After Zhang Wei said this, Li Song replied with a smile: "What Mr. Ge said is that your Majesty worked hard to govern so that the people of the country can avoid this suffering."
"It's just that if the world wants to have long-term peace and stability, it must be peaceful for the people!"
"Nowadays, there are so many rogues in North Korea, but the country's monarchs and ministers do not provide any compensation, but treat them like nothing. They are afraid that there will be chaos in North Korea in the future, and even China will be blamed for this sin."
Zhang Wei frowned and said a few more words, then called Yang Xun and asked: "Why are there so many gangsters in your country?"
Yang Xun asked with a smile: "Does Mr. Ge think that His Highness and the vassal officials are extorting excessive taxes without any compensation?"
"I have been ordered to inspect and always ask for the reason. I am the Holy Lord and the benevolent king, and the people are like ants, so I have to ask."
Zhang Wei replied.
Yang Xun hurriedly bowed and replied: "Your Majesty, Sir! These gangsters are lazy and cunning people who don't work hard and don't want to produce!"
"It's not that our country doesn't provide pensions and relief, it's actually that they refuse to accept comfort and insist on breaking through and becoming thieves. Therefore, our country has to do its best to kill and drive them away, hoping that they will do good and return to their hometowns to reclaim wasteland or work; in addition, our country does not As long as they are willing to return to their hometowns to cultivate wasteland, our Highness has already issued a decree to exempt them from taxes and corvee for three years."
"I guess your country doesn't have much left to cultivate, right?"
Zhang Wei asked.
Yang Xun said: "Old Master, you are wise. Your Highness is now in a dilemma. You can neither force the big households to give up their land to the people, nor allow them to go to the country to commit robberies. Therefore, we have to do our best to kill them and strengthen the troops patrolling the border."
Zhang Wei nodded after hearing this, then looked at the Korean civilians serving in the service, glanced at Yang Xun again, and then asked: "Yang Observer, do you have hatred for China in your heart?"
Yang Xun replied: "The ministers don't dare!"
"Are you afraid to have it, or do you really not have it?"
Zhang Wei asked.
Yang Xun only replied at this time: "The minister is aware of the subtle differences, and naturally he understands that if the heaven does not send troops or high officials to disturb us, the people of our country will be more stable, even if there are corrupt officials and evil gentry. , and it will not be aggravated;"
"However, when the Celestial Empire sends troops and high officials, the corrupt officials and evil gentry will naturally have more reasons to harm the people. For example, this time, the recruitment of 50,000 men to serve as ministers to patrol the country is an order of His Highness, but it is an opportunity for the corrupt officials and evil gentry below to suck out the people's bones and marrow. .”
“Can you blame me, China?”
"I have given an order a long time ago, not to disturb the people, and to comply with all the etiquette. Why can't you do it when Ji Liao and other officials can do it?"
"It's not because you only listen to your highnesses but don't listen to the orders of my Chinese minister!"
Zhang Wei lowered his face and said seriously.
Yang Xun hurriedly knelt down and said with a face full of tears: "Stop being angry, Mr. Ge! My Highness has no choice. The courtiers below have all said that we should not wait for God's fault, for fear of destroying the country again, so how can we dare to treat Mr. Ge lightly?"
"Elder Ge doesn't know. This place is indeed different from China. There is more than one master here. In addition to their king, there are also the commanders of the Ming Dynasty who have been stationed in various provinces, as well as the Xuanfu envoys in Busan. The people behind them are People asked the king of the country to treat the elder well, and the king had to listen."
Li Song also spoke for Yang Xun at this time, and intended to let Zhang Wei understand that unless the Ming Dynasty really evacuated its border ministers and arrogant generals from all over Korea, it would be impossible for the king of Korea to do it on his own. If you call the shots, you will not have the power to reform internally.
However, if the border ministers and arrogant generals are withdrawn, the interests of the Ming Dynasty will be damaged, and the people in the country will not be able to do as they are now.
