Ming Jiajing: Starting from Immortality

Chapter 272: Eliminate all evil and stare into the abyss!
The Emperor, Fengtian Chengyun, issued an edict, saying: "I am the most honorable and I am worried day and night. Today, the whole country is united, but the northeast is in turmoil. The rebels are traitors and plotting to secede, and the people are displaced. I am determined to raise a large army to punish them. I hope that the Liaodong army will turn back from their mistakes and give up their military service upon hearing my order. I decree this."

The imperial edict came down, shocking China both inside and outside.

The feathered dispatch flew as fast as sparks.

No one had expected that the commander-in-chief of Liaodong Town, one of the nine towns of the Ming Dynasty, would become a rebel, leading an army of more than 40,000 to invade Goryeo. He conquered dozens of Goryeo cities in a swift manner and even captured Goryeo's secondary capital.

With unstoppable momentum, they advanced towards Seoul, the capital of Goryeo.

The imperial court cut off all the baggage and food supplies to Li Chengliang's army, but it was obvious that Li Chengliang no longer needed them.

More than 40,000 people were "foraging" on the peninsula that accommodated five million people, and they could not starve.

Perhaps, the only problem for Li Chengliang's army is that weapons such as firearms and crossbows are no longer available.

But Li Chengliang was well prepared. While serving as the commander-in-chief of Liaodong Town, he hid them along the Yalu River under the pretext of stockpiling a large number of firearms, crossbow arrows and other consumables.

The huge number became Li Chengliang's biggest trump card.

The Embroidered Uniform Guard arrested Zhao Ji, the governor of Liaodong, in Liaodong Town on charges of corruption, favoritism and abuse of power, and took control of the eunuch Gao Huai, the mine supervisor and tax collector.

Zhao Ji was executed by slow slicing in Liaodong Town in front of countless people.

All his family members were beheaded.

It attracted cheers from countless Liaodong people.

And Gao Huai.

He was a member of the inner court, and the Jinyiwei originally wanted to escort him back to the capital and hand him over to the Dongchang factory for legal action.

However, Huang Jin, the chief eunuch of the Imperial Household Department and the commander-in-chief of the Eastern Depot, went to Liaodong Town in person and wanted to execute Gao Huai in front of the people of Liaodong.

Although he was a eunuch and had no descendants, it did not mean that he had no family. Gao Huai's family "ascended to heaven" after he became the mine supervisor and tax collector of Liaodong.

Huang Jin also asked people to bring all the members of Gao's family along to send Gao Huai and his family to truly "ascend to heaven"!
Of the three evil men in Liaodong, one is dead, one is about to die, and only Li Chengliang escaped.

Yu Dayou led 10,000 Liaodong troops across the Yalu River and recaptured ten Goryeo cities including Lianke and Gaimu from Li Chengliang's former troops without bloodshed.

In the name of preventing a counterattack by Li Chengliang's army, they took over the Anshi City of the Goryeo Kingdom. Afterwards, they did not advance further as planned and waited for the arrival of reinforcements from the Bukwon Construction Corps.

During the period of suspension, Yu Dayou asked the Koreans to go to the south to spread the message that Li Chengliang was rebellious and that the 40,000 Liao troops wanted to return to the right path.

However, motivated by killing and money, the 40,000 Liao troops had long been blinded. Although some Liao army officers raised doubts, they were arrested and killed by Li Chengcai, the younger brother of Li Chengliang, who served as a military officer and supervisor, on the grounds that they had not seen the imperial edict and spread rumors to confuse the people.

The army of Li Chengliang and the army of King Goryeo rushed in two directions, and the distance of 300 miles was reached in a flash.

The two armies were less than a hundred miles apart, and they tacitly chose to march slowly, conserve their strength, and prepare for a decisive battle.

Goryeo King's tent. Lee Jun-gyeong, the head of the Goryeo Kingdom, reported: "Your Majesty, the envoys who went to Ming have returned. The Ming court has cleared the issue of the undeclared war, claiming that Lee Seong-liang's behavior was treason, and sent the Ming army to encircle Lee Seong-liang. The Ming court hopes that our country will rely on the advantages of terrain and people to defend, wait for the arrival of the Ming army, and attack from both sides to punish the traitors together."

