Chapter 281 The Return of the Japanese (40) Court Controversy
The cold wind blows, and the plum blossoms shine on the snow.
The midwinter in the capital is getting colder and colder, but on this day, the people of the capital took to the streets one after another and celebrated spontaneously. With the sound of firecrackers and the sound of gongs and drums, more than a hundred teahouses in the capital announced that tea is free today.
, just to congratulate the victory of Busan.
It is said that Emperor Wanli, who is not even seriously ill and has been suffering from minor ailments and has not been in power for a long time, also issued an oral order early today that all the products in Zhonghuang stores in Beijing will be sold at a 20% discount to express his sincere joy with the people.
Since the Imperial Store is like this, Jinghua Department Store will naturally not remain indifferent. It also launches a big discount event with 20% off sales. Unlike the Imperial Store, Jinghua Department Store has a more comprehensive range of products and abundant supply. This kind of activity can bring benefits to more ordinary people.
.For a time, the capital was in a state of excitement and all the people rejoiced.
In the past, the joy of the people could affect the imperial court to some extent, but this time after the victory in Busan, the imperial court's attitude was somewhat ambiguous.
Early in the morning, messages of congratulations on the victory were indeed sent to the cabinet and the Supervisor of Ceremonies in a steady stream, but there were also many officials who came together to knock on the door and ask to see His Majesty the Emperor.
His Majesty the Emperor is not easy to see, because a few days ago he used the excuse of being dizzy due to strong winds to cancel all the dynasties this month. According to the words of the Chief of Ceremonies, "The Emperor is resting, and all the officials have something to report."
The cabinet drafted the report." So, a large number of officials had to join hands to request an audience with the cabinet ministers.
Unlike the emperor, the elders had no reason to refuse to meet with the officials - it was okay to refuse one or two, but it was unthinkable to refuse to meet collectively.
As a result, the almost simple main room of the cabinet was crowded with visiting officials. Several cabinet ministers put on a amiable and approachable appearance and asked what the visitors wanted.
Although there were many visitors, seventy or eighty of them, they all came with the same intention, which was to request the cabinet to declare to His Majesty: Since the Japanese pirates have been driven out of Korea, we, the Ming Dynasty, should stop fighting and return in triumph, stop fighting and rest and recuperate.
.
Of course, now that the troops are on strike, shouldn't the "One Hundred and Thirteen Commercial Taxes" imposed by Gao Ge Lao in the five Jiangnan provinces before his expedition also be stopped?
Oh, that's what happened.
The ministers in the cabinet came to understand, but it was difficult to respond to these words - because the highly pragmatic message of reporting the victory did not seem to have any intention of withdrawing troops and returning to the court.
Since Shen Shixing and Wang Xijue took office, there are almost no ministers in the cabinet who dare to expressly oppose Gao Pragmatism. Especially in the context of the current victory in the imperial war, no one wants to test Gao's position in the emperor's mind.
How much higher is your status than yourself?
"As for when the war in Korea will end, Mr. Gao Ge has not made it clear yet, and the emperor has not mentioned it yesterday..."
As the chief minister of the dynasty, although Wang Jiaping did not want to take a stand, he had to take a stand.
"We, the Celestial Empire, sent troops to support the war. Our only purpose was to uphold justice for the loyal vassals and recover the lost territory. Now that we have accomplished the task, why don't we stop our troops?" All the officials shouted one after another.
Wang Jiaping stretched out his hand to ask everyone to stop making noise. Unexpectedly, these officials did not agree with him and continued to express their opinions. One of them with the loudest voice said: "This battle is not our empire's business. Today, we have mobilized more than ten elite soldiers from all over the world."
Wan went to court without mentioning it, but he also doubled the pay in Jiangnan, causing all industries to be ruined and the people to live in dire straits.
Today, Gao Nanning takes up his position as a local official without caring about the hardships of the people. He only wants to promote his personal achievements. To put it nicely, he calls it a great success, but to put it worse...that means he has no regard for the sentiments of the country and the people, and his intentions are to be punished!"
