Entrance to Edo Bay.

A huge fleet sailed into Edo Bay.

However, the first to enter was the cruiser, and they had to measure the depth of the water first, after all, the draft of the battleships was very terrifying, and the slightly better points of the Ming army had exceeded five meters, and the draft of the American Columbus was more than seven meters, so it was very unwise for such a battleship to rashly enter a bay of perennial sediment and silt.

So all those giant battleships were left out for the time being.

As for the Japanese resistance, the construction of the Tokyo Bay Fortress began after the Meiji era, that is, the two sea forts opposite Yokosuka that were reclaimed from the tip of Cape Futsu, but at this time there were no means of defense at all, and it was pointless to build a fort without even a cannon that could block the shipping lane. And the Tokugawa family did not have a navy in the real sense, the salt and water division mainly controlled the Seto Inland Sea, and there was no need to defend a place like Edo Bay, at most there were a few small boats patrolling and collecting taxes, and a cruiser could be picked, and in the face of the vast invaders, the only thing the Tokugawa family could do was to deploy troops and prepare for a land war.

The sea can only be opened!

This is also the reason why Perry was able to land in Kanagawa directly in Edo.

Well, Perry is also in the U.S. Mission at the moment.

He was the head of the U.S. Navy shipyards, and he was in charge of the construction of steamships, and he had already built several, but there was an essential difference between their steam paddle steamers and the propeller warships of the Ming army, so he came with him as a member of the mission to see if he could inspect and learn something.

In other words, the two Ming warships caused great irritation to the American people.

Even Congress has been much more generous.

"First, the Wa Kingdom ceded Kagoshima to the Ming Dynasty and leased the port of Yokohama to the Ming Dynasty, and leased four square miles of land to the Ming at the mouth of the Yodo River in Osaka, second, compensated the Ming military expenses of 10 million taels of silver, third, the Wa Kingdom leased Yokosuka to the United States, and the fourth compensated the United States for military expenses of 1 million taels of silver, and fifth, opened the coastal areas of Fukuoka, Shimonoseki, Kochi, Osaka, Edo, Nagoya, and Sendai as treaty ports, allowing the Ming and American merchant ships to call at the port, and allowing merchants from the two countries to set up businesses in the above places for trade, and the tariffs were decided by the three countries through negotiationThe Ming Dynasty and the United States set up consulates in the above places, and the Ming Dynasty and American citizens who committed crimes in the territory of the Japanese State must be handed over to the consuls of the two countries for disposal.

That's all for now, is there anything else you would like to add? ”

Li Cheng said in the joint command of the Zhiyuan.

"Should the right to preach be added?"

Webster said tentatively.

"The right to preach? This is a bit too ruthless, right? You must know that they do not like your religion, and two hundred years ago they even fought a religious war for this purpose, completely purging the Catholics of the Japanese kingdom, and it is said that tens of thousands of people died on both sides. ”

Li Cheng said.

"No, no, we're not Catholics."

Webster hurriedly said.

"I know, you are Protestant, but you also believe in the same God after all, those Christians rebelled to overthrow the rule of the Tokugawa family, the Tokugawa family has always been very wary of this, we want land and indemnity is insignificant, for him anyway, it is nothing more than a few small ports, just dig more silver, he has gold mines and silver mines and don't care about this, but if he preaches, it will shake his foundation, but we can put forward this request, if he refuses, we can take the opportunity to ask for more compensation."

Li Cheng said.

"You're absolutely right."

Webster said with a smile.

Compared with money, let's go aside!

"So that's it?"

Li Cheng smiled and stretched out his hand and said.

Webster also smiled and held out his hand, and the two of them clasped hands together, and then laughed happily at the same time, but it was at this moment that suddenly the alarm bell outside rang.

"There's a cruiser coming!"

The captain of the Zhiyuan ran into the command room and said.

A group of people hurriedly walked to the deck outside, looking at a sailboat on the sea in the distance, Wu Ruxiao raised the binoculars, and the sailboat was immediately enlarged in his field of vision, this is a brig that should have been sailing on the sea for a long time, the hull is old, and the sail is also a little damaged, compared with the two Ming cruisers that are rushing to intercept, it is like a pile of garbage floating on the sea, and on the mainmast is a white, blue and red tricolor flag arranged up and down.

"Russians, armed merchant ships of Russian-American companies!"

Brigadier General Biddle said, holding up the binoculars.

"Russians? Our god emperor dislikes the Russians the most, send orders to the cruisers, arrest them, and sink them if they dare to resist! ”

Wu Ruxiao said without hesitation.

Biddle and Webster had surprised expressions on their faces at the same time.

