Chapter 29 7. Two heroes of wind and rain

Sakamoto Ryoma walked out of Katsufu under Akasakamoto Glacier that day.At that time the sun was very high. He wanted to visit Katsura Kogoro at the Changzhou feudal mansion in Sakurada.Kogoro was serious and his eyes were burning.Ever since Ryoma first met him in Mount Izu, he knew that he was not an ordinary person.Although he advocates expelling barbarians, he is not as crazy as Wu Shi. Ryoma arrived at the feudal mansion and found that Kogoro was preparing to go out in the prepared hall in the mansion. There is a big beech tree in the feudal mansion.Under the tree, fallen leaves dance in the cold wind of the twelfth lunar month.Kogoro stepped on the fallen leaves and walked over in a calm and unhurried step. "Ah, Brother Sakamoto."

The two met under the zelkova tree. "I heard you left the clan?" Kogoro asked, looking at Ryoma. The hem of the dragon horse hakama has been worn badly. "A lonely guest in the end of the world." He laughed. Gui is well dressed.He was originally described as dignified, but recently he has been promoted one after another, from the Grand Prosecutor to Yubi, concurrently serving as the head of the Ubikan School, and recently began to serve as the "National Affairs Officer" in charge of the domain's diplomacy.In his early years, he was full of ambition.He was born as a sergeant in Changzhou Domain.In Changzhou and Satsuma, there are many sergeant-born lords who are diligent kings, but Tosa is the opposite, so even Takeichi Hanpeita cannot be an official in Tosa.Compared with Gui, Wu Shi is really pitiful.I was born in the wrong place, Ryoma felt that Gui had just finished a job in Kyoto and returned to Edo with a tanned skin. "Brother Sakamoto, I heard that you live in Chiba, Otsucho."

"yes." "I also heard that you have worshiped Sheng as your teacher." "You know that too?" "Haha, people from the Tosa domain told me. Everyone can't do anything about you." "It must be." Ryoma nodded happily. Xiao Wulang said with a smile: "You really haven't changed at all, you are still so open-minded." In the Tosa domain, conservatives believed that Ryoma was suspected of assassinating Yoshida Toyo, while Takeshi and others said he was a "traitor" and looked at each other with blank eyes. "Brother Sakamoto, I'm going to have a drink with everyone in Satsuma now, and I'll find you tomorrow to hear what you plan to do."

"I don't have any definite plans right now." "Let's discuss again." Gui said goodbye and left. The next day, Gui arrived as scheduled. He told Ryoma that there was a lot of trouble last night at the banquet where the chief sa met.It is well known in the world that Sa Chang and the two vassals are at odds.But why?It can be described as indescribable. Under the rule of Tokugawa, a vassal state will always be wary and competitive with other vassals. It always puts its own vassal first, and has no idea of ​​​​"same Japanese" at all.Fans are not at peace with each other, not just Sa Chang.It’s just that the Sa chiefs were all influenced by the thought of Mito Tsutomu’s downfall, and they all had resentment towards the Tokugawa family. Among the more than 300 feudal clans, these two feudal clans were naturally the most influential. All warriors, including the feudal lord, reformed The national consciousness is very strong.To put it simply, they are all tigers, and it is inevitable that they will fight each other, and it is the same in Operation King Qin.

The Changzhou people think that they cannot lose to the Satsuma people.And as long as the Changzhou people take action, the Satsuma people will think about the bad. "Changzhou people can do anything. Known as the king of Qin, in fact, he is just holding the emperor to raise the flag in Kyoto, which is equivalent to the Maori back then." This is obviously no longer a competitive heart, but a hostile meaning.There is no reason for this feeling, but the warrior ethos formed since the Warring States Period.Moreover, this tendency is also very strong in leaders such as Katsura Kogoro in Choshu and Saigo Takamori in Satsuma. No, or it should be said that the more leaders they are, the easier it is to think this way.

So the two sides decided to sit down and have a good talk.Gui was going to participate in this meeting yesterday. There were two talks in total.The first time was when people from Changzhou entertained Satsuma people in Suigetsu in Muban Town.The second time was yesterday.This time, Satsuma entertained people from Changzhou in return. They called the geisha and had a great time.However, as the wine got stronger, not only did the two sides fail to make peace, but the atmosphere at the banquet became tense because of a disagreement. Among the visitors, apart from Zhou Buzhengnosuke, who is the most extreme among the important ministers of the Changzhou Domain, and Kuijima Matabei, whose appearance and demeanor reminded him of a Warring States hero, was Katsura Kogoro.On the Satsuma side are Saigo Takamori, Okubo Toshimichi and Horijiro.

