The day before departure, Xu Yuzhuo, who did not know where to get the news, hurried to the headquarters and asked to send someone to join the expedition fleet. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info Qian Tiandun originally wanted to deduce that the rated capacity was full, and it was inconvenient to add more people on board, but Xu Yuzhuo seemed to expect that Qian Tiandun would find such an excuse, and offered to send a ship to join by himself, and Haihan was not responsible for the cost and supplies.

The reason why Xu Yuzhuo was so active in participating in the investigation mission was naturally because he had thoroughly understood the habits of the Haihan people in long-term contact. In Xu Yuzhuo's view, this so-called investigation activity means that the Haihan people are already preparing to take action on the next target. Such actions are often followed by a series of engineering construction and commercial development, and the benefits that can be obtained from them in the future are worth looking forward to.

The last example is Haihan's operation on the island of Taiwan, when Haihan did not know the Fujian government when he was scouting the Tainan area, and as a result, the Fujian side later fell into a series of passivity in the development of the port of Kaohsiung in Tainan, and was almost squeezed out of the competition queue of this new trading port by its Guangdong counterparts. Since then, Fujian officials have been very concerned about Haihan's so-called "investigation" and "exploration" activities, and as long as there is a rumor, they will definitely apply to participate, in order to avoid missing the opportunity again. The small cost of participating in such an operation is nothing compared to the potential benefits in the future.

Qian Tiandun couldn't laugh or cry about this, although Xu Yuzhuo's judgment was correct, but even if Haihan wanted to go north next, it was estimated that he would have to wait for a year and a half, and he could only act after the situation in Zhoushan calmed down. Otherwise, this base will not be stable, and how will it supply the needs of the early development of the next base. Xu Yuchu was afraid of missing the opportunity to make a fortune, but he didn't know that this investment was estimated to have to wait for a long time to see the hope of returning to the capital.

Qian Tiandun couldn't resist Xu Yuchuang, and finally gave him a place. This expedition to the north is considered a military operation, and it is not convenient to bring too many irrelevant people with it, so it is enough to go to one person to see the local situation on behalf of the Xu family.

The candidate arranged by Xu Yuzhuo is no stranger, that is, Xu Ke, the secret pile arranged by the Xu family in Ningbo. Xu Ke lives by the sea all year round, and his sailing skills are not bad, so it is certainly not a big problem to remember a route. Moreover, he is not a member of the army, and his identity is not so sensitive when he follows the actions of the Haihan militia. After Haihan gradually got rid of the Ningbo government, he didn't have much to do on Zhoushan Island, so Xu Yuzhuo simply arranged for him to follow him to the north to see what good things were there.

On the morning of 20 July, a flotilla of four ships slowly left the Dinghai Harbor wharf. The destination of this fleet was kept secret from the outside world, and in order to avoid attracting too much attention from the outside world, Qian Tiandun and Shi Diwen did not show up at the dock to see them off, and only let Gao Qiao Nan come forward to run on behalf of the headquarters.

According to the route set by the navy, the fleet will first visit the west coast of Kyushu Island, then head north through the Korean Strait to Jeju Island, and finally return west to the Damyung coast. Under the command of Wu Sen, the fleet sailed eastward along the coastline of Zhoushan Island across the Qitou Ocean, and then sailed through the Pushen Waterway between Shenjiamen Fishing Port and Putuo Mountain and sailed into the East China Sea.

It is about 500 nautical miles from here to Kagoshima Bay at the southern tip of Japan's island of Kyushu, and there are few reefs or ports to replenish along the way. In order to be able to confirm the location after arriving at the local area, this time the fleet also set off with a Japanese naturalized citizen who belonged to the special operations battalion, Shiro Amakusa.

Amakusa Shiro's hometown is Kumamoto Castle in Kyushu, Japan, and his background is not as good as that of Takahashi Minami, and he does not even have the status of a low-level samurai, and his name only comes from the local place name and the ranking of his brothers in the family. But his luck is not bad, Takahashi Minami was very angry when he recommended him to the headquarters, this opportunity to return to his hometown to visit relatives may be like this once in his life, but Takahashi Minami himself was unable to make the trip because of military affairs, so he could only recommend Amakusa Shiro, who was also born in Japan.

