While he was talking, he had already entered Xu Yingwei's residence.
I saw that a table of extended banquets had been prepared in the palace.
The banquet was not sumptuous, but it was by no means shabby. The wine was Mingjiu. In addition to the fish and shrimp caught by ourselves, the dishes also included venison, wild boar and bear meat. The most rare thing was a pair of bear paws.
If Chongzhen were here, he would definitely feel emotional.
It’s really hard to stop eating and drinking when we are welcomed and sent off.
Zhu Cijiong had been with Chongzhen for a long time and had developed a hard and simple style. He frowned when he saw this.
"Xu Gaijian, this banquet will cost a lot of money, right?" Zhu Cijiong pointed to the food and wine on the table and asked, "Your monthly salary is not enough for this meal, right?"
"Prince Ding, what you said is wrong."
Xu Yingwei waved his hand and said: "This table extension did not cost the Ministry of Internal Affairs a penny."
"Didn't you spend a penny?" Zhu Cijiong said angrily, "Xu Gai warned me that I don't have enough education, but you don't want to deceive me. Just this pair of bear paws costs more than ten yuan."
Xu Yingwei laughed and said: "If I were to sell these bear paws in Nanjing, they would cost at least a dozen yuan, but in our Gaizhou Guard it would cost me nothing because I made them myself."
"Did you hit him?" Zhu Cijiong suddenly became more energetic after hearing this, "Is there a blind bear around here?"
Xu Yingwei said: "Prince Ding, there are not only bears but also big insects near Gaizhou. We encountered one last time, but unfortunately it ran away and we missed a tiger skin."
"That's great." Zhu Cijiong was overjoyed when he heard this.
"Xu Gejian, let's go hunting after dinner."
Xu Yingwei said: "Prince Ding, let's wait until the business is done."
"That's right, business matters are important." Zhu Cijiong said helplessly.
"Business is important, but the most important thing now is eating."
As he spoke, Xu Yingwei opened a can of Mingjiu for Zhu Cijiong, and used a kuai to pick up a bear paw that had been stewed until it fell off the bones and put it on Zhu Cijiong's dish.
Zhu Cijiong did not continue to refuse.
After taking a sip of wine, Zhu Cijiong asked again: "Xu Gaijian, what should we do next?"
Before leaving, Chongzhen specifically told Zhu Cijiong to follow Xu Yingwei's arrangements after arriving in Liaodong.
As for the reason, it was not only because Chongzhen believed in Xu Yingwei's ability, but also because Xu Yingwei had been stationed in Gaizhou Guard for nearly a year and was familiar with the situation in Liaodong.
When Zhu Cijiong first arrived, his biggest taboo was to overshadow the guest and usurp the host.
Xu Yingwei also knew this in advance from Chongzhen's letters.
At that moment, Xu Yingwei said: "Let's see what Park Dong Hee says first. If he is willing to cooperate, that would be great. If he is unwilling to cooperate, then we can only find someone else. After all, the North Korean clan is not limited to Li Ju."
Zhu Cijiong said: "I'm afraid this guy is a coward and doesn't dare to have the ambition to be the king of Korea."
"That won't happen." Xu Yingwei waved his hand and said, "This guy is quite ambitious."
…
On the other side, Li Hui had already called Park Dongxi and Kim Jaeyu to him.
"My Majesty, are you telling the truth? Does the Ming Dynasty really want to send troops to help North Korea get rid of the enslavement of the slaves?" After hearing Li Jie briefly explain the situation, Park Dongxi and Kim Jaeyu were both surprised.
Jin Zaiyu then said: "Your Majesty, this is a good thing, please come down quickly."
"A good thing?" Li Wei frowned and said quietly, "Huainanzi has a saying, good things come with bad things. The Ming Dynasty is willing to send troops to help us Korea get rid of the slaves. This is certainly a great good thing, but you two have never thought about it.
No, what if this fails and the slaves take revenge?"
"This..." Park Dong Hee and Kim Jae Yu were speechless.
Li? went on to say: "Dingmao's chaos and Bingzi's chaos have seriously damaged the vitality of Korea. It really can't withstand the third chaos. If there is another chaos, we Koreans may really be destroyed."
"
After a long while, Park Dongxi continued: "Lord Linping, anything you do is like doing business. There are two possibilities of making money or losing money. Borrowing troops from the Ming Dynasty to bring order to the chaos may fail, but it is equally possible to succeed, and you don't know.
My Majesty, have you ever considered who should inherit the vacant heir apparent?"
When Li Yu heard this, his expression suddenly changed. Park Dongxi's words hit him hard.
In a word, from North Korea's standpoint, the risks and benefits are 50-50 on whether to borrow troops from the Ming Dynasty to bring order to things, but from Li?'s standpoint, if he doesn't borrow troops from the Ming Dynasty, he will lose but not win.
Because he is now a prisoner of the Ming Dynasty, if he refuses to cooperate, the Ming Dynasty will definitely leave him and find another clan member to seek cooperation. After all, there are many clan children in North Korea, and only those under Seonjo's knees
There are nearly a hundred descendants, all of whom are qualified to inherit the throne of North Korea.
Therefore, he only had one option: cooperation with the Ming army.
If he refuses to cooperate, he will permanently lose the possibility of succeeding to the throne and may be executed by the Ming army.
Jin Zaiyu went on to say: "Your Majesty, the North Korean nation can tolerate compromise, but you are the only one who has no qualifications to compromise, and our Kim family and Pu family do not have the qualifications to compromise either."
"Jaiyu is right." Park Dongxi agreed.
