Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1564 Fukuyama Castle

April 1669, 10, sunny.

The breeze blew, and the field that had just been harvested brought a scent of soil. Ben Yisan stood on the ridge of the field, his eyes were fixed, and he didn't know what he was thinking about.Behind him stood a few short men, all with their hair in a bun, holding samurai swords in their hands, standing still.

"It's really a very different scenery from China..." Gen Mashizo grabbed the remaining wheat stalks in the field with his hands, brought them to his eyes for a closer look, and then said: "Even the grains planted are rare in Japan. Wheat. Tokihiro Matsumae, a famous name without Shi Gao, can do such a thing, I don’t know what the general will think if he knows it.”

Nemoto Mashizo has been in Matsumae Domain for some time. At the beginning, he pretended to be a rice merchant's entourage, and followed the caravan coming from the south to move around Matsumae Domain, scouting and collecting information, which was very exciting. Some vision.Later, he was discovered by the samurai of the Matsumae family because of his "sneaky behavior", so he simply revealed his identity as the inspector of the Tokugawa shogunate, and then had a conversation with the lord of the Matsumae domain, Matsumae Tokihiro.

Matsumae Tomohiro, who has only been in office for a few years, is very young. He is very afraid of the spies sent by the general Tokugawa Ietsuna, and he is also very polite. He even said that he will go to the Edo Shogunate next year to be on duty and send his wife there. As a matter of fact—this is also a Japanese tradition—the attitude can be described as extremely respectful, and Yoshizo couldn't find any faults at all.

Of course, being right on the surface does not mean that there is a pure and flawless white wall behind the scenes, so Mashizo would not be sent to Fukuyama City to spy on news.In fact, as the banner directly under General Tokugawa, Nemotomashizo came to the Matsumae domain this time precisely because someone secretly sued them, accusing the Matsumae family of colluding with pirate smuggling groups, infringing on Japan's interests, and requesting the general to deprive them of their territory , to positive punishment.

To be honest, this accusation is actually serious enough, and the evidence is quite insufficient. It stands to reason that the shogunate would not accept it at all.But considering that the person who filed the complaint was the lord of Kii Fan, a vassal of the shogunate, then this matter had to be taken seriously, so Nemoto Mashizo was sent to Matsumae Fan to investigate, so that he could have an explanation for Kii Fan.After all, this domain has been relatively unlucky in the past few years. It has been seriously threatened by pirates, attacked several times, and lost countless people and property. It is normal to feel anxious.

But before coming to Ezoji Island, Ben Yisan actually didn't take this matter very much in his heart.Because in his opinion, a remote feudal state without stone heights ([-] stones in name), sparsely populated, and extremely poor economic strength, how could it be possible to have the strength to link up with pirate smuggling groups, and then continue to stir up trouble in Shikoku Island? , Burning, killing and looting?It's impossible!

But things in the world are often so bizarre!After Nemoto Mashizo quietly arrived at Matsumae Domain with a trading ship and lurked for some time, he really found out some problems, that is, he found that the Matsumae family was really trading with people outside Ezo, and he I'm sure it's definitely not Shandan people - because they don't have the ability to provide such a good quality of fur, such a large amount of salted fish, such sweet cane sugar and other things - but indeed powerful overseas businessmen, just like Dejima Same as those Dutchmen on board.

What's more, the fake money that has been rampant in Japan in recent years—no, it can no longer be called fake money, because it is made more perfect than real money—seems to be inseparable from Matsumae Fan!Nemoto Mashizo has seen that the money used by the Matsumae clan to buy rice is almost such exquisite and fine copper coins. If you think about the fact that the Matsumae family imports a large amount of copper pieces from other places every year, then the answer is simply It's about to come out, even if the Matsumae family is not a den of counterfeit money, at least it is a big family of counterfeit money, so there is a problem!

Ben Yisan has discovered a lot of doubts like this, and I believe that if he hadn't been discovered by others unfortunately, there would be even more problems that could be investigated!Compared with these, Matsumae Fan's wanton land reclamation in Ezo, and the matter of growing wheat to make a living is simply not worth mentioning.

