The North Korean tribute team finally arrived in the capital.
It was also at the same time that Zhang Zhouren met an "uninvited guest" at Ding Liao Youwei. They were Zhang Ye and Zhang Ping, father and son, who had once again traveled all the way north from the south of the Yangtze River. This time they did not go to the capital, but came directly to Liaodong.
When Zhang Zhou learned about this and went to meet each other, Zhang Ye and his son were each holding a bowl of plain noodles, sweating profusely from eating.
"Second brother." Zhang Ye was very excited after seeing Zhang Zhou, but he couldn't bear to put down his chopsticks. "You wait for me to finish these few bites first. After arriving in Shenyang, I didn't eat for two days."
After finishing speaking, Zhang Ye drank all the noodles and soup, and looked at Zhang Zhou with a shiny face and indescribable excitement in his eyes.
Zhang Zhou said: "Someone, you are not taking the usual path."
Zhang Ye slapped his thigh, startling his son who was still eating noodles next to him. After looking at him, he quickly comforted him: "Eat quickly. When you are full, go help your second uncle fight the war."
Upon hearing this, Zhang Zhou understood that Zhang Ye and his son were here to "submit themselves to the army."
…
Zhang Zhou was embarrassed to teach this elder brother a lesson in front of his nephew, so he first asked Zhang Ping to eat in the room next to him, and then called people into the wing next door.
"Second brother, please don't think that the eldest brother is just here to eat and drink. You don't know how hard we, father and son, have been on this journey. The money has been empty since we left Shanhaiguan, and we almost had to beg all the way. Fortunately, every time you pass by, as long as you tell your name, someone will arrange for meals and accommodation. Even after passing Shenyang, there were wars all the way, and you couldn't even eat..."
Zhang Ye complained to Zhang Zhou.
But what Zhang Zhou heard was that the father and son were "cheating" under his banner all the time.
Fortunately, the father and son's motives were relatively "simple", they just came to seek refuge with him. Otherwise, they could have defrauded a lot of money just by relying on his reputation.
Zhang Zhou said: "Didn't you go back to Nanjing?"
"Oh! Don't mention it." Zhang Ye said with a sad face, "After I went back, I was your sister-in-law... Forget it, now she can't be your sister-in-law! I want to make peace with him! I have suffered so much from him in this life, The festival between the two of us is all because of her, she is the broom star..."
Zhang Zhou frowned and raised his hand: "Okay, you don't need to tell me how you and your wife get along. What do you mean by coming to Liaodong?"
"Join the army." Zhang Ye said, "Don't you know that this brat actually ran away on his own? I gave him so many arrangements, but he ran back to Nanjing without saying a word. Why don't I escort him back to you? By the way. Second brother, you are already the Duke of Lai. Don’t you know that in Nanjing now, anyone who is related to our family is considered awesome. On the contrary, no one takes a direct look at me, my brother. They all say that I look down on others and failed to fulfill my brother's responsibilities when you were young. Is your brother that kind of person? They misunderstood me!"
Zhang Zhou thought to himself that people have different thicknesses of face.
"Someone, if they separate, they will separate. I don't blame you. You walk on your Yangguan Road, and I'll cross my single-plank bridge."
"No, second brother, you are the master of Yangguan Dao!"
Zhang Zhou said coldly: "I broke out of the single-plank bridge. You said that the road to the imperial examination, or joining the army and fighting, which one is not a single-plank bridge? How many people are walking, and how many people are coming forward? And for someone you just call Jin Those who were born in the Keys have their own foundation even after the family separation, and are still able to run the family and keep the business, why are you wading in troubled waters?"
"well!"
Zhang Ye sighed heavily and said, "It's my fault, brother, for looking down on others. If you want to scold me, scold me, but the kid is right. Zhang Ping, you think he looks like a human being, but why can't he do it? Family business Now they are all taken over by your sister-in-law’s family, and their surname is almost no longer Zhang. If Zhang Ping continues to do business, no matter how awesome he is, won’t he just become a landlord? He will be finished in this life!"
Zhang Zhou said: "It is not a good thing to join the army."
"Don't you have a second brother here? Both of us brothers know that the children of the next generation will be spoiled and cannot bear the hardship, so I will send him directly to you. As a brother, I won't leave either. I'll follow you around, and if you see anyone charging forward, even if you're charging forward with your head raised, if you're an elder brother and frown, I'll treat you as an elder brother!"
Zhang Ye patted his chest, looking like he was going to work hard to rise for the Zhang family.
Zhang Zhou said: "It's useless for you to treat me as a father. Why do you want me to be a soldier?"
