Jingnan Strategy

Chapter 560 Asahi Filial Son
"Your Majesty, I am the Crown Prince Li Yi, and I pay my respects to His Majesty the Emperor. Long live the Emperor..."

Inside the Huagai Hall, Zhu Gaoxu sat high in the main seat in the main hall. On his left and right stood the eunuch Yishiha, who was in charge of the seal and the pen of the Imperial Household Department, and the crown prince Zhu Zhanhe.

Today he was wearing a scarlet uniform and a Yishan crown on his head. Although he was fifty-three years old, he looked only forty-five or forty-six, tall and majestic.

In Zhu Gaoxu's lineage, all the men who reached adulthood seemed to be no taller than five feet seven inches (183cm), and some, such as Zhu Zhanqi and Zhu Zhanping, could even reach six feet.

Therefore, not to mention anything else, all envoys from other countries who came to pay tribute to him had to look up to him.

Li Yan was not short. His height of 5 feet 4 inches could be considered average even in later generations. However, when facing the lineage of Zhu Gaoxu, he still had to look up to them.

"Your Highness, you are too polite. Please stand up."

Zhu Zhanhe gestured for him to stand up. Li Rong glanced at the emperor and only stood up after seeing the emperor nod.

"The Crown Prince of our kingdom has come here to pay tribute to the Celestial Empire. This is the list of tribute items..."

Li Rong presented a gift list, Yishiha walked forward to take the gift list, then brought it back and handed it to Zhu Gaoxu.

Three thousand taels of gold, five hundred eunuchs under the age of ten, three hundred palace maids, Korean ginseng and other gifts.

As always, North Korea's tribute consisted mainly of eunuchs and women. Although three thousand taels of gold was a lot, it was only a small amount for North Korea.

For the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Gaoxu was not concerned about this tribute. What he cared about was how to support Korea and increase the hatred between Korea and Japan.

Using Kunlun Continent as a battlefield, constantly consuming the energy and population of the two countries and increasing the hatred between the two countries is what the Ming Dynasty needs to do.

When the conflict between the two countries reached an irreconcilable point, the future Ming Dynasty only needed to use a little trickery to take both Korea and Japan into its possession, and it would be legitimate.

Judging from the current situation, North Korea's combat effectiveness was too weak. With the same number of troops, the Japanese army managed to kill 3,000 enemies and capture 5,000. Even 2,000 businessmen in the country were captured and forced to do hard labor for several months.

If Zheng He had not mediated the war, Kim Jong-seo would probably be dancing as a prisoner at Kajii Yoshitsugu's banquet.

You must know that although Ashikaga Yoshitsugu was the Japanese king supported by the Ming Dynasty, the territory he could actually control was not large. Only the area around Gyeonggi Province could be directly managed by him, and he had no access to the rest of the Kanto, Kansai, Kyushu and other regions.

Japan today may appear calm on the surface, but in reality there are undercurrents.

Kyushu Island had long been conquered by Shoni Mitsunari, who was supported by the Ming Dynasty. The Ouchi and Kyogoku clans in Kansai had been mining silver mines in the Kansai region to trade with the Ming Dynasty.

The Gyeonggi area was controlled by the Ashikaga clan, while Kanto was controlled by the Ashikaga Mochiuji and the Uesugi and Akamatsu clans.

The whole of Japan seems to be harmonious in name only, but in reality there are many forces competing with each other.

Due to the support of the Ming Dynasty, Ashikaga Yoshitsugu could not take any action against Tatsunai, Shoni and Kyogoku in Kansai, and he could only focus on Kanto and Shikoku.

The internal situation in Japan is as complicated as that in North Korea.

There was a serious struggle between the civil and military classes. Although the royal power still had its majesty, that majesty was only sustained by the Ming Dynasty.

Once the Ming Dynasty fails to enthronize the King of Korea, the King of Korea will lose his legitimacy, and the two classes will fight to the death for power.

All of this is what Zhu Gaoxu hopes to see and is seeing.

Korea's national strength was too weak, and Zhu Gaoxu's requirement for them was that when a war broke out in Northeast Asia, they would unite their strength to deplete Japan's vitality, and then the Ming Dynasty would come out to complete the harvest.

Given Korea's current strength, Zhu Gaoxu suspected that if he continued to leave it alone, after his death, Ashikaga Yoshitsugu would most likely jump out at some critical point in time due to domestic issues and launch an invasion of Korea more than 150 years in advance.

Therefore, he is fully aware of North Korea's intentions and is willing to support it.

