Da Tang: Father, can I resign?

Chapter 456 Still Too Human
"Squad Leader."

"Ok?"

Why is a mound of skulls called a 'jingguan'?

"Hmm... because it's going to be set up for His Majesty in the capital to see, right?"

"But Tangzhou is so far from the Japanese islands, can His Majesty see it from the palace?"

"...That's because your mound of corpses isn't high enough, and you haven't killed enough people! Keep it up!"

"Oh."

In a little-known corner of the Japanese islands, after a little-known skirmish.

Ming soldiers cut off the head of a Japanese soldier and solemnly piled it up.

"If we stack them all up, will His Majesty of Tangzhou really be able to see them?"

The soldier instinctively scratched his head, but instead of finding his scalp, he only grasped the cold helmet.

Looking around, the battlefield was littered with headless Japanese corpses.

Although a lot of Japanese were killed in this battle.

However, building a tower that can be seen from across the sea would be incredibly difficult.

The soldier suspected he had been misled by his corporal, but he had no proof.

"Sigh, let's keep killing."

He was somewhat dejected, regretting that His Majesty the Emperor would not be able to witness the results he had achieved on the front lines.

With a swift stroke, he chopped off another Japanese head and solemnly piled it together.

The heads of the Japanese soldiers had piled up into a small mountain.

"Three thousand five hundred and seventy-two were beheaded and one thousand and fifty were captured."

The army's chief clerk counted them off one by one, expressionless:

"Any leaks? No? If not, burn all the bodies."

The soldier immediately raised an objection:

"Hey, hey, hey, we went through so much trouble to build this mound of skulls. How can we let His Majesty in the capital see it if we burn it down?"

The registrar looked at him as if he were mentally challenged, and patted him on the shoulder with pity.

"If we don't clear this trash out beforehand, how are the logistics guys going to dig the ditch later? Do you want them pointing fingers at you and yelling at you?"

The soldier was dejected.

He was just a lowly soldier; he couldn't afford to offend the powerful figures under Minister Xue Wanche...

"Don't worry, His Majesty will know of your martial prowess."

"really?"

"Really, I'll keep a record of it for you."

The registrar teased the simpleton like he was coaxing a child, and finally managed to coax him back to his senses.

Meanwhile, the remaining soldiers were busy clearing the battlefield.

Cleaning up the battlefield is the privilege of the victorious side, and generally includes the steps of collecting the bodies of their own fallen soldiers, looting spoils of war, and disposing of the bodies of enemy soldiers.

However, when encountering the Japanese army, this process was simplified.

First, not many of our side died, or more specifically, no one died at all.

The Japanese bamboo spears were no match for the Ming army's defenses.

Secondly, the Japanese didn't find any gold coins either.

This group of impoverished imperialists had no equipment or money, and their bodies were thin and weak; they were truly of no use whatsoever.

Therefore, the cleanup of the battlefield quickly progressed to the step of disposing of the enemy's corpses.

The specific steps are not complicated.

After counting the heads, dig a hole and burn it down.

"Hurry up! Stop dawdling! Dig deeper!"

The Ming soldiers brandished their whips, mercilessly lashing the backs of the Japanese prisoners of war.

"Yes! Yes!" The arrogant Japanese soldiers before the battle became as submissive as dogs after being brutally defeated by the iron fist of the Ming Dynasty. They did whatever they were told and even learned to speak human language.

The more than 1,000 prisoners dutifully dug a large pit, collected the fragments of their slain brethren, piled them in the pit, poured tung oil over them, and set them ablaze, burning them into a pile of white ash.

The time spent clearing the battlefield often exceeds the time spent fighting itself.

After the cleanup was completed and the prisoners were taken back to the POW camp, it was time for the laborers to take the stage.

Under the foreman's guidance, they quickly dug a ditch along the terrain to bring seawater into the land.

Then, using that ditch as the main stream, the salty seawater was allowed to flood the fields along the shore.

As for the mountainous fields with higher altitudes and steeper terrain, waterwheels, oxen, horses, and human-shaped oxen and horses were used to transport large amounts of seawater to the highlands and then pour it onto the fields.

The work was supervised by workers from the Ming Dynasty, with laborers from Silla and Baekje contributing their labor, and the army providing assistance.

It presents a picture of harmonious labor between the military and civilians, ethnic unity, and joy, if one disregards the fact that this destruction of farmland is of such nature.

…………

Such scenes occur in every corner of the Japanese islands.

