Late Ming sea owl

Chapter 137 The Layout of the Eastern Route
"Third brother, how do you feel about going to sea this time? Is it more interesting than chanting sutras and chanting Buddha at Wuzhen Temple?" After meeting Sotaro Araki, Lin Hai found an opportunity to talk to Ou Zuoji alone.

Ou Zuoji's biological mother is a Japanese woman. He was born in Nagasaki. This is the first time he has left Japan for this long. At this time, he is full of freshness and excitement.

After hearing Lin Hai's words, Ou Zuoji laughed loudly and said: "A man should eat big mouthfuls of meat, drink big bowls of wine, travel across the world, and enjoy grudges, so that he can live his life in this world in vain."

When Lin Hai heard this, his tone sounded a bit like Chen Yaozu's, and he thought to himself: This is another middle-school boy.

"Third brother's words make sense. He is indeed a young hero." Lin Hai said with a smile.

"Haha, it's thanks to the second brother who woke me up." Ou Zuoji said, "I brought more than 500 people out this time, all of them are my father's old subordinates. If the second brother is short of manpower, , I can allocate some more to you."

When Lin Hai was in Nagasaki, he told Ou Zuoji that he wanted to borrow some people from him. At that time, he only summoned 200 people in a hurry. Ou Zuoji always felt a little sorry. After all, Lin Hai gave him 10 taels of capital to go overseas. .

"With the 200 people from Umino Sahei, I have enough here for the time being." Lin Hai waved his hands and said, "Has the third brother obtained the Zhusin Certificate? What kind of goods are loaded on the ship?"

Ou Zuoji heard the words and replied: "I got it. Two of the three boats are mine, and only one is the Araki family's. There is no cargo on my boat except people and money."

Lin Hai nodded. The Japanese country was basically a pure importing country in overseas trade in this era. Many Zhuyin ship owners only brought silver when they left the Japanese country, and then they bought and bought along the way. They did not bother to bring the goods out at all. Sell.

"Third brother, you can bring some copper and sulfur next time. When we get to Dongfan, I will take them all without any trouble..." Lin Hai's demand for Japanese goods mainly consisted of these two items, and the others were basically not of a concern to him.

Although there is no shortage of copper and sulfur in the Keelung and Tamsui areas, the copper mines have not been mined yet. Besides, these are important military supplies, so it is always good to reserve more.

For example, the Japanese country in the 20th century originally had cypress in the country, but it did not use it as a strategic reserve. Instead, it cut down cypress in the Ali Mountain area of ​​​​Treasure Island for use as aircraft carrier decks, and even spent huge sums of money to build railways to transport wood from the mountains.

Lin Hai then asked Ou Zuoji: "The third brother went to sea with Araki Sotaro, but he plans to go to Jiaozhi?"

Jiaozhi in the Japanese country is generally used to refer to the Guangnan Kingdom of Annan Ruan, and the Beihe Kingdom of Annan Zheng is generally referred to as Tokyo.Yes, Tokyo in this era was in Vietnam, and it was indeed very hot...

"Yes, I also plan to go to Cambodia and Siam." What Ou Zuoji said was basically the Western route mentioned by Chinese maritime merchants, and it was also the main route of Zhu Seal Ship trade in this era.

"There are too many people traveling on this route, and business may not be easy." Lin Hai said and asked, "Third brother, is there a captain on your ship who is familiar with the Asian needle route?"

"Eastern Asia? Luzon?" Ou Zuoji said in surprise. Manila was originally one of the six main destinations for the Zhusin Ship trade, but the shogunate banned trade with the Spanish a few years ago. Lin Hai knew this.

"No, no, not Luzon." Lin Hai shook his head and said, "I'm talking about Sulu, in addition to Sulu Mayi."

"Yes, there is. My father often ran this route in his early years, and there were many prominent figures from various places along the way who could talk to him." Although Ou Zuoji has been reciting scriptures in the temple for several years, he has been practicing since he was a child. He was familiar with overseas trade, so he was no stranger to the places Lin Hai mentioned.

The so-called Sulu is actually the name of a country whose territory is mainly the Sulu Islands in the southern Philippines, sometimes including Palawan Island and northeastern Borneo.

Like the Majindanao Sultanate in Mindanao, the Sulu Sultanate was a sworn enemy of the Spanish in the Philippines.One of these two countries is dominated by mountain people, and the other is dominated by fishermen. For the Philippine Governor in Manila, it is a more serious problem than the Dutch.

As for Sulumayi, it used to be the name of a country, but now it is just the name of a port city. This port will have a more famous name in later generations - Surabaya.

The reason why the name of the country was changed to the name of the port is because just last year, the rapidly rising Mataram Sultanate on the island of Java conquered this small country. However, the original royal family of Sulumayi was still the local feudal nobles, but they no longer owned it. The name of the Sultan.

