Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

Along with the determination of the order of command, there was also a commendation for the defenders of Dalingh River.

In order to encourage the fighting spirit of the defenders of Dalingh River, Zhu Youjian awarded them all one year's merit and one li of land.

If you make contributions in the battle, you will receive additional rewards and can choose land in Liaodong and Dongning.

He hoped that Dalinghhe Fort could hold out forever, and it would be best if the Jianlu could be contained there.

After the commendation for the Dalinghe garrison was issued, Xue Fengxiang, the Minister of War, said:
"Dongjiang Town has launched repeated attacks to contain the two flags of Jianlu. I think they should also be rewarded."

"Jiangling Principality and the Black Dragon Battalion raided the Khorchin tribe, forcing Khorchin and Jianlu to return, allowing Prince Shunli and Mangui to retreat calmly. They should also be rewarded."

This is all as it should be. Zhu Youjian thought that Dongjiang Town had been harassing the enemy from May to now, and he gave the order:
"The soldiers of Dongjiang Town who attacked behind enemy lines will be collectively awarded two years of merit, and Mao Wenlong will grant them at least two square miles of land each."

"The soldiers who held on to the Dongjiang Territory will be collectively awarded one year's merit and a li of land as a reward."

"Korean soldiers who participated in the war will also be credited with one year of merit. If they have more than three years of merit, they will be deemed to have completed their service and will be granted Ming citizenship."

It was also a reward based on years of merit and land, and the court did not have to spend a penny.

However, some soldiers may choose to take the reward for heads and kills.

Therefore, Zhu Youjian planned to allow Korea to continue to relax donations and raise money to reward the soldiers.

Regarding the treatment of Jiangling Principality and the Black Dragon Camp, Zhu Youjian thought about it and said:
"The soldiers of Jiangling Principality and Black Dragon Battalion will also be awarded one year of collective merit, and will be rewarded based on their military merits."

"As for the reward money, when the imperial court asked the tribes on the grassland to send troops, it agreed not to take a cent of their spoils."

"Should the spoils from Jiangling Principality and Black Dragon Camp be dealt with in the same way?"

This did not get the approval of the ministers, Yuan Keli said:
"How can a vassal state on the grassland be compared with the Jiangling Principality and the Black Dragon Camp?"

"They lead their own troops and do not need support from the court."

"But the soldiers of Jiangling Principality and Black Dragon Camp were trained by the imperial court."

"And we have to reward them for their contributions. We can't just give them all the spoils."

Li Banghua also opposed this and said:

"Although Jiangling Principality and Black Dragon Camp have made contributions, looting is against the principles of benevolence and righteousness."

"The frontline did this for the sake of war, and the court should not encourage it."

Zhu Youjian's eyes lit up when he heard this. He thought of a way to encourage the soldiers to fight on the grassland, and nodded:

“Inappropriate encouragement indeed!”

"In this way, in the future, the imperial court will provide logistics and equipment, and half of the captured spoils will be shared by the imperial court."

"Only half of the soldiers participating in the battle can be allocated, and they must strictly follow the rules."

He affirmed Li Banghua's remarks, but actually encouraged his soldiers to plunder on the grassland.

And the implicit meaning is to allow looting. If they take care of the logistics and equipment themselves, all the looted items will belong to them.

Li Banghua could not help but understand this. His face changed when he heard this, and he wanted to continue to persuade him. But then he heard the emperor say:
"My consort is from the Khorchin tribe, and is related to the Khorchin tribe by marriage."

"The expenses of this expedition will be covered by the inner court. I will ask the inner court to allocate funds for the Privy Council's expenditure."

"I will give 50% of my spoils to the people first, and let Jiangling Principality and Black Dragon Camp choose cattle and horses first."

This time the Privy Council disagreed, because the Privy Council didn't spend much money on the military deployment of Jiangling Principality and the Black Dragon Camp.

How could they agree to this if the emperor wanted to take away 50% of the spoils just for a small compensation?

Min Mengde, Minister of Logistics, said:

"Since Your Majesty has decided that the imperial court will share half of the captured goods, why did you violate this rule first?"

"If it continues like this, when will the Privy Council be able to get its share of the spoils?"

He strongly opposed this and wanted the Privy Council to take half.

Zhu Youjian disagreed because he did not want to pay money to redeem the people of the Khorchin tribe.

So he pointed out that the Black Dragon Battalion was actually sent by the inner court, and the soldiers of Jiangling Principality, and the main force was also the one thousand new troops of the Patrol Battalion.

The Patrol Battalion now belongs to the Jinyiwei, which is also the inner court troops. The Privy Council did not contribute much, so it should not be allocated half.

After much arguing, the final distribution plan was that the population would belong to the emperor, and the Privy Council, Jiangling Principality, and Black Dragon Camp would distribute the captured livestock.

