In fact, with the opening of their horizons in the past few years, the shogunate had expected Lucia's re-invasion - "If you can't pick up the money, you will lose it." The greedy nature of the Northland Bear is well known, so it is necessary to find the place.

Action is inevitable.

But the result of the battle shocked the center. Hakodate's defeat was no surprise, but what the hell was the White Lord winning again?

Two groups of people came together from the north to report the news to Edo. On the Hakodate side, Hori Toshihi came back in person, while the White Master was led by the land chief Murata Nagatoshi to report - this is because Hakodate

The pavilion suffered a huge defeat and someone had to take responsibility, and since the white master had won the battle, he was naturally strong-willed.

This is no longer the fourth year of Anzheng (1857).

At that time, Lord Bai was at war with Lucia. To be honest, except Lord White himself, everyone in Fusang was in panic. "With this war going on, I don't know how long the war will continue. Is this the end of the 'Peaceful Age'?"

Even if the trees are beautiful in the forest, the wind will destroy them.

At that time, if Naohide didn't take the initiative to go back to Edo to plead guilty, he would probably end up in a terrible situation.

But this year, after the shogunate leader Iso took office, he sealed the first battle of Shirozu in Fuso Lucia. It was a good fight and it was a wonderful fight. The Shirofu Order, which used to follow the rule of Hinaohide, was promoted to the leader of the group below.

Every one of them got promoted and made a fortune.

Therefore, Master Bai is very confident this time. If he wins again this time, he must have done so with merit and demerit.

Therefore, Lord Bai followed Egawa Hidetoshi very calmly, and first sent Murata back to report and listen to the shogunate's opinions.

To be honest, the shogunate had already made preparations since the Lu warships sailed north - it was nothing more than compensation for defeat and the cession of the Northern Ezo territory. Is there any other choice if we are inferior to others?

But the development of the situation is so strange. The Hakodate, which had made great efforts to support it, was completely defeated. However, the white master of the free-range wild sanctuary once again won a great victory, and captured more than 400 prisoners alone. How can this be justified?

Therefore, Murata Nagatoshi, as the head of the White Lord mainland, was carefully interrogated many times.

Murata was a man of few words. According to later generations, he could not say anything in three sentences.

Fortunately, Master Bai's report was very detailed. After reading the report and then asking the person involved, the details of the matter gradually became clear.

In short, after a lot of work by the professors and lecturers of the "Fifth Division" of the shogunate's standing army, the "Kungfu Field", and the "Tibo Shutiao Institute", the final investigation results given to the bosses were the same as Murata Nagatoshi's earliest

They all agreed, "The reason for the great victory was that the Lucians invaded again!"

After getting the results, the bosses couldn't help but smile bitterly at each other. What they didn't say was, "This Lu man remembers eating but not fighting. Why doesn't he have a long memory?"

It's funny to say that just this month, the seventh month of the Japanese calendar, the shogunate led by the "eldest boss" Ii Sobu has just knocked down Tokugawa Qi Zhao and his family, making it clear that the shogunate continues to insist that "no unintended tactics are allowed."

The foreign affairs strategy of "destroying one's life".

After Lucia pulled anchor overnight on June 26 and headed north, the shogunate urgently signed two more trade agreements following the "Fuso Mi People Trade Agreement" on June 19:

On July 10, the agreement with the Ran Kingdom was signed in Nagasaki. The signatories were Nagasaki Minister Oguri Tadjun and the Ran Kingdom's special envoy Curtius;

On July 18, Yu Uraga signed another trade agreement with England.

At that time, the Central Committee was afraid that the Western countries would sit back and raise prices after losing to Lucia, so they made a lot of concessions. But they never expected that Lucia would be defeated again. Is the "tough foreign policy" that Qi Zhao and his group said really justified?

Jing Yi, who was participating in the evaluation meeting, nodded, and the senior middlemen shuddered involuntarily, "An illusion, it must be an illusion."

You know, starting from the beginning of July, Da Lao Jingyi and others made major adjustments to the center:

The core of the Qi Zhao family, Qi Zhao "lives in seclusion forever", Qingdu "is cautious", Qingsheng and Qingyong are "reclusive and cautious";

The two veterans who resigned, Masumu Hota and Tadashi Matsudaira, were replaced by newcomers;

It is expected that Omofuke will leave four new appointees;

The original four denominations were implemented

, Honda Yasuhide, Kawaji Shomo, Ishitani Muqing, Nagai Naoshiya resigned and were transferred;

Other important duties such as annual mailing, pay-as-you-go and fifth-level service are being adjusted gradually.

