"Oh! Buddha bless you! Go and rob Korea, which is rich and can eat rice! ... However, Mr. Watanabe, since the Ming Dynasty has such a powerful force, it can kill the evil ghost king of Yuan Kou. Then the warriors of Kyushu plundered Korea Will the country not be attacked by the Ming army?..."
"Yes! Witness the Maitreya Buddha! The North Korean country is so rich, it must be a giant! Their Korean warriors can eat rice every time, so they must be very difficult to deal with... They will risk their lives for rice, right?..."
"Haha! Murakami-kun, you don't understand the mystery of this. The shogun of Muromachi is afraid of the Ming Dynasty, but the martial arts families under the shogun are not so afraid. Especially the smaller the martial arts family, the less afraid they are! Just like the young masters of Kyushu The Er clan and the Ouchi clan can't take action openly, but our Ryuzoji family... Ahem, but Tsushima's clan and Hirato's Matsuura family often go to the coast of Korea... The reason for this is like a giant beast can crush a crab. , but it’s like being unable to crush the ants under your feet!…”
The ice wind freezes the white Sea of Okhotsk, passes through the narrow Sea of Japan, and is connected to the vast East China Sea. The stories of fighting that take place on the sea are like the mottled weapons buried on the beach, silently marked with death.
The historical "Japanese pirates", or East China Sea pirate groups, can be roughly divided into three stages. There are also obvious differences in the composition of pirate groups, the scale of pirates and the technical level of ships, which are closely related to the level of maritime trade.
The first stage is the early Ming Dynasty from the 14th to the 15th century, or the Japanese pirate period. Due to the fighting between the Northern and Southern Dynasties in Japan and the final failure of the Southern Dynasties, a large number of Japanese ronin appeared who lost their masters. These wanderers travel around in small boats, plundering and killing without any trade. Their most obvious signs are their crude boats, poor equipment, and backward navigation technology.
The Japanese pirates of this era were generally small in scale, consisting mainly of dozens or hundreds of people, and were not difficult to deal with. And with Japan's backward shipbuilding technology, the small morning boats produced were no match for the Ming Navy. Therefore, this group of ronin from the Southern Dynasties were hostile to both the Ming Dynasty and the Northern Dynasty shogunate, and they were quickly wiped out. Then, the composition of the East China Sea pirates changed significantly and entered the second stage.
The second stage is the mid-Ming Dynasty from the early 15th to the 16th century. In this era when the world is about to be connected, it can also be called the Chinese pirate/maritime trade period. The situation in the Japanese shogunate was stable, and the number of landless ronin was greatly reduced. However, the coastal gentry of the Ming Dynasty cultivated local pirates to control the lucrative private maritime trade.
Because the Ming Dynasty implemented a maritime ban, private trade was extremely profitable, but it had to be disguised. In the form of Japanese pirates, they can not only reduce the risks of the gentry in private trade, but also do some dirty work that is difficult to do officially. The land annexation and wealth accumulation of the gentry on the southeast coast were accompanied by the activity of "Japanese pirates", which developed rapidly during this period! And since the pirates in the East China Sea needed to fight against the Ming Dynasty and carry cargo, the ships had to be very fast and much larger than the Japanese Kozao. These beautiful ships for Chinese pirates and merchants could not be built by Japan, which lacked shipbuilding technology at this time!
The third stage that is about to emerge is the great merger of Chinese and Japanese pirates in the middle and late Ming Dynasty in the 16th century, and is dominated by Chinese pirates/maritime merchants who are more technologically advanced and more powerful. When global trade was connected by new shipping routes, direct trade exchanges occurred between Asia and Europe, which also meant that the profits of sea trade were incredibly high!
The Chinese pirates and merchants who were originally subordinate to the mighty Ming Dynasty quickly grew from sea trade, broke away from the shackles of the gentry, and for the first time completely controlled the China Sea and the Sea of Japan. In fact, the astonishing benefits brought by maritime trade far outweighed the inefficiency and high cost of plunder. The pirates' desire for maritime trade was even greater than that of the wealthy gentry on the coast.
Half a century later, Wang Zhi, the captain of Wufeng, became the first pirate king in the East China Sea. He packed up the advanced shipbuilding technology, advanced navigation technology and artillery use technology of Ming Dynasty and Guangdong and brought them to Japan, which was in chaos in the early Warring States Period. He established a real pirate lair in Hirado, Nagasaki, built large ships at sea, gathered Chinese and Japanese pirates, and during the "Yimao Japanese Rebellion", he invaded the Korean coast and fell prefectures and counties, completely establishing coastal hegemony.
