On June 9, the sixth year of Kayei (July 14, 1853), the small dock in Yokosuka was bustling with activity. After the originally unknown fishing village Kurihama was renamed Yokosuka, many workers gathered to work on the construction of the ironworks.

, today, Yokosuka encountered Nanman people landing for the first time in history, and this place became the center of turmoil for a while.

In order not to lose their dignity, the idlers and others had long been ordered to stay behind closed doors, so when Mito landed, only Kayamazaemon and his people came to greet him at the pier.

Yokosuka is a natural port, but the two steamships of the Mi people did not dock at the port. Instead, they put down several small boats and rowed to the shore.

He and Li Xiangshan and the interpreter Horanosuke looked at each other, but in line with the principle that doing more is worse than doing less, they just watched people more than thirty meters rowing ashore.

According to Admiral Perry's original plan, he planned to land 300 people - a large number of people is impressive, isn't it? In addition, he also planned to make a big fanfare, load guns and live ammunition, and arrange in costumes, which would definitely surprise his opponents who had never seen a big scene!

But yesterday's shelling made him change his mind.

Yesterday, Governor Uraga of Fuso boarded the ship to invite him to watch the ceremony. The result was unexpected. The cannon at Fuso Odaiba can hit as far as 13 chains (about 2408 meters)!

Later, it was confirmed by Kendi, the first mate of the Saskatchewan, that several rounds of shells actually hit about 15 chains (about 2778 meters), but the effective range and the maximum range are not the same thing, so it is tentatively assumed that Fuso's cannon and

The firing range of the bombardment cannon on my ship is similar - after all, this is a closed island tribal alliance. How can it be possible to produce weapons that exceed the firing range of the bombardment cannon? They must have been sold to them by Languo merchants, and the ones that can be sold are definitely not

The best thing.

Since it is the weapon sold to Fuso by Lan State, the quantity will definitely not be too large, and the specifications will not be very good. Although the Western countries do not have any weapons convention, it is an agreement not to import advanced weapons to colonies and uncivilized areas.

vulgar.

"But that may not be the case," Perry thought. Originally, it was an iron rule not to provide muskets to the Indians, but now the tribesmen in the United States are armed with muskets instead of ridiculous bows, arrows and axes to attack the West.

Pioneers, businessmen of the Lan Kingdom have always been profit-seeking, and it is not surprising that they would do anything out of the ordinary - the European countries were jealous of the Lan Kingdom's monopoly on the fuso trade, so there was a lot of private slander.

Being cautious, Perry changed the landing regiment from 300 to 30 (to facilitate retreat), and refused to allow the ships to dock at the dock (to prevent Fuso from launching an infantry raid). Two ships sailed into the inland sea of ​​Edo Bay.

The steamboat did not shut down, and the naval forces at the gun positions were also on standby, ready for emergency response at any time.

Although they were so nervous in private, the 30-meter-long people who came ashore still behaved very toughly. Not only did they fire a 13-gun salute before they came ashore, but after they came ashore, the guards also inserted thorns into their muskets and lined up neatly.

The Mi people held up two flags and marched in unison to the beat of drums under the leadership of Admiral Perry.

This scene really shocked the samurai of the Hikone Domain who came to greet the Uraga Advocate.

The usual duties of the samurai at the shrine are to inspect all ships entering Edo Bay and manage the surrounding civil affairs. They are basically civil servants. Looking at the neatly dressed Mi people and their tall bodies, they are half shorter than usual.

The merchants, the bow of the boat is very different. Look, these Mi people "beat the drums and advance", and the formation "gathers together but never disperses", they are obviously strong soldiers!

Unlike laymen such as the Hikone Domain, the samurai of the Hikone Domain had some clues.

First of all, the clothing and weapons of these iron gun ashigaru are very uniform, which shows that the opponent's level of organization is quite high. And what are the shiny things they wear on their feet? The translator says "the short ones are leather shoes and the long ones are leather boots" -

—How rich and prodigal you are to wear this!

Because I received the call a year in advance

Tell me, the Senhikone clan who guards the Miura Peninsula are all carefully selected, and there are many famous people among them. But let alone the famous people, even the head of the family has to wear straw sandals when fighting! These shiny leather shoes, leather

Boots, they look really scary and frightening - there must be gold and silver in the rice family!

