The Wanli Emperor of the Ming Dynasty was extremely rebellious

Chapter 343 You Spy on Me and Send False Information
The envoys from the vassal state of Korea have arrived.

Wanli could have disappeared.

After all, he was just here to refute the accusation and there was nothing important going on.

For matters like this, just let the officials from the Ministry of Rites debate with others.

However, Wanli still personally met with Han Yingyin, the envoy from the vassal state of Korea.

He even recruited several officials from the Ministry of Rites and a bunch of censors, filling up both sides of the side hall.

This ceremony is already grand enough.

When Han Yingyin walked into the side hall and took a look, he was stunned.

It seems that the rumor is wrong. What about the young emperor of the Ming Dynasty who values ​​military power over literature?

He hadn't seen any military generals along the way, and there were only about a thousand people scattered in the Acropolis.

The defense of the Ming capital was also very sparse, with few people visible on the city walls.

There was not a single military general when meeting with the envoys from vassal states. Why do they value military power over civil officials?
He was stunned for only a moment before walking to the center of the hall, kneeling down and saying respectfully, "Your humble servant pays respects to His Majesty the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty."

This guy is a Westerner and was one of the first officials to take action during the Jichou Prison Incident in the vassal state of Korea.

The Jichou Prison Incident was a turning point in the factional struggles in the vassal state of Korea. The Westerners used the case of treason to implicate the Easterners, causing internal divisions among the Easterners, thus winning the factional struggles and gaining control of the court power of the vassal state of Korea.

It now seems that at least some of the Westerners should be pro-Japanese, otherwise, the vassal state of Korea would not behave so strangely.

This guy should be helping the Japanese pirates to investigate the situation.

Wanli had done a lot of preparations for this war. Many of his secret guards had already gone to Korea, a vassal state, under various pretexts.
Moreover, the secret guards had already begun to secretly learn the dialect of the vassal state of Korea and Japanese. The secret guards sent this time can speak the dialect of the vassal state of Korea, so he already knows the general situation there.

He nodded slightly, then raised his hand slightly and said, "No need to be polite, please stand up."

Han Yingyin hurriedly said respectfully, "Thank you, Your Majesty."

After saying that, he carefully got up.

Wanli pretended to be curious and asked, "The prince of the vassal state of Ryukyu said that you want to lure Japanese pirates to attack the Ming Dynasty. What do you think?"

Of course I had already thought about how to say this.

Han Yingyin pretended to be wronged and said, "Your Majesty, the Ryukyu Crown Prince is talking nonsense because he believed the rumors.

The rumor that the Japanese pirates wanted to attack the Ming Dynasty has been around for several years. Our merchants who violated the ban and went to Japan to do business also brought back such rumors, but the Japanese pirates have not made any moves yet, which proves that the rumor is false.

Besides, we can't possibly invite the Japanese pirates to attack the Ming Dynasty. We were often robbed by them. During the Jiajing period, they also burned, killed, looted, and committed all kinds of atrocities in our area. We are enemies of the Japanese pirates, so how could we possibly invite them to attack the Ming Dynasty?"

Do you still care about national hatred and family feuds when it comes to interests?

Don't think that I don't know about the maritime merchants from your side who violate the ban and do business with Japan. You are just like the Zhejiang Party, training maritime merchants to pretend to be pirates and do business with the Japanese pirates.

And the enemies too.

You think I'm easy to fool, right?

Fine, I'll just pretend you've fooled me.

Wanli pretended to be skeptical and asked, "Really?"

Han Yingyin nodded repeatedly and said, "It is absolutely true. How dare I deceive His Majesty the Emperor?"

Wanli nodded slightly, then said solemnly: "It's good that you didn't collude with the Japanese pirates. Go back and tell your king that the Japanese pirates in Japan are ambitious and must be guarded against. You must quickly prepare your army for war, and be careful if the Japanese pirates really attack."

Why should we prepare for war? Wouldn't it be better to let the Japanese pirates kill all those Easterners and nobles?
The key is whether you have prepared your troops for war.

Han Yingyin nodded repeatedly, then pretended to be worried and said, "Our King said that if the Japanese pirates really attack us, we may not be able to hold our ground. At that time, we will have to ask the Ming Dynasty to send troops to support us."

Are you testing me?

Okay, I'll let you take the fake news back.

Wanli pretended to shake his head and sighed, "I have no soldiers now, all my troops have been sent out.

You know the Tumed tribe, the northern barbarian who attacked the capital of the Ming Dynasty during the Jiajing period. In order to take revenge, I have sent most of my troops to conquer the Tumed tribe.

This time, I must destroy the Tumed tribe. I don’t know how long this battle will last.

The Tuman and Jurchen tribes are also ready to make moves, so I have to send troops to guard against them.

I really can't send any troops to support you now, so you should recruit more troops to defend yourself."

That would be great!
Han Yingyin was secretly delighted when he heard this, but on the surface, he pretended to be solemn and bowed, saying: "Your Majesty, I understand. I will convey the emperor's instructions in detail." Are you conveying it to the Japanese pirates?

