"The shogunate may have to raise the amount of taxes paid by the domain." On the castle tower of Fukuyama Castle, Matsumae Masahiro, the lord of the preparatory domain, caressed the stone railing, looked at the lush woods in front of Fukuyama Castle, and said softly, "In the past, we didn't have a high stone height, and the shogunate also despised us, so naturally we didn't have to pay any taxes. On the contrary, it also gave us great convenience so that the Matsumae family could develop Ezo with peace of mind, but it is difficult to say what will happen in the future. ”

"Domain lord, you can't afford not to give this money." The gray-haired old man Imamura Yoshinosuke shook his head and admonished, "Many of the shogunate's policies are a matter of life and death for this domain. At this critical juncture, it is not advisable to cause more trouble. ”

Imamura Yoshinosuke is also regarded as the old man of the Matsumae Domain, when Gao Guangdian became the lord of the domain, he was a samurai with old qualifications in the domain, and successively assisted the three feudal lords of Shiguang, Gao Guang, and Ju Guang, and now he is the de facto domain lord of Masahiro, and he has stood on the last shift, which can be described as the elder of the Four Dynasties, and his status is extremely respected.

Imamura Yoshinosuke also had a close relationship with the people of the East Coast, and over the years he had made eight missions to the East Coast, buying back a large number of weapons, military supplies, livestock, seeds, tools, and other things urgently needed in the domain, and at the same time initially forming an entrepot network for the Shandan trade, which contributed greatly. Wei Boqiu once praised Imamura Yoshinosuke, saying that he had a keen mind, extraordinary insight, and was not surprised at the same time, and had the style of a general, and was a rare talent in the Matsuzen Domain.

Therefore, after his illegitimate son Wei Chengzhong succeeded the Matsumae family and became the heir of the daimyo, Imamura Yoshinosuke received more courtesy, and Matsumae Masahiro even privately promised that once the business of the feudal town was greatly developed in the future, then the status of the Imamura family branch would be given, which made Imamura Yoshinosuke tearful and favored. You must know that in this era, the branch clan was generally obtained by the daimyo family, or the reason was to spread the risk in the case of a large number of children, so as to avoid extinction in the case of the change of the family; Or to deal with some hidden fields that were privately developed and were not within the scope of the shogunate's quota. In short, in any case, basically the branch domain was obtained by the children of the family, and it was not impossible for people with foreign surnames to obtain it, but they had to make miraculous achievements, and then the daimyo could go to the Edo shogunate and ask the shogun's approval to give the branch clan a seal.

In the last 100 years of Japan, most of the newly established feudal domains were acquired for the children of the daimyo families, and very few were rewarded to meritorious officials. Therefore, Masahiro Matsumae promised to give the Kanamura family a place in the future, which is really grateful, and then the heart of death will be effective.

Some people may think that Matsumae Masahiro is too young and generous, and can even give away the land as a basic thing to live in, and he really fell for the tricks of the shogunate - the shogun is very happy to see the major names be rewarded with ripping land to their children or subordinates, because this kind of policy similar to the Tui En Decree is obviously weakening the strength of a single local feudal lord - but Masahiro Matsumae, who has been educated in the East Coast and traditional Japanese culture for more than a decade, has a clear different way of thinking from the traditional Japanese. Deeply influenced by the people of the East Coast, he always believed that in order to prosper the business of the feudal town, talent is the most important! Especially now that he was full of ambition to open a new school in the domain and gradually carry out reforms, it was very important for him to have loyal courtiers who were in line with his thoughts, and it was only natural that Imamura Yoshinosuke and his father and son were both in important positions in the domain, and they were both open-minded and prestigious, and they were appreciated by the people of the eastern coast.

Kishinosuke Imamura is currently in charge of attracting immigrants and cultivating land in the domain, but before that he was in charge of the business field, so he can be described as an all-rounder. He just mentioned that he meant "don't cause more trouble", but he actually understood it very clearly, that is, he was afraid that the shogunate would come up with a policy to prohibit domestic ronin and landless grass and other untouchables from flocking to the Matsumae Domain to reclaim the land and strengthen the Matsumae Domain.

