Chapter 295 Anyone who betrays the Ming Dynasty will be punished by the Ming Dynasty
North Korean envoy Cui Chonghong is now becoming more and more anxious and uneasy. He does not understand why the senior officials and emperor of the Ming Dynasty have refused to see him again.
Cui Chonghong originally wanted to take advantage of this opportunity to be envoy to the Ming Dynasty to plead with the Ming Dynasty to stop requiring his country to build Confucius Temples and Confucius Institutes, and to waive the loans his country had taken from the World Investment Bank.
Of course, Cui Chonghong also knew that it would be difficult to persuade the Ming Emperor about this matter.
So he thought about using money to bribe Ming officials to help him achieve this, but he did not expect that his bribery was actually rejected by Xi Shu, the left minister of the Ministry of Rites, a Ming official!
But now, he didn't even see an important Ming official.
Even the gifts and banquets that should have been given as tribute did not appear, let alone allowing the envoys to trade with the people in the capital.
After a long time, Xi Shu, the left minister of the Ministry of Rites, came to see Cui Chonghao.
Upon seeing Cui Chonghao, Xi Shu handed a newspaper about the new foreign policy of the Ming Dynasty to Cui Chonghao: "Envoy Cui, you can take this and take a look at it later. I just want to ask you now, is your country a Ming Dynasty?" The vassal genus? ”
Cui Chonghao still didn't know that Zhu Houzhao had changed the foreign policy of the Ming Dynasty. When he saw the book, he took a newspaper in front of him. He also knew that this was a relatively popular thing in the Ming Dynasty. He knew that this was called a newspaper, but now he only saw the masthead of the newspaper. What was written on the page was "The Cabinet's Resolution on Reforming the Tribute System and Foreign Policy." He didn't know the specific content, so when Xi Shu asked this question, he subconsciously replied:
"The Ming Dynasty is naturally the suzerain state of our country, and Korea is naturally the vassal state of the Ming Dynasty!"
"In this case, I will give you three tips now:
First, you need to go back to North Korea now and bring a copy of your North Korean population book to me, Daming;
Second, you need to provide the same amount of silver dollars as the population as tribute. Of course, you can use the mining rights, territorial leasing rights and customs rights with the same amount of silver dollars as collateral. You need to discuss it yourself;
Third, you can now rent a house in my country as the embassy of your country, and ask your king to send an official to be stationed in my country! ”
Xi Shu said goodbye to Cui Chonghong.
Cui Chonghong was confused after hearing Xi Shu's three-point reminder. He had no choice but to pick up the newspaper and read it carefully. But the more he read, the angrier he became, and in the end he couldn't help but snap the newspaper. There was a slap on the table:
"It's too much to bully others, it's really too much to bully others! How can this be done by a suzerain country! I, North Korea, will never accept such a suzerain country!"
Cui Chonghong was very angry. He did not expect that the Ming court would propose such a foreign policy.
Of course, Cui Chonghong now also knows that it is impossible for him to want the Ming Dynasty to cancel the requirement for North Korea to build Confucius Temples and Confucius Institutes, and it is even more impossible to exempt North Korea from its loans from the World Investment Bank.
but.
Cui Chonghong was still unwilling to return to North Korea empty-handed.
Cui Chonghong now only hopes that Ming Dynasty can return gifts and give his mission the opportunity to trade. After all, they bring so many goods that need to be sold.
At the same time, Cui Chonghong also hoped to get the opportunity to give a banquet so that he could personally lobby the Ming Emperor Zhu Houzhao, hoping that the Ming Emperor Zhu Houzhao would give up such excessive demands so as not to lose the opportunity of his own country.
but.
Zhu Houzhao did not want to give Cui Chonghong a banquet. As the head of the Ming Dynasty, he naturally wanted to give a banquet to enhance the feelings of the officials of his own country.
But for foreign officials like Cui Chonghong, he has no such intention. After all, there are only eternal interests between countries, and there can be no so-called feelings.
Because once Zhu Houzhao wants to help a certain country because of his feelings for that country, he will only lose the interests of his own people.
Of course, Zhu Houzhao had no intention of returning the tribute paid by the North Korean mission.
Originally, North Korea was still a vassal of the Ming Dynasty, and there was no need to return the tributes offered by the vassal.
besides.
