249 6.43 New Toys To Play With, Himura?

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.

For salaries alone, we had spent 150,000 gold coins including the governmental and business district employees, outpost soldiers, cavalrymen as well as our 3 branch offices with 36 of the installers.

The caravans and carriages that were arriving seem rather menacing as it poses a kind of aura that they are here to prove their dominance over power and brute force. They stopped and a group of men walked through the district and first thing they had seen were an incomplete set of houses but a clean outlook given that the path they walked was paved with bricks.

The dragons had been sent into hiding because it would be cause mayhem and soldiers would be shooting at them and may end its life as well as an end to find the Wind Tunnel to head back.

"Good morning, Gentlemen. My name is Himura Kenshin and I am the Mayor and Governor for the Fukushima Prefecture and here is Tokugawa Iemochi, the 14th Shogun if the Shogunate. We welcome you to Japan and our corporation ground, Fasuto Japan KabushikiGaisha."

Normally greeting these lowlifes would generally wait for them to bow first and we would now. Depending on the angle in bowing also shows the respect that they or we had for each other.

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"Hmmph... Can we get tea or some refreshments around here? What kind of hospitality you guys give around for your guests? A bunch of kids claiming to be the Mayor, Governor and Shogun? You kids must be shittin' me right? Ay... Go get us a drink." the burly moustached man sat down before us and simply by that had shown us great disrespect.

I can sense the anger welling up within Tokugawa Iemochi as he suddenly held on the handle of his katana. I placed my hand gently on his and he pulled it away. I eyed him and shook my head and he released it.

"MY HOOD, MY GAMES. YOU WANNA PLAY? COME GET SOME...!!"

I sat down in front of him with Tokugawa Iemochi besides me on my right and Hiko-sama on my left. I looked around and saw that he was with 6 armed men with short swords at their sides, a bayonet on the other, and old fashioned looking matchlocks rifles. "Urrgghhh... I hate these antique rifles, get these out of my face." I thought to myself as I rolled my eyes at their pieces.

In fact, the technology is so backward, I'd rather use a bow and arrow to let loose 15 arrows for the same time these people would reload, aim and fire their rifle once.

The man in front of us was named Townsend Harris and he was the Minister Resident of Japan in 1859. He was the one that fucked up the whole system when Japan reluctantly opened up its doors for the Westerners. However, the way of his approach was far worse than the Dutch that a Japanese had been dealing with for some time now.

"When was the last time your men had taken a shower? You've seen the river back then when you come in right? It's best they washed their bodies and have you ever been to a pigsty? Yeah, these men smelled like those pigs."

"Yeah... One more thing, your fat old fart, have you smelled your fingers lately? That's right... Go ahead and smell your fingers... Its smelled like your rotten asshole that's probably overgrown with haemorrhoid."

"You insolent bastard...! If not for your well-spoken English, I... I..." his face went beet red and was shaking his forefinger at me. Most probably to his high collared right fitting clothes that he was wearing even if its 30 degrees Celcius in this heat.

Hahaaaaaaaaa.....