Without money, what is the point of being a traitor?

Chapter 553: The Storm of the Vassal State
As a result, within a few years, North Korea first presented a rude memorial, and then "mistakenly called" Zhu Houzhao "Your Highness".

It’s no wonder that Liu Pang, who had just taken over, was complaining about this mess.

Before, Liu Pang thought that the affairs of the Ministry of Guests were relatively simple. He just collected bribes from the envoys as a routine, and also helped them make a profit from the envoys' smuggling business under the guise of tribute.

I didn’t expect that the North Korean envoy would do this just a few days after taking office.

Liu Pang complained again, "It's OK if it's just the North Korean issue, but Japan is also a mess."

Pei Yuan transferred Liu Pang to the Ministry of Guests and Guests in order to find an excuse to interfere in the diplomatic affairs of the Ming Dynasty, Korea and Japan. Then he took the opportunity to find a suitable insider to transport cotton cloth to Korea and import Yongle Tongbao coins to Japan.

Seeing that the copy had been delivered to him before he had even made a move, he immediately took the initiative to talk to him with great interest, "Japan has traveled across the ocean and is only allowed to pay tribute once every ten years. What kind of trouble can it possibly cause?"

"Brother Liu, why don't you tell me about it?"

Liu Pang sighed, "Speaking of which, this is all an unprovoked disaster for me."

"According to custom, Japan pays tribute every ten years. This time, the envoys were supposed to fulfill last year's Kan'ei trade."

"The King of Japan, Minamoto no Yoshizumi, sent an envoy to pay tribute to the emperor with horses, helmets, armor, swords and other foreign items. As a result, the eunuchs guarding Zhejiang reported that Shandong and Zhili were full of bandits and they were afraid that the envoys would be captured by them. Therefore, they requested that the tribute be temporarily stored in the treasury of the provincial government, and the petition was collected and discussed by the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of War."

"Wait until the court gives its permission. The eunuch in charge of the garrison asked the court for permission, hoping that the Nanjing garrison officer would go to Ningbo, give a banquet and reward as usual, and send those Japanese envoys away as soon as possible."

"But those Japanese came to pay tribute for the sake of profit. After all the hard work they came here, of course they are not willing to just leave like that."

When Pei Yuan heard this, he felt the same as Ming Jing.

For this tribute, Japan has already been fighting openly and secretly. How could it give up so easily?

That Minamoto no Yoshizumi is Ashikaga Yoshizumi, a descendant of Ashikaga Yoshimitsu.

Ashikaga Yoshimitsu was the King of Japan recognized by the Ming Dynasty and held the qualification for Kanko trade.

Because Ashikaga Yoshimitsu called himself "The King of Japan, your subject Minamoto Yoshimitsu" in his reply to the Ming Dynasty, the Ming officials always referred to the King of Japan as Minamoto instead of Ashikaga.

In this tribute, the Ouchi clan won the first and third Kan'ei, and the Hosokawa clan won the second Kan'ei.

Minamoto no Yoshizumi, who was nominally paying tribute, and the shogunate faction he represented were forced out.

Ashikaga Yoshizumi was unwilling to lose power, so he sent imperial letters to Otomo Yoshiharu of Bungo Province and Akamatsu Yoshimura of Harima Province, seeking restoration.

Well, it’s the “someone’s encirclement” that often appears in some Japanese games.

Not willing to be outdone, Ouchi Yoshioki and Hosokawa Takakuni supported Ashikaga Yoshitsugu to fight against Ashikaga Yoshizumi, and the two sides confronted each other in Omi Province.

If Pei Yuan remembered correctly, Ashikaga Yoshizumi died not long after the Japanese tribute ship arrived in Ming Dynasty.

In other words, this tribute was ridiculous. The two enemies who forced Ashikaga Yoshizumi to death came to pay tribute in the name of Ashikaga Yoshizumi.

According to the political logic of the Ming Dynasty, it was intolerable for a minister to kill the emperor.

