Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 154 Envoy stationed in North Korea
The post-blockade policy was an overall policy. After arrangements were made for the grasslands and Liaodong, what was left was the last link, which was also a very important link - North Korea.

Many of Houjin's supplies are now provided by North Korea. There were even Korean musketeers fighting for Hou Jin.

As a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Youjian did not allow North Korea to continue to be the leader and the rat. It was decided to arrange a minister to be stationed in North Korea to strengthen control over North Korea.

After talking about the establishment of a minister in Korea that he had discussed with Yuan Keli a few days ago, Zhu Youjian said:
"The minister stationed in the DPRK will have a permanent position from now on. He will be given the seal of the talisman and treated as my envoy."

"Recommended according to the governor's specifications, the Ministry of Personnel and the Ministry of War propose candidates, and the Jiuqing Court recommends them."

Instruct the Ministry of Personnel and the Ministry of War to select several people to see who is suitable to serve as minister in the dynasty.

A new position was created. The ministers looked at me and I looked at you, and most of them had no objections.

After the current emperor came to the throne, he took official positions very seriously. The officialdom can be said to be a carrot and a pit, and will not be added at will. Multiple governor-level positions are a good thing, even if this position is far away in North Korea, many people are unwilling to go.

Yuan Keli was the first to know about this matter and should have been able to propose candidates. But the emperor set the standards so high that the candidates he had prepared were not suitable. We can only look at the Minister of Civil Affairs and ask him to propose candidates first.

Fang Guiwei didn't know about this before, so he was naturally unprepared. The emperor said that the ministers stationed in the DPRK were selected according to the specifications of governors, but everyone knew that this was a hard job and could not be compared to the governors of the Ming Dynasty.

Coupled with the fact that so many governors had been elected before, Fang Guiwei didn't have any candidates for the time being. Thinking of Hong Chengchou who Yang Jingchen had mentioned to him before, Fang Zhuanghuang said:

"The minister stationed in the DPRK will supervise the grain supply of Dongjiang Town. I recommend Hong Chengchou, the grain supervisor of Shaanxi Province, to participate in the political affairs and serve as the minister stationed in the DPRK."

When Zhu Youjian heard the name Hong Chengchou, his brows wrinkled at first, and then relaxed.

He was previously unwilling to let Hong Chengchou serve as Shaoqing because he did not want to see this person in the court. But not using it at all would be a waste of this talent.

Fang Zhuanghuang recommended him as minister in the DPRK, which seemed suitable. With Hong Chengchou's ability, he should be able to do the job.

So Zhu Youjian nodded in approval and said to the ministers:
"Hong Chengchou is on the list of candidates."

"Recommend someone with military experience."

After Yuan Keli heard this, he added Lu Shanji, whom he had previously planned to recommend, as a candidate.

This person had previously served as the head of the Fang Department of the Ministry of War in Liaodong and was Sun Chengzong's right-hand man. He is familiar with Liaodong affairs and has military experience.

In this way, there are two candidates, without any surprises, being promoted as the main recommendation and the supporting recommendation.

Zhu Youjian immediately appointed Hong Chengchou as the envoy and governor-general stationed in Korea to negotiate matters, and increased the title of Nanjing Qiandu Censor to the fourth rank. Usually called the minister in the DPRK or the governor in the DPRK, he was the first overseas governor in the Ming Dynasty and was treated as a governor.

Lu Shanji was appointed as the counselor stationed in Korea, with the full title of envoy stationed in Korea, counselor for military affairs and food and salary, assisting the minister in Korea, and specifically responsible for military affairs and raising food and salary for Dongjiang Town.

In order to facilitate the communication between Lu Shanji and Dongjiang Town, Zhu Youjian also appointed him as the captain of the guard army. In retrospect of his past achievements, he was awarded the rank of captain from the fourth rank to the captain, from the fourth rank to the concubine, and both civil and military honors.

At the same time, Zhu Youjian appointed Mao Yunlong, the commander of the fourth rank of Jinyiweizheng, as the military attaché stationed in North Korea and concurrently as the envoy of North Korea. Set up a town and government department in North Korea to collect relevant intelligence.

The level of the North Korean envoy is equal to that of the Northeast envoy, because in order to target Hou Jin, he must cooperate with the Northeast envoy and pass information to each other.

The minister stationed in North Korea, the counselor stationed in North Korea, and the military attaché stationed in North Korea, these three people are the highest officials of the Ming Dynasty in North Korea. When the three people unanimously agree, they can use the talisman to represent the Ming Emperor and decide on Korean affairs.

Mao Wenlong felt happy when he heard that his younger brother Mao Yunlong had been transferred to the military attache in the DPRK and the envoy to the DPRK before he came to the capital to take up a post in Jinyiwei.

It can be seen from this appointment that the emperor still trusts him and will still leave Dongjiang Town under his control. Otherwise, Mao Yunlong would not be sent to North Korea to supervise grain for Dongjiang Town.

Only his nephew Mao Chenglu will probably stay in the capital and never return to Dongjiang Town.

But after the emperor made the promise of becoming a knight, Mao Wenlong is now full of achievements. I also wanted to open up a relationship with my nephew to prevent my nephew from getting interested in him if he gets a title in the future.

