"Madame, do you know that Master Peng Yulin, the commander of the Yangtze River Naval Division, wants to impeach us because our Beiyang Naval Division is fighting pirates too well." Yang Yonglin said with a smile.

"Why is that?" Lin Yiqing heard a black line.

"Master Peng said that it was Beiyang and the shipping master who deliberately drove the pirates into the Yangtze River, which greatly affected the shipping of the Yangtze River." Yang Yonglin said, "Li Zhitai and Shen Zhitai said that if the Yangtze River Naval Division was unable to enter the suppression, and transferred the gunboats of Beiyang and the Ship Administration to help suppress it, he even wrote more than once that our side would not allow Beiyang warships to enter the surface of the Yangtze River and cross the border to pursue and suppress. ”

"The pirates entered the Yangtze River, so it should be his Yangtze River sailor who took action to exterminate them and ensure the safety of the people, how can he condone the bandits?" Lin Yiqing said angrily, "What is the reason why you are not allowed to cross the border to chase and suppress?" ”

"When we arrive at the mouth of the Yangtze River tomorrow, it will be the Nanyang Naval Division's military ship to pick up the lord," Yang Yonglin looked at Lin Yiqing and his wife, and did not answer directly, but reminded him, "The road may not be too calm, but the lord should be careful." ”

"I see." Lin Yiqing understood Yang Yonglin's hard work and nodded.

At this time, Lin Yiqing already had a plan to get rid of Peng Yulin and his Yangtze River sailor.

These conservative diehards and their jars and jars should be thrown into the dustbin of history!

※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※

On the 22nd day of September in the fifth year of Jiayong, it was November 3, 1852, and the sky was clear from early in the morning, without a trace of wind. On this day, a major event occurred in Japan: the 121st Emperor Komei gave birth to a male baby. Later, this day was called the "Tianchang Festival" and became a common program for the whole people. Oddly enough. Almost every year on this day. The sky is clear all over Japan. The weather was fantastic. So much so that the folk conventions call it "a long day and a sunny day".

During the Taisho period, the name of the "Tencho Festival" was changed to "Meiji Festival", which shows that the Meiji era had a profound influence in the minds of the Japanese. It wasn't until the end of World War II that it became a day of culture.

This newborn little life looks no different from other babies. His little face was flushed, and he cried loudly and sucked his milk. When my stomach is swollen, I sleep peacefully and pee when I have it.

It was this baby who, after his life's work, finally transformed a small island nation in the Far East into a world power.

The baby's mother is Keiko Nakayama, the head of the Gonori. She was the daughter of Nakayama Tadano, who was summoned to the palace at the age of 17 and became pregnant soon after. A year later, this dragon species was born. Father's joy is extraordinary. All parents who dedicate their daughters to the palace do not want girls to be dragons. Naturally, the whole family will have a chance to ascend. In the emperor's harem, there was always a large group of women who embraced it. They compete with each other for the emperor's favor. This situation has not changed much compared to the time of The Tale of Genji. If the son she gave birth to can become the prince who inherits the throne, the family will become a national relative, and its power and wealth can be imagined.

In those days, a woman was considered unclean, and could not bear children in a solemn and clean court. Keiko had to go back to her mother's house to give birth. A special delivery room must be built for childbirth. The Nakayama family had a narrow ground and wanted to build a house on a vacant lot between the private houses in Hachijo-den-cho, north of the mansion. This matter is not trivial, and it must be approved by Guan Baiying Si Zhengtong. Guan Bai disagreed, believing that it was unseemly to build houses among ordinary families to produce descendants of the royal family.

In this case, the Zhongshan family had to reluctantly build a delivery room in their mansion, on a narrow plot of land in the western corner. The structure of the delivery room is extremely simple, with two rooms, six and twelve mats, with bathrooms and toilets, and costs two hundred taels of silver. During the shogunate period, the power of the imperial family was sidelined, and the economy was not as rich as imagined. Spending two hundred pieces of silver is not a decimal number. Zhongshan's position among the courtiers was not low, and he had 200 stones. That's just a superficial amount, and the actual income is only eighty or ninety stone a year. Compared with the samurai family, it is only equivalent to the treatment of Xiaofan's lower-level samurai. With such a meager income, if you have to support your family, and you have to pay salaries to your retainers and servants, where can you get extra money?

