Emperor's Armed Forces in the Warring States

Chapter 28 - Australia and Surroundings Around 1568

This is the beginning of a new chapter.

- Yamaga

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28-1

Now, as mentioned a little while ago, Australia around 1568 was brimming with a gold rush.

The trigger for this was...

"I thought it was time to get aggressive with mineral exploration."

"Mineral exploration, indeed."

"Very well, upon discreetly inquiring with former imperial army personnel, it seems that various minerals, including gold, are dormant in this (Australia) continent. Shall we actively search for them?"

Shortly after Fujitaka Hosokawa, who had been dispatched to North America in 1565, returned to Japan, he made such a proposal to Yoshiteru Ashikaga.

"Wouldn't it be possible for us to have our stomachs probed uncomfortably from the Japanese mainland? It seems sufficient to leisurely expand farmland here, but..."

However, Yoshiteru was initially not very enthusiastic. In fact, the colonization of Australia around this time was progressing quite smoothly, and as a result, people were beginning to live prosperously. Yoshiteru himself, although he hadn't been blessed with children with his legitimate wife, Lady Konoe clan (the daughter of Tanemichi Konoe and the sister of Sakihisa Konoe), had been blessed with a son and three daughters with a concubine, leading a satisfied family life.

Ironically, Lady Konoe was accustomed to the current situation of cohabitation with wives and concubines, having observed the family lives of her father and brothers. Therefore, Lady Konoe was satisfied when the concubine designated her as the legitimate wife and promptly handed over the male child born by the concubine as the heir to the Ashikaga family. While the concubine was not entirely without inner dissatisfaction, she reluctantly accepted the situation, raising three daughters and managing to find some satisfaction in that.

However, in response to Yoshiteru's words, Fujitaka strongly advocated.

"To advance the development of places like Australia, manpower is essential. However, waves of people from Japan are heading to North and South America, and people are being drawn from places like Australia to North and South America, causing a serious shortage of manpower. The only way to stop this is to actively explore minerals here in Australia and, if possible, discover gold."

"Hmm, indeed."

Fujitaka's words were somewhat beyond the scope of a subject's opinion, but Yoshiteru could not help but agree. In fact, places like Australia were struggling with a shortage of manpower, and development was stagnating.

From Yoshiteru's perspective, gradually increasing the population and resolving the labor shortage to promote development seemed like a good idea. However, the current situation in Australia, where there were far more sheep than people, made it understandable that Fujitaka (and those who argued that the manpower shortage should be addressed) would have complaints and try to gather people. And, the most effective way to gather people (in the 1560s) seemed to be...

Certainly, finding gold and silver attracted people in pursuit of them.

"Very well. Let's do our best and explore as much as we can. I hope we can get more convenient in finding gold. The knowledge brought by the Imperial forces is not flawless. Just because the Imperial forces believe it's there and go there doesn't mean the item will be found or that its quality will be as expected."

"That's true, but it's rare for nothing to be found at all, and I've also heard that good things have been found. There shouldn't be any harm in searching."