The leader of the rice ship was named John, and the captain of the whaling ship accompanying him this time was also named John, but one was John Bryan and the other was John Mon.

But John Meng was from Fuso, and his given name was Manjiro. He was the navy captain that Naohide had longed for.

Manjiro was a Fuso native who was exiled in the United States due to a shipwreck - but unlike Naohide, Manjiro actually encountered a shipwreck. He was originally a poor fisherman in Nakahama Village, Tosa. In the 12th year of Tenpo (1841), Manjiro, who was only 15 years old, was

He was a fishing boat helper, but unfortunately encountered a storm. After five days of drifting, the damaged boat was fortunately washed up on a desert island by the waves. Even more fortunately, it was rescued by a passing whaling ship 143 days later.

Unlike Naohide, who was a bastard, Manjiro in the first half of his life was a true son of the plane, loved by everyone, and loved by everyone.

Not long after he was rescued by a whaling ship, the clever and decisive Manjiro was adopted by the captain as his adopted son, and he was brought back to the United States to raise him with his children and send him to school. Four other fishermen were rescued together with Manjiro.

, these few were left by the captain to fend for themselves on Hawaii Island.

In 1844, Manjiro graduated from school with honors and continued to engage in the whaling industry, during which time Manjiro became the first mate.

At that time, whaling ships were a high-risk industry. Due to limitations in navigation technology and ship construction levels, the probability of a whaling ship crashing was very high. Moreover, pirates were rampant at that time. Fights often occurred between whaling ships and pirates, so there were frequent battles on whaling ships.

The crew members are all bad-tempered and good sailors. Manjiro, an outsider, can be respected by a group of Mi people, which shows how extraordinary this man is.

Because of the shogunate's decree that "those who return from overseas will die," Manjiro did not dare to return to Fuso, so he worked on a whaling ship for several years. Another reason why he could not return to Fuso was that the sea route was not smooth.

There are no passenger ships between Fuso and the United States.

After that, Manjiro's experience became even more legendary.

In 1849, Manjiro returned to Massachusetts, and then he decided to return to Fuso.

In Naohide's original world, Manjiro once again showed his unparalleled talent and luck. This young man heard that the California Gold Rush (1848-1855) was more profitable, so he took a few people to go gold mining, and found out

Made a fortune.

At that time, there were many people prospecting for gold, but the proportion of people who made a fortune was not that high. Didn't someone conclude that the real way to make a fortune in gold prospecting was through selling water and jeans?

But Manjiro was one of those lucky few. Not only did he survive the gold rush at that time, when there was a mixture of fish and dragons, epidemics were prevalent, and conflicts broke out at any time, but he also earned enough money to buy a whaling ship!

According to later information, in 1847, of the eight to nine hundred whaling ships in the Pacific, the United States accounted for seven or eight hundred, with a total investment of approximately US$20 million and an annual profit of approximately US$13 million.

According to this information, the average price of a whaling ship plus the fishing gear on it is US$25,000, which is equivalent to a small deposit of about 6,400 natural protection coins.

At that time, US$25,000 was a huge sum of money. In 1853, "Steel King" Andrew Carnegie joined the Pennsylvania Railroad Company as the personal telegraph operator and secretary of the Western District Director, with a monthly salary of only US$35!

If Manjiro's story ends here, it will definitely be an inspirational article, but how can things in the world be as perfect as one wishes?

In 1851, Manjiro returned to Naha on the whaling ship he bought, and was then detained by the Satsuma Domain because Manjiro dedicated dozens of volumes of world-wide surveys, maps of all countries and Western books to the shogunate. They were released by the shogunate in 1853

hometown.

As for the whaling ship, it is said that Manjiro gave it to his adoptive father's family who raised him in the United States.

In 1853, when the Kurofune visited, the shogunate remembered Manjiro who had been overseas and activated him with a general request for service. From then on, Manjiro became a samurai and was renamed Nakahama Manjiro.

