Chapter 662

"Alright, the matter of national seclusion is not on the agenda. Everyone stop this topic and let's return to the Land Survey Law proposed by the Kampaku." As the moderator of the negotiations, Xu Wei's goal was to resolve the food crisis without interfering with silver mining and outflow, or the outflow of Japanese slaves and courtesans; this was the significance of the Nagasaki Viceroy's Office.

Eliminating the Japanese pirates was important, and the inflow of silver was also important.

"The Viceroy comes from Great Ming. Great Ming began land surveys in the third year of Emperor Wanli to clarify land registers. With the strength of the Celestial Empire, it still took nearly ten years to complete the surveys. Given the current situation in Japan, how long will it take? And how long will we have to fight?" Mori Terumoto was the first to state his attitude.

The Land Survey Law was excellent; it was a very fundamental way to resolve Japan's issues. What are reforms, what is modernization, what is innovation, if not putting effort into the redistribution of the means of production?

How can this world become better? In fact, history has long provided the answer.

The Japanese daimyo were not all good-for-nothings; they knew these things very well. If Mori Terumoto hadn't had some insight, he wouldn't have been able to fight against Oda Nobunaga, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and Tokugawa Ieyasu for so many years.

Everyone understood the principles, especially now that the fruits of Great Ming's great debates were beginning to radiate outward, but when it came to actually doing it, one would find it as difficult as ascending to heaven.

"Let me correct you: Great Ming has not yet completed its land surveys. In Guizhou, Yunnan, Suiyuan, Liaoning, and parts of Guangxi, they have not yet been completed. And the overseas Viceroy's Offices, except for Luzon, have not conducted them either." Xu Wei corrected Mori Terumoto's statement; Great Ming had only completed surveys in its heartland.

This was the Emperor and the Grand Secretary's characterization of the land surveys; the new land survey policy had not been a complete success, and the struggle was still ongoing.

"So, does the Mori clan agree to the land survey?" Oda Nobunaga asked with a grave expression. Since he proposed the Land Survey Law, Mori Terumoto had never clearly opposed it.

"Great Ming hasn't thoroughly completed its surveys yet, nor has it returned the land." Mori Terumoto shook his head and said, "Oda Nobunaga, your idea is good, but you are too eager to get things done. Your ambition is too strong. Do you really think that you, one Oda Nobunaga, can make Japan clear and bright? Let alone one, even eight or ten of you would have absolutely no chance."

"Great Ming can survey its land, but Japan cannot."

Oda Nobunaga's face turned red, and he said sternly, "Why can't we! If Great Ming can, why can't we?"

Mori Terumoto was silent for a long time before he spoke: "Let me ask you, regarding the Land Survey Law, just taking the standardization of weights and measures alone, what standard will you use to determine fertile, medium, and poor fields? How much is exactly one 'cho'?"

The land unit in Japan is the 'cho', but how much exactly one 'cho' is has always been an approximation. There are 3,600 steps, 3,000 steps, and even 1,200 steps. The reason they differ is related to the different taxes collected by the various daimyo.

Making the 'cho' a little smaller and collecting taxes by the 'cho' might look like little on paper, but it is actually a heavy tax that scrapes the bone and sucks the marrow.

"Great Ming has ready-made standards! Although the hydrology and geography are slightly different, Great Ming has been classifying land based on yield for over two hundred years. Why can't we?" Oda Nobunaga immediately spoke up.

"Fine, we'll copy Great Ming. Then, where will the tools for the survey come from? Great Ming has the measuring carts invented by Cheng Cheng Dawei and improved by the Imperial Academy of Sciences. The Great Ming court built hundreds of thousands of these carts and sent them to all regions. We cannot build them." Mori Terumoto did not refute Oda Nobunaga but agreed, then raised his own doubts.

To oppose someone's political views, one must first agree with them, lift them high, and then let them fall to their death.

Xu Wei glanced at Mori Terumoto; this man paid extraordinary attention to Great Ming and knew a lot about the measuring carts and the Imperial Academy of Sciences.

