In April of the third year of Anzheng (1856), the White Lord took the initiative to request that the stone high assessment be increased, and the original 5,000 stone should be raised to 30,000 stone.

After the sōgaku was enshrined by the envoy and presented by Egawa Hidetoshi, it attracted the attention of the Edo shogunate.

The reason is very simple, the increase in Shi Gao's assessment shows that "the white lord has not only established a foothold in the Northland, but also developed and grown." "This is an unprecedented achievement.

You must know that from the "Tanuma period" (6 years), the shogunate had a strong intention to develop Ezo. But in the end, they all gave up because the plan was too big, too much investment, and too difficult to execute.

Far from it, let's just say that the recent Ezo land development has been completed.

At that time, it was the period from the fourth year of culture (1807) to the fourth year of Bunsei (1821), and the shogunate made a lot of fanfare, but the ending was no different from before, and it was still anticlimactic and disgraced:

In the third year of Culture, the Fuso and Lucia began to fight in the north, and the two sides did not shake hands until the tenth year of Culture (1813).

For the next eight years, the shogunate worked hard in Ezo again, but eventually had to give up again because of the huge investment and little effect.

According to the calculations of the survey office, in the past eight years, the shogunate invested one million taels of gold, but it still did not absorb many immigrants, resulting in Ezo still being mainly fishing and hunting, and it was unable to make ends meet for a long time, and there was no hope of recovering the capital. - Who can stand this!

Coupled with the bitter cold of the northern land, the samurai from the prosperous Edo were reluctant to stay permanently, and they all wrote letters asking for a transfer due to the anger of the masses.

So the shogunate complied with the will and abandoned this development, and also put an end to the bottomless investment.

Now the white lord is applying to increase the stone high assessment, Yin Jian is not far away, and a comparison between the two, it is obvious that the white lord has a special expertise in development.

So how did the White Lord do it?

This has attracted the attention of quite a few shoguns - if you don't pay attention, you can't do it, the development of Ezo has started again, and you can't fail again, right? If you fail again, you will really become a laughing stock in Fuso. And now it is not as good as it was at the beginning, when the Western countries are eyeing each other, and if they fall again, they may not have a chance to get up.

But if you don't develop it, you can't do it, this time it's forced by the form, you have to do it if you don't want to, you must succeed, and the consequences of failure are too serious:

The trigger for the great development of Hokkaichi was the visit of black ships, which led to the opening of the port of Hokkodate, which became a port of refuge and supply for rice ships.

Previously, the shogunate was afraid that someone would use this to collude with outsiders, so it had always controlled the channels through which Fuso was involved in foreign affairs.

Therefore, this time Hakodate opened the port, and the shogunate had to classify this place as a direct jurisdiction of the "Imperial Domain".

And after it is divided into the imperial domain, it must be developed - once the Westerners see the local tatters, it is easy to cause contempt, and contempt is easy to arouse the greed of the other party.

Another factor that had to be taken into account was the threat of the northern Lucians.

Although Pu Jiating, the special envoy of Rucia who appeared in the sixth year of Kaei (1853), has not appeared since the first month of the seventh year of Kaei, Rucia in the north is still a lingering shadow in the heart of the shogunate.

For the sake of today's plan, only by vigorously building the northern land, turning it into a solid first line, and firmly resisting the erosion of the Lu people, so that Fusang can hide behind and take a breath.

Therefore, after the shogunate established Hakodate in the 7th year of Kaei, in April of the 2nd year of Ansei (1855), "Date Keibang, Satake Yoshimu, and Tsugaru Shunsei sent troops to kill Ezo and Hakodate."

In this way, Ezo had the shogunate's Hakodate office, the original land head snake Matsumae family, and a total of five factions: Date, Satake, and Tsugaru.

However, the shogunate did not dare to take it lightly.

Because after all, this is a new porcelain bottle of old sake, and the result of doing it last time was hit

Retired from the Lucians, but now it's different, the power of the Western countries has increased greatly, and even the black ships have sailed to Edo Bay, can this old recipe work?

