April of the 14th year of King Sejong’s reign. (1432. The year of Imja)
Ōuchi Morimi, who had been to Kyoto, returned to his homeland of Suō.
“Welcome back, my lord!”
As the retainers lined up from the entrance of the castle shouted their welcome in unison, Morimi responded with a slight nod.
“Hmm… Good work. Let’s go in.”
With Ōuchi on horseback at the lead, the retainers who had returned from Kyoto and those who had been guarding the territory entered Suō Castle.
Thud!
As everyone entered, the gates of Suō Castle closed firmly with a dull sound.
***
As soon as Morimi, who had briefly washed up and changed clothes, sat in the seat of honor in the main hall, the meeting began immediately.The first to speak was Mochiyo, Ōuchi’s nephew.
“You look quite unwell. Wouldn’t it be better to take some rest?”
Morimi shook his head with a grave expression at Mochiyo’s words.
“In peaceful times, I would rest and then work, but unfortunately, the times are not good.”
At Morimi’s words, the faces of the retainers who had remained in the territory, including Mochiyo, also became serious.
“We heard through messages and merchant rumors that the atmosphere in Kyoto was not good, but is it that serious?”
“It’s very serious. The phrase ‘terror of ten thousand people’ is not an exaggeration. Sigh…”
Ōuchi let out a long sigh.
Since Ashikaga Yoshinori, the current shogun, had taken power, the air in Kyoto had frozen solid.
Whether they were from ancient noble families serving the Emperor or beggars living day to day on the streets, everyone residing in Kyoto was only watching Ashikaga Yoshinori’s mood.
If anyone caught the shogun’s eye even slightly, it was not uncommon for the person to receive a terrible punishment or lose their life.
The simplest example was the ‘Chicken Expulsion Incident’ that occurred just before Ōuchi’s return.
A cockfight had taken place at Ichijō Kaneyoshi’s residence, and many people had gathered to watch it. The problem was that these gathered people had blocked Yoshinori’s procession. Enraged, Yoshinori banned cockfighting and expelled all chickens from Kyoto. (Note 1)
Moreover, there were more than a few gardeners and cooks who were punished for reasons such as “breaking a gifted plum branch” or “the food doesn’t taste good.” (Note 1)
If only the lower-ranking people had been punished like this, they might have just sneered at it as “petty,” but as mentioned earlier, among those punished by Yoshinori were not a few high-ranking nobles and samurai.
“…So I had no choice but to leave Kyoto using ‘illness’ as an excuse. The previous shogun already saw our Ōuchi clan as a thorn in his side, and the current shogun is a madman on top of that. We should consider ourselves fortunate to have escaped. Sigh…”
Morimi let out a sigh of relief.
***
After confirming Yoshinori’s violent and sadistic nature, Morimi gradually increased his guard.
However, before long, Yoshinori warned Morimi.
“Why is the head of the Ōuchi family increasing his troops?”
“…The night air in Kyoto has been unsettling lately.”
“Isn’t it the lord’s troops that are making it more unsettling? Surely you’re not distrusting me, who is responsible for the safety of Kyoto?”
At Yoshinori’s point, Morimi answered with an expression that suggested it was absurd.
“How could that be!”
“Is that so? Then don’t increase your guard any further. It’s frightening.”
“Yes…”
After ending the conversation with Yoshinori like this, Morimi called together the retainers who had come to Kyoto with him.
“We need to go back. Come up with a suitable excuse. If we remove our guards here, we’ll be in immediate danger. No, we might be in danger even if we don’t remove them.”
Morimi had an intuition that this was a critical moment.
The scale of troops Morimi had stationed in Kyoto was considerable. With the current stationed scale, even Yoshinori would have to accept significant losses.
But this was a double-edged sword. While it was a device to prevent Yoshinori from easily using force, it could also provide Yoshinori with a justification to use force.
It would provide the pretext of “Stationing such a large number of troops! They must surely harbor treacherous intentions!”
However, if he reduced his troops at Yoshinori’s request, his life would be forfeit at any time. With Yoshinori holding his lifeline like this, it was certain that he would pressure Morimi to extort various things, starting with economic benefits.
If Morimi couldn’t endure this and raised an army, it would provide Yoshinori with the perfect justification to wipe out the Ōuchi family and take everything.
Therefore, Morimi had to become an untimely patient.
“Illness? What illness?”
“Suddenly, my pulse became unstable and I’m having difficulty breathing. These symptoms started appearing during the conflict with the Shōni, but they’ve worsened recently.”
Seeing Morimi’s pale face as he answered, Yoshinori responded with a seemingly reluctant expression.
“That’s unfortunate. I’ll grant your request. Return to your homeland and recuperate.”
“I’m deeply grateful.”
And so, Morimi had to ride in a palanquin until he reached Naniwa (present-day Osaka) and boarded a ship.
***
After briefly explaining the process of escaping from Kyoto like this, Morimi continued speaking to his retainers.
“It was the help of the kami. Offer tributes to the shrine.”
“Yes, my lord!”
“And how is the military expansion progressing?”
“We are steadily increasing our forces, my lord.”
“What about the financial issues?”
“Thanks to the steady silver production from the mine, there are no particular problems.”
Morimi nodded at Mochiyo’s answer.
“We’re benefiting from Joseon’s help. Speaking of which… How is the search for craftsmen from Ming going? I received an urgent message that there was good news?”
At Morimi’s inquiry, the retainer in charge of that matter answered with a proud face.
