Shanghu County, General Staff Department.
After Li Jin welcomed Zhu Yuanzhang, Zhu Biao and Xu Da into the house, Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao were immediately attracted by the huge map in front of them.
I saw that on this map, the topographic maps of various islands on the Japanese island were clearly drawn.
The islands of Shikoku, Kyushu, and Honshu are all included on the map. The mountains, rivers, and even a small hill are marked on it.
You can tell at a glance what the topography of this place is like.
Zhu Yuanzhang looked at the map of the Japanese island in front of him. This was the first time he could clearly see how big the so-called Japanese pirate's hometown was.
After silently calculating the area of the Japanese island in his mind, Zhu Yuanzhang could not help but be shocked. This so-called Japanese island did not even have an area as large as Zhejiang Province.
So where does this country on the Japanese island have the courage to send people to invade its own Ming Dynasty?
After Li Jin saw several people standing still, he took a long baton from the side and began to point out the country on the map.
"Look, everyone, these two places are the targets we are going to attack this time."
Li Jin pointed to two places marked in red on the map and said:
"This place is called Shijian County. There are many high mountains in the county, and the mountains are very steep."
"In addition, the products here are also extremely poor. The Japanese here are so poor that they often wander elsewhere and find other ways to make a living."
"But here, there is the largest silver mine on the Japanese island, a mountain of silver seen in the stone."
"I have already said at the bidding meeting that the Iwami Silver Mountain here has at least 500 million taels of silver reserves."
"As long as we capture this place, our money will be so rich that we won't be able to spend it all in our lifetime."
Zhu Yuanzhang looked in the direction Li Jin pointed with his eyes shining.
He seemed to see a glittering mountain of silver there, which made his heart surge.
After Li Jin introduced Iwami Ginzan, he pointed to the Kyoto area of Wajima and continued the introduction:
"This is the core area of Washima, Kyoto."
"The emperor of the Japanese natives lives in this place."
"But the current Japanese island is a bit similar to our Spring and Autumn Period, and it is falling into a stage where princes are fighting for hegemony."
"So the emperor of Japan Island is only in name only and cannot command the heroes at all."
"On the contrary, the princes on the island are constantly plotting against the emperor and want to kidnap him to their own territory."
"Hold the emperor to command the princes."
"Our attack this time is to capture Kyoto, forcefully land in Kyoto in the name of helping the vassal country, and then hold the emperor of Japan in our hands."
"The Kyoto Bay here is a natural deep-water harbor, which is suitable for large-scale operations of our naval fleet."
"After that, we will respect the king and fight off the barbarians, and take all the gold and silver mines on the island as our own."
"Although the imperial edict of the Emperor of Japan does not have any authority now, it will be different in our hands. Those who obey me will prosper and those who go against me will perish."
"It will surely take less than two years for our navy to completely conquer the Japanese island and incorporate the entire Japanese island into the territory of the Ming Dynasty and become the bridgehead of the Ming Dynasty at sea."
Li Jin drew a pancake of the boss for Zhu Yuanzhang and planned a blueprint for future maritime hegemony.
The occupation of Japanese islands was the first step towards Ming Dynasty's maritime hegemony.
"good!"
Zhu Biao listened with excitement and high-fived loudly. His face was red, and he was obviously choked by the big cake drawn by Li Jin.
But Zhu Yuanzhang seemed relatively calm. In fact, Zhu Yuanzhang had no interest in the land of Japan Island at all.
As Li Jin said, there are many mountains and hills everywhere on the island, which is not suitable for farming at all.
What is the use of such land?
What interested him were the gold mines and silver mountains on the island. With these things, he would not have to worry about the lack of money in the treasury every day.
Nowadays, the Ming Dynasty is in ruins and needs money everywhere.
There are even some people who don't have enough to eat. If the imperial court has money, it can provide money to help the people and make the people live a better life.
There are also the Mongolian Tatars in the north and the rebellions of the chieftains in the southwest. These all need to be countered.
But when the army is dispatched, money is needed, and Japan Island can bring him money. This is why Zhu Yuanzhang never forgets Japan Island.
"After all, Japan is a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty. If Japan is annexed, it may cause panic in the surrounding vassals. Don't mention this matter again."
Zhu Yuanzhang really disliked the Japanese island. If he really occupied this place in the future, he would send troops to quell the chaos on the Japanese island.
The expedition brought a lot of money.
Zhu Yuanzhang felt that the money in his pocket was really not enough.
But Li Jin disagreed. Japanese Island has been our Chinese territory since ancient times.
It's just that these unworthy descendants have forgotten their ancestors. Now that they have the opportunity to regain it, how can they give up?
