The First Gongsheng of Ming Dynasty

Chapter 363 Under two people, above ten thousand people

Liu Jin has returned to Beijing.

When I went to Piantouguan, I was full of energy, but when I came back, it was as if the sun was setting on the west mountain, and my spirit was obviously broken.

The trip to the Northwest made him deeply understand that there is still an essential difference between talking about troops on paper and actually sending troops to fight. He was exaggerated in front of Zhu Houzhao, but only after the actual operation did he realize that the greatest pain of running the army comes from the suffering of not having the opportunity to perform.

How many soldiers are willing to fight?They all want to live in peace.

"It's good to come back, come here and help me to have a look. Zhang Bingkuan is going to send troops to North Korea. This is the topographic map of North Korea that I found. How do you think we should send troops to complete it at the least cost?"

Zhu Houzhao didn't expect too much from Liu Jin, so naturally he wasn't disappointed.

In other words, expectations have been worn away by time.

Expect Liu Jin to be his stand-in and help him go to war?
Come on, you, Liu Jin, are just like scumbags in the eyes of my young master Zhu. You want to replace me just because you are a blabbering bastard?

"This... I don't know..." Liu Jin grimaced.

The eunuchs next to him all looked ridiculed.

Let you, Liu Jin, try to flatter Zhang Zhou with a shy face at the beginning, and don't even think about why he would give you benefits?

Go out now, and when you come back, the prince will still treat you as a confidant?

The power structure in the East Palace is different from before.

Liu Jin asked: "His Royal Highness, the servants have not heard about the dispatch of troops to North Korea. Does it mean that Master Zhang has already led troops into North Korea?"

Zhu Houzhao yawned and said: "Shouldn't you have entered the army, I overheard my father mentioning it. This is top secret news in the court. If any of you dare to leak the news, believe it or not, I will... "

Several people looked at Liu Jin with narrow eyes.

Obviously, the news was not leaked before, but now that Liu Jin came back to know the news, then outsiders can infer that it was Liu Jin who did it?

Liu Jin suddenly felt a chill down his spine.

Zhu Houzhao said in a bored manner: "I still hope to personally lead the army in the future, conquer the north and south, subdue these small countries on the topographic map one by one, and bring them into the territory of Ming Dynasty. If Zhang Bingkuan completes all of them, what else is there for me? "

Liu Jin heard the change in the crown prince's address to Zhang Zhou.

This brat, like a little grown-up, actually imitated his father's way of calling Zhang Zhou?
Look at your patience.

"His Royal Highness, it is said that there is another area here...Look..." Liu Jin pointed to another area on the map, "My servant heard from Master Zhang that the world is very big, and Da Ming only occupies a corner of it. If you can send troops in the future Take this side and that side, and the territory of Ming Dynasty will be even more vast, and it is said that this side is called America, and it can only be crossed by boat."

"Hmph, you know quite a lot?" Zhu Houzhao looked displeased.

Ben Gong hasn't spoken yet, what are you going to add, you old boy?

Liu Jin quickly lowered her head.

"All of these must be handed over to Ben Gong to conquer in person. When Ben Gong becomes emperor in the future, let's see if Ben Gong..." Zhu Houzhao said here and looked around. He seems to have learned what it means to be cautious. That's enough, "Being a prince is the same as conquering the north and south. Maybe it's not good to be the emperor. I heard that the father is going to give me a younger brother and sister soon. They are born by women outside the palace. It is best to be a younger brother. In this way When you go out, you can rest easy.”

Liu Jin looked at Gao Feng and the others.

I thought to myself, I have only been out for less than a year, the situation in the capital has changed so much, even His Majesty wants to concubine and have a baby?
The bear kid is also planning to go overseas?
Even if I didn't get along with the prince day and night this year, my one-year experience in the army is still capital. Will the prince need me when the time comes?When you see it, how can you still get confused with me!

……

……

Tang Yin and his party of [-] soldiers entered Ping'an Road, and the North Korean rulers and officials knew that Tang Yin had come to question why the [-] soldiers were not sent out.

When this line entered Huanghai Province and was about to enter Gyeonggi Province, Li was in a hurry.

In the Palace of Qinzheng this day.

North Korea's monarchs and ministers have already quarreled over how to stop Tang Yin and Pu Yuanzong's party.

"Shut up!" Li's temper was very bad, and he questioned immediately, "You people, it's okay to argue when you are arguing from the stage. Now that the treacherous evil is about to come to Hanyang Mansion, what's the point of arguing now?"

