Regarding the remarks of the representatives of the Choshu Domain, the people with lofty ideals present were silent and could not afford to oppose it. The meeting ended hastily after Gamo, on behalf of the Kumamoto Domain, signed a letter of resignation and accepted the task of assassinating Kosuke Yoshikawa, the economic commissioner.

By this time, it had come to pass, except for those who were extremely stupid, that the purpose of this meeting was not to discuss how to proceed with the cause of the Emperor's Rebellion, but that the Satsuma and Choshu feudal clans were trying to establish themselves as leaders among the Emperor's Warriors and to impose on the people the plan of the uprising they had planned.

After Gamo Naoyu, who was very prestigious among the young samurai, chose to give in to the warriors of the two feudal clans, it was natural that the unknown warriors of the other feudal clans would find it difficult to resist the general trend. However, after the meeting, Yamamoto Goroubei, the representative of the Choshu Domain, personally sent Gamo Naorou out, and the reason why he did this was that he wanted Gamo Naorou to get rid of some of the resentment in his heart; The second is that they are worried about the conflict between the Kumamoto and Satsuma clans in the izakaya.

Both sides were silent along the way, but when Gamo Naoyu and his party walked out of the izakaya and were about to leave, Gamo Naoyu suddenly turned his head and asked Yamamoto Goroubei, who was bowing behind him, "Did the Choshu clan ever think about what would happen if this uprising plan failed?" ”

Yamamoto Goroubei slowly straightened up, his eyes met the gaze of Naoru Gamo that seemed to be able to penetrate people's hearts, and after a long silence, he looked up at the sky, avoiding the other party's gaze and sighed, "The starlight tonight is really brilliant." ”

For Yamamoto Goroubei's sudden move, Gamo Naoru did not move, but waited patiently, sure enough, after a while, Yamamoto Goroubei retracted his gaze to the night sky, looked at Kamo Naorou again and said: "It's a pity that no matter how brilliant and beautiful the starlight is, it will dim and lose its 'color' after the sun rises."

His Royal Highness Yoshikawa once said to me in a casual conversation that in the skies of East Asia, only one sun has risen since ancient times. When the sun is asleep, the surrounding stars can shine of their own, but when the sun wakes up and rises, no matter how bright the stars in the night sky are, they will lose their brilliance.

We are sadly born in this era when the sun is rising and rising, which means that Japan will never be able to become the protagonist of this era. But we are fortunate to be born in this time, and we will see with our own eyes how this sun will rise in the sky and reign over the nations. If we can't stop this sun from rising, then Japan should be a part of the sun, not one of the things that will be scorched by the rising sun. ”

Although the rest of the Kumamoto clan couldn't understand Yamamoto Gorou's words, Gamo Naoyu understood without any obstacles, and after standing there for a moment, he sighed and said goodbye to Yamamoto Gorou Bei, and then turned around and left the alley without hesitation.

The thirteenth year of Chongzhen was a year of disaster for the Ming Dynasty, but for Shanghai, which is at the mouth of the Yangtze River, it was an unprecedented prosperous year.

Before Ma Shiying took over Shanghai, the original Shanghai was under the management of Song Yingsheng, although it was also a new and prosperous scene, but it was never as dynamic as today's Shanghai. Of course, this irrational "sexual" prosperity in Shanghai this year is actually based on the disasters that have been suffered in various parts of the country in the past two years.

As a port city, Shanghai will not be short of food even in a year of great drought, after all, most of the grain shipped back from overseas is shipped to Shanghai. As an import and export port backed by the Yangtze River and the south of the Yangtze River, Shanghai can not only transport various resources and local products from the inland through the Yangtze River, but also process these resources into finished products with high added value for export by handicraftsmen who are rich and colorful in the south of the Yangtze River.

It is precisely because Shanghai occupies such favorable natural conditions that after the imperial court issued the opening of the sea, it quickly surpassed Macao, Guangzhou, Fuzhou, Xiamen, Ningbo and other old port cities, and is increasingly developing into the most important port city in the southeast and even central part of the Ming Dynasty.

Compared with port cities such as Macao, Guangzhou, Fuzhou, Xiamen, and Ningbo, Shanghai, which was established on the Yangtze River and the Huangpu River, has far exceeded the influence of one place, and has radiated most of the interior of the Ming Dynasty. In particular, the renovation and water conservancy construction of the Yangtze River channel in recent years have not only promoted the economic development of both sides of the Yangtze River, but also increased the shipping capacity of the Yangtze River.

