In mid-August of the 6th year of Kahoega Wari (late September 1853 in the Western calendar), Mimefu Oguri Tadada obediently returned to Edo, and after handing over the "envoy" errand, he was summoned by Omefu Hoririken.

As soon as they met, Hori Riken forced Oguri to question, and Oguri was diligent in the affairs of the scene, and when he returned to Edo, he only went home to change his clothes and hurriedly came to hand over his official duties, so he didn't know about the major events that had happened recently, only that he knew that Gong Fang had died, but all of Edo knew about it, so Ometsu definitely didn't ask this, and he mistakenly thought that he had made a mistake in the northern land, and he was scared out of a cold sweat at that time - no way, Naohide did too many "bad things" in northern Ezo, and he was killed by the real hammer.

But in fact, this is just a misunderstanding.

"What an eventful season, but the hateful Lusia came to Nagasaki at this time." Seeing Oguri Tadashun's reaction, Ome Fubori Riken thought that he also knew about it - after the visit of the black ships, the high-ranking shogunates were very sensitive to the matter of the Western countries' envoys to Fuso, and the shogunate also relaxed its previous restrictions on this, so it is not surprising that Oguri, as Mimefuke, knew.

Xiao Li heard that it had nothing to do with Naoxiu, and just wanted to breathe a sigh of relief, but immediately reacted, this is not a good thing, the front door rejects the tiger and the back door enters the wolf, and the rice man black boat comes to toss everyone to death, this Lucia ship is coming again, and you have to peel off another layer of skin?

So, Oguri vaguely said that he knew a little, but he didn't know the inside story.

Hearing him say this, Ome Furi Riken babbled to explain the reason.

The Mito Kurofune departed on the 12th day of the sixth month of the Japanese calendar, after which the shogunate sent someone to inform the Nagasaki commissioner Mizuno Tadashi and asked him to raise his guard. But what was afraid of what would come, on the 18th day of the seventh month of the Heli calendar, Lucia's envoy Pu Jiating led four sail warships to suddenly appear in Nagasaki.

After a brief negotiation, the Nagasaki commissioner on duty, Mizuno Tadashi, did not dare to slack off, and hurriedly sent a letter to Edo, while the Lu envoy stayed in Nagasaki and waited for a reply.

Having envoys from various countries negotiate in Nagasaki was a common practice of the shogunate.

After the Battle of the South China Sea in England, the shogunate canceled the "Decree on the Dispatch of Foreign Ships" and replaced it with the "Fuel and Fresh Water Supply Order", and anyway, all the envoys from the Western countries were sent to Nagasaki, and then told others that it would take three months to go back and forth from Nagasaki to Edo, and that you could wait if you could, and you could come back next time if you couldn't.

Don't say it, although this trick is a little obscene, it works, and it fools away several waves of messengers.

It is estimated that this time it will not be delayed, and Nagasaki Governor Mizuno Tadashi specially reminded the adults in Edo, "The Lu envoy is very strong-willed, and he will carry four warships with him on this trip."

Why did Mizuno mention "four warships"?

Here's an old meme:

After the chief old Abe attendant took power, in order to deal with external threats, he repeatedly proposed to build coastal defense, because the investment was relatively large, and the shoguns and princes did not want to do it. ”

Because of the large number of people, Abe had to pinch his nose and agree, but the final result of this investigation was very bad - according to the detailed summary and analysis, there were no more than two foreign ships coming at the same time, so there was no need to make a big fanfare, everyone just needed to build a few more odaiba and pay attention to precautions. Although I didn't say it explicitly, the implication was that Abe-sama was making a big fuss.

Of course, Abe can ask people rhetorically, "What if there are more big ships in the future?" But this is not the style of Abe-sama, who is known for his eight-sided exquisiteness - he refused to have a hard top with everyone, so he had to send a notice, and the matter was fooled - in fact, there were really a few daimyo letters, these were the Mito Domain, the Saga Domain, the Chikuzen Domain, and the Tosa Yamauchi Family.

But the first of the old ministers who can be the shogunate is not good at stubble, Abe's strong attack did not succeed, so he adopted the strategy of drawing salary from the bottom of the kettle, the old lord of Mito, Tokugawa Qizhao, has not always declared that "the destruction is the priority of the shogunate, and it is necessary to organize the armament to prepare for the unexpected", so Abe is ready to push Qi Zhao to the front to charge for himself, but he didn't expect that the plan did not change quickly, Qi Zhao only became a year of Shanghai defense, and this rice man invaded in a big way - get up early in the morning to catch a late set, where to reason!

Nagasaki Governor Mizuno Tadashi specifically mentioned the "four warships", whether intentionally or unintentionally, and it did cause a commotion in Edo - because the black ships that had just left were also four!

But after all, the Rusians went to Nagasaki to ask for negotiations according to the rules of the shogunate, and according to the feedback, this attitude was still very gentle, and there was no threat like the rice people, so the shogunate was still relatively calm - the Mi Admiral Perry said that "the steamer will come to Fuso for eighteen days and nights", do you listen to this human language!

