Yes, after day and night discussions, at dawn on June 8, the Haiphong Hangers decided to accept the Mi Ren State Letter, the reason is very simple, because the Shogunate has a great weakness - there are many weaknesses in the Shogunate, but there is only one weakness recognized by the Haiphong Hangers at this time, and the Mi Ren Admiral Perry also vaguely guessed this.

On July 10, Perry's survey ship arrived near Kannonzaki – the Inland Sea of Edo Bay beyond that. On the same day, Kayama Saemon boarded the Saskana in the capacity of Uraga and asked to meet Admiral Perry, but Perry still asked the adjutant to come forward to receive him.

Xiangshan's trip revealed a flaw, Mi Ren didn't suspect that he was a fake Governor of Uraga, but Xiangshan's sudden appearance reminded Perry, why did Governor Uraga suddenly appear and was very excited between words, what did we do?

After thinking about it, Perry and the others understood a little.

Perry's initial plan was not to waste time in Nagasaki with irrelevant shogunate officials, and to negotiate directly near the opponent's "capital" Edo, so as not to be defeated by the Fuso people with delaying tactics - the relationship between the royal family and the shogun of Fuso, including the Lan people, at this time no one in the Western countries could understand, even Siebold was confused, so Perry thought that the shogunate was a feudal king, and also recognized Edo as the capital of Fuso.

Perry had already attached great importance to the capital city of Edo, and on the 5th day of the sixth month of the Japanese calendar (July 10th of the Western calendar), Kayama showed unusual excitement after boarding the ship for the first time, and Perry quickly reacted to this, believing that it was because his survey ship was close to the inland sea of Edo Bay.

But is it at all? It remains to be verified.

So the next day, he asked the survey ship to continue its march towards the inland sea, and sure enough, Kayama Saemon reappeared, and expressed even greater indignation.

At this point, Perry has basically confirmed, but in order to further verify, on July 12, Perry asked the survey ship to move forward a little more, and sure enough, Kayama Saemon came again, this time he almost burst into tears, begging the rice people to be patient a little longer, "the answer will come immediately".

As a result, Admiral Perry finally determined that Fuso was very worried about his own intrusion into Edo Bay. So what is there in Edo Bay to be so worried about? Perry and the people around him only know one thing, and that is Edo, the "capital" of Fuso.

Perry was overjoyed, and declared to his lieutenant, "We have the key to victory, because we have now discovered our opponent's Achilles heel." ”

Achilles is a hero in Homer's epic poems who is invulnerable and invincible, but his only weakness is his heels, which is later discovered by the enemy, and Achilles is killed in battle.

Perry believed that Fuso's "Achilles heel" was Edo, and that as long as he showed a threat to Edo, his opponent would definitely give in.

It turned out that Admiral Perry was not wrong, and Edo was indeed the shogunate's greatest weakness at this time, and several coastal defense hangers agreed to accept the credentials because they were worried about the shelling of Edo.

Of course, the process is not so easy.

On the 7th day of June in the Heli calendar (July 12 in the Western calendar), several coastal defenses quarreled all night over the war.

At this time, the shogunate had a total of nine coastal defense hangers, and all of them came to Uraga except for Tokugawa Qizhao - although Qi Zhao did not come, Fujita Biao, a henchman, also came as an agent.

These nine coastal defense hangers have high powers, in addition to serving as coastal defense hangers, according to their own positions from the highest to the end, the old feudal lord of Mito, the old prince of Mito, the Omefu Tsutsui Masano, the Kanjo Kawaji Shengmo and Mizuno Tadatoku, the Kanding Ginmi and the Nirayama acting official Egawa Hideryu, and the remaining four are all the highest positions of the Imperial Metsu, including Hori Rishi, Nagai Naoshi, Iwase Tadashi, and Okubo Tadahiro.

These nine have significant reputations and talents, and except for Qi Zhao, they all have a certain amount of research on Lanxue - don't get me wrong, it is not necessarily Lan scholars who have studied Lanxue, and it is Mr. Jiangchuan Tan'an who dares to openly call himself an Lan scholar here.

After being appointed as a coastal defense hanger, these people had access to secrets such as wind stories obtained by the shogunate, so over the course of the year, even those who didn't know about it also learned about it—including the original mallet Fujita Toranosuke, who also had access to a lot of Western information through Qi Zhao.

These people are most concerned about the agreement between the Western countries and China, and when they really see it, they are all as pale as dirt - of course they can't open the secret agreement, but the content of the convention is reported by the newspapers of Western countries, and Gakujiro only spends money in the United States and has his own scholars take the initiative to help collect and analyze.

Don't look at the Mito doctrine on weekdays, but even Fujita feels that Fuso may not be as good as China, and if this is founded, I am afraid the result will be even more miserable.

Even Fujita is like this, and the other eight coastal defense hangers, including Mr. Tanan, are even more worried.

But since everyone is worried, why do they still agree to accept the credentials of the Mi people?

Because the more worried you are, the more you have to accept it - Perry thinks that the "Achilles heel" of Fuso is Edo, and although the coastal defense hangers do not know what the "Achilles heel" is, the opinion that "Edo is the place where the enemy attacks and I will save it" is unanimous.

The Odaiba on both sides of the Uraga Waterway has not been built, but isn't the Odaiba off the coast of Shinagawa basically completed?

Of course, I'm afraid, the so-called "son of a daughter can't sit down", who dares to guarantee that Edo can be safe and sound in the war? Edo is the base camp of the Tokugawa family, and if Edo is really broken, I am afraid that the Tokugawa shogunate is in danger of overturning - even if it does not fall, it is inevitable that its prestige will fall, and the princes of the world will also be ready to move, and it will be difficult to start another troubled era like the Sengoku Momoyama period.

