Emperor Zhengde

Chapter 295 Those who betray the Ming Dynasty will be punished by the Ming Dynasty

The Korean envoy Cui Chonghong was now becoming more and more anxious and uneasy. He didn't understand why the high officials of the Ming court and the emperor had been unwilling to see him again.

Cui Chonghong originally wanted to take advantage of this opportunity to come to the Ming Dynasty to plead with the Ming Dynasty to stop requiring his country of Korea to build the Confucius Temple and Confucius Institute, and to forgive the loans that his country had taken out from the World Investment Bank.

Of course, Cui Chonghong also knew that it would be very difficult to convince the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty about this matter.

So he thought of using money to bribe Ming officials to help him achieve this, but he did not expect that his bribery was rejected by Xi Shu, the left vice minister of the Ministry of Rites of the Ming Dynasty!

And now, he didn't even see a single important Ming official.

Even the gifts and banquets that should have been given in return for the tribute did not appear, let alone allowing the delegation to trade with the people of the capital.

After a long time, Xi Shu, the Left Vice Minister of Rites, came to see Cui Chonghao.

Upon seeing Cui Chonghao, Xi Shu handed him a newspaper about the new foreign policy of the Ming Dynasty and said, "Messenger Cui, take this and have a look at it later. I only want to ask you one question now: Is your country a vassal of the Ming Dynasty?"

Cui Chonghao didn't know that Zhu Houzhao had changed the foreign policy of the Ming Dynasty. When he saw Xi Shu holding a newspaper in front of him, he knew that this was a popular thing in the Ming Dynasty and that it was called a newspaper. However, he only saw that the front page of the newspaper said "The Cabinet's Resolution on Reforming the Tribute System and Foreign Policy" and didn't know the specific content. So when he heard Xi Shu's question, he only replied subconsciously:
"Ming is naturally the suzerain state of our country, and Korea is naturally a vassal of Ming!"

"In this case, I will give you three tips:

First, you need to go back to Korea and bring a copy of your Korean population book to me, Ming Dynasty;

Second, you need to provide a number of silver dollars equal to your population as tribute. Of course, you can use the mining rights, territorial lease rights and tariff rights of the same value of silver dollars as collateral. You need to discuss this among yourselves.
Third, you can now rent a house in Ming Dynasty as your country's embassy, ​​and let your king send an official to stay in Ming Dynasty!"

After Xi Shu finished speaking, he said goodbye to Cui Chonghong.

After hearing Xi Shu's three tips, Cui Chonghong was completely confused. He had no choice but to pick up the newspaper and read it carefully. However, the more he read, the angrier he became. In the end, he couldn't help but slam the newspaper on the table:

"This is too much, this is really too much! How can this be done by a suzerain country! We, North Korea, will never accept such a suzerain country!"

Cui Chonghong was very angry. He did not expect the Ming court to propose such a foreign policy.

Of course, Cui Chonghong now knows that it is impossible for him to ask the Ming court to cancel its request for Korea to build a Confucius Temple and a Confucius Institute, and it is even more impossible to exempt Korea from its loans from the World Investment Bank.

but.

Cui Chonghong was still unwilling to return to North Korea with nothing.

Cui Chonghong now only hopes that the Ming Dynasty can give gifts in return and grant his delegation the opportunity to trade. After all, they have brought so many goods that need to be sold.

At the same time, Cui Chonghong also hoped to have the opportunity to be given 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 and not lose the opportunity to establish his Kingdom of Korea.

but.

Zhu Houzhao had no intention of giving a banquet to Cui Chonghong. As the head of the empire, he naturally had to give a banquet to enhance the relationship between the officials of the Ming Dynasty and him.

But he did not have such thoughts for foreign officials like Cui Chonghong. After all, there are only eternal interests between countries, and there can be no so-called feelings.

Because if Zhu Houzhao were to help a certain country because of his feelings for that country, it would only harm the interests of his own people.

Of course, Zhu Houzhao had no intention of returning the tribute presented by the Korean delegation.

Originally, Korea was still a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty, so there was naturally no need for it to return the tribute offered by the vassal state.

Besides.

