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

Zhu Gaoxu ignored what was happening in the court; those were not things he should concern himself with.

Zhu Gaochi and the civil officials' opposition were ignored by Zhu Gaoxu, who had the imperial edict in hand.

During this period, no one could challenge Zhu Di, and no one could stop his decisions.

The most powerful periods of the Ming Dynasty's imperial power were the Hongwu and Yongle reigns of Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Di.

In both dynasties, if anyone tried to use their power to suppress the imperial authority, Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Di would teach them a lesson on how to reincarnate.

The civil officials who were making a ruckus in the mid-to-late Ming Dynasty had to keep quiet during these two reigns.

As preparations proceeded, the people Zhu Di had promised gradually arrived.

Zhu Gaoxu personally visited the manor outside the city, where more than 30,000 people had gathered, and money, grain, and various supplies were piled up in abundance.

The original thousand-plus private soldiers were no longer sufficient to maintain order, so Zhu Gaoxu had to recruit another thousand men from the manor he knew well to help maintain order.

Among these people were those that Zhu Gaoxu originally intended to take from the manor, the families of his private soldiers, various talents that Zhu Gaoxu himself had recruited from the common people during this period, and some talents sent by Zhu Di, including their families.

The talents within included various craftsmen, such as blacksmiths, stonemasons, gunpowder and firearms experts, physicists, mathematicians, mechanics specialists, and carpenters needed for shipbuilding.

Other talents included ship designers and builders, doctors, scholars, and some niche and low-class individuals—the so-called "lowlifes"—all of whom Zhu Gaoxu recruited.

They also brought along a considerable number of talents from various handicraft and light industries, all in order to enable the region to develop rapidly.

Zhu Gaoxu had to admit that having the title of Prince of Han of the Ming Dynasty and an imperial edict from Zhu Di made things much easier.

If it were anyone else, daring to do what he did, they would have been arrested and executed by the Imperial Guards right from the start, let alone now.

Who else could gather tens of thousands of people like him, right outside the capital, with all sorts of talented people, and with a huge stockpile of money, food, supplies, and weapons?

Looking across the entire Ming Dynasty, who else could openly do what he did?

However, Zhu Gaoxu was not happy at all; in fact, he was quite worried.

He really wanted as many people as possible to take with him, because he needed a large population once he was outside.

He would be happy to have tens of thousands more talented people, especially.

But now a problem has also arisen: so many people, and they haven't even set off yet, and the consumption is already quite high.

He assigned some down-on-their-luck scholars, namely impoverished pedants, as well as some honest and upright students, to various positions.

The money, food, and supplies that have been stockpiled seem plentiful, but such consumption makes it difficult to sustain.

More importantly, the people here have not yet been fully assembled; a batch of people that Zhu Di promised to give him has not yet been delivered.

There are still thousands of talented people who haven't taken up their posts yet, and with their families included, the total number of people here will soon approach 50,000.

Adding the soldiers of the Three Guards and their families, the total number is close to 180,000, and may even reach 200,000.

After all, if some relatives or friends, as well as some of his trusted confidants, also go along, the number could easily reach 200,000.

Two hundred thousand people, where can the Ming Dynasty find so many ships now?

And that doesn't even include money, food, and various dual-use military and civilian supplies.

Among the supplies were many live livestock, such as cattle, sheep, pigs, and various kinds of poultry.

There were also warhorses; although he didn't have many, the Three Guards had nearly three thousand.

In other words, even the departure process has to be done in a specific order.

In particular, the domains had to be conquered before they could be acquired; Japan couldn't simply hand over a piece of land to them.

More importantly, none of his three guards were suitable for naval warfare; he had no professional navy!

If he wanted to take up a fiefdom, he first had to defeat the Japanese navy, and then he had to land on land.

Only after landing can his army be put to use.

With these questions in mind, Zhu Gaoxu did not linger at the manor and returned to his palace.

Inside the Prince's residence, Zhu Huan was already waiting.

"Greetings, Your Highness."

"Hmm? You're back already. Have you explained the situation with Sanwei? How many people are you taking with you?"

Looking at Zhu Huan, Zhu Gaoxu had no interest in talking about anything else and went straight to the point.

Upon hearing this, Zhu Huan's expression became exceptionally solemn.

