I'm sure of the prosperous age of Kangxi and Qianlong!

Chapter 577 The th Line

The civil strife in Korea actually meant little to the Ming Dynasty.

Because it is so poor here, not only is there a lack of material resources, but the internal class solidification is also extremely serious.

Here, common people will always be common people, and you don’t want to become a bureaucrat. Even if you serve as a soldier and make great achievements in war, the credit belongs to the gentry and officers above.

This is the foundation of North Korea's founding.

Moreover, if North Korean gentry and common people gave birth to offspring, the children could not be called biological father, but could only be called adults. These children are not recognized as members of the gentry and powerful families, and can only be regarded as the middle class.

The so-called middle-class people are those who cannot take scientific examinations, cannot be officials... they have no privileges, and their future is completely closed.

In other words, Korea at this time was a bit similar to the Jin and Southern and Northern Dynasties more than a thousand years ago, an era when there were no poor families in the upper class and no noble families in the lower class.

Zhu Chengxun handed over his hand and said: "Although the peasant uprising in North Korea is quite powerful now, without the intervention of our Ming army, North Korean officers and soldiers can always put it down in only two or three years at most."

This is not to say how strong the North Korean officers and soldiers are, but simply that the peasant uprising army is weaker.

After all, it was just a group of hungry people who formed a riot. How much combat effectiveness could they expect? Moreover, no matter how bad the North Korean officers and soldiers were, they still had the advantage of having armor and firearms.

Wang Li said: "North Korea is a small country with a sparse population and a weak country and poor people. It is probably not very difficult to determine the civil strife. Your Majesty should make a careful decision!"

Chen Ji also said: "If we want to invade North Korea, we only need Pyongyang's troops. The key is to provide relief and pacify the hungry people of North Korea after the war. I am afraid it will cost a lot of money and food. If your Majesty has made a decision, he will order the Ministry of Household Affairs in front of him. Make preparations early.”

This is true. The most the North Korean official army can do is attack the domestic peasant army. This is not enough, and they have to rely on the advantages of armor and firearms. Facing the Ming Dynasty's army, North Korea would only be crushed unilaterally. Not only did it have the advantage of firearms, but there was also a gap in military morale.

North Korean officers and soldiers, whether they win or lose, should eat military rations or eat military rations. They will never be officials or generals, so they will naturally have to muddle along.

Zhu Yijiong thought for a while, nodded and said: "What Chen Qing said is true. North Korea belongs to the king. He does not care about the life and death of the people and is unwilling to help those hungry people. But since I am the sect leader of North Korea, I cannot ignore these hungry people. This is the decree. The matter was left to the Cabinet and the Ministry of Household Affairs to take full responsibility. The hungry Korean people must be properly accommodated and they must not die of cold or starvation."

"According to the order."

The cabinet ministers responded with their hands raised.

The hungry people of North Korea rebelled because the North Korean government and nobles were unwilling to spend money to help the people.

The Ming Dynasty will not have these problems. After all, this is a ready-made immigrant population. There happens to be a large immigration gap in Lelang and Heilongjiang. Filling these hungry Korean people will not only relieve the pressure on the hungry people, but also quickly enrich the hinterland of Liaodong.

Wu Sidao said: "Your Majesty, it is easy to send troops to North Korea, but North Korea's Xianjing and Ping'an provinces have long been integrated into Lelang Province. Moreover, the North is already part of China, but North Korea took advantage of the late Yuan Dynasty to annex it. In the past, Emperor Taizong wanted to recover, but he was delayed by the northern expedition to Mobei. Now, it is justifiable for our Ming Dynasty to regain the two northern territories. But the two northern territories are easy to obtain, but the six central and southern territories of Korea cannot be swallowed lightly. , at least not swallow it all.”

The central region of Korea is the core area of ​​royal rule, and the military, civilian, and gentry here are also willing to be loyal to the king. However, the south is different. It is further away from Seoul and belongs to the foundation of the two classes of nobles and gentry.

For example, the central part of Korea is the Northern Zhili of the Ming Dynasty, while the south is the territory of the Jiangnan gentry.

Even if the Ming Dynasty wanted to annex it, it would be enough to annex the central part at most. Further expansion to the south would inevitably arouse rebellions and resistances among the Korean gentry and two groups of nobles.

At that time, I don’t know how much food will be spent to station troops to suppress and maintain rule.

Zhu Yijiong pointed at the map of North Korea placed on the desk and said: "Didn't my Pyongyang magistrate Pu Zheng and Pu Qing's family send a petition to restore the four Han counties in the Han Dynasty? In this case, they sent envoys to North Korea to hold them accountable. Why? Stealing the four Han counties of our Ming Dynasty?"

