In July, Li Chenggui worked hard and used methods such as instigating remonstrances and false accusations to successfully defeat his former partner and biggest political enemy Cao Minxiu, and became the only powerful minister in charge of actual government affairs in the capital.
But at this time, he suddenly discovered that more than half of the courtiers of Goryeo had secretly escaped from Kaijing with their families and went to Jeju Island to attach themselves to the so-called "New King of Goryeo" who was canonized by the Ming Dynasty and was stationed there. ".
The Goryeo Dynasty has been divided.
"Father, recently many Goryeo court officials have come to attach themselves to me, and they are frequently testing their words. They all want to see Zheng Mengzhou and the new king."
"But why do we have any Goryeo clan? Not to mention that Zheng Mengzhou has not yet been taken to Jeju. Even if he arrives, he may not be with us..."
Li Shanchang was looking at the map of Goryeo in his room. He was holding a white Go piece in his hand, as if he was using black and white chess pieces to simulate the current situation in Goryeo. When he heard Li Qi's words, he didn't even raise his head and said casually: "If you like to test, let them test you. Whether Zheng Mengzhou comes or not, it doesn't matter to us."
"Don't worry, just continue to send people to recruit the ministers who opened the capital."
Li Qigong claimed yes, but there was still doubt on his face. After hesitating for a long time, he finally spoke: "My son really doesn't understand. If this lie is exposed, what will happen if these Goryeo ministers return to Li Chenggui?"
"Besides, father, there are not many defenders on Jeju Island, and Li Chenggui has a heavy army. The officials he has recruited are all literati, how can they compete with Li Chenggui..."
Li Shanchang pressed the chess piece in his hand and finally raised his head to look at the honest eldest son. "You know that literati are useless, which is a sign of progress. Power and position only lie in swords and guns, and literati alone are of no use."
"But you need to be able to understand who is standing behind these literati and why they came to Jeju Island. If you think about this clearly, the doubts just now can be easily solved."
He really hopes that his eldest son can make some progress, so now he is looking forward to watching Li Qi bow his head in thought.
However, after a long time, Li Qi still looked up with confusion: "Father, my son is stupid and still can't understand."
"Didn't these ministers and scholars come to Jeju to surrender just for the sake of loyalty and orthodoxy? After all, the 'King of Goryeo' on Jeju Island is the orthodox Goryeo emperor canonized by the Ming Dynasty."
"If they knew that this matter was deliberately deceived by Ming Dynasty, they would definitely turn around and rely on Li Chenggui and become enemies of Ming Dynasty... Why do you think this matter is not serious? It is really difficult for me to understand."
"...Oh, that's all. You are too kind-hearted, so naturally you don't think of all the twists and turns." Li Shan hesitated for a long time, and then sighed helplessly. He had been ruling the court for more than ten years, but he happened to give birth to such an eldest son who had no talent for fighting for power.
He asked Li Qi to sit down and began to talk to him about the situation in Goryeo.
"Goryeo has been a country for hundreds of years. The bureaucrats in the country are all powerful and powerful people who have been rich and powerful for generations. Everyone in Goryeo is a big family. These people have been operating for hundreds of years. In Goryeo, the power is intertwined, and their officialdom is better than before. Yuan Geng is more corrupt. How can we talk about loyalty?"
"Do you think they came to Jeju to serve the new king? That's wrong. They came to Jeju to protect their family's interests."
"Li Chenggui comes from a warlord and is not related to them. They are naturally worried that if Li Chenggui takes power, this rude soldier will loot their family's wealth... Originally, because Li Chenggui had a heavy army, they could barely tolerate it. But now we are waiting for you. Raise the banner of the new king, and have the support of Ming Dynasty."
"If we follow Li Chenggui and fight against the Ming Dynasty, we may be like the shogun of Yingzhou in the future, and all our businesses will be wiped out overnight... How can these Korean scholar-bureaucrats who are worried about the damage to their own interests not compete with each other? Surrender?"
Li Qi was stunned when he heard this. His brows were deeply furrowed, and he asked again after a moment: "But if that's the case... this new king... this new king, there must be something real..."
"It doesn't matter whether there is a new king or not. In other words, these Korean people don't care at all whether there is a new king or not." Li Shanchang lightly twirled his long beard. "Otherwise, why are they just testing with words? Since they come here with all their hearts, shouldn't they be more sincere and ask to see the new king?"
"This battle is not between the new king and Li Chenggui and Wang Chang, but between Li Chenggui and the Ming Dynasty."
"We are using the power of the Ming Dynasty to intimidate the officials of Goryeo: those who are willing to join the Ming Dynasty will come, and those who are willing to die with Li Chenggui will go... Let's see what choice these Goryeo people make."
"As for the new king. Even if they know that there is no such person, they will still go to great lengths to fabricate a so-called 'new king' to rectify their own names. Don't worry about us."
"Son... my son has learned a lesson." Li Qi felt that his three views were greatly shaken, and his head turned many times before he finally figured it out. But even though I figured it out, I still felt quite shocked. After a while, he said: "Father, if these people are all selfish, how can we rely on them?"
"Selfish people will naturally pursue their own interests and are willing to die to protect food." Li Shanchang smiled slightly. "It doesn't matter, just wait. When Li Chenggui can't sit still anymore, he will help me and let them be used by me."
As Li Shanchang expected, Li Chenggui, who was in Kaijing, was well aware of the Ming Dynasty's oppression of Goryeo. Since the founding of Goryeo, the number one national policy has always been "doing great things", which means "serving a great country to protect itself." The great Central Plains country that Goryeo had served for hundreds of years had long been accustomed to using the power of the great power to dominate its own country behind closed doors.
Now that they suddenly lost a big country to serve, and even faced the possibility of being attacked by a big country, everyone in the Goryeo court felt as if they were being weighed down by Mount Tai and couldn't breathe. It was not bad in the past few years. In addition to the Ming Dynasty, there was also the Beiyuan Dynasty. But now Beiyuan has become a thing of yesterday, unable to get along between the two big countries. Moreover, the only big country that can be served has sent a letter of credence blaming the actual leader of its own court as a traitor... Such a situation makes it difficult for the Koreans who are still in the capital to fight against each other. Go first?
These pressures directly fed back to Li Chenggui, who was mainly targeted by the Ming Dynasty's credentials. On the one hand, Li Chenggui continued to send envoys to Jeju to seek peace with the Ming Dynasty envoy Li Qi. He made it clear that he would not hesitate to pay any price as long as Li Qi could repatriate the unnecessary new king of Goryeo. On the other hand, he sent his troops to blockade the capital. , Strictly prevent officials in the city from fleeing to Jeju again. However, even so, Goryeo officials often left the city in hanging baskets at night, and even if they were killed, they could not be stopped. Others in the city are even more panic-stricken, and the capital city of Kaijing has been paralyzed.
After his third request for peace was rejected, Li Chenggui finally understood that if he wanted to continue to be in power, a war with Ming Dynasty was inevitable. In early October, Li Chenggui conquered an army of 30,000 men and set out for Jeju Island in a mighty manner in the name of "crusade against rebellious ministers". At this time, the Ming Dynasty defenders on Jeju Island were even less than three thousand.
(End of chapter)
