After determining the location of the fortress and handing over the affairs of Sado to Li Sizhi and his staff team, Li Zhaoji launched a new round of expedition on 25 July, which collected four armed merchant ships, the Dongfang, Sado, the Swan, and the White Heron, two flat-bottomed sand ships, and four Japanese merchant ships.

According to the plan, the fleet took the lead in going south, practicing the agreement between Tang Mu and the Tsushima Domain, and trying to obtain grain and rice from the DPRK, but before the fleet set off, Tang Mu had already led the Hooded Crane to take the lead in raiding the islands near the main island of Japan-the Oki Islands.

Located between Sado and Tsushima, near Honshu Island, these islands are archipelago in the northern seas of the country, consisting of four large islands and more than 180 small islands.

Like Sado, this is also the place of Japanese exile, but it is a barren place, only 5,000 koku high according to the stone height, and the seafood is the only product of the archipelago that attracts outsiders, and according to the results of the interrogation of Japanese merchants by the trading company, the population of the Oki Islands is only 3,000 or 4,000 people.

It stands to reason that the trading company is not worthy of launching an expedition for such a barren place, and Li Zhaoji chose the first battle of this expedition in the hidden ambiguity because the owner of this territory is Matsudaira Naomasa, although it sounds like it has nothing to do with the Edo shogunate, but in fact, Matsudaira Naomasa is a relative daimyo of the shogunate, and he himself is the founder of the Edo shogunate, Tokugawa Ieyasu's own grandson.

Of course, it is unlikely that the daimyo will capture him in Izumo Province on the main island of Japan, but the attack on this place is to show the tough attitude of the Oriental Trading Company towards Japan.

On the main island of the Hidden Islands, the island behind the island, the fleet made visual contact with the Baektuzuru, and after making sure that it was safe, Lee Zhaoji personally led the guard to land on the island.

The village community and port on the island are as always, there are already decent cities and fortifications here, and the thirty soldiers and armed sailors on the Battered Crane occupied the port in the early morning raid, and then swept the upper echelons of the Matsudaira retainers, lords, and acting officials on the island, but the seizure was not much, only high-value things were collected and put into storage, and those that could not be taken away were all distributed to the civilians on the island by Tang Mu.

"The only thing to praise here is the cows, a lot of cattle, and our people have caught a hundred of them, and it seems that there are plenty of cattle here. Among the wealthy people on the island, the number of cattle seems to be a direct representation of their assets. Tang Mu carefully introduced the cattle here to Li Zhaoji, because in addition to cattle, what is produced here is abalone and other seafood, but any seafood is of little value to the trading company.

Li Zhaoji nodded slightly: "One hundred, at least it can offset the cost of this dispatch, you immediately arrange people, go as deep into the interior as possible, catch more cattle, and I will deploy two Japanese merchant ships to you to send cows and calves to Sado." The bull picks a few strong ones, and makes the rest into cured meat. ”

Baconed meat was one of the staple foods of ocean-going merchant ships, but in the East, meat was always a luxury, both beef and pork. This time, in the cured meat barrel of Beihang and Oriental Trading Company, there was more venison. Without meat, it is very disadvantageous for the long-distance fleet, after all, sailors are a profession with heavy physical exertion.

"Okay, I'll arrange for someone to do it immediately." Tang Mu replied.

Li Zhaoji asked, "Is there any news from the Tsushima Domain?" ”

"Just yesterday afternoon, the ship I sent came back with a handwritten letter from Yan Qilang of the long ship." Tang Mu said.

