The Ming Dynasty began from Sarhu

Chapter 510: Iron Cavalry Appears, Swords and Guns Cry
Korean girls have green hair, their hair cut to eyebrows. At the banquet at night, they sing and dance together, their cotton-padded jackets are soft and have copper rings hanging down.

The light body swirls and the thin throat turns, the moon and flowers are shaken in the drunken state. Why ask the translator for the foreign language? The deep affection knows how to express the resentment of leaving home.

At the end of the song, I bowed before the guests, the crows cried, the candles in the well lit. (Note 1)

~~~
South of Ningbian City, Pyeongan Province, the Qi army’s central camp.

Emperor Wu Ding, fully armored, stood up from the armchair, put down the poetry collection in his hand, and looked indifferently at the busy crowd around him.

"Be careful, that's Empress Dowager Cisheng's favorite storybook!"

"Do you understand the rules? You can't roll up the map sideways!"

"The jade seal must be packed separately!"

In the big tent, a big eunuch wearing a three-peaked hat and a red three-clawed dragon robe was standing with one hand on his waist and the other hand pinching his orchid finger, directing a group of eunuchs behind him to carefully carry the picture albums and books carried by Emperor Wu Ding.

"Everyone, be careful! If you lose or break one of these precious artifacts, you won't be able to atone even if you're cut into pieces!"

Liu Zhaosun, who was sitting next to him, felt Dongfang Zhu's spit splashing on him several times. Finally, he could not bear it anymore and waved to the general manager.

Dongfang Zhu quickly stopped talking, moved closer to Emperor Wuding, and said respectfully:

"Long live the Lord?"

"That's too much. What's with all the talk of cutting into pieces? Human life is precious. Objects are just objects. If they break, they can be rebuilt. But once a person dies, they can't live again. Don't speak to everyone like this in the future. You speak as if I'm a tyrant."

Dongfang Zhu was slightly stunned, a hint of disbelief flashed in his eyes, and then he returned to normal.

"Your Majesty is teaching me that I am ignorant and deserve to die."

Dongfang Zhulian claimed guilt and slapped himself several times in the face under the gaze of Emperor Wuding.

Liu Zhaosun did not try to stop him, but waited silently for him to finish fighting. Then he calmly asked, "The Korean envoy is here again?"

Dongfang Zhu ignored his red and swollen face and quickly replied, "Your Majesty, the Koreans are here again. This time there are eight of them. They are waiting outside the tent and have been waiting for almost two hours."

"Even after sending another man to die, Li Jong still refuses to give up. People only repent when they are at their wit's end. Back then, he went all out to attack Shenyang."

Dongfang Zhu echoed, "Your Majesty is right. These ungrateful people are incorrigible. In the 47th year of the Wanli reign, Kaiyuan established friendly relations with the Kingdom of Korea, purchasing their ore at high prices, selling them grain at low prices, and even helping them resettle their refugees. Who would have thought these ungrateful people would take advantage of the civil unrest in the Great Qi Dynasty to collude with the Jiannu to invade and even kill Master Xu (Xu Xiake)..."

"Let's not talk about the past anymore and look forward to the future. In the past, I hoped that Li Zong would understand my good intentions and submit to the Great Qi as soon as possible, so that he could be appointed as the governor. Unfortunately, it's too late now."

Although he was determined to destroy Korea, Emperor Mu Ding was deeply moved by the stubbornness and perseverance shown by the Koreans.

Li Zong became anxious.

"Your Majesty, when that bastard Li Zong saw my army coming and knew he was going to die, he got anxious."

Moved by this, Liu Zhaosun decided to let the envoys go and not use them as sacrifices.

"The main camp will soon be moved to Sunan in the south. It's closer to Pyongyang, only thirty miles away. I will command the battle in Sunan. Let them come in."

Pei Dahu took the order and left. Eight Korean envoys followed Pei Dahu, who had a fat face, into the big tent. Liu Zhaosun didn't even look at these people.

"Go back and tell Li Jong that my army is about to begin its attack on Pyongyang. If you have anything to discuss, we can discuss it after this battle is over. I hope he can live to see that day, although it seems difficult."

Emperor Wuding said this and waved his hand:

"Give them some food and some horses and let them return to Seoul."

~~~~~~
Rather than saying that Emperor Wu Ding suddenly became compassionate, it is better to say that the time traveler enjoyed the pleasure of holding the power of life and death over others and controlling their life and death at will.

Dongfang Zhu was still busy running around. The mountains of books and maps in the big tent, as well as the desks and sand tables, were carried out by the eunuchs. Several carriages that had been prepared long ago were parked outside the tent, and Wei Zhao and a group of imperial guards were guarding nearby.

From time to time, one or two messengers rushed into the tent from a distance, knelt down in front of Emperor Wuding, panting, and without taking a breath, hurriedly reported the military intelligence they had just received to the emperor.

"Report! The Second Corps has entered Hamgyong Province and is heading south. General Deng said they expect to reach the combat zone on October 4th."