But the white lord took the initiative to ask for an increase in the Shi Gao assessment this time, but it made the big guys' eyes shine - the white lord can develop and grow in North Ezo, can the box pavilion take medicine according to the prescription? Even if you can't grow and grow, it's good to take root.

If Ezo can invest less, then the shogunate will be much more generous, and then buy more Western ordnance or invest more in the orchid industry, maybe the whole game of Fuso will be alive.

Therefore, the shogunate attached great importance to how the white lord developed, and was ready to use it on the Ezo land after learning from the experience, which led to the inquiry of the Kasenjo Kawaji Shengmo to the white lord's envoy Hidetoshi Banegawa.

In this regard, Nao-so, Yingmin and others have been prepared for a long time, so the answer is not leaky:

People, of course, are "naturalized many wild people, have been vigorously immigrating, and in the past two years, they have taken a tailwind boat for Hakodate immigration";

As for, "How can 4,000 people produce 30,000 stones?" ”

In this regard, Yingmin said that people's livelihood is fundamentally based on "food, clothing, shelter and transportation" and means of livelihood, so coal, potatoes, pig iron, alfalfa, cattle and horses, salt, seals and boats, these eight things are indispensable:

"Live", there are many forests in the north, and it is easy to build wooden houses, but the winter is long, there are as many as half a year, so the cold is the top priority, and this charcoal is indispensable;

"Food" can only rely on high-yielding crops, that is, potatoes - of course, wheat, barley, corn (sorghum), maize (corn) are also grown, but at present it is still mainly based on high-yielding potatoes.

However, it was difficult to cultivate, so iron farming tools and cattle and horses were indispensable.

Chuan Lu has objections to this, "Where did the white lord get the iron farm tools and cattle and horses?" Yingmin said that in the first few years, he still relied on buying grain, and it was not until the past two years that a lot of wasteland was reclaimed.

"Where did the white lord money come from?"

In the face of Chuanlu Shengmo's questioning, the white lord and Jiang Chuan Yingmin were very helpless, "Don't you know it if you listen to me patiently?!" ”

But the official level crushed people to death, and he couldn't scold his boss so directly, so Yingmin had to patiently explain:

"There are many places in the North Ezo that are inaccessible, and fur is very easy to obtain. The white lord is rich in seals, and this Edo people are well known. ”

In fact, Kawaro knows this.

But he was a rare outlier among the important ministers, and Chuan Lu, who had extraordinary ability, always felt that there was something wrong with the white lord's accounts, so he deliberately asked.

But since Youngmin said so, he couldn't refute it, so the matter could only be revealed temporarily.

Next, Young-min introduced the cold-tolerant pasture "alfalfa" of the white lord and the frozen method of salt, which was introduced to Fuso by the Languo Commercial Hall, so Kawaji did not care about it. But he didn't know that this alfalfa was not alfalfa, the alfalfa introduced by the Lan people was not cold-tolerant, and the cold-tolerant alfalfa was specially instructed by Zhixiu to be introduced by Xianheng Foreign Company.

For Kawaji, it was the first time he had heard of the frozen salt method, so he was surprised that this method could be popularized in Ezo.

Then, Yingmin introduced the two aspects of the white master's "clothes" and "lines":

The white lord does not produce kapok (Fusang's name for cotton), which can only be purchased from outside, but there is no shortage of winter clothes, and most of them are fur - in this regard, the deep Sichuan Road of the city government almost lost its temper on the spot.

You know, not to mention the townspeople, even the ordinary samurai of Edo may not be able to wear fur.

Knowing that the white lord was so rich, Chuan Lu secretly decided, "In the future, you must scrape the oil, and scrape it hard!" Otherwise, it will be difficult to feel at ease. ”

"Food, clothing, shelter and transportation" and means of making a living, the last one is "walking".

In this regard, Yingmin said that the white lord encouraged agricultural business, so there were wealthy businessmen who built ships in the north and benefited a lot from the practice.

Kawaji didn't care about that—he thought it was just building some boats.

