I, the prince, only want to be deposed.

Chapter 309 Peanuts, fish and bananas!

More than two months later.

Liu Ju and his entourage finally arrived at Wang Jian City, where the city flag had already been changed.

Along the way, after entering Youbeiping County, the area became more and more desolate and vast. Then we passed through Liaoxi County and Liaodong County. It felt like two completely different worlds compared to Guannei and Guandong.

It was not until I came to Wangjian City that there were some slight changes.

However, Liu Ju was very clear that there were actually large tracts of fertile black soil in Liaoxi County, Liaodong County, and the area further north to the Lesser Khingan Range. It was one of the three largest black soil areas in the world, occupying one-fifth of the total area of ​​black soil areas in the world. It was later known as the "Great Granary of the North".

However, this land was not officially developed until the 1950s, and before that it was always called the Great Northern Wilderness...

At this time, the Great Northern Wilderness was still divided into two tribal forces.

One is the Wuhuan located in the north of Liaodong County. Before the Battle of Mobei, the Wuhuan had always been a vassal of the Xiongnu. It was not until Huo Qubing conquered the Wolf's Lair that the Wuhuan saw the strength of the Han Dynasty and began to change their stance. However, they are still in a fence-sitting position.

To the northeast of Wuhuan, the power that covered large areas of Heilongjiang and Jilin in later generations belonged to a large tribe called Donghu.

After the Xiongnu Chanyu Motun unified the desert grassland, the Donghu completely surrendered to the Xiongnu and is still a vassal state of the Xiongnu today.

Although this place is not yet the territory of the Han Dynasty, it has been the territory of the Celestial Empire since ancient times in later generations.

Therefore, Liu Ju would eventually find a way to get it back. Liu Che would never have imagined that his son's "great unification" would be even more grand than the "great unification" of himself as a heroic ruler.

However, in order to achieve this goal, the biggest problem was the Huns in Mobei, which had not yet been completely resolved. Even Liu Ju had to take a long-term approach.

Let’s talk about Wang Jiancheng today.

The Korean Peninsula was so short of supplies that Wang Jian City was still dwarfed by Panyu City, the capital of the Nanyue Kingdom that Liu Ju had visited, not to mention the county cities within and east of the pass.

Wangjian City is now the most prosperous and richest place on the Korean Peninsula.

Here, Liu Ju met his future father-in-law, General Han Shuo.

There was another general who had previously led the navy to aid the State of Chen, General Yang Pu of the Tower Ship.

In fact, this Yang Pu is quite famous in history. He made some contributions to the Han Dynasty's southward march to quell the rebellion and conquer southern Xinjiang. The great Tang Dynasty poet Du Fu once wrote a poem about him and Wei Qing together, which said: "Wei Qing opened the government office, Yang Pu led the ship; outside the plum blossoms of the Han Festival, the spring city is by the sea." There are even place names in Nanxiong in later generations to commemorate him.

However, the historical books have mixed opinions about him. The Grand Historian Sima Qian believed that he "indulged himself in pleasure, was lazy and arrogant, and lost his mind"...

After greeting the two generals.

Liu Ju naturally asked Yang Pu about the situation in Chen State first.

After all, Chen State occupied the entire southern part of the Korean Peninsula. Now that Wei Man Joseon is no longer a threat, the next step is to go out to the sea and ensure the smooth flow of land, so the focus should be on Chen State.

"In reply to your Highness, the three major tribes of Chen Kingdom, Chenhan, Mahan, and Byeonhan, have all accepted the military aid strategy proposed by our Han Dynasty and handed over the wartime command. This time, the Han Dynasty will send troops to defend Korea. The three major tribes will send thousands of infantrymen under the unified command of this general, and cooperate with the Han Dynasty to form a siege from the south."

Yang Pu saluted and spoke seriously.

Now he is over fifty years old, and he is still very energetic, with bright eyes, but his skin is a little rough and red, perhaps because he has been crossing the sea frequently recently and has been affected by the sea breeze in the harsh environment of Chen State.

Unlike later generations, coastal areas in this era were not good places.

This is also one of the reasons why the Han Dynasty destroyed Wei Man Joseon and established the Four Han Commanderies on the Korean Peninsula, but ignored Chen State in the southern part of the peninsula...

In fact, let alone Chen State, even the area along the Bohai Sea, including Tianjin, has not been included in the administrative scope of the Han Dynasty. Even the desperate refugees would rarely consider going to such a place.

"We still have to be on guard. Now that Chen State no longer has the threat of Wei Man Joseon, it is possible that they will have other intentions."

Liu Ju nodded and gave a reminder.

"What His Highness said is absolutely true."

Yang Pu replied,

"Now that the war is over, the Han Dynasty will set up a joint protectorate in Wangjian City and station troops in Wangtianxing, Youqu, to cultivate land. Before that, I have ordered people to collect all the weapons donated by the Han Dynasty from the Chen army, and put them into the arsenal after checking them one by one to ensure that the Chen country is unable to compete with the Han army."

"In addition, in addition to the previous wartime command, Chen State also took the initiative to join the 'Mutual Security Treaty' proposed by the Han Dynasty this time. If Chen State dares to make any unusual moves, it will not only be an enemy of the Han Dynasty."

"General Yang is indeed a pillar of the country."

Liu Ju was amazed and asked again,
"I wonder if General Yang has obtained the map of Chen Kingdom after being in power for so many days?"

"Of course I have it. Please wait a moment, Your Highness. I will have someone bring it to you."

