Emperor Ming Dynasty

Chapter 856
The sea, the vast water stretches as far as the eye can see.

Several large ships are full of sails in the downwind, as brisk as birds, the sharp bows split the waves, and white water splashes bloom.

"Ah..." A sailor stood on the deck with his hands in front of his mouth and shouted loudly towards the sea.

"Haha!" Everyone roared with laughter, and someone yelled, "Xiang Ersha, you don't know a whole lot of big characters, so you have to recite poems!"

"Ha ha……"

Joyful voices rippling from the boat.

A North Korean said in jerky Chinese: "Your envoy's boat is too fast. At this speed, we will soon be able to see our country!"

At this time, the noise on the boat stopped and began to calm down.

After a while, the ship docked at Yongzong Island.

This is the port of North Korea's trade.

Although according to the tribute regulations, North Korea had to trade freely with Ming Dynasty, but the North Korean court was not a fool, they certainly understood the evil of importing more and exporting less.

The outflow of a large amount of silver and gold is a great loss to North Korea, which exacerbates the scarcity of gold and silver in the country.

Moreover, restricting merchants to Yongzong Island is more conducive to monopoly and tax collection management, which can be regarded as increasing the treasury revenue to a certain extent.

A few years passed, and there were more and more merchants on Yongzong Island, gradually exceeding a thousand households. A small town also sprang up around the consumption of these merchants.

Therefore, North Korea established Yeongjong County on Yeongjong Island.

A group of people landed on Yongzong Island and were warmly welcomed by the Han merchants on the island.

Especially the arrival of the angels brought the atmosphere to its peak.

As an envoy, the number one scholar in the seventh year of Shaowu, Xia Wanchun.

Obviously, going to North Korea as an envoy can add a lot of qualifications to him, and he has stepped up a level in the officialdom.

As soon as the young and handsome Xia Wanchun came out, he was greeted endlessly.

After half a day of sea voyage, hearing such familiar words in a foreign country made him happy.

It's just a banquet, the guests and the host enjoy themselves.

The next day, Korean officials led Xia Wanchun upstream from the Han River to Seoul, the capital of the Joseon Dynasty.

After many wars, the wreckage of the war still remains in Seoul. Nearly half of the outer city has been reduced to ruins, but North Korea is unable to repair it.

Just like their Gyeongbokgung Palace, after the Imjin Japanese Invasion, it was never restored to its original state.

This is the tragedy of a small country.

However, Xia Wanchun felt otherwise.

Yeongjong Island is rich and prosperous, not to mention a million a year, 10,000+ is just waiting for nothing, repairing these outer cities is more than enough, nothing more than the North Korean court turned a blind eye to the interests of the common people.

When the envoys of the Ming Dynasty arrived in the city, Seoul was shaken.

Before that, Ming and Qing fought in North Korea, almost destroying Gyeonggi, but thanks to the support of Ming, the eldest son Li Hao once again entered Seoul.

According to common sense, Ming Dynasty had twice rebuilt North Korea, but a few years ago, tens of thousands of North Korean elite soldiers went north, and except for [-] to [-] returned, the rest stayed in Liaodong as soldiers.

This makes North Korea extremely helpless. Over the years, what they have been thinking about is to take back the elite soldiers.

Why?

In fact, elite soldiers are the foundation of a powerful kingship.

Although the king of Joseon, Li Hao, was not very afraid of the arrival of the Ming envoy, he was still a little uneasy:

"I don't know why Shangguo sent envoys into our country?"

Jin Yu, the leader of Yizheng (chief minister of the cabinet), coughed and said in relief:
"It should be a little thing."

"Then I wonder if we can return the elite soldiers from the north?"

Li Hao relaxed a little and couldn't help asking.

You Yizheng Yuan Doubiao replied helplessly: "Your Highness, I'm afraid it will be very difficult."

"Our North Korean soldiers have gone through wars and have become elite soldiers in a hundred battles. It is impossible for Shangguo to let go, and we will not let them go back."

"The old minister is lying, Shangguo is also our country that has such elite soldiers and is restless."

Hearing this, Li Hao couldn't help rolling his eyes.

It's just nonsense.

With these elites in North Korea, will it still fail to rebel?

It's nothing more than some aristocratic families in the country who are not willing to increase their royal power. After all, a king with a powerful army is the most difficult to control and the most willful.

Therefore, in this tug-of-war, there are difficulties at home and abroad.

But Li Hao still did not give up.

Zuo Yizheng Li Jingxi saw the king's urgency, cupped his hands and said: "Your Highness, even if the army returns to the country, our country will not be able to support it!"

"Absurd, the imperial court can't afford to support a mere 20 to [-] soldiers and horses? There are nearly [-] soldiers and horses in the whole country, not many of them!"

"Your Highness, as far as I know, the monthly salary of frontier soldiers in the Ming Dynasty is two silver coins..."

As soon as this remark came out, Li Hao was shocked and speechless.

"This, this is too much!"

North Korea is a country that lacks gold and silver, which has been the consensus for hundreds of years.

