Dragon Sea Empire

Lord Yimoli, the vice abbot of Chongyuan Temple, a temple of the Ryukyu Royal Family, asked, "Why are you so eager to help our little feudal kingdom?"

Ji Zai sat up straight and said seriously, "Help the Ryukyu people,"

"You are businessmen. Are there any businessmen in the world who don't seek profit?" Master Yimoli was a middle-aged monk, tall and thin, but with a sly look on his face. Tell the truth: "Young man, you are very patient and can bear my negligence and procrastination. It can be seen that you came here sincerely. It is not because of the negligence of the old monk. It is really the fate of our country that hangs by a thread. My king has to be careful. Therefore, this old monk also has to investigate you, "

Ji Zai slandered endlessly in his heart: What kind of tricks is this bald donkey doing to let the young master waste his time in the ruined temple for nothing.

He nodded and said sincerely: "It is in the interests of my Chinese company to keep Ryukyu from falling into the hands of Japanese pirates."

"Where is the Ming Dynasty?" Lord Yimoli asked with a faint smile: "Is your lord the only one who wants to help the Ryukyu fight against Japanese pirates in the whole country? Don't hide it from me. I've heard about you a long time ago. In half a year, you have become a famous person in the Ryukyu Zhongshan country, but it is useless, no one will believe you, and no one will believe your company, "

Chen Zhongji shook his head indifferently: "Among the officials of the Celestial Dynasty, my ship owner is the only one in the Ming Dynasty who cares about the safety of the Ryukyu Kingdom. I don't care if anyone in Zhongshan believes me. Japanese pirates cannot be allowed to get involved; moreover, my Chinese company obtains tens of thousands of catties of sulfur and tens of thousands of catties of sucrose in Ryukyu every year, and we sell you the silk, silk, tea, and ironware produced by the Celestial Dynasty. This is beneficial to everyone. I don’t want these interests to be controlled by the Japanese pirates, so no matter whether the Zhongshan Kingdom needs our help or not, we will go to war with the Japanese pirates in Ryukyu.”

Lord Yimoli shook his head and smiled wryly when he heard the words: "Boy, what you said is very straightforward."

"I'm telling the truth. You are the abbot of the royal temple of His Majesty the King. You can often meet the king, and this time you went to Satsuma for a while, so I came here specially to inquire about the current situation of Satsuma. The company can make good preparations; secondly, I hope that the host can clear it up in front of your king..." Chen Zhongji was impatient to play Tai Chi with these Ryukyu nobles, and said very bluntly: "In any case, our company is absolutely The Japanese pirates are not allowed to occupy Ryukyu,"

"Our country has the royal guard, and if we fight against the Japanese pirates, we may not necessarily fail," said Lord Yimoli, obviously lacking in confidence.

Chen Zhongji bowed his head to drink tea, and smiled coldly: "My lord, the Satsuma clan is a strong clan in the southwest of Japan. Its population is much larger than that of Ryukyu. There are nearly 5000 tiger and wolf soldiers. To tell you the truth, I have already observed the defense of the island. In addition to more than a thousand members of the royal guard, the other five or six thousand people are just a mob assembled temporarily,"

Lord Yimoli touched his monk's bald head, and said with a wry smile, "Young man, according to the legend, you are a humble and polite scholar, how can you speak so ruthlessly?"

Chen Zhongji sighed: "There is no way, none of the adults in your country is willing to listen to my golden advice,"

The presiding monk hesitated for a while, then sighed and said: "Well, although I still don't believe that a group of businessmen can help you, since you came here in good faith, I will say a few good words for you in front of the king. ;As for the situation of Satsuma, I have written it here," Lord Yimoli took out a roll of paper from the coffee table behind him and handed it to Chen Zhongji: "Don't say anything, this is the transcript of my report to His Majesty the King, look and then burn it,"

After Chen Zhongji returned to the Zhonghua Commercial Hall, he went straight to the warehouse. The two staff officers of the advance team of the Operation Department had already arranged a map of Ryukyu in a corner of the warehouse of the Commercial Hall.

An extremely young military officer was looking at the copy in his hand, while pointing to the map to explain to Luo Aquan, Zhang Hai, Mai Yangtian and others: "...the Ryukyu Army has also deployed 3000 troops in Tokushima, led by Zheng Jiongzhi The son-in-law Weng Shengdong is stationed, but there is no Ryukyu Army stationed on Amami Oshima, which is the closest to the Satsuma domain.”

Zhang Hai and Mai Yangtian were originally the chief officers and supervisors of the garrison battalion of the Gangnan Fort in Taiwan. Zhang Hai was also a hero in the battle of Fengguiwei on Penghu Island.

When everyone saw Chen Zhongji, several young staff officers immediately stood at attention and saluted. Luo Aquan, Chen Hai and others just said hello.

The staff officers are all interns who have just graduated from the military academy. They often see Ji Zai following Yin Feng when he is patrolling the military academy, and they have also attended classes with him in the classroom. Although they are familiar with each other, they dare not neglect him.

Chen Zhongji was not interested in formalism, so he said to a volume of documents in the hands of several young staff officers: "Finally, I didn't run in vain. The old bald donkey handed me these materials. They are all what he saw and heard when he was on an envoy to Satsuma. Hurry up!" Take a look, the important information will be extracted and reported to the ship owner, okay, you guys continue to report the situation, let Brother Chen and others get acquainted with the situation of Ryukyu Island."

