Chapter 1180 - The Sand Junk Guild

Hirado had grown prosperous thanks to Great Ming merchants. It was also the Great Ming pirate-merchant Wang Zhi who had led the Portuguese here in the first place. And unlike the Portuguese, Great Ming merchants cared only about business—they never insisted the Japanese accept any particular religion. The Portuguese, by contrast, invariably demanded that local commoners and daimyō embrace Christianity.

Since the Portuguese first arrived, Southern Barbarian ships had constantly visited Hirado. Though merely an ordinary small island, its prosperity had earned it the title "Western Capital." This trade relationship with Portugal endured fifteen years, but the Portuguese persisted in spreading their faith, meeting fierce resistance from the Matsuura family.

At the time, Kyushu's daimyō were joining Christianity as if chasing fashion, making the Matsuura family's stubborn opposition all the more remarkable. They remained devoted to Buddhism.

The Portuguese grew deeply displeased with Hirado's response, and relations cooled. Then came another incident—Hirado residents and Portuguese sailors came to blows at Miyamae, killing and wounding over a dozen Portuguese. After that, Portuguese ships abandoned Hirado entirely.

During this period, the Matsuura family and the Portuguese even clashed at sea. In the eighth year of Eiroku (1565), when a Portuguese ship from Macau passed through the Hirado Strait en route to the Christian daimyō's port of Ōmura, the Matsuura family dispatched fifty small boats to attack. The Portuguese ship had to deploy all its firearms to fight free.

The Dutch and English replaced the Portuguese. The Matsuura family knew these two nations were not Catholic and had no interest in spreading religion, so they welcomed them warmly. Thus Hirado continued receiving regular visits from Western European ships. But the Matsuura daimyō fully recognized that the island's enduring prosperity depended on ships from Fujian and Zhejiang, so they granted Great Ming merchants extraordinary freedoms and privileges in residence and activities.

"Speaking of which, Ikkwan actually got his start in Hirado."

Hamada Shinzō spoke in mellow, wine-warmed tones, and began recounting the exploits of pirate-merchants past in Hirado.

Because trade was inseparably linked with Ming pirates, the Matsuura family allowed rising pirate leaders to live in Hirado, continuing to deal with them.

The first to style himself "Boss of Japan"—meaning chief of the Wakō—was Yan Siqi. He had lived right in Hirado's castle town, appearing as a tailor running a shop. Business was quite good. Shinzō explained that Yan Siqi was outstanding, learned, and skilled in martial arts—a remarkable figure among the Chinese of Hirado. But at the time, no Japanese knew his true identity. Then one day, two pirate-merchants named Yan Zhenquan and Chen De arrived from Fujian and held secret talks with this Tailor Yan for several days. Soon after, Yan Siqi vanished.

At that time, Ming Dynasty pirates were divided into eighteen groups. The various leaders acclaimed Yan Siqi as their supreme chief. For a time, his reputation on the seas was formidable. But not long after, Yan Siqi died in Taiwan—drunk, he caught an illness.

"The second to call himself 'Boss of Japan' was Ikkwan," Hamada Shinzō continued. "It's said Zheng Zhilong was Yan Siqi's son-in-law. Others dispute this. Regardless, Ikkwan did take a wife here—a woman named Tagawa. He often used the name Tagawa in Hirado."

The new generation of leaders no longer openly revealed their residences like Wang Zhi's generation, nor did they purchase estates directly from samurai families. Zheng Zhilong had specifically chosen Kawauchi-ura, not far from Hirado, as his residence. A mansion more magnificent than any samurai's fortified compound rose deep in a bay among the hills. But this mansion now stood empty—Tagawa and eldest son Fukumatsu had departed for the Great Ming several years ago, leaving only second son Jirōzaemon behind in Japan.

Ping Qiusheng knew from history that this Jirōzaemon would live his entire life in Japan, continuing as the Japanese branch of Zheng Zhilong's line. But this did not interest him. What interested him was how much power Zheng Zhilong actually wielded in Hirado, and who served as his agents.

"What agents does Ikkwan need here?" Hamada Shinzō laughed loudly, but the laugh carried strong resentment. "The Lord of Hizen is his agent."

Most of Zheng Zhilong's ships went to Nagasaki, but each year a few also called at Hirado. The cargo on ships bound for Hirado was mostly purchased directly by the local domain lord—an arrangement that greatly benefited both sides. The domain lord gained enormous profits from reselling, while the Zheng family enjoyed every convenience in Hirado, including hiring Japanese sailors and ronin, and replenishing firearms and gunpowder.

Ping Qiusheng thought: so Hirado was Zheng Zhilong's base in Japan! But he still harbored doubts. "I heard Ikkwan is a Kirishitan believer. Doesn't the domain lord most dislike Kirishitan believers?"

"Whether Ikkwan is Kirishitan, I cannot say. But he worships Mazu—the goddess Great Ming merchants worship most—and also worships Shinto gods and Buddhas. He can hardly be Kirishitan, can he? Aren't Kirishitan forbidden from worshiping other deities?"

Ping Qiusheng nodded. Clearly, Hirado's Matsuura family could be treated as "enemies."

