At present, there are only two merchants who are resident in the White Lord, one is the money house that is deeply rooted in the Northland, and the other is the Ki Kuniya who came with Naohide. Among them, the money house gathers fish, trades with the Ainu people, transfers merchant ships to the government, and helps to procure various materials, and can do anything and dare to do anything, but Kinokuniya is much inferior in comparison.

At the beginning of the 11th month of the Western calendar, Hanbei, the ruler of the money house in the northern land, suddenly urgently asked to see Naohide, saying that he had something important to discuss.

As a big businessman, Hanbei is usually very stable, and besides, the money house is very important to the white master, and the ruler insists that there is something important to discuss, and Okubo is inconvenient to stop him, so he accompanies Naohide to meet Hanbei.

The owner of the money house was Gobei, who was known as the richest man in Fuso at this time. Although the shogunate clearly stipulated that the status of merchants was lower than that of samurai, because merchants controlled commerce and circulation, the specific actual status depended on the strength of the individual, and there were many wealthy merchants who even the top leaders of the shogunate had to pay attention to, such as the two substitute merchants who controlled finance, especially the Mitsui group, the Ono group, and the Shimada group. "When the merchants of Osaka are angry, the princes of the world are shaken", which is the situation of the expansion of the strength of the merchants.

In addition to its own strength, there is also a behemoth of the million-stone Maeda family - the shogunate is very tolerant to the Maeda family, and the Maeda family has intermarried from generation to generation, and the Maeda family enjoys the treatment of the shogunate's quasi-relatives and clans.

The northland ruler of the money house has important things to discuss? Although the attitude of the half-guards is respectful, they don't give up an inch of land in business, and the white lord is actually still faintly at a disadvantage, what important thing can even the town minister Okubo can't say, and he doesn't ask to see Naohide?

After the meeting, Hanbei did not say a word after paying a big salute.

"The journey is tiring, it's hard." Now Naoxiu is also very skilled in playing Corporal Lixian.

"Please be gracious to the emperor, and help the money house for the sake of being obedient, and the great kindness will never be forgotten." The half-soldier saw Naoxiu's gentle words and comforted, gritted his teeth and explained the truth.

It turned out that Hanbei had come to Hakuro from Hirosaki Town, the Tsugaru clan, and he was taking care of the money house business in Hirosaki, when he suddenly received a message from the main store in Kanazawa Town, informing him to immediately shrink the business of Kitachi and prepare for contingencies.

As for the reason? It was someone who reported to the clan that Qian Wu had poisoned the "Hebei Epsom New Development Project".

During the Edo period, both the shogunate and the princes encouraged the private sector to reclaim land from the sea and lakes, and generally recognized the right to cultivate and manage the land by the cultivators, and there were certain tax exemptions, which also fell into this category.

The project was a huge one, and there were many disputes with the fishermen who used to live there.

In this case, the merchant in charge of the land cultivation promised to give some money and material subsidies and job opportunities to the fishermen and other people who originally lived on the land, because the land cultivation required the approval of the feudal government in advance, and the money house usually attached great importance to the prestige in the domain, and the compensation was usually not bad, so the money house did not expect any trouble.

Although the original intention was to kill the fish and drive away the fishermen, but unexpectedly, some fishermen died of poisoning after eating dead fish, and public opinion boiled for a while.

Originally, if you encounter this kind of thing, you will be fined money, and of course, the person in charge will also be punished by the feudal office, so the background of the money house in the domain should not hurt your muscles and bones. But this time it was completely different, and a number of important ministers with a "people-holding group" personality jumped out to demand severe punishment for Qian Wu.

The retainers of the Maeda family are roughly divided into four compartments, the head of the people, the people holding the group, the hiraishi, and the ashigaru.

Among them, there were only eight heads of the clans, known as the Kaga Eight Clans, and they were similar to the elders of the other clans, and were responsible for managing the government affairs of the Kaga Domain. And the people of the more than 70 families are also important ministers in the family, and they are basically samurai who are more than 1,000 stones, similar to the sergeants of other domains, and a large number of hirasi and ashigaru are middle and lower level samurai.

At that time, Okumura and Nagaren Hiroshi were the leaders of the two factions in the domain, Okumura was a Confucian school, and Nagaren Hiroshi was a black feather weaver party, one faction advocated heavy agriculture, and the other advocated heavy merchant.

Gobei, the owner of the money house, had a deep connection with the Kuroba Weaving Party, and his teacher and think tank was Benyoshi Ohno, who in turn was a student of the famous scholar Hondo Toshiaki.

Hondo Hideaki (1743-1820), who lectured extensively in Kaga, emphasized the sutra theory of "natural governance", arguing that "the current monarch can no longer live on tribute and rent.

Domestic and foreign trade should become the true dependence of the shogunate", a mercantilist like Mr. Konan Yokoi, who once went to the shogunate and proposed to support commerce and develop the Ezo land.

