I started with the Shinsengumi in Bakumatsu

Chapter 230 Retaking the Ogasawara Islands

For a fleet to develop sufficient combat effectiveness, it requires accumulated training over a long period of time.

The only naval battle the Japanese Navy has really experienced is the Battle of the Beibu Gulf. As for the battle with the French battleships, the battleships had been damaged and did not have much combat effectiveness, so it was not a large sea battle.

As for the Battle of Beibu Gulf, it was also an ambush carefully planned by Yagyu. The wolf pack tactics used were not tactics of the battleship era.

Therefore, the combat quality of the Japanese navy is not as good as that of the old naval powers Britain and France.

Even Germany, which participated in the plan, started from scratch in terms of navy.

Of course, the situation in Germany is better than that in Japan.

Fleet training must start from the basics, and the training content also draws on the naval training manuals of Britain and France.

The training focuses of the two navies are different, and Yagyu doesn't know much about the specific content of the navy, so he leaves it to Ryoma Sakamoto and Takehiro Enomoto to research and customize a training manual suitable for the Japanese navy.

The treatment in the Navy is much better than that in the Army, but the conditions on the ship are relatively difficult, so the soldiers can only make up for their emotions through food.

Yagyu sailed with the flagship Fuso and witnessed the training of the navy. Only by understanding the combat effectiveness of the navy can he formulate a diplomatic strategy that suits the national conditions.

The current Fuso has basically met some standards of the pre-dreadnought era. If the tonnage and gun caliber can be increased to become a battleship of more than 10,000 tons, it will be a pre-dreadnought class battleship.

With the help of experts from Krupp Company, the military factory developed the first-generation single-base gunpowder in half a year, which was dozens of times more powerful than maroon gunpowder.

Copper artillery shells equipped with single-base gunpowder can hit targets about eight kilometers away. If the caliber is increased to more than 300 millimeters, it is enough to hit targets about fifteen kilometers away.

Therefore, Yagyu asked the Navy Ministry to develop a fifth battleship with a tonnage of more than 10,000 tons and a main gun caliber of more than 250 millimeters.

The power system will also be innovated on this battleship, and the developed internal combustion engine will be used.

It is initially decided to use a kerosene internal combustion engine and will replace it when a diesel internal combustion engine is developed.

The petrochemical industry has just started in the world and is not taken seriously, but Yagyu has invested heavily in this aspect.

In the past few months, chemical engineers have made theoretical breakthroughs in petroleum research. I believe it will not be long before they can conduct separation experiments on petroleum types.

Once diesel is produced, the diesel internal combustion engine will be available within two years at most.

This is the benefit of knowing the historical development process and not going astray.

Navy training is quite boring. Yagyu spends most of his time watching the fleet sail, changing formations, and then firing at targets.

Everyone trains repeatedly day after day, just to develop muscle memory, so that when the war comes, there will be no problems due to panic.

Yagyu doesn't have to watch all the time. He also needs to process documents sent from various places on the ship.

The fleet usually sails for three days before returning to the military port. At this time, Yagyu will send the processed documents back to Hakodate and hand them over to Hijikata Toshizo for reporting to Kyoto.

Although there is some lag in decision-making, given Japan's current national conditions, this level is just right.

There is news about Tokugawa Kei's note to the US ambassador, but the US ambassador still has not given in.

Yagyu was not surprised by this. After all, this was the fourth American ambassador sent by the United States. He was rather arrogant and looked down upon Japan. It was reasonable to have such an attitude.

He has given up the idea of ​​negotiating. To deal with such a person, he must take practical actions to express his attitude.

Fortunately, the fleet has been well-organized and there will no longer be any ships falling behind due to speed and other issues.

Now the fleet's sailing is in order and it is enough to go to war.

Moreover, the news just came that the United States suffered a defeat in the Kingdom of Korea. Although it defeated an army of the Kingdom of Korea, it failed to force the founding of the Kingdom of Korea. It can be seen that the main energy of the United States is now at home.

After all, it had only been six years since the Civil War. The previous president, Andrew Johnson, did not solve domestic problems very well. The current president, Ulysses Simpson Grant, did not do a good job in solving domestic problems.

He attacked Richmond in 1865, forcing the Union Army to surrender and ending the war. He was known as the "Unconditional Surrenderer" and the "Hero of Appomattox."

