Bringing the Railway to Daming

"Newspapers for sale! Newspapers for sale! The Ashikaga Shogunate sent ninjas to assassinate the Crown Prince of the Ming Dynasty, nearly causing his death from serious injuries!"

"Newspapers for sale! Newspapers for sale! The front page of the Jinling Weekly is: Japanese assassinate the Crown Prince, attempting to disrupt the fate of our Great Ming Dynasty. Their wolfish ambitions are blatantly obvious!"

"Front page of 'Overseas Affairs': Want to know how the Crown Prince escaped death? Exclusive report on the entire process of the Japanese ninja's assassination attempt on the Crown Prince!"

"···"

On the ninth day of the eighth lunar month, after news spread throughout the government and the public that Zhu Xiong Ying had been assassinated by Japanese ninjas in Tsushima, various newspapers also added special reports on the matter.

The literacy rate among the people of the Ming Dynasty was quite high, and they were quite proud of the Ming Dynasty's strength and prosperity. Upon hearing the news of the Japanese assassination attempt on Zhu Xiong Ying, everyone was furious, and many who didn't usually buy newspapers bought one to find out what had happened.

The first batch of newspapers reporting on this matter all obtained "materials" from a certain government office, so the reports seemed to be diverse and came from various angles, but the facts they told were basically the same.

That is, in order to interfere with the succession of the Ming Dynasty's crown prince, Japan deliberately sent someone to assassinate Zhu Xiong Ying. Afterwards, there must have been a series of other measures to follow, all in order to plunge the Ming Dynasty into internal strife due to the issue of imperial succession.

The people of the Ming Dynasty had enjoyed peace for less than thirty years, and good times for only about ten years. Naturally, they did not want the world to be in chaos again.

Therefore, after seeing reports in several major newspapers, many people were angrily cursing the Japanese.

"These Japanese are in such a bad state of affairs that they actually want to throw our Great Ming into chaos so they can take advantage of the situation to plunder the coast. They are truly hateful!"

"It is indeed hateful—fortunately, the Crown Prince is lucky to be alive, otherwise if the Japanese ninja had succeeded in assassinating him, our Great Ming might have really fallen into internal strife."

"Internal strife is unlikely, but Emperor Hongwu has just lost his empress. If he loses his grandson as well, he will definitely be furious. Doesn't the book say that 'when the emperor is angry, a million will die'? If Emperor Hongwu is angry, our good days may be over."

"In my opinion, this kind of life is just asking for a beating."

"That's right, this tiny island nation dares to plot against the grandson of the Ming Dynasty's crown prince. They're courting death! Why doesn't the imperial court send troops to wipe them out?"

"I've heard that Japan has many gold and silver mines, even several silver mountains. If the imperial court can really destroy Japan, we might be able to go there to mine and make a fortune..."

Inside an ordinary teahouse on the street, Yang Shiqi was chatting and drinking tea with his friends Hu Guang and Yang Pu.

Yang Shiqi met both of them when he was studying at Peking University.

Hu Guang was four years younger than him and was from Jishui, Jiangxi, so he was considered a fellow townsman of Yang Shiqi; Yang Pu was six years younger than him and was from Shishou, Huguang.

At this point, the three of them each bought a different newspaper or magazine and chatted while reading.

Yang Pu frowned slightly and said, "How could the Ashikaga Shogunate of Japan be so depraved as to send someone to assassinate the Crown Prince? Don't they know that whether they succeed or not, the Ming Dynasty will hold them accountable if the matter is exposed?"

Hu Guang pondered, "Now that so many newspapers are reporting on this matter extensively, I'm afraid the court and the public are already furious. If the Emperor is truly enraged, he will most likely use this matter to give Japan a good scolding, and may even send troops."

"Send troops?" Yang Pu frowned even more deeply. "The court just destroyed the Majapahit two years ago, and now there are wars in the Western Regions and the Southwest. Do we have to start another war? Don't you think that repeatedly starting wars will lead us down the path of exhausting our resources and engaging in militarism?"

Hu Guang: "Why shouldn't a man carry a Wu hook and conquer fifty states beyond the passes? I think that now that the court is strong and can conquer the four barbarian tribes, it is the time for us to make our mark."

