In the Song Dynasty, there was no law or order.

Starting from the Tang Dynasty, Japan imitated the Central Plains dynasty and divided its administrative regions into five kingdoms, seven provinces and sixty-six kingdoms.

Below the country is the county, and below the county is the village.

Therefore, since the Nara period, Japan's administrative regions have been divided into four levels: kido, country, county, and village, corresponding to the Dasong road, state, county, and village.

The Iwami Silver Mine is located in the mountain valley of Iwami Province, Annon County. The area is mountainous and hilly, with only a plain along the coast.

The plain is not vast, but there are dozens of miles of fertile fields, and some villages once thrived here.

After the discovery of the silver mine, Annan County instantly became lively and a large number of outsiders flowed in, allowing the place to develop a population of more than 100,000 in just ten years.

In the afternoon of February 9th, after Ning Haijun rested for a while at the port of Zhifuli County, he officially set off towards Anon County.

It was the first time for Song Cai to board a navy ship. He watched curiously, especially the main ship, the armored ship. The black chimneys with billowing smoke made people feel terrified.

The fleet moved south in a mighty manner, with the armored ships leading the way.

Although the armored ship is only slightly larger than an ordinary assault ship, it cannot even compare to the Sea Falcon attack ship, let alone the Flying Tiger frigate and the Fuchuan battleship.

But the ferocious armor, the roaring sound, and the thick black smoke still made people feel scared.

Even the people of the Song Dynasty found it terrifying, let alone the Japanese who had never seen it before.

Ma Mao stood on the bow of the ship, standing side by side with Song Cai. Looking to the south, he saw that the first thing he could see in the distance was a mountain range hidden in the mist.

The mountains are not high, but they are lush and green, covered by countless trees that block the sky and the sun.

As the distance got closer and closer, the distant port came into view, with ships coming and going, including fishing boats, merchant ships, cargo ships, human-powered ships, etc.

Coming and going, it's so lively.

Many of them were going to the port of Zhifuli County. When they saw Ning Haijun coming from a distance, they were full of fear and panic.

Many Japanese pirate ships were even swaying, as if the helmsman's hands were shaking, and they almost capsized in the sea.

Most of the other ships hurriedly took a detour, not daring to come near at all. Even the nearest Song merchant ship was at least a mile away.

Ma Mao is very satisfied with this deterrent effect.

The purpose of his trip was to demonstrate his force in Japan to ensure the smooth development of trade between Song and Japan.

Not only did it shock the entire country of Japan, but some pirates also had to be eliminated.

Because in addition to possible civil strife and high-level threats in Japan, the biggest and most important threat to Song-Japan trade was rampant piracy.

Historically, during the Southern Song Dynasty, Song-Japanese trade ships were often plundered by pirates, and this was even more common in the Ming Dynasty.

These people, often composed of Han Chinese, Koreans, and Japanese, arbitrarily robbed and killed trading fleets, bringing great instability to shipping routes.

Therefore, in order to combat pirates and protect trade routes, it is natural to deploy the navy.

"woo woo woo woo!"

With the steam ship making a huge roar, the fleet finally stopped about three or four nautical miles away from the port.

As Song Cai said, there is no shelter in Annan County, and the water on the seaside is very shallow and there are many rocks, so it is not suitable for large ships to dock.

The port over there doesn't even have shelter from the wind. The port is just densely packed with countless small boats, and goods can only be transported by small boats.

When Ning Haijun stopped the boat, Ma Mao waved his hand, and then the boat began to be lowered from the boat and took them to the shore.

At this moment, countless onlookers have gathered on the shore, including Song people and Japanese, but most of them are Japanese. At a glance, they are all densely packed with dwarfs.

Further away, there are rows of houses and streets, with various shops, vendors, and buildings rising from the ground, and countless signboards swaying in the wind, which is quite a scene like a Kaifeng street market.

The boat quickly reached the shore. On the shore, the guardian of Iwami Kingdom and the head of the local wealthy family were already waiting. Naturally, the local dignitaries had already seen such a big movement.

The port on the shore was crowded with people, and everyone looked at the terrifying ships in the distance in shock. Compared with them, the Japanese felt like uncivilized people.

"Song Palace."

After Song Caimao and others disembarked,

Ishimi Kuni Shou Fujiwara Yoshitsuna came over with several powerful family heads. He looked at the tall Ma Mao next to him in awe and said, "Is this?"

Song Cai said in Japanese: "Fujiwara-don, let me introduce to you, this is my Grand Songning Navy Commander."

"Horse Hall."

Fujiwara Yoshitsuna quickly bowed to Ma Mao, leaving Ma Mao confused for a moment, not knowing whether to bow in return or to bow in return.