Secondly, this guy is really strong!

It seems that all of them are about six feet tall, and all of them are big and round. Although they are not as tall as a sumo wrestler, they are not that tall. We will definitely suffer in hand-to-hand combat! - Fuso is about one foot tall.

30.3 centimeters. Not all rice sailors are as tall as 180 centimeters. However, at this time, Fusang's economy was poor, living standards were low, and vegetarian habits led to widespread malnutrition. The average height of men was only 1 meter.

55. Therefore, seeing that Mi people are generally a head taller than themselves, these people naturally overestimate the height of Mi people.

Moreover, the appearance of the opponent is really scary. Not only does he have a red face (from being exposed to the sun all year round at the sea), but also has a harrier nose and eagle eyes. What’s the matter with those blue eyes? Also, if you don’t look carefully, you won’t know that he also has red hair and yellow hair.

, just like the legendary man-eating monster, it makes people tremble when they look at it, and the usually arrogant gang members stopped talking.

The shogunate closed the country for a hundred years, and the only "outsiders" in Fuso, the employees of the Rankoku Trading Company, were ordered to live in Dejima, Nagasaki. Therefore, ordinary samurai and civilians had never seen Westerners, so they also had unknown feelings about Mi people.

Resulting in a sense of mystery and fear.

Moreover, there are many strange stories about the southern barbarians circulating among the people in Fuso, such as eating raw flesh and blood, eating children, and so on. At the same time, in order to increase the legitimacy of seclusion, the shogunate also condoned and even encouraged this trend. As a result, it suffered negative consequences today.

——The samurai of the administrative office and the Hikone Domain were frightened when they saw the Mi people for the first time.

They are well-equipped (well-dressed), tall (compared to the Fusang people), scary-looking (different in appearance), and the marching team is neat, especially the last one. The Fusang Art of War praises "It is as slow as a forest, and as motionless as a mountain."

Therefore, even the warriors of the Hikone Domain watched the Mi people move forward silently, and no longer shouted.

The Edo period has been peaceful for a long time. Even professional ashigaru, that is, samurai in the ban group, very few actually go into battle. They have no chance to go to the battlefield besides practicing martial arts. Therefore, except for a few samurai who are bold enough to test their swords with civilians,

After bloodshed, most warriors relied on bragging to show off their prowess.

In comparison, the Mi people's navy is much better - firstly, it trains people for ocean voyages, secondly, the East Tianzhu war fleet has also fought against pirates to some extent, and in modern times, all Western countries have strictly trained with ethics regulations

Soldiers, so the momentum of the two sides was obviously different - the Mi people only had more than thirty people, and the Fuso people greeted at the dock were more than a hundred, and most of them were even elite soldiers of the Hikone Domain. However, in terms of momentum, the Mi people had the upper hand.

After arriving at the destination, Admiral Perry and his subordinates walked into Fuso's unique "formation" - a tent-like command post surrounded by cloth curtains - not that Fuso did not want to be received in the big room, but Yokosuka

It used to be a small fishing village, and the construction of the ironworks was not progressing well. There were no tall buildings. Instead of letting opponents laugh at it for being simple, it would be better for the military formation to look more formal.

When Admiral Perry came in, the first thing he saw was four chairs and a table. He was slightly surprised by this, because according to the information collected before, Fuso did not have high tables and chairs - these tables and

The chairs were collected by the Uraga Shrine Office from nearby temples and specially prepared to suit the habits of the Mi people.

The two daimyo Toda Ujiei and Ido Hiromichi stepped forward to greet them and bowed in salute. Perry and his subordinates also took off their hats to salute - Toda and Ido were not daimyo at all, but Perry requested that the person receiving credentials must be Edo.

Lords in the city, so these two pretended to be the lords in the city.

Ordinarily, there are eight coast guard officers in Uraga, and there was no need for this. However, several coast guard officers combined and decided to let the two brothers come forward to receive them - not for safety reasons, because

Kayama Zaemon, who had previously boarded the ship to observe the ceremony, did not just wave the flag. He also shouldered an important mission, which was to discuss the details of receiving credentials, including the number of people accompanying him and the steps. The result of this negotiation led to several

There is no need for Haiphong authorities to hand over credentials.

