Chapter 2086
Chapter 2086
Chapter 2086
After Amakusa Shiro returned to the port area, he did not stay in the inn where he stayed overnight, but found another place to stay to ensure his whereabouts were safe.Looking back on the investigation into Hirado this time, it can be said to be quite fruitful. Not only did they discover the fact that the Japanese local armed forces are quietly forming an armed fleet, but they also learned more about the situation of the Tagawa family.
But there is still one thing that Amakusa Shiro can't figure out, and that is what kind of relationship the Tagawa family has with the Eighteen Shibayu Party.According to the information that Hai Han had obtained before, Zheng Zhilong’s wife Tian Chuan Song in Hirado should be a member of the Tian Chuan family, but after Zheng Zhilong’s death, what kind of attitude the Tian Chuan family held towards Hai Han has never been paid attention to. .If it wasn't for the recent investigation that allowed Haihan to discover clues pointing to the Tagawa family, then the various things that are happening here in Hirado would have escaped Haihan's attention without any effort.
And what Amakusa Shiro saw and heard in Hirado showed that the Tagawa family was very powerful, even a little overwhelming.Although he has only stayed here for two days and three nights, he already feels that the owner of the Hirado clan is not the Matsuura clan, but the Tagawa clan who is a retainer of the Matsuura clan.
The Tagawa family not only owns a sizeable merchant fleet and an armed fleet that is being formed, but may also have the support from the Eighteen Chiyo Party behind it. Whether in the commercial or military field, its strength has far exceeded that of the local daimyo's retainers. With a certain level, could it be that the Matsuura clan, as the ruler, really felt so at ease with it, just sitting back and watching the Tagawa family continue to grow and develop?
This is also a problem that currently makes Amakusa Shiro feel incomprehensible.Whether what Tagawa is doing now is just completing some special tasks for Matsuura, or he is already planning to replace him and become the next ruler of the Hirado Clan, he really can't understand now.
There is another question, that is, since the Tagawa clan has not really mastered the power of the Hirado clan, why is it rushing to launch a series of layouts overseas.You must know that it is not a wise move to take the initiative to provoke an opponent of Haihan's level. If you are not careful, you will ruin the foundation you have laid so hard.Based on the current development status of the Tagawa Clan, if they can work hard for ten or eight years, then it should be no problem to become a tycoon in the Japanese archipelago, and it is possible to overthrow the shogunate rule in one or two generations.But jumping out in such a hurry like now, I am afraid that the final result will be that there will be no chance after tossing around.
Amakusa Shiro couldn't help but think of the young man whom he met yesterday near Hirado Castle, who is said to be the next generation Patriarch of the Tagawa clan. It is hard to say whether the Tianchuan family can survive until the young man takes over the family if he takes a crackdown.
"Honestly, wouldn't it be good to do a little business here and become a rich man? You have to make trouble..." Amakusa Shiro thought of this, and he couldn't help but secretly sighed in his heart that the Tagawa family was restless and made such a hot decision. When Haihan's military attack comes in the future, I don't know if these people will not regret their recklessness at the beginning.
Waking up the next morning, Amakusa Shiro checked his belongings again to confirm that he would not leave anything in his residence.Although there are still some clues that have not been verified, he will rush to the scheduled location today to meet up with the reconnaissance ship that evacuated him. Hirado's current situation cannot be slowly investigated at the moment.
The planned evacuation point was actually the place where he swam ashore in the dark before, and it was also the only place on the nearby coastline that had a relatively gentle shoal and no one lived nearby.The same as when he came, he still had to wait patiently until after dark, then the scout ship would arrive at the scheduled location to pick him up and leave.
On the last day, Amakusa Shiro intends to take a good look at Hirado Port and learn as much as possible about the situation of this place, especially the defense deployment of the Hirado Clan near the port, because the next time you come to this place At that time, it might be time to start a war with the Hirado Domain.
