Chapter 854 This general also wants to build warships
And in order to maintain the monopoly of Hakata Port, they also absolutely support the maritime ban policy of ‘nothing goes into the sea’.
In this way, neither the Northern Dynasties nor other local tycoons can engage in smuggling and can only trade honestly with Hakata. Who dares to speak loudly in front of them? Ashikaga Yoshimitsu also has to be polite to them!
Not to mention the huge profits brought by exclusive trade, it is simply making money sitting on the ground.
The two people who were reluctant just now suddenly became staunch supporters of "Nothing goes to the sea"! So they declared on the spot that they must let the Northern Dynasty accept the sea ban no matter what! Otherwise... otherwise, we will not trade with them.
Without the monopoly of Hakata Port, they didn't even have a card that could control the Northern Dynasty. How could they not support Lao Liu?
It was not until this moment that they truly surrendered to the Ming Dynasty.
~~
After Shao Er Dayou returned, he immediately conveyed the wishes of His Highness the King of Chu to the Northern Dynasty.
Of course, this kind of matter was not something that General Shiba Yi could decide, so he quickly reported it to the Muromachi authorities.
When General Shiba Yi was out, Hatakeyama Motokuni, who was writing for him, saw the letter and hurriedly reported it to the general.
However, the general was not found in the imperial palace. After asking, he found out that he had gone to Lake Biwa again.
Since returning from defeat in the Kanmon Strait, the high-spirited Ashikaga Yoshimitsu has seemed like a different person. He is no longer as involved in everything as he was before. Instead, he leaves all the big and small matters to Hatakeyama and others, while he spends the whole day
I got together with a group of shipwrights and devoted myself to studying shipbuilding.
The huge battleships of the Ming Dynasty that covered the sky and sun caused a serious psychological shadow on him. He did not have the courage to cross the narrow strait until he built a battleship that could rival the Ming Dynasty.
He drew the appearance of Ming Dynasty warships on paper and asked shipwrights summoned from various places to imitate them. He promised that whoever could succeed would be rewarded with high officials and generous salaries.
With such a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, the shipwrights naturally did not want to miss it, and they all enthusiastically expressed their willingness to give it a try!
Ashikaga Yoshimitsu asked them to try out a prototype ship at Lake Biwa on the edge of Kyoto. He also gave them two thousand troops to use at their disposal, and they also allowed them to cut down the big trees by the lake. They all belonged to the Imperial family anyway, and if they were not cut down, it would be in vain.
.
He himself would go to Lake Biwa every two days to watch them build boats, which would last him a whole day...
I just went there yesterday and went again today. Hatakeyama Motokun didn't know whether he was anxious to build a ship or just addicted to watching it.
We had no choice but to ride over again.
When we arrived at Lake Biwa, it was already noon, and we saw the general setting up a throne on Tang Bridge. While eating, he looked intently at the shore not far away, where hundreds of workers were busy and working non-stop.
to build a huge ship hull.
Ashikaga Yoshimitsu looked at it with great interest. He didn't touch the natto, kombu and seaweed soup that accompanied the meal, and even finished two bowls of rice.
"General." Hatakeyama Motokuni called twice before he came back to his senses.
"Moto is here." Ashikaga Yoshimitsu glanced at him, then continued to look at the shipbuilding site and asked, "What's the matter?"
"The prince of Ming Dynasty has replied." Hatakeyama Motokuni said in a low voice.
"Oh?" Ashikaga Yoshimitsu reluctantly looked back and took the letter from Hatakeyama Motokuni.
After reading it, he slapped the letter on the table angrily. "It's really too much of a lie! If we agree to these conditions, we will never be able to regain Kyushu!"
In fact, he does not value sea power. What he values is crossing the strait and regaining Kyushu. No matter "not going to the sea" or surrendering to the Ming Dynasty, their dreams will be shattered, which is extremely difficult for him to accept!
"If we don't agree, not only will the 20,000 troops not be able to come back, but the Ming army will also threaten to continue attacking our country." Hatakeyama Motokuni reminded the angry general.
"The Ming army can ride on warships and attack most of our territories at will. It is really difficult to defend them."
"When this general's battleship is successfully built, everything will be fine!" Ashikaga Yoshimitsu waved his hands as if to embrace his own life-saving straw, and said emotionally: "As long as this 'First Maru' is successfully built,
The general will send all the craftsmen involved in the construction to various countries and order them to build ships with all their strength, so that a navy comparable to the Ming army can be built in a short period of time."
As he spoke, he clenched his fist heavily and gritted his teeth and said: "At that time, I will let the people of the Ming Dynasty have a good taste of the power of this general!"
"But General, even if we build the warship, what about the artillery?" Hatakeyama Motokuni is also good at pouring cold water on him.
"..." Ashikaga Yoshimitsu's expression froze. This was another big problem, and it seemed to be ten times more difficult than building a ship.
After all, the Japanese can still build ships. At least in their perception, they just want to make the ships bigger. As long as they put in the effort, they will definitely succeed.
But the Japanese really don’t know how to make guns and cannons. In fact, artillery is not a rare thing. It has been introduced to Japan with the Yuan Dynasty and pirates. For many years, they have tried to imitate it, but they have been stunned.
It cannot be copied.
Because Chinese firearms in this era were all made of copper or iron. Japan couldn't even cast copper coins and iron coins well, so how could they imitate them? Do you understand that they didn't have the ability?
Their technology was so backward that they couldn't even make bronze. At that time, they had to export copper materials to the Song Dynasty at low prices, import bronze, and then bring in Song craftsmen to help them cast bronze bells at high wages.
But since the fall of the Great Sui Dynasty, from the Yuan to the Ming Dynasty, a trade embargo was imposed on Japan. Japan directly guarded Tongshan but did not have bronze. The technology brought by the craftsmen of the Song Dynasty had long been lost.
For more than a hundred years, in order to make a bell that could ring, Japanese monks had to go to Goryeo with Japanese pirates to rob it, and used knives to force Goryeo craftsmen to build it for them.
Now that Goryeo's craftsmen have been transferred to the Tieling area, they can't be caught at all, so Ashikaga Yoshimitsu has no idea of casting bronze cannons.
As for iron cannons, cast iron cannons are a more difficult technology than bronze cannons. If you can't make bronze cannons, why do you still want to make iron cannons? If you make them by force, you are guaranteed to blow up the chamber. When you go to the battlefield, you don't even need to fight against the opponent. Any number of gunners can blow up the chamber.
It collapsed.
Oh yes, there is also gunpowder. They don’t even know how to produce gunpowder. In fact, the formula of “one sulfur, two nitrates, and three charcoals” has long been passed down by the Song Dynasty who can give anything, but they don’t know how to make nitrates.
Hu Nai He?
And there was no place to copy the homework. Because the Koreans next door didn't know how to stick, so every year I could only cry and beg my father in the Yuan Dynasty or the Ming Dynasty for a reward of gunpowder.
You don’t know how to do anything, so how about making a hammer cannon?
Thinking of this, Ashikaga Yoshimitsu felt bad all over. He could only numb himself and said: "Step by step, build the big ship. At least we can connect to the side. Then we won't be helpless to fight back!"
As he spoke, he glared at Hatakeyama Moto Kokudō: "It is your responsibility to contact the lords of various countries for shipbuilding!"
Hatakeyama Motokuni was also in tears. This is a job to worry about getting scolded! Is this the price of telling the truth?
