Heiwa Street, just outside Shuri Castle, is lined with shops.

As the capital of the Ryukyus, Shurijo Castle is also a city full of Chinese culture, and at first glance, it looks like it is located in a county seat in Fujian or Guangdong, and the signboards of the shops, the layout of the buildings, the clothes of the people on the streets, and the language spoken are all the same as those in the mainland. If someone speaks the native language, then nine times out of ten they are treated as inferior, and there is no way, the upper class and the rulers here speak Chinese, just as Europeans speak French as a social language.

Ryukyu is actually a small branch from the big tree of my Chinese civilization, but unfortunately, this branch was forcibly grafted by a poison ivy next to it.

"It's a bit like Hoi An and Hue."

The second dog of the Zhang family, the midshipman of the right battalion of the guards, lay on the side of the ship and looked in the direction of the city, and couldn't stop exclaiming.

However, at this time, the peaceful streets were in chaos. The sound of adults crying and children crying and screaming on the street is intertwined, people in a panic are running in all directions, and from time to time vehicles and people collide, the owner of the shop pù urges the guys to hurry up and close the door, and hide the valuable goods in a safe place.

There is a fleet at sea, and this is a fleet with strong force, although I don't know if it is a pirate or not, but in this year, how many people with swords and guns in their hands and cannons on board are good?

"Don't panic!"

Zeng Lin, the general manager in charge of maritime and foreign trade in Naha Port, scolded several subordinates and servants around him, and they were ready to pull out their feet and slip away.

"Wait for the king's luck. But he can't share the worries of the king. ”

He flicked the sleeves of his robe, straightened the hair on his head, and walked proudly to the dock.

He knew very well that if the comers were hostile, they would have sent small boats to land and go ashore to burn and loot on a large scale, so where would they enter the port so slowly and methodically? I'm afraid that at this time, the whole peaceful street is already full of fireworks! I'm happy to show my courage and style.

On the pier, two small boats carrying Mao Sihai and a group of soldiers boarded the land of Naha Port, and the moment their feet landed, the officer who led the team planted the flag in his hand in the mud!

"Look! This is the sun and moon flag of the Ming Dynasty, and it is the banner of my South Central Army. Later. Naha Port is the territory of our Southern Central Army, and anyone who wants to snatch it has to ask the swords, guns, guns and guns in the hands of the master if they agree! ”

Zeng Lin, who rushed to hear the sound, saw the flag fluttering in the sea breeze, and immediately put a heart in his stomach. Take a closer look. It turned out to be his good son-in-law. The father of the baby grandson stood proudly in the crowd, and suddenly felt more and more proud.

"Virtuous son-in-law! Virtuous son-in-law! ”

For this guy who has a big belly for the daughter who is likely to participate in the selection of the princess, Zeng Lin has always been sweet-mouthed and bitter-hearted. But. Today in his eyes, this guy is not as annoying as it used to be.

"Father-in-law, father-in-law!" Mao Sihai is also a good actor, and quickly entered the role state; It's just that his audience is the soldiers who came with him and the people on the ship.

"Please hurry up and enter the city to inform your prince that the general of my family has personally arrived in Ryukyu, and ask him to arrange a ceremony to greet him!"

Looking at the several huge ships lined up in the waterways of Naha Port, like the stars holding the moon, guarding an even larger gunboat, it can be seen from the sails on the ships and the dense gun windows on the deck that the firepower of this ship is probably enough to withstand the entire army of the Ryukyus!

"Please wait on the dock for the Ming soldiers, I will go and inform my prince that the Ming army is here, please come out to greet the prince."

The Ryukyu royal palace in Shuri Castle was already in a panic, and the reigning Ryukyu king Shangfeng sat on the throne at a loss, watching the servants and ministers in the palace crash around like headless flies.

When the first ship sailed into Naha Port, news came back from the Morijo Fort of Yaraza, and it immediately hit Lord Shoho like a thunderbolt on a sunny day.

"Satsuma, Satsuma's Japanese people broke through my Ryukyu and kidnapped the first king, is this bad luck going to fall on this king today?"

He watched the ministers arguing there incessantly, that is, fighting and arguing, but he couldn't hear what they were arguing about, but he was just thinking about the scene when the Ryukyus were attacked by the Shimazu family of the Satsuma domain with 3,000 men and more than 100 ships, the first king was taken captive, and the royal family was sacked.

