Edo, it is said that more than half of the people are samurai, with the general as the apex. The samurai directly under the general have names, flags and royalty. Let's talk about the warriors stationed in Edo, not to mention how the warriors who confessed their names with Kanqin were paid!
The salary that warriors get from lords is called Lu, which can be divided into three types according to their status-knowing and doing, feeding and giving money. These are all annual salaries.
"Unity of knowledge and action" refers to fenced territory. For example, there is "knowing and doing a million stones", which means that the total output of rice in the territory is one million stones. Of course, people who can own territory are usually big shots. At the same time, the name of the land with a total output of 50,000 stones is called "the name of 50,000 stones". Although we have the "knowledge and behavior" of xx stones, what we actually get is not to say that we have xx stones. According to the system of "four public and six people", in fact, 60% of the total output is reserved for farmers themselves. In other words, the real annual income of The Name of a Million Stones is 400,000 Stones. If 1 stone is used to calculate one or two pieces of gold, which is equivalent to 654.38 million yen now, then the annual income of this big landlord is 40 billion yen! It is estimated that if "Daiwa Nadeshiko" (referring to the heroine in a Japanese drama of the same name, and "Daiwa Nadeshiko" originally means a traditional Japanese woman) meets, they will get married immediately, and there will be no idea of "friendship". Ha ha.
"Supporting food" is basically a way to pay middle and low-level soldiers. As the name implies, this is a direct meal. In fact, meat was not eaten in the Edo era, and there were not so many non-staple foods now. As the first material factor for survival, rice is second only to real money and silver in the market. The quantity given is between 30 tables and 400 tables, and 100 is 35 stones, that is to say, it is equivalent to 10 to 140, that is, the modern 1 10,000 to140,000. In this way, this class that receives support rice is equivalent to the "middle class" now. Since everyone says that the "middle class" determines the stability and development of the country, this article will also spend more ink on this class.
The distribution of "support rice" is not one-off, but a relatively fixed distribution time of three times a year. Take the table of 100 as an example. 25 copies were distributed in spring (February), 25 copies in summer (May) and the last 50 copies in winter (65438+ 10). This method of distribution by stages is called "cutting rice".
Next is the payment method of "giving money". As the name implies, nature refers to cash distribution. My own inference is that since more than 30 tables are called "supporting rice", "giving money" naturally refers to the salary below 30 tables. It is said that the lowest samurai has only three points (one point is equivalent to 1/4 points). In other words, the poorest samurai only earn the equivalent of 322,500 yen a year ... Oh, my God! How can you live like this?
It is often said that "samurai is actually the working class now." There seems nothing wrong with this statement, because they all have relatively fixed income! However, it is quite different. The samurai's only source of livelihood is salary. Since they are the most important group among "scholars, farmers, workers and businessmen", they are naturally not allowed to go and disdain to do other things to make a "gray income". Even if there is, fame and income are quite limited. Of course, there are still quite a few samurai who subsidize their families by planting some crops on their private plots (the area of "house space" sealed for them in the city is still considerable, which is equivalent to the current construction land index). Their salary is hereditary. When they die or live in seclusion, their son can inherit this income. Although there are some enviable places where "drought and flood guarantee the harvest", their wages are rarely raised. Unlike the current working class, their income in different companies is different. At the same time, through their own efforts, there are more opportunities for promotion, salary increase and job hopping. Therefore, although the salary is similar to that of the working class, the income is almost different from that of the current working class.
This is basically the income of warriors, and the income of businessmen is much better. It is said that during the Edo period, the assets of businessmen increased by about 20% every year, and the annual income of some big businessmen could reach more than 100. It has come to an end in such a turbulent era. The invariable income of the samurai class has become more and more meager in the face of Gao Teng's prices ... Perhaps this change began with economic demand!
