October 10, 1682, Edo.

The Qi invasion that occurred in the third year of Enho (1675) caused a violent shock throughout Japan. Whether it was the imperial family headed by the emperor, the head of the shogunate headed by the Tokugawa clan, or even the daimyo of various vassal states.

,never

Have you ever thought that a "barbarian country" tens of thousands of miles away actually dared to organize an expedition fleet to invade the Japanese territory, and also defeated the shogunate's tens of thousands of troops in a devastating way, and finally forced the shogunate to no avail?

Seeking peace without ceding territory.

You must know that more than a thousand years ago, although Japan was defeated by the Tang Empire at the Baijiangkou in Korea, it was entirely because of its lack of strength and was unable to resist the Tang Dynasty at its peak. Even so, the Tang Dynasty

After Baekje was destroyed, no troops were sent to punish Japan.

, but continued to maintain contact with it. Later, Japan was even allowed to send a large number of envoys to the Tang Dynasty to comprehensively learn the advanced culture and politics of the Tang Dynasty, as well as advanced experience and technology in the economic field, which in turn greatly promoted the development and progress of Japan's overall society.

It can be said to be a blessing in disguise.

More than 400 years ago, in order to conquer Japan, the barbaric Mongol Empire launched two cross-sea attacks. The attacks were so fierce that Japan almost faced the danger of annihilation. However, God blessed Japan and two "divine winds" came.

, destroy all enemy forces and save Japan from the disaster of national destruction.

In the Battle of Keicho and Bunroku that broke out more than 90 years ago, the Ming Dynasty officers and soldiers fought bravely and defeated the Japanese troops who invaded Korea many times. Toyotomi Hideyoshi's desire to invade Korea and then conquer the mainland was completely shattered. Taigu died of melancholy because of this.

, let this grand war end without any problem and hastily come to an end.

Looking at the above-mentioned foreign wars, although Japan suffered two major defeats, it also had a brilliant victory. Moreover, in these wars, Japan did not suffer large-scale invasion of its homeland, nor did it have to cede territory to pay compensation.

Humiliating experience.

However, during the "Battle of Enbao", the Qi State not only captured Osaka, Japan's largest commercial center, but also sent troops into the Gyeonggi region, defeated Nara, captured Kyoto, captured the emperor, and finally went to Osaka to go to the General Kingdom (

Today's Chiba City, Japan), the two armies of the shogunate were defeated and their troops approached Edo.

Unable to fight any more, the Tokugawa shogunate was forced to sue for peace from Qi, and then signed the "Edo Treaty" that was humiliating and humiliating, thus plunging the Kingdom of China into "darkness" and "sinking."

In the following years, a large number of Qi's industrial products flooded into the Japanese market, almost destroying the "infancy" Japanese handicraft industry, causing a large number of handicraftsmen in the city to fall into bankruptcy and become homeless and beggars.

Before the war, Japan's exports and imports were only 750,000 Hanzhou silver dollars and 680,000 Hanzhou silver dollars respectively, and the overall trade volume was only more than 1.4 million Hanzhou silver dollars.

In the second year after the war, Japan's exports reached 1.85 million Hanzhou silver dollars, and its imports reached 1.9 million Hanzhou silver dollars. But last year, exports increased sharply to 5.4 million Hanzhou silver dollars, and imports were

6.1 million Hanzhou silver dollars. Six years

, exports increased by 7.2 times, imports increased by nearly 9 times, and total trade volume increased by 8 times. But what worries Japan is that with the growth of trade volume, Japan's trade deficit has also begun to gradually increase, and the outflow of gold and silver continues to increase.

Since the opening of the port, raw silk has always occupied the first place in Japan's export commodities, accounting for 50% to 60% of the entire trade export volume. The second place is tea, accounting for 150% to 20%, and the third place is

Although sulfur is exported in huge quantities, it only accounts for 10% of exports due to its low price.

In fact, there is another invisible export product in Japan, namely gold. Japan's gold and silver exchange ratio seriously deviates from the "international market conditions", causing the outflow of a large number of gold coins (small coins). However, two years ago, the shogunate discovered this trade in time

Loopholes, through currency reform, have made the gold and silver exchange rate equal to the "international market situation", which has made many currency speculators frustrated.

Faced with the influx of foreign goods and the drastic changes in the country, Japanese scholars and officials such as public ministers and daimyo have many arguments and opinions on how to handle foreign relations. But in summary, there are only three views

.

The first is to repel the Chinese and exclude the barbarians. The so-called "repelling the Chinese and expel the barbarians" means "maintaining the old code of Dongzhao and the two princes of the great chief (i.e. Tokugawa Ieyasu), and never letting the Chinese invaders (i.e. the Qi Kingdom) and the barbarians approach."

