In the hall decorated with Burmese mahogany, the dance of the maid dressed in Siamese red gauze is reflected in the glass mirror, and on the Bogu shelf, there is a newly unearthed holy porcelain vase with a few Siamese peamese feathers inserted in the vase, and the copper incense burner produced in the Xuande period slowly spews benzoin into the air. On the beams of the house, a pair of huge parrots were chattering and talking. Dressed in a robe made of freshly spun muslin cotton, a fan in his hand was shaken and he watched his lunch in a daze.

Lunch is supposed to be quite rich from anyone's point of view: steamed rice from the new rice of the year, venison from the big people, barrels of sugar cane wine and rice wine are placed on the table for the guests to take at will. If you feel that the amber-coloured wine in the glass bottle is more suitable for you, you can greet the waiter and ask him to pour himself a glass in the same crystal clear glass. Or pour a hot drink of very sweet cocoa.

Looking at the dazzling array of food on the table in front of him, although he knew that these foods were very cheap compared to domestic prices, the guests with Japanese knives on their waists were still unpleasant.

"Bagaya Road! We've been here for ten days, haven't we?! Why won't the General meet us? It must be that you are not doing well! ”

The guests were very dissatisfied and reprimanded the samurai who accompanied them. The samurai, who had clashing cannons on their heads, hurriedly took their seats, knelt on the ground, folded their hands and pressed their foreheads against their palms, and pleaded guilty to their lords.

Ichimen Matsudaira Nobutsuna, the old Naka Sakai Tadakatsu and the Tokugawa family tree with the new governor of the Abe family, Abe Tadaji. As representatives of the Tokugawa shogunate, the three of them took a group of samurai from their respective families to Hue for ten days, and stayed in the guild hall with gorgeous furnishings and rich food every day.

It all started with the annual Hajj confession.

The pilgrimage campaign initiated by the daimyo led by Shimazu Iehisa to curry favor with the Tokugawa shogun has evolved over the years from a spontaneous act to a system. The shogunate used it to drain the financial power of the daimyos, especially those of the outer daimyo, and at the same time, required the wives of the daimyo to live in Edo, and each daimyo had to live in Edo Castle for one year every two years to assist the shogun in handling government affairs, which not only consumed the financial power of the daimyo and controlled their wives as hostages, but also shortened their time in their respective domains, gradually dividing, cooling, and alienating their relations and feelings from their retainers. It is somewhat similar to the effect of "soldiers do not know generals and generals do not know soldiers" created by Song Taizu.

However, from this year's visit to the shrine, the shogunate has seen a hint of danger.

Needless to say, the Shimazu family, the Nabeshima family, and other southwestern feudal clans in Kyushu, the Tsushima family, which used to be granted a three-year charter due to the weakness of the country's strength, actually took the initiative to come to meet this time.

You must know that the pilgrimage confession is often an extremely painful self-funded trip for each daimyo, and it also has to be swollen and fat. A large number of entourage, when advancing, it is necessary to carry out a large-scale "daimyo procession", which is a platform for each daimyo to compare with each other and pay attention to pomp, and each family has to show off their wealth at such a moment. This is definitely a huge drain on the economic power of the Daimyo.

However, this year, Matsudaira Nobutsuna and other members of the group were the first to discover that the small daimyo who were not much stronger than the slightly wealthier banners, whether it was the southwestern feudal clans, or the Goto family and the clan clan, had actually put up a list of nearly 1,000 daimyos.

In the ranks, the banner is clear, not only the daimyo himself wears a brocade robe, but the samurai flag is a Nanban armor made of stainless steel, and even those obvious ashigaru are also wearing iron armor. The pikemen were no longer carrying simple bamboo spears on their shoulders, but spears that were more refined than the three guns, and the cold light from the tips of the spears pierced Matsudaira's eyes in the Edo sun, making his eyes hurt.

And the iron cannons on the shoulders of those iron gunners made the Matsudaira even more frightened.

That's definitely not comparable to the best Satsuma iron cannon of Oda Nobunaga's time! Even if it's a Satsuma iron cannon, it has to sell forty pieces, not counting the sub-medicine lead bullets and other items, the iron cannon team of the Goto family alone, there are at least two hundred iron cannons in a rough count, this damn pirate! Where did they get all this money?!

