1729, June 23, Hengguan.

"There's a big ship on the shore!"

With a shout, the vendors gathered at the pier immediately rushed towards the berth where the big ship was about to dock. Some carried baskets containing various fruits and water, some held a semi-open box with different specifications of tobacco inside, and some held wooden signs with the words "stay" and "meal" written on them.

A few stout and powerful foremen looked at the approaching ship on tiptoe, looking for the type of ship and whether it was carrying a large amount of cargo, so that they could get the job of carrying the bag.

"It's like a warship." A coolie foreman muttered, "Now it's cheaper for those vendors." ”

As we all know, the salaries of the Qi army are relatively high, and such a warship must have at least a hundred or ten officers and soldiers, and a little bit of it is enough for these hawkers to collect a few days.

And because it is a warship, it may not carry much cargo with it, and I am afraid that it will not be able to meet the employment needs of hundreds of coolies at the wharf.

......With the assistance of a tugboat, the warship landed at the berth steadily, and then began to anchor.

Several dock workers quickly took the rope thrown by the sailors, tied it firmly to the bollard on the shore, and then looked at the mighty battleship in awe.

Takasaka rushed to the berth with a squad of garrisons and ordered the soldiers to drive away the swarming hawkers so that they would not ram the "military master" of Shangguo, who was about to disembark.

Takasaka swung his scabbard and slammed it at a hawker, instantly leaving a piercing red mark on the other's face, screaming and hurriedly retreating.

The first to disembark were a group of officers with rank and seniority, each carrying a heavy burden. They talked to each other as they walked towards the dock administration building, not glancing at the two rows of orderly garrison soldiers.

In other words, our navy can't even look down on a serious army, let alone these servant troops composed of local Japanese soldiers!

"Sir!" When Takasaka was looking at the officers and men of the Qi Navy who were disembarking one after another with a look of awe and envy, he suddenly noticed that a Qi Army captain and officer had walked to his side, immediately straightened up, and saluted the other party.

"Is there a carriage to the garrison headquarters in the city?" Li Yanliang asked, and at the same time looked at the non-commissioned officer of the garrison.

Five short figures, thin bean eyes, mouth tightly pursed, wearing a gray cloth military uniform, standing in front of him, behaved extremely humble.

"The chief is going to the garrison headquarters? There are a number of horse-drawn carriages at the exit of the docks, and the lowly can call one for you at once. Hearing this, Takasaka couldn't help but glance at the officer's rank quickly.

Well, it's a Xuanjie lieutenant (major). However, this is definitely a big deal for him.

You must know that their company commander is nothing more than a lieutenant (lieutenant) of Qi Guorenyong.

"Go ahead, get me a carriage over." Li Yanliang breathed a sigh of relief and put the burden he was holding in both hands on the ground.

In order to establish a good relationship with his colleagues and subordinates and quickly integrate into it, he bought a lot of local products from Qin State and prepared to give them to everyone as a meeting gift. This makes the carry-on luggage a little too heavy, and it will be a bit cumbersome to carry it out with your bare hands.

Unlike the naval officers, who could summon the sailors on board the ship to help them carry their luggage, one by one, with their hands crossed, and leave the dock leisurely.

More than 50 years ago, after the end of the Qi-Japanese War, the Japanese government (shogunate) permanently ceded Shimonoseki, Iki Island, Hirado Island and the affiliated islands of the above three places to Qi in accordance with the Edo Treaty signed by the two sides. After the Qi State received it, it was set up as Yingzhou, which was subordinate to the Ryukyu Governorate and served as a forward warning place to monitor the Japanese islands nearby.

After decades of development, Yingzhou has a population of more than 80,000 people – and even more if it weren't for the fact that officials from the Immigration Department have to draw people from the area and send them to several governorates of Yinzhou every year – nearly 70 percent of the population is concentrated in Hengguan City, turning this small wharf that was once part of the Choshu domain into an economically active and prosperous port city.

The city of Hengguan is located in the southernmost part of the peninsula, but the wharf is on the east side of the peninsula, more than two kilometers away, and with so much luggage, you can only take a horse-drawn carriage.

The Japanese islands are not a place rich in horses, and the domestic horses are a type of Mongolian horse that was introduced from the Korean Peninsula at the end of the 4th century. After thousands of years of evolution, horses have become shorter and shorter, and their shoulder height is basically 1.23 meters, but it also matches the Japanese who are generally not tall.

In the Edo period, when there were basically no wars, most horses were used for farming and transportation, and there was not much pursuit of so-called "tall horses", so horses were naturally not bred and bred, resulting in a serious decline in the height of horses in Japan, and even their average height was even shorter than that of ancient horses.

In that year, when the Qi-Japanese War broke out, when the Zhuxia coalition led by Qi State was facing one or two thousand Japanese cavalry troops charging into battle, they once suspected that the thing the other party was riding was a donkey, which could not be compared with the fierceness and power of the Eight Banners cavalry of the Qing Dynasty.

After the Qi State incorporated Yingzhou into its rule, a large number of excellent horse breeds were introduced into Hengguan for riding and pulling carts, and at the same time, sporadic good horses began to breed with local "bantam horses" to breed a large number of excellent horses.

