Jingming

Chapter 485: It’s the people’s hearts that are attacked

White terror permeates Seoul.

The orthodoxy of the Li family's royal family for more than a hundred years, Queen Wen Ding's stable hold on the harem for more than twenty years, and Yin Yuanheng's authority for several years all exerted their final effect.

After killing so many of his own people, there was still no chaos in Seoul.

This vaguely makes some people feel that the Shilin sect has been bullied repeatedly for many years. It turns out that these scholars really don't have many eggs.

There was a lot of space left, and Yin Yuanheng just used it to reward others: Lao Xunjiu, the Yin family, relatives and friends of the general... After being scolded by his sister, Yin Yuanheng also knew that he had been impulsive.

But the deal is done, and now he can only say: "With the internal worries eliminated, there will only be external troubles! Now that everyone has taken the throne and is united, why worry that the foreign enemies will not retreat and the wealth will not survive in the future?"

The left and right councilors, the left and right counselors, the six Cao judges, the new Da Si Xian, the Da Si Jian, and the Seoul Prefecture magistrates, and the five new governors of the Five Guards after retracting to Seoul, Du Tie Tiao, and Tie Tiao , imperial camp general, guard general, guard general, robber catching general...

Looking around, it is basically from the second level and above, "the palace is full of pillars and talents gather together."

"The rebels in Xianjing Road have stopped now, and they even sent news about the truth!" Yin Yuanheng took out a piece of silk, "You guys spread it around!"

He said excitedly: "The prefectures and prefectures in Jiangyuan Province are rushing to recruit new grains. If we hold on for more than a month, it will snow heavily, and it is time to counterattack! Bao Ming sent the King of Liao of the Zhu family to Ping'an Road, and the wolf's ambition is clear at a glance! Li Wagwei begged for mercy. , trying to betray the country and seize the throne, the Eight Paths have long been known to everyone!"

On that silk was the latest news jointly written by the Grand Protector of Xianjing Dao, Dao Mu and other civil and military officials.

A large number of Ming officials went to Ping'an Road and Huanghaidao, and worked with Li to clear land, resolve cases and confiscate homes. In fact, they all reported to the King of Liao who went to the DPRK together and Gong Yongqing, who had served as North Korea's envoy.

Hamgyeong Province was originally a rebel who no longer obeyed Yin Yuanheng's orders. At first, he used the name of helping the prince to attack Ping'an Province and Gangwon Province. But after the Ming army entered the court, they retreated.

Yin Yuanheng felt that life was getting closer and closer, and said with bright eyes: "As long as winter comes and the Xianjingdao army intercepts the Ming army's retreat, it will be different! The Ming army has been surrounding Seoul for so long, why not attack? It really can’t be done! If an attack is thwarted, the dead and wounded generals will not be able to be replenished, and we will not be able to retreat even if we retreat! Now that we expect ourselves to mess up the morale of the army, we are really looking down on us!"

After a pause, his voice became somewhat suppressed, and he continued: "Those philanthropic sects think they can do anything by begging for mercy from Baoming. Let's see! There are so many wealthy officials, gentry, and wealthy families on Ping'an Road and Huanghai Road. What will happen to them?" What is it? Spread what happened there to the east and south, and the big families everywhere will know that the only way to defeat the enemy is through King Qin!"

At this moment, today's "salute" sounded again.

The content of those shoutings could not reach here, and then it became noisy again.

"Lord Lingyi Zheng... he changed his words again today..."

Soon after, someone naturally came to record it.

Yin Yuanheng looked at it, his face was a little gloomy, and he looked up at the defending generals.

"I know the truth, the situation is difficult, and not everyone can be loyal and brave!" Yin Yuanheng sneered, "It turned out to be a wrong calculation, which made some weaklings jump over the wall, but it created a good opportunity for the truth to clear up the stubborn disease. And The defenders are loyal and brave. Although they have read little, they understand the truth more clearly!"

He passed the piece of paper along. Anyway, they would eventually know what was shouted outside the city.

Today we are targeting the soldiers.