In the name of building a maternity ward, Zhongneng offered to borrow 200 taels of silver from the court. The above still folded in half, and replied: "There is a precedent for a hundred, but I have never heard of two hundred taels." ”

Zhongneng had to find another way to raise the remaining 100 taels, and finally built the delivery room. The son was born as a white and chubby little boy.

On this day, Da Na Yanzhong arranged for his retainers in advance to bring water for the newborn baby bath from the north side of the Kamo River Idemachi Bridge. This water is mixed with water from the well in the mansion to make a bath.

The day after giving birth, Keiko Nakayama breastfed the prince for the first time. The retainer wrote on the record:

"The first breastfeeding ...... on a certain day" is clearly flesh and blood, but the honorific of "breastfeeding" has to be used; It's just that because of the difference between monarchs and ministers, their status in the palace is not sloppy at all.

Japan has admired Chinese civilization since ancient times. As early as the Tang Dynasty, he learned and introduced a whole set of Han cultural customs, and after absorption and development, he was even better than the master, so there were many rules in the court.

On the seventh day of the prince's birth, a naming ceremony is held. First of all, we must consult a sinologist and carefully select a few candidate names from the ancient Chinese classics. Of course, it should be lofty and auspicious, and the officials of the Imperial Household Agency will respectfully write it on snow-white washi paper and present it to the emperor. After careful consideration, the emperor performed the "holy fingering," in which he pressed his favorite name firmly with his thumb nail to confirm it. The Imperial Household Agency then recorded it with a brush, and it became a famous "name". In the end, in the form of the emperor's bestowal, the newborn prince was named "Mujin", and the young name was "Yunomiya". After the naming, there is also the so-called "bathing ceremony". It is a symbolic bath. A group of court ladies carried a bathtub made of cypress to the little prince's bed, which was blessed by the most famous scholars. Dressed in antique dresses and Japanese-style crowns, scholars recited classic phrases aloud to wish the future emperor good health.

On the same day, there was also the "Ritual of Strings", the announcement to the Three Shrines, the announcement of naming, and the registration of the Emperor's lineage. The final ceremony was a naming banquet for the royal family, high-ranking civil and military officials, and foreign envoys.

On the thirtieth day of the full moon, the prince entered the palace for the first time. Meet your father. The emperor and all the female officials were rewarded. It's nothing more than toys, dolls, and the like. The prince also presented gifts to the emperor.

The prince stayed in the palace for 7 days. Then return to the Zhongshan Mansion. Since then, he has been living next to his grandfather Tadanon and his grandmother Tsunko. The expenses of the nurses and the male and female servants who waited for the prince were paid for by the palace in kind or in silver. The supply standard is not very sufficient, and there were only 6 people who were falsely reported as 11 people; The vacancy subsidized the expenses of the Zhongshan family. With this "accommodation" approach, the family's income and expenditure were barely balanced.

Yunomiya is very naughty when he grows up to two or three years old, and often cries and stalks. My grandmother firmly believes that what she really needs to raise a child is the love of her loved ones. So she didn't have to intervene with nurses and maids. Completely on your own.

At night, she looked at Yunomiya's little face and thought to herself: This child will be the emperor of Japan in the future. He was her own grandson, and she really wanted to see him grow up healthy until he ascended to the throne.

Therefore, what she is most worried about is that the prince will unfortunately die. For some reason, the Imperial family has always had a short lifespan. Yugong was not originally the first prince of Emperor Hyomei; Two years ago, the day after the birth of the first prince, he died. In the same year, a little princess was born, and she also fell ill and died when she was three years old. Afterward. A number of more children were born one after another, six in all; Really grown up. There is only one prince of Yunomiya.

When he was about to turn one year old, the emperor wanted to see his son. On May 27, Yunomiya, accompanied by his biological mother Keiko Nayama, entered the palace in a sedan chair. The so-called sedan chair is a simple sedan made of hawthorn wood. The roof of the car and the two compartments are surrounded by wooden boards, and curtains hang from front to back, and people sit in it as if they are squatting in a dog kennel. Keiko usually lives in the palace to serve the emperor, and yesterday he deliberately returned to his mother's house to prepare, and today he entered the palace in a sedan chair with the prince.