But the irony is that the Qi Zhao family that wanted to fight now failed to do so, and the own family that insisted on using softness to overcome strength not only started the war, but also won it.

What is this!

Therefore, Jing Yisou, who has always been brave and resolute, is a little confused - he has always felt that under the current situation, the only way to survive is to be patient. Only when he has accumulated strength can he fight off the invaders in the future. But now, looking at it, could he have made a mistake?

However, before he was punished, the old Mito feudal lord Qi Zhao also publicly admitted, "Compared with the hundreds of years of savings of the Nanman countries, Fuso's military preparations are not complete. Once a war breaks out, the future will be slim."

Regardless of Qi Zhao's "reckless" behavior, in fact, the differences between Jing Yi and others and Qi Zhao's family are not as big as outsiders imagine - the so-called fifty steps lead to a hundred steps, Qi Zhao is opposed to the founding of the country through trade, but in the current situation

Under the situation, Qi Zhao also believed that there was no way to escape from signing the agreement. It was just that in terms of specific extent, Qi Zhao's line and his own group had differences, and it was just a matter of concessions.

In fact, what really makes it difficult for the elder Ii and others to accept is that Qi Zhao and his family connected the small court in Kyoto and the daimyo outside the country. This is a "big crime" that shakes the foundation of the shogunate!

Therefore, after receiving the good news from the White Master, Jing Yi was quite happy. After all, the Lucians were determined to take advantage. So when there was no way to retreat, it would be lucky to be able to counterattack successfully.

However, the question is how to end it?

The so-called "just give up when things get better" may not be possible. Lucia has repeatedly provoked her, so she probably won't give up easily.

Fortunately, the White Lord sank all the Lu navy’s main ships, and even the special envoy Ignatiev died. Then why would the next wave of Lu people have to wait until next year to arrive?

I still have at least half a year to cope with it.

The imminent problem is that no matter what, the Qi Zhao family cannot be allowed to use this matter to turn around!

After all, Qi Zhao and his family take the courage to fight as their banner, and this victory over Lucia will easily arouse the enthusiasm of both the government and the public to resist foreign aggression. It is very likely that some people will call for the resurrection of Qi Zhao and others, but this is absolutely unacceptable!

There are many shortcomings of the human system, and one of its characteristics is the lack of mercy in political battles - from the perspective of systems and procedures, once there is a fight to the death, there is no room for mercy in the human system.

Therefore, what is faced by the elder Jingyi and others is a problem. Someone needs to carry the banner of daring to fight, and this person must also support "Don't launch unplanned troops and end life"!

Originally, Hakodate was a good candidate to follow Hori Toshihi. This person has always been very wary of Lucia and has written to the central government many times to strengthen the defense of the North.

But the problem is that Hori Toshi was defeated. How can a defeated general be brave? So Hori Toshi will definitely fail.

Chief Jing Yisao also sent people to test other people, but everyone, including the leaders of the fifth division of the Standing Army, was very vigilant. It was not a good thing to set up this banner. If there was a war, it would have to be fought head on, so everyone

They all declined.

You can tell by thinking with your toes that most of those who dare to fight support the Qi Zhao family, but now they are treated differently. If someone from our own country suddenly stood up and said that we would treat Western countries toughly, even a fool would not believe it.

So, after looking around, Hori Naohide became the only candidate - someone else won the first White Lord battle, so if you say you don't dare to fight, then you shouldn't. Moreover, Hori Naohide has stated in previous petitions,

It is said that "if we are not equipped with military equipment, we cannot fight. It is inevitable to establish a country through trade."

However, Hori Naohide's background was too humble.

The family status for several generations has been the "second half" of the royal family, not a famous family at all.

Although Naohide has now become a big body hatamoto, and has even climbed to the high position of "Hatamoto Yoshiai" in the famous family, Ii, who has been a member of a well-known family for generations, is very disgusted with such a lucky person.

What finally made the elder Jingyi make up his mind were two things:

The first is the recommendation of his confidant Oguri Tadjun.

