In the last article, I mentioned that the purpose of the two eastward expeditions to Japan in the early Yuan Dynasty was to stabilize the rule, but it provided a reference for the later Ming Dynasty's decision to go east to Japan.

As we all know, nomads do not have a high level of productivity compared to agrarian peoples, and most of the concept of land is used for grazing. Therefore, the ministers of the "Mengyuan Imperial Court" and others once suggested Wokotai: "The Han people have nothing to do with the country, and they can be emptied of their pastures." ”

This shows that before the Mongols entered the Central Plains, the way to obtain the means of production and wealth was not only grazing, but also plundering on the Han border, which had become a habit. Therefore, the Yuan Dynasty attacked the Southern Song Dynasty for more than half a century, and at the same time carried out a second expedition to the west.

The long-term war attrition made the treasury of the "Mongol Empire" already empty. However, the production level in the rear is not high, and it is difficult to meet the daily life and training needs of front-line soldiers. Therefore, the "Mengyuan Imperial Court" resolutely sent troops to attack Japan, in fact, it was also to plunder wealth and make up for the consumption of the war.

Moreover, at that time, there were rumors that Japan was rich in gold, silver and other precious metals, and Marco Polo's "Travels" also described it as follows:

“…… The caisson of the hall was also made of gold, and many of the palace rooms were decorated with heavy solid gold desks, and the windows were ......also decorated with gold. The island is also rich in pearls, which are pink in color, round in shape, and large in size. These pearls are equivalent to, or even higher than, white pearls. "Japan has been rich in gold and silver since ancient times, and in the long-term trade with the Song Dynasty, gold sand, gold, silver, sulfur and other commodities were bulk goods.

There are many records of trade between the Song and Japan in historical materials. For example, the eighth volume of "Kaiqing Siming Continuation": "The Japanese people risked the whale wave, and the furnace was connected to each other, and they were sold in things." This shows that the main commodities exported from Japan to the Song Dynasty in China at that time were placer gold, gold, timber, sulfur yoko, handicrafts, and rice.

At that time, Japan was rich in gold and placer gold, which led to a large amount of gold and placer gold being exported for various goods exchanged with the Song Dynasty. The later Japanese scholar Shigeru Kato pointed out in his book "Research on China's Economic History" that the domestic gold price in the Song Dynasty was about 63 times that of the Japanese domestic market, mainly because of the high annual gold production in Japan at that time. On the contrary, gold production in the Song Dynasty was very low, perhaps due to the prosperity of the Song Dynasty's commodity economy.

After researching the relevant historical materials, Shigeru Kato believes that the annual export of gold from Japan to the Song Dynasty may be as much as four or five thousand taels! In addition, there is also a Japanese scholar Mori Katsumi in the "Study of the Continuation of the Song Dynasty Trade" that by the end of the Southern Song Dynasty, "nearly 10,000 taels of Japanese gold were imported into China every year"!

At that time, the Song Dynasty imported a large amount of timber from Japan and used it in the construction of various temples. For example, in the Song Dynasty, Zhao Rushi's "Records of the Domains" volume under the "Wa Kingdom" article recorded: "Prolific fir wood, Luo wood, long to 40 zhang, diameter of more than 45 zhang, the native people into a fang, with a huge ship to transport, to our spring trade." ”

Lou Hu of the Song Dynasty also recorded in his "Rose Collection" that the Japanese monk Rongxi of the Song Dynasty collected a large amount of timber after returning to China and transported it to China by sea ship to help the Song Dynasty repair the "Thousand Buddha Pavilion of Tiantong Mountain" in Mingzhou.

Since the Japanese archipelago is located in the "seismic zone" of the "Pacific Plate" and the "Eurasian Plate", not only volcanic eruptions are frequent, earthquakes and tsunamis are common, but also "active volcanoes" of all sizes can be found almost everywhere. This makes it easier for locals to venture into the vicinity of the crater to collect "sulphur".

In addition, "sulfur heng" is an important ingredient in the manufacture of "black powder", so the Song Dynasty imported a large amount of sulfur from Japan to make "firearms". According to historical records, on February 8 of the seventh year of Yuanfeng (1084) of the Northern Song Dynasty, Ma Liuyan, "Zhiming Prefecture": "In accordance with the decree of the court, merchants were recruited to collect 500,000 jin of sulfur in Japan, and every 100,000 jin of begging was a program, and officials were recruited to take custody." ”

Japanese handicrafts were also very exquisite, and they were deeply loved by the Song people, so they were exported to the Song Dynasty in large quantities. At that time, the people of the Song Dynasty also admired Japanese folding fans very much, and wrote poems to praise them. It can be seen that the production of Japanese handicrafts at that time was very sophisticated, and it was actually appreciated by the more civilized and advanced Song people.

In ancient Japan, not only folding fans were popular in the Song Dynasty, but other handicrafts such as gold, silver, lotus paintings, and folding screens were also popular. For example, in the Japanese document "Chronicle of the Emperor", there is also a record of Japan's export of rice to the Song Dynasty, such as "On November 24 of the first year of Kanji, it was announced that the incident of crossing rice grains in the western country to the Tang Dynasty would be stopped. "All of the above are the bulk commodities exported from ancient Japan to the Song Dynasty in China. It shows that bilateral trade between the Song Dynasty and Japan was very active.

