Bringing the Railway to Daming

Chapter 247: Changing Rice to Mulberry and Getting Rich Together! Northern Dynasty Accident [Please Subscribe]

Lou Kui said, "Without our interference, Ashikaga Yoshimitsu could have unified the north and south of Japan in ten years at most. For the Ashikaga shogunate to unify the north and south is not a question of how long it will take, but it is not necessarily possible."

Zhu Di smiled and said, "It seems that you have great confidence in your Japanese colleagues in the Guangming Guard."

"I have confidence not only in my colleagues, but also in Your Majesty and in our Ming Dynasty. Since Your Majesty does not want Ashikaga Yoshimitsu to unify the north and south of Japan, how can he achieve his wish, even if he is a great man of his time?"

Zhu Di said, "Captain Lou is very good at speaking."

"I am only telling the truth."

As his contact with Lou Kui deepened, Zhu Di couldn't help but sigh that there were really many talented people in the Ming army now. Unfortunately, he couldn't recruit the officers in office at will, and the people in the Jinyiwei and Guangmingwei were even more untouchable.

He did not have any private conversation with Lou Kui, but directly took out a document and asked the guard to pass it to him.

"You should have received an order to assist the king in his work in Japan, right?"

Lou Kui said, "Your Majesty's decree only said to assist His Highness, but did not specify what to do."

"You'll know once you read this document."

Lou Kui opened the document and his eyes lit up after reading one page.

After reading all the content, he couldn't help but exclaim in admiration: "Changing rice to mulberry is indeed a brilliant plan. I wonder which great man in the court came up with this idea."

"Combining this plan with the human trafficking is like cutting flesh with a soft knife. It can continuously weaken Japan's strength without causing the Ming Dynasty to bear too much infamy. It's truly brilliant!"

Zhu Di thought to himself: It was clearly a vicious plot, but in Lou Kui's mouth it became a brilliant plan - this guy really knows how to talk.

He then signaled the guards to take the documents back and said, "This is just for you to know, but don't let anyone else know."

"You will finally understand."

Zhu Di then asked, "How difficult do you think it would be to implement this plan in the Southern and Northern Dynasties?"

Lou Kui said, "The rulers and ministers of the Southern Dynasty now regard our Ming Dynasty as their support, and treat Ming Dynasty merchants who come to the Nine Provinces and the Four Kingdoms to do business with great courtesy."

"Last year, merchants seeking women from the Ezo, Kuwu, and Binghuo Islands approached the daimyo of the Southern Dynasty of Japan, who readily agreed and brought in many young Japanese women to sell."

"This clearly shows that the Southern Dynasty of Japan not only wants to curry favor with our Ming merchants, but also has no intention of cherishing its own people, treating them like cattle and sheep."

"How could the virtuous rulers and ministers of the Southern Dynasty oppose the policy of replacing rice with mulberry trees? I'm afraid if they understood the benefits this policy would bring them, they would even cry out for our help in implementing it."

Although Zhu Di expected that it would be easier to implement the replacement of rice with mulberry in the Southern Dynasty of Japan, he did not expect Lou Kui to be so exaggerated.

Cry and shout for them to help?
Were the rulers and ministers of the Southern Dynasties of Japan really so foolish and greedy?
"What about the Northern Dynasty?" Zhu Di asked again.

Lou Kui's smile faded, and he even frowned. "The situation in the Northern Dynasty is probably the opposite—Ashikaga Yoshimitsu will definitely see through the disadvantages of switching from rice to mulberry trees for Japan. Furthermore, he is already wary of the Ming Dynasty, so I'm afraid he will obstruct it."

Zhu Di asked, "Didn't you say that several daimyo, mainly the Toki and Yamana clans, have yet to accede to the Ashikaga clan? Could the Northern Dynasty start with the Toki clan and other daimyo in their strategy of replacing rice with mulberry trees?"

Lou Kui said, "I think so too."

"Then you will compile the intelligence on the daimyo of the Southern and Northern Dynasties of Japan who are suitable for cooperating with our Ming merchants to implement the 'replacing rice with mulberry' policy and submit it to me."

