At this time, Li Xianzhong dressed up as a merchant and walked around the market near Naha Port accompanied by Zheng Zhilong.

Li Xianzhong originally thought that Ryukyu was just a wild place, and even though there were some merchants staying in it by virtue of its geographical location, it was nothing more than a lively transit station.

Didn't expect Naha's bazaar to be so bustling?

There is a wide variety of goods, including Japanese swords and lacquerware, as well as pepper, spices, and corals from Southeast Asia. Pearl.

There are even silks, cloths, porcelain, and tea from the Ming Dynasty.

To be honest, Yingkou under his rule is much worse than Incheon Port.

Zheng Zhilong said with a smile: "The geographical location of the Ryukyus is of course important, it is the link between Japan and the South Seas, and it is known as the 'Wanguo Jinliang'!" ”

"But it can have today's prosperity, thanks to the Ming Dynasty's sea ban."

"After the Ming Dynasty banned the sea, the traditional export of silk, porcelain, and tea was greatly restricted, and the regular export channels of Ming merchants were stifled, and they could only rely on smuggling trade."

"But the demand for these things has not diminished. Therefore, whether it is the Ryukyus, the Dutch, or the Portuguese, they have all started to act as middlemen. ”

"They buy these products from Daming and then resell them to other countries."

"The huge amount of silver has been made by these Western feudal clans and Ryukyuan people, and my Ming businessman can only risk killing his head and secretly engage in smuggling!"

When he said this, Zheng Zhilong's eyes were full of resentment!

Li Xianzhong said: "The Portuguese occupy Macao, and presumably they can smuggle the goods of the Ming Dynasty from there; The Dutch and Spaniards should be able to buy goods from the port of Yue, Fujian. But how did the Ryukyuan people engage in transit trade? ”

Zheng Zhilong said: "The imperial court's trade in Yuegang was originally aimed at the Netherlands and Spain, but after Spain massacred our Chinese people in Manila in the 33rd year of Wanli, the imperial court banned the qualifications of the Spaniards to do business in Yuegang!" ”

"The Netherlands, with their powerful armed merchant ships, continued to intercept Portuguese merchant ships going to Japan in the waters near Japan. Now the Dutch are almost monopolizing the entrepot trade from the Ming to Japan. ”

"As for the Ryukyus, in the name of tribute, they mixed a large number of goods in the tributary fleet and sold them to the Ming Dynasty."

"Officials in Guangdong can collect taxes from the Ryukyuans, so they simply turn a blind eye, in fact, not only the Ryukyus, but also other vassal states will bring a large number of goods when they come to the Ming Dynasty to make huge profits!"

"A pound of ambergris, the purchase price in Nanyang is less than ten taels of silver, and the most expensive in the Jiajing period can be sold for 1,200 taels, such a hundredfold huge profit, how can Ryukyu not be rich?"

"They resell the silk of the Ming Dynasty to other places, at least six or seven times the profit."

As a keyboard warrior, Li Xianzhong certainly knew that sea trade was a huge profit, but he never imagined that these spices could be a hundred times more profitable.

Although the price Zheng Zhilong said may be just a limit price, even if it is only half, this windfall profit is too exaggerated.

Originally, he felt that his "heaven and earth" was a huge profit, and he was a black-hearted businessman who resold grain in Liaodong.

Compared with these maritime merchants, he is simply doing charity!

It seems that this time I chose to come out and take a look, it is really right, it is true that sometimes it is better to read thousands of books than to travel thousands of miles!

I nest in Liaodong, which is quite a bit of a closed-door smell.

Today, Zheng Zhilong may be several years younger than himself, but he is already familiar with the trade routes of Manila, Macau, Ryukyu and Japan, and has also learned Lusita and Portuguese.

Looking at the thoughtful Li Xianzhong, Zheng Zhilong suddenly clenched his fists and said: "Now that the imperial court has banned the sea, my Ming maritime merchants can only die overseas in order to do business, and they have been slaughtered by foreigners. ”

"If Uncle Ning Yuan can take Ryukyu, please also allow the merchants of the Ming Dynasty to stay in Ryukyu for maritime trade, with the wisdom and diligence of our Ming people, we will be able to accumulate a lot of wealth for our uncle."

Li Xianzhong said: "Benbo can't control the imperial court's policy of banning the sea for the time being, but you should have heard that under Benbo's rule, whether it is Liaodong or Korea, the sea routes are unblocked, and the trade routes are naturally monopolized by my Ming merchants." ”

"The Spanish Galen ships you see were bought from the Portuguese, and the bigger and more advanced ships will be launched in two months, and it won't be long before our sea power will surpass that of the Dutch."

"Benbo not only wants to open up trade routes in the Ryukyus, but also to expand the living space overseas for the people of my Ming Dynasty."

