Japan, Hakata Bay.
This crescent-shaped bay located in the northern part of Kyushu Island, Japan, has become a window for exchanges between Japan and the East Asian continent since the Asuka Period.
At that time, the Japanese Yamato court suffered a disastrous defeat on the Korean Peninsula and began to realize the power of the Tang Empire, so it established a "Tang Wu Yamen" named Dazaifu near Hakata Bay on Kyushu Island. This yamen is not only responsible for communicating with the Tang Empire, but also responsible for preventing possible Tang ship attacks!
But the Tang Dynasty was really busy at that time. There were too many enemies that needed to be taught a lesson, and Japan really couldn't take the lead... So until the fall of the Tang Dynasty, the Japanese did not wait for the incoming Tang ships.
The invaders from the Tang Dynasty did not come, but the Japanese envoys sent to the Tang Dynasty by Dazaifu left one after another. Later, these people brought the advanced technology, culture, and political system of the Tang Dynasty back to Japan. In that golden era, Dazaifu was almost the biggest driving force for Japan's development and progress.
However, with the collapse and destruction of the Tang Dynasty, Japan's "Tang Wu Movement" also came to an end... Since the Tang Dynasty is gone, the Tang Dynasty will not attack, and Japan still engages in Mao's "Tang Wu Movement" sports"?
And not all the things that were introduced to Japan from the Tang Dynasty were good...especially the separatism of vassal towns and the collapse of gentry society that began to appear in the middle and late Tang Dynasty. In the eyes of the Japanese emperor and ministers, it was simply the collapse of rituals. bad!
That is definitely not something you can learn!
Therefore, since the fall of the Tang Dynasty, Japan has stopped the "Tang Wu Movement" and at the same time began to seclusion. From then on, there have been no official exchanges between China and Japan.
However, while Japan implemented a closed country, it did not close Dazaifu. Because Japan also needs to conduct foreign exchanges, and when China entered the Song Dynasty, navigation technology and overseas trade developed rapidly. The Japanese court could control official diplomacy, but it could not control private trade.
Moreover, the officials in Japan also needed to wear silk from the Song Dynasty - their clothes were very expensive and they couldn't produce them themselves, so of course they had to be imported.
In addition, in order to show that they are elegant and educated, those people consume a lot of tea, books, pens and ink...Oh, they also especially like to smear toxic and harmful lead powder on their faces! That is also a good thing that only the Song Dynasty has!
In short, the "Song Dynasty Movement" cannot be carried out, but the consumer goods of the Song Dynasty are still needed.
Therefore, Japan's Dazaifu has changed from an organization that promoted the "Tangwu Movement" to a yamen that manages foreign trade...and their management methods are actually quite unique.
The first is of course monopoly. How to make money without monopoly? It doesn't matter whether Dazaifu makes money or not, but the people in charge of Dazaifu are all ministers of Heian Kyo, they have to make money!
The second is to package normal trade as tribute... Those profiteers who come to do business in nature cannot say that they are profiteers, they have to say that they are tribute envoys, who come to pay tribute to the emperor. The goods they brought were considered tribute, and the things they took from Japan were gifts from the emperor.
Because it was a tribute, all those who came to Hakata to do business were concentrated in the Korokan under the jurisdiction of Dazaifu - Korokan is located on the edge of Hakata Bay, on the west bank of a river called Nakagawa.
However, with the increasing decline in the authority of the Heian court, the rise of the local samurai class in Kyushu, and the proliferation of sent-in manors, the smuggling trade in Kyushu also followed... By around 1130 AD, Kyushu had already appeared along the coast. 12 smuggling trade distribution centers were established. These places where private traders gathered were called "Tangfang", "Tangfang", "Tangfang", "Dangfang", "Dongfang", "Dongfang" and so on. .
The largest smuggling distribution center is in Hakata... just opposite the Korokan under the jurisdiction of Dazaifu, and only separated from the Korokan by the Hakata Tonozaki Karabo on the Naka River.
Around 1130, as many as 1,600 private merchants from the Song Dynasty opened stores and did business there. Most of the Song Dynasty merchant ships that sailed into Hakata Bay every year went directly to the wharf at Tosaki Karabo.
Yes, it’s so blatant!
The reason why it is so bold is because Hakata Tosaki Karabo on the other side of the Naka River was built on the land of Tosaki Shrine. The Kozaki Shrine is in the name of Emperor Toba... but is actually controlled by the local Kyushu local snake Munakata family.
Emperor Toba is the emperor who holds great power now!
The shrine under his protection was, of course, the representative of the Fujiwara Shoseki family, and the current chief minister, Minamoto no Kyōyuki, did not dare to interfere at all.
Therefore, after taking office, this high-ranking minister who was born in the Uta Gen clan did not even bother to go to Honglukan and Hakata Bay. He just stayed in the Dazaifu government office as his otaku, playing Waka and Han with a bunch of arty Kyushu local snakes. Poetry, watching a few Noh plays, and seeing if there are any beautiful "white pats" I can hook up with... Although I can't make much money, my life is still very leisurely.
He is already an old man in his sixties. Wouldn't it be nice to live a leisurely life with the cute little white-faced samurai and the white swatter? Smuggling and whatnot...let them be!
