With the Ming delegation to Europe leaving the port of Shanghai and heading south in the autumn of the third year of Hongxing, the level of communication between the two worlds of the East and the West was obviously raised to the highest level. And in this era, it is not only the Ming Dynasty that is entrenched in the southeast and thriving with the West. The Qing Empire, which was entrenched in the north, also opened the door to foreign exchanges.

In the fishing port called Vladivostok, which faces the Whale Sea and is not far from the northeastern border of Hamgyong Province of the Joseon Kingdom, it is a rainy and foggy and cold morning. At the entrance to Horn Bay, which is shaped like a cow's horn, on top of a slender hill jutting out into the sea, there is a newly built viewing platform. A few men dressed in the Qing Dynasty military attaché's mansion were waiting anxiously there, occasionally looking at the rainy and misty sea.

Now is the time when the northwest wind rises, the cold wind from Siberia seems to have not stopped, and every now and then there is an autumn rain, and the temperature has dropped to near freezing. It's really autumn wind and autumn rain!

I don't know how long it took, but the people who were waiting were already cold to their hands and feet, and then they vaguely saw a white sail flashing on the sea, breaking through the rain and fog, and barely sailing in the northeast direction with the northwest wind. Among the people waiting, there was a middle-aged uncle with a baby face and a big beard who was so anxious that he stomped his feet: "Lao Jia, Lao Fan, how do you choose this kind of day?" I'm going to freeze to death! ”

The person he called Lao Jia was Jia Bus, who was also so cold that he shivered, "Vice Admiral Shang, the galleon of the Japanese Bania State leaves the port of Manila every May, goes north to trade in the commercial port along the coast of Nanming, and then sets off from Shanghai to North Korea in July, and it will be late autumn when we come here?" ”

After the Battle of Qufu, he was transferred to the Shengjing General's Mansion, served under the Duoduo tent, and also participated in the campaign against the Khalkha Mongols.

After his triumph from the Khalkha Mongols, he was appointed Vladivostok Meljangjing, or in Chinese, Vladivostok's adjutant general.

In order to avoid the blockade of the Bohai Bay coast of the Qing Dynasty by the Southern Ming Dynasty, and at the same time to avoid too much recourse to Korea. Before Bruce left, Dorgon ordered Dorgon to find a suitable location along the Whale Sea coast to the northeast to establish a trading port.

In the end, Duoduo chose to establish a port in Vladivostok, which was not too far from Jilin and Korea, and also set up a Vladivostok Meljangjing Yamen, so he let Shang Kawai serve as Meljangjing and preside over the construction and opening of the port in Vladivostok.

In fact, it is not a big deal, Vladivostok is a natural sheltered harbor, and any place in the nearly 20-mile-long Ox Horn Bay can be built as a port.

As for the opening of the port, it was even simpler, because no one would come to Vladivostok to trade, only one or two of the Risbanian galleons from the Philippines would go north to the Whale Sea and circle Vladivostok on the way back to the Americas—according to the agreement reached between the Risbanian envoys Caballero and Dolgon, the Risbanian galleons would bring muskets and bronze cannons made in Hispania in exchange for furs and pearls from Northeast China!

It is said that these two things are worth a lot of money in Europa! The Cossacks of the Rakshasa country traveled thousands of miles in search of precious furs.

Dolgon thought for a moment, since the fur is so precious, and Dongzhu seems to be more valuable, so what is polite? Instead of letting the Rakshasa Kingdom make money, it is better for the Great Qing Kingdom to make money by itself.

Hunting or something, the various tribes outside the gate are quite good, Huang Ama has a will, and then get some cotton, grain, iron or something to send, and I'm afraid that I won't be able to exchange it for fur?

It's all money when it is handed over to the people of Zhisibania!

Of course, the Great Qing Kingdom did not need much money, and the Great Qing Kingdom did not have developed industry and commerce, and it could not spend any money if it had. What the Great Qing Kingdom needs now is the weapons that can arm itself against the Ming Dynasty and the Rakshasa Kingdom.

So Dolgon and Caballero made an agreement to exchange muskets and cannons for furs and pearls.

It was for this "gun for moor, cannon for pearl" business that Jabus was sent to Vladivostok by Duoduo to freeze to death!

