Hearing Zhang Xiaobao's words, except for Wang Juan, the others all looked at Zhang Xiaobao in puzzlement.
Gao Lishi thought for a while, but he still couldn't figure it out, so he asked, "Xiao Bao, can the Tang Empire be peaceful? Keep the Japanese and treat them well, and don't occupy Japan? Didn't you say that you and Cuckoo would solve the problem of Japan within this year? "
Empress Wang and the others also nodded, waiting for Zhang Xiaobao's explanation.
Zhang Xiaobao glanced at Wang Juan, and Wang Juan said, "It is precisely because we want to occupy Japan that we have to keep the Japanese. As for the Japanese laborers who come later as compensation, we have to treat them as the people of the Tang Empire. Although it is impossible to build a railway without death, we have to take care of them in terms of life.
"We need to feed and clothe them the same as when the Great Tang built the railroad from Luoyang to the capital. We don't want them to tire out or starve. We also need to provide them with nutrition and medical care.
They are used as compensation in exchange for coming to the Tang Empire. The Japanese can consider how they will be treated after coming to the Tang Empire. To be precise, the Japanese think that they will be treated inhumanely.
In this way, all the people who are sent here, in addition to the members of the defeated families in Japan, are the people who have the least status and can be sacrificed at any time. When these people know about it … "
"They will be very sad when they know, won't they?" Wang Ju continued, "They themselves know that they are people who have been abandoned. Perhaps it won't be long before they lose their lives.
So the people they hate the most are not us, but Japan. When they come to the Tang Empire, we will treat them well, and a large number of them will be willing to abandon their identity as Japanese and do things for us. That's all I can think of. What else? "
The others were also deeply convinced. A hundred abandoned people, after coming to the Tang Empire, found that things were not what they thought. Many of them would become anti-Japanese.
We can use them later, but do we really want them to turn back and attack Japan?
Li Longji asked, "Don't be fooled by the fact that many of them are willing to abandon their identity as Japanese. However, only a small portion of them are willing to attack Japan. Besides, it will take a very long time for them to come to Great Tang before they will attack their own country. Xiao Bao, do you think the two of you can educate them to that extent within this year?"
"Why must we go to war? We don't want war, we want peace. The land I cut will divide the Japanese's territory. I can even cut the land into small strips, specifically to prevent them from contacting each other.
Only a small gap was left for them, so that if they wanted to contact each other there would be a way, but they would have to take a long detour to reach the place.
Our other merchants continued to co-operate with us, so as to put them into economic difficulties, and prevent them from concentrating their political and military forces.
"Then, the people who come over will be trained for a few months, and those who are slightly loyal to the Tang Empire will be picked out. They will bring back a lot of necessities and contact the Japanese in the different areas, telling them how good the Tang Empire is.
"We will persuade them to join the Tang Empire. As long as the majority of the people in a place are willing to join the Tang Empire, we will let them become independent first and declare that they will become the Tang Empire's territory. Then, the Tang Empire will immediately send officials to govern them.
"Their upper class can't stop us even if they want to. They can't even deny it. Do you think they will dare to enter the concession from other places?
"At that moment, they have lost the hearts of the people and lost their strategic position. They are in a situation where they can't fight back. From then on, the problem of Japan can be considered solved.
"As for the remaining political power, we will slowly instigate the internal relations between them and nibble away at them bit by bit. They will no longer have the strength to resist. In the future, we will disperse the Japanese and immigrate them back to the Tang Empire. When the Japanese of the Tang Empire die of old age or exhaustion, there will be no Japan in the world."
"And our Tang Empire will have a new ethnic group called Japan," Wang Juan said.
This was what she and Zhang Xiaobao had discussed. When the Japanese invaded, they had not completely occupied China and had not stabilized their position. They began to let the children of China learn Japanese in the occupied areas, but they were not allowed to learn Chinese characters and history.
At the same time, they would immigrate the Japanese and let them live with the local people. The purpose was to let the people of China forget about China one day and only think that they were a Japanese ethnic group.
But they failed. They failed because others also had better technology. The Soviet Union did not allow the Japanese to occupy China. China also resisted at that time. Their territory was too large, and the Japanese could not spread out. They were preparing for the long term and let the government of China recognize the existence of that place.
When the time came, they could use the Northeast as a springboard and continue to repeat this step, thus turning all of China into Japan.
Then the Soviet Union helped. In order to gain benefits, the United States also sent people to help. But the people who helped were not the parties that came to power later.
