Owari Yumeki Golden Day.

This is easy to handle, extremely easy. We've already made preparations for it.

Shichibei publicly revealed his previous plan to set up mints in all seven prefectures of Japan. Since it was called the "Federal Reserve of Japan," there must be more than just one mint.

The Federal Reserve next door not only has printing presses on the East and West coasts, but also local Federal Reserve Banks. Currency collectors in the US often collect coins printed in special regions and classify them for grading. Even gold and silver dollars from different regions, with their varying rarity, can fetch high prices.

Japan needs to do the same. Each of the seven circuits should have a minting center specifically responsible for large-scale coin production. This will replace the Song and Ming dynasty coins currently circulating in the Japanese market and stabilize the value of copper coins.

This leads to the second point: to roughly establish a fixed exchange rate between gold koban and copper coins. This doesn't mean strictly limiting how many copper coins one gold koban can be exchanged for, but rather that everyone should work together, reporting and adjusting the exchange rate across Japan every month, avoiding arbitrary changes and market disruption.

This refers to the previously agreed-upon establishment of a national trade association for substitutes and alternatives.

Japan's greatest advantage was its extremely rich copper resources, and it wasn't until the Qianlong era of the Qing Dynasty that it reduced its exports to China. The so-called "foreign copper" during the Shunzhi, Kangxi, and Yongzheng eras of the Qing Dynasty was actually Japanese copper, which cost as much as sixteen taels of silver per hundred catties when transported to the capital.

With the arrival of the Meiji Restoration and the introduction of advanced industrial machinery and mining technology to Japan, the Bessko Copper Mine in Shikoku began to be revitalized and exported on a large scale.

During the Edo period, the exchange rate between gold koban and copper coins was often as high as 4,000 sen for one tael of gold. In some places, it was even as high as 5,000 sen. In addition, the Edo shogunate minted coins worth 100 sen and iron coins in the later period, which led to even more chaotic exchange rates.

For now, let's ignore that and start by exchanging one tael of gold for one thousand high-quality Tianzheng Tongbao coins, based on the market rate. Gradually collect all the miscellaneous and loose coins in the market to unify the currency in circulation as much as possible.

This matter requires the strong support of all the big bosses!

The seven regional leaders of the Seven Paths are the heads of the seven regional agencies under the Federal Reserve Bank of Japan. Your regional offices can hold meetings and conduct organizational selections; Shichibei will not interfere.

Although Oda Nobunaga captured Rakuichi Rakuza, he issued Rakuichi edicts multiple times.

They even issued an order abolishing the privileges of the Za (a type of commercial guild). But that was all for external purposes. The aim was to crack down on the power of the Za, which was backed by temples, shrines, and court nobles—the old-fashioned commercial guilds—in order to concentrate as many of the profits from commercial operations as possible into the Oda clan.

Didn't you see that Shichibei is a de facto monopolistic businessman? Wherever Shichibei extends his hand, a monopoly begins.

You want it to become a plague? No way.

Needless to say, Shichibei was the one who would hold the position of head of the money exchange in the Kinai region. This fact had already been acknowledged by the tea houses and kimono shops in Kyoto, as well as by Imai Munehisa, Tsuda Munekichi, and Sen Muneichi in Rakucho. If they wanted to continue operating in the Kinai region, they had to bow down to him.

In the realm of industry and commerce, Nobunaga and Nobukatsu unconditionally and blindly trusted Shichibei. No matter how eloquent you were, it was utterly useless.

There's nothing else to it but the people of Owari!

If you're so capable, why don't you be reborn in Owari twenty or thirty years ago, after the Nijō Incident and the loss of Oda Nobutada? Both Nobunaga and Nobukatsu were certain that they needed to rely on the Owari fudai (hereditary descendants of Owari) and win over the Mino fudai as their political foundation.

People from Owari are the most reliable, people from Mino can be used, and the others are all in need.

The scope to be examined. Even though the center of power shifted to the Kinai region, it did not prevent Nobunaga and his son Nobukatsu from heavily relying on the Owari hereditary officials.

Even after the Tokugawa family was transferred to Edo, they still constantly bring up the 500 loyal and brave cavalrymen of Mikawa. The real power in the Edo shogunate ultimately rested with the hereditary retainers from Mikawa and Tōtōmi.

For the other regional heads of funds, please have each of you, the big bosses, make your own internal recommendations. Consider this a small group meeting, where decisions will be made internally.

