Chapter 1528: Southern Barbarians Come Knocking

By saying this, he was on one hand expressing his high regard for Liu Jing's years of effort expanding influence in Japan and his willingness to report Liu Jing's contributions to the higher-ups; on the other hand, it was a veiled reminder that he himself could communicate directly with the higher-ups and was the overall person in charge of Japan affairs, lest Liu Jing harbor any other ideas that might instead ruin the greater plan.

"I understand. I will never betray the court's expectations!" Liu Jing likewise assured Zhou Pu with solemnity.

If he had no other ambitions, he could not possibly have stayed in Japan for so many years. Over these years, he had endured plenty of grievances in this position, but he had also reaped no small benefits. If all he wanted was to be a wealthy man, he could have applied to return home years ago, yet he had remained here all along — and what was that for, if not to climb even higher?

Now, that opportunity had finally arrived: the court was at last planning to use military force against Japan. As long as the court defeated Japan, then regardless of whether the shogunate still held power afterwards, it would never again dare defy the Great Han's commands. When that time came, he could truly lord it over Japan and throw his weight around.

Therefore, whether for the court or for himself, he had to handle this assignment well and assist this Commissioner Zhou, whom the court had dispatched, in carrying out the campaign against Japan properly.

However, although he knew the court intended to strike Japan, for the sake of secrecy and security, the court had not informed him of the specific details. He knew nothing of the troop deployment strategy, or even that the Crown Prince had personally come to Goryeo to take command — and Zhou Pu had no intention of telling him either.

Zhou Pu did not doubt the other man's loyalty to the court, but he also knew that this Commissioner Liu had been in Japan for many years and had all kinds of entanglements at every level. If he knew too much, it would be hard to avoid inadvertently letting something slip.

"I came here under the identity of a maritime merchant, but if I am to move about here, I can no longer use that identity." Zhou Pu raised another issue. "I will have to trouble you with this, Commissioner Liu."

"Commissioner Zhou need not worry. On this matter, we made preparations long ago when we received the letter from home," Liu Jing waved his hand, indicating there was no need for concern. "We have already prepared an identity for you within the embassy. There happens to be someone in the embassy of similar age and build to you, who has been responsible for internal logistics and has not often gone out to deal with the Japanese. Very few people in Nagasaki know him, and even fewer outside Nagasaki... Sir, if you would endure the slight inconvenience, use his identification papers. We will use you for external communications during this period. However... when you deal with the Japanese, it would be best to exercise caution. After all, it is not convenient for embassy personnel to casually involve themselves in many matters..."

The shogunate enforced a policy of national seclusion, so its management of maritime merchants was extremely strict — even leaving Nagasaki's port was highly troublesome. However, because the embassy was responsible for mediating Sino-Japanese trade disputes and also maintaining relations with the shogunate and the daimyo, its personnel enjoyed a degree of freedom of movement. The Japanese shogunate's restrictions on them were not especially severe, and the Nagasaki Magistrate had even issued them special travel permits.

From the Great Han's perspective, such an arrangement was clearly far too presumptuous and the oversight far too lax. Yet the Japanese thought nothing of it, because over the past two thousand years, the only continental dynasty to cross the sea and invade Japan was the Great Yuan. No Han Chinese dynasty had ever done such a thing. Moreover, relations between the Great Han and Japan had been fairly good in recent years, and trade was even more frequent — the Japanese could never have imagined that such a calamity out of the blue was lying in wait for them.

Although the Great Han had been waging campaigns everywhere since its founding, the island nation had no direct sense of this and could not feel the Great Han's true might. At this moment, all of Japan, high and low, was isolated from the world within the national seclusion policy deliberately imposed by the Tokugawa shogunate, neither hearing nor wanting to hear anything happening outside, enjoying the peace that followed the Warring States period.

Yet this insular peace would eventually be shattered one day — sooner or later, that was all.

"Sir, for all the trouble you have taken, I am deeply grateful." Zhou Pu once again thanked this astute and capable official, his tone unconsciously growing much more courteous. "Please rest assured, I will be prudent and careful before making contact with the Japanese, and will absolutely not let your painstaking efforts go to waste."

After that, having carefully exhorted Zhou Pu a few more times, Liu Jing and Zhou Pu bid each other farewell and encouragement, then walked out of the room.

The moment Liu Jing stepped out, the tension in his heart finally eased considerably. To be honest, when faced with such a momentous matter, even someone ordinarily astute and capable could not help feeling some fear and nervousness — he had merely been forcing himself to stay calm.

When he arrived at his place of work, his attendant informed him of some unexpected news.

Representatives from the Dutch trading post had come to the embassy seeking an audience with him.

"What are they seeking an audience with me for?" Liu Jing asked, very surprised.