Zhu Houzhao also issued an order to expel foreigners, and directly asked the cabinet to convey the imperial decree to the Ministry of Rites, asking the Ministry of Rites to require Cui Chonghong to leave the Ming Dynasty within one month and inform the Ming Dynasty of his country, Korea's decision before the Mid-Autumn Festival next year.

As a foreigner, you are not allowed to stay in Ming Dynasty for a long time.

Therefore, Cui Chonghong had to leave the capital when the one-month deadline was about to expire.

When Cui Chonghong left Huitong Hall in the capital, he stomped on the ground of Huitong Hall several times, then got on the carriage and rode back to Korea.

When the King of Korea, Yi Gye, learned about the new foreign policy of the Ming Dynasty, he was furious. He overturned the table and immediately stated that Korea would no longer regard the Ming Dynasty as its suzerain state.

Moreover, the King of Korea, Yi Gye, also ordered the suspension of the construction of the existing Confucius Temple and Confucius Institute, and stopped repaying his country's loans from the Ming World Investment Bank. He was even unwilling to send so-called ambassadors to the Ming capital city. In their eyes, sending an ambassador was no different from sending hostages.

As a result, the officials of the Kingdom of Korea blamed each other to the point that no one was willing to come to the Ming Dynasty as an ambassador.

Zhu Houzhao guessed that the Korean Parliament would refuse to do so, but he was not angry about it. He did this to force these so-called vassal states away to prevent the Ming Dynasty from being unable to carry out capitalist expansion without pressure in the future.

Now that these vassal states, such as Korea, have betrayed the Ming Dynasty and no longer recognize the Ming Dynasty as their suzerain, the Ming Dynasty will have no pressure in destroying these countries in the future.

However, Zhu Houzhao still asked the Ministry of Rites spokesman, Xu Jie, a Jinshi who was in charge of the Ministry of Rites, to make an official statement on the fact that Korea no longer recognized the Ming Dynasty as its suzerain state.

"I and the Ming court are deeply sorry that Korea no longer recognizes the Ming as our suzerain state. At the same time, the Ming court is also extremely angry at Korea's betrayal of its suzerain state!
Therefore, Ming Dynasty hopes that North Korea can correct its current mistakes as soon as possible, and ask the King of North Korea to apologize for his reckless behavior and compensate Ming Dynasty with a sum of money. Otherwise, Ming Dynasty will attack North Korea with the whole country! "

After Xu Jie's words were reported in the newspaper, they caused a great response among the people of the Ming Dynasty, and therefore also brought great shock to the conservative Confucian officials.

but.

Zhu Houzhao therefore ordered the Border Army General Staff to begin establishing the main strategy for future operations, especially against Korea.

However, Zhu Houzhao also knew that if he wanted the Ming Empire to continue to control Korea and gain more benefits from Korea, the Ming Empire needed to first control Liaodong and manage it well.

Because of this, the development of Liaodong remains the most important thing.

However, there is still an unstable force on the Liaodong flank, that is Hua Dang of Duoyanwei.

Zhu Houzhao had received many requests from Hua Dang to increase the number of tribute envoys, but he did not agree because he knew that increasing the number of tribute envoys from Doyanwei would require increasing the number of rewards, which would cause greater losses to the Ming Dynasty.

Today, steam industrialized production has begun in the southern part of the Ming Dynasty. The industrial revolution brought about by steam power has enabled Ming Dynasty products to rapidly seize the global trade market.

The treasury revenue of the Ming Empire also increased dramatically.

However, the disadvantages of the steam industry also began to emerge, especially after Zhu Houzhao allowed the Royal Industrial Company to sell steam spinning machines and looms. The major traditional textile workshops were replaced or went bankrupt, and the original textile workers were laid off.

The problem of increasing unemployment rate was something Zhu Houzhao had to solve, after all, the people had to earn money to support their families.

Zhu Houzhao's solution was also very simple: increase military strength, expand the army and prepare for war, and absorb a large number of unemployed people into the army.

"When the people cannot become producers, then we can only turn them into fighters in the empire's foreign wars and let them gain wealth in foreign wars!"

This is what Zhu Houzhao said to the Minister of War Gui E.

Now he finds that he has no other way to solve the problem of unemployment in the country except to start a war.

