Chapter 926: Conflict |
"Go for it, turn a bicycle into a motorcycle, but the stakes are your own life." Liu Xing shook his head and said, "It seems that I'd better stay put in the Island Nation."
Liu Xing originally wanted to chat with KP Duanqiao, but KP Duanqiao didn't seem to be in the mood for small talk. So, after receiving no response, Liu Xing could only continue reading the news out of boredom.
Actually, there wasn't much news worth reading. Besides news about Hokkaido and Ryukyu, there was practically nothing else. Compared to those two regions, other news wasn't even news.
Of course, this was also related to the silence of the Public Faction and the Warrior Faction. Both Shimazu Nakano and Inada Ichiyo knew that if they showed up now, reporters would definitely ask for their opinions on the Hokkaido and Ryukyu incidents.
This was a deadly question nowadays. If they answered poorly, their faction's support rate would plummet.
So both the Public Faction and the Warrior Faction were playing dead, refusing all media interviews.
Therefore, quite a few small media outlets, eager to stir the pot, began to criticize the inaction of the Public Faction and the Warrior Faction. However, these "unscrupulous media" soon "voluntarily" apologized on their websites and announced their closure due to "poor management."
In short, the Island Nation's mainland had fallen into a strange silence.
After reading these repetitive news stories, Liu Xing could only drink some water and go to bed.
After their phone call with Liu Xing in the afternoon, Zhang Jingxu and the others discovered that Kitano Masakazu's men were secretly watching them. Or rather, since the entire ship was filled with Kitano Masakazu's men, wherever Zhang Jingxu and the others went, one or two of Kitano Masakazu's men would be nearby, watching them openly and brazenly.
This made Zhang Jingxu and the others feel both uncomfortable and helpless.
After all, this was Kitano Masakazu's territory.
Being a guest in someone else's house was just this uncomfortable.
"Sigh, it seems that Shima Mitsuhiro and Kitano Masakazu still don't see us as teammates. We've really boarded a pirate ship this time." Yin En leaned on the railing and said, "And it won't be easy for us to leave this pirate ship. I noticed that after we boarded, this ship has been moving away from Kagoshima City. Although the speed isn't very fast, we must be dozens of kilometers away from Kagoshima City's coastline by now."
Zhang Wenbing nodded, holding his mobile phone and saying, "After dinner, Kitano Masakazu blocked all signals on this ship, so it's almost impossible for us to locate our position now. But the most important question now is why Kitano Masakazu is doing this. Logically, even if he doesn't see us as teammates, he shouldn't treat us as enemies, right?"
Ding Kun pointed to the sky and said helplessly, "We can only leave it to fate now."
The atmosphere on the deck became somewhat gloomy.
After a while, Zhang Jingxu suddenly said, "Brother Ding, you're right. We can only follow Shima Mitsuhiro and Kitano Masakazu for now. But as long as they haven't discovered Liu Xing's whereabouts, Liu Xing has a chance to help us..."
Before Zhang Jingxu could finish his sentence, he saw Shima Mitsuhiro walking towards them, so he immediately shut his mouth.
At this moment, Shima Mitsuhiro also felt a bit awkward, because he realized that Kitano Masakazu's attitude towards him had changed.
Only one sentence came to Shima Mitsuhiro's mind – a tiger that has fallen from grace is bullied by a dog... Of course, Kitano Masakazu was also a tiger.
So Shima Mitsuhiro thought of four more words – conspiring with a tiger.
Shima Mitsuhiro sighed, knowing that his current situation was indeed quite bad.
Although Shima Mitsuhiro had been secretly building his own team and gathering quite a few thugs to work for him, after witnessing the other side of the world with his uncle, he clearly understood how weak his so-called elite thugs were.
Of course, Shima Mitsuhiro had also considered recruiting one or two small secret cults to work for him. However, almost all the secret cults in southern Kyushu had been registered by the Shimazu Family. So Shima Mitsuhiro knew very well that if he tried to recruit these secret cults, Shimazu Nakano would know about his actions the next day.
By then, the position of head of the Shimazu Family would be far away from him. After all, this was "rebellion."
