In the seventh year of Jiayong (1854 in the Western calendar), the negotiations between the shogunate and the Mi people went through multiple stages:

First, the shogunate sent a small boat to negotiate with the Mi people about where to negotiate. This took a full thirteen days - from the sixteenth day of the first month of the seventh year of Jiayong (February 13, 1854) to the twenty-eighth day of the first month (February 13, 1854). July 25).

Then came the details of setting up the Yokohama Village reception venue and negotiating the number of people, which took a full ten days from February 26 to March 7.

The period from February 13th to March 7th can be regarded as the preparation period, followed by the formal negotiation stage.

The two sides formally met on March 8, but the talks broke down at the first meeting. The head of Lin University said, "Due to the change of kings, please put it aside until the next year." As a result, Perry went crazy on the spot and issued a war threat. Then he walked away, and the first round of negotiations was terminated.

On March 12, the top leaders of Lin University obtained permission from the shogunate and returned to Yokohama Village. The next day, they started the second round of negotiations with Perry.

Not only did the two sides exchange reference texts that day - the rice side provided the "Mongolia Agreement" and the shogunate side provided the "Summary of the Agreement between Western Countries" co-authored by Egawa Hideryu and Oguri Tadjun, but Perry also asked people to bring out a large number of documents. Exquisite gift, the atmosphere was pleasant for a moment.

The next day, the shogunate also gave gifts in return, including Fuso's calligraphy and paintings, porcelain, lacquerware, fans, samurai swords and exquisite muskets. In addition, he also sent 200 taels of rice, 200 chickens, and five wrestlers (sumo wrestlers). ) to carry it - hoping to show Fuso's bravery.

Perry and others also laughed at this, but they were not impressed by the strength of the strongman - since the popularity of steam engines, it has been a conclusion that machines and machinery are far superior to human power in Western countries. No matter how strong a person is, what's the use!

The progress of the second round of negotiations was very fast, and an agreement was quickly reached on mutual aid to the drifters. However, the two sides had different positions on trade:

The shogunate insisted on not agreeing to the opening of Hong Kong for trade. The reason was the same as that of China at that time: "Fuso has a vast land and abundant resources, and there is no need for trade to exchange what we have."

Perry urged, "We will help the country produce gold, silver, lead, mercury, pearls, natural treasures, and artificial ingenious things. Fusang is also rich in products, and trade with us will be very profitable. We will try it out for five or ten years." , If it’s not good, let’s stop.” But the head of Lin University shook his head as if playing a drum, “I won’t listen, I won’t listen.”

Why was the shogunate so resistant to the founding of the country and trade?

People who are not of my race must have a different heart - because they don't understand that Fusang is instinctively hostile to Westerners. You came all the way and brought a warship to ask for trade, saying that there are benefits and advantages for me, and you are a liar. Well, if you show your courtesy for nothing, you are either committing adultery or stealing!

In addition, the shogunate suffered great losses in its interactions with the southern barbarian countries:

The pain of gnashing of teeth was the missionary work of Kirishitan - in the 14th year of Kanei (1637), the "Shimabara Rebellion" ("Amakusa Uprising") broke out. The revolting peasants, with the religious people as the core, resisted the tyranny and atrocities of the lords and defended the city. , successively repelled the first, second, and third attacks of the shogunate's coalition forces, and also killed Itakura Shigemasa, the crusade envoy sent by the shogunate, on the spot. Later, the shogunate mobilized more than 120,000 princes' coalition forces to besiege the city for nearly 100 years. It took two months for the rebel army to run out of ammunition and food, and then successfully attacked the city.

This incident greatly shocked the shogunate, the daimyo and Fuso society at that time. The Shimahara Matsukura family's territory was confiscated, and the head of the family, Matsukura Katsuie, was sentenced to be beheaded. He became the only daimyo to be beheaded in the Edo period (disembowelment is not counted). Beheaded), the Amakusaji Sawa family's territory was confiscated, the head of the family, Terasawa Kentaka, committed suicide due to mental disorder, and the Terasawa family was cut off from now on.

