Ming Zhengzhi, I am Zheng Kezang

Ryukyu, which is located between the East China Sea and the Pacific Ocean, is known as the bridge of all nations. It was once active in the vast ocean from Luzon, Siam, Malacca, Sumatra, Cambodia and Java in the south, to North Korea and Kinki in the north, and to Fuzhou in the east. Merchant ships have brought untold wealth to it.However, as a trade transit point that radiates China, North Korea, Japan and other three major countries in Northeast Asia, Ryukyu claims to have three provinces and 36 islands in the country, but its land area is only equivalent to a Chinese prefecture, and its population is only about 10.The land is narrow and the population is sparse, which means that the force is weak, and the abundance of wealth naturally brings voyeurs, just like Ryukyu, a child holding gold and walking in the downtown area, can still protect itself when China disdains it, North Korea ignores it, and Japan has no time. But with the end of the Warring States Period in Japan, a catastrophe followed.

In 1609, Shimadzu Clan, a foreign daimyo under the Tokugawa shogunate, invaded Ryukyu on charges of "not sharing Toyotomi's military expenses for invading Korea, not thanking Satsuma for returning the Ryukyu drifting boat, and not wholeheartedly facilitating the Japan-Ming trade" and other crimes. Gold, silver, pearls, precious stones, sacrificial vessels, antiques, silk, texts and other precious items accumulated by the Ryukyu Kingdom for 200 years, as well as more than 100 Ryukyu nobles including the Ryukyu king, brother, and uncle, were plundered to Japan, and then forced to cede Ryukyu Giving the five islands of Kikai, Oshima, Tokuyuki, Yoron, and Okino Ryobu, and at the same time forcing annual tributes, turned Ryukyu into a de facto colony of the Shimadzu domain.

In 1644, during the Ming and Qing Dynasties, Ryukyu, who was dizzy due to the chaotic situation in the mainland, simultaneously surrendered to the Qing court in Beijing and Emperor Longwu of the Southern Ming Dynasty in order to contain Shimadzu’s further invasion of Ryukyu. This was born out of the Longwu regime in terms of legal theory The Ming Zheng regime still has indistinguishable suzerainty over Ryukyu.

"Send the flag to the flying eagle and flying dragon." Watching the horizon of the island that had already appeared in the telescope, the squad leader Chen Yi ordered. "Report to the team leader, Naha has arrived"

The sudden arrival of barbarians shook the Ryukyu side. When the three warships of the Boy Scouts' Navy Battalion approached Naha Port, a five-hundred-year-old Zhongshan inspection ship in the style of Fuchuan rushed out and tried to intercept it.

"You really are so brave!" Maying, who saw this scene, admired with a smile on her face, and then ordered coldly. "Order the Knight to fire, and tell these duplicitous Ryukyu people how to obey the rules!"

The Knight, untied of its cannon coat, slammed into the wind, and the four cannons on one side were fired one after another. The loud sound and the water column soaring into the sky immediately dismantled the seemingly menacing Ryukyu ship. Then a small boat was put down from the inspection ship, and it slowly sailed towards the seemingly harmless flying dragon and flying eagle.

"Where did you guys come from to trespass on the port and threaten inspections!" Although the Ryukyu people who climbed up the Flying Eagle along the rope ladder were taken aback when they saw Maying's costumes, this did not prevent him from being fierce and inward. Roaring in Fuzhou Mandarin. "Don't you guys know that Ryukyu is a vassal protected by the Qing emperor?"

"Are you talking about the Tartars sitting in the city of Beijing?" Maying laughed out loud upon hearing this. "I'm against the Qing Dynasty!"

"You!" The inspector looked at the group of sailors with malicious intentions, and couldn't help but backed up a few steps. When his back touched the ship's side boards, he suddenly came to his senses and immediately changed his color. "It turned out to be the masters of Shangguo from Dongning. I'm sorry I didn't recognize it because of my stupid eyes. It's just that the ship of these masters looks like a barbarian. The flag seems to have been changed anyway."

"Isn't it possible to change the ship?" Xie Bao asked rhetorically. "Who are you? Master, you have to take care of changing ships!"

"Don't dare, dare not, the villain is Ryukyu Shenkoufang (Note: equivalent to a mixture of the Ministry of Households, the Ministry of Rites, and the Ministry of Industry) Boditou (Note: equivalent to the Department of Shipping and Port Management) in Naha. Zhan Zhian." Before Maying and others came to Ryukyu, they used to make up for the ranks of Ryukyu for a while, and they knew that Ryukyu generals generally start from the eighth rank of Lizizi and the ninth rank of Zhudengzhi (Note: Lizizi and Zhudengzhi are representatives) The family status of the two kinds of gentry, the former has a higher family status, so the rank of the official is higher, but the functions are the same), both are red crowns and silver hairpins, known as the specific affairs handlers of the red hat officials. "Ask for advice, masters?"

"My official Da Ming recruits the general's descendants to recruit hundreds of households." Since she now represents Dongning's face, Ma Ying clasped her fists in return without the arrogance just now. "The officer's department is hunting whaling at sea, and the supplies are exhausted. They want to go to the port to rest, and sell some of the things they brought along the way, and ask the red hat officer to lead the water into the port."

"Yes, yes!" Zhan Zhi'an is just an ordinary son of li, and the eighth-rank official in Ryukyu can't be compared with the sixth-rank and hundred households of Daming—even if there is only a corner of Daming left now. In addition, there were a lot of black cannons on the other side's ship, so he couldn't refuse Maying's request at all. "It's just that there are still some ships going to the country in the port?"

