1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 2321
As Andaoshi knew, most of the officers of the City Defense Army came from extraordinary backgrounds, whether they were from noble families or descendants of officials, and there were even royal family relatives who served in the army.These people are usually pampered, how have they ever suffered such hardships, and now they want to say a few soft words to ask An Daoshi for mercy, but it is too late.

At this time, An Daoshi had already figured it out. Since these officers would inevitably be offended and even hated by them in the process of handing over the city defense, it would be better to simply do everything right and establish a prestige from the beginning.Anyway, the backers behind me are Shizi and Haihan, so there is no need to be afraid of the identities and backgrounds of these people.

So the Haihan Gendarmerie was invited to torture these people ruthlessly, but An Daoshi saw it, but he didn't intend to dissuade them at all.He has figured it out that after the chaos in Seoul, the more he actively separates himself from the traditional forces in Seoul, the easier it is for him to gain Li Xi's trust and dependence.

After the first two men were beaten by the army sticks, they both lay down on the spot without making a sound, and they didn't know whether they were out of breath or passed out from the pain.The two gendarmes lay down on the ground in one go, exhausted their physical strength, and took a rest with their army sticks, preparing to execute the third person after recovering a little.

Seeing that he had a chance to breathe, the third person hurriedly shouted to An Daoshi: "Master An, the villain has important military reports!"

An Daoshi walked over slowly, stood beside him and said in a cold voice, "Do you know what punishment will be imposed for lying about military information?"

The officer quickly responded: "The villain knows the military regulations. If you lie about the military situation, you can get [-] sticks, and if you are serious, you can be executed! But the villain is definitely not lying, please learn from Mr. An!"

An Daoshi saw that this person was agitated, but he didn't look like a fake, so he immediately asked: "The military situation you mentioned has something to do with the recent rebellion in the city?"

The man suddenly fell silent now, and just nodded his head in an insignificant way, expressing his affirmation of this question.

An Daoshi suddenly understood that this person probably wanted to exchange some information in exchange for avoiding the pain of having to suffer from the army stick.He voluntarily confessed before being tortured. It can be seen that this person is usually used to being pampered.Seeing that it was his turn to be tortured next, this man didn't dare to delay, and finally used his big move regardless.

"Then how can you win my trust?" An Daoshi asked.

The man quickly responded: "The villain can swear and swear that what he said is absolutely true..."

"That's not necessary." An Daoshi shook his head and said, "It's useless to swear... You should have family members who are officials in the court, right? Why don't you report your name and official position and let me see if I know anyone."

Of course, what Andoshi cared about was not the situation of this person's family, but wanted to see which camp this person belonged to, and then make a judgment on the so-called military information he was going to provide.

The division of official camps in North Korea is very simple. The main ones are the main peace faction represented by Cui Mingji and the denunciation faction represented by Kim Sang-heon, and the remaining few people sit on the fence.Although An Daoshi has a low official position and is not qualified to go to court, he also knows that it is normal for the two factions to attack each other's political ideas. As for outside the court, they will naturally resort to various shady tricks to attack their opponents .

An Daoshi judged that if the officer of the city defense army who offered to provide military information had a minister in his family, then it was probably one of the two factions.However, he didn't know that Jin Shangxian had provided more information to Li Yan at this time. At this time, Cui Mingji was gone, otherwise it would be easy to judge who the people controlling the city gate were under orders.

This is also because Li Yi was too prudent and did not share the matter of Jin Shangxian sending the letter out of the city to his subordinates in time, otherwise An Daoshi would not have wasted time dealing with this person slowly, and he must have subconsciously classified him as Jin Shangxian immediately. constitutional camp.

The officer hesitated for a moment, lowered his head and said in a low voice: "My father is the chief of the Dragon and Tiger Battalion."

When An Daoshi heard this, it suddenly dawned on him that this man with such a weak personality was able to become an officer in the city defense army, most likely his father was involved in it.You must know that the position of the Chief of the Dragon and Tiger Battalion is a senior official of the second rank, and it is also a prominent position in the military institutions of North Korea.

However, if this kind of person climbed to a high place to gain military power by relying on his family background in the future, it would certainly not be a good thing for the country. At least An Daoshi looked down on this kind of official descendant with no real skills in his heart.

