Bringing the Railway to Daming

Chapter 409: King Qi goes to sea, the end of Goryeo

The person who reacted the most when hearing Zhu Shuang's words was Zhu Tan.

His expression turned cold, and he frowned, "Brother, haven't you already decided to go to South America? Why are you competing with me for North America?"

Seeing Zhu Tan's direct expression, Zhu Chong's expression also turned cold. "Tenth brother, what do you mean by that? North America is so big, are you really going to take it all by yourself?"

"Don't forget, my father has stipulated that within twenty years of establishing a vassal state, without the permission of the imperial court, the vassal state cannot expand beyond a radius of five thousand miles (about eight hundred miles)."

"North America is so big. Even if I don't go, how can you take it all by yourself?"

Zhu Tan became increasingly unhappy and said, "The imperial court has established a garrison in the west of North America. The land I have to establish a vassal state in the east is already limited, but my second brother insisted on going to North America as well. If he's not deliberately trying to steal my territory, then what is he..."

"Enough!" Zhu Yuanzhang's good mood suddenly turned sour when he saw Zhu Chong and Zhu Tan about to quarrel. "I'm still alive, and you're fighting like this over vassal territory. If I'm gone, won't you be beaten to a pulp?!"

Zhu Chong and Zhu Tan both lowered their heads and remained silent for a moment.

Zhu Yuanzhang thought for a moment and said, "Second Brother, if you also want to establish a vassal state in eastern North America, you should at least go to Washington, D.C., or somewhere even further north. Are you willing?"

Zhu Chong came to the map of North America and took a look. He couldn't help but mutter, "This is too far."

"Far?" Zhu Yuanzhang laughed angrily, "Didn't you just want to stay away from us before?"

Zhu Chong rolled his eyes and said, "Father, even if Xuanguanwei has built sea vessels, I'm afraid they are few in number, and their quality may not be as good as those built in the capital, right?"

"The North American territory that the Emperor is referring to is so far away. What if something happens to me and the immigrants along the way?"

Zhu Yuanzhang thought about it and said, "In that case, you should just go to South America and become a vassal!"

Zhu Chong's decision to go to North America to establish his fiefdom was a spur-of-the-moment decision. Seeing Zhu Tan's unfriendly expression, he was worried that Zhu Tan would play dirty tricks on him if he went to North America in the future. So he changed his mind and said, "Since your Majesty has said so, I will just ignore what I said before."

"Humph, whatever you think is what you do!"

Zhu Yuanzhang reprimanded Zhu Chong unhappily and allowed the meeting to continue.

Afterwards, Zhu Zhen and Zhu Gui mainly consulted Liu Kuan about the establishment of a vassal state. As for Zhu Tan and Zhu Chong, they were in a bad mood at the time, but thinking that there was still a year left, they were not in a hurry.

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In the 23rd year of Hongwu, not long after the 15th day of the first lunar month, Prince Zhu Gui of Qi, with his family and 3,000 guards, set sail from Guangzhou on five warships and dozens of large sea vessels.

As for the immigrants he recruited, they had already set off in October last year and were sent to Hailongdusi along with a large amount of supplies.

Zhu Gui did this for one reason: to save time on the journey to the place where he was going to establish a vassal state - the ships that immigrants took were slower than warships, so it would take less time to travel from Hailongdusi to India in the future.

Secondly, it allows immigrants to further adapt to the environment and climate of the subtropical marine region in Hailongdusi.

Unlike Zhu Gui, Zhu Zhen still stayed in Guangzhou with the immigrants he recruited.

Because he was granted permission to establish his government later, Zhu Zhen was not as well prepared as Zhu Gui for establishing his overseas vassal state. Furthermore, since his vassal state was closer, he planned to wait until the summer was over before taking the immigrants to Sulimantan.

With more than half a year, he can make more preparations for establishing a vassal state.

As for Zhu Chong and Zhu Tan, they had not yet recruited all the immigrants, and the preparations for establishing a vassal state had only just begun. Just as Zhu Yuanzhang said, they would have to wait until next year before setting out to sea - if the preparations did not go smoothly, it might be delayed even longer.

Among the three princes who had gone to sea to establish their fiefdoms, Zhu Di received the most attention from the court and the public when he went to sea. When Zhu Gang went to sea, he did not receive much attention.

Now that Zhu Gui has gone to sea, only some civil officials, military generals and big merchants who have some connection with him are paying attention to him. Most people's attention is still on the internal affairs of the Ming Dynasty.

