Chapter 184: Diplomatic Achievements

Cai Feiming and Liu Zhe exchanged a few words about the Spain issue, and then Commander Liu was sent on his way — solving the Taipei problem should fall to the newly established Exploration Team, not the military. So Old Cai packed Liu Zhe off to liaise with the Exploration Team, so everyone could meet up at the mess hall for dinner.

After sending Commander Liu off, Cai Feiming sat in his chair and thought carefully for a moment, then opened his laptop and began clacking away at the keys.

Cai Feiming spent half an hour drafting three documents.

The first was a report: a plan concerning the establishment of diplomatic relations with the Spanish power.

The second was a short proclamation. This text was for the Exploration Team; when they made contact with the Spanish in Taipei in the future, they could use this text as their declaration.

The third was a letter. This letter was written in the name of Xia Xianze, the soon-to-be-appointed Prime Minister of the Two Qin Empire, addressed to the current Manila Governor.

The struggle over orthodoxy that had lasted half a year had finally been won, in the end, by the Royalist Party.

The Dingge Faction, led by Xia Xianze, after several brutal rounds of elimination voting, successfully set the future national title as: the Second Great Qin Empire, abbreviated as: the Two Qin Empire.

They successfully set the form of government as: a Constitutional Monarchy.

They successfully formed the Noble Parliament (House of Lords) encompassing all Transmigrators, and stuffed the Provisional Constitutional Committee full of Dingge Party members, leaving only the relatively weak Rules Committee to the Imperial Han.

Furthermore, that fellow Xia successfully elevated himself to become the first Prime Minister of the fledgling nation.

Now, with about two more months until the Imperial City is completed, although the planned Enthronement Ceremony for a certain Cao is in September, some documents of the Crossing Faction, especially those directed outside the Ming court, have already gradually begun using the imperial title and official ranks.

After finishing the drafts of the three documents, Cai Feiming sent the first report and the third letter to Xia Xianze's mailbox, then printed out the second short proclamation.

With these matters settled, Cai Feiming flicked the copper bell placed at the corner of his desk with his fingers. After a few crisp metallic rings, a clean-cut, dark-skinned youth with a short buzz cut, dressed in an indigo-blue work uniform, appeared at the doorway. He stood respectfully at attention and said, in a slightly accented tone, "Sir."

Cai Feiming nodded to this youth from the Xingang Society. "Li Ren, go and invite the Japanese guests back again."

Not long after, the three Japanese merchants returned to Cai Feiming's office once more.

The Japanese had arrived at Dayuan the previous month. A fleet of four Red Seal Ships had brought to Dayuan gold, silver, copper bars, iron sand, sulfur... and also people, men and women.

Over thirty short, thick-legged Japanese girls instantly awakened the youthful memories of certain individuals; a few whose looks closely resembled certain educators from later generations sparked heated discussion in the Community that very night. Some who had held out until now without touching their Concubine Fund, certain types who prided themselves on preserving their virtue and having high standards, finally couldn't hold back this time either.

Besides the girls, the precious metals and sulfur loaded on the ships were all expected matters. When they had returned to the mainland initially, Dongye Shangche and the others had a Dayuan material demand list in hand, so on this trip to Taiwan, the Red Seal Ships did not carry traditional Japanese handicrafts; the space was used for transporting personnel, and the ballast was replaced with iron sand ore.

However, iron sand ore usually appears in the form of magnetite on coastal beaches and in river valley areas. In the 17th century, this high-purity iron ore was an excellent raw material for forging high-grade knives and high-grade ironwork products.

In 17th-century Japan, sources of iron ore were abundant: including various iron ores associated with silver mines, iron sand ore from Hokkaido, and high-grade iron ore imported from the Koreans. So when the Japanese left last time, the Transmigrators had requested that they change their ballast to iron ore in the future.

Two hundred Japanese cannon fodder / Wild Samurai / vagrants also came along with the ships to Dayuan this time.

The purpose of these two hundred laborers coming to Dayuan was simply to work; they did not come, as in the original history, prepared to subvert the Dutch regime.

And Hamada Yahyoe, that old Japanese rogue, after meeting Dongye Shangche and Lin Xun in Nagasaki, first learned with surprise that Dayuan had changed owners, and then, upon seeing the hold full of raw silk Dongye Shangche and the others had brought back, immediately sent away half of his hired thugs, traded all weapons and swords for precious metals and sulfur, and eagerly returned to Dayuan with Dongye's group.

You have to understand, in the original history, also in late April 1628, the two ships that came to Dayuan under Hamada Yahyoe's command were fully loaded with 470 thugs and a large number of firearms and swords — they were coming to cause trouble.

After the Dutch sensed something was wrong, they quickly searched Hamada's ship holds, confiscated all weapons, and on the ludicrous charge of treason, arrested eleven Xingang Society natives and two Chinese interpreters.

At the same time, the Dutch conveniently confiscated the gifts the Shogun had sent to the Xingang people; Hamada was subsequently detained at the Dayuan Trading Post, unable to go to Fujian to retrieve his raw silk, nor permitted to leave.

