In a large house in Ishinomaki Port, Jiuzang and a dozen of his men with guns and live ammunition were watching the surrounding activities closely. Opposite them, seven or eight warriors wearing bamboo hats were motionless. Their hands were always pressed on the handles of the swords at their waists. Their nervous foreheads were sweating slightly, and they did not dare to breathe.
This is the house of the owner of Murataya. The yard is full of yellow and white chrysanthemums, with a few pink ones showing occasionally.
In the teahouse in this courtyard, Zhao Xin sat in the distinguished guest seat on the east side, Shibata Kakuzo, the head of the Sendai clan, sat at the entrance on the southwest side; and in the host seat on the west side, a man in his thirties sat A guy of many years old, with slender eyebrows and fair complexion. This person was dressed in casual clothes. Under the introduction of Shibata Kakuzo, he respectfully saluted Zhao Xin.
"His Royal Highness King Zhao, this is the ninth generation head of the Tsunoda Ishikawa family, Mr. Ishikawa Murafumi, an elder of the Han clan."
"My Lord, Ishikawa Murafumi, this time I am only representing myself to pay homage to His Highness King Zhao."
"I've heard of you for a long time, and it's my honor to meet Mr. Ishikawa today." Zhao Xin also bowed slightly with a smile on his face.
Looking at the guy across from him who finally resigned and stepped down after more than ten years because of his addiction to drinking and having sex, regardless of the financial difficulties in the domain, Zhao Xinxin said that it is good to indulge in drinking and sex, and continue...
After nearly two years, when the news of Zhao Xin's return reached Aoba City, it caused a sensation within the Date family.
Relying on Heita's previous revelations to Shibata Kakuzo and the news sent back from North Korea, in the eyes of the Sendai Domain, Zhao Xin was no longer the tyrannical and rude person he was when he signed the "Ishinomaki Secret Treaty" two years ago. The Tang Yi leader was the "Pre-Ming Zhao King and Empress" who defeated the Qing army twice and the shogunate twice.
Facing a "descendant of the vassal clan of the Ming Dynasty" who has a large number of troops and is very likely to overthrow the Manchu Qing Dynasty and dominate the world, no matter how crazy the Date family is, they dare not put on airs; after all, the current head of the family, Date Shigemura, is just a subordinate of the fourth generation. It's just Lieutenant General Sakon Guard Kwon.
The old fox Morinobu Endo still couldn't eat this year's new rice and passed away in May. Zhao Xin heard Shibata Kakuzo's description like a sudden myocardial infarction. After a private discussion among the members of Aoye Castle, Ishikawa Murafumi decided to take action personally.
Without him, Beihai Town is now too important to the Sendai Domain's finances.
Relying on close cooperation with Beihai merchants, from the second half of the seventh year of Tianming (the forty-ninth year of Qianlong), no warrior or civilian in the Sendai clan starved to death, and no petition broke out.
In addition to the refugees who flocked to Aoba Castle and Ishinomaki Port from all over the country to seek a living, they were taken away by Beihai Town. The boss of Katsuyama Denmiwa and the village house also smuggled thousands of people to dig coal in Ezo.
A large amount of rice, silk, sugar, cigarettes, matches and even candles landed from Ishinomaki Port and flowed into the markets of Edo, Osaka and even Kyoto along the Tokaido, giving Edo and Kyoto a false sense of famine in this era. Unprecedented prosperity. However, due to the tight financial situation in the market, the Beihai Company currently only received a thick stack of gold, silver, and other paper bills, and not much metal currency.
Relying on the "Samurai Debt Relief Plan" proposed by the Hokkai Company, the lives of various samurai families in Sendai Domain are now much easier. Originally, Zhao Xin wanted to use part of the profits from the Beihai Company to help the samurai pay off their debts, but no one was stupid these days; it was the samurai who were in charge of finances in the domain who woke up first, and together they found the Murata House. boss.
A group of people came up and first expressed their gratitude, and then said that since you are going to help us pay off the debt, can you not pay it back yet and count this part of the money as my personal investment in Beihai Company? Don’t worry, as long as we pay dividends, we will never interfere in the business operation of the company.
