However, some minor incidents occurred during this process. For example, Zhao Jingzhong, the commander of this expedition, was actually assassinated by a ninja. Moreover, that assassination attempt was extremely dangerous. If Zhao Jingzhong hadn't been a skilled fighter himself, the attacker might have succeeded.
When the news reached him, Lu Xuan became extremely interested. It was said that the assassin had managed to bypass numerous security measures and infiltrate the commander's residence alone. Such stealth ability alone was already quite intimidating. Of course, what interested Lu Xuan even more was the profession of ninja.
The ninja tradition appeared so frequently in his previous life's films and television dramas, even though he knew it was all exaggerated. Nevertheless, it still piqued Lu Xuan's interest. So he immediately ordered Zhao Jingzhong to preserve the ninja tradition from Japan and bring it to the Central Plains for him to see.
Meanwhile, in Japan, a somewhat comical yet perfectly logical turn of events occurred: Tokugawa Yasuie invited other nobles to join forces against Lu Xuan's army.
But that very night, the rebellion erupted at the banquet. Almost all of Tokugawa Ieyasu's members were slaughtered overnight. The remaining nobles brought the heads of the Tokugawa Ieyasu clan to surrender.
This time, however, Zhao Jingzhong did not simply intimidate and leave as Lu Xuan had done with Korea. Instead, he took direct action, slaughtering all the nobles who had come to surrender. With this, the entire Japanese aristocratic system was almost completely severed. Except for some minor nobles in remote areas, the country's upper echelons were essentially destroyed.
Before the war began, Lu Xuan had told Zhao Jingzhong, "I don't need to rule that place. I only need silver, grain, and labor." Zhao Jingzhong, now Lu Xuan's top general, was very experienced in this kind of thing.
The first step is to dismantle the enemy's overt system of governance by blockading all ports, halting all trade, and confiscating all food. The common people will soon face the torment of starvation.
Don't kill them, but if they want food, they must work for the Ming Dynasty. Go work in the silver mines, or join the army to hunt down the fleeing nobles and warriors. Let them fight against themselves; that's the basic national policy for dealing with this country.
In fact, after reading the battle report, Lu Xuan discovered a problem. The Japanese samurai, who were later lauded as unparalleled in loyalty and bravery, were far less loyal than imagined. The moment the Ming army gained the upper hand, a large number of samurai rushed to join their cause.
Zhao Jingzhong reorganized them into a vanguard army, sending them to conquer cities and territories, pursue and kill fleeing nobles, and samurai loyal to Japan.
These guys turned out to be even more ferocious than the Ming army. They hunted down those once high-ranking nobles like mad dogs.
In just three days, they killed far more people than Zhao Jingzhong's army.
This massacre and reorganization lasted a full month. Large-scale resistance activities were virtually nonexistent within the country. Then the main story begins. The silver and gold reserves of the major noble families, and everything of value, began to be transported by ship. This expedition was drawing to a close.
Both campaigns were won effortlessly. This fueled the war spirit in Liaoyang. People petitioned for an opportunity to fight the Qing Dynasty.
Of course, the Qing Dynasty had to be attacked, but they still needed to digest the spoils of the previous war. They needed to convert that massive amount of silver into food and weapons. Meanwhile, Lu Xuan finally met the ninjas he had been longing to see.
Unlike samurai, ninjas undergo far more rigorous, even brutal, training. Their ideological indoctrination is also far more perverse. These assassins, lurking in the shadows, are subjected to extremely harsh training and brainwashing from a young age. The general requirements are four basic precepts: ninjutsu must not be misused (only for official business), all self-respect must be abandoned (escaping is paramount), tacit silence is mandatory (even at the cost of one's life), and identity must never be revealed (this is the most fundamental).
Adhering to these four rules, they once enjoyed a period of activity. In reality, however, these guys had already begun to decline during the Tokugawa Shogunate era. According to the original history, in a few decades, these guys would basically fade from people's sight.
This is their last period of activity.
There are two main schools of ninja: the Iga school and the Koga school. These two are generally considered the origins of mainstream ninja. Besides these, there are numerous derivative schools. Many of them were killed during the military's sweep. However, Zhao Jingzhong faithfully carried out Lu Xuan's orders, trying his best to preserve the ninja tradition and bringing back some representative figures.
"Stand up and let me see what you're capable of," Lu Xuan said to the representative ninjas of Iga and Koga kneeling on the ground. There were four people in total: the heads of the two major schools and the one hailed as the most outstanding representative of the contemporary era.
The two young men looked at each other, and only stood up when the patriarch nodded, and began to fight each other.
However, reality greatly disappointed Lu Xuan. These two's fighting skills were utterly terrible. Not to mention him, the two of them combined couldn't last ten rounds against Miyamoto Musashi. Although they used all sorts of fancy gadgets to exchange attacks, those things were clearly unsuitable for direct combat. The only commendable thing was that these ninjas possessed exceptionally good physical abilities.
Or rather, the flexibility and reaction speed they displayed were truly astonishing. This is likely due to the almost brutal training they underwent from a young age.
