I

Coerce, see coercion again.

Those Japanese farmers who were getting by a little were actually reluctant to follow in the rebellion. But they had no choice. Their houses were burned down by the rebels, and their food was taken away by the rebels. They had to rebel together to survive.

Twenty-four villages, with more than 10,000 farmers participating, swept towards Tsurumaru Castle.

They did not follow the "Datong Collection" to divide the fields, but declared that farmers owned the land. The permanent land under whose name belongs to the one who owns it. The land no longer belongs to the lord, but belongs to the peasants themselves.

The uprising was not only massive, but also extremely fast. Before Shimazu Yoshimasa could gather his troops, the peasant army had already approached the city.

Hundreds of country soldiers and ronin armed with weapons are the absolute main force among the peasant army. The remaining farmers all carried bamboo guns and wooden sticks, and some simply went to the battlefield with hoes.

Fifty years ago, the Shimadzu family could easily handle this kind of mob.

But now the whole of Japan is similar. Horses are released in Nanshan and swords and guns are stored in storage. The lords and nobles only knew how to enjoy themselves, and the samurai were largely unemployed and turned into ronin, unable to suppress the uprising. What's more, since they were beaten up by the Datong Army, the Shimadzu family has completely fallen into disrepair.

So how were we able to resolve more than a thousand peasant uprisings during the Edo period over two hundred years ago?

It's very simple, if you agree to the farmers' demands, the peasant army will disperse on its own. After the news has passed, it will be the same to kill the leaders at that time and then increase taxes again.

This time is different. Following the "Datong Collection" as a guide, farmers need to obtain land!

Shimazu Yoshimasa urgently recruited ronin to defend the castle and promised to continue to employ them after the war.

But the ronin had already suffered a loss. Those who helped defeat the Datong Army were still ronin after the war. Some of those who helped the Datong Army fight were hired as samurai after the war.

It’s clear who to help.

Moreover, the ronin in the castle town had long been in contact with the peasant army, and they themselves were willing to rebel.

Not long after the siege started, the defenders of the city counterattacked, and the peasant army took the opportunity to enter the city. Only a few of the Shimadzu nobles escaped, and the rest were all killed.

Immediately, the peasant army began to conquer the entire Kagoshima.

The momentum is going smoothly, but the hidden worries are also great. It has been split into three forces.

The first force wanted to learn from the "Datong Collection" to obtain land and force the shogunate to reform land policy. This was also the core force of the peasant uprising army.

The second force was mostly coerced. They did not want to kill the lord. They only wanted the lord to implement good governance and lower the annual tribute. Although the lord Shimazu Yoshimasa was killed, two of his sons ran away. Just welcome the escaped ones back as the new lord.

The third force is the ronin of the castle town. They belong to the city scholar class and naturally look down on country scholars. But this uprising was led by countrymen. Moreover, ronin do not need land, they just want to find a stable job.

As the peasant army swept through half of Kagoshima, internal divisions became increasingly severe.

The shogunate summoned troops from all over the country to suppress it, and finally managed to collect 150,000. But more than half of them were still on the march, and the Daimyo troops who were close to each other were already fighting with the peasant army in Izumi.

The peasant army had 100,000 troops, but the shogunate army only had more than 40,000 troops. The confrontation lasted for half a month and the outcome was indistinguishable.

Suddenly, the shogunate sent officials over and announced a reduction in the annual tribute of farmers in Kagoshima.

When this news came out, at least 60% of the peasant army did not want to fight anymore. Even those farmers who wanted to obtain land felt that as long as the annual tribute could be reduced, there was no need to fight the court.

A month later, another 20,000 shogunate troops arrived on the battlefield.

Seeing that there are more and more officers and soldiers in the imperial court, more and more farmers want to take advantage of the situation. On the contrary, the ronin became more "determined". They were eager to win the war, let the shogunate know their worth, and wait until the war was over before they could find a job.

Rural scholars and city scholars unite, but village officials and peasants are mostly without fighting spirit.

During the decisive battle, the samurai team composed of country warriors and city warriors bravely charged into the battle and defeated the shogunate army in a small area. But looking at the entire battlefield, most of the peasant armies were in defeat and were defeated by the shogunate army without any warning.

The rural and city warriors had no choice but to flee, taking more than a thousand revolutionary peasants with them into the mountains to avoid being hunted by the shogunate's army. And he transformed into a bandit on the spot, and went out to rob the mountain from time to time, specializing in robbing wealthy households in the countryside and shops in the castle town.

…

Edo, shogunate.

The shogun Tokugawa Ietsuna was sick again. He sat coughing continuously and didn't care what the senior officers were saying.

Ten years ago, the shogunate's family was fairly wealthy.

But a fire destroyed Edo Castle, and urban reconstruction drained the shogunate's finances. Especially during the reconstruction process, the old and middle-aged people took the opportunity to engage in corruption, making Japan's government even more corrupt.

This time to annihilate the peasant army, the shogunate also had no money, leaving the lords to find their own solutions.

Foreign lords wanted to get military funds, so they had to rob them themselves. Several major cities in Satsuma Domain were looted.

"The farmers' unrest this time is different from the past," said Sakai Tadaki.

These two years were the era when Sakai Tadakiyoshi took full power.

This powerful minister was not willing to be just a laozhong, so he turned himself into a eldest lao, that is, the leader among the laozhong. It is equivalent to the fact that there was only a group of cabinet ministers in the past, and everyone was equal, but Sakai Tadakiyoshi made himself the chief minister.

