Xuan Ye is undoubtedly a smart man, and Zhao Junchen's thoughts cannot be hidden from him at all.
In Xuan Ye's view, the plan proposed by Zhao Junchen seems to have only two purposes. The first is to use this cooperation to persuade the Jurchens in Jianzhou to withdraw their troops and cease the war, and the second is to add a new food source to the Ming Dynasty's treasury.
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But in fact, in addition to the two superficial goals, Zhao Junchen also had a third hidden intention, which was to encourage the Joseon Dynasty to actively resist the control of Jianzhou Jurchen and try to make the Joseon Dynasty subordinate to the Ming Dynasty again.
Although the Joseon Dynasty has nominally surrendered to the Jianzhou Jurchens, it has only submitted to the powerful force of the Jianzhou Jurchens. In fact, it still secretly despises and hates the Jianzhou Jurchens. They have always regarded the Jianzhou Jurchens as barbarians, and they still
It is a heartfelt admiration and identification with the Ming Dynasty. Both etiquette and laws strictly followed the regulations of the Ming Dynasty, and "big things" and "little China thinking" prevailed. Even when they paid tribute to Jianzhou Jurchen, they also
He always reiterates that "mother violates the old rules of the Ming Dynasty".
Just as later generations of Korean scholar Jeon Hae-jong said: "North Korea sincerely pursued the principle of making things bigger with the Ming Dynasty, but only adopted the form of making things bigger with the Qing Dynasty."
Of course, Zhao Junchen knew the situation of the Joseon Dynasty very well, so he had the idea of taking advantage of the situation.
According to Zhao Junchen's plan, if troops are to be recruited from North Korea to attack Japan to obtain food, the North Korean army must be armed and strengthened, which will also enhance the resistance of the North Korean dynasty;
If Zhao Junchen ships out the Jianzhou Jurchens and the Korean army across the ocean, it will definitely give the Ming Dynasty forces the opportunity to contact the top military generals of the Joseon Dynasty, and they can also take the opportunity to further spread the Ming Dynasty's influence;
And after North Korea retaliated against the Japanese shogunate with the joint support of the Ming Dynasty and the Jianzhou Jurchen, it would inevitably greatly enhance North Korea's national self-esteem, and it would also make North Korea increasingly intolerable to the Jianzhou Jurchen's control...
In short, once Zhao Junchen's plan is carried out smoothly, coupled with the fact that North Korea has always admired China, the Jianzhou Jurchens' control over the Joseon Dynasty will inevitably decline rapidly, and the Joseon Dynasty will once again submit to the Ming Dynasty.
The possibilities will also increase rapidly.
Once the Joseon Dynasty is once again subordinated to the Ming Dynasty and serves the Ming Dynasty, the future strategic situation of the Jianzhou Jurchens will rapidly deteriorate. Just like the Wanli period, they will be attacked from both sides by the Ming Dynasty and North Korea. They must
A two-front battle.
Therefore, Xuan Ye has always said that Zhao Junchen's plan has ulterior motives, and there is nothing wrong with this assessment.
Xuan Ye quickly figured out all this and became increasingly vigilant.
But in the end, Xuan Ye did not choose to expose Zhao Junchen's sinister intentions.
The reason is very simple. The food shortage within Jianzhou Jurchen is now extremely serious. People are starving to death almost all the time. Xuan Ye is also under great pressure because of this. However, Zhao Junchen expressed his determination and clearly stated that
The DPRK will never directly send food and grass to the Jianzhou Jurchens to help the Jianzhou Jurchens overcome the current difficulties. Although the Jianzhou Jurchens have an advantage on the battlefield, they have been unable to turn their advantage into victory. The all-out siege of Fushun these days is just
It only increases casualties and food consumption...
Under such circumstances, following Zhao Junchen's suggestion and uniting the Ming Dynasty and the Joseon Dynasty to travel to Japan to collect grain was Xuan Ye's only choice.
