Gou was a member of the imperial family in the late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 1018 Jeju
The Qianqing Palace in the capital.

Emperor Zhu Shenzhu was looking at the report sent from North Korea. As time went by, the unrest in North Korea became more and more serious.

The current Korea is in a mess. After the death of King Yi Jong of Korea, Korea fell into civil strife. In addition, in order to continue to control Korea, Hauge established a new Korean queen, but this not only did not work, but it made Korea more hostile to the Qing Dynasty. The rebellions in various places could never be quelled.

In the past few months, Hauge led his troops to sweep all over Korea, intending to quell the rebellion and wipe out the rebel army. But the problem was that the new Korean king Yi Yeon, supported by the Ming Dynasty, stayed safely on Jeju Island and appointed the Great Prince Yeongwon Yi Yeo as the Grand Marshal of the Army to lead the rebel forces in various parts of Korea to fight against the Qing army.

And Li Cheng in Seoul was called the "fake king". So Korea not only had two kings, but also a so-called military marshal. Together with Hauge's Qing army, the forces of all parties were complicated and the fight was fierce.

Originally, Hauge thought that Korea was a small country with a weak population, and that the Korean issue could be quickly resolved by military force. By the time Lee Yu was killed, most of the civil unrest in Korea would be quelled. Then, after dealing with Lee Yeon on Jeju Island, Korea would be completely controlled by the Qing Dynasty.

But Hauge never expected that the situation would deteriorate further after the outbreak of the civil unrest in Korea. Although he led his troops to suppress several rebel armies and beheaded countless people, the Koreans' resistance to the Qing Dynasty not only did not weaken, but became increasingly stronger, and the situation had turned to an uncontrollable point. Not only had the rebellion in various provinces of Korea never been quelled, but even the occupied places such as Seoul showed signs of instability, which gave Hauge a headache.

In desperation, Hauge used the Korean nobles who had surrendered to him to continue the suppression with the Qing army, and adopted extremely bloody means, which barely stabilized his base in Korea. But this still could not change the status quo. From the actual situation, the chaos in Korea could not be quelled in a short time, and even if this problem could be solved in the future, Korea would inevitably be seriously injured, and the policy of relying on Korea to feed back the Qing Dynasty could not be continued.

This situation made Hauge very anxious. He knew very well that if he failed to quell the civil unrest in Korea, he would be in trouble. You know, his biggest enemy, Dorgon, was in Shengjing. Although on the surface Dorgon pretended to support him in Korea, Hauge knew very well that Dorgon did this because he did not want to wade into this muddy water and be involved in the chaos in Korea. After he failed in Korea, Dorgon would certainly use this as an excuse to punish him, and would take action against Korea after getting rid of him.

Hauge had no way out. His only option now was to completely pacify Korea, and then use Korea as a base to have a chance to compete with Dorgon. However, Hauge knew clearly that this was impossible for the time being.

The Eight Banners soldiers were good at fighting, but there were too few of them. With the military forces at hand, even with the Korean court in Seoul, it was impossible for Hauge to completely control the three thousand miles of Korea. In desperation, Hauge could only change his previous methods. The original move of suppressing Korea by force was no longer effective. In order to protect himself, Hauge began to adopt the method of appeasing and suppressing at the same time. On the one hand, he continued to suppress the rebellious army by force, and on the other hand, he offered various conditions to win over the local Korean gentry for his use, intending to solve the problem in this way.

In addition, Hauge secretly sent people to Jeju Island to contact Li Yun, and promised Li Yun that as long as Li Yun no longer opposed the Qing Dynasty, continued to respect the Qing Dynasty, and ordered all parts of Korea to stop resisting the Qing Dynasty, Hauge would abolish the fake king Li Cheng and personally welcome Li Yun to Seoul to ascend the throne and become the true master of Korea.

Hauge's actions would have been impossible in the past. As the eldest son of Huang Taiji and a prince of the Qing Dynasty, Hauge had his own pride. But since he lost the throne, Hauge's spirit suffered a huge blow. Coupled with the chaos in Korea, Hauge had no choice but to choose this approach.

Hauge knew very well that the current situation in Korea was like this because, on the one hand, the Qing Dynasty had exploited Korea too much, especially Hauge's previous act of killing the Korean royal family in anger, which made the people of Korea unbearable and eventually a rebellion broke out.

On the other hand, Hauge was not stupid. After calming down, he found many problems and realized that there was a shadow of the Ming Dynasty behind many things. Although he did not admit it, Hauge knew in his heart that the changes in the situation in Korea might be due to the intervention of the Ming Dynasty, especially when he attacked the Korean palace that day. How did Li Yu escape from his hands? How did he get to Jeju Island? And was he crowned as king on Jeju Island? If there was no one behind this, Hauge would never believe it.

But what if it was so? The current situation had become what it was now, and Hauge couldn't change it even if he wanted to. Moreover, facing numerous crises, Hauge had already felt the pressure from Shengjing. He knew clearly that as the chaos in Korea worsened, Dorgon's time to act on him became more and more urgent. Once he fell into Dorgon's hands, with the bad relationship between Dorgon and himself, Hauge was afraid that he would be in danger.

