I started with the Shinsengumi in Bakumatsu

Chapter 91 The First Naval Construction
Komatsu Kato of the Satsuma Domain originally thought that Yagyu would be troubled by the assassination of a police officer. He also wanted to see Yagyu and Hitotsubashi Yoshiki and other shogunate forces hurt each other. As a result, Yagyu solved all the troubles in just one night.

Hitotsubashi Keki and others have reduced their power and seem to no longer fight with Yagyu, and Kawakami Hikosai, who assassinated the police officer, was also beheaded by Yagyu last night.

Now there are no more ronin on the streets of Kyoto who want to fight against the invaders. Those ronin seem to have disappeared.

Komatsu Daito can only hope that Takasugi Shinsaku of the Choshu Domain can win the feudal government, so that the Satsuma Domain no longer has to fight alone.

However, Okubo Toshimichi was a little worried and said: "The Choshu Domain was attacked by Britain, France, the United States and the Netherlands and suffered heavy losses. I don't know whether Takasugi Shinsaku, Katsura Kogoro and the others can succeed."

Komatsu took the knife and strengthened his confidence: "It must be possible."

Yagyu didn't pay attention to the small moves of the Satsuma clan. He asked Takeda Kanryusai to take over Shannan Keisuke's position and lead the tax bureau. He took Shannan Keisuke and his party to Osaka and took over two steam warships that were half sold and half given away by Western countries.

One ship was made in Britain and was named Yuanji by Yanagi. This ship was a replica of the Nemesis. It had a displacement of 56.1 tons, a length of 8.8 meters, a width of 1.8 meters, and a draft of 2 meters. Its weapons included two 32-pound howitzers and six 6-pounder guns, four [-]-pounder guns.

The other is an American imitation steam ironclad ship, named Jiazi, with a total length of 60.0 meters, a waterline length of 55.78 meters, a width of 9.00 meters, a bow draft of 4.20 meters, a stern draft of 4.60 meters, and a standard displacement of 1358 tons.

船上装备1门300磅（11英寸）阿姆斯特朗滑膛炮，2门70磅（5英寸）阿姆斯特朗炮，2门6磅炮和2门4磅炮。

The power part adopts steam-sail hybrid power, two 2-horsepower reciprocating steam engines, dual shafts, and a maximum speed of 600 knots.

Carrying 200 tons of coal, it has an endurance of 9 nautical miles at 1200 knots.

Compared with the steam warships owned by the shogunate, the navy currently established by Yagyu only has two ships, and the tonnage is thousands of tons less than the shogunate. However, the steam ironclad ship delivered by the United States is far more powerful than the several steam warships of the shogunate. .

Yagyu took Shannan Keisuke and a group of naval cadets to board the Koshi. The cadets looked at the equipment on the ship and the artillery on the deck, and they were very excited.

"We finally have our own warship!"

"This is our own navy!"

"Long live Lord Yagyu!"

Yagyu looked at the excited naval cadets and happily said to Shannan Keisuke: "Although our battleships are still not as good as those of the Western countries, as long as we work hard, we can catch up sooner or later.

Keisuke, apart from Kanryuzai, you are the only one who has studied the navy. I will hand over this navy to you. Next, you will use these two battleships to cultivate our navy. "

Shannan Keisuke lowered his head and saluted: "Don't worry, Director, I will definitely work hard to cultivate an excellent navy!"

"Go and try it!"

The naval cadets immediately assigned people to take the sailors to the boiler room to burn coal and start the warship.

"Woooooooo..."

As smoke plumes erupted from the chimneys on the deck, the huge whistle covered all the shouts, and then the battleship began to move forward slowly and left the Osaka port.

Arriving at the Seto Inland Sea, Yagyu also asked the students to test the power of the artillery.

"Boom boom boom..."

The shell fell into the sea and suddenly hit a water column tens of meters high.

Yagyu clapped his hands and applauded: "Very good, I will arrange for people to learn from you as soon as possible. In this way, when the other five steam warships are in place, we can form the first fleet of the navy." This time, the warships came with them. What's more, it's more factory machines. Now, Yagyu's ironworks, shipyards and other heavy industries can be opened.

A large number of idle people were recruited into factories to become workers.

However, the resources Yagyu needed required the cooperation of the shogunate and the Satsuma clan.First of all, there is abundant iron ore in Morioka Domain. Yagyu's iron smelting plant needs to purchase iron ore from Morioka Domain. Without the cooperation of the shogunate, Morioka Domain may not dare to sell iron ore.

In addition, the domestic coal mines in Japan are mainly in Kyushu and Hokkaido. The current development of Hokkaido is not comprehensive, so Yagyu has to purchase coal from Satsuma Domain in Kyushu and Nagasaki.

Fortunately, Yagyu had already shown his intentions in order to stabilize Hitotsubashi Keiki. The purchase of iron ore was not a big problem. The biggest trouble was the Satsuma Domain.

Yagyu decided to take a curveball to save the country.

After Yagyu returned from Osaka, he immediately entered the palace and reported to the emperor: "Your Majesty, all the things that the Western countries have funded us have been put in place. I have recruited workers and are preparing for production. However, iron smelting plants and other factories need a lot of coal. I hope I can buy it from Satsuma Domain.”

Emperor Takamei also knew that the current situation was that of the Satsuma clan, with the imperial court and the shogunate standing in a three-legged relationship. He immediately agreed: "Yagyu Ai-kun, please wait a moment. I will ask Lord Nijo to come forward to help you negotiate with Lord Shimazu of Satsuma."

The emperor asked Nijo to come forward, and Shimazu Hisamitsu could only receive Yagyu.

Yagyu went straight to the point: "Shimadzu-sama, now that the imperial court has implemented reforms, factories funded by Western countries have also opened. On behalf of the imperial court, I plan to purchase coal from Satsuma Domain. I wonder what Shimadzu-sama would like?"

Shimazu Hisamitsu glanced at Nijo Saiki, then looked at Komatsu Daito, who shook his head slightly.

Hisamitsu Shimazu said: “The amount of coal we produce is limited.”

Yagyu immediately said: "Then the imperial court can purchase machines from overseas and send people to mine the coal mines of Satsuma Domain. How about that?"

Nijo Saikei also followed up and said: "Shimazu-sama, is Satsuma more important than the imperial court?"

The reason why Nijo Saikei helped was because Yagyu offered to use part of the proceeds as the minister's salary. Therefore, for the sake of his own interests, Nijo Saikei naturally helped Yagyu first.

Komatsu said hurriedly with his sword: "Nijo-sama has misunderstood. The Satsuma Domain will immediately increase production and provide it to the court first."

Yagyu took out a contract from his arms and said: "We will sign a contract in accordance with the Western contract. The contract will be given to His Majesty the Emperor for preview and seal."

Shimazu Hisamitsu could only sell coal to Yagyu cheaply.

After solving the problems of coal and iron mines, Yagyu waited for the steel factory to produce good steel to build railways.

This first railway is planned to run from Kyoto to Osaka and then to Kobe, which is about four to five hundred miles.

These things can only be arranged next year.

Before that, he had to discuss the specific route of the railway with the ministers of Britain, France and the United States, and then he had to acquire land to ensure the smooth flow of the route.

This matter would probably cause some commotion, and he would have to arrange for people to ensure railway safety.

Yagyu gradually promoted the westernization of Kyoto and Osaka, which caused the Satsuma clan to step up its pace and promoted Sakamoto Ryoma to assist Takasugi Shinsaku. Drastic changes in Choshu were just around the corner.

(End of this chapter)