On August 16, 1862, the shogunate ordered the Hakujo Matsumae family to consider whether or not to agree to cooperate with the Aizu Domain.

According to the request of the princess Jiashige, in order not to arouse the alarm of outsiders, Naohide still pretended to ask the head of the family, so after some sailing exchanges, he submitted the documents on the 15th day of the eighth month of the leap month, and officially agreed to send troops.

Then, Aizu and the White Lord joined forces to submit the Joraku plan, and the shogunate quickly replied:

"Yes".

All of them didn't cause any waves before, but then the shogunate and the families couldn't calm down - just after the Fuso Chrysanthemum Festival, on September 10, Gongfang Jiamao led the people to inspect the Shangluo Domain, and everyone was surprised.

As soon as the white army appeared, it took the lead.

The Aizu clan in front is okay, but the costumes are still a mixture of Fuso and Western, with narrow-sleeved Wu clothes on the upper body and Western-style pants on the bottom.

But the white lord of the vassal soldiers, dressed in a water and ground, not only that, but also shiny on his head and shining under his feet.

It turned out that Naohide and Murata Yongmin started to organize the army, and they took the road of complete westernization, and not only that, but in recent years, steel helmets and leather shoes have also been popularized - steel helmets are for protection, as for leather shoes, in the current road conditions of Fuso, straw shoes or wooden shoes, long-term marching is not embarrassing.

But such a line is not strange in the Northland, but it is out of the limelight in Edo!

Now that the port has been open to the outside world for three years, although leather shoes are no longer strange, they are affordable for ordinary people;

As for the steel helmet, now everyone wears the leeks promoted by Jiangchuan Tan'an, why do you wear such a beautiful hat - modern steel helmets did not appear until decades later, and there were no foreigners at this time, so everyone had not heard of it.

But no one is stupid, looking at the thick appearance, you know that it is a good thing to protect your head.

This straight show is copied from the military uniforms of later generations, and a single set is very eye-catching, and now more than 200 people appear so collectively, it is even more dazzling.

Therefore, not to mention that the samurai at all levels who accompanied him looked stupid, even the guards general's small surname Fan and Academy Fan also pinched their teeth:

"Why, if the foreign domain can have it, we must have such a set when we go back."

Although I was very surprised to see it, everyone comforted each other, there are many goods in the world, and this "silver-like wax gun head" is not impossible.

But in the subsequent drills, the white master soldiers still showed off, and completely let everyone put away their little peeps:

Static shooting, almost on target, you must know that this is nearly three Ding (327 meters) away;

And the gathering of the crowd drill also made everyone look relaxed - no way, although the white main army did not fight in array, but the skirmish line smashed the scarecrow on the opposite side into debris, which can be seen clearly with a clairvoyant mirror.

As the saying goes, "insiders look at the doorway, laymen look at the liveliness", this Gongfang Jiamao is looking at the lively gang, so he has many problems:

"Those who are in front of the battle, all march forward in array. Why did you move forward in such a mess, and then lie down on your own while fighting? ”

For such a major event as Shangluo, of course Matsudaira Shigertoshi, the nominal head of the white lord's family, will go out in person, and as a son-in-law of the princess, he can of course mix with Jiamao's side.

Hearing his father-in-law who was the same age as him ask, he had to hold back a laugh and replied seriously:

"Time has changed, and now the iron cannon can reach far and accurately, so it cannot be arrayed.

As for the prone shot, the breech is also. ”

In fact, not only Mao Min didn't understand, but few of the ministers and princes around him understood, and it was natural to listen to it

There is a gain—in fact, I still don't really understand.

At this time, as the other protagonist of this tour, Matsudaira Rongho of Aizu, he was in a hurry and jumped out to explain:

"Don't say anything, the white lord will come up."

Not long after, a North Subway cannon was inspected and brought up.

Rong Bao was not too troublesome, and explained to Jiamao in person:

"This is rifling, and with this it is accurate and far away, and if it is marching in formation, it will be slow, and the man will be shot out before he can catch fire;

As for prone shots, you look here. ”

Saying that, Rong Bao made a bolt reload, indicating that lying down also delayed the reloading and firing - tactical innovation always lags behind the progress of weapons, and now that the ordnance has improved, the art of war will naturally change, this is what the white master wants to express.

And the reason why Rongbao is so active is because:

First, when he practiced together with the two families a few days ago, he was shocked a lot, and he didn't sleep well for several days after he went back, so now he wants to communicate with everyone with a belly full of words - I think this matter is going to hang, let's have a snack;

Secondly, this Gongfang Jiamao wants to brush his face on everyone's face, so he has to watch the two drills, but the white lord Zhuyu is in front, and Aizu really can't afford to lose this face, so no matter what, he has to say it so that he can cancel his own soldiers and horses to make a fool of themselves.

Sure enough, after watching the North Subway Cannon, everyone was a little excited, and then Rong Bao asked to cancel the appearance of the Aizu soldiers, and Jiamao also casually agreed.

Although the scale of this Tokumaruhara drill was very small for the sake of safety, and there were only less than 300 people from each of the two Shangluo families, and Aizu had not yet appeared in the competition, but after the tiger head and snake tail were hastily over, the matter still quickly caused waves:

General Jiamao, Elder Qingyong, and General Hou saw Qingxi, and the three of them got together the next day, surrounding a breech iron cannon in the north, and everyone frowned and studied what to do.

