Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1928 Change and Strength ([-])

July 1685, 7, sunny, Matsumae Domain Fukuyama Castle.

After a lapse of 15 years, Maszo Nemoto came to Ezoji Island again. In 1669, he came to the Matsumae domain as an inspector directly under the shogun and as an inspector of the shogunate. The reason was that the lord of the shogunate vassal Kii domain accused the Matsumae domain of colluding with pirates and burning, killing and looting around Shikoku Island.

Nemoto Mashizo came to Ezoji Island to spy on the news, and gained a lot of surprising knowledge. Later, because he was discovered by the samurai of the Matsumae Domain, he had to reveal his identity and end the investigation early.But no matter what, Matsumae Fan, a remote and small fan who is poor in the eyes of most Japanese daimyos, has finally shown a mysterious corner to the world.

Today, 15 years later, Nemoto Maszo is—well, he is still a visiting envoy, and he has once again come to the territory of the Matsumae Domain.He came here this time because Tokugawa Tsunayoshi, who had served as the fifth shogun of the Edo Shogunate for a few years, suddenly became interested in this remote small feudal clan that was said to not even have Shi Gao, and wanted to send someone to inquire about it.

It is said that although the business of Matsumae Fan has been booming in the northeastern region of Japan in recent years, his reputation in China, Kyushu, Shikoku and other places is still not great enough.Even some ignorant guys subconsciously feel that the Matsumae Domain is so small that it is not as good as some Branch Domains of the Date family in the Mutsu area.Fans like Morioka Fan (more than 62 stones, Nanbu clan), Yanuma Fan ([-] stones, Date clan), Mizusawa Fan ([-] stones, Date clan), they think that they are stronger than Matsumae Fan, let alone Date The head of the family manages the Sendai Fan with stones as high as [-] shi (in fact, after developing some new river valleys and wetlands for fertile land, the stone height of the Sendai Fan is said to have exceeded one million). It is really the poorest, most broken, and smallest one.

Of course, a truly well-informed person of insight would not think so.In fact, after so many years of development, the Matsumae Domain has greatly improved its economic strength and population. Even after being attracted by people from the east coast, the population has remained at 7 to 20 people for so many years.There are more and more good fields reclaimed in the territory. Due to the high-yield and cold-resistant wheat seeds that have been cultivated and screened for many years provided by the Dabo Botanical Garden, the actual stone height of the entire Matsumae Domain may not be 15 stone (the stone is not completely Refers to grain production), which is already the output of a medium-sized daimyo's fief - although the outside world has some doubts about the actual economic strength of the Matsumae domain, there is still a general guess, that is, it is generally believed that when it is [-] This can be seen from the fact that the amount of food they import has not increased significantly in recent years.

The vassal clans in the Northeast Ou-etsu region who have close trade ties with the Matsumae clan should know better, especially the Sendai clan, the strong clan in the Northeast that exports grain to the Matsumae clan all the year round. An agreement for the long-term supply of food was entered into.Merchants who were worried about losing the food market because of the gradual self-sufficiency of the Matsumae domain can now breathe a sigh of relief. The representatives of the Japanese companies on the east coast are open to purchase all kinds of rice, seafood, dried fruits or other food products at favorable prices. How many.Moreover, they are also very quick to pay for the goods, some in cash and some in kind, and no matter which payment method can satisfy everyone.

The real thing is easy to say!Most of them are Chinese silk, tea, porcelain and other special products. In addition, there are leather, medicinal materials, and livestock from the Northeast, which are also bulky goods that Japan is eager for.And speaking of this, I have to mention that the Sendai Fan, a feudal lord who is very powerful both in the open and in the dark, has a very large degree of freedom in acting.At the beginning, they traded side-by-side with the people from the East Bank on the territory of Matsumae Fan under the name of Shandan Trade. At that time, the amount and scale were not large.However, Xu saw the win-win space of this kind of trade, and the trade volume between the two parties began to increase, and the types of commodities became more and more diverse. The Sendai Domain exported grain, seafood, dried fruits, sulfur, and daily necessities to Japanese companies on the east coast ( To meet the gap in their own production), lead-zinc mines and Japanese handicrafts, and then import silk, tea, porcelain, leather, medicinal materials and war horses from Japanese companies on the east coast!

