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Mao Taijiu, Jin Siyi, Jin Yingyuan and other Ryukyu envoys were having fun in Nanjing when they were suddenly summoned by officials from Honglu Temple.

Compared with the Ming Dynasty system, the functions of Honglu Temple have been adjusted. In charge of foreign affairs, and secondly in charge of banquets and receptions, and the working banquets of various yamen inside and outside the capital were also separated from the functions of Honglu Temple.

You must know that during the Ming Dynasty, even the elephants in the Royal Zoo ate fodder provided by Honglu Temple. The eunuchs and civil servants are greedy for money and food expenses, and Honglu Temple can only cry for poverty. Internal employees also withheld food, resulting in the state banquet for receiving foreign guests, and even used leftovers to entertain foreign envoys.

"Meet Da Honglu!"

The three Ryukyu envoys bowed in unison.

Liu Xiangke had been promoted to the right young minister of Honglu Temple, and he angrily said: "Don't put a high hat on me. You and other barbarians from other countries are actually serving the Japanese general as their master. What is your intention?"

When the three envoys heard this, they were all frightened.

Mao Taijiu quickly said: "Ryukyu has served China for three hundred years and has been favored by China for a long time. If it was not helpless, how could it be willing to betray it? It was all because of Japan's sending troops. The small country of Ryukyu could not resist, so it could only endure the humiliation and wait for the opportunity. Now that China is strong, our country The crown prince has requested to be enthroned and is about to return to the embrace of his mother country. If China can raise an army to attack Japan, our country will definitely shed tears of gratitude and never have second thoughts again."

This is the truth. Although the Mao family has been the leading party for decades, the leading party also wants to stand on its own one day.

Several decades would be enough time to eliminate all political opponents, not to mention that the Mao family's daughter was still the Queen Mother.

Now that the Mao family is full-fledged, the hidden purpose of coming to Nanjing to ask for a title is to repair relations with China. When the time is right, China can be asked to send troops to seek the independence of the Ryukyu Kingdom without having to pay tribute of commercial taxes and food to Japan every year.

However, Liu Xiangke refused to listen to the explanation and scolded: "You have betrayed your master's country and you still want to ask for a title? Go back and tell the puppet master of Ryukyu that if he wants to be the king, he will drive away the Japanese on the island and show your majesty some loyalty. . Within three months, if there are still Japanese officials collecting taxes in Ryukyu, our country will definitely send troops to conquer them!"

The Ryukyu mission was expelled from Nanjing.

On the way back home, Jin Yingyuan said uneasily: "The Emperor of China will not really send troops to fight, right?"

Mao Taijiu said with a smile: "It is best for China to send troops to scare the Japanese away. At that time, all we can do is send envoys to rebuke, and our country will just ask for forgiveness. If the Japanese leave, we can collect a lot more business taxes every year, and we don't have to raise food." To the Satsuma Domain. This time we came to China, we came to the right place!"

"Then should we expel the Japanese and show our loyalty to the emperor of China?" Jin Siyi asked.

Mao Taijiu waved his hand and said: "Absolutely not. If we expel Japan, China will at most consecrate the King of Ryukyu, and most likely will not send troops to help. Instead, Japan will send troops."

When Japan first attacked Ryukyu, the Ryukyu monarchs also asked Ming Dynasty for help.

But Ryukyu was too small and located overseas, so Ming Dynasty was unwilling to mobilize troops to help.

Later, Japan invaded Korea. When the Ming Dynasty monarchs and ministers discussed it, the mainstream argument was that Japan, a small country, was not satisfied with swallowing up Ryukyu, so it actually invaded Korea again. Korea and Ryukyu were both vassal states of the Ming Dynasty and could not tolerate Japan's mischief.

In another time and space, probably more than ten years later, Ryukyu will once get rid of Japanese control and exploitation with the help of the Qing government.

However, Japan has cultivated too many adulterers.

Xiang Xiangxian, Ryukyu's most powerful politician, historian and reformer, was trained in Japan and served as Ryukyu's regent. From the source of ideology and culture, he advocated the theory that "Japan and Ryukyu share the same ancestor", and Ryukyu was eventually assimilated by Japan. You know, this guy is the royal family of Ryukyu, and he also compiled the history books of Ryukyu.

