Chapter 85 Ryukyu Kingdom
"Your Majesty!" Seeing that the situation was at a stalemate, Prime Minister Hu Weiyong hesitated for a moment before speaking.
"I believe that there are only a few Japanese pirates causing trouble along the coast. Once our heavenly soldiers arrive, they will surely flee. There is no need to worry about them at all. We only need to recover the lost territory and establish military defenses along the coast to eliminate future troubles."
"Right now, the defense of the Ming Dynasty is primarily focused on the north. The former Yuan Dynasty is still causing chaos. They are the biggest threat to the Ming Dynasty..."
After hearing Hu Weiyong's statement, Zhu Yuanzhang fell into silence, and the scene suddenly became dominated by Hu Weiyong's conversation.
Zhu Yuanzhang knew very well that Hu Weiyong's attitude reflected the attitude of almost all officials in the Ming Dynasty court, including Zhu Yuanzhang himself. They all believed that the biggest threat to the Ming Dynasty was the Mongols in the north.
In a small country like Japan, the imperial court could easily regard the Japanese pirates as nothing more than a minor threat and not a cause for concern.
After waiting for Hu Weiyong to finish his speech, Zhu Yuanzhang frowned slightly and asked, "What do you think, Prime Minister? How should we eradicate the Japanese pirate rebellion?"
Zhu's question seemed to be a question, but it also seemed like he didn't ask anything, because the scope covered was so broad that even Hu Weiyong didn't answer it immediately.
Faced with this situation, Lao Zhu was not in a hurry and just waited quietly for Lao Hu's answer.
After a long pause, Hu Weiyong finally said, "The Japanese pirates came from Japan. Japan is just a small barbarian nation. Our Great Ming is the Celestial Empire. We can conquer them with virtue. With the pressure of our Celestial Empire, we can defeat them without fighting. We can use tribute to show them kindness and educate them!"
Hearing this, Old Zhu had a blank expression on his face, and it was hard to tell whether he was happy or angry. He didn't say a word afterwards.
Crown Prince Zhu Biao frowned, not knowing whether to speak or not. Deep down, he felt that the strategy proposed by Hu Weiyong was also an idea that Zhu Biao had had before.
The Japanese pirates are not large-scale now, and they always cause chaos in scattered places. They cannot be defeated in one battle. In this case, it is a good idea to treat the neighboring small countries as they do to publicize the power of the Celestial Empire and use the strategy of tribute.
The benefit of doing so is that it can maintain the face of the Ming Dynasty and win over the relationship with the target country.
But the problem is that the situation in Japan is complicated now, and it is not as simple as Hu Weiyong thought. In Zhu Biao's view, paying tribute to Japan is very likely to be like throwing meat buns at a dog, which is a thankless task and will most likely lead to ridicule.
At the end of the court meeting, no conclusion was reached, which is normal.
Things like this involving national war would not have a result in less than ten days or half a month in those days.
But Zhu Biao felt it was inappropriate, so after the court meeting ended, he immediately went to Zhu Chong's courtyard.
Recently, he felt that his opinion of his second brother was more and more reasonable. Most of the ministers around him had the same views as Hu Weiyong, which made Zhu Biao very dissatisfied. What he wanted to hear now was different content.
When Zhu Chong knew Zhu Biao's purpose, he laughed so hard that his heart was about to collapse. Everything was finally under his control.
After a brief thought, Zhu Chong said to Zhu Biao, "Brother, conquering Japan is actually not that difficult. With the military strength of the Ming Dynasty, at most one general and tens of thousands of soldiers can pacify Japan."
"But attacking Japan is not easy. Without a strong navy and sailors who are familiar with the sea climate, it is unlikely to be successful. The previous dynasty tried to invade Japan twice, but both times they failed due to hurricanes at sea."
"So the sea climate plays a decisive role in the march. Only with experienced sailors familiar with the sea climate to guide the way can the landing and fighting in Japan be successful."
"And in my opinion, no one in the court takes Japan seriously now, believing that conquering Japan would be a waste of money and manpower. So my father is actually struggling with whether to conquer Japan."
After hearing Zhu Chong's words, Zhu Biao nodded slightly and agreed with him deeply.
At today's court meeting, Zhu Yuanzhang and his ministers were indeed very conflicted about the attitude towards the invasion of Japan.
After all, it involves the use of materials and manpower, which is very complicated, especially when it comes to the navy and the appointment of generals.
The most important thing is that the lessons learned from the previous dynasty's two failed expeditions to Japan made the Ming Dynasty's rulers and ministers a little nervous. If they were to repeat the mistakes of the previous dynasty, it would be a very heavy blow to the current Ming Dynasty.
"Second brother, what do you think is the best way to conquer Japan?" Zhu Biao looked at Zhu Chong with burning eyes.
"Brother, do you have a feng shui map with you?" As soon as Zhu Chong asked the question, Zhu Biao ordered someone to bring up the prepared feng shui map, which clearly marked the detailed locations between the Ming Dynasty's maritime territory and Japan.
Seeing such a detailed feng shui map, Zhu Chong smiled and said, "Brother, with this feng shui map, what else do you have to worry about?"
"Why do you say that, second brother?" Zhu Biao looked puzzled. He had looked at the feng shui map countless times but never figured out a solution. How come Zhu Chong could see the solution at a glance?
Seeing Zhu Biao's puzzled expression, Zhu Chong smiled and pointed to a spot on the feng shui map. "Brother, do you know this country?"
Zhu Biao looked in the direction Zhu Chong's finger pointed, but all he saw was an island sandwiched between Japan and the Ming Dynasty. His face showed even more confusion.
"This is the Ryukyu Kingdom, a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty. As far as I know, it is one of the few countries in the Ming Dynasty that is most active in paying tribute."
Zhu Chong patiently explained, "Maybe you don't quite understand the geomancy map, but the Ryukyu Kingdom is actually very close to Japan. The residents there almost all make their livings by the sea, so they're very familiar with the ocean's climate."
"To conquer Japan, we must take the sea route, but the starting point does not necessarily have to be on the coastline of our Ming Dynasty. I believe that we can use the Ryukyu Kingdom as an outpost, station heavy troops in Ryukyu first, and then land in Japan to fight after we are fully prepared!"
As Zhu Chong talked, Zhu Biao's eyes suddenly became brighter and brighter, and he finally remembered where the Ryukyu Kingdom was.
The Ryukyu Kingdom was indeed a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty, but it was too backward and poor.
How poor was this country? Even though they were on the sea, they had no ability to build seagoing ships.
On many occasions when paying tribute to the Ming Dynasty, the ship was damaged and the delegation could not return, so they had to ask the Ming Dynasty for help.
The reason why Zhu Biao remembered Ryukyu was entirely because the list of gifts that Ryukyu paid as tribute to the Ming Dynasty included sulfur, which was specifically used to make gunpowder. So after looking at it carefully, he remembered this country with a low presence.
But then Zhu Biao had a new question, "Second Brother, your idea is good, but is there any benefit in conquering a country as poor as Ryukyu?"
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