Chapter 569: Dealing with Japan Together with Papa Ming

In fact, this was understandable—it was simply that the Great Ming's generous treatment made Li Zong feel valued.

Though his body was a bit tired, his heart was happy. If not for these elaborate formalities of hospitality, it would instead have seemed that he wasn't being taken seriously.

Zhu Youxiao said nothing, only waiting for Li Zong to sit down and catch his breath.

The Joseon king Li Zong dared not be remiss—he respectfully performed the rites to Zhu Youxiao before sitting down, his face still carrying a smile as he waited for Zhu Youxiao to ask questions.

Zhu Youxiao, however, did not ask Li Zong anything. Instead he said to Wei Chao, "Get some tea, and bring some pastries over."

"Yes, Your Majesty." Wei Chao promptly acknowledged.

Although he was to feast the Joseon king, one couldn't simply come in and eat right away—business had to be discussed first, and only then came the meal.

But looking at the state of the Joseon king Li Zong right now, if he weren't given some tea and pastries, business might not even be discussable.

Li Zong was also deeply moved in his heart, and he hastily stood up and said, "Thank you, Your Majesty."

"Sit down and speak." Zhu Youxiao said in a casual tone, "No need to stand on ceremony with me. Though we haven't met in so many years, you know full well what the relationship between the Great Ming and Joseon is—a tributary state. You've done well; there's no need to be bound by formalities."

"Thank you, Your Majesty," Li Zong said, inwardly breathing a sigh of relief.

From the Great Ming emperor's attitude, one could see that the Great Ming's stance toward Joseon seemed unchanged. An unchanged attitude proved there would be no change in policy—this was a very good thing for Joseon.

Setting aside whether he could persuade the Great Ming emperor to give Joseon some benefits, at least things hadn't turned worse—that baseline was secured.

Once the tea and pastries were brought up, the Joseon king took a sip of tea and then ate two pieces of pastry.

Under the present circumstances, Li Zong couldn't possibly truly refuse to eat or drink. When the Great Ming emperor gives you a token of favor, what would it look like to refuse food and drink?

Only after Li Zong had finished eating and caught his breath did Zhu Youxiao speak: "I haven't summoned you over these past days mainly because I've been too busy—there are simply too many matters in Liaodong."

"Besides fighting against Hong Taiji, those Mongols won't stay quiet either. Don't be fooled by how meek and obedient they look—they all have thoughts in their hearts. Surely in these days in the Great Ming, you've come to understand that."

"Yes, Your Majesty," the Joseon king hastily said.

Whether what the Great Ming emperor said was true or false, you could only take it as true.

Not everyone was qualified to question whether the Great Ming emperor spoke truth or falsehood.

Seeing that Li Zong was quick on the uptake, Zhu Youxiao felt quite satisfied, and so directly shifted the topic, saying, "The reason I called you over this time is actually just to see you, and incidentally to ask how things are going in your Joseon."

"These past two years there has been much trade between the Great Ming and Joseon. Whatever your subordinates have done well or poorly, you can tell me. Where they've done well, I'll have them keep doing it well and increase investment; where they've done poorly, I'll have them correct it."

"We can't let certain matters hurt the feelings between our two nations. You should understand that the Great Ming has always cherished Joseon. So if there's anything at all, speak freely—I will listen with all my heart."

Of course he would listen with all his heart—whether he'd resolve it was another matter entirely.

Upon hearing these words, the Joseon king Li Zong was deeply moved in his heart, and like beans pouring out of a bamboo tube, he recounted Joseon's predicament in full.

To put it simply, it was nothing more than the impact of foreign economies on the domestic economy. The crushing of smallholder farming by the commodity economy caused very severe damage.

The dumping of Great Ming products was pushing many Joseon commoners to the brink of bankruptcy. If this continued, they would very likely go bankrupt.

In the end, Joseon commoners who couldn't survive would rise up in revolt. When that time came, Joseon would be finished.

Zhu Youxiao listened to Li Zong's words, his expression unchanged.

This was only to be expected—when colonialism rises, industrial dumping is the first thing to destroy a nation's economy and politics.

Wasn't Britain's Opium War originally about forcing open the Qing dynasty's gates?

They had originally wanted to dump products on the Qing as well, but they failed. The enormous trade deficit made the British lose patience, and they simply came to rob instead.

Using cannons to force open your gates, using opium to conduct trade—one could say Britain plagued the entire world. Whether it was the slave trade or the opium trade, it was all the same.

At first they still used wool, playing the game of sheep eating men. But later they discovered textiles couldn't penetrate the whole world either—they needed to find a commodity that could pass through the entire world.

This commodity had to sell anywhere it was taken, and be sufficiently popular; simple to produce, low in cost, allowing them to exploit the whole world.

