Chapter 3630
Tokugawa Ietsuna has a strong desire to fight and is willing to spend money to purchase armaments, even if it requires a mortgage loan. But this cannot be achieved unilaterally. There are objective difficulties that are difficult to solve.
Even if Haihan did not consider the need for checks and balances and was willing to accept the order in accordance with Tokugawa Ietsuna's purchase intention, he would still have to wait for a long delivery period.
"I think Mr. Tokugawa should also know that the shipyards in our country are now in a state of saturated production and can no longer deliver quickly. Forty ships, even if the shogunate immediately paid for the order, I It is estimated that all construction work will not be completed until the next year at the earliest.”
Shi Diwen did not immediately indicate whether he would accept this big deal, but first explained to Tokugawa Ietsuna the inevitable delivery period. question.
Shi Diwen pretended not to see Tokugawa Ietsuna's ugly face and continued: "My suggestion is that the shogunate does not need to be so anxious and can wait for us to complete the last batch of shipbuilding orders, so that there will be sufficient time to train the navy. Sailors needed for forty warships It’s not a small number. The shogunate must not have so many establishments now.”
What Shi Diwen said is indeed one of the shortcomings of the shogunate. The formation cycles of the navy and the army are very different. Replenishment and expansion cannot be done as quickly as the Army.
The training of army musketeers can even be compressed to within a month, turning a peasant soldier into a basically qualified musketeer. The training cycle of navy sailors is much longer than that of the army. The training cycle of a novice sailor must be on the ship for at least a year and a half, and the weapons and equipment that need to be learned to use are not just muskets.
To form a truly usable combat capability after receiving the warships, even by the standards of the Haihan Army, it must be calculated in years.
In Shi Diwen’s view, the shogunate army may not have enough professionals to take over the warships that are still under construction. At this time, another batch of ships must be purchased, but in the end no one will operate them. Then It would be meaningless.
Although the size of the shogunate's naval fleet is larger than that of the Kyushu Allied Forces, it has also suffered a lot of losses in the frequent battles in the past six months. It is extremely difficult to replenish these losses, let alone expand the establishment.
But Tokugawa Ietsuna was unmoved and responded very firmly: "It is better for ships to wait for people than for people to wait for ships! The combat fleet must be expanded. This is the attitude of the shogunate!"
< br>Tokugawa Ietsuna's ideas were different from Shi Diwen's. What he considered was not only to increase the military strength of the shogunate, nor to show Kaihan that the shogunate was determined to conquer Kyushu, but also to use this to achieve internal control. political influence.
He hopes that through this astonishing scale of arms purchase orders, he can effectively deter local forces in the country who are ready to move, and let everyone know what kind of military pressure they will face when confronting the shogunate.
At the same time, he also knew that Haihan would definitely inform the Kyushu vassals of the details of this arms purchase. This was also one of his purposes, to use continuous large-scale arms purchases to forcefully bring down Kyushu. financial.
If the Kyushu vassals want to follow, they can only increase local taxes and desperately reduce expenditures in other areas. Most of them will have to borrow money from Haihan.
At the same time, a large order of this scale will crowd out Haihan's limited export warship production capacity. Even if the Kyushu vassals grit their teeth and want to follow suit, their delivery date will only be pushed further into the future. It may not be possible to hold on until the time to pick up the boat.
If they don’t follow, the gap in military strength between the two sides will further widen. Even if they continue to resist stubbornly, in a year or two, the shogunate army will be able to wipe out all the warships of the Kyushu Alliance even if they fight hard. . Therefore, even if the pot is sold, Tokugawa Ietsuna insists on purchasing another batch of warships from Haihan, and he is sure that Shi Diwen will not turn away this lucrative deal, at most he will deliberately set up more transactions. Just conditions.
The firm attitude shown by Tokugawa Ietsuna did make Shi Diwen hesitate a little. He originally wanted the other party to retreat before the difficulties and put down this plan temporarily, so that he could Reduce some pressure on the Kyushu vassals.
But since Tokugawa Ietsuna is not so urgent about the cycle of forming an army, it seems that there is no harm in taking over the deal first.
However, there is no need for the two of them to discuss in detail how this transaction will be implemented. They only need to confirm the general intention first, and the personnel responsible for related matters will follow up and finalize the details.
After talking about this matter, Shi Diwen also intentionally expressed concern about the unrest in Kyoto and asked Tokugawa Ietsuna whether the local situation would evolve into a situation similar to Kyushu.
Tokugawa Ietsuna, of course, firmly denied this: "The so-called chaos in Kyoto is just the misbehavior of a very small number of ronin samurai, and the shogunate has suppressed it. At present, peace has been restored in Kyoto, and the refugees will soon Arrange to return home. "
Of course Tokugawa Ietsuna knew that the situation in Kyoto was not as optimistic as he said, and he also knew that Shi Diwen had his own news channels, but he must not show timidity in front of the other party, no matter what. No matter what, you have to say something to make it through.
Shi Diwen smiled and said: "As far as I know, in the past few days, Nijo City in Kyoto has been issuing a steady stream of orders in the name of Lord Tokugawa... This clone technique is so wonderful!"
Seeing that Shi Diwen saw through his plan, Tokugawa Ietsuna smiled slightly and said: "Thank you, Mr. Shi! That's right!" It is because the situation in Kyoto has stabilized that I can safely return to the front line to take charge."
Shi Diwen thought that it might not be easy to stabilize Kyoto. Now it is difficult for the shogunate to take care of both ends. As long as the royal family takes action. To counter the shogunate's intentions, another large-scale civil strife is inevitable.
But naturally he will not wake up the other party. The shogunate does not have enough preparations for this, so Kyoto can take action. By then, even if Tokugawa Ietsuna rushes to Kyoto to supervise the formation again, it probably won't be as easy to resolve as the previous civil unrest.
To Shi Diwen's surprise, Tokugawa Ietsuna did not take the opportunity of this meeting to inquire about the attitude of the Kyushu vassals. Shi Diwen believes that this shows that so far, Tokugawa Ietsuna has not had any idea of initiating truce and peace talks with the Kyushu vassals.
It seems that the previous unfavorable battle situation did not have a great impact on Tokugawa Ietsuna's confidence. Defeating his opponent on the battlefield is still his first choice.
Shi Diwen couldn't help but look at Tokugawa Ietsuna with admiration. At his current age, he actually remained calm after encountering such a series of setbacks, and he still persisted in his goals with confidence. He does have some leadership qualities.
If Kaihan had not intervened and started this protracted civil war, given time, Tokugawa Ietsuna might not have become a great leader of Japan.
Of course, the current situation of the shogunate has become increasingly dangerous. No one can predict how long the Tokugawa family's rule can last. And the difficulties Tokugawa Ietsuna will face will only increase. Whether he can pass these tests depends on his own destiny.