They wanted to compete with the Ming Army, but the main force of the Ming Army did not have the energy to fight with them. Xiao Ruxun stationed the main force of the army in the south of Pyongyang and sent Wu Weizhong, Qian Shizhen, and other generals who were good at training soldiers to train the North Koreans in the shortest time possible. This way, the North Koreans would be able to recover the recovered Hamgyong and Hwanghae provinces. They had the manpower, but there was no organization or scale. Most of the North Korean generals were incompetent. Even though they had recovered the land, they could not begin to reoccupy it and restore the administration.
?
While fighting against Japan and working for North Korea at the same time, Xiao Ruxun felt that she had given her all.
More than half a month had passed, and the issue of rations had to be taken seriously. Initially, the rations were only enough for two and a half months, and now, there were less than two months left. Furthermore, the North Koreans were unable to provide more rations in the short term. Xiao Ruxun could only send a letter to Song Yingchang, asking him to hurry up and gather rations. She did not want to wait for the army to run out of rations and delay the battle.
At the same time, Xiao Ruxun also gave Liu Chenlong a death order. He said, "I will soon push the GCH to Kaesong and command the decisive battle in Seoul. However, if my food is not in place, I will not start the war. I will confront the Japanese across the Imjin River. As long as the food is not in place, I will not start the war. Depending on the situation, I will even withdraw my troops."
Liu Chenglong and Li Gui were used to Xiao Ruxun's stubbornness and strength, so they were not surprised. Two of the three capitals of Korea were about to be restored, and part of the Gangwon Province was about to be restored, and half of Korea was about to be restored. The Great Ming Empire had only been at war for less than a month, and they had already dealt with the Japanese like this. They were truly worthy of being called heavenly soldiers.
With a valiant battle record as a foundation, Xiao Ruxun was very confident. The North Korean officials also did not dare to harass High Admiral Xiao, for fear that they would be captured and beaten up by High Admiral Xiao and lose all face.
The ministers were busy with their work, while the henchmen were busy criticizing Yin Doushou. The Westerners Party had been in the limelight for too long, and after being scolded harshly by Xiao Ruxun, the King of Korea, Lee Si, had also started to distance himself from Yin Doushou, fearing that Xiao Ruxun would be unhappy. The Southerners Party and the Northerners Party finally had the opportunity to join forces, and restored the momentum of the Easterners Party in the past, wanting to crush the Westerners Party in one go.
Xiao Ruxun fought desperately with the Japanese, and the Southerners and Northerners were also fighting desperately with the Westerners. The war on both sides was very fierce.
At the same time, the struggle in the Daming Imperial Court was quite fierce. Although the Daming Imperial Court reluctantly passed the motion that "protecting North Korea is protecting China", and sending troops to North Korea was carried out, but from the beginning of September, when Xiao Ruxun arrived in Liaodong to prepare for the war, until the latest news, October 30th, there was still no news from Liaodong and North Korea that Xiao Ruxun was going to war with Japan, which made the officials very dissatisfied.
The Liaodong officials who originally supported Li Rusong began to make things difficult for Xiao Ruxun. They thought that Xiao Ruxun was still too young and inexperienced. He had just taken office, and he must have made a mess of things. He was still too inexperienced, and if it was Li Rusong who was the commander, it would definitely not be like this. They all proposed to remove Xiao Ruxun from the position of commander and replace him with Li Rusong.
The group of people who supported Xiao Ruxun strongly opposed it. They thought that before the war started, it was taboo to replace the commander. What they said was only one side of the story. Which eye of yours saw that Xiao Ruxun was incompetent? There were many things that needed to be prepared when the guest army entered North Korea. If they were to be like Zu Chengxun and be defeated again, where would the Daming Imperial Court's face be? Did they still want North Korea? A bunch of armchair strategists who would harm the country!
The civil officials of the Liaodong Clique were furious. Although they knew that such a statement was purely speculative, the basic essence of political struggle was not to admit defeat. Even if they were rude, they had to quibble and fight for their dignity.
They argued one after another, and the world was turned upside down. In the future, the political struggle between the Donglin Party and the eunuch's party, the Chu Party, and the Zhejiang Party had basically taken shape.
As the arbiter of all this, Zhu Yijun was actually happy to see this scene. Part of the reason he supported the war was because he knew the importance of North Korea, but the more important reason was to give himself, who had been exhausted by the struggle for the foundation of the country, an opportunity to relax and think about countermeasures.
Zhu Yijun did not doubt the need to prepare for the war in North Korea. He ignored the memorials of the ministers accusing Xiao Ruxun of having too many troops or accusing Xiao Ruxun of being timid. At this time, he was in his palace teaching his beloved son, Zhu Changxun.