At this time, the Russian-American Company was the Tsar's main colonial company in the Americas, known as the Russian East India Company, which controlled almost all ports on both sides of the Pacific Ocean north of 51 degrees north latitude, including Alaska and Kamchatka, and also had a stronghold on the west coast of modern Canada, and even appeared in California. Including the first stronghold in Sakhalin and the Heilongjiang estuary Temple Street, the largest stronghold on the west coast of the Pacific at this time was Petropavlovsk, Kamchatka, but there was no decent military force, only a few hundred garrisons were often robbed by whaling ships. The main business of the Russian and American companies is furs, especially fur seals and otters, and the main sales place is China, which is said to be a shame for the colonists in Europe, because Russia itself is a peasant system, so they are also like slaves to their employees, sitting on Alaska's fur and whaling control, but let their colonists live less than American black slaves.

When the colonists fled from distant Russia to Alaska and had to return to Russia in the same rags as they had when they went to the Americas, it was difficult for them to have any pioneering spirit.

This should be one of the reasons why they missed out on the gold mine.

Because the Americas could not bring the Tsar a wealth that pleased him, the Russian-American companies were able to strengthen their exploration of Asia, and the mouth of the Heilongjiang River and Sakhalin Island were their key targets, and they had even fought with the Matsumae Domain of the Japanese State for the southern tip of Sakhalin, and originally a few years later Captain Nevelskoy would start a new round of colonization, and establish colonies on Sakhalin Island and Temple Street until 1860, when these places were officially annexed.

Russian and American companies were also the main competitors of American fur traders in the North Pacific, and of course there were whaling ships, which at this time were one of the pillars of the American economy.

Don't underestimate whales.

In this era when kerosene has not been refined, whales are the most important means of lighting in Europe and the United States, the income of the whaling industry is one of the most important sources of income for the United States, 80% of the world's whaling ships are the United States, from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean, their whaling ships are everywhere, and the main whaling fields in the Pacific Ocean are the Sea of Okhotsk and the Bering Strait within the scope of the activities of Russian and American companies, the competition between the two sides in this industry has begun, but the United States has no foothold in the Pacific Ocean, the reason why they attach so much importance to the Ming Dynasty, One of the reasons for this is to be able to gain a supporter, considering that Webster himself is a Whig supported by the whaling industry, and he himself is a significant supporter of the American whaling industry.

In this way, the unfriendly attitude of the Ming towards the Russians is very surprising.

"We don't like the Russians, these guys still occupy our Ming land, although this is caused by the incompetence of Jiannu, but it is still our land, Lingbei, Beihai or what they call the Baikal area, and then the entire east of the Ural Mountains are ours, a large part of Central Asia is also our Ming vassal state, and now it is occupied by the Russians, and we will all take it back in the future!"

Li Cheng looked at the cruiser that had already fired in the distance and said indignantly.

"You're absolutely right."

Webster was equally indignant: "These Russians are the most greedy, they are not satisfied that they have annexed almost half of Eurasia, even the Americas, and our whaling ships are often persecuted by them in the north." ”

"This kind of thing is easy to solve!"

Li Cheng waved his hand heroically and said: "The United States is a friend of the Ming Dynasty, and the American whaling ships are also our friends, if you are interested, you can find some whaling ships as guides, our Beiyang Fleet will have no combat mission after solving the Japanese state, just organize a crusade team, the new batch of large ocean-going cruisers in Guangzhou are about to be commissioned, these cruisers are enough to sail to the Bering Strait after the Japanese country completes the supply, but they are not familiar with the route, and they must be guided by your whaling ships, Then go and destroy all the Russian strongholds along the coast, this whaling industry in the North Pacific belongs to you, our people are not interested in this kind of business, it is too dangerous to do this, and we have no shortage of safe and stable business. ”

It is said that whaling is really a life, at this time there is not even a whale cannon, it is all up to the sailor to take a spear, and then hang a rope to row a dinghy and fight for endurance like fishing, it is said that it is a whale, just shoot the tail casually and the whole army will be wiped out, that is really in exchange for money, it is difficult for anyone in Daming to be interested in this kind of business.

Not to mention the fact that kerosene will soon be refined.

Webster couldn't believe it.

This happiness can't be stopped! The generosity of the Great Ming God Emperor is simply outrageous.

Of course, he also knows that pies will not fall from the sky, and it feels abnormal for the Ming Emperor to be so generous, and it is understandable to take them to rob the Japanese country, anyway, it is not the Ming Dynasty to pay for it, it is nothing more than generosity to others, but it is an exaggeration to attack Russia's stronghold on the Pacific coast for the United States, and the relationship between the two sides has not been so good, he looked at Li Cheng with waiting eyes, waiting for the latter's additional terms......

"Ha, this is the Russians who really don't know whether to live or die!"

Li Cheng said with interest as he looked at the Russian battleship that fired back and tried to escape in the distance.

The hapless battleship had been shot by four Ming cruisers, but it was still a four-inch flowering bullet, and the billowing smoke made it look quite spectacular.

Webster was stunned.

There are no strings attached?!!

Oh God, great god-emperor!