The blueprint described by Zhu Ying cheered up Zhu Yuanzhang's spirit.
This is a new path, especially for today's Ming Dynasty.
Zhu Yuanzhang, who was familiar with history, also knew that a dynasty that could not continue to expand would eventually turn into a pool of stagnant water and gradually decay.
At that time, the dynasty will be destroyed.
Zhu Yuanzhang established a large number of systems to regulate officials and people, and also to enable the Ming Dynasty to have a longer-term national development.
After hearing Da Sun's conjecture and decision about Dongsheng Shenzhou, the situation suddenly opened up.
"It seems that we need to invest more money on this route."
Zhu Yuanzhang couldn't help but said.
After thinking about these things, he was even more anxious than Dasun.
Now that the Ming Dynasty has steam iron-clad ships, apart from the troubles in the coal industry, the ability to deal with maritime risks has been greatly improved.
Besides, going north along the coast is relatively safer.
Coal was being vigorously developed in the Ming Dynasty, and the application of steam engines made mining more efficient than before.
Gunpowder also plays a big role in mining.
Other mineral deposits may not be abundant in China due to continuous development, but the application of pebbles is not long, and the reserves are still sufficient.
On the other side of the grassland, Benya was captured alive while missing, and Arutai escaped into the forest.
Ming Dynasty was able to take action against Goryeo in no time.
Li Chenggui's pressure suddenly increased.
"These damn Tatars, where did their original majesty go? How could they be destroyed by the Ming Dynasty so easily?"
"Is Prince Can Yuan a pig? He can be caught alive."
"Damn, damn, damn, Ming must be gathering troops to deal with me now."
Li Chenggui went berserk in the palace, and expensive porcelain was smashed repeatedly, but Li Chenggui's anger still could not be relieved.
Even when he saw the kneeling palace maid, Li Chenggui immediately kicked her up.
The only one who could stand still was Wang Hu, the commander of the Imperial Guard, who was standing behind in armor.
"Wang Hu, what should I do now?"
After venting his anger, Li Chenggui sat on the ground, his spirit now a little broken.
The pressure on the Ming Dynasty was too great, especially the news that was discovered. The hundreds of thousands of troops were simply not something Goryeo could contend with.
Not to mention that the Ming Dynasty was particularly good at attacking cities, and the Goryeo city wall was not large in scale, so it was obviously not enough to stop the Ming army.
"Perhaps Your Majesty can avoid it for a while." Wang Hu made a fairly pertinent suggestion.
Goryeo initially established the four-capital system based on the Liao and Song dynasties at that time.
In addition to Kaijing, there are also Xijing, Tokyo and Nanjing.
In the entire Goryeo, only these four cities could stop the Ming army, and other small cities were not worth mentioning.
Xijing, also known as Pyongyang in later generations, is now in the hands of Zhu Quan, King Ning of the Ming Dynasty, so it is naturally impossible to go there.
Li Chenggui’s only choices were Nanjing, Seoul and Tokyo Gyeongju.
At this time, Li Chenggui seemed to have grasped a life-saving straw and immediately decided to run away.
In fact, the location of Kaijing is still very good, but it will bear the brunt of the Ming army.
Nanjing and Seoul a little behind, or Tokyo and Gyeongju on the seaside were the places Li Chenggui decided to go.
Even if he was defeated, Li Chenggui could take a boat from Gyeongju, Tokyo to the Japanese country to seek refuge. Although he was living under the shelter of others, at least his life was saved.
The war in Goryeo soon started.
The Ming army made sufficient preparations, and hundreds of thousands of Ming troops with Zhu Xi as the main army entered the Goryeo area in a majestic manner.
The army controlled by Ning Wang Zhu Quan quickly joined the Ming army.
Many Goryeo soldiers actually have no objection to the Ming army, because Goryeo has always been a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty, so isn't it normal for people from the suzerain state to come?
Facing the massive attack by the Ming army, most cities showed no intention of resisting.
Most of the small towns in Goryeo only had a few thousand soldiers in total. What could they do to stop the hundreds of thousands of Ming troops? This was no different than hitting an egg against a rock.
The army did not encounter any resistance until it reached Kaijingdu.
When he arrived at the gate of Kaijing, Zhu Feng thought he was going to fight.
However, when the city gates opened wide, the ministers inside came out and knelt down.
This left Zhu Xi and Zhu Di speechless.
Especially Zhu Di.
Because Zhu Fan captured Benya alive, he suffered a great blow to some extent.
Although on the surface Zhu Di had no intention of competing with Zhu Fan, who would feel better?
