Volume 1: Birth! Seven time travelers Chapter 135: The Battle Between the Travelers (I)
On January 18, 1609, after spending the Lantern Festival with Wanli and others, Zhu Youdong quickly left Beijing and boarded a ship in Tianjin to set sail.
There was no way, it was fine when facing Emperor Wanli and Empress Dowager Li in the Qianqing Palace and Cining Palace. But once in the Ciqing Palace, a time traveler like Zhu Youdong felt extremely depressed.
He had such feelings, and his entourage felt even more deeply. Among them, Cao Huachun felt the most deeply.
As Wang An's student, Cao Huachun was originally Wang An's hidden man sent to Zhu Youdong. After being impressed by Zhu Youdong's personality charm, he took the initiative to turn against Wang An. However, according to Zhu Youdong's arrangement, he still had to pretend to be good to Wang An.
During this time in Beijing, Wang An often made secret appointments with him to meet and asked him to tell him everything about Nanhua Palace.
In this regard, Zhu Youdong knew very well that in order to make the other party believe a lie, there must be a key lie among nine truths.
For example: Fangshan School did exist, and it did enroll more than a thousand orphans every year. But in Cao Huachun's description, the purpose of the school was that the crown prince wanted to use it to train some Jinshi so that he could have trusted civil officials in the future. As for military training, it was all a joke, and its training level and intensity were not as good as those of the garrison soldiers around Nanjing.
For example, Fangshan Laboratory does exist, but the Crown Prince mainly does whatever makes money. There is also the issue of the Yellow Book Library. His Highness was very angry after reading it, but he seemed to have forgotten about it after two days...
There were all kinds of things like this, with lies mixed in with the truth, and the key was that the contents of the letter he had written to Wang An from Nanjing could not contradict each other... Therefore, even someone with high IQ and EQ like Cao Huachun felt exhausted in the end.
Now that’s good, I can finally leave Beijing.
A group of people walked towards the Jinling-class battleship in the harbor, talking and laughing . A sturdy figure stood out from the crowd: "Your Highness, your Highness, your servant Yan Siqi pays respect to you."
"Eh? Zhenquan, why are you here to pick us up? Where's that guy Li Guozhu?"
"Your Highness, I just came back from Japan at the end of last year. Because the newly built artillery in Fangshan Laboratory was used to equip new warships, I couldn't get the follow-up supplies to support the Toyotomi family, so I didn't plan to go to Osaka for a while. It just so happened that the old ship owner (Li Dan) asked Brother Guozhu to go to Japan to discuss important matters, so I led the team to pick up Your Highness and everyone else."
"Oh, so that's how it is." Zhu Youdong rolled his eyes and said, "Come to my cabin after you get on board."
"yes!"
Supporting the Toyotomi family was Zhu Youdong's established strategy to make trouble for the Japanese time traveler. Since this matter involved too many things, Zhu Youdong chose Yan Siqi, who was bold but meticulous, to handle it. Now it seems that there should be good progress.
"Zhenquan, is the trip to Japan going smoothly?"
"Fortunately, although the Tokugawa family keeps a close eye on the Toyotomi family's territory on land , the Tokugawa family's navy at sea is mainly commanded by the Kuki family, and the Kuki family has a close relationship with the Toyotomi family. Therefore, it is relatively convenient for my fleet to enter Osaka Port. However..."
"But the real boss of Osaka Castle, Toyotomi Hideyoshi's widow Yodohime, is really stupid, right?"
"Hiss~~Your Highness can see thousands of miles away without leaving the house! Your Highness, that's right, Yodohime that bitch actually doesn't want our assistance, saying that we must never do anything to anger the Tokugawa family. Hey! In these years in Japan, I feel that they have done enough things to anger the Tokugawa family. The biggest problem is that they are reluctant to accept the transfer of fiefdom, and they have to hold on to the fertile land of Osaka . This is the real way to get into trouble!"
Yes, since you don't accept the transfer and completely submit to the Tokugawa family, why don't you just take a clear stand and fight against them? But you don't dare to fight against them, and you only think about how they can make you live? Isn't this nonsense?
"Haha, but it is precisely because of this that the Tokugawa family will eventually go to war with the Toyotomi family. Our layout has meaning, doesn't it?"
"Well... Your Highness is right. Anyway, I later contacted Oono Osaga and gained his support. This matter finally got off to a good start."
"Okay, everything is difficult at the beginning. Zhenquan has worked hard this time."
"It is my duty . But Your Highness, I believe that the Toyotomi family has completely declined. Although there will be a war with the Tokugawa family in the future, it will at most cause some trouble to the Tokugawa family. It is absolutely impossible to turn defeat into victory."
