I'm sure of the prosperous age of Kangxi and Qianlong!

Chapter 583 Lord Angel, help!

(Feeling hollowed out)

The Korean monarchs and ministers in Seoul did not dwell on the matter of betraying their country and begging for mercy for too long, because a new round of party struggle began again.

Political leaders from the old and young factions, including almost all the kings, were involved in the betrayal of the country and the ceding of territory.

The southerners and northerners, who had been expelled from the court and could only hide in the local area, saw the opportunity and began to criticize the Dangping faction crazily.

Although it was an order from the king, no one would care about it, and neither Lao Lun nor Shao Lun could be captured so easily.

Before the formal negotiations began, the four factions began to fight each other crazily.

This may seem outrageous, even magical, but that has always been the case in North Korea.

At the end of the Ming Dynasty, the Tatars rose up and conquered North Korea. At that time, the combat power of North Korea was not too high. And there is also an awesome general named Lin Qingye. This guy is the nephew of Huang Taiji, and he fought back and forth with the invading Tatars.

The Tatars are about to be driven out, and the Tatars themselves are almost unable to withstand it. Attacking North Korea in this way will consume too much precious troops and food.

Then, the North Korean civil servants actually persuaded the North Korean king to surrender. Lin Qingye almost died of anger on the spot when he got the news.

The party struggle in Seoul is likely to take a few more days. Even Zhao Xianming, Song Yinming and Hong Zhizhong, who were forced to negotiate to cede territory, took the opportunity to deliberately delay the negotiations so that the negotiations could not proceed.

In this case, their reputation will not be too bad.

Well, that's what they think, and Park Jung, as an angel, also thinks so.

Before coming to Seoul, Pu Zheng negotiated with Wang Zong and agreed that they must fight quickly and fight the North Korean officers and soldiers, and beat them so hard that they hurt.

Otherwise, North Korea would not obediently cede territory, because it had to cede too much territory. Without some deterrence and pressure, North Korea would not be able to kneel down and beg for mercy.

The negotiations in Seoul began to enter into a procrastination tactic with the intention of both parties.

Li Ban was completely unaware of this, because the verbal and verbal quarrels between various factions in the court had turned Pu Wenxiu's proposal into a complete fart.

Not to mention sending an envoy to Nanjing, no one even cared about preparing military supplies and supplies for war. Even if someone cared about it, it would be difficult to proceed with the hostile factions holding them back.

Seoul is in chaos, and the Ming army in Kaicheng Prefecture goes south!

Wang Zongtan didn't want to delay any more time, otherwise his logistical supply line would be too long. Although he had the support and funding from local Korean pine merchants, he couldn't continue to waste it like this.

Just like the Hui merchants and Shanxi merchants in China, there are also many regional business gangs in North Korea, such as Bay merchants, Song merchants, Lai merchants, Jing merchants, etc.

The territory of the Gulf merchants is now under the jurisdiction of Pyongyang Prefecture, Lelang Province, Ming Dynasty, and the North Korean Gulf merchants have long ceased to exist.

Songshang was part of the Kaicheng merchant gang. Kaicheng had not yet been conquered by the Ming army, but it was Songshang who defected first and frantically sent money, food and intelligence to the Ming army.

Since the Joseon Dynasty replaced the Goryeo Dynasty and the capital was moved from Kaesong to Seoul, these Songshang merchants were not employed as officials by the court due to regional discrimination, which led to a large number of Kaesong people abandoning their studies and engaging in business.

Taking advantage of China's tribute trade system, pine merchants actively participated in it. North Korea, which was famous in later generations, frequently paid tribute and defrauded money. In fact, it was these pine merchants who were responsible. Relying on the tribute system, they once dominated and controlled all Korean paper trade between Korea and China.

Not only that, while these pine merchants paid tribute to China for foreign trade, they also actively carried out Korean ginseng trade with Japan and obtained huge profits from it.

Nowadays, Ming China no longer engages in loss-making tribute trade, but Li Ban is even more ruthless, directly closing the country with Japan and prohibiting trade exports with Japan. This has caused heavy losses to the Songshang merchants who relied on foreign trade to make a fortune.

Song merchants did not dare to resent Ming China, and Ming China only did not engage in tribute trade, but it still engaged in normal foreign trade, but they could not beat China's foreign trade merchants.

As a result, these people began to resent the North Korean king, who not only deprived them of their political status, but now also squeezed their economic interests.

Li Bin really took the blame and refused to hire people from Kaesong. It was because the two groups of nobles in the court deliberately joined forces to squeeze out the forces of the old royal capital and banned trade with Japan. That was because Japan went too far.

However, it is said that under the active collaboration of Kaesong Songshang with the enemy and the country, the strength, deployment, and even important information such as grain and grass of the Korean garrison in Seoul were all sold out.

While Wang Zong was speechless, he was also comforting the pine merchants, ensuring that in the future when the Ming Dynasty ruled Kaicheng, trade with Japan would no longer be banned, and that they could become pine merchants of the Ming Dynasty and would no longer be squeezed out by trade deficits.

