Daming talker

Chapter 681 I Hate Rude Behavior the Most

Lin Jinglüe's army marched eastward, passed through Shanhaiguan and entered the Liaodong territory.

On the way, he received a message that Emperor Wanli had appointed Li Rusong as the commander-in-chief of the Eastern Expedition.

Lin Jinglie looked at the appointment with displeasure, and felt extremely angry.

Previously, he only recommended Li Rusong to be the commander-in-chief of Liaodong, and also recruited Ma Gui, Dong Yiyuan and other prestigious senior generals. Wasn't it just to check and balance Li Rusong?
It’s not that Lin Jinglie had any opinion about his brother Li Rusong. There was absolutely no problem in their personal relationship.

Lin Jinglüe believed that there was no need for another commander who could nominally command the overall situation under him, so as to avoid multiple orders and a chaotic command system.

After all, his ability of both civil and military affairs is different from that of other governors and governors-general. He will personally go to the front line to command, instead of just directing troops from the rear.

Unexpectedly, not long after Lin Tailai left the capital, the emperor also wanted to check and balance him, so he promoted Li Rusong from "Commander-in-Chief of Liaodong" to "Commander-in-Chief of the Eastern Expedition"

This is the helplessness of a minister leading a large army outside the capital. Lin Jinglie could not return to the capital to defend himself, so he could only continue on his journey.

Due to the urgency of the situation in Korea, Lin Jinglue did not stay in Guangning, Liaoyang and other core cities in Liaodong region to inspect, but only asked Governor Hao Jie to do the logistics work.

In early September of the 20th year of Wanli, Lin Tailai, the great savior of the people of the peninsula and the only sun of the peninsula in the future, arrived at Jiuliancheng on the Yalu River.

The castle has a circumference of more than two miles. It may not seem large, but it is the largest among the border forts along the Yalu River.

In many people's minds, Jiuliancheng should be the easternmost starting point of the Ming Dynasty's thousands of miles of border wall.

Of course, there is another opinion in the academic community that the starting point should be Kuandian Fort, slightly to the north.

Moreover, the significance of Jiuliancheng is not only the starting point of the Great Wall, but also serves as the national gate.

On the other side of Jiuliancheng is Yizhou of the Joseon Dynasty, which is across the river from Jiuliancheng.

Now the king and his ministers of Joseon are trapped in Yizhou, anxiously waiting for the heavenly soldiers to cross the river. Now only Yizhou is left of the so-called three thousand miles of territory.

For nearly two hundred years, whenever the Korean envoys came to pay homage to the Ming emperor, they had to enter the Ming territory from Jiuliancheng. And the annual tribute market with Korea was also held here in Jiuliancheng.

This time when the Ming Dynasty troops entered Korea, it would definitely be most convenient for them to cross the river from Jiuliancheng. There were not many other options from a geographical point of view.

At this time, from Phoenix City, which is slightly closer to the hinterland, to Jiulian City, there are military camps everywhere, and tens of thousands of troops have gathered.

Lin Jinglüe chose Jiuliancheng, which was more forward, as the headquarters of the shogunate. Originally, there was a Zhenjiang guerrilla in Jiuliancheng, but he was temporarily driven out and the government office was also requisitioned.

While Lin Jinglue began to train various troops, he also started to contact the king and ministers of Korea on the other side of the river.

After all, Lin Tailai came with the emperor's edict, so one of his tasks was to act as an angel from above and present the edict to the Kingdom of Korea.

In fact, there is not much content in the edict, and it can be summarized into two points.

The first was to allow the King of Korea to cross the river to escape disaster and be temporarily settled in Kuandian Fort until the situation improved.

The second was to reassure the rulers and ministers of Korea and promise to send troops as soon as possible to rebuild the East Kingdom.

Third, he officially informed the king and his ministers of the Kingdom of Korea that the affairs of the Heavenly Army's Eastern Expedition had been entrusted to the Minister of Strategy Lin Tailai, and asked the Kingdom of Korea to cooperate.

