Kuze Hiroshu, the former leader of the old school, was regarded as the leader of the Central Conciliation Faction after Masahiro Abe retired into seclusion. However, even though he was a Conciliation Faction, he did not have a position, but his methods were milder.

If he really had no position at all, he would have clashed with the elder Jingyi in Anzheng Prison and resigned.

After all, the people in the center of the shogunate are all meat-eaters, but some are gentle and some are fierce.

Even when the Kuze and Ando factions were in power, the senior middle school leader Nobumasa Ando was also a fierce man, but in the general direction, Kuze's reconciliation was still the main focus.

But how can we reconcile Fuso's bird-like appearance now? The meat has become less and the fight has become more intense:

The Kuze family's own capital was not strong enough, and it could not produce exchangeable benefits, nor could it solve the dilemma of soaring prices and difficult people's livelihood after the large influx of foreign goods, so its collapse is not surprising at all.

Originally, the collapse of Kuze and Ando's family was quite complete. Both of them were "sequestered forever" and never recovered later.

But now Naohide has entered the scene, so the ending is very different. Ando was deposed, but Kuze escaped unharmed - he lost his first rank, but was demoted to the winner, Fang Laozhong. Not only did he escape and be liquidated,

He also left the capital to participate in the imperial government.

But as the price of getting out, he not only dragged Abe Masahiro into the water - Ishikawa Bunbei came forward, which was to represent Abe, the former leader of the old school, otherwise everyone wouldn't buy it, and he also had to be at the critical moment

Always act as a gun to someone. After all, it’s no longer time to be the boss.

On the day before the Edo Grand Appraisal Meeting at the beginning of the month, Kuze also convened the Lao-China Appraisal Meeting. At the meeting, in addition to proposing his resignation, he also proposed to promote industry and reform the economy. After that, he resigned as the leader of Lao-China, but

The matter of reforming the economy is not over yet, so we are bringing up old matters again today.

When Kuze mentioned this, everyone in the meeting became energetic.

why?

Of course it is related to interests.

It turned out that Kuze's original proposal, in addition to promoting agriculture and encouraging private development of the orchid science industry, also put forward two important suggestions, one was to open a Western bank, and the other was to open up the Ezo land.

Fuso also has a bank, which is the "Liangdai Shang", which is not only responsible for currency exchange such as gold, silver and copper, but also saves money and lends money - in fact, in addition to Liangdai Shang, there are also "Zangwu Shi", "Guangwu" and "Zhazai"

"Even ordinary merchants' shops, these also operate in lending, but among them, the two merchants are the largest.

With two independent merchants, why do we still need to set up a Western Bank?

Kuze explained it this way at the time:

"Nowadays, the government and the public are struggling to make ends meet, which is a great harm."

What does that mean?

Kuze said that both the shogunate and the people had financial difficulties. The expenditure was greater than the income. Who could bear it? Therefore, he suggested the establishment of a Western Bank.

As for why the Bank of the West was established, there are two reasons;

First of all, he is not strong enough in the two-way business.

The world is not good, and the original two-person merchants, such as the most famous "ten-person two-person merchant", are not doing well. In the past, the shogunate deposited money in these houses, but now when withdrawing money, they often resist and fail.

That’s not to say there isn’t one, but it’s often delayed.

So Kuze suggested that it would be safer to keep the money yourself.

21. In the past, the shogunate didn't know what finance was. Although there were minting institutions like gold, silver, and copper, they were entrusted to hereditary merchants. But now, with the help of thoughtful people, Kuze has discovered that there are many shortcomings in them, so

I also thought about innovation.

As for setting up a bank instead of establishing a second-party merchant, it is because "samurai are not allowed to do business." If this is a bank, most people cannot understand the inside story. Isn't this evading material discussion? Isn't it just because of this that it is famous for hiding one's ears and stealing the bell?

Too much has been done.

Moreover, this bank is a new thing, so it can avoid the random interference of various companies - wealthy businessmen such as "Ten People Team Two Standing Merchants" are often unclearly involved with ministers. This has established a new name, and it is not easy for businessmen to intervene.

of.

to

Kuze also had a good plan for what to do after establishing the bank:

The first is to lend money to raw silk merchants and so on.

It turns out that when foreigners purchase Fusang properties, the small amount is fine, but for large amounts, there is often a three-month payment period, which makes all Fusang merchants troubled.

Speaking of which, this was the result of the intrigue between businessmen on both sides.

Fuso merchants often work together to raise prices, and foreign merchants are unwilling to suffer losses. Once the three-month accounting period comes out, in order to get the money as soon as possible, the Fuso merchants' alliance cannot be maintained - the one with the lowest price will naturally get it early.

The money is received, and if the interest earned over three months accumulates, it can also be considered an income for the foreign businessman.

Therefore, Kuze suggested that banks lend money to raw silk merchants, etc. This is really a good idea, it is safe and the turnover is fast - in fact, this is what the Fuso government did after the Restoration, which not only stabilized the export price, but also earned money and interest.

Second, if there is really good business, this bank can also lend money.

As for what is good business, the shogunate is in charge of the big government. If it doesn't even know where the money is, isn't it nonsense?

To be honest, Kuzeti’s idea of ​​establishing a bank is quite in line with the thoughts of all the veterans:

Yu Gong, according to Kuze, is a good thing for the shogunate and merchants;

Well, if you build a bank, you can't say that you have to give them a layer of oil - as for how to do it, it depends on each person's means.

But compared to foreign things like banks, Kuze’s other suggestion is more popular with everyone. It’s so rude, I like it!

