Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 2198 Celestial Dynasty and Celestial Motherland

On March 1693, 3, Hong Mingrong, the envoy of Yanxing in North Korea, was finally summoned by Kangxi.

In this ice-breaking meeting, neither side discussed substantive issues.Kangxi only lightly "reproduced" the North Koreans for helping the tyrants, but did not delve into it. After all, he also understood that the power of "My Great Qing" could not be projected to the banks of the Yalu River—at least not now. Steering is impossible.Therefore, he quickly changed the subject and talked about the long history of Central Plains culture, as well as the business and cultural exchanges between North Korea and the previous Central Plains dynasties. His words were quite friendly, and he regarded himself as the emperor of China.

At this time, Kangxi seemed to have forgotten the racial segregation and Manchu priority policy he implemented in the country, and became the loving father of all the people on the land of China (in fact, among the Qing emperors in all dynasties, the only one who regarded himself as the emperor of China instead of the Manchus Emperor Kangxi (Yongzheng, Kangxi’s son can barely be counted), became their representatives, intending to use this cultural bond to impress the North Koreans and make them slowly move away from the East Bank, which is the so-called soft power diplomacy.

But he didn't understand that Hong Mingrong despised the Qing Dynasty very much, and at the same time he was a relatively radical North Koreanist.What he is thinking about is the collapse of the Central Plains dynasty, the warlords' separatist regime, endless melee, and then allowing North Korea to invade the territory of Manchuria, just like the dream hidden in the hearts of many South Koreans in the 21st century.

The Korean peninsula is really cramped.The land that was originally abandoned during the Japanese invasion of Imjin has been almost completely reclaimed in these years. There are 850 million people in North Korea, and the contradiction between more people and less land has once again become prominent.Moreover, the annexation of land in North Korea is too serious. Rich families often own thousands of hectares of land, but the poor have little land to stand on.If it hadn't been for the great development of industry and commerce under the pressure of the Dongguo people in recent years, and absorbed many landless and landless farmers, the situation in North Korea would have been even more difficult.Therefore, the Korean Kingdom has a strong desire to expand outward to acquire new land, but in the past, either the timing was bad or the strength was insufficient, and in the end there were no results.

Another point is, I don’t know how, the people on the east bank, which many people in North Korea call the “Heavenly Motherland”, are also strictly guarding against them. So far, they have either mobilized their elite troops to fight, or let North Korea send their men to work, but they still refuse Let them expand their land, even the remote mountainous land in the north of Hamgyong-do is not willing to give them, it is really annoying.

What's more, they built a series of towns on the right bank of the Yalu River, such as Dadonggou, Dandong, Kuandian, etc., which geographically isolated most of the border between the Korean Kingdom and the Qing Dynasty (only a small part was left. It is also the passage for the North Koreans to go abroad), which caused a serious setback to the expansion plan of the North Koreans, and it almost failed before it even started.Every time I think of this matter, people of insight in North Korea, including Hong Mingrong, feel sad.

Now I only hope that after realizing the loyalty and reliability of North Korea, the East Bank of the Heavenly Motherland can let go of their prejudices and allow the Kingdom of Korea to cross the Yalu River and occupy part of the land of Manchuria.As for the courtship of the people of the Qing Dynasty, Hong Mingrong didn't like it very much, especially his impression of Kangxi was still very bad-this can be seen from the description of Kangxi written by Hong after he returned: "The height is no more than a middle-aged man, Two floating cells and deep eyes, small and colorless, slightly exposed cheekbones, barren cheeks... Irritated, very angry, using observation as a clue, punishing the assistant ministers for the trouble of authorizing the party, and killing many, In the midst of suspicion, no matter how big or small the matter is, you will definitely want to be close to the general manager... When employing people, first ask whether the virtuous person is in the prime minister, if the prime minister has a recommendation, then suspect his party's private interests, don't use it, and choose according to your own will."

It should be said that North Koreans are quite mean when they speak, which is related to their extreme national character.But Hong Mingrong's evaluation of Kangxi was unexpectedly appropriate, because he was such a person, and his actions were also the same, without beautifying him or exaggerating too much.

Therefore, we can now basically predict that the Yanxing Mission, which was created by the conservatives of the Korean Kingdom through untold hardships, was occupied by Hong Mingrong, the backbone of the Reform Party, because the envoy failed to get it. That's it - there is no result, but it strengthens the determination of the North Koreans to help them get rid of the Qing Dynasty's control of the East Bank of the Heavenly Motherland.

