Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

"Huang Taiji returned north with 500,000 North Koreans?"

"He's really bold!"

Zhu Youjian, who was far away in the capital, laughed when he heard the news.

Huang Taiji's decisive withdrawal made Zhu Youjian, who wanted to trap him in Korea, sigh secretly.

Because in his heart, he hoped that the Jianlu would be trapped in Korea.

However, when he saw from the intelligence of the Jinyiwei that Huang Taiji brought 500,000 Korean slaves and countless valuables, he immediately laughed out loud, thinking that he saw a good opportunity:
If the Jianlu had only 40,000 or 50,000 people, he would not dare to make any plans, because the current field strength of the Ming Dynasty was not enough to destroy these people in a field battle.

But these 40,000 to 50,000 Jianlu brought with them 500,000 Korean slaves, which was a completely different matter.

The Jianlu army would be held back by these people and their march would become slow.

If supply difficulties, epidemics and other factors arise again, Jianlu will be in even greater trouble.

Thinking of this, Zhu Youjian ordered the North Korean side:

"Send a message to Hong Chengchou, Mao Wenlong and others to delay the Jian'e as much as possible and rescue the people of Korea."

"We must also resolutely fortify the roads and cities that the Jianlu must pass through as they return north, and prevent the Jianlu from getting supplies."

"Anyone who dares to communicate with the enemy privately or trade with the enemy will be charged with collaborating with the enemy."

This reminded him of the Shanxi merchants in history. When the Jianlu entered the pass several times, the Shanxi merchants provided them with logistics and sold the looted materials. Otherwise, with hundreds of miles of grassland outside the pass blocking them, the Jianlu would not be able to bring back much.

Such businessmen may also appear in North Korea, and we must guard against them.

In order to ensure the execution of this order, Zhu Youjian authorized the Korean Pacification Office to supervise it, and specifically told Hong Chengchou and others:
"Tell the officers and generals in North Korea that the opportunity to make a contribution is right before their eyes."

"What title they can be awarded this time depends on their performance."

In order to boost the morale of the soldiers, he gave out rewards in advance:
"Li Jiucheng recaptured Yizhou, captured nearly a thousand heads, and was conferred the title of hereditary baron."

"Rewards for others will be calculated after the war is over."

A series of orders were issued to encourage the generals in Korea to fight bravely.

Zheng Shiyi wrote these down one by one and planned to send them out immediately after returning.

He mentioned another matter and asked the emperor for his opinion:
"The Jianlu army has retreated, and the Joseon king and his ministers want to return to Seoul."

"Will you agree to this?"

Zhu Youjian frowned upon hearing this, not wanting to put the Korean monarch and his ministers at risk, and said:
"It's possible that the Jianlu made a feint and headed south again when returning north."

"There may be spies from the Jianlu hiding in Seoul. We should not take risks at this time."

"Let the Joseon king and his ministers continue to stay on Yeongjong Island. If they find it too small, they can send some people to Incheon."

"Also, let Lu Shanji return to Seoul first and repair the palaces, ancestral temples, and mausoleums of Joseon that were destroyed by the Jianlu. Do not go beyond the system."

Zheng Shiyi understood what he meant, and he wanted Lu Shanji to take this opportunity to clean up Seoul and make Korea conform to the Ming Dynasty's etiquette from top to bottom, so as to avoid disputes over these things in the future.

If there are places that violate the rules, they will be treated as destroyed by the Jianlu and repaired directly.

From now on, all of Korea must abide by the rules of the Ming Dynasty.

In order to appease the Korean monarch and his ministers, Zhu Youjian also ordered:

"Korea resolutely resisted the invaders, and both the king and his subjects were loyal."

"Grant Prince Ren five hundred acres of land and house in the capital to build pavilions and gardens."

"While in Beijing, Prince Ren will enjoy the treatment of a county prince, with an annual salary of 2,000 dan."

"Have the Lifanyuan send 2,000 silver coins to cover the expenses of Prince Ren in Beijing."

"He will also be given the trade quotas he deserves, which he can use to purchase goods that are subject to export restrictions."

The plan was to provide the Crown Prince of Joseon, Lee Wang, with another source of income in addition to domestic supplies.

In this way he could build up his power and break away from the control of the King of Korea.

Then Zhu Youjian gave the king of Korea a jade belt and some nominal rewards, and asked him to report the meritorious officials, and he would confer titles on the Korean ministers.

Those who previously held the title of Lord of the Palace or Lord will later be changed to Viscount or Baron of the Ming Dynasty and will have corresponding fiefs.

I believe that after receiving this reward, these ministers will not make a fuss about returning to Seoul, but will discuss their fiefdoms with the King of Korea.

After these orders were issued, the situation in North Korea changed again.

Needless to say, Li Jiuchen, who was granted the title, has decided to defend Yizhou to the death.