Coming to Hirado Port again, Amakusa Shiro still admired the decision of the ancestors of the Matsuura family. To be able to operate such a small harbor with not so good natural conditions into a country's foreign trade center requires not only advanced vision and bold At the same time, it is necessary to constantly eliminate all kinds of pressure and interference from home and abroad in the process of implementation.
However, Amakusa Shiro also thought that if Haihan came to manage Hirado, the situation might be very different from what it is now.At least the port will not be located in this small bay where it is difficult for large ships to turn around. Most of them will be located in Boxiang Bay on the west side of the island. The bay there is dozens of times larger than the current Hirado Port, and the hydrological conditions are favorable The surrounding environment is better, obviously more development value.It can be seen that Matsuura's concept still has certain limitations. After the successful operation of Hirado Port, it seems to have begun to hold on to it, and there is no idea of accelerating the expansion of the business scale.
Of course, the Matsuura family is just a small vassal in a remote area of Japan. If the business scale is too large, it will easily attract the attention of the shogunate, and that may not be a good thing for the Hirado clan.
Amakusa Shiro thought of this, and looked up at the ruins of Hirado Castle on a high place. In order to keep this family property from being missed by the shogunate, the Matsuura family set fire to Hirado Castle by himself, not to mention even rebuilding it. He deliberately kept such a shameful ruin to show his loyalty to the shogunate.This sign has been placed on the height of Hirado Port for decades. When the Matsuura family dared to demolish the ruins and rebuild Hirado Castle, it would be regarded as letting go of the burden of thinking.
What Shiro Amakusa didn't know was that in the original history, the Matsuura clan would rebuild Hirado Castle in the next century, and before the reconstruction, the Tokugawa shogunate's consent was first obtained before starting construction, so the Matsuura clan's counseling Counseling for a full hundred years.
Of course, the current situation is different. At this time, the Hirado clan's economic and military strengths are much better than those of the same period in the original history.However, whether the Matsuura family has the courage to challenge the authority of the Tokugawa shogunate is still a big question mark.
Amakusa Shiro strolled to the vicinity of the Dutch business house. He did not go in rashly. Although the Dutch can barely be called Haihan's trading partners, it is unrealistic to expect them to cooperate with Haihan's military operations overseas. If Amakusa Shiro went in to show his identity, maybe the Dutch would have sold him as soon as they turned around.
Amakusa Shiro observed nearby for a while, and found that the popularity of the Dutch business house was good. There was a constant stream of people coming in and out, and most of them were dignitaries with entourages. It seemed that the East India Company was operating in Hirado. The situation should be very good, and it is no wonder that Taiwan’s Dayuan Port has been in such a difficult situation in recent years. The East India Company still insists on not giving up that small colonial port that can basically only serve as a transit point.
After lunch in the port area, Amakusa Shiro bought some dry food.According to the plan, he had to go to the scheduled evacuation site half a day in advance to confirm that the security situation in the area would not affect the night operations.
However, the evacuation operation went very smoothly that night, the scout ship appeared near the coast on time, and Amakusa Shiro also indicated his position on the shore with a firework signal as agreed, and then swam down to the side of the scout ship, following the rope net that was lowered along the side of the ship Climb aboard.
Yuan Zhi on the boat has ordered people to prepare towel drying clothes and a heater for him, so that he can get rid of the wet and cold state as soon as possible.
"Are we heading south now?" Amakusa Shiro changed his clothes while keeping an eye on the direction of the boat.
"Go south, meet other ships in the south tomorrow, and then go to Nagasaki." Yuan Zhi introduced the next action plan: "However, if you have any important discoveries here in Hirado, you can also modify the itinerary according to the situation .”
"There are a lot of discoveries, let's talk about it while walking!" Amakusa Shiro thought that there was no need to delay in Hirado for the time being, and suggested Yuan Zhi to follow the original plan.
Amakusa Shiro's biggest discovery in Hirado is undoubtedly the armed fleet under the name of the Tagawa family. Although there are indications that this fleet may still be in the process of being formed, its existing strength has already made Amakusa Shiro vigilant.He told Yuan Zhi in detail what he had seen and heard in the two shipyards, as well as the secret military workshop he discovered in Jingchuan.
