Chapter 901: Going deep behind enemy lines |
Without delay, Shima Mitsuhiro, after getting the answer he wanted, went back to Shimazu Nakano for the final discussion.
"I'll go back to my uncle to confirm his various arrangements in Kyushu. If there are no surprises, I'll be back here in five hours. I hope everyone can be prepared in advance." Shima Mitsuhiro said and left.
Liu Xing stretched lazily and said with a smile, "If I had known, I would have slept for two more days. I didn't expect to be dragged out to work as soon as I got up."
Yin En also laughed and said, "Yes, I didn't expect Shima Takeshi to be so reckless, trying to seize the position of head of the Shimazu Family at this time. But I'm still curious about one thing, who gave Shima Takeshi the courage? Although he can win over some senior managers of the Shimazu Family's industries, it is not easy for him to persuade the members of the Shimazu Family to support him. Moreover, Shimazu Nakano should have left many sensible people in Kyushu."
The "sensible people" Yin En mentioned are those who know the existence of secret cults and mythical creatures, and these people also know the truth about the Public-Military Conflict. Therefore, these people are unlikely to side with Shima Takeshi under normal circumstances, and it is also difficult for Shima Takeshi to get rid of them.
"It seems that there is also an external force supporting Shima Takeshi, and this external force should have participated in the Public-Military Conflict. Although we cannot be sure whether this force belongs to the Public Faction or the Warrior Faction." Zhang Jingxu said while drinking tea.
Liu Xing raised his eyebrows and said in surprise, "Oh, Zhang Jingxu, you mean the mastermind behind Shima Takeshi's actions is one of our own?"
Zhang Jingxu nodded and said seriously, "Yes, I am more inclined to believe that Shima Takeshi received support from a certain force within the Warrior Faction, which is why he decided to rebel. According to Shimazu Nakano, he should not have told Shima Takeshi the truth about this world, nor explained the situation of those extraordinary people in the Shimazu Family to Shima Takeshi. Therefore, without corresponding support, it is impossible for Shima Takeshi to control the Shimazu Family in such a short time."
"Of course, the reason I believe it is our own people causing trouble is that the Shimazu Family is located in Kyushu, which is under the control of the Warrior Faction. Many families that joined the Warrior Faction have their bases in Kyushu, so the influence of the Warrior Faction in Kyushu is no less than in the Kansai Region where we are now, and may even exceed it. Therefore, while members of the Public Faction can infiltrate the Shikoku region and even the Kansai Region on a large scale, they cannot send too many people to Kyushu unless they had already arranged personnel before the Public-Military Conflict began."
Zhang Jingxu paused and shook his head, saying, "Of course, this is just my personal opinion. It might be because Shima Takeshi's wife, who is also Shimazu Nakano's daughter, sided with Shima Takeshi, so Shima Takeshi could complete the typical Island Nation-style rebellion. After all, there were countless such examples during the Sengoku period."
Sawada Yinyin, who was beside him, laughed and said, "Yes, during the Sengoku period, there were frequent dramas of filial piety and brotherly love. It's normal to have a classic reenactment now. Strictly speaking, Shima Takeshi and I are similar. I also forcibly took over the position of head of the Sawada Family from my father. But speaking of which, should I go to Kyushu with you?"
Yin En quickly shook his head and said, "No, no, Mi Yin, you can't go to Kyushu with us because we are going deep behind enemy lines this time. As the head of the Sawada Family, you can't take such risks, and we need you to contact Shimazu Nakano because sometimes we can't just listen to Shima Mitsuhiro's words."
"That's right. In this operation, Shima Mitsuhiro will definitely try to sneak in his own agenda. For example, Shimazu Nakano might want to spare Shima Takeshi's life, but Shima Mitsuhiro will definitely not let Shima Takeshi live. Or Shimazu Nakano might want to negotiate with Shima Takeshi, while Shima Mitsuhiro will insist on fighting Shima Takeshi to the end because it suits his interests. So we need Miss Sawada to contact Shimazu Nakano directly to avoid being deceived and used by Shima Mitsuhiro." Ding Kun said.
As a result, Sawada Yinyin gave up the idea of going in person.
Five hours later, Liu Xing and others were ready with their suitcases.
To be honest, there wasn't much to prepare for this trip to Kyushu because it was essentially a decapitation operation. As long as Shima Takeshi was dealt with, all problems could be solved.
So Shi Zixuan had already set off in advance, preparing to infiltrate the Shimazu Family to find out Shima Takeshi's current situation. Then Liu Xing and others would just need to bring weapons to trouble Shima Takeshi.
"Fortunately, we persuaded Shi Zixuan to join us. Otherwise, this operation would have been troublesome. After all, Shimazu Nakano has lost control of the Shimazu Family, and it is not easy for us to gather internal information about the Shimazu Family." Liu Xing said while checking his handgun.
Zhang Wenbing, sitting opposite Liu Xing, sighed and said worriedly, "Although we have Shi Zixuan's help this time, which has greatly increased the success rate of the operation, it is still full of dangers because Shima Takeshi must have guessed that we will go to Kyushu to trouble him soon."
As soon as Zhang Wenbing finished speaking, Shima Mitsuhiro walked into the living room.
Shima Mitsuhiro didn't waste any words and went straight to the point, "I have arranged a yacht that can go directly to Kagoshima."
The Kagoshima area is located in the southwestern part of Kyushu, within the traditional sphere of influence of the Shimazu Family, and the Shimazu Family's base is also in Kagoshima.
"What, are we going deep behind enemy lines directly? I thought we would go to Fukuoka first to rest and gather information before going to Kagoshima." Liu Xing said in surprise.
