"Lord Li, the current Ryukyu State Orthodox Doctor Cai Jin is in the inner city of Kaohsiung, waiting for your lordship's summons. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info"

On the second day of the third month of the 11th year of Chongzhen, Li Xiao, who had just settled nearly 200,000 new homeless people and was inspecting the expansion work of Hezhu Port outside Kaohsiung, suddenly had a personal soldier rush to report.

"Oh, Ryukyu has no contact with this official, why did he send someone?"

Li Xiao was surprised in his heart, but he didn't have time to think about it, so he led a group of guards back to the inner city of Kaohsiung.

For this Ryukyu Kingdom, Li Xiao still has a somewhat superficial understanding of the history of his previous life.

The Ryukyu Kingdom was a small country that once existed in the Ryukyu Islands, and originally referred to the three countries of Shannan, Nakayama, and Shanbei that were established in the Ryukyu Islands. In 1429, the three kingdoms were unified into the Ryukyu Kingdom.

The territory of the Ryukyu Kingdom is mainly within the Ryukyu Islands, stretching from Amami Oshima Island in the north, Kikai Island in the east, Hateruma Island in the south, and Yonaguni Island in the west, with a total area of 3,600 square kilometers. Because of its special geographical location, it is known as a transit point for trade in Northeast Asia and Southeast Asia, and its trade is developed, and it is known as "Wanguo Jinliang".

From 1372 onwards, the Ryukyu kingdoms became vassal states of the Ming Dynasty of China. Today, the king of the Ryukyus at this time is King Shoho, the eighth king of the second Sho dynasty of the Ryukyu Kingdom, who reigned from 1621 to 1640.

Li Xiao came to the outside of his mansion, and Cai Jin, the slender Ryukyu Orthodox Doctor, was already standing outside the mansion with a respectful face with two guards.

After being introduced by his subordinates, Cai Jin Fang knew that the handsome young general in front of him was actually Li Xiao, the red phoenix uncle of the Ming Dynasty, and he couldn't help but look solemn and hurriedly stepped forward to worship.

"The envoy of the lower country, Cai Jin, the Ryukyu Doctor, meet Lord Li."

"Doctor Cai, don't be polite, get up quickly." Li Xiao smiled and helped him up: "Outside the house is not a place to speak, and follow Ben Bo to the living room to speak." ”

"Uncle Xie Chifeng."

Li Xiao's mansion in Kaohsiung City was expanded from the original Dutch Governor's Palace, which can be called a combination of Chinese and Western, extremely luxurious and spacious, which made Cai Jin and others sigh and add a little respect to Li Xiao in their hearts.

Subsequently, Cai Jin's two guards were taken into the side hall to rest, Cai Jin and Li Xiao entered the living room together, sat separately and watched the tea, Cai Jin said in a low voice after saying a lot of polite compliments.

It turned out that Cai Jin's visit to Taiwan this time was in the hope that Li Xiao could solve an urgent difficulty for the Ryukyus.

This is a bit long.

Because the Ryukyu Kingdom was located in the middle of the sea, its territory was narrow, and natural resources were scarce, and the land was barren and scarce. In this small country, staple foods such as rice were only available to kings and nobles, and commoners could only survive on sweet potatoes and the fruit of a local plant called Tieli fruit.

As a result, the Ryukyu Kingdom was unable to build an economy based on agriculture and could only gain wealth through overseas trade. The Ryukyu Kingdom not only obtained a large amount of material supplies from China through its suzerain-vassal relations with China, but also developed into a "general agent" of maritime foreign trade in the Ming Dynasty under the state of isolation, and gained a lot of wealth through trade.

Throughout the Ming Dynasty, Ryukyu ships traveled between Naha and Fuzhou, as well as Japan and Korea in the north, and Annam, Luzon, Siam, Aceh, Java, and Manraka in the south.

In particular, because Ryukyu is located in a volcanic earthquake zone, there are many sulfur minerals, so a large number of them were sold to the Ming Dynasty and Japan to make firearms, and a lot of wealth was earned.

However, the prosperity of the Ryukyus aroused the strong jealousy and greed of a powerful neighbor.

