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Chapter 1035 – 1031 [Rural Scholars And Village Officials]

Chapter 1035 1031 [Rural scholars and village officials]

Shanghai Stock Exchange.

Li Quan stared at the stock price on the blackboard, but his mind was on sailing adventures.

In the past few years, he has traveled between China and the Americas, and he has discovered the Hawaiian Islands, the Great Eastern Islands, Midway Island, Wake Island, and the Northern Mariana Islands. Although half of them have been discovered by Spain long ago, this is the first time for China.

Next, he does not plan to go to America himself, but goes south from the Philippine Islands.

Li Quan heard from the Spaniards that there are big islands in the south, all of which are tropical rainforests. The headhunters there are more cruel than those in Luzon and Taiwan.

The expedition ship has been built. There are three ships in total, none of which are very large. They will set off when the trade wind comes.

He offered a salary higher than that of the American route, and finally recruited the crew. The most active one is Cheng Jingming, a rich second generation in Suzhou who signed up without asking for salary, and just wants to travel around the world by boat.

“Dangdang! Guide Salt Factory’s daily limit, Guide Salt Factory’s daily limit, please don’t bring the application form of Guide Salt Factory again!”

The ringing of the bell ahead disturbed Li Quan’s thoughts.

Li Quan couldn’t help complaining: “It’s a boring trick.”

He is engaged in maritime trade, so of course he knows the significance of issuing shares. The company can easily raise funds from the private sector. However, the various routines in the stock market make stocks a gambling, at least for retail investors, which makes Li Quan feel very boring.

“Won’t Commander Li try his luck?” A wealthy businessman next to him asked.

Li Quan said: “It is enough to take risks at sea, and there is no need to take risks in the stock market.”

The wealthy businessman complimented: “Commander Li has traveled thousands of miles across the sea, narrowly escaped death and lived to do business for His Majesty, and his dedication to serving the country with every fist really makes me admire.”

No matter what Li Quan explained, Sihai Trading Company was considered to be an imperial merchant, and he was the leader of the imperial merchant in people’s minds.

From Nanjing to Luzon, as long as the name is reported along the way, both the officials and the people must be polite to Li Quan. Really, Li Quan met whoever he met. Governors, chief envoys, and other big officials in Xinjiang were summoned immediately when they received Li Quan’s invitations.

Today’s Four Seas Trading Company already has 19 ships, all of which are capable of ocean sailing. Counting the staff in China, Japan, America and Tanzhou (Hawaii), the company has more than 6,000 employees. They have private armed forces, and even colonies—Tanzhou and Xindeng Village, which are essentially the colonies of the Four Seas Trading Company.

Moreover, the business is no longer limited to American trade, and a group of merchant ships regularly sail between Shandong, Liaoning, North Korea, and Japan.

Even monopolized the trade from Shandong to Tumen River, but this monopoly was a helpless move. The estuary of the Tumen River is very remote, and there are only more than two hundred Han people (all exiles), and there are not even many Jurchens. You can’t make a lot of money by traveling, and private merchant ships are reluctant to go.

So, the Four Seas Trading Company has some official attributes. Running Tumenjiang is not a good way to make money, and continuing to immigrate to the Americas is not making money, but the Four Seas Trading Company is willing to do it, and its eyes are obviously set in 20 or 30 years.

Li Quan chatted with the wealthy businessman around him for a few words, and suddenly one of his subordinates ran in and said in a low voice, “The ronin of Japan’s Satsuma clan rebelled, and Tsurumaru Castle was captured by the rebels!”

“Tsurumaru Castle was breached?”

Li Quan was surprised: “When the Datong army attacked Tsurumaru City, it took a lot of effort to bring artillery. How could those ronin conquer the city?”

People kept rushing into the exchange, obviously getting news.

After more than ten minutes, the stock price of the company mainly engaged in Japanese trading suddenly began to plummet, and it fell directly to the limit in less than an hour.

…

Because the Datong Army went to Kagoshima to fight, the history of Shimadzu has been completely rewritten.

The family governor supported by China has passed away, and the current family governor is called Shimadzu Yoshimasa. The war indemnity paid to China was only settled with interest six years ago.

Not only has to pay indemnity, but also busy with enjoyment, even though the smuggling trade has huge profits, the Shimadzu family can’t bear it, so they increase the intensity of exploitation of the people. What’s more, the profits from the smuggling trade must be distributed to the elders of the shogunate, otherwise the elders threatened to strictly investigate the smuggling.

Japanese farmers in the Edo period were both like owner farmers and tenant farmers.

The land is owned by the lord, and the peasants can only farm it. However, the leased land can be passed on to descendants, which is equivalent to obtaining permanent tenancy rights. Then why do we say that they are like self-cultivating farmers, because farmers not only have to pay rent, but also pay land taxes.

Paying rent and paying taxes, this is not uncommon in Daming.

Land rent and taxes are collectively referred to as annual tribute, which accounts for about 60% to 80% of farmers’ total income.

You think this is the end?

You also have to pay miscellaneous taxes, mowing grass, fishing, hunting, salt making, crossing bridges, sailing boats… As long as you have these behaviors, you have to pay taxes according to the rules.

In addition to annual tribute and miscellaneous taxes, they also have to serve corvee and work for the lord for free.

The “Research on Peasant Riots” published in 1928 counted 574 peasant riots in Japan during the more than 200 years of the Edo period. But after World War II, Japanese scholars continued to study historical materials and found that there were more than 1,000 peasant riots in the Edo period!