But what is the purpose of waging war? To seize other people's property and enjoy it yourself? This can only be a primitive form of plunder, the way of survival of animals, by depriving you of your life in order to inherit everything from you.

The reason why humans are more intelligent than animals is that humans have civilization and more reasonable ways of exploitation.

Zhu Houzhao wanted to start a war now not to deprive anyone of their life, but to make more people pay him protection fees through war. It is better to rule a person and ask him to pay a certain amount of protection fee to him than to kill him. This protection fee can ensure that he will not kill him. In this way, he can rule this person for a long time by collecting protection fees and gain long-term benefits.

If the unemployed people in the South do not move to the North to fight for interests by launching a war, they will only launch a rebellion in the South and fight for the interests of people from all walks of life in the South. Moving to the North can avoid unrest in the South, and at the same time, immigration can be achieved through war, transferring a large number of excess labor in the South to the North to develop resources.

But all this is easier said than done. It takes time and requires good performance in all aspects.

The external situation was not always constant. Due to the inconvenience of transportation and the lag of information, it was often difficult for Emperor Zhu Houzhao to see direct results in a short period of time when he wanted to do something.

Now, the only thing he could do was to let the Ministry of Rites announce to the world that Korea had betrayed the Ming Dynasty and express the anger of the Ming court, and give Korea a final warning, so that all officials, gentry and people of the Ming Dynasty would know about this matter, thereby gaining a popular support for the next military operation.

But sometimes, the reactions of the empire's officials, gentry and people to the court's actions were not highly consistent. For example, this time, when Zhu Houzhao asked the Ministry of Rites to speak, denouncing Korea's betrayal of the Ming Dynasty and warning Korea, some Confucian scholars sang a different tune from the mainstream argument, saying that it was the Ming Dynasty that was unjust first and that the Ming Dynasty should forgive Korea's reckless behavior, show favor to Korea, and take the initiative to cancel the loans owed by Korea.

Fortunately, not all the people of the Ming Dynasty are such saints, at least most of them are not. Some people also mocked these Confucian scholars for not knowing that they could live in such a peaceful and prosperous era. They had the energy to criticize the court because the court had prevented the people from causing chaos by plundering wealth from foreign countries, so that the world remained peaceful and even scholars could receive education subsidies from the court.

Because of this, Zhu Houzhao's subsequent edict to the Ministry of War to recruit soldiers and expand the army did not attract opposition from the majority of the people in the country. In addition to expanding the army and increasing military spending to solve the unemployment problem in the south and enhance the deterrent effect on the Duoyan Guard, Zhu Houzhao also asked the cabinet to issue another imperial decree to encourage the people in the interior to go out of the pass and settle in Liaodong. Not only did he sell the fields in Liaodong at a low price, but he also allowed the people to reclaim the wasteland themselves, and stated that the land reclaimed by the people themselves would directly belong to them and would be tax-free for the first three years.

After all, if one wants to truly control Liaodong, it is not enough to simply station troops there. A large number of people must move here to provide sufficient logistical support, especially in the absence of convenient means of transportation and traffic conditions. If one wants Liaodong to truly become a place where the Ming Dynasty's rule is stable, there must be enough Han people as a foundation.

Moreover, if enough people from Liaodong move here, it will be more beneficial for the Ming Dynasty to manage the Nurgandusi area further north outside the Great Wall in the future.

In fact, in terms of immigration outside the customs, private immigration has never stopped, especially after the abolition of the road permit system.

A large number of Han people moved to the Hetao and Liaodong regions and settled there, either reclaiming wasteland and cultivating the land or doing business with the Mongols and Jurchens.

At this time, Kaiping City had already become an important trade distribution center of the Ming Dynasty outside the Great Wall and north of the Luan River.

Some tribal Mongols belonging to the Yongshebu, Ordos, and Tumed tribes, as well as Mongols from the Three Guards of Doyan 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 Xuanfu and an important military town!

However, since the Yongle period, the climate began to turn colder, and it became increasingly difficult for the Ming Dynasty to establish military farms in Kaipingwei, and the transportation of grain also became increasingly difficult. Ming Xuanzong Zhu Zhanji then ordered Kaipingwei to be relocated to Dushibao.

