Guide to Traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty.

Chapter 1020 1015 [Can I eat meat every meal after going to Daming? 】

The former Song Dynasty envoy described Wang Gou as having sparse and delicate eyebrows, short body and plump appearance, and flesh thicker than bones.

These twelve words mean "a dwarf with delicate features, plump body, feminine and weak, as if he will die young."

Flesh is better than bones, which does not mean that the person is particularly fat.

Rather, it means that his cheekbones are not prominent, his yin is strong and his yang is weak, his qi and blood are not flowing smoothly, and he may not live long.

In history, Wang Gou could live another four years.

At such a young age, he suddenly fell ill and died beyond medical help.

At this moment, the king was brought before Bai Chongyan. He was less than 1.6 meters tall, slightly fat, with delicate features, and was timid and full of humiliation.

"Little Wang greets the angel!" Wang Gou bowed to greet him.

The Ming court did not recognize the coup and had not yet formally annexed Goryeo. Wang Gou was still the Ming dynasty's appointed ruler.

Therefore, Bai Chongyan strictly abided by diplomatic etiquette and replied respectfully: "On behalf of His Majesty the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, I would like to greet His Royal Highness the King of Goryeo."

Wang Gou said: "I am at peace. Long live the Emperor of Ming!"

Zheng Zhichang also said: "Your Highness is in good health."

"After many years of separation, meeting an old friend again makes me feel so emotional," Wang Gou sighed.

Zheng Zhichang used to be the most talented man in Goryeo. As a representative of the Xijing nobles, he had been helping Wang Gou plan to move the capital to Pyongyang and completely break away from the control of the southern clans.

Unfortunately, they failed, and the Jin army marched south, turning Pyongyang into a living hell.

Zheng Zhichang wanted to persuade Wang Gou to surrender the country, but when the words came to his lips, he didn't know how to start, so he could only say: "I'm glad that Your Highness is safe."

Bai Chongyan also wanted to save face, so he was also not in a position to say these things, so he secretly winked at Jin Yungui.

Jin Yungui immediately understood what he meant: "The king was almost taken away by those nobles. Fortunately, the king had the upper hand and fled back, shouting that he would surrender the country to Ming."

As soon as these words were spoken, the room fell silent.

At that time, Wang Gou said he wanted to surrender to the Ming Dynasty, but after breaking away from the control of the powerful families, he actually had some hope in his heart.

In particular, Bai Chongyan treated Wang Gou with courtesy, which gave Wang Gou hope of continuing to be king.

But Jin Yungui revealed the truth with just one sentence, and now he was forcing Wang Gou to make a decision immediately.

The little fat king had a sad expression on his face. He lowered his brows and glanced up secretly, only to see Bai Chongyan standing there with a serious expression.

It’s over, this king can’t be king anymore!
If the Ming Dynasty intended to preserve the Kingdom of Goryeo, Bai Chongyan would have certainly rebuked Jin Yungui. But Bai Chongyan did not speak, and it was obvious that he was waiting for Wang Gou to express his attitude.

Wang Gou looked at Zheng Zhichang again, and Zheng Zhichang quickly turned his head to look at the window. It seemed that the style of the window lattice was particularly beautiful.

He looked at the group of poor scholars again, and they all lowered their heads and remained silent.

Wang Gou was completely disheartened. Everyone in this room was waiting for him to give up his country.

Without much hesitation, Wang Gou suddenly asked, "Excuse me, where are the golden seal of the Goryeo king and the imperial edict?"

Bai Chongyan had prepared it long ago. This thing was searched out from the Goryeo Royal Palace.

As soon as Wang Gou asked, Bai Chongyan immediately took it out and said hypocritically: "Return it to its original owner, please keep it properly, Your Majesty."

Keep it for nothing!

Wang Gou suddenly knelt down facing the west and said: "I, Gou, am a vassal king of the Ming Dynasty. I am indeed limited in ability and cannot protect the country and the people. I am always controlled by treacherous officials. Now I want to surrender my country and submit to the Ming Dynasty. Please ask the angel to take it in for Your Majesty."

