The Han culture is spreading strongly in Southeast Asia

Chapter 616: Divine Gun - Breaking the Poverty Light

In Shanlu Fort, Xin'an County, the garrison commander Yamagami Che and more than ten retainers rushed past his own endless paddy fields.

Although it is already the ninth month of the lunar calendar, it is still possible to harvest another crop of millet on Nanji Island.

It is also very simple and there is no need to replant, because new rice seedlings will grow again from the harvested rice stalks and basically require no care.

Looking at the green rice fields, Shan Shangche couldn't help but stop his horse, reached out and scooped up a handful of rice water with a strong fishy smell from the paddy fields. Watching the water droplets falling from between his fingers, a satisfied smile appeared on his face.

"Yamada-kun, every time this happens, I think of the winter in my hometown. The howling north wind can make people shiver with cold. In September, the fields are dead silent. How can we harvest white rice again in September like this?"

Yamada-kun, who was standing behind Yamagami Toru, nodded in agreement, "Yes, this Nanji Island, apart from being a little hot, is truly a paradise on earth. The yield per acre of land is more than five times that of our hometown.

So, in my hometown, a family carefully tends to the fields, but in the end they cannot even eat a single bite of white rice and can only survive on beans, corn and wild vegetables.

This kind of poverty was passed down to the top, even to the samurai with less than 100 koku, where it was difficult to feed their entire family.

Here, even the lowest serfs have enough to eat; it's truly a paradise on earth!"

Yamagami Toru did not follow the Shimazu Sadowa clan to Aceh, but was assigned to Xin'an County and served as a garrison commander under Xin'an Jun'o Wei Da.

Don't underestimate a garrison commander. Shanlu Fort is one of the six most important townships in Xin'an County, with 2,300 households, 13,000 civilians, and 170,000 acres of paddy fields.

This does not include the mountains and forests full of banana trees and other fruit trees that can be used as staple food, and the rivers and lakes rich in aquatic products.

If we calculate strictly, the output of shigao is definitely more than 400,000 shi, and this is the output when the paddy fields have not been fully developed due to insufficient manpower.

In other words, if all of the fiefdoms of Jinshi Fangbo were to be developed, it would be estimated to reach more than 6 million stones, and the fiefdom of Shin'an Junnan would have at least 1.5 million stones.

Of course, even in the resource-rich South Seas, Java Island is a unique exception.

Because the growth of rice requires not only good water and heat conditions, but also a large amount of nutrients.

In this era without modern fertilizers and when natural guano islands like Nauru had not yet been discovered, the land in ordinary South Pacific regions could not support four crops all year round.

For example, in Thailand (Siam), the land granted to retired soldiers was not a few hundred acres, but a few villages.

Then these small vassals would only control the people in these villages, farm in these villages for the next three years, and at the same time maintain the fields in the other villages so that they would not turn into swamps.

When the fertility of the fields in this village is almost exhausted, we will go to other villages to farm.

On Nanji Island, which is not a small island, there are volcanoes all over the island, which erupt all year round. The volcanic ash provides natural fertilizer, so there is no need to move to another place every two or three years like in Siam.

You only need to grow rice for three years, then grow beans, milk vetch and other crops that can fertilize the land for another year, and then you can start growing four crops of rice again.

Therefore, it can be said that in terms of grain production alone, during the period of modern fertilizers and improved seeds, Japan relied on its technological advantages, and the difference in production between Java Island and Japan Island was not that big.

But in this era where people rely entirely on the weather for their livelihood, Java Island far surpasses Japan Island. Although its area is one-third smaller than Japan Island, its output is at least five times that of Japan Island.

"I heard that it was His Majesty the Great Emperor who deliberately arranged for Yamagami-kun to be stationed on Nanji Island. At that time, we didn't understand the situation and thought it was..."

Yamada got stuck at this point, implying that everyone thought the emperor did not allow Yamagami Toru to follow the Shimazu clan's Sadohara domain to Aceh in order to prevent people in the world from making any associations.

"But it seems that this is a reward from His Majesty the Great Emperor to Yamagami-kun.

Although the Shigao yield is only 3,000 shi, with four crops a year and plenty of wasteland that can be easily reclaimed, the Shigao yield is more than 300,000 shi, a full hundred times higher. It's truly enviable!"

"Yes, yes. This doesn't even include the banana trees and the aquatic products from the rivers and lakes. I heard that Yamagami Castle's milk vetch honey is also very famous. Why don't you treat us to some banana and milk vetch honey sushi today, Mr. Yamagami?"

This little dwarf who spoke to Queen Yamada was low-key, but he had the aura of a superior.

