After all, Li Jie had just become the king of North Korea, although he had canonized dozens of heroes of this coup and appointed his uncle, Gu Hong, who was also a great hero of this coup, as the leader of North Korea.
However, his ability to control the court is limited.
Jin Yu, who is also an important figure in this coup and the leader of the "Western People's Party", is quite dissatisfied with Gu Hong's appointment as the leader of North Korea.
I think the king is suspected of nepotism.
But Li Zhu had just canonized him and he couldn't express his opposition publicly.
But this time Li Xianzhong, the Ming Dynasty Governor-General in Korea, proposed that North Korea should bear the food and salary and armament losses of the Ming army stationed in North Korea, beheadings, and reward silver for recovering the city, which really made the North Korean ministers dumbfounded.
His own "parental state", Ming Dynasty, actually took the opportunity to extort North Korea like a robber.
After all, these people are used to freeloading, and they feel that Ming's assistance to them should be free.
It was okay for North Korea to provide Ming with food, grass and ordnance within its capabilities, but the pay, silver, and bounties were simply too much.
In particular, Li Xianzhong also used the Ming army to regain Haeju, Fengshan and other places in Hwanghae Province for North Korea, and set up a salt farm in Hwanghae Road to dry the salt in public. He also asked North Korea to provide 20,000 laborers for it.
Although North Korea is a small country, the salt industry is also government-run. The Ming Dynasty did not allow private salt production, and North Korea also did not allow it.
The most serious thing is that the Ming army stationed in North Korea asked North Korea to contribute their own efforts to build an Incheon City near Incheon Gang on the grounds that they did not have a station, and also built a large port and water village.
On the surface, this port is where the Ming Navy is stationed. In fact, it is to facilitate the direct entry and exit of Ming goods into North Korea.
It is obvious that North Korea's trade is also in the hands of the Ming army.
Under Jin Yu's secret instigation, North Korean officials, mainly the "Western People's Party", opposed allowing the Ming army to open salt fields to dry salt and build ports.
Of course, Jin Yao is a drunkard who doesn't care about drinking. His real purpose is to bring down the leading government, Ji Hong.
It's a pity that these indignant North Korean officials could not control their emotions and went to the door of the post house where Li Xianzhong was staying to petition and cause trouble!
Right Counselor Song Yingwang actually knelt down and accused the Ming Dynasty of exploiting North Korea, attracting countless people to watch?
Originally, the guards wanted to disperse the troublemaking officials, but Li Xianzhong stopped them.
In response to these people's accusations, Li Xianzhong asked: "North Korea cannot afford the cost of 5,000 Ming troops, so how can North Korea afford the annual tribute for Jianzhou?"
"North Korea thought the Ming army's monthly expenditure of 5,000 troops was astronomical. However, the Ming Dynasty sent more than 50,000 troops to fight against the Japanese and aid Korea. The war lasted for seven years. What was the price paid by the Ming Dynasty?"
"North Korea keeps saying that the Ming Dynasty is the country of North Korea's parents. Is this how North Korea honors its parents?"
"As for the saltworks and the labor, it's all because North Korea can't afford the military expenditures and emergency measures to reward them. If North Korea can come up with money, these can naturally be cancelled!"
"In the seven years since the Ming Dynasty helped North Korea fight against Japanese pirates, Nurhaci took the opportunity to unify Jianzhou, which led to today's trouble in Liaodong. The people of the Ming Dynasty had to pay "Liao pay" every year to deal with the threat of Jianzhou, and there were countless soldiers Buried bones in Liaodong."
"Even now, there are still thousands of Ming troops surrounded by tens of thousands of Jianzhou troops in Kuandian Fort, but in the face of the crisis in Korea, the Ming Dynasty still sent troops without hesitation."
"Compared to what Ming Dynasty did for North Korea, what does North Korea do now?"
"But you are still shamelessly coming to accuse the Ming Dynasty. If you think that the Ming Dynasty is taking the opportunity to blackmail North Korea, then the governor can raise his troops and return to the Ming Dynasty today. Liaodong needs these main forces to attack the Tatars!"
Li Xianzhong's heart-breaking words left these North Korean ministers unable to argue, and in the end they had to disappear in despair at the door of the post house.
However, after these people left, North Korea's Li Cao Counselor Jin Zidian came to ask for an audience with Li Xianzhong.
I still have some impression of this man Li Xianzhong, because more than ten years later he will be the leader of North Korea's political affairs and become a influential figure in North Korea's political arena.
