1635 Han style rises again

On December 1677, 12, Imjinwei (today's Odate, a city in northern Japan).

Nomura Junichi led two subordinates of the village soldiers, and had already patrolled for several miles along the frozen Linjin River. As far as he could see, there was a vast expanse of white snow.

In fact, in this kind of cold and snowy weather, there will be no incidents of enemy cross-border invasion at all.Furthermore, in the face of the powerful Ming state, the Japanese Kubota clan on the other side of the river could not protect themselves. How could they dare to send troops to invade the border of the Ming state and initiate provocations by force?
According to the "Treaty of Edo" two years ago, the land north of the Linjin River was ceded by the Japanese Tokugawa shogunate to the Qi State, and then Qi State signed the "Land Exchange Contract" with the Ming State to obtain Qingyuan, Yunzhou At the price of the city, this area was replaced by the Ming Dynasty and became its legal official land.

In this way, the influence of the Ming Dynasty, which dominates Yunzhou, suddenly extended to the northern region of Mutsu, Japan, and reached Kubota Fan (also known as Akita Fan) and Morioka Fan, which caused panic among these two daimyos.

The stone height of the Kubota clan is only 20 shi, and the stone height of the Morioka clan is only a mere [-] shi. Facing the powerful Ming Dynasty, how can it be its opponent!I didn't see that the Hirosaki and Hachinohe clans had no power to fight back against the attack of the Ming army during the war. From the feudal lord to the middle and lower-level warriors, almost all were wiped out, and they were directly swallowed up by the Ming Dynasty.

Therefore, after the war, the Kubota and Morioka feudal lords kept requesting the Tokugawa shogunate to provide them with the necessary force protection to avoid being "bullyed" by the Ming Dynasty, following in the footsteps of the Hirosaki and Hachinohe feudal clans.

For this reason, the Tokugawa shogunate specially sent envoys to Yunzhou, once again confirmed the border delineated by the two countries with the Ming Dynasty, and asked both sides to restrain the soldiers and civilians on the border, and not to cross the border without reason and invade each other's territory.

It may be that the Ming Dynasty has just won the northern part of Mutsu, Japan, and it will take time to digest and absorb it, plus it has to deal with North Korean affairs.The emperor of the Ming Dynasty responded positively to the Tokugawa shogunate's negotiations, expressing his willingness to abide by the current established borders between the two countries, not to invade each other, and to maintain a good-neighborly and friendly bilateral relationship.

In the past two years, the Ming government did not commit any invasions against the Kubota and Morioka domains. It strictly guarded the borders, restrained the military and civilians under its jurisdiction, and actively developed various local livelihood and economy.

In the past two years, the Ming government has carried out large-scale population relocation within the territory, moving as many as [-] original residents to the territories of Yunzhou, Zhenzhou, and Bitter Leaf Island through numerous ships.Instead, many Han Chinese, Koreans, and Lingbei aborigines were relocated here to strengthen their control over the newly occupied territory.

At the same time, the Ming government also set up several military-civilian acropolis in the border area, maintaining a strong military deterrent to the Kubota and Morioka clans in the south.

Linjinwei, one of the larger acropolises, was built along the river. More than 120 officers and soldiers of the Ming army and more than [-] settlers were stationed there, guarding this vast river valley area.

Correspondingly, the Kubota Fan in the south also set up a military outpost a few kilometers south of Linjin, stationed with more than 100 samurai and ashigaru soldiers, to guard against the military movements of the Ming Dynasty.

At noon, Nomura Junichi finished his inspection of the river section, led two subordinates, and returned to Linjinwei.As soon as he reached the gate of the village, he saw two Hezhe soldiers on horses running out of the city quickly. When passing by them, the horseshoes rolled up the broken snow on the ground, splashing them all over their heads and faces.

"What two savages!" Nomura Junichi cursed in a low voice, reached out to wipe off the snow mist on his face, and then entered the city resentfully.

In the Acropolis, compared with the Japanese like them, the officers and soldiers of the Ming Dynasty seemed to trust these rough and wild mountain natives more.Not only are they treated a head above them, but also in the process of getting along with each other in daily life, these simple and crude savages are more popular with the military officers of the Ming Dynasty.

However, Junichi Nomura did not dare to complain about this.These Ming people are the new conquerors of this land, and they are the supreme ruling class. As a small citizen under the rule of Hongqian Fan, they can only obey them submissively.

In fact, deep in Nomura Junichi's heart, he didn't care whether it was the Tsugaru clan of the Hirosaki Domain or the current Ming government that ruled them.As long as they can feed the ordinary people like them and have a simple thatched hut to shelter them from the wind and rain, they will be satisfied.

