Chapter 622: Let Joseon Provide the Grain

Liu Xian looked at his own emperor and did not raise the question again. Because he felt there was no need to say anything more — his emperor had already reached such a level of overbearing authority, so what else was there to say?

Since His Majesty already had this idea in mind, he should go and carry it out for His Majesty.

Liu Xian believed that as long as the Joseon people dared to go back on their word, the Great Ming people would make them understand what price they would pay for reneging.

Right now, those men of the Imperial Navy were already howling and ready to start fighting. Anyway, whether they fought the Wa nation or fought Joseon, it was all fighting — so just fight.

Under such circumstances, what else could Liu Xian say?

Liu Xian stepped forward, and with a serious face and a smile, agreed: "Your Majesty speaks truly. Your minister shares the same view."

Wei Chao, standing not far away, glanced at Liu Xian without changing his expression, then silently turned his head back and continued staring straight ahead — all the while complaining endlessly in his heart.

Are you sure that's what you were thinking just now?

Why don't I believe it?

Wei Chao had once thought that eunuchs like himself were the ones most lacking in scruples, the most skilled at flattering and fawning over the emperor. But now, compared with these scholars, he was far behind. Once they did this sort of thing, he was simply no match for them.

Liu Xian didn't even look at Wei Chao, let alone know what this old eunuch was thinking. Anyway, this was what he himself thought, and no matter what others said, it was useless — so there was no need to say anything.

Zhu Youxiao listened to Liu Xian's words and paid them no mind. What his ministers thought didn't matter.

If the heavens want rain and a mother wants to marry, you can manage heaven and earth, but you can't manage what people think.

Regarding this matter, Zhu Youxiao had never thought about how to manage it. As long as they acted according to his own ideas, that was enough. Clearly, in this regard, Liu Xian had more experience.

The two did not wait long before Yi Wang was brought in from outside.

At this moment, this Crown Prince of Joseon had already recovered his usual bearing, having come out of the shock that the exercise had given him.

Yi Wang looked at Zhu Youxiao with a calm expression and said respectfully, "I pay my respects to Your Majesty."

Zhu Youxiao waved his hand lightly and said with a smile, "Rise."

He turned his head to Wei Chao and instructed, "Offer him a seat."

After Yi Wang sat down, Zhu Youxiao said with a grave expression: "The reason I called you over this time is that there is a matter I need to discuss with you — it concerns Great Ming and Joseon jointly attacking the Wa nation."

Hearing these words, Yi Wang also turned serious.

Coming here this time to meet the emperor of Great Ming was in fact precisely to discuss this matter — Yi Wang was well aware of this.

When he had left Joseon, his father the king had already given him instructions on this matter. But Yi Wang was even more aware that his father had no real opinion of his own in this regard, and that when it came to matters of state, it was not his father who had the final say.

Most critically, if he agreed to anything here on behalf of Great Ming, the outcome after he returned home was not necessarily certain — it might even create conflict.

Hearing what Zhu Youxiao said, Yi Wang could not help but grow nervous, his heart thumping and pounding without stop.

Zhu Youxiao glanced at Yi Wang, his expression unchanged.

For the emperor of Great Ming, there was no need to care about such things. Zhu Youxiao continued: "I have already discussed this matter with your father the king, and both sides have agreed. Your coming here this time is merely to discuss the specific details."

"Please instruct me, Your Majesty." Yi Wang said hurriedly.

"It's actually quite simple. The specific direction and strategy of the campaign will need to be discussed between the generals of both sides — I will not interfere too much in that. So I don't intend to discuss that aspect with you."

"What I want to talk about is another matter — after Great Ming dispatches its troops, I hope you will be able to provide grain and fodder." Zhu Youxiao said with an expressionless face.

Although it was phrased as a discussion, from the expression and the tone of voice, one could tell that this was not a discussion at all.

In fact, on this matter, Zhu Youxiao was very angry.

In the original history, during the Three Great Campaigns of the Wanli era, when the Great Ming army went to support Joseon, it was the Joseon kingdom that provided the grain. But later, when the Koreans came to power, the Koreans actually claimed that when Great Ming went there, they ate a great deal of Korean grain and brought much disaster to Korea.

That kind of bullshit could only come out of the mouth of such a shameless country.

If Great Ming hadn't gone to help you, your country would have been destroyed. I sent troops to help you with no benefit to myself, only taking a bit of grain for my soldiers to eat, and sacrificed so many lives — and you can still spew such nonsense?

This also made Zhu Youxiao think of the current situation — the Lighthouse Country's stationed troops demand money: I protect you, so you have to pay. Not only do you have to provide grain, but also military equipment — and you have to buy my equipment.

Anyway, Zhu Youxiao felt that he could do the same.

The reason was also simple: he was very strong right now.

Whether you agree or not, you must agree.

Anyone who jumps around making trouble — just kill them outright.

Yi Wang's expression turned somewhat ugly.

Joseon did not produce much grain to begin with. If they had to supply the Great Ming army at this time, it would be an enormous expenditure. Even if this war was won, whether Joseon could share in any benefits was an unknown.

Wanting to get a share of the spoils in front of Great Ming would probably be very difficult. By then, having spent so much money and sent so many men, only to receive no benefits — that would be a difficult situation to handle.

