Xinshun 1730

Chapter 334: A Tasteless Military Port

For these things, it is best to "guide" the Ryukyu King to make the right choice before the Ryukyu King goes to the capital to plead guilty, and to settle and clarify the matter in black and white in the capital.

Liu Yu thinks that according to the current three views, he is far inferior to Zhao Baiquan.Many times he feels that other people have problems with their heads, but the same thing, others actually feel that there are problems with his heads.

So he very much hoped that Zhao Baiquan would take care of this matter.

"Lord Zhao, during the reign of Hong and Yong in the previous dynasty, the Celestial Dynasty bestowed 36 surnames on Ryukyu. One is to teach Ryukyu to build ships so that they can pay tribute; the other is to educate Ryukyu and make them closer to the Celestial Dynasty."

"Now the 36 surnames are scattered, and there are not many left. They have been suppressed all these years. If you want Ryukyu to be convinced and enlightened, for the long-term plan, I think the Ryukyu King should still list it. Please give 36 surnames."

"However, this time it is mostly craftsmen and those who are good at farming."

"As for the Ryukyu state affairs, you and I shouldn't have interfered, but the Japanese had infiltrated too deeply before. Since we are angels, we have to do something."

Zhao Baiquan had already seen what Liu Yu's "action" meant, and when he heard that Liu Yu was going to do something again, he felt nervous for a while.

Xin Dao last time you acted as a big purge, and directly arrested the pro-Japanese faction all over.This time, he still has to act. Could it be possible to force the Ryukyu King to be a puppet?
However, what Liu Yu said later made him relax a little.

"Master Zhao, my cultural level is not high, and I only know some practical knowledge. I don't know anything about poetry and poetry. But there are many people in Ryukyu who admire my court, and there are also some survivors with the surname 36. Why don't Master Zhao take advantage of these few days to communicate with them more?" ?”

"Now that I am driving away the Japanese people, I am gaining the upper hand. We might as well communicate with the survivors of the 36 surnames... At this time, many official positions in Ryukyu are vacant. Of course, you and I are angels, and you oppose learning from Han and Tang envoys. It’s not good to interfere too much with Ryukyu, but it’s not too much to communicate with the remnants of the Celestial Dynasty, right?”

Hearing that Liu Yu didn't want to directly lead troops to let the King of Ryukyu appoint officials, Zhao Baiquan knew that Liu Yu had taken a step back, he was secretly relieved, and understood Liu Yu's meaning.

It is said that it is an exchange, and the Ryukyu King will definitely see it in his eyes.As long as Zhao Baiquan puts on a gesture of being close to the survivors of the 36 surnames, the King of Ryukyu will naturally understand that this is an opportunity to show his loyalty to the heavenly court: in the past, people who were pro-Satsuma were in power, and now of course they have to take on a new look.

At that time, in front of the Ryukyu King, I would like to mention a little bit, and let the Ryukyu King take the initiative to apply for the imperial court to send people to educate him, which is indeed an acceptable course of action for Zhao Baiquan.

The two had disagreements, but Liu Yu had already given in, so Zhao Baiquan said, "You might as well tell me what effect you want to achieve, so I can try to see if they can use it. After all, the Ryukyu matter is different from this court. .”

Liu Yu asked: "In the Ryukyu Kingdom, things like wine, flour, and tofu can only be monopolized by the royal family, and can only be manufactured by the royal family. Therefore, the people do not grow rice, wheat, or beans, but only sweet potatoes, plantain leaves, and cycads. Food, is this bad government?"

Zhao Baiquan nodded, thinking to himself, if this is not a bad government, then what is a bad government?If the emperor of the Celestial Dynasty dared to do this, he would have been scolded to death long ago.

But when I think about it, the current political level of Ryukyu is still in the stage of the nine-rank middle system, and we can't ask too much.

Liu Yu asked again: "Ryukyu originally had the law of equalizing land, but it has not changed for many years, so that the wealthy families occupy more of the land. If the Ryukyu country inspects the land and checks the land, is this a benevolent government?"

