In fact, when the first Jiushi Guangzhou sent someone to try to pick up relatives, Zhixiu was very ignorant:

He only arrived in Edo at the end of the first month of the second year of Bunkyu (1862), just to avoid attracting attention—in September of the first year of Mangen (1860), the shogunate Kokokokan flourished in Western industry. Since then, not to mention that the north has made a thousand miles in a day, it is also a bold innovation, such a critical season, how can there be any thoughts.

But when he thought about it, it smelled good!

What's wrong with the adopted daughter, speaking of which, she is also the princess of the Tokugawa family.

This princess-like daughter was originally a non-royal family, a top minister, the Tokugawa main branch of the Imperial Three Families, the Imperial Three Secretaries or the branch Matsudaira Eighteen Families did not marry, even if they were married, they were also a daimyo of the level of the lord of the country, and as for the Xu ration to the flag book, I had never heard of it.

That's why I'm going to send it!

Sure enough, the Takashi Yokose Sadagu who came to test Naohide picked out the matter:

Nishimaru-like Ieshigeru gets married next month, and according to the agreement with the Kyoto Imperial Court, the former Gongkata Sakae family is bound to retire. But before that, the public family must do several things, among which the princess of the Tokugawa family marries the Hori family.

"Was this a bit hasty?" Naoxiu was shocked when he heard this, there was no wind at all before.

Hearing this, Yokose had no choice but to smile slightly-you think it's in a hurry, so do I! Who knew that this bean bag would end up on the head of the Hori family.

The marriage between the Tokugawa family and the Shimazu family was planned a long time ago - the two husbands and wives of the Gongfang family and the Atsuki of the Imperial Observatory were in collusion with Qi Bin, the first of the old middle school for a long time, and the news of the two betrothals was only released at this time.

As for the little princess of the Shimazu family, Hiwei Hime, who was accepted as the adopted daughter of Nishimaru, it was also decided a long time ago, but which powerful lord to marry was only recently seen.

Speaking of which, this is still the reason for Naoxiu himself.

He procrastinated and refused to come to Edo in advance, but instead made Gongfang and the first old middle school Jiushi make up their minds - it's over, this big fish can't be let go!

Actually, Jia Ding, Du Ji, including Qi Bin, have long belonged to the family, but I felt that it was a little too much for a long time before, although this straight show was in the official career, but after all, there was only one generation of fortune, and it was not good to hear it, so it was very controversial.

It's funny to say, these four bigwigs have different angles, but the evaluation of the strength of the Hori family is almost the same, that is, one word "strong"!

Among them, the angle of Jia Ding is more unique, he thinks that Zhixiu can predict earthquakes, this is a proper drop demon, Zhuge Wuhou is nothing more than that.

But he didn't rely on Meng:

Over the years, Kitachi has continued to send him new gadgets to Edo Castle, and others think Naohide is flattering, but Ieding looks at the problem from a different angle, and he finds it interesting.

Jia Ding has been fond of delicate gadgets since he was a child, so he has bought them from foreigners.

This "is familiar with 300 Tang poems, and he can't compose poems and can chant them", so Jia Ding discovered a big secret, that is, the strength of the north is very problematic!

The reason for this is that the things sent by Naohide are getting better and better, especially after the opening of the port in June of the sixth year of Hakodate Ansei (1859), the northern land is no longer sending leather goods and dolls, but horse-drawn carriages, soaps, air guns, gramophones, and small telephones.

I must find someone to inquire, some foreigners have it, but some foreigners don't have it!

This is interesting.,Although Zhixiu has always said that it is an imitation of foreigners.,But foreigners don't have where you imitate them from!

In addition, Jia Ding has always had the impression that Zhixiu has "great powers", so he hit the right and stumbled by mistake, and discovered the fact that Zhixiu Taoguang was obscure.

And the Satsuma Domain, it is even more admired by the Naoxiu series of mountains:

In Qi Bin's study, there is still one thing in it, and this thing has become Qi Bin's heart disease.

What is it that makes Qi Bin not eat well and sleep well?

It turned out to be a breech gun!

