At the end of the sixth month of the Japanese calendar (the beginning of August in the Western calendar), two major events occurred in Edo: one was the sudden appointment of a large number of coastal defense hangers by the shogunate, and the other was the sudden closure of Odaiba, which, according to the townspeople, began to be transported into large cylinders, and also began to drill in ashigaru.

For the latter news, Okubo knows more than ordinary townspeople - the ancestors of the Zaoya Group were all born in the "Obangumi" of the shogunate's standing army, and most of them are still serving in the Obangumi, so they are much more well-informed.

This time, the shogunate has made a decision.

Originally, the shogunate's land standing army "Dingban" was the "Sanban Group" or "Goban Group" - the Sanban Group was the main force, consisting of the "Obangumi", "Shoin Group" and "Koban-gumi", and the Goban-side was in addition to the Sanban Group plus the Shinban and the Minor Ten People - in fact, there was also a "Gosho Group", but because it was mainly composed of the Imperial Family, it was not taken seriously.

This time, it was actually under the Oban-gumi to become the "Odaiba Group", and the elite soldiers were drawn from the five sides to recruit samurai children, and they were mainly trained in the big barrel every day, and they were usually stationed near Odaiba.

Okubo hadn't cared about this before, but when he received the news, he was shocked, "I only remembered the Kenban Group after this platform was built", it's like thinking about planting rice until I had to eat, which is a little too funny.

He rushed to the Egawa family's mansion in the evening, and happened to meet Mimefu Oguri Tadashun who was also there, and Mr. Tanan knew that Okubo was thoughtful, so he asked him to participate in the deliberations.

Originally, there was only one person in the shogunate's coastal defense, Taro Saemon, and to put it bluntly, this position was to house Mr. Tanan - the old gentleman has always been obsessed with coastal defense, and the old middle school gave him such a position in order to appease Egawa, who had made great achievements.

Haiphong was able to participate in foreign affairs and coastal defense, and was considered a senior advisor to the shogunate.

In 1850, Mr. Egawa took office in Haiphong and did one of the most important things he did was to promote the construction of Odaiba, but the old man was too involved in it, and he found out that he had been plotted against after the construction of Odaiba was completed.

And Oguri Tadashun only returned to Edo in April this year, he transferred from Nagasaki Metsuke to Mimesuke, just a few days after taking office, and after taking office, he was sent to the construction site to supervise the construction of Odaiba, so he didn't notice the undercurrent - as for Oguri's father Tadaka, although he wrote many times to remind the two, but because the distant country pursued Tadaka in the field, the information he had was not comprehensive, and the relationship between father and son had only eased in recent years, so Oguri also ignored his father's reminder.

As a result, this major reshuffle of the shogunate's tenure dealt a major blow to Egawa and the Oguri lineage.

The cause of the incident came from two wind stories - one from Hamheng and the other from Kurtius, the new Lankoku merchant house "Kapitan" in Nagasaki.

In both wind stories, a major event is mentioned, that is, the rice warship is definitely coming.

Kapitan is another name for the director of the Lan State Commercial Museum, and Kurtius is the new Kapitan. He arrived in Nagasaki in the middle of the sixth month of this year's Japanese calendar (the end of the seventh month of the Western calendar) on a merchant ship from the Ran Kingdom, and immediately after his arrival he informed the relevant shogunate officials of the event.

As a result, before the Nagasaki Governor Osawa Ataku and Nagasaki Metsuke on duty this year discussed the results, the merchant ships of Hamheng Foreign Company also entered the port, and the submitted wind story described the matter in more detail, and also provided the number and specifications of the rice ships that may appear.

Since Naohide's return from overseas, the shogunate's attitude towards Rangaku has changed dramatically.

In the past, Lan Xue tended to talk dryly, and there were very few physical objects, and even the Lan books he got were based on his face - the Lan people who had been trading for many years did not know whether they were afraid of the views of the shogunate officials who were well versed in Confucianism or did not care, and the Lan books provided were one piece in the east and one in the west, which was completely unsystematic.

Of course, this can't all be blamed on the Rankoku Shokan, the shogunate has never made specific requests

is one of the reasons.