At this moment, Liang Menglong couldn't help it anymore. He had planned to resign immediately and became an official. He was not too afraid of offending others, so he sneered and said: "Where did you get the so-called 'Every industry is ruined and the people are destitute'? Where did you get it?"
There are also many former colleagues, friends, students, and former officials who are from Jiangnan. Why don’t they hear that Jiangnan has reached a situation where ‘all industries are ruined and the people are unable to survive’?”
Someone in the crowd sneered and retorted: "Mr. Liang Ge, although you have many colleagues, friends, students, and former officials, are there any of you who plow the fields and sell goods in the streets?"
Well, this is indeed not the case.
Liang Menglong was speechless for a moment, but immediately responded: "What you said seems reasonable, but in fact it is a lie. Not a penny of the salary collected by Gao Rixin was collected from those who 'worked in the fields and sold goods in the streets'.
All taxes are levied on wealthy merchants, large shops, mines and trading houses, and the tax collected is no more than one hundred and three (3%). Is this going to mean that all industries will be ruined and the people will not be able to make a living?"
When he said this, Zhou Yong also stood up and added: "What Mr. Liang Ge said is absolutely true. As far as I know, all the properties under Mr. Gao Ge's name in the south of the Yangtze River also pay this tax. How come I haven't heard of anyone?
So difficult?"
"Joke!" shouted the crowd: "He is a wealthy man in Gao Nanning. He is the richest in the world. This battle is for him to gain military exploits. Naturally, he can earn a salary of only 130 yuan. But how can an ordinary merchant's family benefit from it?
, should we be compared with Gao Nanning?"
Once the conversation started, they couldn't hold it back. The two sides began to quarrel again and again, ranging from the scope of taxation to the amount of taxation, from whether taxation would cause the destruction of all industries, to whether the country should levy commercial tax. Round after round, endlessly.
Endless.
I don’t know how long it took, but suddenly someone hurried in from outside and shouted: "The Ping Japanese Manager, the Ping Japanese Admiral, the Ping Japanese Chief Military Officer and other sixty-four civil and military officers jointly submitted a report: King Li of Korea.
He requested North Korea to attach it, and the certificate of credence is already on the way to the North Korean imperial envoy to repay the kindness, and Li Shanhai, the leader of the political affairs, is on his way to submit it!"
There was a moment of silence in the Datong room, and you could almost hear the drop of a pin. However, this moment of silence only lasted for a few breaths, and then there was an uproar immediately.
"North Korea wants to annex it again?"
"The battle has been won, why do we need to keep it inside?"
"This matter is quite strange. Could it be that there is fraud in it?"
"What good can I gain from this foreign land?"
"Nonsense! Think about Korea. Three thousand miles of rivers and mountains were lost, and they were all restored by the power of our Heavenly Dynasty. Now the King of Korea feels the great grace of Heaven, and wants to prove his loyalty by joining in. How can there be any deception?
What's more, now that I have elite soldiers and generals gathered in North Korea, how can North Korea dare to cheat!"
"Exactly!" Another person said: "Besides, my emperor has inherited the great unification, restored Annan, conquered the Mongolian Yuan Dynasty, and shocked all the barbarians! If now he can make North Korea grateful and attached to him with the kindness of survival and death, how can it be
Isn’t it a sign of great majesty and virtue? This is exactly what God did not give you, and you are blamed for it!”
"This is a joke! I heard that only two groups of celebrities can speak Chinese in North Korea, and its people's language is not the same as that of China. How can I lead such a place if I merge it?"
"Yes, and not only that! North Korea is very close to the Japanese country. Although the Japanese country has retreated in defeat today, who knows that it will not have evil intentions in the future? If we annex Korea now, the one who will be attacked by the Japanese army first in the future will be our Ming Dynasty
That’s right. For this reason, in a remote and wild place, and faced with the danger of Japanese pirates coveting it, what’s the benefit?”
Well, now, before the quarrel about the previous topic came to a conclusion, a new topic came up, which was equally quarrelsome. The most important thing is that this time, the refusal to annex North Korea actually prevailed.
