Zhu Youzhen continued to Xu Xinsu: "Japan has a total population of 20 million, but from citizens to daimyos, the items they like and use are all from overseas countries. But the only goods that Japan can export are sulfur, copper nuggets, and so-called mounting.

Every year, Japan produces nearly 50 million taels of silver, which apparently comes from silver mines all over Japan. According to you, it has been almost 3 to 40 years since Japan's overseas trade has been maintained on this scale.

Even if the mountains in Japan are made of silver, it is not a long-term solution to prevent them from entering and exiting. If Japan's silver mines begin to dry up, then Japan's rulers will inevitably want to limit the scale of overseas trade.

In other words, if we continue with the traditional way of trade, the biggest enemies we will encounter in Japan will be the Japanese shogunate, which wants to limit the scale of trade, and the Dutch, who rely on transshipment of Ming goods to Japan for trade.

Japan's market is so large that it used to be a spontaneous trade of local merchants and Dutch, who crossed half the world, and everyone can peacefully share in this market.

But once we have officially organized an official fleet to trade with Japan, how much margin do you think there will be in this market for others?

In order to open the door to our trade, the Dutch twice provoked wars with our Ming Dynasty. If Japan were lost as a trading market, what do you think these Dutch would do? ”

Xu Xinsu's original intention of expanding trade with Japan was suddenly shattered. He said with some trepidation: "Your Majesty wants to start a war against the Japanese shogunate and the Dutch? I'm afraid this is very difficult? The Japanese had the advantage of the landlords, and the Dutch ships were stronger than our Ming Dynasty, and we had no chance of winning this war. Unless we have a powerful fleet that far surpasses the Dutch..."

Zhu Youzhen interrupted him and said: "If the Japanese shogunate and the Dutch join forces, we have lost this war."

This war is not a war between the Ming Dynasty and Japan and the Dutch, but a trade war between the Ming Dynasty, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, and perhaps the British, against the Japanese shogunate. ”

"Spanish, Spanish? But Your Majesty, isn't this time when the minister goes south to unite with the Dutch to start a war against the Spaniards in Taiwan? Xu Xinsu said with some surprise.

Zhu Youzhen smiled and said: "If we don't show the power of the Ming Dynasty in front of these Europeans, how can they want to unite with us and start a war against Japan?"

These countries in Europe are different from our Ming Dynasty, and in their eyes, only enemies that they cannot defeat are friends who can sit down and negotiate.

Therefore, I hope that when you go south to Taiwan this time and preside over the war against the Spaniards, you must win as cleanly as possible, and you don't have any scruples. I will also send a corps of officers to assist you in commanding this battle.

But after the war, the Spaniards were given preferential treatment to their captives. We want to make these Spaniards think that the war was instigated by the Dutch. And let these Spaniards know that the Ming was willing to conduct normal commercial trade with them. ”

Xu Xinsu lowered his head and thought for a long time, and found that the plan that the emperor said was indeed highly successful. If the Dutch ships were to deliver munitions to the shogun's enemies, and then the shogunate received the news, it would have been obvious that the Japanese would have overreacted to the Dutch with their irritated nature.

However, he said with some concern: "Your Majesty, if we can unite these Westerners, with their ships and our Ming army, we have a great chance to defeat the Japanese shogunate and win the war."

However, these Westerners were not good people, although they brought a lot of wealth from afar, but when they arrived in Southeast Asia, they plundered more of the local wealth and started wars everywhere they stayed.

Defeating Japan will certainly allow the Ming Dynasty to gain huge benefits, but if these Westerners establish a stronghold of influence in Japan because of this, it is very likely that they will plot against the Ming Dynasty by supporting the Japanese. ”

Zhu Youzhen looked at him and said calmly: "What you said is indeed good, if you defeat Japan, these Westerners will definitely think about the richer Ming."

Therefore, we want to defeat the Japanese shogunate, not eliminate it completely. These Westerners will not be our allies either, and after defeating Japan, we will have to think about how to rebuild in Southeast Asia and subordinate ourselves to the sphere of influence of our Ming Dynasty.

The Dutch, Spaniards, and Portuguese arrived in Southeast Asia earlier, and they had already reached a balance of power in the region that would not be broken as long as there was no drastic change in the power of one side.

And since Zheng He, my Ming Dynasty, has been in decline in this region, and if I want to restore the influence of the Ming Dynasty in this region, I will inevitably be hostile to these three kingdoms.

But these three European countries are not the only countries that want to trade with Asia, and some are just late.

I heard that there was a European country called the United Kingdom, and it had been trying to establish a trading port in Southeast Asia, Japan, and the Ming Dynasty, but it had been rejected by these three countries.

