The Ming Dynasty's Spokesperson

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 strength 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 formation of loyalty and salvation armies and maintenance committees in the northern provinces requires certain support from the Ming Dynasty's official army.

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 recover Wang Jing 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 just 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 soldiers 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 Korean volunteers and considering how to reorganize them into the Yellow Sea Road Loyalty and National Salvation Army, suddenly some guards came in leading a few dusty Koreans.

Then the personal 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-do, near the junction of Pyongan-do, Hwanghae-do, Hamgyeong-do and Gangwon-do. Although this 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.

Jin Lue Gong led his army across hundreds of miles of mountainous areas and penetrated deep into the Hamgyong Road in the northeast, temporarily cutting off direct contact with the western front. Luo Shangzhi also wanted to know Jin Lue Gong's current situation.

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 area to deliver war reports were not being interrogated for the time being. General Luo Shen took the war reports and read them first.

Luo Shenjiang came from Yuyao, Zhejiang Province, where the imperial examination was high. The local literary style was at its peak, and he himself 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 claps his hands happily and said, "This battle report is true! Mr. Jin Lue has conquered an important town again!"

Everyone asked together: "How can you see it?"

General Luo pointed to several places in the battle report and said: "Looking at the number of killed, a number like two hundred and ninety-nine must be the work of Duke Jinglue.

There are also many criticisms of the general manager 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.

Naturally, Xiangnan sent it to Li Rusong, who had 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 Wang Jing 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 Seoul are also retreating.

From this point of view, as long as he works hard, he seems to be able to capture Wangjing Seoul and complete the task of regaining the capital of Korea alone.

But before setting off, Lin Jinglue gave another advice: "Haste the offensive, but it will lead to waste. If you advance to Kaicheng, stop 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 "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 retreat 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.

Battle reports followed mature routes to the north, passing through Ping'an Road, Liaodong Town and other places, and were sent to the capital.

It was already late November, and 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 except family and friends.

When some people are sick, they attract a lot of 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 cannot work normally, he must submit a petition to resign according to convention.

Otherwise, he will be criticized by the public opinion and impeached more fiercely for being greedy for power and affecting state affairs.

In this political environment, if Wang Tianguan is bedridden for a long time, then this Minister of Personnel is very likely to be unable to continue.

Unless he is particularly appreciated by the emperor, even if he is bedridden for a long time, he will be repeatedly forced to stay by the emperor.

Not to mention, Wang Tianguan himself is in poor health. People who are familiar with Wang Tianguan know that Wang Tianguan has been very weak since six or seven years ago.

In the past two years, it is probably because of the stimulation of serving as the Minister of Personnel that he has "revived".

When the last potential is exhausted, it is very difficult to say about the physical condition.

No matter how you look at it, the Minister of Personnel is likely to be replaced, which may be the personnel change in the court second only to the replacement of the Prime Minister.

So many officials are privately calculating and discussing who will be the next Tianguan.

By the middle of the Wanli period, the civil service politics of the Ming Dynasty had become very mature, and there were corresponding rules for the selection of almost every high-level position.

As long as there were no variables such as the emperor or Lin Tailai, people who were familiar with the rules of officialdom could often guess the general range in advance.

For example, the candidate for the Minister of Personnel was often the most senior among the ministers of other ministries, and this was the candidate with the highest priority.

The current Wang Tianguan was able to take office thanks to the two conditions of being a Jinshi in the 26th year of Jiajing and the Minister of Nanjing Ministry of Justice.

However, looking closely at the current ministers of various ministries, people who are familiar with the rules found that the new Minister of Personnel might be difficult to give birth this time.

The Minister of Revenue Yu Shenxing and the Minister of Criminal Affairs Chen Yubi were both Jinshi in the second year of Longqing, and they are less than 50 years old this year. How can they be the Minister of Personnel with such qualifications?

The Minister of Rites is concurrently held by the cabinet minister Li Chun, which makes it even more impossible for him to be the Minister of Personnel.

Although Ye Mengxiong, the Minister of War, was an old Jinshi in the Jiajing Dynasty, he was previously a governor in the local area and has only been in the court for one year. This qualification is completely unconvincing.

As a result, everyone found that Zhong Zhenji, the Minister of Works, seemed to have better conditions than other ministers. After all, Zhong was a Jinshi in the 38th year of Jiajing, which was old enough.