Like Izbrandt and others, Hong Mingrong changed into traditional Chinese costumes in the next few days and wandered around in Beijing.The gifts from Emperor Kangxi had not yet arrived. It was said that they were some horses, silk, tea and cotton cloth, which were equivalent in value to the ginseng, folding fan, pen, ink, paper and inkstone brought by Hong Mingrong and others. This made him very angry again, thinking that the Qing emperor I underestimated them, and the income was much less than expected, which is really stingy to the extreme.But then he comforted himself that the Qing Dynasty was no longer a kingdom of heaven. After years of wars, they were extremely poor, perhaps even poorer than North Korea, and they could no longer dominate them. This made Hong Mingrong's mood suddenly better. Things don't seem so hard to accept anymore.

To be honest, the streets of Beijing have been quite lively over the years.Hong Mingrong noticed that some people used firewood for cooking in Shengdou Xiaominsheng Stove, but a considerable part already used coal.If you ask carefully, most of these coals are produced in Hebei, and are mined and produced by the Mining Bureau run by the government-supervised merchants. The price is not expensive, and they are very popular.

In addition, although the clothes that the common people wear are both cotton and hemp, the proportion of cotton cloth is much higher than Hong Mingrong imagined. linen.Hong Mingrong's people carefully inquired about the origin of these cotton cloths, and concluded that they can be found everywhere. Farmers in the countryside basically weave some cotton cloths for sale in their spare time, and the market transactions are very active.

This cognition caused Hong Mingrong's glassy heart to be hit hard again.Because after years of development in North Korea, the output of commodities such as coal, production, textiles, grain, timber, and building materials has increased significantly, and the people have gradually begun to consume these things. The entire society looks prosperous.As a radical reformer, Hong Mingrong is quite proud of these things in his heart. This time, as Yan Xing's envoy to Beijing, he wanted to find some sense of superiority, look at the backward technology and production system of the Qing Dynasty, and compare North Korea's own Related industries, and finally completely despise the country governed by the barbarians of the Qing Dynasty.

But who would have imagined that the Qing Dynasty was also working hard to introduce modern technology and equipment to develop industries, and the output of coal and textiles had increased significantly, which made Hong Mingrong completely confused, and his mood became very depressed for a while, and then he became angry from embarrassment , I feel that these industries in the Qing Dynasty are very problematic and suffer serious losses. In the future, they will all decline and disappear invisible.What's more, the failure of the Qing government's new industry may endanger its finances. Coupled with the huge expenditures brought about by successive years of wars, this country will collapse and disintegrate sooner or later, and become the object of ridicule by the Koreans.

But at the same time, he also had a sense of crisis in his heart, and felt that he really needed to hold the thighs of the people on the east coast even tighter, and unite all forces that could be united to contain mainland China.Otherwise, once they rise completely, the Joseon Kingdom is likely to return to a dominant position, which is completely unacceptable to him and many people.

In the next few days, Hong Mingrong visited some Qing officials or gentry, and participated in a literary meeting.Through this literary meeting, he more or less came into contact with the inner world of intellectuals in the Qing Dynasty, and knew that these people were doing everything possible to seek a way to strengthen the country.Some of these remarks sounded ridiculous to Hong Mingrong, but when he thought about it carefully, there seemed to be many such people in North Korea, and then he couldn't laugh.

After the literary meeting was over, the officials of the Lifan Academy also officially distributed the rewards from Emperor Kangxi (as usual, some were deducted). Hong Mingrong looked left and right, and felt that it was almost time to set off and return.He bid farewell to some new friends, bought some Chinese goods, and after registering and explaining in Lifan Courtyard, he left with the goods.The Qing court did not send cavalry escorts according to the etiquette of the Izbrandt mission, which made Hong Mingrong even more angry, but there was nothing he could do.

"After returning to Hanyang, it is time to report to the king of Ming Dynasty to vigorously reform, develop industry and commerce, and enrich the country and strengthen the army. The Heavenly Motherland should also serve well, otherwise it will return to the dark age dominated by the Qing Dynasty? Only when the country is rich and the army is strong Only then can we seek the permission of the motherland of heaven before we can gain a place in Manchuria, and then beat Japan to avenge the Imjin Japanese invasion." Hong Mingrong, who was riding a horse, thought silently.

(End of this chapter)