People in the Song Dynasty were lawless

Chapter 412 Song Weapons Dealer

In November of the seventh year of Qingli in the Song Dynasty, it was already the end of the year in the Song Dynasty, and the imperial court began to shift its focus from the development of various industries to statistics.

Each department has started to compile data of its own departments in full swing, and the Statistics Department has also been stationed in each department to calculate whether each department's plan for this year has met the standards.

Although data cannot represent everything, it can intuitively show the development speed of a country and the current living conditions of the vast majority of people.

Nowadays, strictly speaking, the Song Dynasty cannot be said to be an industrial country, but should be regarded as a semi-industrial and semi-agricultural country.

Because the current main pillar industries are still agriculture and handicraft manufacturing.

Although the steel industry has been laid out for a long time, its real large-scale development has only occurred in the past two years, and many places are in the planning and construction stage.

It will take at least several years before every state has a certain steel industry.

As for other textile and construction industries, they are also spreading from Bianliang to other roads. It will take time for them to be fully rolled out.

Therefore, the current industrial output value of the Song Dynasty cannot be said to be high. Compared with the huge agricultural and handicraft manufacturing industries, it is still an insignificant point.

Moreover, the Song Dynasty not only exported industrial products to Japan, but also exported excess food. Foods such as sweet potatoes, corn, and potatoes that were commonly used as feed in the Song Dynasty could become staple foods when sold to Japan.

Because of this situation, the lower class in Japan are unlikely to resist.

Historically, the imperial court launched a crusade against the Abe clan. The Abe clan defeated the local Mutsu Kingdom Governor Fujiwara and took office. The Fujiwara family immediately sent Minamoto Yoriyoshi to fight against the Abe clan.

Now is the construction period. When the rapid development period comes, for example, when the first batch of rubber trees matures and everything is on track, the industrial capacity will directly begin to leap forward.

Since these two places were the places where Japanese prisoners were exiled and the Ezo people were captured in ancient times, many prisoners were held there.

Mutsu Province is located in the northeastern region of Japan, and is the area around Iwate Prefecture, Fukushima Prefecture, and Miyagi Prefecture in later Japan. Dewa Country is located in the northern region of Japan and became Akita Prefecture in later Japan.

As for Japan.

Qingtang has now completely surrendered to the Song Dynasty, Xiangzhan has been given the surname Zhao, the whole family has moved to Bianliang and has become a noble of the Song Dynasty, and the Hehuang Valley has now been changed into six prefectures and counties, including Xining Prefecture and Huangzhou Prefecture.

Although the Ani Mine was discovered in Dewa Country, it contained huge deposits of gold, silver and copper.

Affected by the manor economy, most of the lower-class civilians were serfs of local wealthy families and powerful people. Just like in the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, the lower-class people were trapped in the manors and controlled by their masters. There was basically no possibility of independent uprising and rebellion.

In recent years, Japan was semi-forced by the Song Dynasty to open the country and opened the Iwami Port, and the domestic economy collapsed.

The rest of the Uighur, Tubo, Black Khan, Bagan and other countries either went their own way or sent envoys to the Song Dynasty to pay tribute to the Song Dynasty. There were even some who were tired of running for their lives because of continuous civil strife.

The only place that is relatively peaceful is Dali.

This exception is the power of the Song Dynasty behind Abe.

While the Song Dynasty was booming, the situation in the surrounding countries was very bad.

This was the process of the first nine years of battle.

This can be regarded as a good eldest brother and a trouble-free life.

The Liao Kingdom was defeated and returned. Yelu Zongzhen did not survive the winter after all and died of illness in October. Yelu Chongyuan ascended the throne and was now troubled by the domestic situation.

But the only good news is that the domestic underlying stability is pretty good.

Although the Abe clan was unfavorable in the initial battle, and even Abe Yoriyoshi himself was shot and killed by an arrow, his two sons later stabilized the situation and launched a counterattack against Minamoto Yoriyi, almost defeating Minamoto Yoriyi.

Under such circumstances, Dali is quite prosperous in the country, with no disasters or rebellions, the people live and work in peace and contentment, and the scene is peaceful and peaceful.

But since the fourth year of Qingli in the Song Dynasty and the first year of Tianming in Dali, the Gao family deposed Duan Suxing, the leader of the country of Dali, who was dissolute and immoral, there has been a period of political turmoil.

In the next three years of the battle, the Kiyohara family itself experienced internal strife for power. Therefore, Minamoto no Yoriyi's son, the Minamoto no Yori family, intervened during the internal fighting between the two parties, pacified the Kiyohara clan in one fell swoop, and completely occupied the Mutsu country.

Most of the time, Dali was stable and maintained political and trade relations with the Song Dynasty through the Ancient Tea-Horse Road.

This guest's name is Takeshi Kiyohara, and he is the head of the Kiyohara clan in Dewa Country next door.

But a single spark can start a prairie fire.

