There were definitely gentry in the world who loved their country and were willing to sacrifice themselves for it.
There were also people in the ruling class who had lofty ideals and ambitions and were unwavering in their determination.
Not all rulers were cold-blooded political creatures.
It could only be said that most were like this, not all. Moreover, being cold-blooded was an excellent quality of a political creature. Those who were not cold-blooded and heartless were the outliers.
Liu Chenlong belonged to this small group of insignificant people.
He was a member of the gentry class, the upper echelon of the ruling class. Compared to another high-ranking figure of the ruling class, Quan Yi, he was undoubtedly noble.
However, his nobility was his personal cultivation and behavior, and had nothing to do with the entire class.
Lee Korea had been deeply influenced by the gentry since the founding of the country. The founding king, Lee Seunggyeok, overthrew Korea and established Korea mostly with the help of the gentry. Just like Liu Xiu's founding of the Eastern Han Dynasty, his success was inseparable from the gentry's help. Therefore, from the beginning of Lee Korea, the king of Korea was not the autocratic one, and the king's power was greatly limited.
This was different from how the gentry of Daming used a hundred years to successfully rise to power. They were the masters of the country from the beginning.
The land, resources, and population were basically controlled by the gentry led by the two groups of ministers. They were even scarier than Daming, almost reaching the level of the Northern Song Dynasty.
Korea was a typical country with a strong landlord. It could even be called a "constitutional monarchy" type of country in some people's fantasy. In other words, the monarch did not have much power, and the ministers had a lot of power, and could even refute the monarch's decisions.
Like the previous Daming, the central government was the central government, and the local regions were the local regions. These gentry controlled the local land, population, and resources. Since ancient times, political changes had always been dynasty changes, and the local regions did not change. There were very few major changes that could change the world.
At first, it was the nobles, then the gentry, and then the gentry. The local regions were always controlled by them.
They took it for granted that they were the pillar of the country, the foundation of the country, and they were the whole of the country. Without them, the country would be finished, and it would be a mess.
Therefore, no matter how the rulers changed, they were always the masters of the country, and the masters behind the scenes. On the surface, the emperor was just a spokesperson.
No matter who became the Emperor, no matter who came to rule, they still had to rely on them to rule the country and the ignorant people. Without them ruling the country for the Emperor, the country would cease to exist.
As Lu Su said to Sun Quan before Cao Cao went south, Sun Quan could not surrender, but the ministers could. Behind them were the big families with deep roots in the region. They had land, resources, and people in their hands. If Cao Cao wanted to rule steadily, he had to compromise with them. Otherwise, it would lead to subversive civil strife.
Since ancient times, the change of dynasties had basically followed this pattern.
Even if the country was in danger of being destroyed, as long as the aristocrats held the local resources and population and didn't oppose them, the invading party would cooperate and compromise with them. There was no such thing as exterminating the aristocrats to the last one, unless the barbarian tribes invaded. In that case, the aristocrats would have nothing to say. They only knew how to kill, just like the current Jurchen invasion.
But for Quan Li, first of all, his family was not in danger. Second, he believed that the Daqin would soon send troops to clean up these barbarians. Once the Daqin set out, these barbarians would also retreat. Therefore, this war didn't need to be fought with much effort at all.
No matter what, before and after the war, his status would not change. His family still stood on the land of North Korea, and he was still a member of the aristocratic family, a member of the ruling class. If Li Zhi wanted to punish him, he would have to weigh his own weight first.
Most aristocrats thought like this. They were too powerful, and the ruler had to compromise. In the face of war, they had more choices. They could join the enemy camp to continue the survival of their families and continue their good lives. The people who died were all civilians, and it had nothing to do with them.
Liu Chenlong was just a person, a person that Quan Li didn't think well of.
What kind of courage and responsibility did he need to take the initiative to take on this hot potato that others couldn't get rid of?
Did he really want to die for this country and that weak and incompetent king?
Didn't he think about his family and future?
Quan Li couldn't understand Liu Chenlong, but it didn't matter. Since he was eager to die, Quan Li didn't stop him. It was impossible to give him all the troops. He still needed the troops to protect himself and his family. He would look at the situation, and if the situation turned bad, he still had to save his family.
Quan Li didn't hand over his position. He only left 3,000 troops to Liu Chenlong and left the Jade Hoof House with the rest of the troops.
It would be easy to explain in the future.
Liu Chenlong came to seek refuge with him. He appointed Liu Chenlong as his deputy to lead the troops to protect Han City, and he himself led the troops to fight against the Jurchen barbarians in the Gangwon Province.
There were no barbarians in the Gangwon Province …
Quan Li left quickly. Not only did he leave, but he also took more than half of the grain with him. Liu Chenlong didn't stop him.
It was the autumn harvest season. Because of the barbarian invasion, there were a lot of grain that hadn't been harvested in time. The first order Liu Chenlong gave was to order his soldiers to harvest the grain for military use.
As the saying goes, when you have grain in hand, you don't panic. As long as he had grain in hand, Liu Chenlong wasn't worried that his soldiers would collapse. As the leader of the government, Liu Chenlong believed that he had a certain degree of deterrence to the soldiers.
Just as he had expected, the news of him replacing Quan Li in the army did not cause any unrest in the army. Most of the soldiers accepted this fact and ate a full meal under Liu Chenlong's arrangement. Then, they obeyed his order and followed him to open the city.
He also took the General of Han City, Zheng Weiguang, to Kaesong. He only left 500 troops in Han City as a symbolic gesture.
In Liu Chenlong's view, if he died in Kaesong, Han City would be defenseless. He didn't need to pay attention to it at all, and no other troops in the entire Gyeonggi Province would rise up to resist.
However, he had less than 5,000 troops in his hands. Liu Chenlong could only use his reputation to recruit people he met along the way to the south to join the army.
He told these people that he had grain, and they could eat it if they followed him. If they continued to go south, they might starve to death.
Many people joined the army just to have a full meal. However, the situation was different now. They went south to escape the attack of the Jurchen barbarians. It was not easy for them to turn back. No matter how famous Liu Chenlong was, only about 1,000 people joined his army.
He recruited soldiers along the way, and by the time he reached Kaicheng, it was the 15th of October. He had a little more than six thousand soldiers under him, and his equipment was replenished in Kaicheng, including some weapons and firearms, as well as a batch of food.
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