Yang Shiqi listened to the two arguing about the matter but did not participate, though a faint, smug smile appeared on his lips.

As the secretary to Marquis Liu Kuan of Jiangning, even if Liu Kuan didn't tell him some things, his understanding of matters was far superior to that of his two friends who had just entered officialdom.

As far as he knew, the imperial court had been "manipulating" Japan. Even without the assassination of the crown prince Zhu Xiong Ying by the Japanese, the imperial court should have taken action against Japan in the past few years—as the saying goes, "How can one allow others to sleep soundly beside one's bed?"
In the East China Sea region, Goryeo has submitted to the Ming Dynasty, and Ryukyu has long been brought under the rule of the Ming Dynasty. Only Japan remains, which has split into three countries. The Ming Dynasty has a powerful navy with rich maritime experience, so there is no need to worry about losing troops in storms like the Yuan army did back then. There is no reason to leave Japan unattended.

After reading the exclusive report in "Overseas Affairs" about the assassination of Zhu Xiong Ying, Yang Shiqi even had a dark thought: Could this assassination have been planned by the imperial court, specifically to use as an excuse to conquer Japan?

Given Yang Shiqi's shrewdness, he certainly wouldn't voice this thought.

Yang Pu, standing to the side, asked, "Brother Yang, what are your thoughts on this matter?"

Yang Shiqi said, "The court cannot remain indifferent to the assassination of the Crown Prince. With anger boiling over in the court and among the people, I'm afraid a campaign against Japan is inevitable."

Yang Pu sighed, “Even Brother Yang believes that an invasion of Japan is inevitable, so it is very likely that this will really happen. However, once the war begins, not only will the Japanese people suffer, but the people of our Great Ming will also likely bear an increased burden.”

Yang Shiqi gave Yang Pu a strange look and said, "Why should Hongji worry about the war against Japan? With the current military strength and power of our Great Ming, even if it takes a lot of money and food to conquer tiny Japan, it will not increase the burden on the people."

"As for the Japanese people—as far as I know, most of the common people in Japan are the real gentry who don't even have surnames. Just as this newspaper says, they are enslaved and abused by their nobles and samurai."

"If our Great Ming can destroy Japan and govern its land and people, the Japanese nobles and samurai will no longer be able to live the good life they used to, but the common people will definitely live better than before."

"Furthermore, hasn't Hongji always felt that Confucianism is declining in China and that Confucian scholars have fewer and fewer opportunities to realize their ambitions?" "If the imperial court truly wants to rule Japan, it will inevitably need to educate its people, which will require a large number of Confucian scholars to take on this responsibility. With Hongji's talent in Confucianism and his achievements in teaching at the school these past few years, if he were willing to go to Japan to educate the common people, he might be able to rise several ranks!"

Yang Pu's eyes lit up immediately. He stood up and bowed deeply to Yang Shiqi, sincerely saying, "Thank you for your guidance, Brother Yang!"

"Haha, Hongji, there's no need for that. Sit down, sit down."

On this day, throughout the capital and across the Ming Dynasty, many people were discussing the assassination attempt on the Crown Prince by the Japanese.

The common people were mostly angry and clamored that the imperial court should send troops to teach them a lesson; although scholars, literati, gentry and merchants had different opinions, most of them also believed that the imperial court should send troops to conquer Japan.

In this atmosphere, the Ming Dynasty court decided to launch the campaign against Japan in just three days, and then spent several more days finalizing the general outline of the campaign...

August 17th, the 27th year of Hongwu (1388).

Zhu Yuanzhang appointed Cao Guogong Li Wenzhong as General Who Conquers the East and as the first marshal of the expedition; he appointed Liang Guogong Lan Yu, Shen Guogong Deng Zhen (eldest son of Deng Yu), and Wuding Hou Guo Ying as deputy marshals of the left, center, and right routes of the army.

He also appointed six founding veterans, all around sixty years old and still capable of leading troops, as deputy generals of the left, center, and right routes of the army, to assist him.

