The Han culture is spreading strongly in Southeast Asia

Chapter 543: Kagoshima's Lament

The Zojikan in Tsurumaru Castle is not big, which is very consistent with the traditional architectural height of Japan. Calling them Japanese is not really a derogatory term, but a very appropriate one.

The ancient Japanese were originally a relatively short race, and Japan's grain output determined that their nutritional intake level was definitely insufficient.

Some later generations of Akita dogs, because they were vegetarians and had very small appetites, found many excuses that sounded noble and compassionate, but in fact there was only one reason, that is, the various outputs of ancient Japan were really too low.

It was so low that if all the nobles ate to their heart's content, like the Middle-earth where people cooked oil and lived in such a luxurious way, a family would be bankrupted very quickly.

Therefore, it is necessary to encourage members of the nobility who do not undertake combat missions to live frugally to ensure the nutritional intake of the samurai class and the grandeur of large-scale activities.

In addition, after the emperor lost power and became extremely poor, the entire royal family was destitute and had nothing to do. If they did not try their best to lower the food standards of so many people, people would really starve to death with the output of 20,000 stones in Yamashiro Province, which would be funny.

However, this was a necessary measure, which profoundly affected the living habits of all Japanese people from top to bottom, resulting in the fact that even in the later era when material supplies were extremely sufficient, the Japanese were still known for their small appetites.

At this time, this trend was most popular, and the closer to the Kanto region, the political center of the shogunate, the more obvious this phenomenon was.

Zheng Jinshui had come into contact with some Kanto warriors, most of whom were extremely short, and many of them showed obvious signs of malnutrition.

This made him a little disappointed. With such a physique, it would be difficult for him to survive even as a farmer in Southeast Asia.

However, when he stepped into the gate of the Zoshikan, his eyes suddenly lit up.

Because the Satsuma warriors in the Zoshikan were obviously much stronger, although they were still short and there were some tall ones but they were not common. At least not all warriors looked like hungry people with pale faces.

Well, these guys from the Satsuma domain were quite unruly. There were standards for the food, clothing, and daily expenses of the nobles, but they refused to follow them. They often secretly ate various fish, crabs, and shellfish from the sea, even crabs, a food that was looked down upon by the mainstream at the time.

All this caused the people of Satsuma to be ridiculed. People thought that their eating habits were as crude as wild boars, that they ate everything and that they were uncivilized savages.

But unfortunately, when the shogunate was overthrown in history, the relatively strong soldiers from the southwestern feudal domains made the samurai of the shogunate suffer a lot.

"The lord's Dutch friends brought surprising news from Ceylon, saying that the troops of the Great Emperor Dayu had won a brilliant victory in India.

Together with the French, they won a major battle against the English with a force of 100,000 men.

I heard that the land they have seized so far alone is over five million dan, and the gold and silver they have taken away is as high as a mountain.

Having said this, the person who was spreading the news loudly paused, as if he was drinking water, or as if he was deliberately whetting others' appetite.

After many people began to urge him impatiently, he continued in an extremely exaggerated tone: "Gentlemen, I am talking about soldiers, that is, Ashigaru, not samurai who can serve as officers.

Even the foot soldiers received several Indian women and more than fifty stones of money as spoils of war.

As for land, the Han people didn't like it. They were always timid and thought it was too far from their homeland and difficult to defend, so they gave up the rich land they had already seized.

Well, it fits the basic image of the Japanese. They always appear to be somewhat objective in general, and then unintentionally belittle others in order to highlight their own strengths.

Or it could be like secretly hiding a pile of shit for you in a good thing. When interacting with them, you always feel generally acceptable, but when you look into it carefully, you feel a little disgusted.

The Japanese desire for land, especially land on the mainland, may be the strongest among all Oriental peoples.

This was especially true during the Edo Shogunate era when everyone was penniless. The poor and distressed samurai's desire for land had become their obsession.

Sure enough, after hearing what this person said, the Satsuma warriors in the Zoshikan were all heartbroken.

One of the tall guys stood up and said with a very painful expression: "This is too unacceptable, it's simply a crime. If these Tang people were from our Satsuma country, they would definitely be punished by heaven."

"Yes, Saigo-kun is right. How can we give up rich land just because it is difficult to hold on to?

If it's land on the mainland, then even if you die, you should die on that kind of land, not be abandoned at random."

This tall Saigo-kun was named Saigo Kichibei, the great-grandfather of Saigo Takamori, a hero who overthrew the shogunate in history.

The smaller figure next to Saigo Yoshibei, who was looking at him with infinite admiration, was none other than his son Saigo Takamitsu.

Saigo Kichibei once studied under the swordsmanship master Ōyama Sadamasa and was a well-known swordsman.