Seeing that Ma Mao was a little confused, Song Cai smiled and said: "This is their etiquette. It is said that it came from the Buddhist bowing ceremony with palms together after Jianzhen's eastward journey hundreds of years ago. It is only for the most distinguished people. To salute, the commander just arches his hands."

"oh."

Ma Mao handed over his hand.

Song Cai then said to Fujiwara Yoshitsuna: "Commander Ma came here to eliminate pirates under the orders of the Song Dynasty court. Many pirates attacked our ships, which made the Song Dynasty court worried, so they sent Ning Haijun here. "

"I see, Ma Dian will be our most distinguished guest."

Fujiwara Yoshitsuna was secretly glad that these terrifying warships were not here to attack them, otherwise Ishigami might have shed a river of blood.

He planned to report the matter to his superiors as soon as possible after returning.

As a member of the Fujiwara family, Fujiwara Yoshitsugu had the obligation to submit the information he knew so far.

Later, under the leadership of Song Cai and Fujiwara Yoshitsugu, Ma Mao and others went ashore and entered the streets of Anno County.

They introduced Ma Mao to the current prosperity of Iwami Province, Japanese culture and handicrafts, and took him to visit the Iwami silver mine that was being dug in the distance.

And Ma Mao also told them about the grand scene in the Song Dynasty, and introduced them to new things such as muskets, cannons, steamships, and trains.

Even if they didn't see it with their own eyes, just listening to Ma Mao's talk was also shocking to these Japanese people.

Most of the merchants in Song Dynasty didn't know Japanese, and they came and went in a hurry. They rarely told them the news in Song Dynasty. The rapid changes made them feel the difference in civilization.

Compared with the Song Dynasty, they were like uncivilized savages.

So for the next seven or eight days, Ma Mao lived in Anno County, the warships were mainly parked in Zhifuli County, and the soldiers took turns to enter the port for entertainment.

The scale and consumption of 5,000 people made Anno County more prosperous, and the soldiers of Song Dynasty also brought many novel things and toys, which made the local Japanese feel inferior.

The news spread quickly and was sent to Heian-kyō, but it could not be delivered in a short time due to the long distance.

And Heian-kyō was inland and could not be reached by ship, unlike the later US-Japan black ship incident, which could drive the ship to Tokyo Bay and cause a greater shock.

However, even so, when the news reached Heian-kyō later, it also caused a sensation.

This made the Japanese high-level officials realize that the prosperity of the Song Dynasty was unimaginable.

The Ninghai Navy spent a few days in the gentle country of Iwami Province, vented the anger of youth, and then set off again.

Their next step was to go to Sado Island.

The Iwami Silver Mine was developed in the first year of the Baoyuan period, which is ten years ago. The Sado Gold Mine was discovered in the second year of the Qingli period and mined in the third year of the Qingli period, which has been more than five years.

In addition to the Cao family, Song Cai also holds a certain share in it, and behind Song Cai is actually the interests of the Song Dynasty court.

This part of the shares belongs to the imperial treasury of the Song Dynasty and the Jiaozi Bureau. Now the Jiaozi Bureau has a large amount of gold and silver as anchors, and is preparing to sell silver dollars and banknotes. The income from these mines is very important.

Therefore, after inspecting the Iwami Silver Mine, the Ning Navy had to go to Sado Island.

Even though Sado Island is not as developed or entertained as Iwami Province, military orders are like mountains.

If the Ning Navy is slack, once it is known by the superiors, Ma Mao will not be able to eat it, so he can only have fun for a few days and then leave the gentle land.

It is more than 800 kilometers from Iwami Province to Sado Island, and it is estimated to take seven or eight days.

And just when the Song Dynasty warships left Iwami Province and headed for Sado Island, Echigo Province also ushered in a new national defender.

In early February, just a few days before the arrival of the Song Dynasty warships, the Japanese court sent Fujiwara Sukinaga with about a thousand soldiers to Echigo Province.

Don't underestimate a thousand people.

Except for the special reasons of Mutsu and Dewa, where local nobles served as prisoner chiefs and controlled many criminals and prisoners to have thousands of people, the nobles and nobles in many countries may only have dozens of subordinates.

Therefore, even if there is a rebellion in the local area, thousands or even hundreds of soldiers can already suppress the rebellion.

Fujiwara no Suketsuna took nearly 20 days to arrive in Echigo Province in late February, and then immediately took out the imperial edict, announcing the removal of the governor of Echigo Province, Tachibana Tamenaka, and nationalizing the Sado gold mine.

This action directly caused the local nobles in Echigo Province and the merchants of Song State who were mining gold to explode on the spot. They raised objections one after another, but were suppressed by Fujiwara no Suketsuna.

He arrested some nobles on the spot, and even a few merchants from Song State. For a time, the people of Echigo were panicked and the mining progress came to a standstill.

