"Alliance leader, the volunteer army recruited this time must be personally controlled by the alliance leader, this army is a double-edged sword, if you use it well, it will be invincible, and if you don't use it well, you will have to fight against its master." Chen Xinji suggested.

"I understand, I'll discuss it after Xu Xinsu's recruitment is completed." Yan Siqi said.

"Alliance leader, will we take advantage of the victory to pursue and march into Tsurumaru City immediately?" Yang Tiansheng asked.

"Let's talk about it when Deng Qingsong comes back." Yan Siqi said.

……

After this battle, everyone saw the strength of the Satsuma Domain's army. Although the Satsuma clan lost nearly 10,000 troops this time, he still had nearly 20,000 troops, including 10,000 troops in Tsurumaru Castle.

If he storms Tsurumaru Castle, even if he can take it, Yan Siqi's 20,000 troops will definitely lose a lot, which is not in line with Yan Siqi's strategy, if the shogunate sends troops to deal with him, then he has to retreat to the sea.

In the end, it was decided through deliberation that Li Dan would come forward to meet Tokugawa Hidetada and seek the support of the shogunate, preferably in exchange for Tokugawa Hidetada's acquiescence to his possession of the Satsuma Domain, and at worst, to find a way to keep Tokugawa Hidetada from interfering in the war of the Satsuma Domain. Li Dan and Tokugawa Ieyasu are old acquaintances, and Tokugawa Ieyasu once received Li Dan's sponsorship when he unified Dongying, but he did not have much communication with Tokugawa Hidetada.

The relationship between the Satsuma clan and Tokugawa Ieyasu was also very general, and according to Tokugawa Ieyasu's custom of dividing the feudal domain, the closer the daimyo relationship became to Edo, and the Shimazu clan's territory was located in the westernmost part of the four islands of Toei, and its relationship can be imagined.

If the shogunate doesn't intervene, now Yan Siqi and Shimazu Tadashi are in a state of balance of strength, and there is no way for anyone to take the other. But if the newly recruited army arrives in Fangjin, Yan Siqi's forces will be completely overwhelming. What Yan Siqi needs most now is time.

At this time, Shimazu Tadashi was also seeking the support of the shogunate and others, and after this battle, he also realized that this army was not ordinary pirates. The defeat in this battle made him lose nearly 10,000 people, and he almost lost the advantage he originally occupied.

……

Yan Siqi's bereavement pension was also done very well, and even the Dongying New Army who died in the battle was given twenty taels of silver each. At this time, the most valuable thing is human life, not to mention that the current Satsuma Domain is still a poor and bloodless domain.

Yan Siqi's move won the support of the poor people around Fangjin, and when Yan Siqi recruited troops again, this time he recruited an army of 10,000 people at a time.

As for the guards and pirates who died in battle, Yan Siqi learned from Zhu Youxiao's practice - give land, and give forty taels of silver to those who don't want land. Although the Satsuma Domain is located in a volcanic area and is often plagued by typhoons, the land has always been a favorite thing for many people.

……

The envoys sent by the Satsuma Domain and Yan Siqi set off almost at the same time, but Yan Siqi's envoy Li Dan took the sea route, while the Satsuma Domain's envoy Shimazu Mitsuhisa took the land route.

Although Shimazu Hisamitsu arrived in Edo ten days earlier than Li Dan. But whether it is in terms of relationship or economic strength, Shimazu Hisamitsu cannot be compared with Li Dan. This group of pirates has been roaming the southeast coast for many years, they are both pirates and maritime merchants, all of them are rich in assets, especially Li Dan can definitely be said to be rich and invincible, Li Dan is called Captain China by Westerners.

Shimazu Hisamitsu had come to ask the shogunate to send troops to suppress the pirates, and in the eyes of the Shimazu family, this should be the shogunate's obligation. Although Shimazu Hisamitsu also brought gifts, he only brought gifts for Tokugawa Hidetada.

Li Dan is different, he not only gave gifts to Tokugawa Hidetada and Tokugawa Iemitsu at the same time, but also gave gifts to almost everyone who could influence Tokugawa Hidetada and Tokugawa Iemitsu's decision-making, including their wives and concubines, sons, retainers, etc., and even Tokugawa Iemitsu's nurse Saito Fukuku also prepared a generous gift.

Toei now practices dualistic politics, Tokugawa Hidetada lives in seclusion in Nishinomaru, known as the "Great Imperial Palace", and his son Tokugawa Iemitsu Honmaru is the third shogun, and the shogun and the Great Imperial Palace rule together, which is the so-called dual politics. But in fact, it was Tokugawa Hidetada who held the power.

Li Dan, with his relationship with Tokugawa Ieyasu, met Tokugawa Hidetada one step ahead of Shimazu Hisamitsu. Tokugawa Hidetada has lived in the shadow of Tokugawa Ieyasu all his life, and he does not have much affection for Li Dan.

But Li Dan had already made all kinds of preparations before he sent the shogunate, including making up a good reason for Yan Siqi to send troops this time. The reason is that after the Satsuma Domain captured the Ryukyu Kingdom, the army plundered for seven days, during which Li Dan not only lost 100,000 taels of silver, but also the concubines and children he placed in the Ryukyu Kingdom also suffered a catastrophe.

Moreover, Li Dan promised that if he succeeded in taking revenge, he would give the shogunate a grant of 1 million taels of silver, and at the same time he also brought 200,000 taels of silver as a deposit.

Tokugawa Hidetada and Tokugawa Iemitsu were still very interested in Li Dan's promise, and now the shogunate was building a large number of buildings, and what was missing was silver. What's more, the relationship between the Satsuma Domain and the shogunate is indeed very ordinary, if the Shimazu clan of the Satsuma domain collapses, the shogunate has nothing to lose, and they can support a daimyo who has a better relationship with them.

Li Dan's efforts in Edo were not in vain, and although the shogunate did not explicitly decide to support Li Dan in the end, it did not explicitly support the Satsuma Domain, and the matter seems to have dragged on. Li Dan was generous in Edo, often entertaining the ministers of the shogunate to buy time for Yan Siqi.

……

And just as Zhu Youxiao was on his way to Datong, he received the news of the fall of Lushun, which was the third time that Houjin had captured Lushun. Zhu Youxiao originally thought that after he came to Daming, he would change the fate of Lushun, and he had repeatedly told Sun Chengzong to pay attention to Lushun in his letters, but it still happened that he shouldn't have come.

Mang Gurtai led 6,000 elite soldiers to take Lushun directly, guerrilla Zhang Pan, Zhu Guochang and others were killed in battle, after the Jin Eight Banner soldiers occupied Lushun, because they were afraid of Mao Wenlong to defend Phi Island, they could attack its flank at any time, so they did not dare to stay for a long time, but plundered property, destroyed the city wall, and led the troops to retreat.

"Spread my edict and ordered Huanglong to guard Lushunkou, and transferred a part of the Shandong Navy Division to Lushun to assist in the defense, and Lushun will never allow any more mistakes." Zhu Youxiao said after seeing Lushun's battle report.

"It's just that Yuan Futai has already ordered Zhang Pan to go to Lushunkou." Wang Liqian said.

"Let the Yellow Dragon guard be more secure." Zhu Youxiao insisted.

"No."

"Another word is passed on, so that Sun Ge Lao's subordinate Ma Shilong will pay attention to Liuhe." Zhu Youxiao remembered the upcoming defeat of Liuhe this year, but he couldn't remember the specific plot clearly, so he could only tell them to pay attention.

"No."

……