"Don't worry, we will keep this matter a secret. I won't tell anyone else!"
Pooh! Who are you trying to fool with these words? In these days, warriors from all families are marrying each other, breaking bones and connecting tendons, no one is ordinary.
During the years of famine, when the market was depressed and food prices soared, the samurai were suffocated by debts. Every time they received the salary, they first repaid old debts and then borrowed new debts, which became higher and higher. No matter how ambitious you are, you can't make it a living; what's more, you still have a large family to support behind you.
Originally, many warriors were reluctant to join because Tang Yi was behind the Beihai Company. But when the news came out that the Tang Yi leader was a descendant of King Zhu Ming Zhao, the warriors immediately found a way out.
oops! It turns out that they are descendants of the Emperor of Heaven, and they are all one family! Why didn't you tell me earlier? You see what happened. Well, since it is His Royal Highness King Zhao’s business, then I will take a share!
What did you say? Did my boss die in the battle at Matsushima Town? Oh, that's all a misunderstanding! Since he collided with His Highness King Zhao, Xiao Shi deserved to be punished. Besides, I am the one inheriting the family business now...
So in the spring of this year, most of the Sendai clan samurai became dividend shareholders of the Hokkai company; in the end, even Ishikawa Murafumi, the elder of the family, invested money in the name of a relative.
Ishikawa Murafumi's visit to Zhao Xin this time was actually secretly entrusted by the head of the family, Date Shigemura. In addition to testing Beihai Town's next move against the island country, he also wanted to explore in-depth cooperation with Beihai Town.
"His Royal Highness, King Zhao, I am here to meet you this time to reassure you. The Date family has no ambitions towards the Ezo Territory. Our sending troops to join the expedition team was ordered by the Shogun and we have to obey."
At this time, the water in the soup pot was almost boiling. When Shibata Kakuzo heard the sound, he put a piece of thick cotton cloth on it and poured the hot water into the Kyusu (teapot) where the tea leaves had been placed. A faint tea fragrance that resembled orchid but not orchid rose up. Ishikawa Murafumi sniffed his nose and praised: "It is indeed the world-famous Longjing tea."
Zhao Xin brought the tea, and he didn't want to drink Japanese matcha. The way of drinking tea today is "sencha". This way of drinking tea, which is different from the traditional tea ceremony, was brought to the island country by Zen Master Yingen, a senior monk of the Rinzai Sect in the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties. It has become popular among literati since the early Edo period. Come. This way of drinking tea is free and casual. Unlike the traditional tea ceremony, you are not allowed to talk while making tea or even drinking tea.
Zhao Xin took out a small light blue package from his pocket. Under the surprised gazes of the two people in the room, he tore open the package and pulled out a white wet wipe that exuded a pungent alcohol smell.
Ishikawa Murafumi and Shibata Kakuzo wrinkled their noses, wondering what the other party meant. Zhao Xin picked up the empty cup in front of him and wiped the inside and outside of the cup with the white wet wipe, then smiled with satisfaction.
Zhao Xin held the tea cup and pretended to admire it, then looked at the other party and asked: "Your Excellency Ishikawa, I heard that the Prime Minister Kunigong (the nickname of Tokugawa Ieharu) was poisoned to death by the Hitotsubashi faction?"
"Ahem!" Ishikawa Murafumi almost choked on his tea, his face flushed red, thinking that the news had just spread from Edo, and the person in front of him knew it so quickly!
Shibata Kakuzo poured tea for Zhao Xin and then said: "His Highness is really well-informed! There is such a theory, but this kind of thing without evidence cannot be brought to the table."
"What do you think of the newly succeeded child?" Zhao Xin stared at Ishikawa Murafumi and continued to ask.
"This! This is really not something that we vassals can discuss." Ishikawamura Bunshin said why this man is staring at the general.
The leader of the spy, Shibata Kakuzo, said: "I know a little bit. I heard that in addition to being busy deciding on the candidate for the new senior officer, the shogun is now thinking about how to give his biological father, Sakonoe of the Hitotsubashi family, Lieutenant General Quan, please treat me like a royal palace."
