New Shun 1730

Living in the home of the Tang Tongshi Mei Sanjuro is a great favor.

The sailors and others in the Tang Ren Town are governed by the ship owner, the Japanese street chief, and the Tang Tongshi.

As the saying goes, "There are also knife-stab hands at the door, guarding day and night. If you buy a fish or a vegetable, you must go through his inspection before you can enter the house." Before the country was closed, big merchants could buy houses directly in places such as Hirado, but now it is not possible.

The Tang Ren Town is also clearly divided. There are the Jiangsu and Zhejiang gangs, the Fuzhou gangs, and the Zhangzhou gangs. The people of the three parties are like water and fire.

After all, this kind of trade policy is like this. If you get one more trade license, others will get one less. The Tang ship has a total of 25 trade licenses, and there is no more. Everyone can only roll up.

After living here for a few days, Liu Yu also inquired about the situation in Japan from many sources. It seems that this trade is really a bit painful.

It is easy to ship goods to Japan. Raw silk, white sugar, mercury, and medicinal materials can all be exchanged for money.

But it is hard to say about the return trip, as the most in-demand goods are still copper.

100 jin per box, one box in Japan, including bribes, transportation and other fees, is about 13 taels of silver.

Once the goods arrive, they can be sold at 25 taels per box as soon as they land.

If they can be secretly transported to the Dutch, they can make more money. Now Europe is also short of copper, not only for casting coins, but also for casting cannons.

In addition to copper, there is not much left for Japan to sell, and the rest is collectively called "tawara".

It sounds like dried salted fish, squid strips, dried kelp and other things, but in fact there are also porcelain, gilded objects, ornaments and so on. It may be to prevent the porcelain from breaking, so some dried kelp, dried abalone and other things are filled in it.

In the war at the end of the Ming Dynasty, the production of Chinese porcelain was hindered, and the Japanese seized the opportunity to burn porcelain on a large scale.

Relying on the advantage of sea transportation, the Dutch began to import Japanese porcelain in large quantities after they could not get Chinese porcelain, the so-called "Imari ware".

In recent years, the Dashun has gradually stabilized, and the advantages of Japanese Imari ware have gradually decreased.

Looking at the situation, if the porcelain can be properly repaired, it should not take long before Imari ware can no longer be exported.

Copper can be sold at a good price when it is returned, but the dried sea cucumbers and dried abalone in this gift are not easy to sell in recent years.

The south is okay, but the north eats less, and Liaodong and other places also produce them. In those years, the status of Tanka households was abolished, and some Tanka households were immigrated to the coastal areas of Liaodong, which also led to the gradual collection of abalone and sea cucumbers in the coastal areas of Liaodong.

Ask again, and I really don’t know what else to transport.

If it is to transport grain, it is okay to pressurize it, but Japanese rice is not cheap either, and it will lose money if it is returned.

Arai Shiraishi, who came up with the Zhengde New Order, is a knowledgeable person. He said, "Grains are like hair, there is no time to stop; hardware is like bones, and they will never be reborn." Therefore, a series of policies were introduced to tighten the outflow of heavy metals.

Before, Chinese merchants could still lower the price.

With strong capital, they cooperated with each other after arriving in Nagasaki. The Jiangsu and Zhejiang gangs, Fuzhou gangs, and Zhangzhou gangs agreed together that no one would make an offer, waiting for Japanese merchants to lower the price on their own initiative.

Japanese merchants wanted to deal in copper, open mines, turnover, and interest... They really couldn't beat these sea merchants, so they could only lower the price themselves, fearing that Chinese sea merchants would not buy. They relied on other goods to make up for the loss of copper prices, which was still profitable overall, and cheaper than holding the goods and paying interest.

Now it's the opposite. As soon as the trade token license was issued, the three gangs started fighting among themselves, and the copper price also rose. Although there was still profit, it had also risen from 10 taels per 100 jin to 13 taels in recent years.

The three gangs that could unite to lower the price before now hated each other, which made those interpreters and the like tremble. As long as the ship arrived, they could receive bribes, and each ship owner only wanted to get a trade license.

Liu Yu was too lazy to bribe, so he directly got contraband. Not only did he get the first trade license, but he also got 700 taels of "commendation silver".

China has 25 trade licenses and the Netherlands has 6. It seems that China has a big advantage. However, Japan is actually more willing to do business with the Netherlands. At least those "Imari ware" porcelains can be sold. I haven't heard of any Chinese merchants bringing porcelains from Japan back to China to sell.

Since you are living in someone else's house, some things are hard to say, for fear that the wall has ears.

Some things can be casually chatted. Liu Yu asked Lin Yunwen if porcelain could beat local Japanese porcelain if it was shipped to Japan.

Lin Yunwen actually didn't understand the concept of free trade, but he still gave an answer based on his own experience.

