When Li Yuntian returned to Seoul, it was already mid-April, and after leaving Qinghe Town, he did not rush back to the town, but went to the nearby prefectures and counties to explore the local people's livelihood on the spot, and at the same time to avoid the intensifying power struggle in Seoul.

Since Li Ji's charges were revealed, Li Ji and Huang Xi have engaged in a new contest around the future heir to the throne of Joseon, and Li Ji has introduced Li Xuan, the Grand Prince of Linying, so Huang Xi is not to be outdone to support Li Yu, the Grand Prince of Guangping.

Although Li Yu was succeeded by the king of Joseon to Li Fangfan, the prince of Fu'an, after all, he was the concubine of the king of Joseon and had the qualifications to inherit the throne, and in this way, he could also get Li Fangfan's full help.

Even Yoo Sang-min, who has always been low-key, is very close to Li Yu, the king of Geumseong, and has the intention of promoting Li Yu as the future king of Joseon.

This made the Seoul officialdom fall into a three-way scuffle, whether it was Li Xuan or Li Yu and Li Yu had the possibility of inheriting the throne, the key was to see who could get Li Yuntian's favor and then get Li Yuntian's recommendation.

Li Yuntian was naturally aware of the chaotic situation in Seoul, so he deliberately stayed in the field, and the more fiercely Li Ji, Huang Xi and Liu Shangmin fought, the more he could profit from it.

On the afternoon of Li Yuntian's return to Seoul, the imperial emperor's royal approval for Li Yao's murder of the king of Joseon also arrived, and Li Yao was sentenced to death by hanging, executed after the autumn, and exiled to the frontier by his family because he had committed the heinous crime.

Judging from the imperial approval of the orthodox emperor, he only wanted to kill Li Yao alone, and his family was lucky to escape with his life, which means that the orthodox emperor has been extrajudicially merciful, otherwise everyone in the Shouyang Maharaja's mansion will be implicated and executed.

The people in the officialdom of Seoul knew that the reason why Li Yao's family was able to get the favor of the orthodox emperor was because Li Yuntian interceded for them, otherwise Li Yao's crime would not be executed by Ling Chi and would be divided into five horses.

For his part, Li Yuntian was more than happy to see the chaos in Seoul officialdom, so that the energy of Li Ji, Huang Hee, and Yoo Sang-min and others was absorbed in the infighting, and he would not notice the changes that were quietly taking place in the Korean Eight Provinces.

There is another important thing in the imperial approval of the orthodox emperor, that is, to ask Li Yuntian to recommend a prince with both ability and integrity to inherit the throne of the king of Joseon.

In other words, the orthodox emperor handed over the power of choosing the king of Joseon to Li Yuntian, and it was obvious that as long as Li Yuntian reported a person, the orthodox emperor would allow him to succeed to the throne of Joseon.

At this time, Li Yuntian, who was already competing for the tripartite forces of Li Ji, Huang Xi and Liu Shangmin, became a sweetheart, and Li Ji, Huang Xi and Liu Shangmin tried their best to curry favor with him, hoping that Li Yuntian could support the monarch they pushed to inherit the throne.

Li Yuntian had a plan in his heart, so he adopted a strategy of appeasement for Li Ji, Huang Xi and Liu Shangmin, deliberately did not show his attitude, and put on an unfathomable posture, so that Li Ji, Huang Xi and Liu Shangmin could not figure out his details.

In fact, whether it is Li Xuan, Li Yu, or Li Yu, if their fate has been decided by Li Yuntian a long time ago, it will become a springboard for the Ming Dynasty to annex Korea.

After Li Jue and Li Yao capsized in the gutter one after another, the several monarchs who were qualified to inherit the Joseon State were unable to become successful and could not suppress the various forces of the Korean officialdom, so even if they became the king of Joseon, they would be hollowed out by the ministers of the following factions, and then become a puppet.

One evening in early June, Li Yuntian was drinking in the courtyard of his residence in the backyard of the Hancheng Office of the Jiangwutang and enjoying Liu Zhen's latest choreography, and the atmosphere was festive and relaxed.

Li Yuntian was in a very good mood; thanks to the efforts of Ming army officials in various localities, the Korean country, which had quelled the war, will usher in a good harvest this year, which will be enough to solve the food and clothing problems of the people, and all matters are being carried out in an orderly manner, so that the Korean state after the war will present a scene of vitality, and all walks of life will be in ruins.

"Xianggong, recently, many people have been knocking on the side to inquire about the concubine, wanting to know which prince is going to recommend to succeed to the throne, and when is Xianggong going to announce the candidate?" After the dance, Liu Zhen walked forward with a smile and poured a glass of wine for Li Yuntian, and then sat down in the seat next to him.

The dancers then took the stage and danced to the sound of music, these people were all disciples of Yoo Jin in Seoul, and they were quite spiritual in their dancing skills.

"They are in a hurry, but now that the truth about the murder of the king of Joseon has been revealed, the throne of Joseon really should not be empty anymore."

Li Yuntian picked up the wine glass and tasted the wine inside, and smiled at Liu Zhen, "You find an opportunity to spread it out, saying that Li Xuan, the king of Linying, is virtuous, benevolent, filial and humble, and has the style of a king." ”

"The concubine has written it down." Liu Zhen smiled when she heard this, she had long known that Li Yuntian would choose Li Xuan, not because of how good Li Xuan was, but because Li Xuan's age was just right.