.If Chinese invaders or barbarians want to invade the Kingdom of God, we must repel them without hesitation and make them suffer in order to promote the might of our Kingdom of God overseas."

For this reason, as a means of driving away Chinese invaders and barbarians, we should do our best to strengthen the armament of iron cannons and ships, with the emperor as the banner and the shogunate as the commander-in-chief, and everyone should work together to protect the kingdom of God.

Although this view does not specifically combine "rejecting China and expelling barbarians" with "respecting the king", many knowledgeable people have such expectations in their hearts. When calling on the people of the country to devote themselves to national defense, it can unify people's hearts.

, arousing the people's desire to "respect the king".

The second is to passively open the country and wait for changes to be made slowly. This view believes that "we can advocate trade with the Chinese invaders and barbarians to avoid the risk of the divine country being invaded by the enemy for no reason. We should temporarily agree to trade with other countries."

In order to appease their minds, during this period, we will strengthen the military equipment of our Kingdom of God. When we have the strength to compete with them, we will interrupt the trade and drive them away by force."

Many Japanese scholars believe that this view is nothing more than a delaying tactic, and its purpose is to restore the original most stringent state of isolation.

Some radical warriors even called this view "Creating the illusion of peace and quiet in front of our generation is actually an excuse for cowards" and criticized: "Getting close to the Chinese invaders and Yidi and trading with them must be

The people of our Kingdom of God are distracted, and it is difficult for us to have strong military equipment."

Third, actively open the country, embrace the "outside world", rectify and innovate, and learn skills from the invaders to strengthen ourselves. This view is to change the traditions and ancestral systems of the Kingdom of God, completely cancel the country's isolation order, and allow trade with Chinese invaders, Yi and Di,

At the same time, our Kingdom of God also needs to build big ships, expand its cannons, and take the initiative to go abroad to develop trade. We should adopt a tolerant policy towards countries around the world, establish good ties with them, and actively exert the influence of our Kingdom of God.

However, many conservative scholars in China have criticized this view. They believe that trade activities are just buying a large amount of useless luxury goods, which are not necessary for self-sufficient Japan. They also particularly emphasize that trade will make people frivolous and shallow-minded.

The Japanese are infected with "the customs of the Chinese invaders and barbarians", which is a practice that is "harmful but not beneficial". Once they are infected with the customs of the Chinese invaders and barbarians, they will lose their patriotism and loyalty to the emperor and become another enemy of the enemy.

Invasion opens portal.

"No matter what opinions appear in Japan, as long as we can help the Tokugawa clan maintain the rule of the shogunate and help them suppress the powerful vassals in the country that are provoking trouble, we can continue to maintain our country's commercial interests in the Japanese islands." Qi

Huang Tingrong, the country's minister in Edo, put the public opinion briefings from various parts of Japan collected and compiled by the black guards on the desk, picked up a precious pipe, held it in his mouth, took a deep breath, and then happily

Blow out a few smoke rings.

"What the minister means is that the loan of one million Hanzhou silver dollars proposed by the shogunate to us can be agreed and processed as soon as possible?" Qi State's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Commerce in Japan agreed when Wang Zongxian was established.

"Yes, the shogunate is very short of money now." Huang Tingrong nodded and said: "The new shogunate Tokugawa Tsunayoshi had planned to visit Nikko Toshogu (Tokugawa Ieyasu's memorial temple) as usual last year, but he failed to make the trip. Although

The shogunate's statement stated that it was to show sympathy for the people, but it was not

I wish to increase the people's fatigue, but in fact it is because the shogunate can't even come up with this little money. In May of this year, the shogunate once again issued an order (that is, an order to confiscate land and return it to the direct jurisdiction of the shogunate), which targeted Osaka.

and the relatively affluent areas within a 40-kilometer radius around Edo.”

"Although, when the shogunate explained this order, it stated that it was just following precedents for the convenience of supervision. But its purpose was just to obtain the private territories of daimyo and hatamoto, who had high annual tribute rates, to supplement the extremely poor shogunate's finances. Of course,

, This move is also to solve the complicated situation in the Edo and Osaka territories and strengthen the rule of the shogun."

"Most of the targets targeted by this imperial decree are daimyō. Those with more than 500 shi will be transferred to territories with low annual tribute rates. Those with less than 500 shi will be converted at the rate of 10 taels of gold per 100 shi.

