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

Chapter 690 Ezo Prefecture

In terms of geographical latitude, Ezo Island is already able to go up to Ninggu Pagoda.

Even those Japanese ronin who couldn't survive were unwilling to go to Ezo to open up wasteland. Almost all the retainers and samurai of the Matsumae Domain were rebel bandits or political prisoners.

Not long ago, the Ming Dynasty had just naturalized Kuwu Island and relocated it to Kuwu County. The exiled officials could not be sent there, so they could only send one official and a garrison, and some criminals went to the island to establish villages and towns.

The same was true for Ezo Island in the south. In the early days, the Ming court did not intend to interfere with the Matsumae Domain on the island.

The most they can do is to send officials who are willing to come here to serve as legal advisors and start establishing Han Chinese schools. While controlling Ezo County, they will also control the cultural, educational and judicial systems to educate the Japanese people and Ezo indigenous people on the island.

After receiving the imperial edict, he was given a name by an angel.

Song Bangguang, the magistrate of Ezo County in the Ming Dynasty, entertained Xue Bin with a grand banquet.

In order to show the importance, a large pot of white rice was prepared directly, as well as many kinds of seafood and game.

The white rice is all bought from Honshu, and seafood and game are the specialty of the island, and they are also the main daily meals of the Matsumae family.

Song Bangguang's trusted retainer also thoughtfully prepared a small plate of pickled radish.

Xue Bin didn't feel disgusted. Instead, he felt that the Matsumae Domain of Ezo Island was better than the Shogun of Edo in terms of food.

Before they left Edo, the shogunate gave them a special treat. As a result, they all ate white hair and pickled radish, plus a boiled fish and a pile of wild vegetables.

If he hadn't known about it in advance, Xue Bin would have almost thought that the so-called shogunate was deliberately humiliating him.

The Matsumae clan was too poor and didn't have much to drink. He only had a small drink. Song Bangguang couldn't wait to say: "Angel grace, there is a shortage of all kinds of goods on Ezo Island. Now that Ezo Prefecture has been established in the dynasty, can we transport more cotton cloth and rice?" "Come over with salt?"

Xue Bin said: "The imperial court will not interfere with merchants coming to trade here. If Ezo Island wants to obtain more goods, it must have enough products to attract merchants. Moreover, the Yinzhou Channel can also go through Ezo in the future, so you don't have to worry about it. ”

Song Bangguang took the opportunity to say: "Of course I believe in angels, but there is the Dewa Anton family's Hakodate in the south of the domain, which happens to be on the Tsugaru Strait. Cargo ships from China have to stop at the Anton family's Hakodate before they can go to the island. "

Xue Bin was a little surprised. He didn't expect that there were other box halls set up by other famous people here. He quickly understood that Song Bangguang was deliberately borrowing power, but he didn't try to point it out.

Xue Bin nodded and said: "Ezo County is already a territory of the Ming Dynasty. The Hakodate established by the Anton family will be directly merged into Ezo County in the future. The imperial court will also order the Japanese shogunate to reprimand the name of Anton."

"I am willing to die for His Majesty the Emperor of Heaven!" Song Bangguang and his retainers were overjoyed.

The Matsumae Domain was really too poor. Even though the 10,000-koku Daimyo had been given to the feudal lord before, the actual output of the domain was not even 5,000 koku, let alone 10,000 koku.

It is too cold here, the land is small and sparsely populated, and no rice is produced at all. The Japanese on the island make a living by fishing and hunting.

As for the Matsumae clan's finances, it mainly comes from three aspects. One is transactions with the Ainu people on the island, the other is taxes from fishermen, and the third is income from placer gold mining.

After mining for placer gold for so long, it is almost gone. The fishermen are miserable, and they have to make a fuss over tax collection every two days.

The Ainu (Ezo tribe) are the indigenous people of Ezo Island.

You may not understand it this way, but the background setting of Nakorulu in a certain pesticide game is the Ainu people of Ezo Island...

Although they are indigenous people, these Ainu people are not easy to mess with. As early as when the Matsumae clan first established its foothold in Ezo Island, there was a dispute between the Japanese land reclamation group and the Ainu people. Because the price and quality of custom-made knives were not right, the Japanese became angry and killed the Ainu people.

The Japanese immigrant land reclamation group at that time had many conflicts with the Ainu people. This incident directly became the trigger, and the war quickly broke out.

Of the 12 box houses built by Japan on the southern island of Ezo (peninsula), 10 were directly uprooted by the Ainu who were full of martial virtue.

With the help of his son-in-law and adopted son Nobuhiro Uizaki, the ancestor of the Matsumae Domain, the master of the Hanazawa Hall, Uyizaki Nosushige, gathered the samurai who fled after other halls were captured, successfully withstood the Ainu attack, and waited for an opportunity to counterattack. At Nanegahama Killed the Ainu leader.

The Matsumae clan became rich because of this, and became attached to the Dewa daimyo Andō clan, and even married to the Mutsu daimyo to consolidate their position.

When Matsumae Kunuhiro succeeded to the throne, he felt that trade with the Ainu people would involve fighting from time to time, and the income from gold mining was getting less and less, so he began to contract land and relied on merchants for all the fiscal revenue of the domain. of rent.

