Daming: Apocalypse of Longevity

Chapter 193 Li Zhu visits the Ming Dynasty

Li Jian then no longer hesitated, nodded and made up his mind, and said to Jin Shangxian: "I am ready to agree to any conditions proposed by the Ming Dynasty. Ai Qing can now go to the Ming Dynasty again to convey my awareness to the Ming Emperor. !”

Jin Sangxian was naturally inclined to agree to Ming Dynasty's conditions and restore vassal relations with Ming Dynasty. Now that Li Zhu nodded, he naturally would not find it troublesome. He immediately made preparations, left Seoul again, and took a boat to go there. The Ming Dynasty.

This time, Kim Sang-hyun did not return without success. He waited in the capital for a few days, returned to Seoul with the conditions set out by the Ming Dynasty, and presented the book to the Korean King Li Zhu.

Li Zhu unfolded it and looked at it, and a look of surprise and embarrassment suddenly appeared on his face.

The conditions offered by Ming Dynasty are mainly as follows:
"First, North Korea bowed its head to Ming Dynasty, and the king of North Korea had to go to Daming to accept the canonization of the Ming emperor;
Secondly, as a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty, it should comply with any instructions issued by the Ming Dynasty, including but not limited to commerce, industry, economy, military, etc.;

Third, as the suzerain state, the Ming Dynasty provided shelter and assistance to the vassal states within its capabilities. As a vassal state, North Korea should provide the Ming Dynasty with the necessary support such as residence, food and salary, and troops. "

In short, according to the conditions listed by the Ming Dynasty, North Korea will actually become a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty, no longer as before, more in name, except for annual tribute, almost no need to pay any obligation.

Naturally, Jin Sangxian had seen these conditions a long time ago. In order to facilitate this matter, Jin Sangxian immediately saluted and said: "Your Majesty, I believe that these conditions listed by Ming Dynasty are not harsh, but will be of great benefit to our country, North Korea."

After hearing this, Li Zhu was a little surprised. He turned to look at Jin Sangxian and asked, "What do you mean by Aiqing's words?"

Jin Shangxian had no choice but to explain one by one: "I believe that if the king personally goes to Ming to accept the canonization of the Ming Emperor, it can further increase the king's prestige, and it will be much more weighty than the quasi-canon edict obtained from Ming!"

Li Zhu originally felt that it would be a shame to ask him to leave North Korea in person and go to the Ming Dynasty to receive the canonization. After all, no matter how small North Korea was, he was still the king of a country.

But now after listening to Jin Sangxian's analysis, Li Shu's eyes suddenly lit up.

Because Li Jian won the throne from his uncle Guanghaejun Li Hui by launching a coup, when he initially sent people to the Ming Dynasty to request the title, the Ming Dynasty even thought that he was a usurper and refused to canonize him as the king of Korea. Later, he also asked Mao Wenlong many times to help Daming write a letter to ask for a seal, and finally obtained a quasi-sealing imperial decree.

Although this quasi-canonization imperial edict can indeed make his throne legitimate, it is still a bit reluctant now that he thinks about it. If he can be canonized personally by the Ming Emperor, Li Yan will still be fascinated by it.

Li Zhen suddenly turned from worry to joy, nodded and said: "Okay, the widow agrees to go to Daming personally and accept the canonization of the Emperor of Ming."

Jin Shangxian breathed a sigh of relief and continued: "There are also the following conditions. I think there is nothing wrong with it. Since the two countries have become suzerainty, Korea, as a vassal of the Ming Dynasty, naturally has to accept the leadership of the suzerain country. Although According to the conditions listed by the Ming Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty will definitely interfere a lot in our internal affairs in the future.

Ran Chen believes that this is much better than the previous indifference. The more the Ming Dynasty interferes, the more it can help North Korea become rich and powerful, and North Korea will definitely benefit a lot. "

Li Zhu nodded slowly, feeling that what Jin Shangxian said was indeed reasonable. Furthermore, what bad intentions could Ming Dynasty have towards North Korea?

Regarding the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Tianqi thought that the conditions he listed would be difficult for North Korea to accept, and it would even take a long time to make a decision.

However, what he did not expect was that less than half a month after leaving the Ming Dynasty, Jin Sangxian came to the capital again and presented a letter of credence written by the King of Korea Li Zhu himself, willing to agree to all the conditions listed by the Ming Dynasty and abide by the Ming Dynasty. According to the arrangement, you can come to Ming Dynasty to receive the canonization at any time.

Zhu Tianqi was immediately overjoyed. It was no longer necessary to delay the matter. He immediately asked Xu Guangqi and the officials of the Ministry of Rites to arrange the matter and choose an auspicious day nearby to hold the canonization ceremony.

The various conditions Zhu Tianqi listed for North Korea this time can be regarded as a test for the king of the vassal state and a test for the future management of the vassal state.

