Chapter 225: Two Ways to Eat a Fish
After staying in Edo Bay for more than a day, Yuan Ye reluctantly led his fleet back to Shimoda Port.
We need to go back and repair the ships. The “Chita” suffered some battle damage in the naval engagement, with at least many oars and oarlocks lost. More than ten other accompanying warships also had hull damage, requiring docking to replace planks and rudders before they could continue their long voyages.
Returning victorious, the Wanjin Navy was in high spirits, and the Wanjin merchants were also jubilant. The previously empty ships were once again filled with goods, mainly “war reparations” from the Muramasa Family—the Muramasa Family, like the water bandits, also engaged in business. Yuan Ye was now blockading the port demanding compensation. The Muramasa Family couldn’t produce that much money at once, so they settled with goods.
Many of these were stolen goods, and quite a few were local specialties from Musashi and Sagami provinces that the Muramasa Family themselves sold. However, they were now spoils of war. Yuan Ye directly distributed a portion as participation rewards and publicly auctioned off another portion to Wanjin merchants, recouping some of the shipbuilding costs.
Of course, the amount of reparations was not small. Since the Muramasa Family lost the battle, they should naturally bear all the costs of this engagement. Just giving these goods would definitely not be enough. For the next five years, the Muramasa Family would have to pay Yuan Ye 11,500 kan annually, as a lesson to remember, so they wouldn’t be so overbearing and provoke anyone in the future.
Honestly, this battle was purely the Muramasa Family’s own doing. If they hadn’t been so aggressive from the start and just told Yuan Ye to get lost, both sides could have negotiated.
The Wanjin fleet, vast and mighty, took another day and night to cross the Miura Peninsula and return to the Izu Peninsula. Then, the Wanjin Navy found a small island to temporarily shelter from the wind and anchor, taking turns to enter the port for repairs and replenishment of supplies.
Meanwhile, the Wanjin merchants seized this opportunity to take their “spoils of war” and goods purchased from the Hojo Family, and headed back to Wanjin in groups to restock.
Wanjin had won, eliminating sixty to seventy percent of the Satomi Family’s naval strength in one battle. The Hojo Family naturally became even more enthusiastic, with many important retainers rushing to Shimoda Port, even inviting Yuan Ye to Odawara Castle.
The implication was that the Hojo Family hoped to further strengthen their relationship with Wanjin and become genuine allies.
Yuan Ye had no interest in this, stating clearly that he had no intention of interfering in the Kanto disputes. The Hojo Family and the Satomi Clan should resolve their own wars. However, he didn’t leave empty-handed. He took the opportunity to conduct several large business deals with the Hojo Family’s high-ranking samurai, including exchanging firearms and gunpowder for warhorses, copper coins for gold, and further dumping Wanjin luxury goods.
Indeed, there are gold mines on the Izu Peninsula. The Hojo Family had been mining them for three to four generations and had accumulated a large amount of gold. Furthermore, the Hojo Family and the Takeda Family were currently allies, and the Takeda Family was a major gold producer. The Hojo Family could easily obtain “Takeda Gold,” so the price of gold in this area was relatively low. Yuan Ye could transport it back to use as reserve gold to perfect his “Wanjin Paper Currency” and also resell it for profit, killing two birds with one stone.
Of course, it was only because the Wanjin Navy had defeated the Satomi Navy and become an emerging power in this sea area that the Hojo Family would choose to trade such a profitable commodity as gold with him.
In this regard, Yuan Ye also made concessions, agreeing to supply the Hojo Family with a large batch of supplies at a price below market value over two years, to support the Hojo Family’s land offensive against the Satomi Clan. He would raise prices later, after the Hojo Family’s artisans were ruined by the dumping.
He didn’t go ashore, staying on a small island not far from Shimoda Port, constantly communicating with the Hojo Family. He stayed there for almost a month before reuniting with the merchant ships that had returned from Wanjin—there were more of them than before. All the people of Wanjin followed Yuan Ye. He had gone to sea, and now going to sea was the hottest project in Wanjin. Everyone was finding ways to build ships, borrow ships, and rent ships, all wanting to participate in maritime trade.
