As a leader, the most important thing is to "get the big picture" – as the saying goes, "tell people what the future holds, what we should do about it, why we should do it, and then twist everyone into a rope." ”

Therefore, now that Youngmin saw it, Nao-su explained his worries to him:

The year 1856 was the twelfth year of the "Wangxia Agreement" and "Whampoa Agreement" between the Tang people, the Mi people and the Francis people, and the two parties could revise the contract according to the terms.

Because the English enjoy the most favored nation status of China, the benefits of the rice and Buddha covenants are also indispensable to the British.

However, the Chinese side explicitly rejected the request for a treaty amendment, so the English people, who had failed in their hopes, were planning war.

And the Crimean War, which swept the great powers of Europa, is also coming to an end - since 1853, all sides have been fighting to the present. On January 16, 1856, the new Emperor of Lucia, Alexander II, agreed to peace talks with the mediation of Osmaga, and the Paris Peace Conference was scheduled for February.

Once this jackal, tiger and leopard stop fighting among themselves, then the other countries will naturally be in danger.

Therefore, China in the Far East is likely to become the target of the Western powers, and the possibility of war breaking out is very high.

Dead lips and cold teeth.

If the Tang people can't withstand it, then Fusang will inevitably be affected.

All of this information was provided by Ham Heng in August, and Youngmin, who was appointed as the White Lord, also saw it. Therefore, when Naoxiu mentioned this, he couldn't be happy, "This plan can't catch up with the changes, but the effort may be too late, it's really a big failure in life!" ”

As the leader, it is his duty to inspire confidence in his companions, so he comforts Youngmin:

"Europa is a long way from China, and if a war breaks out, the winner will be determined overnight. And Lucia was newly hit hard, and Fusang still had a chance to breathe. Heaven has no relatives, and gentlemen encourage each other. ”

Youngmin's spirits were lifted after hearing this—1856 was his third year in the White Lord, and he saw the great changes in North Ezo in recent years, so he was very confident. Since Naoxiu said that there is still a chance, then he naturally believes it.

In 1854, the first year of Yingmin's arrival, there were only about 3,000 people in the White Lord, but this year the population had swelled to more than 11,000. And this does not include more than 2,000 Hezhe people in the north of the island, 300 Tang people in the Blue Island Gold Mine, and 500 Tang road builders in Fengyuan.

All combined, it's nearly 14,000! The fraction is exactly 4,000 people reported to Edo.

Thinking of this, Ying Min smiled slightly, "Kanding pursues the Chuan Lu Shengmo, who is known as a capable minister, but he is still being played with. After the quota of the White Lord Office was changed to 30,000 koku, it became famous, and in the past, it attracted many filthy and non-humans, but now, the poor townspeople and ordinary people have also gone north, and this year more than 2,000 people have emigrated out of thin air.

According to the plan of the White Lord, by 1859, the population of Northern Ezo should exceed 30,000, and at the same time, the population of Ezo under the jurisdiction of Hakodate Prefecture through merchants should also exceed 10,000.

You must know that the white lord is a universal education and all the people are soldiers, and most of the immigrants are young and strong, so it will be absolutely easy to pull out 3,000 people, and if the Lucians in the north dare to come, they will definitely not be pleased!

According to the military service regulations of the shogunate, 2,155 soldiers were sent to the daimyo of 100,000 stones. So if 3,000 troops could be dispatched in 1859, then the white lord would be equivalent to the daimyo's territory of 140,000 stones!

And in terms of financial revenue, the white lord is far more than this:

Although the annual income of the public accounts was only more than 15,000 gold, the number of private accounts was staggering, and the total income of the white lords from 1854 to 1856 was 206,000 gold, 217,000 gold and 207,000 gold respectively.

According to the calculation of 207,000 gold and the four princes and six people, the stone height of the white lord is equivalent to 520,000 stone of the daimyo territory!

However, ninety percent of this income comes from gold mining, and most of it comes from Blue Island.

According to Naohide's estimates, since 1858, the production of Aonoshima will drop significantly, and the policy of supporting farming, fishing and hunting, orchid industry and commerce cannot be easily changed, and there will be a huge financial gap at that time, which may reach 316,000 gold! - Without the additional income of the gold mine, the white lord can not earn more than 30,000 gold a year, which is only equivalent to the territory of 80,000 stones.

When they heard that there had been such a huge loss two years later, the leaders of the government office at that time were shaken and suggested that welfare should be lowered, taxes should be increased, and even that the operations of fur, whaling, ironworks, and salt works be reclassified under official ownership.

What impressed Yingmin was that Nao-su insisted that "the white master should accumulate steadily, and the original business strategy cannot be easily changed", and gave two unexpected solutions on the spot:

The first way out is to annex the Hakodate Prefecture - although there is only one strait separating it, the conditions in the Ezo land are much better than those in the northern Ezo area, and the so-called "3 million koku after all development" is no joke.