The bulk commodities exported to Japan during the Song Dynasty mainly include spices, medicinal herbs, tea, silk, pottery, porcelain, Song books, and copper coins of various era names. Because Japanese temples and Buddhism were particularly prosperous at that time, large quantities of spices were needed, and officials and estate owners also liked to use spices in their daily lives, so the spices transported from Southeast Asia and West Asia were transported to Japan by Song Dynasty merchants in large quantities and sold at high prices in order to make huge profits.

For example, in the sixth year of "Tianping" (734 AD) and the eighth year of "Tianping" (736 AD) during the Tang Dynasty, the Japanese Emperor Heijo Palace successively gave the spices of "Horyuji Temple" as follows: 715 taels of incense and 96 taels of Shenshui incense...... Ninety-six taels of sweet rosin, and one twelve taels of Suhexiang. ”

During the "Kamakura Shogunate" era, although most estates were already able to produce silk fabrics in large quantities, Japanese manor owners and officials still preferred Chinese silk fabrics, after all, ancient Chinese silk fabrics were better in terms of quality and reputation, so that a large number of Song Dynasty silk fabrics were exported to Japan.

By the beginning of the Northern Song Dynasty, ordinary officials no longer wore silk fabrics produced in Japan, and even their maidservants wore imported clothes...... Even the chamberlain wears Tang-style clothes. "The 'Shu brocade' and 'Wu Xu' of the Song Dynasty were also very popular in Japan."

"The Tale of the Ping Family" says: "Ping Qingsheng has 'the gold of Yangzhou, the pearl of Jingzhou, the silk of Wu County, the brocade of Shujiang, and the seven treasures and treasures." The porcelain of the Song Dynasty was more elaborate than its predecessors, of which celadon and white porcelain were the main representative works, which were exported in large quantities. As a result, Yoshinobu Spo pointed out in Overseas Trade in the Song Dynasty that "Kamakura, Japan, was probably the largest importer of Chinese porcelain and copper coins." And the export of a large number of Song edition books is also quite eye-catching.

Because the Japanese upper class regarded it as a fashion to give away Song books, a large number of Song books were traded to Japan. However, the rulers of the Song Dynasty were worried that their country's secrets would be leaked to the surrounding rival regimes, so they banned the export of Song books, but due to the huge profit margins, many books were still smuggled into Japan.

"Liu Wenzhong, a Song Shang in the Renping period (with two stickers of "Dongpo Zhimengtu", ten stickers of "Five Dynasties", and ten stickers of "Book of Tang", dedicated to Fujiwara Yoricho, the minister of Zuo; On December 16, the third year of the reign of the reign of Taira Kiyomori, he dedicated the Taiping Golan imported from the Song Dynasty to Emperor Takakura. ”

A large number of copper coins of the Song Dynasty were exported to Japan in the century, not only with relevant historical records, but also with a large number of archaeological discoveries to corroborate. The export of copper coins had a significant impact on both Song and Japan, and scholars in both China and Japan paid more attention to it. In the Song Dynasty, except for the period when Wang Anshi changed the law, the outflow of copper coins was prohibited in other periods, and repeated bans were issued, such as the third year of Song Taizu Bao, the seventh year of Song Shenzong Xining, and the sixth year of Song Zhezong Yuanyou.

In the Southern Song Dynasty, the "City Shipping Division" would send officials to inspect merchant ships going to sea to prevent the outflow of copper coins, but the outflow of copper coins was still repeatedly prohibited. The main reason for the large number of copper coins exported to Japan was that Japanese commerce was developing rapidly at that time, and there was an urgent need for a large number of high-quality Song Dynasty copper coins as a tool for the equivalent exchange of goods. In addition, the price of copper coins in the Japanese market was very high, and the profit margins were huge, so that Song and Japanese merchants tried their best to smuggle copper coins into Japan.

When the merchants of the Song Dynasty bought Japanese goods, they mostly exchanged copper coins from the Song Dynasty, while when Japanese merchants bought goods from the Song Dynasty, they mostly exchanged gold, gold, and silver. Therefore, in modern archaeological excavations, a large number of Song Dynasty copper coins have been found in various parts of Japan.

The Song Dynasty copper coins are very widely distributed in Japan, and the total amount of Song Dynasty copper coins unearthed is also very large, which directly confirms the prosperity of the Song and Japanese copper coin trade, as well as the fact that a large number of Song copper coins flowed into Japan.

The later scholar Ricardo published the economic work "Principles of Political Economy and Taxation", which systematically put forward the theory of comparative advantage, arguing that the reason for the occurrence of international trade is that different countries have different production efficiency in different industries, and each country also tends to produce goods with obvious advantages.

For example, the production efficiency of copper coins and rice production in the Song Dynasty was higher than that of Japan, but in ancient East Asian trade, we still find that the Song Dynasty imported rice and Japan imported copper coins from the Song Dynasty. This is because the Song Dynasty's technical level and production efficiency in the production of copper coins were much higher than those of Japan.

This advantage is particularly obvious. However, in rice production, the advantages of the Song Dynasty were obviously not so obvious, so they also imported grain from Japan.

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