On November 8, 1790, after a week of continuous sailing, the North Navy's fleet arrived in the eastern Fujian and Zhejiang waters. It was very close to Ryukyu, of course, so close that Deng Fei felt sorry for him if he didn't go there.

His idea was strongly supported by Zhao Xin thousands of miles away. Zhao Xin's original words in the telegram were that it would always be good to take a look! If he could borrow a piece of land to use it for the transit base to go south in the future, it would be even more perfect.

There was an argument in another time and space that Ryukyu once broke away from the control of the Satsuma vassal by surrendering to the Qing Dynasty. Unfortunately, that was just a fantasy of some people.

In fact, compared with ancient China, the Ryukyu Kingdom was closer to the island country. The entanglement between the Ryukyu Kingdom and the Satsuma vassal state began in the early 16th century. The so-called poor ghosts met hungry ghosts and got together.

As early as the 16th century, the Ryukyu Kingdom borrowed from the Satsuma clan. However, because Ryukyu was too poor, it often borrowed but not paid back. There was a state loan of 250 yuan, and the Satsuma clan sent people to ask for it five times but never came back.

According to the "Zhongshan Genealogy", in 1562, 1579, and 1606, the Ming court sent envoys to enthrone Ryukyu three times, but when the Satsuma family ships flocked to him and clashed with the enthroned fleet. The Ryukyu Kingdom dared not give a single fart, which shows how afraid he was of it.

Since 1593, under the intimidation of the monkey Hideyoshi, Ryukyu sent a ship to send half of the country's food and grass to Mian Kyushu to replace the military service of the Li Dynasty. In the 37th year of Wanli in the Ming Dynasty (1609), Ryukyu refused to help the Toyotomi shogunate restart trade with the Ming Dynasty, and the poor Satsuma vassal had long coveted the Ryukyu trade, so he used this as an excuse to launch an invasion, which was known in history as the "Jingchang Ryukyu Battle".

On September 19, 19th, the 39th year of Wanli (Dorgili days!), the king and minister of the Shangning king were forced to sign the "Fifteen Notices" with the Satsuma vassal in Kagoshima. From then on, the Satsuma vassal controlled the foreign trade and internal affairs of the Ryukyu Kingdom, and even used the weights and measures of the island country. Since then, the latter has become a vassal of the Satsuma vassal.

After the Qing Dynasty entered the pass, Ryukyu began to request enthronement from the Qing court from the third year of Shunzhi. In the 11th year of Shunzhi, King Shangzhi sent envoys to Fujian and handed over the imperial seal of the Ming Dynasty, and was named King Zhongshan. Since the war on the coast had not yet ended, the envoys could only stay in Fujian, and it was not until the second year of Kangxi that they officially became a vassal state of the Qing Dynasty.

You should know that vassal states are very different from vassal states. They are not subject to the sovereign states in terms of internal affairs, diplomacy and economics, but only express nominal submission. A vassal state refers to the fact that they have certain sovereignty in name, but are actually subordinate to and subject to other countries to a certain extent in terms of internal affairs, diplomacy and economics.

Since the Momoyama era, the Ryukyu Kingdom had to hand over thousands of stones of rice to the poor Satsuma every year, and also had to bear half of the expenses of the Shimazu family's troops stationed in Amami Oshima. In order to profit from Ryukyu's trade with China and fear that China would question it, the Satsuma Domain tried its best to conceal the truth of the invasion of Ryukyu. On the one hand, Ryukyu was afraid of annoying the Satsuma Domain, and on the other hand, he was afraid that the Qing Dynasty had cut off trade exchanges between the two sides due to this matter and helped cover up the truth.

This means that Ryukyu is not only a vassal state under the Chinese canonization system, but also a vassal state of the Satsuma vassal state under the Japanese shogun system. To put it nicely, it is called "two vassal states", but it is ugly that it is "mounting a fence".

