Wei Eunuch was young, pampered and flattered, overbearing to Liaozuo, exalted his prestige in Korea, bullied his vassals, and fought only eagles and dogs, and many ears and eyes. ——Excerpt from the forbidden book "The Legend of Wei Erdu"

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In the yamen of the Metropolitan Protectorate of Jingcheng, the government envoy Yuan Ye, the pastoral envoy Zheng Chengguo, the Metropolitan Protector Mansion sentenced Jin Yiqing, the soldiers and horses of the Metropolitan Protectorate Park Xidong, the soldiers and horses of the Metropolitan Protectorate Zhao Zhicheng and other military and political dignitaries were discussing in the military, and the county guard Li Xianzhi, who fled back from Funing, was also there. In addition, there are more than a dozen civil and military officers sitting in the hall, most of whom are officials from various counties under the jurisdiction of Jingcheng Prefecture, and there are three naval army generals.

The theme of the meeting is naturally how to deal with this sudden "ugly and bright chaos".

The envoy of the Yuan government personally characterized the entry of the Ming army as an "invasion of Korea" and reported it to the Seoul side, so the main tone of this meeting was naturally determined.

Of course, the people below have some doubts and disagree with the characterization of the Yuan envoy, but under the strong leadership of the Yuan envoy, there are opinions that should be reserved. After all, in Mirror City, what the Yuan Mansion envoy said was more important than the leader of the council. The nature has been determined, and what everyone is currently discussing is how to defend Mirror City to the death.

In the words of the Yuan Fu envoy, Jingcheng is the location of the capital protectorate, and if it is lost again, the Ming army will be able to point directly to Ping'an Road, and then threaten Hwanghae-do and face Seoul, the capital of Gyeonggi.

Although this statement is obviously a bit sensational, all the civil and military have sources, knowing that the entry of the Ming army is only two or three thousand, and it is an angel accompanying the guards and horses, it is impossible to march to Seoul as the Yuan envoy said, but who dares to point out the absurdity of the Yuan envoy.

To defend Jingcheng is to defend North Korea!

Yuan Ye emphasized this concept on many occasions, and tore up the so-called edict sent by the angel of the kingdom to the guardian of the mirror city in public.

But how to defend the law to the death, everyone muttered in their hearts.

There are not many soldiers and horses in the Mirror City Metropolitan Protectorate, and they are not very elite, and there are only more than 6,000 soldiers and horses that can be used in the entire Metropolitan Protectorate. Another third of them were stationed in Funing County, but the Ming army was defeated in the first battle of the Sichuan River, and the rest of the soldiers and horses were scattered in the remaining counties, either surrendering to the Ming army or fleeing in despair.

For example, since the entry of the Ming army, the three counties of Huining, Xingning and Zhongcheng have successively opened the city gates to become "traitors", where can they expect these three counties to send troops to help in the war.

Qingyuan and Funing Erjun had fought against the Ming army, but everyone knew that the Wencheng side was directly frightened.

Now counting the Funing County soldiers who withdrew with the Funing County Guard, the defenders of the entire Jingcheng can only be called more than 800 soldiers, and the rest of the thousands are defeated soldiers and the township soldiers temporarily recruited from the counties near the left, so people with a little insight know that this bit of strength can not stop the Ming army at all, nor can it hold Jingcheng.

The wise thing to do is to evacuate Jingcheng immediately, and go west to join the soldiers and horses of Ping'an Road, after all, there are 2,000 elite forbidden troops on the side of Ping'an Road, and relying on this as the main force may not be able to defeat the 2,000 soldiers of the so-called Ming Envoy.

As long as the Ming army is defeated, even if it destroys some of its prestige, it will be greatly beneficial to North Korea at the military level.

At the diplomatic level, North Korea was able to occupy the high righteousness and could force the Ming Dynasty to withdraw its troops through diplomatic means.

It must be known that since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, North Korea has been a vassal of the Ming Dynasty, and for more than 200 years, North Korea has been respectful in everything, and there is nothing wrong with it.

