Late Yuan Dynasty: I am the true emperor

Chapter 487 Exile to Lizhou!

"Gao Qiang, a descendant of the Javanese people from overseas, pays his respects to His Majesty the Emperor of China."

"Flat body."

"Thank you, Your Majesty."

Gao Qiang stood up and dared to steal a glance at Lu Jin, only to find that Lu Jin was also looking at him. He hurriedly lowered his head again, but was shocked. The legendary general who commanded a million-strong army and drove out the Mongols was actually so young.

He had only heard about China from his father and other Chinese businessmen who had been to Java, but he had never been there himself. At first, Wang Dayuan took him to Hangzhou and even let him go ashore to see the world, but all he saw in Hangzhou was farmland.

Although the rice seedlings haven't been planted yet, the sheer amount of land that has been reclaimed still shocked him. After all, he came from a landlord family, and seeing so many fields made him think about just how wealthy China must be.

When they arrived in Hangzhou, it felt like they had entered a huge construction site, with houses being built everywhere. Wang Dayuan told them that the Yuan army had attacked and occupied the rebel army in Hangzhou two years ago, and burned the city to the ground. Now it was in the process of reconstruction.

Later, when Wang Dayuan took him to Jiankang, his understanding was completely overturned. There were so many boats and so many people!

Boats came and went on the Yangtze River, dockworkers were like ants, and there was a lot of noise and bustling activity. The scene was even more shocking when they entered the city. Jiankang alone had a population of more than 500,000. Gao Qiang had never seen so many people in his life, let alone such a huge city. But Wang Dayuan told him that there were many such cities in China.

Is this the motherland Dad talked about? This is where Father grew up?

Before he could even broaden his horizons in the city, Wang Dayuan took him to his home and instructed the servants to boil water for him to bathe and change into clean clothes. Lu Jin might summon him soon, and the entire crew had been at sea for months, their bodies already stinking to high heaven. It wouldn't be appropriate for them to go to see Lu Jin dressed like this.

Sure enough, they had just finished bathing and eating when a guard came looking for them.

Lu Jin looked at him and asked, "I heard that you are a descendant of the Yuan army who fought against the enemy, and that you helped the court in Xinjin Prefecture. What reward do you want?"

Gao Qiang looked up at Lu Jin, then quickly bowed and said, "I dare not ask for any reward. It's just that when I was young, my father often told me that my family was from Runan. I have never been to my motherland before, so I begged the angel to take me back to my country. My greatest wish is to go to Henan to pay respects to my ancestors and return to my roots."

"What a wonderful idea to return to one's ancestral home! It's rare that you were born overseas but still have your heart set on your motherland. You are truly a loyal soul even overseas. If you want to return to your hometown to pay respects to your ancestors, it's not impossible now. Ruyang has been recovered. If you have time, you can go and find it yourself."

"But the imperial court has its own laws and regulations. Those who have made merits will be rewarded and those who have made mistakes will be punished. Otherwise, who would be willing to work wholeheartedly for the court in the future? You have made such great contributions, so you should be rewarded. Tell me, besides going back to your hometown to pay respects to your ancestors, what else do you want?"

"This humble man, this humble man," Gao Qiang glanced at Wang Dayuan beside him, and seeing Wang Dayuan nod, he mustered his courage and said, "Although I was born overseas, I know that my family is from the Celestial Empire. Although my father is not very literate, he greatly admires scholars. However, scholars are very rare in Java. I have tried to find a tutor for my sons but have been unable to do so. Therefore, I would like to send my sons back to China to study, so that at least they will not be illiterate like me in the future. I wonder if Your Majesty would grant my request?"

Lu Jin smiled upon hearing this and asked in return, "That's all? Aren't you going to ask for some kind of official position or something?"

Gao Qiang immediately knelt down with a thud, prostrated himself on the ground, and hurriedly said, "This humble one dares not."

