Zhu Houzhao nodded when he heard this and said: "What the Qing family said is true. In the end, the imperial court gave up on Jiaozhi because the effort outweighed the gains and the transportation was inconvenient. The local people repeated this one after another. However, now Xu Ying's army is guarding it and the roads are being repaired and connected."
There should be no worries in the Central Plains."
The monarch and his ministers were walking in the imperial garden like old friends, talking about matters in the court, and they seemed to get along well with each other.
The emperor who was walking in front suddenly stopped and his eyes fell on Li Huan and said: "Zhang Huai and Yan Song reported together a few days ago that the Western barbarians invaded Nanyang Province. Their power was very large. I don't know where Nanyang Province is now.
What is the situation?"
Li Huan raised his brows and chuckled: "Your Majesty, you can rest assured that the Nanyang Province has been booming in recent years. The Nanyang Navy Fleet alone has nearly a hundred treasure ships, and hundreds of other large and small ships.
To be honest, those Western fleets are no match for the Nanyang Navy fleet."
Zhu Houzhao glanced at Li Huan and said: "If it is true as the Qing family said, that would be great. Otherwise, the imperial court may have to send the Donghai Navy Fleet south to stabilize the situation in Nanyang."
As he spoke, Zhu Houzhao sighed softly and said: "The situation in Nanyang must remain stable in the past few years, otherwise it will inevitably directly affect the enfeoffment issue of the vassal kings and clans all over the world."
When he said this, Zhu Houzhao said with a smile on his face: "Today, all the vassal princes and clans in the country have moved to Nanyang. The imperial court has not only taken over the fertile land occupied by the vassal princes and clansmen, but also
This suddenly reduced a large amount of the salary to support the clan, and this alone greatly reduced the expenditure pressure on the imperial court."
Just looking at the smile on the emperor's face, you can tell how much influence the policy of moving the feudal clan's clan overseas has had on the imperial court.
Such a big burden was suddenly thrown off. In the past few years, the pressure on the imperial court has been reduced sharply, and the financial situation has become increasingly good.
However, it had only been a few years since the feudal kings entrusted Nanyang. It can be said that except for a few feudal princes with sufficient strength and foundation to develop their fiefdoms, the vast majority of the feudal princes were still in their infancy.
Naturally, there is no room for chaos in Nanyang at this stage. Once turmoil occurs, it is conceivable that the feudal kings will not know whether they will cause any trouble.
At least one thing is that these vassal kings who were entrusted to Nanyang must not be made to feel that Nanyang is unsafe. Otherwise, the emperor would not be so concerned about the safety of Nanyang.
Li Huan chuckled when he heard this and said: "The Donghai Navy is now preparing to land in Japan. If the imperial court's attention had not been distracted by the Jiaozhi War, the war to conquer Japan would have already broken out."
As he spoke, Li Huan looked upright and bowed to the emperor and said: "Your Majesty, I have discussed with several governors of the Fifth Army Governor's Mansion. Now that Jiaozhi has been pacified, the attack on the Japanese country should also be put on the agenda."
Upon hearing this, Zhu Houzhao waved his hand and said with a smile: "Li Qing will discuss this matter with the cabinet. If the cabinet has no objection, you can go ahead and do it."
Li Huan heard this and said: "Your Majesty is wise in capturing the Japanese country and digesting it. From now on, China will no longer have to worry about threats from the sea."
Zhu Houzhao said with a bit of disdain: "Li Qing is making too much of a fuss. How can a mere Japanese country have the qualifications to threaten the safety of our Ming Dynasty maritime territory?"
Li Huan was not surprised that the emperor looked down upon Japan. After all, in this era, the Ming Dynasty, which prided itself on being the supreme kingdom of the Central Plains, really did not take Japan, a small country, to heart.
However, who would have thought that this island country, separated from China by a river, would cause the greatest harm to China.
If he didn't have that ability, that would be fine. The key point is that now the Ming Dynasty has enough strength to take down the Japanese country. Li Huan feels that if he is still indifferent to the Japanese country, then his journey to the Ming Dynasty has really been in vain.
April of the twelfth year of Zhengde in the Ming Dynasty
On the grounds that Japanese pirates were plundering the southeast coast, the Ming Dynasty ordered a force of 100,000 troops, led by the Donghai Navy Fleet, to land in the Japanese country to demonstrate the power of the Ming Dynasty.
The Ming Dynasty's troops were divided into two groups, one was from North Korea and landed in Japan, and the other was from Fujian, passing through Ryukyu and Little Ryukyu, entering Satsuma Prefecture, and heading towards Huanglong.
In order to conquer Japan in a battle, Li Huan was fully prepared this time, including hundreds of treasure ship-level warships and nearly a thousand other large and small ships.