"Then what?" Ryoma asked Kogoro. "Cough." Kogoro said with a bitter face, "You are from Tosa, so I might as well tell you: Satsuma people are really treacherous at heart." "Hehe." Longma smiled strangely. "They must think so of Changzhou people too." "What is it, I don't know. Anyway, I've never had a drink with such an unreasonable person." Last night in Liuqiao Chuanchang's upstairs, after drinking three rounds, Changzhou, who was originally not good at drinking The governor of the feudal clan sat down at the last table and said: "I want to say a few words. The two feudal lords have always had misunderstandings. We want to take this opportunity to make good friends with your feudal vassal. The two feudal vassals will join hands to fight against the national crisis. If there is something wrong with Changzhou , leading to disharmony between the two feudal clans, I, Zhou Buzhengzhizhu, would like to apologize with all my heart."

"Here." Horijiro, who was already drunk, handed over the knife, "Let me make the mistake for you." Okubo Toshimichi next to him tugged at his sleeve. "No nonsense." But the atmosphere has been spoiled. Zhou Bu opened his eyes wide, stood up, drew out his sword, and said, "I'm entertaining everyone with the Changzhou sword dance. I'm making a fool of myself." After speaking, he began to dance the sword.The sword dance is like a strong wind and rain.All the geisha and pimps present turned pale with fright.The white blade swirls like a gust of wind, slashing the tip of Horijiro's nose several times, almost cutting off his nose.

Gui stood up, hugged him, and said, "Mr. Zhou Bu, it's too inappropriate to dance swords here." "Inappropriate? Kogoro, didn't Lai Shanyang say that the Satsuma Hayabusa often serve pellets, knives and guns as food and drink? I dance swords here to provide food and drink to the Satsuma people." "See later, watch later." "Xiao Goro, I still want to dance." The comrades of the Choshu domain were in chaos, and Okubo Toshimichi of Satsuma was excited. "Hey, I'll dance a Satsuma tatami dance for you." After he finished speaking, he lifted a piece of tatami, raised it with one hand, and spun it like a plate, at a speed like a windmill, and the dust flew up for a while.After a while, he came to the Changzhou people's seat, and the tatami in his hand would fall and hit people if he was not careful.

The grumpy Kurishima Matabei had already drawn his long sword.The geisha and pimps were already frightened and ran barefoot into the yard. At this time, Xixiang stood up calmly and said, "Brothers from Changzhou and Satsuma, I will also help everyone." After speaking, he took out a handful of things from between his legs and took the candle It was lit, and the thing was burning.It was pubic hair. Seeing him "adding to the fun" like this, everyone calmed down... Ryoma went to Katsufu or Tsukiji Minami-Odawara-cho's naval training center every day, and was very busy.