Although all of you here are bold and reckless, secret trade has been doing,

He also did it by sending troops to attack Lucia privately, but everyone still didn't dare to think about challenging the shogunate that had accumulated prestige for a long time, so they all thought that Naohide was trying to promote the merger of the two commissioners.

After discussion, everyone agreed that it was too difficult - the shogunate had always adopted a free-range attitude towards the white lord, which was equivalent to an adopted son; And the people who are in charge of the Hakodate administration are all appointed by Edo, and this is the son of the family. This adopted son wants to replace his own son, and the difficulty can be imagined.

In addition, the style of governance of the white lord is completely different from that of Hakodate.

Even if the two families merged, it is estimated that under the strict supervision of the shogunate, it can only be based on the original style of governance of Hakodate, and at that time, the monarch and ministers, fathers and sons, and the white lord will not be able to stand it, so the merger will never be feasible.

Besides, "three million stones" is the potential, and now the development of Ezo is still very primitive, and it is still in the stage of net investment.

However, it was impossible for Naohide not to think of this, so everyone's eyes lit up, "There is a gold mine in Ezo?" ”

Of course, this is the second way out given by Naoxiu, since the gold placer on Aonoshima is almost gone, then find another big gold mine!

The Konomai Gold Mine is the third largest gold mine in the history of Fuso, after the Sado Kanazan and Ryogari mines, and is rich in production, producing a total of 73 tons of gold and 1,200 tons of silver throughout the mining period.

Konomai is located in the northern part of Ezo, near "Mobetsu", and is diagonally opposite the White Lord across a Soya Strait.

However, unlike Aonoshima, it is mainly a rock gold mine, which is difficult to mine.

Dead ghost, no, pursue the adult, if there is gold to dig, what is the difficulty, this mine must be dug, and it must be dug in a big way.

It was much easier to occupy a piece of land than to annex the entire island, so in early 1856 the White Lord set a grand plan to develop the Konomai gold mine.

In fact, Naohide felt that the development of the white lord was too slow, and he had to accelerate his expansion to the south, but the group heads and the heads of the fans were not fooled and did not want to clash with the shogunate.

If everyone supports the first plan, that is, the "annexation of the Hakodate Commissioner", Naohide will naturally have a way to solve the subsequent Temio - the shogunate chaos of 1858, after which the fierce man Ii Naobi went out of the mountain to take up the position of "elder", Naohide naturally has an exchange of interests to get the position of the Hakodate commissioner.

But now he can't say.

A question "How do you know", Naoxiu was speechless - even if he directly confessed, "I got in", someone would dare to believe him if he dared to say it!

As for the investment after receiving Ezo, digging for treasure can be solved.

Even under today's conditions, the treasure of the Lady Atoka is not easy to find, but the Celtic Dan Mo Cave Ruins on Green Island and the Hawkson Treasure in England, these two places will never run around with long legs, just dig in the local area.

But it's okay now, after the development of the Hongzhiwu gold mine begins, presumably the white lords will pay more and more attention to the Ezo land, and the pace of southward expansion will become faster and faster.

And in doing so, it won't delay the position of the box pavilion that he is trying to pursue, after all, there are still two more years. When the time comes, it will be a matter of course, and it is estimated that everyone will not push it out when the time comes.

Jiang Chuan Yingmin didn't know Nao-so's little abacus in private, and after chatting for a while, seeing that Nao-so's mood was no longer low, he said goodbye and left-Nao-su now entrusts other affairs to Yingmin except for the township school, and he went to the box hall by himself once, I don't know how many things are backlogged, and he needs to deal with them quickly.

After Youngmin left, Nao-su continued to ponder:

The Paris Peace Conference was signed on March 30, 1856, and the Crimean War officially ended.

After that, the two British and Buddhist families, who have freed their hands, will join forces to launch the Yarrow War against China in October this year. In 1858 the first phase ended. In June of the following year, the dispute broke out again, and finally the war would end in the month.

Naoxiu vigorously sent weapons and intelligence to China through the Four Seas Tour, hoping that the ending would be better this time.

Rusya's return to the Far East is inevitable, but the North Pacific Territory is in shambles, and it is estimated that the region of force will be the Irkutsk province.

The original governor of Irkutsk and Eastern Siberia, the hapless Muravyov, died in Kamchatka last year.

Don't know who your opponent will be next time? This is something to focus on.

As for the Rice people, the Kansas Civil War began as scheduled in 1854 and has been going on for two years until 1859.

As the introduction of the North-South War, although the scale of this battle was not large, it had a far-reaching impact, and the preparations for war between the two sides began.

But what is hateful is that despite the internal turmoil, the Mi people still do not forget to make trouble in the Far East, and in addition to repairing the treaty with China, they have also extended their hands to Fuso, according to the latest letter from Mr. Tan'an, Haris arrived in Shimoda in the seventh month of the Japanese calendar.

