After Ukita Hide's house was attacked, Governor Konishi was furious after hearing the news and ordered some North Koreans to be dragged out of the city and beheaded. He also conveyed the decision to Uiju, requiring the North Korean army to return the Japanese prisoners immediately, otherwise one North Korean would be beheaded in Pyongyang every day. The people showed punishment.
Afterwards, President Konishi hurriedly rushed to visit the Ukita Hide family. As expected, the Hide family was furious and ordered an immediate attack on Yishu. Although Governor Konishi could understand Hideie's mood, he still advised: "If something like this happens, I also want to launch an attack immediately, but you also know that our army is in a bad situation now. For the sake of His Highness Taikaku's great cause, please Please be patient for now."
Ukita Hideie also knew that this was indeed not a good time to continue the attack, but he had to vent his anger no matter what, so he vowed to return to Hanyang and excavate the tombs of the previous kings of Korea to vent his anger.
President Konishi neither dared nor was interested in objecting to this. Anyway, the resentment of the Ukita Hide family would not go away and they refused any dissuasion. Naturally, it would be better to do less than to do more. Anyway, as far as President Konishi is concerned, it is up to him, the Ukita Hide family, to dig up the ancestral graves. I, Konishi, will not get my hands dirty, so let him do it.
As a result, Ukita Hideie was really furious. Before his injuries healed, he forcibly set off to return to Hanyang, and immediately arranged to excavate the tombs of the Joseon kings and burn them in public.
Not long after, the King of Joseon, Li Wan, learned from the Pyongan Road Observer Li Yuanyi that the Japanese army not only killed Korean people in Pyongyang every day in exchange for prisoners, but also excavated and destroyed the tombs of the previous kings of Korea such as Seonling and Jeongneung in Wangjing. The coffins of Seongjong and Jungjong of Joseon, as well as Queen Jeonghyun, Seongjong’s noble concubine, were burned. Li Huo was so angry that he actually fainted and fell to the ground this time.
After some frantic emergency treatment, the Queen and Jin Guiren came to comfort them. Li He shed tears and said: "I will never be able to face my ancestor Long Yan until my death. It is all my fault that the Crown Prince attacked without permission, causing the Japanese pirates to do such a common deed." An act of anger." Then he shouted away everyone and cried alone.
At the same moment, Kato Kiyomasa from Hamgyeong Province once again questioned Linhai Jundao: "Since you are the prince of North Korea, why have you not seen North Korea's response? What is the reason? Even if you are not willing to surrender, you should at least take gold and silver. Come and beg me to release you, right? Are you a prince?"
Linhai Jun smiled bitterly and said, "I wish I was not a prince. If I were not a prince, I would not be in such a situation and be slaughtered."
Kato Kiyomasa said sarcastically: "After I came to Hamgyeong Province, I learned that you are notorious. Even the local people voluntarily arrested you in exchange for peace. Perhaps because of this, the Joseon royal family may have decided to abandon you."
When Lord Linhai heard this, he was extremely frightened. He was afraid that he would be killed because he had lost his value. He quickly denied it and said: "It will never be like this. If they had abandoned me intentionally, they should have deposed me as a commoner before, not to mention the prince and his wife." I am a compatriot from the same mother and have deep feelings. How can you ignore me? I would like to write another letter to the crown prince, asking him to lead everyone to surrender immediately."
Kato Kiyomasa didn't want the big fish he finally caught to be meaningless in his hands, so he said: "That's fine, but if there is still no response this time, I will have to cut off your hands and feet and give them to those In the hands of the people who have long wanted to eat your flesh and blood, I advise you to take care of yourself and don't make mistakes." Linhai Jun was so frightened that he knelt down with tears streaming down his face and begged for mercy.
Lord Gwanghae received a letter from his brother again and could not help but remain silent. After a long time, Zheng Zhuo suggested that it would be better to secretly inquire about the whereabouts of Linhai Jun. If it was convenient, he could quietly carry out the rescue.
However, Lord Guanghai shook his head firmly and said, "Don't worry so much. I have already said that Lord Linhai died heroically in the battle with the Japanese pirates, and he is worthy of his ancestors."
