Ming East India Company

The next day, before Bai Ye could even prepare for the sea voyage to deliver the official credentials, Zheng Jiong came to report that this year's "tribute" had arrived.

"Does Ryukyu also receive tribute from others?"

Shiro found it strange. Logically speaking, Ryukyu was already small enough, yet other powers still came to pay tribute. How tiny must this country be?

After Zheng Jiong explained, Bai Ye finally understood.

The Ryukyu Kingdom was a typical example of "when the cat's away, the mice will play," meaning that despite its small size, it had many vassals.

The numerous islands scattered throughout the Pacific have allowed many smaller powers to rely on isolated islands for their continued existence.

The vassal states that paid tribute to the Ryukyu Kingdom included the Amami Islands, the Miyako Islands, the Yaeyama Islands, as well as Yona Island and Tarama Island.

There were actually seven or eight vassal states, large and small.

The three largest vassal states are the Amami Islands, the Miyako Islands, and the Yaeyama Islands.

These vassal states were basically autonomous under the local chieftains, but the Ryukyu Kingdom would send a censor to supervise them.

A month after Hakuno occupied the main island of Ryukyu, the various vassal states gradually realized that the Ryukyu regime had changed and did not hesitate to kill the Ryukyu governor stationed there.

They brought their heads to "pay tribute" to Hakuno, acknowledging Hakuno's occupation of Ryukyu.

Bai Ye also used the ledger compiled by Bai Wenzheng to investigate the exploitative value of these vassal forces.

The result was actually quite a lot.

The Amami Islands pay an annual tribute of 2000-3000 koku of brown rice and 500 koku of sulfur.

The annual tribute from the Miyako Islands was 1500 koku of millet and 2000 taels of coarse cloth.

The annual tribute from the Yaeyama Islands is 2000 koku of unpolished rice and 1000 shirabana (a type of linen cloth).

Bai Ye did a careful calculation and found that, based on this tax amount, it was roughly equivalent to a 3:7 ratio between the people and the government, and this did not include the taxes that these local forces themselves collected from the local people.

I thought the Ryukyu Shō Dynasty and the neighboring Toyotomi Taikachi Dynasty had already exhausted all resources, but I never expected there to be something even more ruthless.

What kind of damn swindlers are these?!

Imagine the Ming Dynasty people being driven to rebellion by the "three taxes" and regular taxes, which amounted to less than 20%.

For the first time, Shiro felt an absurd sense of absurdity, as if being able to serve as a dog in the Ming Dynasty was the greatest honor.

Since it was a windfall, Bai Ye accepted it without hesitation. He announced that all previous payments would be cleared and contributions would continue to be collected according to this amount.

Unexpectedly, upon hearing this news, the envoys of the various vassal states were so excited that they immediately burst into tears, kneeling and thanking the messengers profusely as they left.

Shirano was greatly surprised.

Zheng Jiong leaned close to Bai Ye's ear:

"Actually, the owner doesn't need to be so polite to them. According to custom, when a new king of Ryukyu ascends the throne, he is required to double the tribute to these vassal states as usual."

"Double the tribute?" Bai Ye's eyes widened. "How can you possibly accept that?"

"If they can't collect the money, we'll let them delay payment for now, and then add interest on an annual basis."

In fact, due to poor rainfall in the past two years, some of their payments have already been waived. This year should be the time to repay the principal and interest. I estimate that these debtors are already prepared to be pursued for collection.

"This time we'll only collect according to the ledger, so naturally they'll be weeping and wailing before their owner."

"How do you usually collect debts?"

There are three talismans in total.

When the first debt was collected, the army would sail out to sea, gather all the islanders, and then collect the debt from each household. This was called "collecting the debt."

Even if they were in debt, the army would sail out to sea and, once on the island, gather the indebted people together and beat them one by one with a cane. This was called "Strict Punishment".

If there are still three outstanding debts, the debtor's wife and children will be captured and brought to the Ryukyu Islands as slaves. If they cannot repay the debts within the specified period, they will be sold to neighboring Japan or Southeast Asia to settle the debts. This is called "capture warrant".

With these three talismans, the people of these remote islands will naturally submit.

"Then why don't these people run away? Logically speaking, Japan is right next door, and the Japanese are to the south. Wouldn't it be convenient if they just wanted to run?"

Zheng Jiong carefully smiled and said:

"Master, you are unaware of this! These vassal states cannot build large ships capable of sailing; at most, they can build some canoes."

Furthermore, after the Ryukyu Kingdom of the Sho clan unified the country, it strictly controlled the spread of shipbuilding technology. The local governors strictly prohibited these natives from contacting merchants from the Ming Dynasty, the East Sea, or even the Japanese. If any shipwrecked or distressed people were found, they had to be sent to the Ryukyu Island immediately, or they would be killed without mercy.

In this way, they would have no access to the technology for building cross-sea ships, and even if they fled, they could only move between the Ryukyu Islands, making them easy targets.

As time went on, they resigned themselves to their fate and passively accepted our demands.

What a vicious scheme! By locking down the development of lower civilizations through the technology tree, they are destined to be our milk cows and blood banks forever. It's even more insidious than India's caste system.

After listening to Zheng Jiong's account, Bai Ye realized for the first time the wickedness of the world. No wonder these envoys were so grateful. He, a colonist, had now become a liberator. It was probably a laughing stock in the entire Age of Exploration.

After resolving the issues on the Ryukyu Islands, Hakuno left Shuri Castle and returned to Naha Port to continue organizing his fleet.

To build a completely new fleet, Shirano's first problem to solve was the crew and sailors.

Bai Ye doesn't dare to use Cheng Keqin's manpower for the time being.

Recruiting from the Ming Dynasty wouldn't be enough time.

However, the garrison soldiers and farm laborers need a certain amount of training to become skilled sailors, and Shirano doesn't have that much patience.

Now, the only people we can rely on are the thirty-six surnames of the Hokkien people living near Naha Port.

The arrival of the thirty-six surnames of Fujian people not only helped Ryukyu solve its shipbuilding problem, but many Ming Dynasty immigrants also participated in the voyage.

Currently, Fujianese people make up more than half of the fleet in Ryukyu. Therefore, they are the main force that Shirano needs to win over next.

For the descendants of the 36 Hokkien surnames in Naha Port, this summer has been exceptionally hot.

In May, someone near Naha Port suddenly started circulating a found manifesto.

The above content is roughly about the approaching Ming army, which mobilized 36 surnames of Fujianese people on Ryukyu Island to respond.

At first, these Han Chinese craftsmen thought it was a rumor spread by some idiot, and some even thought, based on their family's ancestral Romance of the Three Kingdoms, that the Ryukyuans wanted to use a counter-espionage scheme to deceive them.

After all, for them, the Ming Dynasty was a homeland from two hundred years ago, so distant that it only existed in legends, no different from the Buddha and Amaterasu in temples.

But they soon realized that things had changed. The Battle of Kijin Castle had taken place, Shuri Castle had surrendered, and they looked at the new conquerors who had arrived on the island. They had the same appearance as them and spoke similar accents.

They realized that this time, the Ming Dynasty had truly arrived.