Di Ming

Chapter 393 "Zhu Yin has gone too far in bullying me!"

The King of Goryeo, not expecting Zhu Yin to come for this matter, frowned slightly, then smiled ingratiatingly and said:
"I thought something had angered you, my lord, but it turns out it's because of this. My lord, I had no choice but to do this. They actually surrendered to the Japanese pirates on their own initiative; they are all traitors to Goryeo."

"Voluntarily surrender?" Zhu Yin was surprised that the King of Goryeo would say such a thing.

The King of Goryeo nodded solemnly and said, "That's right. They voluntarily surrendered to the Japanese pirates. The Japanese pirates didn't tie their hands or feet and even gave them food. If they didn't intentionally defect to the enemy, why didn't they commit suicide?"

"Even if they couldn't perish together with the Japanese pirates, couldn't they at least commit suicide? They had plenty of opportunities to do so, but they didn't. Instead, they used their bodies to continue pleasing the Japanese pirates, so that the pirates would be even more motivated to invade Goryeo and fight against the Celestial Empire. How can this not be considered voluntary surrender?"

"This works?" Zhu Yin's face turned green upon hearing Li Yen's words.

What a bastard! How can you still try to argue like that?

Zhu Yin had seen many shameless people, but he had never seen anyone as shameless as King Yi Yeon of Goryeo.

"Your Highness," Zhu Yin said, already growing impatient, "Let's not beat around the bush. I know why you want to kill them. But the Japanese pirates have been invading Goryeo for nearly a year, and countless Goryeo women have been victimized. Can killing them wash away the shame? Slaughtering five thousand people just for the sake of Goryeo's reputation?"

"They were harmed by the Japanese pirates, and just because they weren't dead, does that mean they actively surrendered to them? When the Japanese pirates invaded Goryeo last year, why did Goryeo's 100,000-strong army collapse and flee at the mere sight of them? They caused Goryeo to fall completely in just two months. Did they actively surrender to the enemy?"

Zhu Yin's tone became increasingly sharp:
"Your Highness fled from Seoul to Pyongyang, then to Anju, and finally to Uiju. Did this boost the morale of the Japanese pirates and demoralize the Goryeo army? Was it also an act of voluntary defection? How does it compare to their actions?"

“My lord, you…” The King of Goryeo was speechless, his old face turning red. “How can this be compared? My lord, you flatter me. I dare not accept such praise.”

There's a saying that you shouldn't expose someone's shortcomings or hit them in the face. But Zhu Yin showed no respect whatsoever to the King of Goryeo, leaving him both ashamed and furious, yet he dared not retaliate.

Zhu Yin snorted coldly, "I rescued them from the Japanese pirate camp, and I even allocated them food and cloth. Who knew you would do this? I was saving people, and you insisted on killing them! You didn't even consult me ​​before ordering their massacre. Five thousand lives, is that something you can decide on your own? Does Your Highness still have any regard for the Ming Dynasty, the Emperor, or me, the Goryeo governor?"

Zhu Yin was not only furious that Yi Yeon had massacred a large number of Goryeo women he had rescued, but also furious that the Goryeo king had acted on his own initiative in such a big matter!
This is absolutely unacceptable and must be severely reprimanded. The main force of the Japanese army has just been annihilated, and the King of Goryeo is already starting to betray them? How dare he!
Li Yeon's face, which had been flushed red, turned deathly pale in an instant. He quickly knelt down, his legs giving way, and said in a trembling voice, "Generalissimo, you have misunderstood. I would never dare..."

"You kneel again!" Zhu Yin shouted angrily, his expression turning furious. "You are the ruler of Goryeo, with a rank equivalent to a prince! Why do you kneel before me again?! Are you trying to accuse me of overstepping my bounds?! How dare you, as the ruler of the country, disregard the rules of national etiquette?!"

Zhu Yin was enraged, and Lan Cha and the other guards all stared coldly at the King of Goryeo, standing at attention with their hands on their swords.

