Guide to Traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty.

Chapter 1019 [Bai Chongyan Comes to Goryeo]

Now that Kaizhou has been conquered, Hanyang will certainly not be spared.

The Zuo Shence Army stationed in Hanyang had long been transferred to Kaizhou. With the city defenses weak, Zhe Yanzhi sent a thousand Ming soldiers and a thousand Goryeo soldiers to easily capture Hanyang City.

The one thousand Goryeo soldiers were selected from prisoners and reorganized into a similar unit of three thousand people.

The food and wages were paid at half the rate of the Ming garrison troops. The moment the food and wages were paid out, the morale of the 3,000 Korean soldiers was high and their loyalty soared.

This is the first time in their lives that they have received so much military pay.

What king?
What noble family?
I am a soldier of the Ming Dynasty now!
Before the heavy snow closed the mountains, the Ming army successfully captured the entire Xihai Road, and also captured two-thirds of Yangguang Road and two-fifths of Jiaozhou Road.

In the northeast, there was another 500-man Ming army detachment, which led 1,000 Jurchen tribal soldiers and fought all the way to Anbian Protectorate of Goryeo (Wuncheon City, North Korea). There was a strong mountain city built there, which was used to defend against Liao and Jin in the early years. The Ming army detachment, which did not bring artillery, found it difficult to capture it for a while.

The remaining territory can only be fought in the early spring of next year.

The war has not yet ended, but the civil officials have arrived.

Bai Chongyan, who was demoted to be a prefect, was quickly promoted to Governor-General of Korea.

Just like the destruction of Western Xia and the change to Ningxia Governor-General's Office, Goryeo will also be changed to Korea Governor-General's Office. The term is ten years, two governors, and then it will be changed to Korea Province depending on the situation.

Accompanying Bai Chongyan was Zheng Zhichang, who came from a prominent family in Pyongyang.

"I greet Governor Bai and Minister Zheng!" Zhe Yanzhi and Li Yi led a group of civil and military officials to greet them outside the west gate of Kaizhou.

Bai Chongyan became calmer than before. After returning the greeting seriously, he was led into the city by Zhe Yanzhi.

Everyone sat down in the Goryeo Palace, and Bai Chongyan got straight to the point:

"The newly established Governor-General's Office of Korea is divided into six prefectures: Pyongyang, Kaesong, Hansan, Jeolla, Gyeongsang, and Hamheung."

"Baozhou on the south bank of the Yalu River was cut off from Pyongyang Prefecture and given to Liaoning Province in its entirety. Just like Hanzhong was given to Shaanxi, this is to prevent future rebellion and secession in Korea."

"Hwangju in the Western Sea Road of Goryeo will be assigned to Pyongyang Prefecture."

"The other prefectures and counties of Seohaedo were merged with Gyeonggi and Gyoju-do of Goryeo and renamed Kaesong-fu. The seat of the Governor-General's Office of Korea was set in Kaesong."

"Goryeo Yanggwang Province was renamed Hansanfu. Hansan Castle was renamed Hanseong."

"Goryeo's Jeolla Province and Gyeongsang Province were renamed Jeollabu and Gyeongsangbu."

"Wonsan and the eastern coastal areas to the south will be set up as a separate province and incorporated into Gyeongsangbu."

“Parts of the area south of the Yalu and Tumen rivers were separated from Liaoning Province and merged with the area north of Wonsan to form Hamhung Prefecture.”

"The prefectures under the jurisdiction of the above six prefectures were all changed to counties, such as Haizhou to Haixian and Huangzhou to Huangxian. Some county seats established by Goryeo were retained, but most county towns were downgraded to towns."

The Korean Peninsula was already poor in land and scarce in resources, yet it had countless pastures, prefectures, counties, and protectorates, which naturally made it even poorer due to the huge administrative expenses.

Now that the Ming Dynasty has arrived, all provincial governors and protectorates have been abolished.

The Dao was changed to a Prefecture, the Zhou was downgraded to a County, and the County was downgraded to a Town.

There are no administrative officials at the municipal level, at most a tax collector is thrown there.

Moreover, the territory was intertwined with Liaoning, and Liaoning Province firmly controlled both sides of the Yalu River. It also merged part of the Jurchen territory with the Goryeo territory to form Hamheung Prefecture, and the two tribes checked and balanced each other and gradually became assimilated into Han culture.

Liaoning is now too large, including parts of Hebei, Jilin, and North Korea, and will certainly continue to be divided in the future.

When the population of Andong Protectorate increases and becomes assimilated to a certain extent, part of Liaoning will be separated and merged with Andong Protectorate to form a province. The provincial capital can be located in Changchun or Harbin, and the Jurchen tribes in the territory will be gradually converted to Han Chinese.

