Emperor Ming Dynasty

Chapter 638 The Situation in East Asia

When Ming Dynasty was rejoicing for the recovery of Yunnan, North Korea also ushered in a happy moment.

King Lee Ho of Joseon, who had lived in Pyongyang for more than a year, officially returned to Seoul.

Along the way, escorted by thousands of Ming troops and accompanied by more than ten thousand court troops, they marched southward toward Seoul.

Along with it, there are hundreds of civil and military personnel and thousands of family members, stretching for dozens of miles, which is extremely exaggerated.

For the financially weak court of Joseon, such a large-scale return of the capital would have a heavy burden of money and food.

Wu Sangui suggested that it is better to use a boat to pack everyone together, land from Incheon and return to Seoul, and pay tribute to his great achievements by the way.

In this regard, Li Hao refused without hesitation: "The people of North Korea have been bullied, and the old capital in the south is just to show Wang Wei."

In fact, it is mistrust of the sea.

Seemingly aware of North Korea's plight, the Ming court sent 20,000 yuan in silver as a tribute in advance. As for the [-] stone grain, it can be paid later.

For North Korea, this can be described as a surprise.

You must know that silver and copper are scarce in North Korea. Before that, the people have always recognized cloth and grain as barter.

After the Imjin Japanese Invasion, because the Ming army entered North Korea to fight and brought a large amount of silver, North Korea began to circulate silver and recognized the currency function of silver.

But it is precisely because of this that the import of too many Ming Dynasty goods led to the outflow of silver, so that North Korea's silver and food were expensive.

Moreover, food is expensive only in the parasitic city of Seoul.

Relatively speaking, it is cheap, but it is gold.

Because the Korean Peninsula has a lot of gold mines.

Is North Korea short of food?In fact, there is no shortage.

The homes of those two classes of nobles hoarded an unknown amount of grain, but because of inconvenient transportation, they couldn't transport it out, which drove up the price of grain.

20,000 yuan of silver dollars is actually not a loss for [-] stone grains. If the Ming Dynasty was in charge of ship transportation, it would be profitable if it was directly transshipped from the coast of Badao.

Even, the Joseon royal court thought that it would be better to transfer the taxes and grains that are far away, such as Ping'an Road and Jeolla Road, to the Ming Dynasty.

Then directly in Seoul, you can collect [-] silver.

Not only save the shipping fee, but also get silver, kill two birds with one stone.

Song merchants and Wan merchants also generously donated 100,000 taels of silver as the cost of returning the capital.

Under such circumstances, Li Hao naturally waved his hand and headed south to Seoul mightily.

On the eighth day of the sixth month, the King of Joseon returned to his capital.

However, compared with the last Japanese invasion of Imjin this time, the King of Joseon was not too embarrassed, Gyeongbokgung Palace was relatively complete, and there were all court ladies and eunuchs.

After staying in Gyeongbokgung Palace, Li Hao faced a political problem-how to face the Supreme King Li Ji.

And Li Cheng, the 11-year-old younger brother who was elected to the throne by the Manchu Qing Dynasty.

In this regard, the civil and military forces of the Manchu Dynasty reached an agreement on the opinion of the Supreme King Li Zhen, and continued to respect him as the Supreme King, and the treatment was favorable.

Even in order to show filial piety, His Highness had to give up the main room of Changdeok Palace.

Li Hao agreed.

And dealing with Li Cheng who was forced to ascend the throne.

Some ministers think that Jianghua Island should be exiled, while others think that it is necessary to appease people's hearts and make them a king to show their benevolence.

After struggling for a long time, Li Hao decided to be safe with benevolence and filial piety. After all, his father Li Ji is not dead yet!
Li Cheng also had to be crowned Lord Anding.

This turmoil directly prompted the king to change hands, the north and the south were in turmoil, and the entire Korean royal court learned from the painful experience and decided to follow the example of the Ming Dynasty and carry out reforms.

For example, the Datong Law (that is, harvesting grain according to the number of acres) that was implemented intermittently before will be thoroughly implemented and the tribute law will be abolished.