After the selection was confirmed, they returned to their respective areas and began to build furnaces, create models, and start minting the Tianzheng Tongbao small-sized coins. They also began to use the newly minted Japanese coins to buy up the old Song and Ming coins circulating in the market.

That concludes the first agenda item; everyone can go back and have some fun now.

The next day, the merchants from various regions pulled and tugged at each other as they ended the group meeting. One group even chose to draw lots to determine the candidates, and finally, amidst the commotion, the first agenda item came to a conclusion.

Then, seven people with seven votes, plus the initiator, Shichibei, who also served as the chief steward of the Oda regime, voted to elect the first head of the Federal Reserve Bank of Japan, or what the Japanese call the chief executive officer.

Why did the group draw lots directly? Because everyone knew that the first chief director would definitely have to be Shichibei.

Kawamura's name is known to everyone in the Japanese business world. If they don't let him take the position, who else will they choose?

It passed unanimously, without exception.

It's not that I'm shirking my responsibility, but since everyone has entrusted this important task to me, Kawamura Nagayoshi, I must do it well. I will unify the entire Japanese market and achieve cross-regional free trade and currency interoperability.

By the way, the merchants from Odawara, Furukawa, Kashima, and other areas in the Kanto region, probably due to concerns about the Hojo clan's attitude, ultimately did not attend the first conference. This resulted in no one being chosen as the head of the money-making group in the Kanto region, and also meant losing the Kanto vote.

It was a minor flaw, but no one present mentioned it. Who would spoil the mood at a time like this? In any case, the Hojo clan would be wiped out by Taira no Taira sooner or later; as captives, they might as well die.

The second agenda item proceeded smoothly. Previously, Nobunaga had issued two hundred red-stamped certificates to Shichibei. Each certificate cost four thousand kan, totaling eight hundred thousand kan, and Shichibei was to handle the sales on his behalf.

Taking Odawara must have been incredibly expensive. Historically, Hideyoshi alone brought 10,000 Tensho Daihan (a type of gold coin) that cost ten ryo each. One hundred thousand ryo of gold—and that was just a portion of what was intended as a reward, the smallest part at that.

Many feudal lords had previously hinted to Shichibei that they were willing to engage in overseas trade. Some even left their retainers in Kumamoto, waiting for the announcement of the opening of the five ports before buying ships and setting sail.

The five regions are Nagasaki, Hakata, Hirado, Nagasaki, and Bōtsu. Nagasaki has been taken back into the hands of the Oda clan, and Nobunaga has confiscated the Jesuits' administrative power over Nagasaki. The Nagasaki magistrate, the acting governor Tomioyasu, has also taken office and has drawn up maps of Nagasaki's interior and exterior, which have been sent to Oda Nobunaga in Kyoto.

The other four families, having been under Nobunaga's control for over a decade, were already like him. The bigwigs from Hakata, such as Kamiya Sozen and Shimai Somoki, were also present; they had long since pledged allegiance to Nobunaga.

Matsuura Shigenori of Hirado surrendered to Nobunaga through Kamiya Sōzan, and even betrayed his lord during the Battle of Dazaifu, making a great contribution to the Oda army's victory over the main force of Ryūzōji. His son, Matsuura Genzaburo (Matsuura Hisanobu), has already been sent to Kyoto as a hostage. The opening of Hirado Port and the presence of officials dispatched by the Oda clan are all natural developments.

As for Bōzu in Satsuma, Shimazu Tadatatsu has already married Shichibei Sane's adopted daughter, Nobuo. The map of Bōzu has also been delivered to Kyoto, and Oda clan's loyal followers have been stationed there.

The conditions for opening five ports to trade are ripe, and we can begin to promote it. Everyone here, whether you have come alone, with the backing of a powerful lord, or from a temple, may now begin to purchase official seals.

One document per boat, after the cancellation is completed, a new one is issued.

With a red seal certificate, one could immediately go abroad for long-distance trade. Some might ask, weren't Japanese merchant ships of low quality? No problem. Historically, the Shimazu clan heavily engaged in the red seal ship trade. Disliking the cost of their own merchant ships, they directly purchased vessels from Fujian.

The smallest weighs over seventy tons, while the largest is said to weigh eight hundred tons. The Shimazu family has seen far and wide, including Siam, Luzon, Sulu, and Malacca. It's possible that some Shimazu merchants even traveled to Burma and India as early as the 17th century.

After all, both Burma and Thailand have a history of employing Portuguese and Japanese mercenaries. With the end of Japan's Warring States period and the days of living on the edge, serving as mercenaries for ocean-going merchant ships was a viable alternative.