In the future, the territory of the Ming Dynasty will become larger and larger, but not all territories may have to be obtained through war. If the other party surrenders directly, surrendering to the Ming Dynasty is naturally the best thing.

But for these vassal states that surrendered to the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Tianqi did not intend to just take the title of suzerain state as before. The vassal states were almost not subject to the constraints and management of the Ming Dynasty except for paying tribute.

Zhu Tianqi planned that in the future, the vassal states of the Ming Dynasty must accept the absolute rule of the Ming Dynasty. The Ming Dynasty must intervene in all aspects of its internal commerce, industry, education, military, etc., and most importantly, its domestic must have There are Ming Dynasty's garrison, otherwise everything is empty talk.

In this way, the vassal states of the Ming Dynasty will be more like an "autonomous region" in the future. The king of the vassal state has certain autonomy over his own country, but the power of the Ming Dynasty must override the king of the vassal state.

Now that North Korea has accepted the conditions it has listed, it means that the conditions it has proposed are not too harsh for a small country in this era. This can be considered a good start. North Korea can be used as a pilot project for the future. Gain experience by ruling more vassal states.

Now that it has entered the twelfth lunar month, the canonization of Li Zhu cannot be scheduled at the end of the year or in the first month of next year, so the date is set very early, so that for Li Zhu, time is very tight.

After receiving the notice from the Ministry of Rites of the Ming Dynasty, Jin Sangxian rushed back to Seoul and notified the Joseon court of the time. Li Jie was also very surprised by the arrangements of the Ming Dynasty. He didn't know why the time arranged by the Ming Dynasty was so hasty. Since this year It is already the end of the year, and there is no time to hold this canonization ceremony. It will be postponed to next year.

In fact, Zhu Tianqi is not anxious. He just doesn't care about the canonization ceremony. For him, no auspicious day is important. He can just pick a day to hold a canonization ceremony for the King of Korea and that's it. He still has many things to do next year. He is busy, and whenever he has time, he always wastes it on Li Zhu.

However, although Li Zhu was puzzled, he naturally did not dare to disobey the Ming Dynasty's arrangements, so he obediently arranged for people to pack their bags and set off from Seoul on a large ship to the Ming Dynasty.

Daming has Xu Guangqi arranging this matter, so naturally he will not neglect Li Ji, and all affairs are handled in accordance with formal etiquette standards.

Now that King Xin Zhu Youjian has left the capital and gone to Xinyang Prefecture, where he was the Chief Envoy of Henan Province, to join the feudal clan (the location of the fiefdom was taken from the unofficial history), his original palace has become vacant, and now it serves as Li Zhu's temporary residence in the capital.

Because of the urgent time, Li Zhu came here without much ceremony, so he seemed very low-key. Fortunately, after arriving in Ming Dynasty, Daming treated him with great courtesy, which allowed Li Zhu, who was originally a bit disgraced, to regain his dignity again.

The third day after Li Jie arrived in the capital was the official day of the canonization ceremony. Before the canonization ceremony, Zhu Tianqi invited Li Jie to the palace for a private meeting. Jin Sangxian accompanied him as an interpreter. They talked about a lot of things. Without nutrition.This was the first time Li Zhu came to the capital of the Ming Dynasty, and it was also the first time he entered the imperial city of the Ming Dynasty. To be honest, he was quite shocked. The majesty of the Forbidden City was enough to impress anyone who came here for the first time. , shocking enough.

This time, Li Zhu truly understood the meaning of "Heavenly Kingdom".

Three days later, the canonization ceremony was held in front of Huangji Gate. The ceremony process was complicated, but the key point was that Li Zhu needed to kneel three times and kowtow nine times to Zhu Tianqi to show his surrender.

Zhu Tianqi then issued him a canonization edict and a gold seal. For Li Zhu, this should be the biggest reward for coming to accept the canonization.

With this golden seal bestowed by the Ming Dynasty, he became the most righteous and legitimate king of Korea in history.

After the canonization ceremony, Xu Guangqi told Li Ju and asked him to stay in the Ming Dynasty for a few more days. The Ming Dynasty had other arrangements, and the emperor also had some important matters to discuss with him in detail.

Naturally, Li Zhu was not in a hurry to go back. He was already here anyway, so there was no harm in staying a few more days.

Of course, it was mainly due to Daming’s arrangements, and he didn’t dare to disobey!
Afterwards, Zhu Tianqi invited Li Zhen to visit the Beijing Camp drills together, and showed Li Zhen the most advanced artillery and firecrackers in Ming Dynasty.

The shock to Li Zhu this time was much greater than when he entered the palace to meet the saint. After all, Li Xi had never seen artillery of the level of the Hongyi cannon, let alone the new steel giants now equipped by the Ming army. cannon and the improved steel Hongyi cannon.

