Chapter 357: Preparations for the Conquest of Japan
Lu's behavior in the palace earlier was quite satisfactory, and she did not go out of her way to intrigue or anything like that.
Because it's not necessary.
She was the crown prince, and Zhu Yunwen was the legitimate grandson, so the throne rested either on her husband or on her son.
The position can be said to be solid.
Later, Zhu Ying appeared and everything changed. Lu, who used to live a good life every day, felt the crisis and could only try his best to help Yun Wen.
Now, she finally discovered that her son was not as good as she thought.
It is undeniable that in terms of talent, Zhu Yunwen is still very outstanding, but his character is too shallow, has no independent opinions, and is easy to listen to others.
For her own sake, Lu had no choice but to go into battle in person.
"Yun Wen doesn't have much hope here. If he can win a good place to become a vassal, it's already very good."
"On the civil servants and generals side, I probably have to rely on myself to win over them."
Thinking in her mind, Lu summoned the palace maid and asked her to deliver a message to her father.
My father is not good at being an official, but he is still a good hand in business. Now he and Yunwen are facing a situation where no one can help them.
I think my father is willing to follow him to the new feudal kingdom.
Thinking of this, Ms. Lu felt a little regretful, because she had never considered this matter before, and she had a falling out with her father before, so her relationship with her parents' family was generally not very good now.
In the minds of most people, leaving the Ming Dynasty and going to overseas vassal countries is roughly the same as being exiled, and they will usually resist in their hearts.
After much thought, Mrs. Lu finally set her sights on Concubine Ning.
She has a very good relationship with Concubine Ning. After all, the harem is so big and the only ones with some power are Concubine Ning and her.
Concubine Ning's natal family has many generals under Guo Ying's command. If Concubine Ning is willing to speak up and recruit some generals, there is still great hope.
Three days passed in a flash.
In Kunning Palace, Zhu Ying is looking at the map in front of her.
This map is very different from the map of the Ming Dynasty, and is more similar to the maps of later generations.
Of course, if he could draw it, it couldn't be Zhu Ying. If Zhu Ying came to draw it, he probably wouldn't understand anything about it.
He called in the top court painters, and based on the current map of the Ming Dynasty and Zhu Ying's own memories of his previous life, he scraped dozens of drafts and finally took shape.
Currently, Zhu Ying is studying how to mobilize troops in Liaodong, Nuerqian, and Japan.
Of course, Zhu Ying was not alone. He was accompanied by Ye Yueqing.
It's cold now, and although the Qunying Chamber of Commerce is busy, there are actually not many things that need to be taken care of.
There are basically very few memorials, so it is relatively leisurely.
In the palace in front, the old man was convening ministers and bachelors from various ministries to discuss the issue of how to arrange grain crops in the coming year.
Including some new layouts, taxes, etc.
Once the war begins, there must be no problems with logistical support. How to connect the current treasury supply to the front army with summer grain may seem trivial, but it is extremely important.
"Your Highness, there is a message from Master Daoyan, saying that the food problem has been solved. Next year, he will attack the Japanese country. He will be the vanguard to help the Ming Dynasty and involve the Japanese army."
Ye Yueqing said.
After hearing this, Zhu Ying asked with a little curiosity: "How did Dao Yan solve the food problem."
Ye Yueqing laughed when he heard this and said: "Master Daoyan was not constrained by appearances and directly sent a letter to Li Chenggui. If he is not given enough food, he will have no choice but to take his army and return to the capital to celebrate Zhengdan."
"When Li Chenggui heard this, he was so frightened that he arranged food preparations all night long. The first batch of food and wages had already started to set off on the third day after receiving the message."
Zhu Ying also laughed when he heard this and said: "Dao Yan is a man who doesn't care about the people's livelihood, but only talks about victory and defeat. This Li Chenggui can be regarded as sensible. Otherwise, Dao Yan would never hesitate at all and forcibly mobilized troops and horses to return to the capital of Goryeo.
"
"Li Chenggui knows in his heart that once Dao Yan returns, a big battle is inevitable. Regardless of winning or losing, with Dao Yan's temperament, he will definitely plunder him all the way."
"At that time, even if Li Chenggui wins, the whole of Korea will be riddled with holes. Li Chenggui cannot bear the price."
Hitting the snake seven inches, Daoyan took advantage of Li Chenggui's weakness.
Now Li Chenggui just wants to reap the benefits, so he definitely can't go against Dao Yan.
Zhu Ying was relieved that the matter on Goryeo's side was resolved, although he knew that Dao Yan would definitely find a solution.
