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In the seventh year of Jiayong, that is, in the Western calendar 1854, the second day of October (the same as the Chinese lunar calendar)

A few months ago, after more than a month of repeated tug-of-war negotiations, the shogunate, despite the unwillingness of 100 reluctant shogunates, accepted the conditions offered by the Americans, and on 3 March, the "Japan-US Peace and Relations Treaty," also known as the "Kanagawa Treaty," with a total of 12 articles, was concluded, and on 25 May, the final deletion and amendment of the treaty was made, and the "Shimoda Treaty," with a total of 13 articles, was finally determined. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

The Americans left after signing the treaty, but as soon as they saw that they had succeeded, Britain, France, and Russia also came to Japan without lagging behind, vying to demand the signing of the so-called "goodwill treaty." However, it means that Japan's policy of closing the country to the outside world for more than 200 years has finally been broken.

Not only that, but the long-term peace and stability can be regarded as over. Although there has not yet been a war, the hearts of the people are already in chaos. No one knows what the way out of Japan will be tomorrow when it is pressed by the great powers.

So for a while, all kinds of theories also came into being, everyone didn't work much all day long, just to have a war of words for fun, you spray me, I scolded you, and I never got tired of it.

It was also while the samurai and scholars in Japan were discussing the future of Japan when suddenly news came from the sea like thunder - Perry was defeated and the black ship was gone!

Perry's fleet was defeated by China in Guangdong and annihilated!

The thunderous news only shocked them to the soul, until now the Japanese have not been able to recover from the shock of the "black ship visiting", when they were shocked by the strength of the black ship of the United States, at this time the United States fleet, which seemed invincible to them, was defeated by China!

Once upon a time, Japan also despised Westerners, but an incident happened more than ten years ago that made the Japanese no longer despise foreigners and reject foreigners. That was the war between China and Britain that broke out more than ten years ago.

For thousands of years, China has been worshiped by Japan as a teacher and idol, although China is now occupied by the Manchu barbarians, but the big country that makes Japan envious and jealous and more fearful has been bombarded by the British warships and cannons, when the Manchus and the British signed the "Treaty of Nanjing", although some people woke up because of this, began to look at the world, such as Wei Yuan, for which he also wrote a book to introduce the summary of the situation of the world in the "Atlas of the Sea Kingdom", but this book has no market in China at all, It seems that everyone doesn't think it's a big deal, and "I Daqing" is still obsessed with the dream of "the kingdom of heaven".

On the contrary, in Japan, across the sea, the book sold out of stock, and it was reprinted more than a dozen times in a row. The Japanese who have read this book also understand that in fact, they are not strong at all, let alone themselves, even if it is their own master China, in this world, it seems that it is no longer good.

Just when Japan was forced to open its doors, watching the invasion of the West, passively signing one treaty after another, and being confused about how to deal with the changes unseen in this thousand years, the Chinese fleet defeated the Western fleet, to be precise, the news of defeating the "United States" fleet that had rumbled more than 100 guns in Edo artillery made almost everyone who heard the news excited, excited, and proud.

When this news came, those who had been debating Japan's future and the way out all stopped arguing and used a tone of frowning eyebrows to tell hearsay -- how the Chinese fleet defeated Perry's fleet and how China defeated the "Mi Army."

It was in the midst of this euphoria that the "Far Eastern Company" in Edo was always welcomed by customers from time to time, and the people of Edo were no strangers to this Far Eastern Foreign Company, which was the first foreign foreign company to open in Edo, and it not only opened a foreign bank, but also a bank.

At the beginning, the Far Eastern Company opened a branch in Edo almost the day after the treaty was signed, and even when the Perry fleet was negotiating, the merchant ships of the Far Eastern Company had already arrived in Edo Bay, and they had been waiting for the treaty to be signed.

At the beginning, many people thought that the Far Eastern Bank was opened by Westerners, but after a long time, everyone knew that this Far Eastern Bank or bank was actually opened by Chinese, which was a Chinese commercial bank in the name of a foreign bank. The reason why it is called a foreign firm is because this firm belongs to the Han Governor, which also occupies Wuchang, and is said to be the property of the general who is a descendant of the former Ming Dynasty.

Perhaps the shogunate learned about the West through the "Atlas of the Sea Kingdom" and the mouths of the Dutch, but they knew China very well, and even said that they were very concerned, and they had been paying attention to the changes in the situation in China since the Taiping army occupied Nanjing, and naturally they also learned about Wuchang.

