In the third year of Bunjiu (1863), the Battle of Shimonoseki broke out more than a year in advance. The British, Buddhist, and American allied forces defeated Choshu. Afterwards, the court changed its face, and the shogunate also began to investigate the Maori family's guilt. The Choshu Domain was in deep trouble.

We had no choice but to send Yoshida Yukata to intervene.

At the suggestion of Satsuma Domain Saigo Takanaga, he came to Shirozu in October to seek help from Naohide. But to Yoshida's surprise, Naohide didn't make anything difficult for him and agreed to help solve the problem.

Seeing this situation, Yoshida and Saigo looked at each other, and then they bowed solemnly:

"Show off your good looks, we still have a merciless request, Wan Wangwang."

"This is never over, isn't it?"

Naoxiu was furious, but since these two guys were both talented people, he had no choice but to be patient and see what could happen.

"In July of the first year of Wanyan (1860), the covenant was broken..."

It turns out that Yoshida was telling a secret story:

When the Incident outside the Sakurada Gate occurred, the shogunate leader Ii was stabbed to death. Afterwards, Fuso became very nervous. The princes all thought that the shogunate would take the opportunity to start a war, so they all took action to protect themselves.

At the same time, the anti-barbarian people of each domain also strengthened their ties. Katsura Kogoro, Matsushima Gozo and others from Choshu and Nishimaru Daito from Mito made an oath. Mito "broke it" first, and then Choshu "made it" -

- This means that the people in Mito who resisted the barbarians started making trouble first, and then the "patriots" from Choshu took over.

In terms of its nature, it was a spontaneous action, just a plan among the lower-level samurai of several vassals, and had nothing to do with the top political leaders of each vassal.

The Western powers were bullying Fuso, and there were many people who couldn't stand the shogunate's humiliation, especially the hot-blooded young samurai. At that time, if you didn't support the fight against the foreigners, you would be embarrassed to say hello to others when you went out.

As for breaking the alliance, it was an action carried out by a few "anti-foreigners".

As a result, there was no result. The Mito rebels continued to make troubles, but there was no big movement in Choshu. It seemed that the alliance was over.

Hearing this, Naohide seemed to understand what Yoshida was going to say.

As expected, Yoshida said next:

Although there was no real progress in breaking the alliance, the wildfire of Changzhou's resistance to the foreigners flourished.

Nowadays, people who are resisting the foreigners are emerging one after another. In December last year, the leader of the young generation in Choshu, Takasugi Harukaze, led twelve little brothers and burned down the British mansion under construction in Shinagawa Gotenyama.

Saigo Takayong was dumbfounded when he heard:

"At that time, the shogunate searched Edo, but no suspects were caught. It turns out that your boy did it!

We both hooked up, and you never said anything about it again."

Yoshida didn't care what Naohide and Saigo's reaction was, he just kept going anyway, he seemed to be holding back a lot.

In this world, Yoshida Yukata was not punished for stealing aboard the black ship of Miren. Instead, he was a blessing in disguise. He was protected by Egawa Tanan, Shimoda's master at the time. After being sent to the north, he was "lucky" again.

Naohide was put on the ship to England.

After studying abroad for three years from 1855 to 1858, Yoshida returned to Fuso.

Now it seems that Zhi Xiu’s bad taste has finally worked:

Now something is obviously wrong with Yoshida. When it comes to resisting the foreigners, he curls his lips, but the pioneer who originally resisted the foreigners despises using force to resist the foreigners. There is obviously a story.

Sure enough, what followed was Yoshida's endless lamentation about how stupid the students were, how stubborn the Choshu warriors were, and so on. The air was filled with an atmosphere that made Naohide happy - it's not easy to be a prophet, and you know what I mean this time

It must be painful.

But Yoshida then changed his tone and talked about his innovative ideas:

“A country can never be prosperous and strong if it supports many people doing meaningless work...

If you allow such conditions to persist and hope for the country to progress, it would be as foolish and visionary as seeing the rivers in the world running toward the ocean day and night and waiting for the ocean to dry up."

Hearing this, Naohide's eyes widened and his mouth opened wide. This is Robert Owen's point of view, Yoshida, what did you learn at Thames!

he

He turned stiffly to Xixiang, and sure enough, the fat white man kept nodding there.

Thinking just in case, Naohide asked Saigo:

"Are you familiar with Owen's ideas?"

Xixiang looked back in surprise, meaning there was no need to ask. Irving had also conducted experiments in New Harmony in Mizhou. He was such a famous person.

alright, you win.

Naohide never dreamed that sending Yoshida and Saigo overseas would have such an effect. It seems that two social changers have emerged?

But it’s not surprising if you think about it carefully. Originally, Saigo became a famous politician for people’s livelihood, and although Yoshida died early, he was also the first person to propose that rich merchants and farmers were the hope of Fuso. Now these two have opened their horizons early, so they are

There's nothing wrong with being radical.