After being reprimanded by the Ryukyu envoys, they actually rushed back home happily and waited for China to send troops to fight.

The Hanlin Academy in charge of Qian Qianyi also received a new errand. He quickly read through various historical materials and wrote an article to prove that the Ryukyu people were descendants of China.

Qian Qianyi suddenly felt dizzy. He knew about the existence of the Ryukyu Kingdom, but he had never studied the specific situation. I could only organize manpower and look through the official archives of the former Ming Dynasty. I found that Ryukyu was a bigger place. In the early Ming Dynasty, there were actually three countries, and the three kings didn't even have surnames.

Today's Ryukyu King's surname is Shang, which is still the surname given by Zhu Zhanji.

Then just make it up!

According to the "Book of Mountains and Seas", Fujian is located in the sea, with a mountain in the northwest called Minzhong Mountain. The word "in the sea" indicates that the land of ancient Fujian included not only the inland Fujian, but also Taiwan, Ryukyu and other islands.

In ancient times, how could Chinese people go to Ryukyu?

We can find historical evidence that the Yellow Emperor ordered the drums to be shared, the foxes to cut wood into boats, and the scrap wood to make jigs, in order to relieve the difficulties. As a result, the Chinese people had the ability to sail across the sea and settle in Ryukyu.

It is also said that at the end of the Qin, Han, Tang, and Yuan Dynasties, a large number of Fujianese people fled the war and crossed the sea to Ryukyu to thrive.

Therefore, Ryukyu people are Fujian people and are part of the descendants of China. It's a pity that I have been away from my homeland for so long that I have even forgotten Chinese. We should quickly establish schools to allow Ryukyu people to restore their mother tongue.

"Aren't you too fooled?" Zhao Han wanted to laugh.

Qian Qianyi said solemnly: "Your Majesty, how can you say this is a lie? This is the truth. These people from Ryukyu are all descendants of the ancient Fujian people, and they are all our fellow Chinese sisters and brothers!"

Zhao Han said: "Just believe it yourself, and make up Annan's story by the way."

Qian Qianyi said: "Your Majesty, there are ready-made ones in Annan. They are all descendants of the soldiers sent by Qin Shihuang to conquer the south!"

"That's okay." Zhao Han nodded.

Fujian merchants who often went to Ryukyu for business also reported an important piece of information, and this matter was well known to everyone in Ryukyu.

During the Chenghua period of the Ming Dynasty, the king of Ryukyu died suddenly, and his son also died suddenly within a few years, leaving no heirs. An official in charge of the national treasury actually opened the treasury to bribe ministers. He was elected as king by Ryukyu ministers and pretended to be the crown prince of Ryukyu to request for canonization. Zhu Jianshen did not send anyone to investigate, but directly sent envoys to canonize him.

The current Ryukyu royal family is the descendant of that imposter!

Zhao Han said happily: "Now my master has become famous. The Ryukyu monarchs and ministers not only obeyed the Japanese generals, but they were also fake. They were not the Shang clan canonized by the Ming Dynasty at all! Since the Shang clan does not exist, then the Ryukyu Kingdom also There is no need to exist, just set up Ryukyu County directly after defeating it!"

…

Winter, Fuzhou.

Li Dingguo led his troops onto the troop transport ship. He was originally going to fight Vietnam next year, but temporarily changed it to fight the Ryukyu Kingdom.

The reason why Li Dingguo was allowed to go south was purely because Zhao Han was deliberately cultivating him.

The commander of the navy on this expedition is Hong Xu, and the deputy commander is Shi Daxuan, all of whom were former subordinates of Zheng Zhilong.

Summer is the best season to go to Ryukyu, and autumn is the best time to travel from Ryukyu to Fujian. As for winter, there is no such thing as tailwind or headwind, and the wind and waves are not very big along the way.

A mighty force of more than fifty ships sailed from Fuzhou to Taipei. In addition to warships and troop transports, there were also some merchant ships transporting grain, which were requisitioned by the imperial court to pay Fujian maritime merchants.

When passing by Diao X Island, there were Han people collecting medicinal herbs on the island.

Most of them are Han Chinese living in Taiwan, and there are even Fujianese. They took a fishing boat to Diao X Island and collected sea hibiscus from the island. This herb can prevent high blood pressure and rheumatism.

