Chapter 218: Let Them Know Who Rules This Sea Area!
Before Japan had even encroached upon Hokkaido, its territory resembled a small seahorse.
Honshu Island was like its body, Kyushu Island like its excrement, Shikoku Island like its egg, the Ise Peninsula like its pectoral fin, the Boso Peninsula like its pelvic fin, and the Izu Peninsula, sandwiched between the Ise and Boso Peninsulas, resembled its… （ an organ that did not pass review ）
If a seahorse had such a thing, or if one were to anthropomorphize a seahorse, the position of the Izu Peninsula would indeed easily bring that organ to mind.
In short, the Izu Peninsula is not large in area, perhaps only five to six times the size of the Chita Peninsula, but its shape is quite unique. To the west is Suruga Bay, to the south is the Pacific Ocean, and to the east is Sagami Bay. It juts out straight towards the ocean, giving a very hard, hard feeling, and looks quite virile.
This area was initially ruled by a branch of the Muromachi Shogunate, the “Horikoshi Kubo （ a branch of the Ashikaga Clan ）”. In 1491, after the death of Horikoshi Kubo Ashikaga Masatomo, his son Ashikaga Chachamaru succeeded him, but his tyranny led to internal strife. At this time, Hojo Soun （ Ise Moritoki ）, who originated from the Ise clan, rose to prominence.
In 1493, Hojo Soun, with a dozen or so vassals and over a hundred followers, sneak attacked the Horikoshi Kubo’s residence. It was captured in just one day, expelling Ashikaga Chachamaru and making him the de facto ruler of Izu, thus beginning the Kanto hegemony of the Later Hojo clan.
After Hojo Ujitsuna, the son of Hojo Soun, succeeded him, he moved his castle to Odawara Castle in Sagami Province （ present-day Kanagawa Prefecture ）, and expanded outwards from there. The Izu Peninsula, as the birthplace of the Hojo family and possessing the advantage of excellent defense due to being surrounded by the sea on three sides, became their stable rear base. During the reign of Hojo Ujiyasu, the Izu Peninsula, along with Musashi and other regions, formed the core territory of the Hojo family.
As for the Hojo navy… about eight years ago, when the Hojo family was fighting the Satomi family for the Boso Peninsula, they were burned down by the Satomi navy.
Since then, the Hojo navy has been in decline. Even though the Hojo family attempted to rebuild several times, they achieved almost no success against the overwhelming advantage of the Satomi navy and had completely lost control of the nearby sea areas.
For example, Shimoda Port, a natural good harbor on the Izu Peninsula, is said to have completely declined. Few merchant ships dare to trade there. Currently, the Hojo family’s trade relies mainly on land supply from the Imagawa and Takeda families—this is also one of the reasons why the Hojo family actively joined the “Three-Nation Alliance.”
Now, as Yuan Ye led the Wanjin fleet, they encountered the Satomi navy, or rather, water bandits, as soon as they left Suruga Bay.
This kobaya ship, only a few dozen koku in size, relying on its speed and maneuverability, patrolled not far from the Wanjin fleet, and Yuan Ye immediately sent an envoy to negotiate with them.
The envoy this time was the same as last time, but the water bandits were clearly not as refined as samurai, and Yuan Ye’s deterrence over the Satomi family was not very strong. Because the envoy spoke with his neck stiffened, he angered the captain of this kobaya ship, and was immediately beaten severely and thrown into the sea. Only because he was still needed to relay a message was he not directly killed.
This envoy, named Yasui Ping （ because 《 Ping Deng Ling 》 was recently named ）, returned to the “Chita” covered in bruises and soaking wet, quite nonchalantly. He directly relayed the other party’s reply: “Your Highness, those sea snails demand that we immediately retreat to the Suruga area. They say the Hojo family are enemies of the Satomi family, and any act of supporting the Hojo family will be considered a provocation to the Satomi family—they believe we are here to support the Hojo family and are very hostile towards us. I explained, but they refused to listen.”
