Dragon Sea Empire

"Let the imperial court and the Jurchen barbarians fight to the death, and then we will make a move and pick the peaches easily, that would be great, why join the chaos in Liaodong now," said Han Ping, the director of the company and the head of the business department. Speaking sincerely, my heart is actually heartbroken by the sharp drop in the company's earnings this year.

"We have to maintain the control areas in Jiangnan and Fujian this year, and we have fought in Nanyang and emigrated to Nanyang. We have spent too much money, and we have to fight in Liaodong. It is really..."

Yin Feng felt as uncomfortable as eating flies: "Then, do you mean to let the Jurchen barbarians wantonly kill the people of Liaodong?"

Zheng Zhilong’s uncle Huang Cheng, as the head of the company’s agriculture department and immigration department, opposed sending troops to Liaodong from another angle: “…Although we brought cold-resistant rice from Mr. Xu Guangqi, it is also on the land of Jinzhouwei in the Liaodong Peninsula. The trial planting of small plots was successful. However, if we conquer Liaodong at this time, appease the refugees and stabilize the situation, we will have to fight the Jurchen and the imperial court on both sides. At least we will not be able to grow food in Liaodong within two years, that is to say, within two years in Liaodong The food supply of millions of people and our Chinese army depends entirely on supplies from Taiwan and Luzon. If the Jurchens attack Liaodong, the local Liaodong people will flee to Liaoxi, Liaonan or even North Korea. We only need to be responsible for those who fled to Liaonan. In this way, we can still guarantee the supply of food for the people. The ship owner plans to attack the North Korean vassal state. Of course, it is possible to collect food on the spot in North Korea, but we can’t rob all the food and starve all the North Korean people to death. Nanyang and Jiangnan have transported too much grain, and Taiwan’s grain depot is empty. If we want to accumulate enough grain and grass supply for millions of people in Liaodong for two years, we must ensure that the people of Taiwan and Luzon do not go hungry, at least until next summer. In the future, after the harvest of rice in Taiwan and Luzon, and the transportation of grain to the north will depend on sea transportation. Now that the weather is blowing from the north, it is very difficult for ships to go north, and it will be even worse when it encounters a storm... Our Chinese army is benevolent and righteous Whether we attack North Korea and then fight Liaodong, or we directly fight against the Jurchen Eight Banners in Liaodong, we cannot let the people of Liaodong not be killed by the Jurchen barbarians, but be starved to death instead."

Yin Feng was also a little annoyed. He wanted to enter the Northeast in such a hurry because he didn't want to see the people in Liaodong devastated and displaced. Now he regretted that he didn't think carefully and didn't stockpile food and grass in Jinzhouwei in advance.

The clerk Zeng Shan guessed Yin Feng's troubles, and whispered to Li Lihua who was sitting behind Yin Feng: "The ship owner probably wants to save millions of people in Liaodong."

Although Li Lihua is a member of the board of directors, she usually seldom participates in meetings, and she doesn't express much opinion when she attends meetings. At this time, she just nodded and sighed: "Brother Feng always wants to save people, but now there are disasters and wars everywhere. , he can't save everyone,"

Yin Feng propped his elbows on the long table and looked at the directors sitting on the left and right. Some senior generals of the Chinese army showed displeasure, but they didn't say anything: "I understand what the manager Huang means. If we go to war with the imperial court or the Jurchen before September next year, we will either ignore the lives of the people in Liaodong, or starve our own Chinese army to death. We are about to fight the Eight Banners soldiers in North Korea, and the right time, place and people are not on our side,"

Everyone looked at each other, no one nodded or shook their heads. Liaodong's food reserves were insufficient, which was a real problem; fighting with the Eight Banners of Manchuria in North Korea was also a real problem.

Yin Feng sighed, turned to Li Lihua and said, "Tell us what we know about the Korean feudal kingdom."

After Lin Xiao and Mai Xiaoliu returned from Jiangnan, Lin Xiao voluntarily went to Yin Feng and asked to hand over all the authority of the Department of Business and Information. The internal security work in each ruling area is also responsible for the company's internal corruption and malfeasance review, so it really can't manage the affairs of the Ministry of Commerce.

Yin Feng didn't say much, but asked him to hand over all the domestic intelligence work of the Ministry of Commerce and Intelligence to Xu Xinsu. After that, the Ministry of Commerce and Intelligence was officially reorganized into the Intelligence Bureau of the Ministry of Internal Affairs directly under the Jinghai Palace.