When the population in the north and south of Yanshan increased and became assimilated, a part of each of Hebei, Liaoning, and Linhuangduhufu was separated to set up a separate province. It was roughly equivalent to Rehe Province during the Republic of China period, but the area was larger than Rehe Province.

After listening to Bai Chongyan's story, Zhang Yi asked, "Does the Pyongyang General's Office still exist?"

Bai Chongyan said: "The Pyongyang General was renamed the Joseon General. The headquarters of the General was moved to Kaesong, and part of the garrison remained in Pyongyang. Troops were also stationed in the three former protectorates of Annan, Andong, and Anbian. The main garrison locations in the entire Joseon were in these five places."

"Should the number of troops be increased?" Zhang Yi asked again.

Bai Chongyan said: "The total number of soldiers is 3,000 field troops, 8,000 garrison troops, and 5,000 transport troops. The 3,000 field troops must be Han or Bohai people. Half of the 2,000 garrison troops in Hamheung Prefecture will be recruited from the Jurchens and half from the Goryeo people. Half of the 2,000 garrison troops in Pyongyang Prefecture will be Han or Bohai people and half from the Goryeo people. The rest of the troops can all be recruited from the Goryeo people."

After streamlining administrative staff and reforming the tax system, the Korean Peninsula will certainly be able to support so many troops.

Wang's Goryeo had a central standing army (two armies and six guards) with a total of 45,000 soldiers. However, there were too many empty soldiers, and many of them were old, weak, sick and disabled. Among these 40,000 people, Zheng Zhongfu could only select 6,000 elite soldiers to fight.

The total strength of the entire Goryeo standing army should be more than 100,000 (the mainstream view is 170,000).

No matter how much empty pay there is, no matter how low the military pay is, there are indeed so many standing troops on paper!

The Ming Dynasty reduced the number of troops on the Korean Peninsula to 16,000, and its military expenditure was lower than that of the Goryeo Dynasty.

If the Ming Dynasty weakens in the future and the Korean garrison is unable to suppress the rebellion, the Liaoning and Shandong troops will be quickly dispatched to quell the rebellion.

Especially Liaoning Province, whose territory covers both sides of the Yalu River. The purpose of dividing the territory in this way is to suppress rebellion.

Bai Chongyan continued, "No matter if they are Jurchens or Koreans, they can be promoted to generals if they have made contributions, but they must be able to speak Chinese and write Chinese characters. In the early stage, we can temporarily relax the requirements and give foreign officers one year to learn Chinese, and they must learn 800 Chinese characters within three years!"

Li Yi smiled and said, "It is easier to learn Chinese characters. Many Korean military officers come from humble backgrounds or military families. Those who have read books can definitely write Chinese characters. Korean military documents are all written in Chinese characters. If you are illiterate, you can't even understand the military orders." Bai Chongyan said to Zhe Yanzhi, Zhang Yi and other generals, "Although Korean is easy to defeat, it is a great achievement to destroy a country after all. His Majesty said that after occupying the entire territory of Korean, he will reward one county duke, two marquises, five earls, and several viscounts and barons."

When these words were spoken, the generals were overjoyed and could not wait to continue the attack in the spring of next year.

Bai Chongyan asked again: "Have the King of Goryeo and the Crown Prince been captured?"

"They have all been captured." Li Yi also described the process of capturing the king.

Bai Chongyan smiled and nodded: "It seems that there are many poor scholars in Goryeo who are loyal to the Ming Dynasty."

Zheng Zhichang, who had been silent the whole time, took the opportunity to speak up and said, "You can ask the court to recruit scholars from poor families to serve as officials. Some will be arranged in the Governor's Office to assist Mr. Bai. Some will be arranged in prefectures and counties to assist Han prefects and county magistrates. They are familiar with Goryeo affairs, and they are jealous and hate the big families. Whether it is for political achievements and promotion, or for revenge against the aristocratic families, they will actively divide the land among the families and distribute the tax according to the acreage."

Bai Chongyan said: "This is a good strategy. What are the abilities of those poor scholars?"

"Their ability to handle affairs far exceeds that of the children of wealthy families," Zheng Zhichang said. "People from wealthy families like to hold noble posts when they are officials. The people who really do things in the government offices are scholars from humble families. The money they get from corruption belongs to the wealthy officials, and the political achievements they make also belong to the wealthy officials. Scholars from humble families work hard but find it difficult to get promoted."

This is very similar to the south during the Northern and Southern Dynasties, where officials from wealthy families held noble positions but did not have to deal with mundane affairs, while officials from poor families held low positions but worked extremely hard.

Bai Chongyan said, "First call over those humble scholars who helped capture the King of Goryeo."

