The Han culture is spreading strongly in Southeast Asia

Chapter 564: The Horsemen Finally Have the Chance to Become Masters

In the Nuanning Hall, when Liang Guozhi said that the Satsuma Domain should compensate for the damage caused to Ryukyu, the entire hall fell into silence.

The Ryukyu people were watching the joke, although they knew that even if compensation was paid, the Ryukyu royal family, who had just been given a surname, would only get a few melons and dates as appeasement.

But the feeling of my strong and powerful daddy coming back and beating up the little hooligan who bullied me at the door is just wonderful.

Although the people from the shogunate also had a mentality of watching the joke, they were more sympathetic and had a complicated feeling about the upcoming audience, as if they were waiting for trial.

The people of Satsuma were completely at a loss. Seeing the emperor's anger and thinking of the history of invasion against Ryukyu, who would dare to say no to compensation?
But they had to pay compensation, even if it was not that much, and they did not have the courage to go up and ask the emperor to reduce it.

Because this is not a question of how much to pay, but the Satsuma domain is already heavily in debt, and the treasury is empty. It is estimated that it will be difficult for them to come up with 5,000 silver dollars. Even if the debt is reduced, they will not be able to pay compensation.

The atmosphere was extremely tense, the air seemed to be frozen, and everyone tried not to make any noise for fear of attracting other people's attention, but Mo Zibu was not in a hurry at all.

Because he knew very well that he had grasped the Achilles' heel of Satsuma Domain, and Satsuma Domain's finances were bankrupt, and it was absolutely impossible for it to bear the consequences of losing Ryukyu.

Without Ryukyu as a source of wealth, the Satsuma Domain would surely explode.

What's more crucial is that if the Satsuma clan had chosen to resist from the beginning, as long as they were more resolute, Mo Zibu would have come to win them over.

Because after conquering Japan and then dividing it, we really need such immigrants to serve as dogs.

However, the Satsuma clan did not have the determination to fight a bloody battle and chose to surrender from the beginning, which put them in a passive position.

Now it is equivalent to half of these people surrendering and paying a considerable price. If the surrender is ultimately unsuccessful, the sunk cost will be too high, so these guys from the Satsuma domain can only choose to continue to increase their positions.

Just like people who are stuck in the stock market, not everyone has the courage to make the decision to cut off one's own arm, even though there is no guarantee that one will survive after the cut.

However, the situation could not continue to be so quiet. Mo Zibu glanced at Crown Prince Shimazu Yoshinobu who was surrounded by the people of Satsuma.

The eight-year-old boy couldn't help but sway slightly, with a ferocious expression on his face. He seemed to be struggling to hold on. His knees must be in great pain and his whole body must be numb.

Then, Mo Zibu waved towards Shimazu Qixuan and said, "Prince Satsuma, although you are young, you are also the master of these people. Tell me, how will Satsuma pay for this money?"

Although Shimazu Yoshinori was only eight years old, tears came to his eyes when he heard about paying compensation.

Although he was only eight years old, he had already experienced the embarrassment of creditors coming to collect debts and making a big fuss in the feudal government office for many years in a row.

Under the rule of his father, Shimazu Shigehiro, the lord of Satsuma Domain had to eat only a few rice balls for daily meals, and all pomp and circumstance were minimized. But even so, it was still very difficult.

This is a bit like a child who has experienced creditors coming to his house to collect debts since childhood. When he hears the words "pay compensation" or "repay money", he will feel the stress that triggers the shadow of his childhood.

So much so that the word "money" became a synonym for an indelible shadow in the mind of the young Shimazu Yoshinobu.

"Your Majesty, the Satsuma Domain is completely broke. We can't afford compensation even if we want to."

Thanks to Shimazu Shigehiro's vigorous teaching, Shimazu Yoshinori was exposed to both Chinese and French languages since childhood. His teachers were all from the Kinsiroku school, and most of their daily conversations were in Chinese, so his Nanjing Mandarin was still very fluent.