The Ministry of Commerce and Intelligence - the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Intelligence did not give it to the people in the military system. This was done intentionally by Yin Feng. He then reorganized the Ministry of Military Intelligence. The overseas bureau of the Military Intelligence Department is now completely under the jurisdiction of Li Lihua, and the domestic bureau is still in charge of Zeng Rui. In this way, Yin Feng maintained two intelligence organizations that competed with each other, did not belong to each other, and had different goals, and both were directly responsible to Yin Feng. Lin Xiao was somewhat comforted by this, and Mai Xiaoliu did not take over. his position.

Li Lihua had been prepared for a long time, she moved from behind Yin Feng to the front of the table, and everyone nodded to her. Although she was already the respected princess, she did not change the habits brought by the West, and she didn't mind showing her face in public. got used to.

Li Lihua coughed softly, and said in a soft tone: "It's not easy to collect intelligence from North Korea. They imitated the practice of the Ming Dynasty in everything, and they also imposed a sea ban. Our businessmen can't openly enter North Korea for business and trade, and we don't allow others. Entering the country without authorization, Western missionaries also tried to enter the Korean country, but they were always unsuccessful, so Westerners called the Korean country the "hermit country" in East Asia. There are three sources of our current understanding of the Korean country. Place: The former Ministry of Commerce and Intelligence transcribed some relevant manuscripts of imperial envoys who went to North Korea. I also got some information through Western Catholic missionaries, and the Ministry of Military Intelligence got a lot of information through some prisoners of Jeju Island. Oh, they They are all former North Korean officials who were exiled here, and they are very familiar with the situation in their own court,"

It seemed a bit strange for Li Lihua to talk about important military affairs in a female voice like Li Lihua, but no one dared to publicly express a little bit of negligence. Everyone knew Yin Feng's attitude towards Li Lihua.

"The current king of North Korea, Li Hun, was actually not a son when he came to the throne. The Ming court has never approved the canonization of him as a son. Li Hunai was born in April in the third year of Wanli (note: the eighth year of Xuanzu in North Korea, 1575), and he was the previous generation. The second son of King Seonjo of Joseon, his birth mother was Gongpin Kim, who was granted the title of Lord Gwanghae at the beginning. He was resourceful since he was a child. Love, as the second son of a concubine, Li Hui has been regarded as a reasonable candidate to inherit the throne since he was a child, and he should be very scheming and ambitious."

In the 20th year of Wanli's Japanese Invasion, Linhai Lord Li Cong was captured, and King Sunjo rushed to Pyongyang to ask for help from the Celestial Dynasty. At the same time, he ordered the 17-year-old Guanghai Lord Li Hun to take charge of state affairs. Li Hun collected scattered troops and volunteers, Calling on King Tongguoqin to recover, Li Hui's move inspired the hearts of the people and the army, and greatly increased his prestige in North Korea. In 21 years, the Japanese withdrew from Seoul, retreated to Busan, and returned the captured princes Linhaijun and Shunhejun , the Japanese rebellion came to an end temporarily. At this time, Xuanzu had already favored Lord Gwanghae. In 23 years, Xuanjo canonized Lord Gwanghae as his son, and asked for approval from my heavenly court. The matter of His Majesty's establishment of the crown prince was a big mess, so my celestial dynasty did not allow Mr. Gwanghae to be the heir. North Korean officials captured by Jeju Island revealed that Mr. Gwanghae had already secretly complained about the Ming Dynasty. In 24 years, 33 years In [-], North Korea once again submitted a request for easy storage, but the court refused to allow it. From this point of view, Mr. Guanghai was implicated by Concubine Zheng and King Fu, hehe, "

Li Lihua read the document in her hand and smiled happily. Everyone quickly lowered their heads and turned their heads. Everyone's faces were dull. Not to mention the slightest awe.

"In the last years of Xuanzu, there was also a fierce party struggle in North Korea over the issue of the crown prince, which was very similar to the party dispute in our Chinese court, because at that time the queen of King Xuanjo (Queen Inmok) had already had a son (Note: King Yongchang , born in 1606), abandoned his son and established his concubine, which is inconsistent with the Chinese system and etiquette... These are the original words of the Chinese envoy transcribed by the Ministry of Commerce and Intelligence. Therefore, the Beiren Party in the Joseon court split into a group headed by Li Erchan, who advocated the establishment of Gwanghae Jun's Dabei faction and Liu Yongqing's Xiaobei faction, which advocated supporting his son, were attacked after Guanghai Jun ascended the throne, Liu Yongqing was given to death, Xiaobei faction split into Qing Xiaobei and Zhuo Xiaobei, The Northern faction split into three factions, the Bone North, the Meat North, and the Central North..."

