Chastity Layman 2

Chapter 1249 Qin Concession

Hakata Bay.

Accompanied by Qin Zhong, Consul General in Japan and a group of Tang merchants, Qin Jun came to Wanxi on purpose.

The galleon sailed along the bay into a estuary twenty or thirty feet wide in the west, and went up the river with flat banks and connected rice fields.

Qin Zhong introduced, "There used to be a few small fishing villages here, and there are some manors in the upper reaches. The land in the west of the river is surrounded by the bay in the north, two high hills in the west, and the river in the east. It is about twelve or three miles long. , about four or five miles wide, and about thirty thousand acres in size."

With the split of Chikushi Kingdom into two and the establishment of Dazaifu, the Hakata Bay area has now become the most affluent place on the Western Kaido of the Wa Kingdom, and the desolate place by the bay is also becoming lively.

"Over the years, many of our Tang merchants have bought land and real estate on this land, and gradually everyone has gathered together and become a Tangrenfang. We hope that your son can talk to Prince Wa this time to see if we can buy the whole land. , In this way, it will also benefit our long-term development here.”

Qin Jun didn't express his opinion in a hurry, but let Qin Zhong and the others take him ashore, and carefully walked all over the land.

The land is very flat, with the East River in the west facing the sea in the north, and two mountains and a river in the south.

There is also a nice deep-water bay in the north, which is suitable for a port.

The mountains separated to the west are not really big mountains. The height of the two hills is no more than a hundred feet, and the width is no more than six or seven miles.

Two mountain mausoleums lie obliquely, separating Chikuzen Maehara from the west. Chikuzen Maehara is no more than [-] miles long and no more than [-] miles wide. Chikuzen Maehara is surrounded by mountains on both sides, and Karatsu Bay is on the east, where Tang ships first arrived before Chikushi was divided into countries. place.

Later, Dazaifu was set up in Hakata Bay, which became a new trade center in the west of Japan, and Tang ships all went to Hakata.

"It's only twenty miles from here to Hakata Wharf."

Mountains, rivers and seas are separated, but it is close to Hakata, relatively independent, and the transportation is convenient.

Tang merchants took a fancy to this place, and gradually bought some land over the years, but when they wanted to buy the entire land to make it easier for them to build a complete Tangrenfang, the Japanese side was a little reluctant.

They are only willing to retail, but the price is getting more and more expensive.

The Tang merchants in Japan are also very shrewd, and they don't want to be taken advantage of.

"It's really a good place."

After Qin Jun walked around, some of the Qin family stewards who accompanied him also thought this place was very good.If you can buy the whole land, you can do a lot of things.

"Buying land is worse than renting land."

After returning to the ship, Qin Jun spoke to Qin Zhong and a group of merchants stationed in Japan.

"rent?"

"Yes, but it's not an ordinary rent. We rent the land and build a Tang Dynasty concession."

The concession was first established in Linyi. When Qin Lang was in charge of Lingnan, he supported the Queen of Linyi to return to the country to quell the chaos and restoration.

This concession is not an ordinary leased land or tenant land. Although rent is also paid, it is actually a country that is equivalent to an extraterritorial land.

The laws of the Tang Dynasty were applied in the concession, and the people of the Tang Dynasty managed the self-government. Lin Yiguo had no right to enter the concession, had no law enforcement power, and so on.

It can be said that the Tang Concession in Linyi has greatly protected Tang merchants and facilitated the development of Tang merchants in Linyi. The Linyi Concession has also made Linyi the country with the largest number of Tang merchants in recent years. , one of the most bustling and bustling ports.

Even the aristocratic merchants of Linyi Kingdom like to live in the Tang Concession, because the security there is far better than that of Wangcheng, and it is also more prosperous and lively, so it is called Little Taiping Port.

The success of the Linyi Concession is obvious to all. For Tang merchants, the concession is the same as in Datang.

But outside the concession, not only have to be subject to various jurisdictions, but even have to be exploited in various ways.But this is not the case in the Linyi Concession, because the concession is not only self-governing, but also has armed guards in the concession, and even the Tang Navy in Da Nang has an office in the concession, not only a regiment of marines, but also the navy Warships also often come to buy supplies and patrol.

No one dared to go to the concession to make trouble.

The queen of Linyi has always been friendly to Tang Gongshun, and has always been friendly with Tang merchants. Although the Tang merchants in the concession often use the concession to do something like smuggling, the queen mostly turns a blind eye. For the Queen, the existence of the Tang Concession has attracted more Tang merchants and Tang products, and it has also made Linyi's trade a step further.

Now that Linyi Port is the largest port in Nanyang, how many merchants it has attracted, these real benefits can be seen by touch.

night.

