Chapter 397: Past Events of Yizhou

Yizhou, Gao City.

The Pier, less than ten li from the city, was bustling with people coming and going, exceptionally busy.

Ever since this place was occupied by Dongying, it had become a maritime trade transit point for Dongying.

Merchant Ships from Dongying would dock here to rest before continuing south to the Feilü Kingdom, or even further to the Womo Kingdom.

At this moment, in a Dongying-style tavern by the Pier, only one table of guests was seated.

Any merchants who wished to enter were politely turned away.

"Our Wufeng Island's losses in Yanzhou this time must be compensated by your Liang Family!"

On the north side of the table, a man with hawk-like eyes pointed at the middle-aged merchant opposite him and barked.

The middle-aged merchant was sturdy with dark skin, a complexion clearly baked on by the sun from years of rushing about on the sea.

To the hawk-eyed man's scolding, the middle-aged merchant offered repeated, apologetic smiles.

"Island Master, please calm your anger. Beforehand, our Liang Family already gave Wufeng Island three hundred taels of Silver. Now that you, Wufeng Island, have taken the money but failed to get the job done, how can you ask my Liang Family to compensate you for your Silver?" The middle-aged merchant still wore a smile on his face.

Wang Zhi's face instantly flushed red.

Their Wufeng Island had never suffered such a disastrous loss.

Aside from the thirty-odd Warships that had seen the situation was wrong and fled back to Wufeng Island, not a single one of the men they had landed on Yanzhou soil had returned.

Without a doubt, they had all been killed by the Yan King Army.

Having suffered such a heavy loss, how could he, as the Island Master, be willing to let it go?

Immediately, he had set out from Wufeng Island and arrived in Yizhou to demand an explanation from the Liang Family.

"Fart! Your Liang Family never said the Yan King Army was equipped with firearms." Wang Zhi slammed the table and stood up.

The crew on the sea had heard the enemy's Artillery fire, and they had also heard the sound of firearms.

"How is this possible!" The middle-aged merchant revealed a look of surprise, though craftiness flashed through his eyes, "If that is truly the case, I am willing to tell the Head of the Family; if compensation is needed, we will certainly compensate."

"Forty-two Warships, over ten thousand crew members, and my Vice Island Master Heishan—you must produce at least eight million taels of Silver." Wang Zhi glared viciously at the middle-aged merchant, gritting his teeth, "If you don't pay, you know the methods of my Wufeng Island."

"Island Master, please calm your anger. I will certainly investigate this matter thoroughly." The middle-aged merchant's expression shifted slightly.

"Get out!" Wang Zhi glared at the middle-aged merchant.

The middle-aged merchant offered repeated apologies and exited the tavern.

At this time, a man beside Wang Zhi said: "Island Master, I fear we have fallen into the Liang Family's scheme of using a tiger to devour a wolf."

He was Xue Ran, and like Heishan, he was also a Vice Island Master of Wufeng Island.

Because the island had five peaks, with the middle one being the highest and the two sides lower, Wang Zhi had appointed four Island Masters beneath him to correspond to the five peaks.

Wang Zhi crossed his arms and watched the middle-aged merchant depart. He said coldly, "I have the same suspicion. He wants to use us to destroy the Yan King's Warships, and he also wants to use the Yan King to weaken us."

He paused, then said: "That is why I came to Yizhou in person this time to demand compensation from the Liang Family. If he honestly hands over this Silver, we will spare him for now; if they are not honest, we will let them know who is the master of this ocean."

"

"But how can the lives of our brothers be measured in Silver?" Xue Ran said, somewhat resentfully.

According to his thinking, they should immediately concentrate their Warships, annihilate the Liang Family's Navy in one fell swoop, and attack Zhezhou to avenge the fallen crew.

"What are you rushing for!" Wang Zhi's eyes widened, his expression fierce, "Having suffered such losses in Yanzhou, do we not need to demand Silver from the Liang Family to recruit crew and purchase Warships? Besides, this time General Zhongtian has agreed to sell us Atakebune."

"Is that so? That is wonderful." Xue Ran's momentum instantly deflated, followed by great joy.

This Atakebune was a Dongying Warship; it could carry eighteen pieces of Artillery, far stronger than their own Warships which could only carry six.

Moreover, this ship could carry over three hundred and fifty people.

Although it still could not compare to the Warships of the Stedan or the Angsa, which carried dozens or even a hundred pieces of Artillery.

But among the three countries of Great Song Dynasty, Gaoli, and Dongying, this type of Warship was undoubtedly the strongest.

If Wufeng Island possessed these Atakebune, their strength on the sea would be greatly enhanced.

Originally, he had wondered why the Island Master was so urgent about Silver, even taking on jobs for the Liang Family.

Now he finally understood.

As the two were speaking, a commotion suddenly came from the Pier.

They looked outside and saw a Warship flying a blue and white striped flag slowly passing by outside the Pier.