He was accompanied by Yunomiya's grandfather, Tadano Nakayama, his grandmother, Tsunko, and the head of the childcare department.

When the prince enters the palace, he first cleanses himself with water, fasts and bathes, and is held by Zhongneng to meet the emperor. The little prince didn't know his father yet, but the emperor was always in a good mood. Reward the little prince with a doll pulling a chrysanthemum cart.

In the evening of the same day, Yugong returned to the Zhongshan Mansion. After that, they were brought into the palace every once in a while; But they are not staying in the palace, and they must return to their grandmother in the evening.

In the blink of an eye, Yugong turned two years old, and he was going to enter the palace to hold a costume change ceremony.

Before this, the clothes worn in the palace and the furniture around him were all pure white. After the costume change ceremony, they began to wear colorful costumes and use furniture decorated with patterns.

On this day, a series of ceremonies were held in sequence according to the old practice. Xiao Yunomiya took off his plain clothes and changed into white ripe silk, dark red plum clothes rewarded by the emperor, and children's clothes decorated with small fish scale patterns. Carried by the female official, they went to the virtuous hall, the imperial spirit hall, and the temple in turn.

As he grew older, the little prince became less at the mercy of others. Since he came back from the palace once, he refused to sit in a kennel-like sedan chair again. Grandma smiled and said:

"Don't force him. Even I think it's uncomfortable to sit in such a cramped thing and shrink up. ”

From then on, every time he entered the palace, his grandmother asked the nurse to carry him on his back, and everyone walked together. When the citizens heard that the little prince was going to walk through the streets, the people of Kyoto gathered along the way to see the excitement. This made the streets full of commotion, scolding, and scolding, Yunomiya felt very uncomfortable, and the people who followed him couldn't stand it. Fortunately, the distance is not too far, from the Nakayama Mansion to the doorway at the back of Ouchi, and measures will be taken to prohibit pedestrians from passing through. The curtains are drawn on both sides of the road, and it is convenient and smooth to walk.

At the age of five, the prince became more and more likeable. The emperor's attachment to him grew deeper and deeper, and he was summoned to the palace from time to time to stay. My grandfather and grandmother also lived in the palace with them.

Sometimes, when he was happy, the emperor would crouch down and let the child ride on his back and crawl around as a horse. It's playing hide and seek in the yard again, and it's chasing and fighting, it's crazy.

In May of the third year of Anzheng, the little prince entered the palace, and at first he only planned to play for a few days. However, after entering, he stayed for 30 days, and did not return to the Zhongshan Mansion until July 5. The day after he returned, he learned that the emperor's biological mother had died.

On September 22, the little prince ushered in his fourth birthday. According to the ancient rites, the emperor gave him a gift of food, conger eel, sweet sea bream, fresh sea bream, yam, lily, and other things. Yunomiya offers "Xiao Dai" (congratulatory sweets), fresh fish, and sake jugs. Of course, the palaces, ministers, affairs, medical officials, and retainers all gave gifts to each other.

Originally born in the Zhongshan Mansion, and has lived here for five years. In terms of the status of the prince. It's just boarding. Now I'm a little older. If he wants to move into the palace, that's where he should live for a long time.

Moving back to the palace also has certain rules and etiquette. One of them: you must sit in a sedan chair. Yunomiya resolutely did not take a sedan chair to walk, and was accompanied by relatives and servants who had served him for many years. But the ancient rites must not be violated, so he put his imperial sword, amulets and other things in the small sedan chair, and then his biological mother sat in it in the name of a guard.

In this way, without the participation of the prince himself. Let someone else perform the etiquette on your behalf, and finally the matter is over.

When everyone was happy to congratulate, only my grandmother washed her face with tears.

In the past five years, regardless of the harsh winter and heat, he has raised his grandson day and night. Now that she suddenly has to hand it over and send it to the palace, how can she not be sad.

In the year when the U.S. fleet first broke into Edo Bay, Yunomiya was a baby less than a year old and didn't understand anything.

In fact, before that, there were already foreign ships in the waters around Japan, which caused unease among the residents. Of course, Yunomiya didn't know.