"Hahaha, thank you Zhenquan for the reminder. I don't have any hope for that stupid mother and son. If they can buy me a little more time, it will be enough."
…
Just when Zhu Youdong and Yan Siqi were thinking about making trouble for the Tokugawa family, the Ninth Prince of the Tokugawa family was also making plans against the Ming Dynasty with his cronies.
"Is this the latest penicillin kit produced by Ming country?"
"Hey, young master, this wooden box contains two syringes, one thick and one thin, two bottles of penicillin, one large and one small, and two bottles of water for injection. According to the instruction manual, to use this medicine, you must first use the thin syringe with the small bottle of penicillin to do a skin test. Only when the skin is not itchy or swollen, can you really use the medicine."
Oh, it seems that the time traveler from Ming Dynasty might have been an engineer in a pharmaceutical factory in his previous life. Fortunately, although I can't catch up with his attainments in pharmacy, I am good at military technology, hehehe.
"How much does a suit like this cost?"
"Young Master, this item was just launched at the end of last year. In Ming Country, it costs one tael of silver per set. But the Ming merchant sells it to us for fifty taels per set."
"What? Why don't they just go and rob?!"
"Young Master, although this thing is a bit expensive, it is really effective. According to what I have seen in Ming Country, lung abscesses, various infections and other diseases were all fatal. But after using this penicillin, they were cured immediately."
I know how effective penicillin is, but it's so expensive! How is it produced? I have no idea.
"Zaemon, I know you speak Ming Chinese very well, why can't you pretend to be a Ming Chinese and buy it?"
"Young Master, there is really no way. This penicillin is only sold in the medicine counter under the Fangshan Grocery Store in the Ming Dynasty. To buy it, you must show your household registration card. At the same time, each person is limited to buying two sets at a time. Because this grocery store is said to be the property of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince of the Ming Dynasty, no one dares to violate this rule. I did hire some Ming people to help us buy it, but this action only lasted ten days before it was discovered. The store immediately called the local Jinyiwei, and I almost didn't escape."
"What about the sea merchants? The sea merchants of Ming are all profit-seeking guys. With a profit of fifty times, they will definitely fight for it."
"Young Master, this is useless. Although this item is exported, only Daming Haimao and the Xu family caravan in Huating can sell it. And both of them are determined to set the price at fifty taels and will not give up at all."
"Bagayaloo!" After swearing with gnashing teeth, Takechiyo asked, "How's your contact with the Jianzhou Jurchens going?"
"Hi! I and my subordinates went in three batches, totaling more than 80 ninjas and a dozen samurai, and finally met Nurhaci, the great commander of the Jianzhou Jurchens. After demonstrating the power of the flintlock cannon to him on the spot, Nurhaci was very happy and was willing to exchange the Dongzhu with us for the flintlock cannon."
"The pearls from the coast of Japan are no worse than the so-called Eastern Pearls!" He shook his head helplessly: "Forget it, Eastern Pearls are Eastern Pearls, we still have to do this."
"Hi, I have already made an agreement with Nurhaci. They will find a safe seaport in the near future. This will facilitate us to transport more iron cannons and new-style cannons to Jianzhou."
"Yoshi! You have done a great job on this matter. Thank you for your hard work, Saemon. Go down and receive your reward."
"Uh... Young Master."
"Do you still have doubts in your mind? Speak up."
"Hi, young master. This time when I went to Jianzhou Jurchen, I felt that although the people there were barbaric, their fighting power was indeed good. But no matter what, they were still too weak. In front of the Ming Dynasty, they were simply vulnerable. We put so much effort into supporting them, and gave them new iron cannons and cannons that our Tokugawa family had not yet fully replaced. They might not be able to..."
Well, of course I know that after the Ming Dynasty had a time traveler, the Jianzhou Jurchens would not be able to do anything. But what can I do?
I have repeatedly hinted to Tokugawa Ieyasu, the old turtle, that our weapons and equipment are far superior to those of all the Japanese daimyo, and we can now attack the Toyotomi family. But this old turtle still wants to wait and wait, and has to wait until all the sympathizers of the Toyotomi family are dead. He also pretends to be benevolent and righteous in public opinion before he is willing to take action!
However, as long as the Toyotomi family is not destroyed, there will always be a huge loophole in Japan's maritime trade. In this case, how effective will the currency reform be? When will a unified tariff be established?
Do I really have to endure until 1616 like in the original historical plane? I wonder what kind of monster the Ming Dynasty guy will have evolved into by then!
So, there is really no other way. Even though I know that these investments have very little return, as long as I can cause trouble for the person in Ming Country and buy me some time, it is valuable!