On average, there are four riots per year.

Moreover, the further time goes by, the more detailed the riot plan is, because there are already countless experiences, and even mature uprising routines have been summed up.

Smart peasant uprising leaders will start preparations years in advance. They are often ronin or xiangshi (village warriors), dressed as monks and traveling around, spying on people’s hearts and enlisting fellow villagers. The number of companions is increasing, so they dress up as doctors and masseuses, travel between villages, and pass news regularly.

Before the start of the riots, the representatives of each village gathered together to make blood alliances and elect leaders.

The neighboring villages are the first to be attacked. Wherever the peasant army goes, the local people must join. Those who do not join will burn their houses and force them to rebel, similar to the coercion of Chinese bandits.

Then go to attack the county magistrates, burn their houses, and then besiege the lord’s city.

The most classic case is the Kurume riot, in which 200,000 Japanese farmers participated. Collect weapons, ammunition and other materials in advance, set up contact points in each village, and decide on strategies, tactics and goals of the uprising. It was also determined which buildings had to be demolished, burned and which officials had to be killed.

However, the endings are much the same.

During the uprising, no matter how the lord buys, the number of traitors is negligible. The rebels are very loyal, but their demands are nonsense. They just force the lord to implement good governance, and never thought of overthrowing the lord and the shogunate themselves as the boss.

It is often the lord who agrees at the time, but after two or three years, he will revert to his old ways, and the leader of the uprising will die miserably.

Just like the Asakawa riots, the peasant uprising army grew to more than 80,000 people, and their uprising goal was to get the lord to agree to their 18 demands.

…

Three months ago.

Kagoshima, Kawara Village.

Taro Kuroda came to this village in the valley wearing a monk’s robe.

“The mage is here, come and sit at home.” The village official Nakamura Shiro greeted him with a smile.

The two entered the house together, and Nakamura Shiro’s wife was soon sent off to cook the food.

Kuroda Taro took off his bamboo hat and said in a low voice: “I have already contacted 17 villages, and they are all willing to rebel. There is also the castle town of Tsurumaru Castle, where many ronin are willing to cooperate. What about you? Haven’t made up your mind yet? “

Nakamura Shiro showed hesitation on his face. After a long time, he finally gritted his teeth and said: “I am willing to participate! The county governor encouraged us to reclaim barren mountains and promised to only receive a small amount of annual tribute. How can we get it? Even if it doesn’t matter, I’m afraid I won’t live until next year!”

The Japanese village officials in the Edo period were similar to Satosawa and Liangchang in the Ming Dynasty.

The land in the village is owned by the lord, and the farmers are contracted in groups of five. It is said that there are five households, and sometimes more than ten households form a group to jointly bear the annual tribute and labor. If a family fails to pay taxes, the farmers in the same group have to make up, otherwise they will be held accountable.

The village official is the leader of the land contracting team. His team members couldn’t pay the taxes, and he was the first to be questioned.

Taro Kuroda, who contacted the uprising, belonged to the country.

The countrymen are often richer, or their ancestors were rich, because their samurai titles were bought.

Where there are countrymen, there are city scholars.

Samurai in the city can wear clogs, but samurai in the countryside are not allowed to wear clogs.

When the two met, the city man was not used to seeing the country man, so he slapped him. If the rural scholar dared to resist, the urban scholar could draw his sword and kill him directly, and he would not bear the responsibility afterwards.

Kuroda Taro’s grandfather is relatively rich, so he did everything possible to buy a title of country scholar. In his generation, his family has long been in decline, and he is full of resentment towards the lord and the county representative, because his family was impoverished by the government.

Shiro Nakamura said: “Please tell me more about “Da Tong Ji” and the Tang Dynasty. I like your Excellency to talk about these the most.”

Kuroda Taro has said it countless times, and he just opened his mouth: “The emperor of Tang Dynasty said that everyone is born equal. In Japan, the four peoples of the royal family, the Chinese, the gentry, and the common people are equal. I am a villager, a gentry , you are civilians, but we are also equal.”

“Is it really equal?” Shiro Nakamura asked.

Taro Kuroda said: “In the Tang Kingdom, they are already equal, and the emperor of the Tang Kingdom is also called the Emperor Minshi. That is to say, from him onwards, the emperor of the Tang Kingdom is the emperor of the common people.”

Nakamura Shiro has heard this saying for a long time, and has asked countless times, and at this moment he still looks yearning: “Tang country is so good, why were we not born in Tang country? I heard people say that the Tang people’s army used to attack cranes. Maru Castle never robs civilians, and buys anything they need from civilians with money. The people near Crane Maru Castle miss the soldiers of the Tang State very much, and look forward to the Tang army coming to fight again.”

Kuroda Taro continued: “The emperor of the Tang Dynasty was also a commoner before. He killed the daimyo and the county generation and distributed all the land to the farmers. The farmers in the Tang country no longer farmed for the daimyo, but for themselves. Every year The annual tribute is also very small. The merchants from the Tang Kingdom in Kagoshima Port told me that even the farmers in the mountains on their side have enough food. When there is a famine, the emperor will ask officials to provide relief.”

“Own land? It’s unimaginable that the peasants of the Tang state can also own land,” Nakamura Shiro asked, “So we can have our own land when we rebel?”

Taro Kuroda said: “The peasants of Tang country can do it, so can we.”

The nature of the Japanese peasant uprising has changed due to the influence of “Da Tong Ji”. Their appeal is no longer for the lord to implement good governance, but to seize the land from the lord!

(end of this chapter)