The disgraced official I took care of was actually Zhu Houcong's childhood friend.

Chapter 431

However, after a group of people died, Wang Zhi and Lin Zhi quickly replaced them with more Japanese people to continue mining.

Wang Zhi also discovered a particularly strange phenomenon. He originally thought that since he had sold those Japanese women to the Ming Dynasty, these women should hate him to the bone, but he found that this was not the case at all.

Even many Japanese women from areas that Wang Zhi had not conquered, upon hearing that the Ming army would send them to the Ming Dynasty, secretly ran to the areas occupied by Wang Zhi and voluntarily asked to be sold to the Ming Dynasty.

Wang Zhi and Lin Zhi simply couldn't understand this. Did these Japanese women really have such miserable lives?

Every time they conquered a new region, Wang Zhi and Lin Zhi would allow their soldiers to indulge themselves for two days. During these two days, they could massacre the city or do other things. This greatly boosted the morale of the Ming soldiers on expeditions. For every general leading an army, massacring a city was always the most inspiring thing to do.

Of course, this was also permitted by Zhou Chu, who never had any intention of being merciful to the Japanese.

However, this period will only last two or three days. Once the time is up, soldiers who fail to return to camp on time will be dealt with according to military law.

What should be indulged should be indulged, and what should be strictly enforced should be strictly enforced; otherwise, once military discipline is relaxed, the morale of the entire army will become extremely low.

Every time the city fell, Lin Zhi would let loose for a day or two. However, Lin Zhi's hobbies were different from others. He preferred to enter the former daimyo's mansion, after all, a woman of status in Japan was different from one without status.

However, the armies led by Wang Zhi and Lin Zhi are ultimately limited. Even if they expand, it is currently only limited to Honshu Island. According to the strategic plan that Zhou Chu formulated for the two, they should first completely control Honshu Island, cultivate it deeply, and then plan for other things.

Meanwhile, some Ming Dynasty merchants, in pursuit of higher profits, began to venture further west according to the nautical charts provided by the imperial court, accompanied by the Ming Dynasty's navy.

Both these merchants and the imperial court knew very well that those Western devils were not easy to talk to; they had to be beaten into submission before they would do business with you properly.

In Zhangjia Village, Chu Li and the princes and princesses finally finalized all the details of the coal mine. It was called a discussion, but in reality, Chu Li was the one talking and the others were listening. More precisely, Zhou Chu was informing these princes and princesses of the details through Chu Li. However, it was just that many things were easier to accept when Chu Li said them.

Seeing that all the details had been finalized, Zhou Chu was very satisfied. The process was much smoother than he had expected. Originally, Zhou Chu thought that there would be some princes or princesses who would not agree, but now it went so smoothly. This was partly due to Chu Li's art of speaking, and partly due to Zhou Chu being in a position of absolute power.

"Now that the coal mine issue has been settled, I would like to discuss a second business deal with you all."

After Chu Li reached an agreement with everyone, Zhou Chu came to the group and spoke.

Upon hearing this, Zhu Xianrong and the others' eyes lit up immediately.

As expected, this Lord Zhou's ambitions were far greater than just a simple coal mine.

The coal mining business is very profitable. Even if forty or fifty companies share the profits, each company can probably receive around 200,000 taels of silver per year.

Two hundred thousand taels is a considerable sum for a princely mansion. It should be noted that many princely mansions are quite poor. Without additional sources of income, two hundred thousand taels would be enough to support all the expenses of a princely mansion for a year, and there would even be some left over.

But based on Zhu Xianrong's understanding of Zhou Chu, this commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard would never do things so simply. He had been wondering if Zhou Chu had other plans. In fact, not only him, but many others had the same idea.

"In the past two days, I received a letter from Lin Zhixin, the garrison commander of Datong. He has already conquered all the grasslands within a radius of two hundred li outside Datong, and the grasslands he conquers will only increase in the future."

Zhou Chu looked at everyone and said.

Upon hearing this, the reactions varied. Zhu Xianrong and Zhu Siying, who knew Zhou Chu well, were extremely shocked. They were well aware of the relationship between Lin Lu and Zhou Chu. Since Lin Lu followed Zhou Chu to Suzhou Prefecture last year, she had been quickly granted the title of Marquis, and her rise to prominence was remarkable.

Not long ago, he even became the garrison commander of Datong.

Even Zhu Siying couldn't have imagined that Lin Lu would act so quickly, and in such a short time, he would have conquered such a large territory for the Ming Dynasty.

Zhu Xianrong thought about it more deeply. He knew very well Lin Lu's identity as the eldest son of Princess Deqing. Although he had been guarding the frontier, he had not accomplished much. Following Lin Lu's original path, it would be a long time before he could be ennobled.

But since this guy followed Lord Zhou, he not only got a marquis title, but now he has also made such great contributions to the Ming Dynasty. This makes Zhu Xianrong extremely jealous of Lin Lu. If Lin Lu can do these things, he can too.

Thinking about this, Zhu Xianrong's resolve to follow Zhou Chu became even stronger.

"For our Great Ming Dynasty, the grasslands have never been a source of much profit. However, I do not think so. The grasslands are natural pastures and horse ranches. Whether it is raising horses or sheep, it is very necessary. Most importantly, raising sheep can produce a large amount of wool, which can be made into various clothes or other things. These are all goods that can be exported overseas."

Zhou Chu looked at everyone and began to speak eloquently.

Upon hearing this, the princes and princesses immediately perked up, realizing just how much profit was involved.