In the whole of Japan, although small farmers have the right to hold the "high request land" of annual tribute land, the ancestors have attached to the land for generations, and the land holding rights seem to be more stable than daimyo's ownership rights, and can be passed down from generation to generation .But the prerequisite for all farmers to have these rights is to "pay annual tribute". Moreover, in addition to the mandatory economic requirements, farmers are also subject to various restrictions in terms of status and life.

The annual tribute rent rate of those territories directly under the shogunate was "five gongs and five people" or "six gongs and four peoples". people", which made it impossible for many farmers in the domain to support themselves.

The Hirosaki Domain where Junichi Nomura used to belong, although the annual tribute rent rate is not as terrifying as the "Eight Dukes and Two People" of Shangshu Takasaki Domain, it is far higher than the rent rate of "Six Dukes and Four People", making the people in the domain For the most part, life has been precarious.

In addition, in addition to the official tribute and rent of paddy fields and dry fields, daimyos in various places also have miscellaneous taxes such as "small things into", "Mingjia", and "Yunshang".

Xiaowucheng mainly collects taxes on mountains, forests, fields, rivers and seas, as well as farmers' handicrafts. Covers all areas of consumption by farmers.

As for miscellaneous taxes such as Mingjia and Yunshang, they are mainly taxes on industry, commerce, fisheries, etc. in the daimyo territory.

Before the farmers pay their taxes, all farmers are prohibited from eating or buying rice. They need to transport the rice to the rice warehouses under the city or in the territory.

Farmers who have worked so hard and can roughly pay the annual tribute are relatively lucky.Those peasants who could not pay their annual tribute in full were truly miserable.Before the tax is paid, not only the person himself, but also the village house of the person responsible will be taken hostage.Bound, tortured, and thrown into dungeons, not only had to disperse cattle, horses, fields, and family wealth, but also sold their wives and children to pay taxes.

Although, in principle, the shogunate and the feudal vassals have similarities in the policy of collecting annual tribute, that is, "the amount of annual tribute collected should be just right, and the rural people should be half-dead as much as possible" (this statement is said to be the decree of Ieyasu Tokugawa) However, as the finances of various vassal states in Japan became more and more difficult, many vassal states could not even "keep the rural people half-dead", but directly squeezed them to the point where "starvation was everywhere, and the countryside mourned the poor."

Therefore, the people in the territory of Hongqian Fan and Hachinohe Fan who were annexed by the Ming Dynasty did not have more resistance and rejection because they were ruled by foreign races.For them, it is nothing more than changing to a new "feudal lord" to pay the annual tribute.

However, to their surprise, this new "feudal lord" was much more relaxed than the rule of Hirosaki Tsugaru and Hachinohe Nannan.Not only has various restrictions on the status and lifestyle of farmers been cancelled, but the previous high annual tribute has been greatly reduced, and the rent rate has been set as "five public and five people" to benefit the general public.

Two years ago, Junichi Nomura ate rice for the first time, put on soft cotton clothes, and lived in a warm earthen house. Apart from feeling happy, he couldn't help but burst into tears, and expressed his heartfelt thanks to The "Patriarch" of the Ming Dynasty pledged allegiance and swore to defend the country to the death.

In Japan, only feudal lords, high-ranking samurai, and village officials such as village houses can wear silk and silk. Ordinary farmers can only wear black or navy blue cotton and linen without any patterns, and there are also restrictions on sleeve length and shoulder length.When farmers tie their hair, they can't even use hair bands, they can only use straw.

As for rice, it can only be eaten by feudal lords and middle- and high-level warriors (but not every day). Farmers below the middle peasants mainly use mixed vegetable porridge-a kind of mixed and chopped wheat, corn, and barnyard grass. The dried leaves and boiled radish are the food.In the northern part of Mutsu, if Junichi Nomura can eat bran rice made from barnyard millet, it would be considered a top-notch delicacy.

Although, the Ming government will still send many handymen to build cities and roads, dig river ditches and reservoirs, and be conscripted as rural soldiers during the slack season to serve in coastal ports or southern border areas for a certain period of time.

However, Junichi Nomura still gave strong support and support to the Ming government, because they at least improved the lives of the people at the bottom a little bit, and they could barely eat enough. It is much more relaxed than before, and people no longer feel the infinite despair of life before.

"Is there any change by the river?"

In the yard, dozens of officers and soldiers of the Ming army were eating around a bonfire. A platoon leader saw Junichi Nomura and the others come in and squinted at them.

"Sir, there is no... any... abnormal movement by the river." Nomura Junichi reported loudly with a bow in his not-so-fluent Chinese.

"Well, let's warm up with a sip of wine first." The platoon leader grabbed a small jug beside him and threw it to Junichi Nomura.

"Thank you, sir!" Junichi Nomura took the jug, thankful, and bowed heavily to the platoon leader.

