Seoul, North Korea, where the Royal Commercial Bank has set up a branch, is still very efficient. At this time, the situation in North Korea was obviously not very peaceful.

Under various reforms, the original vested interests of the Joseon Kingdom were hit so hard that there were rebellious magnates everywhere.

It's just that these rebellious magnates were all quickly suppressed.

And the North Korean people are singing an ode to the current reforms.

"The kingdom of God is really good to us Korean people! Not only was the tenant rent reduced, but taxes were also reduced, and forced labor was also reduced. It is also to provide relief to our poor people. ”

"Yes! I don't know how long God can control our North Korea. ”

Under such reforms, the hearts of the North Korean people were successfully bought by the Ming Dynasty. However, Zhao Yan did not stop, but continued to make a major change in North Korean officialdom.

Previously, the North Korean party was seriously divided, and the Dongren Party was extremely powerful. After Zhao Yan took over the military and political power in North Korea, the Easterners jumped out one after another, trying to hug the thighs of the Ming Dynasty and suppress the Westerners again.

It's a pity that Zhao Yan is very disgusted with such party struggles. At this time, Zhao Yan, the governor of Korea, can be described as a feudal official. And in this North Korea, he is like the emperor, and he has great power to speak. Therefore, Zhao Yan confidently said no words about the party struggle.

Whether it is the Easterner Party or the Westerners' Party, Zhao Yan does not use it. Instead, they opened a branch in North Korea, selected officials with good reputations at the bottom, and then promoted and appointed these people to officials throughout North Korea.

Over the past few months, most of the officialdom in North Korea has been replaced by Zhao Yan.

This kind of blood exchange made the North Korean administrative system suddenly clear, and the phenomenon of the local government scraping and oppressing the North Korean people was also prohibited.

At the same time, Zhao Yan also ordered the investigation and prosecution of cases in various parts of North Korea. A large number of unjust and wrongful convictions have been reversed. A large number of officials were held accountable.

Such a measure down. It has greatly calmed down the grievances of the Korean people, and social contradictions have also been effectively alleviated.

Of course, the problem then arose, the reduction of agricultural taxes, and the reduction of forced labor, and after all kinds of miscellaneous taxes, the financial revenue of the DPRK was greatly reduced.

Despite the raids on the law-breaking magnates and the increase in taxes on the Korean magnates, the financial revenue of the Joseon Kingdom temporarily skyrocketed. But after all, it's not the way to go.

Obviously this question. It was solved by the Royal Comptoir.

The Royal Comptoir acted as an intermediary and contacted the Royal Bank for a political loan to North Korea, and the first loan between the two sides amounted to 5 million yuan, and nearly half of it was used to buy grain from the Royal Comptoir.

The business of the Royal Commercial Bank in North Korea is also expanding rapidly, in addition to the official order procurement of North Korea, the most important thing is bilateral trade.

Because Liaodong was invaded by wild boar skins, the trade routes between the Ming Dynasty and Korea were cut off, so there were many maritime merchants who smuggled grain, gunpowder and other goods to North Korea in Denglai. In the past two years, many private businessmen have been repatriated by the DPRK every year.

This time, Zhao Yan was the governor of North Korea and established import and export tariffs. It was in response to these non-governmental maritime merchants interfering in Korean trade, the Royal Trading Company established a trading house in Korea. can monopolize trade.

In the past, trade with Korea was mainly divided into three types: supply trade, envoy trade, and private trade. Now the king of Joseon has been deprived of the right to administer Korea. There is no need to continue the trade in gifts. The envoy trade, also known as the 'angel trade', was often mixed with some trading houses in the envoys of the Ming Dynasty to Korea, and these envoys often asked for trade goods from the Korean region, which also caused a lot of disgust. However, the demand for goods is not too much, and the North Koreans can barely accept it.

The envoys sent by North Korea to Daming would also purchase books, medicinal materials and other goods in Daming.

This trade of envoys ceased to exist at this time.

The rest is private trade, because of the establishment of tariffs, whether it is the Ming Dynasty or North Korean merchants, they can conduct bilateral trade, as long as they have a ship in hand, or find a ship to transport.

The Royal Merchant House will transport the goods of North Korea back to Daming, and then transport the goods of the Ming Dynasty to North Korea, and pay customs duties in the process, but the price is unreasonable, many private merchants will lose money when doing business according to the commodity prices of the Royal Comptoir, but the Royal Comptoir can continue to do business.

