Jiajing Chengming

Chapter 289: Jiajing intervenes in domestic affairs and bestows Neo-Confucian classics

Yang Yingfeng had no choice but to call Zheng Yunqian to a room alone.

then.

Yang Yingfeng gnashed her teeth and whispered to Zheng Yunqian: "Why don't you understand? That's not what I meant!"

"What does the military officer mean?"

Zheng Yunqian asked hurriedly.

Yang Yingfeng said, "Your Majesty wants to join forces with the nobles to seize your vassal's mineral resources. It would be wrong for your vassal to sit back and watch, so how can you take the initiative to ask for permission to open a mine?"

Zheng Yunqian replied, "There is no other way! Just as the military commander said, in order not to anger the upper country and to maintain a harmonious relationship with each other, we can offer some minerals to the upper country. After all, we have the relationship of monarch, subject, father and son with the upper country. If the monarch wants the subject to die, the subject must die; if the father wants the son to die, the son must die! Besides, now they just want some minerals. How can a subject not be filial and respectful?"

Yang Yingfeng: “…”

He discovered that the other party adhered to the teachings of the sages even more than himself.

"Are you doing this to your king and the country?!"

Yang Yingfeng then had to question Zheng Yunqian.

Zheng Yunqian frowned after hearing this:
"Bingxian, you can't say that. For our dynasty, the most important thing is to live in harmony with the superior country and not to anger it. As long as we do this, we will be worthy of the king and the country."

"The rest is not important!"

"Besides, I have heard that although His Majesty is kind to the people, he is also ruthless and hateful. So, how can we go against His will and start a war just because we are stingy with an iron ore?"

Yang Yingfeng rolled her eyes.

"If the military magistrate really cannot bear to see this, please sympathize with me and make a petition on my behalf, advising Your Majesty not to open the mine and reject my petition."

Zheng Yunqian said as he bowed to Yang Xiangfeng and said, "If this is the case, I and my clan will be grateful to you for your kindness."

Yang Yingfeng sneered: "You are all going to offer the mine voluntarily, how can I take the initiative to report on your behalf and be treated as a nobody?"

"It seems that the military officer is also afraid of offending His Majesty."

Zheng Yunqian replied.

Yang Yingfeng put his hands behind his back and turned them to the other side, his face gloomy, and ignored Zheng Yunqian.

But it was obvious that Yang Yingfeng felt a little guilty.

He did not dare to directly advise the emperor not to open mines in Korea.

He wanted to persuade the Korean envoys not to agree today because he was worried that the nobles and military officials who mined for the emperor would increase their wealth, and their political value would also begin to increase, and the Ming Dynasty would even begin to exploit new resources from the outside, forming a path dependence, and ultimately breaking the status quo of "civilians are noble and military officials are humble."

He originally thought that the Korean envoys would care about their own domestic mineral resources and would be very resistant to the Ming Dynasty's plan to mine their iron ore, and would express their willingness to refuse the Ming Dynasty's permission to mine iron ore in their territory.

But he didn't expect that the North Korean envoy was so willing to sell out his national interests!
I took the initiative to remind him that the emperor summoned him to mine the iron ore in North Hamgyong Province of Korea, just to let the Korean envoy find a way to stop this in advance.

However, the North Korean envoys themselves stated that they would take the initiative to ask the emperor to send people to open mines in North Hamgyong Province.

This made Yang Yingfeng feel very embarrassed.

Zheng Yunqian then continued to say to Yang Yingfeng: "If this is the case, it undoubtedly shows that you ministers of the upper kingdom dare not offend His Majesty, so how can we, the ministers of the outer vassal states, dare to do so?"

"Therefore, as an envoy of a foreign vassal, in order to be friendly with the superior country, I should take the initiative to fulfill the emperor's will. In the name of requesting help from my foreign vassal to strengthen the border, I will ask Your Majesty to issue an order to open the iron mine in the northern border of our country, so that Your Majesty's intention will be justified and His Majesty's virtue will be prominent."

"How can you anger your majesty and cause unrest in the border towns, and turn father and son into enemies just because of an iron mine?"

"Just as Sima Wenzhenggong of the Song Dynasty offered his land to appease the resentment of the Western Xia, our vassal state of the Li family opened a mine to please the ruler of the upper country and avoid disputes. This is also a filial act and should be more in line with the principles of a saint!"

In order to make Yang Yingfeng understand his good intentions, Zheng Yunqian said a few more words.

The more Yang Yingfeng listened, the more uncomfortable he felt. He just snorted and left.

As for the North Korean envoy Zheng Yunqian, he really did not think there was anything wrong with thinking this way.

What's more, as a minister of Joseon, he valued the internal party interests of his own Joseon more than the national interests of the entire Joseon Kingdom.

natural!

What he wanted to do more was to please the Emperor of Ming Dynasty so that he would not hate him and regard him as a treacherous villain, and then force his own king to depose him and his party.

Also!

Zheng Yunqian had also known through other channels a long time ago that the Ming Dynasty had indeed recently sent officers and students to conduct exploration in the northern border of his vassal state.

In his opinion, if the Ming Dynasty really wanted to mine iron ore in these places, it could also help its vassal state defend against the Jurchens.

Because the national strength of their Li Kingdom is no longer as strong as before, and the civil and military corruption is very serious, so the north has been plagued by invasions by the Jurchens.

It is said that after Zheng Yunqian arrived in the capital, Zhu Houcong summoned him.

