Mentally and physically exhausted

"Your Highness, there is news from Yingzhou."

Late at night in the Military Academy, when Zhu Youjian had just finished washing, Lu Wenzhao walked into his bedroom with two military reports.

"Didn't I just send a letter a few days ago? Why is it here again?"

Zhu Youjian, who was soaking his feet, couldn't get up, so he had to ask curiously, and Lu Wenzhao also smiled and said:

"This time is good news. Two generals, Yang Wenyue and Wu Aheng, captured Nagoya. General Xiao Tsao captured the flag on the battlefield, and Tokugawa Iemitsu was defeated in front of the battle."

"Huh? This is good news." Zhu Youjian was also a little surprised when he heard that Tokugawa Iemitsu was defeated.

Li Dingguo, who was sitting aside, stood up, took the military report from Lu Wenzhao, and handed the first copy to Zhu Youjian.

Zhu Youjian took it and looked at it. Sure enough, more than 100,000 Japanese troops were wiped out with guns and oars. It can be said that most of the troops in the entire shogunate have been harvested.

At present, except for Tokugawa Hidetada of Edo Castle and the troops of some northern daimyo, there is nothing in the entire Yingzhou that can stop the Ming army.

And looking at their posture, it is estimated that the combination of Yang Wenyue and Wu Aheng can clean up the entire Yingzhou before winter comes.

In the military report, Yang Wenyue did not mention a word about how to fight the next war. The whole article was about how to govern Yingzhou after the war.

Judging from the governance plan he proposed, Zhu Youjian was somewhat reluctant to let him return to the Ming Dynasty.

"Yang Wenyue and Wu Aheng did not let me down. The methods they proposed were also good. They reduced the land tax for the farmers in Yingzhou, but they were only given one acre of land, so they could not support themselves. They could only live a prosperous life by participating in the court's projects."

"According to Yang Wenyue's arrangements, it is estimated that in five or six years, Yingzhou will be able to establish a supply channel for me to the central part of North Asia."

Zhu Youjian nodded with satisfaction, and Lu Wenzhao also took the opportunity to sit down and then said:

"There is also a second military report about European traders in the Little West. This military report was supposed to be delivered in April, but there was a storm in the Gulf of Siam at that time, so it was delayed for more than a month."

"Huh?" Upon seeing this, Zhu Youjian looked towards Li Dingguo, and Li Dingguo also handed over another military report.

This military report was the one sent by Huang Long in February. Zhu Youjian took a quick look at it and nodded with great satisfaction.

"The five kingdoms were destroyed, and more than 600,000 taels of gold and jewels worth millions of taels were transported back to the court by Huanglong."

Zhu Youjian paused, counted the time and then said:

"It's late May now, so the ship should arrive in Luzon."

"Your Highness, I see you clearly." Lu Wenzhao took the opportunity to echo, while Zhu Youjian continued to look down.

In the letter, Huang Long briefly described the size of the five kingdoms, the number of people, and the amount of land, and then expressed that he could establish a vassal state.

If nothing else goes wrong, the army will launch a northward attack in April to overthrow the Vijayanagara dynasty, and then march northward to disintegrate and destroy the four Sudanese allies including Bamani.

Once these five countries are destroyed again, basically the entire Deccan Plateau and one-third of India will become direct vassal territories of the Ming Dynasty.

However, this is not among the goals Zhu Youjian set for Huanglong, because he only wants the coastal plain, while Huanglong wants to go deep into the inland and annihilate these five countries.

Therefore, when Zhu Youjian saw this information, he frowned at first, but was quickly comforted by Huang Long's explanation.

Huang Long's explanation is very simple and straightforward, that is, the three major religions currently existing in the Indian continent all like to collect gold, and going deep into the interior can obtain gold for the court.

With just this simple one, Zhu Youjian did not pursue Huang Long's guilt anymore. After all, he would not be punished by the foreign emperor's order.

After all, those more than 600,000 taels of gold and millions of taels of jewelry really taught Zhu Youjian a lesson.

"Calculating the time, Huang Long should have already taken action."

Zhu Youjian sorted out the letters at hand and did not continue reading. Instead, he raised his head and asked Lu Wenzhao:

"Is there any disciple among the vassals who have decided to vassal Tianzhu to send a letter back to Beijing?"

"Yes!" Lu Wenzhao nodded and explained:

"Many of the disciples who were sent to Tianzhu have already written letters to their own princes, notifying them that they are ready to join the vassal state. However, these letters have just arrived in Jiaozhi. The disciples of the vassal lords have to rush five hundred miles and it will take at least ten days to reach the capital.

.”

"Right now, all the vassals have gathered in the capital. Some of them are ready to hear whether it is feasible to establish a vassal state in Levia, while others are waiting for your highness's order to establish a vassal state."

Lu Wenzhao's words were simple and clear. Simply put, all the vassals were waiting for Zhu Youjian and the emperor's decree, as well as the letters from their heirs.

As long as the letters from the children of each vassal are delivered and the kings understand it, they will definitely come to ask when Zhu Youjian can join the vassal.

However, there is no need for Zhu Youjian to drag him away. Dragging the vassals in the country is not a good thing for him and the Ming Dynasty. It is better to let him go as soon as possible.

"Spread the news. Starting from the first day of June, Tianjin Port will open a route to Xiaoxiyangjuan, escorted by Huangdian's armed merchant ships."

Zhu Youjian took his feet out of the water and wiped them with a cloth. Lu Wenzhao also bowed to express his understanding.

Then Zhu Youjian continued to read Huang Long's letter. At the end, he mentioned the attempts by the Dutch and Portuguese governors such as Menezes and Peterson to disrupt the trade between Spain and the Ming Dynasty.

