I, the Ming Dynasty, can still save me

Chapter 373 Let them run away
Outside the Qinzheng Palace, Li Erzhan and others looked at each other. They never expected that Lord Guanghai would be right.

The Ming Dynasty actually dared to send troops to North Korea to help the remnant party of the Lingyang Lord rebel. This is completely inconsistent with the style of the country. What benefit does this do to them?

The two couldn't help but look at each other deeply when they thought of this.

It was originally thought that there were only about [-] remnants of the party in Hongjiyuan, so they thought they would take their time and wait to catch the big fish in the long run.But now that the Ming army is attacking, taking the power of the country, coupled with the series of accidents in the past few days, the morale of the troops in Seoul will be in chaos, and they will not be able to stop the attack at all, and it will be useless to block the car.

Thinking of this, the two of them felt hopeless and helpless.They also had other thoughts in their minds, and it seemed that they wanted to find a way out for themselves.

"Don't report this matter to Lord Guanghai for the time being. Call the crown prince over quickly to discuss matters. He said that we have something important to discuss. Remember, be quick!"
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In Hongji Courtyard, Cao Wenzhao, Tian Ergeng and others, who had been attacking Seoul for two days, were already planning to attack the city.

"Although Lord Gwanghae killed the right general Li Xingli who was guarding Seoul before, his subordinates were not replaced during this period. After Lord Ayang was killed, the soldiers and civilians in the city were all angry. In the past, the guards at the south gate and west gate of Seoul had quietly sent letters asking for help. He said that he is willing to cooperate with us internally and externally to plan great things together.

If the soldiers and people in the city knew that our army was coming, more people would probably surrender. "

Tian Ergeng has not been idle during this period. Not only did he secretly assist Prince Ayang to gather the troops, but he also used the name of Prince Ayang to win over the generals in the city.

Maybe it's because Lord Gwanghae has really made people angry since he ascended the throne, or maybe Lord Ayang has a high reputation in Seoul and died not long ago, so many noble ministers have written to him, hoping to cooperate internally and externally.

He originally wanted to do it himself, but there were only more than [-] men and the force was weak, so he had to wait for Cao Wenzhao to come.

Now seeing Cao Wenzhao arriving here with 2000 elite troops, and Li Shu's [-] troops, he thought that the situation had been decided, and quickly began to discuss with Cao Wenzhao in detail.

When Cao Wenzhao heard what Tian Ergen said, he breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed that his long-distance attack was indeed correct. The situation in Seoul was now very good, especially that Lord Guanghai had not sent troops to quell the rebellion. He was really stupid.

"That's what Tian Qianhu said! Without further ado, let's take a rest tonight. We will march to Seoul early tomorrow morning, leaving no chance for them to take action."

Tian Ergeng immediately agreed upon hearing this, then turned to Jin Yao, Li Shu, Shen Jingzhen and other former ministers of Lord Lingyang and told them:

"Then you immediately send your trusted followers to Seoul to tell me the news of the arrival of the Heavenly Soldiers, and tell the noble ministers in the city to come and greet them quickly. If you surrender to the Heavenly Soldiers, let it be forgotten. If anyone still wants to resist, don't blame me for the iron hoofs of the Heavenly Soldiers. Heaven is ruthless!"

Jin Yu and others also knew that the matter was urgent and nodded in agreement. They were noble civil servants of North Korea and had extensive connections. It was easy to send people into the city to contact them.

So everyone did not delay, and immediately made a plan to let Cao Wenzhao take charge of the soldiers. They rested tonight while the others secretly contacted the nobles of Seoul and the city gate defenders.

He waited until early the next morning and set off early to march towards Seoul.

Hongjiyuan is more than [-] miles away from Seoul. The distance is not very far. You can arrive at the gate of Seoul in one morning.

Many people in the city also received news of the Ming army's attack last night. They either closed their doors to prevent being affected by the rebels, or they secretly colluded to dedicate themselves to the city.

The only strange thing is that since last night, there has been a dead silence in Gyeongbokgung Palace. Li Erzhan and others have not appeared since they left the palace yesterday.

Especially at this critical moment, many Northern courtiers could only rush to Li Erzhan's mansion, only to find that the door was closed and there were no visitors.There was no backbone in the court, Lord Guanghai was bedridden, and the troops of the Celestial Empire were also approaching the city. This made the courtiers of the Great Northern Sect suddenly look ashen and didn't know what to do.

The chaotic situation in Seoul made Cao Wenzhao and others' attack on the city extremely smooth.

Cao Wenzhao led his army to the south gate of Seoul. Just as he was about to send a messenger to say surrender, he saw the south gate of Seoul opened wide and a white flag hung on the city. Then a group of people quickly ran towards them.

"The angel is above, but Lord Guanghai is acting in the opposite direction. Now everyone in the city is expecting the envoy to arrive. Sin will be willing to sacrifice himself at the south gate to welcome the envoy."

When Cao Wenzhao heard this, he looked at Jin Yao, Li Shu and others. They had said before that they had contacted the guard of the south gate, and this was probably the person they were talking about.At this time, when he saw Li Shu and the others nodding, he felt happy and said to them expressionlessly:
"It's a great achievement for you to bring order to the chaos. Don't talk nonsense and lead the army into the city quickly."