The Sino-Rural Relations of the Qing Dynasty can be summarized as close and friendly vassal relationships. Compared with other vassals, there is no territorial entanglement. In about two hundred years, although there was a distinction between the Celestial Empire and the vassal state, the Qing Dynasty had no intention and did not actually interfere in the internal affairs of Ryukyu.

It is precisely because of this that the Ming and Qing dynasties only exerted a subtle and superficial political influence on Ryukyu people. Similarly, the influence of Chinese culture on the thoughts, behavior patterns and lifestyles of Ryukyu people was also extremely superficial.

In history, until the 1870s, the Qing Dynasty did not know the fact that Ryukyu pedaled on two ships. When later Chinese people realized the importance of the Ryukyu archipelago, they had been ruled by island countries for more than 300 years.

Because of the barren products, Ryukyu relies heavily on intermediary trade. The purpose of becoming a vassal state in China was to go for "tributary trade". They sent the reward goods obtained from the tribute to various countries for transactions, and then transported the goods purchased from Southeast Asian countries to China to trade again. For those vassal states around ancient China, economic and political interests were the purpose of tribute enthronement.

Although the Ming Taizu once gave the 36 surnames of the Ryukyu people who were good at boat racing, those who were loyal to the Shang family after all. Even if the Chinese in Kumi Village could become the first-rank Sansi official, they could not control the court.

In the 37th year of Wanli, Zheng Jiong, a three-charity official from Kumi, bravely resisted the invasion of the Satsuma clan and was unfortunately captured. The Satsuma clan sent him to Kagoshima for surveillance. During the imprisonment, Zheng Jiong wrote a letter to the Ryukyu Hall through a Ryukyu merchant in Nagasaki, intending to submit it to the then governor of Fujian, begging the Ming court to send troops to rescue him. As a result, the merchant met the Ryukyu delegation on the way to Beijing, and eventually sold the secret letter to the Ryukyu uncle Mao Anton and the Naha man Yu Meiyu at a high price, and handed it to the Satsuma clan.

Two years later, the Satsuma family took the captured Ryukyu monarch and ministers to Daxing Temple and forced them to sign the surrender. Zheng Hui refused to sign the surrender letter, and Shimazu was furious and finally cooked Zheng Jiong with a cauldron.

Three years ago, in order to avenge the revenge of the head of the family Ida Shige Village, the Sendai Fan asked for help from the town of Bekhai. After a great battle in Ridang Yamashita, the father-in-law Shimazu Shigeo of the Haigou Gongfang was killed in battle. The successor Shimazu Kiriki abandoned the country and fled to Ryukyu. The Sendai Fan took away 18, and the most important effluent in the town of Bekhai, Isa and Rikikari were taken into the bag.

Since then, the Shimazu family's rule on Kyushu Island for 600 years has been declared disintegrated, and the Sendai Basilica, which has supported the town of Kitakai, officially turned against the Tokugawa Shogunate.

Although the Shimazu family was defeated in the island country, the lean old trunk is ultimately larger than an ant. Unfortunately, Ryukyu was the ant. Tokugawa Ieyasu once agreed that the Amami Island was the direct territory of the Shimazu family, and the Satsuma family had been reclaimed here for nearly two hundred years. So Shimazu Kiyoshi fled to Daoshima (Ami Oshima) with his retainers. At the same time, he also inherited the fleet of the Satsuma family's sixty eloquent ships.

The area of ​​Amami Oshima is more than 700 square kilometers, which is sufficient to be a magnificent Shimazu Kiyoshi; but it is too close to Mikushu, with a straight line of only more than 700 miles. The village of Ida, who guards Mikushu, can often bring a fleet to the fleet in minutes.

At first, Shimazu Kiri-hsu also asked Ryukyu merchants to negotiate with Ida Village, and handed over 1,000 stones of rice and 2,000 dan of brown sugar every year for a truce. But Ida Village, supported by Beihai Town, often sneered at this. Isn’t it good to take the sugarcane fields to sell brown sugar? Besides, Beihai Town also promised to teach him the sugar refining technology.

