Chapter 417: Cutting Off the Root

His gaze fell on the recent work reports from the various overseas stations. He recalled Zhao Yingong’s recent report on trying to open a sea route from Shanghai to Tianjin. In the report, Zhao Yingong pointed out that the Ming Dynasty’s coastal shipping industry was technologically backward and inefficient. With the Senate’s current maritime technology, even using local Shanghai sand boats, they could transport a large amount of goods and accelerate the north-south two-way logistics trade. In particular, the transportation of grain tribute not only had great profits but could also further disrupt the social and economic foundation of the Ming Dynasty.

However, he was not only interested in this matter but also in Shanghai, which Zhao Yingong had mentioned.

As a trading port, Shanghai was not only important in China’s coastal trade but also a crucial foreign trade port. Si Kaide had always wondered why Shanghai’s importance in the Ming Dynasty was less than that of Fujian. The main foreign trade ports of the Ming Dynasty, from the earliest Shuangyu and Yuegang to Anping and Xiamen in the late Ming, were all located on the coast of Fujian without exception.

From a trade perspective, Fujian is surrounded by mountains on three sides and has very little plains. Apart from sugar and indigo, it is not a production base for bulk trade goods. Many goods are transported from other provinces to Fujian for re-export. The Kraak porcelain of the Ming Dynasty was originally fired in Jiangxi. Later, because the transportation from Jiangxi to Fujian was difficult, with high losses and freight costs, people set up kilns in Fujian to fire it locally.

However, this situation was also limited by the backward maritime positioning and navigation technology of China at that time. China’s traditional maritime navigation techniques mainly relied on “needle routes,” using a compass in conjunction with maritime landmarks for navigation. Therefore, navigation was generally along island chains. At that time, ships going to Japan all followed a route along the first island chain via Taiwan to Japan. Therefore, the shipping routes to Japan have always been dominated by the ports of Zhejiang and Fujian provinces.

Due to the decline in astronomical positioning methods since the Ming Dynasty, navigation became more and more dependent on maritime landmark positioning, to the extent that while Chinese sea ships could enter the Black Water Ocean in the Yuan Dynasty, they had regressed to only being able to navigate among the coastal islands in the Ming Dynasty.

The biggest problem with this route was that it was a detour. The route from Fujian to Japan mostly took the summer route, taking advantage of the southeast monsoon, first to Taiwan, and then along the southeast monsoon along the Ryukyu Islands to Nagasaki, a journey of 1000 nautical miles. However, from Shanghai, one could choose to take advantage of the northwest monsoon in winter and sail directly to Nagasaki, which was only 400 nautical miles. If sailing from Shanghai, a sailing ship could reach Nagasaki in ten days. Not only was the journey more than halved, but it also avoided the typhoons common in summer.

From any perspective, Shanghai was a hundred times better a port than Anping. Shanghai is located at the mouth of the Yangtze River, backed by the two golden waterways of the Yangtze River and the Grand Canal. It is also in the most resource-rich and prosperous middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River. Whether it was porcelain from Jiangxi, raw silk from Zhejiang, or cotton cloth from Songjiang, they could all be transported to Shanghai via convenient and cheap inland waterway shipping. Sugar and indigo from Guangdong and Fujian could also be transported via coastal shipping routes.

If Zhao Yingong’s Hangzhou station could carry out large-scale trade with Japan, not only would this fat piece of meat fall into the hands of the Senate, but it would also cut off the possibility of Zheng Zhilong, Li Zhilong, and other Fujian sea merchants from regrouping.

This plan had been proposed long ago, and Si Kaide had also been tempted. However, he felt that this project was too troublesome and required considerable manpower and resources. Moreover, it was very likely to intensify the conflict with the Zheng clan. It was better to first use Zheng Zhilong’s power to gain benefits on the basis of mutually beneficial cooperation, and then slowly plot later.

Now it seemed that the prospect of peaceful adaptation and utilization no longer existed, and it was only a matter of time before trade with Japan was opened from Shanghai. Instead of passively waiting for others to propose it, it was better to start it himself. At least this was a move to “cut off the root” of the Zheng clan.

Although this was not a direct action, its significance in the overall strategy was much greater than that of a simple tactical attack.

Moreover, they now controlled Jeju Island as a relay base, which was advantageous for ships to take shelter, replenish supplies, and stockpile goods. In addition, they could use Jeju as a base to export special products from Korea and Liaodong to Japan. Si Kaide knew that at that time, Korean ginseng was a “miracle drug” in Japan, more valuable than gold and in short supply. Many Japanese girls sold themselves into prostitution to buy it for their sick relatives.

Si Kaide thought that no matter how you looked at it, starting trade with Japan was an urgent matter. The question was, who should be sent to do it?

After much thought, he decided to send Ping Qiusheng, who had returned from Southeast Asia, to Japan. Ping Qiusheng had been begging him for this for a long time. Now Ping Qiusheng was one of his capable generals. Since his trip to Southeast Asia, he had successfully opened up trade with Siam. This trade route brought a large amount of rice to the Senate, which was struggling with food problems. Ping Qiusheng’s popularity in the Senate soared, and he became one of the recently emerged practical talents. Si Kaide could not ignore his opinions and wishes.

