Xianxia version of Water Margin

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Let’s go back to one day ago.

At that time, Wang Kai, who was not yet sixteen years old, was shocked when he heard from the people who escaped from Licheng Port that the Yuan army came from the sea and captured Licheng Port in one fell swoop, and was now marching towards Kaijing!

Although Wang Kai had never met Jiang Hongfei, he was too familiar with Jiang Hongfei, who destroyed the Liao Dynasty and the Zhao Song Dynasty, defeated the Jin Dynasty, and frightened the Western Xia Dynasty to abandon the queen.

To be honest, if he had autonomy, Wang Kai would definitely not want to offend Jiang Hongfei, the most likely villain to unify the Central Plains.

It’s a pity that the Goryeo Dynasty and the Jin Dynasty signed a humiliating alliance at that time, so how could Wang Kai have autonomy?

Now, Jiang Hongfei sent the Yuan army to ask for punishment.

Wang Kai, who knew he was in the wrong, suddenly didn’t know what to do?

Should he fight or make peace? Or run?

At the critical moment, the shrewd Li Ziqian was still calm.

Li Ziqian knew that no matter whether it was war, peace, or escape, he had to quickly dispatch troops to Kaijing to rescue the king.

Therefore, Li Ziqian immediately sent his confidant to Xijing to transfer the 100,000 troops controlled by his confidant Tuo Junjing to defend against the Jin army's southward advance again.

Then, Li Ziqian went to the palace to discuss countermeasures with Wang Kai.

At the same time, Jin Bushi, a famous Goryeo minister who served in the three dynasties of Goryeo Sukjong, Goryeo Ruizong, and Wang Kai, and served as the Minister of the Court, and Zheng Zhichang, a famous poet of the Goryeo Dynasty and a Hanlin scholar, also came to the palace to discuss with Wang Kai how to solve this emergency?

Since ancient times, when encountering a strong enemy, either fight, make peace, or flee, there is basically no fourth way to go.

What Wang Kai and his ministers discussed was actually which way their Goryeo Dynasty would take?

As for the Jin Kingdom?

The Yuan army has come, who cares about the Jin people's thoughts? Let's get through this first.

Before the Jin people came, Li Ziqian had already sidelined Wang Kai, and he was in power and controlled the government. He once wanted to depose Wang Kai and establish himself as the King of Goryeo.

After the Jin people came, they figured out the political situation of the Goryeo Dynasty, and helped Wang Kai depose Li Ziqian's two daughters (that is, Wang Kai's third aunt and fourth aunt), making them Wang Kai's two deposed concubines, and supported Wang Kai to marry Ren Yuanhou's daughter, the current Queen Gongrui Ren, who is known as "Yande Palace Master".

—— Although Wang Kai's third aunt and fourth aunt were deposed by Wang Kai for political reasons, because they had taken care of Wang Kai since childhood, had a very good relationship with Wang Kai, and saved Wang Kai's life from Li Ziqian twice, Wang Kai only deposed their titles of concubines, and they actually still lived in Wang Kai's harem.

In other words, with the support of the Jin people, Wang Kai began to rule the country himself, and was supported by Goryeo ministers such as Jin Fushi and Zheng Zhichang. They could even compete with Li Ziqian.

In this way, Li Ziqian could only put away his previous arrogance and said to Wang Kai in a friendly way: "The Yuan army is coming, and it must be because Goryeo helped the Jin Kingdom to attack its country, and they will punish it. This matter must not be taken lightly, otherwise there will be a disaster of national destruction. In my opinion, it is better to send the Beijing army to fight, and at the same time, teach the two armies and related personnel to prepare for retreat to the west."

After the initial tension, Wang Kai suddenly felt that the Yuan army's attack might be a blessing in disguise for the Goryeo Dynasty - if their Goryeo Dynasty operated well, they could divert the disaster to the east and let the Yuan Empire go to fight the Jin Kingdom. They could practice the art of balance and survive in the cracks. They could completely use the Yuan Empire to check and balance the Jin Kingdom, and maybe they could work together to make a lot of benefits.

Wang Kai did not think that his idea was too naive, but thought that it was a genius political idea.

