Wenjiu three years (1863), May 28th——
Kyoto, Mibu Township, Shinsengumi Village, Aoto's office——
Qing Deng handled his official duties meticulously before taking his first case.
Suddenly, Shannan Keisuke's voice sounded outside the door:
"Tachibana-kun, Hijikata-kun has returned from sending a letter!"
Qing Deng responded without raising his head:
"Come in."
Huh - Shannan Jingshu pushed open the door and walked in, running to Qingdeng in three steps at a time.
Shannan Keisuke is the chief of the Shinsengumi and the highest officer of the General Affairs Office, responsible for the clerical work of the Shinsengumi.
Due to the nature of this kind of work, Shannan Keisuke is destined to be the person who has the most contact with Qingto in daily life.
He often helped Qingdeng, made suggestions for Qingdeng, and accompanied Qingdeng in various meetings. He seemed to have become Qingdeng's personal secretary.
If Qingdeng were asked to describe Shannan Keisuke's talents in easy-to-understand words, it would be - he is truly the "Innate Secretary Holy Body"!
Cooperation with Shannan Keisuke always makes Qingto feel more happy.
First of all, Shannan Jingzhu read poetry and books, had extremely high cultural accomplishment, and wrote good calligraphy and articles.
Whenever there is a task that requires writing, such as writing an official document or something, Qingteng will give this type of work to Shannan Keisuke to handle it with full authority, and he will solve it beautifully every time.
Secondly, he has extraordinary physical strength.
He is a martial arts practitioner and possesses the two major schools of Ono Ittou Ryu and Beichen Ittou Ryu.
In terms of personal strength alone, he is one of the top fighters of the Shinsengumi.
Therefore, under his scholarly appearance, there is a strong and vigorous body hidden!
With the blessing of talents such as "Sleeping God", "Strengthening Essence +4", "Lock Blood +7" and other talents, Qingden is a veritable scroll king!
He often stayed up all night and worked all night long.
When he was tired, he lay down casually on the tatami, squinted his eyes, and soon regained his energy.
At the busiest time, he didn't even get into bed for 3 days and 3 nights in a row.
In addition, Qingdeng's work efficiency is extremely high thanks to his talents such as "photographic memory", "concentrating the mind", and "brain +9".
What would take an average person an hour to handle, he could do in half an hour.
The work attitude of forgetting sleep and food + the work efficiency of getting twice the result with half the effort... Taken together, one person in Qingdeng can do the work of 30 people.
So far, there has never been a backlog of documents waiting to be processed on his desk.
It is precisely thanks to Aomori's large scrolls, crazy scrolls, and violent scrolls that the Shinsengumi has been able to develop so rapidly.
An ordinary person would simply not be able to keep up with Qingdeng's work pace.
Only strong men like Shannan Keisuke can work closely with Qingdeng.
Although not as good as Aoden, Shannan Keisuke is also an incredible scroll king.
I also know that Shannan Keisuke, who has made outstanding achievements in both literature and martial arts, must also be a person who is very capable of "torturing" himself.
He often stayed up late with Qingdeng. He would work as late as Qingdeng worked.
Whenever he hears Aoto's summons, Shannan Keisuke will immediately put down everything at hand and appear in front of Aoto as quickly as he can - even in the middle of the night, no exception.
Even if he fell asleep, as soon as Qingdeng's order came, he would jump upright like a zombie and quickly get into work mode.
Some people joke that Shannan Keisuke has the ability to "sleep with one eye open".
In general, in one sentence - Shannan Keisuke can always appear where Qingdeng needs him to appear.
Finally, his memory is extraordinary.
Ayoto's gift of "photographic memory" was copied from Shannan Keisuke.
A memory that is beyond ordinary people is naturally very helpful in paperwork.
Not only that, Shannan Keisuke is also a rigorous person.
Even though he already has an extraordinary memory, he still records important events in his personal workbook meticulously to prevent mistakes.
It is a pleasure to work with such smart and hard-working people!
"Tachibana-kun, Hijikata's letter."
