The envoy from the shogunate came to visit. The so-called "no need to go to the Three Treasures Hall" was of course a big deal for Hakodate. Therefore, one after another, many people rushed to Naohide's residence to find out the news. Among them, Hakodate's head office manager Hori Toshihi also

in it.

At the end of August in the fifth year of Ansei (1858), Hakodate and Shirozhu merged their offices. Although Naohide was born in Shirozhu, it was impossible to drive away all the former Hakodate elders - even if he was willing, the shogunate would not

I do.

What's more, the White Master family really doesn't have this intention. After all, there are only a few White Masters. They want to make a difference in the future and avoid absorbing external forces. And these Hakodate elders dare to go to the ice and snow to endure hardships, so to speak.

If you want to forge ahead, how can you just turn yourself away?

Therefore, except for some frustrated people who insisted on returning to Edo, the other old Hakodates were left to serve as deputy posts - God would take the blame for not taking action. Now that the end of the Tokugawa is about to begin, Naohide would not dare to give him anything just for the sake of face.

Dig your own holes and absorb, but of course you have to take up all your regular duties.

Although their service positions were reduced, these people had nothing to complain about as they were the ones who had made meritorious service in defeating the enemy. After all, Edo had left Naohide to deal with it as appropriate. They did not force anyone to commit seppuku and did not take the opportunity to kill a chicken to scare the monkeys. This is considered good.

Besides, Naohide started throwing away money as soon as he took office. Although his salary was fixed, his remuneration was obviously improved a lot. As long as there were no problems in his service, he could use this money as a financial subsidy and receive living benefits from time to time.

Moreover, as long as she did not deliberately cause trouble during her official duties, Mrs. Eiko Okuno soon started to get rich together with her mother-in-law. She had no capital and was not afraid of it. Mrs. Eiko was so "righteous" that she lent money to various families to buy shares in the industry, and then shared the dividends in the future.

deduction.

The old people in Hakodate who stayed behind thought that this was Naohide's intention to win over him. Since he was giving face like this, he couldn't be too ignorant, so the integration of the two places went very smoothly - in fact, winning over was one thing, and the other was

It is Naoxiu and others who need to subtly change these people's ideas about business.

Here I must praise the original Hakokan’s advocate Hori Toshi:

Although Hori Toshi is suspected of being a man of reputation, he is indeed an upright official and cannot be said to be incorruptible. He basically acts impartially.

Therefore, with him leading by example, even though there was a big project like Wulingguo, and there was a good opportunity for the site to be contracted by a manufacturer, the original box office did not charge much for consulting fees, and the official style was basically clean. Moreover, the personnel

He is also relatively smart and capable. Although there are a lot of mess-ups in the current climate, it is rare that things can be pushed forward.

If it weren't for Hori Toshi's good foundation, Hakodate's governance would really have room for trouble. Cutting off people's financial resources is like killing their parents. If the consulting fees were too high in the past, Naohide and others would not be able to win over them no matter how hard they try.

With everything covered, it will naturally be a battle between dragons and tigers.

What's even more rare is that Hori Toshi is courageous and public-spirited after realizing his shame. He actually has no intention of being demoted. He just wants to defeat his shame - Hori Toshi is a senior among the ministers. If he insists on not cooperating, then he will be punished.

It would be impossible for Naohide to take over so smoothly.

Therefore, in just one year, Hakodate has been prospering, which is an important factor in the political communication.

Of course, since the first year of Ansei (1854), the Shirozu clan has been interested in making good friends with the Hakodate Office. They have been helping each other for the past four years, and the good friendship has also played an important role.

Besides, this is inseparable from the contribution of the Lucians - with the same hatred and a powerful enemy, the internal fighting will naturally subside.

Hori Toshi and others inquired about the purpose of the Edo envoy's visit, and as expected, someone yelled, "Don't be afraid of divine opponents, only afraid of pig teammates." Naohide's sarcastic remarks once again received widespread approval.

