Indeed, Tokugawa Iesei originally wanted to listen to the opinion of the important minister Masahiro Abe and give in to the foreigners. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 info But Matsudaira Joyoshi mentioned the face of the Tokugawa shogunate, especially the other foreign feudal lords and daimyos who would rise up against it, which made the Tokugawa family dare not mention the matter of submission.

In addition, when the foreigners led a fleet to demonstrate last year, Tokugawa Ieyoshi, the former general of the Shoi, was ill, and he died ten days later after receiving the foreigner's letter of state. As the successor of the great shogun, it is difficult to say that he surrendered to the enemy.

However, the Tokugawa family must have suspected that the naval master of the day was not very kind.

I heard that the sailors of the Heavenly Dynasty were also huge, with hundreds of warships, which should be on a par with the foreigners. It is best to let the sailors of the Celestial Empire and the foreigners start a war, and watch from the sidelines, both the foreigners and the sailors of the Celestial Empire have suffered heavy losses, and no one can threaten them, it is the best.

……

On March 10, the U.S. East India Fleet led by Perry headed straight for Edo Bay.

As soon as they entered Edo Bay, dozens of official ships spotted the fleet, and several of them hurried back to report back, while the rest watched from a distance and did not come close.

Due to the appearance of Feng Yunshan, the tide of history also changed here: Perry's fleet, which was supposed to arrive in Edo Bay in mid-February 1854, was delayed for about ten days on Hong Kong Island and another five or six days in Ryukyu, and arrived until March 10.

"General, is our fleet just going straight into the mouth of the bay?" Perry's aide-de-camp, Lieutenant Colonel Buchanan, reminded, "Don't you scout first, be careful!" ”

Perry smiled contemptuously, "Dear Buchanan, you can afford to look down on these guys too!" Our warships are all world-class powerful warships, and they are only small bays, so what danger can they not achieve? These official ships are so small, and only these people see them as warships! ”

As if he had thought of something, he sneered: "Have you forgotten that when we came last year, we rode the flagship of the Mississippi and just circled the estuary, and those people on the shore were so frightened that they sat on the ground and shivered ridiculously. Besides, their little planks can also be called boats? We don't need our warships to fire their guns, just the waves of the USS Mississippi can overturn it! ”

Buchanan remembered the scene when the fleet had just arrived last year, and hundreds of small wooden galleons rushed out of the estuary, and when they saw the huge Mississippi, they were immediately dumbfounded. The roar of the Mississippi's whistle alone frightened dozens of people into the water and fled in confusion.

Think about it, as the flagship of the East India Fleet, the USS Mississippi, this cruiser, is a paddlewheel fast sailing ship with sailing and steam engine as the dual power, more than 80 meters long, full load displacement of 3,200 tons, manning 380 people, equipped with 2 10-inch naval guns and 8 8-inch naval guns, and strong firepower.

Not to mention six more warships!

Three cruisers, three frigates.

For example, the main cruiser "Saskehana", second only to the flagship, has an external paddlewheel fast sailing ship, with a speed of 10 knots, a waterline length of 85 meters, a full load displacement of 2,400 tons, a crew of 300, and two 150-pound guns (equivalent to 7-inch caliber), 12 8-inch smoothbore guns, and one 32-pound smoothbore rapid-fire gun.

And the frigate with great combat power, "Saradoga", a sloop, has a waterline length of 48 meters, a full load displacement of 880 tons, a crew of 210, and is also equipped with 4 8-inch guns and 18 32-pounder guns.

Even the smallest frigate, with a displacement of only 190 tons, is larger than the largest warship in the world. It is also equipped with 4 8-inch guns and 10 32-pounder guns.

Therefore, his own East India Fleet, which consisted of seven warships of various sizes, was completely impossible for a closed and backward country like Yuben to withstand. Even the Great Qing Kingdom next to it is difficult to resist.

Buchanan said no more.

The fleet sailed along the bay into the Uraga waterway in Edo Bay.