Subsequently, Wang Zhi took control of "Thirty-Six Islands and Tens of Thousands of Pirates", and even established the country as "Song" and called himself "King Hui", monopolizing the entire maritime trade in the East China Sea and the Sea of Japan! Then, Wang Zhi was trapped and killed by Hu Zongxian, and the Ming Dynasty completely cut off sea trade. Tens of thousands of Chinese and Japanese pirates and maritime merchants lost order and livelihood, thus unveiling the long and cruel Jiajing Japanese Rebellion...
"Witness the Buddha! The navy of the Ming Dynasty will not patrol the coast of Korea. And among the pirates of the Ming Dynasty, there are many heroes, and they will definitely not be willing to be the dogs of powerful people! There will always be Forces like the Murakami Navy appeared..."
The monk soldier Watanabe Masumi's eyes sparkled, thinking of the Ming Dynasty sea pirates whom he had met once on the sea, and shook his head slightly. The maritime strength of that sea pirate was far greater than that of the Ryuzoji family whose territory was tens of thousands of stones. And with the dense population along the coast of the Ming Dynasty, thousands or even thousands of people could easily gather! Fortunately, these powerful pirates from the Ming Dynasty not only looked down on the coast of Kyushu, but also had no intention of going to the coast of Korea to compete with the pirates of Kyushu...
"As for the Kingdom of Korea... Suichiro, there are no brave warriors in Korea, nor are there any difficult ashigaru! They have so many wealthy towns and villages, but they don't have enough troops to guard them. A village with thousands of people often has There are only dozens of peasants and soldiers, and there are many North Koreans willing to lead the way everywhere... Those North Korean gentlemen are more wary of the untouchables under their rule than they are of us!..."
"Ah? How is it possible! Such a prosperous country, Korea, does not have strong warriors to guard it?!...Jin Shipbuilder, is this true?..."
Hearing Murakami Jitong's question, shipwright Jin Shanshu was silent for a moment, did not speak, and just nodded slightly.
At the end of the 15th century, there were about 8 million people in Lee's Joseon, but only a few hundred thousand troops. Most of them were military households with low maintenance costs. The ratio of soldiers to civilians was almost 1:50. In comparison, the stone height of Heguo at this time was about 13 million. According to the standard of 1.4 stone per person, it is estimated that there are about 9 million people, which is similar to the size of Lee's Joseon. According to the calculation of the ordinary daimyo military service of 250 people in ten thousand stone, the whole country has an army of at least 300,000, and the ratio of soldiers to civilians is almost 1:30!
The atrocious ratio of soldiers to civilians in Heguo is almost the same as that of Central American tribes that have been at war for thousands of years! However, China does not have high-yield corn, pumpkins, sweet potatoes, potatoes and cassava, nor does it have complete water conservancy facilities. The agricultural output per mu is actually far inferior to that of the Mexican Union.
In the He Kingdom, even the life of the daimyo was very poor, almost in the poorest depression among East Asian countries, even worse than the nomadic Mongolian chiefs...
"Witness Maitreya Buddha! Mr. Watanabe, are there inhuman beings in North Korea? Do they also slaughter and kill animals? Gods and Buddhas! Are there so many filth beings everywhere?..."
"Well. The dirty people in North Korea are not just butchers, but also slaves working in the fields! To be honest, their number is probably more than that of civilians!..."
Hearing Masumi Watanabe's guess, shipwright Jin Shanshu hunched over and lowered his head unconsciously. He sighed and sang softly, but it was the dialect of the countryside in Gyeongsang Province.
"What a tortoise, what a tortoise! The first one to appear! The emperor has ordered the king to come here to be the king. You dig the earth, pile the earth and sing loudly. You dance to welcome the king!... When the king arrives, a gold box comes out of the Han River. The gold box Six eggs are opened, and the six eggs turn into a boy, and the boy becomes a king!…The king leaps into the air, connects with the sun, and remains the king for generations to come!…”
"Under the King of the Sun, a thousand stars in the sky are born, and they are the masters in the sky! The masters are arranged on both sides. They descend from the sky when they are born, and rise back to the sky after death. The stars in the blue sky are in two shifts! ... The stars in the sky are immortal. , the two groups in the world are eternal!"
"The King of the Sun opens his golden mouth, and a thousand stars shine on the earth. Inside the filthy excrement are filthy insects! The filthy insects turn into non-human beings: witches slaughter prostitutes, concubines give birth to children, male temple gangs, pansori, pottery craftsmen, and sinners. Later, evil Buddhists... one generation will fall like filthy insects, and they will never be replaced from generation to generation!..."
