New Shun 1730

It was the first time that Tokugawa Yoshimune heard such "sincere and unpretentious" words.

The fleet brought grain and rice just because they heard that there was a great famine, so they tried to help in need. Was the purpose to get more trade letters?

So sincere?

Tokugawa Yoshimune was really speechless.

Looking at the reply on the paper, he felt that these words were very credible.

This person believes that the three burrows of a cunning rabbit must change with the times. In this era, if you have money, you can have a burrow.

At worst, you can run to Europe, as long as you have money.

The politics of the shogunate are not exactly the same as those of the Dashun, but the monarchs have almost unlimited power. The saying that serving the monarch is like serving a tiger is absolutely true.

Tokugawa Yoshimune himself knew it, but under the feudal system, he was still a little short of the power of the Dashun emperor.

This Liu Yu wanted to make money just to make plans for the future?

If he could not be tolerated by the Dashun, he would run away, so he made money at all costs?

This is a very smart man. Because of the booklet and the warriors and war horses, Tokugawa Yoshimune was very interested in Liu Yu and asked Nagasaki Bugyo about it.

Nagasaki Bugyo also told about the first meeting, saying that this person knew the principle of slow and steady flow and would not sell too many things, lest something big happened and it would be difficult for him to facilitate trade.

This smart man was so straightforward and frank. Although some people felt that he was a disloyal, selfish and self-interested person, they had to admire his ability to make a living.

Listening to Liu Yu saying that there was a way to alleviate the famine, as long as he could give a few more trade cards...

If someone else said it, Tokugawa Yoshimune would definitely not believe it and thought it was a lie.

However, with the previous booklet on currency reform as a prelude, although Tokugawa Yoshimune thought that Liu Yu had a very bad character, he believed that he had talent.

Dare to say this, you can definitely do it.

The famine caused by climate change this time really made Tokugawa Yoshimune anxious.

In the previous ten years, the "rice system" was implemented shamelessly, at the cost of weakening the foundation of the shogunate's rule, and the time for the audience was reduced as compensation, so that each daimyo gave more rice, and finally survived the financial crisis.

But just after surviving, the rice system was just cancelled last year, and this year there was another famine caused by a sudden change in climate.

The temperature around the Seto Inland Sea dropped suddenly, and it was very cold throughout the summer.

According to the records of the later historical book "Tokugawa Jiki", 969,990 people starved to death, and I don't know how such an accurate statistics was calculated.

The climate this winter is still not right. It looks like next year will also be a famine year. Now many places around the Seto Inland Sea have already experienced famine.

The price of rice has risen, but... But this is not the way Tokugawa Yoshimune wanted to increase the price. With such a price increase, the price has risen, but there will definitely be many uprisings.

The few ships of grain and rice that Liu Yu brought with him were not even better than nothing, and had no fundamental effect on the famine. No matter how financially crippled the shogunate was, it would not lack these few ships of rice.

Perhaps, this person really had a solution?

He knew that Liu Yu did not speak Japanese, so he spoke to the Confucian official Aoki Kunyang who served as an interpreter, and did not choose to communicate with pen and paper.

Liu Yu did not know Japanese at all, and could understand a few words.

The thing he came up with to exchange for trade cards was, of course, sweet potatoes.

If they did not do this, the Japanese would do it themselves.

Aoki Kunyang, the earliest Confucian official who engaged in Dutch studies, wrote a book "Study on Sweet Potatoes", which quickly promoted sweet potatoes in Japan. Before, sweet potatoes might have been called Satsuma taro, and Liu Yu had seen it in Nagasaki, and it might have been called Tangren taro.

In short, the promotion of sweet potatoes was also forced by the Kyoho famine. If the people all starved to death, who would farm and pay taxes?

He did not feel guilty about "aiding the enemy". He would have to do it sooner or later anyway. If he was short of a year or two, wouldn't it be great to exchange a few trade cards by himself?

At this time, Aoki Kunyang, who was responsible for the translation, never thought that his contribution, which would be remembered by Japan in the future, would be snatched away by the man in front of him.

He translated Tokugawa Yoshimune's words.

"If you can really save the people from famine, then you can give you more trade tokens. Since you want to have three burrows, then these trade tokens will not be cancelled before you can trade. If it really works."

Hearing such a promise, Liu Yu was overjoyed, thinking that since he said so, why would he be embarrassed to give him one or two?

If he could give ten, then he would get about half of the Chinese merchant cards.

He could contact the Jiangsu and Zhejiang gangs, the Fuzhou gangs, and the Zhangzhou gangs, and those who followed me would prosper and those who opposed me would perish, and form a group specializing in business with Japan, squeeze out those who did not cooperate, and turn internal circulation into cooperation.

Only by turning internal circulation into cooperation can we have the opportunity to unite in the future to fight against the Dutch.

In order to avoid the Dutch on his side, the various maritime gangs would hold him back.

But he also knew that he couldn't ask at this time, otherwise it would be like doing business, which would not look good on the other side, and might ruin a good thing.

So he handed over the "Sweet Potato Research" written by himself in his arms. It was all in Chinese, and the Japanese should be able to understand it.

He didn't know that the Confucian official who was translating in front of him was Aoki Kunyang. As soon as Li Gui and Li Kui touched hands, the book was handed over.

It recorded in detail the per-acre yield, planting methods, etc., and wrote many benefits.

"If this thing can be promoted, don't say that the public is four and the people are six, it is the public is six and the people are four, and the public is seven and the people are three. What's wrong? However, if the public is seven and the people are three, then the name will become stronger and the food will be more. It will be considered by the general. , it is better to open up trade so that they can convert their excess rice into money, wear more silk, and use more valuables."

