"It's embarrassing......"

Sitting on the ship of the Oriental Fleet, Ashikaga Mitsutsu and Kyogoku Gaoguang felt the sitting posture that was more uncomfortable than kneeling, and their faces couldn't help but turn red.

Fortunately, Zheng He and the others did not laugh at them, but seriously discussed the conditions of both sides with them.

"I have read the national letters of the lord, and most of them are fine, and as for the matter of commercial taxes, it can also be discussed in detail."

Zheng He mentioned the commercial tax as soon as he opened his mouth, which made the hearts of Ashikaga Mitsutsu and Kyogoku Gaoguang hang.

Fortunately, Zheng He didn't make them wait for a long time, and directly said his thoughts.

"The commercial tax of the city of the country is mainly one of ten taxes, and this commercial tax is deducted at the settlement of the trade of the city, and your country can land on the island at the end of each month to collect the tax, and the tax amount will be divided equally between the two sides according to what the lord of the country said."

Zheng He's open and honest appearance won the favor of Ashikaga Mantsu and Kyogoku Gaoguang, and they didn't expect Daming, who had such force, to be so easy to speak, so they were no longer as scared as they were just now.

"I would like to ask the angel below, can I hand it over to the lord of the country for distribution?"

Ashikaga Mantsu had the courage to speak, but Zheng He, who heard the translation, chuckled: "This is natural, my Celestial Empire has never interfered in the affairs of other countries, and there is no territorial dispute with Japan, so it is natural to communicate with each other and have friendly exchanges." ”

Huang Wei translated Zheng He's words, and Ashikaga Mitsutsu couldn't help but relax after hearing it, and began to negotiate the trade price in the "Trade Papers".

Of course, when it comes to negotiation, it is actually a weak negotiation.

However, because Zhu Gaoxu promised Zheng He that he could act cheaply when he came, Zheng He also reduced the trade prices in the "Trade Papers" as appropriate, after all, even in his own opinion, the prices of some market goods given by the Ministry of Rites were a little too terrifying.

After discussion, the price of some unreasonable porcelain was cut by about 80%, and other goods were reduced by 10% as appropriate.

Rao is like this, and the goods on the Lower Oriental Fleet can still sell for 1.72 million yuan.

For this batch of goods, Ashikaga Mitsutsumi and Kyogoku Gaoguang could not be the master, so they could only let Zheng He and them build a market on Oki Island and Sado Island, and discuss with Ashikaga Yoshimitsu after returning to Honshu.

Just speaking of this, Ashikaga Mitsutsu also stubbornly said:

"The matter of the market trade can be finalized, but the country is still worried about one thing."

"But it doesn't hurt to say it." Zheng He opened his mouth without thinking, and Ashikaga Mankan also tactfully talked about too many things about the Ming garrison.

"The lord of the country hopes to be able to reduce the garrison of Hideki and Sado to about 3,000 people."

Seeing Ashikaga Manquan say this, Zheng He also said heartily:

"It's not a problem, we're here for trade, and the garrison is just to protect the goods."

"Since your country is worried, then we will reduce it to three thousand."

"Thank you for making ......" get the answer, and the stone in Ashikaga Mitsutsune's heart finally landed.

"This is the golden seal and costume given by the imperial court to the lord of the country, please accept it and pass it on to the lord of the country."

Zheng He raised his hand to signal, and several soldiers appeared on the side holding wooden plates.

On those wooden plates, there are the golden seals given by Zhu Di to the king of Japan, the regular clothes of the county king, the crown clothes of the county king, and the leather clothes of the county king.

The exquisite embroidery and luxurious silk successfully attracted their attention, and the "Seal of the King of Japan" on the side, the seal is the official seal of the Ming Dynasty, the whole body is made of gold, and the side is also engraved with the ink words "The King of Japan".

"The subordinate replaces the lord of the country and accepts the long grace of the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, long live......"

Ashikaga Mantsu and the two performed five bows and three bows with the etiquette of the Ming Dynasty, and then carefully took over the clothes and crowns and the gold seal representing the king of Japan.

"With this golden seal, the lord of the country can mobilize a thousand soldiers and horses of the city, but he needs to be responsible for their food, and each of the war dead will receive fifty cents."

As soon as Zheng He spoke, Ashikaga Mitsutsune was excited and thanked again and again.

It wasn't until everything was negotiated that the two successfully disembarked with the escort under the escort of Zheng He and returned to Yinqi Island on a sand boat.

After that, Zheng He also sent horses and ships to send 2,400 shogunate soldiers and horses from the island to Izumo.

