Rush hour (upper)

  Located between the East China Sea and the Pacific Ocean, Ryukyu was known as a bridge of nations. Its merchant ships were once active in the vast ocean from Luzon, Siam, Malacca, Sumatra, Cambodia, and Java in the south to Korea and Japan's Kinki region in the north, and Fuzhou, China in the east, bringing countless wealth to Ryukyu. However, as a trade hub radiating from China, Korea, and Japan, the three major powers of Northeast Asia, Ryukyu was known to have only three provinces and thirty-six islands, with a land area equivalent to only one prefecture in China and a population of just around 100,000. With limited land and sparse population, this meant that military power was not strong, and wealth naturally attracted onlookers. Like a child holding gold walking in a bustling market, Ryukyu could still protect itself without worry when China was disdainful, Korea was oblivious, and Japan was too busy. However, with the end of Japan's Warring States period, a great disaster struck.

  In 1609, the Shimazu clan of Satsuma Domain, a tozama daimyō under the Tokugawa shogunate, invaded Ryukyu on charges including "not sharing the military expenses for Toyotomi's invasion of Korea, not thanking Satsuma for returning Ryukyuan ships that had drifted ashore, and not making an effort to promote trade between Japan and China". The Shimazu clan took away more than 100 Ryukyuan nobles, including the king, his brothers, and uncles, along with valuable items such as gold, silver, pearls, precious stones, ritual objects, antiques, silk fabrics, and documents that had been accumulated over two centuries. They also forced Ryukyu to cede five islands: Kikaijima, Okinoerabujima, Yoronjima, Tokunoshima, and Akusekijima, and imposed an annual tribute on the kingdom, effectively turning it into a colony of Satsuma Domain.

  In 1644, during the transition from Ming to Qing, due to the chaotic situation on the mainland, Ryukyu simultaneously pledged allegiance to both the Qing court in Beijing and the Southern Ming Longwu Emperor, in order to counterbalance the Shimazu clan's further invasion of Ryukyu. From a legal perspective, the Zheng regime, which was derived from the Longwu regime, still had an inseparable suzerainty over Ryukyu.

  "Give the flying eagle and dragon flags." Looking far away at the horizon of the sea island that had already appeared in the thousand-mile mirror, Squad Leader Chen Yi commanded. "Report to the leader, the tyrant has arrived."

  ??”

  The sudden arrival of the Western ships shocked Ryukyu, and when three American warships approached Naha Harbor, a 500-ton Chinese-style cruiser, the Zhongshan, emerged to try to intercept them.

  "Indeed, good courage!" Ma Ying's face was smiling but not smiling as he praised, and then coldly ordered. "Order the Knight to open fire and tell these two-faced Ryukyu people how to follow the rules!"

  The Knight's gunboat cut through the wind, and the four cannons on one side fired in succession. The huge sound and the soaring water column instantly made the Ryukyu ship, which seemed to be in a majestic momentum, lower its sails and stop paddling.

  It wasn't until half a day later that a small boat was lowered from the patrol ship and slowly headed towards what seemed to be harmless Feilong and Flying Eagle.

  "You are wild men from where, dare to intrude on the port and threaten the patrol!" Although the Ryukyu people who climbed up the Flying Eagle saw that Ma Ying's attire was stunned for a moment, it did not prevent him from shouting in Fuzhou official language. "Don't you know that Ryukyu is a vassal state under the protection of the Great Qing Emperor?"

  "Are you referring to the Tartars who are sitting in Beijing?" Ma Ying burst out laughing. "I am indeed rebelling against these Qing barbarians!"

  "Ah, you!" The patrol officer looked at the suspicious sailors and involuntarily took a few steps back. When his back was against the ship's rail, he suddenly came to his senses and changed color. "So it's the noble lord from Dongning, forgive me for not recognizing you earlier. But, sir, this ship seems to be...and the flag appears to have been changed."

  "Can't we change boats?" Xie Bao retorted. "What kind of person are you? You even care about the masters changing boats!"

  "I dare not, I dare not. The humble one is Jan Shi-an, the interpreter of Naha, who handles affairs at the port ( equivalent to the Ministry of Revenue, Ministry of Rites and Ministry of Works). Before Ma Ying and others came to Ryukyu, they had hastily reviewed the ranks of Ryukyu and knew that interpreters were generally from the eighth rank of Ri no Ko or ninth rank of Takumi no Tsu (Ri no Ko and Takumi no Tsu are representatives of two aristocratic families, the former being higher in rank and therefore having a higher official position, but with similar duties), all wearing red hats and silver hairpins, known as the 'red hat officials' who handle specific affairs. What can I do for you, gentlemen?"

  "This official is a descendant of the great General Zhuo, who led hundreds of households. As he now represents the face of Dongning, Ma Ying respectfully returned the greeting with a bow, without the arrogance from earlier. 'The troops under this official's command have been hunting whales at sea and are exhausted, hoping to enter the harbor for repairs and rest. Along the way, we would like to sell some of the things we brought, please guide us into the harbor, Red Hat Official.'"

  "Yes, yes!" Zhan Zhi'an was just an ordinary son of a Li, and the Ryukyu's eighth-rank official couldn't be compared to a regular sixth-rank hundred-household of the Great Ming - even if the current Great Ming only had one corner of land left. Moreover, there were many black cannons on the other ship, so he couldn't refuse Ma Ying's request. "Are there still some ships from the superior country in the harbor?"

  The so-called "upper country" ships are not referring to the ships of Dongning, but rather Chinese ships from Jiangsu and Zhejiang. The owners of these ships mostly served the Manchu imperial family or the wealthy families of Jiangsu and Zhejiang. Zheng Ji'an was worried that if enemies from opposing sides were to meet in the harbor, they would engage in a fierce fight, and Ryukyu would suffer the calamity of being caught in the middle.

