The Qing Dynasty is about to end

Chapter 716: Master Karl said that the righteousness lies with the King of the East!

On the viewing platform near the Busan Shipyard, Yang Xiuqing witnessed the first domestically-made ironclad ship of the Kingdom of Korea complete the most basic sea trial (which was just a circle around the port). Just as he was about to turn around and leave, he suddenly heard a long whistle piercing the sky. On the port's watchtower, the flag bearer frantically waved the signal flag: "The Japanese Yamato requests to enter the port!"

"Touou, the Japanese ship Yamato is here!"

Lin Qirong, the Minister of the Navy of the Eastern Palace, learned flag language from the British naval adviser. He knew who was coming from a distance and shouted immediately.

When Yang Xiuqing heard that the Yamato was coming, he did not leave, but raised a monocular telescope and looked at the sea. In the distance, a three-masted wooden warship broke through the waves on the sea level. The sixteen-petal chrysanthemum pattern embroidered with gold thread on the sails shone brightly in the sun, and a woman in kimono stood on the deck - it was Kusunoki Inako. She was wearing an ink-colored kimono with long sleeves, and the "three-step pine" pattern of the Kusunoki family was embroidered on the collar, and a beautifully crafted sword hung from her waist. Behind her, the four feudal lords, Shimazu Mitsuhisa, Mori Takashige, Yamauchi Dodo, and Naomasa Nabeshima, stood with their hands hanging down. The four feudal lords also brought a group of retainers, all of whom were wearing belts and swords, and their faces were respectful.

"boom!"

The six 12-pound guns on the Yamato's side fired in unison, and the gun salute was fired. Just as the smoke had cleared, the gangway had been put on the dock. Kusunoki Inako walked down slowly, stepping on the gangway between the Yamato and the Busan Shipyard dock in her wooden clogs. The feudal lords behind her staggered - Yamanouchi's belt was caught on the cable and he almost fell into the sea.

"Your Majesty the Eastern King!" Nanmu Inako knelt down in front of Yang Xiuqing, her voice mournful, "The Tokugawa shogunate imprisoned the emperor, massacred the True Pact believers, and sheltered the traitors of the Nagasaki Republic. Edo has been flooded with blood."

Shimazu Mitsuhisa knelt down with a plop and held out a bloodstained scroll of "Anti-shogunate Proclamation": "The righteous warriors of the four feudal domains of Satsuma, Tokugawa, Higashi, and Choshu have all surrendered to the Shinyo Shrine, and have sworn allegiance to the Emperor. We implore the King of the East to dispatch the Korean heavenly soldiers to cross the sea and march south to save Japan from the water!"

Nanmu Daozi knelt down and walked to Yang Xiuqing's feet. Then he held out a jade belt with both hands and said, "Long live the East King. This is the Emperor's imperial edict. I beg the East King to send out the heavenly soldiers as soon as possible!"

Yang Xiuqing narrowed his eyes and looked at Moore. The British envoy turned his pipe between his fingers and whispered to Friedrich beside him in German: "The Japanese feudal lords are as reactionary as the Prussian Junkers. No, they are even more reactionary!"

Friedrich nodded slightly and responded in German: "But Nanmu Inako's request sets a dangerous precedent."

Moore blew out a puff of smoke: "But history is not driven by morality, but by productivity. The rule of the Tokugawa shogunate will only suffocate Japan, while the rule of the Shinto Shrine may give Japan a brand new look!"

He turned to Yang Xiuqing and switched back to Chinese: "The Tokugawa shogunate closed the country to the outside world and forced Japan to stay in the dark Middle Ages. Japan is hopeless under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate."

Nanmu Daozi suddenly raised her head, her eyes sparkling. She turned to the warriors crawling behind her and shouted loudly: "Master Karl said - the righteousness lies with the King of the East!"

The warriors on the dock had been waiting for this sentence for a long time, and immediately shouted together: "The righteousness lies with the King of the East!"

Yang Xiuqing raised his hand and waved lightly, Lin Qirong raised a red flag and waved it vigorously twice, and the five "Guangda" class steam-hulled wooden cruisers in the harbor raised their battle flags at the same time, and the roar of the steam boilers startled the seagulls and flew away.

"Three months." The Eastern King's dragon robe rustled in the wind. "In three months at most, I will lead the Korean heavenly soldiers and the Japanese true warriors into Edo Castle and recreate a Japanese paradise!"

That night, in the British Consulate in Busan, Moore was writing furiously under the kerosene lamp, the rustling sound of the pen tip scratching the paper mixed with the sound of the waves in the distance.

"Karl, what do you think of this 'liberation of Japan'?" Friedrich handed over a cup of black tea. "Do you think Toou and Inako can push the suffocating Japan forward?"

Moore took off his glasses and rubbed his nose. "There may be progress, but true liberation can only be achieved by the workers of Japan themselves." He drew a wavy line on the manuscript paper: "But if Shinto Shrine and King Yang Dong work together to overthrow the shogunate, at least the feudal shackles can be loosened."

Friedrich nodded. "That's true. Japan's feudal shackles are too strong! Perhaps only India's caste system can be compared to Japan's."

Outside the window, the roar of the shipyard's machinery continued all night long. A cargo ship from Haeju was unloading, and the steam crane was lifting not artillery but rails produced by the Xuzhou Iron and Steel Plant, which were used to build the Korean Heavenly Kingdom Railway.