March in spring, the capital.

"Newspapers for sale! Newspapers for sale! The Ming Dynasty Monthly has a sensational headline: the King of Goryeo has repeatedly requested to submit to the court, and finally got the court's approval!" As the newsagent pushed his bicycle and shouted, he was soon stopped by several young people who bought newspapers.

As an official newspaper, "Da Ming Yue Bao" quickly attracted officials, gentry, students and even businessmen to become its readers after its publication, because it described many national policies and major events directly or indirectly, and many people had to read every issue.

This time, the front page of "Da Ming Monthly" published the news that "the court allowed Goryeo to submit", so naturally more people bought and read the newspaper.

In a teahouse, there is a newspaper on almost every table, and guests read the newspaper while drinking tea and chatting.

"Speaking of which, Goryeo is quite sensible. Seeing that our Ming Dynasty no longer has any rivals around it, it took the initiative to request submission, thus saving Goryeo from the disaster of war."

"With the current strength of the Ming Dynasty, if we really fought Goryeo, we would definitely be defeated with ease. The faster the war is fought, the less harm the people will suffer. Therefore, even if a war really breaks out, the people of Goryeo may not suffer much."

"Haha, I naturally believe in the discipline of the imperial army, but those defeated and rebellious Korean soldiers may not necessarily harm their people."

"That's true..."

"By the way, how do you think the imperial court will govern Goryeo after it accedes to the Han Dynasty? Will they set up provinces, garrisons, and send itinerant officials, just like they did in the Western Regions?"

"I'm afraid that only the military leaders and ministers in the court are likely to know about this matter now."

In a private room in the corner of the second floor of the teahouse, Li Fangyuan sighed when he heard this, put away the newspaper, and prepared to go back to Siyi Pavilion to read.

Ordinary people did not know about Ming Dynasty’s arrangements for Goryeo, but he had already learned some things through Zheng Mengzhou.

Just as Zheng Mengzhou had inquired last year, some aristocratic and wealthy families would be singled out for punishment, their property confiscated and exiled, while the rest would be separated and relocated. Even the common people of Goryeo would be partially relocated in the future.

As for the specific arrangements for establishing a province in Goryeo, they will also be announced in the next few days.

In addition, King Wang Yao of Goryeo was to be granted the title of Marquis Huai'en, and his father was to be granted the title of Earl Chongyi of the Ming Dynasty.

At first, Lee Bang-won was quite happy when he heard that the Ming Dynasty court was willing to confer the title of earl on his father - the earl title in the Ming Dynasty was definitely more prestigious than that in Goryeo in the past, which meant that his Li family had finally made some progress after all the trouble they had.

But later on, he understood that if the imperial edict of conferring a title in the Ming Dynasty did not contain the statement of "hereditary succession", then it would be inherited by a lower rank.

Some emperors were particularly favored and their titles would be passed down through several generations before being demoted; but for families like his, who did not receive special favors, the title of earl would be lost by the next generation - unless they earned another one.

In this way, the title is not even as valuable as the "Assistant Governor of the Army Governor's Office" - although this position is leisurely, it is also considered a genuine military general of the Ming Dynasty. It can help his father integrate into the military circle of the Ming Dynasty, and it is possible to find a position for their brothers in the future.

When Lee Bang-won was in Goryeo, he chose the path of a civil servant, but now he is hesitating whether to change to the path of a military commander.

Based on his understanding of the Ming Dynasty over the past few months, now that the Ming army is fighting overseas, it will undoubtedly be easier for military generals to achieve merit.

But if you become a military general, it is not as easy to learn scientific knowledge as going to university.

However, now that Goryeo is gone, what use is it for him to learn all those wonderful scientific knowledge?
Can we still rely on that scientific knowledge to restore our country in a few decades?
It would be better to be a military general, make more contributions, and work hard to build a future for your family.

Thinking about his own affairs, Li Fangyuan finally made a decision the moment he walked out of the teahouse.

at the same time.

The Imperial Palace, inside the Fengxian Hall.

Zhu Yuanzhang was also discussing the governance of Goryeo with Zhu Biao.

"Although Goryeo's territory is not large, it cannot simply be divided into one province," Zhu Yuanzhang said. "Our initial idea is to divide it into two provinces, but the specific division has not yet been determined. Does Biaoer have any ideas?" (End of this chapter)

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