1635 Han style rises again

Chapter 379 Satsuma Domain's Warning
In August, Hanxing Island (today’s Miyako Island) has always maintained a high temperature and high humidity weather above 30 degrees after the plum blossom (the rainy season), which made many immigrants on the island feel very uncomfortable.However, being able to eat one dry, one thin, or two meals that are not considered full after working hard, still makes all the hungry people from Daming feel at ease.At this time, more than 1 hungry people had gathered on the island, but the eight large ships that were separated continued to travel to and from Daming. It was hoped that by the end of November, the number of immigrants would increase to [-].

As for the other seven armed merchant ships, they carried most of the Marine Corps soldiers and went to Xinsheng Island after a little supply in Guangzhou, preparing to join the township soldiers guarding there, and then attack the coastal town of Guangnan (Annan Ruan) , to get plenty of food, cloth, gold and silver, and young women.

After successfully looting the port city of Nha Trang (now Nha Trang City, Vietnam) last year, it was found that the officers and soldiers stationed in the Quang Nam State were really vulnerable, and the defense of the city was relatively weak.That being the case, then Hanzhou will come again unceremoniously.In addition to replenishing supplies and gold and silver, it can continue to weaken the Annan people's strength, making it difficult for them to pose a threat to Xinsheng Island.

Compared with two years ago, today's Hanxing Island has almost undergone earth-shaking changes. Zhang Wenqi took advantage of the opportunity of many immigrants stranded here to build two large and three small, five forts, four large storage facilities, dock forts, and permanent islands. Solid cement trestles are complete.Moreover, more than 3 mu of arable land has been reclaimed on the island, and major food crops such as wheat, rice, sweet potatoes, and corn have been planted.In theory, it can meet the annual ration needs of 5000 people, which greatly eases the pressure of transferring food outward.

But Zhang Wenqi was still not satisfied. He continued to use the continuous arrival of immigrants to expand the scale of cultivated land, build more storage facilities, and continuously increase the height and width of the walls of several fortresses.For the residents who stayed on the island, all the township soldiers were trained in rotation, so that Hanxing Island could have enough self-protection ability like Xinsheng Island.

When he was in Hanzhou, he had heard Qi Tian mention it many times, the refugees would rise, the Ming Dynasty would perish, and finally the slaves in the northeast would sweep the entire continent, destroy countless Chinese civilizations, and massacre millions of Han people.According to the narratives of immigrants who flocked here, the order in the northern part of the Ming Dynasty has completely collapsed.The homeless riots that gradually subsided last year are now starting to revive again, and they are getting worse and worse.

In February, Zuo Liangyu, the commander-in-chief, and Zheng Chongjian, the governor-general of Shaanxi Sanbian, defeated Zhang Xianzhong in Taiping County.However, in July, Zhang Xianzhong went to Baiyang Mountain to join Luo Rucai, waiting for an opportunity to attack Wuchang, Hubei.Li Zicheng's troops fought against Ming officials' army in Sichuan. Although they were repeatedly defeated, they were routed and plundered dozens of prefectures and counties. The officers and soldiers were quite helpless. .

In the northeast, Jiannu was still besieging Jinzhou, cutting off the food and grass of the city's defender Zu Dashou. After forcing the army to kill all the cattle and horses in the city, they continued to kill thousands of women and children to fill the army's food, and waited for Hong Chengchou's rescue.

Although I don't quite understand the current chaotic situation in Ming Dynasty, there are signs of national subjugation in the last days, but Zhang Wenqi is still a little skeptical when it comes to Jiannu taking over the world.But no matter what, it is extremely important to build Hanxing Island, the Hanzhou immigration point closest to Ming Dynasty, to be more complete and safer, whether it is to increase immigration in the future or to prepare for necessary intervention in the troubled times of the mainland. .

However, on August 8, an unexpected visitor came to Hanxing Island—a representative from the Satsuma Domain in Japan.

Yokota Yoshikura was shocked by various things on the island when he arrived at the wharf of Hanxing Island.Three tall sailboats were moored on the shore, and the gunholes on both sides were densely covered with artillery, which was incomparable to those small Japanese sampans.The uniform boulder (cement) trestle extends from the pier to tens of meters into the sea.

