[257] Plotting the South Seas

"I'm about to leave for home, and I hope the lord can give me an answer now!" Li Guozhu stood up and said

"Okay, I promise to join forces with Daming!" Shimazu Mitsuhisa thinks that if the Ming Dynasty wants to attack him unilaterally, the Tokugawa shogunate in Edo should be more happy than worried, right?

Li Guozhu sat down again and said, "Those who know the times are Junjie, and the decision of the lord of the domain today can be said to have laid the foundation for the prosperity of your domain in the future!" ”

"Then ~ if the Shimazu family joins forces with Daming, the matter of Ryukyu?" Shimazu Mitsuhisa still couldn't help but ask

Li Guozhu replied: "Ryukyu is a subordinate of the Ming Dynasty, and your domain's attack on Ryukyu is actually the same as declaring war with the Ming Dynasty. It's just that I am thinking of the friendship of the alliance, and I am not to blame for the attack on the Ryukyus, but in the future, the Ryukyus will be managed by my Ming Dynasty and exercise the power of the suzerain. ”

"Is that so?" Mitsuhisa Shimazu looked disappointed

"However, the feudal lord can rest assured. The Ming Dynasty will never treat its allies badly, and the black sugar of the Ryukyus can still be traded by the merchants of your domain! ”

"That's good, that's good~~" Shimazu Mitsuhisa's frowning brows were loosened, the black sugar of the Ryukyus was an important financial income of the Satsuma Domain

"By the way, can the lord of the domain convince the Mori Hide, the lord of the Choshu Domain, to join the ranks of the fallen curtain together?" Li Guozhu asked

"Maori show?" Shimazu Mitsuhisa said: "Li Xiang, do you know who his main room is? ”

"Who?" Li Guozhu asked

"Kisahime Masamuro of Mori Hidesato is the adopted daughter of the late Daigosho (Tokugawa Hidetada)!" Shimazu Mitsuhisa secluded road

"Well, that's not reluctant!" Li Guozhu said: "Please sign the oath of the feudal lord, so that I can go back and complain to Anguogong!" ”

"This~" Mitsuhisa Shimazu hesitated again

At this time, a small letter suddenly came in, saying that an edict had been sent from Edo, ordering the Satsuma clan to stop mining Nagano Kanayama.

As soon as he heard the news, Shimazu Mitsuhisa, who was still hesitating, immediately said decisively: "Come on, pen and ink are waiting!" ”

When Li Guozhu returned to Fuzhou, Song Youliang had already returned to Fuzhou from Manila, so he summoned Li Guozhu as soon as possible

"As expected!" Song Youliang said with a smile: "The Japanese rejected our conditions!" ”

Li Guozhu also smiled: "According to the plan, Wechen successfully persuaded Shimazu Mitsuhisa, the lord of the Satsuma Domain, to join forces with the Ming Dynasty to deal with the Tokugawa Shogunate!" However, Wechen didn't expect it to be so simple! ”

"Simple? It's not easy at all. In fact, the Shimazu family chose to join forces with Daming, and it was by no means as simple as being jealous of Tokugawa Ieyasu's reduction of the seal, and there were deeper reasons. Song Youliang said with a smile

In fact, since the opening of the Satsuma Domain, financial problems have been the number one issue for the feudal administration. It was precisely because of the financial difficulties that the Satsuma Domain was unable to carry out various reform projects, resulting in the long-term backwardness of the Satsuma Domain. The first problem in the Satsuma domain's financial crisis came from the Satsuma domain's organizational system, which had too many feudal lords. Since the Satsuma Domain had been at war since it entered the Warring States period until the opening of the Tokugawa Clan, the Satsuma Domain needed more mobilized troops to maintain its combat effectiveness than the other domain. Therefore, Satsuma was able to balance war and farming, and also to facilitate the control of the country. A large number of would-be samurai were set up in various villages. The samurai of the Satsuma Domain accounted for more than 26% of the total population, close to 40%. It is rare to see such a high proportion of people. Moreover, the Shimazu family was forced to spit out a large amount of land when they were defeated by the central government of Honshu when they had almost completed their goal of unifying Kyushu. A large number of samurai and would-be samurai who had been established during the unification of Kyushu lost their land at once, and the Shimazu family could not abandon them, resulting in a situation in which there were many warriors of the Satsuma domain. Due to the large number of feudal lords and the reduction of their territory, the problem of the wealth of these feudal lords was a great headache for the lord of the Satsuma domain.

The second problem comes from the shogunate, and the Satsuma clan and the shogunate can be said to have a bitter feud. In the Battle of Sekigahara, the Shimazu family was not only subordinate to the Western Army. He also wounded Naomasa Ii, one of the Four Heavenly Kings of Tokugawa, with a musket. This made the shogunate wary of the Shimazu family, and not only assigned the task of attendance, but also constantly sent a large number of laborers. The Satsuma Domain was originally one of the farthest feudal domains from Edo, so it was expensive to attend each time (about 50,000 taels per trip), and with a lot of hard labor, the financial burden was extremely heavy.

In addition to the various expenses, the Satsuma Domain's income was also very problematic. During the shogunate period, wealth was measured by the amount of rice produced, and the land where rice was produced was the cornerstone of finance. The land of the Satsuma Domain is now divided into the prefectures of Kagoshima and Miyagi. A large part of this is a small plateau unique to Japan, called a plateau, which was formed by the accumulation of lava and rock fragments from the eruption of an active volcano. In today's Kagoshima Prefecture, 52% of the land is in Kagoshima Prefecture, and 16% is in Miyagi Prefecture (both of which are Satsuma land). One of the serious problems of this type of land is that the soil has very poor water retention, and there is often water gushing after rain, which makes it very difficult to grow crops. In addition, the location of the Satsuma domain facing the Yellow Sea and the East China Sea often became the landing point for large typhoons. Due to the difficulties of irrigation and the abundance of natural disasters, the Satsuma clan often earned only 350,000 koku in reality, although it had a nominal income of 770,000 koku. Low incomes and high expenditures, as well as the attrition of years of war, left the Satsuma clan extremely poor.