Saying that, Shannan Keisuke raised his hand and handed the letter in his palm to Qingdeng.
Ayoto took the letter and after confirming that the seal was intact, he opened the envelope and asked Shannan Keisuke:
"Kingsuke, how's it going over there in Xiaguan?"
There is no doubt that Choshu's blockade of the Shimonoseki Strait has become the most disturbing event nowadays.
All forces are paying close attention to the war in Xiaguan.
Qingdeng is naturally no exception.
Since May 10, Qingto has been paying attention to the latest situation in the Shimonoseki Strait every day.
Although Changzhou has set a big trap, and Western countries will never let Changzhou off easily, the development of history is always unreasonable.
God knows whether there will be any accidents next, causing Changzhou to escape the disaster, or even break out of the cocoon and be reborn?
As soon as Aoshito finished asking, Shannan Keisuke, the back foot, immediately answered:
"The Shimonoseki Strait is still blocked, and Choshu is still relentlessly bombarding every Western ship passing through the Shimonoseki Strait."
As he spoke, he took out a small booklet from his pocket - this was his work diary - spread it out and read it quickly.
"On May 23 and May 26, a French merchant ship and a Dutch merchant ship passed through the Shimonoseki Strait respectively. Both ships were bombarded by Choshu and had to flee in a hurry."
Speaking of this, Shannan Jingshu paused suddenly.
When he spoke again, he changed into a solemn tone:
"It is reported that Western countries have begun to respond one after another."
"The United States and France sent warships one after another."
"If nothing else happens, the US ship will arrive in the Shimonoseki Strait on June 1."
"French warships will enter the battlefield within a week at the latest."
"Changzhou is about to usher in a real 'war against the foreigners'..."
After finishing speaking, Shannan Keisuke let out a long sigh.
Today is May 28th, and more than half a month has passed since the "war started" on May 10th.
During this period of time, the state of Changzhou... can be summed up in one word: it is becoming more and more crazy!
The shogunate and other vassal states stood aside, which not only did not discourage the patriots of Choshu, but also greatly increased their fighting spirit!
The shogunate and other vassals are all cowards! When they see Xiyi, their legs tremble! We men from Changshu are the real warriors who help people in danger!
In this way, they become pretentious, more and more extreme and fanatical.
If you see a ship flying a Western flag, you will attack it, regardless of whether it is a merchant ship or another ship.
Not only that, they also began to accuse the Ogura Domain on the other side.
The Choshu Domain is located on the east side of the Shimonoseki Strait, and the Kokura Domain is located on the west side of the Shimonoseki Strait. The two feudal clans jointly guard the Shimonoseki Strait.
Choshu was fighting hard against the barbarians, while the Ogura clan on the other side stood idly by and watched. This made the people with lofty ideals in Choshu extremely dissatisfied.
There are rumors that the patriots in Choshu want to attack the Ogura Domain! Teach them a lesson!
At first glance, what Changzhou did was very refreshing and relieving.
However, so far, they have not sunk a single Western ship!
In this era, there were no radars, let alone satellites, so aiming was all done with the naked eye.
It is extremely difficult to attack targets on the sea. As a result, the cannons used by Changzhou are basically very old models, with poor range and accuracy.
In addition, the patriots in Changzhou generally lacked training. They couldn't even load artillery shells, so they could only bully the weak.
In this way, it is only possible that Changzhou can achieve brilliant results.
Their biggest result so far is just damaging a few merchant ships.
The injured merchant ships were not seriously injured. After being hit by artillery shells, they still managed to escape beyond the shelling range of Changshu.
Although the patriots in Changzhou continue to "win", the targets they currently attack are basically civilian ships that are unable to fight back.
They have yet to engage in combat with real warships.
When the warships from Western countries arrive one after another, Changzhou will be able to experience the real war against the foreigners in person...
Qingdeng thought for a while, and then said slowly:
"Respectfully assist, continue to pay attention to the war in Xiaguan."
"If there are any major changes, report to me immediately."
Shannan Keisuke: "Yes!"
At this time, Qingdeng finally opened the envelope, took out the white letter paper, and unfolded it with a "huh".