When the artillery fired, it was like the earth was shaking, the mountains were shaking, and the ground was thundering. Li Shu couldn't help but tremble all over, and his body became stiff with fear. Then he saw a pile of rocks six or seven miles away being blown into powder, and he couldn't help but swallow it. Mouth and mouth.

The Ming army actually had thousands of such artillery pieces. Of course, this was only part of the armament in the Beijing camp.

Then the Ming army showed off the new type of flintlock muskets. The almost continuous shooting was an eye-opener for Li Zhuo. Moreover, this new type of muskets not only has a fast rate of fire, but also has a range and power that far exceeds the previous matchlock guns. , the wooden targets a mile away were smashed into pieces.

Now Li Jie finally understood why Jiannu was defeated miserably by the Ming army. It turned out that the Ming army actually had these artifacts in their hands. Li Jie also felt more and more that his decision to surrender to the Ming Dynasty was extremely correct.

After watching the Ming army's drill in the Beijing camp, Zhu Tianqi held a banquet in the camp to entertain Li Zhu.

"After watching the drill performed by the soldiers of the Ming Dynasty's Beijing camp, what do you think of the king?"

After listening to Jin Shangxian's translation, Li Zhu quickly saluted Zhu Tianqi and replied: "The power of the Ming Dynasty's army is really eye-opening to me. The Ming Dynasty's artillery and fire blunderbuss are truly divine objects. There is no rival in the world!"

Zhu Tianqi chuckled, but then asked: "Do you, North Korea, want these artillery pieces and muskets?"

After hearing this, Jin Shangxian was stunned for a moment and seemed very surprised, but he reacted quickly and hurriedly translated Zhu Tianqi's words to Li Zhu in a low voice.

Li Zhu heard Jin Sangxian's translation, and his reaction was exactly the same as Jin Sangxian's reaction just now. He even doubted whether he heard it wrong. He turned to look at Jin Sangxian for confirmation. When he saw Jin Sangxian nodded slightly, he became a little excited. He stood up and bowed deeply to Zhu Tianqi.

"Of course we in North Korea want it. If we can get this magical cannon, we in North Korea will no longer be afraid of foreign invasion and can protect ourselves." After Li Zhu said this, he seemed to feel that his words were a bit rude and abrupt. He quickly added: "Of course, if China is willing to reward these artifacts to North Korea, our North Korean army will definitely be driven by the Ming Dynasty and will be the vanguard of the Ming Dynasty's army!"

After hearing these words, Zhu Tianqi raised his head and burst out laughing.

After a long time, he suppressed his laughter, faced Li Zhu's surprised look, and said: "Don't worry, you will have artillery and blunderbuss like this in Korea in the future, and I can also promise you that in the future I, Da Ming, will also give you some weapons that are more powerful than these artillery and firecrackers!"

After hearing this, Li Zhu suddenly showed a look of surprise on his face, and he was about to give a gift to express his gratitude.

But Zhu Tianqi suddenly changed the topic: "But what I am talking about is in the future. Your North Korean army is too weak now. This is not only a problem of weapons and equipment. Your soldiers lack training, both in terms of combat effectiveness and fighting will." It's bad, so now even if you get these artillery and firecrackers, it's hard for you to use them to their full potential.

Therefore, your top priority now is not to replace your armaments, but to train your troops. Otherwise, if I gave you these artillery pieces and muskets, your army would still collapse when encountering a strong enemy. I did not give these artillery pieces and muskets to you in vain. Enemy? "

After hearing this, Li Zhu was really speechless, and even had a blush on his face. He blushed and was ashamed when he talked about his troops.

Zhu Tianqi then continued: "But you don't have to worry. Although your North Korean army is a little behind now, it will not be so bad again in the future. I will help you train your troops in the future."

Although Li Zhu was a little disappointed, he still bowed respectfully to Zhu Tianqi, "Thank you Emperor Ming!"

Zhu Tianqi then put down his chopsticks and stood up, "Okay, I'm full, let's go back to the palace!"

Li Jing didn't expect that just after he said a few words, the emperor of Ming Dynasty was about to go back, and he hadn't even eaten the meal yet. Wouldn't such a sumptuous banquet be a waste?
But he couldn't think about this now. He quickly got up and followed him to see off the Ming Emperor.

When Zhu Tianqi walked to the door of the camp, he suddenly seemed to remember something. He turned around and said to Li Zhu: "By the way, you should learn Chinese when you have time. I feel like someone is passing the message in the middle. It's really It’s very awkward!”

After saying this, Zhu Tianqi turned around and strode forward, and left in a dragon chariot.

On the other hand, Li Jie, after listening to Jin Sangxian's translation, kept nodding his head and saluted Zhu Tianqi's back from a distance.

(End of this chapter)