"After lunch, it's good to rest for half a day." The platoon leader smiled and looked at Nomura Junichi and other conscripted rural soldiers on duty. "Tonight, follow us to the other side of the river."

"Ah?..." Jun Nomura stared blankly at the platoon leader when he heard that.

"The outpost on the other side is too intrusive." The platoon leader stood up, twisted his neck, with a smirk on his face, "Tonight, we will pull it out. By then, everyone will be more clever, Don't let any enemy go!"

"...Yes!" Jun Nomura couldn't help feeling flustered when he heard this.

What, this is deliberately provoking troubles and creating conflicts, are you ready to fight? ——
November 12, Osaka.

Konoike Takao kindly sent the two businessmen from the Qi Kingdom out of the door, and opened the door for the guests with his own hands, and sent them to the carriage.

As the most famous money changer (usury) in Osaka Castle, Takao Konoike enjoys a very high reputation.Because, with his strong capital, he not only granted usury loans to countless merchants and rural areas, but also dared to grant loans to those daimyos who were in financial crisis.He also invested capital in the development of Xintian in the Yamato River Basin in Hanoi, which he developed, and entered the class of big landlords in one fell swoop.

Two years ago, the Qi-Japanese War ended, and in less than a year, the city that had been devastated by the war quickly returned to its former prosperity.Moreover, as one of the five opening ports, with the influx of merchants and commodities from the Qi State, the economy is prosperous and the business is active, even more so than in the past.

Takao Konoike, who has a keen sense of smell and is full of business acumen, immediately seized the opportunity and immediately approached the people of Qi State, obtained the agency right of Qi State products in Osaka, and then through the business network built by the Konoike family over the decades , Spread the products of Qi State to the entire Gyeonggi area in a very short period of time.

High-grade cotton cloth, exquisite clocks, crystal clear glass, precious porcelain, and soft fur are all deeply loved by royal ministers and daimyo. Cane sugar, tea, hardware tools, honey wine, paper, and various canned products are also favored by the royal family. Countless samurai welcome.

In just two years, the trade volume between Qi and Japan has soared from less than 300 million Hanzhou silver dollars before the war to more than 600 million Hanzhou silver dollars.Correspondingly, a large amount of silver and copper coins continued to flow out of Japan, making the Tokugawa shogunate, whose domestic stock of precious metals was already dwindling, even worse.

In fact, with the trade principle that Qi upholds, it is not trying to pursue complete entry into the superpower.But the problem is that Japan, which is barren and backward, has a population of tens of millions, but has no decent export materials.Well, sulfur should be counted as one, and there are also copper, iron, camphor, fans, umbrellas and other paper products, as well as wheat flour.

However, these things are of extremely low value compared to the products of the Qi State. Although the purchase volume of the Qi State is large enough, it still cannot make up for the large surplus in Japan's foreign trade.

Some pessimistic businessmen even predicted that although Qi opened Japan's trade window through a war and broke the shogunate's trade ban, this very completely unequal trade activity may not last long.When the trade volume between the two countries reaches its peak, it will shrink irresistibly and may eventually maintain a very low level.

Japan is so poor!

Not only is the overall poverty of the people at the bottom, but also those who are the top class ministers don't have many big names in their pockets. Almost half of the vassal states have either fallen into financial crisis or are entering financial crisis.

Even the Tokugawa shogunate was not very well off financially.In order to pay Qi State's indemnity every year, that is to increase the pressure on the people in the territory directly under the Central Government.Sometimes, they shamelessly deprived and confiscated Shi Gao of the local vassal state for various reasons, thinking that they should deal with the poor and poor finances.

Of course, these deep-seated economic problems did not prevent the Konoike family from earning a lot of money by acting as an agent of products from Qi.We in Japan are indeed poor in resources, and there are no valuable things that can be sold to Qi.

But we are not completely useless, there are still some "commodities" that can fall into the eyes of Qi people and can be sold for some gold and silver.

"How much do you have in your hand?" Konoike Takao watched as the guests from the Qi Kingdom gradually left, waved his hand, and summoned a big fan (underworld, gangster, hooligan, etc.) to come over.

"There are 260 people." Genzaemon Yamanaka said with a bow.

"Too few." Konoike Takao shook his head, and said with some dissatisfaction: "The entire city has a population of 10, so there are only more than 200 women who can't eat?"

"Many young women would rather starve to death on the street than be recruited by us when they hear that they are going overseas by boat," Yamanaka Genzaemon said with a bitter face.

"Then use some tricks." Konoike Takao said softly: "Within half a month, we must gather the number of people to 400. You said that they are not afraid of death, but are they afraid of crossing the ocean and going overseas? "

"I understand!" Yamanaka Genzaemon showed a stern look on his face.