On August 16, the second year of Bunkyu (1862), the shogunate ordered the Matsumae family, the White Lord, to consider at their own discretion whether to cooperate with the Aizu Domain in jorogaku.

According to the request of the father-in-law Iemo, in order not to arouse the alarm of outsiders, Naohide still pretended to ask the family head for instructions. Therefore, after some shipping, he submitted the documents on the fifteenth day of the eighth month and formally agreed to send troops.

Then, the Aizu and Shirozu families jointly submitted the Kamikan plan, and the shogunate quickly responded:

"Can".

All these things did not cause any disturbance before, but then the shogunate and various families became calm. Just after the Fusang and Chrysanthemum Festival, on September 10th, the official Yang Jiamao led a group to inspect the Shangluo Fan soldiers, and everyone was surprised by the result.

The White Army took the lead as soon as it appeared on the scene.

The Aizu Domain was fine in the front, its clothing was still a mixture of Fuso and Western styles, with narrow-sleeved Wufu on the upper body and Western-style trousers on the lower body.

But the soldiers of the Baichu vassal were dressed in foreign clothes. Not only that, their heads were polished and their feet were shining.

It turns out that when Naohide and Murata Nagatoshi started reorganizing the army, they followed the path of thorough Westernization. Not only that, they also popularized steel helmets and leather shoes in recent years - helmets are for protection. As for leather shoes, given the current road conditions in Fuso, straw sandals

Or wooden shoes, wouldn't it be difficult for people to march for a long time?

But such an outfit is not surprising in the North, but it stole the show in Edo!

Now that it has been open to the outside world for three years, although leather shoes have become commonplace, they are within the reach of ordinary people;

As for steel helmets, now everyone wears the Japanese hats popularized by Jiangchuan Tanan. Why do you wear such a beautiful hat? Modern steel helmets would not appear until decades later. At this time, foreigners did not have them either, so everyone heard about it.

Unheard of.

But no one is stupid. Looking at the thick appearance, you know that it is a good thing to protect your head.

This show is a copy of the military uniforms of later generations. A single set is very eye-catching. Now when more than two hundred people appear in a group, it is even more dazzling.

Therefore, not to mention that the warriors at all levels who accompanied him were dumbfounded, even the escort general's nickname Fan, Shuyuan Fan, straightened his teeth:

"Why, if there are foreign vassals, we will definitely end up doing this when we go back."

Although they were very surprised to see it, everyone comforted each other. There are many fakes in the world, and this "silver-like wax gun head" is not impossible.

But in the subsequent drills, the White Lord's soldiers still stole the show, completely making everyone put aside their peeps:

Shooting stationary, the gun almost hits the target, which is nearly three feet (327 meters) away;

The crowd drill was also a sight to behold - there was no way, although the White Army did not fight in formation, the skirmisher line beat the scarecrow on the opposite side to pieces, which could be seen clearly with a telescope

Clearly.

As the saying goes, "Experts watch the door, laymen watch the excitement." This man, Xiang Jiamao, just watches the excitement, so he has many problems:

"Those who are facing an army all march forward in formation. Why does this ashigaru advance in a chaotic manner, and then falls down on its own after being beaten?"

For such a big event as going to Luo, the nominal head of Bai Zhu's family, Matsudaira Shigetoshi, would of course have to personally take action, and as a son-in-law like Gongfang, he could of course stay with Ie Shige.

When his father-in-law, who was the same age as himself, asked this question, he had to hold back his laughter and replied seriously:

"Times have changed, and now iron cannons can reach far and accurately, so they cannot be arrayed.

As for lying down, it’s because of the breech.”

In fact, not only Mao Min didn't understand, but also few ministers and princes around him understood it. After hearing this, they naturally seemed like

I got something - actually I still don’t really understand.

At this time, Matsudaira Yoshiho of Aizu, another protagonist who was being inspected this time, became anxious and jumped out to explain:

"Stop saying anything, then Master Bai comes up with the iron gun."

Not long after, a North Rail cannon was inspected and brought up.

Rong Bao didn't mind the trouble and explained to Jia Mao himself:

"This is a rifling pattern. It can shoot accurately and far. If you move in formation, your speed will be slow. The man will be shot before he can catch the fire."

As for lying down, look here."

Saying that, Rong Bao made a movement to pull the bolt and reload, indicating that lying down would also delay loading and shooting - tactical innovation always lags behind the progress of weapons. Now that ordnance has improved, the tactics of war will naturally change. This is Master Bai's demonstration.

What you want to express.

The reason why Rong Bao is so positive is because:

First, when the two families were training together a few days ago, he was severely shocked. He didn't sleep well for several days after returning, so now he is full of things to talk to everyone - I think this matter is going to be high-end.

, let’s all have some snacks;

Secondly, Mr. Iemo wanted to make a fool of himself in everyone's eyes, so he had to watch the drills between the two companies, but Bai Zhuyu was in front, and Aizu really couldn't afford to lose face, so no matter what, he had to say something.

So as to avoid making a fool of one's own troops.

Sure enough, after seeing the North Railway Artillery, everyone was a little less interested. Later, Nongbo requested to cancel the appearance of the Aizu soldiers, and Iemo casually agreed.

Although for safety reasons, the scale of this Tokumaruhara exercise was very small, with less than 300 people from both the Kamilakus and Aizu attending, and Aizu had not yet participated in the demonstrations, but after the hastily ended, the matter still quickly caused waves:

General Iemo, eldest brother Qingyong, and general Hou Jingxi, these three gathered together the next day, surrounding a Northland breech-loaded iron cannon, everyone frowned, and studied what to do.