According to the intelligence provided by Songshang, the Qinwang troops currently assembled in Seoul number at least more than 100,000 men, but less than one-tenth of them are truly combat-effective.

Since the Goryeo Dynasty, the North Korean army has been a combination of soldiers and peasants. They are all tenant serfs of wealthy families in peacetime. They are recruited into the army during wartime. Moreover, the military expenses, food and salary are all borne by the soldiers themselves, so the court does not need to bear any military supplies.

It wasn't until Toyotomi Hideyoshi gave North Korea a hard blow that King Lee Ho of North Korea ordered the training of the new army.

It took four years for North Korea to successfully train 300 new troops. The artillery battalion alone had people. Then these new troops were sent by Huang Taiji to fight the Ming army, and they showed great strength. combat effectiveness.

Up to now, if the whole country of North Korea can gather only four to five thousand new troops, it will be considered a match. If we include the armies directly under the generals from various places, we can have almost ten thousand people and 90,000 peasant troops.

Wang Zongtan brought 10,000 regular soldiers of the Army Division and 5,000 dragoons. According to North Korea, this was 5,000 artillery positions, which could almost hit North Korea from top to bottom.

However, Wang Zongtan did not fully trust those pine merchants. Instead, he led 5,000 land divisions and 2,000 cavalry, a total of 7,000 troops, to cross the Han River first, and asked the peasant troops who had surrendered to serve as the vanguard.

After all, if you eat the food of my Ming Dynasty, you have to fight for my Ming Dynasty.

The leaders of the peasant army were quite happy. They had taken refuge in the Ming Dynasty and regarded themselves as the Ming army. They all wanted to make contributions to the Ming army.

Isn’t being an official in Ming China more noble than being an official in North Korea?

"Report, Pingshan Army Li Xin's troops were defeated, the whole army was in a rout!"

Wang Zongtan said to the deputy general Tang Shun beside him: "Sure enough, we still can't have any expectations for these North Korean rebels. Without our intervention, these North Korean peasant armies will be wiped out by North Korean officers and soldiers in at most one or two years."

Tang Shun nodded: "North Korean officers and soldiers are all invincible, and those peasant armies also have low combat effectiveness. If we let them fight, the situation will only become more and more chaotic. General, we should take action!"

Wang Zongtan said: "Give me the order and the whole army will move out. There is no need to wait and test slowly. The dragoons will go directly to clear the way!"

The straight-line distance from Han River to Seoul is less than sixty miles, and to Yangzhou is less than thirty miles.

According to the normal marching speed, the army would be able to overwhelm the border in two days at most. If the naval division did not bring enough warships and took the Han River waterway directly, they could reach the foot of Seoul in a few hours.

Seoul immediately fell into chaos from top to bottom.

The Korean monarchs and ministers were already in disarray. Some thought that they should prepare for war immediately, while others thought that envoys should be sent to sue for peace. The more outrageous ones thought that they should cross the river immediately, move the capital to Chungju, and expel the Chinese envoys.

Li Bin was fed up with those civil servants, and he had a rare hard time: "Give me the order to attack with the whole army and fight the Chinese army."

"Your Majesty, think twice!"

"Your Majesty, you must not do this!"

"..."

All the civil and military officials were panicked and hurriedly exhorted in unison.

But Li Bin has gone his own way, and he also enjoys the pleasure of power of being able to act arbitrarily.

The Korean army in Seoul was hastily assembled in this way, and a hundred thousand troops were suddenly ordered to fight the Chinese army.

Not to mention the thoughts of the soldiers, just raising this massive amount of food and grass was a huge problem. In addition, the ministers who had previously advocated peace talks to cede land tried their best to obstruct it. As a royal capital, it was unexpectedly unable to supply food and grass for the army.

The food and grass are insufficient, the command is not unified, and the soldiers are also good and bad... It is good that the army can barely assemble without causing trouble, but in fact it has already caused a lot of trouble.

Because of the lack of food and grass, those officers with noble backgrounds would not suffer from hunger, but most of the officers and soldiers were drafted by the militia. As time went by, these people did not dare to cause trouble in Seoul, but liked to plunder rural villages. . In the past two days alone, hundreds of people have been beheaded for this reason.

Even if Li Ban did not order a decisive battle, these North Korean officers and soldiers would sooner or later be forced to mutiny and rebel by civil servants fighting among themselves.

"Ta-ta-ta-ta!"

Tang Shun personally led two thousand dragon cavalry all the way south. Yangzhou didn't even look at it and went straight to Seoul.

We were only halfway there, less than twenty miles away from Seoul.

A sentry came back and reported: "Report, a team of tens of thousands of people was found not far ahead. Judging from their formation and equipment, they may be civilians, but they did not carry any baggage and only had a small number of armored soldiers."

Tang Shun was a little confused: "Then come with me and disperse the Korean civilians first. Don't let them interfere with the army's march south."

"Ta-ta-ta-ta!"

