In the leap August of the second year of Bunkyu (1862), Yokohama Kanye Bank was established, with Hachiro Mikaoka as its president. Its business was mainly short-term lending to merchants trading with foreigners.

It turns out that when foreigners purchase Fusang properties, the small amount is okay, but for large amounts, there is often a three-month payment period. Fusang merchants are all troubled by this:

One, with three months of accounts to pay, wouldn’t the capital turnover be tight?

Secondly, it cannot be said that there is no risk in this. Although it is not common for foreign merchants to escape, it does happen, and for this purpose, each company has sent people to guard Yokohama, which adds an unreasonable cost.

The reasons for foreign merchants to do this are also very strong. Fuso merchants often work together to raise prices. 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 - of course, the three

The accumulated monthly interest can be considered as an additional income for foreign merchants.

Therefore, the emergence of Yokohama Quanye Bank was a great benefit to Fuso merchants:

The payment slip of this foreign businessman can now be directly handed over to the bank for mortgage and cashed out. Although some interest has been paid, it is definitely worth it for the sake of capital turnover and risk aversion.

And I’m willing to wait three months before settling the bill, so I’m not saying no.

This is an extra way, who dares to say it is not good!

As for banks, because of their background in the shogunate, foreign businessmen are not too difficult to deal with, so they can still make some profits. If a small amount is added up, the future is promising.

This banquet for Hashimoto Tsunaki's coming-of-age and cleansing was held on October 15th. Yokohama Quanye Bank started operations two months ago, and the first batch of foreign merchants' payment slips it acquired were starting to be cashed out at this time.

When Mikaoka Hachiro mentioned these things, he was naturally very ambitious, and the ministers present here were also very happy.

Why are these people happy?

Of course, it's because the bank also owns its own shares, so it's a good thing that there's no loss. What's more, according to what President Mioka said, dividends can be expected. Isn't this an unexpected surprise?

At first, the winning side, Kuze Hiroshu, the old man in charge, proposed to establish a Western-style bank, and later obtained the consent of the shogunate. Although it was under the banner of economic development and benefiting the people, the outside world did not see it that way:

Liangdai merchants similar to Chunghwa Bank have long appeared in Fuso, the most famous of which is Osaka's "Ten-member Liangdai merchants" established two hundred years ago.

Now that the shogunate is setting up this Western-style bank on its own, let’s not mention the fact that "samurai are not good at doing business", nor the innovations in structure, name, and accounting, but what the hell is paying interest on deposited money?

You know, even if you have a wealthy businessman like "Ten People for Two", if you want to come to deposit money, you still have to pay a storage fee to them. As for the money and interest, you can only get it by asking these wealthy businessmen to lend money.

You can get money and interest casually like this, Shogun, are you serious?

Therefore, the princes and ministers all thought that this was a new posture developed by the shogunate for the purpose of collecting money.

But this latter view is a bit shaken, because the shogunate did not adopt any tough laws to require deposits, but after all, the time is still young, and it is possible to fish for big fish in the long term, so everyone is still waiting and watching - Fuso's economy has been in decline since it opened to the outside world.

The people are in dire straits, but there are still many people who have money, but they just have no way to invest.

But individuals can wait and see, but princes cannot completely stay out of the matter:

Didn't the little imperial edict in June say that the shogunate should select five princes to assist the government? Qingxi, Qingyong's operation, actually connected this matter with the bank.

In the original shogunate system, the imperial court entrusted the great power to the shogunate, and this power fell entirely into the hands of the daimyo and the shogunate. Nowadays, the fusang is swaying, and the shogunate has left the shogunate. In order to tide over the difficulties, in order to prevent the princes from rushing to support the shogunate.

Regardless of the imperial court, this decentralization of power and joint discussion is imperative.

But how to operate it, that is, "the benevolent sees the benevolence, the wise sees the wisdom".

Fuso is small in size, and the turmoil in recent years is closely related to the opening of ports to the outside world. Therefore, internal and external trade can be regarded as the top priority today.

Therefore, it is not surprising that Qingxi and Keinaga regard banks as a stepping stone for deepening cooperation between the Tokugawa clan.

