Cutting 1719

Chapter 413

In Ningyu's plan, Japan and Myanmar are two good experimental subjects, but these two countries cannot be generalized, so the methods of dealing with them are not the same.

In any case, Japan's military strength and potential are not comparable to that of Myanmar. Therefore, to deal with Japan, we can only choose to focus on politics and supplement the military. The influence of the political level can be digested.

To use Ning Yu's improper metaphor, trust, in these countries in East Asia, most of them are delicate and weak and easy to overthrow, but Japan is the only one who is a little loli with a small sword, even though force is the same , but if it is not done well, it will cut her hands, so the best way is to exert influence, first remove her small sword, and then slowly adjust it.

The only thing that worries Ning Yu after all is that while training Japan, some things that he doesn't want to see will easily appear, such as the fall of the king, the Meiji Restoration, and the collective civilization of the Japanese warrior class.
You must know that this scene itself is extremely easy to happen. The reason is very simple. There is such a teacher as Ning Chu next to Japan. When the Japanese see the changes that have taken place in China, they will naturally want to learn from it. Make a 2.0 version, and then they will find that the current Japanese regime will become their obstacle.

It should be noted that for the samurai, whether it is to choose the emperor or the shogunate, it is very possible. Even if Ning Yu supports the shogunate in advance, history is likely to become another way-the shogunate completely deposes the emperor system to achieve de facto unity.

Therefore, Ning Yu's purpose is by no means to help one party kill the other, but to maintain a balance of power. At present, the emperor is weaker, so support the emperor more, and when the shogunate is weaker, then support the shogunate, not to mention Japan still has so many More vassals can be used.

As for things at a deeper level, Ning Yu has not thought of going further. After all, the Northern Expedition has not yet been completed, and it is enough to intervene in East Asian affairs, and it will be too busy if there are more.

The State Guest House is located in an alley in the area of ​​the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It has several small buildings built of blue-gray bricks and stones. , not only can't you see that kind of luxurious decoration here, you can't even see it in the palace.

Since the State Guest House is an area exclusively developed for foreign guests, it is not as crowded as the post house outside the city. In addition, it has just been renovated, which makes the whole small building look a bit deserted, and there are not many people there. .

However, many people have been welcomed here in recent days, including envoys sent by the Emperor of Japan, the Tokugawa shogunate, and the Li family and the Ruan family. The area is quite lively, and there are even more small vendors in the streets and alleys.

However, although there are many small traders, there are also many shadows of people and spies from the Military Intelligence Department. They pricked up their ears and opened their eyes wide, in order to be able to dig out some unimaginable things from these missions. Information comes out.

In the A-shaped building of the State Guesthouse, Xue Guoyun, the deputy director of the East Asia Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, was talking with Matsudaira Tsunakichi, the envoy representing the Japanese shogunate, with a smile on his face. atmosphere.

It is the second time for Matsudaira Tsunayoshi to come to Nanjing as an envoy. He is no longer so unfamiliar with everything in Nanjing, but his visit this time does not seem to have received special attention from Ning Chu. Ren is also just a deputy director of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, not like last time, he was received by Minister of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Song Enming.

This was a signal that made Matsudaira Tsunayoshi vigilant, because Song Enming would at least come to see him if there were no other changes, but up to now, Matsudaira Tsunayoshi had never met any important person in Ning Chu.

"Mr. Songping, have you come to Nanjing all the way, have you found that Nanjing has changed more than you did before?"

Xue Guoyun said with a smile on his face, he was born in Fujian, and had some dealings with Japanese maritime merchants, so he knew the character of these Japanese after all.

Matsudaira Tsunayoshi bowed his head slightly, and said sincerely: "Master Xue, when I came last time, it was February, and now it has been more than half a year. Although I haven't seen any major changes, I can see one thing, that is your country There are more and more silver coins." After saying this, he took out Ningchu's new gold, silver and copper coins from his sleeve, and said with a sigh: "These coins alone are not only better than Japan, but also better than Western countries. People’s coins are also much stronger.”