Qi Benyu, the royal family and other warriors whose income is not high by rice money are basically paid "real salary"-rice. However, rice alone cannot support a family's life. Anyway, you need daily necessities such as rice, oil and salt. You don't have to carry a rice bag to change these daily necessities everywhere. Naturally, you have to change rice into money and buy it with money.
Thus, a special kind of businessman came into being. They are called "Zaha". This kind of businessman uses money to collect rice from samurai and then sells it to rice merchants.
"Zagreb" is a certificate for the samurai to obtain Mi Lu, and the name of the recipient is engraved on the bamboo piece with a knife. In Japanese, the word "cha" means "plug, plug", and the name "cha" is such a meaning.
In any era, people with hard currency are always welcome. Who has nothing to do when money is badly needed? At this time, the samurai can use the "Mi Lu" that they have not received as collateral to "lend" to the merchants for emergency or "advance consumption" (as mentioned above, the income of the samurai basically depends on drought and flood). From this perspective, it is not too much to call these Zaha "financiers"?
On the bank of Lany near Asakusa, there are 5/kloc-0 granaries in the shogunate era. Of course, this is where the real salary is paid. How can those "bad jobs" let go of such a convenient prime location? Shops known as "Tibetan lodging" are lined up along the street, and the transaction on the day of making rice is very lively!
Warriors exchange rice for money, of course, they have to pay a certain fee. Charge per 100 meter (35 stones) 1 gold cent (1/4 Liang). If one stone counts as one gold, it is about 7. 15, which is not much. "Zhacha" also charges a handling fee of 2 cents per 100 meters when selling rice to rice merchants. In other words, merchants can earn 3/4 of the handling fee by handling hundreds of meters of rice.
Some people may say, "Zaha" is just a collection program? Isn't it just to make the difference? This is mainly because when "checking" rice, it is basically collected at parity. This quotation is of course consistent with the price of rice merchants, otherwise it is risky for rice merchants to take ... directly to make the difference. For this kind of running business, as long as the transaction is strong, it is safe to wait for the money!
Rice prices naturally go up and down. There will be a quotation board on the market, which is equivalent to the current foreign exchange quotation, right It is called "paper value end". For example, the sign says "38 Liang for 100 meters", which means that 100 meter can sell 38 Liang, and after deducting the handling fee, you can get 37 Liang or three points. Samurai basically only keep rations and sell all the rest. Because if you sell stored grain in the future, because the quality of rice may be bad for a long time, the price will be lower.
In the late Edo period, inflation became more severe. Although the samurai owners still spent so much money on rice, their expenses increased. More and more samurai borrowed money from Sakya by mortgaging Mi Lu. Some even mortgaged Mi Lu two years later. ...
Since the other party is a businessman, of course, you have to charge interest on borrowing money. The annual interest is sometimes as high as 25%! If the interest is rolled over, it will be a considerable amount in a few years. Due to the increasing phenomenon that samurai are on the verge of bankruptcy because of borrowing money, the shogunate stipulates that only 65,438+009 people designated by the shogunate can "apply for a job" within the nine-year insurance period (65,438+0724), and form a guild-like organization to prohibit the annual interest from being higher than 65,438+05%.
However, the warrior still depends on "Zaha" after all. After the number of Zaha is limited, its status is higher. Although the shogunate has rules, there are ways to collect more money. For example, if you borrow money, you have to charge a certain amount of gift money. Or in the case of overdue repayment, overcharge the interest equivalent to one month. If you only rely on a little handling fee, "Zaha" can't be called "Haoshang", and the main profit comes from interest. Edo boy has always been a beggar, and today he pursues a happy life of getting drunk. Japanese learners will learn the Japanese proverb "The wind will blow tomorrow" very early, which comes from Edo.
In a consumer city, how can the financier-"Zaha" not get rich? Although the samurai master looks very proud with a knife, there is still an old saying-"A penny is worth a penny, and a hero is worried." In this way, the status of samurai slowly declined in the constant rice money transaction.