The Second Master of the Red Chamber

"Is Your Highness dissatisfied with the gifts we prepared?"

Inside the main hall, Jin Shijia asked cautiously.

"Your Excellency has misunderstood. It is not that I am dissatisfied with everyone's gifts."

I suddenly remembered my soldiers who died at the hands of the Japanese invaders.

They are the bravest elites of our Great Wei.

They followed me, traveling thousands of miles to a foreign land.

I also promised them that once the war is over, I will take them home in glory.

But they can't go back now.

Because of the heat, I couldn't even preserve their corpses; I could only burn them to ashes.

How could this not sadden and move me to tears?

"Guards, take this gold and hand it over to the military adjutant so he can distribute it as part of the compensation to our fallen brothers."

As a large number of soldiers entered the palace, they expressionlessly carried away the gold.

Jin Shijia and the others exchanged glances, some of them realizing what Jia Lian meant.

Now that things have come to this, they can no longer pretend they don't understand.

"Your Highness is kind-hearted and loves his soldiers like his own children. We, your humble servants, deeply admire you."

However, in this battle, the soldiers of the superior nation sacrificed themselves to save our people.

Their compensation should naturally be borne by our Joseon, how could we expect the Prince to pay for it himself...

Jin Shijia looked at Jia Lian with a flattering yet slightly hesitant expression.

Clearly, they were afraid that Jia Lian would make an exorbitant demand.

In fact, the main reason for inviting Jia Lian to the capital was this.

Historically, when requesting military assistance from other countries, it was always in the form of offering benefits.

The benefit could be land, money, or other valuable things.

In order to persuade the Great Wei to send troops to rescue them, the previous King of Joseon promised to repay whatever Joseon possessed.

Of course, such a promise is suspected of being an empty check, and now that the King of Joseon is dead, Kim Se-ga and others naturally do not want to honor it.

It is also impossible to fully deliver on the promise.

However, they dared not offend the Wei army, which is why they invited Jia Lian to the capital.

The meeting was ostensibly a thank-you gift, but in reality, it was a discussion about how much compensation should be offered to persuade the Wei army to turn back.

Jia Lian brought such a large number of soldiers with him to the banquet in the capital, which clearly meant he was not someone to be easily dealt with.

I initially thought Jia Lian was deliberately saying that to make an exorbitant demand, but to my surprise, Jia Lian waved his hand and said:
"It is our own country's business to provide compensation to soldiers, and there is no need for North Korea to spend money on it."

After all, when the King of Joseon sent Ambassador Li to our country to ask for reinforcements, he had already promised our country a reward for sending troops.

I am not a greedy person.

However, I am only responsible for leading troops and do not concern myself with such trivial matters.

If Your Excellency wishes to discuss compensation with our army, I can arrange for you to speak with my adjutant.

I am very pleased to see so many talented people from Korea today.

"Come on, let's drink."

Jia Lian took the initiative to raise his cup and toasted all the Korean nobles.

Li Yaochen was also on the list.

However, he had a bitter smile on his face at that moment.

Because everyone was looking at him, seemingly dissatisfied.

He felt so wronged.

He had clearly gone to the Great Wei to fetch reinforcements on everyone's back.

Now the reinforcements have arrived, and they have rescued everyone as scheduled.

But then he complained that the benefits he promised were too great?

We must persuade the Great Wei to send troops at all costs; this was said by the King himself.

I was even being conservative when I asked for favors.

Hmph, a bunch of ungrateful scoundrels who betray their benefactors after they've served their purpose.

For some reason, Li Yaochen really wanted to see Jia Lian rip off these people.

……

For the next three days, the Korean side invited Jia Lian to the palace for banquets every day, trying every possible way to curry favor.

However, whenever the topic of "rewards" or "withdrawal of troops" came up, Jia Lian only had one sentence to say.

That means he withdrew his troops once the promised reward was given.

As for the compensation, he wasn't responsible; he told them to talk to his adjutant.

This rendered their sweet talk ineffective.

Finally, on the fourth day, North Korea could no longer remain calm and arranged a formal meeting to discuss the matter.

The main problem was that tens of thousands of Wei troops were stationed inside and outside the capital, which made every noble in Joseon very uneasy.

"What, a thousand taels?"

Inside the Uijeongbu government building in Korea, the Minister of Household Affairs (similar to the Ministry of Revenue) of Korea gasped in shock.

Beside them, Jin Shijia and the others also looked very unpleasant.

Xie Jing sat casually in the opposite seat, looking completely unconcerned.