Therefore, unless there is a certainty of total victory or a situation of last resort, it is impossible to start a war - even Fujita Biao does not dare to deny this.

Is there any certainty of victory? Didn't fight who knows. Besides, if you win this time, what will you do next time Mi Ren comes? Even if the rice people don't come, which one of England, Lucia, and France is easy to mess with.

The 3-inch rifled cannon and electrolyte-triggered mines are divine weapons, but the shogunate can't make them themselves, and if they run out, they will only be left with dry stares.

If there is no certainty of total victory, is it now a "last resort"?

I can't talk about it, this rice man only said to submit the national credentials, and no one knows what is written in the national credentials? If it were really like what Ham Heng said, it was "asking for a port of refuge, a supply port, and a treaty port", I don't think that's a big deal.

"Who says it's nothing?!" As a result, before the Haiphong voice fell, several people immediately jumped out to object, but soon these people started fighting on their own, because some people proposed "it is best to keep it as it is", and as a result, they were collectively ridiculed, "You look beautiful and think more beautiful, these four black ships are violent, are they coming to Fusang to fight soy sauce?!" ”

In addition to the eight coastal defense hangers and one agent, there were two unlucky people who had been pretending to be dumb on the side, and these two unlucky people were none other than the Uraga commissioner, Lord Toda Sakae, and his deputy, Hiromichi Ito.

At the beginning, these two were quite calm, but the pot was thrown out, and it was not good to watch the drama? - can't talk about schadenfreude, after all, the whole audience is just his two brothers, and the credit for doing a good job belongs to others, and if they don't do a good job, the first pot will have to be deducted from their faces.

But it seems that these two feel that something is wrong, and several Haiphong adults seem to be arguing, so these two have to come out to solve the siege, although the status is a little embarrassing, but they can't look at the boss to quarrel

- Even if you can watch your boss argue, you have to make a result, now that the sky is dawning, do you want to sleep and then continue to argue? The rice people are not used to you, maybe the black boat will sail to the sea off Shinagawa before the quarrel.

Besides, although Toda and Ido are now in low office, these two are also big body banners, and they are really the same as those here - except for Toranosuke Fujita of Mito, who is a courtier, and if it weren't for the name of Qi Zhao, everyone wouldn't have bothered with him.

"Ahem, didn't there be thirteen charters and forty-two articles to deal with before, do you want to refer to it?"

After listening to the words of Toda and Ido, everyone present had a big red face - which pot is not opened and which pot is not mentioned, at that time, the nine coastal defenses were fighting endlessly to make such a big stall, because everyone desperately stuffed private goods into it, only paying attention to whether their own opinions were inside, and who cared about the opinions of others? So they didn't even look at it all.

I'm tired after arguing for half a night, so it's good to take a sip of tea and take a break, so everyone spread out and took a break in the name of checking information. But I didn't intend to insert willows and willows, and since Toda and Ido said so, it must have something to say, and there really is one that fits the current situation.

This article reads, "If you need to be in a dilemma and have a dispute, it is recommended to use a delaying tactic, and you might as well see what the rice people want to do, and then make a decision." I don't know which genius wrote it, but it's quite appropriate. Everyone suddenly realized that the Mi people always said that the national book and the national book, what is the national book, no one knows so far.

Originally, I wanted to delay until the rice people's food and grass diet was exhausted, but now that I can't delay it anymore, I might as well ask the content of the national letter first, if it is really like China, I will fight.

The two brothers Toda and Ido grinned when they heard this, "Everyone, we have reported before, and we didn't dare to decide whether to accept the credentials, so we didn't ask what was written in it directly—for fear of causing unnecessary misunderstandings." But the side also inquired, and the Mi people said that their Admiral Perry openly claimed that 'the content of the letter of state will not be revealed before receiving the letter of state'. ”

It seems that you really have to receive the letter of state, otherwise you can't explain to the shogunate if you fight rashly, imagine it:

If the prince and the old man asked, "Why did you fight?" ”

- "Because I didn't receive the credentials." ”

"Is that because there is something embarrassing or even excessive in the national letter?"

- "I don't know. ”

Isn't this Kyogen – Kyogen interspersed in Noh is known for its comical dialogue.

But receiving the letter of state means that you must give a reply, in case the Mi Admiral Perry asks for a "three-day reply" again, then the fun will be great, so Kayama Saemon you go again, and say to the Mi people, "The public is unwell, and he can only give a reply the next year." If it works, it will accept the letter of state, and if it doesn't work, then ——, then come back and discuss. ”

Originally, this decision was not so easy to pass, anyway, Mito's Fujita Toranosuke was resolutely opposed, saying that receiving the letter of origin was a compromise, but this time no one paid attention to him, and the cub sold Yeda was not distressed, and this fight was not in Mito, of course you pretended to be big.

Among the remaining eight coastal defense hangers, Daimu Fu Tsutsui has the highest status in the constitution, the Kanding Chuan Road Shengmo has the highest prestige, and the Kanding Yinwei service Jiangchuan Yinglong has the oldest qualifications in the coastal defense hanging, and these three all said that "it doesn't matter if you continue to delay, it doesn't matter if you really want to use swords and soldiers, anyway, it is the way to seek the country by taking the national letter first."

These three all said so, and the remaining five also felt that this was the truth, so they decided to go back to sleep quickly, tomorrow, no, today I will buy it and stare at it, so be it.

On the 8th day of the sixth month of the Japanese calendar and the 13th day of the seventh month of the Western calendar, Saemon of Yorikayama pretended to be Uraga and boarded the Saskana.