Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

“Has the list of North Korea’s highly skilled craftsmen been finalized?”

"Can you promise to bring them out?"

Zhu Youjian asked Zheng Shiyi again.

This is the aspect that he attaches the most importance to and is also one of the most important tasks of the Korean Pacification Office.

Zheng Shiyi took it very seriously and replied:

"The Jinyiwei has a list of all the famous skilled craftsmen."

"But for someone like Xu Litie who was previously unknown, the Imperial Guards can't do anything about it."

"North Korea has a strict hierarchy and some craftsmen are reluctant to show their skills."

Demonstrating skills did not change one's status, and one might even be arrested by the government and forced to serve in the army. There were not many skilled craftsmen in North Korea, and some were not famous at all.

Regarding this group of people, Zhu Youjian said after thinking:

"Promote the honors of Ming Dynasty craftsmen in Korea. I will ask the Shaofu Temple to form an Engineers Association and open a branch in Korea to recruit them."

"As for this time, we will try our best to transport the craftsmen to Ming Dynasty when the Jianlu invades, regardless of their skill level."

He pointed to the map of Shuntian Prefecture and ordered:

"After we bring them back, we will transport them to Caofeidian and let Song Yingxing settle them down."

"The Equipment Institute will set up a workshop here, and the Royal Guards must keep the relevant confidentiality in mind."

This was the plan made by Zhu Youjian to expand the production of firearms.

Caofeidian is the steel base chosen by Song Yingxing. There are iron mines in Qian'an nearby, and timber and charcoal from overseas can also be obtained by sea transportation.

Once the Caofeidian Iron Works can produce steel comparable to that produced in Fujian, the imperial court's artillery and muskets will be able to get rid of their dependence on Fujian iron, making large-scale production more convenient.

Zhu Youjian planned to produce flintlock muskets, grenades and other weapons with a low level of confidentiality there, which could also be easily transported out by sea.

Zheng Shiyi silently took note of this matter and calculated in his mind how many ships would be needed to transport the Korean craftsmen.

He also reminded:
"Jin Zidian secretly concealed the divine arrow and was not loyal enough to the Ming Dynasty."

"I think this person cannot be trusted. Be careful that he may betray us."

Zhu Youjian didn't care much about this and said:
"You can be careful about him turning against you, but you don't have to take it too seriously."

"People like that only care about their own family's interests and have no sense of loyalty at all."

"As long as the Ming Dynasty is strong and can provide him with benefits, there is no need to worry about such a person turning against us."

"Just watch him perform, don't interfere too much and make him rebel."

Jin Zidian could even betray his own monarch, so Zhu Youjian certainly would not completely trust him.

This person defected to the Ming Dynasty for his own interests, so he wanted Korea to submit to the Ming Dynasty.

But because of this, Zhu Youjian trusted him very much——

As long as the Ming Dynasty can give him more benefits, he will not betray.

Even as long as the Ming Dynasty was strong enough, he would not dare to betray.

At present, Kim Ja-jeon is on the same side as the Ming Dynasty, and both want to push Korea to submit to the Ming Dynasty.

As for what happens in the future, we'll see.

At the same time, from the fact that Kim Ji-jeon secretly prepared the divine arrow and Choi Nam-yi hesitated to join the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Youjian realized that the national consciousness of the Koreans was too strong and it was not easy to directly manage them as counties.

It's fine to divide them among themselves, but if they were to become a province of the Ming Dynasty, many people like Jin Zidian would probably rebel.

These people are now willing to submit to the Ming Dynasty because the Ming Dynasty can give them greater benefits. Once they find that the Ming Dynasty wants to make Korea an ordinary governor and deprive them of their status as nobles, these people will soon turn against the Ming Dynasty and turn from supporting the submission to opposing the Ming Dynasty.

Even if the Ming Dynasty could conquer it by force, it would probably be as restless as Annan, and would continue to consume its energy.

Ultimately, the best way to bring peace to North Korea is to enfeoff hereditary towns to the nobles.

This was no different from turning the King of Korea into a prince of the Ming Dynasty, and it also quickly extinguished Zhu Youjian's occasional idea of ​​conquering Korea:

He even planned to divide Annan, not to mention North Korea, which is still very obedient now.

As long as the King of Korea knew what was good for him, he would keep the throne of the other party and divide the land of Korea among the lords one by one, so that it would not become an external threat to the Ming Dynasty.

As for whether there will be changes in the future, we will talk about it in the future. The current North Korea is only suitable to be a vassal state.

Zhu Youjian was very aware of his own strength, and the top priority at the moment was to pacify the Jianlu.

He only hoped that Korea could hold back the Jianlu and allow the Ming Dynasty to safely pass through the Jisi year.
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In October of the year Jisi, North Korea is in a carnival.

After shooting Hauge and Yangguli in succession, the Koreans were jubilant. Some of them even became arrogant and wanted to march north.

