Add Bookmark | Recommend this book | Back to the book page | My bookshelf | Mobile Reading

Free Web Novel,Novel online - All in oicq.net -> Historic -> Qianming

Part One: The Storm of Penghu Chapter 383 The Financial Problems of the Satsuma Domain

Previous page        Return to Catalog        Next page

    Satsuma Domain, whose external name belongs to the Shimazu clan, has a height of 770,000 koku, ranking second in Japan.

    The origin of the Shimazu family is from the retainer of the Konoe family, Yuizuki Tadahisa. According to legend, the ancestors of Yuizune Tadahisa were a clan named Yumizuki-kun who came here across the ocean from mainland China.  Lord Gongyue claimed to be a descendant of the First Emperor of Qin, so he was named after Qin, and his clan was called the Qin clan.  Another theory is that Tadahisa Yuizune was the seventh son of Minamoto Yoritomo, the younger sister of Minamoto Yoritomo and his retainer, and the son of Tango Bureau.  After the founding of Minamoto no Yoritomo, the Shimazu family became local lords.  In the fourth year of the founding of Japan, Yoritomo Minamoto appointed Tadahisa Yuimune as the head of Hyuga Shimazu Village.  Soon after, he was additionally appointed to the position of guardian of the three kingdoms of Satsuma, Osumi, and Hyuga. After Sodahisa took office, he changed his surname to Shimazu based on his village name.  This is how the Shimadzu family was established.

    At that time, Kyushu was inhabited by indigenous people named Hayato.  Still have not accepted all the culture from this state, which means that the locals still retain barbarian customs.  The folk customs are strong and strong.  He repeatedly stood up to confront the central Yamato court.  Several uprisings caused great shock to the central government.  Wei Zongzhongjiu received the support of the central government because of his reputation as the guardian of the Three Kingdoms. After taking office, he tried to integrate with the local government.  Despite repeated setbacks.  But some progress has still been made.  So it quickly became a major force in Kyushu.

    After the end of the Kamakura shogunate and the Muromachi shogunate - during the Southern and Northern Dynasties, the Shimazu family always stood on the side of the samurai family.  As the vanguard of the samurai army to resist the palace, the head of the Shimazu family, Shimazu Sadahisa, was also a famous general in the samurai army.  In this way, we passed the Muromachi period and entered the Warring States period.

    In the seventh year of Daiei in Japan, the Shimazu family split and Takahisa Shimazu, the Iwahata family, succeeded the family as governor.  However, his accession caused divisions in the family.  As a result, a war began between Takahisa and Tadashi.  In the fifth year of Nihon Astronomy, Takahisa captured Ijuin Castle from another branch of the Shimazu family, the Sashu family. In the seventh year of Nihon Astronomy, he defeated Minoru in the battle of Kasada Castle and unified Satsuma, the base of the Shimadzu family in the future.  .  Takahisa's victory laid the foundation for the Shimazu family who would later become a Sengoku daimyo.  So he is called the real ancestor of the Shimazu family

    After unifying Satsuma, Takahisa moved his residence to the inner city. After that, he devoted himself to making his hat of Guardian of the Three Kingdoms worthy of the name.  This set off a series of wars.

    After surrendering to Hideyoshi Hashiba, the Shimazu family was located in Kyushu.  And became the main force of Hashiba Hideyoshi's army.

    On the Korean battlefield, the Shimazu Army gave full play to its toughness and daring spirit, and its fighting will was particularly tenacious.  The fighting power is also extremely fierce.  It can be called the most difficult opponent for the Chinese and North Korean coalition forces.

    So much so that the North Korean general Shimazu Yoshihiro, the chief general of the Shimazu Army, called him "Onishi Manzi".  The combat effectiveness of the Shimazu Army was recognized by both sides.

