Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

It is winter in the fourth year of Hongwu.

In the four years of Hongwu, which is about to turn another chapter, nothing major seems to have happened, except that the Ming Dynasty occupied Shijian Kingdom, and Yelu Dashi was defeated by the Jin soldiers.

Even though the imperial court spent a lot of money and food and immigrated 130,000 people to Youzhou, the cost was still very little compared to the war.

After only one year of cessation of war, the national treasury was increasingly full.

Many grains and gifts were not transported to the capital, but were stored in Changpingcang in various provinces.

Shiploads of grain departed from Shandong, passed through Tamna Island in Goryeo, and then transferred to Tsushima Island to be transported to Iwami Kingdom Castle. They are all private merchant ships. As long as they transport grain, they can exchange for salt or tea.

In fact, it was Ju Ming who was encouraging sea trade and restarting the northern route of Sino-Japanese trade.

Now merchants only use this road to help the army transport food. After gradually enjoying the benefits, some people will go to sea on their own initiative. After all, as many as 4,000 officials, sergeants, and craftsmen are sent out, which requires a large supply of supplies every year.

In addition to transporting goods for official personnel, they can also trade with local wealthy families in Japan. Ming maritime merchants can make money as long as they dare to take risks.

In order to solve the merchants' worries, the Ming Navy also escorted the merchants twice.

This so-called escort did not follow the merchant ships, but went straight to the pirate lairs in Japan and Korea.

Japan's Kyushu Island is full of pirates, especially the surrounding islands of Nagasaki, Fukuoka, and Kagoshima. These pirates have no fixed target. Sometimes they go to the coast of Korea to rob, sometimes they intercept Chinese merchant ships, and they even occasionally go for a stroll in the Seto Inland Sea.

Emperor Shirakawa sent troops many times to fight against pirates.

Yingxuan, Yang Yao and other generals of the Zhongxiang navy have now switched to the Ming navy, sailing around in the western Japanese waters, and beating up non-Ming ships when they see them.

…

In fact, the most convenient route for Sino-Japanese trade is the "Great Ocean Road" that directly crosses the sea.

Between two points, a straight line is the shortest.

It usually takes ten days, and it will be faster if the whole process goes smoothly.

The fastest record for Chinese maritime merchants in the Tang Dynasty was to arrive in Kobe from Mingzhou (Ningbo) in three days and three nights.

The fastest record of Japan sending an envoy to the Tang Dynasty was four days and three nights from Kobe to Mingzhou.

But now there are two problems. One is that this route is the most dangerous and may encounter storms; the other is that there are too many pirates on the Japanese side, and armed clearings must be carried out from time to time.

After the Ming Dynasty's navy achieved success in suppressing pirates, the biggest private beneficiaries were actually those Zhejiang maritime merchants.

When the Japanese envoy visited Kaifeng, Zhu Xiaozhong continued to advance troops without stopping.

Next destination: Sado Island.

There is Sado Gold Mountain.

Sado Gold Mountain is not a specific mine, but a collective name for fifty-five mines. There are gold, silver and copper mines.

During the peak mining period of Sado Island in the Edo period, 400 kilograms of gold and 40 tons of silver were produced every year. There were more than 50,000 mining practitioners on the island!

Likewise, Iwami Ginzan also has gold and copper mines.

Historically, after the gold and silver mines in Ishigami were exhausted, copper mining continued for many years.

In the spring of the fifth year of Hongwu, all the snow disappeared.

An old prospecting craftsman from Fujian looked at the patches of silver mine caps under his feet and was immediately made to doubt his life by the sight before him.

"Are these all silver mines?" Zhu Xiaozhong also had a dull expression.

The old craftsman nodded: "It's a silver mine."

Zhu Xiaozhong said in disbelief: "We choose the nearest bay to land, and after just half a month of casual exploration in the mountains near the bay, we see patches of open-pit silver mines?"

"That's it..." The old prospecting craftsman was also speechless.

Zhu Xiaozhong murmured to himself: "Are all Japanese blind?"

Before going to sea, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince said that there is a golden mountain on Sado Island in Japan.

So, Zhu Xiaozhong took care of Ishikawa and came to Sado Island to look for gold.

As a result, before gold or anything else was found, a large open-pit silver mine was discovered in the mountains near the bay of the landing point. Let alone an experienced prospector, even an ordinary miner can tell something is wrong by looking at the mining caps on the ground.

This silver mine is called Hezi Silver Mountain.

It is located on the south side of a mountain range, and on the north side of this mountain range, there is Aikawa Gold and Silver Mountain, which has richer gold and silver reserves.

Tsuruko Ginzan and Aikawa Jinyinzan are both on the north side of the landing bay.

To the south of the bay where the Ming army landed, there is also the Xisanchuan Placer Gold Mountain. Historically, the Japanese mining methods here were even more ridiculous. They directly cut the mountain and let the earth and rocks slide into the river valley, and then sent people to pan for gold in the lower rivers. Gold sand could be obtained by just panning.

The gold and silver mines on Sado Island were mined from Japan's Warring States Period until 1989.

During World War II, a large number of Chinese and Koreans were even captured and worked here as hard labor, leaving countless blood and tears in the mines.

"Brother, there are several Japanese people on the island asking to see you. They all claim to be Japanese nobles."

"bring it here."

More than a dozen Japanese people came to see him.

Zhu Xiaozhong inquired carefully and found out that they were exiled nobles and monks.

Although this place became an imperial state very early, the conditions were too difficult and the population was never able to develop. Even the position of the Secretary of State in Sado Country cannot be sold at a high price when the official is sold. It has been more than a hundred years since the Secretary of State has actually come to the island to take up a post.