Upon learning that the Minister of State Affairs had arrived in Jiuliancheng with the imperial edict, the King of Korea quickly sent a distant envoy named Zhao Jinggao across the river to make contact first.

Originally, in Lin Jinglie's mind, his subordinates were definitely more important, so he would meet the generals first if he had to.

But he did not expect that the Korean envoy would arrive so quickly. Lin Jinglue had just stayed for one night when the Korean envoy crossed the river the next day.

When the Ming Dynasty issued an imperial edict to the Kingdom of Korea, it was not a casual matter; there had to be a set of etiquette.

Although Lin Tailai felt that this was a waste of time, he could not take it lightly, otherwise he would lose the dignity of the Celestial Empire.

According to usual practice, the distant envoys had to first present the "Ceremony of Welcoming the Imperial Edict" to the Ming envoys, explain in detail how to welcome the imperial edict and the various etiquette norms, and discuss with the Ming envoys.

Lin Tailai collected the "Ritual Notes for Welcoming the Imperial Edict" and let Zhao Jinggao, the Korean envoy, go and rest first.

Among the staff of the shogunate, there was a man named Cui Wukui, who was originally a messenger in the Ministry of Envoys. He had previously accompanied the Ming envoys to Korea three times and had a relatively good understanding of the situation in Korea. This time, he was recruited into the shogunate as a professional talent.

At this time, Lin Jinglie called Cui Wukui over to study the "Notes on the Rituals for Welcoming the Emperor" sent by the Kingdom of Korea.

After all, it involves a lot of diplomatic etiquette details, and Lin Tailai is not professional in this area. If he loses face, it will be a huge sin.

Sure enough, after Cui Wukui took a look, he immediately pointed to a line of words and said to the reporter: "There is a problem here!"

Lin Tailai looked towards the place where Cui Wukui pointed, and there was a sign saying "Bow".

Cui Wukui saw that Lin Tailai did not know much about the etiquette, so he explained: "In the early years of the dynasty, the King of Korea received the imperial edict and performed the most solemn ceremony of five kowtows and three bows.

After the Battle of Tumu, when the Ming dynasty changed its name, the Ming envoys went to Korea to announce the imperial edict, but were tricked and deceived by King Sejong of Korea and changed the etiquette to bowing.

When he heard the word "Sejong", Lin Tailai inexplicably recalled the "King Sejong the Great Destroyer" in his previous life, the one whose hull automatically cracked.

Combining this with the "international situation" at the time, Lin Tailai could probably understand why the North Korean government changed the five kowtows and three bows ceremony to a bow.

At that time, the Ming Dynasty had just suffered the Battle of Tumu, while the Kingdom of Korea was in a stage where it was self-confident about its "strength".

It is no longer the case that Lee Seong-gye usurped the throne and founded the country, and was in a state of panic, fearing that he would be punished by heavenly soldiers.

The so-called "King Sejong of Korea" expanded his territory to the northwest and northeast, took advantage of the vacuum left by the withdrawal of Ming forces, expelled the Jurchens who occupied the northern part of the peninsula, and pushed the territory of Korea to the Yalu River and Tumen River line.

Under this mentality of national expansion, and seeing that the Ming Dynasty suffered a huge setback like the Battle of Tumu, King Sejong of Joseon dared to fool and deceive the Ming envoys and changed the ceremony of five kowtows and three bows to a bow.

It has to be said that this behavior is very consistent with Lin Tailai’s understanding of human nature on the peninsula and is not "unexpected" at all.

While thinking, Lin Jinglue continued to listen to Cui Wukui's explanation: "After that, the king and his subjects of the Joseon Kingdom insisted on bowing as the old system and argued with the Ming Dynasty for more than 80 years.

