Ming Dynasty: Summoning game players at the beginning

Chapter 267 The key issue lies in the key of the problem
The news of the great victory of the Heavenly Army soon spread throughout northern Korea.

The spring breeze of the Ming Dynasty is back again!
It was as if the Ming Dynasty had saved Korea from the Japanese pirates decades ago. This time, the Ming Dynasty father rushed into Korea like a "superman" to drive out the brutal barbarians for his eldest son.

In the atmosphere of public opinion in Korea that is full of "shrewd and cunning scholars", those who are willing to serve the Tartars are either greedy and power-loving villains or morally corrupt villains.

In order to please the Tartars and make money for themselves, the treacherous officials in the court did not hesitate to exploit the people's power and offend all the people.

At this time, the Tartars suffered a defeat in their first battle, and the tough men of the "Beiwei Army" were marching south with the momentum of a great victory.

A large number of pro-capital officials only have the courage to make money by relying on the power of others. How could they dare to fight head-on and fight bloody battles, and they are reluctant to distribute the profits they have made to the army!
Holding the idea that a weakling could not defeat a warrior, the pro-Brute officials fled to Seoul with their valuables, and for a time a large number of official positions became vacant throughout the north.

Those pro-Ming Confucian scholars who waited and watched the situation change were not stupid either.

It was not until the pro-Tatar faction completely fled the city that they gathered their own soldiers and rushed out shouting "expel the Tartars", capturing the local cities and towns without bloodshed.

On the one hand, they took charge of local government affairs and collected money, grain and cloth in the name of "expelling the Tartars", while on the other hand, they organized troops to meet with the prince.

Jiang Shangxian was also a member of the "rebellion against the invaders".

He invited a group of "pro-capital" officials in Pyongyang under the pretext of a banquet, and then smashed the cup as a signal, calling out a hundred executioners to kill all these traitors and seize the defense of Pyongyang in one fell swoop.

But capturing the city did not ease his frown, instead it made him even more worried.

He knew very well that the Ming army's combat effectiveness had returned to what it was decades ago, otherwise it would have been impossible to recapture the thousands of miles of mountains and rivers in Liaodong. However, it was common sense that the military discipline of the soldiers was poor, and the discipline of the Ming army was even worse.

In the eyes of literati, soldiers are all monsters wearing golden hoops, and once they are no longer under the supervision of literati, they will turn into murderous demons.

Jiang Shangxian was very happy that the Ming Dynasty put aside past grudges and sent troops to rescue Korea, which showed that the motherland had not forgotten Korea. Unfortunately, he did not like the poor military discipline of the Ming army.

After being ravaged by the traitors of the Korean dynasty, Pyongyang is now filled with resentment and refugees.

If he had not opened the treasury to provide relief to the people, a riot among the hungry people would probably have broken out before the Tartars were driven away.

Poor Pyongyang can no longer withstand a second torture.

So he decided to close the city gates and prevent the Ming army from entering the city and stationing.

However, just a few days after he made the decision, he saw a large army led by the Ming army heading south, with tens of thousands of troops looming at the end of his sight.

This army included the well-organized Ming army, the relatively weak Korean regular army, and even some private soldiers of the nobility who were poorly equipped and dressed in plain white clothes.

However, the flags raised by the army made Jiang Shangxian feel uneasy.

He had heard of the Black Banner, and the flags of the Korean regular army were not difficult to distinguish, but those strange flags, even some that looked like those of the southern barbarians, surprised him.

Could it be that the heavenly soldiers hired a large number of foreign soldiers!
Isn’t the military discipline of the Western Barbarians even worse than that of the Ming army?
Soldiers with poor military discipline are like a group of hungry wolves. Allowing them to rush into the city is like hungry wolves rushing into an unguarded sheepfold.

Once the terrible thought appeared in Jiang Shangxian's mind, he could no longer get rid of it.

