10th year of Chongzhen, June 25.

The Kingdom of Korea, Pyongan Province, is in the Shuoju region bordering Liaodong.

When the Houjin army, escorting the last batch of young men and women, cattle, sheep and livestock, and all kinds of seizures, loaded countless carts and small carts, evacuated to the northwest, and crossed the Yalu River by boat, and returned to Liaodong.

The tens of thousands of Korean troops following behind, even if they saw the last wooden ship leaving with the last batch of young men and supplies, they still didn't dare to attack, and could only watch with a numb expression.

The other side.

Seoul, Gyeongbokgung Palace, inside the Jeonjeongjeong Palace.

There was a wailing and weeping voice.

Jin Shangrong, the right councilor, knelt on the ground, his eyes were stained with tears, and said to the king on the throne, Li Liang: "King, those devilish Tatars are finally gone, but our country is also going to end, more than 500,000 young men and women have been killed and taken captive, more than 100,000 cattle, horses and livestock have been lost, and countless houses and property have been lost...... Our country will come to an end, and if it goes on like this, the kingdom will cease to exist, and the people will be plundered until there is nothing left. ”

Cui Mingji, the leader of the council, also cried: "The people who were killed and plundered by the Tartars are only a small part, after the beginning of this year's chaos, there are countless people with a little property, who fled by boat to Jeju Island controlled by Xujiazhuang, with more than one million people, and hundreds of thousands of people in Pyongan Province and Hwanghae Province were recruited by the Guan Ning Army to engage in mining, fishing, agriculture and animal husbandry, etc., and they could not be stopped, and they would rather engage in dangerous and hard work than stay in North Korea...... Great, the population we have lost this year may exceed two million, a large number of cities, villages and towns are empty, and those who can escape have basically fled, and now the remaining population in the country will not exceed five million. ”

Minister Jin Jin knelt down and said: "King, the death of the country is just around the corner, what should we do?" ”

"Can you send another group of envoys to Daming, begging the Ming Emperor to save us, if North Korea is destroyed, Daming is also in danger, this is a cold mouth."

"It's useless, last year we sent an envoy to go, but the Ming Emperor was reluctant to send troops, just sent a batch of weapons, asking us to resist the Tartars, saying that the Tartars are only 30,000 young and strong, as long as we work hard, the chaos will be calmed down, blame only for our own lack of courage, ten soldiers, can not kill a Tartar, surrender and escape abounds."

"Da Ming doesn't care about the life and death of us, ruthless and unjust, why don't we take refuge in Japan, let Japan send troops to help us, and then send some property and cut some land to them!" The minister gritted his teeth.

"No! Tartars are Menghu, Japan is jackals, they can eat people and ask for their lives, how can they do things to drive wolves and devour tigers? The only one who can save us is the Ming Dynasty, and we can only send batches of envoys to kowtow and bleed on the Jinluan Hall in the Forbidden City, and beg for death, in exchange for the intolerance and mercy of the emperor. ”

"In fact, there is another way, that is, to send an envoy to Xujiazhuang in the south of the Yangtze River, kneel down and beg Xujiazhuang for tolerance and charity, begging them to let us go, we agree to agree to any conditions, make any compromises, as long as their subordinates show mercy, let the Tartars stop coming to take us hostage."

"Houjin Tartar was about to die, but he was supported by Xu Jiazhuang, although Tartar is the devil, Xu Jiazhuang is the mastermind behind the scenes, the most hateful enemy! How can we compromise with Xujiazhuang? The minister said.

"But Xujiazhuang's strength is extremely strong, Japan is not an opponent, the Ming Dynasty also has to tolerate Xujiazhuang, Tartar is a dog raised by Xujiazhuang, and the Guan Ning Army that has become strong, if there is no support from Xu Jiazhuang, how can Guan Ning Army have today? If we don't pay attention to Xujiazhuang anymore, and then we don't accept softness and give in, Xujiazhuang can bite us to death if we release a dog casually...... It's time to face the reality, if we don't show favor and beg for mercy in Xujiazhuang, we have only a dead end. ”

"That's right, it's useless to find Daming, Japan, and Guan Ningjun, only by begging Xujiazhuang to let us go, we can survive."

“……”

The ministers discussed a lot and even quarreled fiercely, but no matter how the opponents and hardliners resisted, all the ministers had to admit that if they wanted to survive this crisis of losing the country, they could only ask Xujiazhuang for help, and they could only give in to Xujiazhuang and plead, and it was useless to find other forces.

But......

The ministers looked at the monarch Li Kun who was sitting on the top, and they all shook their heads helplessly.

In fact, in recent years, Xujiazhuang has been rich and powerful, most of their courtiers have seen it, and they are also regular readers of "Oriental Times", and they basically do not fall in the period, and they are quite familiar with the situation of Daming and Xujiazhuang.

Xujiazhuang has developed into a behemoth.

Xujiazhuang is the most advanced, most civilized and most prosperous place.

It is impossible for Xujiazhuang to defeat and defeat.

If you want to develop, if you want to live a good life and get rid of the fate of poverty, hugging Xujiazhuang's thigh and cooperating with it is the best shortcut.

In the future, Xujiazhuang will be richer and stronger, and even become the overlord of this world, all people and forces can only obey and cooperate, and must not resist, otherwise it will be a dead end.

These impressions are above.