The shogun Tokugawa Ietsuna could do nothing about this, he had long been a decoration.

Hiroyuki Kuze is a close confidant of Sakai Tadakiyoshi, and he immediately complimented him: "What do you mean by the elder?"

Sakai Tadakiyoshi said: "The royal family, the Chinese family, the gentry, and the common people are all divided into four distinct strata. How can the four peoples be equal? ​​The royal family and the daimyo own land, which is also a gift from heaven. How can it be distributed to the peasants? The "Datong Collection" will be shaken. The foundation of the shogunate is the enemy of all daimyo, and it must be banned!"

"Your Excellency, the elder is absolutely right." The elders and middle-aged men nodded in succession.

This peasant uprising is so scary. In the past, they only killed the county officials, but now they even kill the lords. Moreover, it is said that all four peoples are equal, and farmers are clamoring to own land.

Sakai Tadakiyoshi added: "Nowadays, smuggling is serious in various places, and the country must be closed to prevent the influx of "Datong Collection". It is still the same as before, only trading in Nagasaki, and foreigners are not allowed to go ashore. Merchants from China can only live on outlying islands and are not allowed to go ashore. Set foot on Japanese land.”

The old Chinese from the coastal area felt very unhappy, but did not dare to break out on the spot.

In the past, Tadayoshi Sakai condoned smuggling because he had not yet fully taken power. Now not only is the power overwhelming, but there is also an extremely legitimate reason to seize the country. This reason is enough to unite all the daimyo.

Whoever dares to oppose the lock-up of the country is a traitor to the country!

When the time comes, the coastal daimyo may wait and see, but the inland daimyo will definitely be willing to attack Buchen.

As for Sakai Tadaki himself, doesn’t he want to profit from smuggling?

Haha, you can make money without smuggling. Who the hell engages in smuggling? After seclusion, trade could only be done in Nagasaki, which was equivalent to the shogunate's monopoly on maritime trade. Tadaki Sakai, who holds the power of the shogunate, will make more money than before!

And among the old Chinese here, even if some of them are from the coast, they can still get some from the monopoly trade.

Those who really have enough motivation to oppose the seclusion of the country are not here at all.

The shogun's uncle, Masayuki Hoshina, as the staunchest supporter of smuggling, has been defeated in the political struggle. He handed over all the power in his hands. He did not have any position in the shogunate and did not need to live in Edo. He could return to his fiefdom and enjoy his old age.

Hoshina Masayuki didn't even care about secular affairs, even his own smuggling. He sat in the study all day reading and writing, and even wrote the "Fifteen Articles of Aizu Family Instructions" himself.

When people get old, they just want to keep their families together and educate their children and grandchildren well.

Sakai Tadaki, who was originally kneeling, knelt straight now and said: "Sir, please reiterate the order to lock down the country, expel all foreigners, and severely crack down on smuggling activities by various families."

Tokugawa Ietsuna wanted to speak, but he suddenly coughed and said weakly: "You have full authority to handle this matter."

As a result, under the command of Tadaki Sakai, daimyo from the inland areas were assigned to combat smuggling. They took a small group of elites to the ports of the coastal daimyo and expelled anyone wearing Hanfu. Shops built by Han people were also confiscated.

From now on, no smuggling is allowed, only trading in Nagasaki.

In order to avoid offending the Chinese dynasty, the Japanese shogunate expelled all Dutch people from the islands. The Dutch houses and shops were confiscated and sold to the Han people at low prices. Anyway, Dutch trade was no longer necessary.

At the same time, raising the Sino-Japanese trade limit will not only appease China, but also allow Lao and China to make more money.

This time of seclusion, there was also the participation of Japanese businessmen.

Wealthy merchants from Kyoto, Osaka, and Edo, in cooperation with the shogunate, almost monopolized Nagasaki trade. Smuggling broke this monopoly. The three major business groups secretly lobbied and spent a lot of money to bribe Lao Zhong. Sakai Tadakiyoshi received the most money.

Except for the Chinese merchants trading in Nagasaki, all others were expelled.

Merchant ships one after another, carrying Chinese merchants and clerks, returned to the coastal areas of China. Including people from the Sihai Trading Company, they were also forcibly expelled, but for the sake of Emperor Zhao, the Nagasaki trade volume of three ships per year was specially given to the Sihai Trading Company.

Sakai Tadaki felt that he had given enough face, and the Chinese emperor would not be angry because of this.

Li Quan was preparing to go south to explore the ocean. The trade wind had already arrived, but he saw that his ship had returned from Japan, and the Japanese springboard he sailed to America was locked.

Japan is a big market and can absorb too many goods from China.

This lockdown has affected not only maritime merchants, but also mainland merchants, factory owners, workshop owners and related practitioners.

And without saying hello in advance, everything happened so suddenly that many goods destined for Japan were blocked at Chinese ports and could not be sent out.

The envoys from the four provinces of Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Fujian and Shandong went to the imperial court one after another, requesting the emperor to send someone to hold the Japanese shogunate accountable.

These chief envoys never thought of going to war with Japan. For the sake of people's livelihood and the dignity of the Chinese dynasty, just hold them accountable and force Japan to increase its trade quota. It would be best to open another port.

After reading the report, Zhao Han said: "The garrisons in Shenyang and Nanjing have not fought for a long time, and each has deployed a division to prepare for war. After the spring of next year, the Shenyang army will set off from Lushun, and the Nanjing army will set off from Shanghai. They will not fight elsewhere, but go directly to Attack Edo!"