Zheng Zhuo was not really concerned about the life and death of Lord Linhai, but he was worried about how he should report it to the king. Seeing that Lord Guanghai didn't want to mention it, he advised him: "Don't do this. If the king knows about this in the future, he will be furious." , and it will also put you in a dangerous situation. Such a major incident involving the life of a prince must be reported."
Lord Guanghai thought for a moment and reluctantly agreed. At the same time, Jin Gongliang also learned about Linhaijun from his maid. He was shocked and immediately informed Jin Guiren about it.
Li Huo was also shocked when he heard that Lord Linhai and Lord Shunhe were captured by the Japanese army and quickly asked for details. Hearing that the prince had known about this for a long time, he was furious and blamed him for not reporting it, so he immediately ordered the prince to be summoned.
Jin Guiren hurriedly said: "Your Highness, Lord Linhai must be rescued! No matter whether he does well or not in Xianjing Road, he is of His Highness's blood. Even if he does not do well, it can only be dealt with by you, the king. It’s neither the Japanese’s turn nor Gwanghae’s turn!
The capture of the prince is not only a shame for North Korea, but if the captured prince cannot be rescued, it will become an even greater shame for His Highness! Besides, Lord Linhai will also play a role in supervising the crown prince while he is still alive.
Although Lord Linhai is not powerful enough to suppress Gwanghae, he is the eldest son after all... Your Highness, please pay close attention to one thing, that is, the Ming Dynasty will definitely have doubts about the eldest son of the Korean royal family who has not become the crown prince. There is no doubt about it. If you don’t believe it, just look at the fact that the Ming Dynasty asked the Ming Dynasty to canonize Guanghai and was rejected by the Ming Dynasty. This is the most conclusive evidence!
But Your Highness, if Lord Linhai dies, then Guanghai will become the eldest son, and his position as the heir apparent will be justified. In this time of turmoil, he will most likely be officially canonized by the Great Ming Dynasty. By then..."
Needless to say what happened next, Li Hao, who had always been extremely sensitive to royal power, felt justified and made up his mind as quickly as possible to rescue Lord Linhai.
When Lord Gwanghae received the summons and prepared to leave with a sad face, Liu Chenglong told him to just insist that he was "always under investigation", to deal with it calmly, and not to contradict the king's wishes.
Lord Gwanghae also knew that the situation was critical, so he naturally nodded in agreement, and Zheng Zakuben also wanted to go to Uiju together. Lord Gwanghae advised: "You don't have to go with me. If we all leave for Uiju, who will be in charge of the affairs of the divided dynasties?" ? Please sir, sit in charge of the branch dynasty. I will be careful when I go and don't worry about me." The ministers of the branch dynasty then paid their respects to Lord Guanghai one after another.
Soon after, King Li Wan of Joseon summoned his ministers and asked Gwanghae what he meant by "always being visited". Guanghaejun replied: "I have been worried since I received the letter from my brother Linhaijun. Although the letter seems to be in my brother's handwriting, there is no guarantee that it is not a lure by the Japanese pirates, so I have been inquiring recently. I want to report the truth to His Highness after ascertaining the facts, so as to avoid the misunderstanding of the wind and the cranes, and the grass and trees are all soldiers."
Li Huo was noncommittal to his explanation, and just asked: "I am very surprised. You have been probing for so long, but have you gained anything? You are not worried that you will be robbed of your position as the heir, so you are deliberately watching with a cold eye, right?"
Lord Guanghai looked surprised, and then said with great sincerity: "How can Your Highness say that? Not only did I have no qualifications to be the Crown Prince, but I also never had any unreasonable thoughts about the Crown Prince's position. The Emperor and Empress Tu are here." Your Majesty, I am announcing in public today: If Your Highness intends to let your son give up his position as Crown Prince to his elder brother, he will give up his position without hesitation and will never break his promise."
Li Huo looked at him coldly but did not answer. In fact, Gwanghaejun's words may seem generous, but in fact they don't mean much. The reason is that Li He knows very well that although North Korea is now in danger at the national level, the situation of the North Korean court is actually still under his control. .
That means that if he really wants to depose Gwanghae, it will be meaningless for Gwanghae to hesitate, because he can't stop it at all - speaking of it, the only possible consequence of "hesitation" is probably death. This one is even worse.