On April 1, Kayama Kutaka landed on Ryukyu Oshima, and within four days he attacked Shuri Castle, and a month later, he escorted the then Ryukyu king Shoning and more than 100 princes and officials back to Kyushu as prisoners. Unfortunately, the current Shangfeng prince is one of them.

Shortly after King Shoho ascended the throne, the Shimazu family sent people to demand that Ryukyu pay tribute to Samona, and at the same time sent officials to measure and distribute land in the Ryukyus, draw national borders, and set taxes, as if they were occupiers. Not only that, but the Ryukyu Kingdom also granted official positions to the personnel sent by the Satsuma Domain, so that these people could become officials of the Ryukyu Kingdom and promote government affairs in the Ryukyus more legally.

In addition, the Ryukyus were to establish a building on the northern five islands of the so-called three provinces and 36 islands, which would be used by the Shimazu family to facilitate the management of trade and the collection of taxes by the personnel sent by the two countries. Of course, the Shimazu family did not pay taxes to the Ryukyus, and most of these taxes went into the pockets of the Shimazu family.

It's easy to look forward to the Shimazu family, I don't know why, and quietly withdrew the people and horses to Kyushu Satsuma little by little, although it is still necessary to plant a large amount of sugar cane, but King Shangfeng finally spent a few days in Ryukyu to be able to give orders, but I didn't expect that today, there will be a strong man on the sea!

Never mind! Even if the Shimazu family goes and returns, what can it do? Can it be more miserable than the situation back then? It was the first king who was taken captive, and now it's me!

The prince of Shangfeng made up his mind, and was just about to open his mouth to order someone to prepare a green coat and hat for himself, and was ready to kneel at the gate of Shuri Castle to meet those barbarian fellows, hoping that they would be able to reduce the death and killing of his courtiers and people.

Before he could speak, Zeng Lin's hoarse voice with a hint of surprise came from afar outside the hall.

"Your Highness! Your Highness! Congratulations, Your Highness! ”

With this series of unsatisfactory shouts. Zeng Lin stumbled in.

"Your Highness! Your Highness! Congratulations, Your Highness! On the sea, the soldiers of the Great Tomorrow have arrived, please arrange for the honor guard to meet you at the pier! ”

Hearing this, Shang Feng, who was just about to change into a courtier's costume and go to the city gate to meet his fate, suddenly put a heart in his stomach. Ryukyu has always regarded the Ming Dynasty as a state of parents, and if there are heavenly soldiers here, it is nothing more than a proclamation, canonization and the like, and there will be nothing else, at least it will not pose a threat to the personal safety of the Ryukyu king.

Shang Feng was also happy, "But the Great Tomorrow is coming?" But why didn't you receive the report and roll order beforehand? How do you prepare for this rush? Although there was a hint of complaint in the words. But it's also full of joy.

"What are you doing?"

Prince Shangfeng turned his head and reprimanded the fifteen people who were exercising the functions of the six departments in the tone of a superior person. The eyes are fixed on the "tributary envoy" who once sent an envoy to the Ming Dynasty. ”

"That Your Highness may know. The one who came was not an envoy of heaven, nor was he here to proclaim the decree. Zeng Lin on the side relieved the siege of the fifteen people.

"Huh? Who is it? Why don't you come and see us? ”

Hearing that the person who came was not the Great Tomorrow Envoy, King Shangfeng immediately raised his nostrils, since the person who came was not an angel. At most, it is the maritime merchants of the Ming Dynasty. I have the treatment of the county king's costume.。 The status of nature is incomparable to that of these merchants. (The rank of the Ryukyu kings has never been found, but according to the portraits that have been circulated, they are wearing the costumes of the kings.) Therefore, for the sake of safety, they still regard their grade treatment as enjoying the costumes of the county king. ）

"The person who came is Li Shouhan, the president of the South Central Army, and he personally led the army here." Zeng Lin heard the change in the tone of the Ryukyu King, and knew that if he didn't take out this hole card, he was afraid that the prince in front of him would be killed by his own clumsy face!

Those cannons and soldiers on the docks, but he saw with his own eyes, are many times stronger than the Shimazu family's peasant soldiers carrying bamboo guns, and if such an army wants to break through Shuri Castle and make Prince Shangfeng Shang a prisoner again, it is simply too simple!