However, Grant, like Johnson, was politically immature, and many problems were a mess. It is no wonder that Johnson reused Grant and promoted him to the first general of the United States.

Both of them started the reconstruction plan of the United States and maintained a neutral attitude towards foreign countries. During the Grant administration, they chose a wait-and-see attitude towards the Franco-Prussian War and did not take an overly tough attitude towards the colonies.

Facing the Korean Kingdom that refused to bow, it was nothing.

Yagyu decided to take back the Ogasawara Islands.

This is the most important thing in the telegram sent back to Kyoto.

People who moved to the Ogasawara Islands can be recruited in the Tohoku region, or they can be recruited by the cabinet around Kyoto.

In addition, officials, supplies and ships must be organized to go to the Ogasawara Islands, and the naval fleet will provide escort tasks.

After the cabinet received the telegram, Okubo Toshimichi immediately asked the Ministry of Interior and the Ministry of Finance to take joint action to provide Yagyu with the people, ships and supplies he needed.

In less than half a month, a fleet of 20 officials, more than 500 people, and ten ships left Osaka, sailed along the eastern coastline, and arrived in Hakodate, Hokkaido a few days later.

Yagyu's side recruited more than 1,500 farmers in the Mutsu area, plus more than 500 people sent by the cabinet, for a total of 2,000 people.

After everything was ready, Yagyu personally led the fleet to escort the fleet to the Ogasawara Islands.

According to the route map provided by the shogunate, the fleet arrived at the main island of the Ogasawara Islands, which was named Ogasawara Island according to the data.

Ogasawara Island has a land area of ​​24 square kilometers, which is not large, and the cultivated land area is less than 3,000 acres. It is still a bit stressful to live with more than 2,100 people.

However, Ogasawara Island is not the only island in the Ogasawara Islands that can be inhabited. Hundreds of people can also live in the nearby Hajima Island, and hundreds of people can also live in Iwo Jima, a few hundred kilometers to the south.

However, the fleet could not land, so they could only send small boats to bring the relocated people to the island, build simple residences, and then build a port at Futamiura.

Futami Port is a deep-water port that can berth ships of several thousand tons.

As long as Futami Port is built, Japan will have unimpeded access to the Ogasawara Islands.

However, so many people appeared on Ogasawara Island, and the commotion was too great. Horace, an American, and Louis, a Frenchman living on Ogasawara Island, heard the news and immediately came to protest with a few strong men.

Horace and Louis looked down on the Japanese because they were Americans and French. They came to the Japanese camp and said arrogantly: "This is not the place you should be, leave now!"

The sentry couldn't understand what the two people in front of him were talking about, but the looks in their eyes made him feel very uncomfortable.

He directly raised his gun and shouted: "Baga, get back quickly, or I will shoot!"

Horace and others also took out their guns and cursed: "Sunshine Beach, do you know who we are? If you hurt me, the United States (France) will definitely punish Japan!" "Back off, I will shoot if you don't back off." Shot!"

When the sentry saw the other party drawing his gun, he instantly became nervous, and the war was about to break out.

Fortunately, an official saw the situation and came over. He understood English and immediately stepped forward and said: "Gentlemen, stay calm."

He turned back to the sentry and said, "I'll talk to them first."

When Horace saw that there were Japanese people who could speak English, he immediately complained: "Japanese, this is not the place you should come to, leave now!"

Kitaro Ikeda said seriously: "Sir, you are wrong. The Ogasawara Islands have been our country's territory since ancient times."

Horace laughed in anger and immediately cursed: "You are so shameless. My father lived here decades ago and has never seen a Japanese!"

Kitaro Ikeda replied: "This territory was recorded as land by the Tokugawa family two hundred years ago. Did you pay taxes decades ago?"

"Fake!"

Horace gritted his teeth and couldn't help but want to take action, but there were many people on the other side, so he could only say: "I will tell the US government about this matter, and I will see how you face the anger of the United States!"

"You can do it yourself, but before that, you need to register with us and pay taxes."

Kitaro Ikeda smiled slightly proudly.

"No way, Fake Squid!"

Horace and Louis cursed and left.

Kitaro Ikeda looked at the backs of several people and sneered: "These people are really ignorant. Send a few people to follow them and find their settlement. Then we will pay a visit."

Horace and others did not expect Japan's move to be so bold.

