The Qing Dynasty is about to end

Chapter 330: Xianfeng, here is a traitorous treaty, please sign it (seeking tickets, requesting subscription)
"Baga!"

On the Sakiyama Plateau where Shuri Castle is located, Satsuma's governor Kiyonari Komatsu looked out toward the sea off Naha. When he saw columns of smoke rising straight into the sky over the sea, he couldn't help but curse in the national language of Japan!

"Master Xiaosong, what should we do? The Qing Tartars have joined forces with the white devils. What should we do?"

Komatsu Kiyomasa turned around and glared at the Japanese samurai who asked the question, then slapped him twice: "What else can we do? Of course we have to fight. Can we give up Ryukyu without fighting? Our Satsuma samurai have been holding out here for more than 200 years. Ryukyu has long belonged to Satsuma and Japan!"

"Hi!"

Komatsu Kiyonori's thin face was filled with a tragic expression. He looked at the dozens of Satsuma samurai around him and said loudly: "Although the enemy is very powerful, we will inevitably shed blood in Ryukyu. However, as Satsuma samurai and Shimazu retainers, we must defend the territory entrusted by our lord with our lives!

Moreover, now is the time when the foreign barbarians are knocking on the gates of Japan, and the Qing barbarians are willing to be the running dogs of the foreign barbarians. If we are not aware of sacrificing our lives for the country, then Japan will sooner or later become a slave of the foreign barbarians and the Qing barbarians! Now, I order all the Satsuma samurai in the Ryukyu Kingdom to fight to the end and make sure that the invading enemy will experience the soul of the Satsuma samurai!

I hope that every Satsuma warrior in the Ryukyu Kingdom will kill at least one Qing soldier before dying in battle!"

"Hi!"

Although they knew they could not win, the desperate spirit of these Satsuma samurai was incomparable to that of the Eight Banners and Green Camp of the Qing Dynasty or even the Hunan-Jiangsu Army.

Even if you know you can't win, you still have to bite the bullet and die!

Of course, if anyone backs down at this time, he will suffer a lot if he returns to Satsuma Domain.

There were more than 700,000 males in Satsuma Domain, of which more than 200,000 were samurai. Among them, only 20,000 could get a salary at most. You can imagine what the situation was like.

If we run away from the battlefield, even if we don't commit seppuku, we will become starving ronin - and our whole family will starve!

Rather than this, it is better to die for the Lord.
"Boom boom."

Before two muffled thunder-like sounds were heard from afar, Luo Xueyan, who was standing on the bridge of the Powhatan steam-hulled wooden cruiser, had already seen through his telescope the flashing muzzle flames and gunpowder smoke from the coastal artillery in the distant Naha Port.

Well played!
Luo Xueyan cheered in his heart.

What he was most worried about now was that he would encounter the Japanese in the Ryukyu Kingdom without resistance. If the Japanese did not resist, how could the "Qing Heavenly Soldiers" be shown to be powerful? If the foreign masters did not know how powerful the "Qing Heavenly Soldiers" were, how could the Qing Dynasty be the chief lackey and only partner of the foreign masters in East Asia?

However, the Ryukyu Kingdom still belonged to China, and even its reign title was "Xianfeng".

Historically, when Perry signed the Treaty of Kanagawa with the Tokugawa shogunate, he also asked the Tokugawa shogunate about the Ryukyu issue. The shogunate passed the buck to the Satsuma clan, and the Satsuma clan was also stupid, and the suggestion given was to "conceal the relationship between Satsuma and Ryukyu, use Ryukyu as a puppet, continue to pay tribute to China, and seek the benefits of being a market with tribute." So the Tokugawa shogunate told Perry that "Ryukyu does not belong to Japan"!
It was fortunate that they encountered the Qing Dynasty. If they had encountered a country with some awareness of sea power, they could have taken over the US-Ryukyu negotiations and changed them to US-Qing negotiations, and then used the power of the Americans to send Qing troops to Ryukyu. Just like what Luo Xueyan is doing now.

The Satsuma clan did not have many people stationed in Ryukyu. The purpose of Satsuma's secret control of Ryukyu was not to use Ryukyu as a springboard to expand to Taiwan, nor to threaten the southeastern coastal areas of the Qing Dynasty, but to use Ryukyu as a shell to engage in tribute trade with the Qing Dynasty. In the final analysis, it was all for a little money. If two or three thousand Satsuma soldiers were really stationed in Ryukyu, the cost would be too high, and the Satsuma clan would lose money.

Therefore, the Satsuma Domain had only a few hundred people in Ryukyu, and their equipment was very poor, with only a small number of artillery and more than a hundred matchlock guns. The Tokugawa Shogunate had strict restrictions on the armed forces of the subordinate domains, including how many domain soldiers they could maintain, how many muskets they could be equipped with, and what kind of castles or camps they could build. There were strict regulations that must not be violated.

Among them, the number of muskets only accounted for a little more than 10% of the feudal soldiers, and there were only matchlock muskets that existed in the late Warring States Period, but no flintlock muskets.

Therefore, the Satsuma garrison in Ryukyu was able to gather a hundred matchlock guns, which was already an exaggeration! The remaining Satsuma soldiers only had spears, bows and arrows, and swords to use. With this equipment, it was difficult to deal with the Green Camp soldiers of the Qing Dynasty. If they encountered the Hunan Army, Huai Army or Guangxi brothers of the Taiping Army, they would definitely be defeated.

