The current chief of the Japanese shogunate, the old Nakachi Inoue, walked to the negotiation venue with a tragic face. When sitting in the downwind position on the south and north, Inoue Secretly made up his mind and said to himself: "You have to be prepared to apologize."

As expected by Masatsu Inoue, the British negotiator led by Ali and Bloomy offered a high price at the negotiating table to demand that the Japanese shogunate and the Japanese Satsuma family compensate the British 200,000 pounds in total, and demanded severe punishment of the murderers who killed the British, as well as requesting the Japanese shogunate to submit a letter of state to apologize.

Fortunately, although 200,000 pounds are equivalent to gold, it is not unbearable for the Japanese shogunate. At the same time, the murderer had been arrested by the Wu army in the Satsuma family for a long time, and submitting a letter of state to apologize was not difficult. So Masatsu Inoue did not find it difficult to accept it. He just kept kowtowing and bowing to beg the British to show mercy and ask for less compensation. At the same time, he sent someone to secretly bribe Ali and Blooni. After all, he finally only paid 35,000 pounds more than in history and pulled the Satsuma family to compensate 160,000 pounds.

Other Western powers who took advantage of the situation were easy to deal with and repay their so-called mediation. They just gave these consulates some private gifts, and agreed to open a few ports and give up the consular judgement power to settle the matter. Inoue Masato did not need to ask Tokugawa Ishiki, and he could make the decision and agree by himself.

What made Inoue Masashima the most headache and worry was the Wu army delegation. This Kagoshima War was caused by the invasion of China's vassal state Ryukyu, the Satsuma vassal state. During the war, the Wu army suffered certain casualties, and the military pay, money, food and supplies were consumed. No matter which one was qualified to open his mouth to the Japanese lion. What's worse was that Tokugawa Ieshima still had a head in the middle. In order to win the support of the Satsuma vassal, he used the Satsuma vassal to suppress the radical king-resistance and expel the barbarians. Not only did the shogunate navy join the war, but he also captured three steam gunships and many soldiers and generals by the Wu army. It was even more legitimate to argue with him. Therefore, when he took over the compensation list submitted by the Wu army, the old politician Inoue Masashima couldn't help but tremble with both hands.

Accident! It's a big surprise to Inoue Masatsu!

Although the Wu army offered a sky-high price of 6 million taels of silver for a total of 6 million taels of silver, it was very considerate and proactive in allowing the Japanese shogunate to pay in two years. Although the captured three Japanese steam gun ships were confiscated and taken over by the Wu army, the captured Japanese naval soldiers only needed 100,000 taels of silver to be redeemed. At the same time, Masatsu Inoue could see that the Wu army might also accept his bargaining.

Several other conditions offered by the Wu army also made Inoue Masatsu unexpectedly feel relaxed. The first is to require the Japanese shogunate to promise to always give up the territorial requirements for Ryukyu, allow China to share the trade interests of the great powers in Japan, allow Chinese people to freely enter all open ports in Japan to do business and trade, establish a consulate and have consular judgment, and allow Chinese people to freely enter Japan's inland travel and preach missions. The second is to allow Chinese envoys to enter and exit Edo, and allow China to enjoy the most favorable treatment of tariffs. The third is to allow Wu army ships to enter and exit Japan's foreign trade ports, and allow Wu army to station troops on the territory of the Satsuma vassal state until the Wu army agreed to stop the garrison after consultation with the Satsuma vassal state.

The last article made Masasuke Inoue the most surprising and unbelievable. The Wu army actually asked the Japanese shogunate to maintain the current political system unchanged, and asked the Japanese shogunate to resolutely crack down on the domestic king-respect and expel the barbarians, and signed a division-based assistance agreement with the Wu army, so that the Japanese shogunate or the Japanese vassal lords who supported the shogunate rule could ask the Wu army for military assistance at any time, and jointly attack the Japanese shogunate's ruling and ruling elements in Japan, ensuring the Japanese shogunate's ruling and leadership position over Japan.

In layman's terms, this is the Wu army demanding that the Japanese shogunate be the leader of Japan forever and never accept the political proposition of the Japanese ruling faction of respecting the king and expelling the barbarians. When necessary, the Japanese shogunate and the Japanese local vassal lords who were loyal to the shogunate could also request the Wu army to send troops to suppress the Japanese king and expelling the barbarian faction at any time, so that the Japanese shogunate's rule in Japan will continue forever.

He was very suspicious that he looked at the last request made by Wu Jun repeatedly, and some doubted that Wu Jun's translation was incompetent to translate the treaty. Inoue Masatsushi, who was very knowledgeable in Chinese, read the original Chinese text himself in person. Seeing that Wu Jun's translation seemed to have made no mistakes, Inoue Masatsushi raised his head in disbelief and asked Wang Fu and Gong Cheng on the opposite side carefully: "General Wang, Mr. Gong, is your country really a joke about our country's shogunate and the king's expulsion of the barbarians?"

