Saga Castle, the seat of the Saga Domain, is located south of Fukuoka. The straight-line distance between the two places is actually less than a hundred miles. However, there is no official road between the two places. If you don't want to go over mountains and ridges, you have to go around for more than 200 miles to reach your destination, and you have to pass through the territories of many daimyo. This is not an easy task for security work. .
Therefore, after Shi Diwen left Fukuoka Domain, he still had to go to Saga Domain by sea, first going west around the entire Hizen Country area, and then sailing south of Nagasaki into Ariake Bay.
Ariake Bay is a bay in western Kyushu, covering an area of more than 1,600 square kilometers. The narrowest point of the bay is 20 to 30 miles wide, so this body of water is also called the Ariake Sea by the locals.
This bay is surrounded by Nagasaki, Saga, Fukuoka, and Kumamoto. It can be said to be the intersection of Kyushu's powerful territories. Among them, except Nagasaki, the other three places are on Shi Diwen's list of visits.
Shi Diwen chose to visit the Nabeshima family of the Saga Domain deep in the bay first, and then visit the Hosokawa family of the Kumamoto Domain on his return trip.
The Nabeshima family became the daimyo of the Saga Domain at about the same time as the Kuroda family came to power the Fukuoka Domain. However, the Kuroda family was consecrated to Kyushu as a daimyo by Toyotomi Hideyoshi, while the Nabeshima family was captured by Magpie Nest. The uncle usurped the power of his nephew and obtained the territory from the original owner, the Ryuzoji family.
After the Nabeshima family successfully seized power, the first feudal lord, Nabeshima Katsushige, spent nearly half a century gradually completing the annexation of various feudal clans in the Hizen region.
During Nabeshima Katsushige's time in power, his energy was mainly focused on internal integration and annexing surrounding small vassals, but he got along well with Haihan. He also visited the Sasebo base in his early years and had a meeting with Shi Diwen.
Just a few months ago, Katsushige Nabeshima passed away at the age of seventy-eight, which is considered a long life in Japan in this era. At that time, Haihan also sent a special envoy to Saga Castle to attend the memorial service for the old feudal lord.
Currently in office in the Saga Domain is the second generation lord, Nabeshima Mitsushige, grandson of Katsushige Nabeshima.
This feudal lord was born in 1632 and is now twenty-five years old. He is four years younger than Mitsuyuki Kuroda, the feudal lord of Fukuoka, and is the same age as Shi Diwen's eldest son Shi Chengwu.
After Nabeshima Mitsushige succeeded the feudal lord, he basically followed his previous stance and maintained normal contacts with Kaihan. At the same time, he also quietly accumulated strength to get rid of the shogunate rule.
For senior officials like Shi Diwen to take the initiative to visit Saga, Nabeshima Mitsushige, who had just taken office, was of course happy to see it happen. No matter what Shi Diwen's intention was, he believed that this meeting would bring him some special help.
However, before coming to Saga, Shi Diwen first went to Tsushima Domain and Fukuoka Domain, which made the young feudal lord a little unhappy.
That's it for Tsuima. After all, Haihan has a close relationship with it, which is known to the world. But the Fukuoka Clan was obviously a subordinate of the shogunate, but it was also ranked in front of the Saga Clan. This made Nabeshima Mitsushige somewhat incomprehensible.
Whether in terms of strength or position, the three feudal clans of Saga, Kumamoto, and Satsuma in western Kyushu should not fall behind the Fukuoka clan. He really couldn't understand why Shi Diwen prioritized the Fukuoka clan in his itinerary.
But this made Nabeshima Mitsushige hold his breath even more. He wanted to prove to Shi Diwen that Saga Domain was Haihan's truly worthy partner.
Although Haihan clearly reminded the Saga Domain to handle the visit in a low-key manner when notifying the Saga Domain in advance, when Shi Diwen's fleet arrived at the Saga Domain, they found that the owner had arranged a grand welcome ceremony.
There were at least three to four thousand local people gathered at the port to welcome the arrival of the Haihan fleet. In addition to the Nabeshima family's family crest flag, many red and blue flags representing Haihan were also hoisted on the pier. Comparing this scene with the Fukuoka Domain I visited earlier, there is simply a huge difference between the earth and the sky.
"This young man from the Nabeshima family has great ideas!"
Seeing such a scene, Shi Diwen couldn't help but sigh.
The other party was so high-profile, obviously not afraid of letting the shogunate know the Saga Domain's attitude, and he did not shy away from letting Haihan realize his position.
Amakusa Shiro said: "Before Nabeshima Mitsushige took office, he often went to the Sasebo base and showed a strong interest in many things about our country. In my humble opinion, this person is very close to our country and is more important than the old feudal lord." Much more positive. He must also be planning to seize this opportunity to build relations with our country!”
Shi Diwen nodded and said: "I also heard that he is a master of all things, so let's see how good he is!"
As expected, Nabeshima Mitsushige did not disappoint him. When the two met on the pier, the young man took the initiative to extend his hand and wanted to greet Shi Diwen with a Haihan handshake.
Shi Diwen didn't hesitate when he saw this, and stretched out his hand to shake his hand.
"Master Shi, it's an honor to see you again in Saga Domain!" When Nabeshima Mitsushige spoke, it turned out to be Mandarin with a slight accent.
Listening to his tone, Shi Diwen seemed to have met him before, but he couldn't remember when he had met this young man.
Fortunately, Nabeshima Mitsushige immediately explained the problem on his own. In the early years, the old feudal lord Nabeshima Katsushige visited the Sasebo base to meet with Shi Diwen. At that time, Nabeshima Mitsushige was one of the entourage. It's just that he was still a teenager at that time and was not arranged to attend formal meetings. Shi Diwen did not notice this inconspicuous young man in the Saga Mission.
Shi Diwen smiled and said: "It seems that the old lord has a keen eye and has placed high hopes on you for a long time. He has trained you as his heir since you were a child."
Nabeshima Mitsushige said sternly: "His last wish before his death was that the Saga clan could become the first clan of Kyushu and reunify the territory of Hizen country. Although I am not sure, I will do my best to achieve such a goal!"
He is young and ambitious, this is Shi Diwen's evaluation of him in his heart. Compared with the previous meetings between Soyizhen and Mitsuyuki Kuroda, this Nabeshima Mitsushige's ambitions are greater and more exposed.
Nabeshima Mitsushige's attitude should save Shi Diwen a lot of trouble in the subsequent talks. Judging from the attitude he showed, even if Shi Diwen didn't persuade him, he would not stay in Saga Domain with peace of mind. A local emperor will sooner or later raise an army and cause trouble.
This is exactly what Shi Diwen wanted. The civil war situation he planned requires ambitious people to stand up and start the war. Among the powerful feudal lords in Kyushu, he originally expected Tsushima and Satsuma to be the leaders, but he did not expect that the young lord of Saga was also a "talent" that could be utilized.
Shi Diwen immediately expressed his appreciation for Nabeshima Mitsushige: "Nabeshima-sama, I really like an enterprising young man like you. It seems that we will have many topics to talk about in detail!"