Saeki real fish is the common name of Kukai.

Kukai's father was Saeki Tako, the county secretary of Tado Prefecture in Sanuki Province, and his mother was the daughter of the court attendant Adao Dazu, and under the influence of his mother's family, Kukai was proficient in Sinology, so it is understandable.

And when Kukai was studying in the court, his classmate was Prince Iyo - this prince was the child of Emperor Kanmu and Fujiwara Yoshiko, and Yoshiko was the sister of Dazai Marshal Fujiwara Yutomo - so Kukai was able to become a monk and take a boat to Karato, and Fujiwara Yutomo also helped run it.

Sadly, how did Fujiwara Yutomo know that Kukai's ship and the other three ships sank and disappeared as soon as they arrived in Goto, but fortunately, Kukai had a great life, and he was rescued by the Tang people who came to the navigation ship to save his life.

After Kukai's explanation, Dazai Marshal Fujiwara Yutomo understood that the general named Zhang Xi in front of him was an envoy of the Tang Dynasty Weiguogong, and the purpose of coming here was to trade, but Fujiwara Yutomo felt very embarrassed: "Baicun River, joint vertical and balanced, do not trust." ”

It turns out that the relationship between the four protagonists of East Asian diplomacy at the moment, namely Tang, Bohai, Silla and Japan, is quite complicated.

Hundreds of years ago, Japan, which was still called the Wa Kingdom at that time, was so powerful that it crossed the sea and invaded the Korean Peninsula many times, and once made small countries such as Silla, Garo, and Baekje subjugated.

However, in the Sui and Tang dynasties, the mainland regime was involved in the struggle on the Korean Peninsula, and because the Tang Dynasty was the first enemy of Goguryeo, it formed an alliance with Silla to attack it. Baekje was weak and was quickly trampled away, and the Wa Kingdom was unable to support the remnants of Baekje in their attempt to restore the country. A great battle broke out between the coalition forces of Silla, and the Japanese army was defeated, the boat division was burned, and the sea was completely red. After the war, Emperor Tenji was so frightened that he moved the capital from Namba near the sea to Omi inland, and also recruited a large number of peasants to act as "defense people", and built walled cities in Tsukushi, Zhoufang and other places, and was afraid that Tang and Silla would land day and night - in fact, the most feared thing for Japan was that the mainland power from the west would cross the sea to destroy it, which was a kind of island country fear, and Japan experienced this fear three times, once after the battle with the Tang Baicun River, and the second time was when Kublai Khan, the ancestor of the Yuan dynasty, attacked, And the third time was when the guy with a corn pipe and sunglasses in his mouth became the Emperor of Japan (but this time from the eastern continent).

Therefore, for more than 100 years, although Japan has continuously sent envoys to the Tang Dynasty and invited monks, these are only institutional and religious exchanges, and others, especially trade exchanges, are strictly forbidden in Japan, especially after the Anshi Rebellion, the power of the Tang Dynasty declined for a time, and Silla also began to continue to break out of famine, and the Silla people who lost their way of life cooperated with the Sushen people to become pirates, and constantly plundered the coast of Japan, resulting in very tense relations between Japan and Silla. I was afraid that the Tang Dynasty and Silla would join forces again to embarrass it - so the Japanese imperial court continued to issue edicts to the country, emphasizing that "except for the Tang envoys organized by the government, the rest of the sails are not allowed to go to the sea!" What I want is to try not to get involved in the affairs of the mainland, so as not to repeat the tragedy of Baicunjiang.

However, Zhang Xi implored Fujiwara Yutomo to say that he had come not only to negotiate trade with King Yamanbe (Emperor Kanmu), but also to have an important goal, which was to give a gift to King Yamanbe, so please let me wait to go to Namba.

