The Imperial Age with the Resurgence of Han Style

Chapter 212 The anger of the Choshu clan

On July 1729, 7, Hagi Castle (now Hagi City, Yamaguchi Prefecture).

The Lord of the Choshu Domain, Mori Yoshimoto, surrounded by family elders and samurai, took several carriages and went directly to a newly established weaving factory in the west of the city to personally inspect the production conditions.

This factory has a total of thirty-five looms and mainly produces plain cotton fabrics that are popular in the Japanese domestic market. These second-hand interactive pedal machines successively introduced from the Qin and Qi countries require an average of two weavers per machine, which requires this factory to employ almost 70 "weaver girls". Although it cannot compete with those in Osaka and Edo Compared with those large workshops with more than a hundred people, it is considered a large weaving workshop in the entire China area (western Honshu Island).

During this period, looms in Japan changed from horizontal looms to interactive treadle looms, and productivity increased tenfold. For Japan, a "small country with few people", this was nothing short of the most high-end technology. Although the Japanese textile industry, which developed at the beginning of this century, is still very immature, under the influence of the Qin Kingdom in the mainland and the Qi Kingdom in the south, there has been an uncontrollable "delightful" change, that is, the high-end silk weaving interactive pedal technology has begun. Used in cotton textile machines.

Previously, according to the production capacity of the horizontal machine, one counter (an ancient Japanese fabric unit, one counter was about 1 feet, or 2 feet) of white cloth could be knitted in five days. However, if an interactive pedal machine is used to achieve division of labor and collaboration, it can be knitted in one day. Weave two sides of white cloth.

Relying on cotton textiles in the factory handicraft industry, we can create ten times the capacity of horizontal machines. This is indeed a technology that generates money (capital), and it is much better than digging for food in the fields.

A rich country, oh, no, it should be a rich vassal with strong soldiers, just around the corner!

Mori Yoshimoto walked past a loom and watched countless yarns being woven by the machine, continuously "spitting out" pure white cotton. His heart surged and he couldn't help but be excited.

Instead of cloth, what this machine "spit out" is just lovely silver coins!
Well, they are still high-quality silver coins like Qi Guo and Beiming.

It is very sad to say that Qi State originally planned to kick open Japan's market door through a war, thereby finding a stable sales market for the domestic manufacturing industry that is expanding its production scale.

However, after the "good times" in the early 20 or 30 years, Qi merchants were surprised to find that Japan's market size seemed to have reached a growth bottleneck period. No matter how hard they tried, many goods could no longer be sold.

As for the food needed by more than 20 million people in the country, how to solve it?

Now, with the "awakening" of domestic businessmen in Japan, they are beginning to plan to carry out "export substitution" and develop their own cotton textile industry.

Compared with before the Sino-Japanese War, the total amount of the Tokugawa clan's imperial shogunate has increased from 4.3 million koku to the current 5.2 million koku. Although many of these increased stone heights were obtained from the shogunate territory through land reclamation or mountainous development, most of them were incorporated into the shogunate territory by reducing seals and confiscating vassal territories.

In the Edo period, Japan, like the world trend, began to pursue the "good color, slenderness, and breathability" of cotton yarn. The alluvial plains of large rivers can cultivate cotton used to make high-quality cotton yarn, while cultivated land lacking sandy soil like the Nara area can only produce cotton with short and thick fibers used to make cotton-padded jackets.

As for Qi's paper currency "golden yuan coupons", forget about it. Although you can buy any product in Hengguan and even Ryukyu, you always feel that it is not as practical as those heavy silver coins.

Tu Nairuo?

Therefore, under the control of the shogunate, Edo, Osaka, Kyoto, and even Kaga, Sendai, Choshu, Satsuma and other powerful vassals with considerable economic strength introduced textile machinery from Qi or Qin, preparing to start from extensive The export-oriented agricultural products will be transformed into refined industrial production and manufacturing. In addition to meeting the domestic market demand, it may also be able to earn more "foreign exchange" from exports and improve the severe financial problems.

Whether the market is stable or not is not at all considered by Yoshimoto Mori, the lord of the Choshu domain. All he wanted to do was to increase the domain's financial revenue as much as possible and collect more resources, so as to build a powerful domain army to counter the shogunate's "centralization of power" and "land acquisition" threats.

