Chapter 2073

The Ministry of Security has been interrogating several people arrested in Danzhou for several months, and has almost exhausted all means of coercion and inducement, but the information obtained from the criminal Xue Zheng and others is still extremely limited. This is not true

It's not that Xue Zheng and others are so tough that the security department can't do anything, but that these bounty killers know very little about the situation, and they don't know what their employer's real purpose is in arranging the attack. The connection between them and their employer has also been established for a long time.

It was actively cut off by the other party, making it difficult for subsequent investigations to proceed.

The Ministry of Security has several inferences about the reasons behind the attempted attack, but there has always been a lack of clear evidence to support the argument. Although Li Zhen was grateful for the protective measures provided by Haihan, he was unwilling to talk about anything.

The object of suspicion. After all, the people who will have an intersection with Li Zhi's succession to the throne are either members of the royal family or high-ranking officials of the imperial court. Any statement he makes to Haihan may quickly trigger domestic political turmoil, so for him, at the moment

It is more important to keep your mouth shut than to track down the person behind the scenes.

In comparison, the military's investigation was much smoother, and several overseas counterattacks and arrest operations were also led by the military. Although He Xi was determined to continue pursuing the case about Li Xie, the conditions dictated that

Due to limitations, it is difficult to achieve breakthrough progress in the short term.

He Xi coughed dryly and said: "As for the clues about North Korea, because of well-known reasons, Li Zhen is not very willing to provide us with more information, so it may be that the people behind the scenes who are planning this matter take the initiative to expose the clues before we can

Confirm the true purpose of the attack. But now there are the most clues in the direction of Japan, and I think we should concentrate our efforts on investigating this direction first, and maybe we can also solve these cases that have not found answers before."

"But neither the Ministry of Security nor the Military Intelligence Agency has stationed intelligence personnel in Japan. How can this investigation be carried out?" Ning Qi immediately questioned He Xi's opinion: "If we send people to Japan now, how long will it take to achieve results?

"

What Ning Qi was worried about was indeed true. Although there were unofficial trade exchanges between several overseas ports controlled by Haihan and Japan, out of comprehensive considerations, the Haihan intelligence department did not invest manpower in the direction of Japan. After all, it was relatively

Compared with Japan, which has limited trade scale and is far away from the Haihan homeland, it is a more correct choice to send a limited number of intelligence personnel in the direction of the Ming Dynasty.

What Tao Donglai is worried about is a bigger problem: "If the Eighteen Shiba Party colludes with the Hirado clan officials, then what we want to investigate may lead to a larger-scale armed conflict, or even

war!"

For Haihan, who regards war as a daily routine, he is certainly not afraid of war with other countries, but the question is whether war can solve the problem and whether it can bring substantial benefits to Haihan.

Haihan's external expansion strategy at this stage is to control the coastline of the East Asian continent as much as possible, as well as some key waterways with strategic geographical locations, in order to achieve sea control. For this reason, Haihan will not hesitate to launch a war to achieve its goal. In the next ten years,

It has successfully formed control over the long coastline from the Strait of Malacca in the south to the Liaodong Peninsula in the north, thus indirectly controlling the maritime trade in these areas.

As for areas far away from the mainland and not near important waterways, Haihan has never been the focus of attention. Even a natural harbor with superior conditions like Manila Bay, if the Spaniards had not been persistent in competing with Haihan, Haihan would have been in trouble.

Han probably would not take the initiative to send troops across the entire South China Sea to attack this area.

Using war means to occupy these island areas far away from the mainland does not mean that the war is over. Haihan still has to send a large number of personnel to manage and guard it. The manpower and material resources invested after the war will still be very huge. In the short term, the long-term

It would be less cost-effective to establish a colonial area near the coast of the mainland.

Japan is a place that Haihan is not very interested in. Hirado is 1,600 miles away from the nearest Dinghai Port in Zhoushan, and it is not on a major trade route. And Japan has many

Mountainous terrain, arable land and minerals are all scarce resources, and they are not very attractive to Haihan. Therefore, Haihan has always paid very limited attention to Japan. Even the intelligence agencies did not consider it as a key monitoring target.

of necessity.