The only way for the Ming Dynasty to guide public opinion when Korea encounters difficulties in the future and make Korea willingly incorporate into the Ming Dynasty is to pretend that it does not ask for anything in return from Korea. Then, taking advantage of this opportunity, the Ming Dynasty can completely conquer Japan by relying on its huge population in the future.

With the current population of the Ming Dynasty, it is already very difficult to take over the Southwest and Southeast Asia, not to mention the Northwest which is about to be taken over.

“What reward does North Korea want?”

Zhu Gaoxu spoke slowly, which made Li Rong flattered.

Although he was only sixteen years old, Li Rong had a keen political sense, so when he heard the emperor ask him what reward Korea wanted, he knew that the emperor already knew his purpose.

In addition to lamenting that the Emperor of the Celestial Empire seemed to be omniscient and omnipotent, Li Rong also honestly stated what he wanted.

"The king and father want to reward the country, the country is ecstatic, how can we dare to talk about missing it."

"However, as the biological son of the Celestial Empire and the elder brother of the vassal states, we are unable to teach some of our naughty brothers a lesson and can only watch them destroy the dignity of our father and king. This makes us suffer terribly."

"Therefore, our country hopes that the king can dispatch some people to train soldiers and horses for our country, rectify military preparations and government affairs, so that our country can have the strength to be the elder brother and teach those disobedient and rebellious sons for the king."

Although Lee Eon was young, he basically inherited the fine tradition of the Joseon kings passed down from Lee Seong-gye in terms of his ability to bend and stretch.

Be a son when you should be a son, and acknowledge your father when you should acknowledge your father.

Not only does he want to recognize himself as the father, he also wants to drag all countries to recognize him as the father. The main idea is that there is only one father in the world, and the others are all younger brothers.

Faced with his request to recognize his father, Zhu Gaoxu naturally would not miss it, so he spoke directly:

"The Eastern Army Governor's Office is going to retire more than 1,200 soldiers in the near future. Since you have already asked, then Prince..."

Zhu Gaoxu looked at Zhu Zhanhe, who turned around and bowed, "Your son is here."

"Organize these 1,200 men into the Hancheng Guard. You select one man to be the commander and have them follow the crown prince back to Joseon to help train the army."

"Also tell them that except for the transfer orders from the imperial court and the golden seal of the King of Joseon, they will not accept any transfer orders from anyone else."

"In addition, the imperial court still has a lot of matchlock guns in stock. They are just sitting there anyway, so we can sell them to North Korea at cost price."

Zhu Gaoxu spoke in a generous manner, Zhu Zhanhe quickly agreed, and Li Yan widened his eyes. He did not expect that things would be so easy and far exceeded their expectations.

Originally, his father and he just thought that it would be enough for the Celestial Empire to send people to train the Korean army, but they didn't expect that they could now directly purchase firearms from the Celestial Empire and also obtain a guard of 1,200 people.

Although this guard belonged to the Celestial Empire, Li Rong also heard that this guard was under the control of the Golden Seal of the King of Joseon.

In other words, North Korea can mobilize this guard at will without China's permission.

"Your humble servant thanks His Majesty the Emperor!"

Li Yi knelt down without hesitation and kowtowed three times, while promising: "The country will take the initiative to spend money to take care of the Heavenly Army!"

"That's not necessary." Zhu Gaoxu refused without hesitation: "The military pay of the Celestial Empire is too high. It is a burden for you. If your subordinates knew that there is such a big gap, they would inevitably be dissatisfied."

"The Celestial Empire can pay for the soldiers' food and money, but I want to remind you that this guard is only responsible for helping you train your troops and protecting you and your father. It must not be used to conquer other countries or rebel."

"Yes!" When Li Yan heard this, his face lit up with joy and he kept kowtowed to Zhu Gaoxu.

"Okay, get up..."

Zhu Gaoxu motioned him to stand up, and at the same time told Yishiha: "Send a capable person to go back to Korea with them. Although the matchlock guns are a stockpile, they are still one of the most powerful weapons in the world. It is enough to select enough for them to protect their country."

"Yes..." Yishiha agreed. Upon hearing this, Li Rong immediately felt as uncomfortable as if he had eaten shit.

He also thought he could get tens of thousands of matchlock rifles to arm North Korea, and even regain his position in Kunlun Continent and give Japan a severe lesson.

But if you think about it carefully, if the person sent was a eunuch, there is a high probability that he was from Korea.

If it can be done, it may be possible to get tens of thousands of muskets to deal with the situation.

