1627 Rise of the South China Sea

The only thing that Yuta Ozaki felt fortunate was that the fleet was not too far away from Sasebo Bay at this time. If the other party ambushed in Tsushima Strait, he might not even have the chance to escape back to Sasebo Bay to seek refuge.

However, which daimyo belonged to this armed fleet guarding the Hirado Strait, and how to judge that his fleet would take the northern route, made Yuta Kozaki a little confused.

Is it Tsushima, which has a close relationship with Kaihan? The Fukuoka clan seems to have a good relationship with the shogunate? Or is it the Saga clan, which has long coveted Nagasaki?

The Satsuma clan in the south is of course also suspect. Its naval strength is the strongest in Kyushu, but this is not the territory of the Satsuma clan. Shimazu Mitsuhisa is probably not arrogant enough to ignore other families.

As for the Kumamoto clan, the civil strife was still ongoing and they obviously did not have the conditions to organize such an action.

But no matter who was behind the incident, Yuta Ozaki believed that they could not escape the eyes of the Kaihan people. After all, the place where the opponent took action was so close to Sasebo Bay, and it was impossible for the Kaihan warships patrolling outside the bay every day to be unaware.

But strangely enough, Yuta Kozaki had seen many Haihan ships outside the bay when he came, but at this moment there were no sails on the vast sea, and not even a fishing boat could be seen. This made him want to ask for help on the way to escape. Neither can be achieved.

It didn't take long for him to find the reason for this strange situation.

On the sea just a few miles away from the entrance channel of Sasebo Bay, another unidentified armed fleet appeared. The number of warships was even more than that of the fleet that was encountered previously.

Similar to the enemy chasing behind, the fleet blocking the front also has no identifier that can identify it. This is obviously deliberate.

When Yuta Ozaki saw this scene, his heart sank suddenly. With such a large armed fleet appearing outside Sasebo Bay, it was impossible for the Kaihan people to be unaware of it.

There is only one possibility, and that is that the Haihan people acquiesced in the actions of this armed fleet at home, and were even one of the participants themselves.

It seems that after leaving Sasebo Bay, his fleet will encounter the same situation whether it goes south or north. The mastermind behind the scenes had no intention of leaving himself a chance to escape, and even the only escape route back to Sasebo Bay was blocked.

Yuta Ozaki didn't understand why the Haihan people did this. If you don't want to sell arms to the shogunate, then you don't have to do your own business. Why should you allow others to rob the road after completing the transaction?

For the current plan, the only priority is to save life. As for those arms, they were not bought with Yuta Kozaki’s own money anyway, and he didn’t want to be buried with them.

Kozaki Yuta made a prompt decision and ordered his troops to split into two groups. Several warships in the fleet immediately broke away from the team and followed his own ship to sail at full speed toward the Goto Islands in the west.

The terrain on the Goto Islands is complex and there are many straits. If the pursuers continue to follow, he can continue to divide his forces and escape. The chance of escaping is much greater than fighting head-on.

As for the several cargo ships carrying arms, they rushed eastward to Sasebo Bay with all their strength. If you can rush in, the cargo can be saved. If you can't rush in, you can only ask for luck.

This trick worked as expected. Several warships were seen breaking away from the fleet and turning to the west. The unidentified warships did not continue to follow them, but instead all surrounded the slower cargo ships.

Upon seeing this, Yuta Ozaki was even more certain that these ships were coming for this batch of arms. The loading process at the Sasebo base in the past two days may have been secretly monitored, so the other party knew very well that the arms were loaded on the cargo ship and directly encircled and suppressed key targets, instead of blindly pursuing their own group. Yuta Kozaki felt a mixture of joy and sorrow at this moment. He was happy that his life had been temporarily saved, but worried that the arms would probably not be snatched back. How would he explain this to the shogunate when he went to Edo?

The arms obtained by emptying the treasury of the shogunate were lost immediately, and Yuta Kozaki escaped unharmed. This cannot absolve responsibility in any way.

Whether it was caesarean section as apology or other punishments, Yuta Kozaki didn't dare to think about it now. But he seemed to lack enough courage to lead the crowd back to fight to the death with the other party.

However, when several warships he led left the battlefield, they discovered that there were unidentified warships arriving in the distance to participate in the encirclement and suppression of the cargo ship. In terms of the number of warships, this is definitely not the armed force that a certain daimyo can possess.

The only possibility is that several big names joined forces behind the scenes to instigate this action.

This means that they all regard the shogunate as their opponent, and they are the kind who can rob. Although hiding their identities seems to be a little bit afraid of the shogunate, they can no longer restrain their ambitions.

Yuta Ozaki understood that the situation in Kyushu was completely out of control, and a civil war was about to break out.

He regretted that he shouldn't have been greedy for credit and agreed to Shi Diwen's arms deal. This time, he not only got the shogunate's boss involved, but also put himself at the forefront of the storm.

With or without this deal, it would have been a matter of time before the feudal lords in Kyushu rebelled, but he would not have to bear such huge risks and responsibilities, and he might still have a chance to escape from the chaos in Kyushu.

It was too late to say anything now. He could only return to the area controlled by the shogunate first, report the situation in Kyushu, and obey the shogunate's decision.

At the same time, the Sasebo base was peaceful, as if the disputes from the outside world could not affect the place at all.

Although Shi Diwen was in his office at the Sasebo base, almost all the ongoing battles on the sea dozens of miles away were continuously delivered to his desk in the form of instant messages.

"This Kosaki Yuta is really cunning. When he comes, he will cut off the tail of a gecko, then abandon his weapons and run away!"

Hearing Amakusa Shiro's comments, Shi Diwen was obviously very calm: "Osaki Yuta is a smart man, but it's a pity that he is on the wrong team. And even if he escapes here, where can he escape to? Escape back to Edo , it may not be a way out for him.”

Amakusa Shiro smiled and said, "My lord, you are right. He has made such a big mistake in Kyushu. Tokugawa Ietsuna will not be able to spare him!"

Yuta Kosaki was considered a rare business talent in the Tokugawa shogunate. If he hadn't worked hard to maintain it, Nagasaki's status as a trading port would have been washed away by the wave of "free trade" brought by Kaihan.

However, no matter how excellent an individual's ability is, it is impossible to stop the historical trend that Haihan wants to promote. Yuta Kosaki is just a small sacrifice before the chaos breaks out. In the upcoming civil war, Japan will return to the Warring States Period with constant disputes, and countless people will die in the war for various reasons.