In the next two days, Yuta Ozaki was busy sending the news back to the shogunate and asking for instructions on the next step, while at the same time asking his subordinates to organize the resources at hand to prepare for this big deal.
In Yuta Kozaki's view, it is absolutely impossible for the shogunate to reject Shi Diwen's "goodwill". Even if it is known that Haihan's move may not have any good intentions, after all, the opportunity for arms purchase is rare and the window period is short, so the shogunate cannot tolerate the slightest hesitation. .
Yuta Ozaki knew that Masuyama Masato went to Haihan to purchase weapons on behalf of the shogunate two years ago. The process was not smooth. Until he returned home not long ago, Masuyama Masato's amount of arms purchased from Haihan was not as high as what Shi Diwen proposed this time. number.
But to facilitate this deal, Yuta Kozaki knew that he could not just act as a middleman, because the shogunate might not be able to raise such a large amount of military spending for a while, and it might not be able to organize enough maritime transport capacity to transport the purchased equipment. go back.
To solve these problems, Nagasaki's active participation is indispensable.
As the only area under the direct jurisdiction of the shogunate in Kyushu, Nagasaki has always acted as a gateway for foreign trade. In order to maintain turnover, the local government has a large amount of trade funds in its hands, and Yuta Kosaki also has the authority to decide the use of these funds.
In addition, the merchant fleet operated and dispatched by Nagasaki Port was also the most important maritime freight force under the shogunate. To transport a large amount of arms from Sasebo Bay back to areas controlled by the shogunate, such a major task cannot be left to ordinary civilian ships. It can only be done with the shogunate's own ships.
The sudden mobilization of funds and fleets will inevitably affect the ongoing trade activities. We cannot wait for a response from Edo before doing these things. We can only seize the time to make arrangements in advance. Yuta Kozaki is the leader of Nagasaki, and he can only coordinate all aspects of affairs personally.
During this period, various rumors about Shi Diwen's trip also began to appear on the streets of Nagasaki.
It is said that Haihan has decided to help the shogunate to crack down on some restless daimyo, and Shi Diwen visited Nagasaki to sell arms. It is also said that Shi Diwen's trip was to dissuade the shogunate from starting a war, because Haihan's partners in Kyushu were almost all local forces. If a war really broke out, Haihan would probably not side with the shogunate.
Of course, there are even more outrageous rumors, claiming that Kaihan is no longer satisfied with the small Sasebo Bay, but intends to annex the entire Kyushu region. This visit to various daimyo is intended to persuade them to surrender, and then capture Kyushu without any blood.
All kinds of true, false, and contradictory information appear almost at the same time. It is difficult for even professional intelligence personnel to distinguish their credibility, let alone ordinary people.
This includes information from Yuta Ozaki's subordinates, as well as false news deliberately spread by the Haihan Military Intelligence Agency to confuse the public. Of course, most of them come from various speculations among the people, which intentionally or unintentionally confuse the situation and add fuel to the flames.
However, with the speed of information dissemination in this era, it would definitely not be enough for the news to spread to all the vassals in Kyushu in just a few days. According to Shi Diwen's estimate, it would take at least ten days and a half for the Kyushu vassals to respond to his visit to Nagasaki.
When Shi Diwen and his party left Nagasaki, Yuta Kozaki made an agreement with him that he would visit Sasebo Bay within a month at the latest, and would bring gold and silver with him to complete the arms deal with Haihan.
Shi Diwen was noncommittal about this, and just told Yuta Kozaki to hurry up, because the shogunate was not the only one who was preparing money to pick up the goods.
Just as the fleet was returning to Sasebo Bay, news from the Satsuma Domain was received.
The military advisory team stationed in the Satsuma Domain sent a telegram that Shimazu Mitsuhisa had dispatched troops to launch military operations against the Nobeoka Domain, Takanabe Domain, and Sadohara Domain in the southeastern region of Kyushu in the name of searching for the missing caravan.
The combined strength of these small clans may not even be one-tenth of the Satsuma clan. Due to the opponent's lack of armed forces, large-scale resistance will not even break out. All the Satsuma Domain needed to do was find a reason to send troops to take over these areas. According to the plan revealed by Shimazu Mitsuhisa to his military advisers, it is expected that the annexation of these vassals will be completed within seven to ten days.
"Shimazu Mitsuhisa's words are quite effective, and he has already started taking action!"
Shi Diwen handed the telegram to Amakusa Shiro, indicating that he also expressed his views.
Amakusa Shiro quickly read the contents of the telegram and responded with a smile: "He must have been waiting for this day for a long time, and it is difficult to have a better time to take action than now."
Shi Diwen said: "Let the Military Intelligence Bureau spread the news of Satsuma Domain's attack as soon as possible and see how many others can sit still."
Amakusa Shiro understood and said: "The first one eats the meat, and the last one can only drink the soup."
Each of the powerful vassals in Kyushu had ambitions, but they were always intimidated by the power of the shogunate and did not dare to easily annex other small vassals. But as long as someone takes the initiative, it will be difficult for other companies to just sit back and watch.
The entire Kyushu Island is such a big place. If the Satsuma clan annexes more territory, the other companies will definitely have fewer targets to attack. Moreover, with the support of Kaihan in the Satsuma Domain, even the shogunate did not pay attention to it, and they could not expect to make the Shimadzu family vomit out what they had eaten.
Once chaos begins in Kyushu, it means that the shogunate's rule over Kyushu has expired. At that time, whether the shogunate conquers Kyushu or Kyushu counterattacks the shogunate, there will be one less legal obstacle in the middle, and all parties can do what they want to do with peace of mind.
But before that, there needs to be an event of sufficient importance to detonate the explosive barrel, and that is the arms deal prepared by Shi Diwen for the shogunate.
Two days after the fleet returned to the Sasebo base, the Nabeshima family of the Saga Domain sent an envoy.
This envoy brought two questions to Nabeshima Mitsushige. One was whether the Satsuma Domain's annexation of surrounding areas had the acquiescence and support of Kaihan, and the other was whether Kaihan was really prepared to sell large quantities of arms to the shogunate.
Nabeshima Mitsushige was obviously anxious after receiving the news. He didn't even have the patience to confirm the credibility of the news through other channels, so he went directly to Shi Diwen to seek answers.
Of course, such a reaction was expected by Shi Diwen, so he received the envoy of the Saga Domain as soon as possible and gave a clear answer.
Regarding the first question, Shi Diwen's response was that each of the Kyushu vassals has the power to act independently, but they must also bear the corresponding consequences. In other words, let the Saga clan weigh it up for itself. If it feels like it, it can be used, but if it suffers a loss in the future, it cannot be blamed on Haihan.
As for the second question, Shi Diwen's answer was somewhat meaningful. He said that the arms trade between Haihan and the shogunate was purely commercial. The shogunate's price was high enough so it was sold to them. This does not represent Haihan's position. Moreover, Haihan will not be responsible for whether these goods can eventually be transported back to the shogunate's territory after they are handed over at the Sasebo base.
After receiving the news brought back by the envoy, Nabeshima Mitsushige immediately understood what Shi Diwen meant - you either have to pay a high price to take over the goods that the shogunate wants, or you wait for the shogunate to buy it and grab it directly.