In the fourth year of Jiayong (1851

Qi Bin, who had just taken over as the head of the family, wanted to engage in Lan-style ironmaking, and at that time, Saigo Takanaga jumped out and said, "The success of the shogunate's Nirayama ironmaking is due to one person, and that is the white lord acting official Naohide!" ”

So Qi Bin asked Saigo to go to the north pretending to be a businessman, but Saigo lived up to his trust and really got the iron-making process back, and Naohide also bought one and got two free, and gave "The Secret Art of Parenting" and the manufacturing method of the breech gun.

This "Secret Technique of Parenting", the effect is really good, Qi Bin's children have never died since then, but the breech gun is disgusting - it has been tossed for ten years, and Kagoshima has not succeeded in imitation!

Speaking of which, it's not that a handle can't be made, but it is made by hand, but it can't be mass-produced.

This is also the reason why Qi Bin was honest in Kagoshima during the Wuwu disaster in the fifth year of Ansei (1858) - it was okay to follow Qi Zhao to wave the flag and shout before, but from fanning the flames to going into battle himself, Qi Bin withered a little. This breech gun became Qi Bin's heart disease, and he didn't dare to do it if he didn't understand it.

In fact, there are still a lot of problems with the breech guns made by the Naoxiu series in Beimi back then:

With copper washers, the problem of holding air is not big; The problem of stuck shells is not a big problem because of the shell grabber; However, there are still many problems in the process, especially the unstable quality of the fire cap, and the duds occur from time to time.

But the generation difference is the generation difference, one hit ten is not successful, this hit five, or properly.

Although over the years, Qi Bin has figured things out in a roundabout way, and this breech gun was secretly bought by the shogunate from overseas back then, but there is a question he has been suspenseful, "How did Naoxiu get this manufacturing method?" ”

Ever since Satsuma took Naha from 1637 (the 14th year of Kanei), the Shimazu family has had a unique channel for the outside world, unlike other daimyos.

But until the sixth year of Ansei (1859), after the three ports of Fuso were opened to foreign trade, Westerners have been blockading Fuso with such a militaristic weapon - it is difficult to buy, let alone the production method!

Because he didn't know the details of Zhixiu, Qi Bin has always maintained a high degree of attention to the Zhixiu series.

"If there is nothing difficult in the world, you are afraid of people with hearts", or "if you are not afraid of thieves, you are afraid of thieves", this concern comes and goes, Satsuma, an outsider, knows the details of the northern land better than the shogunate!

Speaking of which, it's not surprising that in addition to Qi Bin, Kagoshima also attaches great importance to the Naoxiu series:

Satsuma's largest income comes from sugar, but since the 7th year of Kaei (1853), sugar beets have been widely cultivated in Hokkaichi, and this competitor can not pay attention.

As a result, after careful investigation, it was found that the source was a series of Western seeds from Nagasaki.

Daddy, so the relationship between Satsuma and the white lord became cold for a while, but the white lord merchant controlled more than half of the sugar beet production of the Hakodate government at that time, and it was impossible to break off the relationship, and he had to join forces to raise the price together with his nose.

Later, the cultivation of sugar beets spread, and it was useless to raise the price together, but the white lord began to buy a large number of Satsuma's tobacco, tea and raw silk at a fairly fair price, so the trade volume between the two sides continued to expand - Satsuma had a channel for Naha, but it couldn't be sold at a high price.

In this process, Qi Bin found that there might be a problem with the Zhixiu series:

Although he is dressed as a businessman, Qi Bin pushes people by himself, and this businessman is not controlled by the samurai.

At that time, the shogunate canceled the Zhuzhongma, but even if there was a direct transaction between the feudal domains, you could not make sense that you were doing a large business with a daimyo as an imperial lord, right?

Moreover, how many dings can the white lord and the box house have, is it enough to buy so many goods?

But at that time, Qi Bin thought that Zhixiu was like himself to do trade with foreign countries, and this object was very likely to be the three kingdoms of Britain, Mi, and Lu - in the second year of Anzheng (1855), Hakokan became a supply port for Britain, Mi, and Lan, and the north of the white lord was the territory of the Lu people, which was still convenient for secret trade.

In the fourth year of Anzheng (1857) and the fifth year, two battles of the White Lord broke out, and Qi Bin was even more convinced of this - without foreign aid, how could he defeat the Lu people, don't explain, the explanation is to cover up

Adorn.

