The Ryukyu Islands, which stretch about 1,100 kilometers southwest from the island of Kyushu in southern Japan to northeast Taiwan, are the boundary between the East China Sea and the Philippine Sea. The total land area is 3,090 square kilometers, including 55 large and small islands, which are divided into three large island groups: the Amami island chain in the north, the Okinawa Islands in the middle, and the Sakishima Islands in the south.

Gao Jianguo led a 10,000-ton multifunctional bulk carrier and the No. 1 landing ship to the waters near the Ryukyu Islands after a voyage of more than 10 days. Before they arrived, they had chosen a place to anchor - Nakajo Bay in the Ryukyus.

Although there was no wharf for 10,000-ton giant ships to berth in this era, the average water depth of Zhongcheng Bay was 20-48 meters, and giant ships could anchor in the bay. It is not far from Shuri Castle, the capital of the ancient Ryukyu kingdom of Nakayama Province.

Gao Jianguo also had a mission this time, that is, he hoped to get in touch with the Ryukyu Kingdom and lease an island in Ryukyu as the company's foothold in Ryukyu.

In 1609, the Shimazu clan of the Satsuma Domain of Japan launched the Battle of Keicho Ryukyus, invaded the Ryukyu Islands, and captured more than 100 people including the Ryukyu King Shoning to Kagoshima for three years and five months, forcing the King Shoning to humiliately admit to paying "tribute" to him. At the same time, it forcibly occupied the five islands of Amami in the northern part of the Ryukyus. He was forced to write an oath and send 8,000 koku of grain to the Satsuma clan every year.

Japan regarded its historical aggression as a "tribute" and proved that the Ryukyus had always been a "vassal" of Japan. Now the Ryukyu Kingdom pays tribute to the Ming Dynasty and Japan respectively, and the Ryukyu Kingdom has entered a period of "one country, two genera".

Ever since the company decided to occupy Manila, the Ryukyus have become extremely important to the Far East Company. The company has been troubled by the lack of remote communication, so the layout of remote wireless communication relay base station has also been included in the company's plan this year.

The company's long-range wireless communication relay base station plan. Ocean Island, Jeju Island, Ulleungdo Island, Ryukyu Islands, Manila, and Guò Song Shiping in Donggang Town, looking for an island in the sea near Jiangsu and Zhejiang will also be included in this plan.

Once these wireless communication relay base stations are completed, the company can realize long-range wireless communication in the Bohai Sea, East China Sea, South China Sea and Japan Sea. The project was supposed to take two years to come. But with the company's occupation of Jeju Island, Hyalungdo Island, Ulleungdo and Manila, the time was ripe for a plan to build a wireless communication relay base station, so the company started the plan ahead of schedule.

Gao Jianguo's mission this time, in addition to buying grain, was to try to help the Yan family get rid of the control of the Japanese Satsuma Domain and support the Yan family's rule on Ryukyu Island. The company aims to gain a firm foothold in the Ryukyu Islands.

Of course. Going to Siam to buy grain is still a top priority, and this plan must be put into practice after the grain purchase plan is implemented.

In the middle of the night, the two ships slowly sailed into Zhongcheng Bay, and the huge ship was moored in the sea near "Yonahara" in the northwest of the bay. During this period, Liu Baoguo, more than a dozen special combat personnel, as well as 100 Japanese death soldiers and a platoon of the War Department, stayed here with two landing craft to protect the giant ship.

After the giant ship anchored in the bay, Gao Jianguo put down the two landing craft and personnel, and then he led the No. 1 landing ship to Siam to buy grain in advance. He was accompanied by 100 samurai of the Death Army and officers and men of a platoon of the War Department. They would buy grain in Siam, and they hired a large number of ships to bring rice back to the Ryukyu Islands.

A month later, Gao Jianguo led the No. 1 landing ship into Zhongcheng Bay again. Gao Jianguo took the telescope and saw that the 10,000-ton giant ship anchored in Zhongcheng Bay had not changed, and his heart was relieved.