Li Xuan is now twenty-two years old, while Li Yu is only seventeen years old, and Li Yu is sixteen years old, so Li Yuntian will definitely choose an adult to be the king of the Korean state, because he already has the ability to handle government affairs alone and issue orders, and this is exactly what Li Yuntian needs.

"Xianggong, I'm afraid Jin Zongrui is already restless now, right? Do you think he still wants to go back to commanding the troops? At this time, Hongluan, who was sitting on the other side of Li Yuntian, remembered something and said to Li Yuntian with a smile.

"When is Xianggong going to dry him?" Liu Zhen also laughed when he heard this, and couldn't help but ask with some curiosity.

"Let's wait until Li Xuan's matter is over." Li Yuntian smiled slightly and replied methodically, slowly tasting the wine in the wine glass in his hand.

Since Li Yuntian forced Jin Zongrui back from the northeast, it was naturally impossible for him to return to the mountains, so Jin Zongrui was left in Seoul to assist Li Ji, Huang Xi and Liu Shangmin in handling the affairs of the government.

It is said that he is assisting in the affairs of the parliamentary government, but in fact Kim Jong-seo is inevitably caught in the party struggle in Seoul over the future king of Joseon, and Lee Ji, Hwang Hee, and Yoo Sang-min are trying to woo him and Choi Yun-deok, the two commanders with heavy troops, so that Kim Jong-seo has to be tired of coping.

What is particularly important is that Jin Zongrui has another thing that worries him, that is, the Orthodox Emperor's holy decree to open trade to Korea has not been carried down, and he can hold a lot of land deeds for the port of Incheon in his hands, if the Ming Dynasty does not open trade to Korea, then the land deeds in his hands will become a pile of waste paper.

Although Li Yuntian lent 25,000 taels of silver to Jin Zongrui through Park Gaode in an interest-free manner at that time, Jin Zongrui did not need to worry about interest, but as an IOU, the repayment period was also indicated, and Jin Zongrui would return all the principal to Park Gaode within two years.

If, as expected by Lee Yuncheon and Park Go-deok to Kim Jong-seo last year, as long as the orthodox emperor opens up trade to the Joseon state and makes the port of Incheon an official wharf, the price of land in the port of Incheon will rise rapidly, and repaying the money will be just a piece of cake.

However, it has been almost a year, and the orthodox emperor has not issued such a holy decree, which makes Jin Zongrui a little anxious, after all, it will take some time from the holy decree to the gathering of merchants.

Twenty-five thousand taels of silver, Jin Zongrui can't get together so much money even if he smashes the pot and sells iron, although Park Gaode has a good relationship with him, but the money is borrowed by Li Yuntian, once something happens at that time, Li Yuntian asks him to repay the money, Jin Zongrui will be helpless.

For merchants, Jin Zongrui still despised these money slaves in his heart, and did not think that mercenary merchants had any faith at all, so he had to prepare in advance.

Therefore, Kim Jong-seo is also secretly paying attention to the land price of Incheon Port and the buyers who want to buy land there, and if something goes wrong, he can also throw away the land in his hand in time.

However, Kim Jong-rui was extremely disappointed by the results of the inquiry, the land price of Incheon Port has fallen a little bit compared to last year when he bought the land, and the most important thing is that there is almost no demand for land in the Incheon Port, so there is no buyer who wants to buy the land.

Kim Jong-seo wanted to ask Park Jong-deok when the orthodox emperor would issue a decree to open up trade to Korea, but Park Jong-deok was a businessman who traveled from south to north, so since he bought the land of Incheon Port, he left Seoul to do business, and Kim Jong-seo did not know where he was.

In fact, what frustrated Jin Zongrui the most was that he privately tried to ask someone to inquire about the people from the Hancheng Office of Wutang, but the people in the Ministry of Affairs did not know that the Orthodox Emperor was going to open up trade to Korea, which made his mood fall to a freezing point.

However, at this moment, Jin Zongrui did not feel that he had fallen into a trap, after all, this kind of major matter of opening up commerce and trade to this kind of major matter is a core secret of the state, and it is normal for people in the Seoul Affairs Office of Wutang to not know about it.

Besides, Kim Jong-seo would never have imagined that someone would calculate him with 25,000 taels of silver for Bai Huahua, after all, he still held the title deed of Incheon Port, and Incheon Port was indeed the best place to become a port for foreign trade.

Therefore, what Kim Jong-seo is looking forward to most now is to get the decree of the orthodox emperor to open up trade to Korea, otherwise he will worry about the day when the matter drags on.

It is worth mentioning that Jin Zongrui has never seen Li Yuntian since he came to Seoul, and even Cui Yunde, who came later than him, has been summoned by Li Yuntian, so everyone in the officialdom in Seoul knows that Li Yuntian does not like Jin Zongrui, who once refused his recall.

Even Jin Zongrui thought so, thinking that Li Yuntian was deliberately hanging him, but what is strange is that Li Yuntian did not attack Jin Zongrui, you must know that Li Yuntian wants to seize Jin Zongrui's official position and military power, and now everyone in the officialdom of Seoul is looking at it with his horse's head.

No one would have thought that Li Yuntian was actually already calculating Jin Zongrui, and he wanted to use his own way to make Jin Zongrui submit.