Chapter 153: Destruction of the nation and the race, bestowal of a name, Yingzhou Prefecture, population trade?
After Yan Song finished speaking, Gao Gong, Zhang Juzheng and Zhao Zhenji on the shuttle deck fell silent.
They all had gloomy faces, not knowing what to say. They could only look at Xu Jie, who had his head lowered, and Prince Yu, who was standing next to Jiajing and listening respectfully with his head bowed, hoping that they could say something.
However, Xu Jie did not move at all, and Prince Yu was even less willing to say anything.
Ever since Hai Rui made things clear last time, the relationship between the two kings and the Qingliu and Yan party members under his command has become a purely cooperative one. A rift has already appeared, so how can it be healed?
Even though Prince Yu still had a superficial master-disciple relationship with Zhang Juzheng and others, in the end, his own interests were more important.
At this time, no matter how to deal with a small country like Japan, the Ming Dynasty will benefit in the end, and the responsibility will be that the Yan Party will be scolded for being cruel and ruthless and unfilial.
Bearing the infamy of destroying a country and genocide.
Either the Qingliu faction wins and maintains their so-called dignity of the Immortal Dynasty, which will not affect the Second Prince anyway. Prince Yu will naturally not say anything and let them fight.
At this time, the two kings saw it very clearly. They no longer regarded the people around them as their only confidants.
Instead, he began to win over other members of the six ministries in the court.
"Lord Yan has finished speaking," Jiajing showed no emotion after listening to Yan Song's words. Instead, he looked at Xu Jie calmly and said, "Lord Xu, tell me what you think."
"I think what Lord Yan said is absolutely right!" Xu Jie bowed.
"Swish, swish, swish." Almost as soon as Xu Jie finished speaking, Zhang Juzheng, Gao Gong and Zhao Zhenji all looked at him in unison, all with surprise in their eyes.
One must know that ever since Prince Yu decided to compete with Prince Jing for the crown prince position, and after going through so many things, at this point, Xu Jie, the second assistant of the cabinet, can be said to be not afraid of Yan Song at all.
Naturally, there is no need to acquiesce to various policy proposals of Yan Song, the chief minister of the cabinet, as was done in the past.
But now, Yan Song put forward this proposal which was obviously different from the governing philosophy of all the upright scholars and officials, but Lord Xu actually chose to give in and agreed to Yan Song's proposal. Why?
Could it be that Lord Xu also hopes to destroy Japan's nation and genocide?
Hearing Xu Jie's agreement, Yan Song's face showed no surprise at all. What Xu Jie cared about was never his opinion, but the emperor's opinion. It was obvious that the emperor had already made a decision.
And this decision is to agree with Yan Shifan's idea.
What the emperor wanted, of course, was an order jointly determined and executed by the cabinet, the Qingliu Party and the Yan Party.
Such an order that is against the harmony of heaven naturally cannot be issued by the emperor, it can only be decided by the cabinet.
Xu Jie understood what the emperor wanted, so he made a wise choice.
"It seems that both of you agree with Yan Shifan's decision," Jiajing said, raising his finger slightly, "It's too early to discuss this now, and this is a serious matter, so I have to think about it too."
"After that, the cabinet will come up with a decision and then go to Yuxi Palace to discuss politics again and come up with a better solution."
"After all, no matter what, ordinary Japanese people are innocent and must be properly handled."
Hearing Jiajing's words, everyone in the cabinet bowed and said, "Your Majesty is merciful and the Emperor is virtuous!"
"Okay," Jiajing waved his hand and said, "Let's talk about the management of Japan and the naming."
"Since this will be the territory of the Ming Dynasty, we can no longer use the name Japan. We need to change the name."
"Your Majesty, I do have a suitable name." At this time, Zhang Juzheng, who had just suppressed his emotion from arguing with Yan Shifan, spoke.
Hearing this, Jiajing did not say anything, but just used his eyes to signal him to speak.
“In ancient times, Japan was called Dongying.
Ying refers to islands or vast oceans, which fits Japan’s location on the sea.
"In addition, the word 'Eastern Japan' also implies the imagination and yearning for the mysterious mountains in the eastern seas." At this point, Zhang Juzheng smiled and said, "It is said that there are three sacred mountains in the sea, namely Penglai, Yingzhou and Fangzhang, where immortals live."
"Soon after, our Ming Dynasty was established. If we regard the territory of an overseas country as the territory of our dynasty, we will name it Ying!"
"Why not give it the name Yingzhou Prefecture?" Zhang Juzheng looked at the others and asked, "What do you think?"
After everyone lowered their heads and thought secretly, they all nodded. Yingzhou Prefecture was indeed a possibility.
"Is it inappropriate to name a prefecture for a country's territory?" At this time, Gao Gong frowned slightly and said, "How about Yingzhou Province? Change the continent to state and the prefecture to province."
"And this Japanese island is about the size of some provinces in our Ming Dynasty."
"Your Highness Su is wrong," Zhang Juzheng shook his head slightly and explained, "Although Japan is as big as some of our provinces, it is ultimately independent of our Ming Dynasty."
"And it's on the sea, with a sea in between. If we divide it into a 'prefecture' under the Nanzhili, we can strengthen the connection with the Ming Dynasty and deepen the management."
“This move is also to strengthen the sense of belonging.”
"After all, in the future, civilians or military households will definitely be sent to the island, and they will probably stay there for the rest of their lives. If they are too independent, it will be detrimental to unity..."
