Outside the Purple Mountain Imperial Palace, Samurai Town.

"Onboard! Onboard! Onboard ......"

On the afternoon of July 2, 1852, a tsunami of cheers suddenly rang out. For the first time, the lady gave the order to gather her retainers, along with the order to prepare for war.

"Saigo-sama, Saigo-sama...... There's going to be a war! ”

Saigo Takanaga, who was buried in a pile of military books, suddenly heard the voice of his retainer and disciple, 16-year-old Hashiguchi Satorukinojin. Hashiguchi Kakunojin was also born in the Satsuma Domain, and there was an elder brother named Hashiguchi Denzang who had a good relationship with Saigo Takanaga, so the brothers broke away from the Satsuma Domain to be a retainer for Saigo, and the money was 50 yuan, which was enough to catch up with the sergeant of the Satsuma Domain. The reason why Saigo can afford such a high salary is because he has a very high status in the Yokohama Domain, and now he is the elder of the family stationed in Ying Tianfu, and the salary is as high as 3,000 yuan.

"Got a war? Who fights with whom? ”

Saigo put down a Chinese version of "On War" and looked up at the bridge, only to hear the tsunami cheers of the mountains outside.

"Could it be that Japan is going to send troops to Huatai Island?" Saigo stood up abruptly, his expression excited. After the Battle of Osaka Bay, he suggested to the shogunate that he take advantage of the victory to invade Kata Island, occupy all the island, and expel the Russians from the island. However, the shogunate was busy with the "combination of public and military forces", blindly competing with the imperial court and the feudal domains, and had no intention of changing the status quo of Katai Island. Saigo's suggestions were unsuccessful, and he simply left Japan in a fit of anger to go to Yingtianfu to become old.

"No, it's not Japan that wants to send troops, it's the Ming Dynasty that wants to send troops!" Hashiguchi Jue Nojin said excitedly, "Gather the retainers under the Shu Palace." The captain and above have to go to the imperial palace to see. Her Royal Highness Akiko also asked the sergeant of the Yokohama Domain, who was in Oten, to go to the Imperial Palace to see with him. ”

Saigo snorted. Picked up the katana and walked out: "What are they excited about when Da Ming wants to send troops?" Do you still expect Daming to lay ground and share a piece of the pie in Japan? ”

Hashiguchi followed behind the master's buttocks and said: "It's a good thing after all, only by fighting can you be promoted and make a fortune, even if you don't get the knowledge and action, you can increase your income." Ying Tianfu here earns dozens of silver dollars, it's really rare......"

Saigo asked as he walked, "Who is Zhilu Dao going to fight with?" ”

"I heard that I want to fight with Russia, and I will soon move to the Horqin steppe......

Saigo said: "It's not with Russia, it's with Yixin...... No, it's still with Russia! It doesn't take so much effort to fight Yixin, and you can win by sending some Tuntian soldiers at will. You won't be able to call up a samurai legion. ”

As he spoke, Saigo had reached the top of the streets of Samuraicho, a very small town next to the outer wall of the Purple Mountain Imperial Palace, with only four streets arranged in a tic-tac-toe pattern, and dense wooden houses and alleys. There are only a few shops and taverns on the street, all of which have signs of "Yokohamaya", which are the property of the Yokohama Domain, and Saigo is in charge of taking care of them. However, there was no Kabuki pipe, which was the favorite of the Japanese, because the shogunate was very strict with the departure of Japanese women, except for the family members of the retainers of the Yokogawa clan and the retainers of the Shunomiya. Otherwise, you will not be allowed to leave the country. And these martial arts women will not fall into the mortal dust unless they have to.

At this time, the streets of Samuraicho were filled with samurai cheering loudly. There are retainers of the Shugong Palace, and there are also samurai of the Heng Domain, in short, they are a bunch of madmen who think about war day and night. In fact, these people have no other way out except to fight for Zhu Jishi. Although many of them are both civil and military, it is impossible for them to become officials of the Ming Dynasty, at most as teachers (instructors) or work in the 10 major foreign banks. However, not every samurai who came to China had this ability, and the place where they showed their skills was still the battlefield!

"Saigo-kun, is it Saigo-kun?"