In fact, Mori Terumoto just liked reading the "Science News" from the Imperial Academy of Sciences. He yearned for Great Ming's technological progress, but he didn't have enough craftsmen to promote it himself, so he could only stand by the abyss and envy the fish.

"Naturally, we can just buy them from Great Ming. If we can't build them ourselves, Great Ming can, and we can buy them." Oda Nobunaga frowned; he suddenly realized what Mori Terumoto was really talking about.

"Fine, let's not mention whether Great Ming is willing to teach us or sell to us. Let's just talk about one thing." Mori Terumoto looked at Oda Nobunaga and asked: "Who will do it? The question of who will do it needs to be broken down. You are in Kyoto; first, you need someone to oversee this matter. Who will oversee it?"

Kanda Shinichi, who previously advocated for self-minting currency, was now drinking tea in the Great Ming capital. The standards were Great Ming's, and the tools were Great Ming's. Why would Great Ming teach you? Why would they sell to you? Once the land survey is truly completed, whose land registers would these be?

"Ishida Mitsunari intends to manage this matter." Oda Nobunaga answered Mori Terumoto's inquiry. He had already found the person to oversee it. Ishida Mitsunari was a very smart person and very capable; according to Great Ming's standards, he was a competent official.

"Ishida Mitsunari is Toyotomi Hideyoshi's man, not yours. I hope you understand what I am saying. Japan is not Great Ming." Mori Terumoto raised an eyebrow and immediately retorted.

What he meant was: Great Ming is an imperial system of prefectures and counties, while Japan is an imperial system of enfeoffment. These are two completely different political structures. They look like feudal systems, but they are completely different at the core.

"This..." Oda Nobunaga was a bit speechless; of course, he understood what Mori Terumoto meant.

The vassal of my vassal is not my vassal—this is the fundamental reason why "the low overcoming the high" is so prevalent in Japan.

"Alright, let's not discuss whose man Ishida Mitsunari is for now. This thorny issue aside, let's assume all your subordinates under Oda Nobunaga are united, although we all know that's impossible. We have a more important problem to solve." Mori Terumoto continued: "Great Ming's land surveys were accomplished by officials from all levels of the government offices throughout Great Ming."

"Do you have so many officials to send to all regions? These officials must at least be literate, know mathematics, and be able to calculate accounts clearly. Farmland isn't neatly arranged. Besides, these officials have to make rulings, determine land deeds, determine ownership, and judge lawsuits. If you have so many capable officials, I will surrender to you right now without a word. If you kill me, I'll still praise you for being wise."

"Do you have them? Does our Japan have them?"

Do you really think such a high-level national policy as land surveying was something Zhang Zhang Juzheng just patted his thigh and decided to do?

Don't always think that just because Great Ming did it, you can do it too. If everything in the world were that simple, there wouldn't only be one Celestial Empire.

"Great Ming has them." Oda Nobunaga said quite honestly. From the day he envisioned the system, he had set his sights entirely on Great Ming. If he couldn't implement the Land Survey Law himself, he would let the Nagasaki Viceroy's Office do it.

"Relying on Great Ming for everything—if you rely on them, will Great Ming be willing to help you?!" Mori Terumoto stood up abruptly, flicked his sleeves, and sneered.

You might as well just run to Kyoto and reunite with Ashikaga Yoshiaki, you Shogun of the Azuchi Shogunate! You're both Shoguns anyway.

"Even if you really invited Great Ming's heavenly soldiers and generals, can you protect them? Those daimyo have swords in their hands! I can promise you to cooperate with your Land Survey Law, and I can even provide protection for the officials from Great Ming, but what about the others?" Mori Terumoto slapped the table with both hands and asked loudly.

"So, it's just you trying to realize your own ambition. You never thought about how to actually achieve it!"

"You are like Elder Elder Jinchi in 'Journey to the West'; you don't want to become a Buddha at all, you just want to wear that brocade cassock. Promulgating it is just promulgating it. Lofty aspirations? It's just ambition."

