The day the Datong Army occupied Hanyang, the city and its surroundings stabilized.
Due to the severe punishment of robbers who took advantage of the chaos, the social security in Hanyang City was even better than ever before, and even petty theft was temporarily eliminated.
"Party Ambassador, what should we do?" Jin Junyan asked.
Dang Chongjun was also a little confused: "Wait for the North Korean monarchs and ministers to send someone with weight to negotiate."
The imperial order they received was very simple, that is, to seize a piece of land from North Korea, and the specific operations were decided by themselves.
So the two made a plan to let the army bombard the city wall. They refused the first three rounds of negotiations from North Korea. Under the continuous bombardment, they were able to receive the fourth round of envoys. From the lion's mouth to the ground to pay back the money, they finally extorted a large piece of land.
Dang Chongjun and Jin Junyan, both civil and military officials, never dreamed that North Korea's monarchs and ministers would abandon the city and flee!
"Ambassador, there are North Korean businessmen who want to see you."
"Bring him in."
A North Korean businessman in his forties knelt down in front of Dang Chongjun and said: "Common citizen Hong Daoquan, please bow to the Lord Angel!"
Dang Chongjun said: "Get up."
"Thank you, sir." Hong Daoquan stood up and still stood bent, "The king of our country patrolled the city and sent the common people to apologize to the angel."
Dang Chongjun became more and more speechless: "Why didn't you send a minister to ask for mercy, but actually sent a businessman here?"
Hong Daoquan said: "The king sends ministers, and ministers send businessmen."
"What does the leader of North Korea want to say?" Dang Chongjun asked.
Hong Daoquan replied: "I don't know."
Dang Chongjun almost spat out a mouthful of old blood. In this horrible situation, the King of North Korea still didn't know what to say?
Hong Daoquan explained: "The king and the ministers were arguing endlessly in Kaesong, and no one could come up with a charter that would convince the public. The common people were sent to find out what the angel said. The angel could ask for half of the land, but the angel would ask for half of the land, and the common people would comply with the truth.
Go back and resume your life."
Dang Chongjun became more and more confused as he listened: "Which country are you a businessman from? Why don't you speak for North Korea?"
Hong Daoquan replied: "Reporting to the angel, the common people are pine merchants."
Next to him, a craftsman who had been in North Korea for a long time walked up to Dang Chongjun and muttered: "Ambassador Dang, among the merchants in North Korea, Beijing merchants, Song merchants, and Wan merchants are the strongest. Beijing merchants monopolize Hanyang trade, and most of them are concubines from the nobility.
The family. Bay merchants are Baozhou merchants, trading on both sides of the Yalu River. Song merchants are Kaicheng merchants, spread throughout North Korea, but they have suffered heavy suppression."
Dang Chongjun understood and asked with a smile: "Do you have a heart for China?"
Hong Daoquan answered unabashedly: "As a pine merchant, I always think about having the Celestial Empire within me!"
Kaesong was called Songak in ancient times. It became the capital during the Goryeo Dynasty, so it was renamed Kaegyeong. The merchants of Kaesong were very prominent at that time. After the establishment of Korea, the Lee family not only moved the capital to Hanyang, but also banned the imperial examinations for scholars in Kaesong.
As a result, more and more people from Kaesong entered business because the road to the imperial examination was cut off. The scale of Songshang continued to grow, and "Songfang" was opened across the country, forming a business network throughout North Korea.
The trade between Datong China and North Korea became more and more prosperous, and the North Korean monarchs once again suppressed Songshang. They directly closed the port in Kaicheng. The goods purchased by Songshang had to be sold to Beijing merchants in Hanyang, who traded directly with Chinese merchants.
This is equivalent to the fact that pine merchants all over the country can only work as inland suppliers, working hard and making little money, and future generations have been banned from the imperial examination. Even receiving goods domestically has to be issued by two classes of nobles.
Licenses, every commercial license must be exchanged for a bribe.
Very rich, not much land, unable to take part in the imperial examination, with business networks all over the country, and suppressed by the court everywhere... What are these pine merchants thinking?
Of course, I want to annex China, divide the fields as I please, kill all the Korean monarchs and ministers, and do business unimpeded from now on!
