Lin'an Never Night

Chapter 344 Hakata Tsuna Shou
Hakata, Japan is a natural harbor. The shipping routes in Japan's Seto Inland Sea and trade with other countries mostly rely on this port.

High above the harbor, a man in his early thirties, not tall, but with a stern look and sharp eyes, was standing upright, overlooking the harbor.

Behind him, several warriors, officials, and people dressed and having hairstyles like big merchants stood respectfully.

The dock is crowded and chaotic with thousands of ships, merchant ships and fishing boats coming and going.

The middle-aged man looked at the situation in the harbor and said calmly: "This natural dock is no longer sufficient. It should be expanded artificially to ensure the smooth flow of the increasingly prosperous trade."

There were several people standing behind him. Judging from their clothes and hairstyles, they were warriors, officials, and merchants.

One of the merchants said respectfully, "Your Excellency is right, but... Hakata Port has always been controlled by temples and shrines, so it is difficult for us to intervene. We cannot decide whether to expand the port."

The man was in his early fifties, slightly plump, and had a small mole under his left eyelid.

This person was exactly Ono Mingxi, the person Yang Yuan was looking for during his trip to Japan.

The middle-aged man frowned, looked down at the harbor and said, "This is a place where wealth flows in continuously. It should not be controlled by temples and shrines for a long time."

Xiao Ye Mingxi's face suddenly lit up with joy, and he bowed his head quickly and said, "If you intend to expel them, Mingxi is willing to be the pioneer."

The middle-aged man glanced at him calmly and asked, "The shrine has samurai and the temple has monk soldiers. Are you sure you have the ability to drive them away?"

Xiao Ye Mingxi said flatteringly: "Of course, it is inseparable from your military support, sir.

However, I am recruiting ninjas from Iga and Koga with a large sum of money.

They are now heading to Bodo to compete for a place in Song.

If the adults are willing to take action, I can take this opportunity to ask them to do one more thing. "

Ono Mingxi smiled and said, "As long as you give them money, they won't mind doing one more thing."

The middle-aged man's eyes flickered, and he said thoughtfully: "A snake cannot survive without a head. This is indeed a good idea."

Xiao Ye Mingxi said happily: "Yes, I know what to do."

The middle-aged man said slowly: "If you do this well, Hakata Port can be handed over to you in the future."

Xiao Ye Mingxi was overjoyed, and hurriedly knelt on the ground, kowtowed and said: "Yes, I will do my best!"

The middle-aged man glanced down the hillside again, then turned and walked away.

The warriors, officials and followers all followed him.

Ono Mingxi got up from the ground, looked at the harbor at the foot of the mountain with a smile on his face, with a fiery and greedy light in his eyes, as if the place was already in his pocket.

Of course, he definitely couldn't finish such a big piece of fat by himself.

But as long as we can become the biggest leader among them, that's enough.

In a sense, Ono Akihabara is the Japanese equivalent of Pu Yama.

The ambition of the Arab Pu Yama was to control the entire Quanzhou Port and become the gatekeeper of this Maritime Silk Road.

Ono Akihabara's ambition is to become the main operator of Japan's Hakata Port.

However, this port has already been divided up among the shrine and temple forces. Even if he could squeeze in, he would only be able to grab some leftovers from between other people's fingers.

Unless... he can destroy everything that exists and redistribute Hakata Port.

With the support of Lord Taira no Kiyomori, he felt that there was a great hope for success.

As the two major samurai groups, the Heike and Minamoto families have replaced the regent and regent aristocratic class represented by the Fujiwara family and are beginning to control the real power of the entire Japan.

And Lord Taira no Kiyomori also needs to break down the old layout and redistribute the benefits in this process.

In this chaotic age where one person takes his place and another takes his place, as long as Xiaoye Mingxi can identify the direction of the wind and follow the right person, he will definitely become successful!
Taira no Kiyomori was born into the Ise Taira clan. His ancestors were only minor local nobles and had no qualifications to enter the Kyoto court.

The turning point for the Taira family did not come until the time of Taira no Kiyomori's father, Taira no Tadamori.

Taira no Tadamori was in charge of building temples for the royal family at the time. He made them extremely luxurious, which pleased the emperor greatly. So he squeezed his way into the imperial court from the local area.

This guy is also good at writing poetry. Being good at Chinese poetry is a pass to enter the upper class in Japan.

As a result, Taira no Tadamori gradually became successful and laid a solid foundation for his descendants.

Last year, Taira no Tadamori passed away, and Taira no Kiyomori, who was in his early thirties and in his prime, became the head of the samurai Taira clan.