Yamagami Che knew that this dwarf was the one who made the decision.

The Owari domain had to be changed because the Prime Minister of the East, His Majesty the Emperor, had set his eyes on the lands of the Owari and Kishu domains and wanted to give them to his sons. These two once noble Tokugawa families had no choice but to leave their homeland in disgrace.

Of course, the retired emperor would not act so rudely. He personally sponsored 200,000 silver dollars each for the moving expenses of Owari and Kishu domains, and allowed them to take away half of the samurai and farmers.

These people came here to investigate whether Nanji Island could accommodate them.

Soon, the food was served. The sweet and soft salmon was cut raw and placed on the rice balls, then drizzled with milk vetch nectar, and bunches of yellow bananas were neatly arranged.

This is a good time to eat bananas. Of course, there are many varieties of bananas at this time, and the varieties are very different. There are all kinds of them, and some are even similar to plantains, which are difficult to turn yellow, have a raw and hard taste.

The ones brought down from the mountain were very small, similar to the millet bananas of later generations, with short and round fruits. After peeling them, a very pleasant fragrance came out.

Xu (Tokugawa) Muneyuki of Owari Domain carefully pinched the soft and glutinous white fruit and put it into his mouth, then carefully sipped out the seeds, and then his eyes lit up.

"It's delicious!" Xu (Tokugawa) Muneyuki exclaimed. "No wonder many people say that the natives can feel full even on bananas. This thing is soft, sweet, and similar to rice cakes. It's truly a treasure bestowed upon the natives by God!"

In fact, some bananas at this time do not taste very good, but in areas where human activities are still relatively intensive, after thousands of years of passive breeding by humans and animals, there are still many bananas that taste very good.

Xu (Tokugawa) Muneyuki was very lucky, because the banana he ate at that time was most likely the Gros Michel banana, also known as the Big Michel banana, which had not yet been brought to the Caribbean by Europeans and discovered its value.

Although this type of banana still has a lot of seeds, it is much better than many other bananas. Moreover, as long as this thing is cultivated artificially from generation to generation, the seeds can be easily made smaller or even disappear.

After eating the banana, Xu (Tokugawa) Muneyuki ate a piece of salmon sushi drizzled with honey.

The Japanese have a long history of eating salmon, but the history of eating it raw is not too long. Perhaps due to the limitations of the method and slow transportation, most of the fish sashimi in Japan at that time was still made from river fish.

Of course, for the Japanese who are accustomed to eating fish sashimi, the temptation of raw salmon is extremely exaggerated.

In addition, in this era before the emergence of sugar beets, Japan's only way to obtain sugar on a large scale was to import cane sugar, and honey resources were extremely scarce, so sweetness was an extreme luxury for them.

Xu (Tokugawa) Muneyuki was a close relative of the Owari domain, and his status seemed noble, but he rarely had the opportunity to eat such exquisite and delicious food.

"Oh, I vaguely see it, oh, I vaguely see it!" Xu (Tokugawa) Muneyuki closed his eyes, immersed in the delicious taste and unable to extricate himself, praising it for being delicious again and again.

After a long while, he finally opened his eyes and said to Yamagami Toru, "It's really delicious. If you can eat such delicious food every day, you will be able to leave this world with a smile on your face."

"Yamagami-kun, can you show me your famous gun - the Poverty-Breaking Light Strike?"

If Mo Zibu were here, he would be speechless.

The "Poqiong Kokakuji" mentioned by Xu (Tokugawa) Muneyuki was the musket that Yamagami Toru used to kill Emperor Kokaku.

The term "Kōkaku-ji" is easy to understand, but "poqiong" was added by Japanese gossipmongers because when Yamagami Toru killed the Kōkaku Emperor, he shouted, "I am for the poor warriors of the world, I kill this thief!"

What a shame!
Moreover, it is difficult for ordinary people to understand the Japanese way of thinking. Generally speaking, since Yamagami Toru killed the emperor, many samurai should hate him.

But the reality was that many warriors admired Yamagami Toru very much, thinking he was a powerful figure, and even began to spread the rumor that Yamagami Toru also had divine blood.

Of course, if he dares to kill the emperor, he must be a god.

Even Yamagami Toru himself, after getting over the initial fear, began to feel a little content.

So after hearing Xu (Tokugawa) Muneyuki's request, he quickly ordered someone to bring over his treasured musket.

Xu (Tokugawa) Muneyuki took out the Poqiong Guanggeji from the exquisite sandalwood box. The originally ordinary hand cannon always made him feel that it seemed to have some divinity.

