Satsuma is the last stop of this visit, and it is also the nominal partner of Haihan. There are many projects that the two parties need to discuss in detail, so Shi Diwen does not have to rush as much as he did at the previous stops to discuss the joint resistance. If something happens behind the scenes, he immediately snaps his ass and leaves.
In his itinerary, he will also stay briefly in Satsuma Domain for a few days before returning to the Sasebo base. In addition to the talks, the two sides will also arrange a two-day joint military exercise during this period.
This joint military exercise was not Shi Diwen's impromptu idea, but had been agreed as early as last year when Satsuma retainer Shimazu Hisumichi was conducting arms purchase negotiations in Hangzhou. However, the Satsuma Domain hopes that high-level figures from Kaihan will attend the exercise, so the time is not so easy to arrange, and it was not determined until recently.
The arrangement for Shi Diwen's visit to the Satsuma Domain was brought back from Hangzhou by Shimazu Hisamichi himself, so the Satsuma Domain also had enough time to prepare for this military exercise.
In order to make full use of this rare opportunity to train their own horses, the Satsuma Domain has currently assembled an armed force of about 3,000 people near Kagoshima Castle, as well as a navy fleet composed of more than 20 ships. Therefore, Shimazu Mitsuhisa Only then did he have the confidence to claim to Shi Diwen that he could raise troops to attack the neighboring vassal within ten days.
The entire exercise plan is divided into two parts. On the first day, the joint fleet composed of the two armies departs from Kagoshima Port and heads south to a certain coast of the Osumi Peninsula a hundred miles away. During the voyage, the two sides will conduct exercises on patrol, combat, search and rescue and other subjects at sea, and then conduct amphibious landing operations and establish beachheads on the coast after arriving at the destination.
The exercises on the second day will basically be conducted on land. The two sides will practice combat operations in various terrain environments such as mountains, jungles, river valleys, and plains.
It is said that the Satsuma Domain also spent a month to build a Japanese-style castle position in the exercise area, preparing to practice siege warfare with the Kaihan Army. This is obviously a warm-up for the upcoming war, which shows that the Satsuma clan is indeed preparing seriously for the war.
On the day of the exercise, Shi Diwen invited Mitsuhisa Shimazu to board the Zhoushan to observe the exercise process together.
Probably related to its expansion through sea routes decades ago, the Satsuma Domain obviously attaches more importance to maritime armed forces than other colleagues in the Kyushu region. Several ships in this naval force spent huge sums of money to purchase from Kaihan warship.
Although the tonnage of these exploration-class and expedition-class warships is not too large, in Japan, they are already considered to be first-class combat capabilities.
Of course, compared to the Tokugawa shogunate, which is rich and has more Haihan warships, Shimazu Mitsuhisa currently does not dare to call himself the number one in Japan. His armed fleet can only dominate the waters near Kyushu Island for the time being. It is not enough to really compete with the shogunate's fleet.
Shi Diwen introduced the Zhoushan's combat performance to Shimazu Mitsuhisa without hesitation, and he was speechless. When he saw the Zhoushan, he immediately thought that this battleship must be very powerful, but what Shi Diwen said was beyond his imagination.
Shimazu Mitsuhisa looked at everything on the Zhoushan with envy. As long as he owned one such giant ship, it would be enough for the Satsuma clan to defeat all Japanese invincibles.
But he was also very clear-headed. Let alone whether Haihan was willing to sell this new type of warship, even if he was willing to sell it, the price would not be affordable by the Satsuma clan.
According to his understanding of the Haihan people's behavior, since warships like the Zhoushan are already in service, it means that a new generation of warships should be under development.
For the Satsuma clan, which could not even build an exploration-class warship, the distance was too far, and they could not even think of catching up. Compared with the strong ships and powerful guns of the Kaihan fleet, Shimazu Mitsuhisa suddenly felt that the navy fleet, which had cost the Satsuma clan a huge amount of money and took several years to be basically formed, now looked a bit primitive and crude.
However, he quickly drove such thoughts out of his mind. This fleet is the most precious treasure of the Satsuma clan. Although it cannot be compared with the Kaihan fleet, it is still more than enough to deal with the rotten fish and shrimps in the Kyushu region. It's certainly out of the question.
Shortly after the combined fleet sailed out of the port, drills in various subjects began.
Shimazu Mitsuhisa had done a lot of homework before and even organized his own fleet to conduct a rehearsal, so he would not be confused about the exercise process at this time.
Different from the rehearsal exercise, he was now on the flagship of the Haihan fleet. This was a rare opportunity to observe at close range how the Haihan army commanded operations.
Shi Diwen did not personally direct the exercise, but handed over the command to Amakusa Shiro. He might as well save some energy and explain the key points of the exercise to Shimazu Mitsuhisa.
However, the part that impressed Mitsuhisa Shimazu most deeply during the voyage was not the Haihan Navy's prohibitions and rich experience in maritime operations, but the fact that the Zhoushan activated the ship's steam power system and cut through the waves at a speed of nearly 20 knots. march.
In just a very short time, the Zhoushan had left the main force of the fleet behind, and was still widening the distance.
This kind of speed shocked Shimazu Mitsuhisa. Even without Shi Diwen explaining it, he could imagine how much help this kind of speed would bring to the battle during wartime. This performance alone is enough to make the Haihan fleet invincible in naval battles.
The Haihan people only used mechanical devices made of steel, as well as fresh water and coal to achieve such a miracle.
In Shimazu Mitsuhisa's view, this is even more terrifying than a powerful naval gun. After all, he could understand the general principles of where the power of naval guns came from, but he really couldn't understand the steam propulsion system at all.
The scene of the Zhoushan disappearing on the sea also caused a great shock to the navy soldiers of the Satsuma Domain. Although this giant ship was huge, it was not cumbersome and slow at all. In fact, in their life experience, they have never seen a ship that can run so fast on the sea.
However, the shock they received did not end there. Several other Haihan warships in the combined fleet also activated their steam propulsion systems, quickly increased their speed and then left the fleet.
Only then did the commander of the Satsuma Domain understand how the "dividing the troops into two groups during the march" link in the exercise plan worked. It was not possible for the warships of the Dareto family to speed up to the point where they could directly break away from the fleet. This was completely unknown beforehand. Scenarios that have come to mind.
However, this division of troops was mainly to demonstrate the performance of the Kaihan battleship to the Satsuma Domain. It did not last too long. They just made a big circle on the sea and then rejoined the Satsuma Domain's fleet.