Under the leadership of the officers of the Hanzhou Marine Corps, on the way from the pier to Hanxing Fort, Yokota Yoshizo saw a row of more than a dozen cannons lined up deep in the pier, staring at the sea.There are several stone (cement) shore fortifications and forts built around the fort, guarding the safety of the entire island.

Outside the tall and thick city walls of Hanxingburg, several temporary camps were built, but the people who came in and out were only women and children. Presumably, those men were all working or farming in other places.After crossing a man-made ditch and walking for tens of meters, you will arrive at the gate of the city.A group of awe-inspiring marine soldiers, holding muskets, looked warily at the representative of the Satsuma clan, and then turned their heads and stopped paying attention to them.

Yokota Yoshikura was a more pragmatic senior middle schooler in the Satsuma clan. He was familiar with Ming Dynasty and Western affairs. He often served as the representative of the Satsuma clan on missions, traveling between the Philippines, Hokage (now Macau), and the former Dutch stronghold in Taiwan to communicate on business matters.

During the Battle of Sekigahara, although the Shimadzu family of the Satsuma domain was in the Western Army, they should be on the side that was liquidated after the war, but Tokugawa Ieyasu feared that the Shimadzu Army would explode under the command of Yoshihiro Shimadzu. Combat strength, on the one hand, respect for such a relatively powerful opponent, and basically maintain the Shimadzu territory as it was, which also made the Shimadzu family a powerful feudal clan comparable to Date, Maeda, etc. besides the Tokugawa family.

Two years ago, Mitsuhisa Shimadzu, the second feudal lord of the Satsuma clan, received news that Zheng Zhilong, the governor of Fujian Province in the Ming Dynasty, had sent people to occupy an island in the southwest of Ryukyu. If you are interested, you will come to snatch it.For this reason, Shimadzu Mitsuhisa added more than 200 samurai to Ryukyu after struggling for a long time, just in case.But at the same time, he also made up his mind that if the Zheng family really wanted to send troops to stand up for the Ryukyu, the Satsuma domain would immediately withdraw all personnel and armed forces, waiting for the subsequent development of the situation.

Zheng Zhilong's power is not only like a sea dragon king in Daming, but even in Japan, he is also a respected and feared hero of the sea.The Tokugawa shogunate issued an order to lock down the country, allowing only the Ming Dynasty and the Dutch to come to Japan for trade.And the only Ming forces that can really trade with Japan are Zheng Zhilong and his family.Moreover, after continuing to suppress the business routes of the Dutch East India Company last year, it also forced the other party to make major concessions in Japanese trade, losing its previous dominant position in trade.

If Satsuma and Zheng Zhilong were fighting, and it was Ryukyu in the southwestern waters, Mitsuhisa Shimadzu thought that he would not be the opponent of the Zheng family's navy.However, news came out one after another later that it was not Zheng Zhilong who occupied the southwestern island of Ryukyu, but a certain southern Hanzhou power.As a result, the Satsuma clan let go of the hanging heart a little bit.But thinking about it, since the opponent can travel across the ocean and come to the Ryukyu Islands, he must be strong at sea, and he may not be able to expel him if he fights.But the other party seems to only focus on emigrating from Daming, and ignores the affairs of Ryukyu Island.Satsuma Fan also pretended not to see each other.

However, a few months ago, the Shimadzu clan of the Satsuma domain established the "Zaiban Fengxing" in Naha, Ryukyu, and suddenly discovered that the Ryukyu Kingdom was secretly rearming soldiers, and they still had a lot of firecrackers.The warriors stationed in Ryukyu from the Satsuma clan acted decisively and raided the Ryukyu palace at night, and captured more than a dozen members of the royal family and key officials under the Ryukyu king Shangfeng, and forced them to ask what they wanted.

After questioning by Ryukyu officials, Satsuma was shocked to find out that the Hanzhou native from the southern mainland actually had an affair with Ryukyu and sold them a lot of swords and firearms.