"Go ahead, do any hard work, just do it to me!" Zhang Ye vowed, "Look at me coming thousands of miles to find my brother, even if I don't eat three meals a day, I still insist on coming to you, you still don't understand what I mean about being a brother. Is that so? Brother, I can’t go back to Nanjing. Just give me a hard job and I’ll take it as atonement. If possible, in the future you can give Zhang Ping a small general position so that he can pass on this lineage to me. If you go down, I will be content. Woo hoo."
When it came to the rest, Zhang Ye was already in tears.
Of course, Zhang Zhou didn't think Zhang Ye's tears were tears of regret, but he thought of the hard work along the way and that he had moved himself.
Just as he was talking, "Brother Zhang" came from the door, and then Zhu Feng led people in. When he saw a man facing Zhang Zhou with tears streaming down his nose, he didn't know what to say.
"Zhang, have you seen Zhijie from my Zhang family?" Zhang Zhou asked.
Zhu Feng shook his head honestly.
Zhang Ye wiped his nose and asked: "Is this the Marquis of Anbian, the Second Young Master Zhu? When my brother was in trouble, it was fortunate that you were there. I went to visit him before, have you forgotten?"
Although Zhu Feng understood Zhang Ye's identity, he was still a little frightened.
Others didn't know about the troubles in Zhang Zhou's family, but he came from Nanjing with him, so he naturally knew it.
Zhang Zhou said: "He came to ask me to join the army. Doesn't it just happen that North Korea is transporting a batch of military rations? Why don't we let him go with us and let him see a foreign country."
"What? North Korea?" Zhang Ye almost protested when he heard this.
But then I thought, if I said before that I would rush forward with my head high and refuse the first errand, wouldn't my words be like farting?
Zhang Zhou smiled and said, "Don't you dare? It's okay. I'll give you some money and take you back to Nanjing."
"No, I am not afraid of hard work as a brother, and neither is your eldest nephew. Being loyal to the Ming Dynasty and serving in the army have always been the ambitions of my father and son. As long as you make arrangements, we, father and son, will go into battle right away." Zhang Ye Naturally, I also heard about the subversion of royal power in North Korea.
You probably also know that Zhang Zhou is now threatening North Korea. If you go to North Korea in the name of Zhang Zhou's brother, wouldn't it be like a weasel in the henhouse and everything?
Zhu Feng said: "The matter of North Korea's food allocation has not been settled yet."
Zhang Zhou said angrily: "Then let all the troops wait at Ping'an Road. Now is the time to test the ability of the so-called loyal ministers in North Korea to withstand pressure. Let's send troops in the name of transporting food. It doesn't need to be many people, just two thousand will be enough." , bring the artillery and enter. It doesn’t have to be two hundred miles to enter, reinforcements can arrive at any time, and the food will be transported away as soon as it comes. If the opponent is not careful, then this group of people will be the vanguard to capture Hanyang City."
Zhu Feng asked: "Who will lead the army?"
As he spoke, he still looked at Zhang Ye, meaning that he wouldn't let you, the eldest brother, lead the army, would he?
Zhang Zhou said: "Zhijie, as a famous general of the Ming Dynasty, you have been doing nothing as the right guard of Ding Liao. It really insults your reputation, oh, and your ability."
Zhu Feng was also ashamed when he heard this.
It seems that he himself knows that apart from his reputation as the God of War, he has nothing else. As for his abilities... isn't he just messing around?
"You will personally lead two thousand soldiers and horses into North Korea. Remember, you do not need to enter any cities along the way, and you are not allowed to harass even the villages. You must not march more than thirty miles a day. Send out scouts at any time to investigate the situation everywhere. If there is any abnormality, Send someone to deliver the message right away.”
When Zhang Zhou said this, he looked at Zhang Ye and said, "Young man, don't hold back, go back and eat more, and leave in the next two days. If you make a contribution as soon as possible, I can arrange an errand for you and your son."
Zhang Ye gritted his teeth and said: "Second brother, just look at me. I will never cause chaos for Anbian Hou. I will work diligently as a pawn. I will carry it myself when transporting food, and charge forward when fighting." …”
"Okay, okay, find a place for him. He's not annoying enough!"
Zhang Zhou really didn’t want to hear it.
He was also thinking in his mind that if Zhang Ye and his son could really establish a clear relationship with the tigress at home, it would not be impossible to help him a little, but he also knew that this father and son were not easy to save money.
…
…
Capital, Fengtian Palace.
Morning meeting.
