A tour of Japan's Warring States Period

The port is open!

The Hojo clan abandoned the practice of combining religion and Buddhism and allowed the Catholic Jesuits to preach, opening the door to more than one million people and tens of thousands of square kilometers of land in the Kanto Great Plains.

"How is it possible! Impossible! How could the Hojo clan open the port!"

Koheita's first reaction was that he didn't believe it. This was too fantasy. How could the Hojo clan, which could not even accommodate the Ichigo clan, accommodate the more powerful Jesuits.

"The port has indeed opened! Izu Country Shimoda port has opened!"

"What?"

Neither Odawara Castle, the strongest city in Kanto, nor Edo Castle, the important town of Musashi, opened a port, but the unknown Shimoda Village, which was just a small fishing village, opened a port?

"Where is Shimoda?" Even the knowledgeable Hosokawa Harungong had never heard of this small fishing village.

"Shimoda Township, Kamo County, Izu Province, belongs to the Shimizu clan's intellectual territory."

It turns out that the three Nanman merchant ships were all legal merchant ships registered with the East India Company, so the company had pilots and surveyors specially assigned to them.

They came from Kyushu and observed the mountain geography of the Japanese coast along the way, measured the hydrological conditions in various places, collected and compiled the data and reported it to the East India Company.

The fleet entered Suruga Bay under the guidance of the Yamauchi clan's navy. The Takeda clan heard that the Nanman missionaries were going to visit Hojo Sagami Mamoru, so they sent Mukai Masatsuna to lead two Kansai ships to pilot the fleet.

When they arrived at the Izu Peninsula, the acting officer of the Hojo clan who was stationed in Izu saw three huge merchant ships and a large number of Japanese-style ships approaching from the barrier on the top of the mountain. He was extremely frightened, but at least he sent someone to inquire and negotiate.

After the introduction by Takeda retainers and the document issued by Yamauchi, it was confirmed that these were the fleet escorting Father William to Odawara.

Kamo County Representative Shimizu Yasuhide Pegasus reported to Odawara, and the fleet was ordered to temporarily anchor in the small fishing village Shimoda Village.

The captains and surveyors of the Nanman merchant ship immediately discovered the unique geographical conditions of Shimoda Port. It is backed by Sagami Bay and has a deep water harbor and shelter enough to berth large merchant ships.

In addition, there was actually a very rare ship repair shop in the local area, which greatly surprised the Nanman merchant ships.

When wooden ships sail on the sea, the hull below the waterline is not only corroded by seawater, but also damaged by various marine organisms. The most typical ones are barnacles and other shellfish, as well as shipworms that eat directly on the hull.

This may not be obvious in the relatively cold waters of Japan, but in Southeast Asia there are ships near the equator. If the hull is not painted with ship materials for four to five months or up to six months, the ship will leak directly while driving at sea. Disintegration is not impossible.

In the very famous Russo-Japanese War, Tsarist Russia’s Pacific Fleet sailed from the Baltic Sea. The warships at that time were already steel warships, which were still affected by seawater and marine life, and the speed of unmaintained warships was affected.

Because Shimoda is located in Izu country, which is rich in various minerals and wood, and has unique natural conditions, he has previously provided hull maintenance for the Sagami Navy and merchant ships and fishing vessels from various parts of the Kanto region.

The Nanman merchants had only seen ship repair shops in Goto and Matsuura in Kyushu before, but they never expected to find them in the small fishing port of Shimoda.

They were allowed to get off the boat and go ashore to buy vegetables, fresh fish, and drinks, so they took the opportunity to observe the Shimoda Repair Shop painting a Japanese-style boat that went out to sea to catch dolphins and whales. The process was rigorous, the materials used were exquisite, and the key point was that they were cheap!

This left a deep impression on the Nanman people!

Two days later Shimizu Yasuhide allowed them to enter Sagami Bay and sail towards Odawara. Ten thousand samurai Ashigaru who were urgently recruited from various places gathered in the city and lined up on the road from Odawara Port to Odawara Castle.

