In 1765, James the English? Watt began to improve the steam engine, and more and more powerful machines began to break through the limitations of manpower.

In the same year, James? Hargreaves invented the Jenny spinning machine and sounded the clarion call for big industry; In 1825, Stephenson's "Voyager" locomotive heralded the arrival of the railway age.

In 1830, the first Baltimore-Ohio railroad was built, which was only 13 miles (about 21 kilometers) long. By the time the Civil War broke out in 1861, the Mi people had a vast railway network of 22,000 miles in the north and 9,000 miles in the south.

But Saigo Takanaga never dreamed that he would be able to see such a thing as a train in the backward and closed Fuso!

On August 16, 1858, Monk Tsukisho and Saigo sneaked all the way and finally succeeded in delivering the "Wuwu Secret Decree" to the hands of the two reclusive lords of Mito, Qi Aki and Keito, which also happened to be the day Naohide returned to Hakodate from Edo.

But within a few days, the secret decree of the small court in Kyoto to Qi Zhao's father and son was leaked, and the monk Yuezhao and Saigo began to hide everywhere, and finally the search became tighter and tighter, and in desperation, Saigo had to find the house of the Hori family.

Okubo and Saigo were world friends, and Okubo Riji's father, Jiemon, was Naohide's Edo Chatou at the time, but actually played the role of the head of the Edo Hori family.

"Don't say anything, I won't hear what you say."

In fact, before leaving, Naohide once instructed Jiemon, "The situation has not been good recently, be careful, it's best not to see anyone and not say anything." ”

But Saigo Takanaga was raised under the watchful eye of Okubo Jiemon, and he didn't receive the favor of the Saigo family back then, so can this be looked at! Therefore, he sent Takanaga and Tsukizhao onto the cargo ship bound for the Northland through the emergency passage left by Naohide.

In fact, Saigo was unwilling, because he was in a hurry to return to Kagoshima to report to the Lord, and Tsukizhao was the same, and the big thing was leaked, and he had to hurry back to Kyoto to resume his life.

For this reason, the two brothers also played a trick - a day after the ship left Edo Bay, they forced each other to die, asking the bow of the ship to turn around and go to Osaka.

"Dreaming!"

This small cargo ship was originally left by Naohide for his son Fukutaro to run away, so he was Naohide's henchmen up and down, so when Saigo and Tsukizhao had drunk enough seawater, the bow fished them up, and then continued north.

When Naohide and Okubo heard about this, they couldn't help but look at each other, "How did these two hot potatoes come into their own hands!" ”

This must not be kept, so I tied Saigo to the Mi people whaling ship - it was already the ninth month of the Japanese calendar, that is, the October of the Western calendar, and the whale migration was almost gone, so, "Go to you, go to Beimi to study every day." ”

Of course, Saigo, as Okubo's hair and small hair, and Naohide's heart of the countryman has this treatment, and the monk Yuezhao who came with him even saw Naohide's face, and was sent away after giving a sum of money - although he was a celebrity in later generations like Saigo, but how to say it? Although Saigo was for the Satsuma family in the early days, but later he had the world in mind, but Yuezhao, who was born in a temple, had close contacts with the minister, and was extremely loyal to the royal family.

"The first shock, the second drunk, the last madness!"

When it came to New York, Saigo Takanaga's feelings were these three words.

Although there were no skyscrapers at the time – the iconic Montauk Building in Chicago was built in 1883, New York had beaten numerous by 1859

competitors, became the largest metropolis in North Rice, and sat on the throne of the most prosperous port.

At that time, New York had a population of nearly one million, and about 60% of all rice imports were disembarked here.

Although Edo is also known to have a population of one million, can it be compared to an agricultural city and an industrial city? The 100-meter cargo ships moored at New York Harbour are lined up, the smoky cranes are like huge demons, and there are not only horse-drawn carriages but also trains leading to the city.

Saigo was very bold, but he was still surprised when he saw these scenes for the first time!

At that time, the arrival time was a little late, and the bright gas lamps set off the magnificence of the street, but this scene seemed more and more eerie in the darkness to Saigo's eyes.

He entered the city like a marionette in a daze, and it wasn't until he saw Tiger.Bamboo (Takemae Toranosuke) that he came to his senses.

Because he had read Naohide's letter, Toranosuke was very eager for Saigo.

The two of them were old acquaintances, and when Naohide traveled to Kagoshima to study Kagoshima, Toranosuke knew Saigo, and this foreign country naturally had a closeness to his old acquaintance.

Now Toranosuke is the son-in-law of the wealthy Vanderbilt family, and he is the helmsman of the Naohide family in Beimi, and it is the time for the spring breeze to deliberate.

Of course, Naoxiu is still in Fusang Taoguang, so although the international students are arranged by Hu Zhisuke, they don't know his details.

However, Naohide instructed thousands of times in the letter, saying that Saigo Takanaga is a peerless national warrior, "It is related to Fusang's luck, and it should not be neglected." This evaluation made Toranosuke make an exception to pick up the dust for Saigo in his mansion.