Although the Dutch East India Company was very concerned about its trade relations with Japan, Haihan was not very interested in the limited trade volume that Japan currently opened to foreign merchants, and he had no intention of actively asking Japan to expand the scale of trade. In other words

In other words, Japan is not attractive to Haihan now. If the case currently under investigation leads to a war, it will be difficult for Haihan to gain economic benefits by defeating the opponent.

Yan Chujie immediately understood what Tao Donglai meant: "You are worried that things will get worse and worse, and in the end we can only use war to solve the problem, but this is not the best result for us."

Tao Donglai said: "That's exactly it. If it involves war, then we must carefully consider the expected goals and the actual possible results, and find a solution with the highest cost performance."

"Mr. Tao, I'm afraid this matter will not be solved as easily as you hope." He Xi immediately expressed his opinion: "The remnants of Shibazhi can be sheltered in Japan, after all, it is due to interests. Whether it is military strength or economy

Income, the benefits they can bring to the Hirado Domain are definitely much greater than ours. If I were the head of the Matsuura clan, I might also choose this group of people as partners. I know you want to make peace through peaceful means.

The Matsuura family has given up its protection and support for this group of people, but I don’t think we can offer enough benefits to buy them off."

Yan Chujie also expressed support for He Xi: "We currently don't know the extent of Matsuura's participation in this series of events. To try to negotiate with them to solve the problem under such circumstances is actually exposing one's shortcomings and letting the other party take control.

Take the initiative. I think it is still necessary to express your attitude to the other party by exerting military pressure. If you say nice things, the other party may not be able to listen. Old Tao, don’t forget, that is a place that has begun to close itself off, and their people in power

If you don’t necessarily know the grievances between our country and Shibazhi, you may misjudge your own situation.”

Even Ning Qi, who has always opposed the use of war to resolve disputes, believes that the current situation is actually not optimistic: "The other side has mass-produced muskets, trained soldiers, and even people who have slipped through the net who have fought against us before.

, how could they easily choose to compromise with us? Although I do not advocate taking the initiative to go to war, we do have to make corresponding preparations first. If the other party realizes that our branches deployed in various places have been destroyed by us, they may take risks and take some more drastic measures.

Extreme measures."

"What do you think of the God of Wealth?" Tao Donglai was noncommittal about everyone's opinions, and then looked at Schneider, who had never expressed his opinion. As the helmsman of Haihan Finance, Schneider's opinions often represent whether military operations can obtain sufficient military expenditures.

Budget support, so although the military has the final say on whether to fight a war, Schneider's opinions are also extremely important to the military's decision-making.

Schneider sat up straight and glanced at everyone present, with a hint of excitement in his tone: "Gentlemen, do you know about the black ship incident in history? I think Ning Qi should know about it, right?"

Ning Qi just nodded but did not respond, his mind quickly thinking about Schneider's purpose of mentioning the Black Ship incident at this time.

In July 1853, Matthew Perry, commander of the U.S. East India Fleet, led four black warships to Edo and used force to threaten the Tokugawa Shogunate to open trade. At that time, although Abe Masahiro used the excuse that he needed the emperor's approval before accepting the American request

, persuaded Perry to retreat with a delaying strategy, but at the beginning of the next year, Perry once again led the fleet to Edo, and the number of warships also increased to seven. This armed fleet swaggered deeply into Edo Bay and did not stop until it reached near Yokohama.

, under the nose of the shogunate, they made a tough stance of starting a war without establishing a country.

In the end, the shogunate chose to compromise and signed the "Japan-US Goodwill Treaty" with the Americans in Yokohama, thus ending the more than two hundred years of isolation. After that, the United Kingdom, Russia, the Netherlands and other countries also followed suit.

They made demands for trade with Japan one after another and signed similar treaties with it. As a result, the shogunate system established by Tokugawa Ieyasu in the 17th century quickly collapsed.

The Tokugawa shogunate was driven off the stage of history in 1868.

Schneider said: "In the 19th century, the Americans used force to open Japan's door and forced Japan to open to trade, and gained many benefits from it. If we have a ready excuse for war, then maybe we can also follow the example of the Americans in history.

