"Xiaguan entered the palace under the leadership of Song Shilie, the right councilor, and met Li Hao, the monarch of Joseon."

In the former county palace where Nanjing was upgraded to the palace of the king of Chu, Wu Zhongluan continued to speak.

"Li Hao, as rumored by the outside world, was concerned about the Ming Dynasty, and he put forward the so-called Northern Expedition theory to the lower officials, expressing his willingness to devote the national strength of North Korea to restore the ...... of his parents."

The Northern Expedition is a famous plan put forward by King Hyojong of Korea to oppose the Qing Dynasty and restore the Ming Dynasty, he planned to train 100,000 elite bird soldiers within ten years, wait for the Qing Dynasty's civil strife, and then send troops to reach outside Shanhaiguan.

And because only half of the Qing court was left in this timeline, his plan was also changed from training 100,000 people in ten years to training 50,000 people in three years, and sending troops to aid the Great Ming Army before the Qing court completely collapsed.

Let's not talk about how much North Korean filial piety there is, his idea of sending troops directly to Shanhaiguan is somewhat naïve, if the North Korean army really has this kind of combat effectiveness, how can it be hung and beaten by the Qing army in the Bingzi chaos and the previous Ding Mao chaos?

Even if Wu Zhongluan didn't know how to soldier, he felt that he was a little whimsical.

However, Wu Zhongluan did not debunk it on the spot, hurting Li Hao's ambition, but euphemistically mentioned the purpose of his mission, saying that there was no need for North Korea to take such a huge risk to mobilize the army and mobilize the people, and to waste the people and money, as long as North Korea refused to supply grain and grass to the Qing court.

Li Hao did not agree to Wu Zhongluan on the spot, he pondered for a long time, and then told Wu Zhongluan that the matter was very important, and he needed to consult with the ministers before giving them an answer, and then he ordered someone to arrange the Ming mission in an official post house in Seoul.

Although the Korean monarchs and the common people were full of enthusiasm for the Ming mission, Wu Zhongluan and his party did not relax their vigilance because of this, and the guards infantry in charge of the guard took control of various key locations as soon as they entered the post house and increased their vigilance.

Their vigilance did work, and the next night, the handful of officials who held some of the military power in Gyeonggi Province were finally ready to risk the Ming mission for the purge in exchange for the favor and attention of the Qing court.

At nightfall the next night, hundreds of Korean officers and soldiers who obeyed the orders of the pro-Qing faction surrounded the Ming envoy's station, intending to storm the post house, and the guards infantry in charge of the night vigil quickly discovered the enemy's situation, and he fired a warning shot into the sky, and the rest of the sleeping soldiers were instantly awakened and rushed out of the courtyard with weapons.

Wu Zhongluan was also awakened by the noise outside, he was still a little flustered at first, but at least he was an old minister who fled with King Lu, quickly stabilized, and ordered someone to put on the official mansion and go out of the courtyard to check the situation.

At the same time, the Guards Infantry immediately dragged all kinds of furniture in the house under the wall, stood on the furniture and looked out, and found that the street outside was already in flames—the torches in the hands of many North Korean officers and soldiers gathered together, almost illuminating this area as if it were daylight.

"My lord, we are surrounded by North Korean officers and soldiers."

Wu Xiaojie, the commander of the Guards Infantry Company who came to this conclusion, said to Wu Zhongluan, and as soon as his voice fell, he heard a shout from outside:

"Listen to the envoy inside, you have been surrounded, and you can only protect your life if you surrender!"

He was answered only by the sound of a gunshot, only to see the fire blooming on the wall, and the soldier who shouted was shot in the chest, and immediately fell to the ground and died.

The rest of the people were shocked when they saw this, and the leading soldier Cao official hurriedly shouted: "Quickly exterminate the Ming envoy, if the kingdom blames it, our dynasty will never have peace, and we are waiting for this move to defend Korea!" Whoever breaks the post house first will be rewarded with 100 taels of silver! ”

As soon as they heard the reward, the officers and soldiers, who were still a little cowering, suddenly had a great morale boost as if they had been beaten with chicken blood, and rushed forward with a roar, and the guards infantry behind the wall opened decisive shots, killing more than ten people on the spot with a volley of volleys.