"Of course not a joke." Gong Cheng smiled and said, "Didn't Mr. Inoue discover that the Hubei Provisional Government established by King Zhennan is actually very similar to your country's shogunate? Since the political propositions of you and me are very similar and have many common points in domestic affairs, why can't we extend a helping hand to your country's shogunate? Help your country's shogunate consolidate its rule over Japan?"

As the current chief old junior of the Japanese shogunate, Inoue Masatsu is of course one of the most important beneficiaries of the shogunate power. So when he expressed his concern for Wu Jun in his heart, Inoue Masatsu nodded and thanked Gong Cheng, "Thank you Mr. Gong, I understand. I will definitely report your words to our generals truthfully so that he can also know the kindness of your country's provisional government to our Japanese shogunate."

After thanking him sincerely, Inoue Masato asked pitifully: "But Mr. Gong, can you reduce the amount of compensation you requested? Also, can you extend the payment time of compensation?"

The compensation was not slaughtered the Japanese to death, so of course Wang Fu and Gong Cheng refused to give in. Inoue Masatsugu begged hard, and finally asked Wang Fu and Gong Cheng to be merciful and promised to let the Japanese shogunate pay the compensation in three years. Then, because it was also involved in signing a quasi-military alliance with the Wu army, Inoue Masatsugu did not dare to directly sign, but just carefully discussed with Wang Fu the specific details of joining forces to suppress the Japanese king-suppression faction, and wrote it in words and took it back to Edo Castle, and handed it to Tokugawa Ieshima to ask whether it could be signed and fulfilled.

Like Masatsu Inoue, Tokugawa Ieshima was killed at first and didn't believe that the Wu army would promise to guarantee his Japanese throne in the form of a treaty. However, after listening to the Wu army's replies by Masatsu Inoue, he carefully studied the details of the treaty and found that the Wu army was not playing tricks. It was not like he was planning to annex Japan under the banner of suppressing the king's sect. Then Tokugawa Ieshima asked the shogun ministers present with skepticism: "The King of Shinnan of the Qing Dynasty is really so good to our Japanese shogunate? Not only do he don't want our land, but he also wants to help our shogunate continue for thousands of years?"

No one dared to give Tokugawa Ishimao this guarantee, but no one objected to accepting Wu Chaoyue's kindness. In addition, Inoue Masato truthfully explained the matter about Tsarist Russia, which made Tokugawa Ishimao know that the Wu army also helped Japan preserve the territory and islands. So after hesitating for a long time, Tokugawa Ishimao still made up his mind and nodded and said, "Okay, sign, I have passed this level first, and I will talk about the future later."

In this way, although Tsarist Russian Consul Birowsky quietly found the Japanese shogunate and strongly encouraged the Japanese shogunate to refuse to sign and continue to fight with the Wu army, and promised to provide military assistance to the Japanese shogunate. However, Tokugawa Ieshiro, who had seen Tsarist Russian greedy appetite, refused Birowsky's kindness. The next day, he asked Inoue Masatsu to sign the Sino-Japanese Friendship Treaty. While immediately preparing for compensation, he also passively established a paramilitary alliance with the Wu army to suppress the Japanese ranks of respecting the king and expel the barbarians.

In fact, not to mention that the Japanese and other Western powers could not understand the purpose of the Wu army establishing this alliance, even the civil and military officials of the Wu army, such as Wang Fu and Gong Cheng, did not understand why Wu Chaoyue insisted on establishing such a quasi-military alliance that could not take advantage of any advantage. Only the time traveler Wu Chaoyue truly understood the importance of this treaty, and only Wu Chaoyue understood the real purpose of his doing so.

Not long after the contract was signed, the radical representative of the Japanese ruler and expelled the barbarians, the Changshu Fan raised the anti-bank flag, openly shouted the slogan of overthrowing the Japanese shogunate, and instigated the Japanese emperor to issue an edict to expel the barbarians, abolish all foreign-related treaties, and directly sent troops to Kyoto to try to welcome the Japanese emperor to take power. In addition to sending troops to suppress the power, the Japanese shogunate, which was unwilling to hand over the power, also tried to ask for help from the general Li Xiucheng, a general stationed in Japan by the Wu army. Li Xiucheng used two Japanese steam gun ships obtained as the main force at sea, and immediately sent troops to attack Maguan, a military city of the Changshu Fan, which is currently called Xiaguan. After a fierce battle, the Changshu Fan general who was guarding Xiaguan was beaten to death by the Wu army, and the Changshu Fan, who was attacked by the enemy, was forced to surrender.

Afterwards, the Wu army followed the treaty and immediately withdrew the troops and returned to the Satsuma vassal after receiving the request of the Japanese shogunate. The Japanese shogunate was overjoyed and immediately paid the military expenses of the Wu army and the pensions of the fallen soldiers as agreed. The hostility towards the Wu army was greatly reduced and the favor was greatly appreciated. Then in less than a year, the Wu army sent troops twice to help the Japanese shogunate suppress the overthrow of the Japanese shogunate, brutally massacred countless Japanese reformists who tried to get rid of the shogunate rule. The Japanese shogunate, which was as stupid and dark as the Qing court, was able to survive and continue to maintain the corrupt and backward feudal rule. Japan was trapped in a long period of time, and the anti-shogunate reform would always become an empty talk. The Wu army would always station troops in Japan, and forever become a noose tied to Japan's neck, leaving Japan's development prospects without any light.

