In the "capital" of Japan, Edo Castle, in the Honmaru Imperial Palace, the two "elders" and five "elders" of the Tokugawa shogunate sat on the smooth wooden floors on both sides of the palace, frowning. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info

The current ruler of Japan is the Tokugawa shogunate, which was founded in 1603 by Tokugawa Ieyasu. With decades of perseverance and health, Tokugawa Ieyasu survived the two overlords of Japan, Oda Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hideyoshi, won the decisive Battle of Sekigahara, and finally established the shogunate system that ruled the whole country in Japan.

By the sixteenth year of Chongzhen, that is, in 1643, Tokugawa Ieyasu had already died. The supreme ruler of the current Tokugawa shogunate was the shogun Tokugawa Iemitsu, the grandson of Tokugawa Ieyasu.

The Tokugawa shogunate did not manage the country centrally like the Ming government, and there were many feudal vassals under the Tokugawa shogunate. These Japanese princes, known as the daimyos, were highly autonomous and small at the local level, wielding military, judicial, and administrative powers.

For example, in the 37th year of Wanli, the Japanese princes "Satsuma Domain" privately sent troops to the Ryukyus, turning this small maritime country that had always paid tribute to the Ming Dynasty into the territory of the Satsuma Domain. The Tokugawa shogunate, after learning the news afterwards, also acquiesced in the fact that the Satsuma clan occupied the Ryukyus.

The Tokugawa family, in fact, is also a daimyō, one of Japan's biggest daimyos.

In any case, no matter how independent these feudal towns were, they were nominally under the orders of the Tokugawa Shogunate and subject to the various institutional arrangements of the Tokugawa Shogunate.

The rule of the Tokugawa shogunate, on the other hand, was managed by two elders and five elders.

Basically, the elder is equivalent to the first assistant and second assistant of the cabinet of the Ming Dynasty, while the elder is equivalent to the cabinet elder.

At this time, in the imperial hall, seven high-ranking officials of the shogunate sat on the floor with solemn faces.

Now in Japan, the demand for a ban on the Ming Dynasty Li Jiajing cloth has become a trend of thought, sweeping the entire country.

Japan's economy, like that of the Ming Dynasty, is also a natural economy of men farming and women weaving. Tokugawa Iemitsu's Keiyasu Goshosho, which restricts the living system of the common people, stipulates: "Men plough the fields, and women spin cloth."

However, this natural economy of male ploughing and female weaving has been severely impacted by Li Zhi's industrial large-scale production in recent years. The fine cloth of the Li family of the Ming Dynasty is of high quality and low price, and it almost broke through the textile industry of the Japanese peasants. Japan is rich in silver, and the price of cotton yarn is high, which is not comparable with the cheap and delicate Li Jiajing cloth.

All of a sudden, everyone in Japan, both north and south, bought fine cloth and wore fine cloth clothes. Coarse cloth produced in Japan has completely lost its market.

Some peasants, who had relied on women's textiles to subsidize their families, suddenly fell into poverty.

Not only was the farmer's textile defeated by the Li family's fine cloth, but even the textile factories went bankrupt under the impact of fine cloth. The survival of these textile factories mainly depends on the scale effect, and there is no advanced technology, and they are not the opponents of Fanjiazhuang textile factories at all. In the vicinity of Kyoto, Japan, some towns that had relied on the textile industry to prosper gradually decayed and even emptied.

Under the natural economy of the seventeenth century, the needs of the common people were nothing more than food, clothing, housing and transportation, and the textile industry can be described as an important industry of a country. After the textile industry was defeated by Li Zhi, rural towns lost an important source of income. As a ripple effect, the entire Japanese economy has been much more depressed.

In the past, the goods that Japan imported from the Ming Dynasty were all luxury goods such as raw silk and porcelain, which did not impact Japan's local industries. Now that Li Jiajing cloth has defeated Japan's textile industry and led to poverty among the people, it has gradually attracted the attention of the Japanese samurai class. Many samurai advocated a ban on the import of fine cloth from the Ming Dynasty.