From the start, Hamada Shinzō had displayed the intense curiosity that young people of this era often showed toward the time-travelers—whether regarding the glass-bottled rum they had brought or Ping Qiusheng's pistol. While making small talk with Hamada, Ping Qiusheng was carefully observing this young man, pondering how he might use him to deliver a heavy blow to Zheng Zhilong.

The day after the banquet, led by Hamada Shinzō, Ping Qiusheng toured this so-called "Western Capital" of Hirado. Since summer had just begun, few ships had yet arrived from Fujian. The docks lay quite quiet.

Hirado itself was a barren island. Without maritime trade to sustain it, this place would be a typical impoverished backwater just like the Gotō Islands—and if not for that poverty, the local commoners would never have sailed their small boats across the sea to become Wakō pirates.

Everything was ready; all they needed was the east wind. Ping Qiusheng gazed out over the Hirado Strait from the Portuguese Market wharf. How were Zhao Yingong's preparations coming along?

On the other side of the sea, Zhao Yingong was planning the first ships to Japan after receiving the telegram.

The Planning Commission had not allocated him any ships—the Planning Commission had no ships to give. After the prolonged and intensive operations of Operation Engine, aside from a few vessels maintaining regular routes and combat readiness duties, all ships had returned to port for maintenance. Wu De had made it very clear: no ships were available.

"You need to allocate resources locally," the Planning Commission's reply stated. "Make full use of Great Ming resources."

This meant Zhao Yingong had to arrange his own ships and organize his own cargo. The latter was manageable. Jiangnan was, after all, a wealthy and prosperous region where any kind of goods could be purchased. But arranging ships capable of reaching Japan was somewhat difficult.

During the Song Dynasty, Jiangsu and Zhejiang had been the main ports for voyages to Japan. But by the Ming Dynasty, strict maritime prohibitions had not only shrunk ship tonnage but also caused navigational technology to regress. In the Tang and Song eras, Chinese merchant ships could cross the East China Sea directly, sailing straight to Hizen's Matsuura District. By the Ming Dynasty, this had changed to requiring island-chain navigation using coastal landmarks. Zhao Yingong thought ships capable of reaching Japan would be easy enough to find—in this era, vessels of just one or two hundred tons deadweight could circumnavigate the globe, let alone make the short voyage across the East China Sea. But finding sailors capable of piloting ships across the East China Sea was another matter entirely.

Still, Zhao Yingong believed that with proper navigational guidance, crossing the East China Sea for trade with Japan would be far from difficult. Chinese sailors had courage in abundance—they had merely fallen behind technically. As long as someone showed them the way and set an example, with sufficient incentives, they would unhesitatingly take on the task.

For this purpose, Zhao Yingong had made a special trip to Shanghai. He had several major tasks to accomplish here.

First was contacting the sand junk guild. Shanghai itself had sand junk guilds run by major merchants, specifically operating what was called the Northern Ocean trade—sailing north to Shandong, all the way to Tianjin, carrying various "Southern goods," then returning from Tianjin to Shanghai with "Northern goods." This business was enormous during the Qing Dynasty, with annual sales of several million taels. Though not yet reaching that level during the Ming, the total volume was still substantial. This shipping capacity was the most suitable target for his designs.

Second was organizing export cargo for Japan in Shanghai, while establishing a specialized organization to implement the plan. Trade with Japan was a matter of great importance and complexity; he needed a dedicated organization to handle it.

At this moment, Zhao Yingong sat in his sedan chair, on his way to meet someone—an exceptional figure among the sand junk guild.

This person was named Shen Tingyang. Shen Tingyang hailed from Chongming County in Suzhou Prefecture. His fame was closely tied to late Ming ships and navigation. The only attempt at "converting grain tribute from canal to sea transport" during the late Ming was proposed and directed by him: In the twelfth year of Chongzhen, Shen Tingyang submitted A Book on Maritime Transport to the Emperor, expressing his wish to build sand junks and restore sea transport. After the Emperor approved, Shen Tingyang raised funds and built sand junks. Soon after, he used these vessels to ship Huai rice, sailing the sea route that Zhu Qing had once pioneered, reaching Dagu and Tianjin in ten days—restoring the Northern Ocean shipping lane.

After the fall of the Ming, in the first year of Hongguang, Shen Tingyang memorialized the court requesting to convert the hundred ships he owned for sea transport into warships by adding sailors, specifically for use as Yangtze River naval forces.

After Nanjing fell, he and various generals commanded several thousand land and naval troops with hundreds of ships, making their way to the Zhoushan Islands. There Prince Lu enfeoffed him as Vice Minister of War concurrently holding Vice Minister of Revenue, with overall command of Zhejiang-South Zhili naval forces.

In the first year of Yongli, when Shen Tingyang led his fleet from Zhoushan to attempt a counterattack on Suzhou, he encountered a storm off Chongming Island and suffered a devastating defeat. Shen Tingyang's warship capsized at Xuliujing; most of his soldiers drowned. Shen Tingyang was captured and died unyielding.

This man, whether in terms of practical ability or national integrity, was exceptional. Compared to the many scholar-officials who died for the Ming cause, his capacity for getting things done was obviously remarkable.

(End of Chapter)