met free Chapter 277 Allowed to submit, but not to claim the title of king
Chapter 277 Allowed to submit, but not to claim the title of king
The situation in South Korea is different from that in Annam.
The current situation in Annam is that after Emperor Zhu sent envoys to announce the arrival of Hu Yuan Liangliang, the King of Annam, Trần Nhồh, took the initiative to respond to Emperor Zhu's call and sent Junior Grand Master Tong Shimin and others to Nanjing to pay tribute and request investiture.
Before the delegation even arrived in Nanjing, the unfortunate Chen Rikui died. Before his death, he passed the throne to his brother, Prince Gongsu Chen Yuanyu's son, Chen Rixuan. However, the Hanlin Academy scholar Zhang Yining and the registrar Niu Liang, whom Zhu Yuanzhang had sent to confer the title, insisted that Chen Rixuan send another envoy to request the title because the name on the imperial edict was incorrect.
To put it simply, Annan's problem was an unexpected situation that occurred under normal procedures, and it could be resolved by simply going through the process of requesting the re-enfeoffment again.
As for whether Chen Rixuan would open the door to declare himself king or close the door to declare himself emperor, these are all trivial matters. If you want to attack him, you can send troops on the grounds of "disloyalty." If you don't want to attack him, you can simply pretend you don't know anything about it.
As for whether or not to fight, it mainly depends on whether the north can free up its resources. After all, the Yuan dynasty is still in a state of "not quite dead." Before the Yuan dynasty is completely eliminated, Annam only needs to pay solid tribute and maintain a superficial submission.
The issue with South Korea is relatively more complex.
The current Koreans are still called Goryeo, and the king is Wang Jeon. In his early years, Wang Jeon was a hostage of the Yuan Dynasty for ten years. He married Botashiri, a member of the Yuan Dynasty's royal family who was 23 years older than him. With the support of the Yuan Dynasty, he became the king of Goryeo.
After becoming the king of Goryeo, Wang Jeon first took advantage of the turmoil at the end of the Yuan Dynasty to eliminate the pro-Yuan forces led by Ki Cheol. Then he launched a major northward expansion. After encountering a series of turmoil, including the threat of Japanese pirates, the Red Turban Army's eastward expedition, and Choi Yeo's invasion of Goryeo with the Yuan army under the patronage of Prince Deokheung, he appointed Shin Don to carry out reforms.
This shows that Wang Zhuan was ambitious enough, and also capable of great forbearance.
Unfortunately, Wang Jeon was ambitious, and Shin Don was also ambitious. At that time, there was a saying within Korea that "the country has two rulers," and even Ho Won knew of Shin Don's reputation as "King of Power."
Just after Emperor Zhu sent envoys to Goryeo, Wang Zhuan planned to send troops north of the Yalu River in order to take advantage of the fact that Hu Yuan was in a state of chaos and seize more territory. Meanwhile, Xin Dun, whose power was growing, asked Wang Zhuan to appoint him as "Wu Dao Du Shi Shen Guan" (a high-ranking official in charge of the five provinces).
In other words, the Koreans are currently at a critical juncture in the struggle between royal power and the power of the prime minister. The reason why Wang Zhuan sent envoys to pay tribute to the Ming Dynasty was to use the power of the Zhu Emperor or the Ming Dynasty to get rid of Xin Dun.
But it doesn't matter.
After pondering for a moment, Magistrate Yang suddenly raised his head and looked at Zhu Biao, asking, "May I ask Your Highness, in what capacity should I entertain the envoys from Annam and Goryeo? And in what capacity should those four scholars participate?"
Faced with Magistrate Yang's question, Zhu Biao answered without hesitation: "My brother-in-law will entertain them as the acting Right Vice Minister of the Court of State Ceremonies, and the four scholars will participate as the acting Assistant Director of the Court of State Ceremonies."
six.
After all, the position of Assistant Director of the Court of State Ceremonial is a ninth-rank official, and according to the rules set by Zhu Biao, there should only be one. However, four have suddenly appeared, including Magistrate Yang. Magistrates of the sixth rank are already considered unconventional positions. Now, Zhu Biao's statement that he will temporarily serve as the Right Vice Minister of the Court of State Ceremonial has reduced Magistrate Yang to a fifth-rank official.
