Kangxi, your Qing Dynasty is dead

Chapter 415 Sun King Louis, onboard! (Please vote for me, please subscribe)
"it is good!"

Li Zhongshan nodded heavily and said with a smile: "I need 3000 warriors. This is just the first phase. If they perform well, there will be more needs in the future. The world is about to be in chaos, and troops are needed everywhere. !Tell me, what’s your quotation?”

His words were translated into Japanese again. The three Japanese lords had already unified their views in private. Now Shimazu Mitsuhisa, the oldest and tallest among the three, answered: "General, I'll wait. I hope to receive a salary of fifty taels per year for a warrior. In addition, the armor, guns, ammunition and other items needed by the warrior during his service to the Ming Dynasty, as well as rations, etc., must be provided by the Ming Dynasty. After the expiration of their service period, it is best for them to have the armor and guns issued to them by the Ming Dynasty.

In addition, every warrior who died in battle needed ten years of salary as a pension.Those who die due to illness while serving overseas are also required to pay five years' salary as a pension.

If the general agrees to such an offer, please pay half of one year's remuneration as a deposit, and the remaining amount can be paid after one year of service.And one piece of rice should be calculated as one tael of silver. "

The so-called "one tsu" means one package, and the "one tsu" in Shimadzu's words refers to the annual tribute that needs to be paid for the rated output of one stone.Because each daimyo sets a different tax rate for its subordinates, how many kilograms of rice is worth per ta is also different.The tax rate for Tokugawa Tenryo is relatively low, about 35 per cent.The tax rates of the three feudal lords, Satsuma, Choshu, and Tosa, are all very high, around 50.00%. One stone in Japan is about [-]% heavier than one stone in the Ming Dynasty.In other words, the "one 俵" in Shimadzu's words is approximately equivalent to one stone of the Ming Dynasty, and it is quite reasonable to convert it into one tael of silver.

"Then 3000 warriors are 15 taels, and half of the deposit is 7 taels?" Li Zhongshan asked.

"Hai!" Shimazu Mitsuhisa said, "As long as the general is willing to pay a deposit of 7 taels, then within two months, we can send the 5 samurai you need to Nagasaki Port."

"Very good!" Li Zhongshan nodded and said: "I have an additional condition. If you can agree, I will pay you immediately! Not 7 taels, but 5 taels in one payment. , all warriors who apply will receive one year’s military pay!”

"Please show me the general!"

Li Zhongshan said: "You must tell the recruited warriors that this time they are hired by Louis, the Sun King of France, to help the former regent of the Qing Dynasty, Wang Fuquan, supported by Louis, fight the war, so they will be away from home for three years. They have to go. The cold Rakshasa Kingdom! If they are not afraid of the severe cold and hardship, they can get an extra reward of 10 taels of silver each before boarding the ship!"

Really generous!

After listening to Li Zhongshan's words, the three Japanese famous people were shocked by the general's generosity.

This is a real rich man!
He was prepared to pay 18 taels of silver at once. Of course, these silvers would not be fully paid to the warriors below.Shimazu, Mori, and Yamauchi had to take at least one-third of the taps, which was 5 taels (of course they couldn't take the rewards given directly to the samurai).Moreover, the three of them would not really send thousands of vassal soldiers to help Li Zhongshan or King Louis fight. Instead, they would hire rogues who caused trouble in their territory, plus some backbone warriors in the vassal, and send them out together.In this way, we not only make money, but also get rid of the harm. If all the harms are experienced and become elite soldiers, they can help conquer the world in the future.

Where can I find this good thing?
Thinking of this, the three big names quickly expressed their opinions and shouted loudly in Chinese that they didn't know when they learned it.

"General, the Satsuma warriors are willing to serve the general!"

"The Maori family is also willing to serve the general!"

"The samurai of the Yamauchi family are willing to fight for the general against the Huru!"

Li Zhongshan then waved his hand: "Bring it up!"

As soon as he finished speaking, he saw 24 sturdy men from Shanzi Camp, working in pairs, carrying twelve large leather boxes, huffing and puffing, walked up to the three Japanese soldiers, then put down the boxes, opened the lid, and A brilliant silver light!
Then he turned around and left, then moved in with other boxes.

And these twelve open boxes contain brand new machine-made silver coins, which are the latest version of "Da Ming One Liang Silver". Each silver coin weighs one or two and contains nearly [-]% silver.They are all produced by mints owned by the "three major banks" (Zhongshan, UBS, and Nanyang) commissioned by the Ministry of Household Affairs.Because it is made by water hammer, it is much more delicate than the earlier hand-struck silver coins.

In addition to this "one tael of silver", the Ministry of Household Affairs of the Ming Dynasty also commissioned three major banks to produce auxiliary coins called "one tael of silver" and "Gonghe Tongbao".

A silver coin is also a machine-made silver coin. Each piece weighs about one coin and contains nearly [-]% silver.Ten pieces of one denarius are equal to one tael of silver.

Gonghe Tongbao is a copper coin, which is of sufficient quality and weight. Each copper coin weighs one coin. One hundred Gonghe Tongbao can be exchanged for one coin of silver.