On the ship, Ashikaga Mitsutsumi and others met the Ming army armed with arquebuses, and also saw artillery.

They don't know about the former, but for the latter's artillery, Ashikaga Mantsukan and others who have experienced the Mongol-Japanese war naturally understand, but their impression of artillery is still stuck in the past, so they don't ask much.

Their conservatism allowed the Japanese to successfully miss a firearms leap, and they did not figure out the power of arquebuses and artillery until they disembarked.

After returning to Izumo, Ashikaga Mitsumi returned to Kyoto with his cavalry and relayed the diplomatic results to Ashikaga Yoshimitsu.

Ashikaga Yoshimitsu was very satisfied with this, and at the same time surprised by the strength of the Lower Oriental Fleet.

Not only him, but also many nobles and retainers in Kyoto were surprised.

If it weren't for the fact that the people on this mission were Ashikaga Mitsutsu and Kyogoku Takatsu, then they might have thought it was nonsense.

It was precisely because the two of them were in charge of this mission that the nobles and retainers had to believe it, but even so, they still sent people they trusted to scout the size of the Ming army.

While discussing the trade of the Lower Oriental Fleet, they began to scramble for twenty Exploration Charms.

Faced with the competition between the nobles and the retainers, Ashikaga Yoshimitsu did not rush to discuss the qualifications, but waited for the attitude of the guardians and the three leaders and the four positions in various places.

Soon, the retainers they had sent to the hidden investigation returned, bringing news that shocked Kansai and Gyeonggi.

The intelligence of the Ming army is indeed the same as the information that Ashikaga Mantsu brought back.

With this kind of strength as support, the guardians also had to reconsider their foreign policy with the Ashikaga shogunate.

It was at this time that Ashikaga Yoshimitsu was waiting, and although he was still able to coerce the local guards, he also knew that the Ashikaga shogunate's control over the whole of Japan was very weak.

But now, with the canonization of the Ming Emperor, the Ashikaga shogunate has become the only official power recognized by the Ming in Ming diplomacy, and Ashikaga Yoshimitsu himself has become the king of Japan recognized by the Ming Dynasty.

So when Ashikaga Yoshimitsu summoned the nobles and retainers again, he appeared in the Golden Pavilion and had already put on the regular clothes of the county king given by the Ming Dynasty.

The crown of the wing covered his bald head after becoming a monk, and the red pan-necked narrow-sleeved robe was covered with gold woven dragons at the front and back and on both shoulders.

This outfit and jade belt leather boots, if it weren't for the fact that he didn't have a beard, it would really have a bit of majesty.

Of course, what is more important is the gold seal with the "Seal of the King of Japan" on it.

With this golden seal, Ashikaga Yoshimitsu can mobilize the 1,000 Ming army of the city, which is what he cherishes the most.

He had already learned about the strength of the Ming army from Ashikaga Mantsu, and if a thousand Ming troops were used well, they could completely defeat tens of thousands of ashigaru.

This right represents that the Ming Dynasty has stood on the platform, and the status of the Ashikaga family at home and abroad will also be unprecedentedly improved.

Looking at his appearance, the pipe collars of Spo, Hosokawa, and Hatakeyama looked at each other.

Everyone knows that Ashikaga Yoshimitsu has the support of the Ming Dynasty, and the news that the Golden Seal can mobilize a thousand Ming troops has long been spread.

With the platform of the Ming Dynasty and the twenty constructing charms in hand, Ashikaga Yoshimitsu's ambition is also growing.

However, as his son, Ashikaga Yoshinori was very dissatisfied, and even thought that his father's hand as a minister was very humiliating.

"Twenty conjunctions, I've already decided where to go, here's the list, take a look!"

"Yes!"

Wearing the regular clothes of the county king given by the Ming Dynasty, Ashikaga Yoshimitsu only felt that his waist was a little stiffer.

Although he was the minister of the shogunate and forced the emperor to recognize his wife as his mother-to-be, the Ashikaga family did not have a good reputation in Japan.

Ashikaga Yoshimitsu knows very well that the current peace is not really peace, and once he dies, the glory of the Ashikaga family will gradually decline with his death.

Not to mention that the supporters of the Southern Dynasty have always been ready to move, but they only dare not attack because of themselves.

When he died, those guys would pop up, and Daming was the foreign aid he was looking for for the Ashikaga shogunate.

For the sake of the long-term development of the shogunate, such a thing as a retainer that undermines his dignity is nothing.

Ashikaga Yoshimitsu glanced at everyone, and everyone also took the list and looked back one by one.

