Since the last century, many Ming merchants have crossed the sea to trade here, so Hirado, like Nagasaki, has many Chinese-style buildings and Han Chinese settlements built by Ming merchants. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info but compared to the Han culture of Nagasaki Port, the commercial atmosphere here is more prominent, the Ming merchants built here mostly merchant shops, but Nagasaki has built a lot of schools, temples and other religious and cultural facilities.

Although Chen Yixin is young, he has also traveled to many places, and he believes that the reputation of Pingdo Port is far greater than the actual level of operation here, and the construction of port terminals and towns, not to mention that compared with places like Sanya, there is still a gap compared to Penghu Magong Port, which Haihan took over last year. If Haihan is asked to choose a location to build a trade port, Hirado probably does not even have the qualifications to be selected, and the Japanese are still a little worse in the management level of sea trade after all, if Haihan settles in Sasebo Bay in the south in the future, then the Matsuura family in Hirado basically does not have to play, just honestly be a distributor for Haihan.

After Matsuura Shinichi left, the Portuguese Commercial Hall also came to visit Chen Yixin. Western colonists came to Hirado much earlier than Haihan, bringing the Portuguese to Kagoshima in 1543, and in 1550, Portuguese merchant ships entered Hirado Port, accompanied by the missionary Francisco Xavier. When the missionary, who had not been successful in spreading Catholicism in Kagoshima, arrived in Hirado, he was treated and supported by Takanobu Matsuura, and Catholicism was able to spread widely in northern Kyushu. By the time Chen Yixin came to Hirado, there were already quite a few Catholic churches and believers on the island.

The Dutch set up a trading house in Hirado in 1609, but the British were a little slower and entered Hirado in 1613 and introduced sweet potatoes to local cultivation. However, the British were clearly not able to compete with their European counterparts in the region, and in 1623 they closed the Hirado trading house and withdrew from Japan altogether. Now the Spaniards and the Dutch were in the same position as the British, and the spices, glassware, and weapons they brought from distant Europe could hardly compete with the Haihan goods brought by the Portuguese from Hainan Island. Whether it is the cost of freight or the cost of production, the Portuguese clearly have a clear advantage.

The consul of the Portuguese Merchant Embassy who visited Chen Yixin was Ricardo, who had also visited Sanya and other places under the rule of Haihan more than once, so he still had a certain degree of understanding of Haihan. Hearing that Haihan ships had come to Hirado Port, Ricardo immediately rushed to the inn where Chen Yixin stayed. Nearly half of the goods exported by the Portuguese to Japan were produced by the Haihan, so regardless of the purpose of the Haihan fleet, Ricardo responded with the spirit of 12 points.

Ricardo had never met Chen Yixin before, so after the meeting, he could not avoid being surprised by Chen Yixin's young appearance, and even had a little doubt in his heart whether this was the son of a high-ranking Haihan official, after all, leading an ocean-going fleet to other countries at such a young age, in addition to personal professional ability, prestige is also a very important factor, otherwise the orders issued will be difficult to convince the subordinates.

Ricardo did not have the same language skills as Matsuura Shinichi, so he could only communicate with Chen Yixin through an interpreter, and it was only then that he learned from the other party's self-introduction that this young Haihan man was actually a colonel officer of the Haihan militia. As far as he knows, this can be regarded as a military attache with a very high position, and the Haihan militia is said to be ranked by military merits, Chen Yixin can be promoted to colonel at a young age, and he has obviously made a lot of military achievements.

For Chen Yixin, Ricardo is an unplanned source of intelligence, considering that the cooperative relationship between Haihan and Portugal in recent years is relatively close, the information obtained from Ricardo will have a relatively high degree of credibility, and it can also save a lot of trouble on Haihan's side. So Chen Yixin seized this opportunity to inquire about the various local conditions in Hirado, including politics, economy, military, geography, and so on. He knew that the Portuguese merchant houses were not only used for trading, and that collecting this kind of information was a function that every merchant office stationed abroad would have, and the difference was only to see how many specific results were achieved.