Faced with such a situation, Hauge could only think of ways to protect himself. This is why he sent people to Jeju Island. In fact, Hauge knew that Jeju Island was nominally the territory of Korea, but it was the Ming army that really controlled Jeju Island. In this respect, Li Yu and Li Cheng, whom he supported, were the same, both were chess pieces, but the people holding the chess pieces were different.

By conveying this attitude to Jeju Island, Hauge nominally made concessions and showed goodwill to Li Yun. But in fact, it was also a test by Hauge, who intended to get in touch with the Ming Dynasty and find out what the Ming Dynasty's attitude was.

From this point of view, Hauge was not only good at fighting, but also had some political skills. After all, as the eldest son of Huang Taiji, he was brought up and taught by Huang Taiji for so many years, and he was definitely not a reckless man.

"Interesting...Interesting..." Seeing this, Zhu Shenzhu couldn't help but laugh. He didn't expect that Haoge would use this trick to test the Ming Dynasty. This made him feel a little interested in Haoge's change of attitude. Moreover, the current situation in North Korea is better than Zhu Shenzhu expected. He originally thought that Ayawara Prince Li Yu could not stop Haoge's attack at all, and it would not take long for this guy to be killed by Haoge.

Zhu Shenzui didn't care about Li Yu. Although Li Yu was the Grand Marshal of the Army appointed by Li Yu, Li Yu as the king was just a puppet. As a chess piece in the hands of the puppet, Li Yu's role was even more limited. The reason why he was chosen was that he was the most suitable and could best use this as an excuse to integrate the internal resistance of Korea against the Qing Dynasty.

Even if Li Yu was killed by Haoge, what would happen? As long as Li Yu was in hand, the Ming Dynasty could easily use the name of the King of Joseon to appoint a member of the royal family of the Li family or a Joseon noble as a general to replace Li Yu.

After laughing a few times, Zhu Shenzhui continued to read the report in his hand carefully. After reading it again, he concentrated on thinking about it, called Lu Jiude, and summoned Jinyiwei Commander Wu Mengming to enter the palace.

A moment later, Wu Mengming hurried to the Qianqing Palace, entered the side hall to meet Zhu Shenzhui, and knelt down to pay homage to the emperor.

"Wu Mengming!"

"Chen is here!"

"Hauge sent people to Jeju Island. Do you know about this?"

"Your Majesty, I am aware of this matter. Hauge's envoy is now on Jeju Island, and is being accompanied and guarded by my people." Wu Mengming replied quickly.

Zhu Shencui nodded slightly. Although Wu Mengming was not as good as Zhou Anmin, his ability was not bad either. Moreover, Wu Mengming was a smart man. He knew that the reason why he could sit in the position of the commander-in-chief of the Jinyiwei was not because of his ability, but because of Zhu Shencui.

If Wu Mengming wants to sit in this position well, there is no other way except to serve the emperor wholeheartedly. In other words, he, as the commander-in-chief of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, is the emperor's eyes and knife. He will do whatever the emperor asks him to do. Only by gaining the emperor's full trust can he sit firmly in this position of commander-in-chief.

"You should go to Jeju Island in person and meet with Hauge's people. Find out what Hauge wants to do and what bargaining chips he has. If it is feasible, you can try to win over Hauge appropriately. But if Hauge has second thoughts, you should know what to do next."

"Your Majesty, I understand." Wu Mengming kowtowed in response, guessing the emperor's intention. It seemed that the emperor was planning to win over Haoge to the Ming Dynasty. In theory, this seemed to be possible, but could it really work? Wu Mengming was not sure about this. After all, Haoge was not an ordinary person. He was the eldest son of Huang Taiji and the eldest brother of the current Qing emperor. Could such a person really surrender to the Ming Dynasty?
But even though he thought so in his heart, Wu Mengming did not dare to neglect the emperor's instructions. Since the emperor had arranged it, he would do his best. As a qualified tool man, he must understand his position. This is Wu Mengming's way of dealing with things.

After giving Wu Mengming some instructions, Zhu Shenzhui waved his hand and asked him to leave. After Wu Mengming left, Zhu Shenzhui stood up and walked slowly back and forth in the side hall, thinking about Haoge's situation.

Letting Wu Mengming and Hauge get in touch was an attempt that Zhu Shenzui suddenly thought of. No matter what the result of this attempt was, it didn't make much difference to Zhu Shenzui.

It would be good if we could win over Haoge. Even if Haoge would not surrender to the Ming Dynasty, it would not be a bad thing for the Ming Dynasty to cooperate with the Ming Dynasty to a limited extent. If it fails, the Ming Dynasty will not lose anything. It does not hurt to try it, whether it works or not. What if it succeeds? If so, then not only Korea, but also the entire Liaodong Ming Dynasty will take the initiative in many aspects.

But what exactly did Haoge think? Was it the same as what he had judged? Zhu Shenzhui was not completely sure about this. As an emperor, since he had made up his mind, he should just do it first. It would not be too late to judge after hearing the news from Jeju Island and North Korea.

(End of this chapter)