Chapter 2 On the Heel of Achilles(1/2)
After Sakuma Shoyama and others inspected the American black ships, they returned to Edo on June 10, the sixth year of Kayei (July 15, 1853) to report to the shogunate. However, by this time, the black ship incident was coming to an end.
, the reports from Sakuma and other celebrities were no longer able to affect the shogunate's policies - but after Kurofune left, these reports still played some role.
It turned out that on June 9th (July 14th in the Western calendar), the shogunate had accepted the credentials of the rice people in Yokosuka. The possibility of conflict between the two sides was greatly reduced, and the rice ship was ready to return.
Previously, the two urgent documents from the Uraga Executive Office arrived at Edo Castle early in the morning on June 5th. Afterwards, the shogunate held an emergency assessment meeting and decided to send all coastal defense officials to Uraga to "make a last-minute decision".
These coastal defense officers arrived in Uraga one after another on June 7th - these noble people did not dare to take the sea route. First, the sailing boat relied on God's help. If the wind was not favorable, it would be a big sin to delay the work.
If he was caught by Mi people outside Hong Kong, wouldn't he become a big laughing stock?
Nine, no, eight sea defense officials - the old lord of Mito, Qi Zhao, did not come, so he entrusted Fujita Piao (Fujita East Lake) to represent him. After these people arrived at the scene one after another, they began to ask for details, because they arrived one after another.
After everyone arrived, they asked the Uraga Shrine Office to report the details again, so the fuss made by the Shrine Shrine was wasted.
According to the report from the observatory:
Four black ships arrived at dusk on June 3. That night, Saburosuke Rinakajima pretended to be the vice-governor of Uraga and boarded the ship to negotiate. The result was that the Mi people demanded "to accept the credentials within three days. If they exceed the deadline, there may be unbearable things to say."
On the 4th, the Mi people put down several small boats and began to survey the offshore sea. Seeing this, Toda Ujiei sent a naval force to stop them, but the Mi people were confident and continued to act with the protection of the big ship behind them.
On June 5th, the third day after the arrival of the Kurofune, Miren expanded the survey scope to the entire Uraga Channel, as far as Kannonzaki - this is the northern end of the Uraga Channel, and beyond that is Edo Bay.
The sea is over.
On the 6th and 7th, the Mi people indeed entered the inland sea of Edo Bay, causing an uproar in Uraga.
At that time, there were several forces in Uraga, including the shogunate's administrative office, the Uraga navy, the "Odaiba group" and the Hikone clan's auxiliary feudal soldiers. The leaders of the Uraga navy and the Odaiba clan expressed their intention to fight, and the Hikone clan's family members were neutral - you
The decision has been made. Since we are a land force, we can only wave the flag and shout. However, Uraga followed Toda Ujiei's belief that we should not engage in border provocations without clear orders from the shogunate. He also sent Yuriki and Tongxin to monitor every move of the navy and Odaiba group.
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Toda Ujiei has the highest status here and is the head of Uraga who is in charge of Uraga Waterway, so his suggestion prevails.
Hearing this, Fujita Biao, who came to replace Qi Zhao, was furious and scolded Toda for being "weak and incompetent, greedy for life and afraid of death."
If Qi Zhao were here, Toda would definitely not even dare to fart. But if Qi Zhao didn't come, Toda would not be afraid. "Who do you think you are, Fujita Biao? You are just a Mito aide, and you dare to be so presumptuous."
So the two sides cursed each other and almost started fighting on the spot.
However, the situation was quickly brought under control. It was a very important matter. Several coastal defense officers arrived in Uraga from the front and back, so the later ones persuaded both sides. "It's all for national affairs. Why make it so ugly? If it spreads, it will be in vain."
It has stained the imperial family’s face.”
The veterans have given the Coast Guard the power of "arbitrary discretion", so now it is the turn of these few people to sit in the crater. They must come up with ideas on what to do, otherwise if the delay continues, the black ship may sail to the river.
If you leave the house, it will be a capital offense for anyone who disturbs the public.
Everyone gathered together and found that the Mi people came this time with bad intentions and were very different from those in the past - other foreign envoys were easy to fool, and they could just drag them down or deceive them into Nagasaki. This time, the Mi envoys were decisive in killing them, saying that they would take three days.
Just three days, arriving on June 3rd, and then starting to break into the inland sea on the 6th. It seems that it is impossible not to give a clear answer.
Thinking of this, everyone quickly asked Toda, when the three-day deadline was about to come, what did you say to Miren at that time, and it was so embarrassing?
