Haisheng Mingdi

Qianqingmen, Prime Minister's Office.

The crown prince sat at the head, and all the prime ministers, assistant ministers, assistants, assistants, etc. from the prime minister's office attended the meeting. These part-time ministers from the imperial cabinet, six ministries, Taiwan Advisers, and the governor's office all looked very solemn.

Especially Qian Qianyi, the Zuo Jianyi doctor of Jianyuan, is as listless as frost-beaten eggplant today, and even the hair exposed under the black gauze hat has a lot of hoarfrost.

"The left admonishment doctor of the Jianyuan impeached Geng Zhongming for dozens of major crimes of treason. The Metropolitan Procuratorate, the Jianyuan, the Criminal Ministry, Dali Temple, Jinyiwei, and Dongchang followed up with orders to conduct a joint investigation. He temporarily accepted the seal of the North Korean general and summoned him to Beijing to accept the investigation. Xu Yaozu, the deputy admiral of the defense battalion stationed in Liaodong, led a bidder into Yuanshan Port, Shuangcheng Prefecture to take over..."

Wen Anzhi, a scholar of the first minister of the cabinet and chief minister of the prime minister, reported to the prince.

"After Geng Zhongming received the order, he did not wait for Xu Yaozu, the deputy admiral of the Liaodong Defense Battalion to arrive at Wonsan Port, and directly delivered the seal letter to Shi Xu Shilong, the Governor-General in North Korea, and then returned to Beijing with a team of soldiers. He walked along the Great Wall of Korea from Wonsan Port. Walked overland to Sinanju Port, and then went to Dongjiang Pi Island. On the second day after landing on the island, he left a confession and hanged himself.

Geng Zhongming was ashamed of his trust and appreciation for His Majesty, committed many big mistakes, lost his way, and could never be forgiven if he died. "

After Wen Anzhi finished his report, the hall was silent for a while.

His Royal Highness the young crown prince sat at the head, looking back behind him, behind a bead curtain, there was a figure, the emperor Zhu Yihai was behind the curtain at this time, there were several bookshelves, on which there were many memorials and even book archives, etc. The emperor stood among the bookshelves and flipped through a booklet. It was Geng Zhongming's confession and his last words.

Zhu Yihai ignored the prince.

The crown prince turned his head, coughed lightly, and faced the ministers: "Geng Zhongming didn't need to pass through Phi Island when he returned to court, right? Why did he hang himself on Phi Island?"

This may also be the doubt in the hearts of many people.

In fact, you can go back to Daming directly by sea from Wonsan Port. Wonsan Port is located in Yongxing Bay in the East Korean Sea. This is the deepest bay in the East Korean Gulf and the best natural harbor.

A squadron of the East China Sea Fleet is stationed here, which is not affiliated with the governor of North Korea. Because of its natural deep-water harbor and the strategy of the East China Sea in recent years, the imperial court’s development of the Northeast mainly relies on the sea. Therefore, Wonsan is the port. It became lively.

In particular, Ming intended to use this port to secretly support the Baishan Jurchen and deter North Korea. Therefore, a few years ago, using the turmoil in the North Korean border as an excuse, the East Sea Fleet was sent to establish a military port here. An important port for entrepot trade, processing, manufacturing and transportation.

A map of Liaodong and a map of the Korean Peninsula are specially hung on a copper screen in the hall today.

The eight provinces of Korea, the three provinces of North Hamgyong Road, South Hamgyong Road, and North Pyongan Road in the north today, are all completely occupied by Baishan Jurchen.

Wonsan Port is at the southernmost tip of South Hamgyong-do. It was originally assigned to Gangwon-do by North Korea, and even became the capital of Gangwon-do. However, it is now under the control of the Ming army, and it has actually been assigned back to South Hamgyong-do. It is the Dudufu of Shuangcheng. …

As for North Pingan Road at the mouth of the Yalu River, the Great Wall of Koryo passed diagonally through it. Originally, the western end of the Great Wall of Korea was built near the south bank of the Yalu River Estuary, but now the Jurchens actually crossed the Great Wall and actually controlled the entire North Pingan Road. The watershed between the Qingchuan River and the Datong River is the boundary, and the entire Qingchuan River is under control, and parts of South Pyongan Province are also controlled by Jurchen.

South Hamgyong Road reaches the Gozhanling Mountains in the north, the Motianling Mountains in the northeast, the Daedong River Divide in the west, and the sea in the east, including the entire Yongxing Bay and the most fertile river bend. The plains are taken away.