On February 21, the Song merchants, led by Lu Chao, immediately contacted the Abe clan in Mutsu and the Kiyomizu clan in Dewa, hoping that they could send troops to drive Fujiwara no Suketsuna away and take back the Sado gold mine.

The Abe clan was quite loyal and sent more than a thousand soldiers. After all, if he wanted to continue to trade with the Song people, he had to have Echigo and Dewa as outlets.

Once the Sado gold mine was controlled by the court and the Song merchants left, he would never be able to buy and sell weapons and equipment with Song merchants again, which would obviously harm his own vital interests.

Originally, he thought that more than a thousand soldiers would be able to deal with Fujiwara no Suketsuna easily, but what Abe clan did not expect was that on the way to Echigo, his army was ambushed by Minamoto no Yoriyoshi and suffered heavy losses.

With the appearance of Minamoto no Yoriyoshi, things became complicated.

Because the prestige of Minamoto no Yoriyoshi and his son in the north was too high, not only Mutsu, but even Dewa was once the place where Minamoto no Yoriyoshi and his son were stationed.

It can be said that this place is full of their students and former officials. Many of the soldiers recruited by the Abe clan were previously under the command of Minamoto no Yoriyoshi and his son.

When Minamoto no Yoriyoshi appeared, many of the Abe clan's soldiers fled, and even simply turned against their own side.

For a time, Abe no Yoriyoshi and Kiyohara no Takeshi were also full of vigilance in the face of the aggressive Minamoto no Yoriyoshi, and they did not dare to send troops to Echigo Province.

On the other hand, Fujiwara no Suketsuna mobilized more than a thousand people from Shinano, Echichu, Ueno and other countries, and went directly to the island to expel the forces of the major families and merchants from Song.

In just a few days, the Sado Gold Mine, which took Song merchants more than five years to develop, was occupied by others.

On February 28, after protesting and asking for help to no avail, Lu Chao decided to return to China for help.

In the early morning, outside the small port of a fishing village on the seaside of Iwafune County in the north of Echigo Kingdom, the Riku Dynasty and the former Echigo Kingdom Shou Tachibana were together, as well as the Takada clan and the Muramatsu clan of the powerful families in Nicho County, Koshi County, Uonuma County, Gabara County and other places. , Nagaoka family, Murakami family and other families gathered together.

Everyone sent Lu Chao and some of his followers to the port. A large merchant ship common in Song-Japan trade was parked at the port. There are very few merchant ships left on Sado Island. Song merchants were either caught or escaped long ago. .

The key is that Fujiwara Jizuna also confiscated a large number of Song merchants' ships, so that most Song merchants could only leave by land, which greatly increased their danger.

If the Lu Dynasty had not been the strongest and most powerful, and had not made timely preparations, I am afraid that it would have encountered an unexpected event.

"The Sado Mine is our common wealth with you. It was discovered by us Song people and it is also your local mineral. Your court allowed it at the beginning, but they wanted to take it away by force. This is obviously unreasonable behavior. "

Lu Chao stood on the shore and said to them: "I think this must be because there are rebellious ministers in the court who are causing trouble. I must report this matter to my heaven, so you can just wait and see."

Ju Weizhong hesitated and said: "Lu Dian, after all, this is the will of the emperor. Shouldn't we do it?"

Lu Chao frowned and said, "Ju Dian, your Ju family is from a royal family, and you were once a powerful family with ministers from generation to generation. I think you know better than me why we have become what we are today."

"."

Ju Weizhong fell silent.

The others all said: "Lu Dian, just go ahead, we are waiting for you."

"Don't worry, as long as we are here, we will never let the Fujiwara family succeed."

"I also ask Lu Dian to come back safely."

Everyone bowed again and again.

Echigo Country has the Echigo Plain, which produces abundant grain, and the strength of the local wealthy families is not bad.

However, most of the grain had to be handed over to the court as tribute. This was Japan's system. The Abe family rebelled just because they did not want to pay tribute, and thus their strength was severely weakened.

In addition, there are many wealthy families in Echigo country, and the interests are unevenly distributed, making it difficult to unite.

As a result, the overall strength of the Echigo Kingdom was stronger than that of the Abe family. Even if everyone's combined strength could exceed 10,000 troops.

But because there are too many wealthy families and they are too scattered, with dozens and hundreds of people in each household, and they cannot be unified, Fujiwara Nozuna can drive them away with a total of more than 2,000 people.

However, no one wants to give up the huge profits from the gold mine. If they cannot unite, they can only place their hope on the Lu Dynasty.

"rest assured!"

Lu Chao nodded and immediately boarded the boat.

He was actually feeling quite uneasy, wondering if he could ask the imperial court to send troops from Ma Island.

