Late Yuan Dynasty: I am the true emperor

Chapter 400 Finalizing the Shen Family
Lu Jin asked Shen Rong to help him find these people. His purpose was naturally to establish an intelligence network in the north, but also to obtain some scarce materials through trade, especially war horses.

The best market for purchasing war horses during this period was not Dadu controlled by the Mongols, nor Liaodong where four ethnic groups lived together, but Goryeo.

At this time, Goryeo was still a country with relatively strong military force. To exaggerate a little, it can even be said that this was the era with the most abundant martial virtues in the history of the entire ancient peninsula. The number of war horses in stock in the entire Goryeo may be more than 300,000, which is almost equivalent to the number of war horses left to Emperor Wu of Han during the reign of Emperor Wen and Emperor Jing in the early Han Dynasty. Goryeo was capable of deploying tens of thousands of cavalry at any time.

As for how Goryeo became what it later became, it was mainly the result of decades of suppression of Korea by the father and son Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Di, as well as the Joseon dynasty's own emphasis on culture over military power.

According to the original history, in 1353, when Toghto led a "million-strong army" to besiege Gaoyou, Goryeo sent more than troops to participate in the war. Zhu Yuanzhang even fought several battles with the Goryeo army in Liuhe, west of Yangzhou.

After the Battle of Gaoyou, Toghto was demoted, and the million-dollar army collapsed in an instant. The already precarious Red Turban Army grew stronger again, and the Yuan court could no longer suppress it. After returning to the country, the Goryeo army told what they had seen, which made the Goryeo monarch and his ministers immediately judge the decline of the Yuan Dynasty and began to plan to gradually get rid of the control of the Yuan Dynasty. The first thing they did was to kill all of Queen Ki's mother's family.
What followed was the Longfeng Northern Expedition. The Central Army first captured the Goryeo capital of Kaesong. The Goryeo king was so scared that he almost fled to the sea by boat. It was a small general named Lee Seong-gye who led his troops to destroy the Central Army and massacred its main force. Lee Seong-gye recaptured the capital, was promoted for his military exploits, and increased his influence in Goryeo.

Later, taking advantage of the change of dynasties in the Central Plains and the fact that the Ming army temporarily did not enter the peninsula, Liaodong and the northern part of the peninsula were in a strategic window period of power vacuum. The King of Goryeo seized the opportunity and let Lee Seong-gye lead his troops to seize the northern territory, pushing the border to the east bank of the Yalu River, almost expanding the territory of Goryeo by one half.

It was also at this time that the Ming army began to enter the Liaodong Peninsula and fought several major battles with the Northern Yuan Dynasty in succession. The Ming army won every time. The scale and intensity of the war were so large that Lee Seong-gye, who was stationed near the Yalu River, was stunned. This was too brutal.

At that time, King Wang U of Goryeo was in the mood to seize territory. The Liaodong region was almost unmanaged, so he could expand the territory by simply enclosing land. So he did not care and continued to urge Lee Seong-gye to expand his territory.

But Lee Seong-gye had witnessed the fighting power of the Ming army with his own eyes. Before the Ming army entered Liaodong, it was okay for you to secretly occupy some territory. But now that the Ming army has established a firm foothold in Liaodong, if you still hold on to your luck and think that the Ming army can't see it, isn't that nonsense?
Impatient with being urged, Lee Seong-gye simply followed Zhao's Chenqiao mutiny, returned from Wihwa Island, and led his troops back to capture the Goryeo capital of Kaesong, deposed Wang U, and established a new king as a puppet. Then, within a few years, he established a new king again, and finally killed the puppet and successfully usurped the throne.

At that time, Lee Seong-gye knew that he had obtained the throne by illegal means and was eager to be recognized by the Ming Dynasty. He repeatedly sent envoys to Zhu Yuanzhang to ask him to confer the title. Zhu Yuanzhang's attitude was also very interesting. Zhu was a man who knew his own business. At that time, the Ming army was not very powerful in Liaodong. It had to guard against the counterattack of the Northern Yuan Dynasty and had no strength to fight a protracted war with Goryeo.