Yin Yuanheng still made his words clear: "The desire to expose our country, destroy our country, and enslave our people is undoubtedly obvious. If exposure is really allowed to succeed, some scholars may still beg for mercy and become scribes, but there are many righteous people. How can we reuse North Korean generals and soldiers when the truth is exposed and they will be brutally suppressed? Only now that there are more than 100,000 troops, everyone must be stripped of their armor and become slaves, as young coolies!"

Whether these words are correct or not is difficult to say.

But at least now facing these senior generals of the garrison, everyone knew that they could not have a future in front of the Ming army.

What Ming Dynasty can give them cannot be as much as what Yin Yuanheng is giving now.

Yin Yuanheng's words can also be used by them to remind the people below.

The truth does make sense: once the Ming Dynasty takes the King of Liao as the King of Korea, it will be based on the civil and military affairs of the Ming Dynasty. How can a native Korean have the possibility to climb to the position of high official and generous salary? And to govern aliens, there is a lot of suspicion, and the most important thing is to use military force to prevent rebellion. How dare you use Koreans?

Song Liangchen paid attention to the Ming army commander's tent in the north of the city for a day.

"...There's not much movement today."

"How can there be movement every day? Don't worry..." Zhang Jing said.

"The weather is getting colder and colder. Do we really want to wait for them to cause chaos and win without a fight?"

"It doesn't matter, will we still lose?" Zhang Jing shook his head, "It's still the same as before. The defenders can't stand a defeat, and they don't dare to leave the city gate. For a long-term plan, the Marquis and Yangwu Marquis asked their subordinates to capture Incheon together. It is serious to build the future Liaonan camp and military port over there."

Song Liangchen could only be speechless, but he did not express any objection.

The North Korean defenders could not withstand a defeat, so they never left the city to rob the stronghold or anything. As long as the Ming army does not take the initiative to attack, there seems to be no danger.

But who knows, will they suddenly go all-out and seek a decisive battle?

That's not the way to surround Sanque Yi. It only puts psychological pressure on the opponent, right?

Their east side was clear, and although the scouts didn't see many additional troops coming, if there was no shortage of supplies, they could continue to consume them like this.

When the heavy snow fell, the Ming army camped outside the city naturally had a harder time.

Due to this special offensive and defensive situation, the Incheon area on the seaside to the west of Seoul, which the North Korean defenders could not detect, was really busy at the moment.

Incheon used to be called Inju, but now it is called Incheon County.

The warships of the Beiyang Navy are now anchored here. Xue Han uses his ships and marines to control the passage from the south of Gyeonggi Province to Seoul, and also firmly controls Incheon.

Today, the small port on the seaside of Incheon is in full swing.

On the dock, a treasurer from the Maritime Bureau was looking at the new batch of people being brought here.

He looked at the group of panicked people and looked at the interpreter: "You tell them: work here, the wages will be paid once a day, and you will have a meal. After the port is built, there will be many more workers to use in the future. If If you have fellow countrymen, you can call them over when you go back, don’t be afraid. The Ming Dynasty sent troops to Korea to protect the Korean people from war disasters. In the future, more cargo ships will come, and there will be more work here!"

The long-term strategy of Ming Dynasty has already been assigned to the Maritime Transport Bureau: the commercial port and military port here will also be the shipping hub of the Maritime Transport Bureau in the direction of North Korea in the future.

Although the war has not ended yet, Ming Dynasty has already begun to operate this place as its own territory.

Over on Ping'an Road, Gong Yongqing has been busy all this time.

Li had been watching what he did, and his mood became more and more complicated.

"Starting today, I will rush to each government to supervise the food supply! We must remember that this first time is crucial. If you do one thing well, all the people will return to their hearts. There is no need to increase the levy, use new steelyards and buckets instead, and reduce the levy after the war. Half tax, and don’t make things difficult for them. Tell them that after the Qing Dynasty is completed, the tax system will be restructured next year, and it will not be heavier than this year! Those new grains will not be harvested this year, and they will be kept as seeds. There are people who bully the countryside. Subordinate officials, do whatever you see! Don't be afraid that no one will help you with your work, just hire them with money!"

Li watched him lecture the young officials who had entered the court, thinking that there was indeed no shortage of money now.

