It Became a Symbol of the Bronze Age - Chapter 316



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Episode 316. Habayi Island (2)

“Ugh, the alcohol tastes good!”

“When it comes to alcohol, it’s Asadal alcohol!”

“…That sounds a bit strange. Didn’t we never drink alcohol before seeing Asadal?”

“But didn’t you pick up some sugarcane scraps and eat them?”

“There’s a big difference between that and alcohol.”

alcohol.

“Come on, everyone, eat your meat! It’s free today!”

“oh my god!”

Meat and festivals.

Jangle jangle-!

“Stars are falling from the sky!!”

“Ah, this is a silver coin.”

Throwing silver coins. (I mean, not metaphorically, but really throwing them.)

“What is this?”

“Ah, this is a pickaxe. It’s made of Asadal cast iron.”

“Huh? What is this? I used it for a day and it didn’t break?”

Distribution of cast iron farm implements.

“If you want cast iron farming tools, hold a council here too.”

“What is the… Congress?”

“That’s what I’m saying….”

Establishing a pro-Asadal regime through exporting republicanism(?).

“Jingo will remain here for two years and will oversee trade with you all.”

“If it’s true, I can trust it!”

“Jingo! Jingo! He is Asadal!”

So, he first won over the three tribes by giving them gifts, then won over other clans through festivals, then gathered them together to form a council and installed Jingo as its mediator.

“That’s great.”

If what Asadal did when he came to Ryukyu was to open the port by force, now he has come with a full load of goods and is securing cultural influence over Ryukyu.

It is hard to imagine that those who have tasted such sweet wine, festivals, and civilization would ever return to the past.

Imagine if the President of South Korea took away everyone’s smartphones, saying, “Smartphones are rotting your brain, so let’s just use feature phones from now on.”

What will happen?

‘What will happen? The entire Gwanghwamun Square will be filled.’

At that time, regardless of political affiliation, everyone would have gathered and pointed spears at politicians?

That’s what cultural power is.

People do not want to return from civilization to uncivilized world even if they are beaten to death unless there are very special circumstances. You can believe me when I say this, having fallen from the civilized world to this world 2700 years later.

‘At this point, Ryukyu is cut.’

After finishing my work in Ryukyu.

Some of the Phoenician fleet that had been brought back returned with their ships full of sugarcane, while others stayed behind to wait until the new sugarcane cultivation began.

and.

“Let’s increase the corn fields!”

“More sugar cane means more alcohol!”

The Ryukyuans, of course, were looking for fields with their eyes wide open to increase their sugarcane yields even a little. This is where some coordination was needed.

“Don’t touch the part where the black spots appear.”

“Of course.”

The buffalo tribesmen gritted their teeth and said, “We must never let those crazy sugarcane farmers touch our product, the buffalo.”

And interestingly enough, the price of black sesame seeds was adjusted to match the price of sugarcane.

If you set the price of black horn too low, the islanders will surely drive out all the buffalo and plant sugar cane in the area.

The economy is like this by nature.

***

After roughly finishing up the work on the black horn system.

“Jingo, please take good care of this place.”

“…Don’t worry. Besides, I’ve already set up a beacon fire at the end of this black horn island, so if anything happens, just give me a signal right away.”

“I will do that.”

I left Okinawa with three speedboats in tow.

“The course is west.”

“All right!”

If you go west from here, you will come across the Senkaku Islands, a disputed area between Taiwan, China, and Japan in the 21st century.

A little further from the Senkaku Islands, we reach the destination of this trip, Habai Island, or Taiwan.

‘There are many names.’

First of all, the name ‘Habayi’ used in Asadal is a name from a common Austronesian myth.

It feels like Mt. Baekdu in the Dangun myth, and it is said that the name is derived from the word sawaike or hawaike, which means hometown in these languages.

And according to Jinwan, at this point, the Moon seems to be calling this area roughly something like the land of the barbarians, Yi Island. By the time the Three Kingdoms period came around, it would have been called Yi Province. The name of the barbarians remains the same, and the only difference is that the land of the island has been changed to Ju Province.

It is similar to how the Shinunbu people called the people who lived in Jeju Island in the past, “Seom Doenom.”

So, it means that it is a land where the Wu and Chu people, who are treated as barbarians by the Central Plains, treat the Yue people as barbarians. It is the barbarians of the barbarians of the barbarians.

“Oh, the people of the Central Plains often call them Tayowan. That’s because when they first met them, they would shout, ‘Tayowan! Tayowan!’”

This Tayouwan is the origin of the name ‘Taiwan’, which later referred to the island of Taiwan… There is a rather interesting story here.

The name Tayo-wan means ‘foreigners!’ So, it’s not a name the islanders used to refer to themselves, but when they saw people from the central plains, they would shout ‘Tayo-wan!’ and I thought that was their name.

