I don't know if it was the prayer apparition of Chi Masaharu Iji, or if it was the convection effect caused by a large-scale fire, but on the night of the Kagoshima Castle fire, a strong wind made landfall in southern Kyushu and covered the entire Kagoshima Castle.

This sudden strong wind, which led the waves on the sea near Kagoshima to a height of up to 1.3 meters, can be said to be turbidity and raging winds, almost like the end of the world, if you follow the classification standards of later generations, it has reached the standard of a first-class hurricane.

Fortunately, although this storm came strong and sudden, because Tang Hailong anchored the fleet into Shanchuan Bay in advance, all the ships were anchored in advance, and most of the personnel landed, and when they found that the strong wind was coming, they also connected all the small boats with chains and ropes, so although the storm was not small, the loss was not big.

Strictly speaking, although the scale of this storm is not small, it is also relatively rare, but it is not a major hurricane after all, the wave height does not exceed 1.3 meters, and the task force entered the port ahead of time, so the threat to the task force is not great.

In fact, even if the task force did not enter the port in advance, but was still on the sea, I am afraid that except for some small sand ships used for landing, other ships with a displacement of more than 1,000 tons would not have any major problems, at most it would make people vomit on their backs, or let people accidentally fall and die.

After the hurricane raged for a day and a night, it finally began to dissipate, and the men of the expeditionary force and the task force counted and found that apart from some friction between the battleships, not a single person on the personnel side was damaged by the storm, and the various materials were not damaged by the proper placement.

After discovering this situation, all the officers and soldiers began to have a feeling that if they did not die in a great disaster, they would have a blessing in the future, and they secretly felt that this seemed to be proof that God blessed China, which showed that the rise of China was unstoppable, and the gods of Japan did not take advantage of the Chinese Empire.

I can't complain that everyone thinks so, because of the officers and soldiers of the expeditionary force. The cultural level is still quite good, and most of them have seen or heard the story of the Yuan Dynasty's two expeditions to Japan before coming, and they are also familiar with the kamikaze that saved Japan twice, and now they find that the kamikaze of Japan is nothing more than that, so they are naturally full of confidence.

According to the records of those "Encyclopedia of Science", after a strong storm, it often means safety, so the expeditionary force will no longer stop, and after a little rectification, they will begin to board ships one after another. Then, under the escort of five Yuanzi-class warships, on the third day after the storm, they re-attacked Kagoshima Castle.

As a result, when I arrived outside Kagoshima Port, I saw that the fire in Kagoshima had been extinguished, and the entire port was in ruins.

This is also expected, after all, even if a fire of the scale that covers the entire Kagoshima Castle will not last long in the face of strong winds and heavy rainfall, let alone when a hurricane comes. Kagoshima Castle has been burning for a day, and everything that should have been burned is almost burned, and now there will be another heavy rain and waves, and it will not be easy to be extinguished.

Other words. Kagoshima Castle has experienced not only a major fire, but also a major flood, and it can be said that the water and fire are merciless, from this point of view. That's really unlucky, and these bad luck are basically brought by the expeditionary force.

In fact, Kagoshima Castle was the most damaged. It's the same fire from before, if it weren't for this fire, if it was just a hurricane, Kagoshima Castle wouldn't have been completely destroyed, even if there was a loss.

In other words, Kagoshima Castle didn't know what would have become of Kagoshima Castle if it continued to burn, but now a sudden heavy rainfall brought by strong winds has put out the fire in time, and many people have escaped.

For example, Shimazu Hisamitsu, the current head of the Shimazu family, survived the catastrophe and escaped.

However, even though many people in Kagoshima were spared by heavy rainfall, the surviving soldiers and civilians were powerless to resist after these experiences, so they could only watch the expeditionary force slowly land in small sand boats and kayaks, and none of them resisted.

In this way, all the officers and men of the expeditionary force landed on Kagoshima, but in view of the miserable situation of Kagoshima Castle, they did not enter Kagoshima Castle, but set up camp outside the castle, and only sent a small force into the castle to search.

The situation is quite miserable, and the port of Kagoshima and the residential areas near the port of Kagoshima have all been reduced to rubble, except for the part of the castle town near the main castle of Kagoshima, which is still slightly intact. As for the loss of personnel, it is not known for the time being how many people died in the local area, but looking at the appearance of the city, it is estimated that at least half of them died.

Due to the use of a large number of masonry structures in the castle tower, there is still an open space outside, which is considered to be a separation zone, and the fire was extinguished in time, so the castle tower is still intact, and the people inside have not suffered much loss, on the contrary, the common people in the castle town who do not have much protection are killed and injured.