The governor of the warship training center is Nagai Genfantou Hisashi, the vassal of Nagai, also known as Lord Shuizheng in the future.Although he is not a hero, he is a capable official, and he is a figure that has to be mentioned in the history of the end of the Tokugawa period. Nagai, like Katsuki, was one of the shogunators who accepted Western culture earlier. He took up new posts in the shogunate, such as foreign minister and warship minister, at a young age. The assassinated elder Ii didn't like him, so he was dismissed for a time.Later, he served successively as chief inspector, Ruo Nianji, etc., and was trusted by the last general Qingxi and became a good assistant to the general.Later, he had a great relationship with Ryoma, but this is something for later, so I won't mention it here.After the Restoration, he served as the secretary of the Senate of the Senate in the government. He died in the twenty-fourth year of Meiji at the age of seventy-six. Nagai is a descendant of a famous family, she looks as beautiful as a woman, she never speaks loudly, but she is calm and assertive.He fought against the officers and soldiers to the end, and even participated in the Battle of Hakodate.In this sense, he is not just a capable official. One day, Nagai asked his subordinate, one of the instructors, Iwata Heisaku: "During practice and lectures recently, there was an extra ronin whom I had never seen before. What's going on?" "Governor, don't you know?" "have no idea." "I thought Mr. Sheng had already told the governor, so I didn't mention it to you." "Who is he?" "Tsuzhou Roshi, Sakamoto Ryoma." "Ha, native of Tuzhou." Everyone nowadays knows that most of the Tuzhou people are extreme anti-barbarians. "The people from Tuzhou are from the barbarian faction, so they didn't make trouble?" "He seems only interested in warships." "This..." Nagai was in a dilemma.So, Ryoma is not officially a student.The training center is an important place for the shogunate, and casual entry and exit are not allowed. "I'll go and talk to him." Nagai put the long knife in his waist, put on the black feather two-layer pattern uniform, and walked to the playground. There is a naval gun in the corner of the drill station.A group of students gathered around the naval gun and learned how to operate it from the instructor.Behind those people, there was a ronin wearing a black platycodon pattern suit and a wrinkled high crotch hakama. He put his hands in his pockets and watched from the side, very seriously. Nagai walked up to him and asked, "Who is your Excellency?" The ronin didn't look back at all, still focused on looking at the cannon, and replied in a bored tone: "Sakamoto Ryoma." The naval gun is placed on a small gun carriage.The instructor is Manjiro Nakahama.He explained, in the Tosa dialect, the operation of the cannon and the use of gunpowder, with occasional pauses.Sometimes it is because I forgot how to say it, and there are many terms that have not been translated into Japanese. In this case, Manjiro explained to everyone in English with a strong retroflex.Everyone doesn't understand, and neither does Longma.In order to make up for the language barrier, Manjiro often operated the cannon himself and demonstrated it to everyone. "Do you understand? Huh?" Only after confirming that everyone understands a method of operation will he start teaching the next one. It is even more troublesome when teaching gunpowder loading methods.At this time, Manjiro used almost all English, only the last sentence "Do you understand?" can be understood, and the most critical part is completely incomprehensible.He drifted to the United States at the age of fifteen, and although some of the students knew some Dutch, none of them knew English. "don't know." It was Ryoma standing at the back who spoke.He pushed through the crowd and walked to the front, asking questions again and again. Everyone looked disgusted.He is not an official student. It seems that has always been the case.Nagai could see it from everyone's expressions. "Mr. Nakahama." Nagai Genfan walked up to the instructor and asked, "Who is this person?" "Ah?" Wanjiro, who was squatting on the side of the cannon, raised his head, his head was covered with sweat. "Ah, he, his name is Sakamoto Ryoma, and he is my follower." Manjiro replied wittily.He traveled overseas during the lock-up era, and he has both courage and wisdom. "Really?" Nagai said with an unhappy face, "Sakamoto-kun, please come to my room after class." At that time, the internship was over, and Ryoma came to Nagai Genfantou's room. Nagai ordered the servants to bring refreshments, three big fortune cakes. Long Ma drank tea and ate cakes.Because he didn't have lunch with the students, he was already hungry, so he wolfed down three big fortune cookies.After eating, he looked up. Nagai Xuanfan couldn't help laughing.With such a smile, Nagai has already lost. "You are so brave." Because of this smile, Ryoma's illegal entry into the naval training center was settled. "I