】

Emperor Tonghito, Seki Hakutaka Shifuxi, Kujo Naotada (the former Seki Haku, the leader of the Samu faction), Sanjo Sanimi (the leader of the Zunbaku faction)... the big shots of the imperial court gathered together.

They sat in front of Tokugawa Iemo and on the left and right sides in order according to their status.

Compared with the "power in numbers" on the imperial court's side, Tokugawa Iemo's side was really weak.

The only people who accompanied Tokugawa Iemo here were Keiki Hitotsubashi and Matsudaira Harugaku - but unfortunately, both of them were political enemies of Tokugawa Iemo.

For a summit meeting of this level, even Qingdeng, who is the governor of Gyeonggi Province and the chief minister of the Ministry of War, is not qualified to participate.

Ichihashi Keiki and Matsudaira Harugaku sat on the left and right sides of Tokugawa Iemo, and the three of them formed a "pin" shape.

There are many people on one side and few people on the other side.

One side is sitting in a semi-surrounded position, while the other side is in the dilemma of being defended.

This situation, this scene, does not look like a debate at all, but more like an interrogation!

Tokugawa Iemo's head start immediately attracted counterattacks from the court ministers.

"Bold! Dashu Gong, how dare you speak nonsense in front of the Holy Emperor?!"

The speaker's name is Jinxiaolu Xuande, one of the core figures of the "Zunban Gongqing".

Immediately afterwards, another young minister—Zawa Xuanjia, who was also one of the core members of the "Zunxing faction minister"—raised his voice and criticized Tokugawa Iemo in an extremely sharp voice:

"Mr. Dashu, as a general who conquers the barbarians, how can you boost the enemy's morale and destroy our prestige?"

Then, all the ministers of the Zunbo faction present opened their mouths one after another, and all kinds of harsh words rained down on Tokugawa Iemo.

"..."

Tokugawa Iemo said nothing and had an expressionless face. He seemed to have expected that he would be treated like this, and he silently endured the ridicule and ridicule of the ministers of the Zunbo faction.

In the end, Kujo Naozadao, who was the leader among the Samu faction, couldn't stand it any longer. He coughed hard several times and said seriously:

"How presumptuous! Do you think this is a vegetable market? Please be quiet!"

The Kujo family is a famous family, and the 65-year-old Kujo Naotada is the predecessor of Guan Bai. He has a high position, Delong, and great respect. He has everything, even if he is an arrogant and arrogant minister of the Zunbo faction.

We also had to sell him a few thin noodles.

As soon as Kujo Naozada finished speaking, the whole place fell silent.

As the atmosphere returned to silence, Tokugawa Iemo took advantage of this opportunity and spoke again:

"Your Majesty, your ministers, and the reason why the humble ministers declared that 'it is impossible to fight against the barbarians' is not to increase the enemy's prestige and destroy our morale."

"Weichen is just stating a fact - we are no match for Xiyi!"

When he said "We are not the opponent of the Western Yi", Tokugawa Iemo specifically emphasized his tone, gritted his teeth and said loudly every word.

"Wei Chen believes that it is extremely inaccurate to collectively refer to the British, French, American and other Western countries as 'Western Barbarians'!"

"The Western countries are not barbarians!"

"In fact it's quite the opposite."

"They are quite developed countries! Their treasury is full, their technology is advanced, and their military is powerful."

"Weichen, let me give you a simple example."

"Ten years ago, U.S. Navy Commodore Matthew Perry led four warships and sailed into Edo Bay."

"The frigate USS Saskatchewan weighs 656,837 pieces!"

[Note: 1 guan = 73 kilograms, 656,837 guan is approximately equal to 2,450 tons.]

"A huge ship of nearly 660,000 guan!"

"Your Majesty, gentlemen, can you imagine?

"A ship weighing 660,000 pounds!"

"This is no different than a hill!"

"Because of its huge size, the ship can install a large number of artillery pieces, and these artillery pieces are the most advanced steel cannons."

"Looking at our side, not only are the number of artillery scarce, but every artillery piece is an old copper cannon."

"At that time, we had to pull the bronze bell to the coast and disguise it as a coastal defense gun, using this self-deceptive way to show off."

