Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1274 Another War ([-])

September 1660, 9, sunny, southeast wind.

The second ship of the "Yaksa" class steam engine sailing ship "Nerchinsk", which has just entered into service, is sailing safely in the sea off Akaogi Port in Tanegashima at this time. It is accompanied by the "Yaksa" motor sailing ship— —The two ships belong to the Okhotsk Sea Squadron of the Third Fleet, and they are also the only two ships of the squadron.This trip to the vicinity of Tanegashima was mainly to start a smuggling trade with the Satsuma domain. Well, this is a project personally led by Deputy Commander Wei Boqiu Wei, and it was also approved by Commander Chang Kai Sheng Chang, who instructed the Navy and Japanese companies to work together participate.

The reason why two armed transport ships were sent here was mainly because the ships were flexible and could easily escape even if things went wrong.The cabins of the two ships were loaded with a lot of raw silk purchased in Dinghai County, as well as Taiwan cane sugar, buckskin, camphor and other items resold by the Bank of Taiwan. market.However, I heard that the Satsuma clan had a bad reputation, and repudiation and robbery were commonplace, so the two armed transport ships also carried more than [-] officers and soldiers of the garrison stationed in Ezo, led by Changchun, a general of the Qing Dynasty.

The "Yaksa" class motor sailing ship anchored far outside Chiogi Port, and then sent several officers and clerks ashore to negotiate. Shi Chacha was born in the Satsuma clan—he was in contact with a samurai in the clan named Yaji Hashiguchi, who was said to have some devious relatives with Junnosuke Hashiguchi.

The two quickly met in the port. Yaji Hashiguchi, on behalf of the feudal lord Mitsuhisa Shimazu, promised the goods sent by the people from the east coast. Junnosuke Hashiguchi was overjoyed when he heard this, and immediately stuffed a gold coin with a denomination of 50 yuan. For Yaji, it's hard work.

Yaji Hashiguchi quickly put the gold coins into his pocket, then looked around carefully, and found that several low-ranking warriors were leading the peasants to sort out the goods and coins from a distance, and did not pay attention to the things here, so he relaxed quietly. Tone, said: "Shun Zhizhu, you have been away from home for a long time, and I don't know the current situation in the feudal clan. The Edo side distrusted the patriarch very much, not only ordered the feudal clan to stop absolutely foreign trade, but also did not allow us to mine gold and silver. Ji is getting more and more embarrassed. Not to mention, the shogunate has also sent a lot of inspectors, hermits, and Mufu (all of whom are secret agents) to spread out in the feudal domain, to investigate and assassinate intelligence everywhere, it is simply..."

Hashiguchi Junnosuke was also silent when he heard the words.Now Japan is in a closed state, and the big names are severely restricted, and it is impossible to trade with the outside world. Speaking of it, the Date family, a powerful vassal in the Northeast, is more concerned. They take advantage of the Shandan trade to make a big deal The smuggling trade not only brought in a bunch of foreign goods, but they even flooded them with fake money.However, the counterfeit money is actually better than the real money. Everyone likes to collect it, and they don’t want to hold the low-quality copper coins in the market, which makes Japan’s own coins start to depreciate slowly. It's a ridiculous thing.

And it was precisely after seeing that the Northeast clans made a fortune in this kind of smuggling trade that the Satsuma clan moved to engage in smuggling trade with the people on the east coast—of course, the Shimadzu clan itself is not a pure little sheep, It would be naive to think that they did not engage in smuggling in private, but that everyone avoided the shogunate.And the shogunate is not completely ignorant, as long as you don't make it too exaggerated, then generally you don't want to be troublesome, just turn a blind eye and close one eye.

Therefore, this is actually the real reason why the Satsuma clan dared to hook up with people from the east coast and engage in smuggling trade, just to spend a little money.But then again, once the smuggling trade between the Satsuma Domain and the East Coast begins to flourish, and a vested interest class is gradually cultivated, whether this scale can be effectively controlled is a problem.Didn’t you see that the Date family’s smuggling business is getting bigger and bigger, which has already made the shogunate pay attention to it and plan to take action to rectify it?Human greed is always endless.

After a few low-level warriors in the distance finished checking the goods, they drove away a large group of peasants and soldiers. In fact, it is said that the peasants and soldiers are reluctant, and it is more accurate to call them "the common people", because they are actually the people who belong directly to the lord. There is no freedom, which is a fact. Serfs on the road.According to the words of Tokugawa Ieyasu's counselor Honda Masanobu, "to collect tribute from the peasants, either let them die or not let them live", this is evident.

