This has happened more than once. He issued orders to strictly question North Korea every time, but with little success. Sometimes North Korea even refuses to trade with each other, using the excuse that the country does not have such products.
Li Chao was submissive on the surface, but secretly he still admired the Southern Dynasty - the news sent by the spies also said that Li Chao was still secretly communicating with the Southern Dynasty.
He was thinking about how to teach Li Chao a small lesson so that they would not forget the original "Brotherly Alliance". Keishinro of the Ministry of War sent an urgent report.
Huang Taiji glanced at the note forwarded from Detang Newspaper by the Ministry of War, and was shocked. It was actually from Zhenjiang Fort.
Zhenjiang Fort is the hub to North Korea and the fortress that intimidate the Dongjiang River. It is a very important place. However, there has been no warning from Zhenjiang Fort for a long time, and the cross-river harassment activities of the Dongjiang Army have disappeared since the imperial conquest. And the current situation of the Dongjiang River is unlikely to penetrate further into the Yalu River to harass the Zhenjiang Fort area.
Huang Taiji watched the changes in the surrounding situation every day. Compared with the Ming Emperor who had a specialized spy agency, he was much better informed about enemy countries. This was not only due to his willingness to reward those who worked hard, but also due to the "smallness" of the small court of the Later Jin Dynasty. Because of its small scale, there are far fewer links from grassroots to higher levels of information, and the possibility of being misinterpreted is also smaller.
In addition to assigning many agents to investigate in Beijing, he also dispatched agents to important places such as Dongjiang and Denglai. The civil strife in Dongjiang, the war in Denglai, and the busy actions and disputes in the Beijing court were reported every three or two days. When the news is reported to Shengjing, it is first secretly reported to the Yamen of the Ministry of War, and then presented to the palace.
Huang Taiji was very interested in the Denglai Change. In his opinion. The Guan Ning Army gathered in the Ningyuan area is certainly a trouble, but they never take the initiative to "cause trouble" as long as they don't fight them head-on. As usual, these military masters stood firm and motionless. On the contrary, it does not pose much of a threat, but the new army organized and trained by Sun Yuanhua in Dengzhou has already posed a certain threat. The Dengzhou Army's ability to use firearms in the limited battles with Houjin left a considerable impression on the Eight Banners.
The Eight Banners were not afraid of the Ming Army's firearms. The Ming Army's firearms were poorly manufactured and had no tactics at all in their use. The firearms hands were poorly trained and they basically just set off fireworks randomly. Apart from frightening horses, the damage is extremely limited.
The only thing that impressed them deeply was the power of the Hongyi cannon. However, the number of Hongyi cannons is small. It was also very heavy, and the Ming army only used it to defend the city. The Ming army rarely carried them in the field. In contrast, the Dengzhou Army engaged the Manchu and Qing Dynasties several times. They all carried Hongyi artillery and other large and small artillery, and their shooting was very methodical. This allowed the Eight Banners Army, which had always been able to easily win with heavy armor, to taste the true power of an army trained with firearms for the first time.
According to the detective reports, Sun Yuanhua, who was in charge of training the new army in Dengzhou, accepted the "foreign religion" of Westerners. Many Westerners helped make firearms. Train the army.
What worries him even more is that there are many members of the former Dongjiang Army in the Dengzhou Army. These people have a bloody feud with the Eight Banners. Once Sun Yuanhua is trained into an army, he will repeat Mao Wenlong's old trick and sneak attack Daijin's flank from the sea. , its threat is much greater than that of Mao Wenlong's beggar guerrillas.
As soon as the news of the rebellion of Li Jiucheng and Sun Yuanhua came back, he was very interested. Although due to the chaos of the war, Hosaku was unable to obtain exact information. But he knew that a large number of Dongjiang troops were involved in the rebellion. In his opinion, this rebellion virtually destroyed the Dengzhou New Army that Sun Yuanhua had worked hard for many years; and the Dongjiang Army was so deeply involved in the rebellion. It will inevitably intensify the division within the Dongjiang Army, and at the same time further intensify the Southern Court's distrust of Dongjiang.
This rebellion was equivalent to eliminating the huge hidden danger on the flanks of the two Eight Banners without spending a single soldier on his part. Huang Taiji has a feeling of "my destiny belongs to me".
Could it be that the world of the Southern Dynasties is really going to belong to me? Huang Taiji often feels like this recently.
What news can come from Zhenjiang Fort? Could it be - his eyelids suddenly jumped, remembering the detailed report a few months ago that tens of thousands of Kong Youde and Li Jiucheng's subordinates fled by boat from Dengzhou sea, but the whereabouts of these subordinates were unknown after the escape. The spies collected the information from Beijing It only said that the officers and soldiers recaptured Dengzhou and killed Li Jiucheng, Kong Youde and other major rebel generals, but did not explain the whereabouts of the tens of thousands of remnant troops who fled across the sea.
Could it be that the remnants of the army were desperate and came to seek refuge with me, Dajin? ! Huang Taiji was secretly happy. Among the tens of thousands of rebels, there must be many firearmsmen from the former Dengzhou Army. They might also bring many firearms and warships, and other equipment that the Eight Banners urgently needed but were seriously lacking. If this is the case, our own army will be even more powerful.
He opened the Tang newspaper with such expectation: The Tang newspaper did report that "there is a ship coming from the sea", but it had nothing to do with the remnants of Dengzhou, but a strange big ship. The people on the ship had short hair and short clothes. Very strange. These people have extremely powerful cannons, and because the defender refused to allow them to land, they have already fired cannons and destroyed part of the Zhenjiang Fort wall.