Zheng Yunqian did take the initiative to submit a petition to Zhu Houcong, requesting the emperor to issue an order to open a mine in the northern border of Korea to strengthen the border between the two countries. After Zhu Houcong received the petition, he was very pleased.

He was not surprised that the Korean envoys guessed his intentions in advance. After all, since he ascended the throne, he had frequently sent people to the northern border of Korea to explore for minerals.

But what he didn't expect was that the Korean envoy took the initiative to ask him to send people to open the mine, instead of raising strong opposition or asking him to withdraw the Jinyiwei.

This forced Zhu Houcong to admit that the Li Kingdom was, after all, a vassal state deeply influenced by Confucianism, which made the Korean envoys know to actively cater to the will of the emperor, so that he would have more legitimate reason to instruct Zhenyuan Marquis Gu Shilon to send people to Korea to open an iron mine in the future.

"I have always cared about you, whether your people are peaceful enough, whether your country is stable enough, and whether there are villains in power in the court."

"Now it seems that your king is able to judge people and can be considered a wise king. Otherwise, the envoys he sent would not be so wise and intelligent."

"But, I heard that your king no longer allows people to present the famous Neo-Confucian work 'Jinsi Lu' during lectures!"

Zhu Houcong asked Zheng Yunqian: "What's going on?"

Zheng Yunqian's hair stood on end when he heard this.

Let’s talk.

Six years ago, a group of literati represented by Cho Gwang-jo angered the old guard led by Sim Jeong-hyun because their radical reforms of the government were too radical.

At that time, King Jungjong of Joseon abandoned Cho Gwang-jo in order to protect himself, thus launching the "Gimyo Scholar Disaster" in Joseon history.

Under the instigation of the nobility, King Jungjong was forced to sentence Cho Gwang-jo to death, and listed the famous Neo-Confucian work "Ginsa-rok" as a banned book and destroyed a large number of it, causing the development and spread of Confucianism in Korea to stagnate.

Zhu Houcong naturally expressed his dissatisfaction when he asked this now.

He did not want the spread of Neo-Confucianism in North Korea to stagnate or even regress.

After all, the cooperation of the Korean envoys now can be attributed to the contribution of Neo-Confucianism.

Therefore, Zhu Houcong hoped that Korea could continue to promote Neo-Confucianism.

Zheng Yunqian then hurriedly explained: "Your Majesty, these are all foolish words from a few foolish people. Our king was forced to accept these foolish words. Now I am asking for your decree to clarify what the sage's teachings are, and to correct the misunderstandings."

"Then I will issue an edict ordering your king to preach the Record of Recent Thoughts."

"At the same time, since you are here to see me on behalf of your king and have taken the initiative to befriend the upper country, I will also give your king a set of the great scholar Ye Cai's "Jinsi Lu Jijie" and the great scholar Qiu Jun's "Da Xue Yan Yi Bu" 160 volumes."

"After you take it back, you must copy it down carefully and study it carefully!"

Zhu Houcong spoke at this time.

He knew that although the nobility were now in power in Joseon, their king and most of the ministers in the court, including many military officials among the nobility, were still inclined towards Neo-Confucianism.

Because they also need to maintain the stability of their internal ruling order, and hope to resolve internal conflicts through rational learning.

Therefore, Zhu Houcong had already prepared to give more Neo-Confucian books to the Korean envoys, so as to encourage Korea to vigorously promote Neo-Confucianism again as it did in the early days of King Jungjong Yi Gye.

Zhu Houcong also found out through sending people to investigate that the most respected Neo-Confucian scholars in Korea at that time were Ye Cai of the Southern Song Dynasty and Qiu Jun of this dynasty, and he had always wanted to obtain Ye Cai's "Jinsi Lu Jijie" and Qiu Jun's "Daxue Yanyi Bu".

But because the scholars of this era regarded books as treasures, they were willing to keep them at home. There were even some extreme book collectors who would not even borrow books, let alone copy them.

Therefore, North Korea has never received these two sets of books.

However, Zhu Houcong had already used his own channels to have Hanlin Taige copies of these two books prepared as weapons to be sent to Korea to promote Neo-Confucianism.

After hearing this, Zheng Yunqian was naturally delighted. He bowed deeply to the ground, moved to tears and said, "I thank your Majesty for your generous reward. I will also remember your Majesty's instructions and tell the king about it!"

Zhu Houcong nodded and smiled: "Stand up!"

"Thank you, Your Majesty!"

There was no way Jung Yun-kyeom couldn't be happy.

Although these are just two sets of books and are not worth much money, the cultural value they contain is immeasurable.

More importantly, these two sets of books will reach him first.

Then he could naturally copy them down first, so that in the future, besides the royal family of Korea, his family would be the only one to own these two sets of precious Neo-Confucian classics.

In this way, his family would become the most powerful family in North Korea in interpreting the scriptures.

Therefore, even though Zheng Yunqian was a military official and veteran in Joseon, he was very happy to receive such a reward and called it a generous reward.

He now even wished that the audience would end early and go back to copy the classics.

The Prime Minister Fei Hong and Minister of Rites Wu Yipeng and other ministers standing by were also very pleased.

They were very happy to see His Majesty the Emperor bestow Neo-Confucian classics on envoys from other countries. In their view, this showed that His Majesty the Emperor also attached importance to Neo-Confucianism.

Of course, they were also happy about this because giving books as gifts was much more cost-effective than giving other gifts. Not only could it save a lot of national treasury, but it was also more dignified and could demonstrate the emperor's importance to the Dehua foreign vassal.

(End of this chapter)