Yuan Ye nodded gently and comforted him, “You’ve worked hard. Don’t worry, you won’t suffer for nothing.”
“It’s no trouble at all, Your Highness. It is my honor to serve you.” Yasui Ping showed no sign of defiance towards Yuan Ye, smiling like a big dog. After all, if Yuan Ye hadn’t actively provided disaster relief on the Chita Peninsula back then, at least half of his family would have starved to death.
However, he was merely an envoy responsible for relaying messages and knew his place, understanding that he should not interfere in major decisions like war or peace. After saying this, he voluntarily withdrew. Yuan Ye then turned to Yu Da and ordered, “Expel them! If they dare to engage, kill them!”
Yu Da nodded in agreement and turned to relay the order to the fleet with a flag. Soon, a kan-sen ship took up position, and several kobaya ships charged forward. The Satomi kobaya ships were not foolish and did not intend to fight one against many, immediately turning and fleeing east, likely to their base to call for reinforcements.
At sea, when the ship speeds are similar, it is very difficult to catch up to the other party, and it might take several days or even more than ten days. Yuan Ye did not demand a long pursuit. Seeing that they had fled, he ordered the fleet to continue towards Shimoda Port.
A Man looked at the fleeing Satomi kobaya ships and asked Yuan Ye, “Are we going to fight the Satomi family?”
“We still need to go east, all the way to the easternmost tip of Honshu Island. Sooner or later, we will have to fight them.” Yuan Ye was unconcerned. Maritime trade was not that easy. The Imagawa family was easy to deal with because he had fought them before, with thousands of human lives as a testament. But the Satomi family had no dealings with him.
“Fighting at sea…” A Man was also a veteran. She had participated in many battles with Yuan Ye over the years, but this was her first proper naval battle, and she was somewhat nervous.
Yuan Ye was indifferent. In turbulent times, if you don’t even have the courage to fight for what you want, it’s best to find a corner and watch. Don’t expect to gain any benefits or expand any territory.
He was mentally prepared for this and directly instructed, “When we reach Shimoda Port, you should quickly gather more intelligence on the Satomi navy to prevent any omissions.”
There is a saying, “Do not fight a battle without certainty of victory.” Yuan Ye has always valued intelligence work. Every year, when A Man asked for money, he would satisfy her as much as possible. Therefore, before this “sales expedition,” the “Life Preservation Style” had already departed, and even a few scout ships had been sent out, roughly determining the strength of the surrounding forces.
As the overlord of the Kanto sea, he naturally knew about the Satomi family. He felt that a head-on confrontation between the two sides should be manageable—the strength of the water bandits in the Kanto region was not comparable to those in the Seto Inland Sea. According to intelligence, they had about a hundred warships, most of which were kobaya ships. He had the “Chita,” and new weapons, so he was definitely capable of fighting.
Of course, the “Life Preservation Style’s” current range of activity was still limited. Their intelligence gathering ability within the Hojo family’s territory was not strong, let alone the Satomi family further east. The information they could obtain was not fresh, and they could not guarantee its complete accuracy. It was not impossible that the Satomi navy was stronger than expected.
But it doesn’t matter if they suffer a loss. Nowadays, Japanese navies primarily use “fire attacks” in naval battles. The “Chita,” which was covered in copper at great expense, could not be easily sunk. As long as they could survive, their recovery ability would definitely be stronger than the Satomi navy.
The Satomi family had to deal with the land pressure from the Takeda and Hojo families, so the resources they could allocate to the navy were relatively limited. He, on the other hand, had no land pressure and could completely disregard it, pouring in resources. Within half a year, he could assemble a stronger fleet and wear down the Satomi navy until they were defeated.
