Although both Japan and North Korea were vassal states of the Ming Dynasty, North Korea was essentially the most similar to the Ming Dynasty and had a higher degree of feudalism.憆
The official system, year names, and etiquette (laws of the Ming Dynasty) are the same as the Ming Dynasty, just like a small Ming Dynasty.
It is precisely because of this that under the Confucian Huayi worldview, North Korea is quite proud and feels that it is the second country in the world.
As for Japan, they are just imitating others and learning a little bit.
Perhaps in the eyes of future generations during the Ming and Qing dynasties, imperial power did not go to the countryside, and centralization was not worthy of its name.
But I am afraid of comparison in everything.
Whether it's North Korea, Japan, or Western Europe or Northern Europe, ordinary people don't have surnames at all, they can only have first names.
In China, in the middle and late Western Han Dynasty, that is, during the reign of Emperor Xuan and Emperor Yuan, Confucianism flourished and ordinary people had surnames.憆
Only by having a surname can we accurately collect taxes and exploit the demographic dividend, which is the basis of centralization.
During the Zhu Yuanzhang period, the first census recognized by historians was launched, and the household registration system, also known as the household registration book, was established, which lasted until the 21st century.
In other words, the control of the people during the Ming and Qing Dynasties reached a historical peak compared with the Tang, Song, and Yuan Dynasties.
However, due to the influence of productivity and financial factors, civil power had to be shared with the gentry, but it could strangle their lifeline-the imperial examination.
If it means that in the Qing Dynasty, the imperial power did not go to the countryside, it was because it did not want to go down. In the Tang and Song Dynasties, the imperial power could only control the county towns and could not go down at all.
In fact, although North Korea learned from the Ming Dynasty, its domestic system was the same as that of the Song Dynasty, with the king and nobles sharing the world.
Scholar-officials are not necessarily nobles, but nobles must be scholar-officials.憆
In the countryside of the Ming Dynasty, the gentry, wealthy families, and the imperial court jointly ruled the world, while in Korea, two groups of nobles, academies, and temples divided the world.
The nobles control power, the academies control public opinion, and the temples control thoughts. If the three are united, the Yamen will naturally become puppets.
The reason why the three are so arrogant is that they have tax exemption rights, occupy land, bully the weak, and accommodate bankrupt farmers as tenants.
The Joseon Dynasty was precisely because of the intertwined roots of the three among the people. Except for Hamjeongdao, which often rebelled due to discrimination, the rest of the villages were extremely stable.
No, the Song merchants and the Gulf merchants received the order from the King of Yue for the population of farmers, and began to return to their hometowns one after another to think about it.
Marquis Xia He was sitting on a donkey cart with a big belly, his face full of contemplation. The donkey was pulling hard, and was guarded by several servants. Sometimes it had to be pushed and pulled when it went uphill.
North Korea's finances are not rich, so the renovation of official roads is maintained by local nobles. After all, if the king doesn't leave, your family will also have to go, right?憆
The imperial country was poor and had few products, and the number of horses was very small. Therefore, the people mostly used donkeys, mules, and ox carts to travel.
Of course, bamboo sedans carried by two people are also popular, but they can only travel short distances.
Pedestrians on the road noticed the majesty of the donkey cart and couldn't get out of the way, their eyes full of fear.
"Uh huh..." The donkey cart jolted, and Marquis Xia He was startled, recovering from closing his eyes to meditate.
"what happened?"
"Master, he is a young man running out of the city, riding a horse." The servant hurriedly reported.
"The one who can be so wanton in Kaicheng is probably a left-behind son." Xia Hehou said hurriedly, with a look of panic on his face: "You didn't disturb him, did you?"
"No, the horses are moving very fast and don't care about us."
Unfortunately, as soon as he finished speaking, there was a burst of dust and a young man riding on a horse said condescendingly:
"Everyone Xia, are you back from Seoul?"
"Young master, you are very polite. I know that you are coming back from Seoul and have just attended the General Assembly."
Xia Hehou said respectfully, mentioning the Chamber of Commerce in his words.
Songshang came from Kaicheng, and was deeply entrenched in the local area. It was extremely powerful. It also helped King Xiaozong, Li Hao, ascend the throne, and it can be said that it became more and more prosperous.
The young man froze and said with a worried look on his face: "I owe some money."
"This is interesting, young man, please take the flowers!"
Marquis Xia He smiled slightly, took out ten silver coins from his arms, wrapped them in his purse, offered them carefully, and raised them above his head.
"Clear money? I will pay you back." The young man showed a smile, took the money, and ran away on horseback.
"Let's go!" Xia Hehou breathed a sigh of relief, with a look of pain on his face, and got back on the donkey cart.
Ten silver coins were nothing in the Ming Dynasty, but in North Korea, where money was expensive and food was cheap, it was a huge sum.
But there was no way. Although he was also a nobleman of Yangban in name, he donated a large amount of property when King Hyojong ascended the throne in Pyongyang and joined the Yangban as a pariah.