"Old Huang, why are you still so short-sighted?"
Li Jin hates that iron cannot become steel.
"Japanese Island has been our Chinese territory since ancient times. The First Emperor personally ordered Xu Fu to cross Fusang eastward."
"The Fuso Island at that time was the current Japanese island. It was originally full of savages. Later, it was because Xu Fu arrived there that civilization appeared."
"So the people there should be the descendants of our Chinese people, but now they have forgotten their ancestors. We should let them recognize their ancestors and return to their clan."
"Besides, the most valuable thing on the Japanese island is not gold and silver, but the population."
"Now that Ming Dynasty has just been established and we are short of labor, shouldn't we transfer the population there to Ming Dynasty to contribute to Ming Dynasty's infrastructure construction?"
Zhu Yuanzhang knew that Li Jin was holding back some bad ideas, and he clearly wanted to sell all the men on the Japanese island to the Ming Dynasty as slaves.
But Zhu Yuanzhang just wanted to say that this kind of thing was really to his liking.
Judging from Hu Weiyong's feedback on using Japanese slaves, Japanese people are simply born slaves.
These Japanese eat less, work more, are hardworking and, most importantly, cheap.
If they were not used by Hu Weiyong in the winter, these slaves would not have died so many.
However, Li Jin and Xu Da had previously captured tens of thousands of Japanese pirates. These Japanese pirates had committed extremely heinous crimes and were all physically strong. Only by working hard throughout their lives could they wash away their sins.
As soon as these Japanese pirate prisoners landed ashore, they were picked up by the jubilant Hu Weiyong.
With this group of slaves, Hu Weiyong's highway construction was greatly accelerated.
In the past, only three locations were working at the same time, and many workers were frozen to death, resulting in slow progress.
Although the weather is still cold now, with the joining of tens of thousands of slaves, Hu Weiyong's motivation has increased sharply, and he feels that he can do it again.
He led people to patrol the construction site every day.
Of course, these slaves were not so obedient, but under the bloody suppression of the Beijing camp, Hu Weiyong used Jin Yiwei's twenty-three torture instruments in front of a group of slaves one by one.
Needless to say, Jin Yiwei's cruel and cruel torture instruments made these unruly Japanese pirates suddenly become much more honest.
Even though it was freezing cold, these Japanese pirates no longer dared to disobey Hu Weiyong's orders. They obediently obeyed the whips of the soldiers in the Beijing camp and worked hard to make the greatest contribution to the Ming Dynasty's infrastructure.
However, Hu Weiyong gained wisdom through every experience, and he did not really squeeze these slaves to death like the last time.
Instead, he bought some shabby clothes for these Japanese pirates. No matter what, at least these Japanese pirates would not be easily frozen to death again.
Of course, eating is still wheat bran and grass roots. Food is for people to eat. How can these Japanese pirates be considered masters?
Under the oppression of Hu Weiyong's slave master, these slaves were 007 every day, even if they could not die from hunger or freezing, their bodies were getting thinner and thinner.
Hu Weiyong was not interested in the health status of these slaves. He only saw that the highway was progressing faster and faster, and he would be able to climb up soon.
Zhu Yuanzhang was also very satisfied with Hu Weiyong's progress.
Zhu Yuanzhang still attached great importance to the expressway built by Hu Weiyong.
Now that the Japanese pirates have been eliminated, the opening of the sea is also in progress.
Zhu Yuanzhang's most ideal seaport was naturally Shanghu County.
The development here has become a big city, with all kinds of handicraft workshops. If Kaihai is added, it is very likely that this place will surpass Yingtian and become the number one city in the Ming Dynasty.
Zhu Yuanzhang took this opportunity to collect taxes from Shanghu County, and he also had to collect heavy taxes.
In the past, Li Jin pocketed all the commercial taxes in Shanghu County. Now that Zhu Yuanzhang reciprocated by opening up the sea for Shanghu County, Zhu Yuanzhang could naturally collect the commercial taxes here to the court.
The Municipal Shipping Department was established in Shanghu County, and Shanghu County was brought under the direct jurisdiction of Yingtianfu. At the same time, taxes on sea voyages were levied. Zhu Yuanzhang felt that Shanghu County would be his cornucopia in the future.
The highway built by Hu Weiyong will become a road paved with gold.
Starting from Shanghai County and ending with Yingtian, we will use the prosperous business in Shanghai County to drive the development of Yingtian Mansion.
It is conceivable that in the near future, just this highway will bring much income to the court.
Nowadays, the highway process has been greatly accelerated, and Zhu Yuanzhang is naturally very happy.