Hearing someone agreeing with him, Saigo Kichibei stood up happily, bowed solemnly to Kitanotaroemon who agreed with him, and then said something with great emotion.

“The Han people of the Central Plains have become so wealthy that they no longer even care about the rich lands of India, but we, the warriors of the Shimazu family, cherish even a piece of land full of gravel.

This is so unfair. Why are we, the Samos, not even qualified to occupy the land that the Han people don't want after we were born?

Why is it that they have such a wise emperor who leads them to expand their territory, while our general only knows how to lead all of us to borrow high-interest loans from the rats in Edo?"

Following Saigo Kichibei's lament, the thirty or so Satsuma samurai in the room suddenly became extremely depressed. They wished they could rush to India right now and take back the rich land there from the Han people who had lost it.

"Big rat, big rat, don't eat my millet. I have pierced your flesh for three years, yet you still don't care about me."

I don't know who started knocking on the wooden bowl and actually began to chant "The Book of Songs: The Rat" in very standard Nanjing Mandarin.

At once, everyone in the room began to respond, and the scene was strangely solemn.

Zheng Jinshui was stunned for a moment. He took a deep breath and for a moment thought he had arrived in the Spring and Autumn Period and Warring States Period before the Qin Dynasty.

Isn’t this style and this kind of scholar the style of China’s pre-Qin period?
His Majesty the Emperor is right. He said that the Japanese version was just two thousand years ago, and it seems that there is some truth to it.

However, after hearing these people chanting, Zheng Jinshui put away his contempt.

Let alone anything else, just based on the Nanjing Mandarin, outside of Zhonghua, even in the former Beihe and Guangnan, only the top nobles could speak it so fluently.

And in this small Satsuma Domain Zoshikan, there are so many low-level samurai who can speak standard Nanjing Mandarin.

At the same time, Zheng Jinshui also understood one thing: once poems of this type like "Shuo Shu" began to circulate on a large scale among low-level scholars, it would be very easy to unite people's hearts, and it also proved that these people had ambitions and were concerned about the country.

"Education, education!" Zheng Jinshui muttered softly, "If the Satsuma clan doesn't rise up under education, it will surely explode and destroy everyone!"

Thinking of this, Zheng Jinshui, who was about to speak up and join in, suddenly heard a different voice.

"Suzuki-kun is still exaggerating. In fact, although India is rich, it is indeed undefendable because China's ocean-going navy is no match for the English.

As long as the British controlled the sea supply lines, the Tang Dynasty's army of Dayu would still have no choice but to retreat.

I think it's acceptable to give up the Indian land we've seized now and accumulate strength for the next comeback." The speaker was a short man. Zheng Jinshui heard someone call him Yamamoto Gorozaemon.

Since the lord of Satsuma Domain, Shimazu Shigehiro, was committed to promoting Dutch studies with an open attitude, the samurai of Satsuma Domain were not closed-minded either.

Although their sources of information about the situation in Europe were very limited, they were still able to guess the situation in Europe based on scattered information.

At least, these people know that England and France are the powerful countries in Europe, and the Netherlands, which has the closest relationship with them, is no longer as powerful as it used to be.

Of course, they know even more about China.

After all, during the peak period, there were more than 70 Tang ships sailing from Fujian to Nagasaki every year, and there were also 20 to 30 ships sailing from Jiangsu and Zhejiang to the Thirteen Copper Traders every year.

So when he heard that Suzuki Fujiken's speech was too exaggerated, Yamamoto Gorozaemon immediately came out to refute it.

"The Emperor Guangzhong of the Great Yu of the Central Plains is a revival leader like the Hongwu Emperor of the Ming Dynasty. It is impossible for him to give up the land if he can get it back.

Furthermore, the troops heading to India are the imperial guards of Emperor Dayu. They are not just foot soldiers, but the most elite imperial guards of the empire. Every soldier is a true warrior!"

He had just received everyone's approving gazes and hadn't enjoyed it enough when someone slapped him in the face in public. Suzuki Fujiken's face immediately turned black, and he pointed at Yamamoto Gorozaemon who had refuted him and started cursing.

Yamamoto Gorozaemon was not willing to be outdone, and the two of them started arguing with each other right inside the house.

The others, those who were trying to persuade and those who were standing in line, were busy having fun.

After a while, the two men who were unable to convince others with virtue began to use martial virtue to make others submit.

Suzuki Fujiken was extremely brave and beat Yamamoto Gorozaemon, who was refuting him, until his face was bruised and bloody, and he successfully won the debate.

"I think both of you have a point. The Tang people in the Central Plains may have had strategic considerations when they retreated from India, but they also definitely gained too much and didn't value the land."

