Although there were only a few telegraph lines in the Ming Dynasty in the sixth year of Xingqian, and there were still many problems to be solved in the process of use, the telegraph still completely changed the geographical space of the Ming Dynasty to a great extent, shortening the connection between the frontier and the interior and the capital.

Limited by technology, especially the output of copper wire, even until now, the Ming Dynasty only has a long-distance telegraph line with Zhongdu as the center to the northeast, southwest, southeast and south of the Yangtze River, and among these telegraph lines, the earliest one built is the line to the northeast, which was built for the Northern Expedition, the telegraph line built for the Northern Expedition, the northeast and the interior are closely linked, even if there is an incident in the Heishui Governor's Palace, the capital can also be known within a few hours.

Just like at this time, almost at the same time as several whaling ships broke into Hakokan, as the official messenger sent by the whale harbor arrived in Vladivostok, an urgent telegram flew like a copper wire for thousands of kilometers towards the heart of the hinterland of the Ming Dynasty.

It took less than an hour and a half from the Heishui Governor's Office to the time the telegram was presented to Zhu Mingzhong's case, which may not be worth mentioning in the 21st century, but in the Ming Dynasty in the 17th century, this is a miracle, for this miracle, the officials of the Ming Dynasty have long been accustomed to it, from the initial limited to military use to the current military-political cooperation, officials have long been accustomed to the telegram, accustomed to its "lightning" speed.

It is precisely because of the existence of the telegraph that the center of the Ming court can calmly deal with many problems, and will not turn small things into big things and big things into bad things.

Now, when this report was sent to the palace and sent to Zhu Mingzhong, not only the ministers were very surprised by the news, but even Zhu Mingzhong himself was dumbfounded.

"Your Majesty, this, this is really unreasonable, the court must not allow those to act recklessly, otherwise in the long run, I am afraid that there will be continuous trouble!"

Du Lide, who is a scholar of the Ministry of Industry and a scholar of Dongge University, because the fishery belongs to the Ministry of Industry, only felt dizzy when he learned the news.

In all dynasties, there have been such rebellious people, a group of ordinary people actually sat down and advocated to rob other people, and even said unashamedly to say "open up territory for the Ming Dynasty", which is really crazy! They are so crazy that they don't care, what do they want the court to do?

"Your Majesty, the minister thinks that this matter must be severely punished, otherwise, in the future, as long as I am a Ming person, as long as I have something in my heart, will I be able to plunder the land of other countries by myself?"

Doolittle even had a thought in his heart now - to collect all the cannons on the whaling ship.

"In addition, in order to prevent similar incidents, it is necessary to strictly control the artillery on civilian ships, and as for the whaling ships, I think that they are basically in the Whale Sea, at most they sail between Jeju Island and Tsushima, and this area has not been infested by pirates since the Japanese closed off the country, and there is absolutely no need for whaling ships to be equipped with artillery......

Looking at the excited Doolittle, Zhu Mingzhong was just silent, whaling in the 17th century was different from the 19th century, in fact, large-scale ocean-going whaling was developed rapidly after the problem of longitude was solved, and before that, it was all offshore whaling, because before the economic problem was solved, no ship dared to leave the fixed routes such as trade winds and ocean currents to chase whales, it was not an adventure, but to die.

As for the development of the whaling industry, it is entirely because the whale sea between Daming, Korea and Japan is not only a natural fishing ground, with a large number of whales passing through it every year, but also a large number of whales, and it was a whaling ground that created a lot of value in the 19th century. Even one of the most famous whaling grounds in the world.

Because of this, after receiving Fang Yizhi's letter, he mentioned in his letter that "there are so many whales there that you can step on the back of the whale and go ashore." It was suggested that it be named "Whale Sea". Zhu Mingzhong instructed the Northeast to promote the whaling industry in the Whale Sea, not only because the whaling industry can enrich the use of the Northeast government, but more importantly, the whale and its products are irreplaceable, and whale wax can be called the best candle in history. Whale wax and whale oil extracted from whale fat are also used to lubricate precision machine parts, in a sense, whales can be seen as "swimming oil wells", of course, unlike the whalers of the 19th century, the whaling ships of the Ming Dynasty would also bring whale meat back to port, and then thousands of tons of whale meat would be made into salted meat or canned meat and shipped to the Northeast and the Ming Dynasty. These meats from the sea, rich in the tables of the Ming people, allow them to enjoy more meat.

However, the whalers' actions were completely beyond his expectations, and it should be said that to everyone's surprise, who would have thought that the "docile countrymen" would be so decisive in maneuvering to occupy the territory of other countries, and the reason was simply because they needed a port.

Is there a more legitimate reason than that?