At this time, although Zheng Zhilong had already gone to Nanyang to do business and gained some knowledge, after all, he was not the sea overlord who controlled the southeast coast of the Ming Dynasty in later generations.

Li Xianzhong's painting cake is still quite effective.

After hearing that the Ming army could already build this kind of large Galen sailing ship by itself, Zheng Zhilong was even more surprised.

He said excitedly: "This is really the gospel of the Ming maritime merchants, although the imperial court has banned the sea, there are still many merchants who have industries in Japan and all over the South Seas. There are some Fujian merchants in this Ryukyus, and I believe that they will definitely support Ning Yuanbo. ”

At this time, there were many people gathered around the stalls at the Naha Market.

I saw a few Japanese ronins with shaved hair half-moon shapes and braided hair, holding two porcelain with damaged bottle mouths, and said: "You Ming merchants are shoddy, and you actually sell us these problematic porcelain!" ”

Huang Cheng picked up a bottle, looked at the bottom of the paragraph, and said: "Your bottle is the kiln mouth of Jingdezhen, Jiangxi, and our batch of goods are all the kiln mouth of Pingyubao, and they are not fired in the same place, you are embarrassed to come over and make trouble!" ”

So with a look, the Ming army beside Huang Cheng hurriedly went up to drive away those troublesome Japanese ronins.

A group of people quickly moved their hands, and the Ming army was all Liaodong Han, which was two heads taller than those Japanese ronins.

After a while, these Japanese ronins were beaten with blue noses and swollen eyes.

Huang Cheng knew that these people were deliberately here to cause trouble, and the matter must not be so simple, so he hurriedly called someone to collect the stall and prepare to withdraw to the ship.

Sure enough, a group of Ryukyu soldiers stopped their way, saying that they were innocent and caused trouble, and needed compensation.

Huang Cheng was just about to explain, and Li Xianzhong said in the distance: "If you beat someone, you should be compensated, isn't it silver, we will compensate!" ”

After the Ryukyu officials discussed with those Japanese ronin, they raised a finger towards Huang Cheng!

Huang Cheng thought it was one hundred taels, but several Japanese ronins laughed and said: "I have to compensate them for a shipload of goods, otherwise this matter will never be resigned!" ”

In order to attract merchants, the tax rate in the Ryukyus was not high, only one out of ten goods.

These dwarfs actually asked for 1 shipload of goods, and Huang Cheng refused on the spot: "You might as well rob it openly!" ”

I saw the Japanese ronin led by him and said: "My name is Shimazu Genzo, I am a member of the Shimazu family, this fight can't be in vain, if you don't pay me a shipload of goods, then don't blame me for being unkind!" ”

The surrounding businessmen are also discussing: This is almost a robbery!

However, the Satsuma Domain is not a merchant in the Ryukyus, even if it is the king of the Ryukyus, they will rob it!

Judging from the boat rented by Huang Cheng and the family members around him, this Ming merchant is not easy to mess with, this is a fight between the gods, and these small businessmen naturally dare not intervene!

At this time, a merchant said: "Listening to the accent, the shopkeeper Huang is also from southern Fujian, and you are the same townsman in Xia Li Fu, and the power of the Satsuma domain in the Ryukyus is not trivial." There is a way that a strong dragon does not suppress the head snake, I advise you to take a step back, a shipload of goods does lose a lot, but you still have a lot of harvest when you go to sea this time, it is much better than both people and money! ”

Li Xianzhong said: "Isn't it just a shipload of goods? This time we brought 7 ships of cargo, almost half of which were sold, and you can choose any one of the three big ships! ”

"You bring someone to the ship to move it yourself, and when the time comes, you will say that we didn't move the goods!"

Shimazu Genzo was actually just a samurai, and as soon as he heard that these Ming people had compromised, he quickly sent someone to inform his family master, Shimazu Mitsuyoshi.

At this time, Shimazu Mitsuyoshi was drinking tea with a monk, Kikukure, and he was also a little surprised to hear these Akito compromise.

The reason why Shimazu Mitsuyoshi did this was to find an excuse for the robbery.

After all, this is still nominally Ryukyu territory, and if he directly kills people and sells goods, he may scare these merchants away and affect his own income.

The main thing is to test the attitude of these Ming merchants, so as to judge their strength.

These Ming merchants said they were merchants, but in fact they were armed smugglers, not much different from pirates.

Although these Galen ships were merchant ships, they were still equipped with artillery.

If these businessmen are tough, he may have to mobilize more men to come to Naha.