Yuan Zhi was also shocked when he heard this. If the Hirado clan already had the ability to mass-build warships and form a large-scale armed fleet at this time, then Haihan's estimation of the Hirado clan's strength obviously had a huge deviation.Although this kind of armed fleet is still difficult to pose a real threat to Haihan's navy, its range of activities may threaten the trade lanes under Haihan's control.Considering that a series of previous cases have been gradually confirmed to be related to the Hirado domain to some extent, the armed fleet built by it is particularly dangerous.
Of course, the weirder thing is that it was not the feudal lord Matsuura who implemented this matter, but his retainer Tagawa. This unreasonable situation also made Amakusa Shiro puzzled.
But Yuan Zhi is not as sharp-minded as Shiro Amakusa: "When I was receiving training in Sanya, the instructor explained to us some situations in Japan. I remember he said that the most common situation in Japan is that one is under control. Households, vassals replace the head of the family, subordinates replace the superiors, these are very common things in Japan."
Amakusa Shiro did not deny Yuan Zhi's statement, but he still felt that the situation of the Hirado clan was a bit weird: "Generally speaking, the situation where the bottom is strong and the top is weak, this is indeed the case in the Hirado clan, but as far as I have seen Judging from the current situation, the Matsuura clan, as a daimyo, seems to have no intention of suppressing their retainers at all, just sit and watch the Tagawa clan build a strong ship and guns under their own noses, don't they worry about their position being replaced by their retainers at all?"
Yuan Zhi thought for a while, and then proposed another possibility: "Perhaps the Matsuura family has been emptied by the Tianchuan family at this moment, and they have more energy than energy, so they can only watch helplessly as their family property is reduced by their retainers. Bit by bit. They want to fight, but they have no chance to stand up."
Amakusa Shiro didn't think of this, and he felt enlightened when he heard the words: "So, I have been in Hirado for the past few days, and it seems that I rarely hear people around me talking about Matsuura, but it is Tagawa who is talking about it." The local influence is huge, and they seem to be involved in all kinds of businesses in the market. If your guess is true, then it all makes sense."
Japan has entered the Warring States Period since the Onin Rebellion in 1467, and many of the daimyos who ruled the region in this era used the means of overthrowing their superiors as subordinates, so this period was also known as the era of "Xiakeshang" in history.Although Amakusa Shiro was born as a Japanese-born samurai, his social status before he left Japan was far from the level where he had the opportunity to achieve superiority. He didn't quite understand what was happening in the Hirado domain.
As an outsider, Yuan Zhi's understanding of Japan comes from what he learned in the training in Sanya, and the content taught by the instructors is all from the information provided by the Haihan Travelers.Most of these materials look at the historical development of this period from the perspective of God, and they inevitably have a critical eye. Affected by this, Yuan Zhi took it for granted that what happened in Hirado was actually reasonable, and did not It's not as complicated as Amakusa Shiro thinks.
But no matter who is in charge of the Hirado clan now, the situation here is not good news for Haihan. The information obtained from the reconnaissance must be sent back to the Datongjiang base by telegram as soon as possible, so that the superiors can grasp the situation on the Japanese side in time. , and take necessary countermeasures.
That night, the Datongjiang base received a telegram from Yuan Zhi. The news sent back from Japan was undoubtedly quite explosive, and immediately attracted the attention of Wang Tom and Qian Tiandun.Although it was relatively late when the telegram was received, the two met immediately to exchange their views on this.
"The situation is even more serious than we expected!" Qian Tiandun sighed, "We are still investigating the musketeer case. Unexpectedly, they even secretly created an armed fleet!"
"It's better to find out late than never. If you don't investigate the musketeer case, it may be difficult to find out that the Japanese are doing these tricks secretly." Tom Wang expressed optimism about this.
"This is not a small move!" Qian Tiandun corrected: "Build ships and cannons to form an armed fleet. Even if you are not a maritime hegemony, you will not be too far away from this position!"