He looked back at the gathering defenders. Three thousand soldiers gathered sparsely at the city gate. From time to time, someone whispered about the might of the heavenly soldiers, or claimed that the Ming army would plunder the city when it entered.

Even though he was on the wall, Jiang Shangxian could still feel the soldiers' timidity and anxiety.

The news of the Ming army's arrival spread throughout the city, and the people and slaves who were still carrying supplies and repairing the city defenses fled in all directions, some pushing and shouting, some falling in the snow and getting covered in mud.

Jiang Shangxian couldn't help but smile bitterly.

I hope that the Crown Prince can persuade the Ming army to station outside the city. He will do his best to supply food, fodder and firewood to the heavenly soldiers.

However, reality always slaps people in the face with bone-chilling despair. The scene that Jiang Shangxian saw next shattered his tiny hope.

In the middle of the Ming army column were several artillery pieces, each pulled by a donkey or mule, and ammunition carts and spare gun mounts were also fully prepared.

Even though he had a low-power "telescope" in his hand, Jiang Shangxian could judge from the smoothness of the artillery carriage's operation and its outline that it must be the Ming army's sophisticated artillery.

The Ming army's artillery has always been sharper than that of Korea. Decades ago, they crushed the Japanese pirates with artillery and cavalry.

If the Ming army saw that Pyongyang refused to open the city gates and opened fire in anger, how could the gate of this small city be able to withstand the attack? Would the Ming army rush into the city to vent their anger and rob?
While Jiang Shangxian was hesitating, he heard hundreds of fast horses arriving at the foot of the city.

Who else could the young man surrounded by hundreds of cavalrymen be but the newly appointed Crown Prince Li Hao?

Apparently worried that the defenders in the city were still "pro-Tatar" officials, the prince and his entourage did not approach, but instead sent a rider to the city gate.

The rider wore a warm coat, the scales of his armor faintly visible beneath. He delivered his orders to the wall in fluent Korean, "I am Pak Deok-san, the commander of the Pyeongan Province. The Beiwei Army and the Heavenly Soldiers are assisting my Korean army as they march south to support the king. Quickly welcome my army into the city!"

The rider raised his hand and pulled out a roll of white paper with a crimson tint from the cylinder on the side of the horse. He unfolded it skillfully and held it high above his head.

Jiang Shangxian observed through the telescope and found that the white paper was actually a blood letter written in the king's voice.

Although the handwriting in the blood letter was crooked, it roughly stated that Li Hao was to be enthroned as the crown prince.

Jiang Shangxian knew the rumor that Li Hao was named the crown prince, but he had never heard of the authorization to "take charge of state affairs", "control the military and political affairs of eight provinces", "lead the army to defend the king", etc., which were equivalent to "establishing another" king.

This situation only occurred during the Japanese invasion.

At that time, the King of Korea was determined to escape to Ming Dynasty, but he could not completely ignore Korea, so he divided the royal court into two and left the mess of Korea to his son.

In other words, although Lee Ho is currently the crown prince, his power is already that of a quasi-king of Joseon.

However, Jiang Shangxian was very skeptical about the effectiveness of this "blood letter".

After all, the power given was too great. It was equivalent to Wang Mang being appointed as the Grand Marshal of the Army by the emperor before he rose to power, and being able to control the military and political affairs of the entire country. It was simply a push and push, giving up the throne to someone else, and saving the treacherous ministers the steps of usurping the throne.

Moreover, this blood letter was not stamped with any seal and therefore had no legal effect.

But the bad thing was that the prince had invited the heavenly soldiers to help, and also had the support of the civil and military forces from all over the north.

Even if this was a blood oath written by any noble on his own initiative, it would have the effect of a royal order recognized by everyone at this moment.

Of course, the real "Yidaizhao" has no special authority, it is purely the power of players' good ideas -

Although most players are uneducated, violent, confused, and love to play tricks, there are all kinds of good people in the world.

Cultural and historical experts and veterans of keyboard politics saw through the real intention of the author of the blood letter - the person behind the scenes wanted to drive out the Tartars without doing anything.