This neighbor is the Satsuma Domain, which is located at the southern tip of Japan's island of Kyushu.

In 1609 (the 37th year of Wanli in the Ming Dynasty and the 14th year of Keicho in Japan), Shimazu Iehisa, the lord of the Satsuma Domain, appointed Hisashi Hisataka Kayama as the general and Masamune Hirata as the deputy general, with a total of 3,000 troops, divided into more than 100 ships, and assembled at Yamakawa Port on the first day of the third month. After worshipping the ancestral god of the Shimazu clan, he gave an order and led his army to sail south and invade the Ryukyus.

It is worth mentioning that the Satsuma army that went out this time carried a total of "734 iron cannons and 37,200 ammunition", which is the trump card of the Satsuma army. (Note: Iron cannon is the Japanese name for arquebus, not the European iron cannon.) ）

Among the Japanese, the Satsuma people, located at the southern tip of Kyushu, are known for their fierceness and bravery, and it is precisely with such high-quality soldiers that the Shimazu family has become the overlord of Kyushu Island. As early as 1543, the Portuguese, known to the Japanese as Nanban, introduced the first arquebus to Tanegashima in Satsuma, which is known as the "Iron Cannon". The appearance of the arquebus immediately changed the form of ancient Japanese warfare, and the Satsuma people took the lead in developing and improving the "iron cannon", and their "Satsuma gun" was the best arquebus of the Japanese Warring States.

In contrast, the Ryukyu Kingdom did not have a regular army in the strict sense of the word, and only 1,000 "Shuri pro-troops" were stationed in Shuri, Naha and other important places, mainly to deal with small groups of pirates harassment. In addition, there are garrisons ranging from hundreds to 1,000 on several other islands, which are actually equivalent to police and militia, and the main thing is to maintain law and order. To put it mildly, such an army is actually completely scattered. Moreover, in terms of weaponry, the Ryukyus, which mainly used cold weapons, were far inferior to Satsuma, which was already heavily equipped with arquebuses.

Therefore, from the very beginning, the war was one-sided.

According to the Ryukyu "Zhongshan Genealogy", the Satsuma army first landed on the northernmost islands of the Ryukyus, and did not encounter much resistance along the way, the Ryukyuan people did not know the war for many years, and they were weak, and the Ryukyu soldiers who had never seen the iron cannon salvo were basically defeated with one blow, and the Satsuma army burned and looted all the way, and the Ryukyu people were deeply poisoned.

The Japanese history book "Nanpin Ji Kao" proudly recorded the "great achievements" of the Satsuma army arson and burned houses all the way: "Our soldiers set fire to the houses and razed the houses. On the New Day of April, the farmers of the time cultivated their fields, and when they saw it, they were all panicked. Our division sent a gun in pursuit and set fire to the village. ”

The Satsuma army was overwhelmed, all the way to the capital Shuri, and King Shōning, who was the king of the Ryukyus at the time, had to surrender to Satsuma, and the castle of Shuri was occupied.

This war of aggression was called the "Keicho Battle of the Ryukyus" in Japan, and the Ryukyus were called the "Rebellion of the Unitary". The Satsuma army, which had won a great victory, suffered less than 200 casualties. However, the Ryukyu Kingdom, which had been established for 200 years, was completely defeated in less than a month, and the king was captured by the occupying king, which really makes people sigh.

After the capture of Shuri, the Satsuma army showed even more greedy and murderous faces.

Shuri Castle was the political, economic, and cultural center of the Ryukyu Kingdom, and over the past 100 years, it has accumulated a large number of gold, silver, jewelry, calligraphy, paintings, and antiques through overseas trade. The Satsuma army, led by the main general Kayama Hidaka, carried out a thorough and savage sack of Shuri Castle for eight days.

In this cruel catastrophe, all the treasures collected by the Ryukyu royal palace were swept away. "In old times it was full of silver and gold, or hairpins, or sacrificial vessels. The Ming Dynasty, Siam, Japan and other merchants passed to Shangning hundreds of years later, and they were lost in the rebellion." What is particularly tragic is that the history books, diaries, and documents of the Ryukyus were completely lost, so that it was extremely difficult for the Ryukyus to compile a national history in the future.