Soon, Yang Pu's personal soldiers brought in a sheepskin map. Yang Pu personally spread it out in front of Liu Ju and said with great satisfaction,
"This is a more detailed map that I re-drew based on the map of Chen Country and ordered my subordinates to visit many places using the Han army's method of making maps during marches. Even the people of Chen Country may not know Chen Country better than I do. Please take a look, Your Highness."

This time even Liu Ju had to admit that Yang Pu was indeed a commendable general. If it were an ordinary mediocre person, he would be good enough to follow orders and figure out the "wartime command authority". Few people could exert their subjective initiative, figure out the entire Chen Kingdom clearly, and make preparations in advance.

Moreover, with this map drawn according to the Han army's method of marching mapping, even if the Chen Kingdom had any rebellious thoughts.

The newly arrived Han army was also able to immediately launch military operations within the territory of Chen State, instead of being lost like a headless fly...

After all, the Korean Peninsula is not a vast desert, and the Chen Kingdom only occupies the southern part of the Korean Peninsula. Its land area is smaller than that of the later Bangzi. The straight-line distance from north to south is estimated to be only a few hundred miles. Even without a compass, it is difficult to get lost. A map is enough.

In addition, Yang Pu is also someone Liu Ju must win over and convince this time.

The reason why Yang Pu was appointed as the General of Tower Ships was because he was familiar with tower ship naval battles.

In history, he led the fleet to conquer Nanyue and Dongyue in a tower ship, and this time it was he who crossed the Bohai Sea to provide naval aid to Chen State. There were not many naval generals like him in that era.

Even though Liu Ju's future father-in-law Han Shuo was appointed General Hengbo, he was a typical landlubber.

Therefore, as the person in charge of all the ships and boats, Yang Pu directly decided whether Liu Ju could go to sea. Of course, it must be "corrected" because Liu Che did not allow Liu Ju to go to sea. It all depends on whether Yang Pu is willing to "correct" for him, even if he is forced...

"General Yang is really thoughtful. After returning to the capital, I will definitely praise General Yang in front of my father."

Liu Ju decisively handed over another candy bean, and then turned his eyes to the map.

I looked at it like this for a while.

Liu Ju ordered someone to find a piece of charcoal and draw a circle on the coastal area on the southeast side of the Korean Peninsula, which was marked with the word "Hepu".

This place is actually the Busan area in later generations, which is the closest outlet to Tsushima Island in the center of North Korea.

After doing this, Liu Ju said to Yang Pu and Han Shuo in a serious tone:
"Generals, I need you to build a seaport here first, and then open up a road that can be driven from Wangjian City directly to this place called 'Hepu'."

"We can work together with people from Chen Country and other countries along the route to build this."

"As for what we will say to the outside world, our Han Dynasty is committed to promoting the development of Chen Country and other countries along the route. Therefore, we call on all countries to actively participate in the construction in the name of the 'United Protectorate'. After the construction begins, we can adopt the form of work-for-relief, recruit local people, and let them earn some benefits from it."

"This……"

Hearing this, Yang Pu frowned slightly, and Han Shuo on the side also looked puzzled.

Although the ultimate goal of controlling the Korean Peninsula this time is to go out to sea to seek immortality, but now that the plan has just begun, it will be enough to build a port to the sea. Why do we have to build a road directly?

If we only count the north-south straight-line distance within the Chen Kingdom, it is indeed less than a thousand miles, but if we start building from Wang Jian City, it will definitely be over a thousand miles.

This investment is definitely not small. If there is no result in seeking immortality, won’t all these investments be wasted?
Doesn't it mean that the Han Dynasty's conquest of the Korean Peninsula has become a form of poverty alleviation?

Liu Ju ignored them.

Then he drew a peanut-shaped pattern in the empty ocean southeast of Hepu, and a small fish-shaped pattern slightly larger than the peanut in the southwest. Finally, he pointed at the peanut pattern and continued:

"While we are building the harbor and roads, please ask General Yang to send ships out to sea to find this island in the direction I specified. This island is not too far away, only about a hundred miles from the harbor."

The peanut pattern he was referring to is Tsushima Island in the middle of the Korean Strait, an important transit point for crossing the Korean Strait.

The small fish pattern, which is slightly larger than the peanut, represents Jeju Island in later generations. It has no use for the time being, so I just drew it casually.

"..."

Yang Pu and Han Shuo became even more confused after hearing this.

Yang Pu, in particular, stared at Liu Ju.

He had been in Chen Country for more than half a year. Although he had heard a few Chen people talk about the rumor that there was an island overseas, even most of these Chen people could not clearly tell where the island was exactly.

Why did Liu Ju just arrive in Wangjian City and not even set foot on the land of Chen State, let alone go out to the sea through the southern coast of Chen State?

They were able to mark the location of the island in great detail and even draw its shape, and it sounded even more real than the real thing, as if they had been there in person?
When the two were thinking this.

But Liu Ju drew a large pattern to the southeast of the peanut pattern.

This pattern is long and narrow with some curves, and looks like a "banana". This "banana" is divided into several sections. The middle section is the longest and largest, while the two sections on the south and the section on the north are slightly smaller, which looks very strange.

“This is where we’re finally going to end up.”

Liu Ju pointed at "peanuts" and then "bananas" with his finger, grinning and saying,
"After arriving at this small island, the distance to the big island is only about 200 miles at most. Crossing such a strait should not be difficult for General Yang's fleet, right?"

(End of this chapter)