On the 16th day of the first month of the 7th year of Kaei (February 13, 1854 in the Western calendar), the black ship of the rice people broke into Edo Bay again, and then the shogunate's grand review committee decided to "send people to negotiate with the rice people quickly, so that the black ships could not wait to sail to the waters off the coast of Edo".

However, the negotiating team sent by the shogunate next had nothing to do with these two men at all.

It turned out that the last time the rice people said that they would come back the next year, so the shogunate had already set up a reception candidate, and there was no Qi Zhao and Mr. Tanan among them.

Here's how it happened:

After the black ship left on June 12 last year, the ministers found that the power of the coastal defense was too large, and the original purpose of setting up nine coastal defense hangers was actually to form a large advisory group, but they did not expect that as soon as the black ship came, the coastal defense hangers could actually influence the direction of negotiations because of their related responsibilities - the number of coastal defense hangers is large, and there are nine opinions when they mention it, so that others can't find a new posture if they want to interject, which is very uncomfortable.

But there are many factions standing behind the nine coastal defense hangings, and the potential power is huge, and they can't be abolished for no reason, so the other ministers and others are combined, "There is nothing wrong with Haiphong hanging out, but when it comes to detailed provisions, after all, it is still necessary to send another well-educated person to grind" - then who is a well-educated person? Of course, it was the Confucian officials who served as the official side of the court, and the shoguns who were close to the shogun were also able to directly intervene in foreign affairs.

Since Confucian officials can participate, the other important ministers of the shogunate are not far behind, and Haiphong is originally an adviser position, how can there be an adviser in person - at least the adviser cannot account for the majority in the negotiation team.

After a fierce battle, the shogunate decided on the candidates to receive him—Hayashi Tsutsui, Tsutsui Masaki, Ido Satoruhiro, Kawaji Seimo, Uden Nagarui and Matsuzaki Mantaro.

Among them, Lin Han is the head of the university, that is, the shogunate official Xuechang Hei Spring's great sacrificial wine, and also the head of the Confucian officials on the side of the public side, he presided over the compilation of the "General Navigation List" a total of 350 volumes, recording all the Fuso and foreign negotiations between the ninth year of Eiroku (1566) and the eighth year of Bunsei (1825), so the selection of the head of Lin University is "the expectation of the public".

Of the remaining five people, Tsutsui Masanoshi is Ometsu, Ido Kakuhiro is the Edo Town Commissioner, Kawaji Seimo is the Kanjo Commissioner, Uden Chorui is the Gometsu, and Matsuzaki Mantaro is the Confucian official of the Imperial Observatory who is proficient in writing and allusions.

However, compared with the first negotiation with the Mi people, the people who came forward this time were not all Haiphong hangers - there were only two Haiphong hangers, Tsutsui and Chuanlu.

Doesn't that mean that no one wants to take risks?

In this regard, the remaining six people said that it was really fragrant - some are unwilling to take risks, and naturally there are also those who are willing to fight for their lives. Only the Confucian official Matsuzaki Mantaro was reluctant, he was forced to be an assistant by the head of Lin University, and it was completely "the fire at the city gate affected the pond fish".

But after the Grand Appraisal Meeting, the negotiation team sent by the shogunate was not these six people, why?

Therefore, Tsutsui Masanoshi and Kanjo Kawaji Shomo went to Nagasaki, and at that time, the envoys of Lucia also came, and they also wanted to negotiate with the shogunate about the opening of the country and the border of trade by the way, and these two have not returned until now.

As for the other four members of the negotiating team, why didn't they go to Nagasaki?

It's not humble, it's because the shogunate has a bad heart from the beginning and doesn't want to talk to the Lusia people at all!

The reason for not wanting to talk about it is very simple: Hamhyung sent a steamship to the port in the 11th month of the Japanese calendar last year (December 1853 in the Western calendar) and told the shogunate the good news that "the Lusians invaded the lower Danube on June 21 of the Western calendar."

According to the wind story provided by Xianheng Foreign Company, England, France, Osmaga, and the Kingdom of Sardinia were all dissatisfied with this, and a war was about to break out.