During this period of time, Gong Yongqing has solved too many cases here and raided many large government and gentry households that committed evil.

For as many years as North Korea has fought for power in the court, formed cliques for selfish interests, and practiced nepotism, there have been many years of extortionate expropriation and unspeakable suffering at the local level.

Now that they are using their dirty money to do things and win over the hearts and minds of the North Korean people, all Ming Dynasty needs to do is to prevent those who are sent to serve as officials from taking the opportunity to amass excessive wealth.

He heard that these young officials "study" in front of the Ming Emperor for several months before setting off. Then you must feel that Jane is in the heart of the emperor, has a heavy responsibility, and has a bright future, right?

Even Gong Yongqing, a third-level official, worked tirelessly in these months after encountering this opportunity. Everywhere he went, he looked like the embodiment of justice, making decisions for the people.

Can't get the favor of the local wealthy people in North Korea?

It's different. I heard that there are still a steady stream of people from the Ming Dynasty coming to Jiuliancheng.

Businessmen doing business, down-and-out scholars, craftsmen, ordinary people who want to gamble on their fate...

Even on Ping'an Road and Huanghae Road, there were only a few short months, and there were some young Korean scholars who knew some words and read some books in the past. Some were from a privileged background or some were in a miserable state, but they were all impressed by Gong Yongqing's talent and learning. Underneath his personality, it seems that the Ming Dynasty has brought about the opportunity for true benevolent government and making the best use of talents.

North Korea's seemingly stable hierarchy and local governance structure in the past seemed vulnerable to Ming Dynasty's adequate preparations.

The King of Liao only had to stay in Pyongyang, and he still had not adapted to suddenly becoming the head of the country.

But his mother-in-law, Mao, had actual experience in managing a Liao vassal in the past.

"Now we have to be kind to the people! There are still several roads that have not been pacified. All you have to do is go out more and appease the people." Mao said clearly, "Master Gong is very capable. Let him make the final decision on government affairs first." Okay. In addition to showing up more often, the most important thing to do is to encourage learning. You also studied under His Majesty and went to Sungkyunkwan to give lectures. In North Korea right now, even scholars will be useful in the future, and they hate the chaos caused by the old relatives of Xun Xun for so many years. Government, win their hearts!"

"The mother-in-law said yes, then I will go..."

This generation of Liao kings did have an unusual fate.

The seventh king of Liao died mysteriously and was involved in the rebellion at that time. Although not directly related, Zhu Zhige and his brother's plot still made Zhu Houcong furious.

He was adopted into the name of Zhu Zhige and raised by the Mao family. When he was young, he lived in the shadow of Zhang Juzheng, the prince's companion who lived in his house for a while.

But he is not like the eighth generation King of Liao who originally led to the extermination of the Liao vassal, but he is indeed more calm and obedient.

Now Mao felt deeply that the opportunity was rare, and she had done a great job before coming to Korea. She had almost sold off all the Liao vassal industry.

Once here, it was inevitable to show favors everywhere, and preparations had already begun to select a local Korean concubine for the King of Liao.

Everything is for a more stable future.

Compared with the situation on Pyongan Province and Hwanghae Province, the situation in the northwest is not yet known in Gangwon Province to the east of Gyeonggi Province and Gyeongsang Province to the southeast.

The news spread from Seoul was like a bolt from the blue to the wealthy officials and gentry in these two provinces.

There is no way to kill all the local wealthy people! Just like that, Ming Dynasty still wants to make the descendants of Emperor Ming the leader of Korea?

It has to be said that Yin Yuanheng's analysis also makes sense.

But at this juncture, he had actually fallen into Zhang Jing's conspiracy.

What time is it now? It is the time when the grain harvest begins this year.

With three towers surrounding Seoul, how much pressure is placed on Yin Yuanheng?

No matter what happens now, Yin Yuanheng is at the forefront, and the promise he made to the local civil and military families includes maintaining the existing North Korean order and safeguarding their interests.

In exchange, couldn't the two groups, which have not been affected by the war for the time being, support Seoul with food and grass supplies and jointly defend against foreign enemies?

What's more, I heard that there is a one-eyed commander with a few warships in the southeast sea that invades the place from time to time.