The dispatch of the staff caused a large number of people to and from Edo to "travel", a large number of whom were samurai with relatively high consumption levels (more than half of the total population of Edo Castle at that time), which greatly stimulated the commercial level of the Edo area, and it can be said that it stimulated the domestic demand of the shogunate, which greatly helped the shogunate to increase its GDP. What was originally a collection of pilgrimages that consumed the financial resources of the daimyo to create a financial growth point for the shogunate has now become a stage for the princes to show off their wealth, and if such a thing is not curbed early, it will make those with ill intentions see hope and reconnect with each other.

For the growth of the strength of the foreign daimyo, the Tokugawa shogun has always been very benevolent, and he will never be unable to sleep because of the increase in the strength of his subordinates and the substantial increase in the GDP of the territory.

He would only convene a group of people overnight to discuss countermeasures with the Four Heavenly Kings!

Although the Tokugawa family did not have a terrible intelligence agency like the Hojo family, nor did they send some young boys to peek into their privacy like Toyotomi Hideyoshi, the general intelligence work was still very good.

Before dawn, a detailed piece of information was placed in front of Tokugawa Iemitsu.

"Nani! These guys actually traded with the Nanban behind the back of the shogunate! Which gives them the power?! ”

"My lord, my subordinates believe that now is not the time to investigate the responsibility of the southwestern feudal domains, the Tsushima clan, and the Goto clan for their unauthorized trade, but to enter this trade as much as possible, otherwise, the strength of these guys will become stronger and stronger, and the remnants of those Western Army will also be ready to move! By that time, their strength will continue to increase, and our strength will remain in place, which is very dangerous! ”

Matsudaira Nobutsuna, who is Izu Mamoru very strictly, pointed out the strict zhòng nature of this problem.

"Shuffle!" From the straw mat woven by the rush, Iemitsu picked up the information, "These people and those townspeople in Osaka, what they sell to the Nanban is just a specialty of the territory, and then they export gold, silver, women, and population to the Nanban in exchange for a qiē that can be used to compete with the shogunate, but!" The area controlled by my shogunate is ten times larger than theirs! The population and gold and silver are also dozens of times more than theirs! We will win this war! ”

"General! Full Race! ”

"Matsudaira-kun, this time I went to Nanban, I will lead the team, if anyone dares to stop it." Jiaguang took a long knife from the hand of the general beside him.

"This is a tribute to His Royal Highness the Great Imperial Palace, which was given to me by the Shimazu family. It is said to be a sword made of stainless steel from the Nanban. Your Highness once tried, but you can cut off three carcass, and I will give it to you, and if anyone who disrespects the order and obstructs it without permission, whether it is a daimyo or another dispatch, will be beheaded! ”

The Great Imperial Palace was the name given to Tokugawa Hidetada, the second shogun of the Tokugawa Shogunate, after his retirement, and Tokugawa Hidetada gave way to Tokugawa Iemitsu in the third year of the Apocalypse, and then he himself was called the Great Imperial Palace like his father Tokugawa Ieyasu, but, unlike Ieyasu, he still lived in Edo instead of Sunpu Castle.

However, when I arrived in Hue, for ten days, I went to the gate of the General's Mansion every day to post and ask for a meeting, but the door post that was thrown in was like a wind blowing across the sea of Hakata Bay, and it disappeared in a blink of an eye.

Looking at the table full of delicacies, think about those ill-intentioned daimyo, who are constantly strengthening their strength with all kinds of materials and weapons purchased from Nanzhong, how can they eat as the henchmen of the general?!

"Sakai-kun! Abe-kun! Matsudaira Nobutsuna, who slammed the chopsticks in his hand on the table with a calm face, expressed his thoughts in his deep voice to the accompanying Abe Tadaji and Sakai Tadakatsu.

"Please have lunch, I plan to go to the shogunate of the Celestial Empire after lunch, and if the general refuses to meet me, I will cut my stomach outside the gate! Please be my introducer! ”

In the afternoon sun, many people had gathered in front of the General's Mansion to watch the excitement, and people crowded together one after another, waiting to see the breathtaking scene.

