Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 369 Matsumae Domain

On October 1643, 10, heavy snow fell in the sky of Heishui Port. According to the Koreans who stayed here last year, the snow fell relatively late this year. Last year, it fell as early as early October. The first snow fell.

With the sudden drop in temperature, the black soldiers who used to go out hunting also gave up their hobbies, and instead hid in the house one by one to start the winter.If they were not assigned to be on duty, they would never go out. One by one, they hugged the North Korean women assigned to them and hid on the warm earthen kang doing what they loved. They were really afraid of the people here. It's cold weather.

The wheel kiln on the banks of the Heishui River has been completely completed a few days ago. The workers piled a lot of dead branches and leaves in it, and then lit the fire to bake the kiln body for several days. The inspection was carried out, and the result was qualified, and the kiln can be produced.However, considering the cold weather, this round of kiln may not have much chance to be used this year. The workers are currently taking the last few days to take out a considerable part of the clay from around the Heishui River, trying to burn it before it freezes. A batch of bricks.

The small earthen kilns in the city have been running tenaciously these days, and the monthly supply of 7 to 30 yuan of special bricks for city walls or [-] to [-] pieces of standard bricks has never been interrupted.Most of the bricks were shipped to Yantai Port in the south, and then used to build a fort there.Due to the shortage of building materials, and the lack of sufficient manpower and materials to excavate rocks, there are only a few brick and tile buildings in the urban area of ​​Heishui Port, which are the government hall, arsenal, and dock warehouse—of course there is an underground building. icehouse.Among them, in view of the huge scale of the planned dock warehouse, only a small part has been built so far to store goods, grain, tools and other materials shipped from the local area.

The scale of the government hall is small, currently there are only seven or eight rooms on the upper and lower floors, and there is a small attic with a steeple above it.There is a layer of lime on the outside of the wall, which looks pale and pale. The large spire building resembles the usual style of the Russians, especially the curved wall design in the center of the government hall, which is very different from the local people on the east coast. The horizontal and vertical architectural style looks more or less exotic.

Each room has a fireplace, which makes the room warm and very comfortable in the cold winter.All kinds of senior technicians who came from the mainland were fortunate enough to live scatteredly with Mo Ming in this "most luxurious" building in Heishui Port so far. Due to the limited number of rooms, they usually need several people to squeeze into a house, except Other than Laura.Due to some unknown little thoughts, this outstanding ship designer was assigned a relatively spacious and well-decorated room, just next to someone.

Although it was snowing heavily outside at this time, the temperature was not too low to be unable to work, so most of these technicians were still busy in their respective construction sites or factories, so the entire government hall seemed empty.Especially in the hall downstairs, except for an orderly who was adding charcoal to the fireplace, there was no one else. Mo Ming even had to pour wine for the guests who came from afar.

"Mr. Imamura, why are you so late?" Mo Ming smiled and poured a cup of Xiangshan dry red wine for Imamura Yoshinosuke who was sitting in front of him, and then said: "After we said goodbye in Dabo, we all thought that you did not talk to us. Interested in doing business, Li Yi regretted it for a long time. I just didn't expect that we would still meet today, so, Mr. Imamura must have good news for his visit this time?"

Kojiro, who sat on the side, faithfully undertook the translation work.

"Our feudal clan was busy with the war a while ago, so we had no time to attend to others. Besides, many elders in this feudal clan also held objections to the trade between you and us. Therefore, it took a long time to persuade them." Yoshinosuke Imamura With a slight bow, he said apologetically: "After careful consideration the day before yesterday, the feudal lord decided to agree to trade with you, but it must still be done in the name of Shandan trade. In addition, the place of the transaction is also located in Dabo Port, so as not to cause any inconvenience. Do you have any doubts about the necessary trouble?"

"What kind of trade form is not important to us, we only care about whether the trade can be carried out normally." Mo Ming smiled, "It doesn't matter if the trading place is located in Dabo, we will open a business office in Dabo , you can come to trade at any time. But, what payment method are you going to use?"

"We will pay for the goods in gold, please rest assured." Yoshinosuke Imamura looked into Mo Ming's eyes and said without hesitation: "Of course, if you need to change, or exchange things for things, we will also It can be considered as appropriate, and there is no problem with this.”

"I think it's better to change all or part of the payment into real goods. For example, if we need to purchase some sulfur, grain and other materials from you, will you find it difficult? Also, if you can help If we recruit some samurai who are struggling to make a living in the domain or in the country, we will also give a considerable introduction fee, which can be deducted from the purchase price." Mo Ming continued to ask.

