The Azuchi Momoyama period, full of splendor and bloodshed, was the pinnacle of Japan's Sengoku period and an "atypical" Sengoku period.
Prior to this, the Sengoku period was a repressive gray tone, like the set of Spider's Nest City: samurai armor was splashed with brown blood, and ragged people were like bugs in the rubble... The world seems to be a nightmare that will never wake up; but the Azuchi Momoyama era gives people an exaggerated and gorgeous impression: the smoke of the iron cannon has not dissipated, and the fireworks have bloomed in the night sky; there is also an elegant tea party on the battlefield; the murderous fierce general is a weak teenager, and the charming woman is bold and fierce - joint battle, flower feast, tragic song, wild dance, conspiracy, meeting... Everything is different from the chaotic times of the past.
The magicians who painted the chaotic world of the Warring States with beautiful colors were the two overlords of the Azuchi Momoyama era, Oda Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hideyoshi. And the most powerful prop in their hands is not an iron cannon or a sword, but an amazing wealth in their hands.
Antu: King of Babylon
What kind of figure was Oda Nobunaga, who was later revered as the god of the Great Ming Dynasty and a revolutionary? Is it a prophet who travels through ancient and modern times? Or is it just a fanatic with inflated ambitions? In fact, the world's impression of Nobunaga has been completely reduced to a gambler who has changed the course of history. For example, in the "Nobunaga Koji", there is a comment from his father-in-law Saito Michizo to his son-in-law Nobunaga:
"This man is terrible, and there are ominous people in his neighbors."
Dao San is a person who steals power by virtue of his own charm and wrist, and a teenager can make the old and spicy "villain" feel oppressed, and his mighty domineering spirit can be imagined. Therefore, when later generations mentioned Nobunaga, they were basically such risky moves as "barrel narrow raids" or "burning birui mountains" or such a fierce hand as cutting grass and roots, coupled with the brilliant battle of Nagashino, people could not help but believe that in that turbulent and chaotic world, there was really a "sixth day demon king" who was proud of the crowd.
It is not denied that Oda Nobunaga was once a young man with a distinct personality, and as a surviving strongman, it is also true that he often chose the tactics of sword and side after careful consideration. But what really propelled Nobunaga to the pinnacle of his life was his consistent economic strategy.
The night view of Antu Castle in the imagination of modern people.
Ruins of modern Antu Castle.
The Warring States Rebellion began in the middle of the Muromachi shogunate.
At that time, it was the Middle Ages, and the land of Xudong was also divided by the public, the samurai, and the temple family, which can be said to be an era of three points. However, as long as there is a gap, the seeds can germinate, so the townspeople among the common people, that is, the merchant class, gradually become active. In order to grab more resources, the relatively weak public and temple families gradually adopted the townspeople as partisans with the convenience of their powers, forming a way of survival in collusion between officials and businessmen: the public temple family blessed the townspeople with power, and the townspeople gave a lot of wealth to repay the benefactor.
The most common way to trade power and money is the "seat" system. The so-called "seat" is a kind of monopoly institution under the guise of guilds and chambers of commerce. Only those who have joined the "za" are eligible to operate, because behind them are the public and the temple. They only allow the townspeople to form a market next to the designated temple and shrine after joining the "seat" to display and sell goods, and the townspeople also need to pay the "land money", that is, the site fee.
In addition to the land money, the public and temple families also set up checkpoints on their own territories to collect road money from pedestrians and goods. This was a very serious oppression for ordinary townspeople and peasants at that time--because the territories of the public and the temple were not very large, and these territories in the form of manors were scattered, so the manors under the name of a certain secretary or lord must have been staggered with the teeth of other people's manors. It is said that at that time, there were often hundreds of levels on some main roads.
With so much money to buy, the average townsman and peasant are certainly unable to afford it, while the rich merchants will attach these costs to the price. In this way, the price of goods will remain high, and consumers will lose their purchasing power... It can be said that most of the time, the economy and people's livelihood of the Warring States period were carried out in this vicious circle of "less and less capital" but higher and higher prices.
The hat was known as the Tang Crown in Japan at that time, and was the favorite style of crown hat for high-ranking warriors. Therefore, many helmets have been made into the style of Tang Crown.
Of course, the samurai were also responsible for creating such a harsh economic environment. Because there was a lot of war at that time, the princes and powerful people on the divided side tried their best to turn their acres and acres into a natural fortress - that is, most of these chaotic heroes intended to maintain or even create a dangerous terrain. For example, roads were to be rough and narrow, and most of the road conditions were not much maintained, usually allowing them to deteriorate; the river was deliberately not to build bridges - because, to build the road wide and flat, to make traffic convenient and fast, so that their territory was accessible in all directions, it was tantamount to death in the eyes of the princes and powerful people at that time - what could the enemy do when he came in? A similar situation occurred not only in Japan, but also in transylvania at the same time, when Christian princes deliberately disrupted road conditions in case large Ottoman armies invaded along the road.
