In the middle of the autumn month of the sixth year of Kayei (late September 1853), Oguri Tadjun, who had inspected the north, discovered that something bad was going on as soon as he returned to Edo - Shogun Iekei actually died, and then the old lord of Mito, Qi Zhao, became more popular.

.

He was one of those who could not be dealt with by Qi Zhao and his group, so Oguri hurried to Edo Castle to recover and find out more about him.

The position of Omatsuke is full of characteristics of the shogunate. He is obviously the confidant and minion of the shogun, but his nominal boss is Laozhong's deputy Wakatoshi. In practice, it is under the coordination of Omatsuke. He also has the right to apply for an audience or submit a memorial to the official.

Secret, maybe this is the price of "low status" and high power - I am afraid that people in this group who can act secretly will cause trouble.

Oguri first ran to see Mr. Wakato, who was on duty, and expressed that the mission was completed well:

The Matsumae family's castle was built, with the mountain at its back. In addition to the Honmaru, Ninomaru and Sannomaru, there were six towers and oars, sixteen gates, and seven platforms. It looked very impressive and served as a defense.

The important reliance of the Lucians and other Nanman ships - with Naohide's help, the Matsumae family produced and purchased a large amount of lime, cement and bricks, so the ship was completed more than a year ahead of schedule.

Moreover, the attitude of the Matsumae family has always been respectful - the shogunate established the Hakushu Shrine. Although it was not stated explicitly, it actually demarcated the entire northern Ezo land. Otherwise, why would the Matsumae family be subsidized this time?

In the territory of Qianshi, the head of the family, Chongguang, welcomed the shogunate's decree and said, "With the direct leader of the shogunate in the north, I can sleep soundly and no longer have to worry about the southern barbarians coming."

When Master Wakato heard this, he thought that this was not the Matsumae family's sarcasm. Oguri quickly explained, "I don't think so. I heard that Matsumae Town, where the White Lord is enshrined, continues to purchase a large amount of goods, and the retainers of the Matsumae family have gained a lot of profits. Therefore,

Although there is a rebound, it is not mainstream.

"It still lacks experience." Mr. Wakatoji who was on duty did not point out the absurdity in person, but he sneered at Oguri's statement in his heart - two tigers, no, tigers and dogs competing for food, how could he have no objection, but the shogunate was powerful,

The Matsumae family had no choice but to find a staircase for themselves.

In fact, Master Wakato was really wrong. Although it was not completely wrong, it was very wrong. It turned out that the entire Matsumae family was really worried about Master Bai and felt that "there is no place for others to sleep on the bed." But this is no longer the case. In the end,

At least the mainstream attitude towards Bai Zhu has become a lot gentler - even if we can't say that we like him, we can at least cooperate with him.

Why have attitudes changed so much?

Although there was no official war between Matsumae and Shirozu before, the retainers of the two families often sparred with each other when they met. Now the relationship has eased. What happened during this period?

This started when Okubo visited Matsumae on behalf of Master Shiro last spring.

At that time, in order to ease the relationship with the Matsumae family, the white master proposed many compensation conditions. In addition to the method of making volcanic ash cement and blue bricks, he also offered to help the Matsumae family develop planting and animal husbandry. The white master also welcomed Matsumae's

Businessmen went to do business.

The Matsumae family developed from the Donan Twelve Halls, and there are many internal factions. Therefore, although the Matsumae family is a noble, it is by no means a powerful daimyo. Although the recent generations of family heads have been consolidating their power, the shogunate has not done so.

Why can your Matsumae family do this?

Because of internal disunity, it was never the first choice of the Matsumae family to be tough on the White Lord - the White Lord was in a small area, but behind him was the behemoth Shogunate, who could not afford to fight the old ones as they fought the small ones.

Therefore, after the white master took the initiative to express his closeness, the opinions of the retainers headed by the family elder Matsumae Takahiro prevailed. The family leader Matsumae Takahiro decided, "Don't say anything, it is serious to get benefits."

There were some twists and turns at that time.

