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Chapter 212 Survival
"Ahem, cough, cough... Long live my lord... Wang An has something to ask for, and he is waiting at the bridge!" Just as Hong Tao was about to use concentrated sulfuric acid to make something new to consolidate his reputation as a master of alchemy, Zhang Ran appeared at the door again. After coughing a few times, it was obvious that he was not used to these irritating gases.

"It's really unbearable to come here after so many days! Zhang De, Gao Bao'er, you two are responsible for keeping an eye on this place. No one is allowed to violate the rules. If something happens, I will punish you first. Let's go, Wang Chengen, and drive back to the palace. .”

If it were an ordinary matter, Wang An would not rush here to report it in person. His trachea and respiratory tract are not very good, and he will cough violently when stimulated by chemical gases.It's not like he won't return to the palace, it won't be a problem if he is a few hours late.

Now that he is here, there is a high probability that the civil service group or the nobles have reached a final conclusion on the cooperation in setting up a factory.These guys are really procrastinating. They actually negotiated a deal that was obviously going to make a lot of money for a month. I wonder if they can come up with something.

"Long live my lord, King Li Hui of North Korea has sent his attendants Cao Shenpan Huang Shi and others to pay tribute with horses and other objects. They have arrived in Tongzhou. You have told your servants that they want to summon the North Korean envoys in person. How should they be arranged?" Unfortunately, he guessed wrong. Wang An specially asked Coming here is neither to convey a message to the civil servants nor to convey a message to the nobles, but to do something else.

"Well, very good, let one of them come to the Yangxin Hall to meet me tomorrow." However, Hong Tao was not too disappointed. As the saying goes, the east is not bright but the west is bright. The North Korean envoy came at the right time. There is something that they must do.

The next day, in the Hall of Yangxin, Huang Shi, the gray-bearded engineer and counselor, was neatly dressed. He followed the two young eunuchs with slightly hesitant steps and slowly walked into the Dongnuan Pavilion.

This is the third time that he has led a delegation to pay tribute to the Ming Dynasty on behalf of the King of Korea, but the last time it was Emperor Wanli, and he was very unfamiliar with the newly enthroned Emperor Jingyang.

For this reason, before coming here, I specially visited Liu Hucao, the envoy from the previous year, for advice, but I didn't hear many details about Emperor Jingyang from him.Because Liu Hucao was not allowed to see the emperor, he only glanced at him from a distance during the court meeting.

This is not too strange. The king of North Korea sends a mission to Daming every year. Sometimes it is called to express gratitude and sometimes it is called to present. Anyway, it is necessary to take some things and find an excuse to bring dozens of people.

In addition to expressing sincerity to the sovereign country, the most important thing is to ask for some soft goods to take back.Anyway, the Ming Dynasty was rich and generous, and they never accepted gifts in vain. They would return gifts several times or more than ten times. This kind of advantage would not be taken advantage of in vain.

But it seems to be different this year. In addition to the officials from the Ministry of Rites, there are also two internal officials who come to receive him. They have great names and are subordinate to the Director of Rites.First, he ordered the envoys to rest at the post, and then picked him up alone and sent him directly to the palace.

As a diplomat, even if it is only temporary, you must understand the political system of the target country, otherwise you will make mistakes every minute.Huang Shi knew very well what kind of organization the Supervisor of Ceremonies was, but he was completely confused as to why the emperor summoned him.

"I, the King of Korea, accompany my minister, Cao Shen, to judge Huang Shi, and pay my respects to His Majesty the Emperor of the Kingdom of China!"

Although it's late spring and early summer, it's not too hot in the thermal pavilion, and it's even a little cool.A young man wearing a Yishan crown and a Tuanlong collar robe was sitting behind the desk, looking down at something.

"Oh, your Chinese is very good! Get up, sit down, and give me tea!" The emperor did not raise his head, but just raised his eyelids, raised his hand and pointed to the round stool beside him, continued to look at the desk, and said quietly after a cup of tea.

"I heard that North Korea and Japan signed an agreement to set up a Japanese pavilion in Busan and allow Japanese merchant ships to enter the port for trading?" "No, no, no, Your Majesty, this is a rumor! Since the king sent troops to help our country drive away the Japanese pirates, the king has ordered North Korean merchants are strictly prohibited from trading with Japan, and Japanese merchant ships are not allowed to dock in the port!"

Huang Shi, who had just sat down, immediately slipped off the stool and knelt on the carpet to explain eagerly. His tone was firm and his expression was sincere, but he was very flustered in his heart.What the Ming Emperor said was not a rumor. North Korea was indeed conducting secret negotiations with the Japanese envoy and planned to resume bilateral trade.

It was not that the King of Korea planned to collude with Japan without telling the Ming Dynasty, but that there were real difficulties.Once the outcome of the discussion is reached, the Ming Emperor's consent must be sought before it can be implemented.

Since the end of the Korean War initiated by Toyotomi Hideyoshi, the Ming court has imposed economic sanctions on Japan, kicked it off the list of countries not to be conquered, no longer accepts tribute from it, and prohibits Ming merchants from trading with it.

At this time, the Tokugawa shogunate was very uncomfortable. Many daily necessities could no longer be obtained from the Ming Dynasty. The surrounding countries were still vassal states of the Ming Dynasty, and they could not trade normally, which was equivalent to being blocked.In order to solve this problem, the shogunate made several overtures to the Ming court, but was still rejected. In desperation, it had to adopt a roundabout strategy.

The shogunate wanted to take advantage of the close ties between North Korea and the Ming Dynasty to resume trade. At first, it proposed to borrow a passage and follow the North Korean envoy to Beijing under the guise of paying tribute. However, the North Korean king did not dare to agree.

When the plan failed, the Tokugawa shogunate came up with another plan. Instead of mentioning the restoration of tribute, they talked with North Korea about the normalization of trade between the two countries.Since the trade between North Korea and the Ming Dynasty is normal, as long as the relationship with Japan returns to normal, some Ming Dynasty goods can be re-exported from North Korea. Even if it is more expensive, it is better than nothing.

This time, the King of Korea did not refuse immediately. It is not that he cannot see the Japanese thoughts, but as a small country with few people, if you want to survive in the cracks, you cannot just rely on one side, and you have to be a coward.

The Ming Dynasty was obviously in decline over the years. When Emperor Wanli sent troops to support Korea to resist Japanese aggression, his finances were already very tight. The combat effectiveness of the soldiers also declined rapidly. There were also many opinions in the Ming Dynasty that did not support sending troops to Korea.

In this case, if North Korea is willing to serve as a vanguard and offend Japan to death, and one day Japan sends troops to attack in a large scale, it is difficult to determine whether Ming Dynasty will send troops to rescue it.

In addition, North Korea and western Japan are too close to each other, and there have been people-to-people exchanges between the two sides since ancient times. There are also several places in the south where Japanese settlements have been established.If Japan is really blocked too tightly, it will only force the Japanese on the other side of the strait to go to sea and become pirates. The one who will bear the brunt is not the Ming Dynasty, but North Korea.

It was precisely because of this consideration that the King of Korea planned to talk to the Japanese first. If there were not many additional requirements, he might as well turn the hostility into friendship. It would not be too late to ask the Ming Emperor for permission at that time.

As for national hatred and country hatred, they are not so important in the face of survival.There is no other way. A small country with few people can only find a way to survive first, and then think about whether it has the backbone and whether it should save face.

(End of this chapter)