Chongzhen Daming: Starting from Coal Mountain

Chapter 515
When Zhu Cijiong returned to Zhangyi Gate with the scout cavalry, Xia Wanchun had already cleaned up the battlefield, gathered all the horses abandoned by Jiannu, and the wounded soldiers had also been treated.

The fallen soldiers were neatly put together.

In the Battle of Seoul, the Ming army was truly powerful.

But the price paid was extremely heavy, it was really a corpse.

"Report to King Ding." Xia Wanchun stepped forward and reported with a heavy expression, "There were more than [-] casualties in this battle, of which more than [-] people were killed in battle, and more than [-] people were seriously injured and dying. It is estimated that they will not survive tonight."

Zhu Cijiong let out a long sigh when he heard the words, the casualties were really tragic.

In fact, the casualties of Jiannu were similar, and less than a thousand people were actually killed.

The remaining 2000 people were only injured, and some Jiannu were not seriously injured, which was equivalent to being captured alive.

However, since the Ming army won in the end, and the Ming army also suffered heavy casualties, it is conceivable to wait for the result of these wounded soldiers: they were all gathered and beheaded.

More than 2000 Jiannu were beheaded, and the rat tails were cut off and collected.

Because Seoul is too far away from Nanjing, the head would have rotted long ago, so Zhu Cijiong decided to cut off Jiannu's rat tail to serve as the head.

"The fallen soldiers will be cremated separately, and their ashes will be brought back."

"Severely injured soldiers should be rescued as much as possible, no matter how much it costs."

"Yes." Xia Wanchun solemnly promised, "I will definitely do my best."

While talking, Li came over and reported: "Prince Ding, my father and all the officials of the court have come to plead guilty to you."

Zhu Cijiong looked back, and sure enough, he saw that the originally closed Changyi Gate had been opened, and then the guard of honor of the King of Joseon came out from the Changyi Gate, with a shoulder car under the red umbrella.

The person sitting on the shoulder must be the king of Joseon, Li Ji.

Behind Jianyu was a large group of officials, nearly a hundred of them.

Zhu Cijiong motioned for Xia Wanchun to bring over a saddle, and then sat upright.

Due to the influence of Chongzhen, Zhu Cijiong also hated red tape, but this is another matter at this moment.

Because at this moment, Zhu Cijiong is not representing himself, but Da Ming. Da Ming's national character does not allow him to do whatever he wants, but he must put on the majesty of a great power. After all, North Korea made a mistake.

Seeing this, Xia Wanchun also led the uninjured soldiers to stand behind Zhu Cijiong.

Li Jing's shoulder car gradually approached, and when he was about fifty steps away, Li Zhen saw Zhu Cijiong sitting on the saddle, and immediately signaled the servant to put down the shoulder car.

Li Jing struggled to get up from his shoulders.

However, he only took a step forward and almost fell to the ground.

It can be seen here that Li Zhen's physical condition is really poor.

In the end, Li Jing could only come to Zhu Cijiong with the support of two servants.

Zhu Cijiong sat on the saddle without moving, but stared at Li Ji blankly.

Li Ji knelt down tremblingly on the ground, panting and pleading guilty: "The guilty minister Li Zhen, King of Korea, brought his ministers and workers to kowtow to His Highness King Ding of the Ming Dynasty, and respectfully invite His Majesty the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty Jin An."

The civil and military officials behind Li Zhen also knelt down.

Among the civil and military officials in North Korea, there are quite a few ministers who are still loyal to the Ming Dynasty, but there are more ministers who are afraid of the vanguard of Jiannu soldiers. But just now at the head of Zhangyi Gate, they have seen the fighting between the Ming army and the Qing army. These ministers They changed their positions one after another, and turned to support breaking away from Jiannu's control and returning to the Ming Dynasty's vassal state.

In the eyes of these civil servants and generals, it is obviously better to be a vassal state of Ming Dynasty.

After all, they had been a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty for nearly 300 years, and the Ming Dynasty had never treated North Korea’s monarchs harshly. Every time they sent envoys to pay tribute, the emperor of Ming Dynasty gave more rewards than their tributes. , so being a vassal state of Ming Dynasty is really profitable.

On the contrary, the Manchus were somewhat demanding.

Not only is North Korea required to pay money and food every year, but even troops have to be transferred.

Therefore, it is obviously better to be a vassal of the Ming Dynasty than a vassal of the Qing Dynasty.

It's just that this time, the North Korean monarchs and ministers made a wrong idea and made a big mistake.

Zhu Cijiong bowed in the direction of Nanjing and said: "Holy bow."

Li Ji kowtowed three times and kowtowed nine times to Zhu Cijiong, then sat up on his knees.

Then Zhu Cijiong shouted in a deep voice with a dark face: "There is a decree, the king of Joseon, Li Ji, can you be convicted?"

Li Zhen and the civil and military officials behind him quickly knelt down on the ground again, and responded in panic: "Li Zhen is guilty, the guilty minister should not succumb to the power of the slaves, and commit stupid acts that insult the dignity of Ming Dynasty and lose the national dignity of North Korea." I only hope that His Majesty the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty has been serving the Ming Dynasty as the suzerain country for more than 270 years in our country, and he has never dared to go beyond the rules. If he forgives the mistakes made by our Korean monarchs and ministers in a moment of confusion, our Korean monarchs and ministers will be grateful .”

Zhu Cijiong asked coldly, "Where is the alliance letter signed with Jiannu?"

Li Jing beckoned, and a servant presented the letter of alliance.