"This old man, may I ask, why are so many people gathered in front of the General's Mansion?" Matsudaira Nobutsuna and his entourage crowded into the two columns in front of the door to the position close to the door, and found that they could no longer squeeze in, so they had to whisper to an old man next to him to inquire about the news.

"From out of town, right?!" The old man looked very disdainful.

"I'm from Fuso!" Songping deliberately folded his chest and made a majestic appearance.

"Ocean!" The old man said very contemptuously, "Wait for the eyes to open!" Today is the day since the General's Mansion moved to Hue, the first time to pay taxes to the Department of Taxation, the tax officer of the Department of Taxation has gone in the morning, this time there should be a result, in the gambling houses in the streets and alleys, has opened a handicap, the general does not pay taxes, one pays one, the gambling tax officer was cut off, two pays one, and the general pays the tax in full, one pays thirty! ”

"It's coming! Here it comes! ”

The closed gate of the General's Mansion slowly opened, and a tax officer from the tax department stood in front of the steps with his head held high, holding a paperwork book in his hand, and a six-yang head growing around his neck.

"Ahh The group of people who had just bought the tax collector's head in the gambling house and were cut off by the angry general couldn't help but let out a lament, and their money was gone!

"According to the tax management measures promulgated by the General's Office, Li Shouhan, the general of the General's Office, according to the unified progressive tax system, the tax payable on all income is 1.2 million taels, equivalent to 1.2 million silver dollars. The payment is now complete, and the tax stamps are here! If you have any questions, you can go to our company for inquiries! ”

"Wow!" Seeing the lively crowd, there was an uproar immediately, in the past, I just heard that the general himself also had to pay taxes, but he didn't want to take it seriously, it seems that this so-called official gentry paid food and taxes in one body is real! The most excited was the old man, "Get rich!" Get rich! Just now, I was angry with Lao Lu Tou, and the general who bought ten taels of silver paid the tax in full, and if I paid thirty, that would be three hundred taels! I can go back to my hometown and recruit some people to go to the Jiulong River to reclaim the wasteland! ”

Some people disagreed, "What the official said, may it be true?" Do you see the silver? ”

The tax officer commanded his handymen to carry a paste bucket and paste a tax stamp on the notice board in front of the general's mansion, and when he heard this, he couldn't help but snort coldly, "Want to see money?" Be careful, boy! You don't have sunglasses, don't let the silver spill over your good eyes! ”

The sound of rumbling wheels running over the road came from the General's Palace, and a long train of carriages was driven out of the depths of the General's Mansion by the coachmen, and on each carriage was a huge and sturdy wooden box, the four corners of which were wrapped in copper skin. The heavy wooden boxes almost crushed the springs on the carriage, and the horses pulling the carriage sweated one by one due to the sheer weight.

"One, two, three...... Forty-one, forty-two! The people who watched the excitement, including Matsudaira and Abe, Sakai and others, also silently counted the silver cars that came out of the house in their hearts.

"Let the fathers of all parties take a look!" The tax official was also very proud of his behavior today, and not everyone has the opportunity to be in the limelight. The tax collectors guarding around the silver carts climbed onto the roof of the car with their hands and feet, moved a box at will, and opened the seal of the General's Mansion on the box in full view of everyone, revealing the contents inside.

Matsudaira, who was standing on the steps, looked down condescendingly and saw very clearly, and there were neatly stacked rolls of round objects wrapped in mulberry paper in the box, and I didn't know what they were.

A tax collector broke the cylinder in his hand with great force, and silver dollars slipped from his hand into the box with a crisp and pleasant sound.

The rest of the forty-one carriages did the same.

Obviously, there was no doubt that the cart was full of silver dollars!

After watching the lively crowd disperse with praise and praise, Matsudaira Nobutsuna straightened his clothes to see if there was any rudeness, especially touched the ribs with his arm that might have become a flesh-and-blood partner with him, and walked to the concierge of the general's mansion.

He has been here more than once, and he knows that if he wants to see the general or go to the various offices under the general's mansion to do business, he must register here.

"Doorbook!" Concierge Uncle Qin (hey, hey, hey!) Seeing the appearance of this group of widows, he lazily greeted the young man on the side.