This arrangement is absolutely outrageous; probably only Zhu Biao in the entire Ming Dynasty would dare to do something like this.
Fortunately, there is still the prefix "temporary". As long as Zhu doesn't pursue the matter, the Ministry of Personnel probably won't either, since the Ministry of Personnel doesn't need to pay his salary.
After Zhu Biao left, Magistrate Yang immediately had Limpy Wu summon the four scholars and said to them directly, "Congratulations to you four. Your current position is acting as the Assistant Director of the Court of State Ceremonial. In the future, you may be promoted to the permanent position or transferred to the Court of State Ceremonial as a messenger."
The so-called "envoys" were special envoys dispatched to various vassal states.
Magistrate Yang said with a smile, "The opportunity to bring glory to your ancestors is right in front of you. Whether you seize the opportunity to bring glory to your ancestors or return to Ningyang County to continue doing hard labor in road construction is entirely up to you."
The four scholars immediately bowed to Magistrate Yang and said, "We thank you very much, Magistrate."
Magistrate Yang waved his hand and said, "Don't thank me, thank His Highness the Crown Prince."
After a slight pause, Magistrate Yang continued, "Tomorrow morning, the four of you will accompany me to meet the envoy from Goryeo (Korea)."
……
With a round face and squinty eyes, he looked only about half human even in the official robes of the Ming Dynasty, perfectly matching Magistrate Yang's stereotype of Koreans.
Especially since this Korean envoy was speaking an extremely awkward Ming Dynasty-accented Mandarin, constantly spouting nonsense about how our humble people admire the Celestial Empire.
Is that because you admire the Ming Dynasty?
You're trying to use the power of the Ming Dynasty to suppress dissidents while simultaneously encroaching on Ming territory to the north.
Not only are they despicable, they also deserve a beating!
After listening to a lot of nonsense, Magistrate Yang, who was getting increasingly impatient, simply chuckled twice with a forced smile and said, "After receiving my visiting card yesterday, I presume that your esteemed envoy has already sent someone to inquire about my identity and should also know of my reputation."
"Therefore, there's no need to repeat those useless platitudes. Let's get straight to the point. After we're done, I'll go back to write my memorial and then go to sleep. Your Excellency can just wait for His Majesty's decree to bestow the title of your king. How about that?"
The Goryeo envoy's heart sank.
As Magistrate Yang said, after receiving the visiting card, Park Jin-hwan, who was an envoy from Goryeo, had already tried to find out about Magistrate Yang and indeed knew about his reputation in the Ming Dynasty's officialdom.
Park Jin-hwan never expected that Magistrate Yang would dare to put on such a tough act when facing foreign envoys.
After a long silence, Park Deok-hwan said in a deep voice, "Please enlighten me, Young Master Yang."
Magistrate Yang nodded and said, "My request is very simple, and the proposed plan is beneficial to both the Ming Dynasty and your Goryeo. It can be described as a win-win situation."
Park Deok-hwan nodded slightly, and Magistrate Yang continued, "First of all, from now on, when your Goryeo king submits memorials to the Emperor of the Great Ming, he may use official documents, but not official letters. He may address the emperor as a subject, but not as a king. When submitting memorials, he must address the Emperor of the Great Ming as His Majesty."
As soon as Magistrate Yang finished speaking, Park Deok-hwan's expression changed drastically.
The rules of allowing the use of official documents but not state letters, and allowing the use of titles of vassal but not king, were to be tolerated. After all, the purpose of this mission was to request investiture from the Ming Dynasty, and paying tribute and vassal status to the Ming Dynasty was something that had been agreed upon long ago.
However, addressing the Ming emperor as "Grandpa Emperor of the Ming Dynasty" is not just a matter of being too arrogant, but rather that it shows that Goryeo is not treated as a country, let alone the Goryeo king as a person!
This is like taking a dump on Korea's neck!
Park Deok-hwan's face darkened, and his expression gradually became ferocious: "Has Yang Shaoqing ever heard of Mao Jijing and Po Tou Pan?"