Wind Rises in North America 1625

Chapter 190 Tsushima Strait (Continued)

"We've already interrogated them. There was an envoy from the Tokugawa shogunate on board. When they saw us, they thought we were Spanish and ordered the cannons to be fired as a demonstration."

At around ten o'clock in the evening, the night was already deep, and the "Polang" and "Zhengtu" chose to anchor in a cape in Tsushima Island, waiting for light the next day before continuing their journey.

Two Japanese ships with bullet holes and shattered decks were quietly docked nearby. All the Japanese crew members and sailors on board were tied to the bottom of the cabin and tortured one by one to find out the purpose of their trip at sea.

In a fierce chase in the afternoon, the "Breaking Waves" successfully intercepted another Japanese ship in the waters near Jinshi Port before dark, and launched a fierce fire attack in front of the Tsushima samurai on the shore, forcing them to stop and surrender.

After sending dozens of sailors and armed immigrants to take control of the prisoner ship, in order to avoid complications, the "Break the Waves" did not stay for too long and led the prisoner ship straight to the northwest.

After meeting up with the "Zhengtu", night had already fallen, so they took refuge in this secluded cape for a short rest.

Just when Wei Yingbin was checking and testing the navigation records and work experiences written by several naval cadets in the captain's room, his first mate Shu Wendong came to report with the interrogation records.

"It's amazing! Some of these Japanese are from Nagasaki and can speak simple Chinese. This saved us a lot of trouble and we even got a lot of useful information out of them," Shu Wendong said with a smile. "Both ships are from the Tsushima clan on the island, preparing to travel to Korea for their annual tribute trade."

"Tribute trade?" Wei Yingbin was stunned when he heard this. "Isn't tributary trade only found in the Central Plains dynasties of the mainland? How come Korea and Japan also have this kind of... tributary exchange? As far as I can remember, Japan didn't seem to recognize Korea as its suzerain state in history!"

"It wasn't Japan and Korea, but the tribute trade between Tsushima and Korea," Shu Wendong corrected. "During the Joseon Dynasty, during what King Sejong called the "Yao and Shun of the Sea East," the Kingdom of Korea dispatched over 17,000 troops and over 200 warships to land on Tsushima Island to eliminate the Japanese pirates there."

"During this war, the Koreans successfully captured Tsushima Island, burned down thousands of Japanese pirates' houses, beheaded hundreds of them, and rescued over a hundred Ming and Korean civilians abducted by the pirates. However, in the ensuing period, samurai loyal to the Tsushima clan began to actively organize resistance, causing great suffering to the Korean army and inflicting heavy losses, with over 2,000 casualties."

"So, after the Zong family offered to surrender and negotiate peace, Korea took advantage of the situation and reached an agreement with the Tsushima domain. The Zong family would pay tribute to Korea and pledge to eliminate Japanese pirates on the island and prevent further harassment of Korean coastal areas. In turn, Korea would emulate the Ming Dynasty's tribute trade model, granting the Zong family the privilege of leading trade between Japan and Korea, with annual tribute payments to Busan."

"In other words, the Tsushima clan's actions were a classic example of serving two masters: on the one hand, they paid tribute to the Kingdom of Korea and sought the benefits of trade with it, while on the other hand, they used the shogunate as their master to gain recognition and protection from the Tokugawa clan."

"It's been such a long time, but the Korean and Japanese shogunate didn't notice it?" Wei Yingbin was also amazed after hearing this.

This Ma Fan is really a clever little guy!
"The Zong family, relying on their exclusive rights to interact and trade with North Korea, has been able to profit from this trade for decades while continuing to play both sides of the game," Shu Wendong said with a smile. "But lies always come to light one day."

"A few months ago, Tsushima clan elder Yanagawa Chosei became estranged from the clan lord, So Yoshishige, and sought independence from the clan, becoming a direct subordinate of the shogunate. He submitted a letter to the shogunate, exposing Tsushima's tribute payments to Korea and its forgery of letters between Korea and Japan, shocking the shogunate."

