Zhutian: Starting from the Space-Time Merchant

Chapter 349 Landing in Japan
"Your Majesty~"

Outside Beijing, mass graves lie scattered.

A group of Goryeo people cried out, searching everywhere, "Your Majesty, where are you?!"

There were too many skeletons scattered around here, and after searching for a long time, the remains of the Goryeo king could not be found.

"Coming, coming~"

After a while, a laborer who was pulling a cart to transport the corpses was arrested.

With a knife held directly to the laborer's neck, he demanded, "Where are the king's remains?"

The terrified laborers quickly led the group to a shallow pit, saying, "Just bury him here."

The shallow pit was dug open, revealing a corpse so gruesome it was hard to look at; everyone burst into tears.

"Your Majesty~"

Even after Goryeo had been established for hundreds of years, it still had loyal subjects who were cultivated through education and shared interests.

Even if they dared not offend the occupying forces, they could still secretly bury the king's remains.

However, the king is in a terrible state.

"Those rebels."

Some former Goryeo officials angrily denounced the attack, saying, "One person, one sword; one person, one sword."

"In order to be loyal to their new master, they kept fighting with knives, knife to knife!"

"So much so that the king didn't even leave behind a complete corpse!"

The former officials of Goryeo vehemently denounced the traitors and vented their emotions.

Only then did they burn incense and perform rituals, solemnly removing the remains of the King of Goryeo.

They planned to move the remains to the family cemetery of the Goryeo royal family for burial.

However, such a big commotion had already attracted attention.

Before they could even set off, a large number of armored soldiers surrounded them.

Faced with the thick armor and weapons, those who dared to resist were killed on the spot, and the rest were all captured.

As for the remains of the King of Goryeo, they were lost in the same place.

There was originally at least a shallow pit.

But nowadays, they are simply exposed to the wild.

Since the matter involved the King of Goryeo, it was reported up the chain of command and eventually ended up on Lin Dao's desk.

There's not much to say about this.

Lin Dao directly ordered, "Send all the men, along with the male members of their families, to the labor camps. The large-scale construction projects across the country urgently need labor."

“Among the women, select the outstanding ones and reward them to the meritorious soldiers.”

"The other female relatives will be temporarily placed under guard and will be assigned after the immigrants arrive."

Goryeo was a populous country, with an official population of over two million.

However, the actual number is far higher than this, estimated to be around three to five million.

This represents a significant portion of human resources.

The redistribution of the population began with the local powerful and wealthy landowners.

Besides rewarding meritorious soldiers, most of their land was distributed to the immigrants who came here.

Abroad, Lin Dao is very generous.

Immigrants who voluntarily signed up were often allocated 300 acres of land per household.

They also provided oxen and horses for plowing, distributed various iron farm tools free of charge, sold fertilizers at low prices, and even organized manpower to construct and maintain water conservancy facilities, thereby improving labor efficiency.

Of course, even so, it would be difficult for a single household to take good care of all 300 acres of land.

Before mechanization, all kinds of facilities were readily available, and a single laborer could at most look after a few dozen or a hundred acres of land.

Lin Dao's solution to this was to encourage population growth.

Have more children, and the labor shortage will naturally be filled.

Those Korean women were mainly used to match single immigrants.

As for ordinary Goryeo people, including those powerful officials, nobles, and serfs hidden under the names of landlords and tycoons.

They were sent away in batches to do labor under the guise of conscription.

Their wives, children, fields, houses, and so on will be gradually taken over by the Ming people who have immigrated here.

The scale of conscription was similar to the scale of immigration arrivals.

Besides these, there was another remaining force of Goryeo soldiers who had surrendered.

After eliminating the old and weak and replenishing the payroll of the surrendered soldiers from Gaegyeong and various parts of Goryeo, they still had tens of thousands of troops.

Assigning them to hard labor would likely trigger a mutiny.

Staying in Korea would also lead to conflict as the scale of immigration expands.

Therefore, Lin Dao arranged a good place for them.

"I hereby appoint you as the vanguard in the campaign against the Japanese!"

At the royal banquet, Lin Dao, all smiles, gestured to the group of surrendered Goryeo people, "Are you all willing to go?"

The surrendered people, who were drinking and watching the dance troupe composed of the Goryeo king's concubines, looked at each other in bewilderment.

After exchanging glances, Yi Seong-gye, a young man favored by the Ming emperor, stepped forward to pay his respects.

"Your Majesty the All-Powerful Emperor~"

"We are willing to carry out any order from Your Majesty."

Although he was young, Yi Seong-gye had a very pleasant voice.

First came a barrage of praise, and only then did they raise the difficulties.

"Bao Yuan once crossed the sea to attack Japan twice, but both times he was harassed by the kamikaze and failed."

"I am worried that we may encounter the divine wind when we cross the sea."

"What nonsense!" Lin Dao shook his head. "It's just a typhoon."

"The Mongols were accustomed to nomadic tactics and liked to fight during the autumn harvest."

"Not only can it disrupt other people's autumn harvest, but it can also plunder enough supplies."

"They don't know that autumn is Japan's typhoon season."

"Choosing this time both times, plus bad luck, it's normal to run into a typhoon."

Lin Dao believed in science and didn't believe in any nonsense about divine protection.

Seeing that the surrendered people were still hesitant to accept the offer, he simply offered them benefits.

"Your military achievements in this war to destroy the Japanese pirates will be rewarded according to the Ming army's precedent."

With just this one sentence, people's eyes lit up instantly.

Lin Dao implemented a system of awarding titles based on military merit.