All the officials in the court, including the envoy of the Yuan Mansion, almost all believed that the so-called angel who crossed the river from the direction of Jianzhou was most likely a certain official of the Ming Dynasty in Liaodong, and he had not been authorized by the Emperor and the imperial court, otherwise he would not have seen the official state document.

Only now, it doesn't matter whether the angel is true or not, what matters is how to block this Ming army that has already arrived in Mirror City.

Although the number of this Ming army is not much, it is better than the elite of the Ming army that entered the country to aid the Korean and Japanese people, and this kind of strength is really not something that Jingcheng can resist.

All the civil and military forces are thinking of withdrawing westward to the safe road to preserve their strength, in order to solve the problem by diplomatic means. In particular, the county guard Li Xianzhi who escaped from Funing was even more frightened, and several meetings proposed that he should give up Jingcheng and retreat westward, if it weren't for the fact that his daughter was the wife of Yin Jiang Hongli of Hancheng Prefecture, Yuan Ye You'an could allow him to corrupt the morale of the army here and mess up his own position.

"The Ming army hurriedly entered to attack me, and there were only 3,000 soldiers and horses. In the first battle of the Sichuan River, the leader of the army underestimated the enemy, and attacked the city without knowing the enemy's situation, resulting in a great rout. Today, the walls of my mirror city are high, and the soldiers are strong and strong, and the city is defended, and his Ming army comes from afar, and the transfer of money and grain is not smooth, how can there be a long siege? What's more, the government has asked for help from Pyongan Province and Seoul, and the grain and grass in the city are even more sufficient, and there is no reason to abandon the west of the city! ”

Yuan Ye looked around at everyone, first nodded Li Xianzhi with words, and then once again emphasized his determination to stick to the help, and finally his eyes fell on the face of Xuan Yu, the commander of the naval army in Mirror City, and said unhappily: "This government has long ordered the naval army to enter the city, why don't you see a single soldier today?" ”

Hearing this, Xuan Yu hurriedly got up and saluted, with a look of embarrassment: "The envoy of the government, although there are 2,000 soldiers of our navy, but they are all accustomed to water warfare, and they only have the ability to kill the enemy on the boat, but the envoy wants us to retreat into the city, which is really embarrassing for the navy... According to the general, the navy can only defeat the enemy if it stays outside the city, and at a critical time, it can go out of the rear of the Ming army, cut off its grain routes, or disturb its rear, and mess up its position..."

This opinion is very reasonable, since ancient times, the defender of the city can only ensure that the city is not lost if it has mobile forces outside. If all of them retreat into the city, it will be a dead end.

But the envoy of the Yuan Mansion was as rigid as his brother Yuan Jun, and he couldn't listen to Xuanyu's opinion at all, but raised his voice: "The Ming people invaded my North Korea and were unpopular, how can there be food to speak of, and how can they come from behind?" … If you don't follow the order of this government for a long time, it's not because you have a heart of surrender! ”

"The government envoy is wronged!"

Xuan Yu hurriedly shouted, secretly saying that these children of the family are really not good to serve.

Everyone knew that Xuanyu's opinion was correct, but he could take the majesty of the Yuan Mansion in the past, and they didn't dare to say anything.

"Tomorrow afternoon, if the navy army does not enter the city again, the government will sacrifice your head to the sky!" Yuan Ye said sharply.

Xuan Yu frowned, but he didn't refute again.

Seeing this, Yuan Ye waved his hand and said: "The Jin Mansion has prepared a reward for silver, but the guards who enter the city will give one or two silvers to each person, so that the soldiers can use their lives." ”

Yuan Ye is not a tough person to coerce people, and he also understands the importance of appeasement. If you want someone to give him his life, he will give him a reward of silver. There are warriors under the reward.

Recently, in order to ensure that the mirror city is not lost, and to ensure that the soldiers and horses in the city are determined to defend the city, Yuan Ye has opened the treasury, and the soldiers and horses control Park Xidong and Wanhu Zhao Zhicheng do have some skills, so the defense of the city was completed in just a few days.