The gunfire of the post house was particularly harsh in this silent Seoul, and naturally it did not escape the ears of Li Hao in Changdeok Palace, who sat on the Hu bed in Changdeok Palace with an anxious face, and Zheng Taihe and Song Shilie, who were standing on the left and right sides of the council, looked indifferent.

Seeing that Li Hao had been anxious, Song Shilie still reassured: "Your Highness, you don't have to worry, although those traitors are so bold and arrogant that they dare to raise troops to rebel privately, we can also take this opportunity to test the envoys." ”

"What do you mean by that?" Li Hao asked rhetorically.

"At present, although the Ming Dynasty has recovered half of the south of the Yangtze River, it is still known which is stronger and weaker between the Ming and Qing dynasties, and the minister believes that the Ming envoy should be further tested (this chapter is not finished!). )

Chapter 257: Mutiny and Shelling

Explore, if the recovery of the Ming Dynasty is just a flash in the pan, and our country rashly chooses the Ming Dynasty, when Beihu vacates his hand in the future, it will be a catastrophe in our country.

And this mutiny is the best time to try, with all due respect, the officers and soldiers of Gyeonggi are lax in armament, not combatable soldiers, if the Ming envoy can't even deal with this, how can he talk about fighting against the soldiers of the Beihu Hundred Battles? ”

To put it bluntly, Song Shilie was still worried that the Ming Dynasty would be defeated in the confrontation, and if the Ming Dynasty was finally defeated, and the Qing Dynasty knew about them, it would definitely severely reprimand them - this is not bad, I am afraid that the Qing court will directly send troops to North Korea and turn Korea into a province, and the country will not be a country.

His words persuaded Li Hao, who immediately fell into silence, but still stood up, pushed open the door of the hall, and looked in the direction of the gunshot, Song Shilie and Zheng Taihe hurriedly followed, and as soon as they came out, they saw a firework flying over the post house, which exploded in the night.

"What's that?"

Li Hao asked the ministers on the left and right, both of them shook their heads and said they didn't know, and at this moment, an old minister walked quickly in the direction of the palace gate, and after the man walked in, Li Hao recognized the other party, it was his leader Jin Yu.

Jin Yu walked towards them in a hurry, seeing his anxious face, Li Hao knew that he must have come because of the post house, and he was about to step forward, but at this moment, dozens of thunderous noises suddenly sounded in the direction of the Han River, and Zheng Taihe, who had participated in the battle to defend Namhansan Fortress, changed his face greatly, and instantly realized that this was a distant shelling.

Li Hao had also seen the artillery bombardment of the Qing army during his stay in the Qing Dynasty, so he naturally heard it, and immediately asked left and right: "Where did this shelling come from?" Send someone to investigate! ”

However, it didn't take long for some soldiers stationed at the port to flee back in a hurry, reporting to the imperial court that it was the Ming army sailors anchored on the Han River who were shelling the port of Seoul - the fireworks just now were the signal, and before parting, the commander of the Guards Infantry Company, Wu Xiaojie and Chen Zhaojun, agreed to launch an artillery bombardment on Korean territory as soon as they saw the fireworks signal.

Knowing that it was the Ming army's naval division that was shelling, Li Hao didn't know that this was a demonstration by the Ming army, he hurriedly ordered people to transfer troops to suppress the rebellious army besieging the post house, and ordered Song Shilie to go to the port in person to stop the Ming army's naval division from continuing the shelling.

At the same time, he couldn't help but guess in his heart, fortunately, Seoul was more than ten miles away from the Han River, and if it was built on the bank of the Han River, wouldn't the Ming army sailors directly drop the shells on top of his head?

Chapter 257: Mutiny and Shelling