Late Ming sea owl

Chapter 93 Game of Thrones

Of course, it was impossible for Matsuura Takanobu to agree to kill Zheng Zhilong, but after careful consideration, he finally agreed to temporarily sever business ties with Zheng Zhilong and let him go to Nagasaki for trade on the grounds that he did not dare to violate the shogunate's ban.

At the same time, Takanobu also put forward his conditions. Li Guozhu and Lin Hai would sell no less than one thousand dans of raw silk and three thousand kilograms of ginseng to the Hirado domain every year. The transactions should be based on the pre-agreed price and no price increase should be allowed.Once the above conditions cannot be met, Matsuura will resume trade with Zheng Zhilong at any time.

Lin Hai listened to Li Guozhu's translation and said to him: "Brother, I think this condition is acceptable. I have no problem with the three thousand kilograms of ginseng every year, and I can also be responsible for half of the one thousand kilograms of raw silk."

Li Guozhu knew that Lin Hai was euphemistically putting forward conditions to him. As far as the supply of goods under Xu Xinsu's control was concerned, it would be effortless to produce a thousand loads of raw silk. Lin Hai meant that he would take half of the share.

The scale of the raw silk trade in Hirado is about [-] tons per year. The Matsuura family's distribution capacity in the Japanese country is only so large, and it cannot sell more than this amount.Their lower-level distributors are relatively secretive, and they dare not expand at will, lest the shogunate know about Hirado's trade volume and cause unnecessary trouble.

In the past, the Li family could account for [-]% of the [-] dan of raw silk, which was almost [-] dan, and the remaining [-]% was occupied by the Dutch.The control of this proportion is in the hands of Xu Xinsu, because the supply of goods for both companies mainly comes from Xiamen.

Now that Li Dan is dead, Zheng Zhilong has opened up new supply channels. It is conceivable that the share occupied by the Li family will definitely decrease, and at the same time, the price of silk in Hirado will also decrease due to competition.Rather than doing this, it is better to give the five hundred Dan to Lin Hai.

Thinking of this, Li Guozhu nodded to Lin Hai, and then said to Matsuura Takanobu in Japanese: "Lord Takanobu, we two brothers accept this condition."

Li Guozhu had no hope of relying on the Matsuura clan to kill Zheng Zhilong. He had just asked for an exorbitant price and was waiting for the other party to pay back the money. Being able to cut off Zheng Zhilong's Hirado trade was already a good result.

Opposite him, Matsuura Takanobu also had a smile on his face, and this deal was not a loss for him.

To him, Li Guozhu and Zheng Zhilong were both homogeneous suppliers, and their supply mainly came from the southeast of Ming Dynasty.However, Lin Hai represents the source of goods from North Korea. Long Xin is very aware of the value of ginseng in the Japanese country, and Ma Zongshi has made a lot of money from this stuff.

The only thing to worry about is that Li Guozhu and Lin Hai are sworn brothers and may work together to drive up prices. However, Longxin also proposed a clause to agree on the price in advance, so this problem is solved.

As for whether Zheng Zhilong will be dissatisfied because of this, that is not a matter that Longxin considers at all.Even if one day he kills Li Guozhu and Lin Hai, as long as Long Xin waves his hand, this pretty boy will soon stick to him again regardless of his past grudges. Who will be at odds with Yin Zi?
"Very good, the goods Lin Sang brought this time, I want two hundred loads of seven-mile silk, 400 taels per load, and three thousand catties of ginseng, 50 taels per catty, how about it?"

Long Xin had seen the quality of the goods on Lin Hai's ship yesterday, and the price was fairly reasonable. 23 taels of silver was almost all the liquidity he could mobilize in the short term.

As for why he eats all the raw silk, it's because he has ready-made sales channels and basically doesn't need to buy goods.Since the Tsushima clan monopolized trade with North Korea, the Matsuura clan's ginseng distribution network has been shut down for nearly 20 years and needs to be re-established.

Lin Hai was quite satisfied with the price and agreed immediately.

