The successive battles between the Shogunate Central Army and the Choshu Domain completely dragged Japan into the abyss of war. Although the Choshu Domain was advanced in weapons and talented, it did not have the support of the historical Mosa Domain, but because of the private intervention of the Kyushu Domain, the Choshu Domain did not have the slightest advantage, but retreated step by step.

However, the shogunate wanted to completely eradicate the Choshu domain, but it was also difficult. Both sides can only enter into a protracted war of attrition. At the same time, the neutral Kyushu feudal domain continued to trade.

On the pier of Nagasaki.

A cargo ship slowly approached the shore.

With a shout, dozens of "Kyushu Domain Soldiers" in gray uniforms rushed onto the ship, and the guards on board opened the thick wooden planks of the cabin and shouted in Japanese: "Arrive at the shore, hurry, get out." ”

The cargo ship was not loaded with goods, and the narrow cabin on the ground floor was crowded with young men, all in rags, and every third of them had their feet tied together with each other, and many of them were still stained with blood, and staggered out of the cabin amid the shouting and urging of the guards on the upper floor of the ship and the sound of whipping.

In the crowd, a Japanese teenager who was only 16 years old looked out with frightened eyes and a worried expression. His name is Ito Hirobumi, he was born in the countryside of the Choshu Domain, his original name was Lin Risuke, and his father Lin Shizang was adopted as an adopted son by the Mizui family and the Ito family, so Lin Lisuke also changed his name to Ito Hirobumi and inherited the identity of a low-level samurai.

Last year, he entered the shoshu under the Choshu domain to serve, and he was going to leave the domain soldiers after a while to study at the famous Matsushita Murajuku, where he studied under the master Yoshida Shoin, but he was captured by the shogunate army in the war last month, and after several tosses, he did not know where he was sent. I felt that the future was confused, and I was frightened.

"Smack!" Ito Hirofumi walked a little slower, and then received a heavy whip on his back, and a guard scolded viciously: "Little rabbit cub, don't hurry up, who can afford to delay the counting of people above?" ”

Ito Hirofumi glared angrily, but he was whipped again, and when he saw that the two Kyushu domain soldiers next to him had already pointed their foreign guns with bayonets at him, he shivered in his heart, and hurriedly quickened his pace and lowered his head.

The foreign spear with the bayonet was too powerful, and along the way, more than a dozen companions tried to escape, but they were either stabbed to death by this bright bayonet, or they were beaten to a bloody blur by the foreign spear. Therefore, when I look at the bright bayonet and foreign gun, Ito Hirobumi is full of fear.

Disembarking from the ship were all prisoners of war from the Choshu Domain, who had been captured by the shogunate last month.

Ito Hirobumi went ashore and was driven by a group of feudal soldiers in gray uniforms to a wooden hut, where he had not eaten anything hot for more than ten days, and he had eaten two bowls of hot gruel.

Not long after the meal, an official in the same gray uniform came over and whispered something, Ito Hirobumi couldn't hear it clearly, but he knew that the official was speaking Chinese, vaguely mentioning going to Jiaozhi mining or something, and a Kyushu samurai translated on the side: "Cowards of the Choshu Domain, if you want to die, stand up now, the province wastes our white rice porridge, and our bayonets are already eager to see blood." Oh, it's all ready over there! ”

I saw more than 100 gray-uniformed "feudal soldiers" next to him viciously raise their foreign guns with bayonets in their hands and stab them in this direction, and Ito Hirobumi and the prisoners suddenly felt chills all over their bodies.

And the Kyushu samurai continued to translate and shouted: "If you don't want to die, then be obedient, and you will naturally have a good life!" ”

"To tell you the truth, you were all captives of the shogunate army, and you were bound to be beheaded. It was Lord Hayashi, the lord of the Choshu Domain, who saw that you were pitiful, and that God had the virtue of a good life, so he bought you from the shogunate at a great price, and prepared to send you to work in the coal mines of the Chinese Empire's Cochin Province, where you could eat and drink every day, do a good job, and marry a daughter-in-law in the local area and start a family. ”

After listening to the samurai's translation, everyone exploded in a buzz.

Only then did Ito Hirobumi know that he had come to Nagasaki, and it turned out that the new lord of the Choshu Domain, Lord Hayashi, had bought them, and Lord Hayashi was really sent by the Chinese Empire, so to speak, the Choshu Domain was really controlled by the Chinese Empire. He couldn't help but worry about the situation in Japan, although he was young, he knew the current situation in Japan, the Choshu Domain and the Tokugawa Shogunate were still fighting each other to the death, and when they were both defeated, it would be the time when the whole of Japan would be annexed by the Chinese Empire.

However, now that he can't protect himself, where can he manage so much. He only knew that he would be sent to the Chinese Empire, a place called Jiaozhi Province to dig coal, and it was nothing when he thought of the hardships of his youth. One day, I'm going to have to make a difference.

The next day, Ito and the rest of his companions were driven to a large merchant ship. He knew that he was going to leave Japan and go to the Celestial Empire, the Chinese Empire, which he had always looked up to. What awaits him in the future?

……

At the dock of Nagasaki, Lin Hongnian, who was dressed in civilian clothes, looked at the merchant ships that were slowly moving away and breathed a sigh of relief. An attendant next to him sighed: "It's still Lord Lin's clever plan." In just two or three months, 2,000 young and strong laborers were sent to the northern coal mines of Jiaozhi to dig coal. ”

"It's not Lin's clever plan, but Your Majesty has already reminded you! Your Majesty said that these Japanese are all cheap bones who bully the weak and fear the hard, as long as we are strong enough, they will listen, if we don't listen, we will beat them! By the way, a group of rebel family members in South Korea Province are also about to arrive, right? Lin Hongnian asked.

"Back to my lord, it will be shipped soon."

"Well, after arriving, except for the old and weak, all the strong and women were sent to the few sulfur mines on the island to mine sulfur, and now there is an order from Shengjing to mine more sulfur in Kyushu for the preparation of gunpowder for the entire empire." Lin Hongnian commanded. He couldn't help admiring the emperor's foresight, he had long known that there were many sulfur minerals on this Kyushu island, and he had occupied Kyushu Island in advance, and now it was time to harvest mining.

"By the way, Your Majesty came to the decree a few days ago, saying that the Malay Peninsula has recently been occupied, which is deserted and requires a lot of labor to develop it. In addition to the homeless and bankrupt craftsmen employed on the island of Kyushu, the other feudal states of Shikoku and Honshu are also vigorously recruiting people, whether it is fraud or robbery, let's get Nagasaki first. Then it will be sent to Nanyang. Your Majesty can explain, we have a quota of 10,000. ”

"Yes, Lord Lin, the small ones will be arranged immediately. Now that there is war in Shikoku and Honshu, and the onslaught of our cloth, the number of displaced people is increasing day by day, and the thousands of poor weavers who have gone bankrupt and have no way out, and they must be ecstatic to have something to eat and not let them starve to death. ”

Hearing this, Lin Hongnian couldn't help but sigh in his heart, even with his own talent, he never expected that dumping the woven foreign cloth to Japan would have such an effect. It is no wonder that the foreigners invaded the Manchu Qing Dynasty in this way, which is what the emperor said, economic aggression.

With the signing of the "Japan-China Treaty of Friendship and Commerce", Japan's treaty ports have increased, and more foreign cloth can be dumped into Japan in large quantities.