Chapter 111: Pave the Shipping Route with Human Lives!
To go out to sea for exploration, a good ship is naturally indispensable. However, there were no good ships in Japan’s Warring States period, and at this time, Japan didn’t even have a proper shipyard. Ship construction was handled by larger water bandit groups, and ordinary people had no chance to buy ships from them.
Fortunately, Yu Da was a retired water bandit, a well-known and experienced one at that, so she had some old connections. After getting Yuan Ye’s consent, she personally went out and purchased a used Kan-sen ship for 750 kan plus a 30 kan introduction fee.
The so-called Kan-sen ship refers to a medium-sized vessel that was widely active in Japan’s coastal waters from the Muromachi period to the Edo period. Because water bandits often used them to set up checkpoints and blockades, crack down on smuggling, and patrol territorial waters, they were named “Kan-sen ships.”
Its bow was usually pointed, often adorned with tassel-like ornaments, and equipped with a device called a “mizuoshi” on the pointed tip. This device functioned similarly to the beakhead of a Western carrack, and this design helped reduce water resistance, making it more suitable for cutting through waves at high speed.
Its hull structure was similar to an Atakebune ship, with the lower part serving to store cargo and ballast, constructed using a lap joint method, making its structure relatively fragile. Above this was a “sōyagura” for personnel to live and move around in, usually only one story high and very low.
The propulsion system was a hybrid of oars and sails. Depending on the ship’s size, the number of oars ranged from 6 to 80, while the sails were hard sails made of bamboo and wood that could rotate 360 degrees, ensuring they could catch the wind from any direction and were very simple to operate.
This is roughly what a Kan-sen ship looked like. It could be used for coastal transport of personnel and goods. If war broke out, it could also be converted into a warship by surrounding the hull with bamboo “tateita” (shield boards) and equipping the sailors with bows and arrows, matchlock guns, and other weapons. It was very agile for darting around at sea and suitable for close combat. If the ship was smaller, it would be called a Kobaya ship.
Overall, this was a very backward ship type. Even when judged by the average standards of East Asia in the mid-16th century, not just by modern standards, it was still a very backward ship type. This thing didn’t even have watertight compartments; as long as the hole in the hull was large enough, it would unceremoniously become a submarine.
In any case, Yuan Ye absolutely dared not take such a vessel out to sea, at least not to venture out of the relatively calm waters of Ise Bay to face the test of the Pacific’s fierce winds and giant waves.
However, Yu Da was quite fond of this medium-sized Kan-sen ship of 400 koku, and her confidence seemed to have increased. To avoid losing everything, Yuan Ye was also very diligent. He helped her select ten young men from the workshop and experienced followers, immediately transferring them to the navy and placing them under her command. This way, she could practice with the ship day and night near Wanjin, and after several patrols to build up coordination, it wouldn’t be too late to set sail.
At the same time, he tried his best to recall the maps he had seen in the modern era and tried to “guess” a safe route for her, maximizing the chances of success.
According to his plan, directly heading for islands that humans had never visited before was out of the question; it would be akin to suicide. Every step needed to be taken carefully, searching island by island until they found the coral islands on the outermost fringes of the Japanese archipelago, where seabirds had been defecating for thousands, tens of thousands, or even hundreds of thousands of years.
This could be considered a different kind of “leapfrog tactic.”
He believed this had a certain feasibility. After all, there were about 13,000 islands around the Japanese archipelago. By stepping on each island one by one, the straightforward long-distance voyage could be broken down into seven or eight, or even ten or more, short-distance voyages, which should reduce the risk by several levels.
Then, it would depend on Captain Yu Da’s experience, courage, and luck. If she could return alive, she could defy fate for her wife and children, ensuring a life of no worries and a happy, stable, and fulfilling life for her entire family.
Well, based on Yuan Ye’s observations during this period, there should be a rather touching love story between this older husband and younger wife. Someone like Yu Da, at her age, still had to humble herself and risk her life, all to prevent her beloved wife and young child from suffering hardship on the island. However, such matters were not to be probed deeply, and in the spirit of respecting talent, Yuan Ye did not ask further.
Through their interactions during this period, especially their repeated discussions on how to reach those uninhabited islands, Yu Da also felt Yuan Ye’s seriousness and kindness. She began to talk to him more often, and she dedicated herself to training the ten newly transferred navy personnel, not holding back any of her knowledge. At over fifty years old, she was considered elderly in this era and couldn’t work for much longer. Since Yuan Ye treated her with respect, she didn’t mind training a few new captains for him; there was no competition between them.
As she became more cooperative, Yuan Ye took the opportunity to inquire about Japan’s water bandits. After all, as a modern person, he couldn’t be unaware of the importance of maritime trade. Even though his current strength was negligible, and he only had one ship, lacking the capital to engage in maritime trade and expand into distant markets, it didn’t hurt to inquire about future rivals or potential partners.
This was not a secret, and Yu Da had no intention of hiding it. She treated it as casual conversation and a way to deepen their relationship, briefly explaining to him about the rather unique group of water bandits in Japan. In Japan, water bandits were essentially a type of “maritime local lord.”
