Ming Dynasty: Summoning game players at the beginning

Chapter 281 You have finished your homework, what homework should I do?

Li Zong stared at his son's crimson figure, like a tiger on guard against carnivores that broke into its territory, and the suspicion in his heart grew stronger.

His lips opened and closed slightly, as if he was talking to his son far away: Don't think that just because your eldest son died in the Shenyang Rebellion, you can rest easy and be my only legitimate heir.

What I give you is yours, and you are not allowed to snatch what I don’t give you!
Li Zong was determined to give the prince a good beating, but before that he had to appease the Ming Dynasty soldiers to avoid any trouble.

He ordered the officials who were to meet the heavenly soldiers to send a minor official to report in advance.

The Heavenly Army's southern expedition totaled 31,500 soldiers and horses, 10,000 of whom were Koreans captured by the Heavenly Army on the Liaodong battlefield. The Korean soldiers who accompanied the Heavenly Army on this southern expedition were also considered to have returned home in glory.

Apart from those who collected food and fodder along the way, those who were ordered to hunt down the defeated Tartar soldiers, and those who were killed or wounded in the battle, the heavenly soldiers brought only 25,000 to Hanyang this time, and some of them were regular Korean troops and volunteer soldiers.

The real Ming Dynasty soldiers were only about 10,000 people, so the logistical pressure was not that great.

The living quarters of the heavenly soldiers naturally could not be shabby. He planned to order the imperial camp to give up the garrison and then leave some of the houses donated by the pro-captive faction for the heavenly soldiers to live in.

The food cannot be too bad. A group of pro-capital officials have been executed and a lot of food has been confiscated. Some of the pigs, sheep and other livestock are meat that even the nobles are reluctant to eat. Let's send them to the heavenly soldiers.

You can't catch a wolf without sacrificing a child. He had to quickly send these evil Tianbing back with good food and drink, so that he could have the confidence to rebuild the royal court.

The prince controls a large number of regular troops and volunteer soldiers. How can he, as a father, sleep peacefully?

However, something went wrong soon after the heavenly soldiers entered the city. Several small groups of heavenly soldiers suddenly broke away from the main force and headed elsewhere. The king in the tower suddenly panicked.

Could it be that the heavenly soldiers were impatient and wanted to raise their own "thank you gift", or perhaps they wanted to choose a maid to warm their bed at night to please their body and mind?

That's bad.

These days, soldiers are all bandits in official guise. Their only demands are to rob money, food and sleep with women. They would rather starve to death than plunder, or freeze to death than demolish houses. Such people are rare and legendary.

The order in Hanyang had been restored with great difficulty. If it were to be disrupted by the heavenly soldiers, the Qingliu faction, which had been temporarily appeased with great difficulty, would start to make noise again.

So he sent his confidant Cui Mingji to persuade the heavenly soldiers not to act recklessly. He would do his best to help with the money, food and women.

Li Zong lamented that being a king, especially the king of a small country, is also a "hard job" from a certain perspective. If the fire is strong, it will burn down the country; if the river overflows, it will drown the king. Only the balance of water and fire can stabilize the swinging scales.

But unexpectedly, Cui Mingji, whom he sent out, saw a shocking scene.

One of the heavenly soldiers did not go around robbing and raping women, but instead rushed into the shanty towns where poor people gathered.

A few days ago, during the Hanyang riots, many civilians were harmed by the rioters and countless innocent people were killed and injured.

However, the poor people could not afford medical treatment at all. They could only trust in some rural prescriptions and try their luck, or lie in their thatched huts and wait for death.

This celestial soldier, named "medical soldiers", was composed almost entirely of doctors. They began to treat the wounded and sick as soon as they entered the thatched hut.

From time to time, a team leader who looked like a leader would stand in front of the patient, surrounded by dozens of heavenly soldiers who listened attentively, like broken asteroids orbiting a large celestial body.

The small leaders surrounded by the heavenly soldiers pointed at the wounded patients, and then started to check their injuries and eyes, mouths and noses, while the small soldiers nodded hard with sincere looks.

There were even some soldiers shouting excitedly, "Doctor XX is here for rounds..."

Then the little soldier who shouted was turned around and scolded by the little leader, who said that it was just a "small matter" and there was no need to be so grand.

The little leader then ordered the other soldiers to treat the wounded personally. If the soldiers did it right, they would be praised by the leader with a smile, as if he was teaching them medical skills.

There are many teaching groups like this, which have raised the medical level in the slums to an unprecedented level in a short period of time.

Cui Mingji watched helplessly as several dying poor people were pressed and kneaded by the heavenly soldiers. Suddenly, they started coughing violently and came back to life!

no? !
Cui Mingji was very shocked.

The Ming army had very poor military discipline. How could they enter one of the most prosperous cities in Korea and suppress their "animal nature" and refrain from looting or raping?

Not only did they not plunder, they also provided free medical treatment to the poor people, and they even did it in a very professional manner.