But Naohide and Horihi immediately suppressed everyone. Speaking of things, the shogunate did not do anything excessive. This habit of turning over the bottom of the bowl after eating noodles is not good.

At this time, Shiban's purpose of coming had been clearly understood, and everyone wanted to leave, but Naohide made everyone stay, "Come here, everyone, please listen to my conversation with Okubo."

As soon as they heard "rich the country" and "strengthened the army", everyone became interested - now even a remote place like Hakodate has opened a port for trade, and everyone knows about Fuso's plight. We must listen to the words "rich the country and strengthen the army".

It is no longer clear who first came up with the term "rich country, strong army" in Fuso. After all, these two terms are actually very common. To put it into perspective, they may have been around since the Fuso Nara period (710-794).

In the first month of the second year of Dahua (646), Emperor Xiaode of Fusang promulgated the "Edict of Reform", imitating the prosperous Tang Dynasty in China, and started the road of "Dahua Reform". Fusang began to transform from a serf-domestic civil system to a public land civil system.

In 662 (the first year of Emperor Tenchi), driven by the eldest brother of the regent prince, the Kyoto court promulgated the Omi Order, the first written law in Fuso history, which fixed the administrative content of Daika Reform, including the order system.

The statement of the Sixty-Sixth Kingdom.

In the following more than a thousand years, there were both troubled times and troubled times. Countless capable ministers, generals, and great names of the country put forward the slogan of enriching the country and strengthening the army. Yes, this "country" is a command-based country, not a full-fledged country.

But in today's sixth year of Ansei (1859), if you mention "enriching the country" and "strengthening the army", everyone knows that this refers to the views put forward by Heishiro Yokoi in "Three Ons of the State", "enriching the country"

, "Strong soldiers" and "Scholarship" are the foundation of building a family.

Mr. Yokoi, given the courtesy name Ziso, also known as Tokisun, commonly known as Heishiro, and also known as Xiaonan, was a samurai of the Higo Kumamoto Hosokawa family.

In the sixth year of Kayei (1853), after the visit of Miren Kurofune No. 1, the shogunate solicited suggestions from various families. When the head of the Hosokawa family handed over to Kenhaku, he also submitted the "Three Treatises on the State" to Yokoi.

From this he became famous - of course, to outsiders

What they don’t know is that in 1843, Naohide visited Kyushu and got acquainted with Mr. Xiaonan. At that time, Naohide introduced Lan Shu’s “On Population” to him, so the “Three Treatises on the State” that should have appeared only in 1860 came out seven years in advance.

From then on, Fuso suffered from natural and man-made disasters. Whether it was samurai, townspeople or ordinary people, their lives became increasingly miserable. More and more people were paying attention to the idea of ​​a rich country.

Fuso has always been prone to earthquakes, but there have been too many major earthquakes in recent years.

In February of the sixth year of Kayei (1853), there was a major earthquake in Doubange; in the seventh year of Kayei (1854), there was a major earthquake in Kinki in June; in November, major earthquakes and tsunamis occurred in Tokai, Higashiyama, and Nankai;

In October of the second year of Ansei (1855), there was a great earthquake in Edo.

The most recent one was the earthquake in the fifth year of Ansei (1858). This time, Hokurikudo finally survived and suffered a lot of disasters. The price of local rice was boiling, which also triggered the Ansei University in Kaga.

These are all very serious. In addition to the minor earthquakes, there are as many as thirteen earthquakes according to statistics!

After the establishment of the Tokugawa shogunate, three major grain harvest failures occurred within the Fuso area: the "Kyoho Harvest", the "Tenmei Harvest" and the "Tenbao Harvest" (1833 to 1839).

It's just as miserable, but it's almost the same.

In addition, the Westerners were constantly knocking on the port, and the shogunate and each feudal lord were overhauling their platforms, frequently mobilizing troops and reorganizing their armaments. These were all very laborious for the people and money, so prices continued to boil.

