Daming: The system rejected my request for salted fish

"Southwest, Shandong, two places..."

Boom!Boom!Boom!

When Zhu Yuanzhang heard someone mention the matters of the southwest and Shandong again, he raised his hand and knocked hard on the dragon table a few times.

When they quieted down, Zhu Yuanzhang spoke:

"The war in the southwest is a foregone conclusion. What's left is just the end. We will be able to return to the capital in a few months. And Shandong as well."

"They are just a mob of White Lotus Sect members. In less than a month, Lan Yu will be able to wipe out these rebels and restore peace to Shandong."

"As for the remnants of the Yuan and Mongol forces in the north, have you forgotten, my dear ministers, that the firearms of our Ming Dynasty are no longer what they used to be?"

After hearing Zhu Yuanzhang's words, the officials suddenly remembered the firearms that the Academy of Science and Technology had displayed not long ago.

Whether it is the falconet or the rifled flintlock, they are both powerful weapons on the battlefield, and there is no problem in defeating the enemy with a smaller force.

As the officials recalled the power of firearms, Zhu Yuanzhang spoke again.

"I have already ordered the Academy of Science and Technology to expedite the production of large quantities of rifled flintlock rifles to equip our Ming soldiers."

"The 30,000 naval forces that will be sent east to fight against the Japanese pirates will all be equipped with modern firearms. 30,000 men are enough to annihilate an entire nation of Japanese pirates!"

"Also, there's no need to worry about the remnants of the Northern Yuan Dynasty. With the Portuguese cannons in place, the Northern Yuan cavalry won't be able to get close to the Ming Dynasty's border defenses!"

After these words were said, although the officials were speechless, it could be seen from their expressions that they had not given up.

Facts have proved that this is indeed the case.

When the officials saw that all their reasons were rejected, they simply stopped pretending and brought the core issues to the table.

The first person to speak was the Imperial Censor. He took two steps forward and said slowly:

"Your Majesty, I do not know why you insist on conquering the Japanese pirates. In my opinion, this is not worth the trouble."

"The Japanese pirates are just a tiny country with barren land and scarce resources. Otherwise, they wouldn't rob us of our money, food, and supplies like the barbarians outside the Great Wall."

"Even if we take them down with great effort and time, it will only be a waste of money and manpower for the Ming Dynasty, and there will be no benefit at all!"

Zhu Yuanzhang had long known that someone would use interests as an excuse, so it was time to make a decisive move.

"What if I tell you that the Japanese pirates have an inexhaustible mountain of silver?"

"This silver mountain can produce at least 76,000 kilograms of silver per year, which translates to over one million taels of silver per year."

"Oh, yes, there is also a gold mine, but the reserves are not very large, probably only about 8 million taels of gold."

Wei Wu originally said that the maximum output was 38 tons per year, but in fact this was just a conservative estimate.

That was calculated based on the annual output of Iwami Ginzan from the 16th to the 17th century.

In fact, if it were the Ming Dynasty that was mining, especially the current Ming Dynasty, the annual output would probably be many times higher.

The first is the problem of mining. The Japanese pirates' mining is normal, and the manpower for mining must be limited.

And if the Ming Dynasty defeated the Japanese pirates, then according to Wei Wu's plan, all the Japanese pirates would be treated as livestock.

Under such oppressive pressure, it is hard to imagine how fast the raw ore can be mined.

The second problem is tools. The Japanese pirates' methods of smelting metals were too backward, and their tools were in a terrible state.

But in today's Ming Dynasty, even high-carbon steel can be produced, and the efficiency of mining will inevitably be greatly increased.

Next, after the ore is collected, it must be crushed so that the metal can be better refined.

As for the Japanese pirates, they can only rely on manpower, but the Ming Dynasty now even has steam engines.

The grinding efficiency of machinery is incomparable to that of human power, and the means of refining are even more different.

To sum up, Zhu Yuanzhang's estimate of at least 70,000 taels of silver a year was already very conservative.

However, even though he was so conservative, he still scared these ministers.

In an instant, the entire interior of Fengxian Hall seemed to have been paused in time.

Not even the sound of breathing could be heard, and the entire hall was so quiet that you could hear a pin drop.

No matter they were civil officials or military generals, they all froze in place, their eyes as big as copper bells.

Then after a long while, the officials finally came to their senses, and only then could they finally hear breathing.

And as time passed, the breathing became heavier and more rapid.

Especially the Minister of Revenue Zeng Tai, not only did he breathe rapidly, but even his eyes turned red.

At this moment, he even forgot the etiquette between the monarch and his subjects, and excitedly ran to the bottom of the dragon throne and asked loudly.

"Your Majesty, what you said is true! Does the country of the Japanese pirates really have a silver mountain of this size?"

"I am the Son of Heaven. How can I take the words of a king lightly?"

Zhu Yuanzhang responded casually, and then continued to explain:

"When Marquis Changle mentioned this to me, I couldn't believe that such a tiny country could have such wealth."

“So, we sent people to the Japanese pirates and found the exact location of the gold mine and silver mountain based on the clues provided by Changle Hou.”

"Now that the surveyors have returned, you can ask directly if you have any questions."

After saying this, Zhu Yuanzhang waved his hand, and a weathered middle-aged man walked in from outside the hall and saluted Zhu Yuanzhang.

"Your humble servant Zou Changrui pays respects to Your Majesty!"

As soon as Zou Changrui finished his greetings, Zeng Tai ran up to him without waiting for Zhu Yuanzhang to speak.

"Zou Changrui, I want to ask you, are there really gold mines and silver mountains among the Japanese pirates?"

Logically speaking, Zeng Tai's behavior was clearly overstepping his bounds, but Zhu Yuanzhang had no intention of blaming him.

He just sat quietly on the dragon throne, watching the scene unfold with a calm expression.

Seeing that the emperor did not open his mouth to blame, Zou Changrui did not hesitate and immediately answered:

"Reporting to you, sir, this time I went to the Japanese pirates and after careful investigation, I did discover the existence of gold mines and silver mountains."

"The gold mine is quite deep, so we can't determine its reserves yet. However, the silver mountain has an astonishing amount of reserves, which even shocked me."

"You don't even need to deliberately mine it. You can just dig up a piece of stone and extract silver from it."