At the same time, Toyotomi Hideyoshi issued a mobilization order to the daimyo to recruit naval forces.

He ordered all the daimyo who lived on the sea to contribute two large ships for every 100,000 koku of land in their territory! Each seaport was to provide ten sailors for every 100 households, and take the large ships built by the daimyo of various countries! If there were any surplus, they would be gathered in Osaka!

In addition, each daimyo was required to build three large ships and five medium ships for every 100,000 koku of treasury as ships for Hideyoshi's main army. Hideyoshi would pay for the construction costs.

Each sailor was given double rice, and his wife was given additional food. The wives of the servants employed in the army were also given food.

All the ships and sailors mentioned above must be gathered at the ports of Settsu, Harima and Izumi in the 20th year of Tensho, which is the first month of the 20th year of Wanli!

Although Hideyoshi had not yet issued a mobilization order for the army, it was not difficult to infer from the number and size of the ships he built that the total force Hideyoshi was preparing to dispatch was about 300,000!

~~

"Hahaha, it seems that the regent has really made up his mind to come out in full force!" The three of them were overjoyed after reading Zhao Jiakang's letter.

Although the commander-in-chief has always been a prophet, it is still hard for everyone to believe that the Japanese dared to invade Korea! This will definitely attract the Chinese army, right?

Don't they know their own weight? They have led their troops far and wide, penetrated deep into enemy territory, and used the weak to bully the strong. They have committed a cardinal sin in military strategy!

There is no need for the coast guard to take action. The Ming Dynasty’s official troops can deal with them.

So everyone is unsure whether the empty city plan performed earlier was effective. They wouldn't be acting for a blind man - they were expressing the wrong feelings, right?

But the fish really took the bait!

And the whole country is putting in the effort, and if we lose we will suffer a huge loss!

"Don't they ever consider the consequences?" Zhu Jue asked puzzledly, "How can they live if they lose such a dangerous gamble?"

"If you lose, just apologize. The Japanese have a saying, 'Cherry blossoms are flowers, and samurai are men.' Their samurai group neither takes other people's lives seriously nor their own lives seriously. As the saying goes, 'The only difficulty in the history of the world is death.' If a nation despises even death, what else do they really care about? Nothing." Zhao Hao smoked his pipe and said lightly:

"So it's easy to gamble your own life, the lives of others, and even the fate of the entire country."

"The commander-in-chief seems to attach great importance to them." Ma Yinglong couldn't help but laugh: "I don't know whether this is their luck or misfortune."

"I hope to bring misfortune to them." Zhao Hao's eyes flashed with a sharp light and said, "If I have to add a time limit to this misfortune, I hope it will be forever."

"Understood." The three of them nodded solemnly. It seems that the battle plan needs to be revised in the direction of a meat grinder...

As they were talking, there was a hurried knock on the door, and Chang Kaiche's breathless voice: "Urgent telegram from the capital!"

"Come in." Zhao Hao responded in a deep voice.

~~

The telegram was sent by Xishan Group, reporting the tragic news that Hai Rui had been murdered...

Zhao Hao sank into the sofa halfway through reading, holding the telegram folder in one hand and the pipe in the other, and did not speak for a full quarter of an hour.

He did not allow them to read the telegram, so the three major coast guard officials naturally did not dare to peek or interrupt, so they sat upright and waited.

Chang Kaiche had no choice but to stand behind Zhao Hao in silence.

The living room, which was full of laughter just now, suddenly fell silent. The sound of the waves hitting the side of the boat seemed to be magnified, and each one seemed to hit people in the heart.

It wasn't until the time bell rang that Zhao Hao came back to his senses.

"Commander-in-chief, what happened?" Seeing him smoking heavily, Jin Ke quickly asked.

"Mr. Hai was killed by the emperor..." Zhao Hao said as tears streamed down his cheeks. He quickly handed the telegram folder to Jin Ke, then covered his face and leaned back on the sofa.

"What!" Hearing the bad news, the three were stunned. Zhu Jue and Ma Yinglong came over quickly and read the telegram with Jin Ke.

"Ah, Zhu Yijun, that bastard!" This bad news was too much. Even the usually calm Zhu Jue was furious and cursed: "Does he really think that just because he is the emperor, no one would dare to take his head?!"

"Son of a bitch! Fuck him!" Ma Yinglong was also furious and said, "Commander-in-chief, this revenge must be avenged, give the order quickly!"

"Shut up!" Jin Ke, with tears in his eyes, stopped Ma Yinglong and said, "Don't influence the commander-in-chief's decision!"

"You guys go out first." Then Zhao Hao said in a hoarse voice, "Let me be quiet for a while before we talk."

"Yes." The three giants hurriedly put their feet together and saluted, put down the telegram, and left silently.

"You get out too." Zhao Hao drove Chang Kaiche out as well.

~~

The mahogany door of the commander-in-chief's suite was tightly closed. The four men did not dare to go far, so they spoke in low voices at the stern window.

They greeted Zhu Yijun's family for a quarter of an hour in the profound Chinese language, and then Zhu Jue asked Chang Kaiche in a low voice:

"Did I read it right? The dog emperor arrested all the officials, declared the group to be treasonous, and ordered the confiscation of all the group's assets and the arrest of all the group's members?"