With military merit, one gains status, wealth, land, and everything else. Without military merit, even if allocated a lot of land, one is still just a farmer.

It can be said that military merit was the equivalent of the imperial examination in the Ming Dynasty; if you wanted to stand out, you had to have military merit.

People stepped forward to pay their respects.

"I am willing to die for His Majesty the Emperor!"

Those who surrender to save their lives are undoubtedly driven by self-interest.

Saying anything is useless; just entice them with benefits.

"Alright." Lin Dao nodded in satisfaction. "Let's drink and watch the singing and dancing!"

After the banquet, all of the Goryeo king's concubines were given as gifts by Lin Dao to the surrendered people.

In particular, the Goryeo queen from Mongolia was given to Yi Seong-gye.

The smile on Lin Dao's face gradually faded as he watched them leave with tears of gratitude and the women.

The Ming Dynasty officials and civil and military officers who had not spoken much before stepped forward to pay their respects.

"Your Majesty, they are nothing but a group of surrendered people."

It means that they are just a group of surrendered people, and they are being treated too favorably.

"You should not underestimate Japan."

Lin Dao gave Lan Yu a wink, and he immediately ordered the armored soldiers to drive away all the bystanders.

“Japan has a large population, even more than Korea, with at least seven or eight million people.”

"Moreover, they are currently in a period of national unification, and can mobilize the strength of the entire country to wage war."

"When the Yuan army attacked twice, Japan mobilized 40,000 to 50,000 troops in just one province (Kyushu Island) and defeated the vanguard of the Yuan army that landed."

"Decades have passed, and its national mobilization capacity should be over 200,000."

"If we mobilize to the extreme, there will be even more."

He gestured for everyone to sit down and then said, "I know what you want to say: that the army is strong and not afraid of the enemy's large numbers."

"But Japan has more than just a large army."

"The area is mountainous and rugged, making it very easy to be ambushed."

"Moreover, earthquakes are frequent, and volcanoes and tsunamis happen all the time."

"The lives and blood of the Ming soldiers should not be so easily wasted."

The Ming army under Lin Dao's command was formidable in combat, which stemmed from the advanced military equipment he provided.

But soldiers can't always be fully dressed and ready for battle, no matter where they go.

Especially in mountain warfare, the use of muskets and cannons is severely affected.

Even if we don't say we were defeated, the losses must have been considerable.

"Before fishing, you need to use enough bait."

Lin Dao gestured for everyone to raise their glasses, saying, "These surrendered soldiers should not be allowed to live."

"We can lure them with great rewards and send them to fight in Japan."

"They have nowhere to run, even if they want to escape across the sea."

"Wouldn't it be wonderful if our army could finish off the Japanese after they've exhausted all their resources?"

From a general's perspective, none of what Lin Dao said was of any use.

All they cared about was their own military achievements.

Whether they can reduce losses, minimize casualties, or eliminate hidden dangers, these are not within their scope of consideration.

In other words, Lin Dao's prestige and ability were sufficient, so the generals dared not oppose him.

The advantage of emphasizing martial arts is that one is strong and capable of fighting.

It prevented them from suffering the fate of foreign invasion, national subjugation, and annihilation.

The downside is that military men, in their pursuit of military achievements, become arrogant, domineering, and prone to hoarding troops and wielding excessive power.

When Lin Dao was around, naturally no one dared to cause trouble.

Once he's gone, things become unpredictable.

In response to this, Lin Dao also accepted the suggestions from netizens in the modern world and began to establish a military academy.

The prestige and mobilization capabilities of officers produced in academies cannot compare to those of generals who have fought their way up.

However, a large enough base can effectively reduce the risk.

Of course, what was truly important were the railways and the telegraph.

With these thoughts in mind, Lin Dao raised his glass in a toast.

"Let's drink!"

Nearly a century later, an army from the mainland once again set foot on Japan.

In the two attacks a century ago, the first to land were the surrendered soldiers of the Southern Song Dynasty.

This time, the first to land were also surrendered soldiers, only they were surrendered soldiers from Goryeo.

These surrendered soldiers received ample supplies.

Lin Dao captured a large amount of military supplies from the Mongol Yuan dynasty, including armor and weapons. He didn't like them himself, so he gave them to the surrendered Goryeo soldiers to re-equip.

The surrendered soldiers, their morale greatly boosted, began a frenzied burning, killing, and looting as soon as they landed.

They cut off the heads of the warriors and hung them on their waists, set fire to the houses they saw along the way, looted any valuables they could find, and pounced on the short local women to vent their desires.

Like a swarm of locusts, they wreaked havoc everywhere.

It was as if he wanted to vent all the grievances he had suffered at the hands of the Ming army, doubling the amount he had suffered.

The Ming army subsequently landed on land.

Soon after, more non-governmental organizations also came to this land.

Kim Dae was an ordinary soldier in Goryeo.

While guarding Kaijing, they inexplicably became surrendered soldiers.

After that, I followed the generals in a daze and arrived in Japan.

He was lucky; he beheaded a Japanese samurai and captured his entire family.

"This is twenty strings of cash."

The Ming army documents verifying military merits pushed copper coins, silver, and military notes in front of Jin Da, along with a confirmation letter.

"Sign and stamp."

"I~" Upon hearing the translator's words, Jin Da scratched his head, dandruff flying everywhere, "I can't write."

The document was retrieved, his name was written down, and then it was pushed back for him to sign!

Having obtained the goods, Jin Da happily led his spoils, which were tied with ropes, toward the nearby camp of the accompanying merchants.

(End of this chapter)