Ming East India Company

The shipbuilding industry in Ryukyu relied mainly on imported timber. Sailing ships would bring timber from afar, dry it in a drying yard north of Naha, and then transport it to the shipyard to build the keel, masts, and expand the planks.

However, due to the lack of animal power in Ryukyu, the problem of transporting timber, which is very simple in other civilizations, was magnified infinitely here.

According to Shirano's manpower survey, there are more than 5000 Han Chinese craftsmen in the vicinity of Naha Port, of which only three or four hundred are directly involved in the shipbuilding industry.

In addition, about a thousand Han Chinese artisans actually served as crew members and sailors.

The remaining 3000-plus craftsmen all share a common identity—carpenters.

That's right, just like their name suggests, they can't do anything but transport timber.

The above is based on the fact that the Shang Dynasty frequently mobilized farmers to help with transportation. The simple three points of port, shipyard, and drying yard allowed the Ryukyu people to support so many off-the-job transport workers.

What does it mean to waste resources? After transmigrating here, Bai Ye had a profound understanding of the phrase "using soldiers instead of livestock" for the first time. No wonder the lack of large livestock locked up the upper limit of American civilization. This small Ryukyu Island had conducted a perfect scientific experiment.

However, one must take things one step at a time. Since the shipbuilding industry is so inefficient, why not just abandon it altogether?

Shirano's first decision was to stop this inefficient practice of replacing livestock with laborers. He aimed to quickly train the saved laborers into skilled shipbuilders.

In order to quickly turn these carpenters who knew nothing but moving wood into skilled workers, Shirono set up a very high reward, stipulating that for every skilled worker on the island who transformed a carpenter into a shipbuilder in any form, he would receive one hundred taels of silver.

Each carpenter who passes the official new skills test will receive a reward of thirty taels of silver.

With a generous reward, brave men will surely emerge, and a large-scale teaching movement quickly took place on the island.

Shirano also ordered that if there was a real need to transport timber, the thousands of captured prisoners should be assigned to the task.

Unexpectedly, this decision was met with opposition from Geng Jian, who remained on Ryukyu Island.

Since Zheng Jiong returned to the Ming Dynasty as an envoy to report the death of Shang Yongguo.

Geng Jian became the person on the island most familiar with the original Shang Dynasty and stayed by Bai Ye's side to offer advice and strategies.

"Master, this is absolutely unacceptable!"

He explained as he spoke:

"It's not that I'm intentionally protecting these Ryukyu prisoners, but we've used this method before, using slaves instead of artisans for transportation, but it's not a long-term solution at all!"

The slaves were starving and cold, and they all died within ten years, not even having time for the young slaves to grow up. Only by employing dedicated craftsmen could they ensure that there would be someone to transport timber for generations to come.

Moreover, for a carpenter to be able to support his family while working, he must be paid a full wage and given enough rest.

"What you're doing, Master, is like draining the pond to catch all the fish!"

Baiye shook his head:

"Unfortunately, I no longer need Ryukyu to continue serving as a low-cost shipyard. From now on, Ryukyu doesn't need to build ships; it only needs to know how to repair them."

Upon hearing this, not only Geng Jian, but also Bai Ye's father Bai Wenzheng and elder brother Bai Jingxing began to object.

"You brat, why do we need so many ships to repair things on Ryukyu Island? Ryukyu is no longer the only route from the Ming Dynasty to the East. Besides, even if it were, we can't force all ships to stop here!"

Shirane shook his head:

"Father, do you still remember our original purpose for attacking Ryukyu?"

Bai Wenzheng was stunned for a moment:

"I remember, our plan at the time was to use Ryukyu as a middleman to sell silk to Japan."

On the other hand, he was thinking to himself, "Why are you bringing this up, you wild child? Last time, you broke through Ryukyu and got more than a million taels of silver in one go. That's more money the Bai family couldn't earn in several generations of silk trading."

Being a pirate was much more enjoyable than being a merchant.

Baiye said:

"Wouldn't that give passing ships a reason to stop?"

Bai Wenzheng's eyes widened:

"But does our Bai family have that many ships to dock at? Right now, there are enough ships in Ryukyu to carry our Bai family's goods for decades."

"Then we'll attract other fleets. Now that Yuegang has banned the East, there are many silk merchants in the same situation as the Bai family. They'll come when the time comes. As long as we guard this phoenix tree, we won't have to worry about not having golden phoenixes."

Bai Wenzheng still had a bit of a headache:

"It's still difficult. There are only so many officials and merchants in Yuegang. Why would they believe that Ryukyu can be a suitable transshipment point? Our capture of Ryukyu is a secret and should not be known to outsiders!"

"Besides, the imperial court isn't stupid! Ryukyu and Japan have always had an ambiguous relationship. If things go wrong, they might lump together communication with Ryukyu and communication with Japan as communication with Japan, which would be a real problem."

Bai Wenyue said with concern.

Looking at the surging sea in the distance, Bai Ye recalled that half a month ago, under Bai Ling's "supervision," Zheng Jiong's fleet of envoys had already set sail.

"Then we'll see what kind of conditions our eldest sister can bring back for us."

Meanwhile, on the shipping route from Ryukyu to Da Mingyue Port, Zheng Jiong was anxiously watching the "femme fatale" before him.

Ever since witnessing Bai Ling's perverted hobby, Zheng Jiong feels like something is clamping down on his genitals every time he sees her, causing him constant phantom pain.

Bai Ling, standing to the side, was also uneasy. Because Bai Ye was still not confident in Zheng Jiong's loyalty, he specially arranged for Bai Ling to disguise herself as a man and follow him to supervise.

Before she set off, Baiye specifically instructed her that the purpose of this trip was ostensibly to request a fiefdom, but the real purpose was to ask the Ming Dynasty for a trade exemption.

The Ming Dynasty and the Eastern Ocean are currently locked in a fierce battle in Korea.

As the closest Ming Dynasty vassal state to the East, Ryukyu possessed extremely high "united front value".

This is also why Shirayuki insisted on reporting Shang Yong's death truthfully, because according to custom, for routine tribute missions, the journey could only take place in Fuzhou, Fujian. After the tribute was delivered by the Maritime Trade Office in Fuzhou, the tribute would be returned to Ryukyu.

However, for major events such as the death of the old king and the investiture of the new king, it was customary to have an audience with the emperor. The emperor of the Ming Dynasty would personally receive the emperor, review the petition submitted by the envoy, and finally send an envoy of the Ming Dynasty with the investiture document to officially confer the title.

The key lies in this audience with Emperor Wanli. Although Wanli has neglected his duties for decades and has not attended court, he is still very concerned about the war in Korea the next day.

If they could meet Emperor Wanli, they would have an opportunity to bargain using the war between the Ming army and the Japanese. If they presented the captured heads to Emperor Wanli and allowed Ryukyu to take over the raw silk of the Ming Dynasty, then a large number of maritime merchants would inevitably come to Ryukyu to "launder" their goods in order to avoid being accused of colluding with the Japanese.