Saigo Takayong Tower-like figure is extremely eye-catching among a bunch of short people, so I often meet acquaintances as soon as I go out. He turned his head to look, and the giant saw that a "Japanese taller" who was about his height turned out to be Okubo Ritsu.

"Ohkubo-kun! When did you arrive at Yingtian? ”

Saigo and Okubo are both from Satsuma, and they are both rare tall people, so they naturally recognize them, but they are not familiar.

"It's only been a long time coming," Okubo Ritsu squeezed to Saigo's side and said with a smile, "It was Mr. Sakuma who asked me to come out and make some money by the way, so I joined the Shunomiya retainers' group and took the exam for two Xiucai." ”

Okubo Ritsu's father, Okubo Rishiyo, did not receive much pension from the financially difficult Satsuma clan after his death, so the family was very financially constrained, and although there was an element of pursuing the truth of national salvation when he came to China, making money was also an important reason. He went to the Xiucai exam just to be promoted and get more money.

"Xiucai?" Saigo Takanaga nodded, "Then you can be the captain of the 500-person team, congratulations." ”

"I wonder if Lu Dao will fight under the command of Saigo-kun?" Okubo Road. He was on an equal footing with Saigo in another time and space, but now he was far inferior to Saigo.

"Maybe I'll be a staff officer, right?" Saigo Takanaga pulled Okubo to the side gate of the Imperial Palace, where the retainers could enter and exit. "If I wanted to be a high-ranking officer in the Ming army, I had to give up my Japanese citizenship...... If I had been willing to give up, I would have been a general by now. ”

"Oh, I see." Okubo nodded and did not comment. Although he went to China, he never forgot that he was a Japanese - although ordinary Japanese in this era did not have the concept of a country and a nation, the samurai class, with a literacy rate of 100%, had long had a sense of nationality. So now there are samurai who have left the feudal domain, and there are samurai who have gone abroad, but there are no samurai who have left Japanese nationality. Even if these samurai came to China to serve Zhu Jishi, they were still loyal to Japan!

"Saigo-kun, I have set up a Jingzhong group under it, and there are already more than 40 like-minded friends, if you can join as a leader, I believe you can unite more people."

When queuing up outside the gate of the Purple Mountain Imperial Palace to be inspected, Okubo Ritsu suddenly made such a request.

"Jingzhong Group? To whom are you loyal? ”

"Of course it's Shu Palace."

"Then I won't join."

"Well, it's loyalty to Japan."

"Really?"

"Saigo-kun, how can you doubt my loyalty to the country!"

"Uh, okay, then I'll join. But what do you want to do for the country? ”

"Of course, it's to explore the road to a strong country!"

"Even if you find it, how do you do it?"

"This ...... Yu Qin's Fang Hall gave birth to a son for Gongfang, and he was raised by His Royal Highness Mingzi in the Ming Kingdom, and he will be the future Gongfang, so I want to be his teacher. Saigo-kun, do you have a way? ”

Saigo Takanaga raised his eyebrows, and looked at his fellow Satsuma villager with an extremely serious expression, and after a long time, he nodded and said, "I'll go and talk to His Royal Highness Mingzi." Okubo-kun, then you don't want to participate in this outing. ”

"His Royal Highness Nagajiro is so cute! You're still healthy...... He's so fat! ”

At the same time, in the Purple Mountain Palace, the lady queen was teasing the future princess Changjiro. The little creature was indeed cute, blinking at the face of the lady with two big curious eyes.

"Love it, huh? Then take care of your body well, and it will be more lovely to have one of your own in the future. When Zhu Jishi said this, his eyes swept over the maids beside the lady, all of them were Japanese Lori, which was more pleasing than Tokugawa Akiko back then......

"Really?" The lady was overjoyed and looked at Zhu Jishi with affection.

"Of course, in the future, the Ryukyu Kingdom will need a real king, preferably your own child." Zhu Jishi said with a smile.

"The concubine will definitely work hard." The lady is kingly.

"Well, we should be working together." Zhu Jishi smiled and pointed to Chang Jilang in Shuzi's arms, "When you summon the retainers later, you can hold Chang Jilang." He is the pillar of the future Japanese samurai, and you are the inner prince of the Heavenly Emperor, so it is most appropriate for you to meet with the retainers. In addition, I also plan to make Nagashiro the commander of the samurai legion. Of course, only nominal. Later, you'll announce it yourself. (To be continued......)