In this way, when the search team arrived at the castle tower in the inner city, the city gate suddenly opened, and Shimazu Hisamitsu, surrounded by a group of samurai who stayed behind, came to the search team, claiming to be the lord of Kagoshima Castle, and asked to meet the commander of the expeditionary force in person.

Seeing this situation, the search team with the interpreter did not dare to slack off, and immediately took Shimazu Hisamitsu himself, returned to the camp of the expeditionary force, and brought Shimazu Hisamitsu to Li Hongzhang.

Although the commander of the expeditionary force was Shi Dakai, Li Hongzhang was a special commissioner of the central government and was responsible for negotiations with the other party, so when he heard that it was the lord of the Satsuma Domain, Li Hongzhang naturally came forward.

Just as Li Hongzhang said before, how to fight is your soldier's business, but how to talk about it is his business.

"Shimazu Hisamitsu, the sinner, has come to see the angel of God."

"Oh?" After listening to the translator's words, Li Hongzhang looked at Shimazu Hisamitsu, who was humbly kneeling on the ground in front of him, and smiled at the corner of his mouth, "Sinner? What are your sins? ”

"The discipline of the criminal ministers was not strict, so that his subordinates accidentally killed the nobles of the Celestial Empire." Shimazu Hisamitsu continued to bow to the tunnel, "The kingdom of God is angry and sends troops, and the guilty ministers are terrified, and I hope that the angels of the kingdom will see the sincere repentance of the guilty ministers, and let me go down the Satsuma Domain, and stop killing again." If you can forgive me for the mistakes of Satsuma, the minister is willing to apologize in public and die without complaint. ”

That's right, Shimazu Hisamitsu still has a will to die, but he didn't think so at first.

In fact, after that hurricane, Shimazu Hisamitsu was also very happy. And I feel that this is God bless Japan, and I think that the other party is going to be finished now, but who knows how long I was happy, I found that the Chinese landed in a big way, and it seemed that there was no loss.

At this moment, after experiencing the process from shock to anger, and then from anger to frustration, Shimazu Hisamitsu changed into a gorgeous costume again, ready to take the initiative to go out of the city and surrender, and still had the idea of disemboweling in public.

Shimazu Hisamitsu is also somewhat superstitious. He feels that the Chinese have strength and luck, that is not something that can be defeated, only to completely lower their posture, fully surrender, and perhaps there is still a chance.

Anyway, in his mind, the Chinese can't stay here for a long time, it's nothing more than to come and plunder, and then gain some face, and eventually have to withdraw their troops. During this period, he was already like this anyway, so there was no need to be hard, and it was okay to be soft first.

However, there must also be hard in the soft. Public caesarean section is that bit of hardness, he hopes to use this way to maintain the last dignity, and use caesarean section to coerce the Chinese. Let the Chinese keep their word.

It's a pity that for these things, especially the Japanese, use the means of caesarean section to coerce demands. Li Hongzhang had already learned about it from some pamphlets about Japan, and he had also conducted surprise studies, so he was not moved by them.

The pamphlets that Li Hongzhang read, which specifically introduced Japan, were actually compiled by people in modern society, although there are many useful things, such as some customs and habits, but some places are deliberately distorted, such as Japan's disembowelment culture.

In the pamphlet, the Japanese are compared to a hidden threat, saying that the Japanese want to disembowelment at every turn, but that is just a culture, and we must not be soft-hearted and feel pitiful because of this.

On the contrary, once the other party is about to have a caesarean section, the first time you don't pity the other party, but you have to think about what conspiracy the other party has, whether you want to use the caesarean section to achieve some ulterior purposes.

All in all, the pamphlets are full of conspiracy theories about Japanese bushido and caesarean sections and the like, using various methods to deconstruct these Japanese customs, especially those of the upper class, in order to let the Chinese not be confused when they see these situations.

Li Yongji knew that these Japanese cultures were deceptive and not ordinarily strong, and if the expeditionary force relented because of this and made all kinds of concessions, it would be against Li Yongji's intentions.

"Seppuku or not, it's not up to you to decide." Li Hongzhang smiled, "Moreover, even if you commit suicide by seppuku, you will not be exempted from your sins." Hmph, my soldiers came from afar, and it cost a lot of money, how can you be uncovered because of your little city lord's seppuku? How can it be so easy? Believe it or not, if you dare to kill yourself, I will immediately have your body stripped naked and hung on the city gate! Let's see what the lord of the Satsuma Domain looks like! ”

The reason why Li Hongzhang said this was not because he thought of it himself, but because he had received an order from the ear before, and someone told him how to threaten the Japanese.