Fujiwara Yutomo was still hesitating, and Zhang Baogao said: "The Metropolitan Governor (Dazaifu is equivalent to the Dadu Governor's Mansion of the Tang Dynasty) is on top, and now the Tang Dynasty is strong again, and the Yan thieves An Lushan and Shi Siming are all dead, and several of its ember towns will also be leveled by my master, Wei Guogong, and Wei Guogong has no idea of conquering your Wa Kingdom, and sending me here is only three purposes." ”

After getting permission from Dazai Shuai, Zhang Baogao stated three purposes:

"The first purpose is to hope that we can trade with the Wa Kingdom, and whoever can trade with my master in the future will be able to control the hegemony of the Wa State;

The second purpose is that Wei Guogong hopes that Tang, Silla, and Japan will work together to clean up the pirates, so that the Japanese Kingdom will never have the worry of pirates entering the country in the future, and the stay period of officials and monks who have entered our Tang Dynasty can be extended, and I Tang is willing to use official funds to pay for their livelihood needs (Japan was closed to trade at that time, and it was so poor that the Tang envoys could not get their own food in China, so they could only cheekily let the Tang government pay for it, and after the Anshi Rebellion, the Tang government itself was in difficulty, so it forcibly stipulated that the stay of the Tang envoys was shortened, from the original five years to two years);

Of course, there is a third purpose......"

Speaking of this, Zhang Baogao smiled slyly and said to Kukai: "Wei Guogong promised that as long as he can trade with Tsukushi and Namba, he is willing to trade some good things to help the Japanese Crusade succeed as soon as possible!" ”

The so-called "good things" are war horses.

Soon, at the high post outside the water city of Dazaifu, Zhang Xi and Zhang Baogao's fleet carried fifty war horses, neighing and roaring, finally got rid of the constraints of the cabin cage, galloped on the grass and field, this group is all the northwest Tuyuhun, Dangxiang and other cities raised horses, like dragons like gods, frightened in the pine forests on all sides, short and shabby Dazaifu guards, athletes run around, for fear of being trampled by these tall war horses.

Zhang Baogao galloped up, stepped on one of the blue-gray Tuyuhun war horses, this horse was known as the "dragon species", and then shouted to the two sergeants who came with the boat, bring a long lance.

The sergeant threw the eight-foot lance over, Zhang Baogao raised his arm to catch it, clamped the handle of the lance, leaned over and rode the horse to sprint, and pierced three arrow targets one after another with the lance blade, all of which were shattered.

Then Zhang Baogao grabbed the reins, carried the lance on his shoulder, and circled three small circles in front of the stunned Fujiwara Yutomo, and asked, "How?" As long as there are 300 of these horses, it will not be easy to defeat Ezo to the east! ”

Fujiwara Yutomo exclaimed to Kukai: "Wind and thunder, samurai on horseback, too powerful." ”

Kukai gassho replied: "There are also good horses in the Bohai Kingdom, but most of them were bought by Li Shigu, the Pinglu military envoy of Tang Tu. ”

Yutomo Fujiwara stopped talking.

Because Li Shigu had money in his hands, Bohai sold horses, so he recognized the money.

Although Japan has established diplomatic relations with the Bohai State on the surface, the other party has never been willing to sell horses, just because Japan has no money to transfer, and there is nothing in kind that can make the Bohai Kingdom happy and desired, and is willing to exchange war horses for them.

"Tang Mayou, Bo buy three hundred, how to change?" In the Dazai Prefecture Government Office, Fujiwara Yutomo compromised and asked Zhang Xidao.

Zhang Xi said that these war horses are the best, and if you sell them, you will get 80 yuan, and this time you will bring 50 horses, which is 4,000 yuan.

When Fujiwara Yutomo heard this, sweat flowed down his forehead.

Four thousand, four thousand copper coins, it is difficult for Japan to find such a lot of money, let alone the price of only fifty horses, if it is three hundred or more......

"If the Metropolitan Governor is willing to give me a long talisman to Namba, he would be willing to give these fifty horses to Dazaifu." Zhang Xi saw Fujiwara Yutomo's expression and offered a price that the other party couldn't refuse.