Mao Lixiu and Fukuhara Zhenhao heard Ye Yuxuan talk about the issue of remuneration, and their spirits immediately lifted up. Mao Lixiu quickly said: "Okay, I ask for 3,000 iron cannons, 30 large barrels, and three ships of ammunition, which will be sent to Hagi Castle before the winter closure at the latest..."

Ye Yuxuan suddenly laughed, which made Mao Lixiu have to swallow the rest of the requirements into his stomach, and asked with a somewhat ugly face: "Why is Your Excellency laughing?" ”

Ye Yuxuan put away his smile and said sarcastically: "Your Highness, I already told you just now, I am just a businessman today. When have you ever seen a merchant who has to pay off the goods before they arrive? I believe that such a businessman would have gone bankrupt and starved to death a long time ago. ”

Maori Xiu fell silent, and Fukuhara Sadakayoshi immediately asked, "So how do you want to pay for this?" ”

Ye Yuxuan thought for a while and said, "On the Haicang I was riding, there were 300 muskets, as well as 2 six-pound cannons and 50 barrels*. This batch of weapons and ammunition is used as a deposit paid in advance by our East China Sea Patrol Office, and it can be regarded as letting you first familiarize yourself with the power of my Daming's standard weapons.

The remaining weapons and equipment will be paid for in three installments, the first being the selection of the address where the port will be built; the second was when the nobles provided the manpower and materials for the construction of the city; The third time was after the completion of the city's construction. What do you two think? ”

Maori Xiu immediately couldn't sit still, and he hurriedly objected: "No, it's impossible, we can't wait so long." Half of the weapons that must be delivered by this winter will be handed over to us at the beginning of next spring. ”

Ye Yuxuan pretended to ponder for a while before he said, "Your Highness, if I can sit here and meet you today, then we can be regarded as acquaintances."

We Chinese also have a saying, called one birth, two times ripe. If the Choshu Domain can cede a piece of land to our Tokai Patrol Prefecture to build a port, then the Tokai Patrol Prefecture and the Choshu Domain may have a closer relationship in the future.

If Your Highness has any difficulties, you might as well say it directly, then maybe I can think of a solution for Your Highness. ”

Maori Shu turned his head to look at Fukuhara Sada, and then fell silent again. Fukuhara Sadayoshi seemed to have gotten some hint, he cleared his throat, and said to Ye Yuxuan: "Originally, this matter could not be spread outside, but in order to show the sincerity of the alliance to Daming, my Maori family is willing to confess the inside story of this matter to you."

Speaking of the troubles that my Mori family is currently experiencing, we must start with the Battle of Sekigahara, which was the final battle between the Toyotomi and Tokugawa parties, and the last governor of the Mori family, Mori Terumoto, was elected as the general of the Western Army in support of Toyotomi..."

Just when Fukuhara Sadaha confided to Ye Yuxuan the inside story of the troubles that the Maori family was currently experiencing, in the castle tower of Tsurumaru Castle in Kagoshima, the feudal lord Shimazu Iehisa gathered the old generals of the family and listened to the information coming from Edo.

The Shimazu spy said to everyone in the review room, "... More than two months ago, the presiding officer of Dongqing Temple, Tian Xiuni, disappeared..."

Shimazu Iehisa interrupted the spies' words and said to some retainers who didn't know the situation yet: "Tenshuni is the last bloodline of the Toyotomi family, His Royal Highness Chiyohime. ”

After the gray-haired Shimazu Iehisa said this, he fell silent again, and the retainers in the review room had different faces, and the spy continued again.

"After the disappearance of His Royal Highness Tenshuni, the shogunate has been blocking this news. But more than a month ago, news suddenly began to circulate in the tavern in Edo Castle that His Highness Tenshuni was missing.

More than half a month ago, new rumors began to appear in Edo Castle that His Highness Tenshuni was not missing, but was kidnapped by a certain daimyo who was plotting to rebel against the shogunate, in order to use His Highness Tenshuni as a call to carry out a conspiracy to overthrow the shogunate.

Among these rumors, the one that most convinced the citizens of Edo was that our clan and the Mori family had kidnapped His Highness Tenshuni..."

"Enough, you can go down." Shimazu Iehisa, who was leaning on a pillow, interrupted the spy's words, and after the spy bowed down and exited the room, the retainers in the room finally couldn't help but discuss.

Shimazu Hisatsu first said to Shimazu Iehisa: "Master of the family, no wonder the shogunate urged you to go to Edo immediately, and said that the Great Imperial Palace is not in good health, and you want to meet the head of the family and reminisce about the past." I think the shogunate wanted to lure the head of the family to Kyoto and detain him as a hostage in Edo Castle. The head of the family must not go to Beijing, this is a trap. ”

Several elders of the Shimazu family also persuaded the Shimazu family for a long time, but some people whispered: "If the head of the family does not go to Beijing, will he confirm the evidence fabricated in the rumors?" Let the shogunate really think that it was the family that kidnapped His Highness? ”

"Bastard, do you want the head of the family to be humiliated in Beijing?"

