Chapter 2746
The situation in Hangzhou is actually not as complicated as Zhu Zian thought. Shi Diwen has been operating in Jiangsu and Zhejiang for twenty years and has a very high prestige in the local area. Now he is also a member of the executive committee, and his status can be called respected. Not to mention that it was just Bai Kesi who came this time. Even if the entire executive committee came, they still had to give Shi Diwen some face.
Of course, after the capital is moved, the entire executive committee will also move to Hangzhou. It will be difficult for Shi Diwen to monopolize power as he does now, and his influence in the East China Sea region may be weakened. But his political status can now reach the final step, and he will no longer be as far away from the center of imperial power as before.
In recent years, Shi Diwen and Bai Kesi didn't meet often, and their relationship couldn't be said to be close. But precisely because of this, Shi Diwen prepared a special grand welcome ceremony for Bai Kesi's arrival to show that he attached great importance to it.
Near the dock on the bank of the Qiantang River, most officials and gentry in Hangzhou City arrived in advance to wait. Since Bai Kesi's previous itinerary was kept secret, most of them were notified only last night that they were going to the Qiantang River to welcome a certain big shot today.
After the news spread, more than 10,000 people came to the riverside to watch after hearing the news. They were crowded and very lively. However, the periphery of the pier has been firmly guarded by soldiers with loaded ammunition, and there are also several warships on the river on guard, driving away irrelevant civilian ships from this section of the river. Those meddlesome people who heard the news couldn't get close, so they could only watch from a distance on the river bank.
"Old Shi, this is not my first time here. It's a bit much to create such a big scene!" After Bai Kesi got off the boat and shook hands with Shi Diwen, he couldn't help but make a joke.
Shi Diwen smiled and said: "You have always been to Zhoushan before, but this is your first time in Hangzhou, so of course it must be grand!"
After the two briefly exchanged greetings, Shi Diwen walked up to Shi Chengwu, patted him hard on the shoulder and said: "You performed well this time!"
This time, Shi Diwen entrusted Shi Chengwu with a major diplomatic mission such as a mission to North Korea and Japan. In fact, he was under a lot of pressure. I don't know how many people were secretly paying attention to this matter.
Shi Chengwu had no experience in leading a team to visit foreign countries before. If something went wrong, not only would there be no credit, but there might be an unmanageable mess, and Shi Diwen would definitely have to come out to deal with the aftermath. Fortunately, Shi Chengwu and his team performed extremely well and achieved many results during the visit, which also earned face for Shi Diwen, who was the main advocate of this matter.
After receiving the members of the envoy who had returned with honors, Shi Diwen introduced Bai Kesi to the main local officials and gentry celebrities, which took a long time.
After a brief meeting on the pier, the group boarded the carriage, escorted by a large group of cavalry, and headed to Stevenson's official residence by the West Lake.
Since Bai Kesi came from afar, Shi Diwen naturally wanted to show his loyalty to the landlord first. Considering that Bai Kesi is also over sixty years old, the journey from Sanya to Hangzhou must be very hard. Shi Diwen was not in a hurry to arrange work-related matters. After the reception banquet, he asked the Bai family and his son to have a good rest first. . However, Shi Diwen himself did not stop to rest. After the banquet, he summoned Shi Chengwu and others to listen to their reports on the mission activities.
Compared with Bai Kesi, Shi Diwen paid more attention to the military and political information collected by the mission during its visits. Haihan's consistent attitude towards Japan has been to be vigilant and repressive. Although Japan's current strength can no longer pose a direct threat to Haihan, its strategy against Japan has not changed significantly. As for the diplomatic work with Japan, the Donghai Region has been responsible for the specific implementation for many years. Shi Diwen actually played a much greater role in it than the Executive Committee.
"My opinion is that ships can be sold and weapons can be sold, but we have to try to delay their deployment and formation of combat effectiveness. The purpose of this is to prevent their rulers from resolving domestic conflicts by resorting to foreign wars. In the end, it can only be detonated in the country. This will not affect the international situation and weaken its national power, and then our country will also gain from the arms trade, killing three birds with one stone."
After Shi Diwen roughly listened to the negotiations on the arms trade, he gave a very clear opinion. Of course, to achieve what he said, it is necessary to create more intense confrontations and conflicts in Japan, or even trigger a civil war. This can ensure that Japan will not use its guns after purchasing a large amount of arms from Haihan. Target the surrounding area.
Ishige Takedo: "According to my observation, the shogunate is most anxious about the fact that its own armament level lags behind that of Korea. If we can maintain this situation, the shogunate will always have a sense of crisis, and then it will have to continue to We only need to control the scale of arms transactions and keep its military strength at a certain distance from North Korea.”
Shi Diwen said: "What you said is a solution, but it can only have a minimum effect. We must try to let them use the purchased weapons and equipment in internal conflicts, so that our country can receive more orders. You guys The mentioned situation of the shogunate being weak and the servants being strong, as well as the conflict of interests with the domestic vassals, are all conditions that can be exploited. Only through civil war can they continue to be consumed, and even split into several small countries to let them interact with each other. Containment is the best way to control the situation. ”
Shi Diwen's views were obviously more radical than that of Bai Kesi. Although Bai Kesi also had the idea of supporting the Satsuma clan to provoke internal strife in Japan, it was not to the extent of creating a war. Shi Diwen's vision was more specific. Civil war alone was not enough. He hoped to solve this hidden danger in the East China Sea once and for all.
Tao Hongfang said: "But so far, we have only contacted one Satsuma clan. There is still a clear gap between its strength and the shogunate. The Satsuma clan alone may not be able to make Japan chaotic enough to split."< br>
Shi Diwen smiled and said: "Amakusa Shiro has been in Sasebo for the past few years, and he has not been there to make a living. I believe you have also seen Japanese students training there, right? There are actually many ambitious people, but among them Most people will not take the initiative to jump out unless chaos appears in Japan and the shogunate is unable to control the situation. At that time, those who want to replace the shogunate will be unable to sit still. "
No one knows whether the Japanese who were trained at the Sasebo base were students sent by the daimyo of various vassal states for further training, or whether they were stooges who worked for Kaihan and could instigate attacks across Japan when necessary. But one thing is certain, that is, Shi Diwen has already started making preparations in this regard.
(End of chapter)