Zhu Ying's idea is very simple.

The goal is to build a Chinese cultural circle.

In fact, strictly speaking, in the original history, Zhu Di also engaged in colonization.

That is Annan.

He mobilized an army of 400,000 to conquer Annan and establish Jiaozhi.

Although there is no idea of ​​the concept of colonization, in reality it is not much different.

The final result, naturally, ended in failure.

Zhu Ying did not intend to bring up the concept of colonization.

The essence of colonization is actually an early means of plunder by capital. In fact, the sprouts of capital appeared in the Song Dynasty, but under the imperial system, there was no soil for development at all.

No matter how much wealth you control or how much land you own, unless you rebel, you are nothing but a fat sheep in the eyes of scholars and generals.

They can be slaughtered whenever they want, without any room for resistance.

On the surface, the Song Dynasty did have some factors similar to the budding of capital, such as employment relations, primitive industrialization, the accumulation of commercial capital, and so on.

However, these superficial characteristics did not change the production mode in the developed areas of the Song Dynasty. Its essence was still a combination of the production mode of the traditional land agricultural society and the landlord-bureaucratic economic system.

In fact, every emperor, no matter how incompetent or not, has the idea of ​​expanding the territory in his mind.

Otherwise, would the vast land of the Ming Dynasty today have been given by someone else?

For example, in history, Zhu Di, who always wanted to prove himself to Zhu Yuanzhang, spent almost his entire life on horseback.

Because he felt guilty towards his father, he needed achievements.

During the Yongle reign, he destroyed the Northern Yuan Dynasty, launched five expeditions against Mongolia, and set up three major camps outside the Great Wall to intimidate the border.

The Oirat Tatars all paid tribute and pledged allegiance to the Ming Dynasty, and Annan was forcibly conquered. The vassal states were directly abolished and counties were established, which were incorporated into the territory of the Ming Dynasty.

He won over and controlled the Jurchen tribes, conquered Tibet, and set up a Xuanwei Office in Yunnan.

Zhu Di tried every place where he could expand, east, west, south, and north.

However, in this situation, Zhu Ying controlled the court bulletin but did not express the concept of colonization. The root cause was the cultural characteristics of the Ming Dynasty itself.

Even to many people.

Even if I understand the concept of colonization, I still feel it is useless.

It also wastes military forces to govern the colonies. If the military force is insufficient, there is a possibility of resistance from the local natives.

For example, Yunnan, to a certain extent, is similar to the concept of colonization.

In fact, if there was no Mu Ying, Annan might now be the region with the most frequent uprisings in the entire Ming Dynasty.

Not to mention overseas colonization.

It is a complete waste of money and manpower and a waste of resources.

At present, the barbarian lands overseas can never compare to the prosperity of the Ming Dynasty.

Their own family has not yet developed well, but they are just eating from the bowl and looking at the pot.

As for developing capital, that is, businessmen, this is completely out of the mind of the ruling class, including civil and military officials.

Even Zhu Yuanzhang never considered it.

What use is there for a businessman with a low social status?

But Zhu Ying is now doing the opposite.

The decree he issued to Li Shuming as a condition for releasing him did not state it explicitly, but the implicit meaning was to allow Li Shuming to colonize overseas.

This was the first wave of colonial operations by the Ming Dynasty before its voyage to the West.

This is not to say that Zhu Ying was too ambitious, or that he could not see the disadvantages of improving the status of merchants and developing maritime trade.

The large amount of overseas wealth flowing into the Ming Dynasty will, to a certain extent, only lead to inflation.

The current population structure of the Ming Dynasty is equivalent to 80% of the population being farmers due to the limitations of grain production and natural and man-made disasters.

In other words, these 80% of farmers feed the other 20%.

The key at present is to weaken and suppress the landlords in all aspects as we plant potatoes, sweet potatoes and corn.

It is conceivable that within two years at most, a steady stream of labor will be slowly freed from the fields.

Coupled with the current policies, such as the policy of equalizing the land tax, the population of the Ming Dynasty will usher in waves of explosive growth in the future.

Zhu Ying knew very well that for a country's rapid development, agriculture is naturally the foundation, and industry is also extremely important.

Now various factories are constantly undertaking this.

Large and wealthy people from all over the country are also constantly joining in.

Industry is developing rapidly, and within a few years, a large number of new generation of rich people will emerge.

