The Three Kingdoms: I asked you to save Guan Yu, not to destroy Sun Quan.

Chapter 554 The Gold and Silver Mountains of Japan

Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang's faces darkened simultaneously, their eyes filled with murderous intent as they looked at the letter Wang Fu had delivered.

The tiny Japanese nation actually slaughtered 35 million people in the Central Plains. You should know that the total population of the Han Dynasty is not even 35 million. The damned Japanese nation actually slaughtered the entire Han Dynasty.

Not to mention the 300,000 men in Jianye. At that time, Jianye was the capital. Slaughtering the capital was tantamount to slapping the face of the entire Han Dynasty. Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang, who had never experienced the capital being breached by foreign tribes, could never accept such a thing.

Liu Bei gritted his teeth and said, "If what you say is true, then Japan should be destroyed. Since you hate Japan so much, you must have already thought of a way to deal with it. Why don't you tell me?"

Guan Xing considered his words carefully before saying, "The Great Han is currently unable to launch a long-distance expedition across the sea, so we can only let Japan deal with Japan. Isn't Yamatai Kingdom at war with the Dog Nur Kingdom? We need to find a way to increase the intensity of this war and make them fight even more fiercely."

"Your Majesty and strategist may not know this, but Japan is a small country with scarce resources. It has neither coal nor iron mines, but it does have a silver mine. We don't know what it's called now, but we will call it the Iwami Silver Mine in later generations."

"This Iwami Silver Mine is one of the top ten silver mines in the world, with a total reserve of more than 20 million tons. A ton is a unit of measurement used in later times, and one ton is equal to two thousand catties."

Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang's eyes lit up at the same time, and they began to mentally calculate how much 20 million tons equaled.

Guan Xing continued, "The mining volume of the Iwami Silver Mine once exceeded one-third of the global total. To put it simply, even if we didn't bring all of the Iwami Silver Mine back, mining only two or three tenths of it would have been enough to change the currency of the Han Dynasty from brass to silver. And that's exactly what happened in later generations. Silver replaced brass as the currency, and most of this silver flowed into the Central Plains from the Iwami Silver Mine."

Upon hearing this, Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang simultaneously revealed an unprecedented greed in their eyes.

That means this silver mountain is enormous, with an extraction volume exceeding one-third of the global total. It's truly exciting to think about.

Let alone a third, even a tenth would be enough to tempt the impoverished Liu Bei to launch a war of annihilation.

Then bring back silver to replace brass as currency. Even if Liu Bei didn't understand economics, he understood the enormous profits involved.

Japan cannot control this silver mountain; it must be entrusted to him for safekeeping.

Thinking of this, Liu Bei quickly asked, "Who currently controls the Iwami Silver Mine, the Yamatai Kingdom or the Gounu Kingdom?"

Guan Xing replied irrelevantly, "Japan has not only silver mines but also gold mines, but the gold mines are not as concentrated as the Iwami Silver Mine; they are more scattered. I seem to remember reading somewhere that Japan has as many as four or five hundred gold mines, the largest of which has reserves of seventy or eighty tons. Seventy or eighty tons of gold, Your Majesty, would you like it?"

Liu Bei's legs were trembling with excitement. He had never seen so much gold in his more than sixty years of life. Hearing this, he scolded in annoyance, "Stop talking nonsense and tell me where the gold mines are. This is all my money!"

Guan Xing spread his hands and said, "I don't know. Japan is currently in the Yayoi period, or to put it bluntly, the primitive era. They don't have the ability to mine silver. In other words, in terms of time, the gold and silver mountains have not yet been discovered by Japan and are still buried underground."

"So we need to get those bastards from the Dog Slave Kingdom to help us find the silver mountain, and have them help us grow crops and build infrastructure. Once the Dog Slave Kingdom has arranged everything, we'll go and take it over directly. After all, hard mining is no substitute for direct robbery, right?"

Liu Bei's eyes lit up with excitement, and he said, "That's a good idea. We still have to launch the Northern Expedition, so we don't have time to go on a distant expedition to Japan. In that case, why don't we let the Japanese do their best to get the preliminary work done for the court? That way, once the Northern Expedition is successful, we can go and take over directly. What do you think, strategist?"

Zhuge Liang echoed, "I think it's feasible. With the rest and recuperation plus the northern expedition, it will take at least four or five years. That's enough time for the Dog Slave Kingdom to find and mine the silver mine. But how can we get the Dog Slave Kingdom to take this matter seriously? Anguo, you should already have an idea, right?"