Zhu Houzhao also issued an expulsion order and directly asked the cabinet to convey Jun's edict to the Ministry of Rites, instructing the Ministry of Rites to require Cui Chonghong to leave the Ming Dynasty within one month and inform the Ming Dynasty of the decision of his own country, North Korea, before the Mid-Autumn Festival next year.
As a foreigner, you are not allowed to stay in Daming for a long time.
Cui Chonghong therefore had no choice but to leave the capital when the one-month deadline was about to come.
When Cui Chonghong left the Huitong Hall of the Capital, he stomped on the ground of the Huitong Hall several times, then got into the carriage and galloped back to North Korea.
King Li Yi of North Korea was furious after learning about Ming Dynasty's new foreign policy. He overturned the table and immediately stated that North Korea would no longer regard Ming Dynasty as its suzerainty.
Moreover, King Li Yi of North Korea also ordered the suspension of the construction of existing Confucius Temples and Confucius Institutes, and no longer repaid North Korea's loans from the Ming Dynasty World Investment Bank. He was not even willing to send so-called ambassadors to the capital of the Ming Dynasty. In their eyes, Sending an ambassador here is no different than sending a hostage.
Therefore, North Korean officials also pushed each other to the point that no one wanted to come to Ming Dynasty to be an ambassador.
Zhu Houzhao guessed that the North Korean Congress refused to do this, but he was not angry because of this. Originally, he was doing this to force these so-called vassal states away to prevent Ming Dynasty from being unable to carry out capitalist expansion without pressure in the future.
But now these vassal states such as Korea have betrayed the Ming Dynasty and no longer recognize the Ming Dynasty as their suzerain state, which also allows the Ming Dynasty to have no pressure to eliminate these countries in the future.
However, Zhu Houzhao still asked the spokesperson of the Ministry of Rites, Xu Jie, a Jinshi of Guanzheng, the host and guest, to make an official statement on North Korea no longer recognizing the Ming Dynasty as its suzerainty.
"I and the Ming court express great regret that North Korea no longer recognizes Ming as its suzerain. At the same time, Ming is also extremely angry at North Korea's betrayal of the suzerain!
Therefore, Daming hopes that North Korea can correct its current mistakes as soon as possible, and wants the king of North Korea to apologize for his reckless behavior and compensate Daming for a sum of money. Otherwise, Daming will attack the entire country! ”
After Xu Jie's words were reported in newspapers, they aroused great repercussions among the people of the Ming Dynasty. Therefore, they also shocked the conservative Confucian officials.
but.
Zhu Houzhao therefore asked the Border Army General Staff to begin to establish the main strategy for future operations, especially against North Korea.
However, Zhu Houzhao also knew that if he wanted the Ming Empire to continue to control North Korea and obtain more benefits from North Korea, the Ming Dynasty needed to control Liaodong first and manage Liaodong well.
Because of this, the development of Liaodong is still the most important thing.
But there is still an unstable force on the Liaodong flank, and that is Duoyan Wei's Huadang.
Zhu Houzhao has received many requests from Huadang to increase tribute envoys, but he has not agreed because he knows that increasing the number of tribute envoys in Duoyan Guard will increase the number of rewards, and Ming Dynasty will suffer even greater losses.
Today, the southern part of the Ming Dynasty has begun industrialized production of steam. The industrial revolution brought about by steam power has allowed the Ming Dynasty's products to quickly seize the global trade market.
The treasury revenue of the Ming Empire also increased sharply.
However, the disadvantages brought by the steam industry also began to appear, especially after Zhu Houzhao allowed the Royal Industrial Company to sell steam spinning machines and looms, all major traditional textile workshops were upgraded or went bankrupt, and the original textile workers also Laid off and unemployed.
The problem of increasing unemployment is what Zhu Houzhao wants to solve. After all, people have to earn money to support their families.
Zhu Houzhao's solution was also very simple: increase military strength, expand military preparations for war, and draw a large number of unemployed people into the army.
"When the common people cannot become producers, then they can only be turned into combatants in the empire's foreign wars, so that they can gain wealth in foreign wars!"
This is what Zhu Houzhao said to Gui E, Minister of War.
Now he finds that he has no other way to solve the problem of domestic unemployment except by launching a war.
But what is the purpose of launching a war? Is it to seize other people's property and enjoy it yourself? This can only be a primitive way of plundering, a way of survival for animals, by depriving you of your life and inheriting everything from you.
