Lee Seong-gye surrendered.

When he received the news that Japan was destroyed, even though Qicheng Island was right in front of him.

"It's no use, just lower them all."

Lee Seong-gye is 66 years old this year. He was originally full of energy, but the moment he got the news, it seemed as if all his energy was drained away.

According to his plan, even if Japan failed, he could escape to Southeast Asia by boat.

But it happened too fast, so fast that he couldn't accept the news.

In his opinion, Ashikaga Yoshimitsu's failure would at most mean that Kyushu Island fell into the hands of the Ming Dynasty again, rather than him being captured alive.

Almost half of Japan's military forces were lost on Kyushu Island, which means that the entire Japan was suddenly incorporated into the territory of the Ming Dynasty.

He couldn't accept this fact.

The most important thing is that in this way, he has no way to escape at all, and the Ming navy can completely withdraw its hands and directly block the entire sea area.

Besides, at his age, what else is there for him to escape from?

"Father, we still have a chance. We can still go to the sea. The sea is so vast that the Ming navy cannot catch us all."

"We have people, money, and ships. We can go to Southeast Asia. If we can't stay in Southeast Asia, we can go to further places."

"There will be a way to survive after all."

"Father, please don't give up on yourself."

The person who was most unwilling was actually Lee Seong-gye's second son, Lee Bang-gwa.

He had finally managed to outlast his brother, and was about to see his father become the King of Goryeo and himself inherit the throne, but now things suddenly turned out like this.

He doesn't want to die, he wants to live well.

My father is already sixty-six years old, but he is only forty-two. He can still live a long time.

"Guo'er, it's useless."

Lee Seong-gye walked to a big rock and leaned against it gently.

With gray hair and cloudy eyes, he looks like an old man.

"Even if you want to leave, can you really leave? Look at those ministers in the distance. Maybe you should go and listen to what they are saying."

"They are discussing how to save their own lives and how to hand us over to the Ming army."

"You can also go and listen to the soldiers and what they are discussing. They are discussing how to surrender to the Ming army so that they can have a chance to survive and perhaps even gain some merit."

"If Japan had not been defeated so thoroughly, if Japan could hold out for a while, we would still have a chance."

"But now, the situation is hopeless and the people have lost their support. No one is willing to follow you into exile."

As Li Chenggui spoke, he looked at the sea in the distance.

The waves kept hitting the shore, one wave subsided and another one rose.

"No, Father, I don't believe it."

Li Fangguo acted like a madman, running far away and questioning others everywhere.

Lee Seong-gye just watched quietly, and soon he saw his son being knocked to the ground.

But the crowd from afar did not come over.

Because standing next to Lee Seong-gye was the commander-in-chief of the Imperial Guard, Wang Hu.

"Wang Hu, I'm sorry for getting you into trouble. I wanted to give you wealth and glory, but I didn't expect it to end up like this."

"When the Ming army arrives later, you can use my head to exchange for some credit. At least you can save your family."

"This may be the last thing I can give you."

"I have always remembered your life-saving grace, but it's a pity that I can't thank you properly anymore."

When a dying man is about to speak good words, Lee Seong-gye said softly as he looked at Wang Hu who was still staying by his side at this time.

Wang Hu's eyes were somewhat complicated.

After hesitating for a moment, he said, "Actually, the king shouldn't thank me. I was only by the master's order that year, so I was by the king's side."

After saying this, Wang Hu felt relieved.

I have to say that during all these years with Lee Seong-gye, he has never treated me badly.

Li Chenggui was a little stunned, and then he burst into laughter.

"Wang Hu, the boss you are talking about is the grandson of the current Ming Dynasty."

Wang Hu replied: "Yes."

Lee Seong-gye did not seem angry, but instead sighed, "It seems that I did not lose unfairly. When the Qunying Chamber of Commerce was popular in Goryeo, I guessed that there was a conspiracy."

"When Daoyan came to Goryeo, I thought I had underestimated the Qunying Chamber of Commerce. I didn't expect that I would underestimate it again now."

"The person who saved my life, the person I have always trusted the most. I didn't even trust my own son this much. I didn't expect it to be someone else's."

"But having said that, I still have to thank you for saving my life back then, otherwise it would be meaningless."