"What is certain now is that the Matsumae family seems to have some connection with the smuggling group. More precisely, the Matsumae family used the name of Shandan Trading to smuggle a large amount of leather and wild goods with a certain maritime group in the north. , medicinal materials, and salted fish were smuggled into the Matsumae Domain, and then spread through various channels in Sendai, Deba, Mutsu and other places in the northeast to make huge profits." Nemoto Masuzo threw away the soil in his hand, clapped his hands, He also said to himself: "What's more, the Matsumae clan seems to have imported a considerable amount of sensitive materials such as armor, knives, and firearms into the clan and neighboring areas. Thousands of people, now there are as many as [-] to [-], and the ronin and samurai who gather in Osaka, Kyoto, and Edo all the year round have come here one after another, this is simply—"

Having said that, Masaki didn't say any more, because the answer is really shocking.And the several hermits standing behind him, Muzuke, also looked at each other in blank dismay, sweating slightly on their foreheads.If this news is reported back, what will the shogunate think?Tokihiro Matsumae has promised to be on duty in Edo next year, so will he be left there directly by the general?And how will the general deal with the pirate group that has links with the Matsumae family? I heard that the Sendai clan of the Northeast powerful clan and the Kagoshima clan of the southern Kyushu are also unclear about this group of pirates. Should they be punished together? ?

……

While the shogunate visiting envoy Nemoto Maszo and his party were wandering outside Fukuyama Castle, a merchant ship coming from Kushiro was unloading at the pier at the nearby Hakodate Port.There are a wide variety of goods, including hardware, agricultural tools, knives, armor, and even [-] imitation Sur-style arquebus guns produced on the East Bank, all ordered by the Matsumae Domain and used in Hakodate Port nearby— ——This port has become more and more prosperous now that the Matsumae clan has sent a considerable number of "grass points" (reclamation people) to settle here — and the Matsumae clan pays for the goods as usual with alluvial gold. They are on the island of Ezo There are two placer gold mines, and the output is quite large.

"Imamura-kun, the weapons have been delivered, and the training of the Hakodate Group's new army can officially begin." Hua Bende, who had a beautiful mustache, sat opposite Imamura Yoshinosuke, and said to him with a smile: "Matsumae Fan The future depends on your Hakodate team, the old army is unreliable!"

Hua Bende and Chang Chun have always been Wei Boqiu's right-hand men in the military. They are respectively in charge of the Tianyou Army and the Tianzhu Army of more than 1 people.And the samurai Imamura Yoshinosuke sitting opposite him at the moment is also an old man of the Matsumae domain. He is quite trusted by the previous domain lord, Matsumae Takahiro. I fully understand that it can be said that it is the largest "pro-East faction" and "Dongxue" research No. Here, a new army "Hakodate Group" was secretly formed.

The Hakodate Group currently has more than [-] soldiers, all firearms troops, not a single samurai or ronin recruited, all of them are honest and honest rural farmers. It can be seen that after seeing the power of the East Coast people, Matsumae Fan , also eager to form such a so-called modern army that is different from traditional samurai and ashigaru.

People on the east bank don't care about the idea of ​​the Matsumae clan, because this fan has been infiltrated by the Japanese company of the east bank from top to bottom, and even the lord Matsumae Tokihiro sometimes can't do what he wants What's more, he himself has a good impression of Dong'an, and even adopted the youngest son of Wei Boqiu's concubine in Shandong as his adopted son, naming him Masahiro Matsumae, which is quite obvious as a gesture of affection.You know, as a daimyo, Tomohiro Matsumae has no heir at this time!

Over the years, Matsumae-fan has boarded a pirate ship on the east coast, and all kinds of smuggling trades have flourished. While making a lot of money, he naturally aroused the envy of many people.Therefore, in the era of the late former feudal lord Matsumae Takahiro, he accepted the opinions of the people on the east bank and recruited ronin to reclaim wasteland in Japan. , causing a large number of samurai to lose their masters and land—at the same time, regardless of previous suspicions, they naturalized a considerable part of the Ainu as their leaders, and their strength was greatly enhanced for a while.

