Chapter 291 Treaty of Edo
Chapter 291 Treaty of Edo
Osaka Castle has suffered many disasters. Since its construction, it has been burned down twice.
The tall castle tower is not the one originally built by Toyotomi Hideyoshi, but was rebuilt by Tokugawa Ieyasu next to the original site.
If Shao Quanzhong had not intervened, Tokugawa Yoshinobu would have been defeated in the Battle of Toba-Fushimi, failed in his attempt to go to Kyoto, and felt unsafe running back to Osaka, so he ran all the way back to Edo.
As the shogunate's vassal state, Osaka was liquidated by the anti-shogunate faction. This castle tower and Osaka Castle were destroyed by the anti-shogunate faction's looting - the Japanese were the same in this respect, being more cruel to their own people than to foreigners.
Now, with the cooperation of Shao Quanzhong, Tokugawa Yoshinobu successfully went to Kyoto and thwarted the conspiracy to overthrow the shogunate, but Osaka Castle still could not escape the disaster.
The castle tower collapsed under the bombardment of heavy artillery, and the city with only a few hundred security forces had basically no resistance.
The sound of the Guards' boots could be heard everywhere. The able-bodied men who did not have time to escape were forced to carry all the food and valuables they could collect to the warships that were docking one after another under the watchful eyes of bayonets.
The transport ship was loaded with warships, and the process was efficient and orderly.
Osaka is basically a city governed by merchants, governed by the merchant organization "Osaka Sango". It is the distribution base for materials across Japan and is known as the "Kitchen of the World".
The Dojima Rice Market, Tenma Fruit and Vegetable Market, and Zahouba Fish Market were filled with goods. The Dojima Rice Market was Japan's first futures market, and the rice price at the Dojima Rice Market was the benchmark price for rice in Japan.
As the largest commercial city in Japan, merchants are extremely wealthy.
Thirty-one years ago, the Oshio Heihachiro Rebellion was suppressed in less than a day. But in such a short time, the rebels robbed 40,000 taels of gold from the family of Hongikeya Shobei alone.
The Guards Brigade had much more time, and their level of organization was far superior to that of the hastily-formed bandits. Their ability to "collect" supplies reached perfection after years of training by Shao Quanzhong, the world's number one bearded man.
The looting of Osaka lasted three days, and the mercenaries went ashore for two more days to conduct "detailed collection of supplies."
As the mercenaries landed, fire immediately broke out in Osaka Castle, and the cries and shouts gradually faded. Shao Quanzhong was a kind man and did not order a massacre in the city, mainly because after three days, most of the people had fled.
In the bottom warehouses of each warship, piles of supplies were numbered. The supplies collected by the soldiers of the Guards Brigade were public, and they received generous rewards in the end.
The mercenaries' gains would be divided into three parts, one for the boss Shao Quanzhong, one for the leader Shi Laosan, and one for themselves. After all, they also received their salary from Shao Quanzhong and did not need to fight.
The logistics soldiers carefully counted the harvest of each mercenary, wrote down their names and sealed them separately. According to a rough estimate, the total value of the harvest this time would exceed 10 million taels of silver.
At this time, Shao Quanzhong was meeting the victorious second detective team in the cabin. They had successfully executed all the targets on Shao Quanzhong's cinnabar list and returned to the team with success.
"Reporting to the commander-in-chief, since every operation has Shinsengumi ninjas to lure the enemy and cover the rear, and you did not set a time limit, we were able to fully formulate plans and find the most appropriate assassination time, so there were 15 people in total, and no one was injured or killed."
"Okay, Brother Jianhou, you have worked hard. The ranks of all the brothers who participated in the operation will be promoted by one level. Each of you will be rewarded with 500 taels of silver. Go aboard and have a good rest."
Turning back to ask, "Ping'er, did Tokugawa Yoshinobu send anyone to ask for peace?"
"No."