The so-called ships from Shangguo definitely do not refer to ships from Dongning, but Chinese ships from Jiangsu and Zhejiang. Most of the owners of these ships served the noble clans of the Qing Dynasty or wealthy families in Jiangsu and Zhejiang. If there is a big fight in the port, then Ryukyu will suffer from a disaster.

"Don't worry!" Maying gave him a reassurance. "They are shameless, and we are shameless. They will definitely not cause disputes in your country." Zhan Zhian finally let go of his heart, but Maying's next words made his heart beat wildly again. "If there is going to be a dispute, you will not be able to settle the bill clearly, and the big deal will be settled when you go out to sea." Zhan Zhian was confused and didn't know how to intercede. At this time, Ma Ying raised her eyebrows. "Tongshi Zhan, you understand the background and purpose of Yu et al. It's time to divert water into Hong Kong."

"Ah!" Zhan Zhian was startled, but Maying's gaze was like a blade, and he couldn't help it. "Your Majesty, I'll go back and make arrangements"

In fact, the Qing government maintained the suzerain-vassal relationship between Qing and Ryukyu just to maintain the face of all nations coming to court. In fact, it was completely indifferent to the importance of Ryukyu's geographical location, and this kind of indifference caused the unprecedented prosperity of Naha Port. In the port, there are not only a dozen or so Chinese ships such as Sandboats, Fuchuan, Cantonese Ships, and Bird Ships, but also three or four ships from Japan (Note: The trade between Japan and Ryukyu belongs to Satsumakou. The only foreign port outside of Ma---there is also an Ezokou---the Satsuma clan has thus accumulated considerable financial resources, and finally became one of the gravediggers of the shogunate. There are also ships from China, Siam, and Annam each, but the merchant ships from Luzoni and Flangjiyi, which often come and go, have disappeared this time.

"One-third of the sailors on each ship take turns to go ashore to rest." Maying discussed with Captain Carl von Seiding Hollen, who had already learned the Hokkien dialect, and made a decision. "Chen Yi, Xie Bao, and Chu Jin lead the team respectively, Professor Huo (en), you and Professor Ka accompany Yu to the street."

Maying's visit to Ryukyu this time is not because of the exhaustion of supplies as he said to Zhan Zhian, but to test the sales of whale oil candles, whale bones, shark skin, and kun skin. When the goods are all sold out, they will really embark on the road of whaling.

After walking around the street, Maying found that the market for whale bones was the worst, and the prices offered by the various companies were not even as high as those offered by the Yingguili Commercial House on North Shanwei Island, so they would definitely be eliminated when they sailed next time. Shark skins and kun skins are popular in Japanese merchants, but since Japan has not had wars for many years, the number of them absorbed is not very large, but the whale oil candles that are dumped at a price of four cents a piece are the most popular. Welcome, even though they knew Maying was from Taiwan, the merchants in Jiangsu and Zhejiang still snapped up such cheap goods, so that they emptied the three ships of nearly 30 tons in a blink of an eye.

"A candle costs four pennies. This time I brought a total of 50 candles, which is almost two million pennies. One penny weighs four pennies, which is five thousand catties of copper." Ma Ying's calculation is actually very important. The problem is that no one will pay for copper coins and copper ingots without choosing more convenient gold and silver. "Just did the ballast."

"My lord!" Maying, who came to the conclusion, was eating the rare ramen on the sea contentedly, and the two red barbarians beside him, Carl and Horn, had already been seduced by the street girls, but his satisfaction was not there yet. How long did it last, a sailor who stayed behind hurried over. "My lord, it's not good!"

Although the distance between Ryukyu and Dongning is not far, it is a foreign land after all. As soon as Maying could not hear it well, she immediately became anxious, not caring that her mouth was still dripping, she stood up all of a sudden, and asked impatiently: "Go out?" What's the matter? How's the boat going?"

"The boat was fine, but the first batch of brothers who landed were beaten." The sailors also came from the boy camp, so although they were very anxious, their words were organized. "Squad leader Chen took his brothers to go shopping. The barbarian teacher went to find a woman after eating and drinking. The brothers were looking at the scenery on the street, but they didn't expect to meet a group of Japanese businessmen, and somehow they collided. The Japanese scolded us. They are subjugated slaves, and a fight broke out." The Japanese walked the streets with knives, gathered crowds, roared, and ostentatiously passed through the market. It was a disaster for the Ryukyu, but the Ryukyu people couldn't provoke the Japanese, and the Japanese became more and more rampant. "Xiao Shiro went up to persuade the fight, but was stabbed by the Japanese with a knife. The brothers went back to the boat to take revenge with weapons, but were stopped by Squad Leader Xie and Squad Leader Chu. No, the big guy was angry and sent me out to find the adults to decide Woolen cloth."

When she heard that one of her own people had been beaten and cut, Maying's eyes turned red: "Is Song (Matsumoto) Hirahiko's injury serious?"

"The doctor on the ship looked at it, and it was terrible. Even if I can save my life, I have to rest for more than a year." It's okay if I don't say this, but when I say it, Ma Ying's face is distorted. Seeing the situation is not good, the sailor hurriedly speaks road. "Team leader, go back to the boat, if you don't go back, the two squad leaders might not be able to stop squad leader Chen and the others."

"Go back!" Maying took out a few copper coins from his pocket and threw them on the restaurant table, but he stopped after only two steps. "You go and get all the professors back, and find out by the way, whether the murderous Japanese are merchants or resident merchants, and if they are merchants, when will their boat leave, remember, don't leave your hands behind!"