But players are the kind of people who believe that "if you don't take advantage of an opportunity, you will suffer a loss." They know that the people behind the scenes want to fool them, so they will fool them too.

So they added a few more powers to the blood letter, directly giving "Mashed Potatoes" the status of a quasi-king of Korea.

If it weren't for the traditional differences between Ming and Joseon official positions, and the desire to avoid unnecessary conflict, they would have praised Mashed Potato. [The text then abruptly shifts topics.] [The text then abruptly shifts topics.] [The text then abruptly shifts topics.] [The text then abruptly shifts topics.] They would have even established a separate Kingdom of Joseon. "Open the city gates!" The Crown Prince's voice was calm and composed, and through the winter wind and snow, it carried a resolute, undeniable determination.

Prince Lee Ho was held hostage for three years and has now grown from a young boy into a calm and composed adult.

The future king ordered the door to be opened, and even if Jiang Shangxian wanted to stop him, it was useless.

After all, he has no official position in name now, and he only controls the city defense by virtue of his noble status.

As the contents of the blood letter spread across the wall, several generals shouted to the defenders below, "Open the city gate!"

The exemplary role of the example was like an ant hole that broke through a dam, which destroyed the will of the defenders and made the order to block the city gates impossible to execute.

Some soldiers wanted to use swords to prevent the door from opening, but were stopped by Jiang Shangxian.

He knew what would happen if he insisted on stopping it at this moment, leading to internal strife and bloody fighting.

If the Ming army got angry and broke through the city, not only would the Pyongyang army and civilians be in danger, but he and his soldiers would also be punished by the crown prince, and even his entire family would be implicated.

Now all he could do was to beg the Crown Prince to try to persuade the Ming troops not to plunder the people in the city.

He would open the treasury and granary, and even offer his own livestock and horses to the Ming army for use.

"Open the city gate!"

With the orders, the gates of Pyongyang opened, and Jiang Shangxian hurriedly led the wall guards to kneel at the gate to welcome the army into the city for garrison.

He immediately looked up at the Crown Prince on horseback and expressed his request in a voice that was neither too loud nor too low.

The prince smiled, dismounted and helped him up, muttering, "Don't worry, the discipline of these Ming troops is better than you think", and then mounted his horse again to catch up with the team entering the city.

What do you mean, don't worry?

Jiang Shangxian thought to himself, how could anyone feel at ease when the Crown Prince marched straight into Pyongyang without consulting the commander of the Beiwei Army?

No matter how good the military discipline is, murder and arson can still turn into extortion, right?

Looking at the prince's back as he walked into the city, Jiang Shangxian originally thought that the Ming army following the cavalry would "rush" into Pyongyang like hungry wolves and start looting property.

But unexpectedly, a group of soldiers entered the city and pointed at the houses and civilian areas in the city.

"Oh my, we've almost finished our tour of the city, and how come even Pyongyang, the seat of government, is so shabby? The walls could easily be breached by a few hits from the Red Cannon."

"Korea, after all, was a remote and small country that lagged behind the Ming Dynasty in every way. Rather than being a country, Korea during this period was more like a slave tribe built on poverty and cesspools.

Its agriculture, handicrafts, metallurgy, and commerce were hundreds of years behind the Ming Dynasty, and even neighboring Japan was several times stronger than it.

When the Japanese invaded Korea, they conducted a land survey and found that the total grain output in the country was only about 10 million dan. Converted to Ming Dynasty standards, the total grain output was only about 20 to 30 million dan.

"It seems that if we want Joseon to provide us with money, food, and cloth, we have to squeeze money out of those nobles."

"This impoverished country, backward in every way, is perfect for us farming players to thrive. The sense of accomplishment of building something from scratch is incredible."

"The Beggar Army only managed half a province. This time, we're directly trying out ruling a small country. We can try out any policy."

