The arrogance started from Chinatown

Chapter 676 New Black Ship Incident

The Left Minister Sanjo Sanemi walked to the table where the agreement was to be signed, glanced at everyone's faces, and then slowly spoke:
"On behalf of the Japanese Empire Government, I welcome American businessmen represented by Mr. Chen to Japan. Since Japan opened its ports, we have always adhered to peaceful exchanges with all countries. However, due to various misunderstandings, the two sides have turned their swords and conflicts.

In order to ensure that the diplomacy of the two countries is not affected and the people are not caught up in the war, the Imperial Government of Japan is willing to sign a new agreement with Mr. Chen Zhengwei from the United States, which marks a new chapter in the history of Japan and the United States.

We believe that this agreement will bring lasting peace and prosperity to both countries and open up a path for mutually beneficial cooperation.”

(This is the most difficult thing to write. This short paragraph refers to the Treaty of Nanjing, the Treaty of Ganghwa, and the Treaty of Kanagawa)
The left minister tried hard to find a balance between politeness and reality, so as not to embarrass Japan too much while also not giving Chen Zhengwei a chance to get into trouble.

They have had enough of Chen Zhengwei's temper these past two days.

Whether it was Sanjo Sanemi, Inoue Kaoru, or those officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, none of them had ever seen a negotiating partner with such a bad character as Chen Zhengwei.

"Although I have had some frictions and conflicts with the Japanese government, I am willing to give up pursuing Japan's mistakes. I also believe that this agreement can bring about a new and lasting peace and allow us to have closer contacts and understand each other." Chen Zhengwei said with a smile. Anyway, he got the advantage and didn't mind saying a few good words.

Of course, whether these two sentences are considered good words in the ears of other people remains to be seen.

However, in Chen Zhengwei's view, he did not say: "I will not fight you if you sign the agreement." This is already a good thing to say, which saved the Japanese government a lot of face.

After all, his purpose today was to sign an agreement, not to cause trouble and push the Japanese government into a corner.

After the agreement was read out, both parties signed their names on it.

Reporters from various countries were taking photos not far away, and the flash made it almost impossible to see their surroundings.

Chen Zhengwei took out sunglasses from his pocket and put them on, then grinned at everyone.

However, Sanjo Sanemie and Japanese officials left with gloomy faces after signing the agreement, without any intention of staying.

It was a routine reception with only some service staff from the Japanese side and no officials participating.

Chen Zhengwei did not return to the ship until the afternoon. He had to wait for the Japanese to provide supplies to his ship, mainly coal.

That evening, Sanjo Sanemi committed suicide by disembowelment in front of the Imperial Palace.

In fact, before Chen Zhengwei arrived, Japan was preparing to form a cabinet, and this time Sanjo Sanemori also signed the agreement in the name of the Prime Minister.

With his death and the establishment of a cabinet, these humiliations could be left to the old government.

From this point of view, Sanjo Sanemi also has good intentions.

After all, someone has to take responsibility for such a big thing.

And Saneyoshi Saneyoshi was willing to use his life to pave a way for this country and his family.

……

The next morning, newspapers came out one after another.

Early in the morning, the streets of Tokyo were filled with the sounds of newspaper vendors.

"The New Black Ship Incident" and "The Left Minister's Severance of Severance"!

Some Japanese bought newspapers and read them quickly while standing on the street, then showed angry looks on their faces.

The warriors who wore traditional hair styles shouted angrily, "This is a shame that must be washed away! Since he dared to commit seppuku, why didn't he just kill the enemy?"

Then he went home with a grim face, took out his sword, and wanted to assassinate Chen Zhengwei.

However, before these people even walked out of the street, they were thrown into jail.

The Japanese government had long been on guard against the samurai taking advantage of the opportunity to cause chaos and give Chen Zhengwei a chance to go crazy again.

At the same time, similar reports began to spread to various countries.

It was not until a few days later that it was published in Hawaii newspapers.

After seeing the news and finding out the whole story, Hawaii's Foreign Minister Gibson sighed for a long time.

From this point of view, Chen Zhengwei is quite polite to Hawaii.

At least they found an excuse and saved some face for Hawaii.

Even a big country like Japan with a population of over 30 million is like this, so what can a small country like Hawaii do?

"Your Majesty...where are you?"

"No telegram has come back, it's still unclear!" Gibson's assistant whispered.

Gibson sighed and said nothing more.

After learning about the Hawaiian Incident, His Majesty was preparing to go to Japan to discuss matters with the Japanese Emperor again, which also included the plan of borrowing troops.

But Chen Zhengwei is in Tokyo right now.

Your Majesty is difficult to contact by telegram while overseas. I just hope you don’t run into Chen Zhengwei.

……

With the signing of the Japan-US Treaty of Amity and Reconciliation (called the Japan-US Treaty of Peace and Amity after the Black Ship Incident) and the sale of newspapers, another person was getting excited.

Shotae, King of Ryukyu.

In fact, Japan had already gradually taken control of Ryukyu, and Ryukyu had been paying tribute to the Qing Dynasty and Japan.

It was not until 1875 that Japan completely occupied Ryukyu by force, and completely annexed it in 1878, changing Ryukyu to Okinawa, and Ryukyu was destroyed.

During this period, Ryukyu had been asking the Qing Dynasty for help, but the Qing Dynasty simply ignored it.

The Ryukyu King Sho Tai was also forced to move to Tokyo and placed under house arrest.

In the past two days, the shelling outside and the buzzing news have been reaching his ears one after another. He realized that the situation has changed and was waiting anxiously.

In the morning, former Ryukyu officials came to Shangtai's residence excitedly, not avoiding the Japanese at all.

"King, we have hope!"