"Your Highness, there is information from the Japanese country. It seems that we have already received news about our conquest next year. Even now, the recruitment has begun."
"However, life in the Japanese country is not easy now. There have been wars for many years and there is a shortage of soldiers. Moreover, the current winter is much colder than here."
Ye Yueqing briefly talked about the situation in Japan.
According to the Ming Dynasty, the current Japanese state should be in a state of panic.
After all, their population was not large to begin with, and due to the heavy losses caused by the civil war, it took less than a year for them to recover.
But in fact, aside from the people of Japan, the upper-class nobles were extremely excited.
They believed that with the blessing of God, the seemingly powerful Ming army would definitely be destroyed by the typhoon. On the Goryeo side, the Japanese had never lost, so there was nothing to worry about.
On the contrary, many wandering warriors felt that this was an opportunity. In this war, they could not only plunder enough achievements, but also invade the Ming Dynasty and seize wealth later.
Moreover, Zhu Ying never underestimated the strength of Japanese warriors.
It is not advisable to be blind. The so-called poor mountains and harsh waters breed unruly people. This is because the islands where the Japanese country is located are mostly volcanic eruption zones. All Japanese people have a sense of crisis in their hearts, as if the entire Japanese country will sink completely tomorrow.
Coupled with the legends and stories of various gods and ghosts, basically every village has a god worshiped.
This led to the specialization of Japanese warriors, similar to the concept of European knights.
In addition, because the Japanese country was isolated overseas, there were few dependent relationships in history.
Although it was influenced by the culture of the Central Plains Dynasty, this influence was not imposed by the Central Plains Dynasty, but was obtained by the Japanese themselves.
Although they have always tried to regard the Central Plains Dynasty as their suzerainty, due to geographical reasons, this situation is rarely realized. In other words, in name only, in fact, there is very little contact.
It seems that in history, the Japanese country has never been invaded. That is because from the perspective of the Central Plains Dynasty, the Japanese country was completely a barbarian land.
Moreover, the location of Japan is too advantageous.
In ancient times, navigation technology was not developed enough, so when you went to the sea, you basically sailed in a vague direction.
For example, during the prosperous Tang Dynasty, the most famous Jianzhen Journey to the East was carried out.
After Jianzhen was invited by Puzhao and Rongrui, the Japanese envoys to Tang, he kept trying to go to Japan.
His first five attempts to cross eastward all ended in failure.
At first, he tried to set off from Yangzhou, but after failure, he moved to Fuzhou, but the sea wind blew their ship to Hainan, farther and farther away from the Japanese country.
Later, Rongrui, the envoy to the Tang Dynasty who invited him, passed away, and Jianzhen was almost blind, but he still persisted in trying. Finally, he finally succeeded in reaching the Japanese country on his sixth eastward journey.
It can be seen that it is very difficult to go to the Japanese country from the Ming Dynasty.
During the Mongolian and Yuan Dynasties, the Japanese were conquered. If it weren't for the iron ropes and ships, I don't know where they would have gone.
In fact, even if the Japanese themselves wanted to return to the Japanese country with supplies after plundering the Ming Dynasty, in many cases, they still had to rely on luck.
For real Japanese pirates, what they do is a business of near death.
So in many cases, they are more ruthless.
It was this ruthless character that made most of the Japanese warriors extremely perseverant, and they also experienced great growth in their personal martial arts.
"Learning from the previous Yuan Dynasty, although it seems that there is harmony in the court now, no minister dares to say anything in front of the old man."
"But if it fails, then the voice of opposition will resound throughout the entire Fengtian Palace, with all kinds of advice.",
"In this step of defeating the Japanese country, we must be steady. We must not slack off at all, and we must not rush ahead greedily. We must first lay down the foundation and drag the entire Japanese country into the quagmire of war."
"Let them fight on both sides and have no time to worry about themselves. This is a long-term war. The most important thing is to open up a stable navigation on the sea, including the study of strong winds. This is the top priority."
"If there are special talents in navigation or gale, we must treat them generously and reward them without hesitation."
Zhu Ying frowned and said slowly.
In terms of overall military strength, the Ming Dynasty naturally crushed the Japanese.
But most people in the world are resistant to the conquest of Japan.
In everyone's mind, what's the point of spending a lot of manpower and material resources to conquer barbarian lands?
When the time comes, we may still have to go to Ming Dynasty to transport food and other supplies there. Wouldn't this be a burden to ourselves?
Therefore, we can only win, not lose.
Now relying on the old man's reputation, including the Yinshan incident, Zhu Ying forcibly launched the conquest of Japan.
It seems like everything is calm, but the backlash behind it is also very uncomfortable.