This trip to Siam was very smooth. Rice is not a joke there, and in other places food is a precious substance, but there it is a very lowly thing.

Siam Inter rice is abundant and cheap, and there is a lot of rice. Because of its superior geographical environment. Located in a tropical monsoon climate zone with abundant rainfall, a Mekong River runs through the entire territory of Siam, providing abundant water resources for rice cultivation in the country, which is ideal for rice growing. Even in the modern world, Thailand is the world's largest rice exporter.

Kangxi's sixty-first year envoy said. "The country's rice is measured in the mainland, and each stone is worth two or three yuan." And even in a good year, the mainland will have to pay one, two, two, or three dollars, and there will be droughts and floods. It is even higher to one or two * dollars. Because rice is so easy to come by, the price of Siamese rice is much lower than in other countries.

As soon as Gao Jianguo led the No. 1 landing ship to Siam, he almost didn't scare the Siamese naval army to death, how could these people have ever seen such a big iron ship. They trembled and sent people to ask Gao Jianguo about their purpose for coming here, and their attitude was as respectful as they were.

When they learned that Gao Jianguo was buying rice, these Siamese sailors breathed a sigh of relief. It's easy to say that they don't have anything else here, but they have rice, and it's a disaster.

They respectfully led Gao Jianguo into the port and met with the local officials in Siam. When asked how much rice Gao Jianguo wanted to buy, Gao Jianguo replied forcefully: "How much do you buy?" ”

Gao Jianguo's answer almost didn't euthanize the Siamese people to death, and they immediately went around calling the local rice merchants. As soon as the news was released, it was crowded with rice merchants who flocked to it.

Facing the surging rice merchants, Gao Jianguo was frightened, but he met with a few rice merchants and found that the price of rice here was simply the price of cabbage. Gao Jianguo is happy, paralyzed, we just have a lot of silver, such a cheap price of rice, then we can buy it back.

Gao Jianguo bought more than 20,000 tons of rice in one go, and this was all new rice of the year. Old rice is cheaper, but Gao Jianguo is very tyrant and didn't even ask, and swept away the new rice in this area this year.

But new problems also arise, there are not enough sea ships here, the No. 1 landing ship can only carry a few thousand tons, and there is so much rice left that there are simply not so many ships to transport so much rice.

However, local officials and rice merchants in Siam helped a lot, and in order to win over Gao Jianguo, a super big customer, they desperately mobilized a network of resources and finally helped Gao Jianguo to get enough sea vessels, which alleviated the transportation problem.

But when it comes to freight, Gao Jianguo also shook his head and smiled bitterly, the rice here is right, but the foot fee for sea freight is not cheap. That's why people don't want to make this trip, after all, the sea route is far away, and there are pirates along the way.

In the end, Gao Jianguo had to add some more price codes. That's when I got to talk to the shipowners. Guaranteed by local officials and rice merchants, Gao Jianguo paid the silver in one go, and then returned to Ryukyu with thousands of tons of rice.

Zhou Cheng was worried that he would be hacked by the other party if he paid so much silver at once, and there was so much grain in Siam. Gao Jianguo was happy. He smiled and said, "I'm looking forward to them breaking the contract now." Paralyzed, then I have a reason to knock down Siam, this is a rice warehouse, I look at it with greed, it's too far, if North Korea is like them, how good it would be. ”

The No. 1 ship slowly drove to the side of the 10,000-ton ship. Gao Jianguo got in touch with the people on the 10,000-ton ship by radio, and found that Liu Baoguo and the others had already gone ashore, and only one squad of officers and soldiers of the War Department and 100 warriors of the Death Army were left on the 10,000-ton ship.

Gao Jianguo was also stunned, and he hurriedly used the headset to contact Liu Baoguo.

"Liu Baoguo, where have you been? You don't guard the freighter. What are you doing on the shore? ”

As soon as Liu Baoguo heard Gao Jianguo's voice, he immediately replied: "Commander, you are back." Over here...... I'll meet you later. I'll go over ......."