Although the White Master kept a tight seal, due to the complicated origins of the people involved in the early stage, the news of Seal Island still leaked out. Although the Matsumae family did not know the specific harvest of the White Master, there was no doubt that the amount was huge. Even if Okubo and the old Hirotadashi of the Matsumae family agreed

Seal Island was exclusively owned by the White Master, but the money was very attractive. I heard that after the White Master allowed the merchants in Songqian to trade, people from all walks of life went north together to make a fortune.

Here, Naohide and others must thank the shogunate. Because of the "Long Ship Building Prohibition Order", the Matsumae family did not have any decent large ships. At that time, the Sengoku Ship could only be built with the permission of the shogunate, so the Matsumae family and various merchants could not get it together.

There were several large ships, so the search for Seal Island northward ended in vain - after all the efforts, no hair was caught.

Come to think of it, the exploration of North Ezo was completed by Mamiya Hayashizo and others sent by the shogunate. Seal Island will not escape. The Matsumae family has not discovered it for hundreds of years. There is naturally a reason for this.

Although the various troops going north this time had a direction, because the White Lord had closed the port at that time - Naohide led a large team of troops to clear out the Lucian outposts. If the port was not closed, they would not worry about their hometown, so the Matsumae families did not find internal agents.

, after searching the vast sea, and having almost enough food, they had no choice but to return to their nest dejectedly.

In fact, even if Bai Zhu does not block the port, these people will not be able to find insider information - Seal Island is Bai Zhu's inside story. All those who have seen Seal Island are the backbone of Bai Zhu, and the rest are Mi people from Xianheng Foreign Company, and the others are just Bai Zhu.

Do you know that it is in the northeast? The specific location. It said northeast. Isn’t this clear enough?

When these people returned to Matsumae Town, they naturally scolded Lord Shiro for his betrayal, and also cursed the old man Matsumae Hirotada who had come forward to negotiate.

But later these people discovered, hey, it turns out that you can make money without going out to find Seal Island - Zhixiu brought back more than a thousand people from the Wulong River Estuary and integrated the nearby Ainu tribe. This people eats horse chews.

Naturally, a large amount of supplies were needed. Among the merchants who came to Shirozu, the nearest starting point was Edo, which was quite inconvenient. Therefore, Shirozu naturally had to purchase supplies from Matsumae Town, which was nearby. Naturally, the only way to pay the bill was in seal skins.

, making a profit from selling supplies, and making another profit from selling seal skins, making money from both sides, so various merchants in Matsumae Town made a lot of money.

But after all, Bai Zhu has a small population base, and in order to control relevant information, Bai Zhu cannot purchase too much in Matsumae Town. Therefore, although the merchants in Matsumae Town make money, the quantity is actually not large.

What really changed the attitude of the Matsumae family was the cultivation that they originally had no expectations for - the manufacturing of volcanic ash cement and blue bricks was specialized, and the scale was small, and all of it was used to build Matsumae Castle; as for livestock, the technical master was

Yes, but the original livestock base of the Matsumae family was too small, and they did not pay attention to it and did not promote it, so it did not show any obvious results in a short period of time. However, the planting really brought a huge surprise to the Matsumae family.

Sugar was a luxury product in the Edo period.

Due to climate reasons, sugar cane is only grown in Shikoku, Kyushu and Naha. Most of the sugar production is occupied by the Satsuma Shimadzu family. In order to make huge profits, the Shimadzu family strictly controls the price, so the price of sugar remains high.

In order to eat something sweet, Fuso folk can only use maltose instead, but this is time-consuming and expensive, so even ordinary samurai can't take a few bites of candy from the beginning to the end of the year.

This time, Master Bai gave him beet seeds, and Matsumae Hiroyuki planted some with hesitation. After harvesting, he boiled the sugar according to Master Bai's instructions, which immediately caused a sensation.

Speaking of which, the Matsumae family is quite useless. Although they have some inherent shortcomings, they have only managed to collect more than 40,000 people after hundreds of years of development. This is also a serious lack of enterprising spirit. The Matsumae family objected. There are no high-yielding crops, coal and

Machinery, you can go ahead and do it.