"Hahaha, you are indeed honest. But what is there to be afraid of? If it weren't for your help in gathering the Javanese Han Chinese, how could Li Bin and his men have taken over Xinjin Prefecture? Moreover, you have some connections in Java, and Xinjin Prefecture is newly established. Putting aside everything else, you have helped a lot with the immigration and relocation. Which of these conditions is not a contribution?"
"Well then, although you haven't studied much, you still have some skills. How about I make you the magistrate of Xinjin County? You won't have to stay in Xinjin. You can travel between Java and Xinjin. If Xinjin needs anything, you can help out in Java. Also, help out the Chinese in Southeast Asia in Java. If your family has any difficulties in Java, you can ask Li Bin of Xinjin Prefecture for help."

"The imperial court will surely achieve great things in Southeast Asia in the future. If you do this job well, you may even be promoted in the future."

Upon hearing this, Gao Qiang immediately kowtowed in gratitude, "This humble servant thanks Your Majesty for the reward, but what kind of official is the Assistant Magistrate of Xinjin County? What is required of this humble servant?"

Seeing this, Lu Jin smiled and Wang Dayuan was speechless. Lu Jin then said, "Just remember the official title. As for what you need to do, Mr. Huanzhang will tell you when we get back. Your name is Gao Qiang. Do you have a courtesy name?"

"No, my father is not literate, so he only gave my brother and me formal names."

"Then I'll give you a courtesy name. You're in Java, but you're loyal to your homeland, so how about 'Loyal to the Nation'?"

Upon hearing this, Gao Qiang was overjoyed and quickly bowed again, saying, "This humble servant thanks Your Majesty for bestowing this calligraphy upon me. From now on, I will certainly be loyal to Your Majesty and to my country!"

"Good, just remember that. Go back and wait. Mr. Wang will tell you what else you need to do later."

"Yes, then I'll take my leave."

After Gao Qiang was led away by the guards, Lu Jin and Wang Dayuan exchanged a smile. Lu Jin shook his head and said, "Alas, this man is so honest and straightforward, yet the court wants to appoint such a person as an official. Fortunately, he is still somewhat useful in Java. When we return later, you should teach him more."

Wang Dayuan immediately cupped his hands and said, "Your subject will certainly tell him what he should and shouldn't do."

"Hmm." Lu Jin nodded before saying, "It's already the end of March, and there's only a little over a month until May. We need to watch the trade winds in May and be ready to set off at any time. Sir, you shouldn't be working so hard these days. Go home and spend some quality time with your family. Zhu Shou and your daughter's son has been born, and it seems you haven't met this grandson yet. Go back and see him first."

"Yes, then I shall take my leave."

"Well, let's go."

Throughout April, Jiankang was very busy. The three main halls of the imperial palace were completed and put into use first. The first court assembly held in the Dazheng Hall was to receive the envoys from Brunei and Champa who had just arrived in the capital.

The envoys from both countries were first arranged to stay by the Ministry of Rites, and then trained in the etiquette of court worship. On the same day, during the grand court assembly, tribute gifts were presented as usual, which Lu Jin accepted without question. At the court assembly, it was announced that an envoy would be sent to the other country to confer a title upon the king. The envoys immediately agreed with delight. Thus, their mission was completed, and they could then enjoy a good tour of the Chinese capital.

As for returning, there's no rush. Lu Jin still needs to prepare return gifts for them and select envoys to go and bestow titles. Even if they stay until August or September, it won't be too late. It would be perfectly legitimate to bestow titles upon the two kings after Lu Jin officially ascends the throne in August, and it would also avoid the typhoon season in June and July.

Otherwise, if we go back at this time and encounter a typhoon on the way, it could cause a diplomatic incident and be counterproductive.

In addition, preparations for his ascension to the throne are being made swiftly. The harem and surrounding walls of the imperial palace are still under construction, the two princely residences in Luzhou are being demolished and relocated to Jiankang, and the altars outside the city are being expedited. A sacrificial ceremony will be held before the Yuanwang ship sets sail in May.

Regarding preparations for the Northern Expedition, food and armor supplies can be replenished as usual. What is lacking now is cotton clothing and shoes. Lu Jin personally 'designed' the style of a double-breasted green military overcoat, as well as cotton hats and shoes. After making samples, they were sent to local governments to have local officials gather people to make them.

