Mifuhori Toshihi had a quick inspection of Shirozu, and after Naohide took a boat to accompany him to see two nearby fishing villages, he took the people back to Hakodate in Ezochi. After all, that was where he would work hard in the future.

Place of business.

Although Hori Toshi only stayed at Shirozhu for four days from beginning to end, he tormented Naohide quite a lot:

Unlike Egawa Hidetoshi, this one had no friendship with Naohide and was a serious shogunate inspector. If he really found something wrong, it would be a big deal.

Speaking of which, there are many things that Lord Bai has forbidden. From a broad perspective, secret trade is one thing, and hiding Western ordnance is another. As for being discovered without authorization, it is a dead end. As for what Egawa Hidetoshi said, "the quality of clothes must not be

"Mixed; kings and ministers are all different from each other", which is nothing compared to these - after all, Naohide has never publicly criticized or opposed the shogunate.

The origins of Bai Zhu's personnel are complex, and logically it is impossible to keep any secrets, but the power in the rapid rise period can always do some jaw-dropping things. Actually, there has been no major leakage incident until now. Even Naohide himself feels that

Unbelievable.

In fact, my subordinates Okubo and others think it is quite normal. After all, this is the era of family affairs, and Master Bai has also taken great pains to keep it secret:

In the third year of Kayei (1850), the first sixteen people to follow Naohide to the White House were Takemae Toranosuke, Hori Naotsu, Hori Naoyoshi, Hori Yuei, Iwasaki Yataro, Okada Nobujin, Inoue Genzaburo, Kawakami Genmei and Okubo Toshi

Takano Nagai, whose pseudonym is Mr. Miyama, and six young men from the Zaoya group. Apart from Okubo, Mr. Miyama, and Genzaburo Inoue, they are all Naohide's disciples and relatives. And Mr. Miyama is a wanted criminal of the shogunate, and Okubo is

Naohide personally asked for his right-hand man. Inoue Genzaburo was a down-and-out ronin, so as long as Naohide didn't treat them badly, everything would be fine.

So has Nao Soo mistreated them all these years?

It's completely a favor, okay? Since the Seal Island Hunt started in the second year, these people have started to receive generous cash dividends - although it was recorded in the accounts at the time, it was all cashed out later, and in recent years, with the expansion of the White Lord's power

, all of them held important positions in the execution office.

As for the children of the Zaoya group, the Tosa Kochi boys, the students of the Saga windmill group, and the disciples of Mr. Tanan's rope martial arts school who came later, Naohide was also selected after being selected - I really thought that Naohide would dare to accept anyone.

As for the selection method, it is very simple. Don’t say anything. First go to the dock to fish or build a wooden house at the construction site. Only those who are not lazy after ten days of hard work can stay. Naohide and Okubo both work personally.

It varies greatly from place to place.

As for the selection of subjects, it is much simpler:

Among the early immigrants, there were many filthy and non-human beings, including vagrants who entered the homestay. They were screened before they were sent to them, and those who were dishonest were determined not to be accepted. After arriving, there were no lazy and slippery ones. The early days of the White Master were extremely difficult, and they dared to be lazy and slippery.

Just be hungry. After a few hungry meals, you will be honest and there will be no place to run.

As for the Ainu and Hezhe people, they are not so troublesome. These people used to have a very difficult life, and those who were too naughty have long been driven out by the tribe to fend for themselves.

But among the thousands of people with thousands of faces, the main reason why no one went to the shogunate for more than three years to report was not only the simple folk customs at this time, but also mainly due to the following points:

First, the concept of family and world is deeply rooted in the hearts of the people.

Fuso's governance at this time was more similar to a feudal system. Regardless of the name or banner, as long as it was a private leader, the people would only recognize the head of the family and not the shogunate. This was in line with the economic level, legal system and technical means at that time.

Related, in-depth and thorough governance is completely unrealistic and can neither be supported nor realized.

Although Shiro is the imperial leader, all the samurai are retainers of the Hori family, and the subjects are also the subjects of the Hori family - they are filthy and inhuman, and the wandering people who enter Ashoriba are all registered in the shogunate.

