A dry Japanese sat cross-legged on a straw mat and listened attentively.

Li Zhaoji said: "I had no intention of going to war with your country, but the situation forced me to do so. Fortunately, the Baba is very important, but Nagasaki is the institute, and your country still has Shogun Edo Tokugawa as the lord of a country, and I hope that he will give a fair answer to your subordinates.

Today is the fourth day of June in the sixteenth year of the reign of Chongzhen of the Ming Dynasty, and three months later, on the fourth day of September, I would like to meet with the Japanese delegates outside Edo Bay.

But I have suffered many setbacks and losses in this trip, and I cannot be ruined by the evil deeds of one or two traitors, and the horse farm is very profitable, and I will neither compensate nor apologize, which is really hateful. In this Nagasaki incident, all the losses and all kinds of humiliations, Japan will not accept them, and I will take them for myself. ”

After that, Tang Mu sent the text and handed it to everyone present.

"Your Highness, in three months, we will negotiate again, and dare to ask about the ....... of this March." Komori Hanzaemon asked cautiously.

"I have my own place." Lee doesn't really answer that question.

Komori Hanzaemon departed in a huff, and with everyone he boarded a captured Japanese ship and sent them to Nagasaki together.

After the group left, a Japanese merchant named Matsushima Motoichi arrived in a hurry, a retainer of the Fukue feudal lord and a representative of the negotiators.

After the night attack on the Nagasaki Command Office, Guo Xu led the fleet, and did not return with the brigade, but went to Fujiang Castle, beheaded the heads obtained from this trip, and lined up several rows on the beach of Fujiang Port, with a total of 142 heads, and more than 10 broken armor.

Obviously, Guo Xu's trip was to boast of his martial arts and deter the Goto Domain, but in the name of handing over these heads to the lord of the Fukue Domain, he would send them to Nagasaki on behalf of the trading company to ensure that the Japanese soldiers killed in the war would be buried with their whole bodies.

And these more than 100 heads, but really shocked the Fukue Domain, Fukue Domain is just a small domain, at most five or six hundred soldiers, and the Oriental Trading Company has several large ships, the country collapses, hundreds of elite soldiers, how can the Fukue Domain be the enemy, so Matsushima Motoichi was sent to talk.

"This is a gift from His Royal Highness, please accept it with a smile." Matsushima Motoichi was dressed as a businessman, standing respectfully beside Li Zhaoji at this time, and handed over the gift list.

When Li Zhaoji opened it, he saw that it was all wood, iron, rice and grain, all of which were needed by the fleet.

"The lord of your clan is a sensible man, since the arrival of the fleet and anchored here, he has always been friendly with our trading company, and the fleet is up and down, and I feel his sincerity." Lee Zhaoji said with a smile to Matsushima Genichi.

"Your Highness, the lord of the domain has long known. If it weren't for the busy affairs of the domain, I would have come to visit in person. Matsushima said.

Li Zhaoji asked lightly: "Yes, he is not in Edo, how can he know that my fleet is coming, and how can he pay a visit?" ”

When Matsushima Motoi heard this, he immediately knelt down: "What His Highness said is that the feudal lord is in Edo, and the person in charge of the feudal domain at this time is the brother of the feudal lord, Goto Morikiyo." The little one didn't mean to hide it, it was really Lord Sheng Qing's ....... ”

"You don't need to explain, I already know your difficulties, and I won't blame you, after all, the clan is a foreign daimyo who is bound by Edo, and it is not up to him to act." Lee Siu Kee said.

Matsushima Motoichi was overjoyed, and repeatedly praised Li Zhaoji for his broad-mindedness, and Li Zhaoji said: "You came here, in order to avoid suspicion, the ship did not fly the flag of the family crest of the five islands. You can draw it here, so that the fleet can distinguish between friend and foe, and don't accidentally get hurt. ”

Matsushima didn't need to draw it at all, but ordered someone to take the family crest flag hidden in the goods, which was a black circle with a four-petaled clover-like pattern.

The flag of the Five Islands Domain was simple and easy to identify, and after Li Zhaoji saw it, he handed it over to Tang Mu and said: "Spread all the ships, and the ships flying this flag that you see in the future will not be disturbed, and if you disobey, you will be punished." ”

"Thank you, Your Highness." Matsushima Monichi said with tears in his eyes.

Li Zhaoji smiled and said: "You and I are already good friends, even if I have a conflict with Japan, we should be safe." But after you return, you should also explain to His Excellency Goto Morikiyo that the ships on the route from Goto to Nagasaki are protected by us only if they fly the flag of the Goto Domain, and if they appear on other routes, they will not be protected. ”

Matsushima Monichi immediately understood that Lee was worried that the Goto Domain was abusing his protected privileges.

Li Zhaoji also said: "Lord Matsushima told His Excellency Morikiyo Goto by the way that in the future, I will have ships going north and south, and maybe I will anchor here, hoping that I will not be harassed until now." ”

Matsushima Motoichi sighed, and said in his heart the conditions that Goto Shengqing explained, because of this sentence, there is no need to say it again.

In fact, Goto Shengqing hoped that after the ships of the Oriental Trading Company left, they would never come back, but who would have thought that Li Zhaoji did not give Matsushima Motoichi a chance to speak at all.

"I wonder when His Highness's fleet will leave and when it will return?" Matsushima Motoichi asked.

"I'm leaving today, and I don't know when I'll come back." Li Zhaoji said softly.

At anchorage, the flotilla had its final round of replenishment, especially all the buckets, which were filled with fresh fresh water, and as the captains came to report, the flotilla was fully prepared.

