Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 875

"General manager, this time things went wrong, please punish me!" In the only three-story building in Kushiro Port, Chen Shuo, the general manager of Dongan Japan Company, was quite nervous when facing several Japanese ronin who were kneeling in front of him. Feel a little helpless.

These middle-aged men with weathered faces are the leaders of a group of ronin recruited by the Japanese company. They are all recruited by the people from the east coast through some accidental channels, not the kind of Japanese who were introduced by Matsumae. Wild samurai or ronin—because those who come to the East Coast people in this way will inevitably have spies sent by the Matsumae family and even the Date family.

But these people are different. They are recruited by the people from the east coast themselves, and they are relatively reliable.In addition, these people are all unsatisfied people who have experienced hardships in society and have little affection for the shogunate itself. Therefore, they can do some "shameful" things for the people on the east coast that others cannot do, such as going to the shogunate. Kidnapping of shogunate officials or local daimyos in mainland Japan.

Speaking of what they did this time, it can be regarded as a rock-shattering event.You must have never imagined that Wei Boqiu, the deputy captain of the Blackwater Pioneering Team and the deputy commander of the Gendarmerie, would secretly use his student Chen Shuo (the general manager of the East Coast Japan Company, who actually presides over the development of Ezodi and has more contacts with the Japanese) to launch the project. A jaw-dropping operation - under the private instruction of Wei Boqiu, Chen Shuo, who is in charge of the business of the Japanese company on the East Coast, contacted a group of privately recruited ronin (many of them have a bitter hatred for the shogunate), and asked them to go to Kii Fan in Japan to kidnap The feudal lord Tokugawa Yoshinobu, the funds and equipment required for this operation were secretly paid by Japanese companies.In addition, in order to ensure the smooth operation, Chen Shuo also used the name of the Japanese company to dispatch a ship rented by the company. In the name of expedition, it actually loaded dozens of fully armed ronin and went to Wakayama to kidnap Tokugawa Lai. announced.

From the perspective of people who don't know the inside story, this matter is really puzzling and nonsensical.Who is Tokugawa Yoshinobu?Uncle of the current general of the Tokugawa Shogunate in Japan, he is highly respected and has a great reputation!Without telling Shao Shude, Wei Boqiu privately instructed his student organization to kidnap this gentleman, why did he come here?Do they have a grudge?Obviously not!

The reason why Wei Boqiu took great risks and did such "miraculous things" actually had deep-seated considerations.First of all, the kidnapping of Tokugawa Yoshinobu, a well-respected daimyo, was not intended to bring him to the east bank control area, but to take advantage of an attempted attack against the shogun in Edo this year in history. During the coup, under the guise of Tokugawa Yoshinobu, he created as much chaos as possible in Edo Castle.

The coup d'etat missed success due to various accidents. The main planner of the coup, Hiromasa Yuki, was forced to commit suicide. Unfortunately, Marubashi Tadaya, who was arrested and leaked secrets, was killed by the shogunate.Especially the former Mr. Yubi, who once rejected the high salary offered by the shogunate, and unswervingly practiced the ambition of overthrowing the shogunate. At most, there were thousands of students under his command, which can be described as unanimous response.If the coup d'état is successful, the shogun may be killed, and the situation in Edo Castle will also undergo drastic changes.

After that, there will be fierce battles between the army loyal to the shogunate (mostly stationed outside the city) and the ronin under Yubi. Voluntary or not voluntary - will definitely bring greater chaos to Edo Castle.This is almost certain, because do you think that the retainers under Lai Xuan's command didn't want their patriarch to go further when they saw the shogun's head fell to the ground and Edo was in chaos?

Even, with the help of some caring people, spreading this chaos to other regions is likely to create a big chaos that affects multiple regions.Don't think this is alarmist talk. In today's Japan, unemployed samurai has almost become a serious social problem. These people are capable, armed, and organized, but they lack the current situation. If the domestic situation in Japan is in turmoil, there will be people They came forward to instigate these samurai ronin and other uprisings, which eventually led to nationwide turmoil.In this way, opportunities have been created for many people-of course, including Japanese companies on the east coast that are rooted in Ezo.

As Wei Boqiu's student, Chen Shuo naturally knew some of his teacher's plans.For example, his teacher has been trying to make friends with some upper-middle-class samurai or retainers of the Matsumae Domain over the years, and he did not hesitate to spend a lot of money for this.And his ultimate goal of doing all this is really shocking to say, that is to adopt a son born to his newly married concubine in Shandong to the Matsumae family, and finally achieve the goal of controlling the Matsumae clan.

