The Ming Dynasty: A Modern Return, Building an Overseas Empire

Chapter 122 Only those who possess mountains of gold and silver can truly appreciate their value; Returning to the Ming Dynasty

Zhu Gaoxu left Zhu Huan behind, leaving only the two of them in the main hall.

"Now that the territory has expanded, the number of troops has decreased."

How many people have migrated from the Ming Dynasty so far?

If I wanted to expand my army, how much could I increase it by?

Zhu Gaoxu looked at Zhu Huan, wanting to expand the army, but how much to expand was not something that could be easily decided.

During this period of comprehensive development, the large-scale expansion of the workforce has led to a decrease in the number of young and able-bodied people in the civilian population, which will directly affect development.

However, if the expansion is too small, it will not have a significant effect on the current situation.

The goal is to expand the quantity significantly without compromising the foundation of development, which requires the support of Zhu Huan's data.

Zhu Huan did not hesitate and took a moment to gather his thoughts.

"Your Highness, there are now more than 133,000 people who have migrated from the Ming Dynasty, mostly young and strong, numbering more than 68,000."

Furthermore, the number of slaves is still considerable, and considering the population of Ryukyu Prefecture, expanding the army by 30,000 would have a relatively small impact.

However, conscription is required from Hankyo, Ryukyu Prefecture, Luzon Prefecture, and Hirao Prefecture.

The main focus is on Hanjing and Ryukyu Prefecture; the current population of Pingnan Prefecture cannot be conscripted.

Zhu Gaoxu frowned upon hearing this: The newly added population of Ryukyu Prefecture, as well as the people who migrated from the Ming Dynasty, could only expand the army by 30,000, which was considerable but not enough.

In fact, under normal circumstances, his current territory should have a total military force of at least 100,000.

Unfortunately, the current population growth rate is still insufficient.

With the addition of 30,000 troops, plus the original army, the total force is only a little over 70,000.

Excluding the troops stationed in various places, out of the more than 70,000 troops, the number of troops that can be mobilized in the event of war is only about 50,000.

To be more aggressive, it would be around 60,000.

What troubled Zhu Gaochi even more was that the number of people migrating from the Ming Dynasty was much lower than he had expected.

As Zhu Di had promised him, the original plan to relocate him, along with subsequent compensation and additional funds prepared for his relocation, totaled around one million to five hundred thousand.

And so many people have to complete the relocation within five years.

But now, almost a year has passed, and less than 140,000 people have been relocated.

At this rate, can the relocation be completed within five years?

"What did they say from the Ming Dynasty? Why is the migration so slow?"

Zhu Gaoxu is now very eager to know the reason. If it is Zhu Gaochi and the civil officials who are obstructing him, he will not let it go.

The migration of these people is related to his development outside.

Upon hearing this, Zhu Huan said with a bitter expression, "Your Highness, I understand this matter. The ships of the Ming Dynasty have already reached their limit."

When the prince set sail, the Ming Dynasty mobilized all available ships and transported him in three separate trips.

Currently, it's just a matter of relocating the population. The Ming Dynasty itself also needs ships, and the navy's ships are no longer being used. In addition, Your Highness detained some ships back then.

This resulted in a limited number of ships being used for population migration, and each shipment carried a relatively small number of people.

The Ming Dynasty is preparing to start the construction of new ships for transporting people. However, due to the cost of building new large ships and the large demand, the required manpower, material resources, and financial resources will be relatively high.

Once the population migration is complete, these ships will be idle, and since the emperor is preparing for a northern expedition, the matter is still unresolved.

However, there are rumors that after the new naval ships built by the Ming Dynasty are handed over to the fleets that go on voyages to the Western Ocean, the old ships will be left vacant.

It will be used first to transport the relocated population, and then used for other purposes after that.

This news came from the Ming Dynasty and cannot be confirmed yet.

Zhu Gaoxu felt somewhat helpless after hearing this.

Based on this situation, it's not that someone is obstructing him, but rather it's a fact.

Building new ships takes time, but more importantly, it costs money.

After building so many ships, once this project is completed, the investment in these ships will basically be wasted.

No one would be so wasteful.

As for requisitioning all the ships as before, that's basically impossible, as the Ming Dynasty also needs to operate.

Zhu Gaoxu was in a bind. He wanted to move the people out as soon as possible, so there was only one feasible way left: to send out his own ship.

However, Zhu Gaoxu quickly rejected this idea as soon as it came to mind.

Now, his region is even more short of ships than the Ming Dynasty. Everyone is focused on building new ships, and there are simply not enough ships to transport the migrating population.

"Zhu Huan, do you have any way to get the Ming Dynasty to mobilize more ships and speed up the transportation of the migrant population?"

'

Zhu Gaoxu thought for a while, but he really couldn't think of any other better way, so he could only try asking Zhu Huan.

In fact, he thought five years was too long, and now it seems even more difficult to complete in five years.

Should we question Zhu Di?

What's the use of questioning? The problem remains.

We need to find a solution to this problem before we can approach Zhu Di.

With slave laborers now available, the reclamation of several plains, the construction of cities, and the improvement of other infrastructure are progressing relatively quickly.

The number of slaves will continue to increase, fully meeting the needs of development. This necessitates a larger population to fill the gaps; otherwise, who will cultivate the newly reclaimed land? If cities and other infrastructure are completed but there's no one to help, wouldn't that be a joke?

