Late Ming sea owl

Chapter 92 Teahouse Negotiation (4 updates, 12000 please subscribe)
On Mount Katsuo in Hirado, there is a small thatched hermitage with brown paint on the walls and a ceiling made of thatched grass.A bamboo vase is placed in the niche, with three bamboo flowers inserted in it. There is an ink painting hanging behind the vase, but there is no other decoration.

This is the tea room where the Matsuura family receives distinguished guests. Matsuura Takanobu is wearing a silver-gray kimono, kneeling on the tatami in front of the hand with a low ceiling.Correspondingly, the ceiling above Lin Hai and Li Guozhu on the opposite side is higher. This is to show the host's respect for the guests.

Matsuura Takanobu placed the two bowls of brewed thin tea on the table, stretched out his hand and pointed twice at the dense foamy green paste in the bowl, and said: "Lin Sang, Li Sang, please!"

Originally, in the Japanese culture, drinking strong tea would be more solemn.However, considering that Lin Hai was from the Ming Dynasty, he was probably not used to drinking strong tea, and might be repelled by round drinks, so Longxin chose to treat guests with a single drink of thin tea.

Lin Hai was not interested in the tedious matcha ceremony. To be honest, he was a little impatient while waiting for boiling water on the open ground outside the tea room. He might as well have read a few pages of military books.However, he also knew that this was the social way of the upper class society in Japan. The host was so respectful, and the guests should not be treated lightly.

So he imitated Li Guosuke's posture, picked up the tea bowl and placed it in the palm of his left hand. He turned the tea bowl with his right hand and pointed it at Matsuura Takanobu. Then he raised it to the level of his forehead, then slowly took it back, and drank it in three sips. The last sip was still like eating. The noodles make a slurping sound to show appreciation to the host.

"Good tea! Good tea!" Li Guoshu wiped the rim of the bowl clean with paper towels and carefully admired the texture, workmanship and color of the tea bowl. Then he put it back respectfully, praising it repeatedly.Lin Hai didn't know Japanese, so he pretended to do it again, but didn't speak.

"Lin Sang, we didn't treat you well when we first met, so I still hope Haihan." Matsuura Takanobu bowed to Lin Hai repeatedly, while Li Guozhu acted as an interpreter.

Lin Hai secretly cursed that he really couldn't get used to drinking this matcha.Although it is thin tea, in his opinion, the tea soup made by grinding tea leaves into powder and brewing it is still very bitter. I really don’t know how those refined people in later generations could blow it out of their mouths.

This tea-drinking method, which inherited the tea ordering method of the Song Dynasty, had long been eliminated by the Ming Dynasty, but it was plagiarized by the Japanese and became the quintessence of the country, known as the Matcha Way.Similar to this, there is the fish dumpling that was popular in the Tang and Song Dynasties. Like matcha, many people in later generations thought it originated from the Japanese country. Little did they know that it was all leftovers from their ancestors.

Lin Hai returned the greeting with a smile: "It's so unpleasant to enter your mother's house! The same goes for this broken house. The door at the entrance is as big as a dog's hole, and your mother has to kneel down to get in. What kind of bullshit tea Zen is this? One body, why are you pretending? Why not come up with something affordable and use your mother-in-law to entertain me."

Anyway, Matsuura Takanobu doesn't understand Chinese, so if he doesn't scold him, he won't scold him.These little devils are polite and courteous on the surface, but in fact they have not learned the gentle and jade-like inner qualities of the Han gentlemen. Instead, they have suppressed their perverted characters under their humble appearance. They are tolerant and violent, humble and crazy. They are the Japanese country. Two sides of a human being.

As for how Li Guozhu translated, Lin Hai didn't know. He saw the little devil opposite him smiling and nodding frequently, saying repeatedly: "Hai! Hai!"

Lin Hai was too lazy to talk nonsense with him anymore and went straight to the point: "Do you have any money? How much of the goods on my ship do you plan to buy?"

Matsuura Takanobu did not answer, but asked: "I heard that Lin Sang came from North Korea? Have you passed by Tsushima Island?"

When Lin Hai heard this, he secretly thought something was wrong. When Matsuura Takanobu boarded the ship yesterday, he asked him where he was from. He said it was North Korea without much thought.Later, after Li Guozhu reminded him, he realized that except for the Ma Zong family, the shogunate did not allow anyone else to trade with North Korea. It seemed that this little devil had some scruples.

Lin Hai cursed casually, and Li Guozhu followed the agreed explanation: "My step-brother said that he is a businessman from Dengzhou who went to North Korea to buy goods. Then he set out from Dengzhou and passed through Jeju Island and Goto Islands to Hirado. , and have never been to Tsushima Island.”

