On June 8, 1853 in the 6th year of Kaei (July 13, 1853 in the Western calendar), the crowds of people in Uraga Minato became more and more numerous, and the makeshift water tea houses on the roadside were also lined up, unlike Edo, these water tea houses were not fenced with reeds, and the charming tea sellers were not concerned, and the tea customers were pulling their necks to look at the sea in the distance, and the whispers were not about the wind and snow, but about the black boats and the southern barbarians.

Yoshida Kikata had no intention of drinking tea, and while looking at the sea from time to time, he waited for Mr. Sakuma to make a decision.

On the afternoon of the third day of the moon (July 8 in the Western calendar), four strange ships suddenly came outside the port of Uraga, not to mention the tall and majestic, two of them actually emitted billowing black smoke, and under the background of the black hull, it was like a hell in the Buddhist scriptures suddenly descended to the world.

Seeing such a scene, Uraga was naturally in chaos, which had not appeared in the Nanban ship for many years, but I didn't expect to encounter this disaster today.

However, they couldn't just watch, and Uraga Commander Toda Sakae and his deputy, Hiromichi Ido, were sending small boats to warn and inquire about Edo Castle while they were sent out on fast horses to warn and inquire about them—compared to Western-style ships that were more than 109 meters long, the ships of the Uraga Navy could only be called small boats.

In the end, this drudgery of dealing with barbarians fell on the head of Saburosuke Nakajima, the reason, one is that Nakajima is proficient in orchid studies, and he was ordered to supervise the imitation of flying clippers, and the shogunate's recent preparations for the construction of large ships are also in charge of Nakajima's practice, and he knows the most about Western countries, and he doesn't go to anyone; The second is that Nakajima fought against the Nanban, and in July of the eighth year of Tenpo (1837), the rice ship Morrison came to Kou, and Nakajima commanded Odaiba to fire, which can be regarded as a big scene.

Nakajima was named by Shangguan, so he had to go angrily, he was a little uneasy in his heart, sixteen years ago when the Morrison knocked on the port, he was only seventeen years old, so he was born a calf is not afraid of tigers, at that time I didn't understand anything, these ten years of hard reading Lanshu, I can understand the depth of this - after the battle of Guangzhou in England, China, who heard it is not afraid, I did not see the shogunate the next year to revoke the "Foreign Ship Expulsion Order" and replace it with the "Fuel and Fresh Water Supply Order", now it is different from the past, this time I am afraid it will be difficult to be good.

The Western-style ship appeared in the evening, and the Uraga Office went through some strategizing, and when Nakajima boarded the rice ship, it was dark - this also has the "credit" of the interpretation, and I don't know if it was the wind at sea or what, the two sides could not communicate smoothly, and the Western-style ship appeared in the afternoon and had been identified by the flag as a rice ship, but he and the two interpreters Tatsunosuke and Tachiwa Tokujuro shouted in English for a long time and no one talked.

Saburo Nakajima was depressed, and Admiral Perry, the commander of the East Tianzhu fleet of the Mi Army on the Saskana, was also depressed.

First of all, this is an expeditionary force, and approaching the enemy ships at night obviously means hostility, and I have ordered all the people to be on alert, and if there is anything wrong, they will immediately open fire.

Secondly, some people shouted, this is to make hair, it is not easy to reach the destination of the long voyage, I am tired and half dead from top to bottom, what is there to say tomorrow?

Eventually, he felt that he had encountered what is often referred to as the fog of the battlefield, and that there were some problems with his previous judgment and preparation.

At first, Perry was considered by the U.S. Navy to be Fusotong, a plan he proposed in 1851 for an expedition to Fuso: with more than three large steam ships, large-caliber artillery and explosive shells were necessary, and if necessary, to intimidate the Fuso or simply destroy them; At the same time, stick and carrot together, and be friendly in attitude; In view of Fuso's delaying strategy, it was necessary to avoid Nagasaki and go straight to Edo, the heart of Fuso.