After all, the rate of musket equipment among the Green Camp soldiers of the Qing army, who "did not attach importance to firearms", in coastal areas was generally 40% to 50%!
Moreover, the Qing army also possessed a powerful assault force that the Japanese army of that era could not even imagine - cavalry!
Once the muskets are fired and the cavalry charge, no matter how good the Japanese are in martial arts, they will not be able to withstand it!

What Luo Xueyan prepared for the Satsuma Army in Ryukyu was a whole regiment of the Shanghai New Army equipped with rifled brown bass flintlock rifles. No, it has now been officially renamed the Nanyang New Army!
"General," Luo Xueyan put down the telescope in his hand and turned to look at Matthew Perry, "Please order the destruction of that artillery fort. My people will liberate the Ryukyu Kingdom from the Japanese invaders. When my people take over Ryukyu, I guarantee that the United States, Britain, and France can all obtain concessions, military ports, consular jurisdiction, and free trade in Ryukyu!"

Matthew Perry thought to himself, "The Qing Dynasty has sold its territory thoroughly! I don't even want any concessions or military ports, but it's always good to have more privileges."

"Okay!" Matthew Perry said to Luo Xueyan, "Your Excellency, rest assured, I will help you deal with that small artillery position. However, the battle on the Ryukyu Islands..."

"Just leave it to my people," Luo Xueyan said with a smile, "There are only a few hundred Japanese pirates occupying Ryukyu. As long as we can land, the next battle will be a foregone conclusion." Matthew Perry nodded, called a staff officer, and ordered the entire fleet to take up artillery positions.

Beijing, Old Summer Palace.

It is now December of the third year of the Xianfeng reign, and another annoying year is approaching!

Different from the old custom of last year and the year before, when Emperor Xianfeng would return to the Forbidden City to celebrate the New Year at the end of the year, this year Emperor Xianfeng was too lazy to go back to the Forbidden City that made him upset - there lived millions of Eight Banners descendants who could eat but not fight!

Everyone had to receive salary, annual rice, horse rations, allowances, and pensions. Even weddings and funerals at home required subsidies from the state! In addition, land was allocated. Even a low-ranking infantry soldier had to be given five or six zhang of land, or thirty to thirty-six mu.

Not counting the Eight Banner soldiers stationed in various places, the Eight Banner soldiers in Beijing alone had to be paid 5 million taels of silver a year! If other miscellaneous income was taken into account, the Qing court would spend more than 15 million taels of silver on this group of useless people who could only eat but not fight.

In previous years, although this expenditure was quite large, the Eight Banners descendants were, after all, the Qing Dynasty's own sons, so they only needed to exploit the Han people's wealth a little more.

But things are different this year!

The Qing Dynasty’s purse—Jiangnan, and its rice bag—Huguang, have almost been lost!
Even if there are still some corners left, it is impossible to send money and rice to Beijing.

Therefore, the only provinces that can still pay money to the Qing court normally are Shandong, Henan, Zhili, Shanxi, Shaanxi, and Sichuan. The only ones that can still pay some are Guangdong and Fujian. As for Yunnan, Guizhou, Gansu, and Guangxi, they are poor places that have no money to pay to the court all year round.

Yesterday, Prince Zheng Duanhua, who was in charge of the Ministry of Revenue, took the Ministry of Revenue's account book to complain to Emperor Xianfeng - the Ministry of Revenue really had no money to spend! He begged the Imperial Household Department to lend him some money so that he could at least get through the end of the year.

But what happens after this year is over?
The fourth year of Xianfeng's reign had to go on! Not only did we have to live, we also had to fight the war!

The Taiping rebels will probably launch a northern expedition next year. If the imperial court does not have money to build a new army, then I am afraid...
What should I do? Xianfeng, who was sitting in Haiyan Hall at the moment, felt a little chest tightness, shortness of breath, and headache when he thought about these things.

"Your Majesty, Prince Gong requests an audience."

At this time, Andehai's voice rang out.

Prince Gong has been staying in Tianjin during this period. He is now the Minister of Beiyang, responsible for the opening of ports such as Tianjin, Yantai, Busan, Vladivostok, etc., and is also responsible for the overall negotiation with foreigners!

They came back in such a hurry, could it be that the foreigners are making some unreasonable demands again?

"Xuan!"

Xianfeng quickly sent someone to summon Prince Gong to come in.

After a while, he saw Prince Gong enter Haiyan Hall with a memorial in his hand, looking excited.

"Sixth Brother, what did you take?" Xianfeng asked him without waiting for Prince Gong to kowtow.

"Your Majesty, Luo Xueyan has just negotiated a treaty with the foreigners."

"Another treaty?" Xianfeng thought, "Another betrayal."

He asked in a low voice: "Old Six, where did you sell it this time?"

"Ryukyu Kingdom!" Prince Gong replied, "Luo Xueyan sold out the rights and interests of Ryukyu to the foreigners!"

"What? Ryukyu?" Xianfeng was stunned. "Isn't Ryukyu controlled by the Japanese? How come it's our turn to sell it?"

(End of this chapter)