Raising chickens and pigs and digging for wild vegetables, the county magistrate's promotion wa

Chapter 280 Your Ming Emperor has such a perverse sense of humor?

The slight sympathy and pity Yang felt for Park Deok-hwan just now stemmed from the fact that Magistrate Yang thought of Bashar al-Jaafari's forlorn figure and that Gu Weijun had also suffered such humiliation.

However, Magistrate Yang would never forget the numerous misdeeds and evil deeds committed by the Koreans when they were traitors, simply because of this slight sympathy and pity.

Even setting aside the fact that the Koreans were even more ruthless than the Mongols when they served as traitors to the Ming Dynasty, from the perspective of the Ming Dynasty alone, the Koreans also served as dogs to the Yuan Dynasty, and when they attacked the people of the Central Plains, they were even more vicious than the Tartars.

Oppression?

humiliation?

Put aside morality and basic decency, and let others suffer the humiliation of being oppressed.

As they walked, Magistrate Yang suddenly stopped again, turned to look at the four scholars, including He Huan, and said, word by word, "You have survived to this day by doing hard labor building roads in Ningyang County. You should thank your ancestors for being Han Chinese, and thank yourselves for being born into the right family. If you were Semu people, or Koreans, or monkeys, you would definitely not have survived to this day."

He Huan opened her mouth, stammered for a while, but couldn't say a word.

In fact, He Huan and the others understood that although they had completely lost their freedom and their living conditions were indeed poor after being sent to Ningyang County to do hard labor for road construction, the Semu people who were later sent to Ningyang County were far worse off than them in terms of food and clothing, and they were often whipped by the overseers.

Rumors circulated that over a hundred of the thousand Semu people exiled to Ningyang County died within just two or three months, and their final whereabouts were unknown.

According to a scholar's private complaint, the latter half of the road from Ningyang County to Yanzhou Prefecture has the wronged soul of a Semu person buried under every zhang (approximately 3.3 meters) of road.

Magistrate Yang glanced at the four men and said coldly, "Remember this: there is no friendship between nations, only naked self-interest. If any of you feel sorry for Park Deok-hwan and those Semu people, you can go and exchange with them. Otherwise, put away your worthless sympathy and work hard to make the Ming Dynasty stronger so that your descendants will never have to suffer such humiliation again."

After saying this, Magistrate Yang turned around and continued walking forward.

Is the Ming Dynasty any good?

Actually, there's nothing good about it.

What good things could a feudal dynasty have?

But the Ming Dynasty was still the Ming Dynasty. It was the last backbone of the Han people during the feudal dynasty period, and the unyielding swan song of the Han people during the feudal dynasty period.

Therefore, the Ming Dynasty could fall, whether it fell to Li Zicheng, Zhang Zicheng, Zhang Xianzhong, or Li Xianzhong. In Magistrate Yang's view, this was a completely irrelevant matter.

However, the Ming Dynasty must not fall into the hands of foreign tribes, nor can it allow the Central Plains to fall under the iron hooves of foreign tribes once again.

If we can change these scholars of the Ming Dynasty, then let's change them and make them completely abandon their illusions about reviving the tax farming system.

If we can't change these scholars in the Ming Dynasty... then we should try to do things cleanly and efficiently, and definitely not leave behind a bad project like Xi'er did.

……

The envoy sent by Chen Rizhen to the Ming Dynasty was named Du Shunqin. (This part differs slightly from the official historical timeline; historically, Du Shunqin's mission arrived in Nanjing in April of the third year of the Hongwu reign.)

In the eyes of Magistrate Yang, the dark-skinned and thin Annamese envoy before him also fit his consistent view of monkeys.

There was no other way; Magistrate Yang simply treated every non-Ming citizen, barbarian, equally. He neither discriminated against them because of their bad deeds nor showed them any special favor because the monkeys were relatively well-behaved at the moment.

Upon arriving at the post station where Du Shunqin was staying, Magistrate Yang bowed directly to Du Shunqin and said, "I, Yang, have met the esteemed envoy from Annam. I was shocked and saddened to learn of the passing of your wise king."

After all, the King of Annam, Trần Nhồng, suddenly passed away. Emperor Zhu characterized Trần Nhồng as a "wise king of the southwestern vassal state," and even said, "I cannot help but stamp my feet in amazement. How could the wise king of the southwestern vassal state have passed away so quickly?" He also specially dispatched Wang Lian, a compiler of the Hanlin Academy, to Annam as an envoy to offer condolences. Magistrate Yang could not very well pull out a treaty right away.

After exchanging a few polite words with Du Shunqin and expressing his grief and regret over the sudden passing of "Wise Prince" Chen Rikui, Magistrate Yang finally steered the conversation back on track.

"Good teachings are meant to be known; His Majesty has already dispatched a compiler from the Hanlin Academy to Annam to offer sacrifices."

Magistrate Yang said with a face full of grief, "But the deceased is gone. We still need to finish the unfinished business of your late king so that we can comfort his spirit."

Du Shunqin immediately felt much better and even began to doubt whether the information he had heard was true.

The young man in front of me, Yang Shaoqing, is very polite, not at all like the rude and overbearing person in the rumors.

Before Du Shunqin could even think of a few more words to praise Magistrate Yang, Magistrate Yang said directly, "By the way, I just went to the Goryeo envoy and signed the 'Ming-Goryeo Friendship Treaty' with him. I've come to see Envoy Du now because I want to sign a similar treaty with him as well."

Du Shunqin was slightly taken aback at first, then asked with great curiosity, "What are the contents of the treaty? May I take a look first?"

Magistrate Yang nodded, took an envelope directly from He Huan's hand, opened it, took out the "Treaty of Friendship between the Ming and Qing Dynasties" and placed it on the table, saying with a smile, "Please take a look, Your Excellency."

Du Shunqin suddenly didn't want to watch anymore.

The phrase "Ming-Goryeo Friendship Treaty" is easy to understand; it simply means a friendly treaty between the Ming Dynasty and Goryeo.

The Treaty of Friendship between the Ming and Jiaozhi is easy to understand; it refers to a friendly treaty between the Ming Dynasty and Jiaozhi.

But is it possible that Jiaozhi was the old name, and the country was now Annam?

Thinking of this, Du Shunqin smiled and said, "Let Yang Shaoqing know that our small country is now called Annam, not Jiaozhi. Writing 'Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation between the Ming and Vietnam' must be a typo?"

Upon hearing this, Magistrate Yang exclaimed in surprise, then slapped his forehead and said apologetically, "I was writing in a daze and completely forgot about this matter. Please forgive me, Your Excellency. I will go to apologize to His Majesty the Emperor of the Great Ming Dynasty tomorrow."

Seeing Magistrate Yang's incredibly fake acting, Du Shunqin couldn't help but feel a sense of unease. He then picked up the so-called "Treaty of Friendship between the Ming and Qing Dynasties" and began to read it.

The further he looked, the more Du Shunqin frowned.

Is it permissible to use official documents but not state letters? Is it permissible to address someone as a subject but not as a king?

There's no problem with that. After all, they came here to request submission and tribute, and Annam has no right to change the terms.

But what's with this memorial requiring the emperor to be addressed as "Your Majesty, Grandfather Emperor of the Ming Dynasty"?

How could the Emperor of the Great Ming Dynasty have such a perverse sense of humor?