This approach will bring the era of Japan’s isolation from the country to an end two hundred years early!”

When everyone heard it, it turned out that Schneider's ambition was the greatest. The goal of the Ministry of Security was to find out the truth, and the goal of the military was to eliminate the Eighteen Zhiyu Party, but Schneider wanted to use this as an opportunity to persuade the military to send a large number of troops to Japan.

, bringing the situation that would have happened two centuries later to the present, so that Haihan can become the biggest beneficiary.

Ning Qi shook his head and expressed his objection: "When the Black Ship Incident occurred, Japan's domestic situation and international environment were completely different from now, and it was difficult to achieve the desired results in the same way. Although the Americans achieved their goals without losing any blood,

, but this does not mean that the threat of force we use now will have the same effect."

When the Black Ship Incident occurred, the shogunate's rule in Japan was actually no longer strong enough. It was precisely because it was worried that defeat would trigger a series of vicious domestic reactions that the shogunate chose to bully the United States before starting a war.

The current leader of the Tokugawa shogunate, the third-generation shogun Tokugawa Iemitsu, is the leading figure in vigorously promoting the policy of seclusion, and the purpose of this national policy is to strengthen the shogunate's control over the country and reduce the influence of foreign sources.

External influence. If other countries threaten the shogunate with force during this period, Ning Qi does not think those in power will choose to compromise because they are afraid of starting a war.

Tao Donglai asked: "In your opinion, under the premise that an armed conflict may break out, how should we deal with the current situation is the optimal solution?"

Ning Qi thought for a while and then replied: "Control the scale and area of ​​the war as much as possible. Even if there is a war, our war target will not be the Tokugawa shogunate, but a local vassal state like the Hirado clan. This can effectively reduce the shogunate's involvement in the conflict.

possibility."

"Hirado and Nagasaki are currently the only two foreign trade ports in Japan. If we go to war with the Hirado clan, the shogunate will not stand idly by, right?" Yan Chujie asked.

Ningsaki explained: "Actually, Nagasaki is a port directly controlled by the shogunate. Only a small part of the benefits gained by the Hirado clan from international trade were handed over to the shogunate. Therefore, in the original history, the shogunate forcibly

The purpose of moving the Dutch Commercial Office from Hirado to Nagasaki is to allow this part of the foreign trade income to go into the pockets of the shogunate. If Hirado is in chaos, the shogunate may be happy to watch the show."

"It turns out that there is such an internal competition!" Yan Chujie sighed: "To put it this way, as long as the shogunate does not intervene, it will actually be much easier to start a war against Hirado."

As far as the military is concerned, no matter how much money the Hirado Domain can make, it is only a local domain after all. The number of troops it can mobilize is only 8,000. As for the surface armed ships, it cannot be compared with Haihan.

As long as the entry and exit channels of a trading port like Hirado Port are blocked, the local trade volume will inevitably plummet. At that time, whether it is negotiating, fighting, or negotiating while fighting, Haihan can do it.

There are more chips available.

Yan Chujie was previously worried that it would be difficult to control the scale of the war after it started. If this war, which was originally insignificant, turned into a large-scale war between the two countries, it would not mean much for Haihan even if he won. But if it can be done

If the Tokugawa shogunate stayed out of the matter and did not participate in the conflict between the Kaihan liquidation of the Eighteen Shiba Party, the difficulty of the Kaihan army's actions would be much lower.

Of course, the difficulty of an operation is only relative. Any overseas military operation can never be as simple as a meeting of senior executive committee officials. Especially for a combat method like the Haihan Army that relies heavily on logistical supplies,

The expenses prepared for a war are often several times greater than traditional war methods. Even if you are sure of victory, you still need to carefully calculate the pros and cons before starting a war.

"Tom Wang is still in North Korea. I will send him a telegram later and ask him to arrange early reconnaissance preparations so that the navy in the north can prepare early." Yan Chujie is an action man. Since he has enough to take action against Hirado

If it is feasible, he plans to have the naval forces prepare in advance.
Chapter completed!