What's more, the new chief minister has now become Wu Xun Qi Jiguang, which undoubtedly sends a signal that the Ming Dynasty will continue to expand outward.
Therefore, Zhang Wei also became friendly at this time and said to Yang Xun: "Yang Kuan, please get up."
"Thank you Mr. Ge."
Yang Xun stood up.
Zhang Wei then continued: "I also understand your country's difficulties, but you have to look at this matter dialectically. China has nothing to do. In order to prevent the Japanese invasion from raging, it can only send troops to your country to help you. Only by protecting the country from Japanese invasion and at the same time assisting your country with internal security can we ensure long-term peace and stability in your country."
Influenced by Zhu Yijun, Zhang Wei also began to speak of dialectics.
When Yang Xun saw that Zhang Wei's attitude had improved, he breathed a sigh of relief and said:
"What Mr. Ge said is that our Highness also understands the superior country's decision and is willing to welcome Mr. Ge to visit."
"What's more, the elder is still an official who cares about the people's sufferings and cannot bear to disturb the people. It's just that the evil officials below are disgusting and do not understand the difficulties of the country and the difficulties of our Highness. They break the bones and marrow of the good people and condone the unruly and lazy people. For theft."
"That's right!"
"Evil officials who are unruly to the people should be dealt with strictly. Yang Kuan can be regarded as an upright official. I will explain the painstaking efforts of the observation to Your Highness and to His Majesty the Ming Emperor."
Zhang Wei nodded and agreed.
After hearing this, Yang Xun was overjoyed and immediately handed over his hand: "Thank you, Mr. Ge, for your consideration."
"Remove all the servants, I don't need to burden the people of your country."
Zhang Wei ordered at this time.
"The elders love the people like their own children, and the vassals naturally admire them very much. But the elders don't know that these servants always love the winter and cause harm to the country, or die of hunger and cold. It is better for the officials to organize themselves to serve the elders. This way They won't starve to death, and they can still be controlled by the officials, and they can prevent chaos from happening and ruining the important task of Mr. Ge's patrolling the border."
Yang Xun hurriedly declined Zhang Wei's order politely.
"That's fine! It's up to you, I won't interfere in your vassal affairs."
Zhang Wei knew that he could not stop the North Korean officials from exploiting the North Korean people through his patrolling the border. The mention just now was just for show, so after Yang Xun said this, he did not insist anymore and just held his arms in his arms. The golden cat inside looked at the snowy scene outside.
The vast white mountains and rivers are very beautiful, and occasionally one or two sparrows fly on the snow, and the dotted snow-capped mountains are like a picture of bird watching in winter.
The golden cat, which had just left Zhang Wei's arms and came to the copper stove to warm himself by the fire, scurried when he saw this, and ran out to chase the sparrows, and after a while, he disappeared.
"Little raccoon!"
Zhang Wei shouted loudly.
Seeing this, Yang Xun couldn't help but ask for instructions: "Mr. Ge, do you want the vassal to send troops to capture Mr. Ge?"
"No, let her play outside for a while. She must be bored in the car."
Zhang Wei replied.
But after about half an hour, Zhang Wei saw that his cat had not come back and had gone wild. He became anxious and said, "What should we do? Yang Guan, do you have any ideas?"
"Don't worry, Mr. Ge. It's getting dark, and the snow is getting heavier and heavier. Therefore, I would like to ask Mr. Ge to go back to the military station for a while. I'll leave this matter to the vassal. The vassal will definitely find him before tomorrow morning." .”
Yang Xun hurriedly tried to persuade him. In this blizzard, if something went wrong with Zhang Wei, it would be easy for him to go around without food. In order to prevent the Ming Dynasty from taking this opportunity to increase its control over North Korea, his monarch would definitely deal with it severely. He, in turn, gave the Ming Dynasty no reason to blame the entire North Korea, so Yang Xun hurriedly persuaded Zhang Wei to rest in the military station first.
Zhang Wei didn't want to cause trouble to Yang Xun and other North Korean officials and civilians, so he hurriedly agreed and returned to the military station first.