But by mistake, the money house Gobei took refuge not in the mercantile Black Feather Weaving Party, but in the national school of Okumura - in fact, Gobei saw that Okumura Rong was really powerful, so he took the initiative to take refuge in Okumura.

But people are born, old, sick and die, Okumura died in the fourteenth year of Tenpo (1843), after which the Black Feather Weaving Party was very powerful, but the money house saw the wind and made the rudder, and the Black Feather Weaving Party saw that the money house was strong, and it was gently let go, and the business of these years was not affected too much.

Why did the important ministers belonging to the Black Feather Weaving Party bite and poison ** this time?

The half-guards are a branch of the money lord's family, and they are usually valued by the head of the family - otherwise they would not have been sent to the north to be the ruler and master the secret trade.

The messenger was also a confidant of the head of the family, and he secretly told the Hanbei that the money house had been sent to pay a lot of money to Edo and that it was Edo pressure to deal with it, believing that the money house was a partner in the secret trade of the Satsuma domain, and that he wanted to clean up the money house.

Hanbei frowned after hearing this, two years ago, Hirogo, the old office of the Satsuma Shimazu family, committed suicide because of the leakage of secret trade, and this fire finally burned to the money house.

The Shimazu family couldn't even keep their old age, and the Maeda family didn't have a reason to protect a businessman, even though that businessman was important to the feudal economy.

"The money house has contributed a lot in the old things of Tianbao, there should still be people in the family who miss the old feelings, right?" Hanbei still has a certain luck mentality, and the old thing he said is the basis for the cooperation between Kanya Gobei and the old Okumura Eishi, and it is also the reason why Kanya can get preferential treatment from the Maeda family.

The old story in Hanbei's mouth is that during the Tenpo Murder (1833-1839), Kanya contributed a lot to the Matsumae family. At that time, the Tenpo murder swept all over Fuso, and the Matsumae family was not spared, and it was the money that persuaded the then ruler Lao Okumura to expand commerce and trade and use the profits to buy a large amount of grain from other places, so that the Maeda family did not have major turmoil - this is why the heavy agricultural Okumura would support the moneya.

"Money is the source of disaster", the sender smiled bitterly, it turned out that according to the feedback of the important ministers who were friends with the money house, the shogunate hinted to the Maeda family: after the evidence of the money house was verified, the branches in various places were confiscated by the shogunate, and the assets of the money house in Kaga were taken over by the Maeda family, and then the Maeda family gave another donation, and the shogunate would no longer pursue the secret trade.

Compared to the head of the Kagoshima Shimazu family, who lives in seclusion and the old family has a belly, this condition is quite lenient, and it is said that the head of the family, Saitai, has already moved his heart, and the Black Feather Weaving Party, which originally intended to protect the money house, also changed its position and took the initiative to jump out and launch a blow against the money house.

Qianwu Wubei has the name of the richest man in Fuso, and the family property is said to have 3 million taels of gold, and the light field property has more than 85,000 stones on the surface, not counting the hidden fields held by others in private! There are a maximum of 34 branches in various places, and the branches here are not on the scale of fishing and trade like Yungaiya, and there are only 66 reishi in Fuso, and most of the branches of Qianya are covered.

Moreover, in addition to commerce and land, Qianya also has its own shipbuilding workshop, with more than 200 large and small ships under its command, of which there are more than 20 "debate ships" as the largest sea ships now - Hanbei knows more than this number, for example, the debate ships that do secret trade have not been officially registered, they are all name changes and camouflage, that is, several ships share the same name.

Who can't blush at so much wealth? There must not be as much as the one that is collected through filial piety! The Maeda family was gearing up and down, preparing to share the money house with the shogunate.

"He's unkind and unjust—" The half-guard's eyes flashed with a fierce light, he was a private soldier in his hands who controlled the secret trade, and the money house was a sword merchant in Ezo and North Ezo, and when he collected it, he could probably make up hundreds of buddies and ronins.

"It's late", the messenger knew what Hanbei was thinking at a glance, and he told Hanbei that the Maeda family had sent troops to monitor the people involved in the money house, especially the family members of the guys, and there were samurai who came to warn them, and the townpeople's five-person group also began to monitor the entry and exit of their families, which was obviously premeditated - they only started to do it two years after the incident at the Satsuma family, and they must have made a lot of preparations in advance.

Hanbei scoffed at this, he followed the head of the family for many years to do secret trade, crisscrossing the whale sea, and did not see anything great about the shogunate and the family the day before yesterday.

"The head of the family still has a secret letter for you", the messenger sighed again, and took out another letter - the almost eighty-year-old head of the family, Gobei, is really a master, and the reaction to the half-guard has long been expected.