The Spanish and Portuguese merchants were used to this kind of scene. They did not stop the ship and anchor, but skillfully maneuvered the sailboat and made a beautiful turn in Sagami Bay.

All twenty-eight cannons of the Galenic galleon fired, followed by the thirty-two cannons of the Caravel, and finally the twelve cannons of the Chinese galleon.

The loud noise of the seventy-two cannons shook the entire Odawara Port. Hojo's retainers who had never been to the Tone River or who had not seen the power of the cannons in the Tone River all shut up.

The ships in the harbor fled in panic to make way for the Nanman merchant ships. The tens of thousands of Hojo troops were shaken by seventy-two cannons.

Father William then took a small boat, disembarked from the merchant ship, and landed ashore to be greeted by Yongtu Shiyao and Pinghe Shixu. Ushiteru Oishi, Ujikuni Fujita, and Imagawa Ujiki, who were still admitted to the university, immediately came to greet Father William in person.

Two hundred religious militiamen, holding various icons, holy paintings, and gold crosses, lined up behind Father William. The thirty Spanish plate armor sword and shield bearers are even more majestic.

Odawara was boiling, and the townspeople exclaimed "The black ship is coming." Nanman monks led the soldiers to pay homage to His Highness Hojo Sagami.

No matter what happened to Father William's trip, the three merchant ships and the navy in the mountain did not drop anchor, raised their sails and fired their cannons, ready for battle at any time.

How could the Hojo family dare to have any more evil thoughts? Finally, surrounded by a group of knights and elders wearing armor and carrying guns, the 12-year-old Hojo appeared directly in front of Father William.

William presented him with a silver chiming bell, five sections of English woolen cloth, two sections of Dutch velvet, two Spanish Mushcote muskets, and a globe. And the most important thing is the red cover, gold-plated words, full text hand-copied in cursive script, and a Latin version of the Bible.

Hojo Uzunao happily accepted the gift and held a grand welcome banquet for Father William.

Then he gave back a pair of swords made by Sagami with silver sharkskin scabbards, five black lacquered carcasses with enough collars, a pair of thick lacquered dishes sprinkled with gold, as well as a thousand catties of sulfur and five hundred catties of Musashi silk.

The guests and hosts enjoyed themselves so much that the Hojo clan invited Father William to stay in the city. But Father William was reminded by Xiao Pingtai that he was not afraid of dying for the Lord, but it was definitely better to be alive and dedicated to the Lord than to die, so he still went back to the ship to rest.

The next day, negotiations began with a Nanman shipowner as a representative of the East India Company and Father William as a representative of the Jesuits.

The conditions are very clear, no missionary work, no cannons, no opening of ports, no technology!

Moreover, the lion opened its mouth and asked Odawara Castle to establish Nanban Town, lease a piece of land to the East India Company, and build a Nanban Assembly Hall funded by the Hojo family.

The Hojo family was willing to open the port, but Odawara was hesitant to open the port. The strong ships and cannons of the Nanman merchant ships left a deep impression on them, which also strengthened their determination to obtain cannons.

After three days of back-and-forth talks, William and others finally pretended to give in and only requested that Shimodian Port be classified as Nanman Port, and that the Shimodian area should provide all necessary supplies and assistance to Nanman merchant ships.

If the Nanman people in the Shimoda area violate the ban, the Nanman Commercial Office and the Hojo side need to jointly send personnel to review the case.

At the same time, Nanman merchants were allowed to move freely in the Shimoda area, and Nanman merchants were allowed to row boats to deliver goods to Odawara for trade. The ship tax for Nanman merchant ships needs to be determined through negotiation between both parties, and generally should not exceed one-twentieth of the ship's value.

The key point is that Shimoda Xingquan Temple was transferred to Nanman Fang as the office of Nanman Commercial Center and the hall of Nanman Temple.

The Jesuits were allowed to conduct missionary work in the southern part of Kamo County. After the friendship between the two parties increased, they would expand the missionary area.