Xinshun 1730

Chapter 345
The company crossing the river played drums loudly, and the officers held a banner with the words "benevolence and righteousness" written on it, and formally entered the Kochi castle town without any resistance.

Liu Yu crossed the river like a tourist, stood beside the Harimaya Bridge in Kochi Castle Town, looked down at this famous bridge, and couldn't help laughing: "If I was a child, I would pee on the other side of the bridge if I tried harder. .”

Hearing this joke, the officer beside him smiled secretly and said, it seems that the children in Xungui's family also played like this when they were young?Someone also jokingly said: "My lord is young and strong, so if you want to come at this time, you can definitely do it."

Liu Yu laughed, and didn't really take off his pants to try it. He just felt that the famous places and sights in the eyes of Japanese people were really shabby.

Standing on this small bridge, I habitually spit into the river, but no schools of fish swam over.

He raised his head and asked the Japanese craftsman who followed him, "Is this the House of Harimaya, the royal merchant of the Tosa feudal lord?"

He said the word "Quyong Merchant" in Japanese, but it would be impossible for him to say the word "Quyong" in Chinese.

The Japanese master nodded and said: "This is the Harimaya. It is responsible for transporting rice to Edo or Osaka for the daimyo, and also handles paper business. Opposite is the cabinet house, which is also a local luxury merchant. This bridge is a private bridge. They are surrounded by samurai who came to Tosa from Kakegawa with the feudal lord, and they all live near here. But now, they should all have fled to Kochi Castle."

That being said, this should be the center of the castle town, and the owner of the Harimaya and Cabinet House is also at the top of the list of usury and pawn shops.

Moreover, in the previous land reclamation permits, the two families also invested in the development of large tracts of fertile land and owned many tenants.

Speaking of the rich merchants in Kochi, the Japanese master craftsman couldn't help sighing: "It is these merchants who have caused the moral corruption of the lord. The so-called dog cannibalism cannibalism without inspection."

"The people who are rich in field corpses and newly reclaimed land have plenty of food and clothing, and they don't know what to do when they see natural disasters and natural punishment. In the brothels and restaurants, they feasted excessively and spent a lot of money. In this difficult time for people's livelihood, the generation is still rich in clothes and food, and entertains among actors and prostitutes, just like in the past. This situation is really like King Zhou's long-night banquet."

"My lord, why don't you follow the example of the ancient sages and distribute the rich rice from the huge bridge and Lutai to save the people who are starving and struggling today? This kind of money is all unjust wealth."

Liu Yu is an expert in Taoism, distributing Juqiao Lutai money... Isn't this the standard template for rebellion?
Divorce, of course we are going to disband, but not now.It is estimated that the wealthy merchants also hid in Kochi City together, and there is nothing to disperse at this time.

From the master craftsman's words, it can be regarded as confirming Liu Yu's judgment. In the process of the feudal economy slowly disintegrating, the bottom people hate the merchants more than the lords-as long as the land trading is allowed, even if it is slightly relaxed.

After all, this master is a Confucian student. Even if he is not Zhu Zi or Yang Ming, he claims to be an ancient Confucian, but in his heart he always hopes that the lord will implement a benevolent government, and he has not yet reached the point where he really dares to rebel.

Businessmen, especially those who hoard land and have monopoly franchises, are the most hated.In fact, the shogunate also raised these businessmen as big fat sheep, and let them absorb hatred, and from time to time issued laws for repudiation.

As long as the iron chain on the merchant is loosened a little, the merchant will let the feudal lord know what the efficiency of enriching wealth is.As for whether it is legal or moral, Liu Yu doesn't want to judge at all.

Anyway, he was running a trading company and industry in Dashun, and the most worrying thing about him was the usury interest of Dashun, which made it impossible for him to raise funds for some projects with slightly lower profits.

Fifty percent of the land rent is also considered a benevolent government's land rent level, and it makes Dashun account for a quarter of the world's population. It is surprising that it depends on overseas trade to get the start of industry and commerce.

The words of the master craftsman gradually deepened his understanding of the emotions of the Japanese people at that time.

Someone broke down the door of the Harima house, and when they entered, it was indeed a mess and empty.

He also didn't want to live in this kind of place. The urban area was too dangerous and the terrain was complicated. If there was someone who was not afraid of death to assassinate, there would definitely be troubles.

"In this way, let's put up a list to calm the people first, and just say that I am here, not for wealth, but for righteousness. Those who kill people will die, those who hurt others will be punished, and those who rob will be flogged..."

After handing over several rewritten announcements to the people behind him, the master craftsman asked doubtfully, "The robber? Are you planning to follow the example of the ancient sages?"

Liu Yu said with a smile: "Wu Wang scattered the wealth of Lutai, can it be called a robbery? How can it be called a robbery to distribute the millet from the Juqiao? I'm afraid that all these goods will be transferred to Gaozhi City. No hurry, no hurry, go post it first annunciation."

The craftsman didn't know what Liu Yu meant, but seeing the soldiers of the Marine Corps standing still, although they spied on the houses of the wealthy businessmen next to them from time to time, they didn't move at all under orders. arts.

All the samurai fled to Kochi Castle, but it is impossible for all the people in the castle town to escape there.

Kochi City has a total of 40-meter-high hills, which may not be as large as Liu Yu's garden, and it can't hold too many people.