"They said they have some important matter and need your help, sir." The attendant answered respectfully. "However, they did not say what it was about, only that it was of great importance and required a face-to-face meeting with you, sir..."

"These Dutchmen, how strange..."

Liu Jing's first impulse was to refuse, but after mulling it over in his mind for a while, he decided to meet these Dutchmen who had turned up so abruptly and see what they were really scheming. "Very well, I shall meet them."

As soon as he entered the reception hall where he usually received guests, he discovered that the Dutchmen who had come looking for him were all familiar faces — it was the representative the Dutch had stationed at Nagasaki port, a senior employee of the Dutch East India Company, Willem Gozet.

The Dutch trading post was in Hirado Domain and had no directly stationed office in Nagasaki. However, since Dutch trade with Japan now essentially passed through Nagasaki, they had also stationed some trade representatives there. Liu Jing had heard, though, that the Dutch were privately making moves to relocate their Hirado trading post to Nagasaki, to adapt to the reality that Nagasaki had already supplanted Hirado — but of course, that was still only a rumor.

Gozet was a tall, middle-aged man with gray hair, angular features, and a very burly build. Having started out as a sailor, his arms were extremely muscular, and one look told you he was a man of formidable physical strength. Years of drifting at sea had given his skin a bronze hue, but at this moment his face was wreathed in smiles, nothing at all like a merchant who had experienced who knew how many fights at sea.

Like Liu Jing, Gozet had likewise been posted to Japan and was responsible for trade negotiations with the Japanese. Over these past few years, the two sides had interacted quite a bit, and after coming and going several times they had gotten to know each other — a modest acquaintanceship, one could say. Of course, both sides were merely being friendly out of a merchant's nature; there was no great sincerity beneath it.

The moment he saw it was this old acquaintance, Liu Jing, whose face had been set in a stern expression, now also broke into a face full of smiles and greeted him in the Japanese they used to communicate with each other. "Mr. Gozet, it has been many days. May I ask what business brings you here?"

He had always found this form of address very awkward, but after so many years of using it, he had grown accustomed.

"Mr. Liu," Willem Gozet spread his hands in an exaggerated gesture, "we have come because we need your help. There is an extremely important matter in which we require your assistance."

"Please, do tell." Liu Jing motioned for him to sit while regarding the other man with just the right measure of curiosity. "We are all abroad doing business on the seas; we ought to help one another. If there is anything our side can do to assist you, please do not hesitate to speak."

"In fact, this matter should be of great importance to your country as well." Gozet sat down, the narrow chair seeming barely able to contain his burly frame. "We recently received reports from merchants of our country, and word has also come from the Company, that pirate harassment along the shipping routes to Japan has suddenly grown much more frequent of late. Moreover, their equipment and firepower have been strengthened, causing our merchant ships considerable losses. I would like to ask, has Mr. Liu's side received any similar reports recently?"

Liu Jing knew perfectly well that these pirates had been deliberately sent out by the Great Han itself.

Ever since the meeting the year before last had resolved on the strategy of intensifying pirate harassment to drive away passing merchant ships, and using the pretext of combating pirates to assemble naval vessels, the leading generals of the Naval Military Administration had not dared be remiss. As soon as they returned, they formulated corresponding plans and deployments, then secretly issued the orders downward.

Within the navy's organizational structure, many officers and soldiers had previously been incorporated from Zheng Zhilong's fleet. Back when they followed that maritime magnate, they had long been practiced in the skill of doing business without capital, so returning to their old trade naturally came as easily as second nature. Moreover, the navy had been fighting pirates at sea for years, and many within it were thoroughly familiar with pirate habits and combat methods — they had even captured quite a few pirate ships.

After receiving the order, the North Sea Fleet quickly and covertly organized a group of officers and soldiers to disguise themselves as pirates, then began plundering at sea. Merchant ships heading north to Japan, in particular, were priority targets.

Since the founding of the Great Han, the Great Han navy's years of severe crackdowns had brought considerable peace to the seas, and passing merchant ships had consequently let down their guard. As a result, when this batch of "pirates" took to sea in those pirate ships that had been specially sealed away and preserved, they achieved great results from the very start — merchant ships of various nations on the deep ocean suffered one calamity after another.

After being attacked several times, the Dutch merchant ships were in dire straits, and word of the situation reached the Dutch East India Company in Batavia. The Company's grandees and the Governor were all greatly shocked upon hearing the news, because the trade between Batavia and China and Japan was extremely important to the Company — it could be said to be one of the most profitable shipping routes — and this was something that could not be allowed to fail.

However, though they were deeply worried, for the moment they could not come up with a way to deal with these pirates.

This situation had arisen, first, because the war with Spain had greatly damaged the East India Company's current strength, making it very difficult to detach a separate squadron from the existing fleet specifically to sweep the pirates from those waters.