However, everyone felt it was strange and a bit unbelievable that the Minister of Works, who was at the end of the six ministries, was directly promoted to the Minister of Personnel.

There is also the Left Vice Minister of Personnel who has certain qualifications to compete for the Tianguan position, but the current Left Vice Minister Liu Yukui is only 40 years old. It is even more ridiculous for him to be the Minister of Personnel at this age.

There is also another way to employ people, which is to select the Nanjing Minister to be the Minister of Personnel.

But this choice made the officials in the capital feel embarrassed. Wang Tianguan was selected from Nanjing. If the next one is still selected from Nanjing, doesn’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 they followed the rules, there might not be a suitable candidate who was popular among the people to serve as the next Minister of Personnel.

At this time, another voice appeared, saying that it was possible to make an exception and transfer Sun Piyang, the Left Censor-in-Chief, to the Minister of Personnel.

Under normal rules, the Chief Censor cannot be transferred to the Heavenly Official to avoid the suspicion of using the power of supervision to seize the throne, except in some extremely special circumstances.

This time, many people thought that special matters should be handled specially, after all, Sun Piyang is the most senior Jinshi in the court, and there are no other suitable candidates.

Moreover, Sun Piyang had just been transferred from the position of Minister of Punishment to the Left Censor-in-Chief two months ago, and he had not yet sat warmly in the position of Chief Censor.

In this context, when the report of the great victory in Hamheung Prefecture reached the capital, it did not cause much sensation, as if everyone thought it was natural.

Is it anything surprising that someone like Lin Tailai was the first to enter the gate and kill 10,000 enemies?

It's not the first or second time, and any miracle is just like that after seeing too many times.

However, in the eyes of those who are interested, they still found materials for robbery in the war report.

In Huitong Hall, Yin Zhuoran, the special envoy of Korea for assistance, finished reading the latest war report, put it aside, and continued to worry about his situation.

Logically speaking, compared with the displaced Korean monarchs and ministers, Yin Zhengshi was stranded in the capital of the Ming Dynasty by accident, and his life was much more comfortable.

Now dozens of Korean monarchs and ministers are still crowded in Kuandian Fort, while Yin Zhengshi can live in a two-entry courtyard in Huitong Hall.

But after a long time, the money in the bag is not enough, and the consumption in the capital is not cheap.

Although the Ming court provides food and accommodation, but not entertainment, many other expenses still have to be paid out of pocket, such as Huitong Hall is very close to Jiaofangsi Hutong.

And Yin Zhengshi also learned from the 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 an ambassador from the Huitong Hall came to inform him that Zhao Nanxing, the director of the Ministry of Rites, was visiting.

Envoy Yin was not surprised by this, after all, the Ministry of Rites was the Lang Office responsible for dealing with envoys like him.

And Director Zhao and him have met frequently recently, and they are very familiar with each other.

I just don’t know what happened today. Is it possible that the food treatment is to be improved?

After Director Zhao and Envoy Yin exchanged greetings, he asked: "Have you read the latest battle report of Hamhung Prefecture?"

Yin Zhuoran replied respectfully: "I just read it and was about to write a memorial to thank His Majesty the Emperor."

Director Zhao said again: "The palace of your country's Taizu in Hamhung Prefecture was burned down. Don't you have any grief and indignation?"

Yin Zhuoran couldn't help but think of a sentence he had just learned in the Ming Dynasty - the emperor is not anxious, but the eunuch is anxious.

To be honest, if you are not strong enough, what's the use of grief and indignation? It's better to pretend not to see it, so as not to make yourself unhappy.

Director Zhao reminded again: "It is clearly written in the battle report that it was Lin Tailai, the manager, 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 have something to say about this, right? Many of our comrades will speak out for what is happening to your country.

If you don't speak up yourself, who else in the court will speak up for you? "

As the saying goes, one can know 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 don't expect to use this to bring down the Nine Yuan True Immortal. I just 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 couldn't help but cry, and it was 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 excuse, 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; secondly, because the commander was outside and had a certain degree of autonomy.

When he returns to the capital, he wants to return Shang Fangjian and Wang Mingqi. How can it be detrimental to you? "

Even Director Zhao himself didn't 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 more money."

Director Zhao took out a few money orders from his sleeves and put them on the table calmly.

Yin Zhengshi picked up the money order and put it away carefully.

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.