Although the combat plan against Japan has been determined, the combat date has not been determined, because a batch of weapons and food that needs to be waited for departure from Taiwan.

The former accounts for a small portion, while the latter is very important.

The base camp has formulated a main strategy for "on-site solution" in combat logistics against Japan, but the joint fleet and guard division still need a large amount of food supply in the early stage.

Taiwan, which has not yet been completely occupied and cultivated, obviously cannot meet the supply needs of the emperor's personal army to fight against Japan. Fujian, which is close to Taiwan, is even more unlikely to provide so much food, so the current food supply of the Imperial Army mainly comes from Annan.

To be precise, it comes from an Annanhai businessman named Pei Guangpao.

Three years ago, because a guard in Zhejiang was not open to his eyes, he took money from some people in Nanjing and ran to the Special Administrative Region to pretend to be Japanese pirates and harm the people. Eunuch Wei was furious and personally led the soldiers of the imperial army to sweep the guard. On the way, he rescued Pei Guangpao who fell to the Phoenix Ocean due to a storm.

After that, my father-in-law asked Pei Guangpao to specialize in Annan rice by franchise, and the transaction method was to use goods to goods.

That is, Eunuch Wei provided a large amount of Ming Dynasty goods to Pei Guangpao. Pei Guangpao did not need to pay gold and silver, but only had to hand it over to the rice produced in Annan.

This is a good deal without any foundation. The rice produced in Annan is extremely cheap, but the goods from the Ming Dynasty are very popular in Annan, and the prices are much higher than those of rice.

You can make a lot of fun by going back and forth.

With the various preferential treatments that Eunuch Wei personally promised, he could also get the protection of the emperor's personal army joint fleet along the way. After Pei Guangpao returned to Annan, he immediately organized a group of partners to purchase a large amount of rice and ship and set off.

Originally, rice was delivered directly to the Special Administrative Region. Last year, the Imperial Army attacked Taiwan and set up a grain transport center in Keelung, so that the Annanhai ships would no longer have to go north.

This has reduced the cost of shipping again. The Imperial Army's development of Taiwan and the influx of large numbers of immigrants have increased significantly, which has further stimulated the merchants of Annan to transport rice to China.

Since its cooperation, Pei Guangpao has become Annan's leading maritime businessman.

The latest order has been approved by Eunuch Wei. This time, the Imperial Army and the Taiwan Emperor's personal army commanded the commander of the commander-in-chief needed as much as 6 million stones of rice, which made the rice dealers Annan so happy that they couldn't close their teeth.

The local farmers in Annan also benefited from it. After all, Pei Guangpao's strength could not completely monopolize the Annan rice market, and Eunuch Wei did not want this guy to become a monopolist, so he instructed him to support the rest of Annanhai merchants.

The more the Imperial Army demanded for rice, the more maritime merchants participated. As the competition came, the price of rice in Annan would rise, which benefited Annan farmers.

Pei Guangpao is quite visionary. He has begun to send people to Siam, Myanmar and other countries to buy grain. Naturally, his purpose is not to expect the price of Annan rice to rise too high.

As a businessman, the lower the purchase price, the more profitable it is.

Little did they know that Eunuch Wei had long used Annan's rice as strategic materials. After taking Japan, the Imperial Army would turn to Southeast Asia in order to obtain a large amount of strategic materials to deal with the food shortage that had already emerged in China.

In mid-August, Eunuch Wei established the "Emperor of the Ming Dynasty personally army in the East Asia Customs Taxation Office" in Naha Port in the name of the Admiral Maritime Office. After the establishment of the General Administration of Customs, all ships passing through Japan, Liangchen County, Taiwan, and Southeast Asian channels must pay a tariff of 10% of the goods equivalent to the goods.

This is another maritime tariff institution after the Fujian Maritime Warehouse and Guangzhou Maritime Warehouse. It is also the only maritime tariff institution established by the Ming Dynasty after the opening of Longqing.

The word "inside" on the sign indicates that the institution is directly under the jurisdiction of the inner court and is equal to the position of the mining supervision and taxation in various places, so that the institution will not be controlled by the outside court in the future.

In order to ensure that the General Administration of Customs of East Asia can have a prosperous business after its opening, the joint fleet was ordered to conduct a "investigation" operation in the waters of Liangchen County.

Whether it is a domestic maritime merchant, a Western maritime merchant, or a Japanese maritime merchant, the ship must stay in Naha Port to calculate goods and taxes before it can be released after the procedures are complete.

The 10% tariff quota was not high. During the Yongle period of this dynasty, the customs tariff was 50%, and Zhengde was only reduced to 20%. The actual tax amount implemented later was not less than 20%. Therefore, the 10% tariff set by Eunuch Wei completely took care of businessmen from all countries, fully reflecting the "people-oriented" management and governance philosophy that Eunuch Wei has always emphasized.

