Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 2404 Japanese affairs

Masahiro Matsumae returned to Fukuyama Castle.

He has resigned from the post of Shimo Shouguan arranged by the shogunate. He has no official position and is light. He can go back to Fukuyama City to live leisurely, and life should not be too pleasant.Of course, he is also very worried about his eldest son Kahiro Matsumae, because he is currently living in Edo with his family, serving as a public official of a moderate size, he is probably a hostage in disguise.

Fukuyama Castle is much larger now.Of course, this is Fukuyama Castle in a broad sense, that is, a vast area including the castle of the Matsumae family and the castle town.Not only did the trendy street car company appear in the city, but a small waterworks was also built for the big shots in the city.

The most eye-catching building in Fukuyama Castle is actually the newly completed Fukuyama Department Store.The building has a total of six floors, designed by Dongan designers and constructed by the Heishui County Transportation Bureau (they are the only ones with this level of technology in the entire Far East), specializing in the sale of various "barbarian goods".The so-called "barbarian goods" refer to all kinds of goods from the Japanese that belong to the barbarian territory. More precisely, they are mountain goods, leather goods, medicinal materials, etc. from Northeast Asia.A few years ago, there were still some goods from North Korea, but after the armed conflict broke out between the two countries as the North Korean army brazenly invaded and occupied Tsushima Island, Fukuyama Department Store quietly removed North Korean goods from the shelves to avoid criticism.

The Matsumae domain has already negotiated with the East Coast people. Whether it is the Bank of Taiwan or the East Coast Japanese company, they will rent a special shop in Fukuyama Department Store and sell their goods. This is enough to ensure considerable popularity.In addition, many daimyos or businessmen who have good friends with the Matsumae family will send people here regularly to see if there are any wholesale products they need.

All in all, this wholesale market—please note that although Fukuyama Department Store also has retail business, but this is really not the main thing, more of it is wholesale—the possibility of success is still very high, and it is quite sufficient for Matsumae. Finance is the icing on the cake, making their strength even higher.

"Yijian-kun. I'm really glad that you can come to Fukuyama to help me this time." Masahiro Matsumae sat cross-legged on the tatami mat, behind him stood two guards holding samurai swords, and in front of him was a A middle-aged samurai with a face full of wind and frost, named Itami Yonosuke, came from the Shimabara clan of Kyushu.

Speaking of the Shimahara Clan, it is really difficult now.The "Shimabara Rebellion" that had erupted from Christian uprisings decades ago, after it was put down, the Gao Li family took over, but because of financial difficulties, they made a foolish move to tax the samurai, which eventually led to riots. The Li family also sadly left the Shimahara clan.

The reason why Gao Lishi taxed the warriors was because of financial difficulties and was forced to do so.The direct cause of financial difficulties is that the shogunate has been vigorously promoting the monetization of the economy over the years, implementing new policies, and intending to develop industrial and commercial "self-improvement" - being nakedly slapped in the face by the North Koreans is unacceptable to Japan.

But this new economic deal also brought about a big problem, that is, the original feudal lord daimyo mainly relied on collecting land rent in kind from farmers and then commercializing it to obtain income.However, after merchants entered the rural market and agricultural commercialization was thoroughly deepened, the feudal lords lost a large piece of income, that is, the premium income from selling land rent (agricultural products).On the other hand, due to the in-depth implementation of the commodity economy, the prices of various daily necessities and production tools began to rise, and the cost of living in cities increased. Unbalanced, finances are in crisis.

Especially those warriors who depended on Lumi to support their families, their lives became more and more difficult.Even the banner samurai under the direct control of the Tokugawa shogunate had a very difficult life because of the "price revolution" that occurred in Edo, so that "many people did not have quilts when they were on duty at night."What's more, many daimyos and samurai were forced to borrow money from usury merchants, as described at the time: "Many daimyo borrowed money from merchants in a humble way, and they could only live on the aid of rich merchants in Edo, Kyoto, Osaka and other places. The annual tribute collected from the peasants was all used to repay the loans of the merchants...and was often accused of having to set up a banquet to entertain usurers in order to make amends."

From this we can see that after the so-called reforms in Japanese society over the years, some samurai and daimyo have been partly in a dependent or subordinate position in society, and the power of businessmen has been rising day by day.They have huge funds and employ a lot of shabby ronin around them, so that it is very difficult for the daimyo to renege on their debts—unless you don’t go to Edo, but this is impossible—it’s not that no one has tried to renege on their debts, but the group of businessmen Organize the "Edo Chamber of Commerce" to protest to the shogunate, and at the same time organize creditors to flock to the daimyo's house in Edo with paper banners, and post posters everywhere, demanding that they pay back the money.In the end, the daimyo who owed the debt had no choice but to borrow money from the shogunate to repay the debt, and he was in a panic.

Unlike the daimyo and samurai who gradually fell into financial difficulties, urban and rural wholesalers, money changers, usurers, and some daimyos involved in business quickly became rich and accumulated considerable monetary wealth in just a few years.As Dazai said: "The wealth of gold and silver is hidden by merchants." At this time, the well-known wealthy merchant Konoike Zenemon in Osaka, his family's income was equivalent to the income of ten daimyo territories.He invented the sake brewing method, and the wine produced is not only marketed locally in Osaka, but also has a large sales volume nationwide. Recently, he has started to operate the shipping business from Osaka to Edo, and ordered several ships from Heishui, intending to expand the business. Bigger and stronger.