Zhu Youtang sat there, feeling a little depressed, but he was still listening to the endless debate among the courtiers below about whether Ming Dynasty should be the leader of Korea.
Confucianism believes that the affairs of the following vassal states should be decided by themselves, in order to reflect the benevolence of the suzerain state.
But Zhu Youtang had long said that this was not what he wanted, but no matter how he said it, he couldn't stop those officials from using allusions and precedents to make matters worse. They even described Tang Yin's assistance to Pu Yuanzong in deposing Li as the work of a traitor. Some even thought that Tang Yin assisted Pu Yuanzong in deposing Li. Tang Yin should be summoned back to Beijing as soon as possible to find out if there is any hidden secret behind it, so that Tang Yin can be punished.
After the meeting.
Zhu Youtang summoned the cabinet and the members of the listening department to the Qianqing Palace to discuss matters, but he did not find any officials from the six ministries, seven ministers, and five temples.
The general meaning is that apart from the cabinet, he now only believes in what he has heard.
The temporary yamen of Shangtingchu has become a real power yamen that can rival or even surpass the cabinet. Although there are still so many people, the difference in meaning is very big. Even Liu Jian can feel the pressure.
"My dear friends, the North Korean envoys have arrived in the capital. The Ministry of Rites has met with them twice. They also asked for an audience, but I did not agree."
"Because I haven't thought clearly about whether I should interfere in North Korea's internal affairs. If I interfere, will Ming Dynasty be considered to have contributed to the civil strife in North Korea? I am also very anxious."
Although Zhu Youtang said so, even Liu Jian and Li Dongyang understood that what the emperor was really worried about was the opposition of the courtiers to the establishment of the leader of Korea, rather than the pressure from public opinion.
Zhu Youtang said: "After much thought, I decided to adopt the advice given to me by Bingkuan, which is to use North Korea's ability to assist the Ming Dynasty in pacifying Liaobei to decide whether to choose the new leader internally. In exchange for this."
Liu Jiandao: "Your Majesty, the affairs of the country cannot be treated as a transaction."
Zhu Youtang shook his head: "Before, I agreed to let Tang Yin question the master of North Korea. The reason is that North Korea secretly colluded with Jianzhou, Haixi Jurchen and others, harmed the interests of the Ming Dynasty and acted in disobedient ways. Now if they can help with all their heart, The Ming Dynasty pacified the border areas and allowed them to decide on their own as the leader of the country. I didn’t ask too much. Isn’t it a kindness?”
Don't say anything about trading or not.
This is kindness.
North Korea should be grateful and not picky.
Zhu Youtang said: "Actually, I don't mind. Because North Korea has failed to fulfill its vassal duties and failed to fulfill its duties as a minister, I can use this to take back its land and resettle its people. But I am also concerned that North Korea has always been a minister to the Ming Dynasty. I didn’t delve into it this time, otherwise with the current situation, why can’t it be done overnight?”
Zhang Mao smiled and said: "Your Majesty, this is an alliance under the city. There is no reason why the Koreans cannot agree."
Xie Qian said: "Young Master, please don't talk nonsense."
"Is this an old man's blunder? Isn't it true that in the inner court, he speaks his mind freely and does not avoid taboos? Your Majesty, please forgive me for my reckless outspokenness." Zhang Mao admitted his mistake to Zhu Youtang.
Zhu Youtang was not angry at all.
What I want is for someone to come out and compete with you civil servants. Bingkuan is not in the court, and if Zhang Mao, the leader of martial arts, is a melon in front of you civil servants, then how can I balance myself? Just let your civil servants have the final say. Can I just act as a rubber stamp and stamp it for you?
Zhu Youtang said: "It is precisely because the Ming Dynasty has gained military advantages that can not only deter the barbarians in Liaodong and Northern Liaoning, but also deter the monarchs and ministers of Korea, that what is happening today is possible. If we do not seek stability in the future from it today, Guarantee, can we expect North Korea to abide by its ministerial principles when Liaodong withdraws its troops and Ming Dynasty is unable to mobilize troops and generals in Liaodong?"
Miss this village, there is no such shop.
After Liu Jian heard this, he cupped his hands and said, "Old minister, I second my opinion."
Even Li Dongyang and Xie Qian were a little confused now. Why did you, Liu Jian, give in so quickly?
Isn't it a pretty good fight?
Zhu Youtang nodded and said: "Mr. Liu Ge, you should also know that in addition to the disasters in North Korea in the past two years, droughts and floods have also been prevalent in various parts of the Ming Dynasty. At this time, we must protect the people and protect the land, and we must also do something in the military. Planning is a test for Ming Dynasty's treasury. Let North Korea provide money and food to ensure the stability of Liaodong, not because I deliberately make things difficult."
