"The Lingwaiyin book is broken, and the winter returns to the spring. The hometown is even more timid, and he doesn't dare to ask anyone. ”

In early September 1861, Saigo Takanaga returned to Fuso, where he had returned to Fuso after a three-year absence.

But as soon as the ship entered the box house, he was taken aback - where is this, who am I, this is Fuso?!

Ships are constantly coming and going, steam towers spewing black smoke from the docks, and towering lighthouses in the distance, although they can't compare with New York and San Francisco, but it is undoubtedly a modern port.

Saigo never dreamed of seeing this scene, and it wasn't until he secretly got off the boat at night and saw Okubo that he believed it wasn't a hoax.

"Today's vision is the right to help."

In 1850, Naohide went to Kagoshima to "kidnap" everyone, Saigo not only did not fool himself, but also pressed Naohide's favored Murata, Kawamura, etc., if it weren't for Okubo's family, Naohide almost lost a bamboo basket.

Okubo laughed, signaled that the dock was not a place for long talks, and let Saigo and the others into the carriage.

When he first returned from a distant country, Naoxiu entertained him with a family banquet that night, and everyone was very happy during the banquet.

But unlike other international students, they arrived at Hakodate, but Saigo was still worried about returning to Kagoshima, so he tried Naohide during the banquet:

"The grace of saving lives, the righteousness of persuasion, Takayong will never forget, only in Kagoshima always sing for peace, and in the next life, you will be rewarded with grass and a ring."

What, this is trying to repay the debt.

Naoxiu smiled dumbly, this big man in Saigo is not honest.

Although Fusang and Beimi are far apart, there is a letter from home. Since he met Zhixiu, the Xixiang family has been rich, and with the intentional care of Qi Bin, who lives in the hermitage hall, his family has been safe and sound in the past three years of studying. Now what do you mention "unforgettable, I'll talk about it in the next life", is this the rhythm that you want to run when you just arrive?

Thinking of this, Zhixiu couldn't help but secretly admire Qi Bin, this means of getting along with the monarch and the ministers and winning the hearts of the people is really amazing.

It's not just Xixiang, but Qi Bin is not bad at other things.

Because of the disappearance of Saigo and Tsukizhao, the case of the "Wuwu Secret Decree" did not catch the real hammer of the Shimazu family when it arrived at the shogunate, and the current princess also married someone else's princess, so the Shimazu family did not suffer a big blow - of course, the strong strength of the Shimazu family also made the shogunate jealous.

Although the previous head of the Shimazu family, Saibin, had nominally abdicated, he still held the power - although he was in a strong fight with the old Tadakyo family of the pen family supported by the shogunate, his basic market was quite stable because the various industries he created in the Jishikan industry had achieved great results in recent years.

I guess Saigo knew it from his family, so he was in a hurry to go back to Kagoshima to show off his skills.

Actually, it was Hakodate's plan to let Saigo go go back to Satsuma, so Naohide didn't mean to hinder it, but Saigo you can't just run away after eating and wiping it clean, which also hurts your self-esteem too much.

Besides, Naohide really didn't dare to let him go back like this - not because Saigo was still offering a reward for the identity of the criminal, but because he was afraid that he would not become an anti-dog when he returned to Satsuma, and what should he do if he did something bad.

This guy's main business of studying abroad is "social science", in case of a foolish situation, if Qi Bin and Satsuma are so ambitious, then the picture at the end of the scene will be strange - Naoxiu doesn't want to point fingers, but everyone wants to cooperate in the future, how can we reach some consensus.

Therefore, he and Saigo high-fived during the banquet and swore an oath, "I will not force you to stay, but you must take a good look at the Northland, so as not to adapt to the water and soil in Kagoshima." ”

"That's reasonable", Saigo pondered and left.

In fact, he was also a little flattered, originally he thought that his encounter was taken care of by his friend Okubo, but after three years, he didn't dare to think like this - Torajiro treated him favorably everywhere, and this Okubo's face may not be able to cover it.

What kind of medicine Naohide sells in the gourd, Saigo also wants to make sure that he can rest assured.

After that, Saigo was placed under a false identity and began to observe the people's situation in the box hall as a businessman.

Because his appearance has changed greatly, he is not afraid of being recognized - although Saigo used to live a good life, he had to run around, so he was a black and fat man, but after studying abroad for three years, his temperament was elegant, not to mention, he actually had a much fairer skin, and he stuffed something in his mouth, so he was able to walk freely.

But after all, he had to avoid suspicion, so Naohide couldn't arrange for him to experience it carefully, such as the ironmaking office or the executive office, and Xixiang naturally had no chance to investigate.

