Chapter 567 - Gion Blood War (II) (2/2)

The samurai in the room began cursing Gabriel for his insatiable greed. Gabriel, nonetheless, had the power to make the call right now. If he said no to the deal, soldiers from Choshu and Satsu would not travel to Kyoto. In other words, their plan would fall apart.

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Zhang Heng was actually a little surprised. Historically, Ōkubo Tos.h.i.+michi and Saigo Takamori were the main forces that brought down Tobaku. It was simply that it wouldn’t happen so soon-in fact, the Tobaku supporters could afford to drag on a little longer. Hence, Tokugawa Yos.h.i.+n.o.bu initiated Taisei Hokan and took the initiative to return the shogunate’s power to Emperor Meiji in exchange for position and rights in the newly formed government. He first pushed himself to the end of the road, then forcing himself to figure a way to get out of this sticky situation, which was no less an impressive feat.

Now, not only did Õkubo Tos.h.i.+michi and Saigo Takamori run out of excuses to execute a coup, they even managed to successfully divide the Tobaku forces. After completing the move to restore Emperor Meiji’s return to power, people started to side with Tokugawa Yos.h.i.+n.o.bu. More and more people wanted him to join the new government. In retrospect, Okubo Tos.h.i.+michi and Saigo Takamori were only becoming more and more isolated.

Forced into desperation, they transferred troops to Kyoto as a last resort. At that time, the Satsuma Domain had no advantage over the shogunate, but Saigo Takamori triumphed over the shogunate army three times larger than his own. The battle of Toba Fus.h.i.+mi had determined the course of the time.

Compared with history, s.h.i.+nsaku Takasugi was still alive and kicking. This was undoubtedly a significant variable. He came to Kyoto before he was fully recovered and talked happily in front of everyone. He might hide from the samurai in the tea house but Zhang Heng’s improved observation skills acquired from the Deductive Reasoning quest allowed him to see that s.h.i.+nsaku Takasugi was living on borrowed time.

It might also be the reason why he could not wait to do something big. He wanted to catch a glimpse of the new era that he created before he died. But before that, he still needed to negotiate the current deal with Gabriel. The French businessmen had a ravenous appet.i.te, and the ten thousand koban they offered wasn’t about to satisfy him. The s.h.i.+nsaku Takasugi, however, had their bottom line too. Although keen to learn from the West, many were reluctant to allow westerners to interfere in their country’s affairs.

Among those was Saigo Takamori.

The Convention of Kanagawa caused the shogunate to lose its reputation among the people. It was a mistake that the new government vowed to never make again. Therefore, according to the agreement made by s.h.i.+nsaku Takasugi and his group, Gabriel could negotiate for more money, but that would be all. If he wanted something else, he had to find another way, even if it meant postponing their plan.

The negotiation had entered a stalemate, and to prevent miscommunication due to the nuances of different languages, both sides brought their own translators. Simultaneously, they could also correct the other’s translation errors to ensure that their intentions were made known to the other party.

But Zhang Heng’s mind was not on this business meeting. He had been thinking about how to get the Juzumaru hanging around Kirino Tos.h.i.+aki’s waist. And the most important thing was how to get out of hanamachi alive. Since the person who came here tonight was Takasugi s.h.i.+nsaku, they couldn’t let a temporary translator like him walk out of this tea house alive. Once the two parties agreed on the deal, he would be no longer useful for them.