"This is the last chance for the Maharaja and our Park and Kim families to turn around."
The Park family and the Kim family were the backbones of the Westerners Party, and the Westerners Party were the top dignitaries when King Gwanghae was in power.
After the fall of Gwanghaejun, the top Westerners' party elites suffered an unprecedented and brutal purge. The Pu family and the Jin family were also going to be purged, but it was Li Jie who survived out of considerations of checks and balances.
Although the Park and Kim families saved their lives, their power was greatly weakened.
So the heads of the two families placed their bets on Li?, betting that one day Li? would come to power, and the Park and Jin families would be able to regain their former power.
In a word, the party struggle in North Korea is even worse than that in the Ming Dynasty.
This is the so-called small temple demon, strong wind, and many bastards in the shallow pool, haha.
Jin Zaiyu continued: "And you, Your Majesty, must return to North Korea as soon as possible."
"Oh yes, we have to go back as soon as possible." Park Dongxi woke up from a dream, "After Jiannu learned that the monarch was captured by the Ming army, he would most likely release the monarch Fenglin in advance. Once the monarch Fenglin returns to Pyongyang, he will
Jun, you will never have a chance to win the title of Crown Prince, in which case we will definitely lose."
Jin Zaiyu finally persuaded: "Your Majesty, make a decision early!"
After hearing this, Li Jing finally made up his mind: "Okay, then borrow troops and return to Pyongyang!"
Seeing that Li Xi finally made a decision, Park Dong Hee and Kim Jae Yu immediately breathed a sigh of relief.
Li Jian then stood up again: "I will go to King Ding of the Ming Dynasty to borrow troops now."
…
Xu Yingwei accompanied Zhu Cijiong and Xia Wanchun. They were just halfway through the banquet when Xu Wuniu came in and reported: "Sir, Park Dongxi wants to see you."
Xu Yingwei then laughed and said to Zhu Cijiong: "Prince Ding, it seems that Li? has made a decision."
"Did you make a decision so quickly? I really underestimated him before." Zhu Cijiong said.
Xu Yingwei immediately said to Xu Wuniu: "Wuniu, bring Park Dongxi in."
"Yes." Xu Wuniu bowed his head, turned around and walked out of the cabin.
Soon, Li? was taken to the funeral home.
Li? bowed to Zhu Cijiong and Xu Yingwei respectively.
Zhu Cijiong replied flatly, but Xu Yingwei asked with a smile: "Li?, have you finally figured it out?"
"Ah?" Li? lost his voice, "Master Xu Geijian actually knew that I was Li?? How did you know?"
"Isn't this obvious?" Xu Yingwei exclaimed, "King Li Zhu of North Korea has five sons in total, of which the fourth and fifth sons are underage. The eldest son, Crown Prince Zhaoxian, was returned to Pyongyang by a slave slave at the beginning of the year and died of illness a month ago.
, the second son Fenglin Prince Lin Hao is in Beijing, and the third son Linping Prince Li? is a hostage in Shengjing."
Zhu Cijiong continued: "So you can only be Lin Yao."
Li Jing did not hide anything this time, but formally paid homage to the two of them: "Li Jing, the great king of Linping in North Korea, comes to pay homage to His Highness King Ding of the Ming Dynasty, and to see Mr. Xu to admonish him."
"Pingshen." Zhu Cijiong solemnly held his hands.
Xu Yingwei responded with a long bow.
Li Jian added: "The Ming Dynasty is willing to help North Korea bring order to the chaos and get rid of the enslavement of the slaves. The monarchs, ministers and people of North Korea are grateful, but there is still a difficulty here."
Zhu Cijiong said: "Are you worried that there will be opposition in North Korea?"
"Yes, after Bingzi's chaos, the slaves cultivated a large number of party members in our country of Korea, and these party members have stolen a large number of important positions." Li? said solemnly, "If we cannot eliminate the party members cultivated by the slaves, even if the Korean state
Anyway, with the help of the Ming Dynasty soldiers, once the Ming army leaves, the situation will collapse again."
Xu Yingwei asked with a smile: "So what kind of advice does Lord Linping have?"
Li Jing did not hide it this time, and said with a serious face: "There must be a thorough purge of officials in North Korea to ensure that the party members cultivated by slaves can withdraw from the center of power in North Korea."
Hearing this, Zhu Cijiong couldn't help but smile and glance at Xu Yingwei. You really guessed it.
This Li? is really ambitious. Not only does he want to be the crown prince, but he also wants to use the force of the Ming army to evade Li Zhu and gain real power in North Korea!
Seeing that Zhu Cijiong and Xu Yingwei were just laughing, Li Jing felt a little uneasy.
After a pause, Li? asked in a low voice: "I wonder what your Highness Prince Ding and Mr. Xu Gijian think?"
"Okay." Zhu Cijiong patted his gums and said, "This is not a problem. If you want, Ming Dynasty can even directly force your father, Li Zhu, to abdicate."
"No, no, that's not what I meant."
Li?'s heart was beating fast. This proposal was indeed very tempting.
But Li? also knew that direct succession would be too hasty and would have sequelae.
"Anyway, it's all up to you." Xu Yingwei said, "But before we return to North Korea, we have one more thing to do. I'm afraid I have to pay a visit to Lord Linping. Of course, it's just a small matter."
Li Wei said: "My little minister, please listen to Xu's instructions to the master."
Xu Yingwei smiled and said: "Please help us attack Shengjing City."
"Ah?" Li Li's expression suddenly changed, "A surprise attack on Shengjing City?"
A surprise attack on Shengjing was something Li Xi never expected.