"It is indeed a famous gun, no, it should be called a divine gun!" Xu (Tokugawa) Muneyuki quickly defined this hand gun.

"This should be the magic gun made by the great emperor himself. Only a weapon made by the True Saint King of Heaven's Mandate, the Son of Heaven, can kill the son of a minor god in the lower realm. This is what is called hierarchy!" A Jinyiwei who had been following Xu (Tokugawa) Zongzhi's inspection team immediately widened his eyes and grasped the value of these words.

Because he killed Empress Guangge Tian on the mountain, there has always been an unsolved problem, that is, he has not been punished for his rebellion.

This not only posed a challenge to Emperor Gokaku's life, but also a secret challenge to the authority of Emperor Mozibu.

"Why, Emperor Kokaku should be shot in public, but you, Emperor Kumchū, are of the same generation as us, so you shouldn't be shot, right?"

This was also the reason why Mo Zibu kept Shan Shangche in cold storage. He also understood better why Sima Zhao didn't care about his face and had to kill Cheng Ji.

I also understand how much damage Sima Zhao caused to his Sima family's empire because he couldn't bring himself to kill Jia Chong. I hope the holy dynasty will rule the world with filial piety.

And Xu (Tokugawa) Muneyuki's words gave a very good sophistry.

After saying this, Xu (Tokugawa) Zongzhi looked towards the north in the direction of the imperial capital with hope, because the emperor only allowed them to give up the title of King Shunning of Zhenfan and obtain a pro-vassal state in Nanji Island.

This is still a bit low for the Owari domain.

Although the lord of a close vassal state and the lord of a vassal state are not the same thing, it is not so bad that the Shunning King, who is the second-rank vassal state, is only worthy of being compared with a gentleman of the fifth-rank close vassal state.

However, the former Shogun, now the relative of the Edo clan, Tokugawa Ieharu, stayed in Nanjing Yingtian Prefecture wholeheartedly, took in a bunch of concubines, hoping to create another successor, and did not care about anything else.

The Owari clan had no choice but to find ways to please the emperor, and this sophistry was one of the best ways to please him.

"Does Marquis Zhongshun mean by this that he thinks the mountain garrison commander did the right thing?" asked the Jinyiwei attendant in the team with a hint of meaning.

Xu (Tokugawa) Muneyuki nodded without hesitation, "Yes, I now understand how vast the world is and how well-intentioned the Emperor is.

If we and the Japanese still cling to the old system and are bewitched by the usurping so-called emperor, I don't know how many more years we will have to suffer in the land of the rising sun. Not only will we suffer, but millions of people will suffer as well.

This is the honor of a family, but anyone who brings suffering to the people of the world should be punished!"

Well, it’s only been more than three years, and the Japanese themselves think that the emperor should die.

Moreover, these words aroused Yamagami Toru's gratitude. He was a poor samurai from Kagoshima, and he could achieve what he had today and become a vassal of Ishigaka with a total of 400,000 people. It was all thanks to the grace of His Majesty the Emperor.

With a plop, Shan Shangche immediately knelt down, facing north.

His samurai knew what to do, and immediately picked up sticks and drove away all the natives who were waiting to serve them in the distance.

Among these relatives of the Japanese, hierarchy was extremely important. The natives were not even qualified to kowtow to the emperor, and non-Chinese people were not even allowed to say "Long live the emperor".

After driving away the natives and all present were Chinese, Yamagami Che knelt three times and kowtowed nine times towards the north, shouting "Long live the king". The rest of the Chinese and people also joined them in shouting "Long live the king".

At this moment, several riders came galloping from a distance, and the leader was holding a large flag with a black background and red tiles and a dragon, which symbolized the Republican Parliament.

Shan Shangche, who had just kowtowed to the emperor, stood up suddenly, trembling with excitement. This was the scene he had dreamed of and had appeared in his dreams many times.

"The Mountain Guardian, by order of His Majesty, with the seal of the Imperial Clan Director, Duke Cai Huang, and the signature of the Nanyang Prime Minister and Grand Elder of the Nanyang Republican Council, agrees to accept the Guardian as a member of the Republican House of the Nanyang Council."

"Your Majesty's kindness is beyond my reach. I will only fulfill my duties and do my best to defend the territory of Dayu." Shan Shangche was overjoyed and knelt down again, kowtowed repeatedly on the ground.

Xu (Tokugawa) Muneyuki's eyes lit up, and he felt as if he had discovered something again. He waited until the mountain calmed down a little before he hurried up to ask.

Yamagami Toru, who was finally allowed to become a provincial republican councilor, could not contain his ecstasy and told Xu (Tokugawa) Muneyuki the story of the governor of Changyu Port when the emperor just started his career.

