In fact, with the opening of the eyes in the past few years, the shogunate has expected another invasion of Lucia - "if you can't find the money, you will lose it", and the greedy nature of the Northland bear is well known, so it is inevitable to find the field.

But the result of the battle surprised the center, and it was no surprise that Hakodate was defeated, but what the hell is the white lord winning again?

Northland returned to Edo to report that two groups of people were traveling together, and the Hakodate side was the chief Hori Toshiki who came back in person, and the white lord was led by Murata Eitoshi on the land to report - this is because Hakodate is a big defeat must be held responsible, and the white lord won the battle, and the waist pole is naturally stiff.

This was not the fourth year of Ansei (1857).

At that time, the white lord and Lucia fought against each other, to be honest, except for the white lord himself, Fusang was panicked, "This war is together, I don't know how long the war disaster will last, is it that the 'peaceful and prosperous era' is over?" ”

The wood is beautiful in the forest, and the wind will destroy it.

At that time, Naohide dared not take the initiative to go back to Edo to ask for the guilt, and it was estimated that the end would be worrying.

But this year, after the head of the shogunate's Daikoi Isabu took office, the first battle of the white lord of Fuso Lusia was finalized, and the fight was good and wonderful.

Therefore, the white lord is very confident this time, and if he wins the battle again this time, he must also have no fault.

Therefore, the white lord pursued Egawa Hidetoshi quite calmly, and first sent Murata back to report and listen to the shogunate's tone.

To tell the truth, from the time the Lu warships went north, the shogunate was already ready - nothing more than a reparation for defeat, and a great cession of northern Ezo. If you are not as strong as others, can you have any other choice?

But the development of the situation is so wonderful, the box hall that has been supported with great efforts has been defeated, and the wild people who can be free-range have won another big victory, and more than 400 prisoners have been captured, how can this be reasonable?

Therefore, Murata Yongtoshi, as the head of the white lord on the land, was carefully interrogated many times.

Murata is a taciturn character, and according to the words of later generations, he can't jump a fart in three sentences.

Fortunately, the white master's report was very detailed, and after reading the report and then asking the parties, the details of the matter slowly became clear.

In short, the heads of the "Gobanfang" of the Shogunate Standing Army, the professors and instructors of the "Martial Arts Field", and the "Fan Shu Dispatch Office", as well as the metokes, finally gave the bigwigs the results of the investigation consistent with Murata Nagatoshi's earliest statement, "The reason for the great victory is that the Lucia people have ventured again!" ”

After getting the result, the bigwigs couldn't help but smile bitterly, and what they didn't say was, "This Lu people don't remember to eat or fight, why don't they have a long memory!" ”

It's funny to say that in this month, in the seventh month of the Japanese calendar, the shogunates, led by the head of the "elder" Ii Sweep, had just brought down the Tokugawa Saisho line, making it clear that the shogunate would continue to adhere to the foreign affairs strategy of "not opening up unscrupulous troops to end their lives".

On June 26, after Lucia pulled anchor overnight and went north, following the "Fuso Mi People Trade Agreement" on June 19, the shogunate urgently signed two trade agreements:

On July 10, the agreement with Lan was signed in Nagasaki by Nagasaki Oguri Tadashun and Lan envoy Kurtius;

On July 18, Uraga signed a trade agreement with England.

At that time, the center was afraid that the Western countries would be defeated by Lucia, so they made a lot of concessions. But I never expected that Lucia would be defeated again, could it be that the "tough external language" said by Qi Zhao and his family really made sense?

Jing Yi's sweeping head and the old middle school who participated in the assessment meeting couldn't help but shudder, "Hallucination, it must be an illusion." ”

You must know that since the beginning of July, Da Lao Jingyi and others have made a major adjustment to the center:

The core of Qi Zhao's lineage, Qi Zhao's "eternal residence", Qingdu's "cautious", Qingsheng's and Qingyong's "seclusion and caution";

The positions of the two old middle middle school Hatita Masamu and Matsudaira Tadagu who left their posts were filled by newcomers;

It is expected that Damu Fu will leave four new two;

The original four surveyors were commissioned

, Hondo Yasuei, Kawaji Shengmo, Ishiya Mukiyo, Nagai Naoshi also went to work, transferred to the post;

Other important positions such as annual mailing, eye payment and five square positions are being adjusted one after another.