Li Banghua couldn't stand watching the emperor and Min Mengde haggling like this, but Yuan Keli held him back and stopped him from saying anything.

These spoils not only belong to the Logistics Department, but also to everyone in the Privy Council. No matter how noble he is, he can't stop others from wanting the spoils.

After these were decided, today's Privy Council meeting finally came to an end.

After Zhu Youjian left Wuying Palace, he went to Yongshou Palace behind Yangxin Palace and told Concubine Chen the good news:
He had already taken all the people looted from the Khorchin tribe, so Concubine Chen no longer had to worry about her family and clansmen.

When Concubine Hai Lanzhu heard the news, she was indeed very happy.

The news of the Korchin War these days really made her worried.

He was worried about both his relatives and the members of the Khorchin tribe.

Now the emperor has given her the right to dispose of all the captured people, which makes her very happy:
“But where are these people going to be housed?”

"I don't have any territory."

Zhu Youjian also thought about this and said to her:

"Both Beihai Island and Jeju Island can raise horses. I can grant them Ming citizenship and let the King of Han and Gwanghae Earl herd horses."

"Or you can persuade a noble from the Khorchin tribe to surrender to me, and I will grant him the title of Shuntian according to his status and allocate him territory."

Hailanzhu did not want to choose the first option because that would cause the people of the Khorchin tribe to be dispersed and would no longer belong to Khorchin.

The latter option was a good one, but she didn't know which noble of the Khorchin tribe had been captured and what title he could be awarded.

This made her open her watery eyes and ask the emperor to first choose a piece of territory for the captured people of the Khorchin tribe to live in.

Zhu Youjian could no longer suppress the impulse in his heart when she looked at him like this. He hugged Hai Lanzhu and said:

"We'll talk about these things later. I'll let the Duke of Jiangling settle them."

"My beloved concubine, please think about how to please me and give birth to a prince as soon as possible."

This made Hailanzhu's eyes light up instantly, and she knew how to settle her people.

If she could give birth to a son, the fiefdom of the vassal king would be a thousand miles. Not only these captured tribesmen could be settled there, but also the entire Khorchin tribe could be settled there.

This made her no longer distant from Zhu Youjian, but she tried her best to please him, making Zhu Youjian enjoy all the tenderness. …

However, when it comes to the art of pleasing others, the Korean tribute women are the best.

This is not only because the cultures of Korea and Ming Dynasty are similar, but also because they know the preferences of Ming Dynasty men.

Also, because of North Korea’s strict hierarchy, people of lower birth must learn to please others.

Zhao Cairen was the most flattering of all the Korean tribute women. She was the concubine's daughter of a Korean minister and was originally planned to be sent to the Korean royal palace.

Because the current Ming emperor accepted tribute girls from Korea, her family sent her to the team.

With her beautiful looks and ability to please men, Zhao successfully rose from a lady to a selected concubine after serving the emperor's bed, and was recently promoted to a talented woman.

But she was not willing to move up the ranks step by step, and wanted to become one of the emperor's concubines like Concubine Chen.

However, the reason why Concubine Chen was able to become a concubine directly was, on the one hand, because of her stunning beauty and favored by the emperor, and on the other hand, because of her background, she was worthy of this status.

Zhao Cairen found out recently that Concubine Chen was a noble lady of the Khorchin tribe, her brother Wu Keshan was one of the leaders of the Khorchin tribe, her aunt Zhezhe was the first wife of Huang Taiji, the Khan of the Later Jin Dynasty, and her sister Bumbutai was also Huang Taiji's concubine.

Of course, she couldn't match such an identity. But she thought that the Khorchin tribe that Chen Fei relied on might not be incomparable:
"If I have the whole of Korea to rely on, why should I be afraid of the imperial concubine?"

This made her try every means to contact the Crown Prince of Korea in the capital and ask him to help her pass messages to her family.

Her father was the governor of Gyeongsang Province, where the Busan Free Trade Zone that Ming and North Korea had discussed was located. If her family could make contributions to the establishment of the Busan Free Trade Zone, she would naturally be favored by the emperor.

The Crown Prince of Joseon was seeking to make Joseon a vassal state and become a noble of the Ming Dynasty. He was very supportive of the establishment of a free trade zone.

What's more, doing so can help you make friends with the emperor's woman, which makes it even more worthwhile.

The two sides just needed to agree, and the Busan Free Trade Zone was soon demarcated and built, just like the Incheon Free Trade Zone, which served as a refuge for the North Korean royal family.

During one of her sleepovers, Concubine Zhao also told the emperor about her achievements.

Zhu Youjian was relatively tolerant of the women in the harem interfering in affairs outside the palace, because he needed to integrate all forces to revive the dying Ming Dynasty.

