The Imperial Age with the Resurgence of Han Style

Chapter 216 Opportunity?

October 1729, 10, Sendai.

In the fifth year of Keicho (1600), after the Sekigahara War, although Date Masamune was not awarded the "Million Stone Letter" by Tokugawa Ieyasu, he was still granted an additional title on the basis of the existing fief of 57 stones. to 62 shi, becoming the most powerful vassal in the Northeast.

At that time, Date Masamune began to build Sendai Castle (today's Hirayama Castle in Aobayama, Aoba District, Sendai City), and then continued to implement new plans to carry out urban construction expansion and development. Over the course of a hundred years, the Honmaru, Ninomaru, and Sannomaru were built throughout Sendai Castle. There were also large castle towns outside the city. With a population of more than 150,000, it was the economic and cultural center of the entire Tohoku.

However, in order to avoid the suspicion of General Tokugawa Ieyasu, Sendai Castle did not have a castle tower. For the Date family, it was a great regret.

Sendai was very prosperous during this period. Some visiting foreigners described the city's situation at that time as "people coming and going from east to west, north and south, even better than Edo."

What's even more rare is that the Sendai Domain Date clan paid more attention to foreign exchanges and overseas trade as early as the period of its ancestor Date Masamune. In the 1613th year of Keicho (), he sent his retainer Hasekura Tsunenaga to cross the Pacific Ocean on a large sailing ship named "Date Muramaru" built by the Sendai Domain, and then traveled overland through Mexico, and finally took a Spanish merchant ships crossed the Atlantic and arrived in Europe, where they visited King Philip III of Spain. However, as the shogunate at that time successively issued sequestration orders, prohibiting all foreign trade (only allowing small-scale trade between the Dutch East India Company and the Ming Dynasty), the Date family wanted to start trade with the Spanish Philippines and Spanish America. The wish was finally dashed.

By the end of the Battle of Enho (the First Qi-Japan War) and the signing of the Treaty of Edo, Japan was kicked open by Qi. Trade between Qi and Japan increased rapidly in a short period of time, and exchanges between Japan and Japan increased rapidly. It also became increasingly frequent.

Although the Sendai Domain did not have a treaty port, the powerful Qi merchants still extended their business to the entire Mutsu region, sweeping the Sendai Domain into the great general trend.

In the early days, the Date clan was still wary of the shogunate's order to seize the country. At the same time, they were also worried that the invasion of Qi's commercial forces would greatly damage the social stability and existing economic order of the Sendai Domain. They half pushed and half refused, unable to stop it, but they could not. Clearly encouraged and supported, and cautiously watching the development of the situation, this also made the trade volume between the two parties not large.

The Sendai Domain's own strength would not allow the shogunate to let them off lightly.

Once the war breaks out and the shogunate orders the Mutsu clans to send troops, the Sendai clan will be besieged from all sides. No matter how powerful the feudal army is and how advanced their weapons are, they will not be able to withstand such a tide of siege.

Our Date family is so public, how can we easily rebel?

Because of Date's series of exaggerated and astonishing performances, the world began to call people who behaved or dressed up like this as "Date people" or "Date men". Since then, the Sendai Domain has inherited this extremely flamboyant family tradition of the Date family, and the participation in attendance has become an excellent occasion to promote "Date people".

After Date Yoshimura, the fifth generation lord of the Sendai Domain, succeeded the family governor, he began to implement benevolent policies and reforms in the territory. Yoshimura rebuilt the financial management system passed down by the first feudal lord, Date Masamune, and once again implemented the rice purchase system to increase fiscal revenue. On the other hand, Yoshimura also actively carried out smuggling trade with Beiming and Qi to obtain commercial interests.

Do you think I want this? It’s very expensive and easy to cut!

