Chapter 705 0700 [Reaction to the opening of Beijing]
There were three things placed in front of Xu Kangzong. He said with a strange expression: "These are the money goods of Goryeo?"
"Yes." Zheng Zhichang felt a little inferior and embarrassed.
The most commonly used equivalents for market circulation in Goryeo are two-liter cloth, three-liter cloth and five-liter cloth.
A piece of cloth two feet and two inches wide has a weaving density of 80 weft threads per liter.
The official uniforms worn by Chinese officials are cut from fifteen-liter cloth. The clothes of Chinese common people are also mostly made of eight-liter cloth and ten-liter cloth.
Five liters of cloth are only worn by the lowest class of people in China.
As for the two-liter cloth and the three-liter cloth, this is what ordinary Chinese families use for funerals and mourning.
However, in the Goryeo Kingdom, five liters of cloth were equivalent to mainstream currency, while two liters of cloth and three liters of cloth were similar to auxiliary coins.
So damn poor!
There is also a row of copper coins in front of Xu Kangzong, which are divided into six types: Donghai Tongbao, Donghai Chongbao, Haidong Tongbao, and Sanhan Tongbao.
After picking up the currency and looking at it, Xu Kangzong asked, "Aren't there copper coins in this?"
Zheng Zhichang explained: "Copper coins are not easy to cast. They are generally used for storage by wealthy households and cannot be seen on the market. Occasionally, Chinese copper coins flow in, and they are also hoarded by wealthy households and passed down to their families."
Xu Kangzong picked up the small bottle again and asked: "Silver?"
Zheng Zhichang said: "This kind of silver bottle is used by the king to reward ministers and for some large-scale transactions."
The function of the silver vase of the Goryeo Dynasty is similar to that of the silver collar of the Song Dynasty.
Xu Kangzong asked again about the silver and copper mines. Zheng Zhichang answered truthfully, but the answer he got was different from what the prince said.
His Royal Highness the Crown Prince said that there are a large number of copper and silver mines in Korea.
However, Zheng Zhichang said that Goryeo's domestic production of silver and copper was very small, and few mines had been discovered so far.
In fact, there was a lack of sufficient mining demand, so it was difficult for the mining industry in Goryeo to develop. Historically, due to the trade stimulation of the Ming and Qing Dynasties, in the mid-Qing Dynasty, the Korean Peninsula once reached 68 silver mines being mined at the same time.
As for copper mines, they are mainly found in the central and northern regions of the Korean Peninsula. The reserves in these places alone reach 300 million to 400 million tons. Moreover, many mines are shallowly buried, of high quality, widely distributed, and are not difficult to mine.
In addition, there are many gold mines on the Korean Peninsula.
Zheng Zhichang said with difficulty: "Please...please go to the Ming Dynasty to bring some food to help the people of Pyongyang."
"It doesn't matter if it's too much, I can still come up with 20,000 to 30,000 dan," Xu Kangzong said.
Because the imperial court was short of food during the war, the people were not allowed to convert the national land tax in the past two years into coins when they handed it over. They had to hand over the grain honestly.
Coupled with the introduction of corn into the grain tax category, even though many provinces and counties are still recovering and many areas are still in the tax exemption period, last year's grain tax revenue reached 23.02 million shi - in the middle and late Northern Song Dynasty, every year
The regular quota fluctuates around 30 million stones.
This weird data is not only due to the increase in corn production, but also due to the inventory of fields after the war.
In the past, those big families not only annexed land, but also hid large amounts of land. To quote the original words of Northern Song Dynasty officials, some wealthy households might only pay taxes on one acre of 20 acres of land, and hide the rest from the government.
Know.
The imperial court only set a rough amount, and if local officials did not collect enough tax, the shortfall would be shared equally among the people.
If you really can't collect it, then find a landlord with a weak background to share it.
Now, taking advantage of the recovery period after the war, the Ming Dynasty and the New Dynasty conducted a nationwide inventory of acres. Although there must be a large number of omissions, the hidden land has definitely been reduced. Generally speaking, the tax base is slowly expanding.