Before, the shogunate acted arbitrarily and put all the tariffs into its own pocket; now, it has opened an opening through the Yokohama Quanye Bank and started a model of equal sharing of interests.

Despite the current turmoil in material discussions, after all, the shogunate has been dominated by one family for more than two hundred years. The princes, especially the foreigners, really have no idea of ​​​​reaching the world in one step. Therefore, after carefully considering the pros and cons of the bank, everyone started to invest in the bank one after another.

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In the leap month of the first year of Manen (1860), Edo issued a five-grade Edo order, requiring the unified purchase and sale of five kinds of goods in Yokohama: miscellaneous grains, water oil, wax, Wufu, and raw silk.

The power naturally fell into the hands of wealthy businessmen who were closely related to the shogunate.

Now, taking advantage of the opportunity of the establishment of the Yokohama Bank, the shogunate has opened its mouth and stated that the five-level return order will continue to be implemented, but the management rights can be liberalized, and now all the royal merchants can get a share of the pie.

In fact, the shogunate has no choice:

The Fifth Order of Edo stipulated unified purchasing and sales, but many powerful daimyo did not abide by it.

For example, in raw silk, which is the most profitable, those who have a way to do it start a secret trade by themselves. As for those who don't have a way, they can find partners who have a way to do it. No one wants to let the shogunate take advantage of it in vain.

Now that the operating rights are released, Yokohama's trade growth is just around the corner, so Quanye Bank's advantages are immediately reflected. There is a saying that wealth is strong, and whoever controls this bank will undoubtedly control the merchants and trade share in disguise.

To be honest, if it were not for the concerns about the shogunate, limited risks and limited capital, the princes would have wished to open such a bank themselves.

Moreover, the shogunate also changed its original domineering style and made the Yokohama Quanye Bank a semi-governmental institution. Although it was under the jurisdiction of the assigning party, its personnel and operations were completely independent, and everything was negotiated by the investors.

To show people's sincerity, although the first capital of 100,000 gold came from the shogunate, even the president was appointed by Hachiro Mikaoka, a member of the Echizen Fukui Domain.

It is seen as just a small bank, but in fact it has the prospect of remotely controlling trade with foreigners. Since the shogunate is willing to share the benefits, naturally some people will support it.

What was left after today's dinner, each family has invested in the bank, most of which are Qingyong, Qingxi and Shimazu, each with an investment of 30,000 gold.

Seeing that Qingyong's confidant Mikaoka Hachiro was boasting there, and many people present were flattering, Qingxi's mastermind Fujita Biao couldn't sit still, and he couldn't help but stabbed:

"The foreigners are about to be expelled, but this bank is helping foreigners trade. I'm afraid it's inappropriate."

This statement was so disturbing that everyone in the audience was stunned as soon as it came out:

"What is this person thinking? Your boss is also involved in the bank. Did he drink too much and start talking nonsense?"

In fact, no one understands the inside story, so Fujita said this because of the thorn in his heart:

Those present here, Echizen of Keinaga, Matsuyama of Laonaka Itakura, Satsuma, Choshu, Tosa and Minamikarata, and even the Matsushiro clan who was born in Sakuma Shoyama are all rich. As for how the money came from, they all have money.

Related to colonial industry, industry and trade.

Mito, where Fujita was born, has always been agricultural-oriented and abandoned commerce since Sai Zhao's Tenpo Reform. Therefore, it was hit hard after it opened to the outside world and is now extremely poor.

Originally, the people of Mito were poor and ambitious, so they could comfort themselves with military strength:

“We just don’t bother to engage in crooked ways or anything like that.

Now is the time when Fusang is in danger, so the top priority is to strengthen the army to resist foreign aggression. After the foreign aggression is defeated, the rivers and seas will naturally flow."

However, Shirozu, in collaboration with Aizu Kamira, and the Northern Army arrived at Nakaminato by boat on September 4th, and traveled through Mito to reach Edo within three days. This incident completely removed the last fig leaf of Mito:

Although Shirozu Banbing has never fought against Mito, he can still tell the difference between his strengths and weaknesses.

The bright helmet, the sound of the boots, the tall body, the high spirits, all made the Mito samurai feel ashamed of themselves. It was just that they didn't have enough to eat and didn't wear warm clothes, but the energy and spirit they were proud of were all compared to them. This is terrible

How to break?