"Big brother, there are too many goods in the fleet, and some seizures have to be abandoned, do you want to send a ship back to Tamsui first?" Chen Liuzi asked in a low voice.

Li Zhaoji shook his head: "No, no one can leave. Although we had the upper hand in the Nagasaki incident, if the gentry and the top officials of the trading companies in Guangdong knew about it, they would only think that we had provoked a huge opponent and had not yet completed the trade.

We can only go back with victory, with a ship full of gold and silver. Otherwise, we will not be able to account for the gentry of Guangdong and our trading company. ”

All the captains gathered around, Li Zhaoji looked at their faces full of doubts, Li Zhaoji unsheathed his saber, and said to everyone: "Brothers, we have failed in the trade with Nagasaki, this is obvious, but we have not failed in this voyage to the north.

This time, what we are asking for is gold and silver, not friendship with the Japanese country, let alone surrender to the Japanese country.

Trade can bring gold and silver, but gold and silver will not depend on trade alone. Brothers, put away your pencils and books, polish your swords, load your muskets, and use my courage and sword to gain our riches. ”

Everyone drew their swords and cheered, the trade with Nagasaki failed, and everyone thought that the future was uncertain, after all, this time, it provoked Japan, the best trading partner, and the Zheng family, the biggest competitor of the trading company.

They thought the fleet would go back in disgrace with humiliation and a ship full of goods that had nowhere to sell, and they thought that the trip would not bring joy and income to their families. But the truth is in front of them, their leader still has a backup plan, and their leader has found a new purpose.

Chen Liuzi knelt on one knee and asked, "Big shopkeeper, where is our goal?" ”

"Sado, Treasure Island, an island with fifty-five gold and silver mountains, it is located in the north of Japan, more than fifteen days from here, it is the heavenly domain of the Tokugawa shogunate, the dream land that the Portuguese and Dutch have been looking for for many years, and it is where the wealth lies!

And such a place that represents wealth is not known because of its unique location, but fortunately, it is in my head, I know where it is, and I also know that there is only one so-called Sado priest on this island, and there will be no more than a hundred soldiers under his command. Li Zhaoji said cheerfully.

There was a frenzy on everyone's face, sailing, fighting, shedding sweat and blood, enduring suffering and suffering, for what, for gold, silver, for wealth? Now that everything is at your fingertips, Nasado Island, like a beautiful woman stripped naked, is waiting for everyone to enjoy.

In this world, there is nothing more worthy of the desperate efforts of ordinary people than the mountains of gold and silver, when they learned that this trip was going to occupy an island that produced gold and silver, the haze shrouded by the declaration of war was swept away, and the fleet was up and down, and the morale was high, so they packed up before noon that day, left the five islands, and headed for the direction of the Tsushima Strait.

While the fleet was departing from Tamsui, it encountered a storm, and then the Nagasaki trade failed, causing the sailors to wonder if the fleet had suffered a curse from the beginning, but this expedition to Sado was sunny and smooth, and the voyage went smoothly for several days.

The fleet headed north along the island of Kyushu, and as long as the island of Kyushu was kept in view, it could reach the Tsushima Strait.

At first the voyage was very smooth, because a large number of Japanese and Dutch prisoners joined, so the sailors were very leisurely, and all kinds of activities were carried out happily, until they reached the left side of Tsushima Island, Li Zhaoji gave an order, divided the fleet into two teams, he and Chen Liuzi each led a team, outflanked Tsushima into the Sea of Japan, captured all the Japanese ships they saw along the way, and then joined from the east side of Tsushima Island, and continued north.

The Tsushima clan was dominated by trade, and there were many ships coming and going, but whenever they encountered ships, they were captured by the fleet.

However, Li Zhaoji did not kill anyone, but seized the money, valuable goods and fresh food on board, and then asked the identity of the crew, but all the ordinary people and fishermen were returned, and the truth of the Nagasaki incident was informed. The two detachments seized a total of eleven ships, but only four men, the royal merchants of the Tsushima feudal lord's family, were seized.

After that, the fleet picked up speed and sailed along the northern coastline of Honshu in the Sea of Japan, and after four days in the Sea of Japan, every time a Japanese ship was encountered, it would be arrested and questioned in order to find Sado Island.

Japan's coastal shipping is also well developed, and although there has not yet been a 'eastward' and western-back routes around Honshu, there have been cases of Japanese merchants going to Hokkaido to trade in later generations and being blown to Tohoku by storms.

was robbed and enslaved by the local Jurchens, sent to Shengjing, and followed the Manchu Qing into the Central Plains, and finally was sent back to Japan by the Manchu Dynasty.

In the Sea of Japan, it is not difficult to find an island of more than 800 square kilometers, and this island is not far from Honshu, so if you sail along the coastline and all the way north, this island will definitely appear in the western view.

Sado Island is also not an unknown island, it is the sixth largest island in Japan, and for thousands of years, it has been the place of exile of the Japanese regime, and even figures of the rank of Emperor Shunde have been exiled to this island.

Because Sado Island produced gold and silver, and trade flourished, it became an island of more than 40,000 people, and there were many official and merchant ships traveling between Sado and Honshu.

"There's a boat!" The lookout let out an exclamation, and then said, "It's a strange ship!" ”

As soon as he heard that there was a strange boat, many people arrived at the side of the boat, Li Zhaoji opened the binoculars, looked at the so-called strange boat, and found that there were only two fishermen fishing on the boat, and the shape of the boat was really strange, it was a circle, not so much a boat, but a huge wooden basin.

"If you look closely, it looks like we're going to see Sado Island soon." Li Zhaoji excitedly said to everyone that the most difficult thing on this trip was not to lay down Sado, but to find Sado.