Japanese culture is a shameful culture, Japan's upper aristocracy and samurai class are not afraid of death, but they are afraid of being humiliated after death, especially those big families, so if you use the situation of death and do not let go of the situation as a threat, although I dare not say that it will work 100%, but more than ninety percent still work.

Sure enough, after hearing the translation, Shimazu Hisamitsu was really frightened, he never expected the other party to say this, and it seemed that he could really do it.

It is okay to commit suicide by disembowelment, it is the glory of the samurai, not only can you live for a hundred years, but your children and grandchildren can also have honor.

But if he commits suicide and is stripped naked and hung at the gate of the city for everyone to watch, it will be more uncomfortable than killing him, and it will cause indelible shame to the Shimazu family, and he Shimazu Hisamitsu will also be remembered by history forever as an indishonorable identity.

Thinking of this, Shimazu Hisamitsu clenched his fists, took a deep breath, and suddenly bowed: "Then I don't know how you will be satisfied?" ”

"Cutting the land, paying compensation, do you need to talk about this?"

"Yes, I understand, please ask the envoy for instructions." Shimazu Hisamitsu bowed his head and said.

"Well, since you have such a good attitude, let's talk about the compensation first." Li Hongzhang smiled, "Then, it's not easy for us to come out, and the cost of this military expenditure is not small." Of course, seeing that you are so miserable now, I don't embarrass you, I don't want you more, 100,000 taels of silver, I will compensate us for 100,000 taels of silver, what do you think? ”

"Return to the Envoy." After listening to the translator's words, Shimazu Hisamitsu shook his head. "It's not that we don't want to, it's just that even if we smash the pot and sell iron, we can't get all this money. Don't say 100,000, we can't take out 10,000 taels. ”

"Are you kidding?" Li Hongzhang frowned, "Your Satsuma Domain is rich and rivals, don't force us to do it." ”

"I really don't dare to deceive the envoy." Shimazu Hisamitsu said, "My Satsuma Domain has never had a rumor that it is rich and rivals the country, and even if there is, it is a slander based on false rumors. Actually, I, the Satsuma Domain, have been unable to make ends meet. There is not much money at all, and even if there is money, it is invested in the construction of the territory, and there is no inventory at all. Moreover, the essence of my Satsuma is all in Kagoshima, and now that we have become like this, how can we still have money? If you don't believe me, send someone to search my city, and I won't stop you. You'll know if I'm lying. ”

"Hmph, I'll naturally let people do the search, and I don't need you to remind me." Li Hongzhang said.

"Yes, the envoy is discerning. There must be no mistake. ”

"Okay, put the money aside for now, let's talk about land cutting." Li Hongzhang pulled out a scroll of maps and spread it out in front of Shimazu Hisamitsu. Then he gestured with his hand and said, "I won't talk nonsense, this kind of sub-island." Yakushima, as well as the Satsuma Peninsula, will be owned by us in the Eastern Bloc in the future, and everyone will have to listen to us, and you are not allowed to collect taxes and send troops in these places, do you have no opinion? ”

"This ......" After listening to the translator's words, he looked at the map again, and Shimazu Hisamitsu immediately said urgently, "Tanegashima and Yakushima are just that, but this Satsuma Peninsula you are talking about...... This is the most basic territory of my Shimazu Satsuma country, without here, where are we going? ”

"Don't you still have Osumi and Hinata?" Li Hongzhang said, "In short, we have to decide the place, when the time comes, you have to get acquainted, hand it over yourself, let's talk about the amount, if we don't pay it, we will send someone to take it ourselves, I believe it is not a difficult matter." But you can think about it clearly, if we take it ourselves, then we will want something else, and you may not even be able to keep the territory of Osumi and Hinata. ”

"I can't call the shots in this matter......"

"You can't call the shots, who can call the shots!" Li Hongzhang said arrogantly, "I warn you, now I am telling you in a good voice, but that's just to give you a face, don't be ashamed!" If you know each other, give money to cut the land, so that you can continue to keep half of the land and continue to be your lord. If we don't know how to lift, it's not difficult for us to send troops directly to get it! ”

“……”

Seeing that Shimazu Hisamitsu bowed his head and didn't speak, Li Hongzhang softened again and continued to smile and said, "Shimazu-sama, let's put it this way, we also understand your difficulties. Well, well, if you agree to sign this agreement with us, agree to our indemnity and local demands, we are happy to be your protector.

Once we in the Eastern Bloc have become your protectors, if you want to trouble you in the future, whether it is the shogunate, other feudal lords, or foreigners, as long as the reason is right, you can ask us to send troops to protect you, and ensure that you continue to be a feudal lord in peace and security. ”

"Thank you for your kindness." Shimazu Hisamitsu said, "However, we really don't have that much money......"

