I can't die

The letter of credence of the king of the Ryukyu Kingdom is a bit long, about a thousand characters. After reading it, Liu Xiang and Zhang Zhidong felt that the king of the Ryukyu Kingdom was also a good boy, knowing that he could not fight the Japanese pirates, and also knew that the Qing Dynasty would not do it for no reason. I am willing to help them put down the chaos, and specifically stated in the letter of credence that I am willing to cede the Okinawa Islands and the Diaoyu Islands to the Qing Dynasty as their territory.

At that moment, Zhang Zhidong and Liu Xiang looked at each other, they all calculated the sea surface distribution of these islands in their minds, and then said: "Ryukyu was originally a vassal state of the Qing Dynasty, and the Qing Dynasty will not shirk it as a superior country, but... "

When the Ryukyu envoy heard the sentence "just", his heartstrings tensed immediately, and his face showed anxiety: "Your Excellency, you may as well say it directly."

"Your country should also know that the Qing Dynasty has been in war for many years, and this expedition is also very tight. Thanks to the help of the British country, we were able to raise food. Our country naturally agreed to your country's conditions, but Britain..."

Liu Xiang hesitated to speak, and the Ryukyu envoys were not stupid. He knew that he would cut off a lot of benefits after hearing the words, otherwise the Qing Dynasty agreed, and Britain probably shouldn't. I heard that the foreign devils are worse than the Japanese pirates. A hundred times more cruel people!

"I also discussed with Britain before the Qing Dynasty. I hope that your country will allow businessmen from our two countries to trade freely in your country and be exempted from tariffs. The British envoy Pachari specifically mentioned that he has taken a fancy to Kagoshima." Kagoshima is The northernmost island in the Ryukyu Islands and the closest island to the Japanese mainland.The British fancy this island also has military reasons.Once Britain occupies the island and establishes a military base, it can easily send troops from Kagoshima to suppress the turmoil in Japan.

When the Ryukyu envoy heard about this island, he was stunned and began to think about it.Because Kagoshima is the closest to Japan, it was originally the island most victimized by the Japanese invaders. Moreover, Kagoshima is remote and far away from the territory of the main island of Ryukyu.Furthermore, the king of the Ryukyu Kingdom has long been afraid of being beaten by the Japanese invaders. He just wants to keep his throne, let alone cede the land, even if he is asked to go to the capital as a hostage, as long as he can continue to live in a dreamy and rich life, it is nothing. .

"I can answer this on behalf of the king of the Ryukyu Kingdom."

In this way, both Liu Xiang and Zhang Zhidong got the answer they wanted, so they laughed again.From then on, the Ryukyu envoys lived on the warship. One day later, Liu Xiang, Zhang Zhidong and Okinawa Port dispatched troops, and under the leadership of the Ryukyu envoys, they rushed to the interior of Ryukyu.

With a guide who is familiar with the terrain, the speed of marching is naturally different, and because Liu Xiang and Zhang Zhidong were afraid of being attacked by Japanese pirates when they passed through the dense forest, they used artillery to open the way when they saw the jungle, and forced a wide road avenue.

Because of these measures, the trip to the capital of the Ryukyu Kingdom went smoothly. Presumably, the frightened Japanese pirates ran away early when they heard the sound of gunfire, and no one dared to be a layman to die.

The national capital of the Ryukyu Kingdom is Shuri Castle, a Ryukyu-style castle east of Naha City in southern Okinawa, built from the end of the 13th century to the beginning of the 14th century.Although it is the capital of the country, in the eyes of Zhang Zhidong and Liu Xiang, it is just like some slightly larger county towns in the south of the Qing Dynasty, except that the buildings are slightly more elaborate.

Shuri Castle at this time can be described as turbulent, and the city gates could only be closed tightly under the continuous invasion of Japanese invaders.What's more interesting is that there are still a lot of bows and arrows stuck in the gate of this Shuri Castle, obviously they have been attacked but no one has pulled them out.

"Go and tell the king, I welcome the envoys from the □□ Shang Kingdom!! Go! Go!" The Ryukyu soldiers who were defending the city saw a large group of people running, thinking it was an enemy attack, and they were very nervous. , Seeing someone shouting in front of the leader, he was overjoyed when he fixed his eyes and saw that it was the verdict from the Ministry of Household Affairs of his country.

"Quickly go and report to the king, the kingdom of God is here to help!"

The lord of the Ryukyu Kingdom was overjoyed when he got an official order, and even went to call his servants to bring the most solemn court clothes to the gate of Shuri Castle in person, and led the Liucao high-ranking officials of the Ryukyu Kingdom to greet him.To say that this Ryukyu country also has six departments of officials, households, rites, soldiers, workers, and punishments, which are similar to the six departments of the Qing Dynasty. However, the lives of the highest leaders of these six departments are far inferior to those of the Qing Dynasty. The six Shangshu.The six Ryukyu verdicts were previously driven out to find rescuers because the Ryukyu king was worried about being destroyed. Now, apart from finding Liu Xiang and the others, the household verdicts returned safely. very.

Naturally, it can be said that the reinforcements returned after finding Liu Xiang's household judge, and he was very proud. He was rewarded with a first-rank official position for discussing politics just after meeting the king of the Ryukyu Kingdom.

Liu Xiang and Zhang Zhidong were welcomed into the Shuri Castle Palace with the highest etiquette of the Ryukyu Kingdom. Naturally, the Qing army they led entered the capital of the Ryukyu Kingdom without any effort.Liu Xiang and Zhang Zhidong inevitably underestimated the Ryukyu king so far, thinking that the Ryukyu king dared to let foreign soldiers into his base camp like this. one.

Now the Ryukyu Kingdom asks for help from others, with a very low profile, and the ruler has no backbone, so Liu Xiang and Zhang Zhidong are happy to lead their soldiers to occupy the royal city of the Liuli Kingdom, they are veritable sparrows Occupy the dove's nest.

However, it is true, seeing the military actions of Liu Xiang and others, the head of the Liuli Kingdom did not resist, and he did not know whether it was because he was really greedy for life and afraid of death after accepting his fate.

Let’s talk about the Japanese, after learning that the Qing soldiers were stationed in Shuri Castle, they were actually very hesitant. If they were asked to spit out the meat that was almost swallowed by the Ryukyu Kingdom, they would obviously not want to, but if they were to be told The Qing army worked hard, who would dare to use a big knife to fight the artillery?Isn't that obviously a long life?

Then, these Japanese made a calculation, and they also started to adopt the strategy of guerrilla warfare.To say that this guerrilla war really caused the Qing and Ryukyu coalition forces a bit of a loss at the beginning. Although there were no casualties, the ghosts of these Japanese people disappeared every time they went out. Who is not depressed?

Seeing this situation, Liu Xiang and Zhang Zhidong had no choice but to comfort the "eager to make contributions" soldiers.I just want them to eat Ryukyu food with peace of mind, and use Ryukyu food as a vacation, so don’t feel too stressed.These ruffians of the Qing soldiers were obedient when they heard the words, and immediately complied, and began to dominate the Ryukyu national power.