Xinshun 1730

Chapter 470 Trial and Error
However, Tokugawa Yoshimune just wanted to catch the appetite of the Dutch. Since Xindao was the location Liu Yu was in charge of negotiating, how could it be bad?

Just saying it to make you dutch people envious.

After a little silence, Tokugawa Yoshimune pretended to sigh: "How can I catch up with Dongzhao Shenjun's means of governing the country? Since the opening of ports for trade was allowed back then, there must be profound considerations?"

"Even if the country is closed, in Nagasaki, only one country will not be allowed to trade. It's like not allowing merchants to monopolize one kind of goods."

When the Dutchman heard this, he felt that there was something in his heart. He was about to talk about the benefits of "free trade", but Tokugawa Yoshimune didn't give him a chance to continue talking.

Instruct the followers to take away the Dutch who followed, and stop participating in the affairs of Osaka and Kyoto.

But he also asked Aoki Kunyang to contact the Dutch, and proposed to translate the Dutch language, so as to show a hint that Japan intends to have closer contact with the Netherlands.

After the Dutch left, after the original Osaka Castle Ota Sukiharu "was" committed suicide, the Fukuyama Castle Lord Abe Masaoku, who was basically appointed as the next Osaka Castle, immediately expressed his dissatisfaction with the Dutch.

"The Dutch said that the Tang people respected the shogunate, so they did not choose to open a port in Edo. In fact, it was because the Tang people knew that the general would not allow the opening of a port in Edo."

"Businessmen are all looking for profit. The Dutch are no different from the Tang people in this regard. If the Dutch can go to war to force us to open a port, they will definitely do it."

"The Dutch are not more virtuous than the Tang."

Tokugawa Yoshimune snorted, thinking that it was natural.The Dutch even dared to step on the statue of the Virgin Mary in the street for the sake of trade. How can there be any virtue at all?It's just for profit and port opening.

"Do you think opening a port is a good thing? Or a bad thing?"

Instead of continuing to talk about whether the Dutch are good or bad, Tokugawa Yoshimune asked Masaoku Abe, who was still in charge of the opening of Osaka's trade, his views on the opening of the port.

Masahook Abe spoke his mind.

"Opening a port is not necessarily a bad thing."

Abe Masaoku knew that most of the shogunate officials thought this was a bad thing, but he still said his true thoughts, which may not be a bad thing.

The Abe family has always aimed to become the center of the shogunate cabinet, and they have some unique views on some things.

During the Shimabara Rebellion that year, Abe took risks for the first time, killing first and playing later, and asked the vassals to prepare to send troops to suppress it before the order of the shogunate. The shogunate has always attached great importance to the Abe family.

The reason why Abe Masaoku was designated as the new Osaka Castle was because when the North Korean messenger came, the issue of whether the maharaja or the king was involved, and Abe Masaoku was in charge of the reception, and the handling was perfect.

In Tokugawa Yoshimune's view, Masaoku Abe is capable in foreign affairs.

Now that Dashun wants to open ports everywhere, the most important thing is Osaka, and it needs a capable person to take charge.Moreover, both Dashun and North Korea belonged to the Confucian cultural circle, and it was easier for Abe Masaoku to get in touch with them.

Furthermore, Abe Masaoku's vassal regime reform gave Tokugawa Yoshimune a feeling of "heroic sympathy".

They are all determined to reform, they are all quite effective, and then they are all "the destiny cannot be violated". A big famine brought all the reforms back to their original form.

Tokugawa Yoshimune has always felt that his reforms were unsuccessful, not because his reforms were caused by making decisions with his head.

Rather, it feels a bit like the tragedy of Xiang Yu's failure, where fate cannot be granted and manpower cannot violate it.Therefore, I have a special closeness to Abe Masaoku, who was also quite effective but failed to reform because of "Mandate of Heaven".

The key is that Abe Masaoku's reforms made Tokugawa Yoshimune see another possible route.

Under such a situation that has not been seen in a thousand years, Japan's future needs to rely on the conditions of each vassal government, and try and make mistakes one by one.

