After clarifying Tianshuai's thoughts and future plans, Yin Zhuoran roughly understood his position.
Similar to the system of the Han Dynasty in the Central Plains, the imperial court sent people to the vassal states to serve as state ministers to control the vassals.
Today, the Sixth Prince Shun Hejun is equivalent to the princes entrusted by Tianshuai, and he is equivalent to the state minister sent by Tianshuai to the princely states.
Gradually assuming this role, Yin Zhuoran's thinking became more comprehensive and in-depth.
Then he pointed to the top and asked Lin Tailai: "Will the Emperor allow the Commander-in-Chief to do this?"
Lin Tailai replied very definitely: "You can rest assured! The emperor will definitely support me!
As long as we don't blatantly annex the vassal territory and make the emperor look good, everything will be fine."
Nothing can stop Emperor Wanli from his obsession to open a copper mine. Who made the copper mine happen to be located on the border, so close to the Ming Dynasty?
However, the matter of the copper mine has only been told to the commander-in-chief of the Hamgyong Province garrison, Yang Dengden, and is still kept secret from most other people.
Yin Zhuoran does not doubt Lin Tianshuai's strength, or in other words, he has served as the angel of the court twice and understands Lin Tianshuai's strength better than all North Koreans.
But he still had a doubt that he still couldn't figure out. Now that he had discussed it with Tianshuai, he simply asked him about it.
“Our country has many mountains and few plains, and even fewer plains in the north. Most of the population and the best places for money and food are in the south.
So what does Tianshuai want to do when he wants to separatize the north in the future? Even with this small amount of land, population, money and food, Ming Dynasty doesn’t like it, right?
Otherwise, a hundred and fifty years ago, Ming Dynasty would not have given up on the north of our country and contracted back to Liaodong."
Lin Tailai said disdainfully: "Even if you add the little money and food from the south of your country, I, the Ming Dynasty, will not look down on it.
Does your country’s tax and grain expenditure amount to 300,000 dan per year? It is roughly equivalent to one county in our Suzhou Prefecture!"
Yin Zhuoran was speechless. Only someone like him who had been to the Ming Dynasty could understand how big the gap was between the Ming Dynasty and North Korea.
Hundreds of years later, future generations may think that living standards were similar everywhere in ancient times, with men farming and women weaving, and there was no essential difference, especially since they were beautified by Korean drama filters.
But this is not the case. In the ancient productivity environment, there were also huge gaps in different places.
Although Korea is also known as Little China and considers itself the powerful country in the East, its living standards are several versions worse than those in the Ming Dynasty.
At this time, daily life on the peninsula did not even have currency, and there was almost no commerce. It was so poor that the Ming Dynasty officers and soldiers who entered the dynasty were completely unable to adapt, and they had no use for their money.
Bian Town was already considered a poor place in the Ming Dynasty, but when the border troops arrived in North Korea, they discovered that life in Bian Town was also very comfortable.
Ming officials who asked "Why not eat minced meat" asked North Korean officials: "Your country does not mine silver, uses no money, and does not raise chickens and dolphins, so how can it be used as currency? Why can it eat meat?"
Some ministers who entered the DPRK wrote helplessly in the memorial: "Since our army entered Korea, it has been a different world. The language is not clear, the money is not used, there is no place to slaughter pigs or sell wine, and Japanese slaves are burning and looting.
The house is empty."
There is also a Chinese poem about Korea in this era, which says: "If there is no meat on the table, you will be satisfied with the vegetarian food. If there is no firewood at the stove, there will be disaster. Mother-in-law and daughter-in-law will eat from the same bowl of rice. Father and son will change into the same pair of trousers."
Knowing this background, you can understand why Lao Zhu listed North Korea as a country not to be conquered. In addition to being separated by mountains and rivers, the country was too poor.
Yin Zhuoran also understood this truth, so he asked deeply: "Our country is poor and the country is weak, and our money and food are not abundant. There is no benefit except being respectful to the Ming Dynasty.
So what is the use of our country to make Tianshuai want to separatism? It can't be to draw a new map, right?"
After Lin Tailai thought about it for a while, he decided not to hide it from Yin Zhuoran, and said truthfully: "Actually, all I want is minerals, especially copper mines, and most of your country's minerals are in the north. This is why they just want to separate Beisan Road."
reason.
As for the south of your country, apart from some harbors, I don't have much interest in it."
Yin Zhuoran was inexplicably surprised and said incomprehensibly: "Such a big fight? Just to open a mine?"
Lin Tailai said leisurely: "According to my rough estimate, Jiashan County alone can at least double the amount of copper produced in the Ming Dynasty. Do you think it is worth it?"
Yin Zhuoran: ""
Copper mines, like silver mines, were equivalent to money and currency for the Ming Dynasty, which had abundant supplies!
Even he, the "quasi Minister of Household Affairs" of North Korea, didn't know about this situation. How did you, Tianshuai, know about it? Did you calculate it with just a few fingers? Or did you just dream about it?
No wonder many people say that Tianshuai is a god descended to earth. The more they come into contact with him, the more they can feel the mysterious power of Tianshuai.
After talking to Yin Zhuoran, let him go down and digest it by himself.
At this time, Yang Dengshan, the commander of the garrison in Hamgyong Province, sent a confidential letter reporting the exploration matters.