Due to Japan's fragmented state system, which was a mix of centralized and local tribal powers, the capital was burned down, high-ranking officials were beheaded, and the emperor's whereabouts became unknown.

The various "countries" within Japan then fell into all sorts of situations.

These political entities called "countries," such as the Yamato Kingdom and the Musashi Kingdom, are similar to the "prefecture" level administrative divisions of the Tang and Ming dynasties, but they enjoy greater autonomy than prefectures.

The right to autonomy includes, but is not limited to: the right to rebel, the right to command troops, the right to wage war, etc. The right to finance, taxation and minting currency will have to wait a while.

Therefore, the lords of these "countries" reacted differently after their capitals suddenly disappeared from the map.

Some were panicked, some wept bitterly, and some were overjoyed.

Of course, many more were puzzled: What happened? How come the Ming army was attacking them as soon as they woke up?
In this way, the scattered Japanese were defeated one by one and wiped out in one fell swoop.

First, Li Shiji's army slaughtered them.

After demilitarization, Xue Wanche's engineering team then "meticulously cultivated" their land, causing it to become saline-alkali over a long period, completely cutting off any path to development.

And in this massive project that destroyed Japanese agriculture.

Surprisingly, the people who contributed the most were the local Japanese.

The Ming army didn't treat them well at first; it was food that should have been served at the dinner table.

But there's no way to repeat the Namba Castle incident and completely destroy them all.

After all, people cannot be literally killed off.

Therefore, the Ming army could only ignore them at first, as if they didn't exist.

And the ordinary Japanese people also fulfilled their role as background figures very well.

After all, they didn't know why these powerful warriors had come, so if they couldn't afford to offend them, they might as well avoid them.

However, as the project progressed, the problem of manpower shortage in the Ming Dynasty gradually became apparent.

Even if the human-shaped cattle and horses of Silla and Baekje worked hard, there was still a significant labor shortage.

So, Lao Xue's gaze fell on those human-shaped backdrops.

They can't kill them all, and they can't eat them either.

It's better to have them work together. And when we actually tried it, it worked really well.

When faced with an enemy who was "like a god," the Japanese civilians were even more subservient than the Koreans who were professional dogs.

Let them go east, never west.

Moreover, due to the scarcity of resources on the Japanese islands, the Japanese people have long suffered from hunger and semi-hunger.

This results in extremely low labor costs.

Compared to the pampered Ming people and the increasingly inflated Koreans, it was ridiculously cheap—

With just a handful of millet, they can work like nuclear-powered donkeys all day long.

If they could be fed rice—no, rice is revered as "silver relic" on the Japanese islands—they would sell their lives to their patrons.

Therefore, Xue Wanche used a handful of rice.

They let the Japanese cut off their own escape route.

…………

"Haha, after all, being close to the water gives you an advantage. Being able to recruit men on the island is pretty good."

"Whenever it comes to dust removal, Xue Wanche's mind is still very sharp."

Li Ming sat by the window in his study, basking in the warm winter sun, reading the summary of information sent by Li Shiji.

It was really difficult for Xue Wanche to do the secretarial work, so Li Shiji took over the reporting of the front-line situation of the expedition against Japan, reporting to Tangzhou every day, or even every few hours.

Therefore, Li Ming was able to fully grasp all the events that were happening in Japan.

Although there is a time difference between Tangzhou and Japan, the overall situation is settled and it is not a big deal.

"The scourge of the Japanese is finally about to be eliminated. What a joyous occasion!"

As usual, Changsun Wuji offered verbal flattery while constantly making snippets of conversation.

However, Fang Xuanling put down his work and solemnly said to Emperor Li Ming:
"Your Majesty, let's set aside the matter of conquering the Japanese for now."

"The project to divert the river is about to reach a critical stage."

Li Ming nodded:
"Oh."

Seeing that His Majesty had completely missed his hint, Fang Xuanling rubbed his eyes and made his words even clearer:
"What I want to say is that the war against the Japanese occupied too much money, leaving domestic disaster prevention and construction projects in a difficult situation."

Li Ming frowned in confusion:
"But although the amount of money is a little less, after calculation, it's just enough. It's not like it's not enough."

"..." Fang Xuanling rubbed his eyes more and more frequently, and said helplessly:

"What I mean is, have we invested too many resources in the campaign against the Japanese pirates, to the point that we have excessively diverted funds from domestic disaster prevention?"

As the father of today's Minister of Finance, he naturally paid great attention to the state of public finances.

Li Ming raised an eyebrow:
"You mean we shouldn't have fought the Japanese?"