heard that the boy is a swordsman of Beichen's one-sword class." The students also gradually knew his identity. Although they found him annoying and felt unhappy because of it, they didn't dare to take him for granted. Ryoma followed the lessons on measurement, arithmetic, and mechanics, and also asked a lot of questions.Sometimes his questions were confusing and made the students laugh, but he didn't take it personally. In the class of teaching gunpowder adjustment method, the instructor relayed to the students the method he had heard from foreigners.The gunpowder at this time was black powder, which was made by mixing saltpeter, charcoal, and sulfur.This came when foreign guns were introduced to Japan in the early Warring States period.Its main ingredient is saltpeter.It's a strange mineral that all soils contain to some extent.But because it is soluble in water, it is easy to collect in dry places.Therefore, since ancient times, this kind of saltpeter has been collected from the soil and dungeons under the old houses. Under the sun, some interested vassals are still collecting saltpeter, which has not stopped since the Warring States Period.For example, the Maeda family in Kaga Wanshi ordered the villagers in some mountain villages to scatter the waste from silkworm rearing under their houses, and to collect saltpeter when it snowed in winter as a substitute for taxation. Countries all over the world have used this method to collect saltpeter.After the British occupied India in the seventeenth century, it was discovered that there was a wealth of natural saltpeter there. "Britain rough-processes the natural saltpeter produced in India and then sends it to the country for finishing. The method of finishing is very simple, that is, boil the water and put in the ore, and then cool the boiling water, and the impurities will sink, while the top floats. It is the crystallization of pure saltpeter. Britain monopolized India’s natural saltpeter, and later became the world’s largest country.” The instructor introduced. "Wonderful." Ryoma sighed loudly. History is interesting, he thought.What he lamented was not the technology of mining saltpeter, but the story that happened because of it. Winter goes to spring and another year comes.In the third year of Wenjiu, Longma was twenty-nine years old. On New Year's Day, he greeted Zhenji, the head of the family, and then went to Sheng Mansion to greet Sheng Haizhou.After returning, people from the nearby Kajibashi Tosa domain came to pay New Year's greetings to Ryoma. "It's not good for you to come to pay New Year's greetings to me, an ex-fan." Long Mala turned down.Among the people who came, apart from a few disciples of Longma, there were also some young people who admired him. Ryoma was famous as a "slug" and "bedwetting kid" in Honmachi 1-chome when he was a child, and no child would want to be such a person's subordinate.When he grew up, he always walked alone in the world.He never thought about accepting anyone as his subordinate, and he never thought about being someone's subordinate.He was born in a well-to-do rural family, and he was the second son, so his desire for power was naturally relatively weak.It can be said that he never thought of being a master.However, the low-level samurai who served in the Kajibashi Tosa domain government worshiped Ryoma, who lived in Chiba, a nearby town, as an idol. Ryoma didn't understand why.Not only him, but even many people around him don't understand.If the reason is to be investigated, it may be necessary to conduct a more detailed analysis of him.But that alone may not explain an incredible thing that exists in human society, that is "popularity". To understand this problem, there is a breakthrough, and that is Ken Shimoyoko.He originally went to capture Ryoma as a catcher of the vassal state, but under Ryoma's influence, he became Katsu Kaishu's disciple, and Ryoma became his mentor.As a result, the relationship between the two changed dramatically in an instant. Even Gang Jian himself was dumbfounded at first, but soon he began to admire Ryoma like a puppy begging for mercy.Afterwards, he almost became a crazy fan of Ryoma, vigorously promoting the benefits of Ryoma among the vassals, and even called him "the number one person in Tosa".He talked enthusiastically about Ryoma among his fellow catchers and other lower-level officials, and even fabricated legends similar to storytelling. This is like the story of Saigo Takamori that is popular among the lower-level samurai of the Satsuma clan nowadays.This is not a story made up by Xixiang himself for his personal ambitions, but an atmosphere created by those who worship Xixiang, such as Nakamura Hanjiro and others. Gang Jian's worship of Ryoma has reached the extreme, and he even imitates the things that Ryoma carries with him.Later, he even imitated Ryoma's tone, claiming that "one sword is not enough to rely on", threw away his long sword, and changed it to the same short and large double sword as