Chapter 344 The Rapidly Expanding Eastern Trade

Chapter 344 The Rapidly Expanding Eastern Trade

Flower Palace, the seat of the Muromachi Shogunate in Japan. Ashikaga Yoshimichi, the fourth-generation general who conquered the barbarians, originally wanted to live here, but he, the dignified shogun, had no real power at all, and he himself had to listen to a monk.

This monk was also a person of some status, just Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, the third-generation general who conquered the barbarians.

In the eighth year of Japan's Onei reign, Ashikaga Yoshimitsu sent Hakata businessman Fei Fu and monk Zua to the Ming Dynasty in the name of "Japan's National Standard Sanhou Gendaoyi". At that time, the power of Prince Huaira was declining. Emperor Jianwen named Yoshimitsu the "King of Japan" and asked Ashikaga Yoshimitsu to suppress Japanese pirates. When the envoy returned to Japan, the Ming Dynasty experienced the Jingnan Rebellion in which King Yan Zhu Di seized the throne.

After Zhu Di seized the throne, Ashikaga Yoshimitsu sent troops to annihilate the Japanese pirates and presented 20 Japanese pirate leaders. The Ming Dynasty gave Ashikaga Yoshimitsu a gold seal of "King of Japan". Ashikaga Yoshimitsu wrote back and called himself "King of Japan, Omimoto Yoshimitsu".

The Kankai trade was a major achievement of Ashikaga Yoshimitsu's diplomacy, and it was originally a good thing. But a few days ago, the Ming Emperor suddenly ordered the abolition of direct trade between the two countries and replaced it with a third party. What is this called the East India Chamber of Commerce?

Facing the Chinese fleet, Ashikaga Yoshimitsu could only accept the Ming Emperor's will. But because of his illness, Ashikaga Yoshimichi is responsible for receiving your envoys.

Ashikaga Yoshimochi's foreign policy was different from Ashikaga Yoshimitsu's. He was angry at Ming Dynasty's demands. Japan was also a country, so why should it be manipulated by them? Under the persuasion of the veteran Shiba Yishang, he decided to sever ties.

"The Ming Dynasty is really unreasonable. We worshiped them before, but our constant worship has forgotten the spirit of our samurai. Japan must be re-established, and the first step is to reduce trade with the Ming Dynasty."

Of course, just talk. Japan has too much demand for Ming Dynasty. Unless they can be self-sufficient, they should just stick to trade.

Moreover, even if the shogunate ignores trade, there will always be people who want to participate. For example, the Shimadzu family, which controls half of Kyushu, has been coveting the profits from tomorrow's trade for a long time.

Mason didn't care about Japan's domestic political situation. He had finally contracted the trade between the two countries, so he naturally had to make achievements. He decided to first set up his organization in Osaka, Japan's important economic city.

Going to the East again not only announced that tomorrow's trade would be contracted to the East India Company, but also marked that the East India Company would officially extend its tentacles to seek benefits to East Asia. In addition to Japan, the king of the Ryukyu Kingdom also allowed companies to set up merchant houses in Shuri Castle for trade. The company became so short of managers that Mason had to pull people from elsewhere to handle the trade.

It can only be said that Mason's exploration and visit must have made a lot of money for the East India Company and the Empire. With Zheng He's persuasion and Zhu Di's persuasion, Mason decided to celebrate the Ming Dynasty and lead Zheng He back on his voyage after the year. .

Zhu Di set up a residence for him and others in Nanjing City, and also used foreign envoys to announce that during the stay of Mason and others in the Ming Dynasty, Ningbo could temporarily open private transactions, but only foreign merchant ships could enter the port, and domestic people were still not allowed to go to sea.

This news excited the fleet stationed in Ningbo. They quickly left Ningbo and went south to tell others the good news. People in Formosa Province were the first to get the news. They also wanted to go for trade, but they soon discovered that Ningbo and Nanyang must pass through here, so they decided to build a transfer station here to collect tolls.

At this time, the East India Company had established a fort in Formosa and formed an alliance with the local indigenous people. A tribe called Xingangshe was often attacked by another tribe, and the East India Company formed an alliance with it. The entire tribe had about 1,100 people. In order to win over this powerful ally, the tribal chief decided to convert all members to Orthodox Christianity.

This was the first time we saw such a submissive tribal company. The company's local staff and priests began the local civilizing work. Use the labor of the converted tribes for construction, while also using weapons to explore the interior. Finally, they were attacked by another large tribe, the Madou Society, and the exploration was temporarily terminated.

Formosa was filled with a large number of sika deer, and people were already engaged in deer hunting at this time. In addition to eating deer, deer were also made into various deer products for trade. What was sold to the Ming Dynasty was venison, as well as medicinal antler and deer penis. Due to the huge profits, many people are engaged in smuggling work, and the company decided to tax deer products, which can increase revenue to support construction costs.

In Southeast Asia, Paramesollah also considered converting to Orthodox Christianity. He wanted a reliable ally to prevent annexation by other countries. He could also rely on the East India Company's caravans to restore financial resources, and the company's fleet also launched an attack on another large country in Southeast Asia, that is Majapahit.

Majapahit was a Southeast Asian Hindu-Buddhist maritime empire centered on the island of Java. According to the "Ode to the History of Java", Majapahit was an empire with 98 tributary countries, starting from Sumatra in the west and extending to New Guinea in the east; During the Yuan Dynasty, Kublai Khan sent a navy consisting of a thousand warships to cross the sea from Quanzhou, Fujian Province, and landed on Java Island. He joined forces with King Ketalayasa of Majapahit to attack the rebel general Jayaka Wang of Xinhasali Kingdom and destroyed it. Xinheshali country. King Ketalayasa of Majapahit then turned against the enemy, defeated the Yuan army, and unified Java.

After the Majapahit Kingdom was formed, and until the reign of the third ruler, Queen Tribhuvana Vijayadunjatvi and her son Hayam Uruk, there was abundant rice production and numerous manpower, good social organization, and skilled shipbuilding, navigation, and military skills. These advantages were used by Gacha Mada to expand the kingdom's influence and then establish a maritime empire.

The Javanese, like other Austronesian peoples, have a reliable navigation system, making use of various natural landmarks during navigation, and using a very unique astronomy, a navigation technique called "astronautical navigation". This is also the strength of Majapahit's navy, but the attack of a foreign force made them feel that their position in Southeast Asia was in danger.

After the company established a foothold in Temasek, it gradually expanded its trade to the entire Southeast Asia. The specialties here are being transported to the east and west. They should be grateful to the East India Company for its outstanding contribution to the economy of Southeast Asia.

On the route between Formosa and Temasek, a group of expedition teams were affected by a typhoon and deviated from the route and came to a strange continent. They thought this was a new land, so they continued to explore, but were warmly welcomed by the opponent with weapons. They were defeated and had to board the ship to escape. They needed to report this situation to Mason.