A word of heaven and a word of hell, this sentence is not bad for today's Shangfeng prince. I thought just now that the person who came was a maritime merchant with some strength, but I didn't want to be the commander of the Nanchu Army who could transport countless white rice from Nanchu to Ryukyu by boat, and exchange the sugar cane they planted with the inhabitants of the Ryukyu islands?!

"Quick! Quickly order to go down, along Heiwa Street to Naha Port, along the way to set up colorful archways, each shop pù in the street position to put up lights, spread incense cases, fruits, ready to welcome the Southern Central Army of General Li! ”

"Change the widow's clothes, take the widow's county crown uniform, and the widow will go to the dock to meet the general."

The servants of the palace hurriedly took the crown of the prince of Shangfeng, the seven before and after, and the seven reels of each five, and put on the green clothes woven by the five chapters of the collar and the robe for him, and were waiting to hang the jade pendant with the golden hook for the prince, and wore a large belt with a plain Zhuli, a red ribbon on the upper and a green ribbon, and a few servants on the side were waiting there with jade gui and big ribbons, ready to greet Li Shouhan with a full set of county royal dresses, a voice interrupted the great interest of the prince of Shangfeng.

"Your Highness, slow down."

The person who spoke was none other than the Minister of the Ryukyus.

"I wonder if His Highness knows about Li Shouhan's official background? To greet him with such courtesy? Is it inconsistent with etiquette? ”

Waving his hand to let the servants stop first, Prince Shangfeng looked at the minister with some doubts.

"Where do you say that?"

"Your Highness, the merchants of Nanzhong traveled back and forth to the country, purchased sugarcane and raw sugar, and exchanged rice with us, and one mu of sugarcane could be exchanged for two stones of rice, so that Ryukyu was saved from famine.

However, during the exchange, the courtiers learned that Li Shouhan was just a garrison rank and a thousand officials! And I am a housekeeper and have not reported to the Ming Division. The so-called president of the South China Army and the person who manages money and food and civil affairs is just an official title conferred and received privately, and it is not worth shaking. ”

"Therefore, the minister thinks that in order to show my Ryukyu generosity, I will grieve the prince and go to the dock to greet him with the honor of the prince."

"We treat each other with courtesy, invite him to the palace, and His Royal Highness will entertain him with a banquet and soothe him with kind words."

Under the escort of the "Kuri", that is, the royal guards, the prince came to the seashore of Naha Port with a flag gong umbrella fan.

The port at this time. It is no longer the atmosphere of fear and uneasiness that pervades everywhere. In its place was a warm and noisy atmosphere.

The sailors wrestled the huge winch, threw the heavy iron anchors into the water, and lowered the huge sails to the sound of the trumpet. A couple of short, stocky fellows tethered the cables, which were almost as thick as a child's thigh, to the stone stakes of the dock.

The militia, known as the Makiri Army, stood on the road to Heiwa Street, watching the groups of guards rushing down from the boats, lined up in a neat line, and walked in their direction at the same pace at the sound of the trumpeter's horn.

Hundreds of people are like one person. Out of the left leg is all out of the left leg. When you leave your right leg, you get your right leg out. Except for the occasional crisp sound of armor and weapons colliding, there was only the sound of footsteps.

A group of soldiers who were originally on guard duty at the exit of the dock were suddenly at a loss and couldn't help but dodge aside. Get out of the way for this team. So as not to provoke this group of military masters who can walk hundreds of steps in a uniform manner. Let yourself eat a meal of flesh and skin in vain.

When the Taoist team of the prince came to the dock. The dock has been controlled by the Nanzhong military, and a tense and busy unloading activity has begun.

Sticking to the trestle, a cannon was set by a pulley mounted on the ship. Tong Guò poked out the side of the ship and placed it on the trestle easily, and the amount that was also unloaded from the ship was more supplies: ammunition, grain, cooking oil, all kinds of cured meat, salted fish, salted eggs, cured meat, etc., were stacked there in different categories on the dock, and soon the goods were covered with huge tarpaulins. A temporary yard was formed.

Between the wharf and the freight yard, a dozen strange vehicles were set up by heavy soldiers, and the cauldrons and stoves on the carts began to prepare meals for the fleet, and the smell of stir-fried vegetables and stewed rice wafted all over the wharf, making those who watched the excitement on the wharf sniff.

"Shang Xian, the son of the king of the Ryukyus, came to greet General Li of the Southern Central Army."

Mao Sihai reluctantly took the post in the hand of his father-in-law Zeng Lin, boarded the boat along the gangway, and sent the post, which seemed to be completely in personal relations, to Shouhan's cabin.