Li Kedun, the elder brother of Li Kejun, who was detained by the Ming Dynasty, came out and said, "As the suzerain state, Ming Dynasty has deceived others too much. Our North Korea has sent five thousand troops to assist in the completion of the conquest. Regarding the matter of Jurchen, North Korea has done the benevolence and righteousness of a vassal state on this matter. If the Ming Dynasty intervenes in North Korea’s internal affairs and should not condone it. Hwanghae Province and Gyeonggi Province should be punished Ma, destroy the soldiers and horses led by the traitor Park Yuanzong himself, so as to set the record straight."

The Li Kejun brothers have always been hardliners.

This is true for domestic scholars, and it is also true for Jurchen and those political enemies.

Li used to rely on them to carry on the power of scholars. To put it bluntly, he used these old honored officials to fight against the faction of civil servants... This is actually very similar to the conflict between civil servants and military officials in the Ming Dynasty, except that Li did things more extreme.

It's as if Zhu Youtang used Zhang Mao and Zhu Fu to kill Liu Jian, Li Dongyang and others, and exile these people.

It's no wonder that he was not reviled by those scholars.

Li's legitimacy in the later period of his administration was eroded little by little, and finally he fell into a slump. On a dark and stormy night, in what he thought was a "peace and prosperity", he became a prisoner overnight and lost his throne.

Li Dao: "It's okay to listen to the truth, but should you worry about Park Yuanzong, or should you worry about the Duke of Lai who is outside the border? Do you know where the current crisis is?"

A group of ministers present were discussing again.

Li Xingao was arrogant, he was prone to extremes, and he was full of adventurism. In his opinion, Tang Yin and Pu Yuanzong had nothing to fear. The real threat to North Korea was Zhang Zhou who was still in Liaodong and had no reasonable reason to enter North Korea.

Li Kedun said: "My lord, we should use Huanghaidao troops to prevent Park Yuanzong and his party from continuing to go south, arrest Park Yuanzong, and escort him to Hanyang for trial."

A person next to the discussion table reminded: "Although Pu Yuanzong was at fault, he was a hero who went out to build slaves. Should he hastily recruit [-] soldiers and horses at this time, and then send them to assist Daming in conquering Jurchen? Make use of it?"

At this meeting, North Korea did not prepare for the 5000 people.

It’s not that they don’t want to, it’s just that it’s too troublesome... After the 5000 troops went out, the North Korean monarchs thought they were being used by Ming Dynasty. Lost a little manpower, in exchange for peace, let us send another 5000 people?When I'm so stupid?
As a result, Park Yuanzong and Tang Yin came back with those 5000 people, and North Korea didn’t say they would reorganize their troops. Anyway, they felt that the Jurchen threat had been lifted, and Ming would not give us land, cities, and population, so why bother? What about wasting energy and resources?

Cheng Xiyan, counselor of Xingcao, said: "At this time, we should send someone to bribe Duke Lai and give generous gifts in exchange for Daming's forgiveness for what happened before, otherwise Daming may have a reason to send troops to North Korea."

Li Kedun said angrily: "So you want to bow your head to Daming?"

Cheng Xiyan said: "Da Ming is the suzerain state. Since the Duke of Lai did not personally lead the troops into North Korea, it means that there is still room for discussion. Don't you all think that we have the ability to hinder the troops of the Duke of Lai? Do you want to Do you have a bad relationship with Daming?"

A group of ministers stood in two factions.

One side advocates peace talks, while the other advocates toughness.

From the perspective of the Scholars, they are more willing to get close to Ming Dynasty and exchange for peace between the two sides after peace talks.

On the other hand, the side of Xunchen is the tough side, not that they really feel capable to fight head-on with Daming, but they think that it is impossible for Daming to have the energy to invade and govern North Korea, and it is also because they understand Li's mind better, I just want to talk about things in line with Li's thinking.

This is called catering.

……

……

The court meeting failed.

After that, Li Zai made his own claim and called Li Kedun and Cheng Jun to the inner hall alone.

"You are all people who I trust. Now Pu Yuanzong shows signs of committing chaos. This person is nothing to worry about, but he has Ming's envoy Tang Yin by his side. You should have seen him before. Now I mean, I have to send Some people will send gifts to Zhang Zhou, who guards Liaodong, to tell him not to send troops to North Korea, and ask him to recall Tang Yin back to Daming, and another person will be sent to take down the traitor Pu Yuanzong."