In order to clear himself, Zhu Yuanzhang specially asked Song Lian to come up with a theory called "the first to initiate must be punished, and the prosperous palace will be blessed."

In other words, no matter how incompetent and unjust the emperor is, the one who first rebels will definitely not have a good ending.

After the world is in chaos, the person who comes out to clean up the mess will be blessed by God.

From this we can see that even Zhu Yuanzhang, a man who rebelled to conquer the world, had to take the path of "true fragrance" for the stability of his country.

There is a very obvious example here, that is Lee Seong-gye, the usurper king of Korea.

After usurping the throne, Lee Seong-gye thought for a long time and didn't know how to explain to the people of the world and future generations how he came to the throne.

He couldn't tell the world and future generations that he killed all the monarchs of the Goryeo royal family and usurped the throne to become king.

Then Li Chenggui had an idea, remembering that this Gada had always been conferred by the Central Plains dynasty. As long as the emperor of the Central Plains conferred him, wouldn't he have the legitimacy?

So he told Zhu Yuanzhang a long story about how bad the Goryeo royal family was and how much he loved the Ming Dynasty.

Zhu Yuanzhang was very puzzled when he saw this and asked, "Why are you telling me this?"

So I replied, “Oh, I see.”

Seeing that Zhu Yuanzhang did not accept the challenge, Li Chenggui could only speak more bluntly. He detailed the fact that the royal family was stupid and he had no choice but to be supported by the people. He then said, "I hope that Your Majesty will use the wisdom of heaven and earth and the brightness of the sun and moon to see that the will of the people cannot be violated and that I, a humble minister, have no choice but to do so. I will make my own decision to determine the will of the people."

Zhu Yuanzhang was still puzzled. You usurped the throne, why are you telling me this?
If you change your number, just let me know.

——"Korea is bounded by mountains and separated by the sea. It is a barbarian country created by heaven and cannot be ruled by China. Your Ministry of Rites has sent back a letter, stating that the country is free to spread its religion. If you can truly follow the will of heaven and win the hearts of the people, appease the people of the barbarians, and avoid border conflicts, then the exchange of envoys will be a blessing for that country. When the letter arrives, what will the country change? Send a report as soon as possible."

Lee Seong-gye and his party were sad to see that the Ming Emperor ignored them.

My father ignored me and said I was a Dongyi...

However, Lee Seong-gye did not panic, but instead gave an in-depth interpretation to people in the court and the country.

First, I greeted the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty in my capacity as the Acting Governor of State Affairs, and the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty responded, which meant that he recognized my identity.

Secondly, the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty asked about our country’s name, which means he had us in his heart.

Wait for my reply!

——"I am trembling with fear and have no place to turn. I am honored to receive Your Majesty's grace to allow me to know the affairs of state and ask about the name of the country. I and the people of the country are particularly happy. I secretly think that it is not my place to name a country. I would like to report the names of 'Korea' and 'Hanying' to Your Majesty, and I hope you will decide."

When Zhu Yuanzhang saw the memorial, he was stunned.

No, why would I allow you to be in charge of state affairs? You, a traitor, dare to pay homage to the Ming Dynasty. You are so flattering.

So Zhu Yuanzhang decisively refused and said, "I'm not familiar with you. Come if you want. If you don't want to come, get out."

Also, I think North Korea is a good name.

——"Korea is surrounded by mountains and the sea, and is a land created by nature. It is a country of the Eastern Barbarians, and its customs and habits are different... If they are happy, they will come to the king, and if they are angry, they will stop. We will just let it be."

But as the founding king of a dynasty, Lee Seong-gye naturally had great perseverance.

Zhu Yuanzhang!
You can stop me from submitting to you, but can you stop me from kneeling down and licking your ass? !
So Lee Seong-gye unyieldingly paid tribute to Zhu Yuanzhang and reported all the major and minor domestic affairs to the Ming Dynasty.