Cui Mingji initially thought that the heavenly soldiers were making trouble, but as the wailing of the wounded and sick subsided and more and more people woke up from their comas, he instantly felt a deep respect for these heavenly soldiers and doctors.

This group of heavenly soldiers and doctors really have something!
These players naturally have no idea what Cui Mingji is thinking. Most of them are working doctors and nurses in real life, or college students.

They originally came for the game's "health function".

In the past, I felt that eight hours of sleep was not enough. I felt my heart pounding and I felt like I would faint at any time.

Since playing this virtual game, four hours of deep sleep can enable them to function normally throughout the day, and eight hours of sleep makes them feel like they have been injected with chicken blood.

Many doctors, programmers, police officers, and other professionals prone to sudden death have already considered this game an important means of saving their lives. Some military personnel even use the game as a courage training to avoid bloodshed.

As their sleep needs were met, these people gradually developed new uses for it.

Veterans from various industries teach by example directly in the game, so the hours of sleep are not wasted. There are no medical disputes or complicated rules in the game, so you can start treating right away.

Nothing helps you grow faster than hands-on practice.

Even though medical resources in the real world are very tight and there is enough clinical experience to promote the growth of medical students, this simulated ancient society is even more short of medical resources.

Any number of medical students who train under such harsh conditions for a few years can acquire master-level technical skills before graduation.

In addition to medicine, the Tianbing soldiers are also proficient in agriculture, handicrafts, calligraphy, painting, dance and music, etc. They are simply an all-round force.

The heavenly soldiers who were good at agriculture pointed at the farmers and fields on the outskirts of Hanyang and cursed them, saying that this was not the agricultural level of the 17th century at all, but clearly an uncivilized slave tribe that did not even know the simplest fertilizer composting technology.

Few families even built proper dry toilets. They all found a piece of land to solve problems on the spot. The capital of a country was like a huge cesspool. Even in winter, you could smell an indescribable stench. I don't know how the royal family of the Ly Dynasty could survive there.

Tianbing said that the country had great potential in agriculture and health, and that the bureaucrats and clerks in North Korea were all useless, and how could the country be run well by working with these insects?

Cui Mingji's Chinese was average, and the translator's accent was strange, using words like "Stone Age," "tail blossoming," "European lung technology," and "cesspool"...

He didn't know what the heavenly soldiers were angry about, he was just thankful that they didn't rob or rape him.

He then reported what he had seen and heard to His Majesty the King, who was immediately shocked. The Heavenly Soldiers did not rob. Could it be that they were seeking great things and looked down upon the small profits they could get from looting?

Or is it that the heavenly soldiers are actually well-disciplined, just as the officials had heard, and that the Beiwei Army is actually a rare and kind "Buddha Army" that does not ask for any reward and only wants to turn around and leave behind fame and glory?
However, the representative of the Heavenly Army quickly dispelled the king's fantasy. Before Li Jong had the chance to meet his own prince, he was visited by the chief commander of the Heavenly Army.

As the nominal commander, Zhang Xianzhong led thirteen people into the Korean royal palace.

If the visitor is a civil servant from the Ming Dynasty, he represents the emperor's will and can stand before the throne of Korea to read the Ming Dynasty's edict. Li Zong should lead the crown prince and officials to kneel at the steps to listen to the emperor's will.

However, the visitor was just a military general. It was said that he was one of the brave generals who recovered Liaodong, but he had no title. According to the legal principles of the vassal system, he, the King of Korea with the rank of a prince and the etiquette of a prince, was of higher rank than "Zhang Xianzhong".

However, Li Zong did not dare to act like a prince in front of the heavenly soldiers. He warmly received Zhang Xianzhong and his party in the guest room, and both sides were equipped with an experienced interpreter to translate.

There was a low table beside everyone, with pens, ink, paper and inkstone on it. Two eunuchs were slowly grinding ink for preparation. If there were any words or sentences that did not translate well, both parties would write Chinese characters to express their feelings.

This is the powerful communication advantage of the Confucian cultural circle.

The two sides initially discussed issues such as the situation in Liaodong, the political situation in the Ming Dynasty, and the situation in Korea.

Li Zong was stunned when he heard that a decisive battle had broken out between the Ming and Qing dynasties at Dujiatun, and that the Ming Dynasty, under the leadership of the wise and brave Li Mu and Li Dashuai, had beaten the slave chief Huang Taiji and forced the Tartars to retreat to the grasslands south of the desert.

Unexpectedly, the "old father" who had been weak for nearly 20 years would rise again. No wonder the Ming Dynasty quickly recovered Liaodong and had enough room to save Korea.

Could it be that the tough men who drove out the Japanese pirates decades ago have awakened again?
But when Li Zong thought about it carefully, he found a clue. This General Li had made two great achievements, but was only given a small title of earl?
Li Zong was a monarch sitting on the throne. After a moment of thought, he sympathized with the Ming court's practice of "suppressing meritorious officials."