"Master, if Japan allows porcelain to be sold, Jiangxi porcelain will definitely beat Imari ware. But now there is a ban, and foreign porcelain is prohibited from being sold in Japan. Several ships came with porcelain before, and even the trade licenses were deprived, so they could only return the original goods."

Lin Yunwen told Liu Yu what he knew about porcelain, and Liu Yu made a judgment and agreed with Lin Yunwen's statement. It seems that Japan still has a lot of oil and water to squeeze.

In the next two months, Liu Yu has been wandering around Chinatown and Nagasaki. Although there are samurai following him whenever he goes out, he just treats them as if they don't exist and just wants to broaden his horizons.

He asked about the Dutch trade here and found that it was similar to what he had guessed. After the Dutch were able to get the goods directly from the Chinese port, they did not go far away and stop selling cloth in India, but directly chose to be the porter between China and Japan.

The goods of the Dutch were similar to those brought by the Chinese ship owners, the only difference was that there were more Western goods, but the share was not large.

This is a huge risk for the Dutch.

Perhaps these years have been so peaceful that the Dutch have completely forgotten to consider the risk of China suddenly banning sales to the Netherlands.

After repeated inquiries and confirmation of the composition of goods in the Netherlands over the past decade, Liu Yu had a good idea that Chinese goods accounted for more than 80%.

After two months of wandering around, the shogunate finally sent someone over. A samurai named Tomita Mataemon was sent to personally inspect the historical riding and archery techniques.

Liu Yu's move of bringing war horses and warriors caused a great shock to the shogunate. Soushichiro Ogibu was both a master of Confucianism and a close aide of the shogunate. When he was editing and reading books such as the "Daimei Code", although it sounded like he was working behind closed doors, Soshichiro Ogibu still passed the "Daimei Code" and "Meikai Code". " and other books, basically understand the political structure of the early Ming Dynasty.

Some things are guesswork, and some things can be directly inquired by former immigrants who traveled east to Japan. However, Soshichiro Ogibu didn't know much about Dashun's situation.

The situation in the south is not bad. Whether it is maritime merchants from Jiangsu, Zhejiang or Fujian, you can know a lot about the situation in Jiangnan through information and inquiries.

However, the north is not open to ports and is closed off. It is difficult to gain a comprehensive understanding of many internal situations in Dashun by relying on reading and guessing at home.

The Liangjiazi group is a fairly closed circle, and it is naturally impossible for businessmen to know the internal situation.

Soshichiro Ogigo wrote eighty questions to the sinology masters here in Nagasaki. If they can all answer these eighty questions, they can improve the shogunate's understanding of Dashun's internal situation.

This time, he heard that Dashun might be a close associate of a high-ranking official involved in smuggling. Soshichiro Ogiyu thought this was a rare opportunity.

The shogun also agreed with his statement and sent Matazaemon Tomita, who was highly skilled in martial arts, to inspect the skills of the Dashun warrior who was "skilled in bow and horse". At the same time, he asked Soshichiro Ogito to write some new questions.

There are some inquiries about intelligence collection and some goods that they want to obtain, and they urge Nagasaki to pursue them together.

He also believes that the value of this businessman is very great. Unlike those businessmen who can only transport raw silk, the value of this businessman should be valued. If it is confirmed that this person really brought a powerful warrior, then he should be given more trade cards appropriately to gain trust and long-term relationships.

Nagasaki's envoy Hosoi Yasuaki has already seen Shi Shiyong's abilities, and he doesn't dare to report them first without seeing them. Now the people from the shogunate who specifically verified this matter had arrived, and they held a banquet and invited Liu Yu, Shi Shiyong and others.

Since arriving in Japan, Liu Yu has not spoken to Shi Shiyong about Japan again, because he has said enough before.

Shi Shiyong also understood what Liu Yu meant: teach him whatever he wants, including personal bravery.

Liu Yu had also told Shi Shiyong before to stay here with peace of mind and not to deliberately collect information. Just keep what you saw and heard in your mind.

Now knowing that the Japanese shogunate sent a special person to see it, Shi Shiyong also cheered up, mounted a mule-like horse, took out his treasured horn bow, and showed off some bow and horse skills while the horse galloped. Fan.

There are a lot of fancy moves, but also a lot of practical skills.

Tomita Mataemon was an expert in Japanese swordsmanship, and he could tell that this man was indeed a talented person with extremely high skills. Although he didn't know how good he was with swordsmanship, as far as bow and horse were concerned, he seemed to be invincible in Saikaidō.

Others present, such as Hosoi Yasuaki, Fukami Yurihata and others, were also amazed.

Seeing that your neighbor was an educated man, he looked at Shi Shiyong's skills, so he used an allusion and sighed.

"It is the prime minister's fault to have such a talented person fall into disrepair!"

After the translation had lost all the meaning of this sentence, Shi Shiyong impassionedly read out the words he had rehearsed countless times in his heart.