Moreover, since the Ming Dynasty refused to enthrone Lee Seong-gye as king, Lee Seong-gye did not dare to call himself king and continued to pay tribute to the Ming Dynasty as the acting governor of state affairs.

The initial signature was "Acting Governor of Goryeo". After the Ming Dynasty named the country, the title "Acting Governor of Joseon" was used.

The Korean people in Korea also gave a positive and active evaluation of Lee Seong-gye's actions. A Korean historian said that "our Taizu had an indomitable determination and perseverance."

This is the historical background of "It is an honor to be a dog of the Ming Dynasty", because the vassal state of Korea was really forced upon the Ming Dynasty.

Similarly, this is also the reason why the Ming Dynasty was so angry when the King of Korea acted ignorantly later.

It was you who forced yourself on me, and it was you who provoked the Ming Dynasty. This is really too much!
With the precedent of Lee Seong-gye, we can see the attitude of the imperial court towards these vassal states. And to be honest, as long as the emperor of the Ming Dynasty nodded, the Ming Dynasty would really take care of the subordinates if something happened.

For example, the fact that Eunuch Lu personally went to restore the Hami Kingdom can serve as evidence.

At that time, the Hami Kingdom had almost nothing, but the Ming Dynasty still sent a large army to restore the King of Hami to his throne, recovered his territory for him, and rewarded the people.

Not to mention North Korea.

Not to mention the expedition during the Wanli period, even Chongzhen, who was in such a difficult situation, was still thinking of crossing the sea from Shandong to rescue Korea before the Qing Dynasty destroyed it.

Once the Ming court learned that the Ouchi and Hosokawa clans were "rebels", the Kan'ei trade would inevitably fail.

Pei Yuan became more calm when he thought that he had already got hold of the Japanese delegation.

Then Liu Pang said, "Those envoys were greedy for high prices and were unwilling to trade with the court, so they secretly went to trade with merchants privately."

"They also brought a large amount of goods other than tribute and sold them in Ningbo."

"Originally, as long as we give some money to the local customs officials, everyone will turn a blind eye to these things."

"But I didn't expect that those envoys found someone to sell the contraband goods they brought with them, but they ended up being cheated out of a lot of the goods. They refused to suffer a loss, so they made a big fuss."

"The local authorities didn't want to cause this trouble, so they kept dragging it on until now."

Liu Pang complained, "Now that the Bazhou bandits have been pacified, those Japanese envoys have come to Beijing to ask for an explanation."

Pei Yuan remembered the news he had heard from Li Shishi.

The imperial court stipulated that the Japanese could only pay tribute in twenty items, and there were also quantity restrictions.

As a result, this time the Japanese delegation directly brought 248 kinds of goods.

Some of them were business done for the Ouchi and Hosokawa families, and some of them were items smuggled in by various members of the delegation for sale.

From what Pei Yuan heard, it seemed that the envoys' own goods were cheated.

No wonder they are so serious about it.

Pei Yuan also felt that Liu Pang was indeed unlucky.

Although his going to the Host and Guest Bureau was the result of Pei Yuan's plan, he didn't expect that he would encounter so many troubles just after arriving at the Host and Guest Bureau.

Pei Yuan thought about Liu Pang's purpose and tried to test him, "The affairs of the vassal state are not something I can interfere with. Brother Liu, I'm afraid you found the wrong person, right?"

Liu Pang sighed, "I can only ask you to help me with this."

"Apart from anything else, the Japanese envoys should be given an explanation for the money they were cheated of."

"The Japanese envoy has sent a letter to the Ministry of Rites, demanding the arrest of Sun Zan, Gao Laoguan, Pan Wu and others, or they will ask the emperor for the money they were cheated of."

"I asked someone to go to the Ministry of Justice to ask, but they said it was an external vassal matter and they were unwilling to intervene. Moreover, the people in the Ministry of Justice also said that if they were intentionally defrauding money, then Sun Zan, Gao Laoguan, and Pan Wuba were probably aliases, and there was no way to investigate."

