"Boom, boom!"

On February 25, when the Ming Dynasty suffered an earthquake and the southwest counterinsurgency fell into a tug-of-war, Nurhachi was not idle.

He began to send Tang cavalry to tentatively attack various passes and cities, but what he gained was stone bullets.

Within a month, the artillery had already been transported by sea to the Liao River and the Yalu River, and arrived in Liaodong.

These cannons were called the Yanshan General Cannons by the craftsmen and soldiers of the Ming army, and when they were placed at the head of the city, the defenders everywhere were confident in holding Liaodong.

No, the sound of the cannon just now was the counterattack of Gushan Fort against the Tang cavalry who came to test the Tang Cavalry, and the ten catties of the Yanshan General with a range of two miles frightened the Tang Cavalry who were built into a panic and fled.

The improvement of the Ming army's ability to defend the city in Liaodong meant that Dajin needed to pay a heavier price in order to take Liaodong.

So when the news came back to Hetuala, Nurhachi was unusually silent.

In more than half a year, he took a alkali field fort, and more than 200 people died, which made Nurhachi realize that the internal reform of the Ming Dynasty was successful.

Although in reality, Zhu Youzhen's actions were not successful, but he did improve the national strength of the Ming Dynasty, and even used the means of centralizing power in the imperial horse prison to make Liaodong more and more stable.

"If this continues, the Ming army should invade Fushun and Tieling, trying to take away the city passes within the Great Wall."

In the hall, Huang Taiji frowned tightly and spoke, and Dai Shan also said:

"Although we have been fighting against the savages and can obtain population and grain, we are still a little short of grain at the moment."

"In addition, there has been a change on the North Korean side, and it is estimated that the grain trade with us will be interrupted."

"Hmm...... It was Yang Ho who was released, which I didn't expect. Nurhachi groaned and then spoke, and then said:

"The Ming army transferred a lot of Liaozhen soldiers and horses from Guangning in western Liaoning, and went to Guyuan with Li Rubai and Li Ruzhen."

"I'm slaughtering the Tieling Li family, presumably once there is a chance, Li Rubai will come back."

"The most important thing at the moment is the little emperor of the Ming court and the little king of Qi." Huang Taiji tends to get to the bottom of it, so he explains:

"They are gradually encroaching on the soldiers and horses of Liaozhen, weakening the strength of the soldiers and horses of Liaozhen, and it is estimated that they want to dismantle Liaozhen."

"We can tell Zhu Wanliang the news, maybe it can play an unexpected role."

"What's the use of just that? Still have to fight! Suddenly, Gurtai got up and said:

"Conquer the entire Liaodong and block the Ming Court within the Shanhaiguan!"

"It's not like it was now." Huang Taiji said earnestly:

"The last time I fought the alkali field fort, I already found out that the combat power of the Ming army in Liaodong is much higher than before, and the current first battalion of guest soldiers can be compared to the second battalion of Liao soldiers three years ago."

"Humph! I think you are growing up with other people's ambition to destroy your own prestige. Mang Gurtai retorted contemptuously, but Dai Shan frowned and said:

"Mang Gurtai, what Huang Taiji said is not wrong, the strength of the Ming army has indeed improved a lot."

"That's ...... too" Mang Gurtai wanted to say something more, but was interrupted by Nurhachi:

"Okay, it is an indisputable fact that the strength of the Ming army has improved."

His words instantly quieted down the entire tent, but looking at the expressions of the Baylors in the tent, they were obviously not convinced.

Such a sight made Nurhachi frown.

He understands that there are many contradictions within Daikin.

In the past, they fought and won successively, so they were naturally able to alleviate the contradictions, but now they have hit a wall a few times, and the internal contradictions have begun to explode slowly.

This contradiction is fatal for Daikin, with a population of less than 300,000.

Nurhachi clearly understood that Dajin's ability to defeat the Ming army before was not because of how brave the Eight Banners were, but because of the division within the Ming court.

If they did not urge Yang Hao, but waited for the Sichuan soldiers, Zhejiang soldiers, and Qin soldiers to continue to come to help, then they only needed to wait for half a year, and when the summer came, they could implement the plan of dividing the troops to encircle and suppress.

At that time, even if he can repel Yang Hao, he will have to pay a lot of casualties, and it will not be as easy as the battle of Salhu.

Now a centralized force is rising within the Ming court, and contradictions are beginning to break out on Dajin's side.

Such contradictions, if not curbed or alleviated, will become a fatal shortcoming when Mingjin fights.