So they naturally inevitably imposed more excessive taxes and put the burden on them.

"The Han people have kidnapped all the people from Ping'an Road and Huanghai Road to work as coolies! Now Prime Minister Yin is still struggling to support you. Are you going to let the King's army be defeated and those Ming troops come and take away your children?"

But they won't just let them say this.

After all, word of the Shilin disaster that night in Seoul has spread. It is hard to say what will happen to scholars after they become officials, but before studying, especially when they are young, they still have some passionate ambitions and ideals.

Now, Shilin's high-level officials in the North Korean court have been almost wiped out. This situation is the darkest moment for them.

Yin Yuanheng arranged for the news to be spread to the east and southeast, and they also interpreted a situation.

I can't explain it thoroughly, but at least some poor scholars in the countryside can say a few words: On Ping'an Road and Huanghai Road, they are just targeting the wealthy officials and gentry and allocating land to the common people.

From their limited knowledge, some of the Ming Dynasty's new laws, which had been vigorously implemented for many years, had also spread here.

"Will the superior country treat us the same way as it treats the Han people?"

"Then I don't dare to say it... But it's known to all the world that the person in charge of the country now is the Eternal Mingjun..."

Yin Yuanheng established the Ming Dynasty as a very cruel enemy. Although he was even more cruel to the Shilin faction, the common enemy still made the North Korean officials and gentry choose to fully support him.

But everything has two sides. The poor scholars in North Korea feel that things cannot get worse in the future. What about the wealthy officials and gentry... They are not officials now, and they are not wealthy.

During the military chaos and subsequent defeats on Ping'an Road and Huanghai Road, there were also some common people and deserters who wandered to other roads.

Some facts were naturally brought out by them, including the relief provided to tens of thousands of refugees on the north bank of the Yalu River last winter, including the fact that a new crop called potato is now grown there...

"When will this be accomplished?" Song Liangchen became more and more anxious.

"Marquis of Song!" Zhang Jing couldn't help but give him a nod, "Have you forgotten His Majesty's teachings? War is just a means! We are not here to win a battle and show off our power. We should look at the long term. When the battle is over, people's hearts have also changed. This That’s even more important!”

"They have started to have new grain shipped from the east! It's better to rob the grain road, right?"

"What's the purpose of robbing grain?" Zhang Jing continued to shake his head, "The more we transport, the better! Does the Marquis of Song think that the people in the city can eat the food that is transported? Even if he wants to buy it, what is the price? The more he transports, the better. It will be easier to provide relief after entering the city. The more relief is provided, it means that the other roads are recruiting aggressively!"

"Only for the defenders, the morale of the army will be more stable and it will be harder to fight! After so many days, we haven't seen any generals revolt on the battlefield!"

"Do we still need to rely on the defenders to revolt to win? We don't count on this."

Song Liangchen looked at him helplessly: That day when you said what would happen if you called the Shilin faction and then called the soldiers, your expression was not like this.

In Song Liangchen's opinion, winter is almost here. If the Ping'an Road and the Yellow Sea Road are not protected, the Ming army will have to rely on sea transportation for food, grass and military supplies. Now the situation is getting worse and worse.

However, Zhang Jing insisted on implementing such a strategy and was not afraid of any counterattack troubles caused by various parts of North Korea after the winter.

"Wait!" Zhang Jing stared at the north gate of Seoul in the distance. "Master Wang is not here to conquer, but to rescue. People are against him, so it will take longer. For several months, the city walls have only been bombarded, and the people in the city have After building fortifications for so long, doing hard work for so long, and still not having enough to eat or wearing warm clothes when the weather is freezing, don’t you understand Master Wang’s benevolence and righteousness that he could have worked hard but patiently persuaded people to surrender?”

"...The army is useless in Yin Yuanheng's hands."

"Who says it's useless?" Zhang Jing said firmly, "The situation seems to be more and more favorable to him. The longer the situation outside the city is stable, the more relaxed he will be! When the new grain arrives, let those people shout to the city to sell it at a fair price. grain!"

Song Liangchen was stunned again: What kind of operation is this?

(End of this chapter)