The next day, the two parties held a grand engagement ceremony under the witness of Zhao Hao.

Ah Jiang was already fourteen years old, but Takechiyo was only nine. Would she marry so early to look after her little brother? The nephew, who loved his daughter as much as his life, would never agree.

So they could only get engaged first, and then get married when Takechiyo was 14 and Ajiang was 19. With his lovely little daughter still by his side for five years, and his uncle promising that he could decide between Chacha and Achu, Zhao Shizhen was not so sad.

At the engagement ceremony, although Ieyasu had powder on his face, it couldn't hide the swollen left eye. He could only explain that it was because it was dark and rainy and the road was slippery, and he accidentally fell and got hurt. As for what happened, he didn't dare to say, and his retainers didn't dare to ask.

However, seeing that the lord was so happy, the retainers thought, let's just regard it as a trivial price paid by the lord. After all, it's not the first time...

In fact, Sakai Trading Company also had similar concerns as Ieyasu. Hideyoshi had strong business capabilities, and now he was openly building a castle 30 miles away from Sakai City. His purpose of replacing Sakai City was obvious!

Zhao Hao had the same attitude towards the concerns of Sen no Rikyu and others. Rather than being eliminated in the confrontation, it would be better to actively embrace the "people of the world" and become the commercial center of the Toyotomi regime, so that there would be no need to worry about being replaced.

But he told Sen no Rikyu not to get too close to Hideyoshi. Sen no Rikyu agreed, thinking that the boss didn't want him to really join Hideyoshi. Little did Zhao Hao know that he was just worried that Hideyoshi would kill him.

After calming down the confused Japanese, Zhao Hao left Sakai Port on July 14.

Ieyasu and his son were still waving goodbye reluctantly at the dock, but Zhao Hao on the Jiangnan had already cast his gaze to the northeast and stopped at the mouth of a large river.

That is the Yodo River, which originates from Lake Biwa and is Japan's most important inland waterway. Twenty miles up the Yodo River mouth is Osaka Castle, which Toyotomi Hideyoshi was building.

"It is said that in order to avoid being bombarded, Hideyoshi deliberately chose a location eight miles away from the river bank." Zhang Jian put down the telescope and said, "This way, even the rockets from Oda City cannot reach it."

"Humph, he doesn't know what a howitzer is..." Zhao Shizhen responded with a sneer of contempt, and then complained: "Well, maybe no one will know it in a hundred years..."

"You should solve the fuse problem first before you brag." Zhao Hao rolled his eyes at him, feeling a little regretful.

Actually, Hideyoshi had asked him to meet through Sen no Rikyu this time. But Zhao Hao declined this great opportunity to watch the monkey, so as not to affect the conclusion of the world line. Let's meet again when I chop off his monkey's head...

Zhao Hao even regretted being too harsh on the Oda army's ironclad ships. I wonder if the absence of Kuki Yoshitaka, the "Water Hideyoshi", will affect Monkey's future plan to invade Korea?

Probably not.

Because Toyotomi Hideyoshi unified Japan in a too peaceful way, basically relying on negotiations and alliances to deal with various lords. As a result, when he had almost arranged the three islands of Japan, he found that his professional army alone had reached an astonishing number of more than 200,000.

Together with the armies of the various daimyo, the number of people exceeded 400,000. With Japan's low productivity and a population of less than 15 million, continuing to feed so many troops would inevitably lead to the collapse of the Toyotomi regime.

In 1591, Hideyoshi followed the example of the "Human Sweeping Order" issued by Emperor Taizu of the Ming Dynasty, strictly prohibiting the flow of people from various classes, including scholars, farmers, workers, merchants, and soldiers. He also completely blocked the passage for the army to be demobilized. Therefore, Toyotomi Hideyoshi could only send these samurai and foot soldiers who were used to licking blood on the blade to invade abroad to avoid the social explosion in Japan.

In addition, Japan's understanding of the outside world was even more closed than that of the Ming Dynasty's literati. Zhao Hao believed that as long as Toyotomi Hideyoshi was not overly attacked, the Japanese king who rose from a commoner would never give up his ambition to conquer the Ming Dynasty and then India by using Korea as a stepping stone!

If he could fulfill Nobunaga's ambitions and establish unprecedented achievements, who would dare to laugh at his humble origins?

So what is coming will definitely come...

~~

According to the plan, after leaving Sakai City, the fleet will head north along eastern Japan to Ainu Island to test 2,500-kilometer ultra-long-distance wireless communications.

Zhao Hao also planned to inspect Ainu Island. Although the group no longer relied on oak from Ainu Island after owning Nanyang, the island was still an excellent pasture for the group... In the season when there was no logging, more than half of the Ainu people were herding horses and cattle for the group. The other half transported the cut wood out of the mountains and sent it to Sapporo for loading.

With the continuous material support from the group, after twenty years of continuous struggle, the Ainu people have defeated the Kakizaki clan, compressed the Japanese activities to a few cities near the Tsugaru Strait, and recovered most of the land of Ainu Island.

However, the Ainu people had no siege capability, and they suffered heavy losses in their attacks on the last few Japanese strongholds. Zhao Hao also did not support them to drive the Japanese across the Tsugaru Strait too early, so the two sides were temporarily in a stalemate.

