"The Great Chu envoy Ning Zhonghai has seen the general, just as Matsudaira Tsunayoshi said, he is so handsome, and he is really a great man who is rare in the world."

Ning Zhonghai looked at the tall man in front of him, and his face couldn't help but show a little surprise, you must know that all Japanese people are very short these days, but a tall man like Tokugawa Yoshimune is very rare.

Tokugawa Yoshimune nodded with a smile on his face, and then said softly: "Your envoy is here to Japan, and General Ben is also very happy, please take a seat." ”

Everyone chose to kneel behind a small square table in the middle of the temple, on which each placed a pot of sake and a few small dishes, which looked extremely delicate and quite good, and next to the table, a maid with thick makeup sat to serve the meal.

After Ning Zhonghai sat down, he clapped his hands, and then one of the people next to him took out a booklet from his arms and handed it to Ning Zhonghai, while Ning Zhonghai looked at Tokugawa Yoshimune and said with a smile: "My mission has arrived in Edo now, but it has brought a batch of gifts with it, including ten pairs of high-quality porcelain, 100 embroidered satin, and two handcuffs. ”

"Oh? Handcuffs? ”

After Tokugawa Yoshimune heard what Ning Zhonghai said, he didn't have much interest in those porcelain embroidered satins, but this handcuff made him feel a little curious.

For Tokugawa Yoshimune, handcuffs are not a particularly rare thing, because he is more of a fan of Ranxue (i.e., Western studies), although Japan has implemented a very strict lockdown order, but Tokugawa Yoshimune still issued the "foreign book ban" four years ago, and thus came into contact with many Western things, including handcuffs that have been handed down from the West.

In the treasury of Tokugawa Yoshimune himself, there were handcuffs from the Qing Dynasty and the West, including one-handed revolting muskets, which were no less advanced than those of other countries, so he was a little surprised when he heard that Ning Chu had handcuffs as gifts.

Seeing that Tokugawa Yoshimune was interested, Ning Zhonghai clapped his hands, and then someone brought in the gift box containing the handcuffs from the outside, but during the inspection, the gunpowder projectile and other parts had been completely removed, and it was only empty-handed, so he was not worried about danger.

When Tokugawa Yoshimune opened the box, he saw two exquisitely shaped handcuffs placed in the box, and the overall appearance gave people a very delicate feeling, with a bulging nest in the middle, the grip was streamlined, and the handle made of walnut was oiled, which looked very bright and beautiful.

"General, this handcuff is our army's current stereotyped product, named the innovative two-year revolver, will be distributed among the officers of the whole army, its main feature is that the upper revolver, can be installed at the same time six fixed bullets, can use the trigger to achieve continuous firing."

Ning Zhonghai introduced with a smile on his face, this is also the first step in the display of force, the reason why he chose a revolver instead of those flintlock pistols is that the cost of this revolver is too high and too high, even if you want to imitate it, it is very difficult, and it is only an auxiliary weapon.

However, Tokugawa Yoshimune seemed to be completely obsessed with this pistol at this time, and he looked at the steel barrel hoop, the trigger guard, and the delicate firing lock plate, hammer and fire sickle, but fell into a deep silence, this is a weapon beyond Tokugawa Yoshimune's imagination, and it is also a weapon that cannot be made in Japan today.

"The gifts brought by your envoy, General Ben likes it very much, and will definitely treasure it, as for the gifts prepared for His Majesty the Emperor, I also ask your envoy to bring them back when the time comes."

Tokugawa Yoshimune sighed with a sigh, and then beckoned everyone to start eating and drinking, but at this time, the Japanese monarchs and ministers, because of this gift link, were in a bit of a heavy mood, and the current Japan was too far behind Ning Chu.

waited until after the three rounds of drinking, but Ning Zhonghai was the first to make trouble, and said with a smile: "Before coming to Japan, Your Majesty once entrusted the minister with a matter, that is, on the issue of the Satsuma Domain, it must be decided as soon as possible, and the subsequent cooperation with the general must not be affected. ”

Seeing that Ning Zhonghai threw out this question all of a sudden, Tokugawa Yoshimune was a little silent, but fortunately, he was not the only one at the scene, and the old Nakamino Tadayuki hurriedly took over the conversation and said with a smile: "Your envoy is a little anxious this time, after all, the matter of the Satsuma Domain is extraordinary, and the general has already sent someone to the Shimazu family, and he will finally give your envoy an explanation when the time comes." ”

"The general's kindness, the envoy's heart, but there is a message, but I forgot to tell the general, when we arrive in Japan, my Great Chu Navy should also arrive in Kyushu, if there is anything that the shogunate is not good to say, I Great Chu can also ask the Shimazu family directly."