"Stupid, His Royal Highness the Grand Prince is still a hostage in Edo Castle, and we are not ready to go to war with the shogunate, no, we simply do not have the ability to start a war with the shogunate now, and outside our harbor, there are still ships of the Akito. If you don't have a proper response, do you want your family to be destroyed? ”

"Even if it's destruction, we have to let the shogunate and the Akito know that my Satsuma boy is loyal and brave..."

"Smack, smack, smack." A sound interrupted the discussion in the discussion room, and everyone immediately turned their eyes to the place where the sound came from, but saw that at some point, the head of the house, who was half leaning on the pillow, had already sat up straight, tapping the tatami mat in front of him with the folding fan in his hand.

The Shimazu family, whose face became cold, watched the retainers bow their heads in fear before he spoke: "My Shimazu family is now facing life and death, but you are still attacking each other, and you don't know how to unite as one to resist a strong enemy. Do you really want to let the Shimazu family fall in my hands for 400 years?

I have come to you today to hear about this, so that you can unite after knowing the strength of the enemy, and not to listen to you provoking each other here.

After the Battle of Sekigahara and the Battle of the Ryukyus, my Satsuma Domain had not used a sword for more than 20 years. Originally, I thought that these 20 years of peace would be a godsend for my Satsuma family to recuperate and restore their national strength.

But looking at your current performance, I think that the 20 years of non-sword soldiers are about the beginning of the decline of my Satsuma Domain. After a long period of peace, you have lost the martial spirit of your fathers and ancestors, and even your loyalty to your own family has been extinguished..."

Shimazu Iehisa's anger made the retainers in the review room stick their foreheads tightly on the tatami mats, lest they be angered by Iehisa because of their disrespect, and become the object of the family's anger.

After Shimazu Iehisa angrily reprimanded his retainers, he turned back to the subject and said, "Since you can't come up with some useful opinions, then I'll leave it to me this time." Liver pay. ”

"Yes."

"You go out to sea and get in touch with those Ming people and tell them that we are willing to accept their request and have a meeting to resolve the conflict between the Ryukyu merchant houses."

"Yes."

"Uewell."

"Yes."

"You go back and prepare, and then send an envoy to Tosa and Choshu to probe their voices and see what they think of the disappearance of Her Highness Chiyohime and the shogunate's response policy?"

"Yes."

"Tadahiro, you go and meet the messenger of the shogunate for me. Tell him that I have a recurrence of my leg disease and that I am not good at walking, and I am afraid that I will not be able to respond to the call of the shogunate and go to catch up with His Royal Highness.

In addition, you will write two more letters for me, one to the Grand Imperial Palace and one to His Highness the General. The content is that I have a recurrence of my old illness, and I feel that my time is running out, and I hope that I can let Tadamoto, who lives in Edo, come back to serve my illness. If the condition continues to deteriorate, it is better to take over the affairs of the domain as soon as possible and stabilize the situation in the Satsuma domain..."

When Shimazu Iehisa gave orders to the retainers to deal with the bad situation that might arise between the shogunate and the Ming people, the Chōshū Domain pointed to the Bright Moon Pavilion of Tsukiyama Castle, and Fukuhara Sadada's explanation of the inside story to Ye Yuxuan also came to an end.

“… Therefore, after the disappearance of Her Royal Highness Chiyohime, the secret agents of the shogunate never found the whereabouts of this Highness, so they pointed their suspicions at the members of the Western Army who supported the Toyotomi clan back then.

At that time, the Mori family, who was the general of the Western Army, became the biggest suspicion of the shogunate. According to the information we have received, the shogunate envoy who ordered the head of the family to go to Edo is about to arrive in Nagato Province.

In the past, the shogunate's treatment of other foreign daimyos, even if it was only a small mistake, it had to be cut and changed. Now that His Royal Highness Chiyohime is missing, in order to prevent an accident from happening in the Choshu Domain, it is almost certain that the head of the family will be placed under house arrest after going to Beijing.

In order to survive, my Mori family accepted the humiliation of the Tokugawa clan and cut off most of the land from the million-koku daimyo to less than 370,000 koku.

However, the shogunate's wariness of the Shogunate has not been eliminated, and if Her Royal Highness Chiyohime is disfigured out and the family is punished again, the family will no longer have the strength to resist the pressure of the Shogunate in the future.

Rather than being cut by the shogunate with a slow knife like this, the family should fight hard, unite people's hearts, and let the shogunate know that our Choshu Domain still has the strength to fight.

Therefore, this batch of weapons of yours must be delivered as soon as possible, otherwise if our family is unable to defend itself by force, the agreement reached between this family and you today will also become a dead letter. ”

After listening to Fukuhara Sadayoshi's explanation, Ye Yuxuan finally had a comprehensive idea of the current situation in Japan. Only then did he react that the disappearance of a Tenshuni had caused mutual suspicion between the shogunate and the local daimyos.

Japan once seemed to be peaceful, but now it is full of dark currents, and once these currents break through the water, then the war between the shogunate and the southwestern daimyo may be inevitable.

Ye Yuxuan thought for a long time before he nodded and said, "I already understand the difficulties of your domain. However, I also have my own rules for acting in the Ming Dynasty, and although I am very sympathetic to the situation faced by your clan, there is no reason to pay the remuneration in one lump sum..."