Ironically, the Qi Zhao family that wants to fight now did not succeed in the end, and insisted on overcoming the rigidity of their own family, which not only started the war, but also won.

What is this called!

Therefore, Jing Yi, who has always been resolute and resolute, is also a little ignorant - he has always felt that in the current state of affairs, only forbearance is the best policy, and only when the strength is accumulated in the future can he be defeated. But looking at it now, did you make a mistake?

However, before he was punished, the old lord of Mito, Qi Zhao, also publicly admitted, "Compared with the savings of the Southern Barbarian States for a hundred years, Fuso's military equipment is not finished." Once the war starts, the future is slim. ”

Putting aside Qi Zhao's "recklessness", in fact, the differences between Jing Yi and others and Qi Zhao's family are not as big as outsiders imagine - the so-called fifty steps and a hundred steps, Qi Zhao is against the opening of the country through trade, but in the current situation, Qi Zhao also believes that signing an agreement cannot be escaped. It's just that to a specific extent, Qi Zhao's family has differences with his own family, and he has made some concessions.

In fact, what really made it difficult for the big old Ii and others to accept was that Qi Zhao and his family colluded with the small imperial court in Kyoto and the daimyo of the outside, which was a "big crime" that shook the foundation of the shogunate!

Therefore, after receiving the good news from the white lord, Jing Yi was still very happy, after all, the Lucia people had made up their minds to take advantage, so it was a blessing to be able to successfully counterattack when there was no way to retreat.

However, the question is how to wrap it up?

The so-called good harvest may not be able to be done, this Lucia has repeatedly provoked, and it is estimated that he will not give up easily.

Fortunately, the white lord sank all the capital ships of the Lu people's naval army, and even the envoy Ignatiev was hanged. The next wave of Lu people will have to wait for next year to arrive, so there will be at least half a year left for them to deal with.

The imminent problem is that Qi Zhao and his family can't be allowed to turn over through this matter no matter what!

In the final analysis, after all, Qi Zhao and his family take the courage to fight as the banner, and this victory over Lucia can easily arouse the enthusiasm of the government and the opposition to resist foreign aggression, and it is likely that some people will call for the revival of Qi Zhao and others, which is absolutely impossible!

There are many shortcomings of the human system, and the ruthlessness of the struggle in governance is one of the characteristics - in terms of system and procedure, once there is a fight to the death, there is no room for mercy in the governance of the human system.

Therefore, what is in front of Da Lao Jingyi and others is a problem, someone needs to carry the banner of daring to fight, and this person must also support "not to open a scheming army to die for life"!

Originally, Hakodate's commissioner, Hori Toshiki, was a good candidate, and this person had always been very wary of Lucia, and repeatedly wrote to the center to strengthen the defense of the Northland.

But the problem is that Hori Toshiki was defeated. The general of the defeated army, how can he be brave. Therefore, Hori Riki will definitely not be able to do it.

The head of Jing Yisao had also sent people to test others, but including the major leaders of the Standing Army Wufanfang, everyone was very vigilant, it was not a good thing to be this banner, and if there was a real war, they had to face it, so they all refused to refuse.

If you think about it with your toes, you can know that most of those who dare to fight support Qi Zhao's family, and now they are all treated differently. If one of his own people suddenly stands up and says that he wants to be tough on Western countries, then the fool will not believe it.

So, looking for it, Naohide Hori became the only candidate - the first battle of the white lord was won by others, and if you don't dare to fight, you shouldn't. Moreover, in all previous books, Naohide Hori stated that "if you don't have any weapons, you can't talk about war." The opening of the country through trade is inevitable. ”

However, Naohide Hori's background is too low.

Several generations of family members are the "second half" of the royal family, and they are not famous at all.

Although Naohide has now made a big body flag book, and even climbed to the high position of the "flag book sustenance" of the big name, Jing Yi, who has been famous for generations, is very disgusted with such a lucky person.

And in the end, there are two things that make up my mind:

First, it is recommended by the confidant Oguri Tadashun.

In the seventh year of Kaei (1854), Oguri was appointed commissioner of Nagasaki, and now it has been four years, so it stands to reason that he should be transferred to another post this year.

