Chapter 899 Going north for inspection (1)

The day before departure, Xu Yuzhuo, who had gotten the news from nowhere, hurried to the headquarters and asked to send someone to join the expedition fleet. Qian Tiandun originally wanted to say that the rated capacity was full and it was inconvenient to add more people on board, but

Xu Yuzhuo seemed to have expected that Qian Tiandun would find such an excuse, and offered to send his own ship to join, without Haihan being responsible for the cost and supplies.

The reason why Xu Yuzhuo actively participated in the inspection mission was naturally because he had understood the behavior habits of the Haihan people through long-term contact. In Xu Yuzhuo's view, this so-called inspection activity meant that the Haihan people were already preparing to deal with the enemy.

A target is taken action. Such actions are often followed by a series of engineering construction and commercial development. The benefits that can be obtained in the future are worth looking forward to.

The previous example is Haihan's actions on Taiwan Island. At that time, Haihan did not inform the Fujian government when he was scouting the Tainan area. As a result, the Fujian side fell into a series of passivity in the development process of Tainan's Kaohsiung Port and was almost defeated by their Guangdong counterparts.

It squeezed out the competition of this emerging trading port. Since then, Fujian officials have been very concerned about Haihan's so-called "inspection", "exploration" and other activities. As long as there is news, they will definitely apply to participate, in order to avoid

Miss the opportunity again. The small cost of participating in such actions is really nothing compared to the benefits that may be obtained in the future.

Qian Tiandun couldn't laugh or cry about this. Although Xu Yuzhuo's judgment was correct, even if Haihan wanted to go northward next, he would have to wait for a year and a half until the situation in Zhoushan stabilized before he could act. Otherwise, the base would not be stable, so what?

To supply the needs for the early development of the next stronghold. Xu Yuzhuo was afraid of missing out on the opportunity to make a fortune, but he didn’t know that it would take a relatively long time before he could see any hope of getting his money back.

Qian Tiandun couldn't defeat Xu Yuzhuo, and finally gave him a quota for one person. This expedition to the north was considered a military operation, and it was not convenient to bring too many irrelevant people with him. It was enough for one person to represent the Xu family and see the local situation.

The candidate arranged by Xu Yuzhuo was no stranger, that is, Xu Ke, the secret stakeholder arranged by the Xu family in Ningbo. Xu Ke lives by the sea all year round and has pretty good sailing skills. Memorizing the route is definitely not a big problem. Moreover, he is not a member of the military and follows the sea.

The identity of the Han militia movement was not so sensitive. After Haihan gradually took over the Ningbo government, he did not have much to do on Zhoushan Island, so Xu Yuzhuo simply arranged for him to follow him to the north to see what was there.

nice one.

On the morning of July 20, a fleet of four ships slowly left the Dinghai Port Terminal. The destination of this fleet was kept secret. In order to avoid attracting too much attention from the outside world, Qian Tiandun and Shi Di

Wen Du did not show up at the dock to see him off, only Gao Qiaonan made a trip on behalf of the headquarters.

According to the route set by the navy, this fleet will first visit the west coast of Kyushu Island, then go all the way north through the Korean Strait to Jeju Island, and finally return to the west and return to the Daming Coast. Under the command of Wu Sen, the fleet will head east along the coastline of Zhoushan Island

It sails through Qitouyang, then passes through Puchen Waterway between Shenjiamen Fishing Port and Putuo Mountain, and then sails into the East China Sea.

It is about 500 nautical miles from here to Kagoshima Bay at the southern tip of Kyushu Island in Japan. There are basically no islands or ports for supply on the way. In order to be able to confirm the location after arriving there, another person set out with the fleet this time.

Amakusa Shiro, a Japanese naturalized citizen who belongs to the special operations camp.

Amakusa Shiro's hometown is Kumamoto Castle in Kyushu, Japan, and his background is not as good as Takahashi Minami. He does not even have the status of a low-level samurai, and his name only comes from the local place name and the ranking of his brothers in the family. However, he is unlucky.

Not bad at all. Takahashi Minami was very unhappy when he recommended him to the headquarters. This kind of opportunity to go back to his hometown to visit relatives may only be once in his life, but Takahashi Minami himself was unable to make the trip because of military affairs.

Noh recommended Shiro Amakusa, who was also born in Japan.