Thinking of this, Li Rong became happy again. Finally, at Yishihada's signal, he followed Yishihada out of the Huagai Palace.

At the same time as they walked out of the Huagai Palace, Kajii Yoshitsugu, who was eagerly waiting, also saw Li Yi walking out with a smile on his face.

Li Ai also met Kajii Yoshishinari, but this time he used a provocative look to provoke the other party.

"This guy……"

Yoshitsugu Kajii thought to himself that this was not good. Even though he was a political idiot, he could guess that this guy had gained a lot of benefits from the Celestial Empire.

If it was a normal benefit, he would definitely not provoke me like this. After all, North Korea had just suffered a crushing defeat in Kunlun Continent.

The only thing that makes him dare to challenge him must be someone who can help North Korea improve its national strength.

Thinking of this, Kajii Yoshitsugu couldn't help but squint his eyes, and Li Rong walked down the stairs step by step and walked out with the Korean delegation.

"Japanese delegation, please enter the palace!"

"Yes……"

Yishiha spoke up to remind him, and Kajii Yoshimitsu finally reacted. He hurriedly walked up the stairs and followed Yishiha's back into the Huagai Hall.

"I, Yoshitsugu Kajii, a member of the Japanese royal family, pay my respects to His Majesty the Emperor. Long live His Majesty the Emperor!"

Kajii Yoshitsugu called himself a prince in his country, but when he came to the Ming Dynasty, he could only call himself a royal family member. After all, even Ashikaga Yoshitsugu was just a prince in the Ming Dynasty and only enjoyed the treatment of a prince.

"I remember you. I heard that it was you who provoked the dispute in Kunlun Continent?"

Zhu Gaoxu spoke slowly, his voice majestic, making Kajii Yoshitsugu feel tremendous pressure.

"Your Majesty, this is absolutely not the case. Please listen to my explanation!"

Kajii Yoshitsugu hurriedly explained, and Zhu Gaoxu nodded when he saw it. Kajii Yoshitsugu then changed the story of what happened in Kunlun Island beyond all recognition.

In his explanation, the conflict between the two sides stemmed from the fact that North Korea relied on its status as the first vassal state to bully Japan many times, and finally its act of stationing troops on the border made Japan nervous, which led to the conflict between the two countries.

This statement can be easily refuted, it just depends on whether Zhu Gaoxu wants to refute it. Obviously, Zhu Gaoxu does not want to refute his statement.

"If that is the case, then it is the responsibility of your two countries and we will not pursue it."

Zhu Gaoxu let Kajii Yoshitsugu go in order to make Japan think that the Celestial Empire was easy to fool. The Japanese nation would only become more aggressive if they gave in step by step.

After this incident, Zhu Gaoxu believed that after Kajii Yoshitsugu returned to Japan, Japan would fight with Korea again in Kunlun Continent within a few years, but the outcome of this time was hard to predict.

"That is indeed the case. Thank you, Your Majesty, for your consideration of our country."

Yoshitsugu Kajii was a little stunned. He didn't expect that this emperor, who was known by the world as wise and brave, would actually believe such a lie full of loopholes.

But after thinking about it carefully, he understood the reason. After all, the Celestial Empire still had a large amount of silver trade with Japan, and the Celestial Empire itself was busy expanding its territory, so it had no time to care about the affairs of Kunlun Continent.

If there had not been rebels in Kunlun Island, Zheng He might not have gone to Kunlun Island.

Thinking of this, Yoshitsugu Kajii couldn't help but secretly curse the guys from the Sixteen Merchant Gangs, especially Qian Liao.

"By the way, in three days, the traitor Qian Liao from Kunlun Continent will be tortured to death in Xishi. If you are interested, you can go and have a look."

Zhu Gaoxu reminded Kajii Yoshitsugu, who was so frightened by these words that he broke out in a cold sweat. He thought that this was the emperor's personal dissatisfaction with him, and kowtowed quickly: "I will go and see it."

"Do you have anything else to report?" Zhu Gaoxu asked. Upon hearing this, Kajii Yoshitsugu bowed and said:
"This is the tribute list that our country presents to the Celestial Empire. Your Majesty, please read it."

Just like before, Yishiha stepped forward to take it and passed it to Zhu Gaoxu.

Zhu Gaoxu took it and read it. Compared with Korea, Japan's tribute seemed to be more generous.

[Five thousand ounces of gold, fifty horses, fifty thousand catties of red copper...Search the islands and find and capture thirty-two Japanese pirates, and send them all to the Celestial Empire for punishment.]

