prosperous age

Although the Oda clan had already noticed the Ming Dynasty's movements, they did not make a fuss. Instead, they mobilized their navy to do everything they could to protect Sado Island.

After all, gold and silver mining on Sado Island was an important part of the Oda clan's income, accounting for nearly 10% of their total revenue.

Don't be fooled by the seemingly low percentage; it's actually quite high.

Don't forget what Oda Nobunaga left behind: the most powerful military force that dominated the Japanese islands. Its annual expenses were enormous. If it weren't for the income from various industries under its control, it would have been impossible to maintain such a massive force.

Even a 10% reduction would be enough to trigger an economic crisis within the Oda clan, thus affecting all aspects of the family.

Moreover, although the Japanese islands appear relatively small in the face of a behemoth like China, their psychological advantage is enormous.

Although the Tang Dynasty navy inflicted a heavy defeat on the Japanese navy at the Battle of Baekgang, we must not forget where Baekgang is located. It is on the Korean Peninsula, very close to the Tang Dynasty.

They could accept being defeated by the Tang Dynasty, because the Tang Dynasty's martial arts were simply too great.

The grandeur of the Tang Dynasty has always been a source of pride for the Japanese high-ranking officials, and this remains true to this day.

After the Central Plains changed hands and China fell into ruin, the Japanese no longer recognized China's rule. This is why they dared to kill Ming Dynasty envoys, who were sent by the founding emperor Zhu Yuanzhang.

Because they have the protection of a "god," the divine wind will protect the Japanese islands from being attacked by the Central Plains dynasties.

Even the more powerful Mongol Yuan Empire couldn't do it, so how could a peasant-founded Ming Dynasty possibly achieve it?

Therefore, the Oda clan believed that as long as they resisted with all their might, they would surely be able to defeat the Ming navy under the protection of the divine wind.

The Iwami region was not within their scouting range, and it was under the control of the Mori clan. Although Hideyoshi Hashiba had already captured Takamatsu Castle and opened the gate to the Iwami region, the next step was to continue westward and seize the Mori clan's most important source of wealth.

At this time, the Iwami region was not unprepared, but all preparations were made to deal with the attack from the Oda clan's large army on land. Most of the Mori navy had also been transferred to the Seto Inland Sea, and they never expected the possibility of a surprise attack from an overseas army.

However, subsequent intelligence seemed to corroborate the information obtained by the Oda clan: a few days after the main force of the Ming navy in Busan suddenly left, the Nankuki navy on Sado Island discovered the Ming fleet.

The battle report was sent to land by fast boat, and then by messenger on horseback to Kiyosu Castle.

Faced with immense pressure from the Ming Dynasty, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, along with Shibata Katsuie, Niwa Nagahide, and Ikeda Tsuneoki, stayed at Kiyosu Castle. They were the most powerful retainers in the Oda clan, and at this time, they temporarily put aside their differences and chose to jointly resist the attack from the Ming Dynasty.

"The fighting has probably already broken out on Sado Island. The Ming Dynasty is probably after the gold mines there."

Niwa Nagahide said, "I have said before that foreign merchants should be prohibited from entering the port to trade. Their goal is gold and silver. Once they know about our gold and silver mines, as long as the profits are enough, it will arouse their greed."

Like China, Japan also frequently implements maritime bans, but these policies are often unsustainable.

As an island nation, they have limited resources and need external resource support.

For example, Hideyoshi Hashiba retorted at this time: "If we don't trade with foreign merchants, where will the saltpeter come from? Our arquebuses will become useless waste."

"We should prohibit trade with the Ming Dynasty and ban Ming merchants from coming to Japan. As for Korea and Ryukyu, we need not worry about them."

When Korea was powerful, it once coveted the Japanese islands, but after its failed expedition to the east, it never posed a threat to Japan again.

Apart from two attacks during the Mongol Yuan Dynasty, China has never actually launched a full-scale invasion of Japan. Although Japan appeared to have achieved brilliant victories in both attacks, its rulers knew that without the support of the kamikaze (divine wind) army, the Mongol Yuan forces were formidable and victory would not have been so easy for them.

In reality, the Mongol Yuan offensive failed less due to weather conditions and more due to the dereliction of duty by commanders.

Even with poor command, the powerful fighting force of the Central Plains army still caused heavy losses to the Japanese, so they have always taken the threat from China very seriously.

"After this battle, we still need to send warriors to lead light infantry to attack the southeastern region of the Ming Dynasty."

They previously conveyed their demand to Ryukyu to control their samurai, which we shouldn't have listened to.

Shibata Katsuie began, “Back then, a few dozen samurai were able to roam freely across the southeast for thousands of miles, which shows how easily the Ming army there could be defeated.”

"Should we then employ the strategy of besieging Wei to rescue Zhao?"

Hideyoshi Hashiba blurted out his name.

