Chapter 706 0701 [Brother, Do You Want to Be a Chinese? ]

Zhang Shuye was also promoted and transferred back to the central government from Shandong to serve as a minister of the Privy Council.

During this year's military reform, the Grand Marshal's Office and the Privy Council were officially merged.

Privy Envoy: Zhu Ming.

Deputy Privy Envoy: Zhang Bor.

Known about Privy Council matters: Zhang Shuye.

Tongzhi Privy Council Affairs: Wang Zhen, Wang Yuan.

Signed by Privy Councilors: Yang Weizhong and Yang Zhi.

Although Yang Zhi was transferred back to the capital and had sufficient military exploits and qualifications, he still struggled with the task of handling documents and had to learn more and experience from his seniors.

Zhang Guangdao and Li Bao are both on the front line. If they return to Beijing, they will definitely be ranked high in the Privy Council rankings.

As for Zhang Shuye, if he had not lacked qualifications in the Ming Dynasty, he would have been qualified to directly serve as Privy Councilor.

This person has served as a local chief official and an assistant officer, as well as an official in three provinces, a general officer and an official in the six ministries. He has also served as a frontier governor and promoted six archers. He not only suppressed bandits in Shandong, but also fought against Jin soldiers. He even built the city of Xi'an to guard against Xixia.

It can be said that Zhang Shuye is familiar with all aspects from the central government to the local government, from civil affairs to the military.

A pure military general like Yang Zhi is actually more suitable to serve in the Twelfth Chamber of the Privy Council.

For example, the north room of the Privy Council is now responsible for military affairs in Shanxi and Hebei. Another example is the Hexi Room of the Privy Council, which is now responsible for military affairs in Shaanxi. The chief officers of these offices are equivalent to the central ministers who have overall control over a war zone.

There is also the Privy Council Teaching Room, which is responsible for the recruitment and training of soldiers and horses across the country, and is also in charge of the Cajun Army, inns and delivery stores across the country.

After Zhang Shuye entered the Privy Council, the first suggestion he made was to transfer Zhe Yanzhi to Goryeo to take charge of the two Ming armies stationed in Goryeo and serve as the direct superior of Li Cheng and Zhao Li.

The reason is simple. Li Cheng and Zhao Li have a personal grudge, and Zhang Shuye, who has been the leader in Shandong for a long time, knows best.

And Zhe Yanzhi knew both of them, and the clan girl married the prince as a concubine, which was enough to suppress and ease the conflict between the two.

Ju Ming really didn't expect this kind of thing and quickly agreed with Zhang Shuye's proposal.

As a result, Zhe Yanzhi became the highest military commander of the Ming Dynasty stationed in Goryeo, and he happily took his wife and children to Pyongyang by boat.

After seeing Xu Kangzong and exchanging greetings, Zheyan asked, "May I ask Mr. Xu, what are the details here?"

Xu Kangzong recounted in detail: "From here to the Yalu River, there are three largest cities, namely Pyongyang, Anzhou, and Baozhou. Pyongyang and Anzhou were looted by the Jin soldiers, and they starved to death everywhere, with no one to help them. They also revolted. , but had no armor, and after being defeated by the Goryeo court, they mostly fled into the mountains and became bandits, living by digging grass roots and chewing tree bark. "

"As for Baozhou and the six cities in Jiangdong, more than half of the people are of the Bohai ethnic group. These Bohai ethnic soldiers and civilians were taken to Liaodong by the Jin soldiers to enrich the population of Liaodong."

"Pyongyang, Anju, and Baozhou are all suitable for farming. After this battle, the population was sparse."

"I have already offered advice. The first step in the strategy of Korea is to mobilize tens of thousands of grains of grain to provide relief to the surviving people of Pyongyang and Baozhou."

"The second step is to divide the troops and station them in Anzhou to rescue the surviving Anzhou people. It is estimated that by the time the troops are divided, 60 to 70% of the Anzhou people will have died of starvation."

"The third step is to move the family members of the troops stationed in the three places and allocate land to them. They are all fertile lands. The fields will be divided according to the population. Each person must have at least thirty acres. The higher the military rank, the more land will be allocated to the family members. Four families With a home starting from 120 acres, even a small soldier can become a landlord.”

"The fourth step is to recruit immigrants from Shandong. As long as they are willing to come and settle down, each person will be given fifteen acres of land."

"With these four steps, we can ensure that there are 100,000 Han people around the three cities, and all of them have fertile land for cultivation."

"Of course, we must also appease the local wealthy families, confirm the division of their lands, and give them some business privileges."