‘Kangaroo… is not true. If we really want to be specific, it’s similar to Morugetsoyo.’

During the Pyeongchang Olympics, a statue called ‘Bullet Man’ was erected, and Japanese tourists who visited the Olympics asked Koreans, ‘What is that statue?’ to which Koreans replied, ‘I don’t know.’

So the Japanese thought that the name of this statue was ‘Morugessoyo’… If you search for ‘Morugessoyo’ now, you can find the image of that statue.

anyway.

Whether it’s Habai, Habaiki, Saikawa, Tayowan, or Izu, this area is my goal right now.

And this voyage is not just planned to end in Taiwan. They have brought enough supplies to last at least six months to a year, and there is also a strong supply point called Ryukyu behind them.

So, if possible, I plan to reach the Philippines and Maluku on this voyage.

‘In order, the Senkaku Islands and Taiwan are the top priority. Then the Philippines and Maluku.’

The ‘Taiwan Strait’ between Taiwan and Central Plains is an excellent route that is still used as a main route to connect with Southeast Asia in the 21st century. After reaching Manila in the Philippines through this route (Manila is not the capital of the Philippines for nothing), if you continue down the island, you will reach the ocean, and if you pass this ocean, you will reach the Maluku Islands.

And the people of the Maluku Islands would still be trading with India today, as cloves from Maluku were already found in the Lebanon region of Asia Minor around 1,000 B.C.

‘Asadal is the home of that spice.’

After that, you can sell it to the Central Plains, to India, or through the Stepro, which is currently in full development.

‘In the end, what matters is the Taiwan Strait.’

Whether or not one occupies this area will determine the success or failure of the spice route.

The problem is the moon, of course.

The Taiwan Strait is between the Moon and Taiwan. It is really hard to manipulate the Taiwan Strait as you please, at least unless you can suppress the pirate bastards of the Moon.

‘The current moon is ruled by numerous pirate lords, and it is said that each pirate lord usually has about twenty ships. A small ship carries about 50 men, and a large ship carries about 120 men.’

So how large is that force?

According to the historical records, King Goujian of Yue defeated the 700,000-strong Wu army with an army of 5,000 men.

The size of the enemy is likely to have been exaggerated, but the 5,000-strong force of King Goujian of the Yue is quite remarkable.

In a narrative like this, the number of troops was reduced, not increased. Wouldn’t it be better to advertise that we defeated many enemies with a small number of troops?

If we synthesize the story I heard from Jeon Wan in the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the historical background… we can estimate that their army is at least 5,000 strong.

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Compared to that, what about Asadal’s army?

The number of people loaded onto three fast-moving ships is around 400, and even including the supply ships, it is less than 600.

If they were just dragging small canoes, I wouldn’t worry. Asadal has many records of wiping out numerous canoe units with the Pungbaekseon.

However, the ships of the Wol-in are large, and even among pirates of the same class, they are of different classes.

In this situation, if 5,000 enemies rush in, it would be really difficult.

‘… Well, they won’t be able to come at full strength from the start either.’

The current Moon is still a disjointed group that can’t be called a ‘nation’ yet. It would be difficult for 5,000 pirates to advance by uniting their forces under one person.

Unlike the Greek era, there is still no Agamemnon in the Moon. It is still 100 years before King Yun Shang of the Moon, who is the Agamemnon of the Moon and the person who changed the ‘group’ of the Moon into the ‘country’ of the Moon, is born.

‘Then, if we assume that at most a thousand people will come… I guess there’s no need to even think about it.’

Three Dromons are still there after being completely destroyed.

***

The road to Taiwan itself was not difficult. At the tip of Ryukyu, the Senkaku Islands are visible to the naked eye, and from the Senkaku Islands, Taiwan is also visible to the naked eye.

And the Senkaku Islands.

“Asadal!”

“Asadal!”

Several armed merchants from Asadal were already living there. I heard that it was originally an uninhabited island, but Jingo, who knew that my plan was for Habai Island, dispatched an exploration party in advance and set up a few beacon fires.

“Is that Habayi Island?”

“Yes!”

The armed merchants were very disciplined. If you look at them, you could tell they were an army, but it seemed like the Jingo from Asadal had put some effort into it.

“Have you ever had any contact with the natives?”

“The southern part of Havaii Island is mostly mountainous, what we need is the north.”

Even now, about 80% of Taiwan’s population lives along the coast in the north, close to China.

“And there are some people in the Heukgak Island region who know the language there, so I tried to make contact with them.”

“What do you think?”

“The yellow water buffalo are incomparably more numerous than those on Heukgak Island. They also grow rice and corn. However, the number of water buffalo is smaller than on Heukgak Island, which is not appropriate for the size of the island.”

As a merchant, he talks about the resources within the island.

‘Unlike Ryukyu, which was an archipelago made up of numerous islands, it seems that since it was made up of just one island, the buffalo were hunted quite a lot by humans.’

