I'm sure of the prosperous age of Kangxi and Qianlong!

Chapter 684 Internal strife
The ownership (ceding) of Ezo Island was determined, and there were three and a half other peace negotiation clauses.

At this shogunate meeting, in addition to the shogun's ministers and ministers, other daimyo from the vassal state who came to Edo to participate in the meeting were also present.

Mizuno Tadayuki said: "Since Ezo Island is a territory belonging to China, it should naturally be returned. The Matsumae clan can remove the feudal title and flag. However, Iyo and Kyushu cannot be ceded, especially Iyo, which is an important place of wealth for Japan."

Not only is it an important city of wealth, Japan's first copper mine "Besshi Copper Mountain" developed by Sumitomo 40 years ago is located on Iyo Island, and it was directly placed under the direct control of the shogunate.

Every year, it can bring in nearly half of Japan's pure copper revenue. For the shogunate's increasingly corrupt finances, this is not only a shot in the arm, but also a painkiller.

Tokugawa Yoshimune nodded: "Iyo is an important place. If necessary, it must not be ceded."

This means that if Iyo Island cannot be ceded, then Kyushu Island can?

Neither Tokugawa Yoshimune nor Mizuno Tadayuki elaborated on this, they could only explain what they understood.

Anyway, Kyushu Island is too far away from the shogunate and too close to China, and the Satsuma Domain on it has always been a hidden danger to the shogunate.

Because the Satsuma clan was so powerful, it was considered a strong feudal lord in Kyushu. It had previously controlled Ryukyu to engage in smuggling trade without telling the shogunate.

If China hadn't sent troops to occupy Ryukyu, the Satsuma clan would have been really hard to control.

This is why Tokugawa Yoshimune agreed to marry the adopted daughter of the former shogun, Joganin, to Shimazu Yoshiki's eldest son, Shimazu Tsutoyo.

Shimazu Yoshiki almost emptied the Satsuma Domain's financial savings over the years for Jōganin. Moreover, Shimazu Tsuyoshi was frail and sick and lived in Edo Castle all year round. This was another heavy financial burden.

Mizuno Tadayuki continued: "There is also the Ming Dynasty's army. The military expenses of this expedition can be compensated somewhat, but not in full. At most, it cannot exceed 50 shi (approximately 50 taels of silver)."

"50 shi is too much, 20 shi at most!" Tokugawa Yoshimune shook his head.

Almost all of the shogunate's fiscal revenue comes from directly administered territories. Although Tokugawa Yoshimune's welfare reforms generally failed, they still achieved some success in terms of agricultural output.

Of course, the actual agricultural output value did not increase much, just like the Yongzheng Dynasty's share of the land, but simply the money received by the court increased, and the taxes on the people also increased.

After the Xiangbo Reform drained the last drop of blood from Japanese farmers, the fiscal revenue directly under the shogunate could reach approximately 450 million shi, which is almost equivalent to 450 million taels of silver.

This is also because Japan exported a large amount of gold and silver to the outside world, resulting in a serious shortage of domestic gold and silver reserves. In order to alleviate the inflation problem, former consultant Shiraishi Arai resumed the issue of minting, and minted all coins with sufficient materials, further causing a reduction in gold and silver currency output. , resulting in a fiscal crisis.

There is almost no solution to this problem. Either the coinage deteriorates, causing inflation, or there is insufficient material to mint it, production is insufficient, and the commercial economy languishes.

And starting from the fourth generation of shogun Tokugawa Ietsuna, Edo Castle under Japanese rule first suffered from fire, followed by a huge earthquake, and then a volcanic eruption.

This back and forth depleted the shogunate's financial savings, coupled with the depletion of gold and silver mines, and the foolish policies of the fifth shogun Tokugawa Tsunayoshi, which included increasing the number of shogunate officials (Kanguan) and overhauling temples (Xinguan). Buddha), and adopted a large number of stray dogs (…).