The untouchables are legal townsfolk and common people only in Shirozu, not to mention the Ainu and Hezhen people, they are "savages", and there is no serious punishment for killing them outside Shirozu.

Therefore, although the White Lord is the royal lord, it is actually no different from Naohide's private domain. Since it is a private domain, the natural object of allegiance is the private lord. Telling the truth is a blatant rebellion and a serious violation of the values ​​​​at this time.

Second, the shogunate was not kind to Lord Bai.

To the Lord, the shogunate basically did not invest any manpower or material resources - at first it gave Xiao Jian a thousand pieces of gold, a ship and a small amount of supplies, but that

The ship was brought back from overseas by Naohide himself, which can be said to be a drop in the bucket for the development of the White Lord and can be completely ignored. There were some supplies later, but they were obtained by Naohide through his teacher Tanan, and they were far from enough.

Eating is a big deal.

Since Nao Soo can support everyone and live a pretty good life, it is natural that people will follow their wishes, and no one will inform on her unless there is some serious reason.

But Naohide has always shared the joys and sorrows with the people of his lord, and he does not rush to the front during wars, but he has always been on the front line. Rewards and punishments and governance are also discussed publicly and jointly. Is it okay to go against your conscience by informing such a lord?

Third, we must thank the traffic conditions and laws at this time.

Lord Shiro is in Northern Ezo, which is a large and desolate island. It takes several days to get to the nearest Matsumae Town in Ezo by boat. As for informing people in Edo, you must first have a big ship.

.

Those who were able to trade in Edo were the die-hard confidants of Naohide and others, and ordinary people would never even think about it.

Besides, even samurai can't move freely now. You have to have a "passing hand kata", which is a document from the White Lord's Enforcement Office. Moreover, the security during the journey is not good. If you go to Edo to report it, how big the hatred will be.

Resentful.

Last but not least, most people are actually not sure whether Naohide's actions were under secret orders from the shogunate or even the public. If Naohide was really acting under orders, wouldn't it be embarrassing? After reporting to the shogunate, he found out

Naohide is a minister with a secret mission, so the one who snitched on him was easily dismissed.

Don't mention it, what Naohide did seems to be like that - he went to his post alone, and then attacked the Lucians several times regardless of his life and death. At the same time, his post became bigger and bigger, and the agency office became an executive office. You

Why are you talking about straight show pictures? If there is no inside story, it would not be justified at all.

Not only do some people inside the Hakushu Administrative Office think so, but there are also many people in Edo who think so now. Although they don't know that Naohide has done many forbidden things, many ministers think that Naohide is Chief Lao Naka Abe's attendant who arrived in the north in advance.

An important layout, otherwise why would you be promoted so quickly! Isn’t it completely unreasonable?

Even the veteran Abe is sometimes suspicious:

Others didn't know it, but he did know that Shiro's change from the Daikan Office to the Administrative Office was the instruction of the late Grand Gosho Iekei. Naohide was the first to secretly go to sea. Could it be that he wasn't the one pushing it?

After all, Oguri Tadatsun had served as a public servant and was quite favored, so it was reasonable for him to be ordered to engage in secret activities in private.

In short, because Naohide has always been very respectful to the shogunate, even outsiders were deceived, let alone the people of Baidu. It made my brain hurt to think about it and I couldn't figure out the depth of it.

In addition, Naohide and others have been sparing no effort to block information and cover up in various ways. In addition, no one cares about the privacy of Lord Bai - the only ones who care about it are Mr. Tan'an and Tadashi Oguri, but these two still pretend not to know.

, so Lord Bai has not capsized so far.

However, if you often walk by the river, your shoes won’t get wet, and any secret will be leaked over time, so Naohide has also made two preparations for this:

If it really doesn't work anymore, he will take his people and flee overseas. There is nothing he can do if he has money;

Another way out is that the White Lord's strength will expand a little more, and the tail will not be lost by then. Since he did not blatantly poach the shogunate's corner, the shogunate will probably turn a blind eye, but he must still have the tail. Thinking about it gives me a headache.

.

Whitewashing should start from an early age, not as early as possible.