Zhu Cijiong took it over and saw that it was indeed an alliance signed between Jiannu and North Korea. It was written in Han, Manchu and Korean respectively, and it was stamped with Huang Taiji's seal and Li Zhen's seal.

After Zhu Cijiong read the alliance book, he returned it to Li Zhen.

Li Yan immediately ordered Jin Yu, the leader of the political discussion, to light a fire and burn the alliance book.

After burning the alliance book, Li Zhen ordered his servant to bring a sable fur coat.

"This fur was given by Jiannu and the false emperor Huang Taiji, and it is burned together today."

After Li Yan finished speaking, he ordered his servant to light a fire and burn Diaoqiu too.

The next step is to re-sign the alliance letter, but Zhu Cijiong did not bring Chongzhen's emperor's seal, so the alliance letter had to be brought back to Nanjing to be stamped with Chongzhen's seal, and then sent back to North Korea.

When it got here, North Korea broke away from Jianshou and became a vassal state of Ming Dynasty again.

The next step is to determine the candidate for the son. There is actually no suspense about this. Li has now become the only surviving adult son of Li Zhen.

Zhu Cijiong said: "King of Joseon, I have to apologize to you for something."

Hearing this, North Korean ministers such as Li Zhen and Jin Zhen turned pale instantly, and asked Zhu Cijiong what excessive demands he was going to make, such as asking North Korea to donate thousands or even tens of virgins.

Huang Taiji, the false emperor who built slaves, once did this.

If North Korea doesn't give it, they will directly grab it.

Who made their North Korean women famous.

"That's right, Fenglin Maharaja Li Hao died in the chaos just now."

Zhu Cijiong turned his eyes to Li, and said in his heart that Gu would not wipe your ass for nothing, and he would have to get it back a hundred times in the future, and he only hoped that when he paid the price in the future, he would not complain.

Hearing this, Li Zhen's face turned blank in an instant.

It's also pitiful. He was already overindulged, exhausted, and lost his eldest son and second son one after another. Few old people can withstand such a mental blow.

……

That night, after Li Tan returned to Gyeongbokgung Palace, he fell ill.

Because of his serious illness, Li Ji didn't even attend the celebration dinner that night, but instead asked Li to offer Zhu Cijiong a glass of wine on his behalf, expressing his gratitude to Zhu Cijiong and Daming.

North Korean officials such as Ling Yizheng Kim Jin and Zuo Yizheng Gu Inhou attended the dinner.

The upper class in North Korea admired Confucian culture and often regarded themselves as a small China. They also used learning Chinese characters and speaking Ming Mandarin as status symbols, so they could communicate with Zhu Cijiong without barriers.

Zhu Cijiong walked up to Jin Yan's table with the wine bottle in his hand, and greeted with a smile: "Lord Jin."

"Don't dare to do it." Jin Yan hurriedly knelt up and said humbly, "Prince Ding can just call the minister's name directly."

Zhu Cijiong smiled, and said: "When I entered the city in the evening, I saw that the streets of Seoul were quite depressed, and the people in the city seemed to be living in hardship. What's going on? Isn't North Korea always rich?"

Jin Yan sighed and said, "Prince Ding, that's the old Huangli from before."

Zuo Yizheng Ju Renhou also came over and sighed: "In the past few decades, we have suffered from the Imchen Japanese Rebellion, Dingmao Rebellion, and Bingzi Rebellion one after another, and Li Shi and other rebels rebelled. Wang Ji is no exception, so when King Ding entered the city, he saw such dilapidated and depressed scenes."

Zhu Cijiong asked again: "I heard that the annual income of North Korea is only more than [-] shi?"

"Who says it's not?" Jin Yan and Gu Renhou poured bitter water on Zhu Cijiong at the same time.

"More than [-] shi have to be in a good year. If there is a bad year, there is no [-] shi. Officials in the capital can only receive [-]% or even [-]% of their salaries. The eighth and ninth grade officials even starve to death on the street."

"So miserable?" Zhu Cijiong finally showed his trump card for this trip.

"There is a way to help you North Korean monarchs and ministers tide over the difficulties."

"That's right. At present, all industries in my Ming Dynasty are flourishing, and craftsmen are in great demand."

"If you can recruit Korean blacksmiths to go to Nanjing to work, Daming can give each person ten yuan a year, which is ten taels of color silver. If you don't want silver, you can also fold rice."

Hearing this, the eyes of Jin Yan and Ju Renhou lit up immediately.

A blacksmith is ten taels a year, isn't it 1 taels for 10 blacksmiths?

I remember that the price of rice in Nanjing is one tael per shi, and 10 taels is [-] shi.

This is a huge amount of treasury revenue for the current North Korea.

With this treasury revenue, at least the salaries of officials will no longer be in arrears.

Immediately, Jin Yan and Ju Renhou looked at each other, and then asked Zhu Cijiong: "Prince Ding, how many blacksmiths does Ming need?"

"The more the better." Zhu Cijiong said with a smile, "As I said just now, all industries are flourishing in my Ming Dynasty, and the demand for all kinds of craftsmen is very large. A thousand orphans are not too few, and a hundred thousand orphans are not too many."

Jin Yan said happily: "I have at least 2 blacksmiths in the Eight Ways of Korea!"

Ju Renhou also said: "Prince Ding, besides blacksmiths, do you need other craftsmen?"

"Need, as long as it is a craftsman, Ming needs it." Zhu Cijiong said, "Blacksmiths, carpenters, stonemasons, masons and even pig butchers, as long as they are craftsmen, we Da Ming need them all, and the food and silver given are the same."

Speaking of this meal, he said: "Of course, it must be a skilled craftsman."

(End of this chapter)