In addition to "the common people", there are also a large number of hired workers called "Shui Tun" and "Xiao Qian" in the Satsuma domain (including other areas with developed trade). The ordinary people are not as good as they are; similar to them are the hereditary serfs of the lower-level samurai (samurai in the village), such as "Pu Dai Xia Ren", "Ming Zi", "Bei Guan", etc., and their living conditions are also quite poor.

Wei Boqiu himself is more interested in these low-level Japanese people. Before he came, he asked Hashiguchi Junnosuke and others to help him search a lot, which is of great use to him.Hashiguchi Junnosuke firmly remembered this matter, and planned to ask Hashiguchi Yaji after the transaction was completed, to see if he could hire some wandering samurai who were able to hire Mizuto, Omae, who went to sea to pioneer, and even had a hard life— - He himself was before - As for the cunning "town people" (that is, businessmen and craftsmen, Hashiguchi-kun has a bad impression of this group), he thinks it is better not to introduce more, of course, this may not be in line with Deputy Commander Wei Opinion.

The first trade between the two parties went fairly smoothly. Hashiguchi Junnosuke and others used small boats to transfer goods back and forth, and each shipment of materials was delivered as soon as they were delivered.The way the Japanese used to pay for the goods was part gold, silver and copper plus some real objects, including sulfur, swords, stationery, fans, lacquerware, household utensils, etc. People on the east bank had no objection to this, because the Heishui area paid much attention to these daily necessities. The demand has been very strong, and there is no fear that it will not be sold.

To the surprise of the people on the east coast, due to their poor understanding of Japanese trade, the people on the east coast once thought that they only wanted raw silk, deerskin, cane sugar, etc., so they mainly focused on this kind of goods, and the goods they prepared were quite simple.After getting in touch, I realized that the Japanese have a very large demand for commodities such as silk, cotton cloth, linen cloth, woolen cloth, sumac, dyes, spices, lead, tin, and medicinal materials. Bankruptcy), it has always been very difficult to obtain these commodities, so as long as the people on the east coast and the Satsuma clan are brave enough, then this business can be done. After all, the Dutch and Zheng merchant ships in Nagasaki are also restricted, and it is impossible to open Supplying these goods - as the saying goes, how bold people are and how productive the land is, it depends on whether you dare to take the risk of angering the shogunate.

The entire transaction took more than half a day before it was announced to be completed. The East Coast people conservatively estimated that the profit should be more than 10 yuan. Although it is not comparable to the scale of the business with the Date family, this profit rate is acceptable to all parties, especially It is the Japanese company on the east coast that is responsible for monopolizing the trade with Japan. The funding gap caused by long-term immigration to North America can probably be made up for a little bit, provided that the trade with Satsuma can last for a long time.

After the business was completed, and with Hashiguchi Yaji's approval, the East Bank sent people ashore to buy some supplies. At the same time, Hashiguchi Junnosuke, accompanied by his entourage, visited the local magistrate of Tanegashima to keep in touch. After all, in the future This may be a major trading site.In addition, he was also ordered to land in the mountains and rivers of the Satsuma clan, and then look for opportunities to make friends with people around the clan, from the ministers to the servants, to the elders, etc., to lay a good foundation for larger-scale contacts between the two parties in the future—of course, this matter must be It was done in secrecy.

That night, the "Yaksa" and "Nerchinsk" were fully loaded with supplies and part of the recruited personnel (mostly poor peasants who lost land in Japan, a few were craftsmen or ronin, the total number was no more than 80 people), and left Akaogi Port, Tanegashima , heading straight to the southwest. On October 10, two armed transport ships crossed the Pescaldo Islands (the Penghu Islands) and arrived at Dayuan later that day.

Han Yin, who is in charge of Taiwan's banking affairs here, immediately came to the pier after hearing the news, negotiated with the military officer who led the team, and then called the laborers to start moving the supplies, most of which were high-grade furs, wine, beer, brandy, and dried fish. , Whale products, ironware and other commodities are all requested by the Dutch.As for the seven No. 80 Japanese who arrived here with the ship, all of them will be left here. Together with the previous batch, the headquarter of the Bank of Taiwan in Dayuan Port has reached about 150 people, which is almost enough. Maintain the operation of the business station - if there are more, it may cause uneasiness to the Dutch, which is not worth it.