"Ryukyu was leased to American businessman Chen Zhengwei!"

“Although he is American, he is also Chinese!”

"We have hope this time!" Shangtai took the newspaper and read it for a long time, and tears came down.

It took him a while to calm down: "Will that person support the restoration of the Ryukyu Kingdom?"

"We have hope! The ownership of Ryukyu has not been determined yet, and Japan and the Qing Dynasty are still negotiating... Now that Japan has leased Ryukyu to Mr. Chen, we can promise him benefits, and with the support of the Qing Dynasty, we can restore our country!" said an official of the Ryukyu Kingdom with some excitement.

In fact, last year Japan was negotiating with the Qing Dynasty to hand over the northern islands to Japan, while the southern islands would be managed by the Qing Dynasty.

The Zongli Yamen also agreed.

However, the Ryukyu samurai refused to agree and committed suicide outside the Zongli Yamen. Only then did the Qing Dynasty not sign the agreement.

The handling of Ryukyu is still on hold.

In the view of Ryukyu officials, Japan now leases Ryukyu to American businessman Chen Zhengwei, who is also Chinese and would be easier to negotiate with the Qing Dynasty.

As long as they promise benefits, they might be able to help them restore their country.

It was not until noon that the Ryukyu King Shang Tai and others discovered that the Japanese soldiers who had been outside the residence had disappeared. They could no longer contain their excitement and rushed to the port to visit Chen Zhengwei.

……

Chen Zhengwei got up in the morning and went to the restaurant to eat.

After reaching a ceasefire agreement with Japan, the passenger ship entered Tokyo Bay, and Chen Zhengwei was finally able to move to another place.

This cruise ship is much more comfortable than the Warrior.

"Brother Wei, today's newspaper." Li Xiwen put the newspaper on Chen Zhengwei's desk.

It is the Nippon Gazette, Japan's largest English-language newspaper, aimed primarily at foreign businessmen in Japan.

"What's written?" Chen Zhengwei asked while eating shrimp dumplings.

"They said the most recent incident was the New Black Ship Incident, and also that the Left Minister Sanjo Sanetomi, who negotiated and signed the agreement with us, committed suicide by disembowelment in front of the Imperial Palace yesterday evening." Li Xiwen said after sitting down.

The Japanese saw this incident as a continuation of the previous Black Ship Incident, and the other party was also the United States, so it was called the New Black Ship Incident.

Chen Zhengwei threw away his chopsticks and suddenly felt that the shrimp dumplings were no longer fragrant.

"Why didn't anyone inform me about this excitement?" Chen Zhengwei said somewhat dissatisfiedly.

"I've seen everything in my life, but I've never seen anyone commit seppuku!"

"I just didn't want you to watch the fun, so I deliberately didn't tell you." Lin Changning said bluntly. "And what's there to see? Your intestines are all over the floor."

"How come it's not a good look when intestines are all over the floor?" Chen Zhengwei immediately retorted.

"Can you please not talk about such disgusting things while eating?" Lin Changning changed the subject.

Chen Zhengwei was immediately furious: "Didn't you say that?"

After dinner, Chen Zhengwei was still upset that no one had informed him to go watch the fun, and he reminded Li Xiwen:

"Tell the chef to have pig intestines for dinner! We have onions, ginger and garlic. Let's go borrow a hundred pigs from the Japanese! After borrowing the pigs, we can borrow some onions, ginger and garlic from them."

Anyway, Chen Zhengwei had no intention of giving any money.

He is also still thinking about who to send to help the Japanese build houses.

After much thought, I decided to find someone in the embassy to do this.

Three million yen, 50 yen is enough to build a house.

As for how much the person in charge can embezzle, that depends on his ability.

Chen Zhengwei has no intention of stopping others from making money.

While he was thinking about it, someone came to inform him: "Brother Wei, someone came to visit, claiming to be the King of Ryukyu."

"King of Ryukyu? This is a land I leased from Japan, where does the king come from?" Chen Zhengwei was stunned.

He really didn't know that the King of Ryukyu was still alive, and the American minister never mentioned it to him.

He rented Ryukyu and then a Ryukyu king appeared. Who would the Ryukyu people listen to then?
"Damn it, why don't these old people from the previous dynasty just die? Why are they jumping out again?" Chen Zhengwei cursed and thought to himself: "Just say I have something to do today and I'll see him tomorrow!"

"Bring me the American minister!"

The henchman immediately went out and asked someone to notify the Ryukyu King Shangtai.

The other party was a little disappointed that he didn't see Chen Zhengwei, but fortunately Chen Zhengwei agreed to meet him tomorrow.

He took the officials of the Ryukyu Kingdom back to discuss how to restore the country.

More than an hour later, American Minister John Bingham came on board.

"Mr. Chen!"

"Sit down! What's going on with the King of Ryukyu?" Chen Zhengwei asked somewhat unhappily.

When Chen Zhengwei was unhappy, John Bingham became a little scared and quickly told him everything he knew about the King of Ryukyu.

"Why didn't you tell me about this earlier?" Chen Zhengwei said unhappily. After thinking for a while, he said, "Think about it. How can we let the Japanese kill him? Or let your people pretend to be Japanese and kill him!"

"The Japanese were afraid that Ryukyu would take this opportunity to restore their country, so they assassinated the Ryukyu king! What do you think?"

"I've even thought of the script for you!"

Ryukyu is leased to Chen Zhengwei and it becomes his.

Chen Zhengwei only planned to take over Ryukyu as his foothold in East Asia, and did not plan to take over the old people of the previous dynasty in Ryukyu.

Although there is a method called "using the emperor to command the princes", Ryukyu is such a small place, why bother yourself with trouble.

It just so happens that we can now blame the Japanese.

(End of this chapter)