"Sun Da, tell me, how many things are you hiding from us?"

Zhu Yuanzhang asked.

This eldest grandson is really not simple.

"Grandpa, how could I hide anything from you? You haven't even asked me about this."

Zhu Ying said helplessly.

I can't say that I'm hiding something just because you can't find out.

Zhu Yuanzhang was speechless. What his eldest grandson said was indeed true.

"I think the princess of Annan is pretty good. Since she's been sent to you, you can keep her. Anyway, I think you are a good kid, so I don't plan to let you go."

Zhu Yuanzhang paused and said jokingly.

Zhu Ying pursed his lips and said, "The princess is not a big deal, but Annan must be taken down."

Upon hearing this, Zhu Yuanzhang frowned.

He couldn't help but scold her in a slightly reprimanding tone: "It's just a remote Annan, what's so worthy of your concern? If it was in the past, it would be fine, but now the huge Ming Dynasty is not enough for you to mess around."

"You haven't even taken care of your own affairs, yet you're still thinking about the outside world. You've lived in the border for a long time, so you should be able to see the current situation of the Ming Dynasty more clearly than I do."

"It is most important to run your own business well first. Just like what you told me about the Ming Dynasty Treasure Notes last time, the current situation in the national treasury is worse than you imagined."

"How could we not know about the situation of Ming Baochao? However, with natural disasters continuing, this is the only solution at the moment."

As he spoke, Zhu Yuanzhang's tone became slightly heavier.

If the situation was different before, he would not have been so reluctant to scold him, but with the current situation, given your eldest grandson's intelligence, you should be able to see it.

In Zhu Yuanzhang's view, the current territory of the Ming Dynasty is already large enough. To the Ming Dynasty, it would be a waste of money and manpower to fight against those small countries, which would be nothing but a waste of military resources.

Zhu Ying listened to the old man quietly, without interrupting him or expressing his own opinions impatiently.

He knew that the old man was limited by his thinking, or rather his vision.

In fact, for the emperors of all dynasties, many small countries were just a small area on the map. It was troublesome and laborious to fight against them, and there was no benefit in conquering them.

Except for some emperors who were born with a passion for expanding territory, other emperors basically had no interest at all.

Moreover, there have always been many things to do in the Central Plains region in every dynasty. When the emperor has too much centralized power, it means that many things have to be dealt with every day, just like the old man is doing now.

When the emperor's power was not centralized enough, he basically spent every day thinking about how to balance the power of the parties in the court and bring power back into his own hands.

As for those who like to have fun, let alone time, they don’t even have enough time to play, so how can they have time to care about those small countries?

After the old man finished scolding, Zhu Ying began to explain slowly:

"Grandpa, you don't know that in my mind, Annan is probably a place with dense mountains and a lot of miasma. Our army will easily suffer from acclimatization if we go there."

"Just like the Shu Road, it's difficult to march, and it's a small country with few people, so there's not much to gain, right?"

Hearing this, Zhu Yuanzhang snorted coldly and said, "It's good that you know. In my opinion, it's better to attack Japan than to attack Annan. At least there is a lot of silver there, just as you said."

"If we spend some effort and conquer Japan, at least our Ming Dynasty won't have to worry about running out of money for hundreds of years."

Zhu Ying replied: "Silver can't be eaten, but Grandpa, do you know that Annan has natural advantages for growing rice?"

"The rice in Annan is basically three-season rice, that is, three crops a year, and the rice-growing areas in Annan are basically irrigated by rivers."

"The natural water resources and extremely fertile soil can produce several times more per mu than the fertile farmland of the Ming Dynasty."

Zhu Ying explained slowly.

In fact, he himself didn't know much about Annan, but he knew about the tropical rainforest climate.

The most important thing is that Annan in later generations was a major grain exporter. It had little arable land but a large population, and could still export a large amount of grain.

This is enough to show that it plays a great role in arable land.

The biggest reason why it has not appeared now is that Annan’s farming technology is too backward, and the Annan government does not pay enough attention to rice.

Moreover, due to the lack of rice-growing technology, agriculture in Annan has not yet taken off due to many factors.

When Zhu Yuanzhang heard this, he hesitated with a hint of disbelief, but his eldest grandson's words were extremely certain.

So he asked, "Grandson, these things are not to be joked about."

Deep down, Zhu Yuanzhang was still skeptical about the silver mountain in Japan, including what his eldest grandson had mentioned.

It’s just that the Japanese pirates were too arrogant and the Ming envoys were killed. He has been holding this grudge for twenty years.

Before, his eldest grandson was determined to attack Japan, and he felt that he could not stop him, so he just fought anyway.

Now Annan has come again, and this time the eldest grandson said it was a problem of food.

Food is much more important than money.

"Grandpa, I am thinking of going to Annan to establish a kingdom. I have already investigated this matter. In fact, the truth of this matter can be known by sending some spies to inquire about it."

Zhu Ying explained.

Upon hearing this, Zhu Yuanzhang nodded subconsciously.