People who are more successful than their masters will eventually endanger the country and the people. It is better to give them high positions and generous salaries as early as possible and "marginalize" them.

The Crown Prince is his own son, yet he is so wary and suspicious of him. Marshal Li is just coming of age, and the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty must be worried even in his dreams.

Thinking of this, Li Zong became more determined to weaken the power of the crown prince.

However, Zhang Xianzhong didn't care about Li Zong's little tricks, and changed the subject to raise the issue of compensation for the Beiwei Army's march south.

Upon hearing this, Li Zong sat up straight.

He was quite impressed by the strict discipline of the heavenly soldiers after they entered the city and did not harm anyone. He believed that the Beiwei Army would not ask for an exorbitant price.

However, Zhang Xianzhong took out a thick stack of manuscript paper from his arms and stunned the interpreter and the king as soon as he started speaking.

Zhang Xianzhong said that the Beiwei Army had made both contributions and hard work in leading troops south to save the dynasty.

The reward for the soldiers for expelling the Tartars was one thing, the military pay for their hard work for so many days was one thing, the loss of weapons was one thing, the consumption of ammunition was one thing, the pensions for the dead and the medical expenses for the injured were another thing, and there was even a fee for collecting the bodies.

Even the Korean soldiers who returned to fight with the Beiwei Army would be rewarded.

Not to mention that rewards had to be given to civilians who made contributions and the slave status of slaves who participated in the war had to be abolished.

Moreover, it was winter in Korea at the time, and it was inconvenient for the Beiwei Army to set out to return to Liao, so they had to stay in Hanyang until the next year, and all expenses during this period had to be borne by Korea.

Calculated in this way, the total amount is 718,252 taels of silver.

Of course, considering that the relationship between Korea and Ming Dynasty was like that of father and son, we could give them a personal discount and give them 700,000 taels of silver.

The moment he heard the numerical reimbursement, Li Zong was completely dumbfounded.

After the pro-lucky faction's criminal property was divided among many parties, only 130,000 taels of silver were left, and this included many houses, fields and other real estate that were difficult to quickly convert into cash.

Li Zong knew how huge the difference was just by hearing the difference between 130,000 and 700,000.

His small country of Korea was at most equivalent to a province of the Ming Dynasty. How much profit could a mere province generate? Whether the fiscal revenue could maintain a surplus in a year was beyond question, and there was no way he could have a surplus of one million taels of silver.

Seven hundred thousand taels of silver almost cost Li Zong his life.

Didn't they say that there was no looting or rape after entering the city? It turns out that the people of Hanyang have no money to exploit, so they have to specifically squeeze the money from the king, right?

Li Jong asked tentatively that the price of the reward was too expensive and whether it could be reduced. Korea was a small and weak country, so where could it get the 700,000 taels of silver?

Unexpectedly, the attendant next to Zhang Xianzhong said seriously, "That's not the case. I see that those Yangban in Beijing are all very rich. We have driven out the Tartars for them and brought them safety and peace. If we ask each of them to pay a few hundred taels of silver as a reward, wouldn't the problem be solved?"

"The Heavenly Soldier is joking..."

"Do you think I'm joking with you?" The soldier's smile froze, and his wrinkled facial muscles seemed to turn into a ghost face, emitting a terrifying murderous aura.

Li Zong was slightly stunned, and the atmosphere on the scene suddenly cooled down a few degrees.

The interpreter laughed awkwardly three times and told a few jokes to dispel the awkward atmosphere.

Li Zong picked up the hot tea beside him and moistened his throat, thinking that this heavenly soldier would not stop until he said something shocking.

The Yangban in Beijing has more power than the Xiangban. If he dares to plunder the Yangban on a large scale and offend these aristocratic classes, once the heavenly soldiers leave, there will be more people with the surname Li among the exiles on Jeju Island.

"I've brought the proposal. If you pay us the full remuneration on time before the beginning of next spring, we will leave North Korea on time. If we don't receive the full remuneration by then, we will take it ourselves!"

Before Li Zong could respond, Zhang Xianzhong and others had already stood up and left, with eunuchs and interpreters hurriedly following behind to guide the heavenly soldiers.

Li Zong and several eunuchs sat quietly in the room until the hurried footsteps disappeared from their ears. Only then did they dare to hear the sounds of overturned tables and smashed papers and inkstones.

As soon as there was a noise inside the room, the eunuchs and palace maids hurried into the guest room to pick up the fallen items on the floor.

Anger burned in his chest like fire. Looking at the busy servants, Li Zong suddenly remembered that among the remuneration demanded by the heavenly soldiers, there seemed to be rewards for civilians and slaves.

After thinking about it carefully, he felt that it was the prince's idea.

Good, I'm still alive, but you've already learned how to win people's hearts!

"The prince is here to see me!"

He couldn't scold the heavenly soldiers, so how could he scold his son?!

(End of this chapter)