"Report! General Qi led the Third Corps yesterday and set off to defend Yizhou!" "Report! On October 2nd, the Fifth Corps was stationed at Jiashan. This is the report sent by General Pu to Your Majesty."

·······
Liu Zhaosun took the report from Pu Gang and read it carefully. Suddenly, he remembered something and said to Dongfang Zhu:
"Call Zhang Dong and Liu Xingzuo."

Zhang Mazi and Liu Xingzuo quickly entered the big tent.

"No news yet from the Sixth Corps?"

The two intelligence chiefs looked at each other and lowered their heads in silence.

Seeing this, Liu Zhaosun stopped asking questions.

"Report! General Qin's messenger has returned from Xuzhou."

"Send the messenger in."

Liu Zhaosun was overjoyed when he heard the news about Qin Jianxun.

Soon, an exhausted messenger with the Black Bear Battle Flag of the Fourth Corps on his back entered the tent under the leadership of Pei Dahu.

When the messenger saw Emperor Wuding, he saluted with difficulty and raised a dirty, blood-stained packet in his hand.

It seems that this journey is not easy.

Emperor Wuding waved his hand, signaling for the Tangbao to be brought over, and Dongfang Zhu hurriedly handed it to the retired emperor.

Liu Zhaosun read it carefully twice and his brows gradually frowned, but soon the smile returned to his face.

"Well, Zhu Changling is quite well behaved and didn't take advantage of the situation. Qin Jianxun wants me to agree to his plan to deploy the Huaihe River Corps north to aid Korea. I think that's not necessary."

Emperor Wuding talked to himself for a while, then put down the Tangbao sent from Xuzhou to Korea.

"The South is relatively worry-free for me. Give Qin Jianxun an order."

Huang Gongfu, the Grand Secretary of the Dongge, Zhou Yanru, the Grand Secretary of the Jianji Hall, and Hou Xun, the Minister of Rites, immediately came up and looked at the retired emperor respectfully, waiting for the imperial edict.

Huang, Hou, Wen and the other two were among the recorders of Taizu's Veritable Records (the eunuch Dongfang Zhu recorded the activities of the retired emperor every night after he went to bed). The imperial edicts issued verbally by the retired emperor were also polished by these three people and issued to the six ministries and various places for execution.

"Qin Jianxun has done well. He has determination. Only by holding can we attack. Holding the Huaihe River defense line is a great achievement. Don't worry about me. Everything is going well in Korea. Qin Jianxun has done a good job in Xuzhou. He is a good man. I will reward him handsomely."

Hou Xun held a wooden board, a pen in one hand and grinding with the other, and wrote furiously. In a short while, a long and flowing imperial edict was ready.

Liu Zhaosun took the imperial edict, read it through, gave a thumbs up, and praised:

"Well, Master Hou's writing is indeed brilliant. Send it to Xuzhou at an expedited rate of 800 miles."

After seeing off the Korean envoys and the messenger of the Fourth Corps, Emperor Wu Ding was just about to take a breath when he remembered that he had not received any intelligence from Wu Aheng for a long time.

"I wonder if Wu Ahheng has landed in Hwanghae Province and launched an attack on the North Korean army as planned?"

Liu Zhaosun knew very well that the battlefield was changing rapidly and plans could never keep up with the changes. The battlefield was changing rapidly, so he decided not to wait any longer and set out early, leading the 30,000-strong central army forward.

"Wait a minute."

A young eunuch who was moving books was suddenly stopped by the emperor and stood beside him in fear and trepidation.

He casually pulled out a book of poetry from the stack of poetry in the arms of the young eunuch, looked at the spine, and found that it was a work by Gao Qi, a poet in the early Ming Dynasty. Thinking of Zhu Yuanzhang's cruelty to Gao Qi, Liu Zhaosun took a breath of cold air and was glad that he had destroyed the Ming Dynasty.

"That's it. After reading this poem, the war will begin."

The retired emperor waved his hand, and the young eunuch, as if pardoned, hurried out of the tent with the book in his arms.

Note:
1. Selected from Gao Qi's "Korean Children's Songs (I drank at the residence of the Zhou Jianxiao, and there were two Korean children singing and dancing)". Gao Qi was a famous poet in the late Yuan Dynasty and early Ming Dynasty. His courtesy name was Jidi, and his pseudonym was Chaxuan. He was a native of Changzhou. At the end of the Yuan Dynasty, he lived in seclusion in Qingqiu, Wusong, and called himself Qingqiuzi. Gao Qi was talented and knowledgeable, and was good at writing, especially poetry. He was known as one of the "Three Great Poets and Prose of the Early Ming Dynasty" along with Liu Ji and Song Lian. In the early years of the Hongwu period of the Ming Dynasty, he was promoted to the position of Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, but he refused the position. When the Suzhou prefect Wei Guan renovated the government office on the site of Zhang Shicheng's palace, he was convicted and executed. Gao Qi once wrote "Inscription for Raising the Beam of the County Government" in this regard, which contained the four characters "dragons coiled and tigers crouching". He was suspected of praising Zhang Shicheng and was beheaded.

(End of this chapter)