After Shimazu Saibin returned to Kagoshima, he began to actively prepare for military preparations.
Industrial projects originally planned for development have been halted, and previously lowered taxes have also been raised.
"Lord, if you do this, it will hurt your image in the hearts of the people." Okubo Toshimichi knelt down in front of Shimazu Saibin and said.
Shimazu Saibin's reputation has always been very good, and everyone praised him as a people-friendly and enlightened feudal lord. Therefore, the cohesion within the Satsuma Domain is very strong.
"Oku-kun, we don't have time. The Qing people have openly sided with the shogunate." Shimazu Saibin said.
"Lord, the Qing people only want to gain benefits from the shogunate by siding with the shogunate. How will it affect our Satsuma clan? There is no conflict between us and the shogunate." Okubo Toshimichi asked in confusion.
That is to say, for an enlightened feudal lord like Sai Bin, other feudal lords, such as Okubo Toshimichi, a low-level samurai-born retainer, would never dare to talk to the feudal lord like this.
"Okubo Toshimichi, what I'm worried about is not what happened in Edo. When the Qing people arrived in Edo this time, they revealed a problem from the side, that is, the Qing people have set their sights on their coastline."
"I can already feel that a lion is staring at Japan, eager to take action."
"In addition, Oku-kun, don't forget our interests in Ryukyu. Now that the Qing people have set their sights on Japan, will they ignore Ryukyu? Oku-kun, you still lack political vision."
"Hey, the feudal lord taught you a lesson." Okubo Toshimichi lowered his head and said.
In fact, Okubo Toshimichi has always regarded Shimazu Saibin as his teacher. In his heart, only Shimazu Saibin is the great talent who can save Japan.
Following Shimazu Saibin, Okubo Toshimichi also learned a lot of orchid studies. He is not as smart as Katsura Kogoro, nor as brave as Saigo Takamori. But he is very careful and rarely makes mistakes in handling government affairs. It is Shimazu Saibin who
Important assistant.
"Okubo Toshimichi, go and call Saigo over."
Saigo Takamori managed a new army of the Satsuma Domain, which used French drills. Shimazu Saibin even spent a lot of money to hire a French instructor group from Vietnam to train this army.
However, Shimazu Saibin had planned to develop the industry of Satsuma Domain first, hoping to use the industrial products in his hands to earn profits from other daimyo, and then purchase equipment. Therefore, the weapons and equipment of this new army were not in place.
However, Shimazu Saibin's industrial plan was interrupted by the sudden appearance of Huai Hai Hai. Now Huai Hai Company imports a full range of products to Japan and the prices are very cheap.
Moreover, the Huaihai Company has a group of big guys from the shogunate as agents, monopolizing the Japanese market from both source and sales. It makes no sense to pursue industrialization on its own now. Without the input of external funds and resources, it can only rely on the Satsuma Domain.
There is simply no way to keep the factory running in such a small area.
So this time Shimazu Saibin had to divert the money originally planned to be invested in industrial construction to purchase weapons and equipment. Saibin felt that he must protect the Satsuma Domain's interests in Ryukyu no matter what.
Without Ryukyu, Satsuma Domain will gradually become a second-rate vassal state.
After a while, Saigo Takamori walked in. He was wearing a blue woolen military uniform, with a red center line inlaid in the middle of his trousers, high leather boots on his feet, and a Japanese samurai sword on his waist.
He is not tall, but extremely strong, with a broad nose and thick and slender eyebrows, making him look honest and reliable.
"Greetings to the feudal lord!" Xixiang knelt down on one knee and bowed.
"Xixiang-kun, please sit down. I have bought equipment for your new army. You don't need to continue training with old-fashioned iron cannons."
"Thank you, Lord. May I ask, Lord, if you have a new mission?"
"Yes, Saigo-kun, you have a very good nose. Have you already smelled the smell of battle? This time I am going to send you to Ryukyu. Your mission is to guard Naha."
"Hey, Saigo will definitely complete the mission assigned by the feudal lord. Even if the jade is broken, he will keep Naha safe." Saigo stood up and bent down, assuring Shimazu Saibin.
Although he didn't know who was going to attack Naha, no matter who it was, Saigo Takamori was confident that he would defeat it.
Shimazu Saibin is indeed a generational figure in Japan. He was able to deduce from Huai Haijun's previous actions that Huai Haijun was about to attack Ryukyu.
One winter, the fort in Edo Bay had been repaired. The shogunate spent a lot of money to purchase more than 300 cannons from the Huaihai Navy and installed them in Edo Bay. These cannons were all built on solid forts. Of course, Huaihai
The army will not give the latest breech-loading cannons to the Japanese. What will be sold to Japan are old-fashioned front-loading smoothbore cannons.
The people of the shogunate now feel at ease. As long as the safety of Edo Bay can be maintained, the shogunate will have peace of mind.
It is already February, and according to intelligence from the Qing people, the new American envoy has arrived in Hong Kong and will soon go north to Japan to sign a contract.
The shogunate was no longer afraid of these Americans this time. Abe Laozheng ordered the daimyo everywhere to prevent Americans from landing. Once Americans were discovered landing, it would be regarded as launching a war against Japan.
Of course, Bao Youzhi's squadron, the Qing mercenaries of the marine regiment, and the newly built forts all endorsed the shogunate, which gave the shogunate such confidence.
Bao Youzhi was destined to enjoy a blessed life. He originally wanted to be a good young man, but he was forced to become a playboy.
