Chapter 65 Japan in 1557

Now is the end of the 35th year of Jiajing, in the Gregorian calendar, which was January 1557 AD.

Zhou Mengchen browsed the information, quite specific.

How to say, Japan is not a place that the Ming people are concerned about these days. If there weren’t Japanese pirates, there would only be fewer people paying attention to the situation of the Japanese. Zhou Mengchen did it according to a familiar name, Oda Nobunaga---no? Zhou Mengchen did not find any information about Oda Nobunaga, and there was not even news about the Oda family? As for those who followed Oda’s rise, there was no name.

It made Zhou Mengchen feel in a trance and seemed to have received a wrong information.

Zhou Mengchen could only feel that maybe Oda Nobunaga is still dormant, so he should be a fool at Okamara.

Nobunaga Oda was not found. Zhou Mengchen started reading from the beginning. He snorted coldly as soon as he saw the beginning.

Because the Japanese reign was actually Hongzhi, which was the second year of Hongzhi.

How to prevent Zhou Mengchen from being uncomfortable? Zhou Mengchen had been in ancient times for a long time and was familiar with some ancient rules. He was even more accustomed to looking at the problem from the perspective of being an official of the Ming Dynasty. Before Emperor Zhengde, the Ming Dynasty was Emperor Hongzhi, and the Hongzhi reign took eighteen years.

This is not the case that many years have passed, and the Japanese use this year name. Just this point, it is impossible to see that they have any respect for the Ming Dynasty. They should be punished by their hearts, four words.

Zhou Mengchen looked carefully and saw that there were only two powerful Japanese figures. Zhou Mengchen was a little familiar with them, namely Takeda Shingen and Kenshi Uesugi.

The two men fought twice the so-called Kawaakashima fight in the small corner.

As for what is the Hosokawa family in Kyoto, the Miyo family stage, and the Maori family, etc. Zhou Mengchen is not very familiar with it. He only remembers Kogoro Mori.

Moreover, the information Xu Wei collected in Jiangnan was also very vague, so many of them were just a person's name, and the specific situation was not clear. The interests of the characters were not clear, and what they were doing now was not clear. OK, it was already good to be able to achieve this level of intelligence work in this era.

However, Zhou Mengchen was sure of one thing.

That is, the Japanese pirates are indeed not supported by Japan. Because it is difficult for Japan to have a whole representative in this day and the one that occupies the essence of Japan, namely the daimyo of Honshu Island, has always been hostile to each other, like a group of crabs, pinching each other's legs, without any effort.

It is true that among the Japanese pirates, the real Japanese army is only three to five thousand, and it is better to count on it. If we shave out the Japanese ronin, it is hard to say how many Japanese army there are left.

However, we must also realize that the scale of Japan's Warring States Period is incomparable to China. If we separatist thousands of troops from any side in China, it would be like a game. But Japan doesn't want to, thousands of troops are already one of the main forces.

Kyushu is somewhat isolated from Honshu Island. Therefore, the chaos in Honshu does not have much impact on Kyushu. However, there is another pattern on Kyushu Island, that is, the two heroes stand together, namely the Otomo family and the Shimazu family.

After Xu Wei found the information, he was also the most detailed about the situation in Kyushu. Some of them were even told by the Japanese prisoners in the Battle of Chapu. However, because Xu Hai and Chen Dong were more of the Shimazu family behind him. Therefore, the information in Zhou Mengchen introduced the Shimazu family more thoroughly.

One of them attracted Zhou Mengchen's attention. That is the matter between the Shimazu family Satsuma family and Ryukyu. It seems that the Shimazu family has always been eyeing the Ryukyu country. They even fought several battles in private, but they did not explain what agreement they reached. However, Zhou Mengchen could be sure that Ryukyu must have a tacit understanding with the Japanese side.

The reason is very simple. Ryukyu is a small island with no abundant resources. There is no place worth trading at all. The only valuable one is the port of Ryukyu. Ryukyu's geographical location is very suitable as a transshipment port between Sino-Japanese trade. Ryukyu is a vassal trusted by the Ming Dynasty royal family. There is no restriction on the trade between Ryukyu Kingdom and domestic. Ryukyu Kingdom can use this identity to purchase a large amount of goods in China and then transfer it to Japan. Make huge profits from it. After all, the profits of trade directly under the auspices of the government are very different from private smuggling.

