"Yes, Your Majesty." Zhou Pu bowed his head respectfully, "The minister was in his early years because of ...... Because he gave up his career, he followed his father as a maritime businessman, and went to Japan many times to do business, and the places he went to were Nagasaki Port in Kyushu and the Kansai area of Japan, and he had some understanding of the human geography there. ”

"A little bit of understanding isn't enough." The emperor shook his head, "Which wealthy families can be co-opted, and which wealthy families need to be attacked, you have to know these things in your heart." When marching into Kyushu Island, if you can first win over some wealthy families and let them cooperate with the landing of our army, it will be twice the result with half the effort. ”

"The minister has also considered this before, and the minister wants to disguise himself as a maritime merchant in the near future, rush to Nagasaki, Kyushu, and contact the powerful local nobles who oppose the shogunate, so that they can cooperate with the actions of the imperial army." Zhou Pu immediately replied, "The imperial army will only be dispatched in the spring and summer of next year, so in the past few months, the minister can seize the time to contact the anti-shogunate princes of Japan and prepare for the future dispatch of troops!" ”

"Well, I'm asking you to work hard first." The emperor nodded, "Then what kind of help do you need?" ”

"The minister asked the emperor to allow the minister to select a few powerful and capable personnel who were well versed in the situation in Japan in the Department of Foreign Affairs to serve as assistants to assist the minister in completing the liaison work, and ...... The minister hopes to get a few merchant ships so that we can disguise ourselves as merchants. In addition, if he could, he wanted to get a few brave and intelligent people to act as guards......" Zhou Pu took this opportunity to say what he wanted.

"Of course the assistant's words have to be given, although the Foreign Affairs Department is small, but a few people can still get it, right?" The emperor glanced at Kong Zhang, "Merchant ships are not a problem, the merchant minister holds the merchant ships of Yunshan in his hand, and it is always simple to transfer a few ships from it, right?" However, the more people there are, the more complicated they are, and secrecy is a problem...... I'll just tell him a few words and ask him to transfer the merchant ships, and the people on board don't have to know the details of your trip. As for the guards...... Just get a few guards from me for you. ”

Transfer the emperor's guards to yourself? Zhou Pu was so shocked that he couldn't speak. He asked for guards to just try to ask for a price, after all, it was strange that the maritime merchants did not have a group of guards. He didn't have much hope in his heart, but he didn't expect the emperor to agree directly, and proposed to transfer his own guards to serve as the guards of the merchant group...... What a blessing it is.

"Thank you for your grace...... Thank you! He hurriedly thanked the emperor.

"If you help me with my errands, and you are alone and risking risks, and I don't meet some requirements, then wouldn't I be mean? That's as it should be. The emperor smiled, "However, Zhou Pu, since ancient times are complementary, you communicate with the wealthy families in Kyushu, it is only an auxiliary role, and the main thing is to rely on Zhao Song and them to fight with guns, so you don't want to be too anxious to make meritorious contributions, but you will incur danger for yourself, if you can contact a few, you would rather contact fewer people, and don't leak the secrets, understand?" After the pacification of Kyushu, those wealthy clans will inevitably fear us, and it will be much easier to support them to go north when the time comes. ”

"The minister understands!" Zhou Pu hurriedly agreed. "The minister is just like the emperor thinks."

"Good! Since both of you have this heart, then I will grant you! Let's do it according to the idea of two ways to attack! The emperor let out a sigh of relief, and finally said his decision loudly, "Zhou Pu, Zhao Song, you just stay a little longer these days, communicate more with each other, and first determine the plan for attacking Kyushu and the way to contact at that time." Then, Zhou Pu will go to Kyushu Island, and Zhao Song will go to meet with those sons and daughters under you, and you will practice on the water for a few months, not asking you to practice well, at least don't get seasick, okay? ”

"The minister understands!" Zhao Song also agreed loudly.

After Zhao Song agreed, the emperor turned his head again and looked at Liu Tao, Marquis of Jiujiang, "Marquis of Jiujiang, you also have to work hard during this time, let's transfer the fleet first." There is no need to tell them the details of the Japanese war, let them train well first, in addition, most of the army soldiers we have selected this time are northerners, and they may not be trained in sea ships, so your people should be specially helped. ”

"This minister understands that after the minister returns, he will write to the two fleet commanders, asking them to specially dispatch elite warships and officers to cooperate with this operation." Liu Tao, Marquis of Jiujiang, hurriedly agreed, "In addition, this time, the ministers will send the most trusted and capable person to serve as the commander of the programming fleet, so as not to let the navy delay the emperor's plan!" ”

"It's good that you have this heart," the emperor nodded slightly in approval, "By the way, you have recently simply let some naval ships pretend to be pirates, so that they can expel passing merchant ships and cover the assembly of our army and navy, and on the other hand, the pioneers will drive away foreign merchant ships and lay the foundation for our country's monopoly on trade with Japan; Second, the fleet can be assembled in the name of guarding against pirates, so as not to make the shogunate suspicious......"