Perry ordered seven warships to anchor three or four miles from the shore batteries, and had the guns on each warship aim at the shore batteries.

"Woo-woo-", the flagship Mississippi let out a deafening whistle, which was a reminder to the person on the shore: We are coming.

Not long after, a wooden sailing officer ship, which looked like a small leaf in Perry's eyes, carrying dozens of people, headed towards the warship.

Approaching the warship, the two men of the wooden sailboat boarded the ship's gondola in the Mississippi's lower gondola.

"Your Excellency Perry, this official is the old man of the Tokugawa Shogunate, Matsudaira Tadayu, and on the order of General Seiyi, I have come to discuss with you about the opening of the port." The visitor spoke in Dutch through a general.

Fortunately, Perry was prepared and invited an old friend, Williams, an American missionary, to be his interpreter on Hong Kong Island. Williams was fluent in Dutch and Chinese, but Williams brought with him a Chinese friend, Rosen, who was fluent in Japanese and English and could communicate directly with him.

The most important thing is that the revision of the covenant should be put into writing, and the officials of this book are widely used in Chinese characters, so the thoughtful Williams specially brought the Chinese Rosen with him, and he drew up the Chinese version of the covenant.

"Great, your general has finally figured it out. In fact, we are here to help you, not to invade you! This is a good thing for mutual benefit, and you will see the benefits in the future! Perry said happily.

It was a little strange for him to say that he agreed so happily, but thinking about the last time he led 4 warships, he could be able to cross the book, and now he is leading 7 warships, and it is normal for him to be scared and readily agree.

"Then, please stop the ship and dock with all the distinguished guests, and follow the official ashore!" Matsudaira Tadayu's face was full of enthusiastic smiles, and he invited kindly: "Your Excellency Perry, and all the distinguished guests, my lord General Tokugawa Iesei received the report that His Excellency Perry was about to arrive, and immediately ordered hundreds of people to clean up the VIP mansion, and also prepared a feast and singing and dancing, waiting for all the distinguished guests to go and enjoy." ”

As he spoke, he waved his hand to the wooden sail official boat under the warship, signaling the official boat to lead the way.

Adjutant Buchanan leaned close to Perry's ear and whispered, "General Perry, this shogun is too enthusiastic, isn't it?" In previous years, his predecessors were not all opposed to the opening of the country, and last year, under our coercion, his subordinates in the shogunate only agreed to negotiate again this year, trying to get through the process of delay. Why did our warship agree so readily today, before it entered the river to demonstrate? Could there be any problems with this? ”

Perry chuckled, "These cowards, uncivilized primordial ants, even if there is any conspiracy, they are useless in front of our powerful East India fleet. However, it is better to be cautious! We had a total of 1,700 soldiers this time, and 1,200 were left in the warship to strengthen the vigilance, and the remaining 500 people carried weapons and went ashore with the general, forcing them to revise the treaty and open the country. ”

"Yes! I'll give the order! Buchanan turned and went to arrange for the staff.

The flagship cruisers USS Mississippi and USS Suskehana were the first to dock, and Perry, guarded by 500 American soldiers, disembarked and led by Tadayu Matsudaira to the VIP Mansion, not far from the mouth of the river.

The remaining two main cruisers and three frigates remained on the shore, but cruised around the estuary to defend the two cruisers in port.

……..

Soon after Perry and the others went ashore, more than 100 Japanese official boats, all of which were sailing wooden boats, slowly sailed on the sea on both sides of the estuary, and docked far away on the shore of the bay.

At the same time, a huge fleet, led by five Western warships, slowly sailed out of Suruga Bay, which was more than 100 miles away from Edo Bay, and, after moving away from the coast, the large dragon flag with five stars on a red background and five stars hanging on the top of the fleet was lowered, and without the flag, it headed for the sea of Edo Bay.

A huge super tropical storm also swept towards Honshu Island from the Pacific Ocean more than 1,000 miles away.