But with An Daoshi's knowledge, he couldn't tell which camp the chief of the Dragon and Tiger Camp belonged to. He thought for a while, and signaled the two executioners to rest, while he went to explain the situation to Sun Zhen and ask for the other party's help. Opinion.

Although Sun Zhen is not aware of these messy things in the North Korean officialdom, he has fought overseas for many years and has contacted many leading parties and prisoners of war, so he has a lot of experience in this regard.

After listening to An Daoshi's narration, he only thought for a moment, and then he had an idea: "Since this person thinks that what he knows can offset the military punishment, it should not be a small matter. But you take this person into custody first, don't Interrogate him in this public place, so as not to leak the news and lose its value. As for the truth or falsehood, the Military Intelligence Bureau will make its own judgment."

Now Li Yan has very limited people under his command, and naturally there is no condition to conduct special intelligence analysis and judgment. This work can only be done by the Haihan Army.

An Daoshi felt reasonable after hearing this, so he followed Sun Zhen's instructions and first took the man alone to a temporarily requisitioned private house near the city gate.As for the two who had finished eating the army sticks, they finally woke up slowly at this time, and slowly began to moan.

The more than [-] North Korean soldiers who were cleared from Sungnye Gate were sent outside the city to be resettled for monitoring.With the previous live examples, these North Korean soldiers were much more honest, and no one dared to question the arrangement of the Haihan army loudly, let alone try to escape. They all went to the temporary resettlement site arranged by Haihan honestly. Guarded by the navy under Wang Tom.

At this time, the question and answer in the Palace of Qinzheng in the city was still going on. Jin Shangxian spent a lot of saliva and described to Li Yi and Qian Tiandun how Cui Mingji colluded with the Manchu Qing, instigated many armed forces, and launched this attack in the city. A coup.

However, Qian Tiandun had doubts about Kim Sang-heon's position in the coup from the very beginning, so if you listen to his story with such an attitude, you will naturally feel that there are loopholes everywhere.Among other things, even if everything goes smoothly as Cui Mingji planned, how can he really get the support and protection from Man Qing?You must know that four hundred miles north of Seoul, there is still the bridgehead of the Datong River Base. Even if Man Qing wants to send his troops south again, it will be difficult to cross this hurdle.

Since the Qing army cannot be introduced, even if he kills the king, he is at most a rebellious minister, and he cannot fundamentally subvert the country.Once the Haihan army intervenes, everything will be in vain, and it will be difficult to escape investigation afterwards.But how could a figure like Cui Mingji, who was well-received in the court, easily put himself in a difficult situation, and also left ample opportunities for his political opponents to come back.

Therefore, in Qian Tiandun's view, Kim Sang-heon's story is full of loopholes, obviously a lot of tampering with the actual situation.If he was given a few more days to prepare slowly, he might be able to make the whole story more complete.

On the other hand, Li Yan was dubious, even though he had been reminded by Qian Tiandun that there was a problem with Jin Shangxian's statement, but his inherent impression of Cui and Jin over the years made it difficult for him to make a more objective judgment.

However, neither Qian Tiandun nor Li Yan pointed out the loopholes in Jin Shangxian's words.Li Xun blamed Kim Sang-heon because he felt that he did not know enough about the situation in Seoul, while Qian Tiandun thought that Kim Sang-heon and his officials were still needed to keep the city running, and it seemed that Kim Sang-heon did not want to The intention of escaping here is obviously to continue to serve as an official under Li Yan, so there is no need to rush to control him personally.

Qian Tiandun immediately stated that there are three things that must be implemented separately immediately. The first is that the Haihan Army will take over the defense of Seoul, and the local army must not resist.The second is to retrieve the bones of King Li Ji, and the Haihan Army will be responsible for the follow-up processing.The third thing is to arrange for Li Yi to ascend the throne as soon as possible to ensure the continuation of the ruler's qualifications.

On the clean-up list that Qian Tiandun asked Li Yan to give earlier, many people died in the city because of this coup.The remaining people are almost all officials from Jin Shangxian's faction. In addition, people are still needed to maintain the city's operation, so it is difficult for Qian Tiandun to order the arrest of these people.

