In the Seonjeong Hall of Changdeokgung Palace in Seoul, North Korea, King Lee Joo of North Korea looked at the ultimatum written by Li Zhi, his face turned red and white.
In the ultimatum, Li Zhi listed North Korea's crimes after surrendering to the Qing Dynasty and asked North Korea to pay 15 million taels in atonement. This made Li Zhu feel a little at a loss. North Korea's annual income was only 5 million taels, and these taxes had to be supported.
There was almost no surplus in the army and officials. Li Zhi asked for 15 million taels as soon as he asked for it, which Li Zhu could not get out despite selling the pot.
However, Li Zhi's words in the ultimatum were very harsh, and he showed a strong tendency to not give up until his goal was achieved. If Li Zhu refused, I am afraid that North Korea would be facing Li Zhi's crusade next.
North Korea knows how powerful Li Zhi is.
Although North Korea is a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty, it has personally experienced all the wars in Northeast Asia over the years. Whether it was Japan, which rose after the Warring States Period, or the Jin Dynasty, which unified the Jurchens during the Nurhaci era, they invaded North Korea many times. North Korea can be said to have
It is at the forefront of Northeast Asia, so it has always been very sensitive to the changes in strength of nearby forces.
North Korea has always implemented the "matter-of-fact doctrine", that is, whichever of the nearby forces such as the Later Jin Dynasty, Ming Dynasty, and Japan is the most powerful, North Korea will fall to whoever is stronger. The Ming Dynasty is stronger than Japan, so North Korea insists on uniting with the Ming Dynasty to fight against Japan; the Ming Dynasty is stronger than the Later Jin Dynasty.
, North Korea insisted on worshiping the Ming Dynasty as Zhengshuo; and in the ninth year of Chongzhen's reign, the Manchu and Qing Dynasties under Huang Taiji seemed to be stronger than the Ming Dynasty, so North Korea surrendered to the Manchu and Qing Dynasties.
Of course North Korea, which implements this national policy, understands that now Li Zhi has a strong army and a strong horse.
Li Zhi was still nominally the Duke of Tianjin in the Ming Dynasty, but in fact he was highly independent and carried out domestic and foreign affairs independently. Last summer, Li Zhi went north to the Qing Dynasty and simply wiped out the Tatars who had invaded and plundered the Ming Dynasty countless times. Of course, North Korea was in Liaodong.
Sentries were posted, and the intelligence reported back was that the Qing Dynasty was vulnerable to Li Zhi's firecrackers and cannons.
After witnessing Li Zhi's terrifying strength last year, North Korea's monarchs and ministers were deeply afraid, fearing that Li Zhi would seize Liaodong and conquer North Korea. However, it was too difficult to prevent the ruthless Li Zhi from punishing North Korea for surrendering to the Qing Dynasty. North Korea finally chose to become the Ming Dynasty
The work of the imperial court.
King Li Chun sent a special envoy to Beijing and spent hundreds of thousands of money to bribe the civil servants in the court. He finally won the praise of the civil servants and was forgiven by the Ming Dynasty court and was re-accepted as a vassal state.
I thought that renaming the vassal of the Ming Dynasty would be fine. However, I didn't expect that the status of this vassal state did not stop Li Zhi. Li Zhi still pointed out the sins of North Korea's surrender to the Qing Dynasty and demanded money from North Korea to make amends.
Li Zhu sighed deeply and said with a sad face: "The national treasury can only save more than 200,000 taels of silver every year. How can I get these 15 million taels?"
Li Zhu's eldest son, the crown prince of North Korea, Li Bo, said: "Father, our surrender of North Korea to the Qing Dynasty is irrefutable. So far, only one party has sent an envoy to Tianjin to ask for a grace period and a reduction in the amount. If the amount can be reduced,
If it falls below 10 million, we can still take it out. On the other hand, the court should collect special taxes from landlords according to the amount of land, whether they are two classes of nobles, middlemen, or good people, and collect special taxes together to collect the money.
This money."
Li Bo was the person in the Korean court who knew Li Zhi's strength best. He served as a hostage in the Qing Dynasty for a long time and witnessed with his own eyes how Li Zhi destroyed the Manchu Qing Dynasty. Last year, the Manchu Qing Dynasty was conquered by Li Zhi and fled without a fight. He fled to
Alchukha. Li Shu bribed the guards and escaped halfway back to North Korea. From then on, he was in great awe of Li Zhi.