Broken silver and low-quality copper coins are jointly controlled by large banks such as Zhongshan, UBS, Nanyang, Credit Suisse, and Qishan (banks founded by the Wu family of the Great Zhou Dynasty), as well as the Ministry of Household Affairs of the Ming Dynasty, the Qing Dynasty, and the Great Three Kingdoms. After that, it gradually withdrew from the circulation market and was taken back and recast (the Qing Dynasty and the Zhou Dynasty also minted "one tael of silver", "one coin of silver" and "one coin of Tongbao") - these five major silver numbers dominated the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Through the inter-bank market of the Qing Dynasty and the Great Three Kingdoms, small and medium-sized banks can recycle broken silver and low-quality copper coins, and stop the circulation of broken silver and low-quality copper coins in the silver industry.

In other words, the Chinese currency system, which has been in chaos for who knows how many years, began to appear when big banks such as Zhongshan, UBS, Nanyang, and Credit Suisse began to appear, and under the support of the courts of the Ming, Qing, and Three Kingdoms, they dominated the currency of various places. After graduation, it was finally sorted out gradually.

After straightening out the currency system, it became possible to issue banknotes linked to "one tael of silver". Of course, the issuance of banknotes cannot be done overnight, let alone forced by imperial decrees. After all, there are Lessons learned from Yuan Bao Chao and Ming Bao Chao.Therefore, Li Zhongshan's method was to first ask the Ministry of Accounts to authorize the three major banks, Zhongshan, UBS, and Nanyang, to issue banknotes. After gaining confidence in the banknotes, he would slowly withdraw them.

After a while, the whole room was filled with silver light.

Li Zhongshan said to the three Japanese people in front of him who could hardly hide the smiles on their faces: "Remember that paying to hire Satsuma, Choshu, and Tosa samurai is France's Sun King Louis! In three months, the French naval fleet will meet Come to Nagasaki to pick them up, and I don’t want to hear anyone say they are the samurai I hired.”

Of course the three Japanese devils knew that the general was harboring bad intentions, and probably wanted them to help the hired samurai do bad things, and they also had to do it in the name of Sun King Louis. But it didn't matter, the general gave him the money. And there will be more money to come!
As long as you have money, do bad things. Those gangsters are not good people anyway!
Thinking of this, the three feudal lords Shimazu, Mori, and Yamauchi all responded loudly: "Hai Satsuma, Choshu, and Tosa Samurai are willing to serve Louis the Sun King!"

Three months later, Nagasaki Port.

In the drizzle, French military music was playing, and short Japanese samurai lined up to board the ship with high morale.

The cheers of "Louis, the Sun King, are on board" came one after another, so loud that they could be heard from far away.

Most of these warriors who shouted "Louis, the Sun King, on board" were not, strictly speaking, true samurai before they accepted the employment of "Louis the Sun King".A true samurai has nothing to do with the bushido spirit, or even with martial arts skills. Only a lord who owns a fief and an armed force, or a retainer who serves the lord, is a true samurai.But without a territory and no one to pay them, no matter how good his martial arts skills are, he is not even a "scholar", so what kind of warrior is he?Dingtian is just a ronin wandering around with a samurai sword.

Among the three original feudal lords of the Warring States Period: Satsuma, Choshu, and Tosa, this man had a great ancestor, but in his own generation, he really couldn't find a position in the feudal lord, but he was unwilling to give up his dream and was willing to be a farmer. There are too many rogues - after all, the samurai can reproduce. The big samurai give birth to young samurai, and there are more and more samurai. Satsuma, Choshu, and Tosa only have this little territory, and now there is no war to consume the extra samurai. Of course, it is impossible to arrange all the strong men from samurai families.

Therefore, in the "Sekigahara failed feudal domains" such as Satsuma, Choshu, and Tosa, there were already many ronin who had no way out and were unwilling to sink into farmers!

In fact, even if they are willing to farm, those "Sekigahara Failed Domain" don't have that much land for them to farm!
This samurai has a son, and so do farmers!The land was given to the sons of warriors to plant, but what did the sons of farmers plant?
So when the order from the lords of Satsuma, Choshu, and Tosa to recruit mercenaries for King Louis XIV of France to help King Fuquan of the Qing Dynasty spread, the ronin who applied were Wuyang Wuyang Diyong. Come on - if you don't want to be a Japanese samurai, you can be a French samurai or a Qing samurai!
Nothing is better than living a hard life in Japan!
Moreover, Sun King Louis, the master, seems to be very generous. He gave them a huge sum of money when recruiting them. Each of the Ronin in Satsuma received 25 taels of silver!Many samurai had never seen so much silver in their lives, and they cried when they got it.The Choshu Samurai and the Tosa Samurai got 20 taels, which is quite a lot!It is said that the salary is still the first year, and can be increased to 50 taels in the second year!This is really like a dream! 50 taels is almost equivalent to a salary of 50 shi. For a low-level samurai (rogue), that is a very high salary!
What surprised them even more was that before boarding the ship today, Louis, the Sun King of France, gave each of them 10 one-tael silver coins!
This is really an encounter with the Ming Lord!
So on the Nagasaki pier, every team of Japanese samurai mercenaries who boarded the ship after receiving the reward all shouted the slogan "Louis, the Sun King, onboard".