Yang Xun here gave an order: "Call all the officials and civilians in the whole province who have nothing to do. Find the cat for Mr. Ge. Dig three feet into the ground to find it. If you find it, I will reward you with a thousand taels of silver!"
then.
Many officials and civilians in North Ping'an Province hurriedly got out of bed or beside the stove and began to search for cats all over the mountains and plains.
Even Yang Xun himself followed in the snow and searched all over the mountains and fields. He was still looking even after dark, and the entire official road of Ping'an North Road was as bright as day.
Fortunately, because a cat's eyes can be easily spotted by light in the dark, Yang Xun finally found the cat, and was so happy that he personally delivered it to Zhang Wei overnight, and reported the matter to his monarch as if he had achieved victory. .
Military depots were fortresses built by the Ming Dynasty along the strategic passes along official roads in North Korea. Generally, the number of troops stationed ranged from two to three hundred to two to three thousand.
According to Zhu Yijun's decree, the inside of the station was under the control of the garrison military commander, and the outside of the station was under the control of North Korean officials.
However, some military depots have gradually developed into large ports because they are located on traffic arteries.
Many officers and soldiers will also settle down and live outside the station. If having an outer room inside the station is not enough, they will also need to raise an outer room outside the station.
This also caused Ming officers and soldiers to appear outside many military stations. In addition to Ming officers and soldiers, there were also Han merchants and people who came here.
In addition, today's official Korean script of the Lee family is originally Chinese characters, and many people can also speak Chinese, so gradually the place here has become Chinese pronunciation everywhere, and everyone wears Hanfu, which is almost the same as in China, without carefully checking the household registration ( Ming Dynasty ID card) cannot tell who is Han and who is Korean.
After Zhang Wei entered a military station, he didn't feel that it was so strange here. In addition, his golden cat was lost and recovered, and he was in a better mood. He couldn't help but smile to Ma Chengguang, the commander of the military station who came to greet him and said:
"I didn't expect that this place would be so prosperous. You can see brothels and restaurants everywhere. If you don't know, you don't know that this place is originally used for combat. Ma Guard, you must take good care of your soldiers and don't let them indulge in drinking and sex!"
"Please rest assured, Sir, the Privy Council has strict orders. Anyone who violates military regulations and seeks pleasure will be dismissed from the military and transferred to Luzon in the south to cultivate wasteland."
"This place is so prosperous, we are not willing to leave, and our subordinates dare not let them relax and act randomly, giving North Korea the opportunity to find reasons to expel us."
"Besides, many of the industries here belong to the rich and powerful in the country. If we don't like this place, we won't be able to afford it. If the elder is short of money, he can also send his family to run a shop, and no one will take care of it. Dare to cause nuisance."
Ma Chengguang said with a smile.
Zhang Wei asked: "Does Ma Shouwei open a few shops here?"
"Qi Shuai won't let me!"
"Anyone who works as a merchant should be stripped of his armor and registration. I'm used to going into battle and killing the enemy. I just want to earn more military medals for my military exploits and give my children and grandchildren more titles. Although the salary from these titles is not as good as Doing business, but the key is to ensure harvests despite droughts and floods.”
Ma Chengguang loves to talk, and when he saw Zhang Wei, he started chattering without any fear.
Yang Xun was very surprised as he watched from the side. He had to admit that the military ministers of this dynasty were different from before. They were able to talk freely in front of senior civil servants without any sign of inferiority.
Of course, if Yang Xun knew that among the military officials of the Ming Dynasty, Qi Jiguang was the chief assistant, he would definitely be even more surprised.
However, both Zhang Wei and Ma Chengguang deliberately concealed the fact that Qi Jiguang became the first assistant from him, mainly because Yang Xun and others would know that Ming Dynasty would continue to strengthen its external expansion.
Bang bang!
Bang bang!
"Who is shooting?"
