"pass!"
After Chongzhen finished speaking, he looked at Du Yinxi: "Mr. Yangming said: If you want to achieve great things, you must go through three hardships. The first is mentality, the second is talent, and the third is thought.
Mr. Yangming’s Longchang Enlightenment, I hope you can find your own way in Dandong, you go down first! "
"I thank you, Your Majesty!"
After Du Yinxi saluted, he slowly exited Dongnuan Pavilion. As soon as he turned around, he saw Li Ruolian, the commander of the Jin Yiwei, coming towards him.
The two people's eyes met, they both nodded slightly, and then passed each other.
"Your Majesty, Li Ruolian, is here to see you!"
After entering Dongnuan Pavilion, Li Ruolian saluted and immediately took out a lacquer box and presented it to him.
"Your Majesty, Zheng Zhilong's Nanhai Sea Division followed Fuso along the west coast of Kyushu Island, passed through the Ryukyu Islands, and reached the north of Taiwan. No Dutch or Spanish naval warships were found along the way.
Then they circumnavigated the entire territory of Taiwan and found no navy from either side. "
"Didn't find it?"
Chongzhen frowned as he looked at the information, fixed his eyes on another world map (the Map of Kunyu and Ten Thousand Kingdoms drawn by Matteo Ricci), and muttered to himself.
"Did you escape or return to the Dutch mainland?"
"Is it because Fuso purchased too many red cannons and Taiwan couldn't handle them, so they returned to the mainland to find support?"
"No, Taiwan is 20,000 miles away from the mainland of the Netherlands, and the round trip is at least 40,000 miles. Including the time to manufacture two to three hundred red cannons, it will take at least a year. There is simply no time."
"And they are from firearms workshops in Taiwan, so they can't go far for the sake of the near."
After muttering to himself, Chongzhen looked at Li Ruolian: "Have all their troops stationed in Taiwan withdrawn? Are their firearms workshops still there?"
"Back to Your Majesty, most of the garrison has been withdrawn. No Han people are allowed within a five-mile radius of the firearms workshop. The guards are too tight. There are ships monitoring the nearby ports. We can't know for the time being!"
"Strange!"
Chongzhen frowned even more and looked at Li Ruolian: "Where is your analysis?"
"Your Majesty, the Netherlands and Spain have been eyeing the Ming Dynasty for so many years and have harassed them from time to time. It is absolutely impossible for them to give up at this juncture.
Especially now that Fuso is standing in front of us and consuming our strength, we cannot withdraw.
Even if we can't win, or at worst we have to retreat directly, we can't pursue them and fight them.
According to the analysis of our intelligence analysis department, they are probably speeding up the production of red cannons and firearms on an island in the sea.
Let us mistakenly think that they have withdrawn, and when we attack Fuso, they will attack our transport ships by surprise.
In other words, knowing that it is impossible to fight against us, when our navy is transferred to Fusang, they will attack our coastal cities, plunder them once, and then withdraw, completely abandoning the Ming Dynasty.
In other words, after they returned, they sought cooperation from overseas countries and formed a coalition of countries to attack the Ming Dynasty. "
"This is using Fusang as a gun, and also wants to be an oriole. It's a good plan, but it's a pity that it's the wrong person!"
Chongzhen sneered, and then looked at Li Ruolian: "Send orders to Zheng Zhilong and Yu Zigao, let them find an opportunity to attack Taiwan several times, test the waters, and arrest a few senior officials for questioning.
At the same time, a small fleet was sent to check the surrounding areas, mainly within a three hundred mile radius of Taiwan's coastline.
In addition, orders were sent to the capitals in Fujian and Guangdong to guard against the Dutch and Spanish taking the opportunity to plunder. "
"I obey the decree!"
After Li Ruolian responded, he looked at Chongzhen: "Your Majesty, Zheng Zhilong's intelligence also mentioned two things. One is that the sergeant of the Warrior Battalion who sneaked into Fuso has killed Miyamoto Musashi with the cooperation of the Jin Yiwei.
The sergeants have all landed from Busan and returned to Beijing from North Korea. "
"good!"
Chongzhen was overjoyed: "This is good news. Without this person, our resistance will be much smaller.
Inform Cao Bianjiao that after this team carrying out the assassination mission returns to Beijing, I will personally receive them and give them a banquet! "
An incompetent general will tire out the three armies; an incompetent commander will defeat thousands of troops.
A good general can defeat a hundred with one enemy and strategize to win a thousand miles.
What's more, he was a great military strategist and Fuso's best swordsman who was comparable to Yagyu Munenomi.
If during the Northern War, the leader of the slave-building coalition had been Yagyu Munenomi, although the final outcome would not have changed, at least 10,000 or 20,000 more Ming sergeants would have died in the battle.
As for the Eastern Expedition to Fuso, since Fuso is the home field, the advantage will be even more obvious. If Miyamoto Musashi takes charge, the resistance will undoubtedly be great.
"Your Majesty, the letter also said that on the day they left, Tokugawa Iemitsu also sent a mission to invite Miyamoto Musashi.
If they had arrived one day later, Miyamoto Musashi would probably have left with the delegation, and it would be difficult to assassinate him, so they massacred the members of the delegation and set fire to Miyamoto Musashi's castle! "
"God's will, this means that Miyamoto Musashi deserves to die!"
Chongzhen chuckled and continued: "You continue with the second news!"
"The second is the results they achieved in Fuso. They destroyed nearly 10,000 large and small warships. Kyushu, Shikoku, and the west of Osaka on Honshu Island are already in panic because of the lack of merchant ships, which seriously affects people's livelihood."
"Okay, send a message to Zheng Zhilong about this, and give him a reward at the celebration banquet!"
After Chongzhen finished speaking, he added: "However, we cannot take it lightly. Jin Yiwei still needs to find out what is going on in Fusang, especially who is the commander, the troops mobilized, etc."
"I obey the decree!"
"Come for a walk with me!"
"minister……"
Chongzhen waved his hand and walked towards the door. Before he reached it, the door curtain was opened, and a cold wind blew in, making him shiver all over.
Wang Chengen who came in looked at the emperor's posture and said in surprise: "Is the emperor going out?"
Although he was confused, he was dissatisfied with the work in his hands. He took the mink coat from the shelf next to him and gently put it on Chongzhen, and then handed over a delicate hand stove from the desk.
"Your Majesty, it's windy outside, and it's probably going to snow today!"
Chongzhen held the stove in his hand, wrapped himself in his coat, and walked out of Dongnuan Pavilion. Looking at the dark sky, Chongzhen asked softly: "Li Aiqing, do you know how the common people live in winter?"
"Your Majesty, Taizu once ordered that every ten acres of land must be planted with half an acre of cotton. However, the yield per mu of cotton is not high. Even with careful farming, the yield per mu is only about one stone.
Moreover, natural disasters have occurred frequently in recent years, and even half an acre of cotton cannot be guaranteed. Even if it is grown, ordinary people will sell it in exchange for food.
As far as I know, since Your Majesty came to the throne, the price of cotton has increased year by year, from one tael and six cents per stone when you came to the throne to four taels per stone this year.
As for the common people to keep out the cold, those who have their own land can keep some for their own use. Those who don’t have land can only wear a few extra layers or stuff them with reed catkins.
In the countryside and mountains, wood is burned for heating.
The winters in these years have been getting colder year by year, and many people freeze to death every year, mostly tenants. "
Listening to Li Ruolian's response, Chongzhen sighed.