Yuan Ye personally inspected the city wall, which strengthened his determination to stick to the city.

"Ping'an Dao will never sit idly by and watch my Mirror City fall into the hands of the Ming army, and in two or three days at the latest, the Ping'an Dao soldiers will come. The Ming army did not have many troops, how could it be under the fortified city for a long time. As soon as the reinforcements arrived, the government thought that the so-called envoy should also sue for peace. ”

After Yuan Ye finished speaking, the pastor Zheng Chengguo also cheered for everyone and said: "Everyone, we have a heavy burden on our shoulders, if the mirror city is lost, there will be no door to rely on." If peace is lost again, the gate of Gyeonggi will be opened, so you can cheer up your spirit, as long as you hold the mirror city, and wait for reinforcements to come to force the Ming army to withdraw, your future will be immeasurable. ”

When all the officials heard this, they expressed their determination to live and die with Jingcheng. Yuan Ye was very satisfied, but Xuan Yu, the commander of the naval army who was angrily reprimanded by him just now, suddenly said: "Everyone, the defeat in the battle of Funing is really because the Ming army's firearms are too powerful, not only that, but I also heard that there are Japanese soldiers hidden in the army, so the soldiers and horses of Ping'an Dao are coming, and I am afraid that they may not be able to beat the Ming army." ”

As soon as the words fell, Zhao Zhicheng, a soldier and horse sitting next to Jin Yiqing in the Metropolitan Protectorate, nodded and agreed: "What the Xuan Commander said is very true, I also asked the soldiers of Funing, and they explained that the army has fast firearms, which are faster than our firearms. If we hit this gun, they can hit it twice, so our good hands can't beat it. ”

"Not only is it powerful, but I heard that the army has a strange thing, throwing one can kill a piece of ......," said another naval general.

“......”

Suddenly, several generals talked about the strength of the Ming army, and after comparing their own weapons and equipment, they all said that they couldn't beat the other party, and this mirror city was afraid that it would be difficult to defend, Yuan Ye frowned, very dissatisfied, and his face darkened on the spot.

Jin Yiqing, the government judge, was also very puzzled, and he didn't know how these generals in Xiban had destroyed their prestige.

Zheng Guocheng, the pastoral envoy, was vigilant, and he noticed that many officials still used the title of "heavenly soldier" when referring to the Ming army, rather than the "Ming Kou" asserted by the Yuan envoy.

"Enough!"

The generals swelled the enemy's prestige so much that Yuan Ye couldn't help it, slapped the table angrily, and said angrily: "What do you want!" Why do you say all these words that shake the hearts of the army, is it because the Ming army is powerful, and the government is about to open the city and surrender? ”

The envoy's slap was so loud that it shook the table with such force that it shook it.

The generals instantly fell silent, but after only a few breaths, Xuan Yu stood up open-mindedly and said to Yuan Ye: "In fact, the last general has always disagreed with what the envoy said, the entry of the heavenly soldiers into the court is an invasion of the dynasty, so the last general is against fighting with the heavenly soldiers!" ”

"Hyun Woo, what do you mean?"

Yuan Ye had a murderous intent on his face, and stared at Xuan Yu who dared to question him: "Could it be that this is the reason why you have not brought troops into the city for a long time!" ”

"Not bad!"

Xuanyu was not afraid, snorted and sneered, and raised his hand: "My country is originally a domain of the Ming Dynasty, King Xuanzong has a saying, the Ming Dynasty is the father, our country is the son, since ancient times, there is no reason for the son to rebel against the father!" Today's envoy arrived, and my mirror city should be protected by the Pure Land, how can I face each other with swords! ”

"Yes, my lord, we should not resist the angels!" Zhao Zhicheng followed Xuanyu closely.

"My lord, please lead us to meet the angels!" There are other generals standing together.

"Bold, you want to defect to the enemy!"

Yuan Ye's face changed greatly, and he angrily pointed at these generals who dared to dissent. The rest of the civil and military forces were also shocked.