"Outside

People cannot be trusted, water without a source, and trees without roots cannot last long. ”

Hanbei cried loudly when he saw what was written in the letter, his skills, such as tongue fighting, arithmetic, management, geography, shipbuilding, navigation, and swordsmanship, and hundreds of people under his command, were born and died for the Maeda family and the money house, but because he was not a samurai, this half-life work was once turned into water.

He cried for a long time and asked the messenger what to do next? The messenger said that the head of the family had instructed, the tree fell and scattered, and everything in the north was arranged by you: everyone divided the money and goods that could be divided, and it is estimated that the rumors will pass in a few years, if the money house is still there at that time, the family who is willing to come back is welcome, if the money house is not there, then there is a cause, I hope everyone forgets that the money house makes a good living, as for the half-soldier, it is up to him to decide whether to return to Kanazawa Town, but there is one thing, must not go north to Lucia, Qing Shi Biaobiao, the money house is forced to do secret trade, but must not lead the wolf into the house!

When the half-guard heard this, the anger in his chest could no longer be suppressed, the head of the family was almost eighty years old, and he was still decisive, he must have confirmed the attitude of the Maeda family, and decided to break his tail to survive without waiting for the other party to officially launch.

But what did the head of the house do wrong? As a businessman, even if secret trade is prohibited, the Maeda family has benefited a lot, and the head of the family has also persuaded the Maeda family to go to the shogunate to trade overseas, and the money house is willing to be a pioneer, and he will not hesitate to do anything, but the Maeda family reprimanded the head of the family with "this matter is big, and it is not something that can be heard by untouchables", and he hates to be a townsman in this life!

Now the shogunate and the Matsumae family have not been officially launched, according to the instructions of the store, the half-guard hurriedly gave the order to shrink the branches of the northern land, there are many people in the money house who have not participated in the secret trade, and it is estimated that they can get out afterwards, but it is inevitable to be stripped off a layer of skin, but there are also many people involved in the secret trade, and the fate of these people is what the half-guard is most concerned about.

According to their own instructions, the people of the branches in the northern land will return to Kanazawa Town one after another, but these people who can participate in the secret trade are some unruly people, if they really hide everywhere according to what the head of the family said, I am afraid that sooner or later they will be discovered, and then they will definitely affect the family, and the other half of the guards are also reluctant to the foundation of the northern land, and they still have some illusions, thinking that things may not be as bad as the head of the family expects, and there may be a turnaround, so he thought about it and thought of a way out.

Even if the head of the family doesn't say it, the half-guards will not pull people to Lucia, although they have only been in the Northland for two years, but the attitude of the Lusia people is that the half-soldiers can see it, it is completely the law of the jungle, and several times the Lucia people are ready to rob openly when trading, and it is all about the fierceness of the money house guards and their own clever words to avoid conflicts.

But including the Matsumae family and the Tsugaru family, these northern daimyos, the half-guards don't look down on them, not to mention the lax armaments, the governance is also very rough, the feudal domain is overflowing, the people are not happy, and there is no ambition, and the subordinates don't even have decent merchants, they are all [] parasites that survive on monopoly.

But one of them is different, although the money house has not been able to establish a deep relationship, but the momentum is very different, the money house can actually be regarded as a tyrant in the north, but it has never taken advantage of this family again.

The half-guards are interested in the White Lord's Office, although Naohide does something secret every day, but the merchants and guards who stay in the White Lord can still see a lot of things, at least the White Lord's weapons are sharp, which can be felt, and although the White Lord does not have any harsh punishments, but it is orderly, although the money house is not allowed to bully the Ainu people, but there are no samurai to bully the money house.

And the most important thing is that the white lord is very trustworthy, and he did not force the sale of money to buy the money in the transaction with the money house, even if he sometimes gave some inexplicable and wonderful orders, but there was compensation afterwards - this refers to the fact that when the rice boat came to visit in September, Naohide drove the owner of the money house to the north to prospect, and the fishing stopped, but Naohide gave the franchise rights of several coal mines afterwards as compensation.

Although the white lord was a member of the shogunate, it was a matter of course for the officers and soldiers to catch the thief, and there was no resentment between the Hanbei and the people of the money house - they now resented the Maeda family the most, thinking that the Maeda family crossed the river and demolished the bridge, completely ignoring the way of loyalty and righteousness, and was not worthy of the title of samurai.

Hanbei felt that Naohide Hori was definitely going to show his strength in the Northland, although the money house was about to fall, but the manpower, ships and money and goods left behind by the money house would definitely attract his attention, with these may not be able to be taken in by the white lord, maybe he could ease his cheeks to the shogunate, and the shogunate and the Maeda family are definitely not of the same mind, even if the cheeks are not slowed down, if he can join the shogunate, he may not have the opportunity to retaliate against the Maeda family in the future!

I think so, but the half-guards are not very sure, they are forced to this step, for the sake of the family master, for themselves, and for the sake of their subordinates, they can only give up their lives! It's a matter of success or failure!