The current chief of the Japanese shogunate, Nakami Masanori, walked to the negotiation hall with a sad face, and when he sat in the downwind position with his back to the south and north, Inoue Masanomashi secretly made up his mind and said to himself: "You have to be ready to apologize for your seppuku." ”

As Inoue Masanakama expected, the British negotiators led by Ali Guo and Bruuni really offered a high price at the negotiating table - demanding that the Japanese shogunate and the Japanese Satsuma clan compensate Britain a total of 200,000 pounds, and demanding that the British murderers be severely punished, and that the Japanese shogunate submit credentials to apologize.

Fortunately, although 200,000 pounds is equivalent to nearly 1,500 kilograms of gold, it is not impossible for the Japanese shogunate to bear, and at the same time, the murderer has long been arrested by Wu Jun in the Satsuma Domain, and it is not difficult to submit a credential to apologize. Therefore, Inoue Masanomashi did not find it difficult to accept, but just kowtowed vigorously and begged the British to be merciful and ask for a little less reparation, and at the same time sent people to secretly bribe Ali Guo and Bruni, so that to put it mildly, he finally paid only 35,000 pounds more than in history - pulling the Satsuma clan to pay 160,000 pounds in compensation.

The other Western powers that took advantage of the fire to rob were also easy to deal with, and in return for their so-called mediation, they only gave these consuls some personal gifts, and then promised to open a few ports, and cede the consular jurisdiction to settle the matter.

The battle of Kagoshima was caused by the invasion of the Satsuma Domain by the Satsuma Domain's vassal state of China, the Ryukyu, and the Wu army suffered certain casualties and losses in the war, and the military salaries, money, food, and materials consumed were not a few, no matter which one was qualified to open his mouth to the Japanese lions. What's worse is that during the period, Tokugawa Ieshige also had his head in water, in order to win the support of the Satsuma Domain for the shogunate, he used the Satsuma Domain to suppress the radical Zunwang Shogunate faction, not only sent the Shogunate Navy to participate in the war, but also captured three steam gunboats and many soldiers and generals by the Wu army, and it was even more justifiable to extort bamboo poles, so when he received the compensation list submitted by the Wu army, the old politician Inoue Masachi couldn't help but tremble a little with his hands.

Accidentally! A big surprise to Inoue Masashi!

Although Wu Jun offered a total of 6 million taels of silver for the Japanese shogunate and the Satsuma Domain, he offered to allow the Japanese shogunate to pay it in two years, and although the three captured Japanese steam gunboats were confiscated by Wu Jun and returned to their own army, the captured Japanese naval soldiers only needed 100,000 taels of silver to redeem them. - At the same time, Inoue Masachi can also see that Wu Jun may also accept his bargain.

The first was that the Japanese shogunate promised to forever give up its territorial claims to the Ryukyus, allow China to share the trade interests of the great powers in Japan, allow Chinese to freely enter and exit all ports open to the outside world to do business and trade, establish consulates with consular jurisdiction, and allow Chinese to freely enter the interior of Japan to travel and preach—and possibly Buddhism or Taoism. The second is to allow Chinese envoys to be stationed in Edo and allow China to enjoy most-favored-nation tariff status. The third was to allow the Wu army ships to enter and exit and anchor in Japan's foreign trade ports, and to allow the Wu army to station troops on the territory of the Satsuma Domain until the Wu army and the Satsuma domain agreed to stop the garrison after consultation.

The last one was the most surprising and unbelievable to Inoue Masacho, Wu Jun actually demanded that the Japanese shogunate maintain the current political system unchanged, demanded that the Japanese shogunate resolutely crack down on the domestic faction of the Emperor and the Emperor, and signed an agreement with Wu Jun to borrow teachers to help suppress it, so that the Japanese Shogunate or the Japanese feudal lords who supported the rule of the Shogunate could request military assistance from the Wu Army at any time to join hands to fight against the Japanese Shogunate and the Lords and Rulers in Japan, so as to ensure the Japanese Shogunate's domination and leadership position over Japan.

In layman's terms, Wu Jun demanded that the Japanese shogunate always be the boss of Japan, and would never accept the political proposition of the Japanese Shogunate and hand over the ruling power to the Japanese emperor.

Very suspicious of his eyes repeatedly looked at the last request made by Wu Jun, some suspected that Wu Jun's translator was incompetent to translate the wrong treaty, Inoue Zheng, who was fluent in Chinese, personally read the original Chinese, seeing that Wu Jun's translation did not seem to make a mistake, Inoue Masachi raised his head in disbelief at this time, and asked Wang Fu and Gong Cheng on the opposite side very carefully: "General Wang, Mr. Gong, is your country's article about our country's shogunate and the Zunwang Yiyi faction, really not joking?" ”

"Of course not kidding." Gong Cheng smiled and said, "Didn't Mr. Inoue discover that the Hubei Provisional Government established by our Zhennan King is actually very similar to the shogunate of your country?" Since you and I both have very similar political views and have a lot in common in domestic affairs, why can't we reach out to your shogunate? Help your shogunate consolidate its rule over Japan? ”