"The other thing is to win over the hearts of the common people. Most of the common people here have no surnames. Without surnames, they have no land and can only work as tenants, serfs and domestic servants."

"The imperial court can use the surnames of His Majesty, Empress, and Crown Princess to grant these unsurnamed people, and then randomly give them an acre and a half of land. The local people will inevitably settle down and consider themselves citizens of the Ming Dynasty. Because they left the Ming Dynasty, their The family name and the land are gone."

Not to mention the current Goryeo Dynasty, even the later Joseon Dynasty only had surnames on a large scale in the late Ming Dynasty.

At that time, the Japanese army invaded first, and then the Manchu army invaded. From the south to the north, countless landowners were killed and kidnapped, and the local order was in chaos. As a result, the lower class people in North Korea pretended to be relatives of the local wealthy families, took on the surnames of the wealthy families and occupied unowned land.

It couldn't be easier for Ming Dynasty to win over the hearts of the common people.

Giving them a surname makes them happy. It is not only a surname, but also an improvement in social status. With a surname, they are eligible to obtain land. Otherwise, even if they open up wasteland themselves, they will not be able to obtain land deeds from the government.

The process of granting a surname was the process in which the people of Goryeo gathered friends and registered with Ming officials to settle down!

Only when you settle down can you be given a surname.

Once settled, they became citizens of the Ming Dynasty and had to pay taxes to the Ming Dynasty and break away from the Goryeo Dynasty.

When they settled down, they were given half an acre of thin farmland, and they became even more grateful.

If the Goryeo court sent troops to kill them, these people who had obtained their surnames and land would probably respond to the call and actively help the Ming army fight in order to preserve their surnames and land.

The premise of Xu Kangzong's series of plans is that enough people have died in Pyongyang, Anju, and Baozhou, and enough unclaimed land has been vacated!

Fortunately, Jin Bing and the Goryeo court teamed up to provide the prerequisites.

Zhe Yanzhi exclaimed: "If this is accomplished, the first merit of Goryeo's expansion of territory must go to Prime Minister Xu."

Xu Kangzong was also quite proud, standing with his hands behind his back, full of vigor and vitality: "The four Han counties have been away from China for a thousand years, and they should return in our hands!"

The strategy of giving surnames to commoners was actually proposed by Zheng Zhichang.

This Goryeo's first talent, who was born as a champion, is now determined to become a Chinese, and dreams of entering the cabinet and becoming a prime minister every day.

…

Wen Gongren held Zheng Zhichang's hand and sighed: "My dear brother, since we last parted, everything has really changed!"

"Thank you for secretly sending the message, otherwise I might not be able to escape the pursuit." Zheng Zhichang said gratefully.

The two of them reminisced about the past, and Wen Gongren asked, "How did you become an envoy of the Ming Dynasty?"

Zheng Zhichang lied, half true and half false: "After I fled to the Ming Dynasty, I was appreciated by the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty. His Majesty heard that I was the top scholar in Goryeo, so he asked for my old poems and was quite impressed after reading them. When he learned about my experience in Goryeo, he took pity on me and granted me an official position, and allowed me to live in a mansion and beautiful women in Kaifeng. Although Kaifeng is good, it is not my hometown, so I asked to return to China with the envoy. His Majesty the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty loves talents and was afraid that I would not return to China, so he made me the deputy envoy of the delegation."

Wen Gongren exclaimed, "The Emperor of the Ming Dynasty is really seeking Talent is thirsty, and only a talented person like you can be appreciated by His Majesty. "

Zheng Zhichang showed a sad face again: "I returned to my hometown, but it was devastated. Pyongyang was already empty. The grass and trees around the city were all dug up and peeled to satisfy hunger. The surviving people all fled to the mountains to find food. Poor Pyongyang Liu family, they took slaves, food and property into the mountains. Although they escaped the looting of the Jin soldiers, they were looted by the hungry people. The Liu family members were all killed by the rioters!"

There are many such families that were wiped out, otherwise how could Xu Kangzong have land to implement the plan?