Therefore, the carriage that Li Yanliang rode in was basically no different from the mainland, and it was all a strong and majestic horse-drawn carriage.

After passing through a more chaotic shantytown and a more lively commercial area, the carriage came to the quieter and more elegant "Guoren District", which was enclosed by a two-meter-high fence and guarded by many Japanese policemen at the entrance.

The people who lived here were mainly local colonial officials, scribes, soldiers, as well as expatriate merchants and their families. Of course, there are also some Japanese administrative officials and wealthy people who have a little status and status. Most of the important colonial institutions are also located here, which can be regarded as the inner city of Hengguan.

When the carriage stopped in front of the building of the Hengguan Garrison Headquarters, several army soldiers with guns and guards immediately greeted them, and before the words of scolding could be spoken, they saw an army Xuanjie lieutenant officer get out of the carriage.

"Sir!" A lieutenant (second lieutenant) on duty saluted Li Yanliang.

"I am on the orders of the General Staff of the Army to take over the post of deputy commander of the Hengguan garrison and commander of the first battalion of the fifth regiment." Li Yanliang straightened his military uniform, shook a transfer order in front of the captain, and said proudly: "Now take me in to see your highest commander." ”

"Yes, sir!" The captain of the escort Rong was nervous, and immediately waved his hand to signal the two soldiers to hurry up and pick up the luggage on the carriage, and then turned slightly to the side, and walked towards the door of the building with Li Yanliang.

It's strange that in the past, the deputy commander of the Hengguan garrison was concurrently served by the deputy commander of the Fifth Regiment, and the rank was also Linglu Lieutenant (Lieutenant Colonel). Now, a Xuanjie lieutenant has been appointed to take over, and his face is also very young, could it be the son of a powerful family in the local area? ——

With a smile on his face, Maori Keichiro picked up the wine jug and poured the wine again for the Qi officer in front of him. Then put down the flask, raise your own glass, and toast to the other person.

"I can't do the position of deputy commander of the garrison for a few days." Captain Ling Lu, deputy commander of the Hengguan garrison and deputy commander of the Fifth Regiment, drank the wine in the cup in one gulp, looked at a beautiful gift box placed at the corner of the table, and said with a smile: "Mao Lijun is so gracious, I'm afraid I'm a little unblessed." ”

"General Cao's words are wrong!" Mori Keichiro said solemnly: "Over the years, thanks to your care, my business has been very prosperous, and I have really made a lot of money. For this, I am grateful to you from the bottom of my heart and respect you. Even if you're not the commander of the Yokoseki garrison and you don't stay in Japan anymore, we're still friends. ”

"Since Maori-kun is such a friend, then I will give you a piece of advice before leaving." Cao Zhengjia said: "Although the new deputy commander of the garrison is not very old and has little qualifications, his background is very deep. Therefore, after he takes over, the messy business will be temporarily reined in, don't let people grab the handle and use it to establish power. ”

"General Cao, I don't know ...... this person" Mori Keichiro heard the other party's suggestion that he temporarily stop the smuggling business in his hand, and immediately felt a little pain, so he carefully inquired about the identity of the new garrison commander.

"He has a little relationship with my Great Qi royal family, and moreover, he also served as the former attendant military attache of His Majesty Yonglong of my Qi Kingdom, and he has a very close relationship." Cao Zhengjia smiled, "With his background identity, I'm afraid that even the governor of Hengguan and even the governor of Ryukyu will be afraid of him." ”

"Oh, it turned out to be a son of the royal family of the upper kingdom." Mori Kiichiro's eyes lit up when he listened.

This kind of heavenly nobleman is afraid that he loves money the most, and he also knows how to enjoy it the most. At that time, it will be nothing more than a little more money, a little more filial piety, and still don't believe in fairness?

Besides, people with this kind of identity and background come to Hengguan to take up a post, and it is estimated that most of them are here to mix qualifications and brush up experience.

If we can get him done, maybe we can do business in the Ryukyus, as well as Osaka, Kyoto, and Edo.

"Don't be foolish!" Cao Zhengjia saw at a glance Maori Keyichiro's thoughts, and reminded: "This young deputy commander of the garrison, but he has been on the battlefield several times, and he has also fought with the barbarians, and he has seen blood. Before you can't figure out the other person's behavior and habits, don't be smart and be careful of self-defeating! ”

Damn, these Japanese businessmen are calculating, short-sighted, greedy, and their personalities are definitely third-rate, and they have no limits to doing things.

This Mori Keichiro should have been inextricably linked to the Mori clan of the Choshu Domain, and through the Hengguan, he poured all kinds of materials to the mainland of Japan and sold them at a high price. Then, through the network he established, he acted as a broker for many trading companies and merchants in Qi State, buying Japanese specialties on behalf of him and grabbing the difference in price.

After many years of operation, he has accumulated a huge net worth of 10,000 people, and he is a pivotal figure in Hengguan City and even in the nearby Changzhou Domain. It is reported that the Mori clan of the Choshu Domain, which was in financial difficulty, borrowed a lot of money from him to make up for the shortfall in the feudal domain, which made this person extremely influential in the Chinese region (referring to the western part of Honshu Island).

