On Ship 101, the large conference room was brightly lit.

Mr. Zhao rested his elbows on his knees, looked down at Omura Junzhong who was kneeling at his feet and said, "So the Portuguese gave you the biggest piece of the pie. It seems that you are very rich?"

"Yes, I made some money from the barbarian trade." Omura Junzhong wiped the sweat off his face with his sleeve and said, "But I just built the city and emptied my family's wealth."

"You're trying to bluff me again!" Zhao Hao's face darkened as he said, "You built the Three City City five years ago! You've made a lot of money in these five years!"

Omura Juntada's face turned pale, and he cursed Goto Takaaki in his heart for being such a troublemaker. He had to say with a bitter face: "How dare I deceive you again? I'm not talking about the Three Castles. Three years ago, Goto Takaaki built Komine Castle on Komine Mountain in Higashi-sonogi County, threatening the territory of my Omura family. I had no choice but to build Kabuta Castle in Kiba and Fuminan Castle in Baijin as a countermeasure. Building three castles in five years is too much, I really can't bear it."

"Are you complaining to me about your poverty?" Young Master Zhao picked his nails, blew on them and said, "Your cousin is much more tolerant..."

"Here we go again..." Omura Junzhong cursed inwardly, and had to grit his teeth and said, "One hundred thousand taels! This is all the savings of the Omura family. I am willing to give it to you as a gift!"

"Two hundred thousand taels." Zhao Hao held up two fingers and said, "It's very expensive to dispatch such a large fleet."

"This..." Omura Juntada felt a pain in his flesh. In fact, he was crying poor, but it was not completely nonsense. In the Warring States period, the strong preyed on the weak, and you could only eat as much as you could. He treated the Otomo family and the Ryuzoji family as fat sheep and had to frequently give money to his retainers to prevent them from being taken over by his cousin.

For example, Kabuta Castle and Nanfeng Castle were both in the fiefdom of Omura's retainers, so he shouldn't have to pay for them. But if he didn't build the city, they would fall into the arms of the young master, so what could he do?

Moreover, the Nanman trade was not a monopoly of his family, and it was not as profitable as others imagined. He only had about 300,000 taels of silver. If he had to pay out most of it, he would be vomiting blood.

But he was clear-headed. He knew that the situation was stronger than him. Rather than procrastinating and offending the other party, which would inevitably lead to bleeding, it would be better to be straightforward and ask for a guarantee.

"Since you have asked, I will definitely raise the money even if I sell everything I have." Omura Juntada seemed to have made a great decision and said, "I just beg you to sever ties with the Goto family?"

"Well, people should be trustworthy." Zhao Hao said with an embarrassed look on his face: "It was the Goto family who came first. If you want to be the mistress now, you have to pay more."

"More?" Omura Junchu was sweating. It was still unknown when the southern barbarian trade would resume. If he emptied his family fortune, how would he deal with a hand that only wanted money? The monkeys would scatter in a matter of minutes!

"Please spare my life, sir. There is really not a drop left." Omura Juntada's nose was running again.

"Then let's just pretend that neither of us said anything." Zhao Hao looked indifferent.

"I am willing to give Nagasaki to you, young master!" Omura Junzhong shouted, "The area within three miles of Nagasaki Port, no, the whole Nagasaki belongs to you, young master!"

A hint of greed flashed across Mr. Zhao's eyes, and then disappeared immediately, "What do I want your land for?"

"Sir, don't you need a port for trade?" Omura Juntada looked at Zhao Hao in surprise.

"No need." Zhao Hao shook his head decisively and said, "I just need you to cut off all contact with the Portuguese and reopen Yokozeura."

After a pause, he said in a deep voice: "Of course, only the ships of the Tamra Chamber of Commerce can dock at Yokozeura. No other foreign ships are allowed to dock."

Not to open a port or build a city on the Mishima Islands of Japan, allowing Japan to enter early and maintaining a state of "closed country" was the principle set by Master Zhao early on.

Not wanting to disperse manpower is secondary. The key is to build a city here for colonization, which is equivalent to opening a window for Japan. All new changes in the Jiangnan Group will be transmitted to Japan through this city to a greater or lesser extent.

The Japanese are as good at learning as the Chinese. If they were allowed to embark on the "Meiji Restoration" ahead of time due to their own reasons, it would be a loss.

The best Japan is the one that isolates itself from the outside world. Although Japan is an island country, it now has the mindset of a continental country. This is good and should be maintained. So don't bother with it. Just use warships to help them without having to go to sea.

Since there were no territorial claims, there was no need to choose remote Nagasaki as a trading port.

It is true that Nagasaki is an excellent port, but Mr. Zhao just doesn't want the Portuguese to get it. As for the Tamra Chamber of Commerce, he thinks it is more appropriate to dock and trade at Yokozeura.

Yokozeura is located in Sasebo Bay. The three words "Sasebo" are enough to explain the superiority and importance of this location. Although Nagasaki is also very good, it is far inferior to Sasebo Bay in terms of location and port conditions.

In fact, as a trading port, the further north the better, because Honshu Island, where 80% of the population lives, is in the north.

