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Volume 4: Empire Ascends to the East Chapter 107: Korea, Japan

After staying at Shanhaiguan for a night, the emperor's car continued to move forward. For the Ming Dynasty, Shanhaiguan had lost its former military significance and became an ordinary city leading from the mainland to outside the pass. Naturally, the emperor would not delay in Shanhaiguan.

As soon as you leave Shanhaiguan, the scenery on both sides of the road is very different. In addition to the crops on both sides of the road, there are more vast forests and endless forests. It makes people feel very shocking. Even on both sides of the road, you can see big trees that have been around for hundreds of years at any time.

Such a forest sea is like a natural treasure house. In addition to wood, there are abundant wild animals in the forest sea, as well as precious Northeast ginseng, etc.

Since the launch of maritime transportation, millions of wood are transported from Liaodong to the south every year. Compared with the wood produced in Jiangnan, Liaodong big wood is famous for its good quality and price. With the big wood transported from Liaodong, the wood cut down in Jiangnan has dropped a lot. Many of the originally cut down hills have become lush again after more than ten years of pause.

In early August, the emperor's car arrived in Chenyang. Xia Wanchun, the governor of Northeast Province, led civil and military officials from the province and nearly 100,000 people in the city to leave the city to welcome the emperor. After years of restoration, the prosperity of Chenyang has far exceeded that of the Wanli period. The population in the city alone exceeded 100,000. In addition to the surrounding urban areas, the population of Chenyang alone was as large as hundreds of thousands.

"Thank you for your hard work, my dear." After the emperor said that, he helped Xia Wanchun up with his own hands.

"I will not work hard when I go back to the emperor, but I am benefiting from Lord Gu."

Xia Wanchun replied that he said that Lord Gu was the former governor Gu Junen. Gu Junen was still a subordinate of Li Zicheng in the past. He made a lot of efforts in promoting the surrender of Li Zicheng's remaining subordinates to the court. Gu Junen was also valued. Not only did he serve as the first governor of Northeast Province, but now he has become a member of the cabinet.

Originally, most of Li Zicheng's remaining troops moved to Northeastern Province. It was in Gu Junen's hands that the Chenyang Prefecture opened millions of acres of fertile land. Not only could Chenyang provide sufficient self-sufficient, but it could also have nearly one million stones of surplus grain transported to newly developed places for use by immigrants, greatly reducing the burden on the imperial immigrants. Therefore, Xia Wanchun had this statement.

Seeing that Xia Wanchun was not worthy of his merits, the emperor did not say anything else. He turned his eyes to the crowd and searched without finding the person he was looking for. A trace of disappointment flashed across his face.

Xia Wanchun certainly knew what the emperor was looking for, and whispered: "Your Majesty, my sister has left Chenyang and has traveled outside."

Wang Fu felt lost in his heart. Things in the world were not perfect. Even though he was the emperor, he still had something he could not get.

After staying in Shenyang for five days, the emperor's car left and patrolled northward, passing through important towns such as Changchun and Harbin. In mid-October, the emperor arrived at the sea cucumber power.

After staying in the sea cucumber power, the emperor did not continue to move forward. The whole north was too big. With the current conditions, it would be too late to go all around. Even if it took several years, it would not be enough. Moreover, it would not be suitable to continue walking in winter. If the entire northern railway was built in the lifetime, the emperor might have the opportunity to walk around the north, but now he is not suitable to go north. Taking advantage of the sea cucumber power that the water has not frozen, the emperor and his party returned from the sea on a steamship.

"Your Majesty, there is North Korea's Yuansan Port ahead." Zheng Chenggong pointed to the continent in the distance and said.

The emperor returned to Jiangnan from the sea on a naval warship, and the navy was naturally extremely happy. Zheng Chenggong, the governor of the Beiyang Navy, personally led the main force to escort the emperor.

The current policy of the Ming Dynasty was to pay equal attention to both sea and land, but in fact the cabinet was still biased towards the army. Although the per capita cost of the navy was much higher than that of the army, because of the huge army, the total funding of the navy was only about half of the army.

The Navy was unable to imagine that it could get half of the funding of the army in the past. However, as the saying goes, the so-called lack of human hearts swallowed an elephant, there were still many naval generals who hoped that the court could further tilt the funds towards the navy, preferably comparable to the army. If not, it would be expanded a little. The emperor has always been the most powerful supporter of the navy. This time the emperor took a naval warship, and the navy was exhausted, hoping to show his face in front of the emperor and increase the emperor's favor for the navy. This time, the inspection at Yuanshan Port was what the navy tried hard to fight against the emperor.

Wang Fu looked at the port with a telescope and saw that the port was already crowded. The person at the front was wearing the costumes of the Prince of Ming, and the officials behind him were also wearing the uniforms of the Ming Dynasty. However, the hats were obviously different from those of the Ming Dynasty officials.

"Zheng Aiqing, did you inform the King of North Korea?"

"When the emperor comes to Korea, the foreign kings naturally need to meet him." Zheng Chenggong replied.

"I heard that you have acted to oppress the King of North Korea. I wonder if it is true?"

The emperor's tone was plain, but Zheng Chenggong burst into cold sweat and cursed a villain to say bad things in the emperor's ear, and hurriedly said: "Your Majesty, I am wronged. I have been floating on the sea and have not seen the King of Korea several times a year. How can I oppress him?"