Ishikawa Murafumi continued: "Your Highness, I heard Mr. Shibata mention that the short muskets in Beihai Town can shoot out several projectiles in an instant without ignition, or there may be elbow-locking changes. I hope to buy some."
Zhao Xin seemed not to have heard anything and continued to drink tea with his head down. When Ishikawa Murabumi saw it, he quickly winked at Shibata Kakuzo. Shibata Kakuzo put the teapot back on the tray and said slowly: "Your Highness, Ishikawa-sama also made this request because the head of the family was in a difficult situation in Edo. I hope Your Highness agrees."
"Oh? Did Lieutenant General Sakonoe Gon have a bad time in Edo?"
Shibata Kakuzo sighed and said: "It's not just unsatisfactory, it's simply dangerous..."
Through Shibata's narration, Zhao Xin finally understood that the 44-year-old Date Shigemura had suffered several assassinations in Edo. To say who among the feudal clans in the island country hates the Sendai clan the most, the first one is the Mon family of the Toda clan who committed suicide, followed by the Saga clan who was defeated in Nagasaki.
We were killed, injured and punished, and your Ida family secretly colluded with Tang Yi and lived a happy life. Is this even justified?
So the Toda family met with the retainers under the Saga Domain to discuss it, and both parties unanimously decided to perform "天の Punishment on behalf of others", which means to destroy you on behalf of the moon!
Don't forget, Saga is the place where ninjas are born, and assassination is their specialty. Although the ninjas of Hizen are not as famous as the ninjas of Koga and Iga in history, they have not been in vain for hundreds of years. After being harassed and assassinated several times, Date Shigemura almost became mentally ill. Every day, he had to be surrounded by a circle of guards outside his bedroom before he could sleep.
The problem is that ninjas are not that easy to catch. These people usually look like farmers and live the lives of farmers. They have been hiding for several years or even more than ten years. There is no such thing as a lair.
As for the shogunate, ever since Tokugawa Ieji died of his eldest son, the old man has been very ill and has no mind to care about other bad things; the old Nakatanuma Yoshiji's son died the year before last, and he was disheartened. The shogunate didn't care, and other feudal lords were happy to watch the fun with a cold eye.
To say that the Sendai Domain is making people jealous is not even a day or two, and it goes without saying that it is a shameless performance when attending duty. Since the third year of Tianmei, all the feudal lords have tightened their belts and lived a hard life. However, since the Sendai clan got on the line with Tang Yi, its life has been getting better and better day by day. Why don't you call us for such a good thing? Do you think everyone in the Ida family is blind?
After listening to Shibata Kakuzo's explanation, Zhao Xin pondered for a while before nodding and said: "The short guns can be provided. I will give you twenty, with thirty rounds of bullets each. But I have two conditions."
Ishikawa Murafumi's face was filled with joy. Now not only Date Shigemura's, but also his own safety was guaranteed. He quickly said: "Your Highness, please speak."
Zhao Xin said slowly: "There is a six-year-old child in Kamihiragi Village, Tsukuba County, Hitachi Province. His father's name is Shobei. You bring his family here."
Ishikawa Murafumi and Shibata Kakuzo looked at each other and thought, that's it? Although Hitachi belonged to the Mito Domain, it was not easy to capture a handful of peasants.
"The second thing?" Shibata Kakuzo couldn't help but ask.
"Sendai Domain has sent out five hundred elite soldiers and fifty domain men who can write and calculate. They will leave the domain and pledge allegiance to Beihai Town. Pay attention! I don't want any civilians!"
"This!" Ishikawamura Fumi's hand trembled, and the tea cup dropped on the banquet. Ishikawa used to do business and resell some people. Ishikawa felt that this was a way for the domain to save itself during the famine years. But now the other party actually asked Sendai Domain to join the gang!
Zhao Xin had already made up his mind to tie the Sendai clan to his chariot. There is no free benefit in this world. If you eat from Beihai Town, you have to pay it back twice as much today.