Today, the Date family, relying on its strong economic strength, has gradually extended its tentacles to all the vassals in the Northeast region. The size of the vassal army has more than doubled secretly, and some of its weapons and equipment have become firearms. There is also a large-scale army. The artillery team is more advanced than other vassal states in terms of armament. The combat thinking and technical and tactical level are due to the guidance of many privately hired retired officers and non-commissioned officers from the Qi and Ming Dynasties. Compared with the new army, they did not show any concessions.

The Date family's team ranged from high-ranking samurai on horseback to ordinary ashigaru, all wearing clothes decorated with gold. Even the horses are striking, wearing armor decorated with leopard, bear, tiger and other furs. Such gorgeous outfit attracted the attention of people along the way.

However, it is unrealistic for the Sendai Domain to stick to self-preservation and hope to use its own humiliation to gain mercy from the shogunate and ultimately preserve the century-old heritage of the feudal clan.

The flag representing the Date family's participation team is painted with a golden Hinomaru. The black mother's clothing worn on the back armor of the riding samurai is painted with a golden half moon. The large and small tachi sword sheaths inserted at the waist are made of gold. Even the Ashigaru wear a golden formation, with gold stars painted on the chest and back of the outfit.

Over the past twenty years, the Sendai Domain has imported weapons, horses, hardware, ironware, leather, and many other industrial products from Qi and Ming Dynasties, and exported Japanese handicrafts, grain, copper ore, and sulfur. These businesses expanded year by year, bringing huge profits to the Date clan, making its already superior strength among the clans even higher.

Every time he went to Edo to attend the service, Date would always lead more attendants, and the service team would often march with gorgeous costumes and exaggerated performances to show it to everyone.

In order to dispel the suspicion of the Tokugawa clan, successive family governors starting from the feudal lord Date Masamune had to resort to methods of arrogance and self-destruction to make the shogunate give up its vigilance against the Sendai clan.

Although its strength was growing day by day, after the shogunate revealed the rumor of "withdrawing the vassal and establishing a prefecture", the Sendai clan was filled with uneasiness and anxiety deep in its heart.

Under this situation, Yoshimura worked hard to restore the Sendai Domain's handicraft business, organized the production of the textile "Sendai Pira", mine development, rewarded pastures and other policies, and expanded the types and quantities of domestic goods exported in exchange for valuable development funds.

What worries the Date family even more is that the founder of the Sendai clan, Date Masamune, was rated as a heroic figure who "was born twenty years earlier and achieved the hegemony of Lord Nobunaga", which was deeply jealous of the shogunate.

He was granted a title of 62 shi, and received more than 200 million shi in real terms. He also colluded with Beiming and Qi to secretly develop military power. It was difficult not to attract the attention of the Tokugawa clan!

The unrest is aided by its location and its own inherent sin. Unlike the Choshu Domain and the Satsuma Domain, both of which are located in the most remote southwest of Japan, far away from the direct leadership of the shogunate, and surrounded by small vassals. Once they have an enmity with the shogunate, they can fight without worries. Satsuma Domain is located in a corner of Kyushu Island, with dangers from the sea and a natural chasm between them. If there is any disturbance, there will be enough time to prepare.

The Sendai Domain is in the Mutsu region, only more than 300 kilometers away from Kanto, the core area under the direct control of the shogunate, and less than 200 kilometers away from the Mito Domain of the Gosan family. There are also several Daimyos and outsiders who are inclined to the shogunate in the surrounding area. Such a great name. If the shogunate wanted to attack their Sendai clan, they could quickly reach their doorstep in less than half a month.

Oh, by the way, the Sendai clan also used the rich copper mines in the territory to cooperate with Homei and Qi to make counterfeit money - in fact, in terms of craftsmanship and copper metal content, the fake money they made was better than the real money of the shogunate. It is also true that Qi State provided technology, Homing provided equipment, and the Date family provided raw materials to make this business prosperous. Countless Kanei Tongbao flowed out of Sendai Domain and flooded the Japanese market.

In this way, in addition to spreading their reputation widely, the Date family also hoped to make the shogun lower his guard.