This is also the first time in history that North Korea's famous family clan "Andong Kim" has risen.
However, the reason why Jin Zidian is famous is that he is a famous "Subjugation Party" in North Korea.
This kind of minister who can put personal family interests above national interests is exactly what Li Xianzhong needs.
However, Jin Zidian is still just a small figure now, and the Anton Jin family behind him has not yet made a fortune.
He was originally just a Confucian scholar who joined the coup through political speculation.
He was listed as a first-class meritorious official by Li Zhu, and successfully became a second-rank rites minister (equivalent to the minister of rites in the Ming Dynasty).
It must be said that some people have a very keen political sense, and Jin Zidian is one of them.
He told Li Xianzhong about Jin Yu's plot to use this matter to overthrow the leader Ju Hong, and expressed his willingness to surrender.
This person has a history of treason, and such a "traitor" is still very useful to Li Xianzhong.
However, Li Xianzhong also said that although he could exert influence on Li Zhu, with Jin Zidian's current qualifications, even if Jin Yu and Ju Hong were to lose, he would not be able to be the leader of the government.
If Jin Zidian wants to become the leader of the government, he may have to solve the issue of the canonization of King Li Zhu of Joseon.
However, the Ming Dynasty was very dissatisfied with this direct coup to overthrow the King of Korea.
It stands to reason that even if Lord Gwanghae is guilty, his dethronement should be decided by the Ming Dynasty.
The Ming Dynasty definitely did not approve of Li Zhu's coup, and he did not issue an edict to reprimand it. This was already the result of his own efforts.
If you want to be canonized by the Ming Dynasty, you must naturally satisfy Emperor Wanli. As for how to be satisfied, there is no need for Li Xianzhong to talk about it.
After all, Jin Zidian is a smart man, so he should stop talking about this kind of thing and let him figure it out by himself.
Sure enough, Jin Yao soon made a big fuss about using North Korea to pay the Ming army's salary. However, he did not dare to point the finger at North Korea's King Li Zhu, but instead targeted his uncle, the current leader of the political council, Gu Hong.
Those ministers who left the post house in despair came to Ju Hong's mansion again and accused him of treason.
Even Ju Hong's son was beaten by these ministers, and Ju Hong's mansion was almost burned down.
He was so frightened that Gu Hongda became ill, and soon he resigned on the grounds of recuperation.
Li Zhu was furious, Jin Yu and the others were clearly coming for him.
If he gives in to Jin Yao and others at this time, it will be tantamount to giving up power, and he will inevitably become their puppet in the future.
It happened that at this time Li Xianzhong put pressure on Li Zhu and impeached Right Counselor Song Yingwang and others for deliberately damaging the relationship between North Korea and Ming Dynasty.
Li Zhu took advantage of the opportunity and took Song Yingwang to prison, preparing to punish him.
In order to protect himself, Song Yingwang confessed to Jin Yao, the mastermind behind the incident.
Jin Zidian seized the opportunity to speak out, believing that the actions of Jin Yu and others would affect the relationship between the Ming Dynasty and North Korea, and even affect the Ming Emperor's canonization of Li Jian, and should be severely punished.
He also took the lead in supporting Li Zhu in providing military pay to the Ming army, believing that the king was grateful to the Celestial Empire. This would definitely gain the Celestial Empire's understanding and eventually lead to him being canonized by the Ming Dynasty.
He also believes that the two most important things for North Korea at present are to regain the lost territory as soon as possible and let the king be canonized by the Ming Dynasty.
Jin Zidian's words undoubtedly spoke to Li Zhu's heart. In the end, he allowed Jin Yu to become an official and appointed the little-known Jin Zidian to serve as the leader of North Korea.
In this way, the Anton Kim family officially became active in North Korea's political arena.
Originally, after Daishan and others signed the peace agreement in North Korea, they planned to keep the 7,000 Han troops in North Korea, while he and Mang Gurtai led the main force of the 8,008 Banners back to Kuandian.
Unexpectedly, a coup occurred in North Korea, and then the Ming army attacked and regained Huanghaido in one fell swoop.
The Han army was simply unable to recapture Haizhou, Huangzhou and other places that were recovered by the Ming army.
On the contrary, the Ming army advanced to the territory of Pingan Road, and even appeared under Pyongyang City for a time. Almost all the areas south of the Datong River were recovered by the Ming army.