(End of this chapter)
After Amakusa Shiro returned to the port area, he did not stay in the inn where he stayed overnight, but found another place to stay to ensure his whereabouts were safe.Looking back on the investigation into Hirado this time, it can be said to be quite fruitful. Not only did they discover the fact that the Japanese local armed forces are quietly forming an armed fleet, but they also learned more about the situation of the Tagawa family.
But there is still one thing that Amakusa Shiro can't figure out, and that is what kind of relationship the Tagawa family has with the Eighteen Shibayu Party.According to the information that Hai Han had obtained before, Zheng Zhilong’s wife Tian Chuan Song in Hirado should be a member of the Tian Chuan family, but after Zheng Zhilong’s death, what kind of attitude the Tian Chuan family held towards Hai Han has never been paid attention to. .If it wasn't for the recent investigation that allowed Haihan to discover clues pointing to the Tagawa family, then the various things that are happening here in Hirado would have escaped Haihan's attention without any effort.
And what Amakusa Shiro saw and heard in Hirado showed that the Tagawa family was very powerful, even a little overwhelming.Although he has only stayed here for two days and three nights, he already feels that the owner of the Hirado clan is not the Matsuura clan, but the Tagawa clan who is a retainer of the Matsuura clan.
The Tagawa family not only owns a sizeable merchant fleet and an armed fleet that is being formed, but may also have the support from the Eighteen Chiyo Party behind it. Whether in the commercial or military field, its strength has far exceeded that of the local daimyo's retainers. With a certain level, could it be that the Matsuura clan, as the ruler, really felt so at ease with it, just sitting back and watching the Tagawa family continue to grow and develop?
This is also a problem that currently makes Amakusa Shiro feel incomprehensible.Whether what Tagawa is doing now is just completing some special tasks for Matsuura, or he is already planning to replace him and become the next ruler of the Hirado Clan, he really can't understand now.
There is another question, that is, since the Tagawa clan has not really mastered the power of the Hirado clan, why is it rushing to launch a series of layouts overseas.You must know that it is not a wise move to take the initiative to provoke an opponent of Haihan's level. If you are not careful, you will ruin the foundation you have laid so hard.Based on the current development status of the Tagawa Clan, if they can work hard for ten or eight years, then it should be no problem to become a tycoon in the Japanese archipelago, and it is possible to overthrow the shogunate rule in one or two generations.But jumping out in such a hurry like now, I am afraid that the final result will be that there will be no chance after tossing around.
Amakusa Shiro couldn't help but think of the young man whom he met yesterday near Hirado Castle, who is said to be the next generation Patriarch of the Tagawa clan. It is hard to say whether the Tianchuan family can survive until the young man takes over the family if he takes a crackdown.
"Honestly, wouldn't it be good to do a little business here and become a rich man? You have to make trouble..." Amakusa Shiro thought of this, and he couldn't help but secretly sighed in his heart that the Tagawa family was restless and made such a hot decision. When Haihan's military attack comes in the future, I don't know if these people will not regret their recklessness at the beginning.
Waking up the next morning, Amakusa Shiro checked his belongings again to confirm that he would not leave anything in his residence.Although there are still some clues that have not been verified, he will rush to the scheduled location today to meet up with the reconnaissance ship that evacuated him. Hirado's current situation cannot be slowly investigated at the moment.
The planned evacuation point was actually the place where he swam ashore in the dark before, and it was also the only place on the nearby coastline that had a relatively gentle shoal and no one lived nearby.The same as when he came, he still had to wait patiently until after dark, then the scout ship would arrive at the scheduled location to pick him up and leave.
On the last day, Amakusa Shiro intends to take a good look at Hirado Port and learn as much as possible about the situation of this place, especially the defense deployment of the Hirado Clan near the port, because the next time you come to this place At that time, it might be time to start a war with the Hirado Domain.