The average annual output of seed cotton in Shukawa Spring (now southern Osaka) and the Osaka Plain exceeds 1 million guans (3.75 guan is about kilograms). In the middle reaches of the Yahagi River in Mikawa (now eastern Aichi Prefecture), cotton is grown in dry fields. The area accounts for more than %, and the platform area accounts for %. The Owari area in western Mikawa is basically in a similar situation.

At the beginning of this century, with the increasing scale of Qi-Japan trade and the market demand from Qi, the Osaka Plain located at the mouth of the river was the first to abandon rice and cotton cultivation and began to plant cotton, a higher-value cash crop, on a large scale to make up for the loss. A growing trade deficit. After years of development, the average area of ​​cotton cultivation has accounted for 45% of the total field area. It is said that many farmers have to buy rice for their own consumption and annual tribute because their fields are full of cotton.

The only way for the people to make a living is to tighten their belts a little more, and the many weeds accompanying them in the cotton fields will grind them down. If the gap is still too large, food can only be imported from North Korea, Beiming, Luzon and Annan.

What made Qi manufacturers even more angry was that many profit-seeking traders turned to purchase large quantities of cotton from Qin in order to earn high profits, and then secretly dumped them to Japan, causing domestic cotton manufacturers to lose many orders.

If we add the Ishiga of the three Gossip families (the three branch families of the Owari Tokugawa, Kishu Tokugawa, and Mito Tokugawa who have the right to inherit the generals in addition to the Tokugawa Shogun family), the Ishiga directly controlled by the shogunate The total amount exceeded seven million koku, accounting for almost 30% of Japan's total koku, and its strength further crushed all local vassal states.

Let me choke you!

Over the years, the Tokugawa clan has continued to find faults with the daimyo of various vassal states, and frequently reduced or changed their titles, or directly confiscated their territories, causing many vassal states to panic.

The market seems a little unstable.

In addition, the strategy of "abolition of vassals and establishment of prefectures" inadvertently revealed from the shogunate, how to prevent the local vassals from being frightened and angry.

Later, some "insightful people" felt that cotton was always exported and the money in exchange was not much. They wondered whether they could use the abundant cotton resources to spin and weave their own fabrics, so that they would not have to spend huge amounts of money. Funds have been imported from Qi and Qin to import cotton cloth, which can more or less curb the continued outflow of gold and silver.

In the past two decades, cotton has become Japan's largest export material, bringing huge benefits to the shogunate and some vassal states.

Even with the vassal withdrawal, is this world still the world of our Wu family?

"My lord, if you run the factory this time, the world will laugh at you!" Masao Hiratsuka, the family boss, frowned when he saw that Mori Yoshimoto valued this textile factory so much.

Letting a hereditary warrior family run a business, no matter how you look at it, it's unseemly!

It’s simply a ruin of etiquette and joy!

"Do you have any other ways to get more money?" Maori Yoshimoto was silent for a while and asked quietly.

"..." Hiratsuka Masao suddenly became speechless.

Yes, just relying on the annual tribute from the domain alone is only more than 300,000 dan, plus catching some fish along the coast, digging some mines in the mountains, engaging in some transit trade, and some smuggling business, it will increase slightly. They paid more than 100,000 dan, but they had to support thousands of vassal troops, especially the 1,500-strong Fire Gun Army. How could this amount of income be enough?

Just because they have no money, these gunmen cannot conduct live-fire training several times a year. As for the Qi people in Hengguan City next door, even their rural soldiers on duty have to conduct live-fire drills every month, which is really extravagant.

If the musketry troops in the domain, which have not experienced much live ammunition shooting, are dragged out to fight with the Qi people, I am afraid they will be tortured into dogs in the end!

Since the Choshu Domain was greatly reduced more than a hundred years ago, its finances have been in a difficult situation of not being able to make ends meet, and life has been tight. Since the second year of Tianhe (1682), the domain has repeatedly issued "Frugality Orders" to reduce the knowledge and behavior of the domain officials and increase the annual tribute, but this did not solve the financial deficit. The previous feudal lord, Mori Yoshihiro, resolutely carried out feudal government reforms, re-measured the land, and even included the annual miscellaneous taxes, small things, wood, salt fields, etc. into the village height to increase the stone height, and at the same time implemented a monopoly on domestic products to supplement Although the finances were insufficient, in the end it was only an increase of dan. However, this method of extreme oppression also caused widespread poverty among the peasants in the domain, resulting in frequent incidents of common people's attacks (i.e. collective protests or resistance) occurring in various parts of the territory, and the flight of common people was repeatedly prohibited.