The Sumitomo family, which made their fortunes by operating medicinal materials and bookstores, is now also working with the Konoike family to develop copper mines and reap huge profits.Mitsui, who was born in Matsusaka, Ise, made his fortune by trading silk and satin cloth, and is now negotiating with the Konoike family to expand their voice in the financial industry.Konoike, Mitsui, and Sumitomo are the representatives of the rise of Japanese business groups at this time. They started from the situation where they could only look up to the daimyo before, and took advantage of the east wind of Japanese reforms to take advantage of the situation and rise above most of the daimyos.

As the first daimyos involved in the Shandan trade, the Matsumae family has now accumulated considerable wealth.You must know that at least one-third of the copper coins circulating in the Japanese market today are sold through their family and the Date family. In addition to the lucrative business of Northeast Asian leather goods, although the Matsumae family is not as good as controlling more than 30 domains The economical Konoike family (his branch manager can call 70-100 samurai at any time, and all of them are decent samurai with daimyo salary), it is better to control the wholesale market of rice, fish, vegetables, and wood, and supply 33 samurai at the same time Yodoya, a giant in Osaka that lends money to daimyo, is even worse than Mitsui, Sumitomo and other established business families that have been famous for at least 100 years, but at least in northern Japan, his Matsumae family is also a well-known name in the commercial field.

Masahiro Matsumae is shrewd. As the illegitimate son of Wei Boqiu, he has very smooth communication channels with the East Bank. He also has many new talents who have studied in Yantai College and Heishui Transportation College. , if the background is really too bad, I am afraid that it would have surpassed Konoike, Sumitomo, Mitsui, Yodoya, Hiranoya, Tennojiya and other business families who are in charge of the country.

But Masahiro Matsumae is confident of surpassing these people, because his inextricable connection with the East Coast people is beyond anyone's reach.The top executives of the Bank of Taiwan, Dongan Japan Company, Dongan Korea Company, Heishui Management Committee, Manchurian Pioneering Team and other organizations often exchanged letters with him. The first stop of many Dongan products entering Japan was Matsumae Domain.For example, the copper coins sold through his hands, the black water horses sold through their family, and the fur goods sold by them are all no less than that of the Date family, which is the most powerful in the Northeast. The profits are unimaginable.

Last year, Masahiro Matsumae's eldest son, He Guang, went to Shimo-Dapori Port and established a joint venture with local businessmen on the east coast to export high-quality timber to Japan.In Ezo, their family also has many logging farms. In recent years, they have purchased a lot of machines from the east coast. Powerful challenge.Isn't it said that your Yodoya family has a family property of 1 million taels of silver?Didn't Yodoya Tatsugoro still wear the uniforms awarded by the general to go out and about in the Flower Street and Willow Lane, competing with the big shots to get jealous?With such arrogance, I'm afraid there will be unforeseen disasters in the future. At that time, it will be the time for my Matsumae family to rise!

People from the East Coast appreciated Masahiro Matsumae's ambition very much, and pointed out to him that the Tokugawa shogunate has now ordered the entire country to monetize the economy, develop new industries, and train new troops. Reform has become the general trend.In such an era of great change, if you seize the opportunity to do a good job, it may not be an opportunity to stand out.On weekdays, you haven't had such an opportunity yet!The shogunate firmly controls the world, and powerful factions such as Sendai and Satsuma can only complain a little bit. If you want to rise, you will not find a chance!

Masahiro Matsumae thought further than the people on the east coast.In his view, the shogunate has carried out reforms for so many years. Although it has accumulated a lot of wealth, it has also caused endless turmoil across the country.It's just that the strength of the shogunate is too strong now, and the [-] banner samurai are watching, coupled with the existence of many shogunate vassals, they dare not speak out.

However, who can tell what the future holds.Reform has always been a very complicated matter. There are upstarts and old people who are lost, and social conflicts will gradually accumulate.If something happens someday, it is not impossible for someone to raise their arms and carry out a campaign to bring down the curtain. That will be an opportunity for the Matsumae family, a great opportunity to advance into the center of power!I only hope that this opportunity will appear while I am still alive!

"Yi Jian-kun, please take care of the recruiting of ronin. The great development of industry in this feudal domain is just the time for employing people. In addition, please take care of the trade routes in the south, please." Chatted with Yoshinosuke Yoshinosuke for a while After the scenery, the two quickly turned to the main topic: "The Songqian family will not treat any meritorious officials badly."

After finishing speaking, Masahiro Matsumae clapped his hands, and a samurai opened the paper door and brought a tray with two stacks of banknotes neatly placed on it.Yoshinosuke Yoshinosuke was not an ignorant person, he could tell at a glance that it was Dongguo's gold exchange certificate, which was a real hard currency, and it dazzled his eyes and made him bow his head humbly.

(End of this chapter)