The gold, silver and copper coins issued by the Japanese shogunate were not calculated based on their issuance value, but only based on the actual fineness and content, squeezing out all the water.
This settlement model has caused a large outflow of gold, silver and copper from Japan, but it has also imported a lot of silver dollars and copper coins. In Edo, there is basically no currency of the shogunate. In the past, the vassals issued by the daimyo were exchanged.
Coupons are also rare. People use silver coins and copper coins directly, just like the Yongle Tongbao they used for more than 200 years.
With the help of Zhu Chenggong, Ming Dynasty is now making a lot of money from Japanese trade. Not to mention how much money Japan made from selling goods, just transporting copper back is equivalent to making five times the profit.
Minting in Jeju Port has now become a new industry that is constantly expanding. The number of minting machines is constantly increasing, and the profits from minting are also constantly increasing.
This also makes it so that both the Han people in the concession of the Ming Dynasty and the Koreans outside the concession on Jeju Island are now using the silver dollar copper coins of the Ming Dynasty.
A large amount of gold, silver and copper flowed into the Ming Dynasty, but they were all absorbed. The mintage of the Ming Dynasty had a huge gap in gold, silver and copper, and with trade, the silver coins and copper coins of the Ming Dynasty began to flow into North Korea, Japan, Annan, Myanmar, Liuqiu, etc.
Land has also become their favorite currency.
Coinage is profitable, and the imperial court is naturally happy to continue to mint it. If the money minted is appropriate, some of it will flow out to the surrounding areas, and it can even become a high-quality trading commodity. At the same time, it can also avoid the increase in the stock of silver coins and copper coins, such as the nobility of silver coins and copper coins.
Changes can make currencies more stable.
However, as smuggling intensified and the lords became unscrupulous, the shogunate was now in an increasingly difficult situation. They implemented a monetary policy of the three goods system, with gold, silver, and copper circulating together.
Although Tokugawa Ieyasu obtained Western mining technology from the Spanish and increased the production of silver and copper mines, their ability to mint coins was not good enough.
The shogunate banned the outflow of silver ingots, so foreign merchants focused on the shogunate's silver. The increase in trade volume caused a large amount of silver to flow out.
When there was insufficient silver to settle trade payments, copper bars began to be used for settlement.
The shogunate wanted to cast copper coins specifically for trade settlement and porcelain to reduce the trade deficit in Nagasaki, but whether they cast money or fired porcelain, they faced problems of insufficient quantity and poor quality, which were not enough to solve the problem of trade.
Billing issues.
The shogunate closed other ports, leaving only the Nagasaki trade, and monopolized the trading rights in their own hands. However, facing the goods shipped by foreign merchants, they could not exchange anything of value, but they refused to exchange gold, silver, and copper.
Taking it out for settlement will only continuously reduce the volume of merchant ships and cargo in the future.
But other lords are not allowed to smuggle trade.
This kind of repressive policy is obviously unsustainable.
Not only were the daimyo very dissatisfied, but the big mine owners in Japan were even more dissatisfied, especially the copper mine owners. They were originally powerful lords who worked hard to mine and trade with foreign countries. If they could sell them at a good price, they could exchange them for
You can make a lot of money by flipping all kinds of imported goods.
However, due to the shogunate's ban, the domestic supply of copper mined by Japan exceeded demand. The price continued to fall, and it was unable to be sold, so it was lost.
Mining and smelting copper also requires a lot of costs. The mine owners and copper merchants cannot bear this. The shogunate does not allow the sale of copper. They want to keep it and make money, but their ability to make money is not good and they cannot digest so much.
copper.
Both ends were blocked, so mine owners and copper merchants could only unite with some coastal lords and even some pirates to start vigorously smuggling trade.
The prestige of the shogunate is constantly declining, and the power of local daimyo such as the Hirado clan is constantly expanding.
"The number of ronin scattered all over the country now exceeds 500,000. These people have been unable to get the opportunity to serve in official positions and have long been restless. Like a spark, they can start a prairie fire at any time and sweep across Japan."
Most of the ronin were caused by the shogunate's reduction of feudal lords. A large number of lords were cut off from their vassals, and the samurai who relied on them had no refuge, so they could only become ronin. In the Battle of Osaka that year, Toyotomi's side alone gathered more than 100,000 people.
Ronin.
After Tokugawa Ieyasu unified Japan, he implemented several vassal reductions, which produced waves of ronin. There was no war, and ronin had no chance to become an official.
Some people choose to be farmers, some do business in the castle towns, but there are still many people who are unwilling to wander.
"I think these ronin can be exploited. These ronin are living in quite poverty now. If we recruit them with money and make some promises, we can do a lot."
Zhu Chenggong asked his brother from the same mother, "Can you tell me more specifically?"
“We can call on the ronin to rise up and overthrow the Tokugawa shogunate, or we can simply secretly support the Edo domain lord Matsuura Shigenobu, promising to support him in overthrowing the Tokugawa family and supporting him to establish the shogunate and serve as the general to conquer the barbarians.
We can use the banner of Matsuura Shigenobu to recruit those ronin warriors and promise them that after the Edo shogunate is overthrown, we will grant these ronin territories, give them salaries, etc. At the same time, we can join the rebel army against the Tokugawa family, and we can also receive military pay.
With the salary and salary, these impoverished ronin warriors will definitely be willing."
Matsusuke Shigenobu was the fourth generation lord of the Hirado Domain. The household size of the Hirado Domain was more than 60,000, and it was considered a small domain. Its territory included part of Matsuura County and Hikiki County in Hizen Province and all of Iki Province. The domain hall was located in Hirado.
