Zhu Youzhen finally concluded: "... In any case, what we need is a Japan that remains peaceful, but has little ability to resist. We need Japan to be the source of raw materials and the market for the sale of products, not a war-torn Japan, and that will not do us any good.

Whether we support the Japanese Edo shogunate or the anti-shogunate forces in Japan, in the final analysis, it is only for one purpose, to ensure that the interests of the Ming in Japan are not harmed. So I ask you, before acting, to consider whether it is contrary to this premise. If this premise is violated, then you should give up doing it. ”

In this room, none of them are serious officials, whether it is Xu Xinsu and others, who were born in maritime business, or Wang Chengen, who is next to Chongzhen, they are more familiar with this way of measuring things by interests.

Chongzhen's words not only did not make them feel inappropriate, but they felt that what the emperor said was very much in line with their hearts. Xu Xinsu, who was the patrol envoy of the East China Sea, did not understand the meaning of the new terms proposed by the emperor, such as the origin of raw materials and the sales market of products.

However, he was clear about the general political and economic direction of controlling the whole of Japan as revealed in the emperor's words. Managing the safety of ships coming and going at sea is naturally not as good as controlling the whole of Japan, and he feels more excited.

After everyone in the room echoed a few words from Chongzhen, Chongzhen waved his hand and motioned for Uncle Huang Yong to continue.

After leaving the Choshu Domain, Hwang's ship headed northwest, arriving at the Oki Islands a day later, a prison island used by the Japanese to exile nobles and ministers. The guards on the island allowed them to dock, but they were not allowed to go ashore.

They stayed here for the night and then continued their journey to the west, where they found an island, which was actually two separate islands, east and west, and a group of dozens of reefs that surrounded it. They named the island the Twin Islands.

As they circled the islands, they found that the two islands were surrounded by cliffs that made it difficult for boats to anchor, except for a small beach in the southern part of the East Island, where large groups of sea lions lived in the tidal flats and reefs.

They did not venture to the island, but anchored near the island and rested for the night. However, there is an abundance of fish in the vicinity of the island.

The next morning they headed west again, and it took only half a day to reach an island in the shape of a pentagonal shape. The island was inhabited, and the natives were surprised to see them.

They claimed that their ancestors were from the Kingdom of Korea and that they had discovered the island by accident when they were caught in a storm while fishing at sea. Because of the abundant products on the island and the abundant fish in the surrounding area, they brought their villagers to settle here.

They call this island Wuling Island, which is about 20 miles long from east to west and almost 20 miles long from north to south.

Most of the coast is steep and cliffs, and there are only a few fishing ports where you can get to the island. Although the island is densely forested, there are no large animals, only wild boars. The waters around the island are rich in squid and mentai fish.

The island is about 300 li from the Korean Peninsula to the south and about 600 li from the Japanese island of Honshu. If the food problem can be solved, it will be a very suitable place for the Ming Dynasty to settle down after going north from Jeju Island.

Wonsan Port in North Korea was originally a port city rich in fishery resources in the north of North Korea, and there is a famous North Korean mountain in the vicinity of Mount Kumgang, so it is also a large city with a population of tens of thousands.

But last year the Jurchen invasion, Yuanshan was also broken by the Jurchens, except for the people who fled into the King Kong Mountain, the rest of the residents were either killed, or were captured back to Liaodong to become slaves, Yuanshan City was also greatly injured, and it has not recovered until today.

Heading north along the coastline from Wonsan, they spent the night in a small fishing village, then left the Korean border and came to the mouth of the Tumen River. The Tumen River was the default boundary river between China and the Kingdom of Korea in this era.

The Tumen River is also known as the Douman River in the Jurchen population, and the Jurchen language says that ten thousand are Douman, and the waters converge here, hence the name. It can be seen that the Tumen River is a large river with many tributaries, and the estuary of the Tumen River is also very wide, like a large lake.

At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty once appeased the Jurchen tribe here and set up the Jianzhou Left Guard on the south bank of the Tumen River. Later, because of the Joseon River, six towns were set up on the south bank of the Tumen River to expel the Jurchen tribe. The governor of Jianzhou Zuowei was the governor of the capital, and Fancha, the younger brother of Meng's brother Timur, moved the Jianzhou Zuowei back to the north bank of the Tumen River, and the south bank was really owned by the Korean Kingdom.

The north bank of the lower reaches of the Tumen River to the coastal area of Mokowei is the place of the Jurchen Varkha Department of the East China Sea, and the East China Sea Jurchen is also the so-called Savage Jurchen part.

Although the Varkha tribe was defeated by Nurhachi, it was not completely conquered by the Jianzhou Jurchens, and only nominally submitted to the Later Jin.

The Varkha Jurchens are found in vast forests and swamps between the middle reaches of the Tumen River and the East China Sea. It is mainly divided into six major tribes, among which the seaside Mokowei is a large gathering area, with a population of about 1,000.

Uncle Huang Yongshu stayed for a few days in the Hun Stupid area of the lower reaches of the Tumen River, and after trading with the local Jurchen tribes, he turned around and went directly to Mokuowei, which is located not far north of the mouth of the Tumen River.

Mokowai is a fishing village located in the north of a huge bay, this bay is more than 60 miles long and wide, and the water depth in the bay is flat, and the average water depth is about 17 meters, which is very suitable as a port.

The Jurchens who lived in Mokowei also called themselves the Gudu Udiha. They were engaged in fishing and hunting, and their fishing and seafaring skills were excellent, and the best of them were even able to sail to the south of Sakhalin to trade.

