The reason why Zhuying is so familiar with the Ryukyu Kingdom.
Mainly because of a special place: Diaoyu Island.
In the fifth year of Hongwu's reign, Yang Zai of the Ming Dynasty went to Ryukyu as an envoy and discovered and landed on the Diaoyu Islands on the way.
The earliest historical record that recorded the names of Diaoyu Islands, Chiwei Island and other places that later generations have seen was "Shunfeng Xiangshuang" written in the first year of Yongle.
Since the tributary system started in the fifth year of Hongwu and the establishment of diplomatic relations with the Ryukyu Kingdom, the Ryukyu Kingdom has always been the darling of the Ming Dynasty's tribute.
The Ming Dynasty had strict requirements for tribute, not only limiting the number of tributes, such as one tribute every two years and one tribute every three years.
Including tribute roads, there are also tribute roads specially set up.
In terms of number of people, it is currently limited to two hundred people.
For example, during the Tumu Fort Incident in the middle and late Ming Dynasty, during the Zhengtong period, Wala actually sent more than 3,000 people to pay tribute to the Ming Dynasty.
Perhaps because there were too many people, Ming Dynasty "rewarded less than usual".
It was precisely because of "rewarding without exception" that Wala believed that this was an impolite and provocative behavior, which triggered the Tumubao incident the following year.
The current Ryukyu Kingdom is backward and barren, and it bows its head to the Ming Dynasty.
This attitude aroused Zhu Yuanzhang's favor, and he gave many preferential treatment to the Ryukyu Kingdom.
Because of its backwardness and poverty, the Ryukyu Kingdom did not have the ability to build sea ships, so the Ming Dynasty directly sent ships.
Due to the lack of tools to maintain the ships, many times after the Ryukyu Kingdom arrived in the Ming Dynasty, the ships were damaged, and they were embarrassed and could not go back, so they had to ask the Ming Dynasty for help.
The Ryukyu Kingdom also has unique local products. Because of its volcanic landscape, the Ming Dynasty mainly obtained sulfur for making gunpowder and horses for land transportation and other military supplies.
Southeast Asian products including some sappan trees, pepper, frankincense and other products also appeared in the tribute materials to the Ming Dynasty.
The Ryukyu Kingdom is not unified now, but has three countries: Shannan, Nakayama, and Shanhoku.
Because it was too barren, the envoys from the three countries also set out together when paying tribute.
In order to suppress collusion between Japanese pirates and residents in coastal areas, the Ming Dynasty implemented a sea ban policy.
After the maritime ban was implemented, Ming Dynasty was faced with the problem of finding a fixed overseas trade channel that could replace local merchants in providing Ming Dynasty with products from various countries.
Among the many tributary countries, Zhu Yuanzhang chose Ryukyu, which had special geographical advantages, making Ryukyu the only transit point for maritime trade connecting the Ming Dynasty with East Asia and Southeast Asia.
This means that Ming Dynasty gave up the interests that originally belonged to Ming Dynasty merchants to Ryukyu.
This is why throughout the Ming Dynasty, from the beginning to the end of the Ming Dynasty, it was always severely attacked by Japanese pirates.
Among them, coastal smugglers and maritime trade interests can only be continuously recovered by colluding with Japanese pirates.
Naturally, Zhu Yuanzhang and Ru Yu were very clear about the situation in the Ryukyu Kingdom.
Rujun frowned and said: "Japanese country is like Ryukyu. It is a small country with few people. It is located in a barren land and is far away from the East China Sea. Even if we conquer it, what's the point?"
"Now that the Ming Dynasty is supporting Ryukyu, we can make Ryukyu compete with the Japanese in the future. After being contained, the Japanese pirates will naturally be eliminated."
His Majesty was here, so Ru Ru didn't hide anything and directly expressed her thoughts in the court.
The current support and preferential treatment for Ryukyu, the main idea is to let Ryukyu grow up and replace the status of Japan.
This policy was indeed implemented very well. Later, Ryukyu once suppressed Japan in terms of comprehensive national strength, and its maritime trade was developed, and it was known as the bridge of all nations.
