Zhu Youzhen asked with interest about the customs of the Ezo people and the character of Xiangku Xiangying.

After thinking for a long time, he turned to Wang Chengen and said, "Let the people from the Social Investigation Institute get in touch with this Xiangku Xiangying, and send a few clever people to learn Ezo dialect, and it is best to sort out a translation dictionary."

The purpose of the contact was to see if he was willing to contribute to the Ezo people's independent state-building movement. If he wants to, then support his tribe and select some of them to study at the Army Academy.

In addition, let the Social Research Institute go to Fuso Island with the ship next year to investigate the distribution of the Ezo people on Fuso Island. And pick some Ezo tribes who hate the Japanese and are willing to get close to the Ming Dynasty for contact..."

Xu Xinsu couldn't help but say a little anxiously: "Your Majesty, didn't you just say that you wanted to include Fusang Island in my Ming Dynasty's territory?" There's a lot of gold on this Fuso Island. When they came back with us this time, they carried 20 bags of golden sand, which weighed about 20 kilograms. ”

Zhu Youzhen turned his head to look at him, shook his head and said: "There is no conflict between supporting the independence of the Ezo people and incorporating Fusang Island into the territory of the Ming Dynasty.

If we were to express our thoughts about Fuso directly, we would not gain much other than to arouse the vigilance of the Japanese shogunate. It is even possible that the Ezo people will fall directly to the Japanese, after all, they have been in contact with the Japanese for hundreds of years, and we are only just entering the region.

But if we support the Ezo people to establish an independent state, it will be different, not to say that the Matsumae clan will not approve of it, and even the Japanese shogunate will not be willing to have an independent Ezo force around them.

As for the gold you are talking about on the island, the most expensive thing in the world is to build a country. No matter how much gold they have, it will end up being spent on the supplies we import. So why do we have to do it ourselves? ”

Xu Xinsu stopped thoughtfully, and Xu Linhu went on to talk about the rest of the voyage. They followed the coastline to the east of Fuso Island to the north, and then found a cluster of islands near the northeast of Fuso Island.

The islands, large and small, almost blocked the northward passage for boats, and they were able to cross the archipelago under the guidance of the local Ezo people, clinging to a narrow channel along the coastline of Fuso Island.

After crossing the archipelago, they stopped at the bay of the peninsula on the northeast corner of Fuso Island, a place called "siruetoku" by the Ezo people, which means the end of the earth.

There are only a few small fishing villages in the area, and they came ashore to explore the natural landscape of the peninsula a little under the guidance of the local Ezo people.

It was discovered that there are several volcanoes in the middle of the peninsula, including an active volcano that emits flames and smoke all year round. There are lakes of various sizes between the volcanoes, and when viewed from above, they look like pearls.

However, because of these volcanoes, the Ezo people on the peninsula did not go inland, and the area was full of towering trees and a variety of wildlife, mostly bears and deer. They exchanged a lot of bear skins and deer skins from the locals for a negligible price.

On the east coast of the peninsula, there are bays where boats can dock, but on the west coast, there are hundreds of feet of cliffs that cannot be climbed. According to the local Ezo people, the northeast of the peninsula is a land of abundant catch, and there are several islands in the archipelago that are very large and suitable for development.

After leaving the Shiretoko Peninsula, as the Ezo people call it, they continued north and finally found Kuyi Island on the north side of Fuso Island, and found a suitable harbor on the northern coast of Atin Bay in the south of the island.

As the weather began to get cold and the island was mountainous and difficult to explore, they did not stay long on the island, but crossed the strait between Kuyi Island and Fuso Island, returned to the Tsugaru Domain from the west side of Fuso Island, and then returned to the same route from the Boso Peninsula, Jeju Island, Dengju, and Tianjin.

As for Kuyi Island, they think it is a bitter cold land with lush forests, but the fur produced on the island is good. In addition, the area around Kuyi Island is not only rich in fish, but also has a large number of whales.

As for the Mao people on the island, they should be of the same ethnic group as the Ezo people on Fuso Island, and they are very similar in terms of customs and language.

After listening to Xu Linhu's report, Zhu Youzhen thought about it, then took a brush from the desk on the side, and then took a few blank name tags made of wood on the edge of the sand table, and wrote the names of Fusang Island, Sakhalin Island, and the Kuril Islands in turn, and then replaced the three name tags on the sand table.

"From now on, these three places will be named by these three names, and you will do so when you make maps and geographical descriptions. As for the more detailed names in the three regions, they are either transliterated by the local natives or named by the discoverers.

In short, it is not allowed to use the name of a foreigner other than a local or a foreigner. Legally, we must first ensure that before the Ming Dynasty landed, there was no proof that no one else had discovered here..."

Although it is not clear why the emperor cares so much about the naming of a place name, no one here will refute Chongzhen's opinion, after all, this is just a trivial matter.

After Chongzhen praised Xu Linhu's outstanding performance on this expedition, he asked Huang Yongshu to talk about his experience of sailing and exploring the waters west of Japan and the region north of Korea.

Unlike Heo Linho's departure from Edo, Hwang Yong-shu also circled Jeju Island before setting off, looking for a base for the future construction of the Donghae Patrol Palace.

