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Yamazo Jiro was not a coward, but since ancient times, weak countries have no diplomacy. Facing a giant like the Ming Dynasty in this era, how much confidence could the weak Satsuma clan have to hold their heads high and chest out?
"Mr. Yamamoto, the taxation issue you mentioned is exactly what we want to discuss. I will try my best to compensate you for your losses in this regard. If Mr. Yamamoto cannot do it, I hope that Mr. Shimazu, who can do it among your Satsuma clan, will come to negotiate with me. You must know that my patience is limited. If you do not agree, I will find another one that agrees. I would like to remind Mr. Yamamoto out of personal friendship that I will completely block the waters between Ming Dynasty and your country. If any merchant wants to do business with you without my consent, I will confiscate their things and impose a fine on them for illicit business." Tang Tong restrained the ferocious look on his face and spoke slowly.
Oh, my Amaterasu, Yamamoto Jiro groaned in his heart. Is this Lord Tang from the Ming Dynasty really a Ming Dynasty person? The gentle, courteous, and elegant temperament of the Ming Dynasty people cannot be seen at all in this Lord Tang.
"Sir Tang, I will report the conditions you put forward to my father-in-law as soon as possible. I also ask Sir Tang to give me some time. My father-in-law has always admired the civilization of the upper country and has always tried his best to make unremitting efforts for the friendship between our country and the Ming Dynasty. I believe that my father-in-law will give you a satisfactory answer to the conditions proposed by Sir Tang." Regarding Tang Tong's threat, Shan Lang felt very worried. The Lord Tang in front of him was obviously different from other Ming people. In Lang Yamamoto's opinion, Lord Tang, who was the deputy general of the Ming Dynasty, was almost the same kind of person as Zheng Zhilong, the biggest pirate leader on the sea. If there was any difference, it was that Lord Tang's subordinates were indeed well-trained regular troops, while Zheng Zhilong's subordinates were just a group of rabble.
"Come on, Mr. Yamamoto. Our Ming Dynasty is the most reasonable country. I personally understand your current predicament. In order for both sides to get along more friendly and for the needs of our two countries' future common development, I will give you half a month to think about it. As for how you make a decision, I hope you can do it on your own." Tang Tong finished speaking slowly. Seeing that it was time for lunch, he no longer paid attention to Yamamoto Jiro and led his men to leave Yamamoto Jiro in the reception room. Tang Tong would not have the heart to invite these Japanese to dinner.
Seeing Tang Tong's dominance, Yamamoto Benro could only sigh helplessly and left dejectedly with a few of his men. After Tang Tong left the reception room, he came to the temporary meeting room and restaurant. A banquet had already been prepared on a large square table. When they saw Tang Tong come in, several of Tang Tong's men who were waiting there stood up.
Tang Tong waved his hand, inviting everyone to the table. Seeing everyone arrive, the chef had Tang Tong's personal guards pass the dishes up. Most of the seafood you can eat in this place is seafood. Tang Tong saw that the first dish served was a fish, which he didn't recognize. He took a bite and found it delicious. The second dish was boiled shrimp, which Tang Tong recognized. He pointed to the large plate of boiled shrimp that looked like a small mountain and said to everyone, "This is delicious! I only had a few times in the past."
In his previous life, Tang Tong was not a wealthy person, so he naturally did not have the money to eat this thing often. People like Zhang Yiheng had never even seen it. After hearing what Tang Tong said, they stretched out their chopsticks towards the boiled shrimp. After taking a bite, they found that it tasted very delicious. They all thought that this time they came to Japan, they could be considered to have a feast.
Then there were a few more dishes that Tang Tong didn't recognize, and they also tasted very delicious. The next one was a big lobster. Tang Tong had eaten this big lobster once in his previous life. A small lobster cost him about a thousand yuan. Looking at the two extra-large lobsters in front of him, Tang Tong couldn't help but think in his heart that if this happened in the future, two such big lobsters on a table would probably be something only a nouveau riche would do. When the last dish came, Tang Tong didn't even have the heart to sigh. This dish was abalone, which was served in a large copper basin. Tang Tong estimated that there were more than twenty of them. Tang Tong specially asked someone to buy a head of net abalone from Chiba Prefecture, Japan. In his previous life, Tang Tong had read an introduction to net abalone on the Internet. This time when he was in Japan, he naturally couldn't miss this kind of thing.
What Tang Tong didn't expect was that these things, each of which would be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars in the future and would be in short supply, were now treated so brutally by these chefs. If it were just brutal treatment, Tang Tong would not be so depressed and speechless. This pot of more than 20 abalones would be worth at least a Ferrari sports car in the future, but because of the poor skills of these chefs, it was not just a soup, but a big stew.