Of course, Ricardo can more or less guess Chen Yixin's purpose, but the information that the Haihan people need is not of much secrecy value, and Ricardo doesn't mind giving it to Chen Yixin to earn a little favor. At present, the Portuguese need to rely on the Haihan in many aspects of their business in the Far East, especially when dealing with the two old rivals of Spain and the Netherlands, they have to pull in the Haihan as a strong backer, and they can provide some help to the Haihan people without hurting their own interests, which can be regarded as a useful measure to promote the development of bilateral relations.

As a result, only about half of the information Ricardo provided to Chen Yixin was about the Matsuura family and the port of Hirato, while the other half was about the business conditions and movements of the Dutch and Spaniards. He didn't know the real purpose of the Haihan people coming here, but if he could say that Chen Yixin could teach the Dutch and Spaniards who were active in Japan a lesson, he would certainly be happy to see it.

Chen Yixin's psychology is not as young as he seems on the surface, of course he also noticed that Ricardo wants to lead his rhythm, Chen Yixin doesn't mind Ricardo's careful thinking, after all, the Netherlands and Spain are in a state of hostility with Haihan, and it is normal for the Portuguese to want to kill people with knives in this regard. The Spaniards, in particular, have not held any form of formal peace talks since the two sides fought on the island of Taiwan at the beginning of the year, in other words, the two sides are still in a state of war, and if they really want to fight, they can fight at any time. However, what Chen Yixin is really interested in is another thing that has little to do with the Dutch and the Spaniards.

"Mr. Ricardo, Zheng Zhilong, you should know, right?" Chen Yixin changed his words and mentioned another thing: "He also started his career here in his early years, and he should have some assets here. I also mentioned it to the Matsuura family just now, but the other party didn't respond to me, so it must be a little inconvenient. I wonder if Mr. Ricardo can help me?"

"Zheng Zhilong?" Ricardo was slightly taken aback when he heard this name, and then regained his composure: "Of course I know, Zheng Yiguan is a well-known figure in Hirado, he has a family, a career, and a child here, and his relationship with the Matsuura family has always been very good. His manor house in Hirado is not far from here, but his family has now moved out of Hirado and is no longer living here. Chief Chen doesn't have to worry about the attitude of the Matsuura family, they will definitely remain neutral and will not choose sides because of the grievances between you and Zheng Zhilong. ”

Zheng Zhilong's nickname is Niolas, because of the Christian name he received when he was baptized by the Catholic Church in Macao in 1621, Westerners, especially the Portuguese, used to call him Nicolasiquan, that is, Nicolaas Yiguan, and the name Zheng Zhilong he used in Daming was not called by many people. Zheng Zhilong later came to Kyushu, Japan, met and married Tagawa, the righteous daughter of the overseas Chinese blacksmith Weng Yihuang, and joined the pirate merchant Li Dan to work under him. In 1624, Zheng Zhilong's wife gave birth to a son Zheng Chenggong in Chisahama, Hirado, and in the same year, Zheng Zhilong and his family left Kyushu and joined Yan Siqi. The following year, Yan Siqi and Li Dan died successively, and after Zheng Zhilong inherited the property of the two, he established the Eighteen Zhi, which later dominated the southeast sea frontier.

After that, Zheng Zhilong continued to trade with Hirado, but he did not return to live here. After the defeat in Penghu, Shibashi fled all the way east to Miyako Island, between Taiwan and the Ryukyus. It is unknown whether Eighteen Shiba and Hirado still maintained secret trade contacts after this, but it is obvious that the Matsuura family, who is in charge of Hirado, will not be able to offend a wealthy and capable force like Kaihan for a down-and-out pirate leader, and maintaining neutrality is the key to running Hirado Port.

Ricardo believes that Chen Yixin took the initiative to mention Zheng Zhilong for two purposes, one is to understand the current attitude of the Matsuura family towards Zheng Zhilong, and the other is to inquire whether Zheng Zhilong still has trade contacts with the Hirado side. As for why he inquired about these news, Ricardo believed that the Haihan people had probably finally freed up their hands and wanted to exterminate the Eighteen Zhiyu who had escaped from Penghu.

Although Ricardo was in Hirado, he still had a certain understanding of the changes in the situation in the south, and after the Haihan people captured Penghu in May last year, they did not pursue Shibazhi, and then took advantage of the chaos in Batavia in the South China Sea to directly enter Taiwan under the noses of the Dutch, and forced the Dutch to sign a peace agreement with reluctance. After cleaning up the Dutch, Haihan immediately waged war against the Spaniards entrenched in the northern part of the island of Taiwan, uprooting the two colonial strongholds they had managed to build in Taipei, and the Spanish tentacles in the western Pacific had to retreat from the island of Taiwan to the city of Manila in the South China Sea.

