At the Liegang wharf, a group of men boarded the Fu boat, and an official on board waved his hand: "Lift the anchor and start the boat!"
”The captain of the ship immediately shouted, and many sailors on the ship put away the ladder that stretched to the dock, and several sailors walked to the winch in the bow of the ship, and one of them pushed a cart rod, and as they pushed, the iron chain slowly rose, and the chain rubbed against the wood on the ship and made a burst of sound, pulling the anchor out of the water.As soon as the anchor was reached, the ship began to shake, and the sailors immediately took up the long pole and propped it up on the pier, and the ship left the shore.The sailors used bamboo poles to adjust the direction of the hull, when the bow of the ship was aimed at the outside of the harbor, the sailors immediately shouted the trumpet, pulled up the hard bamboo sails, the ship in the sea breeze, raised the speed and left the bay, sailing to the sea, as far as the eye can see, the sea and the sky meet.Zhao Ming is a man of action, and he will do what he decides immediately.On the sea, Zhao Ming's strength is not the strongest, Jintang Island is too close to the mainland and is not safe.Now that the Qing army occupies Zhejiang, it will definitely form a water division, and if Zhao Ming enters the Yangtze River next time, maybe the Qing army will directly attack Jintang Island.Therefore, although the fortress was expensive, it had to be built.Since the last time Zhao Ming entered the Yangtze River, coupled with Zhao Ming's garrison in Chongming, the Manchu Qing Dynasty paid attention to coastal defense and river defense.In order to seal Zhao Ming, Hong Chengchou ordered a blockade of the coast, which caused the smuggling trade in Jiangsu and Zhejiang to be hit hard, and it was difficult for the sea ships on Jintang Island to obtain materials from the coast and then resell them.After Cheng Bi's fleet returned to port, the ships were idle in Liegang and had nothing to do.This made Zhao Ming, who originally wanted to rely on smuggling trade to maintain the expenses of Jintang Island, his plan to fail.However, Zhao Ming was not a person who sat still, and when he saw that the ships were idle, he sent two lucky ships to the Ryukyus to pull volcanic ash, and at the same time sent a ship to North Korea to try his luck.The Qing army blockaded the coast of Jiangsu and Zhejiang, but could not control North Korea, and Korea was now a Manchu vassal state, Zhao Ming suggested that Cheng Bi send a fleet to North Korea, with the help of Korean merchants, from the Manchu Qing Dynasty, Mongolia to buy supplies, cattle, sheep, leather back to Jintang Island.As far as Zhao Ming knew, although North Korea was forced to claim vassal status to the Manchus, it still cherished the Ming Dynasty in its heart, and North Korea should be happy to help Zhao Ming.After all, Zhao Ming didn't let them work in vain, and they also made money as middlemen.At this time, two lucky boats were sailing on the sea, and seabirds flew by in the sky, and Kim Byung-jung stood at the bow of the ship, looking at the blue sea, and was quite excited.The boss of the boat next to him, glanced at the adult, with a smile on his face, people who have just started sailing are like this, and after a few days, they find that there is water all around every day, and the boat seems to be not moving, so they know the boredom of sailing."
My lord, Ryukyu is in the east of Jintang Island, gathering about 1,400 miles, if the wind is favorable, sail day and night, five days can reach, if the weather is bad, it may take more than half a month!"