So, as things stood, Shima Mitsuhiro's men could bully ordinary people, but if they were to face mythical creatures or fanatic believers of secret cults, they would definitely collapse at the first touch.
Therefore, Shima Mitsuhiro now clearly understood that Kitano Masakazu had seen through him, which was why Kitano Masakazu had started to bare his fangs at him.
So after dinner, Shima Mitsuhiro was also brooding in his room, contemplating life, or rather, thinking about which piece of "meat" would be most suitable to feed Kitano Masakazu.
The more Shima Mitsuhiro thought about it, the more depressed he became, because he realized that Kitano Masakazu's appetite might be even bigger than he had previously imagined. So the "meat" he had initially prepared might not be enough to fill Kitano Masakazu's stomach.
"Was I too greedy after all?"
Shima Mitsuhiro shook his head, looking out the window and muttering to himself, "A snake swallows an elephant because of greed. If I had just come to eliminate the threat of Shima Takeshi, I wouldn't be in this situation now. But if I don't gamble now, then I'll have to wait at least another twenty or thirty years to take over the position of head of the Shimazu Family... How can there be a crown prince for thirty years? Well, England does have one, and it's seventy years..."
Shima Mitsuhiro shook his head, and couldn't help but recall something.
One day a year ago, Shima Mitsuhiro accompanied Shimazu Nakano to an unnamed temple on Shikoku Island to worship.
After completing a standard set of Buddhist worship procedures, Shimazu Nakano instructed Shima Mitsuhiro to wait outside and then entered the inner hall with an old monk.
With nothing to do, Shima Mitsuhiro started chatting with a young novice monk in the main hall. As they chatted, the novice monk brought up the history of this unnamed temple, or rather, the reason why this unnamed temple had survived to this day – this unnamed temple had a secret recipe that could prolong life and improve health!
The speaker had no intention, but the listener took it to heart.
Shima Mitsuhiro suddenly remembered that his uncle was already in his sixties, but from his appearance, he looked only in his early forties.
Most importantly, Shima Mitsuhiro recalled that in the past few years since he became Shimazu Nakano's private secretary, he had seen Shimazu Nakano almost every day, so he knew very well that Shimazu Nakano had never been sick during these years and was in excellent health.
So, Shima Mitsuhiro thought of a possibility, that Shimazu Nakano had been taking the secret medicine provided by this unnamed temple!
This was not good news for Shima Mitsuhiro, because if Shimazu Nakano remained healthy and strong, how long would he have to wait to inherit the position of head of the family?
So Shima Mitsuhiro subtly probed the young novice monk further, uncovering a despairing truth: as long as Shimazu Nakano's physical condition wasn't too poor, he would be full of vigor until he was a hundred years old.
This meant that Shima Mitsuhiro might have to wait another forty years, until he was around seventy, to become the head of the Shimazu Family.
This filled Shima Mitsuhiro with despair, and for the first time, he had murderous thoughts towards Shimazu Nakano...
Because Shima Mitsuhiro was a very ambitious person, his goal was not just to become the head of the Shimazu Family.
However, Shima Mitsuhiro also knew that although he was Shimazu Nakano's private secretary, Shimazu Nakano had another private secretary hidden in the shadows, a powerful mythical creature.
Therefore, Shima Mitsuhiro knew very well that if he tried to harm Shimazu Nakano, he would undoubtedly die.
So although Shima Mitsuhiro was bitter, he didn't dare to show it and could only look for opportunities while staying by Shimazu Nakano's side.
Therefore, when Shima Mitsuhiro heard about Shima Takeshi's attempted usurpation, he realized that the opportunity he had been waiting for had finally arrived.
Thus, on his way to seek help from Liu Xing and the others, Shima Mitsuhiro specifically called Kitano Masakazu, asking him to help him ascend to power.
As Shima Mitsuhiro's "good brother," Kitano Masakazu immediately agreed to his request.
Then, at the hidden location in Tanegashima, Shima Mitsuhiro kept bargaining with Kitano Masakazu, finally reaching a preliminary agreement: Shima Mitsuhiro would hand over the distribution rights of all Shimazu Family businesses in northern Island Nation to Kitano Masakazu, and these goods would only need to be purchased by Kitano Masakazu at cost price.
