In September of the solar calendar, the land of China is still very hot, but on the sea surface in the far north, it is a bitterly cold wind. A flotilla of ships flying the "Zheng" flag sailed from the south, the white sails blown by the wind, and the copper-yellow bow split the waves and sailed all the way north.

Walking out of the cabin, a cold wind blew in front of me. Zheng Xi shuddered: "It's so cold!" I'm afraid November in Jiangnan is not so cold! ”

"It's Ezo Island on the other side!" A guide said, pointing to the looming land opposite.

"Ezo Island is also our territory! Put the fleet on and we'll develop a piece of land here too! Wang Xinyu pointed to Ezo Island and gave an order to the people around him.

Ezo Island is Hokkaido. At this time, there were only Ezo people, that is, Ainu people, and there were few Japanese people on the island, and Ezo Island at this time had not yet been included in the map of the Edo shogunate. This used to be the territory of the Ming Nuer Gandusi, but because of the rise of Manchuria and the war in Liaodong, the Ming Dynasty gradually lost its control over the Nuer Gandusi, and the Manchus were unwilling to cross the sea to manage, so Ezo Island became a borderless land at this time.

It has been two months since Wang Xinyu's fleet set sail and left Jiangnan.

Before leaving Jiangnan, the Military Council of the Ministry of War, in fact, held a meeting of the Military Committee and drew up a series of battle plans. According to the military committee's battle plan, the Ming army would launch an offensive eight months later, first attacking southern Zhejiang, and after capturing southern Zhejiang, it would attack Fujian along the sea route, and then attack Guangdong, taking advantage of the superiority of the naval division to eat all the coastal areas.

Since there were still eight or nine months to launch a large-scale counteroffensive, Wang Xinyu also used this time to follow Zheng Xi and Zheng Jing to the north. His idea was to build a base in Vladivostok, garrison Vladivostok with Zheng Zheng, open horse farms on Ezo and Sakhalin islands, and purchase a large number of high-quality Russian war horses to form a strong cavalry.

In addition to being the center of the cavalry base, Vladivostok is also an important transit port to North America, and a brewery will be built here.

Beer production requires freezing. There was no artificial refrigeration technology back then, so natural ice cubes were needed to produce beer. At present, in the territory controlled by Wang Xinyu, except for Jiangnan, where natural ice can be collected for just a few days in a year, the rest of the place is hot tropical and subtropical, and there is no ice available at all, and there is no brewery. The beer used by his seafarers was bought from Europeans at high prices.

Don't underestimate beer, in those days, beer was an indispensable item in sailing, and the crew was adrift at sea. The fresh water it brings out stinks in a few days, and beer becomes a substitute for water.

Two months ago, after Wang Xinyu had arranged everything, he left the port of Shanghai with the fleet.

The fleet sailed for four days and five nights to reach the Ryukyus. According to the speed of the clippers, it only took two days and three nights to travel from Shanghai to the Ryukyus, but in addition to the clippers, there were also Spanish galleons, Dutch Galen ships and British gunboats, and these escort warships were not as fast as the clippers, so the fleet traveled for four days and five nights before arriving at the Ryukyus.

Originally, it was thought that the Ming Dynasty was the suzerainty of the Ryukyus. When the suzerainty arrives, the vassal kingdom will definitely welcome it. Who knew that after the fleet arrived in the Ryukyus, the attitude of the Ryukyuan people was very unfriendly, and the battery fired a warning shot at the Nanyang Navy fleet. The people of the Ryukyus were facing a great enemy and put on a posture to prevent the invasion of foreign enemies.

An angry Wang Xinyu was about to give the order to storm the Ryukyus, but was stopped by Zheng Zheng.

"Virtuous nephew, come under the banner of uncle. They're going to send someone! Zheng Raid asked the Nanyang Navy to hang out the banner of Zheng Raid.

Sure enough, as soon as the Ryukyuan people saw Zheng's banner, they stopped attacking. Small boats were also sent to lead the way. As soon as the Ryukyuan people got on the boat, they apologized to Zheng Xi: "We didn't know it was Zheng-sama who came!" How much offense, please forgive! ”

When the Ryukyuan people got off the boat, Wang Xinyu asked very angrily: "What is the matter with the Ryukyuan people?" Isn't our Ming Dynasty their suzerain? Why did they fire at us under the banner of the Ming Navy? After playing the banner of Uncle You, their attitude immediately changed? ”

Zheng Xi replied: "Virtuous nephew, you don't know, the Ryukyuan people have long since regarded us as their suzerain! After the Tatars occupied the capital, the king of the Ryukyus sent an envoy to Beijing to pay tribute to the Tatar court. But in their hearts, they did not regard the Tartar court as a suzerain, and the real suzerainty of the Ryukyuan people was the Satsuma domain. And the relationship between the Zheng family and the Satsuma Domain, you also know the virtuous nephew. Therefore, if the Zheng family banner is played, the Ryukyuan people will not open fire. ”

"It's because of the Satsuma Domain! Didn't the Satsuma Clan ignore that our Ming court was the suzerainty of Ryukyu and brazenly sent troops to invade Ryukyu? Do the Ryukyuan people still see the Satsuma clan as their own? Wang Xinyu asked in surprise.