Crystal lamps, red carpets, palace-like buildings, well-dressed servants, melodious music, and costumed hosts, despite the abundance of food, Saigo was stunned to notice what he was eating.

After that, Saigo was placed in the Faculty of Social Sciences at Vanderbilt University, where he began a difficult academic journey.

Although Saigo has some English background under the influence of Naohide, in fact, everything has to be started all over again - there is a gap between playing tickets and majors.

Fortunately, there are international students from the previous White Master in the university, and these people have helped Saigo a lot.

Although this era was a period of rapid development of science, except for mathematics, other disciplines were actually far less profound than those of later generations - Mendeleev discovered the periodic table on February 19, 1869, and the three major discoveries of natural science in the 19th century were the cell theory (1838-1839), the law of conservation and transformation of energy (1842-1847) and the theory of biological evolution (1859).

As for the social sciences, from two centuries ago John? Locke's self-mastery, the Flannish Enlightenment in the last century, and then the utilitarian self-mastery of this century, plus various philosophical and theological thoughts, are actually far less clear and profound than those of later generations.

But for Saigo, these are all things that he has not had deep contact with and thought about carefully, so he can't get out if he plunges into it.

"Westone is crazy!" - In order to keep it secret, the white master international students only use English names and name changes in the United States, and Westone is the English name of Xixiang.

Tiger (Toranosuke), who rushed to hear the news, pushed open the door and saw an astonishing sight, Saigo, who had always been burly, turned into a skeleton, but, "Well, it's angry, it's not dead." ”

So, Toranosuke greeted the professor and began to arrange for Saigo to enter the social investigation - in 1846-1849, Naohide, Eiko, Toranosuke, and Gakujiro

The four of them studied abroad and started a business in Mi, and there was a lot of confusion about Toranosuke at that time, and it was Naohide who let him get in touch with the corners of Western society a little bit, which stabilized the thinking of the two students.

Sure enough, interviewing the upper class, visiting the exchange and factories, visiting the slums, interviewing the workers, and going to the almshouse to investigate, the answers to this life are much more than the words in a book, and although Saigo did not understand it, he no longer struggled with right and wrong.

Previously instructed by Naohide, he engaged in agricultural promotion in Kagoshima, and although he was born as a samurai, his rank was not high when he was young, so he still has some understanding of the people's suffering, and the collision of the East and West societies has brought him a lot of confusion, but it has also given him a lot of insights - but it is Vanderbilt University, which has not been established for a few years, that is, the current energetic Toranosuke can provide various conveniences in Saigo.

But good things can also turn bad things, no, when Saigo had his own consciousness in 1860, he began to make trouble among the white master students, and established a club, because he was charismatic and actually quite a fan - as the only non-white master student, there was no one who could do this.

Fortunately, Toranosuke has a lot of experience in this, and his thoughts have changed a lot after studying abroad, and there are even those who refuse to return to Fuso after death!

But what?

The Vanderbilt family is now the king of New York, with shipping, railroad, steel, ordnance, and retail dominating the whole meter, while Toranosuke manages laboratories and industries that are now quite strong.

Therefore, if you don't want to go back to Fusang, you can't find a place for you - as for the ones that come out again, such as those who want to travel around the world or live in seclusion, then there is no way, you can only tie up the whaling ship and return to the white master! It is estimated that I will be honest when I see my parents and relatives.

Therefore, although Saigo made a fuss, Toranosuke felt that it was nothing after hearing it, "industry saves the country and enlightens the people", isn't this what Naohide and himself have been silently preaching.

And Saigo hasn't been going smoothly all the time:

This is much more ruthless than Naohide and himself, and he actually secretly proposed to "respect the emperor and unify Fusang", but the students of the white lord are not stupid, someone asked him, "What will happen to Shimazu Hou after success?" ”

Saigo couldn't help but be dumbfounded.

"But my Tokugawa general can be defeated, so why is your master so good? Besides, why is the Fuso royal family so honorable, I don't kneel to people in the United States, and I don't kneel to people when I return to the white lord under the leadership of His Royal Highness Zhixiu, you say that you respect the royal family, with a big face. ”

Most of the early immigrants of the White Lord were filthy and non-human, and there were many Ainu and Hezhe children, most of these students studied abroad in this background, and the young people were righteous, so what is the royal family. Can you eat it?

Xixiang, who was dumbfounded when asked, only went back to find a way, but what kind of ideas could he come up with, Naoxiu mainly sent international students to the United States, just to cut off the roots of this natural nobleman!

Since then, Saigo has been much more honest, and can only use the name of "industry to save the country and fair participation" to close the younger brother.

In 1860, when Hamrimmaru visited Rice, the delegation also arrived in New York, and a grand welcome ceremony was held, and Saigo and his classmates also went to watch.

Originally, it was my own people who came to visit, and I should give face, but after I came back, everyone felt a little ashamed, and the traditional clothes were a little out of place, but I had two knives in my waist, and I really thought I was Tianle tofu!

Fuso, which is out of the times, is clearly revealed in front of everyone for the first time - everyone knew it before, but it was possible to pretend not to know, and this time, it is impossible to pretend that it is even more difficult to pretend.