The head of the family, Matsumae Takahiro, looked at

The sugar syrup presented by the family elder Hirotadashi made his eyes go straight. It is said that the Satsuma Domain's annual income from sugar was calculated in millions of taels. In fact, this was a rumor. At that time, the shogunate's annual income was only more than 4 million taels.

Tenpo Xiaopan, how can the Satsuma clan make so much money? It's just a rumor among the people, but the Shimadzu family did make a lot of money.

"Can the Northland produce sugar? Then why did we work hard fishing, hunting, farming and exploiting the Ainu people before? Have the directions been completely reversed? Don't say anything. Ask someone to ask the white master.

Do you have any seeds? Harvest as many as you can. From now on, all of our Matsumae family will grow beets!"

Because of the special status of sugar at this time, sugar beet cultivation brought huge benefits. This was the reason why the relationship between the Matsumae family and Shirozhu eased. Because of this, the family boss Guangzhong even made a special trip to Shirozhu to prepare for a meeting with Naohide.

An offensive and defensive alliance was made, "Sugar beet cultivation can only be limited to the Ezo land and the northern Ezo land, and neither side can actively spread it."

Naohide said, you are too late, this beet seed comes from Izu Niray Mountain - in fact, Naohide asked Xianheng Matheson to proactively provide it to the shogunate. Mr. Oguri and Tanan are just first come first, "I also want to keep it secret, but my strength

It’s not allowed.”

Hironada Matsumae made a big blush and asked Naohide what other specialty crops there were, whether they could produce sugar or produce other crops. Naohide gave him some potatoes and hops.

It's strange to say that Ezochi will be the largest production area of ​​fuso in the future. The lack of development of rice can be attributed to insufficient water conservancy facilities and lack of improved seeds. However, your family leader Matsumae Takahiro is known to be proficient in orchids, and potatoes have not been promoted.

It doesn't make sense.

Moreover, Ezochi actually has the only wild hops in Fuso, and there are quite a lot of them, but I didn’t find this out—hey, if you drink sake in Fuso, you can pass the test.

Guang Zhong has no love for hops. What is beer? Is it the alternative horse urine of the Southern Barbarians? But these potatoes are indeed a killer. I heard Naohide said that the yield is very high, so I have to go back and try it - samurai will not eat such vile food.

Food, but can the local people and the Ainu people make a living on this? Stop complaining about not having enough food all day long and make everyone feel unhappy.

Therefore, the relationship between Matsumae and Shirozu has been greatly eased. Especially in the sixth year of Kayei (1853), Naohide opened many bases. After hiding all the prohibited items, the merchants of the Matsumae family were able to show up arrogantly.

The relationship between the two families has become more normalized. Although the two families have not reached the point of collaborating with each other, if the iron smelting supported by the White Lord can be built in Songqian, it is probably not far away.

Regardless of the reason, the Matsumae family said they were very calm after hearing Oguri’s announcement that the Sankoku territory would be replaced by the establishment of the Hakushu Order.

We are familiar with the Matsumae family, haven't we changed it before? It's the same place, so don't worry."

The rice boat came to visit, and the enemy was facing the enemy. Oguri and Wakanagi-sama who was on duty didn't pay much attention to it. Anyway, it was fine that the Matsumae family didn't make a fuss on the spot. Instead, Wakatani-sama was very interested in what the white master was like now.

The shogunate personally managed the Ezo land during the years of peace, culture, and bunsei (1799-1821). At that time, the Lucians moved south in large numbers, and the shogunate had no choice but to fight against it. In the end, it was the French Emperor Napoleon who became the powerful enemy.

After entering the hinterland of Lucia, the two families shook hands and made peace, and then the shogunate was able to retreat intact.

It is said that the business in the Northland was very difficult at that time. The poor mountains and rivers and the Ainu people were very "barbaric". The shogunate failed to make any achievements despite the old nose. If the management was good, the Matsumae family would not be in charge.

It is said that Naohide only brought sixteen subordinates to the north, including many half-year-old children. He actually stood firm and harvested a large amount of seal skins. Many people in Edo were interested in this. Everyone wanted to
Chapter completed!