After getting rid of the traditional merchants' behaviors of hoarding goods, speculation and land grabbing, these emerging merchants who rely on industry will change the status of the original merchants.

These businessmen with basic patriotic qualities are the best foreign colonization personnel in Zhu Ying's mind.

When high-yield crops such as sweet potatoes, potatoes, and corn began to flourish in the Ming Dynasty and gradually solved the problem of food and clothing.

Inevitably, it will spread beyond the Ming Dynasty.

Under such circumstances, overseas human resources become very useful.

Opening factories outside the Ming Dynasty, using cheap labor to produce, and even the emergence of a large number of serfs, is an inevitable path.

…

Japan.

One third of Kyushu Island was occupied by foreign forces, which made all classes in Japan nervous.

When they saw that the Ming army was not like the Mongols or even other invaders in the past, and that they forcibly attacked Honshu Island, the most important island of Japan.

The current emperor of Japan, Emperor Go-Komatsu, was panicked.

Speaking of Emperor Go-Komatsu, he is actually very unfamiliar to Zhu Ying. However, Emperor Go-Komatsu had a child, and Zhu Ying would know his name very clearly if he mentioned his name.

That is Ikkyu in the famous Japanese anime in later generations.

The Buddhist name of Ikkyu was Ikkyu Sojun. Ikkyu's mother was the daughter of a Southern Dynasty noble. She was once favored by Emperor Go-Komatsu, but was driven out of the palace due to slander.

She was pregnant at the time and stayed at a private home. She gave birth to Ikkyu. Ikkyu became a monk at Ankoku-ji Temple in Kyoto at the age of six.

And this year, the 26th year of Hongwu, happens to be the year when Ikkyu was born.

According to the calculation of time, Ikyu has been gone for three months now.

Emperor Go-Komatsu, who was already thirty years old, did not yet know that he had a concubine who had given birth to a son for him.

But even if I knew, I wouldn't say I cared at all now that Japan is facing its survival.

In the palace of Japan, daimyo and generals gathered together.

There is sadness on everyone's face.

The emperor was not the actual ruler, the shogun was.

The current shogun is Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, who ended the Northern and Southern Dynasties in Japan.

Ashikaga Yoshimitsu can be said to be in his most glorious period now. Now as the Shogun, after completing the unification of the north and the south, his prestige has reached its peak in the entire Japan.

In fact, since taking office, Ashikaga Yoshimitsu has always been looking forward to conducting tribute trade with the Ming Dynasty.

Documents were constantly sent to the capital, expressing their respect and admiration for the Ming Dynasty.

Since the seventh year of Hongwu, envoys have been sent to the Ming Dynasty several times.

From the seventh year to the thirteenth year of Hongwu, Ashikaga Yoshimitsu paid tribute to the Ming Dynasty in the name of "Shogun of Wakoku Minamoto Yoshimitsu" and requested to trade with the Ming Dynasty.

However, the Ming Dynasty rejected the request of the Muromachi shogunate on the grounds that the Ming Dynasty believed that the "King of Wa, Yoriyoshi" of the "Daikaku faction" was the legitimate monarch of Wa, while the "Chimei faction" was a traitor.

Ashikaga Yoshimitsu was a general of the "Jimyo faction" and should not have had any contact with him.

Therefore, after receiving the letter from Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, Zhu Yuanzhang refused the tribute trade with the Muromachi shogunate.

There is naturally not only one reason for the rejection. The key lies in the disrespectful behavior of Japan towards the Ming Dynasty in the early Ming Dynasty.

Zhu Yuanzhang said: "It's good enough that we didn't fight you. You still want to trade with our Ming Dynasty? Dream on."

To a certain extent, Zhu Yuanzhang imposed a high degree of economic sanctions on Japan.

Japan itself does not have abundant resources and is very dependent on foreign trade. Under the suppression of the Ming Dynasty, Goryeo naturally would not pay any attention to it.

Smuggling and pirates became the main ways for Japan to import resources through foreign trade.

But now, Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, who was kneeling on the left side below Emperor Go-Komatsu, had a gloomy expression on his face.

"General, the Ming army is about to completely occupy the entire Kyushu Island. Are we just going to sit there and watch?"

"Although the Ming army is indeed very powerful, our warriors are no pushovers either."

"I think that the war should not be brought to Honshu Island, but everything should be confined to Kyushu Island."

