Jingnan Strategy

Chapter 419 The arrival of the great voyage

"Was the Japanese shogunate destroyed in just three days?"

While the waves were crashing, on the horse path of a coastal city, a man in his forties wearing the costume of a Ming Dynasty prince looked melancholy.

North Korea has a long history of being harassed by Japanese pirates, which began as early as the Goryeo Dynasty. Because of this, Goryeo participated in the two Yuan-Japanese Wars.

However, the two Yuan-Japanese wars did not result in victory. Instead, Goryeo suffered heavy losses and the relationship between the two countries also deteriorated highly.

Although relations between the two parties gradually thawed a hundred years ago, as Japan entered the Northern and Southern Dynasties, the number of Japanese pirates along the coast of Goryeo increased dramatically, and became even more widespread during the Joseon Dynasty.

Because of this, when the Ming Dynasty established the Ping-Japanese Navy, even if the Korean monarchs and ministers were unwilling, they still agreed to the Ping-Japanese Navy to pacify the Japanese offshore Korea.

Beginning in the 27th year of Hongwu, the Japanese pirates who had harassed the Korean Peninsula for nearly two hundred years began to gradually disappear, and all of this was basically due to the Ping Japanese Navy and later the Ming Navy.

Especially after Ashikaga Yoshimitsu surrendered to the Ming Dynasty, coastal Japanese pirates became a legend.

Therefore, when diplomatic relations deteriorated tomorrow, Li Bangyuan, the king of North Korea, paid close attention to it and even came to Busan in person to inquire about the progress of tomorrow's war in the name of "delivering supplies to the Heavenly Army."

Unlike some small countries, the current Ming Dynasty is simply the weathervane of East Asia. Many policies of various countries copy or imitate the policies of the Ming Dynasty, and even the clothes are similar.

"Do you think it's feasible to use gold for trade and then bring it across the country?"

Li Fangyuan gave instructions and walked to the city gate tower not far away to rest.

"Your Highness, it is true. I have seen it with my own eyes." Quan Xiangshan also knows the current predicament of North Korea. If enough gold can be obtained from Kunlun and converted into copper coins through trade, it can greatly alleviate the current situation. Money shortage problem.

Because of his various personalities and actions, he became the most suitable candidate to open up Kunlun.

"You asked Quan Xiangshan to come see me."

He knows very well that standing still will only be replaced. At present, North Korea has no enemies and its armaments are seriously lax.

As long as it is guaranteed that copper coins will not continue to flow out of the Ming Dynasty, North Korea's money shortage can be completely ended in the next twenty years.

Before, Quan Xiangshan's words would have been disgusted by Li Fangyuan, but now that the news of the shogunate's defeat came, Li Fangyuan took these words seriously.

Maintaining a certain degree of force and utilization value is the way for North Korea to survive.

When Li Zhongshan heard this, he immediately returned the gift, and then sent someone to summon the Korean official ship that sailed to the West to envoy Quan Xiangshan.

Once North Korea's lax armaments and internal chaos are exposed, even if Zhu Di and Zhu Gaoxu don't want to deal with North Korea, there is no guarantee that future emperors of the Ming Dynasty will not be interested in North Korea.

Because of this, after the Ming Dynasty's ocean trade was in full swing, North Korea, which was most affected by it, would naturally follow suit.

"This is true for the navy, and even worse for the army..."

In such a short period of time, Japan with a population of tens of millions was solved by the Ming Dynasty. If the Ming Dynasty wanted to conquer North Korea by force, how long could North Korea resist?

It's just that the progress of tomorrow's war is far beyond his imagination. It only took four days from the beginning to the end of the war. From the outbreak of civil strife in Japan to the disappearance of the emperors of the north and the south, it only took only three months for the Ming Dynasty to open the vassal state pavilion.

Standing next to Li Fangyuan, Li Zhongshan, an official of Li Cao, asked cautiously.

"Our country has a small land and a large population, and it does not produce gold, silver, copper or iron. All kinds of materials need to be obtained from the Celestial Empire."

Li Fangyuan did not name whom he was doing business with, but everyone in the gatehouse knew it very well.

He should be grateful that he withdrew his troops from Donghaifu in order to gain recognition from the Ming Dynasty. Otherwise, once a conflict broke out between the two sides, North Korea would probably be destroyed in a short period of time.

Although the Timurid Empire had a population of only a few tens of millions, the army they could field was better at fighting and more elite than North Korea.

"I want to promote you to be the governor of Kunlun, and allow you to select 600 leaders from the country, take 50 taels of gold and 500 taels of silver from the treasury, and go to Kunlun Continent to mine gold mines."

