Wild North America 1846

Chapter 531 Erjo Qijing’s shame

Author: Portuguese toothless

Chapter 531 Erjo Qijing’s shame

The Lunar New Year is the most grand festival for the Tang people. Before the Lantern Festival on the 15th day of the first lunar month, families in the Tang Dynasty are immersed in a strong festive atmosphere, government departments are on vacation, and most factories and companies have also stopped working.

A heavy snowfall on the third day of the Lunar New Year made the New Year's flavor on the fifth day of the Lunar New Year even more intense.

Just as the whole country of the Tang Empire was celebrating the New Year of 1870, in the State Guesthouse, Lord Guan Bai Nijo and other members of the Tokugawa Shogunate, such as General Motobu Yang, were preoccupied with the table full of delicacies but had no intention of eating.

pharynx.

Its root cause

It is now the civil war in Fuso that has spread all over the country and continues for a long time.

Tens of millions of people in Fuso were involved in the war and were displaced. The extremely brutal "Boshin War" left half of the country in ruins from Kyoto in the center to the southwest. Farmland was abandoned, and refugees fleeing the famine were pouring in.

The nationwide famine caused by the war became more and more serious, with numerous bones exposed in the wild, and tens or even millions of people died from starvation and turmoil.

Three years have passed since the "Boshin War", and there is still no hope of a complete resolution.

The shogunate army and the overthrown shogunate army each suffered heavy casualties in the war, and now they are like two exhausted samurai fighting in the mud, unable to fight anymore.

in the original history

In 1867, Emperor Fuso Takamei died and Emperor Meiji ascended the throne.

On January 3, 1868 (the Boshin year), Emperor Meiji issued a secret edict, the "Grand Order for the Restoration of Imperial Government," with the intention of abolishing the shogunate and ordering Shogun Tokugawa Yingxi to "resign and accept the throne." Although this move was bold, it was very reckless.

, thus completely intensifying the conflict.

If you want me to die, then show me the real chapter.

The shogunate was not without the power to fight back. On January 8th and 10th, Tokugawa Kei announced in Osaka that the "Grand Order to Restoration of Imperial Government" was illegal.

On January 27, 1868, the Imperial Army of 5,000 people, mainly composed of Sa and Naga feudal lords, fought a fierce battle with 15,000 Shogunate troops near Kyoto. Tokugawa was defeated and fled to Edo, and the Boshin War began.

The Imperial Army launched a massive eastward campaign, forcing Tokugawa Keiki to hand over Edo Castle on May 3, 1868, and by early November, the rebellious feudal lords in the Northeast were pacified.

In the spring of 1869, the Imperial Army went to Hokkaido and captured Goryokaku (in Hakodate City), the last stronghold of the remaining shogunate forces on June 27. The Boshin War ended.

But today’s history is completely different

The Tokugawa shogunate, which relied on the Tang Empire as its suzerainty, received strong military aid and secretly trained 68,000 new troops equipped with advanced weapons and two artillery divisions in Beihai Province, ready to wait for the rebellious southwestern vassals to jump out.

The beginning of the "Boshin War"

The 68,000 new troops trained by Beihai Province took the merchant ships provided by the Tang Empire and went south in large numbers. In one fell swoop, they surrounded and breached Kyoto where the "rebel faction" troops were entrenched. They also retaliated wildly against the rebel troops and the townsfolk, and bloodbathed the city of Kyoto...

With the support of the Tang Empire's funds and military instructors, the Wuchen War was much larger and more intense than in its original history, and its scope of influence naturally expanded accordingly.

Shogun Tokugawa Yoshiki, who won a great victory in the first battle, fell into a fanatical and blind arrogance, believing that "the four powerful foreign vassals in the southwest are strong and powerful, and they are nothing more than clowns" and "should be wiped out in one fell swoop."

After the shogunate's army rested and reorganized, on May 11, 1868, the troops divided into three groups and marched southward.

The reality shocked General Tokugawa Yoshiki. The initial move to divide the troops was extremely stupid. While weakening his own strength, the war was extremely difficult in the face of the strong cities and deep fortresses that the powerful lords in the southwest had operated for hundreds of years.

