Harry Potter and the Candy Factory

Sixteenth year of Hongwu, November.

If we were to say who, besides the Northern Yuan, was most shocked by the Battle of Buyuer Sea?

It would definitely be the various warlords of Goryeo.

Naturally, this also included Yi Seong-gye.

Originally, although the situation in Goryeo was chaotic, the existence of the Northern Yuan prevented the Ming Dynasty from directly intervening in Goryeo's affairs by sending troops.

Although Yi Seong-gye was not optimistic about the Northern Yuan and felt they wouldn't last long, he didn't expect such a large behemoth to collapse so quickly.

The speed at which the Northern Yuan fell greatly exceeded Yi Seong-gye's expectations and disrupted his plans.

Originally, with the existence of the Northern Yuan, the Ming Dynasty was simply unable to spare forces in the north to intervene in Goryeo's affairs.

Didn't you see that Prince of Liaoning, Zhu Qi, was only arranging a puppet regime in Goryeo?

But now that the Northern Yuan has fallen, there is no longer any force in the north capable of restraining the Ming Dynasty.

And after losing any threat or restraint, the Ming Dynasty would most likely send troops to Goryeo.

Originally, Yi Seong-gye felt that the Ming Dynasty would not send troops, but since meeting the Prince of Liaoning, Zhu Qi, he felt that the possibility of the Ming Dynasty intervening in Goryeo was increasing.

It wasn't just because the current situation in Goryeo was extremely chaotic and the Ming Dynasty could gain great benefits by sending troops, but also because of the appearance of this person, the Prince of Liaoning, Zhu Qi.

The Prince of Liaoning, Zhu Qi, seemed to have great patience and interest in the Korean Peninsula.

And Yi Seong-gye wasn't a fool; he could naturally see this.

He was, after all, a famous monarch in history, although his later years were rather bleak, being imprisoned by his own son.

However, this cannot erase his abilities and achievements in history.

Of course, like other Koreans, although he outwardly submitted to the Ming Dynasty, he was constantly thinking about occupying the Ming Dynasty's Liaodong in his heart.

There was no major difference from the successive regimes on the Korean Peninsula, which was why Zhu Qi was determined that Yi Seong-gye must not be allowed to reunify the entire Korean Peninsula.

Rather than allowing the Korean Peninsula's superior geographical location to be controlled by Koreans, it would be better for our Ming Dynasty to directly send troops to occupy it.

Assimilating it into our own empire's territory would be more beneficial for the future of the Ming Dynasty.

After all, the geographical location of the Korean Peninsula is too important, standing as an inseparable link in the global Age of Exploration, just like the island chain that is the pearl of Southeast Asia.

What Yi Seong-gye didn't expect even more was that the Ming Dynasty actually rejected his request for tribute.

When he saw the envoy he sent return with a dusty face, bringing the news that the Ming Dynasty had rejected the request for tribute.

Yi Seong-gye was greatly surprised and repeatedly questioned him to understand the situation on the ground.

Only then did he learn that the Prince of Liaoning, Zhu Qi, seemed to be the leader in this matter, having already spoken to the ministers in the court and the emperor, saying that Goryeo must not be allowed to unify.

In fact, just by guessing, Yi Seong-gye could tell that this must be the work of the Prince of Liaoning, Zhu Qi, behind the scenes.

After all, he had previously agreed with the Prince of Liaoning, Zhu Qi, to let himself replace the original King of Goryeo and become the ruler of Goryeo, and the Ming Dynasty would also enfeoff him as the King of Goryeo.

But he didn't expect that in the blink of an eye, the Prince of Liaoning, Zhu Qi, would betray him and deny the agreement.

Moreover, he found some puppets to add trouble to himself, and not only that, but he also vigorously supported those puppets, so that he has not yet unified the Korean Peninsula.

If it weren't for this annoying Prince of Liaoning, Zhu Qi, he would have already unified the Korean Peninsula, reorganized his military and political strength, and then, with the support of the people, he might have been able to find an opportunity to occupy Liaodong.

But now, the Ming Dynasty has openly stated that it does not recognize his warlord regime's rule over Goryeo.

This means that there is no room for maneuver, and Yi Seong-gye also sighed to the sky.

He didn't expect that he would actually have such a day, completely falling into the hands of this child, the Prince of Liaoning, Zhu Qi. He shouldn't have trusted him in the first place.

Wasn't it better for him to continue being a powerful minister under the King of Goryeo?

At least this King of Goryeo was a leader recognized by both the Northern Yuan and the Ming Dynasty!