Similar to the cabinet of the Ming Dynasty, the power center of the Goryeo Kingdom was called the Council of Government, and the head of the Council of Government was the Prime Minister, who was equivalent to the chief minister of the cabinet of the Ming Dynasty.

Li Yan, who was 27 years old at the time and had been the king for 16 years, waved his hands and said, "Shang Xiang (same title as the cabinet minister), the Ming court has been coveting the rich land and silver of our Goryeo for a long time. These treacherous Ming people cannot be trusted.

The ten thousand troops led by the great Ming general Yu Dayou were reluctant to move, but first captured dozens of cities in Goryeo and opened the door to our plain, which was enough to show his wolfish ambition.

Regardless of whether Li Chengliang was supported by the Ming court or not, he dared to invade Goryeo with only 30,000 to 40,000 people, killing Goryeo people and looting Goryeo's money. I had to kill him to vent my hatred.

I am not a weak king. I was born in palace fighting and grew up in scholar disasters. When I was 20 years old, more than 60 Japanese pirate ships that returned from plundering the coast of Ming Dynasty came to plunder the coast of Dalyangpo and Lijinpo in Lingyan County, Jeolla Province. Dalyang City was lost, and Han Yun, the governor of Jangheung Prefecture, was killed in the battle. Afterwards, they defeated Jin Bin, the right water governor of Jeolla, and turned to attack Zhendao.

My Goryeo almost fell into the hands of Japanese pirates, but I was not afraid. I personally led the imperial army to quell the rebellion. In Lingyan City, I personally defeated the attack of the Japanese pirates and finally expelled them.

No matter how ruthless Li Chengliang was, could he be more ruthless than the Japanese pirates? No matter how sharp Li Chengliang's sword was, could it be more ruthless than the Japanese sword?
In short, the battle force is 150,000 to 40,000, and the advantage is on me!"

The two countries were neighbors and had a vassal relationship. Li He was very clear about the two major wars that took place in the Ming Dynasty.

The Ming court won a great victory over the Japanese pirates in the southeast. This was accomplished by Li He in Lingyan City a few years ago. After that battle, the Japanese pirates dared not to invade again.

In Li He's eyes, the performance of the Ming court's southeastern army was very poor. It took two hundred years to suppress the Japanese pirates and pacify the sea.

The Ming court won a great victory over the Jurchens in its northern expedition, and to the north of Goryeo there were only the Jurchens on the other side of the river. Although they occasionally invaded, they were basically repelled with one strike.

Li He couldn't understand how a group of just a few hundred thousand people, whom even Goryeo couldn't get close to, could become a major threat to the Liaodong Town of the Ming Dynasty for hundreds of years.

The Ming court's army in the southeast was incompetent, and the army in Liaodong was even worse.

The king's love of war always makes the generals in the country happy. The two generals in the tent, Nan Zhiqin and Jin Jingxi, immediately praised the king: "Your Majesty, your opinion is great!"

These two were the ones who followed Li He to expel the Japanese pirates from Lingyan City. They were Li He's most trusted confidants. Once they opened their mouths, they received the support of other civil servants and military generals in the account.

Li Junqing couldn't help but twitch the corners of his mouth. Although the king had been on the throne for a long time, he had not been in power for long. Before that, the court was controlled by his uncle. Not long after he took power, the Battle of Lingyan City took place. The victory in that battle became a matter of pride for the king. If it weren't for this group of old ministers stopping him, he would most likely have raised troops and fought to the other side of the river.

When the king talked about Li Chengliang and Yu Dayou, the contempt and shrewdness in his eyes always gave Li Junqing a bad feeling.

Your Majesty, you wouldn't think that everyone in the world is like this just because you defeated the Japanese pirates once, right?

The Ming army is on Goryeo soil, and the Goryeo army in the king's mind is probably on Ming soil.

You are attacking me, but how do you know that I am also thinking about attacking you!

Li Junqing had seen the military might of the Zhengde and early Jiajing dynasties, so he advised, "Your Majesty, I think you should obey the orders of the Ming court and wait for the Ming army to come and eliminate the rebellion..."

Li He interrupted him and said dissatisfiedly: "My king has made up his mind. Come, put on your armor, I want to fight!"

(End of this chapter)