Ryoma.Moreover, in order to get Ryoma's compliment, he triumphantly told Ryoma about his decision. Ryoma took out a book from his pocket and said, "That's what I mean." A very rare law book in Japan, the "Public Law of the Nations". "I want to transform Japan into a country that governs the country not by swords, but by law and common sense." This is Ryoma's true intention.From then on, wherever he went, Gang Jian carried a copy of "Public Law of the World" in his arms that he could not read at all.Not only Oka Ken, but also Higaki Kiyoji. A large number of Tosa vassals flocked to the Chiba Martial Art Museum, and they all came to look for Ryoma. "Xiaolong, this place will soon become your home." Shigetaro was very happy to see Ryoma being so popular.In fact, they came to pay New Year's greetings to Longma for a purpose. "Changzhou people are bastards." Tosa's young man said to Ryoma. Ryoma felt strange.It is well known that the contradictions between Sa Changtu Sanfan and Sa Chang, but it was not expected that Tosa would also start to disagree with Changzhou. "What happened?" Ryoma lay still, accepting everyone's New Year's greetings, completely ignoring etiquette. "Something happened." Everyone started talking one by one. In fact, what they said is no longer news, it's just because Longma Tuofan didn't know about it.This happened one and a half months ago, that is, November 12th of the second year of Wenjiu.Shinsaku Takasugi, the leader of Edo Sakurada's Changzhou feudal government, said to his comrades: "The Satsuma people killed the barbarians in raw wheat, which opened the prelude to the world's extermination of barbarians. We Changzhou people cannot lose to them!" Takasugi said that if the Changzhou people want not to lose to the Satsuma people, they have to do a more sensational event.He heard that the envoy of a certain country will go for a walk in Kanazawa (Yokohama) next Sunday. "Kill him." Gao Shan said.His statement is: "The current shogunate is following the rules of appeasement. If they want to make them take a step against the barbarians, there is no other way but to create such an incident." "Interesting." Kusaka agrees with Takasugi's disciples of Yoshida Shoin's sect, Kusaka Genzui, Shinagawa Yajiro, Yamao Yuzo, Terashima Chuzaburo, Ariyoshi Kumajiro, Yamato Yahachiro, Shirai Kosuke, Akane Taketo, Nagao Lingnei Tibetan Taihe Inoue heard a lot.Among them, some people lived until after the Restoration and served as knights in the government, but most of them died in the turmoil of the end of the Tokugawa period. On the evening of the 11th, everyone gathered at Shimodaya in Kanagawa, and decided to leave early the next morning for Kanazawa. Takeshi Banpingta heard about Changzhou's secret plan.Although he was gay with them, he had a strong sense of justice and felt that this method was like a child's trick, and he didn't like it. "This will instead miss the real important event of expelling barbarians." So, he sent someone to the public hall of the retired Tosa old vassal to report the matter.He wanted Rong Tang to tell the eldest son of the Changzhou Clan, Mao Li Dinghiro, to stop the atrocities of Takasugi and others. Mao Liding was extremely shocked after hearing this, and went to the Mei Mansion in Omori in person, and tried every means to convince everyone, but this incident led to another accident. "Fortunately, nothing major happened, and we celebrated." Dinghiro, the eldest son of the Changzhou domain, tried his best to stop Takasugi and others, and decided to give them wine to appease them. Since the crown prince came forward, it was impossible.Takasugi and the others drank with gloomy faces. The wine viewing place is in Meifu, Omori.At this time, there were many such teahouses in the plum groves in the suburbs of Edo, especially Umefu in Kameido and Umefu in Urata Township Omori. In front of the yard is the plum grove, but the plum blossoms haven't bloomed yet. Zhou Buzhengzhisuke also came.Although he is a high-ranking official in the clan, he is also a supporter of Takasugi and others. Although he has a good mind and courage, he can't stand up to others' flattery and has a bad temper, so he is not stable at all.These points can be said to be the common faults of the famous family.Moreover, he is the most prone to drinking and losing morals. Zhou Bu drove his horse from the Edo feudal mansion to the Mei mansion.When he arrived, the banquet had already begun.He started drinking with everyone. "Gaoshan, it didn't work." He laughed, and then said to Dingguang: "Although the Lord is here, please forgive me. I think Gaoshan and others failed to succeed in this feat. It is an irreparable regret. Killing one or two foreigners and shocking the shogunate is not bad. Those foreigners in Kanagawa are used to being domineering in the Qing Dynasty, and when they came to Japan, they didn't see us at all. Let them try My Changzhou samurai sword is very good, maybe they can wake up a little bit." There was something in his words, obviously he wanted