"They deserve to be hit, but there's no need for such a grand display," Fang Xuanling stated frankly.
"War is a matter of life and death, meaning that it is not advisable to launch a war blindly without sufficient benefits."

"Japan is an extremely barren land. Even if we occupy it, what real benefits would we gain?"

At this point, Changsun Wuji became somewhat displeased and couldn't help but interrupt:
"According to Prime Minister Fang, are we just going to let the Japanese go like this?"

"Did the people of the Central Plains who suffered undeserved calamities die in vain?"
"Governing a country cannot be based solely on practical interests; the sentiments of the people must also be taken into account!"

To this counterargument, Fang Xuanling simply shook his head slightly and said:

"If the purpose is to relieve the people and punish the guilty, then the war can be stopped after the enemy capital is razed and the enemy chieftain is captured."

"By supporting a puppet ruler in the area and continuing to keep the island under control, the Japanese islands can be considered pacified."

"Why continue to invest such a huge amount of manpower and resources on the island as we are now?"

Indeed, it made perfect sense and prompted Changsun Wuji to start thinking.

The Japanese are indeed despicable, but the instigator has already surrendered.

Destroying their capital and capturing their chieftain was already a severe punishment, enough to demonstrate to all sides that the might of the Ming Dynasty was inviolable, and enough to give the people an explanation.

Now, turning Japan upside down seems a bit too extreme, and it's also incredibly expensive.

That's a massive project being carried out across a vast ocean, on a scale of civilizations!
Admittedly, Xue Wanche's unconventional approach of using Japanese laborers to do the work and using them to undermine the Japanese did indeed save the government a considerable amount of money.

However, this also reflects the tightness of funding resources—it has forced Comrade Xue to use his brain, which shows how desperately he needs money.

"If we base our policies on immediate gratification and personal vendettas, and on His Majesty's momentary likes and dislikes, then we are governing the country based on emotions rather than reason..."

"Then Your Majesty, please forgive this old minister for speaking frankly."

Fang Xuanling took a deep breath and finally uttered that line.

"If this continues, the Ming Dynasty will be doomed!"

"What nostalgic words! How long has it been since I heard them..." Li Ming wasn't angry at all; instead, he sighed inwardly for a while before asking in return:
"Prime Minister Fang opposed investing excessive resources in the war because the campaign against the Japanese only involved input without output, right?"

Fang Xuanling sensed that his prized student was up to no good and nodded warily.

"Yes, what then?"

Li Ming continued:
"Then, building river embankments is also an investment with no return."

Why was Fang Xiang willing to spend so generously on this?

This is utter nonsense and sophistry; how can these two things be confused...? Fang Xuanling ultimately restrained his urge to criticize and calmly explained the most straightforward and simple truth:
"Because disaster prevention is worse than disaster relief. If we don't invest heavily in river defense, the losses will be even greater once a disaster occurs."

"Yes, that's right! The conquest and annihilation of the Japanese were for the same reason."

Li Ming suddenly raised his voice:
“If major rivers are left unattended, they will bring endless disasters.”

"The same applies to the Japanese; leaving them alone will cause great trouble for China."

"Therefore, the campaign against the Japanese pirates should not be regarded as an ordinary war operation, and the benefits and costs should not be calculated."

"It should be treated as a disaster prevention measure, taking precautions to eradicate the problem completely!"

Fang Xuanling was stunned by this theory, and his expression became somewhat blank.

"This... Your Majesty, are you serious?"

That backward country across the ocean is disgusting, but to elevate its danger to the level of a major river...

"That's right. Look at the extent of the disaster the Japanese have caused in the Central Plains in just a few months!"

Li Ming gave a serious and earnest critique of his top civil official.

"Your problem is that you treat the Japanese too much like human beings."

"You can understand it by comparing them to a disaster like a locust plague."

Fang Xuanling fell silent.

He was assessing the validity of this claim.

While it's not fair to say that the Japanese islands have absolutely no value to the mainland, it's also fair to say that they have no value whatsoever.

But in that godforsaken place where people robbed the land, some strange humanoid creatures could still spawn, causing trouble on the continent from time to time.

For China, it is a complete liability.

From this perspective, it does indeed bear a striking resemblance to natural disasters...

"Then, Your Majesty, what should be done with the remaining Japanese people on the island?"

Changsun Wuji interrupted their debate and raised practical issues.

Indeed, the Ming army was wreaking havoc on the Japanese islands, and engineering teams were systematically destroying local farmland.

However, this was not enough to wipe out the local Japanese.

(End of this chapter)