Chapter 124 Ryukyu Islands

The crew had dinner and after a short entertainment time, except for those who were on duty, everyone returned to their simple bunks to rest. These men who had been bumpy at sea for a day almost fell asleep as soon as their heads touched the pillows. On fire.

Soon there was a sound of snoring on the boat, which was enough to drown out the sound of the waves on the sea.

The fleet's mast raised a night navigation light made of copper wire and glass (actually a small stone lantern), and entered the state of night navigation.

Several sailors were chatting quietly at their respective posts to relieve the boredom and loneliness of this night sail.

On the deck in the distance, the hatch was opened, and two soldiers on night duty accompanied Qin Hao on a night inspection.

"My lord, the young men on board the Wansheng are all descendants of sailors recruited from all over the world. They have been running on the deck since they were children, accompanying the wind and waves. They have also been trained by the naval school and trained in the fleet. From then on, Select the best from the middle to get to the Wansheng!" It was the voice of Captain Duan Daxin!

Hearing the captain's words, several sailors immediately straightened their backs and their hand movements became more refined.

As a newly launched ship, the Wansheng has three gun decks and more than 50 artillery pieces of different sizes. If you like, you can install another 20 artillery pieces on the spare gun positions to make it a complete one. The standard of a second-level battleship, but after thinking about it, I still reluctantly gave up.

"Distribute good gunners to as many ships as possible!"

There is an old Chinese saying: Good steel is used on the blade;

There is a famous saying in Japan: "If you have one hundred taels of silver, don't buy yourself a precious sword that costs one hundred taels. Instead, buy a common sword with one hundred taels of silver!"

Qin Hao still knows how to choose!

Slapping the railing of the ship and looking at the dark sea, Qin Hao couldn't help but think of the famous Song of the Seven Sons. When he took back Monte Carlo from the East, Qin Hao also read this long poem carefully.

The nine cut-off lands from south to north from Macau, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Weihaiwei, Guangzhou Bay, Kowloon, and Luda (Lushun-Dalian) are all natural harbors and coastal defense outposts.

Although Ryukyu, the destination of this trip, is not included in the Song of the Seven Sons, it has had a profound impact on Chinese history.

Starting from the thirty-fourth year of Wanli, the Shimazu family began to invade and rule Ryukyu. Prior to this, Toyotomi Hideyoshi's monkey invasion of Korea led to the Ming Dynasty's trade blockade against Japan.

The luxuries needed by the nobles such as the public and samurai families in Japan became priceless and unmarketable, and the demand far exceeded the supply. Seeing huge profits to be made, the Satsuma clan took advantage of its geographical location to launch trade with Ryukyu. Seafood and some luxury goods were transported back from Southeast Asia, and the needed supplies were obtained from the trade between Ryukyu and the Ming Dynasty.

However, after all, trade is about seeking profits from capital, how can it be as simple as directly grabbing it?

As a result, the cross flag of the Shimazu family of Satsuma Domain began to fly over Ryukyu. Ryukyu not only had to pay tribute to its suzerain state, the Ming Dynasty and later the Manchu Qing Dynasty, but also paid tribute to its nearby evil neighbor and actual controller, the Satsuma Domain.

During the entire period of the Tokugawa shogunate's seclusion, only the Shimazu family of the Satsuma domain in Kyushu used this form of trade to accumulate wealth for themselves for hundreds of years. This was what was later called "respecting the emperor and rejecting the barbarians". During the Meiji Restoration, there was the so-called Choshu Army and Satsuma Navy.

This group of beasts created many diplomatic incidents such as the Peony Society and Ryukyu, and gradually enriched themselves, turning the Ryukyu Kingdom into the so-called Okinawa Prefecture!

But, will this kind of thing happen again?

"Da Heizi." He called Duan Daxin's nickname, "Do you want a bigger ship with more cannons on it? Can it sail farther? Can you go directly to Beijing and Liaodong from Keelung?"

"Can there be a ship bigger than the Wan Sheng and the Bloodthirsty Wolf?"