After searching globally, they found opium. This thing could rapidly open up markets—anyone who got hooked would quickly become addicted. As for whether people ended up neither human nor ghost in the end, that was no longer their concern.

What the Great Ming was doing now was merely Britain's early stage—dumping wool products, crushing with massive capital.

Of course, Zhu Youxiao could not watch Joseon descend into chaos, nor could he engage in unlimited destruction of Joseon, and he certainly wouldn't do things the way Britain had done them.

That wouldn't conform to the Great Ming's guiding principles, and most importantly, it wouldn't conform to the Great Ming's interests.

For the Great Ming, developing according to its own system was what mattered most, so the ultimate goal was to achieve win-win outcomes.

After the Joseon king Li Zong finished speaking, Zhu Youxiao fell silent, not speaking for a long while.

After some time, Zhu Youxiao looked at Li Zong and said, "This matter is somewhat difficult to handle. You know that Great Ming merchants have invested quite a lot of money here—all kinds of ranches, all kinds of machinery. Many commoners are also living off these things."

"Under such circumstances, if we truly forcibly stopped it, that would cut off their livelihood. Doing so would very likely cause unrest, so that won't do."

Upon hearing these words, the Joseon king Li Zong showed a look of disappointment on his face.

His guess had indeed been correct—this emperor of the Great Ming truly thought this way and was prepared to act this way.

Li Zong's heart turned somewhat cold.

He had already been so submissive to the Great Ming, and the Great Ming was still treating him like this?

Before you sold us things, you were doing just fine. Now that you've grown so powerful, it's all money earned from us. We've been so obedient, and you still treat us like this?

Zhu Youxiao looked at Li Zong's disappointed face, not caring in the least.

Because once he finished explaining things, this Li Zong wouldn't be disappointed at all—on the contrary, he'd laugh with joy.

After another long silence, Zhu Youxiao said, "Though the matter is difficult, it's not without a solution."

Upon hearing these words, Li Zong immediately stood up, and with a thud knelt to the ground, saying, "Please, Your Majesty, save the people of Joseon!"

"This matter can't touch you, and it can't touch us either—so we must think of a solution from elsewhere." Zhu Youxiao said with a grave face, looking at Li Zong: "I wonder if you've still been troubled by wokou raids recently? These wokou have the hearts of wolves—utterly lawless."

Though he didn't know why the Great Ming emperor had shifted the matter onto the wokou, Li Zong thought about it briefly and understood—the Great Ming emperor said he couldn't touch the Great Ming and couldn't touch Joseon, which simply meant no one could be touched, so let's touch Japan instead.

This made Li Zong immediately excited, his eyes lighting up.

Was Papa Ming going to seek justice for them? Going to war against Japan?

If one asked, which country was the worst toward Joseon?

Other than Japan, there was no one else. Last time he had been beaten, he'd nearly been beaten to the point of losing his entire nation.

He wanted to take revenge, but his strength didn't permit it. Now if Papa Ming helped him get revenge, then he would certainly be overjoyed.

There was no way not to be excited—Li Zong was absolutely delighted, his heart already anticipating what Papa Ming was going to do.

"Yes, they still keep harassing us." Li Zong said with a mournful face.

In fact, Zhu Youxiao knew very well that since the Three Great Campaigns of the Wanli era, Japan had also been severely weakened, and it was basically impossible for them to launch any large-scale military operations again.

Even if there were harassment, it was nothing more than small bands of wokou pirates, which could no longer amount to anything.

This was merely an excuse. Back then, when the wokou ran rampant, they not only harassed the Great Ming but also Joseon, and during the Wanli era they even launched a full-scale invasion that nearly wiped Joseon off the map. Under such circumstances, the hatred naturally existed.

"How about this—what if our two countries join forces against Japan?" Zhu Youxiao said directly to Li Zong: "We can sell our goods to you, and then you can sell them to Japan. That way, not only will you not be harmed, you'll actually make a tidy profit. So why not?"

After hearing this, Li Zong was somewhat excited, but he wasn't a fool.

They had been able to act as middlemen before—so why couldn't they do it now?

Wasn't it because they couldn't break through on the Japanese side?

There was simply no way to sell goods over there.

"I'm afraid that won't work." Li Zong said with a mournful face: "We're enemies after all—there's no way to do business."

Zhu Youxiao glanced at Li Zong and said nothing.

This Joseon king, to be honest, really wasn't that capable—not even as good as the cunning merchants of the Great Ming.

If it were those cunning merchants of the Great Ming, they would have already turned smuggling into a thriving business.

But then again, Joseon's current situation was what it was—factional strife was especially severe, even worse than the Great Ming's, with people beating each other's brains out until they turned to mush.

And then there were the women of the harem interfering in politics and ruling behind the curtain—it was practically a hodgepodge of power struggles from ancient and modern times all rolled into one.