Two years ago, Naohide wrote a letter asking to build his own navy, and the shogunate agreed at that time - after all, the white lord was at the front of the northern land, and he would never let people build his own ships without allocating warships, which was really a bit unreasonable.

At that time, Edo demanded that "the white lord ship should be sent to Edo first, and the rest could be retained by himself", that is, "there should be no more than four warships", and four warships must be built for the shogunate first, and then the warships built by the white lord can be used by himself, and the manpower and expenses of the shogunate will not be concerned, and the white lord must take care of all of them.

But so far, I haven't seen the white master send a ship over, so it must not be able to build a big ship.

So Youngmin mentioned shipbuilding this time, and Kawaji didn't think so—"You can build as many boats as you like." ”

The reason is simple: now that Ezo has become an imperial domain, the Matsumae family's exclusive trade is a thing of the past. What's wrong with building more boats? After all, whether it is fishing or trading, it is all fattening the shogunate's own people.

After the inquiry, the Kanding Chuan Road Shengmo expressed his praise for the white master's dedication, "Honest and considerable. ”

The shogunate confirmed that the Hakusho was not a false claim and that many of the lessons learned could be disseminated in Hakodate, so it agreed to raise the quota of 5,000 koku to 30,000.

To tell the truth, even if there is a problem with what Yingmin said, the old people are ready to agree to the request of the white lord - in the past two years, Fuso has been turbulent, earthquakes and tsunamis have continued to occur, and the Westerners have invaded and caused panic, and the fact that the white lord pursued the promotion of Shigao is a rare good thing, which is very beneficial to the people, so the shogunate gave official rewards to Naohide and Egawa Yingtoshi, and publicized it greatly.

The implication of this move is, "Don't panic yourself, and don't spread rumors when you're young!" You see, a remote territory like the White Lord can be developed, so the shogunate is still strong, and the Ansei reform will inevitably bring a new atmosphere!"

No matter what Edo's plans are, but this time the white lord is a real fame and fortune:

Naohide and the others have worked hard in the White Lord for so long, and finally entered the house in the shogunate - the territory of 30,000 stones, although it is not large, but for a distant country to be enforced, it can finally be said that the White Lord will pay more attention to it in the future, and Edo will pay more attention to it, at least it can no longer be easily ignored.

As for the annual increase of 3,000 taels of gold and annual tribute, this is really nothing.

After a few years of saving, the foundation of the white lord has gradually stabilized, and the next strategy is to "go inward and accelerate immigration in the next few years; Externally, actively export orchid technology".

If you want to take it, you must first take it.

Three thousand taels of gold is just the cost of three hundred immigrants, and it is worth it to buy a pass for the shogunate! In addition, the strength of the white lord is gradually unable to hide, so it is better to wash it away. It is really stupid not to do it.

As for Naoxiu's own status, it can be regarded as an official step further:

For example, if you are lucky enough to hold such an important position, after a few years, Naohide cannot be said to be unqualified to hold it;

Even, if Naohide survives in the White Lord for a few more years, even if he loses the position of the Far Country, and then he eats the old white rice alone at home, then for the sake of his hard work, maybe the shogunate will reward him with a "flag book to send a seat", you must know that this is equivalent to the treatment of the daimyo.

It's a pity that Naohide is not here, otherwise he can climb to such a high position from the second half of a royal family, which is enough to be proud of his life!

Therefore, Egawa Youngmin, who reported the good news, did not understand Naoxiu's sullenness very much:

In September 1856, the Hakodate Iron Works was successfully ignited, and half of the pig iron produced in the future would be sold to the white owner;

Hakodate Governor Hori Toshiki agreed to the joint performance, asking for the Ainu and other wild people to be given the status of official subjects. If the shogunate could really agree, then the white lord would be much more stable internally;

In addition, last year's Ruthia territory in the north was shattered, and this year you and I have improved our family qualifications, and the white lord is also thriving, and now this form is not a small good but a big good.

Are you still worried about this? Doesn't that make any sense!