Therefore, when the imperial power was strong enough, it was difficult to get the gentry to support expansion.

There is no guarantee!

It's not like the gentry didn't understand the benefits of going out to plunder.

It's impossible not to understand this.

There is no essential difference between cracking bones and sucking marrow at home and skinning and cramping foreign countries, but the problem is that even if they support plundering under the strong imperial power, what they gain in the end is most likely the emperor's all they want. As a result, they pay the cost, but they get nothing. Even if

It would be meaningless if the emperor could sign an agreement with them. Strong imperial power meant that the emperor would take life and death from them. It would be too naive to expect that an agreement could restrain a person who would take life and death from them.

So not only cannot we support it, but we must do our best to stop it.

This is why the voyages to the West finally came to a halt.

All the benefits went to the emperor.

Zhu Di paid the officials directly with pepper.

Who knows whether Zheng He bought it or robbed it...

Well, in order to show their loyalty to the Ming Emperor, the Nanyang countries took the initiative to contribute to the Ming Dynasty.

Besides, even if it is not a contribution, buying it in Nanyang is almost like picking it up for free.

Of course the gentry couldn't bear it.

We paid taxes and paid for you to engage in this hugely expensive voyage to the West. In the end, not only did we not get a share of the pie, but in the end you had to be exploited twice. The wages of Pepper were indeed cost-effective at first, but they couldn't hold up Zheng He's ships.

Pulling it back, if there is too much silver, it will depreciate, let alone pepper.

Therefore, the civil servants who represented the interests of the gentry tried their best to destroy it.

It is normal for Liu Daxia to burn sea charts.

He is from Huguang.

The gentry of Fujian, Guangdong and Zhejiang might have made some money from the voyage to the West, but inland grain-producing areas like Huguang just paid...

burn!

It must be burned!

Otherwise, if any emperor cares about it in the future, grain-producing areas like Huguang will have to pay for it in vain?

You can’t eat alone!

But the problem is that a strong imperial power will inevitably go it alone.

This is the crux of the matter. Without solving the problem of the emperor being the only one to eat, the Ming Dynasty will never be able to truly embark on the path of strong expansion. At most, it can rely on one or two super powerful emperors to overwhelm the gentry, and then use their personal will to promote outward expansion. Once this happens

When the emperor is gone, the government will cease to exist.

But I want to prevent the emperor from eating alone...

Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Di are stupid!

Why should I share it with others when I can have it all?

This is really unexplainable.

Only at the time of emperors like Wanli could it be possible to force the emperor to accept a distribution plan that prohibited eating alone.

Of course, this has nothing to do with Yang Feng. All he wants is the emperor's support for expansion. Whether the gentry supports it or not is something Zhu Yuanzhang needs to resolve. His Majesty the Emperor will ask the gentry to support it even if they don't support it. In fact, at this time, Zhu Yuanzhang has begun to expand in an all-round way, not only

It was in the northeast and northwest. King Zhu Fan of Jin was also taking his younger brothers King Su and King Qing to the west. King Jin was stationed in Liangzhou, King Su and the general Song Sheng went to Jiayuguan in the west, King Su was stationed in Jiayuguan, and King Wu Na of Hamili was lost.

Li was forced to go to Jiayuguan to meet King Su, and then died in Jiayuguan...

Died of illness.

Anyway, it doesn't matter if he is killed.

Then the Ming army sent three thousand cavalry to escort his body back to Hami, and by the way, his brother Anke Timur succeeded him as King Zhongshun by imperial edict.

And established the Hami Guard.

To protect King Zhongshun, a post station was set up between Hami and Jiayuguan.

This is the Western Front.

On the southern front, Zhu Yuanzhang had paid tribute to Annan's powerful ministers who were good at governing and chaotic, and sent envoys to reprimand Lan Yu. He was training troops in Guangxi and was actually ready to attack Annan. Hu Jiya sent an envoy to explain in the name of Chen Shuming, while also

Preparing for war.

But Zhu Yuanzhang deliberately hung...

He was waiting for Hu Jisao to gather all the troops and then fight them on the battlefield.

Otherwise it will be easy to get stuck.

In addition, we are also waiting for the civil strife in Annan.

After all, Chen Shuming also wanted to find a chance to kill Hu Jisao.

For Zhu Yuanzhang, winning this battle is of course a good thing, and losing is not a bad thing. After all, if he loses, he can give Lan Yu a blow in the head, making this increasingly domineering guy's prestige in the army drop sharply. No matter what, His Majesty the Emperor will It is a sure win. But Lan Yu is very serious. After all, the emperor's grandson is Zhu Yunxi now. The son of his sister's daughter, the future of Jiangshan in the Ming Dynasty is from the Chang Yuchun line, and as the boss of the Chang Yuchun line, he Of course you have to show off your authority when the time comes.

