The situation in Ryukyu was quite complex.
By all logic, since the Satsuma domain had been able to capture the Ryukyuan royal family and take them to Wa, it meant Satsuma had the power to completely destroy Ryukyu.
However, the final outcome was that Satsuma forced the Ryukyuan royal family to pay tribute and pledge allegiance to Satsuma, without directly destroying Ryukyu.
It’s unlikely anyone would believe that Satsuma suddenly had a change of heart.
Therefore, to understand why Satsuma did not directly destroy Ryukyu, one must consider the situation at that time between the Satsuma domain, Ryukyu, and Great Ming.
Satsuma was undoubtedly a powerful domain within Wa, but to Great Ming, Satsuma was, at best, just Satsuma, still far from being a fierce guardian of the Tibetan mastiff.
What happened to Toyotomi Hideyoshi?
Did Satsuma dare to completely provoke Great Ming?
Moreover, Satsuma’s interest in Ryukyu was for its maritime trade. At that time, the Tokugawa Shogunate in Wa was implementing a policy of national seclusion. If Satsuma directly destroyed Ryukyu, it might have angered the Tokugawa Shogunate while taking over Ryukyu’s maritime trade profits.
Furthermore, more than eighty or ninety percent of Ryukyu’s maritime trade profits came from Great Ming. If Satsuma completely annihilated Ryukyu, what benefits would Satsuma gain?
Thus, Satsuma, not yet having learned to act like a human, dared not destroy Ryukyu.
Now, Kyushu Island, where Satsuma was originally located, also belonged to Great Ming. Since Kyushu Island already belonged to Great Ming, Ryukyu’s position in maritime trade would naturally be affected.
This was also an important reason why Shang Hao was in such a hurry to send people to request annexation.
For Great Ming, Kyushu and Ryukyu were like the palm and the back of the hand; where was the flesh not?
What was even more troublesome was that accepting Ryukyu’s annexation would require relocating some of its people to ensure the population advantage of Great Ming’s citizens. This would mean sending a group of officials there and stationing some troops.
So, the question arose:
Where were the people?
Many areas in mainland Great Ming were still sparsely populated. For the sake of the population growth rate in official achievements, countless officials were tearing their hair out. Where could they find so many people to migrate to Ryukyu and Kyushu?
Although people were similar to leeks, always growing in batches, how long did it take for a batch of leeks to grow? How long did it take for a batch of people to grow?
Thinking about Lanfang also about to be annexed, Great Ming also did not have enough population to migrate…
Zhu Jinsong’s head ached so much he wanted to pull his hair out.
Then, adhering to the principle that if he lost his hair, no one else would have a good time, Zhu Jinsong directly threw all these complicated problems to the bigwigs in the imperial court.
Then, the bigwigs in the Great Ming court started losing their hair together.
Especially Zeng Cheng, after receiving the intelligence sent by Zhu Jinsong, he directly cursed in the Grand Secretariat, “What can this old minister do? Can this old minister conjure people out of thin air?”
“Myanmar, Siam, Jiaozhi, Linyi (Laos and Cambodia, etc.), the grasslands, Liaodong, Us-Tsang, Duokangsi, the Koreans, Kyushu Island, plus Ryukyu, this would require relocating tens of millions of people?”
Liu Huaiwen also wore a grim expression.
Relocating tens of millions of people?
Even if each family was given only ten taels of silver as resettlement allowance, that would be tens of millions of taels of silver!
Damn it, how depleted was the treasury of Great Ming? Where could they conjure tens of millions of taels of silver?
Of course, while he felt sorry for the treasury, it was absolutely impossible for Liu Huaiwen to abandon so much territory. Only with larger territories could the income of the Great Ming treasury increase.
For example, cattle and sheep on the grasslands were not very valuable, but they were quite valuable when transported to the Central Plains. For example, tea from Fujian and Zhejiang was not valuable locally, but it was more valuable when transported to the grasslands than to other places.
This was the benefit of having larger territories; not only could they complement each other, but they could also increase the treasury’s income.
Therefore, abandoning so much territory was impossible. Liu Huaiwen was stingy, but not foolish.
The more he thought about it, the more his head hurt. Liu Huaiwen couldn’t help but sigh, “If only the people of those other barbarians could be fewer.”
Zeng Cheng thought to himself that old Liu was not exactly a good person either—how could the people of other barbarians become fewer? That would mean letting the barbarians fight amongst themselves and kill each other.
However, after a moment’s thought, Zeng Cheng felt that this idea was quite viable.
Take Wa, for example. With so many Daimyo and feudal lords, if the Embroidered Uniform Guard secretly took one of them out and framed another feudal lord or Daimyo, wouldn’t the plan succeed?
And not just Wa could be handled this way.
If all of Europe were considered a single country…
Thinking of this, Zeng Cheng couldn’t help but wipe the cold sweat from his forehead and said to Liu Huaiwen, “It’s better to put away such thoughts, as it’s rather immoral. If the Emperor were to hear it and send someone to do it, wouldn’t that be our sin?”
Liu Huaiwen looked at Zeng Cheng, completely bewildered, and asked, “What thoughts?”
Being asked by Liu Huaiwen, Zeng Cheng was also bewildered, “No, didn’t you say you wanted fewer barbarians from other countries? Besides sending people to secretly instigate them to fight and die, do you have any better methods?”
This time, it was Liu Huaiwen who started sweating, “I was just saying…”
Liu Huaiwen was indeed just saying it, but Zhu Jinsong was not just thinking about it.