Moreover, the children of Chinese businessmen can also take part in the imperial examination, and maybe their descendants can become officials.
Hong Daoquan said: "The Korean monarchs and ministers are in Kaesong at this time, with only 1,500 gunmen following them, and 500 Kaesong defenders. If the Chinese army attacks the city, and the Kaesong merchants are willing to set fire to cooperate, they will definitely be able to defeat it in one battle!"
"
"Step aside." Dang Chongjun said.
After the North Korean businessmen left, Dang Chongjun and Jin Junyan looked at each other.
The behavior of North Korea's monarchs and ministers was unexpected in every way, and the Kaesong merchants clearly wanted to lead the way, which was completely unimaginable to them.
Dang Chongjun said: "General Jin, I know what you are thinking. I also want to perform meritorious service, but the imperial court only allows part of the territory in the north of North Korea to be ceded, and it is impossible to swallow it all after the country is destroyed. The imperial court regained Guangnan Province and sent troops
Although it went well, it took a lot of effort to suppress the rebellion. North Korea is more complicated than Guangnan, and annexation may be simple. In the future, it will cost countless money and grain to suppress the rebellion every year. Moreover, Guangnan is rich in rice, but North Korea has nothing. The complete occupation is purely
Trading at a loss.”
"Then take half and keep the other half?" Jin Junyan said.
Dang Chongjun said: "Sufficient land must be left for North Korea, and North Korean monarchs and ministers cannot be killed. North Korea's monarchs and ministers cede land, and all responsibilities lie with North Korea's monarchs and ministers, which can greatly reduce civil resistance."
"That's right." Jin Junyan nodded.
Dang Chongjun said: "In addition to expanding the territory, the imperial court also wants to lift the silver ban in North Korea and allow our Chinese silver coins to pass through North Korea unimpeded. This matter is more important than expanding the territory."
North Korea’s currency reform is a bit ridiculous.
Copper coins from China are distributed throughout the country through merchants, but Chinese silver coins are not used. In fact, the official prohibition of silver trading, North Korea only allows the use of copper coins.
This ban on silver has lasted for more than two hundred years.
North Korea initially had to pay tribute to the Ming Dynasty in silver, but the amount was not much, six to seven hundred taels of silver per year. In order to pay tribute to the silver, North Korea's monarchs not only looted temples, but even mined several silver mines for a few hundred taels of silver. Those silver mines, enough
Work will stop after six or seven hundred taels, and will start again before the next tribute.
It was not until the Jiajing period that the Ming Dynasty allowed North Korea to stop paying tribute to silver.
It made sense to ban silver in the early years, because copper coins were not popular and barter was popular in North Korea. But with the development of the economy and the increasing volume of trade, it is sheer nonsense to continue to ban silver. The North Korean monarchs and ministers are simply messing around.
This kind of messing around is to better control the place.
First, licenses are issued to merchants, and part of the in-kind tax is given to the merchants for processing, and then sold to domestic officials and people. Every link is tightly controlled by the North Korean monarchs and ministers, and both groups of nobles can make a fortune in every link.
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In the past few years of reforms, Chinese copper coins were introduced. Two groups of nobles controlled the issuance channels of copper coins through merchants. The nobles controlled the Beijing merchants and asked the Beijing merchants to issue copper coins. The Beijing merchants gave the copper coins to the Song merchants, who issued the copper coins.
to local areas. Only the issuance of copper coins has been subcontracted at various levels in the capital.
North Korea's silver ban once made both China and Japan speechless.
Japan originally mined Ishimi Ginzan and suddenly became a silver-exporting country. The Japanese envoy An Tongtang took 80,000 taels of silver and went to North Korea to do business. As a result, there was no use for one tael of silver and he could only take it with him.
Yinzi returned the same way, as if he had come to North Korea specifically to show off his wealth.
When the Ming Dynasty came to aid North Korea, due to the inconvenience of transporting grain, they came with a large amount of silver and wanted to buy grain and grass locally in North Korea. The Ming army also couldn't use one tael of silver, resulting in a serious food shortage in the early stages of the war.
