New Shun 1730

"Since the Qin Dynasty, the Celestial Empire abolished feudalism and established counties. Looking at Japan, it still practices feudalism, with some of the politics of the Spring and Autumn Period."

"When I was young, I read "The Family of Song Weizi" and remembered a sentence, 'Zheng defeated the Song army and captured Hua Yuan. Song used 100 chariots and 400 horses to redeem Hua Yuan.'"

"Since the feudal system has been implemented, each has its own fiefdom and food. You can follow the example of Song redeeming Hua Yuan in the past. How much is the stone of Choshu Domain?"

The feudal system has its own way of extorting money, and the unified system has its own way of asking for debts.

Since Li Li was sure that Liu Yu must have taken the lead in hosting the negotiations with Japan in the court, he had figured out how Liu Yu wanted to deal with Japan, so he naturally worked hard in this direction.

As expected, Maori Munehiro heard the word "but" followed by a request for money, thinking that this was reasonable.

Asking about the stone, there is nothing to hide about this matter, anyway, Dashun must know, this is asking knowingly.

"360,000 koku."

He reported a number for a formal occasion, but did not mention the actual koku of Choshu Domain.

Li Li did not know the actual koku of Choshu Domain either, as the information he had was public, so he nodded and said, "Then redeem it with three years' worth of koku of rice according to the koku of each fiefdom. I don't want the fraction either, so I'll round it up to a total of one million koku. According to the Japanese number of one koku and three pyo, you can give rice or silver equivalent to three million taels."

"You can first order people to call back the castle town, and count the gold, silver, and rice in Hagi Castle. If you can collect 300,000 koku first, you can release them first. Then you can pay them back slowly."

The number of three million taels shocked Mori Munehiro at once.

Even if Choshu Domain had money, it could not afford three million taels or one million koku of stored grain.

Koku is not a salary, but the total number of fiefdoms. The koku of 360,000 koku means that the total grain output of the entire Choshu Domain in one year is 360,000 koku.

Even if the water content of this koku is too high, the Choshu Domain is only less than one million koku. Even if the common people tie their necks and do not eat or drink for a year, it will take one or two years to pay it back.

However, people are not plants, and it is impossible to live by basking in the sun, eating wind and drinking dew.

If the common people really tie their necks and do not eat or drink, the Choshu Domain will be in chaos.

Sesame can be squeezed for oil, but you can't squeeze all the sesame seeds for the sake of oil.

Mori Munehiro was about to bargain, but when he thought of Dashun's conditions, he thought that if he asked for so much money directly, he must know that it would be impossible to pay it all at once.

Doesn't that mean... Dashun will keep the Choshu Domain alive so that it can pay back the money in the future?

He asked tentatively: "It is natural to follow the Song Dynasty's example to redeem Hua Yuan. However, the amount is too large and I really can't give it."

Li Xi smiled and said: "If you can't give it all at once, the Heavenly Dynasty can help you collect it. The Heavenly Dynasty is benevolent and taxes one tenth. The 360,000 stones of stone are taxed one tenth, and the annual income is 36,000 stones. After a hundred years, I will return it to you, and you don't need to pay the interest. What do you think?"

Mori Munehiro was not surprised but happy when he heard this. He thought to himself, if you really want to occupy the land of Choshu Domain, do you still need to say these words?

Since you said these words, it means that you have no intention of occupying the land of Choshu Domain. As long as you can strive to sign a peace treaty with Dashun instead of letting the shogunate sign on your behalf, you can let Dashun guarantee the existence of Choshu Domain: If Choshu Domain is gone, who will pay?

When the time comes, as long as you sign it yourself, it will be his name, Mori Munehiro, and this IOU will be the basis for his continued rule of Choshu Domain in the future!

For this IOU, Dashun will also ensure that the Mori family rules Choshu Domain.

Maori Munehiro calculated in his mind how much gold, silver and rice Hagi Castle could take out now, and if he asked the samurai families to take out their savings, he could still collect nearly one million taels or hundreds of thousands of shi of rice.

The current situation is similar to the situation before and after the Dashun Army invaded Beijing in the late Ming Dynasty - if all the samurai were not arrested, it would be impossible to collect the money; but since all the samurai were arrested, it would be easy for everyone to collect money to redeem them.

As long as the land is still there, as long as the people are still farming, gold, silver and rice can always be squeezed out.

He knew that this was no longer the time to bargain, and hurriedly said: "How about this, let's collect one million taels or 330,000 shi of rice first. Redeem the samurai first. After that, the Choshu clan will pay off the debt within ten years, which will save the Celestial Empire from spending a hundred years here."

The remaining two-thirds will be paid off in ten years, which is equivalent to extending the life of the Choshu clan for ten years.

Moreover, it is difficult to repay 2 million taels of silver within ten years, but according to the price set by Dashun, one shi of rice is equivalent to three taels of silver, which means an average of about 100,000 shi of rice per year, which is more than the expenses of the audience, but it can be squeezed out.

Unexpectedly, Li Li shook his head and said, "If it is paid off in ten years, the interest during this period must be calculated. If the Celestial Empire rules Changzhou itself and does not charge interest, it is a benevolent policy. You wait to pay the money yourself, and pay it off in ten years, then the interest has to be calculated. I will also reduce the interest for you, and give you 330,000 shi of rice first. In the next ten years, the principal and interest will total 1 million shi."