"Your Highness, we have already made it clear to the three commanders of the guards, Wei Da, Sheng Jian, and Qian Xun. We not only spoke to them, but also to the lower-ranking officers and commanders."

Everyone was willing to go out with the prince, and the silver they brought was personally distributed by his subordinates, and everyone received it.

The soldiers of the Three Guards were in high spirits, shouting that they would die for their lord.

Zhu Gaoxu wasn't surprised, after all, he had spent a considerable amount of money to appease and completely win over the Three Guards.

He didn't give them any paper money to avoid any adverse effects; he used only silver, which he obtained from selling the Prince's Mansion and from various households in the capital.

But looking at Zhu Huan's expression, Zhu Gaoxu felt something was wrong.

"Is there anything else? Tell me all at once."

Zhu Gaoxu now feels that he has too many things to worry about and is no longer afraid of trouble.

Anyway, there are already a lot of problems, and he seems to be able to accept even more problems.

After all, the more debts you have, the less you worry; the more lice you have, the less you feel itchy.

Seeing that Zhu Gaoxu had suddenly relaxed, Zhu Huan no longer hesitated.

"Your Highness, the commanders of the Three Guards privately told me that, according to Your Highness's instructions, Commander Wei Da recruited eight hundred private soldiers, Commander Sheng Jian recruited nearly a thousand private soldiers, and Commander Qian Xun recruited five hundred private soldiers."

These private soldiers did not submit their military registers to the Ministry of War. They routinely obtained funds and supplies allocated by the court by falsely reporting their numbers, as instructed by the prince. At the same time, they cultivated a group of merchants to sell smuggled salt and other goods, and used the money obtained to support these private soldiers.

This time, my subordinates also brought back 30,000 taels of gold, 10,000 taels of silver, and 50,000 taels of cash.

The prince brought back all the money his subordinates had taken with them.

Upon hearing this, Zhu Gaoxu was at a loss for words.

In fact, in his previous life, Zhu Di had reduced his guards by two, leaving him with only one guard, which also gave him a reputation for doing these kinds of things.

In his previous life, he didn't know how to restrain himself and went further and further, until Zhu Di could no longer tolerate it.

In addition, his role in the court was also gone; Zhu Di no longer needed him and he was directly eliminated.

Now that he's been to the modern era, looking back at those actions, Zhu Gaoxu is somewhat impressed with himself; he really dared to do those things before.

Think about all the things you've done. Any one of them alone would be punishable by execution for an ordinary person, or even extermination of the entire clan for some.

Despite his mixed feelings, Zhu Gaoxu was also quite excited.

He won't be doing those things anymore; he's going to go to sea.

What I made before is now coming in handy, and I even have a lot of extra left over.

I was naive before and did these things, but didn't I just accidentally help myself?

Zhu Gaoxu chuckled, but when he looked at Zhu Huan, he couldn't help but laugh.

This matter shouldn't have caused Zhu Huan to frown so deeply and look so grim.

"Go on."

Zhu Huan replied in a deep voice: "Your Highness, the number of people who went to sea, as counted by the Three Guards, is more than 178,400, which is more than expected."

Some soldiers wanted to bring their maternal families and fellow villagers along with them.

Your Highness previously said that the more people who spread the word, the better. Your subordinates also know that the Three Guards soldiers will be Your Highness's foundation after going to sea, and have already agreed.

The three commanders have now led their soldiers back to begin organizing the relocation of the army's families to Liujiagang.

In addition, my subordinates brought back a thousand men in case we need manpower here.

They collected many tools along the way, which were used to transport money, grain, and other supplies.

Zhu Gaoxu couldn't help but shrink his pupils.

Nearly 180,000 people?

Adding in the numbers here, it's estimated that there are around 50,000 people, so the final number will be around 230,000.

How much food and supplies would that require? How many ships would it take to haul them all away?

We also need to allocate land. How much land will that take?

After arriving in Japan, how long will the food we brought with us last?

Especially after we arrive, what should we do about our accommodation?

With so many people and so many mouths to feed, they'll have to tame the people in Japan, and that number will only increase.

He also needs to solve the naval problem, and it is highly likely that he will take more people with him, and the number will not be small.

For a moment, Zhu Gaoxu was completely numb.