Ye Yueqing frowned and said: "Your Highness, our careful work in the Japanese country has been greatly affected because of this incident. Even many of those who have been bribed have begun to regret it."
Zhu Ying nodded, he was not surprised by this.
Because there has never been a clan relationship, the unity of the Japanese is actually stronger than that of the Ming Dynasty.
Although the Japanese country also suffered from frequent civil wars, the main middle class, the Japanese samurai, paid most attention to their faith, or loyalty to the emperor.
Suicide by caesarean section was a samurai honor in Japan.
Under the current strong external pressure, it is natural to start to unite.
The Japanese pirates also had spies hiding in the Ming Dynasty, and even in the Goryeo Dynasty, and big moves such as mobilizing the army and hoarding troops along the coast were naturally easily known.
It would be much simpler to wait until we have secured a place in Japan first and collect intelligence later.
In the palace of Prince Yan.
Zhu Di's face was not good-looking. During the morning meeting yesterday, his father once again confirmed the list of generals to conquer Japan, and he was among them.
Doesn’t this mean that Liaodong Nuergan has nothing to do with him?
Who wants to go to a place like Japan? Before, there was nothing you could do. Being able to stand on your own as king without being restrained is pretty good.
But now, Zhu Di really wanted to take a bite of the fat meat over there in Peiping.
The point is, he is indeed the most qualified.
His father used vassal kings to divide the military power of the Huaixi nobles. Zhu Di was very clear about this. Some of his generals also belonged to the Huaixi nobles lineage.
"By doing this, my father is not worried about the Huaixi veteran generals becoming big. The sky is high and the emperor is far away, so how can my father rest assured?"
Zhu Di said harshly.
After saying that, he picked up the high-strength liquor on the table and drank it in one gulp.
Zhu Ying distributed these liquors to all members of the royal family, and Zhu Di also got two large barrels here.
At first he didn't care much and didn't even want to drink.
Until yesterday, Zhu Gaoxu opened the wine barrel and was fascinated by the aroma of the wine. After a few drinks, he immediately fell drunk.
Only then did Zhu Di pay attention.
After tasting the tea, Zhu Di’s final choice was naturally Zhen Xiang.
After drinking a glass of strong wine and feeling the warmth in his belly, Zhu Di's complexion eased slightly.
The wine glass was a very small one. Xu Yihua, who was standing next to him, poured it for him and said: "Your Highness, there is no need to be so worried. From my point of view, this matter is not without room for change."
When Zhu Di heard this, his eyes lit up and he said, "Is it possible that there is new news in the palace?"
Xu Yihua shook his head, Zhu Di was a little disappointed.
Then he said: "Actually, the conquest of the Japanese country is not too related to the task of guarding the slaves in Liaodong. Your Majesty has wanted to conquer the Japanese country for a long time, and this time he finally succeeded. No one has left the ancestors, and he is also worried about the lessons of the former Yuan Dynasty.
"
"So if my concubine guessed correctly, this expedition to the Japanese country will definitely consist of elite soldiers and strong generals."
Hearing this, Zhu Di nodded.
This time, there were six armies in the expedition against Japan.
Let’s not talk about the sailors all the way.
Apart from him, Zhu Fan, and Zhu Shu, the other two people were Feng Sheng and Fu Youde.
Letting these two people pass shows how much importance the father attaches to the conquest of Japan. This is a famous veteran. In front of Feng Sheng and Fu Youde, Zhu Di can only be a junior.
"According to what my concubine means, it means that after the conquest of the Japanese country, I may not be directly canonized in the Japanese country. Is there still a possibility of coming back?"
Zhu Di asked after thinking about it for a while.
Xu Yihua nodded and replied: "Liaodong slaves are engaged in land reclamation. It is different from fighting, but it is a long-term business."
"This involves ordinary people and millions of soldiers. However, the grassland tribes are not so easy to talk to. Even if they cannot be defeated, they will often invade. Presumably, the pressure on Peiping will weaken."
"As long as His Highness wins a great victory in the Japanese country and takes credit for it, or if his momentum in the Japanese country is so great that the third brother cannot match it, then all this will be reconsidered."
"At that time, His Highness will naturally have the opportunity to come back and save the situation in Liaodong."
When Zhu Di heard this, he nodded deeply.
There are almost no Huaixi nobles on the list for this expedition, including the younger Lan Yu, who is not on it either.
It fully illustrates the father's fear of the nobles of Huaixi.
Although Feng Sheng and Fu Youde are also top-notch in Huaixi, they don't have much contact with Lan Yu's Huaixi Xungui Group.