It was not until Mori Yoshimoto took office as the lord of the domain that he actively improved relations with the people of the Hengguan Qi people and encouraged merchants in the domain to engage in entrepot trade and cross-border trade through Hengguan, thus bringing in a large amount of commercial taxes, which led to a slight improvement in the domain's finances.

However, a few years ago, the Tokugawa shogunate began to take advantage of the drastic changes in domestic social trends and frequent violent incidents among samurai and peasants in various places to carry out "major political reforms", ranging from the economic level, to social control, to military reforms, and finally, faintly. Rumors of "abolition of vassals and establishment of counties" were revealed. In addition, in recent decades, the shogunate has repeatedly reduced, changed, and even confiscated territories of various vassal states, so many daimyo of the vassal states cannot help but be wary.

The Choshu clan has always been jealous of the shogunate, and it has been the main target of years of suppression. If the Tokugawa clan really wanted to implement the so-called "removal of the feudal clan and establish a prefecture", there is no doubt that the first target of the attack would be the Mouri clan.

After the finances were slightly better, the feudal lord Mori Yoshimoto immediately began to strengthen the construction of the feudal army. Through smuggling through various channels, they continued to accumulate weapons and equipment. Finally, it took six years to build a firepower army of more than 1,500 people in the domain to fight against the shogunate.

"For the sake of the inheritance of the martial arts family, I have to do this business as a merchant!" Seeing the embarrassment on the face of his family's elder Hiratsuka Masao, Mori Yoshimoto sighed slightly and said with a wry smile: "The way of a merchant, although it is It’s a despicable job, but it’s still more respectable than the shameless behavior of the Xilianchuan family who blocked roads to seek wealth. Gentleman, do you think so?”

"Lord..." Hearing this, Masao Hiratsuka shook his head helplessly and smiled bitterly.

The Kirengawa clan mentioned by Mouri Yoshimoto is the orthodox descendant of the Ashikaga clan. The vassal ancestor is the Ashikaga Kingdom, a descendant of the Ashikaga Takauji, and is hereditary to the Kamakura clan. The Ashikaga clan is an important lineage of Minamoto samurai, and its status is Sublime. Tokugawa Ieyasu was appointed as the General of the Conquest of Yi. After establishing the shogunate, he proclaimed himself the leader of all Minamoto warriors. Naturally, he had to give more preferential treatment to the Ashikaga clan and "contributed" the Kirengawa clan. After the war of Sekigahara, Shimono Kuni Shio The Kirengawa area in Gu County was designated as the Kirengawa Domain.

Since the establishment of the vassal, the Kirengawa clan has not been very powerful and its power is even weaker. At most, it is a "village vassal" with a stone height of less than 1 koku. Like other vassals, the vassal's finances were in dire straits, and its income continued to decrease, making it extremely poor. The lord of the Xirenchuan Domain was anxious in his eyes, but he also came up with a clever plan, which was to build roads and buildings.

Although the territory of the Kitagawa Domain was small, it was also an important node for many vassal states in the Northeast to go to Edo to make contributions. The lord of the Kitagawa Domain focused on making money from these participating vassal states.

He ordered the roads in the territory to be repaired. After the roads were repaired, he built many official camps (hotels) on both sides of the roads and waited for customers to check in.

Not to mention, his operation really improved the economy and promoted the development of the domain. But the good times did not last long. Gradually, other feudal lords who went to Edo to join Qinqin's orders stopped leaving the Kilengawa Domain, because the food and accommodation expenses of the Kilengawa Domain were too expensive.

According to tradition, on the way to Edo, the feudal lords needed to carry out a large-scale "daimyo procession". The cost of such a "tour" was very high, and the shogunate did not reimburse the account, so the daimyo had to bear it themselves. Based on the mentality of saving money when they can, many feudal lords are not willing to take this stab in the Kiriengawa Domain. After all, no one wants to spend money wasted, so they are not willing to take a detour and pass here.

Seeing that his income had plummeted and he could no longer continue to earn money, the lord of the Kilirakawa Domain came up with another trick.

He had a lot of spies around. Whenever a team of feudal lords came to visit, the lord of the Kilirakawa clan would sit and wait at the entrance of the village, welcome the lords from all over the country, and then invite them to enter their territory to rest.