Although Tsushima is stationed in Japan, they are basically fighting against pirates.

And this time it is to deal with Japan. It is still unknown whether the Song Dynasty court will mobilize troops to fight across the sea for this matter.

But you have to give it a try anyway.

Otherwise, not to mention Lu Chao's unwillingness to see such a big piece of fat go out of the Sado Gold Mine, the Cao family behind him might also have to hold him accountable.

The merchant ships set sail in the early morning, and a light mist floated on the sea. At the end of the morning, the sun hung high in the sky, and the mist slowly began to dissipate.

Riku Chao's ship sailed on the sea for more than three hours, and by noon, it was about to head towards Noto Country.

'Alas, the Sado Gold Mine was discovered by us Song Dynasty people. We hired people to mine it, and we also used real money and silver to buy business shares. We also attracted local wealthy families and paid a lot of money to the Japanese dignitaries. We paid such a high price, but in the end it was all in vain. . ’

‘I hope the Cao family can persuade the officials and the magistrates. Even if they cannot send a large army to the Japanese island, they must at least send envoys to question them. Maybe those ministers, forced by the power of the Song Dynasty, will return the gold mines? ’

‘I heard that Song Cai has a background in Chiyuan. He also has a lot of business shares in the Sado Gold Mine, and his share is even larger than that of our Cao family. Maybe I should go to him immediately to discuss it. ’

'Just thinking about it carefully, there is little hope. How could the imperial court send a large army across the ocean to the Japanese island just for this matter? ’

Lu Chao stood on the bow of the ship, with his hands behind his back, looking down at the deck, full of pessimism about whether he could find reinforcements.

Who would have thought that the Japanese court would be so shameless and come directly to seize the minerals that had been allocated long ago?

Although this is a Japanese mineral, they had received permission from the Japanese court before. They also paid a lot of money to pay tribute to the Japanese court and gave them shares before they were allowed.

In other words, including the Iwami Silver Mine and the Sado Gold Mine, they are all mined legally. This is also an insurance policy in case they are coveted by others in a foreign country.

Unexpectedly, no one else is coveting it, but the Japanese court is no longer satisfied with this small share and the benefits delivered every year. They want more.

After the merchants of the Song Dynasty finally matured the mining industry and had the technology and tools in place, the Japanese court came to pick peaches. This shameless behavior was unexpected.

Lu Chao let out a long sigh, and then, amidst this frustration and uneasiness, he was about to go back to the cabin to rest.

But suddenly someone shouted: "Sir, it's broken, there's a boat chasing you."

"What?"

Lu Chao hurried to the side of the ship and looked behind him.

He saw many large ships speeding from behind, which were all Song merchant ships confiscated by Fujiwara no Suketsuna, and many small speedboats.

The Japanese were also very clear that taking back the Sado gold mine would affect the interests of the Song Dynasty, so their plan was to block the news first, arrest Song merchants, and not allow them to spread the news.

When they bowed down to the Song Dynasty in diplomatic occasions and flattered the upper echelons of the Song Dynasty, making them feel that sending troops to Japan was not worth the loss, and then use the benefits of taking back the Sado gold mine to purchase weapons and armor from the Song Dynasty and equip themselves, they would have enough strength to negotiate conditions.

Otherwise, if the Song Dynasty was really angered and attacked with all its strength, the Japanese high-level officials would not be sure whether they could win.

This was a rational approach.

So although Fujiwara no Suketsuna could not catch all the Song merchants who escaped on land, there would be no problem in using the confiscated merchant ships to block the sea.

"Quick, full speed ahead!"

Lu Chao shouted.

Their ships accelerated desperately, and the Song sailors hired in the cabin rowed and paddled frantically.

But the speed of the big ship is obviously not as fast as that of the speedboat.

The small boats came like arrows.

Lu Chao's heart sank.

It's bad.

Once caught by the Japanese, the news may not be passed back.

Even if the Cao family finds something wrong and sends people over, or Iwami Country notices these situations, it will probably take a few months.

By then, I don't know what the situation will become.

Lu Chao looked back from time to time, and seeing the small boats getting closer and closer, he couldn't help but feel desperate.

Is he really going to be captured here?

However, at this moment, someone shouted: "There are ships ahead, and there are ships ahead."

Lu Chao's heart became even more desperate.

But he instinctively looked up.

Just like that, he was stunned.

He saw that in the vast sea in the distance, Nengdengjiao rumbled towards more than a dozen huge warships, majestic, with flags and sails covering the sky.

What is that?

Our Song Dynasty's navy?

Lu Chao looked at the military flag. He came from the Cao family, how could he be unfamiliar with the military flag?

In an instant.

Lu Chao's face showed an expression of ecstasy.

The Song Navy is here!

They are saved.