The reason why humans are more intelligent than animals is because humans are civilized and have more reasonable ways of exploitation.
Zhu Houzhao wants to start a war now not to deprive anyone of his life, but to use the war to get more people to pay him protection fees. It is better to rule a person than to kill him and ask him to pay him a certain amount of money. The protection fee can guarantee that you will not kill him. In this way, you can rule this person for a long time and gain long-term benefits by collecting the protection fee.
If the unemployed people in the South do not move to the North to compete for interests by launching a war, then they will only launch rebellions in the South and compete for the interests of all classes of people in the South. If they move to the North, they can avoid unrest in the South, and at the same time, they can The war brought about immigration, transferring a large amount of excess labor in the south to the north to develop resources.
But this is easy to say, but it is not easy to do. It takes time and needs to be done well in all aspects.
The situation in the outside world is not always stable, and even the inconvenience of transportation and the lag of news make it difficult for the emperor Zhu Houzhao to see direct results in a short time when he wants to do something.
Now, the only thing he can do is to ask the Ministry of Rites to announce to the world that North Korea has betrayed the Ming Dynasty and express that the Ming court is very angry, and give North Korea a final warning, so that all the officials and gentry of the Ming Dynasty will know about it, thus creating a better future for the country. The subsequent military operations gained popular support.
But sometimes, the reactions of the officials and gentry of the empire to the court's actions were not highly consistent. For example, this time, Zhu Houzhao asked the Ministry of Rites to speak, denounced North Korea's betrayal of the Ming Dynasty and warned North Korea. Some Confucian scholars went against the mainstream argument. , it is said that the Ming Dynasty was unjust in the first place, and the Ming Dynasty should forgive North Korea's reckless actions, be kind to North Korea, and take the initiative to forgive the loans owed by North Korea.
Fortunately, the people of the Ming Dynasty are not all such saints, at least most of them are not, and some people laugh at these Confucian scholars because they do not know that they can live in this peaceful and prosperous age. The reason why they have the strength to criticize the imperial court is because the imperial court avoids wealth by plundering foreign countries. Only by preventing the people from being in chaos did the world remain peaceful, and even scholars could receive educational subsidies from the court.
Because of this, Zhu Houzhao's subsequent order to the Ministry of War to recruit troops and expand the army did not arouse the opposition of most people in the world. In addition to expanding the army and increasing military expenditures to solve the unemployment problem in the south and enhance the deterrent effect on the Duoyan Guards, Zhu Houzhao also asked the cabinet to issue another decree to encourage the people in the pass to leave the customs and settle down in Liaodong. The people cultivated wasteland by themselves, and it means that the land cultivated by the people themselves belongs directly to them and is tax-free for the first three years.
After all, if we really want to control Liaodong, stationing troops alone is not enough. A large number of people must move here to provide sufficient logistical support. Especially in this situation where there are no convenient means of transportation and traffic conditions, if we want to make Liaodong truly To become a place where the Ming Dynasty's rule is stable, it must have enough Han people as its foundation.
Moreover, allowing enough people in Liaodong to move here will also be more beneficial for the Ming Dynasty in the future to manage the Nurgandusi region further north outside the customs.
In fact, outside the immigration customs, private immigration has never stopped, especially after the road introduction system was abolished.
A large number of Han people moved to settle in the Hetao and Liaodong areas, either to cultivate wasteland or to do business with the Mongols and Jurchens.
At this time, Kaiping City was already an important trading center for the Ming Dynasty north of the Luanhe River outside the Pass.
Some Mongolian tribes belonging to the Yongxiebu, Ordos, and Tumut tribes, as well as the Mongols from the Duoyan Sanwei and some Jurchens, would gather here to trade with the people of the Ming Dynasty.
Originally, Kaiping City was the Kaiping Guard of the Ming Dynasty before Xuande. It was the gateway to the Xuanfu and an important military town!
However, since the Yongle period, the climate began to turn cold, which made it increasingly difficult for the Ming Dynasty to farm in Kaipingwei, and food transportation became increasingly difficult. Zhu Zhanji, Emperor Xuanzong of the Ming Dynasty, ordered the Kaipingwei to be moved to Dushibao.
