Today, Nagasaki's Chinatown is no longer called Chinatown, nor is it a small fortress by the harbor, but it has changed dramatically.

"Kyushu Prefecture Official Office" five baskets of large Chinese characters, with gilt bronze plaque hung on a torii gate, behind the archway, is a huge cement poured castle, the original Tushen Hall, Tianhou Hall, Guanyin Hall, Hokkien Hall and so on all included. The towering city wall stands steadily along the cliffs along the coast, and it is faintly visible, and several giant coastal cannons erected on the city wall emit a dark cold light.

Next to the castle wall, a water gate was set up to bring the port of Nagasaki into the castle's defenses.

At this moment, outside and inside the port of Nagasaki, hundreds of troop carriers and warships are moored there, stretching for more than ten miles. On the dock, Lin Hongnian and Nabeshima Xuanrui, led a large group of officials from the Kyushu Domain and some soldiers of the Capture Army to see off Li Guanlong, Lawson, and Fukuzawa Yukichi.

Now, Lin Hongnian and Lawson have completely controlled the entire Kyushu Domain, or the entire Kyushu Island, through the Kyushu Domain's lord Nabeshima Genrui, plus Li Guanlong, who led 30,000 soldiers to fight against the captives. Privately, the Kyushu Domain, which was formed by the union of nine feudal states including the Saga Domain and the Satsuma Domain, as well as two feudal states on a small island on an outer island, has been renamed Kyushu Prefecture, but it does not have any provinces.

Some time ago, they received a report that the anti-shogunate forces of the Choshu and Shikoku domains raided Kyoto and defeated the shogunate forces stationed in Kyoto, and in the process, Emperor Akihito of Japan died strangely, and the anti-shogunate forces supported his son Muhito as the emperor. According to Lin Hongnian's plan, the feudal soldiers of the Kyushu Domain and the captive army stationed on Kyushu Island remained unchanged and waited for the price to be sold. After all, as early as two years ago, the emperor had explained that under the intensification of the contradictions between the Choshu domain and the shogunate, war would break out sooner or later, and it was best to let them kill each other, and when both sides were defeated, the Kyushu domain would come forward to clean up the mess and reap the benefits of the fisherman.

Sure enough, the shogunate couldn't bear it. Within a few days, fierce battles broke out between the armies of the twin-engined organizations in Fushimi Toba, east and south of Kyoto Castle. At that time, Li Guanlong proposed to lead the captive army to expand the territory.

However, Lin Hongnian, who is old and serious, thinks that the time has not yet come.

Whether it was the Choshu Domain's anti-shogunate coalition forces or the shogunate, they all knew that the Kyushu Domain was already under the control of the Chinese Empire, and once the Kyushu Domain sent troops or simply begged for the captive army to send troops directly, it would inevitably make the two sides stop the war and unite, and maybe they would abandon their prejudices and unite with the outside world to deal with the Kyushu Domain and the Chinese Empire, so he insisted on waiting for the most suitable time and asked for the best excuse. In fact, this is not because Lin Hongnian's literati psychology is a reason to pay attention to a high-sounding reason in everything, but the longer he stays on Kyushu Island, the more he realizes that although the people under his feet have many inferior roots, they still have their merits, such as many middle and low-level samurai, whether they are emperors, shogunates or feudal lords, are always willing to sacrifice themselves for one of them without fear of death.

Li Guanlong's proposal to directly transfer the 30,000 captive troops stationed on Kyushu Island to go out on the expedition was really not possible, and with the transfer of 20,000 infantry from China and the cooperation of the Oriental Fleet, it would not be difficult to directly conquer Japan. For this, Lin Hongnian also thinks that it is not a big problem, but he still thinks that it is not the best way. He overrode public opinion and wrote directly to the emperor, suggesting that he should not rush to conquer the East by force, but adopt a gradual approach, while using economic invasion to export a large number of industrial cloth, holy oil, porcelain, sugar, Confucianism, Buddhist scriptures and books and other materials, and a small amount of Chinese medicine, mini pills, hero pills and other pure products of Fushou ointment, plundering Japan's wealth through trade, and at the same time, destroying Japan's original agricultural economy, and exacerbating the contradictions between the samurai class and the common people in Japan.

Moreover, through his understanding of Japan, Lin Hongnian concluded that there would inevitably be irreconcilable contradictions between the powerful Choshu Domain and the shogunate, and in fact, he also sent a number of small officials to incite the outbreak of these contradictions. Lin Hongnian's plan is to first let those economic collapse and desperate shogunate and local feudal lords and daimyo war, which will cause great damage to their national strength, it is best to a group of samurai army that can fight cannibalism is almost killed, and the Chinese Empire will come forward in the name of the Kyushu Domain to clean up the mess, so that its own losses can be minimized, and there are countless displaced people in Japan, and the Kyushu Domain will launch a plan to recruit and pacify the displaced people in a timely manner, so that it can quickly win the hearts of the people and gain the support of the entire Japanese people. In turn, the Chinese Empire would be able to control Japan without much effort.

Lin Hongnian's cunning impressed the emperor, who approved his plan and ordered him to take charge of Kyushu and Japan's affairs. This is also the reason why although Li Guanlong commanded 30,000 captives, he still obeyed Lin Hongnian.

Therefore, when the anti-shogunate forces occupied Kyoto and sent envoys to submit credentials, hoping to gain the support and recognition of the Chinese Empire, Lin Hongnian did not submit the credentials to the emperor at all, but directly detained the envoys and credentials without making any response.