Yin Feng hurriedly interrupted Li Lihua's narration: "Ali, it goes without saying that the details of the Korean National Party struggle are so detailed..."

Li Lihua blinked at him, and then said: "In the 36th year of Wanli, King Xuanzu died of illness, and King Guanghai succeeded him to the Ming Dynasty. However, after a few months of delay, the imperial court still conferred the title of Li Hun as the king of North Korea in October of that year. According to the judgment of the Ministry of Military Intelligence, it should be related to the rise of the Jianzhou Jurchen Ministry. The frontiers are safe,"

"After Li Hun, Lord Gwanghae came to the throne, according to the exiled North Korean officials in Jeju Island, he became more and more confused. After he abolished his mother, he slaughtered his brothers and brothers. After he ascended the throne, he immediately declared Queen Inmok as the abolished concubine and imprisoned her in the West Palace. (Qingyun Palace), he moved to the newly restored Changdeok Palace (Dongju) to live, and the two people who threatened his throne the most were his mother and brother, Xuanzu's eldest son Lin Haijun, and the two-year-old Younger brother at the age of [-], King Yongchang, Sunjo's first son, was murdered ten years ago and five years ago, "

"Mr. Gwanghae also connived at the two classes of landlord officials to appoint private officials. The system of selecting officials based on their merits was destroyed. The examination for selecting civil and military officials has become a tool in the hands of powerful officials. North Korean officials are all from the so-called two classes. The two classes are the hereditary gentry of the Korean state. On the court hall, the civil officials stand on the east side, and the generals stand on the west side. Therefore, the two classes are also called the east and the west classes. According to legend, they did not register their land and did not pay taxes. The relatives of the king and the officials in power accumulated the land abandoned during the war and turned it into tax-free property. Just like the Ming Dynasty, the Korean gentry competed fiercely for official positions, because It is easy to make money in an official position, and in this culture where civil and military officials only care about self-interest and disregard the country, no one cares about state affairs, no one benefits the people.

Mai De and Zhao Tie, representatives of the shareholders of the officer corps, suddenly spoke at the same time: "Madam Li,..." The two looked at each other, Mai De smiled, motioned for Zhao Tie to speak first, Zhao Tie nodded, and said bluntly: "Madam Li... , the officials of North Korea are similar to those of our Ming Dynasty, we know this, since we are going to attack North Korea, let’s talk about the military situation of North Korea.”

Yin Feng raised his hand to signal silence, and said slowly: "Everyone, don't worry, let's listen to what Ali said first. The more chaotic North Korea's state affairs are, the more beneficial it is to our strategy."

It was the first time Li Lihua spoke on the board of directors on behalf of the Overseas Bureau of the Ministry of Military Intelligence. She was somewhat nervous. She looked at Yin Feng, saw him smiling and beckoning her to continue, and continued with a long sigh of relief: "During the Japanese invasion of Japan, due to the war and other The reason is that the number of good people that the North Korean government can recruit is reduced, and the officers and soldiers are unable to resist the enemy, so they have to rely on the rebels to fight. The good people of the Liangban received awards from the government by participating in the rebel army, or they got rid of the cheap borrowing, or entered the class of the Liangban, "

At the other corner of the table, Mai De whispered to Zhao Tie: "Mrs. Li is in charge of the overseas bureau. It's the first time you make a discussion on the board of directors. You can't give her some face."

Zhao Tie smiled slightly, bowed his head and said in a low voice: "No matter what, I always think it's inappropriate for a woman to be in charge,"

Li Lihua calmed down and continued her speech: "In addition, in order to encourage farmers to pay grain, the government has adopted the measure of selling officials. A group of rich peasants who are willing to pay grain are included in the ranks of the second class, and those who are promoted to the second class by paying grain Not limited to rich farmers and merchants, even public and private servants and handicraftsmen are also willing to do this, that is to say, many of the current two classes of nobles in North Korea are new and have deep conflicts with the old two classes of nobles."

Zeng Shan interjected: "That is to say, as long as we make good use of this contradiction, our Chinese army will not have to worry about finding allies in North Korea."

Li Lihua nodded to him and said: "That's right. North Korea is divided from top to bottom. The original anti-Japanese rebel army has been disbanded. Most of the newly formed Korean army firearms are poorly trained, and most of them have followed the Ming army in Sarhu. All the failures were captured by Nanurhachi, "