Black Corporation: Joseon - Chapter 331
Episode 331: Those who wait, those who move. (8)
April, 14th year of King Sejong’s
reign (1432, the year of Imja) Ouchi Morimi, who had gone to Kyoto, returned to his hometown, Suo.
“Welcome, my lord!”
As the vassals lined up at the entrance of the castle shouted welcome speeches in unison, Morimi responded with a slight nod.
“Uhm…. thank you for your hard work. “Let’s go in.”
Led by Ouchi on horseback, the vassals returning from Kyoto and the vassals guarding the territory entered Suo Castle.
thud!
As soon as everyone entered, the gate of Suo Castle closed tightly with a dull sound.
* * *
The meeting began as soon as Morimi, after briefly washing and changing his clothes, sat down at the head table.
The first to speak was Ouchi’s niece, Mochiyo.
“You don’t look very good. How about getting some rest?”
Morimi shook her head with a serious expression on Mochiyo’s words.
“If it were a peaceful time, I would have rested and worked like that, but unfortunately, the times are not good.”
At Morimi’s words, the faces of Mochiyo and the remaining vassals in the estate also became serious.
“I heard through books and rumors from merchants that the atmosphere in Kyoto is not good. Is it really that serious?”
“It is very serious. The phrase ‘fear of all people’ is not an exaggeration. Phew~.”
Ouchi let out a long sigh.
After Ashikaga Yoshinori, the shogun of the time, came to power, the air in Kyoto became freezing.
Everyone living in Kyoto, whether he was a member of a long-established noble family that served the emperor or a slob living on the streets for a day, was keeping an eye on Ashikaga Yoshinori.
It was common for the person concerned to be severely punished or even lose their life if they were caught in the eyes of the shogun even a little.
The simplest example was the ‘chicken expulsion incident’ that occurred just before Ouchi’s return.
A cockfight took place at Ichijo Kaneyoshi’s residence, and many people gathered to watch the cockfight. The problem was that his way was blocked by these people. Enraged, Yoshinori banned cockfighting and kicked out all the chickens in Kyoto (Note 1).
In addition, he ‘plucked the offered plum branches.’ ‘ ‘The food is not tasty.’ Gardeners and cooks were not the only ones who were punished for various reasons. (Note 1)
If only the lower class had been punished like this, they would have ridiculed him as just a ‘little man’, but as I said before, there were quite a few high-ranking nobles and samurai among those punished by Yoshinori.
“… So I had no choice but to leave Kyoto due to ‘illness’. Since the time of the Sentai Shogun, our Ouchi has been considered a thorn in the side, and the current Shogun is even more of a crazy person. You should consider it a good thing that you escaped. Phew~.”
Morimi breathed a sigh of relief.
* * *
After confirming Yoshinori’s violent and sadistic personality, Morimi gradually increased the number of guards.
However, it wasn’t long before Yoshinori warned Morimi.
“Why is the head of the Ouchi family increasing its troops?”
“… The night air in Kyoto is ugly these days.”
“Isn’t this making the family’s military even more ferocious? “Do you really distrust me, the person responsible for the safety of Kyoto?”
Morimi responded to Yoshinori’s point with an expression of disbelief.
“How could that possibly be the case!”
“is it? In that case, don’t increase the number of escorts any further. “Because I’m scared.”
“Yes…”
After finishing the conversation with Yoshinori, Morimi called together the retainers who had come with him to Kyoto.
“I guess I have to go back. Make up a suitable excuse. If we take out the guards here, we will be hit right away. “No, even if you don’t take it out, you will suffer.”
Morimi sensed that this was a desperate situation.
The troops currently stationed in Kyoto by Morimi were quite large. Yoshinori would have had to endure considerable damage at the current scale of the garrison.
But it was a double-edged sword. It was a device that prevented Yoshinori from easily using force, but on the other hand, it could have enabled Yoshinori to use force.
‘You can’t believe you stationed such a large number of troops! ‘It is certain that he harbors evil intentions!’ It was to create a justification.
However, if he listened to Yoshinori’s demands and reduced his troops, he would have died at any time. It was certain that Yoshinori, who had his leash in his hands, would pressure Morimi and extort various things, starting with economic benefits.
If Morimi, who could not endure this, raised his army, this would be an excellent justification for Yoshinori to wipe out the Ouchi family and take everything away.
Because of this, Morimi had to become an untimely patient.
“Illness? “What kind of disease is it?”
“Suddenly my pulse becomes unstable and I feel short of breath. “These symptoms have appeared since the last rebellion against the Shawnee, and these days, they have become even worse.”
Yoshinori, who saw Morimi answering with a pale face, responded with a helpless expression.
“It’s a shame. I will listen to your request. “Go back to your hometown and recuperate.”
“Here comes the Emperor.”
And Morimi had to ride a palanquin until he arrived at Naniwa (now Osaka) and boarded the ship.
* * *
After briefly explaining the process of escaping Kyoto, Morimi continued speaking to his retainers.
“This is Kamisama’s help. “Please bring an offering to the shrine.”
“hot!”
“And how is the military going?”
“under. “We are steadily increasing it now.”
“What about finances?”
“Thanks to the steady flow of silver from the silver mine, there are no major problems.”
Morimi nodded at Mochiyo’s answer.
“You are benefiting from Joseon. Now that I think about it… what happened to finding a craftsman in the Ming? “I received an urgent message saying there was good news, right?”
To Morimi’s point, the retainer in charge of the matter responded with a proud face.
“We were able to save two people through a merchant from a famous country!”