Afterwards, someone from Mito went to Edo to complain about the incident to Fujita Tiao. Fujita became angry at that time and believed that the Shiro Matsumae family were sycophants and that they landed from Naka with the intention of establishing prestige for Mito.

Mito and the shogunate have been at odds with each other since the old family leader Sai Zhao, so it is understandable for Fujita to think so.

In fact, he guessed right:

The route that White Lord sent his troops to was southward along the East China Sea Road, from Oshu to Edo.

As for the port of landing, it is near Edo. Of course, troops cannot enter the port in violation of the shogunate's ban. However, under the general government, Choshi Minato, Shimoda or Nirayama in Izu, we can try to get it. Considering the long distance to send troops to the north,

But it may not work.

And Naohide had no good intentions when he insisted on choosing Naka to land. He just wanted to scare the Mito Tengu Party. Don't sit in a well and watch the sky all day long, be arrogant, have the leisure, farm well or do some economic work, and spend your small life.

Living a prosperous life is better than nothing!

The Mito Tengu Party is worried about the country and the people, and Naohide dare not have any opinions, but if they disagree, they use knives and guns, and even kill people. This is too arrogant, and the disease must be treated.

Therefore, Fujita's mistake was indeed not wronged. From Naohide's point of view, the Matsumae family, the head of the White House, were dissatisfied with Fujita and even the general's posthumous meeting.

But Fujita was dissatisfied, and he overestimated his ability to provoke trouble in public:

Not only Naohide, but everyone present here, including Sakuma Shozan, who is also the mastermind of Qingxi, is incompatible with Fujita. We are all famous figures in our country. It is these people who started the colonial industry and vigorous trade. Why?

Do you Fujita have any opinions?

Since the Zhixiu chaos began, the wings of this butterfly have long been replaced by larger ones. Even if it is not as big as the Luzon eagle with a wingspan of 2.2 meters, it can still be as big as the big white goose with a wingspan of 1.4 meters. If you make a goose feather fan, it will be very impressive.

Nowadays, the impact caused by intrusion is huge. Let’s take the people here today as an example:

Mito Fujita Hiro, who survived the Great Edo Earthquake in 1855, is now alive and kicking, and can even sneer at people with great energy;

And Sakuma Shozan of the Matsushiro Domain not only did not live in seclusion because of the drag of his student Yoshida Yukata, but because of the support from the north, he made great achievements in the development of the Matsushiro Domain's colonial industry. Now he hooked up with Qingxi - Matsushiro two years in advance.

There are many high mountains and basins in the domain, and the climate is similar to that of Ezo, so it can be seamlessly connected with northern agriculture and breeding industry.

As for Yokoi Tokitomi, this Mr. Kokusu now has deep roots in the Higo Kumamoto clan. Although he still has a feud with his family elder Nagaoka and is not reused by the clan, among wealthy merchants and farmers, he is worshiped like a god descending to earth.

Endless.

Of the remaining three of Keinaga's four closest confidants, Tsunano Hashimoto did not die in Ansei Prison, and Hachiro Mioka, he is now the president of a bank and has become the leader of the in-depth cooperation with the Tokugawa clan. Only Mr. Nakane has changed the least in quality, but

Now the Fukui Domain is much stronger than before, and he has benefited a lot from the rising tide.

Next are Saigo Takanaga of the Shimadzu family, Yoshida Nobukata of the Choshu Mori family, and Yoshida Motokichi of Tosa:

Xixiang did not jump into the sea with the monk Yuezhao. Instead, under Naohide's arrangement, he went to North America to study. Now he has returned to Fuso and won the trust of the family owner Qi Bin. No, he was very active in hooking up with various families in Edo.

.

Of course, without being exiled to a desert island, this second spring would be gone, but Naohide believed that Saigo, who now had a beautiful wife, would never care about this.

As for Yoshida Nobukata, like Hashimoto, he escaped the fate of death in Ansei Prison, and he also got his wish and went to England to study. Now he is the servant of the head of the family, Mori Qingqin, and is able to participate

Changzhou's great political affairs can be called a divine reversal.
To be continued...