Maritime taxation is the core of the maritime cause and the foundation for supporting Eunuch Wei's grand achievements. Therefore, Eunuch Wei clearly proposed to the joint fleet that it is necessary to ensure that every ship traveling to and from the East Asian channel must pass through the port, every cargo must be weighed, and every penny must be handed over.

The newly established Liangchen County should also fully cooperate with the General Administration of Customs to investigate and smuggle. To this end, Eunuch Wei also converted some soldiers who were originally under the Shang regime of Ryukyu into the Anti-smuggling Team of the General Administration of Customs, and equipped some injured veterans as the backbone to ensure that the General Administration of Customs has a trustworthy and useful armed force.

The joint fleet used the inspection and arrest operations as a preview of the war against Japan and launched a large-scale operation to control the Ryukyu waters in the form of a team.

There were pirates in the waters and waterways of Ryukyu in the passing Ryukyu, posing a threat to merchant ships from various countries. However, the scale was small after all, some fleets could solve the problem with their own escort forces, and if they could not solve the problem, they would just pay some tolls.

However, the emergence of the joint fleet made "tax evasion" a thing of the past. In the face of the powerful Imperial Navy, merchants from all countries bowed their heads and obediently paid taxes to the General Administration of Customs of Naha Port.

In the middle, there was also a fire incident in Western merchant ships, which was eventually resolved by a fine of 500 for Western merchant ships.

All merchant ships passing through Naha will be issued a certificate by the General Administration of Customs, which is called a "good ship certificate".

Those who hold a "good ship certificate" will be fully protected by the Ming Dynasty Imperial Army, while those who do not have it will be considered as pirates and will be wiped out, with goods confiscated and personnel dismissed, regardless of nationality.

Behind the investigation and inspection operations to ensure customs taxes is the strategic intention of blockade against Japan, which also forces the Daming local powerhouses with maritime trade in Japan to take the initiative to contact the Imperial Army.

At the same time, it is also in cooperation with the base camp to deal with the political work of "Japan" Li Dan, which means that both kindness and power must be used, and both hands must be strong.

On August 27, the Joint Fleet sent a squadron 200 miles northwest waters of Liangchen County to exchange fire with a fleet departing from the Satsuma Phantom of Japan.

The firefighting caused four sea boats from Japan's Satsuma family to be detained, and the remaining three fled back to Kagoshima.

According to the confession of the captured Japanese sailors, the Satsuma clan already knew that Ryukyu was captured by the Ming army, but the Satsuma clan did not mobilize to attack Ryukyu again.

Not long after, the Propaganda mission came to a clear news that Shimazu Tadahoku, the head of the Satsuma family, did not want the situation to expand, nor did he want to give up maritime trade, so he intended to sign a secret agreement with the Royal Army of the Congliu to maintain maritime trade.

After all, the Satsuma, a powerful vassal in the southwest, can survive today, rely entirely on maritime trade. If maritime trade is interrupted by the Ming Dynasty's force, the attack on Satsuma would be very fatal.

Without wealth, there will be no soldiers, without soldiers, without power, and there will be no territory.

Eunuch Wei attached great importance to this information and instructed the Propaganda Mission Hu Guang to negotiate with Tadahoshi Shimazu immediately and to sign a secret agreement with the other party without violating the principle of major issues, so that the Satsuma Domain, a strong vassal in the southwest of Kyushu, could remain neutral in the Imperial Army's war against Japan.

"If Tadhoven Shimazu is willing to be loyal to the Imperial Ming, the base camp can grant the establishment of the First Mixed Brigade of the Imperial Army of the Imperial Army, and he himself will be awarded the title of General of the Ming Dynasty's Enemy."

Eunuch Wei opened his mouth and wealth drifted towards Kagoshima with the wind.

At the same time, Eunuch Wei also ordered Ge Sanlang from the confidential room to let the outside world out that the imperial army captured Ryukyu this time was to restore the country to the Shang family and had no ambition to conquer the Japanese. It also said that the court was very dissatisfied with the personal army fighting Ryukyu, and would recall it at any time, etc.

At the end of September, Eunuch Wei held a mobilization meeting for the Japanese battle against Japan, attended by the emperor's personal army, sea, land and sea officers and soldiers and the people of Liangchen County.

Before the conference began, Eunuch Wei personally beat the soul-scoping drum on the high platform, and used this ancient style of the Han and Tang Dynasties to summon the soul-scoping soldiers of the Imperial Army in the Battle of Ryukyu.

After the conference, the joint fleet raised sails and drove towards the north.
Chapter completed!