Mo Zibu snorted coldly upon hearing this, "You're quick to admit your mistakes, but you won't compensate me. You admit your guilt but won't accept the punishment. Are you trying to fool me, your father?"

The tone was not harsh, but Shimazu Yoshinobu was just a little kid, and he was immediately frightened and broke out in a cold sweat. He even felt that the emperor was about to order those golden-armored warriors to push him out of the palace gate and behead him.

In a hurry, the child with some linear thinking suddenly thought that these Ryukyu people had just said something about donating their territory. After they said this, the emperor said that their loyalty was commendable, and he was very happy.

The eight-year-old Shimazu Yoshinori did not quite understand what the donation of land and territory meant. He thought it was the same as the letter of allegiance that was popular in Japan at the time.

It was simply a token of surrender to express one's attitude, that is, to present the land and map album to express the attitude of Satsuma Domain to the emperor. The emperor would not really accept the land and map album, but would only accept the loyalty.

Then, with his knees in great pain and a high level of nervousness, Shimazu Qixuan actually put his head on the ground and shouted to Mo Zibu:

"Your Majesty, the Satsuma Domain is truly unable to pay compensation. If Your Majesty can forgive us, the Satsuma Domain is willing to follow the example of the Ryukyu Kingdom and offer its territory to the Great Emperor!"

Ah!
Fog grass, what are you talking about!
When Shimazu Yoshinori said this, even Shimazu Tadamichi, who was extremely in favor of being a dog for China, was frightened.

If the Satsuma clan directly donated their territory, what would happen to the land they controlled, or rather, what would happen to the farmers who these samurai controlled using the land?
Can samurai still be called samurai without the farmers who are physically dependent on them?

The reason why the Ryukyu Kingdom supported the donation of land was that the royal family and Shuri samurai who were given surnames had long been educated samurai living in the capital, rather than samurai who controlled farmers in the countryside.

The samurai would support the donation of land because their interests were not greatly harmed, but the warriors would definitely not.

Therefore, except for Shimazu Tadamichi, the rest of the Satsuma samurai were also furious.

Although they didn't dare to make loud noises, the buzzing sound of people whispering to each other suddenly arose, and everyone's faces showed expressions of shock and anxiety.

Not to mention them, even the people from the shogunate were shocked. Tanuma Ochi even wanted to stand up and shout, "How can you do this?"

If the emperor really swallowed up the Satsuma Domain in this way, what about the other daimyos of the Land of the Rising Sun? Could they also take this path and defect to China? How could the shogunate still dominate the Land of the Rising Sun?

It’s a pity that Tanuma Ichi didn’t dare to stand up and stop it.

"Your Majesty, the Satsuma Domain is wealthy and is willing to compensate the Ryukyu vassal for their losses!"

In this split second, Yamamoto Gorozaemon, the great-great-grandfather of Yamamoto Gonbei, the founder of the Japanese Navy in history and a samurai with a stature of 40 koku, rushed out and shouted to Mo Zibu.

Not only were the Japanese people stunned, but Mo Zibu was also a little surprised. The Satsuma Domain was so poor, where could it get the money from?

"Your Majesty, although the Satsuma Domain has no money, it has valuable things to sell." Yamamoto Gorozaemon got the inspiration from the Satsuma samurai's discussion on the topic of the nobility.

"Oh, could it be the gold and silver mines of Satsuma Domain? They are valuable, but not worth too much." Mo Zibu said slowly.

Satsuma Domain did have many gold and silver mines, but Mo Zibu now implemented the silver dollar system and collected seigniorage everywhere. The gold and silver mines of Satsuma Domain were definitely valuable in his hands.

But in the hands of the Satsuma Domain, which couldn't even get picric acid explosives and relied entirely on manpower to mine, it might not be very valuable.

"It's not the gold and silver mines, but the farmers of Satsuma!" Yamamoto Goro Sabei replied loudly: "Your Majesty, in Wa, there is a distinction between the nobility and non-nobility, as well as the lower class, the eda and non-humans.