Toda Ujiei said, "I also knew that the three-day deadline was ridiculous, so I asked Nakajima to explain that this was simply not possible. Then on the fifth and sixth days, I asked people to board the ship again to slow down the cheeks, but the Mi people were savage and ignored me at all.
ah."
On the second and fourth day after the arrival of the black ships, Toda and Ido felt that something was wrong - because the rice ships began to measure the sea area near Uraga Port that day, obviously to prepare for landing. At that time, the two brothers calculated
Now, it is unrealistic to expect Edo to reply within three days, so can we forcefully fire two cannons to scare the Japanese?
But this time mysticism comes out to harm people.
It turns out that the platforms on both sides of Uraga Suido have not been completed due to blind expansion. However, the coastal defense officials also knew that the matter was of great importance, so they installed the large tubes before they were completed.
In addition to the original bronze cannon, a 3-inch rifled cannon bought from Xianheng Company was also brought to the stage. Moreover, the rice ship was so lucky that it happened to be parked within the firing range of the rifled cannon - Admiral Payton was quite careful.
The anchorage was far away from the fort, but he estimated the firing range of Fuso Fort based on the experience of the Anglo-Chinese Battle of the South China Sea. He did not expect that the opponent also had a 3-inch rifled gun, a powerful weapon.
Moreover, thanks to Hamaki, the Uraga navy is also equipped with the latest electrolyte contacts.
Send mines.
The 3-inch rifled guns and electrolyte-triggered mines provided the confidence for the Odaiba group and the Uraga navy to attack. Otherwise, who would have the courage to fight against the majestic black ships?
But mysticism kills people - except for a limited number of group leaders and gunners, even most gunners don't know how far a 3-inch rifled gun can fire.
This is because the shogunate has blocked information both externally and internally out of confidentiality. Of course, the people do not need to know the specific parameters. Anyway, they only need to know that the shogunate is powerful and majestic. But why should they block information internally?
This was done specifically to target Lan Guo Commercial House.
In order to do business with the shogunate, the Lan Kingdom promised to "never preach", and in order to show respect to the generals and shogunate officials, they adopted the Fuso etiquette. Originally this was an adaptable move by the Lan people, but unexpectedly, the shogunate internally recognized the Lan Kingdom as a result
"Shameless and untrustworthy" - Fusang has been locked up in the country for a long time, and she is a little arrogant. She has fun in Languo's business hall to build up her confidence.
Moreover, under the cover of "groveling", Lan Guo indeed took advantage of the shogunate.
Kapitan, the director of the Orchid Trade Center, has been trying to expand the trade volume over the years - in the early years, he even used merchant ships from other countries to pretend to be Orchid ships, resold Fuso small gold, and other things with the Saga Domain.
There are countless secretive things such as secret trade and so on.
Among them, the Siebold incident in the 11th year of the Bunsei period (1828) is the best example. At that time, the shogunate found a Fuso map in Siebold's luggage when he returned to Japan, which clearly prohibited the export.
In Naohide's original world, why did the black ship's visit cause such a big shock to Fuso? Because the shogunate was not seriously prepared.
As for why you didn’t prepare carefully?
In 1852, the newly appointed Kapitan Curtius of the Languo Commercial Office warned the shogunate, "The Mi people want to come to trade next year. There will be a war soon."
But the good news is that Curtius also did one thing while announcing the arrival of the rice ship - he asked the shogunate to change the contract, suggested that the shogunate expand the commercial share with Lan Guo, and at the same time give Lan Guo more
What a privilege.
After receiving the news from Curtius, the shogunate was doubtful and wondered if "rice ships were coming" was an excuse made up by the Orchid people to take advantage of it. So the senior officials asked the two Nagasakis to confirm the accuracy of the Orchid people's information.
But there is no other way for these two Nagasaki followers to confirm. Apart from the orchid people, only the Tang people came to Nagasaki for trade. I don’t know whether it was the Tang people who said it or the two orchid followers who were unhappy, or maybe they were dissatisfied with Curtius.
The two lieutenants dismissed Curtius's warning as worthless and "scaremongering for personal gain".
People always tend to believe in the results they hope for.
So the shogunate put aside the matter of "the coming of rice ships" - it was not completely ignored, "Jiaqing sent Xun to the four garrison commanders to build a fort in Omori." However, some people think that this decision was taken from Lan.
Whether the decision of the shogunate before the National Style Storytelling was true or false was completely unclear later.
In this world that Naoxiu has entered, the situation of Lan Guo Commercial House is not much better.
In the third year of Kayei (1850), with the help of Nagasaki Mefu Oguri Tadjun, the rice ships under Naohide's influence began to trade with the shogunate in the name of the Tang Dynasty.