And so, Hamada took a desperate risk and kidnapped Nuytz and his son; after everyone returned to Nagasaki together, tragedy struck for the Dutch... Nuytz was imprisoned, the trading post was closed, trade was cut off, and in the end, Nuytz's son died in Japan.

Now, in the Transmigrator plane, much of history has already been changed.

When Hamada Yahyoe led his fleet to Dayuan in late April, what he saw was a prosperous and beautiful port. Dayuan's new masters were powerful; in a short time, they had transformed this place beyond recognition, completely unlike how it was when Hamada left half a year ago...

Most importantly, Dayuan's warehouses were piled high with porcelain, cotton cloth, and raw silk, and the masters welcomed trade.

And so, Hamada very readily joined Dongye Shangche and the others in exchanging all the precious metals in their ship holds, along with the two hundred Wild Samurai laborers, for beautifully printed Land Coupons from the Transmigrators.

At the same time, Cai Feiming also saw from Lin Xun the diplomatic achievement he most wanted to see: a copy of the order, personally signed by the current Shogun Tokugawa Iemitsu, concerning the severance of trade relations between Japan and the Dutch.

Excellent, at this moment, history had once again wondrously returned to its original track.

Thus, the three Japanese merchants received their deserved reward: priority trading rights. That is, they could have first pick of any goods available in Dayuan's warehouses.

Good news continued to arrive.

Not long after the Japanese fleet arrived at Dayuan, a despondent Dutch ship also set out from Nagasaki, carrying the trading post members and the last batch of goods they had obtained in Japan, and arrived at Dayuan.

After exchanging intelligence with the low-ranking Junior Merchant 'Mao' Zheer who was stationed at Dayuan, the Dutch ship hastily exchanged the goods on board for raw silk and porcelain, and then, riding the last of the north winds, returned to Batavia... It is believed that soon, when Governor Coen learns that the Japanese have turned hostile and closed the trade channels, he will more carefully consider the relationship between the Dutch East India Company and the Crossing Faction.

And so, the three big Japanese merchants settled down like this in a temporary villa next to the Shang Hall.

The Japanese were in no hurry now; they would wait for the southwest monsoon to start blowing in mid-to-late May before deciding whether to return based on the situation. Unlike previous years, they would come to Dayuan once more this year, around July or August... The Japanese were striving to achieve the goal of trading at Dayuan four times a year.

There was no helping it; Dayuan now offered them too many temptations.

Besides traditional bestsellers like raw silk, porcelain, and cotton cloth, cement, red bricks, and even some finely crafted straw goods were all commodities the Japanese loved.

Additionally, the high-priced glass teapots and glass cups newly produced by the Kiln District had also swindled quite a few Land Coupons from the Japanese.

The Japanese now also knew about the "Points System" introduced by the Transmigrators. After several Japanese merchants spent all night in the villa fiddling with a sample kerosene lamp, a scoundrel with no bottom line like Hamada Yahyoe strongly expressed the next day: next time he came, he would definitely bring more wandering samurai and young women to rack up points and reach VIP status.

Wild Samurai and women were both things Dayuan currently needed.

The need for women goes without saying. Dayuan now had far too many bachelors; if this continued long-term, it would create massive social conflict, so the Transmigrators had been tirelessly scouring everywhere for women of childbearing age, regardless of race or nationality.

And Japan's Wild Samurai were also a very useful type of laborer.

In 1549 AD, Christianity was transmitted to Japan; the first missionary to arrive in Japan was the Spanish Jesuit Francis Xavier, and the Japanese called the Christianity he introduced "Kirishitan" or "Kirishitan."

From the mid-16th century when Japanese Daimyo accepted Christianity, through the killing of Oda Nobunaga who supported its spread, to the Shimabara Rebellion of the Edo period, and then to the Shogunate's Sakoku and total ban on the religion, this entire period was filled with brutal conflict between foreign Christianity and Japanese Buddhist beliefs.

The year 1628 was precisely the juncture of intense friction between the Shogunate and the Christian Kirishitan believers. Large numbers of Kirishitan believers were exiled by the Shogunate, various "Great Martyrdoms" occurred one after another, all missionaries were expelled, Daimyo who believed in Christianity were stripped of their titles and forced to commit seppuku, and several hundred thousand Kirishitan believers were persecuted to death by the Shogunate.

At this moment, the catcher in the rye arrived.

The reason Cai Feiming had been frequently seeking talks with the Japanese merchants recently lay right here: since these Kirishitan couldn't survive in their homeland, Dayuan welcomed the Wild Samurai among them to come here and work.

Wild Samurai were a very good cannon-fodder troop type. These men were all full-time warriors who had undergone years of training; whether in fighting spirit or combat skill, they were incomparable to the mud-legged peasants the Transmigrators shipped over from the mainland.

As long as their equipment and weapons were suitably upgraded, they would go and conquer vast lands for the Transmigrators; this deal was very cost-effective.

In the days to come, these Wild Samurai brandishing their long swords would fight Savages in the malaria-ridden, humid, and sweltering tropical jungle, seize their food, burn their villages, and with an exceedingly high mortality rate, carry out the Cage Replacement Bird Swap and expand the Empire's territory.