Amakusa Shiro himself didn't have any special feelings about the opportunity to return to Kyushu this time, his situation in his hometown was not very good, otherwise he would not have been exiled overseas. As for the idea of returning home, he has not been in the militia for about the same time as Gao Qiao Nan, if he can be mixed with the battalion commander to lead this army like Gao Qiao Nan, it may still be a bit of a proud capital, but he is only a deputy company commander now, and there is also Chen Yixin, a young chief, in the fleet, so he can only be honest.

Amakusa Shiro only hopes that this mission can be completed smoothly and without going wrong, and that after he returns, the command will definitely report to the Military Commission, and when the time comes, he may have the opportunity to add a stroke to his military resume, and maybe now the position of deputy company commander will be regularized because of this.

Wu Sen, who is also a naturalized officer, was in a somewhat different mood at this time. He was captured at the Battle of Hue in 1629 and later returned to Thanh Hai Han, but his rise through the ranks was not affected by his status as an enemy general. This time, Shi Diwen boldly handed over the navigation command of the expedition fleet to him, which also fully reflected the trust of the Haihan military high-level in him. This time, the destination was a completely unfamiliar sea for Wu Sen, so he also held back his strength to perform well in front of Chen Yixin and prove that his ability was enough to command a fleet to carry out tasks in an unfamiliar area.

Four days after the departure of the fleet, an island finally appeared in the sea in front of the fleet, and after Amakusa Shiro's identification, it was confirmed that it was an uninhabited island called Kuroshima, and the voyage from here to Kagoshima Bay was less than 50 nautical miles. Wu Sen secretly breathed a sigh of relief, the four-day sea voyage basically did not deviate from the scheduled route, almost from Zhoushan to the southern tip of Kagoshima Bay in a straight line, his role as a commander can be regarded as the most incisive.

Their allies, the Portuguese, were certainly more familiar with the place than their first time here. In 1543, the Portuguese settled in Tanegashima Island, south of Kagoshima Bay, and in the following years, they introduced Western muskets and religion to Japan. Although Japan's policy of lockdown has been in place for a long time, and the prohibition of Western religions in the Kyushu region has been in place for many years, it is said that some Portuguese still settle on Tanegashima Island and engage in smuggling businesses that have been banned by the Edo shogunate.

According to information provided by Shiro Amakusa, the local authorities were not very friendly to overseas visitors, so the fleet did not rush into Kagoshima Bay, but found a fishing port near Cape Sata at the southernmost tip of Kyushu.

There is a small fishing village on the coast of this place, and perhaps the people here have seen the Portuguese from the west, so they did not seem panicked when they saw the large ships of the Haihan fleet.

Since the water on the coast was not deep enough for the fleet to dock directly, Takemori ordered to anchor about 100 meters from the shore, then lower the dinghy from the boat, and let Amakusa Shiro lead the team to row ashore to buy supplies from the locals.

This village is located in the middle of the seaside mountain pass, there are only about 20 households in total, the population is less than 100, and the supplies that can be provided are extremely limited, except for fresh water and seafood, only a little greens, and so poor that there are no poultry or livestock.

After Amakusa Shiro confirmed that he was safe on the shore, Chen Yixin also boarded the land in a small boat. He had never been to Japan before the crossing, and this was the first time he had set foot on the land of this island nation, and there was still a little bit of freshness. However, there is really nothing to investigate in this place, and the situation of the villagers not only reminds Chen Yixin of what he saw when he landed at Shengli Port six years ago, but also the Yulin fishing village at that time was almost like this.

The villagers were not repulsed by the arrival of this group of strangers, because these visitors were very arrogant, and they took out silver ingots at will. After the village chief took the money, he happily mobilized the villagers to hurry up to buy supplies for these rich masters.

The fleet rested here for only one night, and the next day set off for the north along the western coast of the Osumi Peninsula. However, the fleet did not intend to go deep into Kagoshima Bay, and when it reached the southern tip of the Satsuma Peninsula, it turned west and cut across the mouth of Kagoshima Bay. The Kagoshima area was not the focus of this expedition, and Chen Yixin did not plan to spend precious time here, so it was enough to check the changes in the coastline on the map by the way.