Zhu Changxun was Zhu Yijun's second son. Although he was not the legitimate son, his status was much better than Zhu Changluo's, whose mother was a palace maid. Emotionally, Zhu Yijun was also more acceptable. Zhu Yijun disliked that palace maid very much. At that time, he was drunk and impulsive. Who knew that he would hit the mark and become pregnant. Under the current situation, Zhu Yijun probably regretted his actions to the point of his intestines turning green. He hated himself for not controlling his lower half at that time.
According to the etiquette system, the eldest son had to be the legitimate son. Although Zhu Changluo was only the son of a palace maid, he occupied the position of the eldest son. Although Zhu Changxun was the son of the much higher status Imperial Concubine Zheng, because Imperial Concubine Zheng was not the empress, he was only the second son of a concubine. Although his status was much higher, he could not gain any advantage in the etiquette system. Zhu Yijun was especially troubled by this.
However, Zhu Changluo's status made the ministers even happier.
The ministers were determined to fight the emperor for the foundation of the country not only to uphold the etiquette system and the so-called order, but also for a deeper reason.
No minister liked a strong emperor.
There were many kinds of strong emperors, and there were many factors. However, there was no exception for a weak emperor. He had no external help. Zhu Changluo's mother was only a lowly palace maid whose parents had passed away. She had no status in the palace and no external connections. Zhu Changluo's maternal family, which he could rely on the most, could not provide him with any strength. He was truly alone and could only compromise with the ministers.
Thinking about Zhu Yijun's mother, she was one of the members of Daming's Iron Triangle in the first ten years of the Wanli era. She was a strong person. She joined forces with Zhang Juzheng and Feng Bao to carry out a very threatening sweep of the power of the landlords in Daming. Her momentum was so fierce that it was comparable to Shang Yang's reform. Unfortunately, Zhang Juzheng went too far and offended Zhu Yijun. In the end, he was liquidated and died.
Everyone hurriedly put Zhu Yijun on a pedestal, and he was finally able to breathe for a few years. Then, when Zhu Yijun came back to his senses and realized that he had been tricked, he used Zhang Juzheng's methods to fight with the officials, both in the open and in the dark, to take back what he should have.
Therefore, the ministers absolutely did not want another strong emperor to appear, even someone like Zhu Yijun could not accept it. Zhu Changxun was favored by Zhu Yijun. Once he was appointed as the crown prince, Zhu Yijun would definitely teach him his unique skills and let him continue to challenge the civil officials under his banner. As long as Zhu Changxun's IQ was normal, he would at least be at the level of Zhu Yijun.
On the other hand, Zhu Changxun's mother's family, the Zheng family, was prosperous and in line with Daming's rule of conferring titles to relatives of the imperial court. It was enough for Zhu Changxun to use it as an arm. Although they could not hold real power, they still had the function of making money for Zhu Changxun and keeping the ministers in check. Once Zhu Changxun came of age and ascended the throne, he would learn from Zhu Yijun's methods. Then, what awaited the ministers would be a terrifying purge.
The fight for the foundation of the country was also a fight for the future of the civil officials. They only wanted to make the emperor a mascot and take power themselves. The emperor only needed to live a comfortable life, and Daming might even carry out a glorious revolution like the British. However, the ideological confinement of Cheng and Zhu Zhu's Confucianism, the bad environment inherent in China's internal party struggles, and the abnormal products such as eunuchs made the process extremely complicated and bizarre, even a little strange.
More than once, Xiao Ruxun had imagined that if they were given enough time, they might form the "Senate" of Daming. With the slow reform, they would eventually move towards an aristocratic republic system, with the emperor of the Zhu family as a mascot and complete the process of establishing a constitutional monarchy. However, it was obvious that in China at the end of the sixteenth century, the terrible Ice Age that would descend in another twenty years would not give Daming this chance.
Perhaps some people thought that this was a model of the civil officials restricting the imperial power and a precursor of democracy. However, the ugly faces of these people also made Xiao Ruxun realize that these scholars had never thought about democracy, and they would not think about democracy. They did this to enter the highest class of exploitation by any means possible and enjoy a lifetime of glory, splendor, wealth, and the power of life and death. That was all. They would never bring democracy to China, never!
If he went with the flow and allowed these scholars to continue to toss and turn, then even if he did his best to eliminate the Jurchen Mongols, build a firearm army, promote scientific development and productivity, and let Daming continue, he did not know how many years it would take for Daming to move towards a bright path.
Instead of pinning his hope on the scholars, it was better to pin it on himself.
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