Chapter 26 Four, mess up raw wheat

When Sakamoto Ryoma arrived in Edo, a major event that shocked the world happened.All the people of Edo are legends about it. "Lord Satsuma has done a great job." Even the businessman said happily. "It's starting to fight against barbarians." Someone said so. "As expected of the Shimadzu family, the hero of the Western Kingdom." Said the samurai. Since the Warring States period, Satsuma's martial arts has become the world's best judge. Ryoma's master mountain content hall also used "Soldier Ma Teng" to evaluate the style of Satsuma.The occurrence of the incident aroused the enthusiasm of the anti-barbarian patriots all over the world, and also greatly increased the influence of the Satsuma clan at the end of the Tokugawa period.

Ryoma is considered an anti-barbarian at any rate, or he thinks the same as most people, even worse.He was originally a swordsman, so after hearing about this, he was very excited and began to ask: "Can someone tell me the details?" He didn't know the Satsuma clan.Although later he had close contacts with the Satsuma feudal clans such as Saigo Takamori, but at this time, there was no relationship between them. On the day of the storm, Hachiro Qinghe sent someone to look for Ryoma.It was for this reason that Ryoma left the martial arts hall immediately after the storm. Qinghe is a know-it-all, he must know the details.Moreover, he is good at eloquence, and he will definitely be able to explain the ins and outs of things.With this expectation in mind, Longma was invited to meet Qinghe.

The place where the two met was at a pawn shop in Nanden Macho 2-chome.After Long Ma asked, he found out that he and Qinghe were from the same village, and they always called Qinghe "Young Master" and secretly helped Qinghe a lot.Qinghe is now a wanted criminal by the shogunate, and he can only rely on these people who secretly protect him to hide in Tibet. When Longma arrived there, Qinghe sat in a side room. "Sorry for calling you out." His eyes were still sharp. "I happened to be nearby, so I wanted to meet you. What do you think about the raw wheat?" "Idea?" Ryoma sat down and said, "I don't know any ideas. I came here to hear you tell me."

"You're still so dull." "Yeah, I really want to have your natural beauty, who is born with a smooth ear and always well-informed." "No, no, it's just right for you. I'm so well-informed, so I always do things faster than others. Every time I look back, I always find no one behind me. It's like this every time." "Tell me about it." Long Ma said and pulled Qinghe's wine gourd over. "Hey, that's..." Qinghe pointed to the wine gourd that Longma was holding in his arms, and said, "That's my wine." "Oh." Ryoma lay down and began to pour wine into the bowl.

this kid.Qinghe gritted his teeth, but turned his head and ignored him. He just put his fan on his knees and said, "Speaking of which..." "It's really like a storyteller." Ryoma said seriously. "Bastard." Qing He cursed and started talking. The place where the incident happened was Raw Barley Village on the Tokaido.It is forty-eight miles away from Edo Nihonbashi.The place is poor, and women in the nearby fishing villages cook some clams, octopus or squid to sell to passers-by to earn a living.Because of the incident, this place name will remain in Japanese history forever.

However, it is said that on August 21st of the second year of Bunjiu, Shimadzu Hisamitsu and his party from the Satsuma domain set off from Edo early in the morning, and it was about time to pass Shengmai.There are more than 700 people in the entourage, and 80 long suitcases are consigned by 60 horses.There were also cannons covered with straw mats and disguised as cargo.If such a thing happened when the shogunate was powerful, the Shimadzu family would surely be wiped out.But at this time, the Shimadzu family no longer took the shogunate seriously. There are two leaders of the entourage, both of whom are strong-blooded and sturdy men appreciated by Jiuguang.One is called Kaieda Takeji, and the other is called Narahara Kizaemon, the brother of Kihachiro, the suppressor of the Teradaya incident mentioned earlier.Both of them were known as radical anti-barbarians in Satsuma.

The leader of the team rotates every day, and Kizaemon Narahara is on duty that day.He was originally a master of swordsmanship, and he wore a two-foot-five-inch Omi Oak Fujiwara Tadahiro around his waist, and he followed Jiuguang's sedan chair on foot. The sky is cloudless, and this day is what foreigners call the Sabbath.Of course, these Satsuma vassals did not know what the Sabbath was, but there was a group of people who lived in Yokohama in front of them, and they were the "barbarians" in the mouth of the anti-barbarians.They have the habit of going for a walk in the countryside on Sundays.