Another person called Lao Fan is an old man wearing a mink cloak outside his official uniform, and he has a kind of boldness and chic in his gestures, this person is named Fan Yongdou! The head of the Nine Jin Merchants was originally affiliated with the Zhenghuang Banner Han Army, but now it has been changed to the green flag, and he has also been awarded the title of Ada Ha Fan (a bit of a knighthood). He was sent by Dorgon to trade with Jabbs and Shang Kawai.

Hearing the discussion between the two, Fan Yongdou laughed a few times: "The elder brother of Yihu (Jabs character Yihu) is really terrifying, and even the shipping schedule of the Japanese Banians is clear!" ”

"Old man, what you said, I just eat this line of food, can you not figure it out?" Jabs smiled, "Old man, you are amazing, when the Great Qing Kingdom was still outside the Guan, you were the heroes of the Great Qing Dynasty, and we are all your juniors!" ”

Fan Yongdou laughed dryly a few times and stopped speaking.

The three of them were silent like this, and after some time, a Spanish Galen ship with a load of four or five hundred tons finally sailed into the entrance of Oxhorn Bay.

Shang Kawaii let out a sigh and said to Jabbs and Fan Yongdou, "It's finally here...... Let's go to the dock and see what good things those Japanese people have brought to us? ”

Jabus and Fan Yongdou nodded, so the three of them put on their robes, walked out of the lookout together, and walked towards the pier down the mountain.

The visiting ship was the Manila commanded by de Belasco, the same Galen ship that had sent Caballero to Shanghai last time. The ship left Manila in May, but instead of going to Shanghai, as Jabbs had guessed, it went to the port of Naha in the Ryukyu Kingdom.

The port, along with the entire Ryukyu Kingdom, is currently under the de facto control of the Satsuma Domain of Japan, although the Ryukyu King Shoji was canonized by Zhu Cihong two years ago. But Zhu Cihong had no excuse to canonize it, and sent troops to expel the Satsuma clan army in the Ryukyus - there were too many places where he needed to send troops, and there was no time to deal with Ryukyu for the time being.

In addition, since the opening of the port of Shanghai and the acquisition of the right of trade by the Zheng family to enter the port of Uraga (5 large ships of 10,000 koku per year), the port of Naha has declined sharply, and now it has become a chicken rib in the hands of the Satsuma clan. In order to make up for the loss caused by the decline in Naha's trade income, Shimazu Mitsuhisa, the lord of the Satsuma domain, had to use Naha to smuggle arms!

The arquebus was introduced to Japan from Kagoshima in Satsuma Province, and the Shimazu family was famous for its use of "iron cannon" during the Warring States period of Japan.

Handicraft! As long as the craftsmen are around, it's easy to get back to capacity. It has only been more than 30 years since the Osaka Summer Battle, and for a while, Shimazu Tadashi (the first lord of the Satsuma Domain) was still a thief and maintained a production capacity of iron cannons for a period of time, so a large number of finished iron cannons were stored.

In addition to maintaining the production capacity of iron cannons and storing the finished iron cannons, the Shimazu family also took advantage of the special status of Naha Port to maintain secret contacts with the colonial powers of Catholic countries such as Spain and Portugal in the East.

That's why we received a big order from Manila a few months ago – 3,000 six-cartridges!

The Manila went to Naha to ship the six-cylinder North Shanghai Sentai in exchange for furs and pearls. Because the Great Qing Kingdom needs a large number of muskets, and it is urgent (the war with the Rakshasa Kingdom is tight!). So the Spaniards didn't have time to transfer from the Americas, and they didn't have time to order from Guangdong and Fujian.

Although many new iron workshops have been opened in Foshan and Anping, the output of the handicraft industry is still very slow, and all the iron workshops in the two places together cannot produce 3,000 Hongxing three-year arquebuses in a month. And it's impossible to sell it all to the Spaniards, the Ming Army is still waiting to buy it!

Therefore, the Manila could only go to Naha and buy it from the Japanese, and while the sailing ship was stranded in Naha, the Manila Governor Kong also sent a light sailing ship to deliver a letter that needed to be forwarded to the Qing Dynasty immediately.