More than 20 scholars from poor families, including Jin Yungui, soon came happily to meet Bai Chongyan.

"I, the humble student Jin Yungui, am here to pay my respects to Governor Bai!" Jin Yungui led a group of scholars to kneel down.

Bai Chongyan scolded, "You are all scholars, how can you kneel so easily? You have been an envoy to the Ming Dynasty, do you know when to kneel?"

Kim Yun-gyu replied, "Kneeling is only done during important sacrifices or ceremonies."

Bai Chongyan said: "Since you have become citizens of the Ming Dynasty, you should also abide by this etiquette and not kneel casually in the future."

"Yes!"

Jin Yungui relayed the story to the scholars who could not understand Chinese, and those scholars from poor families immediately became excited and proud.

Not only because they gained respect for their personality, but also because Bai Chongyan recognized that they were the people of the Ming Dynasty.

Zhu Ming thought that Bai Chongyan, who was mediocre in ability, made this group of Korean scholars extremely grateful with just a few words.

Bai Chongyan pointed at Zheng Zhichang and said, "This Mr. Zheng is from the Pyongyang Zheng family. He is now the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Rites of the Ming Dynasty and the Doctor of Praise for the Crown Prince."

The position of Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Rites was promoted by Zhu Ming on an emergency basis when Zheng Zhichang was about to come to Goryeo.

The Ministry of Rites has many affairs to deal with. Currently, there are three right vice ministers. Zheng Zhichang is in charge of sacrifices, court ceremonies, and diplomacy with Goryeo.

As for the Prince's Praise Doctor, it was only an honorary title. The benefit was that he could receive a few more stones of rice every month, and it also showed the emperor's importance to this person.

Including Kim Yun-kyu, this group of Goryeo scholars all showed envious expressions.

It turns out that people from the small country of Goryeo can really become important officials in the Ming Dynasty. At Zheng Zhichang's current age, if he doesn't die too early from illness, he may even be able to become a minister in the future!

If Zheng Zhichang can do it, why can't we?

Zhu Ming promoted Zheng Zhichang to be the minister in order to achieve this effect, to establish a banner among the scholars in Goryeo.

Everyone hurriedly bowed to Zheng Zhichang, hoping to get his support.

Bai Chongyan said to Jin Yungui: "Minister Zheng suggested that after Goryeo accedes to the Ming Dynasty, the poor scholars of Goryeo should be appointed as assistant officials to assist the chief officials sent by the Ming Dynasty in governing the local areas. I can ask the court for a sixth-rank position at the highest. If you stay with me and do a good job, this sixth-rank position will be yours."

Jin Yungui was overjoyed: "Thank you, Mr. Bai, for your promotion, and thank you, Mr. Zheng, for your recommendation!"

Bai Chongyan continued to paint a rosy picture: "A prefectural magistrate is only a sixth-rank official. If you wholeheartedly help me complete the division of clans and land in Goryeo, you may be able to become a prefectural magistrate in the prosperous Jiangnan."

Jin Yungui hastily assured: "I will do my best to handle the Governor's affairs!"

Bai Chongyan nodded and said, "All of you can become officials, and you can also recommend other talented scholars from poor families. But remember, you can't take advantage of the opportunity to embezzle and pervert the law. I'm not afraid of you laughing at me, but I was the Minister of Personnel of the Ming Dynasty last year, and I was only one step away from entering the cabinet. But because I didn't manage my subordinates strictly, some of my subordinates were corrupt, and I was demoted to be a prefect. Even though I am a meritorious official who has followed the emperor, I am like this. If you are corrupt, you will only end up dead."

Jin Yungui quickly translated it to the other scholars, and everyone was shocked after hearing it.

They thought of the article in the Daming Monthly and expressed their determination to abide by the law.

Zheng Zhichang understood these people's dreams better, and said with a smile: "After Goryeo was changed to the Governor-General's Office of Korea, a series of reforms will be needed, and opportunities to gain political achievements will be everywhere. As long as you work hard and don't take bribes, you can go to the prosperous land of Ming Dynasty with a slight promotion. Because Ming Dynasty stipulates that you must serve as an official in another place, you can't stay here."

This is the real pie.

This group of poor scholars had long dreamed of leaving the peninsula and experiencing the glamorous world of the Ming Dynasty.

As long as they don't engage in corruption for a few years and work hard to achieve political achievements, they can realize their dreams.

This is a good deal!
At this moment, they were full of energy and wished that the Ming army would immediately wipe out the remnants of Goryeo and then vigorously carry out reforms in Korea.

When they take action against the wealthy and powerful families, they are probably more ruthless than the officials sent by the court.

Bai Chongyan said: "Let's go and meet the King of Goryeo."

(End of this chapter)