“We were able to secure two through Ming merchants!”
“Are they capable of proper smelting?”
“Yes, they are!”
“It must have cost quite a bit?”
To Morimi’s question, the retainer immediately replied.
“We agreed to give the merchant exclusive trading rights with Ming. For now, we’ve agreed to import steel produced in Ming.”
“Well done!”
Morimi’s face brightened at the retainer’s answer.
While Japanese swords were prized items even in China, fetching high prices, mass production was difficult. Since wars weren’t fought with swords alone, purchasing high-quality steel in large quantities was essential. Therefore, the news of importing steel in large quantities from Ming was excellent.
Of course, there was one regrettable point.
“It’s a bit disappointing that it’s not Joseon-made.”
At Mochiyo’s words, Morimi nodded and responded.
“That’s true. But even Ming-made is a godsend in our situation, so we can’t help it.”
***
During the joint development of the silver mine, the quality of Joseon-made steel products drew admiration from the Japanese.
The quality of steel used to make tools like pickaxes, shovels, axes, and saws was superior to that of expensive Japanese swords.
Because of this, Morimi immediately sent an envoy to Joseon expressing his desire to purchase large quantities of steel materials.
However, the answer from Joseon was a refusal.
“Our Joseon is also short on steel materials now. Trading is difficult.”
Morimi was dumbfounded when he heard Joseon’s answer.
“Huh! They’re short on iron? Yet they make pickaxes and shovels out of steel?”
***
Setting aside his disappointment about Joseon-made products, Morimi checked on the information about the surrounding territories.
“How is the situation in the surrounding areas these days? Especially the situation of those Shōni bastards who fled to Tsushima?”
“They seem to be steadily aiming for a comeback, but it doesn’t look easy. After all, the environment in Tsushima isn’t good.”
At the retainer’s answer, Morimi snorted.
“Hmph! Stupid fools! To think they fled to a tiger’s den!”
The survivors of the Shōni family, defeated in the Battle of Chikuzen, had to flee to Tsushima. Their plan was to stay in Tsushima, regain their strength, and make a comeback.
However, upon arriving in Tsushima, they faced the great wall of the Joseon army. With the establishment of a Joseon naval base in Tsushima, they could no longer engage in piracy.
Therefore, they had to turn to commerce, using the wealth they had brought as capital.
“Who knows how long it will take…”
Unlike piracy, which could bring great profits if done properly, commerce, which was already saturated, couldn’t bring large profits.
***
“That’s the situation with the Shōni, what about other territories?”
“They are continuously expanding their forces to escort merchants.”
Morimi tilted his head at the retainer’s answer and asked again.
“Continuously?”
“Yes.”
“Those fellows shouldn’t have much financial leeway, should they?”
“Indeed, the discontent among the peasants is growing.”
At the retainer’s answer, Morimi nodded with a face that finally understood.
“I see, that makes sense.”
Seeing Morimi’s reaction, the retainer carefully took out a letter from his breast and handed it to Morimi.
“What’s this?”
“It’s a letter sent by village heads from other territories surrounding our domain. They are declaring independence and asking for our protection. They also wrote that if we apply the same tax rate as our territory, they would like to come under your lordship’s shadow.”
“Really?”
Morimi received the letter with a disbelieving face.
As he unfolded the letter and confirmed its contents, Morimi let out a sigh.
“Sigh… This might happen faster than we thought…”
***
Since the fall of the Kamakura shogunate, through the Nanboku-chō period, and now in the Muromachi shogunate era, Japan’s economy was growing increasingly rapidly.
Port cities began to develop, monopolizing trade with Ming through tally trade. Additionally, with the opening of Joseon trading posts in Nagato and Naniwa, commerce began to grow nationwide.
What accelerated this situation even further was the shogunate. Unlike the Kamakura shogunate, which relied solely on the produce from the land, the Muromachi shogunate made the profits gained through trade the foundation of its finances. Following this policy, the shogunate engaged in trade not only with Ming and Joseon but also expanded to Ryukyu and Southeast Asia.
Agriculture was the same. Although later than Joseon, ox-drawn plowing began to spread gradually in Japan, and the number of farms cultivating cotton started to increase.
Based on this growing economic power, the ruling class, symbolized by shugō and daimyō, began to expand their military power.
To fund this military expansion and purchase luxury goods coming from Joseon, the ruling class had no choice but to squeeze the peasants and merchants.
The peasants and merchants began to resist. Traditionally, taxes were determined through consultation between village heads and officials of each village. However, the daimyō and shugō had destroyed this tradition, and the peasants and merchants had no choice but to resist.
(Note 2)
***
“Will you accept it?”
After pondering for a long time at the retainer’s question, Morimi reached a conclusion.
“No, we won’t accept it. If we accept now, we’ll only be giving them justification. Tell them it’s not the right time yet.”
At Morimi’s words, the retainer immediately bowed his head.
“Yes, my lord!”
Morimi looked around at his retainers.
“Now is the time to wait and strengthen our internal affairs. As long as that madman in Kyoto continues his crazy actions, something will happen soon. So, we wait until then.”
“Yes, my lord!”
After giving orders to his retainers, Morimi muttered with his arms folded.
“I never knew that imitating Joseon would be this helpful.”
Morimi had applied Joseon’s tax policy to his own territory.
It was a very challenging policy, but it had brought even greater results than expected.
***
Note 1) https://ko.wikipedia.org/wiki/아시카가_요시노리
Note 2) https://빅데이터협회.com/2349