Kangxi naturally saw the painful expression on his son's face, but he had no choice. Since he did not plan to use the money from the national treasury to build the reservoir, he would have to pay for it himself. But how could the money in his private treasury be enough? The oil mill was a profitable business. Although Yinzuo only got 30% of the dividends, it was not a small amount. Now he was short of money, so the money had to be spent wisely.
"Don't worry, once this is over, Khan Ama will return the money to you double."
Well, this is a good deal, but Yinzuo feels that he can't digest it at all. You know, such a big country has so many places to spend money. He said he would pay him back double, but where would the money come from? If his father could make money, he wouldn't be staring at his little tricks now.
After much thought, Yinzuo felt that if a country wanted to become rich and strong, there were only two ways. One was to increase revenue and reduce expenditure and keep the wealth among the people, and the other was to launch a war to plunder others. When it came to plundering wealth, the first idea that came to Yinzuo's mind was to persuade Kangxi to take over that country where people lived well. You must know that before the discovery of America, Xiaori was the world's largest gold producer. Before the eighteenth century, the West called Xiaori the Treasure Island. If he could persuade Kangxi to send troops to take over Xiaori, not only would he not have to worry about gold and silver in the future, but he would also have avenged the revenge that happened a hundred years later, right?
Yinzuo couldn't help but get excited when he thought of this, but he soon calmed down because he quickly realized that it would not be an easy task to persuade Kangxi to send troops to attack Xiaozi. After all, Kangxi was now trying his best to fight Galdan.
But he thought again, just because he couldn't do it now doesn't mean he couldn't do it in the future. You know, since his father defeated Galdan, he basically didn't do any serious work for the next twenty years. He was so idle that he was suspicious and fighting with his son all day long, and he ended up ruining his group of capable brothers and sisters. He thought that since he was so idle, it would be better to set a target for him first, so that his brothers could relax for two more years.
"Khan Ama, I wonder what you think of the country of Wa."
Although Kangxi didn't know why his son suddenly changed the topic to Japan, he thought about it seriously and replied.
"Wako is a country that is extremely capricious. Its people are very mean and have no idea of the existence of kindness and friendship. They are only intimidated by the might of the military. Therefore, we must not treat them with the slightest kindness."
Yinzuo had seen this sentence many times when he was watching Tik Tok in his previous life. At that time, he felt that Kangxi's evaluation of Xiaorizi was really insightful. At this moment, he was sitting next to Kangxi, watching him say this with a frown, which made Yinzuo feel more intuitively Kangxi's dislike for Xiaorizi and the country.
"Khan Ama is right. This is the case with the Wako people. To quote our ancients, they know small etiquette but lack great righteousness, they adhere to small principles but lack great virtue, they value trivial matters but neglect integrity and shame, they fear power but not virtue. The strong will inevitably rob and invade, and the weak will inevitably submit! The reason they are now submitting to our Qing Dynasty is because we are stronger than them, or if we are even slightly weaker one day, they will probably pounce on us and bite us first."
Kangxi thought to himself, weren’t we just talking about the lack of money? How did it suddenly turn to this? What does this have to do with Japan?
"Yinzuo, why did you suddenly think of talking to me about Japan? Weren't we just talking about building a reservoir?"
Yinzuo himself knew that he had jumped too far in the subject. He was just thinking about how to get back to the topic of money, but he didn't expect Kangxi to hand him the ladder.
"It's because we need to build a reservoir that I thought of Japan. I've read in books before that Japan, due to its unique geographical location, is very short of resources like coal, iron, and crude oil. However, it is very rich in minerals like gold, silver, sulfur, and copper. There are over 400 gold mines and over 2,000 silver mines, large and small, scattered across this small island, and there are even more copper mines. I thought, Khan, aren't you short of money? Why not send troops to conquer this small country? Then, whether you want to build a reservoir or fight a war, will you still be short of money? I also heard that although the people of Japan are short in stature, they are the most hardworking. If we take that island, we can capture some of them and have them build a reservoir for us. This will not only exempt our people from corvee labor, but also save a lot of money..."
Kangxi looked at Yinzuo, who was getting more and more excited as he spoke, and whose smile was getting brighter and brighter, and shook his head helplessly. It was undeniable that he was indeed very interested in the minerals that Yinzuo mentioned, but it was not so easy to use military force against foreign countries.
"Yinzuo, your idea is good, but sending troops is no small matter. Moreover, the Qing Dynasty is not at peace right now, and the Galdan issue has not been resolved yet."
Yinzuo didn't expect to convince Kangxi all at once. He was just trying to test Kangxi's attitude. Anyway, his father would be short of money for many days in the future. It wouldn't be too late to persuade Kangxi when his treasury was emptied by the civil and military officials in the court.
"I understand Khan Ama's concerns. I also know that rashly using foreign troops is extremely risky. I just said those words because, firstly, we are short of money now. And Wakoku happens to have abundant gold and silver reserves. Taking it will make all that gold and silver ours. Secondly, I just feel that Wakoku is far less powerful than our Qing Dynasty. If we want to take it, now is the best time. Otherwise, if it becomes too powerful in the future, it will become a serious threat to us. Khan Ama must have thought more carefully than me. Anyway, we are not in a hurry now. It is better to wait until we deal with Galdan before slowly making plans against Wakoku."
After listening to Yinzuo's words, Kangxi nodded slightly, and couldn't help but think about it.
"You have some truth in what you said, but Japan is isolated overseas. Even if we want to attack, we must make thorough preparations in advance. Also, our Great Qing Navy hasn't fought a major battle in some years, so there's no rush. We can make plans later when we have time. The biggest enemy we face now is still Galdan of the Junggar tribe. How to quickly eliminate him is the most pressing issue."
Although Kangxi hadn't said it explicitly, Yinzuo knew him well enough to know from his pensive expression that his father was probably also eyeing the minerals on Xiaorizi Island. He had previously worried that Kangxi had no intention of attacking Xiaorizi at all. Now, he felt relieved. As the saying goes, it's not the thief you're afraid of, but the thief you're afraid of. If Kangxi was interested now, then when he was desperate for money, wouldn't he want to take a bite out of that huge piece of fat meat? By then, he probably wouldn't need any persuasion; he would send troops to take the money.
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