The Ming Dynasty began from Sarhu

Chapter 710 The storm is coming
In August of the fifth year of Guangde, the corps of the Eastern Expedition Army completed their withdrawal, and 200,000 troops withdrew back to the country in batches.

The Sixth Corps stayed in Kyushu to complete the final mopping-up mission.

The so-called mopping up means to thoroughly clean up the descendants of the evil gods entrenched in the heart of Jiuzhou, leaving no one behind.

The war is over, but the killing continues.

Deng Changxiong was puzzled by this act of annihilation. In his opinion, the remaining Japanese pirates were not a threat, and it would be more cost-effective to let them stay on the barren land, starve to death, freeze to death, and fend for themselves, rather than killing them directly.

A desperate rat will bite a cat, and a cornered dog will jump over the wall. The Japanese pirates are at the end of their rope, so there is no need to kill them all.

However, Zhao Lujiao did not think so. He insisted on killing all the Japanese pirates.

As a result, Deng Changxiong and Zhao Lujiao had a fierce dispute.

The other corps did not care much about the remaining Japanese pirates and could kill them or not.

The army has been on the Eastern Expedition for more than a year, and now each corps is eager to return home as soon as possible to end this protracted war.

The long period of bloody killing caused serious damage to people's hearts and was a great test for both the Japanese army and the Qi army.

Not killing the Japanese pirates immediately does not necessarily mean mercy, as starvation and freezing to death is a slow process;

Burning and killing all the Japanese pirates does not mean being cruel. It can at least reduce the enemy's suffering.

Zhao Lujiao was blinded by hatred and didn't care about anything else. He just wanted to make Kyushu cleaner, so clean that there would not be a single Japanese person.

Deng Changxiong was unable to suppress the nearly crazy Zhao Lujiao and had to let him go.

~~~~~
After the eruption of Mount Fuji, the whereabouts of the retired emperor were unknown. Although Deng Changxiong was the nominal commander of all the corps, he did not have much deterrent power.

Since the emperor is not around, the various military corps don't really buy into Deng Changxiong's ideas.

The absence of supreme authority has caused power chaos, which has spread to all corps.

The chaos spread from the army to the common people, threatening the foundation of the Great Qi - the polarization system.

Not everyone supports this system.

The empire urgently needed a strong center of power to fill the power vacuum.

The various factions have different demands. Some firmly support the "Tianchao Tianmu System", while others are dissatisfied with extremism.

Of course, most soldiers and civilians were confused and would support whoever could feed them.

Regardless of whether Liu Kan is ready or not, he must complete the reorganization and control of power as soon as possible, otherwise the empire will face the fate of disintegration again.

At the end of August, the Eastern Expedition ended.

This war, which lasted for nearly two years, caused irreparable losses to both Qi and Wa (mainly to Wa).

The Qi army suffered more than 20,000 casualties, while the Japanese army lost 300,000.

The main force of the shogunate army was buried at the bottom of the sea, and together with the casualties among the military and civilians of various feudal domains, the total population loss of Japan was tens of millions.

If we don't count the tens of thousands of surviving Japanese people, the Japanese people can be said to have been completely wiped out.

Honshu and Shikoku sank into the sea forever, Kyushu and Hokkaido were completely cleared out, and the last tens of thousands of surviving Japanese people were scattered in the deep mountains of Kyushu and Hokkaido.

The Japanese state has become insignificant and no longer poses any threat to the Qi state.

The goal of imperial expansion will turn to the south...

~~~
A huge amount of food and supplies gathered at ports such as Busan and Dengzhou. It is estimated that about 10 million dan of rice were "requisitioned" by the Qi army and transported to various ports by ships and merchant vessels day and night back to the Great Qi.
Grain and cloth waiting to be shipped were piled up like mountains at the docks of various seaports, and refined rice and wheat overflowed from the cracks of the gates like a flood.

As for the various samurai swords, armors, paper fans, lacquerware, gold and silver jewelry seized, they are countless...
Many materials had nowhere to be stored and could not be transported, so they had to be thrown into the sea and left to float and sink. Of course, more were placed at the dock and no one cared about them.

This kind of squandering can be seen everywhere in the ports. The spoils of this Eastern Expedition were so rich that the grain obtained was enough to feed the army and civilians of Daqi for two years, and the iron and copper materials obtained were enough to cast tens of thousands of cannons. Even if the northern provinces mobilized tens of thousands of cargo ships, together with the imperial fleet, they could not transport all the supplies away.