An Englishman Marshall who opened a silk shop in Yokohama, because he married his cousin Poloder, a British businessman in Hong Kong, came to play, so he suggested: "Let's go to see Master Kawasaki on horseback." The two invited a A trading company employee named Clark and another Richardson who opened a shop in Hong Kong traveled together. Tragedy is due to delusion. Richardson was a foreign trader of the British Empire, which ruled the world at this time. He had contacted some Chinese in Hong Kong and believed that the Orientals were weak and deceptive. As long as they picked up a whip, they would scare them away.They had just arrived in Yokohama, and of course they thought the Japanese were the same.

Not long after they went out, they bumped into Satsuma's daimyo team that was coming across.If they knew a little Japanese common sense, it might be possible to avoid the tragedy.An American named Freed encountered this team a few hours earlier than they did.Fried, who knew a little bit of Japanese, immediately dismounted, led the horse and stood by the side of the road, and took off his hat when Shimadzu Hisamitsu's sedan chair passed by.Later, when he heard about the raw wheat incident, he said: "They don't understand Japanese customs, and their words and deeds are arrogant. The tragedy can only be blamed on themselves."

According to the law of Japan at this time, crossing in front of the daimyo's team is treasonous, and can be killed according to the law. The Satsuma domain wrote in an official document submitted to the shogunate on June 23: "Recently, there have been foreigners riding horses and rampaging, committing crimes. Although we try our best to endure, it may be unbearable. Please inform the chiefs of the domains and act according to our domain laws. " Those who should pay attention to this passage should be those foreigners.Even if foreigners at this time do not understand Japanese customs, they should have a sense of fear of Japanese samurai.Arnest Sutter, a staff member of the British Legation who served as a translator, wrote in his notes: "Japanese swords are as sharp as razors and can cause great harm to people. Not only that, but they also have a habit , is to dismember the corpse after a murder, so as not to breathe. Therefore, when Westerners see a man with two knives at his waist, they will think it is an assassin. After they pass by, if they find that they are still alive, they will express to God grateful."