On October 10, the two ships loaded dozens of tons of sucrose, a large amount of rice, sumac, sandalwood, camphor, dyes and other commodities, and left Dayuan Harbor on the high tide, and arrived at Ningbo Fuding Harbor on the afternoon of October 7. , delivered the goods to the Bank of Taiwan, and they charged a certain transportation fee by the way.It was also at this time that they heard the amazing news that two immigrant transport ships that had just entered service this year arrived in Ningbo from the mainland, bringing the news that the mainland had officially declared war on the Portuguese, which made everyone excited for a while. They all lost their voices - Nima just finished negotiating peace with the Qing court, and this country is fighting with the Portuguese again, so what should our Blackwater Pioneering Team do here?Is it possible to attack the Portuguese in Macau and even completely block their trade routes?

Regarding this, Shao Shuguang, who was delivering the goods on the pier, didn't know either. He only knew that a group of military and political officials in the southern theater, including Tian Xing, Huang Yi, and Junior, had been called to a meeting by Liao Xiaoyao. As for what was being discussed at the meeting, Shao Shuguang didn't know and didn't want to know.He is just a national cadre of the commercial system, and also a businessman, so he really lacks interest in these killing things.

However, there are some things that you cannot hide from, especially when you are in such a sensitive position.The next morning, Shao Shuguang was directly called by Liao Xiaoyao from Dinghai County to Yin County to receive instructions from Lieutenant Colonel Lieutenant Colonel (promoted for his meritorious service in attacking Huai'an Mansion) and Southern Theater Commander Liao Xiaoyao.

Commander Liao’s instruction was very simple, that is, in the name of the Bank of Taiwan, he could contact Li Chengdong in Guangzhou through the so-called private channels, demanding to monopolize the import and export trade of raw silk, porcelain, tea, and sugar in Guangdong, so that the Portuguese could not continue to obtain the supply of goods. And bring it back to Europe for sale-the profits generated by the sale may be transformed into the Portuguese's war power, and then threaten the lives of soldiers on the east coast-of course, in order to endorse this behavior of the Bank of Taiwan, the Navy's Blackwater temporarily special The dispatched fleet and the Okhotsk Sea Squadron of the Third Fleet will also send several ships southward to the Pearl River Estuary to see if they can block Macau's foreign trade.

In addition, the people on the east bank will also look for opportunities to persuade Li Chengdong to send troops to take back Macau from the land, making the local Portuguese lose their final shelter. However, this matter has nothing to do with Shao Shuguang. In the name of the executive deputy general manager of the bank, he went to Guangzhou to negotiate with Li Chengdong and other Ming Dynasty officials, demanding a complete monopoly of their foreign trade, including the ban on Portuguese trade in the coastal waters of Guangdong.

East coast people do what they say! On October 10, five professional warships, including the mighty "Rock of Cadiz", two armed merchant ships, two flute ships, and the armed transport "Yacsa" ("Nerchinsk" already carried People and goods went to Kushiro Port) jointly formed a southbound convoy, carrying all officers and soldiers of the No.15 Division (11 people, division commander Bogdan) of the New Army stationed in Ninghai County. Heading towards the mouth of the Pearl River.

On the morning of October 1660, 10, the huge fleet (relative to the Guangdong ocean at this time) arrived at the wide mouth of the Pearl River, and then anchored in a calm bay near the Wanshan Islands.At this time, because of the shipping schedule, the Portuguese ships in Macau Harbor probably haven’t started to move yet. I just don’t know how strong they are. If they are not strong enough, it is not impossible for them to be blocked in the port by the East Coaster’s fleet. .Of course, if they rushed out a dozen professional warships at once, the people on the east coast would immediately pull anchor and set sail and return to Dinghai Port, but this possibility is really unlikely.

Of course, the safest way is to seek help from Li Chengdong, the actual ruler of most parts of Guangdong and the Duke of Huiguo in the Nanming Dynasty, to drive away or even kill the Portuguese in Macau by land, so that they can be separated from the east coast that is anchored in the open sea. Together, the inside and the outside should cooperate to completely wipe out the French bandit who has occupied Macau for a hundred years.Of course, considering the relatively good relationship between Frangji and the Nanming court, it is worth considering whether Li Chengdong dares to do such a thing, but how will you know if you don't try?

So, on October 10, Shao Shuguang, accompanied by several entourages, traveled up the Pearl River on the armed transport ship "Jacques" and headed straight for Guangzhou, intending to meet Li Chengdong for a while.

(End of this chapter)