My Portable Ming Dynasty

Chapter 423 Su Ze's Plan
Upon careful consideration, the King of Korea felt even more terrified.

Over the years, the relationship between the Ming Dynasty and Korea has become increasingly close.

Xu Jie, an official of the Hongmungwan in Joseon who had visited the Ming Dynasty as a tribute envoy on several occasions, founded the Joseon National Gazette. This newspaper was authorized by the Ming Dynasty's official gazette, the Yuefu New Gazette, to reprint news from the Ming Dynasty on its front page.

In addition, Incheon Port had close ties with ports in Daming, and many Korean merchants would bring back the Commercial Gazette.

In addition, the philosophy of mind was also popular in Korea, and Korean scholars regarded Jiangnan as fashionable. The "New Gentleman's Newspaper" was also very popular in Korea.

After the "New Gentleman's News" changed its tune and adopted the slogan "Restore the Han and Tang Dynasties," it caused even more unease throughout Korea.

What are the Han and Tang dynasties?
I don't know about other things, but the Korean monarchs and ministers all know history, namely that both the Han and Tang dynasties severely beat Korea!

Emperor Wu of Han conquered Korea and divided the territory of Wiman Joseon into four commanderies: Lelang Commandery, Zhenfan Commandery, Lintun Commandery, and Xuantu Commandery, collectively known as the Four Commanderies of Han.

When Emperor Taizong of Tang launched a campaign against Goguryeo, Emperor Gaozong of Tang established the Andong Protectorate to control Korea and Liaodong.

Corresponding to this trend of thought in the Ming Dynasty, a new trend of thought also emerged at the grassroots level in Korea.

Unfortunately, although North Korea also implemented the civil service examination system, ordinary scholars had almost no chance of changing their fate through the examination.

In the small Joseon court, positions with any real value were hereditary, and even if a scholar passed the imperial examinations and entered the Hongmungwan (similar to the Hanlin Academy in the Ming Dynasty), he could not wield actual power.

Many more were scholars who couldn't even pass the imperial examinations. The civil service examination system at the grassroots level in North Korea was extremely corrupt, and those who passed were mostly from the Yangban (aristocratic class).

These people studied diligently for many years, but in the end, they couldn't even pass the first hurdle of the imperial examination.

Those who could participate in the imperial examinations were at least sons of small and medium-sized landowners in Korea.

Some of them went back to inherit their family businesses, while others founded or joined academies.

The students of the academy would repeat the path of their predecessors, joining the academy only after failing the imperial examinations.

As a result, the academy became a stronghold for Korean scholars to oppose the Korean government.

The Korean king and his ministers were aware of the danger of the academies and repeatedly ordered their destruction. However, the local control in Korea was too weak, and each ban only made the local academies more prosperous.

These academies demanded that the Joseon king reform the system, abolish the Yangban aristocracy, punish corrupt officials, regard the Ming Dynasty as the "Heavenly Kingdom," and frequently cited Ming policies to criticize Joseon's national governance.

As a result, these grassroots academies in Korea gradually developed their own ideology—to submit to the Central Plains!
For ordinary scholars in Korea, being directly ruled by the Ming Dynasty would be an incredibly joyous occasion!
If Korea were to submit to the Central Plains, then Korean scholars could participate in the imperial examinations just like scholars in the Ming Dynasty.

Even if I don't pass the exam, it's still better than farming in North Korea.

But for the King of Joseon and the Yangban nobles, it was not a good thing.

No matter what, the power of the king and the yangban nobles was very secure, allowing them to lord it over ordinary scholars and common people.

If we were truly annexed by the Ming Dynasty, we would never have such good days again.

The King of Joseon urgently summoned the senior officials of the yangban (statesmen of state) to discuss countermeasures.
-
Just then, Tang Jinxing, a secret envoy from the Andong Protectorate, arrived in Hancheng.

