The reason why Zhang Jingquan exposed Li Dan's family background to Xiubao was to increase the bargaining chips for applying for the Zhu Yin, but he didn't expect Xiubao to be able to see through his own details at a glance, so he said with a weak heart: "Your Highness said that it was funny, my righteous brother is in Manila, I am in Nagasaki, in addition to Xu Xinsu in Xiamen, Fujian, Huang Kang in Gulangyu and Su Minggang in Batavia (now Jakarta), it is not an exaggeration to say that we Ming people control the maritime trade of the entire East, Your Highness should know our strength somewhat." ”

"Oh?" "But I remember that the Governor of Manila handed over the right to trade with the Ming Dynasty to the Frangi of Manraka last year; It seems that the Ming Kingdom has not lifted the sea ban, so how can the maritime merchants of Xiamen and Gulangyu ensure the safety of the trade routes? Batavia is in the country of Java controlled by the Hongyi, and the situation there is not much better than that of Luzon, so how can the Taige agree to issue you the seal of the seal with such a sea route without any guarantees? ”

Zhang Jingquan didn't expect Xiubao to know their details clearly, and he couldn't help but blush, and even a little overwhelmed. In fact, since the Portuguese invaded East Asia in the second half of the 16th century, the territories of the indigenous states in Southeast Asia have been gradually encroached upon. By the end of the Battle of Boon Loku, the Portuguese had occupied Malacca and Macau, the Spanish had occupied the Philippines, and the Dutch East India Company had annexed Indonesia.

Seeing that Zhang Jingquan was shocked by Xiubao, Li Dan finally couldn't help it, this person was Zhang Jingquan's brother-in-law on the surface, but in fact he was his boss, if it was a little more accurate, all the people mentioned by Zhang Jingquan were Li Dan's agents in the local area, that is to say, Li Dan was the overlord who controlled the entire East Asian maritime trade, and the financial resources he had, even the Europeans in Southeast Asia were ashamed of themselves, and even often lent money to him, which led to the tragedy of Manila later.

Li Dan sat down and replied to Xiubao with a calm face: "Your Highness lives in Japan, but you can reach overseas, which really makes you admire it so much, yes, as Your Highness said, the monopoly position of our Ming people in overseas trade is gone, and most of the overseas strongholds that we relied on for survival have been occupied by the Taixi people, and the trade routes at sea have also been wantonly occupied by them, and the situation of our Ming merchants is getting worse and worse, and the imperial court has not yet opened the ban, and does not recognize the legitimacy of our maritime merchants at all, which is even worse." ”

Hideho asked, "Even if you lose your overseas routes, don't I remember that the routes from Quanzhou to Manila, Malacca, and Nagasaki from your home country are still under your control?" ”

Li Dan shook his head and said with a wry smile: "Except for Quanzhou to Nagasaki, the other two routes are all gone. As far as the route to Manila is concerned, this route was supposed to send Luzon silver and cotton to China in exchange for domestic raw silk and cotton cloth, but the Franc people believed that this would lead to a large outflow of silver, and the cotton cloth of the Ming Kingdom was of high quality and low price, which basically suppressed the local textile industry in Luzon, which seriously damaged their interests, so the Franc people no longer imported cotton cloth from China, and in order to suppress our Ming merchants to make profits from it, they actually abandoned Quanzhou, Raw silk was imported from Sifrang Jiren (Portugal) in Ho Kiang Macao (present-day Macau), so that our Ming merchants would have no place in Nanyang. ”

"Therefore, Brother Li hopes to open up a route from Japan to Mingguo?" Xiubao couldn't help but feel sympathy for this fellow.

Li Dan nodded, but there was a little helplessness: "That's right, this is the only way, the Ming people in Nagasaki and Hirado have a total of about 30,000, which is more than the scale in Manila, but the most important thing is that there is the support of His Royal Highness Matsuura, which is enough for me to have no worries and carry out overseas trade with confidence and boldness, but after all, His Royal Highness Matsuura is only a lord in a corner of Hirado, and if you want to really trade in all of Japan, you must have a seal issued by His Royal Highness Taiko, which is why I asked to see you." ”

"Are you referring to His Highness Matsuura Jinshin?" Hideho asked.