Furthermore, there was a force in the Senate that wanted to “take him down.” Ping Qiusheng had both professional skills and achievements in the Ministry of Colonization and Trade, and he was very likely to become a suitable “new candidate” in the eyes of some people. It would be bad if he was used as a cannonball. It was better to take this opportunity to put him on his favorite Japan business, let him dream of being “General Ping” and “Shogun Ping.” As long as he left the central government for a few years, this trend would naturally dissipate.

Ping Qiusheng had no idea what was going on in Minister Si’s mind. Hearing that he was to be in charge of trade with Japan, he was greatly invigorated and said that he would prepare and set off immediately.

“I plan to go to Jeju first—this place is very important for developing trade with Japan.” Ping Qiusheng had long studied the tripartite trade between China, Japan, and Korea at that time, and he was already confident in his plan, speaking eloquently.

Japan was not a place where everyone could trade. According to the shogunate’s seclusion policy, only merchants from the Ming Dynasty, the Netherlands, and Portugal were allowed to trade in Japan. The Dutch had been temporarily suspended from trade due to the Hamada Yahei incident, and the trade route would not be reopened until the Dutch East India Company’s “appeasement journey” was effective this year. As for the Ming merchants, only those with the shogunate’s red-seal permit could trade in Nagasaki.

Even if Zhao Yingong immediately sent a merchant ship to Japan, he would not be able to trade because he did not have a red-seal permit.

Of course, in the style of colonialists, the Senate could very well stage a 17th-century “black ship visit.” The problem was that the Senate’s maritime power was still limited, and it was not appropriate to provoke everyone. Compared to the internal threats of Zheng Zhilong and Liu Xiang, Japan was just a place to make money.

In this way, to start trade with Japan, it was necessary to find a cover or a special channel.

Finding a cover meant finding a sea merchant with a red-seal permit and using various means to control them and then use their red-seal permit to trade. As for the special channel, it was through the Tsushima Domain.

Ping Qiusheng felt that it was faster to start with the special channel of the Tsushima Domain than to search for a red-seal sea merchant to use as a shell company.

He explained his views to Si Kaide, who said that he completely agreed with him.

“You are the plenipotentiary representative of the Ministry of Colonization and Trade for trade with China, Japan, and Korea. I have already signed the documents. Not only the import and export business of the Ming Dynasty with Japan and Korea, but also the trade of Jeju with Japan and the Ming Dynasty will be managed and coordinated by you.”

Ping Qiusheng nodded repeatedly, his excitement palpable.

“I’ll send you a few more naturalized citizen assistants. There’s a Japanese person you can take with you—a genuine Japanese samurai.”

“Zichuan! Zichuan! Zichuan…”

Zichuan felt as if a large stone was pressing on his chest, making it difficult to breathe. With each breath, the stone seemed to get heavier, and a burning pain spread. Gradually, he didn’t know if he could still breathe. The pain also disappeared, and his vision turned into a tunnel of light. In the tunnel, it seemed that someone was singing, and someone was performing a Noh play. He was being pulled step by step towards the end of the tunnel…

I have been summoned by the Lord.

A voice said to him: You still have things to do, go…

“Zichuan! The chief is calling you!”

It was a dream.

Since being injured in Jeju City, Zichuan Hideji often had this dream. In fact, when a person is in a state of shock, their neural activity does not completely stop, and some of their senses will receive scattered information from the outside world.

At that time, Zichuan Hideji was hit by an arrow in his leg and another under his right armpit. Unlike the bamboo bows of Southeast Asia, the Korean composite bows were very powerful. The arrow under his right armpit pierced his chest cavity, causing an open pneumothorax. In any other place, he would have died. But the Australian army was not any other place. A military doctor inserted a large Lingao-made bronze needle into his chest cavity to release the air, and he was also given antibiotics, so God decided to let him go back.

Subsequently, due to the severity of his injuries, neither Feng Zongze nor the naturalized citizen military doctors in Jeju were able to continue treating him. If he had stayed in Jeju, he would have died sooner or later. But his performance in battle made the Senators feel that it was a pity for him to die just like that. Treating a dead horse as if it were alive, he was sent to Lingao on a naval ship and admitted to the Ma Niao Army General Hospital.

The ten-day sea voyage almost killed him, but Zichuan’s vitality was strong. After a lot of tossing and turning, he finally began to recover slowly.

The death penalty was spared, but the punishment was not. The arrow in his leg had pierced his knee. At least his leg was saved, but it was unlikely that he would ever fully recover. Zichuan would not be able to run or climb walls for the rest of his life. Therefore, he was now very worried about whether he could continue to live a life with rice at every meal under the Australians. In the end, he came up with a comforting thought from God.

A young Australian nurse had already brought him a clean and tidy military uniform and helped him put it on. Then he propped himself up on his crutches and, with the nurse’s help, limped out of the ward of the Ma Niao General Hospital.