Shima Mitsuhiro shook his head and said helplessly, "My original plan was also to go to Fukuoka first and then decide the next step based on the actual situation. But my uncle warned me not to go to Fukuoka because our Shimazu Family has many industries in Fukuoka. After all, Fukuoka is the largest city on Kyushu Island, so Shima Takeshi is likely to use those industries to plant a large number of spies. We might be discovered by Shima Takeshi as soon as we arrive in Fukuoka."
"Isn't it too risky to go directly to Kagoshima?" Liu Xing frowned and said.
Shima Mitsuhiro shook his head and said with a smile, "There is a saying that the most dangerous place is the safest place. Although Kagoshima, as our Shimazu Family's private land, has now been mostly controlled by that bastard Shima Takeshi, there is one place that Shima Takeshi absolutely cannot control."
"Tanegashima?!" Liu Xing said instinctively.
Due to the geographical location of Kyushu Island and the west-to-east route of European explorers at that time, the Shimazu Family quickly established contact and cooperation with foreigners.
In the war-torn Sengoku period, the best commodities in the hands of foreigners were guns and cannons. To manufacture guns themselves, the Shimazu Family, after recruiting foreign craftsmen, sent them to Tanegashima to make guns. To prevent enemy forces from destroying or stealing gun technology, the Shimazu Family arranged heavy guards to defend Tanegashima and sent their most trusted retainers to handle various affairs on Tanegashima.
"Although with the changing times, the importance of Tanegashima to our Shimazu Family has been decreasing, we still regard Tanegashima as the last safe house. Therefore, successive heads of the Shimazu Family have set up hiding places on Tanegashima under various names and arranged many loyal retainers to manage and maintain those hiding places. Only the head of the Shimazu Family knows and is qualified to use these hiding places. So even if Shima Takeshi knows we might go to Tanegashima, he can't do anything about it because he doesn't know where those hiding places are," Shima Mitsuhiro said somewhat proudly.
Indeed, a cunning rabbit has three burrows.
Seeing Shima Mitsuhiro so confident, Liu Xing and the others had no objections and directly got into the car and followed Shima Mitsuhiro to the seaside.
After boarding the yacht, Shima Mitsuhiro took Liu Xing and the others to a small room.
In this small room, Liu Xing and the others saw the familiar Exoskeleton Armor.
"Although our Shimazu Family only has a few pieces of Exoskeleton Armor, since the Sawada Family is willing to risk their lives to help us through this difficult time, it would be unreasonable for us not to show some gratitude. Therefore, my uncle decided to give these pieces of Exoskeleton Armor to the Sawada Family, hoping they would like them," Shima Mitsuhiro said seriously.
Like them?
Of course, they liked them.
When Liu Xing and the others saw these Exoskeleton Armors, their eyes lit up because they were well aware of the functions of these Exoskeleton Armors.
"Thank you very much, Uncle Shimazu. We are very satisfied with such a gift," Yin En said with a smile. "I was going to ask Brother Hiro if you could bring these Exoskeleton Armors because having them would greatly increase the success rate of our operation."
In their previous discussions, Liu Xing and the others believed that Shimazu Nakano would definitely lend these Exoskeleton Armors to them again, but they did not expect Shimazu Nakano to give them these Exoskeleton Armors.
While Shima Mitsuhiro and Yin En were complimenting each other, Liu Xing suddenly noticed something wrong with these Exoskeleton Armors. Their appearance had undergone some subtle changes.
Seeing this, Liu Xing immediately chose to examine the introduction of this Exoskeleton Armor.
Then, Liu Xing finally understood why Shimazu Nakano would give them these Exoskeleton Armors.
In short, after discovering the Underground Mine at Yonezawa Farm, Shimazu Nakano studied the living armor made by Migo. Perhaps because the research was progressing well, Shimazu Nakano decided to use the living armor technology to modify these Exoskeleton Armors.
If the plan succeeded, these Exoskeleton Armors would undergo a qualitative change and could be used as battle suits in a superhero movie.
However, Shimazu Nakano failed. Although these Exoskeleton Armors, which integrated living armor technology, were somewhat enhanced and could automatically cover the whole body, eliminating the hassle of manual wearing, using this Exoskeleton Armor came at a greater cost.
For every ten minutes of wearing this armor, the wearer would lose one HP and one sanity point. If the wearing time was less than ten minutes, it would still be calculated as ten minutes.
Most importantly, if the wearer wore this armor for more than an hour at a time, they would not be able to take it off.
Therefore, in Liu Xing's view, this new version of the Exoskeleton Armor could be renamed "Cannibal Armor."
Liu Xing shook his head, and his enthusiasm for this Exoskeleton Armor instantly halved.
Of course, Liu Xing still had a smile on his face to avoid being noticed by Shima Mitsuhiro.
After looking at the Exoskeleton Armor, Liu Xing and the others returned to the yacht deck to enjoy the calm before the storm.
When it was completely dark, Liu Xing and the others finally arrived at Tanegashima.
"This small village is one of our Shimazu Family's hiding places, but our destination is not here. This small village is located on the outskirts of Tanegashima. If Shima Takeshi sends people to patrol Tanegashima by boat, we still have a chance of being discovered," Shima Mitsuhiro said, pointing to the small fishing village in front of him.
Liu Xing looked at the small fishing village in front of him and found that the residents were almost all strong adult males. The layout of the village's buildings was also very particular, ensuring that all buildings could form a mutual support position. Most importantly, these buildings had no windows and were ventilated through small holes, which were obviously shooting holes.
Shima Mitsuhiro found the Village Chief of this small fishing village. After a brief exchange, the Village Chief drove out a small truck from his backyard.
Then, Liu Xing and the others continued their journey in the small truck.
After a while, Zhang Wenbing suddenly said, "Are we going to the space center?"
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