Inside Osaka Castle. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 info[top][dot] novel. In a spacious hall, candlesticks are lit high, and Japanese dining tables are arranged in a hollow shape. Next to each table, there is a kimono girl kneeling and serving. The table is full of pure Japanese dishes, including Kobe's beef, Hashidate's tempura, Osaka's native crab hot pot, tuna sashimi from the Pacific Ocean, and delicious puffer fish dishes.

Tokugawa Akiko sat behind a Japanese-style dining table next to Zhu Jishi with a smile on her face, and introduced the table full of food to Zhu Jishi. According to her, the fact that the Japanese people are now able to enjoy such a delicacy is all due to Emperor Zhu - well, it is estimated that the poor and middle peasants in Japan cannot afford to eat it, but the living standards of the Japanese high-ranking samurai class have indeed improved greatly in recent years.

On the one hand, after Japan's integration into the Greater China tariff and trade zone, the supply of materials was ordered at once. The grain from the Northeast, the industrial products of Shanghai Yingtian, and the spices of the South Seas all come in a steady stream.

On the other hand, Japan's local industries are also developing well, such as Japan's fruit and beet sugar industry, which has also developed rapidly, and in less than a decade, it has become Asia's largest producer of white sugar, canned fruits and fruits. Moreover, with the support of the developed shipbuilding industry of the Ming Dynasty, Japan's fishing industry has also developed greatly, and Japanese salted fish has also become a fist product famous in the Greater China trade circle, selling well in the entire Greater China Trade Zone, which can be bought in the Kazakh Khanate.

At the same time, the large number of Japan's surplus population went to the Ming Territories, North America, and New Japan, which also improved the living environment of the Japanese mainland. Workers' wages increased, and peasants' rents fell. Rental farms appeared in large numbers. Japanese civilians at the bottom also benefited.

In this case. The eating habits of the Daming Dynasty have also begun to change from the predominantly vegetarian Japanese diet. Ten years ago, meat was rarely seen on the table. It's now commonplace. The bitter days of eating and drinking with a few pickled plums have largely disappeared, at least among the samurai class. Even the peasant workers at the bottom can at least eat a full meal.

Regardless of whether Tokugawa Akiko's pro-China policy led to the demise of Japan, the Japanese people of this era did benefit from it and lived a good life that their ancestors never imagined. This is also the reason why Emperor Zhu was so popular in Osaka, and Zhu Xingyi was able to ascend to the throne of the Japanese king smoothly - the Japanese nation as a whole is certainly a victim of Akiko's policy, but every individual of the Japanese nation. have undoubtedly benefited. Even, their improvement is greater than that of the people of the Ming Dynasty, of course, this is mainly because the Japanese used to be a little poor......

The wine has passed three rounds, and the dishes have passed five flavors. When the guests and hosts were really happy, Emperor Zhu suddenly put down the wine glass filled with Japanese sake, and said to Tokugawa Qingxi with a smile: "Yuan Qingxi, I heard Mingzi talk about the financial problems of the Japanese government a few days ago, it seems to be very difficult!" But is there such a thing? ”

Tokugawa was stunned, nodded and said, "That's true." The Japanese government is in extreme financial difficulty, running deficits for almost consecutive years. ”

Japan's finances have been since the integration of the public and military forces. It's been teetering on the verge of collapse. As for the reason, it is naturally Zhu Jishi's bad move back then. Let the new Japanese government bear more than 200 million and almost 300 million samurai debts. At present, the interest to be repaid is more than 10 million yuan a year, accounting for more than 30% of Japan's fiscal revenue. Although the Japanese government's finances have grown considerably along with the development of the economy, the increase in revenues has been swallowed up by the increase in the salaries of officials and military personnel -- in the past 10 years, the incomes of the Japanese people have been rising as a whole. Therefore, the Japanese government has always been a poor government that eats too much food.

Zhu Jishi nodded with a smile and said, "Finance is the foundation of a country, if it is always on the verge of bankruptcy, how will Japan develop?" Railways, ports, urban infrastructure, and the country's education will all run out of money. So, we have to find a solution. ”

Tokugawa Yoshiki and Tokugawa Akiko were overjoyed when they heard this—Emperor Zhu probably wanted to provide financial assistance to Japan, right?