Amakusa Shiro himself has no special feelings about the opportunity to return to Kyushu this time. His situation in his hometown was not very good, otherwise he would not have been exiled overseas. As for the idea of ​​returning to his hometown in glory, he has no idea at all. He is in the militia

The length of stay is about the same as Gao Qiaonan. If he can sneak into the battalion commander and command this unit like Gao Qiaonan, he may still have some pride, but now he is only a deputy company commander, and there is Chen Yixin in the fleet.

The young leader is in charge and can only behave honestly.

Amakusa Shiro just hopes that this mission can be completed smoothly without any glitches. After returning, the headquarters will definitely report the merits to the Military Commission. Then he may have the opportunity to add to his military resume.

As a result, the long-term position was changed to a regular position.

Wu Sen, who was also a naturalized officer, felt a little different at this time. He was captured in the Battle of Hue in 1629 and later surrendered to Hai Han, but his promotion speed in the army was not at all due to

This time Shi Diwen boldly handed over the navigation command of the expedition fleet to him, which fully reflected the trust of Haihan military leaders in him. This time the destination was very important to Wu.

It was a completely unfamiliar sea area for Sen, so he was holding back his energy to perform well in front of Chen Yixin and prove that he was capable enough to command a fleet to perform missions in an unfamiliar area.

Four days after setting off, an island finally appeared on the sea in front of the fleet. After identification by Amakusa Shiro, it was confirmed that this was an uninhabited island called Kuroshima. The voyage from here to Kagoshima Bay was only less than fifty nautical miles.

Wu Sen secretly breathed a sigh of relief. The four-day sea voyage basically did not deviate from the scheduled route. It almost drew a straight line from Zhoushan to Kagoshima Bay at the southern end of Kyushu Island. His role as commander can be regarded as

It was played to its fullest.

Compared with the Haihan fleet that came here for the first time, their ally the Portuguese must be more familiar with this place. In 1543, the Portuguese came to Tanegashima, south of Kagoshima Bay, and settled in Tanegashima in the following few years.

In the middle of the year, Western muskets and religions were introduced to Japan. Although Japan's isolation policy has been implemented for a long time, and the prohibition of Western religions in the Kyushu region has been promulgated for many years, it is said that there are still some Portuguese people settled in Seeds.

On the island, they engaged in some smuggling business that had been banned by the Edo shogunate.

According to the information provided by Amakusa Shiro, the local officials' attitude towards overseas visitors was not very friendly, so the fleet was not in a hurry to sail into Kagoshima Bay, but found a fishing port to dock near Sata Cape at the southernmost tip of Kyushu.

There is a small fishing village on the coast of this place. Perhaps the people here have seen the Portuguese from the west, so they did not appear panicked when they saw the large ships of the Haihan Fleet.

Since the water on the coast was not deep enough for the fleet to dock directly, Takemori ordered to anchor about a hundred meters away from the coast, then lowered the small boat from the ship and asked Amakusa Shiro to lead the team to row ashore to buy supplies from the locals.

This village is located in a mountainous area near the sea. There are only about twenty households in total, and the population is less than a hundred people. The supplies it can provide are also extremely limited. In addition to fresh water, seafood, and only a few vegetables, it is so poor that it does not even have poultry or livestock.

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After Amakusa Shiro made sure it was safe on shore, Chen Yixin also boarded the land in a small boat. He had never been to Japan before crossing over, and this was also his first time setting foot on the land of this island country. It was still a bit fresh. However,

There is really nothing to investigate in this place. The situation of the villagers not only reminded Chen Yixin of what he saw when he landed at Victory Port six years ago, but the Yulin Fishing Village at that time was almost like this.

The villagers did not reject the arrival of this group of strangers, because these visitors were very generous and took out silver ingots. After the village chief took the silver, he happily mobilized the villagers to quickly buy supplies for these rich men.

The fleet only rested here for one night, and set off the next day, heading north along the western coast of Osumi Peninsula. However, the fleet did not intend to go deep into Kagoshima Bay. When it reached the southern tip of Satsuma Peninsula, it turned west, starting from

The Kagoshima Bay estuary cuts across it. The Kagoshima area is not the focus of this investigation, and Chen Yixin does not intend to waste precious time here. It is enough to check the changes in the coastline on the map while passing by.

The area at the southern tip of Kyushu Island belonged to the Satsuma clan, which was also one of the major southwest kingdoms during the shogunate period. The Satsuma clan not only controlled the Kagoshima area, but even the Ryukyu Kingdom in the south was under the control of the Satsuma clan during this period.