Sulu Mayik is the easternmost port of Java. When this place is conquered, the ambitious Sultan of Mataram, Ratan Langsang, will turn his attention to the real enemy in his mind - Batavia. Dutch.

When Lin Hai heard that Ou Zuoji not only had team leaders who were familiar with the East-ocean route, but also that Ou Huayu had dealt with powerful people on this route, he couldn't help but feel overjoyed and asked quickly: "Zuo Ji, can you still communicate with Sulu, Have the powerful people in Sulumayi and Sulumayi spoken to each other?"

"It should be no problem. I basically brought out several of my father's core subordinates this time, and they all traveled with my father on the East Ocean route." Ou Zuoji said, "What? Sulu, Suluma Yi, is there anything that Second Brother is interested in in these two places?"

The specialties of Sulu are mainly pearls and corals, but these are luxury goods and the output is not large.

During the Yongle period, King Sulu once presented a very large pearl weighing more than seven taels to Zhu Di, the founder of the Ming Dynasty. This king's father died on the way back from paying tribute four years ago. There is still a Sulu pearl in Dezhou, Shandong Province. Tomb of the king.

As for Sulumayg, it was once an important spice distribution center in eastern Java. Today, the main export cargo is rice.Rice is also one of the main commodities in Southeast Asian trade, and the Sultanate of Mataram was the largest rice exporter in Southeast Asia in this era.

"That's right." Lin Hai nodded and said, "I am more interested in the people of Sulu and the rice of Sulu Mayi."

"People from Sulu? Could it be that Sulu is rich in beauties? Why haven't I heard of it?" Ou Zuoji was a little confused. Lin Hai's "rice from Sulu Mayi" was easier to understand, but "people from Sulu" It was very confusing for him.

"No, no, what I want is not a beautiful woman. What I want is a man, and only a strong, young and vigorous man..."

Lin Hai's words gave Ou Zuoji goosebumps. Wouldn't his second brother have the same hobbies as Uncle Li?No, the second brother seems to have stronger tastes. Uncle Li also likes boys and girls like Zheng Yiguan...

Lin Hai didn't know that Ou Zuoji had already thought wrong. He continued to explain: "The third brother knows that I plan to build my own territory in Dongfan, but the population here is too sparse and the food production is small, so I want to buy some people and food from overseas."

Ou Zuoji said suspiciously: "Didn't the Ming Dynasty have a lot of people?"

Lin Haidao: "I want to open a mine in Dongfan, but I don't want to pay the miners, so I want to buy some people to work."

"Isn't the second brother talking about slave labor?"

"What a slave labor, don't say it so harshly. This is called a long-term contract worker."

Lin Hai said and added: "My third brother may not know something. The King of Sulu often robbed people in Luzon, Bisayan and other places, and then sold them into slavery. Sulu happened to be relatively close to Dongfan, so I thought Do this business with them."

The so-called Bisayan is the Visayan Islands in the central Philippines, located between Luzon in the north and Mindanao in the south.This is the starting point for the Spanish colonization of the Philippine Islands, and Magellan died here more than 100 years ago.Legazpi began to colonize the Philippines more than half a century ago. His initial governor's palace was also built in Cebu, Visayas, and later moved north to Manila, Luzon.

The scope of Spanish rule in the Philippines was mainly Luzon and Visayas. The local indigenous people's civilization process before the arrival of the Spaniards was only slightly better than that of the Dongfan indigenous people, and they were at the bottom of the entire Southeast Asia.

To the south of the Visayas, the two already mature kingdoms of Majindanao and Sulu blocked the Spanish invasion of the south.

Of course, these two countries also paid a heavy price for resisting the Spanish invasion. Their retaliation against Spain was mainly through harassment behind enemy lines. Part of the plundered population was given to domestic nobles as slaves, and part of it was used as slaves. Product sales.

At present, this business has just started, and the scale is not large yet, but it will gradually grow in the future until Hele, the capital of the Sulu Sultanate, becomes the population trade center of Southeast Asia.

"So that's it." Ou Zuoji reluctantly accepted Lin Hai's explanation, "Second brother, do you want me to go to Sulu and Sulu Mayi?"

"Yes, from Sulu to Sulu Mayi, you will also pass through Makassar, where you can buy all kinds of spices. Whether it is pepper from Java, nutmeg from Banda, sandalwood from Timor, or Merlot There is a market for the lilacs produced in the Ming Dynasty and the Japanese state..."

"As for the places like Cochin, Cambodia, and Siam that you originally planned to go to, Third Brother, the goods you purchased were mainly silk, porcelain, and deerskin. I can sell these to you in Dongfan, so you don't have to travel so far... …”

Several countries in the Indochina Peninsula could produce some low-end silk and porcelain, especially Annan, which was also very popular in overseas trade in this era. Deerskin was Siam's main export product to Japan.

Lin Hai was still following the temptation, but he heard Ou Zuoji say: "Second brother, you don't need to say so much. Just tell me the truth. What is the purpose of asking me to go to these two places?"