  "Rest assured!" Ma Ying gave him a reassuring look. "They may not have any shame, but we do, and we will absolutely not cause any trouble within your country's borders." Zhan Zhi'an finally managed to calm down, but Ma Ying's next sentence made his heart skip a beat again. "If there really is trouble, the bill can be settled on your side, no need to worry about it here, just settle it after we leave the sea." Zhan Zhi'an was at a loss for words, when Ma Ying raised an eyebrow. "Zhan Tongshi, you should understand our intentions and background by now, shouldn't it be time to bring in the water?"

  "Ah!" Zhan Zhi'an was startled, but Ma Ying's gaze was sharp and wouldn't let him off the hook. "This official will go back and make arrangements now."

  ??”

  In fact, the Qing court maintained a tributary relationship with Ryukyu only to maintain the dignity of the tribute system, and was actually indifferent to the strategic importance of Ryukyu's geographical location. This indifference led to the unprecedented prosperity of Naha Port, where there were not only dozens of Chinese ships such as sand ships, Fuzhou ships, Guangzhou ships, and bird boats, but also three or four Japanese ships (note: Sino-Ryukyuan trade was under the control of Satsuma Domain, which was Japan's only external port after the country closed off from the world, except for Nagasaki and Tsushima - there was also another Ezo port - Satsuma Domain thus accumulated considerable financial power and eventually became one of the grave diggers of the shogunate) including Kan'ei ships and Anzaikei ships. Even Korean, Siamese, and Annamese ships each had one vessel present, but strangely absent were the merchant ships of Luzon barbarians and French barbarians that frequently came and went.

  "Each ship sent one-third of the sailors to take turns ashore for rest and recreation." Ma Ying followed Captain Karl von Seydlitz, who had already learned Minnan dialect, and they discussed it in a low voice before making a decision. "Chen Yi, Xie Bao, Chu Jin, you three will lead the teams separately, with Ho (En) as instructor, and Ka as instructor accompanying Yu to take a walk on the street."

  ??”

  Ma Ying's trip to Ryukyu was not actually due to the depletion of supplies as he told Zhan Zhi'an, but rather a special trip to test the sales route for whale oil candles, whale bones, shark skin and other goods. They will only set foot on the whaling road after all these goods are sold out on the ship.

  After walking around the street, Ma Ying found that the sales route of whalebone was the worst. The opening price of various business houses was not even higher than that of Yinggui Pavilion in Beisanwei Island, so it would definitely be eliminated next time. Shark skin and fish skin were welcomed by Japanese merchants, but Japan had been at peace for many years, so the amount absorbed was not large. On the other hand, whale oil candles, which were sold at a price of four Wen coins per piece, were the most popular. Even though they knew that Ma Ying came from Taiwan, the businessmen in Jiangsu and Zhejiang still scrambled to buy this cheap goods, and soon cleared nearly 30 tons of cargo on three ships.

  "A candle for four wen, this time brought a total of five million candles, which is almost two million wen. One wen coin weighs four coins, that's 5,000 kilograms of copper material." Ma Ying's calculation actually has a big problem, no one would pay only in copper money and copper ingots without choosing more convenient gold and silver. "Just right as ballast."

  "Sir!" Ma Ying, who had just finished his conclusion, was savoring the rare ramen on the high seas with satisfaction. Meanwhile, Karl and Horn, two red-haired men beside him, had already been lured away by a street girl. However, his comfort did not last long, as a sailor who had stayed behind rushed over. "Sir, something's wrong!"

  Although Ryukyu is not far from Dongning, it's still a foreign land. As soon as Ma Ying heard something was wrong, she became anxious and hastily got up, without even wiping the soup from her mouth, and asked urgently: "What happened? How's the ship?"

  "The ship is fine, it's just that the first batch of brothers who went ashore were beaten up." The sailor was also from the children's camp, so although he was anxious and burning with anger, his words still had some order to them. "Sergeant Chen took the brothers out for a stroll, and the foreign instructor taught us how to drink and then go find women after dinner. The brothers were just sightseeing on the street, but didn't expect to run into a group of Japanese merchants, who knows what happened but they ended up clashing. The Japanese cursed us as slaves of a lost country, and in the end, a fight broke out." The Japanese wielded knives and ran amok on the bustling streets, shouting and causing a commotion - this was originally a scourge of Ryukyu, but the people of Ryukyu couldn't afford to provoke the Japanese, so the Japanese became even more arrogant. "Little Fourth went up to mediate, but ended up being slashed by the Japanese with a knife. The brothers returned to the ship to grab their weapons and take revenge, but were stopped by Sergeants Xie and Chu. That's why everyone is angry in their hearts, and they sent us few out to find an adult to take charge."

  As soon as she heard that her people were injured and cut, Ma Ying's eyes turned red: "Is Song Pingyuan's injury serious?"

  "The doctor on the boat took a look and said that it was just enough to save his life, but he would have to rest for at least a year. As soon as this was said, Ma Ying's face twisted in anger. Seeing the situation was not good, the sailor hastily spoke up. 'Leader, let's get back on the boat quickly, if we don't go back now, it's possible that the two squad leaders won't be able to stop Squad Leader Chen and the others.'"

  "Go back!" Ma Ying took out a few copper coins from his bosom and threw them on the table in the restaurant, but he had only taken two steps when he stopped. "You go and bring back all the teachers, and at the same time, go and investigate whether this group of Japanese robbers are traveling merchants or resident merchants. If they are traveling merchants, when will their boat leave? Remember, don't let them get away!"