Shimazu Saiki has been urging the Huai Navy to withdraw its troops quickly. He is worried that if the Huai Navy does not withdraw its troops, he will take over an empty Satsuma Domain.
Including the previous negotiations, the reason why the Satsuma Domain agreed so quickly was also due to this consideration. The Satsuma Domain has existed longer than the Tokugawa Shogunate.
This family, which has been passed down since the Warring States Period in Japan, has been running the area around Satsuma Bay with Kagoshima as the center.
After accumulating a lot of wealth, the common people in Japan are very poor. To use one word to describe it, they are impoverished. They are really poor and have nothing. Of course, Huai Haijun did not take action against these poor people.
The targets of Huaihai Navy's looting were the properties of the Shimazu family of the Satsuma Domain, as well as the merchants of the Shimazu family, as well as the samurai and feudal lord families under the Shimazu family. These people were equivalent to Chinese scholar-bureaucrats and landowners and squires.
Looking at the list in his subordinate's newspaper, Dong Shuheng couldn't help but sigh that it had been a long time since he had ransacked a house. He had made a lot of money this time.
The gold and silver collected from the entire Satsuma this time amounted to tens of millions of taels.
In addition, Huai Haijun also copied a large number of cultural relics and ancient books from the Shimazu family, including ancient Tang Dynasty books brought back by Japanese envoys from the Tang Dynasty.
It seems that the Japanese exhibition hall of Yangzhou Museum can be opened.
On March 25, the Huai Navy withdrew to Ibusuki Castle, which had been assigned to the Huai Navy. They made brief repairs there.
Dong Shuheng prepared to lead his army back to Naha to wait for the American Minister Mai Lian.
Just as Dong Shuheng was sorting out his itinerary, Li Cunxun came to report that the patrol team had caught two spies on the dock at Ibusuki.
Ordinary spies naturally don't need to tell Dong Shuheng, but this spy is a little special, so Li Cunxun whispered a few words in Dong Shuheng's ear.
After a while, two young women wearing Japanese samurai uniforms were brought in.
The two of them were a master and a servant, and the girl who was trembling with fear must be the maid.
And this person who is very righteous and calm should be the legendary Japanese legendary woman Atsuhime.
"Shouldn't she marry the Tokugawa family?" Dong Shuheng wondered in his heart. Later Dong Shuheng watched a Japanese TV series "Oku", which can be said to be the Japanese version of "The Legend of Zhen Huan".
Many of the plots in this TV series are nonsense. He is obviously disabled, but he has to be played by a handsome guy. Of course, the Japanese will not really film the Tokugawa family as a cerebral palsy patient. Wouldn't that be disrespectful to the Japanese people?
How could this legendary woman in front of me like a child with cerebral palsy?
"Shimazu Atsuhime meets your lord." Atsuhime bowed to Dong Shuheng with a samurai salute.
She secretly looked at the man in front of her. In fact, she was also very curious about the man in front of her. She heard that this man was the commander of Huaihai, but why was he so young and seemed to be about the same age as herself.
She had already heard that the force that had been operating in the name of the Qing Kingdom in Japan was a governor of the Qing Kingdom, who was a subordinate of the man in front of her.
Atsuki believed that the man in front of her must have a profound background, otherwise how could he be at the helm of such a huge force at such a young age.
"Get up, can you speak Chinese?" Dong Shuheng asked.
"I can speak a little bit." Duji looked up and replied humbly.
Only then did Dong Shuheng see this woman clearly. Her facial features were very delicate, and she was a beautiful woman.
Her eyes are not long and slender like those of ordinary Japanese women, but round, especially when she lowers her head and looks up at people, her eyes look even bigger and rounder.
She is of average stature, not very tall, but she is very slender, especially when she is wrapped in a large samurai uniform, she looks even thinner.
Although Shimazu Saibin's own children died in infancy, he still had a good eye for adopted daughters. Atsuhime was a woman who easily made people fall in love with her.
"Why are you pretending to be spies and spying on our fleet? You must know that if you approach our fleet without permission, the guards can shoot you directly." Dong Shuheng looked at Du Ji and said.
Atsuki hurriedly pulled her little maid Sachiko and knelt down to Dong Shuheng and said: "To be honest, sir, this little girl was worried about the safety of her father, so she ran away from Edo secretly, so she wore these clothes, please forgive me.
"
Du Ji speaks Chinese quite well and expresses her meaning clearly, but has a slight accent.
Dong Shuheng nodded slightly: "Then why don't you go back to Kagoshima? The place has been returned to the Shimazu family."
"Sir, my father has been expelled from the Shimazu family, so I can't go back." She said with tears in her eyes.
"The little girl came here just to find her father and ask for your mercy to let her take care of her father. The little girl will definitely be grateful for your kindness." This girl always looked pitiful in front of Dong Shuheng, which made Dong Shuheng
They all felt a little soft-hearted.
In fact, her request was nothing. Dong Shuheng took Shimazu Qibin away, and someone had to take care of him. Shimazu Qibin's physical condition was not very good. Instead of arranging for someone to take care of him, it would be better to let Atsushi take care of him.
alright.
