Chapter 644 Edo Treaty

At this time, the shogunate was facing a very embarrassing situation. They could neither defeat nor escape. In the eyes of the shogunate, the entire Austrian fleet was just a black iron fortress, and there was no way to start.

But what really made them desperate was a typhoon that blew up the day before. A rare typhoon visited Edo Bay, and the townspeople of the entire Edo City were complaining about the terrible weather.

In the palace in the city, Abe Masahiro was dancing like crazy.

"God help me! The kamikaze is coming! The kamikaze is coming! Shinaduhiko! Protect your people!"

(Shinaduhiko is the name of the wind god.)

At first, the samurai in the city thought that the chief elder was crazy, but soon they understood the current situation and joined the crazy team.

That night, the lights in Edo Castle were on all night, singing and dancing all night, and people toasted and celebrated this hard-won victory.

The next day, early morning.

During the typhoon, Edo Castle was in a mess, but the senior officials of the shogunate were in no mood to organize disaster relief. They were all eager to enter the cage and go to the seaside to find out what was going on.

(The so-called cage is a Japanese sedan chair, but the space inside the cage is very small, only accommodating one person to sit cross-legged. It is more like a torture device than a means of transportation.)

The Kamikaze has an extremely sacred status in the hearts of the Japanese. The former Mongolian Empire swept across the Eurasian continent, but suffered a disastrous defeat when it conquered Japan in the east, and the loss was no less than the Battle of Ain Jalul (the battle of the failure of the Mongolian westward expedition).

This is not that the Japanese at this time are better at fighting than the Mongols, nor that they are more tenacious than the Mamluks, but that a sudden typhoon directly killed the entire Mongolian fleet, and nearly a thousand warships were destroyed in the blink of an eye.

However, in the eyes of the Mongols at that time, there was no word for failure. After completely eliminating the resistance forces of the Central Plains Dynasty, they sent a large army to attack Japan again.

With the help of the Song Dynasty Navy, the Mongolian Navy was unprecedentedly strong, but it encountered typhoon weather again the day before landing in Honshu.

The appearance of "divine wind" twice made Japan have a deep affection for this word.

But this time, their wind god could not shake the black iron city in front of them, and the Austrian Imperial Navy fleet still stood in Edo Bay.

For Friedrich and the Austrian Imperial Navy, the wind and waves in Japan were indeed not small, but compared with the killer waves at the Cape of Good Hope, it was only a breeze.

"Lord Fengshen! Lord Fengshen! Lord Fengshen! I am not reconciled! How could this happen."

At this time, a group of shogunate officials roared in despair, and some were even ready to commit seppuku with wakizashi.

At this time, Masahiro Abe suddenly shouted.

"It must be the will of God! Japan is destined to open trade with Austria!"

The people around were a little confused at first, but when they thought of the undefeated legend of "divine wind", they immediately understood everything.

That's right, Japan did not lose, they were just following the instructions of Lord Fengshen.

If the opening of the country made Japan prosperous, it was the credit of those who followed the oracle. If foreign forces invaded Japan and led to the decline of the country, it was the fault of the evil god!

After clarifying the responsibilities, the elders of the shogunate unanimously decided to open trade to Austria.

At the negotiation table, the speed of these shogunate officials' selling out the country was jaw-dropping. This time, the diplomats brought by Friedrich had been in Southeast Asia for a long time.

So they all felt that they knew Asians very well, and they were asking for sky-high prices, waiting for the other party to pay them back.

As a result, the shogunate officials agreed to all of them readily, making the Austrian diplomats think that there must be some conspiracy.

Friedrich really wanted to fight a war with Japan. After all, he had a great time in the war against Vietnam before.

And after hundreds of years of stable development, Japan's Edo City has many more wooden buildings than Hue City.

But he did not wait for the challenge of the Japanese Navy, but the fully open Edo Bay and a concession under construction.

"It's so boring. Can't they put up a little resistance?"

Friedrich was obviously more interested in war, but now Austria was also embarrassed. The strong ones couldn't beat them, and the weak ones didn't dare to fight Austria.

"Archduke Friedrich, you should be glad that the shogunate made the right choice. Because they successfully protected those important "commodities" of the Austrian Empire."

Kagura's answer made Friedrich feel bored, so he simply stopped talking.

At this time, Princess Sineka felt a little puzzled, so she asked.

"If the Austrian Empire needs "slaves", it can buy them from the Oman Empire. My father will definitely give a very favorable price for the friendship between the two countries."

Princess Sineka inadvertently exposed her little thoughts. She wanted to gain more benefits for the Oman Empire. After all, the black slaves in East Africa were one of their country's flagship products.

