In the final analysis, the current shortcoming of Qi is the lack of population.

There is a shortage of common people, and there is also a shortage of slaves.

For this problem, Xu Muhe, the king of Qi, specially sought Xu Shiyang to discuss a solution.

Civilians can't change a lot at once, they can only count on Han immigrants from other places, and then slowly wait for the children to grow up.

But the slave side .......

Last year, Xu Shiyang went on an expedition to Goryeo and captured hundreds of thousands of people in one go, which gave King Qi a thought that he could never forget - when there was a shortage of slaves, why not catch some?

Especially now, when the Jurchen Tartars have begun to shrink again, their threat to Qi territory has been further reduced, and Qi no longer has to spend too much force on the security of the northern border.

But this incident made Xu Shiyang feel a little embarrassed.

The reason is simple: I can't find the right target.

The surrounding forces of the Qi State, the Jurchen are the great enemy but the population is not large; The Muguls are future enemies, but they are still targeting the Jurchen Tartars, and they are really nameless comrades-in-arms; Goryeo has surrendered, and attacking for no reason will damage the credibility of the Qi state; Jiangnan has everything, but after all, it hasn't officially turned its face, and the Han people can't be used as slaves.

So who else can provide a large cheap population?

Fuso seems to be a good choice, it is densely populated, and if a successful attack can be carried out, it does not seem difficult to capture a dozen or hundreds of thousands of people.

However, the Fuso people were very vigilant, because Li Feihu had attacked their port cities and caused them great losses, and now the Li family was still using force to fight the Japanese in order to seize the East Asian shipping lanes.

Moreover, the only person who is currently familiar with the Daimyo of Fuso in Qi is Oda Nobunaga, who is a comrade-in-arms without a name, and it is definitely not possible to fight him as an important dumping place for products and a supply place for strategic materials such as sulfur and copper.

If you fight others, Qi Guo is too unfamiliar with Fusang, he can't find a route, he can't figure out the wind season, and he doesn't know the other party's preparations, so he directly crosses the sea with his head stuffy, and it is too easy to suffer.

Moreover, Xu Shiyang was very vigilant about the typhoon problem of the previous generation - Mengyuan's kamikaze was familiar to everyone, and a few days after the end of World War II, Halsey also suffered the loss of typhoons there.

Xu Shiyang's fleet could not compare to Halsey, so he did not dare to provoke the forces of nature.

"Father, I do have thoughts about Fusang, but I definitely can't just run headlong without understanding anything."

After thinking about it for a long time, in the end, Xu Shiyang said:

"For Fuso, we still need more information - all kinds of information at the right time, in the right place, and all kinds of information, but we also need more preparations."

"How to act, I will urge the staff to make a detailed plan, but I think, no matter how fast it is, I will not be able to act within this year."

"Five years." Xu Muhe said: "The household department believes that we need to be replenished by one million slaves in five years. How to do this, your military department will figure out a way. ”

"Yes, I'll figure it out." Xu Shiyang agreed lightly.

In fact, if it was just to get slaves, Xu Shiyang had a more effective way.

That was to learn from the Western slave trade in the previous life, encourage and incite the Fuso daimyo to fight each other, and then buy prisoners from both sides at a low price.

After all, the colonists' crushing strength against the Black Corn at the beginning, and the efficiency of going into battle to capture people by themselves was not as high as allowing them to fight themselves.

And there is an additional benefit - when Fuso is annexed in the future, it will be difficult for the enemy to unite, and it will be relatively easier to deal with.

Of course, there are also problems: first, Fusang actually has a court, although this court is not very in charge, but there is, there is, there is such a court that everyone recognizes, there is no national hatred and family hatred among the low-level people under the lords, and if they want to treat the captives as livestock, they need to break a certain bottom line in their hearts.

Second, the relationship between Qi and Owari Oda was very good, and if this slave hunting policy was to be implemented, Qi would need to maintain an impartial policy towards the Fuso daimyo to ensure that the civil war in Fuso continued.

Moreover, the Qi Kingdom had little connection with other Fuso daimyo other than Owari Oda, which was also a problem.

"I've got to figure out how to lay it out first."

Xu Shiyang said to himself:

"Also, what is the current situation of the Jurchen tribe near the Molong River? Whether they are still capable of containing the Tartars is also a question that needs to be examined. ”

"Well, in that case, let's send an expedition to the north and south."

"Anyway, even if the Jurchens perish, the expansion will not stop, and it is better to make some preparations in advance than to cling to Buddha's feet temporarily."

……

May of the fourth year of Longdao.

Shuangyu Port.

It has been two days since Gan Xiong returned from the Qi Kingdom, and in the past two days, he has been explaining in detail to the big boss what he has seen and heard in the Qi Kingdom.

is not only a fact, even if it is unreliable news such as rumors, Li Feilong, Li Feifeng and others will not refuse.

"I heard that the young marshal was going to build a new arsenal in southern Liaoning, and when I was drinking with Tang Long, he said that by the end of the year, the scale of a monthly output of 600 muskets would be reached, so that the local people in southern Liaoning could replenish weapons nearby."

"Everyone says that the Tartars won't last a few years, maybe five years, and some say three years at most."

"However, the young marshal didn't give the envoys of the Mughurs a good look, I heard them say that after beating the Jurchens, we will still fight the Mugyus, and then go to fight the party members, and then go to the Western Regions, it should not stop."

"The soldiers also want to fight, because military merit is the easiest merit to obtain, and everyone says that the king of Qi may be a nobleman, and the wealth of future generations will come out of this."

Gan Xiong has no culture, speaks in an incoherent manner, and says whatever comes to mind, which seems rather confused.

But Li Feilong and Li Feifeng listened very carefully, and Li Feifeng occasionally quietly got up and filled Gan Xiong with tea, so that this small character who was just an entourage before moistened his throat.

Only when he encounters a question of particular interest, will Li Feilong or Li Feihu interrupt him and ask kindly:

"Fighting this and that, how many soldiers does Qi have now?"

"If you don't count the cadets, it's about 100,000, the figure announced by the Ministry of War is 96,000 for the Navy and Army, and the militia doesn't know how many, but when we chat, it is estimated that it is more than 300,000, maybe 500,000."

Gan Xiong thought for a while and said seriously:

"The Qi militia is very powerful, last year in southern Liaoning when the village was built, the militia and the Tartar cavalry did not suffer any loss, now the production of muskets, the militia has more guns in their hands, I estimate that the defensive war, the Tartars can no longer beat the militia."

"Thirty to five hundred thousand soldiers stronger than the Tartars?" Li Feilong couldn't believe it.

"It's 400,000 to 600,000, and 100,000 soldiers." Li Feifeng reminded.

"That's a lot of soldiers, isn't it?"