The gentle east wind blew in and there was a loud noise of the city, and everything was just as it was remembered. As we get closer and closer, we are approaching the trestle.

Yes, he had come to the port again on a merchant ship, and this time, he was no longer the same person he had been.

He came here not to do business and make himself earn a few hundred taels of silver, but to invade and put the country on a huge debt of tens of millions of taels of silver - and he will use this merit to realize his lifelong dream.

He did have bad friends with some Japanese people when he was in business, but he also made some Japanese friends, but most of the Japanese had nothing to do with him, but because of him, he may be about to suffer a great disaster. The harder and more successful he did, the more devastating the disaster befell them.

There is no doubt, no apology, only a trace of amazement.

But wouldn't all this have happened without me? No, it won't.

At that moment, the boat shook slightly, and then stopped.

That's the number of days. The emperor is the Son of Heaven, and his will is the will of Heaven, and I am acting on behalf of Heaven, and I must not have the slightest mercy. When he thought of this, this young petty official, he threw away the last trace of sorrow in his heart.

"Sir," said a young man of Western appearance beside him, walking briskly beside him, "we have arrived at the port, please disembark." ”

This young Westerner, Martin Van Neal, was one of the entourages who came to Japan with him.

Zhou Pu went ashore on a merchant ship specially sent by the Han Dynasty, and in order to hide people's eyes, the Ministry of Commerce also specially installed a maritime merchant identity for him, and the ship was indeed full of goods exported to Japan. And he also brought some guards, which were usually enough to protect his personal safety - and in order to facilitate his movements, the Ministry of Commerce also assigned him this young man who was fluent in Portuguese and Low German as an entourage.

This young man from the German city of Hamburg, he followed a Western missionary to China as a teenager, and later this missionary went to work at the observatory, working with the Han own astronomers to develop star charts and calendars, and he was fascinated by the prosperity of Chinese cities, relying on his experience at sea and proficient in several Chinese languages to join the merchant fleet under the Han Ministry of Commerce, and was soon promoted and paid very well.

He was also the person on the merchant ship who knew most about Zhou Pu's operation, and was tasked with negotiating with the Dutch and other foreign merchants.

However, although he repeatedly told the people around him that his surname was Van Neer, everyone still called him Xiaoma or Mr. Ma, and after a few years of persistence, he also acquiesced to everyone calling him that. However, Zhou Pu knows more about Western reasoning, and has always called him Martin.

After hearing Martin's urging, Zhou Pu also interrupted his reverie, and he moved his steps in silence.

He knew that this trip would never go smoothly, and even his life would be in danger, but even if there was great danger ahead, he would not hesitate at all.

Let this be my stepping stone.

Since the establishment of direct contact between the new dynasty and the shogunate, the merchant ships of the Han Dynasty have been trading with Japan frequently over the years, so their merchant ship with complete procedures has not been hindered in any way, and even Zhou Pu, Martin and several guards have not been hindered in any way, and they have directly passed the inspection and disembarked.

Soon, the group was in the middle of the city area of Nagasaki Port.

The port of Nagasaki was opened during the Ryukei period of the former Ming Dynasty, when Japan was still in the Warring States period.

Initially, it was a port of call for Portuguese merchants, but under the leadership of the Portuguese, merchants from other countries gradually became involved in trade with Japan, and the port gradually expanded, becoming one of Japan's most important windows to the outside world.

During the prosperous era, a number of ports represented by Nagasaki enabled Japan to trade with the whole world, and then imported a large number of goods such as silk and coins from China, and military weapons such as arquebuses from the West. In other words, relying on the import of weapons from outside, the daimyo in many parts of Japan established musket units, and Oda Nobunaga also used his first-class musket troops to achieve his great cause of conquering Japan.

Later, however, the Tokugawa shogunate brutally suppressed the Catholics due to the repeated rebellions of the Catholic Japanese civilians, and was also full of rejection and wariness of the Portuguese and Spanish merchants who believed in Catholicism and were keen on proselytizing. Under the leadership of the shogunate, Japan's trade with the West gradually shifted to the Dutch, who were mainly Protestant and less religious, and most of the Western merchant ships in the port of Nagasaki were mainly Dutch merchant ships.

Over the years, the port city has begun to take shape, and under the shogunate's policy of closing off the country, it has become the only port where foreign trade can be legalized, so it has become more and more prosperous in recent years, and there are many merchants. Even the city buildings have a bit of a Western flavor because there are many Westerners, and it doesn't look like a traditional Japanese city.