After receiving news that the Ming Dynasty might attack Sado Island in the past two days, he had been thinking about the matter and planned to send samurai to harass the southeast again.

During the late Yuan and early Ming dynasties, in retaliation for the Mongol invasion, Japan sent organized groups of samurai and soldiers to harass China, marking the beginning of the Wokou (Japanese pirates).

After the establishment of the Ming Dynasty, Japan ceased its retaliatory actions, but the disgraced samurai still hoped to gain wealth and live a prosperous life through this act.

Therefore, for more than a hundred years afterward, many samurai who fell into poverty or were abandoned by their masters chose to become pirates, becoming what the Ming Dynasty called Japanese pirates.

Now, several retainers of the Oda clan are considering a counterattack against the Ming Dynasty. The most effective way is to send out samurai again to plunder the southeastern coastal areas, keeping the Ming Dynasty preoccupied with its own problems.

As for the Japanese pirates that the Ming army was suppressing, they regarded them as nothing more than a rabble, because the real warriors were all under their command. Sending them to attack the Ming Dynasty would only yield greater results than before.

"There are still more than ten ships in the port. If that's not enough, we can rent some from the Shimazu family. How many samurai should we send?"

Shibata Katsuie spoke up, saying that since Hideyoshi Hashiba also supported his proposed action, it was basically considered approved.

However, how many warriors to send to attack the Ming Dynasty needs to be discussed.

"If there are more than ten ships, then send ten warriors with a hundred soldiers to go. I believe they will return with a full load, while keeping the Ming Dynasty busy with its own problems."

"Ikeda Tsuneoki spoke up."

Hideyoshi Hashiba looked at Katsuie Shibata and saw him nod slightly, so he continued, "Gentlemen, if there are no objections, I suggest that we have the head of the family and the other retainers confirm this matter together in a little while."

Niwa Nagahide and Shibata Katsuie nodded in agreement. After the four Oda clan elders discussed the matter, a strategy of "besieging Wei to rescue Zhao" to retaliate against the Ming Dynasty's attack was formed.

As for the implementation details, they don't actually need to consider them.

They recruited countless warriors, including some who had previously raided the southeastern part of the Ming Dynasty. However, they stopped early and were not besieged by the Ming army.

With the wealth from the Ming Dynasty, they lived a prosperous life in Japan and acquired powerful weapons and armor for themselves.

Samurai with fighting ability were still sought after by the various daimyo, and they easily returned to the ranks of the daimyo in various regions, becoming part of the ruling group of Wa again. Although it was the lowest rank, they were already quite satisfied.

Such a meeting, given the obvious threat posed by the Ming Dynasty navy, naturally wouldn't be opposed by the rest of the Oda family.

Although this force still operates under the Oda clan name, power is mostly held by non-Oda clan retainers, while the main Oda clan members are quietly accumulating strength and naturally do not have any disagreements with them.

At this time, Wei Guangde was still handling government affairs in the cabinet. The system of the Ming Dynasty was established in great detail by Emperor Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang. Although many of the policies were outdated and no longer suitable for the current environment, the Ming Dynasty could still have continued if they had been strictly followed.

Unfortunately, in the nearly two hundred years since, much has changed, and the true purpose has been obscured by intentional or unintentional misinterpretations. Wei Guangde will not restore Zhu Yuanzhang's outdated policies, but he is trying his best to re-examine and improve the system, hoping to fill in the gaps and make improvements.

However, when there is a conflict between his own interests and the system, he will still hesitate to some extent.

For example, Wei Guangde hesitated for a long time regarding the policy of "gentry and commoners serving the same duties and paying the same taxes".

This policy was implemented during the reign of Emperor Yongzheng in the Qing Dynasty. It broke the preferential treatment of gentry who were exempt from taxes and corvée labor, and made them have to perform corvée labor like ordinary people.

Of course, the gentry would never serve in the military; instead, they would pay someone to do it for them.

In fact, Zhang Juzheng's reforms already converted the poll tax and some corvée labor into cash, but not all of them.

It's important to understand that the tax and labor service system in the Ming Dynasty was actually quite complex, and non-officials might not have been able to fully comprehend how much tax and labor service the common people actually had to bear.

Therefore, it is natural to first gather people on one's own side to discuss it. Only if they agree can it be considered that the proposal might gain the approval of some people.

"Shan Dai, be careful on this trip. Once you bring it up, you may become the target of everyone's criticism and be hostile to the gentry and powerful families."

After listening to Wei Guangde's idea, Jiang Zhi immediately offered his advice.

Zhang Ke, Lao Kan, and others were more familiar with Wei Guangde, and when they heard his idea, they were all astonished; it was too bold.

Why did they study? In the first place, it wasn't just to avoid military service. As for becoming an official, that was something they only started thinking about when they passed the preliminary examination and were preparing for the provincial examination.

