From a distance, the blue water seems not so pure, but when it comes to the shore, it is not so pure; the originally quiet sound of the waves is now drowned in the noisy sound of people.

The attendant wanted to go to stop the commotion, but was stopped by his master, "That's the Miyi whaling crew, don't be too troublesome"!

In August of the third year of Ansei (1856), Horihixi, the head of Hakodate, looked up at the sun above his head and felt a little irritable.

"I feel ashamed to welcome you personally from Horidian."

Seeing Egawa Hidetoshi jogging over with a playful smile, Hori Toshi's mood improved in vain. He was young and full of vitality. It was really enviable. I really hoped that all his subordinates could be like this.

"Indecent!"

Yingmin didn't take it seriously after hearing this joke. In the past two years, he went to Hakodate whenever he had nothing to do. He had long been dissatisfied with Hori Xi's old-fashioned attitude. According to Naohide's words, "If you don't mean what you say, you will be slutty. The more you object, the more stubborn you will be." like."

Besides, I am the leader of the Four Hundred Stones. If you are willing to listen, it is etiquette. If you don’t want to listen, you can ignore it! - Since becoming the head of the family on his own, Yingmin has completely let himself go, and there is no trace of the cautious appearance he had in Edo.

As a loyal leader of the White Lord, he should not have left the Northern Ezo Territory easily, but this time he had to come. The small blast furnace of the Hakodate Ironworks was lit. Hori Toshi was worried and specially invited him, the former head of the ironworks. I brought it over to help check it, and even went to the pier to greet it, which was a big honor.

However, even if Horihi's attitude is cold, Yingmin still needs to work hard to reform, because the white owners of this industry also have a share.

The Hakodate Iron Works was nominally established by the shogunate, but in fact it was a joint venture between three families. The Matsumae family and the Shirozushi Shougang all contributed, and the other was the master craftsman and craftsman hired by the Hakodate Shogunate from Edo - from Nirayama. All those who were transferred from the iron-making department worked as Egawa Hidetoshi's subordinates.

Hidetoshi suppressed his laughter. Last year, in order to obtain the jurisdiction of Soya for the White Lord, he agreed to many conditions of Hori Roshi, but now the Hakodate Master is demanding the same from him. It's really funny!

"It's easy to see how hard it is for people to shoulder the burden, and you don't know how difficult it is until things go through. You must have tasted the bitterness. Why is Lanxue Industry so easy to handle?"

In February of the second year of Ansei (1856), the shogunate designated most of the Ezo Territory as imperial territory, and in the following April of the Japanese calendar, it ordered Date Keibo, Satake Yoshimutsu, and Tsugaru to send troops to the north. Together with the original local Snake Matsumae family, the four families assisted Hakodate in the defense of Ezo.

Without efficient fuels, high-yielding seeds, cattle, horses or heavy machinery, large-scale development of alpine zones is just a pipe dream!

"The shogunate sent the Shimizu clan's remaining ministers and more than a thousand people to reclaim the wasteland in Ezo." As a result, after all the effort, a big mistake was made as soon as they arrived at Hakodate. Dadu, if Lord Bai hadn't helped out as promised, Hori Toshi, the leader of Hakodate, would have made a huge fool of himself.

Also, the two supplies delivered by the British Xiangjiang Squadron to Hakodate last year were also paid for by Master Bai in advance. Otherwise, after the food was really wiped out, Hakodate would have to eat dirt for several days!

After that, Hakodate's leader Hori Toshi finally realized that Edo was too far away and unreliable, and the Matsumae family also had a bunch of embroidered pillows. Only Shiro, a small number of people, was the most reliable.

Therefore, he specially submitted a letter requesting that Egawa Hidetoshi be transferred to Hakodate's office, but Edo did not approve it. However, the two offices of Hakodate and Shirozu were authorized to "watch and help each other and exchange what they have." To Hakodate——As long as Hori Toshi agrees.

It's a win-win situation for both places. Before Hori Toshi arrived in the Northland, he was a highly experienced omatsugu with a wide network of contacts. It might not cost much to get materials and money from Edo, but it was still relatively easy to get legal support.