"Those thirty-two Japanese pirates and the traitors will be executed together in three days."

Zhu Gaoxu read the tribute list and gave a statement. Kajii Yoshitsugu nodded and bowed, saying, "I, your country, dare to hope that the Celestial Empire can reward us with some goods to prepare for the enemy."

"Your country is already strong, why do you need to prepare for the enemy?" Zhu Gaoxu rejected Japan's idea without hesitation. Seeing this, Kajii Yoshitsugu had no choice but to find another way:

"The lower country is not asking for firearms and weapons, but for some iron materials from the Celestial Empire to make farm tools."

What Kajii Yoshitsugu said about making farm tools was false, but he did make the matchlock guns and Hongwu cannons that they imitated.

It has to be said that the Japanese were good at learning. They knew that their iron smelting technology was not good, so they thought of importing high-quality iron from the Ming Dynasty, bringing it back to their country and then forging it into armor and firearms.

Zhu Gaoxu knew what they were thinking, but he did not reject Kajii Yoshitsugu's idea.

Banning everything will only push Japan onto the path of independent research and development. Opening up some things at the right time will allow Japan to counterattack at a critical moment.

"Order 500,000 catties of Liao iron. You can discuss the price with the Ministry of Industry."

Zhu Gaoxu granted Kajii Yoshitsugu's extravagant wish, which made Kajii Yoshitsugu ecstatic.

In this era, there are few countries that can export 500,000 kilograms of high-quality iron at one time.

Of course, for the Ming Dynasty, 500,000 kilograms of Liao iron was just the output of the Liaodong official iron factory in a few days.

Today, the annual steel output of the Ming Dynasty has reached 30,000 tons of steel and 420,000 tons of iron.

The total steel production of all countries in the world is less than half of that of the Ming Dynasty.

In addition, with the economic transformation in the north, the steel production in the Ming Dynasty will increase.

If the Ming Dynasty simply reduced the price by a few hundred tons, it would be enough to bankrupt a country's steel industry.

"This humble subject bows to thank the Holy Spirit for His Grace!"

Kajii Yoshitsugu kept kowtowed to Zhu Gaoxu, and in response to his kowtow, Zhu Gaoxu also said: "The court is preparing to set up Beihai Prefecture in Ezo so as to control the Mingyang shipping route in the future."

"So if there are warships heading there in the second half of the year, you don't have to panic."

"Yes!" Kajii Yoshitsugu didn't think anything of the emperor's words.

He knew that in Ezo, except for a few months throughout the year when the temperature was relatively warm, the rest of the time was warm enough to freeze people to death.

Even though Japan can import a lot of coal from Ming Dynasty every year today, there are still not many people going to develop Ezo.

In Yoshitsugu Kajii's view, Japan now already has Chinese troops stationed in the south, central and northeastern parts of the country, so it doesn't care about having one more troop stationed there.

Besides, even if he disagrees, what can he do?
If he doesn't agree, will the Celestial Empire not station troops there?

Stop joking about this...

"Go back."

"Yes, I will take my leave. May Your Majesty live forever!"

Zhu Gaoxu signaled him to leave, and Kajii Yoshitsugu nodded repeatedly, then left the Huagai Hall.

After he left, Zhu Zhanhe turned around and bowed to Zhu Gaoxu and said:

"Father, are you planning to make the conflict between the morning and the day worse?"

"Hmm..." Zhu Gaoxu stood up and walked downstairs, with Zhu Zhanhe and Yishiha following behind him.

He had to return to the Qianqing Palace to deal with his own affairs, but he also needed to teach Zhu Zhanhe some things.

So on the way he told Zhu Zhanhe about the means and methods of dealing with Korea and Japan in the future. In addition, he also talked about the possible changes in the situation in Korea after Hanchengwei went to Korea.

"Before Kunlun Island was opened, Korea's annual income was no more than 200,000 dan. Most of the problems here were caused by Lee Seong-gye, the founder of Korea."

"If our army goes there this time, Li Chen will probably seek reforms, and the first step in the reforms will be to start with the economy and finance."

Zhu Gaoxu sat in the sedan chair and explained to Zhu Zhanhe who was sitting in the sedan chair next to him.

The financial system of the Kingdom of Joseon was very cost-effective, and the premise of saving money was that there was no universal education and charity institutions, there were few official schools, and there were no public welfare facilities such as nursing homes, hospitals, orphanages, etc. in the local areas, so a lot of expenses were saved.