Looking at the sea, Li Fangyuan did not answer in a hurry, but waited for a moment before saying:

As a North Korean envoy traveling to the West, Li Cao's Quan Xiangshan was a qualified candidate selected by Li Fangyuan.

"Your Highness, what should we do now?"

At the same time, he is a relatively upright person, so he will not do anything that involves chickens and dogs, which is reassuring.

"Quan died of illness nearly half a month ago. Both the Emperor and His Highness the Crown Prince of the Celestial Dynasty are very fond of him. Let's take this opportunity to enter the court and talk to His Highness the Crown Prince about Kunlun Continent."

"While other countries have not yet taken action, we will head to China first. This time we will order enough official ships and then mine gold and silver mines in Kunlun Continent."

Such an elite army was defeated by the Ming Dynasty's navy with fewer attacks and more defeats. There was no room for concessions. Once North Korea, surrounded by sea on three sides, caused trouble, it would be difficult for gods to save it.

After Quan Xiangshan walked into the city gate tower, he was greeted by a thousand years of life. Li Fangyuan did not hide his appearance, but asked him directly: "Is the gold mine in Kunlun Continent real?"

For North Korea, which has a population of only three to four million, hundreds of thousands of copper coins are enough to alleviate the domestic money shortage.

During the Persian War, although Quan Xiangshan did not follow the Ming army to the battlefield, he would go to observe the battlefield after the war.

He would never forget the corpses that were torn apart by cannonballs, especially the cavalry, which was regarded as the most important weapon of the country.

"In the past, you could trade with Japan and resell goods to China to obtain the needed materials. Now the country's money shortage is becoming increasingly serious. If there is no foreign gold, silver, copper and iron, then sooner or later a big problem will occur. ”

"I have seen the war between the Celestial Empire and the Timur Kingdom. Even tens of thousands of cavalry could not defeat the Celestial Empire's 20,000-strong navy."

He was twenty-seven or eighty years old, very young, so even if he died overseas, Li Fangyuan would not feel sad.

Li Fangyuan felt heavy and couldn't help but think of the original dispute over Donghai Mansion.

"No problem, as long as you are respectful enough."

"I pay homage to Cao Zuolang Quan for his good deeds. I would like to see your highness. Your highness may live a thousand years!"

"Do you want to invest in Kunlun Continent?" Li Zhongshan asked in surprise. After all, yesterday Li Fangyuan did not agree to send troops to Kunlun Continent thousands of miles away. Why did he suddenly agree now? Is it because he was stimulated by Japan?
In response, Li Bangyuan walked on the horse path of Busan Castle, holding his hands behind his back, and said as he walked:

Li Fangyuan is preparing to organize a large fleet to mine gold mines in Kunlun Continent, but before that, he needs to carefully ask the envoys on the North Korean official ship whether it is feasible to mine gold mines in Kunlun Continent.

"My lord, please teach me and thank you!"

Faced with Li Fangyuan's promotion, Quan Xiangshan had no reason to refuse. Since the country was not strong, this was the biggest move Li Fangyuan could make.

"You and Li Shenzhi will go to Nanjing as envoys in a few days. You need to plan your official ships carefully. There are still 100,000 guan in the treasury for you to use. You can leave now."

"Yes, I am resigning..."

After Li Fangyuan gave his instructions, he asked Li Zhongshan to retreat with Quan Xiangshan.

Although his shot was very shabby, as a country that was sandwiched between Ming Dynasty and Japan and had not yet produced anything, Li Fangyuan had already given the greatest support he could.

Compared with North Korea, which is poor in gold and silver, Japan and the Ming Dynasty can do much more...

"Dang! Dang! Dang..."

In the winter months, when the sound of gavels echoed in the bustling factories, the Longjiang Shipyard not far outside Nanjing Jiangdong Gate was in full swing.

Even though it is already cold winter, the Longjiang Shipyard is crowded with people. Some wood brought from Liaodong, Yunnan, Guizhou, and Ryukyu are unloaded at the dock one after another.

Compared with seventeen years ago, the scale of Longjiang Shipyard at this time is undoubtedly the largest in the world.

There are ten super-large shipyards with more than 5,000 materials, twenty large shipyards with 3,000 materials, and fifty ordinary shipyards with more than 2,000 materials, with more than 4,700 shipwrights on the job.

At least two hundred warships and horse ships are launched from here every year, and this is only the first of the seven major shipyards of the Ming Dynasty.

In addition to here, there are seven large shipyards including Hangzhou, Songjiang, Fuzhou, Quanzhou, Dengzhou, and Dingliao.