"Order them to return the territory under the jurisdiction of the four counties of Han Dynasty to our Ming Dynasty as soon as possible. If they are unwilling to return it, then our Ming Dynasty will send troops to get it. Then draw up a transfer order and ask Wang Zongtan to lead his army south from Pyongyang and appease the North Koreans along the way. The hungry people in Huanghai, Jiangyuan, and Gyeonggi Province are revolting." In a few words, Zhu Yijiong, the Ming Emperor, drew the 38th parallel for North Korea in advance.

To be precise, it should only be 36 degrees, because Seoul is determined to be more severe than the th Parallel.

It makes sense to have a big fist!

Zhu Yijiong thought for a while, then pointed to a place on the map and said: "There is also Tsushima Island between North Korea and Japan, where the Ministry of Military Affairs established Tsushima County. The first county magistrate can be served by the original owner of the island, but The Ministry of Personnel needs to select a county magistrate to supervise and assist the administration, and the Ministry of Household Affairs will move some academic officials and officials there."

Tsushima? Tsushima County?

The cabinet ministers were a little confused. After comparing the map carefully, they quickly understood what the emperor meant.

Tsushima Island is located in the middle of Japan and North Korea, one above and one below Tamna County, perfectly cutting off the Japan-Korea Strait.

Later, Tsushima Island was part of Japan, but now, the geographical divisions here are very blurred.

However, these are not important. The key is that this small island in the Asahi Strait is an important hub for trade between the two countries, so it must be controlled.

The Emperor of Ming Dynasty issued an edict, and most of the territory of North Korea ceased to exist, and the country of North Korea seemed to have existed in name only. Although there is still a small half of the south, it is dominated by two groups of nobles and gentry. Comparing the situation of the Southern Ming emperors can tell.

Moreover, the Ming Dynasty's army is still looming in the north, and North Korea's domestic currency market has long been completely controlled by Ming Dynasty Tongbao. Even if North Korea can still exist in the future, it will completely become a puppet state of the Ming Dynasty.

As long as the population in Liaodong gradually increases and there is a strong enough naval power, North Korea will never have a chance to turn around.

The matter of sending troops to North Korea has been decided, and the specific details will be discussed in detail by the Privy Council and the Cabinet.

Wang Yuan cupped his hands and said: "Your Majesty, the Governor of Yecheng recently sent a petition to relax the ban on firearms in the Governor's District of Yecheng, and allow firearms to be given to Han villages that open up wasteland."

Lin Jingyu said: "The firearms ban can be relaxed. Not only the Yecheng Governor-General, but the Luzon Governor-General can also relax the firearms ban. The governor-general can even be allowed to sell firearms to some Han villages that are actively developing foreign lands. In this way, the firearms ban can be relaxed. The Han villages in the major governor-general areas can better open up wasteland for our Ming Dynasty. Moreover, if there is a war, the overseas governor-general offices can also recruit Han people to join the army at any time to defend the overseas governor-general areas."

Wang Li then said: "It is true that the ban on firearms can be relaxed appropriately, but it cannot be allowed to spread. All firearms should be strictly registered. Without registration, they are illegally held. The specific details are still decided by His Majesty."

Zhu Yijiong thought for a while, nodded and said: "Regardless of the overseas governor-general areas such as Yecheng and Luzon, they are still too far from the mainland. The ban on firearms can be relaxed as appropriate. Order the Ordnance Bureau and the Privy Council to make statistics on the elimination of stock matches in each army. We will select 15,000 guns from them and send them to Coconut City and the Governor-General of Luzon."

Today's Ming army has long eliminated the matchlock gun. These obsolete military matchlocks are gathering dust just sitting in the warehouse.

It is better to give it directly to the overseas governor-general and use it to arm the Han villages for overseas reclamation, which can be regarded as waste utilization.

It is conceivable that with these fifteen thousand matchlock guns, the Han people's land reclamation and expansion in the two overseas governor-general areas of Luzon and Yecheng must be even faster.

Luzon will have a full-scale war with the Spanish and Dutch sooner or later, and the Java Island vassal states in Coconut City will probably not have a good time for a long time.

On the other hand, the British in Sumatra, as strategic allies of the Ming Dynasty, may be in an embarrassing situation in the future.

Because the old port is too close to Bencoolen, they will have to collide sooner or later, and India's strategy means that the Ming Dynasty and the United Kingdom must be long-term strategic allies for at least several decades.

Over in Malacca, the Sultan of Johor should be able to pass on for several more generations.

Anyway, their sultans were replaced very frequently, so we can see whether the Johor sultan at that time was smart enough.

(End of this chapter)