At the same time as the domestic encirclement and suppression of Li Zicheng and others, the sunset operation entered the second phase as scheduled, and the armies of Tokugawa Iemitsu and Oda Nobuyhiro held each other in Osaka for several months, and both sides paid a heavy price, but they were never able to cross this pass. On the contrary, the 100,000 Ming troops on the island of Kyushu were slaughtered all the way, and gradually established a solid ruling order by selling local Japanese and migrating Luzon, Korea, and overseas Chinese. With the bumper harvest of the first crops, the cost of logistical transportation was greatly reduced, and after Qi Baoguo took office, he discovered a huge silver mine in Shimane Prefecture in the western part of Honshu Island, and truly realized the strategy of feeding the war with war.

Seeing that the Ming Dynasty had taken Kyushu Island into its pocket, and that the army had occupied the largest Iwami Silver Mountain in Japan, as well as large silver mines such as Ikuno and Rin, Tokugawa Iemitsu, who had just woken up from a dream, finally saw the true purpose of the Ming Dynasty. However, he still needed the support of the Ming Dynasty to resist the power of Oda Nobuyhiro, so he hoped to reach a consensus with Zhu Youxiao through the nepotism of his niece Xingzi, and he promised to recognize the fact that Kyushu Island became the territory of the Ming Dynasty after the war, but the Ming troops gathered in the area of Shimane Prefecture must be withdrawn.

Regarding the terms of peace talks offered by the Edo shogunate, Zhu Youxiao thought that this was the most unfunny joke he had ever heard, and he would rather abandon Kyushu Island than keep Iwami Ginzan. Throughout the 16th century, Japan exported an average of nearly one million taels of silver to the Ming Dynasty each year, accounting for one-third of the world's silver mine production, the vast majority of which came from Iwami Ginzan. It can be said that this is a cornucopia, which can not only alleviate the dilemma of the silver shortage caused by the development of commerce in the Ming Dynasty, but also curb the development of Japan.

However, whenever this kind of strategic decision is made, Zhu Youxiao has become accustomed to consulting with the Ming elites and giving full play to the collective wisdom to decide the future of the Chinese nation. After the Edo envoy left, he immediately summoned Sun Chengzong, Han Xi, Huang Kezhang, Fan Jingwen, Li Banghua, Zhu Kuiyuan, Zheng Sanjun and other confidants to the Qinzheng Palace to discuss matters.

At this time, Huang Mengxuan had already officially passed the door, and was named a concubine like Xiong Kouyue, and Huang Kezhang's status as the prince of the country was even more prominent, so he stepped forward and said:

"Although the Japanese have plagued the southeast coast for decades, in the final analysis, they are still lonely overseas, not only the land is barren and desolate, but also the people are barbaric and treacherous, so it is really not suitable to be included in the territory of the Ming Dynasty. This expedition had already taught the Wakoku enough lessons, and the old minister suggested accepting the Edo shogunate's begging and withdrawing the garrison on the island of Honshu to the country as soon as possible. ”

Zhu Youxiao glanced up at himself, the Taiguo Zhang, and thought that for the sake of your granddaughter, he would not bother with you today, and after signaling him to step back, he turned his head to ask Sun Chengzong's opinion. Sun Chengzong was so clever that he immediately changed his mind and believed that the Ming army had made great sacrifices to occupy Kyushu Island, and that it should not be given up lightly, and that it could be used as a forward position to monitor the Japanese state in the future and prevent the Japanese from rebelling again.

Huang Kezhang and Sun Chengzong are both highly respected elders, but they didn't understand Zhu Youxiao's thoughts, so they were naturally snubbed. Zhu Kuiyuan, who was behind him, saw the little emperor casting an approving glance at him, and said with understanding:

"Your Majesty, Japan will send troops to conquer Korea when it moves towards reunification, and when it is divided, it will plunder the southeast coast in the form of pirates, which shows that it has always been a hidden danger of the Ming Dynasty. If it is just a passive defense, then the manpower, material and financial resources required for the 10,000-mile sea frontier are immeasurable, so the old minister believes that he should reject Tokugawa Iemitsu's begging peace, continue to support the Oda family to fight, and weaken Japan to the Warring States Period, so that we can break it one by one, and finally include Japan in the territory of the Ming Dynasty. ”

Each of these three people has a huge force behind them, and Zhu Youxiao knows that three different views have been formed within the imperial court. The conservatives represented by Huang Kezhang believed that the Central Plains was rich and civilized, and were unwilling to go to the surrounding barbarians to help the poor. Zhu Kuiyuan represented the progressives who wanted to create a new strategic pattern by expanding their territory and reversing the Ming Dynasty's passive defensive posture on the long frontier. The two factions had conflicting views, and there were often sabre-rattling quarrels, for which Sun Chengzong's compromise faction emerged, believing that it could occupy the strategic and economic centers of the barbarians, and stabilize the suzerainty of the Ming Dynasty by leveraging its strength.

