Dragon Sea Empire

During the New Year, Yin Feng has finally had a reunion year with his wives and concubines for many years. Zeng Qian’s due date is in April. Yin Feng is very worried that if the Ryukyu war breaks out, he will miss the day when his wife’s first child is born, so take the time to spend more time with her Zeng Qian.

The preparations for the Ryukyu battle are still underway. Yin Feng's military expenditure and Ryukyu battle funds have not yet been approved by the board of directors. At the shareholders' dividend meeting, he received the support of most shareholders because this year's dividend exceeded last year, so he was rejected. The reward was divided into 1000 bonus shares, worth about 200000 taels of silver. Yin Feng sold these shares to some wealthy businessmen in Guangdong, and used the cash as military expenses to directly invest in the guards.

No one wants to fight the Japanese, and most of the shareholders are very interested in seizing the territory of the small country in Nanyang, showing typical bullying and fearing the hard. Many maritime merchants and pirates have dealt with Japanese pirates. Most of them know Japanese pirates He is tough and good at fighting, so he doesn't want to fight the Japanese for Ryukyu.

In March, it is approaching the time when the Japanese pirates are scheduled to send troops. In the port area of ​​Taipei, the main four ships of the navy, except the largest and newest Flying Wolf, still need to be improved. Therefore, they will stay outside Taiwan, and the other three ships will attack Ryukyu. The Cyclonus Regiment has 4000 troops 1000 soldiers and auxiliary troops, Li Kuiqi's professional artillery regiment, special battalion and other troops have assembled in Taiwan port. In addition, a large group of foreign mercenaries composed of Western adventurers are also ready to go in Taiwan port.

"It's true that this group of Western hooligans fought desperately, but their military discipline is extremely poor, and they kill people like hemp. We are the benevolent and righteous divisions who rescued Ryukyu. It is not appropriate to let these foreigners go to Ryukyu to fight," said Zeng Qi and Yin Feng in South Korea. Fort watched the foreign mercenary team set sail for Taipei. He asked Yin Feng worriedly: "These foreigners are too murderous, and they can't distinguish between good and bad. This will make the Ryukyu people dissatisfied with my Chinese company..."

Zeng Qi had seen the tragic scene of foreign mercenaries burning and killing Nihoncho in Luzon Island, and he had always disliked them.

Seeing Zeng Qi's worried face, Yin Feng was really worried, so he said in a low voice, "Don't worry, my father-in-law, these gangsters will not go to Ryukyu."

Zeng Qi was shocked, and asked in a low voice: "My son-in-law, what's going on?"

Yin Feng looked around, smiled proudly and said: "The Battle of Ryukyu is not only to keep Ryukyu, but also to ensure that Ryukyu will not be invaded by Satsuma in the future. Therefore, I will lead the battleship Feizi and the third regiment of Li Xing Part of it, together with foreign mercenaries, directly attacked the Satsuma domain, "

"Attack the Satsuma clan and directly attack the Japanese mainland," Zeng Qi opened his mouth in surprise, hardly believing his ears. Before joining Yin Feng's cause, he had a very vague understanding of the Japanese pirates and did not understand the situation in Japan at all. After Yin Feng did the work, he gradually got to know the general situation of Japan through what he heard and saw, but he never thought that Yin Feng would attack the mainland of Japan. You must know that when the Japanese pirates were at their most rampant, the Huanghuang Ming Dynasty did not The ability to hit the Japanese mainland.

"Offense is the best defense. It has defeated the greatest disaster in northern Ryukyu for hundreds of years, and also eliminated a hidden danger for us in northern Taiwan." Seeing his father-in-law's surprised expression, Yin Feng continued to explain patiently: "This There are many vassal states in Japan, and the Tokugawa shogunate is busy stabilizing the domestic situation. It will not be happy to see a strong vassal in the southwest; more importantly, Japan hopes to do business with our Ming Dynasty, so, I Be sure, even if I defeat the Satsuma clan, Japan will not go to war with us because of this. Even if there is a war, sea control is the most important thing, and the most capable navy of the Japanese pirates has disintegrated. With the giant ship of our Chinese company Feizi, we And sure to win, "

Zeng Qi reluctantly nodded: "It's better to be careful, fight if you can, don't force it,"

Yin Feng nodded and said yes, but he thought in his heart that this father-in-law has been in the traditional officialdom for a long time, and he really lacks understanding of the outside world. Now Tokugawa Ieyasu is preparing to wipe out the last remnant of Toyotomi Hideyoshi's power No, the invasion of Ryukyu is just a trick to let the Satsuma domain consume its strength. If it succeeds, it can also make a profit. In any case, the Tokugawa shogunate will not suffer.