It is said that you are inviting the other party to your territory to rest and drink tea, but in fact you are arranging for these people to stay in a hotel, and then paying yourself a high accommodation fee. This wave of arrogant operations by the Lord of the Kilirakawa Domain can be said to be very shameless. He is a typical car gangster and a road bully, buying and selling by force.

For other feudal lords, should they choose to take a detour? The lords of the Xilianchuan Domain all left their residences and came to welcome him from afar. Moreover, their status was so high, it was very bluffing. If I didn't go, I would probably disgrace them. But don’t take any detours and live here. The Xirenchuan clan is really not a good person, and the prices are so high that it hurts. This makes other feudal lords and the feudal lords around them unable to step down, and in the end they have to be slaughtered in frustration. Xirenchuan As a result, the Lianchuan vassal collected "tolls" so much that they were so angry that many vassal officials from other countries cursed them behind their backs as unworthy of a son, but there was nothing they could do.

However, being able to receive money is also the skill of Xilian Sichuan Fan, regardless of what is shameful.

If Mori Yoshimoto had this convenience, he would also do this kind of thing. Unfortunately, the Choshu Domain is located in the southwest of Japan, and there are almost no feudal lords passing by the door (the lords of the feudal kingdom on Kyushu Island are often more willing to take Qi people's merchant ships to Edo to participate in the service, rather than as they did a few decades ago) Passing through Shimonoseki and passing through the territory of Choshu Domain), it was impossible to collect wool.

However, there is a God of Wealth squatting next to the Changshu Domain. He can continuously import various novel goods through the Hengguan City of the Qi people, and then resell them to various vassal states and shogunate territories in the interior. The Mori family brought them a large amount of gold and silver currency, which not only effectively supported the financial stability of the vassal government, but also greatly improved the local people's livelihood and economy.

What surprises Maori even more is that the Qi people in Hengguan City recently informed them through a businessman that they can provide corresponding military support for the Changzhou Domain. Swords, armor, horses, muskets, and even artillery can all be purchased at a low price. Obtained and used to arm the domain's army.

Of course, Mori Yoshimoto also knew that the Qi people were uneasy and well-intentioned, and wanted to take this opportunity to get involved in the internal affairs of the Choshu Domain, and then promote the situation in the entire southwest region.

so what?

At the very least, we, the Mori clan, can preserve the centuries-old inheritance and continue to maintain the existence of the Choshu clan.

"Lord, the Edo referee is here." The old man Mouri Muneki hurried to Mouri Yoshimoto and reported to him solemnly.

"Oh, the Tokugawa family finally sent someone here." Mori Yoshimoto raised his eyebrows and asked in a deep voice: "What verdict did the referee bring?"

"The Tokugawa clan believes that we should not oppress the sub-vassals as the main vassal." Mouri Muneki said bitterly with a sullen look on his face: "Not only did they reject all our petitions, but they also ordered us, the Choshu Domain, to give up the area. Heba land, and we want us to give Tokuyama Domain (a branch of the Mori clan)... compensation!"

"..." When Mouri Yoshimoto heard this, his face immediately turned livid and his eyes widened with anger, "The Tokugawa clan is so... bullying!"

"My Lord, I am willing to lead five hundred warriors to attack the Tokugawa Domain and put their feudal lord at your feet!"

"My lord, the Tokugawa clan can't bear to bully me like this!"

"My lord, kill the Tokugawa family judge and let him know that the dignity of our Choshu clan cannot be insulted lightly!"

"..."

The high-ranking warriors accompanying him pressed their hands on the hilts of their swords, spoke out, and made loud noises.

"Lord, calm down! You must not..." Hiratsuka Masao hurriedly spoke out, trying to warn Mouri Yoshimoto not to act rashly.

"Everyone, there is no need to say anything else!" Mori Yoshimoto waved his hand to stop the irritating many warriors. He also interrupted Hiratsuka Masao's exhortation. He took a deep breath and said loudly: "At this time, it is time for our Mori clan to express our anger. The roar was loud. Otherwise, with the Tokugawa clan pressing every step of the way, how could we, the martial arts family, still have the dignity to live in this world!"

After hearing this, Masao Hiratsuka opened his mouth, but in the end he wisely chose to remain silent.

With the strength of our Choshu clan, can we resist the shogunate alone?

(End of this chapter)