Moreover, a considerable number of captives had to be transported. The Emperor Retired once said that the most important resource in the seventeenth century was talent.

During this Eastern Expedition, no less than one million Japanese pirates were captured, half of whom had starved to death or frozen to death. After layers of selection, the survival of the fittest, the survivors were the best miners.

Considering that the imperial industry is in full swing, coal mines, iron mines, ports, and salt wells across the country are in urgent need of a large number of cheap young and strong laborers.

These Japanese pirates, who have gone through layers of selection and multiple rounds of elimination, are undoubtedly the most suitable labor force.

The essence of industrial revolution is the exploitation of labor. Of course, the imperial textbooks describe it as "the liberation of the working people."

The working people here obviously do not include the Japanese captives who were forced to work hard.

Since the Eastern Expedition Army captured Tsushima Island, civil affairs and chamber of commerce staff have been escorting the captured Japanese pirates back to their country one after another.

The once invincible Japanese warriors, after more than ten days of tossing on the sea, were driven off the sampans like livestock, brought to various ports, and sent to work in mines and factories across the country.

What awaits these captives will be years or even decades of labor reform without seeing the sun, provided that these craftsmen live long enough to last for more than a decade.

As for the treatment of Japanese women and children, the civil officials also showed sufficient wisdom.

Based on the principle of full utilization of resources, the unmarried Japanese women under the age of 25 captured in this Eastern Expedition (more than 100,000 people) were distributed first to Liaodong, Shandong, Hebei and other places, and to local soldiers, farmers, and veterans to meet their marriage needs.

In principle, no more than three Japanese women were assigned to each village, each garrison, and each street, and these three women could not be from the same domain to prevent them from escaping together.

Just when Xie Yang and others were worried, it turned out that the obedience to Southern Fist in the blood of women from the island countries made these cross-border marriages go very smoothly, and there were basically no immoral behaviors such as escaping from marriage, breaking off marriage, and taking away betrothal money.

Most of the Japanese women over the age of 25 or who were married (about 50,000) were well settled.

Of course, there are also some stubborn people who seek revenge. They are led by the Civil Affairs Bureau and organized by the Chamber of Commerce and sent in batches to Jiangnan, especially Suzhou and Hangzhou. The brothel business there is currently legal and compliant, and is an industry that pays more taxes to Da Qi.

These Japanese women will be sent to brothels in various prefectures and counties to continue contributing their humble efforts to the empire.

Among the captives, children under the age of seven were placed in various prefectures of Korea to receive systematic education in the kingly way, while those over the age of seven were sent to the army for training.

In short, although the emperor is no longer around, the "big cleanup" strategy he had previously formulated is now being implemented most thoroughly.

The Eastern Expeditionary Army plundered all the supplies on the land of Japan.

According to the high priest Francisco, "not even a treasury was left for the Japanese monkeys."

According to statistics, a total of 300,000 Japanese prisoners followed the army back to Da Qi.

The combined number of the armies of various feudal domains and the shogunate army far exceeds this number.

The Qi army had limited transportation capacity and could only accommodate a maximum of 300,000 prisoners, so most of the Japanese pirates were destined not to be able to board the ships returning west.

It goes without saying that what awaits these people will be disasters more terrifying than earthquakes, volcanoes and floods, such as cannibalism.

~~~~~
"Father, where did you go? If you don't tell me clearly, I will go to Japan to look for you!"

September 25th, Nanjing Forbidden City, Fengtian Hall.

Emperor Guangde Liu Kan was in tears, holding the whisk and armor used by his father in his hands, sitting on the dragon throne, his body shaking constantly.

The high priest, the general manager, the commanders of the various corps of the Eastern Expedition Army, the cabinet ministers, the imperial guards, and the commanders of the straw raincoat guards all stood in front of the little emperor, all with their heads bowed and silent.

Dongfang Zhu stepped forward, clasped his head to the ground, and cried uncontrollably, "Your Majesty, I deserve death! We have failed to serve the Emperor!"

Liu Kan gritted his teeth and turned to look at Zhang Dong:
"Father usually trusts you guys the most. According to seniority, you are all my elders. Such a big event happened in the court, the emperor disappeared, and yet you guys returned safe and sound. How can this be possible? Come here!"

Emperor Guangde slammed the table and stood up.

"Take Zhang Dong down and chop him off!"

(End of this chapter)