The Ming Dynasty began from Sarhu

Chapter 844 In Exile
"Why are there so few people on your Kuyi Island? Not even enough to fill a county in the interior."

"Then you should ask the high officials of Tianxin City. Tianxin City only exiled the criminals to Kuyi Island and sent all the evil people in the country here, but did not care about what happened afterwards. All the islanders fled." The coachman turned around and answered with a gloomy face.

Lead-gray clouds covered the earth, raindrops poured on the window glass, and the carriage was struggling to travel between the low hills in the north of Kuyi Island.

It was May, and the pine trees on both sides of the post road were bare and lifeless. Only seagulls flew past overhead with their necks tucked in, looking at the people on the ground with ill intentions.

Inside the Great Wall, the thorn trees have sprouted and the poplars have blossomed, but here, in the empire's most remote exile, from the southernmost to the northernmost tip of the island, the earth is gray-brown, with gray mountains and rivers, gray grass and trees, and gray people.

Li Wenlong glanced past the driver in front of him and saw flocks of birds in the distance, roe deer all over the mountains, and some birds and beasts whose names he couldn't tell.

The driver waved his whip, and when the carriage was almost close to the bird, the bird flapped its wings and flew lazily towards the pine forest.

The driver looked Li Wenlong up and down and asked curiously, "Sir, which government office are you from? Judging from your attire, you don't look like someone from the capital."

Lin Wenlong crossed Kuyi Island with a servant. Entrusted by Emperor Guangde, Lin Wenlong went to Kursk in the center of Kuyi Island to start the great journey of saving Da Qi.

"I came to Kuyi Island to open a mine. Tianxin City needs more ore. Besides, I'm not an adult."

The driver showed a surprised expression on his face. As a native of Kuyi Island, he witnessed with his own eyes the mining teams coming to Tianxin City one after another when he was a child. The outsiders destroyed mountains, cut down forests, and plundered everything here. Fortunately, after Emperor Guangde ascended the throne, he immediately stopped all mining on Kuyi Island. Over the past ten years, Kuyi Island has gradually returned to its original appearance.

"Are the adults in Tianxin City going to start blasting mountains and mining again?"

"This time is different from before." Li Wenlong didn't want to explain too much. What he came to Kuyi Island to search for this time was not ordinary coal, iron and copper mines, but a group of minerals that were not found in the interior. The empire's chief scientist explained that with this kind of mineral, a new type of weapon could be created, "a weapon that can end all wars."

"To end war with war?" Li Wenlong asked curiously at the time, but the scientist did not give any further explanation.

The rain continues.

"Kuyi Island was originally a forgotten land. Thirty years ago, it was a paradise. There were only simple and pitiful people like us here. You want to destroy it, involve us in the war with the Japanese Rakshasa Kingdom, make our women widows, and make our children orphans..."

The coachman drank a bottle of liquor and continued to chatter. The fierce servant glared at him and the coachman immediately shut up.

Li Wenlong said secretly in his heart: "The emperor wants to end all this, end all wars, so now he needs more powerful military force."

It really is about ending war with war.

Thinking of what Emperor Guangde said to him in Tianxin City, Lin Wenlong felt a little sad. The rebels were ready to make a move. The eldest princess and the King of Han had strong support from the majority of the army. A rebellion sweeping the country was about to sweep every corner of the empire. How many troops were willing to serve the emperor and die for Liu Kan?

I don’t know whether this monarch who is determined to change Da Qi can live to see his return to Tianxin City.

The common people blamed the Guangde Emperor for the hardships of their lives, while the warmongering Princess Liu Yufei and her brother Liu Qian enjoyed strong support from the lower classes.

The road was bumpy and the carriage was shaking violently. Li Wenlong's mind was in a mess and he was not optimistic about the future of the empire. Finally, he sighed helplessly, retracted his head into the carriage and took a short rest.

There was a noisy sound of people outside.

"what's going on?"

The servant in front shouted back, "Master, it's an exiled prisoner."

"Are there still exiled prisoners on Kuyi Island?"

Out of a traveler's curiosity, Li Wenlong stuck his head out of the car window again.

A procession of prisoners passed in front of the carriage. Thirty to forty ragged prisoners walked along the road, their chains and shackles rattling. On either side of the prisoners stood soldiers in black uniforms, all fully armed. Judging by the black bear insignia on their uniforms, they must be part of the Imperial Eastern Corps' guard.

A prisoner with a Japanese face quickly caught Li Wenlong's attention. He stared at the traces of a samurai still left on the man's bun and shouted in fluent Japanese:

"Are you Japanese?"

Japan is not too far from Kuyi Island. I don’t know why this Japanese man ended up here.

"What have you done wrong?"

