Haisheng Mingdi

Chapter 888 Loyalty
"My son kowtowed to the emperor!"

In the Wuying Hall, Prince Hongjia entered the hall and kowtowed to the emperor.

Zhu Yihai leaned on the dragon head stick and tapped the ground lightly, "Prince, please come forward."

I haven't seen him for three years, and now the prince is taller and taller, especially after he was ordered to destroy the Manchus in the Northern Expedition, and after having military experience, he seems to be a little more calm and calm.

Zhu Yihai patted the prince's shoulder, and was very relieved to see the eldest son who was printed like a mold with him. "Have you seen the North Korean envoy?"

"The son of Joseon came to Beijing on behalf of the king of Joseon, mainly because the Jurchens crossed the Great Wall of Koryo and rebelled with the former Hamgyongdo and other Jurchens who belonged to the Jurchens there. They hoped that the court would order those Jurchens to be honest."

Zhu Yihai smiled, "This is their own business."

The prince was stunned.

Zhu Yihai looked at the prince and said bluntly, "Are you going to agree to North Korea's request and want to solve these Jurchens in North Korea's northern border for North Korea?"

"Your Majesty, North Korea has always been loyal to my Ming Dynasty. Before the crusade against Jianlu, North Korea also sent troops and food. When my Ming Dynasty sent troops to Japan to encircle and suppress Japanese pirates, they also agreed to lease Pusan ​​Port. In addition to the Jeju Port in the previous concession, North Korea treated me well. They are indeed obedient and loyal, and now that the Jurchens in their northern border are causing trouble, we have no reason to ignore it."

"Wrong, big mistake!" Zhu Yihai shook his head, "Between countries, interests are the first thing to talk about, in fact, it's just about faith. It's true that North Korea is a vassal state of our Ming Dynasty, but at critical times, you can't be confused. Do you think its northern border is now How could the Jurchens be so noisy? To tell you the truth, it was all connived by me on purpose."

The prince was surprised.

"North Korea is also a good trading partner of my Ming Dynasty. They now export a large amount of ginseng, iron ore, coal, and graphite to us every year. Now we not only lease Jeju Port and Busan Port in North Korea, but also cooperate with them to develop many large-scale Coal and iron mines, and I also borrowed a lot of money from them to use them to purchase our Daming's firecrackers, artillery, and battleship armor..."

The relationship between Daming and North Korea has always been very good, and now the relationship between the two sides is even closer. There are two Korean princesses in the emperor's harem, and there are many daughters of Korean nobles. Daughter of a Korean nobleman.

In terms of economy and trade, it is even closer. Daming not only cooperates with North Korea to open mines and build factories, but also leases ports with them and helps them build ports. Even now the North Korean customs are managed by Daming. Hire retired military officers and non-commissioned officers from Ming Dynasty.

Every year, North Korea sends more than a thousand women to Daming to marry relatives. They are members of the royal family, two classes of nobles, and some commoners. In addition, there are quite a few Korean students who come to Daming to study every year. The relationship between the two parties is unprecedentedly close.

Now that the Jurchens are fighting a separatist rebellion in northern North Korea, it is normal for them to ask Daming for help. They even just want an attitude from Daming. As long as Daming allows them, they can transfer new troops to suppress the chaos. , They are also afraid that the use of troops on the border will cause Ming Dynasty's dissatisfaction.

Originally, this was just a matter of saying hello and going through a formality, expressing loyalty and respect to the Ming suzerain, and of course the crown prince also planned to follow suit and agree.

Who would have thought that the emperor would say that he had done something wrong.

Speaking of the Jurchens making trouble, it is actually a bit of a historical thing.

In fact, during the Yuan Dynasty, North Korea was not only a subsidiary of the Yuan Dynasty, but the Yuan Dynasty went deep into the Korean peninsula. Its territory directly under its jurisdiction crossed the Yalu River. Hezhou was incorporated directly under the central government, and the general administration of Shuangcheng was placed in Hezhou to govern its people.