The neat yet wild font...is exactly Hijikata Toshizo's handwriting.
Hijikata Toshizo is still in charge of the recruitment work in the Edo area.
He regularly sent letters back to Qingdeng to report on the latest recruitment progress.
Qingdeng swept his eyes and read ten lines at a time.
Not long after, his brows were furrowed into the character "Chuan".
Upon seeing this, Shannan Jingshu asked immediately:
"Aoto, what's wrong? Did something go wrong with the recruitment matters on the Edo side?"
Qingden shook his head gently.
"No, the recruitment went smoothly."
"From the flag warriors to the common people, they all enthusiastically joined the army."
"In order to compete for the only quota, there were even many fights."
"The reason why I look sad is, if nothing else, because of the British fleet that is now approaching Edo."
"This letter this time is different from searching."
“In this letter, the Turkish side reported in detail the movements of the British fleet that came to demand compensation.”
"The nine British ships docked in Edo Bay never wanted to leave."
"The Acting Minister of the British Empire, John Neil, made harsh words: If the shogunate does not pay 100,000 pounds in compensation for the 'Naumai Incident', it will let Edo burn."
"Three days ago, they fired several cannons into the sea, which scared the whole city of Edo into panic, and huge riots broke out in Edo Town."
"According to what Hijikata said, people in Edo are now in panic."
"All sorts of random rumors are spreading in the streets of Edo."
"Those who could afford to leave Edo fled Edo overnight, dragging their families with them."
"Those who were unable to leave Edo anxiously prayed for the British ships to leave as soon as possible."
"See for yourself."
After saying that, Qingden turned the letter in his hand upside down and passed it to Shannan Keisuke.
After Shannan Keisuke reached out to take it, he hurriedly read it, and then, like Ayoto, his expression was dominated by solemnity.
Shannan Keisuke, who was always gentle and gentle on weekdays, gritted his teeth for a rare moment and showed indignation.
"The British side is really bullying people too much..."
"What does the 'raw wheat incident' have to do with us?"
"There is always a wrongdoer and a debtor, so the shogunate doesn't need to be responsible for the 'raw wheat incident' at all, right?"
Qingdeng sneered:
"The Kingdom of England is a pirate country that makes its fortune by invading and plundering."
"They are used to being pirates. Now they are just doing their old job and want to take this opportunity to extort more money."
The Raw Mai Incident - This incident was entirely Satsuma's fault and had nothing to do with the shogunate.
This was the second year of Wenjiu (1862)...that is, last year.
The founder of Satsuma, Shimazu Hisamitsu, personally led 1,000 feudal troops east to Edo, and "admonished" the shogunate to accept the following three conditions:
First, in order to discuss the matter of resisting the foreigners, General Tokugawa Iemo must come to Kyoto to discuss the issue with the imperial court.
Second, set up the five elders (the Shimazu clan of the Satsuma clan, the Mori clan of the Choshu clan, the Yamauchi clan of the Tosa clan, the Maeda clan of the Kanazawa clan, and the Date clan of the Uwajima clan). Political affairs need to convene a meeting of the five elders to make decisions.
Third, reform the shogunate politics and promote the fight against the barbarians. However, we cannot rely on the shogunate cabinet to carry out this task. Therefore, Yoshiki Hitotsubashi was appointed as the assistant to the general, and Matsudaira Harugaku of the Fukui Domain was appointed as the political president.
Coming to Edo with 1,000 feudal soldiers... Shimazu Hisamitsu showed a tough attitude.
It's called "admonition", but it's actually "admonishment for soldiers".
Shimazu Hisamitsu led his troops eastward. To be serious, it was an outright rebellion!
The shogunate could use this as an excuse to remove the fiefdom of Satsuma, or even call on the vassals to launch a "War of Conquest of Satsuma".
However, the Satsuma of today is no longer the Satsuma of the past.
After the vigorous reforms of Tenjoin's adoptive father...the former lord of Satsuma, Shimazu Saibin, Satsuma has been completely transformed.