Ju Yin said: "Shimazu-kun, these Ming merchants are still very knowledgeable about current affairs. In this way, it seems that their strength should not be very strong. ”

Shimazu Mitsuyoshi snorted coldly and said: "These Ming people are still so timid and afraid, these big ships are exactly what I dreamed of, since they took the initiative to send them to the door, how could I miss it." ”

Then he said to his subordinates: "You take two hundred people to move the goods first, let these Ming people relax their vigilance, and wait until the evening to raid their merchant ships, I want both ships and goods!" ”

Soon Shimazu Genzo boarded a galleon with a group of samurai.

Zheng Zhilong said with a smile: "The goods are in the cabin, you go and move them!" ”

Shimazu Genzo was very proud when he saw these Ming merchants succumbing, and walked into the cabin humming a little song.

Suddenly all I heard was "bang, bang, bang"

The Ming army began to shoot at the Japanese soldiers on the deck from the stern and bow floors.

These Japanese soldiers were defenseless at all, and after a while, dozens of Japanese soldiers were all put down by Lu Mi.

The Japanese on the trestle saw the Ming army's sneak attack and scolded angrily: "Eight Geya Road! ”

They drew their swords and spears and rushed towards the ship.

This scene directly looks at the stupid melon-eating businessmen on the side!

These Ming people are really not easy to mess with, I originally thought that they were compromising with the Shimazu family, but I didn't expect them to directly get a set, and the Japanese soldiers on the ship were already dead at the moment.

The would-be robbers on the trestle were no better, and Zheng Zhilong directly pulled out the springboard.

Those Japanese soldiers couldn't get on the ship at all, and after a while, they were cleaned up by the Ming army's Lu Mi Gong.

When the news of the Japanese soldiers being ambushed by the Ming people came back, Shimazu Mitsuyoshi was simply mad.

Ju Yin said: "These Ming people are too cunning, and the plan for now is to prevent them from escaping. ”

Mitsuyoshi Shimazu said, "I have ordered the Ataka ships to block the channel outside the docks, and if they escape, they will immediately use fire. ”

Once the Ming army's big ships left Naha Port, they would definitely not be able to catch up.

However, as long as these ships of the Ming people are still in the port, then Shimazu Mitsuyoshi will never use fire attack, whether it is a ship or a cargo, it is a priceless treasure, so he is reluctant to burn it.

It seems that these Ming people are hard stubble, there were originally 1,200 people gathered near Naha, and there are still 1,000 people at present, but these forces may not be enough to take them.

So Shimazu Mitsuyoshi hurriedly ordered another thousand people to be mobilized from Amami Oshima.

He then ordered 500 gunners to block the outskirts of Naha Port to prevent the Ming from escaping to other parts of the island.

The Japanese iron cannons, like the Ming Dynasty's bird guns, were imitations of European arquebuses.

However, it has to be said that the performance of the Japanese iron cannon is far better than that of the Ming Dynasty.

Attributes aside, Japanese iron cannons rarely explode.

On the one hand, it is because their craftsmen do not dare to cut corners, and on the other hand, the iron ore of the Ming Dynasty is inferior to that of Japan.

Japanese iron ore has few impurities such as sulfur and phosphorus, so the quality of the iron cannon is good.

The iron ore of Daming itself is not of high quality, the content of these impurities is high, and the technology of dephosphorization is not up to par, which naturally leads to the creation of bird guns that are easier to blow up.

At the time of the Anti-Japanese Aid Korea, it can be said that Japan's iron cannon will completely defeat the Ming Dynasty's bird gun.

However, the various artillery of the Ming army has severely damaged these Japanese invaders, and in general, both sides have their own advantages in terms of firearms.

It was with this in mind that these soldiers confidently exposed themselves to a distance of eighty paces from the port of Naha.

Because they knew that it would be absolutely impossible for the Ming army's bird guns to fight so far.

However, they were soon slapped in the face, and as the white mist on the ship continued to rise, more and more iron gunners were shot and killed by the Ming army.

In the end, after paying the price of more than 100 people, they retreated in a hurry.

In the open sea of Amami Oshima, Deng Gang is leading three warships to cruise constantly.

In order to confuse their opponents, they had already changed to the Portuguese flag at this time, after all, the warship was still easy to be discovered, so that they would not expose themselves in advance.

At this time, there were more than 30 Japanese ships in front of them.

Soon Deng Gang ordered the three warships to sail towards the Japanese ships with all their might.

The Kaiyuan was equipped with 48 12-pounder Hongyi cannons, and even the smaller Tieling had 36 rapid-fire 6-pounder Franc cannons and 8 12-pounder Hongyi cannons.

In just the first salvo, 3 Japanese ships were destroyed by the artillery of the Ming army.

Although these Satsuma feudal soldiers did not know why the Portuguese were attacking them?

But instinct drove them away from the battlefield quickly.

However, the speed of the Ataka ship is not at the same level as that of the large Galen sailing ship.