As a vassal state, Ryukyu was extremely loyal to the Ming Dynasty, or in other words, it had always been loyal to the entire land of China.
Since it became a vassal state in the fifth year of Hongwu, which lasted for five hundred years, even if the Ming Dynasty perished and the Manchu Qing came to the throne, they did not stop paying tribute.
Until the end of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, the Japanese state forced the Ryukyu Kingdom to stop paying tribute to the Manchu Qing Dynasty and use the Japanese reign name instead.
Then it was announced that Ryukyu would be abolished as a feudal lord and established as a county, and the so-called "Ryukyu Disposition" was completed. Ryukyu was forcibly merged into the Wa Kingdom and Okinawa County was established. At this point, the Ryukyu Kingdom fell.
After Zhu Ying heard what Ru Yu meant, he pondered for a moment, and then told the news that there were gold and silver mountains all over the country.
However, not only did this not arouse Ru Ru's good impression, but she subconsciously wanted to sneer.
However, Ru Rui soon realized that the person sitting next to her was His Majesty, and she quickly suppressed her sneer, but her facial muscles trembled.
Then he said: "Master Zhu, please don't be offended. My notes about the three years that the Mongolian envoy Zhao Liangbi spent in Japan are not as valuable as what Master Zhu said."
Hearing this, Zhu Ying was a little embarrassed.
He had no impression of Zhao Liangbi's mission to Japan, and thought that Ming Dynasty did not understand Japan at all.
Subconsciously, I looked at the old man and saw him turning his head.
Obviously, the old man also knows this matter.
Zhu Yuanzhang was well-read, and when he was humiliated by the Japanese state, he ordered to collect all records about the Japanese state. He was not as unfamiliar with the Japanese state as Zhu Ying imagined.
The reason why he did not directly refute Zhu Ying was that Zhu Yuanzhang estimated that his eldest son's face would be hurt if he directly exposed it.
Ru Jin was extremely suspicious of Zhu Ying, so naturally she would not take it into consideration so much.
Shijian Yinshan was discovered and mined only in the late Mongolian and Yuan Dynasties.
Moreover, due to underdeveloped surveying technology, the current Iwami State in Japan does not know that Iwami Silver Mountain has such a large reserve.
Two hundred years later, during its peak period from the 16th century to the first half of the 17th century, Japanese silver accounted for about one-third of the world's silver production, most of which came from Iwami Ginzan.
Not only silver ore, but veins of chalcopyrite, pyrite, galena and other minerals have also been discovered in the development room.
After the embarrassment passed, Zhu Ying pondered slightly and said: "Ru Shangshu doesn't know something. I got news from overseas merchants. Currently, a huge silver mountain has been discovered in Shijian Kingdom in the Japanese Kingdom."
"There are those among the merchants who are good at prospecting for ore veins. They have initially determined that the silver ore contains a huge amount of silver, which is astonishing and can be said to be the largest that I have ever seen in my life."
When Zhu Yuanzhang heard this, a flash of understanding flashed in his eyes.
He finally understood why the Great Sun was so concerned about conquering Japan. It turned out to be because of the discovery of the Yinshan Mine.
Zhu Yuanzhang frowned slightly. After all, Dasun was still limited to his identity as a businessman and pursued profits too much.
But is it possible that a mere silver mountain can be compared with the silver mountain in the Ming Dynasty?
Thinking of this, Zhu Yuanzhang couldn't help but ask: "Dasun, please tell me specifically how much silver the Yinshan Mountain can produce."
Zhu Ying said calmly: "The Shijian Yinshan in Japan is enough for today's Ming Dynasty and will last for hundreds of years."
Hearing this, Ru Rui froze.
Zhu Yuanzhang even stood up and asked: "Do you take what the great grandson said seriously?"
Zhu Ying replied calmly: "It is absolutely true. A few months ago, I sent my confidants to confirm it again. It is absolutely not false."
"My confidants even came back to report that the reserves of Silver Mountain are only higher than previously estimated."
