After the appearance of one or two thousand "feudal soldiers" of the Saga Domain in gray uniforms, armed with foreign guns and neatly pedaled military boots, a total of 1,500 soldiers from the Chikuzen and Chikugo domains retreated without a battle. Even if the retainers of the Mosa clan in the southwest came forward, it was useless.

At this time, the Tokugawa shogunate was too busy to take care of itself because of the heir issue, and the shogunate's decree was also issued by the head of the Tokugawa family, so would it take care of these things?

At the cost of a large amount of benefits, the head of the Tokugawa family assigned Nagasaki to the Saga Domain, and the Saga Domain was replaced by a new feudal lord, Nabeshima Genrui. But what no one knows is that the Saga Domain has actually become a feudal kingdom controlled by a former prefect of the Ryukyus Prefecture, Hayashi Hongnian.

…….

One day not long after, Choshu Domain.

Haruki Takasugi, a priest of Choshu Prefecture, returned home exhausted. The eldest son, Takasugi Shinsaku, greeted him, and sensibly carried the month's seduce with his father and the coachman, 5 pieces of Shinabu and 5 stone of grain.

"Father, why did you use foreign cloth for money this month?" Takasugi Jinsaku is a little strange, in the past, it was 5 stone of grain and 20 taels of silver every month, how did he use 5 pieces of cloth instead of 20 taels of silver this month. "The so-called Ding silver was a kind of silver coin commonly used by the feudal clans of the shogunate period, weighing one tael, and the usual fineness was 80% silver and 20% copper, and in general, it was slightly cheaper than the Chinese Empire's Shengyuan and Mexican silver dollars.

"Alas! It's not caused by the hateful Saga clan yet! I don't know what the Saga clan did to make the Shogun's Mansion give Nagasaki to them! Recently, for some reason, they explained to the feudal lord that they had exchanged 20 taels of silver for 5 pieces of Chinese cloth, which was equivalent to only 4 taels of silver per piece of cloth. It's good for everybody. Haruki Takasugi explained, "We in Nagato Province cost 5 taels of silver for a piece of homespun cloth, and this well-made Shina cloth has a strong and delicate texture, and the price is 4 taels of silver, and 5 pieces of Shina cloth replace 20 taels of silver as the price of our feudal lords, and we can't object to it." But for some reason, I always felt like something was wrong. ”

Takasugi Jinsaku blinked, and also felt that what his father said made sense. My father didn't know, but he learned swordsmanship and Confucianism at the Minglun Pavilion of the Choshu Domain, and although he didn't know the tricks, he was a lot smarter. The key is that he pays attention to the transactions of private merchants, and naturally knows that the recent changes in the market, gold and silver are becoming more and more valuable!

"Father, this must be a conspiracy of the Saga Domain. They dumped a large number of thousands of horses of this kind of china cloth into the whole of Japan through Nagasaki, and exchanged a large amount of gold and silver, causing a sharp increase in the price of gold and silver. In particular, our Choshu Domain, because it was very close to Nagasaki, the gold and silver were looted on a large scale, and the Chōshū Domain's gold and silver were insufficient. After a while, the price of this cloth will be reduced. ”

Takasugi Haruki touched this cloth, and although it was thinner than the homespun cloth produced in Changshu, it felt like it was stronger than the homespun cloth.

He couldn't help sighing and said: "If you want to say that this cloth is really much stronger than the homespun cloth, no wonder it sells so hot, and no one wants the homespun cloth!" The homespun gauze is coarse, the workmanship is rough, and the clothes made people panic, how can this cloth be soft and delicate. And this cloth is also bright in color, dyed evenly and brightly, not easy to fade, the key is more than one or two lower prices, which is the homespun cloth can compare! ”

Father's Hua made Takasugi Jinsaku ponder, and what he thought in his heart became more thorough.

I see!

The Saga Domain must have benefited from the Shina country, and it was even a vassal of the Shina country.

They will spare no effort to help Shina dump their Shina cloth, which seems to be of good quality and cheap, but in fact, it is grabbing the wealth of Choshu and even the whole of Japan! The most important thing is that Takasugi Shinsaku remembered that recently, the originally prosperous "kapok house" in Changzhou has now closed down, and those bag buyers who originally operated homespun cloth and had a prosperous business have also gone bankrupt, and some of them have been lucky enough to help Nagasaki sell Shina cloth and make a fortune, while most of them are bankrupt and live on the streets, looking for odd jobs everywhere to live.

"Father, as a feudal lord of the Choshu Domain, you should advise the feudal lord not to buy Shinabu from Nagasaki again! Moreover, it is necessary to prohibit not only the sale of china cloth in Choshu, but also the whole of Japan, otherwise, the consequences will be serious! Takasugi suggested to his father.

"But this is the decision of the feudal lord! Check it out in a while! ”

Takasugi's words soon came true.

Half a month later, several ships of Shinab were transported by land and water to Kyushu, Shikoku, and Honshu by land and water after transiting through Nagasaki, and the price was directly reduced to 3.5 taels of silver per horse.

On the same day, at the instigation of his son, Haruki Takasugi complained to the feudal lord Mori Keito about the dangers of allowing Shinabu. But a few years ago, Maori Jingqin started the New Deal reform, studied Western orchid and reformed the monetary system, and vigorously developed trade. You know, although Nagasaki was assigned to the Saga Domain, it was still the only place in Japan where trade with foreign countries could be made, and if the Shinabi trade with it was cut off, it was obvious that other trade would be stopped!

This is something that Maori will not tolerate. After all, he promoted reform and was in dire need of money, and in addition to monetary reform, foreign transactions were the largest source of money.

"No! Our Choshu Domain, through Nagasaki and foreign trade, has thousands of loads of raw silk and tens of thousands of loads of cotton every month. If there was no sale of these raw silk cotton, where would the Choshu Domain get the money to distribute the feudal soldiers, and where would the money come to equip the feudal soldiers? What's more, if I don't buy this cloth, if I buy homespun cloth, how many taels will I have to pay more for a year in the Changzhou Domain? When he heard his subordinates suggest that he break off his trade with Nagasaki, Mori Kei immediately refused.

"Lord of the Domain, have you ever thought that because of the impact of these Chinese fabrics, thousands of rural weavers in the Choshu Domain alone have lost their livelihoods, and they used to make a living by hand-weaving, but now, they can only beg around pitifully." Haruki Takasugi suggested, "Lord Domain, if this continues, these craftsmen who can't survive will riot sooner or later. It is better to unite with other feudal lords, report to the shogunate, and in the name of the shogun, ban the entry of Shinabu. ”

Maori shook his head, the gains outweighed the losses.

He didn't want to make himself poor for the sake of a few thousand untouchables. Now this cloth, he issued it to the soldiers and feudal soldiers as a Yulu, because it was the so-called "factory price", he purchased it for only 3 taels per horse, and sold it or as a Yulu, which was counted as 4 taels or 3.5 taels, a lot of money, and a lot of profits.

There were actually many feudal lords who thought like him, and the biggest one was actually the shogun.