On the same day, SAIGO held a council of war, and Kohei proposed the plan that 'the troops should attack Nagasaki from sea and then divide into two groups, one of which would raid Kobe and Osaka and the other of which would raid Yokohama and the headquarters in Tokyo', whereas Oshisuke NOMURA proposed the plan of heading east through three courses that 'the army should divide into three groups, one of which would go to Nagasaki by sea and head east from there, another of which would go to Shikoku and Osaka by sea through Buzen and Bungo Provinces and head east from there, and the other of which would head east by land through Kumamoto, Saga, and Fukuoka,' but both of the plans seemed to have little chance of succeeding for the Satsuma army, which had no warship but only three steamships; finally, they adopted the IKEGAMI's plan of 'deploying part of the army in Kumamoto Castle to defend the region and having the main force headed east by land.'
この日、西郷を中心に作戦会議が開かれ、小兵衛の「海路から長崎を奪い、そこから二軍に分かれて神戸・大阪と横浜・東京の本拠を急襲」する策、野村忍介の「三道に別れ、一は海路で長崎に出てそこから東上、一は海路から豊前・豊後を経て四国・大坂に出てそこから東上、一は熊本・佐賀・福岡を経ての陸路東上」する策即ち三道分進策が出されたが、小兵衛・野村忍介の策は3隻の汽船しかなく軍艦を持たない薩軍にとっては成功を期し難く、池上の「熊本城に一部の抑えをおき、主力は陸路で東上」する策が採用された。