After hearing the emperor's naked promise, Hong Chengchou and Mao Wenlong put in even more effort.

Both of them knew whether they would be conferred the title of earl or viscount, and the key would depend on their performance in the next period of time.

As long as Mao Wenlong performs well in the end, he will most likely be granted the title of earl.

Hong Chengchou needs to work harder and show adequate performance.

Hong Chengchou felt very embarrassed about this, because he had never expected that Huang Taiji would withdraw from Korea so decisively.

If it were him, facing the various parts of Korea that he could take at will, he would at least plunder for a while or even conquer them.

Now that Huang Taiji has retreated, his previous plan to capture Yizhou and use it to block the Jianlu has to change.

The biggest goal also changed from suffocating the Jianlu in Korea to killing as many enemies as possible.

If his men had 5,000 captives, he, as the supreme commander, would surely be made an earl.

Looking at the direction of the Jianlu returning north on the map, Hong Chengchou said:
"Is Cui Nanyi still in Pingshan?"

"How many people does he have under him now?"

Cao Bianjiao said:

"Choi Nam-yi has been operating there, and he firmly believes that the Jianlu will pass through there on their way back."

"Various ambushes have been set up in the Pingshan and Huangzhou areas."

"There are already tens of thousands of Korean volunteers following him."

Hong Chengchou seemed to be thinking about something, and said:

"Ten thousand people is already a lot. Let him think of a way to set up an ambush and try to intercept the Jianlu's supplies."

"Also tell Jin Zidian in Zhengfang Mountain City to defend the city and prevent the Jianlu from getting any supplies."

"If he can do this well, I will strongly recommend him for the title he wants."

He looked down upon the combat effectiveness of Jin Zidian's men, but he believed that they were capable of carrying out the task of clearing the countryside.

The main grain-producing area in northern North Korea is the plains around Hwangju and Pyongyang, so it is just right to let Kim Ji-dian do this.

Even if Jin Zidian burns the food, he cannot leave it to the Jianlu.

According to this idea, Hong Chengchou arranged officials from the north of Korea to implement the policy of fortifying the city and clearing the countryside. The disadvantage of Huang Taiji's bypassing the city and not attacking each city one by one was now apparent.

The Jianlu army seemed invincible and even conquered Seoul, but in reality, the rear was still under the control of Joseon officials, and even many righteous soldiers appeared.

Although these people were not capable of fighting the Jianlu directly, they were very good at plundering the Koreans' food. Hong Chengchou did not even care whether they enriched themselves or brought harm to the Koreans.

What he was concerned about was to prevent the Jianlu from getting food and to make the 500,000 Korean slaves captured by the Jianlu a burden to them.

To this end, Hong Chengchou also ordered the Jinyiwei in Korea that if the Jianlu showed signs of breaking through the city, the first thing to do was to burn down the granaries.

Even if the Jianlu captured the city, they would not be able to get much supplies, and the logistics became increasingly tense.
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Huang Taiji quickly realized how powerful Hong Chengchou was. This minister to the court, who in his opinion had not performed well before, dealt him a severe blow when Hong Chengchou returned north.

He didn't care about Choi Nam-yi's ambush at all, because it wouldn't hurt the root cause. As long as the Korean soldiers didn't have the ability to fight the Eight Banners soldiers head-on, it would be just a minor problem.

But the strategy of clearing the fields and burning food really hit his weak spots.

Before this, he had never thought that the officials of Ming Dynasty and Korea were so cruel.

Before he plundered, he first plundered ordinary people.

This made it impossible for him to get food from the countryside, so he had to attack cities.

However, attacking the city would consume manpower and delay the return journey to the north. The Mongols, who were eager to return home to support their own tribes, would certainly be dissatisfied with this.

So Huang Taiji thought about it and gave the order:

"Let the Han and Mongolians drive the Koreans to attack the city."

"Don't be stingy with North Korean slaves. If they die, we can capture more."

The captured Korean slaves were also treated as consumables and driven to attack the city.

With this measure, their losses in the siege were much smaller, and the tactic of piling up corpses and earth appeared again. Soon, a Korean city was breached and they were able to take the food in the city.

But what made Huang Taiji crazy was that when the city was breached, the granary in the city caught fire. Even though he quickly sent people to put out the fire after noticing it, a lot of food was still burned.

Especially the fodder for horses, a lot of it was burned. They could only go door to door to plunder food and fodder from ordinary people in the city.

This undoubtedly slowed down their pace, and when they captured another city, they found that even the food of ordinary people in the city had been looted and put into the warehouse.

And the burning was cleaner and more decisive than the previous city.

This made Huang Taiji realize that he had to leave behind some of the Korean slaves he had captured. Otherwise, at this rate, they would not be able to leave Korea this year:

"Order the entire army to take only 100,000 slaves."