In the moment of life and death

The four powerful feudal lords of Satsuma, Choshu, Tosa, and Hizen mobilized their entire forces and took advantage of the mountains, dense forests, and geographical advantages to engage in a bloody battle with the shogunate army. They also received support from other daimyo lords, as well as large amounts of weapons and food supplies from the British.

Grit your teeth and fight the war.

The bloody battle lasted for nearly two years, with both sides suffering losses.

The Satsuma Domain was crippled, and the Tosa Domain's resistance was basically eliminated. Choshu and Hizen were still struggling to support themselves, while the new army trained by the shogunate army suffered most of their casualties and basically lost their offensive capabilities.

In order to support the "Boshin War", the Tokugawa shogunate borrowed three war loans from the Tang Empire to purchase a large amount of food and weapons, totaling 16.5 million Tang Yuan. The war was indeed a gold-swallowing beast.

No...the money has been spent again.

"For the present plan, we can only ask the Tang Empire to mediate and unite with the British to mediate the war. If the war continues, the Yamato nation will be finished. More people will starve to death this year, and no relief will be available no matter what." Mr. Nijo Saikyo-sama said bitterly.

He said with a face, and then poured a glass of white wine into his mouth. The spicy wine made his whole face wrinkle together.

After a pause, he slowly exhaled the strong smell of alcohol.

General Benwuyang nodded silently. This is the current consensus of the shogunate. If the fight continues, it will really lead to "Fuso Lu Shen".

The stubbornness of the powerful vassal in the southwest made the shogunate quite afraid. The war was fought on money and food, but the barren Fuso Islands lacked these two things. How could borrowing money to fight a war last long?

General Benwuyang picked up a piece of fat and thin braised pork belly with chopsticks and put it into his mouth. He closed his eyes in enjoyment and chewed slowly. The rich oil filled his mouth. The delicious taste made him let out an uncontrollable "Ah..." sigh.

.

He said;

"Lord Guan Bai, what I have seen and heard in the Tang Empire these days has given me a deep feeling of powerlessness. The food here has piled up into mountains, and the herds of cattle and sheep are as endless as the clouds in the sky. The vast land

Extremely imaginative.

It actually takes 23 days and nights to take a train from Panama in the south to Vancouver in the north, passing through tropical rainforests, rocky deserts, endless pastures and farms, and bustling metropolises all the way to the white mountains and black waters in the north.

And this is only 1/3 of the territory of the Tang Empire from south to north (including South America, Yukon and Alaska). How could God favor the Tang people?

Even if our Yamato nation has 1% of resources, we will not be reduced to such a desperate situation?"

Erjo Qi Jing Guan Bai couldn't answer this question. There was nothing in his heart except deep envy and admiration. He said while eating;

"General, I'm afraid you haven't walked through the back yard yet, have you?

In the back yard of the State Guesthouse, the woods are filled with pickled salted pork, salted pork legs, salted ducks, salted geese, salted fish, sausages and other meat products, the quantity of which is too numerous to count.

This shocked me so much that I once asked an official at the State Guesthouse about this.

The official replied;

Because the State Guesthouse has many reception tasks all year round, there is a huge demand for meat products. This year, there are more than 80 tons of salted bacon, tens of thousands of various salted ducks and salted geese, about 26 to 7 tons.

Together with the fresh beef, mutton and fish delivered every day, it can basically meet most of the needs.

It is a tradition of the Tang people to marinate these meats. In their own homes, they would marinate hundreds of kilograms of bacon and fill it with dozens of kilograms of sausages at the end of each year, which can basically be eaten until early summer.

The Tang Empire had too much food to eat, so it encouraged township farms to raise fat pigs.

According to newspaper reports;

During the Lunar New Year festival in the Tang Empire, more than 17 million fat pigs were slaughtered, as well as 850,000 cattle and millions of sheep to meet the festive needs of urban and rural residents."

Speaking of which

Guan Bai Ertiao shook his head and smiled bitterly. These unimaginable numbers were beyond his understanding. From the bottom of his heart, he envied the happy life of these Tang people.