Zhao Hao was going to appease the Ainu again and persuade them not to rush to establish a regime, so as not to become a victim of Toyotomi Hideyoshi's diversion of domestic conflicts - the monkeys were worried that they could not become the shogun because of their low birth. If they established a country at this time, wouldn't it give Hideyoshi a chance to become a shogun?

The "Yi" in the Shogun refers to the Ainu people.

In addition, Zhao Hao also plans to conduct an on-site inspection of the group's selection of a base for long-distance travel. In the future, the ocean-going fleet going to North America will set sail from Ainu Island. This can shorten the voyage to less than two months, greatly reducing the difficulty of the North American strategy.

However, just as the fleet sailed out of the Seto Inland Sea, a telegram forced Zhao Hao to cancel all plans.

At that time, Zhao Hao was meeting with Zhang Jian, Wang Zheng and others in the cabin to discuss the technical aspects of setting up the radio network and how to ensure security, confidentiality and smooth communication.

Suddenly, the researcher who was guarding the telegraph machine knocked on the door and handed a note to Zhang Jian, reporting in a low voice:

"Just received a telegram."

Zhang Jian took it and looked at it, his face changed drastically. He quickly stood up and handed the telegram to Zhao Hao, who was silent for a full minute after reading it.

This telegram, which was sent from the capital to Suzhou by pigeon three days ago and then sent via Xishan Island, contained only two short lines of text, but it announced the end of an era of the Ming Dynasty:

"The Grand Master is seriously ill and in a coma. His death is not far away."

"You guys go out first." Zhang Jian whispered to everyone in the room to go out.

When Zhao Hao came to his senses, he saw that only Zhang Jian and Zhao Shizhen were left in the meeting room. He reached out and touched the table.

The eldest nephew quickly took out a cigarette without a filter and lit it for his uncle.

Zhao Hao took two deep puffs and ordered in a deep voice: "Immediately change the itinerary and return at full speed. At the same time, send a telegram to Xishan Island to report the latest situation at any time."

"Understood." Zhao Shizhen hurried out to pass on the order.

"This ocean-going radio test can only end here." Zhao Hao looked at Zhang Jian apologetically.

"It's okay. Even if we follow what we just discussed and temporarily set up the radio station at the district level, this distance is enough now." Zhang Jian said softly.

"Yeah." Zhao Hao nodded and fell silent again.

In the discussion just now, everyone basically reached a consensus - if they want to keep the secret of radio for a long time, they must control the number of radio stations and reduce the number of times they are used. It would be best if only senior cadres of a certain level could know this top secret.

However, if the number of radio stations and the number of people informed are too small, the command and communication function of the radio network will be seriously weakened, and it will not play the role of deterring and restraining ambitious people.

So, initially, it seems that secretly equipping each administrative region and war zone with a radio transceiver team, and limiting the right to know to members of the war zone front committee and administrative region management committee, is a relatively compromise solution. This can not only enable timely communication between the group and its subordinate units, but also achieve a qualitative change in the efficiency of uploading and downloading, and revolutionary enhance the group's control and timeliness of decision-making.

It can also prevent anyone from controlling the radio and blocking the transmission of information to the outside when only high-level officials know the radio secrets.

Moreover, even high-level cadres only need to know that the group has the ability to transmit sound over long distances, and there is no need to explore the specific methods and technologies for implementation. Therefore, the radio transceiver group should be independent of the group system, and the Security Department should set up a communications department to send communications squadrons to the units that should set up radio stations. Each communication station should be set as an absolute restricted area...

"We need to think more about the confidentiality plan. Let's discuss it in the next few days. Then you and the Security Department will come up with a 'communication draft' for me to see." Zhao Hao finished smoking a cigarette and regained his composure.

"In response to the many problems revealed in this test, you should go back and speed up the improvement and complete the design from the test product to the practical equipment as soon as possible. When I have time next year, we will go to Nanyang for another test."

"Yes, Master." Zhang Jian nodded and asked softly:

"Are we still taking the equipment on the ship back with us?"

"I'll use these devices when I come to Beijing." Zhao Hao shook his head and said, "Send me a technician. In these troubled times, this radio is coming at the right time..."

"Yes." Zhang Jian responded again.

~~

On July 18, Zhao Hao returned to Xingang City.

Zhang Xiaojing and her three children, eleven-year-old Zhao Shiyou, twelve-year-old Zhao Shilu, and nine-year-old Zhao Xiaoman, who came from Shanghai, had been waiting for him for a day.

Although Zhang Xiaojing was delayed for a few years, she gave birth to the most children, and she also had a son and a daughter who were too young to be brought back home...

Seeing Xiao Jing's beautiful face looking extremely haggard and her whole body thinner, Zhao Hao couldn't help but feel deeply apologetic.

Because of the "falling out" with her father-in-law, she hasn't seen her father for eight years.

Since the beginning of this spring, Grand Tutor Zhang has been in poor health and has been bedridden most of the time. Xiao Jing has been very worried, but she couldn't go back until now...

"I'm sorry..." Zhao Hao took her into his arms and hugged her tightly.

Xiao Jing leaned in his arms, her shoulders trembling slightly, and she sobbed softly.

After a while, he shook his head gently and choked up:

"It's okay. This is what father meant. This is the only way to protect the Zhang family..."

With Zhang Xiaojing's wisdom, she could naturally fully understand the motives of her father and husband.

P.S. Phew, I’m finally going back to Beijing…