Now, Kaiping City has returned to the territory of the Ming Dynasty because the little prince was eliminated and the border troops retaken the city.
Of course, due to the colder climate, mainly due to the gradual worsening of the small glacier climate phenomenon, Kaiping City today is still not suitable for farming, but fortunately there is trade to maintain it, and the empire's financial resources increase, it can maintain the food supply in this area, and Kaiping The city has convenient transportation that leads directly to Xuanfu and Datong, and can also lead directly to the capital through the Datong cement road.
Therefore, today's Kaiping City has not declined due to the cold weather, but has become more and more prosperous.
Now that the weather is getting warmer, the Mongols who live near Kaiping City have also begun to come out to herd. Of course, they will also come to Kaiping City at this time to trade with the Han people, selling the beef and mutton they accumulated in the winter to the Han people, and the Han people canned it. They were sold to the mainland, and the Mongols would also buy tea and salt from the Han people.
Kaiping is now a county of the Ming Dynasty, but it is under the jurisdiction of the Xuanfu. Although Xuanfu is already a prefecture, it is still one of the nine military towns of the Ming Dynasty. The Ming army is still stationed in Kaiping City.
Currently stationed in Kaiping is a regiment of the border army, totaling more than 2,000 people.
However, the more than 2,000 people in the frontier army did not manage the government affairs of Kaiping City. The government affairs of Kaiping City were managed by the county magistrate Zhang Cong. At the same time, Zhang Cong also served as the commander of the frontier army regiment and was responsible for the frontier army regiment. Logistics and political work.
Moreover, the county magistrate Zhang Cong himself was from the military, but because he was mainly engaged in civilian work, he was appointed as the magistrate of Kaiping County by Wang Shouren, the commander-in-chief.
Of course, Zhang Cong does not manage the military tasks of the border army. The person who manages the military tasks of the frontier army is the guerrilla general Gui Yong of the regiment.
But there is no war at the moment. In addition, the border army regiment is stationed in Kaiping only because of the recent change of personnel in the Xuanfu government. It was changed from the Guards to the border army, and was then assigned to Kaiping to strengthen defense.
Therefore, in addition to sending out daily reconnaissance overnight to detect suspicious signs, Gui Yong still thinks about when to ask his superiors to transfer him back to the Guards, so that he can join the original brothers of the Guards. Open up new territories.
However, there are some officers and soldiers who are not Gui Yong. Tian Deng now only wants to settle down in Kaiping City and honestly be a border army officer who maintains Kaiping's security.
Therefore, Tian Deng was very serious about maintaining the tranquility of this area. He would also get along with the Mongols in Kaiping City and did not bully others because he was an officer of the Guards.
Not only Tian Deng, because of trade relations, the Han people and Mongolian people in Kaiping City get along harmoniously and harmoniously.
"Uncle Kule, you brought a lot of wool this time. Each cart and cart is enough for you to exchange for a hundred silver dollars!"
Shan Tai, a Guards soldier of the reconnaissance company, was on horseback chatting with the Mongolian man from Kule. He himself was from Monolith Castle and was familiar with the Mongolian people, and this Kule also danced in a pleasant manner. Getting out of the car: "Isn't it? It's all thanks to you teaching us the anti-epidemic methods, otherwise the plague in Daning last year would have caused us to lose a lot of sheep!"
Shan Tai just smiled and said, "Then you can quickly transport it to the city for sale. I'll go over there and have a look! When the time comes, load the tea bricks into the car. Remember to call me for help!"
With that said, Shan Tai rode towards the Meng people who were dismounting and resting on the opposite side. Because these Meng people were very familiar with each other, as a man who didn't take in the night, he was originally cautious.
But at this time, Culler couldn't help but sigh, and immediately turned around, unable to bear to see the scene behind him.
"Master, we are from the Horqin tribe. It is our first time to do business in Kaiping City. May I ask if the tax in Kaiping City is high now?"
At this time, as soon as Shan Tai got off his horse, a Mongolian man came over and asked Shan Tai.
Shan Tai had no choice but to reply: "The tax is not high. It's the same as in Yulin. Because of the plague last year, the court exempted 30% of the tax. You only need to go to the Kaiping County Shipping Department to pay the tax once. After you get the voucher, you can go to the customs They will no longer be taxed.”
Phew!