In addition, war horses and firearms were introduced from the Ming Dynasty to rebuild the Forbidden Army; Wan merchants and Song Dynasty were authorized to do business with Ming merchants who came to the dynasty; in terms of calendar, they learned from the Ming Dynasty "Chongzhen Almanac" to standardize the calendar; economically, Ming copper coins were allowed , Silver dollar circulation, and promote business development.

Politically, because of the business relationship with the Ming Dynasty, it imitated the Ming Dynasty and set up merchants to collect business taxes.

In addition, the central army's Neijinwei, Jiansifu, Habayashiwei, and Pyongyang Rebel Army were merged into the "Inner Santing", and they were called the Forbidden Army, with a total of 20,000 people.

Under these measures, North Korea actually showed many signs of revival, which is a rare phenomenon since the Imjin Japanese Invasion.

In terms of trade, the Wan merchants and Song merchants of North Korea, in order to monopolize the trade, and it was also the reward of the King of Joseon, placed the location of the trade on Yeongjong Island.

That is to say, Ming merchants who come and go are not allowed to enter the country without authorization, and can only trade with Wan merchants and Song merchants on Yongzong Island.

Just like the Thirteen Banks in Guangzhou in the Manchu Qing Dynasty and Nagasaki in Japan, commerce and the founding of the country are two different things.

Yeongjong Island is located outside Incheon, very close to Seoul, convenient for collecting taxes, and the location is also excellent, close to the Han River.

When the first wave of Ming merchants arrived at Yeongjong Island, the entire North Korea fell into surprise.

With the prosperity of business and trade in the Ming and Dynasties, this made Tsushima daimyo Mousyoshi became very popular.

Tsushima Island is located in the Japan-North Korea Strait, only a hundred miles away from North Korea. It has always assumed the responsibility of trade with North Korea. It even has one servant and two masters. It is a daimyo in Japan and a general in North Korea.

Today, Tsushima Daimyo, seeing that the trade between Ming Dynasty and North Korea is so hot, also wants to ask for a piece of the pie.

Importing Tang things from North Korea (Japan has always referred to China as the Tang Dynasty) and reselling them domestically, isn’t this considered a transgression?
He could only write a letter to Edo, reporting the situation in North Korea, including the war in Tang.

Because North Korea and Japan are separated by a strip of water, and the Korean Strait is too shallow, Japan has always regarded North Korea as its doorstep and is extremely concerned.

Therefore, for this memorial, Edo Chuo, the important ministers of the shogunate Hoshina Masaoyuki, the elder Sakai Tadakatsu, the elder Nakamatsudaira Nobuzuna, and Abe Tadaki who came quickly.

Tokugawa Iemitsu, the third-generation shogun, was lying in bed at this time. He was only 47 years old, with sunken eye sockets, pale face, and sickness.

Obviously, the Japanese ruler who perfected the shogunate system, closed the country, revised the "Samurai Laws", and suppressed Catholicism has come to the end of his life.

"Look!" Although his body was weak, Tokugawa Iemitsu's words weighed a thousand catties.

"Yes!" Several people did not dare to delay, and took turns to read.

As an important minister of the shogunate, it goes without saying that Tang Xue rested.

"What do you think?" Tokugawa Iemitsu asked softly while lying on the bed.

"This Jurchen rebellion is about to subside."

Baoke Zhengzhi was overjoyed, and hurriedly cupped his hands and said: "This is great news. Although the Jurchens swept the Tang Kingdom with their brute force for a while, they are barbarians in the end and cannot last long."

"Now it has retreated to Liaodong, but it can only linger on. It can't live for a few years. Once the time is right, the Tang Dynasty will definitely attack it."

"The Tang Kingdom deserves to be the Celestial Dynasty, once again supporting the Li Dynasty."

Sakai Tadakatsu also agreed with this statement, and said: "North Korea imitated the Tang Dynasty, and the effect after some changes is unpredictable."

"Recently, Nagasaki has also spoken, and Tang Shang has also increased a lot recently..."

(End of this chapter)