North America, New Bohai Bay.

The American merchant ship Pembroke slowly sailed in.

If you get close enough, you can hear some kind of special song from this American merchant ship.

“さくら sakura，

さくら sakura，

Yayoi no Sorawa,

見渡すかぎり miwatasu kagiri......"

Inside the boat, several women in kimonos with their faces covered in white powder are dancing.

Sitting in the main seat are two middle-aged white men, and the next one is accompanied by a Japanese man who has been sitting for several months.

One of the white men was dressed in a Japanese-style yukata with a thick mane on his chest, and his face was quite drunk.

He smiled as he stared at the geisha's movements, and when they approached, he reached out and touched them from time to time.

The other white man wore the formal uniform of a U.S. Army military attaché.

At the same time, he seemed to be in a state of interest, eating vegetables by himself.

Just looking at his skillful use of chopsticks, it is obvious that he is no stranger to Asian culture.

"Lieutenant Colonel McCann, you're really boring, I remember when I saw you in Shanghai before, it wasn't like that!"

The slightly drunk white man poured a pot of sake for the poker face named McCann next to him, put his arm around a geisha, and said with a smile, "Don't you want to try these little Asian lambs?" I'm sure you'll never forget it once you try it, these Japanese people are a must! ”

The middle-aged soldier named McCann raised his head and drank the sake, and an angry look appeared on his face: "Asians are a lowly race, and they are not worthy of being united with us Caucasians!" ”

McCann's undisguised vicious words made the faces of several young Japanese who accompanied him change color slightly, and one of the young samurai even clenched his fists unconsciously.

"Morishita, don't be impulsive!"

The companion beside him hurriedly reminded secretly.

The middle-aged Japanese at the head looked panicked, and immediately ran out of his position, lay on the ground, and sat down in a posture, and said, "Your Excellency McCann, the hospitality is rude, please forgive me!" ”

"Humph! A bunch of idiots! ”

McKenteng stood up and kicked the coffee table over, spilling tea and food on the geisha, the women biting their lipes and not daring to scream.

"Don't think that a few kind words that don't hurt can make up for your responsibility for shelling merchant ships, the monkeys of East Asia will never learn what civilization is!" After saying that, McCann went back to his room to rest without looking back.

The middle-aged Japanese man led by him lay humbly on the ground, not daring to move.

After a long while, the white man in the bathrobe smiled and stretched out his leg and kicked him: "Jing Yijun, you can get up, Lieutenant Colonel McCann's temper is not a day or two, you don't have to worry too much." ”

Hiroshi Ii struggled to get up like a tumbling turtle like a tortoise, causing the white people to laugh.

Suddenly, he stopped laughing, and in a mysterious tone, whispered, "Iii-kun, do you know why Lieutenant Colonel McCann is so angry with you Asians?" ”

Hiroto Ii wiped the fine sweat from his forehead with a handkerchief, and said humbly: "William-kun, please be sure to inform the foolish brother, so that I can pay attention to it on the next journey." ”

"Attention?"

William smiled, "This is not a heart disease that you can solve, to tell you the truth, McCann was originally a cheerful guy, otherwise he would not have applied to come to the Far East as a consulate attaché." ”

"But...... I heard that when he was in Shanghai last year, McCann's only daughter fell in love with a Qing man, and that changed him completely. ”

Hearing this, Hiroto Ikai hurriedly smiled and said: "There are people in the Qing Kingdom who are so ignorant of the heavens and the earth, and sure enough, whether in Japan or the Qing Kingdom, there are many stupid people who are not civilized and can't understand the general trend of the world!" ”

……

The reception was not a complete one, and Hiroto Ii returned to the barn with a few young men.

As soon as he entered the house, he said straight to the point: "Gentlemen, the state affairs are difficult, please be patient!" ”

He especially focused on the young samurai named Shimomori: "Corporal Morishita, the general ordered you to come to the United States to learn how to drive a warship." Please be patient and not have a conflict with the adults in the United States, understand? ”

In the war that had just ended, although the Choshu Domain was beaten by the Westerners, the strength it showed, especially the newly formed Odd Soldiers with Western fast guns and the new gunboats capable of driving away American merchant ships, attracted the attention of the Tokugawa Shogunate.

Therefore, in addition to coming to the United States on behalf of the Tokugawa shogunate to make amends and discuss compensation, Hiroto Ii also had the need for arms procurement.

Since Hiroto Ii's uncle, Naobi Ii, was assassinated in the first year of Mangen (1860) by ronin from the Mito and Satsuma clans, the activities of the Hiroshi faction have become more and more frequent.

Their ideas were supported by young samurai and even lords from all over the country, and various assassinations of foreigners emerged one after another.

For this reason, the shogunate repeatedly compensated the foreign powers, and captured and executed the aspirants who assassinated the foreign lords.

This has made foreigners in Japan more and more arrogant, and incidents of raping ** women and beating scholars have occurred repeatedly.

Alcock, the British minister to Japan, once marched through Edo Castle.

Later, he seized Tozenji Temple in Edo Castle as the British legation in Japan.

He even brought people to show off his might on Mt. Fuji, the sacred mountain in the hearts of the Japanese.

This product has done almost everything that the Chinese wanted to do in later generations.

Naturally, the emperor was furious.

However, the Tokugawa shogunate chose to let it all go and make a bottomless concession.

This led to an increasing antagonism between the Tokugawa shogunate and the young samurai.

From last year to the beginning of this year, this trend reached its peak.

Eventually, the Choshu feudal clan combined with the ministers of the Imperial Court to control the political situation in Kyoto, forcing the Tokugawa shogunate to declare a seizure, and declared war on the four countries of rice, Britain, France, and the Netherlands, starting with the bombardment of American merchant ships, and the Shimonoseki War broke out.

The outcome of the war was not unexpected.

The Japanese stormed, and none of the Shikoku merchant ships sank, and only a few sailors were lost.

But retaliation from the Great Powers followed.

While the United States was busy with the civil war, the USS Wyoming gunboat was on a mission right in Asia.

Upon receiving the news, the Wyoming immediately entered the waters of Yokohama.

With only 6 guns, the Wyoming easily destroyed the three main battleships of the Choshu domain, the Nashin Maru, and the Kakukai Maru (among which the Koshin Maru and the Kakai Maru were Western-style gunboats purchased in Shanghai), and destroyed the batteries in Yokohama.

In June, when France was not yet the one that could be routinely approached, two warships of its Navy's Eastern Fleet, the Semiramis and Theodore, launched an attack on Japan.

Among them, the Semiramis was a large battleship armed with 36 heavy guns, which destroyed the will of the Choshu feudal lord and the shogunate to fight in one fell swoop.

Next is the standard process of begging, signing, and compensation.

To put it simply, as long as Japan is replaced with "I Daqing", this script will be very familiar to us Chinese.