"According to the instructions of the official, copper deposits have indeed been explored in Huishan-ri, northeast of Gapsan County.
This place is located at the southern foot of Paektu Mountain, on the upper reaches of the Yalu River, and is only twenty miles away from the river bank. It does have the potential for water transportation."
If the above is all good news, then the following is probably a complaint, and Lin Tailai can only continue to read.
“But if you want to build roads, build docks, or gather people to mine, you need to reserve a large amount of food in advance.
Hamgyong Province is already extremely poor and unable to raise funds locally, so it still needs to rely on the official allocation of funds."
Lin Tailai looked at the secret and sighed deeply. Food is the most important thing for the people, and food is the lifeblood.
Even if we capture Japanese pirates and work as slaves, we still have to take care of food, right? We can't starve slaves to death, right? So we still need food.
There is no other way but to formulate a new fundraising and transportation plan to support the mining industry in Hamgyong Province.
All said and done, it's all because North Korea is too poor and can hardly provide much strong support in terms of materials and food.
Most of the materials had to be transported thousands of miles from the mainland of the Ming Dynasty. If the large copper mines were not recovered, the Ming Dynasty's treasury was destined to suffer huge losses.
In this way, how could the monarchs and ministers of the Li Dynasty still have the nerve to cry and shout to return home? Returning to the country has no purpose other than adding more burdens to the Ming Dynasty. Just stay in Kuandian Fort, Liaodong!
At the end of the secret revelation, Yang Shanshan also asked if another iron ore was found in Hamgyong Province and was it ready to be mined?
This was directly rejected by Lin Tianshuai. There is no need for iron ore at the moment.
The current pig iron output of the official craftsmen of the Ming Dynasty is relatively overflowing. The imperial pig iron is often too abundant to be used up and stored in the warehouse. Therefore, iron ore is not being developed for the time being, and it is better to concentrate on the extremely profitable copper ore first.
On the other side, Cui Wukui sent Yin Zhuoran out and was responsible for helping Yin Zhuoran, who had just arrived, arrange food and accommodation in the Sungkyun Hall.
After finishing these tasks, Cui Wukui went to reply to Lin Tianshuai, and then met Shen Weijing at the door of the back hall, the same Shen Weijing who claimed to be proficient in Japanese language, familiar with Japanese affairs, and determined to be a mediating ambassador.
Considering that this big liar in the original history was indeed proficient in the Japanese language and considered a professional, Tianshuai kept Shen Weijing in the shogunate to act as a translator.
Logically speaking, Shen Weijing and Cui Wukui should have similar functions. One is a Japanese translator and the other is a Korean translator, but the directions are different.
As a result, until now, the actual status between the two is very different.
In front of outsiders, especially Koreans, Cui Wukui was like Tianshuai's spokesperson and received the greatest respect.
As of now, Shen Weijing's most important task seems to be chatting with the few Japanese prisoners every day.
Shen Weijing was not convinced by the current situation. He felt that it was not that he was inferior to Cui Wukui, but that his luck was not good.
Cui Wukui's rise in status was because Tianshuai often communicated with North Koreans, so Cui Wukui naturally became important.
But Tianshuai did not communicate with the Japanese, and he was not interested in listening to what the Japanese had to say. His attitude towards the Japanese was basically to kill them again and again. So how could he, Shen Weijing, play his role?
Speaking of which, the only time Tianshuai had a face-to-face and in-depth communication with the Japanese was when he tore Kato Kiyomasa into pieces. However, Shen Weijing, who was not very trusted at the time, was still guarding the Japanese prisoners in the rear area of ​​Shun'an.
But even if he was still unconvinced, when Shen Weijing saw Cui Wukui, he still had to chat with him with a smile on his face. As the saying goes, the situation is stronger than the person.
"What are you doing here?" Cui Wukui asked Shen Weijing with a frown.
There is also a chain of contempt between people. Cui Wukui used to be the general secretary of Siyi Pavilion and a traveler. Although his character is classified as a miscellaneous official, he is still within the system after all.
As for Shen Weijing, he just sneaked in without showing much merit, so Cui Wukui naturally didn't think highly of him.
Shen Weijing kept his posture very low and replied respectfully: "I have something to ask of the Duke, and I would like to ask Cui Xingren to report it on my behalf."
Cui Wukui didn't ask any further questions, nodded and went into the back hall first.
After Lin Tailai heard about it, he felt that he had not seen Shen Weijing since the New Year's reunion. He also thought he had some free time today, so he sent Shen Weijing in.
"What's urgent for you?" Lin Tailai asked.
Shen Weijing replied: "Since mid-October, the Japanese general Konishi Governor has been detained. How will he be dealt with? I would like to make it public."
Lin Tailai was stunned for a moment, "The headquarters almost forgot that we still have Governor Konishi as a prisoner in our hands."
Shen Weijing: ""
Damn it, Mr. Jinglue, are you serious? Governor Konishi is also a Japanese general and a feudal lord daimyo-level figure. How little do you pay attention to him?
Lin Tailai asked casually: "Is he still alive and healthy? Didn't he commit suicide or get sick?"
Shen Weijing suddenly felt that his work was meaningless, and replied numbly: "Still alive and healthy."
Lin Tailai thought for a while and then said: "There is nothing to do today. Let's bring Mr. Xiaoxi here to take a look."
To be continued...