This was not without cost. The fishermen and Ainu riots in the domain became more violent, and various legal cases occurred frequently, all related to the businessmen from the outer islands who contracted the land and forests.

Matsumae Kunhiro also knew that he had messed up. It turned out that there was no way. That was because his finances had relied on big businessmen, but now he had the support of the Ming Dynasty.

The meal was almost done and the wine had been drunk long ago. Xue Bin asked: "Are there any rare specialties on the island? It may be used to attract businessmen to come here to plan and build a port." Song Bangguang said truthfully: "There are not many specialties. It turns out that there are many specialties on the island." There is not much placer gold, but there are a lot of fish and furs here.”

"There are furs on the island. What kinds of furs are they?" Xue Bin knew that furs were quite valuable in the upper class of Nanjing.

Song Bangguang said: "Most of them are deer skin and fox skin. The stags here have large antlers and thick fur."

There are indeed many deer and foxes on Ezo Island. The former is a subspecies of sika deer and the latter is a subspecies of red fox. Their body shape and appearance are slightly different.

Especially the Ezo deer. They were first over-hunted by the Japanese on the island and were once on the verge of extinction two hundred years later. However, as Ezo Island entered modernization and the hunter industry dropped sharply, the Ezo deer quickly overpopulated.

Xue Bin smiled and said: "Deer skins and fox skins are enough. There is no need to worry about selling these furs in the country. As long as the imperial court builds a port here, there is no need to worry about merchants."

By the way, neither Song Bangguang nor Xue Bin knew that there was a huge gold mine buried on this big island that was always cold all year round - the Hongzhiwu Gold Mine.

This gold mine is also mined by Sumitomo Osaka. Its reserves rank third in Japan. However, it is still in the territory of the Ainu people and is very close to the northern coast of Ezo Island. When it will be discovered depends on the Ming Dynasty's return to Ezo Island. transformation speed.

After appeasing the Matsumae clan on the island, Xue Bin immediately found a samurai on the spot who could speak the native language, and then led a group of soldiers to go north to find the Ainu people, the real owners of this large island.

The so-called Ainu people, Ainu in the native language, is very simple and straightforward, which means "people".

Ezo is also the name given to this place by foreigners. China also calls it Guwei, Kuyi and Kuye.

Sound familiar?

Many times, Ezo and Kugu Island are confused.

The Japanese first learned of the existence of Kugu Island and even called it Northern Ezo.

Ezo Island is very vast, and the Ainu people living on the island are scattered, but most of them can be divided into two groups.

One part is Higashi-Ezo territory, the other is West-Ezo territory, and the Watashima Peninsula belonging to Matsumae Domain is Kazuto territory.

During the era of the previous feudal lord, Matsumae Norihiro, the Ainu people on the island and the remnants of the Cossacks who came here by chance had joined forces to resist the rule of the Matsumae feudal lord.

At the beginning of the war, the Ainu were full of martial virtue and still had the upper hand. However, Matsumae Nohihiro received assistance from the Tsugaru Clan and trapped and killed the Ainu leader Shamu Sheyun.

The Ainu people on the island now have no unified leader. There are only Ainu tribes that live in scattered communities and live a primitive slash-and-burn life.

Xue Bin led his soldiers into Ainu territory and was quickly noticed by the local indigenous people because their guide was wearing the Matsumae Domain warrior uniform. Xue Bin and his party were immediately surrounded by the hostility towards Matsumae Domain.

The tribal leader came with his people and saw that the two sides were already at war with each other.

The Ming army held up firecrackers, and the Ainu also raised their bows and arrows.

The leader didn't recognize the firecrackers, but he recognized the warriors of the Matsumae clan. He first asked his men to put down their bows and arrows, and Xue Bin also raised his hand to signal to put down the firecrackers.

After being translated by the samurai guide, Xue Bin quickly communicated with the other leader: "I am an envoy sent by His Majesty the Emperor of China from the Ming Dynasty. This island will be placed under the jurisdiction of Ezo County in the future, and you will also be placed under the jurisdiction of Ezo." County jurisdiction, became the people of His Majesty the Emperor of China."

The tribal leader looked confused and had no idea where China was?

He knew the Matsumae clan, and the Matsumae clan defeated all the Ainu leaders decades ago, and was more powerful than the Ainu leaders.

The generation gap in language and culture made it very difficult for Xue Bin to communicate with the other party.

Fortunately, the Ainu at this time were not the Ainu of sixty years ago. They had just been conquered by the Matsumae clan. They had not recovered so quickly. They would have to wait almost fifty years before launching another uprising.

After some exchanges, it was discovered that the Ainu people on the island were not very resistant to the rule of the Chinese emperor. They only care about the strength and weakness of the Chinese emperor and the Matsumae clan, whether they will be expelled from their tribal territories, and whether they will deceive them during transactions.

Moreover, it is worth mentioning that the Ainu people do not have the concept of land ownership. For this reason, the land that belongs to them was embezzled by the Meiji government, causing many bloody tragedies.

In comparison, the Ming Dynasty's policy towards the Ainu was quite good. It hardly interfered with their livelihood and maintained their normal trade with the Matsumae domain on the island.

To put it bluntly, it is pure rule and slow education.

(End of this chapter)