The samurai beside Matsudaira Nobutsuna hurriedly presented Matsudaira's name card respectfully with both hands and handed it to the young man.

"People from the Tokugawa family?"

The young man opened the name card and looked through it repeatedly, and then lazily opened the thick book of entry and registered it with a brush.

"Dare to ask the errand officer, I wonder when we will be able to meet the general himself?"

The young man and Uncle Qin glanced at each other, and replied to Matsudaira Nobutsuna very angrily, "How many important things does my lord have to do every day?" How can a person like you see it if he wants to? ”

Matsudaira, who was speechless after being reprimanded, suppressed his anger and continued to ask with low eyebrows, "Then, when will we have the honor to meet Master Li, the chief historian?" ”

"Wait! About the same in a month! ”

"This!?"

Matsudaira Nobutsuna seemed to have been bombarded with a national collapse, and he felt that the whole world was about to collapse, and Sakai Tadashi and Abe Tadaji on the side looked at him with some schadenfreude to see what he should do next.

"Two, please help me!"

Matsudaira Nobutsuna burst out these words from between his teeth, signaling the samurai beside him to prepare for his seppuku.

"Mr. Qin! Are you on duty today? ”

A small sedan chair squeezed in from the side of the group, and the sedan curtain was lifted and a medium-sized fat man walked out of it.

came to the concierge with the familiar way, handed over his name post, and took Uncle Qin and the young man to play haha.

"Mr. Gu! What's going on today? ”

Uncle Qin is also playing haha with the medium-sized fat man, and it can be seen that the relationship between the two parties is good.

"I have a shipment that I plan to ship back to Kyushu! Go to the Tax Department to file your taxes! I hope that the two adults will have a lot of convenience! ”

"Well said! Say! Facing Kazuo Koga's bow, and the round yellow thing handed over in his hand, Uncle Qin naturally couldn't refuse, and motioned his apprentice to register Kazuo Koga in the visitor registration book, and issued a bamboo card for temporary access, and Kazuo Koga walked in.

"My lord! That guy is from the Shimazu family! It's clear that he made money for the lord of the kingdom! If we want to go in and meet adults, I'm afraid we have to do that! ”

I see! Matsudaira Nobutsuna suddenly realized! Unexpectedly, the ten days of work were delayed because he did not pay bribes to the two porters! He didn't care about being annoyed, took out a few gold judgments from his waist, handed them over to his relatives, and motioned for him to deliver the name card again.

Seeing the golden judgment, Uncle Qin's face was much better than just now, but he still refused to be accommodating, and even the golden judgment was thrown out of the concierge.

"We don't take this money!"

"Nani? Don't even accept the gold sentence?! Matsudaira Nobutsuna, Sakai Tadakatsu, and Abe Tadaji suddenly felt incredible, and they obviously saw Kazuo Koga of the Shimazu family handing over the gold, and they were put in! But why don't you take our golden sentence?

"This is not legal currency in Nanzhong and cannot be circulated!"

"Mamoru Izu! Mamoru Izu! Seeing that Matsudaira Nobutsuna's face had become similar to that of pig liver, Sakai Tadashi and Abe Tadaji hurriedly persuaded each other, "Let's go back first!" Today's harvest is also a lot! ”

Before going north to attack the Zheng family, because of the continuous expansion of trade with various places, Shouhan and his subordinates found a rather difficult problem. Currency chaos!

Mexico's silver dollar, Japan's gold judgment, Daming's Kuping silver, Taizhou ingot. The Rial of the Dutch, the British of their pound, these currencies are very distressing to the people of the Department of Commerce and the Department of Taxation.

In the past, the money tickets issued by oneself were circulated in the Ha Tranh period because the territory and population were small, so they could also circulate along the lì, but now the territory is so huge, and the wide range of trade is breathtaking.

So, Shouhan began to "mint coins"!

First of all, the minting site was placed near a river, which could provide a steady stream of power to the press.

Then, he ordered someone to use manganese steel to make a mold, this set of molds, but it took a lot of effort, because the hardness of manganese steel is a headache, but it is also because of its hardness.