"Although after 10 years of development, our armaments have made great progress, they are still not as good as those of Western countries."

"Wei Chen dares to assert that even now, the firepower of the two American battleships, the Mississippi and the Saskatchewan, can defeat us!"

"The Mississippi and the Saskatchewan were not the most powerful battleships of the United States."

"The United States is not the strongest among the Western countries. England and France are the real overlords!"

"The British Empire is known as the 'Empire on which the Sun Never Sets', and its military power is unparalleled in the world."

"The Western countries have steel battleships as huge as mountains."

"How big is our ship?"

"The Western countries possess steel cannons with great power and extremely fast reloading speed."

"Our old bronze cannons can only be beaten passively!"

"The armies of Western countries are complete 'firearms troops'. All soldiers are armed with an advanced flintlock gun. They have also recently invented a new type of firearm called the 'Gatling gun' that can fire bullets continuously.

As long as there are 10 Gatling guns, even if the Takeda Akabi Cavalry returns to the world, they will not be able to escape the bad luck of being completely wiped out!"

"What about us? Are we going to fight guns and guns with samurai swords?"

"In front of guns and guns, the katana is as straight as an embroidery needle!"

"Your Majesty, your ministers, what I have said are all from the bottom of my heart! I am definitely not alarmist!"

At the end of the words, Tokugawa Iemo's tone suddenly rose, and he seemed full of momentum.

Many people present were so shocked that their necks tightened and their bodies leaned back uncontrollably.

Tokugawa Iemo's words continued.

"Wei Chen can understand your eagerness to get rid of the barbarians and then be happy."

"To be honest, I also hate the domineering Xiyi."

"Wei Chen also wants to fight against the foreigners."

"However, fighting against the foreigners now will definitely lead to death."

"Our country is an island country with a long and narrow territory. Important cities such as Edo, Osaka, and Nagasaki are all located in the coastal areas."

"If we rashly start a war with the Western countries, the armies of the Western countries do not even need to send troops to land. They only need to assemble warships and bombard cities such as Edo, Osaka, Nagasaki and so on along the coast.

It puts us in a desperate situation, and we don't even have the means to counterattack."

"Although the enemy is strong and we are weak, things can still turn around."

"Nothing in this world lasts forever."

"Sooner or later we will fight back! But not now!"

"Wei Yuan, a man of the Tang Dynasty, once said: 'Learn from the barbarians and develop their skills to conquer the barbarians'. Wei Chen believes that this statement is really a wise saying!"

"Wei Chen's confidant Sheng Lintaro also has the same view."

"Since the Western countries are powerful, we should learn from them!"

"Learn their gun-making methods, learn their ship-building technology."

"Just like the envoys sent to the Sui Dynasty and the envoys to the Tang Dynasty were sent thousands of years ago to learn the advanced knowledge of the Sui and Tang empires."

"When we also have a huge fleet, when we also have a strong military force, we will take the initiative!"

"The moment our country catches up with the Western countries is the best time to implement the policy of repelling the foreigners!"

"Learn from the foreigners and learn skills to control the foreigners - this is the real fight against the foreigners!"

"Your Majesty, all your ministers, I sincerely request the imperial court to withdraw the edict of 'immediately expel the foreigners'!"

"The top priority is to make concessions with Western countries and accumulate strength secretly."

"A hundred years later, we will meet the Western countries again!"

What Tokugawa Iemo said was impassioned and full of sincerity.

However... as soon as he finished speaking, he received refutation on the back.

"Gathering strength secretly? Mr. Dashu, I think you are as fearful of the enemy as a tiger, right?"

The speaker is none other than the leader of the Zunbang faction: Santiao Shimei.

Three beautiful corners of the mouth extend to both sides, revealing teeth covered in black pulp.

The sickly cheeks were painted extremely pale with white powder, and the mouth was full of black teeth, coupled with this malicious and sinister smile... This look was as weird as possible, and as disgusting as possible.

"It's just that the weapons and equipment are slightly inferior, so what's there to be afraid of?"

"In my battle with the Western Barbarians, they are both upright and upright. Those who are upright are strong in spirit, and those who are strong in spirit have high morale. As a righteous soldier with high morale, I fight against the shameless people who are unjust and helpless. How can I not be sure of victory?
To be continued...