Guan Xing laughed and said, "The timing of the envoy from the Dog Slave Kingdom's arrival is very opportune. It is just at the crucial moment of Your Majesty's coronation. Since they have come to participate in Your Majesty's coronation ceremony, Your Majesty will surely reward them afterwards, thereby demonstrating the style of a superior suzerain state, won't he?"

"Furthermore, the purpose of the envoy from the Dog Slave Kingdom's visit is to ask Your Majesty to send troops to help them deal with the Yamatai Kingdom. This is a golden opportunity for us to intervene in the Japanese Kingdom. Therefore, I suggest that Your Majesty, in the name of the Celestial Empire, bestow upon the envoy from the Dog Slave Kingdom a batch of weapons for them to take back. Not many are needed, a few hundred swords will suffice."

Zhuge Liang waved his fan and laughed, "This is a good idea. It avoids the embarrassment of Your Majesty not being able to send troops to help, satisfies the needs of the Dog Slave Kingdom, and intensifies the civil war in Japan. It's a win-win-win situation. But aren't a few hundred swords a bit too few?"

Guan Xing shook his head and said, "Absolutely a lot. Japan's productivity is extremely low at present. Japanese soldiers are probably still using bronze weapons. Hundreds of Han Dynasty swords can definitely change the local battle situation and increase the intensity of the Japanese civil war."

"Furthermore, the reward is just a free gift, a small token of our appreciation. There's no need to give too much, after all, our steel didn't come from thin air."

"Furthermore, weapons are consumables; they will dull and wear down. Hundreds of swords won't last more than a few days. Once they're used up, the Dog Slave Kingdom will definitely need to replenish them with new ones. But we can no longer expect the King to give them away for free. If they want weapons, they can only buy them from the Great Han. At this point, we can set conditions and tell the Dog Slave Kingdom that they can buy weapons, but they must pay with silver or gold. In this way, in order to raise money to buy weapons, they will actively look for mines and find the locations of the Ishimi Silver Mine and other gold mines for us."

"And then there's Yamatai. After being brutally beaten by the dog-slave nation wielding the new weapons of the Han Dynasty, Yamatai will certainly not be willing to accept defeat for nothing. They will definitely investigate the source of the weapons. At that time, we will use the same method to sell weapons to Yamatai and let them fight like dogs to the death."

"In addition to selling weapons, we also need to sell a batch of agricultural tools and teach them how to cultivate the land to increase Japan's grain production. That way, when we send troops to take over Japan in four or five years, we won't need to transfer grain from our own country."

Japan is too backward now, so backward that it can't be squeezed out of any resources. Therefore, it needs appropriate support. We should provide Japan with advanced technologies in farming and exploration so that it can work for the Han Dynasty more quickly and efficiently.

Pigs need to be fattened up before they can be slaughtered!

As for whether doing so would pose a threat to the Han Dynasty, there is absolutely no need to worry. Japan's territory is too small and its foundation too weak. Even if its productivity catches up, its strength will not be much stronger. In the short term, let alone invading the Han Dynasty, it will not even be able to defeat the Gongsun family in Liaodong. Do they really think the Han Dynasty is a scourge that always pays tribute in war?

Besides, there's Guan Anguo. As long as Guan Xing is alive, he will never let Japan turn the tables. Even if he is defeated by Cao Pi, he can lead his remaining troops to Japan and wipe out those dwarfs.

Liu Bei said speechlessly, "Selling weapons to both sides at the same time, watching them fight while you make money, you're quite adept at this trick. Did you do it often in your time?"

Guan Xing protested, "Your Majesty, you have wronged me. How could a commoner like me get involved in such national-level business?"

Liu Bei waved his hand and laughed, "Alright, stop playing the victim. You're in charge of selling weapons to Japan. I'm not involved, and if anything goes wrong, it's none of my business. Get lost!"

“Look…” Guan Xing turned and left.

After he left, Liu Bei smiled broadly at Zhuge Liang and said, "Iwami Silver Mine, four or five hundred gold mines of various sizes, that's a huge sum of money. We were just preparing to conquer the world when Japan sent us money. It's like a pillow being handed to us when we were just about to fall asleep."

Zhuge Liang was equally delighted and said, "Yes, there are so many things that can be done with such a huge sum of money. Even the Grand Canal that Your Majesty has been longing for can be put on the agenda."

"Hahahaha..." The emperor and his minister exchanged a glance and burst into laughter at the same time.