prosperous age

"We cannot afford not to fight. We must at least capture one town and fortress to break the Ming army's defenses, and then continue the attack after spring."

He was a seasoned veteran and knew that the army was already assembled and that morale would decline if there was no fighting for a long time.

Although the soldiers understand that there is a temporary ceasefire for the time being, with so many people gathered together, and they are all troops led by various daimyo, if we don't find something for them to do, something bad will definitely happen in the long run.

This is true for both the East and the West.

During the Ming army's internal bandit suppression campaigns, as long as the troops were not from the same unit, they would fight each other for credit. The same was true for Japan.

After all, the Japanese had been embroiled in civil war for decades, and the grudges and affections between the various daimyo were very deep.

After speaking, Hideyoshi Hashiba looked at Tokugawa Ieyasu, Mori Terumoto, and Kobayakawa Takakage. These three were people he valued and were very shrewd.

Several people had already secretly gathered beforehand to discuss countermeasures for today's events.

Therefore, from the very beginning today, Hideyoshi Hashiba actively advocated for war, and they will gradually express their attitude, increasing their influence on other daimyo.

Mori Terumoto must be firmly supported. If the Ming army succeeds, all the Mori family's decades of studying the Way of the Mind will have been for nothing. Their territory will be taken by the Ming, and they will get nothing and become impoverished nobles.

Although the Mori family still had some businesses in various places, as a deposed daimyo, they were only slightly more valuable than merchants.

Therefore, after Hideyoshi Hashiba gave the signal, Terumoto Mori and Takakage Kobayakawa both stood up to support Hideyoshi Hashiba's opinion and firmly supported sending troops as soon as possible.

When the two sides were locked in a heated argument, Tokugawa Ieyasu finally spoke slowly and deliberately.

"Do you all still remember my king's opinion?"

When I first arrived in Kyoto, I had the honor of entering the Imperial Palace to pay my respects to His Majesty. I was deeply concerned about the invasion of the Ming Dynasty bandits.

"Hideyoshi previously stated that launching an attack on the Ming army as soon as possible is my king's opinion. Do you intend to disobey him?"

Tokugawa Ieyasu's words carried great weight. Although powerful daimyo in Japan did not take the king's orders seriously, the current king of Japan was similar to the Zhou king in the Spring and Autumn period of ancient China—he was now just a figurehead. However, on the surface, everyone still addressed him as king.

People like Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who leaned towards the "royalist faction," addressed the King of Japan as "Emperor" both in public and in private. Tokugawa Ieyasu also respected the King of Japan, but he did not address him as "Emperor" but rather as "My King."

As for the title "King of Wa," the daimyo would not use it in public; it was only used when the historians recorded the events.

In fact, their attitude towards the Japanese king can be roughly judged by the way they are addressed.

Whether it was during the reign of Hideyoshi Hashiba or the Edo period led by the Tokugawa family, the King of Wa was the nominal king of Wa and was still treated with great respect by the shogunate.

As long as there is no interference in the operation of the shogunate, everything is fine.

When Tokugawa Ieyasu invoked the name of the King of Wa, all the other daimyo fell silent.

In reality, sitting here, avoiding war is just a thought; no one dares to openly discuss it.

Now that the most powerful people here have expressed their willingness to fight, everyone else's eyes are on Shibata Katsuie and Oda Nobutaka.

If the two of them joined forces, their power within the Oda clan could surpass that of Toyotomi Hideyoshi.

Although the two sometimes cooperated against Hideyoshi Hashiba, they often harbored their own thoughts and did not truly come together.

Oda Nobutaka was greatly influenced by Oda Nobunaga, who gained political prestige by supporting the King of Wa, much like the emperor commanding the feudal lords, and thus conquered various factions to gain legal recognition.

Therefore, Oda Nobutaka nodded slightly at this moment, indicating his approval of the Emperor's order.

Shibata Katsuie was also quite helpless in the face of this.