Moreover, several coastal defense hangers also said that there was nothing to fear about this Lusian, because first, all the people who came were sailboats, and second, they had to rely on - the new Odaiba in Nagasaki was also repaired.

The shogunate made up some Western information after the visit of the black ships, and also understood that the steam ship was sharper than the sailing ship, and that the pure sailing ship attack was unfavorable - that is, if the wind direction and wind strength were not in time, it would be very inconvenient for the sailing ship to attack Edo and Nagasaki, which had their own harbors, while the steamship did not have this shortcoming.

As for the construction of Nagasaki Odaiba, it can be regarded as a reward for hard work, just in time, and this is one of the few good news for the shogunate this year.

Nagasaki, as the only foreign trade place in Fuso, Tsushima Island is not large, and Naha is still nominally the territory of the Naha Kingdom, so it is naturally the focus of defense.

In the past, the chief Abe of the old middle asked everyone to reorganize their armaments, and several princes paid more attention to it, including the Nagasaki Goban Saga Domain and the Fukuoka Domain - these two families did not pay attention to it, and as the Imperial Fan, the shogunate handed over the defense task of Nagasaki to these two families, and they were responsible for accidents.

And it was not without accidents before, in the fifth year of culture (1808), the English battleship Phaeton captured Nagasaki, and Nagasaki at that time pursued Matsudaira Yasuei to apologize, and the Saga Nabeshima family also made a fuss.

If such a thing happens again, it is a sure thing that the Nabeshima family will reduce the seal or even eliminate the feudal domain. And the Fukuoka Kuroda family didn't dare to be careless, "The two families take turns guarding Nagasaki, who dares to guarantee that the unlucky one has always been Saga?" ”

From the 4th year of Koika (1847) to the 3rd year of Kahoega (1850), the two families pleaded with the shogunate many times, and finally obtained permission to start renovating the fort and replacing the large barrels.

In addition, the Saga clan also received a license from the shogunate to build two forts on Iwang Island and Kamijima Island in addition to the existing Odaiba.

Of course, the princes repaired the fortifications for the imperial lord Nagasaki, and the shogunate could not fail to give benefits, the main benefit was to lend money to the two families, and Saga also obtained the right to manage the 25,000-stone imperial lord Amakusa Prefecture.

As a result, the whole project was completed in May of this year (and the calendar), and it was replaced with a new type of large cylinder, which provided the shogunate with the confidence to deal with the Lucians - the "new style" mentioned here is compared with the previous one.

And most of the large cylinders are produced in Fuso, if you don't know the inside story, it is still a very exciting thing to come in advance - under the remote guidance of Naohide, Saga built an ironworks in 1851 a year ahead of schedule, and the cannon casting process has also been improved compared with the past, and the pozzolana cement and masonry have also made the two forts on Iwang Island and Kamijima Island completed one year ahead of schedule.

Oguri Tadashun watched Hori Riken talk with relish, but the more he listened, the more confused he became, what does this have to do with me, you have a lot of things to do as a big eye, why do you have time to pull these with me?

It just so happened that Hori Riken basically finished telling the ins and outs, and finally returned to the topic:

"Mr. Shangjie, tell me, is it reliable to join forces with the Lusians to resist the Mi people?"

It turned out that the white lord of the northern land and Matsumae fought against the first line of defense of the Rusians going south, and Omefu Hoririken felt that Oguri had just returned from there and should know the Rusians better, plus Oguri had done Nagasaki Metsuke and was a famous Nanban pass in the shogunate, so he wanted to find Oguri to analyze the feasibility of this plan.

"Who is saying this? You can immediately behead this person to thank the world! ”

Oguri became angry when he heard this, saying that this method was too outrageous, so hurry up and kill this sinner.

Then he analyzed the pros and cons for Horikan.

First of all, this is a bad idea, not to mention whether the Lucia people can agree to join hands with the shogunate to fight against the Mi people, and not to talk about whether the two families have fought together, this is easy to ask the gods to send the gods, this has not been taken into account?

Besides, this Lucian can do things for nothing, isn't it to open the country and open the port? Isn't this the front door to reject the tiger and the back door to enter the wolf? Even if you see a rabbit and a dog and go to the doctor in a hurry, you can't think of a one.

Hori Riken laughed and explained, "I think it's a bizarre idea (the point is that "someone" is not me), but people say that the rice people are coercive, and it is my shogunate's initiative to unite with Rusya, so the meaning is very different. ”

Oguri almost died of anger, what's the use of this active and passive coming? It's just a good reputation, but it's actually not a smash of the ancestral family law, of course, it should be beaten, but it's not such a way to play.

But when he thought about it, when it comes to this righteousness or reputation, there are really many people in the shogunate who really care about this, and it is estimated that this is also the reason why Damu Fu is tempted - if he is not tempted, he can ask if it is feasible.

