In fact, without other people's advice, Wu Chaoyue had long considered the tactics of encircling Wei to save Zhao, and directly sent troops to attack Kagoshima, the old nest of the Satsuma Domain, not only to relieve the critical situation of the Ryukyus, but also to directly clean up the little devils and weaken Japan's strength, but Wu Chaoyue's understanding of Japanese history is very limited, and he doesn't know what role the Satsuma Domain played in the Meiji Restoration, and the attention to the Satsuma Domain is seriously insufficient, coupled with some military concerns, Wu Chaoyue has not made up his mind for a long time. The strategy of rescuing the Ryukyus, which was prioritized by the decision-makers of the Wu army, was also to directly send troops to the Ryukyus and join forces with the Ryukyu army to repel the invasion of the Japanese army.

Gong Cheng's letter written on the way back to China played a decisive role in this matter, learning that the Japanese Satsuma Domain was also trying to establish a complete industrial system, the traverser Wu Chaoyue was shocked, almost did not think about it, and immediately made up his mind to send troops directly to Kagoshima, determined to completely destroy the industrial base of the Satsuma Domain at any cost, and not give the little devil a chance to calmly change the law.

But it's a pity that Wu Chaoyue is a traverser who knows the danger of letting Japan develop industrialization, but the civil and military officials of Wu Jun don't understand this truth, so that absolute henchmen including Zhao Liewen and Yan Jingming raised objections and warned Wu Chaoyue: "King Zhennan, send troops to Ryukyu directly, we have the help of the officials and people of the Ryukyu country, no matter what difficulties there are, it is easy to solve, and there is no problem of geographical advantages." However, if we send troops directly to Kagoshima, the situation will be completely different, and in addition to the loss of geographical advantages, it may also lead to Japan rebelling against us with a national army and rescuing the Satsuma Domain. ”

Knowing that the accomplices and lackeys were actually well-intentioned to oppose together, Wu Chaoyue had no choice but to be patient, and carefully introduced Zhao Liewen, Yan Jingming and others: "Huifu, Danchu, I understand the truth you said, and I also admit that it is much more difficult and dangerous to directly send troops to Kagoshima than to send troops to Ryukyu. But you really don't know much about Little Japan, and you don't know how much of a threat these little devils pose to us when they learn from foreigners to build modern industry. ”

"The Japanese are the smartest monkeys in the world, the best at learning and imitating, you only need to read more history books to know that in the Tang Dynasty, Japan was defeated by our Tang Dynasty army, and as a result, these little devils immediately learned from us comprehensively, and learned everything we could learn from good things. During the Ming Dynasty, Japan was defeated by us in Korea again, but the little devils did not learn from us, because at that time we had nothing worth learning from the Japanese devils, and we relied on manpower and material resources to build up the victory of resisting Japan and aiding Korea, so the Japanese devils looked down on us and did not learn anything from us. ”

"But ten years ago, because of me, the combined fleet of foreigners attacked Kagoshima, and the Japanese devils suffered another defeat, and as a result, the Japanese devils saw that the foreigners had so many advanced weapons, so they immediately learned from the foreigners, and established the Satsuma Domain Jixian Hall similar to Daye earlier than us, not only able to produce its own cannons and muskets, but also began to imitate steam cannon ships, but because manpower, material resources and resources can not catch up with us only slightly behind, but also not lagging behind, we just need to slow down the pace of development a little, It is also possible to be caught up or even surpassed by the Japanese devils, and at that time, how big the threat of the little Japanese devils will be to us, don't you imagine? ”

"During the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty, under the condition of similar weapons and equipment, the Japanese invaders rioted on the southeast coast of our country, and we spent decades without quelling, during which the money, food, and military salaries were incalculable, and the loss of property and people was also incalculable.

"During the Wanli period, Japan's Toyotomi Hideyoshi in order to invade our China, sent troops to attack our vassal country Korea, Wanli Emperor in order to defend the Northeast, was forced to send troops to rescue Korea, in order to raise military supplies of grain and grass, even his inner treasury silver was forced to be used in the Korean battlefield, before and after spending millions of taels of silver, this reluctantly drove the Japanese back to their homeland, the Ming Dynasty was greatly injured, giving the Eight Banners the opportunity to rise."

"At that time, we had a huge advantage over Japan in all aspects, and we still fought so hard, and now we have suffered a great loss of vitality in the civil war, if we still watch Japan learn from the foreigners to build a modern industry, and once again send troops to attack Korea and our southeast coast, how much food, manpower and material resources will we need to spend to defeat them, do you dare to imagine?"

"Therefore, although it is an adventure for us to directly send troops to Japan now, it is also to seize the best opportunity to nip the Japanese devils in the bud, only at this time to send troops to attack the Japanese mainland and completely destroy the industrial base of the little devils, we will have the opportunity to calmly develop industry, and for a long time in the future, we will not have to worry about the southeast coast being attacked by the Japanese invaders, and we will not have to worry about the threat from Japan, and we can also save countless money, food, and military salaries in the future, do you understand?"

