Chapter 951: I Came, I Saw, I Conquered (Seeking Monthly Tickets, Seeking Subscriptions)

Ambassador Zheng Hongkui could finally catch his breath — he had certainly had his hands full lately! First, he had to prepare supplies amounting to a full ten thousand shi for a smuggler ship that had entered Uraga Harbor at some unknown time and by some unknown means — in early Edo-period Japan, that was an enormous quantity!

Moreover, the list sent by the Cabinet Office was a bewildering assortment — not only food, fresh water, sake, tea, and other seafaring necessities, but also many daily necessities and thirty young women, and they were required to be young and sturdy, obedient and well-behaved, able to do farm work, and preferably virgins... Was this for shipboard prostitutes or for brides?

He had barely managed to purchase the young women as required when the court dispatched a high-level mission to Japan, led by none other than the former Chief Grand Secretary, Duke Wei Zaode, who had overcome adversity to serve the nation!

That man had been prime minister for thirteen years! Though he had now stepped down, who could count all his disciples and former subordinates? Zheng Hongkui had no wish to offend him, so there was another great round of bustling about. And just as he had finished welcoming the Wei Zaode mission, another great bird-ship of the Eastern Fleet that had temporarily put into port delivered the Cabinet Office's latest directive — find a way to lure important Japanese figures aboard the Feixiang for a sea excursion... What was this all about?

Zheng Hongkui was utterly baffled by the Cabinet Office's order, but an order was an order and had to be carried out!

Fortunately, the task of luring important Japanese figures was relatively easy to accomplish, because Zheng Hongkui's old friend Sakai Tadakiyo had come to Uraga Harbor together with Tokugawa Mitsukuni. Moreover, in recent years Japan's important figures had all been very interested in the changes taking place in China, so given the chance to tour the Ming Navy's first ship, the Feixiang, Elder Sakai would certainly not decline.

What Zheng Hongkui had not expected, however, was that over the matter of arranging for Elder Sakai to board the ship, he would get into a lengthy quarrel with the Feixiang's Dutch captain, David Jones — this Dutchman was a priggish Protestant who firmly opposed the Japanese custom of shudo, and so refused to let the troop of Sakai Tadakiyo's flower-like beautiful page boys board the Feixiang... Men being flower-like beautiful did not violate Ming Navy regulations, so why should they not be allowed aboard?

But all that arguing was still useless! Although the Eastern Fleet had been founded single-handedly by Zheng Hongkui's nephew Zheng Jiangong, this fleet, after all, did not bear the surname Zheng!

So after all that arguing he could only fume helplessly, and in the end it was Sakai Tadakiyo who relented and left his page boys behind. Elder Sakai was not picky — young women and page boys were both acceptable to him. So he took a group of young women and long-bearded samurai uncles aboard for the inspection trip.

According to plan, the Feixiang would be gone for three or four days before returning, so during those three or four days Ambassador Zheng could finally relax a little, and he sent someone to Edo to fetch two of the most sought-after tayu — both girls of sixteen or seventeen, newly debuted, fresh and tender, yet not lacking in soft charm...

Old Zheng was thoroughly pleased when he saw them, and was just about to shut the door and enjoy himself properly; just as he was about to instruct the two girls to undress before him, one of his subordinates began pounding on the door outside: "My Lord, My Lord... the Feixiang has returned!"

"Wait... don't undress!" Old Zheng stopped the two courtesans who were already removing their kimonos, then rose and went to open the door for his subordinate.

The subordinate outside the door was drenched in sweat; he had run all the way from the Uraga Harbor docks and was still panting for breath!

"What on earth is the matter?" Old Zheng asked, looking at the man.

"The Feixiang has returned..." the subordinate said. "She has already docked!"

"How is that possible?" Old Zheng could not believe it. "Did you get a clear look? Is it really the Feixiang?"

"No mistake about it... they even sent people down from the Feixiang, saying they needed to move supplies aboard at once, and also, also to have..." As the subordinate spoke, his eyes kept darting toward the two Japanese courtesans inside the room.

Zheng Hongkui understood his meaning, hurried out of the room, pulled the door shut behind him, and strode toward the study; the subordinate followed. Once inside the study, Zheng Hongkui frowned and asked, "Did you see Elder Sakai, Captain Jones, and First Mate Hao?"