Different from other people's reform ideas, Abe Masaoku believes that the reason for the poverty of the people is that Japan's population is too large, the land is too scattered, and the land of small farmers is getting less and less, which makes it easier to go bankrupt and be taken by businessmen. press.

So his idea is... a strict eldest son inheritance system, including farmers, to ensure that the land is not scattered, and the second son of the farmers has no inheritance rights. They are brothers in name, but in fact they are like family-born serfs; strict restrictions on the marriage age of the people under the vassal , requires late marriage, prohibits marriage and childbirth under age, reduces the population as much as possible, and ensures that the family's wealth accumulation is sufficient to survive the famine.

A two-pronged approach ensures that the land will not be divided into small pieces, and also tries to restore it to the exact labor limit of [-] mu of land per owner farmer.

After all, after a while of reforms, the situation in the domain has indeed improved a lot.

Although the population has decreased, the amount of tribute paid has not been low, and because people have more land per capita, they have more money for consumption, and commercial activities have also developed.

It's just that his fief is on the east side of Hiroshima, near the sea, which is one of the areas that suffered the worst famine. All the reform achievements were wiped out with a famine, and a serious crisis broke out.

Although his thinking is problematic, it can be regarded as some unique insights when the industrial revolution did not break out and Japan had nowhere to immigrate.

Regarding the opening of the port, Abe Masaoku knew that the matter was irreversible, and he felt that it might not be all bad things, but he should be more cautious about whether it really developed as he thought.

At least, the opening of Dashun's port will have a great impact. This impact is already big enough, so we should take a look at it first.

At this time, he still didn't know Tokugawa Yoshimune's idea of ​​instigating Sino-Dutch relations.

Just according to my own understanding, I have already inspected the financial situation in my domain and reached a conclusion that is not pessimistic.

Under the influence of the primogeniture system and the reality that Japan's population has increased but the land has not increased, Japanese farmers have tried not to have children in recent years.

This leads to the fact that the eldest son generally inherits real estate, such as land.The family-based handicraft industry, as a means of livelihood for the second sons around the elder brothers, has been developed to a certain extent.

This point is also somewhat different from Dashun, which is a system of eldest son inheritance for nobles and titles.But among the people, it is actually considered an equal inheritance system, and it is the clan but not the family that maintains it.The ancestral land was subdivided into smaller pieces.

According to Masaoku Abe's reform experience in the feudal domain, he found that if the land was not demolished, the younger brothers lived around their elder brothers, so they needed to engage in some handicrafts at home to supplement the family income.

Based on this, he put forward his opinion like Tokugawa Yoshimune that "opening ports may not be all bad things".

"My lord, before the people of Tang Dynasty could only trade in Nagasaki, and there were limited ships. In order to seek profit, they only wanted to wear copper materials, and the rest would choose to buy goods."

"After the opening of the port, they come here more and more, and I'm afraid they won't be able to fill them with copper and other materials. If they are empty, they will be empty. As long as they can make a little profit, they will load them back."

"Nowadays, people don't want to have children, so it's really hard to survive. If the port is opened, there will be commerce and trade, and children who cannot inherit family property can engage in commerce, transportation, etc., which is also a way to survive."

"Or each family can do more handicrafts in addition to farming, or they can be sold in Dashun."

"I heard that the government of the Tang Dynasty was very different from that of our own country. For example, in weaving, the people of the Tang Dynasty were mostly self-sufficient. Picking cotton, spinning yarn, and weaving cloth were all done by the women in the family."

"Before Taige seized the land, most of the country had manors. Within the manor, each had a division of labor. After the land was seized, this division of labor was still preserved. For example, in cotton, some families specialize in spinning, while others specialize in weaving. industry."

"Businessmen in this country can travel around. After the westward and eastward sea transportation was opened up, the people along the coast, besides farming, also worked at home and sold to supplement their household expenses."

"After the opening of the port, it will definitely be more prosperous. If the industry and commerce can be developed, one can collect taxes and profits; two, in addition to the products that are not produced in the country, they can be self-sufficient or can be sold back to the Tang Dynasty."

"Use the eldest son to bear the tribute and keep the tribute unchanged. Calculated by the height of the stone, the foundation of the Wu family law is a fixed population that is guaranteed not to be dispersed in the land; outside of the high land and stone, the second son cooperates to manage and revitalize the industry and commerce for profit. .”