After hearing this, the guard secretly thought it was done and did not dare to delay. He immediately led Cao Wenzhao and others straight into the inner city.

Cao Wenzhao did not expect that it would be so easy to attack the city, but he did not dare to be careless. He immediately ordered people to go to the east gate and west gate, while he himself took Tian Ergen, Li Shu and others to the Jingfu Palace in the north of the city. We can’t let Gwanghae-kun and others escape.

It's just strange that it was tight. When they arrived in front of the Gyeongbokgung Palace, they encountered no scattered resistance all the way. When the guards saw Cao Wenzhao leading people into the palace, they immediately knelt down and surrendered, and even took the initiative to open the palace door. Cao Wenzhao and others were worried. He rushed in anxiously.

"Quick, Lord Gwanghae lives in the Qinzheng Palace, don't let him escape. There is also the witch Jin Jie who caused trouble in the palace and lives in the harem. Search them all carefully for me."

Upon entering Gyeongbokgung Palace, Jin Yu, Li Shu and others were even more excited than Cao Wenzhao, and led a group of people to rush to the palace, fearing that Lord Guanghae would escape.

With a "click", the door of the Qinzheng Hall was opened with a bang. Cao Wenzhao led everyone into the hall. They saw that the entire hall was unusually empty, and the sound of clicking on the floor reverberated. There were not many internal servants, and it seemed that they were all empty. He ran away, leaving only an old man lying alone on the couch in the inner hall, with a chamberlain kneeling beside him.

"Kwanghae-kun, you don't remember God's grace, but go against the grain, slaughtering the clan, favoring treacherous officials, and causing resentment throughout the country. Ayang-kun asked for help for this bloody letter, asking for help in the government, but you did not repent and plotted to kill Ayang-kun. Today I am ordered by the Emperor of Ming Dynasty and requested by Lord Lingyang in blood to help the court and bring order out of chaos."

Cao Wenzhao led everyone straight to the front of Lord Guanghai, looked at the old and decrepit Lord Guanghai in front of him, and started to scold him.

When Lord Guanghai heard this, he lowered his head indifferently and said nothing. The moment he knew that the Ming army had arrived in Seoul, he knew it was all over.

He was already exhausted mentally and physically and did not want to say any more words. He simply waited for the rebuke from Cao Wenzhao and others.Cao Wenzhao also knew that it was useless to talk to him, as long as he caught him, he waved his hand and asked the soldiers to surround the Qinzheng Hall and not allow anyone to go out.

"Hurry up, don't move!"

At this moment, the people searching the harem also came out, and also took into custody a concubine wearing luxurious and noble Tang clothes. Cao Wenzhao also vaguely guessed who this person was.

"Your Majesty, this is Jin Jieshi, the concubine who is deeply favored by Lord Gwanghae. She relied on Lord Gwanghae's favor to indulge in extravagance and cause trouble in the government. She also imprisoned the Queen Mother Inmu and exerted power in the harem."

Cao Wenzhao listened to Li Shu's introduction and kept muttering in his heart.He had heard of this person for a long time, and now that he looked carefully, he found it very strange. He felt that despite his humble appearance, he could be trusted by Lord Guanghai, and he really suspected that he had some kind of charm. "Sir, please forgive me. I am just a weak woman who doesn't understand anything. Lord Guanghai tricked me into doing this."

Jin Jieshi looked at the generals being defended by Li Shu and others, and still had a sense of luck in his heart to see if the superior general in front of him could spare his life.

But Cao Wenzhao didn't want to pay attention to her at all. Seeing that she still wanted to defend, he waved his hands in disgust and said:
"Haha, let's save these fancy words for others to hear. Press them down quickly and don't get my eyes dirty."

Compared with catching Jin Jie's shit, Cao Wenzhao was more concerned about the movements of Lord Gwanghae and the others.When he entered the city, he made a clear division of labor with Tian Ergen and others. Tian Ergen went to arrest Li Erzhan, the eldest son Li Xiu and others.

Now that Gyeongbokgung Palace has been captured, major events in the DPRK have been decided. All we need to do is capture Li Erzhan and others.

Therefore, he asked people to continue cleaning up Gyeongbokgung Palace, and sent people to bring out Queen Mother Inmu, wife of Seonjo. At the same time, he quickly invited Ayangjun's crown prince Li Hao into the palace in preparation for succeeding to the throne.

But soon Tian Ergen also came to Gyeongbokgung Palace and brought him bad news.

"What? What do you mean you didn't catch them? They can still run away!"

Cao Wenzhao looked surprised, obviously shocked by the news brought by Tian Ergen.

"Yes, I led people to raid the home of Li Erzhan and others. Everyone was there, but only Li Erzhan, Zheng Renhong and others could not be found. Even the crown prince Li Xiu and others disappeared out of thin air. I asked His family members said that Li Erzhan, Zheng Renhong and Li Xiu discussed it very late last night, and then left the house with their cronies and never came back."

