Dominate the Country

"Your Majesty, Your Majesty..."

Zhang Dayong's voice woke Chen Ming from his sleep. He first glanced at the floor clock not far away. It was 2:15, less than half an hour since he fell asleep.

"Your Majesty, urgent news from North Korea."

Chen Ming did not take the letter handed over by Zhang Dayong, but closed his eyes and fell on the bed again. What big thing could happen in North Korea? I'm afraid that some military generals from some place will kill or expel the civil officials.

"Your Majesty, this is Li Qi's secret letter. Li Qi wants to surrender."

Chen Ming sat up from the bed as if there was a spring on his back. There was no trace of sleepiness in his eyes, and thousands of bright lights were shining.

"Your Majesty." Zhang Dayong handed over the letter again.

Chen Ming took the letter directly from Zhang Dayong's hand, opened it carefully, and read it again and again. An irrepressible smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.

Li Qi really wanted to surrender.

"Okay. Min Honghao did a good job."

"Let the secretariat prepare a draft."

It is definitely not okay to agree immediately. Don't forget that this thing is a secret memorial.

As long as Chen Ming knows that Li Qi has this "intention", he can rest assured, no matter whether he is active or passive. It's good to have this intention!

So what Chen Ming has to do now is to comfort him!

This Li Qi is also unlucky. Chen Ming really didn't do anything - he wanted to do it but didn't succeed. The current situation is that if there is any risk, you can't take it, otherwise China, which has been caught, will face the complete separation of North Korea. Li Qi has been the king of Korea for several years. In addition to the successor of Andong Jin, he has successively taken in several concubines, but he has never been able to give birth to a child.

None of the women laid eggs, just like Chen Ming during that period. So many women are favored, but none of them are pregnant. Li Qi's bad situation is also the fundamental reason why more and more people in North Korea are ready to move.

It was already unpopular, and there were signs of a lasting defeat.

The Min family army's attack on Gangwon Province and Hamgyong Province, and the Min family army's unconscious attack on Chuncheon Prefecture, opened Pandora's box and the shackles in the hearts of the powerful people in North Korea.

Chen Ming was no longer sleepy.

He went straight to the side hall, and Zhang Dayong had already waited for an opportunity to order the eunuch to prepare a map of North Korea. The eight provinces of North Korea, which were not very large, are now colorful with different colors such as red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, etc., like a palette that has been used for more than ten years.

The Min family, which spans four provinces of Gyeonggi, Hwanghae, Gangwon and Hamgyong, has the largest area. If the original "Seoul" had not been divided, it would definitely be able to suppress the Min family. But now the Qingfeng Jin family, Andong Jin family, Fengyang Zhao family, Pannan Park family, Qingsong Shen family, Nanyang Hong family, Niufeng Li family and other big families have already been subtly divided, and more and more military generals have abused their power in various places, which has greatly shaken the foundation of the Li royal family.

Without the strong support of the local clans, the strength of the Lee royal family, which suffered heavy losses in the previous war, is no match for the Min family. But the Min family itself is not without problems.

The territory has expanded several times, which brings about the problem of unstable foundation and internal instability. This has greatly hindered the Min family army.

"Congratulations, Your Majesty. Congratulations, Your Majesty. The long-cherished wish will be fulfilled one day."

Zhang Dayong watched Chen Ming's fingers moving on the map of North Korea, and the smile on his mouth became more and more intense, and he said in a playful manner.

"Haha, it's just the beginning, and we still need to be careful and take care of it." Now North Korea can't be scared.

What Chen Ming wants is to pick the ripe melons in North Korea, not to pick them by force.

This requires time to ferment and the internal situation of North Korea needs to evolve further.

But this is really a good sign.

The Ottomans have entered Nanyang and are expected to arrive in Shanghai by the end of April. North Korea has sent a great news first. Chen Ming was very happy. In his previous life, he was full of resentment towards the Korean Peninsula.

It was not because of the later super cosmic power - Simida, but because of the map of China that Chen Ming saw when he was still a primary school monk.

How can a rooster not have a beak and claws?

At that time, Chen Ming thought more than once that if China annexed the Korean Peninsula, it would look like a rooster's beak. Then the little devils happened to be a worm. And Annan happened to be the claws of a rooster...

Without these two places, the power of this big rooster in China would be much smaller.

At that time, Chen Ming did not know the complicated entanglement between these two places and China. He only understood it when he grew up, but when he thought of his "wishful thinking" when he was a child, he felt that it was really a fantasy.

And now, a wish that he had dreamed of for two lifetimes is really about to bear fruit at this moment, and Chen Ming is very happy.

The Korean prince Li Qi sent a secret letter to Nanjing in despair, hoping to annex China. Is there anything more gratifying than this?

In the afternoon, a group of cabinet ministers led by King Song Chen Cong came into the palace.

Chen Ming convened a meeting of the highest level.