Wang Kai believed that as long as the Goryeo Dynasty lowered its attitude enough, was willing to pay tribute to the Yuan Empire, and was willing to pay war reparations to the Yuan Empire, the Yuan Empire would definitely let the Goryeo Dynasty go.

Wang Kai remembered that every time Jiang Hongfei destroyed a country, he would take the daughters of the royal family and clan into his harem. He must be an extremely lustful person. He could send a thousand Goryeo beauties, no, send ten thousand Goryeo beauties to Jiang Hongfei.

"My Goryeo sent troops to attack the Yuan Dynasty for a reason, which was not my wish. Jiang Yan will understand my difficulties and forgive me this time."

In short, Wang Kai optimistically believed that as long as he and the Goryeo Dynasty showed sincerity, they could convince Jiang Hongfei and the Yuan Empire not to destroy Goryeo.

And Wang Kai had already realized that he was blackmailed by the Yuan Empire for a large sum of money.

Perfect closed loop.

Let's put it this way, just like when Wanyan Zongwang led the Jin army to attack the Goryeo Dynasty, Wang Kai was willing to pay any high price as long as he could preserve the Goryeo Dynasty.

This is what Li Ziqian and the monarchs of the Goryeo Dynasty taught Wang Kai.

That is, when the grassland dynasty is strong, the Goryeo Dynasty will pay tribute to the grassland dynasty; when the Central Plains dynasty is strong, the Goryeo Dynasty will pay tribute to the Central Plains dynasty.

This has always been the only way for the Goryeo Dynasty to survive.

Young people are not cunning enough. They are eager to show themselves, especially when they think they have a good idea, so Wang Kai can't help but put his ideas out.

After listening to Wang Kai's ideas, Li Ziqian smiled coldly and bluntly hit Wang Kai's prestige: "Childish."

Wang Kai was very angry. He felt that Li Ziqian was still looking down on him.

Li Ziqian didn’t look at Wang Kai’s livid face, but said directly: “The Yuan Dynasty has launched a war without declaration, and it is coming with great momentum. It must have the intention of destroying our Goryeo in one fell swoop. How can it stop because of small profits and bribes?”

What surprised Wang Kai was that his right-hand minister Jin Fushi actually agreed with Li Ziqian’s view. He said solemnly: “Your Majesty, please issue an edict to all the capital troops as soon as possible, and tell them to leave quickly and deploy defenses at the natural barrier of the Han River...”

Rakseong is located west of the Imjin River and north of the Han River.

Jin Fushi meant to organize the six guards of the Goryeo capital army into five armies: the center, front, rear, left, and right. The front army and the left army were deployed in Rakseong and the area west of the Imjin River, and the center army and the right army advanced to the Changhedong and Huazangdong areas northeast of Rakseong. The rear army and the second army of the Goryeo capital army were transferred to Rakseong, relying on Rakseong to defend and wait for reinforcements. In this way, the Goryeo Dynasty could not only rely on the solid Luocheng to defend, but also control the north bank of the Han River and the west bank of the Sand River, forming a defense line of dozens of miles from the east of the Yeseong River to Panmunjom.

Judging from Kim Bu-sik's proposal, he was obviously not as optimistic as Wang Kai, but was more inclined to Li Ziqian's idea, that is, the Yuan army came with ill intentions, and they must respond with caution.

The only difference was that Kim Bu-sik disagreed, and Wang Kai withdrew from Kaesong and fled to Seogyeong controlled by Li Ziqian's son-in-law, Tak Jun-kyung.

"With this deployment, we may be able to stop the Yuan army south of the Han River, which is a great fortune for Goryeo. If this is not possible, let the Yuan army cross the Han River, or we can set up camps around the capital, with intervals of fifty miles or thirty miles, to form a chain of camps to stop the Yuan army and protect the capital."

"To defend the Han River, we must use veterans. If you are a relative of the emperor, relatives of the prime minister, or relatives of the provincial officials, you can't use them."

"The Yuan army is famous for its fierce offensive. I'm afraid that the Beijing army will find it difficult to deal with it. Your Majesty can order the recruitment of 100,000 garrison troops and build fortresses along the Han River as a barrier."