Prince Katsuragi hosted a banquet for Qin Jun and his party, accompanied by Tang Shang and others in Wo Da Tang.

In Dazaifu, the banquet is almost completely modeled on the banquet of the nobles of the Central Plains, but the dishes are much simpler.

Deer, wild boar, fish, shrimp, radish, and tofu are just a few dishes that are turned over and over again. Although they are still exquisite, the diet is really different from that of the Tang Dynasty in the Central Plains.

Sitting next to Qin Jun, Qin Zhong, who is a master of the Wa Kingdom, also explained to him that today's banquet is of the highest standard, and that the canonized ambassadors sent by the imperial court to the Wa Kingdom were also entertained by the Wa Kingdom.

It is also said that the country of Japan is poor in small things, so it has always been frugal. Even the king of Japan usually eats mixed rice with nine cents of white rice and one cent of beans. Generally, there are only three dishes, one meat, one vegetable and one soup.

"Don't you even have chickens, ducks, cattle and sheep?"

It's not that Qin Jun likes ostentation, but he just thinks that in Datang, even if it's an ordinary small folk's house, if a guest comes, he probably has to get a few eggs, and in the small landlord's house, he probably has to cut a piece of bacon for frying, and the officials will eat it at will. Noble family, if there are guests, mutton must be indispensable.

Needless to say, such as palace banquets, roasted sheep and camels are nothing to worry about.

The famous dish Hunyang Shihu not only roasts the lamb, but also puts a goose in the belly of the goose, and puts meat and glutinous rice in the belly of the goose.

And when Qin Jun’s uncle, Qin Xun, was conferred the third-rank position of General Zuowei, Cui also specially held a grand burnt tail banquet for the prime ministers of the court and the central government. The menu has a total of [-] dishes, cold dishes Hot dishes, frying, frying, stewing, steaming, flying in the sky, and fruit snacks from all over the world.

In contrast, the king's son entertained him with only eight dishes that could only be called side dishes, which was indeed shabby and a little disrespectful.

"Dahua Heavenly King worships Buddhism very much, so after he ascended the throne, he issued a ban on eating five kinds of livestock, cattle, horses, dogs, chickens, and monkeys, and from the fourth to the first day of the first lunar month to the [-]th of September every year, it is forbidden to eat all kinds of gourds. At other times, it is forbidden."

After Heavenly King Xiaode ascended the throne, the palace he lived in was renamed Dahua Palace, so he was called Heavenly King Dahua.

Heavenly King Xiaode worships Buddhism and despises local Shintoism. His reverence for Buddhism can be compared to Emperor Wu of Liang who locked himself in a Buddhist temple in the Southern Dynasty and asked the court to redeem him with a huge sum of money.

When Buddhism came to the Central Plains, meat was not forbidden at first, but five kinds of meat, that is, five kinds of spices. However, Emperor Wu of Liang issued an edict prohibiting monks from eating meat, fish and meat.

Although later Theravada sects actually did not completely ban meat and meat, the Hinayana sect believed that meat with three types of cleanliness could be eaten, and meat with non-three types of cleanliness could not be eaten.

The so-called three-clean meat is the meat that my eyes did not see when it was killed, and the meat that my ears did not hear when it was killed. Its death is undoubtedly the one who killed for me.

All three types of meat can be eaten.

However, it was Mahayana Buddhism that was introduced to the Daxing of the Wa Kingdom. The King of Wa worshiped Buddhism very much, so he also asked the Wa Kingdom to ban eating meat.

However, Qin Jun felt that the ban was a bit strange, why only the five meats of cattle, horses, dogs, chickens, and monkeys were banned?Does he think this is five meat?
Chicken is banned, why not ducks and geese?Cattle and horses are prohibited, so why not sheep and deer, dogs and monkeys, but why not pigs?
What's even more strange is, why can't the fish help?
Qin Zhong helped to explain, but he couldn't say anything specific. He only said that in the Japanese tradition, chickens seem to be quite sacred. It is said that they exist in their myths and legends, so they are different from ordinary livestock.

It is also said that deer and pork are collectively called rou in Japan.

Qin Jun became more and more confused as he listened.

In the end, I had no choice but to accept these strange regulations of the Wa Kingdom, but a few elders who came with me made some guesses from the other side, and felt that although these prohibitions were due to the great Mahayana Buddhism, they must not be all. Customs are also related to the economy of Japan today.

Since the reform of Prince Shotoku, the country of Wa has entered a new stage after decades of continuous reforms.

As early as when Prince Shotoku was in power, people of insight from all over the country could see that the tribe system of slavery had long been difficult to sustain. The surname nobles had caused the crisis of the disintegration of Yamato's state ownership, and the tribe system collapsed. The tribesmen were unbearable to be oppressed, and they raised their poles to rebel one after another. Even the emperor and nobles who were aloof from above felt uneasy under their buttocks.