At this point, the two daimyo who triggered the Shimabara Rebellion suffered the fate of destruction.

Because of this incident, the shogunate deepened its fear of foreign cultures, so in the 16th year of Kanei (163

9) issued the fifth and final lockdown order: a complete ban on foreign ships coming to Fusang, ordering all princes to inspect sailing ships, tripling the reward for reporting foreign ships smuggling into the country, and prohibiting all contact between Western churches and Fusang Chechidan believers.

And influence - In this negotiation, Perry did not raise the issue of missionary work, and the top leaders of Lin University were happy to ignore it.

But if there is a trade deal and people from both sides get mixed up, won’t the Qie Zhi Dan be revived again? - Back then, the shogunate repeatedly issued orders not to allow the Southern Barbarians to preach. However, taking advantage of the opportunity of trade, except for the Lan people who stayed true to their duties, other barbarians secretly

pass.

In addition, the shogunate also suffered great losses in pure trade. To sum up, "it made the famous names and wealthy merchants rich, but the world and the shogunate lost." - Tokugawa Saishaki's family resolutely opposed trade, and they did not just rely on shouting.

There is evidence in there.

The Tokugawa shogunate did not close the country at the beginning. At that time, Fuso experienced more than a hundred years of war - the Warring States Period (1467-1603), especially during the Battle of Bunroku and Keicho (1592) with China and Goryeo.

- 1598), the economy was very weak due to the great defeat. Moreover, the Southern Barbarians were very powerful at that time, and they colluded with the daimyo on Kyushu Island and the coast. This founding business was not only the initiative of the shogunate, but it was also done out of necessity.

In the eighth year of Keicho (1603), Ieyasu was appointed as the general to conquer the barbarians, and the Tokugawa shogunate was formally established. At that time, foreign business was booming - the Nanman countries, the Tang Dynasty, and Goryeo all rushed to trade, and Fuso also had a large number of merchant ships going to sea.

But as they were doing it, the shogunate discovered that something was wrong. In addition to Chechidan's missionary work shaking the country's foundation, Fuso's economy was also hit hard - in addition to the necessary pig iron, medicinal materials, dyes, lead and mercury, sucrose, etc., raw silk, silk and various

Luxury goods such as furs and Western gadgets also poured in in large quantities, causing Fuso to always be a top seller.

What should I do if I enter the super market? What else can I do? I can only use heavy metals to make up for it, resulting in a large loss of gold, silver, and copper.

According to the shogunate's own statistics, the gold and silver alone lost more than 400,000 taels of gold (small fine) every year!

The loss of copper was even greater. Because of the low price of copper in Fuso, merchants at that time even shipped away large quantities of copper coins.

The massive outflow of gold, silver, copper and other precious metals, as well as the reduction in crop cultivation - all of which were planted to cash crops, caused the prices of various goods, especially grain, to skyrocket, triggering a large number of civil unrest.

What's even more deceptive is that the power of Kyushu Island and some coastal daimyo is rapidly expanding, and wealthy businessmen who make profits have also formed a large number of private guards because they want to sail far away, which poses a serious threat to the stability of the shogunate's rule.

At the same time, Fuso's economy has also recovered quickly, and various necessities no longer need to be imported in large quantities.

After many considerations, the shogunate decided to gradually lock down the country.

The shogunate preserved documents related to the considerations of seclusion, so even though the country was sequestered for more than 200 years, some important officials of the shogunate still understood the disadvantages of foreign trade.

For example, the old lord of Mito, Tokugawa Saiaki, believed that trading with foreign countries had five harmful effects based on the lost information left by the shogunate:

"Things imported from other countries are useless things, and things exported from Japan are useful things. Exchanging useful things for useless things is the first harm;

Increasing export items will cause a shortage of supplies, which is the second harm;

Insufficient supplies will cause prices to boil, which is the third harm;

The beneficiaries are only a few wealthy businessmen, and the losers are the majority of townspeople and ordinary people. This is the fourth harm;

Not being able to make ends meet, and having your finances cut off every day, is the fifth evil.