The most powerful among them are the Abe clan in Mutsu Kingdom and the Kiyohara clan in Dewa Kingdom.

But there are exceptions to everything.

The manager of these prisoners is called the prison captain.

A large number of handicraft industries were impacted by the handicraft manufacturing industry of the Song State. Many craftsmen lost their jobs, were employed by Song merchants, or moved to other places. The overall economic situation was controlled by the Song State.

After the Le Dynasty of Vietnam was restored with the help of the Song Dynasty, due to its unpopularity, rebels continued one after another, putting Vietnam in a stage of serious internal strife.

In addition, many local wealthy families and those in power such as national guardians are in a state of semi-independence. They only need to pay tribute to the central government every year, but they have always been lawless in their own places.

Xixia wanted to send envoys to pay tribute and surrender, but the Song Dynasty refused. The envoys were not even allowed to go to Bianliang, let alone peace negotiations.

Therefore, it stands to reason that the Kiyohara clan is also coveting the Abe clan's territory and is unlikely to become his ally.

The Abe family and the Kiyohara family are the prison chiefs of the two countries, and they are in charge of the life and death of these captured criminals. Therefore, these two wealthy families are the most powerful families in the two countries.

To be precise, it should be the arms seller of the Song Dynasty behind the Abe family.

Dali State has always adopted a policy of pro-Song Dynasty. The domestic political power is controlled by the Gao family of the Prime Minister, and the country's leader is in a weak position.

But similarly, the trade between Japan's local wealthy families and the Song Dynasty will increase their strength. Some of these wealthy families and local forces who own manors have food and weapons, which will naturally pose a threat to the rule of the emperor and the Fujiwara family.

In the end, Minamoto no Yoriyoshi sent someone to contact Kiyohara Takeshi, and Kiyohara Takeshi sent troops of the Kiyohara family to help Minamoto no Yoriyi defeat the Abe clan, and occupied the territory of the Abe clan, becoming the two powerful families of Dewa and Mutsu.

This has led to various conflicts between the central and local governments. With the Taira Shomon Rebellion in the past and the Taira Tadatsuki Rebellion in the later years, Japan already has the appearance of civil strife.

At this moment, on the morning of November 9, the seventh year of the Qingli calendar in the Great Song Dynasty, the head of the Abe family, Abe Nora, was entertaining a guest at his castle residence in Ourioku County, Mutsu Kingdom.

But the problem is that the Aren ore is not an open-pit mine, and it is difficult to mine. It will definitely not be possible to mine a large amount in a short period of time.

Therefore, although the Qingyuan family was very ambitious, they were unable to profit quickly.

On the other hand, Mutsu Country is different. Since the Nara period, Mutsu Country has been a famous gold, silver and copper mining area in Japan.

And most of them are open-pit mines, which are easy to mine.

With a large population concentrated here and a large number of plain areas, it is very easy to accumulate strength and separatist power.

That's why the Qingyuan clan and the Genji clan want to seize this place and make it the foundation of their family's prosperity.

In this context, Song businessmen were naturally more willing to do business with Abe, who was generous and had a mine at home.

The only problem is that Song merchants mainly gathered in the Iwami area in the west of Japan. Taking the overland road to Mutsu Country, where the Abe clan is located, has to pass through ten countries, a distance of one thousand kilometers.

If you take the sea route, it is even further. You have to cross the Tsugaru Strait and go around between Hokkaido and Honshu Island.

Therefore, transportation is very inconvenient.

It wasn't until a few years ago that gold mines were discovered on Sado Island, an island to the west of Echigo Kingdom, and a large number of Song businessmen gathered, giving the Abe family an opportunity.

The Abe family immediately reached an agreement with the Kiyohara clan of Dewa Province and Kunimori Tachibana Naka of Echigo Province.

The Abe clan's carriage will carry gold, silver, copper and other minerals to the ports of Dewa Kingdom and Echigo Kingdom to trade with the Song people. The Kiyohara clan and Tachibana Nora will receive a certain percentage of tax revenue. In this way, everyone benefits, and slowly they become allies.

Today, Abe Yoriyang invited Kiyohara Takeshi to discuss the matter of establishing himself as king and becoming the overlord of one party.

The Abe family lives in Danzawa Castle in Okuriku County. It is said to be a city, but in fact the outer city wall is just a circle of earth walls, and the city is full of small and cramped cabins.

Only the Abe family has a slightly larger Tang Dynasty-style courtyard.

Not high, because the Japanese were short and the average height during the Heian period was about 1 meters, so the courtyard was only over three meters high.

Even so, for two dwarfs of 1.5 meters, Yori Abe and Takeshi Kiyohara, it is already a super big house.

At this moment, the two of them were sitting cross-legged, and there was a maid next to them making tea for them that they learned from the Tang Dynasty. The various flowers and plants in the courtyard outside the house were also trimmed with the gardening techniques learned from the Tang Dynasty, making them beautiful.

"Abe-don deserves to be the head of the largest wealthy family in Mutsu. The courtyard at home is magnificent and has the style of the prosperous Tang Dynasty."