In fact, this is the focus of his attention. It is good to trade with the Japanese and recover a pile of gold and silver. If you can recruit some Japanese samurai as cannon fodder, it will be quite a bargain.Among these things, sulfur is probably not a big problem, and the price will be relatively cheap.But there are some problems with food, because obviously, the food in Japan is not very abundant, especially the Matsumae domain, which is located in a bitter cold place, and you may have to buy your own food from other domains. How can there be any surplus food? Sell ​​to outsiders?

As for recruiting some Japanese samurai, it shouldn't be difficult, but the number will certainly not be too many.Japan has been in peace for several years, and those unemployed samurai either went abroad to seek a living, such as serving as mercenaries for the Dutch, Portuguese, and British in the East India region; or they had already engaged in other industries and completely abandoned their old profession. .Therefore, asking Matsumae Fan to help recruit some wild samurai to serve as cannon fodder should not hold too much hope, it can only be used as a supplement.

Sure enough, Imamura Yoshinosuke spoke after pondering for a while.He obviously considered these issues in advance, and more or less authorized by some feudal lords, so he quickly replied: "There is no problem with sulfur, and we can sell it in large quantities. But food is very difficult, and we are also very nervous. I'm really sorry. But we will try our best to help you think of a way to raise some from other daimyos, but the price may be a bit high, please forgive me. Regarding your request to recruit a large number of samurai from our country, I I can only tell the truth, firstly, the number will not be too many, and secondly, many people are actually not warriors, or descendants of warriors. They may have some skills, but they are not noble warriors after all. Regarding this point, I don’t want to deceive Your Excellency, because this will damage the reputation of the clan. But I can guarantee that they will still be qualified sergeants with a little training, after all, most of them have undergone strict training when they were young."

"Imamura-kun is really a straightforward person, and I like to be friends with straightforward people." Mo Ming said with a smile, "Please take care of the food issue, we will give Imamura-kun and Guifan a reasonable price. Please rest assured. Regarding the samurai or warrior descendants you mentioned, we will also recruit them. It doesn’t matter if you bring your family with you. The treatment is good. After serving for three years, we will allocate housing and land to them in the mainland. A house, a cow, [-] acres of land, and a generous pension. If you die in battle, your family will receive a generous pension, and your children will be brought up by the state, and they will be recruited into the army and the government first. Or go to the factory, so that everyone can kill the enemy with peace of mind."

"Oh, such a generous condition?" Imamura Yoshinosuke was also a little moved.If the people on the east coast can really fulfill these conditions, then many poor and down-to-earth authentic warriors might have their families to vote.These people are not very afraid of death for the sake of a better life for their families. What they lack is a bid worthy of their hard work.

Mo Ming nodded and said: "We also have some officers and soldiers who were born as Japanese samurai in our army. Mr. Imamura can ask them about it. We people on the east coast never lie, and we must practice what we say. I also ask Mr. Imamura to spread the word after returning. inform."

"I will consider it." Imamura Yoshinosuke nodded, "Then, let's discuss the type, price and quantity of the goods you can provide..."

Then the two sides had a long discussion, and it was not until the afternoon that everyone finally reached a preliminary agreement.The content of the agreement is roughly: Matsumae asked the people on the east coast to sell them everything from artillery, plate armor, flintlock rifles, to cowhide ammunition bags, machine-made sabers, leather armor, hand-throwing bombs and even cotton coats, military boots, spirits, etc. at preferential prices. A series of combat equipment such as barbed wire.The price and quantity are negotiated by both parties in Dabo once a year, and the trading place is also set up in the shop of Dongan people in Dabo.

At the same time, Matsumae will sell a large amount of sulfur, some grain and seafood, herbs, and Ainu slaves captured in the war to the people on the east bank; Even if some samurai are recruited in Japan, people from the east coast will give a certain introduction fee for this.The above deficiencies will be made up by the Matsumae clan with gold payment.

After the discussion, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.The Matsumae clan is naturally full of ambitions, and is preparing to launch a larger-scale offensive against the Ainu people in Ezo; and the people on the east coast have also obtained some strategic materials that they urgently need, such as sulfur, grain, and herbs. It can be said that everyone is happy.

Although I don't know how big this business can be, how long it can last, what attitude the shogunate will have on this, and whether it will ask the Matsumae clan to ban this kind of trade, but this is all a matter for the future.It is a fortune to be able to make a fortune in front of you. At that time, it will be a big deal to transfer some benefits and let Matsumae Fan go to the shogunate by himself. It should not be a big problem.

(End of this chapter)