Besides, Goryeo's military force was not weak at that time. After all, it had hundreds of thousands of war horses, tens of thousands of cavalry, and at least thousands of heavily armored cavalry. Zhu Yuanzhang was also guilty. The Ming Dynasty had just been established and there was a lot of work to be done. He didn't want to fight to the death with such an opponent at all. It happened that Lee Seong-gye had something to ask of the Ming Dynasty and urgently needed the Ming Dynasty's recognition, so he was controlled by Zhu Yuanzhang.

According to the Joseon Annals, when Zhu Yuanzhang met with the envoy of Yi Seong-gye who was seeking the title of Emperor, he replied, "Five thousand horses and forty thousand pieces of cloth a year, to see if you are sincere."

As for Lee Seong-gye, he, like Zhao Da, usurped the throne through a military coup and came to power in an illegitimate way. Also like Zhao Da, he was always worried that other generals would try to put on the yellow robe again, so he followed Zhao Da's example of giving up military power over a cup of wine and respecting culture over military power.

Isn't it just 5,000 horses a year? Give it to me! As long as you can enthrone me as the King of Joseon, I will give you whatever you want. This will just help weaken the military power of Joseon.

So the Ming Dynasty took advantage of Korea and forced it to pay tribute of 5,000 horses every year until Zhu Di ascended the throne. He continued Zhu's policy and forced Korea to continue paying tribute of horses. In the end, Goryeo was exploited from a country on horseback to a country where the people didn't know what a horse looked like. Even the nobles of Korea could only travel by ox cart. The martial virtue of the peninsula never recovered from that.
And now happens to be the time when there are the most horses on the peninsula.

Lu Jin is in urgent need of war horses. Although he has set up a horse farm in Maotanchang and raised more than 25 horses, and 4 to foals were born last year, the average lifespan of a horse is years old, and it is considered an adult at the age of . If you expect these hundreds of foals to go to the battlefield, you have to wait at least four or five years. What can you do with hundreds of horses, not to mention the time cost. It is impossible to expand the scale of the cavalry by raising horses by yourself. The best way is to buy them outside!

It just so happened that he had just extorted one million taels of silver from Shen Rong. With that much money, any small change would be enough for him to buy tens of thousands of horses.

As for asking Shen Rong to help find someone who can speak Japanese and is familiar with Japan's national conditions, it was simply a casual move to prepare for the future conquest of Japan.

Japan was bound to be destroyed and directly occupied. First, to eliminate a potential hidden danger, and second, for Japan's gold, silver and copper mines. Japan's silver reserves were two million taels mined each year, enough for a hundred years. Two hundred million taels of silver were enough as start-up capital for the industrial revolution.

The third reason is Japan’s superior geographical location. Compared with the previous two, Japan’s geographical location may be the most valuable.

After the arrival of the black ships, Japan began the Meiji Restoration and actively embraced Western civilization. For this purpose, it sent a delegation to visit Europe and the United States. The first stop of the "Iwakura Mission" at that time was to depart from Yokohama, cross the Pacific Ocean to visit San Francisco on the west coast of the United States. The whole journey took only 23 days!
If China wants to control America, the route through Malacca, the Indian Ocean, the Cape of Good Hope, and the Atlantic Ocean is too far and very dangerous. In the age of sail, the probability of sinking at the Cape of Good Hope was very high, even reaching 1/6. One out of every six ships sank at the Cape of Good Hope in Africa.

