Spoiler History: Starting from the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 728: Rich West
"These Portuguese are really bandits!"

For Zhu Yuanzhang, the younger generation's narrative actually confirmed his previous speculation about Portugal.

But what made him even more angry was the Portuguese man's comment:

"Is our Ming Dynasty weak? Ridiculous!"

"Does this Portuguese know about Yelang?"

"Comparing the territory, our Ming Dynasty is at least ten times larger than theirs, if not a hundred times larger!"

What the Emperor of Ming Dynasty said was not wrong. Judging from the territory alone, even in the place called Europe, Portugal only existed in a corner and could not be compared with the vast territory of Ming Dynasty.

On the left side of the Huagai Palace, Li Shanchang was very interested when he saw that the topic of the Western Countries had finally been brought up, and he made some guesses:

"I'm afraid the Portuguese judge strength based on the size of their fleets."

Xu Da touched his back and could feel that there was no injury on his back even through his clothes. After hearing Li Shanchang's comments, he slowly let out a sigh of relief and whispered:
"The Portuguese traveled thousands of miles, and the route they took was even farther than that of the Mongol invasion."

"If the country does not build a navy fleet, the Portuguese can invade as much as they want without worrying about retreat, which is no different from the threat posed by Japanese pirates."

"Japanese pirates?" Li Wenzhong on the side suddenly became excited.

After pondering it, I also agree:

"It seems that if we want to calm the waves, we still need a strong navy fleet."

To the two generals, what the Portuguese said was not wrong. After all, if it weren't for the light curtain that changed the emperor's mind, the Ming Dynasty would probably not have planned to defend the East China Sea. The coastline was simply too long.

The most direct way to deal with the Japanese pirates is not to mention these civil and military ministers, in fact, His Majesty also understands it very well:
Just cross the sea and bring the war to the land of Japan. After all, the Japanese pirates are not a fire without a source. Once their homeland is pacified, they will be unable to invade the Ming Dynasty.

However, when it comes to conquering the Japanese, on the one hand, its importance is far less than attacking the remnants of the Hu Yuan in the north and Yunnan; on the other hand, the Yuan Dynasty lost its country due to its failure in two expeditions, which inevitably makes people feel uneasy.

Therefore, in terms of strategy against the Japanese pirates, Your Majesty ultimately adopted a more conservative approach and rejected Li Wenzhong's request to invade Japan.

At present, Portugal is essentially a bit like a large-scale Japanese threat. Judging from the map, the Ming Dynasty is unable to deal with Japan on its side, let alone Portugal thousands of miles away.

This thought made Li Wenzhong even more anxious, and he secretly made up his mind to convince his uncle to agree to form the Ming Navy!

If nothing else, at least we have to protect the vital Strait of Malacca, right?
Otherwise, if we allow foreigners to come in, they will provoke Japan today, collude with "Myanmar" tomorrow, and invade Korea the day after tomorrow. How can there be peace on the borders of the Ming Dynasty?
At that moment, Li Wenzhong simply moved to Xu Da's side, wanting to ask the general for some advice.

At Zhu Yuanzhang's side, Zhu Biao also tactfully reminded his father that the Ming Dynasty was still plagued by the Japanese invasion, which in turn caused Zhu Yuanzhang to nag even more:
"Unfortunately, if we count by time, the travelogue of the Semites was written about eighty years ago."

"Why write a travelogue? Since the Yuan Emperor favors him, why not stay in the Mongols and serve as an official there until the end of his life? Why go back and suffer the calamity of imprisonment?"

However, these words are just out of habit. Even so, the plans that need to be made are still necessary:

"In other words, the window of opportunity left for the Ming Dynasty is only 120 years?"

"In the next 120 years, we will reconcile the north and the south, wipe out the remnants of the Yuan Dynasty, eliminate the Japanese invasion, manage Southeast Asia, and defend Malacca... What a difficult name! From now on, the mouth of this strait will be called Nanming Gorge!"

The emperor said so, and the Jinyiwei hurriedly took note. After counting, Zhu Yuanzhang looked at Zhu Biao who was also calculating carefully, and felt a pain in his heart:
If Biao'er had not suffered any disaster, it would not be difficult to complete the current plans, but unfortunately...

No one knows a father better than his son. Zhu Biao turned around and met his father's hesitant gaze, and immediately smiled heartily:
"Isn't my hidden illness simple? As long as daddy can bear with me while I take care of the chores, there's nothing to worry about."

This was the only way for now. Keeping in mind the plan to consult Wu Hou later, Zhu Yuanzhang raised his hand and pointed out the name of a person who was trying to reduce his presence:
"Mr. Luo, can you write this Travel Notes?"

The one who tried hard to reduce his presence was Luo Guanzhong. Among all the people present, not only was he a commoner, but his past record also showed that he was connected with Zhang Shicheng. Therefore, he had not been in the Huagai Palace before, and was summoned in by the Jinyiwei only after the palace was settled down a little.

Needless to say, he was shocked, but it also made Luo Guanzhong increasingly uneasy. He didn't quite understand what the Ming Emperor saw in him.

With a wry smile on his face, he stood up, bowed and said:
"Your Majesty, I am familiar with Liangzhe, so writing a travelogue is not difficult."

"Don't play dumb. Don't you understand what we want you to write?"

Luo Guanzhong could hardly hide his bitter smile and told the truth:
"But people have never been to the West called Europe."

"Then people in later generations will say that the Semites may not have come to China! What does it matter? Besides, you wrote Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Did you personally experience the late Han Dynasty and the Three Kingdoms?"

Zhu Yuanzhang was quite dismissive of all this. The young man said that it was not important whether the Semites had really come to China. Zhu Yuanzhang agreed with him and what was important was the spillover effect caused by a small travelogue.

Then it doesn’t really matter whether this work is a travelogue or a novel disguised as a travelogue.

To Luo Guanzhong, these words were nonsense, but if he looked at this magnificent light curtain and recalled the casual comments made by later generations over hundreds of years of history, he would have a vague idea stirring in his mind.

How can we not construct a script based on what we have experienced and seen today?

Before Luo Guanzhong could figure out the reason, Zhu Yuanzhang slowly added:
"If you agree to my request, I will forgive the past and allow you to watch this light curtain from now on, so that you can use it to write the travel notes of Xizhou."

To Luo Guanzhong, it was pointless to pursue the past; at worst he would just draw his sword and have it cut off. But the attraction this light curtain had for him was truly beyond the fear of life and death.

So the confusion in my heart was finally resolved.

……

In Guangzheng Hall, Li Yu and Qian Chu, both from the south, looked at the long route drawn by the Portuguese on the ocean with great interest.

On the contrary, Zhao Kuangyin always felt that it was not quite right:

"China has existed since the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors. The history books are filled with wise men. Why do we need them to discover it?"

"It's the same with India. Its history is a little less long than China's, but it was bullied by this small country. It calls itself a country but is actually a bandit!"

"It seems that a naval army can not only defend the sea borders but also help friendly neighbors to resist pirates from abroad. It is a must for a country!"

In comparison, Qian Chu's sigh is very real:
"A porcelain bottle can be exchanged for a hundred gold coins?"

"How can the West be so rich?"

(End of this chapter)