Two days later, when two successive groups of messengers for help from the shogun, Tokugawa Ieshige and Odai Ii Naobi, arrived in Nagasaki, Lin Hongnian knew that the time he had been waiting for had come.

As long as the Chinese Empire helped the Shogunate defeat the Choshu Domain and other forces that begged for help, the Shogunate was willing to hand over the island of Shikoku to the Kyushu Domain under its rule, and a one-time contribution of 1.5 million taels of gold was used as the military expenses for the troops.

I have to say that Ii Naobi has made a bloody investment, and it seems that the shogunate is also at a critical juncture of survival, so it will trade at such a heavy price to seek the support of the Chinese Empire.

Lin Hongnian immediately decided to send troops. With Li Guanlong as the main general, he commanded 30,000 infantry officers and soldiers of the captive army, and sent troops at the same time as the 20,000 soldiers of the Oriental Fleet and the Kyushu Domain, and at the same time, he asked Lu Shunde of Korea to also send troops to Japan.

Two days later, 20,000 infantry, led by the 12th Infantry Division, led by Li Guanlong, arrived at Hyogo Port and blocked all the retreats from Kyoto to the Choshu Domain in the western part of Honshu Island. The Oriental Fleet also blockaded the islands of Kyushu and Shikoku, as well as the ports of Kobe, Osaka, and Nagoya, and sent warships to attack Shimonoseki in the Choshu Domain.

On the fourth day, the Korean governor Lu Shundeok led more than 20,000 infantry and hundreds of ships to land at the westernmost port of Honshu Island at the Mahaseki Wharf, and with the cooperation of the Oriental Fleet, went straight to attack Yamaguchi and Ogijo, the core garrisons of the Choshu Domain.

These sharp troops have changed the color of the whole of Japan!

.........

In a small town called Ibaraki between Kyoto and Osaka.

In front of Prince Chihito, the great governor of the Eastern Expedition, and Katsura Kogoro, the vice-governor of the Eastern Expedition, Takasugi Shinsaku, who had just hurried from Kyoto, did not have time to salute, so he held an edict stamped with the emperor's jade seal and announced loudly: "By the order of His Majesty the Emperor, we will abandon the attack on Osaka and immediately withdraw our troops to Kyoto." ”

After the edict was announced, Takasugi Jinsaku greeted the two worriedly, and said with a gloomy face: "The two lords, the governor and the vice-governor, the Kyushu Domain and its master must have heard about the dispatch of troops, right?" ”

Prince Chiren panicked: "Long before sending troops to Osaka, I said, don't send troops first, if you want to send troops, you have to wait for the Chinese Empire to agree, at least they put forward some conditions before sending troops, now it's okay." With the soldiers of the Kyushu Domain helping the shogunate, it would be difficult for us to support us, and with the army of the Chinese Empire, how could we be opponents? In my opinion, it is better to send an envoy to Nagasaki as soon as possible and explain it clearly to Lord Hayashi, or simply send a letter to Shengjing to ask for guilt. ”

Katsura Kogoro was not happy, and glanced at Prince Chiren dissatisfied: "There has been no news since the envoy we sent arrived in Nagasaki, presumably it must have been detained by someone surnamed Lin!" The Chinese wolf ambition, after the annexation of Korea, secretly supported the Saga domain to control Kyushu Island, and eyed Japan with only one excuse. ”

After speaking, Katsura Kogoro glanced at Takasugi Jinsaku and said expectantly: "Jinsaku, my brother knows that you have a lot of thoughts and ideas, and that Iwakura Gushi is now the two major thinkers of the new imperial court. You are bent on avenging your teacher and creating a new future for Japan, but now that Japan is in danger of extinction, I hope that you will abandon your suspicion of the shogunate and persuade Iwakura to sue for peace with the shogunate on behalf of the emperor and the imperial court, and even temporarily return to the shogunate, and stop killing each other with the shogunate, so that the foreigners can benefit. ”

Takasugi Jinsaku bit his lip fiercely, and only said fiercely until the bleeding pain was severe: "The teacher's revenge can't be avenged!" The teacher's wish must also come true! It's a big deal, I'll go to Nagasaki to see the guy surnamed Lin in person, and even if I give up some price, I have to persuade them to withdraw from the army! They are willing to send troops, it must be that Ii Naobi that hateful traitor has given some great benefits, but it really can't be done, we can give more, as long as the Chinese and the Kyushu clan don't interfere in the affairs between us and the shogunate, what if a traitor betrays his ancestors once? When we unify the whole of Japan and become strong according to the route designated by the teacher, sooner or later we will take it back with interest! ”

Katsura Kogoro sighed: "Jin Zuo, why are you so stubborn? We begged the shogunate for mercy and temporarily retreated, but it was only an internal dispute, and it was better than cheap foreigners. If Ii Naobi doesn't resolve their hatred, I, Katsura Kogoro, will be handed over to them at their disposal. ”

Takasugi Jinsaku shook his head: "Brother, there is no need to say any more. Asking the shogunate for mercy is to bring Japan back to darkness and ignorance, and our Japan will cut off hope for a strong country, and sooner or later it will be annexed by the Chinese Empire. It's better to take a gamble, and I'll go to Nagasaki. After saying that, he instructed the two of them: "In any case, let's first retreat back to Kyoto according to the wishes of His Majesty the Emperor and the Prince." ”

PS: I recommend three group friends, the writing is very good: "The Great Merchant of Red Mansions", "The Immortal Emperor", "Divine Power Crossing the World", written with heart, worthy of care.