Well, although this kid is young and inexperienced, he doesn't seem to be that easy to fool.

Lin Hai then approached Ou Zuoji and whispered in his ear: "Don't say this to other people. The reason why I want you to run the East Ocean route is actually mainly to deal with the Greeks and Aranda people in the future..."

The so-called "relatives" actually refer to the Spaniards. Lin Hai's purpose actually has nothing to hide from Ou Zuoji. He is mainly worried that Zuo Ji is too young and has a lax tongue. It would not be good if it was revealed to Sotaro Araki. .

The slave labor in Sulu and the rice in Java are indeed of great significance to Lin Hai. The mines in Dongpan require endless slave labor, and the rice in Southeast Asia is also an important strategic material for Lin Hai in the future.

But these were not the reasons why he was anxious for Ou Zuoji to travel to these two places. After all, it was not that urgent.

What is really worrying is that the Spaniards are coming to Keelung soon. Lin Hai's idea is to use war to promote peace. While pushing the Spaniards back to Luzon, he will make them realize their own strength and be willing to join forces with him to deal with them. Dutch.

In order to achieve this strategic goal, he needs to reach a private alliance with the two sultanates of Sulu and Majindanao as soon as possible, or at the worst, he must reach some kind of de facto tacit understanding of cooperation.

To use an inappropriate analogy, it might be similar to the slave-building and peasant armies during the Chongzhen period, who could coordinate perfectly every time.

Because they have to face the Spanish enemy together, the relationship between the two countries is quite good. Among them, the Sultanate of Sulu is a maritime country, and its foreign trade and exchanges are more developed than the mountainous country of Majiudanao, so it became the Linhai Sultanate. first choice.

As long as an alliance is reached with Sulu, then Majin Danao will naturally be a matter of course.

Then the second more anxious thing is that the Matalan Sultanate on Java Island will launch war against the Dutch twice in the first year of Chongzhen and the second year of Chongzhen. This will be an excellent opportunity to overthrow the Dutch twice.

After all, Ma Dalan can be regarded as the dominant force in Nanyang in this era. Extreme mobilization can bring out 30 troops. Although it is just a ragtag group, this huge number alone is enough to drown the red-haired ghost.

Mainly because they couldn't defeat the Dutch at sea, they couldn't deliver enough food to the front.If Lin Hai can join forces with Spain and Portugal to ensure the smooth flow of grain transportation channels to the Sultan of Matalan, then the throne of Batavia will be overturned in minutes...

Lin Hai roughly told Ou Zuoji his plan, and the latter laughed loudly: "As expected of the second brother, this plan sounds very interesting, I will do it!"

"Okay! There is a saying that 'brothers of one heart can cut through gold', let us brothers and you achieve this maritime supremacy together!" Lin Hai also took a hit in front of Zuo Ji, and then said, "It's just that this matter has tens of millions of dollars." Don’t tell anyone else, even my eldest brother, don’t tell him for the time being.”

Ou Zuoji was stunned for a moment and said, "Why?"

"Eldest brother is quite afraid of the Alanto people, and has always hoped to use the Alanto people to get rid of the Zheng thief. We will talk to him about this after we get rid of the Zheng thief."

Lin Hai said and added: "The reason why I didn't tell you the truth before was because I was worried about this. You must remember that this matter will just stay in your stomach for the time being. Don't even tell your subordinates, like Araki Someone like Sotaro who traveled extensively overseas should never be mentioned."

Ou Zuoji nodded and said, "Okay, I'll listen to my second brother."

"Our strength is still too weak. This time we just need to establish contact in the name of trade." Lin Hai said and warned, "Over in Sulu, you can tell them how many slave workers we will take. You can exchange it for weapons."

On the same day, Ozuoji gave his red seal certificate to Sotaro Araki and asked him to help get it stamped by Guangnan Kingdom. After all, the destination was written on the red seal certificate, and the red seal ship trade was carried out by countries that had diplomatic relations with Japan. After receiving the red seal certificate, you cannot run around overseas.

Araki Sotaro immediately set off for Annan. This person would also be useful to Lin Hai in the future, but for now he only needed to remain a casual acquaintance.

Afterwards, Ou Zuoji also took his people to Sulu, and Lin Hai watched him leave on Sheliao Island.

At this time, Viper came from Tamsui and said to Lin Hai: "Sir, Master Xu sent a message from Zhoushan, saying that it is an urgent matter."

Lin Hai opened the letter brought by Viper and saw that it was Xu Xinsu who had the exact information about when Zheng Zhilong would send troops to Fujian. At the same time, he also asked Hong Chengchou to issue a warrant to Lin Hai, asking him to lead the Zhoushan Battalion to Fujian Zhongzuo Helped in the fight.

"Let's go back to Zhoushan right away." Lin Hai said to Viper after reading the letter.

　Thanks to Lao Zhu Wu for the third reward of 1 taels!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)