After all, the exiles from the Shimazu family calculated that they would have no chance to count on the shogunate, so they should continue to run south. The next stop was to Okinawa Island, 1,200 miles away from Mian Kyushu. The Shimazu family had a stewardship office in Naha Port. Shimazu Kiriki planned to use force to force the monarch and ministers of the Zhongshan Kingdom to control the Zhongshan Kingdom.

Speaking of which, the Ryukyu in the lonely sea was almost without any foreign enemies except when it was invaded by the Shimazu family more than a hundred years ago. It has not been warned for many years and its military preparations are useless. After the remnants of the Shimazu family landed, the Zhongshan Kingdom had a total of 100 palace guards, and the people could defend the enemy only by wooden sticks, kitchen knives, hatchets and bamboo poles. How could they fight a group of vicious exiled samurai?

Since then, the tragic era of the fence-mounted kingdom began. In just half a year, King Shangmu was completely outlawed, and Shimazu Kiritsu took the lead in the position of King of Ryukyu Shadow.

Not only the Prime Minister's Office, the Justice Department, the Du Branch Office, the Iron and Metallurgical Bureau, the Gold Bureau, the Left Bank, the Right Bank, the Guangfeng Curb, the Wubei Department and even the following important departments were controlled by Shimazu's vassals, and even the royal institutions such as the Inner Palace, the Inner Kitchen, and the Seal Institute were also controlled.

Although Beihai No. 1 passed through Ryukyu twice this year, because it did not dock in port and was a sailing boat, the Shimazu family, who was unaware of it, thought it was an American ship.

However, Shimazu Kiyoshi will never forget the blue and white Thor until his death. When the North Navy fleet passed through the Sakurajima sea, the Thor was the one who led it.

So when the "Foresight" located in the southwest of Naha Port sent someone back to report the message that a white giant ship with the word "Thor" was coming to the port with two large sailboats, Shimazu Kiyoro was so scared that he almost urinated, and then he became inexplicably sad and angry.

"I've been hiding so far. You guys are going to kill them all!"

However, no matter how indignant the indignation, the Beihai Army was not something that the Shimazu family could afford. So if you can't afford it, you can always hide. So he first told his subordinates that he must control King Shangmu and several ministers, and never let them contact Beihai Town. Then he took a group of personal samurai to Takamiya Castle twenty miles south of Shuri.

When the fleet of Thor and two sailboats arrived at the sea five kilometers outside Naha Port, they did not force themselves to break through, but waited for people from Ryukyu to contact him.

King Shangmu, who had received a warning from Shimazuki, warned his officials to uphold the fine tradition of "gentle, kind, respect, frugality and politeness" and never anger the people of Beihai Town, otherwise it would be a disaster for the destruction of the country.

Then the Prime Minister of Ryukyu appointed a third-rank official to Naha. This person was specifically responsible for the tribute trade with the Qing Dynasty. He was named Lin Shichang, a descendant of the thirty-six surnames of the Fujian people.

Some people say that the "Aragaki" clan of the island country in later generations originated from the Okinawa Lin clan. However, in Chinese history, "Aragaki" was also one of the duplicate surnames; there was a place on Okinawa Island in the Ryukyu Kingdom era called Aragaki, which was called "Arazaka".

Since Lin Shichang boarded the ship and left Naha Port, the closer he got to the North Navy fleet, the bigger his mouth opened, and the more shocked he looked in his eyes. Two 1,500-ton sailboats alone were big enough, and the Thor was even more terrifying. He heard from the Shimazu family's vassals that the whole ship was made of fine iron, which was completely beyond his cognition.

When he took his two "Enzhe" to board the Thor, he was shocked by the scene on the deck and his eyes dripped around, and his legs were trembling.

This time the fleet went south. Although Deng Fei was the only one responsible for the foreign negotiations, Wang Yuanfang was only responsible for the battle, but Wang Yuanfang was still very curious about Ryukyu, so he accompanied Deng Fei to receive him. When Lin Shichang was about to see that the man was wearing a yellow round flat-topped silk hat, a dark blue robe, a dragon-shaped red belt around his waist, and a pair of wooden clogs on his feet. The two subordinates following him were just wearing short dresses, with a bun on his head and straw sandals on his feet.