The boat boss seems to have a lot of experience.Zhao Ming wanted to dig up some volcanic ash in the Ryukyus, and he had to communicate with the Ryukyus, so he sent his subordinate official Jin Bingzhen to communicate with the Ryukyu Kingdom so that the volcanic ash could be pulled back smoothly.Kim Byung-jung listened to the ship's boss's words, nodded, and asked some more about Ryukyu before returning to the cabin to rest.Ryukyu is located between the Wa Kingdom and the Ming Dynasty, and there are surnames such as Huang and Lin in the country, all of which were Ming Taizu, and moved into the Ryukyu Kingdom, and the entire Ryukyu and the Ming Dynasty are almost the same language and species, with Chinese characters and Chinese rites, and the degree of sinicization is equivalent to that of Korea.Ryukyu is sandwiched between the Ming Dynasty and the Wa Kingdom, but Ryukyu has always been close to China, with China as the suzerain, and the relationship with the Ming Dynasty is very close, so the fleet's trip to Ryukyu should be quite smooth.After ten days at sea, the fleet arrived at Ryukyu, and Kim Byung-jung got the news and walked out of the cabin and came to the deck, where he saw a large island in the distance, which he could see.After sailing for more than half an hour, the fleet entered Shuri Harbor, where many seagoing ships were moored, and from the ship's floor, there were not only Fukufu, but also ships of the Japanese kingdom, and even a ship of Saiyi.This surprised Jin Bingzhen, and the boss of the boat on the side sighed instead: "Ryukyu is located in the east of the Ming Dynasty, southwest of the Wa Kingdom, and the ships going to the Wa Kingdom must rest here. ”When the ship docked, Kim Byung-jung disembarked from the staircase and headed straight to Shuri Castle to meet the king of the Ryukyus.There are many Ming merchant ships that come to Ryukyu every year, but there are almost no officials who come, and Kim Byung-jung wears a six-grade official uniform, which soon attracts the attention of the Ryukyus country.Before Kim Byung-jung arrived at Shuri Castle, King Sang-chee, who got the news, had already led a large group of men out of the city to greet him.Outside Shuri Castle, many Ryukyu people also surrounded him, and Kim Byung-jung was a little flattered when he saw that the Ryukyu King actually greeted him in person, and he hurriedly tidied up his clothes and came to the city gate.A Ryukyu official rushed over and asked for his identity, and learned that it was not a Ming Dynasty envoy, so the Ryukyu king did not kneel down to greet him.At this time, Jin Bingzhen stepped forward to salute the King of the Ryukyus, "Your Majesty Kim Bingzhen, see Your Highness!"
”The King of the Ryukyus thought that it was an envoy from the Ming Dynasty who came over, but he didn't want to be not, then his rank was the county king of the Ming Dynasty, but he was still very polite to Jin Bingzhen, "Lord Jin is a small country, what is the so-called thing?"
”In this era, Chinese civilization is the center of East Asia, the cultural supergiants, the dwarfs around them, can only look up, the entire East Asian region, Korea, Annam, Ryukyu, and even the upper class nobles of Japan are proud to write Chinese characters and speak Chinese, just like Europe soon after, even the nobles of Tsarist Russia have to speak French, and the cultural people write in French, so that they seem to have their own grade.Jin Bingzhen hurriedly explained her intentions, saying that she was ordered by General Zhoushan Pingyu to want some volcanic ash.Jin Bingzhen himself has never seen it, but as soon as he talked about the fire-breathing mountain and the falling ash, the Ryukyuan people immediately understood, but they were surprised that the Celestial Empire people wanted volcanic ash for something.At that moment, the king of Ryukyu expressed his willingness to help Kim Byung-jung find volcanic ash and set up a banquet in the palace to entertain Kim Byung-jung and his party.At the banquet, Kim Byung-jung had a good conversation with the king of the Ryukyus, but the captain always felt that there was a pair of eyes staring at them, which made him feel uncomfortable for a while.In a room next to the banquet hall, two samurai wearing kimonos with shaved heads and Japanese swords were eavesdropping on the doors and windows of the people inside.One of the samurai listened to it for a while, and smiled with satisfaction, "Nobuta-kun, the king of the Ryukyus didn't dare to say anything to the Akito!"
”Another samurai said, "Gin-san, the feudal lord has asked us to keep an eye on the Ryukyu King, so it's better to be careful." ”(Thank you for your support, ask for a monthly pass, recommend, subscribe, ask for a booklist) ()