Seoul.

It is reported that after Yi Sung-gye established the Joseon Dynasty, he felt that the royal spirit of Goryeo's Wangjing Kaesong was already very weak, so Kwon Zhonghe, Chung Do-chuan and others chose a good place to build a new capital in Hanyang, north of the Han River.

The geographical location of Seoul is very superior, surrounded by mountains and waters, with Bukhansan Mountain and Bukakksan Mountain in the north, Naksan Mountain and Yongma Mountain in the east, Inwangsan Mountain in the west, Namsan Mountain and Gwanaksan Mountain south of the Hangang River in the south, and the Hangang River surrounds the south of the city from east to west.

In ancient times, Feng Shui was very important to the emperor, whether it was the location of the royal city or the construction of the royal palace, it was necessary to follow the theory of Feng Shui.

This is the second time Li Yuntian has come to Seoul, and unlike the previous time, he did not hide his identity anymore, but came with the dignity of Prince Daming.

The officials who stayed in Seoul led the soldiers and civilians out of the city to greet each other, and the road along the way was full of people who came to see the excitement, all of them looked excited, Li Yuntian's arrival meant that the food and other materials aided by the Ming Dynasty had arrived, and they could finally have a full meal.

Li Yuntian lifted the corner of the curtain and looked out, his brows were slightly furrowed, the people on the side of the road were not only in shabby clothes, yellow and thin, but also looked a little sluggish mentally, and their faces were filled with a sickly flush that emerged because of excitement.

"Alas!" Li Yuntian sighed helplessly and lowered the curtains, Seoul is the most prosperous and prosperous place in North Korea, I didn't expect the people in the city to be like this, so the situation in other places can be imagined.

After entering Seoul, Li Yuntian did not go to the residence arranged for him by Li Yao, but went straight to the Hancheng Office of the Jiangwutang, and when he was in Seoul, he would live in this office of the Jiangwutang, which was his consistent style of acting.

In addition to safety and comfort, Li Yuntian chose to live in the Jiangwutang Seoul Office because of another important factor, and that was his level.

In the system of the Ming Empire, the king of each vassal state was the king of the county, and Li Yuntiangui was the prince, which meant that there was no suitable place for Li Yuntian to live in the entire Korean state.

Of course, Li Yuntian will definitely not live in Gyeongbokgung Palace, and if he lives in the palace of the King of Joseon at this time, it will not only be inappropriate, but also attract unnecessary criticism.

As for the State Guest House of the Korean State, it is okay to receive those ordinary envoys who came from the Ming Dynasty, but Li Yuntian is a prince, how can he go to the State Guest House with the prestige of a prince?

Zheng Jie, the secretary of the Seoul Division, asked Li Yuntian, Liu Zhen, and Hongluan to live in one of the most elegant courtyards, and reported to Li Yuntian the latest situation in North Korea.

Zheng Jie was a student of the first phase of the Jiangwutang, and participated in the pacification of the rebellion of the Han Dynasty and Jiaozhi, as well as Li Yuntian's defeat of the Northern Yuan soldiers in Liaodong, and can be described as the veteran of the Jiangwutang.

It is worth mentioning that Zheng Jie is also Zheng Wanrou's cousin, who participated in the examination of the new martial arts under the encouragement of Zheng Wanrou and was able to enter the lecture hall for further study.

Since its establishment, the Seoul Office of Jiangwutang Seoul is both an administrative department and an intelligence agency, and since its establishment, it has continuously transmitted information from the Korean state back to the Ming Dynasty, so that the Ming Dynasty can grasp the first-hand information in Korea in a timely manner.

In fact, the overseas offices of the Shobudo have become similar to the embassies of later generations, shouldering administrative, military, and economic functions.

"Where are the survivors of Gyeongbokgung Palace?" After Zheng Jie's report, Li Yuntian pondered for a while and asked quietly, these people witnessed everything that happened in Gyeongbokgung Palace that night.

"Lord Wang, the lower officials have their whereabouts, and they can be found at any time if the prince needs them." Zheng Jie bowed down and replied when he heard this, in order to prevent Li Yao from killing all the people in Gyeongbokgung Palace, he specially sent someone to pretend to be Li Jue's guards into the palace and rescued some palace maids and eunuchs.

Since those people fled Gyeongbokgung Palace, Zheng Jie's people began to secretly follow them, and some of them failed to escape from Seoul in time, only to be found by Li Jiao's soldiers and lost their lives, and the rest fled from Seoul far away, living incognito.

"No, let them take the initiative to find the ****, so that the effect is better." Li Yuntian shook his head when he heard this, a smile appeared on the corner of his mouth, and when the outside world knew that he had come to thoroughly investigate the cause of the death of the king of Joseon, those people would definitely come to Seoul to testify, and it was much better than passively going to them.

"Lord Wang, Xiaguan recently received an unconfirmed secret report, although Jin Zongrui and Cui Yunde have a hostile relationship on the surface, they seem to have reached an agreement to cooperate in private, which makes the troops of the two sides in a standoff but no serious conflict has broken out."

Zheng Jie remembered something at this time, and opened his mouth to report to Li Yuntianyu, "Xiaguan has already asked people to go and investigate carefully to see if Jin Zongrui and Cui Yunde have anything to do with each other secretly. ”

"Sure enough, he is worthy of being a courtier who is relied on by the king of Joseon, and he can think of using this method to preserve his strength." Li Yuntian couldn't help but laugh when he heard this.