This triggered strong opposition from the daimyo and Hatamoto. In their view, their family had

The ancestors followed Tokugawa Ieyasu to conquer the world. How could the land that had been handed down from generation to generation due to military exploits be transferred without guilt? Look, those aggrieved daimyo and hatamoto will definitely cause some trouble. If the shogunate has no money in his pocket

How can we suppress the rampant daimyo and hatamoto with just a few dollars?"

"If there is turmoil in the areas under the shogunate, those local powerful vassals that are ready to take action may take the opportunity to cause trouble." Wang Zongxian said with concern: "None of the three Sendai Clan, Choshu Clan, and Satsuma Clan are fuel-efficient.

lamp!"

"If you want to cause trouble, you must first consider whether you can withstand the Tokugawa clan's counterattack!" Huang Tingrong said disdainfully: "In order to restore the prestige of the shogunate, the Tokugawa clan is eager to have someone come forward first, so that they can kill the chicken and scare the monkey, and regain the reputation of the shogunate."

shock

Intimidating all the vassals in the country. Furthermore, among these three families, none of them is a large vassal with hundreds of thousands of koku. If the Tokugawa clan seeks an opportunity to destroy the vassal state, in addition to the fiefdom, it may be able to bring back a blood to the shogunate and increase the number of vassals.

A little strength.”

——

November 2, Hengguan (today’s Xiaguan, Japan).

Zenzaburo Hara ran hard on the mountain path. From time to time, his fellow refugees were exhausted or tripped over tree roots and fell to the ground, screaming in surprise. However, he remained unmoved and stepped over their shoulders.

The body continued to run southward.

Behind them, the refugees, were a group of pursuers consisting of more than two hundred warriors from the Choshu domain. If they were to catch up with them and take them back to Choshu, they would be tortured in the most brutal way, and eventually they would be burned to death.

, or be buried alive as a warning to all farmers that the townspeople are not allowed to leave the territory without authorization and evade the obligations of tribute and tax.

In recent years, as the Choshu Domain has increasingly oppressed farmers and townspeople within the territory, more and more farmers have fled. As early as decades ago, unbearable refugees would risk their lives by driving small boats or sampans.

Go to sea and escape to Ryukyu, Korea, the mainland, or even distant Luzon.

The extremely crude navigation tools are often overturned by huge waves within a few days of sailing into the sea, and then buried in the ocean. Even those with good luck will be taken to the Indochina Peninsula when they encounter merchant ships on the way.

Or in the Nanyang region, they will be slaves for life.

Even at the risk of a narrow escape, the number of fleeing incidents is endless, and the number is increasing every year. Not only in the Choshu Domain, but also in the Daimyo territory of other feudal lords in Japan, in addition to heavy taxes, farmers also have a large number of servitude.

All farmers who failed to pay the annual tribute were bound, tortured, and imprisoned without exception. Not only did they lose their cattle, horses, livestock, fields, and property, they also had to sell their wives and children to pay taxes and pay the annual tribute.

The so-called water prison is a cave dug in the ground, filled with water about three feet deep, and farmers who owe money are soaked in it for several days in the cold winter.

Although Toshogu Shrine (Tokugawa Ieyasu) once said that "the amount of annual tribute collected must be just right so that the rural people are half dead".

But in fact, in this period when rice and miscellaneous grains are still the main products and productivity is low, farmers who have had most of their harvests confiscated often cannot escape the fate of starving to death if they encounter a calamity or bad year.

Every last drop of food in the family will be squeezed out.

Since the summer of this year, the Choshu Domain has encountered a rare drought. Large areas of crops have withered and died due to lack of water. A reduction in food production is a high probability. Even some villages that are severely affected will face widespread harvest failure. But regardless of

The village leader (similar to the village chief), the leader of the group, was also the lord of the city, and he did not express any intention of providing relief. Moreover, according to the news coming from different channels, the established annual tribute was not reduced at all.

As a result, in this disaster year, countless small farmers will be forced to death by village officials or starve to death.

Zenzaburo Hara and countless poor farmers simply gritted their teeth and took advantage of a dark night to escape from the village, wrapped in simple burdens, in order to get a chance to survive.

Seven years ago, the Qi State from the New World in the South invaded Japan and defeated the shogunate. Shimonoseki, a long and narrow peninsula located in the southernmost part of the Choshu Domain, was ceded to Qi by the shogunate after the war.

I heard that the Qi people implemented a very loose agricultural tax collection policy in the Xiaguan area. After receiving the land allocated by the Qi people, each farmer only needed to pay 20% of the output every year, and then he could enjoy the rest.

The harvest. Moreover, the people there can also eat rice that only samurai and feudal lords can enjoy.

Escape to Xiaguan and you can survive!
To be continued...