Now, Kaiping City has returned to the territory of the Ming Dynasty because the little prince was eliminated and the border troops recaptured the city.

Of course, due to the colder climate, mainly due to the gradual intensification of the Little Ice Age, Kaiping City is still not suitable for military farming. Fortunately, there is trade to maintain it, and with the increase in the empire's financial resources, the food supply in this area can be maintained. Kaiping City also has convenient transportation that can go directly to Xuanfu and Datong, and can also go directly to the capital through Datong's cement road.

Therefore, the current Kaiping City has not declined due to the cold weather, but is becoming more and more prosperous.

Now that the weather is getting warmer, the Mongols who have settled near Kaiping City have begun to go out to graze. Of course, they will also come to Kaiping City to trade with the Han people at this time, selling the beef and mutton they have stored in the winter to the Han people, who will then can them and sell them inland. The Mongols will also buy tea and salt from the Han people.

Kaiping is now a county of the Ming Dynasty, but is under the jurisdiction of Xuanfu. Although Xuanfu is already a prefecture, it is still one of the nine military towns of the Ming Dynasty, and the Ming Dynasty's army is still stationed in Kaiping City.

Currently stationed in Kaiping is a regiment of border troops, totaling more than 2,000 people.

However, these 2,000-plus border troops did not manage the political affairs of Kaiping City. Instead, the political affairs of Kaiping City were managed by the county magistrate Zhang Cong. At the same time, Zhang Cong also served as the deputy commander of the border army regiment, responsible for the logistics and political work of the regiment.

Moreover, County Magistrate Zhang Cong himself was a military man, but because he was mainly engaged in civilian work, he was arranged by General Wang Shouren to be the County Magistrate of Kaiping County.

Of course, Zhang Cong was not in charge of the military tasks of the border army. The person in charge of the military tasks of the border army regiment was the regiment's guerrilla general Gui Yong.

But there is no war at the moment. Besides, the border army regiment is stationed in Kaiping only because of the recent major reshuffle in Xuanfu, from the guards to the border army, and then arranged to Kaiping to strengthen the defense.

Therefore, in addition to the daily routine of sending out scouts to investigate suspicious signs overnight, Gui Yong was still thinking about when to ask his superiors to transfer him back to the Guards so that he could expand the territory together with his original brothers in the Guards.

However, there are officers and soldiers who do not share Gui Yong's idea. Tian Deng now only wants to settle down in Kaiping City and serve as a border army officer to maintain Kaiping's security.

Therefore, Tian Deng was very serious about maintaining peace in this area. He would also fight with the Mongols in Kaiping City, and did not bully others just because he was an officer of the Guards.

It was not just Tian Deng. Because of trade, the Han people and Mongolians in Kaiping City got along harmoniously.

"Uncle Kule, you brought a lot of wool this time. This cartload of wool is enough for you to exchange for hundreds of silver dollars!"

Shan Tai, a guard soldier from the reconnaissance company, rode his horse to chat with the Mongolian from Kule. He was originally from Dushibao and was familiar with the Mongolians. Kule also jumped off the car with a friendly face: "That's right, it's all thanks to you for teaching us how to prevent the epidemic. 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 should quickly transport it to the city to sell it. I'll go over there to take a look! When you load the tea bricks into the car, remember to call me for help!"

As he said that, Shan Tai rode his horse towards the Mongols who were just dismounting to rest. Because those Mongols looked unfamiliar, and as a night watchman, he was naturally cautious.

But at this time, Kule couldn't help but sigh, and then turned around, unable to bear to see the scene behind him.

"Sir, we are from the Khorchin tribe. This is our first time to do business in Kaiping City. May I ask if the taxes in Kaiping City are high now?"

At this time, just as Shan Tai got off his horse, a Mongolian came over and asked Shan Tai a question.

Shan Tai had no choice but to reply: "The tax is not high, just like in Yulin. Because of the plague last year, the court exempted 30% of the tax. You only need to go to Kaiping County Maritime Customs to pay the tax once and get the certificate. You will not be taxed again in the interior."

Pfft!

As soon as Shan Tai finished speaking, he was stabbed by the Mongolian man, and then another Mongolian covered his mouth, and then his head was twisted off.