to please Takasugi and the others.In Changzhou, it was precisely because of the support of high-ranking officials like Zhou Bu that Takasugi and others became so radical, which eventually led to them making many radical moves at the end of the Bakumatsu.The young master was helpless, stood up and said: "Zhengzhisuke, we will talk about this matter later." There are four Tosa vassals in front of the Meifu gate.It was the Tosa clan's retired Laofan Gongrongtang who advised Changzhouhou to stop the riot.Therefore, Rong Tang believed that he had the responsibility to help Changzhou Shizi, so he sent these four warriors to Mei Mansion. Masanosuke Shu, who was already drunk, rode out on horseback wearing a Sojuro hood to protect against the cold.A few Tosa vassals guarded the place with dignified appearance. "Oh, it turned out to be the adults of Tosa." Zhou Bu immediately sneered, he was very angry that Rong Tang made a hindrance. "Although your master Rong Tang is known as the world's virtuous prince, and he himself shouts to respect the king and fight against the barbarians all day long, his actual actions are suspicious. I always feel that he is wearing the sheep's clothing of respecting the king and fighting against the barbarians..." Before he could finish speaking, the Tosa vassal Tadashi Yamachi drew his long sword and said angrily: "Zhou Bu, I can't spare you, get off your horse!" He is Rong Tanggong's personal bodyguard, he is twenty-two years old at this time, he is naturally courageous, with one eye shining brightly. He was born in a sergeant's family with a family salary of 150 shi, and lived in Echizen Town, Kokosaka, under Kochi Castle.When he was thirteen years old, he was accidentally stabbed in the eye by a sharpened bamboo while playing with the neighbor's child, the eyeball was punctured, blood flowed half of his face, and he ran home crying, but his mother blamed him. He said, "Son of warriors, how can you cry because you are blind in one eye?" He never cried again. "You insult my lord." Shandi Zhongqi said, "I won't kill you, and I will never leave this place!" The other three Tosa vassals also drew their swords. They were Yuhachi Ogasawara, Kikichi Hayashi, and Kawasuke Zaemon. Shinsaku Takasugi, who is known for his brutality in Changzhou, was very surprised to see this scene.If there was a dispute at this time, the friendly relationship between Changzhou and Tuzhou that had been hard-won would collapse for a while. He said to Yamachi and other Tosa feudal officials: "You are right. Although Masanosuke is an important minister of our feudal clan, even I cannot forgive him for speaking disrespectfully. Don't bother everyone, just kill him with one blow." He drew out his long knife and slashed at Zhou Bu. In fact, where does he really want to cut?So with one knife down, only the ponytail was cut.The horse's tail was injured a little, the horse was taken aback, neighed, raised its front hooves, and galloped away with Zhou Zhu on its back. "Where to escape!" Zhong Qi was about to chase after him, but the oldest Yui Hachi Ogasawara hugged him and persuaded him, "We are here today at the command of the Lord, and it will not be too late to ask for Zhou Bu after completing the task and returning to the order." So a few people rushed back to the Edo Kajibashi feudal mansion together. Rongtang is considered a wise feudal lord nowadays, but his shortcoming is that he is often proud of his intelligence and courage, and is intoxicated by it. "Bastard!" He leaned on the case and said angrily, "If the master humiliates, the subject will die. Don't you even understand this? Why didn't you kill Zhou Buzhengzhi on the spot?" The four soldiers immediately rushed to the Changzhou feudal mansion in Yingtian to kill Zhou Bu. When they raised their swords and rushed out of the Kayeqiao feudal mansion, five more warriors joined them.Among the five people, the most worth mentioning is Yoichiro Motoyama, the master of Akeshin Akechi. "Ah, I'm late." Another young warrior came galloping. This person is Gan Tui Zhu, and when he was young, he was known as the "King of Fighting Tui Zhu".His family is in Nakajima Town, Kochi, and he is the son of a sergeant who receives a salary of 300 shi. People say that "the children of the sergeant's family have never seen anyone as rough as him."When Dongyang was in politics, Gan Tuizhu was exempted at a young age.After Dongyang's death, he went to Edo again and became Rongtang's personal bodyguard. It is said that his ancestor was the famous general Sakagaki Suruga Shouxingata under the command of Kai Takeda Shingen.He often boasted of this, and because of this, he paid great attention to military affairs. Later, he commanded the Higashiyama army to capture Wakamatsu Castle in Aizu. He was originally a man who was good at leading troops to fight, but after the Meiji era, he abandoned his official position and stepped down, advocated freedom and civil rights, formed the Liberal Party and became its leader.In the fifteenth