Therefore, the Lucians will not come hard anyway - compared to Fuso, Europa is the key to Lucia, and it stands to reason that the situation in Europa is tense, and the Lu people should not have another trouble under the current enemy.

Because the Shogunate has accumulated considerable credibility in the shogunate in recent years, and there are all kinds of Yomiuri (newspapers) as evidence, so the shogunate believed it - in fact, it was not fully believed, but it did not affect the shogunate's arrangement, first let Tsutsui and Kawaji lead the team to fool around, in case if the Lusia people were arrogant, then let the first person of Lin University set off, which was exactly in line with the delaying strategy that the shogunate has always adopted.

But now it's a bit blind, the rice people arrived early, but there are two fewer of the six envoys, but this is also easy to do, there are still seven coastal defenses left in Edo, so it's good to catch two at will, so it was decided that Mizuno Tadadoku and Mimefu Hori Toshiki were selected, and then the envoy group hurriedly set off - Mr. Tanan was not selected, one is that he has a lower position in the Kanmi service, and the other is that he is "sick".

But within ten days, the shogunate asked the "sick" Egawa to hurry up to negotiate with the Mi people - Mr. Tanan couldn't go if he didn't go, seeing that the two sides were about to fight, as a famous Lan Xue giant and master of the art of war, he had to go to the scene to assess the military situation of the Mi people.

It turned out that after the first class of Lin University arrived at the shore near the black ship anchorage, the two sides continued to argue over the location of the negotiation, and as a result, the Mi people did not play their cards according to common sense, and on the 27th day of the first month (February 24, 1854), they actually sent the steam battleship Poitan to the coast of Shinagawa Port in Edo, so the shogunate and the princes were all shaken!

Although both sides restrained themselves from firing cannons, the shogunate couldn't bear it, the black ship was so big, and Edo couldn't turn into a sea of fire if it really fought, so he immediately sent someone to question the top people of Lin University, "What the hell are you talking about, provoking people to drive the warship to Edo!" The first item on your mission was not to let the rice boat get close to Edo, and I forgot it?!"

Of course, there was a storm before the dispatch, and Tokugawa Saiaki, who didn't say a word at the last evaluation meeting, came back to his strength, and he personally ran to Shinagawa Odaiba to ask for a cannon, if it wasn't for Mr. Tan'an to stop it at the scene, the two sides would have already fought.

At that time, the situation was tense, and the shogunate had no choice but to convene a meeting of everyone - the last time the meeting was held by all the shogunates, except for Qi Zhao, and this time even the important princes who had participated in the Hajj in Edo participated.

Qi Zhao's power among the princes was very large, and for a while, the remarks that "Miyi deceived people too much" were endless, so there were two opposing views, Qi Zhao demanded an immediate war, but the side led by the shogunate's important ministers demanded "be prepared but not to act first, so as not to be dishonest".

Shinagawa Odaiba was built by Taro Egawa Saemon, and if you don't fight or win, you naturally have to ask his opinion, but as soon as Mr. Tanan's reply came out, the audience was silent - "It's hard to win, and you can't fight!" ”

"Although the firing range of the breech guns was longer than that of the main guns of the black ships, the difference in caliber was huge, so defeat was not defeat, but victory was also a miserable victory. The black ships were thick and thick-skinned, and they could resist artillery fire on the wooden houses on the shore, and then Edo would be a sea of fire. ”

"Besides, what if the black ship runs away? Although there are mines, even if the black ship is trapped in Edo Bay, and finally the enemy runs out of ammunition and food and surrenders, can the rice country give up? In the future, the Mi people will send new black ships to attack the coast of Fuso, and other places are not as good as the defense of Edo Bay, let's just say Osaka, what if the black ships attack Osaka? ”

This was the first time that someone in the shogunate publicly admitted that "skills are inferior to others" at an official court meeting, and the speaker built the coastal defense hanging of Shinagawa Odaiba, so the audience was silent and then in an uproar.

Even Masahiro Abe, the chief of the old middle school who had been silent, couldn't sit still, he hurriedly spoke out to appease the scene, saying, "Jiang Chuan's words are not rough, of course we can still win the fight, but just like Jiang Chuan said, fight back."