Zhu Jishi smiled, and then said: "The financial matter is nothing more than open source and throttling. I have studied the financial situation of the Japanese government, and I think that enough has been done to open source, but I have not paid much attention to reducing expenditure. ”

Tokugawa Keiki glanced at his sister and said in his heart, "The emperor is talking about you!" Spend lavishly, never know how to save ......"

"The concubine will definitely save money in the future." Tokugawa Akiko also said with a red face. This is true, Japan in the past was fortunate for the Tokugawa family, and it was not a son, so it was not spent in vain! The current Japan is Zhu Xingyi's, how can his son's money be spent indiscriminately?

Zhu Jishi waved his hand and said, "Mingzi, I didn't mean you. How much can you spend on a woman's house? At present, the biggest expense of the Japanese government is not the royal pension, but the military spending. At a time when there is no external trouble, Japan still has an army and navy of 150,000 people, and the annual cost of raising troops is as high as more than 15 million. ”

The Tokugawa brothers and sisters were stunned, the Japanese army was indeed a little too much. But this is also a last resort, not to worry about external troubles...... With the protection of the Ming Empire, who would dare to invade Japan? Japan's huge army was actually just a place for the samurai who lost their jobs after the merger of the public and military forces.

Of course, Zhu Jishi knew the reason, and smiled: "I also know that there are many samurai who want to eat, so the Ming Dynasty has the "Japanese Volunteer Soldier Act" early in the morning, and there are many Japanese volunteers in the Ming army. And now, Japan has entered China and is a subject country of our Ming Dynasty. I also decided to let all Japanese have Ming nationality at the same time, so that they would no longer have to join the Ming army under the "Japanese Volunteer Soldier Act", but could join the army and defend the country like Ming citizens, and from now on, the Ming Empire would also be the homeland of the Japanese. ”

Tokugawa Qingxi's face was slightly solemn: "What does the emperor mean...... Japan doesn't need an army? ”

The smile on Akiko's face was also a little stiff, no matter how Japan entered China, it was still a vassal country and not a province of the Ming Empire...... If Xingyi could become the Ming Emperor, she would be very willing to cancel the status of the Japanese vassal state, but not now!

Zhu Jishi rolled his eyes, took the expressions of the two into his eyes, and said with a smile: "Of course, Japan needs an army, but 150,000 troops are too much. It is enough to have an army of 50,000, and the remaining soldiers can all be incorporated into the Ming army. In the future, the Ming Dynasty could also recruit a certain number of volunteers in Japan every year, and only young people from samurai backgrounds were recruited. ”

"Is 50,000 a little less?" Tokugawa Akiko hesitated and asked in a low voice.

"It's a lot, but it's not too much! Today, the British Empire has less than 100,000 elite troops, and the German Empire has only 150,000 standing troops. After the full implementation of the compulsory military service system, the Ming Dynasty will gradually reduce the number of standing army members to 800,000, supplemented by 3 million reservists and tens of millions of young people who can be conscripted into the army at any time. Japan's future national defense should also be based on a small standing army, a large reserve army, and a national mobilization system. The standing army should have 50,000 men, the number of reservists should be 250,000, and after full mobilization, it should be possible to organize a huge army of 1.5 million people. ”

Zhu Jishi put forward his own ideas, on the one hand, the number of the Japanese standing army was reduced to 50,000, and the main force of its standing army was absorbed and merged into the Ming army. On the one hand, it helped Japan establish a compulsory military service system and a national mobilization system, so as to mobilize a large number of Japanese troops to fight for the Ming Dynasty when needed in the future. But the most important point is that the Japanese Navy was completely disarmed!

"And what about the Navy? Does Japan still need a navy? Tokugawa asked hesitantly.

Emperor Zhu shook his head: "Japan does not need a navy, it is enough for the Ming Navy to protect Japan's territorial waters." However, New Japan needs a relatively powerful navy, so it is better to transfer all the Japanese navy to New Japan. ”

The Tokugawa siblings exchanged glances and nodded at the same time. It is true that there is no need for Japan to retain its navy. This navy is too expensive, even if tens of millions of dollars are smashed, it may not be able to hear a sound. The British Navy really came over, and Japan's territorial waters had to be protected by the Ming Navy, and if it relied on those small sampans of the Japanese Navy, it would not even be able to get out of the sea. (To be continued.) )