As the carriage drove across the Yalu River, it entered the territory of the Han Dynasty.

Outside the car there was still a lot of snow and ice, the snow was very thick, and the peaks outside the window were covered by a white snow, towering in layers, showing a beautiful majesty.

In fact, when the carriage crossed the Qingchuan River, they had already entered the actual control area of the Great Han. This 400-mile-long river in the northwest of Korea flows from northeast to southwest and flows into West Korea Bay.

Li Yongqing wiped the window pane blurred by the steam, put his head close to the window, and looked at the scene of the mountains and the earth in winter.

Winter days in the north are very short, and the gold pocket watch shows that the time is just after four o'clock in the afternoon, but the sky is already dark.

"In the winter of Liaodong in the Han Dynasty, the snow is heavier than in North Korea."

Li Yongqing said with a sigh, and Cui Chengcan continued, "I have been to China a few times before, but mostly in summer and autumn. The most convenient is to take a boat, take a boat to Lushun and then route Shandong, or take a boat directly to Shandong. It was also much easier to travel by road than it is now. ”

"It's the first time I've been to China in such a cold winter and snow season, and the snow is so beautiful."

After they crossed the Qingchuan River, they changed to the carriage provided by the Great Han. This is not actually a horse-drawn carriage, but a carriage with sleds. Such a carriage is actually more stable and comfortable to travel on the thick snow on the winter road. The carriage is very spacious, with blankets and curtains, charcoal stoves, coffee tables, and soft cushions, and the car can accommodate two people, and it can accommodate two maidservants from now on, which is not too crowded at all.

In particular, the glass window allows them to sit in the carriage and watch the northern scenery outside.

Lee Yong-kyung and Choi Seung-chan toasted each other and drank tea.

The Kingdom of Korea had already sent a delegation to Dahan to participate in this year's New Year's Day pilgrimage, and soon the mission sent back an urgent report that Dahan would conquer Japan next year, and the Emperor of Dahan asked Korea to accompany him. This was a major event, as Korea experienced the Japanese invasion of the Imjin Rebellion in its early years, and almost destroyed the country. It was the Ming Dynasty at that time who sent troops to rescue and help them recover the country.

After that, Korea experienced two more Jurchen invasions, and hundreds of thousands of people were taken captive, and finally the Han emperor garrisoned the Yalu River, so that they were protected from the threat of Jurchen captivity.

The current king of Joseon was also uprooted with the help of the Emperor of Han, and the king's concubine also married the Emperor of Han and became a concubine.

The emperor of the Han Dynasty has an edict, and North Korea does not dare to disobey.

When the king received the news of the expedition, he immediately sent Lee Yong-kyung and Choi Seung-chan to the west to listen to the hadith on behalf of the king.

At this time, he traveled west from Korea to China. The northern sea was no longer navigable, and they could only reach southeast China by boat, so they finally chose to enter Beijing by land.

In recent years, Dahan has operated outside the Guanwai and has two routes from North Korea to Beijing by land. The first is to cross the Yalu River and follow the coastline to Lushun first, then to Liaoyang, and then cross the Liaohe River to enter Beijing through the Liaoning West Corridor. The other is after crossing the Yalu River, all the way to the north, through Phoenix City all the way to Shenyang. Then turn west across the Liao River to Kaesong, and then go all the way southwest through Liaoxi into Beijing.

Because Lushun was not navigable, they took the road north into Shenyang.

Li Yongqing had never walked this road before, and he was amazed at the breadth of this road. Even in the cold winter and heavy snow, the carriage still walked like flying.

Especially on the wide roadside, there is always a small station every ten miles, and a small fort every twenty miles. There is a large fort every forty miles. There were soldiers stationed in the fort here with food, and they would spend the night along the way, and they would choose a good time to stay in the castle to rest and replenish.

Those forts were both military stations and post stations. It's more like Kurajo.

Even in the snowy season, all kinds of supplies are well stocked, and the soldiers stationed there are even more energetic, they are dressed in neat and warm leather and brocade robes, which makes the accompanying North Korean guards envious. It also made Li Yongqing and others amazed, when they traveled to Daming, they took the southern route, and the Daming Liaodong garrison they encountered had the same impression as homeless people and beggars.

Liaodong has really been owned by the Han Dynasty again.

Along the way, in this land that was once the heart of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, Li Yongqing and the others couldn't even see a Jurchen village, and they couldn't see a Jurchen with a money rat tail. It is said that many of the Jurchens in Liaodong moved further north to the colder regions, and the rest were taken captive by the Mongols.

Nowadays, the cities here, the villages here, and the tunpu here are all Han people.

The Mongols fought and swept here, but in the end all the land and cities belonged to the Han Dynasty.

