I started with the Shinsengumi in Bakumatsu

Chapter 155: Overturning the table and preparing for a naval battle
Japan's intention to cancel the Dutch's tariff privileges was not concealed very deeply. Both Britain and the Netherlands knew about it.

In fact, Prussia and Tsarist Russia were the first to know. Anyway, the privileges of the Netherlands were canceled, and the Netherlands was basically Britain's lackluster. In addition, Japan was immediately an ally of Prussia and was a relative of the Tsar, so it was natural to favor Japan. .

The British and Dutch also found out about it through Shimazu Hisamitsu of Satsuma. The Dutch reacted most violently to Japan's move.

Van Poels, the Dutch minister to Japan, immediately approached the English ambassador Parkes for discussion.

"Mr. Parkesli, Yagyu Heeyan clearly doesn't take the British Empire seriously. He thinks that with the support of the United States, Russia and Prussia, he wants to overturn it!
Mr. Parkes, I think this matter must be suppressed. Today seems to be an attack on me, the Netherlands, but to a certain extent, isn't it a temptation?

Today it’s me, the Netherlands, next time it might be the British Empire. We must guard against Yagyu Hee’s arrogant ambition! "

Parkes felt that what Van Poles said was very reasonable. Yagyu Nobita was very smart, and compared to the people of Satsuma Domain, he was difficult to control.

In fact, he was very dissatisfied with Yagyu Kigeon's actions in alliance with Prussia. He originally left Japan in order to entangle them with Tsarist Russia, but now it seems that this is not the case at all.

Yagyu Heiyan is resisting their control. Once Japan is allowed to grow, it will be a hidden danger for Daying.

"It's time to teach Yagyu Heeyan a lesson. We have to let him know who has the final say in the world."

Van Bols was overjoyed and asked quickly: "Mr. Parkes, as long as the Far East Fleet takes action, our Dutch fleet in Dutch India will attack immediately!"

Parkes shook his head and said: "If I want the Far East Fleet to take action, I have to report it to the cabinet. It's been more than half a year since this happened.

Well, you go to the French. They have been dissatisfied with Yagyu Hiyan for more than a day or two. Recently, Japan and Vietnam are doing arms business. If you tell the French about this, they will take action. "

Van Bols was a little confused, but he didn't think about it further. His purpose was to deal with Japan. As for England's purpose, it had nothing to do with him.

England is worthy of being a troublemaker in Europe. Even if it was to attack Japan, Parkes did not want to do it himself. Instead, he asked the Netherlands to instigate France, so that the conflict between France and Prussia would become deeper and deeper. This was almost like clapping his hands and shouting: Fight stand up!

Even if Van Bols figured it out, he wouldn't tell France.

Van Poles met the French ambassador Roches.

Roches thought that Van Bols came because Japan was going to cancel its tariff privileges, so he was not in a hurry to talk to Van Bols about it.

But Van Pols turned to say: "Mr. Roches, did you know that Japan has purchased another batch of arms from the United States? They are all weapons for the American Civil War."

Roches was a little confused and asked: "What's wrong? Is there any problem with this?"

Van Bols smiled and said: "The problem here is huge. The new Japanese government army uses Prussian weapons and has no use for the arms sold by the United States. I heard that these arms are actually sold to It was given to the Qing Dynasty and neighboring countries such as Vietnam."

When Roches heard this, his expression changed.

What is Japan going to do?The enemy who sold arms to me is really going against the grain!
Roches was very angry. Although I, France, am not very kind to you, Japan, you are ungrateful by doing this!

He suppressed his anger and said: "How did you know the news that I don't even know?"

Van Pols then complained: "We in the Netherlands have been in Japan for more than 200 years, so we naturally have friends here. Moreover, Mr. Roaches should know that Japan wants to cancel our tariff privileges, which we cannot tolerate.

Mr. Roches, your country's attitude towards Japan is not good now. The cancellation of our Dutch privileges this time is just a test for other countries. Once successful, it may be your country's turn next time. "

Roches was very angry, but he was not carried away by the anger, but his arrogance made him still despise Japan. This was the confidence of France, the European hegemon.

But to deal with Japan, we have to send troops. With the strength of French warships, there will definitely be no problem, but there will be losses and Yagyu Heige is a tough guy.

There is no direct stake, and it is difficult to mobilize troops to directly suppress Japan.

However, he is not helpless. Japan's shipment of arms to Vietnam has caused trouble for France. The governor of Vietnam will definitely be willing to take action against Japan.

Roches nodded slightly and said: "We will teach Japan a lesson. Your fleet is waiting for our news and we will take action together."

Roches' idea was to tell the Governor of Vietnam that the Governor of Vietnam would definitely let Spain take action again. Spain and the Netherlands also had twenty steam warships, plus a French steam three-masted battleship, which was enough to deal with the Japanese navy.

Britain, France and other countries have been keeping an eye on Japan, and Yagyu Heiyan also arranged for secret police to keep an eye on each other's every move.