So after Li Zhi asked for money, Li Bo immediately proposed to discuss the matter with Li Zhi.
The North Korean King Yi Jie let out a long sigh and said somewhat discouragedly: "Imposing such a heavy tax may trigger a civil uprising."
Park Dae-kyeong, the leader of the Uijeongbu government, raised his hands and said, "I believe that what the crown prince said is not true. Although Korea is not strong in combat, it has never been conquered by any foreign nation! Even if the Japanese occupied the entire territory of Korea during the Imjin Japanese Rebellion, they would not be able to conquer it.
The subjects who rule Korea. At that time, civil uprisings occurred one after another. In the end, the Japanese army of more than 200,000 people invaded twice and retreated twice. "
"In the ninth year of Chongzhen, the Tatars invaded our country, captured our royal city, and occupied countless cities. In the end, our country only surrendered in name. The annual tribute of food was only a thousand taels of silver and ten thousand bags of rice. Now Li Zhi sent an envoy to send a
If your Highness just scrapes the ground and levies heavy taxes and pay tribute, I am afraid that not only Li Zhi will take advantage of it, but also the two groups of nobles among the people will be furious, and it will eventually lead to great chaos!"
"Although Li Zhi is strong, the people of the country are not afraid of him. If Your Highness surrenders to Li Zhi against the will of the people, won't you see the fate of Lord Guanghae who goes against the will of the people?"
The Uijeongbu is the highest administrative department of North Korea, equivalent to the cabinet of the Ming Dynasty. The leader of the Uijeongye is called the leader, and he is a figure similar to the prime minister.
The politics of North Korea are co-governed by the king and the "two classes" of nobles. Park Dae-kyung, as the political leader, also represents the power of the private aristocracy. The money Li Zhi wanted was ultimately provided by the North Korean landlord class. For the private aristocracy, it was inexplicable.
It is unacceptable to hand over fifteen million taels of silver to Li Zhi.
Park Dae-kyung's proposal aroused widespread approval from the officials in the Xuanzheng Palace, and all the officials came out to sing peace.
Li Zhu looked at the ministers in the palace and sighed again.
"Appeal to the Emperor of Heaven and ask him to stop the powerful Li Zhi in Korea for me."
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Zhu Youjian was sitting in the Qianqing Palace with his eyes closed.
After processing more than a dozen memorials in a row, Zhu Youjian was extremely tired. He rubbed the sun and asked Wang Chengen: "Have you finished reading the memorials sent by the cabinet today?"
Wang Chengen looked at the table next to him and said: "I have finished reading the domestic memorials, but there is a memorial from King Li Zhu of North Korea. Do you want to read it?"
When Zhu Youjian heard that it was a memorial from North Korea, he frowned and said: "These Yi people went to Qin, Mu and Chu, and as soon as Dongnu was destroyed, they bribed the civil servants of the court to force me to accept them again. What else will bother me this time?"
?”
Wang Chengen sang "Nai", opened Li Zhu's memorial, read it for a while, and took a breath.
"Your Majesty, Li Zhi wants to blackmail North Korea for fifteen million taels this time!"
Zhu Youjian was stunned and turned to look at Wang Chengen.
Wang Chengen put the memorial next to Zhu Youjian and said: "Your Majesty, look, Li Zhi said that North Korea once surrendered to the Qing Dynasty to help Zhou's oppression, and asked North Korea to give Tianjin 1,500 taels of atonement silver!"
Zhu Youjian glanced at the memorial and said nothing.
Wang Chengen read the memorial again and said: "Your Majesty, North Korea has stopped Li Zhi from asking for help. North Korea says that they are a small country and they cannot scrape the ground to get so much money."
Zhu Youjian still didn't speak, sitting on the chair and thinking for a while.
After a long time, he stood up and walked around for a few steps, and finally stopped at the window.
Zhu Youjian said slowly: "Send someone to ask Li Zhi how he could blackmail North Korea without going through the court."
Wang Chengen rolled his eyes and asked, "What do you mean, Your Majesty?"
Wang Chengen looked at the emperor, thought for a long time, and then smiled and said: "I understand, the emperor wants Li Zhi to give out some silver. He eats 15 million taels in North Korea at a time, and he has to give 500 taels no matter what. Turn over ten thousand taels to the inner treasury!"
Zhu Youjian looked at Xiaoyu outside Qianqing Palace and said nothing.