However, the reason for controlling Ryukyu is not that the Satsuma clan is greedy for the little land on the sea, but because the Edo shogunate implemented a seclusion policy. The Satsuma clan wanted to trade with the Ming Dynasty across the sea, but could not openly confront the shogunate, so they took Ryukyu.

As a cover, it served as a window for trade with the Ming Dynasty.

However, this inspection trip did not include the Ryukyu Islands in the south. The focus of the Kyushu region was still on Nagasaki, Sasebo, Hirado and the Goto Islands in the north.

The voyage from the southern tip of Kyushu Island to Nagasaki Port is nearly a hundred nautical miles. The fleet specially slowed down its speed in order to inspect the coastal conditions, so the voyage took nearly two days to complete.

Nagasaki is located on the west coast of Kyushu Island. It has been Japan's external gateway since ancient times. As early as the Sui and Tang Dynasties, most of Japan's envoys to the Sui Dynasty, envoys to the Tang Dynasty, and monks set out for China from here. By the Ming Dynasty, maritime traders in China's coastal areas also

A large number of people went to Japan for business. In the mid-16th century, the Portuguese and the Dutch also arrived here successively and began to establish trade relations with Japan. Starting from the 17th century, the Edo shogunate gradually restricted the trading venues of foreign ships. By 1635, that is, two years

After that, Nagasaki will become Japan's only foreign trade port, and will continue this unique status for nearly two centuries. Of course, due to the addition of Haihan and other travelers in this time and space, perhaps Japan's future

The trend will no longer be exactly the same as the original historical trajectory.

"Nagasaki is a port city with many different aspects. You will see Tang Dynasty Town, Confucius Temple, and Western churches there. It is similar to Haojingao in Guangdong and Laoshuangyu Port in Zhoushan."

During the voyage, Amakusa Shiro introduced the local situation in Nagasaki to Chen Yixin. He had lived in Nagasaki for a period of time, so he was familiar with the local area. Maritime merchants and sailors from various countries brought different cultures, making the local customs of Nagasaki unique.

Human relationships show a unique diversified trend.

When the fleet sailed into Nagasaki Bay, Chen Yixin felt more intuitively why this place has been a common choice for sailors and merchants from all over the world for a long time. The long harbor here, surrounded by mountains on three sides and facing the sea on one side, is indeed in good condition.

A natural port. From a military perspective, the pincer-shaped highlands on both sides of the harbor entrance are also excellent defensive terrain. Just a few artillery pieces can completely block the access channels to the port area. If the radical forces of the Navy and the Ministry of Shipping are allowed

When the elements see it, they will definitely clamor to take over this place.

As a comprehensive trading port that brings together merchants from all over the world, the attitude here is very friendly to outsiders. After the Haihan fleet sailed into the harbor, it did not cause any chaos. However, the blond European sailors on the shore saw the mast.

After the red and blue flags were displayed, everyone couldn't hide the surprise on their faces. They must have been surprised to see Haihan's sailboat here. Those with quick minds may have been planning the appearance of Haihan people.

The real purpose here is now.

Someone on the dock led them to an empty berth and docked. Then the port management staff boarded the ship and asked them about their purpose of coming here and made a record. In addition, you need to pay a certain amount of docking fees to use the dock here.

Chen Yixin asked someone to pay for three days in advance, because this place needed to stay longer for inspection.

As soon as Chen Yixin landed on the shore surrounded by a group of guards, a group of locals gathered around him. They were not here to beg for money, but to ask the new businessman to hire one of them as a local guide. Chen Yixin was too lazy to

After taking care of these trivial matters, he handed them over to Amakusa Shiro.

Although Amakusa Shiro had lived in Nagasaki for a period of time, it was many years ago. He didn't dare to say that he knew the current situation here better than these locals. However, he still cautiously asked about the price first. Basically,

The price is one denarius a day, but there are also one or two guys who claim to have special connections and can send messages to local officials on their behalf, bidding three denarii a day.

Amakusa Shiro knew that the people who shouted high prices might just be bragging, so he planned to hire one of the people with lower prices, but Chen Yixin stopped him from doing so: "Just hire the ones with the highest price, and we won't hire as many as you want."

It’s just a little short of money.”

Although Amakusa Shiro didn't know what he meant, he still did what Chen Yixin wanted.
Chapter completed!