"It's a pity that the main quest says that North Korea will be incorporated into the four northeastern provinces. It can't be a fiefdom. At most, it will be a cadre with greater authority."

"If Korea wants to change its province, then we can occupy Japan. The more honors we earn now, the more powerful we will become in the future."

"Ohhhh! Now that you mention it, I suddenly feel ignited. I want to become the Daimyo of 100,000 koku!"

"What's the point of being the daimyo of District 11? I want to be the man who will become the Duke of the New World. Only a real man can defeat the European colonists!"

"Yes, yes, there's a massive mixed-race operation going on in Europe right now. The proportion and intensity of firearms are much stronger than in East Asia. Once we unify China, we can compete with those European powers."

Waves of Liaodong military accents reached Jiang Shangxian's ears.

He looked up inadvertently and saw a rough voice of a rough man, but what caught his eye was a handsome face that was difficult to tell whether it was male or female.

What's going on?
This weird feeling is like a cute girl's adorable face growing on Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson's body, which is extremely incongruous and weird.

What surprised Jiang Shangxian even more was that although the uniforms of these "Ming troops" were different and did not look like the same Ming army at all, but more like a mixed force of a "multinational coalition", their marching formation into the city was very neat.

Thousands of people held swords and guns tightly, looking proudly ahead, their uniform steps like steel rods hitting the ground, making a rhythmic thud.

Jiang Shangxian stared at the army for a long time and couldn't help but sigh, what a group of tigers and wolves!
He had been an official for more than ten years and had dealt with soldiers many times, but he had never seen such neat and solemn troops. They looked as if they were cast from the same mold, energetic and dignified. They were even more imposing and majestic than the Ming Dynasty's imperial guards he had imagined.

The Ming army following closely behind had a much worse formation, but they were still able to maintain their column advance, as if they were infected by the disciplined appearance of the powerful army, and also seemed to be maintaining their own sense of honor.

The Korean soldiers who came later were much inferior to the various royalist armies. A comparison between the two showed who was the strong army and who was the weak brigade put together. The difference was like heaven and earth.

This large army, a mixture of strong and weak, did not kill or burn anyone, nor did they rob or rape anyone. Instead, they simply followed the instructions of the royal army and headed towards the barracks in the city.

Tens of thousands of troops entered the city, and not even a single incident of disturbing the people occurred. Even if some poorly equipped soldiers could not help but leave the team and go to residential areas, they would be driven back by people who looked like Ming troops or Korean soldiers with swords.

Jiang Shangxian felt like he was dreaming. Soldiers don't rob, just like a prostitute saying she is pure and innocent.

He rubbed his eyes repeatedly, staring at the large number of troops entering the barracks and stepping into the vacant houses of the two classes of nobles of the pro-Tatar faction.

Only then did they realize that the Beiwei Army that led the way into the city did not rob or even occupy civilians' houses, and they also supervised other troops to enforce military discipline.

Did the Yue Family Army, which "would rather starve to death than plunder, and freeze to death than demolish houses," and the Ming Dynasty Zhejiang Army, which had strict military discipline decades ago, really exist in this world?!

Jiang Shangxian was stunned. He racked his brains but couldn't understand how the Beiwei Army trained its soldiers.

He didn't know that the system had restricted the tyranny of this group of "Fourth Calamity", nor did he know what the humanistic morality of the new century was, and he didn't know that the players marched in an orderly manner in order to look handsome and cool.

He only knew that this army had washed away the bad reputation of "the Ming army's poor military discipline" and was a strong army that truly deserved the reputation of an army of justice.

It is a blessing for the Korean people to have such a disciplined and strong army helping North Korea in the war!
……

Jiang Shangxian and a group of soldiers, civilians, and slaves saw the upright actions of the Beiwei Army and others, and the volunteers mixed in Pyongyang City also saw this.

With the thought that "this is the king's army", the volunteers hurried back to their old nest and encouraged those volunteers who were against corrupt officials and the Tartars to join this army.

(End of this chapter)