The cheers reached the Dutch Commercial Building on Dejima Island in Nagasaki, and were still stranded in Nagasaki, waiting to reach the ears of Spearman and Juan Carlos who were waiting to go to Beijing to meet Queen Daqing Yang.

The two foreign devils were holding telescopes and looking at the huge French fleet anchored at the Nagasaki dock in the distance.

This French fleet is composed of one first-class battleship, four fourth-class battleships, and fifteen armed galenic ships, a total of twenty ships.

Although the size of this fleet cannot compare with the Spanish Armada that has arrived in Edo Bay, Japan, neither the Spaniards nor the Dutch dared to easily provoke a war. At that time, the Spanish Navy's 77 battleships were chased by 13 Dutch battleships!The French Navy could already compete with the Royal Netherlands in the Franco-Dutch War!

For the Dutch, the Franco-Dutch War that lasted from 1673 to 1679 had caused them heavy losses, and they almost lost the country. Although the Dutch wanted revenge, the time was not now, and the situation had to be slowed down a few times. Year.

Therefore, the French fleet wandered around East Asia for a day, and the Dutch and Spanish did not dare to provoke a war.

"It doesn't seem right!" The Dutchman Szpilman put down his telescope at this time and said to the Spaniards beside him, "The French fleet seems to be larger than the legendary one! There are 15 ships in total."

Carlos, the governor-general of the Philippines, chuckled: "Aren't there 15 more armed galenic ships that were purchased in China? The Chinese shipbuilding industry is not small, and they have long been able to build armed galenic ships proficiently."

"But why did they buy so many armed Galen ships?" Spearman still felt that something was wrong.

"What else can we do?" Carlos smiled, "Just to transport these Japanese samurai back to Europe."

"Ship them to Europe? Why?"

"It is said that it was to support Prince Fozansky who fled to Rakshasa and married Princess Sofia. A Qing prince always needs a few Qing soldiers. If he couldn't get real Qing soldiers, he hired 3000 Japanese soldiers. Impersonation.”

Carlos was talking about the legend that his men heard in Nagasaki Port.

I don’t know if it’s accurate, but it’s quite logical.Louis XIV supported Fuquan so that he could compete with Kangxi for the throne!But if Fuquan relied entirely on the Rakshasa people, wouldn't he become the Rakshasa's puppet?How can this win over people's hearts?

So Louis XIV simply spent money to hire a group of Japanese samurai who looked similar from Japan to pretend to be "Fu Qing soldiers." In addition, there were rumors in Nagasaki that Fu Quan had deposited a huge sum of money in Yang Qilong's bank.Therefore, Louis' money for mercenaries in Japan could also come from Fuquan's own savings.

Spearman has also heard similar rumors. Should it be true?

Thinking of this, he also breathed out: "It's better if the French leave. The Spanish Armada is the largest in East Asia!"

While the two were talking, someone from below suddenly came to report that it was Yang Qilong who wanted to see him.

Yang Qilong left Nagasaki with Li Zhongshan more than two months ago, saying that he was going back to Beijing to meet Empress Yang of the Qing Dynasty.By the way, Spielman and Carlos mentioned that they wanted to go to Beijing to meet the Queen Regent of the Qing Dynasty. Yang Qilong asked them to wait for news in Nagasaki. It seems that they are waiting today.

Spearman and Carlos hurried downstairs, went out of the business store to greet them on the pier in person, and invited Yang Da Jianguo, who was tired of work, into the business store. After the guests and hosts were seated, Yang Qilong entered directly without saying much to them. After picking up the topic, he said to them: "The Queen has agreed that you two will go to Beijing to have an audience. She still has something important to discuss with you two."

His words were immediately translated into Latin by a Dutch translator.

"Is it important?"

"Is it important to deal with Daming together?"

As soon as the two foreigners heard about the important matter, they became interested immediately.

To deal with the Ming Dynasty, wouldn’t the Qing Dynasty and the Zhou Dynasty have to work together?

Yang Qilong nodded and said: "The Queen has received the emperor's imperial edict. The emperor met with the special envoys of Spain, the Netherlands, England, and Portugal in Taiping Valley in the Mughal area, and has officially joined the Eleven-Nation Alliance. Now the Qing Dynasty and The Netherlands and Spain are allies!

Therefore, the emperor is already preparing to return to the court, and is preparing to join forces with Zhou Dynasty and you to besiege Ming Dynasty together! "

“Ah, thank you Heavenly Father!”

"Heavenly Father bless you."

Spearman and Carlos finally heard the good news!
Yang Qilong saw the two of them reciting sutras with joy, and asked them with a smile: "You two, are we sure of victory now?"

"Of course!" Spearman was confident, "Eleven countries besieged the Ming Dynasty, how could they not win?"

Carlos also nodded and said: "The Ming Dynasty and France are far apart, and the French cannot control the Indian Ocean, so it is impossible for them to respond. This time the Ming Dynasty can only fight alone. With one against eleven, they have no chance of winning!"

(End of this chapter)