In other words, all the profits of the Shimazu Family in northern Island Nation were given to Kitano Masakazu. It's important to note that the profits from northern Island Nation accounted for more than sixty percent of the Shimazu Family's total annual profit.
So this was not a small sum.
Of course, after receiving this benefit, Kitano Masakazu had to help Shima Mitsuhiro become the new head of the Shimazu Family. After dealing with Shima Takeshi, Shima Mitsuhiro would, as Liu Xing and the others had guessed, eliminate all the relatives imprisoned in the Shimazu Residence... Of course, if some of them were "sensible" and supported him, Shima Mitsuhiro wouldn't mind keeping them as his team.
In short, all those who supported Shima Takeshi and Shimazu Nakano had to die! From now on, the Shimazu Family would only be ruled by Shima Mitsuhiro!
However, just as Shima Mitsuhiro was having such a sweet dream, he suddenly woke up.
Shima Mitsuhiro now realized that he had overestimated his friendship with Kitano Masakazu and underestimated Kitano Masakazu's ambition.
"It seems that if I want to get off this pirate ship, I'll probably have to bleed a little."
Shima Mitsuhiro sighed and began to calculate how many chips he still had to give to Kitano Masakazu.
Wait.
Shima Mitsuhiro suddenly thought of Zhang Jingxu and the others.
In any case, Zhang Jingxu and the others were "his own people."
Thinking of this, Shima Mitsuhiro immediately left his room to find Zhang Jingxu and the others.
"Hey, you guys aren't asleep yet?"
Shima Mitsuhiro took the initiative to greet Zhang Jingxu and the others.
Because they hadn't fallen out yet, Zhang Jingxu and the others greeted Shima Mitsuhiro with smiles.
After a few pleasantries, Shima Mitsuhiro got to the point, "Uh, there's something I feel a bit sorry about. I overestimated my relationship with that guy Kitano Masakazu. I believe you should also be able to feel now that Kitano Masakazu doesn't intend to cooperate with us properly... He wants too much."
Zhang Jingxu and the others looked at each other, not knowing what Shima Mitsuhiro was up to.
Then Shima Mitsuhiro continued, "This afternoon, I had a good talk with Kitano Masakazu. That guy started by asking for more than half of our Shimazu Family businesses' annual profits. That's not a small sum! And most importantly, after dealing with Shima Takeshi, he also wants to learn from the United States of America and leave a team of Deep Ones in the Shimazu Residence, ostensibly to help me eliminate the remnants of Shima Takeshi's faction, but in reality, he wants to control the Shimazu Family in the future. Do you think I can agree to this?!"
Hearing Shima Mitsuhiro say this, Zhang Jingxu and the others realized that Shima Mitsuhiro had most likely had a conflict with Kitano Masakazu over the distribution of benefits.
Zhang Jingxu thought for a moment and nodded, "Kitano Masakazu is indeed going too far. Although his help in dealing with Shima Takeshi is very significant, he shouldn't kick us while we're down, right? After all, the Shimazu Family is still one of the most famous families in the Island Nation. If this gets out, the Shimazu Family's reputation will plummet. Then, Brother Hirodo, you won't be able to hold your head up, because this agreement was signed by you and him."
"Yes, I don't want to become the eternal sinner of the Shimazu Family." Shima Mitsuhiro sighed and said, "But as things stand, we've already boarded this pirate ship, so it won't be easy for us to get off unscathed..."
"So?" Ding Kun stared at Shima Mitsuhiro.
Shima Mitsuhiro looked around and then whispered, "Capture the thief first, capture the king. After we succeed, we'll deal with Kitano Masakazu, and then there will be no proof."
Just as expected.
Ding Kun took a deep breath and said seriously, "Then what's in it for us?"
Shima Mitsuhiro replied with a smile, "There's a treasure vault in the Shimazu Residence, which contains all kinds of rare treasures collected by the Shimazu Family over the past few centuries, including the legendary Cloud Mirror. If you help me through this difficult situation, you can take anything you want from the treasure vault!"
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