New Shun 1730

After taking the money, the two chatted about Japan's grain sales system.

While listening, he carefully wrote it down in a small notebook.

He also asked about some details about Honma Kosaku's family planting rice and trading in Sakata. Just treat it as a social survey.

Honma Kosaku naturally told everything he knew. Although he was young, he came from a good family and had been knowledgeable since he was a child. At this time, he wanted to curry favor with the boss, so he kept telling him all the details he knew.

It was very late when they talked about everything they should ask. Liu Yu asked someone to send Honma Kosaku away.

The next day, they still did not set sail.

On the north side of the strait, the group of feudal lords were still paying homage to Akihito and discussing some things. It was estimated that they would have to toss for a few days.

Separated by the strait, Liu Yu did not look at them without courtesy, nor did he go to the north to see them transgressing etiquette.

In the north, they were meeting with the feudal lords and samurai; in the south, Liu Yu was visiting merchants, farmers, and townspeople near Kokura, talking to them and asking about taxes, labor, income, how much money they could have to buy cloth, what the price of salt was, and other details of life.

It took nearly seven or eight days before they could set sail.

The Jieyin Temple where the Korean communication envoys had stayed before had been repaired according to the scene of the treaty exchange. After both sides checked and confirmed that there were no problems and that they could directly exchange the treaty as long as everyone was present, the warships of Dashun and the two ships sold to Zhaoren set sail at the same time.

The flag of the Japanese royal family was hung, and the warships were accompanying. It looked like a ceremonial guard, very majestic, and it was also considered to give the other party enough face.

They stopped and walked along the way, and the navigator of the hired Paobeiqian ship led the way on the ship. Where there were reefs and undercurrents along the way, they were all recorded by the people on the warship.

The Seto Inland Sea is not suitable for this kind of soft sailing ship. Many places are too narrow, and the advantages of soft sailing ships at sea are difficult to show.

When they stopped at an island near Okayama Domain, Liu Yu asked the people on the sea merchants about the choice of routes in the future.

Xu Tao also felt that it was a little inconvenient, but he had his own considerations.

"Sir, in fact, the route from Shimonoseki to Osaka is really not suitable for us."

"But taking this route also has an advantage. The shogunate will definitely try its best to restrain the Japanese people and not to do pirates, which can also save a lot of trouble."

"If you don't consider the problem of pirates, it is actually more convenient to take the Songjiang and Ryukyu routes after Japan opens."

"First of all, we used to trade with the Japanese and know what they like. If we talk about bulk goods, it must be mainly sugarcane storage and raw silk. These are all goods from the south, concentrated in Songjiang, and everyone is used to taking the Ryukyu route."

"It just so happens that Nagasaki, Tosa, and Hyogozu in Osaka, that is, Kobe, are all on the same route. This is the southern route."

"For the northern route, it is the goods from Songjiang and Liaodong, Meet in Weihai, go to Busan from Weihai, and then go to Yonago. "

"This is all convenient."

"But besides convenience, we have to consider other things. The main concern is the pirates from Ryukyu and Satsuma. Now that Ryukyu's tribute has been cut off and trade is no longer possible, many people have no means of living, and most of them will take risks. I'm not afraid of being blamed by the adults, because the adults know that those of us who are sea merchants are merchants. If there is legitimate business, we are merchants, and if there is no legitimate business, we are thieves."

"Not only Satsuma and Ryukyu, but also the group of people running to Southeast Asia, and the Dutch red-haired devils. Seeing that this route is profitable and they can't get involved, most of them will think about robbing it."

"Weighing the pros and cons, it is safer to go through Shimonoseki. As long as the shogunate does not collapse, this route will be absolutely safe."

On the way, Liu Yu was also tortured by the sea conditions of the Seto Inland Sea. It is very suitable for small boats like Japan, but if it comes to the large sailing ships of future trading companies, it is indeed far less convenient than going to the open sea.

He was also worried that these sea merchants would take the southern route, so he first asked the sea merchant leader what he thought. He was relieved when he heard that the sea merchant leader still chose to take the Shimonoseki route after weighing the pros and cons.