This area at the southern tip of Kyushu Island was part of the Satsuma Domain, which was also one of the southwestern regions of the Shogunate period. Not only did the Satsuma clan control the Kagoshima region, but even the Ryukyu Kingdom in the south was under the control of the Satsuma clan during this period. However, the reason for controlling the Ryukyus was not that the Satsuma Domain coveted that bit of land on the sea, but because the Edo Shogunate implemented a policy of seclusion, and the Satsuma Domain wanted to trade with the Ming Dynasty across the sea, but could not openly deal with the Shogunate, so they used the Ryukyus as a cover and used it as a window for trade with the Ming Dynasty.

However, the trip did not include the Ryukyu Islands in the south, and the focus of the expedition to Kyushu was on Nagasaki, Sasebo, Hirado, and the Goto Islands in the north.

From the southern tip of Kyushu Island to Nagasaki Port, it is a voyage of nearly 100 nautical miles. The fleet slowed down in order to investigate the coastal conditions, so the voyage took nearly two days to complete.

Located on the west coast of Kyushu Island, Nagasaki has been Japan's gateway to the outside world since ancient times, and as early as the Sui and Tang dynasties, most of Japan's envoys, envoys, and monks traveled to China from here. By the time of the Ming Dynasty, a large number of maritime merchants from China's coastal areas also went to Japan to do business. In the middle of the 16th century, the Portuguese and the Dutch also arrived here and began to establish trade relations with Japan. Beginning in the 17th century, the Edo shogunate gradually restricted the trading grounds for foreign ships, and by 1635, two years later, Nagasaki would become Japan's only foreign trade port, and this unique position continued for nearly two centuries since. Of course, due to the addition of Haihan as a group of time-travelers in this time and space, perhaps Japan's future trend will no longer be exactly the same as the original historical trajectory.

"Nagasaki is a port city with many different faces, and you will see the Tang Town, the Confucius Temple, and the Western churches, which are similar to Haojingao in Guangdong and the old Shuangyu Port in Zhoushan. During the voyage, Shiro Amakusa briefed Chen Yixin on the local situation in Nagasaki, and he had lived in Nagasaki for a while, so he was familiar with the local area. Maritime merchants and sailors from various countries brought different cultures with them, making Nagasaki's local customs unique and diverse.

When the fleet sailed into Nagasaki Bay, Chen Yixin felt more intuitively why this place has become the common choice of sailors and maritime merchants from all over the world for a long time, and the long strip-shaped harbor surrounded by mountains on three sides and facing the sea is indeed a natural harbor with excellent conditions. From a military point of view, the pincer heights on both sides of the harbor entrance are also excellent defensive terrain, and only a few artillery pieces can be erected to completely block the access to and from the harbor area. If the militants of the Navy and the Ministry of Shipping saw it, they would immediately clamore for the occupation of this place.

As a comprehensive trading port that brought together merchants from all over the world, it was friendly to outsiders, and the fleet of Haihan ships did not cause any chaos when they sailed into the harbor. However, the blonde and blue-eyed European sailors on the shore could not hide their surprise when they saw the red and blue flags on the mast, and they must have been very surprised to see the sailing ship of Haihan here. People with fast brains are probably already thinking about the real purpose of the Haihan people appearing here.

They were led to an empty berth at the wharf, and the port manager boarded the ship to inquire about the purpose of their visit and took notes. In addition, there is a certain amount of docking fees to use the wharf here, and Chen Yixin asked people to pay for three days in advance, because this place needs to stay a little longer for inspection.

As soon as Chen Yixin got off the shore surrounded by a group of guards, a group of locals surrounded him. They didn't come to beg for money, but to ask the new merchant to hire one of them as a local guide. Chen Yixin didn't bother to pay attention to these trivial matters, so he handed them over to Amakusa Shiro to deal with.

Although Shiro Amakusa had lived in Nagasaki for a while, that was many years ago, and he didn't dare to say that he knew better than these locals about the current situation here. However, he still asked the price very cautiously first, basically it was one dollar of silver a day, and there were also one or two guys who claimed to have a special relationship and could send messages to local officials on their behalf, and shouted for three dollars of silver a day.

Amakusa Shiro knew that these people who shouted high prices might be just bragging, so they planned to hire one from among those with low prices, but Chen Yixin stopped him: "The hiring price is high, a few hire a few, we don't miss this money." ”

Although Amakusa Shiro didn't know what he meant, he still did what Chen Yixin wanted. (To be continued.) )