Of course, the early trade in Fuso led to a large number of people entering the country and the backward management methods had a lot to do with it. However, at this time, the shogunate had not made much progress and had no experience of this, so everyone at the top and bottom remained consistent.

Treat trade with foreign countries as a scourge.

Therefore, despite the persuasion of Perry, the top leaders of Lin University have no interest in trade.

Seeing that the other side was very resolute, the United States turned to focus on the port of refuge and supplying Hong Kong merchants - at that time, mutual aid to the drifters had already been negotiated.

There have been precedents of rice drifters being "abused" in the past:

In the first year of Jiayong (1848) and the second year of Jiayong, the American whaling ships Lawrence and Lagoda were wrecked in the waters of Fuso. In fact, Fuso began to rescue the Nanman drifters at that time - although there was no formal agreement,

However, the shogunate was afraid of giving the Nanman people an excuse to invade, so the shogunate sent these Nanman watermen to the Orchid Trade Center in Nagasaki and asked the Orchid people to send them away.

However, the Languo Commercial Office at that time was not willing to help, and only said that it could notify the rice side. Therefore, these wrecked crew members were detained by the shogunate in Nagasaki until they were picked up by rice ships later.

After these crew members returned to the United States, they all said that they had been severely abused by Fuso - the conditions in the shogunate's cells were notoriously bad, and Fuso was a vegetarian at the time. The Mi people crew members probably did not even eat meat once, and their language was bad.

It doesn't make sense, anyway, these sailors have suffered a lot. Public opinion among the Mi people was uproar over this, thinking that Fuso underestimated the United States too much.

In 1844, the Mi people and the Tang people signed the "Wangxia Agreement". Even the great Eastern country China was polite to the Confederate States. Why are you, a small country like Fusang, so arrogant?

So Perry took this example and said, "Our drifters are worried about having you look after us, so we have to build settlements."

Moreover, he also believed that since there were settlements, supply ports must also be established.

At that time, everyone in Fuso was shocked! What did we say just now? From which cloud did this supply port emerge?

But when Perry talked and said something, it made sense:

Previously, the top leaders of Lin University had agreed that "drifters who help each other can keep legitimate property and self-defense weapons and cannot be detained." - There is nothing to discuss, and it seems that there are no loopholes.

But the ministers were happy too early, and Perry started from this humble agreement and began to press forward step by step:

First of all, "Since we can move around freely, we must have a formal place to live." Therefore, there must be a settlement.

Fuso agrees with this - they are afraid that "if the Mi people move around casually, they will inevitably come into contact with some people with ulterior motives."

Later, "Since people have a place to live, then ships must also have a place to stay." Therefore, there must be a port of refuge.

"What ship?"

"Where did the drifters come from?" Perry smiled slightly.

"It must be a shipwrecked ship."

"What if the ship in distress didn't sink?" Mi Ren asked.

Hearing this, the shogunate negotiators present heard a "buzz" in their heads! They were fooled. They agreed that "drifters can keep their legitimate property." Isn't a boat just property?

But once the ship enters the port, what is the name of the port? A port of refuge!

Only then did the top people in Lin University realize how powerful foreigners are - Perry said in his heart, if it weren't for the fact that you guys are hard to deceive, have you ever heard of a place the size of a piece of cowhide? You still have to go around in such a big circle.

Perry was dumbfounded when he saw the other party. He felt that the time had come to continue to add more violence:

"Can we distinguish between a refuge port and a supply port? If there are no supply ships, wouldn't we be in trouble? So, agreeing to rescue the drifters means agreeing to open a refuge port and a supply port! We thought you already knew this."
Chapter completed!