As for the attack on Japan, it has also begun. Zhu Yuanzhang had already sent an envoy to rebuke Ashikaga Yoshimitsu.

What a deception!

You dare to arrogate the title of Emperor, and dare to conceal the facts. What else is this other than deceiving the emperor?

So Zhu Yuanzhang asked Ashikaga Yoshimitsu or Minamoto Yoshimitsu...

Minamoto Daoyi was his dharma title after he became a monk. Therefore, Zhu Di originally called himself Minamoto Daoyi in history. Now that he has not become a monk, he is still Minamoto Yoshimitsu. When he tried to pay tribute to Zhu Yuanzhang, he called himself Minamoto Yoshimitsu.

It’s okay to claim tributary and serve as a dog to the Ming Dynasty, but first you must depose the emperor, and secondly you must apologize for your previous deceptions. It’s not difficult for you. Just follow the standards of Korea and offer me 5,000 war horses and some gold and silver. That's it. Then His Majesty the Emperor gave them the right to be dogs to the Ming Dynasty, and made Yuan Yoshiman the Japanese King. From then on, they would be loyal to the Ming Dynasty from generation to generation, be the dogs of the Ming Dynasty honestly, and pay tribute every year.

This is obviously impossible.

If Minamoto Yoshimitsu could depose the emperor, he would not be the shogun.

Not to mention five thousand war horses?

It’s hard to say if all the war horses in the entire Japanese country were put together, there were 5,000!

And they are all the darlings of the daimyo. Having dozens of horses in a family is very luxurious. Touching their horses is like touching their lifeblood. Even if Minamoto Yoshimitsu wants to sacrifice horses, he probably won't do it unless he beats all the daimyo to the ground. Not available.

So it's impossible for him to accept it.

Then His Majesty the Emperor can justifiably attack him.

Therefore, Zhu Yuanzhang quickly accepted Yang Feng's suggestion. After the wind changed in spring next year, he gathered troops and supplies at Chongjin and other ports. He waited until winter to land in Echigo in large numbers and marched to Kamakura, with the intention of taking over the northern part of Japan. With a low attitude, Minamoto Yoshimitsu is forced to go north for a decisive battle. He can even lure Ashikaga Mitsuru. This guy is the Kamakura Duke, which is equivalent to the branch of the Ashikaga family in Kanto. He is Minamoto Yoshimitsu's cousin, and he has always been against the latter. Very interested in the location.

If Zhu Yuanzhang showed his intention to make Ashikaga Clan Mitsuru the king of Japan, then Ashikaga Yoshimitsu would really have no choice but to fight with all his strength.

What I want is for him to fight with all his strength.

Then the Ming Dynasty defeated him in a battle and forced him to accept a series of agreements that compromised his power and humiliated the country.

Land cession and compensation.

They mined silver for the Ming Emperor for generations.

Even Zhu Yuanzhang is sending warships to Xiaoliuqiu...

It's a certain island.

Ryukyu is a big Ryukyu, but a certain island is a small Ryukyu.

But his goal was actually the small island in the north. After all, Yang Feng told him that there was bird droppings there, and Zhu Yuanzhang, who was extremely sensitive to farming, of course hurried when he heard about this good thing. Going to Dongsha and Xisha had to consider the difficulty for the time being, but to go to the East China Sea There is no difficulty at all, just leave the Yangtze River Estuary and go straight there during this season.

Return to Guangzhou.

In short, a fleet of twelve warships has gone to dig out guano for His Majesty the Emperor.

His Majesty the Emperor, who was stimulated by Yang Feng, is now turning away from his previous stability and embarking on the path of all-round expansion.

I guess I wanted to grab as much as I could.

After all, if you rob enough, even if your descendants lose your family, your defeat will last longer.

Of course, these have nothing to do with Yang Feng.

After he returned to the capital, he set up a bank, built agricultural machinery, purchased seeds, and his fish rattan powder, which was not only fish rattan powder, but also bile alum...

Bordeaux liquid!

However, spraying cannot be solved. This can only be used to soak seeds, and it is relatively expensive and cannot be used in large quantities. This is used to make copper. At present, the main method of making copper is the gall copper method, which is to use this

Make raw materials and then replace them with iron, so in a sense, using this to make pesticides is almost like burning money.

"Your kind of field is just like treating diseases, except for medicine, it's just medicine!"

Zhang Xianzong sighed with emotion.

They are now on the third floor of the embassy.

This floor belongs exclusively to Yang Feng, and the two floors below belong to the adopted daughters.

In fact, Zhang Xianzong's property was also seized by Yang Feng.

After all, he has too many adopted daughters to accommodate in one embassy. There is no one at Zhang Xianzong's side. Ambassador Zhang still lives there with his old servants. A third floor is enough.
To be continued...