What did Kuze propose again?

That is "Salt and Reclamation Ezo Land".

In fact, before Kuze said this, this big root (radish) in the Ezo land had been hanging around for a while - in February of this year, the Ogosho family did a big thing before retiring, and the Matsudaira family was founded.

It’s hard to say anything else about the establishment of a country in the Northland, but everyone understands one thing, that is, the reclamation of Ezo land has initially achieved results - if there is no foundation, establishing a country? Establishing a country is a ghost.

To be honest, Fuso is obsessed with developing the Ezo Territory, but that is just because he has won battles many times, and his evil intentions will never die.

The former great traitor and former veteran Nakatanuma Yiji once said, "Ezo land has at least six million koku!"

But the shogunate tried hard several times, but failed to get it done.

However, in the third year of Kaei (1850), Naohide Hide built the Hakushu shrine, and in the seventh year of Kaei (1853), the shogunate reopened the Hakokan shrine. It seemed that things had finally turned around.

The senior middlemen and senior officials present here were stimulated by the founding of the country by the Matsudaira family, and they all secretly read the documents of the Northland.

I'm afraid of taking everything seriously. I don't know if I don't check. I was shocked when I checked. It turns out that Northland is quite prosperous now, and what's more terrible is that there are a few people who have taken advantage of it first. It's just that they are getting rich silently and never say anything.

That’s all:

In April of the summer of the second year of Ansei (1855), Edo ordered Matsumae Takahiro, Date Keikuni, Satake Yoshimutsu, and Tsugaru Juncheng to send troops to garrison Ezo and Hakodate.

In September of the sixth year of Ansei (1859), the shogunate ordered six families including Date Qingbun, Hoshiko Yoshiho, Nanbu Riko, Satake Yoshiji, Tsugaru Seiretsu, and Sakai Tadaka to help cultivate the Ezo land.

Originally, this kind of military service is not a good thing, and it is often thankless for the efforts. As for saying that there is hard work without credit, it depends on conscience. But conscience, in the eyes of the ruling leaders

It's unreliable.

But the accounts of the Shogunate Survey Office show that not only the original Hakodate Office has long since turned a profit, but the six companies that helped to reclaim the Ezo land have also suffered losses-Hokuchi has to file accounts every year, and these six companies originally started from Hakodate

The museum's office borrowed a lot of money and food, but now instead of increasing it, it has begun to repay the debt.

Logically speaking, since it is to help cultivate the Ezo land, it should not be a loan from the Hakodate administration office of the shogunate. However, in the current situation, even the own territory cannot take care of this loan. As long as Hakodate is willing, Edo will not be much better.

explain.

But the borrowed money and food have started to be paid back, what the hell is this?

If you think about it with your knees, you will know that this is a profit.

In fact, if it were not for Naohsiu's intrusion, these six feudal princes would not be able to colonize

The results were not good, and later around 1866, they gradually withdrew from the Ezo land. But now, with Naohide's group's planning and unwavering support, although the reclamation only lasted two years, basically every family has begun to recover their capital.

This favor is there, and since it is profitable, each family cannot afford to default on Hakodate, who has been helping him, so they can only start paying off the debt - and there is no choice if they don't pay it back. Hakodate keeps a close eye on each family's details in Ezo.

Everyone knows very well that if there is money in the treasury and they still don't pay it back, then they can't do anything.

After checking the accounts, these old Chinese and Omatsu sent people to six companies that were assisting in the reclamation to interrogate them in detail, and they confirmed that the Ezo land was indeed profitable.

This is really bad!

If you can't pick up the money, it's just lost. It doesn't count as my share.

Therefore, at the beginning of June, Kuze proposed the "reclamation of the Ezo land". These people were the ones who were happy. If Kuze had been so sensible earlier, no one would have to kill you.

In fact, Kuze was wronged. He had already set his sights on Ezo, but the problem was that all parties did not cooperate:

When the imperial family was in power, there was no water; Kaomao finally became a public figure, but after he took charge, he made trouble for him everywhere, and stopped him no matter what, and he shed tears every time he talked about it;

And the most important thing is that the top and bottom leaders of Hakodate were extremely uncooperative. When asked, they said that the time had not come yet. There were still a group of people in Edo who complained and complained for him - headed by the left-behind Ihori Ken and the eldest son Izawa Masayoshi.

These people said that the Ezo land was the foundation for the revival of the shogunate, and it was too much for the six princes to help cultivate it. If it were to be distributed to outsiders, they agreed, but Tachi could not agree.

Kuze has been unable to produce exchangeable benefits, so the matter has been stuck.

It wasn't until Abe Masahiro sent Ishikawa Bunbei to mediate that all parties relented on the matter, but it was already too late - actually not too late. Ando was not saved, but at least Kuze escaped from the shouts and beatings.

Now that old things have been brought up again, everyone here is very happy. Look at people, they keep their word. Now it depends on the attitude of the elder Qingyong.

But Kuze has now taken refuge in Qingyong, and if he dares to mention it, he has said hello. Of course Qingyong will not stop him, so the first elder, the sixth elder, and the three elders all agreed:

"Nowadays, there is a shortage of fusang. It is urgent to reclaim the Ezo land. This matter cannot be delayed any longer. We must quickly submit it to the public. After the general agrees, we will work together to draw up a list of companies that will assist in the reclamation."

As for who is on the list, it is very hard to cultivate the Ezo land. The Daimyos and Daishen Hatamoto here must be brave enough to do their job.
To be continued...