Listening to Liu Pang's words, Pei Yuan roughly guessed, "So, Brother Liu wants to use the power of the Jinyiwei?"

The Jinyiwei did have the power to act outside the rules, but on the one hand, Pei Yuan didn't want to get involved in this bullshit, and on the other hand, Pei Yuan's powers were different from those of ordinary Jinyiwei.

Without waiting for Liu Pang to reply, Pei Yuan politely refused, "This kind of thing will definitely attract a lot of attention. With my job, if I take action, I'm afraid it will cause a lot of criticism."

"However, if you just want to help Brother Liu find out some information, I can help out a bit."

No, Liu Pang said, "It's not for this."

Pei Yuan was a little surprised and waited for Liu Pang to continue.

Then I heard Liu Pang say, "I saw that the Japanese were difficult to deal with, so I wanted to find some faults in them."

"So I looked for merchants who were fluent in Japanese and secretly inquired about the mission. I unexpectedly learned that there was a man named Song Suqing who often used the official language of the Ming Dynasty in private. When he went out of the post station to buy and sell things, he would change into the clothes of the Ming Dynasty and could bargain with people freely."

Liu Pang looked at Pei Yuan and said emphatically, "I suspect this is a Ming person."

Pei Yuan frowned slightly, feeling that the name was somewhat familiar.

After thinking about it for a while, I suddenly had some impression.

This Song Suqing was indeed a well-known traitor, his original name was Zhu Gao. Relying on his proficiency in Japanese, he mixed into the Japanese delegation as an envoy and helped the Japanese envoy "Ryoan Keigo" to make plans.

Many secrets about the Ming Dynasty officialdom that outsiders could not understand were leaked by this person.

With the assistance of this traitor, Lai'an Guiwu naturally had a great time when dealing with the Ming Dynasty government and the public.

According to the laws of the Ming Dynasty, Chinese who secretly communicate with foreigners and pretend to be foreigners should be put to death.

——Even the emperor’s son can’t do that.

However, this guy relied on bribery and the support of the Japanese delegation as a broker and actually managed to be very successful.

Later, seeing that the tribute trade was booming and there was huge profit to be made, he came up with an idea.

If Japan can pay tribute, why can't I?

Coincidentally, not long after that, another fight broke out in Japan over Kanho. This time, the Ouchi clan won a great victory and obtained three Kanho.

The Hosokawa clan lost the battle and was left with nothing.

So this guy ran to Japan and told Hosokawa that he had connections in the Ming Dynasty. He instigated Hosokawa to organize a merchant group and entered Ningbo Port as a Japanese envoy with the No. 2 Kanhe document from the Hongzhi period before the envoys from the Ouchi came to pay tribute.

Then, he, who was familiar with the Ming Dynasty officialdom, relied on bribery to get the goods inspected at the Maritime Customs first.

Unfortunately, the Ouchi clan's delegation arrived shortly afterwards, and the real and fake delegations began to accuse each other.

Song Suqing quickly realized that in this situation, it didn't matter whether it was true or false. What mattered was to convince the referee.

So Song Suqing bribed Lai En, the eunuch of the Maritime Customs, heavily and asked him to favor her.

A person like Ryan, who has little knowledge, has no idea that the current dispute is linked to the domestic struggles in Japan. He thinks that even if the sky falls, the Ming Dynasty will support him, so he can just count his money happily.

So when Ryan hosted a banquet to entertain the diplomatic envoys, he not only let the Hosokawa clan sit before the Ouchi clan, but also asked the Hosokawa clan to trade the tribute in advance.

The complacent Ryan had no idea how important this tribute trade, which took place once every ten years, was to the balance of power on the Japanese islands.

This greedy and superficial man played with the little power in his hands and ultimately made many people pay a huge price.

(End of this chapter)