The issue to be discussed at this meeting was neither the North American war thousands of miles away, nor the Ottoman envoys who were about to arrive, nor the war in southwest Burma, nor even the North American war and immigrants in Nanmingzhou, but a discussion about Korea.

The word "Korea" was already a very far-away thing from the cabinet, but when all the cabinet ministers saw the secret letter handed over by Li Qi, their faces flushed.

Korea is actually going to submit to China. This is a great thing.

Chen Cong is particularly high-spirited. Today, his first term as the Prime Minister of the Cabinet is about to end. No matter how loyal Chen Cong is to the emperor, he is unwilling to leave the throne of the Prime Minister. This is much more glorious than the leading minister of the Military Affairs Office in the Qing Dynasty.

And Chen Cong is in good health. He can serve for another three or two terms.

However, every Prime Minister needs to have a work summary at the end of his term. This is to be published throughout the country. Even if ordinary people cannot see it, it will be seen by many officials. And major national newspapers will also give a systematic evaluation of the Prime Minister’s merits. Chen Cong certainly hopes that his merits are as many as possible.

If Korea can quickly submit to China, it will definitely become a bright spot in his resume.

Chen Ming now took out a secret letter from Li Qi asking for submission. This made him feel that after several years of hard work, the emperor was going to close the net on Korea.

"This is a reply letter I asked the secretariat to write. All the ministers should take a look."

Chen Ming, who had just lit a fire in everyone's heart, poured cold water on them in an instant.

The emperor is not going to take over Korea immediately.

"Korea and our dynasty are like sons and fathers. I don't want to see blood killing each other. What I want is that Korea will surrender voluntarily."

Since the Tang Dynasty, Korea has learned Chinese culture and spoken Chinese. Even though the Goryeo Dynasty and the two Song Dynasties were actually isolated by land, bilateral maritime exchanges were endless. After the founding of the Joseon Dynasty, Chinese characters became the official language of Korea. Look at the two important officials of Korea and the kings of Korea in succession. Which one can't speak Chinese and write Chinese characters?

Among the countries around China, Korea is the most sinicized, followed by Annan and Japan.

Chen Ming has no intention of annexing Japan. It is impossible to take Annan without bloodshed, but he really hopes that Korea can evolve peacefully.

As soon as Chen Ming said this, all the important ministers in the cabinet were in high spirits. No one would say that North Korea has been a vassal state of China for hundreds of years and has been respectful to China. China should not lose its national destiny. Such an ignorant person cannot enter the threshold of the cabinet.

The ministers of the cabinet clasped their fists and said to Chen Ming: "We are incompetent and willing to serve your majesty."

"All the ministers are loyal to the country, and I am pleased." Chen Ming was very satisfied with the cabinet that "worked together". "North Korea did not use weapons, but it was a war of attacking the heart."

"How about this, when you go back, write a memorial to me."

"If you can take over the mountains and rivers of North Korea in one or two years, your merits will not be inferior to the military merits of expanding the territory."

"I will not be stingy with merits and titles."

Chen Ming did not make a random promise, this was his true words. Chen Cong and other cabinet ministers all smiled. Chen Han did not have a rule that no one could be granted a title without military merit, but it was true that military merit was higher than civil merit. Now that the emperor has promised so, a hereditary earl is inevitable.

The group looked at each other and bowed to Chen Ming again, saying, "Your Highness, I accept your order..."

In their hearts, they had already begun to think about how to write this memorial.

Even if they could not think of anything in their minds, everyone had guest officials in their homes. If a group of people flipped through Chinese history books, they could find all kinds of examples of "obedience".

They were guaranteed to write eloquently, with a lot of flowers and insights.

Since Chen Han established his rule, this mutated "imperial examination system" has once again become a holy place for scholars all over the world. The scope of "scholars" has also expanded many times compared to the past thousands of years. However, there are always people who are proud of the imperial examination, and there are people who are frustrated. How many people have lost their good jobs for an imperial examination? Then, feeling discouraged, he simply found a way to make a living in Nanjing. There were more or less such people in the families of the nobles and important officials. A level higher than these unsuccessful people were those who were successful. They were successful in the imperial examinations but not in the officialdom. They simply gave up their official positions and became civilians. That meant they had no chance in the officialdom and could only serve as guest officials for the nobles and officials. This was a variation of the past advisors.

For officials in the world, there was no mandatory necessity. Instead, they could do it at will according to their own economic level.

In the families of the nobles and important officials in Nanjing, many people were trying to attract these guests because they knew the court's plan of "establishing a vassal state overseas" and they were preparing for their families.

By the end of mid-April, the Ottoman Empire's fleet had arrived in Guangzhou.

Nanjing was decorated with lights and colorful decorations. Countless folk artists and teams from various official art institutions set up stages in the open spaces of the streets and alleys, and performed various acrobatics, magic, crosstalk and even operas for the people of Nanjing for free.