Of course, as a merchant who was discriminated against by the samurai class, Mori Keichiro was also as calculating and greedy as the samurai accused, and he also did a lot of gray and black business behind his back. In addition to engaging in loan sharks, a traditional industry for Japanese businessmen, he also frequently engaged in human trafficking.

Countless young Japanese women were sold to the Ryukyus, Luzon, Nanyang, and as far away as Yinzhou through his means, and every silver coin he earned was stained with the blood and tears of the tragic women.

At the same time, in order to obtain higher profits, he also scattered a lot of money, bribed many officials and garrison soldiers in Hengguan, and smuggled them on a large scale. Many controlled and sensitive goods can be obtained from the port of Hengguan and then smuggled to the interior of Japan to make a fortune.

Even the goods of the Northern Ming Dynasty, which were forbidden to trade by the Tokugawa shogunate in Japan, could flow into China and even the Kanto region through the trade channels he established. Sable fur, known as "soft gold", sea otter skins from Kuye Island, tiger eagle feathers that can be used to make bows and arrows, and large catches.

It can be said that as long as you can make profits, you can ignore everything else.

During this period, under the influence of the Qi State and the drastic changes in the entire society, the shogunate also carried out several rounds of reform, and it also lasted for some years. However, there is no clear concept of how to carry out the reform, and it seems that this can be changed, and that can be changed, but when I think about it, it seems that it cannot be moved lightly, and it may touch the direct interests of the Tokugawa shogunate.

There is no way, so I can only rely on the information obtained from the contact with Qi State, find a scale and half a claw, pick up some suitable for manipulation, and then secretly learn from Beiming's model, planning to try to change it first.

One can imagine how many social problems this kind of reform will bring about if it is not in line with the actual situation of the country, and it will make a mess of the whole society and tear all strata apart.

If this is left to ordinary countries, it is estimated that the economy will collapse long ago, and the order will be in chaos. If there is another heroic figure, he may directly threaten the rule of the shogunate.

But what is amazing is that Japan has survived without collapsing, there are many small chaos, but there are no major turmoil, and it has maintained a rare social "basic stability".

It is probably because they have lived on the island for thousands of years, and the resolute Japanese people are more tolerant. As a result of the agrarian reform, food prices skyrocketed, production plummeted, and the lives of the citizens were greatly affected, and even many samurai were constantly starving. And the peasants don't seem to get any benefit either, and their lives are in trouble, and they don't live as well as a dog.

However, Japanese society has not collapsed, and there are still a lot of chaos. The standard of living of the samurai, who had traditional vested interests, plummeted, and some vicious murders broke out from time to time. Either under the coercion of usury or by the deposition of the daimyo, the violent acts of assassinating merchants and daimyo emerged one after another, and the whole society was like a pressure cooker, and the resentment was rising, and it seemed that it had reached a certain critical point.

Fortunately, this "pressure cooker" has a lot of pressure relief valves, and through Qi and Beiming, those disqualified samurai in society whose interests are damaged and life is difficult, and who also have martial virtues, organization, and action can be sent overseas, such as North Korea, Lingbei, Annam, Nanyang, India and even Yinzhou, to become cannon fodder troops hired by "Huayi" and work hard for the interests of "Huayi".

If you are lucky enough to be rewarded for meritorious service, you can also mix with an officer, which means that the jump in class will make the whole life change dramatically.

Well, of course, there is also bad luck, that is, it really becomes "cannon fodder", and when it blows with the wind, it dissipates into nothingness.

You don't see, in the Qin-Ming War, which lasted for more than a year, how many warriors died under the ice and snow in Korea and Liaodong, which made people know and choked.

A large number of people who have the ability to make trouble in China have left, and the rest of the people are also thinking about how to get out, so naturally they have a little less mind to make trouble in China. The shogunate sighed, but also breathed a sigh of relief, so let's continue to do it, change here, change there, and maintain the dominance of the Tokugawa clan. The daimyo of each feudal clan also lived a good life, oppressing the people in the domain, and at the same time continuing to suffer from the exploitation of usury merchants.

In the decades after the end of the Qi-Japan War and the opening of Japan's ports, the only one who gained huge benefits and greatly improved its social status and strength was definitely the merchant class. Through growing foreign trade, their wealth swelled dramatically, and the number of people they raised was very large. In Gyeonggi and the Kanto region, the impoverished daimyo could no longer play the cunning merchants, and they could pull out hundreds of heavily armed guards at any time to block the daimyo who had not paid their debts in their houses. Even, some powerful businessmen directly took a large number of people to run to the country to collect debts, so that the deterrence of the daimyo disappeared.

Although Mori Keichiro has a Mori clan on his head, if the Choshu clan next door dares to owe money and not pay it back, he can still pull the banner of Qi and lead people to block Mori Yoshimoto (the current lord of Choshu) and ask for the arrears.

No matter what, he is also an overseas national of Qi who has settled in Hengguan, so he can't let "outsiders" bully!

(End of chapter)