Ning Zhonghai had a sneer on his face, then picked up the wine glass on the table and took a sip.

Hearing that Ning Chu had already begun to act, Tokugawa Yoshimune, along with other Japanese officials, also had a little bad looks on their faces, this move was really too humiliating.

"Is this a bit too much....... No matter what mistakes the Shimazu family makes, they can be remedied after all, and if it is a direct punishment, it is also an internal matter of my shogunate. ”

Tokugawa Yoshimune held back his anger, looked at Ning Zhonghai and said coldly, "There is still room for discussion in this matter, but General Ben also needs to give an explanation to His Majesty the Emperor." ”

Ning Zhonghai smiled slightly, "If you talk about discussion, you will naturally give the general time to discuss, but it is also the responsibility of my Great Chu Navy to inspect the sea area." ”

This is the naked start of hooliganism, for Ning Zhonghai, he is the prince of the upper country, dealing with a so-called general of the lower country, why should he be inferior? You can discuss it if you don't agree, but what to do Ning Chu has her own decision, and others can't interfere.

For Tokugawa Yoshimune, who has experienced ups and downs, he naturally does not pay attention to the scene in front of him, but this matter is indeed a bit of a headache, and the reason is very simple, that is, what kind of means are used by the Satsuma Domain, so far there is no qualitative opinion.

Tokugawa Yoshimune decided to continue to probe it, so he pretended to mutter: "Actually, the shogunate doesn't have to condone the Satsuma Domain, but this shogun also needs to know what the Celestial Empire thinks?" As long as you don't occupy Kyushu, everything is easy to say. ”

Ning Zhonghai quickly understood, he could fight, but he couldn't occupy it, no matter what, on the bright side, Kyushu was Japan's chassis after all, this was the bottom line given by the shogunate, and he smiled at the moment: "The Japanese are many and narrow, the land is barren, and my Celestial Empire is rich all over the world, so naturally I can't look down on it - if the general is worried about this, it is better to think about how much benefits can be obtained through the trade of the Celestial Empire in the future." ”

Tokugawa Yoshimune was a little helpless, and seeing that Ning Zhonghai's coercion and temptation methods were extremely skillful, he had to smile bitterly: "Why doesn't General Ben want to change the current barren status quo of Japan?" However, Japan has been poor for a long time, and although General Ben has worked hard to carry out reforms, he has still not been able to completely wash away the decline of the previous dynasty. ”

Ning Zhonghai, who already has a certain understanding of Japanese history, can naturally understand what Tokugawa Yoshimune meant, but in fact, he is still blaming the previous Tokugawa generals, and the mess left for him is really too bad.

Before Tokugawa Yoshimune, the seventh generation of the shogun Tokugawa family was only five years old when he succeeded to the throne, and he died after three years of reign, so there was no pot, and before the sixth generation of the general Tokugawa Iedumen, he also reigned for three years, and he couldn't do much, and the real problem was still the fifth generation of the general Tokugawa Tsunayoshi.

Although Tokugawa Tsunayoshi reigned for 29 years, he had always been in the dark of the Great Aoku, and under the circumstances of the Great Aoku's interference, the state finances quickly tilted in the direction of honoring the emperor and worshiping the Buddha, and spent huge sums of money to renovate the dilapidated imperial tombs and temples. In addition to these, Tokugawa Tsunayoshi also established a system of side employment, which led to the expansion of the shogunate's institutions and the proliferation of the shogunate, with people like Yanagisawa Yoshiho receiving 70,000 koku alone, and more than 500 people like Yanagisawa Yoshiho who entered the shogunate from vassals.

Under the influence of these maladministrations, the shogunate's finances, which were already very fragile, fell into complete collapse, the gold and silver mines were already unusable, and the silver was still in a state of long-term outflow due to foreign trade, and it can be said that the seeds of national hardship were planted from that time.

In order to solve the problem of serious shortage of currency and fiscal deficit, Tokugawa Tsunayoshi implemented a re-minting of the Yuanlu currency, that is, the old coins (Keicho gold and silver coins) were recycled and remelted and recast into 16 kinds of Yuanroku-Hoei gold and silver coins, and exchanged them at the equivalent value of the legal denomination, regardless of the difference in fineness or weight of the old and new coins.

But the problem is that although the shogunate treated the people as fools, the people were not stupid, especially for those merchants, and it was natural to see the tricks of the Tokugawa shogunate, in fact, this reminting was an activity to make money, because the newly minted Genroku-Hoei gold and silver coins were essentially depreciated by nearly half compared with the old coins.