Coming to Hirado Port again, Amakusa Shiro still admired the decision of the ancestors of the Matsuura family. To be able to operate such a small harbor with not so good natural conditions into a country's foreign trade center requires not only advanced vision and bold At the same time, it is necessary to constantly eliminate all kinds of pressure and interference from home and abroad in the process of implementation.
However, Amakusa Shiro also thought that if Haihan came to manage Hirado, the situation might be very different from what it is now.At least the port will not be located in this small bay where it is difficult for large ships to turn around. Most of them will be located in Boxiang Bay on the west side of the island. The bay there is dozens of times larger than the current Hirado Port, and the hydrological conditions are favorable The surrounding environment is better, obviously more development value.It can be seen that Matsuura's concept still has certain limitations. After the successful operation of Hirado Port, it seems to have begun to hold on to it, and there is no idea of accelerating the expansion of the business scale.
Of course, the Matsuura family is just a small vassal in a remote area of Japan. If the business scale is too large, it will easily attract the attention of the shogunate, and that may not be a good thing for the Hirado clan.
Amakusa Shiro thought of this, and looked up at the ruins of Hirado Castle on a high place. In order to keep this family property from being missed by the shogunate, the Matsuura family set fire to Hirado Castle by himself, not to mention even rebuilding it. He deliberately kept such a shameful ruin to show his loyalty to the shogunate.This sign has been placed on the height of Hirado Port for decades. When the Matsuura family dared to demolish the ruins and rebuild Hirado Castle, it would be regarded as letting go of the burden of thinking.
What Shiro Amakusa didn't know was that in the original history, the Matsuura clan would rebuild Hirado Castle in the next century, and before the reconstruction, the Tokugawa shogunate's consent was first obtained before starting construction, so the Matsuura clan's counseling Counseling for a full hundred years.
Of course, the current situation is different. At this time, the Hirado clan's economic and military strengths are much better than those of the same period in the original history.However, whether the Matsuura family has the courage to challenge the authority of the Tokugawa shogunate is still a big question mark.
Amakusa Shiro strolled to the vicinity of the Dutch business house. He did not go in rashly. Although the Dutch can barely be called Haihan's trading partners, it is unrealistic to expect them to cooperate with Haihan's military operations overseas. If Amakusa Shiro went in to show his identity, maybe the Dutch would have sold him as soon as they turned around.
Amakusa Shiro observed nearby for a while, and found that the popularity of the Dutch business house was good. There was a constant stream of people coming in and out, and most of them were dignitaries with entourages. It seemed that the East India Company was operating in Hirado. The situation should be very good, and it is no wonder that Taiwan’s Dayuan Port has been in such a difficult situation in recent years. The East India Company still insists on not giving up that small colonial port that can basically only serve as a transit point.
After lunch in the port area, Amakusa Shiro bought some dry food.According to the plan, he had to go to the scheduled evacuation site half a day in advance to confirm that the security situation in the area would not affect the night operations.
However, the evacuation operation went very smoothly that night, the scout ship appeared near the coast on time, and Amakusa Shiro also indicated his position on the shore with a firework signal as agreed, and then swam down to the side of the scout ship, following the rope net that was lowered along the side of the ship Climb aboard.
Yuan Zhi on the boat has ordered people to prepare towel drying clothes and a heater for him, so that he can get rid of the wet and cold state as soon as possible.
"Are we heading south now?" Amakusa Shiro changed his clothes while keeping an eye on the direction of the boat.
"Go south, meet other ships in the south tomorrow, and then go to Nagasaki." Yuan Zhi introduced the next action plan: "However, if you have any important discoveries here in Hirado, you can also modify the itinerary according to the situation .”
"There are a lot of discoveries, let's talk about it while walking!" Amakusa Shiro thought that there was no need to delay in Hirado for the time being, and suggested Yuan Zhi to follow the original plan.
Amakusa Shiro's biggest discovery in Hirado is undoubtedly the armed fleet under the name of the Tagawa family. Although there are indications that this fleet may still be in the process of being formed, its existing strength has already made Amakusa Shiro vigilant.He told Yuan Zhi in detail what he had seen and heard in the two shipyards, as well as the secret military workshop he discovered in Jingchuan.
