Fang Mingqian listened to Yun Xi's words and stopped talking about Fusang, and then said: "After the minister led the fleet to leave Fusang, he continued to sail north along the eastern coastline of the island that Fusang called Honshu Island. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ”

"He led the fleet for about ten days and came to the northernmost part of the island of Honshu, a place called Mutsu."

"Originally, Chen's fleet was resting, but one night I suddenly heard shouts of killing outside, and the momentum was not small."

The minister immediately put the soldiers on guard. After a long time, it was not until the sky was bright that the shouts of killing disappeared. Then the local daimyo of Fuso came to see the ministers, saying that the Ezo people from the north had come to harass them, and now they had been beaten away. ”

"The minister didn't take it seriously at the time, and continued to travel north and left Honshu Island."

"After leaving Honshu Island, there is a large island in the north and some Fuso villages by the sea. From these villages, he learned that they called the island Hokkaido. ”

"But the farther north the fleet was led, the fewer Fuso men there were; On the contrary, the more those who were called Ezo by Fuso. ”

"After careful investigation by the minister, I realized that the so-called Hokkaido Island of the Fuso people was actually their place, but Fuso continued to invade them and wanted to seize it, and reduced the captured Ezo people to slaves."

He then led the fleet back to Honshu Island to find out what was going on. In the end, it was determined that not only Hokkaido, but also the northern part of Honshu Island was originally the land of these self-proclaimed Ainu people, but Fuso continued to invade them and seize their place. ”

"And what did you end up doing?" Yun Xi asked with some excitement.

Of course, Yunxi's excitement was not because he knew about the Fuso invasion of the Ainu people, he knew about this in his previous life, so there was nothing surprising; The reason why he was excited was because he knew from Fang Mingqian's words just now that Hokkaido was not the territory of the Fuso people at this time.

It was Hokkaido, the best horse breeding base in East Asia in later generations. Hokkaido's geographical location is northerly and isolated from overseas, making it ideal for raising horses on a large scale. If Hokkaido could be controlled, all horse breeding areas in the mainland would now be abolished.

Fang Mingqian said with a little uneasiness: "Your Majesty, the minister made a decision at that time: to mediate the war between the Fusang and Ainu. ”

"The minister said to them: 'Don't mention the rights and wrongs of the past, my emperor of the Ming Dynasty sent me out to tour the world, just to make all the countries live and work in peace and contentment, and eliminate wars. It was after the edict of the first emperor that the three Ryukyus kingdoms stopped fighting. ’”

"'Now the two of you shall take the sea in the middle of the island as the boundary, and each shall strike his army, and from then on the Ainu shall not go south, and the Fuso shall not invade north.' ”

Both the Fuso and the Ainu agreed at that time, and each called back the men on the other side. The troops are gone. Later, the Ainu said that they wanted to thank His Majesty for his kindness, and the ministers had no choice but to bring a few of their leaders. Now these people are also housed in the Fan Hall of the Ministry of Rites. ”

Yun Xi suddenly realized: "It turns out that the northern barbarian leaders mentioned by those people of the Ministry of Rites are the Ainu people. ”

Fang Mingqian knelt down at this time and said, "Your Majesty asks for forgiveness." ”

Yun Xi asked puzzledly, "What are you guilty of?" ”

Fang Mingqian said: "The minister accepted the tribute of Fanguo without authorization, please punish Your Majesty." ”

Fang Mingqian only realized that this was tantamount to admitting that the two sides of them were the countries of the Ming Dynasty, otherwise where would you come from to mediate?

But accepting the tribute of Fanguo without authorization, Fusang is just that, Yun Xi has already confessed, but Yun Xi of the Ainu people has not confessed, if he does not do it with Yun Xi's mind, it will soon be troublesome. Fang Mingqian simply pleaded guilty directly, which was simple and clear.

Yun Xi also understood Fang Mingqian's thoughts after thinking about it, and said with a smile: "What are you guilty of?" ”

Although this sentence was exactly the same as the sentence just now, Fang Mingqian immediately understood that Yun Xi was indicating that he would not punish him. His heart was relieved, but he still knelt down for a while before he stood up.

Yun Xi asked, "Do these Ainu have kings?" ”

Fang Mingqian said: "Your Majesty, these Ainu people, like the Jurchens in the northeast, are just a tribe, and they have no country, let alone a king. If it weren't for the fact that they faced the aggression of the Fuso people, it is estimated that they would not be as united as they are now. ”

"In addition, the Ainu people live on two islands, the Ainu people of Hokkaido that the Fuso people just mentioned call the Southern Ainu land, and the other island is also north of the South Ainu land, and they call it the Northern Ainu land."

Yun Xi thought for a moment, and just said, "Since that's the case, then it's okay." Then Fang Mingqian said, "Let's talk about the exploration in the future." ”

Since Yun Xi didn't punish him, he didn't care about what Yun Xi meant by the last sentence just now, anyway, when Yun Xi Yun Xi met with these envoys in a few days, there would definitely be a result. He went on to talk about his own explorations.

After mediating them, the minister continued to lead the fleet to set off. Then they came to the northeast of the southern Ainu land. There are some small islands there. After asking the local Ainu people, they called them the four northern islands, which consisted of four larger islands and a number of smaller islands. ”

"Originally, the minister wanted to follow the route of the minister's uncle to continue the northern tour, but after seeing these islands, the minister changed his attention and decided to continue north along these islands."

He hired a few guides to lead him north along the islands. After another ten days, he came to the shore of a large land, and the Ainu guide said that it was a large island, thousands of miles long from north to south. ”

Yun Xi pondered: 'There is such a big island in the north of the Kuril Islands? How come I don't remember? (Actually, this is Kamchatka, and the Ainu think it's an island)

He continued north along the east side of the island. Then it became colder and colder further north, and at about the end of August, he arrived at about 60 degrees north latitude, and although it was supposed to be early autumn, it was extremely cold, and he had to wear thick leather clothing to move outside the cabin. ”

"There are also ice floes floating on the sea. There was a ship of a thousand stones that was hit by an ice floe and sank. Because it was late at night, many of the crew had frozen to death by the time other ships went to the rescue. ”

"The minister didn't dare to continue north, so he carved a stone tablet on the land to the west and recorded it for a while, and then returned the same way."

"On the way back, we came across an island half covered entirely with snow and ice, and the other half was lush with vegetation and a very tall mountain."

"The ministers rested on this island for a few days, and when they saw this wonder, they named it the Island of Ice and Fire."

Then Fang Mingqian said to Yun Xi: "The ministers are just drafting the name, and I also ask Your Majesty to give the name." ”

Yun Xi said: "This name is very good, it's called Ice and Fire Island, there is no need to change it." Just talk about the next thing. ”