Listening to the two of them’s real praise, Mr. Zhao could not be ashamed of being at ease. He turned his head and felt embarrassed to look at his subordinates’ expressions.

"The young master said that this Danluo Island was also formed by a volcanic eruption." Jin Ke suddenly remembered something and asked curiously: "Then why are there no minerals here?"

"Maybe, this is life..." Zhao Hao sighed and said to himself, "How do I know why they are so unlucky?"

Science can indeed infer the location of the ore deposit, but Mr. Zhao said that he could use geology to study human flesh to find ore, which was purely a slander. He used naturally the most unscientific unique skill in science - the great prophecy.

In another history, Sado Jinshan was discovered in Xiangshan by a mine seeker from Tsuruji Yinshan on Sado Island in 1601 AD, that is, in the 29th year of Wanli of the Ming Dynasty.

At its peak in the 17th century, the output here once reached the world's largest, with an annual output of 400 kilograms of gold and 40 tons of silver. It was the financial pillar of the Edo Shogunate that lasted for 300 years. The reason why the old Ieyasu turtle was confident to stay in the country was largely because it had more money and there was no need to make money through foreign trade.

After the collapse of the shogunate, Sado Kinsuma also provided strong financial support for the Meiji Restoration. It was mined by the Japanese government with modern machinery for more than a hundred years, and it was not exhausted until the 1990s. During this period, a total of 78 tons of gold, 2,300 tons of silver were produced, which was 74 million taels of silver. So it was worth it to occupy it at any cost!

Moreover, controlling Sado Kinshan and Ishimi Yinshan is equivalent to capturing the lifeblood of Japan. All generals in Guanbai have to call Mr. Zhao a father!

~~

"The establishment of a squadron on Sado Island is not just to defend the Jinshan Mountains on the island." Mr. Zhao looked farther north and said: "We also need to control the Tsugu Strait 800 miles northeast of Sado Island."

"Jinqing Strait, isn't that the northernmost part of Japan?" Jinke Wang Rulong was completely stunned. Seeing that the young master was so conservative about Danluo Island, they thought his young master was obviously very strong but too cautious. Unexpectedly, after listening to his Japanese strategy, they realized that Zhao Hao had already gone to the sky.

But it's not urging you, and you can't imagine building the Seven Seas Fleet...

Since Mr. Zhao intends to punish Hirado, the two generals naturally need to collect information in advance. Understanding the map of Japan and the distribution of various forces is the minimum. Of course, there are too many military leaders in Japan at this time, and a Kyushu Island is enough for the two of them to work hard, so there is no time to understand the situation in the state of the state.

However, Japan is divided into five valleys and seven roads, and the northernmost Higashiyama Road is bounded by the Tsugu-Qing Strait, so the two of them still know it.

The two of them thought to themselves that Mr. Zhao did not want to punish Hirado, but he simply wanted to rub Japan from south to north!

Wang Rulong's face was full of excitement. He had great potential and great potential!

However, Jin Ke was worried, fearing that the young master would take too much steps and pull the balls.

Zhao Hao asked the two with a relaxed expression: "Do you know where is the north of Jinqing Strait?"

"It's the land of Emily." Jin Ke immediately replied: "I heard that the Japanese Emperor did not take power, and they were all regents of the generals of the expedition. The so-called "expedition" is the expedition of Emily people."

"Yes, but the Emirati people are the despicable names of the Japanese to the indigenous people." Zhao Gongzi said seriously: "Their correct name is the 'Ainu people'. They originally lived in all islands in Japan, and half of the state was theirs at that time. However, for hundreds of years, the Ainu people were driven away by the cruel persecution of the Japanese and forced to move to the north to the Jinqinghai Sea, and moved to the Kuhan Island where they now live."

"Yes..." Jin Ke nodded, knowing that Mr. Zhao must have a deep meaning, so he listened quietly.

"But the Japanese still refused to give up, and they wanted to kill them all. They kept sending troops across the sea to fight against the Ainu people! Fortunately, the island was a little big and covered with a primeval forest. Only the Ainu people could rely on the protection of the forest to live a difficult life." Mr. Zhao said with a compassion:

"The Ainu people paid tribute to the Celestial Empire since the Han Dynasty and have always accepted the enthronement of the Celestial Empire. Since ancient times, we have been an inseparable part of our Ming Dynasty. How can we sit back and see them being enslaved and bullied by the Japanese pirates? We must uphold justice for them, let Ainu Island escape the clutches of the Japanese pirates and bathe heavily in the glory of the Ming Dynasty!"

"Yeah." The two of the Jin Kings kept nodding, but their hearts became more and more confused. They didn't know what the young master liked Ainu people, and that they were so full of love.

Mr. Zhao’s words are actually well-founded. The Hokkien land has never been in Japan’s territory. It was later that monkeys unified Japan and conquered the Hokkien land for the first time. But it was not until the Meiji Restoration in the 19th century that Japan finally annexed the Hokkien land and renamed it in Hokkaido.

Therefore, in the eyes of the Ming Dynasty and even later generations, Japan had only three islands. Kaishen also published an article titled "Japan's sovereignty is not as good as the Honshu Island", emphasizing that Japan's territory is limited to Honshu, Shikoku and Kyushu Island.