Later, during the Jiajing reign, the bowing ceremony was changed back to the most solemn five-bow and three-kowtow ceremony, and it has been practiced to this day! "

Cui Wukui was getting more and more angry as he spoke, "I never thought that North Korea would secretly change to a bow again this time. It's really hard to understand!
In my opinion, this is clearly the case that the rulers and ministers of the Joseon Kingdom look down on the governor and think that you are young and easy to bully! "

Lin Tailai suddenly said, "You are deceiving God! You are not deceiving me!" Cui Wukui quickly said, "Yes! Yes!"

Lin Tailai ordered again: "Call over here Zhao Jinggao, the envoy from Korea!"

Cui Wukui obeyed the order and went to call Zhao Jinggao, the messenger from afar, to come over.

At this moment, Li Rusong, with a ruddy face, walked into the hall of the shogunate with a smile and shouted in a very polite manner: "You are so late!"

Lin Tailai and Li Rusong made an appointment in advance to meet today.

The previous chapter talked about the etiquette of generals paying homage to the commander-in-chief. They should first wear armor to pay the visit, and then change into casual clothes.

But Li Rusong was now wearing only casual clothes and strolled into the lobby of the Jinglüe Shogunate.

Lin Jinglie glanced at Li Rusong. It seemed that this old man was getting cocky again and had turned into General Li again.

In history, Li Rusong always seemed to be like this in front of his ministers.

When he was in Xuanfu, he was on an equal footing with the governor; when he was in Ningxia, he let the governor stand aside; when he was in Liaodong and Korea, he did not show servility to the general.

No wonder Li Rusong's final fate was so inexplicable in history. As a general, he was ambushed and killed in a common security battle, and no one seriously investigated the matter.

Lin Tailai is not a fan of conspiracy theories, but after seeing Li Rusong's ending, he really doesn't believe that there is nothing behind it.

Li Rusong had no idea what Brother Lin was thinking. He casually found a chair and sat down facing the main seat.

Everyone knows that when a subordinate greets his superior, he should stand facing south and face north. He should answer the question face to face before accepting the seat. There is no reason to sit sideways directly.
Lin Jinglue said to General Li in a friendly manner: "Wait a minute, I want to talk to the Korean envoy first."

"I'm not in a hurry! I'll also see what the Korean envoy says." Li Rusong replied.

Soon, Cui Wukui came in with Zhao Jinggao, the envoy from Korea.

Lin Tailai stopped chatting with Li Rusong and asked Zhao Jinggao coldly:

"My great Ming Emperor Taizu Gao promulgated the Hongwu Ritual System, requiring the princes to bow five times and kowtow three times. Why did your country dare to change the ritual system this time?"

Zhao Jinggao calmly took out a book and handed it to Lin Tai. Lin Tai took a look and found that the title of the book was "Notes on the Rituals of the Fan State".

Then Zhao Jinggao explained convincingly: "The 'Annotations to the Regulations of the State of Fan' was also promulgated by Emperor Gao. Since Emperor Gao promulgated this book to our country, our country has followed this etiquette.

In the "Fan Guo Yi Zhu", there is no requirement for the five bows and three kowtows, so why can't our country follow it?"

Cui Wukui shouted angrily, "But the 'Annotations to the Regulations of the State of Fan' also does not mention bowing!"

Zhao Jinggao again defended himself, saying: "Our country respects the emperor's order and dares not stand to receive the imperial edict, so we added the ritual of bowing to show respect."

Li Rusong, who was sitting nearby watching the fun, was extremely confused. Have the rulers and ministers of the Kingdom of Korea gone mad?
What time is it now? We are only one step away from the destruction of our country and the extinction of our race. How dare you still be so pretentious and argue about etiquette with the Ming Dynasty?

Shouldn't the ceremony of welcoming the emperor be five bows and three kowtows? What does it mean to just bow?
Lin Tailai had some guesses in his mind, which might be due to two reasons.

First, the internal party struggles in Korea today are also very fierce, even more intense than those in the Ming Dynasty.

Previously there were the Eastern Party and the Western Party, and then the Eastern Party split into the Southern Party and the Northern Party, which fought each other in a mess.