This list is basically a list of Ashikaga Yoshimitsu's co-optation and alienation of local guards, and all the families who have obtained the Kana Fu are all families close to the shogunate.

As long as they are not close to the shogunate, no matter how many troops the other party has and how many people they have under their rule, Ashikaga Yoshimitsu will not give them a charm.

He is very strong, but there are very few people who dare to oppose him openly.

Two years ago, the Onei Rebellion was still vivid, and the Ouchi clan, which was the guardian of the Six Kingdoms, was defeated by the Ashikaga shogunate, and Ashikaga Mitsukane of the Kamakura Principality would have been unable to escape defeat if he had not been dissuaded by Uesugi Kendai.

In the midst of this war, the nobles and retainers did not object, after all, Ashikaga Yoshimitsu gave them the Kanami charm, and their interests did not suffer.

Compared with these, they care more about Daming's goods.

Seeing that no one stood up to oppose it, a smile gradually appeared on Ashikaga Yoshimitsu's face.

The Ashikaga shogunate and the Ming dynasty finalized the trade of the city, and soon the guardians of the various countries with the conformity began to go to the hidden to trade in the city.

At the same time, Zheng He also sent people to take over Sado Island, which was called Treasure Island internally.

Time passed little by little, until mid-June, when Treasure Island welcomed dozens of warships and thousands of Ming troops.

Thousands of soldiers unloaded the ship's cement from Yingtianfu and used stones and sand to drain it from the sea, expanding the originally rudimentary wharf.

Relying on the Garon Lake, the largest on Treasure Island, the Ming army spent several days building a simple camp, the future market town.

"I searched for a few days, but I didn't find gold or silver."

"It is estimated that it is too deep, anyway, the market will be built first, but fortunately there are enough trees here, and there is no shortage of wood."

Inside the tent, Cui Jun complained to Yang Zhan, and when Yang Zhan heard this, he appeased him, continued to build market towns and docks, and sent mountain workers to find gold and silver mines.

Although they have not yet found the gold and silver mines mentioned by Zhu Gaoxu, they did not doubt Zhu Gaoxu's words, after all, Zhu Gaoxu's ability to see mountains and mines has been famous for many years, and he has never miscalculated.

Looking at the map of the Sea of Whales (Sea of Japan), Yang Zhan set his sights on Vladivostok in later generations.

"According to the time, Zheng Jun and the others should separate the horses and boats and search for the whale Haiwei along the eastern part of Korea."

Cui Jun saw Yang Zhan's gaze and couldn't help asking, Yang Zhan also bowed his head when he heard this: "Your Highness said that this is one of the few ice-free ports in the Whale Sea, and once the post road leading to Jilin here is completed in the future, then we can get Jilin's materials from here." ”

"Your Highness's arrangement, I always feel that this Japanese lord will go to war with us in the future." Cui Jun was keenly aware of Zhu's attempt to make the future Oriental Fleet stand alone.

The Ming Dynasty has only two enemies in the Whale Sea, and the only one who needs to be dealt with by the Whale Sea Guard is the current respectful Japan.

"It's pretty much the same, but we don't have to worry about it so much now, just do as Your Highness tells us."

Yang Zhan interrupted Cui Jun's imagination and led the conversation to the construction of the navy.

"The navy is composed of seven guards, including Donghaiwei, Dongyangwei, Whale Haiwei, Nanyangwei, Nanhaiwei, Xihaiwei, and Xiyangwei, which mainly dominate the East, Nanyang, and Western Oceans."

"I have discussed with His Highness that the three guards of the Oriental Ocean, the East China Sea, and the Whale Sea are the Oriental Fleet, which will be composed of 15,000 people, 50 treasure ships, 60 lucky ships, and 100 horse ships."

"The two guards of the Nanyang and the South China Sea are the Nanyang fleet, with a total of 10,000 people, 30 treasure ships, 50 lucky ships, and 60 horse ships in the future."

"The two guards of the West Ocean and the West Sea are the Western Fleet, with an establishment of 10,000 people in the future, and the fleet establishment is the same as that of the South Ocean Fleet."

"Judging from this arrangement, His Highness cares most about the safety of the East, and the South and West are second."

Yang Zhan rolled out a much larger map, almost comparable to Zhu Gaoxu's General Map of the Four Yi Binfu under Heaven.

"Although His Highness drew this map based on ancient books, we are not familiar with the hydrology of various places."

