For the Oirat, the Ming Dynasty was not an immediate threat.

Because at this time, no Khan of any tribe would think that the grassland would be ruled by the Ming Dynasty. This has been the unchanging thinking throughout the ages.

No one would have thought that Zhu Ying actually wanted to incorporate the grassland into the direct territory of the Ming Dynasty.

Even if someone spread this rumor, the people of the grassland would just be crazy.

Why would Ming Dynasty, such a wealthy place, come to such a bitter and cold place?

You have to know that even some areas that are better than the grasslands are nothing more than places of exile in the eyes of people in the Ming Dynasty.

So now the constant fighting on the grassland is felt by everyone to be temporary and will stop in a short time.

Perhaps the Ming Dynasty felt that the threat from the Northern Yuan Dynasty was too great, and just because the Northern Yuan Dynasty once lived in the Central Plains, it wanted to crush it.

Once the Northern Yuan Dynasty collapsed, the grassland would still be the grassland it once was, and the Central Plains would still be the Central Plains it once was.

In fact, when the grassland military base was established, some Han people who served the Mongols on the grassland also had concerns, but no one cared about their ideas.

Even if the Oirat sent troops to help the Northern Yuan Dynasty, it was only to get a better piece of the pie, or even to take this opportunity to annex some of the tribes, population, and wealth belonging to the Northern Yuan Dynasty.

Compared with the Northern Yuan Dynasty, the living environment in the Oirat was actually more worrying. After all, it was closer to the north, and the severe cold in winter froze many people to death every year. Those with weak physical constitutions basically could not survive.

There are also huge problems with food rations, and it is difficult to say how many people there are in total.

Nowadays, bloody battles are taking place on the grasslands every day.

Whether it is Lan Yu or Zhu Di.

Facing the cavalry that continues to emerge on the grassland, it is difficult to maintain a complete victory record.

The Mongols were not fools, so they would not engage in a head-on confrontation with the main army. The main battle was still concentrated on the supply lines.

The Ming Dynasty was also unable to gather a large army as it would be too heavy a burden. Infantry was of no use at all on the vast grassland.

Once they saw the infantry, the Mongols' first reaction was to run away. They had suffered losses too many times before, so they would not throw their lives away in vain.

This has resulted in only small-scale battles breaking out on the grassland, with the number of people ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand.

The army of tens of thousands was completely invisible.

Even the Northern Yuan cavalry was divided into small teams to carry out raids.

Zhu Ying had nothing to worry about.

As for the Huaixi nobles, they were constantly sent to the grassland to join the armies of Lan Yu and Zhu Di.

Anyway, just fight and consume.

According to the Ming Dynasty's ever-increasing financial, material, human, food and other resources.

There is no problem in just dragging him to death on the grassland.

After all, it is not allowed to recuperate.

In such an environment, there is no need to talk about any alliance, as the entire grassland will remain in chaos.

Just wait and see in another ten years, how much temper will he still have?

…

This side of Japan.

Prince of Jin Zhu Gang and Prince of Qi Zhu Gui arrived in Yancheng one after another.

When they first arrived in Yancheng, Zhu Gang and Zhu Yu were shocked by its prosperity.

Because here, they saw the prosperity that belonged only to the Ming Dynasty.

Of course, it is far from comparable to the capital, but compared with some relatively wealthy areas in the south of the Yangtze River, it is more than enough.

There is no harm without comparison. Seeing Yancheng in this state undoubtedly gave Zhu Gang and Zhu Yu a few more thoughts in their minds.

"Thank you for your concern, my nephew is no longer in any serious condition."

Zhu Gaochi's face was still somewhat pale, but he spoke with some energy, looking like someone who had just recovered from a serious illness.

Even the eunuch following behind him looked almost the same.

"These damn Japanese assassins actually assassinated the prince of the Ming Dynasty. They are so bold and lawless."

"Nephew, wait a minute. Since they can do it on the first day, I can do it on the fifteenth."

"When I return, I will definitely let you vent your anger."

Zhu Gang's tone was very angry, but hidden in this anger was a surprise that was easily perceived.