Hucheng.
To talk about the Hirado Domain, we must first talk about the Matsuura Party. In the Hizen Matsuura area of Kyushu from the Heian Period to the Warring States Period in Japan, with the Matsuura family as the core, forty-eight families, large and small, formed the Matsuura Party.
By the Warring States Period, the Hirado Matsuura clan in the Matsuura Party prospered, surpassing the main family and other branch families, and became the leader of the Matsuura Party. Later, Matsuura Takanobu of Hirado Matsuura unified the Matsuura Party and became a daimyo of the Warring States Period.
During the Kyushu Conquest, Takanobu and his son Jinnobu joined Toyotomi Hideyoshi's side and retained all their territories after the war.
After the Battle of Sekigahara broke out, Zhenxin, who was in charge of the family power, first joined the Eastern Army, and later joined the Western Army, betting on both ends. After the war, he preserved the Matsuura family's territory of 63,200 koku, thus creating a
The Hirado clan of the Edo shogunate became the first feudal lord.
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! Shigenobu, who is still here today, is the fourth generation lord of the domain.
The Matsuura family has always been on the defensive, but the Matsuura family is also very good at fighting. In the battles of Sekigahara and Shimabara, the Matsuura family ended up on the winning side, and they also made considerable military exploits.
The Matsuura family was famous for their fighting skills. During the Heian period, Minamoto no Yorimitsu of the Saga Gen clan, a descendant of Japan's Saga Emperor, served as Hizen guardian. After taking office, he moved his clan members to Hizen. After his term was over, he returned to Kyoto, but his clan members stayed in Hizen.
.
These remaining people separated from the Minamoto family and took their surnames directly from the local Matsuura County and changed their surname to Matsuura. During the Kamakura Shogunate period, the Matsuura clan became a huge samurai group that ruled Hizen Kingdom, with a powerful naval force under their command.
The Matsuura family also multiplied into a large clan at this time, with forty-eight branch families in Matsuura alone. However, they are different from other Japanese families. They usually rule separately, but in the event of a war, they will fight together as a group, so they are called
Matsuura Party.
Relying on its naval superiority, the Matsuura Party was not satisfied with normal trade and began to plunder Koreans. They were called Mishima Japanese pirates by the Koreans. During the Northern and Southern Dynasties in Japan, local restraint was weak. The Matsuura Party convened many ronin and others to rob North Korea. Later, they also robbed North Korea.
Liaodong area.
Later, the Ashikaga family of the Northern Dynasty unified Japan, and a large number of defeated soldiers of the Southern Dynasty poured into the sea, and followed the Matsuura family to continue to plunder the sea. Zhu Yuanzhang of the Central Plains established the Ming Dynasty. Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Di's father and son both requested the Ashikaga shogunate to search and suppress pirates before they were willing to trade with the shogunate.
Because the Matsuura Party was so rampant, they not only robbed North Korea, but also the Ming Dynasty, and even robbed all parts of Japan. All pirates in Japan were simply called the Matsuura Party. The Japanese shogunate would kill Matsuura Party pirates if they caught them.
Later, the Ashikaga shogunate weakened and entered the Warring States Period, with endless conquests from various vassals. During the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty, the Matsuura Party rose again. While engaging in maritime trade, he returned to his old business and worked part-time as a pirate. He also joined forces with Wang Zhi and other pirates of the Ming Dynasty.
Zhi regarded Hirado as his base. The Matsuura family built ships and cannons, recruited ronin, refugees, etc., and followed Wang Zhi and others to plunder the coast of China, causing the Jiajing Japanese Rebellion.
During the Japanese rebellion in Jiajing, Ming pirates accounted for 70%, but Japanese also accounted for 30%. Especially the pirates of the Matsuura family were well-equipped and well-trained lords.
From the former Matsuura Party pirates to the current lord of the Hirado clan, they are actually still the same group of people.
They are just a bunch of pirates at heart.
"Matsuura Shigenobu is also ambitious. As long as we support him, he is absolutely willing to take the risk. Then the five hundred thousand ronin will use it to turn his Japanese country upside down?
Now Iemitsu is about to die. Once he dies, the new shogun will be only ten years old. He can only be presided over by the elders of the family. There is no leader in the shogunate. This chaos will surely start a prairie fire. Let's fan the flames from behind and start the whole Japanese country.
If there is chaos, then we will take advantage of the situation and dispatch troops, and dispatch battleships and navy in the name of helping the Matsuura family. Wouldn't that add fuel to the fire, or even win in chaos?"
Zhu Chenggong looked at his younger brother who was only in his twenties with some surprise. He didn't expect that he had such an amazing strategy. If he attacked by force, the Tokugawa shogunate was only the third generation after all, and its prestige was still quite high. Although Zhu Chenggong thought that the giant
Ship artillery can bombard any port or city in Japan.
But if all Japanese resist, it is not a good idea.
But now my brother's plan is really ruthless. He launched Matsuura Shigenobu, summoned hundreds of thousands of Japanese ronin, and under the banner of overthrowing the Tokugawa shogunate, started to overturn the curtain and let them start fighting among themselves.
When two tigers fight, one of them will be injured.
"You will write a detailed memorial of your plan later, and I will submit it to His Majesty for you."
"Okay, how about I ask my grandfather to test Chongxin's intentions? If he is interested, I can arrange for him to come to you for an interview?"
Zhu Chenggong nodded, "Okay, but you have to be careful with the Matsuura family. These are white-eyed wolves and feed the unfamiliar."
