At this time, the navigation between Japan and China was very mature, and of course the main thing was the three routes. The first is to sail from Nagasaki to the mouth of the Han River via the coast of the Asano Peninsula, and then sail directly to the Shandong Peninsula; the second is to arrive at Jeju Island from other ports in Japan, and then sail directly to the Shandong Peninsula; The third is to go to Ryukyu from various ports in Japan, and then fly directly to Ningbo or Shanghai.

The mission to the Ming Dynasty led by Kosuke Yoshikawa finally chose the third route, preparing to go ashore to Beijing by land after arriving in Shanghai, or take a boat to Qingdao, and then abandon the ship to go ashore to Beijing. Although it took a long detour, the route was safer and allowed for a better look at the impact of last year's disaster on the Ming Kingdom.

Although the Osaka shogunate purchased the latest wooden sailing ship from the Ming Kingdom, the ship used by the Ming mission to take a passenger ship under the name of the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau. With a displacement of more than 1,100 tons, the passenger and cargo sailing ship between Osaka and Shanghai, which was officially opened last year, is currently the largest passenger and cargo sailing ship in Asia, and of course the safest and most comfortable.

The upper three floors are the guest cabins, and the bottom two floors are the cargo holds, and Yoshikawa Kosuke and other shogunate members couldn't help but look up on the dock and sigh for a long time before boarding the deck of this ship.

Kanaka Noyama, who came to see him off, couldn't help but say to Kosuke Yoshikawa: "No matter how many times I see this Kaian, I always can't imagine that this was built by hand. Standing in front of this ship, Japan is really small. ”

Just as the other ministers nodded yes, Yoshikawa Kosuke, who was watching the ship with his hands shielded from the sun, said without looking back: "One day, Japan will be able to build such a ship, and our soldiers and civilians will also go to the world on such a big ship to find the future of Japan..."

After the Japanese mission, there were also a number of passengers who also wanted to take the ship to China. Although the number of Osaka shogunate's envoys to China this time was quite large, they only occupied more than one floor of cabins, and some of the cabins were naturally sold to merchants who traveled between China and Japan.

However, in the past, there were not many people who welcomed these Chinese and Japanese tourists, after all, these were just some businessmen chasing profits. It's just that today, in addition to the many samurai who came to see off the shogunate mission, there are also a large number of people who are also seeing off people, and most of the people who see them off are still very familiar, but there are many scholars dressed as literati of the Ming Kingdom in the latter pile.

Of course, those who have seen more widely in Osaka will find that the most famous scholar of Osaka University is surrounded by the latter group of people, that is, Zhang Pu and Zhang Tianru, the former leaders of the Fusha Society who were exiled to Osaka.

The students and samurai who came to see him off may not know that the teachers and scholars they respected were smuggled back to China, and that Zhang Pu's exile period was only halfway over. However, Wu Weiye and other Ming people who surrounded Zhang Pu still knew what to expect, so when they came to see him off, they couldn't help but persuade him worriedly: "Why don't Brother Tianru wait any longer, isn't there already a word in China, they are dredging up relations, maybe there will be a pardon order soon." Now you are risking your return home from the Japanese mission, and if someone reports it, it will be a crime on top of a crime..."

Zhang Pu glanced at the few friends standing next to him with a smile on his face, and thanked them: "You love me, so I tried hard to persuade me, how can I not know." It's just that Tianru is only forty years old, but he still has achieved nothing, and the ambitions of his youth have been abandoned in the flower streets and willow alleys of Osaka.

Now that I have entered the age of no confusion, as soon as this ambition is gone, the homesickness is a little irrepressible. Although the court's pardon has not yet come down, I can't bear it anymore, so I have to go back to see my childhood home and worship the tomb of my ancestors.

Therefore, for the kindness of all the gentlemen, Tianru can only thank you. But this trip back to China, please don't persuade you anymore. ”

After Zhang Pu finished speaking, he bowed again, and everyone had nothing to say for a while. But at this time, Wu Weiye stepped forward and grabbed Zhang Pu's arm, turned back to everyone and said: "I have a few words of privacy to ask Brother Tianru to take home, and please allow me to borrow Brother Tianru for a while..."

With Wu Weiye's words, everyone naturally wouldn't follow up, so everyone let Wu Meicun take Zhang Pu to the side to talk in a quiet place.