"It doesn't matter if you don't have money, you can borrow it." Li Hongzhang smiled, "We can contact Chinese banks and ask them to lend you money, and the interest can also be discounted for you, which is not a big deal." ”

"But even if we borrow money, the land won't work." Shimazu Hisamitsu shook his head.

"What, you're going to refuse?" After listening to the translator's words, Li Hongzhang immediately lowered his face.

"No, no, no, please listen to me." Shimazu Hisamitsu waved his hand, and then continued, "That's right, de jure speaking, our land is under the administration of the shogunate, and I am just a canonized de facto controller. Therefore, even if I agree to cede the land to you, if the shogunate does not agree, it is not legally valid.

So, if you really don't want to get the land and get a lot of trouble, you have to talk to the shogun. Only if the general agrees, the situation of land cession is legal and reasonable, otherwise it is illegal, and it is useless for me to agree. ”

"Hmph, you're blinding me." Li Hongzhang sneered, "Even if the ownership of the land belongs to your general, the actual owner is you. If you agree, can the general still come back? What's this called, oh, down gram up. In other words, the power of the feudal lords below you is actually greater than the power of the generals!

It is said that your feudal lords directly fought each other and encroached on each other's land, and there was no sign that you had to ask the general for approval. Even if your generals don't agree, then let them send troops to fight me. Let's see who's going to have a hard fist then! ”

"Your Excellency, you don't know one thing." Shimazu Hisamitsu said, "We Japanese pay attention to doing things with a clear look and pay attention to the right name, even if we are on the line, we must have a legitimate name and excuse." If I cede the land to you without permission, then I will be a sinner in all of Japan, and when the time comes, let alone outsiders, even my subordinates will not recognize me, and a new master will be appointed. Then tear up the agreement I signed before and do it right against you.

That's right, in a head-to-head duel, your soldiers and horses are indeed powerful, I'm afraid that no one in the whole of Japan has an army that is your opponent, but there are thousands of samurai assassins in Japan, and once they find that they can't fight you head-on, and instead attack and assassinate, then you will be very annoying, right?

When the time comes. What's the point of your people getting our land here and having to worry about it every day? ”

"Oh, thousands of samurai assassins? Annoying? Li Hongzhang squinted and smiled. Thank you so much for reminding me, but it doesn't matter, if you really have such backbone, then we can only kill 10,000 by mistake. I won't let go of one. It's a big deal, we just kill all the Japanese men in the occupied areas, and then immigrate from the Chinese. What's so hard about that? ”

"This ......" Shimazu Hisamitsu opened his mouth wide when he heard the translator, and then looked at Li Hongzhang in a daze, as if he didn't believe that these words came from the mouth of this gentle middle-aged man.

"What, you don't believe it?" Li Hongzhang smiled, "Then you can wait and see." ”

"Your Excellency, you, this...... If you really do this, don't you feel that it will hurt the prestige of China? ”

"First of all, we are people of the Eastern Bloc and only represent the interests of the Eastern Bloc, not the interests of the Chinese Empire." Li Hongzhang said, "Secondly, the extermination policy of the rebels is not new. I'm afraid you don't know, those British and French, etc., they have done more in other places than we do, but in the East they can't reach it, so they have become a little more civilized, but in fact, if they are strong enough, how much better do you think they will be than us?

In this world, the strong are respected, and since you have been defeated, you must have the consciousness of the defeated! If you are defeated and still want to be a hero, then you can only break your backbone and make you completely unable to turn over!

What is the saying? Oh, the greater the resistance, the stronger the repression! If you Japanese really don't know whether you want to fight against us alive or dead, then I want to see if it is our people who are harassed by you and quit first, or whether your people are killed by us first! ”

After hearing these words, Shimazu Hisamitsu fell silent, and after a while, just when Li Hongzhang was a little impatient and seemed to want people to take him away, he raised his head again and said loudly: "Slow down, the minister still has something to say." ”

"What else do you want to say?" Li Hongzhang frowned, "Didn't you say it all, you can't call the shots at all, so what's the use?" ”

"Your Excellency!" Shimazu Hisamitsu said loudly, "I have a way to make it easier for you to get what you want, and you don't have to worry about it!" ”

"Oh?" Li Hongzhang looked at his translator, then at Shimazu Hisamitsu, and nodded, "Say!" ”

Shimazu Hisamitsu didn't wait for the translator to speak this time, and immediately understood Li Hongzhang's words, so he hurriedly said: "Actually, if you want to get the indemnity and the colony in Shun, there is a simpler way, that is, to directly send troops to the east, attack the shogunate, and then ask the general for the qiē you want." ”

"Send troops to fight the shogunate? Ask the general? Li Hongzhang frowned, "Are you bluffing me?" When I don't know that the general can't control you at all? ”

"No, no, no, you haven't figured it out yet." Shimazu Hisamitsu said, "As I said, we in Japan are actually very particular about the right name. As a feudal lord, if I give you a foreigner in private, it will be unjustifiable, and no one will agree to it.