You must know that during the period when Mitsuhisa Shimadzu was in office, the Satsuma clan lost its foreign trade profits during the period when the Edo shogunate issued a lock-down order.For this reason, he ordered his old family, Shimadzu Hisamito, to go to Nagano (now Nagano, Satsuma Town, Satsuma County, Kagoshima Prefecture) to secretly mine gold mountains and develop new fields to revitalize the industry in the feudal domain.On the other hand, he strengthened the exploitation of Ryukyu to make up for the financial crisis in the domain.

However, you, a Hanzhou native who came from afar, dared to provide arms and Ryukyu in a vain attempt to set off resistance to the Satsuma clan and break their control of Ryukyu. This is faintly hostile to the Satsuma clan Shimadzu!

"On behalf of the Patriarch, I solemnly warn you." After seeing Zhang Wenqi and several Hanzhou military and civilian officials, Yokota Yoshizo said with a serious face: "Ryukyu is the core interests of my Satsuma clan, and has always been subject to I, Shimadzu, guide you. You Hanzhou is here to transfer immigrants from the Ming Dynasty, and we will not interfere. But we also hope that you will not interfere with the status quo of Ryukyu again."

"We didn't do anything to interfere with Ryukyu affairs. I think there are some problems in your Satsuma clan that you haven't figured out." Zhang Wenqi didn't like the serious Japanese in front of him very much.What do we Hanzhou do, do we need you to point fingers?
"Since you have no impression of certain matters, I can remind you." Yokota Yoshizo said: "A few months ago, you sold some swords and firearms to Ryukyu. Is there such a thing?"

"It's true. Ryukyu gave silver and wanted to buy a batch of swords and firearms on my island. We happen to have them here, so we sold them." Zhang Wenqi nodded and said; "This is a very normal commodity transaction. Don't tell me you Satsuma Fan Any objections?"

"Military weapons are not normal commodities." Yokota Yoshizou frowned and said, "The Ryukyu people bought this batch of weapons with the intention of harming our Satsuma clan."

"Why do they intend to harm you Satsuma?"

"..." Yokota Yoshizou paused, glaring at Zhang Wenqi with a sullen face, and said coldly, "I, the Satsuma clan in Ryukyu, have always directed the country's affairs, and I have a special close relationship with me. But there are always some people in the country who have ulterior motives." Those who are trying to destroy the friendly relationship between our Satsuma clan and Ryukyu. You Hanzhou people are also those who have ulterior motives."

"We Hanzhou people are certainly not people with ulterior motives." Zhang Wenqi said with a smile: "However, we are a little confused. Isn't Ryukyu a vassal state of Ming Dynasty? When did it become the guiding state of your Satsuma clan again? Does Emperor Ming know about this?"

"..." Yokota Kichizou immediately looked a little embarrassed, Ryukyu was a vassal of the Ming dynasty, and the Satsuma domain knew it.But it can't stand that Ryukyu is very close to Kagoshima, and it can also provide a steady stream of financial resources for the Satsuma clan and enhance the strength of the clan.

"No matter what the status of Ryukyu is, my Satsuma clan has special interests in Ryukyu, and you Hanzhou can't destroy this existing status quo at will." Yokota Yoshizo said solemnly: "If you want to do it, you will collude with Ryukyu secretly and sell weapons , I, the Satsuma Clan, will definitely take decisive measures. I hope you wait, so that you can take care of yourself!"

Watching the departure of the representative of Satsuma Domain, Zhang Wenqi and several Hanzhou military and civilian officials felt a little bad feeling in their hearts.It was originally thought that some weapons were secretly sent to Ryukyu to make it slightly resistant to Japanese erosion and control, so that the Hanzhou people could occupy Hanxing Island safely.In the end, Nima's was approached by the Japanese.Then, Ryukyu must have been cleaned up by the Satsuma clan, and maybe the control over them has been further strengthened.

"Platoon leader, those people are your Japanese compatriots." A Marine Corps squad leader Asada Zerong asked.

"Oh, they used to be." Tian Zerong, a Japanese wandering samurai formerly named Tian Zerong, is now the platoon leader of the Hanzhou Marine Corps. Now I am a Hanzhou people, and I have nothing to do with them. In the future, I will fight for my Hanzhou!"

(End of this chapter)