The next morning, Mu Sheng came to Li Jie to enter the palace together. Tomorrow he would lead the Tie Ce Army to leave the capital, so he would also say goodbye to Lao Zhu today. Speaking of which, he was originally a hostage, but because of his special relationship with Lao Zhu, their Mu family was still very trusted by Lao Zhu.

Li Jie happened to have something to report to Lao Zhu, so after entering the palace, he and Mu Sheng came to Dongguan Pavilion together. However, they came early today. Lao Zhu and some ministers were discussing matters inside, so the two had to wait outside. It took nearly half an hour before the officials inside came out.

Li Jie was in the court and knew a lot of officials in the court. Speaking of which, since Lao Zhu abolished the prime minister, the six ministries have been directly under his control. Generally, when there is anything, Lao Zhu directly ordered the six ministries to do it, and there was no need to go through the prime minister. As for the so-called Grand Secretary, he is still just the secretariat around Lao Zhu and has no real power at all.

After the officials left, Li Jie and Mu Sheng stepped into the warm pavilion. They saw Lao Zhu at his desk writing something. When they heard them coming in, they didn't look up, but said directly: "You guys wait a moment, I'll finish writing this!"

Li Jie and Mu Sheng agreed, then stood aside and waited obediently. After finally waiting for Lao Zhu to finish writing, he looked up at Mu Sheng and asked, "Are you ready?"

"Grandpa Qibing, you are all ready, the Tie Ce Army can set off at any time!" Mu Sheng immediately stepped forward and replied.

"Yes, have you remembered what Li Jie said?" Lao Zhu asked again.

"Remember it all!" Mu Sheng nodded, then hesitated for a while and finally asked, "Grandpa Emperor, I can't figure out one thing, Brother Li refused to tell me, so I want to ask you for advice!"

When Lao Zhu heard this, he smiled slightly and said, "Do you want to ask why the imperial court spent so much effort to manage Goryeo and Japan?"

"Grandpa Emperor is wise, my grandson just wants to ask this!" Mu Sheng answered immediately. He thought about this question for a night but couldn't figure it out. Now only Lao Zhu can answer it.

Old Zhu pondered for a moment, then looked up and said to Li Jie: "Come and tell Mu Sheng, after all, this is time for some necessary people to know about it!"

"Yes!" Li Jie agreed upon hearing this, and then explained to Mu Sheng about the Japanese silver mine. Only he and Lao Zhu and his son knew about this, and even Zhu Di didn't know about it now.

When Mu Sheng heard that Japan actually had a silver mine with an annual output of millions of taels of silver, he opened his mouth in shock. At the same time, he finally understood why the imperial court spent so much effort to manage Goryeo and Japan, and had such great benefits, even if it was worth it to directly send troops to destroy Japan.

"So that's it! So that's it!" After Li Jie finished speaking, Mu Sheng also slapped his face excitedly. He originally thought he was just sent to Goryeo, but now he finally realized that the ultimate goal of the court was Japan, and perhaps their Iron Arctic Army would one day board the territory of Japan.

"It's good if you know. Apart from me, the prince and Li Jie, only you know about this matter now. But when you go to Goryeo, you can find an opportunity to tell Lao Si about it so that he can know it!" Lao Zhu couldn't help but smile when he saw Mu Sheng, when he first learned the news, he was similar to Mu Sheng.

"Yes! Grandson understands!" Mu Sheng immediately saluted. At the same time, he also knew that His Majesty told him about this matter, and mainly asked him to tell the King of Yan. After all, such matters are not convenient to write in letters, and it is not safe to tell others. In comparison, it is better to tell him on his behalf.

Li Jie smiled slightly when he saw this. In fact, in addition to the Ishimi Silver Mine, Japan also has a huge gold mine called Sado Jinshan, which is located on Sado Island and is also a gold-silver-related mine. It is said that in the 17th century, the output reached the world's largest.

Sado Island is an isolated island that is easier to be occupied by the Ming Dynasty, but Sado Island is located in the northwest of Honshu, far from Koryo, far away from Ishimi Silver Mine.

Another point is that if the Ming Dynasty only focused on a small island like Sado Island and even let Japan go, then the plan after Li Jie would not be implemented. Therefore, for a longer-term plan, Li Jie temporarily concealed the situation of Sado Jinshan. When the Ming Dynasty controlled the entire Japan, it would not be too late to mine Sado Jinshan then.

Old Zhu reminded Mu Sheng to pay attention to some things that need to be paid attention to, and then asked him to go back and prepare. After all, Mu Sheng will leave tomorrow. Although he was prepared in advance, there will definitely be some things, especially the thousands of Tiecai Army, and the destruction of these people is not a trivial matter.

Mu Sheng said goodbye and left, but Li Jie did not follow him, but stayed, which made Lao Zhu look at him curiously and asked, "Why, do you have anything else?"

"Your Majesty, I do have something to report." Li Jie replied with a dry cough.