"Hiss!... Jin Shipiang, what are you talking about! Are you practicing some Korean witchcraft?..."
"...Watanabe-sama, this is a country ballad...it talks about the Great Sun King, the yangban masters, and the inhuman untouchables."
Shipwright Jin Shanshu rubbed his face, put on a respectful smile, and explained in a low voice.
"In the myths passed down from generation to generation, the king is the dragon's egg in the golden box of the Han River, which turned into the sun. Yangban is the star in the sky, coming from the sky and returning to the sky... As for the lowest untouchables, they are in the dung. A filthy insect who is born a pariah and will never be able to turn over..."
"The origins of the untouchables include wizards, butchers, prostitutes, children of prostitutes, children of concubines, as well as dancing temple entertainers, wandering entertainers who sing songs, stone carving craftsmen, and all descendants of sinners. There are Buddhists who have been declared evil by the government..."
"And as long as one generation becomes a pariah, their descendants will be pariahs for generations to come! ... Eternity and eternity, nothing can change it! ..."
"Ah! Maitreya Buddha! Even wizards, artists, craftsmen and Buddhists are untouchables?..."
"What! Being a slave for one generation and being a slave for generations to come? This is too terrible!..."
After hearing the gold shipwright's explanation, the Japanese warriors in front of the bonfire looked at each other in disbelief. Of course there are untouchables in the He Kingdom, mainly the lower class people who are engaged in butchers, leather makers, sellers of hides, cleaners, performers, and sellers of bamboo and grass utensils. But in the final analysis, in Japan, a country with frequent wars, martial arts vying for hegemony, and low productivity, the proportion of untouchables is not high, and it is completely incomparable to North Korea.
For the Qianliangban nobles in North Korea, they can reduce the army as much as possible and reduce the treatment of the army. It doesn't matter because the army can't fight, there is a powerful Ming Dynasty leader to ensure external security! They could also establish a de facto system of slavery, enslaving the untouchables who make up nearly half of the population. Because it doesn’t matter if there is an uprising in the country, we can use the Great Tomorrow Soldiers to enter the country and quell the rioting untouchables! …
In other words, the rule of the two groups of nobles in North Korea does not depend on the ruled ordinary people, white people and untouchables, but only depends on the suzerain country, the Ming Dynasty, so they can be as reactionary as possible! This kind of grandioseism, maintained by the suzerain, has continued into later generations and into the 21st century...
The Korean yangban wantonly expanded their base status and completely solidified class circulation. They went through the Ming and Qing Dynasties without any change. In 1908, in the first census of the Korean Empire, the number of fourth-class people was less than 6 million. The number of non-human slaves and hermits reached an astonishing 13 million, even accounting for 70% of the population!
"Blessed by Hachiman Bodhisattva! The samurai of Korea rarely have the will to fight to the end. And the weapons and equipment of their military households are even cruder than those of the ashigaru at the head of the village... The only thing that gives the warriors of Kyushu a headache is that of Korea. The navy! Those patrol boats are much more powerful than our Xiaozao and Guan boats. They recruited labor and built ships very quickly! Even if we spent a lot of money and burned a few boats Ships, North Korea will soon build new ones..."
The shipbuilding level of the countries in Japan has also been at the bottom of the East Asian countries for a long time, only better than Mongolia. Before the Wufeng ship owner Wang Zili came to Ashirado and brought the advanced shipbuilding technology of the Ming Dynasty with him, the shipbuilding level of the Republic of China was two eras behind the Ming Dynasty and one era behind North Korea!
The marauding warriors from the Kyushu clans of Japan were never afraid of fighting with the North Korean army on land. They often even had dozens of warriors chasing hundreds of North Korean troops to kill them, with a record of one against ten. But once they encounter the North Korean navy at sea, the small morning boats of the Republic of Korea are like floating coffins. They can only escape in different directions, and they can escape as much as they can. The loss of ships like this is also the biggest obstacle to the Kyushu clans from plundering North Korea...
"However, there are always times when the Korean Navy becomes lax! The samurai grab a handful and leave. As long as they don't go too deep, the gains will always be more than the losses... As long as a few samurai and ashigaru are killed, it will be done. It’s always a good deal to exchange for a bunch of goods that can’t be grown in the ground!…”
Watanabe Masumi, the monk soldier, touched his chin and looked at the frozen ocean boat in the distance. The greed and desire in his heart were like the tide. Under the perseverance of the Kyushu warriors, various craftsmen from Korea gradually flowed into the country with advanced technologies from the Celestial Dynasty, bringing with them the development of crafts in various industries.