The port warehouses in Shanghai are not only full of all kinds of commodities from the Jiangnan region, but also all kinds of special products from Sichuan, and their prices are not several times more expensive than in the place of origin, which can be said to greatly promote the types of goods in Shanghai's foreign trade, and also make foreign merchant ships more willing to go to Shanghai for trade, because in the city of Shanghai they can find all the goods they need, as long as they pay for it.

Even if they don't have any money, with enough luck and a little credit, they can find merchants or bankers in the city who are willing to lend money or invest in them. To those Europeans, Shanghai is simply an oriental city full of magic.

People who have nothing come here to gain wealth, fame, and status. And the self-confident rich come to the city and become penniless overnight. That's why a European adventure merchant once said of the city, "... She is like a delicate and fragrant rose that makes you fall in love at first sight and can't help but want to get closer.

But just when you're "fascinated" by her fragrant scent, you will find that this rose is covered with stingers. The closer you get to her, the more bloody you will be stabbed, the cowardly will choose to flee, the reckless will continue to approach without hesitation, but only those adventurers who are full of wisdom and supreme courage will be favored by the city.

It is a cave that devours the cowardly, a cemetery where the reckless are buried, but it is a paradise for adventurers. ”

The famine brought cheap labor to Shanghai, wealth-seeking merchants brought a lot of capital, and the adventurous merchants from all over the world created a lot of opportunities for Shanghai, and it was under the combined influence of these factors that Shanghai became the only thriving city in the devastated Jiangnan this year.

Compared with Song Yingsheng, who is law-abiding and law-abiding, Ma Shiying will never treat herself badly while doing things. After he took over the city, he raised money to renovate a section of the Suzhou Creek facing the Huangpu River, and relocated the Shanghai Municipal Hall, which was originally located in the narrow yamen of the Shiliupu Wharf.

The street, which is less than three miles long on the beach of the Huangpu River, has suddenly become the center of power in Shanghai, and after moving from the crowded and noisy Shiliupu Wharf to the scenic and open Bund Road, the officials of the city hall are also extremely satisfied, not only because of the improvement of office conditions, but also because they have also received a large subsidy for transportation to and from work.

The building of the Shanghai Municipal Hall on Bund Road is not the usual courtyard house layout at this time, but two three-story buildings side by side. It is said that the emperor proposed several times to build a building like Xiyuan Jingshe to replace the old yamen of the six ministries, but they were all vetoed by the cabinet and the officials of the six ministries.

Because the officials of the six ministries did not want to have other people living on their heads, and they did not want to work next to the place where Izuku was located. The most uncomfortable thing for them was that the aisles in the building were not wide enough to accommodate the servants to serve outside the door, so that if others wanted to visit them, there were few people to serve them, and it was difficult to stop them, which almost broke the conventions of officialdom, and naturally no one was willing to support the emperor's decision.

However, for Ma Shiying, as long as he can win the emperor's favor, he will not pay attention to these so-called officialdom conventions and taboos. And the building is indeed much more comfortable to live in than the courtyard house, and it is much brighter.

For example, from his office, the white sails on the Huangpu River look very vibrant under the reflection of the river, which is much stronger than the dim courtyard where only a small piece of sky can be seen from the patio. Just across the street from the window, the Bund, which used to be a field of reeds and meadows, is now busy clearing weeds and reeds to build this mudflat into a riverside green space for people to play.

In a year like this, labor is the cheapest resource, and for a new city like Shanghai, it's a pie in the sky. The cheap labor brought in by the immigrants soon turned Shanghai into a big construction site again, and this time the city was not confined to a small area between Suzhou Creek and the old county seat of Shanghai.

However, Ma Shiying did not take the initiative to restrict the inflow of foreign population like Song Yingsheng, so as to avoid the rapid growth of the population leading to a decrease in income, and eventually causing chaos in the social order. He will not be like Song Yingsheng, who must first plan the areas where these migrants live, and then solve the problem of how much population will flow in.

In Ma Shiying's view, as long as there is enough food, the more people the better. The larger the population, the lower the price of labor, the more factories merchants built, and the more taxes collected by the town halls.

As for whether these immigrants can survive in Shanghai, what does this have to do with the government? Those who can't survive can leave Shanghai, and after those eliminated old and weak people leave Shanghai, they can still make room for those young and strong victims in other places, which is a good thing for the government and businessmen.