Around the newly built Victory Square on the north side of West Lake in Hangzhou are the office buildings of various Haihan government offices. Most of these huge office buildings were completed in the past year or two, and almost all were put into use after the National Day in April this year.
During the war between Haihan and Ming Dynasty, these newly completed yamen began to operate quietly. But because the public was paying attention to the progress of the war on the front line, not many people noticed that Haihan's center of power was gradually moving from Sanya to Hangzhou.
It was not until the end of the war that these functional departments slowly began to have a sense of existence.
Among them, the yamen with the most visitors is undoubtedly the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which just moved to Hangzhou three months ago.
Like other major departments that have recently moved to Hangzhou, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' organizational structure is currently divided into northern and southern parts.
The departments that stayed in Sanya were responsible for handling the diplomatic affairs of the areas surrounding the South China Sea and Western countries, while the departments that moved to Hangzhou were responsible for connecting with East Asian countries such as the Ming Dynasty, Manchu Qing Dynasty, North Korea, Japan, and Ryukyu.
It is worth mentioning that more than half of the foreign affairs between Haihan, the Manchus, and North Korea were actually managed by the Northern Region.
At present, only a few high-level official affairs require the other party's diplomats to come to Hangzhou to handle them.
For diplomats from various East Asian countries, it is now much more convenient to go to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Haihan to handle official business than before. The same thing no longer needs to take a boat south to Sanya, but can be done in Hangzhou. One trip and one trip is equivalent to It saved me half a month of traveling and traveling.
Shimazu Hisumichi, the patriarch of the Satsuma clan, was one of the beneficiaries of this change. In the past, when he went to purchase arms from Kaihan on behalf of the Satsuma clan, he had to set out from Kagoshima and drift on the sea for five to six thousand miles before arriving at Sanya in the South China Sea.
But now that Haihan has moved many departments to Hangzhou, the round-trip voyage is only one-third of the previous one, and the time spent on the ship is much less. Even if Shimadzu travels a few times a year, he won't be as tired as before.
Haihan officially announced his decision to move the capital to Hangzhou this year, which made Shimazu realize that the city has huge development potential. He has already negotiated a place outside the city and bought it before land prices soared. He will build it in the future. The Satsuma Domain's offices in Hangzhou don't have to find temporary accommodation when they come here to do business.
Shimazu Hisumi got out of the car outside the Ministry of Foreign Affairs building and looked up at this magnificent building. This is not the first time he has come here to do business, but he still cannot help but be shocked by this huge Haihan-style building.
Although the appearance of this square building does not look very aesthetic, it is huge and oppressive. The person standing in front of its gate is like an ant. This gave Shimazu Hisumi the feeling that he was facing the Haihan Empire, and he could not help but feel a helpless and humble feeling in his heart.
Shimazu Hisamichi skillfully informed the guards of his identity and purpose of visit at the gate, showed the invitation letter issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and then successfully entered the building.
He arrived on the third floor and went straight to his destination—the Japanese Affairs Department at the end of the east corridor.
Although I was invited here today, the reason was not stated in the invitation letter. I just asked Shimazu Hisumi to come here for an interview. He believed that this was probably a new development in the arms purchase list submitted to Haihan last year. Maybe he could receive some arms and equipment in advance, which was good news for the Satsuma Domain.
As one of the most ambitious local forces in the Japanese archipelago, the Satsuma Domain has always been unwilling to submit to the rule of the Tokugawa Shogunate. However, due to its own strength, the Satsuma Domain has only been able to stay in a corner for a long time. Not to mention its inability to enter prosperous cities such as Osaka, Kyoto, and Edo, it is still difficult to dominate even the Kyushu region where it is located.
However, since the Haihan people appeared, the situation has turned for the better. The Kaihan people, who possess advanced military technology, offered to help the Satsuma clan improve its strength and fight against the Tokugawa shogunate.
Of course, this kind of help is not a free gift. The Satsuma Domain should accordingly open the entire territory to Haihan for navigation and trade, and allow free movement of people. The Lord of Satsuma Domain, Shimazu Mitsuhisa, agreed to almost all the conditions proposed by Kaihan, and then got the opportunity to purchase arms and equipment from Kaihan and train military personnel as he wished.
Although Kaihan was also conducting similar transactions with the Tokugawa shogunate at the same time, Shimazu Mitsuhisa believed that the Tokugawa shogunate, as the ruler of the Japanese archipelago, could not completely bow to Kaihan, and the cooperation with Kaihan was just ordinary. Just business dealings.
As long as the Satsuma Domain can fully embrace Kaihan's thigh, the cooperation conditions it will obtain will definitely be higher than those of the Tokugawa Shogunate.
As an important minister of the Satsuma Domain, Shimazu Hisumi's views were basically the same as those of the feudal lord. He believed that Kaihan's purpose in supporting the Satsuma Domain was to pit the Satsuma Domain against the Tokugawa Shogunate and then profit from it.
In order to achieve the goal of strengthening the Satsuma clan and overthrowing the Tokugawa shogunate, it is not an unacceptable arrangement to temporarily serve as Kaihan's tool.
From the Kaihan diplomat who received him, Shimazu Hisumi received news that surprised him. Shi Diwen, the governor of the Tokai Region, was about to visit the Satsuma Domain in the near future.
However, for some reasons, Haihan officials will not announce the matter to the public for the time being. The purpose of notifying Shimazu Hisumi is to hope that he can get in touch with the mainland as soon as possible so that the Satsuma clan can prepare for the visit arrangements.
Shimazu Hisamichi was not surprised at all by the confidentiality request made by diplomat Kaihan. If the Tokugawa shogunate knew about this in advance, they would definitely protest to Kaihan and use various means to obstruct the arrangement of this visit.
After all, the one who least wanted to see the Satsuma clan and Kaihan get too close was probably the Tokugawa shogunate.
As for the issues that Shi Diwen was planning to discuss with senior Satsuma clan officials during his visit, diplomats also claimed that they could not inform them in advance due to confidentiality considerations. But Haihan hopes that high-level figures, including Lord Sa, can attend so that both parties can have good communication.
"Something big is about to happen!"
Such thoughts flashed through Shimazu Hisumi immediately.
Shi Diwen had been to Japan several times before and had public or private meetings with many local celebrities. But in recent years, these big figures have been meeting at the Sasebo base, and Shi Diwen is planning to take the initiative to visit Satsuma Domain this time, which obviously means something different.
Could it be that the feudal lord's longing for forming an alliance with Haihan has finally come to fruition?
Thinking of this, Shimazu Hisamichi couldn't sit still. Anyway, he couldn't get any other useful information from the diplomats, so it was better to send the news back to Nara as soon as possible.
Considering the need for confidentiality in this matter, Shimazu Hisumi was worried that the news would be leaked and decided that it would be safest to go there himself. In this way, the information does not need to go through a third person, and can be kept confidential to the greatest extent by telling the feudal lord face to face.
However, what Shimazu Hisumi, who hurriedly left the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, did not know was that the Satsuma clan was not the only one who received the notice, but everyone who received the notice thought that they were the only one and regarded it as an absolutely unacceptable family. Secrets leaked to the outside world.