This trend of thought gradually brewed, and in October of the sixteenth year of Chongzhen, it became a wave. At the beginning of October, several daimyo of the Shogunate, who were highly regarded by the shogunate, jointly wrote a letter asking the Tokugawa shogun to ban the import of fine cloth and give the Japanese textile industry room to survive.

The Tokugawa shogunate was not an open-minded regime. In fact, the Tokugawa shogunate was inherently autistic. In these years, the Tokugawa shogunate continued to issue "lockdown orders", prohibiting Western countries from proselytizing and trading in Japan. The Tokugawa shogunate did not allow the Japanese to go to the sea to do business, nor did the Spaniards and Portuguese enter the port, but only to trade with merchants from the Ming Dynasty and the Netherlands.

After these feudal daimyo were written, the samurai class in Japan expressed their approval. In mid-October, 3,000 feudal lords from Edo Castle jointly wrote a letter calling for the ban on the Lee family's fine cloth and the revival of Japan's textile industry.

Seven high-ranking officials of the shogunate were waiting there, when suddenly the side door of the palace was pushed open. Tokugawa Iemitsu, the shogun, wore a silk and a black hat and walked into the palace.

Sitting expressionlessly on the small platform at the top of the palace, Tokugawa Iemitsu said loudly: "I have summoned you here today to discuss the prohibition of the Li family's fine cloth. ”

The elder Sakai Tadakatsu lowered his head, supported his body with his fists, and without changing his posture of sitting cross-legged, he quickly moved his body from both sides to the floor in the middle of the palace, bowed his head and said, "Your Highness, I think that the letter of the daimyo and the feudal lord is reasonable. Over the years, the country's textile industry has been severely impacted. If the Li family is not banned, the town will become more and more depressed, and the people will fall into poverty and cannot afford to have children. ”

Another "elder", Doi Toshikatsu, had a different opinion, he moved to the middle of the palace, and said worriedly: "Your Highness, I thought that the Great Ming Jingfu could not be banned at will. Li Zhi was much stronger than the Portuguese and Spaniards. A few days earlier, Li Zhi's envoy had arrived in Edo, declaring that he would declare war on Japan as soon as Seifu was banned. ”

Sakai Tadashi said disdainfully: "Doi Palace, Li Zhi is only a prince of the Ming Dynasty, with only 30,000 troops, can I still be afraid of him?" ”

Doi Toshikatsu raised his head and said: "Your Highness, in the battle of Keicho Wenroku, Japan sent 200,000 soldiers and horses to fight with the Ming Dynasty, and the Ming Dynasty stopped the Toyotomi Hall with 100,000 soldiers and horses. Although Li Zhi only has 30,000 soldiers and horses, I have heard the maritime merchants of the Ming Kingdom say that Li Zhi's 30,000 soldiers and horses are equivalent to more than 100,000 Ming troops, and they must not be underestimated. ”

"And I heard from the maritime merchants of the Ming Kingdom that Li Zhi had just defeated Zheng Zhilong at sea, which shows that his naval army is also very strong. In the event of a war, I am afraid that our Japanese naval army will not be able to resist it. ”

Sakai Tadashi laughed and said, "Doi Dian, you were scared by Li Zhi." No matter how strong Li Zhi is, is it possible to lead tens of thousands of people across the sea to attack Japan? At that time, Japan, with the strength of the whole country, crossed the Tsushima Strait and attacked Korea, and it was impossible to guarantee logistics. Li Zhi, a prince of the Ming Kingdom, if he crosses the vast East China Sea to attack, it is simply a suicide! ”

Doi Toshikatsu no longer entangled with Sakai Tadakatsu, and said loudly: "Your Highness, don't easily fight against Li Zhi!" ”

Tokugawa Iemitsu looked at Toshikatsu Doi and did not speak.

After a long time, he said slowly: "The petition of the daimyo and the feudal lord is excusable, and the fine cloth destroys the national textile industry, and it is unavoidable. ”

"Forbade the fine cloth trade of Li Zhi's fleet in Nagasaki. If any more fine cloth sold to Japan is found in Nagasaki, it will be burned. ”