Li is a two-pronged approach.

Cheng Jundao: "But Park Yuanzong's five thousand soldiers and horses are meritorious soldiers who have experienced the battle of Duobi City. I'm afraid it will be difficult to win people."

Li's temper seemed uncertain, and he said angrily, "Are you going to disobey orders?"

"Don't dare." Cheng Jun hurriedly turned his head to look at Li Kedun.

Li Kedun said: "The Jiedu Envoy of Huanghai Province has [-] soldiers and horses in his hands, plus the temporary conscripts, he can set up an ambush to defeat him before he enters Gyeonggi Province."

Li Dao: "Defeat is not a problem. Now it is more effective to prevent the loss of Ming's troops, or to capture the rebels directly. Send envoys to arrest this person. As for the envoys of Daming, they can come to Hanyang City. Is it just a question? After asking, send it away, and pretend you didn't see it!"

No matter how headstrong Li is, he understands that he cannot compete with Daming.

The central idea of ​​his proposal was to bribe Zhang Zhou and Tang Yin to soften their attitude towards North Korea, and at the same time send someone to arrest Park Yuanzong to prevent a direct confrontation with Park Yuanzong's troops.

It wasn't that Li was afraid of failure, but that Li might affect the 300 troops led by Tang Yin... Although these 300 troops were not many, if there were losses and disputes with Daming, Zhang Zhou's army would probably kill them.

……

……

Li Kedun took the lead and sent people to Liaodong to bribe Zhang Zhou, in order to let Zhang Zhou release Li Kejun back to North Korea earlier.

As for Cheng Jun, he was responsible for arresting Pu Yuanzong.

At this time in the Yellow Sea Road.

Tang Yin and Pu Yuanzong brought 300 soldiers and horses...the Ming side had [-] troops, and North Korea still had about [-] troops...the journey was very difficult.

The local generals and officials of Huanghai Province caused a lot of trouble for this group of people going south. Except for the fact that the two sides did not misfire, they were actually in the same state as they were in wartime.

At this time, Cheng Jun personally arrived at the coalition army's barracks.

The person he came to see was not Pu Yuanzong, but Tang Yin, and the roll call was to make amends to the Ming envoy according to the request of the king of Korea, Lee.

Tang Yin met Cheng Jun.

Cheng Jun said: "Tang envoy, the previous relationship was pleasant. This time North Korea sent troops to the Jurchen. Even though the number of troops was insufficient, they were sincere. Why did they get Ming's support for the rebellion? Now I am ordered by my lord , come to take down the traitor Pu Yuanzong, and go to Hanyang City with you, my lord will receive him as a guest of honor. My lord also promised not to embarrass the traitor Pu Yuanzong afterwards, hand him over to Daming, and his family members can also move out , or stay in North Korea and never do any harm.”

Li probably knew that Pu Yuanzong was now a "loyal minister" of Ming Dynasty.

If Pu Yuanzong is killed, it will definitely annoy Daming, so in name he is here to arrest traitors, but in fact it is just to show people in North Korea, and afterward he will handle Pu Yuanzong with care and release him to Daming, even Even Pu Yuanzong's family members will not be embarrassed.

Tang Yin shook his head and said, "I have no right to decide on this matter."

"My lord has sent someone to ask Duke Lai for instructions. Let the envoys of the Tang Dynasty garrison troops and wait. If troops enter Gyeonggi Province, it will be equivalent to Ming's cooperating rebellion. North Korea will send [-] troops to stop it. At that time, there will be no redemption. "

Cheng Jun is kind and powerful.

Tang Yin frowned upon hearing this.

One hundred thousand troops?Are you scaring ghosts?Let you go to the Jurchens, you haven't even got 5000 people yet.

Fighting the rebels in the country, can you temporarily gather [-] troops?That Zhang Bingkuan asked me to question you, and even change your king, which is a reasonable thing.

Tang Yindao: "This is impossible. But I can march slowly first, and walk thirty miles a day. After Lai Guogong's intention is conveyed, I will decide the next step."

"Okay." Cheng Jun heaved a sigh of relief.

Finally, Daming's attitude seems to be not so tough.

But he also thought about it, Daming would not expect less than [-] troops to slaughter Li, change the king, or overthrow the kingship of North Korea, right?
If not, everything is still negotiable.

Now it is nothing more than pulling and negotiating conditions.

