please remember
address
Ping Qiusheng imagined that ships returning from Japan could sail to Jeju Island first, load Korean ginseng in Jeju Island, and then return to Shanghai. After selling in Shanghai, they could load local cloth, silk, and daily necessities, and then transport them to Japan for sale.
However, whether the facts can be what he imagined has to be proved by practice. Especially the most important aspect of trade with Japan: Shanghai still relies heavily on Zhao Yiggong's work. After all, ships, cargo sources and docks all depend on him to organize them. He had written a long letter on this issue before departure and had it sent to Hangzhou Station by hand.
Although Lao Zhao didn't have much friendship with him, he wouldn't let go of this kind of dungeon to gain meritorious service.
However, Ping Qiusheng couldn't wait for Lao Zhao's work, so he decided to put aside his five-island strategy for the time being and start with the most convenient Tsushima route.
The clan family on Tsushima Island, located between the Japanese archipelago and the Korean Peninsula, has a national stone of 100,000 koku. But in fact, Tsushima's land is very small, and even including the enclave's food output, it doesn't even have 20,000 koku. A large part of this so-called 100,000 stone is actually the economic income from trade with North Korea.
Throughout the Tokugawa era, although Japan pursued a seclusion policy and only opened one port, Nagasaki, Tsushima had always been able to engage in trade with North Korea and the Qing Dynasty. This trade channel theoretically had nothing to do with the shogunate and did not have many restrictions. It is a convenient channel that can be used immediately.
The Sou family can be called a roly-poly in the history of Japan's Warring States Period. During Toyotomi Hideyoshi's invasion of Korea, the Sou family's governor Soyoshi and his father-in-law, Konishi Yukinaga, engaged in double-dealing and launched a war of aggression against Toyotomi Hideyoshi. He bears unshirkable responsibility for the failure of the first peace negotiation and the second invasion of Korea. As a result, Toyotomi Hideyoshi died of illness. Escaped prosecution.
When it came to the Battle of Sekigahara, the Sou clan joined the Western Army together with Konishi Gyōchō. Whether it was the Toyotomi military commander who turned to the Tokugawa clan, or his own allies Ishida Mitsunari and the major names in the Western Kingdom, they had no good face towards the Sou family. When the Western Army was defeated, Ishida and Konishi were beheaded, but Soyoshi was forgiven by Tokugawa Ieyasu, and after the Battle of Osaka, he received a promise not to reduce the seal or change it. It's much better than the fate of Kobayakawa Hideaki.
Of course. In a sense, the good luck of the Zong family may also be related to the insignificance of its territory. To the rulers and powerful daimyo of the four islands of Japan, Tsushima was just a barren island far away from the mainland. Just like the daimyo of Hokkaido, as long as they kowtow in time to show their loyalty, no general would think of dealing with them.
But getting Tsushima to submit still requires some work. Historically, after the failure of Japan's invasion of Korea, the clan secretly negotiated peace with Korea, which was originally a treasonous thing. However, with the disintegration of the Toyotomi regime, the Tokugawa family conquered the world - Tokugawa Ieyasu did not participate in the invasion of Korea. He was also not enthusiastic about invading North Korea, so the Zong family's peace talks actually took credit.
In 1607, Tsushima and North Korea signed another trade agreement. The relationship between Tsushima and North Korea was quite good: Tsushima became a vassal of the Lee Dynasty and was considered a vassal town of the Lee Dynasty. Therefore, it was able to establish a military base in Miura, the southern part of the Korean peninsula, which was also closed to the country. Japanese pavilion. The trade exchanges between the two sides are quite frequent.
Ping Qiu Sheng knew that this trade was actually one-sided. North Korean business groups generally do not send ships to Japan. It is mainly Tsushima merchants who send ships to North Korea for trade - so it is impossible to count on North Korean ships.
Furthermore, Japan-North Korea trade excludes Chinese goods re-exported by North Korea. North Korea's handmade products, medicinal materials, furs and the like - these are not Jeju's main products, so Tsushima's ship will not go to Jeju for several years.
If we have to wait in Jeju for a Japanese merchant ship to visit, we really don’t know how many years it will take.
The first thing to do is to get Tsushima's ship over. Anyway, with the current power of Australia and Song Dynasty on the Yellow Sea, it is a matter of thought whether whose ship will come over or not.
So before Ping Qiusheng set off, Skade set off to find the Admiralty. The Navy was requested to send a telegram to the Jeju Island squadron to intercept the trade ships sent by Tsushima to North Korea in batches and capture the ships. The order specifically ordered that the captured Tsushima merchants and Sou family retainers be released. Ordinary crew members and passengers will also be given preferential treatment if they lay down their weapons, and try to ensure the safety of the ship's cargo. The vessel and cargo were detained in Jeju Island awaiting disposal.
Seizing ships during inspection is a basic skill of the navy. Therefore, by the time Ping Qiu Sheng arrived in Jeju, the Zong family had already captured three or four ships. By now, everyone in the Tsuima Shouzhong domain should know that a large band of bandits was intercepting their ships. vessel.
As the vassal's largest financial source, it was impossible for them not to resolve this matter. Both Si Kaide and Ping Qiu Sheng are very sure of this.
After Ping Qiusheng arrived, he had some perfunctory socializing with the military and political elders on the island as usual. Feng Zongze knew that Elder Ping came here to carry out trade between Japan and Korea, and he was very enthusiastic about Ping Qiusheng. If this plan came true, Jeju Island would become an important trade node, not to mention the benefits it would bring. The establishment of a local processing industry to process export products made him smile even in his dreams - he wouldn't have to start a hard-working bow and arrow industry and be criticized by a group of veterans.
