On the western line of North Korea, south of Pyongan Road is Hwanghae Province, and further south of Hwanghae Road is Gyeonggi Province.
When Li Rusong's regiment advanced southward from Pingan Road, it passed directly through Huanghai Road, but left Luo Shangzhi's column of 3,000 soldiers on Huanghai Road.
General Li made such a deployment mainly for the following reasons.
The first is that Luo Shangzhi's column is an infantry column. When it rushes southward, it cannot keep up with the cavalry, which affects the marching speed.
The second is that Luo Shangzhi was injured during the attack on Pyongyang City, so he stayed in Hwanghae Province to recover from his injuries.
The third is that the Yellow Sea Road has become the rear, and sufficient power is needed to maintain stability and ensure the smooth flow of grain and grass supply routes.
The fourth is that according to Lin Jinglue's instructions, the northern provinces need to provide certain support from the Ming Dynasty's official army to establish a loyalty and salvation army and maintenance committee.
Of course, it would not be objective to say that General Li has no selfish motives at all. He still has some petty calculations.
Luo Shangzhi himself was from Zhejiang, and his subordinates were all Southern soldiers, so they were not in the same league as the Liaodong faction.
Therefore, it is better to let the troops of the Liaodong department do the hard work of going south to recapture the royal capital and Seoul.
At the same time, Li Rusong paid more attention to and was accustomed to the "traditional" combat mode of the frontier army with cavalry and heavy artillery, and did not pay enough attention to light firearms. The southern soldiers were relatively better at light firearms, so they were not taken too seriously by Li Rusong.
General Luo did not express any dissatisfaction and just followed orders.
After all, Lin Jinglue, the real boss of the Southern Army, had already gone to the Eastern Front. No one on the Western Front could suppress Li Rusong, so it was useless for him to say anything and simply lay down for the time being.
However, precisely because Lin Jinglue was able to suppress Li Rusong and even directly suppress the Liaodong generals, the conflict between the southern and northern armies was much smaller than in the original history.
Luo Shangzhi's headquarters was temporarily stationed at Fengshan on the north-south transportation road. It was very simple to control the Yellow Sea Road as the Three Thousand King Division.
On this day, when Luo Shangzhi was meeting with several leaders of the Korean volunteers and considering how to reorganize them into the Yellow Sea Road Loyalty and National Salvation Army, suddenly a bodyguard led a few Koreans with dusty faces and walked in.
Then the guard reported: "These Koreans suddenly appeared in Gushan, claiming to be carrying Tianshuai's battle report and looking for Ming Dynasty officials and troops to deliver it."
Goksan is located at the northeastern corner of Hwanghae Province, near the junction of Pyongan Road, Hwanghae Road, Hamgyeong Road and Gangwon Road. Although it is also in a large mountainous area in the center of the peninsula, there is a road that leads to the east coast.
When Luo Shangzhi heard Lin Jinglue's battle report, he would definitely pay attention to it.
Duke Jinglue led his army across hundreds of miles of mountainous areas and penetrated deep into the Hamjing Road in the northeast, temporarily cutting off direct contact with the western front. Luo Shangzhi also wanted to know the current situation of Duke Jinglue.
The current struggle situation is complex, and it is difficult to say whether the battle reports sent through informal channels are true or false.
It is not impossible for the enemy to forge battle reports to confuse the Ming army.
The few Koreans who passed through the Japanese-occupied areas to deliver war reports were not being interrogated for the time being. General Luo Shen first took the war reports and read them.
General Luo Shenjiang came from Yuyao, Zhejiang Province, where the imperial examinations were high. The local literary style was at its peak. Furthermore, he was a martial arts scholar, so his cultural foundation was quite good.
So after reading the battle report in his hand several times, General Luo said happily: "This battle report is true! Mr. Jin Lue has conquered a major town again!"
Everyone asked together: "How can we see it?"
General Luo pointed to several places in the battle report and said: "Looking at the number of dead, a number like two hundred and ninety-nine must be the work of Duke Jinglue.
There are also many criticisms of the generals in the battle report, which is enough to prove that the battle report can no longer be true.
If an outsider forges a battle report, how can it accurately meet these characteristics?"
Luo Shen will then make two copies of the battle report, one to the south and one to the north.
Xiangnan naturally sent the message to Li Rusong, who had already arrived in Kaicheng, so that General Li could learn about the latest situation on the eastern front.
At this time, General Li was resting in Kaesong and struggling.
It is only more than a hundred miles away from Wangjing and Seoul, and it seems to be within reach.
Moreover, the Japanese soldiers now dare not stop the Ming Dynasty's army and have been retreating southward. It is rumored that the Japanese soldiers in Wangjing and Seoul are also retreating.
From this point of view, as long as he works hard, he seems to be able to capture the royal capital of Seoul and complete the task of regaining the capital of Korea alone.
However, before setting off, Lin Jinglue gave another advice: "Haste the offensive, but it will lead to waste. If we advance to Kaesong, we should pause it to avoid disaster."
After so many years of dealing with each other, General Li knew very well that Lin Jinglue's predictions were often very accurate, almost as if "faith leads to success".
