Daming: The most ruthless tyrant in history

Chapter 1007: Ryukyu Dispute
It was still very hot at the end of August.

The sun hangs high in the sky, emitting a dazzling light.

The heat wave is coming.

Although there was a constant sea breeze, it still couldn't offset the heat.

Ryukyu.

The Governor-General's Office in the Domain.

"Governor, we need to take this matter seriously. The recent frequent appearance of pirates may not be as simple as the Satsuma clan in Eastern Japan." Yu Zigao frowned and looked at Cao Lutai and said in a deep voice.

"In recent naval battles, our troops have discovered warships from the Western Barbarians. If this is true, I think we should send someone back to the Eastern Barbarians as soon as possible to inform Duke Wei and his men of the matter."

"Dutch?"

Cao Lutai asked.

"more than."

Yu Zigao shook his head and said, "In addition to the Dutch, we also found Spanish people."

"Spanish?"

Cao Lutai frowned and said, "That's impossible. Aren't the Eastern Japanese very hostile to other Westerners except the Dutch? Could it be that they have made a mistake in their investigation?"

"Can't be wrong."

Yu Zigao said firmly, "Although they are extremely well disguised, their tactics will be exposed in a naval battle. There is no doubt about that."

Cao Lutai was silent.

As the first governor-general to Ryukyu, Cao Lutai was well aware of the weight of his responsibilities. He was shocked when he received this imperial edict in Dongfan.

A governor-general stationed in a vassal state, this has never happened before.

However, after knowing the duties of the governor-general in the vassal state, Cao Lutai knew how much impact his actions would have on the future of the Ming Dynasty.

In this way, Cao Lutai finally came to Ryukyu to take up his post.

Although Cao Lutai knew that the position he took over would not be recognized in the Ming officialdom, so what? As long as he could do a good job, there would be many governors stationed in the Ming Dynasty in the future. Once this trend was established, everything he did would surely leave a strong mark in the history books!
It’s just that this position is not easy to work in.

As the governor-general of the vassal state, he has great authority and is in charge of all matters concerning the vassal state. Although the vassal state has a royal family and a royal court, most of the power that originally belonged to the vassal state is concentrated in the governor-general's office.

For this purpose, the Governor-General's Office in the Domain also has bureaus such as General Affairs, Internal Affairs, Police Supervision, Finance, Maritime Supervision, Agriculture and Commerce, and Criminal Affairs to take charge of corresponding matters.

Just to build this complete system, a large number of officials were drawn from the Shaofu and Dongfan, and sent to Ryukyu to serve in the form of special promotion.

This is exactly what happened in Ryukyu. If it were any other vassal state, there would have been turmoil on its homeland long ago. It turned out that in its own territory, the country that should have been the master had ended up being second.

Who can bear this?
However, in Ryukyu, not only did no one question or oppose it, but on the contrary, they were very happy to have the King of Ryukyu as the capital, because in this way, they would be protected by the Ming Dynasty and no longer had to worry about being harassed or occupied by the Eastern Japanese.

Even during Cao Lutai's tenure, the King of Ryukyu wanted to meet him more than once to discuss one thing, that is, Ryukyu would submit to the Ming Dynasty, and he would lead the royal family members to the Ming Dynasty.

This annoyed Cao Lutai, but he had no way to deal with it. If Ryukyu surrendered, the situation would change.

It’s better to be stationed in a vassal state.

In this way, Cao Lutai had to work on improving the system of governors-general stationed in the vassal states to prepare for subsequent special arrangements elsewhere, and on the other hand, he had to appease the King of Ryukyu to make him give up this idea.

"If this is true, I think we should not report the matter in Ryukyu to the Eastern Barbarians for the time being." After a long silence, Cao Lutai said in a low voice.

"Ok?"

After hearing this, Yu Zigao looked at Cao Lutai in surprise.

If something like this happened in Ryukyu without informing Dongfan, what if there was some conspiracy behind it, or something happened afterwards, which might cause anything to happen to Dongfan or Ryukyu? This is something they cannot afford.

"If my guess is correct."

Under Yu Zigao's gaze, Cao Lutai stretched out his hand and said, "The current situation in Ryukyu is not only due to the continued desire of the Eastern Japanese to invade Ryukyu, but also because of the Western Barbarians who are mixed in, mostly due to the situation in the South Seas."

"After all, the group headed by Zheng Zhilong and Zu Dashou are active in various places in Nanyang, especially Luzon, which is in the hands of the Spaniards. But now some places, including Sulu and Puduan, are frequently launching offensives against Luzon. All this is inseparable from the Nanyang strategy set by your majesty."

"Doctor, do you mean that the Dutch and the Spanish want to get out of this predicament?" Yu Zigao thought of something and said to Cao Lutai.

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"But they can't get close to the waters around Dongfan, so they have to settle for the next best thing and choose to do something somewhere else?"

"Most likely."

Cao Lutai nodded.

"Shouldn't Duke Wei be informed of this?" Yu Zigao frowned and said, "After all, each of these Western maritime forces is not simple. They can only be regarded as their vanguards in various places in Nanyang. Their main companies are not in Nanyang."

As time went by, the maritime pioneer group led by Wei Zhongxian gradually gathered the forces of all parties through continuous progress and exploration.

In particular, we have a basic understanding of what kind of existence the Western barbarian forces are in the South Seas and the Indochina Peninsula.

Even when they learned that some Western forces had penetrated into the Indochina Peninsula to stir up disputes and conflicts among some vassal states, and then dumped corresponding goods, including firearms, Wei Zhongxian and his men were quite moved. Although they looked down on these Western forces, they were really good at some things.

So Wei Zhongxian did not hesitate to take it and used it in various places in Southeast Asia.

Those Ming naval officers who were bought with real money and the warships under their command are just tentacles spread all over Southeast Asia. It doesn't matter whether they are loyal or not, as long as they are sufficient.

"But don't forget that Duke Wei and his men are under a lot of pressure as well."

Cao Lutai talked about the key point, "Especially since this year, in addition to Luzon, the seas of Qianli Shitang, Champa, Phnom Penh, Brunei and other places have never been peaceful. Some Han merchants who relied on buying officials have been wiped out. This even affected Xu Hongru and his missionary work."

"In addition, many prefectures, states and counties under the jurisdiction of Dongfan have suffered disasters this year. This is enough trouble. As for Ryukyu, we can solve it ourselves. This is the best. If we really can't solve it, it won't be too late to send people to Dongfan."

Yu Zigao was silent.

indeed.

The pressure they were under in Ryukyu was not small, but compared with Wei Zhongxian and his party in Dongfan, it was nothing. After all, Wei Zhongxian and his party had to take care of Dongfan as well as all over Southeast Asia. Besides that, Wei Zhongxian and his party had to find a way to open up sea trade with Champa, Phnom Penh and other places to solve the food problem of Dongfan. In addition, they also had to solve the food transportation problem of Nanzhili, Zhejiang and other places. After all, there was chaos in the southeast and the court intervened. These were all problems that needed to be solved. Food was always the first priority.

(End of this chapter)