Because the previous General Orek was unable to open the situation of Fuso, in March 1852, Perry replaced Orek as the admiral of the Eastern Tianzhu fleet, and the Grand Commander Millard Fillmore granted him a handwritten letter of state, and gave Perry three tasks: to go to Fuso, for the needs of navigation and commerce in the United States, he needed to provide a port of refuge, a supply port and a treaty port.

Considering the difficulty of this task, before Perry's visit to the Western countries, he had repeatedly negotiated with Fusang for the opening of the country and the opening of the port, including 7 times in Lucia, 11 times in England, 2 times in France, and 11 times in the United States itself. However, if Fuso's attitude is stubborn and refuses to conclude a commercial treaty, it will be backed by force, indicating that it will be tough and will not lose the prestige of the country. ”

Not falling into the country's prestige means "you can go to war", which is very in line with Perry's mind - he was born in a family of sailors, his father was a privateer captain, and later surrendered to the navy, and his brother is also a famous tough guy admiral, and he himself is known for his unruliness, so his previous plan proposed to "intimidate the Fuso people or simply destroy them if necessary", and the bosses and administrative officials obviously supported him.

In 1853, after the new commander Franklin Pierce took office, the wind changed, and the boss sent a ship to Xiangjiang to convey new instructions, "The task of our navy is to protect trade, and as for whether war is declared or not, it is the power of the parliament".

It means "nothing, just the East Tianzhu fleet, you look at it".

Perry was not angry, he had expected no reinforcements, he was known as the "father of the steamship of the United States navy", and he used to ask for a lot of money to pay on the spot - in 1837, Perry built the first steamship of the American navy, the "Fulton", and was promoted to colonel in the same year, and in 1841 he became the head of the base of the same navy.

Therefore, he is clear about the current situation of the US naval army, and Perry once laughed at himself and said, "The US naval army is declining day by day, and when various countries are developing new warships, we can't even take out ten large steam ships."

The adventurer's blood is circulating in Perry's body, so although there are no reinforcements and orders do not allow him to go to war, he still plans to complete the task of opening the country and opening the port of Fuso, hoping to stimulate the merchants who have made a fortune on the Pacific route to support the large-scale expansion of the navy, and he can also become a hero of the United States because of the glory of opening the door to the "oldest country"! The so-called "oldest country" comes from Siebald, the Languo doctor who wrote the magnificent masterpiece "Fuso" after returning to the continent of Europa, because he was influenced by the Mito doctrine "History of the Great Fuso", the author called Fuso "the oldest country" in the book - Mito and his group of scholars desperately put gold on themselves, wrote the content of folklore in the book, and forged the history of the Fuso royal family since the beginning of the world, can this not be the "oldest country"?

It doesn't matter whether the Mito people believe it or not, anyway, Siebold was fooled and lame, even if it was a tenth, the length of Fuso's history was enough to beat all the other countries - of course, it could also be that Siebold learned that the old tricks of the Mito scholars fooled the Europa people at that time, which is also not good.

Daddy, Perry remembered Siebold when he saw someone yelling on the Fuso ship, and the map he bought from him for $20,000 was useless at all - it can't be said to be completely useless, but it was full of loopholes, let's take the Uraga waterway in front of him, if it wasn't for the wrong map, his fleet would have been here in the evening.

And "under the fame, it is actually difficult to deserve" is not only Siebold alone, there is another on the ship!

Admiral Perry complained about the ship's interpreter, Wei Sanwei, who was a real Mi man, whose original name was Williams, 41, who was known as a well-known Chinese translator and claimed to be proficient in Fusang. Just now, Williams came forward and shouted to the Fusang people on the boat for a long time, but the people on the other side didn't understand his Fusang language! What a Fack!

Fortunately, the Fuso people were still reliable, and when they saw that their English was not working, they began to communicate in Lan.

Admiral Perry made a lot of preparations before his mission, and there was Portman, the interpreter in Lan, on board.