Seeing the two men falling into silence, Zhao Xin sneered: "According to the shogunate's military service system, 2,155 troops are required for every 10,000 shi. Your Sendai clan is 620,000 shi high on the surface, but it's over a million shi secretly. It's only a few hundred Is this difficult for people?!”
Fumi Ishikawa held his fan tightly and thought to himself, can samurai and civilians be the same? With your big mouth, there are five hundred and fifty warriors! According to the regulations of the shogunate during the Kan'ei period, 13 troops must be sent for every five hundred stones high; this is not a condition, it is simply trying to dig into the heart of the Sendai clan!
Zhao Xin continued: "I will form a Qingye Battalion with these five hundred people. If we drive out the Tartars and recover China in the future, your Sendai people will naturally have a share of the credit in the history books."
Shibata Kakuzo said quickly: "His Royal Highness King Zhao, if the shogunate finds out about such a big thing, our Sendai clan will be in big trouble!"
"Hmph~" Zhao Xin smiled disdainfully. "Is there any trouble? Will the shogunate send troops? Think about it, can the Mikawa samurai of today compare with those of the past?"
Yes, the world has been at peace for nearly 200 years, but today's Mikawa samurai have long lost the courage they had back then. What everyone cares about every day now is how to fill their stomachs, raise goldfish and plant flowers, and then sell them on the market to make money to support their families. Who wants to learn the art of war?
But the problem is that the samurai of Sendai Domain also have the same virtues. Many of them even sold their armor!
As far as Shibata Kakuzo knows, many lower-level samurai in the domain are currently so weak and skinny due to long-term deprivation of food that they can even half-death from exhaustion while holding long spears in a square formation. If a war is fought on the basis of morality and gender, everything will go haywire as soon as the order is given.
After a long while, Ishikawa Murafumi said with difficulty: "This matter, I need to report it to the head of the family before I can decide."
"Report? Haha, Lord Ishikawa, your Sendai clan has a different system from the other clans. You don't need to discuss this matter with Lieutenant General Sakonoe Quan. You senior retainers can decide on your own."
It is said that the bureaucracy of Sendai Domain is slightly different from other feudal domains. In most other vassals, the feudal lords allocate land to the feudal lords for management, and distribute salaries to the feudal lords. The feudal lords pay all the taxes collected.
The feudal lords of the Sendai Domain did not have to turn over all the taxes collected. At the same time, the feudal lords could also have certain judicial powers in their territories. Among the retainers there were many daimyo-level domain owners such as 30,000 koku and 20,000 koku, so they could mobilize more troops than the feudal lord.
For example, the Tsunoda Ishikawa family owned 21,000 koku, and the Tamura family owned as much as 30,000 koku.
There are seven levels of upper-level retainers in the Sendai Domain: Ichimon, Ichiga, Ichiclan, Quasikechi, Zuza, Tachijojo, and Daiban; the lower-level samurai are called sushi.
A hundred years ago, after the fourth generation of the feudal lord, Date Tsunamura Moto, took over, he reflected on the reasons for the "Kanbun Rebellion" and removed important ministers and members of the clan from the first level of the feudal administration in an attempt to strengthen the feudal lord's power. However, this failed Encountering strong dissatisfaction with important ministers and members of the clan, Tsunamura was forced to retire. Subsequent generations of family heads wanted to solve this problem, but the domain has been in deep financial crisis, and the situation exploded whenever this issue was mentioned.
Ishikawa Murafumi looked at Shibata Kakuzo fiercely, while the other party looked at him innocently, which clearly meant that this was not what I said.
"In this case, I need to go back to Aoba City to discuss with each company before making a decision." Ishikawa Murafumi gritted his teeth and said.
"I'll give you ten days. After I come back from Edo, I want to see someone! Let me remind you, don't look for some ronin to promote and make up for your mistakes. If you really want me to find out, you should move from Aoba Castle. .”
"Moving, what do you mean by this, Your Highness?"
"Guess?" After Zhao Xin finished speaking, he put down the tea cup and showed a strange smile.
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