"Because the Satsuma Domain is close to the Ryukyus! At that time, the Ming Dynasty was ostensibly the suzerainty of Ryukyu, but except for Uncle Zhenquan (Yan Siqi) and his father, who would often go to Ryukyu? On the contrary, the people of the Satsuma clan often passed. The Ryukyu country was weak, and it was defeated by the Satsuma Domain, and almost the whole country surrendered. Now they have a close relationship with the Satsuma clan. In addition, just now we hung the banner of the Ming Dynasty, if the Tartar sailors went, the Ryukyuan people would barely be able to recognize the suzerain. But we hang the banner of the Ming Dynasty, in their eyes, our Ming country is gone, how can we be polite to us! But playing the banner of the Zheng family is different, and the face of the Ryukyuan people still has to be given to us. Zheng said.

"The Ryukyuan people are our enemies, and I really want to take them down!" Wang Xinyu said angrily.

"Never!" Zheng Xi was shocked, "Now our biggest enemy is the Tartar!" If you move the Ryukyus, you will be an enemy of the Satsuma Domain! and even the enemy of the whole Dongying! We're going to be attacked by the Satsuma Domain, or even the entire Toei! We shouldn't make too many enemies before defeating the Tartars! ”

"I didn't expect that this little Ryukyu has all taken refuge in Dongying! In that case, let them go for now! Now we still need to use Dongying in our maritime trade. Wang Xinyu said. He thought to himself: When the strength is stronger in the future, we will destroy them together, and even Japan will be taken down and let it become our puppet.

The fleet was resupplied in the Ryukyus and sailed to the Satsuma Domain.

The influence of the Zheng family in the Satsuma clan was still quite large, and when the fleet flying the flag of the Zheng family army sailed into the port of Hirado (present-day Nagasaki), it was warmly welcomed by the locals, and even the local Shimazu family came out to greet the fleet in person.

The Satsuma clan was so poor that the samurai of the Shimazu clan were so poor that they didn't even have decent armor. I can't even afford to eat rice balls. Not only that, but the Shimazu clan was also subject to the Tokugawa family, and the lord of the Shimazu clan had to go to Edo regularly in person to listen to the messenger (shogun), which was the custom of the lord of each clan to offer a pledge to the shogun, just like the requirement that the wife of the lord of the feudal lord must live in Edo. For the feudal lords, every time they visited the Hajj to confess, they had to spend at least 60,000 taels of silver to pay tribute.

The Satsuma Domain was located on the poorest island of Kyushu in the eastern part of the country, and the land was barren. Life is very difficult. The annual income of the Satsuma clan was only four or five hundred thousand taels of silver, and more than one-tenth had to pay tribute to the Tokugawa shogunate. The rest of the money to feed so many samurai is simply miserable.

Since Yan Siqi came to the Satsuma Domain, he has brought maritime trade income to the Satsuma Domain, and this income has increased the Satsuma Domain by three or four hundred thousand taels of silver every year. This money is for the samurai of the Satsuma Domain, who are rumbling with hunger. It's a send-off!

After Yan Siqi's death, Zheng Zhilong inherited Yan Siqi's industry and continued to trade with the Satsuma Domain by sea, bringing a stable income to the Satsuma Domain. Therefore, the Zheng family can be said to be very popular in the Satsuma Domain.

Zheng Chenggong's younger brother Tagawa Nanazaemon came forward and feasted Zheng Xi and others. This Tagawa Nanazaemon is Zheng Chenggong's younger brother and belongs to the same mother. Zheng Raid is the fifth son of Zheng Zhilong, so this Tagawa Nanazaemon is also Zheng Raid's elder brother.

Zheng Zheng had a lot of property in the Satsuma Domain. Owning various properties such as transport ships, shipyards, shops, and fields, it can be described as a country that is rich enough to rival the rich. Zheng Xi's property in the Satsuma Domain is higher than the annual income of the Satsuma Domain! However, because of the income that the Zheng family brought to the Satsuma Domain. Coupled with the influence of the Zheng family, as well as the Tagawa Nanazaemon who was still in the Satsuma Domain, the Satsuma Domain was not able to swallow Zheng Zheng's property.

The fleet stayed in the Satsuma Domain for several days, and when they heard that Zheng Zheng was going to continue north, many poor samurai who were so destitute that they couldn't even eat rice balls came to sign up, expressing their willingness to follow Zheng Zheng to the north to raise horses.

