Raising chickens and pigs and digging for wild vegetables, the county magistrate's promotion wa

Chapter 1182 Taming the Falcon and Training the Dog: Offering Rewards

Black sesame dumplings didn't care whether the vassal state was suffering or not, nor did they care how much infamy Chen Mo would bear.

What really made Hei Sesame Dumplings hesitate was whether the various vassal states could actually muster that many laborers.

A million laborers—this number may not sound like much, but in those vassal states with populations of only tens of millions, a million laborers is a number that could drive anyone to despair.

Because laborers mean young and strong, and young and strong often mean the main force of the army and agriculture.

The large-scale mobilization of young and able-bodied men means that both the military and agriculture will be affected.

After pondering for a while, Hei Sesame Dumpling tentatively asked, "A stick and a shorty?"

Yang Shaofeng glanced at the black sesame dumplings and retorted, "Even draining the pond to catch all the fish isn't this extreme, is it?"

“The Koreans and the short, ugly have had 300,000 to 500,000 laborers conscripted over the years. If another million are conscripted, these two companies will be severely damaged, if not destroyed.”

"Whether they live or die is not important. What's important is where we'll find such useful laborers in the future?"

Black Sesame Dumpling scratched the back of his head and said with a distressed expression, "But besides the two of them, who else can spare a hundred thousand laborers? Even if we include Annam and Srivijaya, it's not enough."

Yang Shaofeng chuckled and said, "Have you ever heard of training eagles and dogs?"

"When dealing with scoundrels and shorty, you have to train them like a hawk when they misbehave, but you also have to reward them like a dog when they behave well."

"Also, if you train a dog, the dog will know that its owner dotes on it, and it will gradually become bolder."

"But if you train a few more dogs, they will compete to perform, after all, they all want to become the alpha dog."

The black sesame dumpling nodded and asked, "So?"

Yang Shaofeng sneered and said, "So, this time we'll give them a little treat and let them start fighting over it."

At this point, Yang Shaofeng suddenly changed the subject, looking at the black sesame dumplings and asking, "Does Your Highness remember the envoys from the Timurid Khanate, Mosha and Manlahafis?"

Black Sesame Dumpling nodded, and Yang Shaofeng continued, "The Timurid Khanate and the Ottomans were at odds, and the Ottomans were at odds with the barbarians of Europe."

"The current situation is that Timur, the lame Khan of the Timurid Khanate, sent Mosha and Manlahafis to submit to the Ming Dynasty, while the Ottomans have not made any move."

"When Mosha and Manlahafis came to pay tribute, I told them that I would buy up a large number of prisoners of war from them in the future."

Black Sesame Dumpling's eyes lit up, and he asked, "Brother-in-law, do you mean there are hundreds of thousands of laborers on the Ottoman side?"

Yang Shaofeng glanced at the black sesame dumpling again and asked, "Does Your Highness know how many Ottomans there are?"

The black sesame dumpling shook its head blankly.

If you ask about the number of Koreans and short people, or even how many people live in Annam or Srivijaya, you can probably find out a bit about how many black sesame dumplings there are.

Because these vassal states came to pay tribute relatively early, the Embroidered Uniform Guard also deployed personnel to these vassal states relatively early.

However, the Timurid Khanate was different from the Ottoman Empire and Europe.

Timur's Khanate had just submitted to the Ming Dynasty, and the Ottomans and Europa had even less contact with the Ming Dynasty.

If I had to draw a connection, it would be that my brother-in-law went crazy a couple of years ago and ordered the Imperial Guards to search for missionaries, planning to sell indulgences to Europe.

In the end, the Embroidered Uniform Guard mobilized a large number of people, but in the end, they only searched for nothing and found no trace of the missionary.

Yang Shaofeng continued, "According to Mosha and Manlahafis, the Timurid Khanate now has a population of approximately 15 to 20 million."

"The Ottomans could barely hold their own against the Timurid Khanate, but most of the time they were overwhelmed by the Timurid Khanate. I estimate they only had a population of about ten million."

"Europe is a vast country with many small countries. The total population should be similar to that of the Ming Dynasty, but when you calculate it for each small country, it's not that many. It seems that they also experienced a major plague a few years ago, which is why they were suppressed by the Ottomans."

"Based on this calculation, the total population of these three families is approximately ten million."

At this point, Yang Shaofeng's expression gradually turned ferocious: "With a population of 100 million, there must be at least 20 million able-bodied men, right?"

"Lame Timur is now single-mindedly focused on eliminating the Ottomans, suppressing Europe, and then turning his attention eastward to conquer the Ming Dynasty."

"However, before he kills the Ottoman, Mosha and Manlahafis will persuade him to work hard to capture laborers for the Ming Dynasty in exchange for the Ming Dynasty's support."

The black sesame glutinous rice ball immediately smiled.

"But even the lame Timur could not have imagined that the Ming Dynasty would support him with its left hand and support the Ottomans with its right."

“They would spend money to buy Ottoman prisoners of war from him, and then spend money to buy Ottoman prisoners of war from him.”

Black Sesame Dumpling, believing she had seen through everything, confidently asked, "Is that what my brother-in-law thinks?"

Yang Shaofeng nodded and said, "More or less."

"If we simply buy laborers from both sides, the Timurid Khanate will ultimately benefit more, and the Ottoman Empire might collapse one day."

"Most importantly, whether the Timurid Khanate was weak or the Ottoman Empire was completely defeated, the only one who would benefit in the end was Europe."

Yang Shaofeng drew a few circles on the ground with his foot, and then continued, "Your Highness, look here. Suppose this is Pegu. From Pegu to the Timurid Khanate, then to the Ottoman Empire, and then around here, you can reach the heart of Europe."

"If the Dengzhou fleet, or any fleet of the Ming Dynasty, can figure out this entire route, it will be equivalent to opening up a true maritime Silk Road for the Ming Dynasty."

"Just get a few cargo ships, load them with lots of tea, porcelain, silk, glass and the like, and you can exchange them for a lot of gold and silver over there."

Zhu Biao's breathing gradually became rapid, and he said directly, "If the Ming Dynasty's fleet can go, then the pirates can go too. Cargo ships can carry porcelain and tea, and of course they can also carry laborers. After all, things like gold and silver don't take up too much space, right?"

Yang Shaofeng nodded and said, "That's not all."

"The most important thing is to have the shorty, the stick, and the monkey all send out some auxiliary troops."

"Let them go to Europe and stir up trouble."

"It would be best if we could bring back the laborers, but even if we can't, we can still hurt the barbarians of Europe."

"Even if they all die in Europe, they will only help our Ming Dynasty find a legitimate reason to send troops to Europe, and incidentally help us weaken the Koreans and the short, ugly ones."

Yang Shaofeng's lips curled up slightly as he smiled and said, "Who knew that among those vassal armies that ran off to Europe, there happened to be a notorious bandit that the Ming Dynasty was hunting down? The barbarians of Europe killed him, and the Ming Dynasty had no way to capture him and bring him back to be executed. Isn't that the fault of the barbarians of Europe?"