The Dutch have always been disgusting. If they can't win in the open, they will play dirty.

At the end of the Ming Dynasty, because of the lack of money, sea merchants went to Luzon to trade with the wealthy Spain. The Dutch supported Zheng Zhilong and others to hijack the ships to Luzon and forced the sea merchants to trade in Batavia.

Now that the tribute from Ryukyu has been cut off, the trade with Satsuma is also over. So many people who make a living on the sea have been cut off from their financial resources. They must have the intention of stealing.

There is no shortage of people with the intention of stealing, and there is no shortage of people who want to support pirates.

The Dutch have a criminal record, and they are quite good at this trick, so they really can't help but be on guard.

If you want to cure the root cause, you have to expel the Dutch from Southeast Asia.

However, it is not the right time yet. We must take advantage of the chaos in Europe to defeat the Netherlands at once, otherwise trade with Europe will never develop. After passing India, the Dutch will be able to bankrupt Dashun's merchant ships that will go to Europe in the future.

Now that we have dealt with the Japanese affairs, we still have to continue to argue with the Netherlands for the time being, appropriately cede some interests, and deceive the Dutch.

It can be expected that the Dutch will definitely contact Satsuma and Ryukyu secretly and behind Dashun.

Liu Yu is also worried that the sea merchants will directly conflict with the Dutch at sea. The sea merchants are not easy to deal with. Without the endorsement of the court, they dared to force their way into the Shimonoseki Strait; now that they have the endorsement of the court, these sea merchants will definitely dare to fight with the Dutch.

It's not that they can't afford to provoke, but now is not the time. In this case, it is better to hide first and take the Shimonoseki route. The purpose of supporting the shogunate is to maintain basic public security.

Let's stay out of the spotlight for two or three years, so that the pirates have no ships to rob, and the Dutch can only stare blankly. They dare not go to the sea area from Dashun to Xiaguan to cause trouble, let alone go to the Seto Inland Sea blatantly.

"Since you have weighed the pros and cons, let's decide it this way. Ryukyu is just right for a naval base and warships to cruise to prevent the Japanese from connecting with the South Sea. Since you are sure not to take the southern route of the outer sea, it also saves the navy from distinguishing true from false when cruising in Ryukyu."

"This time, the Dutch's trade is cut off, and the Dutch may not give up. It's better to stay out of the spotlight first."

Xu Tao laughed and said, "Yes. Cutting off someone's wealth is like killing their parents. In the early years of trading in Nagasaki, the Dutch also made hundreds of thousands of gold and silver a year. Now that they are not allowed to trade, who knows what the Dutch will do?"

Smiling on the mouth,

Smiling in the heart. It is still uncertain what the effect of opening the port will be, but as long as the Dutch are driven away, even if the total trade volume does not increase, the Dutch share alone will be hundreds of thousands of gold and silver a year.

Although it is mandatory for ships going out to sea to carry cannons, and the court also allows eight to twelve cannons to be carried, the navy has not yet reached the first wave of retirements, and excellent gunners are still in service. Merchants do not want to clash with the Dutch or pirates supported by the Dutch at sea at this time.

These merchants of Dashun who went to Nagasaki in the early years have dealt with the Dutch, know the Dutch's virtues, and have probably guessed what the Dutch have done.

After the court intervenes, open conflicts may not occur, at least it will not be ships flying the Dutch flag directly robbing Dashun's merchant ships.

But some small actions will definitely happen. After all, there are a large number of people who make a living by the sea in Satsuma and Ryukyu. If their jobs are cut off and they are not given a bowl of rice to eat, it will take only a few minutes to go back to their old business.

…………

While Liu Yu and these sea merchants were discussing the Dutch, the people from the Dutch trading house in Nagasaki also went to Osaka to meet Tokugawa Yoshimune.

They really wanted to know about Japan's opening of ports and whether the future trade between Japan and the Netherlands would be affected.

They had refused to send troops before, thinking that this was a dispute over the Eastern tribute system, but now the news they received was that Japan was opening ports.