Wang Juan and Zhang Xiaobao had analyzed that the United States had helped Japan by throwing two atomic bombs at the end. It had helped Japan end the war at once. It was to gain control of Japan. Otherwise, the Soviet Union would get it. It was not purely to help China.
At that time, if the two atomic bombs had not been thrown, Japan could still continue to fight. Although the veterans were gone, they still had to support the war to continue.
Because Japan had not completely lost its advantage at that time, it could still be stabilized. The two parties in China were not very united. As long as time passed, through compromise and exchange, they might be able to form a tripartite balance.
If they really did that, China would slowly fight, and after a few years of fighting, the Japanese men would be extinct. After the war, they would want to rebuild, but it would not be as fast as before.
After the war, why did Japan value children so much? It was because they needed their children to grow up quickly. Otherwise, there would be no one.
And now, what they needed to do was to follow their original plans. The difference was that there was no Soviet Union or America to balance the world. No one could stop the Great Tang.
As Li Longji and the others listened, they once more thanked the heavens for allowing Xiao Bao and Cuckoo to be born in the Great Tang. For those two experts who had always been elusive to be born in the Great Tang, and for them to take a fancy to Xiao Bao and Cuckoo, choosing them to inherit their skills.
Otherwise, if they were thrown to Duochu, what would the Great Tang do? Even if they were thrown to Japan, by the time the Great Tang discovered the situation in Japan, it would be too late to attack.
It was just like how the other countries had not expected the Zhang Family and Wang Family of Sanshui County to reach this stage. If they had wanted to assassinate them, how could the Zhang Family and Wang Family of Sanshui County have been able to stop them?
Fortunately, the two of them had grown up, or rather, they had continued to grow, and there was no turning back.
"Good. I now believe that you'll be able to deal with Japan within a year. Although you won't be able to deal with all the members of the Japanese imperial family, you'll definitely make it so that they won't be a threat. In the future, when you go to fight Duochu, they won't make trouble behind your backs," Li Longji said with a sigh.
Li Longji sighed. He had to admit that Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan's strategy was a success. If they wanted to destroy a country, they didn't have to do it personally.
*****
Now that they knew that Japan would be dealt with and that they would be able to weaken the southwestern countries, Li Longji's group was in a good mood.
Their travel speed had also increased. Half a month later, they were only three hundred kilometers away from the landing point. Based on their current speed, they would arrive in twenty days.
In fact, their speed was already very slow. The main reason was that the group was huge, and the supply requirements were high. Later on, they had to constantly transport supplies. The further the journey, the longer the delay.
At the same time, they also had to build roads. Occasionally, they would have to stop. Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan also observed the local situation and provided several ideas for the local people to choose from. Some were related to farming, some were related to raising animals, and some were related to handicrafts.
In any case, they were trying their best to increase the income of the local people. Fruits and other local specialties could also be transported to the outside world to be sold through the roads that were built. When they provided things to the people outside, they could also buy the things they needed from the outside world.
Sometimes, Li Longji would also help to come up with ideas. Then, he would sigh and wonder why the local people were so stupid that they did not think about it themselves.
Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan did not explain to Li Longji. Even in their time, the people in remote places also stuck to their original way of life, let alone now.
Li Longji seemed to be smart now because he had been with the two of them for a long time. Otherwise, he would not have been able to come up with ideas in the past.
There was still no news from Takeshita Junichiro in Japan. Perhaps, he had not reached his destination yet and was still drifting at sea.
However, the Jang Wong Clan duo had left Hangzhou long ago. They brought along Hangzhou's specialties and the group as they traveled along the coast toward Lu Zhou. Their speed was relatively faster than those who traveled on land. If they did not have to take a detour at sea, they could have reached their destination a few days earlier.
The other places where they were preparing things also sent ships out. There was no need to follow the Jang Wong Clan's ship. Before the group left Lu Zhou, they just needed to send everything to them.
Apart from the Jang Wong Clan's gifts, there were also gifts for Little Bei and the others. They did not keep the money they earned from Takeshita Junichiro. Without going to the bank, they withdrew the money from other places through their family's connections. They ordered their family members to buy the goods and ship them to Lu Zhou.
Most of the goods were from the upper reaches of the Yangtze River. If they bought the specialties from the upper reaches of the Yangtze River and loaded them onto the ships, they would be able to travel faster. If they traveled from the capital, it would take too long.
*****
In the middle of the seventh month, at night, the moon in the sky was rounder than usual. This was the Hungry Ghost Festival, also known as the Ghost Festival.
The name sounded scary, but at this moment, it was the busiest time. It was second only to New Year's Eve and the fifteenth day of the first lunar month.