On the oak floor of the White House in Washington, Xianfeng's leather shoes made a series of anxious noises. He caught a glimpse of Russian Ambassador Count Steckeli talking quietly with Secretary of State Hammond of the Confederacy, while the door of the Oval Office of the White House was tightly closed. Inside, the meeting between US President Davis and French Ambassador Henri Merry had been going on for nearly half an hour.
"The French offered 36 pounds for the HMS Glory and are also preparing to export Minié rifles to us." Breckenridge approached Emperor Xianfeng and whispered to him, "But their delivery time is eight months."

Xu Jishe suddenly coughed. The newly appointed Taiping Heavenly Kingdom ambassador shook his sandalwood fan and said, "We have a Tianjing-class ironclad ship in stock. It has a displacement of 5000 tons and 32 70mm breech-loading guns. It can be shipped to Charleston Harbor in three months at most. And our offer is even lower than the French, only 35 pounds!" "The Chinese goods are only pounds cheaper than the French goods." Breckenridge frowned slightly, looking like he thought it was too expensive. "Even a fool would know how to choose."

Xianfeng sneered: "John, are you making a choice? You should buy our ironclad ships and the French ironclad ships together!"

"Buy them together?" Breckenridge raised his eyebrows. "Two ironclad ships will cost 71 pounds. Isn't that too much?"

"A lot? Not at all!" Xianfeng sighed, "You should have bought it a long time ago! If you had two ironclad ships now, you could bombard New York right now!"

“Bombard New York.”

Count Steckli's hearty laughter suddenly came, and he said to Raymond in stiff English: "Secretary of State, the Alaska Charter Trade is willing to send another 10,000 veterans who participated in the Ninth Russo-Turkish War to the United States. In addition, His Majesty the Tsar also plans to send officials who are proficient in the serfdom system to the United States to teach you Americans about the advanced serfdom system!"

"Really? This is great!"

The Secretary of State of the Southern Confederacy of the United States was already grinning from ear to ear. To be honest, Americans really don't have the talent to engage in serfdom! On the other hand, the Russians' serfdom was flourishing, and they were recognized as the most advanced and powerful serfdom country in the world!
If the United States learns serfdom from Russia, it will definitely learn real skills!

At this moment, laughter suddenly broke out at the end of the corridor. President Davis personally pushed open the carved wooden door of his office, and the silver cane of French Ambassador Henry Merry tapped a brisk rhythm on the carpet. "Everyone from the Constitution!" Davis raised the treaty in his hand, "His Majesty the Emperor of France declares that serfdom is the cornerstone of the civilized world! All the progressive countries in Europe have practiced serfdom for a long time. But the United States has never experienced this indispensable era of serfdom!"

There was thunderous applause inside the White House!
Xianfeng took the opportunity to get close to Breckinridge and said, "The Prime Minister of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom believes that the Spencer rifle and the ironclad ship are the key weapons for you to defeat the north." He whispered, "John, all the drawings of the Spencer rifle are stored in your Army Department archives, right? Can you give me a copy?"

The firepower of the Spencer rifle is very strong. It is a continuous-fire rifle with a firing rate of up to 21 rounds per minute! However, it is also extremely difficult to manufacture, and it also requires the production of copper-cased bullets. In other words, only industrial powers like the North of the United States have the conditions to mass-produce it! The South of the United States can only watch helplessly.

"Bishop Zhao, what do you want the drawings of the Spencer rifle for?" Breckenridge asked in a low voice.

Xianfeng smiled and said, "Of course, we will produce it for you. I have good news for you. We have built a production line for copper-cased fixed-load ammunition!"

Breckenridge's eyes lit up: "Really?"

The waves of the Pacific Ocean pushed the ironclad ship "Dongfang" to the top of the waves, and then smashed it into the valley. Hong Rengan held the handrail of the bridge tightly, and his bright yellow dragon robe was corroded by salt and had white spots.

"Prince Gan, it's windy outside, you'd better go inside the cabin and rest!" Lin Qirong, the Minister of the Navy of the Korean Heavenly Kingdom, was so seasick that he had to rely on the support of two "navy warriors" from the Satsuma Domain who were from the Shinyo faction to avoid falling down.

Hong Rengan nodded and staggered with Lin Qirong into the officer lounge. As soon as he entered, he saw Friedrich, who accompanied Hong Rengan on his visit to the United States, leaning against the dining table as steady as a reef, checking the nautical chart with the light of a whale oil lamp: "It's 37 nautical miles off course, but it doesn't matter." He pointed to the compass beside him, "North Korea's industrialization is like this ship. If the direction is right, it will arrive even if it's slow."

Hong Rengan smiled bitterly and sat down next to Friedrich: "Master Friedrich, in today's world, the strong prey on the weak, we can't be slow. If the Kingdom of Korea is slow, it will become another Japan!"

At this moment, a naval officer from Satsuma, Japan, pushed open the door and entered the officer lounge. He bowed to Hong Rengan and said, "Your Highness, the lookout has discovered land. We may have reached Hawaii!"

"We've already arrived in Hawaii?" Lin Qirong, who was spitting into a spittoon, immediately became excited when he heard this - he, the Navy Minister, was actually seasick! And he was quite seasick, so he had to find land and rest for a while.

Thinking of this, he said to the naval officer: "Yamamoto, pass on my order, the fleet will turn to Hawaii immediately!"

(End of this chapter)