After the captivity, the Satsuma army returned north triumphantly, and at the same time captured more than 100 royal nobles such as King Shōning, princes, princesses, and ministers, and took them to Kagoshima.

The following year, Shimazu Iehisa brought King Shōnin to Edo to meet the second shogun, Tokugawa Hidetada. Shimazu Iehisa's move was actually to inquire about Tokugawa Hidetada's attitude and see if he could agree to annex the Ryukyu Kingdom by the Satsuma Domain.

Unexpectedly, Tokugawa Hidetada soon became keenly aware of Shimazu Iehisa's tricks, and he was very displeased.

You must know that the Shimazu clan of Satsuma has always been unruly, first working against Sekibai Toyotomi Hideyoshi, intending to dominate Kyushu, and in the Kyushu crusade, after being defeated by Toyotomi Hideyoshi, he had to spit out the land annexed by his domain and return to his domain. After Tokugawa Ieyasu became shogun, the Shimazu clan joined the Western Army rebellion, intending to overthrow the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate, and was severely suppressed by Tokugawa Ieyasu, and many of the Shimazu family's heirs and generals committed suicide by disembowelment. Therefore, starting with Tokugawa Ieyasu, all generations of shoguns were very suspicious and disgusted with the Satsuma Shimazu clan.

Further afield, in modern times, during the Japanese Shogunate War, the first to rise up against the Tokugawa Shogunate was the Satsuma and Nagasu feudal domains on the island of Kyushu, which led to the deterioration of the relationship between the Satsuma Domain and the Tokugawa Shogunate.

Tokugawa Hidetada decided that he must deal a severe blow to the ambitions of the Shimazu clan, so he hosted a banquet for King Shōning, and declared: "The Sho clan has been the king of the Ryukyus for generations, and now it is time to return to Japan as soon as possible, worship the ancestors, and worship the virtues of the Honhonto, and pass on the kingdom to future generations." ”

The Shimazu family was disappointed to see that Tokugawa Hidetada treated King Shōnin leniently and asked him to return to the Ryukyus and continue to be the king of the Ryukyus. However, he will not easily let go of the fat that has reached his mouth. In the following year, the Ryukyu monarch was in Kagoshima and was forced to sign the "Fifteen Articles" with Shimazu Iehisa, which humiliated the country.

Of these fifteen, the most vicious are these four:

1. No Satsuma order prohibits tributary trade with China;

2. It was forbidden for the Ryukyus to send trading ships to other Japanese feudal domains;

3. No trade with other Japanese feudal merchants without Satsuma's permission;

4. Annual tribute and other tributes shall be paid in accordance with the regulations of Satsuma;

In this way, it means that Satsuma controls all the economic lifelines of the Ryukyus, and can suck blood at will, which makes the Ryukyu Kingdom weaker and weaker, and Satsuma can only obey his orders, and there is no room for resistance at all.

However, the suspension of tributary trade with the Ming Dynasty was later known by Tokugawa Hidetada. He was disgusted with the greed of the Satsuma Shimazu clan and was afraid of offending the huge empire of the Ming Dynasty too much, so he severely opposed this regulation of the Satsuma Ding, and Satsuma was afraid of the power of the shogunate, so he had to open up to the Ryukyu net and allow him to continue trading with the Ming Dynasty, but he had to hand over most of the profits from trade to the Satsuma Domain.

briefly described to Li Xiao the process of Ryukyu being controlled by the Satsuma invasion, and Cai Jin, the chief doctor of the Ryukyu Kingdom, was already sad and angry, and his eyes were red.

Li Xiao also looked serious, but his eyes became sharper and sharper.