Oda Nobunaga began to reform this situation after he had fully mastered Owari:
First, the implementation of the commercial policy of Leshi Lezao, that is, the supranational free trade activities. The first is to exempt land money, seat service and other harsh taxes and miscellaneous taxes, allowing merchants to spontaneously form markets and carry out commercial activities, known as "happy city"; further is to abolish the "seat" system, known as "happy seat". "Le" here means freedom, which means that everyone can do business, and the princes guarantee the right of their subjects to trade freely.
Second, repair the road. Nobunaga believed that it was not enough to allow people to do business freely, but to enrich the poor, they needed to create "hardware" – that is, developed transportation. At that time, the width of the main road was "one room", which is now about 2 meters. Nobunaga, on the other hand, divided the road into three levels:
Main road - three rooms and two feet, about 6.5m today;
Branch road - two rooms and two feet, about 4.5m today;
Village path - one, about 2m today;
All of these roads are built as straight as possible to save time on the road. Considering that in the height of summer, the sun is like fire, and pedestrians rushing in the red dust are often forced by the heat, So Nobunaga planted easy-to-survive and pleasant willows on the side of the road to cool off pedestrians.
The reason why Oda Nobunaga pursued free trade so risklessly was to make money. While abolishing the old economic system, Nobunaga also established a new system. The townspeople under his rule had to pay "Ya money". As long as the Yakushi was paid, Nobunaga would not fight and fortify the areas where these townsmen lived. In view of the horrors of war, the townspeople were naturally happy to break the bank and avoid disaster.
To this day, Nobunaga's ancestral temple is still full of incense.
Since politics is in a sense a "necessary evil," we can explain Nobunaga's motives and purposes in terms of the criminal ways in which the underworld commits crimes. In layman's terms, the "seats" promoted by the public and temple families are similar to the aggregation of self-operated trading and collecting protection fees, while Nobunaga's "Rakuichi Happy Seats" are the chips for opening casinos and issuing chips. Therefore, the former will naturally turn the "protected fee" of the people into slaves in the "self-operated trade", which can maximize the cost yield, while the latter will strive to "attract more guests to the gambling game" to issue more "chips".
After Oda Nobunaga's economic reforms, the economy of his domain soon became active. Even the Southern Barbarian Companion of the Time, Even Flois, once lamented that Gifu Castle, Nobunaga's stronghold, was already a richer city than Goa:
"As bustling as babylon, the great city of ancient times".
Momoyama: Taikoku World
After the change of Honnoji Temple, Toyotomi Hideyoshi became the lord of the world. Although this man bears little resemblance to his late master Oda Nobunaga, one thing they agree on exactly is the importance they attach to economic activity.
Toyotomi Hideyoshi's origins and childhood remain a mystery to this day. A widely spread saying is that in the early years, Hideyoshi used to be a salesman who sold needle and thread, that is, a salesman, so he developed the ability to speak eloquently, and he had a personal understanding of the role of money. It can even be said that Hideyoshi's awareness of money surpassed that of Nobunaga.
Money, because it flows endlessly like a spring, is repeated, so it is called "spring" by Ya. And the value of economic activity based on money also lies in its liquidity. Just like water, if it is not to become a stagnant water, the economy must circulate actively and cannot stagnate. Therefore, although they all advocated an active economy, Toyotomi Hideyoshi participated more actively. Hideyoshi, who had been a cargo man, understood that if the goods were not circulated in their hands, they could not bring money. Therefore, after becoming a prince, every time he expanded his domain, Hideyoshi would cooperate with local rich merchants to contract the sale of rice in the territory, thus forming a network of population and commodity flows. After making money, Hideyoshi split the profits equally with the merchants involved in the business activities. This practice not only promoted the business of the merchants, but also made Hideyoshi richer and richer, so that he had enough money to dominate the world.
The stage play "Daigo Hanami", which is themed in the harem struggle of the Toyotomi Dynasty, embodies the modern people's impression of the Momoyama era.
As Toyotomi Hideyoshi's domain expanded, so did this trade network. Hideyoshi, who became the Sekibaiden and Tenjinjin, had about 2.2 million stones under his name, mainly concentrated in Settsu, Hanoi, and Izumi around Kyoto, as well as scattered territories from north to Oshu in Kyushu in the south. Therefore, Hideyoshi's business network naturally covers these areas, which means that the logistics of all japan are basically owned by Hideyoshi alone.
While establishing a nationwide logistics network, Hideyoshi has also built first-tier cities with a focus on consumption as national commercial centers. Since Azuchi Castle had been reduced to ashes, Hideyoshi chose another auspicious place to build a new city, which was later regarded as one of the three capitals, Osaka.