Bai Chongyan quickly moved aside and said, "This is a major event, and it should be done in accordance with etiquette. Please ask the king to summon all the civil and military officials, and prepare the memorials, and proceed according to etiquette at the grand court meeting."

Wang Gou smiled awkwardly: "I am being rude."

Midwinter.

King Wang Gou of Goryeo returned to the palace and issued a series of orders.

First, Zheng Zhongfu and his party were declared traitors. However, Li Junyi, Li Yifang and others were pardoned for their meritorious service in saving the king. The rest of the rebellious soldiers were pardoned as long as they returned to the right path.

Second, it was announced that the king supported by Zheng Zhongfu was a fake king, but the crown prince was coerced and not willing, so he was pardoned and still the crown prince. The reforms made by Zheng Zhongfu, such as the cabinet and six ministries system, were abolished.

Third, the local nobles, led by the Jeonju Lee family, attempted to take advantage of the chaos to kidnap the king, which was an act of rebellion!
Fourth, reappoint Goryeo’s civil and military ministers.

Fifth, convene new civil and military officials to hold a grand court meeting.

At the grand court meeting, in front of all the officials, Wang Gou personally read out the memorial of surrender, offering the Goryeo nation to the Ming Dynasty.

Zheng Zhichang was the real envoy of the Ming Dynasty, who accepted the tribute from Goryeo on behalf of the Ming Emperor.

Moreover, Wang Gou was allowed to take all the treasures in the Goryeo palace to Luoyang for enjoyment - in fact, there were not many left. Except for the valuable gold and silver objects, the rest were ordinary items in the Ming Dynasty.

The last edict issued by Wang Gou as the King of Goryeo was to order the Goryeo people and army not to resist the Ming army's takeover of the area.

Anyone who dares to resist the Ming army is a Goryeo traitor!
"Everyone, please."

After the heavy snow stopped, Zheng Zhichang couldn't wait to set off.

In addition to Wang Gou's wives and concubines, his three younger brothers and several uncles also went to Luoyang.

Three younger brothers, all monks!
One was the head monk of Xuanhua Temple, one was the abbot of Faquan Temple, and one did not hold any temple position. At that time, Li Ziqian supported Wang Gou to succeed him. He not only forced Wang Gou's three younger brothers to become monks, but also kept a close watch on Wang Gou's ambitious uncles.

For example, Wang Gou's uncle, Prince Taiyuan Wang Qi, was frightened by Li Ziqian and fled to the south. He hid for nine years before returning to Kaifeng.

Wang Yi was only forty years old this year, and he followed Zheng Zhichang to Luoyang with his family.

While crossing the sea on a boat, Wang Qi couldn't help but ask, "Mr. Zheng, as the Duke of Taiyuan of Goryeo, can I still have a title in the Ming Dynasty?"

Zheng Zhichang said: "You are different from the royal family of Jin and Xixia, who have real power and have committed crimes. You have been oppressed by powerful ministers and have no say in state affairs. Now you are willing to submit to the Ming Dynasty, so the emperor of the Ming Dynasty will definitely treat you well. I will try my best to plead with the emperor to give you a viscount or baron. It is not known whether you can enjoy the real title, but you can also receive a salary with a low-level title. At least, you can live on in the future."

"Thank you, Mr. Zheng." Wang Qi breathed a sigh of relief.

After chatting for a while, he got up and returned to his cabin, where he met Duke Wang Xi of Qi'an, who was in the next cabin.

Wang Xi asked, "What did he say?"

"Maybe he can get a viscount or a baron." Wang Qi repeated what Zheng Zhichang had just said.

"Alright, alright."

Wang Zhen was even more relaxed and happy, and even laughed and said, "The meals in the Ming Dynasty are really rich. In the cold winter, we can still eat fresh cabbage while floating on the sea. There is also a kind of onion and a kind of carrot, both of which are excellent vegetables. I heard that they were presented by foreign countries. Especially the carrot and pork, which are full of spices. It is not an exaggeration to say that it is a delicacy."

Wang Qi couldn't help smacking his lips: "Braised pork with carrots is really delicious."

Wang Zhen asked, "I think it's because we just returned to the Ming Dynasty that we can eat such delicacies every day. As time goes by, I guess we won't have such good things anymore."

