was about to arrive in Nagasaki, so Liu Yu went to the deck and handed over the command of the port to Lin Yunwen.

The four students who followed him also hid Western objects such as sextants, and each was equipped with a Miao knife to follow.

Nagasaki Port is a long and narrow port, and since the Portuguese came to make trouble, forts have been built in Tomachi, the key point of entering the port, and Nishimari on the other side.

The Kuroda family of the Chikuzen Domain and the Nabeshima family of the Hizen Domain took turns sending troops to garrison the area. Loose forts can also be seen in some places nearby, and Nagasaki has become almost fortified as a window to the country.

In the distance, you can see the Dutch living on the island, Dashun's switch policy also affected the trade policy of the Dutch East India Company, originally the Netherlands had to get cotton cloth from India to trade, but now after the switch, the East India Company did not care much about Indian trade, and turned to be a porter in China and Japan.

You can see Dutch houses and warehouses, but there are no boats.

Lin Yunwen also followed Liu Yu, and Liu Yu asked.

"My lord, the Dutch ship must leave the harbor by October. You can't stay too long, the owner of the merchant hall changes every year. Our ship can spend the winter here, but if we don't have a trade card, we have to hurry. Otherwise they will be bombarded. ”

Liu Yu looked at the blackened forts around him, and said strangely: "I can't come here, so I don't want to go elsewhere?" You're so honest? Not smuggling? ”

Lin Yunwen smiled and whispered, "The master said that he was laughing." Who goes to sea to do business, how can there be an honest one? More than ten years ago, there was a Japanese Confucian named Arai Shiraishi, who issued a new order, and no trade was allowed without a letter card. At that time, I heard that some people did not get the letter card, so I naturally thought of smuggling. Some of the ships pretended to be blown away by the wind and went all the way to Kokura and other places, and they had to run through the Maseki Strait. ”

But the Japanese opened fire directly, and at that time, more than 20 boats, which had no weapons, were shelled by the Japanese and all fled. Later, there was a fight between Jiangsu and Zhejiang merchants and Fujian merchants, and the two sides told each other in order to get the trade card. Again, what the Japanese are valuable is copper and silver, and it is difficult to sell anything else, and the people are poor, and it is difficult to sell it for smuggling. ”

Only then did Liu Yu know that he really underestimated this group of businessmen, and it seemed that as soon as the new order of Zhengde came out, these businessmen wanted to do a big deal.

I have to say that this trade card system is too vicious. It can not only instigate infighting among merchants in different regions, but also use the letter card as bait to obtain a steady stream of information. This Arai Shiraishi is a character.

"You've been running Nagasaki all these years, and you haven't seen any Westerners except the Dutch?"

"I've seen it twice, once when a Portuguese missionary came secretly to preach and was caught. Another time the British entered the port under the banner of the Netherlands, but they were forbidden to trade and had to leave. Other Westerners are rare. In recent years, the ban on religion has been very strict, the Dutch do not believe in the old religion, and the Japanese can tolerate it. The Portuguese and the Spaniards could never come. ”

It is true that the ban on religion in Japan is strict, but the missionary fanaticism of the Spaniards and Portuguese is indeed fanatical.

Knowing that if he caught, he would die, and there were missionaries rushing to Japan one after another, eager to be burned at the stake. Martyrdom to heaven.

The Dutch were fortunate enough to be Protestant, and they were not interested in proselytizing.

Although the British were also Protestants, the British were placed by the Dutch at the end of the Ming Dynasty, and the British had to see the Dutch's face in Southeast Asia.

At that time, the British also had trading houses in Japan, but at that time, China was closed, and the British could not get Chinese goods at all, so they could only buy and sell iron rods, lead rods, and woolen wool. However, as soon as the Warring States period ended, iron rods and lead rods could not be sold.

The British still have samurai in Japan, just the prototype of "Nioh" Miura pressed the needle, but this does not change the cruel reality that British goods cannot be sold in Japan.

During the Ming Dynasty, the British always wanted to open the window of trade with China, and spent a lot of money with the Dutch for this.

Zheng Zhilong's predecessors, such as Li Dan, Yan Siqi and others, claimed that they had a particularly strong relationship and could definitely get the trade done.

The British and the Dutch actually really believed it, and gave a lot of silver three or four times, but Li Dan and others said today that they did not succeed in the typhoon, and tomorrow they said that they had encountered pirates and were robbed, and they asked for a total of about 40,000 taels of silver for their hard work, until the British couldn't stand it anymore in Japan, and the merchant hall withdrew with an IOU.

It is estimated that the British really don't know that the Ming Dynasty has its own national conditions here, and they actually think that 40,000 taels of silver can do such a big thing. I don't want to think about how much I can leave after 40,000 taels of silver along the way to the capital......

The fact is that Li Dan, Yan Siqi and others are very sober-minded: if there is really trade, then what do their group of second-hand dealers who monopolize the source of goods earn? Not only did he not do anything, but he also kept the trade letter of the Netherlands ruling to the Wanli Emperor of the Ming Dynasty.

It is estimated that this time it was because of Dashun's open trade policy, and the British also thought of the second-tier dealers between China and Japan, so they pretended to be Dutch to explore the way?

The Spaniards and the Portuguese, Japan will definitely not receive them, so you don't have to think about this. Unless one day Spain and Portugal do not believe in Catholicism.

Turning sideways and looking at the fort near Nagasaki, Liu Yu probably had a number in his heart, and asked, "How much power does this Nagasaki pursue?" ”

After asking, I realized that I had asked the wrong question. How could Lin Yunwen know about such things?