As long as he was a good powerful minister, a good Cao Cao, what couldn't he have at his fingertips?

Now it was too late to regret, the Northern Yuan was gone, and the strength of the Ming Dynasty was simply not something that he, this Goryeo warlord, could resist.

The remaining path in front of him seemed to be only death or surrender.

In fact, there wasn't much difference between these two paths.

Looking at how the Prince of Liaoning, Zhu Qi, was targeting him, and looking at the fate of those captured members of the Northern Yuan imperial family, if he were also exiled to some unknown island, it would be better to die.

Yi Seong-gye really thought so, after all, he was also a hero, and for these heroes, the saying "It's better to live shabbily than to die" simply doesn't exist.

In Yi Seong-gye's view, either perish in silence or explode in silence.

This was still very normal for him, anyway, he had been rebelling for most of his life, so continuing to rebel against the Ming Dynasty was not something he couldn't do.

It's just that there was no other place for Yi Seong-gye to continue his rebellion.

After all, the Korean Peninsula was only so big, and once the Ming Dynasty freed up time, they would definitely come and deal with him first.

After all, Yunnan, the Northern Yuan, and the plateau had already been conquered by the Ming Dynasty.

Where else could he run to? Yi Seong-gye had someone bring a map, then he looked at it carefully, and then saw that long string behind his Korean Peninsula, like a worm.

Wa (Japan)…

Yi Seong-gye muttered to himself twice in his heart.

— — — — — —

It must be said that Yi Seong-gye was indeed a heroic figure in history.

Zhu Qi, after all, underestimated this person.

Just as Yi Seong-gye saw through that the Ming Dynasty would definitely not spare him, and would soon send troops to attack Goryeo.

And after he had no chance of winning at all, he had already begun to consider his retreat.

And for him, the only places he could retreat to at present were those few places.

Such as the grasslands, plateaus, and the south, but neither the grasslands, plateaus, nor the south were places Yi Seong-gye wanted to go.

After all, in those places, it was simply not realistic to make a comeback.

They were too far away from the Korean Peninsula, or they were too barren, or it was inconvenient to do anything under the eyes of the Ming Dynasty.

Therefore, to choose a place to escape to, it must be not very far from the Korean Peninsula, and it must not be under the eyes of the Ming Dynasty.

A place where he could make a comeback at any time was the most suitable place to escape to.

Thinking about it, only Wa (Japan) was the place suitable for his next escape.

Moreover, in Yi Seong-gye's view, the Ming Dynasty would definitely not have imagined that he would escape to Wa (Japan).

After all, at this time, Wa (Japan) was still synonymous with backwardness and ignorance.

No one thought that the people of the Korean Peninsula would run to Wa (Japan) to seek refuge.

The main thing is that even if the Prince of Liao, Zhu Qi, wanted to send someone to Wei to capture him, it wouldn't be very realistic.

First of all, the distance between Japan and the Great Ming is a vast ocean, and this ocean is an insurmountable barrier.

Before, the Great Yuan also wanted to conquer Japan, but what was the result?

How many ships sank into the ocean?

It shows that the Great Ming is simply unable to attack Wu, otherwise it will inevitably be punished by heaven.

Li Chenggui, as a warlord, naturally would not blindly believe in such superstitious things.

But he also knew that there must be some truth to it, at least the sea is not something that the Great Ming can cross at will.

Moreover, there are so many islands in Japan, he can just find an island to go to, and the Great Ming won't be able to find him.

As the saying goes, 'As long as the green hills remain, there is no need to worry about firewood.'

Li Chenggui is also very clear about this principle. Naturally, he will not have heroism and fight to the death with the Great Ming at the last moment, nor will he be humble and surrender to the Great Ming. Both of these paths are basically blocked for him.

Then, the only option left is to leave Goryeo and go to Japan, and then find an opportunity to rise again.

Li Chenggui thought so and immediately began to prepare for the retreat.

Li Chenggui's actions were immediately reflected on the battlefield.

Those other Goryeo noble warlords who had been suppressed by Li Chenggui all breathed a sigh of relief.

Li Chenggui's soldiers suddenly shrank back and stopped taking the initiative to attack.

They thought that Li Chenggui was afraid of the Great Ming, so he stopped the attack.

Naturally, they would not let go of this great opportunity and launched a fierce attack on Li Chenggui. Seeing all of this, Zhu Qi also knew that things were not that simple.

What kind of person is this Li Chenggui?

He is a peerless hero with a very big reputation in history. Although he is a Korean, his power cannot be denied.