However, since Naohide returned to Japan and brought a large number of objects and books, Hamhyung & Co. continued to keep importing, and both Naohide and Gakujiro sent back things from the perspective of Fuso, and the practicality and systematization were very high, so the shogunate's interest in Ranxue increased greatly.

For example, although the shogunate still did not lift the ban on the construction of large ships, the shogunate built several of them as high-speed communication ships based on the clippers brought back by Naohide, and the manufacturing methods gradually spread to the feudal domains and the private sector, and although they did not completely replace the boats, there were many of them over the years.

This time it was a letter sent by the clipper ship, and within five days, the letter was placed on the desk of the chief Abe attendant of the old middle school.

After receiving the bad news, of course, Lord Abe was unhappy, and of course he had to share it with his colleagues when he encountered something unhappy, so he quickly gathered the old middle school and related people, and everyone collectively discussed how to deal with it.

At this time, the wind storytelling was still a secret of the shogunate, and even the daimyo of the spectrum and the shogunate's own distant country commissioners were not allowed to hear about it, but Egawa Taro Saemon was hung in coastal defense, so he also saw the wind storytelling, but at the beginning, only the old and middle schools participated, and Mr. Tanan's qualifications were not enough.

But soon Mr. Tanan joins the discussion, and Mimefu Oguri Tadashun is also involved—because the discussion inevitably expands.

It turns out that the old and middle school are all cunning people who have experienced thousands of mountains and rivers, and of course they are not willing to express their stance easily. But there is no result, no, the public also got the news, and sent people every day to hurry up with their opinions, so since everyone didn't say it, then find someone who dared to say it, so the old middle school distributed the wind story to the next level, that is, if the year is sent, the big eye pay, the three commissions (the temple shrine is pursued, the Edo Town is enforced, and the Kanding is enforced), Nagasaki is enforced, and Haiphong is hanging.

But the people below are not dry eaters, and they still say some ambiguous words, which are very reasonable at first but do not make any decisions when they listen carefully.

Only Taro Egawa Saemon shouted, "What the hell are we going to discuss?" We can talk about whether or not we will be able to trade or not, but hurry up and bring the large cylinders and other ordnance from the rice ship to Edo, so don't delay the business! ”

As a result, Mr. Tan'an was beaten up before his words fell, and the big-eyed Fu Hori Riken came forward to scold, "Is that a rice boat?" It's obviously a ship! Jiang Chuan, you are a little sensitive to governance, okay? ”

Although Mr. Tanan was scolded, the proposal was passed, and it was true that the meeting was going to be opened, but the big tube could not be unlucky, so the Nagasaki in the prefecture pursued the pastoral system and hurriedly sent a letter to the Nagasaki minister in the country, Osawa Yasuta, "The wind said that the story was received, and it was hard work." But the follow-up matters are still being discussed, so what, you hurry up and send the goods sent by the Tang people to Edo. ”

The old middle school refused to express their position, but the officers of the next level refused to come forward if they did the same, Egawa Taro Saemon wanted to say, but the stakes were very high, and he had just been caught by Ome Furi Riken and sprayed in the wrong place, so it was inconvenient for him to talk about it anymore.

The current public image is the twelfth generation of the Tokugawa family to conquer the great shogun Jiakei, this public model is not good, the father is the famous longevity general Jiaqi (1773-1841), Jiaqing stayed up until the eighth year of Tenpo (1837) forty-five years old before taking over as a general, this is not that the father saw that he was old and pitied him, but the situation at that time was too bad, and he was pushed out of the top cylinder.

Ieqi is a famous loser, on the same level as Shigehiro Shimazu and Nabeshima, and lives in luxury, and these three have caused the shogunate, Satsuma Domain, and Saga Domain to be scourged.

At that time, it was the end of the "Tenpo Murder" (1833-1839), the people were not living well, and the small imperial court in Kyoto also came out to brush up their presence.

After the retirement of the Great Imperial Family, Qi has always held the real power of the shogunate, and it is not easy to wait for the father to hang up, and the Gongfang Jiaqing is already forty-nine years old, so what is the ambition at this time

Zhi also wore out.,So he entrusted the shogunate to the old middle school led by Abe.,His own handling of political affairs is based on the principle of "nothing to do".