Even if they had known before that Dashun was opening ports for Japan rather than the so-called tribute system, they would not help Japan. On the contrary, they might take the opportunity to contact Dashun and ask for troops to be sent together.

But after the war, everyone knew that Japan was going to open ports, and the people from the Dutch trading house were anxious. They hoped that Japan could also allow the Dutch to enjoy the same treatment as Dashun.

After all, in Nagasaki, the two countries were the only two countries that could trade with Japan. Now they hope to share the same benefits, and they also want the conditions that Dashun can have. Of course, hope is hope, and reality is reality. They also know that Dashun can gather tens of thousands of troops to land in Japan, which the Netherlands cannot do anyway, but at least they should guarantee the previous trade volume.

The Dutch East India Company and Batavia have always been short of cash in their operations in Asia, and the annual trade with Japan can contribute a lot to Batavia's cash shortage.

However, after the Dutch arrived in Osaka, Tokugawa Yoshimune, who was already waiting here to welcome Zhaoren and meet Liu Yu, used a cunning method to delay the Dutch's problem.

He neither said yes nor no, but only said that the war had just ended and the treaty was only a draft. He would talk to the Dutch after the war with Dashun was completely over.

During this period, he also revealed some hope that the Dutch would support a batch of weapons, which seemed to be trying to win over the Dutch and gave them great hope.

But in fact, Tokugawa Yoshimune rejected the Dutch in his heart.

He agreed with his second son's opinion and believed that he should now be a loyal minister of Dashun, at least a loyal minister on the surface, so that the Dutch would help Japan for their own purposes instead of actively begging the Dutch.

However, the timing of refusal is skillful.

He now gave the Dutch great hope, and even revealed the idea that "the Tang people should not be allowed to monopolize overseas trade", which seemed to imply that Japan would allow the Dutch to trade at the five ports for its own interests.

But in fact, he wanted to wait until the tribute was paid, and then directly rejected the Dutch on the grounds that "the Celestial Empire does not allow it".

Leading the conflict to the Sino-Dutch relationship.

Using this reason to reject was perfect.

Because, as a vassal state, under the patriarchal system, the tributary state was not theoretically independent, at least it had no diplomatic rights.

In later history, Korea used the reason that "Korea was a vassal of the Qing Dynasty" to try to reject the unequal treaty. Tokugawa Yoshimune was also prepared to use this method to reject the Dutch and instigate the conflict between China and the Netherlands.

Or, the Dutch directly went to war with Dashun and forced Dashun to agree that the Netherlands had equal rights with Dashun at the five ports in Japan - if the Dutch saw the full text of the treaty and the secret agreement on the trade and diplomatic treatment after the tribute, they would feel very familiar. It can be completely understood as an oriental version of the Navigation Act. Of course, the response method is also ready, just fight.

Otherwise, the Dutch can only actively win over Japan, secretly provide financial assistance, and strive to make Japan a useful tool to fight against China.

Just like with the help of Akihito's capture, Tokugawa Yoshimune raised the banner of establishing a new emperor and fighting to the end, reversed the passive situation, and regained the moral initiative in the struggle with the feudal lords.

This time, he also took advantage of the secret agreement to pay tribute, completely rejected the Netherlands, and showed that Dashun was overbearing rather than kingly, which put pressure on the Netherlands, and made him change from the one who begged the Netherlands to send troops at the beginning of the war to the one who asked the Dutch to beg him to accept the help of the Netherlands.

This move of turning passive into active has pitted the Dutch at this time.

The first thing that Arai Shiraishi's new policy did before was to halve the number of Dutch ships allowed to come to Nagasaki. Now Tokugawa Yoshimune has fished out the greed in the hearts of the Dutch in the name of "Five ports open to trade, and the Tang people cannot be allowed to dominate and monopolize prices."

Just wait for the moment when the Dutch are full of joy, and then reject the Dutch neatly, so that the Dutch anger can be completely directed to Dashun, and Dashun has nothing to say: Japan is really a loyal minister, and the vassal cannot bypass the suzerain and foreign trade and diplomacy.