In the cabin, Shouhan was holding a 120-fold horizontal version of "The Legend of Zhongyi Water Margin", and from time to time he took the plot of the book and discussed it with the officers around him.

"You said that the Liangshan army conscripted the other two forces of the four major Kou, Huaixi Wang Qing and Hebei Tianhu, and collected hundreds of thousands of horses, but why didn't they return to the division to attack Bianliang, let Song Jiang's brother be an emperor, and all the heroes would be generals?"

This question surprised the officers present! The story of the heroes of the Water Margin has been passed down for a long time, but no one dares to think of why not attack Bianliang in Tokyo and not let Brother Song Jiang be the emperor?

When everyone was sweating profusely by the whimsical question of Shouhan, Mao Sihai's report saved everyone in time.

"Sue him, I'm not feeling well, I don't see him!"

Shouhan threw the big red prayer post on the floor, and the officers were also indignant, we are here with thousands of miles, and the lord has come to see him as a mere Ryukyu king, and he doesn't put on a full guard of honor to greet him, even if he sends his own son to greet him in a private tone, what is going on? Could it be that his Ryukyu is compared to Siam? How is Shuri Castle compared to Thang Long Castle?

"Lord, I'll take someone to Shuri Castle and capture that old man Shangfeng, why bother talking to him?!"

Lin Sihai, the battalion officer of the right battalion of the guards, felt a little excited that the world would not be chaotic, and his fingers couldn't stop rubbing the hilt of the knife, just waiting for Shouhan's order.

"Not necessarily! Send someone down, sue him directly, and say that he is not feeling well, and he will not see him! ”

This task was given to Zhang Ergou, who was the lowest-ranking officer among the officers present, because he was just a midshipman who lectured on martial arts, strictly speaking, he was not an officer, and the purpose was to tell Sù Shangxian, you, you are not weighty! Call you Lao Tzu!

The majestic Zhang Ergou came to the queue of the prince Shangxian with a shy chest, patted the shoulder of the drummer who was preaching fine music in front of the queue, and signaled him to stop blowing.

"Who is the young master Shangxian, the prince of the Ryukyu king? My father-in-law said that he is not feeling well today, block the drive! ”

I can't help but admire the viciousness of the people selected by this group of officers to carry out this task, and Zhang Ergou's cultivation in anger, scolding, and not using dirty words is almost equal to his uncle's Taoism at sea.

Shang Xian, who is also the son of the king of the Ryukyus, became a young master in his mouth, almost the same as the son of the landlord, which makes Shang Xian, who is also calling for wind and rain in the Ryukyus on weekdays, acceptable? Before Sang-hyun, who was sitting on the shoulders of the four, was furious, there was a sound of gad-da-gda clogs from the corner next to him, and a piercing laugh came.

"The barbarians of the Ryukyus, who came into contact with the Ming people behind our backs, how about it, were insulted by the Ming people?"

"That is, you still have to listen to us Satsuma people obediently, our Satsuma Shimazu family is your protector! Bless you from being bullied by the Ming people. ”

Two guys with cupola buns and clogs squeezed out of the crowd.

Some people in the crowd knew that they were both townsmen of the Shimazu family and the Kayama family, and although the Shimazu family had removed a number of officials and samurai, the merchants still kept some of them to purchase some souvenirs for the Shimazu family.

These two guys don't know the inside story of the upper echelons.,On weekdays, they just run rampant in Shuri Castle.,Today, when I see a Ming ship coming.,I'm going to come to make a nuisance.,So that the people of the Ming Kingdom know whose world is here.,The news is back to Kyushu.,Maybe the guardian lord will promote himself to become a samurai!

Being so humiliated in front of everyone by two lowly Fuso merchants made Shang Xian's face blue and red, and he wanted to order Kuli on duty next to him to take down these two guys who didn't know what to do, but he didn't have the guts.

"Your Royal Highness, forbearance. Forbearance turns into gold. Back then, my Ryukyu was attacked and destroyed by the Satsuma, and many people's Jinbao lineage was taken away by the Satsuma! ”

The entourage on the side also gently reminded Shang Xian to be patient.

He can endure it, but not all people can. (To be continued......)

PS: Thank you for the monthly ticket voted by all book friends, not much to say, continue to code words. I hope you don't skimp on all kinds of votes in your hands.