The current situation is very bad, Yang Ho should arrive in North Korea in a few days, and then under Yang Ho's supervision, I am afraid that there will be problems in the grain trade between Daikin and North Korea.

But if he sends troops to North Korea, he may have a bad relationship with Li Hui, so that Li Hui will completely fall to the Ming court.

Unless North Korea's national policy changes, Nurhachi still doesn't want to change the situation.

Therefore, Nurhachi had to find a way out for the Jurchens to become stronger, and he had thought of this way out.

"The matter between us and Horqin, didn't that kid from Hutudun react?"

Nurhachi asked Dai Shan, and Dai Shan hugged his chest and said: "Tiger Rabbit Dun is very dissatisfied, but there is no movement, and it is estimated that he will endure it as before." ”

"Hmm...... He shouldn't be so honest. Nurhachi was a little uneasy.

Since the Battle of Salhu, the Ming Dynasty has formed an alliance with Lin Dan Khan, and then Lin Dan Khan sent people to Houjin with a letter of state.

Lin Dan Khan regarded himself as "Baturu Genghis Khan, the lord of 400,000 Mongolians", and contemptuously called Nurhachi "the lord of the 30,000 Jurchens on the waterfront", and warned Nurhachi not to invade Quang Ninh.

In the face of this letter of state, Nurhachi did not pay attention to it at all, but took the "strange goods" Zaisai captured in the Battle of Tieling as a hostage, and wanted to blackmail the barbarian Nekhalkha Five to form an alliance with him.

After forming an alliance with Nekhalkha, Nurhachi officially returned to Lin Dan Khan in the first month of the 48th year of Wanli, and in his reply letter, he first wantonly counted the plight of the Mongol Khan after the Ming Dynasty destroyed the Yuan Dynasty, and then instigated Lin Dan Khan to form an alliance with himself to crusade against the Ming Dynasty.

It's a pity that the situation at that time was not obvious, and the Ming Dynasty raised the reward of the Chahar Department from 4,000 taels to 40,000 taels, so Lin Dan Khan, who could gain benefits in the Ming Dynasty, ignored Nurhachi at all, and also detained Nurhachi's envoy Shuose Ubashi.

Half a year later, Nurhachi listened to the rumors from Nekhalkha and thought that Shuose Ubashi had been killed by Lin Dan Khan, so he killed Lin Dan Khan's envoy Kangkar Baihu, and the relationship between Houjin and Lin Dan Khan's Chahar Department was broken.

Ranwen

Lin Dan Khan withstood Nurhachi's humiliation, because he did not even have a unified Inner Mongolia, let alone a war against the Later Jin.

Nevertheless, in order to obtain the "silver reward" of the Ming Dynasty, Lin Dan Khan had to do something.

However, before he could make a move, Nurhachi launched the Battle of Shenliao, and due to Zhu Youzhen's chaotic incursion, Mangui's move to sweep down the Bayo tribe made Lin Dan Khan stop his actions and become vigilant.

After seeing the defeat of the Shenliao War launched by the Later Jin, Lin Dan Khan began to maintain relations with Karaqin and Tumanne-Khalkha.

It's just that this relationship has only been maintained for a few months, and Nurhachi formed an alliance with the Korqin tribe and once again slapped Lin Dan Khan in the face of the "lord of Mongolia".

As a result, the relationship between the two sides deteriorated very much, and it was precisely because of this that Nurhachi felt that Lin Dan Khan would definitely make a move.

"Let Amin continue to garrison Wuye Wuwei with thirty-two Niu Lu with blue flags, and if Tiger Rabbit Dun acts against Horqin, call him to support immediately."

"Yes!"

Nurhachi ordered, Dai Shan should respond, they all knew that if Horqin was attacked by Lin Dan Khan at the moment, then they really had no allies in Mobei.

"Continue to use troops against the savages, and replenish the men who were damaged last time."

After thinking about it, Nurhachi still decided not to use troops in Liaodong for the time being, and he had to wait for an opportunity.

The current situation in Liaodong is very delicate, and he can gamble on whether the Ming court's reform in Liaodong will cause turmoil.

Once the turmoil is caused, it is his chance to make a move......

At the same time as Nurhachi's order, huge sea ships arrived off the coast of Gyeonggi Province in North Korea, and then sailed directly into the Han River, arriving at the Han River dock on the edge of the royal capital of Seoul......

"Your Majesty, this time Yang Shilang came back and came to inspect our country, it must be the emperor's distrust of us, and we must restore the emperor's trust in our country."

