Kagoshima Castle in the southwestern part of Kyushu Island was the sixth generation of the Shimazu clan to move Kagoshima City, which he saw from Joyama to Tofukuji Castle, and at that time, the Shimazu clan was the second largest feudal lord of the Satsuma Province, Osumi Province, and Shokai Province, because Kagoshima Castle could be called the political center of southern Kyushu. [Full text reading]

"Damn the one-city-one-country order, if it weren't for this nasty one-city-one-country order, how could my Shimazu family's residence be easily invaded by foreign enemies." Shimazu Shigeshiga, who was nearly fifty years old and looked very short among the surrounding Japanese people, but still looked very strong, angrily slammed his palm on the walls of Kagoshima Castle.

Around him, the castle was already filled with the summoned Satsuma feudal soldiers, and a large number of ashigaru rushed towards his defensive post at the sound of the samurai's orders. Although he had received news a few days earlier, Shigehiro Shimazu, the eighth governor of the Shimazu family, who had lived in seclusion, had taken back control of the Satsuma domain directly from his son, the current governor of the Shimazu family, Shimazu Saixuan, and immediately ordered the whole country to transfer troops to cage the castle, which meant to defend the city.

"My lord, the 3,000 people of Osumi Province have also arrived, please let the Lord announce it." At this time, a flag warrior galloped over, turned over and dismounted in front of Tokushimazu Shigehiro and others, and said loudly.

"Three thousand...... There are already nearly 7,000 ashigaru in the city, which is enough, so let 1,000 people enter the castle cage city, and 2,000 elites are drawn from the city to go out of the city, and converge with the ashigaru of Osumi Province, my Shimazu family, it is impossible not to even dare to fight in the field. Shigehiro Shimazu stroked the short beard under his chin and gave a new order.

"Father, isn't this not very safe, after all, my sister said, those Qing people have a lot of big tubes, very powerful, although I am the queen of the Satsuma Domain, I am the elite of the whole army, but ......" Next to him, a silent contemporary feudal lord Shimazu Qixuan made a suggestion to his very strong father.

"What, big tube? Fujishiro, haven't you seen the big tube? Shimazu Shigehao glanced at his son with some dissatisfaction, this son who was a little weak and delicate made him feel dissatisfied no matter how he looked at it, if it weren't for the fact that the ministers thought that Qi Xuan was a good family governor, and he couldn't choose a better candidate, Shimazu Shigehao would not want to pass it on to him at all, and would rather pass it on to his grandson Qi Xing.

Although Qi Xing is only four years old, he can already bully his younger brothers and sisters with small sticks all day long, and a series of actions such as spitting at people he doesn't like make Shimazu Shigehao feel that the little guy is quite a martial artist, and the governor of the Shimazu family should be a strong man, not like his own son who swallows water.

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And Shigehiro Shimazu's daughter, Shigehime, is Toyochiyo, that is, the wife of the eleventh shogun Tokugawa Ieki, and now the Imperial Observatory. is also the younger sister of Shimazu Qixing, and it is precisely because of this daughter by the side of the Tokugawa Shogun that as soon as the Qing people mentioned that they wanted to claim for the Ryukyus, Shigehime asked people to pass the news to their brother and father as quickly as possible, hoping that they would be prepared as soon as possible.

Because, the attitude of the shogun Tokugawa Ieki seems to be more inclined to let the Satsuma Clan solve the trouble by himself, after all, 120 million taels of gold, not to mention the caused by the Satsuma Domain, even if it is caused by the general's father, Tokugawa Ieki cannot replace compensation, because this huge amount of money is not something that the shogunate can afford to compensate for.

And after receiving the summons from his daughter, Shimazu Shigehao came directly from the seclusion while scolding his mother, took the baton from his son's hand, and began to take charge of the Shimazu family again, after all, the tone in his daughter's letter and the other party's shelling of Edo made Shimazu Shigehao understand that the other party definitely had bad intentions and should not be delusional about peace.

Compared to Shimazu Qixuan, Shimazu Shigehao, who was nicknamed General Takanawa Shigema because of his short stature, was definitely the most far-sighted of the Shimazu family governor so far, and in June 1755, when Shigehao, who was ten years old at the time, succeeded his deceased father Shigeni as the family governor.

For the next five years, his surviving grandfather, Jifeng, presided over the feudal administration. After his death, he was in charge of the government, and was particularly influenced by the Rangaku (a general term for the academic, cultural, and technical aspects that were introduced from the Netherlands during the Edo period). He successively set up feudal schools (Scholar Pavilion and Martial Arts Hall) to cultivate both civil and military talents; The Meishikan, which is equivalent to today's planetarium, was established to conduct research on the calendar and astronomy; Establishment of the School of Medicine, Zota Pharmaceutical Garden;

The establishment of the academy not only provided education for the samurai class, but also for the common townspeople. He admired orchid studies so much that he was called "orchid" by the people. In his eyes, the traditional customs of Satsuma are no longer in keeping with the way of the world today, and they are also incompatible with the trends of the times. It is especially necessary to follow the trend and accept the changes in the customs of other countries, and it is especially necessary to absorb the customs of a higher level of civilization than ours. It is necessary to follow the trend and absorb the changes in the customs of other countries, especially the kind of customs that are fashionable in the capital.