But if you can get the general to agree to the reparation, and then I agree to it, then the situation will be different, and everyone will agree with the authority of the general and me, and then they will also agree with my forbearance and humiliation, and will not oppose me because I ceded the land to you, on the contrary, they will accept the facts and burn their anger on the general. ”

"So what's in it for me?" Li Hongzhang said, "The generals who go to fight you must raise the division and mobilize the people, and if you only fight you, you must also raise the army and mobilize the people, relatively speaking, if you only fight you, it will be relatively simple, it's a big deal, just burn and kill all the way." As long as you are scared, who will dare not recognize our rule? If I'm not mistaken, obeying the strong is also your purpose. ”

"My lord, if you burn all the way through, it will cause the whole of Japan to be angry." Shimazu Hishimitsu said, "Even if you can still win in the end, kill us until we are all afraid and agree with your rule, but I am afraid that the price you will have to pay during this period is not small." When the time comes, you may not get much more than you give. ”

"Humph! That's our business, you don't have to worry about it. Li Hongzhang said with a proud face.

"Your Excellency!" Seeing Li Hongzhang like this, Shimazu Hisahimitsu was anxious not to sell Guanzi, and said directly, "You just want the Satsuma Peninsula, Tanegashima and Yakushima, and then you still want 100,000 taels of silver, don't you?" No more, right? ”

"yes, that's enough." Li Hongzhang nodded, "Well, consular jurisdiction or something, you also have to have it, but it's all a trivial matter, what?" ”

"My lord, if you just want these things, there's no need to kill us." Shimazu Hisamitsu said, "I can give you the land, as for the money, we really don't have it, but we can ask the shogunate." The shogunate is much richer than us, and 100,000 taels is not a difficult task for them. And as long as the shogunate agrees to the land cession agreement, you don't have to work hard, do you? ”

"That's right." Li Hongzhang thought for a while, "I still don't believe you...... Well, if you want me to spare you Satsuma Domain, then you can sign an agreement with us to form a coalition with us, and then we will send troops together to fight the shogunate and ask the shogunate for money, what do you think? ”

"Forming a coalition with you? Sending troops to fight the shogunate? Shimazu Hisamitsu asked, "What do you mean?" ”

"It means that the two of us will send troops together to defeat the shogunate." Li Hongzhang smiled, "You are responsible for sending out some people, and we are responsible for providing weapons to this part of the people, and then this part of the people will be regarded as representatives of the coalition forces, representing your Shimazu clan."

After that, we can attack the general in the name of the downfall, and once we succeed, we can force the general to sign the alliance under the city, and then whether you want to control the general as a puppet or become a general yourself, it's up to you.

In short, after the curtain is overturned, you give us all the things we want, and guarantee our rights and interests, and don't make trouble for us, and then your losses, just ask the previous general.

To put it bluntly, it means that everyone will join forces to fall the curtain, and then everyone will get rich together, why not? ”

"Join forces to fall the curtain together?" Shimazu Hisamitsu was clearly stunned by these words again.

"That's right, it's a joint fall!" Li Hongzhang nodded.

In fact, the joint downfall is Li Hongzhang's real purpose, and the previous words are just Li Hongzhang intimidating him.

Come to think of it, China's main target now is not Japan, and it is impossible to spend too much energy on Japan, so it is impossible to occupy too much land in Japan, and it is impossible to carry out any massacre in Japan.

However, the Japanese didn't know, so Li Hongzhang deliberately intimidated the other party to make the other party think that he didn't mind using cruel means at all, so that the other party completely lost his luck mentality.

However, it is impossible for the expeditionary force to really do that after all, so Li Hongzhang's original purpose was to fall with the Shimazu family. In other words, let the Shimazu family take the lead in the front, help by the side, and then provoke a civil war in Japan, let Japan be exhausted, and buy time for China.

Once the two sides start fighting, they will have a lot of room for maneuver, and when the time comes, as long as they defeat the shogunate's army a few times, I believe that even if the shogunate side does not agree, the shogunate side will agree. (To be continued......)