Of course, not every shipyard can obtain a large number of orders, and old shipyards like Longjiang are still the first choice for most businessmen.

"Well done. Is there any fluctuation in Japan when they learn that the emperor is dead?"

Standing in front of a very large shipyard, Zhu Gaoxu looked at the information in his hand and couldn't help but ask while nodding.

"Go back to Your Highness..." Hu Lun received the information and explained respectfully:

"The countries in Kansai and Kanto are very excited and determined to find the murderer."

"Since both families died in the Gyeonggi area, the guardians of various countries in Kansai and Kanto are not very fond of the Ashikaga family who caused this war."

"If it weren't for the Pingjiang Marquis and his men stationed in Kyoto, I'm afraid Kansai and Kanto would have already gone to war with the shogunate."

"However, even with Marquis Heie and others in charge, the guardians of various countries still require the search for the emperor's bloodline, and do not want Ashikaga Yoshitsugu to inherit the throne of the emperor as an adopted son with the blood of his maternal family."

"Hiraie Hou followed your instructions and vaguely reminded Ashikaga Yoshitsugu."

"A month ago, he ascended the throne as the emperor as his adopted son, but he also told all countries that he believed that he was of maternal blood and could not be called the emperor, but could only be called the king."

"Once each country finds the true bloodline of the emperor, he will regard the bloodline of the emperor as the emperor and will never be greedy for this position."

After Hu Lun explained, he couldn't help but ask: "Your Highness, if Kanto and Kansai really fight against Ashikaga Yoshitsugu for the position of the emperor, then do we need to send troops?"

"Send troops?" Zhu Gaoxu sneered: "If they really care about the Emperor, why don't they hand over their military power to the Emperor?"

"The reason why they care so much is because they feel they can't sit down and don't want others to sit down."

"Whether Ashikaga Yoshitsugu can firmly hold the so-called position of Heavenly King depends not on whether these local chickens and dogs agree, but on whether the Ming Dynasty agrees or not."

"If I say he can sit, he can sit!"

Zhu Gaoxu looked down upon this group of people. If the Ming Dynasty's population and immigration policies had not been placed in Nanyang and Indochina, and Japan had too many people and too poor land, he would have sent troops to capture Japan long ago.

Today's Japan has a population of tens of millions, but the Ming Dynasty only had more than 80 million people. Moreover, among the more than 80 million people in the Ming Dynasty, there were nearly 10 million people from the southwest and the north. Most of these tens of millions of people live in the mountainous areas of the southwest and northeast. It is very difficult to completely control them.

Under such circumstances, it is obviously not a wise move to cross the sea to touch Japan.

Compared with Japan, Zhu Gaoxu wanted the Three Proclaims and Ten Comforts and the entire Sumatra.

"When will the Navy be ready to continue its voyages to the Western Seas?"

Zhu Gaoxu turned around and walked towards the gate of Longjiang Shipyard, asking as he walked.

"Probably all the warships and horse boats can be repaired and maintained in the twelfth lunar month, and the goods have been prepared early. The only things that need to be temporarily prepared are fruits, vegetables and grain."

"According to convention, you can go to sea after the Lantern Festival, but going to the East Ocean is more troublesome."

Facing the unknown sea route to the East, Hu Lun said with a headache: "The situation in Japan is still unclear. Marquis Pingjiang and the others cannot return yet. If it is delayed until after April, even if they come back and set off again, they will be one month behind schedule."

"It's okay." Zhu Gaoxu walked out of the shipyard, got on the carriage and took his seat.

Hu Lun followed and sat aside to listen to the teachings.

"As long as there is no problem with the news from Wang Ren, Zheng He will be able to transport supplies to the west coast through trade after arriving in Dongzhou."

"Even if Hu Lun and others arrive a few months later, the countries in Eastern Continent will still be able to support Zheng He and his group of more than 10,000 people."

Different from the past few voyages to the Western Ocean, which often involved 20,000 people, although this time there were more than 20,000 people at the time of departure, 10,000 of them had to change defenses with officers and soldiers from various naval guards and officialdom along the way, and exchanged the original garrison and returned home. Provincial relatives.

Therefore, after arriving at Mugudusu, the size of Zheng He's fleet will be reduced by half, and only this half of the people can actually reach Dongzhou.

As long as Chen Xuan and others are accepted and the Dongzhou Xuanwei Division is built on the west coast, Zheng He and Chen Xuan will explore the coasts of Beizhou and Dongzhou respectively, and cooperate with the Yu family (Aztec) and the Yin family ( Inca) two city-states established diplomacy.