With a hydraulic press and a manganese steel mould, the mint quietly began to work. The gold and silver plate used to "mint coins" is placed on the punching edge of the stamping machine, and the upper and lower steel dies press down a round coin from the gold and silver plate. The pattern on the steel die is left on the coin under the tremendous pressure of the press.

The coins thus "minted" are not only extremely beautifully patterned, but also indistinguishable from the coins of the 21st century, with tiny gear-shaped edges. Prevent ill-intentioned men from scraping gold and silver on it.

The gold coin is minted with 18k gold, the composition ratio is: 75% gold, 17.5% copper, 7.5% silver, a 18k gold coin weight calibration is 50 grams, about the same weight as the Yuan Datou we are used to, and can be used to weigh weights. According to the regulations, one gold coin can be exchanged for thirty silver coins.

Silver coins contain 99 percent silver. It weighs seven coins, and it is used in one tael of silver.

Whether it is a gold coin or a silver coin, they have secretly left a Chinese character in a corner, which represents the currency issued by Nanzhong, and Shouhan has not yet felt that his strength has reached the point where he can blatantly issue an independent currency.

The manufacturing standards are unified, the appearance is exquisite, and in the process of trade has been strongly recommended, such a currency was quickly promoted in the trade, received praise from all parties, Zheng Zhibao once exchanged a large number of silver dollars back to Xiamen, handed over to the eldest brother and the owners of the ship to watch.

After reading it, the shipowners unanimously agreed that this was the best silver coin they had ever seen, and that it was much better than the Kuping silver of the Tobe, and that the foreign money of the Francois could not be compared with this in terms of fineness or fineness, and that the fine-grained silver of the inner line was also quite inferior to this silver dollar. (The fineness of the Spanish silver dollar is only 90.3%, which is worse than the Hebu Kuping full-pattern silver.) ）

Although this silver dollar is only seven coins, but the fineness is far better than the household Kuping full pattern silver, not to mention when one or two Kuping silver, that is, when one or two five coins can be!

How could these things be known by Matsudaira Nobutsuna, the reckless and high-spirited Izu Mamoru Lord?

So I had to go back to the hall in a huff, and the first thing I did when I returned to the hall was to send someone to the official silver number and the mint bureau to exchange all the more than 4,000 gold judgments I had brought with me for gold and silver coins.

The exchange of gold coins in the hands of the hand, exquisite patterns, uniform weight, all made the three adults praised, the official silver number to exchange gold and silver coins Zhi Xing reported to the three adults, it is said that there will be copper coins soon, copper coins are expected to be used as gold and silver coins and small circulation of copper coins, it is said that the exchange of silver coins and copper coins may be a silver coin for 2,000 copper coins.

"Izu-samarum, should we go back and ask the Shogun to sell some red copper to Nanchu? You can use the proceeds from the sale of red copper to purchase various items in Nanzhong! Tadaji Abe was excited.

"No matter what you do, you have to meet the general himself first!"

Mamoru Izu placed the gold coin in his hand on the touchstone and lightly swiped it through it, turning green and yellow. According to the gold content standards of seven green, eight yellow, nine purple and ten red, the gold content of this gold coin should be consistent with the official claim of about 705.

Finally, after several tosses, Matsudaira Nobutsuna and others knelt in front of Shouhan, "Foreign Minister Yuan courtier Matsudaira Izu Shouxingang, meet the general of the Celestial Empire!" The general is mighty and invincible, and the military power is widely spread! ”

"Your Excellency, please get up, your Royal Highness can be healthy and happy? Is General Guoguang in good health? ”

On October 22 of the first year of Chongzhen, Li Shouhan, the president of the Nanchu Terra, who was also in charge of money and grain, met with Matsudaira Nobutsuna, Sakai Tadakatsu, and Abe Tadaji, a trade delegation of the Tokugawa shogunate of the Japanese country. During the talks, during which Lee asked Matsudaira Nobutsuna and his entourage to convey greetings to the two generations of Tokugawa shogunate leaders on his behalf, and welcomed Shogun Iemitsu's visit to Nanchu at an appropriate time, and he looked forward to meeting with Shogun Tokugawa Iemitsu in Edo.

It's more than 6,000 words again, don't you plan to reward something?

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