The Sendai Domain has always been in this kind of uneasiness and anxiety. While actively improving the feudal administration, it is also vigilantly watching the movements of Edo City, fearing that it will be killed by the Tokugawa clan.

Well, it’s too frustrating and depressing!

Therefore, when the Mori clan of the Choshu clan became angry and became a beauty, oh, no, it should be for dignity, so they directly overturned the table and openly confronted the Tokugawa shogunate. Ida knew it was time to make a change. More than a month ago, Dateyoshimura, the governor of the Sendai domain who was on duty at Edo Castle, successfully escaped with the secret help of "certain people" and successfully returned to Sendai. Then he responded to the Satsuma Alliance and asked the shogunate to abolish itself, " "The great power is returned, the royal government is restored" and jointly launched the "End of the Curtain" movement.

More than 5,000 Sendai clan troops marched toward Kanto in a mighty manner, preparing to take advantage of the shogunate's army to struggle with the Sacho coalition forces in Shufang and Nagato to attack the "Yellow Dragon".

In less than half a month, the Sendai clan army defeated the Fukushima clan, Shirakawa clan, Moriyama clan, Iwaki Taira clan, Matsuoka clan and other Daimyo clan armies, and on October 10th, Mito was hit hard. The "Rebellion Army" organized by the feudal lord Tokugawa Zongyao in a hurry shocked the world.

As a result, the frightened and angry shogunate actively organized the defense of the Kanto region and Edo Castle, and at the same time issued a shogunate call-up order again, requiring the vassal states in Mutsu, Dewa, Hitachi, Shimono and other places to dispatch their vassal troops to attack Sendai Domain. Dash.

However, not long after the call-up order was issued, the Ming Dynasty Peace Prefecture located in the northern part of the Mutsu region declared a state of emergency mobilization, and Ming Dynasty ships also frequently traveled in the waters near Northeast Japan, with attempts to massively attack the Mutsu feudal lords.

Under this situation, the vassals in Mutsu, Dewa and other regions were so frightened that these vassals that had never wanted to get involved took the opportunity to evade the shogunate's orders and huddled all their respective vassal armies in the vassal city in preparation for the Northern Ming Dynasty. Possible military invasion.

As a result, there was almost no threat from the north and south of the Sendai clan, and they could attack the core areas of the shogunate with all their strength southward.

When the "Shengyuan" sailed into the outer port of Sendai and docked at the dock, the food on board was "forcibly bought" by the shogunate, which unsurprisingly made the Date family very angry.

I'm fighting a war here. Why is the food I ordered gone?
You Qi people have no sense of responsibility at all. How could you allow the shogunate to confiscate the food on board?
Is it possible that you are still afraid that the shogunate will use violence against you?

Well, in this situation, it would be best if the shogunate can conflict with Qi, thereby reducing the military pressure on the overthrowing faction!

Captain Qi, who knew he was in the wrong, thoughtfully placed several cannons on the ship in order not to offend the Sendai clan too much - after all, when the war broke out in Japan, a large number of businessmen would swarm in like hyenas smelling fishy smell. He sold it to Date at a "discounted price", and at the same time, he also gave the other party half-sold and half-given dozens of muskets found on the ship.

What, what if the ship is about to sail in the vast Pacific and is attacked by pirates or island natives?
Don't be ridiculous, during this period, in addition to the ships of Qi State, there were only merchant ships of Luzon (Zheng family) and Wei State in the entire Pacific Ocean. There were no threats such as pirates.

In fact, even the Spaniards, who once opened up the sailing ship trade, no longer like to wander in the Pacific Ocean. Instead, they wait in Spanish America with peace of mind for a steady stream of goods to be transported from the Eastern World.

Because the domineering Qi people declared that the Pacific Islands were all protected territories of Qi, and they unceremoniously designated the entire Pacific as their own sphere of influence, and no foreign countries or forces were allowed to interfere.

Not to mention, the Qi people also carried out immigration activities of varying sizes on several key Pacific islands, and sent officials and soldiers to settle there.