After all, Xuan Ye was not like Zhao Junchen, who did not know the terrible impact of the Little Ice Age. He always believed that the food shortage of the Jianzhou Jurchens was only a short-term problem. As long as the climate becomes normal and natural disasters decrease in the next few years, the Jianzhou Jurchens will
The food shortage dilemma he is facing will soon be alleviated, so Xuan Ye believes that as long as he quickly solves the current food shortage dilemma, the other hidden worries will not be a problem at all.
At the same time, Xuan Ye also had full confidence in the military force of the Jianzhou Jurchens. He believed that even if the Joseon Dynasty took the opportunity to strengthen its armed forces and national self-esteem, it would still have no ability to resist the control of the Jianzhou Jurchens.
What's more, if Zhao Junchen's plan goes well, North Korea will soon be fully retaliated by the Japanese shogunate. At that time, it will only be overwhelmed with self-care, and will only become less and less able to resist the Jianzhou Jurchens, and may even become more dependent on Jianzhou Jurchen.
Zhou Jurchen supported it to resist the counterattack of the Japanese shogunate.
Thinking about this, Xuan Ye took a deep look at Zhao Junchen and began to discuss some details with Zhao Junchen.
After Zhao Junchen's repeated persuasion, Xuan Ye had already made a move, but he had not yet completely made up his mind.
Whether this cooperation can be successfully realized ultimately depends on some seemingly insignificant details.
That is investment, return, and risk.
After all, Xuan Ye also understands the principle that "details determine success or failure".
Compared to Zhao Junchen's sinister intentions, Xuan Ye was even more unwilling to join a plan that was destined to result in more losses than gains.
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"How many ocean-going ships can Zhao Gechen support at most? How long will it take for these ocean-going ships to reach North Korea?"
"Currently, we can provide up to fifty ocean-going ships, which can be prepared and arrived in Korean waters within three months at the earliest! But if the preparation time is longer, hundreds of ocean-going ships can be supported."
"Fifty ocean-going ships... are enough for the initial trial, but I don't know how many troops and provisions these warships can carry?"
"Because it is necessary to leave enough space to store food, each ship can only carry about a hundred troops at most. Without the round trip consumption, it can carry up to millions of stones of food, grass and supplies! Therefore, I believe that Jianzhou Jurchen
Four thousand soldiers should be mobilized from Korea to be armed, and one thousand elites should be selected to supervise the battle and attack fortifications. This kind of combat power is enough to sweep away the weaker feudal lords in Japan!"
After repeatedly confirming the investment and income status, Xuan Ye pondered for a moment and then began to ask Zhao Junchen about the risks of this plan.
"The Japanese shogunate has been closing the country in recent years. I only learned about some of the rough conditions of the Japanese shogunate through North Korean envoys. If I want to travel to Japan to collect food, I will be limited by insufficient information. It is really risky, but I don't know
Where did Zhao Gechen get this relevant information? And is he willing to share the source of the information with Ben Khan?"
"Taiwan's Zheng family has been dealing with the Japanese shogunate all the year round. Although the Japanese shogunate has closed itself off in recent years, it still retains Nagasaki County to maintain ocean trade. The Zheng family is a major patron of Nagasaki trade and is also the main source of intelligence for this pavilion...
…According to this cabinet’s idea, when we both cooperate to go to Japan to collect food, it is best to obtain the secret support of the Zheng family in Taiwan, which will definitely get twice the result with half the effort!”
"Since Taiwan's Zheng family has a close relationship with the Japanese shogunate and has frequent trade, how can they support our plan to travel to Japan to collect grain?"
"As long as the Zheng family is given enough benefits, the Zheng family will naturally support it. Of course it cannot be public support, but they only need to provide intelligence and route guidance. After we send troops to Japan, the food and grass will be provided by the Ming Dynasty and Jian
The Jurchens of the state should share it equally, but more of the money and things can be given to the Zheng family!"