The fact that the Dutch minister met with the British and French ambassadors was quickly sent to Yagyu's office desk. He couldn't help but frown when he looked at the information.

Van Pols first met with Parkes. If England had intervened, Van Pols would not have gone to see the French ambassador Roches.

It seems that the arms trade was discovered after all.Van Bols came out of the French Embassy briskly, which shows that France will intervene. With France's strength, Japan is definitely not an opponent, but it can bite off a piece of meat.

France will not go to war. After all, France is also internally unstable now. Due to economic problems, Napoleon III compromised with Parliament and gave up the power to freely borrow money during the recess of Parliament. He agreed that the budget should be voted on item by item.

However, he retained the power to amend the budget item by item to prevent financial power from completely falling into the hands of members. This move angered many members.

A political alliance was formed by a diverse opposition that included Catholics dissatisfied with papal policies, Legitimists, Orleanists, Protectionists, and some republicans.

In addition, the failure of the French army in Mexico and the failure to invest in the Tokugawa Shogunate further undermined Napoleon III's position.

Furthermore, after the United States resolved the Civil War, it immediately supported the Mexican rebels in their fight against France. In addition to providing them with weapons, the United States also sent warships to establish a blockade in Mexican waters to prevent the French garrison from being supported.

Later, the United States threatened France and demanded that France withdraw its troops, otherwise it would intervene militarily in Mexico. Napoleon III therefore withdrew his troops in 1866, so the relationship between the two countries was not very friendly.

Thinking of this, Yagyu thought that France would not attack the Japanese mainland for the time being, but it would definitely teach Japan a lesson, so the fleet heading to Vietnam would be the opponent's target.

As for the opponents, France, Spain and the Netherlands are certain. It depends on whether England will intervene.

Yagyu immediately secretly summoned Kondo Isamu and asked him to inquire about Parkes' actions. At the same time, he arranged for the Osaka Bay fleet to go to Kyushu under the pretext of training to be on standby.

After thinking clearly about the enemy, Yagyu has decided that this battle must be fought. This is the battle for the founding of the country!
According to the saying of the great man, if you hit with one punch, you will avoid hundreds of punches. As long as you win this naval battle, it will be enough to make the Western countries look at Japan.

It's not that Yagyu looks down on the Netherlands and Spain. These two countries are not very strong. The reason why they still have colonies is just that Britain, France and other countries did not take action.

The Spanish fleet in Manila only has five steam warships. The largest one is the Jiazi, with a tonnage of less than [-] tons. The other dozen or so are just steam-powered wooden ships with a tonnage of less than [-] tons.

As for the Dutch fleet of more than [-] ships, it is more powerful than Spain.

As for Japan's navy, it has a slight advantage.

The first are the two main battleships, the Keio, an ironclad ship of more than [-] tons, and the Jiazi, an ironclad ship of more than [-] tons.

There are more than thirty steam warships collected by the shogunate and various feudal lords. Each warship is basically about a thousand tons.

There are more than a dozen steam warships of eight to nine hundred tons left.

This is the composition of the Japanese Navy.

There are a total of 58 warships, which far exceeds the Netherlands and Spain in terms of tonnage. In addition, the warships are all steam three-masted iron warships, which are several levels stronger than Spain, the most arrogant.

It's just that the naval tactics and experience of Spain and the Netherlands are much stronger than that of Japan, and with the addition of France, an uncertain factor, this battle may be a [-]-[-] split.

But Yagyu has made up his mind to fight the opponent even if he loses everything.

He had already planned to strike first. Although he did not know how many warships France would send to the site for the time being, he had a way to find out.

The French warships are still stationed in southern Vietnam. It is enough for the local Vietnamese to keep an eye on the movements of the French warships.

He immediately wrote a letter, recalling Ryoma Sakamoto, and then summoned Takehiro Enomoto and others, announcing to the outside world that he was going to Nagasaki to watch the Japanese navy's drills. The intention announced internally was to frighten the Netherlands and pave the way for the abolition of the Dutch tariff privileges.

Such a move caused France and the Netherlands to speed up their actions. The French Governor of Vietnam agreed to dispatch a steam ironclad of more than 5000 tons to participate in the battle.

At the same time, Spain will also take the initiative to use the Manila Fleet. Four percent of the spoils obtained in this battle will be given to Spain, [-] percent to France, and [-] percent to the Netherlands.

Now we just have to wait for the Japanese fleet to arrive in Vietnam and return to transport coal and iron. They will intercept it halfway and eat all the cargo and ship.

However, before the war started, Britain and France had other actions.

French Ambassador Roches repeatedly rebuked the radical behavior of the Yagyu cabinet and demanded that Yagyu not cancel the Dutch tariff privileges.

On the other side, Parkes began to win over Yagyu's opposition, and they planned to cultivate new agents after the collapse of Yagyu's cabinet.

The actions of Britain and France made everyone feel that a storm was coming.

　758099171 previously wrote about the Japanese Warring States Period and formed a book club. If you are interested, you can add it.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)