year of Meiji, when he was giving a speech in Gifu, he was assassinated and seriously injured at the foot of Jinhua Mountain. He left a famous saying: "Although Sakagaki dies, freedom will not perish." Ryoma has no contacts, but he admires Ryoma very much.It is said that in his later years, a relative of Kochi Sakamoto's family went to Beijing to ask for help.However, when he heard that the visitor was a relative of the Sakamoto family, he immediately dressed up to welcome the visitor.And he was sitting on the dormitory, saying: "I, Sakagaki Tuizhu, have today, thanks to Mr. Sakamoto." Now even Tuizhu, who is the bodyguard of the feudal lord, went to Outer Sakurada together.It seems that the long land battle will inevitably take place in Edo. At this time Rong Tang was waiting quietly in the feudal mansion.He ordered his men to kill the important people of Biefan, which shows that he is different. Rongtang is good at wine, known as Lianhai Zuihou.Where are they now?He thought while drinking. Rong Tang hated the extremists in Changzhou very much.Although those people were not from the clan, he wanted to use this opportunity to intimidate them with the bravery of the Tosa clan.In fact, Tosa and Changzhou have just married - Kikuhime, the adopted daughter of Changzhou feudal lord's respected relatives, is going to marry Tosa's young feudal lord Toyono, but the stubborn Rongtang doesn't care about it.Rong Tang's move was not impulsive, and he himself hated Zhou Buzheng's help very much. Rong Tang is indeed an outstanding figure, but in the history of the reform, he only obstructed, not promoted.He is knowledgeable and loyal to the royal family, but he is also foolishly loyal to the shogunate.This kind of political stance is called "Public and military integration faction" in the current buzzword.Gong refers to the court, and Wu refers to the shogunate.He advocated harmony and friendship between the two to build the country together. When the marriage between the Maori family in Changzhou and the Tosa Yamauchi family was negotiated, Changzhou invited Rong Tang to the Changzhou feudal mansion to celebrate. In addition to the young master Dinghiro, the attendees of the Changzhou side also included the important minister Zhou Buzhengzhisuke, the leader of the radical faction in the feudal clan, Kusaka Genzui, and Yamagata Hanzo.Rongtang is often proud of his brains and courage, so he said: "Although there are three hundred famous people in the world, but in terms of characters, there are only Yiqiao Qingxi (later became a general), Echizen Hou Matsudaira Keinaga, and then old people. " Rong Tang was drunk.He is always defiant and sees everyone as a fool.Moreover, he is dissatisfied with the recent atmosphere of Changzhou Fan.Warriors like Takasugi, Hisaka, and Katsura bossed around the elders and presided over major affairs in the feudal domain.He thinks this is simply "the next overcomes the upper", and it is a big treason. Rong Tang once showed someone an upside-down gourd he drew by himself, saying that Changzhou people are like this gourd, upside down. Zhou Bu and others thought: "The idea of ​​the integration of public and military under the banner of King Qin is the most despicable." Soon, Rongtang pointed at Jiusaka Xuanrui and said arrogantly: "I heard that you are good at reciting poems, can you sing one?" Jiusaka was very angry, but Dingguang persuaded: "Today is a wedding banquet, since the old feudal lord wants you to recite a poem, you should recite one." As a last resort, Jiusaka recited a poem about Zhou Fangguoqin Wang Sengyuexing's concern for the country.This is a very radical poem about Qin Wang fighting against barbarians, and the words are as compelling as a raging fire.Hisaka began to chant impassionedly, and the hall was suddenly thundered.When he chanted "I live outside the house, you are especially gnashing your teeth, the elders in the temple don't hesitate", he stood up at once, pointed to Rongtang and said, "You are also one of the elders in the temple!" After speaking, he walked away in a huff.Even though the other party is the lord of another feudal domain, he has never dared to be so disrespectful to his daimyo in three hundred years. Rong Tang's face changed suddenly, but he felt that it was unseemly for him to get angry, so he immediately changed the subject and started talking and laughing with everyone.However, since then, he has become more and more disgusted with the extremists in Changzhou. "Kill Zhou Bu" arose because of this resentment. There was chaos in the Changzhou feudal mansion. "Sure enough, it's still here?" This is the expression on everyone's face.This incident happened because of the rudeness of Zhou Buzheng's help, so everyone was helpless. "Invite them in." Kuishima Matabei, the oldest of Changzhou Qinwang faction, ordered the vassals who came to report. I am forty-seven years old when I come to the island.He is a bold and unrestrained man who is relatively rare among Changzhou people who are known for