I am Emperor Wanli

Chapter 250: The Fire of the Tribute to the Emperor Burns to Ganghwa Island
Ganghwa Island in Ganghwa Bay, North Korea, faces Haeju Port to the north and the estuary of the Han River to the east.

Lu Xiang, Li Xing and Zhang Kai stood at the ferry terminal on the west side of Ganghwa Island, leading to Gyeonggi Province, North Korea, looking at the opposite coastline in amazement.

Countless Korean officials and civilians fled from the east in a panic.

Among them were officials wearing official robes and sitting in sedan chairs unique to Korea. They urged the sedan bearers to move faster through the chaotic crowd.

If the officials had capable servants or soldiers to protect them, they could protect themselves and their families and stumble through the crowds that were all over the mountains and plains like ants whose nests were blown up.

If they escaped to the seaside, squeezed out from the crying crowd, grabbed a boat, swayed by the waves, and rowed to Ganghwa Island two or three miles away, they would be the lucky one in a million who escaped.

Most of the officials and civilians were scattered by the rushing crowd.

At this time, the soldiers and civilians were only concerned about escaping for their lives. They did not distinguish between superiors and subordinates. Anyone who dared to block their way would be knocked to the ground and stepped over.

Many officials and sedan chair bearers were scattered and climbed out from the overturned sedan chairs. Looking up, they saw people everywhere, fleeing in panic.

When he turned around again, the servants and family members were gone. He was anxious and shouted everywhere. But the sound he made at the top of his lungs was drowned out by the noisy sound like the waves of the sea.

Some soldiers rushed up with red eyes, and when they saw that he was an officer, they approached him without hesitation, got into the sedan chair to search, and even turned around to search his body. If anyone dared to say another word, they would beat him up.

In the past you were a high and mighty yangban master, but now in this chaotic world you are just a worthless lamb.

From time to time, there were screams from women, and a group of soldiers seized the property and abducted the women they liked. The men who dared to resist were hacked to the ground.

The others saw it, but turned a blind eye and just kept running forward.

Then I saw a few old and weak people sitting next to two or three corpses in the wilderness, wailing and crying in agony.

People kept running past them, and they didn't even bother to look at them. They just ran straight forward, running towards the seaside, as if as long as they ran to the seaside, there would be hope of survival.

A large ship packed with people was swaying as it tried to leave the shore, but hundreds or even thousands of people clung to the side of the ship and refused to let go.

There were so many people that the ship tilted inward. A general-looking man stepped forward and commanded dozens of soldiers to kill the people clinging to the side of the ship.

At first the soldiers couldn't bear to do it. The general yelled a few words, and when they saw that the ship was being pulled even more tilted by those people, the soldiers who felt they were in danger went crazy and poked with spears and chopped with steel knives.

Amid screams, one person after another fell into the water from the side of the boat, and the sea water on the shore turned red.

A quarter of an hour later, there was no one clinging to the side of the ship anymore, but there were dozens of broken arms and hands that refused to let go even if they died.

The big ship finally set sail, shakily, and slowly sailed towards Ganghwa Island amid the wailing of thousands of people on the shore.

After more than two quarters of an hour, the ship finally docked at Ganghwa Island. A group of soldiers punched and kicked their way through the crowd and protected several men and women from getting off the boat.

Many people jumped off the boat, swam several feet in the water, climbed ashore, staggered a few steps, lay on the muddy ground on the shore, looked at the blue sky and white clouds, and cried loudly.

An officer came to Noh Sang-hwa and reported, "Report to the commander-in-chief, the king of Joseon, along with the queen mother and queen, has come to Ganghwa Island and said that he wants to meet the commander-in-chief, the consul and the commercial agent of Ganghwa Island."

Starting from the 43rd year of the Jiajing reign, the Ming navy "ran rampant" in the East China Sea and the North Sea, and began to anchor at Ganghwa Island, then occupied the land and drove out the local people and officials.

When North Korea sent people to negotiate, the navy and trading companies said, "You are a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty. My dear son, we are one family. Can occupying a small island be called occupation?"
I'm embarrassed to even ask for a loan, so let's just call it filial piety!

After the Xuanwu Navy circled the east and west coasts of Korea, the Korean Navy, which had been clamoring to recover lost territory, dared not say a word. Today it said that there was a lack of food and pay, and tomorrow it said that the ships needed repairs.

The previous Joseon King Yi Ha was in poor health during those two years, and his son died young. As a result, the various forces in the court were fighting over the issue of succession and had no time to care about Ganghwa Island.

The Lifanyuan of the Ming Dynasty took the opportunity to sign a peace treaty with the Joseon government to "permanently lease" Ganghwa Island.