    But the war of aggression itself exceeded Japan's national strength. Thanks to the heroic fighting of the Ming army, the Japanese army was defeated in repeated battles.  So the Japanese army was finally defeated and returned home.  After returning to Japan, the Shimazu family went through successive wars, and their territory was reduced.  It was supposed to be a time to recuperate.  However, the ensuing Sekigahara War forced the Shimazu family to send troops again.  The Shimazu family chose the Western Army in the Sekigahara War.  As a result, he was punished after the war.  Although the family name has not been cancelled.  However, a lot of land was confiscated, leaving only Satsuma and a small part of Osumi's territory.  The Shimazu family, which survived two hundred years of war during the Warring States Period, became the Satsuma clan and became one of the three hundred great names of the Edo shogunate.

    And now, Tsurumaru Castle, the main city of this once tyrannical daimyo, has been attacked by artillery fire from the Ming Dynasty

    Ding Yunyi is not worried about whether the attack on Tsurumaru Castle can be successful. His only concern is the governance of the Satsuma Domain after the war

    And no one has a more thorough understanding of the Satsuma Domain than Hisao Shimazu.

    In Shimazu Hisao¡¯s introduction, the financial problem that troubled the Satsuma Domain most was the financial problem.  If we say that financial problems were a common problem that plagued all feudal clans during the Edo period.  Then the situation in Satsuma can be ranked first among the feudal clans.  Due to many reasons, it is no exaggeration to say that the Satsuma Domain was basically on the verge of bankruptcy during the two hundred years of the Edo period.

    ??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? The Satsuma clansmen were regarded as country people and suffered repeated discrimination.

    Since the establishment of Satsuma Domain.  Financial problems have always been the number one problem in the vassal government.  It is precisely because of financial difficulties that the Satsuma Domain has been unable to carry out various reform projects.  Resulting in the long-term backwardness of the Satsuma Domain.  And the consciousness of long-term backwardness has become an obstacle to reform.  The financial problem of Satsuma Domain is that there are too many recurring and non-recurring expenditures.

    The first problem comes from the feudal organizational system of the Satsuma Domain.  The feudal organizational system of the Satsuma Domain is quite unique, called the outer castle system.  This unique system is similar to the imperial family system of the Kamakura shogunate. It is also a historical legacy of the Shimazu family since they were named guardians by the Kamakura shogunate.

    The biggest feature of the outer city system is that its warriors do not gather and live near the main city, but live in small strongholds near the fields.  Satsuma Domain has a large number ofThere are small military strongholds such as mountain fortresses and plain fortresses called "foot".  These places are collectively called the outer city.  The main city headed by the Shimazu family is the inner city.

    These military strongholds were populated by large groups of semi-samurai or quasi-samurai.

    These people farmed in peacetime, and organized themselves to attack during wartime.  This situation exists on the one hand because the Shimazu family, as the guardian daimyo during the Kamakura shogunate period, inherited the imperial family system in order to unify the local area as soon as possible, and retained a large number of local wealthy families and their clan members in their territory.

    Entering the Warring States Period, these gang members were transformed into the so-called outer city warriors, that is, quasi-samurai.  On the other hand, the outer city system is also a result left over from the long years of war in the Satsuma Domain.  Since the Satsuma Domain entered the Warring States Period and had never stopped fighting until the establishment of the Tokugawa clan, it was better than other feudal clans.  The Satsuma Domain needed more mobilized troops to maintain its combat effectiveness.  Therefore, Satsuma was able to take care of both war and farming, and also to control the country.  A large number of quasi-warriors were established in various villages.  Samurai warriors accounted for more than 30% of the total population, close to 40%.  The proportion of people is so high that it is rare to see it.

    ¡°Moreover, the Shimazu family was defeated by the Honshu Central Committee when they almost completed their goal of unifying Kyushu and were forced to vomit out a large amount of land.  A large number of samurai and quasi-samurai who had been established during the unification of Kyushu suddenly lost their land, and the Shimadzu family could not abandon them.  As a result, the Satsuma Domain had many feudal lords.

    Because there were too many feudal lords, the territory was reduced.  Therefore, the salary issue of these feudal lords made the Satsuma clan scratch their heads.