Is a thousand taels a lot?
Although I have not been in your Joseon for long, I have heard of you.

Your nobles in Korea can easily spend thousands of taels of silver to play with a famous courtesan.

What? Our prince's soldiers have traveled thousands of miles, risking their lives, to come and serve you.

Do you think they're less valuable than a prostitute?

As Xie Jing spoke, his body stiffened, and he sat up straight, staring intently at the person opposite him.

The North Korean ministers looked grim, inwardly cursing.

This guy is absolutely a boorish brute, pretending to be a civil official!
What does it mean to spend thousands of taels of silver just to casually play with a famous courtesan?
Those worth thousands of taels are extremely rare and unattainable; only true nobles and high-ranking officials of Joseon could afford to touch them.

Even their king probably never played it more than a few times in his entire life.

And so casually...

How dare they compare themselves to famous courtesans!

Seeing that the officials were about to lose control of their emotions, Jin Shijia quickly tried to smooth things over:

"Your Excellency has misunderstood."

The fact that our suzerain state sent troops to help us defeat the Japanese invaders is a great kindness to the entire Korean nation.

No matter how much it costs, we in North Korea are willing to do it.

However, our North Korea is not as vast and resource-rich, nor as powerful and wealthy as the country above us.

Our country of Korea is small and barren, and our people are poor. Even if we are very grateful to the soldiers of the superior country for saving our lives, we simply cannot afford such high expenses for rewarding the army.

We urge Your Excellency to consider this carefully.

Xie Jing looked completely incredulous.

"Don't try to fool me."

Our prince is very familiar with the situation of all the surrounding countries.

I heard him say that North Korea is a good place.

Although the place is a bit small, it has a pleasant climate and abundant produce.

It is no less impressive than our Jiangnan region.

Otherwise, it would be impossible to support such a large population, right?

I've already looked into it.

Although your Korea's territory is only comparable to a province of our Great Wei, your population is over ten million!
Is it true that your country was almost destroyed by the Japanese invaders this time?

It's true that we mobilized a large army and spared no effort to save you, right?

We mobilized our most elite army of 100,000. Even if each soldier demanded a reward of 1,000 taels of silver, the total would only amount to 100 million taels of silver. Divided among each of you Koreans, that's less than 10 taels of silver.

Is this price really expensive?
Or are you saying that North Korean lives are worthless, and we shouldn't have come to save them in the first place?

Xie Jing was known in the army as a reckless and unruly person when he was in the Great Wei.

They never know the meaning of politeness when they speak.

Jia Lian valued this quality in him, which is why he appointed him as the "adjutant."

As expected, upon hearing this, all the Korean officials glared at him with uncontrollable rage.

This scoundrel is truly despicable; he actually wanted to distribute the military reward money among every single Korean.

Moreover, he actually thought that ten taels per person was not expensive!

You should know that some ordinary five-person families in North Korea might not even earn ten taels of silver a year!

Is this meant to force the entire North Korean population to go without food or water for years to repay this debt?
This can no longer be described as simple extortion.

This is clearly an attempt to drain the entire North Korean population dry and cut off their path to survival!
Jin Shijia also looked grim, but he knew he couldn't afford to turn against the Wei army, so he said sincerely, "What the envoy said is correct."

But that was the North Korea of ​​the past.

North Korea today is nothing like it used to be.

In recent years, our king has indulged in pleasure and neglected to govern the country and develop the economy.

This led to corruption in the bureaucracy and a slackening of military preparedness.

Otherwise, those Japanese pirates overseas wouldn't dare to invade us.

If, before the Japanese pirates invaded, my king and all my ministers worked together and exhausted the nation's resources, we might have been able to scrape together tens of millions of taels of silver.

But the Japanese pirates are hateful.

For the past six months, Japanese pirates have ravaged our Korean soil, killing countless people and plundering immense wealth.

Even our king died trying to escape the war.

North Korea is now beset by internal and external troubles and is teetering on the brink of collapse.

Countless people across the country have been displaced.

At this time, even making a living was a problem for them.

If we were to impose such a heavy debt on them at this time, it would likely trigger popular uprisings in countless parts of the country.

If such a thing were to happen, it would also tarnish the reputation of the superior nation for sending troops to rescue them.

We hope the envoy will consider this carefully.

Xie Jingming, my foot! He shrugged and said, "That's none of my business."

My job is simply to convey the message of our dynasty, to take the silver back to report, and I have no responsibility for anything beyond that.

Since your national treasury is empty and the common people are poor, then you noble gentlemen can contribute your own money.
Anyway, in the few months we've been in the capital, everyone we've met has said that you noble gentlemen from the capital are very rich.