In the end, Zheng He will return with Chen Xuan and others in different directions with various seeds.

However, during this period, Zheng He would send an advance team, sailing all the way south, and finally around Dongzhou Cape (Cape Horn) in the south, and go all the way north to meet up with Chen Xuan and the others.

Once this mission to the Western and Eastern Oceans is completed, not only will we be able to discover Nanzhou (Australia) in the south, but we will also be able to complete the great feat of circumnavigating the earth in one fell swoop.

As for Europe, they are still fragmented at the moment, carrying out a mediocre Renaissance, and the two countries of England and France are still immersed in a hundred years of fighting.

The mighty Spain, on which the sun never sets, has not yet been unified.

The Netherlands of Sea Coachman is not yet a country, but Portugal is building a Portuguese fleet in an attempt to conquer Ceuta, the trading center of North Africa.

According to the normal trajectory, Portugal will reach the Cape of Good Hope after 78 years.

Four years later, Columbus received the support of the Queen of Spain and sailed westward to discover the New World.

Of course, all this was a historical situation, and today's situation is not a historical situation.

In fact, after entering the fifteenth century, countries around the world have slowly begun to communicate, but due to distance issues, communication is not frequent.

Although the Ming Dynasty's fleet going to the West was not planning to go to Europe as in history, the officials stationed in Mugudushu and Horumos would continue to send a message to Europe through Arab merchants.

Zhu Gaoxu didn't know how many years later this message would take effect. In short, he still wanted to see the news that the Portuguese fleet arrived at Kunlun Cape and was interrogated by the Ming army in his lifetime.

That scene must be interesting.

Thinking of this, Zhu Gaoxu couldn't help but have a smile on his face.

"Your Highness, where are we going now?"

"Go back to the palace. Before leaving the palace, my father asked Yi Shiha to go to the west corner gate. He is probably preparing for the Northern Expedition."

Zhu Gaoxu replied to Hu Lun and said at the same time: "When Muchun and the others finish returning to Nanjing, I can also discuss the matter of returning Guangxi to its native land."

"Calculating the time, this Northern Expedition and the situation of returning to the native land will be similar to the last time, but this time the return to the native land in the southwest will be easier."

Compared with Guizhou, the traffic situation in Guangxi is indeed much better.

Although Guizhou is further inland than Guangxi, the Han people developed Guangxi hundreds of years earlier than Guizhou.

If we talk about central interference, then Guizhou is thousands of years behind. This can be seen from the post roads between the two provinces.

Guangxi's water stations and horse stations extend in all directions. Most of them were built in the Han and Tang Dynasties. After they were reinforced in the Song and Yuan Dynasties, they were widened in the Ming Dynasty. The local roads are not too rugged and difficult.

After Zhu Gaoxu assigned Qinzhou of Guangdong to Guangxi and received shipping blessings, it became easier for the Guangxi Dusi to encircle and suppress the chieftains.

In the entire Guangxi, except for the area west of Liuzhou and north of Si'en, the geography is relatively complicated. Other places have been very mature. However, they have not been able to develop due to insufficient population and low central investment.

The target of Zhu Gaoxu's conversion this time, Zhu Gao is the chieftain hiding in Dadeng Gorge and this area.

Thinking of this, Zhu Gaoxu began to lower his head and carefully write down the detailed process of Guangxi's reform and return.

Half an hour later, as the carriage he was riding in arrived at Xihua Gate, after getting off the bus, he turned back and said, "By the way, keep an eye on Yang Shiqi and Xie Jin."

"Xie Jin will definitely impeach me on the issue of Guangxi's reform of the country. No matter what extraordinary actions he makes, don't be in a hurry to impeach him. Hold on until my father comes back from the Northern Expedition and we will explain it together. "

"Yes!"

Hu Lun bowed in response, and Zhu Gaoxu also sat on the Bu Yu. He came to the west corner gate tower while shaking, and saw Zhu Di who was in charge of politics inside.

However, at this moment, Zhu Di was not running the government alone, nor was he running the civil government, but the military government.

"When the time comes, we will go to Hulanhulos..."

"Your Highness Chitose!"

Zhu Di, who was concentrating on the sand table, suddenly heard the sound of singing. When he looked up, he saw Zhu Gaoxu walking into the hall.

"My son came uninvited, I hope my father won't be offended."

Zhu Gaoxu smiled and bowed in salute. Seeing his lack of interest, Zhu Di glanced left and right at the generals he had summoned. Seeing that they all looked at Zhu Gaoxu from time to time, Zhu Di became a little jealous.