It wasn't about getting free labor; rather, it was a commission system. Anyone who wanted military shoes, hats, or coats made could pick up materials at a government-designated location, complete the work at home, and then the government would buy them all with salt and iron certificates and pay them by the piece.

In this way, the people were motivated to actively seek work from the government in order to earn money. They would be paid a certain amount for each job they did, which was equivalent to having a sure-fire way to supplement their household income. Where else could they find such a good deal?

This is actually a helpless situation due to the lack of sewing machines and clothing factories; otherwise, Lu Jin wouldn't need them to do this work.
In addition, Lu Jin was also making intensive preparations for the Yuanwang's voyage to Lizhou. The Dangtu Ironworks had built a new distillation pot and a carbonization furnace to distill fresh water on the ship, while the carbonization furnace was used to make charcoal.

In this way, even if it rains outside, or if they cannot stay on the shore for a long time, as long as they can find a place to dock, they can go ashore first, cut some wood and bring it to the boat, and then slowly burn it into charcoal on the boat, thus saving time when docking.

In terms of supplies, Lu Jin is also arranging to purchase large quantities of pickled vegetables, preserved vegetables, tea, various beans, rice wine, cured meat, garlic, as well as ironware, cloth and porcelain for trade, and even small items such as needles and thread.

Ironware, in particular, is a sought-after commodity worldwide, especially among the Inuit, Chukchi, and Ainu peoples of the Kamchatka Peninsula, Aleutian Islands, and Alaska. While they themselves don't smelt iron, they desperately need knives and iron pots for hunting and daily life. Transporting these items there would guarantee a steady market. Finally, there's the issue of people. Opening trade routes to Central America wasn't just about finding food seeds. The Americas were rich in gold and silver, but the local indigenous people didn't use them as currency. They had a large population, representing a market and a business opportunity. China could dump goods into the Americas, exchanging their millennia-old gold and silver reserves for the initial capital needed to launch the Industrial Revolution.

Lu Jin had just established his nation and needed money everywhere, so naturally he wouldn't let go of the useless gold and silver in the hands of the Native Americans.

There's also rubber. Even if Wang Dayuan manages to bring back rubber seeds from the Americas this time, it will take at least a decade for the seeds to grow into large trees that can be tapped for rubber. Lu Jin can't wait that long. Since there is wild rubber in the Americas, he might as well buy it from the Native Americans on a long-term basis, trading once a year, dumping ironware, cloth and porcelain, and buying gold, silver and rubber.

It would take at least one or two decades for the native rubber to mature and for the gold and silver accumulated by the Native Americans to run out. To accomplish this, a trading post had to be established in the Americas, which meant that people had to stay there.

As for who to send to manage this trading post, that required careful consideration. After much deliberation, Lu Jin thought of two people: Nahachu, a Yuan army commander he had captured in Dangtu, and Yang Hui, the Yuan court's Zhejiang Provincial Inspector. Both were die-hards who refused to surrender. Since killing them would be pointless anyway, he might as well make use of them and exile them to Mexico, throwing them tens of thousands of miles away, to see what kind of trouble they could cause.
Dang——dang——

In the Ma'anshan iron ore mine area of ​​Dangtu, a group of prisoners were vigorously swinging pickaxes. The pickaxes were made of high-quality steel, but sparks flew from time to time when they hit the iron ore, clearly indicating that it was not so easy to extract the ore from the mountain.

The mine also implemented a strict labor reform management system, which divided prisoners into groups of ten, with a leader and deputy leader. If anyone escaped before serving their sentence, the entire group would be held accountable, usually with increased sentences, with no upper limit, up to the death penalty!

Each shift must ensure the extraction of 10,000 catties of iron ore per day, averaging 1,000 catties per person per day. It sounds like a lot, but it's not unreasonable. Iron ore is dense, and 1,000 catties can only fill about five or six sacks. It's definitely tiring, but not to the point that it's impossible to complete.

