Chapter 164 6. A Pair of Straw Sandals Is Worth Two Cents

"The people of Totomi eat rice and fish, and it is convenient for both water and drought. It is located in the middle of the sea route and is a gathering place for all directions. It can be called an important place for the eastern country and an important town in the three-border federation. It goes straight through Inaguchi to Shinano Yamanouchi, and through Oi River to Suruga, it dominates Mikawa from above."

"Ejiri has vast fields and benefits from fishing and salt production. Although it is not a business for a king or a hegemon, it is like the powerful Qin taking Bashu and the King of Han enfeoffing Hanzhong. Find ways and manage it a little bit. In three to five years, you can get the capital for a king or a hegemon."

(There is a nursery rhyme that describes the status of the Imagawa family's territory. The people of Suruga live a life of entertainment, the people of Totomi fish and farm, and the people of Mikawa fight in the front. It fully explains the status of the three countries in the sea route.)

Yamauchi Yoshiharu was fascinated by it and unconsciously moved his mat closer to Kobayata.

"Now, I have just mobilized about 2,000 people from Ejiri to repair the embankments and roads along the Tenryu River, and slightly mobilized the lord's direct territory, obtaining a large area of ​​lowland swamps along the river that cannot be used. These swamps and the salt fields along the coast of Enshu Beach can all be planted with rushes."

"Rush?" Yamauchi Yoshikatsu was stunned.

"Yes, it's rush!"

"Is it the rush used to weave tatami?" Yamauchi Yoshikatsu asked again.

"Yes." Xiao Pingtai was full of confidence.

Rush is an annual plant widely distributed and planted in paddy fields. It likes a warm and humid growing environment. It is planted from the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River in China to Myanmar and Thailand. It is one of the best natural green fibers. At the same time, it can be planted in seawater fields and freshwater fields. The fabrics woven from rush in the freshwater area of ​​Taiwan, China were rumored to be a famous product in East Asia in the last century.

Why hasn't it been planted on a large scale in Japan so far?

It's very simple, because it needs to occupy paddy fields!

This is the crux of the matter. After finally developing such a paddy field, everyone would definitely use it to grow rice. Who would be stupid enough to use it to grow rush? White rice is a hard currency that circulates all over the world. It can be eaten and used, and it has never changed.

But Yuanjiang is just right here, because the geographical environment is simply unique. Do the swamps that serve as flood discharge areas have sufficient water sources? Very sufficient! Is there enough light and heat? Very sufficient! But just based on the two floods in a year, it is doomed that it will never be developed into paddy fields. However, the time for growing rush three times a year is just right. The first crop is planted after the winter snow melts and the spring flood passes. The harvest matures before the summer flood in the plum rain season. Another crop is planted after the plum rain ends, and the harvest is harvested after the autumn.

In this way, the lowland swamps that are affected by the flooding of the Tianlong River and cannot be cultivated at all are utilized. Although only two crops of rush can be planted a year, the income obtained is more than that from growing rice.

The scientific name of this kind of rush planted in freshwater paddy fields is triangular rush. After being woven into tatami, it can be used for more than 30 years (the historical relics are in the Ohara Residence, a designated tourist attraction in Oita Prefecture, Japan. The tatami has been used for 40 years and is still very good). It still shows a warm beige color, is very soft to the touch, and has a certain friction. (In an orthodox Japanese kendo hall, the tatami must be woven with triangular rush. If ordinary tatami is used, it can be determined that it is a pheasant kendo hall.)

These high-quality rushes grown in freshwater are used for weaving and grass art, while in the salt fields along the coast that are eroded by seawater, ordinary rushes (also called salt grass or rushes) can be planted with salt water that is eroded by seawater and cannot be drunk. Judging from the Pacific monsoon climate in the Totomi area, except for a very small period of time when typhoons are blowing, rushes can be harvested twice a year.

Due to the difference in water quality and variety, the texture of these common rushes will inevitably be rougher, but they can be used to weave straw sandals, straw ropes, straw mats, and straw bags. A pair of straw sandals can be sold for two or three yuan, but the consumed rushes are only dozens of pieces, which is equivalent to free money.

In addition, the pedal-operated hand-made mat looms have been used for many years in Tsuyama, Bimasaka Province, and Usuki, Bungo Province. Not only has the structure of the machine gradually become simpler, but the manufacturing process has also become more mature. People can be sent to the two places to buy several different prototypes immediately, and then disassemble and imitate them in Ejiri.

Then the carpenters selected by the Yamauchi family will learn the technology of making mat looms and manufacture simple mat looms on a large scale. When they have enough looms, they will open a handicraft workshop. It will be exclusively operated by the Yamauchi family, and the people only need to grow the best triangular rush.

Slowly a complete production system will be formed, and the people will grow rush and then hand it over to the Yamauchi family as a substitute for the annual tribute. The Yamanouchi family was only responsible for purchasing rush at a low price, and then completing the weaving of rush art in a large-scale and systematic handicraft workshop.

The inferior common rush was allowed to be freely disposed of by the people of the territory. After harvesting the rush they planted in spring and autumn, they were used to weave cheap and rough straw sandals, straw mats, straw hats and straw bags by family-style handicrafts in the winter when it was too cold to work outdoors.

Then the people of the territory were also allowed to use these cheap handicraft products to directly deduct the annual tribute. The Yamanouchi family still bought these products at a price lower than the market price, and then sold them to all parts of the world through the coastal water transport that extended in all directions from Ejiri Port.

This was the wisdom of Kobayata referring to Takeda Harunobu. He saw clearly that the people of his own Kai country had little income and did not have enough Yongle money to pay the annual tribute. Then he allowed the people of the territory to use various handicrafts to offset the annual tribute, so that both the people and the lords benefited.

Hojo Ujiyasu was also very smart. At the beginning, the Hojo clan also implemented the Kanko system, but later it could not be implemented. Hojo Ujiyasu allowed the people to boil salt and pay the annual tribute, or pickle salted fish to pay taxes. In many records, the proportion of salt even reached one-third. After the salt was concentrated in the hands of the Hojo family, it was trafficked to the inland of Kanto, and it also made a lot of money.

As long as the Yamanouchi family controls all channels of the entire rush industry from high-end to low-end, and supervises all the paths from production to sales. On the one hand, it can maximize the use of unusable swamps and salt fields, and on the other hand, it can increase the income of the people.

As long as it can eventually produce excellent products that are not inferior to Mimasaka Tsuyama's sloping, and then slowly try to develop jacquard, dyeing and other craftsmanship techniques. It can be imagined that it will not take long to obtain a sufficiently broad market. Every family needs to use low-end shoes and hats, and there is no need to worry about not being able to sell them. High-end products such as sloping, seats, and grass art will not worry about sales.

In a few years, the people of Totomi will become wealthy, and Yamanouchi Yoshiharu's pockets will be more expanded.

Yamauchi Yoshiharu was delighted when he heard this and clapped his hands in joy. However, Koyata signaled him not to rush and said that he had not finished speaking.