Zheng Zhichang said angrily: "The nobles in Kaijing are really abominable. There are starving people everywhere in Pyongyang, but they don't even give a grain of food to help the people. Half a month ago, the Ming army took out half of the military rations they brought to help the people, otherwise I don't know how many people would starve to death." Wen Gongren remained silent. He came from a poor family and only turned his life around by becoming a son-in-law of the Cui family. He also hated those Kaijing nobles. If the Ming Dynasty did not send troops here, the Kaijing nobles would have probably taken action. They were planning to divide some small branches of the family and take the opportunity to occupy the fertile land in Pyongyang and Anzhou, and give some food to lure the starving people to farm. Then they would achieve the goal of the Kaijing nobles to control the north! Zheng Zhichang cursed angrily and asked, "Brother, why are you here?" Wen Gongren sneered, "Absolve me of my crime, allow me to resume my post, and then let me find out the intentions of the Ming Dynasty. They actually know very well, and I know it very well too, that the Ming Dynasty is planning to annex the Peixi Road. But they are lucky and think they can pay a price and send the Ming Dynasty's army out of the country." Zheng Zhichang thought for a moment, "What is your status in the Cui family?" Wen Gongren said unhappily, "Why bother asking? He is not a son-in-law, but he is comparable to a son-in-law." Zheng Zhichang said, "The Cui family has countless students and former officials, and may be able to revive soon. But if you want to use the Cui family to revive the Wen family, I'm afraid you have to work harder." If we use the Northern and Southern Dynasties as an analogy, the Cui family belongs to the top family that has lost power. It is temporarily silent because of the defeat in the political struggle, but it can fight back in a minute. Wen Gongren was born in a poor family. He was able to become the son-in-law of the Choi family simply because he was handsome and well-educated when he was young. He was appreciated by the Choi clan leader (the prime minister 20 years ago) like a lottery.

Although he seemed to be in a good position among the nobles in Kaijing, he was actually discriminated against, so he made friends with the equally unsuccessful Xijing faction.

Zheng Zhichang suddenly imitated the tone of Prince Zhu: "Brother, do you want to be a Chinese?"

"What?" Wen Gongren didn't understand.

Zheng Zhichang said: "Prince Zhu has promised to let me enter the cabinet and become a prime minister within ten years. According to the current system of the Ming Dynasty, I should be one of the deputy prime ministers of the cabinet. If you help the Ming Dynasty annex Goryeo, although you can't be the deputy prime minister of the Ming Dynasty, you will be more than enough to be the governor of Kaizhou. At that time, the wealthy nobles in Kaizhou will have to rely on you and look at your face!"

Zhu Ming only wanted to swallow up the land north of the Taedong River for the time being, but Zheng Zhichang planned to let the Ming Dynasty annex the entire Goryeo.

Wen Gongren was shocked and asked, "Does the Ming Dynasty really want to annex Goryeo?"

Zheng Zhichang asked back, "Once the Ming Dynasty's troops arrive, can the Goryeo army stop them? This is not the Sui and Tang dynasties, and Goryeo is not Goguryeo. The Ming army can come across the sea and land on the seashore, and Kaifeng will be defenseless by then."

"How can they be stopped?" Wen Gongren knew the Goryeo army too well.

Of the 150,000 troops on paper, more than half of them were gone because of empty salaries. The remaining local troops have become serfs, and only the central army in Kaifeng can still fight.

The problem is that the king sent troops to the north a while ago, and most of the central army was buried!

Now the whole country of Goryeo can only gather two or three thousand decent soldiers, and the rest are all weak troops that will collapse at the first touch.

Zheng Zhichang continued to make plans: "The Ming Dynasty court has designated the area around the capital as Kaizhou Prefecture. How about you become the prefect of Kaizhou? You will be in charge of all the nobles in Kaizhou. By then, will the children of the Cui family still dare to despise you? Will the nobles in Kaijing still dare to look down on you? They will kneel before you and ask you to forgive their past disrespect." Wen Gongren swallowed his saliva and could not help but turn around and look to the south.

Zheng Zhichang said again: "Brother is very knowledgeable. When he was young, he even shocked the prime minister. He married Cui's daughter as a humble man. But after twenty years, what official position is he now? He is just a deputy minister of the Ministry of Revenue. Those children of wealthy families, with their shallow knowledge, are not even worthy of carrying brother's shoes. But they are all in high positions and are important officials in the central government. Why is this?"

"Yes, why?" Wen Gongren murmured to himself.

Zheng Zhichang continued: "The emperor and the prince of the Ming Dynasty are both wise rulers who appoint people based on their merits. My foolish brother is dull and shallow, but he was promised by the prince to serve as a prime minister. With brother's talent and morality, if he is an official in the Ming Dynasty, I am afraid he will have the opportunity to serve as a prime minister!"

As a humble scholar from Goryeo, he served as a prime minister in the Ming Dynasty...

Wen Gongren has never been to the Ming Dynasty, but he is very confident in his knowledge and ability. He feels that even if he goes to the Ming Dynasty, he will be one of the best talents, and maybe he can really serve as a prime minister in the Ming Dynasty.

"What should I do?" Wen Gongren's expression became serious and determined.