Take the price of rice as an example. In the third year of Hakodate's Ansei (1856), it was 88.6 silver per stone. In the fourth year of Ansei, it was 118.3 cents.

It is 146.3%, and this year it has risen to an astonishing 204.8%. The annual increases are 34%, 24% and 40% respectively. This is really killing people!

It stands to reason that one small gold can buy one stone of brown rice, but now, only two tenho gold can buy one stone of rice in Hakodate - and this is because of the sudden rise in gold prices.

Logically speaking, fuso is now based on rice. Most of the samurai's salary is rice. Rice is used as land rent and annual tribute. This rice grows in the ground. Whether or not the price rises will have little impact on the finances of the shogunate and major celebrities.

, maybe you can make a lot of money.

But this is not the case at all.

The reason for the rise in rice prices is that the output has dropped severely. Except for a few places with high yields, the annual land rent and tribute have been reduced. There is less rice harvested, and the salary is barely enough. It is really too much to talk about making a fortune.

Fuso rice production is not enough to feed everyone. Even if there are no natural disasters, the "common people" (farmers) in this area cannot eat more than a few times a year. There is no surplus rice for sale among the people. The rice that was flowing before,

It’s all official food for the shogunate and the various feudal lords!

This official grain was sold to wealthy samurai, merchants, and town residents, and the money returned was used to subsidize the finances.

Perhaps, some people who hoard rice have indeed made a fortune in recent years, but the price of rice, a daily necessity, has skyrocketed. Nine times out of ten, it is due to major economic problems, so the shogunate and the various feudal lords have made money from it.

Rarely, but generally serious financial losses occurred.

When Okubo said this, everyone in Hakodate was shocked.

Although the people here are all samurai, they don’t know that the sufferings of the people are over. After all, the roads in the North are difficult to deal with. You can’t do anything from a high position. You have to be close to the people. Although the price of rice in Hakodate has increased, there has never been any trouble.

Having experienced such chaos, one would never have imagined that things would be so serious.

At this time, Hori Toshi snorted coldly:

"If it weren't for Zhixiudian's early efforts to promote potatoes (potatoes), corn (corn), sorghum (sorghum), wheat (wheat, barley) and other products, the North would have been in chaos."

"Brother Li Xi is overly praised, and Nao Hsiu is really ashamed. In fact, the more oil there is, the less food is consumed."

Naohide really didn't dare to accept such a compliment. Bai Zhu was able to be self-sufficient in food for a while, but didn't Hakodate and Bai Zhu merge? Now that the immigration rate is getting faster and faster, the food gap still exists, and we still have to outsource it.

Just fine.

As for the fact that there is no trouble in the Northland, one is that everyone earns a lot of money and can buy from outside, but the more important reason is that fishing and hunting in the Northland have become large-scale, and there is no shortage of whale meat, seal meat, and ordinary fish meat. There is a lot of oil, which is good for

The demand for food will naturally be much less, so that when rice prices rise, they will not be greatly affected.

"Hey, this isn't right. If there is less rice, the production of other grains will definitely decrease. So is it nonsense to say that the country is rich? People don't have enough to eat. How can we talk about being a rich country?"

Naohide and Okubo looked over after hearing the sound, and saw that it was Takeda Heisaburo, the former professor of various arts and now the leader of the regular team, asking questions, and they couldn't help but nodded at the same time.

"There is only a temporary shortage of food. How can the price remain so high?" At this time, someone had already replied with a smile to Takeda's unfounded worries.

But Takeda remained calm and just stared at Naohide.

"Goodbye!" Naoxiu couldn't help but sigh.

As soon as this statement came out, everyone in the house was shocked - after all, the food shortage was still a prophecy, and only the core members of the Naohsiu family knew about it, so many people were surprised.
Chapter completed!