Edo Castle, between the Imperial Palace.

"Yaga! How dare Zhuge Weidao make such a request? Is he going to treat my Tokugawa Shogunate as a lackey of their Zhuge family? Even if you are a dog, you should also give them more meat to eat, and when you are full, you can help them bite Yingyi...... However, how can they not let us develop heavy industry, military industry, and shipbuilding? How can they even control the issuance of Japanese currency? If there is no heavy industry, no currency issuance power, and only a little textile and toy, when will Japan rise above the sea and become a great power that can keep pace with the Ming Dynasty and Great Britain? Do they want my Tokugawa family to be pawns for generations to come? ”

Of course, the one who is angry is unwilling to be a dog, oh, the shogun Tokugawa Ieqi who is unwilling to be a hungry ghost dog who can't eat enough.

Tokugawa Saiaki, the head of the shogunate navy, had already returned to Edo with the "Twenty-one Tomorrow Articles" written by Zhuge Weidao himself, and returned to Edo on a communication ship of the shogunate navy. When he returned to Edo, he didn't even return home, so he went straight to Edo Castle to ask for a private summons from the princess.

As soon as the Tokugawa family saw these "twenty-one articles", they were furious.

Because according to these "21 articles", if the Japanese state wants to be a dog, but cannot develop and grow, it can only be a thin dog chained for generations, unable to eat and starve to death.

Of course, if these "21 Articles" are really implemented, life will still be better for Japan's middle- and lower-class samurai and low-level untouchables.

The samurai had the opportunity to go abroad to fight and make meritorious contributions, and the Ming Dynasty could card Japan's development prospects, but it would not card the military salaries and meritorious rewards of these cannon fodder...... Otherwise, what if you are bored on the battlefield?

Thinkers

The light industries that the Ming Dynasty allowed Japan to develop were all labor-intensive, and although they could not give high wages, they could solve a large number of jobs. Meantime. After Japan opened up the agricultural product market, cheap agricultural products from Daming, Siam, Annam, and Burma poured in, which made it easier for the people at the bottom of Japan to eat and drink.

And once the Ming Dynasty defeats Britain and becomes the world hegemon, Japan will still be able to obtain a higher "caste" because of their looks and culture - no matter what, the East Asian race and the Korean people, Annam, Siam, and Japan in the Eastern Confucian circle will be mixed with "old Europe" even if they can't mix with the status of the "Ming version of the Five Eyes Alliance" in the future, oh, it should be old Asia. Although Japan is at the bottom of the Oriental Confucian circle, but out of the circle, it is also the Eagle Dog of the Celestial Empire!

But Tokugawa Ieki was still angry...... He is a descendant of the god Ieyasu, and the Tokugawa family is the "guardian of the gods" who have guarded Japan for generations, how can he easily be a dog for the Zhuge family of the Ming Dynasty next door? Besides, the Zhuge family does not plan to feed the Tokugawa family and Japan.

If Tokugawa Ieki easily agreed to the "Twenty-one Articles of Tomorrow" that lost power and humiliated the country, then he would immediately be regarded as a national thief and an enemy by his subordinates, how could this great general continue to be a general?

And...... Japan can still struggle a little now, and if you struggle, you may be able to get a little more dog food.

But struggling is risky!

Thinking of this, Tokugawa Ieki said to Tokugawa Qizhao: "Does Zhuge Weidao already know that the initiator behind the Kiyin Waterway incident is Qi Liang, the heir of Satsuma Shimazu?" ”

"I already know," replied Tokugawa Saiaki, "Eiyi's detachment chief's staff officer, Charlie Brown. Yilu was captured and interrogated by Charlie. Yilu, Zhuge Weidao already knew that Shimazu Qiliang single-handedly created this incident. ”

Tokugawa Ieqi asked worriedly: "So did Zhuge Weidao ask Shimazu Qiliang to apologize?" ”

Tokugawa Saiaki sighed: "That's a matter of course...... In the end, I'm afraid that there is not only one Qi Liang who will have to cut his stomach, but the entire Shimazu clan! ”

Tokugawa Ieki also sighed: "I really didn't expect that for the sake of a woman, the famous Shimazu family in Kyushu would be extinct......"