It was the 8th day of the sixth lunar month in the Chinese calendar (July 13th in the Western calendar). On that day, Xiangshan had already boarded a black ship to discuss how to hand over the credentials. But wasn't this because the Mi people fired cannons? Therefore, the coastal defense officers were wary.

, asking for all the details that were vague last time to be clarified, especially stating once again that ""My father-in-law is in ill health. The matter is extremely serious and cannot be changed at any time. It is better to come to Nagasaki next year and wait for reports." - Mi Ren fired a cannon for no reason.

, all the coastal defense officials have an ominous premonition, feeling that the Mi people may not only be arrogant and unreasonable, but may also have evil intentions. "People who are not my race must have different hearts."

After the ceremony, Admiral Perry disappeared. The person who received Xiangshan was still Adjutant Adams. The two agreed on the details. Adams pretended to disagree with Fuso's initiative to reduce the number of rice soldiers ashore, but Xiangshan insisted.

Soon after, Kagawa agreed; and Kagawa was also satisfied with Miren's renewed promise that "it is advisable to come to Nagasaki next year to wait for reports." Therefore, the atmosphere of this meeting was very harmonious, which was very different from the previous unilateral concessions by Kagawa.

The emergence of the three-inch rifled cannon changed a lot of things. Perry and Mito became much more cautious and no longer insisted on having the upper hand in negotiations. Kyoyama Zaemon was also much bolder, and his words were no longer just pleading.

and compromise.

After returning to the shore, the clever Xiangshan reported the change of attitude of the Mi people. The coastal defense officers all clapped their hands and rejoiced. They felt that taking the risk of firing was definitely a good move. The next candidate to receive the reception was changed to Uraga, who followed the Toda clan.

Sakae and his deputy Hiromichi Ido.

Admiral Perry of Miren insisted that the person handing over the credentials must be a nobleman from Edo, so since the coastal defense officials were at the scene in Uraga, they were naturally the first to bear the brunt - Toda and Ido were stupid and rushed forward.

But originally, the coastal defense officials were unwilling to attend this ceremony - what if Perry made any unexpected requests at the scene? The political risk is too high! But Toda and Ido argued that "whoever serves the vocational high school will be responsible".

If they are determined not to come forward, there is nothing good these people can do.

Moreover, not all Haibo officials were unwilling to come forward. Mr. Tanan Egawa was very interested in meeting Mito, and Toranosuke Fujita of Mito was also eager to give it a try.

Jiang Chuan paid it back, but Mito had always asked the shogunate to reinstate the "Foreign Ship Warning Order" - if he saw a Nanman ship and fired without saying a word, if Fujita did something wrong at the scene, everyone would be affected.

Fujita is representing the old lord of Mito, Sai Ao. Now that Sai Ao is away, everyone will just ignore Fujita. If there is a Haibo guest at this reception, Fujita wants to go and see it. There is no reason to refuse - you go.

I can’t go? So we might as well not go, which not only avoids risks but also eliminates hidden dangers.

The number of Mi people who landed became 10% of the original number, and their attitudes changed. As soon as the two brothers Toda and Ido put it together, "I bet on this pavement." Originally, they wanted to do it no matter what.

Those who attended, could not escape any scapegoat, who let these two people serve at the bottom of the job? But after hearing what Xiangchuan said, Miren's attitude softened, and it became more profitable to take the lead. The risks are the same, but taking the lead

Not only can the eight coastal defense officials owe them a big favor, but it will also be a credit to them if this incident goes away safely.

So these two agreed to come forward.

So the two big names Perry met were Uraga's chief minister, Toda Ujiei, and his deputy, Hiromichi Ido. They started with Saburosuke Rinakajima pretending to be the deputy governor of Uraga, and then pretended to be Uraga with Riki Sanzaemon.

In the final meeting, Toda and Ido pretended to be the daimyo of the shogunate. Perry would have been furious to death on the spot if he knew these fuso people's tricks.
Chapter completed!