At the wine table, we decided to allocate three rooms to him in the newly built customs building in Chaotianpu - after all, there are tariffs only when there is trade. Then he patted his chest and said that he wanted people and things. In short, the Jeju Island Front Committee unconditionally supported this trade action.
Ping Qiusheng moved in with his men and luggage, and the Japan-North Korea trade working group was launched silently. He is doing nothing now, waiting wholeheartedly for people from the Zong family to come - the loss of several large ships is no small matter for the Zong family, not to mention that trade with North Korea is the lifeblood of the Zong family's economy.
Without overseas trade, the finances of a poor vassal like Tsushima would have been ruined long ago due to the shogunate's two major policies of "participation in attendance" and "hand-delivered invitations." The first three generations of shoguns under the Tokugawa shogunate were known for their strict laws and were known as "arbitrary politics" in history. This policy developed to its peak during the Iamitsu era. The shogunate frequently reduced and changed the titles of daimyo and minor daimyo, eliminating many feudal clans. Although the Zong family had received a promise from the Tokugawa shogunate that they would never change their positions, if Edo knew about the fact that the route was cut off by "Japanese pirates" or other pirates, the third generation of shoguns who were newly close to the government might be directly changed, even if not Changed, this excuse can also be used to commit seppuku, and then send retainers over to "assist the young master".
However, it is impossible to attack Jeju Island with just the strength of Tsushima, and it is impossible to solve it by force. After all, Jeju Island is the territory of the Lee Dynasty, and it is not his turn as a nominal "foreign vassal". Fight, I'm afraid the pirates won't be solved by then, and the relationship with Li Chao will fall apart first.
Since war is not an option, Tsushima Fuchu Domain's internal attitude towards the unknown armed group occupying Jeju Island has naturally become very hesitant. The family faction represented by the chief family member Yanagawa Tiaohe controls the entire Japan's diplomacy towards North Korea. The overall situation is that the vested interests in the Japan-North Korea trade naturally do not want to create complications, and they advocate ignoring the forces of Jeju Island to avoid irritating the Lee Dynasty.
The head of the family, Zong Yisheng, was less than 30 years old at this time. At the same time, the Zong family was also nominally a territorial vassal of North Korea. This was also the legal basis for the Zong family to dispatch officials to the Japanese government in Busan. Naturally, they tended to be pro-DPRK faction.
But ignoring it will not solve the problem, especially since this group of pirates has blocked the route. Even if the detained cargo is no longer needed, should we continue to send ships to North Korea?
The Ministry of Colonization and Trade and the Grand Library had done their homework in advance and understood the little things in Tsushima, so they adopted the strategy of fighting first and then paying homage - intercepting and detaining Tsushima ships first, and blocking the route to Japan. As a result, the Japanese government in Korea was left alone overseas. The Japanese museum is just a small market with no agriculture. If trade is cut off, the Japanese people will live in poverty, and riots will be difficult to end.
More than 100 years ago, the Li Dynasty closed the Miura Japanese Hall to prevent Japanese pirates, which led to a rebellion at the Japanese Hall. Thanks to the full support of the Zong family, all the Japanese troops were saved from being completely annihilated. Although the Zong family was useless in Japan during the Warring States Period, it was still much more powerful than the five scum like the Li Dynasty. The Li Dynasty could not sustain a long-term conflict and soon reopened. trade with Japan. However, today's Zong family does not have this confidence - after several wars in the 16th century, Tsuima Fan almost lost all its strong men.
In the 16th century, the Zong family was repeatedly involved in the melees of the Shao'er family, their master's family and ally, in Kyushu and China, resulting in considerable losses. In the end, the Shao'er family was defeated, and Zong's own enclave in the mainland was left with few.
Before Toyotomi Hideyoshi invaded the dynasty, Mingzong Yoshitomo negotiated with Li Chao to "take advantage of the situation to defeat Ming". In the end, the negotiations did not come to an end. There were many frauds and deceptions, and they were exposed. In order to show his loyalty, during the first invasion of Korea, Soyoshi mobilized all the men between 16 and 53 years old in Tsushima and assembled an army of 5,000 people to follow Kato Kiyomasa and Konishi Yukinaga to land. However, just like the Sou family participated in Like other wars, Tsushima's fishermen lost more than they won when they landed on land and suffered heavy losses. By the time of the second invasion of Korea, the Zong family had only managed to assemble around 1,000 people despite all their capital.
Nowadays, it is naturally impossible for the Zong family to launch an offensive war alone, not to mention the returning retainers and businessmen who have added fuel and jealousy to the pirates' "big black ships" and "big blunderbuss" (the artillery and iron cannons are so terrifying that The Zong family very much suspected that the other party was some kind of new Nanman rather than a simple pirate.
As a minor daimyo in the Zong family, the only thing they could eat was the Japanese and Korean pipelines, otherwise they would not have to pay attention to the Australians. In the end, although seven were reluctant and eight were unwilling, after some discussion, it was finally decided that just like when North Korea sent a "traitor envoy" to Taima to test and negotiate peace, the Zong family also sent a "traitor envoy" to Jeju to negotiate. As long as any of the heroes in Jeju can put back the ships and lift the blockade, other things will be easy to talk about.
