hope on Cai Wen's eldest son, his brother-in-law, Cai Yi, the Yibin of Jinjiashan.

Cai Yi is fifty-seven years old this year and looks like a skinny old man. When he heard King Shangmu asking the question, he immediately took the opportunity to stand up from his kneeling position.

He quietly stood in front of King Shangmu, without answering King Shangmu's words, but turned his back to King Shangmu and looked at Satsuma's regent Kawanishi Heizaemon.

Kawanishi Heizaemon didn't take it too seriously, because the Tang people had been causing trouble for a long time, and they had no official support. It was just some pirates who were causing trouble.

As for the news from Kagoshima, it said that the army would come to attack Ryukyu in March next year, but it is not March yet.

"Could Lord Cai really produce an imperial edict? The Ryukyu issue isn't between you and me, but between China and the Land of the Rising Sun. If I want the Ryukyu issue resolved, the Emperor should go to Shogun Tokugawa."

What Kawanishi Heizaemon said sounded like self-consolation, because even if Emperor Mo would go to Shogun Tokugawa to reason, couldn't he just kill you, a small Ryukyu magistrate, now?
However, Kawanishi Heizaemon was not too nervous at this time, because just outside the hall, there was a 30-man iron cannon guard team that he had specially transferred from the port artillery battery.

These are real warriors. If a fight breaks out, they are capable of killing everyone in this house.

More importantly, Kawanishi Heizaemon served as a foreign magistrate in Ryukyu for more than ten years. If his father Kawanishi Yahei is counted, their family has been in Ryukyu for almost forty years, and their relationship with the Cai family is very good.

Cai Yi's father, Cai Wen, faced a political coup d'état from his political enemies, who nearly killed him through the Satsuma Domain. It was Kawanishi Heizaemon who protected Cai Wen, and the Satsuma Domain chose to stand aside and watch, saving Cai Wen from danger. Therefore, Cai Yi was not only a descendant of Kawanishi Heizaemon's old friend, but also a great benefactor to the Cai family, never considering what the Cai family might do to him.

Cai Yi looked at Kawanishi Heizaemon, who was kneeling and sitting still, but behind him stood two leading samurai with swords drawn, and he sighed deeply.

"Ping Jun, our friendship was based on personal favor, but today it is a matter of justice." As he spoke, Cai Yi began to grope inside his robe.

Kawanishi Heizaemon laughed heartily. He looked at Cai Yi and said jokingly, "A samurai's whole life is to obey his master's orders and be loyal to his master. The great emperor of the Central Plains wants to take back Ryukyu, and I, a Satsuma samurai, can only die.

However, the Shuri Royal City is a mountain city, which is easy to defend but difficult to attack. I have led 200 soldiers to guard it strictly. Although it is impossible to resist the Chinese superior soldiers, it is not easy to capture it in a hurry.

Therefore, I only need to wave my hand, and the iron cannon team will rush in immediately, and it is still possible to destroy Shuri Royal Castle and myself."

While laughing, Kawanishi Heizaemon looked at King Shangmu. He wanted to see King Shangmu's panic-stricken expression at the moment and scare him a few times.

But when he looked again, he found that Cai Yi had completely blocked the figure of King Shangmu.

Then he looked at Cai Yi again and was horrified to find that what Cai Yi took out was not the emperor's edict as he thought, but a pistol.

"Ping Jun, the days of you Japanese doing evil in Ryukyu are over!"

Cai Yi roared loudly. The thin old man in his fifties suddenly burst into an earth-shaking roar, and then he pulled the trigger of his pistol.

This rifle was produced by Fuxing Company and designed specifically for Southeast Asia. It was used to shoot the natives at close range. Taking into account the shooting skills of the natives, the amount of powder was increased and it was equipped with special lead bullets.

It is called a hand cannon, but it is actually a small shotgun.

The disadvantage is that it takes a long time to reload after firing a shot, but the advantage is that it is highly accurate and powerful, and it is easy to hit, and if it hits, it will cause great damage.

"Boom!" Black smoke rose, and a flash of fire appeared. Kawanishi Heizaemon, who was sitting, didn't even have time to react before he was shot in the face.

The power of the horizontal gun was very great. Kawanishi Heizaemon's head swung violently, and a huge bloody hole appeared in his nose bone. The lead bullet even entered his brain tissue from here, killing him on the spot.

"Kill the Japanese pirates!"

As soon as Cai Yi opened fire, the Chinese people with 36 surnames around him, including Zheng Zan, Chen Guoqi, Lin Chengxun, etc., suddenly jumped up, drew out their pistols and attacked the four or five Japanese on the opposite side, killing them all in an instant.