"Yes, yes!" The King of Goryeo scrambled to his feet, bowing repeatedly in apology: "It was my fault for being impolite; I was truly presumptuous. Please forgive me, Your Excellency..."

Upon seeing this, Ryu Seong-ryong and other Goryeo ministers hurriedly knelt down, repeatedly saying it was a misunderstanding.

“Your Highness,” Zhu Yin’s tone softened, “if I do not handle this matter, the court will surely blame me. I am not here today to discuss this with you, but to tell you that you must not execute them.”

King Goryeo cursed Zhu Yin in his heart for meddling, but could only nod and bow repeatedly, saying, "Yes, yes, Your Majesty, I will obey your orders."

The Goryeo ministers present were all inwardly cursing Zhu Yin for humiliating the king, but outwardly they all appeared submissive, daring not to speak out against their anger.

Zhu Yin felt utterly disgusted by the hypocritical and shameless behavior of the group of high-ranking Korean figures.

I fought so hard, the Ming army suffered so many casualties, and the national treasury spent so much silver and grain to defeat the Japanese pirates and help you recover your territory, yet you act so complacent and have no gratitude towards me or the Ming Dynasty.

These kinds of people are incredibly lucky that their country wasn't destroyed in history.

"I'm tired." Zhu Yin stood up. "Your Highness, please take care of yourself. Although the Japanese pirates won't be able to cause trouble for long, the post-war recovery is still a long and arduous task, and we need your hard work and dedication."

Zhu Yin found it pointless to reprimand the King of Goryeo and his shameless ministers.

"Yes, yes!" The King of Goryeo bowed, "I will remember your great teachings, Grand Chancellor."

Zhu Yin nodded. "Your Highness, take care of yourself." He didn't bother with another word and led his men away.

Only after Zhu Yin had gone far away and there was no one else of the Ming people around did the King of Goryeo finally lose his temper and fly into a rage.

"Zhu Yin has gone too far!" The King of Goryeo trembled with rage. "I am the ruler of Goryeo, the monarch of a nation! How dare he, a mere foreign minister, do this! How dare he do this!"

"This is Goryeo territory! Not their Ming Dynasty! Yet the Ming people are arrogant and domineering here, humiliating the dignity of our Goryeo nation! This is outrageous! How can we allow an outsider to interfere in the important affairs of Goryeo?" "Without Goryeo as our shield, the Japanese pirate army would have already reached Beijing! It is the flesh and blood of our eight million Goryeo people who have served as a shield for the Ming people! Not only are they ungrateful, but they also consider themselves Goryeo's benefactors. What kind of logic is this?! Gentlemen, what kind of logic is this!"

Chief Eunuch Ryu Seong-ryong angrily retorted, "This is a twisted logic of bullying the weak and oppressing the small! So many Goryeo people died, only to hold back the advance of the Japanese pirate army and prevent them from invading Liaodong. Who is helping whom here?! Goryeo suffered such heavy losses, wasn't it all for the sake of the Ming Dynasty?"

Judge Jin Cheng angrily retorted, "The Japanese pirates originally intended to use this as a route to attack the Ming Dynasty, and Goryeo was merely an innocent bystander caught in the crossfire! On the contrary, Goryeo refused the Japanese pirates' request to join forces against the Ming Dynasty. Wasn't that a favor to the Ming Dynasty? If our country had agreed to the Japanese pirates' repeated requests to attack the Ming Dynasty together, Goryeo would have been safe, while the Ming Dynasty would have faced annihilation. Now, they're acting like saviors, being extremely aggressive!"

Left State Councilor Yoon Doo-tae retorted, "Your Highness, Zhu Yin, as a foreign official, dares to act superior to you, pointing fingers and behaving arrogantly, relying on his merits in resisting the Japanese pirates. He is extremely rude! Does he think that Goryeo will perish without him? As long as Your Highness is here, Goryeo will eventually wipe out the Japanese pirates and rebuild its three thousand miles of land. Does he really think he has made such a great contribution?"