"And as it is now, if it can be popularized, it can prevent many people from starving to death. Humans are not animals, animals starve to death, and they will starve to death. If people starve to death, how can they be willing to starve to death peacefully? They will definitely be like the praying mantis with its arms. The affairs of the Celestial Empire cannot be ignored.”

They talk about the many benefits, but in their hearts they want to wait until the damn sweet potatoes are popularized. This famine will be over long ago, and those who should starve to death will long ago starve to death.

But with sweet potatoes, the lower class could not starve to death, and the various lords could collect a lot more taxes. Either it is used to accumulate strength for future rebellion, or extravagance becomes common with more money and rice, no matter which one is beneficial.

Just thinking about it, apart from gold, silver and copper, Japan seems to have nothing that can be traded. Maybe with the development of sea transportation in the future, we can buy rice from Japan?

It's not impossible to think about it. Rice from Bangladesh can be sold to the UK. As long as navigation technology improves, it should be profitable.

If Japan can be forced to found a country in a few years, the first thing to strangle is Japan's Imari porcelain, and then strangle the silk weaving industry. This will make Japan a place that exports rice, gold, silver, copper and sulfur, and its other resources anyway Despite the scarcity, we are not afraid that industry can still develop under such severe exploitation.

The commodity impact of preliminary industrialization will inevitably bring about the tragedy of the disintegration of the small-scale peasant economy and the bankruptcy of farmers.

If Japan is not miserable, Dashun will be miserable. East Asia as a whole can only accommodate one preliminary industrialized country within a hundred years.

Before coming, he had already thought up all kinds of rhetoric, and now he was even more eloquent, talking about many fallacies.

It was just these fallacies that interested Tokugawa Yoshimune.

Whether the famine can be saved, it seems that it can probably be done now. There is some truth in what this tired daimyo said.

I looked through the book "Sweet Potato Test", which uses detailed records and data to prove that this thing can indeed be promoted in Japan.

The most important thing is that it does not occupy good land and can be planted on some hillsides. The leaves are also edible.

Liu Yu added: "Japan has been a herbivorous nation since ancient times. When I came to Nagasaki, I had never seen beef, goats or sheep. Not only can you eat the roots of sweet potatoes, but you can also eat the leaves. They say that farmers are like sesame and Vietnamese. It makes sense to squeeze out more oil. If you plant sweet potatoes, you can squeeze out the last drop of oil from sesame seeds. "

As a Confucian official, Qingmu Kunyang really didn't want to continue translating. He thought to himself, how did this person say such a thing?

When he thought about what Liu Yu had done, he had no loyalty in his heart, no king or father, only himself, and only loved money... He could only sigh slightly, thinking that this man's conscience was greatly damaged.

However, the following words left Aoki Kunyang completely speechless.

"The so-called etiquette refers to the distinction between superior and inferior. The superior can use it but the inferior cannot. The inferior knows the difference between superior and inferior. In the future, when sweet potatoes become popular, it can be stipulated that warriors can eat rice and peasants can only eat sweet potatoes. If so If you eat rice, it will be an economic crime. If you can eat sweet potatoes, why should you eat rice?

"Anyway, farmers in your country can't afford polished rice now. They can only eat some rice bran and wheat rice. Sweet potatoes are popular. This will not cause the cheapness of rice to harm the peasants."

Tokugawa Yoshimune listened with great interest, but he couldn't show it, so he said: "If it can relieve famine, it is a good thing. Your "Coin Theory" also makes a lot of sense. According to what you said, Genroku was recast, Too much tin and lead were added to the gold and silver coins, causing prices to skyrocket. If the coins were recast in Zhengde, there would be too much gold and silver, and there would be less money in the market, so the price of rice would be lower. "

"It's just that when you come to trade, you only care about gold, silver, and copper, and don't care about figurines. Arai Shiraishi said that gold, silver, and copper are like bones and cannot be regenerated. Don't you have other goods besides gold, silver, and copper? Can I make a profit?"

Speaking of this, Liu Yu also lost his spirit.

I thought, yes, that’s right, except for gold, silver and copper, you don’t have anything else. There is sulfur, but the trade volume is not large.

China dare not say that it has everything, but for now, China really looks down upon what other handicraft industries can produce.

Not to mention Japan, what about France and the UK? Isn’t it a trade deficit every year? No goods to sell?

"In addition to gold, silver, and copper, rice can also be used. As the saying goes, cheap grain hurts farmers, and scholars and farmers are the foundation of the country. If you don't eat rice, it will rot in three years. If the price of rice is too low in the future, you can buy rice. Otherwise Besides, I really don’t know what else to sell.”

This was Liu Yu's idea. Japan was too short of resources, so he could just dig out the little gold, silver, and copper that Japan had for a starting point. If the remaining ones can be opened for trade, the market will be quite large, and it should be enough to be the first pot of gold.

Tokugawa Yoshimune also knew that it was meaningless to discuss selling rice now. The price of rice would remain high for at least one or two years, so he said: "If the disaster continues, you can also traffic grain and rice to Nagasaki. You can buy it with gold coins. You have presented both the coinage method and the "Sweet Potato Test", and I can't break my promise. There are twenty-five pieces of Nagasaki letter cards from Tang Dynasty. You can get thirteen of them for your three caves. 'As long as you come to Nagasaki for trade, the letter will never change."

"In addition, if grain and rice can be transported, it will no longer be included in the letter trade, but there will be no copper as return goods. For every hundred stones of rice, a certain amount of raw silk, sugar, and other goods can be brought, all of which can be purchased with gold and silver."