Chapter 3511
Chapter 3511
Chapter 3511
Although Hai Han did not directly send troops to the turmoil in Kyushu last year, the several daimyo that Shi Diwen "happened" to visit before that were the main forces that started the riots there. Therefore, the Tokugawa shogunate was somewhat aware of the role Hai Han played in this.
Hai Han instigated the daimyo of Kyushu to rebel, which certainly made the top brass of the shogunate furious, but at the same time they could not react too drastically against Hai Han. After all, the advanced weapons and equipment needed to conquer the various feudal lords in Kyushu still had to be provided by Hai Han.
Zengshan Masayoshi had just ordered a batch of sea vessels from the Fujian Shipyard, and before he had time to celebrate, he received news that the Hai Han organization was going to Japan for inspection.
This is definitely not good news for the shogunate. Masatoshi Zengshan knows very well that Hai Han has never supported the shogunate. Now that it is organizing many foreign dignitaries to visit Japan, it certainly cannot be for the purpose of cheering up the shogunate.
Although Hai Han claimed that the purpose of this trip was to "mediate conflicts" and "prevent war", at the same time Hai Han continued to sell weapons and equipment to both sides of the conflict, which was obviously a self-contradictory practice. News from the forum showed that the real purpose of this inspection trip was more likely to allow politicians from various countries to see with their own eyes the performance of Hai Han's weapons and equipment in actual combat.
Zengshan Masayoshi would rather believe that this is Hai Han’s true purpose. After all, both sides of the war are equipped with a large number of weapons provided by Hai Han, and such a battlefield is very likely to be unique in the world.
Of course, the politicians from various countries who were invited to participate in the inspection activities did not regard Japan as a tourist destination, but as a place to observe the war.
Zeng Shanzheng couldn't help but think of the previous times when he came to Hai Han to buy arms, he had gone to the Hai Han army's shooting range to watch the performance of these guns and artillery in live ammunition shooting. But now Hai Han seems to be no longer satisfied with using its own shooting range, and is planning to turn Japan into a larger shooting range.
There is no doubt that the armies of both sides, and even all the civilians in Japan, will become live targets on this shooting range to demonstrate the performance of weapons. And those caught in it have no way of judging how long this demonstration will last.
But the current situation is not completely hopeless. Zeng Shanzhengli still has other ways to try, such as meeting with the Executive Committee as soon as possible to persuade the Hai Han leaders to abandon this terrible practice.
However, his request for a meeting was once again ruthlessly rejected. It was clear that the Hai Han Executive Committee did not want to create trouble at this time and meet with anyone from the shogunate.
In desperation, Zengshan Masayoshi had no choice but to try his best. He continued to request a meeting with the Hai Han officials he knew, while also inquiring about the activities of the Kyushu feudal lords in Zhoushan.
Since he, representing the shogunate, could come here, then there must be people from the Kyushu vassal states in Zhoushan to coordinate the Hai Han organization’s investigation activities. He thought that if he could find these people, he might be able to stop the investigation activities from happening.
However, Zeng Shanzheng thought things were too simple. In order to ensure that the people sent by the Kyushu vassal states would not encounter any problems in Zhoushan, Shi Diwen placed them directly in the naval base of Dinghai Port. No matter how powerful Zeng Shanzheng's spies were, they could not enter the gate of the base, let alone cause trouble inside.
As for the officials he was trying to meet, they had all been notified by the Executive Committee that they were not allowed to meet with people from Japan privately without permission. He sent out visiting cards like snowflakes, but received no positive response.
At this point, Zeng Shanzhengli actually understood that Hai Han was determined to push for a civil war in Japan. Any attempt to delay or prevent the civil war would be eliminated by Hai Han one by one.
If the shogunate wanted to save itself, it had only one way to go, which was to defeat the Kyushu feudal lords on the battlefield. But now that the Kyushu feudal lords had the support of Hai Han, it would be much easier said than done to defeat them.
Some people in Edo may still remain optimistic about the prospects of war, but Zengshan Masayoshi, who has visited Hai Han several times, does not think so.
The shogunate's army now has no other advantages except for its greater strength. In terms of the progress of muskets and artillery, it may even be inferior to the feudal armies in Kyushu.
The shogunate's conquest of Kyushu would require the deployment of troops from many locations, and they would march long distances to the local area and then regroup. The coordination, communication and material supply required during this period would be extremely tedious tasks, and there must be no mistakes.
However, the local armed forces in Kyushu could take advantage of their home field, make defensive deployments while they were at ease, and wait for the shogunate army to attack at their doorsteps.
As long as Hai Han provides Jiuzhou with sufficient arms it needs, it can almost guarantee that Jiuzhou will be invincible.
The more Zengshan Masayoshi thought about it, the more frightened he became, and the more pessimistic he became. He quickly spread out paper and ground ink, wrote a secret letter, and sent someone to send it back to the country immediately.
Since he was unable to stop Hai Han's conspiracy, he could only persuade Tokugawa Iematsu and his ministers to abandon their original plan of attack as soon as possible to avoid the negative impact that would be caused by the failure of the expedition.
Masuyama Masayoshi racked his brains and wrote down all the factors that were unfavorable to his side in the letter, hoping to make the shogunate realize the extremely dangerous situation.
At the same time, he also suggested in the letter that the strategy should be changed as soon as possible, from offense to defense, and defensive measures should be deployed in Honshu and Shikoku to prevent the offensive initiated by the Kyushu clan army.
Finally, Masatoshi Masuyama pointed out that if the shogunate wanted to quell the chaos in Kyushu, it would probably be difficult to achieve its goal in a short period of time, and the Kyushu feudal lords would never stop, so the shogunate must be prepared for a long-term war.
If the Executive Committee could see this letter from Masatoshi Masuyama, they would certainly praise his vision and strategy. Although the shogunate was closed, there were still smart people like Masatoshi Masuyama who knew how to judge the situation.
But what Masuyama Masatoshi failed to realize was that even if the shogunate followed the advice in his letter completely, it would still not be able to resolve the current crisis.
Because even he was unwilling to admit that the enemy the shogunate was facing now was not the rebellious Kyushu feudal lords, but the extremely powerful Hai Han Kingdom. In this situation, all the countermeasures the shogunate could take were just futile struggles.
Other countries, except for the parties involved, quickly put the matter behind them. There were too many people and things worth their attention during the Zhoushan Forum, and Japan, which failed to attend the forum, was just a dessert after the main meal. No one would be so anxious to give up the delicious main meal for this.
In addition to the ship exhibition held at Dinghai Port, there were also many other rich exhibitions during the forum, including traditional specialties such as silk, porcelain, and tea, as well as various lighters, telescopes and other industrial products that have only appeared on the market in recent years, and even a non-sale exhibition specially used by Haihan to display advanced technology.