Mori Terumoto sat down after speaking. His words were finished. He agreed with the Land Survey Law but was not optimistic about its success. He wouldn't sabotage it, and might even support its implementation, but he believed the Land Survey Law would ultimately be nothing more than a scrap of paper.

In Mori Terumoto's view, Oda Nobunaga was just doing it for his own reputation.

Monks emphasize that worldly ties are severed and the sea of gold is dry, but for Elder Elder Jinchi, if he doesn't wear the brocade cassock, how will all living beings know that his worldly ties are severed and his sea of gold is dry?

Oda Nobunaga was silent for a long time before saying, "Your mouth is sharp, but if you have the ability, beat me. Hmph."

Mori Terumoto was choked up. Oda Nobunaga's internal administration might really not be very good; many of his policies were made on a whim, sometimes appearing aimless, and often failing. But no one denied that he was very good at fighting.

"Being able to fight is useless." Mori Terumoto muttered stubbornly, not refuting much more.

"Great Ming will not provide too much help. We can help you improve the system, and we can sell you the measuring carts. As for the rest, it's better not to be too greedy." Xu Wei stated his position.

We can teach you how to improve the system; whether you can learn it or not is not Great Ming's concern. We can sell you the measuring carts, but you'll have to work hard for everything else yourself.

Japan is not a vassal state of Great Ming, and even if it were, Great Ming has no obligation to help them complete land surveys.

"Do this in certain areas, such as the Iwami Bai Yin Mine, the Ikuno Bai Yin Mine, and the Sado Gold Mine, to fully guarantee the local food supply and prevent further peasant uprisings that interfere with silver mining." Xu Wei gave his opinion. For the Japanese, silver mining was also an extremely important matter.

Without silver, they couldn't obtain various goods from Great Ming.

It wasn't that Great Ming was unwilling to help with a comprehensive land survey in Japan; it was that they couldn't. Let alone coming to a place like Japan, even in Suiyuan, despite the generous conditions offered by the Great Ming Emperor, few scholars were willing to go.

In the eyes of scholars, those were godforsaken, poor, and desolate places, and the barbarians weren't even human. They would never agree to work in such places under any circumstances.

Therefore, the consensus reached in these negotiations was to conduct land surveys in specific areas and, before the surveys were completed, to ensure food supply to prevent the recurrence of peasant uprisings that led to the shutdown of silver mines.

"Now, let's discuss the issue of reparations." Xu Wei began the second topic of the negotiations: Japan's various reparations to Great Ming.

Mori Terumoto was caught red-handed plotting to steal Great Ming's fertilizer technology and promised reparations, while Oda Nobunaga had to pay 15 million silver as military assistance fees, with 3 million silver to be paid in the first year and the rest over a 40-year extension.

This set of 4% annual interest over 40 years invented by the Great Ming Emperor was a blunt knife cutting flesh; it was a slow hollowing out of everything Japan had.

Portugal also had a so-called 30-year low-interest extension, but Great Ming did not use every possible means to exploit Portugal, and even shared some of the benefits.

To deal with a country that has already completed its national construction, one must use this method—hollowing out its flesh and blood bit by bit until it is completely eliminated. This is a long process. Japan is an island nation with 8 million people and the natural barrier of the ocean. To completely eliminate it, one must use every means necessary at any cost.

Mori Terumoto did not have enough silver to compensate Great Ming, and neither did Oda Nobunaga.

Mori Terumoto and Oda Nobunaga did not have enough silver to compensate Great Ming, and Great Ming was well aware of this. The total silver Japan could mine in a year was at most 5 million silver, and this 5 million was not entirely in the hands of Mori Terumoto and Oda Nobunaga. Moreover, they had to distribute it downward, so how much could they actually take out to compensate Great Ming while maintaining their own survival?

If they couldn't compensate with silver, they could compensate with other things, such as castrated Japanese slaves, courtesans, sulfur, fish oil, etc. These were all goods that Great Ming needed.