In short, these skills are basically useless in direct combat. However, their demonstration of some auxiliary abilities did catch Lu Xuan's eye. Disguise and disguise are the most basic. They also have training in using any weapon at any time. In addition, they have auxiliary methods such as diving, breath-holding, and preparing poisons.
For Lu Xuan, these auxiliary methods were the most useful. Many of them were skills needed by special forces.
Lu Xuan immediately ordered his men to compile all the ninjas' skills. He then selected a portion, refined them, and began distributing them among the army's scouts. Although their military might was now overwhelming, Lu Xuan would never consider his army too strong.
After dealing with the mess, Lu Xuan began to study the training methods for developing human potential in those ninjutsu techniques on his own.
In recent years, he had noticed a problem: his physical enhancement had stagnated. The time spent in two worlds seemed to have naturally pushed his body to its limits. Theoretically, his current level of combat power was sufficient. At least in the future Olympics, he could win gold medals in every event.
However, Lu Xuan was not satisfied; he wanted to continue improving himself. Perhaps it was his intuition as a transmigrator, but he always felt that he needed to constantly improve, otherwise he would encounter some situations he couldn't handle.
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Chapter 166 Heavenly Soldiers and Generals (Please Subscribe)
Lu Xuan was able to remain calm, but the capital city was losing its composure.
Lu Xuan's ambitions were already blatantly obvious, having already annexed two of the Ming Dynasty's vassal states. However, Zhu Changluo remained unwilling to take action against him. On one hand, he lacked confidence. On the other hand, so far, Lu Xuan had always found an excuse for everything he did, essentially giving the emperor ample face.
He had a feeling that if he turned against them, he might lose even this little bit of face.
However, his reluctance to turn against Lu Xuan was not an option for the ministers. The pressure from Lu Xuan was mounting. It wasn't just military; Lu Xuan, with his vast wealth, was interfering in all sorts of commercial activities. With silver in one hand and firearms in the other, he was reshaping the rules. Commercial activities across much of the Ming Dynasty in the north were now part of Lu Xuan's system.
Simply put, those white gloves kept by the ministers are now working for Lu Xuan. The ministers of the Ming Dynasty never cared about the loss of territory or the casualties of soldiers. They only cared about their own interests. No matter who invaded, they would be needed to govern the country; they could simply kowtow and continue their official positions.
But losing the money was absolutely intolerable. Therefore, they needed to get rid of Lu Xuan. Over the past ten years, Lu Xuan had turned Liaoyang into an impregnable fortress, implementing a system completely different from the Ming Dynasty's officialdom. Their attempts to infiltrate him had proven futile. They had no choice but to forcefully defeat Lu Xuan from the outside.
The emperor remained unwilling to act. Therefore, they had no choice but to act. A few nights later, Zhu Changluo died silently in his sleep. Although he regained control of and strengthened the Embroidered Uniform Guard and the Eastern Depot, the accumulated power of those court officials over decades was still insufficient. So he still died. His death was slightly more dignified than those in history.
Of course, what the world doesn't know is that, due to Lu Xuan's butterfly effect, Zhu Changluo has already lived ten years longer than before.
The emperor's death naturally caused a huge uproar. However, with the combined efforts of various forces in the court, all procedures were simplified. They needed to immediately install a compliant emperor and then order the elimination of Lu Xuan.
However, before their new emperor even ascended the throne, Lu Xuan had already made his move. The entire city of Liaoyang went into a state of war preparation overnight.
Although Lu Xuan's original plan was to wait, he didn't mind acting a few years earlier now that such an excellent opportunity had presented itself. His only concern was that the Manchu situation hadn't been resolved. However, this wasn't a major issue, as the Manchus had already nearly collapsed due to the blockade over the past five years.
Many of them had already returned to the deep mountains and forests to become hunters. In the Qing Dynasty, even food was scarce; being a hunter was better than anything else, at least they could barely survive. Many Qing Dynasty citizens began secretly fleeing towards Liaoyang. Strictly speaking, this was ancient smuggling. However, Lu Xuan did not restrict them; instead, he indicated that he could accept these people on a limited scale. He wanted to give the Qing Dynasty people a glimmer of hope.
Thus, even without direct military intervention, the Qing Dynasty had already begun to falter internally. This gave Lu Xuan a very interesting idea. He decided to try using this soft approach to gradually wear down the Qing Dynasty. He would consider it a small experiment in his long life.
Just then, an imperial edict arrived from the capital. Although the new emperor had not yet ascended the throne, the edict had already arrived. Lu Xuan guessed that those people might have sent the edict out of the capital before Zhu Changluo died.
The imperial edict ordered Lu Xuan to come to the capital immediately for questioning regarding his unauthorized military interventions in Korea and Japan. Although the edict was worded tactfully, everyone understood that those in the capital had reached their limit. If Lu Xuan refused, it would be considered disobeying the imperial decree, and whatever he did next would be morally reprehensible.
If he goes, there are probably 108 traps lying in wait for him in the capital. A blatant conspiracy.
However, Lu Xuan had already completed the preparations for war. He accepted the imperial edict, chuckled, and casually tossed it to Lu Wenzhao beside him.