In fact, the so-called Baishan Jurchen is just a cover played by the court. There is no real Jurchen Changbai Mountain tribe at all. There used to be, but now the Jurchen in the Great Wall of Koryo are actually a mixture of Jurchen from various ethnic groups, many of them are from Ming Dynasty The nails that were intentionally sent to be placed there, the signboard of Changbai Jurchen, was deliberately erected by Daming.

And the three territories in North Korea that they occupied were also ordered by Emperor Ming. They did it deliberately. If it weren't for the emperor's support, they would not be able to integrate together, and they may not be the opponents of the new Korean army today. Yes, if you really want to stand on your own after fighting the Great Wall, you won't stop fighting the Datong River and other plains after occupying these strategic highlands in the northern border.

The Changbai Department now actually controls more than three provinces in the northern border of the Korean Kingdom. After accepting Zhu Yihai's advice, the crown prince also rejected North Korea's request for Daming to help suppress the Jurchen separatist regime in the northern border. North Korea was very dissatisfied. If they don't make a move, they will do it themselves.

In recent years, they have also established a new army with Ming-style equipment. The instructors and staff officers of the Ming Dynasty are not only equipped with a large number of firearms, but even the military uniforms are Ming-style. The experience of studying abroad, the middle and low-level military officers were all trained by the instructors of the Ming army, and everyone could speak the official language of the Ming Dynasty.

This new army is the pride of North Korea, and it is also the foundation of their self-confidence. The King of Joseon sent his son to lead the new army in three towns, with more than 3 horses, planning to go north to quell the chaos, vowing to wipe out the Jurchens and capture them sold to Daming as a slave.

The idea was good. Before dispatching troops, the soldiers were rewarded for their departure. As a result, the army marched in three directions, but the result was unexpected. The Chaoxin army, which fought many tough battles with the Ming army before, also performed well, but this time it failed.

Without Da Ming's professional battlefield intelligence support, they could not always get timely and accurate intelligence when they entered enemy territory.

The North Korean army marched three ways, but the result was that they were lured into the mountains all the way, and then attacked endlessly. Although the new North Korean army also imitated the Ming army in using firearms, almost all of them were equipped with guns, and even equipped with a lot of cannons, but marching in the mountains , the roads are difficult, and the artillery is difficult to carry and maneuver. After being constantly harassed, the North Koreans began to abandon their heavy artillery and baggage, and pursue them lightly.

You can learn from the Ming army’s imperial army. The armor of the troops is lightweight, or even unarmored. Those musketeers replaced the archers and even gave up the armor. The cotton armor of the Ming army is not cheap, and they can’t make it themselves. It is cheap and good, and secondly, the cotton armor is actually quite heavy, so they also followed the light infantry route of the Ming army, and wanted to use the fierce firepower of musketeers for pure output. …

In the past, the Ming army led the North Korean army in Liaodong, in Horqin Grassland, Xilin Gol Grassland, Hulunbuir Grassland, and even in Heilongjiang, Lake Baikal, and Kamchatka Peninsula. With the coordination of artillery and cavalry, he has almost never encountered an opponent. Whether he is the Eight Banners Jurchen or a Tsarist Russian Cossack, he was defeated by their firepower.

But the court army forgot, this set is not so easy to learn.

After the North Korean army gave up artillery and light equipment to chase into the mountain, they made another big mistake. Because they could not get timely and accurate information and could not find the exact location of the Jurchens, they began to divide their troops.

The soldiers were originally divided into three groups, with more than ten thousand troops along the way. Now that the infantry, artillery and supplies have been separated after entering the mountain, they will continue to divide the troops.

So the Korean troops became more and more scattered, scattered among the mountains in the north, and then they were intercepted by the Jurchens to kill the messengers, cut off the communication, and then they were defeated one by one, ambush, encirclement, night attack, all kinds of means were used.

On the one hand, he was like a blind man, ignorant of the enemy's situation on the battlefield, but on the other hand, he was helped by the Ming army, and even the dark lines in the court army kept reporting information, and he knew it like the back of his hand.

The Jurchens' riding and shooting are still sharp. They maneuvered through the mountains, with strong bows and heavy arrows. They even had no shortage of firearms, especially the North Korean army who used heavy guns and small artillery in large quantities, leaving heavy firepower behind. Being crushed and beaten.

From being swallowed up like a tiger before the war to collapsing thousands of miles soon, it took only a short time for the North Korean new army. In the end, two-thirds of the ace new army of the three towns did not come out in the mountains. They were either annihilated or killed. The captives were finally sent to slave merchant ships in Sinuiju, Sinanju, and Wonsan Port, and transported to the Central Plains.

It was also this defeat that scared the king of Joseon so much that he went on a southern tour to Pusan, sent ministers to Wonsan and Beijing, and asked Daming to come forward.