"Another thing is that this is a ransom, and this IOU is not written by your family. Many warriors have names. According to the salary and fiefdom of each family, the ransom price will be shared, and everyone will have to write a total IOU."

Thinking about collecting one million taels first, it is not bad. Even if half of it is gold and silver, and the rest is rice, this military ration is not only enough, but also very abundant. In the future, we can sell it to trading companies at a low price and ask them to transport it away at a discount.

As for asking all the captured samurai or trapped in Hagi Castle to write an IOU jointly, it is actually to protect the Choshu domain.

Choshu's debts, Choshu will pay. The shogunate's debts, the shogunate will pay.

If Choshu and other southwestern feudal domains really replace the shogunate one day in the future, they will either acknowledge the shogunate's debt or stop paying it back after defeating the Dashun. The same is true in reverse.

This is a debt owed by all samurai, and samurai do not produce, so they must exploit land to pay back the debt. Therefore, the shogunate cannot recognize the status of Choshu, at least the fiefdom of Choshu cannot be reduced.

Li Li said again: "The ancients said, why do gentlemen need hostages? But since you have been defeated, won't the shogunate punish you? By then, you will no longer be the lord of Choshu, so who should I take care of this account? The cost of redeeming the samurai should also be raised by the samurai families themselves. Our dynasty is based on benevolence and righteousness, and we can't bear to let you exploit the people to pay back the debt, right?"

Mori Munehiro thought this was great.

This money must be owed by the Mori family and the samurai. It can't be owed by the Choshu domain.

What the Mori clan owed, the Mori clan had to pay. If the Mori clan wanted to pay, the Dashun clan had to protect the Mori clan as the lord of the Choshu domain; if the Choshu domain owed, the Choshu lord would have to pay it back, but it might not be the Mori clan.

Creditors always protect debtors.

So he smiled flatteringly and said, "With the might of China's military power, the noble army of Hagi Castle can come and go as they please. Even if they have the heart to owe, they have no power not to pay. Japan has its own national conditions, which are different from the counties of China. The debt of the Mori clan should be paid by the Mori clan; the debt of the samurai should also be paid by the samurai."

Li Xi thought that you had a good plan, frowned and pretended to be embarrassed, and left Mori Munehiro alone for a long time, then said, "This matter... has two difficulties."

"One is that the court ordered us to occupy Hagi Castle. I envy the story of the Spring and Autumn Period, and I released people privately, but the court may not agree. Therefore, even if In this case, we also have to leave some people as hostages. If the court thinks that releasing them privately is a big mistake in the future, it is also good to have an explanation. "

"Secondly, the Celestial Empire is doing benevolent and righteous things, and it is a teacher of benevolence and righteousness. In the future, you will collect more taxes to repay the name of redemption, which will damage the reputation of the Celestial Empire for benevolence and righteousness."

"How about this, it will be limited to ten years. You can send someone to tell the people that the Celestial Empire is a teacher of benevolence and righteousness, and you are ordered to reduce taxes by 30% after ten years. This is all the benevolence of the Celestial Empire."

"Only these two points, if you don't follow, this matter will never be discussed again!"

There is a saying in Dashun, called both being responsible and standing, and the conditions that Li Li is talking about now are the style of being responsible and standing.

He is not a person who doesn't eat grains, so how can he not know that gold, silver and rice are all taken from the people?

Mori Munehiro thought that the first condition sounded reasonable.

People under the eaves have to bow their heads. Detaining some people as hostages, as long as they can be released in the future, there is no problem.

But the second condition is a bit uncomfortable.

After ten years, the tax will be reduced by 30%.

As a feudal lord, the most fearful thing is that the people have hope.

Once the common people have hope, they will have hope.

If hope is shattered in the future, it is better not to give them any hope at the beginning.

The key is that this hope is given by Dashun.

Dashun wants both money and fame. It is actually simple to ask for money. Keep the current tax level unchanged, redeem all samurai, and all samurai have to share the burden. The samurai can tolerate the requirements of Dashun in ten years.

But after tolerating it, you can't make this tolerance a normal state. If it is a normal state, the samurai will be dissatisfied.

If it is announced, but this policy is not implemented ten years later, and the original tax is retained, the people will rise up. At that time, Dashun will have enough reasons to intervene.

However, now that he was forced to this point, he was really like a fish on a chopping board. Maori Munehiro thought that he was defeated and had no right to negotiate conditions, so he had to bite the bullet and said: "This matter is not the business of my Maori family. Please allow me to go back and discuss it with everyone."

Li Li was not afraid of the long night and dream, let alone that he would run away. He waved his hand generously and asked someone to take Maori Munehiro away.

When he returned to the hill, his trusted retainers surrounded him. Maori Munehiro told Li Li about his conditions. The warriors just thought that he had tried his best to negotiate. Thinking of the debts they owed for more than ten years, although it was a bit painful. But it was better than dying in this place and having nothing in the end.

Maori Munehiro knew that this was the right time to win everyone's hearts and make them loyal, so he said: "You are all my right-hand men. There are still some grains and property in Hagi Castle. You can repay part of it first. You may have to endure for ten years. Your salary will be reduced by half to repay the debt."

"Suffer for ten years."

In the hearts of the people who were grateful and loyal, according to the hierarchical system of samurai, the IOU was written and it was agreed that they would stay as hostages in the Dashun Army.

Maori Munehiro knew that he could not escape, and he must stay. This was humiliating, but if the Dashun Army kept its promise and released him after the peace talks, his being a hostage in Dashun would become a good story in the hearts of the samurai.