Southern Ming Rebel Army

Chapter 229 North Korea

The news that the Yongli court had moved to Kunming quickly spread to all parties. When Wang Huacheng, Jin Bao and Ma Jixiang, who had already arrived in Zhejiang, received the news, they looked at each other in bewilderment. Everything was fine when they came out, but how come halfway through the journey, the court was getting farther and farther away from Nando? What should they do? Can they still do their work?

After some discussion, the three decided that they should first arrive in Nanjing and meet Meng Jun before making a decision. When they were in Fujian, Wang Huacheng and the other two did not feel anything unusual, but since entering Zhejiang, they felt more and more that something was wrong.

When the people along the way saw the flag of the Great Ming hanging on the convoy, they did not show excitement on their faces, but a look of surprise and rarity. On the road, an old man even stopped the convoy and asked in surprise, "Does the Emperor of the Great Ming still care?"

Ma Jixiang became more and more frightened as he walked. In the Jiangnan area today, both the common people and the gentry only knew Meng Zhou and not Zhu Ming. Moreover, although the people on the street were wearing Ming-style clothes, their hairstyles were very different. Some were bald with only a short crew cut, while others still had long hair, and some even still had Qing Dynasty braids.

Just as the three men were heading towards Jinling, Meng Jun was still reorganizing the army. In Wuwei and Wusheng, the soldiers had already been gathered, and all kinds of military equipment were being replenished in an orderly manner. As for the five battalions of musket soldiers under the Kulu Army, only two more battalions could be replenished during the half year of casting in Zhoushan. Although Meng Jun had sent letters to various counties to mobilize craftsmen and transferred half of the firearms craftsmen from Zhoushan as the backbone, the gap in muskets was still large.

In the Governor's Mansion, Yu An hurriedly walked in and said to Meng Jun: "Your Majesty, Zhang Cunren has arrived at the Shangfang Gate of Jinling's outer city." Then Yu An whispered: "Your Majesty, Zhang Cunren is accompanied by a servant boy, and everyone around him is our people."

"Ah."

Hearing the news of Zhang Cunren's arrival, Meng Jun smiled knowingly. He knew that Zhang Cunren did not really want to surrender at all, and surrender was just a helpless act. He did not swear allegiance to the Yongli court, but instead surrendered to his former enemy. It was not difficult to guess his thoughts. It's just that Zhang Cunren knew that Meng Jun knew what he meant, and Meng Jun also knew that Zhang Cunren knew it. But it was obvious that Meng Jun would definitely praise Zhang Cunren highly, after all, he was the first Manchu provincial governor to surrender to him.

After hearing Yu An's words, Meng Jun's mouth corners slightly raised, and a smile appeared in his eyes. He slowly stood up, straightened his clothes, and said calmly: "In this case, pass on my order to summon the officials of the shogunate, big and small, to follow me out of Tongji Gate to personally welcome Governor Zhang."

As Meng Jun's order was issued, the shogunate and the surrounding areas became busy. Officials were busy tidying up their appearances. Some officials whispered, "He is just a Tartar who surrendered. Why should the king treat him so well?"

"Maybe it's worth a fortune to buy horse bones!"

Outside Tongji Gate, flags were flying and people were gathering. Meng Jun stood at the front, smiling, waiting for Zhang Cunren's arrival.

After a while, Zhang Cunren's convoy slowly drove over. The person leading the convoy saw the situation at the city gate and hurriedly reported it to Zhang Cunren.

Zhang Cunren lifted the curtain, looked out, sighed in his heart, then put on a look of fear and trepidation, got off the carriage, and ran towards the city gate in two steps. Meng Jun also greeted him with a friendly smile on his face.

Zhang Cunren knelt on the ground when he was still more than ten steps away from Meng Jun, and said loudly: "I am too humbled to be welcomed by the king. I am really terrified and ashamed to accept it."

Meng Jun hurried forward to help Zhang Cunren up, and said with a smile: "Governor Zhang, you are very righteous and saved Fujian from war. It is really a great achievement. How can you say he is guilty!"

The two of them smiled at each other, creating a very happy scene. If Yu An had not stared at Zhang Cunren with his eyes fixed and his hand tightly gripping the knife handle, this harmonious scene would have seemed a little strange.