Previously, due to the alliance between Ming Dynasty and Japan, Zhu Gang did not dare to send troops to conquer Japan on his own.

It’s different now. The assassination of the Crown Prince of the Ming Dynasty is equivalent to providing a very good excuse.

This gave Zhu Gang the opportunity to use force.

Zhu Yu also said with concern: "I'm glad to see that my nephew is okay. Japan is far away from the Ming Dynasty, and only the three of us uncles and nephews are here to support it. If anything happens, of course we still have to help each other."

"Now my nephew has suffered and nearly lost his life. Seeing this, I feel very sad. I will do the same as my third brother. When I return, I will make the Japanese country pay the price."

"We need to let them know that they cannot afford to offend our Ming Dynasty."

When Zhu Gaochi heard what his two uncles said, he couldn't help but look moved.

In fact, he was cursing in his heart.

How could he not know the plan of his two uncles? They just wanted to take advantage of this opportunity to plunder Japan.

After all, Zhu Gaochi also understood that the cities of his two uncles were developing extremely slowly. Whether in business or other aspects, they seemed rather disorganized, and public security was a mess.

Most overseas merchants gather here, and Japanese merchants basically don't go to those two places.

Whether in Jincheng or Qicheng, the status of the Japanese was extremely low, almost no different from slaves.

Although the Ming Dynasty had already issued decrees to abolish slavery and prohibited any trade involving slaves, this is overseas, and as long as it is not done openly, who would care so much?

"With the care of my two uncles, I feel much warmer here."

"Just don't let your two uncles suffer any loss because of my affairs. If so, I will feel guilty."

"If there is anything that my nephew can help with, please don't hesitate to ask."

"My nephew will definitely do his best and there will be no ambiguity."

Everyone can say nice things, and Zhu Gaochi would not try to stop his two uncles from doing what they did.

As the saying goes, the more worrying thing is the lack of population, the more it is the imbalance of population. Although I have never been to Jincheng and Yancheng, I can definitely guess the general situation.

I guess it didn't go very smoothly.

With the help of ministers like Xia Yuanji and some benevolent measures, his side is naturally much more prosperous than the other two cities.

Zhu Gaochi also understood that although the economy was developing well, the military forces controlled by his two uncles were far beyond his reach.

This is not a question of more or fewer soldiers.

In terms of numbers, the military strength of the three cities is probably not much different now, but the leadership of the troops is the most critical.

Third uncle's side is no worse than his father's. Seventh uncle's side may not be as famous, but that is still something a teenager like him cannot compare to. Besides, there is no general guarding this city.

If we really compare them, perhaps Yancheng, his own city, has no power to resist the two imperial uncles at all.

It's a fight on a completely different level.

In the era of cold weapons, the commander is of great importance to an army. With the same number of troops, the performance of different generals in leading the troops is completely different.

Zhu Gang and Zhu Yu only spent the night there and then hurried back.

This is the perfect time for them to show their abilities. If the interrogation in Ming Dynasty is over and the terms with Japan are negotiated, it is highly likely that they will not be able to mobilize troops.

In terms of time, it is very tight.

After returning to Jincheng, Zhu Gang immediately began to mobilize troops and launched an expedition without hesitation in the name of seeking justice for his nephew.

In fact, the situation in Japan was really beyond the reach of Zhu Gang or the Ming Dynasty.

This is also the reason why Japan has made great progress after the Tang Dynasty. Before that, a few hundred households could be called a country by building a wooden fence around it.

Now there are at least several thousand households to be considered as such.

A little more of a challenge.

But these things really did not arouse any interest for those who were used to fighting in the Ming Dynasty with tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of troops.

It's a complete crushing defeat.

The current Japan is no longer like when the Ming Dynasty first arrived, mobilizing hundreds of thousands of troops and drawing young and strong men from everywhere.

After the peace treaty, naturally the troops from other regions had already returned.

How can any effective resistance be formed in a short period of time?

But to Zhu Gang, these small places were extremely poor. Apart from the population, there was almost nothing to plunder. Even the so-called aristocrats could not compare with the local rich men in the countryside of the Ming Dynasty.

It was just like a spring outing, quite boring, just rolling along the way.