After listening to the views of the three people, Zhu Youxiao got up after pondering for a moment and said slowly:

"All of you are right, the country's strategy is not static, and it is necessary to make corresponding adjustments according to the situation. There are still nearly 20 million people in Japan, and I do not intend to swallow them in one gulp, but first to migrate Korea, Mongolia, Luzon, and the people of the interior to Kyushu Island, and assimilate the three million Japanese people on the island through forced intermarriage and the introduction of Han civilization.

As for the other islands, I decided to support Oda Nobuhiro, Takayama Ukin, and Naito Ruan to return to Shikoku Island to establish their own feudal states, and at the same time to divide the Mongolian steppes on the island of Honshu and Hokkaido, splitting Japan into dozens of countries of various sizes, and forming new alliances under the leadership of the Ming Dynasty. During this period, there will always be people who cannot hold back, and we can take the opportunity to exterminate them and gradually weaken Japan's strength. This process may take at least twenty years, as well as tens of millions of taels of silver, and we must be fully mentally prepared to ensure that no link in the middle will fall off the chain. ”

Everyone had already understood the little emperor's crazy plan, but this time they were still very shocked. This is not a simple occupation of a piece of land, but also the elimination of a race with a population of more than 20 million, although Zhu Youxiao wants to boil frogs in warm water, it is quite difficult to implement such a large volume.

In order to encourage this group of elites of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Youxiao decided to have a showdown with them, and after getting up, he pulled out the Tai'a sword at his waist, pointed at the sea chart of all nations on the wall with a cold blade and said:

"Our ancestors began to build the Great Wall in the north during the Warring States period, and it has never been interrupted for thousands of years, which is the wisdom of the entire nation, and we must pass it on. Of course, some people say that the Mongols and the Jurchen, Khalkha, Yarkand, Junggar and other tribes have all surrendered to the Ming Dynasty, and now the Great Wall Pass has been lifted from the curfew and has become a trading base for merchants, basically losing its defensive function.

Your idea is very right, once I also wanted to rely on the Great Wall to lay out the Ming Dynasty's three-line strategy, but in the end it failed. But today I'm going to talk to you about building a new Great Wall in the ocean. Judging from the map, as long as the four Japanese islands are included in the territory of the Ming Dynasty, then Sakhalin Island in the north and the Ryukyu Islands, Taiwan, and Luzon in the south will be connected, so that the Ming Dynasty can set up military bases on these islands as a forward position to defend against threats from the ocean. At that time, we can completely open the sea ban, or go out to sea to fish, or trade with foreign countries, which will bring the national strength of the Ming Dynasty to a new height. ”

Zhu Youxiao's theory completely copied the wisdom of a certain big country in Lanxing, but it was advanced by him for more than 300 years, and the effect would of course be diametrically opposite. This huge plan has the potential to swallow the sky, and the Ming elites present all sighed at the little emperor's eloquence and advanced strategic vision.

At this time, the European powers had only sporadic military friction with the Ming Dynasty, but those ministers who had contact with the white people felt that they were not good, and once there was internal turmoil in the Ming Dynasty, these people would become the new Japanese Emperors. In addition, Zhu Yihai and his predecessors visited Portugal, the Netherlands, and England, and they were very worried about the social system in Europe, and this way of profiting through plunder and exploitation was not fundamentally different from the nomads in the northern steppes back then.

When these people's recitals were presented to the upper study, Zhu Youxiao was moved to tears, and the senior management of the Ming Dynasty was finally able to correctly view the changes in the Age of Discovery. The devils of the West are gradually growing, their tentacles have reached our homeland, the next step is to suck our blood, the Chinese nation's diligence, kindness, generosity, and perseverance cannot resist the devil's greed, meanness, cruelty, and selfishness, we must make ourselves strong as soon as possible, so that we will not become the prey of others in the dance with wolves.