The four unfortunate Englishmen didn't take these things seriously, and they still rode their horses talking and laughing all the way eastward.Seeing the oncoming daimyo team, they did not slow down, let alone intend to dismount. The roads in this area are narrow, and at most only two horses are allowed to walk side by side, so collisions between the two sides are inevitable. The samurai shouted angrily: "Get off your horse!" But the British still did not get off their horses, but continued to ride forward from the left side of the team, which eventually led to a mixture of men and horses, and Richardson and others were mixed into Satsuma's team. "Get off the horse! Get off the horse!" The Satsuma warrior continued to roar.If this continues, the British horse is likely to crash into the sedan chair of Shimadzu Hisamitsu in the middle of the team. "Why the noise?" the leader of the sedan chair, Narahara Kizaemon, asked left and right. "There are barbarians breaking into the team in front." A subordinate replied. Without any explanation, Narahara rolled up his shoulder jacket, drew his long sword, and ran to the front of the team. Another theory is that Shimadzu Hisamitsu opened the car curtain, ordered "kill", and then retracted. Anyway, Narahara ran out.As soon as he reached the front, he grabbed the two-foot-five-inch Fujiwara Tadahiro, shouted "Ka--", and jumped up.This is the unique cry of Satsuma's manifestation, which is called "ape cry" by other genres, and it is creepy to hear. I saw the white blade flashing in the air, and the knife slashed from the left arm of Richardson on the horse to the abdomen, and the blood spattered could be seen from a distance.Richardson switched the reins to his right hand, covered his wound with his left hand, and rode away hastily. The other two men were also cut and wounded by other vassals, only Mrs. Porodel was not injured.Several foreigners kicked the horse's belly each, and quickly escaped. Richardson, who was cut by Narahara, was the most unfortunate.After he escaped a street bleeding all the way, Rikyu Kukimura of the Iron Cannon Team chased him up, jumped up and slashed at the same place where Narahara had slashed.Richardson, who was clutching his wound, had his left hand cut off and the wound on his stomach deepened.But even so, he escaped ten streets before landing under a row of pine trees.He was still breathing at this point.Kaieda Takeji, who was chasing him, yelled, "I, the samurai, can't bear to see you suffer," and ended his life with a single blow. The Japanese believe that this brutal treatment is the most just way, which is the national condition.But for the British, it was a huge disaster. This incident eventually led to the British-Saxon War, but Ryoma, who was listening to Kiyokawa's story in the side room of Nanchuan Macho's pawn shop at this time, did not predict this. "Good kill!" He exclaimed like a fool. A few days passed, Chiba Shigetaro who went to Pinhai for inspection still did not come back. "What's the matter? Although the inspection is ordered by the feudal clan, it's not so late." Ryoma said to Zanako. "Yeah." This morning, Sanako was very quiet and ordered tea for Ryoma. "Is it just to inspect the coast of Shinagawa under the order of the vassal?" "Hmm." She hesitated to speak.In fact, she has roughly deduced about Shigetaro. "Ryoma, have you really left the domain?" "it is true." "Running for state affairs from now on?" She lowered her head and reached for the tea brush. "Exactly. Why do you ask?" "But..." Zuo Nazi raised his head while stirring the tea with a tea brush, looked at Ryoma with a playful look, and said, "You wander around all day long, doing nothing, nothing at all. It looks like he is running for the affairs of state..." "That's true from what you've said." "It's like talking about other people's business." "Everything has an opportunity. Don't look at me being idle now, if I, Sakamoto Ryoma, wait for the opportunity, I will definitely be able to do something earth-shattering." "Good ambition." Sanako smiled and put the tea bowl in front of Ryoma. "Thank you." Ryoma never talked about etiquette, so he picked up the tea bowl and drank it. Zuo Nazi looked at him and said, "Just like you, sleeping at home every day, lying down and tossing and turning, what great things can you do?" "This is the state of mind of Yuranosuke in the play." "But Yuranosuke is still issuing orders to comrades in the dark, trying to deal with it, very busy." "How about big brother?" "My brother?" "Yes, Shigetaro." "There have been a lot of changes recently, and he is keen on expelling the barbarians. When he went out, he said that this time he was actually using the name of Pinhai inspection to inquire about the situation of the barbarian hall in Yokohama, and killed five or six barbarian leaders by the way. If there is one If something went wrong, he committed seppuku on the spot and urged the shogunate to get rid of the barbarians. Mr. Sakamoto, what about you?" "Hey, Xiao Chong." "Hey, even my brother...but you..." "But Sakamoto Ryoma is indifferent, isn't he?" Ryoma scratched his head.After a while, Sanako took out a letter written by Shigetaro to her and handed it to Ryoma.There is a poem by Mito Fujita East Lake on it: "It is difficult for a precious sword to be stained with foreign blood." On the afternoon of the second day, Shigetaro came back.He handed the bamboo hat to the servant at the door, and handed the knife to Bacun at the porch, and said, "What, Xiaolong is here?" He immediately beamed, "What? He has left the clan? Well done. How is it now? ?” "sleeping." "what?" Shigetaro was already very tired when he returned home, but he still couldn't wait to walk through the corridor to Ryoma's room, opened the door, and called out, "Ryoma, it's me. I'm back, I'll talk to you later." After finishing speaking, he closed the door. Go to the door. He is so excited.Ryoma sat up, staring blankly at the partition. After Shigetaro went to greet his old father, he took off his travel clothes and went to the well to splash cold water on his body. "Bacun, Sanazi, can you hear me? Prepare wine for us." He said impatiently, "Did you hear that? I'm going to get drunk with Xiaolong today." Bacun under the kitchen and Zuo Nazi looked at each other and secretly smiled. "Strange brother." "Probably because there are rare visitors, crazy." Did he kill the barbarians in Yokohama?This is what Sanako cares about. In the evening, the two gathered together. "Did you kill the barbarians in Yokohama?" "I don't do that kind of thing." Shigetaro winked at Ryoma. Bacun is serving on the side.Shigetaro wanted to tell Ryoma that these eight inches would be worried, and he didn't