"My Lord, this is great news. This is great news."

Zhu Gang was just beating some disobedient Japanese nobles out of boredom when a thousand-householder came galloping on a fast horse. As soon as he saw the figure, he heard a voice.

"What good news can there be in such a shabby place?"

Zhu Gang turned his head and glanced at the thousand households, then whipped the Japanese noble hard with a whip and spoke casually.

The captain quickly dismounted, walked a few steps to Zhu Gang, clasped his fists and bowed, his face flushed, and his voice excited: "Your Highness, our front army has discovered an open-air silver mine a few miles ahead."

"Wow, there's no need to dig, you can just pick up the silver."

As he spoke, the captain took out a piece of silver stone from his bosom.

The exposed silver light was quite dazzling in the sunlight.

The Ming Dynasty was short of silver, and even Zhu Gang had never seen such silver and stone before. He threw away his whip and ordered, "Hurry up and wait for me to go over and check it out."

Zhu Ying would not lie.

Of course he knew that Japan had always been rich in silver mines.

But in fact, even Zhu Ying had never been to Japan in his previous life, and his understanding of Japan mostly came from knowledge in books.

Knowing this thing is one thing, Japan is not big, but it is not small either.

But it was impossible for him to mark out all the silver mines with just a rough version of the Japanese map. That was ridiculous. He was not a top student with a photographic memory in his previous life.

I'm afraid even the top students may not know such unpopular knowledge.

When Japan was conquered, the ministers tacitly did not mention the issue of mountains of gold and silver.

Although we went to attack Japan for this very reason, but if you were to bring up the Crown Prince's old accounts, wouldn't that mean you are tired of living?

If this topic were to be brought up in the court, not to mention the Imperial Guards, even His Majesty would probably have to find a way to make you disappear from the face of the earth.

Fortunately, Japan's conquest went relatively smoothly without encountering any major setbacks. Japan's great victory brought about the spread of Ming Dynasty's reputation.

So in this regard, Zhu Ying still established his own dignity as the crown prince.

An open space, which is guarded by a large number of soldiers.

When Zhu Gang arrived here, he jumped off his horse and squatted on the ground to examine the stone without any concern for his own dignity.

"It's really a silver mine. It really is a silver mine. My nephew, he really didn't lie to us."

Holding the stone he picked up from the ground, which had a faint layer of silver on it, Zhu Gang laughed wildly.

All the soldiers around had extremely satisfied smiles on their faces.

This indicates that everyone’s military pay may be significantly improved in the future.

Since arriving in Japan, the soldiers have actually not been very satisfied with the place.

This place is too poor and there is absolutely no wealth to rob. In Zhu Ying's words, the only option is constructive plunder.

The so-called constructive plunder is to develop the local economy and then continue to make demands.

This is what Zhu Gaochi was doing, but for Zhu Gang and Zhu Gui, this was too slow and there was no fun at all.

They prefer to just rob directly.

However, these places have become almost completely deserted after being robbed. How much wealth can such a small population create?

But the discovery of silver mines was a completely different matter.

This portends a great deal of money.

It doesn’t matter if we are poor here. As long as we have enough money, we can go back to Ming Dynasty and spend it.

As for the restrictions on vassal kings, there was no prohibition on vassal kings who had established countries overseas from returning to the Ming Dynasty. This was very different from the previous vassal king system.

And for the soldiers, they can apply to return to the Ming Dynasty to visit their relatives after a few years.

What people fear most is having no goals. In this case, the soldiers feel more at ease staying in Japan.

Zhu Gang immediately summoned the talents of the Embroidered Uniform Guard to inspect the silver mines here.

Because Zhu Ying had mentioned before that Japan had many silver mines, so when recruiting talents, there were still some talents in geological survey.

The Jinyiwei organization can be said to include talents from all walks of life. The capital is notorious only because it is more famous for its investigation skills.

The talents of Jinyiwei came over quickly to conduct an inspection.

After the initial investigation, Zhu Gang was reassured that this was a medium-sized silver mine.

The exact number will only become clear after preliminary excavation, but this indicates that there is definitely a lot of mineral deposits inside.