I read Shogun, Tai-Pan, and King Rat. All good. (Tai-Pan prob the least exciting) The merchant scene stuck with me as well. King rat is basically an extension of the merchant mindset. Just he's a POW running contraban and favors instead of rice and silk. At least he has a better motivation / redemption arc.

Tai-Pan has it on a macro scale. I can't remember the fictional admiral's name.. or was it an admiral? It was something like Commodore Perry. Every time China or Japan would close off a market or harbor to the west and confiscate/arrest/slaughter he'd roll a couple of gunships up a river shelling the elites, and business would be reopened. Which is essentially what the US foreign policy still is to this day. Only.. it's benefitting a very small group of oligarchs, versus the greater population.