It can be said that in those days, most scholars were initially pursuing official titles and honors, as these titles and honors granted exemptions from corvée labor and taxes—a preferential policy of the imperial court for scholars.

The imperial court had previously promoted the establishment of official schools, which led to a surge in the number of candidates taking the imperial examinations in recent years.

Of course, having more scholars does not necessarily mean having more people exempt from taxes. After all, there are only so many places for scholars in each county, and the number of successful candidates in each provincial examination is also fixed, so it will not lead to a surge in the number of people exempt from corvée labor.

However, if the preferential policies for scholars were abolished, Wei Guangde might become a public enemy.

Ordinary people cannot possibly know the true situation; they can only learn about politics through the words of scholars, and are easily deceived.

Later generations said that the people of the Ming Dynasty were divided into civilian households, military households, etc., but in fact, after civilian households obtained academic titles through the imperial examinations, their household registration would be changed accordingly, and they would become scholars, that is, Confucian households.

Once they obtained official status and became officials, the Confucian households would change into official households, which is why there were official families.

Although their household registration is still in the private household registration system, it has actually surpassed that of most people.

To be honest, Wei Guangde was also reluctant to propose this policy because it would have too great an impact and would not benefit him.

However, after reviewing the results of Zhang Juzheng's reforms, he realized that if the preferential policies for exemption from taxes and fees were not abolished, what would happen to development decades later?

The gentry class will inevitably abuse the preferential tax policies again, embezzling national taxes and causing a new financial crisis.

It can be said that the biggest reason for the decline of feudal dynasties was land annexation, and an important reason for land annexation was the unfair tax and labor service system.

The gentry class could accumulate wealth by using tax exemption privileges and take advantage of the difficulties farmers faced in paying taxes and corvée labor to annex their land.

The key issue is that they still hold power and can arbitrarily distort the truth.

While the system of requiring scholars to perform official duties and pay taxes in equal measure could not solve the problem of land annexation, it could break the halo surrounding scholars, making them no different from ordinary people, requiring them to pay taxes and perform corvée labor.

In this way, the results of the land survey during Zhang Juzheng's reign could be preserved for a long time, and the national fiscal revenue would have the most stable foundation.

Given the slow pace of profiting from land, landowners naturally opted for commerce.

This was something Wei Guangde had been pushing for, but after starting his business, the issue of tax exemption for gentry was, frankly, extremely difficult to collect other commercial taxes, except for the exchange of silver by brokers.

He himself used his calling cards to allow cargo ships from certain chambers of commerce to freely travel to and from the canal and evade customs duties. Of course, others could do the same; in fact, everyone was doing it.

"As I said, the key to this matter is the exchange. Although the court collects taxes from the gentry and makes them perform corvée labor, these taxes can be converted into silver. The Ministry of Revenue will then compensate those with official titles by issuing stipends in rice."

The principle was that not a single penny of the taxes due should be collected, and not a single penny of the subsidies due from the imperial court should be reduced. In fact, after offsetting these amounts, the gentry would not need to bear any taxes or corvée labor.

Wei Guangde began to explain.

What he wanted was for the gentry to have a legitimate reason to pay taxes and perform corvée labor, so that they could no longer be exempted from these privileges.

That was a policy proposed by the court in the early Ming Dynasty when the country had just stabilized and there were few scholars. It was intended to attract talent and could not be implemented for long.

In the early stages of reform in later generations, there were few highly educated people in the country. Therefore, after the college entrance examination was restored, tuition and miscellaneous fees were waived for university graduates, and living allowances were also provided. It can be said that at that time, going to university was not only free, but also profitable.

Subsequently, these preferential policies were gradually phased out.

The preferential policies for scholars in the Ming Dynasty were not abolished as the number of scholars increased; on the contrary, they intensified, which was definitely not a good thing.

“The gentry don’t lack that little bit of silver; what they want is the preferential treatment from the imperial court.”

Zhang Xueyan reminded him.

In fact, that's the key point.

What they wanted was a policy recognized by the imperial court that made the gentry superior to others; otherwise, how could they continue to act arrogantly and domineeringly in the local areas?

Wei Guangde's seemingly unconcerned attitude towards the interests of the gentry actually severely damaged their local prestige, so it's no wonder they targeted him.

"Alright, let me think about it some more."

Wei Guangde nodded and said something.

He also realized that he had been naive, thinking that what the Qing Dynasty could do, the Ming Dynasty could also do.

However, he did not know that although the policy of "serving the same duties and paying the same taxes" was indeed implemented through strong measures during the Yongzheng reign, it was a short-lived policy with a very short implementation period.

During the Qianlong reign, due to strong resistance from the gentry class, a full national treasury, and the need to maintain the stability of imperial power, Emperor Qianlong directly abolished this policy.

TV dramas and movies are harmful because they often fail to reveal the truth.

If Wei Guangde insists on pushing this through, the day the policy is implemented will be the day his term as Grand Secretary ends. (End of Chapter)