"Could we borrow some paper currency?" Oda Nobunaga proposed a method: borrow paper currency from the Nagasaki Viceroy's Office, then use it to squeeze the people below to complete the reparations to Great Ming.

"You can borrow paper currency, but you must repay in silver." Xu Wei was merciful and didn't ask for interest; he was kind-hearted and didn't add interest to the face value of the paper currency.

Borrow one string of paper currency and repay one tael of silver; paper currency could be printed as much as needed.

"That's the only way." Mori Terumoto pondered for a moment and finally agreed. He had no other choice. If he didn't try every means to squeeze the 3 million taels of silver or equivalent goods from below, the Nagasaki Viceroy's Office would stand on Oda Nobunaga's side from the perspective of strength.

A semi-colonial and semi-feudal system is the most cruel, because the survival of the feudal lord no longer requires the support of his own people, only the favor of outsiders. This is its cruelty. In order to survive, anyone below them can be an object of exploitation. There is no need to distribute benefits to unite; retainers, samurai, foot soldiers, and commoners can all be exploited.

The kind-hearted Nagasaki Viceroy's Office never wantonly issued paper currency. They issued it based on the silver flowing into Great Ming, with fluctuations of less than 3%. Moreover, in terms of face value, most were small denominations under 100 wen, not large 1-string notes. This kind behavior was for sustainable overfishing, continuously obtaining Japan's silver, and objectively promoted Japan's trade development.

Even the paper currency borrowed for reparations was kept within the fluctuation range, preventing the currency from devaluing too rapidly.

"Can Japanese paper currency be exchanged? Exchanged into Great Ming's overseas circulating currency? Even if it's newly issued currency." Oda Nobunaga asked about another possibility. The reason he considered the seclusion order was actually out of helplessness; he was forced into seclusion.

Great Ming had built high walls. Physically, it was Tsushima Island, Jeju Island, the Nagasaki Viceroy's Office, and the Ryukyu Viceroy's Office. Economically, it was the paper currency. These two reins were tied around Japan's neck, ready to suffocate it at any time.

Japan's paper currency was special; it lacked abaca fiber and was a pile of waste paper that couldn't be used to trade for goods directly at the maritime markets. Oda Nobunaga hoped to be allowed to use Great Ming's overseas circulating currency so that the impact of the military blockade on the economy would become very small.

Besides the military and economic blockades, Great Ming had also effectively completed a diplomatic blockade of Japan.

The Dutch had established a parish in Nagasaki, and some daimyo in Kyushu even hoped to send envoys to the West. Oda Nobunaga had also kept missionaries and had a Western-style king's cloak. But the Nagasaki parish had been destroyed by Xu Wei and Li Li Chengli, and Western merchant ships hadn't arrived for several years—at most they reached Nagasaki—and the missionaries were leaving one after another.

Politics, military, diplomacy, and culture were all controlled by Great Ming. That was fine, but this paper currency had also turned Japan into an isolated island in the world, leaving Oda Nobunaga sighing in helplessness.

"This is extraordinary favor. They all use those circulating notes, which are very ordinary, but Japan's is very special. Things are valued for their rarity; Japanese paper currency is more stable and unaffected by Great Ming's decrees." Xu Wei's ability to lie with his eyes open was on the same level as the Great Ming Emperor—both were at the level of scholars.

The Nagasaki negotiations were to last for a total of three days. In the end, a consensus was reached on several specific matters, and a peace treaty totaling twelve articles was signed.

With the Nagasaki negotiations, the Mori clan and the Azuchi Shogunate could be considered to have made peace.

The simplest way to resolve Japan's food crisis was to stop the war. As long as the war stopped, people would go to plant the land. The destruction of land production by war and chaos was the most severe, while the prosperity of trade was secondary.

Therefore, the main content of the Nagasaki Treaty was about the war.

Both sides agreed to maintain the basic status quo of the front lines and stop war activities for a period of three years to restore production; both sides called on all daimyo to stop attacking each other and recuperate; both sides would send messengers to communicate and prevent misunderstandings and misjudgments that could cause larger-scale wars; both sides would jointly clear out pirates and Japanese pirates to ensure smooth sea routes and the smooth passage of merchant ships; both sides agreed to restrain their samurai from entering towns and villages at will.