"A handwritten letter?" Li Zhaoji opened the letter and found that it was all in Japanese characters, and he said, "I can't understand this, so call your men and ask him to tell me how Yanshichiro Nagafune replied." ”

"They didn't see the longship Yanshiro." Tang Mu said with a gloomy face: "It seems that Ma Fan's attitude is a little hesitant, not as resolute as he said at the beginning. ”

Li Zhaoji smiled: "The Tsushima Domain is a vassal of Japan, and Japan is stronger than a trading company of ours, so it is natural that there will be a change in the attitude towards the Tsushima Domain, and what we have to do is to win him as much as possible." ”

Matsushita Fuming was called here, and he read the letter of Yan Qilang of Nagafune instead of Li Zhaoji, and said: "My lord, that Yan Qilang of Long Boat has played tricks, this is not his own handwriting at all, but it looks similar." ”

Comparing the letters left by Hikushichiro Nagafune when he was in Tsushima, he found a difference.

Moreover, he does not identify himself in his letters, but is speaking to you in the manner of a businessman, apparently ........ Tsushima retreated, something must have happened. Tomaki Matsushita said.

Li Zhaoji nodded slightly: "It's okay, let's just ask." ”

"How do you ask?" Tang Mu asked in a low voice, he didn't see the letter tricks of Yan Qilang of the long boat at all, he messed up this matter.

Li Zhaoji immediately hand-wrote an order and handed it over to a personal attendant, who immediately went to the Dongfang to report the letter, and soon four armed merchant ships set sail in the harbor and went west to Tsushima.

Four days later, Chen Liuzi's fleet brought the longship Yan Qilang to the island behind the island.

Chen Liuzi's method was very simple, he led the fleet to appear on Tsushima Island, and then directly launched a landing during the day, entered a fishing village in Tsushima, snatched some poultry and iron tools, and then left, sailed to Hongdao as agreed by both parties, on the same day, the longship Yan Qilang appeared on Hongdao to negotiate, and then Chen Liuzi couldn't help but say, even the boat and people arrested the hidden ambiguity.

"Hands up, Yanshichiro Nagafune!" In front of the building where Li Zhaoji lived, Tang Mu held a saber and ordered Yan Qilang to the longboat.

When the longship Yan Qilang saw Tang Mu, his eyes dodged slightly, and Tang Mu and the two Kaida Gran soldiers began to search him, and every corner of his body swept roughly, making the longship Yan Qilang grin.

"The Lord is in the room, you better be honest." Matsushita Tomaki followed behind Yanshiro Nagafune, the sword in his hand half exposed, and the sharp blade flashed coldly.

On this dilapidated Oki Island, this building is the only decent building, and Li Zhaoji was eating in his room, when he saw Yan Shichiro of Nagafune coming in, he asked, "Do you want to taste the newly stewed beef, with radish and cabbage in it?" ”

"Thank you, Your Highness." After Matsushita Fuming understood what Li Zhaoji meant, Yanqiro Nagafune felt that Li Zhaoji was a good talker, and quickly nodded.

A large bowl of rice poured with a delicious beef broth fills the stomach of Hikunshiro Nagafune, who has endured hunger and thirst all the way.

Li Zhaoji pointed to the corner of the room, Tang Mu leaned against the screen with a knife, and looked at Yan Qilang of the long boat, his eyes were full of resentment, Li Zhaoji said: "That young man made a cooperation treaty with you in Tsushima last time, which is very beneficial to both you and me.

Now is the time to put it into practice, it stands to reason that I only need to send a ship that is not dazzling to anchor at Hongdao, and you should bring a ship to trade, so that my cabin will be stuffed with fresh grain from the DPRK, Tsushima? ”

"That's true in principle." Yan Qilang of the long ship dealt with it carefully, he felt that if he didn't say it well, he would be slashed to death by Tang Mu in the back of the side.

Li Zhaoji smiled: "The cooperation with you is a proud work of this young man, and I am very satisfied with it." But your attitude seems to have changed, and his proud heart has fallen to the valley, he is very young, only sixteen years old, and he does not yet know whether he is happy or angry, and what is in his heart is not known.