I thought that after the opening of the port, even if I didn't learn all the Western skills, I knew the roots, but I didn't expect that this Westerner did not play cards according to common sense, and now there are such sharp weapons coming out.

Now the top priority of the shogunate is the combination of public and military forces, and Emperor Fuso shouts every day, so the premise of the combination of public and military is to fight for it. But this is a rebellion, are foreigners willing to give in obediently, and it is not backed by force.

When the envoy Ohara Shigetoku made a special trip to Edo on June 7 and left in late August, the shogunate had promised, "The shogun will personally go to Rakuro and then discuss with the imperial court about the rebellion." ”

But looking at this breech iron cannon, it is a person who knows that the armed confrontation is hanging, so if it can't be destroyed, how can the combination of public and military forces be done, is it possible that Jiamao went to Kyoto and said, "Disperse, don't do anything", this matter is over?

No, I can't.

Of course, the white lord Matsudaira Shigetoshi said that now this snuffbox breech iron cannon, the Hakodate Ironworks have long been successful in imitating the skills of foreigners, and not only that, but now the Yokohama Ironworks near Edo can also imitate it.

As soon as we came back, we confirmed that it was indeed Yokohama that it was the merit of Koguri Tadashun - in the first year of Bunkyu (1861), he was transferred back from Hakodate to Takeda Kaizaburo, and after Takeda made the head of the Yokohama Iron Works, he worked hard to manage it, and now he can indeed make this snuffbox breech iron cannon.

But the problem is that Mao Min also said something else:

"Ironclad ships, breech rapid-fire guns, according to the foreign merchants of Hakodate, this militaristic weapon is also booming."

Isn't this nonsense, the more feelings chase foreigners, the faster they run, so it seems that Fusang eats jujube pills.

The three of them looked at each other and sat down all morning

Those who dared to disturb were scolded, but they still didn't come up with any tricks.

In the end, there was nowhere to vent this belly fire, and the three of them called the head of the martial arts institute over and scolded him:

The duty of the military institute is to reform the military system and cultivate talents, and this snuffbox has been made a long time ago, why has it not been promoted! Everyone knows that the white master Matsumae family knows well, and they are equipped as soon as possible, what's the use of raising you?!

The head of the school didn't even dare to fart, and obediently said that he had disappointed the expectations of the public and asked to apologize.

But Qingyong asked him to go back and make meritorious contributions.

It turned out that according to the convention, the leader of the five sides of the shogunate's standing army was the real boss of the martial arts, and this head was just an executioner, and it didn't count, so he didn't have to die Mao, because the root was not with him.

But the leaders of these five parties are all old ministers, and they can't be humiliated at will, but since their problems with eating ancient things have been revealed, they have to be solved.

The eyes of the three flashed, and they made up their minds to reform the shogunate - everyone fights, but they can't smash the pot for eating.

However, innovation can be done slowly, and this wildfire still can't be suppressed, so the three of them called the survey commissioners over again and reprimanded them:

"Oguri knows the benefits of this snuffbox breech cannon, how dare you not take it to heart!

If he has not returned from an overseas mission, don't you know how to fill in the gaps? ”

Everyone surveyed only promises, and everyone swept Takeuchi Hotoku with their eyes:

"We all just took office this year, only you and Oguri are staying, let's say something."

But Takeuchi's experience is as old as it is, and he didn't say a word, so he mixed it up - he said in his heart, whether it can be made or not, this is our business, can be used or not, this can only be said by our survey, why do you climb others with this head, and the above is not unknown.

The turmoil in the center of the shogunate is not light, and the princes and shogunates are not calm either:

"Did you hear that?"

"I've heard about it, just say it."

"This Tokumaruha drill, the public sample was present in person, and as a result, the white lord Matsudaira family took out a snuffbox, which caused a commotion throughout the whole process."

"What? Snuff bottles, what are you doing with this thing, it's crazy. ”

In short, he knows, understands that it is the turmoil caused by ordnance, and if he doesn't know, he always wants to know, so the white lord is famous!

It didn't take long for the streets and alleys of Edo to be discussed, so the name of the white lord Fuso's strong army spread far and wide.

The advantage of the Zhixiu series is that there are more smiling faces, and everyone no longer regards their own nouveau riche - the white master is the nouveau riche among the nouveau riche, and it is said that the thief is rich.

But there are also disadvantages:

Because of the two battles of the White Lord in the fourth year of Anzheng (1857) and the fifth year, Naoxiu has the reputation of being a pioneer, but because the White Lord is now dressed in a thorough Western dress, he now has the reputation of slipping down to foreign slaves - no matter how it drops, Fusang is not good, Nirayama Kasa is the invention of your mentor Mr. Tan'an, and now he changes the pot to the head, this is not ungrateful.

But not to mention the folk comments, the princes and ministers are not stupid, knowing that the white lord is the first to take the lead this time, and he will shine in the future, so they have found a way to make friends.

At this time, the drill was over, and the head of the White Lord, Matsudaira, had already gone to Luo, and only Naohide was still in Edo, so it was a moment of excitement - because everyone wanted to know how this new art of war should be operated.

With this effect, even if it was not in vain in the exercise, Naoxiu slowly expanded his social circle, and soon, another opportunity to be in the limelight came.