Regardless of how future generations argue, at least in this era, the territory of the Hokkien land was indeed not the Japanese.

Speaking of which, its relationship with the Ming Dynasty is closer. Because less than a hundred miles north of the Heiyi Island is Sakhalin Island, the territory of the Ming Dynasty.

Sakhalin Island, known as Kuyi Island in the Ming Dynasty, belonged to the Nurgandus, and had three guards on the island. Among them, the Boluo guards were mainly scared by the people.

Shi Yi is the name of the Ming Dynasty for the Ainu people... well, it is not very polite.

The Ainu people on Sakhalin Island had a close contact with the Ainu people on Sakhalin Island. Later, when Toyotomi Hideyoshi sent people to attack the Ainu people on Sakhalin Island, the Ainu people on Sakhalin Island even crossed the sea to help the battle, but they were tragically destroyed.

Therefore, if Mr. Zhao wants to help Ainu, he will not have any excuses.

~~

"Then, what benefits can we get?" After listening to Mr. Zhao's talk about ancient times, the two finally couldn't help asking: "Why are we?"

Although they firmly believe that the young master is a partner of justice, they firmly believe that the young master will never do anything without benefits.

"Is it the Essian land... Oh no, there is a gold mine on Ainu Island?" Wang Rulong said boldly.

"Haha..." Zhao Hao showed a look that you were guessing, "Of course, and it's not small."

Of course, Mr. Zhao did not lie. The Hongzhiwu Gold Mine, which is located on the coast of Hokkaido, is the third largest gold mine in Japan. In the early 20th century, the Sumitomo Consortium mined 73 tons of gold and 1,200 tons of silver in 50 years, which is about 44 million taels of silver.

Hongzhiwu and Sado two gold mountains can provide 118 million taels of silver to Mr. Zhao and Jiangnan Group. It seems to be a lot, but in fact it is only half of the Treaty of Shimonoseki.

So it is far from enough! You must dig up all the Shijian Yinshan Mountain and the Ripe Kaedan Mountain so that Zhao Hao can feel a little more comfortable.

Back then, the Japanese completed the modernization of the navy and army through the Treaty of Shimonoseki.

Now, it is very reasonable for Mr. Zhao to rely on Japan's gold and silver mountains to build his own Seven Seas Fleet.

It just means to use the sword from the Qing Dynasty to kill the Ming Dynasty officials...

No, this is called paying off the debt of the son and his father. It’s natural, big brother!

~~

"What I value most about Ainu Island is not the stuff of gold and silver, but their wood." Mr. Zhao sighed long: "The so-called ten-year army and a hundred-year navy. If you want to build an invincible fleet, money alone is not enough, you must have enough wood."

"Wood?" Monk Wang Rulong and Zhang Er said in a daze: "We are not short of this thing in the Ming Dynasty, so we need as much as we need."

"Of course we can build ordinary ships with enough wood, but only the wood for building giant ships is available in the southwest and northeast." Zhao Hao explained lightly: "Building Garen ships and larger sail battleships has very strict requirements on wood. The pine and fir trees in traditional ships are too soft, absorb water and easily deformed, and are easily worm-eaten, and cannot be used on large warships. As for too hard wood, not only is it difficult to process, but the splashed wood chips are easily hurt after being bombarded - don't underestimate small wood chips. In the future naval battles, the biggest casualties of officers and soldiers come from this!"

"So our choice is actually very narrow, there are only two types of oak and teak." Zhao Hao said in a deep voice: "Teak is the best material, but it is only produced in places such as Siam and Myanmar. It is too far away from us, and the number is relatively small. Only oak trees can meet our needs - a Garen ship needs to cut down two thousand oaks that have been more than a hundred years old. In the future, we will build larger sail battleships, and even 5,000 to seven thousand hundred-year-old giant trees!"

"Hiss..." When the King of Jin heard this, he took a breath and then understood why the cost of Galen ship was so high! A century-old giant tree is all the talents of pillars. What is the concept of using thousands at a time? Build the Forbidden City for the emperor!

The palace can't cost so much money. The British King's Buckingham Palace only cost 100,000 pounds to buy and decorate, and it's not enough to build a battleship...

But there is no way. In this era of navigation, for any country that is determined to compete on the sea, it is even hungry to death and poor, and cannot fall behind in the naval arms race. Therefore, forests are more precious strategic resources than gold, silver, copper and iron.

For a country, the absence of forests means losing control of the sea. And the formation of a forest will take at least one hundred years!

The so-called "a hundred-year-old navy" comes from this.

One of the most important reasons why the country, such as Portugal, Spain, and other countries, finally declined and left the market, was that they were wedding dresses for others, was that the trees were cut down.

And even if their trees are not cut down, they will gradually fall behind. Because the quality of temperate oak is very average, it is okay to use furniture, so it is really interesting to build a ship. If you want to build a high-quality battleship, you must use oak from high-latitude areas.

Therefore, the Baltic Sea was the key to the European powers' struggle for hegemony in the Age of Discovery. There is no reason. If you master the Baltic Sea, you can monopolize the timber trade with Nordic countries.

After the Netherlands defeated Spain's independence, Spain lost its access to procurement of oak from Nordic Europe and the empire fell into recession.
Chapter completed!