Compared with Lan Guo Merchant Store, Xianheng Foreign Company seemed too sincere.
Kanheng Foreign Company was not for profit - and there was a subsidy given by Gakujiro at the time, so there was no conflict with the shogunate: Captain, the sailors wanted to leave immediately after arriving in Nagasaki, and the price of the goods was also very affordable - if it were not for the fear of being too attentive
This caused the shogunate to become suspicious, and Naohide and Gakujiro wanted to give it away for free.
The most important thing is that the goods, books and stories are all delivered with the shogunate's thoughts and urgent needs in mind, such as the latest ordnance, the latest orchid books, and the latest news, so that the proactive attitude can be seen at a glance.
The shogunate also once doubted why Xianheng Foreign Company was so good, but the other party's attitude has been the same for the past three years. With Oguri Tadjun's help in mediating, "There are not a few profit-seeking fools who want to take a long-term approach and lose the big fish." The shogunate also
I believed it, and even criticized Xiaoli specifically, "Don't be so disrespectful to the righteous", and took the initiative to open the door to Xianheng Foreign Company. Raw silk, silk, tea, porcelain will be given to you whatever you want - in the end, Xianheng Foreign Company
There was still money to be made, which was beyond the expectations of Naoxiu and others.
Compared with Xianheng Foreign Company, Lan Guo Commercial House demanded too much, so the shogunate was even more dissatisfied with the Lan people. Even if Lan Guo Commercial Guan submitted important information such as "rice ships will come", the shogunate was still wary of Lan Guo receiving relevant intelligence.
Later, he betrayed himself, so he kept the information about the 3-inch rifled cannon and the electrolyte-triggered mines strictly confidential. Ranren did not always stay on Dejima. He usually went to Edo to worship the Lord during the first month of the year. It was possible that the information was leaked by then.
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Although the ministers are all samurai, and their positions are called service positions, they are actually divided into two types: fan service and service position. Ban service is a military position, and service position in a narrow sense is a civil service.
Suspecting a neighbor to have stolen an axe, the navy and the leader of the Odaiba group refused to tell Uraga the truth out of a sense of confidentiality. Toda was enshrined in the Toda clan, and Toda was naturally unwilling to start a war easily when seeing the strength of the rice ships.
mysticism
It would kill someone. Since Toda refused to go to war, the envoy sent to negotiate would naturally not be strong-willed.
Last time, Saburosuke Nakajima pretended to be the deputy governor of Uraga. This time, the newly appointed Yurikuka Sanzaemon pretended to be the governor of Uraga - that is, the governor of Uraga.
On June 5th and 6th, Xiangshan and Nakajima boarded the ship many times and begged Miren for "grace time and restrain his subordinates." Xiangshan accused Miren of being unruly and unruly before the shogunate gave a clear answer.
I sent someone to measure the water area, but Admiral Perry was ready to carry out his gangster behavior to the end this time. He asked his adjutant to come forward and answer, "The rice people abide by the rules of the United States." What happened to me just measuring the water area?
Moreover, this time the Mi people broke their faces and did not mention anything about "the fear of something intolerable happening". They directly said, "If no one comes forward to accept the credentials, the ship will be sailed to Edo Castle."
Perry's attitude became increasingly tough. This was because he discovered a secret about Fuso. This secret was initially verified on July 12 (June 7 in the He calendar). On July 15 (June 10 in the He calendar)
) was convinced by Perry, which established Perry's confidence in success for his second visit to the port.
After Xiangshan and Nakajima responded to Mito's threatening words, Uraga followed Toda and was completely blinded - if the black ship appeared in the sea outside Edo, it would definitely be a chaos in the whole city. This is easy to infer, because Uraga
He is an example. Although more and more people came to watch the excitement nearby, the local residents fled with their young and old. Therefore, he immediately sent people to report to Edo and suggested that Edo prepare for war.
The messenger set out on the evening of June 6th and arrived in Edo on the 8th.
After receiving Toda's warning letter, the old and middle-aged people concurred and then ordered the taiko drums and bronze bells in Edo Castle to be rung. In order to tell the time and prevent fires, Gongfang Zangju Castle is also the building in Edo Castle.
There are taiko drums, and there is a big bell in Fuso Hashimotoshi Town outside the city. After these two are rung, as usual, the bells and drums of the temples in Edo will ring together to announce that Edo has entered an emergency moment.
Since Edo Castle received the first warning letter on June 5, although the shogunate was in panic, the people were relatively stable - although there were various rumors, Edo had not experienced war for more than two hundred years.
, everyone was still very calm.
To be continued...