Traveling through history leaving a name

Chapter 371 The Notre Dame Incident

Tokugawa Hidetada took the letter, then opened it and checked it.

Shimadzu Tadahiro’s letter stated that although his 100 soldiers were defeated by the Ming army on Ryukyu Island, more than [-] warriors under his command escaped with the Ryukyu King. to Japan.

The letter also explained in detail how these people returned to Japan.

At first, after these people fled to the sea with the Ryukyu royal family, they were afraid of being intercepted by the Ming Navy, so they had no choice but to flee south to avoid being hunted by the Ming Navy.

In the end, these people headed east all the way, away from Ryukyu Island, and then began to return to Japan in a big circle.

The sea was vast and the ship lost its way several times. Finally, after several months of wandering, they finally returned to Japan.

"Father, the King of Ryukyu is not dead, and was brought back to Japan by the Shimadzu family." Tokugawa Hidetada excitedly handed Shimadzu Tadashi's letter to his father, Tokugawa Ieyasu and said.

"not dead?"

After reading Shimazu Tadahashi's letter, Tokugawa Ieyasu burst out laughing: "Haha, he's not dead. That's great. Let Shimazu Tadahashi spread the news. It's best to let Ming merchants take the news back to the Ming Dynasty. The Ming Dynasty claims to be the Celestial Kingdom, and the King of Ryukyu is not dead, I don’t think they have the nerve to let the prince of the Zhu family rule Ryukyu.”

Hearing Tokugawa Ieyasu's words, Tokugawa Hidetada quickly wrote a letter to Shimadzu Tadahiro.

After Shimadzu Tadahiro received the letter, he immediately invited many people, including a businessman from the Ming Dynasty, and then exhibited the Ryukyu King Shang Ning as an exhibit to everyone.

"What, the Ryukyu King is not dead?"

Nagasaki Port, when Chen Guangping heard the news, he was stunned in horror.

"Didn't Wei Zhongxian say that the Ryukyu king is dead?" Chen Guangping asked his subordinates.

"This subordinate is not clear, but according to many people, the King of Ryukyu is currently a guest of the Satsuma Domain. He is a guest of the Satsuma Domain. Many people have seen it with their own eyes and have confirmed that it is really the King of Ryukyu." The subordinate said.

"A guest? Hmph, the Japanese really know how to talk nonsense."

Chen Guangping said to his men: "Go back to Daming as soon as possible, inform Zhangyin of the news, and let Zhangyin prepare as soon as possible."

When Zhang Qingfeng received the news, it was already a month and a half later.

After receiving the news, Zhang Qingfeng did not report the matter to Emperor Wanli, but went directly to the headquarters of Daming Daily.

"I have a piece of news here, and I need you to publish it quickly and distribute it to all parts of the country at the same time." Zhang Qingfeng approached Tian Shengkun, the president of Daming Daily, and said.

"Okay, my subordinates will have the typesetting immediately." Tian Shengkun took the press release, regardless of what was on it, and agreed directly.

The press release written by Zhang Qingfeng was naturally about Japan killing the King of Ryukyu, and then preparing to find someone to pretend to be the King of Ryukyu and accuse Ming Dynasty.

He wanted to set the tone before the news of the Ryukyu king in Japan reached Ming Dynasty.

He wanted everyone to think that the Ryukyu King of Japan was a fake, and that Japan had asked someone to impersonate him in order to accuse Ming Dynasty.

As long as everyone believes that the Japanese will find someone to pretend to be the King of Ryukyu and then accuse Ming Dynasty, then when the news reaches Ming Dynasty, no one will believe that the King of Ryukyu in Japan is real.

Under Zhang Qingfeng's instigation, the next day, the newspaper published the news that Japan was going to find someone to pretend to be the king of Ryukyu, and then accused Daming.

At the same time, the content of this newspaper has also been transmitted to the provinces of Ming Dynasty at an extremely fast speed.

Soon, the branches of Da Ming Daily in various places also typeset and printed this news.

In less than half a month, many common people in Ming Dynasty knew the news.

Another half month later, when some businessmen who came back from Japan told the news about the King of Ryukyu in Japan, they were ridiculed by many people instead.