According to Zhixiu’s plan, the whitewashing had already started last year:

Accepting Egawa Hidetoshi to serve as Lord White this year is the second step, which means that the shogunate has officially intervened in Lord White's governance;

And the first step is how to deal with secret trade?

Last year, the execution office opened a separate branch, and the trade with Xianheng Foreign Company began to no longer be carried out in Baizhu.

This year we will do the same.

It will be easier to handle when Hakodate opens the port next year. Even if some people say that the administrative office and the rice trade are not secret trade, I said that if I provide supplies, what can you do to me?

It’s not that hurricanes are not allowed to dock outside Shimoda and Hakodate, but this hurricane comes and goes without a trace and cannot speak. It will not come out to testify. Besides, it is an excuse to say that the ship ran aground during the voyage. - Soya Kaikyo Field all year round

It's foggy, is this a normal thing?

As for the white master’s current Western ordnance, steam warships, machine tools, etc., then

It’s easier to handle:

In fact, since last year, Naohide has kept these ordnances secretly sealed and only used them in emergencies. Even essential training is carried out in the remote Fengyuan District.

As for the replacements, they are flintlock muskets and flintlock muskets. Although most of them are imported products from the secret trade, they are all nominally produced by the white master - relying on a few pieces purchased from the Jiushan Iron Smelting Works.

With a machine tool and a steam engine, as well as pig iron bought from the Nabeshima family in Saga, Master Bai can really make it, but the output is not high and the quality is poor.

Also, the steam warships of the execution office have long since disappeared from the vicinity of Bai Zhu. They are usually stationed at Moka in the west. It is very remote and there are no merchant ships visiting it at all.

As for machine tools, under the guise of a few machine tools and steam engines that I bought from Niu Shan Ironmaking Works, most people can’t figure out what’s going on here – as long as you don’t waste your time, let someone take a closer look or try it out.

It'll be fine.

As for sewing machines and other machinery, the Xianheng Company has been selling them in Nagasaki for a long time. This is different from machine tools. Machine tools can make guns and cannons, so the shogunate has strict management. Although the shogunate has designated exclusive dealers for these civilian products, it does not restrict the purchase.

I had already asked Kinokuniya to help purchase dozens of them as a cover, and I was not afraid of investigation at all.

In fact, Master Shiro owns a lot of foreign things, such as foreign cloth, leather shoes, etc., but they all have "proper" origins. The leather shoes are produced by himself, and the foreign cloth was bought with the help of Kinokuniya - although buying a few hundred pieces can be given to Shiro.

It's a bit nonsense that the owner changed his clothes, but it can't be checked. Although there are not many merchants in Bai Zhu, there are only a dozen or so. Who has time to care about this?

Of course, it is impossible to completely whitewash unless the owner of White can produce everything by himself. But according to the current situation, this year is 1854, and relying on self-reliance, the compound of bullet flash caps and steam battleships can be produced in 1858.

It would be good to come out - if the shogunate allows it.

Moreover, even if it can produce its own products, it will only cover up the original traces. If the former secret trade and the northward attack on the Lucians are exposed, it will be enough to confiscate their homes and behead them. Therefore, the White Master must continue to expand, not only to give enough internal personnel to rise.

The path and sense of security required the shogunate to take action to stay safe in the end.

But expansion requires modernization, and the educational innovation, organization and legal evolution caused by modernization, and changes in people's concepts and living habits are incompatible or even incompatible with the current laws, systems, and customs of the shogunate. Shirozhu really expanded to the point of having

If you have the ability to clean up, you probably don’t need to clean up. This is simply a false proposition!

In addition to Naohide, his wife, and Gakujiro, Okubo Ritsuchi, who is in charge of governance, was already aware of this, but there was one person before him who had long been aware of it - Takano Nagai, whose pseudonym was Mr. Miyama, out of the acumen of a rebel,

I had noticed it a long time ago, otherwise I wouldn't have been so enthusiastic about Xiangxue University.

In addition to these two people, there should be many people in the White Lord who are aware of this. Especially after the signing of the "Fuso America Peace Agreement" this year, many people privately approached Naohide to express their loyalty - they all said that Naohide attacked Lucia in advance.

People need to be far-sighted, otherwise Bai Zhu would have fallen long ago.
To be continued...