Zhou Mengchen guessed that this was also the reason why Ryukyu did not report these matters. Zhou Mengchen saw this and asked Xu Wei: "Is there anyone in Ryukyu in our country?"

Xu Wei said: "I have checked it. The Prince of Ryukyu Shangyuan is in the Imperial College, Nanjing."

Zhou Mengchen nodded and said, "Send someone to stare."

Zhou Mengchen felt that Ryukyu was a suitable pawn. Zhou Mengchen understood that it was impossible to expect Japan to cut off the support of absolute pirates. Even after opening and closing, it was impossible. The reason was very simple, which represented control of the sea. People like Wang Zhi may not be completely controlled by the Japanese, but they were essentially dependent on the Japanese to produce. The reason was very simple. Tens of thousands of elite soldiers, even if Wang Zhi exaggerated, there were more than 100,000 people who were dependent on Wang Zhi and women and children. These people were determined to be able to live on the sea. Survival materials must be purchased from other places. Perhaps they were purchased in the Ming Dynasty, but now the news is getting more and more intense, and Wang Zhi’s normal purchase of goods has become a problem. As for purchasing large-scale production materials, how can they buy from the Ming Dynasty? Then they can only buy from Japan. Not to mention whether the two sides had a close relationship before, even to this point, even Wang Zhi’s original independence could not be maintained.

No matter which famous name is behind Wang Zhi, Wang Zhi controls the sea, which means that Japan indirectly controls the sea. The Ming switch they like is nothing but honestly supplying goods and never intends to share the benefits of maritime trade to the Ming Dynasty.

Perhaps other ministers don’t care about this. But Zhou Mengchen would never allow it. He was about to have the interests of Sino-Japanese maritime trade, as the first spoil for the Ming Dynasty to officially set foot on the sea. After tasting the benefits, the rest would not be pushed by Zhou Mengchen, and the people below would continue.

Therefore, sooner or later, there will be a battle with the Otomo family and the Shimazu family on Kyushu Island.

However, if you want to be famous in the army, pursuing pirates is a name. Zhou Mengchen may not think it is enough. If you add the protection of the vassal state, it would be even better. Moreover, if the army sailed far away, the Ryukyu islands were all good supplies. Therefore, some things about the Ryukyu Shang family must be done in advance.

It seems that something is still a long way off now. It must be done in advance.

After Zhou Mengchen browsed these documents, he looked at Jiang Zhou and Chen Keyuan who had been waiting for a long time.

Zhou Mengchen has also read the information about Jiang Zhou and Chen Keyuan. The above said that they had the aura of a hero when they read poetry and books less. But now it seems that their temperament is weak and a bit trembling. It seems that they are deficient than Mao Haifeng, which makes Zhou Mengchen a little disappointed.

But Zhou Mengchen never thought that Mao Haifeng, as Wang Zhi's deputy, was also among the top ten in the Wang Zhi group. He was a truly experienced figure. And the two people in front of him were just messengers, and they were not envoys of the court, but envoys sent by local officials in private. It was normal that they could not match.

Another reason is Zhou Mengchen's aura.

Zhou Mengchen himself may not think it, but in one word, he can determine the life and death of countless people, and he has been on the battlefield and is indifferent to life and death. Before he knew it, he has developed aura. Many people dare not look directly at it. Jiang Zhou and Chen Keyuan have something to do in their hearts.

Nothing else. They were sent by Zhao Wenhua and Hu Zongxian. Zhao Wenhua was even sentenced to death because of this. They had just returned and faced with such a change, Zhou Mengchen left them for a while. How could they not think about it and worry about whether their heads could be kept?

In this case, how could they be hard in front of Zhou Mengchen?

Zhou Mengchen didn't have the heart to care about what the two of them were, and asked directly: "Have you ever seen Wang Zhi when you go to Japan?"

Jiang Zhou took a deep breath and said, "I've seen it."

Zhou Mengchen said: "Then tell me, what is the situation in Wang Zhi in Japan?"

Jiang Zhou said, "Yes." He paused slightly, seemed to sort out his language, and said, "Wang Zhi is known as the owner of the Five Peaks in Japan."
Chapter completed!