In the seventh year of Kayei (1854), Oguri took up the post of Nagasaki Chief Minister. It has been four years now. Logically speaking, he should be transferred to another post this year.

Before he became the daimyo, Ii Sobu was the leader of the Yama daimyo who monitored the old man. He was deeply involved in the affairs of the shogunate, and he admired Oguri very much.

Moreover, his younger brother likes orchids and studies in Nagasaki all year round.

After Oguri Tadjun took over as Nagasaki Chief, the relationship between the two was very good.

Through this channel, Oguri and Ii often exchanged letters.

Because both of them were from well-known families, they were both firm shogunate supremacists, and their governance methods were very "decisive", so the two quickly got closer.

After taking office as the elder in April this year, Ii sent someone to Nagasaki to tell Oguri, asking him to be ready to take over the designated service position.

You must know that Oguri Tadatsun is only thirty-two years old this year, and he is appointed to the high position of the Third Shogun of the Shogunate. This shows that Ii appreciates him.

Since Oguri, a close confidant, recommended him, and considering that he and Naohide Hori were close friends, he could naturally be lenient. Therefore, even though Hori Naohide was from a humble background, it was not a big flaw in Ii's opinion.

However, Oguri Tadjun recommended Hori Naohide for the service post that Nagasaki followed, but Ii, the elder, had different ideas - Lucia was defeated twice in Shiro, and according to the tradition of getting up from where he fell, Shiro

The Lord will inevitably go through a war, so Ii wants Naohide to return to the White Lord and continue to serve him.

In this case, the flag that dares to fight will be kept away from Edo, which I believe can weaken the influence on the shogunate.

As for the outcome of the third White Lord battle, Ii and others are not optimistic about it - a victory by Naohide is good, but a defeat can also prove that "a wave of battles must be defeated", so they can accept it anyway.

The second thing that helped Ii and his family make up their mind was the recommendation letter from the late Nirayama Acting Official and Foreign Trade Director, Egawa Tarozaemon.

In the third year of the Ansei period (1856), Jiang Chuan submitted a letter requesting to resign from Shimoda to serve as a military official, so that he could focus on ordnance manufacturing at the Nirasan Iron Works.

With permission from the shogunate, Jiangchuan opened up a lot of big business in Niushan:

After the success of iron-making in the third year of Jiayong (1850) and the successful imitation of Napoleon cannon in the seventh year of Jiayong (1854), with the help of Western technicians provided by Hamhyung Foreign Company, the success of steel-making in Jiushan in the fourth year of Anzheng (1857) -

—After three long years of hard work, the bottom-blown acid converter steelmaking method was finally put into production.

After that, thunder~mercury was finally able to be stably produced in small batches.

Then this year, the fifth year of Ansei (1858), the flash cap technology achieved a breakthrough, and the explosive ammunition was mass-produced. At the same time, good things came in pairs, and the steel breech rifled gun was also successfully imitated.

However, Jiangchuan died suddenly on July 4th of the Heli calendar due to overwork. In fact, there were no signs before. Jiangchuan was often tired, but still refused to rest as the medical officer ordered. As a result, he died after successfully imitating a rifled cannon.

For several days, he couldn't sleep at all.

When the family was sorting out the relics, they found an unfinished letter in which they suggested that the shogunate set up an ordnance rack, but there was only one recommended candidate, and that was Naohide Hori. There were many students from Shirozu in the Nirayama Iron Works, and Mr. Tanan

Having always suffered from the lack of talents in Lanzhou, he felt the potential of Lord Bai, so he wrote this letter of recommendation.

Mr. Tanan's coffin was returned to Edo on July 15th. After that, this letter of recommendation went around in circles and finally arrived at the desks of the veterans after reporting on the battle in the Northland.

Ekawa Tarozaemon loved Orchidology throughout his life, and because of his many achievements, he was the banner of Orchidology among the shogunate, and he was called a giant. Especially after he was re-employed, the Nirayama Iron Works under his command achieved frequent successes, and it has become a shogunate

ZTE's hope is that it only involves secrets, and outsiders are not allowed to hear about it, but Jiangchuan's weight in the center is really not light.

The recommendations of Oguri Tadjun and Egawa Tarozaemon finally prompted the shogunate boss Isao and others to abandon their sectarian views.
Chapter completed!