After the joint military exercise, the projects for the meeting between the two sides were basically completed, and Shi Diwen led the fleet to return to the Sasebo base. The Satsuma Domain will probably take a short rest for a few days, and then start a military operation to annex the east coast of Kyushu.
On the way back north, the fleet made a special trip to Nagasaki Port in the name of supplies.
As the only "special zone" directly under the jurisdiction of the shogunate in the Kyushu region, Nagasaki Port was intentionally built as a window for Japan's foreign trade, possessing a monopoly advantage that was difficult for local vassals to match.
Especially after the collapse of the rival Hirado Domain, Nagasaki Port accounted for more than 80% of Japan's foreign trade for a period of time, and the remaining leftovers were divided up by local forces such as Tsushima Domain and Satsuma Domain.
Therefore, some people suspect that when Kaihan sent troops to attack Hirado, the shogunate turned a blind eye to it. It neither sent troops to assist Hirado nor took any countermeasures against Kaihan afterwards. The reason was that it wanted to use Kaihan's hands to get rid of Hirado and Tagawa. family, taking advantage of this opportunity to promote the monopoly position of Nagasaki Port in the field of foreign trade.
Although objective reality did create such a situation, regardless of whether this was the wishful thinking of the shogunate, the good days of Nagasaki Port did not last long. A few years later, the Kaihan fleet stormed into Edo Bay to demonstrate. Not long after, the shogunate was forced to sign a trade treaty with Kaihan, opening up trade rights at many ports.
Since then, the various feudal lords in Kyushu have also realized that the shogunate is not that strong, and they have begun to establish relationships with Kaihan. They no longer conduct foreign trade activities in Nagasaki Port, and give the shogunate the share of the revenue that should have been handed over. Put it all back in your pocket.
After Sasebo Bay occupied by Kaihan began to engage in trade activities, the situation of Nagasaki Port became even worse. Whether it is cargo sources, port conditions, trade policies, or business methods, Nagasaki Port is obviously difficult to compete with Sasebo Bay, and the loss of customers is very serious.
Regarding Shi Diwen's sudden arrival, Nagasaki Minister Yuta Kosaki was not too surprised. It seemed that he expected that he would definitely visit here.
After getting the news, Yuta Ozaki rushed to the port immediately to welcome Shi Diwen's arrival.
This was not the first time that he and Shi Diwen had met. The two had met before, and they had also reached some agreements on the trade status of the Sasebo base and Nagasaki Port.
However, the agreements negotiated by the two parties at that time did not not only guarantee the trade status of Nagasaki Port, but also help it increase its trade share, as Haihan promised. The actual situation was completely opposite.
This also made Yuta Kozaki inevitably complain about the situation in the past two years after meeting Shi Diwen.
"According to our original agreement, you must ensure that a certain proportion of trade activities between your country and our country will be completed in Nagasaki Port. However, your country has not fulfilled its promise. There are far fewer Haihan merchants here than before. , many transactions were diverted to Sasebo Bay and other ports.”
"The commercial tax paid to the shogunate last year was almost half of what it was five years ago! If this continues, I'm afraid the shogunate won't let me stay here any longer! You probably don't want the shogunate to change someone else to do this Nagasaki practice. Right? ”
The more Yuta Kozaki talked, the angrier he became. If he hadn't been afraid of Shi Diwen's high position in front of him, he could hardly help but slap the table and lose his temper.
Shi Diwen responded calmly: "Is the decline in the trade scale of Nagasaki Port really just affected by Sasebo Bay? As far as I know, because of tax issues, many merchants from various Kyushu vassals are unwilling to transport goods to Nagasaki. They want to trade directly with my country. How can we blame our country for not honoring its commitments? ”
"Also, according to the terms of the Maritime and Japanese Trade Treaty, your country has opened trade rights to many ports to our country, so of course our merchants can trade in other ports."
"I think Mr. Ozaki should suggest to the shogunate to completely cancel the commercial tax at Nagasaki Port and give each vassal more trade rights. It may be possible to win back people's hearts." "How is this possible! The shogunate will never accept such a solution. Plan!" Yuta Kozaki rejected Shi Diwen's proposal without thinking.
One of the main sources of income for the shogunate from Nagasaki is commercial taxes, which is a considerable financial revenue for it. Otherwise, it would not have to spend so much effort to maintain Nagasaki's monopoly trade status.
If the shogunate cancels Nagasaki's commercial taxes, it will be no different than losing control of Nagasaki. Yuta Kosaki does not need to ask for instructions at all, knowing that this plan will never be approved by the shogunate.
Shi Diwen said: "Then there is another solution, which is for the shogunate to ask the Kyushu vassals to hand over their trade rights and no longer carry out trade activities with our country on their own."
Yuta Ozaki's eyes widened even more: "Master Shi, isn't this just asking the shogunate to start a war with each family?"
Shi Diwen said: "The shogunate is unwilling to give up benefits and does not want to offend the Kyushu vassals. Could it be that it wants our country to voluntarily give up the conditions in the trade treaty and concentrate all trade activities in Nagasaki? If the shogunate really has such an idea, then I wouldn’t mind letting the shogunate give it a try.”
Yuta Kozaki was speechless for a moment. As far as he knew, the shogunate certainly did not want to fight with the Kyushu vassals over trade issues, but it was even less likely to fall out with Haihan over this. No matter which path it took, it was impossible for the shogunate.
But after finally meeting with Shi Diwen, Kozaki Yuta did not want to miss such an opportunity. He still implored Shi Diwen to think of a way to solve Nagasaki's current downward spiral in order to preserve his official position.
Shi Diwen said: "This matter is simple to say, it just depends on whether Mr. Ozaki has enough courage and determination!"
Yuta Kozaki seemed to have something interesting when he heard it, and quickly responded: "Master Shi, please elaborate!"
Shi Diwen said: "Master Zengshan Masari, you should know him, right?"
Yuta Kozaki nodded and said: "Master Masuyama is the uncle of General Tokugawa and the special envoy to your country. Of course I recognize him."
Shi Diwen said: "He came to our country to purchase arms last year, but the process was not smooth. I think the shogunate should also be very anxious. If you can solve this problem, can you restore the trust of the shogunate?"
Yuta Kozaki understood what he heard, but he did not think that Shi Diwen would take the initiative to hand over this kind of benefit to him. He asked curiously: "Could it be that Master Zengshan has offended you, so he wants to use this to attack Master Zengshan?" ?”
Shi Diwen shook his head and said: "You don't have to rush to know the specific reason. You just need to report it accordingly and say that you have channels to quickly purchase arms from Haihan. I believe the shogunate will greatly appreciate you."< br>
Kosaki Yuta was able to sit in this seat, so he was certainly not a fool. After thinking for a moment, he exclaimed: "Could it be that the shogunate is really going to start a war with Kyushu!"
Shi Diwen smiled and said nothing, but still nodded slightly, expressing his affirmation of his guess.