At this time, Korean people in Ping'an Road and Hamgyong Road continued to riot and responded to the Ming army one after another.
In desperation, Daishan had to send three thousand and eight banners to garrison Pyongyang, which stabilized the situation.
Li Xianzhong also transferred the main force of the navy to Pi Island, and from time to time he entered Anzhou, Dingzhou and other places behind Pyongyang to plunder.
It even threatened Yiju for a time. Yiju was the gateway to the Yalu River and the retreat route for the North Korean army in Jianzhou. Once it was lost, the consequences would be disastrous.
Daishan had no choice but to once again send 1,080 banner troops to garrison Uiju, and another 1,080 banners to garrison Hamhung, the capital of Hamgyong Province.
As a result, Daishan's plan to transfer the main force of the Jianzhou Eight Banners back came to nothing, and in the end only 3,000 people evacuated across the Yalu River.
The 5,000 Ming troops stationed in North Korea were also divided into three divisions. Half of the 2,000 naval divisions were stationed on Pi Island and the other half were stationed in Incheon to ensure maritime trade routes; the 3,000 land divisions were based on the Yellow Sea Road to deal with the Jianzhou Army.
Although he was the Ming Dynasty's governor-general in North Korea, it was impossible for Li Xianzhong to stay in North Korea for a long time.
He promoted Yu Wanli to the rank of North Korean military general responsible for the confrontation with the rebels in Pyongyang.
Kong Youde was appointed as the envoy of Jinyiwei Town, responsible for North Korea's trade routes and the development of the Intelligence Department in North Korea, and contacted Jin Zidian and others.
Currently, the salt farm located in Hwanghae Province has begun producing salt.
Usually the salt field uses the sun salt method.
When drying salt, seawater is first introduced into the evaporation pond, and the water evaporates to a certain extent after several days of sunshine.
Then pour it into the crystallization tank and continue to dry it in the sun. The seawater will become a saturated solution of salt. If it is exposed to the sun again, the salt will gradually precipitate. The crystals obtained are the coarse salt we see every day.
Sun-drying salt generally goes through seven sets of processes: beach construction, beach consolidation, tide collection, brine production, brine measurement, crystallization and salt harvesting.
However, it was obvious that the North Koreans were far less knowledgeable about drying salt than the Ming Dynasty. Li Xianzhong had to recruit some experienced salt workers from the Ming Dynasty's salt fields to come to North Korea for technical guidance.
Coupled with the contribution of cement, the construction of the Yellow Sea Salt Farm was quickly on track.
Then the North Koreans were not good at refining refined salt, so Li Xianzhong, a keyboard warrior of later generations, could only serve as technical guidance again.
At present, the salt sold in Kaiyuan and sold to Mongolia is basically coarse salt.
Therefore, the demand for refined salt is not large, so part of the refined salt produced here can be directly put into the North Korean market.
It was impossible for the Ming army to sell salt by themselves, so Kong Youde teamed up with the Andong Jin family to sell refined salt.
Naturally, it was impossible for Ming merchants who came to North Korea to do business to implement the "Open China Law" and let them transport food to North Korea.
Since Daming is still in a restricted sea area, direct routes from other commercial ports in Daming to Incheon cannot be realized.
All businessmen going to North Korea can only take the fixed route from Yingkou to Incheon.
Therefore, Incheon Tongyingkou adopts the method of directly collecting physical taxes, and draws three out of ten goods.
Compared with the huge profits from North Korean trade, this tax rate is not high, but it is not easy to obtain North Korean trade qualifications.
It is necessary to pay 10,000 taels of silver and 10,000 shi of grain to the Governor-General of Korea every year.
Moreover, the North Korean Governor-General’s Office only provides 20 places.
After that, if other businessmen want to obtain North Korea's business qualifications, they can only participate in the form of bidding.
10,000 taels of silver and 10,000 shi of grain are just the starting prices.
And only one quota will be auctioned every month thereafter.
Soon these business quotas were taken by major businessmen, of course, basically businessmen from the capital and Liaodong.
Naturally, Li Xianzhong pocketed the 200,000 shi of grain, and he sent someone to give the 200,000 taels of silver directly to Wanli.
After all, I had promised him at least 150,000 taels of silver every year, so I couldn't break my promise.
Paper cannot keep fire. He estimated that even if Li Jian did not send an envoy to the Ming Dynasty to complain, what he did in North Korea would sooner or later be known to the courtiers.
Therefore, Wanli had to be silenced with money first. He did not believe that Wanli was willing to give up his annual income of 200,000 taels of silver.