After all, this was truly profitable. And it was direct sales from the manufacturer. With just price wars, there were no competitors. Doing business was incredibly simple, a hundred times better than competing with the “state-run workshops” in Wanjin.
It was also thanks to Yuan Ye’s willingness to bring them along, otherwise, they would have been driven out of business by Yuan Ye sooner or later.
After meeting these ship merchants who had restocked and the newly joined merchant ships, Yuan Ye once again gave the order to set sail, arriving mightily at the Miura Peninsula.
This area was currently also under Hojo Family control. A brief stop here was to deliver a batch of goods for the Hojo Family, considered an extra service provided by Wanjin. After all, when you’re in business, customer first is basic professional ethics. After stopping here for a day, the Wanjin fleet returned to Edo Bay.
This time, the Satomi Family’s attitude was much friendlier. As agreed, they opened their ports, waived ship taxes and other miscellaneous levies, and also reached a large-scale “government procurement” deal with Wanjin. They ordered a large quantity of matchlock guns and gunpowder, and also wanted to buy cannons and rocket projectiles. It seemed that Hyakushu Castle had experienced the power of firearms, making them yearn for them, and they organized their matchlock troops more than ten years earlier than in history.
Yuan Ye didn’t mind. Primitive matchlock guns and falconets were not secret technology, so selling them was fine.
With the Satomi Family’s craftsmanship, they couldn’t cast the propellant charge for rocket projectiles, making them impossible to replicate. Selling them was also fine. In fact, because these were “high-tech proprietary weapons,” they were sold at a high price, one thousand kan each, and payment was only accepted in gold and silver.
Indeed, there are silver mines on the Boso Peninsula. The Satomi Family had been mining them for generations and had a large amount of silver. The price of silver was much lower than in other regions. Silver was also a hard currency, which could be taken back as reserve gold for paper currency and was also excellent for resale. The Southern Barbarians were coming soon, and they liked silver. At the same time, the smuggling merchants from the Great Ming also liked silver.
The Satomi Family was under great pressure. After the Hojo Family joined the “Triple Alliance,” with the support of the Imagawa Family and the Takeda Family, they had been expanding in Kanto. Therefore, under pressure, the Satomi Family was more generous than the Hojo Family. After some bargaining, they were willing to pay for the extremely expensive rocket projectiles with silver, intending to use them to bomb the Hojo Family. They even wanted to form an alliance with Wanjin or pay to hire the Wanjin Army to fight for them.
Yuan Ye reiterated his stance of not intervening in the Kanto disputes. However, he sent a small team of internal guard officers to the Satomi Family to act as instructors, helping them train matchlock ashigaru and teach them how to fire rocket projectiles, lest the Satomi Family be defeated too quickly and Wanjin lose a good customer.
If he remembered correctly, in the Second Battle of Anegawa a year or two later, the Satomi Family suffered a great defeat and never recovered, being constantly suppressed by the Hojo Family.
That wouldn’t be good. A single power dominating everything was not a good thing. He had to help the Satomi Family survive, at least to the point where they could defend their current territory.
By going to sea, Yuan Ye had unintentionally mastered the art of being a “troublemaker,” and found it quite interesting. If this were the Japanese Medieval Period, he would surely be widely welcomed.
…
Yuan Ye’s Wanjin fleet had a two-pronged approach, first feasting on the Hojo Family and then on the Satomi Family. Once the market here was opened and orders were signed, they would head east along the coastline again.
The next stop was the Date Family.
The Date Family was located at the “seahorse’s chest” or “the lower part of the seahorse’s long neck.” The coastline was relatively smooth, with no protruding peninsulas. The port quality was also average. The three largest ports were only about the same size as Xin Wanjin, capable of docking twenty to thirty ships at most, with not very prosperous trade.
