Chapter 180 King Goryeo, Give Me a Favor
"Although we can't give you the latest equipment, your future army will also be part of the Ming Dynasty. If your equipment is too shabby, it will be a disgrace to our Ming Dynasty. You can purchase weapons from the Ming Dynasty in the future," Zhu Biao said with a smile. "Not only that, since Goryeo is already part of the Ming Dynasty, tariffs will naturally be waived on both sides. From now on, your merchants will be able to trade freely just like Ming merchants. You will no longer have to worry about a limited territory and a shortage of goods. What do you think? Is our Ming Dynasty emperor kind enough?"
The Goryeo king and his ministers were all extremely shocked.
Kind? Too kind. But the Ming Dynasty offered so many benefits, they didn't dare to accept them, fearing they might be poisonous!
The King of Goryeo hesitated for a long time, then said, "Angel, could you please allow me to go back and discuss this with the officials?"
The King of Goryeo thought Zhu Biao would be angry, but he didn't expect that Zhu Biao was unusually easy to talk to at this moment.
He smiled understandingly and said, "Of course. Goryeo is part of our nation of rites and rituals. Major decisions must be made after the consultation of all civil and military officials."
"Your Majesty! I would like to first decide on the purchase of weapons!" A Goryeo official dressed as a military general hurriedly said.
The King of Goryeo continued to hesitate.
While purchasing weapons certainly had advantages, he was concerned about the policy of free trade. The King of Goryeo even intuitively believed that purchasing weapons was a bait, and that free trade was the real purpose of the Ming Dynasty. He simply couldn't figure out what the Ming Dynasty's purpose was.
But if he just takes the bait and doesn't take the hook, will the Ming Dynasty agree?
The King of Goryeo decided to test the waters. "As for the trade, I can make the decision. As for the tax policy, I need to hold a meeting with the court to decide. Angel, what do you think?"
Zhu Biao smiled and nodded very good-naturedly again, as if the King of Goryeo had completely become one of his own after accepting the Ming Dynasty's enthronement.
"Okay. Let's start with business. The Ming Dynasty's currency is different from yours, so you can barter grain and cloth. Specifically..." Zhu Biao pointed at Zhu Yi and said, "His name is Zhu Yi, and he's the eldest son of the great Ming Dynasty scholar Zhu Sheng."
The eyes of many Goryeo officials began to sparkle.
Zhu Sheng initially enjoyed only a limited local reputation, not as prominent as other great scholars like Ji Renshou, Song Lian, and Wang Xi. However, after he joined Zhu Yuanzhang and took on the responsibility of education alongside Ji Renshou, his reputation quickly spread throughout the country and beyond. Who wouldn't know that Ji Renshou and Zhu Sheng were the most respected scholars of the Ming Dynasty?
This person is actually the eldest son of Zhu Sheng’s family!
A true Confucian scholar of Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism!
The Goryeo officials seemed to see Zhu Yi radiating the aura of a great scholar.
"Ming Dynasty officials are naturally responsible for providing weapons to Goryeo. I don't think you want this policy to be tainted with the stench of money. Therefore, this matter has been assigned to the Confucian scholar. Please don't bully him," Zhu Biao joked. "But I'm a businessman by nature, and I quite like the smell of money. I think many of you do too."
Zhu Biao waved his hand again, and the guards brought over four wealthy businessmen with friendly faces.
"These are the most honest and charitable merchants in Northern Zhili, the capital of the Ming Dynasty. Every winter and during lean times, they provide relief to the people." Zhu Biao smiled. "Although the court has not yet reached a decision, private trade will definitely resume. I'll bring these four here first to spread the news of the resumption of trade. There must be merchants in your clan as well, so you can communicate with them. They brought your favorite silk and porcelain in exchange for your expensive medicinal herbs. Of course, they don't refuse gold, silver, or jewelry. They're just merchants who want to make money."
"King of Goryeo, how about giving me a favor? Before I return to Ming, your merchants and these four merchants will agree on a deal where both Ming and Goryeo will waive customs duties?" Zhu Biao said gently, "Just this once."
The King of Goryeo immediately said, "Of course! Not only will I not collect customs duties from them, I won't collect commercial taxes either!"
Zhu Biao immediately bowed and said: "The King of Goryeo is a straightforward person. I am in charge of Northern Zhili, and I will definitely have a lot of exchanges with the King of Goryeo in the future. The King of Goryeo should send more envoys to communicate in the future."
The King of Goryeo and other ministers immediately understood what he meant.
This legendary young man was a businessman. In addition to completing the mission given by the Ming Emperor, he also had his own plans when he came to Goryeo. These four businessmen were obviously people who made money for Zhu Biao.