Only then did Xu (Tokugawa) Zongzhi realize that Dayu's power in Southeast Asia was divided into two areas.

The first is the traditional line of governance rights.

For example, in Nanji Province, the entire province was divided into six prefectures, but the six prefectures, including the provincial capital Hongxing (Jakarta), were directly under the jurisdiction of the imperial court.

The fiefs of other barons were just state capitals, while the fiefs of viscounts and barons were all county capitals.

Politically, the three levels of vassal states, namely, Bo, Zi and Nan, as well as the garrison commanders who were lower than them, were all under the jurisdiction of the prefects sent by the imperial court.

Although the prefect mostly consulted with these local tyrants when encountering problems, the political hierarchy was still there.

If a vassal really wants to occupy a prefecture, he has to be a prince, not a middle or low-level local official.

But I'm sorry, let alone Nanji Island, even in the whole of Southeast Asia, there are only a few people who are marquises or above, such as Lu Fan, the King of Jin, the Duke of Korea, and the Marquis of Songcheng, and there is no one on Nanji Island.

After working so hard abroad, everyone becomes a noble lord here, but still has to be controlled by the government. It would be meaningless to hold this title, and the key is that their interests are difficult to be guaranteed.

Therefore, the second path for Nanyang is a republican parliament, in which members are currently only selected from among the nobles and big businessmen.

Of course, the concept of nobility is very broad, and many manor owners who only have two or three thousand acres of land are also considered nobility.

Among them, the Republican Parliament of the Nanyang Mission is divided into the upper house, the Public Council, and the lower house, the Republican Council. Each province only has the Republican Council.

In Nanyang, once you enter the Republican Parliament, any punishment against you must be voted on by the Parliament and reported to the Ministry of Clan Affairs.

Even the emperor cannot deprive you of your fiefdom and other properties with just one decree. He must also issue an order for the parliament to discuss and vote.

After being recognized as guilty, the case will be handed over to the Ministry of Clan Affairs for review. After the member's status as a member of parliament is revoked, the specific conviction will be made.

"So that's how it is. This is the real golden ticket to immunity from death. Lord Yamagami has become a member of the Republican House of the Nanyang Parliament, and he is truly a monarch who guards a region."

Xu (Tokugawa) Muneyuki couldn't help but give a thumbs up, but not to Yamagami Toru, but to the emperor.

The emperor used itinerant officials to suppress the huge influence of the Nanyang vassal states on the political system.

He also used the republican parliament to directly strip away some of the "invulnerability" sacredness of imperial power and give it to the Nanyang vassal states to prevent them from being arbitrarily violated by high-ranking vassals and powerful government officials.

Through these two intersecting lines, whether it was the vassal states in Nanyang or the officials in Nanyang, they all needed to rely on the imperial power and obey the imperial power.

"Mr. Yamada, I must immediately travel to Hongxing City to attend the Southern Province Parliamentary Assembly to discuss the dispatch of troops.

It's very likely that the Nanyang Mission's Zhaogongyuan and Gongyuan will also hold a meeting to discuss this matter. I really can't accompany you to continue to explore the beautiful scenery of Nanji Island."

At this moment, Yamagami Che no longer had the desire to show off in front of these people from his hometown. His mind had already flown to the parliament. He was eager to exercise his power as a member of parliament right now.

"Congratulations, Mr. Yamagami. We are about to say goodbye too." Yamada and others naturally would not be tactless.

"However, we have never heard of this Republican Parliament. I wonder if we can go to Hongxing City with Yamada-kun to see it for ourselves. Even if we can just watch how the meeting is held from outside, that would be great."

What Yamada meant was also what Xu Zongzhi meant. After the experience of being forced to move to another fiefdom, they became more curious about the identity of republican parliamentarians and hoped that it could be true.

If this is true, then the Owari clan must do its best to strive for a title of marquis in Minamijima.

Because only by being granted the title of a feudal lord can one be sure of being elected to the Republican Parliament, or even to the Senate, which is a small but powerful Republican Parliament.

Shan Shangche didn't know what these people were still struggling with, and of course he didn't know why the emperor was only willing to give them a viscount. He just solemnly reminded them out of the closeness of his fellow townsmen:

"The natives who dared to resist on Nanji Island have been almost wiped out. The land here is fertile and rich in products. Even for the people of Fujian and Guangdong, who are close to Your Majesty, it is very difficult to obtain a fiefdom on Nanji Island.

If you have any ideas, you should make up your mind sooner rather than later."

(End of this chapter)