Xinshun 1730

Chapter 153 Lock the country
When he was about to arrive in Nagasaki, Liu Yu went on deck and handed over the command of entering the port to Lin Yunwen.

The four students who followed him also hid Western objects such as sextants, and each was equipped with a Miao knife to follow.

Nagasaki Port is a long and narrow port. Since the Portuguese came to make trouble, the key point of entering the port, Tomachi and Saibo on the opposite bank, have built forts.

The Kuroda family of the Chikuzen domain and the Nabeshima family of the Hizen domain sent troops to garrison here in turn.Loose forts can also be seen in some nearby places, and Nagasaki, as a window to the country, has almost been fortified.

In the distance, you can see Dejima where the Dutch live. Dashun’s opening and closing policy also affected the trade policy of the Dutch East India Company. He didn't care much about trade, and turned to be a porter between China and Japan.

Dutch houses and warehouses can be seen, but no ships.

Lin Yunwen also followed Liu Yu, and Liu Yu asked a question.

"My lord, the Dutchman's ship must leave the port before October. You can't stay for too long. The owner of the merchant hall changes every year. Our ship can spend the winter here, but if you don't have a trade letter card, you can only leave quickly. .Otherwise they'll be bombarded."

Liu Yu looked at the dark forts all around, and wondered: "I can't come here, so I didn't think about going elsewhere? Are you so honest? Don't you smuggle?"

Lin Yunwen chuckled, and said in a low voice: "The master is just joking. How can anyone be honest when they go to sea to do business? Ten years ago, there was a great Japanese Confucian named Arai Shiraishi. At that time, I heard that some people did not get the letter card, so I naturally thought of smuggling. Some ships pretended to be blown away by the wind, and went to Xiaocang and other places, and they were about to run across the Maguan Strait."

"But the Japanese fired directly. At that time, more than 20 ships, without any weapons, were shelled by the Japanese, and they all fled. After that, there was a battle between Jiangsu and Zhejiang merchants and Fujian merchants. Both sides informed each other in order to get trade. Faith cards. Another thing, the most valuable Japanese are copper and silver, and other things are hard to sell. The people are poor, and smuggling is hard to sell.”

It was only then that Liu Yu realized that he had really underestimated these businessmen. It seemed that as soon as the new order of Zhengde came out, these businessmen wanted to make a big deal.

It has to be said that this trade credit card system is really too vicious.It can not only instigate businessmen in different regions to fight among themselves, but also use Xinpai as bait to obtain a steady stream of information.This Arai Shiraishi is a character.

"During the years you've been in Nagasaki, have you ever met any other Westerners besides the Dutch?"

"I've seen it twice. Once, a Portuguese missionary secretly came to preach and was arrested. Another time, the British entered Hong Kong under the banner of the Netherlands, but trade was prohibited, so they had to leave. Other Westerners are rare. Over the years, religious bans have been strictly enforced. The Dutch do not believe in old religions, but the Japanese can tolerate them. Portuguese and Spanish are absolutely not allowed to come.”

Japan's ban on religion is indeed strict, but the missionary fanaticism of the Spaniards and Portuguese is indeed fanatical.

Knowing that grabbing is death, there are missionaries rushing to Japan one after another, wishing they could be burned on the stake.Martyrdom to heaven.

The Dutch are lucky, they are Protestants, and they are all about making money, not preaching.

Although the British are also Protestants, the British were put together by the Dutch at the end of the Ming Dynasty. In Southeast Asia, Britain depends on the face of the Dutch.

Back then, Britain also had shops in Japan, but at that time China was closed to the outside world, and the British could not get Chinese goods at all, they could only buy and sell iron rods, lead rods, and woolen wool.However, once the Warring States Period ended, iron rods and lead rods could no longer be sold.

The British still have samurai in Japan, such as the prototype of "Nioh", Miura Yasuke, but this does not change the cruel reality that British goods cannot be sold in Japan.

During the Ming Dynasty, Britain always wanted to open a window for trade with China, and spent a lot of money with the Dutch for this.

Zheng Zhilong's predecessors, such as Li Dan, Yan Siqi and others, claim that they have a particularly strong relationship and can definitely do business.

The British and the Dutch actually believed it, and gave a lot of money over and over again. However, Li Dan and others said today that they encountered a typhoon and were robbed. They asked for a total of about 4. The hard work of the extra taels of silver lasted until the British couldn't stand it anymore in Japan, and the business hall withdrew with the IOU.

It is estimated that the British really didn't know that Ming Dynasty had its own national conditions here, and they thought that such a big thing could be done with 4 taels of silver.Even if there is a connection, how much money will be left after the 4 taels of silver are passed along the way to the capital...

The fact is that Li Dan, Yan Siqi and others are very clear-headed: if it is really open to trade, then what will they earn, a group of second-tier dealers who monopolize the supply of goods?Not only did he not do business, but he also hid the business credentials of Emperor Wanli of the Ming Dynasty who were in power in the Netherlands.

Probably because of Dashun's open trade policy this time, the British also thought of second-hand dealers between China and Japan, so they pretended to be Dutch to explore the way?

Japan will definitely not accept Spaniards and Portuguese, so don't think about it.Unless one day Spain and Portugal do not believe in Catholicism.

Looking sideways at the forts near Nagasaki, Liu Yu probably had an idea in his mind, and asked, "How much power does Nagasaki have?"