"I will have all the money within ten days, and I ask you two to leave for Nagasaki as soon as possible. Just as Li Sang said, buy this batch of goods in the name of Goshenji Temple, and then resell them to our Hirado Domain. "

"In compliance with Lord Takanobu's order, our brothers will go to Nagasaki tomorrow." Li Guozhu said, "In the case of Heizang, I will also ask Elder Kongji from Wuzhen Temple to come forward and inform Nagasaki. This will certainly not injure the Lord. .”

Early the next morning, the Amano departed from Hirado Bay and headed for Nagasaki along the coastline of the Kitakyushu Peninsula.

The scenery along this waterway is quite beautiful. Lin Hai stood on the starboard side and admired the famous 99 islands of Sasebo.It is said to be 99 islands, but in fact there are more than 200 islands. From a distance, it looks a bit like Qiandao Lake in Hangzhou in later generations. However, the beauty of Qiandao Lake is created by manpower, but the 99 islands are the miraculous workmanship of nature.

Hundreds of years later, not far from this beautiful sea area, the Angsa bandits built a naval base as a bridgehead for their control of the East Asian continent.In that battle to found the country, many Chinese people fought bloody battles and finally defeated the United Nations forces that set out from here.

But separated by a river, this land was fully nourished by Han civilization, but in the end it became a bad neighbor.This evil neighbor caused the most serious disaster to the Chinese people in modern history, and later became an eagle dog, serving as a key chess piece in its Asia-Pacific chess game.

Lin Hai silently reminded himself in his heart that since he came to this time and space to live a new life, he should not have any regrets.In addition to dealing with the Manchu Qing Dynasty, which was holding back the country, the evil neighbor Japan must also be eliminated as much as possible.

But to achieve this goal, it is probably no less difficult than wiping out the slaves. After all, this is a mature feudal country with a population of 2000 million. The Mongols who swept across Europe and Asia never conquered it.

"Brother, can you still see the scenery of Japan?" Li Guoshu asked with a smile, interrupting Lin Hai's thoughts.

"I am a common man. If the goods on the ship are not sold, how can I enjoy the leisure time and enjoy the scenery." Lin Hai replied smoothly. He had nearly one million taels of goods on the ship, and he was really worried that it might be unsalable.

"Don't worry, dear brother. If it's spring and winter, it's really hard to sell the goods on the ship. But now is the peak season for maritime trade. Many wealthy businessmen from all over Japan are in Nagasaki, but there is no need to worry."

Lin Hai felt relieved after hearing what Li Guozhu said, and asked again: "The Elder Kongji of Wuzhen Temple you mentioned yesterday, who is that person?" Li Guozhu said: "This person is a good friend of my father's lifetime. He was in Wuzhen Temple five years ago. After becoming a monk, his dharma title is empty. By the way, he is also the foster father of my third brother."

Lin Hai was stunned for a moment before he realized who the third brother he was talking about was. Li Guozhu once said that he had a foster brother in Nagasaki named Ou Zuoji, who was the only son of Ou Huayu, the brother-in-law of Li Dan and Xu Xinsu.When he and Li Guoshu became sworn sworn mates in Dongfan, they included Ou Zuoji, so he also had a third brother whom he had never met before.

"This elder Kongji, his lay name is Zhang Tao Jingquan?"

When Li Guozhu heard what Lin Hai said, he was surprised and said: "Where did my dear brother know Uncle Zhang's name?"

"I heard Huang Cheng mention it, saying he was one of the most wealthy businessmen in Nagasaki." Lin Hai casually recommended it to the dead Huang Cheng. He couldn't tell Li Guozhu that he was a time traveler who was familiar with the history of Chinese maritime trade.

Zhang Jingquan left little historical information. Lin Hai only knew that this man had a close relationship with Ou Huayu, and they were both leaders of the first generation of Tang people in Nagasaki.After Ou Huayu's death, this man became a monk, but his name was not handed down, but now we know it is Kongji.

"Uncle Zhang is from Nanjing. He was originally a failed scholar. Later, he betrayed a powerful family and went into exile in Zhangzhou incognito. At that time, Uncle Ou was still a water bandit on the Jiulong River. He saved Uncle Zhang's life. Uncle Zhang was living under Uncle Ou's family. He served as a military advisor on the ship, and later became a master, and together they went abroad to Japan."