"Huh, the great Bodhisattva Hachiman testifies! As long as there is enough reward, as long as there is enough reward!... The various martial arts families in Kitakyushu, whether it is the Zong family, the Matsuura family, the Otomo family, the Ryuzoji family, or even the powerful Shaoer family and Daji family behind the scenes. No one in the house cares about the loss of human life! And among the plump and juicy clams of Korea, the real shining pearls are those outstanding craftsmen!!..."
"If we can break through Guangzhou and Goryeong in Gyeonggi Province, North Korea, and capture the top porcelain craftsmen who make white porcelain... Or break through Nampo in South Pyongyang Province, North Korea, and capture the master blacksmiths who make fine iron... Or break through On Ganghwa Island in Gyeonggi Province, we captured those experienced boatmen who could build large ships... Even around Wang Jing who plundered North Korea, we captured those excellent lacquer craftsmen who made lacquerware... Those are all gold that can grow golden leaves far and wide. Bodhi tree!…”
Under the preference of the suzerain Ming Dynasty, Li's Korea blossomed into the flower of East Asia's splendid science and technology, only half a step behind the towering Ming Dynasty. The most outstanding things in North Korea are silk weaving, porcelain manufacturing, lacquerware manufacturing, iron and steel smelting, and shipbuilding and dock repairing...
Although Toyotomi Hideyoshi's invasion of Korea was defeated by the Ming army, the captured craftsmen helped the country's agriculture, construction, steelmaking, shipbuilding, porcelain firing... and other technologies to achieve comprehensive progress. leap! Japanese-style celadon first appeared in Kinki, Japan, during the firing of Korean porcelain craftsmen. When Date Masamune was building ships, in addition to the guidance of Spanish missionaries, there were also Korean shipwrights who were good at woodworking, all of whom were plundered from the Imjin Japanese Rebellion!
And when the Jurchen tribes emerged in Liaodong, the iron craftsmen and firearms craftsmen of North Korea were busy day and night for the Jurchen tribes, providing weapons and armor that were not inferior to those of the Liaodong frontier army... It can be said that the flower of science and technology in Li's Korea, The delicious fruits it produces can always help its "friendly" neighbors and achieve inter-era progress for the entire tribe!
"Bless me, Hachiman Bodhisattva! If I can return to Ryuzoji's house, and if there is a fast ship, I must... stop! Stop!... Haha! Knowing that ice and snow are water, how can there be a single step between Buddha's life? Knowledge and understanding If you don’t see anything, you don’t know how to stand. It only increases the truth and delusion.”
"Huh! The snow and ice is falling all over the sky, and the weather is getting colder and colder... It is the right thing to let everyone survive this long winter now!
The ice and snow fell, and my thoughts drifted away and flew back. Watanabe Masumi, the monk soldier, took a long breath and stood up. He wiped the snowflakes from his bald head, patted the anxious gold boatman, and ended the conversation, which was increasingly arousing greed.
However, with his Buddhist practice, his greed, desire for fame, fortune and power were only temporarily suppressed, waiting for the day when it would come back like a summer tide! I just don’t know what he looked like at that time...
"Murakami-kun. The snow is falling more and more frequently, and the snow is getting thicker and thicker... We still have twenty people left. Although the food prepared on the ship is very rich, I heard that the winter here is longer, and I am afraid it can last for half a year... So, before the snow covers the horses’ hooves, let’s exchange some food with the surrounding Luyi tribe!…”
"Okay! Buddha's blessing! I'll send three warriors to exchange for the last wine in the boat and the iron pots that the tribe is willing to accept!..."
"Okay! All three of us will go on horseback. It will be safer and we can carry more goods!... Well, be careful and avoid those big tribes... May the Bodhisattva be merciful and the Buddha bless you!"
"Yes! May the Bodhisattva be merciful and the Buddha bless you!"
The sound of pious chanting to Buddha floats in the vast snowfield. And in this world of ice and snow, far away from the Buddhist kingdom and shrouded in Tengger, can Bodhisattvas and Buddhas hear their prayers? Maybe the Buddhas have no protection, or maybe the Bodhisattva's great compassion has already come to the world from the distant horizon...
That’s it for the East Asian background story! Hee hee, the author has buried a lot of details and foreshadowing, waiting for the follow-up to unfold. He is working hard to update the sweeping wave. Please vote and support at the end of the month!