In the era of the fifth-generation feudal lord Matsumae Tomohiro, with the further strengthening of economic strength, the Matsumae clan began to secretly form a new army Hakodate group, and the veteran of the clan, Yoshinosuke Imamura, was fully responsible to deal with some things that might happen.You know, after the people from the east bank attacked the Kochi, Uwajima, and Tokushima feudal clans—at a time when food was most scarce, Wei Boqiu even personally ordered the attack on the Shogunate’s own feudal clan, Kii Fan, which almost exploded—after the Matsumae clan understood, The shogunate may take some action.Although Kagoshima, Sendai and other vassal lords who smuggled people from the east coast also had many ronin who followed them to Shikoku Island to fight and kill them, they were quite powerful vassals, and the shogunate might not treat them badly, but the Matsumae vassal Small and weak, it's hard to say how the shogunate will treat them. Maybe it's nothing, maybe it's the old routines such as "changing" and "reducing seals", and it will be fatal!

Therefore, taking precautions, Matsumae Fan has started to make preparations now.Otherwise, do you want to be like those daimyos whose territory was reduced by the shogunate, and only thought of attacking the shogunate when they were dying?Hehe, it was too late at that time, at best, he could only try to achieve the goal of the coup d'etat by assassinating the shogun just like the Yubi Zhengxue incident that happened a few years ago.

Wei Boqiu actually agrees with the establishment of a new type of army by the Matsumae clan. Of course, this is due to the fact that his son was adopted by the Matsumae family. In addition, the most important thing is that he is confident that the Matsumae family will follow his own will, not the feudal lord. Whatever you say, that is to say, after years of infiltration, the Matsumae clan is now half a puppet of the people on the east coast, so it is still feasible for them to form a new army to better bargain with the shogunate.

Furthermore, although the Matsumae clan has recruited a lot of ronin and samurai over the years, there are no talents in the new army. Therefore, in the end, this matter has to be asked by the people of the east coast, so this is also an excellent choice for the people of the east coast. Wei Boqiu, who was born as an intelligence officer, will not fail to understand this opportunity to add sand to the Hakodate Group and cultivate cronies. In fact, the most important task of the 22 East Coast officers and non-commissioned officers currently serving in the Hakodate Group , It is to make every effort to cultivate the "pro-East faction" of the Hakodate group, so that this army will not escape the control of the people on the east coast.

Imamura Yoshinosuke is also a guy like a human being. Of course he is clear about the purpose of the people on the east coast, but he believes in Taoism and is extremely obsessed with Dongxue. Naturally, he will not tell the truth, but will fully support it, because it suits him. It is in line with the interests of the Matsumae clan, although not necessarily in the interests of the shogunate.

After Wei Boqiu took control of the Matsumae Domain, half of his wish had been fulfilled, and the remaining half of his wish was in the Democratic Freedom Federation on the west coast of North America.That weak country with only a few thousand immigrants, after relocating hundreds of Japanese Tanegashima craftsmen and their families, had some seeds of industry, and began to mine and smelt iron on Hope Island. There is still a long way to go for a whole set of micro basic industries.

Of course, although it is impossible to build the kind of micro-basic industry at the beginning of the founding of the East Coast, it is enough for the North American Democratic Freedom Federation to go sideways in the British Columbia Province of Canada and the Washington State of the United States.Wei Mingxing, the son of Wei Boqiu, and others have established a firm foothold on the mainland. They have successively defeated several Indian tribes, and at the same time naturalized more savage Indians. A new city "Shengli City" (located near the later city of Seattle in the United States), and a new city Wenzhou was also established in the place of the later Vancouver City (the name may vividly reflect Wei Boqiuwei's bad taste)-these are undoubtedly all Further enriched their population and enhanced the strength of the country.

While the Democratic Freedom Federation of North America is constantly expanding its territory, the institutional practice that Wei Boqiu is most concerned about is also being carried out in an orderly manner.Although due to the long distance and low efficiency of transportation, many things did not proceed completely according to Wei Boqiu's will, but with the help of many students from Heishui Transportation College who he secretly sent over, some basic systems were gradually established. Up to now, a whole set of values ​​(although it may be a bit crooked) is slowly being cultivated.I believe that if Tianzun gives them a few decades more time, maybe this country can really form its own unique culture and values. This is very possible, although it may not really conform to Wei Boqiu's "aesthetics" ".

Stirring Japan and North America on both sides of the Pacific with one hand, planting some "interesting" seeds, and engaging in some social practices that cannot be verified by future generations, this is probably the greatest joy in the few remaining days of life for the aging Wei Boqiu.

(End of this chapter)