The emperor actually didn't care whether Zheng Chenggong bullied the King of Korea. "The lord of a small country is like a minister of a big country." Since this is the case, even if Zheng Chenggong bullied the King of Korea, it was just a dispute between ministers. The emperor cared about whether it would cause resentment from the whole country to the Ming Dynasty, which would then damage the interests of the Ming Dynasty in North Korea, or make North Korea escape from the control of the Ming Dynasty.

"I don't care whether this happened before or not, and I should not be too unreasonable to the king in the future."

"I obey the order." Zheng Chenggong breathed a sigh of relief. Since the emperor said only that it should not be too unreasonable, then some small requests are nothing.

"Xiao Wang pays homage to the emperor, long live the emperor"

As soon as the emperor's ship landed, North Korea's King Lee Kyung and Crown Prince Lee Kyung were guided to board the ship and worshiped the emperor with great honor.

Li Qi was just over 30 years old, but he was overly drunk and had a little weak body. He was already sweating when he boarded the ship. Li Qi was an eleven-year-old boy. He was very curious about this huge steel warship. Even if he was kneeling on the deck, his eyes were still circling around.

"No gift."

"Thank you, Your Majesty." Li Fen kowtowed again, and then he got up from the deck. But he didn't stand firm when he got up, and fell down again, which caused the accompanying Ming officials to chuckling.

Li Fen blushed and he quickly apologized: "Your Majesty, Xiao Wang is rude."

The emperor turned his eyes sternly, and the laughter on the deck disappeared. Li Yan looked very sensible. He went over and pulled Li Yan a few times before he helped Li Yan up from the deck.

"Li Qing is still young and doesn't expect her body to be so weak. This is not the way to live long. Some things need to be controlled." The emperor said meaningfully, gave him a few tonics, and praised Li Yan's filial piety.

Li Fen's face turned red again. He knew what the tonic given by the emperor meant, but when he heard the emperor praise his son, Li Fen felt happy again.

Li Fen could not have any thoughts about the sudden arrival of the Ming Emperor. Not to mention that the Li Dynasty relied on the Ming Dynasty to avoid the disaster of destroying the country. Just now, banks and customs are in the hands of the Ming Dynasty, and some important economic lifelines are all controlled by the Ming merchants. North Korea cannot move at all. Despite this, North Korea's economy is much better than before. Customs income alone can support the entire royal family and officials. Therefore, the Korean royal family and officials are very satisfied. As long as they can enjoy wealth and honor as they are now.

As for independence, what is that thing? What are the benefits? Without the Ming Dynasty, the country's fiscal revenue would drop by at least half. All kinds of luxury goods from the Ming Dynasty could not be enjoyed. We also had to form an army to suppress the peasant uprisings that occurred. Only when we are mentally ill will we need independence.

The reason why Zheng Chenggong bullied the King of Korea reached the emperor's ears was that Zheng Chenggong snatched a woman Li Jun's favourite. Li Jun could no longer bear it and thought of complaining. Now, as soon as he met the emperor, Li Jun made a big ugly because of his weak body. He was warned by the emperor that he would never dare to trouble the emperor with such a thing again.

Although Li Fen invited the emperor to visit Pyongyang again, the emperor refused Li Fen's invitation and stayed in Yuansan Port for a day before leaving. Li Fen was very regretful and had to pay tribute to the emperor various Korean specialties that had been prepared early. The emperor did not postpone Li Fen's tribute and accepted it.

When the fleet arrived at Tsushima Island, Japanese shogun Tokugawa Ietsuzu sent envoys to meet with the emperor, and the emperor summoned Tokugawa Ietsuzu's envoy Abe Mid-Autumn Festival.

After Japan issued the policy of locking the country in 1633, only the merchants from the Netherlands and the Ming Dynasty allowed to trade with Japan. After the Dutch were driven away by the Ming Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty was the only country to interact with Japan, and Japan was isolated from the world.

The emperor reiterated the friendly relations between the Ming Dynasty and Japan, followed the ancestral teachings, and listed Japan as a country that was not expropriated, but only required the shogunate to ensure the safety and freedom of Ming merchants in Japan.

Abe Mid-Autumn Festival agreed on behalf of the shogunate, and both sides got what they wanted, Abe Mid-Autumn Festival returned with satisfaction.

The emperor certainly supported Japan's attitude of locking the country, and simply added another lock to Japan outside, and ordered the navy, whether it was a merchant ship or a simple missionary or adventurer, to strictly prohibit people other than the Ming merchants from entering the Japanese archipelago. In a few decades, it is unlikely that there will be Japan or not.

If this continues, Japan will always be immersed in its dream of closing the country and become an excellent dumping place for Ming products. If one day Japan does not allow Ming merchants to enter, the Ming fleet will knock on the door, which is much better than sending troops to conquer Japan.

In December, the emperor's car returned to Nanjing. At the end of the year, the Ming Dynasty promulgated the Workers Organization Law, allowing workers to form trade unions in factories. The purpose of the trade union is to fight for rights for workers and negotiate with factory owners on behalf of workers. They can choose to strike to put pressure on factory owners, but parades, violence and other activities are strictly prohibited.

The reason why marchs are strictly prohibited is that there are too many uncontrollable factors. Despite this, the Workers Organization Law still caused an uproar among factory owners. Many factory owners do not understand why the court promulgated such laws that seriously harmed their interests.

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Chapter completed!