Port of Osaka, Japan. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info.

The long piece of music whimpered and played, it was the national anthem of the Empire of Japan, and it sounded a bit like the British "God Save My King", and the lyrics were similar. The drizzle was also coming down. In the wind and rain, the maids and female children in colorful costumes, as well as the officers and soldiers of the new group in a neat queue, were silently on the boat. Officials of the Japanese Empire and the samurai family of Kyoto and Osaka gathered on the pier in full clothes.

The waves are not small. The merchant ships in the harbor fluctuated in waves. The 5,000-ton luxury cruise ship was anchored at the pier by a white-painted steam sailing ship, a luxury cruise ship with a displacement of more than 5,000 tons, which several wealthy Japanese businessmen had ordered from the Jiangnan shipyard in Shanghai to give Tokugawa Akiko a 30th birthday. And this gift worth 650,000 silver dollars is only one of the many birthday gifts that Tokugawa Akiko has received, and it is not the most expensive.

Although the government of the Japanese Empire was so poor that even the most basic education funds were often in arrears, the wealthy merchants and 300 daimyo families in Japan were still extraordinarily rich. In the case of the Tokugawa clan, for example, there are more than 8 million acres of agricultural land alone! There are no less than 20 castles such as Edo Castle, Osaka Castle, and Nijo Castle! It also owns large tracts of land in major Japanese cities such as Edo, Osaka, Kyoto, and Nagasaki. Now the annual income is no less than 10 million silver dollars, and 1 million yuan of them belongs to Tokugawa Akiko's personal endowment! In addition, samurai families and wealthy businessmen from all over Japan also received various types of donations and gifts. This woman's current life is really luxurious......

On the deck of Hinomaru, Akiko Tokugawa, dressed in a gorgeous kimono, was strolling with a tall and burly foreigner. The foreigner was still holding a big umbrella in his hand. Shelter Akiko Tokugawa from the wind and rain. This foreigner was the British Minister to Japan, Will. Hamming. When Mingzi returned to China this time, he invited him to go with him, and by the way, he went to meet his former friend Zhu Jishi.

Akiko suddenly stopped, and looked at the four British steam sailing ships with the flag of rice at anchor on the sea. Although these steam galleons were not as large as the Hinomaru and were not luxuriously decorated, they always had a displacement of three or four thousand tons and could reach a speed of 11 or 12 knots, making them the most popular types of ships on the Pacific route. But these four steam galleons were no ordinary merchant ships. A British Navy logistics flag was flown in the stern, indicating that the four steam galleons were owned by the Royal Navy. They were transports from Hawaii, ready to help the Japanese transport troops to Patagonia.

"Mr. Hemming, the friendship of the British Empire has come so quickly!" Tokugawa Akiko said lightly.

"The navy of the British Empire is everywhere, and there are exactly four armed transports passing through Japan, and they can take some people to Hawaii along the way."

"How do you count the tickets?"

"Ferry tickets? Look at it. "Will. Hemming snorted. The Royal Navy is not a shipping company, so do you care about these little money? Now as long as the Japanese are willing to go to South America to do something, it is a matter of one sentence to let the British Empire post silver!

Tokugawa Akiko smiled faintly: "Mr. Hemming, I'm seriously asking questions." I can't guess why you are so eager to help Japan, but I know that the British Empire will definitely benefit from it. Now I ask you to tell me. What do you want? I don't think your British plans can be hidden from me, but you will never be able to hide them from the Son of Heaven and the Imperial Princess Maria. ”

Will. Hemaki glanced appreciatively at Akiko Tokugawa. He smiled and said, "Your Royal Highness, have you ever heard of saltpeter?" “

"Saltpeter? Saltpeter for the production of gunpowder? Akiko Tokugawa looked at Will with wide eyes. Hamming. Saltpeter was known to her, and it was not produced in Japan, and in the past it was either obtained through trade or from urine and feces in a way she didn't know, but the production was very low and could only be used for hunting. At present, Japan simply does not produce gunpowder, **, and imports all of it from China. So there is no need for saltpeter.