The Japanese prisoner, hearing the Japanese language, instinctively turned around to look in their direction. The soldiers escorting him immediately raised their whips and lashed at the prisoner. The prisoner stumbled and fell into the mud, where he was lashed with more whips. The other prisoners did not dare to stop and continued to walk forward like puppets.

"Stand up and leave!" the guards roared.

Seeing this, Li Wenlong hurriedly asked the coachman to stop the carriage, jumped out and shouted to stop him.

"I am the head of the Ministry of Works, and I have something to ask this prisoner."

The servant showed Li Wenlong's seal to the soldiers. An officer who looked like a sergeant took the seal, took a quick look at it, and then ordered the soldiers to stop whipping.

"Sir," the sergeant lowered his voice and said, "These are all criminals who have been exiled thousands of miles to Kuyi Island. They have killed people on their hands. You must be careful..."

Li Wenlong nodded and asked the servants to go forward and pull the Japanese man out of the mud.

"Thank you for reminding me. I've been to Kuyi Island before."

The sergeant knew that Li Wenlong had an extraordinary background. When he saw the black flying eagle flag hanging behind the car, he realized that this head of the Ministry of Works had the support of the army, so he stopped asking questions.

The Japanese man in the mud raised his head with difficulty: "What crime have you committed? Why were you sent to Kuyi Island?"

The sergeant signaled to stop and rest. Several soldiers walked to the side of the post road to smoke. They turned their backs to the head of the Ministry of Works who came from the interior and pointed and whispered about something.

The sergeant handed the whip to Li Wenlong and said in a friendly manner, "You can use this to question him, the whip is the most effective."

Lin Wenlong took the whip and nodded slightly. He came to the Japanese prisoners and took the initiative to talk to them.

It is a very rare thing to see Japanese people on Kuyi Island (including other places). The empire has not had a war with Japan for twenty years.

The Japanese captured during the reign of the Emperor Taishang have all died in factories and mines everywhere. There are probably only a few Japanese left in the territory of Qi now.

"I am a samurai from Tsushima Island. Last month, I was doing business in Incheon, but you robbed me of all my belongings. You killed my companions and servants, and I was taken prisoner and brought all the way here..."

Hearing Lin Wenlong's fluent Japanese, the Tsushima Island samurai thought they had met one of their own and told him all about their experiences in the past few days with a choked voice.

This low-ranking samurai named Hasegawa followed his master to Incheon, Korea three months ago to sell mink fur and sea cucumbers. Their ship was seized by local officials as soon as it docked in Incheon.

Under torture by local officials, the Japanese merchants were forced to admit that they were spies sent to Korea by the Tokugawa shogunate, and were soon sentenced to exile.

"So, the North Korean army is ready to attack Tsushima Island?"

"Don't you know, sir? The war has already begun. When I was taken away from Korea, I saw with my own eyes that the warships you built filled the harbor." Hasegawa's tone was full of anger and fear. The rain washed away the wounds on his body, which looked shocking.

Li Wenlong was speechless for a long time.

Emperor Guangde repeatedly ordered the border troops in various places not to cause trouble, but he did not expect that these warriors would turn a deaf ear to his orders and openly disobey them.

"I haven't heard this news in Tianxin City. Perhaps the Korean side hasn't reported it to Tianxin City. However, going to war with Japan is definitely not our emperor's intention."

"Please intercede for me. I don't want to stay on Kuyi Island. I can give you a lot of money if I can just return to Tsushima Island..." Hasegawa grabbed Li Wenlong's arm, as if grasping at a lifeline. "I know that over 50,000 Japanese died here in the past."

Yes, during the reign of Liu Zhaosun, at least 50,000 Japanese warriors were exiled to Kuyi Island, where they mined in dark mines until they died of exhaustion. Although this has become history, Kuyi Island has become a nightmare for the Japanese people.

Over the years, encouraged and supported by the pro-war faction, including the Princess, rebellion has become a tradition among Qi's border troops. Regardless of Tianxin City's approval, border warriors can always find excuses to mobilize the Empire. They can list missing soldiers, provocations, or bullying of Qi merchants beyond the border. The list goes on. When border troops provoke a war, the pro-war faction immediately jumps to the perpetrators' defense. Civil officials who attempt to intervene are often threatened or even assassinated by the Princess's minions.

"They want to launch attacks in two directions simultaneously, and go to war with Japan and Europe at the same time, in order to force Emperor Guangde to abdicate. They are crazy, crazy..."

Li Wenlong was terrified. He broke free from the Japanese warrior's arm and waved his hand to let the coachman continue on his way. He could do nothing to help the unfortunate Japanese merchant in front of him.

Li Sanguang's disciples secretly made up their minds to find the mineral deposits as soon as possible to help Emperor Guangde win the war.

(End of this chapter)