"A certain person originally wanted to take the Wude Palace exam, but his mentor was injured. In order to take revenge, a certain person killed several people in a row. Exactly, a knight uses martial arts to violate the prohibition, and kills people to pay for their lives. This is the law. You can't take the Wude Palace, and you don't want to have any skills. When I was empty, I traveled eastward. My husband was born in Song Dynasty and became famous in the Qin Dynasty. "

I had rehearsed these words countless times in my mind and had been holding them in for nearly a year. When I burst out at this time, it was really full of emotion and emotion.

After finishing speaking, I saw a neighbor who couldn't help but praise: "The style of a true ancient scholar!"

Hosoi Yasuaki then asked Tomita Mataemon, who was sent by the shogunate to inspect, and Tomita Mataemon also said that this man's martial arts skills were indeed extraordinary, and that there were many skills that samurai did not know, which could be learned.

Now that the tradition of hawk hunting has been restored, some people should be sent to learn from this person and compile it into a book to pass on to future generations.

Since he was very satisfied with Shi Shiyong, Hosoi Yasuaki also fulfilled his original promise. In addition to the previous ones, he issued Liu Yu a total of three trade licenses guaranteed for fifteen years.

Two are separated from the 25 Tang Ship licenses, and the other is a temporary license that allows temporary entry into the port during trade next year.

【There has been an endless stream of people from Tang Dynasty conducting trade with our country for many years. However, the people who came there were mixed and unreasonable, causing unscrupulous merchants to violate the prohibitions. Today there is a special limit on the ship quota for each port. Among the ships that are coming to sell this year, please tell me how many ships there are in a certain port. The goods carried by each ship are estimated to be worth approximately, so that you can understand your psychology. The overdue terms were recorded in the record by a relative of the ship owner, and I will give you a copy of this together with a letter card as proof. 】

[On the day of entering the port, the license ticket will be checked and the ship will be allowed to enter the port after payment. Those without proof can be sent back. You must be more cautious in your Tang business. If anyone violates the regulations, no license will be issued. We will investigate according to the rules and will never let them off lightly. Everyone should be cautious...]

[Given on November 20, 14th year of Kyoho.]

Liu Yu was quite satisfied with the three trade licenses he received. After the banquet, Hosoi Yasuaki asked Liu Yu to discuss it in private.

This time there was no outside translator, but a special Tang language interpreter sent by the shogunate.

"Captain Liu, two war horses are too few. If possible, please bring another batch of war horses next time. This can issue a special trade license at the price of 60 taels of silver per horse, or the same price of copper."

"In addition, there are some other goods. If you can bring them, not only will they be collected, but you can also get more trade licenses."

After saying that, he handed a list to Liu Yu.

A complete set of "Dashun Huidian", Wude Palace military teaching materials, buffalo horns, horn bow craftsmen, Chinese medicine, prescriptions, war horses, horse doctors, military tactics, official attendance standards, grain yield per mu, soldiers' salaries, navy organization, navy warship intelligence...

Liu Yu just glanced at it and was "shocked", stood up and said: "If this goes on, it's better not to do this trade. Don't you know the principle of slow and steady progress? If there is another invasion of Korea in the Imjin year, how can this business continue? Besides, by then, our lives and property, and hundreds of thousands of family members will be killed! Forget it! I will return this trade letter to you, and it's better not to do this trade."

When Hosoi Yasuaki saw Liu Yu's attitude, he was more convinced that the person behind Liu Yu was an official figure. If it were those sea merchants, when they saw this form, they would at most frown and say that it was difficult to get it, and they would find a way, and they would inevitably hate their own incompetence.

When this person saw it, he was horrified and mentioned the invasion of Korea in the year of Renchen. It was obvious that he knew the seriousness of the matter.

In other words, this person was horrified because he could get the things listed on the paper. If he couldn't get them at all, why would he care so much?

Hosoi Yasuaki made a judgment and hurried to comfort him.

"Sir, don't panic. It's not what you think."

Liu Yu shook his head and said, "These horses, archers and warriors are all used by the general for falconry. This is nothing. But these..."

"Sir, please sit down. Since our country has been closed to the outside world, we have not been able to get any news. The reason why we inquire about the Chinese system is just to imitate and learn. Don't we want to learn from China, but to learn from the Western barbarians? Our country has no intention of conquering the court again, but the two countries have not been in contact for a long time. I admire the laws and regulations of the Celestial Empire, so I asked you to bring these things."

Hearing this, Liu Yu seemed to be relieved and nodded, "If That seems to make sense. But you must not tell anyone about this. If it gets out, people will think your country is planning to raise troops again. What if the imperial court of the Celestial Empire bans trade with the East? If you want to learn from the Celestial Empire, you can do it. But you must not mention this to other merchants. If there are too many people, someone might take the opportunity to cause trouble. Just leave it to me. If it can be done, I will do it. If it cannot be done, if I cannot do it, then no merchant who comes here can do it."