Kim Bu-sik is a descendant of the Silla royal family. He was an envoy to the Zhao Song Dynasty in his early years. He was famous in the Central Plains for his poems and essays and was a China expert. His five brothers have been familiar with poetry and books since childhood. Except for Jin Xuanzhan who became a monk, Jin Bushi and his elder brothers Jin Bupil, Jin Buyi and his younger brother Jin Buzhe all passed the imperial examination of the Goryeo Dynasty and entered the official career, and held important positions in the Goryeo court.

Among the officials of the Goryeo Dynasty, Jin Bushi has a clearer view of the current situation.

He knows that although Li Ziqian's proposal is mixed with private goods, the general direction is correct.

Since Jiang Hongfei sent a large army to attack the Goryeo Dynasty from afar, and did not say anything in advance, he probably had some intentions, most of which was to incorporate the Goryeo Dynasty into the territory of the Yuan Empire.

In this case, the Goryeo Dynasty can only show its military strength that makes the Yuan Empire afraid, so that the Yuan Empire can change its original intention, otherwise the Goryeo Dynasty may be in danger.

Wang Kai did not expect that Jin Bushi, who had always supported him to rule the country, would actually support Li Ziqian instead.

Wang Kai was very unhappy.

Fortunately, at this time, a group of officials from the Xijing yangban, led by Zheng Zhichang, firmly opposed Jin Bushi's suggestion.

Zheng Zhichang and other people from the Xijing yangban supported Wang Kai's proposal not because they thought Wang Kai was right, but because they felt that the Yuan army had already attacked and was about to reach Kaijing, so how could they have time to gather troops and build fortresses? And since they had to pay tribute to the Yuan Empire and ask for peace, why did they have to gather troops to fight the Yuan Empire? If they raised troops again, wouldn't it give the Yuan Empire a handle to accuse the Goryeo Dynasty of having no sincerity in peace talks?

Moreover, the Kaijing yangban led by Jin Bushi and the Xijing yangban led by Zheng Zhichang had been engaged in party struggles, which was similar to the party struggles between the reformists and conservatives in the Zhao Song Dynasty. Both sides had reached the point where they wanted to kill each other. Therefore, no matter what one side advocated, the other side would definitely oppose it, without asking whether it was right or wrong.

The two sides quarreled fiercely.

In the end, Li Ziqian, who was supported by the two classes in Kaijing, prevailed, and the Goryeo court decided to send the Goryeo army to fight against the Yuan army.

However, Wang Kai and Zheng Zhichang did not completely admit defeat. They sent people with a large number of gifts to the Yuan army to negotiate peace, persuading the Yuan army not to invade again. As long as the Yuan army was willing to stop attacking, everything could be discussed...

Unfortunately, it took too long for Wang Kai and his ministers to discuss, and Licheng Port was too close to Kaijing. The key was that the Yuan army was too decisive.

As a result, the Goryeo army finally gathered more than 30,000 troops, but before they left Kaijing, the Yuan army came and defeated them in one battle, and then captured the outer city of Luocheng in one fell swoop.

At this time, the people sent by Wang Kai and Zheng Zhichang to negotiate peace also came to Li Jun's army, indicating that the Goryeo Dynasty wanted to negotiate peace.

Li Jun's attitude was very clear. If the Goryeo Dynasty wanted to negotiate peace, it was not impossible to talk, but Wang Kai and Li Ziqian had to go out of the city to talk to him together.

The messenger went back and told Wang Kai and Li Ziqian about Li Jun's request.

Li Ziqian's face was ashen, and he said nothing.

Wang Kai burst into tears and said, "How can a monarch go to negotiate peace in person?"

Some people advised Wang Kai to rush out of Luocheng before the Yuan army completely occupied it, escape to Xijing, and then use the whole country's strength to defend the country.

Some people advised Wang Kai to send people to negotiate peace again as soon as possible. Delaying it would definitely not be good for the Goryeo Dynasty.

Others advised Wang Kai to pretend to be friendly with the Yuan people first, and use a delaying tactic to delay for ten days or eight days, and wait for Tuo Junjing to lead the 100,000 troops in Xijing to come to the rescue of the king, and then the matter would be resolved.

Wang Kai, who was unwilling to leave the city, wanted to adopt the latter strategy, that is, to adopt the strategy of deceiving and delaying the Yuan army.

