C114 (1/2)

Chapter 114 - Cooking rabbits and dogs, hiding birds with their bows

Xiao Letian scolded people harshly enough, and Jin Changsen felt wronged after getting scolded, because right now, Xiao Letian was purely using his experience of surmounting an era to oppress people. This was truly a little unfair.

However, even though Xiao Letian scolded his very fiercely, the reason he stated his words was indeed true. Why did the Japanese Shimadzu Family secretly control the Ryukyu Kingdom for more than two hundred years without destroying its ancestral temple? Was it really the discovery of Japanese's conscience or did he not have that kind of strength?

The answer was definitely no, but the key point was still the benefits. The ancient Ryukyu Kingdom was recognized by the people of the continent as a country on the sea. Although it was small and weak, it still had the right to pay tribute and trade.

The Shimadzu Family needed this name too much, because when the Tsurukawa's Palace rose up, the Shimadzu Family had already stood on the wrong side of the line and became the Tsurukawa's Palace's enemy. Luckily, the south side of Shimadzu Family was the Ryukyu Kingdom, and the Ryukyu Kingdom was still weak.

Using military means to control the King of the Glazed Ball, and taking control over the rights to trade in the Ryukyu Country, in the span of a few hundred years, the Shimadzu Family accumulated a large amount of wealth, which was the main reason why the Ryukyu Sect Temple was maintained.

But now, the Ryukyu Kingdom's business position was on the verge of collapse, and the civil war in the Qing Dynasty had caused the trading of tribute to go down in name. The customs of the Great Qing were all forcefully opened by the foreigners, so the trade in rearrangement naturally left the stage of history.

The exchange of goods sounded complicated, but Xiao Letian knew very well that this was just a large purchase led by the government. The main reason was because it was a mainland civilization. The Ming and Qing dynasties had closed the door to free trade, and chose to trade between the government and the foreign countries. If there was no seal regulating the trade, then the Ming and Qing dynasties would have the name of capturing and killing. Transactions without the right to regulate trade are tantamount to smuggling.

Right now, the two English and French s had already used cannon to blast open the closed customs offices of the Great Qing Province. The western merchants who did not have the right to conduct trade swarmed over, the Qing Government had long been scared witless by the huge fire that had erupted in the Yuan Ming Yuan, and the trade in distribution had already been forcefully swept into the trash.

It was against this background that the status of the Ryukyu Kingdom became lower and lower. The sugars, corals, pearls and other goods that were a specialty of the Ryukyu were replaced by even better goods of Nan Yang. On the other hand, other than gold, silver and other precious metals, the rest of the did not need them.

Of course, there was another very important reason, which was the development of navigation technology. In 1865, the scissor boat trade had already spread across the ocean. This extremely fast sailing ship had already broken free from the restraints of the wind, and had truly become the king of the sea trade.

The speed of scissor boat could reach up to 20 knots, and it would take up to 30 days to cross the Pacific Ocean. From Guangdong to London, the journey would take less than 100 days. At this point, the tonnage of the merchant ship was increasing, and the number of sailors needed was decreasing.

For example, Captain Ke Xijia's Luck ship, was preparing to return to Europe from Tanggu Harbor with a load of pig hair. The fresh water and food that he had brought along with him when he set off was enough for him to travel nonstop to Calcutta or even the Arabian Peninsula. Such a powerful endurance was unthinkable to European navigators during the Ming Dynasty.

At that time, the merchants of Portugal were riding a simple sailboat as they slowly headed towards Asia along the Earth's wind zone. They had to dock at almost every large port to replenish food and fresh water, so that meant that the Naha Harbor at that time was really a must-stop port for all merchant ships travelling far away.

”Foolish person, do you know what is the progress of the era?” Xiao Letian disdainfully told Jin Changsen and the other Japanese people whose faces were ashen white, ”Naha Harbor did not have the support of industry and agriculture. In the past, when the tonnage of the ocean-going merchant ships was small, your special products, such as sugar, coral, pearls and earthenware could still fill up a few cargo ships. But now? Look at the big tonnage cargo ships built by the foreigners. Do you have enough cargo for them to pull over? ”

”You can't make money here, and there's not much use for it as a supply port. To paraphrase what you just said, Nana is very far from Japan. Do you think she needs food and fresh water for that day? We will directly bypass your Ryukyu and go to Deer Island to replenish Bordeaux. Can't we? ”

”Do you fools understand now? You all have already become the weak points of the Shimadzu Family. What is the final outcome for Ryukyu that could not earn any money? Jin Changsen, at your age, let me ask you, use your intelligence and give me an answer.

Xiao Letian was so tired that his lips were about to break. He really didn't want to waste time talking to these people, but he still had to unite the minds of the Ryukyu's officials. If he wanted to continue with the play, he had to ensure that Shang Tai would not waver.

Under Xiao Letian's knowledge which transcended the current era, Jin Changsen and those pro-Japanese sects were the first to collapse. Forget about those pro-Japanese factions, even though Jin Changsen was not a pure pro-Japanese faction, he still recognized his identity as a member of the Ryukyu. Everything he did was actually due to his judgement of the situation.

Jin Changsen broke free from the restraints of the soldiers, and with a plop, he knelt in front of Shang Tai, crying bitterly, ”Your Majesty, this old subject was foolish, I nearly caused Your Majesty's death, may Your Majesty please mete out your punishment, kill me and intimidate all the evil beings in the court … ”Your Majesty, please spare my life for the sake of this old subject's loyalty …”

With Jin Changsen taking the lead, the rest of the pro-Japanese faction all knelt down. ”Please give me your punishment, your majesty, please forgive me for my family's life …”

With the development of the situation, the strength of the pro-Chinese had greatly increased. At the beginning, they still had some doubts regarding their own beliefs. It was only when Xiao Letian revealed his final trump card that they realized how correct everything they had done was.