Lord Longship, you should be able to see that Tang Mu is very angry, you have to give us a reasonable explanation in order to quench his anger. ”

"Yes, Your Highness." Hikunoshichiro Nagafune said: "I have enough reasons to convince you and General Tang, please forgive me, for the sake of Tsushima's safety, I did not dare to state it in that letter." ”

Li Zhaoji nodded and said to Tang Mu, "Tang Mu, pour a cup of tea for Lord Longboat." ”

Tang Mu came over with the teacup, but it seemed that the base of the teacup was accidentally left behind, and with a click, it was broken in front of Yan Qilang of the long boat, Tang Mu picked up a few porcelain pieces and made a gesture in front of Yan Qilang of the long boat, the meaning is very clear, if you can't tell a reason, even this porcelain piece can cut your throat.

The longship Yan Qilang sat opposite Li Zhaoji and said, "Last time, General Tang and Lord Chen's ship docked at our horse, so we had the fate of cooperation. The feudal lord was very satisfied with the cooperation and imagined a bright future for both of us.

But the problem was that less than five days after that, something changed, and an envoy from Edo came to inquire about the docking of the Nanban ship at Tsushima, and began to investigate it, and in order to keep the secret of both sides, I even killed several witnesses at the time. ”

"Did the investigation scare you?" Li Zhaoji asked.

Yanshichiro Nagafune shook his head: "No, of course not, the new Nagasaki commissioner arranged manpower on Tsushima Islands to conduct monitoring, and then concentrated the naval army of the Kyushu domains in Hirado, and we were not recruited because of the weak power of the Ma Domain, but the shogunate asked us to provide early warning."

They decided that if your fleet headed south, it would pass through the Tsushima Strait, and that it would be able to attack from Hirado and intercept you. ”

"It's as simple as that, are you just providing information?" Li Zhaoji stared at the longship Yan Qilang and asked.

Yan Qilang nodded firmly, but when he met Li Zhaoji's eyes, he still couldn't help but dodge.

Li Zhaoji smiled thoughtfully, and Yan Qilang, the longboat, picked up the tea to hide his embarrassment.

Of course, the facts are not so simple, the Edo shogunate sent someone to ask the guilt, and seized the fact that the Rose appeared in Tsushima at the beginning, and in desperation, the longship Yanshichiro and the lord of the Tsushima domain could only choose to deceive, they did not say that they reached a cooperation agreement with the Oriental Trading Company, but said that they were coerced by the Oriental Trading Company.

The Oriental Trading Company used gunboats to blackmail Tsushima to pay gold and silver, and only then did it spare Tsushima.

The Edo envoy took advantage of the situation to ask for assistance from the Tsushima Domain, that is, when the fleet of the Oriental Trading Company came to blackmail Ma again, they would find a way to keep him, and then send a fleet from Hirado to kill him all.

Tang Mu clenched his fists at Panasonic Fuming, signaling not to translate his words, and he said to Li Zhaoji: "Big shopkeeper, I don't think this guy is telling the truth, there must be an inside story." ”

Li Zhaoji smiled and said: "Of course there is, but it is difficult to say what it is. ”

"Maybe you can do something." Tang Mu clenched his fists and made a clicking sound.

Li Zhaoji shook his head: "No, through the Ma Domain, it is more important to obtain trade opportunities with the DPRK and Xian. ”

Li Zhaoji thought for a moment and said: "The change in attitude towards the Ma clan is related to the response of the Edo shogunate, perhaps they want to sit on the mountain and watch the tiger fight, to see if we can really defeat the Japanese navy. ”

"What then?" Tang Mu asked.

Li Zhaoji smiled and asked Matsushita Tomaki to ask Yanqiro Nagafune: "Lord Nagafune, is the shogunate's navy anchored in Hirado?" ”

"Yes, Your Highness."

"Have you ever been to Hirado?"

"Of course, Your Highness, every time our feudal lord goes to Edo, or we escort the envoys of the Asahi and Shin to Edo, we have to go ashore in Hirado."

Li Zhaoji nodded: "Very good, some of my prisoners have been to Hirado, this time, we will go together." ”

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