The East China Sea Patrol is actually a fleet that integrates maritime security, commercial trade, and colonial port development.

The waters north and south of Korea and the sea east and west of Japan are such a vast place, and it is natural to find a port with a good location.

After Huang Yongshu circled Jeju Island, he realized that his options were extremely limited. Jeju Port in the north of Jeju Island is the largest port in Jeju Island and the port with the most connections between Jeju Island and the North Korean mainland.

The most populous area of the island is near the port of Jeju, although most of them are Koreans. However, among them, the Korean officials and sinners who were exiled here saw the Ming Dynasty's acceptance of Jeju Island as an opportunity for them to turn over, so they cooperated very much with the reception of the Ming army in Donggang Town.

Although the port of Jeju is good, it has now become the bag of Donggang town migrants. Compared with Uncle Huang Yong and others who were born in the southern navy, Dongjiang Town's water power may be insufficient, but the force on land is much stronger.

Uncle Huang Yong can't compete with these officers and soldiers of Dongjiang Town, and naturally he won't turn his family into a vassal of Dongjiang Town. Therefore, I simply gave up, and the Jeju port with the best conditions.

This leaves Seongsan Port in the northeast corner of Jeju Island and Seogwipo Port in the south of the island. Although both ports are fishing ports, the geographical conditions and climate of Seogwipo Port are more suitable for those southerners.

Therefore, after Huang Yongshu reported to Xu Xinsu, he asked Chongzhen here to establish the Donghai Patrol Office in Seogwipo to manage the local port and people. Zhu Youzhen didn't think much about this, and quickly agreed to them.

Hwang then officially recounted his voyage, and he went north from Jeju Island and chose to cross the strait directly between the Korean Peninsula and the Japanese island of Kyushu.

The strait here is characterized by high winds and rough waves, and complex currents under the sea, foggy in spring and typhoons in summer. Only on the Japanese side, the sea is relatively gentle, so it is suitable for crossing the strait.

On the northern side of the strait, on the Japanese side, there is a long and narrow island called Tsushima Island. The waterway between Tsushima and Kyushu is the most calm and suitable for navigation.

Tsushima Island is a small island with a low rock height of less than 10,000 koku, but it is very densely populated. Therefore, he mainly relied on fishing and trade between Japan and Korea.

The current lord of the Tsushima Domain, Soyoshi, is only 24 years old, and he is happy to come into contact with the merchants of the Ming Dynasty. However, according to his inquiry, there were some signs of instability within the Tsushima Domain.

Yanagawa Choxing, who was only 25 years old in the Tsushima clan, had been trying to become independent from the Tsushima clan and become a courtier of the shogunate, thus monopolizing the trade between Japan and Korea on his own.

Liuchuan's behavior naturally provoked Zong Yicheng's counterattack, but under the appeasement of the monk Gui Bo Xuanfang, who had a greater influence on the Ma Domain, the two sides never tore their faces.

The Tsushima clan was in charge of trade between Japan and Korea, and about 600,000 to 800,000 taels of silver were imported into Korea from them a year, but about three-quarters of the goods supplied by Korean merchants were purchased from the Ming Dynasty.

Therefore, after Zong Yicheng saw their arrival, he hoped to open up a channel for direct trade with the Ming Dynasty, so as to leave aside the old Liuchuan who presided over the trade with the DPRK.

Zhu Youzhen whispered a few words about the situation on Tsushima Island, and asked Xu Xinsu to keep in touch with the lord of the Tsushima domain. Although Tsushima Island is not abundant, it occupies a favorable position in the strait, and it can try to become a fulcrum for the Ming Dynasty to cross the strait.

After leaving Tsushima Island, they followed the north of Honshu Island and headed east to Hagi Castle in the Choshu Domain. The Choshu domain has a stone height of 360,000 koku, and the current lord is Mori Shusō.

The attitude of the Choshu Domain towards their arrival was quite strange, and the officials of the domain did not come forward to receive them, but there was no incident to make it difficult for them. The merchants of Hagi Castle were enthusiastic about their arrival, feasting them several times and promising to trade with them.

However, every time at the banquet, there are always a few people who don't look like businessmen who ask them about Daming.

"Choshu Domain? This name is really familiar.,One of the four powerful feudal clans in the southwest of the Meiji Restoration.,The controller of the Japanese Army.。 Zhu Youzhen smiled slightly and said: "It's just that some people are not willing to be lonely, as long as they maintain normal trade with the Changzhou Domain, don't do superfluous things." ”

Looking at the people around him with some doubts, Zhu Youzhen continued to add: "This Choshu Domain itself is a powerful daimyo in southwestern Japan, and unlike the small domains such as the Tsugaru Domain and the Tsushima Domain that we talked about before, the Choshu Domain is the object of the Edo Shogunate's extreme vigilance.

We supported the Tsugaru and Tsushima domains only to establish a foothold in Japan's neighborhood, not to plunge Japan into war. You need to know that the Japanese archipelago is now the first trade object of our Ming Dynasty, and if Japan is caught in war, it will not be good for us.

What we need to contain is the power of Japan as a unified nation to prevent the Edo shogunate from interfering in our trade operations with Japan. However, we also need a government that is sufficient to suppress the princes of Japan and ensure the spending power of the Japanese market..."