The ambitious Taira no Kiyomori was sharpening his sword, ready to make his grand plans.

Financial support was, of course, an important condition for his success. Taira no Kiyomori, who had always supported the liberalization of maritime trade, set his sights on the fat piece of meat of Hakata Port, but Hakata Port had always been controlled by temples and shrines, which became a stumbling block for him.

Besides, the relationship between the Taira clan and temple and shrine forces has always been bad.

Taira no Kiyomori's father, Taira no Tadamori, was in charge of Kyoto's public security when he was the governor of Kyoto and once suppressed a riot by monks at Kofuku-ji Temple.

Later, he arrested a "godman" from Hiyoshisha who had committed murder. On his way to the Procuratorate, the prisoner was kidnapped by monks from Enryakuji Temple.

Taira no Tadamori asked for permission from Queen Shirakawa and arrested the monks who had kidnapped the prisoners. From then on, the two sides became enemies and their relationship became increasingly worse.

Now that the Heike clan wants to achieve greater things, they have to oust these old beneficiaries from power. This is even more inevitable since the relationship between the two sides is already bad.

Astute businessmen not only have a vision for business, they also have a keen sense of changes in the world situation.

Ono Akihabara is such a shrewd businessman. In Ono Akihabara's view, Japan's history is about to open a new chapter, and aristocratic interference in politics is being replaced by samurai interference in politics.

He was determined to follow the Taira clan and let the Ono family prosper in his hands.

……

The burly Jiangzhou Lie walked out of "Dashan Temple" and slowly walked down the mountain with a solemn look on his face.

Jiangzhou Lie was a Hakata Gangshou, the owner of a trading ship, also known as a Dugang.

Merchants from the Song Dynasty who lived in Hakata and engaged in maritime trade were called "Hakata Gangshu".

Jiangzhou Lie was a local leader who had close ties with the temples and shrines that controlled the port trade.

Just now, he was holding a meeting with some temple and shrine leaders at Daishan Temple.

These temple and shrine leaders with a keen sense of smell had already noticed the Heike's covetousness for the Port of Hakata and had to discuss countermeasures.

Jiangzhou Lie felt that this time the game between the two sides would probably develop to the point of using knives and guns, and he could not stay out of it.

Because his interests are deeply tied to the temples and shrines.

He is now a "divine man" under the protection of Dashan Temple, so how could he stay out of it?

"Is the war about to start..."

Jiangzhou Lie sighed, and his Japanese servant quickly knelt on the ground. Jiangzhou Lie then stepped on his back and mounted the horse.

It is rare to see merchants riding horses in Japan. The most common means of transportation there is the sedan chair, also called a "jialong".

This thing called a Jialong is indeed more aptly named.

The carriage that common people ride in is very uncomfortable to sit in, and the carriage that nobles ride in... is not even as comfortable as that of common people.

Jiangzhou Lie could not bear the suffering, so he got a horse from the Kingdom of Jin as his mount.

Jiangzhou Lie mounted his horse and gave a light shake of the reins. His two servants followed barefoot, trotting on both sides of the horse.

Jiangzhou Lie lived in the "Hakata Tsukara House", which is the Songren Street in Hakata.

This is a group of buildings built on two huge sandbars at the estuary, Ishibahama and Hakatahama.

To the west of Tangfang is the bay, to the east is the land, and to the south is the Bihui River.

The port is on the west side of Hakatahama, forming a crescent shape with Xibin. Tangfang, where merchants from the State of Song live, is adjacent to this busy port.

On the east side of Tangfang is the Japanese settlement area.

When Jiangzhou Hunting returned to Tangfang District, he arrived at the door of his house. The servants hurriedly lay on the ground, waiting for their master to dismount.

Just as Jiangzhou Lie put one leg on his back, a sailor came towards him, saw Jiangzhou Lie, and called out loudly:
"Captain Jiang Gang, there are two large ships from the Song Kingdom arriving at the dock."

Jiangzhou Lie was slightly startled. At this time of year, there were not many merchant ships coming from the State of Song.

Jiangzhou Lie asked curiously, "Do you know which company's ship this is?"

The man replied: "The fire chief is Siamese, but the ship owner is from Song, and we Japanese are also on board.

They brought two ships of rare and large wood, saying they were going to build a family temple for Taira no Kiyomori-sama."

Jiangzhou Lie's eyes suddenly tightened. Is it the Heike ship?

They had just been discussing how to deal with the Heike clan on the mountain when two large Heike clan ships appeared in the harbor. Were they really here to do business?
Jiangzhou Lie thought for a moment, then got on his horse again and said, "Lead the way, I'll go take a look!"

(End of this chapter)