On the 21st day of the turmoil in Edo Castle, several shogunate industries were burned down, and the people of Edo Castle, shrouded in the shadow of war, were in panic all day long. It was difficult to alleviate this tense atmosphere in the entire shogunate city, because even some samurai in the shogunate were afraid that the Kyushu army would fight, which meant that they had to fight. When a war broke out, people would die...

"The Yokohama Concession has been lifted from the ban!"

"The Jiuzhou Army did not intend to declare war, it was just temporary martial law!"

The businessman from Yokohama Port brought back clear news.

"What?! Our worries these days are redundant?!"

"Long live the peace!"

After learning the news, residents in Edo Castle repeatedly confirmed and finally cheered.

The shogunate was relieved to learn that the Kyushu army had declared no war. They did not want to start a war with the Kyushu army that was too powerful to defeat.

"I'm scared to death. I haven't changed my armor in the past twenty days." A samurai finally replaced the samurai armor weighing more than ten pounds and moved its muscles.

"What's the use of wearing this armor? It's useless to not stop the muskets of the Kyushu Army." A warrior next to him said.

"You have to put on armor to feel safe." The warrior who took off the armor patted the cold armor. The common armor during the Warring States Period had become flashy.

Tokugawa Iemitsu stood on the castle lord's fort, looking at the cheering residents of Edo Castle. There was a burned factory not far away, emitting black smoke.

The Kyushu Army had already made the residents of Edo Castle ecstatic just by not starting a war.

"This time we suffered heavy losses. Most of the rice shops, vegetable shops and cloth shops were looted, and the amount of money was directly lost to more than 100,000 silver taels. Not to mention the losses caused by the burning of our factory, the price of those steam engines... plus the malicious acquisition of the factory share held by our Japanese merchants, nearly half of the factories we built in the past year were plundered by the Chinese." Tadaoka Sakai came to Tokugawa Iemitsu and almost did not dare to report to Tokugawa Iemitsu.

He presided over the land reform and the establishment of a factory, but was plotted by Oyu'er. His year of hard work was wasted, and he had no face to meet Tokugawa Iemitsu, who had high hopes for him.

"Our Edo Bank has suffered unprecedented losses. Although we blocked the residents who came to run, the people have lost confidence in our Edo Bank. After the order is restored, they will definitely come to ask us for deposits one after another, and they may not necessarily put the money here in the future. We have lost the capital to compete with the Tokyo branch." Tadao Abe on the other side said.

There was a blue-purple lump on his forehead. I don’t know which mob hit him with a stone, so he could not hold him accountable afterwards.

"The Kyushu Army has not yet started a war with us, but just released a small smoke bomb, and we were distracted and lost hundreds of thousands of silver." Tokugawa Iemitsu felt it was difficult to hear the two retainers who had suffered the most.

It was too difficult. Under the oppression of the Kyushu Army, even if their shogunate wanted to change, it would be difficult.

"After all, we lack sufficient force! The reason why the news of the war caused panic in Edo Castle and we were unable to use force to suppress it is because we were frightened by the Beiyang Fleet. And because of the existence of the Beiyang Fleet, many of our means cannot be used." said Nobutsu Matsuhira, who is in charge of military reform.

If the Beiyang Fleet anchored at Yokohama Port was like a sharp blade hanging over the shogunate, the shogunate would likely have directly used a large army of samurai to pacify the Tokyo branch and suppress the people.

"To change, we should take the lead in developing and building muskets and artillery, and establishing a standing army! Only by fighting against the Beiyang Fleet with force can we develop other factories under the blockade of the Kyushu Army!" Matsudai Nobuka summarized a set of theories of priority in force through this incident.

"Tashikazu Sakai, what do you think?" Tokugawa Iemitsu looked at the leader of change.

"The firearm factory is preferred to develop... This is certainly good, but the manufacturing of firearms requires steel and machinery support... It is necessary to mass-produce muskets and cannons like the Kyushu Army, and the investment is very large. Without building textile factories, flour mills, and smelting plants, we do not have enough silver to support the arsenal." Tadao Sakai was a little difficult to deal with.

Several of the highest Japanese figures on the Castle Lord’s Fort were caught in thought. None of them had the experience of change, nor had any lessons learned from them. They could only cross the river by the suppression of the Jiuzhou Army.

"Myamahira, how have you studied smoothbore cannon this year?" Tadao Abe asked Matsuhira Nobusuke.

"The first batch of artillery produced exploded the chamber, killing several technical workers and gunners..." Nobuka Matsuhira, who originally advocated vigorously developing firearm technology, looked a little dim when it came to the cannons he had supervised.

Without the mature technical workers and mature artillery casting technology summoned by Chu Yun, the artillery he supervised was a completely imitation of the artillery of the Jiuzhou Army. Many of the steps were not familiar with, and explosions were inevitable.

"It's too difficult, too difficult." Tokugawa Iemitsu shook his head repeatedly when he saw that almost all the measures of change had encountered obstacles.

"I propose to build a new shipyard to produce fishing boats and merchant ships, and at the same time accumulate naval warship technology. Even if we make progress on muskets and artillery in the future, without warships, it is impossible to break the blockade of the Beiyang Fleet against us." Matsupi Nobuka said.

"The shipyard needs too much money. Because the factory was burned, we still owe the residents of Edo Castle hundreds of thousands of taels," said Tadao Abe.

"Raising a donation, let all the samurai donate some of their property, and fight back with the whole country." Tokugawa Iemitsu said, "Our Tokugawa family will take the lead in donating."

"Fundraising..." Tadaokazu Sakai, Tadao Abe and others looked at each other.

Fundraising is a last resort, and it can indeed temporarily alleviate the financial crisis, but at that time someone will be willing to devote their property and tighten their pants and engage in an arms race with the unfathomable Jiuzhou Army?

"The Beiyang Fleet has been staying in the Edo Bay, and our Edo Castle is equivalent to always being exposed to the artillery of the Kyushu Army and being constrained everywhere. Should we change the place? Kafari or Ogata?" Tokugawa Iemitsu, who was dominated by the Kyushu Army, proposed a plan to move the capital, hoping to avoid the Beiyang Fleet.

"No, Edo Castle has been very solid after decades of hard work by our Tokugawa family. If you rashly choose other places as the shogunate, you may lose the people's hearts. Furthermore, the Beiyang Fleet comes and goes freely on the sea, and our Japan is an island country, where can we escape?" Tadakasa Sakai rejected the inexplicable idea that Tokugawa Iemitsu was impatient.
Chapter completed!