The Jurchens, who had twice come to Korea and forced the king to surrender, were incomparably powerful in the eyes of Li Yongqing and others. But in just a few years, the Jurchens have fallen apart. On the land of Liaodong, there is not even a single Jurchen person in sight.

Now, the Great Han will go to Japan again.

Both the Manchus and Japan invaded Korea, and when Japan invaded, Korea resisted to the death, but fortunately China rescued it and was able to restore the country. Later, the Jurchens invaded twice, and the Ming were too busy to take care of themselves, and Korea finally succumbed.

In comparison, the Jurchens are more barbaric and powerful in the eyes of North Koreans.

The Han wanted to conquer Japan, and the Korean court unanimously agreed that it would win.

Since it is bound to win, of course, North Korea must follow the Han Dynasty and send troops to Japan, which will be a shame of the past.

The ministers of the two classes, no one thought that the big man would lose. Today's Han Dynasty, that is the real **** kingdom, they stand on behalf of the Ming, fight in the south and the north, and dominate the world.

It was getting darker and darker, and the coachman finally rushed to the grassy river fort in front of him before it was completely dark.

The convoy stopped in front of the fort, and a group of Han soldiers came to inspect it with guns, followed by the black hole artillery on the fort battery.

Li Yongqing and the two immediately got out of the car with the delegation and stood next to the car for inspection. After the Han army had checked the paperwork and documents, they handed over all their weapons and were brought into the fort.

The oncoming cold wind blew on his face, like a knife, and in an instant, it took away the warmth stored in the warm carriage.

They couldn't help but shiver and followed the Han army into the fort.

"Welcome to Fort Grassy River!"

A Han army officer stepped forward to greet him with a smile, it was a very young officer, who looked to be twenty-four or five years old. Li Yongqing looked over the officer's shoulder, he had learned to recognize the epaulettes of the Han army officers, and from them they could see their ranks.

A silver leopard.

Right Military Academy, from the sixth grade.

This is already a not low military rank, Li Yongqing has almost figured out the system of the Han army, and knows that soldiers and officers in the Han army have military ranks, and the officers are a total of four orders and eighteen ranks. Corresponding to the eighteen grades of officials.

The military rank of the Han army is very different from that of the former Ming Dynasty, most of the military attaches of the former Ming Dynasty are of high rank, but in fact the treatment and authority are very low, especially when encountering civilian officials, they cannot be equal, a six-grade Ming military attaché, even a seven-grade civilian official can call and drink.

But the military attache of the Han Dynasty is different, from the military attache of the sixth rank does not say whether it can really be on an equal footing with the civil officials of the sixth grade, but at least the civil officials of the seventh rank cannot command the military attache of the sixth grade.

A military attache of the sixth rank should bring at least one battalion of soldiers. Command six or seven hundred elite Han troops.

The two did not dare to slack off, stepped forward to return the salute, and then entered the warm room together.

Li Yongqing took the opportunity to come up with a few North Korean products, which were not precious, but they were relatively novel. Along the way, they also sent gold and silver directly at the beginning, but there were no Han officials willing to accept it, and there were a few times when they were very unpleasant, after that. The two began to give away some local products, which were neither valuable nor friendly, and those Han officials were finally willing to accept them.

When the young Han military attache saw that it was just an ordinary local product, he accepted it after a few excuses.

After a simple chill. The right military academy got up and took his leave.

"I can't imagine that today's China is so powerful." Li Yongqing sighed.

"Dahan is the suzerainty of my Korea, and the Han is strong, which is a good thing for us."

Li Yongqing did not quite agree with this idea. In fact, Choi Yongchan's idea is the mainstream concept of North Korean monarchs and ministers today. They all believe that the great Han is strong, and it is the blessing of North Korea. With a strong suzerain, North Korea is naturally better.

Especially since the founding of the Han Dynasty. North Korea has indeed gained a lot of benefits.

Although the Han Dynasty leased Tamna, Geoje and other islands, although they were not small, they did not have a large population and less tax revenue in the past. But now the Han pays them a lot of rent every year, and even builds a trading post and a port on it, and the Han merchant ships are endless, and the economy of the southern region of Korea is also prosperous.

Many North Korean products were sold, and the booming market also led to an increase in North Korea's tax revenues. Moreover, a large number of high-quality and inexpensive Han goods have also greatly facilitated North Korea.

The shotguns, artillery, and even merchant ships, warships, swords, etc., made by the Han Dynasty, were all extremely sophisticated and inexpensive, much stronger than those made by the North Koreans themselves. Today, all of North Korea's armaments have been imported from Dahan.

Dahan even opened a bank in North Korea to provide loans to Korean monarchs, merchants, and ordinary people. They buy armaments and even get loans.

At present, in North Korea, there are even Han currency such as silver dollar bills, silver dollars, and copper dollars. Compared with the silver and copper coins of North Korea, the currency of the Han Dynasty is more sophisticated and easier to use.

