When Zhu Cijiong led the scout cavalry back to the gate of Zhangyi, Xia Wanchun had already finished cleaning up the battlefield. All the horses abandoned by Jiannu had been gathered together, and the wounded soldiers had been treated.
The fallen soldiers were neatly placed together.
In the battle of Seoul, the Ming army truly showed its majesty.
But the price paid was extremely heavy, and it was really a dead body.
"Report to King Ding." Xia Wanchun stepped forward and reported with a heavy expression, "There were more than 1,900 casualties in this battle, of which more than 900 were killed, and more than 100 were seriously injured and dying. It is estimated that they will not survive tonight."
Zhu Cijiong sighed after hearing this. The casualties were indeed quite tragic.
In fact, the casualties among the slaves were similar, with less than a thousand people actually killed.
The remaining more than 2,000 people were only injured. Some of the slaves were not seriously injured, which was equivalent to being captured alive.
However, since it was the Ming army that won in the end, and the Ming army also suffered heavy casualties, the result of waiting for these injured soldiers of the Jiannu can be imagined: they were all gathered together and beheaded.
More than two thousand slaves were beheaded, and the tails of rats were cut off and collected.
Because Seoul was too far away from Nanjing, the heads would have rotted if they were brought back, so Zhu Cijiong decided to cut off the rat tail of the slaves to serve as their heads. At most, he would just explain a few words, and he expected that the Ministry of Internal Affairs would not deny it.
"The fallen soldiers must be cremated separately and their ashes taken back."
"Seriously injured soldiers must be rescued as much as possible, no matter what the cost."
"Yes." Xia Wanchun solemnly promised, "I will definitely try my best."
While they were talking, Li came over and reported: "King Ding, my father has come with hundreds of officials in the court to plead guilty to you."
Zhu Cijiong looked back, and sure enough he saw that the originally closed Changui Gate had been opened, and then the King of Joseon's ceremonial guard came out of the Changui Gate. Under the red umbrella was a carriage.
The person sitting on the shoulder chair must be the King of Joseon, Lee Joon.
Behind Jianyu followed a large group of officials, nearly hundreds of them.
Zhu Cijiong then motioned to Xia Wanchun to bring over a saddle, and then sat upright.
Because Zhu Cijiong was influenced by Chongzhen, he also hated red tape, but it was a different matter at this moment.
Because at this moment, Zhu Cijiong is not representing himself, but representing the Ming Dynasty. The national character of the Ming Dynasty does not allow him to be arbitrary, but must show the dignity of a great power. After all, North Korea has made a mistake.
Upon seeing this, Xia Wanchun also led the uninjured soldiers to stand behind Zhu Cijiong.
The shoulder carriage Li Ju was riding gradually approached. When he was nearly fifty steps away, Li Jue saw Zhu Cijiong sitting on the saddle and immediately motioned to the chamberlain to put down the shoulder carriage.
Li Zhu struggled to stand up from his shoulder.
However, as soon as he took a step forward, he almost fell to the ground.
It can be seen here that Li Zhu's physical condition is really poor.
In the end, Li Zhu had to be supported by two chamberlains and came to Zhu Cijiong.
Zhu Cijiong sat on the saddle and did not move, just staring at Li Zhu expressionlessly.
Li Zhu then knelt down tremblingly on the ground, panting and apologizing: "Li Zhu, the guilty king of North Korea, brought his ministers and servants to kowtow to His Highness Prince Ding of the Ming Dynasty, and respectfully invite His Majesty the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty to Jin'an."
All the civil and military officials behind Li Zhu also knelt down.
Among the civil and military officials in Korea, many still sympathize with the Ming Dynasty, but there are more ministers who are afraid of the military front. However, after seeing the fighting between the Ming army and the Qing army at the Changui Gate just now, these ministers
They all changed their stance and turned to support breaking away from the control of the slaves and returning to the list of vassal states of the Ming Dynasty.
In the eyes of these civil servants and generals, it was obviously better to be a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty.
After all, they had been a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty for nearly 300 years. The Ming Dynasty had never treated Korean monarchs and ministers harshly. Every time they sent envoys to pay tribute, the Ming Emperor gave them more rewards than their tributes. During the Japanese Rebellion in Imchen, they even sent troops to help.
Korea, so being a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty really paid off.
On the contrary, the Manchus and Qing Dynasties were somewhat demanding and excessive.
Not only does North Korea have to pay money and food every year, but it also has to mobilize troops.
Therefore, it is obviously better to be a vassal of the Ming Dynasty than to be a vassal of the Manchu and Qing Dynasties.
But this time, the North Korean monarchs and ministers made the wrong idea, a big mistake.
Zhu Cijiong bowed his head far away in the direction of Nanjing and said, "Blessings, holy bow."
Li Zhu bowed to Zhu Cijiong three times and kowtowed nine times, then he knelt down and stood up.
Zhu Cijiong then shouted with a dark face: "I have an edict, King Li Zhu of North Korea, do you know your guilt?"
Li Jian and the civil and military officials behind him quickly knelt down on the ground again, and responded in panic: "Li Jian knows the crime, and the guilty minister should not succumb to the power of the slaves and commit stupid acts that dishonor the dignity of the Ming Dynasty and the national dignity of Korea."
, I only hope that His Majesty the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty will forgive our Korean monarchs and ministers for the mistakes they made in a moment of confusion, seeing that our country, Korea, has always served the Ming Dynasty as its suzerain for more than two hundred and seventy years and has never dared to go beyond the rules.
The king and his ministers are extremely grateful."
Zhu Cijiong said coldly: "Where is the agreement signed with Jiannu?"
Li Zhu waved his hand, and a chamberlain presented the alliance letter.