So, if I'm going to sell, I'll definitely sell to all of you good brothers here first.

Even though Nobunaga said that if anyone else wanted to buy, they could just tell him and he could work overtime to issue the official seal, Shichibei thought it unnecessary to make it so common. Two hundred it was fine. One year...

Sell ​​two hundred copies first.

If you sell too much, you won't get a good price.

The country has only just begun to be pacified, and there isn't yet such a large market demand. Once the country is completely pacified and peace is restored, then we can issue more official seals based on market demand.

The tangible and intangible forces are arguing, but when it comes to respecting market rules, we should still respect them.

The big bosses are very enthusiastic about this. In fact, Japan has a lot of products that can be exported, besides silver and copper.

The most typical example is sulfur!

The neighboring Ming Dynasty had an enormous demand for sulfur—tens of thousands of kilograms? Even a million kilograms wouldn't be enough. Although sulfur miners inhaled toxic fumes that could shorten their lives, in this era, where wouldn't someone be buried in the yellow earth?

I just saw Uesugi Kagetora and his whole family self-destruct and ascend to heaven the other day. Even a powerful daimyo with 1.2 million koku of rice died without a burial place. An ordinary miner shouldn't think so much.

Needless to say, whether it's the pacification of Bozhou or the pacification of Xia, whether there will be aid to Korea is unknown, but the pacification of Liaodong is certain. That will bring the sulfur needed by the Ming Dynasty.

It should be calculated in tons. Aren't the best sulfur-producing areas near the Central Plains in Japan?

Indonesia does have it, but unfortunately the indigenous people there can't mine it on a large scale and sell it abroad.

Given the weakness of Japan's handicraft industry, the demand for various goods was countless. As long as ships were set sail to bring them back, there was basically no worry about selling them.

Everyone was very enthusiastic about buying them on the spot. For example, Tokugawa Ieyasu's merchants, Chaya and Kakunoya, each wanted two. Hideyoshi's merchant, Konishi Ryūsō, was even better, asking for five right off the bat.

Since Shichibei himself wasn't planning to engage in the red seal ship trade for the time being, he didn't keep any and distributed them to everyone as a good Samaritan. In just half a day, he sold out only a very few of the two hundred seals.

Some people even have to pay a deposit to reserve the next season's Zhu Yin Zhuang.

Oh dear, this is completely unnecessary. We didn't book this service; we'll come back for next year's official seal. This thing can't be used solely for making money; that would be too low-class.

Sometimes these things can be considered support, a reward, or even a favor. After all, in this world, are there really any people greater than us?

Was Prime Minister Nobunaga more tolerant of industry and commerce?

With just a gentle push, even a poor country stable boy could become an unparalleled tycoon. Destroying a large merchant empire would be a piece of cake for him.

You're saying the official seal will be auctioned next year? Then you're just obsessed with making money.

Money can never be fully earned. If the highest bidder wins, where does power lie? There are intricacies involved that require careful consideration.

Nobunaga Nobukatsu doesn't currently have any lords he wants to win over, so let's leave that aside for now. Only when they do, or when Shichibei himself has a local merchant he wants to support, will this thing truly demonstrate its value.

To be clear, the mere four thousand strings of cash is not the most significant benefit of this official document with its vermilion seal. Its benefits and uses are numerous.

The big bosses who were rejected by Shichibei weren't annoyed; they just chatted and laughed as they accepted the chapter. Anyway, they'd already got this year's official seal; next year's could wait.

The hundreds of thousands of strings of cash that were originally held as collateral due to the official seal can now be quickly recovered. Even if it's not a recovery of funds...

The gold will also be collected as tribute rice for the following year.

Thus, the second agenda item was successfully passed and implemented.

The remaining agenda item was the third item: informing the major bosses of the idea of ​​establishing a rice industry guild and soliciting their opinions. Whether in this world or in history, the rice industry guild in Osaka, and the rice futures market that followed, had gradually begun to take shape.

Adapting to the trends of the times and the needs of the market was also an important reason why Shichibei convened the industry conference. Shichibei and Imai Munehisa had already discussed this matter beforehand, with Imai Munehisa offering to abandon all actions in the rice-selling business in exchange for Shichibei's support for his actions in the rice industry.

As for the deal, he was sensible, and Shichibei was happy to agree.

So the third agenda item was chaired by Munehisa Imai, who first explained the idea to the big bosses. There was no rush to confirm or vote on it; everyone went back to their usual lives of drinking, gambling, and networking.