"I did not!" the subordinate said. "My Lord, the people on the Feixiang said you must go in person before they will see you!"

"What?" Zheng Hongkui was taken aback. "Such airs? You hold sixth-rank official status — even seeing His Majesty would be no problem..."

"My Lord, look at this!" As the subordinate spoke, he presented a white envelope with both hands. The envelope was empty, but its face bore the seal "Seal of the Cabinet Office."

The moment he saw the envelope stamped with the "Seal of the Cabinet Office," Zheng Hongkui said not another word — he had to leave at once!

Ambassadors abroad were "Cabinet civil officials," that is, civil officials directly under the jurisdiction of the Cabinet Office, so the Cabinet Office could bypass the Ministry of Rites' diplomatic bureau and issue orders directly to an ambassador.

Zheng Hongkui summoned several attendants, mounted the small Japanese horses kept at the ambassador's residence, and galloped straight for the docks. At the docks, Zheng Hongkui discovered that the magistrate the shogunate had posted at Uraga Harbor was bowing and scraping before an elderly Japanese samurai who looked very imposing. Judging by the family crest on the samurai's clothing, he should be a member of the Sakai clan, but Zheng Hongkui had never seen him before — Elder Sakai liked pretty young men, not grizzled old fellows with a face full of stubble. And this old fellow looked to be over sixty... What generation was he? Could he be a figure of Sakai Tadakatsu's generation?

Zheng Hongkui hurried forward to greet them. The Uraga Harbor magistrate, seeing him arrive, hastily stepped aside and said to him in Chinese: "Ambassador, you have come at last... The Elder requests that you board the Feixiang. Who knows what has happened? To return to port at this hour!"

Indeed! It was already dark... Zheng Hongkui glanced at the sky, then looked at the Feixiang — it was indeed the Feixiang! Then he looked again at the old gentleman of the Sakai clan — he did seem somewhat familiar; he had seen him somewhere, but for the moment could not recall where...

"Ambassador, please."

The old gentleman spoke little; when he had finished, he made a gesture of invitation, then turned to lead the way. Zheng Hongkui and the Uraga Harbor magistrate exchanged a glance, then stepped forward together, preparing to board. But the Sakai old gentleman turned his head and said, "The Elder invites only Ambassador Zheng aboard to speak!"

The Uraga Harbor magistrate could not even board the ship to pay his respects to Elder Sakai... Such airs indeed!

Zheng Hongkui could only give the magistrate a wry smile, then followed the old gentleman aboard the Feixiang.

And the moment he set foot on the deck, he suddenly noticed something wrong!

This ship was not the Feixiang!

The Feixiang was an original Dutch-built ship; although it had been sold to the Ming Navy, Dutch-style decorations could be seen everywhere aboard. But this medium-sized galleon, which at first glance looked exactly like the Feixiang, bore no Dutch-style decorations at all — everything was in southern Fujian style... Clearly the product of the Zheng family's market shipyard!

Furthermore, the Feixiang had many foreigners aboard, but on this ship he saw not a single foreigner — all were Easterners!

Clearly, this was a counterfeit version of the Feixiang!

Several men in red military-officer uniforms were waiting on the deck for Zheng Hongkui; seeing him come up, they saluted him with clasped hands, and the leader announced himself: "Eastern Fleet, Captain Chen Shangchuan of the Henan, at Ambassador Zheng's service."

So this was the Henan!

Zheng Hongkui understood at once!

How could he not understand? This was for smuggling people to the Americas... He had assumed that smuggling would use inconspicuous small boats; he had never imagined the navy would dispatch a brand-new warship of eight hundred tons burden, capable of carrying forty cannon!

This was armed smuggling!

Chen Shangchuan spoke again: "Ambassador, are the supplies and the women ready? When can they come aboard? Time is pressing; we must hurry! Also, can the Uraga Harbor magistrate be sent away? Conducting business under his nose is, after all, not very convenient!"

Zheng Hongkui nodded: "The women are ready... thirty in all, and they can come at any time. The Uraga Harbor magistrate is easy to handle — I will invite him to the embassy for food and drink at once. But moving ten thousand shi of supplies aboard will not be easy; we will need many strong laborers."

"No need to hire anyone," Chen Shangchuan said. "There are men aboard!"