Starting from Japan, the entire journey to the west coast of America takes less than a month. If you stop in Hawaii for supplies, it will not exceed 40 days. Moreover, the route is safer. The word "Pacific" is not in vain. So if it were you, what would you choose?
Lu Jin would definitely choose Japan. It would be best if the Panama Canal or the Columbia Canal could be opened in the future to directly connect the Pacific Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean. In this way, even if you go to the east coast of America from China, you can take the route of the Pacific Ocean, the Panama Canal, Central America, and then to the east coast. This route is definitely faster and safer than going around Africa, and you don't have to be influenced by the Europeans to turn the Pacific Ocean into China's inland lake.

Even the laborers for digging the canal were readily available. They directly captured Japanese or native Nanyang people to dig the canal, and they did not care how many died.
They could also capture hundreds of thousands of Japanese to develop the Northeast, open up wasteland, cut wood, dig potatoes, build railways, and build palaces. It would be a shame not to use so many two-legged animals. As for after they were used up, they would of course be turned into spring mud to protect the flowers.
Seeing Shen Rong's willingness to cooperate, Lu Jin nodded in satisfaction and said, "It doesn't matter if it takes one or two years to find them. Find the people from Liaodong and Goryeo first. But you don't need to do this. Just hand over the shopkeepers, men, captains and sailors in the Shen's caravan who are familiar with the northern route to me. I will find someone to do the rest."

Shen Rong quickly agreed, "Yes, I will definitely hand these people over to the Marshal as soon as possible, but I'm afraid."

Upon hearing this, Lu Jin glanced at Shen Sen who was standing next to him. Shen Sen is now 25 years old, only one year older than Lu Jin. He is a little over meters tall, not too tall, and looks quiet and gentle. He actually knows three languages, Chinese, Goryeo, and Jurchen. He is indeed a talented person, worthy of being the eldest grandson of the richest man's family.

So he suddenly spoke in Mongolian and asked, "Can you understand Mongolian?"

Shen Sen was stunned when he heard the words. After he heard it clearly, he replied in Mongolian haltingly, "Reporting to the commander-in-chief, I only have a basic understanding of Mongolian. I can understand some of it, but I am not proficient in it." Everyone nearby was shocked to see Lu Jin suddenly communicating with Shen Sen in Mongolian. They did not expect that the commander-in-chief of the rebel army could speak Mongolian. Other members of the Shen family were secretly annoyed that they did not study hard at home, otherwise they would be the ones who would be valued today.

Hearing that he didn't speak Mongolian very well, Lu Jin switched to Korean and asked, "How about your Goryeo language? Can you understand what I'm saying now?"

Shen Sen was even more shocked when he heard this. He didn't expect Lu Jin to speak Korean. He listened carefully and then replied in Korean, "I don't know who you learned Korean from. The accent and words are slightly different from what I learned. I can't understand some of them, but I can understand the general meaning of what you said."

Lu Jin actually learned Korean from a Korean classmate who studied aerospace engineering in college. He didn't study it seriously and could only communicate in simple spoken language. Moreover, the Korean language in China is slightly different from the real Korean and Korean. In addition, there are hundreds of years of language evolution, so it is normal that Shen Sen can't understand it very well.

But Lu Jin was already very satisfied, so he switched to Chinese and said, "You speak Korean well, and I can understand some of it. As for who I learned it from, you don't have to worry about it. Your father said that you can speak Jurchen, can you say a few words for me to hear?"

So Shen Sen said a few more words in Jurchen. Lu Jin frowned and shook his head after listening. Then he said, "I have never learned Jurchen, so I don't understand what you said, but it sounds like there are some Mongolian words."

Shen Sen quickly flattered, "What the Marshal said is correct. The Jurchen language does borrow some parts from the Mongolian language. In fact, if you just want to talk to the Jurchens, you can talk to them normally in Mongolian. Since the Marshal has already learned Mongolian, it doesn't matter if you don't learn the Jurchen language."