Chen Shuo has always been a little helpless about his teacher's "grand idea". He privately feels that this plan has no possibility of success.But since his teacher wants to carry out this plan as if possessed by a demon, as a student he has taught for many years, he can only hold his nose and do it.What?You said there are other heirs to the Matsumae family?It doesn't matter, let them become monks.What?You also said that the shogunate will not recognize the heir of the Matsumae family?Uh, this requires the Matsumae family to perform well. In short, it depends on people.Moreover, Chen Shuo has always suspected that the relationship between the Matsumae family and the Tokugawa family is somewhat devious. His teacher would not want his son to become a shogun in the end, would he?Of course, this idea was too absurd, Chen Shuo wisely did not think about it.

However, the current situation is really like Chen Shuo's own imagination - basically there is no possibility of any success.No, the gang of ronin who secretly sent to Kii Fan to kidnap Tokugawa Yoshinobu have returned home in defeat!They mobilized some old relationships in Ji Yifan (all of them are acquainted wanderers), and found out that the feudal lord wanted to go to a certain place on a certain day, so they set up an ambush in advance, planning to rob Lai Xuan and hide him halfway - anyway, according to It is common for the feudal lord to not see anyone for ten days and a half months due to the urinating nature of the Japanese, so it is not worth making a fuss about.

It's just that their luck was really bad. Tokugawa Yoshinobu, who usually had only a few followers, was accompanied by a large group of attendants that time. As a result, he beat up the group of ronin who suddenly rose up and ran away, killing more than ten people. , and finally retreated to the beach in embarrassment and boarded a boat to escape.As for the plan, it was naturally miscarried. After Tokugawa Laixuan suffered a catastrophe, there must be many guards around him when he goes out next time. It is almost impossible to kidnap him again.

"Forget it. It's not a crime of war. Lai Xuan's servants are like a cloud. It's normal that you can't succeed. However, you didn't find out the increase or decrease in the number of guards around Lai Xuan in time. When the plan failed, you didn't notice it. The crime must be punished. How about this, one person will be fined for half a year, and after you go back, you immediately pack up your things, bring your family, and prepare to board the ship and return to the east coast. You can’t stay here any longer.” Chen Shuo waved his hand lazily and said .

Now that the plan has failed, it is time to think about the consequences, that is, whether the conspiracy they have carried out has been brought to light, and what consequences will it have.Chen Shuo was a little uncertain about this. The ships of the people on the east coast were flying the Dutch flag, and the ships were also the most common Dutch flute-shaped ships on the seas of East Asia.And the rogues who went to battle were all tight-lipped people, so they shouldn't take the initiative to reveal their details, plus no one was captured alive by the enemy, then things would be much easier—even if the Japanese suspect based on some clues If the people from the east bank come up with it, then the people from the east coast will refuse to admit it to the death. Anyway, they have no evidence.

"Huh..." After the group of ronin Nuonuo retreated, Chen Shuo let out a long breath and began to think about his next plan.Today, the East Coast Japanese Company has basically gained a firm foothold in the Kushiro Port area, with thousands of resident population (mostly from Qingzhou Prefecture, Shandong Province), coal mines have also entered a state of steady production, and farmland on the outskirts of the city has also grown to a certain extent. The scale (although the output is uneven, but more or less output), these all mean that the company's career is starting to flourish.

What needs to be done now should be to continue to attract investment, and then continue to transport more Ming people from the mainland to Ezoji Island. Next, the expansion of the wharf, the construction of water conservancy, the planning of the pasture, the development of the fishery, and the construction material factory The construction of each of them requires a huge amount of funds and personnel.Chen Shuo is confident that with sufficient funds, as long as he is given five to ten years, he will be able to establish a number of settlement towns in the eastern part of Ezodi, and further increase the company's profitability—at worst, he It is also possible to establish a county with Kushiro Port as the core, so that Japanese companies can maintain no loss.

Now the only factor that can prevent Chen Shuo from realizing his plan is probably the reaction of the Japanese.

"It would be great if these rogues succeeded this time." Thinking of this, Chen Shuo sighed softly again: "The teacher gave me the secret report that Yubi Zhengxue is going to launch a coup this year, but after all the troubles, I'm afraid not only Ji Yifan was shocked, and even the shogun was going to be furious. In the next period of time, the huge group of wanderers who gathered in Edo, Kyoto, and Osaka might be in bad luck, and the shogun will probably clean them up A pause. I just don’t know if old Mr. Yubi Zhengxue still has the courage to launch a coup aimed at overthrowing the shogunate in this unfavorable situation, it should be unlikely..."

"Forget it, it's useless to think about it. If the shogunate really turns its anger on us and then instigates Matsumae Fan to cause trouble for us, then we'll just keep going. Could it be that we're afraid of them? At worst, we won't do the copper coin business! Anyway, the copper coin trade Including other fragmented businesses, the annual profit is only more than 20 yuan, and it is still the government's business, so it has nothing to do with us!" Chen Shuo dispelled the negative emotions in his mind, then sat down at the desk, and planned The construction of the building materials factory's brick and tile wheel kiln is much more important to him than making wind and rain in Japan. It is related to the construction of Kushiro Port in the next few years, so it can't be sloppy.

(End of this chapter)