Hidden Dragon in Qing Dynasty

Chapter 87 - Ryukyu, Ryukyu!

Although the Ryukyu Kingdom's royal family and citizens all worshipped the Han Chinese, and there were a lot of Han Chinese in the Ryukyu, they all lost to the Shimadzu Family in the battle to grow up. This led to the start of the Japanese colonial era that lasted for more than two hundred years. In these two hundred years, the culture and customs of the Japanese were also slowly affecting the Ryukyu Kingdom.

Take a look at the city built on the mountain. There were Japanese hot springs, dormitories, and messy taverns everywhere. Waves and merchants wearing wooden clogs brazenly held white powdered singers as they waved them through the streets. The sounds of the taverns and the singing were intertwined with the Japanese style, which sounded quite unique.

The group that Xiao Letian and the others were leading was too large, and it was simply not something that could be accommodated in a single room. Under Liang Kun's prior arrangements, all four rooms on a street were bundled up. Among them, Xiao Letian lived in the famous "Cherry Blossom House", where the scenery was the best. Not only did it have two hundred-year-old cherry trees, but there was also a bucket of water from the hot spring on the mountain that emitted a faint smell of sulphur.

"Take a bath, take a bath …" "I smell like seawater. If I don't wash up, I won't have any appetite to eat …" Since Xiao Letian saw the hot spring, he had not been able to walk. The storm yesterday had poured seawater onto his body, and even now, there was still the smell of sea salt.

In terms of Japanese culture, Xiao Letian's favorite thing was their customs. Above his head was a dark blue sky, surrounded by a meticulously crafted stone platform, and warm water wrapped around his body. That kind of feeling was something that could not be described with words.

Just as Xiao Letian was staring at the towel and relaxing his body and mind, a timid girl's voice came from behind him. "Dear guest, this is the sake that you requested, please enjoy yourself …" Xiao Letian listened to the weird sounding Chinese, and when he turned around, he saw a little girl wearing a kimono kneeling behind him with a red face.

"Mm, thank you …" Without waiting for Xiao Letian to finish thanking his, what made him dumbstruck was that the little girl had already started taking off his clothes. The kimono was originally a piece of cloth. Once worn, the little girl unbuckled the belt and went completely naked.

Xiao Letian suddenly remembered that the female servants in the ancient Japanese dormitory not only needed to work, they also needed to sell their bodies. The lives of the lower class in Japan were extremely difficult, and since Japan did not have the feudal etiquette of China, it did not have any sense of guilt.

The little girl got into the water naked and started to help Xiao Letian wipe his back. One could tell that she had trained in her cooking, while wiping and massaging at the same time, it was so comfortable that Xiao Letian almost yelled out.

"What's your name? How old are you this year? "Where is your hometown …" Xiao Letian laid on the stone platform with his eyes closed, and asked casually.

"This humble girl … Qian Xia, I come from the distant four nations. My father, who is conducting business with me, came here … "It's a pity that my father never came back after one trip to sea. I can only live here with my younger brother …"

Qian Xia was an eighteen year old girl, probably because the torture in her life had already numbed her. When he mentioned her father and his mother who had died from illness, his tone actually didn't contain the slightest bit of sadness, as if he was calmly narrating the matters of a stranger.

The young lady rubbed her body against Xiao Letian's skin, it seemed that Qian Xia was very experienced, she knew how to make a man more comfortable, just as she was about to help wash the sensitive parts of his body, Xiao Letian suddenly stood up from the water.

"Alright, help me get dressed, I'm hungry …" Qian Xia was a little surprised. He knew that Xiao Letian's body was already reacting, but why did this Chinese man restrain him? Am I not beautiful? Or no money?

Very quickly, Xiao Letian made her even more confused. When she knelt in the water and held onto the two pieces of eagles that were shining with silver light, the little girl started crying.

"Aligado... "Thank you, thank you …" The naked girl knelt in the water, tears of excitement streaming down her face. She had never seen such a generous customer before. She never asked for so many rewards just because she didn't want her own body.

Xiao Letian smiled at him slightly before turning around and returning back to his room. He was very clear on how poor Minzhiweixin was before. It was an exceptionally strict country. All the wealth was concentrated in the hands of the martial family. Even the Sky Emperor needed the help of martial generals sometimes.

Among the lower-class citizens of Japan, farmers who had been squeezed under pressure for a year might not even be able to eat a mouthful of their own rice. After they paid taxes, the remaining rice would be exchanged with merchants for grains and they might not even be able to eat enough.

The girls in commoner families were even more pitiful. They had to work hard since they were young, and once they were older they could sell for money. Many of them were directly sold off.

A girl like Qian Xia wouldn't be able to earn much money from working in a room. It's just that the boss had provided him with food and daily clothes, so he might just be able to give his a little bit of money for a year or two. Normally, when Qian Xia sold himself, he would only get a meager amount of copper coins. He was the happiest when he met a wealthy merchant in the sea, as they would sometimes give him several hundred gold coins.

If she met a guest from Japan and the Ryukyu, it would be very pitiful. She could only endure giving them tens of copper coins. What? You say she can refuse? Don't even think about it. If Qian Xia dared to reject his guest, the owner of the room would kick her out immediately.

Today, Xiao Letian was actually generous enough to give her two silver coins, this kind of refined and exquisite foreign person silver coins, one of them was worth at least 1000 copper coins, at that time, Qian Xia was so happy that he was about to go crazy.