It's angry but it's not easy to deal with the aftermath, after all, it's not that point yet, you still have to figure out what Mi Ren wants to do."

Everyone didn't dare to vomit, the Mi people's national letter had already been sent, and they asked for "ports of refuge", "supply ports" and "trade", and it was not clear what they wanted to do.

But the shogunate has been accumulating prestige for a long time, and no one dares not to listen to the words of the chief elder, and I haven't seen that even Tokugawa Qi Zhao, who is in charge of the war, has been silent - in fact, there is a reason why Qi Zhao is silent:

As a hanger of coastal defense, he read the wind story of Xianheng Foreign Company, which clearly stated that "the Mi Admiral Perry did not have the right to go to war", and also provided some information as evidence. Although Qi Zhao didn't trust Xianheng Yangxing, who was also a rice person, from the bottom of his bones, the information provided by the people many times was very accurate, and he also provided a large number of new weapons, and the price was also very fair.

The chief Abe attendant of the old middle school also sat firmly on the fishing ~ fish ~ platform for the same reason, but he has seen a lot of things, one of them does not believe that the secrets of the rice people can really be obtained by businessmen, and the other one also thinks that Perry, the head of the rice people's water army, may "be subject to the orders of the king outside", so he can't handle the proportions of it.

But no matter what, Abe has already communicated with several other veterans, "This battle must not be taken lightly", as for the assessment meeting, this is a way to share the risk - the veteran goes into battle shirtless, and it is stupid to take medicine.

But he really didn't expect that Qi Zhao would be so belligerent, and Jiang Chuan would bluntly set off the old bottom, so he had to come forward to control the form.

The chief elder spoke, and everyone listened to the order.

So Egawa was sent to warn the top people of Hayashi University to "do things solidly", and the shogunate also asked Egawa to stay there and participate in negotiations - he was a master of the Ranhaku and the art of war, and the builder of Shinagawa Odaiba, if Egawa stayed in Edo and preached that "it is difficult to win, and you can't fight", it would be demoralizing, let him get out of here!

In addition, Jiang Chuan is also a good candidate for negotiation, he knows both soldiers and Lanxue, and last September he and Oguri Tadashun presented a book "Summary of the Conventions of the Western Countries", which records some of the agreements of the Western countries, although they are all excerpted from Western books, but they can be regarded as people with a heart.

After Jiang Chuan arrived at the scene, the top people of Lin University couldn't help but sneer - there were sworn enemies on both sides, one was the Confucian sect master, the other was a Lanxue giant, and the Torii Yaozang from the Lin family was still Jiang Chuan's sworn enemy, and the grievances in this were deep.

Unexpectedly, Jiang Chuan only conveyed the shogunate's order to the top people of Lin University, that is, "Hurry up and negotiate, don't let the black boat go to the river to demonstrate outside the sea", and did not take advantage of the topic, not only did not shame everyone's face, but also privately said that "the rice people are fierce, and there were many unreasonable things last year, so there is no need to take it too seriously", and the people at the scene were moved at that time, "Mr. Tanan is really a kind person!" ”

To tell the truth, the first person of Lin University is also very dissatisfied, and I don't know what the shogunate thinks, last year's Uraga two commissions, Toda Eiei became Nishimaru to stay in the house, and pursued and Ido Hiromichi was promoted to Omesuke, this time neither of them came forward, and the Uraga minister who participated in the negotiations with the first person of Lin University was Izawa Masayoshi, everyone was dealing with Miyi for the first time, and it was inevitable that they would be in a hurry, what kind of trouble is the shogunate going to make?

These people forgot that after the black ship left last year, there were many people in Haiphong, so they were safe and sound, and Fujita Biao, a retainer of the Mito Tokugawa family, was sprayed with flowers all over his face, and he had already gone home to be "cautious", and Toda and Ido were also secretly descended by the bright ascension, and almost all of the people present had made great efforts.

Egawa brought strict orders from the shogunate, and in order to prevent the Miren black ship from continuing to harass Edo, the negotiation location was quickly determined, in Yokohama Village, near the Miren Mooring, and Mr. Tanan also showed his skills in the subsequent negotiations.