Jingming

Chapter 488 Two countries in one year, on the eve of the end of Japan

Once Seoul is defeated, the task before next spring is to clean up Chungcheong-do and Jeolla-do to the west of the Sobaek Mountains and southwest of Gyeonggi Province.

With unparalleled military superiority, North Korea, which has spent decades in internal strife, has no room to fight back.

The people's support was not there, and the main force was reduced to defend Seoul for several months, which ended in a chaos, and the leading general was killed.

Those were the "elites" who accounted for more than half of the entire North Korean army at this time, and they were stunned to be exploded from within by the psychological warfare.

A large number of middle-level generals were temporarily screened by guards. Some of the soldiers who had caused chaos at that time dispersed among the people, resumed their status as civilians, and hurried back home.

Some were looking forward to new opportunities, either entering the security force system under the control of the Ming army, or volunteering to become officers.

There is a group of soldiers that cannot be forgiven just now, and that is the imperial guards and bodyguards who used to be the closest confidants of the Yin siblings.

These low-level soldiers who had become officials were especially happy to supervise the hard labor of the imperial guards who used to be aloof: Now that North Korea has taken it, the construction of the Beijing-Hankou Straight Road will begin.

Even if the northern border is bitterly cold, often windy and snowy, and the melting of frozen soil after spring is still a problem, at least the roadbed must be repaired first. This is a necessary part of the long-term strategy.

And completing this part of the Beijing-Hankong Straight Road foundation project from Seoul to the Yalu River is the punishment for those criminals.

“No need to worry about food!”

In the Seonjeong Hall of Gyeongbokgung Palace, there is now a new person.

The king of Liao, Zhu Xianzhen, had not yet sat on the throne, but was just watching.

"Ping'an and Huanghai Road were okay. Before the summer started, the king's army quickly attacked Gyeonggi Road. The officials and others worked hard and did not delay this summer's food too much. In addition, new grain seeds, iron farm tools, and guano fertilizers were shipped one by one. , It is indeed a great harvest. However, in Gyeonggi Province, Chungcheong Province, and Jeolla Province, there are wars and disasters one after another, and the fields are barren. The rebellious ministers and traitors are ruthlessly expropriating, and more than one million people are starving."

Gong Yongqing, who came from Pyongyang, first explained the objective situation, and then asked Zhang Jing: "Dutai, I'm afraid the food is still not enough. There are soldiers from the Japanese expeditionary camp who are about to march into the DPRK, and their military rations cannot be used. If we want to get through this winter, we still have to find a way to get food. Now that winter has entered again, the transport capacity of Jiliao grain road has dropped significantly. Regarding shipping...has the court made any arrangements?"

"There is no need to worry too much about food." Zhang Jing emphasized again, "The Korean people have been suffering from political chaos for a long time. Making decisions for them is the supreme good governance. In these critical times, food and grain types must be allocated in a centralized manner. Ping'an, Huanghai The busy farming season on the grain road is over, so hire some helpers as soon as possible, and the poor in the city can also work to provide relief."

He didn't say it clearly, but Gong Yongqing knew that the big complaints and verdicts that had already happened in Ping'an Province and Hwanghae Province would happen again in Gyeonggi Province.

Punishment cannot be used to avenge the crime. However, the unscrupulousness of the wealthy officials and gentry in North Korea was much greater than that of the Ming Dynasty. As long as they made decisions for the poor people based on laws and regulations, they would be inspected and confiscated, which would still be a source of money and food.

It's nothing more than a distribution issue.

Chungcheong Province and Jeolla Province are not necessarily without food, but it is definitely being hoarded by big officials and gentry.

The army is advancing quickly, and Ming officials and North Korean local helpers who have bought the hearts of the people are behind. The big officials and gentry in the remaining five realms of North Korea are indeed in danger of disaster as Yin Yuanheng preached.

But Daming didn't care.

The vast majority are always ordinary people.

North Korea's middle and upper classes were originally very powerful, but that was in the absence of stronger external forces.

Those who can adapt to the new situation now may still have some possibility of the future; those who cannot adapt to the new situation will only have to face the powerful Mingjun and the new local forces who are ready to completely obey the Ming Dynasty.

"Mr. Andong!" Zhang Jing saluted, "Eradicating the Japanese invasion has always been a general strategy. This year we will first pacify Chungcheong Province and Jeolla Province, and next spring Gyeongsang Province will be pacified. The remaining Gangwon Province and Hamgyeong Province will have to work hard for Andong. I'm going to surrender."

It is obviously not a matter of just one or two years to completely pacify the entire North Korea.

There will always be unwilling people who will fight back and cause chaos.