Lu Jin nodded. To put it bluntly, he still admired the strong. Now the Mongols ruled the entire Northeast Asia. In order to curry favor with the Mongols, the high-ranking officials of all ethnic groups had to learn Mongolian. This also led to Mongolian becoming the common language of the Northeast. When the Han people drove away the Mongols and became powerful in the future, these people would also be proud to speak Chinese, so there was nothing to worry about.

After testing Shen Sen's talent, Lu Jin turned to his father Shen Rong and said, "Your son has a good talent for languages. He has mastered three languages ​​at such a young age. The Marshal's Mansion will inevitably have to deal with the various tribes in the north in the future. His talent is indeed useful. I can also arrange a job for him."

Shen Rong stood up in surprise when he heard this, and bowed quickly, saying, "Thank you for your appreciation, Marshal. Shen will serve you wholeheartedly in the future."

After Shen Rong finished speaking, he turned to his son and said, "Why don't you thank the Marshal for his grace?"

"Wait!" Lu Jin interrupted immediately, and then spoke under Shen Rong's puzzled gaze.

"I can give your son a job, but I have one condition."

"Please tell me, Marshal. As long as Shen can do it, we will never refuse." Shen Rong agreed quickly.

Lu Jin waved his hand, "It's not a big deal. It's just about the division and migration of your Shen family. I don't care who goes to Luzhou and Xuzhou among the five brothers of your generation in the Shen family, who goes to Dadu and who goes to Liaodong in the future, and how you divide the five properties I sold to you, but your branch must move to Jiankang."

Shen Rong immediately understood that Lu Jin was going to hold his family hostage. It seemed that he still had to use his son Shen Sen, otherwise he would not have held hostages. As for moving the whole family to Jiankang, it was not a bad thing. Jiankang was currently the headquarters of Lu Jin. Maybe he would build a capital in Jiankang in the future. In addition, Shen Sen would be an official in the headquarters, so he would be able to contact Lu Jin frequently in the future. Wouldn't that be a lot of opportunities? Are you still afraid that you won't be able to rise to prominence in the future?

So Shen Rong agreed on the spot, "I am willing to move to Jiankang. Since my son will be working for the Marshal in Jiankang in the future, it will be more convenient to move here. Even if the Marshal doesn't specifically ask me to, I will move here."

Lu Jin nodded with satisfaction and said, "It's good that you understand. As for the other children of the Shen family, I will not recruit them specially. If they want to take the imperial examination, they can take it. Whether they can pass it depends on their own ability. Don't think that this is a vegetable market where you can buy an official position by spending some money. I accepted your son only because he has some special talents."

Shen Rong said quickly, "The Marshal is willing to keep my son, which is already a great favor. How can I dare to ask for anything else?"

Lu Jin nodded, "It's good that you understand. Shen Sen will stay, and others who want to take the imperial examination can stay in Jiankang first. You should go back and take care of your family affairs as soon as possible.

"As for the one million taels of silver, I will send someone to get it. As for the several properties I'm going to sell you, you can start the pencil factory, the glass factory, and the ironware factory first. I'll give you the sack factory in a year or two. As for the maritime trade business, I'll talk to you after you hand over the people you promised to work for me first."

"Yes, I will get it done as soon as possible!"

After everything was settled, Shen Rong took his disciples away. Lu Jin immediately called Bao Yu over. Not only was the Shen family rich, but their channels for maritime trade were also very important. Now that Lu Jin had taken over those channels in the north, he naturally had to make good use of them.

However, building an intelligence network in the north is not an easy task. Not only does the Shen family need to contribute, but Fang Guozhen also needs to cooperate, including selling food and buying horses. All of these require cooperation from many parties. It is inconvenient to transport horses by sea. How to buy horses from Goryeo, where to dock as soon as possible after buying them, and how to set up intelligence outlets all need to be studied.

However, while Lu Jin was studying how to build a northern intelligence network, at the same time, someone in Jinhua, the capital of Wuzhou Road, was also studying Lu Jin and his Shengwu Army.

(End of this chapter)