I am Emperor Wanli

Chapter 272 This is a knock-and-bang conference
Ye Mengxiong continued, "Gentlemen, colleagues, the first item of the meeting is a speech by Mr. Li, the Deputy Minister of the Cabinet and the Minister of Personnel. Welcome everyone!"

He was the first to applaud on the stage, and the ministers, chancellors and assistant ministers sitting in the front row followed suit.

The applause reached the empty space below, where it continued to ring out.

"Why has the court meeting changed like this now?" asked a colleague who was an old Jinshi in the 35th year of Jiajing curiously.

Cai Maochun replied softly, "I heard that all meetings in Xiyuan are held like this. Brother, you see, the elders and ministers are used to it, so we should get used to it too."

"Unbelievable." The colleague shook his head.

Li Chunfang held up his collar and walked behind the loudspeaker at the front desk. Ye Mengxiong stood beside him and helped him adjust the height of the loudspeaker.

"My dear colleagues, today's meeting is held by order of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, and is jointly hosted by the Lifan Yuan, the Ministry of Personnel, and the Metropolitan Procuratorate. It is an educational meeting and also a warning meeting."

Li Chunfang opened his speech in vernacular, getting straight to the point.

"On the shore of the East China Sea, in Korea, a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty, a major incident occurred. Hundreds of thousands of rioters rose up and gathered into three groups. They burned, killed and looted along the way, and finally captured the capital, Seoul. The King of Korea fled to Ganghwa Island in panic and placed himself under the protection of the Ming Dynasty.

After the mob captured the capital, they declared themselves the tyrant and slaughtered the people while hunting down and killing royal nobles, civil and military officials, and Confucian scholars. Tens of thousands of people died. The Joseon Yangban was wiped out.

The rebel army also took advantage of the situation to attack Ganghwa Island, but was defeated by the Ming army and navy, and dared not look west again. According to preliminary statistics, more than 100,000 soldiers and civilians were killed or injured in this chaos in Korea.

In addition, 1,700 families of royal relatives and officials of the two classes were killed, with 15,000 men and women; 2,100 families of local wealthy and powerful families and Confucian scholars were killed, with 39,000 men and women; the number of the rest of the clerks and military officers was incalculable, estimated to be between 5,000 and 8,000 families, with about 50,000 men and women.

More than 80% of them were wiped out, it was extremely tragic!"

Everyone looked at each other in shock.

These mobs and rioters in North Korea are so cruel!
Nearly 100,000 noble scholars were killed. Doesn't it mean that all the elites of Korea were slaughtered?
Li Chunfang continued to talk for about quarter of an hour, and finally concluded.

"Now the Joseon rebel army still occupies the capital and more than 50% of the prefectures and counties. The Joseon king wrote a letter with his blood pen and sent an envoy to our dynasty, begging with tears and blood for the country to send a large army by land and sea to quell this rebellion.

His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is currently conferring with the Supervisory Office and the Cabinet, and the results will be out soon.

This Korean civil unrest is extremely tragic and very close to us. For our country, it can be regarded as a lesson for the past and a teacher for the future! It has a great educational and warning effect, so His Royal Highness the Crown Prince issued an order to convene this conference! "

Those who were interested began to understand, and their eyes couldn't help but glance at Xu Jie, the chief minister of the cabinet, who was sitting in the front desk.

After Li Chunfang left, Ye Mengxiong continued, "Now, please ask Mr. Zheng Renhong, the Korean envoy, to tell everyone in detail the actual situation of the chaos in Korea."

Zheng Renhong came up to the stage, first knelt down and saluted in the direction of the Forbidden City, then bowed to the cabinet, the minister and others, and only after the ceremony did he walk to the loudspeaker.

Before he opened his mouth, tears were already streaming down his face. He choked and said, "This chaos has severely damaged the vitality of our Korea. All the scholars and Confucian scholars have been slaughtered. Woo woo"

Zheng Renhong said that Jin, the Minister of Personnel, was his imperial examination teacher, who was over 60 years old. When the rebel army broke into the capital, Jin had no time to escape and could only hide in his house with his family. As a result, the rebel army broke into the house, and everyone from Jin, who was over 60 years old to children, was slaughtered.

The women were raped and the family property was plundered.
The Right Prime Minister of the Uijeongbu, Yoon Moumou, and his family of more than 30 people were killed by the rebel army. Their bodies were left exposed in the wild and eaten by wild dogs and hungry wolves, leaving no trace of their bodies.

Lee So-and-so, the famous scholar of Korea, was a member of the Sungkyunkwan Academy
Speaking of this name, some of the Hanlin scholars on the empty square couldn't help but change color.

The reputation of this great Korean scholar also spread to the Ming Dynasty, where he was recognized to a certain extent and was regarded as the disseminator of the Holy Teachings and Yangming's philosophy in Korea.