As the largest second-level battleship in the Navy, its role at sea is unquestionable.

Duan Daxin almost thought that he heard wrongly. He listened carefully and found that apart from the sound of the wind on the sea and the sound of the flag being torn apart, it was the lord talking to him.

After all, compared with Zhao Chang and Amorim, Duan Daxin was born with insufficient naval awareness. His ability to take on the Wansheng this time was also due to his previous achievements in the East China Sea battle, so Qin Hao gave him extra lessons whenever he had time.

"Of course! Moreover, our army has always relied on agriculture to seek stability, work to seek wealth, and business to seek wealth. For us, the ocean is our lifeblood. Without the ocean, our people would not be able to travel anywhere. , the raw materials for making things are nowhere to be found, and our finished products cannot be shipped. What should we do?”

"So my lord wants to build a large navy, occupy islands everywhere, survey routes, and build ports."

Qin Hao smiled happily. It seemed that his efforts these days were not in vain. Duan Daxin still learned a lot and was considered a good student who studied hard.

"As long as you can train enough navy, I will let the shipyard build more and bigger ships for you. That kind of big ship with five masts, the main mast is more than ten meters high from the waterline, and you can install a Hundreds of guns, three gun decks.”

Unknowingly, Qin Hao described the outline of the most classic battleship in his mind, the most powerful British sailing battleship Victory.

"On this ship alone, I am afraid it will require nearly a thousand people to serve as sailors and gunners, and store dozens of tons of gunpowder to ensure the firing of the cannon." Duan Daxin exclaimed.

"After we finish the Ryukyu matter, we will ask Li Chun to design it after we go home. In addition, the problem you mentioned before, that the gunners have difficulty aiming and shooting in the state of turbulent waves, will probably have a solution."

According to the isochronism principle of the pendulum, the navy's soldiers can completely complete the loading between the ups and downs of the waves, aim at the trough, prepare at the top of the wave, and shoot at the next trough.

According to the isochronism principle of the pendulum, no matter the swing amplitude (when the swing angle is less than 5°) is larger or smaller, the time to complete a swing is the same, and the navy can clearly grasp the time interval between two ups and downs.

"Big Blackie. Remember, in order to make our lives better, we must sell our things at the highest possible price, and then buy what we need at the lowest possible price.

In this way, our lives can get better and better. But for this goal, we must have a strong navy that can cruise in the waters of various places to protect our merchant ships and interests."

At present, there are only three strong ones on the East Asian seas, one from the Netherlands, one from Spain, and one from Zheng Zhilong and the Keelung Navy. Originally, Zheng Zhilong's Qianhai Merchant Group could be considered one, but after the East China Sea War, it suffered heavy losses and can only be considered half now.

However, in terms of nature, Zheng Zhilong Group, the Dutch East India Company, and the Spanish Philippine Company. All belong to logistics companies and traders. Only the Keelung Army is a manufacturer, logistics company, and trader.

Although the four families are now going their own way and making their own fortunes. And there are still good trade activities between each other, but there can only be one Dragon King in a sea, what are three Dragon Kings?

In the words of the classic epic gangster film "The Godfather", "Free competition is wasteful, monopoly is effective."

In order to achieve the monopoly of the East Asian sea where gold and silver flow, the four will have a war sooner or later.

The Malacca War between Spain and the Netherlands, and the East China Sea War between Qin Hao and Zheng Zhilong all prove this point!

Today's peace is just a preparation before the next storm!

"Big Blackie, therefore, we cannot rely solely on the Jiangnan given to us by the Zuo family for our trade routes. We must also open up new routes of our own."

"I understand! Ryukyu is the most critical point on this route!"

Walking along the nearly 200-meter-long deck of the Wansheng, Qin Hao greeted the sailors and gunners on duty at various positions. Looking at the sailors shivering in the night wind, he told Duan Daxin,

"Write a report after returning and send it to all the navy soldiers. As long as they are on the ship, they should go to the Hsinchu Clothing Factory to buy woolen cloth to make a cloak, which they can wear to keep warm when the weather is cold."