It is estimated that this year's land tax will return to the level of the late Northern Song Dynasty.
Twenty to thirty thousand shi of grain can be obtained by squeezing.
Transport it to Pyongyang to relieve some hungry people, and then get some seeds and distribute them to farmers to replant food and resume production. You can quickly win the hearts of the people in Pyongyang at a very small cost. Overall, the Ming Dynasty made a lot of money.
Zhao Li suddenly said: "Half of the first batch of military rations shipped by ship can be used to provide relief to the people. There will be no problem in temporarily reducing meals for the entire army."
Zheng Zhichang quickly stood up, bowed to Zhao Lizuo and said: "General, you have great righteousness, please accept me and bow down!"
"It doesn't have to be like this," Zhao Li said, "I have escaped from famines before, and I know how miserable the victims are. We should help if we share this sentiment."
Zheng Zhichang lamented: "Of the military generals in Goryeo, who only enslaved the sergeants on empty wages, how could any of them be as benevolent and righteous as General Zhao? Of the civil servants in Goryeo, all of them cared about the interests of the family, how could any of them be as sensible as Mr. Xu?"
Goryeo is indeed a country of barbarians, but we, the Ming Dynasty, are the truly civilized country!"
Zhao Li, Li Bao, Yelu Yujian and others had been fighting across the sea for more than half a year, and they already had ideas about opening up new battlefields.
As long as the Ming troops in Pyongyang and Baozhou are familiar with the environment and have a firm foothold, they can attack the Jin territory south of the Yalu River.
Or when the Ming army launched a massive counterattack, the Ming army stationed in Goryeo went directly north from the Yalu River and cooperated with the main force to attack the hinterland of the Jin Kingdom.
The Kingdom of Jin did not dare to be unprepared and had to divide its forces to resist.
If there are too few troops, it cannot be stopped, but if there are too many troops, the main battlefield will inevitably be stretched thin.
Even if the Jin Kingdom issued militia to the maximum limit, it would never be possible to exceed 200,000 troops.
We must fight not only in Shanxi and Youyan, but also in Liaodong and Liaoxi, and in the future we must also guard against the front line of the Yalu River.
Zhao Li put himself in the shoes of the nobles of the Jin Kingdom. If he were to allocate the troops himself, it would be a huge headache to think about it.
How to prevent this?
Fortunately, the one with the headache is the golden person.
…
Kaizhou, the capital of Goryeo.
"What? The Ming Dynasty really sent troops to help, and Zheng Zhichang even became the deputy envoy of the Ming Dynasty?" Jin Fushi was so surprised that he couldn't believe it.
The messenger sent by Li Jiren said: "It is absolutely true. Thousands of Ming troops came and were stationed outside Pyongyang. The chief envoy of the Ming Dynasty was named Xu Kangzong, and the deputy envoy was Zheng Zhichang. I heard that Zheng Zhichang also served as a minister of the Ming Dynasty.
Right Shaoqing of Honglu Temple."
"This... what should I do?" Li Zhidi said in a panic.
Ren Yuanhou said: "Could it be that the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to occupy the West Road?"
Jin Fushi pondered: "It's very possible!"
A group of nobles from the capital who had already taken control of the Goryeo court were looking at each other at a loss.
Their overall plan is this:
The first step is to collaborate with the enemy and betray the country, control the king, and attack the Xijing faction.
In the second step, the Jin soldiers came to kill, let them plunder, and sent them out of the country with gifts. The places plundered by the Jin soldiers all belonged to the West Road, which was the territory of the Xijing sect, which was equivalent to cutting off the foundation of the Xijing sect.
The third step is to send an envoy to the Ming Dynasty, request the Ming Dynasty to enthrone the king, obtain the Ming Dynasty's recognition of the Kaijing faction, and offset the negative impact of sending an envoy to the Ming Dynasty in Xijing.