Seeing Matsudaira Tsunayoshi intending to talk about the currency that Ning Chu just implemented, Xue Guoguan was moved in his heart, and said with a smile: "Could it be that your envoy also has research on currency?"

Matsudaira Tsunakichi sighed for a long time, shook his head lightly, and said, "Unlike your country, the shogunate has come to an extremely difficult road. Although Japan is still stable now, due to the improper minting of coins during the Genroku period, the currency was chaotic. , prices soared, and the samurai who relied on their salaries became poorer and harder to live, and even the shogunate's finances had serious problems."

Hearing what Matsudaira Tsunayoshi said, Xue Guoyun was not surprised at all, because according to the current information held by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, although Japan is still peaceful on the surface, the crisis is already hidden deep under the water, and it may happen at any time. break out.

Originally, all of this would have erupted very early, but for Japan, the current insurance reform has forced its life to be extended, but it has also brought many side effects. Although the contradictions have been temporarily suppressed, sooner or later they will Totally broke out.

If Ning Yu was here, he would definitely point out that the reform of health insurance is essentially going in the opposite direction, because the key to the current conflict in Japan is not farmers, but small and medium-sized business owners in cities and samurai. It actually reflects the conflict between the key nodes of feudal society and capitalism.

In a sense, Japan’s feudal lords maintain their finances by collecting tribute and rent in kind from farmers, and like the fruits of the development of the commodity economy, such as the surplus created by the development of commercial agriculture, based on agriculture, mining, industry and other The production results of various industries cannot be arbitrarily deprived. This is actually very similar to the financial difficulties in the late Ming Dynasty - that is, the taxation of farmers has been unable to support the empire, but the industrial and commercial industries have been in a long-term low tax scale.

The Ming Dynasty did not solve this problem until its demise, and the current Qing court only delayed its explosion on this problem, but did not fundamentally solve it.Strictly speaking, only Ningchu is currently on the right path, which is to support industry and commerce and impose heavy taxes to reduce the burden on farmers.

Therefore, under such circumstances, the shogunate's reform of enjoyment insurance is essentially a political and economic reform based on "agriculturalism" to consolidate the feudal rule based on the small peasant economy, which is simply reactionary the way.

In history, the Japanese shogunate, which ran wildly along this road, could no longer maintain the current small-scale peasant economic model after encountering the black ship incident. put firewood.

Although Xue Guanyun understood the problem of Japan, he would not say it directly, but said in a low voice: "Mr. Songping's opinion is quite similar to that of your majesty. Now is a big era, and it is not enough to focus only on the country. You have to look at the bigger world."

Hearing Xue Guoyun's words seemed to mean something, Matsudaira Tsunakichi couldn't help but asked: "The general sent me to Nanjing to find a solution. The Celestial Dynasty has already gone ahead of everyone in this regard. , it is worth learning from the shogunate."

Xue Guoyun looked calm on the surface, but he shook his head in his heart. The monk Tang had to travel a hundred and eight thousand miles to obtain the scriptures. Right now, Japan wants to reach the sky in one step.
But now that the bait has been thrown out, Xue Guoyun will naturally further explain: "Matsudaira, the current problem is not just in Japan, in fact, there is no way to solve Japan's current crisis by adjusting internal affairs, and there is no way Let the Tokugawa Shogunate last forever."

"What does Master Xue mean? Return to the tribute trade system of the Celestial Dynasty?"

A gleam of fire flashed in Matsudaira Tsunayoshi's eyes, this was exactly what he thought could save Japan, if this goal could be achieved, the general would be very happy.

Xue Guoyun shook his head, "No, no, since His Majesty rejected this proposal when Mr. Songping came last time, how can he change it easily now? Tributary trade is impossible, but free trade based on the principle of reciprocity It works."

free trade?What are you kidding?
Matsudaira Tsunayoshi almost jumped up. It can be said that if Japan implements free trade, then the collapse of the shogunate will be tomorrow. No, tonight, those samurai masters will unite and send the Tokugawa family to heaven.