If the Satomi navy were willing to talk properly and allow the Wanjin merchants to trade normally in the Izu and Boso Peninsulas, considering they had occupied this sea area for nearly ten years, Yuan Ye would have been willing to pay some “protection fees,” perhaps 5% or even 10%. But now, they refused to give up the market and refused to let Wanjin trade normally here, so Yuan Ye did not mind sinking a few, a dozen, or even dozens of ships and killing them all.
Nowadays, to get anything, you have to fight desperately. There’s no other way!
…
The Satomi navy issued a warning, but Yuan Ye treated it as if they had farted and ignored it. They arrived at Shimoda Port by noon that day.
Perhaps due to its decline, Shimoda Port’s reaction was far less than that of Puquan Port. Not even a warning beacon was lit, as if they hadn’t seen the Wanjin fleet.
Perhaps they had been beaten into submission by the Satomi navy and knew that lighting a beacon would not summon any other navy for assistance. At most, they could only make shore defenses and prevent the water bandits from landing in large numbers.
When Yuan Ye sent the bruised Yasui Ping as an envoy again to make his demands, the Hojo samurai stationed there were even more accommodating than the Imagawa family. Without a single extra word, they immediately agreed to a treaty with Wanjin, exempting all taxes, including ship tax.
Well, now merchant ships had to pay a toll to the Satomi navy just to enter this sea area. They couldn’t afford to be skinned again by the Hojo family after docking. Moreover, petty officers among the Satomi navy would rob merchant ships trading with the Hojo family based on their mood. Shimoda Port was getting worse by the day and could barely collect any ship tax. Exempting it was equivalent to not exempting it.
Furthermore, the Hojo samurai clearly intended to instigate conflict, provoking a fight between Wanjin and the Satomi navy. They were too lazy to hide it, even fearing that Wanjin would leave and there would be no one to fight the Satomi navy, so their attitude was exceptionally enthusiastic.
Finally, the goods brought by Wanjin were indeed excellent: weapons, farm tools, refined salt, high-grade printed cloth, wine, and other miscellaneous goods—all things the Hojo family needed. Moreover, they were cheaper than what the Imagawa and Takeda families sold them, and they could guarantee sufficient supply. As long as a deposit was paid, the Wanjin merchants dared to promise delivery and dared to ask Yuan Ye to guarantee performance.
The Wanjin workshop owners also liked Shimoda Port because the Hojo family showed great sincerity in keeping their goods. The Hojo family was willing to trade goods for horses, and they were willing to provide good horses and warhorses. Chita and even Owari lacked horses, especially warhorses, and horses were very expensive. With such a trade, they earned even more.
This was much more profitable than transporting rotten oranges, old tea leaves, and coarse silk back from Tōtōmi and Sunpu. Therefore, the Wanjin workshop owners immediately increased the importance of the Hojo family, feeling that even if they had to travel a bit further, it would still be more profitable to come to the Izu Peninsula.
Some workshop owners even started to consider that it might be more profitable to specialize in maritime trade rather than production. After all, there were many state-owned and private workshops in Wanjin, and they were already fiercely competing. They wouldn’t miss their output. So, why not get a few ships, buy goods in Wanjin, and specialize in reselling them to other regions? It might be more profitable.
This proposal was quickly met with widespread approval. Dozens of workshops expressed their interest in investing on the spot. Due to the large number of people, they quickly fell into internal disputes and finally divided into over a dozen small groups. They all went to Yuan Ye to apply for business licenses, preparing to establish a large number of import and export companies.
Yuan Ye also thought this idea was good and immediately approved it. In addition, he decided to establish a “State-Owned Import and Export Trading Company” later, as the government should also earn some money.
The trade with the Hojo family went smoothly, and the Satomi navy did not just stand by. Within two days, a large number of Satomi navy warships began to gather in the Izu sea area.
They wanted to teach Yuan Ye, this outsider, a lesson and let him know who ruled the waters of the Kanto region!
The Masamune Family, Soshu Water Bandits, Boshu Water Bandits, Jōshū Water Bandits, and Hyakushu Water Bandits were not to be trifled with!