This area could be considered the border between the Kanto region and the Northeast region of Japan. The level of development in this era was not yet sufficient. After all, Kanto was generally considered a wild land in this era, and the situation further east could only be worse.
However, the Date Family was very interesting, known as a master of “balancing” during the Japanese Warring States period.
For example, the new head of the family, Date Yoshishige—who succeeded in the second year after the Battle of Okehazama—had engaged in thirty-seven political marriages in his lifetime. He married a daughter of the Uesugi Family, married his own daughter to the Satomi Family, and sent his son to be adopted by the Ashina Family. In short, he utilized all his aunts, uncles, and in-laws, leaving no one out, and had good relationships with all his neighbors.
When Oda Nobunaga rose to power and became universally disliked, the various daimyo formed an “Oda encirclement network” to suppress him. The Date Family did not participate, but instead actively applied for official positions in the imperial court, indirectly aligning themselves with Oda Nobunaga. Therefore, Oda Nobunaga had a good impression of him and never thought of dealing with him, allowing him to safely pass this ordeal.
After Oda Nobunaga’s death, he actively expressed goodwill to Hideyoshi and Tokugawa Ieyasu, and was still not dealt with. During the Battle of Sekigahara, he outwardly joined the Western Army but remained completely still, even more cautious than the old turtle. Although he was eventually demoted to Akita, he achieved a rare accomplishment: one of only three daimyo in the Japanese Warring States period who were not transferred or abolished.
In turbulent times, being able to preserve one’s family name and foundation was considered a great success, with a much better outcome than 99% of daimyo.
At the same time, the Date Family was not aggressive militarily. At most, they would help their allies fight.
For example, the Date Family was an ally of the Satomi Family. During the First Battle of Anegawa, the Satomi Family was able to make the Hojo Family flee in disarray, and the Date Family played a significant role. However, the Date Family rarely initiated wars. Even when they had some friction with Date Masamune, it was because the Date Family first attacked them from the south, and they only counterattacked passively.
Since they were not aggressive, the Date Family naturally promoted “civilian rule.” Neo-Confucianism from China was introduced to Japan by the Date Family, and they even invited the Ming Dynasty scholar Zhu Shunshui to lecture. At the same time, the Date Family later compiled the 《Great History of Japan》 and proposed the concept of “Revere the Emperor and Expel the Barbarians,” providing the core theoretical support for the later anti-shogunate movement in Japan.
In short, the Date Family was considered a moderate faction in this era. Their territory was vast, four to five times larger than that of Oda Nobunaga at the time, but their desire for expansion was not strong. They played a supporting role throughout and were very easy to deal with—mainly because they were poor. The Date Family’s territory was large, but they were very poor.
For such a non-aggressive daimyo, Yuan Ye did not act overbearingly. After all, harmony brings wealth. He traveled all the way to Ota Port, near the Date Family’s core territory, and stopped in the outer sea, sending an envoy with a letter requesting trade.
The Date Family’s conduct was indeed not rough or overbearing. They properly sent an envoy to reciprocate, agreeing to almost all of Yuan Ye’s demands—opening ports for Wanjin merchant ships to trade, reducing most unreasonable taxes and fees for these merchant ships out of respect for Yuan Ye’s strength, and guaranteeing the personal safety and property of Wanjin merchants along the Date Family’s coast.
However, that was the extent of it. Wanjin merchants were not allowed to venture deep into the Date Family’s territory, and their activities were limited to the areas around the three major ports. At the same time, the Date Family had no intention of wooing Yuan Ye or forming an alliance with him, treating him as an ordinary maritime merchant.
Yuan Ye didn’t mind. His objective had been achieved. As long as there was a place to digest Wanjin’s surplus production in the future, it didn’t matter whether the customers were enthusiastic or indifferent.
Of course, part of the reason the Date Family was so accommodating was the benefit derived from Wanjin’s victory over the Satomi Navy. People with strength were respected wherever they went.
Now, the people of Wanjin had the right to sail freely in the sea east of the Seto Inland Sea. Any daimyo who wanted to refuse trade had to think twice.