So, Naohide finally understood. Yoshida said a lot, but in fact there was only one theme. The royal family, the shogunate, and the princes were all nonsense. To build a new Fuso, these people could not count on it. The future could only rely on the awakened people.

Saigo agreed with him. The two had hooked up in Edo as early as last year. Now they are quietly accumulating strength in their respective vassals, and are preparing for a big fight!

"Why are you telling me this? Aren't you afraid that I will expose it to your family master?"

Of course I'm not afraid.

Not to mention that both of them were sent overseas by Naohide, even if Naohide did what he did in the North, could it be done by a serious person?

There were also a group of students from Northland who studied abroad with these two people, and they have kept in touch with each other over the years, so these two caring people have seen the changes in Northland.

What outsiders see is Beidi's determination to forge ahead, but what these two people see through clues is wolfish ambition:

All the people are in arms to deal with Lucia, maybe, but those with strength have privileges. Once these iron cannons are fired, will the people and townsfolk be as obedient as in the past?

Moreover, the so-called "Tongshiqing" is not actually about eliminating status differences and achieving equal rights. Who can be fooled by this?

Both of them had eaten and seen it before, and as soon as they thought about it, they knew there might be a ghost inside.

After hearing this explanation, Zhixiu shook his head and smiled bitterly. The fish he released turned into sperm on its own. It was so terrifying!

But Naoxiu was confused, you two just met last year, how could you hook up so quickly?

Speaking of this, it's actually very simple, just like-minded people.

Last October, when Hashimoto Tsunayori, a confidant of the shogunate elder Keinaga, came back, Naohide held a reception party for him. Yoshida and Saigo were present at that time.

After getting to know each other, they were both famous foreigners, and they wanted to work together, so they had to walk around. After walking around, they were both educated people, so it was natural for them to talk to each other about knowledge.

Don't rush into this conversation. The two of them found that the other party is familiar with Western theory, which is abnormal - although Lanxue has become popular in the world since the founding of Fuso in the first year of Anzheng (1854), but you are not interested in overseas customs.

Understanding it like this is like seeing it with your own eyes. Isn't this a joke?

Both of them were suspicious, so they started to check each other out after returning.

It didn't matter after this investigation, they found that the other party had three years of experience traveling around the world, but as for where exactly he traveled, they were unclear.

This experience seemed familiar. When the two of them thought about it, could it be that the other person, like themselves, had secretly traveled abroad?

Therefore, with such doubts in mind, the two people became more closely related, and even accompanying the family leader to Luo did not delay the communication between the two parties.

In the third month of the third year of Wenjiu (1863), after Jiamao went to Luo, the royal family, ministers, shogunate, princes, and the accompanying ministers and wanderers of each family, it was a group of demons dancing wildly, and it was a chaotic atmosphere.

Matsudaira Keinaga and Shimazu Saibin saw that there was nothing they could do about it, so they retreated early. Qibin returned to his hometown and Keinaga returned to Edo, and they both ran away; and the old and cunning Mouri Qingqin also left the crown prince Sadahiro in the spotlight.

, ran back to Changzhou by himself.

I did as my master did. The master of the house left, and Yoshida and Saigo had to follow closely. But before they parted ways, at the last gathering, the two formed an alliance.

At that time, Yoshida was drunk

Crazy song:

"...

The people of the world are confused and independent, and their blood surges with passion and righteous indignation.

The rich and powerful only know their proud family status, but there are really few people among them who care about the country;

The rich and powerful only know how to boast about wealth and honor, but how can they think of others in the country!

The sage sees the decline of his country, but the fool still dances in the world.

The rise and fall of governing chaos is like a dream, and things in the world are like chess and it is difficult to make mistakes!

…”

Xixiang also drank too much, and he sang along with Yoshida:

"...

I would like to give up the tragic song of Li Sao, but be aware that irritation does not cheer you up.

There are thousands of roads in the world, but if you are willing to be a fool, there will be no obstacles."

But at the end, the two of them actually sang in unison, which surprised them all.

It turns out that although this song is widely circulated, the last sentence of the common version is "I have a three-foot sword in my hand, and I am using my blood to kill the fool." Only a few people know that the original version should be "I am willing to be a fool without any setbacks."

.

It was difficult for students from the Northland to study abroad at that time. They were either severely discriminated against or were very frustrated when they saw the gap was too big. In order to motivate these students, Naohide copied "Song of the Showa Restoration" to encourage them, but Naohide felt that the original work ended in

One sentence was too extreme, so he changed it.

But later on, I don’t know which one accidentally spread, and now it is popular in Fusang. Because it is impassioned and particularly suitable for the current situation where Fusang is being oppressed by foreign enemies, today’s anti-barbarian patriots especially like to sing it.
To be continued...