But on the other hand, it is enough for those who have a heart:

The first one, Hakokan is everywhere

It's all a road, and even New York can't do that.

At this time, there is generally only "Makadan Road" in large cities, which is actually a kind of gravel road, and only the particularly important streets are stone roads or brick roads, but they are rare; As for the backwoods and villages, they are simply slightly repaired dirt roads.

However, Hakodate, the port city of Fuso, is full of flat gravel roads paved with coal and coke asphalt, and although the remote place is a cinder road, the main street is also amazing.

When he had the opportunity to ask Okubo, he found out that Hakodate was also forced to expand the ironmaking industry, and the output of coke had also greatly increased, so this coal and coke asphalt did not need to be used in vain.

Second, there are many foreigners in Hakodate, but they are quite polite and get along very well with the Fuso people.

Although Hakodate had not yet traded with the outside world when Saigo was tied to the ship in 1858, it was already a supply port for the outside world, and although Saigo's stay was very short, he also heard about some illegal acts of the Nanban at that time.

Why is it that there is a sudden harmony now? - Saigo has stayed in the ocean, and naturally has a deep understanding of the arrogance of foreigners, so he is very curious, how did he do this?

He inquired cautiously, and then he learned that foreigners were so gentle, one did not dare to do it, and the other was inconvenient.

Don't you dare, naturally because almost every box house has armaments.

Since Naohide took office in Hakodate in 1858, he has been training village soldiers on the grounds that the shogunate had agreed that all the people of the northern region should be soldiers, and as long as they behave well, they will be given the hat of "Tongashishi". Because the same ashigaru is also ashilight to the outside world, you can carry a gun with a Miao character, so it is widely popular.

Originally, the townspeople thought that this was Naohide's plan to accumulate money - at that time, the rich townspeople bought the identity of Ashigaru, and such a thing should not be too common.

But after a long time, everyone found that the government did not charge money, and also provided muskets at low prices, so everyone enthusiastic.

With this guy in his hand, his natural courage is not ordinary, and there were once foreigners and sailors who made trouble, but the matter became big and was surrounded by hundreds of gun-wielding townspeople.

Since then, the atmosphere of Hakodate has been in full swing.

As for the inconvenience, it is because the Hakodate market is fair and traded, and blackmail rarely occurs; Moreover, the most important thing is that Naohide and the British and Mimetry have good relations with the governors of this place, and when there is a conflict between Westerners and locals, it is all handled impartially and without favoritism.

It is said that the peace agreement signed in the 7th year of Kaei (1854) did not contain this article, but according to the trade agreement signed in the 5th year of Ansei (1858), the foreigner's offense was judged by the foreigner himself.

He pointed out the absurdity of the original trade agreement, which stated that "if the Fuso officials do not participate, the Westerners can judge themselves", that is, "the consul and the magistrate will judge fairly".

According to this article, whenever there is a conflict between Westerners and locals, Naohide will run to be a co-judge.

And the biggest foreign merchant forces in Hakodate are Yingli Huitong Foreign Company and Miren Huili Foreign Company, and Naoxiu is about to wear a pair of pants, and the governors of these two countries take people's hands short, so they naturally have to "deal with it impartially" - Wanli Sailing is to make a fortune, not to buy gas, this reason is enough!

Handled it impartially, with such a posture on the official face, coupled with the courage of the people of Hakodate, this foreigner will naturally not be too arrogant.

When the Yarrow War ended in 1860, in the spring of 1861, John Jr. After Brian officially took over as the governor of the English Box Museum, with his friendship with Naohide, this communication was extremely smooth.

As a result, in 1861, Saigo saw a scene of harmony between Westerners and the local residents of Fuso, which was very different from other places, when there were constant voices of rebellion in Fuso, and incidents of attacks on Westerners were occurring from time to time.

Some of the more famous attacks at the time were:

As early as August 1859 in Yokohama, one of the Lucia midshipmen and a sailor were hacked to death, and one sailor was wounded—probably because Naohide was in trouble, but it was supposed to happen in July but was turned to August.

In February of the 7th year of Ansei (1860), also in Yokohama, a captain of the Rankoku ship and an attaché were killed.

This year it's even more powerful.

In December of the first year of Manyeon (January 1861), Husken, the interpreter of the Mijin Legation, was stabbed to death in broad daylight in Edo.

In February of the second year of Wanyan, there was a famous incident of Nagaoka Xiaoju, "The children of the Mito clan left the Nagaoka Station, and the scoundrels gathered to 1,800 people, and moved the day: 'Shao Gu Huangmen's will, in order to raise the banner of righteousness. A general led the water army to a little Yokohama, burning the hall and razing it. One general led the army in

Edo, the ruler of the mutual market. ’”

Edo hurriedly sent someone to suppress it, and it was not easy to settle the matter.

