Even after disembarking from the Zhenyuan warship and returning to the feudal lord's residence, Matsuura Takanobu's mind was still buzzing.
"Lord, Lord..."
Upon seeing this, the retainers in the manor quickly surrounded him and asked, "What brings such a large army to our Hirado Domain?"
"Lord, please tell everyone..."
The surrounding retainers asked questions all at once.
However, the feudal lord, Matsuura Takanobu, remained silent with a gloomy face.
The retainer, Junichiro Yokokawa, took a deep breath and shouted, "Stop! Everyone, get out! The lord needs to rest!"
With that, Yokokawa Junichiro drove all the retainers out of the house.
Immediately afterward, Junichiro Yokokawa closed the door.
Only the two of them remained inside.
"Lord of the feudal lord,"
Looking at Matsuura Takanobu, Yokokawa Junichiro said cautiously, "This matter is of great importance, we must handle it carefully!"
"I know."
Matsuura Takanobu nodded.
After a moment, he looked at Yokokawa Junichiro, narrowed his eyes, and asked, "Yokokawa, why do you think the Daikan Army sent us to investigate this matter? Could it be that they have already discovered something?"
"If that's true,"
Matsuura Takanobu frowned and said, "The Da Gan Army is probably going to attack us..."
"Lord of the feudal lord,"
Junichiro Yokokawa waved his hand and said, "Based on my speculation, the Daikan Army is still unaware of the cause and effect of this matter."
"My lord, consider this: if the main force already has any leads, why would they need us to investigate this matter?"
"Given the Da Gan Army's usual modus operandi, if they truly had solid evidence, they could have simply sent troops to occupy and conquer the Hirado Domain. Why go through all this trouble?"
"Therefore, I speculate that the Da Gan Army is unaware of the causes and consequences behind these events, let alone that our Hirado Domain is also involved."
Listening to Yokokawa Junichiro's words, Matsuura Takanobu nodded slightly, feeling that his speculation made some sense.
However, Matsuura Takanobu still felt somewhat melancholy when he thought about this.
How can they possibly investigate this matter thoroughly if we let them investigate it themselves?
Investigating yourself?
Matsuura Takanobu gave a wry smile, looked at Yokokawa Junichiro, and said, "Yokokawa, how do you think we should investigate this matter?"
"or,"
After a moment, Matsuura Takanobu thought of a solution and said, "How about we just find any merchant house and hand it over to the army to quell this matter?"
scapegoat!
This was the solution that Matsuura Takanobu could think of.
After all, finding a scapegoat would not only extricate the Hirado Domain from the situation, but also ensure the safety of other merchants within the Hirado Domain, and even other merchants throughout Japan.
You could say this is a desperate attempt to survive by cutting off an arm.
However, Junichiro Yokokawa was not happy at all.
He frowned, carefully considering the suggestion.
After a moment, Junichiro Yokokawa waved his hand and said, "This suggestion is inappropriate!"
Is there a problem?
Matsuura Takanobu asked.
"Lord of the feudal lord,"
Junichiro Yokokawa explained, "If it were any other matter, or if we were dealing with other people, we might be able to find a scapegoat and manage. But this time, I'm afraid that won't work!"
"This time, His Majesty the Emperor of the Great Gan Kingdom personally led the Beiyang Fleet and tens of thousands of infantrymen here. Without a reasonable explanation, it will be difficult to convince His Majesty the Emperor of the Great Gan Kingdom."
"If we put forward scapegoats, should they be put to death or to live?"
“Just kill some random people and hand them over to the army. Would the army accept that? Wouldn’t they realize we’re looking for scapegoats? Dead people are definitely not acceptable!”
"If they're alive, then it's even worse!"
"Find some survivors and hand them over to the Big Army. They'll definitely interrogate them. Even if they keep quiet, they probably won't last long with the Big Army. If any of them leak the information, all our efforts will be wasted. Then the Big Army will still come to attack us!"
"Therefore, finding a scapegoat is not a viable method."
Hearing Yokokawa Junichiro's words, Matsuura Takanobu fell silent.
He understood Yokokawa Junichiro's concerns and knew that, given the circumstances, sending out a scapegoat would likely not be enough to quell the matter.
But what should we do if we don't find a scapegoat?
The large army is right off the coast of the Hirado Domain, eyeing them covetously!
Thinking it over, Matsuura Takanobu sighed, looked at Yokokawa Junichiro, and asked, "Yokokawa, what do you think we should do about this?"
"There's a way!"
Junichiro Yokokawa held up one finger and said, "I'll deny it to the death!"
"Desperately deny it to the death?"
Matsuura Takanobu frowned and asked, "Is this alright?"
"Lord of the feudal lord,"
Junichiro Yokokawa explained, "The fact that the Daikan Army has chosen to entrust this matter to us for investigation shows that they haven't obtained very accurate leads. It also indicates that they are unaware that the Hirado Domain and other domains in Japan are involved. Therefore, we cannot admit to this, nor can we hand over any of the trading companies!"
"At worst, we can send a large army to Hirado Domain and let them investigate the matter themselves!"
Junichiro Yokokawa sneered and said, "The Big Boss said they can't investigate clearly in three days, so they'll investigate on their own. We can invite the Big Boss to investigate in advance."
"Firstly, it proves that our Hirado Domain takes this matter seriously."
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