The Yuan Dynasty has ruled the Shuangcheng General Administration Mansion for 99 years. Since the Liao Dynasty, the Shuangcheng and the Great Wall of Koryo have become the boundary between Koryo and Jurchen.

At the beginning of Ming Dynasty, Tieling was also set up to guard Shuangcheng, but it was moved away later.

Later, the Lee family of North Korea took advantage of the Ming Dynasty’s conquest of the Southwest and Mobei, and sent troops to attack the Jurchen ministries north of the Great Wall of Koryo, and finally pushed the border to the mouth of the Yalu River and the Tumen River. The Ming Dynasty later acquiesced in admitting that North Korea called it the land given by the Ming Dynasty.

It has continued like this ever since.

They no longer take the Great Wall of Koryo as the northern boundary, but the Tumen River and the Yalu River as the boundary. The Great Wall has been built for more than [-] years. The thirteen cities, including Yaode, Xinghua, and Ningde, reach the three cities of Yaode, Jingbian, and Hezhou.

After the Ming Dynasty and North Korea established a new border, most of the Jurchen tribes south of the Tumen River on the Yalu River and north of the Great Wall of Koryo were mostly Jurchen tribes in Changbai Mountain. Later, their strongholds were breached by the Koreans and they were forced to surrender and become naturalized.

When the Jianzhou Jurchen was rising, Huang Taiji and his son crossed the river several times, also in the name of a Jurchen tribe fleeing south and being taken in by North Korea. Later, the North Korean monarchs who had been fighting surrendered, but Huang Taiji focused on the Ming Dynasty at that time, so North Korea became a vassal After paying tribute, the boundary line with the Tumen River, the Yalu River in the Ming Dynasty, was still maintained.

However, there were indeed quite a few real maidens living in the south of the Yangtze River. After Zhu Yihai’s Northern Expedition, the Ming army deliberately drove some Jurchen tribes across the river, and even secretly accepted the surrender of some Jurchen tribes who had lived in North Korea for many years.

Although the Jurchens have lived in North Korea for many generations, they have always been discriminated against by North Korea. In fact, not only the Jurchens in the north, but also the entire North Korean people on Hamgyong Road, have been discriminated against by the North Korean court, even though it is the hometown of the founding monarch Li Chenggui , is also the hometown of several North Korean Jurchen generals, but that's it.

On the other hand, after Ming entered the Northeast, he quickly recruited the Jurchen tribes, did business with them, and even bestowed officials and honors on them. Those Korean Jurchen tribes on the south bank of the river saw that the Jurchen tribes in the north of the river were treated like this, and then they saw that they were discriminated against by the Koreans. How many generations have passed, and naturally they have the heart to belong to Daming.

Zhu Yihai is also willing to accept this, and has been in contact with each other in private. Therefore, over the years, from the Yalu River to the Tumen River, to the Great Wall of Korea, and the former Shuangcheng Governor's Mansion in the North of Korea, there have been more and more Jurchens. On the surface, the Jurchen tribe went south to defect to North Korea, but in fact they were acting according to orders in secret.

After so many years of development, these new Jurchen tribes who moved southward gradually united with the previous Jurchen tribes who gradually moved southward, and they have been preparing for it. When Daming basically reestablished order in the northeast, they also happened to raise troops to rebel. North Korea.

They raised their banners, elected leaders, and said that these lands belonged to their Jurchens, and have belonged to their Jurchens since the end of the Liao Dynasty. In the past, North Korea occupied their land and even enslaved them. Now they want to stand on their own.

The emperor planned for several years, and what he planned was to restore the Korean border line in the Yuan Dynasty. Not only should the Gaima Plateau and the Hamgyong Mountains north of the Great Wall of Korea be brought back directly under the Central Plains, but also the former Shuangcheng Governor's Office in the southeast of the Great Wall of Korea. The Xianjingwan Plain in the East Korean Bay is taken away.