Two thousand dragoons roared past, rushing directly towards the tens of thousands of Korean "civilians" a few miles away, preparing to forcibly disperse them.

Huangzhou Protector, the northern general of North Korea, was leading his troops to clear the way for the main force in the rear.

His lieutenant general rode forward and asked suspiciously: "Master Protector, are we really going to war with the Celestial Army?"

Huangzhou Governor shook his head: "I don't want to either, but the soldiers are homesick and eager to return to Huangzhou. There is also a military order from the king. How can we still disobey the order?"

The deputy general said: "But the Chinese army has tens of thousands of troops. Our North Korean army is weak. How can we win? Your Majesty, isn't this..."

Before he finished speaking, he heard a violent sound, which sounded like the sound of horse hooves approaching rapidly.

No, it’s not like it, it’s just the sound of horse hooves.

Is it the cavalry? Or the cavalry of the Chinese Empire!

"Quick, form your formation and engage in battle!"

The Huangzhou Protector wanted to give an order, but the words just came out.

"Bang bang bang bang!"

There was a crackle of firecrackers and gunfire. Two thousand cavalry rode around these "civilians" while outflanking them, while firing continuously into the crowd.

Although Tang Shun has determined that these people are "civilian husbands", and indeed they can be said to be "civilian husbands", it does not mean that he will be merciful.

That's how it is in war, there will always be a few casualties, so just pray that you will be born in the land of Ming China in your next life!

"Bang bang bang bang!"

"Ta-ta-ta-ta!"

"Bang bang bang bang!"

"..."

With the rapid sound of gunshots and the rapid sound of horse hooves, the North Korean Huangzhou Protector could no longer keep up with the rhythm of the dragoons and desperately tried to get his troops to line up to meet the enemy.

However, as most of the North Korean officers and soldiers were filled with "civilians", facing such a novel and elusive fighting style of the Ming army, a few lucky ones would die around them from time to time.

The panic caused by this was undoubtedly unprecedented. These "civilians" from Huanghaidao had no intention of fighting any rebels. They were all forced by the imperial court. The reason why they were traveling so hard now was because they were worried about the situation at home.

"Run!"

"The Celestial Army is coming to kill!"

"..."

There is no one to take the lead at all. These North Korean "civilians" are really just civilians. It can almost be said that they collapsed at the first touch.

Just like when Toyotomi Hideyoshi attacked the Korean Peninsula more than a hundred years ago, those Korean troops were bound to collapse in every battle.

The Huangzhou Protector initially wanted to gather troops, but later found that it was completely useless, so he decisively fled the battlefield with his soldiers.

The army he left behind must have numbered at least more than 20,000 people. Although most of them were "civilians", there were also nearly 3,000 "elites".

The two thousand dragoons led by Tang Shun only fired more than a dozen rounds of volleys from beginning to end, and they used handmade rifled guns sent from Nanjing.

He ignored the fleeing "civilians" and shouted loudly, telling them all to flee north to Huanghaidao. The Ming court would allocate land to them and settle down, so that they could farm and eat in the future.

Then we went to arrest and gather the "elite" prisoners of the North Korean officers and soldiers, and also interrogated and inquired about the specific military information of some North Korean officers and soldiers.

then……

Wang Zongtan had a strange look on his face: "You said those civilians you dispersed are the officers and soldiers sent by North Korea to fight us decisively?"

Tang Shun also had a toothache: "If those North Korean officers and soldiers didn't lie, then they should be right."

"..."

Wang Zongtan sighed: "Let's fight quickly! Don't waste time with these wastes. Let the soldiers go home early and save some military rations for the court."

The next day.

The Ming army launched a rapid march, but in less than half a morning, they collided with the main force of the Korean army behind them.

"Boom boom boom!"

The Ming army brought six red cannons, dozens of shotguns, and more mortars to bombard the Korean military formation indiscriminately.

Even after the third bombing, the North Korean army fell into chaos.

Two thousand dragon cavalry took advantage of the situation and launched a charge. After several waves back and forth, in less than half a day, the remaining North Korean main army of only more than 70,000 people was completely wiped out.

Only the Protector-General of Haizhou, the Protector-General of Huangzhou, and the Protector-General of Jiangling fled back to Seoul in embarrassment with less than 200 horses under their command.

For a time, the emperor and his ministers were silent in the Hancheng court.

Wang Zongtan brought his troops to the city with the power of victory. He also ordered the naval battleships on Ganghwa Island to aim all their gun barrels at the head of Seoul.

This is to force the Korean monarchs and ministers in Seoul to surrender by force!

Pu Zheng, the envoy of the Celestial Dynasty, who had been delayed for a long time and had been idle for a long time, was finally summoned out by the North Korean monarchs and ministers like a savior.

King Lee Yeon of North Korea cried and bowed: "Please, Lord Angel, save me North Korea!"

The king of a country even calls out "Your Excellency" in front of hundreds of officials.

　I don’t want to complain about these place names in North Korea anymore.

　　

　

(End of this chapter)