"My son, you can start drafting the edict. It is necessary to explain to the world what happened in Seoul as soon as possible." After Jin Shangxian and other ministers resigned, Qian Tiandun began to make further ruling suggestions to Li Yan.

Hearing the words, Li Yan asked back: "Could it be based on the version given by Mr. Jin just now?"

Qian Tiandun shook his head and said: "You don't have to write in such detail, just say that the king was killed by a traitor, and the relevant yamen are currently investigating the cause of the matter with all their strength. As for the focus of the edict, it should be on yourself. We must try our best to ensure that all prefectures and counties across the country receive this news."

"Father's bones are still cold, so it's not good to be in such a hurry to ascend the throne?" Li Yan still had a lot of doubts about this.

Qian Tiandun said: "Doing extraordinary things in extraordinary times, my son, you must know that only after you ascend the throne, whether it is investigating the truth or purging dissidents, can you have enough power to push forward. You want to put It will be very difficult to ascend the throne after all the problems have been dealt with properly."

Even if Li Yan still has concerns in his heart, he has to admit that what Qian Tiandun said is reasonable. As his current son, it will still be inconvenient to deal with all aspects of things. Such a decree, there will no longer be a situation where the name is not right and the word is not right.

After discussing the matter with him, Qian Tiandun turned around and left the Hall of Qinzheng, and announced to the ministers who were waiting outside the hall that Li Yi was about to ascend the throne.Li Cao's judge had unfortunately passed away in this coup, so the relevant ceremonies can only be organized and implemented by Li Cao's officials such as Shenju, Shenshu, and Shenzhi.

Sitting alone in the hall, Li Yan felt that the environment here was both familiar and strange.Before he left the country, he had followed his father to court and learned to handle government affairs. There was always a chair belonging to him next to the throne in the Palace of Qinzheng.

But many of the familiar faces that I saw in the Hall of Qinzheng before have disappeared.The guards in charge of security inside and outside the hall were no longer the imperial guards, but replaced by all Haihan troops.

As for how much it will cost to invite so many bodyguards back, Li Yi is too lazy to think about it now, but he knows that the money must be worth spending. If he comes forward to contact the forces that control the city defense, it may be difficult for him to enter the city so quickly .But now he entered the city and returned to the palace without firing a single shot, and successfully regained the throne. This is probably the deterrent force of the Haihan Army.

Speaking of the throne, Jin Shangxian said earlier that Fenglin Dajun and Linping Dajun were safe and sound in the palace. Li Yan wondered if he should visit them, but immediately denied this idea.He knew about Cui Mingji's support for Lord Fenglin for a long time, but he never regarded it as a threat.But this coup may be the closest Fenglin Maharaja is to the throne. If Li Yan returns ten days and a half months later, someone might support his two younger brothers.

At this time to see his brothers, Li Xun felt that it was not a suitable time. He still waited to investigate the coup d'etat clearly, arrest those who should be arrested, and kill those who should be killed. Meet, this may dispel some of their unrealistic fantasies.

Of course, if it is finally found out that Fenglin Dajun took the initiative to participate in this matter, then Li Yi probably wouldn't mind exiling him to Ganghwa Island, or a place far away from the city like Jeju Island, so that he would be as far away from the throne as possible for the rest of his life.

The operation to take over the city defense is still in progress. With the experience of Sungnye Gate, the Haihan Army's takeover of the other three city gates appears to be relatively orderly.As for those officers who were unwilling to easily hand over their military power to accept the arrangement, Haihan even adopted simple and effective means, directly arresting them on the spot in the name of committing crimes and violating military regulations.Just cut the spines off and it's much easier for the rest of you to deal with.

At sunset on this day, the Haihan Army finally completed the transfer of the defense of the four city gates and officially brought the city under its jurisdiction.

However, in order to facilitate the management of the city, a strict curfew is still enforced in the city, and all people are prohibited from going out as soon as the sun sets.People who want to go out of the city need to report to the Haihan Army for approval, and they can only go out of the city after obtaining permission.

Wang Tom's naval forces took over the North Korean navy stationed there without any effort, and sealed all the warships, prohibiting the navy from using these large combat tools in the near future.

(End of this chapter)