Wu Chaoyue's bitter explanation still played a certain role, although he still felt that Wu Chaoyue was a little worried, but considering that the Ming Dynasty did sacrifice too much to deal with the Japanese, and seeing Wu Chaoyue's attitude so resolute, Zhao Liewen and Yan Jingming still reluctantly accepted Wu Chaoyue's opinion and no longer opposed directly sending troops to Japan. However, Yan Jingming still reminded again: "King Zhennan, since you think that it is most beneficial for us to send troops to Japan now, then we also support you." However, Your Majesty must remind you that once this war begins, we are very sure of how far it will develop in the future, and whether it will lead to an all-out war with Japan is something that no one can say. ”

"Of course I know that, and I'll try to keep the scale of the war within what we can afford." Wu Chaoyue nodded, and said: "In this way, at the same time as sending troops to Japan, we will send another envoy to contact the Tokugawa Shogunate in Japan, and clearly tell them that the target of our troops this time is only the Satsuma Domain, and we also resolutely support the Tokugawa Shogunate to continue to hold power in Japan, and are willing to provide all the assistance we can for the Tokugawa Shogunate to eradicate Japan's domestic rebellion, strive to stabilize the Tokugawa Shogunate, and try to control the scale of the war in one area of Kagoshima." ”

They know less about the situation in Japan than Wu Chaoyue, and Zhao Liewen, Yan Jingming and others can only nod silently and let Wu Chaoyue decide the policy towards Japan. After controlling the internal opposition, Wu Chaoyue immediately dispatched troops and decided to arrange a naval fleet consisting of eight steam gunboats and four sail battleships to attack Japan, supplemented by a land force of about 5,000 men. The commander of the fleet was Wang Fu, a veteran of the Wu Army's naval division, and the British naval veteran Aspen was invited to serve as an adviser, and the chief general of the land division was Huang Yuanbao, supplemented by Li Xiucheng, a general of the Taiping Army.

The first time he sent troops overseas, there were a lot of troubles, and he was a little experienced like Wu Chaoyue, but after arranging the expedition to the army, and getting Zhao Liewen's reminder, Wu Chaoyue remembered that he had to say hello to the Western powers in this matter. Fortunately, the current British plenipotentiary minister to Japan is Wu Chaoyue's old friend Aliguo, and Wu Chaoyue is also convenient to arrange, and immediately personally wrote an English letter to Aliguo, making it clear that he sent troops to Japan this time to clean up the Satsuma Domain, which invaded the Ryukyu Domain, a vassal state of China, and did not have any intention of infringing on British interests in Japan, and made every effort to protect Britain's political and economic interests in Japan.

In addition, Wu Chaoyue also presented credentials to the ministers or consuls of Britain, France, the United States, Portugal, the Netherlands, and other countries in China, also explaining the purpose and reason for his dispatch of troops to Japan, promising not to infringe on the interests of the Western powers in Japan, and making it clear that once the Satsuma Domain was taken, the Satsuma Domain would be fully opened immediately, and the Western powers would be allowed to do business, travel, and preach in the Satsuma Domain, and at the same time made it clear that they could accept the international condominium of the Satsuma Domain in the future.

It may be that Yan Huang blessed, Wu Chaoyue finally had a good luck this time, and sent someone to the British Legation in Hankou to submit his credentials, only in the evening of the same day, the current British Minister to China Prouse came to the door in a hurry, not only made it clear that he fully supported Wu Chaoyue to send troops to clean up the Satsuma Domain, but also was willing to send one or two armed merchant ships and Wu Jun's naval division to form a joint fleet to help Wu Chaoyue clean up the Satsuma Domain.

Why did such a big pie suddenly fall from the sky? Wu Chaoyue inquired carefully and learned that it turned out that in September last year, four Britons were playing in the raw wheat village of the Satsuma Domain, and happened to run into the honor guard of Shimazu Hisamitsu, the father of the Satsuma Domain, because they refused to kneel to the honor guard of Shimazu Hisamitsu, they were slaughtered three on the spot by Shimazu Hisamitsu's entourage, and one was cut to death. The British were furious and wanted to send troops to retaliate immediately, but they could not immediately draw enough troops, so they could only tolerate it temporarily. This will Wu Chaoyue take the initiative to jump out to clean up the Satsuma Domain, and the British side, who don't want to spend too much strength, of course can't ask for it, so Prus proposed to form a joint fleet and join hands to settle accounts with the Satsuma Domain.

Of course, Prussia, of course, also had bad intentions, and dispatched one or two armed merchant ships to form a joint fleet with the Wu army, saying that it was better to take advantage of the alliance, and wanted to use the Wu army's money and efforts as cannon fodder to seek benefits for his country. Although Wu Chaoyue knows this very well, he can pull the current world hegemon into the water, warn France, the United States, the Netherlands, and Portugal to meddle in their affairs, and at the same time can provide direct help to the self-army in terms of actual combat and coping with the route, such a good thing is of course undesirable for Wu Chaoyue, so Wu Chaoyue immediately agreed, and concluded an alliance with Pruss on the spot to jointly send troops to fight against the Satsuma Domain.