Under Jin Zidian's strong advocacy, many confident Koreans planned to follow him north to fight against the Jianlu. These people planned to use their own strength to make the Ming Dynasty and the Jianlu take Korea seriously.

However, there were also many independent factions that usually spoke so loudly, but now they were silent.

They are fine at shouting slogans at ordinary times, but when it comes to going to the battlefield, they immediately retreat.

This caused the newly established newspapers in Incheon to mock them harshly. Some people could not help but be provoked to go to the battlefield, but many more people still remained as turtles.

Xiang Junqing checked the list one by one, marked out some independent factions who still had a voice, and told Mao Yunlong:
"Provoke them again and find a way to incite the people to force them to the front line."

“Even if they don’t go, their reputation must be ruined so they can’t influence the North Koreans.”

Mao Yunlong was born into a family of students and had always felt uncomfortable when he served as the pacification envoy of Korea. Now that he is in charge of running a newspaper in Korea, he can be considered to have made use of his strengths.

He still had some naive ideas and felt a little reluctant about Xiang Junqing's arrangement:

"These people are famous Confucian scholars in North Korea. Isn't it bad to treat them like this?"

"They are old, so it's understandable that they don't go to the battlefield."

Xiang Junqing raised his eyebrows and said coldly:
"It's extenuating? Can you let it go?"

"Remember, we are the Imperial Guards, and we must eliminate all threats to the Ming Dynasty."

"These people shout slogans for independence, but they don't have the strength to do so. They want to rely on the Ming Dynasty while remaining independent."

"These are the parasites of the Ming Dynasty. Korea does not need them after it accedes to the Ming Dynasty."

"Even if they are old, they still have disciples and families!"

Let Mao Yunlong try every possible means to eliminate the influence of these people.

Mao Yunlong was horrified when he heard this, and only then did he understand what a real Jinyiwei was.

Although he was also a deputy commander, he could not raise his head in front of Xiang Junqing. Without his brother Mao Wenlong, he would not have been able to gain a foothold in the Jinyiwei, and he could not even enter the officialdom.

Xiang Junqing frightened Mao Yunlong a little, arranged to eliminate the Korean independence faction, and turned more attention to the Korean royal court.

Xiang Junqing knew exactly who in the royal court supported the independent faction, but he just laughed at it, because reality would teach these people a lesson.

Even the Ming Dynasty had to mobilize 400,000 troops to defend against the possible invasion of the Jianlu. It was really a bit unreasonable for the Koreans to think that they could fight against the Jianlu with the magic arrows.

He watched the incident coldly, quietly waiting for things to turn around.

He wanted to use Korea's submission to lay the foundation for his future fight for the commander-in-chief.
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King Yi Jong of Joseon was also waiting for a turnaround.

The turning point he had high hopes for was the so-called divine arrow.

It’s not that he believes in the power of the divine arrow, but this is the only straw he can grasp.

If Korea cannot stop the Jianlu and does not show enough strength to the Ming Dynasty, it will most likely end up surrendering to the Ming Dynasty.

Even the crown prince turned to the Ming Dynasty, and Gwanghaegun was also controlled by the Ming Dynasty.

He really couldn't think of any way to prevent North Korea from annexing the country.

What made Li Zong even more desperate was that Jin Ruo, Li Gui and others who helped him to rebel also had an ambiguous attitude towards the matter of surrendering to the Ming Dynasty. Maybe they were bribed by the Ming Dynasty and were waiting to be allocated territory in Korea.

This made him deeply regret that he should not have agreed to the division before. It would have been better for him to cede the land north of the Cheongcheon River to the Ming Dynasty at that time.

Now that the Korean nobles have seen the possibility of enfeoffment, they are immediately inclined to turn to the Ming Dynasty and let the Ming Dynasty guarantee their wealth and prosperity for generations.

There was no way Li Jong could resist unless he fought to the death and overcame all opposition.

However, the consequence of going against the majority opinion is that he may be forced to abdicate like Gwanghaegun. It may even be his son who forces him to abdicate, and he may be forced to sit on the throne of the Supreme King like Lee Seong-gye, the founder of Joseon Dynasty.

Therefore, when Choi Nam-yi and others proposed to imitate the arrow-shaped bullet, he asked the Military Instruments Temple to implement it. He did not accept this person just because Choi Nam-yi was a minister of Gwanghaegun. He never thought that Choi Nam-yi would shoot and kill Ho-ge, which made him regret it.

When Kim Ji-jeon proposed the Northern Expedition, he also strongly supported it. He even showed Kim Ji-jeon his secret weapon, the Divine Arrow, and asked Kim Ji-jeon to go to Pyongyang to serve as the Grand Marshal.

He did not expect Jin Zidian to win, but he hoped that he could at least hold off the Jianlu for a few months like Dongjiang Ling did.

In that way, the Ming Dynasty would take Korea a little more seriously and not push it too hard.

With his earnest anticipation, Kim Ji-jeon went north to Pyongyang to fight the enemy.

There are also some very vocal independent factions who are traveling with us, either voluntarily or by force.