For example, under the guise of Bai Zhu, he carried out large-scale immigration last year, but he actually managed to achieve it despite the fact that in June of the previous year, all the countries in Kinki

The earthquake and tsunami in Tokai, Higashiyama, and Nankai provinces in November caused countless victims. However, the sign of Shirozhu Shrine was not displayed and it was difficult to recruit people. But recruiting people in the name of the shogunate would be more credible. Many, many bankrupt people, the townspeople gritted their teeth and boarded the ship.

Of course, Hori Riki's endorsement of Lord Shiro was not in vain. The Hakodate Office also took a lot of advantage. At least he didn't have to pay back the supplies to the British fleet - Yingyi is not a good bird. The second time Instead of giving gold and silver, he settled with a pile of looted scrap metal, Western furniture, calligraphy and paintings. Based on the market price, the owner lost at least three to four thousand taels of gold.

As for the Hakodate Iron Works, this time it was really not Hori Toshi who was squeezing Shiro's oil this time, but Shiro who took the initiative to help - this was the price in exchange for Soya's collar.

In fact, Lord Bai is also willing, because Naohsiu and Yingmin have the idea of ​​using chickens to lay eggs - Naohide has long wanted to build an iron smelting plant in the north, but Lord White has not accumulated enough, especially the difficulty in cultivating talents, which has led to Lord White now. The iron smelting plant can actually only do mechanical processing and still does not have the ability to make large-scale iron.

It turns out that this chicken belongs to another person, the original lord Matsumae.

But the Matsumae family is trash!

A few years ago, Lord Shiro promised to assist the Matsumae family in establishing an iron smelting plant. However, the Matsumae family, known as a famous orchid school for generations, not only could not recruit enough talents, but also retreated in times of difficulty, and actually gave up the project midway.

From 1849 to 1853, when the new town of Toyama was being built, the Matsumae family took heart. With the help of Master Shiro, they made blue bricks and volcanic ash cement. However, after discovering that sugar beets could be used to make sugar, they successfully developed it. The fireproof bricks were thrown aside, and I never considered the small blast furnace, reverberatory furnace, etc., which made Zhi Xiu look like stars!

Hori Toshihi had great ambitions as a leader of Hakodate. Under Hidetoshi's instigation, in the spring of 1855, he obtained the construction permit for the ironworks from the shogunate before he took office, and thus took over the Matsumae family and became the master of ironmaking. the second chicken.

Later, under the guidance of Master Bai, the Matsumae family also joined in with the intention of recycling the waste invested in the early stage.

In addition to Hidetoshi's reputation, Hori Toshi also recruited some master craftsmen and technicians from Mr. Nirayama Tanan. After a lot of hard work, in August of the third year of Ansei (1856), the construction of the Hakodate Iron Works was completed and was waiting for ignition. .

Because he spent a lot of money in the early stage, the ignition was successful. Hori was so happy that he almost lost his composure.

There is a reason why he is so happy, because Edo informed him this year that the investment in Hakodate must be reduced:

In October last year, there was a "Great Earthquake in Edo". Although the shogunate was well prepared and evacuated many people in advance, and asked those who stayed behind to rest by the straw piles in the open space, it was already winter at that time, and there were always So unwilling to abide by the law, thousands of people were injured and killed, and fires broke out and caused major fires.

Finally, under the strict orders issued by Gongfang Jiajia, the standing army and other major groups were on standby, so it did not turn into a fire that swept through the city. However, numerous houses collapsed at that time, and it was also winter, so the losses were considerable.

In recent years, there have been successive earthquakes and tsunamis, and the shogunate has no surplus food, so all the extra investment in Ezo land has been cut off.

At this point, if Hakodate follows Hori Toshi and wants to recruit immigrants and develop land, he will have to rely on his own efforts.

After much thought, he realized that the only way was to mine coal and smelt iron. Therefore, the Hakodate Iron Works and the two coalfields of Kushiro and Ishikari were his life and roots. There was not much land development in Ezo, but the fishery was. In the past few hundred years, Kesong's former family had only gathered more than 40,000 people. This shows that the fishery at this time was unreliable. Therefore, coal and iron are still worth looking forward to.