Zhou Pu and the others walked through the streets, because they were dressed very differently from the Japanese, and they were quite elaborately dressed, so they were surrounded by Japanese vendors to sell Japanese goods, and even brothel women came up to them to solicit business.

However, they had all run through the maritime merchants and had a lot of experience in dealing with them, so it didn't take much effort to disperse them all, and then they walked freely through the bustling streets, and soon came to a large building in the Han style.

This building is where the envoys of the Han Dynasty in Nagasaki were stationed.

As soon as they reached the door, they were stopped by the guards, and they were let in after handing over their seals.

After entering this building, Zhou Pu and Martin, who were originally talking and laughing with each other, quickly became solemn, because from this moment on, they were already officially carrying out their tasks.

After waiting for a while in the side hall, Liu Jing, the trade representative of the Han Dynasty in Nagasaki, who heard the news, immediately rushed over, he was a maritime merchant before, and then entered the Yunshan line, and then was sent to Japan as a trade representative many years later, he was very proficient in Japanese, and had a good relationship with the officials in Nagasaki for many years, and even Nagasaki, the highest official of the shogunate in Nagasaki, pursued Takenaka Shigeyoshi, he could also speak.

Shigeyoshi Takenaka was the lord of the Bungo Prefecture Oita Prefecture Domain, his father Takenaka Shigetoshi, originally a landowner in the countryside, and later participated in the Western Army against Tokugawa in the Battle of Sekigahara, and immediately turned to the Tokugawa Eastern Army after the situation was not good, and made a military exploit, so after the war was rewarded by Tokugawa Ieyasu for meritorious deeds, he was given the title of Funai Domain Lord.

However, the Funachi domain was a small domain, and there were only 20,000 stone in the territory, which was barely a small daimyo, so in the generation of Shigeyoshi Takenaka, he continued to cling to the shogunate, and was appreciated by the shogun Tokugawa Iemitsu and the shogunate elder Doi Toshikatsu, and then when the Nagasaki commissioner Mizuno Morinobu was transferred to the Osaka commission, he was appointed to the position of Nagasaki commissioner—previously, the Nagasaki commissioner was held by a subordinate of the shogunate's banner family, and he was the first person to serve as a daimyo as a daimyo.

When he arrived in Nagasaki, he continued to do his best to curry favor with the shogunate, strictly implement the shogunate's policy of seclusion, crack down on Catholics, and use all kinds of torture to force them to abandon religion or die.

Nagasaki can be said to be the first class of the shogunate today, and there are 1,000 koku for official positions, and there are also 4,400 tatari for service (Tatari is a unit of grain measurement in Japan, similar to stone, and the service material is a subsidy in addition to the official position), and the income can be said to be very rich.

In addition, in addition to the fixed official income, because of the great power he had, Nagasaki also had a lot of additional income, such as donations and gifts from merchants from various countries, etc., and these gray incomes added up to much higher than the annual income, so it is no wonder that after staying here for a few years, Takenaka's pockets have swelled a lot.

Liu Jing has been in Nagasaki for several years, and he has long been familiar with the port and even Kyushu, and he is also the only one among the people who are now stationed in Japan who knows what the Dahan intends to do.

It was precisely because he had received the news before and knew these inside information that he did not dare to slack off.

"Lord Zhou has worked this trip! In the coming down late, confess! As soon as he saw Zhou Pu, he took a deep look, "It's Liu Jing below, I've been waiting for my lord for a long time, and I've prepared a reception banquet here, so please be calm." ”

Although in terms of the system of the imperial court, his official position is not lower than that of Zhou Pu, but Zhou Pu has a great responsibility and is quite appreciated by the blue eyes above, and he can soar, so he does not dare to slack off.

"It doesn't matter." Zhou Pu waved his hand, "I'm waiting here to have something important to do, don't make a big deal extravagant, so as not to arouse suspicion." ”

The economic and trade exchanges between the Han and the shogunate have been very close and harmonious in recent years, and Liu Jing has always been willing to get closer to the shogunate officials in Nagasaki, so in fact, the shogunate does not monitor the representatives of the Han Dynasty strictly, but Zhou Pu has always been cautious, so he said so.

"Save it down, save it!" Liu Jing said again and again, "Your Excellency, please come with me." ”

Zhou Pu followed Liu Jing out of the side hall, because he was going to talk to Liu Jing secretly, so he was the only one who left, while the others stayed here to eat.

In order to welcome the arrival of Zhou Pu and others, the consulate had already been arranged, and Liu Jing took Zhou Pu to the most secret room, and everyone else was far away from here.