I thought that after the opening of the port, even if I didn't learn all the Western skills, I would know the basics, but I didn't expect that the Westerners didn't follow common sense, and now such sharp weapons came out without any notice.

Now the top priority of the shogunate is to unite the public and military forces, and Emperor Fuso calls for fighting against the barbarians every day, so the prerequisite for the union of the public and military forces is to fight against the barbarians. But in this fight against the barbarians, will the foreigners be willing to give in obediently? It does not have to be backed by force.

They ordered Ohara Shigenori to make a trip specifically for this matter. He arrived in Edo on June 7 and left in late August. The shogunate had already promised, "The general will go to Luo in person, and then discuss with the imperial court the matter of expelling the foreigners."

But looking at this breech-loaded iron cannon, one person knows that a confrontation with force is impossible. If the fight against the invaders fails, how can the public and military merge? Could it be that when Iemo arrived in Kyoto and said, "Let's break up, there is no end to it." This matter

Even if it’s over?

No way.

Of course, as Shigetoshi Matsudaira said, the Hakodate Iron Works has already successfully imitated the foreign technology of the snuff bottle breech cannon. Not only that, but now the Yokohama Iron Works near Edo can also imitate it.

Everyone confirmed this as soon as they came back. It was indeed possible to build Yokohama. This was due to the merits of Oguri Tadjun - in the first year of Bunkyu (1861), he transferred back Takeda Feizaburo from Hakodate. After Takeda became the head of Yokohama Iron Works,

After hard work, we can indeed build this snuff bottle breech iron cannon.

But the problem is, Mao Min also said something else:

"Iron-armored ships and breech-loading rapid-fire cannons. According to Hakodate's foreign merchants, these military weapons have also become popular."

Isn't this nonsense? The more you pursue foreigners, the faster you run away. From this point of view, Fusang takes jujube pills.

The three of them looked at each other and sat there all morning.

Anyone who dared to disturb me was scolded, but I still couldn't think of any tricks.

Finally, with nowhere to vent their anger, the three of them called the headmaster of the martial arts school over and cursed him:

The duty of the Jiangwu Institute is to reform the military system and train talents. This snuff bottle has been made a long time ago, why can't it be promoted! Everyone knows about it, Lord Bai, and the Songqian family. They have equipped it early. What's the use of raising you?!

The head student didn't even dare to fart. He obediently expressed that he had failed to live up to expectations and asked for disembowelment to apologize.

But Qingyong asked him to go back and make meritorious service.

It turns out that, according to convention, the leader of the fifth division of the shogunate's standing army is the real boss of the military academy. This leader is just an executive and does not count, so his death will be of no use because the roots are not with him.

But the leaders of these five factions are all veterans and cannot be humiliated at will. However, since their old-fashioned problems have been exposed, they must be solved.

The three people's eyes flashed, and they made up their minds to reform the shogunate - everyone will fight, but they can't ruin the meal.

However, innovation can come slowly, but this wildfire still cannot be suppressed, so the three of them called the surveyors over again and scolded them:

"Oguri knows the benefits of this iron cannon in the breech of the snuff bottle, how dare you not take it to heart!

When he has not returned from an overseas mission, don’t you know how to check and fill in the gaps?”

Everyone made the decision and everyone looked at Takeuchi Yasunori with their eyes:

"We all just took office this year. Only you and Xiaoli are staying. Say something."

But Takeuchi was so experienced that he just passed by without saying a word - he said in his heart, whether it can be built or not is our business. It is up to us to determine whether it can be used or not.

Why are you trying to drag others down like this? It’s not like the higher-ups don’t know.

The turmoil in the center of the shogunate is not calm, and the princes and ministers are not calm either:

"Did you hear that?"

"I just heard about it, just tell me."

"For this Tokumaruhara exercise, the public showed up in person, but the Matsudaira family brought out a snuff bottle, causing a commotion throughout."

"What? Snuff bottle, what are you doing with this thing? You're crazy."

In short, those who know, understand that it is the turmoil caused by ordnance, and those who don’t know, he always wants to know, so the White Lord becomes famous!

Before long, there was talk in the streets and alleys of Edo, so the name of White Lord Fuso and strong soldiers spread like wildfire.

The good thing about Naoxiu and his family is that there are more smiling faces, and people no longer regard themselves as nouveau riche - Lord Bai is the nouveau riche among the nouveau riche, and it is said that thieves are rich.

But there are also disadvantages:

Due to the two battles between the White Lords in the fourth year of Ansei (1857), Naohide gained a reputation as a vanguard against the foreigners. However, because the White Lords' soldiers are now dressed in completely Western clothes, he is now said to have fallen into the position of a foreign slave -

Why, Fuso is not good at all. The Lishan Lit is the invention of your mentor Mr. Tan'an. Now you are putting the blame on your head. This is not ungrateful.

But not to mention the comments among the people, the princes and ministers were not stupid. They knew that Lord Bai had taken the lead this time and might be able to shine in the future, so they all found ways to make friends with him.

At this time, the drill was over. Shigetoshi, the head of the Matsudaira family, had already arrived in Luo. Only Naohide was still in Edo, so there was a huge crowd for a while - because everyone wanted to know how to operate this new military method.
Chapter completed!