After this reminting, although the shogunate received a large amount of seigniorage revenue, the people's trust in it was greatly reduced, and it also drove some speculative merchants to rise up the trend of counterfeiting, that is, the old coins of high fineness were privately melted and minted into new coins of low fineness, and then mixed into circulation, resulting in a sharp fluctuation in the ratio of gold and silver, so that the majesty of the shogunate was completely wiped out.

After this incident, Tokugawa Tsunayoshi was deeply interested in Buddhism because of the illness and death of his son, that is, Tokumatsu who was only 5 years old, and under the influence of the Japanese monk Takashi, he issued the "Decree of Mercy for Life", which is equivalent to the current animal protection law, especially the prohibition of killing dogs, and the consumption of dog meat, so that the people gave a nickname "Dog Gongfang".

For the merits and demerits of Tokugawa Tsunayoshi, as a descendant, Tokugawa Yoshimune is naturally not easy to evaluate, but to say that he has no resentment in his heart, it is naturally impossible, just like at the beginning of Tokugawa Yoshimune's succession, he abolished the side employment system created by Tokugawa Tsunayoshi, which is a silent rebuttal.

"The financial predicament caused by the Yuanlu period is not so easy to overcome, but if the general wants to change, he can't continue to drink to quench his thirst."

Ning Zhonghai picked up a piece of chopsticks and put it in his mouth, savoring it, he could feel that the fish should be about to be hooked.

Sure enough, after not discussing the issue of the Satsuma Domain, Tokugawa Yoshimune's vigilance dropped a lot, and a trace of hesitation flashed in his eyes, and he said softly: "What does your envoy mean is to re-establish the currency system?" ”

"Yes, that's right, the shogunate carried out recasting during the Genroku period, and it was wishful thinking to succeed in itself, because at that time, it was completely the meaning of fishing for the sake of fishing, and obtaining benefits through the forced depreciation of the currency, this kind of thing can be one or two but not three, otherwise the world will be in chaos."

Ning Zhonghai unceremoniously lifted the fig leaf on the face of the shogunate and honestly exposed his ass, because this was the shogunate's conventional method of dealing with financial issues, in fact, if it were not for the appearance of Ning Chu, with the current financial situation of the Tokugawa shogunate, at most in another ten years or so, Tokugawa Yoshimune would also order the reminting of new coins to alleviate the financial predicament.

Tokugawa Yoshimune didn't have the slightest shame on his face, and he didn't need to be ashamed of the actions of the previous generals, he just began to speculate about Ning Zhonghai's intentions, and said in a condensed voice: "The envoy knows a lot, but this general is also very curious, since the envoy said this, could it be that there is already a solution?" ”

"That's right."

Ning Zhonghai finally revealed his true thoughts, "Lord Shogun, judging from the current problems of the shogunate, in fact, the biggest reason is the lack of a huge amount of available funds to thoroughly develop the resources of other regions, and although this money cannot be taken out by the shogunate, the Shogunate cannot take it out, but the Celestial Empire can take it out." ”

A trace of doubt flashed in Tokugawa Yoshimune's eyes, in his opinion, there is a famous saying in the Celestial Empire that still makes sense, that is, pie will not fall from the sky, and Ning Chu will not help himself in vain.

"If your country is willing to lend money to a bad country, it is great, but what price does a bad country have to pay?"

Ning Zhonghai took out a gold dollar and a silver dollar from his arms unhurriedly, presented them to Tokugawa Yoshimune, and said with a smile: "Actually, it is very simple, the ratio of gold and silver in your country is unequal, so that it is arbitraged by other countries a lot, which shows that there are big loopholes in the currency issued by your country, if you want to avoid this, you might as well use your own currency, which is endorsed by the central bank of your country, which can ensure the benefits of coinage and balance the economy." ”

"What, with the currency of the Celestial Empire? In this way, where is the national system of the country? ”

It was not Tokugawa Yoshimune who spoke, but the shogunate elder Nachu Ando Nobuyo, and the look of anger on his face was really incredible, and it was too deceitful.

"Of course, it won't be used in vain......"

Ning Zhonghai pursed his lips and listed his conditions one by one, "First of all, if you use your own currency, you can fully integrate into the trade system dominated by our country, including other countries that will join our trade system in the future, and it will be unimpeded." ”

What Ning Zhonghai said is actually the prototype of the future Asian Free Trade Organization, in fact, it is a pie, but even though it is just a pie, the attraction to the Japanese present is also quite huge, which represents the huge market demand of hundreds of millions of people in the entire China, and it is a real gold mine.

Looking at the demeanor of the Japanese around him, Ning Zhonghai couldn't help but show a smile, ready to continue to throw another surprise.