However, Lin Yunwen gave a direct answer.

"The right is not small. In addition to these soldiers, in the event of an emergency, the Nagasaki government could also directly transfer troops from nearby domains. In addition, several feudal lords were stationed in Nagasaki and communicated directly with the feudal lords and the Nagasaki commissioners. ”

Liu Yu was stunned and said curiously: "How do you know about such confidential matters?" ”

"The Lord thinks it's a confidential matter? Actually, no, everyone who comes here often knows. Under the practice, how many gifts should be given by each person, which ones must be given, which ones should not be given, and which ones should be kept secret...... These things are known, and how can we not know these things that the Lord's house asks? ”

After saying this, he quietly looked back at the place where the horses were kept, and whispered: "This matter of buying horses was originally handed over to the Tsushima Domain." The people of Tsushima went to Korea, and North Korea said that the good horses were all from the country of Dawan, and they were thousands of miles apart, so they couldn't get them at all. The Tsushima clan knew that the Koreans were talking nonsense, but they could only pinch their noses and admit it, so they asked Wen to come to Nagasaki, hoping that the Nagasaki government would come forward to get horses. Nagasaki gave Bun a letter, and if you can get castrated horses, you can get trade tokens if your shoulders are high enough. ”

Liu Yu smiled: "That's right." The North Koreans were beaten by them once, and their hearts were palpitating. The bottom line is still there, and the horses are not sold. ”

When Lin Yunwen heard the word "bottom line", he chuckled in his heart, and said in his heart that Lord Liu's bottom line is a little low, and he dares to sell war horses.

"The main family, the servants of each domain, have a special 'wind story' to sort out the ships. The wind says that it is a rumor. Our ship is the one who came to ask. The Dutch had to write in advance, and when they arrived, they had to submit it. ”

The cause of this was the trade competition between the Dutch and the Portuguese and the Spanish.

Basically, the Dutch speak ill of Spain and Portugal all day long, today they say that the Portuguese first preach and then conquer, and tomorrow they say that the Spanish enslaved the Americas. Of course, most of this is just the truth.

In the last year of Wanli in the previous dynasty, the Dutch and the British joined forces to trap the Portuguese, perhaps someone informed, the British caught the Portuguese missionaries smuggling on the Japanese ship, and immediately took this opportunity to completely cut off the trade between Japan and Portugal, and even monopolized the control of Japan's foreign news.

Since then, when Dutch ships enter the port, they have to write a "wind story" and submit it to Nagasaki for implementation. This kind of tale, which was only circulated in the small circle of shoguns, was a top secret because it was easy to understand the external situation.

However, just like the Manchus, the small circle knew a lot about the Western world, but it was of little use.

The small circle knew about the French Revolution, so they thought it was the French White Lotus Sect, suppressed it fiercely, and sent Napoleon an ivory sculpture of the Fenyang Palace, in order to "encourage" Napoleon to "follow Guo Ziyi's example and protect the Tang Dynasty", wishing Napoleon many sons and grandchildren, and a full bed; The Shogunate's small circle also knew a lot about the West, and even soon after the French Revolution began, the Shogunate already knew that the Netherlands was forced to side with France.

This kind of secret that can only be passed on by the small circle can be passed on by the Dutch, but also by the Chinese, after all, only the ships of these two countries can come to Nagasaki to trade.

Fortunately, when the Chinese ship arrived in Nagasaki, there was no need to directly submit a wind story, but there would be a special messenger to inquire.

It's mostly, ask where the ship came from? Has there been a recent earthquake in China? Famine not? Is there something going on at the border? Basically, these maritime merchants don't know much, because of the status of Shinong industry and commerce, Shinong industry and commerce, the merchants do not have such a strict intelligence network.

Sometimes, in order to curry favor with the Japanese, businessmen tend to talk nonsense. After a long time, the Dutch wind storytelling is still quite important, but the wind storytelling in China is not very important.

However, Liu Yu knew that when he came this time, he would inevitably be taken seriously. Because he brought what those merchants could not have brought.

The ship docked at the port, and soon a few Japanese got on the ship, Lin Yunwen muttered a few words to the Japanese, and led the Japanese to see the war horses in the cabin, and the Japanese immediately got off the ship.

"Lord, the matter has been done. I guess Nagasaki will ask me personally, but I'm just a gang leader, so I guess he won't ask me. Even if you ask me, I know what to say. It's just that this place is not as good as Shenzhou, after all, it is on someone else's territory, and the so-called strong dragon is not the first snake to suppress the ground. ”

Liu Yu nodded and said, "Don't worry, I have a number." ”

called Shi Shiyong, who had been hiding in the cabin, and brought four students such as steamed buns as guards, and soon the Japanese side sent someone to invite Liu Yu.

He swaggered off the boat, hugged him left and right, and led by a few Japanese all the way to a mansion. The owner of the mansion is "Tang Tongshi", that is, the Chinese translator, and he introduced himself as Mei Sanshilang.

Entering the room, Liu Yu glanced at it a few times and guessed that there might be a big man listening behind the screen, but he didn't know what level it was.

Mei Sanshiro didn't ask where he came from or where he loaded the ship, but asked directly, "Why did you bring a war horse?" ”

Liu Yu is also not pretentious at all.

"Because war horses can be exchanged for trade cards. Trade cards make money. In addition to the war horses, I also brought a bow samurai who was good at riding and shooting eagles. ”