Jin Zidian knew their names. After arriving in Pyongyang, he sent them to support Dongjiang Town in the name of withdrawing the Ming army from Dongjiang Territory.

He promised that he would go north later and fight with them.

After these people led the soldiers north, Jin Zidian made no preparations for the northern expedition. He spent his days drinking and having fun, or playing with Meiji.

At the same time, they plundered food more greedily and sold it to Ming merchants.

The people in Pyongyang complained about this, and Kim Ji-jeon was furious. He forced all the complainers to do hard labor and sent them to repair the Jeongfang Mountain Fortress near Hwangju in the south, preparing to hide there if the war went badly.

Many discerning Koreans began to be disappointed with him. The wealthy families who knew that the Jianlu were going to invade were ready to move to Incheon.

They brought food to donate to the citizens or officials of the Ming Dynasty and bought property in the free trade zone.

The people left behind by the Ming Dynasty encouraged this everywhere, not allowing the Koreans to leave food to the Jianlu, and implementing the policy of clearing the countryside.
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It was under this situation that Huang Taiji led an army of more than 40,000 and finally arrived in Korea.

At this time, Yizhou in the Dongjiang area of ​​Korea was still under the control of the Bordered Blue Banner.

After Hauge's death, Amin led the Bordered Blue Banner Army back to Yizhou.

The purpose is to wait for the Bordered Yellow Banner to return and then annex it bit by bit.

But Yangguli's arrival ruined his plan, because Yangguli not only carried the Khan's orders, but also had a reputation and prestige in the army that was no less than his.

When Yangguli arrived in Yizhou, he found that the situation was worse than he expected. Not only did the leader of the Bordered Yellow Banner, Hauge, die, but the banner also seemed to have lost its spirit.

Of the 3,000 soldiers of the Bordered Yellow Banner brought by Hauge, one-tenth were lost in Dongjiang. Some of them died without even seeing the enemy.

After the siege of Xuanchuan failed after the death of Hauge, they completely lost their confidence in fighting. Many people just wanted to go back and never come here again.

This made Yangguli very angry. After knowing that the soldiers of the Yellow Banner were mainly killed by muskets, he shouted:
"Those who use muskets are fools, those who use bows and arrows are heroes."

"Follow me, heroes of the Bordered Yellow Banner. I will lead you to avenge your master."

He took the lead with great bravery, wanting to lead the soldiers of the Bordered Yellow Banner to capture Xuanchuan.

The soldiers of the Bordered Yellow Banner were encouraged, and even Amin had to follow with the Bordered Blue Banner.

But Yangguli's careless behavior soon taught him a lesson.

Especially since there was his portrait on the reward card, many people could recognize him.

This achievement was achieved by an unknown Korean musketeer named Park Yi.

He used the arrow-shaped bullets imitated by Korea to shoot Yangguli to death in one fell swoop, which greatly encouraged the Koreans accompanying him and gave them the confidence to fight against the Jianlu.

The soldiers of the Bordered Yellow Banner were so terrified that they did not even try to search for the murderer, but simply fled.

Amin, who followed Yangguli to lead the troops, was also shocked and incorporated the scattered soldiers of the Bordered Yellow Banner into his own banner.

When Huang Taiji questioned him, he still argued convincingly:
"If we don't include them, those soldiers will escape."

"Two leaders of the Bordered Yellow Banner have died in succession. Only I can give them confidence."

Huang Taiji shouted angrily, listing Amin's evil intentions.

The various beiles were also very disgusted with this behavior of seizing other people's subjects, and forced Amin to hand over the soldiers of the Bordered Yellow Banner that he had recruited.

Amin couldn't bear the pressure and could only give in, mumbling:

"If we don't seize other people's subjects, how can the Bordered Yellow Banner belong to Haoge?"

"If we really follow the arrangement of the former Khan, Dorgon should be the leader of the banner!"

This made Huang Taiji angry because what Amin said was true.

Before his death, Nurhaci removed Dudu from his position as leader of the Bordered White Banner and planned to replace him with Dorgon.

However, Huang Taiji arranged for his son Haoge to become the leader of the Bordered White Banner, and arranged for the two yellow flags and the two white flags to exchange flags, making Haoge the leader of the Bordered Yellow Banner. This is the origin of the current Bordered Yellow Banner.

Now that Hauge is dead, Amin brought up the matter again, obviously saying that Dorgon is qualified to take over the Bordered Yellow Banner. How could Huang Taiji be willing in his heart?
If he gave the Bordered Yellow Banner to others, he would only have the Plain Yellow Banner. How could he suppress other Beile and secure his position as the Khan?

So when Amin said this, the camp suddenly fell silent. Ambitious beiles, not to mention those who were qualified to be the leader of the Bordered Yellow Banner, also hoped that the Khan would decide on the leader of the banner.

This had never happened before, and it made Huang Taiji realize that he had to win the war against Korea and restore the majesty of the Khan. (End of this chapter)