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

Zhu Huan was startled by Zhu Gaoxu's words.

But immediately afterward, there was not a trace of worry in his eyes, but only joy.

He wasn't afraid of Zhu Gaoxu's ruthlessness, but rather of Zhu Gaoxu's hesitation and indecisiveness.

Now that we've come out into the world, if we want to reconcile those hidden conflicts and develop our vassal states well, we won't achieve anything great without courage and decisiveness.

What truly ignited Zhu Huan's passion was the ambition displayed by Zhu Gaochi, which gave him even greater hope.

Although they came overseas, it was not the end for them, but more like the beginning.

Zhu Huan looked at Zhu Gaoxu with utmost respect and admiration, and slowly cupped his hands in greeting.

"Your Highness, I understand. I will begin processing this immediately upon leaving."

However, Your Highness, I need a large army to cooperate with me, and if all these people are reduced to low-class slaves, someone will surely cause trouble.

My suggestion is that no matter how many people there are, anyone who causes trouble should be killed without exception!

Only in this way can we deter others from acting within the framework set by the prince.

"You handle this matter yourself. I'll have Qian Xun lead troops to accompany you and assist you in accomplishing this task."

Zhu Gaoxu did not elaborate, but he believed that Zhu Huan could handle it.

If you don't even understand this much, then you don't deserve to be by his side.

After saying that, Zhu Gaoxu continued, "There is one more thing. After everyone has been brought here, those who have reached marriageable age but are not yet married should be arranged to get married as soon as possible."

Anyone who gets married and has fewer than two children within five years will be fined!

For any family with three or more children, the government would provide money and grain for each additional child.

Those who reach marriageable age but fail to marry within two years will be severely punished!

After the slaves have selected the best women, the Han men may take any woman they fancy as a concubine. Each man may only take one concubine, and no money or gifts are required. The slaves have no choice but to comply.

Any slave who incites Han people shall be executed!

At the same time, they must have offspring within two years, or they will be severely punished!

If a slave or concubine instigates a conflict with the Han people, or if she holds a dominant position in a Han household, she will be demoted to a lower-class slave, and in serious cases, beaten to death!

Then, select a few doctors from among those who accompanied you to give a presentation to everyone on how to better protect the pregnancy, so that everyone can know about it.

Anyone who commits an abortion will be severely punished, along with their entire family!

Anyone who causes harm to others will be punished doubly severely!

"Anyone who abandons an infant, even if they are Han Chinese, will be reduced to slavery or executed upon discovery!"

As Zhu Gaoxu spoke, Zhu Huan remained completely unmoved.

In fact, some of these practices were already in place during the Ming Dynasty, and many more were already implemented by Zhu Yuanzhang, except that Zhu Gaochi added some conditions related to slaves.

Those who have more children will be rewarded; this was a special rule established by Zhu Gaochi, which was not practiced in the Ming Dynasty.

When the Ming Dynasty was first established, the population had decreased sharply. Zhu Yuanzhang had clearly stipulated that those who did not marry within the marriageable age limit would be fined.

In fact, not only in the Ming Dynasty, but in any dynasty that experienced a sharp decline in population, being single was a sin, it's just that the term "crime of being single" was not explicitly listed.

Everything Zhu Gaochi is doing now has only one purpose: to increase the population.

Until technology reaches that point, where machines completely replace manual labor, population will always be the primary productive force.

Especially during the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Gaochi was particularly clear that population was the foundation for everything.

Ideally, these things should have been done after his vassal state was stable, but Zhu Gaoxu didn't want to wait.

Every year that is delayed is a huge loss for him.

Some things cannot be rushed, nor can they be rushed; they can only be done slowly. But some things cannot be delayed.

After Zhu Huan wrote everything down, he looked at Zhu Gaoxu.

"Your Highness, I have noted it all down. I will go and make the arrangements now."

My subordinates plan to first build the city, reclaim wasteland, and construct the port; other preparations will be postponed.