At this time, Zuo Yizheng Yi Dooshou said: "Your Majesty the Crown Prince and Lord Linhai are brothers from the same mother and father. The love of brothers has always been deep, and the subjects all commented on it in this way. Compared with others, I must have heard that my brother was imprisoned and humiliated by the Japanese pirates. The prince is the one who is most saddened, and he will definitely try his best to find out about Linhai Jun's safety, please don't worry about this, Your Highness."
Zheng Che also said: "That's right, Your Highness, the Crown Prince's first investigation can be regarded as a cautious approach, which is a good thing. If you act recklessly and fall into the enemy's conspiracy, the consequences will be disastrous."
Li Hao didn't say much to them, but just asked Guanghaijun if he had confirmed that Linhaijun had been arrested?
Guanghaijun replied: "Yes, I have received clear information before setting off. My brother has indeed been captured by Japanese pirates."
Li Huo immediately began to sigh, saying with emotion that the capture of a prince is like the capture of a king, and the meaning is roughly the same. Such an incident is really a shame for the royal family. In order to save the situation, the army should be sent immediately to rescue Lord Linhai.
However, when Li Hengfu, the military judge, heard this, he quickly reported: "Your Highness, please think twice. Now the imperial court has no troops to send to Hamgyeong Province to rescue Linhaijun. The official army and the rebel army are mainly concentrated in the south to deal with the Japanese pirates, stationed in The number of guards in Yizhou is only a few thousand, and the Ming army is not only smaller in number, but also... cannot be mobilized.
All in all, the current strength of the imperial court is not enough to defeat the enemies of Xianjing Road. If the Yizhou army is sent out, it will be difficult to protect the safety of His Highness. "
Li Hao was helpless for a moment, but then he thought, since Fengwu didn't have the ability, could he redeem it with money? From this, he thought that he could use the silver gifted by Ming Dynasty last time to exchange it with Kato Kiyomasa.
This made Yi Dooshou's eyelids twitch when he heard this, and he hurriedly said: "Your Highness, you must not do it. There are only more than 5,000 taels of silver gifted by the Ming Dynasty. This silver has already been used to help Yizhou's soldiers and people survive the cold winter." The final preparations are made. Although the money is not much, it affects the lives of tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians and must not be misappropriated."
Li Hao was furious and asked: "This won't work, that won't work either, so how can I save Linhai Lord!"
When Zheng Che saw that things had reached this stage, he simply said: "For the sake of the world, it is better to give up rescuing Lord Linhai."
Li He stared at him intently and said slowly: "In your opinion, do you want me to die without saving you? Humph, I know that you and others usually hate Linhai, but Linhai is my eldest son, and his existence is not only related to me. The survival of the bloodline is more related to how the Ming Dynasty views the etiquette and teachings of Korea, how can it be abandoned at will!"
Who knew that Zheng Che had his own explanation? He cupped his hands and said: "Please don't misunderstand, Your Highness, I am not trying to put Lord Linhai to death, but I am making this suggestion so that Lord Linhai can survive.
Your Highness is well aware of your country, and you should know that the Emperor of Ming Dynasty was captured by Yi Di more than a hundred years ago, and Yi Di also intended to use the emperor to coerce Ming Dynasty, but what was the result? The Ming Dynasty did not obey the Yi Di, but established a new emperor and ascended the throne. The Yi Di wasted away for a long time without any gain. Seeing this, they also realized that the captured emperor was of no use and could only be released in the end.
Your Highness, do you think the situation in the Ming Dynasty back then was similar to that in Korea today? If the court insists on its position, over time, Lord Linhai will be released as useless. Wouldn't this be the best of both worlds? "
These words were extremely political, because Li Ao's respect for the Ming Dynasty has now reached its peak. Using what has happened in the Ming Dynasty as an analogy to the current situation, no matter how reluctant Li Ao is, at least he can't directly refute it. Yes, so Itoshou quickly agreed.
However, they still underestimated the Korean king. Li He thought for a while and then asked: "How did you know that the Japanese pirates would be released because they were useless near the sea? You take the Ming Dynasty as an example, but you don't know that the Ming Emperor was released because of the strong national power of the Ming Dynasty. Yi Di is difficult to match.