Baishan Jurchen put on a posture of taking the opportunity to attack Pyongyang and Seoul, very arrogant.

On the other hand, Daming pretended that this was your family affairs and didn’t want to interfere, which made things worse. Soon, the so-called Baishan Jurchen coalition forces were actually commanded by the Ming army behind the scenes, and they really fought all the way along the west coast to the city of Pyongyang. The city did not dare to fight, so the Jurchens went directly around the city, and Chao Shizi sent troops to follow behind to attack, but the Jurchens were ambushed again, and they were defeated again. The defeated soldiers retreated into Pyongyang and dared not come out again.

The Jurchens went directly south to Seoul, the capital of the kingdom, and countless Korean nobles fled to Ganghwa Island, and even to Busan and Jeju, hoping to be protected by the Ming army.

North Korea was in shock every day, and kept sending envoys to ask for help from Ming Dynasty. At this time, Ming Dynasty finally stepped forward. First, he sent a sailor from Dongjiang Town to the mouth of the Taedong River by sea, and then arrived at Pyongyang along the river, and entered Pyongyang to assist in the defense.

Another Daming naval force departing from Jeju Island went north to the mouth of the Han River, first landed on Ganghwa Island in the mouth of the river, took over the island’s camp castle there, and then stationed troops to set up artillery, and then another part of the sailors arrived at the capital along the Han River. Seoul.

The Jurchens voluntarily withdrew to the North Han Mountain City, while the Ming Army stationed a battalion in the South Han Mountain City on the south bank of the Han River, and another battalion entered the North Han City.

Ming officials presided over the peace talks on the battleship on the Han River. The Korean Kingdom and the Baishan Jurchen talked on the ship for several days. North Korea wanted to count on Da Ming to drive the Jurchens away, and even take back the three northern borders. But this whole event was originally planned by Da Ming. Of course Impossible to agree. …

The so-called Baeksan Jurchen chiefs were even more aggressive. In the end, the Koreans had to sign the Treaty of Seoul, recognizing the independence of the Baeksan Jurchens in the three provinces of North Korea.

Daming is a witness. At the same time, North Korea requested the Ming army to garrison in North Korea for a long time to ensure safety. Pyongyang, Ganghwa Island, Incheon, Hansanseong, and even Seoul have set up Ming army garrison bases. They are willing to bear the military expenses of the garrison. mostly.

These were also written into the Treaty of Seoul, and it even stated that if the Baishan Jurchen crossed the border and invaded North Korea, Ming was obliged to send troops to help defend North Korea, and even send troops to repel the Baishan Jurchen.

The Koreans called this war the Nine Years of Chaos, the Baishan Jurchen Invasion, and the Ming Dynasty called it the Nine Years of Shaotian Korean Incident. The time before and after it was very short, but the result rewritten the historical pattern of North Korea. Since then, they have spent countless generations of hard work to win it. The northern border area was all taken away, and even a lot of them were taken away.

After the Baishan Jurchen signed the agreement, they withdrew their troops, and when they went back, they grabbed another one. Although Pyongyang, Seoul and other big cities were not captured this time, many villages were plundered.

North Korea’s morale was overwhelming before the war, but in the end it suffered the most painful beating. Not only did they cede land, but they also had to pay a large amount of thanks to Daming, and finally invited Daming to garrison, and they had to bear the military expenses every year.But these can only smash their teeth and swallow their blood. In the end, they had to borrow money from Daming again and purchase new equipment. Their three new troops lost two-thirds, and their equipment was almost lost. For heavy equipment, they can only continue to buy from Daming, and if they don't have that much money, they borrow money.

Take iron ore and coal mines as collateral.

Daming was making a lot of money. After the Baishan Jurchen successfully occupied the three realms, they immediately changed into three Dudufu, established the Baishan Dufu, and turned around and joined Daming on the table, becoming the same as the Bohai Dufu. In Jimi Province, half of these lands are Jurchen Jimi autonomous, and half are designated directly under the Ming Dynasty.

And Daming was able to station troops in several key areas of North Korea, further controlling the North Korean Kingdom.

By the way, you can also earn another wave of arms money.

Not long after the dust of this war settled, Geng Zhongming was impeached for many treasonous crimes and recalled to the court, and then he handed over the seal of military power, but ended up committing suicide on Dongjiang Pi Island, which seems to be a coincidence of timing.

During the Korean Incident, Geng Zhongming also contributed a lot. He was the behind-the-scenes commander of the Baishan Jurchen Army. This guy had been in Dongjiang for a long time, and later he followed Huang Taiji to conquer North Korea. He knew North Korea very well. It's very good.

Now that he died suddenly, it is strange to still die at this point in time and Pidao.