want to mention these things in front of her.Soon Bacun got up and left, and this time it was Sanako who came in to serve him. "I've done it." Shigetaro drank a glass of wine. At this time, among the Yi people in Yokohama, there are many people who do evil and do evil, and they are very arrogant.Small traders who sell daily necessities to those barbarians are also bad.They colluded with the servants of the barbarians and did all kinds of bad things.As a result, incidents of barbarians beating Japanese often occurred in Yokohama.Such small things are tainted by value, and the more troubles become bigger, all stimulate the people with lofty ideals. When Shigetaro passed by the shogunate's administrative office on the coast of Yokohama that day, three British sailors came across, each tall and burly.For some reason, they laughed when they saw Shigetaro. Shigetaro didn't ask them why they laughed, but just picked up the man on the right and threw him out when he passed by them.The man spun around in the air and fell to the ground, his head hit the ground heavily, and he passed out. "I'm Chiba Shigetaro, Edobuki-machi. If you want to call your accomplices, call the entire ship, and I'll accompany you to the end!" He said these words in Japanese, so the other party didn't understand. "What happened next?" Ryoma asked. "The remaining two were really spineless, and they ran away carrying the accomplice I threw out. Xiaolong, you know a lot, let me ask you, what kind of sailor is equivalent to ashigaru, or a samurai?" "What do you think his equivalent is?" "Of course a samurai. I managed to let them see how powerful I am as a Japanese samurai. If I'm just an ashigaru, it will damage Chiba Shigetaro's reputation." "Brother." Even Sanako laughed, "If you care so much, just ask if the other party is a samurai or an ashigaru?" "Yes, yes, yes." Chongtaro laughed loudly, picked up the wine glass on the table, and said, "By the way, Xiaolong, I have something to discuss with you." "What's the matter?" Ryoma asked while picking up the cup for Sanako to pour for himself. "It's important. Can you agree?" "certainly." "You promised so readily. This is a matter of life and death." "Of course. What a samurai says is a matter of life. Do you want my life?" "Even then you agree?" "I'm in favor of anything." "Hahaha." Shigetaro laughed loudly, "I admire you. You agree with everything, so are you willing to throw your head away for everything?" "Yes, just throw it away." "You are amazing. What you say is like adding firewood to a stove that boils hot water. But Xiaolong, there is a lot of firewood in the firewood room, but there is only one life." "It's because I only have one life to dare to do that. If you are as reluctant to let go as a nun holding a golden lock, life will not be a big deal." "Happy." Shigetaro asked Sanako to fill himself with wine again. "But Xiaolong, the fate you mentioned..." "Everyone has an attitude towards life. I can end my life at any time according to the situation." "But in your hometown in Tosa," Sanako said, looking at Ryoma with a probing look, "someone will be sad." "You mean my sister? I was raised by her. She is a strong woman. She told me that people live to achieve great things. She also said that if you are afraid of death, you can't achieve great things. Died by five horses , to be scourged to death, or to die in bed, is both death. Since it is the same death, as a samurai, one should die with honor. As a woman, it may be rude to say that, but that is what she taught her brothers and me. .” "By the way, Xiaolong, have you ever heard of a traitor winning Haizhou?" "Sheng..." Ryoma picked up the wine glass, looked at the white-glazed glass wall, and whispered, "He." Sheng Haizhou is a senior official of the shogunate.Among the 80,000 banners, this person is quite a strange one.This peculiarity not only refers to his experience, but also his talent and insight. No matter from which aspect, he is different. Since Ryoma grew up, he has never worshiped any contemporaries, but he has a special feeling for Sheng Haizhou.Katsu Kaishu can be regarded as one of the best figures in Japan, he thinks. It was the first month of Wanyan's first year when Ryoma returned to the feudal kingdom from Edo for the second time.Sheng became the captain of the three-masted Dutch-made wooden steamer Xianlin with a load of only 100 tons (some say 250 tons or 292 tons), and 100 horsepower, and crossed the Pacific Ocean. The wind and waves, went to the United States. Compared with the people with lofty ideals, this move has not been well received by the people of the world at a time when the theory of anti-barbarians is prevalent.But the foreigners were shocked.Before setting off, Harris, the U.S. ambassador to Japan, heard that the ship captains, including the captain, were all Japanese. They underestimated their technology and thought it was almost impossible, suggesting that the shogunate use foreign ships. It turned out that the shogunate sent a US mission to the sea this time, and the mission was entrusting Niimi Bungzen, and the warships followed Kimura Settsu, so it didn't matter if the ship they took was a foreigner's mercenary ship.However, the shogunate advocated dispatching Japanese warships in order to increase the experience of the newly established navy in ocean-going voyages.Harris had no choice but to propose that Captain Brooke, who happened to be in Japan at the time, be on board the American survey ship as a navigation staff officer, and the shogunate agreed to this plan.But all the non-commissioned officers on the Xianlin were deeply dissatisfied. During the voyage, almost everything was done by the Japanese. Fukuzawa Yukichi, who served as Kimura Settsumori's entourage, also wrote in his autobiography: "During the voyage, Brooke's suggestion was never adopted. Even the measurement was done by the Japanese. The results of Brooke's measurement are only for your reference. , We did not adopt any suggestions from the Americans.” It was only when the sailors from the Yanba Islands were dizzy when encountering several strong waves during the voyage, the experienced American sailors were of great help. Sheng Haizhou also recorded the events before and after in his memoir "Bingchuan Qinghua": "At that time, he had a high fever, and he thought to himself that it would be better to die on a warship than to die on a couch without meaning. , So regardless of the severe headache, he said to his wife: "I'm going to Shinagawa to see the boat." Then I went out wrapped in a scarf and boarded the Xianlin. It was this person that Shigetaro wanted to kill. "Xiaolong, let's wait for the opportunity to kill him!" He was impatient.