The staff officer nodded and said: "Yes, let's continue... This Amami Oshima was brought under the rule of the Ryukyu Kingdom, but it was a matter of the previous generations of King Zhongshan. It can be said that Amami Oshima was not effectively ruled at all, so Oshima's defense is only Appointed to the local prominent family Juzhi Anchen (known as Daqin) to handle, "

A Ryukyu map marked all the garrisons of the Ryukyu Army. The staff officer continued pointing to the map and said: "The Mie Castle and Yaraza Mori Castle are also called the North and South Fortresses of Naha Port. They form crossfire and face the sea of ​​Naha. , guarding Naha Port together, most of the Ryukyu guards are deployed here, and fortifications have also been built on this front. It is said that there are 3000 elite soldiers stationed there. Nakijin Castle, an important town in the north of the mountain guarded by heavy troops, was garrisoned by 500 troops led by Kitayama Supervisor Xiang Kezhi; Shuri King City was garrisoned by Urasoe Chaoshi, one of the three division officials. It is also known as thousands of elite soldiers. Ma Liangbi (named Gu Liangfeng) led more than a thousand troops to garrison the country, waiting for an opportunity to support the Nakijin Castle guarded by Beishan.

The staff officer swallowed his saliva, and then said: "The above estimate has a total of about 6000 soldiers and civilians, but based on my observations in the past six months, there are only royal guards under Zheng Jiong's department in the entire Ryukyu. The rest of the people are just mobs gathered temporarily, and once the war starts, they will all disperse. Moreover, the Ryukyu Kingdom is led by civil servants, who don't know military affairs, and the soldiers are neglected in training. At that time, they will not be the opponents of the warriors of the Satsuma Domain."

Chen Hai bawled repeatedly, and said with a bitter smile: "Zhi Niang, isn't it said that we will have to rely on us alone to defend?"

Chen Zhongji smiled and said: "Brother Chen is still afraid of defending the city, but you and Captain Zhao are defending the end of the wind cabinet, and you are not afraid at all against officers and soldiers ten times your own size."

Chen Hai waved his hand and said, "Ji Zai, don't come here for such compliments, your big brother Chen also went to the military academy to attend classes for a few days. The reason; the current Zhonghua Commercial Building is backed by Naha Port City, surrounded by flat land on three sides and only surrounded by a shallow drainage ditch. It is almost surrounded by enemies and has no terrain advantage at all.

Chen Hai stood up and walked back and forth anxiously: "For the current plan, we have to ask the captain to send more troops to help defend..."

Chen Zhongji immediately interrupted him and said, "Don't even think about it, I've been running around the Ryukyu Island for half a year, and the king and the third officer just refused to allow us to increase the number of people in the embassy..."

"Then, increase the armaments, add cannons, rockets, grenades, and gunpowder barrels. At the same time, we must dig deep and wide the drainage ditches surrounding the trading hall to become a real moat. Also, once the war starts, how to notify the owner of the ship in time,"

Chen Zhongji nodded and said: "The route for flying pigeons to send messages has been established. In the past six months, five pigeons have been cultivated in Ryukyu, which means that we have five chances to report messages. For other matters, wait until the next time the Sea Soul comes to Naha." In Hong Kong, it can basically be resolved,”

Luo Aquan raised his head and asked: "Ji Zai, when will the Sea Soul come to Naha? Now is the season when the north wind is blowing. Even if the Sea Soul runs fast, it still has to rely on the wind to drive. Going northward against the wind, when will the Sea Soul come?" can go to Naha, "

Chen Zhongji shook his head and said: "The last time the carrier pigeon passed the letter, the ship owner said that the Sea Soul had set off ten days ago. This may be the last time we got supplies before the wind direction changed."

Chen Zhongji pondered for a moment, then raised his head and said, "Brothers, no matter what, we must implement the captain's order. At that time, the captain will make a big move against the Japanese pirates, and we will also be important pawns in it. If the war starts in March, under the influence of the strong north wind Under the current situation, the company cannot send a large force to support us, so even if we can get support, it will be very sparse and scattered. The wind direction will not change until May, and we may have to stand here for two months ,"

At this time, a young man dressed as a clerk ran into the warehouse quickly and said in a low voice: "Shopkeeper Chen, brothers, the Sea Soul is here."

This time, after the Haihun set off from Taiwan, the ship sailed against the wind. All 100 crew members exhausted their strength to turn the rudder and adjust the sails. After fighting against the howling north wind for more than ten days, they finally arrived at Naha Port. The Ryukyu officials in the port were surprised. Not small, there has never been a Chinese ship going north to come here at this time of winter.

The Sea Soul used the pretext of transporting supplies to the merchant house. After bribing the port officials with a lot of money, they turned a blind eye and closed their eyes. Tens of thousands of catties of gunpowder and bullets were moved into the Zhonghua Commercial Hall. At the same time, several thousand catties of Luzon-produced corn, sweet potatoes and other easy-to-storage foods were transported into the Zhonghua Commercial Hall. Including the previous grain reserves, it was enough for more than 200 People have been eating for four months.

In the eyes of the Chinese, the situation in Ryukyu is already very tense, but the Ryukyu country’s preparations for war are really procrastinating and ineffective. The training of soldiers is simply a show. The weapons and equipment of the Royal Guards make the Chinese even more desperate. The only firearms are imitation Chinese-style cannons, and it takes half a day to load them once.

Now, Chen Zhongji has no confidence at all that the Zhonghua Commercial Hall can defend independently for three months.