In fact, as early as the early days of Edo, Tokugawa Ieyasu had always pursued peaceful commercial diplomacy and actively developed overseas trade. However, after a short period of time, the Japanese shogunate had to promulgate the "Locking Order" again. Since then, Japan has only cooperated with China. and the Netherlands for limited trade.

There are very complicated reasons for the origin of the lock-up order. First of all, in the Azuchi-Momoyama era, many Christian missionaries came to Japan and preached in Japan, which posed a serious threat to the rule of the Japanese shogunate, forcing the Edo shogunate to promulgate the "ban on religion" "Order", so that the Shimabara Rebellion broke out in Kyushu, which further promoted the emergence of the "Law of Seclusion".

Secondly, there is another very important point, that is, the long-term foreign trade has led to the rapid outflow of gold and silver from Japan, which has seriously endangered the rule of the shogunate.

Speaking of it, the monetary policy of the Japanese shogunate has always been the gold and silver standard, and related gold coins have been issued. However, due to the long-term lack of silver in Japan, it has not accumulated a large amount of silver reserves like China, which makes Japan The domestic gold-silver ratio is seriously out of balance.

The current gold-silver ratio in Japan is about [-]:[-] to [-]:[-], while the current gold-silver ratio in China is around [-]:[-], which is not much different from the ratio in Western countries.Therefore, if the gold-silver ratio is not adjusted, gold will continue to flow out of Japan's foreign trade, and once there is a shortage of gold, the entire Japanese economy will collapse completely.

That's why Matsudaira Tsunayoshi was so surprised. He didn't even have to think about it. If free trade was implemented, all Japanese would rise up and rebel.

Matsudaira Tsunayoshi's face was a little gloomy, and he forced a smile: "Master Xue is really joking. If our country opens up free trade, not only the shogunate will not agree, but all Japanese samurai will not agree."

Seeing a smile on Xue Guoyun's face, Matsudaira Tsunakichi regretted bringing up this topic, and he quickly said softly: "The general agreed in principle to what His Majesty the Emperor said about the Shimazu clan of the Satsuma Domain and the Ryukyu Kingdom. The idea of ​​the Celestial Dynasty, but there are also a few requests."

"Your envoy, but it's okay to say." Xue Guoyun picked up the teacup on the table and took a sip of tea.

"First, if the Celestial Dynasty attacks the Shimadzu Clan of the Satsuma Domain, the General is willing to slow down and force the Shimadzu Clan to give up their suzerainty over the Ryukyu Kingdom, but ask the Celestial Dynasty to make compensation and not continue to attack;"

"Second, after the independence of the Ryukyu Kingdom, please ask the Celestial Dynasty to allow Japan to join the tribute trade;"

"Third, you must not interfere in all internal affairs of Japan, including the right to dispose of the Satsuma clan, let alone occupy an inch of Japan's territory."

Although Matsudaira Tsunayoshi already knew the emperor's objection to the tribute trade, he still put forward this clause as a condition this time. As for the first and third clauses, it was naturally to prevent Ning Chu from having other ideas that he shouldn't have. resulting in the request.

Xue Guoyun chuckled, but said softly: "These conditions will be forwarded to your envoy. As for the result, the envoy will have to wait for a while."

A grateful smile appeared on Matsudaira Tsunayoshi's face immediately, "Master Xue has taken care of you, if you don't feel disgusted, you might as well go on a flower boat tour on the Qinhuai River together tonight, and please do me a favor."

"Hehe, the flower boat tour is still free. I don't want my name to appear on the account book of the Overwatch Council the next day. I'm afraid it will be easy to lose my official position by then."

How could Xue Guoyun agree to the other party's request at this critical moment, without even having time to avoid suspicion.

After Xue Guoyun left the State Guesthouse, Matsudaira Tsunakichi looked towards the east with some worries. It was the place where the envoys sent by the emperor lived. strangeness.

After all, the shogunate did not have the confidence to agree to many conditions, but the emperor did. After all, in order to regain power, what could not be agreed?Even if he wants to betray the country, the emperor can sell it for a better price.

(End of this chapter)