Xiao Letian has a musketry team under him, and they carry strange muskets that no one recognizes, which can shoot projectiles like hailstones in an instant. This horrific news spread rapidly in Naha Port like it had wings.
When Rigen Kayama learned the news, he was shocked and couldn't say anything for a quarter of an hour. This famous general of the Shimazu family, who had been stationed in Ryukyu all year round, had collected the rich Western knowledge in his mind, and he had never thought of such a thing. What kind of gun is a musket?
"Dead Ice Three? Rapid Fire Spear? What is this..." Although the Huashan family elder looked confused, one thing he knew very well was that this weapon must be very, very terrifying.
Completely different from the panic of Rigen Kayama is the King of Ryukyu Shōtai in Shuri Castle. The King of Ryukyu is still a young man in his twenties, at the age when his heart is full of passion and blood. In his heart, he is full of He expressed his yearning for mainland civilization and his hatred for the Shimadzu family. Please come to more and faster chapters. After more than two hundred years of oppression by the Shimazu family, the Shang dynasty can no longer even afford a decent navy. How ridiculous this is. It is really a black humor that overseas island countries cannot afford a navy.
Shang Tai wanted to resist, but after all, he had been educated by kings since he was a child. He also knew the horror of the Shimazu family's rule over the past two hundred years. Although they did not dare to touch the Shang family royal family, they would kill any pro-China minister who was exposed. So far, almost no minister in the imperial court dares to declare that he is a pro-China faction.
Two hundred and fifty years of oppression have made the Ryukyu royal family deeply fearful of the Shimazu family. More than once, they hoped that the regime on the opposite continent would come to their aid, but all their expectations were in vain in the end.
Historically, after the Shimadzu family invaded Ryukyu in 1609, the then Emperor Wanli ordered the Zhejiang area to dispatch troops to rescue Ryukyu. However, a terrifying typhoon disrupted the rescue, and then the mainland discovered that the Shimadzu family did not After destroying the Ryukyu ancestral temple, the Ryukyu Kingdom still existed in a legal sense. This made the Central Empire look much better, so the expedition came to nothing. Update as soon as possible
That was the only unsuccessful rescue attempt by the mainland civilization, and it was also the last hope of the Ryukyu Kingdom. From then on, the Shang Dynasty never waited for good news from the Central Plains civilization. For the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the Ryukyu Kingdom came to worship. Losing face is more important than who actually controls the islands.
It all happened until 1865, the fourth year of Tongzhi, when a Qing man in his thirties approached King Shangtai in the name of offering a treasure. Good news that had been waiting for two hundred years fell on the head of Ryukyu King Shangtai out of thin air. Please come to more and faster chapters.
Shang Tai still remembers that when he heard the Chinese man's whispered words, the precious Song Bai porcelain cup in his hand fell to the ground and shattered.
"In the Qing Dynasty, Mr. Xiao Letian, the master of Western learning, will visit Ryukyu soon. A small army will land with him. I hope your majesty can seize this golden opportunity..."
King Shangtai's ecstasy after hearing the news cannot be described in words. Although he is just a puppet of the Shimadzu family, their yearning for the civilization of the Central Plains comes from the bottom of their hearts. He often speaks in the Lifan Yuan in Beijing. The envoys stationed in Ryukyu are required to send all information about what happened on the mainland back to the country at any time. The "Westward Journey", which is currently being serialized, has become an indispensable classic on his desk. Please come to more and faster chapters.
Now that his idol, Mr. Xiao, the great master of Western learning, is actually coming to Ryukyu, and he is coming here with a small army, how could King Shangtai not be ecstatic.
The bigger surprise was yet to come. When Shi Dakai revealed that Xiao Letian wanted to serve as an official in the Ryukyu Kingdom, Shang Tai broke another Qianlong pastel plate in ecstasy, and the faces of the surrounding servants turned pale with distress.
In Xiao Letian's plan, Ryukyu is the most important part of him. As long as the King of Ryukyu gives him a high enough status, Xiao Letian will become Cao Cao in the Ryukyu court as quickly as possible. Xiao Letian wants to establish a trade transit port in Ryukyu. He wants to use the strength of Ryukyu Han and indigenous people to train the navy, and he also wants to have a Marine Corps of his own.
Xiao Letian never thought about rebelling and becoming emperor, nor did he think about establishing a democratic republic and becoming president or head of state. From the beginning to the end, Xiao Letian did not want to provoke a civil war on the land of China. He did not want his hands to be stained with the blood of innocent people. blood.
However, Xiao Letian's kindness is not pedantic. His kindness to the entire nation does not mean that he will be kind to his enemies. If someone dares to offend him, he will not mind killing him and then digging up his ancestral grave. From this point of view, a strong military force is essential.
Shi Dakai was a little hesitant at first. In his mind, Xiao Letian's plan was already very treacherous. Even if the King of Ryukyu was a fool, he would not agree to it. However, when King Yi saw with his own eyes how miserable the King of Ryukyu was being squeezed by the Shimazu family of Japan, , he finally figured it out. For King Shang Tai, being able to squeeze Xiao Letian was already a matter of great honor.
Japanese unofficial history records that during the downfall movement before the Meiji Restoration, the Shimadzu family actually had a currency reserve of 2.5 million taels. At that time, they were already the richest daimyo after the Tokugawa family, and the Shimadzu family was the first in Japan. The famous imitator of ironclad ships, Satsuma Domain has been at the forefront of Japan's modern industrialization.
All of this requires money, and where does the money come from? The two hundred years of oppression of Ryukyu and smuggling under the Tokugawa Shogunate's sea ban are the heritage of the Shimadzu family.