This move immediately moved the sailors on duty. After leaving their posts, many of them wrote letters to their families in the cabin under the dim and swaying lights, telling them about their experiences at sea.

"The lord came to our post at night and saw that we were a little cold in the night wind at sea, so he told Lord Duan to order woolen cloaks for us navy soldiers at a high price. How can we repay such a deep favor? We can only fight to the death!"

When a red sun jumped out from the distant skyline, it instantly dyed the fleet of seven large ships with a layer of morning glow, the white sails were coated with a layer of light red, and the cannons on the deck flashed lovely light in the sun, making people forget that this is a weapon for splitting mountains and rocks, killing people and destroying ships.

The big bell hanging in the cabin and the deck was struck hard by the boatswain on duty, and people turned over from their bunks, went to the corner of the cabin to get their washbasins, and walked out of the cabin to wash outside.

"Where are we now?"

A sailor with a tooth in his mouth and foam at the corner of his mouth asked his companions around him vaguely about the current location of the fleet.

"I'm not sure, ask the brother on duty up there."

"No need to ask! I just asked the lookout when I came up!"

A voice floated down from the mast above people's heads.

"Quick! Look! Island!"

With this shout of surprise, more than a dozen seabirds chirping in the air came into people's eyes.

Everyone knows that where there are birds on the sea, there are islands.

So, during the long voyage, it is a pleasant thing for both body and mind to encounter seabirds flying overhead.

"Seagulls are auspicious birds. When they come to the fleet, they will bless the ship to be safe. Like dolphins, they are auspicious marine life." The experienced sailor is popularizing various knowledge about the sea to the young sailors.

"So we can't fight?"

"Fight? Are you looking for death? Look at how the word island is written? There is a bird on top and a mountain on the bottom. If there is a bird and a mountain, it is an island!" The old sailor rolled his eyes and took out a steamed bun left over from last night from his pocket. He broke the dry bun into pieces and threw it into the air, attracting seagulls to fly around the fleet.

In the cabin, several young naval officers were busy on the nautical chart, marking the location of the island and calculating the distance of the route. Look for the name of the island in the Keelung Navy's data.

"Found it!"

An officer excitedly held up the nautical chart to show off to his comrades around him.

"Yonaguni Island!"

"No, it's Ryukyu Near Hong Kong Island." Someone reminded him.

Yonaguni Island was named by Japan, and Ryukyu Near Hong Kong Island is its original name, so it should be called the latter.

In an instant, the cabin was noisy, arguing over a name.

"My lord, we have entered the waters of the Ryukyu Kingdom!"

At the breakfast table of the officers of the Wansheng, as the commander of the fleet, Duan Daxin reported the news to Qin Hao on behalf of all the naval officers and soldiers.

Yonaguni Island? Ryukyu Near Hong Kong Island! I've heard of it for a long time!

Qin Hao silently said in his heart.

"How big is the island?"

"Not big, about 24 or 25 miles from east to west, about 8 miles from north to south, and the coastline is less than 60 miles long. The radius is only 20 or 30 miles. There are many mountains and small rivers on the island, with sufficient fresh water sources. There are only three villages with a population of less than a few hundred.

The three villages are Zuna in the north, Kubura in the west, and Hikawa in the south. The three villages are built relying on the mountains on the island. Among these three villages, Zuna in the north is the leader of the three villages."

"Send a boat over, send a team of people down, and tell the people on the island. This island will be under the jurisdiction of our Keelung Army in the future! Anyone who dares to resist will be killed!"

The officers around the dining table were a little surprised. They were not rookies who had never seen blood and killed people. On the contrary, everyone was considered "bloody" and had done things like massacring villages and destroying villages during the war.

However, most of the villages that were hostile to the Keelung Army would suffer this fate. What virtue did Qin Hao, the commander of the Keelung Army and a man of more than 100,000 men, have for an island hanging alone in the East China Sea?