"You read that right." Chang Kaiche nodded and said with a wry smile, "The dog emperor has also sent eunuchs to garrison various provinces and prefectures in Nanzhi, and given them imperial edicts and royal banners. He has ordered all civil and military officials below the governor-general to be under his control for the time being! Anyone who disobeys will be charged with treason and executed first and then reported to the emperor."

"The dog emperor of Malegobi is really tired of living!" Ma Yinglong cursed, "But if there were no telegram, we would really suffer a great loss!"

"Well, it's a bit of a mess for a while at least." Jin Ke nodded and sighed, "But it may not be a bad thing. Cut the Gordian knot and put things in order!"

"Yes." Everyone nodded in agreement.

Boiled frogs in warm water before, not only the frogs are hard to bear, but the diners can't wait. It's more enjoyable to stir-fry directly over high heat!

~~

The four people outside the suite knew that it was useless to say anything now, they could only go for it!

How could Zhao Hao in the suite not know that he had no choice but to fight in advance.

Moreover, Zhao Hao also knew that even if Hai Rui was killed by Wanli, he must have sought death on his own initiative.

The reason is simple. Even if Zhu Yijun, that coward, had a hundred guts, he would not dare to kill Hai Rui! It's not that he suddenly became kind-hearted, but the political impact of this move was too bad.

Killing a person who was deified while still alive, and killing him without trial or warning. This is a huge mistake that will ruin the dynasty!

Zhu Yijun was not stupid at all, and he would not eat arsenic to seek death. So killing Hai Rui was definitely not his original intention.

Then why did Hai Rui voluntarily seek death?

The reason is not complicated, because all the emperors and generals of the Ming Dynasty, including himself, were playing politics.

Only Hai Rui always cared about the people of the world...

This does not mean that everyone else is smart and only Hai Rui is stupid.

In fact, Hai Rui's political wisdom and administrative ability were both at their peak.

He had already foreseen the terrible scene that would follow the mining supervisors and tax collectors.

He also foresaw that Zhao Hao would probably wait for Wanli to send out mining supervisors and tax collectors to various places to levy taxes and extort money. This would cause countless wealthy families to suffer humiliation and misery; countless merchants to lose their fortunes and go bankrupt and flee; countless ordinary people to lose their jobs and families, and live a life worse than death. Only when everyone begged him to punish the criminals would he take action!

At that time, the righteous cause was with me, I raised my arms and called for action, and the whole world followed!

It would be effortless to deprive the Zhu family of their legitimacy and dethrone the emperor. Everything was so natural and logical!

If Hai Rui was a politician, he would have waited until the mining supervisors and tax collectors had caused chaos in the country before he stood up and denounced Emperor Wanli.

The reason is very simple. Only when the heavens are angry and the people are resentful to the extreme, the actor will be able to bring the aura of the savior who is "long-awaited" after his debut. This performance, which is destined to go down in history, will have the best stage effect! He will get a higher score!

Instead of being criticized by haters for being "impulsive and lacking a sense of the overall situation", "trapping the emperor unjustly", "having character flaws"...

But Hai Rui would not wait, because the people could not afford to wait.

By the time it became a natural outcome, countless families had been broken up and countless human tragedies had occurred across the country.

In his opinion, it was not a matter of water, but a matter of blood!

Because he only cares about the people and not himself, he must do his best to prevent this disaster that will affect the people of the entire country from happening!

His solution was to ask for death in front of Wanli.

It would be best if she could use her death to scare Wanli and make him issue a "repentance edict" and retreat to the palace to behave himself.

It didn't matter if he couldn't scare Wanli, because his death would be enough to replace the rebellion of the mining supervisors and tax collectors and support Zhao Hao's righteous cause.

Then there would be no need for Zhao Hao to wait until the mining supervisor and tax collector caused chaos in the world before taking action, right?

Moreover, Hai Rui believed that as his only confidant in his life, Zhao Hao would definitely understand that his intention was simple, just to let the people suffer less...

What if I don’t achieve the best stage effect, what if I don’t get praise? What if I am not understood, attacked, or even slandered as a traitor?

Since they have appointed me as their door god, I must protect them...

Who says only those who stand in the light are heroes? !

~~

In the suite.

"Alas, Lord Hai..." Zhao Hao let out a long sigh. He completely understood Hai Rui's intentions.

Hai Rui's guess was basically correct. But there was one thing that Hai Gong misunderstood him.

He did intend to sit back and watch the mining supervisors and tax collectors cause chaos, but not just for the legitimacy of the uprising, or for the greater good.

He also had a deeper idea, which was to let the working class and peasantry mature quickly and become an independent political force, instead of being like the subsequent bourgeois revolutions, where workers and peasants and ordinary citizens raised the banner of rebellion, charged in the front, and shed blood and sacrificed their lives, and they also bore most of the consequences of the failure of the revolution.

Only after the revolution is successful will the fruits of victory be seized by the bourgeoisie.

Even though they claim to be the leaders of a bourgeois revolution, the essentially cowardly bourgeoisie can only completely destroy the old system if it receives strong support from the urban masses and the peasants.

Then, as time goes by, their naked class interests will be revealed at a glance - they don't want to fight against the old aristocracy at all. Their most ardent wish is to become aristocrats and exploit and oppress the lower classes together with the old aristocracy!

They can often get what they want, but the real heroes can only return to the dirty factories and backward farmland, change their masters, and continue to work like slaves...

If it is the same this time, Zhao Hao will feel disgusted!

He will curse himself for the rest of his life - bah, you betrayed the proletariat!