The Soul of the Han Dynasty in the Late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 426 "Edo Treaty"

The caliber of the Japanese guns was too small, and the firepower of the armed Zhuyin boats was not as good as that of Ming’s chasing boats and the No. [-] Fuchuan, and it was even more difficult to withstand the heavy artillery strikes of the "Red Banner Army" warships.

The iron-clad battleship that the Japanese people were proud of in the Kuki Jialong era was a joke in this naval battle. Due to the slow speed of the ship and the insufficient range of the artillery fire, it completely became a target at sea.

The Daming navy did not deliberately wipe out the Japanese navy, nor did it intend to capture the Japanese iron-clad warship, because that thing could not sail thousands of miles to reach Huxue Port, and the final result was thrown away.

Moreover, with the tenacity of the Japanese regular army, our side will definitely increase too many casualties for no reason if we rush to fight in order to seize the useless spoils.

Therefore, Huang Han issued an order to use artillery fire to speak, and fired solid bullets to sink some warships of the Japanese Navy as quickly as possible to frighten the enemy and defeat the courage of the Japanese to fight.

In less than an hour, under the fierce artillery fire of the Ming army, five Japanese ironclad ships and six Zhuyin ships were sunk. When the rest of the Japanese warships fled wildly, the Ming army did not pursue them at all.

Sure enough, the Japanese, who have always been bullying and afraid of the tough, cooperated very much when they saw this huge fleet with overwhelming force value, and sent important officials to the sea to negotiate.

Huang Yong, Shen Xianyi, and He Shouxin brought Lin Minghai, Shi Daxuan, and four tents who were proficient in Japanese and were cordially invited. They entered the residence of General Zhengyi with their heads held high and their chests held high, and directly discussed with Tokugawa Iemitsu a ten-year plan for win-win cooperation.

The caravans formed by over a hundred warships and merchant ships from the Shang Kingdom of the Ming Dynasty were too frightening to show off in Edo Bay. The Tokugawa shogunate strongly demanded that the future trade location be arranged in Nagasaki, and the trade quota and price were all different. It's easy to discuss, but this is the only thing that the Tokugawa shogunate insisted on most.

It is possible that Tokugawa Iemitsu was worried that the Ming Fleet would suddenly attack Edo Port. If it was lost here, the Ming army would be able to land directly and seize Edo Castle.

The heart of the Tokugawa Shogunate is in Edo Castle. Of course, this hidden danger must be eliminated. If the arrival of the Daming Fleet every year causes the Tokugawa Shogunate to mobilize daimyo troops to concentrate in Edo and passively increase the number of troops guarding Edo Castle? Can you bear it?
The final result of the negotiation was a win-win situation. Daming agreed not to come to Edo for direct transactions in the future. Tokugawa Iemitsu prepares goods every April and ensures that a special envoy will be sent to Nagasaki to receive the business representatives of Daming in early May. The signed "Edo Treaty" was implemented.

Tokugawa Iemitsu originally discovered that the powerful Deming Fleet entered Edo Bay and easily defeated the navy of his country. He thought that he was about to face the invasion of a powerful enemy. Opportunity to trade with Ming Dynasty.

In the past, foreign vassals and daimyo accounted for much more than the Tokugawa family. This time, Tokugawa Iemitsu got a lot of goods from the Ming Dynasty by a blessing in disguise, and the price was fair.

The porcelain, cotton cloth, silk, ironware and other goods brought by the Ming fleet are easy to sell, and it is easy to double the profit.

Tokugawa Iemitsu ignored the fact that the price of copper ingots was lowered by Daming to one tael of silver and seventeen catties. Because of the embargo for more than ten years, the Tokugawa shogunate controlled too much copper. They were already considering selling some of them and buying them all at once. Taking copper ingots of 30 taels of silver better solved the problem of excessive inventory.

Tokugawa Iemitsu was puzzled by the fact that Daming paid a high price of one shi and six renminbi to buy polished rice, and signed a contract to buy no less than 30 shi of polished rice from the country every year.

It is no wonder that Iemitsu Tokugawa was confused. In the Wanli Year of Taiping, Jiangnan polished rice was always less than one stone and five coins. The country of Wa is currently generally stable, which is almost the same as the Wanli Year of the Ming Dynasty.

The industriousness of the Japanese is no less than that of the Han nationality. Their farming has developed well, and because they belong to underdeveloped countries, the price of agricultural products is low, and the price of polished rice in recent years has been lower than that of the Ming Dynasty.

well!Daming was not destroyed by the bad weather during the Little Ice Age, but by rebellious people like Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong who "did not pay for food" and dedicated themselves to "snatching food".

Ordinary people are coerced by bandits and forced to leave their hometowns to harm all the places they pass through, which is more destructive than locusts crossing the border.

Originally, after a natural disaster, production could be resumed and self-rescue allowed most people to survive, but after the scourge of rogues, it was completely different.

It turned out that only a small number of murderers such as Gao Yingxiang, Li Zicheng, Zhang Xianzhong and others survived with murderous executioners, forming a vicious circle.

Li Zicheng and others led these mobs to harm the populated places again, more good people died, and more criminals took risks.

As a result, the chaotic interior of Daming lost the ability to heal itself. In the absence of food, the only way to survive was to kill all the rogues who participated in the rebellion.

As a last resort, Huang Han paid a high price to buy grain from the Japanese country, which allowed the Japanese farmers to increase their profits by more than [-]%. I believe that with the order contract, it will be profitable, and the area of ​​spring farming in the Japanese country will expand a lot next year.

There is no such thing as Li Zicheng, Zhang Xianzhong, etc. in Japan, and there are few locust plagues. There is no doubt about the enthusiasm for farming when exporting rice can be profitable.

The common people worked hard to farm and sell rice to get silver, and then they would have the ability to buy silk, cotton cloth, and ironware, and gradually formed a virtuous circle.

The Wa country attaches great importance to farming, and Tokugawa Iemitsu is happy to sell polished rice at this price, but it is a pity that he did not know that Ming Dynasty would have this demand, and Edo Castle was not prepared, so he could only collect 25 koku in a short time.

Rice can be obtained through labor and is a renewable resource. Exporting food to foreign countries is beneficial to the country, because to ensure export, the food production will have the ability to exceed the country's demand. In the event of a serious disaster, the country's disaster resilience will be strengthened.

At that time, as long as the export of food was stopped, the livelihood of the victims could be solved.

These Huang Han knew it all, but Daming was too short of food, even if he spared no effort to increase investment and increase food production, he couldn't keep up with the speed of the bandits' destruction.

I don't know how much food will be consumed to bring out the common people in Shanshan and Henan in the future, and it will be futile if there is not enough food on hand to stabilize the situation.

The Tokugawa shogunate readily signed a contract to sell at least 30 shi of polished rice per year. They also stated that this was a relatively conservative amount, and they made Shen Xianyi mentally prepared to transport 50 shi of grain in Nagasaki next year.

According to Huang Han's instructions, Huang Yong and Shen Xianyi left a deposit of 5 taels of silver to the negotiators, and signed a supplementary agreement on the spot to deliver 50 shi of polished rice at Nagasaki port in May next year.

Although the Japanese were happy to make this good deal, all the daimyos who participated in the negotiations were surprised, because the cost of long-distance shipping in this era was too high, and no one had ever done grain business between countries separated by sea.

(End of this chapter)