As long as the Great Emperor is willing to grant all the samurai of the Land of the Rising Sun the status of nobility, then we are willing to help the Great Emperor organize tens of millions of Japanese farmers and send them to Southeast Asia to work for the Great Emperor's Southeast Asian vassals and manor owners.

At the same time, the Great Emperor's vassals and estate owners in Southeast Asia also need people to help them train and subdue the local natives, making them the most obedient farmers. The warriors of the Land of the Rising Sun are well-equipped to complete this task."

Mo Zibu's eyes lit up. This plan was not much different from what he had thought of before, which was to send Japanese farmers to Southeast Asia to farm for vassals, especially for the large number of small landowners who had retired from the army.

For example, the group of Guangxi Ma Lao who worked for Mo Zibu in Southeast Asia, and the Yao people Wei Da who teamed up with the ancestors of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. He is now in great need of farmers to farm for him.

If he could buy five obedient farmers from Japan, Wei Da's 600 acres of land on Nanji Island (Java Island) could be fully cultivated, and he, a lame Guangxi horse, could truly become a master. By extension, with these farmers, he could avoid the embarrassing situation of being granted 500 acres of land in Nanyang but not being worth 50 silver dollars, and his officers and soldiers who were retired due to injuries could be protected.

More importantly, the land in Southeast Asia will become more valuable, and those cunning farmers from the mainland who go to Southeast Asia will follow the rules when they have competitors.

Although it suited Mo Zibu's taste, he did not show much of a smile on his face. Instead, he asked coldly:

"The Satsuma Domain has only a little over a million people. Can they spare 100,000 to go to Southeast Asia? What kind of great things can such a small number of people accomplish?"

Yamamoto Gorozaemon knelt on the ground and answered loudly: "More than 100,000 people. Satsuma is not a rich place like the Central Plains. In fact, it is enough to feed 500,000 people.

Now there are more than one million people, and everyone from warriors to farmers is extremely poor. As long as the capacity of the large sea ships is sufficient, at least more than 200,000 people can be sold.

Moreover, although the Satsuma Domain only has a population of over a million, the Land of the Rising Sun has quite a few. As long as the Chinese citizens in Southeast Asia are willing to pay a little compensation, I believe that the daimyo of each domain would be willing to sell their surplus population to Southeast Asia."

"Yeah, that makes sense." Mo Zibu nodded. "What if some vassal states are unwilling to do so?"

"Then destroy him. Satsuma is willing to lead the troops and serve as the vanguard for the emperor!" Yamamoto Gorozaemon said firmly.

"What is your status in Satsuma Domain? Tell me your name." Mo Zibu deliberately showed a satisfied look. Although this plan was rough, it was very feasible.

Yamamoto Gorozaemon was overjoyed, "Your Majesty, I am Yamamoto Gorozaemon, a humble servant of the Satsuma Domain, with an annual salary of 40 koku."

"Forty stones!" Mo Zibu opened his mouth in surprise. Thousands of kilograms of brown rice a year, what kind of warrior are you? You can only be considered a rich peasant.

No, they are not even considered rich peasants, because rich peasants do not need to maintain pomp and circumstance, and they can cultivate their own land, so their burden is much lighter than that of samurai.

Yamamoto Gorozaemon blushed. Damn, a land of 40 koku is too embarrassing to say in this great country of China.

"Would you be willing to serve as my advisor? I will give you an annual salary equivalent to 250 dan of unpolished rice."

Mo Zibu put forward the conditions: two hundred and fifty dan of brown rice in the Jiangnan region of China was equivalent to about one hundred and eighty silver dollars, which was exactly the basic annual salary of a major staff officer in the Imperial Court Staff.

Of course, the annual salary in China is provided in various forms, half in silver dollars and half in various goods and housing subsidies. Mo Zibu converted it into brown rice to make it easier for the Japanese to compare.

"Your Majesty, get on board!!!" Yamamoto Gorozaemon screamed out, tears streaming down his face with excitement.

The actual annual salary of 250 koku of brown rice is equivalent to 500 koku of koku in Japan, which implements the five-civilian system.