Even in order to mobilize enough troops and horses to land in Japan, Li Huan even recruited thousands of private ships to transport grain, grass and ordnance. It can be said that logistics was achieved to the extreme.
At this time, the Japanese country was in a turbulent era. According to later generations, during this period, the Muromachi shogunate's control over the local daimyo declined, resulting in endless wars among the daimyo. Later generations of the Japanese country officially called it the Japanese country.
Warring States Period.
In the twelfth year of Shotoku, that is, in this year, the Japanese daimyo Ouchi Yoshiki returned to his vassal country. The shogun Ashikaga Yoshie, who lost his protection, was unable to take charge of the Hosokawa clan, so he had to resign as shogun and Ashikaga Yoshiharu took over the shogunate.
The position of general.
However, due to the feud between Ashikaga Yoshiharu as the shogun and the Hosokawa clan, the shogunate's deterrence against the daimyo in various places became even less powerful.
It can be said that the Japanese country today is really a chaotic scene. The daimyo from all over the country are constantly fighting against each other. This kind of turmoil lasted for hundreds of years. It was not until Toyotomi Hideyoshi unified the Japanese country and unified the country's strength to go north to Korea and broke out with the Ming Dynasty.
One of the three major campaigns of Wanli, the war to aid Korea and resist the Japanese.
Even a hundred years later, when the Ming Dynasty's national power was greatly weakened, it was still defeated by the Japanese country that invaded Korea with all its strength. It can be said that the Japanese country at that time was definitely at the peak of its strength. After all, after a hundred years of turmoil, the Japanese country completed its unification and followed Toyotomi Hideyoshi.
Those who invaded North Korea were all elites who had been fighting until now.
In this case, he was defeated by the Ming Dynasty. It is conceivable that with the current strength of the Ming Dynasty, and the Japanese country that was already in turmoil, Li Huan really couldn't imagine what the Japanese country would face under this situation.
How much resistance could the Ming Dynasty have during its conquest?
From the time the troops were dispatched in April, to mid-April, the army had landed on the Japanese land with overwhelming force.
Until this time, the Japanese country had not reacted, and had no idea what had happened. Why did the Ming Dynasty, as the supreme kingdom of China, suddenly send troops?
You must know that since ancient times, apart from the Mongolian Yuan Dynasty sending large armies to conquer the Japanese country several times, the Japanese country has never suffered external intrusion.
And when the Ming Dynasty first established itself, it never sent troops to land in the Japanese country. In the impression of the Japanese people, the Ming Dynasty, as the supreme kingdom of heaven, would never do anything to them.
It is precisely because of this that when the Ming Dynasty's army entered the Japanese country with overwhelming force, many local daimyo who were entrenched in the local areas and were busy fighting against their opponents were stunned.
Many local daimyo subconsciously wanted to resist after coming back to their senses. However, the troops and horses they usually used to dominate one side were simply vulnerable to the Ming Dynasty.
After all, for many daimyo, occupying a county is enough to be considered powerful, but for such a powerful daimyo in the Japanese country, it is already good to have thousands or eight hundred samurai under their command.
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It can be said that for most battles between daimyo, it can be said to be a war, but its scale is estimated to be comparable to the scale of the armed fighting between two large villages and towns in the Ming Dynasty.
It is conceivable that even if such a local daimyo had the guts to fight against the Ming Dynasty, and how much strength he had, he would just smash an egg against a stone and turn into powder in an instant when facing the Ming Dynasty's army.
According to Li Huan's arrangement, the 100,000 elite army was divided into several groups, sweeping all the way like several sharp swords. Li Huan was surprised by the smooth progress and the speed of the advance.
After all, in Li Huan's view, facing the Ming Dynasty's troops, the Japanese would at least put up a fierce resistance, and the Ming Dynasty would have to pay a price, but the result was beyond Li Huan's expectation.
Everything really went too smoothly, but after thinking about it for a while, Li Huan was able to roughly understand what was going on.
After all, he chose to attack the Japanese country at the perfect time. This period was the middle and early stages of the Japanese Warring States Period. It can be said that the entire Japanese country was in chaos, whether it was the shogunate's control over local areas or the mutual conflicts among the daimyo in various places.
The chaos during the period left the Japanese country in a state of disintegration.
If Toyotomi Hideyoshi unified the Japanese country and the Ming Dynasty sent a large army to land in the Japanese country, at that time, the Japanese country was integrated and it was really not that easy.
Shi Jianguo
At this time, Li Huan left the task of conquering the Japanese country to his generals. After all, with the current situation of the Japanese country, it really couldn't make any trouble against the Ming Dynasty's 100,000 elite troops.