While Zhang Wei was chatting with Ma Chengguang, firecrackers suddenly came from outside, which shocked Zhang Wei and asked him a question.
Yang Xun reacted quickly, pointing to the place where white smoke was coming out of the city, and said, "I'll go and ask, my ministers."
But not long after, Yang Xun came back and reported: "Mr. Ge, please forgive me for my inability to control the vassal. It is drunken merchants and citizens of the country who are shooting guns."
"I can't control this. They are not in our military station."
Ma Chengguang replied.
After hearing this, Zhang Wei said: "Forget it! Don't worry about it. It's just that the people of this dynasty are too arrogant. This will make the feudal states resentful."
"We don't dare."
"I just want to ask you to be clear. Our Highness has always been loyal to the Ming Dynasty. He is willing to be the emperor's lackey and let him drive him. He only hopes to keep his country Zuo so that he can control the Eight Paths. It is more appropriate than returning to the imperial court directly. After all, here The foreign people are inherently lowly, arrogant and shameless, and are inconvenient to rule. They should only be slaves of the superior country. If they are the people of the superior country, they will breed disobedience."
Yang Xun hurriedly replied at this time.
Zhang Wei nodded and said with a smile: "Don't worry about observing."
"Thank you, Mr. Ge!"
However, during the evening break, Zhang Wei directly wrote in his secret memorial to Zhu Yijun: "I would like to report to your majesty that the Li family of Korea regards the people as slaves. There are many corrupt officials in the country, and they flatter the outside world and bully the inside. They are so arrogant that they have become the leader of China." The people are lawless in this regard, so I think it is appropriate to destroy their country and to bring peace to their people, so as to prevent the suffering people and conscientious people in the country from venting their anger on China."
After Zhang Wei wrote this secret memorial, he went to Seoul, then to Busan, and from Busan to Japan by boat.
After Zhu Yijun received Zhang Wei's secret report, he discussed the matter with Qi Jiguang and other ruling ministers behind the imperial court, and asked:
"What do you think about Zhang Wei?"
"Your Majesty, I believe that North Korea should be planned slowly. As long as the monarchs and ministers of the Li family are willing to cooperate, we do not need to destroy the country first, so that not only the soldiers and the people of the country will be resentful, but the king and the family will also be dissatisfied. Instead, we should still use the party to fight among themselves. Whoever is willing to work for our Ming Dynasty should support the scholar-bureaucrats of his country."
Qi Jiguang played at this time.
Zhu Yijun nodded.
Then, Qi Jiguang added: "What we need to pay attention to now is the Japanese Tokugawa clan. This person established his own shogunate and has the ambition to dominate the Japanese islands and monopolize trade. The court should fight against him and force everyone to surrender to the Tokugawa clan and want to help the Tokugawa clan." , the daimyo who made Japan independent can only recognize the Ashikaga Shogunate established by the Ming Dynasty!"
"I second my opinion. Since ancient times, conquests must be justified. This is in order not to destroy the country by conquering the country, so the use of troops can be cunning, but the declaration of war must be fair and honest. Now that the Li family is respectful, the abuse of the people can be completely blamed on corrupt officials and evil gentry, so there is no conquest! However, the Tokugawa clan is good at setting up the shogunate and has ruined the etiquette of this dynasty. It can be said that the Tokugawa clan has a reputation, so the Tokugawa clan should be destroyed first."
Wang Xijue said at this time.
Li Chengliang also followed: "Yes, I also agree. As long as we first use the Japanese island to create a new Han territory for our Ming Dynasty, North Korea will be nothing more than a turtle in a urn, so there is no need to worry."
For a while, all the ministers had no objections.
"Accurate!"
"Take care of the Tokugawa family first."
Zhu Yijun therefore agreed to Qi Jiguang's proposal.
Qi Jiguang raised his hand and said yes.
Therefore, Ming Dynasty decided on the strategy of dealing with the Tokugawa clan first.
However, on how to deal with the Tokugawa clan, Qi Jiguang, who had just become the chief minister, still needed to seriously discuss with several of his fellow ministers.