"It seems that we haven't dealt with them harshly enough. It's a pity that we didn't bring the army's heavy firepower and can't bombard Nijo Castle. Tell Liao Rong to go to Edo to deal with the shogunate's lair!"
…………The 18th day of the first lunar month in the seventh year of the Tongzhi reign, Edo Bay.
The coolies working on the dock suddenly cried out in surprise, "Are these "black ships" coming again?" No, they were much bigger than the American fleet. My God, they had never seen a fleet of this size from a foreign power before.
The huge silhouette of the armored steam sailing fleet appeared from the sea level with a full sense of oppression, and slowly approached the Edo Pier.
On the flagship Zhendong, Shao Quanzhong put down his telescope and asked, "Didn't Enomoto Takeaki say he wanted to defend Edo? Where is his fleet?"
"Reporting to the commander-in-chief, our reconnaissance ship reported that Enomoto Takeaki led eight steam warships of the shogunate navy north to Ezo, claiming that he wanted to suppress the rebellion of Ezo."
Ugh, it was really weird. We had to take a detour to Edo, and we really didn't have the energy to chase after Enomoto Takeaki's fleet. In terms of speed, the ironclad ship was too heavy and couldn't catch up with the wooden steam ship.
"Forget it, just run away. The fleet has escaped, but Edo can't. Fight!"
There are still many merchant ships in Edo Bay, including a 1,350-ton ironclad ship, but they cannot be robbed or destroyed because they are flying the American flag. They are a friendly fleet.
The ironclad ship was the second-hand warship "Stonewall" that the shogunate bought from the Federation for $40,000. After paying $30,000, it was not finally delivered and is still in the hands of the Americans. This made Shao Quanzhong very regretful that he could not annihilate the entire Fuso fleet this time.
As an island country, with all its major cities located along the coast and without a strong enough navy to escort it, it would be completely out of luck.
Edo was the shogunate's home base, and it had been run for many years, so its coastal defenses and city defenses were strong. Ten years ago, it had just experienced the Meireki fire, and the layout was replanned, and fire prevention was also done well.
There was a roar of artillery fire in Edo Bay. The fleet bombarded for two full days before it destroyed all the defenses and destroyed all military targets within range without causing a large-scale fire.
When the Guards Brigade landed, most of the city's residents had fled, taking away their most valuable belongings. It was obvious that the harvest would be greatly reduced.
Food, munitions, ironware and bronzeware that could not be taken away in a hurry were continuously loaded onto the ship. Before the mercenaries could take action, a team of foot soldiers with white flags arrived at the dock.
Edo Castle King Katsu Kaishu was appointed as plenipotentiary representative by Tokugawa Yoshinobu who was hiding in Nijo Castle, and surrendered to Shao Quanzhong.
The losses in Edo were actually not great, but the attack of the Nanyang Navy on Edo finally forced Tokugawa Yoshinobu to surrender.
Their fleet is invincible. If they just stay like this, they will circle around Fuso and rob all the coastal cities, and Fuso will have a hard time living.
Of course, a robbery of this scale would damage Shao Quanzhong's reputation. If you destroyed one or two cities, you could call it revenge, but being a professional pirate would be unacceptable. But Tokugawa Yoshinobu didn't dare to gamble, because who knew if Shao Quanzhong would not care about his reputation at all?
On the 22nd day of the first lunar month in the seventh year of the Tongzhi reign, Katsu Kaishu, the Japanese plenipotentiary, signed the Treaty of Edo, which was dictated by Shao Quanzhong and drafted by Ping'er, on a warship. He did not change a single word and had no choice but to sign it.
Fuso became a vassal of the Qing Dynasty, and Meiji removed the title of Emperor and instead conferred the title of King of Japan.
Hirado Castle was ceded as a garrison for the Qing Army, the Sasebo fishing village was ceded as a military port and an anchorage for the Qing Navy, and a compensation of 10 million taels of silver was paid in installments within seven years.
(End of this chapter)