Before I was in Busan, North Korea, all the North Korean women around me had never been married. They were all the concubines raised privately by the officials. There were even ladies from the officials' families who came over to me. I don't know how much they have grown in the two months in North Korea.
Women’s bellies. These women were brought here by Busan officials who tried their best.
This is still the case in Japan. Tokugawa Kesada even selected ten women from Oori to give to him and arranged a mansion for him.
The fleet inspector has warned him more than once. But fortunately, this guy sleeps with women, but he never has real feelings with these foreign women.
The training of the fleet has not been given up. Of course, every once in a while, he will go ashore. After finishing the work, he will get on the ship and continue to recharge his batteries.
The Huai Navy now has three major institutions in Japan, the legation, the intelligence station and the army.
Wen Yanyuan, formerly of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, served as the first minister to Japan and was also the general person in charge of various naval agencies in Japan.
Wen Yanyuan is a Nanyang Chinese. He used to be in charge of family business in Nanyang. He often traveled to Nagasaki and Ryukyu routes and often dealt with Japanese people. Therefore, he can speak Japanese and has a certain understanding of Japan.
From the beginning, he was Huai Haijun's representative in dealing with Japanese affairs. After signing the treaty with the shogunate, he naturally became the minister to Japan.
Chen Zhenghua, the chief of the Edo Station of the Intelligence Ministry, is specifically responsible for intelligence work. Having learned the lessons from the last time, the intelligence station is now vigorously developing intelligence capabilities in Japan.
Zheng Jian even specially transferred a group of masters from the Action Bureau to Japan. Chen Zhenghua used these people as the core to vigorously develop peripheral forces in Japan. They recruited many lower-level samurai and ronin in Japan in the name of gangs and military attaches.
These people were active in every corner of Japan, not only in Edo, but also began to establish intelligence substations in some important Japanese cities.
Chen Zhenghua adheres to the Huai Naval Intelligence Department's tradition of casting a wide net, laying his own network in Japan like a diligent spider.
In terms of the army, Bao Youzhi of the Navy and Ding Li of the Marine Corps are mainly responsible for the Northern Squadron. Bao Youzhi is the main one. However, the Navy will not be stationed at the base in Japan permanently. When summer comes, the squadron will move to the temple in the north.
After Bao Youzhi's fleet leaves and heads north, the command of the army will be handed over to Ding Li.
Wen Yanyuan is responsible for coordinating these three systems, and both the military and intelligence serve politics.
However, the establishment time of these three systems is still too short, especially the intelligence system. Now a series of actions of the Satsuma Domain have not been detected. The Satsuma Domain is located in the southwest of Kyushu Island, Japan, and is really far away from Edo.
The Satsuma Domain has always stationed an old-fashioned army in Naha, led by its old retainer Kaguyama Migen. There are about two thousand people, most of whom are Ashigaru.
Their main task is to monitor and control the Ryukyu royal family in Shuri Castle. The second is to maintain the order of Naha Port. The main residents here are Han Chinese, followed by Japanese. In addition, there are a few indigenous people and some floating foreigners. Most of them
He was a sailor on a merchant ship.
The Han residents in the port were very docile and rarely made trouble. However, the foreign sailors would make trouble once they got drunk. It was difficult to deal with these people because the Satsuma clan did not want to offend these foreigners.
Fortunately, the shops here are all owned by Chinese, and the Japanese mainly do manual labor on the docks.
So every time foreigners caused trouble, it was the Chinese shops that were smashed. Huashan Yanyuan was too lazy to take care of it. The Chinese shops that were smashed had to suffer the consequences.
"Kabayama-kun, the feudal lord sent a message asking us to be extra careful and take precautions. The Qing army may come to Ryukyu." Yamamoto Seiichi, Kagoyama's deputy, reported.
"Oh, Yamamoto-kun, there is no need to worry. No matter how many Qing people come, we will drive them into the sea. Look at those Qing people on the dock. They don't have the courage to fight back even after being beaten. The Qing people are like that, they don't have any courage at all.
No." Huashan Yanyuan said proudly.
After staying in Naha for a long time, he watched the Qing people in the port living in humiliation day by day, and he became a little angry when he saw them. As time went by, his impression of the Qing people gradually settled in his mind.
Many Han Chinese in Naha have never seen anyone sent by the imperial court to Naha since they were born. They only got a little bit of news from the imperial court from some passing businessmen.
In fact, not only did the Qing government consider those Chinese who went overseas to be abandoned citizens, but many overseas Chinese themselves felt that they were abandoned citizens. Therefore, they swallowed their anger and lingered on. When they were bullied, they could only fight back with patience.
.
"Mr. Huashan, it is better to be careful and not to keep an eye on the Chinese in the city. You must know that the Qing people have signed a treaty with the shogunate. Even the shogunate has fully moved towards the Qing. I think the Qing people will come this time.
It won’t be easy.”
In the palace of Shouchou City, the twelve-year-old King Shangtai drove away everyone around him, leaving only an old servant who had brought him up since childhood. This was an old man left to him by his father, who was loyal and reliable.
From childhood to adulthood, Shang Tai has lived in the shadow of the Satsuma clan. He always dreams about the Japanese destroying the Shang family's country.
Most of his ministers are pro-Japanese, and they beg for mercy from the Satsuma Domain for the sake of their family power.
King Shotai was forced to learn Japanese and learn Japanese culture. However, the books handed down from the Ryukyu Royal Palace were all in Chinese, and all the previous Ryukyu kings learned Chinese culture.
If King Shang Tai had to make his own choice, he would still prefer to study Sinology. A lot of Japanese knowledge is plagiarized Sinology, which looks nondescript.