As the current chief of the Japanese shogunate, Inoue Masanao is of course one of the most important beneficiaries of the shogunate's power, so if he doubts Wu Jun's indiscretionary dedication in his heart, Inoue Masachi still quickly nodded to Gong Cheng and thanked him, "Thank you, Mr. Gong, I understand, I will definitely report your words truthfully to our general, so that he can also know the kindness of your provisional government to our Japanese shogunate." ”

After thanking him quite sincerely, Inoue asked honestly and pitifully: "But Mr. Gong, can the amount of compensation you ask for be reduced somewhat?" Also, can the payment time of the compensation be extended a little longer? ”

The indemnity did not kill the Japanese to death, Wang Fu and Gong Cheng of course did not give an inch, Inoue Masachi begged hard, and finally begged Wang Fu and Gong Cheng to show mercy and promised to let the Japanese shogunate pay the reparation in three years. Then, because it also involved the signing of a paramilitary alliance with the Wu army, Inoue Masanao did not dare to sign directly, but only carefully discussed with Wang Fu the specific details of the joint suppression of the Japanese royal faction, wrote it and brought it back to Edo Castle, and handed it to Tokugawa Ishige for instructions on whether he could sign and fulfill it.

Like Inoue Masanaka, Tokugawa Ieshige didn't believe that Wu Jun would promise to guarantee his Japanese emperor throne in the form of a treaty, but after listening to Wu Jun's reply relayed by Inoue Masanao, and carefully studying the details of the treaty, he found that Wu Jun didn't play any tricks, not like he was preparing to annex Japan under the banner of suppressing the royal faction, Tokugawa Ieshige asked the shogunate ministers present with suspicion: "King Zhennan of the Qing Kingdom, is it really so good to our Japanese shogunate?" Not only do you not want our land, but you also want to help our shogunate continue for generations? ”

No one dared to give Tokugawa Ieshige this guarantee, but no one spoke against accepting Wu Chaoyue's kindness, coupled with Inoue Masao's honest and truthful explanation of Tsarist Russia, let Tokugawa Iemao know that Wu Jun also helped Japan preserve the territory and islands, so Tokugawa Iemao hesitated for a long time, but still made up his mind, nodded and said: "Okay, sign it, pass this pass first, and the rest will be talked about later." ”

In this way, although the Russian consul Birovsky quietly approached the Japanese shogunate again, and strongly instigated the Japanese shogunate to refuse to sign and continue to fight with the Wu army, and promised to provide military assistance to the Japanese shogunate. However, Tokugawa Ieshige, who had already seen the greedy appetite of Tsarist Russia, still refused Birovsky's kindness, and the next day he asked Inoue Masanaka to sign the Sino-Japanese Friendship Treaty, and immediately began to prepare for reparations.

In fact, don't say that the Japanese and other Western powers can't understand the purpose of Wu Jun's establishment of this alliance, even Wang Fu and Gong Cheng and other Wu Jun civil and military forces don't understand why Wu Chaoyue insists on establishing such a paramilitary alliance that can't take any advantage, only Wu Chaoyue, a traverser, really understands the importance of this treaty, and only Wu Chaoyue understands the real purpose of doing this.

Not long after the treaty was signed, the Choshu Domain, a radical representative of the Japanese Emperor's faction, raised an anti-flag, openly shouted the slogan of overthrowing the Japanese shogunate, and instigated the Japanese emperor to issue an edict to abolish all foreign-related treaties, and even directly sent troops to Kyoto in an attempt to welcome the Japanese emperor to power. The Japanese shogunate, which was unwilling to surrender power, in addition to immediately sending troops to suppress it, tried to ask for help from Li Xiucheng, the general of the Wu army stationed in Japan, Li Xiucheng took the two captured Japanese steam gunboats as the main force at sea, and immediately sent troops to attack Maseki Castle, a military town of the Choshu Domain currently called Shimonoseki, and after a fierce battle, the general of the Choshu Domain, who guarded Shimonoseki, was killed by the Wu army, and the Choshu Domain, which was attacked before and after, was forced to surrender.

Afterwards, in accordance with the provisions of the treaty, the Wu army immediately withdrew its troops and returned to the Satsuma Domain after receiving the request of the Japanese shogunate. Then in less than a year, the Wu army sent troops twice to help the Japanese shogunate suppress the shogunate, brutally slaughtering countless Japanese Restoration fighters who tried to get rid of the shogunate's rule, the Japanese shogunate was greatly injured, and the Japanese shogunate, which was as dull and dark as the Manchu court, was able to survive and continue to maintain the decadent and backward feudal rule, Japan fell into a long-term internal war of internal attrition, and the Shogunate Restoration became an empty word forever, and the Wu army was therefore stationed in Japan forever, and forever became a noose around Japan's neck. There will never be a glimmer of light for Japan's future development.

This is the real purpose of Wu Chaoyue.