In terms of taxation mechanism, the Ly Dynasty still adopted the tribute system. The people's tributes included hundreds of items such as rice, wheat, cloth, wood, charcoal, honey, chickens, pheasants, furs, medicinal materials, etc., which made it difficult to calculate fiscal revenue.

In addition, Lee Seong-gye entered the royal capital through a military rebellion in the name of a rebellion, but in fact it was a political compromise, so many issues involving the yangban class had to be put on hold.

North Korea does not produce gold or silver, so even if it wants to settle payments in currency, it is difficult to achieve.

Of course, all of the above are problems left over from the past. Now that North Korea has entered Kunlun Continent, it can earn more than 100,000 strings of money from the Ming Dynasty every year through gold mining and invest it in the North Korean people. Gradually, North Korea is also transforming from its previous in-kind tax to monetary tax.

Of course, this change would not have much impact on the financial situation faced by the Kingdom of Joseon. Unless the king of Joseon could make the yangban pay taxes honestly, its annual income would be only a few tens of thousands of guan or two hundred thousand shi.

In comparison, Ashikaga Yoshitsugu, who only owned the Gyeonggi region, could receive 1.5 million koku and more than 100,000 kan in taxes from the Gyeonggi region every year.

Including Kunlun Island, Ashikaga Yoshitsugu now has an annual income of 1.5 million koku of land tax and more than 400,000 kan of discount.

In comparison, both had the blessing of Kunlunzhou, and the fiscal revenue of Ashikaga Yoshitsugu's government was at least one million kan, while that of Korea was at most less than 300,000 kan.

Given North Korea's current financial situation, it would be bizarre for it to be able to compete with Japan.

With the Ming Dynasty's method of training troops, Korea's limited financial resources could only support less than 5,000 professional soldiers, after deducting the need to support two classes of civil and military officials.

Although if used well, these 5,000 people are enough to sweep across the entire North Korea, it is obvious that North Korea does not have anyone powerful enough to do so.

If North Korea were to copy the Ming Dynasty's system now, then based on the intelligence Zhu Gaoxu had obtained about North Korea from the Western Factory, North Korea's fiscal revenue could probably be maintained at around 700,000 guan.

However, the prerequisite is that Li Chen has the strategic determination to dare to eliminate the yangban and make them pay taxes honestly, while at the same time increasing the development of Kunlun Continent.

In Zhu Gaoxu's view, Li Yan obviously did not have this ability, but he could rely on the power of Hanchengwei to make the two classes make some concessions.

How much concessions can be made depends on Li Wei's own strategic determination.

With Zhu Gaoxu's repeated instructions, Zhu Zhanhe quickly understood his father's thoughts.

Using North Korea to balance Japan aroused Japan's anger and war broke out between the two sides.

At the same time, the Ming Dynasty began to guide public opinion under the vassal system, and reasonably and legally allowed Korea to voluntarily join the arms of the Ming Dynasty and incorporate Korea into its territory. Finally, the court sent troops to defeat Japan and incorporate Japan into its territory.

This seems like a short sentence, but it is still very difficult to implement.

"I'm telling you this not because I expect you to occupy Japan in this way, but because I want you to remember to remind the next person."

"Is the timing still not right for my generation?"

Zhu Zhanhe was surprised by his father's words, and Zhu Gaoxu nodded and said, "At least within 50 years, the opportunity will not come."

"If you don't fully understand Southwest and Southeast Asia, and you rush to eat Japan, it will only make your stomach uncomfortable, and you will have to vomit it out in the end."

He didn't explain in too much detail, but Zhu Zhanhe could understand, so he nodded: "Don't worry, father, I understand."

The conversation between the two ended, and the sedan chair arrived at the gate of the Qianqing Palace.

The guards at the door knelt on one knee, waiting for the emperor to return to the Qianqing Palace to rest, while Zhu Gaoxu looked at Zhu Zhanhe who also came down after getting off the sedan chair.

"Just go back to Wuying Palace to take care of government affairs. Also, have someone keep a close eye on Hami and don't let your grandfather and Yue'er cause any trouble."

"Tell Zhu Neng and Chen Mao not to move troops rashly. Wait until Yilibali gathers a large force before confronting them."

"I understand, son." Zhu Zhanhe bowed in return. Zhu Gaoxu nodded with satisfaction and then walked into the Qianqing Palace with Yishiha.

Watching his father's figure gradually disappearing in the corridor, Zhu Zhanhe let out a breath, turned around and sat on the sedan chair.

"Go to Wuying Palace..."

(End of this chapter)