In order to alleviate this impoverished situation, the Satsuma Domain's solution was to send troops from the Ryukyus. During the period of Shimazu Tadashi, the ancestor of the Satsuma domain, by conquering the Ryukyus. The Shimazu family seized the land of 40,000 koku on Amami Oshima and at the same time gained the right to profit from the tributary trade in the Ryukyus. This greatly alleviated Satsuma's financial difficulties in the early and mid-term periods, and also gave Satsuma a strong economic source. For example, brown sugar produced in Amami Oshima was a valuable commodity in Japan at the time, and it was used to make confectionery and traditional sake brewing from various regions from Honshu to Kyushu. At this time, Amami was the largest producer of black sugar, so this huge profit was exclusive to Satsuma, and black sugar established financial credit for the Satsuma domain. The Satsuma clan seized the interests of Amami and black sugar. It only effectively alleviated the financial embarrassment. In fact, Satsuma was only left in a state of half-starvation, and the treasury still needed to borrow to maintain daily expenses. The high interest attached to the loan gradually became another major burden on Satsuma's finances.

In 1640, when the second generation of Shimazu Mitsuhisa took office, the feudal debt swelled to 350,000 taels, and the feudal clan's creditworthiness was questioned. Thanks to the lucky discovery of Nagano Kanayama at that time, the credit of the Satsuma clan was maintained. However, the excavation of the gold mountain in the Satsuma Domain lasted less than two years. Then it was suppressed by the shogunate and strictly forbidden.

On the one hand, there is a high level of debt, and the finances are stretched. On the one hand, it was suppressed by the shogunate, pinching the head and removing the tail, blocking the front and back, and Shimazu Mitsuhisa chose to join forces with Daming, which is naturally reasonable

As a result, the attack on Japan was put on the agenda. However, most of the typhoons along the northern coast of China and the coast of Japan occur from May to December every year, and July to September is the typhoon-prone season. In order to avoid the typhoon season, Song Youliang had to postpone the plan to attack Japan until next spring, which made Shimazu Mitsuhisa very uneasy. As a result, Song Youliang specially ordered Li Guozhu to be in charge of contacting the Shimazu family with full authority. Li Guozhu asked the Shimazu family to secretly send a fleet to the Ming Dynasty to conduct trade, so that the Shimazu family's financial crisis was slightly alleviated, and asked Shimazu Mitsuhisa to assist the Jinyi Guard sent into Japan to collect military information

It is said that Zheng Zhilong, who was fighting hard in the Bo Ni country, contacted Li Weijing, a Chinese in Malacca, through his old relationship in Nanyang.

The Kapitan system is a patriarchal system and a community system. In the 15th century, European power began to move eastward, adopting the method of divide and rule and indirect rule for the colonies, using the original traditional power structure to govern the colonial administration as much as possible, and the "capitan system" based on the principle of not changing traditional customs. The original local chiefs (such as landlords and nobles) were given power, and the colonial government recognized their status, and obtained public coercive power to achieve political control and economic interests. The other races have their own Kapitan.

When the Portuguese occupied Malacca, the Kapitan system was established, and the Dutch occupied Malacca and continued to follow the Portuguese system. Jiapitan is a borrowed word from Portuguese, or the local native language of Nanyang, and when it comes to the East, it is called Jialuo, and the headhunters of Taiwan's aboriginal people are called puppets

Li Weijing Zi Hong, alias Jun Chang, was born in Jiaheli (Xiamen) in the 42nd year of Wanli in the Ming Dynasty (1614). As a righteous soldier of the Ming Dynasty, Li Weijing drifted across the sea to do business in Malacca, and served as the Chinese Kapitan under the rule of the Dutch colony. During this period, a large area of land in Sanbaoshan was purchased for use as a righteous grave for overseas Chinese

Li Weijing is the same as He Bin, although he is an official under the rule of the Dutch, but he is in Cao Ying's heart in Han, when he heard that the Ming court sent a large army to expel the Dutch red hair, his heart was very happy, but there was also a trace of worry, Li Weijing asked Zheng Zhilong and said: "General, the imperial court sent a large army this time, is it to expel the Dutch red hair will be withdrawn?" ”

Zheng Zhilong was surprised: "Why do you say this? ”

Li Weijing said: "How majestic would it be when the father-in-law of the Three Treasures (Zheng He) went to Nanyang? But later, as soon as our fleet left, those red-haired people came back and took up this treasure of feng shui, looting the money of the natives and our Chinese. If the imperial army drives them away and then withdraws, then in less than half a year, these red hairs will return, and they will definitely take bloody revenge on us and others. We have been operating in Nanyang for several generations, and our family business is in Nanyang, so we are reluctant to leave, so we can only suffer from knives! ”

Li Weijing was worried.

Zheng Zhilong listened to Li Weijing's words, and then laughed and said: "You can rest assured, today's imperial court is different from the past, An Guogong and his old man's thoughts are the same as ours, that is, the sea is a cornucopia, and this Nanyang is the cornucopia of the Ming Dynasty, so this time, we not only want to drive away the red-haired devils, but also establish our Ming Dynasty's yamen, and send troops and officials to manage this place." In the future, this territory, this sea, will be the world of the Ming Dynasty. ”

Li Weijing was overjoyed and said: "Then I will mention that hundreds of thousands of Chinese in Nanyang have thanked An Guogong!" ”