Xiao Ruxun's secret memorial was written like this.
"Japan is a small country with few resources, but it is rich in gold and silver. From the mouth of the Japanese pirates, I learned that there is a big silver mountain on the Japanese island with an annual production of one million taels of silver. I also heard that there is an island called Sado, which has a gold mountain and an annual production of about eight thousand taels of gold. In addition to these two, its territory is covered with gold, silver, and copper mines. Its population is no less than ten million. Gold, silver, and copper mines, as well as young and strong labor, are what the Daming urgently needs. Why don't Your Majesty take it for the use of the country?"
Xiao Ruxun's short sentence made Zhu Yijun's heart suddenly rise up to destroy the idea of Japan occupying his territory and plundering gold and silver.
As an emperor, Zhu Yijun was really afraid of poverty, and he was also afraid of being cheated by those civil officials. In order to ensure that his palace treasury would not dry up, so that his descendants would not have money to use, he searched everywhere for gold, silver, and copper mines, and tried his best to open a mine.
But on one hand, there were many obstacles. On the other hand, the Daming was rich in resources, but it lacked precious metals such as gold, silver, and copper. Now that he knew that Japan lacked everything except gold, silver, and copper, he could not wait to occupy Japan and develop it.
Moreover, the population of Japan really surprised Zhu Yijun. He remembered that during the time of Taizu, people said that Japan had no more than a million people and no more than a hundred thousand soldiers. It was really a small country. But two hundred years later, Japan's population was actually more than ten million. In this way, there were at least a million young and strong labor. No wonder they could mobilize hundreds of thousands of troops to invade Korea. There was a fierce island country with a population of ten million next to his bed. Zhu Yijun suddenly felt uneasy.
What Xiao Ruxun wanted to do was always refuted by the civil officials for not caring for the people's livelihood. However, if he used captives from the nation of clowns to serve the Daming, no one could say no. Zhu Yijun was not stupid. With the inspiration from Xiao Ruxun, he quickly drew inferences.
He discovered that in many places, he could use captives to do many things unscrupulously. He could build cities, the Great Wall, the canals, the roads, the courier stations, the transportation of provisions to the border, the shipbuilding of weapons and armaments, and so on. He didn't even have to pay a single cent. As long as he provided some food, he wouldn't have to be labeled as inconsiderate of the people's livelihood. He could even receive the support and praise of the people. The civil officials couldn't say anything against it!
In fact, this was the rule of virtue, not tyranny.
Could the civil officials come up with any reason to say that it was tyranny to replace their own people with captives? The saliva of all the people in the world could drown these bastards! Moreover, once this was done, the people were used to using captives to replace them with labor. If this was abolished in the future, it wouldn't just be the loss of the imperial court's prestige.
Japan's tens of millions of people couldn't be wasted like this!
The more he thought about it, the more excited he became. Zhu Yijun stood up and walked a few steps. He was so excited that he couldn't control himself. After thinking about it again and again, he asked for the time. He decided to make an exception and summon the Minister of War, Shi Xing, and the Minister of Revenue, Yang Junmin.
Shi Xing was a person who could be used and could be trusted to a certain extent. However, Yang Junmin was Yang Bo's son. Zhu Yijun sneered and sneered again and again.
During the Jiajing period, Yang Bo and the Jin merchant group had been exporting necessities and ironware to the Mongols at the same time. They thought that no one knew about it, but it was an open secret. Zhu Yijun learned about it through a special channel. At first, he was shocked and angry, but he gradually came to his senses and decided to keep a low profile.
It was getting late. Originally, the ministers of the six ministries should have left the palace to go home to rest. However, the war was urgent and the frontline was busy. Among the six ministries, except for the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of Justice, the ministers of the other four ministries, including the Ministry of Appointments, stayed behind to deal with affairs. At this time, Zhang Cheng rushed in with Zhu Yijun's summon.
"Who? Zhang Cheng? What is he doing here? "
Zhang Wei was presiding over the work of the four ministries' ministers. Suddenly, he heard a small official report that the emperor's personal eunuch, Zhang Cheng, had come to announce something important. He felt strange and waved his hand to let Zhang Cheng in. Zhang Wei and the ministers of the four ministries put down their pens. They didn't know what the emperor, who hadn't shown up for a long time and only communicated with them by pen and paper, was going to do.
After a while, Zhang Cheng rushed in.
"Oh, you haven't left yet? Just in time, Shi Butang, Yang Butang, the emperor has summoned you. He has something important to discuss with you! "
"What?!"
Zhang Wei and the ministers of the four ministries showed an extremely shocked expression.
The emperor wanted to summon the ministers? When was the last time he summoned them? A few years ago? How long had it been since the ministers saw the emperor? Because of the struggle for the foundation of the country and the ministers' anger, the emperor refused to summon the ministers. He only issued orders in the form of a warrant and never contacted the ministers. Not to mention other things, he didn't even show up for the First Month Sacrifice or the Imperial Examinations. This made the civil officials feel embarrassed and resentful.
Without the emperor's support, they felt that whatever they did was not justified. The emperor was really too unreasonable! Not a bit like his father, "the civil officials complained in private." Not a bit like his father.
But what was going on today? Had the emperor changed his temperament? Had the weather changed? He wanted to summon the ministers of the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Revenue?
Yang Junmin and Shi Xing looked at each other. They could see the excitement and joy in each other's eyes. The two of them adjusted their hats at the same time, straightened their collars, and brushed off the dust on their bodies. Yang Junmin even lifted up his clothes to smell if there was any strange smell. After that, he excitedly followed Zhang Cheng to see the Emperor. Zhang Wei felt more or less envious and jealous.
The two soon arrived at the emperor's palace. Zhang Cheng went in to pass the message, and then the summon was issued. The two went straight up the stairs, one on the left and the other on the right, feeling excited.
After entering the palace, they saw the emperor sitting behind the desk. They almost forgot what he looked like. The two knelt together and saluted, "Your subject Shi Xing (Yang Junmin) pays his respect to Your Majesty! Long live the emperor! "
"You may rise!"
"Thank you, Your Majesty!"
The two stood up and respectfully leaned forward. They were planning to say some warm words to comfort the emperor they hadn't seen for many years, to exchange feelings, and to ease the stiff relationship between the two sides. In the end, the emperor didn't seem to have any intention of mending the relationship with the officials.
"I called you here not for other matters, but for the previous matter. I feel that there is a need to say it in person. The matter is urgent, so I won't be polite. Shi Xing, I ask you, I want 500 warships. How long will it take for you to arrange it? Also, how many sailors and navy soldiers do you need? "
Shi Xing stilled and raised his head to look at the emperor's face. He blinked and replied after a while, "About, I need nearly 10,000 navy soldiers and sailors. It can be prepared in a month. Your Majesty, don't tell me …"
"Yang Junmin, I ask you, to mobilize 500 warships and 10,000 soldiers to form a navy to suppress the Japanese pirates, how much silver will it cost? How much can the national treasury provide? "
Yang Junmin and Shi Xing were dumbfounded by the emperor's sudden question, but they were, after all, experienced bureaucrats. They quickly reacted, silently calculated, and gave a conservative price of three hundred thousand taels of silver.
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