The Ming Dynasty established a consul on Ganghwa Island to formally exercise jurisdiction, and also set up a commercial agent to be responsible for trade matters and tariff negotiations.

Li Xing, whom Zhang Juzheng had met in Qingdao before, became the consul of Ganghwa Island, and Zhang Kai became the commercial agent.

More importantly, this place became an important port of call for the Ming navy. It happened that Lu Xiang led the Weihai Camp's vanguard to cruise here as usual, and did not expect to encounter this big change. Li Xing curled his lips and replied, "What King of Korea? Because of the Liaodong border incident, our Ming Dynasty has not officially crowned the new King of Korea. He can only be called the acting King of Korea for the time being, and cannot be called the King of Korea yet."

Lu Xiang had just arrived with his fleet yesterday, and today he encountered such a thing and was completely confused.

"Consul Li, Deputy Director Zhang, what is going on?"

Li Xing and Zhang Kai looked at each other and said, "This is a long story. Commander Lu, the King of Korea has finally arrived at Ganghwa Island. I will take people to settle them first. After they have a rest, we will go visit them together."

"it is good."

"Then I will go first. Please ask Deputy Zhang to talk to the commander about the affairs of the Kingdom of Korea."

After Li Xing left, Lu Xiang grabbed Zhang Kai's arm and asked, "Manager Zhang, please tell me the details quickly."

"The country of Korea is in chaos, and people are revolting everywhere."

Prime Minister Lu's face changed. As the commander of the North Sea Navy, he was in charge of many matters of the Lifanyuan's Frontier Affairs Advisory Office, and naturally knew some inside information.

"so serious?"

“Very serious!
Last winter, tens of thousands of people died of starvation and freezing in Gyeongsang, Jeolla and other provinces. The people rose up one after another, snatching food from the rich, causing many civil uprisings.

The Joseon court did not take it seriously and sent troops to suppress the rebellion. As a result, many civil uprisings broke out in Hwanghae Province and Gangwon Province. Two of the uprisings were so powerful that they joined forces to capture the city of Huaiyang.

The Joseon court was finally shocked and dispatched troops from all over the country to suppress the rebellion. However, to make matters worse, soldiers from Chungcheong Province and Gyeonggi Province were withdrawn, leaving the local troops empty and the local local tyrants and rebels rose up one after another.

In less than two months, there were six large rebel armies and more than a dozen small rebel armies, which made the Joseon king and his ministers extremely anxious. In February, a man named Li Zandao, who claimed to be the posthumous son of Fengchengjun, started an uprising in Xijing, gathered 50,000 to 60,000 soldiers and horses, and captured Xijing Pyongyang in one fell swoop.

Then the war got out of control, and most of the rebel troops accepted Li Zandao's call to surrender and joined forces to attack Seoul.

The officers and soldiers were defeated, and the enemy's peak was said to be less than fifty miles from Seoul. The Korean king and his ministers fled in panic, and this is how things turned out."

Lu Xiang was still a little puzzled. "North Korea seemed calm, how could it suddenly become like this? A little spark caused a fire everywhere."

Zhang Kai looked around and whispered, "In recent years, Ming merchants have been selling silk, tea, glassware, porcelain, sugar, perfume, spices and other goods to North Korea.

The emperor and his ministers in the Korean court and wealthy families from all over the country were buying things desperately. Silver and copper coins flowed into our Ming Dynasty like water, and the money was spent without any effort.

The money was gone, but they still wanted to buy good things. The Korean monarchs and ministers, as well as the local noble families, could only desperately exploit the people under their jurisdiction. Taxes were rising year by year, doubling.

The country of Korea was originally a land of many mountains and little land, and its production was poor. The people lived a very hard life, and they had been squeezed to death in the past few years, and they could not survive. Besides, there were people fanning the flames, and the fire started all of a sudden. Once it started, no one expected it to be so fierce. "

Lu Lian asked hurriedly: "Will it have an impact on us?"

"We Ming merchants are all concentrated in Ganghwa Island to do business, occasionally going to Lower Seoul, Haeju and Seogyeong. Last month, the situation was not right, so Consul Li and I issued a notice to recall all Ming merchants back to Ganghwa Island.

Commander Lu, it's up to you now. When the rebels arrive, your navy must not let them cross the strait."

Prime Minister Lu nodded, "Don't worry! I will make arrangements right away. But just in case, you should also prepare to evacuate. By the way, the three of us will lead the report and report this matter back to the country as soon as possible."

"That's right. Wait until Consul Li comes back and report immediately!"

After a while, Li Xing came back, shaking his head as he walked.

"How miserable!"

After saying that, he shook his head and added, "It's fucking miserable!"

"What? The King of Korea escaped with his naked butt?" Lu Xiang asked curiously.

(End of this chapter)