Under the secret control of the Shimazu family, the Ryukyu King's annual prospecting trade is actually filled with the Shimadzu's goods, and two-thirds of the local tax revenue of the Ryukyu Kingdom is also taken away. The entire Shang royal family can say They were clinging to their golden rice bowls and begging for food, and it even came to the point where the royal family secretly borrowed money from the Shimadzu family to live off their lives.
Now, Xiao Letian has given King Shang Tai a hope to let the civilized and sensible Chinese people on the mainland save Ryukyu. This is already the collective dream of the Ryukyu people.
Seeing the huge cloud of gunpowder smoke rising from the Japanese-inhabited area, King Shangtai burst into tears with excitement, "There is hope for ZTE, there is hope for Ryukyu Kingdom's ZTE..."
At this time, Xiao Letian can guess that his every move will definitely be watched by the Japanese and the Ryukyu royal family, but he has no time to ponder the thoughts of the old monk Tai Wang of the Huashan family now. His secret conversation with Mike has reached a critical moment. .
"Mike, can you really buy the design drawings of the Spencer rifle? Can you really get the production authorization?" Xiao Letian now excitedly grabbed Mike's hand and shook it up and down desperately.
"Oh, Mr. Xiao, please stop torturing my wrist. Although the Spencer rifle has excellent performance, the company's performance in the United States has not been good. It is almost on the verge of bankruptcy. What's the point of spending money to buy it? What about the difficult ones?”
Thirty Spencer rifles were completely a gift from Goddess of Luck to Xiao Letian. First update: The moment he stepped onto the dock this morning, Mike said goodbye to Xiao Letian for the time being, and Manaba went to contact businessmen in his own country. He wanted to give Xiao Letian a gift, and when he saw the primitive musket carried by Xiao Letian's men, he had already decided.
At this time, in Tanggu Port, a clipper ship named Enterprise was undergoing repairs. This was the merchant ship that Mike took to Naha from the United States. The captain of the Enterprise has a very good personal relationship with the Mike family, so Mike knows that there is a batch of smuggled prohibited weapons in the bottom cargo hold of the Enterprise.
A Spencer rifle sells for about US$40 in the United States, so the average cost of a Spencer rifle is 16 taels.
Originally, the captain of the Enterprise wanted to secretly smuggle it to the remnants of Heaven and the Nian Army. If a foreign gun like this was not sold for 200 taels, it would be considered a loss. However, under Mike's persuasion, Xiao Letian actually got all forty Spencers at the 'friendly price' of 160 taels.
Six thousand four hundred taels was just the price of a foreign gun, and the remaining bullets cost Xiao Letian another six hundred taels of silver. Originally, the captain had to pay seven thousand five hundred taels for life and death. Thanks to Xiao Letian's counter-offer, he ordered two more taels from him. Hundreds of Spencers blocked his mouth, and finally the deal was made for seven thousand taels.
Xiao Letian stroked the famous gun from the American Civil War and sighed in his heart, "Technology is the primary productive force, and technology is the largest gold mine. The cost of sixteen taels can be sold across the Pacific Ocean for ten times the price, but no If you still can’t buy it, why don’t you have the ability to do so in Qing Dynasty..."
Unexpectedly, when Xiao Letian and the others returned to their dormitory with muskets on their backs, they unexpectedly discovered a conflict in the casino. Please come to more and faster chapters. The scheming Xiao Letian caught on to his plan in the blink of an eye and led the Musketeers to fight the injustice.
This volley of muskets was not just an injustice on the road, but also had a more important purpose in Xiao Letian's mind. Naha Port was not big to begin with, and a volley of thirty muskets would definitely shock the whole territory. In this way, it would be a huge shock to the Japanese. After all, Japan is now more backward than the Qing Dynasty, and the arrogant character after the Sino-Japanese War of 1898-1896 has not yet been developed.
The other thing is to cheer up Ryukyu King Shang Tai. Xiao Letian knows that after more than two hundred years of suppression, the Shimadzu family's control over the Ryukyu regime has been as tight as iron. Almost all the court members are pro-Japanese, even if there are a few The pro-China faction was also carefully hidden, and they would not surface unless absolutely necessary.
Spencer's gunshot was the stirring stick that agitated people's hearts. The situation in Ryukyu, which was originally divided into mud and sand, was stirred up by Xiao Letian like this. All the stench rose again, and the petty calculations in the hearts of all the forces began again. , especially those on the wall, began to conspire together one by one, and made their own analysis of the future situation.
Xiao Letian is a person who is very good at profiting from chaos, but this kind of chaos is not a reckless act after a hot head, but an orderly chaos after careful analysis.
Why did Xiao Letian dare to be so arrogant in Naha? Is he really not afraid of the Japanese? In fact, he was also worried. After all, the Japanese were too powerful in Naha. If the three or four thousand armed forces really tried their best, he would have no chance of winning even if he gave Xiao Letian a few cannons.
But Xiao Letian was convinced that the Shimadzu family did not dare to take action. Now was the critical moment of Japan's overthrow movement. Starting from this year, the actions of respecting the king and resisting the barbarians began to gradually become violent, and the forces opposing the shogunate became stronger and stronger. And just next year, the Satsuma Domain and the Choshu Domain will form a military alliance.
It was not until the year after that, in 1867, that the young Emperor Meiji officially ascended the throne, and a great era was about to begin.
"Shimadzu, Shimazu, now is the critical moment for the Huoshangfang. Are you really willing to turn against the Qing Dynasty for the sake of Ryukyu? For Xiao Letian, I have to draw strength from the overthrow movement to deal with it. Me? Haha, I want to see how you Japanese will respond to my moves..."