Therefore, Li Chenggui would never give up attacking those warlords just because the Great Ming defeated the Northern Yuan, unless he had other plans, which was to escape and not plan to continue to gain a foothold on the Korean Peninsula.

Zhang Yu also thought so after hearing this information.

Although he had never met Li Chenggui's people.

But after hearing Prince of Liao, Zhu Qi, describe him like this, Zhang Yu naturally did not underestimate Li Chenggui, and if he were Li Chenggui.

Fighting head-on with the Great Ming is definitely not the best choice.

Escaping, keeping the green hills, is the best choice, but where does Li Chenggui plan to escape to? This is a big problem.

Zhu Qi naturally wanted to catch him. Even if he didn't kill him and kept him under house arrest, it would be a good thing.

Keeping such a person outside is always a disaster.

But he really couldn't think of where this person could run to. Zhu Qi wasn't like he hadn't thought about Japan.

But in Zhu Qi's view, even if it is Japan, it is only a matter of dying sooner or later.

As for the reason, it is very simple, because this Japan, do you think it can escape?

After our Great Ming finishes dealing with the Northern Yuan and Goryeo, the next step to deal with will definitely be this Japan.

Although this Japan does not yet have the tendency to become pirates, in the future, the people on this Japan will definitely not have any goodwill towards our Central Plains.

They are originally people with a robber mentality, and they want to seize other people's fruits and occupy other people's territories whenever they have a chance.

Zhu Qi, who already had foresight, would naturally not allow this kind of thing to happen, and there would be no such naive mentality that people will eventually change.

Therefore, Zhu Qi's occupation of Japan was a national policy that had long been set for the Great Ming.

And he had already fully persuaded Zhu Yuanzhang with sufficient reasons, that is, the abundant gold, silver, and jewelry raw materials on Japan.

This is very important for the Great Ming, after all, in the future, for a long time, for hundreds of years, it will be a gold standard world.

Whoever controls these will control the true wealth of the world.

And if the Great Ming's banknotes want to sweep the world, they also need gold, silver, and jewelry to endorse the Great Ming's banknotes.

Otherwise, without enough gold and silver to support and base the Great Ming's banknotes, then the Great Ming's banknotes will soon usher in a terrible scene of inflation.

Zhu Qi is not an economist, but he also knows that if there is no good national macro strategy adjustment, using credit banknotes is definitely not suitable for a feudal dynasty like the Great Ming.

And using the gold standard is definitely the most suitable.

Although Zhu Yuanzhang didn't understand these things, after listening to Prince of Liao, Zhu Qi's explanation, he could also know a rough idea, so naturally, there was no reason to let go of Japan.

What's more, after Zhu Qi showed the original appearance of the world and predicted that in the future, only countries that control the ocean will be able to control the world.

Zhu Yuanzhang had no reason to give up the ocean, and occupying Japan was an important guarantee of sea power. After all, Japan's geographical location is really too important.

Passing through the Pacific Ocean, and there are also very suitable, various seaports. Apart from a small territory, there seems to be no major shortcomings in geographical location.

So, if this Li Chenggui really runs to Japan, for Zhu Qi, it would save trouble. Anyway, this Japan is also on his list of targets.

At that time, sweeping up this Li Chenggui together, wouldn't that be wonderful.

If Japan is also swept away, where can this Li Chenggui run to?

No matter where he runs, as long as the Great Ming's Embroidered Uniform Guard is present, he will not have any chance.

Moreover, the special geographical location of the Korean Peninsula also determines that as long as Li Chenggui leaves the East Asian circle and goes to other places.

There is no room for him to display his talents at all.

When he arrives in the rainforests of Southeast Asia, does he expect those rainforest monkeys to listen to his command?

This is naturally impossible.

Therefore, after Zhu Qi heard the information and learned that Li Chenggui might escape, he was not very worried, but very concerned.

Then he ordered the Embroidered Uniform Guards to take action. If they could assassinate Li Chenggui, or capture him alive, it would naturally be the best.

Moreover, because they have been doing these things for so many years, but Li Chenggui has many experts on his side.

And he is already at the stage of a warlord, with layers of troops, and there is no particularly good room for attack.

So, they have not succeeded until now, and it is probably not easy to succeed if they are given the task now.

Zhu Qi did not have too much hope.

However, the next goal has been very clear, that is Li Chenggui, the Korean Peninsula!

As Zhu Qi thought so, he also sighed silently in his heart, he was afraid that he really had no vacation.

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