"To investigate this incident, the shogunate sent several hatamoto to directly question the So clan and ask them to explain their situation. After conducting a preliminary investigation, a shogunate representative considered traveling to Korea to conduct an on-site investigation to determine whether trade between Japan and Korea would still be permitted without the So clan's presence in Tsushima."

"So, he took a few warriors and set off from Jinshi Port on a tribute trade ship bound for Korea. Unexpectedly, they encountered us halfway and were so angry that they took the initiative to provoke us. So, they got what they asked for, and we intercepted them all."

"No wonder the ship is loaded with copper, sulfur, gold, and silver produced in Japan, as well as southern specialties obtained indirectly through the Ryukyu Islands, red dye hematite, pepper, and other spices." Wei Yingbin said with a smile, "The trade between Tsushima and Korea is quite large. All these materials together must be worth about 30,000 to 40,000 taels of silver, just enough to cover the cost of our immigration."

"Yes, that's true." Shu Wendong nodded and said, "Tsushima Domain usually exports copper, sulfur, gold, silver, and southern specialties to Korea, while Korea exports kapok, cotton cloth, raw silk, ginseng, furs, and other commodities. The annual bilateral trade volume exceeds 100,000 taels of silver, allowing Tsushima Domain, which dominates the trade, to earn huge profits. The actual salary is as high as 100,000 koku, which is higher than many outer daimyo." "Haha, then Tsushima Domain must have been heartbroken after losing these two ships of cargo!"

"That's for sure." Shu Wendong also smiled. "By the way, what should we do with those two Japanese ships?"

"Now that we've captured these two ships, we can't let them go to waste. We'll tow them to Linhai Fort, repair them, and then hand them over to Qi Yongze and his men for offshore transport." Wei Yingbin said, "They already have over 1,200 people gathered there, so they're definitely planning to establish additional bases. These ships will undoubtedly play a positive role in their development."

"That's true. There's not much decent arable land in Linhaibao. If we want to achieve significant development, we need to occupy the Tokachi Plains in southeastern Hokkaido. The soil there is fertile, the terrain is flat, and it has excellent agricultural conditions. Once developed, it can support hundreds of thousands of people."

"Haha, if we can support hundreds of thousands of people, we can dominate Northeast Asia."

"Well, then, we can knock on Japan to the south, force them to open their doors, and then monopolize this huge market with a population of tens of millions."

"By the way, when you were interrogating the captured Japanese, did you find out how many people were on Tsushima Island?"

"What? Are we going to attack this island?" Shu Wendong looked at him in surprise.

"Given our current strength, it's certainly not the time to attack it, but understanding the basic situation of this island in advance will be of great benefit to our future plans." Wei Yingbin shook his head and said, "Tsushima Island controls the core of the strait, connecting the Korean Peninsula and Japan's Kyushu Island. It is a key transportation route between the Sea of ​​Japan, the Yellow Sea, and the East China Sea. We must find a way to seize it in the future."

The Korea Strait extends from northeast to southwest, connecting several sea areas and forming the lifeline of transportation in Northeast Asia.

The existence of Tsushima Island divides the Korean Strait into two waterways, the east and west. The east waterway is located between Tsushima Island and Japan's Kyushu Island, and the west waterway is located between Tsushima Island and the Korean Peninsula.

Control of these two waterways has long been in the hands of Japan, staking a claim on the maritime lifelines of several regions. The waterways of the entire Strait region are complex and intricate, with Tsushima Island sitting at the throat, making its strategic value increasingly prominent.

Over the past few hundred years, Japan has repeatedly used Tsushima Island as a springboard to attack Korea and plot against the mainland.

Now, some ships carrying immigrants from Liaodong to the transit base in Hokkaido also have to pass through the Tsushima Strait.

Although, at this time, the maritime power of both North Korea and Japan was insignificant and posed no threat.

However, there is a saying that goes, a man is innocent unless he possesses a treasure.

Such an island of strategic value would naturally be coveted by the time travelers, who would want to seize it as soon as possible.

Of course, due to limited strength, we can only keep it in mind for the time being and plan for it in the future.

(End of this chapter)