Many people retorted that the Ryukyu King in Japan was a fake, and the Japanese found someone to impersonate him. This made many businessmen who came back from Japan feel confused after hearing this.

No matter how these merchants explained that what they saw was the real Ryukyu king, no one believed them.

This is mastering the power of public opinion.

In the Ming Dynasty, in addition to using newspapers to control public opinion, Zhang Qingfeng also sent people to inform Wei Zhongxian and asked him to find ways to control public opinion in Ryukyu.

If someone spreads the news in Ryukyu, they can be shot directly.

If the Japanese intend to send the King of Ryukyu back to Ryukyu, let him take the Royal Fleet to intercept it directly at sea, and the King of Ryukyu cannot be allowed to return to Ryukyu.

On the Tianjin side, after a few months, the three shipyards have built six Galen warships again. After these warships have passed sea trials and equipped with weapons, he will send them to Ryukyu.

In addition to protecting the safety of Ryukyu, trade still needs to be done. We can't let the royal fleet stay in Ryukyu and not do business. This will not be easy to explain to Emperor Wanli.

The time has entered 1610 AD. Because of the catastrophe in Xuzhou last year, the people of Xuzhou revolted. Although they were quickly suppressed, there are still hungry people everywhere.

Therefore, Zhang Qingfeng had to allocate funds to arrange for Xuzhou refugees to emigrate overseas.

In January 1610, the Notre Dame incident broke out, and the relationship between Japan and Portugal suddenly fell to a freezing point.

The Notre Dame incident was caused by the fact that a ship sent by the shogunate to Nanyang trade docked in Macau last year. Because Japanese sailors made trouble in Macau, the Portuguese decided to confiscate Japanese weapons.

After the Japanese resisted with force, Andre, the Portuguese captain of the Notre Dame, ordered the Japanese houses to be burned, resulting in the death of 27 Japanese crew members. The remaining 50 people were forced to sign an exemption agreement before they were allowed to regain their freedom.

However, no one expected that after such an incident, the Portuguese Notre Dame would dare to trade in the Japanese port of Nagasaki.

When the Notre Dame arrived in Japan, the Japanese decided to take revenge on the Notre Dame.

Therefore, the daimyo Arima Harunobu, who was sitting in the harbor, took advantage of the opportunity for most Portuguese sailors to go ashore for trade, led dozens of large ships and more than 3000 samurai, and launched a sneak attack on the Notre Dame at night.

Under the command of Captain Andre, more than 50 Portuguese sailors and a few non-slaves who stayed on board used advanced matchlock guns to resist the attack of [-] Japanese samurai for three days.

The battle lasted from January 1 to January 3.

But unfortunately, because there was no wind in Nagasaki Port at the time, the Notre Dame was unable to move. After a few days of fighting, everyone was exhausted.

Finally, Andre realized that he was powerless to save the situation.

After signaling to the crew members who wished to escape to dive, he detonated all the remaining gunpowder himself.

Then the Notre Dame quickly sank into the deep water of Nagasaki Bay with Captain Andre, many crew members who voluntarily stayed behind, and a large amount of cargo.

"The Japanese navy is really too weak."

Chen Guangping, who watched the battle from beginning to end, couldn't help shaking his head.

With dozens of large ships and more than 3000 warriors, it took three or four days of fighting to capture a Portuguese ship. No wonder they thought the Japanese were too weak.

"It's too weak. If it were us, the Notre Dame would have taken it over." Chen Guangping's subordinates echoed.

Hearing what his subordinates said, Chen Guangping shook his head and said, "We can't blame the Japanese for being weak. It can only be said that attacking a ship that is many times larger than yourself at sea is infinitely more difficult than attacking a city on land."

"Moreover, the Japanese's weapons are too poor, and there is no artillery that can cause damage to the Portuguese ship, so the Japanese can only forcibly board the ship and fight hand-to-hand."

"Then if it is replaced by our warship, can it defeat the Portuguese ship?" Someone asked Chen Guangping.

Hearing this, Chen Guangping said: "If it were replaced by our battleship, such as the Tianjin, it would probably only take a few hours to completely sink this large Portuguese ship."

(End of this chapter)