Talk freely, discuss freely. After all, the rice industry association hasn't been established yet, so we can speak our minds.

[Note] Brothers-in-law: Inase Sukeemon Yoshinari, Hashiba Koichiro Hideuchi, Shibata Gonroku Chokatsu, Yamagata Saburobei Masamitsu, Hara Hikoji

Lang Changlai.

Sons-in-law: Nagamune Nobutichika, Katsuhisa Niko, Naomasa Ikeda, Motoji Goto, Naoyoshi Kawamura, Tadafusa Sagara, Tadatsu Shimazu, Kubo Shimazu, Toyohisa Shimazu, Moriyasu Tozawa.

It seems we're indeed missing one...

596. Asking about Guan Gao and Shi Gao

After Imai Munehisa finished his announcement, everyone went off to socialize, eat, drink, gamble, and whore. But Shichibei had a problem. Nobunaga learned that Shichibei was holding a meeting with Japan's wealthy merchants, so he asked Shichibei to find out more about it secretly.

The advantages and disadvantages of the Shigao system and the Guangao system were determined in different regions.

Of course, in Kyushu, there were also towns used to house officials, and in Oshu, there were even Karitaka; in short, this system wasn't unified across Japan. Of all of Japan, only Kyushu implemented strict land surveys and land control.

A ledger containing the total amount of rice grains collected throughout Kyushu, compiled by Hori Hidemasa, has been submitted to Nobunaga. This ledger, along with the Kyushu division ledger submitted by Ōtomo Sōrin, corroborates each other, leading to the re-division of Kyushu into separate provinces.

Apart from that, almost no other provinces, such as the western provinces, the four provinces, and the Kinai region, conducted land surveys. Only Tango province has detailed land survey data, as well as an astonishingly high land area of ​​123,000 koku.

In order to expedite the land survey and sword hunt, the authorities in Echigo Province relaxed their restrictions, and the land survey yielded 450,000 koku. This was roughly in line with previous estimates, but the actual amount would depend on the skill of the lords they later placed in charge of.

In any case, land surveys were an annual, generational affair. During the Edo period, local governments were repeatedly required to compile village registers and report land tax data. Some places even produced detailed maps of the provinces, which have been preserved to later generations.

With the country soon unified, Nobunaga can no longer allow his territory to remain in Iwataka while his own remains in Kantaka. Unification is necessary to facilitate a unified national strategy and better govern the country.

It's quite strange, actually, that the person sent to inquire about this matter was Tsutsui Sadatsugu, the adopted son of Tsutsui Junkei. During the Nijō Incident, due to Tsutsui Junkei's indecisiveness, he was transferred by Nobunaga to Tanba-Kameyama with a fief of 100,000 koku. Tsutsui Sadatsugu then became one of Nobunaga's female retainers, serving both as a hostage and as a laborer.

Anyway, it wasn't anything secretive; it was just about getting to know the situation in various places, so Nobunaga sent him. Having only become Nobunaga's personal attendant after the Nijō Incident, he was clearly under observation, essentially destined to run errands.

I heard that his adoptive father, Tsutsui Junkei, is in Kameyama Castle in Tanba, and is sullen every day. Since moving away from Kofuku-ji Temple in Yamato Province, the ancestral home of the Hossō sect, the Tsutsui family seems to have lost most of its former prestige. Now they have become a timid and ordinary outlying lord, and are likely still under the watchful eye of the Oda clan.

Look at his two neighbors in Tanba: Hosokawa Akimoto and Shibata Nagakatsu. Hosokawa Akimoto is already embodying Oda Nobunaga. As the last Kanrei of the Muromachi Shogunate, he's now just Nobunaga's mascot, merely for show. He usually just chats and jokes with Nobunaga, occasionally playing keju (a type of Japanese football) or renga (a type of Japanese folk song).

Shibata Nagakatsu goes without saying. He was a senior retainer of Owari Province. Although Shibata Katsuie had rebelled, he ultimately died fighting at Nagakoji Castle in Omi Province. Today, he is one of the core samurai groups of the Oda regime.

If Tsutsui Junkei made any unusual move, he would immediately report it to Nobunaga.

At that point, it won't just be a transfer of fiefdom; it will be a complete reorganization, and a total stripping of all titles. It's quite possible that Tsutsui Junkei himself will be exiled to some remote, impoverished area in Kyushu or Oshu, placed under the supervision of a daimyo.