It gave rise to advanced equipment and technologies such as steam engines and precision machine tools, built a large number of modern industries, and also had the ability to independently manufacture guns, cannons, and ships.
Frankly speaking, if they really want to go to war with Satsuma, which has achieved "semi-modernization", the shogunate has no certainty of victory...
At the time of internal and external troubles, the shogunate was really unable to antagonize the powerful Satsuma, so it could only nod and accept all of Shimazu Hisamitsu's conditions.
The political goal had been achieved, and the satisfied Shimazu Hisamitsu led his troops to withdraw from Edo and embarked on the road to return to the domain.
History has proven time and time again: when you feel secure and high-spirited, you will always encounter unexpected disasters.
Just as expected - as soon as Shimazu Hisamitsu left Edo, something unexpected happened.
On September 14, when Shimazu Hisamitsu's team passed through the raw wheat village of Kanagawa, an accident happened.
On this day, four British people were riding horses on the Tokaido Road in Shengmai Village.
Among them were merchant Charles Richardson, his clerk Clark, and a pair of British merchants, Mr. and Mrs. Marshall.
On the way, they happened to encounter Shimazu Hisamitsu and his team, and the feudal lords lined the entire road.
According to custom, if civilians encounter the daimyo's troops, they must kneel down and give way.
However, these four British people refused to comply no matter what, so they were considered to be rude to Shimazu Hisamitsu.
During this time, Mrs. Marshall's horse was suddenly frightened and rushed into the honor guard - the already extremely tense atmosphere suddenly broke out.
Narahara Yoshi of the Shimadzu Guards immediately pulled out his knife and wounded Charles. The guard who came next very kindly explained his mistake.
In addition, other men - Mr. Clark and Mr. Marshall - were also seriously injured.
Only Mrs. Marshall was unscathed.
As soon as this incident came out, it immediately shocked the whole country.
The whole incident was a complete man-made disaster, entirely caused by Satsuma.
The relationship between this incident and the shogunate is like the relationship between a seal and a leopard - bird feathers have nothing to do with it.
However, the British side was unreasonable.
It claimed compensation from the shogunate and Satsuma at the same time, and the lion opened its mouth and demanded 100,000 pounds in compensation from the shogunate.
In order to prevent the shogunate and Satsuma from denying it, it also sent a fleet very considerately.
Those nine British warships have been anchored in Edo Bay for many days.
During this period, the shogunate had sent many groups of personnel to negotiate with the British, expressing feelings and reasoning.
Although the shogunate had shown sincerity, the British always had only one response: either give money! Or wait to be bombed!
Qingdeng let out a breath of thick air, leaned to the side and leaned on his elbow.
"It can't go on like this."
"If there is really a barrage falling into Edo, it is no joke..."
Today's Britain is not the hip-stretching "big bang" of later generations.
Britain in the 19th century was the real British Empire!
Spread weapons all over the world and beat whoever you want.
What's more, this era is not as good as modern times.
Although the "Law of Nations" similar to international law has been born, humanitarian concepts such as "prohibition of mass murder" and "prohibition of attacks on civilians" have not yet become popular.
Today's Western countries will not cut off the fuse of artillery for reasons such as "impeding international publicity".
In other words - if effective measures are not taken as soon as possible, the nine British ships in Edo Bay will really bombard Edo!
Only in Edo was this place, it was impossible for Ayoto to watch it suffer.
Because he has too many relatives and friends living in Edo.
Boss Kiryu, Kondo Shusuke, old servant Kubei...
Under the gun, all living beings are equal.
He is as strong as Boss Kiryu, but he is only a mortal body, not common among ordinary people.
After being bombarded by naval guns, there was no other consequence except turning into ashes.
"……no solution anymore."
Qingden took a deep breath, reached out and grabbed Vairocana on the knife rest next to him, and then slowly stood up.
"Sure enough, I still need to take action personally."
Upon seeing this, Shannan Jingsuke was startled for a moment, and then retorted in a deep voice:
"Mr. Ju, do you... want to negotiate with the British side in person?"