Still thinking about having a big fight, but this is the result?
For the generals and ministers who opened the capital, their king had already run away, so why did they want to die?
Fighting against the Ming army had a sense of rebellion for many people.
The most important thing is that they do not think that the Ming army will affect their interests. It is Li Chenggui who takes the blame. Even if he is ruled by the Ming Dynasty, at most he will be replaced by a king.
Li Chenggui, who had just arrived in Seoul, received the news of Kaijing's surrender and was so angry that he cursed his mother.
"These rebels, I trust them so much in vain, but they didn't even offer any resistance. They surrendered directly when they saw the Ming army. It is simply a shame for Goryeo."
"Don't fall into my hands. One day, I will execute them all."
Li Chenggui cursed angrily, but after calming down, he began to prepare an escape plan.
Seoul obviously cannot be defended. If it is besieged, he will not even have a chance to escape.
Gyeongju, Tokyo, is Li Chenggui’s goal.
He was ready to gather all his forces and mount a tenacious resistance against the Ming army in Gyeongju, Tokyo.
At this point, Li Chenggui's thinking is still very clear.
Because he does not need to defend a large territory, he only needs to defend a city and hold back the Ming army.
He believed that the Ming army could not stay in Goryeo for too long.
At the same time, he hoped that Arutai would take this opportunity to run out of the forest, so that the Ming army would have to hunt down Arutai.
As long as the Ming army leaves, Korea will still be his.
After gathering his troops, Li Chenggui once again carried a large amount of food and supplies and rushed towards Gyeongju, Tokyo.
This time, he replaced the general who stayed in Seoul with his own confidant.
To be conservative, he took away his confidant's wife and children.
Of course, not only him, but also the wives and children of many ministers and generals were basically taken away.
From Seoul to Gyeongju, Tokyo, on the seaside, we need to cross more than half of the Goryeo region, a distance of more than 600 miles.
Li Chenggui brought too many people, food, grass, gold and silver with him, and he could only walk about fifty miles a day, which was already his limit.
This means that it will take him at least ten days to arrive in Gyeongju, Tokyo.
This means that Seoul must hold on for more than ten days.
Li Chenggui's instructions to them did not require them to hold on, but they must hold on for at least fifteen days.
If he heard the news that Seoul did not defend the city for twelve days, their wives and children would all be executed.
Li Chenggui left only 20,000 troops, but they were pretty good at defending the city. After all, there were many people in the city who could help.
As the old saying goes: attack ten times, surround five times.
In other words, attacking a city requires ten times the number of troops defending the city.
Zhu Ping's army was mainly composed of cavalry. Among them, the infantry plus the previous troops of King Ning totaled 120,000 people.
It is enough for siege.
But it won't be very fast.
The city walls of Seoul are quite good. Li Chenggui asked them to defend the city for half a month before surrendering. This was indeed not an embarrassment.
Theoretically speaking, if you stick to it, it won't be a problem for two or three months.
It took the Ming army more than half a month to build siege equipment alone.
Below the walls of Seoul.
The city gates were closed and soldiers were guarding the city walls. The meaning was obvious.
"It seems that Li Chenggui ran away again." Zhu Di looked at the situation at the top of the city and said.
Zhu Xi couldn't help but ask: "How can you see it?"
Zhu Di said: "Li Chenggui has about 100,000 soldiers and horses, but the guards on the city wall appear dense, but in fact they are somewhat scarce."
"They deliberately hung Li Chenggui's royal flag to create the feeling that Li Chenggui is here."
"But if Li Chenggui is really here, he will definitely climb the city and watch when our army attacks."
"A city like Kaijing was lost so easily. How could he defend Seoul, which was only a few days away? It was obviously just a cover-up."
Zhu Xi nodded and asked casually: "Old Qi, you have stayed in Korea for a long time, and you have a general understanding of Li Chenggui's temperament. Did he run away?"
Ning Wang Zhu Quan said: "What the fourth brother said makes sense. Li Chenggui has most likely run away. Looking at him like this, he intends to go to the seaside."
"If you can't defend the city when you go to the seaside, just think of escaping to the sea."
"Goryeo colluded with the Japanese country. He probably wanted to go to the Japanese country to escape."
Zhu Fang said: "This Li Chenggui is a smart man. He wants to drag us down so that Arutai can share the pressure with him."
"If this is the case, then there is no need to attack this city by force. The soldiers will be lost in vain."
"Old Four, you and Old Seventeen each led 50,000 cavalry to pursue Li Chenggui. The city should be surrounded first."
There are no narrow passes or dangerous roads in Seoul, so they can be completely bypassed.
