It is not surprising that the king of Joseon sent the prince to the Ming Dynasty to pay homage to the Ming Dynasty at this time.

Originally, when the Ming Dynasty had just expelled the Manchus to recover the north, the king of Joseon planned to send the prince as an envoy to the Ming Dynasty to congratulate, but at that time Zhu Ci was busy reburying Emperor Chongzhen, after the king of Joseon heard about it, he did not immediately implement it out of certain considerations, and now Zhu Ci has returned to Nanjing City, and it is the day of the New Year, which seems to be more festive, so the prince of Joseon chose to come at this time.

Since Korea was conquered by the Manchus in the ninth year of Chongzhen, Korea has become a vassal state of the Manchus, paying tribute to the Manchus every year.

"Xuanwang Wang Shizi goes to the palace!"

In a few moments, a North Korean man of about twenty-seven or eighteen years old walked into the Kim Luang Temple.

"Li Hao, the prince of the Joseon Dynasty, see His Majesty the Emperor of the Kingdom, long live His Majesty the Emperor, long live Long live!" The prince of Joseon bowed to Zhu Ci.

"Flat!" Zhu Ci said lightly, unable to see joy, anger and sorrow.

"Your Majesty Emperor Xie!" The prince of Joseon stood up.

"Your Majesty, the minister entered the court this time and brought the tribute paid by the Korean State to His Majesty the Emperor, please take a look at His Majesty the Emperor!" The prince of Joseon said, presenting a yellow notebook.

After Zhu Ci took the notebook from the eunuch's hand, he opened it and took a look.

Most of the tributes in North Korea are mainly North Korean specialties, and there are also some Dongzhu, coral and other things, which Zhu Ciji roughly estimated, all of which are worth about 100,000 taels of silver.

Zhu Ci hesitated carefully at the Korean prince below, since the ninth year of Chongzhen, after the Manchus conquered Korea, North Korea interrupted the tribute to the Ming Dynasty, and turned to pay tribute to the Manchus, this time it was the first time in thirteen years that North Korea came to pay tribute.

Zhu Ci nodded and handed the Korean tribute book in his hand to the eunuch on the side to collect.

"The king of Joseon has a heart." Zhu Ci said lightly, and then he was speechless.

The prince of Joseon waited for a while, slightly embarrassed, presumably he didn't expect Zhu Ciji to only say such a few words, according to his thoughts, shouldn't the Ming Emperor praise their loyalty in North Korea, and then appease them, and finally announce the reward, why don't you say it!

The prince of Joseon settled his mind, and reluctantly smiled and said respectfully to Zhu Ci: "Your Majesty the Emperor Qiqi, this time my king not only ordered me to bring tribute, but also wanted to implore His Majesty the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty to restore the tributary relationship that North Korea has always had. ”

Compared with the tribute to the Manchus over the years, the Korean royal family has always been ashamed, and more importantly, the Manchus want a lot more tribute than the Ming Dynasty, and the Manchus want to develop military affairs, and the tributes sent are all in and out, unlike the Ming Dynasty, not only do they not require them to re-give how much tribute, but every time they bring tribute to North Korea, the reward given by the Ming Dynasty is always more than the tribute, so to pay tribute to the Ming Dynasty, they North Korea will not only not lose, but will also earn some.

Over the years, because of the tribute to the Manchurians, their life in North Korea was extremely sad, and if they could restore the tributary relationship with the Ming Dynasty this time, relying on the annual reward of the Ming Emperor, their life in North Korea would be much better in the future.

Zhu Ci smiled lightly, but his eyes couldn't help but squint slightly.

North Korea wants to restore tributary relations with the Ming Dynasty? Zhu Ci couldn't help but sneer in his heart, since it was proposed by the king of Joseon, of course he did not object.

"Okay, the king of Joseon has this intention, I am very relieved!" Zhu Ci said lightly.

Then, there was no then, and Zhu Ci never mentioned the rewards to North Korea.

The prince of the Joseon Dynasty was in a hurry, but he didn't think much about it, he just felt that Zhu Ci didn't remember it for a while, after all, according to him, the current Ming Emperor ascended the throne more than five years ago when the Ming Dynasty was in turmoil, and the Ming Mansion at that time was about to fall, and all states broke off tributary exchanges with the Ming Dynasty, and now the Ming Dynasty re-unified the world, and they were the first to come to pay tribute, and the current Ming Emperor has not experienced this matter, so he does not know that after they presented tribute, the Ming Dynasty itself will also announce the reward to their Korean State.