Before he became the elder, the head of the Iyi sweeping department was the leader of the Daimyo of the monitoring elders. He went deep into the shogunate, and he appreciated Oguri very much.

Moreover, his younger brother is fond of orchids and travels to Nagasaki all year round.

After Oguri Tadashun took over from Nagasaki, the two men had a good relationship.

Relying on this channel, Oguri and Ii often exchanged letters.

Because both of them were famous families, and they were both staunch shogunate supremacists, and their governance methods were also very "decisive", so the two quickly got closer.

After becoming the elder in April of this year, Ii sent someone to Nagasaki to tell Oguri, asking him to be ready to take over the post of Kanjo Commissioner.

You must know that Oguri Tadashun is only thirty-two years old this year, and the Kanjo Commission is such a high position as the third shogunate, which shows Ii's appreciation for him.

Since there is a hardcore henchman Oguri recommending, considering that he and Naohide Hori are close friends, it is natural that he can open up the net, so although Naohide Hori has a humble background, it is not a big flaw in Jing Yi's opinion.

However, Oguri Tadashun recommended Naohide to serve in Nagasaki, but the old Ii had a different idea - Rusia was defeated twice in the white lord, and according to the tradition of falling and getting up from where the white lord would inevitably have to go through a big war, so Ii wanted Naohide to return to the white lord to continue to do the commission.

In this case, the banner of daring to fight will be far away from Edo, and it is believed that it will weaken the influence on the shogunate.

As for the result of the third battle of the white lords, Jing Yi and others are not optimistic - it is good for Naohide to win, but if he loses, it can also confirm that "the wave battle will be defeated", which is acceptable anyway.

The second thing that helped the Ii family make up their minds was the recommendation letter from the late Nirayama Acting Governor and Foreign Trade Officer, Taro Egawa Saemon.

In the third year of Ansei (1856), Egawa wrote a letter requesting his resignation from Shimoda to concentrate on ordnance manufacturing at the Nirayama Iron Works.

With the permission of the shogunate, Egawa opened up a great business in Nirayama:

Following the success of ironmaking in the third year of Jiayong (1850) and the successful imitation of Napoleonic guns in the seventh year of Jiayong (1854), with the help of Western technicians provided by Xianheng & Co., the steelmaking of Jiushan was successful in the fourth year of Anzheng (1857) - after three long years of hard work, the bottom-blowing acid converter steelmaking method was finally successfully put into operation.

After that, Lei ~ mercury can finally be produced stably in small batches.

Then, in 1858, the fifth year of Ansei, a breakthrough was made in the fire cap technology, and the flowering bullet was mass-produced; At the same time, good things come in pairs, and with the steel rear rifled gun, it is also successfully imitated.

However, Jiang Chuan died suddenly on the 4th day of the seventh month of the Japanese calendar due to overwork—in fact, it was not without any signs before, Jiang Chuan was often tired, but still refused to rest according to the doctor's instructions. As a result, a few days after the successful imitation of the rifled gun, he could not sleep.

When the family was sorting through the relics, they found an unfinished letter, in which it was suggested that the shogunate should set up an armor hanger, but there was only one person to recommend, and that was Naohide Hori, a student of many white lords in Nirayama Iron Smelting, and Mr. Tanan had been suffering from the lack of Ranxue talents in his hands, and he felt the potential of the white lord, so he wrote this letter of recommendation.

On July 15, Mr. Tanan's coffin returned to Edo, and after that, the letter of recommendation went around and around until it arrived at the desks of the old middle school after the report of the war in the Northland.

Egawa Taro Saemon loved Lanxue all his life, and because of his many achievements, he was the banner of Lanxue among the shogunates, and he was a giant. Especially after he was reused, the Nirayama Iron Smelting Station under his command has been reported frequently, and it has become the hope of the shogunate. It's just that it involves secrets, and outsiders are not allowed to hear about it, but Jiang Chuan's weight in the center is really not light.

The recommendation of Oguri Tadashun and Egawa Taro Saemon finally prompted the head of the shogunate to abandon the view of the portal.

After personally summoning Naohide Hori, Ii quickly pushed the shogunate to issue an order, "Naohide Hakomoto Yoshiko will be appointed as the commissioner of Hakodate, and he will go to office immediately!" ”