On the dock, Zheng Renhong, the leader of the council, who was dressed in a bottle of official uniform of North Korea and had white hair, spoke to Li Hui, who was wearing the regular clothes of the Ming Dynasty county king, and Li Hui was also the king of North Korea at the moment.

According to the regulations of the Ming Dynasty system, although the king of Korea is called the king, he is only a county king in the eyes of the emperor of the Ming Dynasty, so most of the clothes of the king of Korea are the clothes of the county king rewarded by the emperor of the Ming Dynasty, but they do not belong to encroachment.

As for the so-called consular government, it is an official position that emerged in Korea to imitate the cabinet system of the Ming Dynasty.

Underneath the king of Joseon, there was the government of the Auxiliary Left Organ, the head of which was called "Lingyizheng", commonly known as "Lingxiang".

Under the leadership of the government is the left and right politics, commonly known as the "left phase" and "right phase", and the leader of the government is the same product.

There are six Caos under the parliamentary government, which is equivalent to the six departments of the Ming Dynasty.

Its prefect called the judgment book, which is equivalent to the six Shangshu of the Ming Dynasty, in addition to the system, the laws of North Korea also use the "Great Ming Law", and even the military reclamation system is completely applied.

Therefore, after the Ming Dynasty officials came to Korea, they would not have a headache because of the complexity of the official position, because this was just a copy of the Ming Dynasty.

Due to the Battle of Korea, North Korean officials and people had a great impression of the Ming Dynasty, and even wrote "rebuilding the feudal state" many times, and Yang Ho, as the main battle faction during the Battle of Korea at that time, although his strength was not good, he could not stand the promotion of public opinion.

His status in Korea was second only to that of the Wanli Emperor, and even when the temple was built for the Wanli Emperor, he had to put the portrait of Yang Ho in the temple.

Therefore, Yang Ho's arrival caused the whole of Gyeonggi Province to come to greet them, and hundreds of thousands of people looked at the big boats on both sides of the Han River, trying to see the "heroes" in their hearts.

The common people and civil and military officials were very happy, but there was only one person who was not happy, and that was the king of Joseon, Li Hui.

Although he tried to put on a smile on his face, anyone with a discerning eye knew that it was just a "mask".

No king would want to suddenly have someone on his level above his head, and if this person's prestige is even higher than his, it will be even more troublesome.

Yang Hao is such a person, and such a person was also sent to North Korea by the Ming Dynasty on the grounds of inspection, and he looked like he was going to be stationed.

This means that in the future, there will always be a man equivalent to King Taishang above his head Li Hui.

"Bang bang bang!

！ ”

The cannon roared, and for a time it shook the Korean monarchs and ministers on the shore, as well as hundreds of people, and shrank their necks in fear.

As if a warning and a cheer, a convoy of fourteen new armed cargo ships arrived at the docks of the Han River, and the people who came and went did not need the command of officials, so they took the initiative to grab the ropes thrown down by the Ming army, and happily fixed the big ships on the docks.

The iron anchor was lowered, and it was only then that everyone saw the tallness of the new armed merchant ship.

In particular, as a 3,000-material ship, this is a super ship that has not appeared in Northeast Asia for a long time.

The anchor was lowered, and subsequently the ladder was lowered.

Everyone craned their necks to look out, waiting tormentedly for the man to appear.

The sound of horses' hooves sounded, and the two teams wore phoenix-winged helmets, cloth armor, arm armor, and horses under their hips.

Everyone was waiting, but Li Hui's face became more and more unstoppably ugly.

The greater Yang Ho's momentum, the smaller his momentum as the king of Joseon will be.

But is he capable of resisting? Yes! He can have a hot head and imprison Yang Hao after the departure of the Daming fleet, but what about the follow-up?

Some of the ministers hidden under Seoul, as well as the officials of the Eight Provinces, as well as the more than 20,000 troops of the Ming Dynasty guarding the three cities of Kuandian, were able to put him in prison in a short time.

The so-called resistance is that the fish dies, and the net is difficult to break.

"Yang Shilang! Yang Shilang! ”

Suddenly, the surrounding voices became louder, and Li Hui returned to reality, and also saw an old man with white hair and beard, wearing the official uniform of the Daming Rite Department.

His back was slumped, and as much as he wanted to straighten up, the years had bent him.

But even if he bent his back like this, he still existed in the hearts of millions of people in North Korea.

The sun was shining, and the sun was shining on Yang Hao's body, as if some amazing saint had descended.

In the cheers of more than 100,000 North Korean people, Yang Hao got down the boat ladder step by step and came to Li Hui and others.