It's just that Franz didn't want black slaves, and the Austrian Empire didn't allow the buying and selling of black slaves.

Take a step back, Austria at this time occupied a large area of ​​Tanzania in the future. Even if the Oman Empire wanted to hunt slaves, it needed the consent of the Austrians, and the latter could capture black slaves on their own land.

The Edo Treaty was officially signed, and the content was as follows:

1. Japan was completely open to the Austrian Empire, and the Austrians enjoyed the right to freely trade, travel, study, and preach in Japan.

2. Open thirteen exclusive trade ports, including Edo, Nagasaki, Osaka, Satsuma, Choshu, Aizu, Tosa, Hokkaido, etc.

3. Negotiate tariffs. The shogunate and the vassals have no right to unilaterally set tariffs and must negotiate with the Austrian Empire, which has a veto power.

Ten items in total.

In addition, in the additional terms, the Austrian Empire will conduct unilateral tribute trade with the shogunate every year. The shogunate was allowed to use labor as currency in tribute trade.

At the same time, if any European and American powers or their companies want to use force to open Japan's door, the Austrian Empire should declare war on them within one year to ensure Japan's independence.

Afterwards, Friedrich's fleet arrived in Satsuma. The leader of the country, Shimazu Saiki, hated foreigners extremely, but was frightened by the power of the Austrian naval fleet and could only go out of the city to greet them in person.

This time Friedrich planned to go ashore for fun, so he found the sedan that had been looted in Hue from the warehouse.

The sedan is made of gold and jade, which is extremely luxurious. After all, this was once the sedan of the King of Vietnam.

The bearers were served by the newly surrendered Hawaiian natives. These natives did not know that surrender was an option in the war until they encountered the Austrians.

In fact, in previous wars between tribes, the losing side would be eaten with honor instead of being treated as slaves, or let the tiger go home.

These natives were grateful that Friedrich did not order them to be eaten. They were actually afraid of this "little man" who seemed to be weak.

Because those warriors who are more terrifying than them are in awe of it, and can even subdue those terrifying black beasts.

The native Hawaiians of the time believed that the boat was some kind of creature.

In this way, Friedrich sat and was carried out of the City of Steel by eight men who looked as majestic as "The Rock" Johnson. Shimazu Saiki, who was still making harsh words before arriving, was worse than his son. He directly I was scared to the point of peeing and pooping.

(Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is actually of Polynesian descent.)

"Master Slippery Ghost! Don't eat me! Master Slippery Ghost! Don't eat me! Master Slippery Ghost! Don't eat me!"

Seeing the lord's behavior, the other attendants lowered their heads. They completely connected Friedrich and his group with Hyakki Yakou.

In contrast, Shimazu Saiki's son Shimazu Saibin was much better than him. After seeing the Austrian fleet in Edo, he immediately returned home to think about countermeasures.

Shimazu Saibin, as a master of orchid studies in Japan at that time, was the one who suffered the greatest impact from the Austrian fleet. Because he had previously thought that the most advanced country in the world was the Netherlands, he had always sought to imitate the Netherlands in establishing new armies and schools.

However, the appearance of the Austrian Imperial Navy made Shimazu Qibin realize that he was just a fool. Even if the entire Japan became Dutch, it would be impossible to defeat this powerful enemy in front of him.

After thinking hard to no avail, he picked up the brush he had not used for a long time and wrote the name of the Great Austrian Empire over and over again on the rice paper.

Soon Shimazu Qibin discovered some strange things, big, Austrian, ground, and profit?

So he hurriedly found a Dutch scholar who was friends with him and asked the ruler of the Austrian Empire what he liked to do.

The Dutch scholar adjusted his glasses, took out a notebook, and pretended to flip through it.

"Oh, here. So says the Habsburg family motto.

‘Bella geran talii, tu felix Austria nube, Nam quae Mars aliis, dattibi regna Venus. ’

If translated into your country's language it means letting others fight the war, you, lucky Austria, go get married! What the God of War can give to you, the God of Love can also give to you.

To put it into something you can understand, it means they like marriage, and then"

Before Shimazu Qibin could finish what the Dutch scholar said, he clapped his hands and said, "Great! I have a solution!"

Looking at the back of Shimazu Qibin hurriedly leaving, the Dutch scholar muttered.

"I'm not finished yet."

Friedrich wandered around the city aimlessly, looking a little bored.

After all, it was as if a "ghost" had really entered the "village" at this time. The townspeople in the city were hiding in their homes, and then blocked all kinds of gods and Buddhas at the door, silently chanting sutras and kowtowing, in order not to be caught by the "ghosts". Go and eat.”

At this time, a Japanese standing with a sword suddenly appeared. Friedrich suddenly became interested and wanted to find out.