As the chief governor of the rice people stationed in Fuso, as soon as Haris arrived in Shimoda, he made a request for trade.

And obviously

The previous "Fusang Mi Country Peace Agreement" has blocked this hole - "the special envoy's visit needs to be confirmed by both parties in advance", and it seems that the Mi people are completely disregarding face this time.

Because he was busy with the bottom-blowing acid converter steelmaking method, Taro Egawa Saemon had already resigned from his position as Shimoda this year to focus on the Nirayama Ironworks, and I don't know if the newly appointed Kiyoshi Inoue can withstand it.

But no matter how hard Inoue tries, as soon as the Yarrow War breaks out, the shogunate will inevitably soften, that's for sure - the gap in national strength is so great, and the rice people are good at bluffing, Edo will definitely back down.

But as soon as the shogunate retreats, the wind of rebellion will be blazing, and the tide at the end of the shogunate will surge.

Naoxiu has worked hard for eighteen years to prepare, and then it will be tested - in fact, there is no test, and even hard support cannot be done, and the strength of the Western countries is too strong after the end of the first industrial revolution!

1856 was supposed to be the first year of the steel age – if it weren't for Naoxiu, the English Besmarck would have invented the bottom-blowing acid converter steelmaking method this year.

And due to the chaotic entry of Naoxiu, this time has been advanced:

Steel was needed to develop rifled guns and two-stage expansion marine steam engines, so in 1851, Nakamura Gakujiro succeeded in developing the bottom-blowing acid converter steelmaking method according to Naohide's ideas.

Relying on the protection of the Vanderbilt family, Naohide and others' forces in the United States protected this secret until the year before last.

But William. Vanderbilt officially entered the steel industry and ordnance manufacturing in 1854 and asked for this patent by name, so the bottom-blowing acid converter steelmaking method finally appeared in the public eye.

In 1855, Western countries other than the United States introduced this method, and the steel age officially began.

At the same time, breech guns, rifled guns, and metal shells were also popularized by William's factory - although Naohide and others made a lot of money, they really outweighed the losses.

Borrowing chickens to lay eggs is this weakness, the eggs are obtained, but the old hen is still someone else's, and there is nothing to be done about being woolen.

Fortunately, the Vanderbilt family valued Edison's lab even more, and last year they also married their youngest daughter to OO, also known as Toranosuke Takemae.

Therefore, Naohide and the others can continue to follow the Vanderbilt family to pick up eggs.

In fact, it is not okay not to let it be picked up, there are too many achievements in Edison's laboratory, and the Vanderbilt family is reluctant to give up cooperation:

In 1852, the synthetic drug aspirin was introduced—it was supposed to be 1853 when Charles Frederick Gérard synthesized acetylsalicylic acid from salicylic acid and acetic anhydride, but Naohide and others took the lead.

Because of the drug's widespread use, the Vanderbilt family and Edison's laboratories were able to make a lot of money.

And the discovery of aniline violet in 1855, an artificial fuel, was even more lucrative - it should have been the discovery of Perkin in England in 1856.

This dye can dye silk a noble purple color, and it was widely admired as soon as it was introduced.

And the glass syringe, the method of extracting kerosene from oil, the rear-loading rifled gun with the vertical wedge running bolt also received special attention from the Vanderbilt family.

After learning that the ideas for these inventions all came from a single person, the elder Vanderbilt once again invited Naohide to New York through his son-in-law Bamboo—after all these years of fermentation, the Foucault pendulum that confirmed the autobiography of the earth, the gooseneck flask experiment that proved the existence of microorganisms, and the precise formulation of the laws of conservation and transformation of energy all brought Naohide great prestige, and he was already regarded as a genius.

However, for this invitation, of course, Naoxiu declined again - where did he go!

Naohide's next plan is to participate in the big wedding of the Makata-like family and the Atsuhime of the Shimazu family will be married in the November of the calendar, and as a distant country, Naohide Hori is also specially recalled.

In 1853, when Ieda succeeded to the shogunate position, Naohide didn't go on the grounds that he was seriously ill, and if he didn't go this time, it would be too ignorant to be promoted.

Moreover, he has been away from Edo for six years, and his eldest son, Fukutaro, has grown from five to eleven years old, and Naohide misses his son very much.

In September of the third year of Ansei (1856), the White Lord set sail for Edo by order of Naohide Hori.

This was Naohide's first return to Edo since arriving in Hakujo in 1850, and his last as a retainer of the Tokugawa family.

In the ensuing storm of the end of the Edo period, the faces of Naohide and the White Lord gradually blurred, and eventually became as loyal and treacherous as everyone else. But in any case, these are their respective choices, and in the end these choices and efforts determine the outcome of Fuso's future.

Even the "busy people" who have no record in history can actually proudly say, "We have been here, and the future is in our own hands now." ”

If you don't work hard, there will be a difference; If you don't take it seriously, it will end well!