Because the Royal Comptoir did not consider the issue of customs duties at all, these customs duties were collected by the Koreans, but in the end they had to be repaid by repaying the principal and interest of the loan. As a result, the Royal Trading Company became the dominant trader in North Korea. However, Daming maritime merchants were also allowed to go to North Korea for free trade, as long as they paid taxes.

At the same time, Ming merchants, because North Korea is not included in the supervision of the Ming Dynasty, can easily obtain customs clearance documents, and then take ships to North Korea for various commercial investments.

The red-top businessmen under the royal consortium have also sent personnel to North Korea to make various investments.

Daming Capital has a financial advantage in North Korea at this time, and it also has a technological advantage. There is also a political advantage, and the business model of collusion between officials and businessmen has also been carried out in North Korea. But the businessmen who colluded with the North Korean government were Ming merchants. And Zhao Yan, the governor of North Korea, also received dividends from the royal consortium.

Zhao Yan is obviously a political thug of the royal consortium first. However, Zhao Yan really wants to do something practical for the North Korean people.

At this time, Korea had actually become a colony of the Ming Dynasty. It's just that at this time, the colonial plundering of the Ming Dynasty was not as tyrannical as that of the Westerners.

This method of colonization is more similar to the way of colonization after World War II.

The Ming Dynasty colonized Korea, did not massacre, did not plunder brainlessly. But the scraping efficiency is actually not low. It's just that the North Korean people are squeezed on the level of starvation and hard work.

The crushing intensity can be gradually increased, but the number of jobs will also gradually increase.

It's like holding a whip and driving the North Koreans to work hard in the back. Wealth is created by the labor of the copper drum, and in the traditional social structure of North Korea, the value of labor cannot be fully released, and a lot of labor is idle and wasted. If the North Koreans can do twice as much, then the wealth they can create is considerable. Then after the exploitation and exploitation of commerce and taxation, the North Korean people can still have a full stomach.

To that end. It's a process that takes at least several years. The first thing to do is to annex the land. Get the land into the hands of the royal consortium. Then the North Korean peasants were released from the land. Let these North Korean peasants become workers, and at the same time have jobs for them.

When Cho Yangang became the governor of North Korea, he first aimed to stabilize North Korea, first suppressing North Korea's social contradictions, and then annexing a large number of North Korean land, and at the same time using loans to build infrastructure and a large amount of commercial investment. Provide jobs to North Korean farmers who have lost their land.

For the time being, the North Korean people will have a good life in the past two years, but with the layout of the Royal Foundation in North Korea almost completed, the life of the North Korean people will not be as leisurely as it is now. When the time comes, you have to work hard, or you won't have enough to eat.

At this time, the trade between North Korea and the Ming Dynasty, in terms of bulk commodities, was mainly the Ming Dynasty's export of grain, gunpowder, medicinal materials and other materials to North Korea. North Korea exported horses and timber to the Ming Dynasty.

However, North Korea soon became a dumping ground for North Naoli goods, and North Naoli's cotton cloth, steel, porcelain and other products were exported to North Korea one after another. It has had a great impact on the economy of the DPRK, especially the traditional small-scale peasant economy of the DPRK.

Such asymmetrical trade. Nature doesn't last long. It is impossible for the North Koreans to have unlimited precious metals to buy the goods of the Daming because of the investment of the royal consortium in North Korea. It has become the main way for North Korea to have purchasing power again.

The royal consortium can use the money to invest in North Korea's land, roads, and businesses, and then create all kinds of jobs, so that North Korean workers can get paid and regain purchasing power. The Royal Consortium, on the other hand, has acquired a large number of assets through investment.

The money invested will eventually return to Beizhili through commodity trade, but it is just a circle. In addition, the small court of North Korea can also borrow from the Daming Bank, which is actually usury. These loans, if invested, can also provide jobs. At the same time, the taxes of the small court of North Korea can also get back the wealth that the Ming Dynasty invested in North Korea.

In the end of this game, it will be found that most of North Korea's good assets will be controlled by the Ming royal consortium. The whole of Korea will be completely reduced to an economic colony of the Ming Dynasty.

This intervention in the Kingdom of Korea can be described as perfect to the extreme. Mao Wenlong's Dongjiang Army was also transferred back to Phi Dao in the summer, while Zhu Youxiao formed a garrison division in Korea to balance the Korean military and escort the expansion of the royal consortium in Korea.

The Korean general Li Shi is very obedient, and he has been drawn into the interests of the royal consortium in North Korea, so the possibility of rebellion is relatively low. Coupled with the existence of such a North Korean garrison, the interests of the Ming Dynasty in North Korea are basically as stable as Mount Tai.

At the same time as the great success of Korean interests, the Ming Royal Navy also had an advantage in the confrontation with the Dutch at sea.