Yes, you are not mistaken!Although the Japanese are not tall, they have a special liking for the black water horses with glossy water, cool water, shoulder height and strong body, and they import them in large quantities every year.Take the Sendai Fan as an example. This powerful local fan has imported more than 2500 war horses from the East Coast people.If it weren't for the people on the east coast who restricted exports to Japan because of the same high demand elsewhere, it would not be impossible to double this number.You know, how can warriors or officials who have ridden such tall horses still endure the "poison" of inferior Zalai horses?That kind of horse, not so much a horse, might even be inferior to a donkey. If you encounter a black water horse in battle, it is estimated that it will be washed away in one encounter. This is not an exaggeration.

Of course, the Sendai clan is also more interested in some luxury goods, handicrafts, arms, books and other commodities that people on the east coast have.Since the Tokugawa shogunate was not very interested in the Tohoku feudal clans headed by the Sendai clan, the Sendai clan received very little of the Nanyang specialty products brought by the Dutch for trade.Or even if you can buy it, you have to pay a high price to the merchants in Kyoto and Osaka, which is very uneconomical.Well now, people from the east coast can also provide a large number of special products from Nanyang. Although the price is slightly higher than that of the Dutch, it is much lower than the price of the Sendai domain. It can be said that everyone is happy.

In addition, musical instruments, clocks, glasses, etc. produced locally on the east coast, Type 32 Suifu rifles and other military supplies produced in the Heishui area were also the focus of purchases by Sendai and other Northeast domains.Everyone can see the equipment and training of the Hakodate Group of the new army of the Matsumae Domain. Sendai, Hirosaki, Morioka, Iwanuma, Mizusawa and other feudal clans all sent personnel to look there. Although the Hakodate Group only has a few hundred people, However, the training outline was written by the military officers on the east coast, and it was built by one hand.

In particular, everyone has noticed that this new army is an all-firearms force, with all members equipped with flintlock rifles and multiple artillery pieces, which is quite different from the old-style army of other Japanese feudal lords.Moreover, as far as the composition of the army is concerned, this army does not have the privileged class of samurai. It chooses honest and responsible farmers who train hard day and night. He shined in the battle and captured a large area of ​​land.

This kind of military reform of Matsumae Fan made everyone feel complicated.However, this kind of new army is not capable of being formed by any cat or dog.First of all, this requires a lot of resources. If the social economy is not developed enough, then I am afraid that it will not be able to support many.Moreover, even if it is formed, the warriors in the domain should not have any positive comments on it, right?For this kind of modern army that has weakened their status, the privileged class of warriors should hate it.Finally, and most importantly, the Tokugawa shogunate is now powerful, and Japan is also in an era of peace. If you don't want to rebel, why do you need to spend a lot of resources to build a new army?What would they think if the shogunate or neighboring clans found out?Therefore, the new army is doomed to be an expensive toy in the hands of big and powerful vassals like Sendai, rather than something that small and medium-sized daimyo who have not undergone complete political, economic, and military system reforms can afford.

Mashizo has never seen the heroic appearance of the Hakodate Group's new army training or fighting, but whether it is him or his subordinates, he will always hear some people talk about how this army is good at fighting. In the battle with the Ainu How many victories have been won and so on.Therefore, I am more and more interested in this army, but I have been unable to see it for many days.

And since it is impossible to see the new army of the Hakodate Group, it seems natural to focus on investigating the smuggling trade that General Tsunayoshi is most concerned about.In today's Japan, the smuggling trade has really reached a rampant level!There are Satsuma and other vassals in the southwest, who violated the shogunate’s ban and secretly traded with foreign businessmen, especially the group known as the Yellow Clothes Thieves. For many years, while doing business with Satsuma and other vassals, they even sent ships to do business along the coast of Japan from time to time. These transactions without capital are very arrogant.

And in the northeastern feudal lords, for many years, they have played the sidelines of Shandan trade. I don’t know how many goods they bought and sold, so that the wealthy businessmen in Osaka are jealous of it, and even send staff to stay here to share a piece of the pie. .Nemoto Mashizo still remembers the scene when he first intercepted copper coins on a smuggling merchant ship sailing from Sendai to Uwajima domain!The fineness and exquisite craftsmanship of the batch of yellow copper coins blinded his eyes, making him feel that the coins made by the shogunate in his pocket are like shit!

