In early March of the fourth year of Tianzhi (the twenty-fifth year of Qianlong's reign), after the Yi army repelled the Satsuma clan's troops stationed in Ryukyu, they stopped pursuing the fugitives who had fled back to the Japanese islands.
In the following time, the overall performance of the Yijun was very restrained. Except for capturing or sinking the few Japanese warships that could be seen near the Satsuma domain, there was no landing on the island. thing. Even the merchant ships traveling to and from Japan were allowed to pass after inspection.
Of course, the Yi Army was not completely idle. During these times, they basically continued to transport various military strategic materials to the newly acquired Amami Island to build a military base.
At the same time, Japan has not been idle.
While the Yi army was building a military base, they were also constantly preparing for war. At the same time, the Edo shogunate also sent envoys to Guangzhou in the name of the Emperor of Japan to deliver questioning credentials.
The calm before the storm is soothing and even gives the illusion that things are settled.
The happiest among them should be Ryukyu King Shangmu and others.
The Yi army drove away the Satsuma clan defenders who stayed on the main island of Ryukyu. It can be said that they took the sword of Satsuma clan from the head of the Ryukyu royal family. Moreover, the Yi Dynasty kept its promise and did not continue to garrison the main island of Ryukyu to control Ryukyu. It did not send officials to dictate to the Ryukyu royal family and handed back all the powers belonging to Ryukyu sovereignty to Ryukyu.
Even the five islands in the north that Ryukyu had not expected to lose were returned to Ryukyu after the Yi Dynasty took them back one by one, and the two islands close to Ryukyu were also returned to Ryukyu.
Yichao fulfilled his promise and only collected the three northernmost islands of Ryukyu close to Japan to build military bases to help Ryukyu defend against Japan's continued invasion.
Soon, this matter spread widely in Ryukyu.
Nowadays, the people of Ryukyu are extremely grateful for Yi Chao's selfless performance, and their sincere love for Zhang Rui can be described as "devoted".
Especially after the people of Ryukyu learned that the Yijun was going to build a military base on Amami Island, they all unconditionally requested help in the construction.
There is no way. For more than a hundred years since the Satsuma clan puppet Ryukyu, the people of Ryukyu have been humiliated by the Japanese and lived in dire straits. Now that the Central Plains dynasty is finally willing to support them, they naturally do not want to return. The days of Satsuma Domain rule.
With the full support of all Ryukyu people, the military base work in the Amami Islands was very smooth.
Of course, the Ryukyu people who participated in the construction of military bases have also seen what it means to be tyrannical from a big country.
Not to mention wages, even the white rice and steamed buns that only the Ryukyu royal family can afford every day can be eaten here. Although the meat is mainly seafood, it is carefully cooked with oil and fine salt. Next, the pleasure brought by the taste buds on the tip of their tongues made them feel for the first time that life could be so wonderful.
This also gave many Ryukyu people who participated in the construction of military bases ideas about how to join the Yijun Army.
The fourth year of natural selection (the twenty-fifth year of Qianlong's reign), March 15th
The Qingming Festival has passed, the sky is clear, and the weather in Guangzhou has gradually started to get warmer.
This time, Japan dispatched a delegation of hundreds of people to the sea from Edo waters and sailed southward for more than half a month. Finally, they arrived safely near the newly built port in Guangzhou without any danger.
As the mission fleet continued to approach, groups of large pulley loading and unloading mechanical arms that could be seen from a distance began to come into view.
Looking at the tall mechanical crane and the large port designed with modern concepts and a broad view, this group of Japanese mission members with an average height of less than 1.5 meters was immediately intimidated. The members of the Japanese mission who originally held the view that they were nobles felt so ashamed just in front of this dock.
After leaving the passenger terminal, after a series of inspections and tests, the Japanese mission was finally received by relevant diplomats from the Yichao Ministry of Rites.
The missions of the Japanese shogunate are generally handled by the high family (official position), and the person who served as the mission this time was Shinagawa Nobukata of the Imagawa family of the Seiwa Genji family.
However, these are only superficial phenomena of the mission.
Although Shinagawa Nobukata was also a noble, it was within the normal scope of his duties to perform envoy work in terms of etiquette and law.
However, due to the decline of his family, his salary that should have been fifteen hundred koku was directly reduced to three hundred koku by the shogunate. Generally, people who serve in the Gao family have little strength, and the salary from the shogunate is the main income of the Gao family. Therefore, Shinagawa Nobukata's economic situation is not much better than that of ordinary small landowners.
All in all, it is poverty.
As the saying goes since ancient times: People are poor and have short ambitions.
In order to prevent Shinagawa Nobukata from doing anything that would disgrace the Japanese shogunate when he was on an envoy, he also wanted to find out the true and false status of the Egi Dynasty. The shogunate actually directly sent Lao Naka Matsudaira Takemoto as the real envoy this time, but after considering many factors, it was still in the name of Shinagawa Nobukata.
Takemotosaku Matsudaira is a daimyo of one generation and a senior member of the shogunate (equivalent to the existence of the cabinet). He can put down all the work in hand and go on a mission. It can also be seen that the Japanese shogunate has no imagination for this mission. Perfunctory.
After leaving the pier, under the guidance of the Yichao diplomats, dozens of people from the Japanese mission boarded the newly opened steam train carriage to and from Guangzhou's New Imperial City line.
Thanks to the emergence and use of rubber, the research and development of steam engines in Yi Dynasty has achieved rapid development. Even if there are still unresolved problems of core components that are not particularly wear-resistant, these can be slowly made up for through quantity and technology upgrades.
All in all, even if this railway is still just one, and even if its speed is only about 30 kilometers per hour, the volume of logistics and passenger traffic it carries is a sign that the transportation convenience of Yichao has been greatly improved. improvement.
Of course, Zhang Rui, who knows the future, also understands that steam engines can only be a transition, and internal combustion engines will be the mainstream in the future.
However, there are no large oil fields in the area controlled by the Yi Dynasty. In addition, there are technical problems in oil extraction and refining, so the internal combustion engine can only be carried out in secret as an internal research project of the royal military.
If the Japanese mission was initially disdainful when they set out, then later they were surprised and respected when they faced many naval warships. Now, when facing this walking steel behemoth, the shock in their hearts has still climbed to an incomparable level. Shock.
Among them, the one who had the biggest emotional change was Matsudaira Takemoto, a senior shogunate with "excellent insight".
"It seems that the fortune of the world will return to the Han Dynasty in the Central Plains again. Japan may have made a wrong choice by choosing to be its enemy." At this moment, Takemoto Matsudaira, who was sitting in the train car and looking out at the scenery, thought to himself With.
