Chapter 284: The Tokugawa Shogunate
In view of the difference between fishermen and farmers, Gao Junshan gave different policies to immigrants who moved to Ryukyu and Taiwan, if they were farmers, they would subsidize the immigrants according to the original immigration policy of Huaxia, and if they were fishing, they would be given a subsidy of 100 taels of silver per person to help them solve the problem of purchasing fishing gear and settling down.
Since it is necessary to take a boat to travel to Ryukyu and Taiwan, Gao Junshan decided to set up resettlement points in several coastal cities in Fujian Province to provide free sea-crossing boats for immigrants, and on the 13th and 28th of the lunar calendar every month, a free ferry is opened.
Wu Zhiping also raised the issue of the immigration of yamen officials, this high mountain did not expect, and it was also a new problem encountered by the imperial court, because Fujian was directly led by Wu Zhiping to return to Shun, and its yamen retained many officials of the previous dynasty, and a considerable number of these officials also had immigration requirements, and Wu Zhiping did not know how to compensate these officials, so he raised such a question.
After discussion, everyone agreed that if it is an official emigration, it should be handled according to the transfer, and the official will be given the treatment of being promoted to one level, and that so many immigrants who have gone to Ryukyu and Taiwan must have officials from the imperial court to manage them, and in this way, the yamen of the imperial court at all levels can be established at all levels in Ryukyu and Taiwan.
After this issue was implemented, Wu Zhiping raised a new issue, that is, how to dispose of the real estate, fields and other properties of immigrants in Fujian.
Gao Junshan instructed that the imperial court was responsible for recovering the property, fields, and property of immigrants stranded in Fujian (including all parts of the country) at a high price. He further affirmed that the imperial court protects the private property of the common people, and if the immigrants do not want to transfer it or sell it to the imperial court, they can send people to stay behind, and absolutely no one will rob or destroy it.
In addition, Gao Junshan once again emphasized the protection of merchants to engage in commercial activities, especially to encourage merchants to go overseas to earn money from foreigners, and if there are conditions to live overseas for development, the imperial court will give the greatest help.
Wu Zhiping received the emperor's instructions and Chengruo, and left "Zheng He No. 1" with satisfaction.
Ma Yuanli, the commander of the Fifth Army stationed in Xiamen, also arrived the next day, and Gao Junshan met him in Bao.
Gao Junshan ordered Ma Yuanli's Fifth Army Corps to take over the defense of Ryukyu and Taiwan, and at present, the Fifth Army Corps has six divisions, and Gao Junshan asked Ma Yuanli to send one division to garrison Ryukyu and two to garrison Taiwan.
After Gao Junshan finished explaining to Ma Yuanli, the head of the branch of the General Affairs Bureau in Fujian came to meet Gao Junshan, mainly to report on the situation of the island country that he had spied on, and Gao Junshan left Ma Yuanli to listen to the report together, and at the same time, he called his four godsons Sun Dahai, Liu Wenxiu, Ma Jin, and Ma Wen to listen to the report together.
The island country is now in power by the Tokugawa shogunate, and the current shogun is the fourth shogun Tokugawa Ietsuna, who is based in Edo.
The shogunate accounted for about 25 percent of the island nation, and the rest was owned by the daimyos, who were equivalent to the local princes, and the territory they occupied was called a vassal state. The shogun is the supreme ruler of the island country, with an elder and a middle minister, who decides policies, oversees government affairs, and is responsible for controlling the imperial court, daimyo and diplomacy.
The daimyo was the ruler of each feudal state, and he had the power to directly rule over the common people, and he had the administrative, judicial, and annual tribute collection rights of the territory.
The shogunate established envoys and inspectors called mutsuki to supervise the feudal states, and controlled the daimyo by means of daimyo visits and confessions, and daimyo changes.
The ranks of the island nation are basically divided into four classes, samurai, farmers, craftsmen, and merchants.
At the top of the samurai was the Shogun, and below him were the Daimyo (feudal lords), who were the landlords who controlled a large amount of land. The daimyo's subordinates are samurai, and there are currently 30 million people in the island country, including 2 million samurai, and their combat effectiveness cannot be underestimated.
Farmers, as the name suggests, grew grain, and the annual grain production of the island nation was about 25 million koku, most of which was concentrated in the hands of the shogunate and the daimyos.