But the more afraid things are, the more things will happen, over the years, the Nanban ship knocking on the port has been happening, there is a lesson from the battle of the South China Sea in England ten years ago, and the public Fang Jiaqing is afraid that this matter will also happen to him, so anything can be involved in the Nanban ship.

Therefore, the discussion of the wind story could not be delayed until now-the old middle school refused to express their position, and the officials of the next level refused to come forward, so the shogunate had to continue to expand the scope of the discussion, this time bringing in the Mimefu and Kanjo ginmi service to participate in the discussion-but at this point, the shogunate still retained a little sanity, and kept the pedigree daimyo and the distant country commission, and other commissions secret, so as not to cause panic.

The situation changed dramatically after the addition of Mimesuke, Kanjo Ginmi, and others, who were a little younger and had a relatively aggressive attitude towards shogunate, so two schools of thought were quickly formed:

One faction is the hardliners, demanding the reinstatement of the "Foreign Ship Expulsion Order", which is also known as the Foreign Ship Fighting Order, saying that as long as the Nanban ship is found, it will be expelled, and there is nothing to talk about with such a shameless barbarian as the United States.

The other faction is the moderate, thinking that the "Fuel and Fresh Water Supply Order" issued in the fourteenth year of Tianbao (1843) is very good, and it doesn't matter if the Western ship goes to the port of Fuso to add a charcoal supply point for grain, vegetables, fresh water, etc., but the opening of the port and trade will be exempted, and these Westerners in the province will have to inch in, in case something bad will be troublesome.

The moderates believed that Odaiba had already been built and that Edo was good enough to defend itself, so it would be easier for the rice boats to come and ask for trade, and as before, let them go to Nagasaki and wait for news and drag it around.

And if the rice ship is really arrogant, then it is not impossible to trade, Xianheng Commercial Bank is not bad in this way, private trade and the quota is limited, everything is under control.

As for Mr. Egawa Tanan and Oguri Tadajun, they don't seem to have a good relationship with them, but now they are in the minority, and no one echoes the views of these two - these two people don't dare to take the liberty of saying that the founding of the country is supreme, but they just think that Odaiba has a limited role, and it may still be risky to really fight, and although Edo will not turn into a sea of fire, it will definitely suffer a lot. Therefore, the best way is to develop the orchid industry as soon as possible, and when it grows, it can be fought and settled.

But these words were ridiculed by everyone, this Shinagawa Odaiba was supervised by Egawa's major Oguri, and it can't be said when it is cultivated, so why do you have to repair it.

Mr. Tanan was so angry that his eyes were full of stars, and the shogunate had this condition, no money, no big tube, no big ship, and the old man worked hard to repair Odaiba, and this was wrong.

The old middle school was still more considerate of Jiang Chuan and comforted him a few words, but they disagreed with him and Xiao Li's opinion, "It doesn't take time to develop the orchid industry, the rice boat came the next year, just like dropping eye drops from the second floor, the distant water can't quench the thirst at all." ”

However, Egawa Taro Saemon mentions the construction of large ships, which reminds us of a famous person who is the head of the Mito Tokugawa family, the famous person who proposed the lifting of the ban on the construction of large ships early on, and who has always insisted on strengthening coastal defenses.

The old and middle officials who are now participating in the discussion are all the daimyo of the Tokugawa family, the daimyo of the pedigree, and the Daishiki banner, and the founding of the country and trade is related to the major politics of the Tokugawa family, so it is somewhat unreasonable if it were not for the participation of representatives of the Gosanke and the Gosankei.

So headed by Ome Fu Hori Riken, he asked to invite Tokugawa Qi Zhao to enter the city to discuss the matter, and the chief Abe attendant of the old middle school agreed, and Qi Zhao also came soon and made a clever speech, but Qi Zhao's rapid arrival caused the vigilance of many people present - Qi Zhao is the previous head of the Mito family, and he is still carrying the punishment of "forced seclusion", if he has to express his position on behalf of the Imperial Three Family and the Imperial Three Secretaries, then the current head of the Mito family, Keito, is also twenty-one years old, and he is also in the Edo Mansion, why do you have to Qi Zhao this time?