As soon as Shan Tai finished speaking, he was stabbed by the Mongolian man, and immediately his mouth was covered by another Mongolian man, and his head was also twisted off.
Shan Tai just fell to the ground, his eyes widening in shock.
The Mongolian old man Kule heard the sound of Shan Tai being killed, but he still just sighed and continued to greet other Han people.
At this time, another Ye Busuo of the reconnaissance company of the border army was attacked by a Mongolian man, pinned down behind the carriage and hacked to death with random knives.
General Tian of the reconnaissance company of the regiment saw the artillery exposed in Nakule's wool-loading car. He noticed it for a moment and turned around immediately. When he was near Kaiping City, he immediately shouted: "Hurry up." Close the city gate! Let all the people retreat into the city!”
At the same time, Tian Deng ordered the few people around him to say: "Go to the city immediately and inform the guerrilla generals and Zhang County magistrate! The Tatars are not here to do business!"
With that said, Tian Deng fell back and shouted loudly: "The reconnaissance company will follow me and drive the people back to the city immediately! These Tatars are here to kill!"
As Tian Deng said this, he immediately organized his own people to drive the Ming people who were going out of the city to do business with the Mongols into the city.
……
After everyone entered the city, the gate of Kaiping City was immediately closed.
The opening of the market for the first time after the arrival of spring in Kaiping City was beyond everyone's expectations. However, at this moment, they gradually gathered outside Kaiping City. The Mongolian cavalry, which was as dense as a jungle, told Kaiping City directly and clearly. All the officials and people here, these Mongols are indeed here with bad intentions. They are here to attack the city, to plunder, and to kill!
The corpses of several border soldiers lying in a pool of blood outside the city also proved this.
"Grandma, I'm going to kill these fools!"
The border troops were holding their muskets seriously and were about to shoot at the Mongolian people who were also hiding in Kaiping City. The Mongols outside the city took advantage of the trust of the border troops in them to bring a large number of Mongolian cavalry here and killed them. His brother naturally made him lose his mind.
Kaiping City, like other newly built cities in Daming Border Town, is also a mixed city of Han and Mongolian people. Even in Kaiping City, Mongolians still account for the majority.
These Mongolians have settled in Kaiping City and are engaged in industries such as construction, mining, transportation and even trade. Some even study and teach in Kaiping City.
Now, the appearance of the Mongolian army outside the city also made these Mongolians who had settled in Kaiping City and regarded themselves as Ming people also very surprised and panicked.
When Yan Heng couldn't control himself and wanted to shoot and kill these men, these men became even more frightened, and the scene became even more chaotic.
"Stop!"
But at this time, guerrilla Gui Yong shouted, and came over with a short-handled handgun newly made by the imperial court. He directly snatched the musket from Yan Heng's hand and shouted: "What's the point of killing people here? Save a bullet. Go kill the Tatars outside the city!”
"But the general treats them as common people, but they don't regard us as their own!"
Yan Heng replied loudly that this frontier army was originally adapted from the Guards and emphasized equality between officers and soldiers, so Yan Heng dared to reply loudly to Gui Yong.
"Then do you want to force them to rebel?!" Gui Yong also asked loudly.
Yan Heng was unable to argue for a moment, so he only stepped back, cupped his hands and said: "In that case, I will be punished for my humble position!"
Gui Yong snorted and ignored Yan Heng.
At this time, Tian Deng came over: "General, I think that even if I don't kill them, I will drive them out of the city because they are not of my race. Although they are all unarmed people, there is no guarantee that they will be mixed with others." Spies, there are so many Tatar cavalry coming to attack Kaiping City. If Kaiping City wants to be defended, we must prevent spies from attacking the Tatars outside the city.”
After hearing this, Gui Yong felt that Tian Deng was right and was about to agree. At this time, a Mongolian suddenly shouted: "General! The common people beg you, don't drive us out of the city. We really have nothing to do with those outside." It’s a relationship! We will only be captured and used as slaves after we go out. We finally settled here, got married, had children, and established a family. If you drive us out of the city, we will be homeless, woohoo!” >
"Yes, general, don't drive us out of the city, they will kill us!"
These Mongolian people all begged and begged. They knew better than anyone else that the cavalry of the Mongolian nobles were no softer than the Han people in killing their own people. Basically, everyone who crossed the wheel would be killed! So they didn't want to be kicked out of the city.
(End of chapter)