Craftsmen are mainly engaged in carpentry, masonry, brewing, and lacquerwork, and the main production areas of handicrafts include the silk weaving industry in Nishijin in Kyoto and Hakata in Kyushu, the cotton weaving industry near Osaka, the paper industry in Echizen and Mino, and the sake brewing industry in Nada, Ikeda, and Itami.
Merchants, since merchants do not produce anything like peasants and craftsmen, on the contrary, they earn money from those who produce labor, and although they have money, they have the lowest social status.
Transportation in the island country is mainly a reflective traffic artery centered on Edo. Tokaido along the coast to Kyoto, Nakasendo to Kyoto via Shinano, Koshu Street to Koshu, Oshu Street to Oshu, Nikko Street to Nikko.
The island country has more than 300 large and small cities, of which Edo, Osaka, and Kyoto are the largest cities in the island country, and Edo is not only the seat of the shogunate, but also the economic and cultural center, and its population has reached nearly one million.
The Tokugawa shogunate directly owned mines such as the Sado Gold Mine, the Ikuno Silver Mine, and the Ain Copper Mine, monopolized the right to mint coinage, and directly governed Osaka, Kyoto, Nara, Fushimi, and the only foreign trade port of Nagaki, and controlled the five continental communication lines of the East China Sea, Nakayama, Koshu, Nikko, and Oshu.
The shogunate promulgated a "Closed Nation Decree" with as many as 16 articles, prohibiting foreign merchants and civilians from entering the island country, and only allowing Dutch and Chinese merchants to enter Nagasaki for trade activities.
Militarily in the island country, the shogunate and the samurai class formed a relationship between the shogunate and the samurai class through the division of domains and rokumi, and the daimyō, banner (direct retainers with territories below 10,000 goku), and the imperial family (samurai with only Rokumi) swore allegiance to the shogun, and undertook public and military service. The general is the supreme military commander, and the old man and Ruonian are the chief of the general staff of the army, and his descendants are 20,000 banners, plus the retainers of the banner, known as "80,000 cavalry of the banner".
After listening to the report of the head of the Fujian branch, Gao Junshan asked a few more questions, and the minister answered them one by one.
Finally, Gao Junshan instructed that the next step should be to focus on understanding the location and production of the shipyards of the island countries, the military factories and production, the equipment and training of the army of the island countries, the people's views on the Tokugawa shogunate, the location of the grain bases of the Tokugawa shogunate, and the maps of the island countries to find out the flow of their rivers.
Several military experts present at the scene also put forward their own opinions and views, and worked out a more specific plan for spying on the island countries and methods for implementing them.
Gao Junshan told the minister that Zheng Zhilong was also about to leave for Nagasaki and could use his identity to gather intelligence.
The meeting on the island nation lasted until two o'clock in the evening, and Gao Junshan ordered the men to make a supper for each of them, and after eating the supper, he left the head of the General Affairs Bureau on the ship to rest, and let him go ashore after dawn.
The next day, Gao Junshan summoned representatives of Fujian merchants on the ship, and this time Gao Junshan was received by Gao Junshan with a total of 15 Fujian merchants, almost all of whom had business dealings with Nagasaki on the island country.
Last year alone, Fujian merchants sent as many as 117 cargo ships to and from Nagasaki, which shows the prosperity of trade with the island nation.
During the end of the Ming Dynasty, due to the national policy of the previous dynasty's maritime ban, the foreign trade of merchants was greatly suppressed, and the cargo ships that went to Nagasaki at that time were only twenty or thirty per year, and the most year was in the fourteenth year of Chongzhen (1641), with sixty-eight cargo ships sailing to Nagasaki.
At the end of the Ming Dynasty, the most prosperous business to the island country was the merchants of Guangdong, at that time, the Guangdong merchants went to the island country has been a relatively common phenomenon, according to records, "Guangdong Hui, Chao, Qiong, Ya, snipers risk shooting, regard the sea as land, regard the island country as a neighbor, trade with each other."
After Fujian's return to Shun, due to the foreign trade policy of Huaxia, Fujian merchants surpassed Guangdong in the past two years of trade with the island countries. At the same time, it created the rise of Fujian businessmen, and the fifteen businessmen who came to meet Gao Junshan this time did not belong to Zheng Zhilong's line, but some emerging nouveau riche.
These merchants were the first to receive the dividends of the commercial and trade policies of the Chinese state.