This is Wu Chaoyue’s real purpose.

I can only explain the future later. I will look back at the situation after the Wu army and the Japanese shogunate formally signed a peace agreement. After the contract was signed, the Japanese shogunate, which still had a strong energy, quickly tried every means to raise the first compensation and paid it to the Wu army's expeditionary fleet on time. As a result, it happened that on the same day, Li Xiucheng, who was left behind in the Satsuma clan, also sent someone to send good news, saying that with the help of the Satsuma clan military and civilians, had successfully captured the Satsuma clan's founding father Shimazu Hiroshima who had escaped from the Ifuku villa. Wang Fu was very happy when he came to the news and said happily: "Okay, I finally finished all the assignments assigned by King Shinnan. Now I can go back with my head raised."

"It's a pity that I couldn't fight a few battles well." The warlike Huang Yuanbao sighed and said with great regret: "We have brought so many weapons and ammunition, but we didn't even fight a battle of ten thousand people. The matter was over."

"Okay, it's good to finish the matter so quickly." Wang Fu rebuked with a smile: "Don't you know that we have money to buy this battle by borrowing foreign debts from foreigners? We will take the saved weapons and ammunition back to the King of Zhennan to disrupt the party. It is not better to use the treacherous thieves and the Northwest thieves. Why should we use it in Japan?"

Huang Yuanbao, who was eager to become the commander of the army like his compatriots, was still extremely regretful. However, at this moment, the Hubei Intelligence Bureau, who was in charge of intelligence, suddenly came to Wang Fu and replied: "Report to Wang Junmen, the unconfirmed news just received through Japanese merchant ships, King Zhennan has sent troops north to attack Shanhaiguan and prepared to launch a war to recover the Northeast."

"Recover the Northeast?" Wang Fu was stunned and said in surprise: "Is the news accurate? It's already autumn. Is it very unfavorable for us to send troops to the Northeast at this time?"

"The news cannot be confirmed." Zhang Kaiping answered truthfully: "It was a Japanese businessman from Hakodate Port in Japan. He heard the North Korean merchant ships talked about this and then brought this matter to Edo. He also used this matter as an excuse to raise the price of fur they sold. It happened to be a local Japanese scholar who was sent to Edo Port to explore the situation and reported it to me."

"Is it fake? Why didn't the King of Zhennan tell us about such a thing?" Huang Yuanbao asked in great surprise.

"Is it necessary for King Zhennan to tell us about this?" Wang Fu thoughtfully and said, "We are far away in Japan and have difficulty in contacting the country. The matter of sending troops to the Northeast has nothing to do with us. Why must King Zhennan specifically inform us?"

"But is it not appropriate to send troops to the Northeast at this time?" Huang Yuanbao still felt unbelievable and said, "It's winter soon. Our southern soldiers are at a disadvantage in the winter. Besides, when we sent troops, our elite main force was either in Guangdong and Guangxi, or in the Central Plains, to destroy the remaining rebellious parties in Jiaodong. Then can we get out and fight the Northeast so quickly? Does the King of Zhennan want to use the troops of Zeng Jiushuai and Jiang Zhongji to attack the Northeast?"

"I don't know this either." Wang Fu shook his head and analyzed: "There are only two possibilities. One is that the news is fake, and that the merchants from North Korea and Japan are talking nonsense. The second possibility is that something happened in the northeast, and King Zhennan had to change his plan and temporarily decide to send troops to the northeast."

After pondering for a while, considering that there are indeed many hidden dangers in the Northeast, Wang Fu made up his mind and ordered Zhang Kaiping: "Hurry, send more people to Japan's external ports to find out the truth or falsehood of this news. In addition, please contact the foreign consuls of various countries and ask them about this matter."

Zhang Kaiping turned to the promise and quickly went down to make arrangements. Wang Fuze sent someone to send his own quartermaster and ordered the quartermaster: "Send someone to buy cotton coats, cotton shoes, cotton hats and thick blankets in the Edo market to prepare all the winter equipment for our army."

"Wang Junmen, winter is not here yet? There is no need to prepare so soon, right?" The junket chief was stunned and said kindly: "Also, the humble official sent people to investigate the prices in Edo, so there is a lot of cotton produced in Japan. Cotton coats and shoes in the Edo market are more expensive than in our country. If we purchase them here, we will spend a lot of more money."

"You don't have to consider this." Wang Fu shook his head and said, "If the Ministry of Revenue asks in the future, I will explain to King Zhennan, just go and do it. Don't worry about not having enough money. If it really doesn't work, we can use the compensation given to us by the Japanese."

"Wang Junmen, do you think the news that King Zhennan sent troops to the Northeast is true?" Huang Yuanbao was also a little surprised and said, "What if I guess wrong? I will spend more money on my plan. How do you explain to King Zhennan?"

"It's okay, King Zhennan is not the kind of petty person. As long as I explain it clearly, he will definitely not blame me."
Chapter completed!