The Ming Dynasty's overall strategy was to first capture the less mountainous good land in the West Fourth Road of North Korea, and then capture Gyeongsang Province, which is the easiest to form a unified pattern. At the same time, it also opened up the place closest to Tsushima Island.

As for the remaining Gangwon Province and Hamgyeong Province, it is better to open an opening for the resistance forces to gather there.

It doesn't matter whether Li can successfully surrender, it's more important that he brings people from the Qin Ming faction to do dirty things.

If the remnants of the Korean resistance really got together with the Jianzhou Jurchens, there would be no end in sight. Then the Xuanning frontier army, which had previously stood still, would just take advantage of the situation and rush eastward to give the Jianzhou Jurchens a big slap in the face.

In this case, when the Ming Dynasty succeeds in its expedition to Japan and begins to completely eliminate the Mongol and Yuan threats, it will not be afraid of something happening in the northeast where the new order is not stable.

Li Ziran also understood, and now he just replied seriously: "How dare you not do your best to save the people of Gangwon and Hamgyong from the fire and water?"

"There are many affairs inside and outside the city. Your Majesty, I will leave the city first, and then encourage the soldiers on the southern expedition and take a look at the sea and land grain roads in the direction of Incheon Kaesong. Your Majesty should personally go to various porridge factories, grain stores and government offices in the city to supervise the officials. Run your errands.”

"Xiao Wang has learned a lesson, sir, don't worry."

Gong Yongqing felt complicated in his heart.

He was not stupid. Zhang Jing was later transferred to the DPRK, and it was obvious that he would be used to straighten out the internal affairs of the DPRK.

The King of Liao also regarded Zhang Jing as his master and obeyed his advice.

"Mingzhi, it's up to you to handle Enke's recruitment of scholars." Zhang Jing didn't ignore him, "This matter is extremely important. Korean scholars have been hit repeatedly and are about to have a new situation. Now everything is waiting to be done. North Korea is thirsty for talents. This Enke examination will shock the North Korean scholars!"

"I understand." Gong Yongqing bent down.

Opening courses to obtain scholars in North Korea naturally sends a very clear signal and also gives hope to many frustrated lower-level scholars in North Korea.

North Korea is not a big country, with Seoul in the middle. It won’t take long for people from the north to the south to take the exam here.

The most important thing is that this year’s special circumstances will definitely make it easier to take the exam. There are plenty of places, so the test questions will certainly not be difficult.

We all know that there must be a new set of rules in the future, and I am afraid that there is great hope just by being able to read and write.

It is quite convenient to say that, after all, although North Korea already has some "Hunmin Zhengyin" and created "Proverbs", Shilin disliked it.

The reason why it is called "proverb" is because it is looked down upon by scholars, who think that it is only used by ordinary people. How can Chinese characters be as elegant and accurate?

Therefore, when serving as an official in North Korea, the official writing is still in Chinese characters, even hundreds of years later.

Ming Dynasty is now in charge. It wants to select a new group of local officials. Naturally, they only need to be able to communicate in Chinese proficiently.

Whether you pass the exam or not, I'm afraid the most important thing is whether you are loyal or not.

As long as you are willing to serve as an official in the Ming Dynasty, the threshold is just proficiency in Chinese and obedience.

This is the case in North Korea, but the method in Ryukyu is different.

Too many people had been killed before, and most of them were Ryukyu elites living on the main island.

In the remaining Yaeyama and Miyako Islands, it was not enough for all those who knew Chinese to be awarded official positions. Hu Zongxian naturally selected some more people from the Han people who came with the maritime trade to serve as official positions.

At the same time, the first elementary school and middle school have been established in Shuri Castle, which is still under reconstruction.

Just rebuilding, Hu Zongxian faced much fewer problems, and he still had time to serve as a teacher himself.

Those who survive the catastrophe will indeed be blessed later.

Those who survived the Ryukyu catastrophe now see all the blessings that the Ming Dynasty has brought to them.

What King Su brought over was the opportunity of a large sum of start-up capital lent to him by Emperor Ming.

The materials needed to rebuild the port and rebuild the new city without labor are now flowing within Ryukyu, and vitality continues to sprout.

Seeing the court's determination and not paying attention to Japan, many people along the southeast coast are becoming more and more convinced of the opportunity in Ryukyu.

No matter what, now Ryukyu, which has a greatly reduced population and a large amount of land, can be first come, first served. Then there will definitely be an opportunity for the Ming army to go on an expedition to eradicate the Japanese invasion, and there will also be an opportunity for Ryukyu to become the backbone of all nations and the center of maritime trade. Unlike North Korea, Ming Dynasty was not prepared to directly accept Ryukyu as a solid territory.