You must know that raising pigs requires food. Pigs without food will not be fat or big. After two or three years of raising pigs, they will only weigh 80 to 90 pounds at best, with very little fat.

There isn’t enough food for people to eat, so where can we have the luxury to raise pigs?

Because of this, fat pigs are an extremely rare resource in the Fuso Islands. To kill more than 10 pigs, you need to get approval from Lord Guanbai. Being able to eat a piece of meat is as happy as celebrating the New Year.

Like the subjects of the Tang Empire who openly ate meat, even the lords of the Fuso Islands did not dare to be so extravagant, no... even the emperor did not dare to be so extravagant.

In the Tang Empire, most of the food fed to pigs was wheat bran and soybean meal. These good things were broken into pieces and mixed into rice balls in the Fuso Kingdom. The townsfolk only ate this, but people in poor fishing villages still couldn't eat it!

Most of them are rice balls made with mixed wild vegetables. There are so few rice grains that they won’t take shape no matter how hard they are squeezed, and they will fall apart when steamed.

Fuso people often say that eating a rice ball is a very happy thing.

The rice balls they call are rice balls that are really made from rice, not rice balls made from wild vegetables mixed with rice bran and wheat bran and soybean meal.

The rice fields in Fuso Country are intensively cultivated, and the yield per mu is about three to four hundred pounds in the years without chemical fertilizers. Compared with the yield of wheat, it is already very high.

However, due to the large population and the need to leave rice seeds, as well as numerous exorbitant taxes and miscellaneous taxes, the livelihood of ordinary farmers and townspeople is quite difficult, with little food and malnutrition common.

"The Heavenly Kingdom is rich in treasures and resources. This is something we cannot envy. Why don't we think about how to solve the troublesome civil war? After the Spring Festival, I estimate that it will be early March at the earliest. The Tang Empire

Only then will he step forward to mediate."

"The beginning of March should be the beginning of March. There is always trouble and people feel uneasy."

"Lord Guan Bai, do we still want another loan during this trip? There is no food in the country and we urgently need a large amount of food aid. At least 40,000 to 50,000 tons will be needed to survive the intensifying famine!

"

"Don't be delusional. The food in the Kingdom of Heaven does not fall from the sky. It is impossible to provide so much food aid. Thank God if you can buy it at a reasonable price, not to mention that the money also requires a loan. Whenever I think about it, I have to go

I’m praying for help, I’m really upset!”

A man is poor but his ambition is short, and a horse is skinny and has long hair.

Guan Bai and Erjo Qi Jing felt like a beggar. Every year he had to hold a broken bowl and travel across the ocean to pray for help. His inner self-esteem and self-confidence had long been shattered by reality, leaving only a thick feeling.

ashamed.

Today's civil war in Fuso has shattered half of the country and displaced hundreds of millions of people, creating an alarming refugee flow. Countless people have died on the road and in the dense forests of the mountains.

Praying for food aid during the spring famine is a major purpose of this trip.

Since the famine in the Fuso Islands is very serious, even 300,000 tons of grain may not be enough, let alone 40,000 to 50,000 tons of grain.

The Tang Empire's aid would be a few hundred tons or thousands of tons of grain, and the rest would have to be purchased.

Then it comes to the second purpose of this trip, requesting a huge loan.

10,000 tons of grain were worth about 40,000 to 50,000 Tang Yuan in the Tang Empire itself, but could be transported to the Fuso Islands for at least 120,000 to 130,000 Tang Yuan. The transportation cost was higher than the value of the grain itself because the journey was too far.

If we purchase 100,000 tons of grain, it will cost 1.3 million Tang Yuan.

Kanbai Nijo Saikei estimated that the daimyo of the shogunate had about hundreds of thousands of tons of grain to survive the spring famine. This grain was just for cooking some gruel to survive, and it was absolutely impossible to have a full stomach.

As for the rebellious vassals in the southwest and northeast, the shogunate will not care about their life and death. The people are like grass, cutting off a new crop and creating a new one.

(End of chapter)