For example, water bandits in various parts of Japan had the right to levy taxes. Especially in the Seto Inland Sea, the sea area between Japan’s Chugoku and Shikoku regions, numerous water bandit groups were active. They openly set up checkpoints and collected “hanbetsu-sen” – a toll based on the size of the ship’s sail;
or “kabetsu-sen” – a toll based on the value of the goods transported, or they would simply take a portion of the goods themselves to resell;
or “kan’yaku-sen” – a port docking fee, prohibiting docking and trade without payment;
or “jōjō-ryō” – a security fee, guaranteeing that ships would not be attacked by other water bandit forces in that sea area, somewhat like a primitive form of cargo insurance.
In addition, there were various other miscellaneous “kan-sen,” “tachi-sen,” and “watari-sen.” Lower-ranking water bandits would randomly select passenger ships, board them, and demand “gift money” from passengers. If refused, they would resort to violence or even murder.
At the same time, water bandits also engaged in their own businesses, reselling various goods and even operating passenger transport services with regular passenger ships departing for different ports. For instance, according to the “Nihon Gyōroku” (Record of Japanese Travels) by Song Xijing, when Song Xijing, as a Korean envoy, traveled by ship from Kyushu Island to Sakai, he traveled on water bandit ships. He didn’t just travel on one water bandit’s ship; he had to change ships every time he reached the territorial boundary of a particular water bandit group, making for quite a troublesome journey.
In short, Japan’s water bandits were essentially no different from the local lords on land. They occupied a territory, managed it well, collected fees at checkpoints, and for various reasons, would follow a Daimyo to participate in wars, dispatching their navy to join the conflict.
Yes, the navy in Japan during this era was managed by water bandits. Each water bandit group would have one or several “kegōshū” (guard units), and these were the main forces that participated in wars. They were roughly equivalent to the followers of a warrior family. These individuals were the traditional navy. Other water bandits were no different from commoners; for most of the time, they stayed in one place fishing. At most, during urgent wartime situations, they might be called upon to help row the boats, similar to Rookies and Ashigaru.
After Yuan Ye understood the question of “what are water bandits,” he felt from the bottom of his heart that he would eventually have to deal with these people. However, he certainly couldn’t use them at the moment. He was only concerned about whether there were any large water bandit groups in his vicinity. As it turned out, there weren’t any.
The sea area between the Chita Peninsula and the Ise Peninsula was not active in maritime trade. After all, the trade route from Shimazu to Atsuta was on land, and water bandits couldn’t get involved. Furthermore, Oda Nobuhide and his father had been extremely vigilant against anyone who dared to interfere with this trade route for two generations, making it even less likely they would tolerate water bandits causing trouble. Therefore, this sea area had been quite peaceful for decades, and no large water bandit groups had emerged.
There weren’t even many transient criminals. The islanders in Ise Bay were all poor souls evading labor and annual tribute. Robbing them would yield no benefit and might even cost money. As for going ashore to rob… While samurai couldn’t deal with water bandits at sea, water bandits couldn’t defeat samurai on land. So, over time, no one bothered coming.
Yuan Ye felt a hint of disappointment, sensing a lost channel for acquiring people or selling goods. But there was nothing he could do; he had no say in such matters. He could only continue to focus on the task of digging bird droppings, continue to provide all sorts of conveniences for Yu Da, and meticulously plan with her.
A little over a month later, Yu Da felt the time was right, and the sailors had been trained sufficiently—hard-sailed ships didn’t require much from the sailors. Then, on a clear and sunny morning, she set sail from Wanjin with ample supplies and various mineral charts hand-drawn by Yuan Ye. They slowly sailed south along the western coastline of the Chita Peninsula.
According to the plan, they were to first reach the tip of the Chita Peninsula, then turn southwest to search for an island where a person could land. After resting there, they would enter the open ocean and slowly search for an island. Using that island as a base, they would continue searching for the next island until they found the minerals specified in Yuan Ye’s illustrated book on one of the islands, and then excavate several hundred koku of it.
Several hundred koku would be enough. Oda Nobunaga’s first batch only required three thousand jin of gunpowder, which translated to about ten-plus koku. As long as Yu Da’s ship could excavate several hundred koku of processed bird droppings, it would be more than sufficient, with plenty left over for their own use.
Well, Yuan Ye himself also needed a large amount of saltpeter. After all, his future troops would definitely be equipped with a large number of matchlock guns, and he would want to have even more than Oda Nobunaga. A shortage of saltpeter would also hinder him. Therefore, he had to find those uninhabited islands covered in bird droppings. Otherwise, if it were just three thousand jin of gunpowder, he could have had everyone in his territory defecate more to produce it, without such worry and effort.
He stood on the makeshift pier, watching Yu Da’s “Ship No. 1” grow smaller and smaller, gradually disappearing into the sea mist. He sincerely hoped they would succeed on their first attempt. Otherwise, he would have to send out “Ship No. 2” and “Ship No. 3,” continuing to use human lives to pave the way until this saltpeter trade route was established.
Two months. If things went quickly, they should return in about a month and a half. So, let’s calculate it as two months. If they still hadn’t returned after two months, the second batch of people would depart. Even if it meant paving the way with corpses, the saltpeter trade route had to be established!