Wang Hu hesitated for a moment, but didn't say anything.

What he wanted to say was that the people who attacked Lee Seong-gye were completely arranged by the boss in order to gain Lee Seong-gye's trust.

From the beginning to the end, this was a setup.

A trap set specifically for Lee Seong-gye.

Wang Hu felt that telling the truth at this time would be too much of a blow to Lee Seong-gye.

Humans are not plants or trees, so who can be heartless?

For more than ten years, Wang Hu has been by Lee Seong-gye's side, and Lee Seong-gye has always treated him like a brother.

"Your Majesty, perhaps this is not necessary. Now that the Goryeo royal family has been annihilated, Your Majesty is the King of Goryeo. According to the current policies of the Ming Dynasty, as long as Your Majesty sincerely submits, your life will be saved and you can live a comfortable life in your old age."

Wang Hu persuaded.

He is right.

No matter which country the Ming Dynasty was dealing with, even if it was subverting the social structure, it had never massacred the royal family.

Even the current Bayanchur is most likely to be kept in captivity in the capital rather than executed directly.

Including Ashikaga Yoshimitsu of Japan, the royal family of the Japanese king, the royal family of Annan, and the royal family of Champa.

"It's unnecessary. I'm already this old, and most of my body is already buried in the ground. I might as well die a heroic death."

"You'd better take my head in exchange for the credit."

"That's good. Since you are the grandson of the Ming Dynasty, I think you will be rich and powerful when you return to the capital. I don't have to worry about you anymore."

"I would like to ask you to take care of my descendants in the future."

Lee Seong-gye requested.

But Wang Hu refused.

"No need to be so great, my king. Just live well."

Lee Seong-gye could only smile bitterly.

At this time, the sound of horse hooves was heard in the distance, and the Ming army had arrived.

Lee Seong-gye naturally had no intention of resisting, and neither did his soldiers. When they saw the Ming army, they surrendered immediately.

…

October 18, the 34th year of Hongwu.

Goryeo and Japan all submitted to the Ming Dynasty.

After the establishment of the four provinces of the former Japanese Kingdom, the Goryeo Provincial Administration was established.

Goryeo's territory was not very large, so it would be enough to just set up one province. There was no need to create several provinces.

Due to the sudden increase in vast territory, the Ming Dynasty now feels a bit indigestion.

The main reason is that the new territory requires more officials to be sent to govern, manage, and educate.

The court had to increase the number of official positions, which had been constantly increasing.

Especially in the former Japanese region, the number of officials needed is countless.

There are also Champa, Chenla, and Siam.

There are almost no reserve officials in the Ming Dynasty now, and all of them have been directly assigned to positions.

In terms of education, the policy was even more open. Anyone who obtained the title of scholar in the Ming Dynasty and was willing to go to any country to serve as a school teacher could enjoy free travel expenses, and there were also a large number of welfare subsidy policies.

Zhu Yuanzhang was somewhat fortunate that his eldest grandson had promoted school education, which led to a continuous increase in the number of scholars. Otherwise, the court would not have so many officials to fill these areas.

Although the war continued, the Ming Dynasty did not actually suffer too much loss in military strength.

In terms of food, this is not a big problem in Nanyang where rice can be grown in winter.

Now that Nanyang is being developed on a large scale, a large number of water conservancy facilities and rice fields have been developed. With three or four harvests a year, a steady supply of grain is continuously transported to Nanjing.

From Nanjing, a lot of grain was transported to the west and even to the grasslands by train.

It can be said that the current grasslands are completely supported by the Ming Dynasty.

Those tribes that were once reluctant and had no choice but to surrender to the Ming Dynasty now have only two words left to say: It smells so good.

They no longer need to worry about how this winter will pass, or think about how many people will die this winter.

Except for some former grassland nobles who were somewhat angry, the overall situation was very stable.

In this era, whoever can provide food to eat is the father, the real father.

The reason why Zhu Ying was so successful in running the Qun Ying Chamber of Commerce was because of high-yield crops. Otherwise, what use would all the money be if he couldn’t buy food?

The Ming Dynasty has now officially enacted legislation that anyone who hoards food, military supplies and other materials will be punished.