When he was detained by Satsuma Domain, at the invitation of Shimazu Saibin, Manjiro taught English and sailing ship building in Kagoshima. After becoming a shogunate samurai, Manjiro first translated Western books under Egawa Tanan, and later taught sailing at the training institute.

After the Restoration, he became a professor at Kaisei School (later Tokyo University).

Manjiro had translated many Western books and compiled dictionaries, and the first Western sailing ship of the shogunate, the Phoenix Maru, was built under the guidance of Manjiro under the guidance of Saburosuke Nakajima.

During the storm at the end of the Tokugawa period, Manjiro was also the key assassination target of the anti-barbarians. To this, Manjiro said MMP. In fact, due to his status, Manjiro was not reused in the shogunate. He was an engineer and translator, so his assassination was completely unintentional. Of course, Manjiro

He is a big talker, and he often advocates support for the founding of the country, so he cannot be said to be completely innocent.

Compared with the shogunate who didn't pay much attention to Manjiro, Naohide had high hopes for Manjiro - the people who can be the first mates of whalers these days are all high-end talents, and they have been wild in the United States. It would be natural to let them go easily.

Intolerable.

Therefore, Naohide extended a small hand very early - in 1845, when Naohide and Oguri Tadjun were getting along with Yoshida Toyo and Yamauchi Toyonobu in Tosa, Naohide asked Yoshida and Saitaniya to take care of Manjiro's mother and frail children in Nakahama Village.

elder brother.

When Naohide was in the United States in 1847, he found the Hoytfield family, Manjiro's adoptive father, in Massachusetts early. However, Manjiro did not see him on the whaling ship at that time. Later, Manjiro heard that compatriots had come to visit, and he was very excited and took the initiative to run to the family.

When I met Naohide in New York, Naohide "accidentally" mentioned Manjiro's family in Tosa. Manjiro was shocked at that time, but Manjiro was under contract at the time and couldn't join Naohide's team - maybe it was because Naohide didn't do well when he first arrived in the United States.

The land is related.

But in 1848, Naohide initially gained a foothold, and Manjiro's contract expired. At Naohide's invitation, Manjiro became Naohide's right-hand man.

When Naohide returned to China in 1849, Manjiro was supervising the construction of steamships at the shipyard under Naohide's entrustment. It was a critical moment and he was unable to free himself. Therefore, the two parties agreed that Naohide would first go back to Fuso to explore the road, and then notify Manjiro to return when Naohide was stable.

Originally, Manjiro planned to come back last year, but after Naohide left, only Gakujiro and Manjiro were left in the United States. They were extremely busy during the period, so Manjiro was delayed until this year.

As soon as Manjiro comes back, Naohide can dump the entire navy to him, but Manjiro is unwilling. He plans to go back to Tosa to visit relatives first. Naohide has been entrusting Yoshida Toyo to take care of Manjiro's family. He told Manjiro that everything is good at home and he will definitely let go this year.

You go back, but no matter what, you help me for a month first. After all, Manjiro didn't have to rely on Naohide for his career in Fuso. In the end, Manjiro agreed to stay with Naohide for a month.

Why does Naohide want to keep Manjiro? He hasn’t been home for ten years, so why should he let Manjiro come home first? It’s really because the time is unlucky. It’s early September, which is the end of summer in the Northern Ezo Land.

It is a good time to hunt whales on the Shiretoko Peninsula in the northeast of Ezo Island, and it is also the end of the gathering of fur seals on Seal Island in North Ezo Island.

After all, relying solely on Gakujiro's blood transfusions in the United States is not a long-term solution. Bai Zhu must have his own pillar industry for his practice. For the time being, Bai Zhu's production depends on seals and whales. The good time is only seven, eight, nine, and three months. If you miss it, you will be disappointed.

We have to wait until next year, so Nao-soo is forced to do so.

When the rice ship arrived, Naohide sealed the dock and sent seven businessmen from Zeniya, Kinokuniya and the newly arrived Saga Windmill Group to the north for prospecting for coal mines. The rest were his own people.

, quickly unloaded the cargo, and then counted the sailors on the Lianmi ship together, divided the troops into two groups, went all the way to the Shiretoko Peninsula to hunt whales, and continued all the way to Seal Island to make a fortune.

