Chapter 869 0864 [Southern Defectors]

None of the countries surrounding the Ming Dynasty were worried.

The news of Gaochang's surrender to Xiliao had not yet reached Luoyang, but the Goryeo coup came first.

Zheng Zhichang was urgently summoned to the palace for an audience. He was a Korean from a wealthy family in Pyongyang, and was now a member of Jizi County, Pyongyang Prefecture, Liaoning Province, Ming Dynasty.

Moreover, he served as the Yousi Cheng of Honglu Temple (from the sixth grade).

"Your Majesty, Zheng Zhichang, pays homage to your Majesty!" Zheng Zhichang bowed straightly.

"Come and sit."

Ju Ming waved and said, "Who is the Anshan Jin family?"

Zheng Zhichang sat down cautiously and replied: "Decades ago, the Ansan Jin family was the largest family in Goryeo. Because they had controlled the government as a foreign relative for a long time, they were regarded as powerful traitors and were eliminated. Although the family has since declined, it still remains the same in Ansan. The roots are deep.”

"This is an urgent report from Pyongyang's commander-in-chief," Ju Ming handed the information to the eunuch. "Ren Yuanhou, the head of the Goryeo Kingdom, is fighting for power with the powerful minister Kim Pushi... By the way, where is this Jin Pushi?"

Zheng Zhichang replied: "Kim Boushi came from the Gyeongju Kim family and has nothing to do with the Ansan Kim family."

Ju Ming was very puzzled: "How come they are said to be the aristocrats of Beijing?"

Zheng Zhichang explained: "The Kaijing faction and the Xijing faction are not both based in the two capitals. The Kaijing faction comes from the south of Goryeo, and they support Kaizhou as the capital. The Xijing faction comes from the north of Goryeo, and they support Pyongyang as the capital. In fact, the dispute between the two Beijings is It’s the dispute between the north and the south. In addition, although the Kaijing nobles are not based in Kaizhou, they have already separated their clans and taken root in Kaizhou.”

"You should read this urgent report first. I'm already dizzy anyway." Zhu Ming asked the eunuch to pass the information.

Zheng Zhichang took it and read it carefully, then smiled and said: "Congratulations, Your Majesty, Goryeo is in chaos."

Ju Ming asked: "Didn't the King of Goryeo be rescued?"

Zheng Zhichang said: "There are many large and small clans in Goryeo, and the king cannot eliminate them at all. In order to win over the clans, each generation of kings accepts girls from various ethnic groups as concubines. The reason why the founding king of Goryeo allowed his children to intermarry and have children between brothers and sisters is because In fact, it is to prevent my relatives from getting bigger.”

"Is my cousin still getting bigger?" Zhu Ming said with a smile.

Zheng Zhichang nodded and said: "In the past generations of kings, the children of brother-sister marriages were always disabled or short-lived, and the successors were often the young grandsons of wealthy officials. At this time, the head of the country took the opportunity to assist the queen mother in regent, thus controlling the power and being arrogant. He also married the daughter of the family to the prince and ruled the country for two or three generations before being eradicated by other powerful families. "

This has become the curse of Goryeo. A relative has held power in the country for decades, and after being eradicated, another relative is replaced.

Zheng Zhichang continued: "As the head of the country, Ren Yuanhou should have been in charge. However, the power of Goryeo was controlled by Jin Fushi. How could Ren Yuanhou be willing to do so? It was only a matter of time before the two of them fought among themselves."

Ju Ming said: "It makes sense."

Zheng Zhichang returned the information to the eunuch: "But Jin Fushi's power was too great for Ren Yuanhou to contend with. This time he used public opinion to win over middle- and low-level officials and poor people, and divided the Cui clan to join him. Anshan The Jin family was a wild card. Taking advantage of the fight between these powerful clans, they went straight to Kaijing and killed the brothers Jin Fushi and Jin Fuzhe. "

"It can be seen from the official positions in the official documents that the Ren family and the Cui family jointly control the central government, but the Ansan Jin family controls the military power. Moreover, the Ansan Jin family also attracted the Renzhou Li family. This Renzhou Li family , the last powerful family that was eradicated."

"The four powerful men are in power together, and if they are provoked at the slightest provocation, there will be another coup."

Ju Ming finally understood that the current situation in Goryeo was a composite version of the Han, Jin, Sui and Tang Dynasties.

Although there are also imperial examinations, it is difficult for children from poor families to get ahead because of interference from the family.

However, the children of wealthy families can easily become officials through kindness. Moreover, the wealthy families married each other and put their daughters into the palace to control the court as relatives.

Half a month later.

Pyongyang Governor Li Chun and Pyongyang Commander-in-Chief Zhao Li also jointly sent a memorial.

The content is very simple. Wang Gou, the leader of Goryeo, announced reforms to strengthen the country.

Moreover, it completely imitates the Ming Dynasty system!

But changing the soup did not change the medicine. The father-in-law Ren Yuanhou became the prime minister, and Cui Yunyi, Li Zhidi, Jin Xinjian and others served as deputy prime ministers.

Cabinet candidates are divided among several major families.

Reform the military with a total force system, eliminate the old and weak, and organize and train new troops. The king of the country, Wang Gou, personally controls a forbidden army, but many of the generals of the forbidden army are from the Anshan Jin family, or are in-laws of the Anshan Jin family.

In addition, the number of Jinshi scholars will be increased each year, and scholars from poor families who came from the imperial examinations will be vigorously promoted.

But the cabinet and staff are controlled by powerful families, so how many Jinshi from poor families are useless? If you are not attached to the family, a scholar from a poor family will not be able to rise.

