249 6.43 New Toys To Play With, Himura? (1/2)
Tokugawa Iemochi asked me what I would like to have for the Prefecture of Fukushima and the first thing in my mind was transportation. A bicycle or an iron horse for the people in Niigata and Ibaraki had once called them. He mentioned that the bicycle was an innovative product from China when his delegates visited there and had made some political ties with them, South Korea and Russia.
I asked what else China has yet to offer for bicycles as I explained it could be fitted with a sidecar for deliveries, a front covered sedan as a mode of transport like taxis as well as for getting around places. Tokugawa eyed me with surprise since we do not a bicycle here and suddenly I could talk about sedans and sidecars which hadn't been introduced yet from China.
I mentioned to him it appeared in my dream and I requested for a few bicycles to be broken down as KDC and be mass-produced. It would be a fixed cogwheel and the only thing is the manufacturing of rubber.
Jinrikisha had been around Japan since 1870 and we need to propel it earlier. Since we would not be depending on Jinrikisha at all, it is going straight from a dandy horse, a pedal-less bicycle to a belt-driven 3WD bicycle. I drew a diagram on the sketchpad and showed it to His Majesty and he said he had never seen these with a set of pedals and belt-driven to the back of the tyre.
I told him that I would be designing it since the present dandy horses or iron horses are bumpy and had no shocks and had bamboo tyres instead. I saw a video documentary about a person who made a whole bicycle made of bamboo. And it sparked my idea...!!! As for rubber, Fei and Hanna could provide solutions since they were both foresters and knew about resins more than anyone else.
”There are a few barbarians saying they were from the United States that had come here months earlier to Edo, Kobe, Nagasaki, Niigata and Yokohama ports and were not well received by me because of their demeanour in doing things their own way. Your two friends, Ruffnut and Tuffnut looked a little like those barbarians but were much of gentler on their attitude and airs. I'd prefer it that way.”
I had not been out of Kitakata and only once to Shibata and that was some months ago. I wonder what kind of attitude these people have to leave a bad impression for the people of Japan and there must be a way to stop these from escalating. Little did I know, that the 'actual' Himura Kenshin was either opposing or supporting these so-called Barbarians in these 5 ports before.
”Tell me more about these barbarians, Your Majesty. If we could change the directions of these people towards the Japanese people and in turn use their technology to prove our stature, why not. How about you send a letter to them to send their delegates over to Fukushima here directly?”
”That was a good idea, my friend. These foreign influences need to be properly controlled and should not be able to gain foot or else we Japanese people would lose our heads.”
”There's always the pros and cons, Your Majesty. You have the deciding power and the Emperor is just a puppet on strings. Frankly, we don't even know more about him then we know about you. Come, let's write the letter then. No wonder I see a lot of ships when back in Shibata months before.”
”Alright, my friend. I do hope you would be able to shed some light and get things worked out the best way that you see best.” Tokugawa Iemochi sighed inwardly as the thoughts of these barbarians would weaken the Shogunate somehow.
”If I could change the fate of Hiko Seijuro, Himura Kenshin, Inuyasha, Kikyo, Sango and Kohaku...I might be able to change the fate for Tokugawa Iemochi as well.” I thought to myself as I played with my reed pen in my hands as I thought of the best approach that I could present to the newcomers.
.....
A week passed and then a convoy of caravans came with carriages and men with flintlocks, I suppose arrived in Kitakata Town of Fukushima. Within that week too, 104 families that had chosen between 1 or 2 bedroom units had been given a ballot and those new homeowners immediately went to get their ownership titles of the house and paid the first repayment housing loan.
Within this week too, 56 new merchants had arrived and made new orders for their purchases of our range of products while 18 other merchants made their repeat orders. A total of more than 18 million good coins had been deposited inside the Fasuto Japan KabushikiGaisha corporate account and our accounts had reached 72,567,587 gold coins.
We made a withdrawal of 2,567,587 gold coins and our float cash had become 4.2 million gold coins. This should be enough to tie us down for 2-3 months. Previously I used to store the coins inside the pottery but right now it was placed in 8 large wooden chests, 6 in the storeroom while 1 in each room.
A large number of gold coins had been reimbursed for Kayu-San in the building and construction of the new houses and also to the salaries of the new workers even they had not worked for one month. It was a motivational way to stay working and be more focused on their job.