As for the food issue, with the current commercial flow, food from Southeast Asia and other places is flowing to him, and he is also constantly purchasing food from the Ming Dynasty. In addition, with the reclamation of the plains, the initial tension has completely disappeared.

Everything is ready except for the population.

Zhu Huan fell silent for a moment, his brows furrowed.

After thinking for a long time, something suddenly came to mind.

"Your Highness, I have come up with a plan. Now that the mining of the Iwami Silver Mine is expanding, and there are also gold, silver and copper mines being mined in Luzon Prefecture, we can provide funds for the Ming Dynasty to build new ships, and at the same time use funds to requisition some of the Ming Dynasty's ships."

In this way, the transportation of the migrant population can be accelerated, and once the new ships are built, the entire population can be relocated.

Once completed, we will bring back the newly built ships, which can be used as ordinary civilian merchant ships or for other purposes.

The Ming Dynasty's ship fleet is saturated, but here, the demand for ships will be high and the number will be enormous for the next ten or even twenty years, so there will be no waste.

Although our newly established shipyards are gradually starting construction, their production capacity has not kept up. This will help solve our capacity shortage problem.

Zhu Gaoxu's eyes lit up. He thought it sounded really good to buy it with his own money.

Now, he has nothing else, but with the increased manpower deployed to various mines for mining and refining, he has a lot of money.

There was no shortage of gold, silver, or copper needed to mint coins.

With that in mind, Zhu Gaoxu no longer hesitated.

"Go and prepare the recruitment notice. This time, the army will be expanded by 30,000."

"At the same time, prepare gold and silver. I will be returning to the Ming Dynasty in two months, so I need to stockpile as much as possible. I will discuss this matter with you then."

Whether it's gold or silver, although precious, if it can't be converted into what the user wants, it's just waste.

Moreover, this time he was taking so much gold and silver to invest in the Ming Dynasty and to send money to Zhu Di, which would also allow him to obtain more people from the Ming Dynasty.

Come.

The benefit of expanding his territory is that the different places are completely different, which means that he is not actually lacking in resources now.

What he lacks most right now is people.

Just as Zhu Di was on his northern expedition, and the Ming Dynasty was in dire need of funds, he believed that Zhu Di would not refuse him, nor would any of the court officials.

Those people even hoped he would bring more money and move more people out.

Thinking about all this, Zhu Gaoxu could somewhat understand the fun those Middle Eastern oil tycoons had in modern times.

They have nothing else but lots of money.

With money, you can just buy what you don't have.

Zhu Huan, who was standing to the side, did not hesitate and immediately agreed.

"Yes, Your Highness. I will begin preparations immediately after I leave."

Furthermore, additional manpower was deployed for mining and refining, to stockpile as much gold and silver as possible before the prince returned to the Ming Dynasty.

Zhu Huan didn't feel sorry for them. Only after experiencing their initial hardships did he realize that gold and silver were all fake.

When they first arrived, they didn't have much gold and silver, but they still had some money.

But then what's the use?

Back then, it was completely unnecessary here; an ounce of gold was not as useful as a pound of grain.

The people in Zhu Gaochi's fiefdom all knew this clearly.

Money is good, but it's useless if it's not used for something you actually need. If you can't use it, it has no value at all.

This is also why Zhu Huan was so generous and didn't hesitate to spend money. He used gold and silver to buy what he needed, and as long as he had it, he spent it freely.

Only when money is converted into what is needed and into real power does it have value.

Zhu Gaoxu nodded, and after Zhu Huan left, he started writing and drawing on the paper as if he was thinking of something.

Once everything is set up, call Niucheng.

"Send someone to personally deliver this letter to Qian Xun, and tell him to begin as soon as possible!"

"Yes, Your Highness!"

Zhu Gaoxu provided the location as the gold and silver mines in Pingnan Prefecture, Australia.

He clearly remembered that Pingnan Prefecture had the world's largest, highest-quality, and lowest-cost rich silver mine.

what.

Silver mines typically contain associated minerals.

Now that gold and silver are still universal currencies, why not take them out and use them?

As for the paper money he knew about in modern times, there was now the Ming Dynasty Treasure Note as a foundation, but Zhu Gaoxu was in no hurry at all.

With so much gold and silver outside, and abundant resources within our own territory, why bother with paper currency?

His biggest advantage now is these things; they're all money.

Is issuing paper money just asking for trouble?

Zhu Gaoxu, who had been frowning, now had a smile on his face after figuring things out.

Only by possessing mountains of gold and silver can one truly appreciate their value.

At this moment, Zhu Gaoxu could only sigh, "With money, you can do whatever you want."

Now, as long as his development speed is fast enough and Zhu Di's speed of learning about this information is slow enough, this time difference is enough for him to develop to the point of being able to withstand the pressure from the Ming Dynasty, and then he can be completely at ease.

Time passed slowly, and two months went by quietly, with everything progressing in an orderly manner.

The only thing that Zhu Gaoxu regretted was that the development of science and technology was progressing rather slowly, but fortunately, there was still progress.

On this day, Zhu Gaochi led a fleet of more than ten large ships and set off to return to the Ming Dynasty.

The agreed-upon date for his return to Zhu Di has arrived, and now he can only abide by the agreement.

After being away from the Ming Dynasty for so long, Zhu Gaochi also felt a bit nostalgic.