    The second problem comes from the shogunate. The Satsuma clan and the shogunate can be said to have a bitter feud.  During the Battle of Sekigahara, the Shimazu family not only belonged to the Western Army.  He also wounded Naomasa Ii, one of the Four Tokugawa Four Heavenly Kings, with a musket.  This made the shogunate deeply wary of the Shimazu family.  Not only did they arrange attendance and handover tasks, but they also continued to send out a large number of laborers.  Satsuma Domain was originally one of the feudal domains farthest from Edo.  Therefore, each attendance report costs a lot of money, about 50,000 taels per trip.  Plus a lot of labor.  The financial burden is extremely heavy.

    There are also big problems with the geographical environment of Satsuma Domain.  Difficulties in irrigation and numerous natural disasters.  As a result, although the Satsuma Domain has a nominal income of 770,000 koku, its actual income is often only a little over 350,000 koku.

    Low income and high expenditure, as well as the consumption of long years of war.  The Satsuma Domain was left extremely poor.

    In order to alleviate this poverty situation.  Satsuma Domain's solution was to send troops to Ryukyu.  During the period of Shimazu Tadashi, the founder of the Satsuma clan, he conquered Ryukyu.  The Shimazu family seized 40,000 koku of land on Amami Oshima.  At the same time, they gained the right to profit from Ryukyu's tribute trade.  This greatly alleviated Satsuma's financial difficulties in the early and mid-term.  And it also gave Satsuma a strong source of income.  For example, brown sugar produced in Amami Oshima.

    Sugar was a valuable commodity in Japan at that time.  Confectionery from various places from Honshu to Kyushu, as well as traditional sake brewing, all require brown sugar when making them.

    At this time, the largest producer of brown sugar was Amami.  Therefore, this huge benefit is exclusive to Satsuma.  Brown sugar established financial credibility for the Satsuma Domain.  The feudal government took advantage of brown sugar.  Successfully obtained a large number of loans from businessmen in Osaka and other places.  It provided immeasurable help to the early and mid-term feudal finances.

    However.  The Satsuma Domain seized the interests of Amami and Brown Sugar.  It only effectively alleviates the financial distress.  In fact, it just left Satsuma in a half-starved state.  The finance department still needs to borrow money to meet daily expenses.  The high interest attached to borrowing has gradually become another major burden on Satsuma's finances.  Therefore, various reforms in early Satsuma.  It only alleviates the fiscal crisis.  It's not really about reversing the financial situation.  It even adds significant financial difficulties later on.  Essentially, it is still on the verge of bankruptcy.  This can be seen from the feudal debt of Satsuma Domain.

    When the first generation feudal lord Shimazu Tadashi was in power, the feudal debt was only about 20,000 yang. After the second generation Shimazu Mitsuhisa took office, the feudal debt expanded to 350,000 ryo.  The domain's credibility was questioned.

    Thanks to the lucky discovery of Nagano Gold Mountain at that time, the credibility of the Satsuma Domain was maintained.

    "Yongye Jinshan?" Ding Yunyi's eyes lit up.

    "Yes." Hisao Shimazu sighed: "However, the Satsuma Domain's gold mountain was just ready to be excavated, and then it was suppressed by the shogunate. As a result, the finances were immediately tight. Although with the help of brown sugar, and offerings from Ryukyu and other places, the Satsuma Domain  The shaky credit was barely maintained, but the financial difficulties of the Satsuma Domain were not truly reversed.¡±

    Ding Yunyi nodded slightly.  This means that the Shimazu family of Satsuma Domain is actually on the verge of collapse due to financial problems.

    And conquered the entire Satsuma Domain.  Defeating the Shimadzu family is not enough. How to take advantage of the Shimadzu family's financial constraints to completely turn the Satsuma clan into its own puppet?