After saying this, Tokugawa Ieaki stood up and left the Imperial Palace, leaving Tokugawa Saiaki alone in the huge room to think quietly.

......

"From the very beginning, we should not have pinned our hopes on the Tokugawa shogunate! It seems that the only people who can lead Japan to dominate the sea and deploy military force in all directions are people who have been enlightened in the Restoration! ”

It was Saigo Yoshibei Takamori who had become the leader of a pirate group called the Kaitao team after breaking away from the Satsuma Domain. He didn't know when he had arrived in Osaka, Japan's most prosperous commercial city, and hid in a closed two-place house near the port of Osaka. Looking out from the room he was in now, he could see the battleship Revenge moored feebly on the dock waiting to be repaired.

And the one who listened to him was the shogunate naval staff officer Shimazu Qiliang. Instead of wearing the shogunate navy uniform, which was mixed with the foreign, he wore a clean black kimono with the Shimazu family's Marukashi family crest. Kneeling in the wazuki room, with a katana beside him.

"Saigo-kun is right, the current country of Japan is like Mount Fuji that is about to erupt, and there is too much dissatisfaction and resentment in the interior, both dissatisfaction and resentment against the weak Tokugawa shogunate, and resentment against the Ming Dynasty who oppresses our country!"

"That's right! As long as someone dares to stand up and break the situation in which Japan has not died and has no hope for the past century. As long as the smoke of the king comes together, then the whole of Japan will be full of blood, and Japan's friends and enemies will see our strength! ”

"Lord, the Shimazu family must not sit still, the shogunate has been suppressing and fearing the Shimazu family for a long time, and this time it will definitely take advantage of the topic to completely eradicate the Shimazu family!"

"My lord, the Satsuma family is not the only one who has been suppressed by the shogunate, and the Mori family in Choshu is also deeply suspicious of the shogunate, and the people with lofty ideals in the family have long been eager to see through the move to save the country!"

"My lord, do it! Instead of sitting and waiting, it's better to fight to the death! ”

"My lord, please lead us and raise the banner of rebellion!"

It seems that among this group of ronins of the Haitao team were not only from the Satsuma Domain, but also from other powerful feudal clans in the southwest, such as the Choshu Domain. Most of these powerful feudal clans in the southwest evolved from the daimyo of the Western Army during the Battle of Sekigahara, which established the Tokugawa world more than 200 years ago. Most of them are still famous samurai families with a long history, and they all had a glorious era during the turbulent Warring States period.

Because the ancestors used to be wide, the number of retainers was very large, and later the territory was small and the income was less, but the retainers were not all laid off, so they had to tighten their belts and live a hard life together.

And the two hundred years of peace have caused the number of samurai in these powerful domains to surge, and the domain can't arrange it at all, so a large number of ronins have been produced. The various evildoer groups in Japan are full of these poor ghost samurai who came from the southwestern foreign domains.

Shimazu Qiliang's face was pale, and he just nodded stiffly: "Gentlemen, Japan has indeed reached the most dangerous moment, if I can't wait for the people with lofty ideals to rise up again, then Japan will be reduced to the status of Korea and Annam...... This is something we will never tolerate! However, we can't confront the shogunate in Kinai, after all, this is the key point of the shogunate's control of the world, and the Tokugawa family has stationed heavy troops here, which is not something we can defeat. ”

After all, the current Tokugawa shogunate was engaged in the restoration of the country, and although its strength cannot be compared with the historical Meiji government, the authority of the shogunate is not something that a few ronin groups can challenge.

"What should we do?" Saigo Yoshibei Takamori asked loudly.

"We ...... Go to Kyushu! Shimazu said, "Kyushu is the place where people with lofty ideals gather!" In addition, the shogunate also transported a large number of arms to Nagasaki for storage, and also deployed the newly established airship team in Nagasaki...... We can sneak into Nagasaki, seize the airships and munitions there, and raise our forces in Nagasaki! ”