Fifty thousand cavalry are enough to pursue them on the plains.
Judging from the information received so far, Li Chenggui seems to be planning to go to Gyeongju, Tokyo.
But not necessarily.
If Li Chenggui plans to escape by sea, Tokyo Gyeongju is not a good choice.
It is true that the city wall there is quite tall and can hold out for a period of time, but once it is surrounded, it means there is no way out, even if it is less than thirty miles away from the sea.
Going south, Li Chenggui had several choices.
First is Gyeongju, followed by Busan, Suncheon, and Naju.
"Maybe he ran to Qicheng Island." Zhu Quan looked at the map and thought.
Qicheng Island is also known as Geoje Island in later generations.
Zhu Di looked at the map and said, "It's really possible."
Compared with other places, obviously the location of Qicheng Island is better.
First, surround the sea on all sides, which can effectively block the Ming cavalry, and if you can't defend it, you can leave by boat at any time.
Not far away is Tsushima Island.
The Ming army could only attack it with sea ships.
Li Chenggui could still continue to flee to Japan.
The more Zhu Quan and Zhu Di looked at it, the more likely it seemed.
"Perhaps Li Chenggui is not so smart, and other places cannot be spared. We will wait for the main force to pursue Qicheng Island, and just send some scouting horses to other places."
"It wouldn't be such a hassle if I went to other places."
Zhu Di thought for a while and said.
This plan was approved by Zhu Quan, who immediately stopped hesitating and gathered 70,000 troops and headed straight for Qicheng Island.
Another 30,000 soldiers and horses went to explore possible places.
Li Chenggui still has some abilities.
Just as Zhu Di and the others had guessed, shouting about going to Gyeongju, Tokyo, was just a pretense, and he had no intention of defending the city.
After traveling for seven days out of Seoul, Li Chenggui found an ambush site and arranged 20,000 soldiers to ambush the Ming army.
Then he divided the personnel into four parts and went to Gyeongju, Suncheon, and Naju in Tokyo respectively. He himself rushed to Qicheng Island with troops and treasures.
Li Chenggui had no intention of walking slowly, and he still had some cavalry in his hands.
Many of the war horses came from donations from the grasslands.
In any case, he gave half a million shi of food, so asking for some war horses is not too much.
And Arutai itself no longer has the ability to raise more war horses.
Li Chenggui led eight thousand cavalrymen, broke away from the slow marching convoy, and headed directly for Qicheng Island.
On Qicheng Island, he still has 50,000 naval troops.
This is what makes him run away.
Even if Qicheng Island cannot be defended, there is still Tsushima Island and the Japanese country behind it that can be retreated.
Li Chenggui had thought of many escape routes.
He is determined to fight the Ming army to the end.
Focus on one word: drag.
Delaying the Ming army until they leave is Li Chenggui's victory.
Even if Goryeo fell into the hands of Ming Dynasty, it wouldn't matter much.
In today's situation, being able to survive is the most important thing.
Even Li Chenggui had thought about it. If the situation in the Japanese country was not good, he would simply lose his identity as the King of Korea and run away to Nanyang or even the West.
At this time, Li Chenggui did not have the burden of becoming a king.
It has only been half a year since the title of King of Goryeo was obtained. Previously, he was only a general, so he could see clearly.
People have to survive. From the day of the incident, Li Chenggui had already thought of a way out.
The 20,000 ambushes left behind by Li Chenggui still relied on the terrain to cause a lot of trouble for Zhu Di and Zhu Quan.
It's just a nuisance.
Under the iron heel of 70,000 cavalry, 20,000 infantry are simply not enough.
Not to mention Zhu Di and Zhu Quan leading the team.
Li Chenggui did not tell these infantrymen his purpose, but still insisted on going to Gyeongju, Tokyo.
However, the information obtained from the interrogation made Zhu Di and Zhu Quan more determined to escape to Qicheng Island.
How could normal soldiers know where they were going? Under interrogation by the Ming army, almost most of the Goryeo soldiers told the story of Li Chenggui going to Tokyo.
They weren't lying, it was just what they heard.
It's just that the news that even the soldiers know is obviously not true.
Zhu Di and Zhu Quan set out again to pursue Li Chenggui.
On the third day, I saw a convoy in the distance, escorted by scattered soldiers.
The people in the convoy were almost all young and old, and even the soldiers were just a handful.
After learning that Li Chenggui had left with his cavalry, Zhu Di and Zhu Quan quickly continued the pursuit.
If Li Chenggui could be intercepted before he entered Qicheng Island, things would be much simpler.