Therefore, he was not dissatisfied with the fact that Mao Chenglu was transferred to the capital. He even felt lucky that the emperor helped him solve a problem——

After all, his son was young in recent years, and Mao Chenglu had been trained as his heir. The emperor transferred him away to save himself from trouble. Of course Zhu Youjian didn't know Mao Wenlong's thoughts. After appointing the minister to the DPRK, Zhu Youjian asked the three of them to go to the capital first. At the same time, he planned to send envoys to DPRK to explain the Ming Dynasty's arrangements. Let the North Korean monarchs and ministers know that these three people are the emperor's envoys and will represent the Ming Dynasty in handling negotiations between the two countries:
"This envoy is on the front line, and will serve as an attaché for a period of time in the future to help set up the Office of the Commissioner in North Korea."

"Who do you think you can choose?"

When Hong Chengchou was appointed by the emperor, Lu Tunan was naturally relieved, knowing that although the emperor did not want Hong Chengchou to serve in the court, he did not deliberately suppress his official position.

From this point of view, the emperor did not deliberately suppress the people of Jinjiang, so he immediately recommended to the emperor:

"Jiang Yueguang, the former editor of the Hanlin Academy, once went to North Korea as an envoy. He did not take anything from China with him and did not take any money from North Korea. He was praised by the kings and ministers of North Korea."

"When this man came back from his mission, there was no praising the factory ministers in his memorial. He was replaced by Wei Ni, former Imperial College Secretary Ye Linwei, Zhuang Jichang, editor of Hanlin Academy, Zhu Jizuo, editor of Hanlin Academy, Hu Shangying and Ding Jin, editor of Hanlin Academy, on the same day. Kechen Yu Tingbi was also reprimanded for not supporting the construction of the temple."

"Now that Wei Zhongxian, Lu Wanling and others have been convicted, I ask you to rehabilitate these people and restore them to their original positions."

Nodding in agreement, Zhu Youjian said:
"Jiang Yueguang has the experience of sending a mission to North Korea, so let him go again."

"Recalling the previous achievements, I resumed compiling it for the Hanlin Academy."

"Lin Welding and others can also be reinstated. Those in the Hanlin Academy will be restored to their original positions, and the others will return to Beijing to wait for their vacancies——"

“When an official position becomes vacant, the actual position will be appointed.”

Although Zhu Youjian agreed to recall these people, he did not reinstate all of them to their original positions. He only planned to appoint those officials when there were vacancies——

After finally removing the officials who had been indiscriminately appointed by the eunuch party, Zhu Youjian did not intend to reinstate officials on a large scale and create new redundant officials.

Thinking of Zhuang Jichang's name, Zhu Youjian said:
"Zhuang Jichang was the number one scholar in the 47th year of Wanli reign. How come he was only awarded the sixth grade compilation when he was the number one scholar?"

"Even if it's a matter of pressing and grinding, he should be at the fifth level by now."

"Ask him to go on a mission to North Korea and improve his rank when he comes back."

Ordinary Jinshi Zhu Youjian wouldn't care, but Zhu Youjian remembered Zhuang Jichang, the number one scholar in Wanli forty-seven years.

In particular, Kong Zhenyun was only second in that subject, which made Zhu Youjian remember it even more.

Considering that Kong Zhenyun had already been promoted to minister, it was unreasonable to let Zhuang Jichang serve as editor of the Hanlin Academy. Zhu Youjian planned to send him to North Korea as an envoy, so that he could be promoted when he came back.

Moreover, this person has the title of No. 1 Scholar, so he should be able to shock the kings and ministers of North Korea and be more talkative.

At the same time, Zhu Youjian also thought of Chen Zizhuang, who was the most beautiful girl in Wanli forty-seven years. I was even more impressed by this person with a similar name to Chen Zilong, and I knew that both of them were loyal ministers who died in righteousness.

He asked Jin Yiwei to check both of them, but there was no news about Chen Zilong for the time being. However, Chen Zizhuang once served as an editor at the Hanlin Academy. Because he refused to write a plaque for Wei Zhongxian's shrine, his father and son had their status revoked on the same day.

Thinking of this matter, Zhu Youjian said:
"The original official department was also rehabilitated by Chen Xichang and Chen Zizhuang, editor of the Hanlin Academy."

"Chen Xichang returned to Beijing to wait for his post, and Chen Zizhuang was promoted to editor."

This kind of loyal ministers who have sacrificed their lives for sacrifice should be focused on cultivating.

　"Xiao Fu Chronicle":
　　In August, Gaoming was defeated, Shi Lian died in battle, and Zi Zhuang and Er Xuan were both captured. When the weapon arrived in Guangzhou, my governor, Tong Yangjia, sentenced him to death. He was beaten to death and his bones were cast into the surrounding countryside.

　　Three Lingnan loyalists: Chen Bangyan, Chen Zizhuang, Zhang Jiayu
　　Tong Yangjia ordered Chen Zizhuang to be sawed in half from the head down. "He summoned all the surrendered ministers from Guangzhou and sat in the hall to watch them being tortured in order to be afraid of them."

　　The executioner couldn't cut the saw, so Chen Zizhong shouted: "You stupid slave, the executioner needs a wooden board!"

　　In Cantonese dialect, saws are said to be boundaries, so today the saying "people in boundaries must use boards" is still circulated among the elders in Guangzhou.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)