Those who want to break the old order will definitely be a new force. I hope that you will be able to get on the same page with these British, and that the defeat of the Japanese shogunate will be the beginning of the repartition of Southeast Asia's sphere of influence. ”

Xu Xinsu couldn't keep up with the emperor's train of thought, and he hadn't started preparations for the war against Japan, and he had already begun to plot an attack on his allies. He didn't want to ask any further, because he felt that his brain couldn't hold such a huge plan.

"Then Your Majesty, to what extent do you plan to carry out this war with the Japanese shogunate?" Xu Xinsu turned the topic back to the beginning.

Zhu Youzhen was unexpectedly silent for a while before he spoke: "The descendants of the Toyotomi clan that I asked you to inquire about, do you have eyebrows?" ”

Xu Xinsu immediately replied: "Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who is known as the man of the world by the Japanese, has two sons, Toyotomi Tsurumatsu and Toyotomi Hideyori.

Toyotomi Tsurumatsu died at a young age, and Toyotomi Hideyori committed suicide after the defeat of the Osaka Summer War.

Toyotomi Hideyori had a son and a daughter, named Kunimatsu, who was beheaded at the age of eight in Rokujo Kawara, Kyoto. The female name is Chiyohime, and she became a monk at Tokyoji Temple when she was seven years old, and her legal name is Tianxiuni.

According to the information heard by Chenda, she became the 20th abbot of Dongqing Temple three years ago and is now about 20 years old. Tokeiji Temple is located on Mount Matsuoka in Kamakura, Kanagawa Prefecture, surrounded by the sea on three sides, just two days from Edo. Because of its many temples and beautiful landscapes, it has always been regarded as a tourist attraction by wealthy Edo merchants.

The minister also sent his cronies to meet this Tianxiuni, but Dongqing Temple is a place where Japanese nobles and women are monks, and men have always been forbidden to enter.

However, with the observation of Yichen in Japan, the Japanese seem to have forgotten the Toyotomi clan, a family of former Tianxia.

After more than ten years of peace and the Tokugawa shogunate's rule over Japan, it was firmly established. According to Japanese political tradition, this Tenshuni does not seem to have the influence to call for the downfall of the world's great names. ”

Zhu Youzhen shook his head and said, "I don't want to overthrow the Japanese shogunate, I just want to draw one more card in my hand."

If we can't defeat the Japanese shogunate, this Toyotomi descendant will naturally be of little use. However, if we defeat the shogunate of Japan and want to gain a foothold in Japan, we must have a name, and this is the value of this Toyotomi descendant.

A united Japan will inevitably want to rebel against the order we imposed on Japan after the war, and it will be impossible for us to maintain a large occupation force. In that case, the commercial benefits obtained from Japan will not be enough to pay for military spending.

But again, a Japan that is torn apart and at war is also not in our interests. A country that fights civil war all day long does not have the financial resources to buy the goods of my Ming Dynasty.

I hope that Kyoto in central Japan will be used as a boundary to divide Japan into two parts, east and west, so that they can contain each other and not be able to unite with the outside world, but have enough power to control the stability of each region.

In this way, we will be able to explore new worlds from the base of Japan to the north and east of the Japanese archipelago. In this way, you, the patrol envoy of the East China Sea, can really be regarded as worthy of the name. ”

The emperor's meaningful words suddenly made Xu Xinsu give up a little worry, what the emperor was talking about was a patrol envoy of the East China Sea, but the king of the East China Sea who controlled Japan.

At the beginning, Yan Siqi and Li Dan thought about overthrowing the Japanese shogunate and establishing themselves as the king of Japan, but they were detected by the Japanese and failed.

Although Xu Xinsu did not have the ambition of these two former leaders, if this throne fell in front of him, he was still very willing to sit down. After all, if you have the entire Ming Dynasty as your backing, even if you fail, you don't have to worry about the Japanese shogunate settling accounts with you.

Xu Xinsu suddenly said with some excitement: "The minister will definitely try his best to complete His Majesty's entrustment, although this time the minister did not see Tianxiuni." But the next time I go to Japan, I will definitely try to meet her. ”

Zhu Youzhen said disapprehantly: "This war will take at least 3 years to prepare, you can slowly approach this Tianxiuni, don't be too anxious."

The most important thing at the moment is that this time you go south to join forces with the Dutch to attack the Spaniards, and you must not go wrong.

In addition, when chartering merchant ships with the Dutch, they must be required to arrange half of the Ming sailors on this ship to learn their ship-handling skills. ”

Xu Xinsu immediately nodded and agreed, and the two continued to talk about the way to fight against the Spaniards.

After the tense conversation ended, Zhu Youzhen casually inquired about the Japanese customs that were different from those of Daming.

Lu Jiude, who had just been unable to interject, happily told Chongzhen about the unabashed hot springs of Japanese men and women, the chaotic marriage relationship with the Japanese, and so on.

He was also thrilled to hear about the custom of fishermen on the Boso Peninsula in the southern part of Edo Castle to kill whales from June to September every year.