These five articles were about the military. Stopping the war didn't mean small-scale conflicts wouldn't continue. Maintaining necessary communication channels to prevent strategic misjudgments was very important, and clearing out pirates and restraining samurai were also to alleviate the food crisis.

As for the economic aspects:

Conduct pilot land surveys in silver mines, with the Mori clan doing so at the Iwami Bai Yin Mine and Oda Nobunaga at the Ikuno Bai Yin Mine;

Both sides would strive to ensure the orderly progress of silver mining while imposing stricter restrictions on entry and exit from the mines;

Allocate a portion of food and fodder for emergency supply to mining operations;

Great Ming would provide a loan of 2 million strings of paper currency without interest to provide partial funding for stabilizing the mines;

The Mori clan would open Hiroshima City, and the Oda clan would open Osaka Port and Yokohama Port for merchant ships to travel;

Provide necessary food, water, and firewood to passing ships at the open ports.

There were twelve articles in total, and the last one was the most interesting: the negotiations decided to fully implement a ban on Christianity, completely expel Western missionaries who came to Japan, and prohibit the spread of Western churches in Japan.

This article was not in the plan; it was an unexpected decision.

When Oda Nobunaga and Mori Terumoto met and checked the accounts, they discovered that many things were not done by them, but in the end, the blame was pinned on them. Someone was stirring up trouble in the middle, and upon careful investigation, they found it was the work of the Western missionaries!

These people, led by the missionary Alcazova, had done many bad things, even secretly inciting peasant uprisings. The conflict hadn't escalated to the point of an uprising yet, but these missionaries' incitement made people's hearts restless and anxious.

Those who did bad things first excluded Great Ming. Great Ming had its own high moral inferiority; Great Ming's malice toward Japan was open, and its methods were swift and decisive. If they wanted to strike back, they did it openly and didn't bother with these devious tricks. These missionaries, however, used the characteristic of religion to unite people's hearts to carry out their activities.

Under these circumstances, Oda Nobunaga and Mori Terumoto decided to ban Christianity, expel the missionaries, and not allow any missionaries to preach.

"I have to say, Great Ming really has foresight. Since the first year of Emperor Wanli, they have banned all forms of preaching. Any missionary arriving in Great Ming is strictly confined to prevent trouble." Oda Nobunaga stood on the pier and said sincerely to Xu Wei.

Great Ming had many decisions that looked extremely conservative but were absolutely able to withstand the test of time.

"His Majesty is naturally wise. Before the ministers realized this danger, His Majesty had already requested Luo Luo Gongchen, the Assistant Regional Commander for Coastal Defense, to ban missionaries from preaching."

"The two of you have signed your names and used your seals on the treaty. If you start fighting on the Nagasaki sea surface as soon as you step out the door, that's not just breaking your word to each other, but not giving Great Ming face. You must pay attention to the fulfillment of the treaty." Xu Wei once again exhorted these Japanese who liked to go back on their word. If they started fighting as soon as they went out, it wouldn't just be a matter of breaking their word.

Behind closed doors, Great Ming doesn't care how you break your promises or go back on your word. But since the Nagasaki Treaty was signed with Great Ming as the intermediary, guarantor, and witness, Great Ming would supervise and monitor the fulfillment of the treaty.

I don't know how Chen Sheng believed Mori Terumoto's promise. 3 million silver? Even if Chen Sheng really brought the fertilizer technology to Japan, Mori Terumoto would kill everyone who knew about it, leaving no future trouble.

Believing that the Japanese would keep their promises is like believing that a sow can climb a tree. These barbarians, who fear power but do not cherish virtue, have no idea what a promise is.

Kamiya Sōtei discovered the Iwami Bai Yin Mine, and Zong Dan and Gui Shou obtained the cupellation method for smelting silver from Fujian, Great Ming. But in the end, the Iwami Bai Yin Mine didn't belong to Kamiya Sōtei but to the daimyo.