When the fleet left the Satsuma Domain, it took with it more than 500 samurai from the Satsuma Domain and more than 1,000 impoverished civilians from the Satsuma Domain. These people will be used by Wang Xinyu to throw themselves around Sakhalin Island and Vladivostok. The samurai were to be used as the encircling force in the northern racecourse, and the civilians were to be used as laborers.

Leaving Kyushu Island, when the fleet passed through the Korean Peninsula, Wang Xinyu tried to control the urge to go ashore and loot, and led the fleet through the Korean Peninsula.

"Goryeo sticks are not a good thing!" Wang Xinyu said to himself indignantly.

"Goryeo sticks? What do you mean? Zheng Jing asked curiously.

Wang Xinyu then remembered that there was no word for Goryeo sticks in this era, so he had an idea and replied: "Why do you call them Goryeo sticks?" Because I've heard a story: North Koreans are particularly fond of bragging, when Toyotomi Hideyoshi attacked North Korea, didn't our Ming send troops? We saved North Korea, didn't we? ”

"yes!" Zheng Jing nodded, "Without our Ming Dynasty, Korea would have become a vassal of Dongying long ago!" ”

"Haha!" Wang Xinyu smiled, "But uncle, do you know what the North Koreans say?" ”

"How?" Zheng Jing couldn't wait to ask.

"They said that if it weren't for their Koreans, the Ming Dynasty would have been wiped out by Dongying! Their Goryeo warriors fought bravely and well, and when the Dongying people came, the Ming army trembled with fear. And their Goryeo warriors defeated Toyotomi Hideyoshi's hundreds of thousands of troops with a single stick, and also sank Toei's battleship with a stick! That's why they call them Goryeo sticks. Wang Xinyu replied with a smile.

"Isn't this ridiculous?" Zheng Jing's eyes widened in shock.

Wang Xinyu laughed and said: "So what's the matter, otherwise why would you call it a Goryeo stick!" ”

The fleet passed through the Sea of Japan and headed north along the coastline of Honshu Island. When the fleet departed from the Satsuma Domain, it had already brought enough food and fresh water, and before arriving on Ezo Island, it did not go ashore to replenish supplies, because the Edo shogunate on the island of Honshu was very unwelcoming to maritime merchants, and from 1633 onwards, the Tsushima Domain only operated foreign ships to dock at the port of Hirado in the Satsuma Domain. As for Honshu Island? Foreign ships don't want to dock!

In the beginning, the Edo shogunate's lockdown decree did not restrict Ming ships, but in this era, even Chinese ships were not allowed to enter ports other than Hirado.

For such a perverted country, of course Wang Xinyu will not ask for hardship at this time. But in the future, it is necessary to land in Japan, and when we are stronger, we will use artillery to open the gates of Japan!

The farther north the ship went, the colder it became, and by the time it arrived on Ezo Island, which is present-day Hokkaido, it was already very cold. Standing on the boat and looking at the top of the island in the distance, you can already see the white snow and ice.

Zheng Xi, Zheng Jing and others shivered from the cold, but the Mongol captives in the fleet were very excited when they saw the snow, and some shouted happily: "Snow! Snow! I haven't seen it in years! It's so cool! I've been in the south for so many years, and the heat kills me! ”

After the Mongols were captured, they served hard labor on Qiongzhou Island or Luzon Island, where the climate was too hot for them to bear. This time I returned to the north, and I was naturally overjoyed.

The flotilla flying the flag of the Daming Navy Division approached the shore, but there was not even a pier here, and the big boats could not dock at all, so they could only put down the small boats and row towards the beach.

It is distinctly sparsely populated, and there is not a single human figure in sight along the long stretch of coastline. When the boat landed on the beach, no one emerged from the woods.

The soldiers went ashore and set up a guard. Then a boatload of people and prisoners was sent ashore. Most of the people who come here are northerners and can adapt to the cold climate here.

Wu Xiaolei is such a people's strongman. He was originally from Shandong, but once he was walking on the road, he was beaten from behind. When he awoke, he found himself and a large group of people being held in a dilapidated room, and a man with a meaty face told them: "Stay here honestly, don't expect anyone to save you!" ”

Later, Wu Xiaolei and this group of people were sent onto the ship, and it is said that they were sold to the south. At the beginning of the human trafficking, some local punks bribed the green battalion soldiers with silver, sent the deceived people to the sea, and sent them out to sea in small boats. Later, even the Green Battalion and local officers were involved in human trafficking.

The sea ban in the north was not as strict as in the south, and many of the green battalion soldiers colluded with the fast arresters in the yamen to sell the prisoners. Later, they simply threw innocent people into prison on trumped-up charges and then sold them. Or they use kidnapping and beating to traffick people. (To be continued.) )