Two months later, at the Han River port, as the morning mist dissipated and the slightly cold weather continued, Zhu Zhan tightened his tight clothes and waited for the warships from Guangzhou to dock.
Zhu Zhanzhen stayed in North Korea for two full months, and it took a long time, mainly to train the children selected from North Korea and prepare them to go to the Ming Dynasty, and today is the day.
Under the leadership of King Li Sun, North Korea selected the first batch of 30 North Korean children, all of whom were the smartest children, and received training in Chinese language in a short period of time. Some of them knew it themselves, but basically did not use Chinese characters.
With training, these children who are already studying will have no problem recognizing words.
Li Chen and the ministers all attached great importance to studying abroad. This was an opportunity to deepen their relationship with the Ming Dynasty and learn the culture of the Ming Dynasty.
When the warship came to a complete stop, a teacher from Nanhai University came down and said, "The humble minister Yang An has met His Royal Highness the Prince of Zhujiang County."
"Excuse me."
Zhu Zhanzhen turned around and introduced to Li Chen and others: "This is Yang An, the dean of the Chinese language branch of Nanhai University in Guangzhou. After arriving in the Ming Dynasty, these North Korean students still need to study the language for a period of time before they can enter the school.
."
"In the future, there will be Dean Lao Yang'an."
"Your Excellency, the King of Joseon, is too polite. This is the responsibility of the foreign ministers."
Because this was the first time, the election for this group of students was very fierce. In order to take care of the children of ministers in North Korea, Zhu Zhanzhen relaxed the age requirements for students at the request of Li Chen. This group has students as old as eighteen.
Years old children, half of whom are the children of courtiers.
The reason why Zhu Zhanzhen did not want those older students was that these students had already formed their three views of thinking to a large extent. Although they would definitely identify with the Ming Dynasty in the future, they would not be as good as those who went out at the age of twelve or thirteen. After all,
Throughout their adolescence, their psychological process from childishness to maturity has been in the Ming Dynasty, and it is easier for them to develop a greater sense of identification and dependence on the Ming Dynasty.
Because it was the first time, we made an exception, but in the future, students from North Korea going to Ming Dynasty must be under fourteen years old.
Yang An took out a piece of items wrapped in oil-skin paper from the package and handed it to Zhu Zhanzhen: "Your Highness, this is what you sent back to Nanhai University for the students to study together. Now we have a preliminary result. They
Let me bring it to you to see."
When you open the oil paper, you will find a square piece of noodle inside. It is different from the wavy shape of modern instant noodles. It is a white dry long noodle that is easy to crush and break.
"This is a flour cake made based on the flour drying process. It can be made like this after drying, but it is not enough to meet His Highness's requirements. Long-distance transportation and preservation are still very problematic. We tried using oil paper and wood.
Boxes, even iron boxes, some are too costly and some are not effective."
Zhu Zhanzhen looked at the noodle cake in his hand, and it was true that it still did not meet the requirements, but after it can be dried in the factory, it should be able to be sold within a short distance, and after such drying equipment has been improved to a certain extent,
The overall cost will not be very high.
Li Chen looked at the dough cake in Zhu Zhanzhen's hand with surprise and asked: "Your Highness, what is this?"
"I named it instant noodles. To put it simply, it is a noodle that is easy to eat and easy to carry."
Li Chen was a little puzzled. Why did Zhu Zhanzhen want to study this thing? Could it be that the well-dressed prince still liked to eat this kind of dry flour cake? Not to mention Zhu Zhanzhen, all the ministers or wealthy merchants from North Korea ate it.
None are bad.
"I've been in North Korea these days and found that due to regional reasons, the price of food in North Korea is much more expensive than that in Ming Dynasty. Now that trade is open, I thought about making a simple noodle pancake that could be the main food for North Korean people.
I developed this dry noodle, simmered it for a few minutes, and added some seasonings to make a bowl of delicious ramen."
Li Fen was greatly shocked that Zhu Zhanyang actually cared about the ordinary people of Korea. Who is this person and what kind of ideological consciousness is this? Is he a saint, or a foreign saint?
"Your Highness is so considerate of us Korean people, it really puts Xiao Wang to shame."
"Third uncle, Xiaozhu often told me that I should be aware of the sufferings of the people and understand the people's livelihood. Thanks to her often reminding me, I can keep this heart forever. As the son-in-law of North Korea, this is my responsibility."
He also arranged the way for North Korean students to study, and tried every means to create food for the North Korean people. Those corrupt officials would call him a saint when they saw it.
"Brother Sanjiu, I plan to let people from Guangzhou build an instant noodle factory in North Korea. Although instant noodles cannot be transported and stored over long distances, the storage within a short period of time after production is even simpler than ordinary rice noodles.