These Japanese vermin were really too much, so much so that even Xu Wei, Sun Sun Kehong, Li Li Chengli, and Luo Yinghe, who had run to Japan to eliminate the Japanese pirates, couldn't stand it anymore.

The Emperor of Great Ming stayed in Mizhou for about three days before starting south again. Without the imperial highways, there were only official roads, and the road became bumpy. Even the speed of travel slowed down significantly, from 70 or 80 li a day to less than 50 li a day.

It wasn't until the end of the second month that Zhu Zhu Yijun reached Yizhou City at the foot of Mount Yimeng. Because he had to go to Xuzhou, he took this route.

Yizhou belonged to Yanzhou Prefecture in Shandong and had jurisdiction over Tancheng and Fei counties.

"I heard that Yizhou has been plagued by 'old hairy monsters' recently?" Zhu Zhu Yijun stayed at the Yancheng Tower, which belonged to the Imperial Manor in Yizhou.

In the nearly one month of his southern tour, the Emperor of Great Ming hadn't encountered a single fire—not one.

"Old hairy monsters" is a Shandong dialect term. They aren't monsters with green faces and sharp teeth that like to snatch away crying children, but wild wolves. Because their fur is messy and their eyes glow with a fluorescent yellow-green light at night, which is particularly terrifying, the locals use them to scare children into sleeping: "If you don't sleep, the old hairy monster will snatch you away."

There was a wolf plague at the foot of Mount Yimeng.

Wang Wang Yie hurriedly bowed his head and said, "Your servant is guilty."

"Exempt from ceremony. Since this is the case, establish a Police Inspectorate at Taierzhuang on the Grand Canal. There was already a need for it, and it happens to resolve the wolf plague," Zhu Zhu Yijun said, stating his method of disposal.

Taierzhuang is one of the two most important wharves on the Shandong section of the Grand Canal; the other is Lin Qing.

Taierzhuang itself is a place of strategic importance. If Xuzhou is the gateway to the Southern Southern Yamen, then Taierzhuang is the gateway to Xuzhou. It is very prosperous, and it is necessary to establish a Police Inspectorate. Besides catching thieves and robbers, the archers of the Inspectorate also hunt wild beasts to stabilize the area.

Zhu Zhu Yijun had already received the memorial sent by the Nagasaki Viceroy's Office through the Coastal Defense Inspector. After a brief look, he could only shake his head. Xu Wei was not good at fighting, only good at resolving conflicts. The situation in Japan had reached a state of balance due to Nagasaki's intervention.

This looked like a good thing for Japan, but it was more of a bad thing. Oda Nobunaga was still there, and the Mori clan was still there—this was the biggest bad thing for the Japanese.

When Pang Zhang Xian was treating He Liu, he said to the Emperor: "Quack doctors harm people. The medicine prescribed has no problems, but if the rotten flesh isn't removed, new flesh won't grow. How can it heal? That's why it has dragged on for so long and failed to recover."

The principles of treating illness are sometimes also applicable to governing a country.

Japan needed a great destruction and a great establishment to find a solution that everyone could accept amidst intense contradictions and conflicts, achieve a state of harmony, and maintain long-term stability. Now, under the strong intervention of the Nagasaki Viceroy's Office, the two sides had mediated and seemingly ushered in a brief peace. But after the food crisis passed, a more tragic war would definitely break out.

History was the same. Toyotomi Hideyoshi invaded Korea twice and was beaten back by Great Ming. The war, which cost a huge price, yielded no gains. In the end, Toyotomi Hideyoshi's shogunate fell, and it was replaced by Tokugawa Ieyasu, which finally brought an end to the Warring States period and became stable.

Two fierce wolves fighting, resting briefly when tired, will only bite more fiercely after recuperating.

"Feng Feng Banban, what has Liu'er been busy with lately?" Zhu Zhu Yijun was a bit puzzled; he hadn't heard any news of Zhu Zhu Yiliu causing trouble.

When a child is quiet, they must be up to no good.