After scolding these two, Haihan has basically controlled the coastline of Taiwan Island, and it seems logical to deal with the overseas remnants of Shibazhi next. After all, if the Haihan people want to open up a route to Japan in the future, the eighteen shiba, located on Miyako Island, will be a huge hidden danger. Since Haihan has the ability to expel Shibazhi from the Fujian Strait, of course he will not mind spending a little more effort to get rid of them completely.

This book was first published in Genesis, and the following will be re-edited later for anti-theft

Since the last century, many Ming merchants have crossed the sea to trade here, so Hirado, like Nagasaki, has many Chinese-style buildings and Han Chinese settlements built by Ming merchants. However, compared to the port of Nagasaki, where Han culture is stronger, the commercial atmosphere in Hirado is more prominent, and most of the shops built here by Ming merchants were merchants, while Nagasaki has many religious and cultural facilities such as schools and temples.

Although Chen Yixin is young, he has also traveled to many places, and he believes that the reputation of Pingdo Port is far greater than the actual level of operation here, and the construction of port terminals and towns, not to mention that compared with places like Sanya, there is still a gap compared to Penghu Magong Port, which Haihan took over last year. If Haihan is asked to choose a location to build a trade port, Hirado probably does not even have the qualifications to be selected, and the Japanese are still a little worse in the management level of sea trade after all, if Haihan settles in Sasebo Bay in the south in the future, then the Matsuura family in Hirado basically does not have to play, just honestly be a distributor for Haihan.

After Matsuura Shinichi left, the Portuguese Commercial Hall also came to visit Chen Yixin. Western colonists came to Hirado much earlier than Haihan, bringing the Portuguese to Kagoshima in 1543, and in 1550, Portuguese merchant ships entered Hirado Port, accompanied by the missionary Francisco Xavier. When the missionary, who had not been successful in spreading Catholicism in Kagoshima, arrived in Hirado, he was treated and supported by Takanobu Matsuura, and Catholicism was able to spread widely in northern Kyushu. By the time Chen Yixin came to Hirado, there were already quite a few Catholic churches and believers on the island.

The Dutch set up a trading house in Hirado in 1609, but the British were a little slower and entered Hirado in 1613 and introduced sweet potatoes to local cultivation. However, the British were clearly not able to compete with their European counterparts in the region, and in 1623 they closed the Hirado trading house and withdrew from Japan altogether. Now the Spaniards and the Dutch were in the same position as the British, and the spices, glassware, and weapons they brought from distant Europe could hardly compete with the Haihan goods brought by the Portuguese from Hainan Island. Whether it is the cost of freight or the cost of production, the Portuguese clearly have a clear advantage.

The consul of the Portuguese Merchant Embassy who visited Chen Yixin was Ricardo, who had also visited Sanya and other places under the rule of Haihan more than once, so he still had a certain degree of understanding of Haihan. Hearing that Haihan ships had come to Hirado Port, Ricardo immediately rushed to the inn where Chen Yixin stayed. Nearly half of the goods exported by the Portuguese to Japan were produced by the Haihan, so regardless of the purpose of the Haihan fleet, Ricardo responded with the spirit of 12 points.

Ricardo had never met Chen Yixin before, so after the meeting, he could not avoid being surprised by Chen Yixin's young appearance, and even had a little doubt in his heart whether this was the son of a high-ranking Haihan official, after all, leading an ocean-going fleet to other countries at such a young age, in addition to personal professional ability, prestige is also a very important factor, otherwise the orders issued will be difficult to convince the subordinates.

Ricardo did not have the same language skills as Matsuura Shinichi, so he could only communicate with Chen Yixin through an interpreter, and it was only then that he learned from the other party's self-introduction that this young Haihan man was actually a colonel officer of the Haihan militia. As far as he knows, this can be regarded as a military attache with a very high position, and the Haihan militia is said to be ranked by military merits, Chen Yixin can be promoted to colonel at a young age, and he has obviously made a lot of military achievements. (To be continued.) )