"If you have something to say, don't go around the corner!" Old Zhu waved his hand. He attached more and more importance to Li Jie, but there was a problem with Li Jie that made him hate him, that was, he liked to go around the corner, which was exactly the same as the ministers in the court.

"Yes!" Li Jie agreed, and then organized a speech before saying, "When I passed by Sanshankou yesterday, I encountered another prisoner who was executed. It is said that all were murderous crimes, and they were indeed damned people, but I suddenly felt sorry for these people!"

"What a pity? What a pity for a group of death row prisoners?" Old Zhu asked with wide eyes when he heard this.

"Of course, death row prisoners should die, but just killing them with just one knife is too cheap. Now the King of Yan can pacify Goryeo very soon. Next, I will find a way to control Shi Jian. Mining, smelting, etc. will require a lot of manpower and material resources. Although you can hire Japanese people, they are not my race after all, so I think you can use these death row prisoners to waste!" Li Jie said at the end and took a look at Lao Zhu's face.

Lao Zhu is a ruthless man who kills people without blinking, which is also related to his experience. As a person who rushed into the palace and seized the throne from the bottom of society, Lao Zhu has long ignored human life, so he often likes to use the most rude methods to solve problems. For example, killing is the most common method, so Lao Zhu killed a lot of people when he was in power. The Hu Weiyong case alone involved tens of thousands of people, which shows how cruel Lao Zhu is.

"What do you mean is to change those death row prisoners to exile?" Lao Zhu pondered for a moment before speaking after hearing this.

Seeing that Lao Zhu was not angry, Li Jie secretly breathed a sigh of relief and nodded immediately, "Your Majesty is wise. This is what I mean. Instead of killing the prisoners with one knife, it is better to exile them to Japan. It is overseas. Without the permission of the court, they will never come back in their lives. Moreover, if they want to survive, they can only rely on the court and help the court to work and forgive their crimes. Even if they are exhausted, they will not feel distressed!"

In fact, this method was not original to Li Jie. The British Empire, which later generations claimed that the sun never set, exiled domestic prisoners overseas. Among them, Australia was the exile place for British prisoners, and all prisoners such as murder, rape, robbery were sent to Australia. Therefore, Australia in later generations was actually a descendant of a group of extremely vicious prisoners. Most of the prisoners had various defects in their minds, and it was normal for their descendants to do some inexplicable things.

Lao Zhu once again showed a contemplative expression, as if he was considering the pros and cons of this matter. In fact, exiled prisoners were also very common in the Central Plains dynasty, especially during the Song Dynasty, when officials who violated the law would be exiled, and the Ming Dynasty also had the crime of exile, but most of them were targeted for certain specific crimes. If they committed a death sentence, they would definitely be beheaded.

"I need to discuss this with the Ministry of Justice and Dali Temple, but it should not be a big problem!" Finally, Zhu Yuanzhang finally nodded.

Li Jie felt relieved when he heard this. As long as Lao Zhu nodded, the matter would be more than half successful, and the Ministry of Justice and Dali Temple should not object.

The reason why Li Jie suggested changing death row prisoners to exile was not because of the bodhisattva's heart, but because of the actual situation, the Ming Dynasty has only been established for more than 20 years. Although the number of people in China has gradually increased, at most it has only a few tens of millions of people. In later generations, it is only the total population of a first-tier city. It is really difficult to start the era of navigation with this little people.

Therefore, in Li Jie's view, every life is precious. Even death row prisoners must offer the last light and heat to the Ming Dynasty, contribute to the Ming Dynasty's maritime hegemony, and never let them die easily.

"It's a coincidence that the Ministry of Justice recently sent a memorial and also talked about the death row prisoners. I originally planned to adopt their opinions. In addition to the unforgivable death row crimes, other death row prisoners can be exempted from death row crimes as long as they can raise a batch of food to the northern border. Now you propose to exile overseas, I think it's better than the advice of the Ministry of Justice." Zhu Yuanzhang suddenly spoke again at this time.

What Lao Zhu said was actually the "death crime and the death penalty will be redeemed by the law" in the early Ming Dynasty. This is a special law. The so-called ten evils refer to the ten serious crimes of rebellion, great rebellion, evil rebellion, unrighteousness, great disrespect, unfiliality, dishonestness, unrighteousness, unrighteousness and civil strife. The specific situation must be divided into the ten major crimes of rebellion, great rebellion, and civil unrest.

For example, if two strangers have a dispute, and one side kills the other, this does not belong to the ten evils, but if one side kills the other side and then kills the other side's entire family, this belongs to the "unrighteousness" among the ten evils. If the deceased is the direct relative of the prisoner, it belongs to the "evil rebellion" among the ten evils. These were clearly stipulated in the law during the Sui Dynasty, and the Ming Dynasty also used them.

Li Jie didn't know the "a case of losing money for the death penalty and redeeming grain for self-repellent", but he heard a problem from Lao Zhu's words, so he immediately asked: "Is there a shortage of food in the north now?"
Chapter completed!