He did not object to launching an attack on the Ming army at this time, but he had seen the eye contact between Toyotomi Hideyoshi and Tokugawa Ieyasu.

As the Tokugawa clan, whose power in the world was second only to the nominally united Oda clan, Shibata Katsuie was quite wary of them.

The Tokugawa clan's strength was no less than his.

Moreover, although the Oda clan's army had been invincible over the years, the long-term warfare had also depleted too many of its elite troops, while the Tokugawa clan, which had always been able to wait for the enemy to tire themselves out, had not suffered any significant loss of strength.

If he were to associate with Hideyoshi Hashiba, he would certainly be at a disadvantage in the power struggles within the Oda clan.

In fact, if the Ming army had not appeared in Japan, he would have had to lead his troops to fight a decisive battle against Toyotomi Hideyoshi at Shizugatake this year.

Although Shibata Katsuie initially held the advantage, the tide of battle quickly turned after Hashiba Hideyoshi deployed his elite troops, and he and his wife Oichi committed suicide by burning themselves at Kitanosho Castle.

Oda Nobutaka, who thought he could sit back and watch the tigers fight, was soon forced to commit suicide. Hashiba Hideyoshi was able to completely control the Oda clan and turn it into the Hashiba clan. Afterwards, Hideyoshi received the new clan name "Toyotomi" from Emperor Ogimachi. The "Toyotomi clan" thus became the fifth major clan after the four major clans of "Fujiwara", "Genji", "Taira", and "Tachibana".

By this time, everything was basically settled: they would begin their military campaign during the coldest season in Japan.

As for the direction of the attack, they had already discussed it beforehand, which was to capture Datianzhuang.

Ota-sou's location was very special, serving as a gateway to China. Although Kobayakawa Takakage had reached there, the Japanese army could only resist for a little over half a month due to the Ming army's overwhelming firepower.

After Liu Ting summoned reinforcements, Daejeon Castle quickly fell.

Afterwards, the city gate damaged by the cannon fire was repaired in an emergency. Now Liu Ting leads more than 4,000 Ming soldiers to garrison here, making it the easternmost defensive stronghold of the Ming army.

Although some of the supplies in the city were transported away and some were lost in the fire, there were still quite a few supplies left, especially winter supplies.

In recent days, most of these supplies have been distributed to various places.

Although the Ministry of War of the Ming Dynasty had made preparations in advance, it was of course not to waste the supplies that could be obtained from Japan, and all of them were distributed for use.

In winter, if soldiers are kept warm, it's equivalent to increasing their combat effectiveness by three points.

It's hard to imagine soldiers fighting with all their might while starving and freezing; it would be good enough if they didn't collapse.

"Then it's settled. In the two weeks before the New Year, Kobayakawa Takakage will lead the Mori army and Ikeda Tsuneoki will lead the Inuyama army as the vanguard, and they will attack Ota-sou in two separate routes."

Based on his position within the Oda clan, Hideyoshi Hashiba began issuing orders directly at this military conference.

"Hi-ee".

All the daimyo bowed their heads in unison. At this moment, Hideyoshi Hashiba had already begun to show his prowess among the daimyo of Japan.

Meanwhile, the capital of the Ming Dynasty was not as tense as Japan, because the entire city was decorated with lanterns and colorful decorations. Right outside Chengtian Gate, craftsmen from the Ministry of Works and eunuchs from the inner court were constantly going back and forth, as they had already begun to prepare for the new year's Aoshan Lantern Festival.

The number of battle reports from Japan has decreased, but previously they were all good news. The Ming army was conquering cities and seizing territory in Japan, sweeping away the previous impression that the people and the court were worried that the Japanese pirates were fierce and invincible.

Meanwhile, in the north, under Huang Taiji's forceful orders, the various Mongol tribes began registering the number of their herdsmen in accordance with the court's wishes.