So, Oguri became vigilant, he knew that it was difficult to distinguish right from wrong when reasoning, and people Hori Riken didn't listen to him to reason, people asked yes

Whether it is feasible or not, that is, whether the two partnerships can win.

So Oguri calmly began to analyze Hori Riken, "This Lu people, in fact, there are three musts":

First of all, the Lu people don't have any strength, at least in the vicinity of Fusang.

Before, Naohide was afraid that the Edo group of people would betray their teammates - in case of panic or some unexpected reason, the shogunate directly assigned the northern Ezo land to Lusya, then wouldn't his own gang do it in the white lord, so he asked Xianheng to explain clearly the form of the kingdoms and the strength of the Lucia people in the wind theory.

"The fleet of the Okhotsk district northeast of the Lu people only has four transports, two small boats, and five small sailing boats, do you know?"

Hori Riken nodded, and took out a few books from under a few cases, which were the wind stories submitted by Xianheng and foreign companies over the years.

Xiao Li saw that people came prepared, very good, save yourself more words, he opened the wind talk book about ordnance, pointed out that the Lu people navy only sailing ships and no steam ships, only solid bullets without flowering bombs, and the big cylinder is also outdated, compared with the rice people and navy in the book, this strength gap is big.

"You're right, and the business is quite familiar, but doesn't the Nagasaki envoy still have four ships? Said to be from Europa. Regardless of the combat power, my shogunate does not have a single big warship. Hori said that I don't eat dry rice either.

"Your Excellency is wise." Although the direction of attention is wrong, Oguri is still relatively pleased that the top shoguns are now paying attention to Western information.

"With the same number, the Lu people will definitely not be able to beat the Mi people, right?"

Hori Riken nodded, this can be seen from the attitude, Admiral Perry is so arrogant, not to mention breaking into Edo Bay, but also firing artillery threats, this Lu envoy Pu Jiating is said to be soft-spoken, it must be because of the lack of strength.

Oguri Tadashun beckoned someone to bring a globe - this thing Xianheng Foreign Company almost didn't need to give away money for free, so it was not difficult to find a shogunate as long as he was interested in someone.

He pointed to the globe and explained to Damu Fu that the Lu people want to reinforce Fusang, first from Europa to the Cape of Good Hope and then all the way east to Fusang, but this rice people want to come to Fusang, and they can go directly along the Pacific route.

Although there is a globe, but the big eyes Fu Hori Riken really haven't studied it carefully - this Fuso is such a small lump on the ball, usually everyone brags about what Fuso has a vast territory, this comparison is so disturbing, so many ministers don't look at the globe, and there are even suggestions to destroy all the globes, fortunately, the old middle school is still more rational, and they don't agree.

Hori Riken compared the two routes and made sure that Oguri didn't say much, but he had a question:

"Why doesn't this Mi man sail directly to Fusang, he has to go around in a circle to Xiangjiang?"

In this regard, this big eye Fu is actually very dissatisfied, "Do you have to go around in a circle and look down on Fusang?" ”

Oguri expressed his calmness about this, the shogunate closed the country, and this ocean voyage was completely abolished, so most of the shogunate had no concept of monsoons and ocean currents, and it was not surprising that Hori Riken asked so.

After the explanation, Hori Riken expressed regret, "The Fuso kamikaze that originally came from ancient legends is like this, and the Mongols are really stupid!" ”

"Moreover, this Lu and Mi people have a close relationship, and if they don't invade together, God will bless them." The building was crooked to the point that he didn't know where to go, and Oguri hurriedly pulled it back, explaining the experience of the Mi people establishing a kingdom, saying that the Mi and Lu people are now faintly joining forces to resist the English, so there is basically no possibility for them to fight each other - don't just think about good things.

In addition, Oguri also found predictions and analyses of the Crimean War from the Kazetaku, and he told Horiken that the Lucians would soon be fighting against England and France in Europa, and that they had their own family troubles to solve, and they had no energy to help the shogunate.

After hearing this, Hori Riken was both a pity and a pity, but it was a pity that Lianlu Kangmi was completely ruined, and fortunately if this was the case, it would not be difficult for the Lucia envoy to send it away, but he was obsessed with one thing in his heart, almost to the point that he couldn't sleep without asking, so he asked Oguri directly:

"Xianheng foreign travel can not be described as disrespectful, anxious about what I am anxious about, think about what I think, and the means are clever, everything is true, you are a rice person, what are you trying to do?"

The trade between the Hamheng and the shogunate was single-handedly run by Oguri Tadashun during his tenure in Nagasaki - Hamhen has always said that I don't believe anyone except Oguri, and now the Hamhen Shogunate is becoming more and more important to the shogunate, but why is this rice merchant so good to the shogunate? You have to give a reason.

Big-eyed Fu Hori Riken suddenly asked, and suddenly stopped Oguri, could it be that it is true that Xianheng has a lot to do with Naoxiu, but isn't this traffic overseas a dead end?