When it comes to the movement of landless peasants within Japan, in fact, the shogunate itself encourages it, but there are also strict procedures and measures that cannot be messed with. In the early days, in order to curb the power of the local tyrants and rich peasants and ensure the income from tribute, the Edo shogunate strictly prohibited the perpetual sale of land throughout Japan, and at the same time encouraged the division of land and production, and tried to support small homesteaders. In addition, the shogunate also forbade the sale and use of domestic slaves, and allowed peasants to sue their lords and immigrate to live on the land of other lords, which of course required complicated procedures, and it was certainly not possible to do so without the presence of a daimyo or a powerful retainer in the feudal town, because the shogunate was also worried that the peasants would take advantage of this loophole to flee and leave the land wasted.

For example, in the third year of Kei'an (1650), the shogunate issued the "Ke'an Proclamation" to the peasants of all feudal domains in Japan, making 32 strict regulations on the production and life of the peasants.

Therefore, the energy of the Edo shogunate was still very large, and if they were unhappy, then a proclamation could jam the neck of the Matsumae domain, and it was not impossible to change or abolish the feudal town. After all, Japan's feudal system is still very different from Europe's, and the higher lords in Europe basically have no right to meddle in the internal affairs of the lower lords, but Japan can! This can be seen from the many unified policies issued by the shogunate throughout the country, and the authority of the entire Japanese feudal domain was very great, and the local feudal domains did not have complete autonomy.

At present, the Matsumae Domain is mainly developed in Ezo, which is a vast and sparsely populated virgin land that requires a large population to reclaim the land. In addition, as the Matsumae Domain's trade grew, it also required a large number of people to work in commerce and crafts, not to mention the need to maintain a certain size of army in order to fight the Ainu. All of the above are in need of population, but the main source of population of the Matsumae Domain is to attract ronins or landless untouchables in Japan to come to take refuge, so the shogunate can seriously threaten the development and even survival of the Matsumae Domain if it is a letter, so you can't help but be unconvinced - in fact, as early as the time of the previous general, because of the shogunate's pro-domain Kii Domain's complaint, the Matsumae Domain has been quite "valued" by the shogunate, although in the end no evidence of Matsumae Domain's collusion with pirates was found, However, the fact that the lord of the domain, Matsumae Juhiro, was called to Edo for duty in three days, and even did not allow others to serve on his behalf, is already very telling, that is, the shogunate is still a little uneasy about the Matsumae Domain!

Therefore, as Imamura Yoshinosuke mentioned just now, it is not appropriate to offend the shogunate now, but to bend flattery and reduce the shogunate's vigilance as much as possible. Charge a little more, what a big deal! The shogunate now has so many people to support, and the army has 80,000 people, not to mention a large number of retainers, samurai and other officials, and the expenses are also huge! Therefore, if the shogunate re-established the Matsumae domain and clarified the obligations and tributes to be paid by the domain, then as long as the amount was not too outrageous, it would have been settled. In addition, this had the great advantage of acknowledging the fait accompli on behalf of the shogunate and legitimizing the various trades and land cultivated by the Matsumae domain.

"As long as the shogunate doesn't want to change the family, then it's okay to put up with it. If you really want to risk the world's disapproval to change my family, then ......" At this point, Matsumae Masahiro did not continue, but the meaning was already obvious, and Imamura also lowered his head lightly and seconded it.

In fact, although Wei Boqiu, who had operated in Kushiro, Akkeshi and the nearby Kuril Islands for many years, had retired from politics, this did not mean that the Matsumae domain had lost the support of the people on the eastern coast. In fact, both Heishui and Denglai have already expressed their attitude, and they have given strong support to the Matsumae Domain, trade, military aid, and even other help!

Of course, Masahiro Matsumae also knows that it is not without reason that the people of the East Coast are so generous. In fact, Chen Shuo, a student of his biological father, told him that although there are factors for the people of the East Coast to support the Matsumae Domain, there are factors such as doing business and making profits, but using it as a bridgehead to obtain a ticket to influence Japan is also one of the important factors. In other words, the people of the East Coast saw the Matsumae Domain as a stepping stone to Japan's closed social and economic system, and when necessary, they could leverage the political situation in Japan by influencing the ability of the Okukoshiwa domains, including Matsumae, Hirosaki, and Sendai, to make deals with the shogunate.

