Chapter 912: Semi-Immortal Object
The Satsuma Domain was considered one of the major problems for the Chancellor’s Office. Although Toyotomi Hidesugu married Lady Fukimiya, a royal princess, his own mother was from the Satsuma Domain, thereby attempting to appease and draw Satsuma closer.
It was said that after Lady Fukiyima married the Kampaku, her aristocratic upbringing clashed heavily with her mother-in-law’s samurai background from Satsuma, resulting in extremely poor relations between the two.
The daimyo of Satsuma Domain, Shimazu Shigenobu, had already reached the remarkable age of 90, comparable in years to the Daoist Order’s three Deputy Grand Masters. In terms of cultivation, he was only slightly inferior to them as one of the eight Kengo of Fenglin.
By now, Shimazu Shigenobu had governed the Satsuma Domain for 60 years, and many of the policies he had implemented showed remarkable continuity. Some long-term initiatives had even begun to bear fruit.
Shimazu Shigenobu himself was an interesting figure. He was close friends with a Kengo who often went overseas, and under his friend’s influence, the daimyo eagerly embraced new foreign ideas. Unlike the Toyotomi government, which revered Central Plains culture, this daimyo was far more receptive to Western influences, often initiating reforms that baffled outsiders.
For example, he established the Zoshikan, an academy where samurai of all ranks could attend if they wished to study. This institution produced many warrior-scholars, proficient in both martial arts and scholarly pursuits. Their curriculum included literature, agriculture, history, medicine, and even alchemy.
Shimazu Shigenobu also built medicinal gardens for research, created a zoo housing exotic animals for observation, enjoyed traveling to Nagasaki with the people from the Nederland Kingdom to broaden his horizons, and even established the Meijikan to study astronomy and calendars.
He built the Shuseikan, an industrial complex that included a steel-refining furnace, smelting furnaces, drilling machinery, a glassworks, a forge, a steam engine workshop, precision metal workshops, a mint, a shipyard, and textile factories, among others.
With this foundation, Satsuma Domain began arming its forces with copied firearms, and even its navy produced three steam-and-sail-powered warships.
Much of this technology came from the West, which was only natural. Since the Daoist Order supported the Chancellor’s Office, Satsuma Domain could hardly obtain Daoist technology and thus sought alternative sources.
Under such circumstances, it was only natural that Brown would hide within the Satsuma Domain, which maintained such close ties with the West.
At present, the Daoist Order’s main targets were the Tenmon Sect and the Fenglin royal family. They could not spare attention for a regional lord like Shimazu. Thus, Qi Xuansu could only report the matter to Sage Qingwei and dared not make a decision on his own.