Qingyuan Wu looked at the courtyard with a little envy.

Although he was also from a wealthy family in Dewa Country, Dewa Country was inferior to Mutsu Country in terms of population, territory, and money. Naturally, he did not have the strength to build such a large house.

"Qingyuan Palace is joking. Compared with you, I'm still far behind."

Abe Raira personally brought the tea to Takeshi Kiyohara, then waved his hand, and the maid bowed and left.

After the maid left, Abe Raira said again: "I wonder what Qingyuan Palace thinks of the current situation in the court?"

Qingyuan Wu kept his secret and said: "How can we say anything about the situation in the imperial court?"

However, Abe Yoriyoshi smiled and said: "The imperial court is unethical and demands too much. We, Mutsu, pay a lot of tribute every year, and everyone is miserable."

Qingyuan Wu said hurriedly: "Your Majesty, please be careful what you say."

Compared with Abe's boldness, he dare not speak nonsense.

After all, Abe Norai is not openly rebelling now. He is just using various excuses to pay less tribute or not to pay it at all.

The imperial court has not characterized him as a rebel for the time being, so Qingyuan Wucai will deal with him.

Otherwise, I'm afraid we'll have to review the situation.

"There's nothing to be afraid of."

However, Abe said calmly: "This is a fact. Why don't people tell the truth?"

Kiyohara Takesan smiled and said: "Abe's army is strong, and his men have weapons and armor from the Tang Dynasty. Naturally, he has the courage to compete with the imperial court."

"I just don't know if Qingyuan Palace has any intention of purchasing Tang Dynasty weapons and armor."

Abe said.

"Oh?"

Kiyohara Takeshi suddenly became interested and asked: "Abe-don is willing to introduce Tang people to me?"

The Tang people they were talking about were actually Song merchants.

Although the upper-class dignitaries in Japan did not have official contacts with the Song Dynasty, they had wider channels for information. Naturally, they knew that the Central Plains Dynasty had already changed from the Tang Dynasty to the Song Dynasty.

However, there is relatively little information about the lower class people and the middle and lower class dignitaries in Japan. In other words, even if they know that the dynasty has changed, they still call them Tang people due to previous habits.

Just like Japan, the country called itself Japan as early as the period of Emperor Gaozong and Li Zhi of the Tang Dynasty. It is recorded in the "New Book of Tang". However, people in the Central Plains Dynasty would not say that they were Japanese, but would still habitually call them "Japanese". Just like the Japanese.

Only Zhao Jun, a later generation, did not call them Japanese because of habit.

"Let's see if Qing Yuandian is interested in it."

Abe said.

Qingyuan Wu suddenly showed a thoughtful expression.

He naturally understood what Abe meant.

The Abe family is a powerful Mutsu family, but they are not the masters of Mutsu country.

At least in name, the Mutsu Kingdom was headed by Kunimori Fujiwara, who lacked the reputation of justice.

Once the imperial court deprives him of his official status as prisoner commander, the Abe family will have only two options.

One is that he fell from being a high-ranking prison commander overnight and became an ordinary civilian.

The second is to rebel and revolt, separat one side, and truly become the master of Mutsu Kingdom.

Obviously, the Abe family has stopped paying tribute in recent years, which means they are going to take the second path.

But as a local wealthy family, its strength is still too weak compared to the imperial court.

Even if the Abe family has thousands of soldiers and horses, and is definitely in the first echelon among the country's powerful powers, it is impossible to be an enemy of the imperial court.

So he must have foreign aid.

If they could be dragged into the Qingyuan family, with the strength of the two families, they dare not say that they would enter Heian Kyo and replace the Fujiwara family.

There is no problem in being a local vassal king by dividing Deyu and Mutsu.

If they had the support of Song State behind them and provided them with enough weapons and equipment, they might be able to do bigger things.

The question now is whether Yuan Wu is willing to board his pirate ship.

Qingyuan Wu pondered for a long time, and then whispered: "I want to know, how many weapons and armors did the Tang people have?"

"Mr. Lu, my friend wants to know how many armors you have."

Abe Raira looked at the screen behind him.

A figure emerged from behind the screen and said with a smile: "You can have as much as you want."

Qingyuan Wu looked around and saw this tall figure, wearing silk attire, one and a half heads taller than him, like a giant.

Although this man speaks fairly fluent Japanese, if you think about it with your toes, you can tell that he is from Tang Dynasty.

Because Qing Yuanwu had met several businessmen from the Song Dynasty before, and those people were generally one or two heads taller than him, but few of them Japanese had such tall bodies.

"Who is this?"

Qingyuan Wu asked.

"My name is Lu Chao, and I am just an ordinary businessman from the Song Dynasty."

Lu Chao, who was fully 1.72 meters tall and looked like a little giant in front of the two of them, looked down at them with a kind smile on his face.

He looked like an adult meeting two children.

(End of this chapter)