Soon Deng Gang ordered the three warships of the Liaodong Naval Division to pursue separately.

In the end, after half an hour of fierce fighting, only 5 Japanese ships escaped!

For those who struggled at sea with broken wooden planks, the Ming army directly shot them with Lu Mi guns.

Soon after, the warships of the Liaodong Naval Division sailed into the port of Naha, and the terrifying artillery fire of the Ming army quickly sank the ships that tried to fire the Yataku.

As a result, although part of the shipping channel was blocked, at least the Japanese could not use these ships to set fires.

At this time, Shimazu Mitsuyoshi led the remnants of eight or nine hundred Japanese soldiers to garrison a fortress near Naha Port.

He didn't wait for reinforcements for a long time, but he waited for the Ming army's naval guns.

The stone-built fortress was soon shattered by the blows of 48 12-pounder redcoat cannons.

In desperation, Shimazu Mitsuyoshi had no choice but to lead more than 500 remnants of the Japanese to continue to retreat inland.

At this time, the Ming army on the ship was already lined up to meet the enemy.

Shimazu Mitsuyoshi, who had a mental breakdown caused by the Ming army's artillery and firearms, saw that he finally had the opportunity to fight the Ming army, and quickly drew his Japanese sword and led the Japanese soldiers to charge the Ming army.

The 1500 Ming army had already completed the formation at this moment.

700 spearmen and 800 musketeers!

"Bang, bang, bang"

With Lu Mi's shot, more than 200 Japanese soldiers fell directly on the road of the charge.

At this time, Geng Zhongming also raised his broadsword and led 700 spearmen to kill the Japanese directly.

It is true that the Japanese soldiers are short in stature, generally less than 1.5 meters tall, but they are well-armed and most of them are equipped with iron armor such as chain mail.

Fortunately, the Ming army led by Geng Zhongming also wore heavy cloth armor, otherwise they would definitely suffer a big loss.

Li Xianzhong, who was watching the battle in the rear, frowned directly, the combat power of these Japanese dwarves was really powerful.

has been beaten into a lost dog before, and now in the face of the Ming army twice as large as himself, he is not left behind.

Obviously, the casualties of the Ming army were greater than those of the Japanese soldiers, and in just a while, the Ming army had already killed seventy or eighty people, and the casualties of the Japanese were definitely less than fifty.

To be honest, Li Xianzhong has not personally gone into battle to kill the enemy for a long time.

But at the moment, the situation is critical, and he can't care about so much.

Shimazu Mitsuyoshi was wearing a red armor and was very conspicuous in the formation.

Li Xianzhong, who was dressed in silver armor, had a wind under his feet and went straight to the enemy general.

The silver spear in his hand was like a silver snake spitting letters, constantly stabbing the Japanese in front of him, and after a while, he directly opened a bloody path in the Japanese formation.

Shimazu Mitsuyoshi was entangled with Geng Zhongming at this time, and he didn't notice Li Xianzhong's appearance at all.

As a result, he was shot in the back of the heart.

The killing of the main general caused the Japanese to lose their fighting spirit, and they were soon annihilated by the Ming army.

When Kikuin saw that Shimazu Mitsuyoshi was killed, he led dozens of Japanese soldiers to hide in Shuri Castle, 30 miles away.

The size of the Ryukyu Kingdom is not large, and Shurijo Castle is more of a royal castle than a national capital.

It is a stone castle with a main hall, a government office, and a council hall.

Shuri Castle was only for the Ryukyu king, and there were no people in the castle.

In the 37th year of Wanli, the Satsuma clan sent troops to defeat the Ryukyus, and more than 100 people including the Ryukyu king Shoning were also exiled to Kagoshima.

Two years later, he was received in Edo by Tokugawa Hidenaka, the shogun of Seiyi.

Soon after, Shoning was forced to sign the "Fifteen Articles" with Satsuma, recognizing Ryukyu as a vassal state of Satsuma, and the retainers swore eternal loyalty to the Shimazu clan.

Subsequently, Shoning and others were released back to the Ryukyus, and he was forced to appoint the Tennoji elder Kikukure (a Japanese monk) as regent.

In fact, the military and political power of the Ryukyus was completely controlled by Kikuin.

Faced with the soldiers of the Ming army approaching the city, Ju Yin directly put the Ryukyu King Shangning on the city.

Trying to threaten Li Xianzhong with this!

But unfortunately, this Kikuin doesn't seem to know much about the range of the Lumi Gun.

When he shouted that the Ming army was not allowed to approach, he was directly blown up by Geng Zhongming with a Lumi gun 120 steps away.

The king of the Ryukyus, Shangning, hurriedly asked people to open the city gate to welcome the Ming army into the city.

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(End of chapter)