Iwami Kunijo.

Xue Daoguang had little interest in overseas development, and after he landed in Japan, he had been quietly cultivating Taoism.

Xia Yuqing had already rushed back, summed up the exploration information of several other roads, and said:

"Iwami Kunijo is surrounded by mountains, and to the north from Joshita Town is the sea, the direction of the fishing port where we landed by boat."

"There is a valley to the southwest, which is not very long, and it can be completed in half a day. After walking through the valley and further west over the mountains, there is a small bay. Within the bay there is a small flat area that can be cultivated, facing the sea to the north and mountains on three sides. There is a small fishing village where about 100 households live, farming and fishing at the same time. ”

"There's a valley to the southeast. Halfway through, the valley extends due south and then southwest. At the end of the valley are the mountains. ”

"This valley, when turning from due south to southwest, continues due south with mountain paths. There is little arable land in the mountains and forests, but there are also peasants, who also work as hunters. ”

"Climb the mountain trail and you'll find Mt. Omori further ahead. The silver mine is located in Mt. Omori, and traces of silver ore have been found in many places throughout the mountain, and it is even possible that there is even copper ore attached to it. ”

"To the north of Mt. Omori, there is a valley that runs from east to west. There are not only farmers in the valley, but also famous fields. However, the owners of the famous fields are not the big owners, but some small owners (small landlords, yeoman farmers). After all, the valley was very narrow and the land was barren, and the daimyo looked down on it. ”

"In the southern part of Mt. Omori, the mountains are much lower, and there are more arable land and farmers. But the land there did not belong to any daimyo but was occupied by a group of monks. ”

"Mining silver mines definitely requires the most suitable garrison locations near the garrison, all in the territory of those monks."

While listening to Xia Yuqing's explanation, Zhu Xiaozhong checked several pathfinding teams and drew a simple map that was spliced together.

After thinking for a long time, Zhu Xiaozhong said: "There is no hurry to mine silver for the time being, we don't have enough manpower. It takes people to build roads, and people need people to mine. Forcibly conscripting the local people is not the best choice, after all, they have to be allowed to grow land and pay for grain, and in the future, they cannot rely entirely on cross-sea transportation for food. Therefore, we have to fight with the Japanese court. Don't kill indiscriminately, take more prisoners, those prisoners are miners. ”

Xia Yuqing flattered: "The general is a good idea!" ”

Zhu Xiaozhong said: "Before the Japanese imperial court sends troops, it will definitely send people to find out the news. Either send an envoy, or send a messenger, or simply send a messenger together. Tell the soldiers not to run around during this time, and not to wear fine armor for the defenders of the city, and to get some local tattered armor to wear. ”

"Go to the castle town to buy more things, and even spend money to find a woman. The more generous the shot, the better, and it seems that we are all rich. If you brag to the locals, we have all the gold, silver, and cloth in our hands, and the castle of Iwami is full of treasures. ”

"Wearing tattered armor, but rich and oily, I guess the Japanese emperor can't help it."

"From tomorrow onwards, I will personally go out to explore the terrain. It is necessary to control the terrain within a radius of dozens of miles, and then buy the people in the mountains to keep an eye on it. As long as the people of the mountains provided reliable information, they were rewarded with cloth and rice. ”

"The more the Emperor's army comes, the better. Just the maps you drew can be set up anywhere! ”

In the following month, Zhu Xiaozhong personally went into the mountains to explore the terrain and landforms.

The Ming soldiers took turns to spend in the castle town. One by one, they are very generous, anyway, they spend public funds, and they don't use money as money at all.

The people resisted the Ming copper coins at first, but the wealthy family moved when they heard the news.

When Japan had just moved its capital to Heiankyo, it issued currency indiscriminately in order to build the capital, and continued to mint large copper coins, which led to serious inflation. In order to preserve their value, the rich frantically store good money, bad money drives out good money, and all that circulates in the market is rotten money.

The proven copper mines were gradually exhausted, and the imperial court stopped minting new money.

Over the past two hundred years, with the exception of a few large cities, Japan has regressed to the era of barter.

Therefore, most Japanese people have never seen copper coins......

"Good money, it's all good money!"

"The Ming Kingdom is so rich that even the soldiers can afford to use good money."

"Quickly transport all the goods from the countryside to the national capital, and sell them to the Ming soldiers to make a lot of money."

"You can also send a girl, so many Ming soldiers, they definitely need women."

“……”

The local wealthy families don't care about the national interests, they only know that the Ming soldiers are generous, like to spend in the castle town, and they use all good money.

These high-quality copper coins are hard currency when they get Heianjing, and it is easier to even pay bribes.

Historically, the large-scale circulation of copper coins in Japan was after the opening of the Southern Song Dynasty and the opening of the Kamakura shogunate, and the coins of the Song Dynasty quickly dominated the Japanese market. Even throughout the Yuan Dynasty, Song Dynasty coins were still the mainstream currency in Japan.

Around Iwami National Castle, a strange situation soon appeared.

The local wealthy families regarded the foreign invaders as the god of wealth, and they transported all kinds of local products from the territory to the castle town to sell.

He even opened more than 20 brothels, all of which were country girls.

The wealthy people liked the Ming copper coins, which was tantamount to setting an example, and small traders and farmers also turned to copper coins.

Some mountain people even heard the wind and came to the castle town with the courage to sell game and fur.

Zhu Xiaozhong took the opportunity to buy the mountain people, promising that their future prey could be sent to the national city for sale at any time. If an army passes nearby, the mountain people can also come to the city and immediately give copper coins as a reward if reliable information is provided.

Dozens of miles of surrounding mountains and forests are full of Zhu Xiaozhong's eyeliner!

……

Heiankyo is grinding and grinding.

As the emperor's envoy, Taira Tadamori finally arrived at Iwami Castle more than two months later.