For the arrival of Uncle Huang Yong, these Ming merchants, they welcomed it very much. These Jurchens used fur for their clothes, hats, and birch bark for their shoes. They lacked iron, salt, and numerous daily necessities.

The head of the village told Hwang that because they had a feud with the Koreans south of the Tumen River, they rarely traded with the Koreans, and even if they did, the Koreans would inflate their goods to a very high price.

Although the Jianzhou Jurchens would buy furs and ginseng from them from time to time, and sell some daily necessities, they rarely sold them iron tools, and often invited some young people from the tribe to leave.

Therefore, they also have no good impression of the Jianzhou Jurchens, thinking that although these Jianzhou Jurchens say that they are all a family, they have never regarded them as a family in action.

Moreover, the Jianzhou Jurchens often directly adopted the mode of military expropriation for some Varkha tribes who refused to pay taxes or refused to provide strong men. Once a tribe is defeated, the entire population of the defeated tribe will be brought back inland.

As a result, the Varkha tribe, which was once prosperous, has now lost a lot of its population. Many small tribes have had to move deeper into the mountains and forests, or to the coast of the East China Sea.

The chieftain hoped to maintain stable trade relations with the Ming merchants, and promised to build a trading house for them in Mokowai, and sent a guide to take them on their exploration to the north.

They bought thousands of furs and hundreds of catties of ginseng from Mokowei. And the price is only about one-tenth of that of Liaodong and one-twentieth of Beijing.

To the north of Mokoval, they saw a larger bay, and at the southern end of the peninsula, jutting out in the middle of the bay, they found an area that was more suitable as a port on three sides than Mokoval.

Locals call this place Vladivostok, the bay at the entrance of the port is about 2 kilometers wide, the water depth is 20~30 meters, the width of the bay is less than 1 kilometer, and the water depth is 10~20 meters. The bay is surrounded by low mountains and hills, and the situation is dangerous, and there is a small village of dozens of people.

To the south of Vladivostok is an island called Lefu Island, which is a Manchu word meaning bear. The entire island is about 40 li long and 30 li wide.

There is a hill more than 300 meters high in the middle of the island, and most of the island is covered with broad-leaved forests. Due to the abundance of fish in the area around the island, the nearby Jurchen tribes often come to fish in the summer.

Huang Yongshu believes that Vladivostok is more suitable as their base of advance on the mainland than Mokowei. First of all, the terrain here is dangerous, as long as a walled fortress is erected on the slope of the hill north of Vladivostok, the Jurchens will have to choose the sea route if they want to attack them.

But with the rudimentary shipbuilding skills of the Jurchens, they would certainly not be their opponents. And if the Jianzhou Jurchens want to use the elite soldiers of the headquarters, they have to climb over thousands of miles of deep mountains and old forests, and it is useless if there are few people, and they can't afford to consume them if there are many people.

When the time comes, they just need to transport the people away by boat and throw Vladivostok to them. The Jurchen army could not be stationed on a barren seaside wasteland for many years.

Zhu Youzhen agreed with Uncle Huang Yong's idea, which was exactly what he proposed to Xu Xinsu at the beginning.

Seeing that the emperor supported his opinion, Uncle Huang Yong said tentatively: "But if you want to quickly build Vladivostok Port and fortifications, you need a lot of cement..."

Zhu Youzhen thought about it and said: "The main project of the Lushun Fortress will be almost completed by May next year. At that time, some of the cement will be saved, and I will give you priority to supplying it, but it will only be used to build Vladivostok. ”

Xu Xinsu said happily: "This is nature, and the minister will definitely urge them to prevent them from using cement in other places."

The construction of the port of Vladivostok also has an advantage. The nearby sea is said to be home to herds of whales, and once we have this port, we will be able to process the whales we catch directly in Vladivostok. ”

Uncle Huang Yong and the others continued up along Vladivostok to the mouth of the Heilongjiang River, which became the residential area of the Jurchen Huerha.

However, the ruling power of the Jianzhou Jurchens in the Heilongjiang valley was much stronger than that in Vladivostok and other places. No sooner had their ships entered the Heilongjiang River than they were attacked by a Jurchen tribe that had submitted to the Later Jin.

However, these Huerha Jurchens did not have many iron weapons, and the weapons in their hands were very rudimentary. Under the fire of more than a dozen arquebuses, more than 200 Jurchens quickly dispersed.

Uncle Huang Yongshu and the others did not dare to continue along the Heilongjiang River, so they turned around and returned to the estuary, and then went to the north of Sakhalin Island, not far from the mouth of the river.

The northern part of Sakhalin is relatively flat, but most of the area is still covered with forests. Most of the people living here are the Huerha people who migrated from the mainland.

The Huerha people on the island were much kinder, and they were willing to trade with these Ming people from afar. Moreover, the mink and sea otter skins taken out were far better than those of the Jurchens near the Tumen River.

However, at a banquet by a tribal leader on the island, Uncle Huang learned that these Huerha people had also surrendered to Houjin, and had also gone to Shenyang to pay tribute to mink.

Uncle Huang Yong didn't dare to have too much contact with these Huerha people, so he quickly made an excuse and returned to the ship. He had heard from the Huerha people on the island that further north there were some forest-dwelling tribes, called the Deer and the Dog, but it was difficult to find them.

So Uncle Huang Yongshu decided to return first, saying that he went south along Sakhalin Island and found that there were mountains in the central and southern parts of the island, and the natives in the south were not Jurchens.

They then continued south from the southern part of Sakhalin to the Choshu Domain, and after a few days of repairs, crossed the Tsushima Strait and returned to Jeju Island, after which they sailed back to Tianjin.