"Try to throw away everyone else and evacuate North Korea with a minimalist evacuation plan."

Let the two yellow flags set an example and only keep loyal and useful slaves.

Two white flags were also arranged to be responsible for escorting the slaves.

This made the tasks of other flags suddenly easier. Huang Taiji led the two yellow flags and most of the Mongols in the army, and rode back to Liaodong first.
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In the mountains and forests east of Xuanchuan, Mao Wenlong, who had been looking for an opportunity to ambush the Jianlu and make another great contribution, was immediately in trouble when he heard the news.

He had more than 10,000 elite soldiers and 20,000 to 30,000 militiamen under his command. Although the number was not small, he was not sure that he could defeat Huang Taiji's army. He might be choked to death and suffer a disastrous defeat.

So after much consideration, he finally decided to let Huang Taiji pass through Xuanchuan.

Mao Wenlong, who was watching from a distance in the direction of Huang Taiji's troops with a telescope on a mountain, sighed:

"Ten thousand households, ten thousand households, Huang Taiji's head is really valuable!"

"It would be great if we had a cannon as accurate as a sniper rifle. We could kill Huang Taiji with one shot right here."

The other Dongjiang Town generals also showed regretful expressions.

They also fantasized about killing Huang Taiji with a single shot and being granted a title like Cui Nanyi.

This is a reward that the emperor has already fulfilled, and there will be no delay.

However, many people also knew that this was impossible. After Hauge and Yangguli were shot dead, Huang Taiji was very careful in his defense.

Not to mention not letting people who might be infected with smallpox get close to him, he would even send people to guard a thousand meters away, just to prevent being sniped and killed.

If you want to assassinate him unexpectedly, you can only do as Mao Wenlong said, use a cannon with accuracy comparable to that of a sniper rifle.

But such artillery has not appeared yet, so killing the enemy with one shot is just a thought.

After sighing, Mao Wenlong gave another order:

"Let everyone hide well and don't be afraid of the cold or tiredness."

"If we win this time, I will give each soldier who has made contributions at least one li."

"We will strive to make all the land on the east bank of the Yalu River ours, and turn Dongjiang Territory into Dongjiang Country!"

This was his ambition, to change Dongjiang Territory, which was subordinate to Korea, into Dongjiang Earldom or even Dongjiang Marquisate, and become a real prince, not a vassal noble.

Having lived in Korea for several years, he looked down on the Korean king from the bottom of his heart and did not think that he was worthy of being his monarch.

Until now, he has not accepted the enthronement from the King of Korea like Choi Nam-yi, but let his younger brother Mao Yunlong take his place.

Most of the officers and soldiers in Dongjiang also knew Mao Wenlong's ideas and supported them strongly.

They also wanted Dongjiang Territory to become a vassal state and themselves to become subjects of the Ming Dynasty.

Instead of being considered Koreans as it is now, the people of Dongjiang Territory were considered Koreans.

Under the leadership of Mao Wenlong, these people were in high spirits. They endured the cold and hunger, waiting for the opportunity to launch a sneak attack.

Mao Wenlong was used to this and was familiar with it. When he was in Liaodong, he often harassed people in this way.

Soon, he found a good opportunity. Shuotuo, the leader of the Bordered Red Banner, came with his troops.

This man was once described by Nurhaci as "cowardly and mediocre in character". Huang Taiji was very dissatisfied with his taking over as the leader of the Bordered Red Banner.

Unfortunately, the other candidate, Sahalian, was controlled by Daishan, so he agreed with a pinch of his nose.

Now the evil consequences were revealed. The mediocre and cowardly Shuotuo only wanted to lead his army back to Liaodong. After Huang Taiji's two yellow flags passed safely, he followed them with a swagger.

When Mao Wenlong looked at the formation of his troops, he knew that their fighting power was inferior to that of the two yellow flags.

He quietly ordered the gunners in ambush in Dongjiang Town to fire according to his orders, and asked other soldiers to move and prepare to fight.

However, just as he was about to give the order, there was a sudden sound of gunfire, and Shuotuo fell down.

This prompted the ambushed Dongjiang artillery to open fire as well. The artillery roared and blasted towards Shuotuo's red-bordered flag.

Other soldiers also rushed out and attacked the soldiers of the Bordered Red Banner.

The soldiers of the Red Banner were in chaos, especially when the news of Shuotuo's death spread on the battlefield. This further destroyed their morale, and many of them fled.

In the end, Mao Wenlong and another ambush force of soldiers killed more than 600 soldiers of the Bordered Red Banner and cut off their heads before the Plain Red Banner troops behind them arrived.

It was not until this time that Mao Wenlong knew who the other troops were. It turned out that Xie San led the elite members of the sniper brigade and sneaked here from the south.

They were hiding in the snow, using their white clothes as camouflage, and even Huang Taiji's troops could not find them. (End of this chapter)