There will definitely be many people who object to doing this in Dashun.

But in Ryukyu, the land is not owned by Dashun officials, so you can consider it from the perspective of three views. You can speak better than singing while standing up and talking without any vested interests.

Zhao Baiquan nodded again.

Liu Yu then said: "Ryukyu, a country of hundreds of miles, how can there be so many political affairs? Whoever can check the fields, cancel the royal family's exclusive rice and wheat, and reclaim the land, whoever is a capable minister, who has talent. If there are more others, it is difficult for the strong In a county, you can still ask for a champion in the palace examination?"

"In the future, I don't ask for anything else. If I lead the king's order to go to war, I can spend money to buy food in Ryukyu. The navy doesn't eat banana leaves, let alone cycad fruits. I don't ask how much the Ryukyu people can contribute. I'm afraid What’s more, money can’t buy it. It’s as simple as that.”

"There is a shortage of people and technology. Let Ryukyu ask His Majesty to give you 36 more surnames, and teach the methods of farming and land reclamation. As for education, it is needless to mention that it is necessary to promote Sinology and abandon Japanese studies, so as to have a new look."

"The small country of Ryukyu is not as good as the Central Plains when it comes to outstanding people and land spirits. In addition, it is only a city of a hundred miles, so it is difficult to have great talents. But in my opinion, this country of a hundred miles cannot be governed. It is really politically obscure. Mr. Zhao can be with 36 surnames. The bereaved family communicates, if someone can see the problem of Ryukyu..."

Zhao Baiquan said with a smile: "If anyone sees the problem, they can mention one sentence when talking with Zhongshan King: The country has talents but does not use them, so there will be disasters for Japanese slaves."

Seeing that Zhao Baiquan knew everything, Liu Yu said with a smile: "That's it. If Mr. Zhao can accomplish this, it can be regarded as a virtuous government. For the time being, I don't need to think about checking the fields and so on, but in Ryukyu, Mr. Zhao has no land, so I think it is the right time to practice benevolence and righteousness to deal with our original intentions."

Another sarcasm sneered, Zhao Baiquan didn't laugh, and he didn't laugh, and he knew that Liu Yu didn't like them, but this matter was indeed like Liu Yu said, an opportunity to practice benevolent government.

There is no chance to practice benevolent government in China, but there is always a chance to try it in Ryukyu.

Thinking about Liu Yu's style of speaking and doing things again, I also feel that it is really inappropriate for Liu Yu to communicate with descendants of 36 surnames: they can't talk together, they have no common language at all, and they don't know poetry.

"Okay, then I'll go visit the descendants of the 36 surnames of the survivors of the Celestial Dynasty."

In the next few days, Liu Yu met with the Ryukyu King for a few more times, and watched the Ryukyu-style "pound punishment".In this big cleansing of the pro-Japanese faction, the patriarchs of the seven great clans were divided into eight sections, which was the heaviest punishment in Ryukyu.

It was originally intended to be seen by the Celestial Dynasty, and of course the two angels must be present at the execution scene.

Not long after the execution, Liu Yu took people, rode the horses presented by the Ryukyu King, and brought some naval officer students majoring in fortress engineering to Zhongcheng City, and inspected the city wall construction with a strong Japanese style. Judge the power of the siege artillery, and attacking there is the easiest way to cause the wall to collapse.

Looking down from above, it is the Ryukyu military port that Liu Yu thinks is the most suitable, Zhongcheng Port.The waves of the Pacific Ocean are blocked by distant islands, and the peninsula shelters the surrounding tides, so the bay is calm and calm.

Two expedition ships are measuring the water depth there to see if they can berth directly here in case of a possible typhoon.

These military students studying fortress engineering also took a fancy to this good place at a glance, pointed to the Liansheng Peninsula in the north and said: "If you choose to build a military port, fort and fort here, you can build it on that peninsula. As long as the navy is in , the fortress on the peninsula cannot be breached; on the contrary, as long as the fort is there, the military port will be safe. We rely on each other, the tide is not strong, and if the water depth is suitable, this is the most suitable military port."