Several retainers loyal to Shimazu Saibin hope to take the young master away to avoid the fate of being eaten by "evil ghosts".

However, Shimazu Qibin did not appreciate it. He pushed away the retainers who blocked him and walked towards Friedrich's team.

In a very nervous situation, Shimazu Saibin babbled a lot to Friedrich in Dutch with a very strong Kagoshima dialect, but no one could understand him.

Friedrich looked at Kagura behind him, who could only get off the carriage and walk to Shimazu Saibin.

"Sir, why don't you use Japanese? Your Dutch is really not that good, and they speak German."

Shimazu Qibin was not afraid when he saw those strong men who were as strong as evil spirits, but when he saw Kagura, the miko, he was frightened.

In fact, Shimazu Qibin's good idea was to marry his adopted daughter to the Austrian country, but what he didn't know was that the Austrian Empire was monogamous.

Of course, after learning this, Shimazu Nariakira became even more excited. He tried his best to promote the marriage, so that the status of Satsuma Domain in Japan would be more consolidated, and it would not even have to live under the shogunate's wishes.

The accompanying Austrian officials thought it was outrageous, but Friedrich thought it was a good proposal. After all, for the sake of his family, he could marry an Arab as his wife, and Franz might also marry an Asian as his wife.

As long as he has a royal status and is beneficial to the empire, who cares! In fact, Friedrich wanted to see how Franz would react.

Kagura made another suggestion. Since the Austrian royal family did not have a prince (archduke) of the right age at this time, he could first enter the Austrian Imperial Women's College to study.

Shimazu Nariakira naturally regarded this so-called Royal Women's College as the "Great Oku", and naturally agreed to it.

(During the Edo period in Japan, Ooku was the residence of the Tokugawa Shogun's biological mother, children, principal wife (Godai-no-no), concubines and female officials (called "Oku-ono-chu").

Ooku also means the "harem" of the Tokugawa Shogunate, where the maids and concubines lived.

In Ooku, except for the general, no men were allowed to enter. All the women, from the principal wife to the lowest-ranking maids, were all beautiful women.)

The person chosen by Shimazu Nariakira was the famous Atsuhime (also known as Princess Yoichi), who was one of the few female politicians during the turbulent period of the late shogunate.

Japanese historians highly praised her and called her one of the greatest women in modern Japanese history. They have always described her as an outstanding woman with a beautiful appearance, a broad vision, and good decisions.

Although the photos of her old age are a bit ugly, it is said that she was known for her beauty and wisdom when she was a girl.

(This book is described in the legend.)

Let's not talk about Atsuhime's appearance for now. Her courage alone is admirable. Those Japanese warriors who usually show off their power will flee when they see Friedrich and his group.

Atsuhime just followed the team naturally. She didn't cry or make a fuss. She was unshakable even if she had to leave her hometown thousands of miles away.

This was the first time that Kagura admired a Japanese woman other than herself, but she would not pity such a person because everything was for "justice".

Friedrich's last stop was Choshu. It must be said that Mori Takashika's level was much better than Shimazu Nariaki (Shimazu Nariakira's father) next door.

Not only did he not have the ugly appearance of feces and urine, but the integrity of the armored man not bowing was appreciated by Friedrich.

Morri Takashika invited Friedrich to watch the traditional Japanese wrestling performance in the battle tent, and Friedrich said he didn't understand it.

(Japanese traditional wrestling performances are not sumo, but a kind of performance wrestling that will make you feel embarrassed)

The latter took out the Hungarian specialty wine "Bull's Blood" and asked the former to taste it. The Japanese daimyo was very shocked, but still forced himself to drink it.

The Bull's Blood at that time was not a gimmick, but it was really mixed with bull's blood. The impact of this wine can be imagined.

But Mori Takashika still gritted his teeth and drank it. After all, he had never heard of anyone in Japan who dared to be rude in front of the Austrian Imperial Army.

After that, Mori Takashika asked his sumo wrestlers to compete with the Austrian naval soldiers, and Friedrich asked his soldiers to dance with those samurai from the Choshu domain.

When both sides were drunk, a boy of fourteen or fifteen years old stood up and said that he wanted to see the power of the Austrian Navy. After obtaining Mori Takashika's permission, Friedrich ordered his fleet to shoot at the largest coastal defense city of the Choshu domain.

Under the continuous bombardment of naval guns and rockets, it took only a quarter of an hour to flatten the castle that the Choshu clan had spent hundreds of years to build.

After seeing this scene, Mori Takashige became more respectful to Archduke Frederick.

The child who suggested that Frederick bombard his own castle was also promoted to a senior sergeant by Mori Takashige as an exception and participated in the clan government.

Yoshida Shoin was fifteen years old that year.