I assembled the strongest swordsman group.

In order to live up to the generous salary paid by Qingdeng, all the craftsmen and apprentices present worked hard and dared not slack off.

This military factory is like a giant furnace, constantly absorbing sweat, flames, and steel, and then spitting out muskets and cannons!

Qingdeng stood by the door, looking around with a sigh, and only after a long while did he step into the factory.

He toured the place while listening to the report from Yataro Iwasaki beside him.

"At present, we can produce 80 muskets and 10 cannons per month..."

Yataro Iwasaki knew what Aoto wanted to hear, so he picked out the essentials.

After listening, Qing Deng wore a self-deprecating expression:

"Only 80 muskets and 10 cannons can be produced each month... Isn't that far too little?"

Yataro Iwasaki apologized:

"I'm very sorry. This is the limit at this stage."

"Because it is a new type of equipment, the craftsmen are still not very skilled at it."

"Once the artisans have adapted and the factory has been further expanded, production will be greatly increased."

Qingdeng nodded and said earnestly:

"Yes, with war imminent, you can never have too many muskets and cannons. Mitaro, you must increase the production capacity of the military factories as soon as possible."

Yataro Iwasaki responded with a serious expression:

"Yes!"

Suddenly, Qing Deng's facial features relaxed slightly, revealing a calm smile.

"Yitaro, you did a great job."

As he spoke, he reached out and patted Iwasaki Yataro on the shoulder.

"I've seen all your hard work."

"You've worked really hard to build this military factory in such a short time."

Upon hearing Qing Deng's praise, Iwasaki Yataro immediately pursed his lips, his expression dominated by intense excitement.

"Mr. Ju, it's my duty!"

“I am not like Deputy Chief Tufang or Director Shannan, who are wise men who can win battles from afar.”

"Unlike Director Kondo and Captain Okita, they are not swordsmen who can take on a thousand men single-handedly."

"All I can do is use the limited knowledge in my mind to wholeheartedly enhance Qin Jin's national strength!"

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It's almost the end of the month again! Readers with monthly passes, please be sure to vote for this book! (crying leopard head.jpg)

Please vote with monthly tickets! Please vote with recommendation tickets! (Leopard crying.jpg)

P.S.: The historical "Gongshan Temple uprising" is utterly absurd, as fantastical as an African coup. I'll dedicate a separate chapter to discuss it in detail later.

Chapter 1028 Changes in Choshu! Katsura Kogoro Regains Power! [4500]

Building a modern military factory and mastering the ability to manufacture guns and cannons independently—Qingdeng had always kept this in mind since being granted the fief of Otsu.

As a time traveler, he knew all too well what it felt like to be "held hostage."

Entrusting vital trade matters to outsiders is tantamount to putting your own neck under their knife—whether or not they strike is entirely up to them.

If the seller raises the price, you can only endure it; if the seller closes the transaction, you can only suffer in silence.

The Western powers of today are in a period of "wild growth of capital," each more ruthless and cruel than the last, capable of anything in order to seize profits.

In fact, Qing Deng has recently received reliable intelligence that the activities of the United Kingdom, France, and Russia in Japan have become more frequent.

Russia has set its sights on the land of Aizo, attempting to further expand its territory.

England and France were also eager to make their move—both wanted to dominate Japan, partly to expand their colonial territories and partly to contain Russia's eastward expansion.

Currently, France is closer to the Shogunate.

Meanwhile, England, as always, demonstrated its ability to "stir things up"—seeing that the Shogunate was getting close to France, they went to contact Satsuma!

One of the secrets to "stirring up trouble" is to maintain a balance.

Neither side can be too strong, nor can either side be too weak.

At present, the strongest and closest to unifying Japan is undoubtedly Aoto.

Therefore, in order to weaken Qingdao and make it easier for them to continue "stirring up trouble," the Western powers are very likely to resort to some underhanded tricks to cause problems for Qingdao...

The guns and cannons currently used by the Shinsengumi are all purchased from arms dealers introduced by the Hulu House.

Although the transaction is currently going well, with money being exchanged and goods being received on the spot, there's no guarantee that something might go wrong in the future.

For example, pressure from England or France could have caused this arms dealer to stop selling weapons to the Shinsengumi.

Without a stable supply of guns and cannons, the Shinsengumi's military equipment would instantly regress to the level of the Sengoku period...