This was the process of selling officials and conferring honors that had to begin during the Imjin Japanese Rebellion. Later, whenever there was a financial crisis, North Korea would sell officials on a large scale, causing middle-class people and craftsmen to become two classes of aristocrats.憆
By the 19th century, two groups of nobles even accounted for 70% to 80% of the population, and the finances were close to collapse.
Therefore, as a new member of the second class, even if Xia Hehou was rich, he would not dare to mess around with the young master who was left behind.
After rushing into the city, the gatekeeper looked at Mr. Xia's outfit and didn't dare to ask for money, so he let him go.
Kaesong was the capital of the Goryeo Dynasty for 600 years. It is also home to the specialty Korean ginseng and is now one of the three capitals.
After walking around and returning home, I rested for a while before I had to invite someone.
Invitation from Song Merchant Guild.
Like the Huizhou merchants and Shanxi merchants in the Ming Dynasty, Songshang belonged to a loose but close-knit hometown chamber of commerce and monopolized the business of Korean ginseng.憆
It basically arbitrates the fight among the members of the Chamber of Commerce, and at the same time unanimously competes for external interests.
When they arrived at the home of the meeting leader, dozens of wealthy and powerful businessmen gathered. Everyone sat down in separate seats and the discussion continued.
Marquis Xia He sat quietly and listened with his ears pricked up.
"This year's tribute of one hundred thousand stones to the Celestial Empire should be sent from Ping'an Road and Xianjing Road..."
"Of the 20,000 yuan given, His Highness's practice is to give out half as salary and half to build Gyeongbokgung Palace and the mausoleum..."
"That's the job of Taiwanese businessmen. They are the best at currying favor with the prime ministers."
"Not necessarily, we can still strive for it, a little bit is a little bit."
The so-called tribute refers to the tribute treaty between the Ming and Dynasties. North Korea paid a tribute of 100,000 stone grains, and the Ming Dynasty gave 20,000 yuan in money.
Nowadays, North Korea's rice is more expensive than silver and rice is more expensive. One silver dollar can buy three to four stones of rice. North Korea has begun to be able to bear this tribute.
But at that time, North Korea's annual fiscal revenue was only 200,000 shi. Even if it lost 30,000 to 40,000 shi in rice, it would still be an uncomfortable situation.
As a result, the merchants were in great misfortune. The merchants in each of the eight dynasties of the imperial court collected enough to make up for the loss of 20,000 to 30,000 shi of grain.
The imperial court received 20,000 silver dollars, which made up for the shortage of gold and silver, and occasionally earned a little.
In fact, many officials wanted to give up the tribute of 100,000 stones to the merchants, but the three major chambers of commerce, Songshang, Jingshang, and Gulf Merchants, tried their best to persuade them, and they were able to avoid it.
Suddenly, a middle-aged man came slowly.憆
As soon as he arrived, everyone stood up and saluted respectfully.
He is Songshang Dafang, Zhao An, who was recommended by the merchants and has great prestige.
Especially when he was in Pyongyang, he overcame all opinions and asked Songshang to contribute 30,000 shi of grain and 10,000 taels of silver to support the then crown prince Li Hao's ascension to the throne, which was a huge benefit to Songshang.
"Everyone, I think everyone is aware of the matter of Eiso Island. The King of Etsu of the Celestial Dynasty is about to join the vassal. Although it is a poor and cold place like Ezo, it is still a country after all."
Zhao An said with a smile on his face: "The king of Yue said that strong men and women will receive two silver coins each. This is a large sum of money."
"In addition, the newly built Yue Kingdom is in particularly short supply of rice, grain, and iron tools. If we take the lead, we can make a lot of money from this."
"Dad Fang, I wonder how much money the King of Yue has?" a businessman asked.憆
"I found out from Mingren that the King of Yue ranks fifth. According to the custom of the Celestial Dynasty, there are hundreds of thousands of silver coins."
These words excited all the businessmen.
North Korea now has only 20 million people. After Yeongjong
After the island was opened to trade, Hucao's annual income was 200,000 shi in tribute (actually 600,000 shi, most of which was wasted) and one million taels of silver, which was twice as rich as in previous years.
Don’t get me wrong, the two here refers to the North Korean currency. One tael is equal to one hundred copper coins, but one million taels is actually only one hundred thousand silver coins.
In North Korea, the monthly salary of a top-ranking official is only three shi, eight buckets of rice, and two shi of beans.
After the trade during the Xiaozong period, the salaries of officials above the fifth rank were reformed and became silver coins.
Even so, the annual salary of a first-grade prime minister is only thirty-six silver coins.憆
The mere fact that the king of Yue became a vassal had North Korea's fiscal revenue for a year or even several years. What a piece of fat this was.
"So, when we work for the King of Yue, we have to be careful." Zhao An said seriously: "I think that before the autumn comes, we Songshang must recruit 10,000 untouchables so that we can pay homage to the King of Yue."
"Dafang, how do you divide the money?"
"Yes, 10,000 people are easy to handle. Let's figure out the number of people first. Don't mess up the position."