In the north. Russian ships sailed to the Kuril Islands and demanded the establishment of diplomatic relations with Japan.

The shogunate began. They were once allowed to enter the port in Nagasaki; Xuan changed his mind and ordered him to retreat.

On the way back, the Russian ships found that the northern part of Japan was not properly prepared, so they sent armed ships to the Kata, Seto, and Rishiri sides, and repeatedly plundered and committed atrocities.

When the shogunate heard the news, they hurriedly ordered the Ou feudal clans to urgently dispatch garrison troops. As a result, the captain of the Russian warship "Diana", Major Goronin, was captured. By the following year, in retaliation, the Russians captured the Japanese businessman Takadaya Kabei. After negotiations between the two countries, the two captives exchanged peacefully with each other, and the matter was resolved.

Later, Russia was attacked by Napoleon's expeditionary force, and the whole country was plunged into dangerous war. In this case, of course, the Far East cannot be taken into account. The Russian fleet was no longer visible in the waters around Japan, so the shogunate gradually withdrew the garrisons of the Ou domain, and the north returned to a stable state. The Japanese continued to sleep in locks and sleep in snail shells, coveting the beautiful dream of peace. This peace between Japan and Russia lasted for about 50 years.

However, it was not only the Russian fleet that was disturbing Japan.

At this time, European and American countries built thousands of tons of steel giants, equipped with powerful steam engines, and marched across the ocean to the east to conquer new colonies. Japan, on the other hand, still hung sails on wooden boats, carefully lest it cross the coastal route by half a step.

In the five years when the war with Russia was still in full swing, British warships also sailed into the port of Nagasaki.

The Japanese allowed only Dutch and Qing ships to enter Nagasaki, but British warships broke in without permission. The excuse of the British was that they were at war with the Dutch and that they were going to Nagasaki to capture the Dutch. Nagasaki's prefect, Yasuhide Matsudaira, was helpless against the British warship carrying 38 cannons, so he had to watch it run amok. As a result, Nagasaki, which was a good and decent one, was in a mess, and then walked away.

After the withdrawal of the British warship, Yasuei Matsudaira committed suicide.

Since then, European ships have been haunting the waters off the coast of Japan from time to time.

For European countries, the Orient is a place full of mysteries and mysteries. There are rare products here, and if they can be shipped back to Europe, they will surely make a huge profit. As a result, more countries are asking for trade with Japan.

Britain and France came to Okinawa and demanded trade.

Speaking of Okinawa, at this time the Japanese felt as if it was under the jurisdiction of the Satsuma Domain, under the control of Japan. But the local residents of Okinawa think they should be Chinese.

First of all, the royal family of Okinawa has been courteous to Chinese affairs for generations and acts according to Chinese orders. Daily living habits, cultural psychology, and even people's names are all Chinese. It was only after Okinawa was conquered by Shimazu that it came under the jurisdiction of the Satsuma domain. That is, during this period of time, Okinawa had two masters.

Moreover, because of the inconvenient transportation, it is impossible to send officials to govern directly, even though it is jurisdictional. Whenever the Japanese in Kagoshima come to patrol occasionally, the locals deal with it superficially. The Japanese went, and the envoys of the Great Qing Kingdom came to inspect again. The locals greeted the officials of the Qing Dynasty and said, "Our master is only you." ”

Deal with both sides, try not to let the two masters meet, so as not to break out in this place. This is the experience of Okinawans over the years, and it can be said that they are good at it.

This is also a helpless thing. Due to the long-term isolation of the rest of the country, Japan has neglected to learn modern science and technology. There is also no shortage of people of insight, like Lin Ziping and Takano Nagaei, who have set their sights overseas, but they are not tolerated by the authorities. It is said to be disturbing society and punished. In the closed era, whoever wants to be a prophet and foresight, say something deviant, put forward a reform proposal, or so on, is likely to be scolded as a psychopath, and will be fired and broken from his job. Therefore, even if you want to drive away the invading foreign warships, you are really powerless and wishful thinking. He had neither ironclad battleships nor powerful artillery fire.

It's too late to rush now. On the soil where there has never been modern science and technology, if it is suddenly imported from abroad, there will be great chaos in the whole country. (To be continued......)