This is almost the treatment of a low-ranking hatamoto. As a low-ranking samurai, jumping from 40 koku to 500 koku is like ascending to heaven in one step.

Seeing that Yamamoto Gorozaemon suddenly became a samurai with a salary of 500 koku, the other Satsuma samurai were extremely envious. They were all eager to show themselves under Mo Zibu.

And Tanuma Yizhi's heart sank quickly.

Although he was a bit cowardly, he actually had good abilities and vision. He quickly saw the real killer move that Yamamoto Gorozaemon had proposed to Mo Zibu.

Selling farmers to Southeast Asia to make money is actually only a superficial benefit. The real power lies in this policy, which divides Japan into Chinese and non-Chinese people.

With this division, a large number of non-Chinese people at the bottom of society are destined to be slaughtered. Going to Southeast Asia may give them a better fate, and they will not be affected by the arrival of China.

It doesn't matter who you serve as a semi-serf, right?

These lower-class non-Chinese people account for the vast majority of Japan's population. After removing them from the circle of interests, what China has to deal with is the samurai class who are considered to be Chinese.

This group of people will not exceed 800,000 at most.

The difficulty level between solving 30 million and solving 800,000 is something that even a child can figure out.

"Tanuma-kun, we must make a decision. If the upper kingdom really implements this policy, they won't have to rush to conquer the Land of the Rising Sun.

Instead, we can use the Kyushu region as a base to divide the daimyo of the Land of the Rising Sun into two parts.

The obedient ones were classified as Chinese, and their farmers were bought out with money so that they could share the profits.

Those who are disobedient are not considered non-Chinese, even warriors can become non-Chinese.

Their land, the farmers on it, and even their families would be turned into commodities and sold to Southeast Asia. ” Lin Shuzhai saw the other side and warned them.

"This is very powerful." Oda Nobufu also understood, "First, divide the Chinese and non-Chinese people, and then select a group of disobedient people from the non-Chinese people to make an example of them.

The gap between them is really too big, and the Chinese navy and army are so strong, with guns and artillery a hundred times more than those of the Kingdom of the Rising Sun. We can't see any hope of successfully resisting.

In this situation, I think even the shogunate's close vassals might not be able to withstand such temptation and terrifying punishment.

If it really comes to this, I'm afraid not many people will really choose to be loyal to the Tokugawa family, and the country will be destroyed and the family will be ruined."

After Oda Nobufu finished speaking, all the shogunate representatives turned their eyes to Tanuma Ochi, meaning that they wanted him to come out and oppose this Chinese interference.

A blush appeared on Tanuma Ichi's face, but then he realized that if he contradicted the emperor here, the end result would be execution.

Thinking of death, Tanuma Yizhi became scared again. Loyalty, heroism, and fame were not as important as his life and property.

If you have lost your life, what is the point of these vain things?

The excitement faded from Tanuma Ichi's face. He twisted uncomfortably and instantly looked as if he was looking at his nose and his heart.

Lin Shuzhai sighed in his heart and finally gave up on the shogunate completely. He looked at Oda Nobufuke, Ueno Touya and other daimyo and hatamoto who were close confidants of Shogun Tokugawa Ieharu.

"Mr. Matsudaira, please make sure to protect the Tokugawa family." Oda Nobufu whispered to Lin Shuzhai.

"If the Great Emperor can preserve the shogunate, no matter in what form, we will support Mito Domain studies, support respecting the Great Emperor as the true holy king on earth, and follow him to expel the white barbarians from the West!" Ueno Touya also said in agreement.

Lin Shuzhai nodded. Although these people were not actually the core members of the shogunate, they came to the Celestial Empire as a secret delegation, so they represented the shogunate to a large extent.

If they chose to honor the Great Emperor of China as the true holy king on earth, then China would have some legal basis to order the Tokugawa shogunate to obey the imperial edict.

For China, getting this little bit is enough.

"Yes, the rights and interests of the Tokugawa family must be protected." Lin Shuzhai said firmly.

However, there is a big difference between preserving the Tokugawa family's rule and protecting the Tokugawa family's rights and interests.

(End of this chapter)