Cao Wenzhao couldn't help but think about it after hearing this. Tian Ergeng's words couldn't be more obvious, that is, Li Erzhan and others escaped!But where could they run to?
"Have the city guards asked?"

"I have already asked, and they said that there was no large-scale mobilization of troops and horses last night. It was just that Zheng Renhong was in charge of the Forbidden Army. He suddenly came to the station last night and took some of his cronies away."

Tian Ergeng introduced the situation to Cao Wenzhao with a serious look on his face. He never expected that Li Erzhan and others would escape, and he regretted it in his heart. If they really let them escape, there would be endless troubles.

"This is going to be troublesome. They have Crown Prince Gwanghae in their hands. If they go to a place they shouldn't go and take Crown Prince Gwanghae to North Korea, I'm afraid there will be unnecessary trouble."

Listening to Cao Wenzhao's analysis, Tian Ergen's expression gradually became serious, but when he thought about it, he shook his head.

He naturally knew what the place Cao Wenzhao said he shouldn't go to. If Li Erzhan ran there with Prince Guanghai, it would definitely give Jianlu an excuse to send troops to North Korea, and North Korea would definitely not be at peace.

But compared to Cao Wenzhao, Tian Ergen knew the court's intentions better. He could even guess that the emperor would not be angry when he heard the news, but would be more happy to see the results.

Cao Wenzhao suddenly became confused when he saw Tian Ergen shook his head and remained silent. However, seeing that Tian Ergen didn't say anything, he didn't want to ask more questions, so he thought it would be better to quickly hunt down and capture Li Erzhan and others.

"Tian Qianhu, Li Erzhan and others must not have escaped far. In my opinion, I immediately sent troops and horses to search everywhere. We must not let them escape."

Seeing that Cao Wenzhao was anxious to send troops to search, Tian Ergen still shook his head, and then started pacing back and forth in front of Cao Wenzhao.

Seeing him like this, Cao Wenzhao became even more anxious and ignored him. He was about to ask someone to tell him about the matter directly, but when Tian Ergen saw this, he quickly stopped him.

"General Cao, no, in my opinion, it's better not to pursue him."

When Cao Wenzhao heard this, his face suddenly showed anger. He didn't know what kind of medicine Tian Ergeng was selling in his gourd, and why he was dawdling about it at this time!
Tian Ergeng saw that Cao Wenzhao's face was not good-looking and was afraid that he would misunderstand. He quickly looked around and explained immediately when he found that no one was there.

"General Cao, please listen to my explanation. When I was at Zhenjiang Fort before, I said that the imperial court's attitude towards North Korea was to make it chaotic and easier for our country to control.

Now after a series of great plans, things are finally done. Lord Ayang is dead and Lord Gwanghae has been captured. As long as we support Lord Ayang’s eldest son Li Hao to ascend the throne, we can occupy the rightful position. Li Shu and others are grateful to us.

But people are unpredictable. Li Hao is young and may be submissive to our court now, but what if he becomes Lord Guanghai again in the future? "

Speaking of this, Tian Ergen could not help but lower his voice, turned sideways and looked at Cao Wenzhao and said:
"If he finds out that we are responsible for his father's death, it will be troublesome then. So it is better for them to rely on us wholeheartedly. The best plan is to ask for help from us."

When Cao Wenzhao listened to Tian Ergen's words, he felt that what he said was very reasonable.

He was told all about the imperial court's intentions towards North Korea by Man Gui during the last meeting in the main hall of Zhenjiang Fort.Naturally, it was known that the imperial court was not satisfied with just supporting an obedient new monarch to ascend to power, but wanted to have stronger control over the internal vassal to prevent it from turning completely into a captive.

In this way, Tian Ergeng's suggestion is very good. Don't go all out to capture Li Erzhan. You can even deliberately let them go and let them join Jianlu.

In this way, Li Shu and others will definitely be anxious, fearing that they will lead the army of rebels to come, and then the importance of the Ming Dynasty will be reflected.

After thinking about this, he couldn't help but secretly admire Tian Ergenlai.

"It seems that you still have more ideas. If we let them go, it's not us who are anxious, but Li Shu and the others. But we can't do nothing. We still have to pretend to send troops to chase them, otherwise it will appear that we did it deliberately. , whether they can catch up or not depends on their luck."

When Tian Ergeng saw that Cao Wenzhao agreed with his idea, he secretly breathed a sigh of relief and quickly raised his hand in agreement.

Then the two of them did not delay, and called Li Shu and others to come and inform them of the matter, while they sent people to arrest him.

Things turned out as they expected. Li Shu and others immediately panicked when they heard this, and quickly asked Cao Wenzhao and others to capture Li Erzhan and others.

Then he hurriedly sent documents in the name of Lord Lingyang's eldest son, Li Hao, to the various prefectures in North Korea. On the one hand, he told them to bring order to the chaos, and on the other hand, Li Erzhan was wanted. He must not be allowed to escape.

Tian Ergeng and Cao Wenzhao were not idle either. Taking advantage of the chaos in Seoul, he had already led his people to the North Korean Ministry of Household Station, preparing for a big fight!
(End of this chapter)