From armaments to currency, from food and clothing to housing and transportation, from the king to the common people, the whole of Korea is like a little China.

The Korean monarchs and ministers also liked this sight, and they were happy to call themselves little China, and they were proud and proud of it. From kings to ministers to scholars to merchants, they took pride in speaking Chinese and writing Chinese characters.

They wore all kinds of exquisite and inexpensive ready-to-wear clothes shipped from China, rode in Chinese-made carriages, boats, and even lived in Han-style houses, all of which were built by Han craftsmen.

In a short period of time, there were many schools built by Han merchants in North Korea, which taught Chinese characters, and even the history of the Han people.

Li Yongqing was always a little worried.

Today's Korea does seem to be prosperous on the surface, the imperial court's taxes have increased, and the people's lives seem to be more stable. In the north, from the Qingchuan River to the Yalu River, these hundreds of miles were also stationed by the Han army, and the fort fort of the Han army was built.

The Korean state no longer has to worry about the barbarian Jurchens in the north and the Japanese in the south.

But Li Yongqing always felt that something was wrong.

In the long run, won't North Korea become a part of China? Korea is only a vassal state of the Han Dynasty, not a part of the Han Dynasty.

But now there are officials in the DPRK and China who are shouting that they want to reduce the number of troops, on the grounds that the DPRK has the protection of the Han Dynasty, and there is no need to spend a lot of money to maintain so many troops. Some people suggested that it would be possible to simply station a 10,000-strong Praetorian Guard in the royal capital, and then build a fleet.

Ask Han instructors, buy Han-style armaments, and then that's enough.

Many officials are now either busy doing business with Han Chinese or giving their daughters to Han Chinese as wives and concubines. Some guys even disregarded their status and gave their daughters to Han people as concubines, or even to Han merchants as concubines.

Far from being ashamed of it, they are proud of it.

"In the long run, the country will not be a country."

Choi Seung-chan smiled, "Lord Li is too worried, the relationship between the Han and my Joseon is a clan and a domain, a clan for thousands of years." ”

Lee Yong-kyung has heard too many of Choi's arguments, and they don't believe that the Han will have any intentions against North Korea. He didn't want to argue anymore, just sighed.

In fact, he himself did not have much confidence that the Han would be bad for North Korea, which was just a concern. After all, the current situation in North Korea is actually equivalent to completely handing over itself to the Han Dynasty, if one day, when the Han only needs to stretch out his hand, he can seize the abundant fruit of North Korea, will the Han really not do this?

Li Yongqing feels that today's big man will be sharp, full of ambition.

The Han Dynasty was not the Ming Dynasty, and the Ming Dynasty once listed Korea as a non-conquest country, and indeed always maintained their suzerain-vassal relationship. When the Japanese invaded the dynasty, the Ming Dynasty immediately sent troops to rescue, and mobilized countless soldiers and horses before and after, spending countless money and food, just for the obligations of a suzerainty to a vassal state.

But Dahan is not Daming.

The Han Dynasty has only been established for a short time, but it has been using troops constantly, not to mention the Jurchen and Mongolia, and now it wants to fight Japan on the one hand, but it is still using troops in the southwest.

Not to mention that they have changed the local Tusi that had been recognized by the central court for hundreds of years, and now they have even beaten further south to Donghu.

The Han are not satisfied with their inherent territory, they are full of the spirit of opening up territory.

After conquering the Jurchens, Mongolia, Japan, and Donghu, will Korea be next?

"Actually, if one day it happens, I think North Korea may be the next Mongolia, not the next Japan and Donggoo." Choi Seung-chan said suddenly.

Li Yongqing was stunned for a moment.

"The next Mongolia?"

Cui Chengcan smiled, "The eastern Mongolian tribes are now all subservient to the Han Dynasty, and the Mongolian steppes are all included in the territory of the Han Dynasty. Wouldn't it be better for the Han court and the Mongol feudal princes to govern the steppe together, and from then on all the tribes entered China, and there were no more disputes? Look at the current Mongolia, they are all feudal princes of the Han Dynasty, there is no longer a war between each other, there is no constant conflict between tribes, but they can not only enjoy peace, but also get a comprehensive trade with the Central Plains, I heard that now the Mongolian herdsmen live more than ten times more than before. ”

Li Yongqing looked at Cui Chengcan in a daze, never expecting him to say such a thing. Could it be that he also looked forward to the day when Korea would be incorporated into the Han Dynasty, and then the Korean monarchs would become the princes of the Han Dynasty?

Choi Seung-chan just wants to be a citizen of the Han Dynasty, but he doesn't want to be a Korean citizen anymore?

Li Yongqing suddenly felt very sad, and his heart was full of powerlessness. (To be continued.) )