In particular, the group that rejected North Korea's internal annexation found a precedent - someone mentioned that Li Shimin rejected Kang Ju, and used this as an analogy to the internal annexation of North Korea today, and that Ming Dynasty should reject it just like Li Shimin did back then.
This situation meant that Gao Pragmatism was not present, otherwise he would have thought of Mexico's proposal to annex the United States but was rejected by the United States.
It stands to reason that if someone wants to take the initiative to annex your country, isn't it a good thing? Why should you refuse? This kind of thing actually happened in ancient China, and in the end the court gave the same answer as the Americans: no.
As the group that now opposes the agreement said, it was during the period of Emperor Taizong Li Shimin of the Tang Dynasty. At that time, China - that is, the Tang Dynasty - once again incorporated the Western Regions into its territory.
As we all know, China first opened up the Western Regions in the Han Dynasty, in order to find the Yuezhi to fight against the Huns. Although the Yuezhi were found, they had already gone to the Amu Darya and Syr Darya areas in Central Asia in later generations, and were not interested in fighting the Huns.
Not big. Some of the Yuezhi people continued south, occupied northern India, and established the Kushan Empire; others stayed in Central Asia and established a series of oasis countries.
In that era of law of the jungle, it was a common phenomenon for small countries to be bullied by powerful ones. The small Yueshi country in Central Asia had been suppressed by the Western Turks. They had to pay food and money, otherwise they would be beaten. After the establishment of the Tang Dynasty, Li Shimin
He marched into the Western Regions and managed the business more vigorously than the Han Dynasty.
The small Yueshi country finally saw the hope of getting rid of the Turks, so it took the initiative to make good friends with the Tang Dynasty. Their caravans continued to the Central Plains and dominated the Silk Road. The Tang Dynasty based on the royal surnames of these small oasis countries, collectively referred to them as the Nine Surnames of Zhaowu.
, that is, the Sogdians at that time.
The prosperous Silk Road brought great wealth to the nine surnames of Zhaowu, and the Tang Dynasty's attack on the Western Turks also made them no longer worry about their own safety.
More importantly, the tolerance of the Tang Dynasty made them feel that they were not excluded or discriminated against, so that the Sogdians could not only do business and settle in the Tang Dynasty, they could even serve as soldiers and officials, and enjoyed the formal national treatment of the Tang Dynasty.
Comparing the two, Kangju, the largest of the nine surnames of Zhaowu (roughly in today's Uzbekistan), came up with the idea of annexing the Tang Dynasty and incorporating it into the territory of the Tang Dynasty. Just like Mexico wanted to join the United States, the Kangju people also wanted to become
The people of the Tang Dynasty took shelter under the wings of the Tang Dynasty.
The small foreign vassal states took the initiative to apply for annexation. This has actually been regarded as a sign of China's prosperity. Moreover, after obtaining Kangju, the Tang Dynasty's territory will penetrate deep into Central Asia, which will be of great help in combating the Western Turks.
Another point is that after Kang Ju joined the Tang Dynasty, the other eight Zhaowu small kingdoms might also follow suit. This was very attractive, so at that time the ministers who agreed to accept Kang Ju accounted for more than half of the court.
However, an accident happened. After careful consideration, Li Shimin politely rejected Kang Ju's offer, saying that the Anxi Protectorate would take special care of Kang Ju, but the Tang Dynasty only wanted to restore the homeland of the Han Dynasty and had no intention of annexing the nine surnames of Zhaowu.
Hey, does His Majesty Tian Khan really think so? Well, obviously it's not that simple.
Although Li Shimin's words were beautiful, he had actually calculated it long ago. At that time, Datang's annexation of Kangju was not a good deal, and might instead be a drag on the country.
You must know that at that time, the Tang Dynasty had just wiped out the Eastern Turks and established the Anxi Protectorate, but its control over the Western Regions was not yet stable. And Kangju was located at the westernmost end of the Western Regions, which was beyond the control limit of the Tang Dynasty's military power.
