"The general is interested in me?" Zheng Sen asked. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo

"Yes, the general has read some of Zheng Ji's books and is very interested in Zheng Ji's 'Heavenly Teaching'. How about it, come with me. "Matsuura Dong Road.

Zheng Sen thought for a while, but shook his head and said, "The feudal lord is going to Edo by land, and with your big pomp, it will take a lot of time along the way. My family is at war, and I'm afraid I don't have time to accompany you all the way. I'm really sorry. For Zheng Sen, the most important thing on his trip to Japan is to take his mother away, and he doesn't really want to make any extraneous things happen. As for Japan, for now, its main significance lies in providing the Zheng family with a large amount of copper and silver as an important market for the Zheng family. Especially after the war against the Spaniards, a part of the silver originally from Spain naturally disappeared, and at this time, the Japanese silver from Iwami Silver Mountain was naturally very important to the Zheng family. But other than that, Zheng Sen doesn't have much to think about Japan, at least for the time being. Because of Japan's narrow land, in addition to silver, the really strategic resources are also limited, and now the Zheng family's trade relationship with Japan is very stable, especially recently, with the Zheng family's technological progress, they have snatched a lot of the market that originally belonged to the Dutch (if it is not for the exclusion of Spain, the Dutch have received more returns from the Chinese market, I am afraid that the Zheng family's friendly relationship with the Dutch at this time has been shaken), As a result, the silver that the Tokugawa shogunate received from Iwami Ginzan was flowing into the Zheng family's vaults. Since the silver of Iwami Silver Mountain can be obtained in such a peaceful way, for the Zheng family, which is already short of troops, it is natural that they will not consider other means.

"Besides, although Japan is poor and weak, to be honest, those feudal samurai still have a certain amount of combat effectiveness. Maybe it won't be difficult to defeat them in a decisive battle, but it's very difficult to control it. Because there are fiefs everywhere, there are small towns everywhere, and although each one is not difficult to fight, it is economically a loss to fight each one. 'Feudal nations are easy to defeat, but difficult to conquer; Centralized states are difficult to defeat, but once they defeat their main force, it is easy to conquer her. That's what Machiavelli said. Japan in this era is really in line with this, just like Afghanistan, which was full of independent tribes in later generations, it is really about to enter it, and if it is not done well, it will be a quagmire. Zheng Sen thought. With such thoughts, it is natural not to have too many thoughts about Japan. As for the things that many of the seniors who crossed over often played, getting a lot of bankrupt Japanese samurai to go out to be mercenaries and the like, Zheng Sen didn't plan to do it. Because this contradicted the shogunate's policy of locking down the country, he did not want to destroy the relationship with his big client the shogunate for such a thing.

Therefore, Zheng Sen did not plan to go to Edo, especially not to go with Matsuura Don, the lord of the Hirado Domain, not only because it would take a lot of time, but also because he felt that Matsuura Don, the lord of the Hirado Domain, took him to Edo to bargain with the shogunate under the guise of pulling his tiger skin. Today, the shogunate shifted the last remaining foreign trade to Nagasaki instead of Hirado, apparently in an attempt to weaken the financial power of the Hirado domain. It was not surprising that the Hirado clan had such thoughts, but he did not want to have any conflicts with the shogunate because of this, and he did not want to be this tiger skin.

"That's right, but the general really wants to see you. The shogun knew that you were coming to the Hirado Domain, and he sent me a letter asking me to take you to Edo. Matsuura Dong said, "If Zheng Ji thinks that we are too slow by land, we can actually go by boat." It is even possible to take your boat over. ”

As he spoke, Matsuura Dong took out a letter from his sleeve and handed it to Zheng Sen with both hands.

Zheng Sen took the letter, unfolded it and looked at it, and then smiled at Matsuuradong: "Since this is the case, then it is better to be respectful than to obey your fate." I wonder when the lord of the feudal domain will be able to leave? ”

"If it weren't for the fact that I had to wait for Zheng Ma, I would have left for Edo a few days ago. So everything is actually ready, as long as Zheng Ji can move, I can move at any time. Matsuura said.

"In that case, then we will leave early tomorrow morning and take my ship...... The Zhenjiang went to Edo. Zheng Sen said, "What do you think?" However, although the Zhenjiang looks big, the space on it is actually very limited, and I don't know if it can fit the entourage of the lord of the domain. If there are a large number of people, I am afraid that I will not be able to let go. "This time, Zheng Sen's ship was originally the Pinghai, but considering that Matsuura got on the ship, he had to visit everywhere. And the gun compartment of the Pinghai has the steel rifled gun that needs to be kept highly secret, of course, it can't be shown to him casually. So it's better to change boats.