Zhu Cijiong took it and took a look. Sure enough, it was an alliance signed between Jiannu and North Korea. It was written in Han, Manchu and Korean respectively, and was stamped with Huang Taiji's seal and Li Zhu's seal.
After Zhu Cijiong read the alliance letter, he returned it to Li Zhu.
Li Zhu immediately ordered the leader Jin Yu to light a fire and burn the alliance letter.
After burning the alliance letter, Li Zhu ordered his servant to bring him a mink fur coat.
"This fur was given by Huang Taiji, the puppet emperor of Jiannu, and we will burn it together now."
After Li Zhu finished speaking, he ordered his servant to light a fire and burn the mink fur as well.
The next step was to re-sign the alliance, but Zhu Cijiong did not bring Chongzhen's emperor's seal, so the alliance had to be brought back to Nanjing to be stamped with Chongzhen's seal, and then sent back to North Korea.
At this point, Korea was freed from slavery and became a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty again.
The next step is to determine the candidate for the crown prince. There is actually no suspense about this. Li has now become Li Zhu's only living adult son.
Zhu Cijiong said: "King of Korea, I have something to say to you and I am sorry."
Hearing this, Li Zhu, Jin Yu and other North Korean ministers turned pale in an instant, and wondered what kind of excessive demands Zhu Cijiong was going to make, such as asking North Korea to donate thousands or even hundreds of virgins.
Huang Taiji, the slave-building puppet emperor, once did this.
If North Korea doesn't give it to them, they will just grab it.
Who makes their Korean women famous?
"That's it. Fenglin Lord Li Hao has died in the chaos just now."
Zhu Cijiong turned his eyes to Li and said in his heart that I will not wipe your butt for nothing. You will have to get it back a hundred times in the future. I just hope that when you pay the price in the future, you will not complain.
When Li Zhu heard this, his face turned blank in an instant.
It's also pitiful. He had already indulged too much and had run out of energy. As a result, he lost his eldest son and second son one after another. Not many old people can withstand such a mental blow.
…
That night, Li Zhu fell ill after returning to Gyeongbokgung Palace.
Because he was seriously ill, Li Zhu did not even attend the celebration dinner that night. Instead, he only asked Li to toast Zhu Cijiong with a glass of wine on his behalf and express his gratitude to Zhu Cijiong and Daming.
North Korean officials such as the leader Jin Yu and the left leader Gu Renhe all attended the evening banquet.
The upper class in North Korea all advocate Confucian culture and often regard themselves as Little China. They also use Chinese characters and Ming Dynasty Mandarin as status symbols, so they can communicate with Zhu Cijiong without any obstacles.
Zhu Cijiong walked to Jin Yao's table with the wine bottle and greeted with a smile: "Master Jin."
"I don't dare to take it seriously." Jin Yao hurriedly knelt down and stood up, and said humbly, "King Ding can just call me by my name."
Zhu Cijiong smiled and said: "When I entered the city in the evening, I saw that the streets of Seoul were quite depressed, and the people in the city seemed to be living in poverty. What is going on? Hasn't North Korea always been rich?"
Jin Yao sighed and said: "Prince Ding, that is the old Huangli."
Zuo Yizheng Ju Renge also came over and sighed: "In recent decades, our country has suffered from the Japanese Rebellion of Imjin, the Rebellion of Dingmao, the Rebellion of Bingzi, and the rebellion of Li Shi and other rebels. The common people in the country have been wiped out.
Wang Ji was no exception to the displacement and displacement, so it was only when King Ding entered the city that he saw such a dilapidated and depressed atmosphere."
Zhu Cijiong asked again: "Have you heard that North Korea's annual income is only more than 100,000 shi?"
"Who says it's not the case?" Jin Yao and Gu Renhe poured out their bitterness to Zhu Cijiong in unison.
"More than 100,000 dan must come in a good year. If there is a disaster and there is no 100,000 dan, officials in the capital can often only receive 30% or even 20% of their salary. Some eighth- and ninth-rank ministers even starve to death on the streets."
"So miserable?" Zhu Cijiong finally revealed his trump card for this trip.
"There is a way to help you North Korean monarchs and ministers overcome this difficulty."
"That's right. Nowadays, all industries in our Ming Dynasty are booming, and the demand for craftsmen is huge."
"If you can recruit Korean blacksmiths to work in Nanjing, Ming Dynasty can give each person ten yuan per year, which is ten taels of silver for work and food. If you don't want silver, you can also fold rice."
Hearing this, Jin Yao and Ju Renhe's eyes suddenly lit up.
A blacksmith earns 10 taels per year, but ten thousand blacksmiths earn 100,000 taels per year.
Remember, the price of rice in Nanjing is one tael per shi, and one hundred thousand taels equals one hundred thousand shi.
This is a huge amount of national treasury revenue for North Korea today.
With this revenue from the treasury, at least officials will no longer have to pay their salaries in arrears.
At that moment, Jin Yao and Ju Renhe looked at each other and asked Zhu Cijiong: "Prince Ding, I wonder how many blacksmiths the Ming Dynasty needs?"
"The more, the merrier." Zhu Cijiong said with a smile, "As I said just now, all industries in our Ming Dynasty are prosperous, and the demand for all kinds of craftsmen is very large. A thousand is not too few, and a hundred thousand is not too many."
Jin Yu was overjoyed and said: "I have at least 20,000 blacksmiths in the Eighth Route Army of Korea!"
Ju Renge also said: "King Ding, besides the blacksmith, do you need any other craftsmen?"
"If they are craftsmen, the Ming Dynasty needs them." Zhu Cijiong said, "Blacksmiths, carpenters, stonemasons, masons, and even pig butchers, as long as they are craftsmen, our Ming Dynasty needs them all, and the same goes for the money they provide for work and food."
Speaking of this, he added: "Of course, it must be a skilled craftsman."