Matsumae Masahiro didn't really resist this feeling of being a pawn, because the weak Matsumae Domain really needed such a behemoth on the east coast to transfuse blood now, otherwise, how could they get such a leap forward in development now? If you really rely on your own hoe and hoe to farm in Ezo, you won't be able to grow anything famous in a hundred years, Masahiro Matsuzen is extremely sure of this. So, as long as the people of the East Coast did not endanger their family's rule in the Matsumae Domain, then he did not mind giving them maximum cooperation, which is exactly what he had been doing.

"The shogunate's mediocre people were complacent and unaware of the trends of the outside world. Now that Dongxue is already the world's most prominent science, they are still holding on to some superficial Lanxue, how can this not be outdated? Matsumae Masahiro didn't know what he was thinking, and suddenly attacked the shogunate's national lockdown order, only to hear him say: "The dignified general of the country of the rising sun, the great general of the country, actually issued such a mediocre thing as the state lockdown order, and it was as many as five times, this is to kick Japan into the abyss." ”

After being a fake son of the Matsumae clan for more than ten years, Masahiro Matsumae is now more and more in the role of a Japanese, thinking from a Japanese perspective everywhere. This is actually very easy to understand, the so-called ass decides the head, he is an illegitimate child, and he is destined to have no future on the east coast, so it is better to make good use of the hard-won identity of the heir of the Matsumae Domain, and make the family business destined to be passed on to him bigger and stronger, as the capital for his life in Japanese society.

However, he also knew that the shogunate's messing around (referring to the closure of the country) obviously made Japan lose the opportunity to catch up with the world trend, and it would inevitably make Japan poor and weak for a long time. And once Japan is weak, then it will naturally attract the covetousness of other hungry wolves, as a member of Japan, can the Matsumae Domain be left alone? Obviously impossible! Therefore, the Matsumae Domain also had to maintain close ties with the world-powerful Republic of East Coast of China, and even maintain an alternative subordinate relationship, as it was obvious that it would help to keep his family's territory undisturbed.

Even, if there are really great changes in Japan in the future, and the authority of the Edo shogunate is greatly affected by the impact of foreign forces (this may be many generations later), then their children and grandchildren will also have the opportunity to take advantage of the situation and take advantage of the troubled times to chase the lost deer!

Imamura Yoshinosuke is an old man in the domain, who has served the lord of the domain for several generations, and he is not completely ignorant of Matsumae Masahiro's ambitions, and it can even be said that he knows a lot, so after hesitating for a while, he took the initiative to say: "Masahiroden, please don't talk about Togaku with people from Sendai, Hirosaki and other foreign domains in the future, because this may incur the disgust of the shogunate and have adverse consequences." The shogunate isolated itself from civilized society, so let them eliminate themselves, and there is no way to do it. As long as we in the Matsumae Domain still retain a trace of the seeds of civilization, there will always be a way to regain it in the future. ”

"In addition, I also ask Zhengguangdian to quickly finalize the boundary line of Ezo Island with the people on the east coast, and clarify which side is under their jurisdiction and which side is the reserve of this domain, this must be clarified, while the current relationship between the two sides is not bad." Yoshinosuke Imamura reminded, "Ezo is the foundation for the future development of the domain, and it is necessary to acquire as many reserves as possible. In addition, it is also necessary to obtain the right to fish and the exclusive right to some trade goods as soon as possible, which is also related to the future development of the domain. ”

Matsumae Masahiro listened and nodded slowly. It would be very difficult for the Matsumae Domain to expand its territory under the current shogunate's iron barrel, and even if they showed much more strength on the battlefield than the Tsugaru clan of the Hirosaki Domain, which was close at hand, if they could not be recognized by the shogunate, they would not be able to annex the territory across the strait, and on the contrary, they might even invite the shogunate's crusade, which the wise man would not do. Therefore, acquiring as much land as possible on Ezo Tei Island became the only option for the Matsumae family to increase their power, and this could naturally be determined through negotiation, as long as the family could continue to act as agents for the eastern coast country, helping them to purchase grain, sulfur, lead-zinc ore, copper flakes, gold and silver, and gather more people.

It is conceivable that the development of the family in the next few decades or even hundreds of years will be tied to the people of the East Bank, and what the Matsumae family has to do is to maintain a delicate balance between the people of the East Bank and the Edo shogunate. Of course, if the shogun's sudden death annoyed the people of the eastern coast, then the Matsumae clan had no choice but to be tied to the chariot of the eastern coast people and fight to the end with the shogunate, which was also a helpless thing.