What was the purpose of the secret envoy from the Andong Protectorate coming to Korea at this time?
The King of Joseon, trembling with fear, summoned Tang Jinxing.

Tang Jinxing was also somewhat apprehensive.

He was an envoy of the Andong Protectorate, which was merely a local institution of the Ming Dynasty.

Joseon was the number one vassal state of the Ming Dynasty, and the king of Joseon was a vassal state king who was granted a golden seal by the emperor of the Ming Dynasty.

Tang Jinxing was invited to Gyeongbokgung Palace by Joseon with a grand state ceremony.

If it were someone else, they would probably be timid at this point.

However, Tang Jinxing was a bold man. When he saw that the momentum of the Koreans had weakened, he became arrogant.

Tang Jinxing was summoned to the palace urgently, and when he entered, the lights in Jingfu Palace had already been lit.

Inside the main hall of Gyeongbokgung Palace, the lights were bright, yet a sense of oppression permeated the atmosphere. The King of Joseon, dressed in court attire, sat on his throne, but his face was pale, and his fingers unconsciously caressed the embroidery on his sleeves.

Tang Jinxing strode forward, his official robes from the Andong Protectorate making him appear exceptionally imposing. He did not bow, but instead stood tall and proud, his piercing gaze sweeping across the hall. The high-ranking officials around him held their breath and bowed their heads, none daring to utter a sound.

Tang Jinxing spoke to the King of Joseon in an arrogant tone:

"Your Majesty, I have come here today not for empty formalities, but to address the loss on your Korean border!"

"Over the years, the Ming Dynasty has treated you like a bulwark, yet you have neglected border defenses, allowing the Jurchen tribes to grow stronger and enabling them to invade Liaodong. This is truly the root of all evil!"

"The Andong Protectorate has repeatedly reported that Jurchen bandits are using the Korean border as a route to plunder. The Korean military is in disarray, and officials are corrupt, yet no one can control them. Is this not the fault of your Korea?"

Upon hearing this, the King of Joseon trembled and nearly slipped off his throne.

He hurriedly grabbed the armrest, his voice trembling slightly, and replied timidly, "Lord Tang, please calm down...please calm down! I am well aware of the problems on the border. The Jurchens are rampant, a disgrace to Korea. I am worried day and night, fearing that disaster will befall our great Ming Dynasty..."

He stammered, cold sweat beading on his forehead. He glanced at Tang Jinxing, and seeing the other's ashen face, he panicked even more.

Seeing this, Tang Jinxing's lips curled into a mocking smile, and he pressed on, his words becoming increasingly harsh:
"Now that you know your shame, quickly take remedial action!"

The King of Korea asked tremblingly:
"May I ask, Your Excellency, how can this be remedied?"

Seeing the weakness of the King of Joseon, Tang Jinxing's courage grew even stronger.

He said:
"The Emperor of our Great Ming Dynasty established the Protectorate General of Andong precisely for the sake of peace in the northern border!"

"Peace in the north is not a matter for our Great Ming Dynasty; Korea must send troops!"

Upon hearing that troops were to be sent, the King of Korea turned pale.

The movement of a large army consumes enormous amounts of troops, horses, and provisions. Korea had finally enjoyed a period of peace; if it were to send troops again, wouldn't the Korean monarch and his officials have to endure hardship once more?

However, the King of Joseon's gaze fell on Feng Xueyan, who was accompanying Tang Jinxing to the audience.

Feng Xueyan remained calm, neither trying to dissuade Tang Jinxing nor speaking up for North Korea.

Instead, he stood quietly to the side like an old monk.

This was like a bucket of cold water being poured over the king of Korea!
The King of Joseon recalled Tang Xianzu's new play "Three Arrows Settle the Tianshan Mountains" and the slogans in the Ming Dynasty newspapers calling for the restoration of the Han and Tang dynasties.

It's all connected! Everything's connected!

Tang Jinxing came here to create a pretext for war!
If he refuses the request from the Andong Protectorate to send troops, the Andong Protectorate will use this as a pretext to denounce Joseon, putting the Joseon court in an even more unfavorable situation!