He was also murdered!
Zheng Renhong continued to say that this great scholar Li was torn apart by five horses, tortured alive, and his head was hung on the tower of the East Gate of Seoul, exposed to the wind and rain. Ye Mengxiong and Song Yingchang looked at each other. They could get the latest and most authentic information about Ganghwa Island.

In fact, this great Korean scholar, Li Moumou, and many officials and celebrities surrendered to Li Zandao, the traitor they once cursed, as soon as the rebel army broke through Seoul.

Li Zandao's "ascending to the throne" and "establishing a false dynasty" were led by this great Korean scholar and organized by a group of surrendered ministers.

Not only that, this great scholar also offered his concubine, daughter and daughter-in-law to the three bandit leaders Yi Chan-do, Park In-yong and Choi Gwang-jung. His son was the first to lead the army into the palace, arresting and torturing the royal family and relatives, and confiscating property everywhere.

The rebel army was defeated on Ganghwa Island and all its elite troops were lost. In order to quell internal resentment and boost morale, Lee Chan-do, Park In-yong and Choi Gwang-jung brutally killed this great Korean scholar along with most of the surrendered ministers and generals on charges of selling intelligence, communicating with the Ming Dynasty and waiting for an opportunity to rebel.

Zheng Renhong's writing style saved the face of the small Korean court. Ye Mengxiong and Song Yingchang did not say a word at the scene.

However, the book "A Record of the Boshin Incident in Korea" edited by the Propaganda Bureau is currently being printed and will be published soon.

The book will describe the entire process in detail, and expose the ugly behavior of the Korean monarch and his ministers in the Bojin Rebellion. I believe that the people of the Ming Dynasty will enjoy reading it.

Zheng Renhong described the tragic situation for 25 minutes, and finally he couldn't hold back his tears and fell to the ground. He kept kowtowing and wailing, "Please send troops to save the people of Korea from the dire situation."

Xu Jie did not say anything, and everyone looked at Hu Zongxian, the governor-general of the supervision office and the minister of war.

His expression remained calm and he said nothing.

The North Korean soup is not yet cooked enough.

If the time is not right, some conditions cannot be agreed to by the Korean monarch and his ministers.

Just hold on a little longer!

Ye Mengxiong and Song Yingchang hurried forward and helped Zheng Renhong off the stage. Ye Mengxiong wiped the sweat from his forehead, walked to the front and continued: "Now, please let Mr. Li, the Junior Minister of the Ministry of Rites, summarize the lessons of the Bojin Incident in Korea. Everyone is welcome!"

Amidst the applause, Li Zhi walked behind the tin loudspeaker holding a roll of paper.

"My fellow lords and colleagues, the Bojin Incident in Korea was so tragic. Why did it happen?" Li Zhi also started in vernacular Chinese, and began to speak to thousands of civil and military officials as if he was giving lectures in Yinian Hall and Jintai Pavilion.

"According to the information obtained by the Lifanyuan, there are 1.55 million kilos of land in Korea. They measure land differently from the Ming Dynasty, with one kilo representing a field that produces 20 shi of grain per year. Their yield per mu is about 2 shi per year, which translates to about 16 million mu of land and 31 million shi of grain per year.

According to our investigation, the population of North Korea, including men, women, young and old, was about six million, one-third of whom were slaves, dependent on officials from the yangban class and wealthy families, and suffered greatly from oppression.

The tax-land system in Korea was abandoned, and more than 70% of the 1.55 million acres of land were controlled by officials and wealthy families, who oppressed tenants and evaded land taxes. More than half of the land taxes were borne by self-cultivating farmers and small landlords who only owned 30% of the land.
During the Boshin Rebellion, the leader of the rebels raised his arm and called for help, and the slaves and tenants rose up to respond, killing their masters and joining the rebels in the rebellion. The Taichang Temple received an order from the emperor and summarized the lessons learned from the Boshin Rebellion in Joseon. They all agreed that the biggest cause of this great change was the officials and powerful people of Joseon who seized power by trickery, enslaved the population, occupied land, and evaded taxes.

Hearing this, many people present heard the hidden meaning.

Every word in Li Zhi's summary seems to be referring to the Bojin Incident in Korea, but in fact it all points to the Ming Dynasty.

North Korea was a good student of the Ming Dynasty. What happened there must have happened in the Ming Dynasty. The most enthusiastic people in hiding the population, occupying farmland, and evading taxes were the royal family, relatives by marriage, nobles, and local aristocratic families.

His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is using the Korean incident to warn these people. The first thing to be punished was the recent occupation of farmland and tax evasion, which made it difficult for local prefectures and counties to collect taxes. The prefect and county magistrate had no choice but to kneel down in front of the Xu residence.

But is this kind of beating useful?
(End of this chapter)