In addition, a number of relatively young generals joined the group, such as Xu Da's eldest son Xu Yungong (Xu Huizu), the imperial son-in-law Mei Yin, Li Wenzhong's eldest son Li Jinglong, Tang He's second son Tang Yi, Fang Guozhen's nephew Fang Mingqian, and Qi Jiguang's ancestor Qi Xiang.

Among the civil officials accompanying the army were Tie Xuan, Sheng Yong, Ping An, and Huang Huai.

A total of more than 90,000 naval troops and more than 300,000 land troops were mobilized, which was said to be a force of 500,000!

Because the Ming army was well-prepared and reacted quickly thanks to its relatively developed transportation system, it completed the troop movements of all units in early September.

On the tenth day of the ninth month, more than 300,000 Ming troops set off for Japan from three provinces: Lelang, Shandong, and Zhejiang.

Upon learning that the Ming Dynasty had mobilized an army of 500,000 to conquer Japan, the Southern Court of the Three Kingdoms, being the weakest in military strength and most deeply influenced by the Ming Dynasty, with many important civil and military officials in the court being bribed or controlled by Ming spies, immediately backed down.

Just two days after Li Wenzhong led his main force of nearly 200,000 troops by land and sea to Tsushima Island, Emperor Go-Kameyama sent envoys with a letter of surrender, household registers, yellow books, maps, and other documents to express his willingness to submit to the Ming Dynasty.

Historically, Emperor Go-Kameyama lost his throne two years ago when the Ashikaga shogunate unified the Nanboku-cho (Northern and Southern Courts), but he is still the emperor today.

Although he was unaware of this, he knew that the Southern Dynasty was no match for the Ming Dynasty at present.

Even setting aside the huge gap in military strength, most of the food supplies for the Southern Dynasties are now controlled by Ming Dynasty grain merchants.

If the Southern Dynasty truly rebelled against the Ming Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty wouldn't even need to send troops; simply cutting off its food supply for a month would be enough to bring it to collapse.

That's why Emperor Go-Kameyama and the officials of the Southern Court surrendered so readily.

Emperor Go-Kameyama is still considered the emperor with the purest bloodline and the most legitimate title in Japan. Theoretically speaking, Emperor Go-Kameyama's submission means that the entire country of Japan has submitted.

This made the Ming Dynasty's subsequent campaigns against the Northern Court of Japan and the Yamato Kingdom (the Yamana and Toki clans who opposed the Ashikaga clan) even more legitimate.

To the surprise of the world, after the Southern Court of Japan surrendered under the leadership of Emperor Go-Kameyama, the Yamato Kingdom not only did not follow suit and surrender to the Ming Dynasty, but instead openly declared its intention to make peace and form an alliance with the Northern Court of Japan.

However, even with the alliance between the two sides, they were still no match for the Ming army.

In mid-to-late September, the Ming navy launched three small-scale naval battles, which annihilated the entire navy of the Japanese Northern Court and the Yamato Kingdom.

In early October, the Ming army launched a three-pronged attack, landing at Tottori, Kobe, and Nagoya respectively, and stormed Kyoto with overwhelming force.

The main force of the Japanese Northern Court, numbering over 100,000, was utterly annihilated in one battle. The remaining 100,000 local troops and temporarily conscripted able-bodied men were even more easily routed when faced with the Ming army, either fleeing into the mountains or becoming prisoners of the Ming army.

However, after the Ming army easily captured Kyoto, Ashikaga Yoshimitsu chose to commit suicide to die for his country. Emperor Go-Komatsu of the Northern Court of Japan, along with a group of Japanese nobles, became prisoners of the Ming army.

As for the Yamato Province, mainly composed of the Yamana and Toki clans, it was repeatedly defeated by a detachment of more than 30,000 Ming troops. After learning of the fall of Kyoto and the suicide of Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, it also chose to give up resistance and surrender to the Ming Dynasty.

It was already late October.

If we start counting from the start of the Ming army's three-pronged attack in early September, the Ming Dynasty destroyed Japan in less than two months.

Although the Ming Dynasty was full of confidence in the war against Japan, the news of the fall of the capital still caused jubilation throughout the court and the country! (End of Chapter)