"I understand! I'll do it right away! Jiujianghou agreed again.

In this way, during the discussion at the meeting, the strategic plan for the war against Japan was decided. First assembled from Liaodong and Shandong, then transported to the port of Pusan, North Korea, and then attacked Kyushu and occupied the entire island of Kyushu. Then, the army was one main and one auxiliary, that is, the main force of the Han army attacked Yokosuka and directly attacked the throat of the shogunate, while the auxiliary army was a coalition army composed of a small number of Han troops and local wealthy clans in Kyushu, which landed on Honshu Island in the north, and then marched all the way north to Kyoto, hijacking the Japanese court, and playing the banner of the Han Dynasty to support justice for the Japanese court, so as to win the hearts of the Japanese people and contain the power of the Japanese shogunate.

This battle plan was very bold and close to the actual situation in Japan, and after deliberation, it was probably the most efficient plan and the plan that was most capable of achieving the goal of a quick victory.

"By the way, since we want to raise soldiers, we have to play a banner of serving the public, right?" At this time, the prime minister suddenly thought of a question, "Although a big country can occupy the great righteousness when it sends troops to the court of a small country, it always seems that some of it is not convincing enough......"

"The big Han is ****, Japan is just a small state, if you want to fight them, you can fight them, do you need any excuses?" Marshal Ishimanqiang said with a smile, "The Japanese shogunate is rampant, and Japan is supposed to be a vassal state of our country, so it should be fought!" ”

Marshal Shi is not wrong in what he said, but he can't preach it publicly. Although I can teach the surrounding vassal kingdoms as much as I want, after all, it is better to learn from the name, so as not to put everyone in the vassal kingdom in danger and lose peace. The emperor also laughed, "Let's see, can you find another reason to get by?" ”

The ministers looked at each other again, and they all felt a little embarrassed.

The objects of the Han Dynasty's previous battles were either the remnants of the former Ming Dynasty, or Manchuria and Mongolia, these were the natural enemies of the Han Dynasty, and there was no need to make any excuses, but Japan was different, this country has been implementing a policy of closing the country since the Edo shogunate usurped power, and it doesn't want to get involved with foreigners, so how can it get into trouble with other countries?

In particular, after the Edo shogunate learned the lesson of the previous Toyotomi Hideyoshi's failure to conquer Korea, so that the power of the empty family was finally wiped out, it has always adopted a policy of respecting and staying away from China, and has always been careful not to offend China, and even the former Ming clan or the scholars who fled to Japan have all been repatriated to China by them.

They are so cautious that it is difficult to find a reasonable excuse to crusade.

"If you want to be honest, we have one here, but it's still a little reluct......ant," said a minister of commerce who was present at the meeting.

The Ministry of Commerce was a new ministry established in the cabinet after the establishment of the new dynasty, in charge of the country's commercial affairs, and after the emperor handed over Yunshan to the imperial court, it was also run by the Ministry of Commerce. Because Yunshan Bank was a monopoly in many places before, the Ministry of Commerce actually held a large number of state-owned assets in its hands, and actually monopolized China's foreign maritime trade, so it was also a behemoth.

Since they are in charge of the entire maritime trade business, they have a reason to attend this expedition against Japan.

The minister in charge of the Ministry of Commerce, known as the "Minister of Commerce," is now held by Zhou Xuezhi, the Marquis of Shangdang, but today the Marquis of Shangdang did not attend the meeting because of his poor health, and could only be attended by another official from the Ministry of Commerce.

"What reason?" The emperor immediately asked.

"The ministers also just got the news that the shogunate suddenly terminated the export of copper ore to our country." The minister replied very respectfully, "Because the minister only received this news on the way over, he has not had time to report it to the emperor." ”

"Terminate the export of copper ore to our country?" The emperor frowned, "Why?" Did they hear something? ”

Although the new dynasty is not ready to mint too many copper coins, copper is one of the most important strategic materials, and a large amount of copper is needed to make cannons and warships, but because the copper produced in the country is not enough, the new dynasty has to import from foreign countries every year, and the main import place is Japan.

The more important question is why did the Japanese shogunate abruptly stop exporting copper ore to the new dynasty? If they had halted the export of copper because they had heard that the Great Han might be going to attack them, the problem would have been even more troublesome, since the shogunate might have been on guard in other areas, and the blow of the Great Han's sudden offensive would not have been so sharp.

That's where the most worrying part is.

Fortunately, however, the official from the Ministry of Commerce quickly dispelled suspicions.

"The official news from the shogunate has not yet been delivered, but according to the merchant fleet that told us the news, it seems that there was a reason for the incident, and not because it was directed against our court......

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