Where they pointed, there was a small hill. On the hill was a dilapidated castle, which was also built by the Ryukyu people. It probably existed a long time ago.

The group rode their horses around the bay again and went to the castle.The castle is not big, but the location is excellent.

The location of the military port chosen by Liu Yu is within the range of the coastal artillery at this time, and there is a small hill that can be built against the mountain.

The distance from the beach is only tens of meters, and Ryukyu is not big at all, and the peninsula is even narrower. If you control this place, as long as the navy is not destroyed and supplies are unblocked, according to the new fortress repair method, the attacking force from Ryukyu will not be able to deploy, as long as the garrison 200 people, with enough artillery, can protect the military port without worry.

The castle is poorly built, but it has a good vision and a good terrain.There are natural slopes and sufficient stone materials for the old castle. As long as the King of Ryukyu can come forward to collect labor and have a professional project leader, it is not difficult to repair.

"Do you think this place is okay?"

These military officers and students all said: "The geography of this place is very awkward. Ryukyu is barren, and it is not very suitable to build a fort here. There is not enough supplies, so we can only take shelter from the wind, and it is difficult to hoard supplies."

"But if we don't occupy it and others occupy it, this is the former base that threatens our coast."

"But in fact, we occupy it, and it's not very useful. If you want to monitor the Wa Kingdom nearby, Tsushima Island and Jeju Island are better, and the supply is convenient."

"In short, this is a place that is not very useful to us, but it must not be occupied by others. If it is defensive, this place can be compared to Yumen Pass; if it is offensive, this place can be called a chicken rib. But the situation is impermanent, and the water is impermanent. Occupy first Always good."

These military students have vision, and they have been studying with Liu Yu for many years. Fort engineering requires learning Western fort technology, but they also need to learn mountain and river geography and geographical knowledge.

How to build a fort is just a technique; where is it worth building a fort is a matter of knowledge.

Regarding the view that this place is a weak point, Liu Yu generally agreed with it, but he still talked about why he wanted to occupy this place.

"If you only talk about our dynasty and the Japanese kingdom, you are right to say that. Don't forget that the Japanese and the Dutch are very close. The Dutch sent warships to support the Shimabara Rebellion. After Britain withdrew from the Japanese kingdom, they He wanted to do business with the Wa Kingdom, but the Wa Kingdom refused on the grounds that 'the king of England married the Portuguese princess'. It can be seen that the Japanese people's understanding of the outside world is far better than that of the ministers of this dynasty."

"Although they are all excuses, it is possible to find the reason why the King of England married a Catholic, and it can also be seen that he has a deep understanding of Western countries."

"If Japan wants to change in the future, they can't get it from me here, so they can only go to Westerners. If Westerners come, this is the only way to go."

"When Nanyang is settled in the future, this place is really tasteless. But now...it's still worth spending tens of thousands of taels of silver."

"You guys stay here and build the fortress. I will bring the cannons next year. This winter, I will also bring some rice as a token of sympathy for the people of Ryukyu. Repair it as soon as possible. Before next winter, the fortress and port , will be built."

According to his thinking, the war against Japan should be over before next winter.The Nanyang matter cannot be resolved for the time being, and it is necessary to prevent Japan from colluding with the Netherlands.

Here you can strictly prevent the smuggling of the Netherlands. If necessary, you can put down the Manila massacre first, settle accounts in the future, and cooperate with the Spaniards to contain them. Just avoid the British fleet that fights Spain and don't drag the British into the water.

Dashun locks up Japan. If Japan wants to learn new technologies, the only choice is the Netherlands.If the Dutch want to bypass Dashun to communicate with Japan, they will choose the Kuroshio Current route, and Ryukyu is the only way to go.

But if you think about it in a few years, if you can capture Nanyang, take Hokkaido, force North Korea to lease the port to explore the Whale Sea, and set up a card in Malacca... At that time, this Ryukyu will not even be considered a chicken rib.But now I have to throw tens of thousands of taels of silver into it to build the military port and fortress, and I can't help but feel pain in my teeth.

(End of this chapter)