Qingdeng asserted without hesitation:
"That's all we can do. The British side's tyranny has left the shogunate with nothing to do."
"If I don't take action, Edo will really burn."
"Instead of sitting here and sighing, it's better to work hard to do everything you can."
Shannan Keisuke looked hesitant.
"But... Qingdeng, if I remember correctly, you have never been a strategist. Are you sure you can convince the British?"
When Qingdeng heard this, he immediately laughed:
"Kingsuke, don't worry about me."
"You don't know me yet? I never fight a battle I can't win."
"Since I dare to take on this hard work, I naturally have a certain degree of confidence."
Speaking of this, Qingdeng put on an intriguing smile.
"Don't look at me like this. I know the temperament of Westerners very well and am very good at dealing with Westerners."
"Keisuke, while I'm away in Kyoto, I'd like you to take care of the Shinsengumi."
Shannan Jingsuke looked serious and immediately agreed:
"Well! That's natural!"
…
…
Aoden rode on Radish and rushed to Nijo Castle to find Tokugawa Iemo and Tenzouin.
After many days of rest, Tokugawa Iemo's body has generally recovered.
After meeting the mother and son, Aoto omitted the unnecessary pleasantries and said frankly: I am willing to serve as an envoy to negotiate with the British in person! To persuade the British ships in Edo Bay to retreat!
Tokugawa Iemo and Tenzouin were both shocked by Aoshino's self-recommendation, and they were immediately petrified on the spot.
They have seen too many people who run away, people who blame others, and people who evade responsibility.
Officials like Qingdeng who take the initiative to take responsibility and take risks are really rare!
On the one hand, it was due to the national character, and on the other hand, it was the poor official atmosphere of the shogunate. The two superimposed on each other, which made the shogunate officials have no other skills, but their ability to blame each other was first-rate.
They can deal with even the most serious matters for months or even years.
Serving as an envoy to negotiate with the menacing British side... this is not a fat job with many benefits.
This task is so arduous and dangerous that it makes people blush!
The first person responsible for going to negotiate with the British was Tokugawa Yoshiki, the lord of the Owari domain.
As soon as he arrived in Edo, he was frightened by the British battle and fled.
After that, many senior officials of the shogunate were appointed one after another.
Katsu Rintaro, veteran Ogasawara Nagayuki...
Those who followed up either declined in every possible way or returned in vain.
Nowadays, everyone is afraid of avoiding the nine warships in Edo Bay.
In this way, it is not difficult to understand that Tokugawa Iemo and Tenzouin would have such shocked expressions after seeing Aoshito's volunteering.
At first, Tokugawa Iemo's cheeks were filled with shock.
After a while, the shock gradually turned into calm.
He didn't say much, but stared straight into Qingdeng's eyes, and then asked Qingdeng solemnly:
"...Qingdeng, can I ask you for a favor?"
Qingdeng replied calmly:
"I'll try my best."
…
…
On that day, Tokugawa Iemo personally issued an order: Aomori was specially appointed as a temporary envoy, and he was fully responsible for negotiating with the British on behalf of the Edo shogunate!
On the day after receiving Tokugawa Iemo's permission, that is, May 29, the Aotori cattle headed eastward without stopping.
In order to facilitate movement, he did not bring any entourage, so he moved alone.
Today Qingdeng no longer needs the company of bodyguards.
If you go on the road with bodyguards, if you really encounter an assassin, you don't know who will protect whom.
Just as he rushed to Edo in a hurry, the war in Shimonoseki took on new and major changes.
On June 1, the US ship successfully arrived at the Shimonoseki Strait and officially launched its revenge.
On June 5, two French ships also arrived at Xiaguan and attacked the shore forts.
Under the joint attack of the American and French armies, the Choshu clan suffered a disastrous defeat and suffered heavy losses.
East and West Japan are facing the crisis of approaching the city at the same time... It's like a doomsday scene...
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PS: Leopard Leopard is going to visit the grave the day after tomorrow (April 5th), so I have to ask for leave the day after tomorrow, so let me tell you in advance.
This chapter has been completed!