"Lord Li, if Satsuma is just oppressing his country like this, although his country is extremely difficult, he can barely endure it. However, since last year, Satsuma has intensified its efforts and forced our country to pay 8,000 koku of rice to it every year. In my Ryukyu country, the land is barren, it is difficult to cultivate, and rice is extremely difficult to grow, so only the royal family and a group of nobles can eat rice, and the common people have to eat sweet potatoes and iron fruits to satisfy their hunger, so how much rice can be paid to him! ”

Cai Jin paused and continued: "Our king had no choice but to order the royal family and nobles to eat sweet potatoes as well, and save the rice to pay tribute to the Satsuma Domain. Unexpectedly, last year's Ryukyu flood, the rice was completely soaked while still filling, so the harvest was greatly reduced. Now even if the whole country does not eat a grain of rice, it will not be able to meet the needs of the Satsuma Domain, so our king thinks about it, and can only come to Taiwan to ask for assistance from my Ming Sect! ”

Listening to Cai Jin's cry, a mocking smile swelled up on Li Xiao's face.

If you are backward, you will be beaten, and it is really the iron rule of this cruel forest world, a small feudal state that only owns the southernmost corner of Japan, to dare to bully the Ryukyus so unscrupulously, and it is not because of the weakness and incompetence of the Ryukyus themselves.

"Then what your king means, but how do you want me to help me?" Li Xiao replied lightly.

"My king hopes that he can exchange his country's sulfur minerals for rice, and then pay 。。。。。。 to Satsuma." Cai Jin said in a low voice with an embarrassed expression.

Li Xiao snorted coldly, and the mockery on his face suddenly became even worse.

"It's sad that often the king of a country is oppressed like this by a small Japanese domain. Ben asks you, if your country is plagued again next year, will you not have to come and ask for help again? “

Listening to Li Xiao's teasing words, Cai Jin blushed and became even more embarrassed.

In the living room, the atmosphere was very awkward for a while.

"Let me ask you, can the Satsuma clan have troops stationed on the land of the Ryukyus?" Li Xiao glanced at him and asked again.

"Yes, yes, the army of the Satsuma Domain of Japan is stationed on the Amami Islands in the north of our Ryukyu Kingdom, and there are about 1,000 soldiers." Seeing Li Xiao's question, Cai Jin replied hurriedly.

"So, if Ben Bo is willing to send troops to help you defeat these Japanese in the Satsuma Domain, what benefit can you give Ben Bo?"

Li Xiao looked directly at Cai Jin, who was shocked and uneasy, and his words were calm and clear.

Cai Jin's eyes lit up all of a sudden, he rolled his eyes, and hurriedly said: "If Lord Li is willing to help our country so vigorously, I Ryukyu can't ask for it!" At the time of his arrival, the king of our country said to his subordinates that if the upper states were willing to send troops to help defeat Satsuma and abolish the hateful and humiliating "Fifteen Articles", the king of our country would give away the largest sulfur mining area in the Ryukyus as a gift of gratitude! ”

Listening to Cai Jin's words, Li Xiao smiled, and in his eyes, he shot a light as sharp as a wolf.

Ryukyu was the largest sulfur importer in the Ming Dynasty, and if it could control the largest sulfur mining area in the Ryukyu Kingdom, wouldn't it mean that at least half of the Ming Dynasty's firearms production could be controlled by itself. In this way, the weight of oneself in the court will be greatly increased, and those who chew bad things about themselves behind their backs must also think carefully about what kind of consequences their bad words will cause before they open their mouths to spray feces.

Moreover, if you want to further expand your influence in Southeast Asia, it is very troublesome and expensive to transport sulfur from Jintang Castle on the Mongolian border to Taiwan. It would undoubtedly be more convenient and cheaper to be able to transport sulfur from the nearest Ryukyu country to make gunpowder.

Besides, if he can defeat Satsuma Riwei in the Ryukyus, not only can he deter Japan, but the small countries in Southeast Asia will only be more afraid of the Ming Empire, and they will only be more comfortable when they want to conquer these places in the future.

Therefore, from the perspective of interests and politics, it is imperative to send troops to the Ryukyus on their own.

"Very well, this condition shall prevail, Ben Bo agreed! Doctor Cai can go back and report to your king first, and tell him that in eight days at the latest, Benbo will personally lead the fleet and soldiers to aid Ryukyu and help you fight Satsuma! “

Li Xiao said proudly, his words full of joy and loud.