The next day, a company of soldiers, led by Kitaro Ikeda, surrounded the settlement of Horace and Louis.

This is the size of a small village, with a population of less than a hundred, and they all look like foreigners.

When they saw the armed troops, they immediately went into chaos. Horace pretended to be calm and stepped forward to ask: "What do you want to do? Are you crazy?"

Kitaro Ikeda smiled and said: "Mr. Horace, on behalf of the Japanese government, I tell you once again that this is Japanese territory, Ogasawara Township. I hope you can register as soon as possible, otherwise we will treat you as illegal residents and deport you."

How can Horace stand this kind of anger? You know, when the Perry fleet returned home, he said that the United States had forced Japan to open its doors and sign unequal treaties.

Although a passing ship told him that Japan was undergoing reform, it had only been a few years and no matter how reformed, Japan could not be stronger than the United States. He must come back with revenge.

Louis thought so too.

The group was eventually escorted onto a ship and returned to Kyoto, where the cabinet notified the new French and American ambassadors to pick them up.

Horace and Louis immediately complained to both countries about the matter.

However, France had just experienced a disastrous defeat and was still burdened with war reparations. The political struggle across the country had just ended, and its domestic policies were also fully contracted to restore national strength.

Therefore, we can only choose to settle down on the Ogasawara Islands.

It was different here in the United States. The American ambassador immediately came to Tokugawa Yingxi to complain.

Tokugawa Yoshiki said directly: "The Prime Minister of our country has led the fleet to land on the Ogasawara Islands, and has established the scope of the islands and established a national boundary monument.

Even if your country invites other countries to communicate, we will not retreat a step. We have enough evidence to prove that the Ogasawara Islands are our inherent territory. "

"Just wait, the United States will never allow such a thing to happen!"

The American ambassador put down his harsh words and left.

However, after such things were reported back to the United States, Grant was worried about domestic affairs. As for things like the Ogasawara Islands, they could only be said to be trivial matters. The United States did not have the energy to entangle with Japan, so Grant could only tell the U.S. ambassador that this matter could be compromised.

The American ambassador felt a little humiliated, but Washington had decided that he could only follow the instructions. However, he did not directly admit defeat. Instead, he fought for compensation for Horace.

"Horace's family has been operating on the island for decades, and now you let him leave. He has suffered a lot of losses, and the Japanese government must compensate him."

After the third negotiation, the US ambassador relented and gave conditions.

Tokugawa Qingxi didn't know Yagyu's intention and said: "I need to report this to the Prime Minister."

The U.S. ambassador frowned and said, "As long as the compensation is one hundred thousand dollars, do we still need to ask for instructions?"

Tokugawa Kexi did not relent, he told Okubo Toshimichi about the matter, and Okubo Toshimichi said directly: "In my name, I agree to the conditions this time."

Tokugawa Qingxi said to himself: You are very good at flattering me.

Paying compensation to the Americans, no matter how big or small, to the uninformed citizens, is equivalent to the Japanese government, which has always been strong, bowing to other countries, which will definitely cause dissatisfaction among the citizens.

If Okubo Toshimichi took over this matter in his own name, the infamy would fall on him. In comparison, the prestige of Yagyu Nobita, who forcibly recaptured the Ogasawara Islands, would not be damaged.

This was Okubo Toshimichi's way of repaying the favor of Yagyu Hien for his promotion.

Tokugawa Yingxi originally wanted to see Yagyu Heiyan's prestige damaged in this matter.

However, both Okubo Toshimichi and Tokugawa Yoshiki were wrong.

After the United States gave up the fight for the Ogasawara Islands, the Kyoto Daily News immediately published a headline claiming that the Japanese government had re-administered the Ogasawara Islands.

"This is further proof of Japan's strength!"

"Not even a powerful country like America dares to compete with Japan!"

"Number one in Asia, the light of Asia!"

Under the propaganda of newspapers, the citizens only know that the powerful United States has also given in. That is the powerful country that forced Japan to found a country. Now it has to communicate with Japan on an equal footing. What a prosperous era it is!

The excited citizens ignored the Japanese government's compensation of $100,000 to Horace.

Parkes looked at the newspaper, frowned and said: "The United States is really useless. It handed over the Ogasawara Islands so easily. These country bumpkins are really useless."

Although Parkes looked down on the United States, Japan today worried him.

(End of this chapter)