These two ideas have been fighting in his mind for a whole day, and Li Rusong can't decide.
At this moment, General Luo Shen sent over the latest battle report. General Li saw that under such difficult conditions, Lin Jinglue successfully killed more than 10,000 enemies and regained the land of North Korea.
Kato Kiyomasa's escape route was completely blocked, and he was immediately greatly stimulated.
"Leave Kaicheng tomorrow, carry dry food and continue southward. You will be the vanguard!" Li Rusong ordered the fierce general Zha Dashou.
The battle report went north along the mature path, passing through Pingan Road, Liaodong Town and other places, and was sent to the capital.
It was already late November. This winter in the capital was colder than most previous years, and many ministers were sick.
Some people get sick and not many people pay attention to them except family and friends.
When some people are sick, they attract much attention, such as Wang Shizhen, the Minister of Personnel.
Since the beginning of winter, Wang Tianguan has been ill and has been bedridden for more than half a month recently.
Everyone feels that Wang Tianguan's days are numbered, not only his physical life, but also his political life.
Even if Wang Tianguan's body can still survive, if he is ill for a long time and can't function normally, it is customary to resign.
Otherwise, he will be criticized by the Qing Dynasty and impeached even more fiercely for being greedy for power and affecting state affairs.
In this political environment, if Wang Tianguan is bedridden for a long time, it is very likely that he will not be able to serve as Minister of the Ministry of Personnel.
Unless you are particularly appreciated by the emperor, even if you are bedridden all year round, you will be forcibly comforted by the emperor again and again.
Not to mention, Wang Tianguan himself was in poor health. Anyone who is familiar with Wang Tianguan knows that Wang Tianguan has been very weak since six or seven years ago.
In the past two years, probably because of the stimulation of becoming the Minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, I have "reflected".
When the final potential is exhausted, the physical condition becomes very difficult to predict.
No matter how you look at it, there is a high probability that the Minister of Personnel will be replaced. This may be the second most personnel change in the imperial court after the change of chief minister.
So privately many officials are planning and discussing who will be the next Heavenly Official.
By the time the Ming Dynasty's civil service reached the mid-Wanli period, it had become very mature, and almost every high-level position had corresponding rules for selection.
As long as there are no variables like the emperor or Lin Tailai, people who are familiar with the rules of officialdom can often guess the general range in advance.
For example, candidates for the position of Minister of Personnel often come from the oldest people in other ministers, who are the candidates with the highest priority.
The current Wang Tianguan can take office thanks to the two conditions of being a Jinshi in the 26th year of Jiajing and being the Minister of the Ministry of Punishment in Nanjing.
But taking a closer look at the ministers of various ministries today, people familiar with the rules found that the new minister of official affairs may have a difficult birth this time.
Yu Shenxing, the Minister of the Ministry of Hubu, and Chen Yubi, the Minister of the Ministry of Punishments, were both Jinshi in the second year of Longqing. They are less than fifty years old this year. How can they become the Minister of the Ministry of Personnel with these qualifications?
The Minister of Rites is concurrently held by Li Chun, the elder of the cabinet, so it is even more impossible for him to be the Minister of the Ministry of Personnel.
Although Ye Mengxiong, Minister of the Ministry of War, was an old Jinshi from the Jiajing Dynasty, he had previously been a local governor and had only been in the imperial court for one year, so his qualifications were completely unable to convince the public.
As a result, everyone found that Zhong Zhenji, the minister of the Ministry of Industry, seemed to have better conditions than the other ministers. After all, Zhong Shangshu was a Jinshi in the 38th year of Jiajing, so his qualifications were old enough.
However, everyone found it strange and a bit unbelievable to have the Minister of the Ministry of Industry and Finance at the end of the Six Books be directly promoted to the Minister of the Ministry of Personnel.
There is also the official position of Zuo Shilang of the Ministry of Personnel, which has certain qualifications for Tianguan. However, the current Zuo Shilang, Liu Yukui, is only forty years old. It is even more nonsense to be the Minister of the Ministry of Personnel at this age.
Another way to recruit people is to select the Minister of Nanjing to be the Minister of the Ministry of Personnel.
But this choice made the officials in the capital feel embarrassed. Wang Tianguan was selected from Nanjing. If he is still selected from Nanjing next time, wouldn't it mean that there is no one in the capital?
So the officials calculated and discussed for a long time, and found that if the rules were followed, there might not be a suitable candidate to serve as the Minister of the Ministry of Personnel.
At this time, another voice emerged, which suggested that Sun Piyang, the censor of Zuodu, could be moved to the position of Minister of the Ministry of Personnel.
Under normal rules, the General Constitution cannot be moved to the position of Heavenly Official to avoid the suspicion of using the power of supervision to seize the throne, except under some very special circumstances.
This time, many people believed that something special should be done. After all, Sun Piyang is the oldest Jinshi in the imperial court, and there are no other suitable candidates.
Moreover, Sun Piyang had just been promoted from the position of Shangshu of the Ministry of Justice to the position of Yushi of Zuodu two months ago, and he was not yet in the position of General Constitution.
