Chapter 1526: The Trading House

The gentle east wind blew into their faces, carrying with it a clamor of marketplace sounds, everything just as it was in memory. They drew closer and closer, and soon they would be pulling up to the pier.

Yes, he had once again come to this port aboard a merchant ship, but this time, he was no longer the same person he had been before.

He had not come here to do business and earn a few hundred taels of silver for himself, but to commit aggression, to saddle this country with a colossal debt of tens of millions of taels of silver—and through this achievement, he would realize his lifelong dream.

While doing business, he had indeed made enemies of some Japanese, but he had also made some Japanese friends. Yet the vast majority of Japanese people, who had nothing to do with him, would perhaps suffer a tremendous calamity because of him. The harder he worked and the more successful he was, the deeper the calamity they would suffer.

There was no doubt, no guilt, only a faint trace of melancholy.

But even without him, wouldn't all of this still happen? No, it would not.

Just then, the ship gave a slight lurch and then came to a stop.

This was Heaven's will. The emperor was the Son of Heaven, and his will was the will of Heaven. I am acting on Heaven's behalf, and I must not harbor the slightest shred of pity. With this thought, the young minor official cast aside the last trace of melancholy in his heart.

"Sir," at that moment, a young man beside him with Western features quickly walked up to him, "we have arrived at the port. Please disembark."

This young Westerner was called Maarten van Nijel, one of the attendants who had accompanied him to Japan.

Zhou Pu had come ashore on a merchant ship specially dispatched by the Great Han. To avoid drawing attention, the Ministry of Commerce had even specially set him up with the identity of a maritime merchant, and the ship was indeed fully loaded with goods for export to Japan. He had also brought some guards, enough to ensure his personal safety under normal circumstances—additionally, to facilitate his operations, the Ministry of Commerce had assigned him this young man, proficient in Portuguese and Low German, as an attendant.

This young man came from the German city of Hamburg. He had followed a Western missionary to China in his youth. Later, the missionary went to work at the observatory, collaborating with the Great Han's own astronomers to chart star maps and calendars, while he himself became enamored with the prosperity of Chinese cities. Leveraging his maritime experience and his fluency in several languages, he joined the merchant fleet under the Great Han's Ministry of Commerce, quickly earning promotions and very generous compensation.

He was also the person on this merchant ship who knew the most about Zhou Pu's mission and bore the responsibility of negotiating and communicating with the Dutch and other foreign merchants.

However, although he repeatedly told the people around him that his surname was van Nijel, everyone still called him Little Ma, Mr. Ma, or Lord Ma. After persisting for a few years, he tacitly accepted everyone calling him that. Zhou Pu, however, was more knowledgeable about Western customs and always called him Maarten.

Hearing Maarten's urging, Zhou Pu interrupted his own reverie and silently, resolutely, set his feet in motion.

He knew that this journey would by no means be smooth, and might even endanger his life, but even if ten thousand dangers lay ahead, he would not hesitate in the slightest.

Let this place become my stepping stone.

Ever since the new dynasty had established direct contact with the shogunate, Great Han merchant ships had traded frequently with Japan over the years, so their ship, with all its paperwork in order, faced no obstruction whatsoever. Even Zhou Pu, Maarten, and their several guards passed through inspection and disembarked without any hindrance.

Soon, their party arrived in the urban district of Nagasaki Port.

Nagasaki Port had opened during the Longqing era of the former Ming dynasty, back when Japan was still in its Warring States period.

Initially, it served as an anchorage for Portuguese merchants. Later, under the Portuguese lead, merchants from other countries gradually joined the trade with Japan, and the port slowly expanded, becoming one of Japan's most important windows to the outside world.

In its heyday of prosperity, a number of ports represented by Nagasaki allowed Japan to trade with the entire world, importing large quantities of goods like silk and coins from China and military weapons like matchlock guns from the West. It was by relying on these external arms imports that many daimyo across Japan established firearm units, and Oda Nobunaga used his first-rate firearm units to achieve his great enterprise of conquering Japan.

However, later on, because Japanese commoners who had converted to Catholicism repeatedly rose in rebellion, the Tokugawa shogunate, while brutally suppressing these Catholics, also grew to harbor exclusion and wariness toward the Portuguese and Spanish merchants who were devout Catholics and zealous proselytizers. Under the shogunate's direction, Japan's trade with the West gradually shifted into the hands of the Dutch, who were predominantly Protestant and less concerned with religion. The Western merchant ships in Nagasaki Port also became predominantly Dutch.

After years of development, this port city had begun to take shape. Under the shogunate's policy of national seclusion, it became the only port legally permitted to conduct foreign trade, and so it had grown increasingly prosperous in recent years, with trading houses standing in great numbers. Even the city's architecture bore some Western touches due to the many Westerners present, making it unlike a traditional Japanese city.

Zhou Pu and his companions made their way through the streets. Because their attire was vastly different from that of the Japanese and rather refined, they were soon surrounded by Japanese peddlers hawking Japanese goods, and even women from brothels came up to them to solicit business.