"Can maritime routes ensure safety? How should we respond if we encounter Japanese warships?"
"If we send troops from North Korea, the route is not too long and the risks are not too great! As for the Japanese shogunate's naval warships, with the assistance and guidance of the Zheng family, they can be completely avoided on the vast sea. Japan has a long coastline.
The number of Japanese warships is not large, and their strength is not strong. It is impossible to protect them comprehensively. It is not an exaggeration to say that there are loopholes everywhere... The most important thing is that I will also try to hire a group of pirates to help us entangle Japanese warships.
It will definitely not affect the landing of the Jurchens and North Korean troops in Jianzhou."
"What is the combat strength of the Japanese shogunate's army? What about its equipment? Are they equipped with crossbows, war horses, and armored stomachs? Compared with the Liaodong cavalry and Guanning cavalry of the Ming Dynasty, which one is stronger and which one is weaker? With four thousand Korean troops, one
Are the elite Jurchens from Qianjianzhou... worthy of use?"
"The Japanese army is composed of so-called 'samurai'. The central shogunate claims to have 80,000 samurai, but this number of 80,000 also includes all the men in the samurai family. It is naturally an exaggeration. The actual number is only 50,000.
Not bad!
As for the strength of local feudal lords, they are even weaker. Even some stronger feudal lords only have hundreds of warriors, and these warriors are usually scattered in their respective territories, making it difficult to assemble in a short period of time!
As for the combat power of Japanese samurai, it should not be underestimated. They are all skilled in martial arts and equipped with sharp samurai swords. However, they lack powerful crossbows, war horses, and armored stomachs. Their actual combat power is probably far less than that of Liaodong cavalry and Guanning cavalry.
Xuan Ye Great Khan, you should also have heard of the Qi Army’s record of sweeping away the Japanese pirates!”
"What about the city defense in Japan? Is it like a Ming Dynasty city with high walls and high walls?"
"As far as I know, the city structure in Japan is very simple, and there are a large number of wooden buildings throughout the city... Just a fire attack can make the Japanese feudal lords fall into disarray..."
In this way, after repeatedly confirming the risks of the plan, Xuan Ye pondered for a long time again, and suddenly shook his head and said: "According to Zhao Gechen's proposal, we in Jianzhou Jurchen will not only send troops to fight and bear the battle losses, but also try to arm the Korean army. It is undoubtedly
The investment was more, and Zhao Gechen only provided ships, but in the end he had to take away 50% of the food, which is really too much!"
Seeing Xuan Ye starting to bargain, Zhao Junchen immediately laughed.
He knew that Xuan Ye was already inclined to join his plan at this time, otherwise he would not have discussed the profit sharing at all.
But Zhao Junchen quickly stopped his smile, and his attitude remained unyielding. He shook his head and said: "This pavilion takes 50% of the food, which is not too much! For Xuan Ye Khan, he only needs to invest a thousand people in the initial stage.
They are just the elite Jianzhou Jurchens. Even if the plan fails in an unexpected situation, the loss will not be huge. However, the actual value of the ocean-going ships invested by this pavilion is much higher than a thousand elite Jianzhou Jurchens. Once they encounter an unexpected situation,
In the event of an unexpected situation, the losses would be far greater than those of the Jianzhou Jurchens!
At the same time, when traveling to Japan to collect food, the biggest problem is not to defeat those local feudal lords, but how to successfully land in Japan! In order to solve this problem, we must not only provide a large number of ships and sailors, but also convince the Zheng family
Guide routes, provide intelligence, and even find ways to bribe a group of pirates to work hard to entangle Japanese warships... It can be said that my role is even more indispensable and I contribute more. In this case, I only take 50%.
The food income is already very restrained!
By the way, although I will only take away 50% of the food income, I will take away 80% of the treasures and money plundered in Japan! Don’t feel that you are at a disadvantage, Khan, most of these treasures and money are
It is used to bribe the Zheng family and the pirates, and I won’t be able to keep much of it.”