As for the wealthy people on the island, they are not even as good as Tsushima.

At least the Abiru clan on Tsushima Island can still control the entire island with their strength.

As for the wealthy families of Sado Island, even two to three hundred years later, they were still encircling their territories and unable to unify.

The entire island, only the middle one, has been developed into farmland. The rest are all fucking mountainous areas, and there are even barbarians hiding in the mountains and forests, eating hair and drinking blood.

Japanese political prisoners who were inconvenient to be executed were thrown onto the island, which was a Japanese penal colony.

Zhu Xiaozhong interrogated and quickly issued an order: "In the past thirty years, the Japanese nobles who were exiled on this island stayed to help manage the people and miners. And all the wealthy families on the island were captured and sent to Iwami Ginzan for mining, except No women are allowed to stay on the island!”

After another half month, it was discovered that the Ming army only arrested wealthy people and did not attack other civilians. The Japanese on the island no longer panicked.

Some Japanese even came from the mountains south of the bay and said to Zhu Xiaozhong: "General, there is gold in the south!"

Zhu Xiaozhong asked: "What's your name?"

The Japanese said: "My name is Soy Sauce."

"Soy sauce?" Zhu Xiaozhong looked at the translator, thinking that the translator had made a mistake.

The Japanese explained: "When my father was mining, he was gifted two feet of cloth and a bottle of soy sauce because he found a large piece of gold. My father could not forget the delicious taste of soy sauce, so he gave me this name. "

The translator said: "General, this person is a civilian and has no surname."

Zhu Xiaozhong understood and said with a smile: "Since you have come to donate money, I will give you the surname Jin so that you can pass it on to your descendants. From today on, you will be called Jin Soy Sauce."

"Thank you, General, for giving me your surname!" Jin Soya Sauce was so excited that he almost cried, and he knelt down and knelt down to worship.

Zhu Xiaozhong asked: "How do you know there are gold mines in the south?"

Kane Soya Sauce explained: "I am a miner from Noto Country and have mined gold and silver for generations. The silver mountains there were almost finished, so I took a boat with my neighbors and secretly came to Sado Country to pan for gold."

Zhu Xiaozhong immediately alerted: "How many gold diggers are there in the south?"

“Hundreds of people are all miners from Noto Country,” Jin Soya Sauce said.

Zhu Xiaozhong asked: "Don't the local wealthy families know?"

Jin Soy Sauce replied: "The wealthy people knew about it and asked us to contribute gold placer every month."

Gold mining activities on Sado Island emerged in recent years, but they were mainly obtained through gold panning.

The local wealthy family deliberately concealed the news from the Japanese court, and at the same time secretly collected gold mining taxes. Moreover, no one is allowed to leave the island with gold. Those who get rich by gold mining will definitely be killed and cheated if they want to go home.

This matter has actually spread to Noto country, but few people believe it.

It was not until three hundred years later that large-scale gold mining began. Before that, it had always been a small effort.

Zhu Xiaozhong asked the prospectors to go upstream along the Xisanchuan River where gold panning was possible to find gold deposits in the mountains.

News soon came back that there were large amounts of gold in the mountains.

Zhu Xiaozhong looked at the mountains in the south and said with sincerity: "My foster father (Ju Ming) really has the help of gods. Such a lot of gold and silver must be given to the Ming Dynasty by God!"

How else to explain all this besides gods?

Zhu Xiaozhong was almost confused. The landing place he chose was just the nearest bay. As a result, when I casually explored the island, I found an open-pit silver mine, and then someone offered gold mines.

That's outrageous!

In fact, it's not outrageous. There are fifty-five mines on the bigger island. You can find them by just exploring.

If you can't find it, that's bad luck.

What is really outrageous is that the largest gold and silver mine on Sado Island has not yet been discovered right under their noses...

The first time Ju Ming learned about Sado Jinshan was from playing a P Club game.

If the player chooses to start in China, after turning on the colonial concept, he will receive the task of colonizing Taiwan. Once all of Taiwan is captured, if Japan has not yet taken control of Sado Island, there is a high probability that the next colonial mission will be on Sado Island.

In the game, colonizing Sado Island has a very high priority!

After playing a few more times, Ju Ming became interested in Sado Island. When he clicked on the game-related page, he discovered that the island's local products were gold and silver, and the output of gold and silver was ridiculously high.

"There are not enough captured miners." Zhu Xiaozhong began to lament.

At this time, Zhu Xiaozhong received an order from the court: to send troops to Ping An and force Japan to surrender as soon as possible.

The Japanese envoys had no say in the matter of leasing territory, so they returned home by ship after the beginning of spring.

Naturally, Ju Ming would not wait foolishly, he had to give the Japanese king some color.

In April of the fifth year of Hongwu.

Zhu Xiaozhong left three hundred soldiers to garrison Dasen Mountain (Ishimi Yinshan). Another 150 troops were stationed on Tsushima Island, 200 troops were stationed on Sado Island, and 200 troops were stationed on Iwami Kuni Castle.

All the rest of the troops are pulled to Ping An Jing!

Moreover, they looted the castle towns along the way. Starting from Ishimi Province, we enter the Seto Inland Sea through Shimonoseki. When we encounter coastal areas with cities, we land and grab them fiercely.

Just grab it and leave without giving the enemy a chance to gather troops.

A series of news of attacks were sent to Ping An Jing like snowflakes.

Emperor Toba received urgent reports one after another, but before he could respond, the Ming naval fleet had landed at Namba Kyo (Osaka).

(Two updates will be resumed tomorrow.)