Presumably, if everyone pools their resources, they can make up the difference in our funds.

The councilors should also be understanding of us.

It was your envoy who said this in the capital of my Great Wei, in front of my officials, that you are willing to repay us with the whole country if our dynasty can send troops to our aid.

Now we're not asking you to repay us with your entire nation's money, we're just asking you to contribute some funds to reward your troops, and you're already unwilling?

You can't live like that, can you?

Don't be stingy with the money.

Think about it.

If it weren't for our Great Wei sending troops to rescue you this time, and if those Japanese invaders had breached your capital, they wouldn't have been as easy to talk to as we are.

If that's the case, do you think you can keep your current wealth and riches?

Therefore, do not try to cross the river and then destroy the bridge, or do anything ungrateful.

We put in the effort, and you give us money.

It is justified.

In this way, everyone can part amicably and leave behind a lasting bond.

Otherwise, even if those Japanese devils obtain it, our Great Wei could certainly take it as well.”

Xie Jing's words were a blatant threat.

If the Japanese can plunder, then the Great Wei might be able to as well.

I'm speaking to you nicely now to give you face, so don't be ungrateful.

Most people wouldn't be able to tolerate what he said.

One minister rebuked, "We thought you were genuinely here to save us, but it turns out you're just like the Japanese pirates."

Don't think we don't know that most of the wealth those Japanese pirates stole from Korea ended up in your hands.

You loaded this wealth into your ship without saying a word, and we didn't say anything either.

Consider it payment for asking you to send troops.

I never imagined you could be so greedy.

Having obtained those valuables, they still dared to demand 100 million taels of silver!
"Don't even mention that North Korea doesn't have any; even if we did, we would never give them to you!"

The translator was hesitant to translate what the minister was saying.

However, the Great Wei also had its own translators, who immediately repeated the story verbatim to Xie Jing.

To everyone's surprise, Xie Jing didn't get angry but laughed instead.

"Fine, I'd rather you don't give it to me, or better yet, kick me out right now."

Our Emperor has grand ambitions and has long desired to incorporate your Joseon into his territory.

Our Crown Prince has also heard that Korea is famous for its beautiful women, and he is eager to visit Korea in person to see for himself.

By the way, what's your name? "

Xie Jing didn't expect the other party to answer, but just smiled and said, "Tell me your name. When my dynasty's million-strong army arrives, I will definitely find you in person to thank you for giving my dynasty such a legitimate reason to recover lost territory."

Oh, just a heads-up.

Right to your north, the Jurchens, who used to beat your Korea to a pulp, have been crippled by our Great Wei.

Even their ancestral homeland, Jianzhou, which is many times larger than North Korea, has been obediently given to us as a horse ranch.

It happened last year.

The one who just defeated the Jurchens is the same person who led the troops to rescue you this time.

By the way, do you know where the title "Ping Liao" comes from in our prince's name?
That's right, that's exactly what I mean.

Sigh, I feel a little sorry for our prince.

"If we were to actually allow him to reclaim another piece of territory for our dynasty, what title should he be given?"

Xie Jing spoke slowly and deliberately, using sarcastic and unsettling language.

Upon hearing this, the Korean officials were so angry they were practically bulging their noses out.

No longer caring about the military might of the Great Wei, they all stood up and angrily denounced Xie Jing.

Things like "who's afraid of who," and "North Koreans would rather die than be humiliated."

Amidst the cacophony of voices, the translator from the Great Wei side could only shrug and gesture to Xie Jing: "See? We probably don't need to translate anymore."

"enough."

In the end, it was Jin Shijia who stood up and stopped the officials from being disrespectful to Xie Jing.

As the most powerful figure in Korea, he was in a situation where the King of Korea had just passed away and his heir was young.

It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that North Korea belongs to him.

He certainly didn't want to risk inviting an even more powerful Wei state to attack after finally driving away the Japanese pirates.

The Great Wei was many times stronger than the Japanese pirates.

Previously, they had placed their hopes on the complex and cold northern mountains and the difficult roads, believing that they could resist the Great Wei.

They had resisted the Jurchen invaders in the same way before.

But now that he knew that the Great Wei possessed a massive fleet capable of easily deploying 100,000 troops to the Korean mainland, he could no longer harbor any illusions.

However, with the talks having progressed to this point, there was no point in continuing.

Therefore, he only repeatedly expressed his apologies to Xie Jing and said that he would visit her at a later date to apologize, before hastily ending the meeting. (End of Chapter)