At present, Li Xianzhong has stocked up a lot of food.
After several months of "Kai Zhong Fa", coupled with a bumper harvest of 50,000 acres of grain and wheat in Pinglubao.
He has already saved 300,000 shi of food in Kaiyuan. With the addition of these 200,000 shi, he will be able to withstand a drought even if there is a drought next year.
In order to cope with next year's drought, he has asked Fan Wencheng to build several large reservoirs.
In addition, people from the Intelligence Department have also found sweet potatoes in Fujian, but it is already November and the weather in Liaodong is no longer suitable for planting sweet potatoes.
Therefore, the Intelligence Department set up a small estate in Fujian to plant sweet potatoes and corn, leaving enough seeds for the promotion of sweet potatoes next year.
In this way, even if there is a serious drought next year, he can rely on the water reservoir and these sweet potatoes to keep his original path from harvesting nothing.
Originally, when Li Xianzhong was away in Kaiyuan, Li Sanshun often took charge of Kaiyuan's military affairs on his behalf.
Now that he has been officially promoted to deputy general Kaiyuan by the imperial court, he has confirmed his status as "deputy commander".
The three thousand Ming troops that Li Xianzhong entered the court this time were all drawn from Kaiyuan's army. Especially since Yu Wanli took away one thousand soldiers, it had a great impact on Kaiyuan's military strength.
Fortunately, the Ministry of War sent all the 500 pieces of armor and 500 Lumi guns that had been owed to Kaiyuan Army to Kaiyuan Army.
Coupled with the 500 Lumi guns produced by Pinglubao, the Kaiyuan army now has no shortage of equipment, and it quickly recruited 3,000 new troops.
Since Yu Wanli has been promoted to North Korea's staff general, Pingluwei needs to re-appoint a commander.
Recently, Li Xianzhong transferred several generals from other towns to Kaiyuan through his connections with the Ministry of War.
Mangui was one of them. He was originally a guard of Xuanfu, and he was good at bowing, horse riding, and shooting since he was a child.
The Ming Dynasty's previous bounty for Mongolian heads was as high as 50 taels per level. He had received the bounty several times but had never been promoted.
When he was nearly 30 years old, he became the commander-in-chief. It took another ten years to become the head of a hundred households. Later, after several promotions, he was promoted to the garrison of Chaohe River.
He originally thought that this would be the end of his life, but he didn't expect that when he was in his forties, he would have bad luck. Suddenly, he received an order from the Ministry of War to transfer him to Kaiyuan, and he was directly promoted to red without any effort. Guerrillas in the mountains.
It is said that he was appreciated by Ning Yuanbo Li Xianzhong.
Although he has never met the youngest military officer in the Ming Dynasty.
However, his recent achievements are well known among the Ming army!
Especially the exaggerated number of beheadings, there must be a silver reward for following Uncle Ning Yuan.
But what shocked him the most was the equipment of the Pinglu Guards, all of which were heavy cloth armors, as well as the 120-step range and power of the Lumi gun.
He never thought that an army of 1,500 people would be equipped with so many artillery and firecrackers. This was simply the firearms configuration of the Shenji Battalion.
The equipment of other generals and elite servants is just that of ordinary soldiers.
Therefore, he also cherished the opportunity to command this army, thinking that he must make a good contribution to repay Ning Yuanbo's kindness.
At this time, the main force of Kaiyuan's three passes had all gathered in the north of Jiefan City where Jianlu was located.
In addition to Mangui's Pinglu Guards, Mao Wenlong's Guangshun Army, Gao Mingtai's Xin'an Army, Li Guanfeng's Zhenbei Army and Li Ketai's Tieling Guards, almost all the elite troops in Kaiyuan Tieling Town gathered here.
The artillerymen of the civilian guards were nervously adjusting the gun position through the sights and rear sights on the artillery, and then they completed the loading of shells and gunpowder.
Following Mangui's order, the gunner lit the fuse of the artillery.
Then the ten Hongyi cannons bought back from Macau roared!
Jierhalang was looking at the Ming army in the distance from the top of Jiefan City.
At present, the main forces of Jianzhou are near Kuandian in the south and the Korean area, and this is the front line to resist the Ming army's southward threat to Hetuala. He is very clear about the importance of Jiefan City.
At this time, there were only 3,000 Xianglan Banners in the city, but there were 5,000 or 6,000 Ming troops under the city, half on foot and half on cavalry. This was not good news.