At least the minimum sentence is three years of hard labor.

There are many ways to make money in the Ming Dynasty now. These are taboos in the Ming Dynasty, and most businessmen basically will not touch them.

If you earn money with your life, you must have the life to spend it.

There is no such thing as a border now. The entire grassland is considered as the territory of the Ming Dynasty. All herders will be incorporated into the Ming Dynasty’s household registration and enjoy the same treatment as the people of the Ming Dynasty.

Within the Ming Dynasty, the most prosperous industries at present are railway tracks and coal mining.

With the continuous production of steam engines, the demand for coal became increasingly greater, which gave rise to many professional explorers.

According to the Ming Dynasty law, anyone who discovers unrecorded coal will be rewarded according to the size of the reserves.

The minimum starting amount is 200,000 treasure notes.

The influx of a large amount of treasure money directly created the prosperity of the explorers.

From the perspective of the Ming Dynasty, 200,000 or even several hundred thousand treasure notes were nothing, but a coal mine was a huge deal.

In fact, many coal mines have been discovered in the current grassland.

Due to the shortage of manpower in the imperial court, a lot of coal mining work is now outsourced to businessmen.

By bidding, which is equivalent to the bidding method in later generations.

For businessmen, mining coal is definitely a business that is sure to make money. Even if it costs a lot of money, they will only earn more.

For the imperial court, it reduced labor costs and controlled economic costs.

If all the mineral deposits were under the charge of the government, it would probably be even more troublesome and messy.

As November arrives, the northern part of the prairie has begun to be covered with ice and snow.

Whether it was the Oirat or the Tatar, they hid in the forests, but it was foreseeable that many people would not be able to survive this winter.

They were being chased everywhere and were already short of supplies, not to mention that with so many people, there was simply no way there would be enough food in the big forest.

The Ming army no longer searched for them, but instead occupied the outskirts of the forest and began to adopt psychological warfare tactics.

Many herdsmen knew very well that in this winter when food was scarce, they would most likely be used as food by the nobles.

The only way to avoid death is to escape to the Ming Dynasty.

Many tribesmen have secretly returned and spread the news that those who surrender to the Ming Dynasty will not be beheaded, but as long as they work normally, they will have two meals a day.

The grain in the Ming Dynasty's Guihua City and Arshan City had piled up as high as a small mountain.

No matter how many people go, it's impossible to finish the meal.

And the iron cart will transport food continuously.

They could even have meat every three days.

If you get sick in the Ming Dynasty, someone will give you free medical treatment.

For the lower-class herdsmen, what is the difference between such a life and the country of their dreams?

One after another, more and more herdsmen escaped from the forest and threw themselves into the arms of the Ming Dynasty.

To this end, the upper nobles of the Oirat and Tatar sent a large number of troops to patrol in order to prevent the herdsmen from escaping.

After learning the news, the Ming Dynasty directly arranged troops to launch a surprise attack on these patrolling Mongolian soldiers.

There were too many escaped herders willing to act as guides, so it was not difficult to find them.

Moreover, in the forest, the role of war horses is greatly weakened.

Every time the Ming army entered the forest, they would bring out a large number of grassland people.

And this is only in November.

It is conceivable that when the weather became colder and more grassland people could not hold on, the Oirat and Tatar would be doomed soon.

During this period, both Mahamu and Aluta sent envoys many times to express their desire to submit to the Ming Dynasty.

But all of this was rejected.

Their submission was conditional, which was to preserve their identity and status as nobles.

However, what the Ming Dynasty wanted was unconditional surrender, and the only thing it could agree to was to save their lives.

The situation is now very clear. Zhu Ying has issued an order that he will not agree to any additional conditions from the Oirat Tatars.

What Zhu Ying wanted was the complete destruction of all Mongolian tribes. From then on, there would only be people of the Ming Dynasty on the grassland, and no more Mongolian herdsmen.

The Oirat and Tatar no longer had any choice.

Either hide in the forest and slowly accept death, or surrender completely.

Of course, Mahamu and Arutai could not accept such a result.

The Oirat, in particular, were already preparing to migrate further north.

Over there, there was a growing country called the Grand Duchy of Moscow.

The Wala’s target is them.