"I will obey my orders."

···
···
half a month later.

Kyushu, Higo Country.

The current guardian daimyo of Higo Province, Imagawa clan elder Kumamoto Jinji, is warmly entertaining the Ming Dynasty merchant Shen Ji.

After having a good meal and drinking, and enjoying the characteristic dance of Japanese Kabuki, Shen Ji indicated that he had something important to discuss. Kumamoto Jinji immediately asked the Kabuki and their servants to leave.

"Kumamoto clan elder, we have a long history of friendship. I will speak frankly. I came here to trade raw silk with the Imagawa clan."

"Raw silk trading? Buying or selling?" asked Kumamoto Jinji.

"Buy." Shen Ji said, "I want to pre-order all the raw silk within the Imagawa clan's jurisdiction for the next two years!"

Hearing this answer, Kumamoto Jinji couldn't help but be surprised.

Although Japan began raising silkworms and producing raw silk hundreds of years ago, the output has always been small and is only used to weave silk in Japan. It is not that it cannot produce more, but that the Japanese dignitaries all like Chinese silk, so even if Japan produces more silk, it cannot be sold.

As a result, the output of raw silk is naturally not large.

"Why is Mr. Shen going to Japan to buy raw silk? Could it be that next year's raw silk production will not be enough to meet the demand?"

Shen Ji glanced outside the door, then lowered his voice and said, "I'm telling you this because we're good friends. Please don't spread it around."

Kumamoto Jinji quickly patted his chest and promised, "I will never tell anyone else."

Shen Ji said, "The Ming Dynasty will have a huge shortage of raw silk not only next year and the year after, but this shortage will only get bigger and bigger in the future."

"Why?"

"Because someone in the Ming Dynasty has developed a textile machine that can produce dozens of times more silk per day than before." "Although this machine is currently controlled by the imperial court, it will sooner or later leak to the public. In addition, the imperial court has already begun to build large-scale silk textile factories."

"The Ming Dynasty's domestic raw silk supply was originally close to its demand, but with the court now establishing numerous official silk factories, there's bound to be a significant shortage of raw silk. Mulberry trees, however, take more than a year or two to grow, and cultivating silkworms isn't easy either."

"After hearing this news, I thought of going to Japan to buy raw silk. Next year, when there is a shortage of raw silk in China and the price goes up, I will be able to make a fortune!"

"Shen Ji must have insider information from the Ming Dynasty. No wonder he came all the way to Japan to buy raw silk," thought Kumamoto Jinji.

After coming to his senses, he asked, "But next year's raw silk hasn't come out yet. How is Mr. Shen going to buy it?"

Shen Ji said, "I can sign a contract with the Imagawa clan, specifying how much raw silk I will pre-order next year, and the Imagawa clan will be responsible for purchasing it. I'm sure the Kumamoto clan elder can imagine how much profit there is in this, even without me telling him."

Kumamoto Jinji was in charge of making money in the Imagawa clan, so he naturally understood the ins and outs of this.

Shen Ji's purchase price was fixed, so the lower the price Imagawa could push when purchasing raw silk from his subjects, the higher his profit would be. The more raw silk his subjects produced, the more money he would make!

After understanding all this, Kumamoto Jinji immediately bowed and said, "Thank you Mr. Shen for helping my Imagawa family become rich. Come, let me offer a toast to Mr. Shen!"

"Haha, we are friends after all. If I don't help your family, who else can I help?"

The two clinked glasses and their relationship became even warmer.

Shen Ji seemed a little drunk, and said sincerely: "Kumamoto family elder, Shen has a plan that can make the Imagawa family, and even your Kumamoto family, make a lot of money in the next 10 to 20 years!"

"I'm telling you because we have a good relationship and I'm happy today. If it were someone else, I wouldn't tell you."

Hearing that it was a huge profit for 10 to 20 years, Kumamoto's eyes were red and he asked hurriedly, "I wonder what the plan is?"

Shen Ji uttered four words, "Change rice to mulberry!"

Change rice to mulberry?

Kumamoto Jinji chewed over these four words.