Especially in the early Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang was very dissatisfied with North Korea and borrowed tribute to subsidize his family. Therefore, from 1379 to 1385, Koryo paid 10400 taels of gold, 62000 taels of silver, 65500 pieces of cloth, and 7583 horses to the Ming Dynasty. .

This almost looted all the gold and silver in North Korea.

Most of the horses raised in Jeju Island in the Yuan Dynasty were brought to the Ming Dynasty.

After the treasury was empty of gold and silver, the gold and silver battleaxes used by Li Fangguo, Emperor Dingzong, were all fake.

Its embarrassment can be seen.

Later, after Taizong Zhu Di and Li Fangyuan succeeded to the throne, the relationship between the two parties gradually eased due to their similar experiences.

In the absence of Zhu Yuanzhang's use of tribute as a means of leverage, the content of North Korea's annual tribute has stabilized at 150 taels of gold and 700 taels of silver.

But even if it is such a request, it will be difficult for North Korea to realize it, because North Korea itself (almost) does not produce gold and silver.

In 1429, under the repeated requests of North Korea (the first two were in 1409 and 1420), the Ming Dynasty exempted North Korea from the gold and silver tribute and changed the tribute to local products, which relieved North Korea of ​​its burden.

Even though Yeongjong Island is open to trade and gold and silver flow in, the situation of lack of gold and silver has not improved much, because North Korea has been hungry and thirsty for hundreds of years.

It is simply unimaginable to give ordinary soldiers two silver dollars, two taels of silver.

Seeing that the king finally gave up, several ministers were relieved.

As for Xia Wanchun, he lived in the Muhua Pavilion, which welcomes the Chinese "angels".

In front of Muhua Pavilion is the Yingen Gate, which was originally called the Yingzhao Gate. Later, Xue Tingchong, an envoy of the Ming Dynasty, came to North Korea and changed it to the Yingen Gate.

Later, Ying'en Gate was destroyed during the Japanese Invasion in Imchen. After it was rebuilt, Zhu Zhifan, an envoy of the Ming Dynasty, re-inscribed the plaque of "Ying'en Gate" in 1606, and signed the "Book of Zhu Zhifan, the imperial envoy of Jinling".

Of course, during the Japanese occupation period, the Yingen Gate was demolished, and later the Koreans built the Independent Gate on the site.

When the sky was slightly bright, a colorful yellow tent hall was built in front of Ying'en Gate, and a yellow house, dragon pavilion, and incense pavilion were set up in the middle of the tent hall, and golden drums, yellow ceremonial guards, and drum music were displayed in front of it.

This is part of the "suburban greeting" protocol for the arrival of the Great Angel.

King Li Hao of Joseon, wearing Yishan Guangun's dragon robe, led his clan and officials to Yingenmen.

Xia Wanchun was dressed in official robes with fluttering belts, holding the imperial decree in his hands, with his head held high.

His thin body now looked extraordinarily huge.

In front of him, Li Hao led the ministers to bow respectfully:

"Xiao Wang led his clan and officials to welcome the arrival of the angel—"

Xia Wanchun returned a salute, and then enshrined the edict to Longting together.

Afterwards, he walked side by side with the Joseon King, passed through the Ying'en Gate together, and then headed towards the palace.

The ceremony was grand, complete with rituals and music, and North Korea did not dare to be negligent in the slightest, and there were countless people onlookers.

This declared North Korea's obedience again, and Xia Wanchun was very satisfied.

After entering the palace, the blue bricks and green tiles of Gyeongbokgung Palace made him frowned:
This Joseon king is really too poor!

The banquet is lively.

Almost all the civil and military personnel in North Korea could speak Chinese, and each of them insisted on their words, and their standard was no less than that of Xia Wanchun, which made him inexplicably surprised.

Asked the reason, Jin Yu, the leader of the council, said with a smile: "Even if the imperial examinations in our country are profound, if there is no Chinese, they will definitely be dismissed."

Xia Wanchun praised him, but sneered in his heart.

The Ming Dynasty is so vast, and there are very few scholars who can speak Mandarin, and North Korea attaches so much importance to Hanhua, it is nothing more than wanting to monopolize the imperial examinations.

Ordinary two classes of nobles, even if they read the Four Books and Five Classics, if they didn't expend a lot of energy to get a good teacher to teach them, how could they learn Chinese?

The crows in the world are generally black!
However, for Xia Wanchun, chatting and talking is not dangerous, talking and laughing freely, showing Jinshi demeanor.

There are countless admirers at a time.

"Today's banquet is in full swing, I wonder if the number one scholar can write a poem?"

Jin Yu raised his glass and said with a smile.

Xia Wanchun on the side didn't panic at all.

He smiled slightly and said: "If you write stereotyped essays well, you will get poetry if you want poems, and you will get lyrics if you want words."

As he spoke, he raised his wine glass to offer a toast to the King of Joseon who was sitting high on the throne, and then said, "Today is Meng Lang, a foreign minister."

"Thousands of miles of Yangtze River water flowed far away towards the emperor.