Yi Wang said hurriedly: "Your Majesty, I fear this matter may be difficult. Although Joseon is willing to do so, we truly lack the capacity. If the grain supply is cut off when the two sides actually engage in battle, that would be a problem — it would affect this war. I beg Your Majesty to look into this clearly."

Yi Wang's attitude was neither humble nor overbearing. But the meaning was singular: Joseon did not have that much grain.

If the grain really ran out halfway through the fighting, what would be done then?

If the war could no longer be fought, it might lead to a great rout — that would not be worth the loss.

Zhu Youxiao looked at Yi Wang and said with a beaming smile: "No problem. Once the war begins, we can obtain grain from within the Wa nation, and only a small portion will need to be taken from your Joseon. Rest assured — this will be handled by the Imperial Household Department for purchase. They will pay money; we will absolutely not take your grain for free."

Hearing these words, Yi Wang breathed a sigh of relief.

Being willing to spend money to buy was a good thing. Of course, even if the emperor of Great Ming had not said this, if they didn't buy grain, he couldn't say anything about it either.

Yi Wang still had some worries and said hesitantly: "But Joseon truly does not have that much grain."

Zhu Youxiao glanced at Yi Wang, and in his heart he somewhat agreed with Liu Xian's view.

Choosing a clever king of Joseon really was not a good choice. Originally he had thought to let Yi Wang slowly build up Joseon, but he hadn't expected the man to be disobedient, putting all his energy into wrangling with Great Ming.

This was very bad. What you should be doing right now is obediently agreeing — not wrangling here.

Zhu Youxiao said with a dark expression: "This matter is settled as decided. If your Joseon has no grain, then we'll talk about it when you have no grain."

Yi Wang's face flushed red, and he very much wanted to argue a few more points. But seeing Zhu Youxiao glaring at him, he did not speak again.

In fact, at this moment, killing intent had already arisen in Zhu Youxiao's heart.

If Yi Wang dared to continue speaking like that, this man would not be leaving Great Ming.

"Do you feel wronged?" Zhu Youxiao snorted irritably and said: "If that's the case, then you may go. This time, in fighting the Wa nation, Great Ming will do it ourselves. You Joseon can go back."

"Also, our Great Ming warships will choose places in Joseon to dock, resupply, and buy grain. The people of the Great Ming Imperial Household Department will purchase grain in Joseon — you don't need to concern yourselves with that. We spend money to buy; buying and selling fairly, doing business — there's nothing wrong with that." Having said this, Zhu Youxiao stood up and said: "Send him back."

After saying this, Zhu Youxiao flicked his sleeve and left.

Yi Wang's expression instantly turned even uglier—he hadn't expected the Great Ming Emperor to flip his face so directly.

This was too fast—hadn't they agreed this was supposed to be a discussion?

At this moment, Yi Wang finally understood one thing, and also understood why his father hadn't come.

Although on the surface Great Ming was "discussing," in reality it wasn't a discussion at all—he was here simply to receive orders.

Having figured this out, Yi Wang knelt straight to the ground, touching his head to the floor and saying, "Your Majesty, your subject was merely afraid of delaying matters. I truly dare not harbor any thoughts of grievance!"

"I beg Your Majesty to investigate clearly—all of Joseon, from top to bottom, is utterly loyal to Great Ming, with absolutely no other intentions!"

Zhu Youxiao glanced at Yi Wang, then turned his head to glance at Liu Xian and instructed, "You negotiate with them. I'm not in the mood anymore."

Having said this, Zhu Youxiao turned and left directly.

"Yes, Your Majesty." Liu Xian smiled, cupped his hands in salute, and watched Zhu Youxiao depart.

After the man had left, Liu Xian came to the side of the Joseon Crown Prince Yi Wang, smiling as he helped him up, and said in a gentle tone of comfort, "There's no need for this. Crown Prince, you must understand—in this world, what His Majesty dislikes most is people who make excuses."

Yi Wang hastily said, "I'm not making excuses—there really are difficulties."

"I understand, I can understand." Liu Xian said with a smile, "None of us have it easy, so let's the two of us negotiate properly and arrive at an agreement that satisfies both you and me.

On matters like this, Liu Xian was very experienced. After His Majesty had delivered his warning, Liu Xian was even clearer on what he himself should do.

Liu Xian pulled Yi Wang over to a spot not far away and said, "Don't worry about the grain matter—Great Ming is willing to spend money to buy it, and that's a good thing."

"Don't think I don't know. You lot have been smuggling Great Ming's copper coins on the sly all along—in recent years many people have been hauling the coins straight to Joseon to sell, and you've been taking all of Great Ming's money away."

This matter was fact—many merchants did exactly that.

After all, Great Ming's coinage was exquisite, and its casting technology was very advanced; all the surrounding countries used Great Ming's money.

This time, Zhu Youxiao was striking Japan precisely to get a large batch of silver for casting silver coins.

Although the Ming dynasty did have silver, it was still in short supply. There was even less silver in circulation—much of it had been buried in the ground by people. Copper was also insufficient.

Zhu Youxiao wanted to obtain more silver to manufacture larger currency.