their articulate words, as if he was carved out of the portraits of warriors in the Warring States Period. Because Lai Dao has been running around for many years, regardless of family finances, his wife often complains.Later, he led his troops to set off from Changzhou to launch the Hayumen Incident. When he set off, he promised his wife: "Just this one time, only this one time, and I won't do anything else in the future."But in the Ha Yumen Incident, he rushed into the enemy's line and died in battle.This is for later. "I come to the island." The hero came to the island to face the young Tosa vassals such as Yamachi Chuchichi, and bowed his head to express his apology, "Zhou Bu made a slip of the tongue after drinking, and disrespected the old Tosa vassal. Although he is dead, I think his nature..." "Needless to say." Shandi Zhongqi interrupted him, "What kind of person Zhou Bu is has nothing to do with us, and we didn't come here to blame him. We came here this time only to avenge the humiliation of the lord. . If the master humiliates, the subject will die. After we kill Zhou Bu, we will also commit seppuku." "You're right." Lai Dao could only bow his head and apologize. "Stop talking. Bring Zhou Bu... Could it be that he's not here?" "Yes." Laishima replied honestly, "However, this matter is not a private fight, but a major issue related to your vassal and our vassal. I can't make a decision on my own. I have to discuss it with the prince before I give you an answer." .” He asked Tosa’s feudal vassals to go back temporarily and report the matter to the crown prince himself. Dinghiro was very surprised when he heard this, so he asked Matsudaira Keinaga, the lord of Echizen Fukui who was close to Rongtang, to intervene, but it was ineffective.In the end, Dinghiro went to the Tosa Domain Mansion to see Rongtang in person. "I will kill Zhou Buzheng's help as an apology." The prince of Changzhou clan bowed his head to Rongtang to express his sincerity. "Ah, no no, the old man doesn't take it seriously, it's just that the retainers came to the door to question the crime because of their own way of being warriors." Only then did Rong Tang express his understanding. It can be seen from this that there are still remnants of the Warring States Period among the Sa Changtu San Francisco, and the warriors have a rough and staunch temperament.Even the feudal lords of San Francisco are upright and stubborn. "Oh, you are Zhongqi Shandi?" Ryoma saw a one-eyed young man among the people who came to pay New Year's greetings. "Yes." Shandi bowed his head respectfully.Within the feudal domain, the Yamachi family had a higher status than the Sakamoto family.It is precisely because Ryoma has left the feudal clan and has become a ronin that he can ignore these etiquettes. "It's naive to argue between people from Tuzhou and people from Changzhou. At best, it's just a fight." "what?" "Satsuma and Changzhou are two dogs and apes. They are both hostile to each other for the sake of a little face." "But..." Shandi Zhongqi stared and said, "It's definitely not a matter of face, he humiliated the lord in person..." "I see." "But...but, Mr. Sakamoto." "Okay, okay. That's not what I'm thinking about now, what I'm thinking about is the whole of Japan, Satsuma, Choshu, and Tosa, all drifting away like smoke." "Like smoke?" "The same goes for the shogunate." Everyone was dumbfounded. "Three hundred daimyos will also disappear." Ryoma clapped his hands as he said, gesticulating that the smoke would drift away. "How did the Tosa Clan disappear..." It's unbelievable.Not only is it unbelievable, but for most Tosa vassals, the 240,000 koku Tosa is everything to them.All the vassals under the 300 daimyo think so. "I plan to create a country called Japan. Yoritomo, Hideyoshi, and Ieyasu conquered the heroes of the world and created the so-called country. But that is just an institution similar to a country, not a country. They just created Genji, Toyotomi and Tokuro It’s just the Chuan family. Japan has not yet become a complete country.” "Sir, you are misreading history." Yamachi Chuchichi said.He is not only courageous, but also knowledgeable. "No, according to my understanding, there is no such country as Japan in history. Not only Japan, Italy and Prussia have not established a real country until recently. Ladies and gentlemen, do you know Italy?" Learned. "have no idea." Ryoma was naturally very proud and told everyone about the history of Italy.Italy was also once a small country, scrambling for power and profit, and was often bullied by Austria and France.Now, people with lofty ideals such as Garibaldi, Mazzini and Cavour stood up and launched the Italian unification movement. "It's the same as Japan." Ryoma said, "But neither Garibaldi nor Washington, who founded the United States, is not Tokugawa Ieyasu. They have no idea of ​​taking the country as their own. I, Sakamoto Ryoma, want to be Japan's Washington. You should do the same. If you don’t think like this, Japan will perish.”