“Are they the ones who can refine it properly?”
“That’s right!”
“It must have cost quite a bit?”
The retainer answered Morimi’s question right away.
“It was agreed that the merchant would conduct business exclusively with the merchant. First, we agreed to import steel produced in Ming countries.”
“Good job!”
Morimi’s face brightened at the retainer’s answer.
Wado from Japan is a luxury item that costs a lot of money even in China, but it was difficult to mass-produce it. Since war was not fought solely with skewness, it was essential to purchase high-quality steel in large quantities. Therefore, importing large quantities of steel from the Ming Dynasty was a good news.
Of course, there were some regrets.
“It’s a bit disappointing that it’s not Joseon-made.”
Morimi nodded and accepted Mochiyo’s words.
“Not really. But even in the case of the Ming Dynasty, we are in a very fortunate situation, so there is nothing we can do.”
* * *
In the process of jointly developing silver mines, the quality of Joseon-made steel products aroused the admiration of the Japanese.
The quality of the steel used to make tools such as pickaxes, shovels, axes, and saws was superior to the quality of the wares purchased for a large amount of money.
Therefore, Morimi immediately sent an envoy to Joseon and conveyed his wish to purchase iron materials in large quantities.
But the answer sent from Joseon was rejection.
“Now in Joseon, there is a shortage of steel. “The deal is difficult.”
Morimi was astonished after hearing Joseon’s answer.
“her! Are you lacking iron? But you make pickaxes and shovels out of steel?”
* * *
Morimi, putting aside his regrets about the Joseon Dynasty, checked information about the surrounding territories.
“How is the situation around you these days? In particular, what is the situation of the Shawnee who fled to Tsushima?”
“It seems like they are constantly aiming to retake the territory, but it doesn’t seem to be easy. “It’s because the environment in Tsushima is not good.”
Morimi snorted at the retainer’s answer.
“joy! You idiots! “The place I ran away to was Hogul (虎窟)!”
The survivors of the Shoni clan who were defeated at the Battle of Chikuzen were forced to flee to Tsushima. Their plan was to stay in Tsushima, build up their strength again, and bring back territory.
However, when they arrived at Tsushima, they had to face a large wall called the Joseon army. As the Joseon naval base was built on Tsushima, they were no longer able to engage in pirate activities.
Therefore, they had to invest the wealth they brought with them into commerce as capital.
“At a certain time…”
Unlike piracy, where you can make a lot of money if you do it right, you can’t make a lot of profit from commerce, which is already saturated.
* * *
“What about Shawnee and other territories?”
“We are continuing to expand our troops to protect merchants.”
Morimi tilted his head in response to the retainer’s answer and asked back.
“continue?”
“yes.”
“I guess those guys don’t have enough money to spare?”
“Already, farmers’ dissatisfaction is growing.”
In response to the retainer’s answer, Morimi nodded with an expression that he finally understood.
“Then yes.”
The retainer, who was watching Morimi’s reaction, carefully took out a letter from his pocket and held it out to Morimi.
“Something?”
“This is a letter sent from the village chiefs of other territories around our territory. We are about to declare independence, so we ask for protection. “I also wrote that if they would apply the same tax rate as our fiefdom, I would like to come under the shadow of the lord.”
“no way?”
Morimi accepted the letter with an expression of disbelief.
Morimi opened the letter and checked the contents and sighed.
“Whoa~. This could happen sooner than you think….”
* * *
Now that the Kamakura Shogunate had collapsed and the Northern and Southern Courts era had passed into the Muromachi Shogunate era, the Japanese economy was growing faster and faster.
Through combined trade with Ming and Ming, port cities began to develop that monopolized Ming and Japanese trade. In addition, as Joseon merchants opened in Nagato and Naniwa, commerce began to grow nationwide.
It was the shogunate that further accelerated the above situation. Like the Kamakura shogunate, the Muromachi shogunate did not rely solely on the income from the land, but also made the profits obtained through trade the basis of its finances. According to this policy, the shogunate advanced into the Ming and Joseon countries as well as the Ryukyus and Southeast Asia to conduct trade.
The same was true for agriculture. Although it was later than the Joseon Dynasty, the right-wing culture began to slowly spread in the Japanese country, and the number of farmers growing cotton began to increase.
Based on this growing economic power, the ruling class, symbolized by the Shugyo Daimyo, began to expand their military power.
In order to expand military budgets and purchase luxury goods from Joseon, the ruling class had no choice but to squeeze out farmers and merchants.
Farmers and merchants began to rebel against this. Traditionally, taxes were set through consultation between the village chiefs and officials of each village. However, the daimyō and Shugyo destroyed this tradition, and farmers and merchants had no choice but to rebel.
(Note 2)
* * *
“Do you want to accept it?”
Morimi, who pondered the retainer’s question for a while, came to a conclusion.
“No, I don’t accept it. If you accept it now, we will only give you justification. Tell them. “Now is not the time.”
Hearing Morimi’s words, the retainer immediately lowered his head.
“hot!”
Morimi looked back at his retainers.
“Now is the time to wait and be patient. As long as crazy people like that are doing crazy things in Kyoto, something will happen sooner or later. So wait until then.”
“hot!”
Morimi, who gave orders to his retainers, crossed his arms and muttered.
“Anyway, I didn’t know that imitating Joseon would be so helpful.”
Morimi applied Joseon’s tax policy to his territory.
It was a very challenging policy, but it had greater results than expected.
* * *
Note 1) https://ko.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashikaga_Yoshinori
Note 2) https://Big Data Association.com/2349