"Atsushi, don't you hate me? After all, I led the people to defeat your father and put him in the current situation."
"Atsuhiro didn't dare. There is no personal grudge between the two countries. It is not wrong for you to go to war for the interests of the Qing Dynasty. It is the same for my father to go to war with you for the interests of Satsuma Domain. Atsuhime is grateful that you were magnanimous and did not kill your father after the war."
." Du Ji was very smart and cleverly answered Dong Shuheng's sharp question.
"Of course, from a humanistic point of view, I will not refuse you to go to your father's side to fulfill your filial piety. But after all, he is now a prisoner of our Huai Haijun. He must obey Huai Haijun's arrangements. If you want to go to his side, you must also
You must obey this arrangement, you must think clearly about this," Dong Shuheng said.
"Duji understands that Duji will obey the arrangements and will not cause any more trouble to you. Thank you so much, sir." Duji knelt on the ground and assured Dong Shuheng.
Du Ji wanted to come to Qi Bin, which could only be regarded as a small episode. Dong Shuheng's mind was quickly attracted by an urgent piece of information.
Malian is a diplomat with great ambitions and a pioneer hawk in the American Democratic Party.
Just last year, Democratic Franklin Pierce replaced Whig Millard Fillmore as the fourteenth president of the United States.
This political prodigy with average abilities and many bad habits was promoted to general after serving in the army for a short period of time. He had no great achievements, but he seemed to be protected by God.
Not only did he have the opportunity to rise to the top when he was young, but he was also unpopular in the presidential election. He was called another dark horse after James Knox Polk and created an absolute success that had never been seen since James Monroe.
Advantage.
President Pierce was very compromising in politics. He was sympathetic to the slaves in the South and believed that the abolition movement was too radical. Therefore, many northern states opposed him.
Historically speaking, during the four years of Pierce's reign, although no conflict broke out between the North and the South, the conflicts between the North and the South became more and more intense during his peaceful reign.
But he did a good thing. After Marsali returned to China, he submitted a "Chinese Labor Bill", which was supported by President Pierce. Congressmen controlled by factory owners in the north also supported this bill.
Why do these northerners support it? Because compared to the benefits brought by using Chinese labor, the Huaihai Navy's order makes them more coveted.
Especially the huge telegraph line laying plan. You must know that China has a larger land than the United States. If all the telegraph lines are laid, what a huge piece of cake it will be.
The Marsali family couldn't eat this piece of cake, and ceded a lot of interests to these northern families in exchange for their support. This is normal in the American political arena.
This bill is a condition given by Dong Shuheng. If it cannot be completed, then Dong Shuheng's orders will definitely be greatly reduced.
The bill aims to protect the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese workers. Its most important provision is to allow Chinese workers to freely terminate their labor contracts without restrictions on their personal freedom.
At the same time, it is stipulated that Chinese workers can obtain permanent residence in California and purchase land and mines in California, USA.
Of course, in this bill, Chinese people only enjoy these rights in California, but this is enough.
In the eyes of Americans, California, newly incorporated into the United States, is still a wild and wild land in the West, sparsely populated and in urgent need of development.
Later, this was also the reason why Lincoln was willing to give away a lot of land in the west to win people's hearts.
In the eyes of Americans, aren't these Chinese good at farming? Then sell the land to them and let them cultivate it, and the US government can also collect taxes.
So, why would a president like President Pierce send a special envoy like McLean to the East?
We must know that the trade between the West and China now accounts for a very large proportion of the entire international trade. Places like Africa can only be plundered, not suitable for trade.
China is different. There is strong trade complementarity between China and the West. Chinese products are very popular in the West. The key is that China now also imports a large number of goods from the West. Trade is like this, there must be exchanges. For example, China
The U.S. trade volume suddenly rose to about 10 million silver dollars last year.
Therefore, Western countries now attach great importance to China, and the ministers sent to China must be carefully selected.
Moreover, ministers cannot do whatever they want; they must follow domestic diplomatic strategies.
Before Mai Lian came out, the U.S. government naturally gave him instructions. This time when he went to the East, he had to preside over the signing of the contract with Japan.
In the eyes of Americans, this is a matter of course.
On the other hand, we must find ways to gain more benefits from China.
Because of Huai Haijun's large order, the United States has become more greedy towards China. How to obtain greater benefits?
Naturally, it is to allow China to continue to expand its opening up. In the view of these countries, the reason why China has so many orders now is due to the first Opium War launched by the British against China, which opened China's door.
But the U.S. government did not authorize Malian to go to war with the Chinese. The Americans were not as confident as the British, and they did not dare to rashly go to war with the Chinese.
But the problem came. After arriving in Ryukyu, he found that the world had changed. It had become the territory of the Huai Navy.
Only now did Mailian know that Ryukyu was actually a vassal state of the Qing Dynasty. He had always thought that Ryukyu was a vassal state of Japan.
At the same time, what made him even more angry was that he heard that the Chinese had already signed a treaty with Japan. In this way, his trip to Japan would be full of variables.