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At the Naha Port Wharf in the west of Shurijo Castle in Zhongshan County, the seat of the Ryukyu Prefecture of the Taiping Holy Kingdom, five Western warships and more than 100 large Red Dan warships and Tongan Suo ships were moored.

Lin Hongnian, the prefect of Ryukyu Prefecture, and Mao Youfei, deputy prefect of the Ryukyus Prefecture, led more than a dozen officials from the prefect's yamen and Zhongshan County to line up on the wharf, accompanied by several soldiers wearing military uniforms of the captive army, looking into the distance.

Lin Hongnian, the newly arrived prefect of Ryukyu, was originally the prefect of Qiongzhou in eastern Guangdong of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, but was captured when the captives captured Qiongzhou last year, and after being imprisoned for two months, he found that the Manchu army was defeated like a mountain, and the Taiping Holy Kingdom was getting stronger and stronger, so he simply surrendered to the Holy State.

Because Lin Hongnian was the first champion of the entire Manchu Qing Dynasty, and in the eighteenth year of Daoguang, he was ordered to be the envoy of the canonization of the king of Ryukyu, on behalf of the Qing court, to sacrifice the old king and canonize the new king. Lin Hongnian has been in Ryukyu for more than half a year and is familiar with the situation in Ryukyu, so after Feng Yunshan defeated Ryukyu, he thought of letting him go to Ryukyu to serve as the first prefect, and with the assistance of Ryukyu native Mao Youfei, soon, Ryukyu was like Mosswan, officially becoming the territory of the Taiping Holy Kingdom.

Today is the day when the Fifth Division of the Taiping Sacred Kingdom is ready to leave after passing through the Ryukyus for supplies. Lin Hongnian came to the pier to see him off.

In the sea breeze, Luo Xuan, the commander of the Fifth Division, saw that the Fifth Division was cleaned up, and turned his head to Lin Hongnian on the side and said, "Governor Lin, do you remember what the Holy King explained?" What are the difficulties? ”

"Master Luo, Lin promises you that he will definitely complete the task assigned by the Holy King." Lin Hongnian nodded.

For Lin Hongnian, Luo Xuan was very satisfied, although he was a Manchu minister, but through the arrival of nearly 10,000 soldiers of the Fifth Division in Naha Port, Lin Hongnian was able to arrange the supply in an orderly manner within two days, and he was a capable person.

Luo Xuan led the 5th Division to the north.

Two days later, a fleet of seven Western warships arrived at the port of Naha in the Ryukyus. When Lin Hongnian heard the news, he had been waiting at the port with the general for a long time.

After the Western warship docked at the port, surrounded by more than 100 foreign soldiers, two foreign officers wearing tight-fitting woolen military uniforms and leather boots got off the ship.

It was Pemathew, the commander of the U.S. East India Fleet, who arrived in the Ryukyus from Hong Kong Island via Moss Bay? Cal Bryce? Perry and his adjutant Franklin? Buchanan.

"Who of you are the officials here? In May last year, Admiral Perry arrived in your land with a fleet and asked for the opening of the port of Naha to help replenish supplies. "Franklin? Buchanan asked.

The general translator translates the words of the foreigner. When Lin Hongnian heard this, he smiled and said, "No problem! The port of Naha was opened, allowing for replenishment. My lord, it's just that we in the Ryukyus have few personnel and a limited number of people, so it may take a little longer to replenish them. I would also like to ask the general to come to our Shuri Castle to rest first. ”

"No need! We're resting on the warship! Please resupply as soon as possible. Buchanan stressed.

Lin Hongnian still nodded enthusiastically and agreed, and once again invited Perry and Buchanan and the guards to visit Shuri Castle to visit and rest, saying that where there is the oldest Chinese culture and Ryukyu characteristic architecture.

Perry and Buchanan were immediately moved. So, everyone came to Shuri Castle together.

Shuri Castle is very small, and it only takes half a day, so I have already played it all.

The next day, Buchanan asked Lin Hongnian: "Lord Lin, have the supplies of our seven warships been arranged?" ”

Lin Hongnian said with a smile: "One more day, general, wait patiently for another day." ”

On the third day, Buchanan asked again, "Lord Lin, it should have been all replenished today." ”

Lin Hongnian said enthusiastically: "Tomorrow will be fine!" Tomorrow will be fine! ”

Buchanan said directly: "We must go tomorrow!" ”

Unfortunately, the next day, Perry and Buchanan had some diarrhea because they were "not adaptable", and the enthusiastic Lin Hongnian Zhang Luo called Langzhong to see a doctor, so they were delayed for another day.