Gradually, like an ideological steel seal, it was imprinted in the minds of these Korean civil officials and military generals, and it was constantly solidified, making each of them realize that if they didn't do a good job in their relationship with Xujiazhuang, the Korean Kingdom would be finished, and they would all be finished.

But it is unlikely that they would take the initiative to send an envoy to Harbour City, offer to improve relations, beg Xu Jiazhuang to let go, and even establish cooperation.

Because the monarch Li Liang is the most staunch opponent, and he is the biggest obstacle in front of him.

First, Xujiazhuang's theft of Jeju Island, a North Korean territory, is unacceptable, and unless Xujiazhuang returns this valuable land, Xujiazhuang will always be a threat and an enemy...... The number of Korean ministers who still hold this view has decreased, but in the heart of Emperor Yi Jung, it is impossible for him to accept the fact that Jeju Island cannot be recovered.

Second, the previous Korean monarch - Li Hui, the king of Guanghai, is now in the hands of Xujiazhuang and has become a card of Xujiazhuang, and Li Ju is impossible to accept Li Hui's existence, I just hope that he will disappear from this world as soon as possible, otherwise he will live for a day, it will pose a threat to Li Ju's throne, and it may be restored at any time, plus he has the support of Xu Jiazhuang, perhaps as long as Li Hui shows interest in regaining the throne, he will raise his arms and exhale, maybe there will be countless responses, and there will be countless rebellions in North Korea, which is what Li Ju is most afraid of, because once he loses the throne, he will lose everything, and it will be difficult to save his life.

Third, Li Shujing, the daughter of Li Hui, Guanghaijun, is now the concubine of Xu Yuan, the owner of Xujiazhuang, or Xu Jiazhuang was taken away from his Gyeongbok Palace by force, and almost caught Li Liang and taken away, which is a great shame for Li Liang! often makes him fall into boundless nightmares, and after Li Shujing became Xu Yuan's concubine, she has given birth to a son and a daughter for Xu Yuan, with a stable position and a lot of favor, so Xu Yuan will naturally stand on Li Shujing's side unconditionally and stand on the side of her father-in-law Li Hui, which will only pose a huge threat even more, and often makes Li Liang feel extremely frightened.

That is, as long as Xu Yuan is willing, he can send troops to help his father-in-law at any time, take his throne from Li Liang, and take his life, how long can he enjoy the current power and wealth is completely in Xu Yuan's thoughts.

Stalemate.

This formed a stalemate on the side of the Korean kingdom, where it was impossible to take the initiative to improve relations with Xu Jiazhuang, and if any minister dared to mention it, Li Liang would not hesitate to order him to be executed, becoming an untouchable scale.

But it's impossible not to mention it now.

The Kingdom of Korea can no longer bear it.

Even if the elite of the Eight Banners of the Houjin is less than 30,000 people, the extremely rookie North Korean army can't resist it at all, and it has suffered heavy defeats again and again, bringing less than three digits of casualties to the Houjin army at most.

If the Jin army attacks and plunders them again next year, the Korean kingdom will most likely be completely taken away by this wave.

So in the great crisis of the destruction of the country and the extinction of the nation, the Korean ministers had to break the taboo, begged the monarch Li Liang, and sent an envoy to improve the relationship with Xu Jiazhuang and seek a way out for the country.

And in the face of the cries of the ministers who knelt together.

Li Liang on the throne frowned, and fell into a great embarrassment, which aroused some dream-like memories in his mind.

Is it really time to take this step?

Xujiazhuang is so powerful, how much does North Korea need to pay if it wants Xujiazhuang to help?

And how much did it cost him?

What if Xujiazhuang asks for more land and is forced to give up a large amount of benefits?

Or Xu Jiazhuang wants him to give up the throne and return to Li Hui, wouldn't that be equivalent to his life?

What to do?

What the hell is he going to do?

In other words, how about surrendering directly to Houjin? What they want most is just a large number of young and strong slave laborers, this matter is simple, there is no need to send troops to attack, he takes the initiative to send 100,000 every year, no, send 50,000 young and strong men and women, let them go to Liaodong to work, mining, cutting trees, planting land, etc., they can do anything, why bother, every time I send troops to rob, I take the initiative to send people up, but tens of thousands of untouchable people, if they die, they will die, as long as they can keep their rights and wealth, they will send most of the people over, he will nod and agree.

It's just that he can't say this, it will only cause opposition and uproar, and if it spreads, it will lose the support of the people and lose the legitimacy of the throne, and then there will be no need for any force to persecute it, and the people of North Korea will rebel and let him abdicate.

However, in addition to this method, he has no way to do anything, including being a dog for Guan Ningjun, asking Japan for help, etc., these forces are now under the influence and control of Xujiazhuang, looking for them is equivalent to finding Xujiazhuang, as for the Ming Dynasty of the Celestial Dynasty, he doesn't care about the filial son of North Korea at all, he only cares about his own pleasure, and he is stingy and selfish, which makes him feel cold.

In the end, it seems that there is really only one way to compromise with Xujiazhuang.

"Okay, send an envoy to Xujiazhuang, what conditions does Xujiazhuang have, as long as it is not excessive, as long as it can let go of North Korea, everyone will agree to it!"

King Li Liang had to grit his teeth and speak, and the ministers suddenly showed joy on their faces, calling the king wise.