At this moment, the Japanese are entering the final stage of war preparations. The reason why the start of the war is set in March is because by this time, all the flintlock guns equipped with the Shimadzu Iron Artillery Team can be produced, a total of [-].

This is the so-called Miura self-fired iron gun, which was developed and manufactured by the Shimadzu family. The British Miura and Japanese craftsmen jointly developed and manufactured Japan's first-generation flintlock gun. The Japanese once learned gunpowder and gunpowder directly from the Portuguese. The manufacture and use technology of the matchlock gun was quickly imitated into a matchlock gun with good shooting effects. The Japanese learned and improved weapon technology very quickly. Because the performance of the matchlock gun was superior to that of the handgun of the Ming Dynasty in China, it was quickly acquired by Japan. With the support and promotion of various famous names, Japan directly stepped into the track of imitating Portuguese matchlock guns at the beginning of the manufacture of firearms, instead of following the crooked path of North Korean weapons manufacturing departments imitating Chinese Ming Dynasty guns. After the successful trial production of Tanegashima guns, Japanese workshops such as Tanegashima Blacksmith, Shibaqian Kiyemon Blacksmith, Sakai Iron Pao Blacksmith, Kunitomo Iron Pao and other workshops manufactured various matchlock guns in batches, thus the climax of making matchlock guns appeared in the late 16th century. In this climax, Japanese firearms developers made many improvements to the matchlock gun, and its performance has surpassed the matchlock gun made by the Portuguese, and it has become an important weapon for Japanese combat training.

The current batch of flintlock guns - self-fired iron guns were produced by workshops such as Sakai Iron Cannon Forging and Kuniyou Iron Cannon. The Shimadzu family also made hundreds of them. However, the first batch of 4000 flintlocks Half of the guns were given to the Tokugawa shogunate by Tadahiro Shimadzu, so only more than 2000 shots could be put into battle.

The Dasmarinas monks have been training the Shimadzu Iron Cannons for half a year, and now it is finally time to play a role.

On March 37th in the 1609th year of Wanli (14 AD, the 3500th year of Keicho in Japan), the Shimadzu family assembled 24 troops and a total of more than 27 ships. Admiral and Vice Admiral took oaths at Gionzhou in Satsuma. On March [-]th, he departed from Shanchuan Port and arrived at Nagabu Island within a day. He parked for one day and then headed south the next day. After March [-]th, he got separated due to ocean currents and storms. The ships regrouped, crossed the natural border between Japan and Ryukyu --- the southern tip of the Tugara Islands, entered the waters of Amami Oshima in Ryukyu, and gathered in Shenjiangpu one after another, preparing to land on Amami Oshima.

One month before the departure of the Satsuma Army, there were more than 1000 ronin "sword-drawing teams" in charge of the shogun Naotomo Yamaguchi, and 500 soldiers and 100 samurai sent by Sendai Domain Date Masamune to support them had set off long ago, with their destination pointing to the south.

There are more than a hundred merchant ships, fishing boats, and ferries moored in Taiwan Harbor in winter. Most of them are Chinese merchant ships transshipping goods here. There are also merchant ships from Southeast Asia and Western countries, including five newly arrived Japanese merchant ships.

The lookout of the North Fort early submitted a report in duplicate to the company's security department and the military intelligence department of the escort. The report in the hands of Lin Xiao and Yin Feng indicated that there were two Zhuyin ships from the Sendai domain and two Zhuyin ships from the Nagasaki clan to Hong Kong for trade. , In addition, there was a Japanese merchant ship flying the Maruji flag with the Shimadzu family, asking for Shangfeng's opinion on whether to allow it to dock.