Deng Fei and Wang Yuanfang looked at each other, thinking that although they were crossing their collars and right lapels, this was not Hanfu. It seemed that they were deceived by rumors from the people in the power plant.

After waiting for a while, Lin Shichang finally realized his incompetence, so he blushed and smiled to Deng Fei and Wang Yuanfang in front of him, and said in a mandarin saying with a Minzhe accent: "I am the official Lin Shichang, the official of the Ryukyu Kingdom. I wonder who are the two?"

"I am Deng Fei, the head of the Navy in Beihai Town, and the captain of this ship. This is Wang Yuanfang, the head of the army department of Beihai Town. This time we are passing by your country and visiting us for a special trip."

Lin Shichang blinked and said in surprise: "Navy Army?"

After hearing Deng Fei's explanation, Lin Shichang was even more scared. He understood the position of the other side of the Ding Qing, and thought to himself! It turned out that one was the admiral of the navy and the other was the general officer. However, he did not dare to mention Ding Qing, for fear that the other party would use this as an excuse to find fault. So he hurriedly said: "Although our country is small, he admires China. Since the Hongwu period of the Ming Dynasty, he sent envoys to pay tribute and had exchanges with the Central Plains. He has been a vassal of the Ming Dynasty for a long time."

This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content behind! "Oh," Deng Fei asked suddenly with a smile: "So what is the identity of the Shimazu family in you?"

"Uh..." Lin Shichang said why this person didn't open any pot, but he was prepared for it and said with a smile: "Although Shimazu's country has been destroyed, he has been in contact with our country for many years. My king missed his experience and specially granted an island to stay temporarily. Please don't be surprised."

Deng Fei nodded and didn't take it seriously. Because he wanted to set up a transit base here, he intended to shock the other party, and immediately asked Lin Shichang to take a seat in the stern building. When he walked into the stern building, Lin Shichang's eyes were completely insufficient. Whether it was in the style or the furnishings, everything shocked him. After entering the conference room on the second floor, he was blinded by the transparent glass portholes.

Ryukyu has always connected to the southern barbarians and China in the west and Japan in the east. Their fleets have been traveling through Siam, Fo Dani (Bei Da Nian), Annan, Manlaga, Old Port, Java, Li Dynasty, island countries and other places since the Ming Dynasty, and their maritime trade business has been booming.

Although there are many rare and rare goods, such large pieces of transparent glass are unheard of, let alone Lin Shichang noticed the windows on the stern on the deck before, which made him dizzy.

After waiting for tea, Deng Fei said that he heard that Ryukyu produced a lot of sulfur and this time he wanted to come and explore the way and buy some. When he heard that the other party was going to buy sulfur, Lin Shichang finally let go of his heart.

The sulfur produced in Ryukyu was called "white sulfur" in ancient times. It is as hard as stone, smooth and moist as stone, and has no odor. In addition to medical use and gunpowder, this thing can also be used for ashing and caulking on sea boats. In history, white sulfur was the main tribute in the tribute trade of the Ryukyu Kingdom.

For Beihai Town, sulfur can be used to make disinfectant and sterilized sulfur soap, and can also be used to make insecticides, both in agriculture and daily life.

Lin Shichang asked casually: "I wonder how much do you want to buy?"

"Ten thousand pounds, 20 thousand pounds are better. And it's 20 thousand pounds a year."

What a good guy, Lin Shichang was so shocked that his hands were trembling, and the tea in the cup almost spilled out. You should know that the annual sulfur production in Ryukyu is less than 20,000 kilograms, and the other party is sure to have everything in total.

"I am afraid that the number of people in the country who are few and weak is not enough."

"This is not simple," Deng Fei smiled and said: "You can jointly develop both sides, we provide machinery, you provide manpower, and quadruple production is not a problem."
Chapter completed!