Now the small blast furnace has been successfully ignited. Hori Toshi is so beautiful. There is no shortage of iron sand in Ezo and there are coal mines. This is

If you want to make a fortune, and if the new immigrants are not willing to open up wasteland, they can also be placed in the box hall to forge iron. If the iron cannon cannot be used to make the farm tools, he seems to have seen a golden river from the fire.

But then he thought about it, and he started having toothache again.

The Matsumae family is easy to tell, but they are too short-sighted. They originally agreed to share a small sum of money every year; but the white master asked to underwrite half of the output. Although the price is subject to market changes and is negotiated every year, Hakodou cannot suffer a loss. However, pig iron and iron Can the price of the finished product be the same? This means that a large amount of income will be lost.

But Hori Toshi didn't dare to fall out, because most of the master craftsmen and technicians provided by Nirayama Iron Smelting would not stay long, and other manpower and future supplements were provided by Master Shiro.

Egawa Hidetoshi was sent to the Northland because of an accident, and the Yokohama Iron Smelting Works was said to have constant accidents, so the iron smelters must be talented people from the Orchid School. Hori Toshi was clear about this.

Talents can be cultivated, but talents in Lanxue cannot be cultivated in a day or two. A distant water cannot quench a near thirst. A person who cannot live without Bai Zhu will not dare to fall out.

It’s not that Hori Toshi doesn’t have some crooked ideas:

But none of the people in the iron smelting house, including Mr. Bai, are allowed to be wooed - they are all Naohsiu's direct disciples, and as long as Naohsiu survives, they are considered close associates of the family leader. They change the house for no reason, and "don't hit the clock to cast copper", and they have no brains. Question.

As for the people who detained the Nirayama Iron Works, he couldn't even think about getting another batch from Egawa Tarozaemon - since Napoleon's artillery was invented, the status of Nirayama has only increased. Who dares to touch it now? Jiangchuan, who just can't get along with the shogunate's great cause of rejuvenation.

Moreover, Hori Toshi also heard that Nirayama is working on a bottom-blown acid converter steelmaking method. By then, there will be no need to waste precious copper on casting cannons. The shogunate has invested quite a lot in it. At this time, it is not right to go against Egawa. Don’t you feel comfortable with yourself?

Besides, Master Bai and Nirayama are both close to me, and Master Bai is Hakodate's close ally. I haven't even seen the pig iron yet, so I can't justify it because I'm so unjust because of "dark eyes can't see silver"!

"I haven't practiced enough." Hori Toshi shook his head and laughed. He still didn't have the skills to respect and cultivate himself.

Yingmin didn't know that someone had just used a crooked idea. He thought that Hori Xi was afraid that he would not be able to smelt iron. "Yes, the accident that happened when I smelted iron also alarmed the public. It is understandable that people don't trust me."

He comforted Horihi and hinted that he was no longer what he used to be. "Several of the master craftsmen are also old people from Niushan. I have checked and it is absolutely perfect! Besides, 'Scientific practice is bound to make mistakes.' If it doesn't work this time, it will work next time." .”

This comfort was worse than no comfort at all. Hakodate was so frightened that he couldn't think of anything else.

But at least the first batch of iron came out smoothly. Not only was there no accident, but the quality was also in line with predictions. This made Hori Hexi breathe a sigh of relief.

Hori Toshi said on the spot that he would take credit for everyone at the ironworks and that the bounty would be cashed out immediately.

After returning to the execution office, he ordered that the supply of iron sand and coke must be ensured. Coal and iron sand are both produced in Ezo, but the output is not high because the manpower is too problematic.

The original local snakes and Matsumae family honestly handed over their territory, but many samurai families and subjects followed the original lords to Mutsu Province Liangchuan and Dewa Province Higashi. Although less than one-tenth of them moved, but I can't stand it. There are only a few people in Ezo.

Now that the shogunate has reduced its supply to Hakodate due to the Edo earthquake, and if it continues to mine heavily, there will be fewer people on that land. What will happen to the food supply?
Chapter completed!