After a while, Liu Baoguo came over in a landing craft. When he saw Dao Gao Jianguo, he made a report on the situation during this period of time.

It turned out that Gao Jianguo was in a hurry to go to Siam to buy grain, so he led the No. 1 landing ship to leave Zhonggang Bay overnight. He had not long gone before dawn, and the inhabitants of Nahara were sleepy-eyed, and when he went out, he saw a large ship moored in the sea not far away.

It can't be called a big ship. It should be called a giant ship. They have never heard of such a huge ship, not to mention that they have never heard of it. The people of the entire Ryukyu Island learned the news and rushed over from all directions. I want to see the giant ship.

It's like an alien flying saucer in the sky of a city in modern society, and he still stops there, the effect is sure to be a global sensation, and people from all over the world will come to the city.

Now this is the case, everyone stands on the seashore and looks at the big ship in the sea with a heart of worship. The impact of this giant ship on them was nothing short of shocking.

Shuri Castle, which is not far from here, will of course know about it. At this time, the king of Zhongshan of the Ryukyu Dynasty was Shang Feng.

In the third year of the Apocalypse, Shang Ning has died. His son, Shang Feng, sent an envoy to ask for tribute and a seal. Due to the peasant uprising at the end of the Ming Dynasty and the pressure of the Qing army, especially the Ming Dynasty's treasury was empty. Unable to build a gorgeous canonization ship, the canonization of the Ming court failed to send it for a long time.

After Emperor Chongzhen ascended the throne, Ryukyu came to congratulate him and asked for a seal. In June of the sixth year of Chongzhen, Du Sance and Yang Luanxiang, a pedestrian, led more than 300 envoys to accompany them, and sacrificed to the river and the sea before traveling, and arrived at Naha Port after a half-moon trek. Shang Feng personally led people out of the port to greet him.

Du Sance presided over the ceremony, the first king, the two canonized envoys read out the canonization edict issued by the imperial court to the Ryukyu King Shangfeng at the canonization ceremony, Shang Feng, who has been on the throne for 14 years, was officially canonized, and Shang Feng's throne was recognized by the Ming court.

The above are all recorded in historical materials, and the kings of the Ryukyus in the previous dynasties were all canonized by the Ming Dynasty. So the Ryukyu Islands are Chinese, and the Diaoyu Islands are also Chinese.

Shang Feng has not yet been officially canonized by the Ming Dynasty, so he, the king of Zhongshan, is not doing it steadily, and when he learned the news, he was immediately surprised. He immediately sent officials to inquire about the giant ship, and when they learned that the giant ship was only temporarily docked here, Shang Feng put his heart in his stomach.

But he also heard that although the other party was fierce, he spoke Chinese, and his appearance was quite similar to that of the Ming people. Moreover, these people are not like pirates in terms of dress or behavior, although they are powerful, they are not domineering, and they are bought and sold in public when they go ashore, and they are never in arrears.

Shang Feng was interested when he heard this, and immediately sent someone to invite Liu Baoguo to the palace for a banquet. Liu Baoguo refused, he was an absolute good soldier, and he would never leave his post to go to the Ryukyu Palace for a banquet.

Hearing that the other party refused his banquet, Shang Feng didn't dare to say anything, but found someone to send a large number of items, and even the sisters sent several. is also on the beach with Nayuan Town, and arranged a house for Liu Baoguo and others for the people on the giant ship to rest.

Liu Baoguo did not refuse these things, he knew that Gao Jianguo would have to contact the Shang royal family of the Ryukyu Kingdom when he came back, so he happily lived in that courtyard, and everyone took turns to get on the boat on duty.

In fact, Shang Feng did this, and he also had the intention of winning them over, after all, the force that could build such a large iron ship must be strong. And they are also of the same species as the Ming Dynasty, so he figured out that Guò had this opportunity to make friends with the Far East. Over the years, they have been bullied by the Japanese Satsuma Domain, and the Ming Dynasty is also eventful, and they don't have the energy to care about these, so they want to find a strong force to rely on to resist the exploitation and oppression of the Satsuma Domain. (To be continued)

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