"I'm not dead yet, you straight bitches!"

Zhu Di cursed secretly in his heart, and Zhu Gaoxu also took this opportunity to scan the generals in the palace.

Anping Hou Li Yuan, Wucheng Hou Wang Cong, Jing'an Hou Wang Zhong, Tongqing Hou Huozhen, Anyuan Hou Liu Zhen...

In addition to them, there are also the four Bohai generals that Zhu Di likes to take with him every time he goes to the north, Li Shi, Li Chi, Li Cha, and Li Qi.

Looking at this group of people, Zhu Gaoxu couldn't help but take a breath of cold air.

"I summoned Zhang Fu, Zhang Chun, and Xu Sheng back to the capital to report on their duties, and prepared to take them and the generals in the palace to march north."

"In addition, Wang Yi, Meng Zhang, Qiu Fu and Zhu Neng will also have to follow me this time. The north will probably be relatively empty, so I am going to discuss with you about calling some generals from Annan and Southwest to guard the north."

Obviously, Zhu Di knew that the group of people in the palace were all assault warriors and were not suitable for controlling the three armies, so he explained to Zhu Gaoxu.

This is normal. After all, if the old man takes this group of people, Zhu Gaoxu will only let him go.

However, Zhu Gaoxu frowned at the old man's words: "My son is planning to return to Guangxi after the Northern Expedition. If we dispatch the southwest generals, we can at most dispatch Liu Zhen, Chen Mao, and Wu Gao."

"As for Sheng Yong, He Fu, Qu Neng, Qu Yu, Qu Tao, and Gu Cheng, I'm afraid they won't be able to escape."

Zhu Gaoxu didn't mention Muchun, Mu Sheng, Li Jinglong, and Wang Xuan at all.

Mu Chun and Mu Sheng were unable to be transferred, Li Jinglong and Zhu Di were dissatisfied, and only Wang Xuan was left running Western Yunnan. Zhu Di would not pick these three people at all.

"Okay, then send Wu Gao to control Shanxi, Chen Mao to control Beiping, and Liu Zhen to control Daning."

"It's a pity that Lin Su beside me can't escape, otherwise I would have wanted to take him to participate in this Northern Expedition."

Zhu Di felt a little regretful, and Zhu Gaoxu was surprised after hearing this: "Why do you pay attention to Lin Su?"

Although Lin Su was Zhu Gaoxu's right-hand man in the early stage, he did not rise to prominence in the Battle of Jingnan, nor did he perform well in the Battle of Ping'an South. Because of this, Zhu Gaoxu transferred him to Dongsheng and asked him to mine the Yinshan Mountains. Iron ore, replacing agriculture with industry.

"This morning, Shanxi Xingdusi sent a military report. Mahamu sent 5,000 cavalry to Wuyuan to spy. Your favorite general led 2,000 cavalry and pursued Varana's 5,000 cavalry for more than 300 miles. Five battles and five victories. , did not retreat until they were close to Daheishan, and captured the first 672 ranks and captured more than 900 horses. "

If Zhu Di hadn't told him, Zhu Gaoxu would probably have to wait until he got back to find out about it.

He was quite happy for Lin Su. You should know that the flintlock rifles were not yet equipped with the troops and horses of Shanxi Xingdu Division. He led two thousand cavalry to pursue five thousand watt cavalry and still achieved a battle result of more than 600 levels, which was already very good.

It seemed that Lin Su had spent the past few years in Hetao in vain. Before this, he did not have such means to command the cavalry.

Thinking of this, Zhu Gaoxu also bowed happily: "The flintlock guns in Liaodong have begun mass production and replacement, and the elite cavalry in Daning, Bohai and Liaodong have also added them to training."

"It is estimated that in May of next year, my father can lead 30,000 cavalry to the north, so that Navarre will know that I, the Han, are not easy to mess with."

"You don't need to tell me this, I know how to do it." Zhu Di showed a proud look on his face and waved his hand:
"Zheng He brought back a lot of gold and silver. Regarding this Northern Expedition, the imperial court must deal with these barbarians."

"You don't have to worry about things in the north. Just pay more attention to the south. After the Lantern Festival, I will write a decree for you to supervise the country. Just don't slack off."

"I'll take my leave." Seeing that Zhu Di didn't want to talk to him after he had money, Zhu Gaoxu could only say that the old man was still the same old man, but fortunately he was no longer the same old man.

"go Go."

Zhu Di rushed Zhu Gaoxu to leave and continued to explain his plan for the Northern Expedition before he left.

"We are going from Hailar to..."

(End of this chapter)