Matsuura Takanobu knew the geography of Shandong and Korea very well. The main force of the three-island Japanese pirates in the early Ming Dynasty was the Matsuura Party, so he was no stranger to the route mentioned by Li Guozhu.In any case, Lin Hai always came from North Korea. If the Zong family knew that the Matsuura family was conducting trade with them, it would probably be detrimental to the Hirado clan.

The Zong family was a solid member of the Western Army in the Sekigahara War. Speaking of black history, it is even darker than the useless Matsuura family.However, the old turtle Ieyasu wanted to repair the relationship with North Korea, which could not avoid the Tsuima Soushi clan who had pledged vassalage to both Korea and Japan. Therefore, the shogunate not only ignored the Sou clan, but also treated him particularly favorably.Tsushima Fuchu Domain obviously only has a stone height of [-] koku, which is less than one-sixth of the height of Hirado Domain, but it enjoys the treatment of a [-] koku daimyo, and even built two castles on Tsushima Island beyond the limit. This made the Matsuura clan, who dared not build a city, go to reason.

The Zong family and the Matsuura family had a grudge against each other, and the trade between Japan and Japan was still a taboo, so the Matsuura family would never be allowed to seize food from the tiger's mouth.Once he gets wind of it and starts to make a fuss about it, it will really be enough for the Hirado clan to drink a pot of water.

The nature of this matter is actually not necessarily more serious than Xinqing's trouble, but the problem is that Ma Zongshi, the master of suffering, will definitely stick to this matter.Takanobu had no confidence at all in trying to establish a relationship with the Zong family in Edo.

However, it was too painful for Takanobu to give up Lin Hai's supply of goods. Seeing that the Hirado Domain was in financial constraints and Hirado Port was facing an inflection point from prosperity to decline, he urgently needed to introduce new trade growth points.

Longxin was silent while holding the tea bowl. Li Guoshu realized that his opportunity had come. He immediately put his fists on the ground, bowed his head and said, "Sir Longxin, I have something I don't know whether to say or not."

Long Xin nodded for him to continue, so Li Guoshu continued: "My sworn brother is from the Ming Dynasty, and his ship is a Tang ship no matter what. Even if the Zong family knows about it, it is unreasonable to bring it to the general."

Takanobu shook his head and said: "The shogunate has always been very ambiguous about whether the Tang ship trade should be concentrated in Nagasaki. The Zong family has deep connections in Edo. If you stick to this matter, there is still something to be done, not to mention you. There are foreigners on this sworn brother’s boat.”

Li Guosuke was overjoyed. Takanobu's reaction was indeed as expected. The lord of the Hirado domain, who had lived in Edo for six years, had long lost his spirit and did not dare to take any risks.

The tang ship trade is currently in a gray area in Japan. Unlike Europeans, where trade is strictly restricted, the shogunate's statement on the scope of the tang ship trade is very vague.Sometimes the general said that all Tang ships should go to Nagasaki, and sometimes he said that Tang ships could dock freely in Japan. No one could tell what the shogunate's policy was.

This is the essence of the art of leadership in East Asia. The words above are ambiguous and the people below are left to figure it out for themselves. If they do a good job, they are a good leader. If they do not do well, they can always take the blame.Specific to the Tang Ship trade, the shogunate not only hoped to loosen controls to make it active, but also hoped to have an excuse to take advantage of the foreign daimyo who profited from it at any time. It was really a good calculation.

In view of this, some coastal lords will carefully choose their trade partners.For example, the Shimazu clan in Satsuma only conducted trade with Chinese merchants who knew the ins and outs of Japan and had a certain background in Japan. All other Tang ships were sent to Nagasaki, so the shogunate had nothing to say.

The Matsuura clan generally refused to accept Tang ships. This was because Hirado was a small domain and did not receive as much attention from the shogunate as Satsuma, and its fiscal revenue also relied more on overseas trade.However, Lin Hai's ship was full of Korean goods, which violated the Zong family's taboo. At the same time, there were Europeans on his ship, so Long Xin did not dare to take this risk.

"If Lord Takanobu is still not at ease, I have another idea." Li Guoshu continued, "Sir, you can ask my sworn brother to go to Nagasaki. When I get to Nagasaki, I will buy all the goods on the two ships in the name of Wu Zhen Temple. Next, I will resell it to you, sir. From now on, my sworn brother’s ship will be handled in this way when it comes to Japan.”

"I will open up the joints in Nagasaki, and I will also convince my sworn brother. You two are my benefactors, and I will never make a penny in the middle." Li Guozhu still bowed his head and glanced secretly. With Takanobu's expression.

There was no emotion or anger on Long Xin's face, and his eyes were as calm as ancient wells: "If you have any conditions, just tell me."

Li Guoshu tightened his fists on the ground and gritted his teeth and said, "My father was brutally murdered by Zheng Zhilong. I hope Lord Longxin can uphold justice for me and get rid of this ungrateful villain."

(End of this chapter)