Shen Ji, fearing he wouldn't understand or perhaps just trying to show off while drunk, continued, "Which is more expensive, rice or raw silk? It goes without saying, it must be raw silk. Why didn't the Japanese people plant more mulberry trees and raise silkworms in the past? They simply couldn't sell them."

"But now it's different. In the next few decades, there will always be a shortage of raw silk in the Ming Dynasty, and the gap will only get bigger. Japanese raw silk will have no trouble selling it!"

"If that's the case, why bother growing rice? Why not plant mulberry trees sooner rather than later, raise silkworms and spin silk, then sell the raw silk to make money. With the money, you can use a small portion to buy food, and most of the rest will be profit, won't it?"

"You make money, Shen also makes money, and even the Japanese people can make money, everyone is happy!"

Shen Ji's words were so straightforward that Kumamoto Jinji naturally understood them. He was immediately overjoyed and said with a smile, "It is indeed a happy occasion for everyone! Mr. Shen, just wait. I will later present this plan of converting rice to mulberry trees to the master, and we will become rich together!"

"Well said, let's get rich together!"

What Kumamoto didn't know was that similar things were happening in the castles of daimyo families in various areas ruled by the Southern Dynasty, such as Kyushu and Shikoku, during this period.

If he knew this, he would only be more convinced that there would be a shortage of raw silk in Ming Dynasty starting from next year and that the shortage would get bigger and bigger in the future. If this did not happen, why did so many Ming Dynasty merchants come to Japan with treasure notes, silver and even gold to pre-order raw silk?
When the daimyo of the Southern Court camp, including Yamashiro, Chiba, Asayama, Takeda, Kikuchi, Aso, Kutsuna, Tokunoshi, Shijo, Doi, and Kono, learned of this and understood the strategy of "changing rice to mulberry" proposed by their retainers, few of them disagreed.

The trend of luxury and enjoyment is now popular in the Southern Dynasties of Japan, and if you want to enjoy luxury and enjoyment, you must have money.

Therefore, these daimyos in the Southern Dynasties were more active than each other in making money.

Since changing from rice to mulberry trees can make money, there is no reason for them to disagree.

If it weren't for the winter, I'm afraid these Southern Dynasty daimyo would have already sent people to urge their people to "switch rice to mulberry"...
At the same time, the Guangming Guards and the Ming Dynasty merchants who received instructions from the court had to be much more cautious in their actions in the Northern Dynasty.

As planned, they first secretly contacted the Toki and Yamana clans to discuss the trade of raw silk, and offered the good idea of ​​"changing rice to mulberry" for joint wealth.

No one doesn't love money.

Money can not only be used for enjoyment, but also for purchasing armaments and enhancing military strength.

Therefore, the Toki clan and the Yamana clan were initially quite willing to do raw silk business with the Ming Dynasty's maritime merchants.

Who would have thought that in the middle of the twelfth lunar month, something unexpected happened in the Northern Dynasty...
Tsushima Island, Minamimae.

Although Zhu Di was tasked with supervising Japan's "conversion from rice to mulberry" and "immigration", as a prince of the Ming Dynasty, he naturally would not enter Japan, but would stay in Nanmawei and make plans.

Seeing that the plan of "changing rice to mulberry" was being successfully promoted in Japan, he prepared to pick a day to return to the capital to celebrate the New Year - as a prince, it was impossible for him to stay in the border area or overseas to celebrate the New Year unless there was urgent military information.

The most important thing is that he doesn't want to miss watching movies after the New Year.

But just as he chose the date to return to the capital, Lou Kui came to ask for a meeting.

Seeing Lou Kui's anxious expression, Zhu Di realized that something bad had happened.

As expected, Lou Kui hurriedly saluted and said, "Your Highness, Prince of Yan, something terrible has happened. Five important merchants, including Shen Ji, have been captured by the Ashikaga shogunate! Even some of the Guangming Guards were exposed and arrested by the Ashikaga shogunate!"

Upon hearing this, Zhu Di knew that the matter was serious and immediately asked, "What exactly is going on?"

　Second update.

　　Good night~
　　
　　
　
(End of this chapter)