I started with the Shinsengumi in Bakumatsu

Chapter 134 Yagyu returns to the capital, Satsuma raids the palace

The team of 300 people who went to Alaska to open up Kamura City was well prepared. They were escorted by a steam iron ship of more than 700 tons, plus a steam merchant ship, which carried dozens of tons of food, dozens of tons of coal and hundreds of tons of already processed construction lumber.

After they arrived at the primitive ice-free port near Kamiura, they put down the boat and approached to measure the water depth inside. After measurement, even the steam warship of more than 700 tons could approach the beach about five meters away.

Under the guidance of craftsmen, they took the lead in building a simple dock and first removed the supplies from the ship.

In just four hours, they built a simple dock, then put down construction timber from the merchant ship and built a simple stronghold nearby.

When it got dark, a simple wooden fortress was built. The soldiers burned a fire nearby to illuminate the surroundings and drive away the beasts hidden in the night or the local indigenous people.

In fact, when they were working, the nearby Inuit tribe noticed it. After all, this was their fishing ground, but these Inuit hid after discovering the black boat.

Although the people who came down were found to be different from Big Beard, the black ships were all the same, and they were afraid of Big Beard's weapons.

The day after the pioneering team arrived, they continued to transport supplies, expanded the wharf, and renovated the walled city. At the same time, some people set off cigarette smoke.

Rolling black smoke appeared in the sky, like a giant black dragon.

A few miles away, Big Stomach King, Big Nose and other tribesmen saw the black smoke that Yagyu described to them, and they immediately led their tribes towards the direction where the black smoke appeared.

In the afternoon, Big Eater and the others met up with the development team. There was a translator in the development team. After a simple communication, everyone began to divide the work and cooperate.

Soon, a new walled city stood in the sunset.

A week later, the two ships that escorted the development team returned to Beidao City and reported to Yagyu the situation of the Kamura City stronghold.

The captain of the warship reported: "Your Majesty Prime Minister, now the development team has opened a small dock at the port outside Shenpu City, and the Inuit tribes that we had agreed with before have also gathered.

Big Nose and Big Stomach also helped us win over several nearby tribes, and the number of original residents has reached 2000.

The pioneering team has built a small city near the port, enough to accommodate 5000 people.

We were not attacked by the locals. According to their reports, they were beaten badly by the Russians and basically ran away when they saw us. "

Yagyu breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing this. This development was much less difficult than he thought. It seemed that Tsarist Russia's previous actions had helped him a lot.

Now that he has a stronghold in Alaska, he can quickly develop Alaska as long as he continues to transport resources and people.

However, transporting supplies from Japan not only takes up the country's few ships, but also increases the cost of development. He can definitely purchase supplies from the United States.

The United States had just ended the Civil War not long ago, and there must have been a large amount of war supplies that had not been used up. He could buy them at a low price and have them delivered, which greatly saved time and cost.

Now that Alaska development is on the right track, he is relatively redundant here. Only one person needs to be arranged to supervise and do things step by step.

"It's time to go back."

Yagyu plans to return to Japan after sending three hundred girls to the port of Kamura Castle.

On this day, Yagyu carefully selected [-] girls from a thousand women, and the worst ones were all the best.

This made other soldiers look envious.

Yagyu left Beidao City with these [-] women, took a boat to the port of Kamura City, and distributed these women to everyone in the development team. This made everyone in the development team cheer and the night became hot.

When Yagyu was about to leave, the people in the pioneering team were very reluctant to leave. Big Eater and Big Nose even promised that they would make great achievements and find a beautiful woman.

Then Yagyu returned to Beidao City. When the soldiers saw that the woman who had left did not come back, they knew the result instantly. However, they were not depressed, but more excited because they found that the Prime Minister kept his word and did not lie to them.

Moreover, Yagyu comforted them that women would continue to be sent from the country, and the soldiers became more motivated. Everyone wanted to leave Beidao City and go to Kamura City to explore further north and get a beautiful wife.

Yagyu waited until the third group of people arrived before following the fleet back to Hokkaido. The affairs of Hokkaido City were temporarily handed over to Gentaro Chiba and Chuemon Otani. The two of them only needed to report the progress to Toshizo Hijikata for processing.

Anyway, the foundation for the structure of the Alaska Pioneer Mission has been laid. Gentaro Chiba and Chuemon Otani just need to do things step by step.

After four months, Yagyu finally returned to Hakodate, Hokkaido, from Kodiak Island, and met Hijikata Toshizo again.

Although Toshizo Hijikata is now the general person in charge of Hokkaido and Alaska, he still wears a military uniform, with a katana and wakizashi on his waist, and a small revolver on the other side.

Toshizo Hijikata, who had his hair slicked back, smiled and asked, "How are you doing, Director? How is the scenery in the far north?"

Yagyu replied: "Words cannot describe how shocking this sight is. If you have a chance, go see it for yourself."

Hijikata Toshizo agreed: "Since the director said so, I should really go and see that land."

Yagyu nodded and said: "I originally planned to go back at the end of the year, but the development situation in Alaska is much easier than I thought. Now the situation in Kyoto is even more tense, and it is time for me to go back and clean up the situation."

Hijikata Toshizo asked: "Director, after handling the conflicts between the two feudal clans and the shogunate, the subsequent reforms may have greater resistance. Isn't this a bit impatient?"