But in May of that year and calendar, the first Dongchan Temple incident still happened:

On July 5, 1861, Mito ronin attacked Tozenji Temple, the British residence in Edo, wounding both the librarian Olivante and the Nagasaki consul Mori Song – some say three, and killing more than a dozen guards sent by the shogunate.

From this time on, "England placed troops in Yokohama, armed with Akame, and Japanese with red troops." ”

These are also relatively well-known, and other incidents of verbal abuse, collisions, and beatings have occurred in Nagasaki and Yokohama.

Therefore, it is surprising that only Hakodate, which is a port of three ports for foreign trade, can be peaceful.

As for the third thing that made Saigo feel good, of course, it was the prosperity of the Hakodate trade.

In fact, Yokohama included more than eighty percent of foreign trade at this time, but Hakodate's trade was very different from Yokohama's, and this was what surprised Saigo.

In the leap month of the first year of Mangen (1860), the shogunate issued a Gopin-Edo Order, ordering that "in foreign trade, five varieties of grain, water and oil, wax, gofu (silk), and raw silk can only be purchased and sold in Yokohama."

In fact, in addition to the above five kinds, the tea industry, silkworm seeds and aquatic products are also the bulk of foreigners' purchases.

But in that case, in fact, bulk commodities are raw materials, and as for handmade porcelain, pottery, and wooden lacquerware, there are also some but the share is not large.

In addition to textiles such as foreign cloth and yarn, there are also some other industrial products, such as various ironware.

But in Hakodate, in addition to the trade of aquatic products, foreign trade is full of new things:

The first is fur.

The Northland is famous for its prolific furs, and it is natural that this export is a matter of course, but what is the matter with importing furs?

In fact, it was the rice boat that brought a large number of bison skins from the northern rice and then transported belts, leather shoes, leather bags and other items.

Of course, Saigo didn't know that the mistletoe bark in Ezo could be used to extract tannins, and vegetable tanning was not the only progress - although Northland has not made much progress in iron tanning and chrome tanning, but the tanning process has far surpassed Tongji after years of development, and the improvement of wet and dry processing processes, as well as the birth of a large number of new machinery, has made the tanning industry one of the pillar industries of Northland.

Secondly, cigarettes have also become the fist product of Northland.

In 1853, the Caribbean pioneered the use of Susini cigarette machines, each of which produced the equivalent of 60 cigarettes per minute.

But how ruthless Naoxiu is, he got out the cigarette machine of the Mi Man Bangsak in 1883 in advance, and then cut it into strips in a row, each producing 250 cigarettes per minute. This is the capital of the tobacco tycoons in the United States, which appeared more than 20 years in advance, can it not kill the Quartet.

Moreover, Toyohara's research institute is developing a new generation of falling silk into a cigarette machine, the output can be increased to more than 1,000 per minute per unit - Naohide thinks this is enough, and the "silk sucking molding" that appeared in 1960 will not be able to take this step, and it will not be fragrant for a hundred years.

The profit of this cigarette is really indescribable, anyway, Zhixiu thinks that since the stockings can't be made, it's not good for cigarettes to dominate.

In order to ensure the import of raw materials, the Northland has adopted a quota system - that is, the more raw materials are transported, the more goods can be transported, and the price is also favorable, in fact, a part of the profits are transferred to the material suppliers.

As for whale oil from whaling, sugar from sugar beets, and perfumes and cosmetics that have already begun to see scale, these are all sought-after goods in the trade.

Coupled with the dried fish and mountings brought by the increasingly large-scale fishing industry, the import and export trade of this box house is becoming more and more popular - of course, Zhixiu also wants to grab the market of foreign cloth, but the problem is that the raw materials are not very powerful, and the domestic sales are not enough, so the takeaway is still free.

Behind all of this is the influx of about 20,000 young immigrants every year, which was a period of rapid expansion after the opening of trade with Fuso in July 1859, when the economy was greatly affected and the people in various regions began to struggle to make ends meet.

In addition to being dazzled, Saigo had a big doubt, "Hakodate, don't Edo know this?" Even if Naohide's good work is meritorious to the shogunate, but just the overflow of ordnance is a big taboo, so let it go? ”

Actually, Edo wants to take care of it, but the problem is that at this time of internal and external troubles, the game between the Tokugawa family and the small imperial court in Kyoto and many foreign daimyo has reached a critical moment, who still has the heart to care about the remote Northland!