Considering the trend of Korean private academies returning to the Ming Dynasty, Feng Xueyan's importance among Korean scholars was evident!

If a "rebellion" were to break out in Korea and the Andong Protectorate were to enter Korea "at the request of the Korean elders," would the ruler of the country still be able to maintain his position?

The fact that someone as mature as Feng Xueyan didn't stop Tang Jinxing suggests that this was all part of the Ming Dynasty's plan. No way! We absolutely cannot give the Ming Dynasty an excuse to incite unrest in Korea!

Thinking of this, the King of Korea disregarded everything else and immediately said:

"Your Excellency, please calm your anger. The entire Korean people will certainly assist the Andong Protectorate in sending troops to the northern border!"

Tang Jinxing originally wanted to continue to exert pressure, but he did not expect that the King of Joseon would suddenly back down.

Tang Jinxing felt like he had nowhere to vent his anger, but since he had already achieved his goal, he could only calm down for the time being.

Tang Jinxing then forced the King of Joseon to reach a secret agreement, in which the King of Joseon would submit a letter "voluntarily" requesting assistance from the Andong Protectorate to attack the Jurchens, and that Joseon would also bear the cost of the Joseon army's rewards and supplies after the troops were dispatched.

Faced with such harsh demands, the King of Joseon had no choice but to reluctantly agree.

After seeing Tang Jinxing and Feng Xueyan off, the King of Joseon collapsed onto his throne.

The two high-ranking officials stepped forward and bowed to the King of Joseon, saying:
"Your Majesty endured the burden and failed to give the Ming envoy any pretext. Your Majesty's righteousness is admirable, and we, your subjects, are ashamed!"

The weak king of Joseon looked at his ministers. Since he ascended the throne, his prestige had been insufficient. His ministers were fighting among themselves and did not take him, the king, seriously.

Unexpectedly, this reception of the Ming envoy yielded an unexpected gain, greatly enhancing his prestige among the court officials.

In addition, the King of Joseon thought of his younger brother, King Haneung, Yi Jin.

King Ha-neung, Yi Lin, was highly respected in Joseon. Since the Joseon king had no heir, many ministers in the court stood behind King Ha-neung and wanted to support him as the successor to the throne.

This is a good opportunity to send Lord Heling, Yi Lin, as the commander of the dispatched army to the harsh and cold northeastern region.

The King of Joseon thought to himself, "It seems we should thank this wise envoy."
-
The fat pigeon relayed a message that the King of Joseon had yielded and had submitted a letter of state to the Ming Dynasty through the Joseon State Administration, "voluntarily" requesting to send troops to the Northeast to assist the Andong Protectorate in dealing with the Jurchens.

Su Ze put the letter away. With this in mind, expanding into Liaodong should not be a big problem.

However, the Jurchens were merely a "minor trouble" hindering the Ming Dynasty's expansion.

In reality, besides military issues, the biggest problem for the Ming Dynasty in abandoning Liaodong was the climate.

The harsh weather turned the frigid regions into barren wastelands during the agricultural era, making them a stable and harsh frontier for the barbarian tribes.

The Tang Dynasty's prosperity was precisely because it was the warmest period in history.

During the Tang Dynasty, even highland powers like Tibet rose to prominence, and the Bohai Kingdom, a "prosperous kingdom in the east of the sea," emerged in the northeast.

However, after the Tang Dynasty, the temperature dropped sharply, the civilization of the prosperous Haidong Kingdom dissipated, and the Central Plains dynasties were never able to control the Northeast again.

It can be said that empires in the agricultural era could only leave these remote regions to their own devices, which was determined by the level of productivity.

The Northeast is cold, and sufficient fuel is essential for keeping warm in winter.

It takes seven days to starve to death without food, but in Northeast China, it only takes one night to freeze to death without fuel.