This guy was twenty miles away, and he was discovered by a hunter, and Zhu Xiaozhong received the news that night.

Moreover, there were as many as thirty or forty mountain people who came to report the news, and the main thing was a saturation traitor.

The first messenger, Zhu Xiaozhong, rewarded 300 wen.

The rest of the messengers also received 20 to 80 yuan, and told them the reason for the reward, claiming that if they ran faster next time, they would be rewarded more.

Taira did not come directly to the national castle, but went to the home of the Yoshiga clan.

Yoshiga greeted the people with a warm reception and set up a banquet to entertain them.

After the banquet, after retiring the idle people, Ping Zhongsheng asked, "Do you know why the Ming Kingdom sent troops?" ”

Yoshiga replied, "I heard that a few years ago, when the Emperor was still alive, he attacked the merchant ships of the Ming Kingdom. ”

"Merchant Ship Leader, but is it a cultivator named Xue Daoguang?" Ping Zhongsheng reacted immediately.

"How do you know?" Yoshiga was surprised.

Ping Zhongsheng was a little embarrassed.

Emperor Shirakawa was afraid that the place would get out of control, so he did not allow any foreign merchant ships to trade in ports other than Heiankyo. And repeatedly sent troops to fight piracy, along with cracking down on illegal foreign merchant ships.

And every time he fights "pirates", the commander of the army is Ping Zhongsheng, after all, he is the confidant and favorite general of Emperor Shirakawa.

Ping Zhongsheng pondered carefully and wondered: "That Xue Daoguang seems to claim to be the envoy of the Emperor of the Song Kingdom, and there was no Ming Kingdom at that time." ”

Yoshiga said humbly: "The emperor and the crown prince of the Ming Kingdom were friends of Xue Daoguang before the founding of the country. After the establishment of the country, Xue Daoguang became the imperial onmyoji under the emperor's throne. He was attacked a few years ago, and most likely would have instigated the Ming Emperor to send troops. ”

"Well, that makes sense," Ping Zhongsheng sighed, and asked again, "how do you know this news?" ”

Yoshiga Kensei said: "Those soldiers of the Ming Kingdom often mingle in the castle towns, and when they are drunk, they will talk about everything. In order to find out the news, he sent people to mix in the shop and specifically questioned the drunken soldiers. ”

Ping Zhongsheng praised: "You are very smart. ”

Of course, Yoshiga Kensei would not admit that he had been sending people to sell goods in the castle town recently, and had taken the opportunity to earn a lot of small money from the Ming soldiers.

He would not tell Ping Zhongsheng that the Ming army was here to find silver mines.

Because if the emperor's army drove the Ming army away, the local wealthy families would be able to cooperate in mining silver mines, and this matter must not be known to the imperial court.

The longer you keep it hidden, the better!

Ping Zhongsheng asked again: "How many people are in the Ming army?" ”

Yoshiga Kensei said, "Two or three thousand armor soldiers." ”

Taira Tadamori stayed at Yoshiga's house and sent his henchmen to investigate the castle town of Iwami Province in the form of civilians.

A few days later, the confidant samurai came back and reported in detail: "The soldiers of the Ming Kingdom are really rich, and they go out of the city every day to buy things. They went to taverns to drink, to eat in canteens, and to brothels to find women, all with fine copper coins. There are even hunters in the mountains, who can exchange the skins of wild beasts for copper coins. ”

Ping Zhongsheng said unhappily: "You just heard about this? ”

The confidant warrior said: "The leader of these Ming armies, one is named Xue Daoguang, who is the imperial onmyoji of the Ming Emperor. The other is called Zhu Xiaozhong, who is the righteous son of the prince of the Ming Kingdom. The previous emperors of the Song Kingdom and the current Emperor of the Ming Kingdom all wanted to go to sea to find immortals and seek the elixir of immortality. They call Japan Fuso, say that there are immortals here, and that there are immortals on Mt. Omori in Iwami Province. ”

Ping Zhongsheng felt a little nonsense: "They captured Iwami Country City just to find immortals?" ”

The confidant samurai said: "Those Ming soldiers who went out of the city to drink said so. Moreover, they also brought a lot of treasures, all of which were rewarded by the Ming royal family. I heard that half of the eleven boats in the harbor were filled with grain and half with treasure, which they were brought in and offered to the immortals. ”

Eleven boats, half grain, half treasure.

Even if it's just hearsay, it's enough to make Ping Zhongsheng's heart move.

This guy has the ability to do things, but he is also greedy for money.

When Emperor Shirakawa was still alive, every time Ping Zhongsheng was ordered to do something, he had to take the opportunity to make a fortune, but the way to make money was more civilized than Yuan Weiyi.

In order to control the region, Emperor Shirakawa also made Taira Chung-mori serve as a town guard around Gyeonggi.

Everywhere he went, he used various means to unify the local samurai class, and successively established several powerful samurai regiments.

After controlling the local samurai class, he reached out to the local wealthy clan to ask for money.

Don't look at Taira Tadamori's current official position, he is only the head of Bizen Shou and the head of the left horse, but he can mobilize the northern samurai of the capital, as well as the armies of Boqi, Echizen, and Bizen. And the samurai in the north, some of them can mobilize other local forces.

The three places of Boqi, Echizen, and Bizen all have land illegally occupied by Taira Tadashi!

The food and treasures of the entire eleven boats were to be given to the other samurai by himself, and to be given to the other samurai, and to be given to Emperor Toba.

In order to seize the treasure, in order to make meritorious contributions to the war, as long as the Ming army is not invincible, no matter how difficult it is to fight this battle, Zhongsheng will decide to go to war!

If the army is too dead or wounded, take out more goods to distribute, and only have three achievements for yourself.

(End of chapter)