I rode and slashed unparalleled in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 1120 The Fate of the Japanese Islands
Furthermore, the palace of Yamatai was far inferior to even a fraction of the grandeur and magnificence of the Han Dynasty.

Even so, Himiko immediately gave up her secluded bedchamber, inviting the heavenly couple to rest there, and arranged for a large number of female slaves to serve them.

However, Su Yao only accepted half of her hospitality. He stayed at the venue, but sent all the female slaves away.

Soon, the simply dressed Japanese maids left, leaving only him, Wan Nian, and Safia in the bedchamber.

"What do you think of this Japanese island?" Su Yao slammed the door shut and turned to ask.

Wan Nian and Shafiya exchanged a glance and both gave a wry smile.

The light inside the bedroom dimmed slightly as the door closed, barely illuminated only by the burning oil lamps in the four corners.

The two noble ladies looked around and saw that the so-called "royal palace" that Himiko had so enthusiastically offered was nothing more than a slightly larger wooden and stone structure.

The walls were made of rough rammed earth, the floor was paved with unpolished stone slabs, and even the "bed" that should have symbolized nobility was just a wooden board covered with a few layers of animal hides, emitting a faint smell of leather.

The only things that could be called "decorations" were a few strings of seashell beads hanging on the wall and a faded animal skin mural depicting a blurry hunting scene. Compared to the exquisite wood carvings, silk curtains, and bronze lampstands in the Han Dynasty palace, it looked like a hut in the wilderness.

Perhaps the only thing worth praising is its cleanliness; you can see the effort the Japanese have put in.

"This place... is indeed extremely wild and desolate."

Wan Nian reached out and ran her hand over the cleaned stone table, gently shaking her head. "Apart from some unpolished pearls and thin, short slaves, there's really nothing worth caring about. When my husband pacified the Three Hans, at least we got some grain, iron ore, and people, but this Japanese island..."

"really."

Safia nodded in agreement, her amber eyes filled with obvious confusion. She walked to the window, gazing at the dark outline of the village outside, her voice tinged with urgency:

“Your Highness, since we left Parthia and returned to the Central Plains, we have spent a considerable amount of time campaigning and pacifying the Three Hans, and now we have been stuck on this Japanese island for more than half a month. If we had followed the original itinerary, we should have been almost at the Western Regions by now, but it seems that we will not be able to return within three months no matter what.”

She paused, her tone tinged with helplessness: "These Japanese are neither as wealthy as the Kushans nor as elite as the Parthians. All they offer are coarse cloth and dried fish; they can't even make decent weapons. Even if we conquer them, what benefit will we gain? Rather than wasting our energy here, we should return to Parthia as soon as possible. That is the center of the world, far more important than this barbaric island."

Seeing the two of them looking "not worth it," Su Yao suddenly laughed. He walked to the center of the bedchamber, gestured for them to come closer, and then tapped the rough stone table lightly with his finger: "You two only see the 'wilderness' before your eyes, but you don't see the 'treasure' hidden beneath this island."

"Treasure?" Wan Nian and Safia were both taken aback, exchanging a glance, their faces full of doubt. "That's right, it's treasure." Su Yao nodded, his tone certain. "Did you notice that when we landed on the island earlier, the rocks along the beach were mostly black and had a pungent smell? And in the valleys we saw along the way, the ground had a pale yellow crystal on it?"

Wan Nian thought about it carefully and did have a recollection: "It seems like it is... Could it be that?"

"That's right, that's sulfur!"

Su Yao's tone carried a hint of excitement:
"Sulfur is an essential raw material for refining gunpowder, making weapons, and even medicine! In the Central Plains, high-quality sulfur veins are hard to find and expensive. Previously, we could only transport it through the distant Western Regions."

"As far as I can tell, this island is active with volcanic activity and has extremely rich sulfur reserves, which alone makes it priceless. But what's even more valuable is that the wealth here is far more than that."

Su Yao took out a map and gestured on it with his finger: "Look, the Japanese archipelago is located at the junction of tectonic plates and has a large amount of mineral resources underground. It has abundant reserves of gold, silver and copper, especially the mountainous areas of Honshu and Kyushu. If we can organize manpower to mine them in the future, it will be enough to support the military expenses of a large army."

He walked to the window, gazing at the dark coastline in the distance, his voice becoming distant: "You think this place is barren because the current Japanese don't know how to develop it. But once we bring over the iron smelting and mining techniques of the Han Dynasty, this place will become a huge treasure trove. Sulfur can be used to make firearms, gold and silver can fill the national treasury, copper mines can be used to mint coins and weapons, and even the timber and fishery here can become a source of supplies for the Central Plains in the future."

“What’s even more valuable is that we can connect this place with the Central Plains very conveniently through sea transport,” Su Yao said, drawing an arc on the map that connected the Japanese islands with Qingxu and Liaodong. “Compared to the Western Regions trade routes that cross snow-capped mountains and deserts, sea routes have a larger transport capacity and lower costs. Once the shipping routes are established, the products of this place can be continuously imported into the Central Plains.”

"Once the wealth of the Japanese islands becomes known, we won't need to put in much effort; countless gold prospectors will flock from the Central Plains and land in Japan. At that time, this primitive land will naturally be ignited by the flames of Han civilization."

Su Yao lightly tapped the location of "Fusang City" on the map with his fingertip, his eyes sparkling with anticipation for the future. "Imagine," he said, "when farmers from the Central Plains come here with rice seeds and farming tools to cultivate the wasteland, when artisans from Luoyang come here with furnaces and blueprints to mine minerals, when merchants from Qi and Lu come here with silk and porcelain to exchange for sulfur and gold and silver, in less than ten years, this Japanese island will no longer be a barbaric land."

"They will mine, log, reclaim land, and build cities here, deeply rooting Han customs and technology here. As for the Japanese? They will serve as the best labor force in this process, contributing to the prosperity of our great Han, and eventually assimilate into us."

Su Yao paused, his gaze sweeping across the silent Japanese village outside the window, his tone becoming more profound:

“Think about it, the Japanese tribes are scattered everywhere now, their population is small but they are constantly fighting each other, and they haven’t even developed a written language yet. This is the time when they are most easily molded. Let us start teaching them Chinese language and characters now, let them read the Analects and the Classic of Filial Piety, let them know what ‘ruler and subject, father and son’ means, and what ‘propriety, integrity and shame’ means. In less than three generations, they will forget that they were once ‘Japanese’ and only recognize themselves as ‘people of the East Sea of ​​the Great Han’.”

"At that time, the Three Hans and the Japanese islands will be connected by sea, and counties will be established, making them an inseparable part of our Great Han forever!"

"This task will not be accomplished in a day, but once it is completed, the maritime borders of our Great Han will be secure, and the scourge of Korea and Japanese pirates will never return."

(End of this chapter)