Zhu Biao waved his hand again, dismissing the four merchants. "We've concluded all the discussions. You have many uninhabited islands here, so give us one to camp on. We'll await your news there. After you purchase weapons, you can also send people over to learn how to use them. Alas, I'd love to visit the shores of Goryeo, but you'd be nervous, wouldn't you?"
The Goryeo king and his ministers all smiled apologetically, not daring to respond. Of course they would be nervous about such a formidable army.
Although they felt embarrassed to be exposed by Zhu Biao, they were moved again by Zhu Biao's understanding.
Zhu Biao's initial words and deeds were arrogant and tough, but once he thought that they were Ming Dynasty's own people, the feeling Zhu Biao gave people immediately changed from a violent storm to a gentle spring breeze, so soothing that people couldn't help but feel good about him.
When Zhu Biao and the Goryeo king and his ministers finished their business and started discussing poetry, songs, classics, history, and collections, their favorable impression of Zhu Biao became even higher.
The reason is simple: Zhu Biao's knowledge is too profound. A capable scholar always makes people yearn for him.
They recalled rumors that Zhu Biao had already begun teaching the children of Ming nobles at a very young age. Although the great Confucian scholars Ji Renshou and Zhu Sheng were now in charge of the official school, Zhu Biao had always held the position of "Principal" of the official school, a new position inherited from the Yingtian Primary School. All the children of nobles and officials in the official school still respectfully addressed Zhu Biao as "Principal" and "Mr."
In a dozen years or so, I'm afraid that Zhu Biao's students will be all over the Ming Dynasty officialdom.
Although Zhu Biao was still young, outsiders had not yet given him the title of "great scholar". However, as this "principal" whose students were all over the officialdom, the title of "great scholar" would naturally fall on him as he grew older.
The young are to be feared.
During the following conversation and dinner, the Goryeo king and his ministers and the Ming envoys had a very pleasant conversation.
The King of Goryeo allocated an island with fresh water, high terrain and suitable for habitation for the Ming army to station, and wanted to drive away the people on the island.
Zhu Biao kindly stopped the King of Goryeo from relocating his people: "We are here to show our kindness, not to disturb them. If I do this, His Majesty will blame me when I return. It's just a dozen or so fishing families. They can just move to the other side of the island. They may not have the money to build new houses, so we in the Ming Dynasty can temporarily employ them. It just so happens that we also need local people to help with shopping."
The King of Goryeo had been wary of Zhu Biao for a long time, but now he really began to admire him.
He couldn't help but bow to Zhu Biao: "Sir, you are a man of high virtue."
Zhu Biao helped the King of Goryeo up and said with a smile, "This is the virtue that the saints and the emperor taught me. I am just following it."
The matter was settled, and the King of Goryeo sent over a dozen fishermen from the islands to work for the Ming army. He also ordered people to bring in a lot of supplies to help the Ming army set up camp.
Not only did the King of Goryeo send supplies in Goryeo's name, but Goryeo officials also sent many goodies in their own names. Not only were there fresh vegetables, fruits, meat, and other foods, but also gold, silver, jewelry, and silks.
The fresh food was eaten, of course. Zhu Biao gave all the gold, silver, jewelry, silks and satins to the four merchants.
"You're only allowed to take 20%. I'll distribute the rest to the soldiers. They've made great contributions on this voyage, and we can't let them return empty-handed." Zhu Biao said half-jokingly, "I won't charge you any taxes on this. But when you buy goods from Goryeo and sell them back in Ming, don't forget to pay the taxes."
The four big businessmen immediately said "I know".
In the evening, four big businessmen gathered together to discuss how to do business together, while mocking the Koreans.
"They thought we were here to help the province make money."
"They are greedy because everyone is greedy. We know the noble virtues and righteousness of the province, but they don't understand a thing!"
"Yes, even if we were willing to give the governor some of our money, he wouldn't take it and would only urge us to pay taxes. Alas, how could a sparrow understand the governor's heart for the Ming Dynasty and the people?"
"Are they worthy of being called sparrows? They are just a bunch of frogs in a well."
"The Governor has been so kind to us. After we return, we should do something other than pay taxes. Besides, the Governor is kind and virtuous, and he likes kind people. What do you think?"
"Of course I have no objection. It's just that the province won't accept our offerings and donations."
"Stupid, I know the province won't accept it, but we can provide porridge and medicine ourselves, and pay to put the refugees to work."
"That's right! Why, the governor has done all these things. I've forgotten what we used to do every year when we felt compassion for the people."
"This is what a good official is."
The businessmen were moved and decided to go back and see how they could voluntarily help Zhisheng.
It doesn’t matter to them whether they have good feelings or not, or whether there are benefits or not. What matters is to help a good official.
Well, that's it.