"Liaodong is stable, and North Korea can also be stable. What I do is to help North Korea eliminate foreign troubles. If they just watch indifferently, they will not be able to explain to the soldiers of the Ming Dynasty. The matters of ritual and music are nothing more than that."
Liu Jian continued to hand over his hand, which was equivalent to acquiescing to Zhu Youtang's statement.
The financial pressure on the imperial court was too great.
Now that he can pass on this pressure, even if he really makes things difficult for the Koreans in some aspects, and even seems to be riding on others' necks, Liu Jian has endured it for the long-term peace and stability of the Ming Dynasty.
"Okay." Zhu Youtang said, "Then let's issue the decree. The discretion will be decided by Bingkuan. I delegate power to him. In fact, I hand over the difficult problem to him. I believe that he will not suffer any loss in Liaodong. The interests will not harm the people of Liaodong, and he will definitely be able to find a plan that North Korea can accept."
…
…
Things that were not discussed in the court were passed in the inner court just because of the "Transaction Law" proposed by Zhang Zhou.
Return to the cabinet room.
Li Dongyang said bluntly: "Once the news is announced, there will be many opponents of the official in the court, which will easily cause unrest in the court. Does Mr. Liu Ge think that the trend of court discussions is developing towards direct remonstrance, and often goes against His Majesty's orders? You mean, it’s easy to touch His Majesty’s reverse scales?”
Liu Jian shook his head and said: "It is the duty of ministers to give direct advice. I have no objection. I just proceed from reality. The Ming Dynasty cannot stand the trouble."
Li Dongyang said: "But if we continue to torment North Korea, I'm afraid people will say that I, the Ming Dynasty, are unkind and unjust."
Liu Jian asked: "Is it more important for the people of Ming Dynasty to live and work in peace and contentment, or is the well-being of the people of North Korea more important?"
Li Dongyang did not answer.
"Zhang Bingkuan's efforts to pacify the Jurchens in Liaodong did bring peace to the Korean people, didn't they?" Liu Jianduo was helpless. To Xie Qian and Li Dongyang's ears, his words were more of a defense, "I can even We understand that the North Korean ruler secretly communicates with the Jurchens and negotiates about withdrawing troops and exchanging benefits, all because they are forced to do so in extraordinary times."
"Things in this world are not black and white. Is the leader of North Korea really disloyal to the Ming Dynasty and wants to change it? Or is this Zhang Zhou making something out of nothing to sow discord between the suzerain and the vassal state? contradiction?"
Li Dongyang nodded and said: "I understand, no one is at fault."
Liu Jiandao: "Indeed, from the perspectives of the Jurchens, North Korea, Zhang Bingkuan and His Majesty, no one is wrong. They always think that it is others who are wrong. But things are often like this. The interests will always belong to one's own side, and only one who thinks he is right . Sometimes we are too negligent about what His Majesty knows and thinks. On the contrary, Zhang Bingkuan... He seems to be headstrong, but everything is considered from His Majesty's perspective."
Xie Qian smiled and said: "Zhongtang, you have praised Zhang Bingkuan to the sky."
Li Dongyang shook his head: "Yu Qiao, we are not praising him, he is difficult to check and balance. He has to seek compromise. This has been happening since he entered the court. It has not changed until now."
"You are both right." Xie Qian did not argue and said with a smile.
Liu Jiandao: "Liaodong is in peace. The next step is to prepare for war on the grassland. This is a waste of people and money. I heard that the iron ore in Yongping Mansion has only been mined for a few months and has already caused local disputes. It is also because of Zhang Bingkuan's power. It didn’t lead to riots.”
Li Dongyang nodded and said: "Profits come first, who is willing to give up?"
Liu Jian sighed: "The Koreans, under the pressure of the Ming Dynasty's military front, had to give up their country's interests. As the British public said, for North Korea, they have no choice, since even they want to solve the problem early We won’t hesitate to solve it, even if it means sacrificing some interests, so why should we care about benevolence and righteousness?”
Xie Qian smiled and said: "Blackmailing others has become something you and I want to do? In this world..."
Liu Jiandao: "The world is hard to fathom, isn't it? When Zhang Bingkuan proposed sending troops to the Jurchens a few years ago, who would have thought that things would develop into what they are today? Speaking of which, Zhang Bingkuan alone changed Liaodong, the Jurchens, and North Korea. It also changed the politics of the Ming Dynasty!"
(End of chapter)