Apart from anything else, within two years of the Portuguese opening trade at Hirado Port, the power of the Matsuura family expanded rapidly, allowing Matsuura Takanobu to become the governor of Hizen Prefecture. Within a year of the opening of Yokozeura Port, it became a prosperous town with a population of over 10,000.

How many years has Fukudaura been open to the public? It has only become a village of more than a thousand people. The difference in location is so obvious.

The Portuguese knew this, and they chose Hiradoura at first, but later changed it to Yokozeura, all in order to get as far north as possible and closer to Honshu. It was because they could no longer stay in Hirado and Yokozeura that they had no choice but to choose the more remote Nagasaki as their base, so that they could preach and do business in peace.

Young Master Zhao is different from the Portuguese. The Red Devils are too weak in the Far East to send too many troops to Japan, so they can only take it step by step with a low profile.

The Ming Dynasty was close to Japan, so Master Zhao could easily send forces from Jiangnan over. He established the Tamra Garrison District, saying it was to protect the grain transportation. But the headquarters was built at the easternmost end of Tamra Island, and four of the five marine police stations were arranged around Japan.

Therefore, Mr. Zhao was not afraid of making things bigger, but wanted to make a big deal about it. So he naturally chose Sasebo Bay, the gateway to western Japan, as the trading port, rather than anywhere else.

~~

"Yes, Yokozeura welcomes the Tamra Chamber of Commerce's ships at any time, and no other foreign ships are allowed to dock."

Omura Junzhong thought for a while, and finally nodded with difficulty. No matter whether the merchants came from the Ming Dynasty or the Joseon Dynasty, as long as they were not red-haired barbarians, there was no reason for the damn cousin to fan the flames. Besides, he actually wanted to rebuild the prosperous Yokozeura!

After a pause, he smiled bitterly and said, "But I have to remind you, sir, the Nanman... Oh, the Portuguese don't just do business with my Omura family. Let's not talk about Honshu. Just on Kyushu Island, there are four Nanman trading ports: Hakata, Usuki, Hirado, and Tanegashima. Especially the Hakata of the Mori family and the Usuki of the Otomo family, their trade volume is much larger than that of my small Omura family."

"Hmm." Young Master Zhao nodded, not surprised by this.

The Nanman trade was profitable and could also bring in scarce military supplies such as iron cannons, armor, and gunpowder. Especially after the Jinghai King Seal disappeared and the Nine Great Families' trade system collapsed, the daimyo and the Portuguese became even more unscrupulous in colluding with each other and trading directly.

The captives said that the trade volume on the Macao-Ryukyu-Japan route has increased tenfold in the past two years. Otherwise, the Governor of Macao would not have sent his flagship to Japan to stabilize the situation.

"So, you have no say in not doing business with the Portuguese?" Zhao Hao said to Omura Juntada.

"Of course not." Junzhong shook his head like a rattle. "I can only manage a small corner of Hizen Province and the small area of ​​Nishibitsu."

"Then who has the final say?" Zhao Hao asked knowingly.

"It should be Lord Otomo Sorin." Junzhong replied hurriedly: "He is the Kyushu Explorer, and the entire Kyushu is under his jurisdiction. It's just..."

"Just what?" Zhao Hao asked.

"But now the Mori family, the strongest in western Japan, has made a comeback and is fighting the Otomo family in Kitakyushu. It's still unclear who will win." Junzhong said with a wry smile: "If the Mori family wins, the Otomo family will inevitably fall into a trough, and the Ryuzoji and Shimazu families, who were originally unruly, will definitely not listen to his orders."

"What if the Otomo family wins?" Zhao Hao asked back.

"If we can defeat the wisest general in the West, the power of the Otomo family will reach an unprecedented height, and naturally no one will dare to disobey the order of Master Sorin." Omura Juntada sighed lightly, obviously not optimistic about the Otomo family.

It is natural that he is not optimistic about the Otomo family, because Otomo Sorin's opponent this time is Mori Motonari.

The top-notch general who started with an army of 150 people and used his military skills like a god had unified western Honshu after destroying the Ouchi clan and the Amago clan. This time, in order to unify western Japan, he mobilized elite troops, personally commanded from the rear, and invaded Kyushu Island again.

Although the war lasted for several months and reached a stalemate, everyone was more optimistic that the Mori family would win.

Because that was Maori Motonari.

"Then help the Otomo family win!" Young Master Zhao stood up and declared, "Kill all of them, Motonari Mori and Kogoro!"

"Ah?" Omura Juntada opened his mouth in shock. This time he was not pretending. Although he did not dare to underestimate the Ming fleet, could only one thousand or two thousand people go ashore? Are the more than 50,000 elite troops of the Mori family in northern Kyushu so easy to deal with?

"What? How about paying three hundred thousand taels?" Zhao Hao glared at him and said, "Or else hurry up and get this done for me!"

"Your Excellency's intention is to have me go see Master Zonglin?" Omura Junzhong quickly calmed down and asked, "And propose your conditions to him?"

"Yes, he will definitely agree." Zhao Hao nodded confidently and said, "Go away, I'll give you five days."

"Hi." Omura Juntada had no choice but to agree.

"There is another two hundred thousand taels of silver. Send it to me within three days." Zhao Hao added, "Otherwise you know the consequences."

"Hi hi." Omura Juntada almost vomited blood. It turned out that he was not completely exempt.