Geng Zhongming first arrived at Xin'anzhou at the mouth of the Qingchuan River from Wonsan Port by land. There is a port there, and he can go back to Beijing directly.

But his route went north to Phi Island.

This is a very special place for him, a place where he has fought for most of his life, what does he mean by committing suicide here?Ye Luo returned to his roots, or did he have other secrets, did he think of recruiting his old cronies here to rebel, did he commit suicide?

Qian Qianyi thinks that Geng Zhongming didn't commit suicide, he was most likely killed by force, or simply killed by the emperor, maybe Jin Yiwei, maybe Dongchang, who did dirty work for the emperor anyway. …

Thinking of the green hair on his head, he looked behind the bead curtain with a hint of hatred in his eyes.

"Returning to His Royal Highness, according to the investigation sent back from Dongjiang, Geng Zhongming has been in Dongjiang for many years, and he has a lot of affection for the island, and there are many descendants of clansmen, old tribes, etc. who are all on the island, and they have no face to enter the capital. I chose to end myself in Phi Island, perhaps because I wanted to imply to the sage that some of his past achievements, I hope the sage can forgive him and show mercy to his wife, children and clansmen."

"Since it is confirmed that it is suicide, let's discuss how to deal with it." The prince said.

Qian Qianyi suddenly stood up.

"Your Highness, I think that although Geng Zhongming committed suicide, death cannot be abolished. He has committed many serious crimes such as bullying the emperor and conspiracy. Nine Clans!"

The bead curtain sounded.

Zhu Yihai came out from inside. He was wearing a dragon robe and walked into the hall.

"Geng Zhongming is a man who has been capricious all his life. He was originally a member of the Ming army, but he surrendered to the Jurchen, and then he surrendered to the imperial court. Then he rebelled and surrendered to the Qing Dynasty again. Anyway, he has meritorious deeds and demerits. If we really want to say that three parts of the merits and seven parts of the demerits, His faults outweigh his merits. I once accepted him for the sake of the country and the nation, and treated him well, and valued him very much. However, he still has evil intentions and schemes. It is unforgivable. Now he has ended up like this. It is his own fault. I can't live!"

At this time, the emperor stepped forward to make a final decision on Geng Zhongming's coffin.

Even when Geng Zhongming died, he still couldn't escape the name of a capricious, treacherous and rebellious official.

Although a person dies, his sins do not go away.

"Deprive Geng Zhongming of all official titles,"

"To deprive his fathers, ancestors, descendants and wives of conferring edicts,"

"Confiscation of all his property."

"His son Geng Jimao was demoted to a commoner, and the whole family moved to live in Yongning Temple."

"The three clans of the Geng family moved to Suiyechuan in the Western Regions, and the nine clans except the three clans moved to Longyamen.

The emperor paused, "Although Geng Zhongming is a traitor, he has also contributed to the great cause of expelling the Tartars and reviving the Ming Dynasty, and has made some achievements. I specially rewarded Geng Jimao with 1 yuan in silver dollars so that he can settle down in Yongning. Provide for mother, wife, and children, and pull out hundreds of acres of fields in Yongning."

"The members of the Geng clan migrated to various places, and each person was given ten silver dollars and ten acres of land."

Zhu Yihai finally issued a Daoist decree that members of the Geng clan were not allowed to participate in the imperial examinations, joined the army, or be officials within three generations, and were not allowed to move back to the Central Plains within five generations.

This disposition is somewhat unexpected.

Geng Zhongming was impeached for such a serious crime and it was basically confirmed. He would not escape death if he did not commit suicide. He would even implicate his clan and even his old relatives.

But now after Geng Zhongming committed suicide, the emperor did not kill any of the Geng family members, not even his own son, and his brothers, relatives, relatives, etc., were not killed although they were implicated, they were just ransacked and exiled. This is already extremely unexpected.

The emperor also ordered that a kneeling statue of Geng Zhongming be cast in front of the Taimiao, kneeling in front of the Daming Taimiao forever, to warn future generations.

He will be nailed to the pillar of shame forever and will not be ordered to die.

Qian Qianyi's body trembled, and he couldn't restrain it. Seeing Geng Zhongming's fate, he knew the essence of it very well.

If the king wants the minister to die, the minister has to die.

The world is at peace, and the emperor is going to settle the old accounts. Geng Zhongming definitely did not die of corruption, accepting bribes, overtaking Korean clan daughters, secretly making friends with Jurchen chiefs, etc., let alone smuggling, doing business and appointing private individuals. It was liquidated because of the black history.

Thinking about himself who lost his wife, maybe he would be the next one, Qian Qianyi's eyes suddenly went dark, and he fell to the ground with a thump.