But since the opening of the Hakodate port in the first year of Wanyan (1859), the reclusive Qi Bin did not dare to think so:

Of course, he also thinks that Naoxiu and others are second-class dealers, but this second-way dealer can not only sell, but also obviously produce his own!

When the three ports were opened to the outside world, foreign merchants gathered, and Satsuma did not worry about buyers of sugar, tea, and raw silk, so the trade with the Northland began to decline - but tobacco leaves could not be sold at a high price in the foreigners, so the trade between Kagoshima and Hakodate was not severed.

So Qi Bin found that unconsciously, Hakokan began to sell machinery, improved textile machines, silk reeling machines and even civilian steam cans, these things are silently sold.

Unlike the shogunate, which has a big business, Qi Bin single-handedly set up the integration hall business, and he really knows the difficulty of it after suffering a lot - the shogunate knows the Western industry best, and it is the Nirayama Egawa family, but what is the relationship between the Egawa family and the Hori family, why do you have nothing to do with this.

Although they are all civilian machinery, after Qi Bin found someone to evaluate, there seems to be no problem in producing guns and ships at this level.

But Qi Bin was very cunning, including the shogunate, who didn't tell him, but silently adjusted his attitude towards the Naoxiu family.

This is the darkness under the lights, and the Hakodate's self-built ironworks were run by the predecessor Hori Toshiki, and the shogunate didn't pay attention to it after Naohide took over - this shogunate is full of problems, who has the heart to pay attention to a small office.

But Qi Bin is different, he dreams about how to participate in politics, or how to say "the enemy who knows you best", he really noticed it through clues.

Of course, the Naohide family has always befriended Kagoshima, and even after studying in Saigo, they were still unclear with the Satsuma Seitakami through Okubo's previous relationship, which is also an important reason.

It turned out that after the two battles of Hakodate, Yoshii Tomomi and Tatsushi Atsushi wrote to Okubo:

"Which is higher than Kagoshima and Lucia?"

"The outcome is unknown."

Okubo saved face for the Satsuma samurai in his hometown, saying that the two were evenly matched, but for fear of causing misunderstandings, he added:

"A hundred British and Buddhist men can reach a thousand soldiers in Satsuma, not only the ordnance."

This disgusted Yoshii and the tax office, so he sent a book to argue, and in the end Okubo had no choice but to ask the two of them to go to the Hakokan to see it in person.

In the end, these two really went - in the first year of Wanyan (1860), Ii was stabbed to death, and Qi Bin returned to Kagoshima through activities, and these two felt that staying in Satsuma was no big deal, so they asked for leave and went to Hakokan.

During the period from the fifth year of Ansei (1858) to the first year of Wanyan, Qi Bin remotely controlled the retainers against the two fathers and sons of the pen family, Shimazu Tadakyo and Zhongde, among which the Jingzhong group made great efforts, so Yoshii and Shui said that they wanted to go to the north to see, and Qi Bin agreed, but told the two to "be sure to understand the reality of the box hall."

Speaking of which, as the only one who has fought with Westerners, the strength of the White Lord has always been the focus of attention of each family, but the White Lord has become more and more mysterious over the years, and it is useless to spy anything.

The reason, although the white lord is the imperial leader of the shogunate, but because the shogunate didn't pay attention to it when it was founded, it was basically a self-made family of Naoxiu, so it's quite a bit of "water can't be splashed, needles can't be inserted" meaning.

In addition, Naohide and others put their strength in Fengyuan and strictly controlled the flow of personnel externally.

So outsiders can only go to the white lord to shop, but what can be seen in this.

But Naoxiu did it, and the strength of the box pavilion group can also be used as a reference, so Qi Bin told the two of them like this.

It just so happens that the seventh month of the calendar year is the day of the Hakodate public drill - this is to commemorate the two battles of the White Lords, and the second is to deter Westerners.

Yoshii and the tax office just caught up, so they mixed in the crowd and blatantly watched it.

But after reading it, the two of them turned pale like earth, and after running back to Kagoshima, a thousand words were combined into one sentence:

"The shogunate's qi is not exhausted, and the northern land is invincible!"