Whether it will be successful or not, no one can say now.

After the opening of the port, apart from the predictable outflow of gold and silver, everyone disagrees on whether the remaining is a good thing or a bad thing.

Tokugawa Yoshimune himself couldn't figure it out, nor could his valued son, so when he asked about the reforms that day, Tokugawa Munebu said to him that he just mentioned the means of making money, but he didn't understand it. Mention those fundamental things.

Tokugawa Yoshimune didn't know whether Abe Masaoku was right or wrong in thinking this way.

But compared to those who can only talk about good and bad, but don't know why it is good and why it is bad, Abe Masaoku can at least say something about it.

Some words, Abe Masaoku did not say too clearly, but Tokugawa Yoshimune heard the subtext of Abe Masaoku.

"What is not produced in the country can be self-sufficient, or can be sold back to the Tang Dynasty", the implication is that what is not produced in the country, what should we do?
For things like raw silk and silk cloth, Japan cannot compete with Dashun in any case, no matter in terms of quality or price.

Do common people use these things?
Isn't it for warriors and businessmen to enjoy?

If you really want gold and silver not to flow out, you should continue to strictly enforce the "Frugality Order".

In the past, for the circulation of precious metals, people were not even allowed to put money in straw sandals after death, and even people were not allowed to wear silver hairpins on their heads.

As long as it can be strictly enforced, it is not impossible to prohibit samurai merchants from wearing silk, not allowing samurai merchants to use porcelain, and not to eat candy...etc.

If it is really necessary to implement it, even if the port is opened, no one will buy Dashun's goods, so what's the use of opening the port?How does it affect Japan?

However, when Tokugawa Yoshimune summoned Abe Masaoku before, he secretly expressed his views on future trade. After all, Abe Masaoku is the front-line executor of Osaka Castle.

The shogunate's finances were too poor, and the shogunate also hoped to use the monopoly and comprador monopoly system to encourage consumption and weaken the vassals, so as to rely on customs and monopoly revenue to enrich the shogunate's finances.

Earn quick money first, support the army, reform, and wait until the future has spare capacity to stop earning this quick money.

The hope of the Abe family is to be the cabinet center of the shogunate. Naturally, they have to consider the issue from the perspective of the shogunate, and they cannot consider the issue of gold and silver outflow from the perspective of the whole of Japan.

So what I wanted to say in my heart, I still didn't say it out of my mouth after all.

Another one, I am afraid that the strict implementation of the thrift order will cause dissatisfaction with Dashun, and Dashun still has a trump card in his hand, which is the southwestern feudal clans.

The shogunate also had to consider, if the shogunate was disobedient, would Dashun support a new obedient shogunate.

It sounds humiliating, but this is the reality, and it is the reality that Abe Masaoku has to consider on the side of the shogunate.

After all, Masaoku Abe can only pin his hopes on the details of the differences between Japan’s small-scale peasant economy and Dashun’s small-scale peasant economy. He hopes that under the differences such as the primogeniture system to ensure wealth accumulation and the division of labor after the disintegration of the manor system, industry and commerce will continue to grow. Able to develop without shaking the samurai system.

Tokugawa Yoshimune has no better way, not even experience and ideas that can be used for reference.In the past, I used history as a mirror to find the history books of the Central Plains, or from the Zhenguan political leaders, or from the resources and governance, but now I really can't learn from it.

There is a huge difference in the national conditions of the two countries. Dashun can switch it on and off at will, without worrying about the loss of gold and silver, and the bankruptcy of Siminzhi's industry and commerce.

There is no way to learn from it, only trial and error, and a little bit of exploration.Perhaps Masaoku Abe's prediction is right, opening a port may not be a bad thing; but it may also be that the opening of a port will bring about an unprecedented situation, causing no history to draw lessons from, flustered and confused tricks, leading to the demise of the shogunate .

Looking at the warship in the distance, Tokugawa Yoshimune felt helpless, and his fear and uneasiness about the unknown future made him at a loss what to do.

He didn't say that Abe Masaoku was right, nor that he was wrong, but just sighed.

(End of this chapter)