Fuso and Miren had a good conversation in the language of a third country, and after a while, Saburosuke Nakajima was finally allowed to board the rice boat.

But there are consequences for doing too many bad things.

In 1846, the Admiral of the East Tianzhu Navy of the United States, James? Bettel went to Uraga to ask for a relationship with Fuso, when the shogunate played a trick and deliberately let a samurai find an opportunity to humiliate Admiral Bettel once, Bettel felt that business was important and did not get angry on the spot, and as a result, the shogunate took advantage of this to find the bottom line, the shogunate refused Bettel's request, and the 63-year-old Admiral Bettel hung up two years later, it is said that he was angry at the humiliation in Fuso, and was angry to death.

With this lesson and the great shame in the history of the navy, Admiral Perry had a very bad impression of Fuso, and in order to prevent him from being tricked again, he added a hundred times more caution this time.

Before Saburosuke Nakajima got on the boat, Mi Ren said that he would only talk to the high officials of the shogunate, so you should go back and forth. Nakajima had an idea and said that he was the vice governor of Uraga, so he boarded the rice boat.

But Admiral Perry didn't come forward after Nakajima got on the ship, but just asked his subordinates to come forward and tell him, "We are the envoys of the United States, and we brought the letter of the Grand Commander, and quickly let the senior officials of the shogunate come forward to receive it, and the deadline is three days, and it will be invalid when it expires. ”

Nakajima quickly explained that he didn't dare to say that the rice people had made a mistake, so he had to say, "I'm afraid there is a misunderstanding here," and "According to Fuso custom, you have to go to Nagasaki, which is the official place to accept the credentials of various countries." ”

Since the Sino-British War in the South China Sea, the shogunate has always adopted an attitude of "not taking the initiative, not refusing, and not being responsible" towards foreign envoys, especially those who ran to Edo Bay, first coaxed to Nagasaki, and then exchanged letters for several months.

When Admiral Perry submitted his plan in 1851, he pointed out that Fuso had always adopted the tactics of scumbags, no, delay, so it could not be discussed in Nagasaki, but must be held in Edo Bay, and only the soldiers who pressed Fuso were willing to sit down and talk seriously. Therefore, Nakajima's old trick was not for sale, and the rice people once again emphasized the "three-day" deadline, and then they had to drive Nakajima and the interpreter off the ship.

Nakajima pleaded bitterly, saying that the news would not be delivered to Edo Castle for three days, and it would be expensive

How can people get from Edo to Uraga yet! The Mi people didn't listen, they only said that they would consider one or two things "as appropriate", and then drove the Fusang people and others off the ship.

In desperation, Nakajima had no choice but to go back and report to the Uraga commissioner, Lord Toda Sakae, and his deputy, Lord Ido Hiromichi, but the two adults did not dare to take the initiative, so they had to continue to send people to ask Edo for instructions.

In fact, the shogunate held the Great Storytelling Review Meeting last year, and it was already instructed to do so, and it stands to reason that the two adults did it.

But the trick is that the assessment meeting was held too early - it is now the beginning of June of the sixth year of Jiayong, and the assessment meeting is held in late June of the fifth year of Jiayong, which is almost a year apart, and the natural situation has changed.

In order to deal with this crisis unseen in a century, the shogunate suddenly appointed eight new coastal defense hangers, plus the original Egawa Taro Saemon, okay, playing two tables of mahjong is also rich and a substitute.

There are many people and great strength, and the nine coastal defenses have nothing to think about and ponder, and they have come up with thirteen major plans and forty-two responses to the envoys of the United States, and all aspects have been considered in great detail, and the shogunate felt that this was stable, and ordered Toda Sakae and Ido Hiromichi to act according to the plan.

Toda and Ido didn't think there was anything at first, anyway, when the sky fell, there were big men on top of it, and there were often people hanging around in Uraga in the nine coastal defenses - one was waiting for the rice boat to come, the second was to train the people, and the third was to supervise the construction of Odaiba on both sides of the Uraga waterway.