The main reason why Osaka was selected is that this "land" has extraordinary commercial value. As the middle of east Japan and western Japan, Osaka is connected to hokuriku in the north and the South China Sea in the south, and it is the starting point of the Seto Inland Sea, the main transportation artery of medieval Japan. It is very convenient to establish an economic center here. For the next three hundred years, Osaka was a Tsutomu Ōe that offered a straight view of Kyoto and Edo.
Another income that made Toyotomi Hideyoshi rich was mining gold.
In his later years, Toyotomi Hideyoshi was tied to the glitz of gold, and Osaka Castle was a fan of paper and gold at that time—not only gold screens, gold-depicted utensils, and various gilded weapons and armor. It is said that in addition to the three mats in the tea room, which are made of orangutan skin and the tea raft is made of bamboo, including a full set of tea utensils including a wind stove, a handle, a lid, a water finger, a jianshui, a date, a tea entry, a tea pot, a tea bowl, a tea kettle, a wind stove, a tea in, a tea table, and so on. The furniture is made of real gold; even the walls, pillars, ceilings, and floors of the tea room are wrapped in a thick layer of gold leaves; and the doors and windows and other parts are even directly cast in gold... Tiger Sits in the Fengtai Pavilion of the Sixty-Six States, and the most extravagant pleasure of his life is this thing. And the outside of Osaka Castle is also golden and brilliant, such as the snout on the roof of the castle tower, and each piece of scale armor is made of gold, so that the financial monster at that time, Okubo Nagamasa, once scolded:
"Is it the evil that wants to throw gold in the water?"
As early as the completion of Jurakudi, Hideyoshi issued a large red envelope to his princes and princes at one time—6,000 pieces of gold and 25,000 pieces of silver—and all of them were judged by Tianzheng. The reason why he has so much gold is that Toyotomi Hideyoshi has spared no effort in mining gold. Hideyoshi has two ways of mining gold mines: the first is to develop the mines in his own territory and set up a substitute official to supervise; the second is to develop the gold mines in the major domains, the gold mines are managed by the famous people themselves, but the gold and silver developed are handed over as a certain proportion of taxes - the most typical is the Satake clan's Kuci gold mine.
The ultimate aesthetic work of Fengtaige's life, the Golden Tea Room.
Therefore, in Japanese folklore, there is a legend that there is a toyotaka vault buried somewhere. For example, according to the third year of Keicho (1598ad), the Document of Light of Saburō Hato exaggeratedly recorded:
"The remnants of the Dprk's military conquest, amounting to 450 million taels, were buried."
Four hundred and fifty million taels of gold is naturally impossible, absolutely impossible. However, according to the Catalogue of the Toyotomi Family in the same year, the income of the Toyotomi family on the gold and silver mines was 4,999 gold (227.1g) and 93,365 pieces of silver — these gold and silver were equivalent to about 3 million stones of rice at that time. After Hideyoshi's death, he left a legacy of 90,000 gold and 160,000 silver judgments for Yododen and Hideyoshi's mother and son in Osaka Castle. After the fall of the Toyotomi family, the Tokugawa shogunate also recovered 28,000 pieces of gold and 24,000 pieces of silver from Osaka Castle.
Gilded Age
On May 8, 20120, Tokugawa Ieyasu, who had entered the last moments of his life, stood in front of a ruin in Osaka Castle as the new lord of the world, watching the final collapse of the Toyotomi Dynasty, which had been so invincible.
Since then, the prosperity and turmoil of the Azuchi-Momoyama period have become history, and the new regime created by the Tokugawa family, the Edo shogunate, has existed for three hundred years.
Many people have the impression that the Edo shogunate was a depressing and bleak era compared to the Azuchi Momoyama period. But it was through the uninterrupted efforts of Tokugawa's three hundred years that Japanese society was gradually freed from endless wars and desperate general poverty. The common people in the cities and villages also began to gradually live like individuals from this time. For these sentient beings, the "era of the wind and clouds" that is talked about by people can only be the glory of a very few heroes Haojie.
Kose Fu'an, who had been in and out of the high society of Mount Azuchi as a healer, recorded in his famous book "Taikaku Chronicle" in his later years:
"The two degrees of gold, and the relics of the time, are for the descendants, not for the people." Not according to the ministers and ministers, gold and silver to help hold, the things of the rich people, the real and the false... Gold and silver are mostly divided into copper, and only the people are responsible for it."
What this passage means is that Toyotomi Hideyoshi (in fact, most of the chaotic heroes of the time were also like this) cruelly squeezed money from the people for the sake of selfish desires and the long-term peace and stability of the Toyotomi Dynasty.
It is the tyranny of the beast eating people.
Osaka Castle.