After asking, I realized that I had asked the wrong question.How could Lin Yunwen know about such things?
However, Lin Yunwen gave the answer directly.

"The power is not small. In addition to these soldiers, if there is an emergency, Nagasaki Makoto can also directly transfer soldiers from nearby feudal clans. In addition, people from several feudal clans are stationed in Nagasaki to communicate directly with the feudal lord and Nagasaki. pursue."

Liu Yu was taken aback, and wondered, "How do you know about such confidential matters?"

"The master thinks this is a secret matter? It's not. Everyone who comes here often knows. According to the rules, how many gifts should everyone give, which ones must be given, which ones don't need to be given, and which ones should be given in secret... …You know all these things, how can you not know these things that the Lord asks?”

After saying this, he quietly looked back at the place where the horses were kept, and said in a low voice: "The matter of buying horses was originally left to the Tsushima Fan. People from the Tsushima Fan went to North Korea. It came from Dawan country, thousands of miles away, so they couldn’t get it at all. Ma Fan knew that the Koreans were talking nonsense, but he could only recognize it by pinching his nose, so he asked Wen Gong to come to Nagasaki, hoping that Nagasaki Fengxing would come forward to find horses .Nagasaki has given the ban, and if you can get an immature horse, if your shoulders are high enough, you can get a trade token."

Liu Yu said with a smile: "That's true. The North Koreans were beaten by them once, and they still have lingering fears. There is still a bottom line, and the horses are not sold."

Lin Yunwen's heart skipped a beat when he heard the word "bottom line", thinking that Mr. Liu's bottom line is a little low, and he dared to sell a war horse.

"My lord, there are 'wind storytellers' specially arranged for incoming ships by the officers of each feudal clan. What the wind says is just a rumor. Our ship is asked by those officers. The Dutch have to write it in advance and submit it when they arrive. .”

The cause of this incident was the trade competition between the Dutch and the Portuguese and the Spanish.

Basically, the Dutch talk bad things about Spain and Portugal all day long. Today they say that the Portuguese first preached and then conquered, and the next day they say that the Spaniards practiced slavery in the Americas.Of course, most of it is just fact.

In the last year of Wanli in the previous dynasty, the Dutch and the British teamed up to trick the Portuguese again. It may be that someone informed them. The British caught Portuguese missionaries smuggling on a Japanese ship, and immediately took this opportunity to completely cut off the Japanese-Portuguese trade. It has monopolized the right to control Japan's foreign news.

Since then, when Dutch ships entered the port, they always had to write a "wind story" and submit it to Nagasaki for execution.This kind of wind storytelling is only circulated in the small circle of the shogunate, so that it is easy to understand the external situation, and it is top secret.

However, just like the Qing Dynasty, the small circle knew a lot about the Western world, but it was of no use.

The small circle knew about the French Revolution, so they thought it was the French White Lotus Sect and suppressed it severely. They also sent Napoleon an ivory sculpture of the Fenyang Palace to "encourage" Napoleon to "follow Guo Ziyi and protect the Tang Dynasty from usurping" and wish Napoleon many children Sun, the bed is full; the small circle of the shogunate also knows a lot about the West, and even the shogunate knew that the Netherlands was forced to stand with France not long after the French revolution started.

This kind of secret that can only be spread in a small circle, in addition to the Dutch, also includes the Chinese side. After all, only ships from these two countries can come to Nagasaki for trade.

Fortunately, when the Chinese ship arrived in Nagasaki, there was no need to directly submit the wind storytelling, but there would be a special official to inquire.

Most of it is bullshit, where did the boat come from?Has there been an earthquake in China recently?Is there a famine?Is there anything at the border?Basically, these maritime merchants don't know much about them. Due to their status, the merchants don't have such a tight intelligence network.

Sometimes in order to please the Japanese, businessmen often make nonsense.After a long time, the wind storytelling in the Netherlands is still taken seriously, but the wind storytelling in China is not very important.

However, Liu Yu knew that when he came this time, he would definitely be taken seriously.Because he brought what those merchants could not bring.

The ship docked at the port, and soon several Japanese boarded the ship. Lin Yunwen murmured a few words with the Japanese, and then led the Japanese to look at the war horses in the cabin. The Japanese disembarked immediately.

"My lord, the matter has been settled. I guess Nagasaki will ask in person in a while. I'm just a gang leader, so I probably won't ask me. Even if you ask me, I know what to say. It's just that here is no better than Shenzhou, After all, it is on someone else's territory, so the so-called strong dragon does not overwhelm the local snake."

Liu Yu nodded and said, "Don't worry, I know."

He called Shi Shiyong who had been hiding in the cabin, brought Mantou and four other students as guards, and soon Japan sent someone to invite Liu Yu.

He got off the boat swaggeringly, hugging left and right, and led by several Japanese people all the way to a mansion.The owner of the mansion is "Tang Tongshi", that is, the Chinese translator, and he introduced himself as Mei Shisanlang.

After entering the room, Liu Yu took a few glances and guessed that there might be a big person listening behind the screen, but he didn't know what level it was.

Mei Sansanlang didn't ask where he came from or where he loaded the ship, but asked directly, "Why did you bring the horse?"

Liu Yu also did not pretend at all.

"Because war horses can be exchanged for trade letter cards. Trade letter cards can make money. In addition to war horses, I also brought a bow warrior who is good at riding and shooting falcons."

(End of this chapter)