There are also two fishing boats docked at Huangwei Island in the northeast of Diao X Island. But they are not here to fish, but to collect bird droppings on the island. If it comes in summer, you can still pick up bird eggs. At that time, the sky is covered with seabirds, and they gather at Huangwei Island to lay their eggs.

Within a few days, the fleet entered the Ryukyu Islands.

There are also indigenous people on some small islands, like large and small villages. The island chiefs need to pay tribute to the Ryukyu king on a regular basis. For these island natives, it doesn't matter who rules, as long as they don't exploit them too much.

If this is the case, then leave it alone and slowly build schools to implement education from now on.

The fleet headed straight for Shuri Castle, east of what would become Naha City.

At this time, there is no crazy reclamation by Japan, and the waterway is very wide. Since it is not the best sailing season, there are not many merchant ships docked here. At this moment, they are all looking at the Datong Navy fleet stupidly.

When the imperial court was recruiting grain-carrying merchant ships in Fujian, it announced that it was going to fight in Southeast Asia.

The grain merchants did not know the destination until the day of the expedition. As for collecting information about Ryukyu, that is normal behavior. Who knew the emperor would send troops?

At this time, the fleet arrived, and all the Ryukyu, Japanese, and Han merchants at the port were dumbfounded.

A ship, first heading to Kume Island.

This Kume Island is not the Kume Island hundreds of years later, but an outlying island that controls the mouth of the E River. It can be understood as what Chongming Island is to Shanghai. After the 18th century, due to the continuous accumulation of sediment, Kume Island gradually disappeared and became part of Naha City.

Zheng Shen, a small official from Fujian, now landed with two hundred Datong troops as a descendant of the Kume Zheng family.

"Don't fire, don't fire, that's a Chinese ship!" The defenders of the Kume Island Fort were shouting at this moment, and they were still speaking in Fujian dialect.

Zheng Shen led his troops off the ship, suppressed his excitement, and said loudly: "Zheng Shen, the descendant of the Jiumi Zheng family, is back!"

The buildings on Kume Island are all in the Southern Fujian style, and the clothes are also Han Chinese.

The soldiers guarding the fort are all Han Chinese. When they saw Chinese ships, they didn't fire at all. When they heard that someone from the Zheng family was coming, they even came over to say hello with a smile.

Not long after, hundreds more islanders came over.

One of the old men walked tremblingly in front of Zheng Shen, leaning on a cane and asked: "I am the chief of the Zheng clan. Which clan are you a descendant of?"

Zheng Shen replied: "The great-grandfather of this younger generation is Zheng Gongba Zhou."

The old man suddenly laughed: "I am your uncle!"

Zheng Shen was stunned for a moment, then bowed: "Junior, I pay my respects to my uncle."

The old man pointed to the fleet in the distance: "This is it?"

Zheng Shen explained: "My good uncle knows that this Ryukyu Kingdom will be Ryukyu County in China from now on, and my nephew will be the first magistrate of Ryukyu County."

"Okay, okay!" The old man was overjoyed.

The other islanders also smiled.

Another old man raised his crutch and shouted: "All the thirty-six surnames of Kume, please listen. In every household, there are people who are capable and can help me to win Ryukyu!"

This island, guarding the entrance to the sea, is the only way to reach the Ryukyu Royal Castle from the sea.

There are thirty-six surnames on Kume Island, all of which are Han Chinese.

They had troops and forts to protect the royal city from attacks from the sea. At the same time, he also helped the Ming Dynasty monitor Ryukyu monarchs and ministers, and participated in tribute trade for generations.

When Japan invaded Ryukyu, it did not dare to pass through here because it could not withstand the attack of the fort.

When Ryukyu resisted Japanese aggression, it was Zheng Zeng who led the Han people on Kume Island to resist. The King of Ryukyu did not send troops at all at that time. Moreover, after Zheng Hao was captured and sacrificed, the Ryukyu monarchs and ministers slandered Zheng Hao as a traitor.

The thirty-sixth name of Kume has been an official in Ryukyu for generations, but now he is severely suppressed.

Of course, there are also those who are forced to cater to Japan, such as Cai Jin of the Cai family, who is now the chief minister of the Ryukyu Kingdom.

Zheng Shen stayed on the island for less than half an hour, and all the young men of the thirty-six Han family were dispatched, bringing weapons with them to help the Datong army capture the port.