Unexpectedly, after the Yuan army captured the outer city, the civil servants and political cadres of the Yuan Empire immediately began to capture the nobles, wealthy families, and gentry of the Goryeo Dynasty. At the same time, they liberated slaves and servants with great fanfare, exempted civilians and slaves from debts, distributed land and grain, and recruited the Ji army.

Seeing this, Wang Kai and Li Ziqian all secretly said: "It's bad, the Yuan Dynasty wants to destroy the ruling foundation of my Goryeo!"

At the same time, the Yuan army and the Ji army surrounded the inner city tightly.

Seeing this, Jin Fushi advised Wang Kai and Li Ziqian not to be lucky anymore, and quickly distribute weapons and armor to the people in the inner city, mobilize all the people to be soldiers, and prepare to fight the Yuan army in the streets.

But Zheng Zhichang and others persuaded Wang Kai and Li Ziqian that fighting in the streets would be seeking death. For now, only peace talks can save the country.

It was because of the war advocated by Li Ziqian and Jin Bushi that the main force of the Goryeo Jing army was destroyed, and Luocheng was broken by the Yuan army without even a day of defense.

So Wang Kai wanted to adopt Zheng Zhichang's suggestion.

Soon, Le He personally entered the city and said to Wang Kai and Li Ziqian: "The reason why the Yuan army came here is mainly because his Majesty the Emperor wants to ask you two, my Yuan and your Goryeo have no grievances in the past and no hatred in the present, why did you Goryeo help the tyrant to attack my Yuan? Today, the Marshal of the Goryeo attack is outside the city, and I hope you two will leave the city and give me an explanation for the Yuan."

Wang Kai and Li Ziqian told Le He that as long as they were not allowed to leave the city, any conditions could be negotiated.

Le He said that if Wang Kai and Li Ziqian did not leave the city, it meant that they had no sincerity in negotiating peace.

Jin Bushi stepped forward and bluntly stated that the Yuan army asked Wang Kai and Li Ziqian to leave the city in order to hold the emperor hostage to command the princes, take Luocheng without bloodshed, and preserve the accumulation of more than 200 years of the Goryeo Dynasty.

Jin Bushi also threatened Lehe that once the Yuan army attacked the inner city, they would burn all the granaries and warehouses in the inner city and fight to the last soldier, and would never let the Yuan Empire succeed.

Seeing this, Lehe immediately said that if Wang Kai and Li Ziqian were unwilling to leave the city to negotiate peace, it would be fine, and Jin Bushi could go to talk to Li Jun.

Lehe also highly praised Zheng Zhichang, believing that Zheng Zhichang's proposal was for the benefit of the two countries.

Seeing that Lehe valued Zheng Zhichang, Wang Kai immediately asked Zheng Zhichang to personally entertain Lehe.

After Zheng Zhichang accompanied Lehe to rest, Wang Kai and Li Ziqian discussed and appointed Jin Bushi as the peace envoy and asked Jin Bushi to negotiate peace on their behalf.

In this regard, Jin Bushi, who saw through Lehe's sinister intentions, felt sad.

If he didn't go, others would say that Jin Bushi was afraid of death.

There was no way, Jin Bushi could only tell Wang Kai and Li Ziqian not to leave the city, otherwise the Goryeo Dynasty would follow the footsteps of the Zhao Song Dynasty.

Wang Kai and Li Ziqian agreed.

Jin Bushi guessed correctly. As soon as he left the city, he was detained by Li Jun. The peace talks were simply fake.

Next, Li Jun asked Wang Kai and Li Ziqian to leave the city again, and if they didn't leave the city, the Yuan army and the Ji army, which already had 50,000 people, would immediately attack the inner city.

Wang Kai and Li Ziqian, who had no intention of coexisting with the Goryeo Dynasty, could only leave the city to negotiate peace.

Before leaving the city, Wang Kai appointed Zheng Zhichang as the garrison.

Unexpectedly, under the persuasion of Le He, Zheng Zhichang, who had already seen the inevitable demise of the Goryeo Dynasty, led the soldiers and civilians in the inner city to surrender.

Goryeo was destroyed.

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