Chapter 825

“Your Majesty, Yun Changfeng has led a division to garrison Ryukyo City, and the King of Goryeo’s state letter has also arrived.”

In the imperial study, Qian Dafu held the Goryeo state letter with both hands. It had just been sent back from Goryeo by a courier.

Over ten days had passed since he last met the Goryeo prince and Hwang Ja-man in the Zhengda Guangming Hall. Now, he finally received the King of Goryeo’s reply.

“This King of Goryeo isn’t completely foolish.” Xiao Ming rose and looked out the window. From June to July, more than half of the year had already passed.

Overall, he was still very satisfied with the achievements made this year. Firstly, he had captured the six cities of Guandong from the barbarians. This strategy completely turned the Golden Tent Khanate into a nomadic people, making them unable to directly confront the Great Yu Empire anymore.

His next achievement was Goryeo. Losing the protection of the Golden Tent Khanate, Goryeo finally returned to its normal historical trajectory, once again becoming a vassal of the Great Yu Empire.

“Indeed. If he had been unreasonable, Your Majesty would probably have killed him,” Qian Dafu said with a smile. At the court assembly that day, he felt that Xiao Ming had harbored murderous intent towards the King of Goryeo.

“Precisely. I will not allow an unreasonable King of Goryeo to exist, because this would affect the Great Yu Empire’s control over Goryeo.”

Qian Dafu nodded. “But even though Goryeo has been recovered, Japan has become a serious concern for the Great Yu Empire. And compared to Goryeo, Japan is even more difficult to deal with, isn’t it?”

Hearing this, Xiao Ming smiled. “Japan’s firearms are indeed superior to Goryeo’s and the Golden Tent Khanate’s, but compared to my Great Yu Empire, there is still a considerable gap. The only trouble is that this Yamada Nobunaga is quite cunning. He has made the Japanese daimyo and common people very fanatical, somewhat like fanaticism.”

“Fanaticism? What is that?” Qian Dafu found it a bit difficult to understand.

Xiao Ming pondered for a moment. This statement was not without purpose; it was derived from an analysis of secret guard intelligence.

Because of the existence of the technology crystal, he had also been studying the characteristics of Japan as a nation. Overall, Japan had some good traits, such as diligence, obedience, and loyalty, but its flaws were also very obvious: they were inherently strong-willed, had a narrow island mentality, were prone to extremism, were very cruel to other peoples, and lacked compassion.

Coupled with the presence of the Bushido spirit, deeply ingrained in the souls of the Japanese islanders, this nation could easily be turned into a fanatical, brigand nation by the incitement of politicians.

Whether it was Toyotomi Hideyoshi during the Wanli era or the invasion during World War II, it was all like this.

And in this era, the one leading Japan towards extremism was Yamada Nobunaga. According to the Great Yu Empire’s records on Japan, the Bushido spirit in this timeline showed many characteristics. Japanese samurai were arrogant yet also self-abasing. This self-abasement made them outwardly focus on etiquette, but inwardly they were barbaric and cruel. They enjoyed bullying the weak, while showing astonishing submission to the strong.

This was the Japan he understood: a peculiar country that, if you rubbed its face in the dirt, would call you “father.”

Therefore, in Xiao Ming’s view, the Great Yu Empire would always be underestimated by Japan until it beat Japan until it cried, even if Japan knew the Great Yu Empire might be growing stronger.

After all, Japan’s inherent flaw was self-deception; it wouldn’t cry until it saw the coffin.

In contemporary World War II, Japan dared to directly confront America, which also showed how thick-skinned this country was.

“It means ‘excessive militarism’,” Xiao Ming said calmly.

Qian Dafu looked enlightened. “Excessive militarism also requires some capability. If one has no capability, isn’t that just asking for trouble?”

“That’s right. This Yamada Nobunaga is indeed asking for trouble,” Xiao Ming chuckled.

As the two were chatting and laughing, a small eunuch arrived outside the imperial study and loudly announced, “Your Majesty, Secret Guard Commander Li San requests an audience outside the palace.”

“Let him in.” Xiao Ming raised his eyebrows. Li San was primarily responsible for intelligence gathering within the Great Yu Empire.

Both Wang Xuan and Li San would personally come to report to him if they had important intelligence.

Soon, Li San arrived outside the imperial study.

The current Li San was a bit plump. Since marrying Liuli, Li San’s life had been quite comfortable.

Upon entering the imperial study, Li San bowed and said solemnly, “Your Majesty, your humble servant discovered some abnormalities with the Cao Family Bank, so I immediately came to the palace to report to Your Majesty.”

“The Cao family?” Xiao Ming frowned.

Li San continued, “Yes, Your Majesty. Your Majesty has been ‘letting the tiger run to catch it,’ just waiting for the Cao family to make a mistake. I didn’t expect it to confirm Your Majesty’s suspicions so soon.”

Xiao Ming was not surprised. In this era, many officials and merchants would judge him with the mindset of this era, unaware that Xiao Ming’s foresight was many levels higher than theirs.

Often, with just a small move from them, Xiao Ming understood what they intended to do.

Especially merchants. They couldn’t see Xiao Ming’s supervisory hand and mistakenly believed that the imperial court was indifferent to their commercial activities, which was a grave error.

“What exactly is going on?” Xiao Ming asked.

“According to intelligence obtained by the secret guards, a considerable amount of silver was openly transported out of the Cao Family Bank today. According to the bank, it was for transferring funds to other banks,” Li San said.

After a pause, he continued, “And at the same time, Cao Zhengyang is selling off assets within Youzhou and Qingzhou Province, under the pretext of family business losses.”

“So that’s it.” Xiao Ming narrowed his eyes. To an outsider, these actions of the Cao family would seem perfectly normal, as the circulation of silver was a very common matter.

But in the eyes of Xiao Ming and the secret guards, it was different. Their actions were highly suspicious. However, Xiao Ming dared not make a snap decision. If this was just a normal matter, his rashly removing Cao Zhengyang might cause merchants to criticize him, leading more merchants to support the Prince of Chu, who was now desperately trying to Westernize.

“In that case, do not alert them for now. You are to send men to monitor the merchant ships transporting silver. Once the merchant ships attempt to reach the State of Chu, you immediately have the Jinling Province garrison seize them. At the same time, you are to immediately have the secret guards investigate all of the Cao Family Banks in the north. If similar activities are found, then immediately seal the Cao Family Banks with the security bureau,” Xiao Ming said.

“Yes, Your Majesty,” Li San nodded heavily.

After reporting this, Li San turned and left. At this point, Xiao Ming rubbed his temples. In truth, he had already anticipated this day, but he was still displeased when it actually happened.

Because the Cao family’s actions proved one thing to him: once merchants gained enough money, they would certainly seek every opportunity to demand power.

Rising and looking out the window, Xiao Ming’s mind formulated a plan. He said, “Qian Dafu, what do you think about holding regular court assemblies for merchants?”

Qian Dafu looked bewildered. He said in shock, “Is Your Majesty preparing to compromise with merchants?”