It is convenient, so mainly producing and selling it in North Korea should improve the food situation of some people in North Korea."
As a region with relatively scarce food resources, North Korea actually needs to import food, but the total food volume in the trade between the Ming Dynasty and North Korea is not high. The main problem is profit.
You can't afford to start early without profit, and as food is the most important part of people's livelihood, Li Di restricted the sales price of imported food. Now all North Korean businessmen go to Daming to sell the goods and then purchase the food themselves and sell it back, but because of the price
, many merchants have reduced the amount of grain they carry and instead carry other commodities.
Therefore, although people in North Korea have made some improvements in food over the years, they still mainly eat pickled vegetables, dried fish, and seafood soup with a small amount of staple food.
Zhu Zhanzhen's introduction of instant noodles also introduced the grain trade of the Ming Dynasty into North Korea.
Limited by Li Sun's grain trade policy, ordinary rice and wheat are difficult to sell at high prices, but the secondary processed instant noodles are products made in North Korea, which can increase the selling price and ensure profits, and because of its low cost and simplicity
With this production method, even if the price of instant noodles is very cheap, it can still guarantee a relatively high profit.
Of course, a large part of the profits will naturally belong to the factories built by Guangzhou Prefecture.
"In addition to this instant noodle factory, I plan to let some civilian utensil factories in Guangzhou also open to North Korea." Zhu Zhanzhen plans to make the pots, pans, tables, chairs and benches used by North Koreans all products of Ming Dynasty, so that he can make further profits.
Withdraw foreign currency.
Products were sold abroad, and gold and silver flowed into the country.
But Li Chen was a smart man. He understood that when everything was made of Ming Dynasty products, North Korea would lose its own production capacity and immediately fall into a dilemma.
"Brother Third Uncle, originally I wanted the steam engine factory to come over as well."
As soon as these words came out, Li Chen and his ministers' eyes lit up. What is a steam engine? The economic development of the Ming Dynasty in recent years is due to the steam engine. The warships of the Ming Dynasty dominated the sea, so that the Japanese pirates did not dare to approach the territory of the Ming Dynasty. It was the steam engine that propelled the warship.
There are many people who want to imitate the Ming Dynasty in building steam engines, but all of them end in failure.
The level of craftsmen and basic forging and smelting levels in places like Korea and Japan are far from the same level as the Ming Dynasty before the advent of the steam engine.
The firearms manufactured by the Ming Dynasty back then were far more sophisticated than theirs. Without such basic manufacturing capabilities, Zhu Zhanzhen, Zhang San and others would not have been able to create prototypes in a short period of time.
"The Rebirth of Financial Giants"
Now Zhu Zhanzhen proposed to build a steam engine factory in North Korea. How could this make Li Chen not excited?
"Your Highness, is it really possible to build a steam engine factory in North Korea?"
"I have this idea. After all, steam engines are used in many places to build factories. It will be too expensive to transport the large demand from Daming in the future. It is better to manufacture steam engines locally in North Korea. But Brother Sanjiu, you understand, now the steam engines are temporarily There is no way to make it public, but there will definitely be a chance in the future."
The art of painting cakes is useful everywhere.
Moreover, Zhu Zhanzhen also clearly stated the demand. You don’t have enough factories in North Korea to match the production of steam engines. Why should I build it? Then I must open the factory.
Li Chen did not hesitate at all, but said: "When His Highness opens a factory in North Korea, you can arrange for people to come over at any time and contact us through the embassy of Ming Dynasty. I will arrange for people to do their best to cooperate."
"My third uncle is worthy of being called Yao and Shun of the East of the Sea. He was really a good king who cared for the people."
"By the way, after arranging things for the students, I will leave for Japan in a few days."
Li Chen reluctantly said: "Your Highness, please stay longer. The courtiers in North Korea admire Your Highness very much and hope that Your Highness will stay longer so that we can entertain His Highness."
"No, no, I am going to Japan on this trip. Just because I am the son-in-law of North Korea, I feel that I must visit North Korea. I have been here for a long time and I have to leave as soon as possible."
A group of people wanted to persuade Zhu Zhanchang to stay for a while, but Zhu Zhanchang had already decided to leave and there was nothing they could do.
After seeing off the students at the port, Li Chen said goodbye to Zhu Zhanzhen and returned to the palace, to his study room, with only three or five people from the North Korean cabinet around him.
North Korea's political system was almost entirely copied from that of the Ming Dynasty.
When Zheng Linzhi saw Li Sen's somewhat sad expression, he immediately said urgently: "Your Highness, Your Highness, we must not let the Prince of Zhujiang take over everything so much. If North Korea relies on Ming Dynasty for everything, what will happen in the future? We North Korea The common people will completely become a part of Ming Dynasty."