"Building a city, reclaiming wasteland, and constructing a port are indeed urgent tasks; let's begin immediately."

When transporters arrive, priority is given to transporting artisans, fishermen, scholars, doctors, and those with skills.

Once these people arrive, you need to immediately begin making arrangements and get them moving.

In Daming Liujiagang today, people who need to be relocated still need to be transported three times to basically complete the relocation.

If it weren't for the abundance of food and other supplies, we wouldn't have needed to make so many trips.

In other words, this place is not far from the Ming Dynasty, and the sea area is relatively calm.

In Southeast Asia, where the winds and waves are high, it would take a year and a half to transport people and supplies.

After arranging these things, Qian Xun followed Zhu Huan and withdrew.

Time passed slowly, and Hosokawa Ono returned to Namba, gaining the trust of Ashikaga Yoshimochi, who finally began preparations for his evacuation.

Zhu Gaochi continued his slow march, tightening the siege barrier step by step.

On this day, Luo Li hurriedly came to Zhu Gaoxu.

"Your Highness, Hosokawa Ono has sent word that Ashikaga Yoshimochi is preparing to take away a large amount of money, food, and supplies!"

"Hmm? Order Jin Rong and Wei Da to immediately lead their troops and leave all that money, food, and supplies behind!"

Zhu Gaoxu's face was filled with murderous intent. He told Ashikaga Yoshimochi that he could leave, but Ashikaga Yoshimochi should not take these important things with him.

These money, food, and supplies all belong to him; no one can take them away!

Several days later, Zhu Gaoxu finally entered Nanbo.

Naniwa and the surrounding area should have had hundreds of thousands of people, but now there are not many, as many have been taken away by Ashikaga Yoshimochi and those clans.

However, most of these people were quickly intercepted by the army sent by Zhu Gaochi to pursue them, while a small number followed Ashikaga Yoshimochi and began to flee eastward.

Three more days passed, and Zhu Gaoxu completely conquered the entire plain and its surrounding areas.

Inside the temporary palace, Zhu Gaoxu summoned everyone.

"This place has now been completely captured, and all rewards will be distributed tomorrow."

Now that this place is my vassal state, from this day forward...

This place will be renamed the Han Kingdom, and the areas we have just conquered will be renamed Handong Prefecture! Naniwa will be renamed Han Capital!

The Han Kingdom was the Great Ming Han Kingdom, a vassal state of Zhu Gaochi, named after the vassal king.

Handong Prefecture was a name Zhu Gaoxu came up with on the spur of the moment.

Han refers to the Han state, and Dong refers to the area east of the Ming Dynasty. Zhu Gaochi decided on this directly.

And Hanjing, his capital, was located there.

Everyone was incredibly excited at this moment. After leaving for the Ming Dynasty, they finally had a place to stay.

The vassal states were thus formally established.

They will all have a new beginning here.

After making this decision, Zhu Gaochi did not continue to expand the territory under his actual control, but instead began to focus all his efforts on development.

Even the large army, apart from leaving a portion to defend against Japanese attacks, was all assigned by Zhu Gaoxu to infrastructure construction and land reclamation.

And the slave system officially began to operate, with everyone busy.

As for the fact that the number of slaves had clearly decreased, no one asked about it or paid any attention to it.

Under the protection of the naval fleet, the fleet began its return to the Ming Dynasty, bringing back people and supplies still in the Ming.

When the fleet arrived in the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Gaochi defeated the Japanese army, Ashikaga Yoshimochi fled east, and news of Zhu Gaochi establishing the Handong Prefecture was also quickly transmitted to the palace.

Zhu Gaochi's movements were of great concern to Zhu Di and others in the palace.

Everyone was concerned about Zhu Gaoxu's trip to Japan.

However, some people are genuinely worried.

Some people would rather see Zhu Gaochi suffer a terrible loss.

Meanwhile, news of Zhu Gaochi's presence in Japan was rapidly spreading throughout the Ming Dynasty.