"Hmph, once he leaves Goryeo, Your Highness will give him a good dressing down!"

The Goryeo king and his ministers talked all at once, saying that Zhu Yin was utterly worthless and cursing him mercilessly.

"Your Highness!" Just then, a military officer from the Imperial Guard rushed into the palace in a panic, kneeling down and saying, "Your Highness, General Liu Dongyan, he, he..."

"What's wrong with him?" The King of Goryeo felt a jolt of fear and quickly asked.

The military officer, with a mournful face, replied, "He was killed by the Ming general Li Rusong with a single spear thrust! Simply because the general refused Li Rusong's threats and faithfully carried out His Highness's orders, he was stabbed to death by the enraged Li Rusong..."

"Zhu Yin'an dares to insult me!" The King of Goryeo was furious. "He actually dared to order Li Rusong to kill my Goryeo general! I will definitely report him to the Emperor of Ming!"

He suddenly drew the sword from the officer's waist and slammed it down on the table, his face full of ferocity. But because he used too much force and was weak, he actually strained his back and couldn't help but cry out in pain.

Ryu Seong-ryong quickly helped the King of Goryeo up, saying, "Your Highness, please calm down. There's no need to lower yourself to the level of a smug and arrogant scoundrel like Joo In."

Jin Cheng and others also angrily cursed Zhu Yin.

Since Zhu Yin entered Goryeo, he has never consulted them on any major military or political matters, treating them as if they didn't exist, which has long made them resentful.

This is a good opportunity to unleash a torrent of abuse. Zhu Yin can't hear us anyway. Might as well vent our anger.

...

Inside the heavily guarded governor's mansion, Zhu Yin and Xu Wei were playing chess.

"My lord, Goryeo cannot be allowed to remain in the future," Xu Wei suddenly said. "In my view, the people of Goryeo are shameless and ungrateful. They appear obedient as lambs on the surface, but repay kindness with enmity behind the scenes. Sooner or later, they will either become a disaster or cause trouble."

"My lord, do you think King Yeon and his ministers are the kind of people who would repay kindness? You have disrespected them more than once, so they must resent you in their hearts."

Zhu Yin placed a chess piece down and said leisurely, "At present, Goryeo is at its weakest, which is indeed the best opportunity to annex Goryeo. Unfortunately, neither the emperor nor the court will agree to it."

Xu Wei also made a move, saying, "The court and the emperor are truly incorrigible. This land of Goryeo was once the homeland of China, and many Goryeo people are of Chinese descent. Why not take it over? How can we allow others to snore beside our bed?"

"I see that the people of Goryeo are suffering greatly. If they were to return to China, their lives would likely be much better. Wouldn't that be a win-win situation, both for the public and for private reasons?"

Zhu Yin revealed a mocking smile, "Perhaps the court believes that there is no profit to be made in Goryeo. Coupled with the pedantic thinking of Confucian scholars, this is why the Goryeo dynasty has survived to this day."

Xu Wei sneered: "The pedantic thoughts are true, but as for the lack of profit, that's not necessarily true. Goryeo is not a barren land; supporting millions of people is easy. Especially with its abundant gold, silver, copper, and iron mines, as well as the profits from fish, salt, ginseng, pearls, and maritime trade, how can there be no profit?"

Zhu Yin watched as Xu Wei captured several of his pieces, then shook his head and smiled bitterly, "I'm a clumsy player when it comes to chess, I don't care about my own pieces at all. If I'm not careful, I'll lose the whole game."

He tapped the table idly with a chess piece and said in a calm tone, "Whether Goryeo exists or not does not depend on the court and the emperor, but only on whether I can reclaim the throne."

Xu Wei stroked his beard and laughed, "So if our lord wins this grand game, he can take over the entire world and surpass even the Han and Tang dynasties!"

...

P.S.: Sorry everyone, I had to pick someone up from the airport tonight, so I didn't have much time to write. I can only update with 3,000 words this time. I'll make up for it next time! Thank you, goodnight!
(End of this chapter)