What is the purpose of the Satsuma clan's ship coming to Taiwan at this time.

Yin Feng brought Lin Xiao to meet, and the two felt that although the war was approaching, it was a merchant ship, so there seemed to be nothing suspicious, and after all, the Satsuma clan and the Zhonghua Company hadn't officially started a war, and they hadn't completely broken their faces. Therefore, Yin Feng issued an order to ask the third regiment guarding the port to send people to the ship of the Satsuma clan to check carefully, and if there is no abnormality, they are allowed to dock at the dock. Stay vigilant while in Hong Kong.

Yin Feng was still worried, so he asked Lin Xiao to send agents from the Ministry of Security to closely monitor the Nihoncho in the Anping area of ​​the south bank.

Originally, Yin Feng was determined not to allow the establishment of a Japanese town in Taiwan, but Han Ping and his sons on the board of directors proposed to allow Japanese people to live in Taiwan and Hong Kong. In addition, the trade volume between Chinese companies and Japan has increased day by day, and the number of people coming and going has been frequent. Therefore, last year At that time, Yin Feng agreed to establish Nihoncho on the east side of Anping New City on the south bank of the port. Now Nihoncho has more than 150 permanent residents.

……

"Sir, it's time to get up,"

Yin Feng has been busy preparing for battle and developing weapons during this period, he is really tired, and last night he fought several times in Mai Wan'er's house, so when he woke up in the morning, Mai Wan'er pushed him for a long time. Push to wake up.

"Why, today is a rest day," Yin Feng lay lazily and refused to get up, so he did something to Mai Wan'er. The Taiwan Island and Zhonghua companies all implement the traditional work and rest system of ten days a bathing day, so Yin Feng today Wanting to be lazy on the bed, Mai Wan'er jumped out of the bed with a smile, and said with a smile: "I think I forgot, today is the day when churches in Taiwan reopen. You promised Miss Li that you would accompany her to the church."

"Ouch," Yin Feng rolled out of bed, and hurriedly said, "My dear Waner, change my clothes quickly, don't waste time..."

Wan'er pursed her lips and smiled: "Look at your memory."

After the Jesuit missionary Jin Nige and others returned to Beijing, they finally got the consent of Matteo Ricci, agreed to Yin Feng's conditions, signed an agreement with him, and paid the first symbolic compensation. Therefore, The Catholic Church in Taiwan was officially reopened. At the same time, Matteo Ricci also sent several well-educated people to Taiwan and officially opened a science and technology school in Taiwan to teach students selected by the Chinese company. Yin Feng even allowed the missionaries The "Bible" is taught in the technical school. Of course, students have the right to freely choose whether to listen to the lecture.

In Yin Feng's plan, he would use these learned missionaries to cultivate his own scientific and technological talents. Most of the foreign teachers who taught in the original technical schools were craftsmen, technicians and wandering literati from Portugal and the Netherlands. The center is still in the hands of the church, and the Jesuits are the most active missionaries to learn new technological knowledge, so Yin Feng will allow them to open schools. In the end, technical schools and technical schools will be merged to form Taiwan University of Science and Technology, which will fully introduce European science and technology. technology.

As a way to win over the Jesuits, Yin Feng had no choice but to accompany Li Lihua to attend Sunday mass.

It was a sunny day, except for overtime workers, there were far fewer people coming and going in the factory than usual; the business district and market district were still crowded with businessmen and hawkers from all over the world, bustling with each other.

The reopened church attracted all the Catholics on the island of Taiwan, and the choir organized by Baradas also attracted thousands of ordinary people outside the church.

Yin Feng sat absent-mindedly in the church, listening to a Chinese priest chirping, but he didn't understand anything. He was worried about Chen Zhongji of Ryukyu: Why hasn't there been news of war? The big butterfly actually made the Ryukyu war disappear. No, the information that the Satsuma domain is mobilizing the military cannot be false. Then, why is the Satsuma domain still not going to war?