It also means being here will be much more liberating than going to North Korea.

It's already midwinter, but it's not cold here in Ryukyu. Instead, it's steamy and full of life.

As for the city of Beijing in the Ming Dynasty, it had already been published in "Ming Pao". In the eyes of the people of the Ming Dynasty, the two countries were conquered this year.

Needless to say, Ryukyu, the Japanese pirates had no conscience. The Ryukyu royal family and officials and people suffered a great disaster, and it was not their fault. The Ming Dynasty went there not only to support the vassal state, but also to prepare for the eradication of Japanese troubles in the future.

As for North Korea, it is really shocking that the relatives, siblings, are so vicious and cruel to kill the North Korean king and the princes.

“It’s natural for such a mediocre, promiscuous, and treacherous royal family to lose the hearts of the people!”

"Ah……"

"why are you laughing?"

The person being asked just shook his head, but he would not say the words.

Just listen to what Ming Pao said, and that’s naturally the case. But who killed the previous leader of North Korea, Li Yi and his disciples? How can we think carefully about this?

He thought he had seen more deeply, and it was not that he despised the officers and soldiers of the Ming Dynasty or even His Majesty the Emperor. He just thought that this situation would be a bit difficult to handle.

From the perspective of other vassals, Ming's reputation was probably a bit bad and his actions were too ruthless.

The truth is not important, what is important is the fact that these two generations of the North Korean royal family were almost wiped out.

Does this make people less scared?

Even within the Ming Dynasty, many people suspected this, let alone the outer vassals.

In the West Nuan Pavilion of the Qianqing Palace, Zhu Houcong read a few memorials and then put them aside.

"Let's stay in China."

These are memorials of advice, addressed to the emperor, rather than ordinary civil affairs. If the emperor has no new ideas, he will not approve the matter and then transfer it to the State Council and relevant government agencies to study how to deal with it.

That's exactly what I'm talking about.

After gaining two vassal states in one year, how should the other vassals be appeased?

Zhu Houcong knew that the conventional thinking of many people could not be forced. In the final analysis, the moral bottom line of Ming officials was probably the highest.

The changes in Ming Dynasty vassal policy were not enough for most officials to heartily agree with.

The history of living behind closed doors has been too long, and the view that the gains outweigh the losses in operating those small and remote countries is also very popular because at this stage, Ming Dynasty needs vigorous blood transfusions.

For example, in order to eradicate Japanese invasion in the coming year and to stabilize the newly conquered North Korea and Ryukyu, larger-scale military food transfer and logistics arrangements have been launched.

The 20,000 elite soldiers selected from the Beijing camp have already set out, and Yu Dayou is in command.

The emperor's determination to eradicate Japanese invasion is evident.

Yang Shen was under great pressure. At this time, he could only joke to himself: Although the ten-year treasury bonds paid out this year have returned, with an increase of more than 5 million taels, the total scale has reached more than 17 million taels. The first-period national debt is also a great pressure for Ming Dynasty. He would have to pay it back, but then it wouldn't be Yang Shen's turn to worry about it.

In front of Zhu Houcong, Cui Yuan only heard the emperor say: "Where are we now? Not to mention the current annual output of the Ming Dynasty, the tax revenue alone is over 30 million taels when converted into silver taels. Besides, conquer Japan. , the gold and silver output there will be enough to repay this batch of national debts in a few years.”

Cui Yuan reported: "Gao Duhu reported that more and more gold and silver are in the hands of Westerners. Uncle Nan'ao once again requested to purchase Ming Dynasty naval guns. He is very ambitious. This matter..."

Zhu Houcong shook his head: "This is not allowed! The military and national weapons are important, and I will not sell them to foreigners until I am worried about them. But now because I attach great importance to the shipbuilding industry, large merchant ships can be sold to foreigners. The more caravans at sea, the better. After all, when I want to After taking action against Anda, I am afraid that the trade routes on the road will temporarily change. If North Korea and Ryukyu want to be self-sufficient and return benefits to the Ming Dynasty, they also need maritime trade to exchange what they need."

"Then we need the Ming Dynasty Tongbao and silver coins." Cui Yuan continued to report, "The convention was signed last year, and this year with the new standards, border trade only recognizes the Ming Dynasty silver coins, and there is already a shortage of silver coins. If you want to add more coins, on the one hand, there is still a shortage of silver, and on the other hand, there is still a shortage of silver coins. On the one hand, I am also afraid that after the feud between the clans in the future, there will be too many silver coins circulating in the country and prices will be unstable."