Not long after the envoys from the vassal state of Korea returned, Yu Zigao and Li Yuansheng came back.

It was already September by then, and as the autumn wind started to blow, they hurried back to report the news.

It was still about 5 p.m. that afternoon, and the sun had already set when the two guys sneaked into the palace again to ask for an audience.

After Wanli led the two to the imperial study, he couldn't help but ask, "How is the situation in Japan?"

Li Yuansheng quickly pulled out a note, bowed, and handed it over. He then explained in detail, "Your Majesty, Toyotomi Hideyoshi has issued a call for troops. The troops of the various lords of Kyushu have begun to gather north, and the armies of the various lords of Shikoku have also crossed the sea to Kyushu. This is the call for troops that I copied from the Daimyo of Hizen Province."

This guy is really capable. He was able to copy the conscription order and even translate it.

The gist of it was that Regent Toyotomi Hideyoshi ordered the daimyo territories of the coastal countries to prepare two large ships for every 100,000 koku, and that each seaport provide ten sailors for every 100 households, and the necessary construction costs would be allocated by Toyotomi Hideyoshi.

The generals of each vassal state submitted the required construction costs in the form of a budget, and half of the funds were allocated first. The remaining funds would be paid after the ship was completed. Each sailor would be given a salary of two people, and his wife's food would be provided separately.

All ship sailors must gather at the ports of Settsu, Harima and Izumi in the spring of the 20th year of Tensho, which was the 20th year of Wanli.

This is the navy. As for the army, the daimyo of each country sent troops according to the number of stones in their territory, and the number of people to be recruited per ten thousand stones was different in different places.

Among them, Shikoku and Kyushu provided 600 soldiers for every 10,000 shi of premium, the western part of Honshu provided 500 soldiers for every 10,000 shi of premium, and the capital area provided 400 soldiers for every 10,000 shi of premium.

Suruga, Totomi, Mikawa, Izu, Wakasa, Echizen, Kaga, and Noto sent 300 soldiers for every 10,000 koku of salary; Owari, Mino, Ise, and Omi sent 350 soldiers for every 10,000 koku of salary; Echigo and Dewa sent 200 soldiers for every 10,000 koku of salary.

This shigao is also a unit of measurement for grain. One shigao seems to be a little higher than one shi in the Ming Dynasty. However, it is difficult to calculate how much higher it is.

Wanli simply asked, "Yuansheng, do you know how many shigao there are in Japan now?"

How do you say this?

Li Yuansheng said carefully, "I've heard many rumors. Some say 18 million, some say 20 million, and some say 24 million. I estimate it's around 20 million."

so much?
Even if we calculate based on an average of 300 soldiers for every 10,000 dan of grain, that would still be 600,000 troops.

Is Toyotomi Hideyoshi even crazier now than in history?
How many troops can they send now?
Now the nine border towns do not have enough troops. It would be a great achievement if each border town could mobilize 10,000 or 20,000 troops.

He can mobilize a maximum of 100,000 border troops.

The Beijing Camp must leave at least 120,000 troops to guard the capital, and it would be considered good if 240,000 troops could be dispatched.

The navy can only send out 200,000 troops at most.

In addition, it would be good if Qin Liangyu could mobilize 50,000 to 60,000 Sichuan Army soldiers. After all, they still had to leave some troops behind to intimidate the local chieftains.

By this calculation, the number of troops they can mobilize is about 600,000.

If they only fought against the Japanese pirates in their vassal state of Korea, it would not be a problem for them to defeat the Japanese pirates.

The problem is that he wants to take advantage of the situation to destroy Japan, but this amount of troops is not enough at all.

No, we have to find a way to mobilize as many people as possible.

Now they actually don’t lack cavalry or chariots, what they lack is infantry.

The kind of mountain warfare troops under Qin Liangyu's command are what they lack most.

Wanli thought about it carefully, then said decisively: "Kemai, order your personal guards to convey my oral order, and have General Qin Liangyu, the Eastern Defense General, quickly recruit the chieftains' soldiers and recruit at least 200,000 of them for me."

In history, the southwestern provinces, namely the present-day Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan provinces, mobilized 240,000 troops to suppress the rebellion of Yang Yinglong in Bozhou.

At this moment, nearly 100,000 troops under Yang Yinglong have surrendered, so it should be no problem to gather 200,000.

Yu Zigao quickly bowed and said, "I understand."

Wanli asked again: "Yuansheng, how much gold and silver did you bring back this time?"

Li Yuansheng said with some embarrassment: "There is not much money in Japan. This time I only brought back a little over three million taels.

However, I also copied a Japanese-language conscription order for Shen Weijing to read. After reading it, he should know that Japan is truly preparing for war, and it is normal that he does not have the money to pay for the goods. Therefore, there is no need to give him the money.

Okay, more than three million taels are enough for a year's food and wages for 100,000 troops.

Next year, when the Spanish get their huge sum of money back, we can expand the border troops.

This time, no matter how many difficulties and obstacles there are, I will destroy Japan!

(End of this chapter)