In addition to copper coins, it is said that a large amount of leather from Huatai Island and other places has flooded into the Japanese market.Cowhide for making armor, sheepskin, dog skin, mink skin, fox skin, bear skin, sea animal skin, etc. for clothing and hats were landed in large quantities in Matsumae, Hirosaki, and Sendai domains, and then sold to local merchants, samurai and even daimyo myself.After these commodities were roughly processed locally, they were sold to other parts of Japan in a modified form, making huge profits.The scale of this trade is so large that the Dutch who trade in Deshima complain that the leather cannot be sold at a high price. It can be seen how frantic the smuggling of leather by the Northeast feudal clans has reached!

This kind of smuggling no longer takes the shogunate seriously!The generals of the previous generation did not manage it due to various considerations, or the degree of management was not enough, allowing this trade to continue to the present.But now General Tsunayoshi decided to intervene. He first summoned the feudal lords or heirs of the Sendai and Matsumae feudal lords who lived in Edo Castle, and asked them some information, but naturally they couldn't find anything.Ever since, Tokugawa Tsunayoshi summoned Maszo Nemoto, the visiting envoy who went to the Matsumae clan to spy on the news 15 years ago, and asked him to go to the Matsumae clan again to investigate the situation.

The arrival of Nemoto Mashizo did not cause much panic in the Matsumae clan.Masahiro Matsumae, the successor of the feudal lord Tomohiro Matsumae, who presided over the situation in the vassal, sent people to contact them, while arranging other tasks step by step. Except for ordering to cover up some shady business, no other special arrangements were made. Very calm.

It is worth mentioning that Masahiro Matsumae, who has just turned 20 years old this year, was originally named Wei Chengzhong. He is the youngest son of Deputy Commander Wei Boqiu who was in charge of the East Coast Korea Company and the East Coast Japan Company and presided over the entire development process of Ezo. His mother is Wei A concubine married in Shandong is an illegitimate child and has no inheritance rights to the Wei family.But how can we say that Wei Boqiu is awesome? He found a good family for his youngest son more than ten years ago: Wei Chengzhong was adopted to the fifth-generation vassal of the Matsumae clan who was childless. , and later adopted someone else's child as the heir), he suddenly became the first heir of the Matsumae Domain, and after his cheap father Matsumae Tokihiro was transferred to Edo as an official by General Tokugawa the year before last, he was almost Has become the de facto lord of the Matsumae domain, and has begun to handle the affairs of the domain with full authority.

Although Matsumae Masahiro was adopted into the Matsumae family since he was a child, he received a genuine East Coast education. Heishui Traffic College sent excellent teachers to Fukuyama City all the year round to teach Matsumae Masahiro various knowledge so that he could have enough knowledge. To lead this feudal town with infinite possibilities.In addition, for more than ten years, Wei Boqiu also arranged for some of his confidantes or students to work in the Matsumae Domain. Now they or their students have held important positions in the domain, controlling all aspects of the territory, and they have become an excellent example for Matsumae Masahiro to express his will. arms.Otherwise, even as the official daimyo heir, Matsumae Masahiro may not be able to control the entire domain like this, it still needs a process.

Of course, Masahiro Matsumae knew that the increasingly prosperous smuggling trade made the shogunate somewhat dissatisfied, so he was not surprised at all that people like Masaki Nemoto were coming.It's just that he really can't give up this kind of smuggling trade now, because the subsidy to Fanzhong's finances is too great!Without this income, many of his plans would not be possible, and the Matsumae clan would not be able to achieve rapid development, which he could not tolerate.

Furthermore, even if he was dizzy, succumbed to the pressure of the shogunate, and voluntarily closed the trade, the lords of other feudal lords in the Ouyue region would probably not agree!How can you do this thing that blocks everyone's money?For example, Hakodate, the only trading place for copper coins, once this market is gone, won't the various forces eager to get the goods swallow him alive?For another example, the East Bank Japan Company has an agreement with the Matsumae Domain, and some military assets are traded outside of Fukuyama City. If this business fails, there may be even more people jumping around and scolding their mothers!

Anyway, you can check the shogunate. The sky fell and there were tall people (Sendai Fan, Dongan Japan Company) supporting it. The back of the Matsumae Fan was not empty and unsupported.If the shogunate really messes up, it will soon know the consequences!Instead of worrying about the shogunate here, I might as well devote my energy to the opening of the new style school in Fanzhong (teaching Dongxue knowledge).

(End of this chapter)