Wang Zhi revealed a look of envy; compared to the size of the Merchant Ships at the Pier, this Warship was very large.

This was a Sailing Warship of the Stedan.

They came from the south side of Yizhou, where the Stedan had established a fortress named Rezhe City.

Initially, when this island of Yizhou, isolated overseas, was in the midst of the civil war before the founding of the Great Song Dynasty, the Stedan had seized the opportunity to occupy it as a transit point for their maritime trade.

Currently, nine thousand Stedan troops were stationed inside Rezhe City.

At the same time, they had eight Warships docked in the harbor outside Rezhe City.

After the Great Song Dynasty was founded, the Liang Family had once attempted to attack Yizhou to claim it for themselves.

But they had suffered a crushing defeat at Rezhe City.

The Stedan's Warships had even broken into the Liang Family's port and bombarded their Warships.

The Liang Family concealed the defeat, merely memorializing the court about the severity of the pirate menace, further claiming that commoners were going to sea to act as pirates.

Since then, the Great Song Dynasty had banned the sea, forbidding even a single plank from going to sea, to prevent commoners from going to sea to become pirates.

At the same time, the Liang Family obtained the sole right to maritime trade.

After paying a large sum of Silver to the Stedan to resolve the enmity, the Liang Family began trading with the Stedan, reaping great profits.

This made the Liang Family pay even more attention to maritime trade, and the number of large and small Merchant Ships traveling the seas reached over two thousand.

In order to monopolize maritime trade, the Liang Family had always claimed to the outside world that Shenzhou was the trading port designated by the Great Song Dynasty Imperial Court.

All incoming ships could only conduct the buying and selling of goods at Xiang City in Shenzhou.

It was just that what puzzled him was that, even now, no one in the Great Song Dynasty seemed to have exposed this lie.

Perhaps it is truly as the common folk say: the Liang Family's silver reaches the heavens, and even if some are aware, they do not speak of it.

After all, the Emperor only stays in the Capital City; if no one tells him, naturally he does not know.

"How truly pathetic," Wang Zhi suddenly laughed coldly. "The majestic Great Song, the land of the Central Plains, is carved up by powerful clans, deceiving those above and bullying those below. It does not even know of the great changes in the world, falling behind even Dongying. Fortunately, I am no longer a Song People."

After the Great Song banned maritime trade, Dongying, which was then in a period of warring feudal lords, also banned the sea; this was because the then-sovereign of Dongying, Daimyo Fujino, feared that the feudal lords would grow powerful through maritime trade.

But a hundred years ago, the Fujino Family declined, and the feudal lords once again fought in chaos for supreme power in Dongying.

At this time, the Watanabe Family, located at the southernmost tip of Dongying, utilized maritime trade to grow powerful rapidly.

Because even during the maritime ban, the Watanabe Family had always been conducting smuggling trade with the Stedan.

Now that they are in the Warring States period, naturally there are no scruples.

It was also during that period that Dongying mastered the casting technique for matchlocks from the Stedan, and with this, unified Dongying.

Later, more foreign merchant ships came to Dongying.

Dongying also salvaged artillery from shipwrecks; although their attempts at imitation were unsuccessful, they later mastered bronze cannon casting through missionaries who entered Dongying. Although their wrought iron cannons are still not as good as those of the Angsa or the Stedan, they have made significant progress.

Now, the Atakebune of the Dongying Navy are equipped with a mix of iron cannons and bronze cannons.

With artillery, muskets, and warships, the Watanabe Family naturally developed ambition; ever since they traded with the Stedan, they envied how their warships roamed the seas and controlled trade routes.

Thus, thirty years ago, seeing the decline of the Stedan, the Watanabe Family cast their gaze toward Yizhou.

For Dongying, this was also an excellent transit point for trade.

After seven or eight years of repeated fighting, the Stedan and Dongying reached an agreement to divide Yizhou into two.

Afterward, the Eastern Japanese sought him out, which led to his current position as Five Peaks Island Master.

Due to the impression that the Great Song had always been powerful, Dongying had consistently provoked conflicts with the Great Song.

Therefore, they secretly decided to use him to control the maritime trade surrounding the Great Song.

After all, the Stedan and the Angsa had both done exactly this.

Their countries supported privateer ships for the purpose of striking at their opponents' maritime trade.

For Dongying, this method was indeed quite good.

He could bring benefits to Dongying, and at the same time, when there was a conflict with the Great Song, the Dongying Shogunate could easily cast him aside; after all, they would not acknowledge their relationship with him.

However, in recent years, Dongying has gradually stopped caring about the attitude of the Great Song.

The Great Song is carved up by powerful clans, the imperial court is rife with infighting, the Royal Clan is weak, and the Northern Di in the North Territory are eyeing them covetously, ready to destroy them at any moment.

The Watanabe Shogunate has caught the scent of the Great Song's decline.

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