The so-called groundless, although Zheng Jie's news has not been verified, he feels that nine times out of ten it is true, otherwise how could the old foxes Jin Zongrui and Cui Yunde be safe and sound, and they must have reached some agreement in private.

I have to say that Kim Jong-seo and Choi Yun-deok's approach is the most sensible, so that they can not only keep the elite troops of the Korean State, but also the two of them will become the powerful ministers of the Korean State with the troops at hand, and they will reuse him whether Li Yao or Li Jue ascends the throne, which can be described as killing two birds with one stone.

"Lord Wang, what do you mean is that the two of them have played a bitter trick, and deliberately put on a show for the outside world in order to protect themselves."

Zheng Jie's face showed a look of surprise, if he remembered correctly, Jin Zongrui and Cui Yande seemed to have sent troops to support Li Yao and Li Jue, and there were constant skirmishes between them, he thought that the two sides were just afraid of each other, but he didn't expect to have such thoughts.

"Kim Jong-seo and Choi Yun-deok are both confidants of the king of Joseon, and it is not easy for the two to get to this point, and their minds are very human."

Li Yuntian picked up the hot tea on the table next to him, and said slowly while tasting it slowly, "For the two of them, the battle between Li Jin and Li Jue is not important, no matter how they are, they are the heirs of the king of Joseon, what they value is the Korean soldiers who will defend the four counties and six towns for the future king of Joseon, these are the elite of the Korean country." ”

"Lord Wang, in that case, we must be careful of the two of them, once the two have different intentions, a war is likely to break out." Zheng Jie's brows suddenly furrowed, and he bowed down to Li Yuntian and said, although the Korean soldiers in the four counties and six towns are not as good as the Ming army, their combat effectiveness should not be underestimated, and they are the elite divisions carefully selected and created by the king of Joseon.

"Liaodong's troops have already assembled on the north bank of the Yalu River in the name of exercises, and the Weisu army on the south bank to support them at any time has already been with the four counties and six towns, and if they really fight, Jin Zongrui and Cui Yande will not take advantage of the slightest." Li Yuntian groaned for a moment and put down the teacup in his hand, "Besides, they also have a fatal weakness, which makes the two of them dare not act rashly. ”

"Food!" Zheng Jie reacted, understood what Li Yuntian meant, and opened his mouth to point out the weakness of Jin Zongrui and Cui Runde.

North Korea's food is already difficult to self-sufficient, these years of war has caused the collapse of the weak food supply system, and now the Korean soldiers in the four counties and six towns eat military food is the relief food aided by the Ming Dynasty.

Therefore, Kim Jong-seo and Choi Yun-deok are invisibly in an irreparable disadvantage, once the Ming army fights a protracted war with him, then the Korean soldiers who do not need the Ming army to attack the four counties and six towns will collapse because of lack of food.

However, in order to prevent Jin Zongrui and Cui Yunde from desperately raising troops to resist, Li Yuntian had to make thorough preparations, so he mobilized heavy troops to gather by the Yalu River, the purpose of which was to deter the two.

The day after arriving in Seoul, Li Yuntian had notices posted on the streets and alleys of Seoul and sent people to spread the notices to the eight provinces of Korea.

The meaning of the notice is twofold, one is that the orthodox emperor has approved the rescue of Joseon, and the other is that the orthodox emperor sent him to thoroughly investigate the cause of the death of the Joseon king in order to end the war in Joseon, so as to determine the heir of the Joseon king.

Unlike the last rescue, the distribution of relief materials will be supervised by Ming officials, and local officials of the DPRK will assist them, so as to avoid those officials from enriching themselves.

Of course, the people welcomed this, but the magistrates complained one by one, so that they could not reap the benefits of it.

Although there were thousands of reluctances in their hearts, how could those magistrates dare to disobey what Li Yuntian had already decided, so they had to secretly think about how to profit from it.

If you can buy off the Ming officials who are in charge, then everyone will be happy, and both sides will take what they need and get a lot of benefits from it.

Li Yuntian didn't have the heart to pay attention to the fancy intestines of those Korean magistrates, and along with that notice, there were also two orders from him, one was to let Kim Zongrui come to Seoul, and the other was naturally to let Choi Yunde come to Seoul, as long as the two were transferred out of the four counties and six towns, then the next thing would be much easier.

What worries Li Yuntian is that Jin Zongrui and Cui Yunde will shirk after receiving the order, after all, the two have rich experience, as soon as they leave the army, they will lose the power in their hands and become fish to be slaughtered on the chopping board, and the four counties and six towns will also fall apart.

And once Jin Zongrui and Cui Yande hide in the four counties and six towns and do not come to Seoul, it will be a very troublesome thing for Li Yuntian.

The reason why the four counties and six towns were established was that the king of Joseon was to guard against the Ming Dynasty, in other words, Jin Zongrui and Cui Yunde were much more hostile to the Ming Dynasty, after all, not all officials of the vassal states were willing to submit to the Ming Dynasty.

To tell the truth, Li Yuntian didn't want to make a big move in Korea anymore, and it would be best if he could smoothly take over the four counties and six towns, but if Kim Jong-seo and Choi Yun-deok insisted on going their own way, he could only mobilize troops to solve the problem by force.