Now they made demands for trade with the imperial court.
"This is surprising. People avoid us, and some people even come to our door. You are really brave." Huang Taiji smiled slightly.
Since the other party came to ask for business, it was certainly a dream for the economically distressed Hou Jin court.
He immediately ordered people to call Ding Wensheng and Zhao Fuxing, the head of the Ministry of War, to inquire about the specific process of the incident.
It turned out that the day after the Haitian was anchored, the Zhenjiang Fort defenders dispatched hundreds of people to raid Duozhi Island in small boats in an attempt to destroy the Haitian in one fell swoop. As a result, some of them were destroyed by the ship's artillery and the naval soldiers on the island and then fled back. . Then the Haitian bombarded Zhenjiang Fort, destroying more than ten feet of the city wall, killing and injuring hundreds of soldiers and civilians in the city. The power of the cannon was greater than that of the Hongyi cannon.
After being beaten, the guard of Zhenjiang Fort, who knew he was no match, sent people to ask the other party's purpose honestly, and found out that the other party called himself "Tai'ao" and asked for trade with our country.
"Since the ship cannon of Tai'ao is so powerful, why haven't I heard of it before? Where is this country? Has it ever paid tribute to the Southern Dynasty?" Huang Taiji became very interested in this matter.
The two men reported in unison that they had never heard of Tai'ao, let alone the power of their ship's cannon - they were probably another type of red-haired men floating from the sea.
"The report said that they look the same as the Han people, but they have short hair and short clothes. They can also speak Chinese." Huang Taiji twirled his beard and said, "In that case, they are probably not red-haired people."
"The slave is incompetent..."
The two of them were kneeling on the ground, looking frightened. The sudden appearance of "Tai'ao" really troubled their brains. These two people in the Later Jin Dynasty were considered to be knowledgeable and knowledgeable, otherwise they would not have been able to hold such important positions as Qixinlang of the Ministry of War, but I racked my brains and looked through all the geographical maps at hand, but there was no record of the word "Tai O".
Originally, they were inclined to think that this was a group of maritime merchants from the Ming Dynasty, who were doing business with Houjin under the guise of paying tribute from foreign vassals. Most of the maritime merchants were lawless people, so it was not surprising at all to do this.
However, according to the Tang newspaper, the opponent's ships were far more powerful and powerful than the Ming Dynasty. The soldiers all used blunderbuss and were fierce and good at fighting. This was not comparable to ordinary maritime merchants.
"That's all, since they have come all the way here, their sincerity is commendable. Xu him. Send a message to Sahalian, the Ministry of Rites, to immediately arrange for the envoys from Tai'ao to enter the capital!"
Not long after this decree was issued, a second memorial was quickly delivered from Zhenjiang Fort. Comes with a thick, beautifully printed album.
This picture album is a catalog of products sold by Houjin. After Huang Taiji read the album, he immediately issued a second decree, ordering the Ministry of Rites to immediately dispatch horses and civilian men to carry the goods for the mission. At the same time, the Ministry of Etiquette was ordered to arrange the welcoming ceremony and prepare the building.
Although the other party has always emphasized that it is just a "business delegation," the specifications arranged by Huang Taiji are "mission missions." For the small court of the Later Jin Dynasty, which already had a glimpse of the Central Plains, this great opportunity to express "the coming of foreign vassals to the court" and "returning from all over the world" certainly could not be missed.
Huang Hua was welcomed into Beijing amidst this sudden enthusiasm.
Those who came to greet him were a group of officials from the Ministry of Rites of the Later Jin Dynasty, headed by Qi Xinlang of the Ministry of Rites. They brought 200 horses for Huang Hua's entourage to ride and to transport gift samples. However, Huang Hua's entourage only numbered twenty people, and including the goods, he could not use more than 200 horses. The rest of the horses stayed temporarily in Zhenjiang Fort.
What was prepared for Huang Hua was a two-mule sedan with a felt tent, which was the most comfortable travel tool at that time. It had a large interior space for sitting and lying down, and even beautiful maids and children could be brought along for entertainment. This is also the first time Huang Hua has sat on this thing. After going up, I found that not only was the decoration inside extremely luxurious, but also tea and snacks were all available with great care.
"This Tatar is really considerate, VIP treatment." Huang Hua leaned on a pile of thick felt cushions and said to himself, "But I am not so easily bribed."
In front of his car, the mule driver Bao Yi was walking on the left, Niu Luerzhen, who was on horseback to greet them, was on the right, and the mule cart of Qixinlang of the Ministry of Rites followed behind the car. There were about a hundred golden cavalrymen around. Looking at the flag, he understood that they were the men and horses of the Zhenghuang flag.
The journey took many days and was lonely, but he did not say a word to the officials who greeted him. During this period, he kept his eyes closed and rested. In fact, his mind stopped moving for a moment, thinking about how to negotiate with Houjin officials after arriving in Shenyang-Shengjing.
The first issue is the issue of salute. Huang Hua personally doesn't care about kowtowing to others: the moral integrity of business people has long been shattered. Accompanying clients to prostitutes and seduce women was nothing more than kowtowing. But his current status is an envoy, and even the Ming Emperor cannot do it. Don't take it seriously, not to mention that Houjin is a small place with a separate political power, so this kneeling ceremony is definitely not acceptable. (To be continued...)