Yagyu smiled and said: "Don't be anxious. Urgent matters should be dealt with later, and major matters should be more secure. I will solve it slowly step by step. The problem is not big."

Hijikata Toshizo saw that Yagyu was confident and less worried.

Yagyu didn't stay long in Hakodate. The next day, he took the Koshi warship south and returned to Kyoto.

In Kyoto, the battle between the Satsuma clan and the shogunate has reached a fever pitch. Just when Yagyu went south to return to Kyoto, Saigo Takamori boldly proposed a surprise attack on the palace to seize control of the emperor!

Saigo Takamori's suggestion really frightened Shimazu Hisamitsu, Iwakura Tomoshi and others.

What Saigo Takamori meant was to let the emperor issue an edict, and then they would bring down the curtain in the name of the emperor.But the problem is that the palace is now guarded by a guard battalion, with about 400 people guarding the inner sanctum.

Komatsu, wearing a knife, said with some worry: "The guards guarding the inner sanctum are all carefully selected elites, so it's a bit difficult."

Saigo Takamori immediately said: "I can select eight hundred elites to launch a surprise attack in the early morning. I will definitely win!"

Iwakura Tomomi is a person who dares to fight. He said: "If we wait for Yagyu Heiyan to come back, we will have no chance!"

Shimazu Hisamitsu gritted his teeth and said, "That's it!"

Saigo Takamori immediately selected a new army of 800 people. At four or five o'clock in the morning in August, he reached the vicinity of the imperial palace. He passed through the outer gate of the palace guarded by the Satsuma domain and the middle gate of the palace guarded by the Tosa domain and approached the inner confinement. Run to the clear house.

As long as they capture the Seishomon, they will be less than 500 meters away from the Seiryoden Hall where the emperor is.

Before Yagyu left Kyoto, he deployed a company of troops and a hand-operated Gatling gun at the Qingsho Gate.

The reason why he made this arrangement was that he was worried that Sacho's people would seize the emperor without martial ethics, so he arranged troops to guard the two sects of Sacho.

At around four o'clock in the morning, Xixiang Takamori arrived near Qingsuo Gate with 800 people. When the sentry on the city heard the noise, he immediately shouted: "Alert!"

When Xigo Takamori saw that the other party was so vigilant, he was afraid that the surprise attack would fail. He immediately waved his hand and said: "Charge forward!"

The new Satsuma army wearing black conical hats picked up their minie rifles and began to charge.

"Kill!"

"For the Emperor!"

"Kill the thief!"

The guards who heard the shouts immediately took their guns in position, and the sentries shouted: "Enemy attack!"

"Quick, protect His Majesty the Emperor!"

"Bang bang bang..."

Although there were only 20 sentries on guard, the firepower of Dreiser's needle gun was much more powerful than the Miné rifle.

The Satsuma New Army who launched the charge felled more than ten people in one encounter. The soldiers in front immediately counterattacked, but all of them missed the target or hit the wall.

The guards who were hiding behind the wall and changing their bullets immediately fought back. After a round of gunfire, more than ten people fell down.

next second...

"Da da da…"

Two soldiers operated Gatling guns and swept across. A magazine was fired in ten seconds, mowing down dozens of people.

In less than 1 minute, the new army of Satsuma Domain suffered nearly a hundred casualties.

Saigo Takamori looked at the opponent's firepower and said in surprise: "How could it be possible? It's so powerful!"

The deputy next to him was also stunned and speechless.

"Perhaps this is the equipment of the Imperial Guard."

Saigo Takamori gritted his teeth and said: "Keep charging, don't stop!"

However, the new army of the Satsuma Domain was hit hard, and after a moment of hesitation, all the Imperial Guard companies guarding the Kiyosho Gate were already in place.

The intensive firepower directly swept across the dense phalanx of Satsuma Domain.

The deputy on the side said heartbrokenly: "Sir Saigo, we can't fight anymore, we have no chance, their reinforcements are coming soon!"

Saigo Takamori had no choice but to issue an order to retreat. The remaining Satsuma soldiers did not even dare to take the bodies of their companions and ran away in despair.

The sound of gunshots inside the palace had long awakened Emperor Meiji. Meiji was frightened and ran directly to the Purple Chen Hall for refuge. However, before he reached the Purple Chen Hall, the Imperial Guard Battalion Commander caught up with him and shouted: "Your Majesty the Emperor, the enemy has withdrawn. Got it!"

Emperor Meiji was surprised: "So quickly, the number of enemies is twice ours?"

The guard battalion commander said proudly: "The company guarding Qingsuo Gate has repelled the enemy. There are more than 200 enemy corpses outside the gate, and there are no survivors."

Those who were alive were ordered to be killed.

When Emperor Meiji heard this, he breathed a sigh of relief and said: "Okay, okay, you are worthy of being the elites selected by my father-in-law for a hundred battles. With you guarding the inner sanctum, I can rest easy."

The Queen Mother said angrily: "Who are they so bold that they want to attack the palace at night? What are they going to do!"

Emperor Meiji also said: "This matter must be thoroughly investigated!"

However, as soon as day broke, Shimazu Hisamitsu came to apologize, and then passed the matter to a feudal lord and asked him to commit seppuku.

Everyone knew that it was Shimazu Hisamitsu who ordered it, but there was no evidence of the hammering, and the matter was taken over by one person. In addition, the feudal lords such as Yamauchi Hall and Iwakura Tomomi, and the ministers came forward to interfere, so the matter was settled.

(End of this chapter)