But not to mention that people are unlucky to drink cold water and stuff their teeth, the amount of work in Uraga Odaiba that has changed has increased greatly, and as a result, it has not been built until now, and at the beginning of the month is the shogunate's grand court meeting, and several coastal defenses that were originally hanging around in Uraga also went to Edo for a meeting - if you don't go, one is not suitable, and the other is easy to be detained by others to hold the basin of Odaiba delayed.

This rice boat will also be in a hurry, but pick June 3 to come, the big guys are not there, Toda and Ido looked at the thirteen big plans and forty-two responses to each other, at that time it seemed quite clear, how the rice boat is strong, how the rice people can be bullied, now the paper is rotten, these two have not found what to do - not to give first-line authority, just to give a lot of detailed instructions is command.

There are many chickens that do not lay eggs, and there are many people who make trouble. The number nine is similar to "bitter" in the language of Fuso, and the plan made by the "bitter" coastal defense hang made Uraga Governor Toda and his deputy Ido complain, so he had to send someone to ask for instructions, and he didn't dare to specialize without instructing these two - there are so many coastal defense hangers who support the fight when they meet, and there are also those who ask the old man to be serious, anyway, what Toda and Ido do is wrong, come on, you make a decision on this matter first, and our brothers will resolutely obey.

Nakajima deceived the rice people and said that it would take three days to get from Uraga to Edo, but in fact, this is the time it takes for normal people to walk - it's not a hurry, in fact, the urgent paperwork arrived in the hands of the old middle school in Edo Castle early in the morning on June 5th (July 10th in the Western calendar), and the old middle school hurriedly called a meeting, and the wolf really came, and everyone said what to do?

When the matter came to an end, the paper tiger showed its original form, and the previous thousand clever plans were now all utopian, and now they want to come up with a proposition, and everyone is dumbfounded - this time it is not air-to-air, whose opinion will be implemented after it is adopted, and then there will be any undesirable consequences but it will be calculated, so the collective silence.

The old middle school members were angry when they saw it, so they asked to speak by name. But here are all the old rivers and lakes with thousands of mountains and rivers, and if you talk a little rambling, it's not a matter of grabbing, anyway, after talking for a long time, you taste, you carefully taste, there is nothing practical.

But not everyone is like this, at least these nine coastal defenses are still powerful, but the internal opinions of these few are not unanimous, and the old middle school can't decide whether to fight or not to fight after listening to it for a long time, and finally the chief old middle Abe attendant clapped the board, "Make all the preparations, be sure to fight and play majestic, of course, it is also good to surrender the soldiers without a fight, after all, the shogunate is merciful, isn't it, benevolence and leniency." ”

After the meeting, it was decided that none of the nine coastal defenses would go to the Puga scene, and you all scolded Fang Xuan on weekdays, as if those who did not listen to you were all great losses.

Moreover, the old middle school found some "everyone" to go to Uraga to investigate the truth and reality, and Sakuma Zoyama was also among the celebrities who proposed the "Eight Strategies for Coastal Defense", so he and his student Yoshida appeared here.

Mr. Yoshida arrived on the evening of June 7, but today he watched the clairvoyance on the shore for a long time, and Sakuma did not say a word, and did not hurry back to Edo, but chose one of the water tea houses that had sprung up like mushrooms after a rain and brought the students to drink tea.

Yoshida didn't understand this very much, but presumably the teacher must have a deep meaning, so let's wait. After a long time, Sakuma sang two wild songs, "Taiping の眠りを覚ます上喜撰、たった四杯で夜も眠れず".

"Shang Xi Shu (a kind of tea in Fusang, the same sound as 'steamboat') awakens the dream of peace, and after drinking four cups, it will be difficult to sleep." Yoshida listened to Gu Can't admire Mr. 's talent, he was clever and shivered, and for a while, a thousand thoughts came to his heart, and he was actually stupid.