At that time, let alone defeating the various vassal states of the West and unifying the world, even self-preservation would be a problem.

Such a hidden danger, like the Sword of Damocles, hangs over Qingdeng's head at all times, making him dare not slack off.

As early as the beginning of the establishment of the Qinjin Domain, he regarded "building a modern military factory" as the highest strategy of the Qinjin Domain.

In short—we'd rather have slightly lower quality and lower output than lose the ability to produce guns and cannons on our own!

Aoto entrusted this important task to Iwasaki Yataro, who was skilled in management.

Yataro Iwasaki always strictly obeyed Aoto's orders without any ambiguity.

He selected capable cadres from the newly elected chamber of commerce to form a special "military factory team".

In addition to concentrating all the resources within the domain, Aoto also sought help from Kinoshita Rin.

As an ally of the Qin Jin Domain, no matter how you look at it, the Hulu House absolutely deserves the reputation of "selling out its head to support"!

Faced with Qing Deng's request, Kinoshita Rin (the owner of the gourd house and A-Wu's grandmother) immediately started "splurging money" without saying a word.

Not only did he provide financial support to Qin Jinfan, but he also used his personal connections to hire many foreign experts as consultants—the former aside, the latter was exactly what Qingdeng needed most.

Although Aoto is quite influential in Japan now, he is completely lost overseas and can't even find a single acquaintance.

Fortunately, Kinoshita Rin was there to make up for his weakness.

She has a very extensive network of contacts overseas, including several arms dealers.

The guns currently used by the Shinsengumi are the M1861 muzzle-loading rifled gun and the Parrot rifled cannon.

To make it easier for the Shinsengumi members to use, the guns and cannons that Hatazu Domain copied were these two weapons.

Under the scientific management of Yataro Iwasaki and the strict guidance of foreign advisors, the construction of the military factory progressed extremely rapidly.

Both the construction of the production line and the training of craftsmen went very smoothly.

Finally... Yataro Iwasaki lived up to his mission, and the long-awaited Hatajin Military Factory was finally completed!

Although current production is lackluster, with only 80 rifles and 10 cannons produced per month, the quality is excellent, and it is still a breakthrough "from 0 to 1".

Of all things under heaven, the beginning is the hardest.

Once the initial accumulation is complete, subsequent progress will be much smoother.

The current low production levels are mainly due to a shortage of skilled artisans.

This is the most advanced gun at the time... its precision is far beyond what matchlock guns and the like could match.

The technology tree evolved too much, jumping directly from matchlock guns and bronze cannons to muzzle-loading rifled guns and rifled cannons, and the craftsmen's skills couldn't keep up.

Even the master arquebus makers were bewildered upon seeing these two weapons, unsure how to replicate them.

The number of artisans determines the level of output.

In order to increase the number of craftsmen, Qingdeng offered extremely generous salaries to attract craftsmen from all over the country, and also gathered apprentices who were interested in the forging industry for intensive training.

Once the number of skilled craftsmen increases, production capacity will naturally increase rapidly.

It was truly fortunate that the construction and operation of the military factory could be completed at this critical juncture when the "East-West War" was about to break out.

Qingdeng was very satisfied with today's inspection.

With a heart full of excitement, he slowly left the factory accompanied by Yataro Iwasaki.

Just then, a member of the Ninth Division came running towards them.

"My lord."

He gave Qingdeng a slight bow, then leaned close to his ear and whispered something quickly before stepping aside with a serious expression.

In an instant, Qing Deng's facial expression underwent a subtle change—all because the other party said this: "There has been a change in Changzhou."

"Yitaro, I'll go ahead now."

Knowing that something urgent had happened, Yataro Iwasaki nodded vigorously.

"Yes!"

After saying goodbye to Yataro Iwasaki, Aoto rushed back to the Tachibana residence without stopping.

……

……

Otsu, Tachibana Mansion, Aoto's office—

"What? The 'conventional school' has lost its momentum?"

So surprised was Qing Deng that he involuntarily raised his voice.

Standing directly opposite him, Yamazaki Susumu (the vice-captain of the Ninth Division) lowered his head and responded in a deep voice:

"The elite force led by Katsura Kogoro has breached Hagi Castle."

"According to the latest information we have, the officials of the 'conventional faction' escaped Hagi Castle in disguise before the castle fell."

"However... during their escape, they were captured by the elite troops and almost none survived."