Based on this, if the task is exceeded, the class can have an extra meal of meat for every 2,000 jin (1,000 kg) they mine. The prizes include fish, chicken, duck, pork, and mutton. If the task is exceeded by one level, only fish will be served, and if the task is exceeded by four levels, fatty pork will be served.

Furthermore, if they exceed their targets for five consecutive days, they can be rewarded with a day off to cook for everyone instead of doing heavy work, which is already a form of rest for them.

Those who perform well each month can have their sentence reduced by ten days, and those who perform well for six months can have their sentence reduced by two months.

Those who fail to complete their daily tasks will naturally be punished, such as having their food rations reduced.

The purpose of this reward and punishment system is threefold: first, to indirectly provide extra food for the prisoners so they don't actually work themselves to death; second, to encourage competition among them to increase mining output; and third, to keep them focused on something so they don't overthink things.

Yang Hui arrived last July and burst into tears as soon as he arrived. He was a scholar, and even a Jinshi (a successful candidate in the highest imperial examinations) of the Yuan Dynasty. How could he have ever done such hard work? But the guards completely ignored him and assigned him to a class and then left him alone.

Now his fellow prisoners won't tolerate him. If he doesn't complete his daily mining tasks, they'll really go hungry. How can a newcomer not work?
So the other prisoners in his class started bullying him, beating him up every day, not just seriously, but twisting him until he was covered in bruises. Because the labor camp had a rule that if someone was seriously injured, resulting in manpower loss and delaying the government's mining operations, the whole class would be held responsible and their sentences would be extended.
After being tortured for two days, Yang Hui had suicidal thoughts, but he didn't have the courage to do so. Otherwise, he wouldn't have been sent here. In the end, he resigned himself to his fate and started working honestly. Although he didn't do much at first, the other prisoners in his class tolerated him. Otherwise, if he hadn't worked, they would have been in trouble too.

However, Yang Hui still cried every night, lamenting his tragic fate. While crying, he would lie on the communal bed and recite texts. He couldn't let go of his identity as a scholar and a Jinshi (successful candidate in the highest imperial examination) of the Yuan Dynasty. But this immediately angered the other prisoners, who beat him.

What the hell are you crying about? You're disturbing everyone's sleep. If you don't have the energy to complete your tasks tomorrow, you'll get your food deducted again. Yang Hui was beaten up again and finally stopped crying, but the bullying by the other prisoners didn't end.

Later, they finally managed to have a fish as an extra meal, but the fish had barely reached Yang Hui's bowl when the other nine people snatched it away and divided it among themselves. Their reasoning was that Yang Hui had done the least work and was dragging everyone down, so she didn't deserve to eat meat; otherwise, they would have already been eating fatty pork.
Yang Hui was completely numb, but he had no oil in his stomach and was really craving meat. Watching others eat meat, his mouth watered uncontrollably. Finally, he resigned himself to his fate and started working hard, mining diligently, and even studying mining techniques, giving the mine some good ideas.

Their mining output gradually increased, and they were finally able to eat meat every day. The others' attitudes towards him improved, and some people started asking him what he used to do and how he got here. So Yang Hui revealed his identity: the former Inspector General of Zhejiang East during the Yuan Dynasty. Unexpectedly, he not only failed to gain the respect of the crowd, but was also beaten up again.

Even if I were a prisoner, I would still look down on you corrupt officials of the Yuan Dynasty. Ha! You call yourselves Inspectors? What good are you? Every official in the Yuan court is corrupt, one after another. If it weren't for you bastards, the common people wouldn't be living such a miserable life!

After being beaten, Yang Hui felt no emotion. He began to reflect: Was the Yuan Dynasty really wrong? Was he really wrong? Otherwise, why would even prisoners look down on him? Thinking of the Yuan court in the past, and the various suffocating actions of those corrupt officials, he sighed helplessly again.

He worked like this until April of this year, a full eight months. Yang Hui lost a lot of weight, but he was also more capable than before. He even learned how to find minerals and could tell the quality of iron ore and its iron content at a glance. He just didn't know when this kind of life would end.