Several painters from the Propaganda Department hurriedly captured this moment, and two servants watched the scene and recorded it vividly to be used as the headlines of tomorrow's newspapers. Gu Yanwu felt that it was useless to come to such a scene, so he casually sent a few servants to write the manuscript.

Afterwards, Meng Jun personally held a banquet to welcome Zhang Cunren. Both the host and the guests were very happy. After the banquet, Meng Jun personally issued an edict to confer the title of marquis on Zhang Cunren, and at the same time allowed him to assist in government affairs. On the surface, he gave Zhang Cunren everything, but in fact he did not have any power at all.

……:

While the war in the south was surging, the Liaodong Peninsula was also in turmoil. At this time, the Qing court envoys had arrived in Korea and read out the regent's order. As soon as the order was issued, the Korean court exploded as if a hornet's nest had been poked.

After the Qing army entered the pass and established its rule in the Central Plains, the regent Dorgon, who felt that "the major issues have been settled now", released the two high-ranking hostages, the crown prince of the East Kingdom, Sohyeon of Joseon and Prince Bongnim, back to Joseon.

However, Prince Sohyeon Yi Suk-suk, who was very close to the Qing court, died of a sudden illness only three months after returning to Seoul. Dorgon was quite suspicious about his sudden death, but the Korean envoy insisted that it was indeed a sudden death of illness, so Dorgon had no choice but to believe it.

On November 14, the second year of the Shunzhi reign, the Qing court could only enthrone Prince Yi Ho as the Crown Prince of Joseon. At this time, Yi Ho had just ascended the throne of Joseon. He already hated the Qing Dynasty in his heart, not to mention that Dorgon actually issued such an outrageous decree.

Although Korea and the Qing court had established a vassal relationship at this time, it was only in name. In the minds of the Korean literati who were obsessed with the idea of defending against barbarians, this was undoubtedly a great shame. In their view, the Ming Dynasty mobilized the world's troops and spent the world's wealth to save Korea, which led to the rebellion of bandits. Otherwise, the country might not have perished. So they believed that it was China that destroyed the country. In order to repay this great favor, Korea should take the lead in raising an army, march north to expel the Manchus and restore the Ming Dynasty!

Song Siyeol, a famous Korean scholar, believed that the core value of the Northern Expedition was to uphold the righteousness of the Spring and Autumn Period. He emphasized that the first righteousness was to prevent barbarians from entering China and animals from becoming human beings, and the second righteousness was to avenge the Ming Dynasty. After Li Hao ascended the throne, being deeply influenced by this thought, anti-Qing and restoration of the Ming Dynasty became the national policy of the Li Dynasty.

After suffering three devastating wars, namely the Imjin Japanese Invasion, the Jeongmo Barbarian Invasion, and the Byeongja Barbarian Invasion, Korea only had a few thousand standing troops. Not only were they few in number, but their fighting skills were also poor.

It was a pipe dream to challenge the brave Manchurian cavalry with such a force, so Yi Hao, who was determined to fight the Northern Expedition, began to prepare for war with all his strength. The capital's Royal Guards, which were responsible for the defense of Seoul, were changed from a temporary militia to a standing army, and expanded from 7,000 to 20,000 people. The imperial guards, which were the imperial guards, were increased from 600 to 2,000, and all were converted into cavalry.

Just as Li Hao had begun to expand his army and prepare for war, he received this bad news. Li Hao hurriedly summoned the Prime Minister Jin Yu to discuss countermeasures. Jin Yu was the top scholar in the Joseon Dynasty and the last envoy to the Ming Dynasty.

Facing Li Hao's question, Jin Yu gritted his teeth and said, "Your Highness, you must not agree to the conditions of the Lu Dynasty. If Your Highness agrees, you will lose your reputation in the court and the country, and there may be a danger of changing your position!"

Li Hao shed tears and said: "If we don't agree, how can we stop the enemy troops if they come again?"

"Your Highness, even if the enemy army arrives and we are defeated and lose our troops, it will not be your fault. The enemy army will retreat after plundering money and food. At the court meeting tomorrow, I will strongly refute it. When the enemy court demands punishment, Your Highness can push me forward to appease their hatred!" Jin Yu looked up at Li Hao and said in a firm tone.