And today, the eighth day of the eleventh month of the fifth year of the Great Reign under the rule of Emperor Sotoku of Japan, seems to be nothing special for Minamoto no Suiyuki... When he finished washing, had breakfast, and was waiting in his house While singing, composing poetry and watching a play with a group of young white-faced warriors, a turning point in history arrived.
He saw one of his retainers hurried into the courtyard, knelt down and reported: "Your Majesty, the Dazaifu Procurator Fei Wei has made a request for an audience with the Grand Priest of the Kozaki Palace!"
"Oh?" Yuan Jingxing's eyes lit up when he heard this. It was against his will to come with the Grand Palace Secretary?
Needless to say, it must have been the case of smuggling under the protection of Tozaki Palace... I was caught!
"Who is the prosecutor now?" Yuan Jingxing asked, "You are quite brave."
"My lord, if the current prosecutor is not violating the rules, he should be regarded as Zhong Ping Ji Qing."
"Oh..." Gensei Xing nodded. He didn't remember this person... but it doesn't matter, as long as someone dares to poke the hornet's nest in the Koshizaki Palace.
If someone pokes a hornet's nest, he, a powerful man, can collect the money... Of course he knows that Ping Jiqing will not kill the tiger of Zhenqi Palace because he loves his country and the court unless he violates his duties. Behind the scenes is the emperor!
Therefore, the conflict between Zhongping Jiqing and Omiyaji Munakata Kyōryoshi must be due to the uneven distribution of the spoils... That's why the lawsuit was brought against him, a powerful master.
"Yaoxi!" Minamoto Kyoko said with a smile, "Let them wait... wait until I finish watching the Noh drama, and then I can deal with the dispute between them!"
"Hai!"
Minamoto Sutra's retainers left, and Minamoto Sutra was enjoying himself secretly with his fan open and his mouth covered. After enjoying themselves for a while, the retainer came back like flying.
"Your Majesty, I have not violated the law, so I have to report something urgent to Suo Biedang and the Grand Palace Secretary. Please be sure to summon him immediately!"
"Nani?" Minamoto Susei was unhappy, "What is more important than me enjoying Noh drama?"
"Your Majesty!" The retainer also looked surprised and said to Yuan Jingxing, "It's a Tang ship attacking!"
"A Tang ship is attacking?" Yuan Jingxing was stunned. What was going on?
"No! The Tang Dynasty is gone? How come there are Tang ships?" Yuan Jingxing knows about overseas affairs, and he also knows that the Tang Dynasty is gone!
"My lord...the Tang Dynasty is gone, but the Tang State is still there!" said the retainer, "it's just that a different family became the emperor. It was the new emperor of the Tang State who sent warships to Japan. Hundreds of them filled the bay of Hakata!"
"This, what does this have to do with me?" Yuan Jingxing's old face turned pale with fright. He could even save today's lead powder money.
"My lord, you are the master of military power!"
"Soldiers?" Gensuke Xing became even more frightened when he heard this, "Are there any soldiers in Dazaifu?"
"Yes!" The retainer nodded, "There are four permanent legions stationed in Chikuzen Country where Dazaifu is located, among which the Mikasa Regiment and the Toga Regiment are stationed in Dazaifu Water Castle."
"That's true!" Minamoto Susei's eyes widened, "Who are the generals of these four legions? Where are they? And...where is Dazaifu Water City?"
He has been a power master for many years, but he has never seen any legion or water city...
"My lord, the dirt slope outside the Dazaifu official office is the water castle... It was built during the Asuka period. The Mikasa regiment and the Toga regiment were also legions from the Asuka period."
"Asuka..." Yuan Jingxing had the urge to kill someone!
Now we are all in Heian Kyo, hundreds of years have passed since the time when Asuka was the capital, and there was still the Nara era sandwiched in between.
If he were a northern samurai, he would draw his sword and kill this retainer who was talking nonsense.
It was a pity that he was not a samurai and could not kill people, so he had to ask this retainer to quickly bring the two men, Jiqing Pinghei and Omiyaji Munakata Sugiuki.
Zhong Ping Jiqing is a samurai... He is not a samurai and cannot do the errands of the inspection and non-violation of the envoy! Moreover, the inspection and non-violation office has soldiers, a total of 500 elite soldiers! Normally, it would be okay to catch a bandit or a fugitive or something... At most, he would not be able to catch the bandit, and the bandit and fugitive would not be wiped out.
But this time hundreds of ships of the Tang Army came...
"Master Quan, I have brought 500 elite soldiers here!"
"Commander Quan, I have also brought the 300 guards of the palace minister." Munakata Kunei, the great palace minister, also raised samurai... Without samurai, no one would look after the shrine's manor. .
"There are only 800 people..." Gensei Xing asked, "Is it enough?"
"That's enough!" Zhongping Jiqing nodded and said, "It's enough to protect Master Quan from escaping!"
Munakata Kyouichi also nodded: "Yes, run away quickly!"
"Escape?" Gensei Xing was stunned, "Why escape?"
These words frightened Zhongping Jiqing and Zongxiang Jingyi. There were hundreds of Tang ships and tens of thousands of Tang soldiers. We only have 800 people. Do we still want to resist?
Yuan Jingxing thought about it and said: "Shouldn't we send envoys to seek peace? Maybe the Tang people have no intention of destroying our country..."