In the first month of the third year of the Apocalypse, the Dutch attacked several merchant ships bound for Taiwan by the Ming Dynasty, which caused some trouble to the Ming Dynasty's development of Taiwan. However, on the fifth day of the second month, the Ming royal fleet encountered the fleet sent by the Dutch East India Company to the Taiwan Strait to plunder the Ming merchant ships, and an artillery battle broke out between the two sides at sea.

The Royal Navy had four gunboats, while the Dutch fleet had five.

When the Dutch discovered their four captured warships, they rushed straight at them as if they had seen their father's killer.

The confident commander of the Dutch fleet, Song Ke, commanded five gunboats to besiege four gunboats of the Ming Royal Navy, and the two sides continued to approach.

Six hundred meters, neither side fired artillery.

Five hundred meters, the Dutch took the lead in firing, hundreds of 18-pounder guns roared, and the shells hit the gunboats of the Royal Fleet, achieving some success. But the lethality of shells in these years was not too strong, and it was obviously impossible to sink the gunboats of the Royal Navy in one round of shelling.

The distance between the two sides continued to close to 400 meters.

"These Ming people don't want to engage in broadside battles! Ha ha! Seeing that the Royal Navy gunboats did not launch the shelling, Song Ke couldn't help but laugh arrogantly: "It seems that they still don't know how to use our Dutch 18-pounder guns." ”

However, just as the words fell, the guns on the four gunboats of the Ming Royal Fleet suddenly let out a thunderous roar.

The cannonballs were devastating and slammed into the Dutch warship.

Bang bang bang......

A shell smashed down into a large hole, and the wooden shell armor of the Dutch warship was almost like paper paste in front of these shells.

"Sir, it's not good. Most likely, the enemy's artillery exceeded 35 pounds, and our warships had already begun to enter the water. The adjutant ran over in a panic and reported.

"Oh my God! This can't be, this can't be. Song Ke froze on the spot, staring in disbelief at the guns on the warships that had been their Dutch last year.

In his impression, the Ming people did not even have gunboats, how could there be more than 35-pound guns?

The guns of the Royal Fleet were 30 pounds, which was about 36 pounds. In terms of shell weight, it is definitely the top naval gun of this era. Even the British, who were known for their naval artillery skills, did not have such excellent naval guns, although the British had naval guns of a larger caliber. However, the equipment is not universal, and the blind increase in the weight of the shells obviously does not bring great naval combat capabilities.

And Daming's 30-kilogram naval guns are being equipped with gunboats in batches.

After the six Dutch gunboats were captured, all the Dutch 18-pounder guns on them were dismantled, and the main guns were all loaded with 30-pound guns.

As soon as the 30-pound cannon appeared, the Dutch almost collapsed.

The lethality of these shells was far from being comparable to the 18-pounder guns of the Dutch. The Dutch's two or three shells were far less lethal than these 30-gun shells. And the gunboats of the two sides, basically, are not much different. Whether it's tonnage or protection design.

Again, neither side has watertight compartments.

As a result, one round of shelling went down, and the cabins of three Dutch gunboats were flooded on the spot. At the same time, the decks and hulls of these Dutch warships were also bombed into holes everywhere.

Although the leak was quickly plugged, most Dutch people were actually devastated. But it was still like a gamble, and the four gunboats of the Ming Royal Fleet fired a second round of shelling.

In the second round of shelling, the waterline of a Royal Fleet gunboat was hit by two shells, causing water to flood, but it was also quickly blocked.

The second round of shelling by the Ming Royal Fleet also poured down on the Dutch more than twenty seconds later. Four gunboats set fire on a Dutch warship, dozens of shells bombarded it, and the Dutch warship was smashed into a sieve on the spot, and after the shelling, the Dutch warship began to sink slowly.

The Dutch were completely stunned this time, and their souls were almost gone, not to mention the will to fight. Song Ke immediately made a decision and directly ordered to withdraw from the battlefield.

The remaining four Dutch warships began to turn and flee, and four Royal Navy warships followed closely.

In the course of the pursuit, the Dutch launched a chain order, successfully destroying part of the sails of the two warships of the Ming Royal Fleet and reducing their speed. As a result, three of the four warships of the Dutch fleet managed to escape, and only one was forcibly left behind by the Royal Fleet and mercilessly sunk.

After all, the Dutch are rising sea hooligans, and their naval combat quality is obviously a cut above that of the Ming Royal Fleet. Because the Ming royal fleet was not equipped with a chain list, it could not run the sails of the Dutch, so the Dutch ran three warships. (To be continued......)