There is a saying in the art of war: An army in mourning will win. Yi Di was worried about the revenge of the entire Ming Dynasty. After continuous negotiations, they found that the Ming Dynasty was already gathering strength to prepare for a counterattack, so they had no choice but to release the emperor. How is this situation the same as today?
I dare to say that if you follow your plan, Linhai will definitely die! Therefore, the best solution is to take out the gift of silver and exchange it for Linhai. "
The logic didn't make sense, so we had to talk about the situation. Idoshou continued to express his objections and said: "How can your highness let tens of thousands of soldiers freeze to death in the cold winter for an incompetent prince?"
Zheng Che also advised Li Huan to be considerate of the people, and Li Hengfu, the military judge, also advised: "North Korea already has a heir apparent, so priority should be given to protecting the safety of His Highness and the heir apparent, and there is no need to spend such a significant amount of silver for Lord Linhai."
Li He laughed and said with a hint of sarcasm: "So that's it! The prince can be saved, but Lord Linhai cannot be saved. All the ministers are leaning towards the prince, prince, you should also be extremely pleased with the people's direction."
After hearing this, Lord Guanghai actually smiled and replied: "Your Highness loves Linhai very much. If the silver and the sergeants can't rescue my brother, I have a method that will definitely work: please give the king an order, and I will go to the enemy's camp to exchange for my brother. Erchen I cannot bear to sit back and watch His Highness suffer the pain of losing his eldest son, and I would like to ask the king to make a decision, redeem his brother with his brother, rescue his brother, and canonize the crown prince again."
When the officials heard this, they were all panicked and spoke out to stop him.
Yi Dooshou advised: "How can I say such disrespectful and disrespectful words! As the crown prince, how can I easily risk myself in the enemy's formation? What if someone breaks the promise?" , the country and the country will be overturned as a result."
Zheng Che also said: "If the prince is captured, the divided dynasty will not be protected, the people will be panicked, and the official army and the rebel army will be defeated."
Li Hengfu, the military judge, also advised: "If the prince goes down to serve as a hostage, it would be because of his incompetence. It is better to let him accompany him - in short, do not make such a rash move."
The ministers asked the King of Korea not to agree to the exchange of princes. Li Huo had mixed feelings when he saw the ministers protecting the prince in this way, but he also knew that he could not do this by force, so he had no choice but to give up.
Until late at night, Li Huo was depressed and said to the chief minister: "I am very curious. If during the day I had said that I was willing to be a hostage in exchange for Linhai, would the officials have tried their best to stop it? I think not."
The chief minister comforted him: "How could His Highness say such outrageous words? Your Highness is the king of a country, and the king is holding hostage. How could the ministers not stop him? No matter how stubborn the officials are, they still know that the Lord is insulting his ministers." The truth of death.”
Li Hao smiled bitterly and said: "King? Who is the king? Can a man still be considered a king? The ministers are alienated and cannot even save their own children. He is really an incompetent king."
The chief minister suggested: "Your Highness, how about entrusting the rescue of Lord Linhai to Shen Weijing, who is about to return? From his negotiations with the enemy, it can be seen that this man has extraordinary abilities. In addition, as an envoy of the Ming Dynasty, , with a distinguished status, perhaps he can rescue Lord Linhai with just the power of his words."
Li Hao was overjoyed: "That's right, what you said is absolutely true! How could I have forgotten that Shen Weijing is here? This man is proficient in strategy, courageous, and has the backing of the Ming Dynasty. He will definitely be able to rescue Linhai. Once this happens, Linhai's safety will be in danger I can feel at ease now."
He was overjoyed but also indignant: "But I still can't forgive Gwanghae. I really can't bear it! Yi Dooshou and Zheng Che lead the ministers to favor Gwanghae in everything. If they continue like this, sooner or later I will be forced to take the throne."
Seeing Li Huo like this, the imperial officer burst into tears because Li Huo was unfair, but Li Huo was already deep in thought, thinking about how to deal with it.
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Thanks to book friend "Cao Mianzi" for your reward and support, thank you!
Thanks to book friend "Yun Fu Yu Yu" for your monthly ticket support, thank you!
PS: Fifty is the limit. Also, I read the wrong time just now, so this chapter was posted an hour late...