But another minister had a different opinion: "Master Zheng, North Korea and the Ming Dynasty have a close relationship. The Ming Dynasty accepts our tribute, and the bachelor, as the top Neo-Confucian scholar in the Ming Dynasty, also studied Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism in the Ming Dynasty. Now When you say you want to break away from Ming Dynasty, what do you really mean by saying this?"
"I never said that I would break away from Ming Dynasty. It's just that Ming Dynasty is Ming Dynasty, North Korea is North Korea, and we in North Korea must strengthen ourselves." Zheng Lin refused to give in.
"Humph, I'm afraid that Academician Zheng just saw His Royal Highness the Prince of Zhujiang County helping North Korea so much, and Academician Zheng previously opposed large-scale trade with the Ming Dynasty, so that's why you said this. You are doing it entirely for your own selfish interests and disregarding the interests of the Korean people."
The overt and covert fighting in the North Korean court was no less than that in the Ming Dynasty, and was even more intense, and the mutual attacks were more straightforward.
"I, Zheng Linzhi, consider everything for North Korea and have no selfish motives." Zheng Linzhi expressed his attitude and position directly in front of Li Shen.
But fighting in court can never be explained by a guarantee, and even swearing is useless.
Li Fen was a little distressed. Zhu Zhanzhen considered everything for North Korea from the perspective of being North Korea's son-in-law, and the plans he proposed seemed to help North Korea's development. However, as Zheng Linzhi said, North Korea generally only relied on the Ming Dynasty.
It will get stronger and stronger.
But what should North Korea do if it does not rely on Ming Dynasty?
In recent years, the situation in North Korea has become better, but before they were bullied and driven by the people on the grasslands, robbed by the Japanese, and sought refuge from paying tribute to the Ming Dynasty. The Ming Dynasty's protection of North Korea has historical precedents, and they only
Can rely on Ming Dynasty.
"My dear friends, some time ago merchant ships reported that the Ming Dynasty steam carrier was on a mission to exterminate pirates in the waters between Korea and Japan. You must have heard about it."
Everyone nodded. Due to the frequent maritime activities in Ming Dynasty in the past two months, many of the surrounding merchant ships had seen the steam carrier. Perhaps they had never seen the battle fleet, but just looking at such a fleet from a distance made them feel...
People are afraid.
"The warships of the Ming Dynasty are so powerful, and the war spirit of the Ming Dynasty is so strong. Last year, they swept across the grassland, and all the Tatars became vassals. Taisun led the troops to drink from the vast sea of horses. Last year, they conquered Chagatai in the west and defeated the country.
, and this has not yet used their strongest maritime power, so the Ming Dynasty and North Korea can only rely on one road." Li Chen obviously thought much more than Zheng Linzhi and others thought.
He was not unilaterally so happy to accept Zhu Zhanyi's gift, not because Zhu Zhanzhen was smiling when he said he wanted to give North Korea some benefits, but after weighing it, he decided that following the Ming Dynasty was far more cost-effective than rejecting what the Ming Dynasty offered.
Dependence, dependence is the only way to go, and Zhu Zhanzhen is really good to North Korea and offers all kinds of help, so why should he refuse?
"The Ming Dynasty has always treated those who surrendered very favorably. We, North Korea, have been a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty from the beginning. With the Ming Dynasty having such a strong national power, we have no choice."
Li Chen still felt a little helpless when he said this.
Zheng Linzhi still refused to give up: "King, let's create our own writing and create our own cultural heritage in Korea. We are Koreans, not Ming people."
"I'm afraid Academician Zheng is suffering from paranoia." The rest of the cabinet obviously disapproved of Zheng Linzhi: "Writing is so easy to create, and Chinese writing has a long history. How can it be compared to ordinary randomly created writing."
Zheng Linzhi was about to take out his writing model, but Li Chen slammed the table to stop the quarrel among the ministers and Zheng Linzhi from taking out his writing model.
"The Ming Dynasty is thousands of miles long, and steam warships dominate the sea. They conquered the grasslands and conquered Chagatai in more than a year. We, North Korea, have the remaining strength to fight against the Ming Dynasty. The treatment given to North Korea by the Ming Dynasty is indescribable.
If you are not good, your heart must not be insufficient, you cannot win the favor of others, and you secretly want to scheme against others, this is disloyal and unjust, and we, North Korea, are definitely not like this."
Li Chen's words are very obvious. He is an ambitious person and a person who understands current affairs. Facing the strength of Ming Dynasty, complying is obviously a wiser choice.
"The concubine of the Prince of Zhujiang County is a Korean princess, and the concubine of the Prince of Lanzhou County is also a Korean princess. You must not disrespect the Ming Dynasty anymore."
In the face of military power and cultural power, I sighed, but there was nothing I could do.