The so-called reform is actually just to maintain the existing superior interests.

It's just that people in different positions consider different reform directions.

For example, the reforms from Prince Shotoku to Prince Nakadai, etc., are mainly based on the perspective of maintaining the emperor's royal family.

Therefore, in today's so-called reform and new policy of Dahua Reform, surnames and tribesmen are abolished, and the land is taken into public ownership, and the land is granted by the Bantian. They became tenants of the imperial court, farming the land and paying rent, and reshuffled the cards before returning.

The Yamato court carried out comprehensive reforms from top to bottom, centralizing power, with two officials and eight provinces in the central government, and local counties and counties, including the new military system of anti-human orders. This is to fully imitate the Tang system, for the purpose of Let the collapsing and turbulent Yamato dynasty, and then restore stability.

Of course, the big aristocrats and powerful clans of the Japanese kingdom are not satisfied with this kind of new policy. Therefore, in the past hundred years, coups in the imperial palace of the Japanese kingdom have been commonplace.

But in the end, with the demise of the first powerful official and the first wealthy family, the Suga clan, the internal struggle was temporarily settled, so the reform entered a new stage.

The Dahua reform is fully implemented, and the new system replaces the old system. It is still in a turbulent period.

Although the introduction of the bantian system liberated the enslaved tribesmen, labor security, and stabilized the situation, it is impossible to say that it was successful in one day.

At this time, the country of Wa was still very weak like a patient recovering from a serious illness.

Prohibition of meat, like prohibition of alcohol, was motivated by economic considerations.

You must know that even the Central Plains Dynasty often issued bans on slaughter and selling at the beginning of the founding of the country, or during periods of famine and turmoil. This ban is the prohibition of slaughtering livestock and prohibiting alcohol.

Alcohol is not a necessity in life, but wine production consumes food. When food reserves are not abundant, alcohol prohibition is also for the survival of the people.

In the same way, cattle and horses are important working animals, which can be cultivated and transported. If they are slaughtered for meat, this is a serious loss of production materials.What's more, the tendons and horns of cattle and horses are also important military materials.

Up to now, the Tang Dynasty still prohibits private slaughtering of farm cattle. Although Datang eats more beef now, these are beef cattle trafficked in from Hudi, not farm cattle.All farm cattle in the Tang Dynasty had to be registered for supervision and management. Even if they died of old age and illness, they had to be reported to the officials, and then slaughtered and sold by special personnel.

Datang can't prohibit alcohol now, but it is also because of the abundant food reserves that the imperial court changed the prohibition to alcohol tax, and strengthened supervision and control through alcohol tax.

But the current Japanese country can't even reach the level of Wude Zhenguan, so it is very common to ban meat and alcohol.The Wa country does not prohibit fish, so it can be seen that they are not essentially prohibiting eating meat, but only prohibiting eating some livestock that they think are very important.

Monkeys are like people, so they think it's disgusting and can't be eaten.

Chickens are related to myths and legends, and they are considered sacred and cannot be eaten, but they didn't say that they couldn't eat eggs, nor did they say that they couldn't eat ducks and geese.

Similarly, they do not prohibit eating pigs, deer, sheep, etc.

Dogs don't eat, probably because dogs are housekeepers.

Looking at the Japanese people from this limited ban on five types of meat, one knows that it is not true that they do not eat meat.Five species are not allowed to be eaten throughout the year, and deer and pork are only not allowed to be eaten during the half year from April to September every year.

From this point of view, it should indeed be formulated to protect agricultural development.

As for the monks, there is a special ban on them. All monks and nuns who drink alcohol, eat meat, and serve the five spices will be punished with one month of hard labor.

The ban on meat is mainly to protect agriculture. After all, the Bantian system has just been implemented, and the Japanese country hopes that the people will focus more on farming instead of raising livestock and animals.

"Is it true that the Wa Kingdom completely forbids eating the five kinds of meat?"

"It's not all. During the half year from April to September every year, there is a fast, but during the winter and spring, the imperial court of Japan will specifically allow the slaughter of some old, sick and emaciated cows, horses, dogs, and chickens."

Summer and autumn are labor seasons, winter and spring are not production seasons.

Cows can plow the land, horses can carry it, dogs can guard the house and fields, and roosters can wake up the morning.

"Is Wa very poor now?"

"poverty!"

Qin Zhong told Qin Jun that before the abolition of the tribunal system, there were not even one out of a hundred who could be called masters in Japan, and the remaining 99% were tribal slaves who worked hard every day. I can't even eat the rice balls.

That's why the ministry system cannot be maintained.

(End of this chapter)