The people of Tang were busy. Some were offering sacrifices, and some were out for sightseeing. It was not that they were afraid of ghosts. Instead, they treated it as a day to gather and have fun.
Lu Zhou was especially lively tonight. Almost everyone had gathered near the docks. The neatly built roads were brightly lit as well.
Torches and candles made of fish oil illuminated the entire Lu Zhou.
There were also countless snacks placed outside. However, nobody was hawking. Instead, there were people in charge of preparing them. Once the food was taken away, someone would immediately make up for it. It was like a buffet.
However, the scale of this buffet was larger than any other buffet. On both sides of the road, there were people in charge of preparing food, tea, candies, dried fruits, and so on.
The amount of money spent in just one night was not a small amount.
If they were to calculate the cost, they would have spent 100,000 strings of strings of cash. Apart from these things, there were also countless Kongming lanterns, firecrackers, and colorful flags that were waiting to be set off.
The entertainment cost of 100,000 strings of cash was equivalent to the annual income of ten medium-sized counties in other places.
However, even though so much money was spent, no one felt the pinch. Well, to be more precise, only a small portion of people felt the pinch.
The person who felt the pinch was the newly appointed Provincial Governor of Lu Zhou, Xu Mingyang.
He had only obtained this position through his connections. At the beginning of spring, he brought his family and rushed to Lu Zhou with him. After the handover, he wanted to show off his ambition.
He had heard about Lu Zhou. The previous officials were replaced every year, but no one was able to interfere with Lu Zhou's development.
Before he came, the person he had asked told him not to have any other ideas. If he stayed in Lu Zhou for a year without any problems, he would be given a large sum of money when he left. At the same time, he would be asked to learn more during his free time.
Lu Zhou was an important place for imports and exports. There were many things that could not be learned elsewhere. He could broaden his horizons and learn. When he returned, he could be given a better position and even have a chance to enter the court.
Xu Mingyang agreed readily, but he was not convinced. He always thought that if he came to Lu Zhou with his own ability, he would be able to discover the shortcomings of Lu Zhou's development and make up for it.
However, when he arrived at the place, he had not discovered the flaws in his development. He first found that there were many things that he did not know. He could only learn patiently so that he could think about what to change after he learned.
In the end, the more he learned, the more he realized that he knew little. It was as though everything he had learned before was part of the enlightenment education.
When it was almost the day before the Hungry Ghost Festival, he wanted to organize an event to win the hearts of the people. However, before he could organize it, Lu Zhou's people had already organized it. Moreover, they did not tell him at all, let alone ask for his opinion and suggestions.
He asked a few people, but he did not get any useful information. He could only wait for the day when others were busy. He would participate in the event as the Provincial Governor. He thought that as an official, the others would not continue to ignore him, right?
When he went out at night, under the bright light of the fire, he saw the words on the banners and flags that were held up by the people outside. At first, he was happy.
This was because the words on the banners read, "Welcome, Provincial Governor. Greetings, Provincial Governor. We miss you, Provincial Governor."
It seemed that the people wanted to give him a surprise. Xu Mingyang thought to himself. When he saw the endless line of people walking toward the government office, he stood out with a happy expression on his face. He placed his hands behind his back and waited for the people to greet him.
However, the people did not seem to see him. They continued to hold up the banners and walked to the other side. A few people who thought he was a hindrance glared at him.
He pulled someone aside and said angrily, "Tell me, where are you going to celebrate for me? Hurry up and tell me. Otherwise, I won't participate."
The person who was pulled aside looked at him in surprise. When he regained his senses, he pursed his lips and said, "Stay in your mansion obediently. Who cares about you? You're the Provincial Governor. We're going to welcome the Provincial Governor's wife. They're coming tonight."
"The Provincial Governor's wife? My wife is in my mansion. Why don't I know where she went? "Xu Mingyang continued to hold on to the person and refused to let go.
"What kind of Provincial Governor are you? In Lu Zhou, there's only one Provincial Governor, and that's Provincial Governor Zhang Zhong. The Provincial Governor's wife is coming by boat. We're going to welcome her. Let me tell you, don't cause trouble. Otherwise, I'll teach you a lesson. Be obedient.
Let go of my hand. "As the person spoke, he struggled to break free from Xu Mingyang's hand. A happy expression returned to his face as he walked toward the docks with the others.
"Why am I not the Provincial Governor? Why am I not the Provincial Governor? I'll go as well. I want to ask Zhang Zhong's wife in person if I'm the Provincial Governor of Lu Zhou. "
Xu Mingyang said angrily. As expected, he followed the group to the docks.
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