"Yes, but it's not so." Li Dan didn't know how to answer, "Although His Royal Highness Zhenxin has become the governor of the Matsuura family, the real power is still controlled by his father, His Royal Highness Daoke, and I followed his advice before asking His Highness." ”

"It turned out to be the uncle of the country's surname." Xiubao smiled dumbly. Michiku is the name of Matsuura Takanobu, the Matsuura Party led by this man is a samurai group that has been entrenched in the north of Nagasaki, Japan since the Heian period, these people began to retaliate against the coast of Korea after the battles of Bunei and Hongan (that is, the two eastern expeditions of the Yuan Dynasty to Japan), because the base is in Tsushima, Iki, Hirado three islands, so they are called the Mishima Wako by Korea.

After the Ningbo Rebellion, the Matsuura Party took the risk and returned to its old business, but unlike before, they opened Hirado Castle as a ******, allowing fleets from various countries to enter and exit freely, sponsoring the smuggling trade between Japan and Ming, and plundering the coastal areas, which was the prototype of the Wakos.

Over time, many merchants from the Ming Dynasty gathered under the castle, the most famous of which was of course Wang Zhi's father and son, who dominated the southeast coast of China. The Matsuura Party also built a great fortune through trade and became the overlord of the Matsuura Peninsula.

It was with the economic support of the Ming Dynasty that Takanobu Matsuura conquered the northern part of Hizen Province and Iki Province, and officially became a daimyō, and after the conquest of Kyushu, the Matsuura family obtained 63,000 koku of the ability to secure the block.

After Li Dan's death in history, Zheng Zhilong inherited the position of the overlord of the East Asian sea, Matsuura Takanobu and Zheng Zhilong had a good relationship, so his mother Matsutoin's adopted daughter Tagawa Matsu married him, this Mrs. Tagawa is Zheng Chenggong's mother, so it is not an exaggeration to say that Tatsunobu is Zheng Chenggong's uncle.

Even if he was introduced by his uncle, Xiubao still remained calm in the face of reality, and he replied with a helpless expression: "Although you were introduced by His Royal Highness Daoke, if you don't have significant benefits for Taige, I believe that even if you plead hard, you won't succeed, in addition, you need capital to open up new routes, I don't know what Brother Li's current economic strength is?" ”

As soon as the money was mentioned, Li Dan's face suddenly became ugly: "Due to the treachery of the Governor of Manila, all the funds and workshops under the city were robbed by the Franciscans, if I hadn't run fast, my dozens of sea ships might have been taken away by them, and the reason why I went to Hirado instead of Nagasaki was to borrow money from His Royal Highness Doke as the principal to open up new routes, but..."

"But His Royal Highness doesn't have that much money to sponsor you, so he pushed you to me, right?" Hideho said kindly.

"That's true," Li Dan at this time couldn't raise his head in shame, the maritime giants who were calling for wind and rain in Southeast Asia back then have now been reduced to borrowing from a small daimyo who was born as a pirate, and there is nothing more ugly for him than this matter.

Hideho continued to ask, "Then do you think that with your current situation, Taiko will provide you with funds to make you a comeback?" ”

Li Dan shook his head in disbelief, and sighed: "I know that Taige, like our merchants, is the word 'profit' first, and I will not rashly provide opportunities for such a down-and-out maritime merchant in Xia, but Zhu Yinzhi is the only way to bring Ming Shang back to life, whether it is successful or not, I am willing to give it a try, and I also ask Your Highness to wait for me to say a few good words, no matter what the result is, I will remember your kindness." ”

After listening to Li Dan's heartfelt words, Xiubao said very casually: "In my opinion, you don't want to waste your energy on this matter, the result is obvious." ”

Li Dan knew that Xiubao intended to reject him, although he was unwilling, he still clenched his fists and bowed down to say goodbye: "In this case, I will not embarrass His Highness, we will leave, but it is not suitable to sail at night, please allow us to leave Jincheng tomorrow morning." After speaking, he and Zhang Jingquan got up and walked to the door.

"Wait a minute," Xiubao folded the fan and asked calmly, "If Brother Li doesn't like it, how about cooperating with me?" ”