As long as these people do not cross the line and interfere in the Ming Dynasty's government, he can tolerate them.

Hearing that Cho Jae-in was using his family's power to promote the establishment of the Busan Free Trade Zone, he happily kissed her and asked:
"What reward does Saito want?"

"Do you want me to promote you to a beauty?"

Zhao Cairen pouted in dissatisfaction and complained:

"Just a beauty?"

"Can you let me be your concubine?"

Zhu Youjian laughed, but did not give in. He wanted to control the number of high-ranking concubines in the harem, and of course he did not want them to be promoted so quickly.

However, her family can be rewarded more. Zhu Youjian said:
"Does your father want the title of Ming Dynasty?"

"If you become the daughter of a Ming noble, your status will naturally be different."

This made Lady Zhao's eyes light up, and she said:

"really?"

"My father can also have a title?"

Zhu Youjian said casually:

"Of course you can have a title and own a fiefdom."

"As long as North Korea submits to the country, anyone who has made contributions will be granted a title."

"You can talk to other Korean tribute women. Their families can also be granted titles."

"At least I'll give you a knighthood, just like the lady from the grassland."

This was a plan he had long had, to use his marriage relationship to develop forces within Korea that were pro-Ming.

Otherwise, why would he accept tribute women from Korea and give them status?

Lady Zhao's eyes became brighter now, knowing that the families of those Korean women might stand with their Zhao family in the future.

This gave her a much better chance of pushing North Korea to submit to the country, and she felt she could make greater contributions and improve her own rank.

But when she thought about the fact that some of those women were as beautiful as herself, she felt nervous again. She thought she should ask her family to train a few more women and send them to the palace to help her.

She hoped that she could be like Han Guilan, enjoying the same honor and favor in the palace forever, and her family could become a prominent family in Joseon like the Han family.
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Zhu Youjian's plan for Korea certainly did not rely solely on the women in the harem. While supporting Korea with firearms, the inner court's Gold Reserves Association, Sihai Bank, Sihai Grain Store and other institutions also went over.

The King of Joseon needed Yeongjong Island as a refuge, and the Incheon Free Trade Zone was established before the treaty between Ming and Joseon was reached. Various free trade zone institutions are being established one after another.

Because the Ming Dynasty allowed its citizens to buy property in the free trade zone, wealthy Korean families who had just donated money to become Ming citizens and dukes flocked there to buy property.

In particular, the Korean dignitaries who knew the inside story invested a lot of manpower and resources in Yeongjong Island to build a refuge for their families.

The Incheon Free Trade Zone became prosperous as a result, and construction of a highway connecting it to Seoul began with the support of North Korean dignitaries.

It was under such circumstances that the Jinchuhui, Sihai Bank, and Sihai Grain Bank came to Korea. Their purpose was to promote Ming silver coins and copper coins in Korea, and even to try to issue silver yuan coupons in Korea.

In particular, the Sihai Grain Store was also responsible for collecting North Korean grain. They bought North Korea's newly harvested grain to reduce the North Koreans' reserves.

This way, the Jianlu would gain less when they moved south, and could cooperate with the policy of fortifying the city and clearing the countryside that was being implemented in northern Korea.

When Koreans donated their status as Ming citizens and dukes, they were intentionally guided to use more grain. Some Ming merchants also came to buy grain under the leadership of the inner court.

This even attracted the attention of other vassal states such as the Kingdom of Han and the Principality of Jiangling, because they also needed food after accepting immigrants.

The North Korean grain harvest just met this demand. Except for the poor who could not afford the grain, all parties were satisfied.

In addition to the grain business, there is another business that is also becoming popular.

That was the human rights business started by Concubine Zhao's family.

In the process of selecting beautiful women for Lady Zhao, the Zhao family purchased many women.

Naturally, not all of these people were sent to the palace; some were left behind.

The Zhao family didn't want to let them get away with it, so they tried to sell them in the Busan Free Trade Zone. Unexpectedly, they were very popular and many women were sold at high prices.

After the current emperor established the red-light district, distinguished between prostitutes and brothels, and made a series of regulations on human trafficking, there was a big gap in the pornography industry in the Ming Dynasty. The appearance of these women just made up for this.

This gave the Zhao family a business opportunity, and they began to train beautiful women. Later, they also expanded to the service industry and set up a housekeeping business modeled after the inner court's service company. The reputation of "Silla maids" became famous again in the Ming Dynasty.

This even attracted the attention of some Japanese businessmen in Busan Wakan, who also began to train women and try to enter this industry.

The trade between Ming and Korea soon became very hot. Judging from the two free trade zones, it is impossible to tell that the northern part of Korea is in danger of invasion. (End of this chapter)