The fourth step is to let some branches of the wealthy families in Beijing go to occupy unowned land around Pyongyang and recruit refugees as tenants to establish a foothold in Haixi Road. In order to win over the wealthy families in other places, some profits will also be shared, and everyone will work together to complete the deal.
Swallowing of the West Road.
Now on to the third step, something unexpectedly went wrong.
The Ming Dynasty actually sent troops, and they had to stay in Baozhou and Pyongyang.
Pyongyang is located in the alluvial plain of the lower reaches of the Taedong River. The land is extremely fertile and is one of the top grain-producing areas in the entire Korean Peninsula. It is also the most commercially developed area in Korea.
Baozhou is also suitable for farming because it belongs to the alluvial plain of the lower reaches of the Yalu River.
Two grain-producing lands were occupied by the Ming army. As long as they were managed stably for a few years, the military grain would be self-sufficient. How could the Goryeo court take back the territory?
The Jin Kingdom invaded the south just to grab grain, but the Ming Dynasty wanted to occupy the territory!
Jin Fuyi suddenly blurted out: "My brother has a close relationship with the Jin Kingdom. How about inviting the Jin soldiers to go south, and Goryeo will also send troops at the same time, and work with the Jin people to attack the Ming army from the north to the south?"
"No," Jin Fushi quickly denied, "the Ming army severely damaged the Jin soldiers last year. We couldn't even defeat the Jin soldiers, so how could we defeat the Ming army? If the Jin soldiers couldn't attack Baozhou and the Ming army in Pyongyang went south,
If we can go straight to Kaijing, we may be in danger of destroying the country!"
"Then what should we do?" Ren Yuanhou said, "We can't let the Ming army occupy the West Road. What's the difference between that and directly ceding the country?"
Jin Fushi said: "We can first send people to contact the Ming envoys to test their true intentions. Maybe... we can pay some price to send these Ming troops out of the country as gifts."
"Who to send?" Li Zhidi asked.
Everyone turned to look at Cui Yunyi.
Cui Yunyi said: "What does it have to do with me?"
Jin Fushi said: "Your uncle has a personal relationship with Zheng Zhichang. Now that Zheng Zhichang is the deputy envoy of the Ming Dynasty, maybe he can have some contact with him."
Cui Yunyi sneered: "My confused uncle is still in prison. He recommended the demon monk Miaoqing to Your Majesty, and he has an old relationship with the traitor Zheng Zhichang. How can he serve as a messenger to find out the truth?"
Jin Fushi said: "Zheng Zhichang is not a traitor, but like your uncle, he was bewitched by the demon monk Miaoqing."
A few decades ago, the Choi family was the most prominent family in Goryeo, but due to the failure of the political struggle, it is now showing signs of decline.
Cui Yunyi himself even passed the Jinshi examination this year, but his sister is the Dowager Princess of Goryeo.
This age of a Jinshi was extremely abnormal in Goryeo.
As a member of the wealthy Cui family in Beijing, the son-in-law befriended the Xijing faction and wanted to use the Xijing faction to fight for power. This was a power struggle within the Beijing faction!
Jin Fushi said: "Your Excellency is the successor of Confucius in Haidong and the uncle of His Majesty the present day (actually not related by blood). Although he only passed the liberal arts this year, his knowledge is outstanding and his moral character is noble. He should be appointed as the imperial censor."
Cui Yunyi finally couldn't help but smile, stood up and bowed to everyone: "When the country is facing a crisis, Ms. Cui should do her best to repay the country's kindness."
Wen Gongren, who was imprisoned for recommending monk Miaoqing and befriending Zheng Zhichang, regained his freedom and was sent to Pyongyang to find out the truth.
Before departure, Wen Gongren said to Jin Fushi: "Zheng Zhichang's family, those who were exiled to the island should be recalled immediately, and those who were beaten as official slaves should be returned to ordinary people. Otherwise, I will have no shame to meet my old friends."
"It should be like this." Jin Fushi said.
As for whether Zheng Zhichang's wives and daughters had been slept with by some powerful people, everyone automatically ignored this and did not discuss it.