"Hehe," Matsuura Dong laughed, "Actually, every time I go to Edo, I don't bring a lot of retinues, but what use can I do if I bring too much?" That's why I always wait until I'm outside Edo Castle and hire some temporary part-time workers to pretend to be attendants. Actually, it's not just me, but many of the daimyo have adopted this approach. So now those people outside Edo Castle are used to it, and although they are civilians, they are still very similar to those who pretend to be ashigaru or something. ”

"And what about the samurai? They don't have knives. Zheng Sen asked.

"Nowadays, in the market outside Edo Castle, there is no shortage of ronins who have nothing but a knife. It is cheaper to hire them, and not even much more expensive than to hire an ordinary farmer to risk the abundance. "So all my retinue is only about twenty people together, and I think your ship is so big that it should fit it." ”

"Twenty people? What about horses? Zheng Sen asked.

"A carriage, two horses, a two-wheeler. Is there a problem? Matsuura asked.

"If that's all there is, I think it's fine." Zheng Sen nodded.

"So be it. I'll come to visit Zheng early tomorrow morning, and then we'll get on the boat and set off together. Matsuura said.

Early the next morning, Matsuura Dong took a carriage and a group of people to Zheng Sen's mother's residence. Zheng Sen and Nanazaemon, who had been waiting at the door, welcomed him in, served him tea, and then asked Nanazaemon to accompany Matsuura, while he went into the inner courtyard to say goodbye to his mother.

After a while, Zheng Sen came to the living room and told Matsuura that they could go.

Matsuura slowly put down the teacup and said, "Only in Zheng Ji can there be such a good tea." Then he slowly stood up and said, "In this case, let's go." ”

The two went out together, Zheng Sen and Matsuura got into the carriage together, and after a while they arrived at the dock in Nagasaki, then changed into a small sampan, got on Dejima, and then boarded the "Zhenjiang" fast cruiser.

Although he took a horse-drawn carriage and then a boat, Matsuura was very energetic, and as soon as he got on the boat, he began to admire, "This boat is really as big as Mt. Fuji." It's a ship that can cross the seas, and I don't think even the gods can sink such a ship. ”

Hearing this, the sweat on Zheng Sen's head immediately burst out, and he almost jumped up directly and threw the old man off the boat. "The gods can't sink her!" Does this old man know what he's talking about? Does he know how lethal this sentence is? Does he know that even a steel ship of more than 40,000 tons can't withstand this sentence? The poor "Zhenjiang" is just a ship of more than 1,000 tons. God can come up with a thousand, ten thousand ways to make this ship sink without being the same!

Zheng Sen hurriedly folded his hands and said in Fengyang's official words: "Mazu Niangniang is above, that old man is talking nonsense, don't take it to heart." Mazu Niangniang blesses the safe voyage, and when she returns to Taiwan, the boy will definitely rebuild the Golden Palace for you and shape the golden body. ”

Even in later generations, seafarers were generally more "superstitious" than the average person. For example, when seafarers eat fish, they can't say "turn the fish on one side", but "turn the fish on one side", because they are taboo about the word "turn". For example, in the later generations of the Chitu Navy, there was such a story, saying that a reporter from a certain military newspaper wrote a report on the submarine force, and took a title called "Between Ups and Downs", and the results were sent to the above for review, and the other contents were passed, that is, the word "ups and downs" was changed to "submersible floating". Because even the navy of the proletariat, armed with materialist atheism, is equally taboo about the word "sink".

Although Zheng Sen has also been taught materialist atheism, he also prefers to explain the matter of crossing through multiple parallel spaces and quantum entanglement, although he is also unaware of these things, and he cannot explain them clearly. But if you ask him now, "Do you think there are gods in this world?" Zheng Sen probably replied, "Maybe, who knows." While there's no evidence that they exist, there's also no evidence that they don't exist, does it? "So now, joining the gods does not exist, and if you put more incense, the loss is limited, and if it is effective, you will make a lot of money, right? And just as entering the temple in "Heroes Are Invincible" can increase morale, worshipping gods does have the realistic effect of increasing morale.

Matsuura Dong knew Chinese, and because he often dealt with maritime merchants in the Ming Dynasty, he could also understand Chinese, but the Chinese he could understand was limited to Hokkien, and as for official dialect, he could not understand it. However, when he saw Zheng Sen clasping his hands together, he also knew that this was the prayer to the gods, so he also folded his hands and prayed to the god and Buddha who he didn't know.

At this time, the sea breeze blew slightly, and the sailors, according to the instructions of the captain and boatswain, opened the spinnaker in the bow of the ship, and the Zhenjiang began to slowly leave the dock and sail to the open sea.