Fast forward more than 20 years, Cui Yuan has become more and more professional.

Zhu Houcong looked at him: "What's your opinion?"

"Baoqiao." Cui Yuan said, "Border trade often involves huge amounts of money, so silver coins are the main currency. Although Baoqiao has been used in various provinces, it is not solid silver and gold after all, and the feudal merchants are wary. Printing the treasures, It mainly depends on whether the vassal merchants will accept it. Although Ming Dynasty generally makes more money from border trade now, after Ming Dynasty buys it and they buy things from Daming Dynasty, there is still turnover in the middle. Now, the vassals are a little worried that Ming Dynasty will not cooperate with them in the future. If diplomatic relations are established but trade is not carried out, the treasure ticket will be useless."

"Are you afraid that the Ming Dynasty will take action against them like it did against North Korea?" Zhu Houcong chuckled.

However, what Cui Yuan said is indeed a problem.

Over the years, a lot of silver has indeed flowed into overseas through sea trade, and domestic mining has not stopped.

However, compared with the explosive growth of output in the Ming Dynasty, the overall currency circulating in the market is still not enough. After all, time is still short, and it has not yet reached the state where Ming Dynasty occupies hundreds of millions of silver in the world.

After the change to new money, after all, "paper currency" such as Baopiao, which relies solely on printing, will still need enough time to establish credit.

There had been incidents before where some people tried to cash in on the treasure tickets to dissuade the emperor from using force, forcing Cui Yuan and Sun Yuan to personally deal with it.

Those who use treasure tickets are undoubtedly dignitaries, high-ranking officials, and big businessmen.

In border trade, this kind of "paper currency" was not recognized by the officials and merchants of the vassal state like the silver dollar.

Now when encountering this situation, Zhu Houcong had to think carefully about it.

After thinking for a while, he said: "Let's look at the problems separately. After Korea, Ryukyu, and Japan are all captured, there will be no problem in the east border trade with Baopiao Pass. Copper coins will also be needed in large quantities over there. On the contrary, I have been serving the people wholeheartedly for many years, and the new money has already been established in the provinces. It is time to consider printing copper and silver notes in the Ming Dynasty."

"...What does your Majesty mean?" Cui Yuan was a little unsure.

"Try it." Zhu Houcong said, "If the copper bills can be redeemed stably and the value is stable, then a large amount of copper coins can be saved in daily circulation and exchanged for North Korea, Ryukyu, and Japan. If the silver bills can be circulated, they can also replace one in the country. Approval of silver coins. In this way, North Korea, Ryukyu, and Japan will mainly use treasure notes and silver notes for border trade. We will also help them establish an exchange system. If bank notes can also be gradually accepted in the country, more silver dollars will be needed for border trade in other directions. .”

Cui Yuan nodded thoughtfully, and then said: "In this case, I am afraid that I will need to distribute branches to every county or even town, and hire nearly five times more people."

"The national destiny is integrated." Zhu Houcong said solemnly, "At this point, since it is related to the interests of major border trade merchants, we can start to consider the implementation of commercial banks. You should discuss this matter with the State Council first, and then Find some people to talk to and see what your intentions are. Remember, even if it is implemented, it must be controlled by Daming Bank and supervised in place. Any management must have strict regulations!"

Cui Yuan was shocked: "I must be cautious!"

I don't know how many nobles, big private businessmen, and big officials and gentry have been looking forward to it for many years if they want to jointly operate a bank, pay interest on deposits, and make profits on loans.

Is this step finally going to be taken?

Of course, by taking advantage of the opportunity of issuing copper bills and silver bills, if we can get the support of some parties that have a huge demand for currency circulation, everyone can have a common position to maintain the stability of their currency values.

All that's left is to put a heavy burden on Cui Yuan: how to supervise the huge banking system in the future.

Cui Yuan is not unfamiliar with the practices and regulations. After staying at the most central position beside the emperor for so many years, he has already "turned out".

But having a theory does not mean that there will be no problems in the actual implementation process.

As for everyone, currency issues are a huge problem.

It is another time of new and old, and this time is really suitable for communicating in private and making preparations in advance.

Cui Yuan knew that a great power had been given to him. Can these first batch of people who could be recognized and become shareholders of commercial banks not go through his preliminary screening?

But Zhu Houcong obviously trusted him.

It was nearly two months late before the Treasure Ship Supervisor officially came over: the Xuanlong steam ironclad can be launched into the water.

Zhu Houcong left the capital and went to watch the ceremony.

Next year, can this ship serve as the flagship and become the black ship that Japan will arrive earlier?

(End of this chapter)