"As for the other prefectures within the territory, they can be renamed as counties." After listening to Zhang Juzheng's words, Gao Gong pondered for a moment, shook his head slightly, and said, "In this case, I have no objection."
Gao Gong had no objection, and Zhao Zhenji naturally didn't bother to waste words on such matters, so he directly expressed his secondment.
Yan Shifan rarely refuted. It was just a name, and he didn't care about these things. What he cared about at this moment was how to divide the Japanese island in the future and how to open the spiritual field.
"Then let's call it Yingzhou Prefecture, and include it in Nanzhili." Jiajing waved his hand and officially decided to name Japan Yingzhou Prefecture.
(Note: The following text will refer to it as 'Yingzhou Prefecture'.)
"After that, regarding the appointment of officials in Yingzhou Prefecture," Jiajing raised his finger slightly, "this year's spring examination, as well as candidates from various places, can all be arranged."
"These people must be reliable. After the island is cleaned up, I will bestow spiritual energy upon them. From now on, the entire island will become the spiritual field of our Ming Dynasty, dedicated to the cultivation of spiritual resources."
"Yes!" Everyone bowed.
Next, Jiajing took everyone and flew the shuttle over Yingzhou Prefecture for four or five days, and only returned after the army led by Hu Zongxian and Tang Shunzhi began to wipe out the Japanese families.
The next day, news of victory in the overseas war began to spread from the southeast to the entire Ming Dynasty at the fastest speed.
At the same time, it was also known to the world that the Japanese had been invading the southeastern coast of the Ming Dynasty for many years, burning, killing, looting, and betraying the Ming Dynasty several times and committing countless crimes.
For a time, the people of the Ming Dynasty were excited. Their anger towards the Japanese reached an unprecedented level, but they were more happy about the victory of the Ming Dynasty in the national war.
However, as the good news came and time passed, the cabinet's handling of the original Japanese in Yingzhou Prefecture also caused an uproar. It can be said that there was a lot of discussion inside and outside the court.
The twenty-eighth day of the first lunar month in the forty-fourth year of the Jiajing reign.
A month had passed since the national war, and Tang Shunzhi and Hu Zongxian's armies had completely occupied Yingzhou Island.
However, the court's way of dealing with the Japanese made Hai Rui, Tang Shunzhi, Hu Zongxian and others slightly dissatisfied.
I just feel that this move is too against the harmony of nature!
"Brother Gangfeng, what do you think about this matter?" Wang Yongji asked Hai Rui, who was squatting in front of the stove and cooking spiritual porridge, in the backyard of the prefectural government office in Ningbo Prefecture.
"The destruction of a country and the extinction of a race is against the harmony of nature." Hai Rui fanned the fire and said lightly.
"Indeed," Wang Yongji shook his head. "All soldiers and their families were executed. Although this is cruel, it is understandable. However, all those old people were driven to other islands and left to fend for themselves. As for the women, children and young and strong people..."
Wang Yongji lowered his voice and said, "The cabinet actually proposed to use one year to let the young people reclaim all the usable land in Yingzhou Prefecture and use it as spiritual fields."
"After that, they sold all the women, children, and young people to Portuguese merchants..." Wang Yongji was a little embarrassed to speak, and said, "I heard that Portuguese merchants traded slaves overseas, and they seemed to be black people."
"Kunlun slaves." Hai Rui held a burning matchstick and sighed, "I heard that the great general Li Jing of the Tang Dynasty had Kunlun slaves. Their skin was as black as ink and their body shape was no different from that of ordinary people."
"Recently, with the lifting of the maritime ban in our country, some merchants from Portugal and the Netherlands have been asking for slaves at the port."
"Yes, there are merchant ships carrying slaves at the port of Dinghai County. I saw them and they are exactly the same as the Kunlun slaves recorded in history books!" Wang Yongji also nodded. "These things, except for their color, are no different from ordinary people. Everything else is exactly like real people..."
"Before, our dynasty had a maritime ban, prohibiting private transactions. Now that the maritime ban has been lifted, all kinds of goods are no longer fortified."
"I heard that these Kunlun slaves are very cheap, and most importantly, they are tall and strong, and have great endurance."
"Plus, Yingzhou Prefecture needs to reclaim wasteland, and these Kunlun slaves are much easier to use than those Japanese."
"So, the Yan Party demanded that the slave trade be opened up. Of course, unlike the slave policy of our Ming Dynasty, the trade of foreign races was sold as commodities and used for labor."
"Now the government and the public are very dissatisfied with the Yan Party's actions to destroy the country and exterminate the race. They also feel that the behavior of not treating people as human beings is against the harmony of heaven. There are many impeachment memorials in the six ministries..."
"Any other news?" Hai Rui looked at Wang Yongji.
He was squeezed out of the high-level circle in the capital, so Hai Rui could only learn inside information about the cabinet from Wang Yongji.
"The Yan Party plans to open a port specifically for human trafficking around Yingzhou Prefecture, on Longlin Island and Xiangyun Island."
"In the beginning, we used young Japanese people, women and children for exchange. I heard that the nobles of overseas countries are very interested in these delicate women..."
"So, the young minister intends to exchange people for others."
"If there is a huge demand overseas, we can even use an island to raise them and sell them as commodities..."
"This is not only against the harmony of nature, it is simply inhumane!"
"..."
(End of this chapter)