I've heard that Lu Jin's battles are getting bigger and bigger, and there are frequent reports of victories. If this continues, I wonder if Lu Jin will grant a general amnesty when he becomes emperor, and if he will be released.

However, before the news of Lu Jin's ascension to the throne could be heard, one day in mid-April, Lu Jin's guards followed a guard to the mine ahead of time.

"Yang Hui, the Inspector General of Eastern Zhejiang, quit your job. His Highness wants to see you."

Yang Hui, who was swinging his pickaxe with all his might, froze upon hearing this. With a clang, the pickaxe fell to the ground. Yang Hui silently shed two lines of tears. It was finally over. He just didn't know if Lu Jin was going to let him go or kill him. But even if he died, it would be better than staying in this mine forever.

However, before Yang Hui could say anything, Qiu Siwu, the squad leader of their labor camp, shouted, "Guard, we can't let him go! Can't we wait until he finishes his work for today? Otherwise, what will we do with today's tasks?"

"Shout, shout, shout! What are you shouting for? Is working with you more important, or seeing His Highness? If one person is missing, we'll charge you nine thousand catties. We just won't let you suffer any losses." The guard immediately reprimanded.

Qiu Siwu listened to the guards who reduced their quotas, and only then did he reluctantly watch Yang Hui be taken away.

Yang Hui looked at the guard who had come looking for him and immediately cupped his hands in greeting, asking, "May I ask, Captain, what business does the Commander-in-Chief have with me?"

"Don't ask questions you shouldn't ask. Also, don't call him 'General' anymore. When you get to your destination, call him 'Your Majesty.'" The officer looked him up and down and then said, "Go take a bath and change your clothes later. Don't offend His Majesty's eyes."

Yang Hui was startled. She hadn't expected Lu Jin to become emperor so soon. How come she hadn't heard the news? She also wondered what he wanted from her this time.

Meanwhile, in the Shuntian Prefecture prison, Nahachu had been imprisoned for almost two years. From Lu Jin crossing the river to his imminent declaration of himself as emperor and the Northern Expedition, the changes in the situation were considerable.

However, he was not mistreated; he was simply placed under house arrest in prison. He was given two meals a day, with occasional meat. He even had books to read in prison, which he requested himself. As long as it wasn't too excessive, Lu Jin would grant his request.

Lu Jin originally intended to subdue him, as this guy had some connections with the Jurchens in the Northeast. Keeping him around might have allowed him to be used as a pawn to win over the Jurchens. However, judging from the development of the situation in the past two years, it seems that this pawn is no longer useful. The Yuan court's collapse and incompetence came even faster than Lu Jin had expected, so Nahachu lost his value.

He was leaning against the wall reading a book when two guards and a jailer suddenly appeared outside. "Nahachu, come out. His Highness wants to see you."

Naha raised his head upon hearing this, thinking to himself, "So we're finally going out? Lu Jin must have finally remembered to use him. I just don't know what Lu Jin wants to use him for."

Not long after, Nahachu and Yang Hui were brought to the palace. Lu Jin was in Yunxiang Hall reviewing memorials while waiting for them. Wang Dayuan was also sitting to the side. His son, Gongshu Tan, who was almost two years old, was also sitting on the couch next to Lu Jin, playing with building blocks. There was also a small wooden car the size of a palm next to him.

After the two were brought into the hall, Lu Jin looked up at Yang Hui and immediately asked, "Have you submitted?"

Yang Hui immediately knelt down on the ground with a thud, prostrating himself and saying, "This sinful subject knows his mistake and deserves to die ten thousand times. I beg Your Majesty for forgiveness."

"Hey, no, no, no." Lu Jin quickly raised his hand to interrupt, "You are not my subject, there is no need for you to call yourself a guilty subject. Don't forget, you are my prisoner, but it is true that you deserve to die."

"But it's not that I can't spare your life. I have something for you to do, I don't know if you're willing."

Yang Hui then raised her head in confusion, wondering what Lu Jin was up to now.

(End of this chapter)