The Tang Dynasty's military strength in Anxi did not exceed 30,000 at its peak. Compared with the hundreds of thousands of troops in the interior, it was completely a small army. This was not because the Tang Dynasty did not pay attention to the Western Regions, but that the food produced in the Western Regions was at that time
You can only raise so many soldiers.
According to the Art of War, after transporting grain for thousands of miles, only one-thirtieth of the grain will be delivered to the frontline soldiers, and the rest will be eaten on the road. Therefore, it is obvious that transporting grain from Chang'an to the Western Regions is unrealistic, and the only way is to rely on the locals in the Western Regions.
They had to provide food to support their troops, so more than 20,000 soldiers and horses were actually the upper limit of the number of troops that the Tang Dynasty could support in the Western Regions.
So, if Kangju becomes the territory of the Tang Dynasty, if a war breaks out, the Tang Dynasty will have to send troops to protect Kangju to the death. However, Kangju itself has a small number of soldiers and no geographical dangers, so it is very easy to be broken. This obviously requires a large number of troops.
The Tang Dynasty sent heavy troops to protect it.
However, Anxi does not have such ability. With so few troops, the Anxi Protectorate is already struggling to control the Western Region with a radius of thousands of miles. Where can we deploy more troops to defend Kangju? In case the Western Turks attack, Kangju
Falling into the hands of the enemy, Datang would not only lose face, but also chill the hearts of foreign vassals, which would greatly weaken Datang's prestige in the Western Regions.
Therefore, accepting Kang Ju would have many advantages and disadvantages for the Tang Dynasty. If you accept it now for the sake of face, you may lose more face in the future. Li Shimin is the immediate emperor, and his military talent is extremely high, so naturally he will not see this clearly.
That’s why Kang Ju’s request was rejected.
Nowadays, most of these officials oppose the acceptance of North Korea's internal annexation, and cite the old incident of Li Shimin's rejection of Kangju's internal annexation. It is obvious that they have not understood the inner logic of Li Shimin's rejection at all.
Of course, they couldn't even figure out the real reason why Li Shimin rejected Kang Ju, and naturally they couldn't see the reason why Gao Pragmatic tried every means to force North Korea to annex.
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! Today's North Korea and the Kangju of the past are not the same thing at all, and the "similarity" does not apply at all.
In fact, not to mention Liang Menglong and Zhou Yong, the two elders of the Practical School, knew Gao Pragmatic's intentions. Even Wang Jiaping... and even Zhao Zhigao and Shen Yiguan, who were from the Xin School, could see the clues.
"The Romance of Fairy Wood"
However, whether they knew it or could see the clues, all the cabinet ministers tacitly agreed not to take a stand this time, until finally someone asked: "Yuanfu, cabinet ministers, how exactly do the cabinet plan to vote on this matter?"
Although Wang Jiaping did not want to offend the public, he was very dissatisfied with the fact that this group of people had been noisy for a long time, and now they were asking the cabinet how they planned to draw up votes, which made him unable to help but get angry.
"How does the cabinet draw up votes? When does it need to consult with hundreds of officials?" Wang Jiaping said coldly: "Even if the matter is big and requires hundreds of officials to work together, it should be above the dynasty. You are here today.
, who dares to say that he can speak for all the officials!"
Everyone did not expect that Wang Jiaping would suddenly become angry, and they were all a little stunned. The whole audience was silent for a few breaths, and then someone said sullenly: "Yuanfu has such great official authority. Since Yuanfu disdains what I said, then
There is no point in staying for a long time, so say goodbye!" Then everyone walked out with cold faces.
Wang Jiaping wanted to see who the person who said this was, but unfortunately the crowd was crowded and his eyesight was not very good, so he was stunned and couldn't find the initiator.
The discussion ended unhappily.
----------
Thanks to book friend "Cao Mianzi" for your reward and support, thank you!
Thanks to book friends "Cao Mianzi", "malyvu" and "keyng" for their monthly support, thank you!
