bookbashuk Page 2609
Page 2609
“Then let’s build the ones with fire ropes first,” Li Qianshun said.
After inspecting the firearms and returning to the palace, a eunuch came up to him and whispered something in his ear, instantly ruining Li Qianshun's good mood.
However, Richard was forcibly demolishing civilian houses to expand his own Prince Jin Mansion.
The Prince of Jin's Mansion has been expanded once, and some of the decorations are seriously against regulations.
Now, instead of curbing its efforts, it is planning a second expansion, which makes Li Qianshun feel seriously uneasy.
Li Qianshun said to the attending eunuchs, "Reduce the expenses in the palace. This year, I, my empress, my concubines, my princes and princesses will all have only one set of winter clothes made."
"Reduce the usual dishes and wines by another 20%. Don't tell anyone about this, just do it quietly."
"Your Majesty is being too hard on yourself!" the eunuch said, wiping away tears.
Li Qianshun was indeed wronged.
He ascended the throne at the age of three, and his maternal faction seized power. Empress Dowager Liang made a complete mess of Western Xia.
Fortunately, he angered the Liao Kingdom, which sent an envoy to poison Empress Dowager Liang. Only then was Li Qianshun finally able to assume power and marry a Liao princess as a backing.
But after the fall of the Liao Dynasty, his empress and son died of illness one after another without explanation, and Richard, holding military power, bullied the emperor.
Now, it is beset by both internal and external troubles.
Domestically, he feared Richard's rebellion; internationally, he feared the Ming Dynasty's invasion.
Now we can only scrimp and save, scrimping and saving to quickly build firearms to save our lives.
Perhaps they still can't defeat the Ming Dynasty, but they can keep Richard in check, otherwise he won't be able to sleep at night.
.....
None of the surrounding states of the Ming Dynasty were easy to deal with.
Before the news of Gaochang's surrender to the Western Liao could reach Luoyang, a coup d'état in Goryeo occurred first.
Zheng Zhichang was urgently summoned to the palace for an audience. This Goryeo man, who came from a prominent family in Pyongyang, was now a native of Jizi County, Pyongyang Prefecture, Liaoning Province, during the Ming Dynasty.
Moreover, he served as the Right Vice Minister of the Court of State Ceremonial (a sixth-rank official).
"Your subject Zheng Zhichang greets Your Majesty!" Zheng Zhichang said with a proper bow.
"Come and sit."
Zhao Yuan beckoned and asked, "What is the background of the Jin family of Anshan?"
Zheng Zhichang sat down cautiously and replied, "Decades ago, the Ansan Kim clan was the most powerful clan in Goryeo."
"Because he had long held power in the court as a relative of the empress, he was regarded as a treacherous official and was eliminated."
"Although the family declined from then on, it still has deep roots in Ansan."
"This is an urgent report from the General of Pyongyang,"
Zhao Yuan handed the intelligence to the eunuch.
"The father-in-law of the Goryeo king, Im Won-hoo, is vying for power with the powerful minister Kim Bu-sik... By the way, from which clan does this Kim Bu-sik belong?"
Jeong Ji-sang replied, "Kim Bu-seok comes from the Kim clan of Gyeongju and has no connection with the Kim clan of Ansan."
Zhao Yuan was very puzzled: "Why do they all say they are nobles from Kaijing?"
Zheng Zhichang explained: "The Kaijing faction and the Xijing faction are not both based in the two capitals."
“The Kaijing faction came from the south of Goryeo, and they supported making Kaijing the capital.”
"The Xijing faction came from the north of Goryeo, and they supported establishing Pyongyang as the capital."
"The conflict between the two capitals was actually a conflict between the North and the South."
"In addition, although the nobles of Kaijing are not based in Kaizhou, they have long since separated their clans and settled there."
"Take a look at this urgent report first; I'm already completely confused by it," Zhao Yuan said, instructing the eunuch to hand over the intelligence.
Zheng Zhichang took it and read it carefully, then smiled and said, "Congratulations, Your Majesty, Goryeo is in great chaos."
Zhao Yuan asked, "Wasn't the King of Goryeo rescued?"
Jeong Ji-sang said, "There are large and small powerful clans in Goryeo, which the king is unable to eliminate."
"In order to win over powerful families, each king would take women from various ethnic groups as his wives."
"The reason why the founding king of Goryeo allowed his children to marry and his siblings to have children was actually to prevent his maternal relatives from becoming too powerful."
"Have the maternal relatives become too powerful?" Zhao Yuan asked with a smile.
Zheng Zhichang nodded and said, "Throughout history, the children born from the marriages of brothers and sisters of the rulers of the country were always disabled or died young, and the successors were often young grandsons of powerful officials."
"At this time, the emperor's father-in-law seized the opportunity to assist the empress dowager in ruling, thereby consolidating his power and becoming arrogant and domineering."
Chapter 3543 Internal Strife on the Peninsula
"He married his family's women to the crown prince, and the family ruled the country for two or three generations before being eliminated by other powerful clans."
This has become a curse in Goryeo: a relative of the empress holds power for decades, only to be eliminated and replaced by another relative of the empress.
Zheng Zhichang continued, "Ren Yuanhou, as the emperor's father-in-law, should have been in charge."
"But with power in Goryeo held by Kim Bu-sik, how could Ren Yuanhou possibly be content with that?"
"It was only a matter of time before the two of them started fighting each other."
Zhao Yuan said, "That makes sense."
Zheng Zhichang returned the intelligence to the eunuch: "But Jin Fushi's power is too great, and Ren Yuanhou can hardly resist it."
"This time, he used public opinion to win over mid- to low-ranking officials and scholars from humble backgrounds, and also to divide the Cui clan members so that they would join forces with him."