…
"So, Biao'er, you told them all this." Liao Yongzhong sighed, "I didn't expect it to be so easy."
Zhu Yi also nodded: "And the Great Yuan Emperor... I believe that the Prince of Yan will definitely win, but even if the war is not over, the Great Yuan Emperor did die of illness."
This was the news sent back by Duke Cao when they were about to leave Beijing.
Liao Yongzhong sighed again: "I didn't expect the King of Goryeo to be such a sentimental man. He was willing to surrender to the Ming Dynasty only after he had fulfilled his promise to his deceased wife."
Zhu Biao couldn't help but roll his eyes: "He does have feelings for his deceased wife, but he's not hesitating because of her!"
Liao Yongzhong: “Ah?”
Zhu Biao added: "Also, even though it took a short time to achieve this goal, it was not easy at all!"
Perhaps because he had been a teacher for too long, Zhu Biao immediately entered the teacher's state and analyzed the affairs of Goryeo to the two of them.
After the Yuan Dynasty defeated Goryeo, although Goryeo became a vassal state, the basic succession of the throne and major internal affairs were decided by the Yuan Dynasty.
The Yuan emperors decided many times to abolish Goryeo and establish a province, but because Goryeo sent many beauties to the Yuan emperor's harem to persuade him, and because the Yuan emperor bribed court officials and those who the Yuan emperor wanted to govern the country with great effort all died young, the Goryeo king's throne was preserved.
The current King of Goryeo, Wang Zhuan, was a hostage in the Yuan Dynasty for ten years. During his time as a hostage, he married a woman from the Yuan Dynasty royal family.
Did they have a good relationship? They definitely did. But when Wang Zhuan killed the pro-Yuan minister Qizhe in 1129 and restored the old Goryeo system, he didn't consider how the queen would cope. So, Wang Zhuan wasn't a love-obsessed person.
"Wang Zhuan had no close ties to the Yuan dynasty. He took advantage of the Red Turban Rebellion to break away from the Yuan. But after a severe drought, the Red Turban Rebellion's invasion of Goryeo, and a revolt by the country's major landowners and powerful tyrants, he lost hope in reform and returned to the Yuan dynasty."
"But the minister Ki Cheol, who was executed when he decided to rebel against the Yuan Dynasty, was Empress Ki's brother. He killed Empress Ki's brother and destroyed Empress Ki's family. Under Empress Ki's influence, the Yuan emperor wanted to depose him and install Deokheunggun as King of Goryeo."
"Wang Zhuan then rebelled against the Yuan Dynasty again and successfully repelled 10,000 Yuan cavalrymen. He then repelled the Red Turban Rebellion and once again felt confident. However, due to the slander of his trusted aides, he slaughtered four generals and was also faced with a coup."
"After the murder of the four generals and the Xingwang Temple Incident, almost all of Wang Zhuan's close associates were killed. At this time, the queen also died in childbirth, and Wang Zhuan used this incident to become depressed."
Zhu Biao was a little thirsty, so Liao Yongzhong and Zhu Yi hurried to pour him some water, and they almost bumped into each other.
Zhu Biao finished drinking the warm water, moistened his throat, and continued, "But he was only decadent for a while. The nobles were close to Yuan, and the Confucian scholars and rising stars clung to one another. He trusted no one, so he appointed the lowly monk Sin Don as the state preceptor and restarted the reforms. He himself retired behind the scenes, claiming to be heartbroken. Sin Don did a good job, but his power grew, and the two sides clashed again . I'm afraid Sin Don is about to die. By the way, Sin Don was the one who interrupted me when I was talking to the King of Goryeo and was startled by me with a flintlock rifle."
"This man has great ambitions, but his cowardice, suspicion, and lack of talent prevent him from becoming a powerful ruler. I first intimidated him with the Ming army's firepower, then told him that Empress Ki's son would become the new emperor of the remnant Yuan Dynasty, and finally gave him a way out. These three points are indispensable."
Zhu Biao was helpless. "To come up with these three points, how much manpower and resources did I spend gathering information? How much effort did I put into sorting out the intricate relationships? Don't underestimate me for making a decision in less than two hours. It's like an opera: a quarter of an hour on stage takes ten years of hard work off stage. You two are both renowned civil and military officials. How could you say such childish things? What's even more surprising is that you had no preparation at all for your mission to Goryeo. Did you rely on me to say it all?!"
Liao Yongzhong was ashamed: "I really don't have a deep understanding of Goryeo."
"I'm not a civil official, I'm just a businessman." Zhu Yi said confidently.
Zhu Biao: "I will complain to Mr. Zhu when I get back."
Zhu Yi: "I know I was wrong!" Kneel down!
Liao Yongzhong was speechless. Could Zhu Yi really negotiate a deal with Goryeo to sell used weapons?