With the smooth issuance of Chinese copper coins, businessmen all over North Korea now hope to break the silver ban, because using copper coins to conduct large transactions is too tiring.
The two discussed it and decided to continue marching.
Thousands of Datong troops sat on warships and arrived near Kaicheng the next day.
Before there was a chance for friendly exchanges, the Korean monarchs and ministers ran away again, fleeing all the way north to Xinxi, leaving the officers and soldiers of the Datong Army in a mess in the wind.
What the hell?
The news that the Korean monarchs and ministers were constantly escaping was deliberately spread by Bay merchants (Baozhou merchants).
Since Baozhou was occupied by China, many Gulf merchants have become Chinese citizens and have monopolized the commercial trade of the Yalu River. However, their business network covers the entire Pingan Road, Hamgyong Road and Hwanghae Road, and they have a fierce competition with Song merchants.
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The Song merchants wanted to annex China because they wanted to overthrow the Beijing merchants and engage in maritime trade.
Gulf businessmen want to destroy North Korea and want to extend their business reach to the central and southern markets of North Korea.
At this moment, Gulf businessmen took the opportunity to cause trouble and used the "Wanfang" to spread the news that the North Korean king had fled.
The North Korean farmers on Ping'an Road have long known that farmers in Baozhou have a better life. Every year, farmers drag their families and sneak into Baozhou. Outside the city of Baozhou, the area covering dozens of miles is effectively controlled by China, and the land has long been divided.
It's over.
The farmers who were unable to obtain land in Baozhou were extremely resentful towards the Korean king. Moreover, the Korean monarchs and ministers stationed a large number of troops on the border to arrest and kill farmers who tried to cross the border. The farmers on Ping'an Road had long been full of resentment, and there was only one opportunity for an uprising to break out.
How do you describe the land conflict in Korea? It’s a bit similar to the late Ming Dynasty.
Since Yeonsangun, land transactions have been legal by default. The land of the two groups of nobles was initially concentrated in Gyeonggi Province, and then expanded to Gangwon Province, Chungcheong Province, Jeolla Province, and Gyeongsang Province in the central and southern regions.
In central and southern Korea, land annexation has become more and more serious, and a large amount of hidden land has not paid taxes.
As a result, the tax revenue was transferred to Pyongan Province, Hwanghae Province and Hamgyeong Province in the north. Those places were already poor, so they had to double the tax, and military service was the most common in these three areas.
In the past few decades, there was first a peasant uprising in Hamgyong Province, which lasted for three months and was suppressed. During this period, a large landowner named Yi Shiai infiltrated the ranks of the uprising, claiming to be a descendant of the royal family, and wanted to change the dynasty.
Then there was the Hwanghae Province Peasant Revolt, led by Im Juzheng. This time it was even bigger, and they defeated the imperial army many times and lasted for a full year and two months. During this period, they even forced the King of Joseon to grant Hwanghae Province and Pyongyang Province a tax exemption for one year.
, to prevent more peasants from joining the uprising.
However, it is said that after the Korean monarchs and ministers fled to Xinxi, the farmers of Ping'an Road started to riot.
North Korea's Ping'an Road can be understood as China's Shaanxi and Shanxi. In recent years, famines have continued, and taxes have been getting higher and higher. However, there is Baozhou, where the farmers live and work in peace and contentment, which makes the Ping'an Road farmers envious to death. If things go on like this,
Can you not rebel?
At first, there were only more than a thousand peasants in the uprising. In just a few days, the uprising force grew to tens of thousands. They killed the gentry and landlords, captured the prefectures and counties, and frightened the Korean border troops. They all ran to Baozhou to ask for asylum from the Datong Army.
Immediately afterwards, the farmers of Hwanghae Province also rebelled. The two peasant armies attacked from the north and the south and even captured the city of Pyongyang.
Then the soldiers headed southeast and fought towards Singye where the King of Joseon was.
The peasant army has a clear uprising slogan: "Be a citizen of China, cultivate the land of China, and live a good life in China!"
The Korean monarchs and ministers were so frightened that they retreated towards Jinhua, ordered the whole country to serve the king, and at the same time sent ministers to contact the Datong army.