It is difficult to say about the matter of the Japanese silver. There are still many ministers in the Ming Dynasty who understand agriculture. We can send a few envoys to investigate. We will immediately know whether what Dasun said is true or not.

Thinking of this, Zhu Yuanzhang immediately believed what his eldest grandson said.

"If this is true, it seems that Annan is still quite important." Zhu Yuanzhang murmured, and his heart suddenly began to be moved.

Food is the most important thing for people. The issue of grain has always been the most important issue for the Ming Dynasty.

As long as there is enough food, why worry that the Ming Dynasty cannot become stronger?

Seeing that the old man was interested, Zhu Ying quickly said, "It's not just Japan and Annan. I've been in the desert and grasslands of the Western Regions for many years, and many small countries seem to be useless."

"But in fact, it has a very important meaning for the Ming Dynasty."

"We got silver from the war with Japan and grain from the conquest of Annan. So how can we say that this is a waste of money and manpower?"

Hearing this, Zhu Yuanzhang fell silent.

He had to admit that what his eldest grandson said really moved him.

Who would complain about having plenty of money and food?

Moreover, the Ming Dynasty is now affected by natural disasters, and has little money and food.

However, the proposition hidden in Da Sun's words was so big that even Zhu Yuanzhang could not accept it.

Once the Ming Dynasty started a war, it would not be easy to stop.

The scale of a war is far from being able to be fought in a few days or months.

No one says that once a war is started, it will definitely be won.

Various unexpected factors are just like when the Mongols founded the Yuan Dynasty. They were so powerful, but they suffered successive defeats in a tiny country like Japan.

The failure of the two wars resulted in huge losses for the Mongols and also laid a huge hidden danger.

Moreover, Zhu Yuanzhang has never been a warlike person.

He joined the rebellion from the beginning because he could no longer survive and would starve to death if he did not rebel.

Needless to say, the subsequent campaigns were basically driven by the situation at the time.

If I don't hit you, you will hit me.

The only choice is to fight, there is no way out.

So when the entire Central Plains was conquered, Zhu Yuanzhang stopped his conquests and turned to recuperation.

The reason why Zhu Yuanzhang had a million-strong army was because he wanted to protect his family business, not because he had any idea of ​​conquering the enemy or expanding the territory.

Even though he became emperor, deep down, Zhu Yuanzhang was still a person who wanted to protect his family business.

The ambition in Da Sun's words cannot be said to be an attempt to hide the truth, it can be said to be completely undisguised, and his desire for war is obvious.

Zhu Ying saw that the old man's face looked a little heavy, and knew that the old man must be very conflicted inside.

Zhu Ying's meaning of today's words was very direct, and he even knew that the old man was very resistant to these topics.

But he still chose to say it, because too many things, given the conditions in ancient times, could not be accomplished overnight.

Some things may even take years of preparation.

So he had to say it in advance to test the old man's attitude. Even if the old man would be disgusted by it, he didn't care.

Even if it was the worst case scenario and he missed the chance to become the emperor of the Ming Dynasty, he didn't care.

Given his current situation, even if he couldn't become the emperor of the Ming Dynasty because of this kind of thing, with his status, it would be no problem for him to become a vassal king.

There are so many things he can do in the name of the Ming Dynasty.

Besides, if he doesn't do it, who will?

Or is it Zhu Yunwen?

If this were true, I'm afraid it might not be Zhu Di who led the Jingnan Rebellion.

After thinking about it for a while, Zhu Ying felt that for the time being, it would be better not to push the old man too hard.

Changing the subject, he said, "Grandpa, last time I told you about the granulation of gunpowder, has it been arranged to be done by the Gunpowder Department?"

Zhu Yuanzhang came back to his senses after hearing this and said, "A memorial came in yesterday saying that it has been completed, but the effect has not been tested yet."

Zhu Ying was slightly stunned when he heard this.

So fast? Are you kidding me? It's only been a few days, and you say the gunpowder has been successfully granulated?

Although the granulation of gunpowder was not complicated, the actions of the Gunpowder Department were really too fast. It was completely beyond his imagination.

It was only at this time that Zhu Yingcai realized that the scientific research capabilities of the early Ming Dynasty were completely incomparable to those of the late Ming Dynasty.

"Grandpa, I want to go to the Gunpowder Department again tomorrow to have a look." Zhu Ying couldn't help but say.

He suspected that the Gunpowder Department had made a mistake.

"Okay, tomorrow we'll go with you to see if what Grandson said is true."

Zhu Yuanzhang said.

The eldest grandson gave him a lot of advice, and at present, the work-for-relief approach is still a good idea.

Japan and Annan are too far away.

The closest thing we can see is the so-called granulation of gunpowder.

In Dasun's words, the granulation of gunpowder seemed to be quite important, even a little exaggerated.

It seems that once completed, the damage of firearms can be increased by a level.

Zhu Yuanzhang wanted to go and see for himself if this was true.

So Zhu Yuanzhang would have paid more attention to the Japanese silver mountains and Annan rice mentioned by his eldest grandson.

At the same time, Zhu Yuanzhang also understood that the power of firearms could be further improved.

For the Ming army, fighting became even easier.