However, they were all experienced maritime traders and well-versed in handling such situations, so they dispersed these people without much effort and proceeded directly through the bustling streets, soon arriving before a large building in a Chinese style.

This building was the station of the Great Han's envoys in Nagasaki.

As soon as they reached the entrance, they were stopped by the guards. Only after presenting their seals and credentials were they allowed inside.

Once inside the building, Zhou Pu and Maarten, who had been chatting and laughing with each other, quickly turned grave, for from this moment on, they were officially carrying out their mission.

After they had waited a moment in a side hall, Liu Jing, the Great Han's trade representative in Nagasaki, who had been informed of their arrival, hurried over. He had formerly been a maritime merchant before joining the Cloud Mountain Firm, and after many years had been dispatched to Japan as a trade representative. His Japanese was extremely fluent, and over the years he had built good relations with the Nagasaki officials. He could even speak with Takenaka Shigeyoshi, the Nagasaki Magistrate, the highest shogunate official in Nagasaki.

Takenaka Shigeyoshi was the lord of the Funai Domain in Oita District, Bungo Province. His father, Takenaka Shigetoshi, had originally been a landlord in the countryside. Later, during the Battle of Sekigahara, he first joined the anti-Tokugawa Western Army, but when the situation turned unfavorable, he immediately switched sides to the Tokugawa Eastern Army and rendered meritorious service in battle. Consequently, after the war, Tokugawa Ieyasu rewarded him based on his merits, granting him the title of lord of the Funai Domain.

The Funai Domain was a small domain, however, with a kokudaka of only 20,000 koku within its territory, barely qualifying as a minor daimyo. Thus, by Takenaka Shigeyoshi's generation, he continued to curry favor with the shogunate, gaining the appreciation of Shogun Tokugawa Iemitsu and the shogunate Elder Doi Toshikatsu. Then, when the incumbent Nagasaki Magistrate Mizuno Morinobu was transferred to the post of Osaka Magistrate, he was appointed to the position of Nagasaki Magistrate—previously, the Nagasaki Magistrate post had always been held by officials of the shogunate's hatamoto rank; he was the first person to hold the post of Nagasaki Magistrate as a daimyo.

After arriving as Nagasaki Magistrate, he continued to do his utmost to ingratiate himself with the shogun, strictly enforcing the shogunate's seclusion policy and cracking down on and suppressing Catholics, using various cruel tortures to force them to apostatize or die. For his effective handling of affairs, he received several commendations from the shogunate.

The Nagasaki Magistrate post could be said to be one of the fattest plums in the shogunate at the time. The official stipend alone was one thousand koku, plus 4,400 hyō of yakuryō (hyō is a Japanese unit of grain measurement, similar to koku; yakuryō refers to the supplementary allowance beyond the official stipend), making the income extremely substantial.

Furthermore, beyond the fixed official income, the Nagasaki Magistrate, wielding immense power, also had many additional sources of income, such as tributes and gifts from merchants of various countries. These gray incomes combined were far higher than the annual stipend, so it was no wonder that Takenaka Shigeyoshi's purse had swelled considerably after spending a few years here.

Having stayed in Nagasaki for these years, Liu Jing had long since thoroughly familiarized himself with every level of the port and even the entirety of Kyushu, and he was also the only person among the Great Han's current personnel in Japan who knew what the Great Han intended to do.

Precisely because he had received word beforehand and knew these inside details, he dared not be remiss.

"Lord Zhou, you have toiled on this journey! I am late in coming to greet you, my apologies!" As soon as he saw Zhou Pu, he gave a deep bow. "I am precisely Liu Jing, and I have been awaiting you, my lord, for quite some time. A welcoming banquet has been prepared here; I beg you, my lord, to rest a moment."

Although in terms of the court hierarchy, his official rank and position were not lower than Zhou Pu's, Zhou Pu bore a heavy responsibility and had gained the favor and appreciation of the higher-ups, clearly on the path to rapid advancement, so he dared not be negligent.

"It's no matter." Zhou Pu waved his hand. "We have come here on urgent business. You must not make a grand display of things, lest it arouse suspicion."

The Great Han's economic and trade exchanges with the shogunate in recent years had been very close and harmonious. Moreover, Liu Jing had always been generous with bribes to build close relations with the shogunate officials in Nagasaki, so the shogunate's surveillance of the Great Han's representatives was actually not strict. However, Zhou Pu was habitually cautious, which was why he spoke thus.

"I understand, I understand!" Liu Jing said repeatedly. "My lord, please follow me."

Zhou Pu followed Liu Jing out of the side hall. Because he needed to speak with Liu Jing in secret, he went alone, while the others remained there to eat.

To welcome the arrival of Zhou Pu and his party, the consulate had long been arranged and prepared. Liu Jing led Zhou Pu to the most secluded room, far separated from everyone else.