Fortunately, the Ming army's artillery looked quite intimidating, but the shells all landed about fifty steps away from the city wall and did not cause any damage to Jiefan City.
The blue flags on the city were all laughing. They were already in full formation, waiting for the Ming army to come and die.
The effect of the first round of shelling was not ideal. The artillery crews increased the amount of gunpowder loaded. With the first round of shooting as a reference, the next round would be more certain to hit the city wall.
Soon a cannonball landed on the city tower. The loud sound was like an earthquake. The flying bricks fell all over the city, knocking down several soldiers.
The city wall was also hit by several cannonballs, and large swaths of wall bricks fell off, leaving large sunken pits, and the rammed earth inside was exposed.
Jierhalang was shocked. The Ming army's artillery was so powerful?
If the attack continues like this, there is a risk that the city wall will be blown down.
But soon he no longer worried about the artillery, because at this time the Ming army's gunmen had advanced to a distance of a hundred steps away from Jiefan City.
"Bang, bang, bang"
As white smoke rose from below the city, dozens of Eight Banners soldiers on the city were hit by the Ming army's firecrackers.
Although they were wearing heavy cloth armor, they were still shot through by the Ming army's firecrackers, and the city was filled with the painful wails of the Eight Banners soldiers!
The archers with blue flags on the city immediately fired arrows down the city. Unfortunately, the Ming army was more than a hundred steps away from the city wall, and their bows and arrows were simply out of reach at this time.
The Ming army's disrespectful fighting style made Jierhalang furious.
At this time, he really had the urge to open the city gate and go out to kill these Ming troops.
Unfortunately, the deep trenches dug by the Ming army, the shield soldiers and spearmen beside the gunmen, and the cavalry behind them made him quickly give up this idea.
He found the messenger and said: "Hurry up and tell the Khan that the main force of the Ming army is storming Jiefan City. It is almost undefendable. Let him return to the army quickly. In addition, inform Gulezhai and Hetuala to take strict precautions against Ming Dynasty." The army attacks the city!"
At the same time, Kuandian Fort, which had been besieged by Jianlu for two months, had also entered its final moments.
Although Huang Taiji did not conduct a large-scale siege during this period, there were still small-scale sieges and harassment by the Han army, and the sharpshooters of the "savage tribe" were constantly waiting for opportunities to shoot the Ming army.
Two months later, there were only less than a thousand soldiers left out of the original two thousand soldiers.
Huang Taiji said: "Reporting to the Great Khan, the autumn harvest has long ended, and the Korean coats have replaced the original Han coats in large numbers. At present, the newly formed 10,000 Han troops have arrived at the front line from Hetuala, and we can attack the city. .”
Although Daishan's main force was still trapped in North Korea, they still received reinforcements from the Han army.
After plundering North Korea, Jianzhou now also has sufficient food and grass.
They cannot be dragged here for a long time, and they must take Kuandian today.
Soon a large number of Han troops rushed towards the city wall like a tide.
Although the marksmen of Zhengbai Banner are excellent in archery, it is now difficult for them to find opportunities to shoot Ming troops.
After two months, those reckless Ming soldiers were sent away by them, and the remaining people basically mastered the knack of avoiding arrows.
He stood right next to the city wall and didn't show his head at all. Even in the middle of a fight, he was very careful to protect himself.
In desperation, they had no choice but to give up sniping and use projectiles to shoot rounds of arrows towards the city.
The morale of the Han army was greatly boosted after receiving reinforcements. Today they want the heads of these Ming soldiers as their starting point.
But the idea is beautiful, but the reality is cruel.
Although they can climb the city, they are no match for the white-pole soldiers.
The white-stemmed guns in the hands of the Ming army were more like soul-seducing guns, constantly devouring the lives of the Han army. In a short time, the city was covered with the corpses of the Han army.
Ma Xianglin, who was blind in one eye, was like a one-eyed war god, killing the Han army with fear!
Almost no Han army could last two rounds after he captured it. By this time, his silver armor had been dyed red.
Even Nurhaci, who has been on the battlefield for a long time, had to sigh: "This man is as brave as Changshan Zhao Zilong back then!"
Just as he was about to give the final push to the Eight Banners of Jianzhou, a fast horse suddenly galloped over.
The messenger shouted: "I am reporting to the Great Khan that the Ming army's artillery has almost destroyed the walls of the Jiefan city. Please come back to the army as soon as possible!"
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