"It would be good to have a meal every ten days." Wang Qi began to look forward to his future life in the Ming Dynasty.

The Goryeo Dynasty's policy of banning meat was ostensibly due to Buddhism, but ultimately it was due to the backward agricultural technology.

Let me put it this way: four wooden plows were later unearthed in Korea, and they were confirmed to be agricultural tools from the Goryeo Dynasty.

Wooden plow...

Of course, Goryeo knew that iron plows were more efficient, but iron farm tools were very expensive.

Even the high-ranking generals of Goryeo had armor made of only a few iron plates. How could they have the spare capacity to produce cheap iron farm tools?
Moreover, when the land system of Goryeo, which was modeled after the rent and labor system of the Tang Dynasty, fell into disrepair, the land system of Goryeo became completely distorted. Coupled with the enduring influence of the aristocratic families, the actual farmers could not afford to use iron tools.

If agriculture lags behind, animal husbandry will naturally follow suit.

At the beginning of the Goryeo Dynasty, it used Buddhism as an excuse to prohibit ordinary officials and civilians from slaughtering livestock.

During the reign of Emperor Huizong of Song, he sent envoys to Goryeo, who recorded the following passage:
"The policy of Goryeo was very benevolent. They were Buddhists who abstained from killing. Only the king and the nobles could eat pigs and sheep. Moreover, the people were not good at slaughtering livestock. When they heard that the envoys were going to raise them for slaughter, they tied up the limbs of pigs and sheep, threw them into the fire and burned them to death, and then washed the burnt fur with water."

"If there were any that were not burned to death, they were beaten to death with sticks. Then their stomachs were randomly cut open, their intestines were all cut out, and feces flowed everywhere. Although they were made into meat soup and barbecue, they still smelled foul. Their slaughtering and cooking methods were really too crude!"

This is what the king uses to entertain envoys from the Song Dynasty, and he can’t even kill a pig.

After Ming Dynasty opened up trade with Goryeo, many cheap ironwares poured in. But the common people of Goryeo still couldn't afford them, and only a few powerful families bought some iron farm tools - most powerful families were unwilling to buy them because they were spending their own money, and the users were those lowly tenants.

Next year, the Ming Dynasty will send some iron smelting craftsmen to first improve the mining and smelting levels on the Korean Peninsula.

After we can produce cheap iron tools on our own, we will send agricultural officials to improve agricultural standards.

The next day, the ship docked at Dengzhou Port.

Zheng Zhichang, along with a group of Goryeo royal family and clan members, headed straight to the hotel in Denglai Prefecture.

The sky had cleared up, and the snow on the streets of the city had been swept clean by merchants and civilians.

This city is extremely prosperous. After all, it is the preferred port for traveling to Liaodong and Goryeo, and some merchant ships traveling to and from Japan also depart from here.

From the dock to the city, these Koreans were dazzled by the sight and found everything extremely new.

It was noon when a fragrance came over.

Wang Gou saw that the roadside stalls outside the city were actually cooking various kinds of meat - mostly pig and sheep offal and fish, with some pork and chicken and duck, but mutton was relatively rare.

From time to time, peddlers would stop and sit at the roadside stalls to eat.

Their meal was not very sumptuous. They paid for a large bowl of soup, which contained very little meat or offal, mostly white radish, cabbage and the like.

The staple food is cheap pasta, which is made of flour mixed with corn flour and even wheat bran.

Take a bite of the mixed flour bun, drink a sip of soup, and eat a bite of vegetables.

The few pieces of meat and vegetables were saved for last.

There are also particularly frugal diners who, as soon as they sit down, shout: "No meat, more soup and radish!"

In the middle of winter, there were drops of oil floating on the surface of the soup. After drinking a few sips of the hot soup, I suddenly felt warm and energized.

Wang Gou was shocked and pointed at the peddlers who were eating: "Can ordinary people eat meat soup every day?"

Zheng Zhichang held his head high and said, "Otherwise, how can we say that the Ming Dynasty is rich?"

Several princes, marquises and monks from the Goryeo royal family, as well as their wives and children, smelled the cheap meat soup on the street and began to swallow their saliva in unison.

It seems that there is hope in moving to Daming to live.

(End of this chapter)