I asked further.

“What about the population?”

“I don’t know for sure, but I would guess that there are about four to five times as many people living there as there were on Heukgak Island.”

“You five times….”

Since the population of Ryukyu is just under five thousand, I thought it would be around twenty thousand. Since they also farm, it would be more than enough.

“…Other than that, the overall level of development is similar to that of the Black Horn Islands. They live mainly in small tribes rather than large ones, and they have a lot of combat troops.”

“Hmm.”

There is no great shortage.

It is quite an unusual phenomenon considering that farming began early, but Taiwan itself is a very mountainous land, making it difficult for large tribes to form.

‘Even in the history of Yuan, the first kingdom in Taiwan, the Dadu Kingdom, was not established until after the 15th century.’

I pictured the combat troops in my head.

When attacking Ryukyu, more than a thousand enemies emerged from a tribe of less than 5,000 people.

‘It’s a characteristic of a small-tribal society. Having a lot of available soldiers.’

In the case of small-tribal societies, anyone who can hold a weapon is often a fighting force. This is the secret to how small-tribal nations can unify and produce enormous military forces.

‘When the Jurchen people established the Later Jin Dynasty, their fighting force exceeded 10% of the total population.’

Ryukyu picked 1,000 out of 5,000.

If you roughly multiply it by four, it would be about 4,000 people.

‘At this point, it might be a bit tough with just one tiger. A battle of its own might break out.’

The only good thing is that there is a high probability that a battle will not break out? The Ryukyus are completely unfamiliar with the archipelago, so a battle broke out, but the Taiwanese often interact with the Ryukyus.

With that in mind, I set out for Habai Island beyond the fog with three Dromon ships in front. Six interpreters from Ryukyu accompanied me.

and.

Asadal’s fleet successfully landed in Taiwan without any problems. The problem was that there were too few problems.

“…Why is there no one?”

Three ships came, but not a single person came out.

***

Usually, when an outsider comes to the island, a fighter appears, which is the basic base of this era.

Whether for trade or combat.

No, really, is it any different in the 21st century?

If three ships suddenly appear from North Korea, wouldn’t they dispatch Aegis ships regardless of the situation?

Even the current Asadal’s ‘Fast Flying Plane’ is equivalent to an aircraft carrier in the 21st century.

In other words, the current situation is equivalent to three aircraft carriers of unknown origin suddenly attacking the island and the island’s residents showing no reaction.

‘…Why?’

I got off the boat feeling a bit dizzy. In some ways, it’s close to Ryukyu, but the atmosphere of the island is quite different from Ryukyu.

Sissisit-!

As soon as you get off, a startled snake falls from the tree.

Then, an unknown bird stomps on the snake’s head with its sharp clawed legs and swallows it whole.

‘…Snake-catching eagle?’

That was the first thing that came to mind, but it looked a little different. Especially the shiny tips of the feathers, as if to say, ‘Don’t mess with me, you’ll lose.’

“…Don’t go near that bird.”

I have never actually seen the legendary bird, but as soon as I saw it, I had a strong feeling that it was a ‘bird’.

According to the records, if you apply the poison to your eyes, you will go blind, and if you eat even a small amount, your body will become paralyzed and you will die. Of course… the poison of a normal bird is not that strong, and it has to be purified to have that much power… but it can’t hurt to be careful.

In addition, there were countless plants, animals, and insects that seemed to claim, “I’m poisonous!” just by looking at them.

‘Oh my god, people live in a place like this…?’

In the 15th century, Western merchants who came here named the island Formosa, meaning ‘beautiful island’.

But it doesn’t look particularly beautiful to my eyes.

‘By the time Western merchants arrived, this place would have been developed and the jungle would have been cleared, but isn’t that not the case now?’

I’ve heard that during this time, the southern part of China was practically a jungle, and people couldn’t live anywhere except along the coast… but I never thought it would be this bad.

“Bring me the pyrethrum.”

“Here it is.”

I applied pyrethrum all over my body beforehand. I don’t want to die screaming from a bug sting.

“…By the way, where did all the people here go?”

“I, I don’t know. Normally, at this point, people would come out from the surroundings….”

The moment he said that.

Wedge!

A window flew in from afar.

“It’s dangerous!”

Adallah ran quickly and kicked the spear away with her oak shield. The spear was half-embedded in the oak shield, and something shiny was applied to the tip of the spear.

I didn’t know what it was, but I definitely had a feeling that it would fall down if I touched it.

“Who are you!”

As Adallah shouted, at that moment, a war cry of “Woah! Whoa! Whoa!” rang out. At the same time, people in thin clothing jumped out of the forest.

‘…What the hell?’

I was surprised the moment I saw that sight.

Are you going into the jungle full of poisonous insects and snakes wearing something like that?

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