Yuan Zhi was also shocked when he heard this. If the Hirado clan already had the ability to mass-build warships and form a large-scale armed fleet at this time, then Haihan's estimation of the Hirado clan's strength obviously had a huge deviation.Although this kind of armed fleet is still difficult to pose a real threat to Haihan's navy, its range of activities may threaten the trade lanes under Haihan's control.Considering that a series of previous cases have been gradually confirmed to be related to the Hirado domain to some extent, the armed fleet built by it is particularly dangerous.
Of course, the weirder thing is that it was not the feudal lord Matsuura who implemented this matter, but his retainer Tagawa. This unreasonable situation also made Amakusa Shiro puzzled.
But Yuan Zhi is not as sharp-minded as Shiro Amakusa: "When I was receiving training in Sanya, the instructor explained to us some situations in Japan. I remember he said that the most common situation in Japan is that one is under control. Households, vassals replace the head of the family, subordinates replace the superiors, these are very common things in Japan."
Amakusa Shiro did not deny Yuan Zhi's statement, but he still felt that the situation of the Hirado clan was a bit weird: "Generally speaking, the situation where the bottom is strong and the top is weak, this is indeed the case in the Hirado clan, but as far as I have seen Judging from the current situation, the Matsuura clan, as a daimyo, seems to have no intention of suppressing their retainers at all, just sit and watch the Tagawa clan build a strong ship and guns under their own noses, don't they worry about their position being replaced by their retainers at all?"
Yuan Zhi thought for a while, and then proposed another possibility: "Perhaps the Matsuura family has been emptied by the Tianchuan family at this moment, and they have more energy than energy, so they can only watch helplessly as their family property is reduced by their retainers. Bit by bit. They want to fight, but they have no chance to stand up."
Amakusa Shiro didn't think of this, and he felt enlightened when he heard the words: "So, I have been in Hirado for the past few days, and it seems that I rarely hear people around me talking about Matsuura, but it is Tagawa who is talking about it." The local influence is huge, and they seem to be involved in all kinds of businesses in the market. If your guess is true, then it all makes sense."
Japan has entered the Warring States Period since the Onin Rebellion in 1467, and many of the daimyos who ruled the region in this era used the means of overthrowing their superiors as subordinates, so this period was also known as the era of "Xiakeshang" in history.Although Amakusa Shiro was born as a Japanese-born samurai, his social status before he left Japan was far from the level where he had the opportunity to achieve superiority. He didn't quite understand what was happening in the Hirado domain.
As an outsider, Yuan Zhi's understanding of Japan comes from what he learned in the training in Sanya, and the content taught by the instructors is all from the information provided by the Haihan Travelers.Most of these materials look at the historical development of this period from the perspective of God, and they inevitably have a critical eye. Affected by this, Yuan Zhi took it for granted that what happened in Hirado was actually reasonable, and did not It's not as complicated as Amakusa Shiro thinks.
But no matter who is in charge of the Hirado clan now, the situation here is not good news for Haihan. The information obtained from the reconnaissance must be sent back to the Datongjiang base by telegram as soon as possible, so that the superiors can grasp the situation on the Japanese side in time. , and take necessary countermeasures.
That night, the Datongjiang base received a telegram from Yuan Zhi. The news sent back from Japan was undoubtedly quite explosive, and immediately attracted the attention of Wang Tom and Qian Tiandun.Although it was relatively late when the telegram was received, the two met immediately to exchange their views on this.
"The situation is even more serious than we expected!" Qian Tiandun sighed, "We are still investigating the musketeer case. Unexpectedly, they even secretly created an armed fleet!"
"It's better to find out late than never. If you don't investigate the musketeer case, it may be difficult to find out that the Japanese are doing these tricks secretly." Tom Wang expressed optimism about this.
"This is not a small move!" Qian Tiandun corrected: "Build ships and cannons to form an armed fleet. Even if you are not a maritime hegemony, you will not be too far away from this position!"
(End of this chapter)