Against this background, when the report of the victory at Hamhung Prefecture reached the capital, it did not cause much of a sensation, and everyone seemed to take it for granted.
A man like Lin Tailai got there first and killed ten thousand enemies. Is there anything surprising about him?
It’s not the first time or the second time. Any miracle will become like that if you see it too much.
However, in the eyes of a caring person, the calamity material was still found in the battle report.
In the hall, North Korea's special envoy for assistance, Yin Zhuoran, read the latest battle report, put it aside, and continued to worry about his situation.
Logically speaking, compared to the wandering monarchs and ministers of Korea, Yin Zhengzhi was stranded in the capital of the Ming Dynasty due to a strange combination of circumstances, and his life was much more comfortable.
Today, dozens of North Korean monarchs and ministers are still crowded in Kuandian Fort, while Ambassador Yin Zheng can live in a two-story courtyard in the Huitong Hall.
It's just that as time goes by, the money in the bag is not enough, and consumption in the capital is not cheap.
Although the Ming Dynasty was responsible for food and housing, regardless of entertainment, many other expenses still had to be paid out of pocket. For example, the Huitong Hall is very close to Jiaofangsi Hutong.
Moreover, Ambassador Yin Zheng also imitated Ming court officials and took a concubine from a local family in the capital, which also cost money.
At this time, Yin Zhuoran was sighing, and suddenly the ambassador came to inform him that Zhao Nanxing, the head of the Host and Guest Department of the Ministry of Etiquette, had come to visit.
This didn't surprise Ambassador Yin Zheng. After all, the Host and Guest Department of the Ministry of Rites was responsible for dealing with envoys like him.
Director Zhao and him have also met frequently recently, so they are very familiar with each other.
I just don’t know what else is going on today. Is it possible that the food treatment should be improved?
After meeting with Ambassador Yin Zheng, Chief Zhao asked, "Have you read the latest Hamhung Prefecture battle report?"
Yin Zhuoran replied respectfully: "I just saw it and was about to write a letter to express my gratitude to His Majesty the Emperor."
Director Zhao added: "The palace of the great ancestor of your country in Xianxing Prefecture was burned down. Don't you have any grief and indignation?"
Yin Zhuoran couldn't help but think of a new sentence he learned in the Ming Dynasty - the emperor is not anxious and the eunuch is.
To be honest, if the strength is not enough, what is the use of sadness and anger? It is better to pretend not to see it, so as not to bring trouble to yourself.
Director Zhao reminded again: "It is clearly written in the battle report that it was the manager Lin Tailai who was negligent and sat back and watched the palace of the Taizu of your country be burned down.
As a minister and special envoy of North Korea, you should express your opinion on this, right? Many of our comrades will speak out for your country's experience.
If you don’t speak up yourself, who else in the court will speak up for you?”
As the saying goes, one knows the elegant meaning after hearing a string song. Yin Zhengshi understood it immediately and wanted to use him as a spearman.
But he still asked: "With such a thing, it is impossible to defeat the Nine Yuan True Immortal, right?"
After two missions to the Ming Dynasty, and staying here for half a year this time, Yin Zhuoran already had a certain understanding of the layout of the Ming Dynasty court.
Director Zhao said vaguely: "I have no hope of overthrowing the Nine Yuan True Immortal, but I have other plans."
All fools know that this matter cannot sway Lin Tailai. They just want to use it as a robber to force Lin's party to give in.
As for the size of the robbery, it depends on how loud Yin Zhuoran, the imperial envoy, cries.
Yin Zheng can't help but cry, and it's hard for others to stand up and help speak out and expand public opinion.
Yin Zhuoran sighed deeply and said: "You should know that Jiuyuan True Immortal killed two envoys of our country in Jiulian City!"
If you dare to use Lin Tailai's battle report as an issue, you are also an envoy. Is this life enough to compensate?
Director Zhao patiently advised: "Don't worry, Sir, Lin Tailai can't do anything to you.
He was able to kill envoys before, firstly because he held the Shangfang Sword and the King's Order Flag in his hands; secondly because the commander-in-chief was outside and had a certain degree of autonomy.
When he returns to the capital, he wants to return Shang Fangjian and Wang Ming Banner. How can it be detrimental to you?"
Even Director Zhao himself didn't quite believe this, but he still tried his best to deceive the other party.
"By the time Lin Tailai returns to the capital, I'm afraid you will have already returned home!" Director Zhao added another sentence of relief.
Yin Zhuoran fingered the battle report and said hesitantly: "Nine Yuan True Immortal is the minister of the Celestial Dynasty that I am most familiar with. Now he is fighting for the restoration of the country. He is a great benefactor of our country. How can I slander him casually?"
Director Zhao emphasized: "He did sit back and watch the palace of your country's great ancestor be burned down. This is not slander."
Yin Zhengshi said directly, "What I mean is, we need to pay more."
Director Zhao took out a few silver bills from his sleeves and put them on the table calmly.
Yin Zhengshi picked up the money order and carefully kept it.
Director Zhao did not stop Yin Zhengshi's actions. He believed that Yin Zhengshi did not dare to accept money and not do the work.