After saying this, the last page of the letter was written by the two of them.

Zhu Youjian took a cursory glance at the two people's handwriting. Fortunately, the other person wrote it in official script, otherwise Zhu Youjian might have thrown it on the fire.

[The sailor of the Ming Dynasty who never sets the sun, the general of the most powerful army in the world, the planner who conquered the four seas, the invincible commander who swept the Tatars, the Dragon King of the Sea who conquered Nanyang, His Majesty the Emperor of the Celestial Dynasty’s only biological brother, His Highness Prince Qi, I am Menei

Seth...]

Looking at the long list of titles without any substance, Zhu Youjian was speechless.

To be honest, the Han people stopped using this kind of title piling a long time ago, especially in the Ming Dynasty. Otherwise, Zhu Youjian could have followed the example of Boyan in the Yuan Dynasty and come up with a very impressive title for himself.

Not to mention anything else, considering his current official position, he can issue a decree at will, and the prefix of the decree will give people a headache.

"The chief governor of the five military governors of Tianqi, the chief governor of the Shangzhi governor's office, the three divisions of Kaifu Yitong, the king of Qi, the Mongolian grand master, the supervisor of the Ming Dynasty, the Shangzhu state, the military affairs of the military state, the six ministers and counselors, and the imperial horse supervisor

According to the strategy, we will lead North Asia and Mexico, and lead South Asia and Mexico, and the people of the Ming Dynasty will be Zongzheng..."

This is less than one-third of all the titles Zhu Youjian has. He himself does not know how many official positions he has. In short, the accumulated salary from all official positions is 576,450 taels of silver.

Per year……

So when faced with the title, he chose to skip it and focus on the content.

In general, although Menezes and Peterson wanted to take advantage of the Ming Dynasty, they still wrote relatively thoroughly about the situation in Europe and the importance of Ming Dynasty trade.

If it weren't for them, Zhu Youjian wouldn't even know that Ming Dynasty is so awesome now.

Through simple economic and commodity trade, the Ming Dynasty saved Spain's domestic economy and stabilized the other country's economy from inflation. The military saltpeter trade even made Spain sing on the battlefield.

Zhu Youjian's original intention was just to get more money to alleviate the Ming Dynasty's silver crunch crisis. He never wanted to directly interfere with the situation of the Thirty Years War in Europe.

In fact, Zhu Youjian himself didn't even know that before he traveled through time, European and American scholars had already proposed a concept.

The general idea is that the Thirty Years' War, the late Ming uprising, and the shogunate's seclusion were the first global impact since the Age of Discovery.

Among them, the main influence of the Little Glacier environment and climate has led to major changes and the rise of dynasties in many countries around the world at the same time.

A chain reaction occurred globally, known as the "general global crisis of the seventeenth century."

The Thirty Years' War, the establishment of the shogunate and other events all reduced the amount of gold and silver flowing into the Ming Dynasty.

Without these things, the Ming Dynasty could still survive for many years. This can be seen from the fact that the Ming Dynasty was able to achieve a crushing victory against Japan, an emerging power.

Due to the cooling of the Little Ice Age and the arrival of the influenza epidemic, the original trade between Spain and the Ming Dynasty was suddenly interrupted.

The outflow of silver from Spain suddenly stopped, causing the silver surplus in the Ming Dynasty to suddenly turn into a silver crunch.

On the one hand, the domestically produced gold and silver weights and measures of the Ming Dynasty were all in chaos; on the other hand, insufficient supplies and natural disasters led to a food crisis, which caused the Ming Dynasty to be blocked all the way.

If officials have money, inflation will lead to more money being lost.

If the deficit is large, the more money the officials lack, the more they will exploit the people, and the more the court will have to increase taxes to fill the financial hole.

Generally speaking, the Ming Dynasty encountered the Great Depression, the Little Ice Age drought, epidemics and other disasters. Even without Houjin and Dashun, it would not have been able to survive for many years.

On the other hand, in fact, as long as the Great Depression and the Little Glacier Drought are solved, the Ming Dynasty can still survive for many years.

The reason why the Ming Dynasty was unable to expand its territory was because it was actually weak at the moment.

History is like fat. Aging dynasties are all puffy and fat. Although war can help lose weight, the bones of the dynasty are already brittle and cannot withstand fighting.

Zhu Youjian's reforms were a mistake. He used the Royal Horse Supervisor and the team of Prince Qi's Mansion as the new skeleton of the country, taking over the muscles and fat from the old skeleton, and then got rid of the fat through battles and reforms.

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Fat is bad government, corrupt officials, and old rules, but bones are the backbone.

For Ming Dynasty, economic depression no longer exists, but it may come back at any time.

The reason is very simple. With the current population size of the Ming Dynasty, the stability maintenance dynasty is actually the stability maintenance population. The larger the population, the fewer resources can be allocated, which will eventually lead to economic difficulties.

Similarly, the greater the population, the greater the demand for jobs, and excess production capacity will also lead to economic difficulties.

Therefore, no matter how you look at it, there is no need for Zhu Youjian to fall out with Spain.

Even if Spain wins the Thirty Years' War, it is unlikely to be an easy victory.

The investment of saltpeter by the Ming Dynasty not only did not reduce the intensity of the European battlefield, but instead the fighting became more and more back-and-forth.

Historically, after the Thirty Years' War, Europe spent seventy years recuperating.

In seventy years, Ming Dynasty may be able to enter the second industrial revolution.

Thinking of this, Zhu Youjian closed the military newspaper, raised his head and pondered for a moment before explaining to Lu Wenzhao:

"Tell this to Menezes and Peterson, as well as the envoys from Elijah (English) and Francis (French)."
To be continued...