Almost at the same time, Cai Yi's wife, Ryukyu Tsugayasu Princess Shang Kuanshi, walked in from a secret passage on the side, followed by more than 40 musketeers from 36 surnames holding muskets.

"I heard, Your Majesty, that those female priests a few days ago were all fake!" Xiang Tiandi, one of the three officials beside King Shangmu, suddenly shouted in horror.

The "Wende Dajun" he mentioned was referring to Princess Shang Kuanshi.

And this Wende Taijun is not a monarch, but a fairy (witch) of Ryukyu Shintoism. She is a cultural relic of ancient Ryukyu and is responsible for communicating with Ryukyu's sacred mountain, Kugaoyama.

And three days ago, it was heard that the Grand Prince Jin Jiashan Princess Shang Kuanshi suddenly brought dozens of female priests into the royal city in the name of sacrifice.

Now it seems that those people were not female priests at all, but musketeers from the thirty-six surnames.

Hearing Xiang Tiandi's shout, the musketeers beside the princess stepped forward and stabbed him through with a bayonet.

Seeing this, Princess Tsukayama laughed loudly and said, "You thief, I told you to go to Satsuma to pay homage. You are not worthy of being a Ryukyu!"

At this time, the artillery team of the Aboriginal Magistrate outside heard the noise, rushed in shouting, and immediately started fighting with the musketeers of the thirty-six surnames.

The Japanese arquebus team are real samurai who have received full-time training, so they have advantages in combat effectiveness and combat experience.

But firstly, they were more than a dozen fewer in number, and secondly, they were holding old matchlock rifles that were derived from the Tanegashima gun.

Although the musketeers of the thirty-six surnames were not well trained, they were armed with brand new flintlock rifles donated by Ye Mingyue, and they were also trained by two instructors from the Xingtang Army who came from the Beijing camp, so their combat effectiveness was quite good.

For a moment, the two groups of people started fighting in the hall in front of King Shangmu, with bullets flying and blood splattering everywhere.

The Shuri clan around King Shangmu were so frightened that they ran around screaming and howling, and many of them were shot.

King Shangmu was almost scared to pee his pants. He trembled as he took off his troublesome outer robe and turned around to run to the harem.

Cai Yi had been staring at King Shangmu. When he saw him trying to run, he immediately rushed over and grabbed King Shangmu's sleeve, holding the still smoking pistol and shouted:

"Where is your Majesty going?"

King Shangmu really felt like he was going to wet his pants. He looked at Cai Yi with grievance, not understanding why his old brother-in-law, who usually held a copy of the sage's classics and read all sorts of things, suddenly became so violent.

"Bullets have no eyes, please get out of the way first!" King Shangmu said as a lead bullet hit the leg of a Shuri clan leader next to him.

Xie Ditou hugged his thighs and rolled on the ground crying exaggeratedly. The sound made people feel creepy.

"Your Majesty, you can't go anywhere!" Cai Yi pulled King Shangmu and roughly pushed him to sit on the throne.

"We, your loyal ministers, are fighting a bloody battle with the Japanese for the sake of Your Majesty's foundation. The Emperor's heavenly soldiers are rushing to rescue Your Majesty under the Sun and Moon banners. How can Your Majesty avoid us at this critical moment?"

As he spoke, Cai Yi kicked the Shuri clan leader, who was rolling on the ground, with a football kick, causing his mouth to be full of blood and he uttered the swear words of Mindong.

"You are a traitor. If you dare to cry and disrupt the morale of our army again, I will kill you with one shot!"

After hearing this, Xie Ditou quickly covered his mouth, swallowed all the wailing into his stomach, and didn't even dare to roll on the ground.

So, amidst the hail of bullets, Princess Jinjiashan and her husband Cai Yi together pressed their younger brother, the king, into his seat.

Princess Tsujiashan continued to shout, "Your Majesty, why don't you order the Shuri army to wipe out the Japanese? Are you waiting for them to come and kill us all? Or are you waiting for the Emperor to order you to commit suicide?"

"Yes, yes, yes!" King Shangmu was completely frightened. He was afraid that his sister would shoot him, so he nodded like a chicken pecking at rice.

"Let the royal guards come to reinforce and wipe out all the Japanese in Shuri."

After saying this, King Shangmu saw that his sister, who was in her sixties, was still glaring at him, and immediately added, "It's not Shuri, it's the Japanese in all of Ryukyu."

The male and female were finally satisfied. The reason why they worked so hard was simple.

The emperor has basically agreed to make Ryukyu an internal vassal state. From now on, what will be given to it every year will not only be the quota for students, but also the opportunity to take the imperial examination and become an official on the mainland.

(End of this chapter)