However, some trouble arose among the Mongol tribes from the northern desert, especially when a group of Han Chinese who had been captured by the Mongols demanded to return to the Ming Dynasty, causing chaos and turmoil both inside and outside the Great Wall.

However, none of these factors ultimately became the trigger for war.

With the Third Lady personally leading several thousand cavalrymen to reinforce the front, all the Han Chinese who were willing to return to the Ming Dynasty were released by the Mongol tribes.

This resulted in the loss of over a thousand Han Chinese, further weakening the Mongol tribes.

However, today, Wei Guangde was stopped by Zhang Xueyan, the Minister of Revenue, in his office in the Grand Secretariat. "Your Excellency, the New Year's money that was left for the officials in the capital has been taken by the Ministry of Works. You must sign this list, otherwise I will call on all the officials to have New Year's Eve dinner at your house."

Well, because the Ministry of Works had cast cannons before, and a few days ago various government offices began preparing to close their offices for the New Year, Wei Guangde also ordered the Ministry of War to prepare a batch of "New Year's goods" and send them to Japan as soon as possible to be distributed to the officers and soldiers on the eastern expedition.

As a result, the Ministry of Revenue's coffers were emptied in an instant.

Now that Zhang Xueyan is relying on Wei Guangde, the Ministry of Revenue will naturally do its best to meet the Grand Secretary's requests.

So now, with the end of the year approaching, he has to start planning for the New Year's money for the officials in the capital.

Where else in the Ming Dynasty could there be money? Naturally, it was the Changying Treasury of the Ministry of War and the Court of Imperial Stud.

Anyway, it's not the first time I've borrowed money. I'll borrow more and have a prosperous New Year.

As for how to repay it, we'll talk about it next year.

According to the Ministry of War, the ore mined by Japanese miners is being refined on Sado Island. A batch of refined gold, silver and copper has also been intercepted. However, due to the weather, it is easy to travel from the Ming Dynasty to Japan at this time of year, but it is very difficult to return. Therefore, it can only be transported back after the New Year.

In addition, the Ming army captured the territory of the Mori family and also seized a large amount of gold and silver from the Iwami Silver Mine, amounting to about one million taels.

Okay, that's obviously not all.

Qi Jiguang was not an incorruptible official, and when he was suppressing Japanese pirates in Zhejiang, he was best at rewarding his soldiers with spoils of war to win their favor and motivate them to fight harder.

One can imagine that their spoils in Japan this time must have been substantial.

Thinking that the Ministry of Revenue would receive a return of over a million taels of silver from the Ministry of War after the New Year, they felt justified in borrowing money from the Changying Treasury of the Court of Imperial Stud.

This year, the inner court asked the Ministry of Revenue for 300,000 taels of silver to organize the Aoshan Lantern Festival, and Zhang Xueyan nodded without batting an eye.

Normally, this would involve some back and forth with the inner court, and then a sum of about 200,000 taels of silver would be about right.

The inner court could raise 100,000 to 300,000 taels of silver to decorate the Aoshan Lantern Festival, and the lanterns could be made very beautiful.

Unfortunately, this was too late; the New Year's money to be distributed to officials in the capital had to be settled. So they blocked Wei Guangde's door and made him sign the IOU. Then they had to report it to the Qianqing Palace, and the emperor approved it. That was the end of it.

The Ministry of War would never refuse a loan from the Ministry of Revenue. They knew where this year's deficit came from, and the Ministry of War was the main source of the problem. The Ministry of Works was largely to blame, but in reality, the Ministry of War was the main culprit.

"Why so much?"

Wei Guangde frowned; the IOU in his hand actually stated one million taels of silver.

In previous years, a temporary loan of around 500,000 taels during the holidays was manageable, but one million taels was the largest loan he had ever seen since joining the cabinet.

"Grand Secretary Wei, Chief Minister Wei, take a look at this. It's a list of the silver that the Ministry of Works and the Ministry of War have taken from my Ministry of Revenue in the last two months."