In such an extreme environment, it is not surprising that strange things happen.

The second reason was that the Korean monarchs and ministers were worried that the Ming Dynasty would take this opportunity to annex Korea.

Therefore, trying to elevate oneself on the issue of etiquette in an attempt to appear "tough" and "dignified" is a bit like being strong on the outside but weak on the inside.

Cui Wukui was still arguing angrily with Zhao Jinggao, the envoy of the Kingdom of Korea, "The 'Fan Guo Yi Zhu' you brought was established during the reign of Emperor Gao, and has been changed in successive dynasties since then!"

Zhao Jinggao argued: "Our country has only received the "Fan State Ceremonial Notes" issued by Emperor Gao, and we only respect this as the old system!"

Then, perhaps thinking that Cui Wukui was just a nobody, there was no need to waste words on him, so Zhao Jinggao turned to Lin Tailai and said in a firm tone:
"The 'Fan Guo Yi Zhu' originally did not stipulate the details of the welcoming ceremony. It was King Sejong of our country who thought it was inappropriate to welcome the emperor immediately, so he took the initiative to add the ceremony of bowing to show his respect to the great Ming state!

I would like to warn the governor here to understand our country's painstaking efforts, understand the difficulty of diplomatic relations, and not to do anything that will cause unnecessary trouble. "

The joys and sorrows of human beings are not the same. Lin Tailai only thought that Zhao Jinggao was noisy. So he looked up and shouted outside the door: "Where is the axeman?"

The right protector Zhang Wu, accompanied by several big men, appeared outside the door, waiting for orders.

Lin Tailai pointed at Zhao Jinggao and angrily ordered: "Take this idiot out of the gate and behead him!"

Zhao Jinggao held his head high and chest puffed out, showing no fear. "Lin Jinglie, who are you trying to scare?"

Threatening and insulting is not fighting! Whoever is cowardly is a grandson!
Zhang Wu received the military order and took his men to push Zhao Jinggao out of the courtyard gate.

Zhao Jinggao showed disdain on his face. Once one could see through this bluff, there would be nothing to be afraid of.

Isn't it just a deliberate attempt to threaten me to change my words? There are many similar cases in historical books of all dynasties.

Can you really kill yourself? As long as you hold on to the end, you will hear that the knife is spared.

Then Zhao Jinggao was forced to the ground, and when he turned around he saw a shining big knife.

The sword and the axe were at each other's throat but he remained firm. Zhao Jinggao was still thinking of saying a few harsh words to leave his name in history, but he saw the sword chopping down without hesitation!
"Oh shit! They're really doing this?" This was probably what Zhao Jinggao, the Korean envoy, was thinking in the last moments of his life.

Cui Wukui stood in front of the hall, looking at the head of the envoy from afar, and was so shocked that he couldn't speak a complete sentence, "This, this, this..."

When two countries are at war, they don't kill the envoys. How could you, Lin Jinglie, directly kill the envoys of a friendly country?
Then Cui Wukui began to wonder whether Lin Jinglie was the first person in history to chop off an envoy from a friendly country?
At this moment, Lin Jinglue's voice came from the shadows deep in the hall, "Mr. Cui, send this head across the river without any explanation. Ask the Kingdom of Korea to send another envoy to negotiate."

As an old diplomat, Cui Wukui had never experienced anything like this.

What if there is another one that still cannot be negotiated? Continue to chop?
After physically removing the annoying envoys, Lin Tailai felt much better and smiled at Li Rusong:
"I hate this kind of rude behavior the most in my life! A small vassal state doesn't even want to perform the five kowtows and three bows ceremony, but actually thinks that bowing is giving me face?

I really don't know what they are thinking, but I don't want to deal with idiots who don't know etiquette!"

General Li, who was sitting sideways in his ordinary uniform, suddenly felt that the chair under his butt was very hot.
Shouldn't you be more polite in your words and actions?
(End of this chapter)