"The Ansan Kim clan was an unpredictable force. Taking advantage of the infighting among these powerful clans, they actually led their troops straight to Gaegyeong and killed the Kim brothers, Kim Bu-sik and Kim Bu-cheol."
"Judging from the official titles in the urgent official reports, the Ren and Cui families jointly controlled the central government, but the Ansan Jin family controlled the military."
"Moreover, the Ansan Kim clan also brought in the Inju Lee clan."
"The Li family of Renzhou was the last powerful family to be eradicated."
"With the four major clans ruling together, even the slightest provocation could lead to another coup."
Zhao Yuan finally understood that Goryeo's current situation was a composite version of the Han, Jin, Sui, and Tang dynasties.
Although the imperial examination system existed, it was hampered by powerful clans, making it difficult for children from poor families to rise in society.
However, the sons of powerful families could easily become officials through patronage.
Furthermore, powerful families intermarried with each other and sent their daughters into the palace to control the court as maternal relatives.
Half a month later.
Pyongyang Prefect Li Chun and Pyongyang General Zhao Li jointly sent another memorial.
The content is very simple: King Goryeo of Goryeo announces reforms to strengthen the country.
Moreover, it completely imitated the Ming Dynasty's system!
However, it was just a change in name only; the emperor's father-in-law, Im Won-hoo, became prime minister, while Choi Yun-yi, Yi Ji-di, Kim Shin-gaem, and others became vice prime ministers.
Cabinet members were all divided among several powerful families.
The military was reformed with the general command system, eliminating the old and weak and training a new army.
King Go, the king, personally commanded a royal guard, but many of the guard's generals came from the Ansan Kim clan or were related to it through marriage.
In addition, the number of successful candidates in the imperial examinations will be increased each year, and efforts will be made to promote scholars from humble backgrounds who have passed the imperial examinations.
But the cabinet and the Ministry of Personnel are controlled by powerful clans, so what use are there to have more scholars from humble backgrounds who pass the imperial examinations?
Without attaching themselves to powerful families, scholars from humble backgrounds would have no chance of rising in the ranks.
The key point is that the tax system remained unchanged; on the contrary, taxes were reduced to demonstrate the king's benevolence.
Most of the land was occupied by powerful clans, and the policy of light taxes and levies was essentially a tax reduction for these clans.
In order to maintain the operation of the imperial court, it is necessary to indirectly increase taxes on poor families and commoners.
This is a reform destined to fail, and it may even exacerbate social conflicts.
But it was inspiring within Goryeo, with everyone feeling that the country was about to prosper and would eventually drive out the Ming army in Pyongyang.
.....
The south bank of the Taedong River.
The King of Goryeo announced a reduction in taxes and corvée labor, which brought joy to the people.
Near the Daedong River, people from all walks of life smuggled themselves across the river, attempting to become citizens of the Ming Dynasty.
The majority of them were of low social standing.
Wang Geon, the founding monarch of Goryeo, also attempted to free slaves.
However, due to interference from powerful clans and wealthy families, the practice was changed to follow customs and traditions, and whether or not to release slaves was entirely voluntary.
The result of this voluntary action was that large clans, which originally had few slaves, increased their slave population by purchasing prisoners of war or by annexing land.
Even the Goryeo court owned a large number of slaves.
Official slaves were called "official lowly slaves".
Private slaves are called private slaves.
Sasu was a lowly official; his ancestors were from the Sa clan of Baekje, who were captured and enslaved by officials for generations.
Under the cover of night, Sasu, with his wife and two children, slowly approached the Taedong River.
Due to the increasing number of refugees, Goryeo sent troops to patrol two years ago.
At first, the measures were very strict; anyone caught would be beheaded, which terrified the border residents of Goryeo so much that they dared not flee anymore.
Gradually, the border residents noticed that the patrol soldiers had become lax, and instead of patrolling, they were sleeping by the river.
"Don't make any noise."
Shashu gave a few instructions, placed his young son in the wooden tub, and told his wife and daughter to hold onto the wooden plank tightly.
Fearing his son would cry, he even gagged him.
They swam forward little by little, and when they got close to the middle of the river, they were no longer nervous, because the Goryeo army dared not pursue them any further.
Exhausted after crossing the river and getting ashore, the whole family lay on the bank, panting heavily.
They took out their only bag of dry food from the wooden basin, wolfed it down with river water, and huddled together to sleep, waiting for dawn.
The next morning, after walking for a while, they encountered another family of refugees.
Moreover, they were truly the lowest of the low, without even surnames, and were named after everyday things.
The male head of this lowly family, Lu Kuang, had been weaving reeds for his master for generations.
They were quite ignorant and were overjoyed to meet Sha Shu: "You also fled from the south?"
"Yes." The sand tree was also very happy, after all, it had met its own kind.
Furthermore, Sha Shu found a sense of superiority because he was wearing linen clothes, while the Lu Kuang family was wearing reed clothes.
Chapter 3544 Goryeo Tradition
The man in the reed basket asked, "Will the Ming government provide food once we cross the river?"
Sha Shu said, "As long as you are willing to farm, you can get five acres of land, and the government will also lend you seeds and grain."
"That's good, that's good," Lu Kuang muttered to himself.
Sha Shu laughed and said, "I already found out that the people in the north are all good citizens, and the emperor does not allow them to keep lowly slaves."
"People like you who don't have a surname can be granted one when they register their household registration."
The man with the reed basket grinned broadly and said, "The emperor is so good."
At this very moment, a transaction is taking place on the Taedong River.
A Goryeo officer, leading his soldiers in several small boats, encountered a Ming Dynasty ship on the river.
"How much has been shipped this time?" asked the Ming Dynasty merchant from the Goryeo ethnic group.