Ming Dynasty: I risked my life to teach the prince, the emperor begged me not to die

Chapter 413: Defining Northern Territory

Today, the Five Military Commandery demonstrated the strength of the All-Victorious Chariot on the battlefield, so the next thing about the northern battlefield needs to be discussed in detail.

The Ministry of War suggested changing from passive to active, and taking the initiative to fight a victorious war on the northern battlefield, so that the people of Oirat, Tatar and even Hami's Turpan would know the combat effectiveness of the Ming Dynasty in the north.

To put it bluntly, take the initiative to start a war to deter the forces in the north that are ready to make moves, and then focus on opening up a battlefield on the southeast coast.

Ma Wensheng's proposal coincided with Emperor Hongzhi's idea. It was indeed necessary for the Ming Dynasty to take the initiative. Other people in the six ministries of the cabinet expressed their support for this.

But the next point is what strategic goal the Ming Dynasty wants to achieve in the southeast battlefield. This is the key point of today's meeting.

The main battlefield certainly cannot be chosen in the southeast inland. It would be meaningless to spend so much energy just to expel the landing Japanese pirates. Moreover, the Japanese pirates are difficult to concentrate, and it is almost impossible to completely destroy them.

The cabinet suggested attacking Chenqian, Daqu, Zhoushan and other freshwater islands in eastern Zhejiang, but the Ministry of War still felt that this was not enough of a deterrent. Even if these islands were taken, they could not station troops there for a long time. It would be better to attack the Japanese pirates directly inland.

Emperor Hongzhi nodded slightly. Looking at Emperor Hongzhi's expression, everyone probably guessed his strategic intention this time.

It is certainly possible to attack the Japanese inland, but to what extent?
If we just land and conquer a corner of the Japanese, it would certainly not be difficult, but if we want to destroy their entire territory, we will need to transfer more troops to the southeast, and also conduct long-distance landing operations... You can imagine how difficult this is.

The Ming Dynasty was completely clueless about the geographical features of the Japanese inland area. Even if they landed, it was another matter of how long they could sustain the attack.

So we have to set strategic goals first.

Emperor Hongzhi narrowed his eyes and said calmly: "What if I want to destroy their country?"

Liu Jian hurriedly said, "Your Majesty, this is absolutely impossible! Warfare will lead to the destruction of the country!"

Emperor Hongzhi shook his head and said, "Mr. Liu is wrong. The Japanese have bullied the Ming Dynasty too much. If we don't show our attitude, the next place they invade will not be Xianju or Haiyan, but Shaoxing, Hangzhou and even Nanzhi!"

Of course, all of this was just the words of Emperor Hongzhi. The real reason why he wanted to destroy the Japanese invaders was because of Chen Ce’s very persuasive words: there were large quantities of copper and silver mines on the Japanese islands!

Liu Jian wanted to say more, but Emperor Hongzhi pressed his hand and said, "How about this, first send someone to secretly survey the terrain of the Japanese."

This time the six ministries of the cabinet no longer objected.

After the six ministries of the cabinet left, Emperor Hongzhi fell into deep thought. Chen Ce said that he knew the exact location of the copper and silver mines of the Japanese, but he still hadn't told me...

……

Sophora japonica alley.

Fu Yuan's letter from Southeast has been delivered to Chen Ce. The last time Xu Jing wrote to Chen Ce, he told him that Fu Yuan had colluded with the three Zhejiang officials in Southeast and had taken the initiative to sever ties with the Fu family. Chen Ce probably guessed what Fu Yuan was going to do.

So he wrote a letter to Fu Yuan a long time ago, asking Fu Yuan to stop interfering in the affairs of Southeast and to withdraw from it as soon as possible and not to get involved in Southeast again.

The intention of Emperor Hongzhi was very clear. The imperial court wanted to attack the Japanese islands. Once the Japanese islands were conquered, the imperial court might then settle accounts with the officials in the southeast.

If that really happens, Fu Yuan won’t even have a chance to escape.

Chen Ce didn't want Fu Yuan to die in vain.

[Brother Chen, I received your letter. You are right. I was the one who hired someone to attack the Ming Dynasty fleet last time.]

[Some time ago, I asked someone to lead the Japanese to attack Xianju. Only in this way can the imperial court have a reason to send troops to the Japanese island, right? ]

[You tried every means to get me to come to the southeast, wasn't it just to let me smuggle and let the Japanese run rampant in the southeast? Isn't your whole purpose to destroy the Japanese? ]

[I can't get out of this now. Once the Ming Dynasty launches an attack on the Japanese island, you will need to find a way to deal with the officials in the Zhejiang Sansi and other official circles.]

Chen Ce was stunned. He had not thought of this, but Fu Yuan reminded him. Once the Ming Dynasty decided to launch a war against the inland of the Japanese island, the rear must be stable. Otherwise, once the Japanese island was conquered by the Ming Dynasty, the vested interests in the southeast would lose their maritime profits. They might cause trouble in the rear, thus preventing the Ming Dynasty from attacking the Japanese island.

After Fu Yuan's reminder, Chen Ce suddenly understood.

[Hehe, they will probably use me as a scapegoat in the end. I am already stuck in the quagmire and cannot escape. When you deal with the three Zhejiang officials, it will be my death.]

[But it was worth it. At least you and I completed this unprecedented great war together, didn't we?]

Seeing this, Chen Ce was stunned for a long time, and murmured: "Self-righteous, I'm not going to let you die yet!"

Fu Yuan was right. By that time, Fu Yuan would be in great danger. The three Zhejiang departments would not let Fu Yuan go. Of course, according to Fu Yuan's crazy personality, he probably had no intention of letting the three Zhejiang departments go.

Chen Ce guessed that Fu Yuan would eventually choose to die together with the three officials of Zhejiang.

[Now it's your turn to guess, how do you think I will drag them to death together? ]

Fu Yuan's reply ended here, and Chen Ce couldn't help but fall into deep thought.

Just then, Huai En came.

Chen Ce said to Huai En: "Please wait a moment, eunuch."

He went to the study and took out the map of the entire Japanese island. This was the map he harvested from the vegetable garden two years ago. After planning it for so long, it could finally come in handy.

"Let's go."

Chen Ce followed Huai En towards the Qianqing Palace.

Warm pavilion.

Emperor Hongzhi had been waiting for Chen Ce for a long time. When he saw Chen Ce coming, he said succinctly: "Today I saw your victorious chariot. It will be invincible if used in the northern battlefield."

"But over on the Japanese island..."

Chen Ce nodded: "I understand."

He took out a map from his arms and handed it to Emperor Hongzhi.

Emperor Hongzhi asked doubtfully: "What is this?"

Chen Ce said calmly: "The entire map of the Japanese island."

hiss!
Emperor Hongzhi took a deep breath and quickly opened the map, then...

Well, he didn’t know whether the map was real or fake, so it was useless to look at it.

Emperor Hongzhi stared at Chen Ce suspiciously and asked, "Chun Jian, where did you get this map?"

Chen Ce: “…”

No matter what he said, Emperor Hongzhi might not believe it, so he said: "It was deduced from the geomancy drawings collected from historical records. The location of the copper mine is marked here. Your Majesty can send a spy to the Japanese island to verify its authenticity."

Emperor Hongzhi fell into deep thought. If he really wanted to send people to explore the complete map of the Japanese island, he must let the six ministries of the cabinet participate. Otherwise, even if he sent the Jinyiwei to the Japanese island, the six ministries of the cabinet might not believe it. These old foxes might even think that I was fooling them and deliberately made a random map to prepare to attack the Japanese island.

(End of this chapter)