After getting away from everyone, Wu Weiye let go and bowed solemnly to Zhang Pu and said, "The teacher won't hide it from me, right?" ”

Zhang Pu first looked behind Wu Weiye, and found that no one was coming with him, so he smiled and lowered his voice and said, "How come, Meicun, you are not an outsider, how can I deliberately hide it from you." It's just that I don't have much confidence in my heart when I return to China this time, so let you know that it won't add a piece of heart disease to you. It's better not to tell you at all, and wait until it's done. ”

After hearing this, Wu Weiye immediately replied with great annoyance: "Why does the teacher look down on Plum Village so much, whether it is in China or Japan, I am taken care of by the teacher a lot. Now that the teacher has something to do, it is natural that the disciple should obey him, how can he turn it around and let the teacher run around, and let the disciple sit back and enjoy his success? Although Plum Village is shallow, he still has some leg strength to run around for the teacher, why didn't the teacher take me back to China with him? ”

Zhang Pu smiled and patted him on the shoulder, and then explained: "It's not that I don't want to take you back, but the time doesn't allow it." Even when I returned to China this time, I also took the path of the East China Sea Patrol Mansion and the Four Seas Trading Company, whether I can get the imperial court to avoid my exile, and whether I can get my wish after I go to Beijing. The situation is unclear at the moment, and it is useless to take you back. Be patient, and I will write to you as long as things are slightly cleared..."

Zhang Pu's best efforts to appease still did not let Wu Weiye give up, after all, he was indeed homesick, so he couldn't help but ask: "What is the teacher planning, can't you reveal something to the disciple?" ”

Zhang Pu smiled and said nothing, and did not answer the other party's words. After so many turmoil and exile overseas for several years, he is no longer the young man who can say everything to others. At this time, he already understood what it meant to "lose his ministers if he is not secret, lose his ministers if he is not secret, and lose his body if he is not secret, and if he is not secret, he will be harmful." It is a gentleman's prudence and not out."

has been stumbling for so many years, and this time he returned to China to make a final fight for his life, how could he show any more to others.

Seeing that Zhang Pu was talking about him left and right, he just didn't give himself a word of truth, Wu Weiye finally gave up, but before he ended the conversation, he finally said to Zhang Pu: "Since the teacher doesn't want to reveal it, then Umemura can only wait in Osaka, I hope the teacher will have a smooth trip and have a wish."

However, the disciple still has a word to tell him, after the teacher returns to China, remember to beware of Wu Changshi. Since the teacher left China, this Wu Changshi has taken over the restoration of the society, but this person not only changed the rules set by the teacher and the gentlemen without authorization, but also wantonly recruited traders and villains to join the society, resulting in the reputation of the restoration society being ruined to the extreme.

Over the years, I have also written several times to inquire about the teacher's news, and it seems that I want to disadvantage the teacher. This person is really a complete villain, and I hope that after the teacher returns to China, he must not be deceived by his rhetoric. ”

This time, Zhang Pu showed a somewhat sincere smile, and said to Wu Weiye: "You put your heart back in your stomach, as long as I can handle the affairs of Beijing, I will suppress Wu Changshi with my backhand." It's just a resumption... Let's let him toss. ”

Until Zhang Pu got on the boat and waved goodbye to him, Wu Weiye couldn't figure out why Zhang Pu would say the phrase "Wu Changshi tossed the resumption of the society", this is the literary society that the teacher worked hard to raise.

What Wu Weiye didn't understand, Zhang Pu, who stood on the bow of the ship and looked at the blue sea and blue sky, and the seagulls flying around the sails, naturally had a plan. He has not been in vain in Japan all these years, especially after experiencing this war between the Japanese shogunate and the local feudal lords, he finally figured out what he had done wrong in the first half of his life, and what the reigning emperor wanted now.

Compared to the Fushe that represented his past, Zhang Pu was now uninterested, and what he valued was the emperor's appreciation and the political arena in which he could display his talents, rather than the political games played by the same class of self-righteous literati.

The "Hai'an" galleon, carrying the Osaka Shogunate's mission to the Ming Dynasty and Zhang Pu, departed from Osaka on April 24, the 14th year of Chongzhen, and arrived in Shanghai on May 9. The group repaired in Shanghai for three days, toured the streets of downtown Shanghai, and then changed to the "Puning" sand boat to go north, arriving in Qingdao 11 days later. Changing trains here, they finally arrived at Chaoyangmen Station in Beijing on May 25, which took nearly a month.

On this journey from south to north, although the shogunate mission was not able to enter the interior and go north from the canal, as they passed through Shandong, these shogunate officials still saw the impact of the great famine on the local area last year. And during the limited parking and rest time, they talked to the locals and found that this year there is still a threat of drought in Shandong, and since the end of April, there has not been a single rain in many parts of the country.

However, Yoshikawa Kosuke and others also observed that although the arid land in the farmland visible along the railway line has cracked one by one, the social order in Shandong has remained stable, and there are a large number of coolies working hard at the station where the railway stops and the port of Qingdao.

And when the train they took crossed the Shandong border and entered the territory of Hebei, the crops in the field of vision became much more vibrant. Although there has been no rain in Hebei for more than a month, the renovation project of the Haihe River system and the construction of a large number of reservoirs and wells since the first year of Chongzhen have made the situation in Hebei much more optimistic than that in Shandong.

After seeing the social conditions in Shandong and Hebei, Yoshikawa Kosuke finally determined what kind of attitude they wanted to hold when they came to Daming this time. After arriving in the capital, Zhang Pu also simply said goodbye to Yoshikawa Kosuke, ready to find hope to realize his dream.

( = )