It was not until the fifth day that Perry sailed out of the port of Ryukyu with seven ships.

"Lieutenant Colonel Buchanan, something seems wrong! This Lord Lin seems to have been dragging us back. On board, Perry raised his doubts with Adjutant Buchanan.

"Well, I feel the same way. However, he was so enthusiastic, so enthusiastic that it was impossible to refuse. Buchanan shook his head and said, "General, it's better to rush to Edo as soon as possible, and first force the shogunate to sign a trade treaty and complete the business." ”

"Yes, hurry to Edo first!"

………

At this time, far away in the Edo Castle Shogun's mansion, the Tokugawa family, the thirteenth shogun of the Shogun, walked around in doubt. Below him, a row of relatives and daimyo also talked about it.

A chubby old man on the far side (equivalent to the position of the six Shangshu) spoke up: "General, no matter what the envoy of the Celestial Empire said, whether it is for the sake of our shogunate, we should not be reconciled. The old minister still thinks that my general's mansion can wait and see what happens. Foreigners have ill intentions, and the Celestial Empire may not be well-intentioned! ”

An old man with a sharp-beaked monkey cheek in the middle also said: "This is a bad word! General, the Celestial Empire has always been friendly to my General's Mansion, unlike those foreigners, who are blond and blue-eyed, and their people are not of my race, so they must have different intentions. Xiao Chen suggested that according to the Celestial Empire, cooperate with the sailors of the Celestial Empire to jointly repel the foreigners. Moreover, the envoy of the Celestial Empire also promised to expand trade with the cities under the rule of our general's mansion, which would be extremely beneficial to the consolidation of the rule of our general's mansion! ”

The rest of the group nodded their heads.

When Tokugawa Ieda heard this, he stopped, raised his head suddenly, and said in a firm tone: "In this case, we will cooperate with the sailors of the Celestial Empire to jointly repel the invasion of foreigners!" ”

The old man with the sharp-beaked monkey cheeks said: "The general is wise! Last year, the man named Perry in Western America led four Western warships to show off his might in Edo Bay, and damaged three warships of our shogunate sailors. Now, according to the envoy of the Celestial Empire, this Perry really came as promised, and asked the general to reply to his request for the opening of the country, which is tolerable or unbearable. I, Matsudaira Dingfang, would like to share the general's worries, and immediately arrange and mobilize all the samurai to prepare for the battle. ”

And the chubby old man was obviously the head of the officials, he glanced at the old man named Matsudaira Dingfang, and said, "Matsudaira Dingfang, do you think that I, Masahiro Abe, don't know your little Jiujiu?" It's just that you want to borrow the power of the sailors from the Celestial Empire to increase your prestige and replace me as the chief elder! ”

As he spoke, he turned around and bowed to the Tokugawa family, and said, "General, don't listen to this person's nonsense!" He's a scourge general! ”

"Oh, Masahiro Abe, what do you say you should do?" Tokugawa Ieding frowned.

"Although foreigners are arrogant, I also hate them! However, they do have the qualifications to be arrogant. The hull of the foreigner's warship is more than ten times the size of the warship of our army's naval division, and the artillery is fierce and sharp, and our general's palace is completely unable to resist. Even if you rely on Shangguo to resist this time, what about next time? Next time, the foreigners will inevitably send more warships to come, how to resist at that time, won't the losses be heavier? Masahiro Abe resolutely said: "It is better to agree to the request of the foreigners, open the port of Nagasaki, and trade with it." And our general's mansion also took advantage of this opportunity to send people to the West to learn its warship technology, buy and even manufacture warships, and strengthen itself! ”

"Nonsense! Masahiro Abe, don't you want the general to bow down to the foreigners? How can the generals of the Tokugawa Shogunate save face? What is the prestige of General Jiading? If this was known to the lords and daimyos of the foreign domains, wouldn't it be an opportunity to cause chaos? The sharp-beaked monkey cheeks were pine, and Pingding Fang shouted.

Tokugawa Iedai hesitated again.

Matsudaira Dingfang took the opportunity to persuade: "General, besides, if you promise this American foreigner today, tomorrow there will be more powerful French foreigners, English foreigners, and Russia will come!" This mouth can't be opened! ”

Upon hearing this, Tokugawa Iedai finally made up his mind: "It's still Matsudaira Dingfang who is thoughtful!" General Ben has decided, and he will cooperate with the Celestial Empire Navy Division to repel the foreigner fleet! ”

Seeing that the chubby old man still wanted to dissuade him, the Tokugawa family waved his hand: "Abe Masahiro, don't say more!" General Ben has made up his mind! ”