In this case, Daming will completely occupy the strategic highlands in the northern part of the Korean peninsula, especially those coastal areas from the Yalu River and Tumen River, which will further weaken North Korea and keep him in more firm control.

Although Gaima Plateau is relatively remote and poor, it is very important in military affairs, and it is also an important production area of ​​Korean ginseng, and Zhu Yihai in the East Korean Bay thinks it is very important.

"Let North Korea fight the Jurchens and let's talk about it. When they can't clean up the situation, you will send someone to mediate at that time, so that the Jurchens will not continue to invade the south. At that time, let the North Korean Association sign a contract to separate the north of the Great Wall of Korea and the two sides. The city mansion is drawn out, and the imperial court can set up the Duhu Mansion and Dudu Mansion there."

Zhu Yihai even thought of the name of the Governor's Mansion to be set up. It is called Baishan Governor's Mansion. Restoring Tieling Guard in Shuangcheng.

After listening to the prince, he remained silent.

"What, is there a psychological burden?" Zhu Yihai asked.

"I just feel that this seems a bit..."

"Put away the little lumps in your heart. When you become the king of a country, you have to start from the national interests of Ming Dynasty. In fact, if it weren't for the friendship in my heart, you think that the national power of Ming Dynasty can't take down North Korea. The whole country?"

"Now I'm just taking back the piece of land that didn't belong to them before, and I've left room for them."

"North Korea is indeed very loyal to Ming Dynasty now, but who can guarantee that it will last forever? Once they have the opportunity and strength, they will not be satisfied. In fact, when it comes to the history of the peninsula, from the Jizi Dynasty to Goguryeo and Baekje established by the Buyeo people, then They all came south from our Liaodong area. The real Korean aborigines are the Sanhan tribe at the southern tip of the peninsula. The Silla people in the Tang Dynasty were the aborigines. They first assisted the Tang Dynasty in destroying Baekje and Goguryeo. Le Zhan dispatched the elite stationed in the peninsula, and immediately turned his face and took the opportunity to sneak attack, robbing almost the entire peninsula.

Later, when the Khitan people ruled the north, Koryo on the peninsula built the Great Wall for thousands of miles, and at the same time crossed the Great Wall to snatch places such as the Yalu River Estuary. Are they all real examples? "

The prince couldn't fully understand it for a while, but he nodded and said that he would do as the emperor wanted.

"I intend to restore the original surnames of Zhu Chenggong, Zhu Shengli, Zhu Zhongyi, Zhu Pengfei, and Zhu Dingguo. There will be other arrangements. Your righteous brothers are all famous generals who can rule the roost for a while. I will leave it to you, but you have to be careful." Use it, don't let them get out of control, if one day you can't control it, then you must take decisive action to solve it, and never let them become a disaster for the court."

The prince didn't understand why the emperor suddenly said this.

"Several righteous brothers have performed very well in commanding troops abroad. Zhu Chenggong has almost controlled the situation in the country of Japan. The Northern and Southern Dynasties have to fear him three points, and they have reached an agreement with him. They all agree to take Tsushima, Wudao, Kagoshima, Ezo Island, etc. were assigned to Ming Dynasty, and Zhu Dingguo also performed very well in Annan. Zhu Chenggong and Zhu Dingguo also wrote a letter last time, proposing to occupy and colonize the Luzon Islands. When you occupy a lot, grab some islands and come over,"

Zhu Yihai said: "Those righteous brothers of yours are all capable people, and they are indeed very loyal to me, but they are still very young, so they have to be used, and more importantly, they have to be controlled. It is a happy situation for all, remember, people's ambition and desire are not born with it, but only when they have enough chips in their hands."

"Most people's loyalty is only because they don't have enough chips to betray you. If you want someone to be loyal to you, it's best never to give him enough chips to betray you!"

(End of this chapter)