……

……

With Cheng Jun in the army, he marched [-] miles a day in strict accordance with the rules, and the subsequent walk to Gyeonggi-do went much smoother.

Four days later, Zhang Zhou's letter arrived.

After Tang Yin read Zhang Zhou's letter, he immediately called Pu Yuanzong to his tent.

"Going on business, are you going to give up the previous plan? I heard that the court has agreed to let me and my family go..."

Park Yuanzong also lacks confidence in being a traitor.

Tang Yin said: "This is the letter from Duke Lai, you have read it."

After reading it, Pu Yuanzong was shocked.

"Lai Guogong means that you can be escorted to Hanyang City, but you must be escorted by 300 soldiers and [-] troops from Ming Dynasty. After arriving in Hanyang City, you can directly launch a mutiny." Tang Yin summed up the content of this letter .

"This……"

Park Yuanzong simply felt that his cognition had been subverted.

Even with 5000 people, he felt that it was impossible to achieve great things, so now he is only given 1000 people?Even with Daming's 300 troops, what can they do?
Tang Yin sighed: "Speaking of which, it's the 1000 soldiers that make North Korea feel threatened. If you only take [-] people, they will let you enter the city without worry. Don't worry, I will tell your envoys to escort you to the city." We will complete the matter, and when you get to Hanyang City, if you want to contact the people on the list, you can do it too, and I will assist you."

"Can it work?" Pu Yuanzong asked.

Tang Yindao: "In the end, I will protect you. After the matter is completed, you will be the hero of your new king. One person is under ten thousand, don't you have the courage?"

Pu Yuanzong gritted his teeth and said, "It's all supported by superiors. Xia Ning is under two people and above ten thousand people."

Tang Yin shook his head: "With a few people, don't go into it carefully, after all, you have to obey orders."

……

……

Tang Yin met with Cheng Jun again, and roughly conveyed Tang Yin's meaning.

"If 1000 people are used to escort the rebels to Hanyang City, I think our Lord will agree." Cheng Jun was relieved when he heard this.

In Hanyang City, there are about [-] to [-] Korean defenders, and [-] Korean soldiers and horses are indeed a certain threat.

But if only 300 people were sent there, even Cheng Jun felt that Daming had no intention of changing the dynasty in North Korea, and Park Yuanzong alone would not be able to achieve great things.

"but……"

Cheng Jun hesitated again.

Tang Yin said: "You are worried about our Daming's firearms, right? Lai Guogong means to leave most of the firearms in Huanghai Road, and we leave a hundred soldiers guarding them. You are not allowed to touch them, let alone imitate them."

"It's natural." When Cheng Jun heard this, Daming also took the initiative to reduce the number of people by 100, that is, there were only 200 people left.

In this way, even if one of the soldiers of the Ming Dynasty can be compared to a hundred, it will not be a big deal.

"Let's write to Hanyang City right now, and we don't want to delay our trip." Cheng Jun felt that he had done his errands very well, solved Li's biggest worry, that is, the issue of ruling legitimacy, and he could be a hero again when he went back. .

……

……

"Is this person sick?"

Xu Jing looked at Cheng Jun's back, and said to Tang Yin, "Didn't Master Zhang say that if there was another military disaster, this person would be the first to be eradicated, why didn't he have any precautions?"

What Zhang Zhou mentioned was that in the future, when Jiazi was in trouble, Cheng Jun would also be a ghost under the knife.

Tang Yin sighed: "The king of North Korea is cruel and ruthless. Before his butcher's knife fell on these people, everyone felt that the knife was not long enough to fall on them."

Then he turned his eyes to Pu Yuanzong who was on the side.

Pu Yuanzong looked very nervous.

Tang Yindao: "Don't worry, once you enter Hanyang City, it's your territory, with Daming's support. It's not too difficult for you to overthrow a foolish king, right?"

"what?"

Pu Yuanzong and Xu Jing are both in a daze.

In your eyes, Tang Yin, is it so easy to kill a monarch?

Or is it to keep things simple on purpose, to comfort us and make us feel confident that we will win?
Of course Tang Yin was encouraging the morale of the army.

But Tang Yin felt that it would be easier to save his own life if he brought 200 people into Hanyang City than 5000 people.

Even if Pu Yuanzong failed to cause chaos, he could say that Daming had no intention of changing anything, otherwise why didn't he bring the other four thousand soldiers along with him?
Tang Yin is also a person who knows how to make small calculations.

(End of this chapter)