After the signing of the treaty, the Japanese shogunate, which was still alive, quickly managed to raise the first indemnity and paid it to the Wu expeditionary fleet on time. As a result, on the same day, Li Xiucheng, who stayed behind in the Satsuma Domain, also sent someone to deliver the good news, saying that with the help of the soldiers and civilians of the Satsuma Domain, Shimazu Hisamitsu, the founding father of the Satsuma Domain, had successfully captured Izsuma Clan. Wang Fu was very happy when he heard the news, and said with a happy smile: "Okay, I have finally completed all the missions assigned by the king of Zhennan, and now I can go back with my head held high." ”

"It's a pity that I didn't get a good fight." The militant Huang Yuanbao sighed for a long time, and said with great regret: "We still brought so many weapons and ammunition, and we didn't even fight a battle of 10,000 people, and the matter is over." ”

"Alright, it's good to get things done so quickly." Wang Fu smiled and reproached: "Don't you know that we borrowed foreign debts from foreigners to fight this battle?" Wouldn't it be better to bring back the saved weapons and ammunition to the king of Zhennan to disrupt the party, twists, and thieves in the northwest, so why should they be used in Japan? ”

Huang Yuanbao, who was in a hurry to become the commander of the army like his compatriot brother, was still very regretful, but at this time, Zhang Kaiping, an officer of the Hubei Intelligence Bureau who was in charge of espionage work, suddenly came to Wang Fu and said: "King Yujunmen, I just received unconfirmed news through the Japanese merchant ship, and the king of Zhennan has sent his army north to attack Shanhaiguan and prepare to launch a war to recover the northeast. ”

"Recovering the Northeast?" Wang Fu was stunned and said, "Is the news accurate?" It's autumn now, and it's not good for us to send troops to the Northeast at this time? ”

"The information cannot be confirmed." Zhang Kaiping replied truthfully: "It was a Japanese merchant from Hakodate Port in Japan who heard this from a Korean merchant ship, and then brought it to Edo, and used this incident as an excuse to increase the price of the furs they sold. ”

"Fake, right? How could King Zhennan not tell us about such a thing? Huang Yuanbao asked in great surprise.

"Is it necessary for King Zhennan to tell us this?" Wang Fu pondered and said: "We are far away in Japan, it is difficult to communicate with the country, and the matter of sending troops to the Northeast has nothing to do with us, why does the king of Zhennan have to inform us specifically?" ”

"But it's not appropriate to send troops to the Northeast at this time?" Huang Yuanbao still felt incredulous, and said: "It's winter soon, and our southern soldiers are very disadvantaged in fighting the northeast in winter?" Besides, when we sent troops, our elite main force was either in Liangguang, or in the Central Plains to fight Twisters and Jiaodong to exterminate the remnants of the rebellious party, so can we withdraw so quickly to fight the Northeast? Does the king of Zhennan want to use Zeng Jiushuai and Jiang Zhongji's army to fight the northeast? ”

"I don't know." Wang Fu shook his head and analyzed: "There are only two possibilities, one is that this news is fake, and it is businessmen from North Korea and Japan who are talking nonsense. The second possibility, maybe something happened in the northeast, and King Zhennan had to change his plan and temporarily decided to send troops to the northeast. ”

After pondering for a while, considering that there were indeed many hidden dangers in the northeast, Wang Fu made up his mind and instructed Zhang Kaiping: "Quickly, send more people to Japan's foreign ports to inquire about the truth of this news, and then ask Lord Gong Cheng Gong to come forward to contact the foreign consuls of various countries and inquire about this matter from them." ”

Zhang Kaiping agreed and hurried down to make arrangements, while Wang Fu sent his quartermaster and instructed the quartermaster: "Send someone to the market in Edo immediately to buy cotton clothes, cotton shoes, cotton hats, and thick blankets, and prepare all the winter equipment for our army." ”

"Wang Junmen, winter hasn't arrived yet? You don't need to prepare so quickly, do you? The quartermaster was stunned, but said kindly: "Also, I have sent someone to investigate the price of goods in Edo, so there is a lot of cotton produced in Japan, and cotton clothes and shoes in the Edo market are more expensive than in our country, so we will spend a lot more money to purchase them here." ”

"You don't have to think about that." Wang Fu shook his head and said, "In the future, if the household department asks, I will go and explain to the king of Zhennan, you just have to do it." Don't worry about not having enough money, it's really not possible, we can use the reparations that the Japanese have given us. ”

"Wang Junmen, do you think the news that King Zhennan sent troops to the northeast is true?" Huang Yuanbao was also a little surprised, and said, "What if I guess wrong?" Prepare to spend more money in vain, how do you explain to the king of Zhennan? ”

"It's okay, King Zhennan is not the kind of person who cares, as long as I explain it clearly, he will definitely not blame me."

Wang Fu shook his head again, twisted the little beard on his lips and said: "Although I am not sure that the news that King Zhennan sent troops to the northeast must be true, I always feel that this matter will not be groundless, if it proves that this matter is true, then Brother Yuanbao, the weapons and ammunition we have left this time will come in handy, and you can enjoy the battle." ”