In the palace, a daimyo expressed his opinion.

In his opinion, the Mongols had never invaded Honshu Island.

Naturally, the Ming army could not be allowed to invade.

Obviously, the words of this daimyo were supported by most of the daimyo present.

According to the current situation, the best way for both Goryeo and Ming Dynasty is to accumulate military forces and use the border from Kyushu Island to Honshu Island as a base.

Relying on the natural advantages of the island to guard the island.

Ashikaga Yoshimitsu did not give a direct answer, but gave some time for the daimyo below to discuss with each other.

Only when he felt the time was right did he cough twice.

The arguing daimyos stopped when they heard the general cough.

Ashikaga Yoshimitsu said in a deep voice: "Many of the daimyo present here come from Kyushu Island."

"I believe everyone is very clear about the situation on Kyushu Island."

"Being attacked from both Korea and the Ming Dynasty, our troops on Kyushu Island are already very difficult to resist."

"That is why I ordered all the elite warriors to retreat to Honshu Island."

"I know very well that no one wants Honshu Island to be affected by the war, but you have to think clearly about one thing: our ships have been completely destroyed by the Ming Dynasty's ships."

"They came from Kyushu to Honshu, and we had no ability to fight them."

"Many daimyos must have come into contact with the Ming army and know how powerful they are."

"It will be very difficult for us to achieve the final victory. The Ming army this time is not like before. They advance step by step, not caring about the consumption of time, and only want to slowly eat us away."

"This war may last for a long time."

"So we need to give them more territory so that their forces start to disperse and their military is constrained."

"Only in this way can we have hope of victory."

"If we fight to the death with the Ming army now, we will be the only ones to die."

Ashikaga Yoshimitsu served as the Shogun at the age of ten, and had been in constant war for the past 25 years.

It was not until last year that we achieved a unified victory.

Therefore, he has a very clear understanding of the control of the war situation and he himself has very high military talent.

Ashikaga Yoshimitsu had great ambitions.

The two Japanese spies captured by Zhu Di were actually secretly controlled by Ashikaga Yoshimitsu and sent to the Ming Dynasty.

In order to conceal the truth and prevent the exposure of the spies from damaging their relationship with the Ming Dynasty, they even deliberately sent the spies through the hands of the Southern Dynasty nobles.

They thought they were loyal to the Emperor of the Southern Dynasty, but in fact the real person controlling the situation behind the scenes was Ashikaga Yoshimitsu.

Giving up Kyushu Island was a difficult choice for Ashikaga Yoshimitsu.

In Japan, which suffered the end of the Northern and Southern Dynasties War, the overall situation was not very good.

Especially in terms of military strength, internal strife has caused the overall military strength of Japan to be in a very weak state.

Moreover, years of war have made the Japanese people very tired.

At this critical point, the joint attack from Goryeo and Ming Dynasty made Ashikaga Yoshimitsu very passive.

After hearing the general's speech, the daimyos present fell silent.

Especially those daimyo who came from Kyushu Island, they were the ones who jumped the most happily, after all, a large amount of their territory had been annexed.

The remaining territory will be swallowed up soon.

However, they did not ask the general to send a large army to attack Ming and Goryeo.

Because everyone knows very well that Kyushu Island no longer has this ability.

"Are we just going to sit there and wait for the Ming army to slowly attack our Kyoto Prefecture?"

A daimyo from Honshu Island said unwillingly.

Obviously, he was very dissatisfied with Ashikaga Yoshimitsu's words.

The power structure of Japan is similar to the concept of princes.

The daimyo is equivalent to the feudal princes.

Although Ashikaga Yoshimitsu was the shogun, he also needed to win the support of the daimyo.

This daimyo obviously had a strong foundation, so he was not very afraid of Ashikaga Yoshimitsu.

Ashikaga Yoshimitsu heard this, but he did not seem angry. Instead, he said calmly, "In another month, the divine wind will come."

"I have asked the chief priest of the shrine, and he told me that the arrival of the divine wind this time will have a great impact on the Goryeo and Ming armies."

"But this time, the divine wind will not be like the one against the Mongols. The Ming army, which has suffered heavy losses, will still have a very strong fighting force."

"So no matter what, we have to wait until the kamikaze passes before we decide how to fight."

Hearing the word "divine wind", everyone present, including Emperor Go-Komatsu who was acting as a puppet above, became solemn.