When the battle was over, Saigo Kichibei came out to smooth things over.

However, Yamamoto Gorozaemon, who had slightly inferior martial ethics, did not like Saigo Kichibei's attempt to smooth things over.

With his face still stained from the blood, he roared, "You still look at Middle-earth with the same attitude as before, but they are no longer the same.

The Jurchens who had ruled China had been overthrown, and the Tang people now had a wise emperor to lead them.

The Great Yu Dynasty has already built three massive fleets. They've already defeated even England, the maritime hegemon. With a fleet like this, do you still want to rely on divine winds to resist?"

The Yamamoto family of Satsuma Domain, originally named Kanmu Heishi, was an extremely poor samurai family with only 36 stones of land. However, the Yamamoto family was the backbone of the grassroots officers in Satsuma Domain's small naval system.

The most famous descendant of this family was Yamamoto Gonbei, one of the founders of the Japanese Navy and a naval tycoon of the Satsuma faction, who lived until 1933.

However, Yamamoto Gorozaemon was extremely unpopular because he always liked to say hurtful and depressing things when everyone was happy.

His popularity was so bad that even when his family couldn't afford to eat, no warrior was willing to help him temporarily.

The fact that he was beaten black and blue, with blood all over his face, and there were few people helping him up, was a clear proof of this.

The room fell into silence. Yamamoto Gorozabei, who was used to hurting people's hearts, hurt everyone's heart again.

When you think about the size of China, and the fact that they can even defeat the British now, if they really come to attack Japan, what can they use to resist?
"No, no." Seeing that the atmosphere in the room was awkward, Xixiang came out and laughed.

"The Tang people in the Central Plains have so many places to go, why would they come to our poor and small Land of the Rising Sun?

Even warriors like us here are so poor that we have to work hard to get a full meal. Instead of fighting us, we might as well go and rob the English of India."

"Yes, the Tang people have occupied all of Southeast Asia, and even the Christian ronin who escaped from us have joined them.

The rocks in the entire Nanyang are said to be higher than those in the Kingdom of the Rising Sun. Why would they come and attack our poor place?"

After waiting for a long time, Zheng Jinshui finally got the chance to interrupt. He coughed twice and walked in.

"It's not said to be higher than the Kingdom of the Rising Sun, but it's much higher. The Chinese province of Taiping in Southeast Asia alone exceeds the entire Kingdom of the Rising Sun."

Although Japan's shigao cannot be simply understood as grain production or the total economic output converted into grain production, it can still be used to roughly indicate the total income.

When the warriors in the room heard Zheng Jinshui's words, they all stretched their necks in surprise and looked at him.

But I wasn't too surprised, because this was the Zojikan of Tsurumaru Castle, and anyone who could get in past the samurai guarding the door must be from the same class.

Although I have never seen him, it is very likely that he is a samurai from another domain, or a merchant with samurai status from Kyoto or Osaka.

During the Edo Shogunate period, restrictions on domestic and foreign affairs were not as strict as one might imagine.

Especially for warriors and big businessmen, it was very common to get a pass to go out and gain knowledge or do business.

Seeing everyone's surprised looks, Zheng Jinshui's guards were about to reveal their fake identities.

Well, actually it’s not a fake identity. Zheng Jinshui gave so many benefits to the shogunate and bought so much rice every year. It was very easy for the shogunate, or simply through the wealthy merchants and hatamoto samurai below, to get an identity.

However, just as the guard was about to speak, Zheng Jinshui stopped him.

Because our Zheng Da's favorite minister was 1.77 meters tall, had fair skin, a confident demeanor, and especially the temperament of an important official of a superior country. He was too conspicuous among a group of lower-level warriors, most of whom were less than 1.6 meters tall and had to eat coarse food.

Moreover, outsiders may not be able to tell the difference between Chinese and Japanese, but Chinese and Japanese can basically be distinguished.

In later times of close communication, the differences could sometimes be distinguished quickly, but at this time, the differences caused by such isolation were even more obvious.

"You are a Tang person, you are a Tang person!" Just when Zheng Jinshui was trying to stop the guard from revealing his false identity, Yamamoto, whose face was covered in blood from the beating, jumped up and shouted.

"Yes, it's Tangren. His accent is similar to those guys in Nagasaki!" Saigo yelled and immediately drew his knife.

Immediately, the sound of swords being drawn from their sheaths was heard, and the warriors in the room drew their swords one after another, glaring at each other nervously.

"Tangren, tell us why you are here, otherwise we will not be polite!" Suzuki Fujiken, who had just beaten up Yamamoto Gorozaemon, looked like a leader and shouted at Zheng Jinshui.

(End of this chapter)