"You can send someone to send a message to respond to the sky, and let the Marquis of Pingjiang (Chen Xuan) send two small fleets to the South China Sea to survey the hydrology, so as to prepare for the fleet to go to the West in the future."

Yang Zhan said, but Cui Jun was surprised: "The trip to the East is not over yet, and now I am preparing to go to the West?" ”

"Do you think this trip to the East was successful?" Yang Zhan raised his head and asked Cui Jun when he heard this, and Cui Jun also understood everything.

The purpose of this trip to the East has been achieved, and the goods carried by the fleet have already begun to trade in the Hidden Differences.

Judging by the speed of trade in the Hidden City before they set off for Treasure Island, it is estimated that the goods will be emptied soon.

This time I went to the East Ocean, and not only harvested the hidden and gold and silver islands, but also earned millions of profits through trade.

If none of these outcomes are considered successful, then what else can be considered success?

"This trip to the East has been successful, and the group of people in the temple can't pick out the thorns, so they can only do things with their heads down."

"I estimate that soon after we return to Jiangnan, His Highness will begin preparations to go to the West."

When Yang Zhan was talking about this, there was also the sound of hurried footsteps outside the tent.

He and Cui Jun looked out, but saw a thousand-household official running over excitedly with more than a dozen soldiers.

"Guogong, I found it!"

Looking at the excited appearance of the thousands of household officials, Yang Zhan and Cui Jun subconsciously had a premonition.

But a premonition is a premonition, and when the news is truly conveyed, the two of them can't help but be excited for a moment.

"This is the golden sand from the river, Liu Shangong has already followed the river to the mountain, according to him, the amount of this gold mine will not be small."

"In addition, we found ore in the open pit not far from Jinsha in the southwest, which is very easy to mine!"

Chito hurriedly took out a stone from his bosom, which was heavier than ordinary stones, and the lines were mixed with many silver stripes.

"Good, good!" Yang Zhan took the silver ore, took it with affection, and said excitedly: "Use the trade fleet to send news to His Highness, in case the partition wall has ears!" ”

"Yes!" Thousands of officials responded, and Yang Zhan also said to Cui Jun: "Let's go, let's take a look!" ”

The two did not delay, but rode directly to the southwest.

Although Treasure Island is "barren", it is 100 miles long from north to south and more than 30 miles wide from east to west.

Previously, it was inhabited by the Ueno clan, exiled Japanese literati, and the defeated, but there were only a few of them, just over 2,000 people, which is less than the population of the Hidden Islands.

The difference is that there is no one to receive the population here, so after Yang Zhan and the others landed here, they controlled the villages and towns living in the southern plains.

The people of the Ueno clan were very obedient, because after the arrival of the Ming army, they immediately let them eat rice that they once dared not imagine.

Compared to the common people of the Ming Dynasty, the people of the Ueno clan were only able to eat high-end dishes such as tofu and fish during the Chinese New Year.

On weekdays, the farmer's three meals consist mainly of miso mixed with soy sauce and pickled vegetables made with white radish, and the main food is porridge made with millet, millet and oats.

Even so, many people on Treasure Island are still struggling to make ends meet.

However, after the arrival of the Ming army, they immediately organized the civilians of the Ueno clan to sow the vegetable seeds brought from the Ming Dynasty and began to distribute rice to the people of the Ueno clan.

Even though it was only one and a half catties of rice per person per day, the food with such a taste still conquered them.

Not only that, but the horse boats in the port catch tens of thousands of catties of fish from the sea every day.

The fish that the Ming army could not eat would also be distributed to them in a centralized manner.

For a time, the civilians on Treasure Island were grateful to the Ming army, and Yang Zhan needed them to mine gold and silver for the Ming on the island.

There is golden sand on Sado Island, but the production has not been high, so it has not been taken seriously by the shogunate.

If it weren't for Zhu Gaoxu's order to explore, I'm afraid that the gold and silver mines here would not have been discovered until 200 years later.

But now, the gold and silver mines here will become the forbidden territory of the Ming Dynasty, and the Ming will not only take good care of the people on Treasure Island, but also collect people from North Korea and Northeast China to land on Treasure Island through the Sea of Whales.

"Sure enough, it's Golden Sands!"

Standing by the river, looking at the civilians in Ueno who had scooped up the golden sands from the river, Yang Zhan subconsciously looked at Cui Jun, and then pulled him aside.

"I will send someone to the market town in Ueno, and rename it Beihai Town, and at the same time register them, and register the cultivated land on the island."

"The people on the island, if they want to change their surname, they will change their surname to Jin, you take a few officials to name them, build a school at the same time, and tell them to stop distributing relief food in half a month."