"I'm willing to recruit a thousand people to help our Songshang——"
"Why, I have two thousand people——"
For a time, everyone started quarreling over money.憆
Later, as the eldest brother, Zhao An directly began to discuss the division of accounts. He directly ate 2,000 people and took the majority. The remaining 8,000 were divided among many merchants.
Basically, it is barely fair based on the level of power and prestige.
Xia Hehou only caught 300 people and could only sigh.
Even so, it is worth his two or three years' net profit.
"We, Song Shang, must be careful in our work. The advantage of having children, not counting the number of people, is that they will be a blessing to the King of Yue."
Finally, Zhao An added something and then left.
Xia Hehou quickly returned home.憆
After resting for two or three days, he left Kaicheng and went to his farmland.
After donating the identity of two classes of nobles, not only did it become easier to do business, but one could also legally plunder and purchase the property of ordinary people.
Now, he owns Baijie land and can be considered a moderate landowner.
The land of the imperial court was calculated according to the output of knots, negatives, bundles, and handles. One knot of land was the land that produced twenty shi of rice, which was almost twenty acres.
Baijie is about two thousand acres.
There were nearly a hundred tenant farmers who farmed for him. Each of them had to pay half of their rice to him, and they had to pay the tribute rice themselves. They could only live hand to mouth.
"Nowadays, when the dynasty recruits immigrants, those who go to cultivate land will not only have enough to eat and drink, but each household will also be given ten acres of land..."
"In the Kingdom of Heaven, everything is good, and I can get rid of my status as a pariah. If I didn't have a family here, I would have gone-"
While shouting, Xia Hehou spared no effort to make up the benefits. He even prepared mung bean soup and distributed it to this group of people in order to promote the idea of going out for fun.
Koreans are divided into five classes: clan, yangban, common people, quasi-untouchables and untouchables.
Commoners are small traders, craftsmen, and basically the concubines of nobles, also known as middlemen.
Quasi-untouchables include hwarang, wandering maidens, shrine maidens, etc. Untouchables are slaves.
But for the two classes of nobles, civilians are almost the same as ordinary people, even their own common sons.
In addition, Xia Hehou also has another trick: 憆
For those whose families had three to five acres of land, after the summer harvest, he directly took back the farmers' loans, forced them to give up their land to pay off the debt, and then forced the impoverished people to go to the country of Yue.
Lending and borrowing with compound interest are a specialty of businessmen, and they are also a major weapon for rural land annexation.
Smart businessmen will never give up until they squeeze out a little bit of money.
Sure enough, by early July, Songshang had recruited 10,000 men and women and more than 10,000 children, exceeding the task.
…
Japan, Satsuma Domain, Shimadzu family.
Tsushima's family Kao Lao clan letter came to visit.憆
The feudal lord Shimazu Mitsuhisa was just about to leave for Edo to attend the meeting, so
Out of curiosity, he met him.
The clan letter was also unambiguous and said directly: "I know that after the shogunate closed the country, the Shimazu family's taxes were greatly reduced and they were unable to make ends meet. Therefore, I, the Umohara clan, came to offer advice to your clan——"
Shimazu Mitsu was stunned for a long time, but didn't answer, and then smiled and said: "As far as I know, the noble domain is not much better. It's too late to save itself, so why did they recruit the Shimazu family to save me?"
"Your Highness, I know that peace can benefit both sides, so we don't care about gains and losses."
Zong Shixin said seriously.
Shimazu Mitsuhisa smiled, poured himself a glass of wine, and said, "Let's talk about it!"
He stared at the clan letter intently, obviously not at peace in his heart.憆
"Last month, the King of Yue went to Edo to ask for the Tokugawa princess, but in fact he wanted to establish a vassal and a country in Ezo."
Zong Shixin also poured himself a drink and said calmly: "It's a pity that although the Ming Dynasty supported hundreds of thousands of taels of gold, it didn't have many manpower to open up wasteland."
"So, the King of Yue is going to recruit people from your noble clan. Each couple, including their children, will give you two silver coins from your noble clan."
"Two silver coins?" Shimazu Mitsuhisa looked moved.
In Japan during the Edo period, only one tael of silver during Nagasaki's foreign trade was worth copper coins. In fact, one tael of silver in Japan was only worth about two hundred cash.
Two silver dollars didn't seem like much, but they were just recruiting people, so he just had to sit back and collect the money.
Moreover, after many years of peace, the Shimazu family's samurai and peasant population grew. After these people went to the Yue Kingdom, they could also make the land richer, which was simply killing two birds with one stone.憆
"I don't want silver coins." Shimazu Mitsuhisa came to his senses and said in a deep voice: "Give me raw silk, books, porcelain, medicinal materials, ginseng, Korean paper..."
Zong Shixin was startled when he heard this, good guy, this is going to make money twice!
"Only the shogunate side?"
"We belong to a domain to a domain, and also within the country."
Shimazu Mitsuhisa chuckled and said, "I didn't touch your seventy shiploads of goods."
