On August 12, Li Zhi rode into Seoul, the royal city of Korea, with a gorgeous guard of honor.
The west gate of Seoul and the main street to the west were decorated with lights and streamers to accept the review of the conqueror Li Zhi. Li Laosi and Zhong Feng followed Li Zhi's guard of honor and slowly entered Seoul.
On both sides of the road, when the Korean people saw this gorgeous guard of honor, they all came out and whispered to each other. The soldiers of the Tiger Army did not do anything to ordinary people these days, but the people of Seoul were not afraid of the officials and officials of the Ming Dynasty.
army.
They had never seen the official guard of honor of the Ming Dynasty, so they didn't know who the visitor was. But seeing the momentum of more than a thousand soldiers and guards of the Tiger Army, they knew that this must be a high official, and none of them dared to speak loudly.
After walking a few steps, Zhong Feng looked at the standing people of Seoul and frowned. He suddenly waved his hand and shouted to the ten guards behind him: "Fire a gun in demonstration!"
The ten guards quickly loaded their ammunition and fired into the air.
"Pop" "Pap" "Pap"!
The huge sound of gunfire frightened the onlookers in Seoul. Only then did these North Koreans become frightened and knelt on the ground in panic.
Many people in Seoul wore black pointed round hats, called Korean hats. However, the Koreans were frightened by the gunshots and knelt on the ground, not daring to wear their hats. They all took off their black hats and placed them on the ground.
Looking from Li Zhi's point of view, all he could see was a head covered in darkness.
Li Zhi smiled and rode towards the center of North Korea.
Li Laosi rode up to him, raised his hands and said: "My boss, our operation of checking the two groups of nobles this time initially yielded the most results on Ping'an Road and Xianjing Road. The two groups of nobles in these two roads don't know how powerful we are.
They often guarded the manor. After the soldiers of the Tiger Army rushed into the manor and killed the manor owner, they could often confiscate all the property of the two groups of nobles. So we confiscated 25 million taels of property in these two areas."
Li Laosi came back from northern North Korea yesterday and rushed to Seoul to report to Li Zhi the results of the Huben Division's battle in northern Korea. Fighting and commanding abroad made Li Laosi very tired. He seemed not to have slept well, and his eyes were bloodshot.
But because the war was progressing smoothly, he looked very energetic and spoke with great energy.
Li Zhi looked at Li Laosi and asked calmly: "I heard that you made a decision to distribute five dou of grain to every farmer in North Korea."
When Li Laosi heard this question, his face was stunned. Obviously, Li Zhi did not have the power to distribute the spoils to Li Laosi. Li Laosi made this decision on the front line, which seemed to make the decision without authorization.
This matter is of great concern. Li Laosi did not report to Li Zhi in a letter a few days ago, and planned to come to Tianjin to talk to the Duke of Jin in person. Unexpectedly, Li Zhi already knew about it in advance, which made Li Laosi very passive.
Li Laosi quickly jumped off his horse, half-knelt on the ground and raised his hands, saying, "I have overstepped my authority!"
Li Zhi smiled and stopped his horse.
As soon as Li Zhi stopped, more than a thousand personal guards and honor guards all stopped.
Li Zhi smiled and said: "It doesn't matter, Li Laosi, you did the right thing. If you don't win the support of the farmers, you will encounter great resistance in occupying North Korea. You are not wrong in saying that you will not grant orders to foreign kings."
Li Laosi was a little uneasy and half-knelt on the ground wondering if he had made Li Zhi unhappy.
Li Zhi told this matter just to remind Li Laosi that major events in the future should be reported in time. He was not going to continue to dwell on this topic and asked: "The harvest was great at the beginning, but what happened later?"
Li Laosi sang "Nai", stood up and replied: "Dong Mingjian, after Zhong Feng invaded Seoul and captured the King of Korea, the resistance of the two groups of Korean nobles was broken down. These manor owners understood that they could not stop them.
Those who can withstand the raids of the Huben Army often dispose of the property in the manor in advance, and then surrender directly to our army with their family members."
Li Zhi rode his horse forward and asked calmly: "How do they deal with the property?"
Li Laosi quickly got on his horse, rode after Li Zhi's horse, and said: "If these manor owners hide their money and grain, we are not afraid. As long as they are tortured, the hidden wealth can always be found."
But these manor owners are very cunning. They know that we want to unite the farmers in North Korea, so before the Tiger Army arrives, they give all the food and money to the local farmers to win people's hearts."
Li Zhi was stunned for a moment. He didn't expect that the two classes of nobles in North Korea would still play this trick.
In fact, although the yangban aristocrats in North Korea continue to annex the land of small farmers, their style is better than that of the gentry in the Ming Dynasty, and their relationship with the farmers is better. The yangban aristocrats in North Korea do not evade taxes. They pay land taxes like farmers. And
These two classes of nobles were also more attentive in running their estates than the gentry of the Ming Dynasty. Almost all the water conservancy facilities built in North Korea came from these two classes.
Generally speaking, although the two classes of nobles have little value in improving the overall strength of the country, they are not as corrupt as the gentry of the Ming Dynasty. They are not so corrupt that they will kill themselves, and they are not corrupt enough to force peasant uprisings. In fact, in the original history
In the early 20th century, the two groups of nobles ruled North Korea very stably until the beginning of the 20th century.
Faced with the threat of the Huben Army, these Korean nobles were still able to make a basic choice - instead of leaving their property to the Huben Army, it would be better to give it all to the people and win people's hearts.
The Huben Army will not force farmers to hand over grain money one by one. Once the money enters the farmers' pockets, it will naturally never be dug out again. Moreover, the Huben Army cannot punish the two groups of nobles for this, otherwise they will lose the two groups of nobles.
The favorable peasants sympathize with the Liangbans, which may trigger a large-scale popular uprising.
"That's all. Letting the farmers get a sum of money and food from this will also help stabilize the mood of the Korean people when we annex North Korea." Li Zhi thought for a while and asked lightly: "How much is the overall harvest so far?"
Li Laosi replied: "At present, the Tiger Army has invaded Huanghae Province and Jiangyuan Province. Occasionally, they can capture some Yangban who have not dissipated their wealth, but the harvest is getting smaller and smaller. In the four roads, more than 3,000 people have been confiscated in total.
Ten thousand taels of wealth."
Li Zhi nodded and said: "More than thirty million taels is a lot. It is double the compensation we asked for before the war. It is already a lot. With these silver goods, our fiscal deficit can be maintained for one or two more years."
.Coupled with North Korea’s future tax revenue of 4 million taels, we can expand our army.”
Li Laosi cupped his hands and said, "My boss has a clear lesson!"
Li Zhi looked at the North Korean citizens kneeling on both sides of the road and said slowly: "But the most critical thing now is to change North Korea's public opinion and culture and provide support for us to annex North Korea."
After thinking about it, Li Zhi said: "Select a group of capable personnel to run newspapers and schools in North Korea. First of all, the newspaper must be run to ensure that our policies and culture can be spread throughout North Korea. This matter is very important.
Let Huan Yihua, the general manager of the newspaper, personally lead a team to North Korea to manage newspapers and schools!"
Zheng Kaicheng, who was standing behind, thought for a while and asked: "My boss, are we going to build North Korea into a prosperous place like Tianjin and Shandong in the future?"
Li Zhi shook his head and said: "Our definition of North Korea is a colony. Tianjin, Shandong and Northeast China will be the suzerain country of North Korea. North Korea must transfuse blood to the suzerain country every year. Advanced industries are concentrated in Tianjin, and North Korea is the origin of raw materials.