"After the announcement, miners will be recruited from among the civilian population, and the daily wage will be ten catties of rice."

Yang Zhan's thoughts are lively, and he knows very well that he must come up with enough benefits to make this group of miners willingly driven by Daming.

Ten catties of rice a day is two stones a month, and twenty-four stones a year.

For Treasure Island, where the land is not very fertile, if you want to grow 24 stone rice, you need at least 20 acres of land, but the cultivated land on Treasure Island is only more than 5,000 acres.

This amount of arable land is simply not enough to ensure the survival of the people on the island, so people starve to death on the island from time to time.

Now working as a miner for Daming, one person can earn enough food for the whole family to eat in one day, and who is willing to farm.

If more than 2,000 people were miners, it would be at most 50,000 or 60,000 stone meters a year, but the gold and silver ore they dug up could be worth tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of yuan after smelting.

This is still his conservative thought, if it is really according to his own highness, then the gold and silver mines produced on Sado Island every year are worth no less than one million yuan.

Because of this, he was in a hurry to send the news to Daming.

Now that there is a large amount of golden sand to testify, I believe Zheng He also understands how to play.

Thinking of this, Yang Zhan set his eyes on the mountain known as Xiangchuan.

The next day, with the golden sands that had been dug out, a thousand-household official led a warship and two horse boats to Yinqi.

After five days of traveling, they finally arrived at the island of Hidden Devils on June 22.

By the time their ships entered the harbor and docked, the harbor of the island had been built enough to accommodate fifty or sixty ships of a thousand horses.

The brand-new concrete port was bustling with activity, and many teams came and went, all of whom were merchants under the guardians of various countries who had come to do business.

They carried the survey charm to the port through the Ming army's inspection, and then drove the dwarf carriage, carrying boxes of silver, copper coins, or copper, sulfur and other goods that the Ming lacked into the hidden ambiguity.

After more than half a month, the original low-rise houses on the island were basically demolished and replaced by a new market town being built.

Thousands of Ming soldiers wore mandarin duck battle jackets and worked feverishly under the command of craftsmen.

Not far from the market town, a place fenced off by a wooden fence became a trading point for Tomorrow's Market.

Qianhu officials could see many merchants carrying goods and silver money at the trade points to count the transactions, and then exchange them for carts of Ming goods.

There was a smile on their faces, because the goods they bought from the hidden qi could sell them for one or two times the price in the state as soon as they resold them.

For them, they don't care about the loss of dignity of their ministers, they only know that they don't have to cross the ocean to Daming to smuggle trade, not only is their safety guaranteed, but the profits of trade have not been reduced too much.

"Wang Zuo, the official of the Thousand Households of Whale Haiwei, asked to see the envoy by the military order of the Duke of Yue (Yang Zhan)!"

Wang Zuo walked to Zheng He's tent and took out the tooth tag of the Qianhu official of the Whale Sea Guard and the military token of Yang Zhan from his arms.

After inspection, he was able to enter Zheng He's tent, and Zheng He was making tea and discussing with Yang Li in the tent at this moment.

Seeing Wang Zuo come in, Zheng He looked at him inquiringly, and Wang Zuo also took out a cloth bag the size of a baby's fist in his arms.

"Treasure Island has made progress, please send a fleet to escort the last general back to Yingtian!"

As soon as Wang Zuo spoke, Zheng He and Yang Li hurriedly got up, and the soldiers in the tent also took the cloth bag from his hand and turned around and handed it to Zheng He.

In front of Yang Li, Zheng He opened the cloth bag, and then saw a handful of golden placer gold.

"Good!" Zheng He clenched the bag excitedly, and then instructed Wang Zuo: "Tomorrow when I leave, I will send a eunuch with you to go back with you to start this matter with Your Majesty." ”

After that, he carefully put the cloth bag in a wooden box, and repeatedly instructed: "This dust gold must be handed over to His Royal Highness and His Majesty, and in addition, I will have people send the letter of the Japanese lord to Yingtian, you must keep it properly." ”

"The last general commands!" Wang Zuo took the wooden box with both hands, and then slowly withdrew from the tent.

After he left, Zheng He hadn't come out of the excitement, but Yang Li stroked his short beard: "Now, the group of people in the temple have nothing to say." ”

"Hehe......" Zheng He smiled when he heard this, and his eyes seemed to see the city of Nanjing thousands of miles away through the tent.

"It's not just that there is nothing to say, I'm afraid that after this incident, the coastal merchant gang will be wiped out!"

(End of chapter)