"Xiao Wang brings hundreds of officials, see the angel ...... of the Emperor Ming's dynasty"

Huangming is the honorific title of Joseon for the Ming Dynasty, which was also restricted by the clan, and Joseon did not use "Huang" for the Qing Dynasty, but instead used "Daqing".

In the history of the entire Korean Peninsula, the Ming Dynasty was the first dynasty to be called "Huang" by the monarchs and ministers of the peninsula.

In fact, the East Asian monster house existed not only in later generations, but in every era, but in modern times, it has weakened somewhat.

For example, even after the Korean War, the population of the country is still as high as seven or eight million, and the garrison is as high as 120,000.

If it had not been for the Korean War, I am afraid that the population of North Korea would have been maintained at about 10 million, and the number of troops would have remained at 170,000.

A battle of North Korea has damaged the national strength of the three countries of North Korea tomorrow, and Yang Ho looked at North Korea, which has now restored its livelihood, and couldn't help nodding and said:

"Your Highness is doing a good job, the people of North Korea seem to be doing well, much better than when I came before."

The upper kingdom is not a subordinate to the lower kingdom, and Yang Ho uses me, which can be regarded as alleviating the embarrassment.

However, for Li Hui, he doesn't care about any embarrassment, what he cares about is the purpose of Yang Hao's trip, whether he wants to stay permanently or not.

"Take it!"

Yang Hao took out a jade shaft holy decree from the tray held by the official of the Ministry of Rites behind him, and the Korean ritual Cao judgment that had been prepared earlier also hurriedly asked people to bring the table eucalyptus, burn incense and wait for the bathing of heavenly grace.

When the Korean monarchs and ministers and the people knelt down one after another, Yang Ho opened the holy decree and said:

"Fengtian carried the emperor, and the edict said: Although the country lives in the mountains and seas, it has learned my Chinese etiquette, and the vassal has been the longest. In the year of Renchen, the Japanese slaves entered the court, and the city of the king of Er was not guarded, the wilderness was violent, and the temple was in ruins. ”

"Emperor Shenzong Xian sent troops into the court, and the country was preserved.

"I regard the king, although it is called a foreign domain, but in addition to the court's appointment of the society, and the country has been ruled for 24 years, in the army of the land of Liaodong today, there are many grain and straw of the country of Er, although I do not believe in the private construction of the country, but I need to return the subjects to account, Yang Hao, the servant of the special commissioner's department, entered the court to inspect, and the country of Wanger introspective......"

The holy decree is very long, and there are hundreds of words sprinkled in the follow-up, all of which are Zhu Youxiao's "earnest teachings" to Li Hui, just like a father's teachings to his son.

In this regard, Li Hui and many ministers of North Korea sang long live, and then received the holy decree.

However, the content of this decree made the hearts of the people and ministers cold.

North Korea's grain in the midst of the captives? This matter is a big deal, and for a while, everyone began to suspect the officials of Hamgyong Province who were close to Houjin, and the officials there were arranged by Zheng Renhong, the leader of the council.

Zheng Renhong is also a prince, and in this way, the officials of Hamgyong Province actually really want to trace it, and they can completely trace it back to Li Hui.

For a while, Li Hui's prestige was only because of a holy decree from Zhu Youxiao and Yang Hao's questioning, and he suffered a Waterloo-like fall.

Li Hui gritted his teeth, and was even more resentful of Zhu Youxiao and Yang Hao in his heart, but on the surface, he still had to hold high the holy decree and sing long live.

After singing, in order to show that he had nothing to do with Jianyu and private trade, he could only grit his teeth and say:

"This inspection, I'm afraid it's not so easy, please ask the angel to allow Xiao Wang to build a mansion for the angel, temporarily live in Seoul, and carefully track down."

"So it will disturb the king." Yang Hao returned the salute, and although Li Hui was resentful in his heart, he still had to lick his face and respond with a smile.

Subsequently, he and Yang Hao got on the chariot, and under the escort of Xiao Caiwei and hundreds of Korean officials, soldiers and horses, they went to the post house arranged for him in advance.

But if you look down from the sky, you can see that with Yang Ho's movement, the people of Seoul, North Korea, also moved.

Such a grand momentum is something that even Li Hui himself has never experienced.

finally arrived at the post house, and after Yang Hao and Li Hui exchanged a few words, Li Hui left because he was busy with state affairs.

When they all left, the post house was completely left with only Yang Hao, a few cronies and officials he brought, and the brocade guards and Xiao cavalry guards guarding the post house.