Lin Hai couldn't help but be a little surprised when he heard Li Guozhu talking about this secret that was submerged in the long river of history.I didn't expect that Zhang Jingquan's experience was so legendary, and he was still a scholar. He was much better than Xu Xinsu, an old boy.

"According to what elder brother said yesterday, Elder Kongji and Nagasaki Fengxing have quite a relationship?"

"It's not just Nagasaki. Uncle Zhang has a lot of contacts in the Japanese country. Many celebrities around the general treat him as a guest. In order to save Uncle Xu, my father was sent by Master Nandu of Fujian to retreat from the red hair. This was also thanks to Uncle Zhang. force."

Lin Hai nodded when he heard this. He had read an article from later generations, which mentioned that the Dutch withdrew from Penghu mainly because Li Dan invited a highly respected hermit. The article speculated that this hermit had become a monk at that time. Zhang Jingquan.

Now it seems that the so-called high morality and high respect mainly refers to the fact that the Dutch do not dare to offend because of their high reputation in the Japanese country.This is in line with the red-haired ghost's tendency to bully the weak and fear the strong. Talking about convincing others with virtue is simply nonsense.

Unexpectedly, Zhang Jingquan was so successful in the Japanese country that even the Dutch were afraid of disobeying him.This person may be able to influence some decisions of the shogunate, and should be of great use in the future for Lin Hai, who is determined to wipe out the Japanese country.

Thinking of this, Lin Hai hurriedly said: "My younger brother also knows some Japanese figures, but I don't know who the celebrities around those generals my elder brother mentioned?"

"There are two main ones." Li Guozhu gestured with two fingers.

"The first one is Masazumi Honda, a senior minister of the shogunate. Uncle Ou also had a good relationship with him during his lifetime. However, this person lost power three years ago and was exiled to Dewa Country by the second-generation shogun. Let's not mention it."

"The latter one is Yixin Chongchuan, who is known as the prime minister in black. This elder can be regarded as a veteran of the shogunate for three dynasties. He is still trusted by the Grand Imperial Palace and three generations of generals."

Lin Hai couldn't help but secretly gasped after hearing this. Both of them were important figures in Japanese politics in the early Edo period.

Honda Masazumi has been a senior minister for more than 20 years. This position is similar to that of a minister in the minister's office during the Shang and Zhou dynasties, and is also similar to the minister of the court in the Ming Dynasty.The Japanese country was still a typical feudal aristocratic society and had not experienced the separation of civil and military careers caused by the changes in the Tang and Song Dynasties. Lao Zhong could serve as generals or prime ministers under the shogunate system.

In name, Yoshin Shoden was only the religious advisor to the Shogun, but as the contemporary head of the Rinzai Sect of Japan, he was very keen on politics. He had been involved in aircraft maintenance since the Tokugawa Ieyasu period. Almost all important government orders in the early Edo period were Drafted by him, the title of prime minister in black is real.

Lin Hai suddenly remembered something. Zheng Zhilong had killed Xu Xinsu as early as the seventh year of Tianqi and gained an overwhelming advantage over Li Guoshu.Logically speaking, Li Guozhu had lost his value to the Matsuura family at that time, but he still spent seven or eight years in Hirado unharmed.

This time point happened to be shortly after the death of Yi Xin Chongchuan. Perhaps it was because of the loss of this powerful backer that Li Guozhu finally died under Zheng Zhilong's conspiracy.In other words, as long as Chongchuan survives, Li Guozhu will be invincible in Japan.

Although Li Dan died, Lin Hai had to lament that Li Guozhu's capital was still very strong.

Based on Li Dan's connections during his lifetime, the Li family's strength in the East Asian waters cannot be underestimated. There is Xu Xinsu in Fujian and Zhang Jingquan in Nagasaki. Behind these two are local powerful people, and it is difficult for ordinary people to shake them.

Only now did Lin Hai deeply understand that there was no independent big bourgeoisie in Asia in this era, and all bulk trade was a game of power.The so-called sprout of capitalism is just a sprout, and there is still a long way to go before real capitalism.

(End of this chapter)