So, soon, the expeditionary fleet of the Wu army was soon gradually formed in Shanghai, but before leaving, Wu Chaoyue encountered a small accident - Li Xiucheng, who was ordered to assist Huang Yuanbao as the main force of the land war, wrote a letter, asking Wu Chaoyue to expand the scale of the expedition a little, so that Chen Yucheng, the newly surrendered general of the Taiping Army, led a battalion of new Taiping troops to join the expedition to help the Wu army deal with the Japanese army.

"What does Li Xiucheng want to do?" Yan Jingming questioned and said: "Of the 5,000 troops we went to Japan, the long-haired troops accounted for about sixty percent, and he also wanted to transfer another battalion of new troops to fight Japan, and he also named Chen Yu, who was famous for his stubbornness among the long-haired troops, to become a general, what did he want to do?" ”

"Comfort Ting, be careful." Zhao Liewen also said: "Li Xiucheng is not a thing in the pool, he is a man and has great ambitions, so he has taken root overseas, but I am afraid that the threat to us in the future will be greater than that of the Japanese." ”

Wu Chaoyue, who is also a young man with rat belly and chicken intestines, is of course very worried about Li Xiucheng's intentions, but after some careful consideration, Wu Chaoyue said: "Promise Li Xiucheng that he is going to fight overseas this time, and without the help of the sailor, there is no need to worry about what tricks he can play!" ”

"King Zhennan, what if Li Xiucheng chooses to surrender to the Japanese with his army?" Yan Jingming reminded.

"Why did he surrender to the Japanese? What good did the Japanese give him? Wu Chaoyue asked rhetorically: "Borrowing Japanese soldiers to avenge the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, Japan will agree so happily?" And if he takes 10,000 steps back, even if he really surrenders to the Japanese and wants to bring the Japanese army to us for revenge, as long as our sailors kill the Japanese sea power, what will he do to cross the sea and land? Also, he has already surrendered to us once before, and this time he wants to surrender to the Japanese, and those surrenderers of the Taiping Army will obediently follow him? ”

"Let's take another 10,000 steps back, even if our expedition fails because of Li Xiucheng's defection, how much does it matter?" Wu Chaoyue said: "There are more than 5,000 troops, most of which are newly surrendered, we can't afford to lose such a battle?" What can we hurt if we lose? ”

Seeing Wu Chaoyue's resolute attitude, Zhao Liewen and Yan Jingming didn't say anything more, and immediately put pen to paper, agreed to Li Xiucheng's request, and asked Chen Yucheng, who was forced to surrender to the Wu army's Feng Sanbao Corps not long ago, to lead a battalion to Shanghai to meet with the Wu army's expeditionary force to listen to the order, and at the same time slightly adjusted the scale of the expeditionary ships, fortunately, adding a battalion of 500 troops is not a big burden on logistics, so Li Xiucheng's request did not make the rear of the Wu army too difficult.

After receiving Wu Chaoyue's reply, Li Xiucheng first breathed a sigh of relief, and then immediately wrote another letter of guilt to Wu Chaoyue, calmly admitting that he was afraid that Wu Chaoyue would use himself and the Taiping Army's troops as cannon fodder, so as to test Wu Chaoyue's attitude towards the Taiping Army's soldiers. At the same time, Li Xiucheng specially explained the reason why he named Chen Yucheng to go to Japan, saying that he was very clear about Chen Yucheng's attitude towards the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and Hong Xiuquan, and was worried that Chen Yucheng, who was forced to surrender, had different intentions, so he wanted to bring Chen Yucheng to Japan to prevent accidents, not only to give Chen Yucheng a chance to prove the truth of his intentions, but also to solve this hidden danger when Chen Yucheng was found to have different intentions.

Li Xiucheng's initiative confession was exchanged for a long sigh from Wu Chaoyue, holding Li Xiucheng's letter, Wu Chaoyue sighed: "King Zhong, in fact, I don't dare to completely believe that your letter is all in your heart, but it doesn't matter, this is your chance to prove yourself, and how you go in the future depends on your own choice." ”

In this way, after some intensive preparations, on the sixth day of the sixth lunar month of the third year of Qixiang, the Wu expeditionary fleet composed of eight steam gunboats, four sail battleships and more than 100 large and small sea ships, under the guidance and cooperation of two British armed merchant ships, finally set sail from Shanghai to protect the reputation of the vassal state of the Ryukyu Kingdom, and under the pretext of helping the British to seek justice for the raw wheat incident, they went to the Japanese island of Kyushu to settle accounts with the Satsuma Domain, which is the only industrial base in Japan at present.

Because he was in Hubei, of course, Wu Chaoyue could not go to Shanghai in person to see off the Wu Expeditionary Fleet, but at the same time that the Wu Expeditionary Fleet set sail, Wu Chaoyue boarded the Wushengmen at the north gate of Hubei Province, bowed in the direction of Shanghai, and said loudly: "Please!" Don't let me down! Don't let our people down! ”