In this case, Li Huan simply delegated his power to a number of his generals, which could be regarded as giving his generals an opportunity to make contributions.
However, Li Huan led a fleet to Shijian Kingdom, which had been captured not long ago.
The Iwami Kingdom was surrendered to the Ouchi family of Ouchi Yoshihide, but now the Iwami Country has been occupied by the Ming Dynasty, and the Iwami Silver Mountain in the country naturally fell into the hands of the Ming Dynasty.
Iwami Ginzan is definitely the largest silver mountain in the whole of East Asia. You must know that at the peak of the Japanese Empire, the amount of silver produced accounted for almost one-third of the world, and most of it came from Iwami Ginzan.
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Just one mountain of silver can produce as much as one million taels of silver per year, which shows the wealth of its mineral resources.
When Li Huan entered the mine, he saw a large number of captured young Japanese warriors and warriors busy mining mineral resources in the mine under the supervision of Ming soldiers.
As the steward, Chen Cang led Li Huan into a workshop, and what he saw were pieces of purified silver nuggets.
Chen Cang said to Li Huan with some excitement: "Master Guo, this Shijian Yin Mountain is simply a mountain of silver. It has only been half a month since the official took charge of this place, and it has only been a few days to resume mining and refining in the mine. However, every day
The amount of silver gained was as much as a thousand taels."
Li Huan raised his eyebrows. One thousand taels of silver at sunrise means about 400,000 taels a year, which is nothing compared to Iwami Yinshan's annual output of one million taels.
After glancing at Chen Cang, Li Huan said: "Do your job well and the court will not treat you badly."
Li Huan then said: "My guild has ordered the captured Japanese to be sent here. Manager Chen, you must increase the output by then. If you can produce one million per year, I will definitely report to the court on your behalf."
Bao, I will grant you a seventh-grade official position."
Although Chen Cang is in charge of this place, he is only an eighth-grade official. If he can really become a seventh-grade official, it will definitely be a great reward for Chen Cang.
As expected, Chen Cang said with some excitement: "Don't worry, Duke, as long as there are sufficient manpower, I can guarantee it. If I can't produce one million taels per year, I am willing to die to apologize."
Reaching out and patting Chen Cang's shoulder, Li Huan chuckled and said, "I want you to do well, not to die. As long as you do well, the court will definitely reward you."
From the dispatch of troops in April to October of the twelfth year of the Masato period, the army entered the Japanese city of Tokyo, defeated the Hosokawa clan's troops in the first battle, and captured the shogunate Ashikaga Yoshie and the Japanese emperor alive.
With the capture of members of the Muromachi shogunate and the Japanese emperor, although there were still many local daimyo trying to resist the daimyo conquest, they were just struggling to their death.
In November of this year, hundreds of large ships sailed into Tianjin Wei Port. Li Huan, dressed in fur clothes, stepped off the treasure ship. Under the supervision of the soldiers and Jin Yiwei, a large number of boxes were moved from the ship.
, and then loaded onto a huge carriage.
More than a dozen carriages creaked along the flat and wide cement avenue toward the capital.
The emperor, who had already received the news, once again led all his officials out of the city gate to greet him.
News of the destruction of the Japanese Kingdom had been sent back to the capital not long ago. Li Huan returned with the property seized from the Japanese Kingdom and the Emperor of Japan and other prisoners. Although in the past few years, Ming Dynasty had long been accustomed to victory in foreign wars, but this time
After all, it was a war to destroy the country, and the Japanese country still existed for thousands of years, so the Ming Dynasty still paid considerable attention to it.
Seeing Li Huan and others getting closer and closer, the emperor personally stepped forward to greet them, showing countless people the harmonious side of the emperor and his ministers. Hundreds of officials accompanied the emperor and escorted the Japanese emperor and other captives to the Ancestral Temple to worship the previous emperors.
At the celebration banquet in the evening, hundreds of officials listened to Li Huan's account of the battle against Japan. Many officials listened with interest and were not surprised that the Ming Dynasty was able to successfully occupy Japan.
However, when Li Huan mentioned the gold and silver deposits everywhere in Japan, many officials' eyes immediately lit up.
Especially when Li Huan mentioned the amount of silver produced in Shijian Yinshan, many people were dumbfounded. They opened their eyes wide and looked at Li Huan stupidly, as if they had heard something appalling.
The news is average.
Even the cabinet ministers who had received the news first could not help but sigh when they heard Li Huan's story.
A member of the Ministry of Revenue, Wailang, said in horror: "A silver mine can produce as much as one million taels of silver a year. This...how is this possible? Duke Guo of Qin must have heard wrongly."