Although Fuso has been hunting whales since ancient times, in Ezo and Northern Ezo, whaling is still a

It was new, so Manjiro had a full harvest throughout September. Among his prey were fin whales, sperm whales and humpback whales. The only regret was that no ambergris was found.

The same situation applies to Seal Island. According to the history of Zhixiu's world, the Lucians discovered Seal Island in 1852, and then hunted aggressively, killing 100,000 fur seals and seals from 1852 to 1855. This time Zhixiu grabbed the

Move first and take advantage.

The only problem is that whale refining and meat preservation require a lot of fuel. Fortunately, Miren John installed a lot of coal and salt in Naha according to Naohide's instructions. In addition, after the last hunt, the Shirozou Prison and the Ainu

The human tribe has also accumulated experience, and Okubo has been hoarding wood. In short, despite the stumbling blocks, the second big hunt was still a great success.

Manjiro led his men to hunt no less than a dozen whales. Naohide also harvested more than 10,000 furs on Seal Island, and the meat piled up like a mountain.

In addition to physical and chemical instruments, chemicals and various reagents, the rice ships also brought valuable steam engines, machine tools, ordnance and improved seeds, etc., which cost a lot of money, but this time I finally saw the money back, whale oil and seal skins were

It was definitely hard currency at this time, and it was very popular in Xiangjiang. John Miren was very happy and said that he could come often. At this time, the crew members received commissions from the trade. In the past, Naohide and Gakujiro gave them subsidies. After all, they could not be too much.

It's high, but there is no upper limit on the commission. John made a private estimate, and I'm going to pay it now.

Originally, John still had some objections, so this time Gakujiro sent another cargo ship to Nagasaki alone. John knew that in Nagasaki he could conduct secret trade with Mr. Oguri, and there was money to be made - at this time, the crew carried some private goods.

It's open and reasonable, and Bai Zhu just delivers the goods.

But he didn't expect to get such a big deal. John was so happy that he couldn't smile from ear to ear all day long. The crew members were also stupid like him - in addition to the normal commission, Naoxiu also bought the private goods they carried at a high price, and

Allowing them to bring back private goods, plus the commission on the goods, they really made a lot of money inside and out.

Naohide reconfirmed the list of goods to be sent to Nagasaki with John. John rolled his eyes and said, "Didn't I give you the list?" But the boss was the biggest, so John had to repeat it again:

First of all, we replenished the ordnance and military supplies that were withheld from the previous show but originally planned to be given to the shogunate to reform the military system. There were three hundred Sharps 1848 breech-loading rifles, sixty Colt-Patterson revolvers, and

There are some military uniforms, leather boots, tents and other military supplies.

Secondly, the manufacturing process of breech-loading rifles and some related compounds and tools were also given to the shogunate.

There are also some ordnance and other goods required by the shogunate.

But there are no other special goods - Naohide has already developed in Shirozhu, and Gakujiro will of course focus on supporting this side.

And this time it was not a barbarian offering treasure. After two treasure offerings, with the help of Oguri Tadashi, the situation finally opened up.

During the last treasure presentation, Nagasaki Nobuhiro and Nagasaki Mefu Oguri Tadjun promised on behalf of the shogunate that the rice ships could trade in the name of the Tang people in the future - after all, the trade between the Tang people was also a matter between the shogunate and the private Tang people. What happened to the private trade with the rice people?

This is the wisdom of the predecessors. Moreover, the shogunate took advantage of it and took the initiative to request a lot of sensitive goods, such as ordnance and so on. This was because the shogunate was asking for things from others, so it dealt with special matters.

As for how to appease the protest from Languo Commercial House, Oli wouldn't tell John, and John didn't care.

Now, according to Naohide's instructions, Gakujiro's trading firm in Xiangjiang has gained a certain level of strength. It not only has foreign goods but also a large number of ordnance eliminated by the United States in the U.S.-Mexican War (1846-1848). It is no problem to complete the orders of the shogunate.

Down.
Chapter completed!