No!

Is there a more absurd reason than that?

Of course not.

"Now, the most important thing is not these questions, but how to keep them safe!"

Gu Yanwu, who is the first assistant, said the key in one sentence.

"In any case, they are the people of the Ming Dynasty, even if they kill the Japanese and seize the territory of Japan, they can't change this fact, the fact is that we must protect their safety and not let the Japanese hurt them in the slightest!"

This is the momentum that a great country should have, and it is also what Zhu Mingzhong has always emphasized in the past, protecting the people is the responsibility of any government, even if it is bullying others outside, it must also favor its own people, as for the laws of other countries, it is a matter of other countries, and it has nothing to do with the Ming Dynasty, and the officials of the Ming Dynasty do not take money from their countries, so why should they consider the laws of other countries? It is the responsibility of Ming officials to protect and favor their own people.

In other words, "My son beats your son, you deserve it, if you want to beat my son, I will train you!" ”。 In this era of the law of the jungle, arrogance is one of the laws of survival, without this kind of brutal protection, how can the people go abroad in a grand manner?

"The Navy has a detachment stationed in Busan, and if His Majesty agrees, he can immediately send a fleet to Hakodate for reinforcements, and Haeju can also send warships and marines to reinforce it."

Li Dingguo, who was the secretary of the military department in the court, never spoke much, although he said that he was the king of Jin, but he could always put himself in the right position, and even the reason why he gave up the post of governor of the five armies was to show that he had no intention of fighting for power and profit.

"In Yichen's opinion, at most, one brigade of marines is needed to ensure that Hakodate is not lost."

"Your Majesty, if you send troops, I am afraid that it will become a trend of fueling the flames, so that future generations will follow suit, how to end after that, the minister thinks that he should immediately send a telegram to the Heishui Governor's Office, and order him to send someone to order the people to leave Hakodate before the situation can be reversed, and then the envoy will go to Nagasaki to communicate the matter and apologize......"

Apologies!

Du Lide's words Zhu Mingzhong raised his eyebrows and apologized to the Japanese, did you take the wrong medicine? The whole person suddenly became unhappy.

"I apologize to the Japanese people, who have ever apologized when they disturbed my people. Today is just our people who have taken away a little bit of their land, and besides, whether it is theirs or not, it is still a matter of two things, and it cannot be said, they say that it is theirs, it is theirs! ”

Although there was some hesitation before, Du Lide's words made Zhu Mingzhong extremely disgusted, and he immediately made a decision - Hokkaido is not Japanese! Since it's not Japanese, it's Ming's.

"As for what to apologize, I don't have to mention this again, and if I want to apologize, it should also be Japan's apology to my Ming Dynasty. But ......"

While rejecting Du Lide's suggestion, Zhu Mingzhong said again.

"Your concerns are not unreasonable, although this matter is harmless to me, if others follow suit in the future, it will definitely cause many problems, so, well, now call the Heishui Governor's Mansion and ask them to contact those people in the Hakokan and tell them that the imperial court understands their actions, but now the imperial court cannot directly express support, but it can be supported in other ways, so that the northeast side, find their own way, militia, artillery, can be given to them! But now we can't take the land, and when the time is right, we will donate the land and return to the country. ”

This is entirely borrowed from the experience of American expansion in another time and space, and the annexation of Texas by the United States was not just done by a group of American immigrants, and the so-called "republic" was incorporated into the United States a few years later. Such a successful experience should naturally be used for reference.

"As for Japan......

When mentioning Japan, Zhu Mingzhong's brows furrowed, compared to others, he was more worried about Japan's reaction, after all, for Zhu Mingzhong, on the issue of Japan, he is not ready to annex directly, at least not now, compared to knocking on Japan's door, he prefers Japan to close his own country, and then sink, decades later, or even a hundred years later, the two countries will form a disparity between heaven and earth, at that time, there is no need for the emperor to take the initiative to ask, in the expansion of capital, in the desire for the market, the Ming Dynasty will take the initiative to occupy Japan, Then turn Japan into a colony, as for the moment, it is not realistic to annex Japan across the sea, Japan has long been unified, and the two countries are separated by oceans, and the pressure of transportation makes it possible for the Ming Dynasty to defeat him, but it is not easy to annex it.

Eating meat first and gnawing bones later is a strategy that is in line with development.

But now, that group of whalers suddenly broke into Japan, Zhu Mingzhong was a little worried, worried that their actions would disrupt his plan, whether it would turn into another "black ship attack", and if it provoked the Japanese, would they raise their senses?

If so, should the plan be revised as well?

After a moment of silence, Zhu Mingzhong's brows suddenly locked.

How will Japan react?

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