After Yang Hao, who was in the courtyard, saw off Li Hui, he leaned on the chair weakly, and a member of the Ministry of Rites also frowned and walked over and said:

"Teacher, this Li Hui is not surprised that Jianyu has something from North Korea, I'm afraid he already knows about it."

"Hmm......" Yang Hao responded, and then sighed and said:

"When I was rescued this time, I thought I would be deposed, but I didn't want to usher in another difficult thing......"

"It's better than waiting to die in prison."

After that, Yang Ho let the students rest.

However, even after Li Hui left, the number of people around the post house still did not decrease.

Such a momentum surprised the Jinyi guards of Beizhen Fusi, and Li Hui's face darkened all day.

And under the momentum, the news quickly passed back to Daming from the hands of the accompanying Jinyiwei.

When the news came back, Zhu Youzhen had just set off from the capital and arrived at the Yanshan camp.

Looking at the information of Beizhen Fusi, Zhu Youzhen said to Wang Chengen, who came to welcome him:

"As soon as this Yang Ho goes, I'm afraid that Li Hui will be indifferent to the Minister of Civil and Military Affairs for a long time."

"Your Highness, is North Korea really suspected of being a captive?" Wang Chengen asked puzzled, but Zhu Youzhen smiled and said:

"Whether he has it or not, just check it slowly, the purpose is not to check trade, but to let Yang Ho live in North Korea for a long time and supervise every move of the Korean monarchs and ministers."

Zhu Youzhen is well aware in his heart that the current party struggle in the DPRK is serious, and the internal contradictions are also very serious.

Therefore, the arrival of Yang Ho will give some well-intentioned people a chance, and if they launch a rebellion, then the Ming Dynasty will be able to protect Yang Hao's safety and increase the garrison in Korea.

A hundred cavalry guards is still too few, and it is better to garrison a battalion or even a guard of soldiers and horses.

The Ming did not need to control the politics of the vassal state, only needed to garrison troops, and then economic exchanges were sufficient.

In a country with too many people, the biggest problem is how to govern after conquest.

The Korean Peninsula has only two advantages: a strategic frontier and numerous ports.

More fertile than the land? It is inferior to the Indochina Peninsula, the Northeast.

Compared with mineral resources, it is not as good as the South Seas.

than the population market、Inferior to the Mughal and Japan。

Therefore, it is enough to garrison the army here and slowly naturalize, and there is no need to waste energy on it.

As for whether it will be recovered later, it depends on whether it is honest or not, and whether the time is ripe.

At present, the problem of the Ming Dynasty is to rectify the internal finances, and the rectification of finances requires a show of force and continues to improve the imperial power through war.

To recover Liaodong, Zhu Youzhen must prepare for this battle, and there are still more than 60,000 soldiers and horses in the stomach.

At the rate of the armor factory, it will take at least eight more months.

Secondly, in order to recover Liaodong, grain transportation must be carried by sea into the Liao River, and then by water.

Based on the average water depth of the Liao River in the Ming Dynasty, the section below the mouth of the three rivers can take a large ship of 3,000 materials, but the section above the mouth of the three rivers can take about 1,000 materials at most.

To recover Liaodong, the gunpowder and stone bullets needed are astronomical, and you must be prepared to fight this battle.

Thinking of this, Zhu Youzhen said to Wang Chengen:

"Cheng En, write a letter to Tianjin Shipyard, and build another 300 cargo ships with 1,000 materials."

"You allocate 150,000 taels of silver from the Imperial Horse Supervisor to go to the Tianjin Shipyard, and the mud molds of the artillery factory continue to cast cannons, and ask all the generals in Liaodong to prepare 200,000 stone bullets for five catties and 100,000 stone bullets for ten catties."

"The slave takes the command." Wang Chengen didn't say much, but after answering, he followed Zhu Youzhen towards the yamen in the camp.

Zhu Youzhen sat in the main seat of the main house, looking at the three large sand tables placed in the main house, representing the whole territory of Liaodong, Southwest, and Daming.

He knew that in the next time, as long as Nurhachi no longer invaded Liaodong, then the Ming Dynasty would fall into peace for a long time.

Perhaps the only thing that made Zhu Youzhen concerned was the aftermath of the Shandong earthquake and the spring planting of sweet potatoes, jade wheat and potatoes.

Crops can't be planted together, otherwise they will die in droves if they get sick.

This point especially needs Zhu Youzhen to supervise well, so he needs to pay attention to it.

And just as he expected, for a long time to come, he kept running between the fields and the barracks, and the pattern of East Asia fell into an eerie calm.