The key point is that the tax system has not changed, but the tax system has been reduced to show the benevolence of the king. Most of the land was occupied by clans, and the light corvee and low taxes were essentially tax cuts for clans. In order to maintain the operation of the imperial court, taxes on poor families and common people must be increased in disguise.

This is a reform that is destined to fail and may even exacerbate social conflicts.

But it was exciting in Korea, and everyone felt that the country was about to prosper and sooner or later the Ming army in Pyongyang would be driven away.

…

Datong River, south bank.

The King of Goryeo announced that corvee was light and taxes were low, and the people of Li were celebrating. Near the Datong River, people from the lower classes sneaked across the river, trying to cross the river and become Ming people.

Especially untouchables.

Wang Jian, the founder of Goryeo, also tried to free slaves.

However, under the interference of the powerful family members, they changed to follow customs and traditions, and whether to release slaves was entirely voluntary.

The result of voluntary participation is that the big families that originally had few slaves have increased their own slaves by purchasing war captives or conducting land annexation.

Even the Goryeo court had a large number of slaves.

Official slaves are called official slaves.

Private slaves are called private slaves.

Shashu is an official slave. His ancestors were the Sha family of Baekje. They were captured and became official slaves for generations.

In the dark of night, Shashu took his wife and two children and approached the Taedong River little by little.

Due to the increasing number of refugees, Goryeo sent soldiers to patrol two years ago.

At the beginning, they were very strict. They would behead those who were caught, which frightened the border residents of Goryeo and made them dare not escape again.

Gradually, the border residents found that the patrol soldiers became lax and slept by the river when they should be patrolling.

"Don't make any noise."

Shashu warned, put his young son in a wooden basin, and asked his wife and daughter to hold the wooden board tightly.

Fearing that his son would cry, he even stuffed his son's mouth.

Swimming forward little by little, they were no longer nervous when they approached the center of the river because the Goryeo army dared not chase them again.

After crossing the river and getting ashore, the family was exhausted and lay on the shore, gasping for breath.

They took out the only bag of dry food from the wooden basin, wolfed it down with the river water, and slept together waiting for dawn.

The next morning, after walking for a while, they met another family of refugees.

And they were real pariahs, without even a surname, and were named after daily things.

The male owner of this pariah family, Lu Kuang, had been weaving reeds for his master for generations. They had no knowledge and were very happy to meet Sha Shu: "You also escaped from the south?"

"Yes." Sha Shu was also very happy, after all, he met the same kind.

Moreover, Sha Shu also felt superior because he was wearing linen clothes, while Lu Kuang's family was wearing reed clothes.

Lu Kuang said: "Will the Ming government give us food after crossing the river?"

Sha Shu said: "As long as you are willing to farm, each person can get five acres of land, and the government will also lend seeds and food."

"That's good, that's good." Lu Kuang said to himself repeatedly.

Shashu smiled and said, "I have already inquired clearly. The people in the north are all good people. The emperor does not allow slaves. People like you who have no surname can be given a surname when you settle down."

Lukuang grinned and said, "The emperor is so kind."

At this moment, transactions are being carried out on the Taedong River.

A Goryeo officer led his soldiers to row a few small boats and met the Ming Dynasty ships on the river.

"How many are shipped this time?" asked the Goryeo Ming Dynasty merchant.

The Goryeo officer said, "Seventeen, all women."

The Ming Dynasty merchant began to inspect the goods and soon frowned and said, "Just one unmarried woman?"

The Goryeo officer said, "It's okay. Married women are easy to give birth."

"That's fine." The Ming Dynasty merchant nodded.

The Goryeo officer said, "Recently, the inspection is strict, and it's hard to get women."

The Ming merchant suddenly changed his face: "You still want to raise the price?"

The Goryeo officer smiled and said, "It's really strict. There have been too many women abducted in the past two years. The government and the big families are watching."

After bargaining, the price of a married woman is five pieces of linen and the price of an unmarried woman is eight pieces of linen.

All of them are good cloth, the kind that civilians in the Ming Dynasty wear.

After the transaction was completed, the Goryeo officer immediately returned to the south bank, while the Ming merchant sailed to Nanpu Port.

This Goryeo Ming merchant sold the woman to a Han Ming merchant. Next, it will dock in Shandong, and then be transported all the way to Youzhou and sold to bachelors in installments.

The government along the way turned a blind eye to this because the merchants had "legal" procedures.

Before boarding the ship and leaving the port, they registered the woman as an overseas servant. When they arrived in Shandong, they went to register and complete the employment procedures. They did not terminate the employment contract until they were transported to Youzhou and sold.

Regardless, it did increase the population of Youzhou, and helped many bachelors find wives.

But the Goryeo officer returned to his barracks and saw his comrades making trouble for pay.

He smiled and was too lazy to get involved.

"Your Majesty said to train a new army and rectify the military equipment. Why do we have less food and pay after becoming a new army?"

"That's right, the rations are getting less and less, and we are hungry every day!"

"We want to eat!"

"..."

It was useless. The newly transferred general Quan Chengxiu was the son-in-law of the Ansan Jin family.

When a new official takes office, of course he has to make money first, after all, it costs to use connections.

"Whoever dares to make trouble again will be beaten with a military stick!"

Quan Chengxiu came with his personal soldiers, each of them was fully equipped with weapons and armor, and they waved their scabbards and started beating people.

The soldiers who made trouble for pay dispersed and fled back home.

Their wives and children were nearby, and the whole family had to farm for the superiors. They were both soldiers and tenants.

Because their food and pay were withheld, more than a hundred soldiers crossed the river with their families that night to join the Ming Dynasty.

Quan Chengxiu was furious about this, but he didn't take it seriously.

The soldiers escaped, which was a good opportunity to get extra salary!