Because of this, even if they knew that the Far Eastern Company was not opened by Westerners, the shogunate chose to turn a blind eye. On the one hand, it is really because they look down on the Manchu barbarians in their bones, and on the other hand, it is also the habit of small countries when China changes its dynasty.

In spite of this, they had quite a lot of complaints about the Far Eastern Bank -- in less than half a year, the Far Eastern Bank exchanged silver for millions of taels of gold in Japan, and it was at this time that the news that the Han fleet had completely annihilated the black ships of the United States made many people's complaints immediately retract.

Instead of complaining, they befriended the manager of the Far Eastern Bank one after another, so that they could learn from him about Wuchang and the Han Governor's Mansion. As the manager of the Far Eastern Bank in Japan, Chen Shuji naturally did not miss this opportunity to make friends with the top and bottom figures of the shogunate, and established quite deep relationships with many people in a short period of time.

"Why could China defeat the Westerners, but the Manchus could not defeat the Westerners?"

Sitting in front of Chen Shuji, Katsu Haizhou asked in a puzzled tone, this question has been bothering him for the past few days, and many people in Edo claim that the reason why the Han fleet was able to defeat the American fleet was because it was the Han army, the real Chinese, not the Manchu barbarians.

For hundreds of years, it was generally believed in Japan that the establishment of the Qing Dynasty marked the decline of China to Yidi, and the "Tang" had been reduced to Yidi, especially the "Tang" in the process of becoming Yidi, constantly bowed down and humbled to Japan for help (Japanese beggars), which greatly improved Japan's sense of superiority, which brought about the expansion of Japanese Chinese thought in the Edo period, and the Japanese began to discuss whether they were "China" or not.

But just when this trend of thought began to waver because of the "visit of the black ship" and the impact of the West, the news from Guangdong suddenly shocked everyone, and unlike the other people's ecstatic because the fleet of the United States was completely annihilated, Sheng Haizhou was more concerned about the answer, he wanted to know the reason why China defeated the American fleet.

"How can China shelter East Asia for thousands of years?"

Chen Shuji did not directly answer Sheng Haizhou's question, but quoted history.

"In the Ming generation, when was my China defeated by the West, even if Zheng Chenggong also dealt a heavy blow to the Westerners, and cut off the ambition of the Dutch to get involved in East Asia, now, China is enslaved by the Manchus, and the Manchus implement the government of fools in order to maintain their rule, how can they not be defeated in the hands of Westerners, not defeated in the hands of outsiders?"

As a businessman, Chen Shuji naturally didn't know the answer, and then he changed the conversation again and said in a smug tone.

"Shengjun can rest assured, now that our Chinese orthodoxy has been corrected, then our China will continue to carry out the mission of thousands of years to defend East Asia, and China, as a "Greater China", should protect Japan, Korea, and other "Little China" from the invasion of Westerners......

In the past period of time, in Japan, in the face of the upsurge caused by the "Battle of the Zero Ding Ocean", Chen Shuji would always take every opportunity to tell those Japanese about the "Zhao Zhao Mandate of Heaven", the so-called "Zhao Zhao Mandate of Heaven", in fact, it is the "Sinocentrism" for thousands of years, the Chinese civilization of ancient China has had a huge and far-reaching impact on the surrounding areas with its own strong charm, and the surrounding countries have accepted Chinese thought. For example, North Korea, Japan, and Vietnam, which are the so-called "Little China," should naturally be vassals of "Greater China," and "Greater China" is naturally responsible for them.

As a comprador, Chen Shuji knew what was more beneficial to him after many years of doing business, and he envied the privileges and colonies of Westerners, but in this case, he did not mind using this "Great China" and "Little China" to fool Japan, and even fool Korea and Vietnam in the future, and give China privileges. And then let the Chinese enjoy the convenience of being like Westerners and Southeast Asian colonies.

Now Chen Shuji doesn't know, what does these words mean by what he said? But he knew very well that the Japanese would always look at him with a humble demeanor, because they had once again seen the strength of China, and the invincible "black ship" in their eyes had been easily wiped out by China, which was the reason for their humility.

As a businessman, Chen Shuji naturally will not miss such an opportunity to raise his value. Well, the opportunity to fight for more profits, such as opening a few more banks in Japan and collecting more gold, is a threefold profiteering, and it is necessary to hollow out Japan before those Westerners pounce like flies......

"Well, if Japan can get the protection of China. It's really a lucky ...... Japan."

Just as Katsu Haizhou expressed his gratitude in a grateful tone, there was a sudden sound of excitement outside the house, and even the paper window Katsu Haizhou could still hear the shouts on the street.

"Black Ship, Black Ship is here again......" (To be continued.) )