In the agricultural era, firewood was the only fuel.

Before Su Ze's journey, some rural areas in northern China still had the custom of storing firewood.

Many families often start storing firewood as early as the beginning of summer, otherwise they will not be able to get through the winter.

The land can only be cultivated once a year, and fuel for winter must be collected during cultivation.

All year round, we have to use all our strength just to survive, so how can we talk about reproduction?

What truly enables the development of the North is the growth of productivity.

The utilization of iron and coal made the development of cold regions possible.

With a stable supply of coal for heating, there's no need to worry about heating.

The advancement of iron tools led to an increase in productivity and also gave rise to the ability to further transform nature.

What truly enables the development of Northeast China is industry.

The northern region possesses abundant mineral resources. Once it enters the industrial age, the problems of heating and production can be solved. In the original timeline, the northeastern region was also the first region in the entire Chinese civilization to give birth to industrial civilization.

Moreover, the northern region has a smaller population, and given the scarcity of human resources, it will inevitably place greater emphasis on the development of machinery.

This is also why the Ming Dynasty in history was unable to experience an industrial revolution; human resources were too cheap.

Cheap human resources make the cost of manual textile production lower than the cost of developing machine textile production, and the cost of manual mining lower than the cost of researching machine mining. Since people are not valuable, why should we invest money in developing new technologies and replacing people with machines?
Therefore, after developing the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei economic zone, Su Ze turned his attention to the Northeast.

There was no other way; Shanxi and Shandong were too close to the capital.

As the political, cultural, and technological center, the capital city naturally attracted the surrounding areas.

The simplest example is that Shanxi merchants would open trading companies in the capital, and even families like the Fan family would set up the headquarters of their family trading companies in the capital.

Moreover, Shanxi and Shandong also had a large local gentry and clan influence.

In contrast, the Northeast, with its sparse population, abundant land, and plentiful resources, is more suitable to develop into the second resource and industrial center of the Ming Dynasty.

This is also Su Ze's true plan.

Therefore, the expulsion of the Jurchens was no longer simply to prevent their rise, but rather for the overall development strategy of the Ming Dynasty.

At this point, any forces that stand in the way of the Ming Dynasty's development will eventually be crushed by this chariot that has been set in motion.
-
On September 6, officials, gentry and commoners of Changzhou Prefecture jointly petitioned the government, making Changzhou Prefecture the second prefecture in Southern Zhili to levy commercial taxes, following Yangzhou Prefecture.

Similarly, Changzhou Prefecture and Yangzhou Prefecture were important passages connecting the south and north of the Yangtze River.

The imposition of commercial taxes by these two prefectures had a significant impact on other prefectures in the Jiangnan region.

In particular, Songjiang Prefecture and Suzhou Prefecture, which are now the most developed commodity economies, published a series of articles in the Jiangzuo Yabao criticizing Changzhou Prefecture for intercepting commercial taxes and calling it a traitor to the entire Jiangnan region!

No matter how much Jiangnan people criticize, or even unite to expel Changzhou Prefecture from the "Jiangnan register," the fact that Changzhou Prefecture levied commercial taxes was indeed a huge victory for the imperial court's commercial tax reform.

For several days in a row, the cabinet held meetings, and Gao Gong and Zhang Juzheng both had smiles on their faces that they could not suppress.

This is the biggest achievement since the imperial court's commercial tax reform. The Ministry of Revenue estimates that the commercial tax contribution from Yangzhou and Changzhou may exceed that of the entire Shandong province!
Next, more good news arrived: Jingzhou Prefecture in Huguang Province also announced the imposition of commercial taxes.

Jingzhou was Zhang Juzheng's hometown, so it was only natural that Jingzhou would levy commercial taxes.

But Zhang Juzheng's next move made Su Ze exclaim that it was a brilliant stroke!
Zhang Juzheng petitioned the court to establish tax checkpoints in Jingzhou Prefecture and Yiling Prefecture!

(End of this chapter)