Since Zhu Yijun appointed Qi Jiguang as his chief assistant, it was a strong signal for the military ministers.
Many generals who want to advance are more advocating for meritorious service, because it means that as long as they achieve great military exploits, they will not only be granted a title, but also be in charge of governing the country.
Of course, this is not attractive to military ministers who do not want to progress and just want to live a stable life.
But in any case, this did stimulate many martial arts.
As a result, Li Chengliang became more active in the court. Not only did he speak actively during political discussions, he also said to his second son Li Rubai:
"We sold all our family properties and responded to Yuan Fu's call. From now on we will not do business, but will only invest money to buy the country's subscription coupons and retire with the country."
"Father, is it true? We have surrendered the imperial power in Liaodong, stopped smuggling, and paid commercial taxes honestly. Now we don't even do business. How can we support the servants?"
Li Rubai asked.
Li Chengliang glanced at Li Rubai: "Although your eldest brother is stupid, he is still very loyal. How can you be so short-sighted as your eldest brother? You are not willing to sacrifice these extraneous things for the country and the future of the family!"
"Do you know whose soldiers are stationed in Korea now, whose soldiers are stationed in Jizhou, and who Yuan Fu is in charge of the treasury and weapons? If we don't sell, do we still have to wait for Yuan Fu to ask the imperial court to send troops? Jin Yiwei is here to copy it?"
With that, Li Chengliang said: "Hurry up and sell it. Let the servants go out of the house and let them enlist in the army. Then your father will be replaced as Privy Councilor. Duke Ji Guo is still serving as Privy Councilor. He has done all the military and political work. If you don't ask His Majesty to resign from the post of Privy Councilor, it will be clearly based on the performance of our Li family. If our Li family performs well, your father and I may also be able to serve as chief ministers in the future."
"Really?"
Li Rubai asked hurriedly.
Li Chengliang stood up and said: "Of course, it's either your father or me, or your brother! By then, he will be able to become a general and prime minister, and he will also accept a few civil servants as his disciples, and let the family have a few Jinshi, so that he doesn't have to risk his life. Merits in war are exchanged for wealth."
"Then son, let them sell off various stores."
Li Rubai said.
Li Chengliang nodded: "By the way, let them choose some items involving strange skills and tricks to send to the Qi family. I don't think the Qi family will accept gold, jade and jewelry, but Lao Qi's two sons who love making equipment and studying thunder and lightning , I think I can’t help but accept these weird and obscene things.”
"yes!"
As Li Chengliang expected, after Qi Jiguang became the first minister, many people did come to visit and give gifts. In name, the gifts were naturally small gifts, but in fact, just like gold said to be yellow rice, they were basically not cheap gifts.
Qi Jiguang, on the other hand, was not too worried about how to refuse to accept gifts, because the Wang family basically drove these people out.
"Shao Sikong, don't you know who is in charge of our government?"
"So what if Qi Yuanjing becomes the chief minister? Could it be that he dares to divorce me? Do you think he dares to offend you, or is he more daring to offend me?"
On this day, as soon as Qi Jiguang returned to the official residence of the First Assistant, he heard Wang talking to Zhong Zhenji, the left minister of the Ministry of Industry, while many officials were lined up outside the door.
When these officials saw Qi Jiguang coming, they all hurriedly saluted.
Chen Wenliang, the admiral of the Beijing camp, came over and said to Qi Jiguang: "Yuanfu, they were all muttering just now that you are extremely afraid of your wife. Do you want to go in and prove it?"
"I am henpecked, why do you need proof? It's a shame you and I have been here for so many years!"
Qi Jiguang replied angrily.
Chen Wenliang was stunned on the spot, very embarrassed.
Instead, Qi Jiguang asked him naturally: "By the way, did Ningyuan Houfu give you any gifts?"
I only updated 5,000 words today, so I’m taking half a day off to spend the evening with my family for a Mid-Autumn Festival reunion night.
(End of chapter)