Zhang Xueyan was prepared. He took out an account book from his sleeve and handed it to Wei Guangde. The account book recorded the silver given to the Ministry of Works and the Ministry of War in the past two months, including the details of the expenditure on reward silver.

In previous years, these New Year's rewards were often delayed until after the New Year.

However, this year most of the Ming army followed the usual practice, with the rewards for the nine border garrisons and local guard posts only being distributed after the New Year. But the rewards for the Eastern Expeditionary Army had to be distributed before the New Year. This was said by Wei Guangde, and the Ministry of War did as he said.

Wei Guangde reached out and took the ledger, casually asking, "Then what kind of silver will the Ministry of Revenue use to repay it? After the New Year, neither customs duties nor paper money will generate such a large amount of revenue."

"If the gold and silver mountains won by the government troops can't even fill the hole of one million taels of silver, then this war was fought in vain."

Earlier, in order to gain the support of the court for retaliatory actions against Japan, Wei Guangde had spread the news that Japan was rich in gold and silver, and that it provided the court with hundreds of thousands or even millions of taels of silver every year.

The Wanli Emperor's aid to Korea in later years was initially funded by his own private funds, but later the funds were transferred to the imperial court.

Even so, the imperial treasury still spent a lot of money, only the expenditure shifted from military spending to subsidizing the imperial treasury.

"Alright, we'll use the captured supplies to fill this gap for now."

Wei Guangde immediately understood what was going on. No wonder the Ministry of Revenue had agreed so readily when the inner court asked for money to arrange the Aoshan Lantern Festival a few days ago.

The government offices of the Ming Dynasty, once they had money, would spend it extravagantly.

Thinking of this, Wei Guangde felt it was necessary to remind Zhang Xueyan that he was in charge of the Ministry of Revenue's finances and couldn't continue like this.

Even if the imperial court has money, it still needs to think carefully and not spend it recklessly.

So he turned his gaze to Zhang Xueyan and said, "Brother Ziyu, why didn't the Ministry of Revenue negotiate with Eunuch Zhang regarding the money the inner court requested for the Aoshan Lantern Festival a few days ago? This is not good."

Three hundred thousand taels of silver is enough for the New Year's expenses of officials in the capital.

"His Majesty sent the note; I was afraid of displeasing him."

Zhang Xueyan approved it readily, and the eunuchs all said the same thing when they went out. But only he knew that the Wanli Emperor had given him a separate note.

He could tell Wei Guangde what was said, but he couldn't reveal the content.

"His Majesty also said that palace expenses will increase by 20% after the New Year."

However, while Wei Guangde was in a daze, Zhang Xueyan whispered a message.

"Is this what His Majesty wants?"

Wei Guangde frowned and asked.

Zhang Xueyan didn't say anything, but she nodded.

"It seems they've all set their sights on Japan."

Wei Guangde was helpless. He knew that everyone in the court was eyeing the gold and silver mountains.

The Ming Dynasty's finances, let alone Sado Island and the Iwami region, might not be able to satisfy the greed of these people even if they took over the silver mines in Mexico.

With his eyes slightly closed, Wei Guangde felt helpless, but he couldn't say anything yet.

"After this account is settled, half of the gold and silver transported back from Japan must be deposited into the old treasury and cannot be misappropriated."

Even if His Majesty issues a note or decree, it cannot be moved.

After thinking it over, Wei Guangde said to Zhang Xueyan, "Doing this will benefit both of us. Although the finances may be more relaxed as a result, a person who does not plan for the future will have trouble in the present."

We can't just seal up a few old warehouses and let them keep messing around like this; even mountains of gold and silver wouldn't be enough to fill them.

If His Majesty is dissatisfied, just pass the buck to me, and I'll talk to him.

Before the Hongzhi era, the Ministry of Revenue of the Ming Dynasty had several old treasuries with sealed silver reserves, which were all used up during the Jiajing era.

Now that they have the money, Wei Guangde believes the land should be refilled. (End of Chapter)