For Zhu Jinsong, as the Emperor of Great Ming, it was natural for him to consider the people of Great Ming. Whether the people of other countries were living well or were in dire straits had little to do with Zhu Jinsong, the Emperor of Great Ming.
As for conscience…
Zhu Jinsong really wanted to inquire about the price of conscience per catty. Could one catty of conscience make the people of Great Ming earn an extra tael of silver or harvest an extra catty of grain?
In other words, was there any fundamental difference between selling cannons and firearms to Europe and directly instigating wars in Europe for people to die?
Of course, directly selling firearms and cannons was called business, while directly instigating wars in Europe seemed too low-level, not high-end, sophisticated, or in keeping with Zhu Jinsong’s status as the Emperor of Great Ming.
As the Emperor of Great Ming, even if he played tricks, he had to do it cleverly.
Therefore, Zhu Jinsong, while Zeng Cheng and other bigwigs were away, directly asked Zhang Dequan, “What about the matters I asked you to prepare?”
Zhang Dequan bowed and replied, “Reporting to Your Majesty, everything is ready. The transactions were handled entirely by personnel from the Eastern Depot and the Embroidered Uniform Guard. The cottonseed oil and cottonseed cake can be exported to Europe and the傻贼鹰 (silly thief eagle – likely America) at any time, without a single bit flowing into Great Ming.”
At this point, even Zhang Dequan, who had been lurking by Qianlong’s side for more than ten years and possessed an iron-like disposition, couldn’t help but feel a chill.
It was truly too poisonous.
Cottonseed had a very high oil yield and could be priced very low, and its taste was passable. The only problem was that after continuously consuming cottonseed oil for several months, both men and women would have difficulty conceiving. If they consumed it continuously for one or two years, the impact would be even greater.
As for cottonseed cake, the residue left after pressing oil from cottonseed, whether fed to chickens, cattle, or pigs, once eggs, chicken meat, beef, or pork were consumed, it would have similar consequences to consuming cottonseed oil. In any case, it would be very difficult to conceive.
Of course, discussing toxicity without mentioning dosage was entirely nonsense.
For things like cottonseed oil and cottonseed cake, consuming them in small amounts would not show any harm for a while, or even for three, five, ten, or eight years. Only by consuming large quantities could the harm possibly manifest.
As long as cottonseed oil and cottonseed cake were sold at a slightly higher price, those barbarians would definitely be reluctant to consume them in large quantities, and thus the harm would be difficult to manifest.
To put it bluntly, exporting cottonseed oil and cottonseed cake to Europe was aimed at eradicating their lineage!
However, Zhu Jinsong merely nodded faintly, his expression unchanged, and ordered, “Then prepare for it. Anyway, those barbarian kings and the like will soon be arriving in Great Ming. At that time, I will personally take them around to broaden their horizons.”
…
As soon as Louis XVI disembarked, he greedily breathed in the air of Great Ming, and even couldn’t help but say to Pierre, who came to greet him, “God bless, I don’t have to endure the sickening smell in the air of Paris anymore, nor the fishy smell of the ocean!”
Pierre nodded with a similar feeling, echoing, “Indeed, the air above Paris is always filled with the smell of shit and urine. In contrast, in Great Ming, whether you are in the woods, you can smell the trees, or by the river, you can smell the mixed scent of water, trees, and flowers.”
“God can bear witness, the air of Great Ming is so fresh and sweet, and there’s never any need to worry about smelling the disgusting smell of urine and excrement like in Paris.”
Louis XVI’s face was full of joy, and he reprimanded, “Alright, shut your mouth. You know how envious I am that you can stay in Great Ming for an extended period. If you continue to talk like this, I don’t mind transferring you back to France.”
After Pierre sheepishly admitted his mistake, Louis XVI turned serious again and asked, “By the way, did the Ming Emperor invite the monarchs of all European countries to Great Ming solely for that so-called pot and the little ball game?”
Pierre looked around and nodded, saying, “According to the information I’ve gathered, the Ming Emperor clearly hasn’t invited them solely for the pot and the little ball game.”
Louis XVI’s expression tightened, and he moved closer to Pierre, whispering, “What’s going on?”
Pierre said, “It seems to be about the matter of the Lanfang country.”
“As you know, those Dutch barbarians claim to be the horsemen of the sea, and they have been eyeing the Lanfang country. The people of Lanfang were once commoners of the Great Qing, and now they are commoners of Great Ming, and they are closer to Great Ming.”
“The current problem is that the Grand Governor of Lanfang is willing to give up all his power, only demanding that Lanfang country become a province of Great Ming, while those horsemen of the sea will certainly not agree.”
Louis XVI nodded and said, “That’s fine. As I said before, Europe belongs to France, and the Far East belongs to Great Ming. Naturally, France must stand with Great Ming.”
“As for those horsemen who pull carriages on the sea… who cares? Perhaps even the rose beefs might not care about them, and might even take the opportunity to cause some trouble for those horsemen.”
Pierre nodded and said, “I think so too.”
Louis XVI then continued to ask, “Besides this, is there any other news?”
Pierre shook his head and said, “There’s nothing else, just news about Great Ming winning some battles again and recovering so many lost territories, such news often appears in Great Ming’s newspapers. I guess you’ve already seen them.”
Louis XVI hummed in agreement, “Indeed, I always see these enviable news in Great Ming’s newspapers. I truly hope the French army can be as formidable as the Ming army.”
Pierre’s heart moved, and he said, “This is not impossible—you know, we once sent a group of students to Great Ming, and among these students, a few performed much better than the others.”
“The Prime Minister of Great Ming told me that after these students graduate, they will have the opportunity to be recommended to serve in the Great Ming army and learn Great Ming’s military knowledge.”