Various reasons led Tokugawa Yoshimune to be impatient to carry out reforms as soon as he came to power, because the shogunate's treasury had bottomed out and the rats were almost out of reach. The current financial revenue of 450 million koku seems to be a lot, but the shogunate still has Hatamoto samurai, imperial family members, etc. to pay salaries and silver, which is obviously not enough!
Mizuno Tadayuki did not dare to object: "There is also the founding of Japan. This is absolutely unacceptable, but we can relax it and open a few more ports. There can be no more than three, and it cannot be combined with Osaka and Shimonoseki. Osaka is my world for Japan. Kitchen', this is related to the transfer of food to the shogunate. If free trade is allowed, it will not only cause the outflow of food from the shogunate, but also cause thousands of artisans and civilians in Osaka to lose their jobs. The products of the Celestial Empire are cheap, especially their cotton. If they flow into Japan, countless weaving craftsmen will lose their jobs. These people will definitely start a riot together with the ronin and cause trouble in Japan."

Munehiro Maori, who attended the meeting, couldn't help it. Shimonoseki was under the jurisdiction of the Choshu vassal. If this was also banned, the Maori family would suffer great losses: "The reason why cotton cloth in Celestial China is so cheap, I once asked Chinese merchants , they said it all came from steam engines. In China, they weaved cotton and mined mines, all of which used steam engines to save manpower. I think we should not blindly ban the founding of the country, but should agree to it for the time being and then actively learn from China. Their skills."

"Is it possible that the skills of the Celestial Dynasty are so easy to learn?"

Mizuno Tadayuki sneered: "We have sent envoys to China several times over the years to go to China for pilgrimage and study, but what have we learned? The fourth level of heaven, but they want to be equal. And they also want to distribute land to lowly common people, even the royal family , Chinese (Daimyo), and nobles (Samurai), actually have to pay taxes together with the common people. "

Munehiro Maori couldn't answer what he said.

Mizuno Tadayuki continued: "As for China's steam engines, how can the Chinese emperor let Japan learn such skills?"

This is true. Not to mention Zhu Yijiong's strict protection of the steam engine, those maritime merchants, in order to make money, also followed closely to prevent the technology from being stolen by foreigners.

Don't think that the ancients didn't have patent awareness. They may not know what a patent is, but if they know that they have it and others don't, they can make a lot of money.

Kunlun slaves have never been able to reproduce in China in ancient times. In addition to the methods of the ancestors, Arab businessmen in order to monopolize the Kunlun slaves all underwent castration to prevent China from stealing the core "technology".

Lao Naka Kuroda Naokuni said: "Shimonoseki is an important pass into the Seto Inland Sea and must not be opened easily. Otherwise, the Chinese fleet will be able to go from North Korea to Shimonoseki through the Tsushima Strait at any time and directly enter the Seto Inland Sea."

Honda Tadayoshi also said: "Your Excellency is encouraging the founding of a new country. Are you secretly colluding with the Celestial Empire and wanting to sell out your country for personal gain?"

Mouri Sohiro was extremely angry. It was Honda Tadayoshi who proposed the peace talks from the beginning, but now he said that he wanted to betray the country for glory.

He did not receive a message from his son because Edo had been closed down, but the father and son agreed on the idea.

Shimonoseki's maritime trade and military status are very important, and it is also the territory of the Choshu clan. With such a strategic port, Mori Munehiro will naturally have ideas.

On the other hand, veterans such as Honda Tadayo were just the opposite. They all belonged to the Daimyo clan, which was different from outside daimyo like the Mori family. The Daimyo clan served as the foundation of the Tokugawa shogunate's rule, and the interests of both parties were highly bound.

To put it bluntly, the genealogical daimyo are the hereditary and irreplaceable founders of the country, while the foreign daimyo are just a group of people who surrendered and became feudal lords after the world was settled.

Seeing that the time was almost up, Tokugawa Yoshimune finally reconciled: "Stop arguing. The Chinese army is still approaching the city. We should work together and share the same hatred, instead of fighting among ourselves like now."

"That's what the General said."

The elders of the shogunate and the lords of the various feudal lords who consulted the council quickly bowed down and bowed down.

The conflict was temporarily resolved, and everyone continued to hold meetings to discuss, and sent Muro Jiuchao out of the city for negotiations again.

(End of this chapter)