The two-ocean hegemony of the Da Qi Empire is not just something to talk about casually!

Furthermore, the "Shengyuan" is a steam-sail hybrid ship. If it really wins the lottery and encounters pirates wandering into the Pacific Ocean, it can easily get rid of the enemy with its high speed and maneuverability. pursuit.

Therefore, merchant ships running the Pacific route are basically unarmed. Of course, this also frees up more space for ships to carry more cargo.

Therefore, the artillery on the "Shenggen" was originally intended to be smuggled to the Sendai Domain. In order to show full sincerity in front of the Date family, the shipowner deliberately declared that he would not hesitate to sacrifice the armament of the entire ship, and "tearfully" will These artillery pieces are sold to the other party to win the other party's favor, so that in the next trade transaction, you can get more trading opportunities and preferential margins.

You must know that the Pacific route is no different from the Indian Ocean route. There are many trade opportunities throughout the entire circle, and you can frequently sail or stop at ports for transactions. In the vast Pacific Ocean, the indigenous people on the many scattered islands have little spending power and can only be used as water supply points along the way.

As a result, merchant ships plying the Pacific route, in addition to trying their best to circle around the Japanese islands, can only sail to the Americas as quickly as possible, either with Qi's Yinzhou territory, or with Spanish American colonies. Buy and sell.

With such a long distance and so few trading opportunities, merchant ships must be packed to the brim to obtain higher trading profits.

The "Shengyuan" stayed at the outer port of Sendai for only four days. After purchasing a large amount of copper and saltpeter, it sailed out of the port and headed for Qingyuan (today's Hakodate City, Hokkaido, Japan).

"In fact, the shogunate, which was already in trouble, could have prevented the outbreak of war."

Winter is about to enter, and the biting sea breeze brings chills, causing waves to splash on the side of the ship from time to time. Shi Baoshan, the captain of the Shengyuan, wraps his woolen coat a little tighter.

"The shogunate was too confident, thinking that with its own strength, it could suppress all the feudal lords in the world. In addition, they also seriously underestimated the complexity and threats of the external situation. Of course we do not want such a large country with a population of more than 20 million To achieve true reunification, Beiming is even more unwilling to see Japan have the opportunity to rise and prosper."

"Yes, now that the war is going on, it is estimated that business will be difficult." Boatswain Liao Fuyuan nodded and agreed: "The money is all gone, who will we sell Qi's goods to?"

"Well, I hope that after fighting a few battles, the shogunate feels that it cannot completely eliminate the rebellious feudal clans of Choshu, Satsuma and Sendai, so it can stop in time and continue to restore its previous state." Shi Baoshan said: "You said you want to withdraw the feudal clans The establishment of counties should not make all the lords of the vassal state panic! The shogunate is still too anxious. It should first try to establish counties and counties within its own domain to centralize power, and then gradually expand to the three imperial families, the lords of the vassal, and Generate daimyo, and finally take action on those daimyo who are not of the same mind as the shogunate. Step by step, relying on the general trend, and slowly advancing, maybe we can complete and truly unify."

"It's unlikely." Liao Fuyuan shook his head and said, "Beiming doesn't want Japan to complete internal integration and achieve true unification as easily as Japan. Think about it, Japan has ten times the population of Beiming, and they all have It is a single nation, influenced by Chinese Confucianism for thousands of years. If the political reform is successful and developed, it will definitely pose a substantial threat to Beiming. Originally, it was unable to cope with the Qin State, but when faced with the rise of Japan, Beiming was afraid I don’t even dare to close my eyes for a nap!”

"That's right. Beiming ignored the vast tracts of unclaimed land in Lingbei and the Polar Regions. He only wanted to conquer the Japanese island. He wished that the whole of Japan would return to the situation of civil strife in the war. This time the shogunate acted unpredictably, which made Beiming If we find an opportunity, we might take action again and continue to encroach and annex the northern Mutsu region."

(End of this chapter)