Xiao Letian left Qian Xia and returned to the house, but at the same time, the lunch was already served, and the others were already enjoying their food, with only Xiao Letian's portion remaining.

"sake, Sky Woman Luo, Japanese Tofu, Flavor Enhancement Soup, Sashimi …" It was a very small and exquisite dish, but it was filled to the brim with food. Although it was pretty, it also gave off a feeling of being a small family.

Right now, Xiao Letian had already recovered from the fatigue from his journey, so he was eating lunch together with Shi Dakai and the others as he discussed his plans for the next step. Xiang Shaolong and the other Green Forest experts led by him were scattered around the room, strictly guarding the surrounding grass and trees.

"Advisor, I have already secretly contacted the King of the Glazed Ball just now, they said that the Japanese is keeping an eye on us now, and it will be very difficult for us to meet him in private. However, the envoy also said that the Shang Tai the day after tomorrow is going to prepare for a wild trip, and the royal family will think of all ways to create a chance to meet him in private …"

After all, Shi Dakai had already been to the Ryukyu once, and he had a secret connection with the Ryukyu King. This was not a secret, as the Japanese spies were always paying attention to him.

Xiao Letian carried the sake cup, and thought for a while. "Let's talk about the situation in Japanese, how many people are there, and who is the commander?"

At this time, Liang Kun took over the topic, "Ryukyu Kingdom is still a territory of the Japanese Samoan, and this place is not directly under the control of the Japanese Army. Furthermore, the control of the Shimadzu Family over this place is also invisible.

Although Liang Kun looked at its outer appearance, to be able to become a qualified general soldier, he was extremely meticulous and understood the history of Ryukyu very well.

Although the Ryukyu Kingdom had always admitted that he was a Subordinate Country of China, even the King of Ryukyu had intentions of attaching himself to China. However, due to the indifference of the Ming and Qing Dynasties to the sea, the actual control of China did not extend to the Ryukyu Islands, but more of it was due to cultural influences.

However, Japan was different. In 1609, Changqing was in Japan for four years, and in the ten thousand years of the Ming dynasty, the Shimadzu Family of the Nine Prefectures had sent three thousand soldiers to invade the Ryukyu, marking it as a part of the territory of the Shimadzu Family.

However, what was strange was that the Shimadzu Family did not cripple the Ryukyu King. On the contrary, the Shimadzu Family was hiding behind the Ryukyu King, controlling the Ryukyu Kingdom in secret. The officials stationed at the Shimadzu Family must be conferred another title by the Ryukyu King before they can exercise their functions. Furthermore, the Ryukyu did not obstruct the diplomatic activities of the Ming and Qing dynasties.

Did the Shimadzu Family not have the strength to annex the Ryukyu? The answer was no, the Shimadzu Family almost unified all of the Nine Regions in Japan. If not for Feng Chenxiuji bringing down all of the enemies in the end, the history of Japan would not be known.

Speaking till here, Xiao Letian already understood what was going on. Liang Kun's words finally overlapped with some of the records in his previous life, and the conspiracy in the history of the Shimadzu Family was actually real.

The root of all this was still trade. Due to the close of the Ming and Qing dynasties, the trade situation was very distorted. He was carrying on in the form of a tribute. The two dynasties of the Ming and Qing dynasties had always been restricted in their trade with the foreign countries. The foreign countries could not be traded as long as they wanted, but he had to use the arrangement made by the Ming and Qing dynasties to legally trade within the designated time and place.

In this way, the right of redistribution was very important for the small countries surrounding them. If they could increase the number of transactions with the mainland, then naturally they could increase the strength of their country.

The reason why the Shimadzu Family stayed in King of the Glazed Ball was to make use of the right of the Ryukyu Country to conduct trade for the benefit of her family. In the true history of the Tsurukawa's Palace, during the period when their country was locked in seclusion, the Shimadzu Family used their schemes to secretly trade with the Ming Empire, and from then on, they accumulated a lot of wealth in the past hundred years.

In the wild history of Xiao Letian's previous life, it had also been recorded how the Samoan was able to support the royal family in their campaign against the Minzhiweixin. It was because the wealth that he had accumulated for the past two hundred years had provided them with a powerful backing.

To put it bluntly, without Samoan's selfless support, Tsurukawa's Palace would not have been pushed down that easily, and Minzhiweixin would not have been so successful.

"The current leader of the troops stationed at the Shimadzu Family is a clan elder called Huashan Liyuan. He is the descendant of Hua Long Shan who had invaded the Ryukyu years ago, and the head of his subordinates is called Kiyoshi Yamamoto, who is known as the spearman. She is extremely powerful with her iron spear. And the head of the civil service is called Zhu Zhongjingshang, who is an expert in Chinese learning and is fluent in foreign languages … "

"As for the E Balang we saw on the dock, he was just a hoodlum who bullied the good guys to collect protection fees. He was nothing to be afraid of …"

Just as Liang Kun was introducing the inner workings of the Ryukyu Kingdom, Xiang Shaolong's shout came from outside the room, "Where did this little thief come from? How dare he show off in front of me …" After saying that, the sound of metal clanging against metal came from outside the room.

The generals around Xiao Letian had all taken up their weapons and placed Xiao Letian in a circle to protect him.

"Don't make such a fuss, let's go out and take a look …"