The wind and waves are mighty, and the rain and dew are taking precautions.

When Yubo comes to China, the clothes will go upstairs.

Thousands of miles look forward to the instrument, and the thousand autumns praise the holy pilgrimage. "

"it is good--"

For a while, there was a loud admiration.

Regardless of whether the poem is good or not, if the words are made by angels, then they must be good poems.

At this time, a person stood up, raised his head and said: "Today, I dare not let the angels be more beautiful than before, and I will write a poem."

"Heavenly King Xi Sanjiao, Dahua spreads Huanjiao.

Haiyue is divided into north and south, and there are nine depressions in the universe.

The mountains and rivers are beautiful, and the vegetation becomes Danao.

The four kingdoms bear grace, and the king's heart looks up to Dai's nest. "

Originally, all the ministers were angry, but after hearing this poem, they couldn't help nodding their heads in praise.

Even Xia Wanchun was amazed.

This is a poem that expresses North Korea's reverence to Daming. The rhyme is second, but the key is its conception, which is worthy of praise.

The king of Joseon, who was sitting tall on the stage, also smiled.

A feast for both guests and hosts.

At night, Zuo Yizheng and Li Jingxi took Li Cao Shenpan together to visit the angel in Muhua Pavilion.

Xia Wanchun knew their purpose well.

It was nothing more than wanting to understand the purpose of his arrival in North Korea.

No one would believe that the Emperor Ming sent envoys to praise the King of Joseon for his loyalty.

Xia Wanchun was in the study, entertaining the two very seriously.

At this time, North Korea was also bitingly cold, but the entire Muhua Pavilion was burning with earth dragons, and it was very warm.

Xia Wanchun casually put on a coat and poured two cups of tea:

"Please try it. This is the West Lake Longjing tea I brought from Jiangnan. Even in Jiangnan, it's rare. You have to rob to buy it."

Zuo Yizheng Li Jingxi took a sip and praised: "Good tea, slightly astringent in the mouth, but immediately aftertaste is infinitely sweet, it is not bad—"

"The angel spends so much money, it makes the old man feel ashamed."

"You and our two countries have such a relationship, why do you need to be so alien?"

Xia Wanchun shook his head.

"I don't know if an angel came to North Korea, but what's the matter?"

"I don't think it's important to talk about—"

Xia Wanchun showed a smile, which is actually two things.

As he spoke, he stretched out two fingers.

This surprised Li Jingshi, but he was relieved.

Since he opened his mouth so easily, it means that the matter is not big.

In this way, North Korea can also turn around without being too embarrassing.

He glanced at Li Cao Shenpan next to him, quietly waiting for a silver note worth 3000 yuan in his arms.

Looking at the situation now, there is no need to spend it at all.

Still young people are easy to serve!

"Your envoy, please make it clear that whatever I can do in North Korea, the whole country will definitely do it."

"It's not a big deal." Xia Wanchun pondered for a moment, thinking about which one to talk about first.

In the end, he decided to start with the easy and then the difficult.

"The first thing is to ask His Royal Highness King Qin to marry your princess—"

"King Qin?" Li Jingshi was taken aback for a moment, then randomly glanced at Li Cao Shenjuan.

As the eldest son of the Ming Emperor, the King of Qin inherited his prominent title of King Qin. You must know that this is the lineage of the Ming Dynasty, and its status is extraordinary.

He couldn't help but feel a little joy in his heart.

Then, it was a pity.

If this is a marriage with the prince of the current dynasty, then the future harvest will be great.

A mere princess is nothing at all.

"It's an honor for our country." Li Jingshi nodded hurriedly: "Except for King Qin, I don't know if His Royal Highness the Crown Prince would like..."

"This is His Majesty's holy order, and we can't lie."

Xia Wanchun shook his head directly.

"The marriage between the king of Qin and your country is only considered to be truly acceptable after repeated discussions in the court."

Li Jingxi showed a trace of disappointment.

Except for the two or three emperors who founded the Ming Dynasty, basically no Korean women were selected to enter the imperial palace, which was very detrimental to the increasingly sophisticated relationship between the Ming Dynasty.

However, marrying the King of Qin is not bad.

After he calmed down, Xia Wanchun said in a deep voice: "Besides, the son of your country is not too young, you can go to Beijing for a study tour."

"The Imperial College of the Ming Dynasty has solid academic qualifications, and there are many learned people..."

"This--"

Hearing these words, Li Jingxi's heart burst instantly.

The first thing he thought of was taking the son as a pledge.

But in a blink of an eye, it occurred to me that the relationship between the Ming and the Dynasties was so close that it could not be so, so what is its deep meaning?
"Then I don't know how long the prince will stay in Beijing?"

"Two or three years is enough." Xia Wanchun said softly, "It's enough to bathe in the Chinese style and experience the customs of the Ming Dynasty."

"Don't think too much about your country."

How can this not make people think too much?
"This matter is very important, I have to go back to the palace and report to His Highness Ming."

After saying that, he hurried out, with an indescribable eagerness on his footsteps.

(End of this chapter)