Shan Tai just fell to the ground, his eyes wide open in shock.

The Mongolian old man Kule heard the sound of Shan Tai being killed, but he just sighed and continued to greet other Han people.

At this time, another Ye Bushou from the reconnaissance company of the border army regiment was ambushed by a Mongolian and was pinned behind a carriage and hacked to death.

When the captain of the reconnaissance company of the regiment, Tian Deng, saw the artillery exposed in the wool-carrying cart of Nakule, he also noticed it and immediately turned around and left. When he was near Kaiping City, he immediately shouted: "Close the city gate quickly! Let all the people retreat into the city!"

At the same time, Tian Deng ordered several night guards around him: "Go into the city immediately and inform the guerrilla general and County Magistrate Zhang! The Tartars are not here to do business!"

As he spoke, Tian Deng turned back and shouted, "Scouting Company, follow me and drive the people back to the city immediately! These Tartars are here to kill people!"

As Tian Deng spoke, he immediately organized his people to drive the Ming people who were leaving the city to do business with the Mongols back into the city.

……

After everyone entered the city, the gates of Kaiping were immediately closed.

The first opening of Kaiping City after the arrival of spring was beyond everyone's expectation. However, the Mongolian cavalry that gradually gathered outside Kaiping City, as dense as a jungle, told all the officials and civilians in Kaiping City directly and clearly that these Mongolians did not come with good intentions. They came to attack the city, to plunder, and to kill people!

The bodies of several border soldiers lying in a pool of blood outside the city that were not collected at night also proved this point.

"Damn it, I'm going to kill these Mongols!"

Yan Heng, a soldier of the border army, was about to shoot at the Mongolian civilians who were also hiding in Kaiping City with his musket in hand. The Mongolians outside the city took advantage of the trust of the border army in them and brought a large number of Mongolian cavalry here, and also killed his own brothers, which naturally made him lose his mind.

Kaiping City, like other newly built cities on the border of the Ming Dynasty, was a mixed population of Han and Mongolians. In fact, in Kaiping City, Mongolians even made up 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 the Mongolians who had settled in Kaiping City and regarded themselves as Ming people also feel surprised and panicked.

When Yan Heng couldn't control himself and wanted to shoot these Mongolians to death, they became even more frightened and the scene became even more chaotic.

"stop!"

But at this time, the guerrilla Gui Yong shouted and came over with the newly made short-handled pistol of the imperial court. He directly snatched the musket from Yan Heng's hand and shouted: "What's the point of killing civilians here? Save a bullet and go kill the Tartars outside the city!"

"But the general treats them as civilians, but they don't treat us as their own people!"

Yan Heng replied loudly that this border army was originally reorganized from the Imperial Guards, and that it emphasized equality between officers and soldiers, so Yan Heng dared to respond loudly to Gui Yong.

"Then do you want to force them to rebel?!" Gui Yong also asked loudly.

Yan Heng was unable to refute for a moment, so he stepped back, clasped his hands and said, "If that's the case, I will accept the punishment!"

Gui Yong snorted and ignored Yan Heng.

At this time, Tian Deng came over and said, "General, even if we don't kill them, we should drive them out of the city. They are not of our race and their hearts must be different. Although they are all unarmed civilians, there is no guarantee that there are spies among them. Now that so many Tartar cavalry are coming to attack Kaiping City, if Kaiping City wants to defend it, we must prevent spies from colluding with the Tartars outside the city!"

After Gui Yong heard this, he felt that what Tian Deng said was quite right. He was about to agree, but at this moment, a Mongolian suddenly shouted, "General! I beg you, please don't drive us out of the city. We really have nothing to do with those people outside! If we go out, they will only capture us and make us slaves. We have finally come here to settle down, get married, have children, and build a family. If you drive us out of the city, we will be homeless, wuwu!"

"Yes, General, please don't drive us out of the city, they will kill us!"

The Mongolian people all begged in unison. They knew better than anyone that the Mongolian nobles' cavalry were no more lenient in killing their own people than they were in killing Han people. Basically, anyone who passed through the wheels would be killed! Therefore, they did not want to be driven out of the city.

(End of this chapter)