This series of actions were the prelude to the celebration of the birthday of Empress Dowager Gao.

April 22nd was the birthday of Chen Ming's mother. This rule had already begun long before Chen Han officially established itself in the world.

Not only the Gao family, but also the birthdays of Chen Ming and Chen Hui, Li Xiaomei, and the birthdays of the old ladies in the palace.

In addition to these, before Chen Hui and Chen Ming's birthdays, the three most distinguished women in the entire Chen Han, the combination of old, middle-aged and young, would add a long-burning lamp and light a fragrance in the major temples and Taoist temples around Nanjing.

It was a coincidence this year. Not long after the Empress Dowager's birthday, the Ottoman delegation arrived in Beijing. If you don't know, you might think that these are used by Chen Ming to welcome the Ottomans.

The British, French, and Dutch were all anxiously waiting for the first sailing ship from Europe.

I don’t know if it’s because of the war in Europe, but it’s already the end of April this year, and there are still no ships coming from the west.

On the market, the first batch of spring tea this year has already been launched.

…

Siam, Chiang Mai. The frontline general base where the army gathers.

In a military camp.

Under the leadership of more than a dozen Chinese instructors, a regiment-level [thousand-person] Siamese Army is scattered at various training grounds in the camp, carrying out daily military training.

In a shooting range. In one battalion, more than 300 Siamese soldiers, led by instructors and officers, were undergoing live-fire training. At the edge of the shooting range, Zheng Xin himself was watching quietly, surrounded by a group of generals and accompanied by a Chinese instructor.

The whistle sounded, and more than 300 soldiers lined up in three neat columns and drove in from the other end of the shooting range. After arriving at the preparatory shooting location, everyone quickly stood still. Then, under the urgent orders of officers at all levels, the soldiers quickly formed a team and made a big rotation in a counter-clockwise formation, instantly changing from three columns to three horizontal lines.

From beginning to end, there was no musical accompaniment other than whistles in the shooting range, and there was no other sound.

"Everyone stands still!"

"Gun under the shoulder!"

Following the leader's shout, more than three hundred people unloaded their muskets from their shoulders in unison. Then he aimed at the target in front of him and fired, row after row, firing neatly and continuously.

In the rolling waves of flames, hundreds of wooden targets fifty meters away were hit with debris flying around.

When the final charge order was given, hundreds of people roared in unison, rushed out with bayonets drawn, and then stabbed and overturned the wooden targets that had been beaten to pieces one by one.

Then the whole team's whistle sounded again. The Siamese soldiers who had just completed a charge withdrew one after another, but within two or three minutes, they lined up again. Then an instructor in charge of military discipline came out and brought out a dozen soldiers and even officers who had made mistakes in previous volleys and charges. In front of everyone, he took off their coats at the edge of the shooting range and started. Beat with a wooden stick. Each person was hit ten times. After ten blows, the backs of these people were all swollen. The instructors did not save any face for the Siamese officers and soldiers because Zheng Xin was on the sidelines.

Then these people were driven to the side of the shooting range and stood in military positions under the sun without even applying any medicine.

This is the Siamese army trained by Chinese military instructors.

Zheng Xin saw it but was not angry at all.

"Instructor Chen, I hope you will always be so strict. This is good!"

Zheng Xin spoke with a Cantonese accent and praised the Chinese instructor beside him. Since a large number of Chinese instructors entered the Siamese army, the strict and rigorous conduct style of the Chinese instructors has set a good example for the Siamese army.

Officers and soldiers are integrated on the training ground, with clear rewards and punishments. During drills, orders must be followed and orders must be unified.

The team trained in this way is invincible in the exercise.

If you compare the infantry divisions trained by these people with the infantry divisions created by the Siamese themselves, that is the difference between brass and gold. The Chinese military instructors conquered the entire Siamese military with ironclad facts.

And having such elites at hand is the main reason why Zheng Xin is confident in defeating Myanmar.

Outside the training ground, a pair of elite Siamese Guards stood with guns blazing, along with dozens of elephants. One of the white elephants looked extremely noble. Not only was the weighing rack on its back very gorgeous, but its ivory was also inlaid with four finely crafted gold hoops.

But at this moment, the commander of the Siamese Guards had already fallen asleep sitting under the shade of a tree, and the gunfire from the training ground did not wake him up. Under his legs was a copy of "Bangkok Daily News", which was the first newspaper in Siam. It was not born in Thonburi, but in Bangkok next door to Thonburi.

The newspaper is in half Thai and half Chinese. The newspaper exposed under the thigh of the commander of the Imperial Guard happens to be in Chinese, because he is also of Chinese descent:

"The Ottoman mission arrived in Nanjing on April 26, the fifth year of Chengtian"

"The North American Expeditionary Force bombarded the Mexican coast and took the entire California peninsula"

…

April of the fifth year of Chengtian is a harvest season for China!