However, in 1787, in order to make his son-in-law Toyo Toyo, who would later be the Tokugawa ie, ascend to the position of shogun, Shimazu Shigehiro, who was healthy and ambitious, forcibly sent the young man with a good reputation to the house of the Shirakawa Matsudaira family. In this way, all possible surnames of Tian Andingxin who will become shoguns in the future will be cut off at once. Because he had played such a trick, the chief elder Matsudaira Dingxin was full of anger and hatred for the two of them.

And after Tokugawa Ieki became a shogun, Shigehiro Shimazu, who had secretly fought with the powerful shogunate chief lieutenant elder, and won the final victory, immediately announced his retirement and gave up his position to his son.

That is, before Namatsuda Dingxin cleaned himself up, he first gave up the position of the feudal lord to his son Qi Xuan, and then supervised the country in the name of "government affairs assistant". Although it is said to be a "government affairs assistant", it is still in power and has not given up. And Qi Xuan, who became the lord of the domain, became a doll with a heavy man in the palm of his hand. This position of government assistant has been held by Chonghao until the day of his death.

Hearing his father's question, Shimazu Qixuan rolled his eyes very covertly, but the expression on his face was still respectful. "Of course I do, Father."

"Look at these big cylinders for yourself, my Shimazu family has fought countless wars, and have you encountered fewer battles with large cylinders? The victory or defeat of the war cannot be solved by a few large barrels and a few iron cannons, otherwise, why don't all the soldiers of my Shimazu family be equipped with iron cannons? War depends on the bravery and tenacity of the samurai, otherwise, how could my Shimazu family be able to stand still today? I have to keep it in mind. Shimazu Shigehao put on an old face and reprimanded again, and the important ministers around him also rolled their eyes, but no one could help this Shimazu Shigehao, who claimed to retire, but was actually still the emperor of the Shimazu family.

"Here, my lord, I found a fleet entering Kagoshima Bay, and those battleships are really tall, very, very tall." A general of Ashigaru rushed over to report to Shimazu Shigeyo, who was reprimanding his son, but perhaps because he was frightened by the huge warships, his report looked a little chaotic.

"Yaga! No matter how tall I am, is there still my Kagoshima Castle that is tall? You bastard...... My Amaterasu ......" Shigehiro Shimazu kicked the idiot Adashigaru several times in a row, only to find that all the people around him looked like they had seen the scene of Mars hitting the earth, with dull expressions, frightened eyes, and pale faces.

Shigehiro Shimazu immediately followed their gaze, and when he saw the masts that seemed to pierce into the sky rising from the sea, and when the red and black, fortress-like battleships appeared in his sight, Shigehiro Shimazu's original thoughts were torn apart, and he originally thought that his daughter was too exaggerated, but now it seems to be more exaggerated than the battleships in his daughter's description.

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"My God, such a warship, I have an ominous premonition that this fleet will bring terrible disasters to the Satsuma Domain......" A religious samurai subconsciously drew a cross on his chest.

"Don't be afraid of them, our city is a full two miles from the sea, and they can't pose a threat to us at all, unless their warship has feet and will go ashore on its own." Shigehiro Shimazu loudly boosted the morale of his subordinates. "Don't forget the spirit of our Satsuma samurai."

Soon, a large number of Shimazu's troops left the castle and lined up outside the castle town facing the coast, and the few large barrels, that is, the artillery, that had been purchased from the Dutch at great expense on the humble forts on the shore, were also ready to fire.

However, the tension in the area of Kagoshima Castle is different in that Liang Pengfei is discussing with his subordinates at the moment how to fight to be able to hurt the Satsuma Domain, and it is best to make them succumb, because what Liang Pengfei needs is Kyushu Island as complete as possible, not just a ruined island full of ruins.

"The little one thinks that it is best to let these Japanese people see what is called absolute strong force, so that they cannot raise the slightest sense of resistance, so the subordinates think that they should directly attack their home city, and it is best to let all the warships participate in the battle." The words of the militants were brief, but they were also very convincing.

"But if we let all our ships fire at once, what do you think would be left here?" Shi Xianggu shook her head and rejected Wu Qianjin's proposal. "I think it's enough to dispatch only three warships." Shi Xianggu's hand gently patted the side of the command platform of the Red Shark's stern building, and her eyes fell on Liang Pengfei's face.

Liang Pengfei, who was observing Kagoshima Castle, put down the telescope in his hand and turned his face to Chong Shi Xianggu, revealing his healthy white teeth. "You are the commander of the navy, you can discuss it, you don't need to ask me."

"Ladies and gentlemen, if there is no opinion, then I will give an order, the range of our naval guns is three and a half miles, and it is completely possible to destroy that city from the sea, however, the other side also seems to have some shore guns on the shore, Wu Qianjin, you lead the Blue Shark to act first, and remove all the things in the area around the dock that you think will pose a threat to our warships." Shi Xianggu raised her head confidently and gave the order loudly. The Battle of Kagoshima finally began on this day.

(To be continued)