"And all sorts of **." Will. Hai Ming nodded and said with a smile: "This is the most valuable stone in the world, without it, the armies of all countries in the world would have retreated to the era of cold weapons." The Atacama Desert on the Pacific coast of South America is currently the most important saltpeter source in the world. The desert currently belongs to Chile, Bolivia and Peru. ”

Tokugawa Akiko nodded suspiciously, she didn't know chemistry, so naturally she didn't know how important saltpeter was in the current chemical industry. Because Zhu Jishi's invention of oil ** and nitrate H starch not only have great value in the military, but also in industry, construction, mining and other industries. The method of industrializing nitric acid is more complicated, and Zhu Jishi is not a serious chemist, so he can't open this golden finger. Thus saltpeter has become one of the most valuable minerals of this era, if not one of them! Take the current North American war as an example, the amount of gunpowder used by the warring parties has reached an astonishing amount, and the amount of saltpeter that needs to be consumed is also an astronomical amount. If it weren't for the "kind" British selling saltpeter from South America to the United States of America at a high price, the war would have ended long ago!

Europe also happens to be a place where natural saltpeter deposits are scarce, and large quantities of saltpeter are imported from Chile, Bolivia and Peru every year. France and Prussia are the largest buyers of these natural saltpeters. If the Atacama Desert were to be controlled by the British, France and Prussia would lose their most important source of saltpeter, and although they would find new sources in the Ming Empire and the Kingdom of California or Africa, it would not be easy to increase production enough to fight a world war. In particular, the British navy was still stronger than the French, and the French had to stock up on enough saltpeter before they could start challenging the British......

Therefore, this kind of stone, which can produce gunpowder and **, is now going to bring a terrible disaster to several countries in South America! Of course, this also depends on the attitude of the Ming Emperor.

Akiko Tokugawa turned her head and looked at the tall Will with a smile. "Mr. Hemming, do you think the Ming Emperor will agree to let the British Empire control the saltpeter in that desert?" ”

Will. Haiming nodded affirmatively and said with a smile: "Of course, because China is not short of natural saltpeter, and the saltpeter needed by Zhonghua Pharmaceutical and Lanfangxing are all from Northwest China and Sichuan, and do not rely on South America." And...... It would be difficult for the Ming Emperor to resist the huge, sweet decoy of Japan, wouldn't he? “

Akiko Tokugawa looked at Will. Heming finally laughed: "Okay, then let Emperor Ming choose between Japan and saltpeter!" “

……

With a snap, Zhu Jishi threw the telegram from Tokugawa Akiko from Osaka on the table. What was on the telegram confirmed his suspicions. Britain strongly supported Japanese saltpeter for the sake of saltpeter in the Atacama Desert...... On the map, the desert is just on the edge of the Pacific Ocean, with several ports where natural saltpeter can be transported. Perhaps the British wanted to take advantage of the war between Chile and Japan to lease the Atacama Desert belonging to Chile, and then lease the rest from Bolivia and Peru, and then build fortifications in those ports, and then garrison heavy troops to control them firmly in their own hands, so that the British would be able to choke the throat of the French to obtain natural saltpeter......

In addition, due to the expansion of the new Japan, the relationship between the Ming Empire and France is bound to become cold, at least not as a quasi-alliance against Britain as it is now. This gave Britain valuable time to consolidate the broken bones of the United States of America.

It seems that the British Empire has made a clever move this time!

"Maria, what do you think? What should I say to Akiko? Zhu Jishi sighed and looked at his beloved concubine Maria in embarrassment. Clementina.

Maria shook her head and sneered, "What else can I say?" Can you refuse? Can the Ming Empire refuse this opportunity to control Japan forever? But...... I would like to remind you that the expansion of New Japan will not be as easy as imagined. Look at it, the Japanese dream of a South American empire will not come true, France will not allow it, and Britain will not support it either! (To be continued.) )u