Chapter 238 12. Zigong and Zilu, Two Sages
The founding meeting and the first shareholders' meeting of "Yamauchi Industry Co., Ltd." were successfully held under the high expectations of all the middle and upper-level samurai in Yamauchi, and the good wishes of "if you fail, you will be hanged on the city gate."
Everyone returned to the Great Hall again to formally discuss the issue of the Yamauchi samurai reserve fund.
First of all, it is necessary to clarify the issue of separation from Yamauchi Yoshiharu and future generations of daimyo, which is a bit taboo. All under heaven is the king's land, and all the people are the king's subjects. Everything in the territory should belong to Yamauchi Yoshiharu, and he only gives you the right to act as an agent and use it.
However, Yamauchi Yoshiharu took the initiative to express his position, and everyone does not need to worry about this matter. It does need to be separated. After all, this money must be used for a specific purpose and to rescue and aid the samurai of the Yamauchi family. The first rule is that except for lending to or aiding samurai, no other use is allowed!
Everyone discussed it and finally thought that this was no problem. Then the identity of the loan applicant is identified. The household registration card issued by the local head and the identification of the general on the direct military service certificate are required to ensure that there will be no loan fraud.
After all, the Yamanouchi family used to have only one county and rode around once a day. Now there are more than a dozen counties, distributed in four countries. Many local samurai and colleagues who handle affairs don’t know each other at all, unlike the past when the country was small and the people were few, and everyone saw each other every day.
Then the scope of lending, weddings and funerals are certain, and the scope can be expanded to the entire family of the samurai, including parents and children. However, the borrower is only identified as a samurai, and he represents a family alone, which is convenient for collecting money and identifying debt inheritance in the future. If he dies, the property will still be there, and the son will still have to serve as a military soldier to carry a gun. The feudal society will not exempt you from the debt of the father.
Everyone also discussed one thing fiercely, that is, if he died in battle, what should he do with his debt? The final result of the discussion was very different from what Xiao Pingtai thought. From top to bottom, samurai believed that they were loyal and brave, and those who died on the battlefield would be completely exempted from debt, and at the same time, pensions would be paid. We must not let down the loyal ministers. It was Kobayata who thought that he would definitely pay it back, which was a bit too much.
Everyone discussed one by one, and of course the main reference was the ideas of Yamanouchi Yoshiharu. Generally, after Hosokawa Harumiya read out a rule, Yamanouchi Yoshiharu would take the initiative to express his opinions, such as the initial promise to cut off from the Yamanouchi daimyo himself. If he himself had no opinions, he would let the elders of the family or the elders of the family of the relatives express their opinions. Although the other samurai present generally did not have the opportunity to speak, they could express their opinions by supporting or opposing.
Kobayata looked at this meeting of retainers' joint judgments that many daimyo families had, which was quite similar to the British Parliament. However, the monarch here, Yamanouchi Yoshiharu, not only had a veto power, but also had the absolute final decision-making power. The members of parliament were not elected, but were middle and high-level samurai nobles who rose to power by birth or military merit.
It made people feel dazed. Everyone discussed in an orderly manner. They were intimidated by the authority of the daimyo monarch, and there was no scene of fighting in the Ukrainian Parliament or the Taiwanese Parliament. As the "Chairman", Hosokawa Harumiya remained completely neutral, neither supporting nor opposing, perfectly playing the role of an introducer and arbitrator.
The generals on the military service forms at all levels were called one by one to attend and express their views on the operation of the entire reserve fund. As "councilmen", some were not qualified, some were rough and could read, but it was impossible for them to make long speeches like the councilors in later generations.
However, many samurai who served the public were able to point out based on their own experience that the fields were affected by the weather every year, and too much rain and too much sunshine would affect the rice harvest. I hope to set up a floating loan repayment quota, so that if the harvest is good, more can be paid, and if the harvest is poor, less or no repayment can be paid.
As expected, he went to the fields to farm himself, and he could supplement what the upper-level samurai could not consider. Although he could not give a speech, his simple speech still made Yamanouchi Yoshiharu praise him.
It is hard to imagine that these people were all reckless men who carried guns and knives on the battlefield and fought with the Takeda family in Suruga two months ago. As expected, the samurai class, which had not yet experienced the expansion of recruitment and indiscriminate appointments, was still above the passing line at this time. They knew women when they went to bed and shoes when they went down. The literary man could rule the world with a pen, and the martial man could decide the fate of the world immediately.
Soon it was noon, and the servants in the city brought cold tea rice, pickled shellfish, miso-cooked wild vegetables and a grilled fish. Because it was not a banquet, the food today was also simple. Pickled shellfish is a byproduct of Ejiri shell ash, which was directly sent to Yamauchi for cheap sale, and miso-cooked wild vegetables are actually cooked seasonal vegetables.
No one was picky about food, and they started eating without a fuss. The atmosphere between the master and the servant in this era was still very good, and there were no strict and detailed samurai laws later. If someone was not full, he would directly shout loudly in the palace for more rice. Yamauchi Yoshiharu also held a bowl, trying to get close to this person and chatting about family matters with that person, not missing any opportunity to win people over.
After everyone was full, the servants served hot tea. Anyway, it was recess time, some chatted in the hall, some closed their eyes to rest, and some walked in the corridor to digest their food.
After Yamanouchi Yoshiharu had rested, Hosokawa Harumiya clapped his hands repeatedly, and everyone quickly settled down with a sound of footsteps.
The agenda was carried out quickly because there was no so-called difference in political views between the two parties. Although the samurai present had some struggles because of their hometown party relations, everyone was able to put aside their prejudices for this policy that benefits everyone. Perhaps this is the vitality of the new and energetic daimyo.
Soon everyone discussed the last item, the salary of the seven general directors and Kanjo. Kobayata originally set an annual salary of 100 kan for the general director and 50 kan for the Kanjo. Sure enough, someone said that this salary was too much and out of date.
After all, this was a part-time job, not a main job, and one person could only do it for three years at most to ensure that there would be no fraud.
An elderly samurai immediately stepped forward. He had served the public for more than 30 years and was honest and self-disciplined. For such a thing that was beneficial to all the samurai, he would rather not take a penny. He said that he was willing to work for free with a noble character, which was recognized by everyone.
Kobayata had no objection, but he thought that low salary was not a good thing.
As a result, Hosokawa Harumiya came out to assist and told everyone the story of Zigong and Zilu, two of the Ten Philosophers of Confucius.
Zigong redeemed a Lu man who was sold as a slave while doing business in a foreign country, and released him as a civilian, but did not accept the property promised by the country. Zilu was brave and strong, and was willing to help others. On the way, he saw someone falling into the water. So he jumped into the water without hesitation and rescued the drowning man. The drowning man's family was very grateful and gave Zilu a cow, and Zilu happily accepted it.
This is the story of Zigong redeeming a man and Zilu accepting a cow. On the surface, Zigong did a good deed and did not receive a reward, and his morality was infinitely noble. However, he was criticized by Confucius, who believed that he raised the moral standards and reduced everyone's enthusiasm for rescuing the sold Lu people. On the contrary, Zilu accepted the cow, which would make everyone more enthusiastic to rescue people.
Otherwise, it is said that Hosokawa Harumiya is capable. He not only praised the noble morality of the old samurai, but also showed that ordinary people still need rewards and incentives.
So in the end, the issue of salary was passed by applause in a cheerful atmosphere, and the Yamanouchi samurai reserve fund was officially established.
The first general director was Yamanouchi Yoshikatsu!