If they don't accept the jurisdiction, they will all be exterminated?

Everyone was confused and puzzled, and did not dare to ask more questions. They had to lower their heads to finish their breakfast. Duan Daxin called the duty officer and ordered him to pass on Qin Hao's order.

The sailor on the mast waved the red and yellow flag in his hand and contacted a nearby ship. Soon, the ship sent a flag signal, "Follow the order! If you don't obey, you will be killed without mercy."

Watching the boat sail out of the fleet and head towards the nearby Hong Kong Island, when it approached the island, the boat was lowered, and a team of soldiers rowed hard towards Yonaguni Island.

"Don't blame me for being cruel. You won't understand my painstaking efforts."

Through the monocular telescope, Qin Hao watched the leading officer, after landing on the shore, struggle to plant the navy blue sky flag and the Qin army flag on the beach, and gestured to the natives who came.

"Leave this to them, and pick them up when we come back from Ryukyu."

"If you knew that someone had set up a military base on this island, set up a radar base, sent troops, and drew the so-called air defense identification zone here, established the first island chain, and used fighter jets taking off here to threaten and occupy your territorial waters and territory, I believe you would also control this island in your own hands!

Besides, this island is so close to Taiwan Island, like a springboard, with Taiwan Island to the west and Ryukyu to the east, the status of this island is naturally self-evident."

The sound of muskets roared faintly from the island, and then in people's vision, the soldiers began to chase and kill the fleeing islanders with their swords and guns.

Obviously, the soldiers who came to the island had a verbal conflict with the residents on the island, and the soldiers carried out Qin Hao's orders very well.

The people on the fleet saw the billowing black smoke rising from the island, but no one dared to ask why, why the people on this island made the lord so angry.

"You blind things! If the lord wants to take you in, he will naturally give you household registration, and then there will be countless benefits. How many people have worked hard for several years to get this, you just need to nod your head, this is the blessing you have earned by knocking through so many wooden fish in your previous life! You don't know what's good for you! Damn it!"

The old sailor who fed the seabirds with dry buns spit into the sea, and angrily scolded the residents on the island for not knowing the current situation.

Along the Near Hong Kong Island and the Yaeyama Islands, crossing the Miyako Channel, through the blue sea in front of you, the destination of this trip, Ryukyu, has appeared in front of you.

"Lord, should we go to Kume Island to anchor first or go directly to Naha Port?"

Yan Yi, the interpreter and contact person for this trip, stood beside Qin Hao and whispered to him.

Qin Hao handed the telescope in his hand to the personal soldier standing beside him, "Yan Yi, let me ask you, when you came to trade before, did you go to Kume Island first or go directly to Naha Port?"

"Lord, we transport rice to trade sugarcane with them, and we are their bread and butter, but why do we go to Kume Island? Kume Island is only visited when we go to each other's homes to keep in touch after the trade is over."

"Then why do we have to go to Kume Island first this time?"

Listening to Qin Hao's voice that seemed to have no warmth at all, Yan Yi suddenly realized that he seemed to have made a clumsy mistake.

"When we came here, we were merchants. The lord is so powerful. If we don't send someone to contact in advance, I'm afraid it will cause misunderstandings." He wiped the fine beads of sweat on his forehead and explained himself.

"Haha! How many soldiers does Ryukyu have?"

"My Lord, as far as I know, the country has put down its weapons and cultivated culture. Several generations ago, the so-called sword hunting order was issued to collect weapons from all over the country. Now, the total number of soldiers in the country is only a few thousand, and they are scattered all over the country.

When the Shimazu family conquered the capital Shuri Castle and captured the Ryukyu king, their arsenal only had 500 bows, 300 guns, 300 armors, and a few swords and spears. "Duan Daxin, who was standing by, shouted loudly, exposing the Ryukyu's true colors.

"The Shimazu family, a mere Japanese daimyo, could destroy their country and capture their king. Why should I go to Kume Island first instead of their royal city? Send an order! All ships go straight to Naha Port!"

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