What a waste! Such a waste! Tang Tong sighed as he ate. Zhang Yiheng saw that Tang Tong kept shaking his head and asked curiously, "Sir, is there something wrong?"
"Do you know that if you eat this thing now, you will eat up someone's lifetime living expenses in one bite." Tang Tong had never eaten abalone before, so he didn't know what abalone tasted like originally. In the spirit of eating more, not losing out, he didn't forget to stuff this thing into his mouth while speaking.
Everyone looked at the way Tang Tong ate, thinking in their hearts, we eat up other people's living expenses for a lifetime with one bite, then Lord Tang, with this big mouthful, wouldn't it be like eating up other people's living expenses for two lifetimes? No one dared to say this out loud. Seeing that everyone was silent, Tang Tong said, "Now, what we eat now is all foreign food. If you want to have this food every day in the future, we must gain a firm foothold here. I plan to build a city here as our frontier base in Japan. At present, we don't have the strength to do anything, so we can only try to do business with the Japanese and dump those luxury goods here."
"Sir, if we want to build a city, I'm afraid it will cost a lot of money." Zhao Yapeng is a hot-tempered person, and he asked whatever he was thinking.
"Don't worry about this. We don't need to spend any money. On the contrary, we can make money by selling construction land. Of course, this requires everyone's joint efforts to do our best to crack down on all maritime smuggling activities and let those Ming Dynasty merchants come here to do business. In the future, when we have the strength, we must first clear out the pirates on the nearby sea. In the future, if those Westerners want to do business, they will also need our permission." Tang Tong had some ideas about building a city. He mainly planned and built roads and general public living facilities.
"What the lord says is true. We will do whatever the lord says. Damn it, these things are really delicious. Just for this, we have to stay here longer." A flag chief under Zhang Yiheng said with a smile. Although he looks rough, he still knows how to flatter.
Everyone talked for a while, and finally went off topic. Tang Tong and his men talked about how coquettish Japanese women were. This is what men often say and is the most attractive. Everyone was curious about what Tang Tong said and wanted to catch a few Japanese women to confirm it immediately. Tang Tong and his men were all big bellies and they ate all the food on the table before leaving.
After a few days, Satsuma didn't send anyone to negotiate. Tang Tong thought that these devils would not cry until they saw the coffin, so he had to give them a good beating. So he asked Zhang Yiheng, Zhao Yapeng, Hei Pi and others to lead 1,500 people and five ships to bypass Japan's Kago Bay and attack their Kago City. As for the excuse, Tang Tong had already thought of it.
Not to mention that Zhang Yiheng and his men set out in a rage, after Yamamoto Benjiro returned to Luer City, he told Shimazu Matsudaira about Tang Tong and his men's situation. Shimazu Matsudaira was a cunning and sly man. Although he didn't understand Tang Tong's real intention in renting a piece of land, he could tell that Lord Tang, who came from the Ming Dynasty, definitely had no ulterior motives.
On the surface, Shimazu Matsudaira did not suffer much loss by leasing a piece of land. However, in this era, people's awareness of national sovereignty was not very clear, and they did not know the importance of such sovereignty. Especially for a warlord like Shimazu Matsudaira, his personal interests were more important. People in this era did not even know what trade dumping was. Tang Tong and his men did business on Shimazu Matsudaira's territory, which would indeed bring a lot of profits to Satsuma from the perspective of taxation. The expansion of Tang Tong's business would make the local dignitaries in Satsuma gradually richer, but the interests of the entire Japan would be harmed.
Shimazu Matsudaira had no idea about all this, he just used his fox-like instinct to think that Tang Tong had no peace of mind, so Shimazu Matsudaira delayed in making a decision. On the other hand, Teng Yuanjing borrowed 5,000 troops from Tokugawa Iemitsu, and severely reprimanded Shimazu Matsudaira's trade practices with the Ming Dynasty. Although Tokugawa Iemitsu did not know what trade dumping was, he clearly saw that the Ming Dynasty's trade with Japan made Japan poorer, which was one of the reasons why he implemented the policy of isolation.
Ogawa Shitaro, a subordinate of Shimazu Matsudaira, was a warmonger who was determined to drive away the Ming army. However, Shimazu Matsudaira was more thoughtful than Ogawa Shitaro. He understood that if he wanted to negotiate with the Ming army, he would suffer a great loss if he did not win a battle.
Just as Tokugawa Iemitsu's reinforcements arrived at Satsuma, Zhang Yiheng and his fleet also arrived near Luer Castle.
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