The remaining samurai of the Tosa Clan slumped in Kochi City, they could only watch Liu Yu doing things here, they had no choice but to do anything.

I couldn't beat it again and again, and I didn't dare to come down.

Fortunately, Liu Yu had been distributing leaflets before, promoting himself as a teacher of benevolence and righteousness. There was no robbery or violence against the family members of some warriors, and he did not harass them.

People in the castle town are not very afraid.After all, they were not Westerners, but Tang people whom these Japanese had often heard about, so they didn't have much fear.

Most of the merchants did not escape, they were still in the city, quietly waiting for their fate.

These people are also the tools Liu Yu plans to use.

Say different things to different people.

Everyone's focus is different. Apart from ethnicity, it may be difficult to find a righteousness that unifies people from different walks of life.

Farmers outside the castle town yearn for land, care about usury, and wait for documents to pledge their land.

The merchants in the castle town yearn for fairness, care about the privileges of royal merchants, and wait for the day when they can be equal to the samurai class.

So this time the content of An Min's list is all around these small businessmen.Small craftsmen.

In the new post, Liu Yu first told a story.

"When I was in the Tang Dynasty, I heard that there are warriors and ordinary people in such a small country. I heard that a businessman saw a flea on a warrior, and he kindly reminded him. But he didn't want the warrior to be furious, so he swung his knife and killed him. Animals have the most fleas, and to say he has fleas is to insult him as an animal.”

"If you were in the Tang Kingdom, let alone a warrior, you would be the prime minister. If you dare to kill people in the street, you will be killed. From this point of view, Erguo is really a barbarian. You are mostly businessmen, and you must be oppressed by warriors on weekdays." ..."

Starting with this story, using very popular language, we have drawn closer to these small traders.

The new announcement points the finger at two groups of people.

Some of these small businessmen envy and hate the privileged businessmen who can't do it.

and most warriors.

Since the ruling class of the shogunate is samurai, if you want the shogunate to be afraid, you have to prove that you have the ability to incite people who are not in the ruling class.

There are farmers, merchants are rich, some village teachers are educated, and down-and-out warriors are powerful.

Not one can be missing.

This was done for the shogunate and daimyo, so that the shogunate could not carry out full mobilization.

There are obviously 40 registered warriors, but they dare to use up to [-] to [-] to form several mobile regiments, and most of them still have to stay in various cities to maintain their rule.

At the end of the list is Liu Yu's decree, saying that everything in the city will remain as usual, and if you find any robbers, you can report to the Harimaya Bridge.

Then the army was sent out to control the rice shop first, force it to open for business, and went in to search the situation of rice storage.

It is also called that those who buy rice should not buy too much, and each person can only buy a certain amount per day.

As the rice shop was forced to open, it took only one day for the entire castle town to function again.

Once again, the scene of flogging the "robbery" soldiers was staged. The Japanese called them the teachers of benevolence and righteousness. More and more people began to walk out of the house and went to an open space on the east side of the castle town to listen to the preaching of Liu Yu and others.

Some people in the castle town have been to the temple house and know some characters.

A few days ago, when Liu Yu distributed the leaflets with the wind, the warriors in the city searched everywhere, but there were some more courageous ones who quietly put away these leaflets, longing for the "benevolent government" described above.

It was a benevolent government that even Dashun did not have, but it was also a reasonable benevolent government that those who had been in contact with Confucianism since childhood could imagine.

The world depicted is like heaven in the eyes of Chetchitan believers.Heaven still needs an afterlife, but such a benevolent government seems to be just around the corner.

In the open space to the east of the castle town, more and more people came to listen to the speeches of the benevolent Tang people. Liu Yu also repeated over and over again that he came here not for the land and goods, but to help the Japanese build the road of kingship. Land, conduct benevolence and justice.

Talk about people when you see people, talk about ghosts when you see ghosts.

As for the small merchants in these castle towns, Liu Yu talked about the privileges of samurai and privileged merchants.

Fortunately, he has read the first four histories, a piece of "Biography of Huozhi", which is enough to quote classics, saying that merchants are useful to the country and promote the circulation of wealth. Merchant favor.

And by virtue of fair sales, they have gained the trust of these businessmen.

Then he publicly announced that normal businessmen are good, but lenders are bad, especially loan sharks who let farmers pledge their land and buy land at a low price due to natural disasters, which is not in line with "benevolent governance". is to be dealt with.

And publicly clicked on the list of usury and land hoarding merchants provided by the farmers, sent troops to guard their doorsteps, and gave them two days to send all the pledge documents, otherwise they would be punished.

Most small traders have neither the capital to lend usury nor the connections to participate in the land trade. Many people applaud this statement either with some conscience or with a gloating mentality.

Before the limited time came, half of the loan sharks obediently delivered the pledge documents to Liu Yu.

But those real big businessmen all hid in Kochi City. There was no one left in their family, and the food, gold and silver were also transferred, which was expected by Liu Yu.

In front of many onlookers, Liu Yu reprimanded those usury businessmen, and issued several orders that were completely meaningless:

The annual interest rate on all loans shall not exceed 20.00%.

All loans, including principal and interest, are repaid once the principal is doubled, regardless of whether the principal is repaid or not.

As for whether it can be implemented, Liu Yu doesn't care at all. He won't be here for too long and will leave soon.Just like the promises made by all opposition parties when they were in opposition, they always sounded so good. These pictures naturally attracted the support of many debtors.

(End of this chapter)