    It¡¯s not just about occupying and conquering a placeThe problem of Satsuma Domain is that this place will become a bridgehead for attacking Japan in the future

    And Shimazu Hisao¡¯s introduction also allowed Ding Yunyi to discover the serious contradiction between Japan¡¯s local daimyo and the Tokugawa shogunate.

    The Tokugawa Shogunate was ruled by two generations of shoguns.  The basic political and economic system of the Tokugawa era was established.  Japan was placed under the control of the shoguns and territorial daimyo.  The Edo shogunate owned the "Tenryo", a directly-administered territory whose income accounted for a quarter of the rent rice turned in by farmers nationwide. Part of the territory was entrusted to its retainers and samurai "Hatato" and "Oikawa", called "Gichi"  , and the rest are under the control of the general family.  In addition to the territory under the direct jurisdiction of the shogun, about 70% of the land was entrusted to the 270 daimyo in the country. Each daimyo had territory ranging from 10,000 koku to 1.2 million koku.  They distributed the annual tribute from their territory to their retainers.  The accompanying minister also granted the "Jia Lai" immediate retainer a salary of rice.

    The daimyo are controlled by the shogun and bear political, economic and military obligations to the shogunate, but they are the highest political monarchs in their own territories and have financial, military, judicial and administrative powers.

    The generals and samurai class formed a monarch-minister, master-slave relationship through the enfeoffment and granting of territories and Lumi.  The daimyo, hatamoto, and imperial family members swore loyalty to the shogun for his heavy burden of public and military service.  Accompanying ministers, samurai, vassals, etc. also had to serve loyally to the general and their respective "lords".

    The entire ruling class is composed of generals, daimyo, and samurai of all sizes.  In order to control the country's daimyo, the shogunate placed the kin-domain and gushidai in important places in Kanto, Kinki and the East China Sea, while the foreign daimyo moved to remote areas such as Tohoku, Honshu San'in, Sanyo Ryodo, Kyushu, etc., and also moved the territories of each vassal  Staggered to achieve mutual restraint effect.

    After the Battle of Osaka, the shogunate established a one-country-one-city system, and all castles in the domain were demolished except for the daimyo's residence.

    The main financial source of the shogunate is the tribute rent exploited from the farmers in the territories directly under its jurisdiction.  In addition, it dominates important cities and mines across the country, monopolizes the main domestic markets: Edo, Osaka, and profits from foreign trade, and concentrates the gold, silver, and copper ores collected by various lords as raw materials for coinage and important export commodities.  Gradually control the economic lifeline of the country.

    Throughout the Tokugawa era, although the daimyo throughout the country maintained a state of separatism, the shogunate had absolute advantages in politics, economy, and military.

    The shogunate formally respected the imperial family, pretending that the shogun was conferred by the emperor and that the shogunate was entrusted by the imperial court.  In fact, the emperor was treated as a puppet and used to deal with the feudal vassals. Anyone who rebelled against the emperor could be suppressed as an "enemy of the court."

    The shogunate gave

    The rice rented by the royal family and monasteries and shrines nationwide only accounts for less than 10% of the annual output of the country's public land. The royal family's annual income is only 30,000 dan, the total income of all the ministers and nobles is less than 150,000 dan, and the entire imperial court and other incomes are only 40 to 50,000 dan.  One hundred thousand stones is far less than a big prince.

    Since the royal family relies on the shogunate for support, it can only obey the shogunate's orders in everything and please the shogunate.

    And this also caused serious opposition and even irreconcilable conflicts between the daimyo and the shogunate, and between the shogunate and the imperial family.

    When Ding Yunyi figured this out, a comprehensive plan to deal with Japan had been formed in his mind

    Sooner or later, Japan will be in its own hands. It will take advantage of contradictions and intensify them at the same time. In the end, it will achieve what it wants!  (To be continued: Gone with the Sky. Registered members of literature recommend this work.
Didn't finish reading? Add this book to your favoritesI'm a member and bookmarked this chapterCopy the address of this book and recommend it to your friends for pointsChapter error? Click here to report