The reward of the Ming Dynasty is very important to their Korean country, you know, their annual income of the Korean country is only more than two million taels of silver, this time it is to restore the relationship with the Ming Dynasty for more than ten years, so the tribute is more, the total value is not less than 150,000 taels of silver, according to the example of the previous Ming reward, the reward of the Ming Dynasty will be more than their tribute by thirty percent, that is to say, their Korean 150,000 taels of silver tribute, the Ming Dynasty will at least reward them with nearly 200,000 taels of silver worth of reward, so that, They will be able to earn tens of thousands of taels of silver back and forth.

Nearly 200,000 taels of silver may be just a drop in the bucket for the Ming Dynasty, but for North Korea, it is nearly one-tenth of the annual income.

The prince of Joseon was anxious, but he didn't dare to say it, so he could only continue to talk to Zhu Ci about the wind and rain, the country and the people's peace, etc., which were implied, and he believed that even if the Ming Emperor couldn't see it, the civil and military officials in the court would definitely be able to see it, and then reminded the Ming Emperor of the reward.

After a few casual words, someone stood up to his expectations.

"Your Majesty, the Korean state is so loyal to the Ming Dynasty, after the Ming Dynasty re-unified the world, the first to send envoys to send tribute to the court, his heart can be learned, and the emperor should reward North Korea." The official said.

Many officials nodded their heads, including Qian Qianyi, the first minister.

These civil and military officials also thought that Zhu Cijiao might not have experienced tribute, so they didn't know how to say rewards.

Of course, Zhu Cijiao did not fail to guess the thoughts of the prince of Joseon, in fact, Zhu Cijiao deliberately did not mention the matter of rewards, and the tribute sent by North Korea was a matter of North Korea, and the reason why the emperors of previous dynasties gave more rewards to various states than tribute, and most of them were real money and silver, it was not inevitable that there was a high price to buy tribute. Of course, the most important of this is the problem of face, the Ming Dynasty got face, the states got the actual benefits, and then the states sent tribute in exchange for the rewards of the Ming Dynasty every year, so that it appeared that the Ming Dynasty was strong, and it could give the emperors of the past dynasties a lot of face and pride.

It's a pity that Zhu Ci is different from the emperors of the Ming Dynasty, he doesn't need this superficial face, he wants a real prosperity, not an exchange of interests.

So, is North Korea really loyal to the Ming Dynasty? Not necessarily!

Don't look at the nine years of Chongzhen after the Manchurian conquest of Korea, still use the name of the Chongzhen Emperor, on the surface how loyal to the Ming Dynasty, thinking about the Ming Dynasty, in fact, it is just for the Manchus to see, so that the Manchurians should not be so unscrupulous when they ask for tribute to North Korea, on the surface to show the Manchus, North Korea is not satisfied with being conquered by the Manchus, the whole country is not convinced, once the urgency is likely to jump over the wall.

In fact, because of the attitude shown by North Korea, the Manchurians have not persecuted North Korea too much over the years, but have sometimes taken appeasement measures, which has made North Korea firm.

"Oh? What Aiqing said is that in recognition of North Korea's loyalty, I should indeed give North Korea a reward. Zhu Ci smirked, however, he didn't care in his heart, is the dynasty really loyal to the Ming Dynasty? Don't look at North Korea has always used Chongzhen's year name, but unfortunately Daming is now his emperor, and Daming is now Zhongxing for five years, heh, North Korea still uses Chongzhen's year name? In that year, the Ming Dynasty Beijing City fell, Emperor Chongzhen died, Nanjing City set up a new dynasty, the Ming Dynasty did not completely perish, since the Ming Dynasty has a new emperor these years, the new year name, if the Korean country is really loyal, it should follow the trend of the Ming Dynasty, has been using the Ming Dynasty name, that is, in history, when the Southern Ming Hongguang Dynasty, North Korea also did not follow the Hongguang Dynasty name, now it is Zhu Cizhen's Zhongxing year, North Korea has not followed Zhu Cizhen's Zhongxing year, but has been using the Chongzhen Emperor's year name, Is this not recognizing the Jiangnan Imperial Court of the Ming Dynasty, or does it not want to irritate the Manchurians too much?

It's extremely ridiculous to think about it, the so-called loyalty is just another plan for interests, how could Zhu Ciji believe this.

"Come on, take the four treasures of the study room of my imperial study, and I will reward them to the king of Joseon!" Zhu Ci sneered in his heart, doesn't North Korea want a reward, then he will give North Korea a reward.