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

Chapter 1022 Choice
If he was lucky, Dorgon would probably imprison him and take away all his power. If he was unlucky, based on his understanding of Dorgon, this bastard would definitely not let him go. In addition, the chaos in Korea had not been resolved, and he was in a mess in Korea. If he went back, there would be no return, or even death inexplicably.

"No! I can't just sit there and wait to die!" Hauge took another big sip of wine and said to himself with red eyes.

Going back would mean death, no matter sooner or later, and Hauge absolutely did not want such a result.

But if he didn't go back, it would be tantamount to disobeying the order of the Prince Regent. Now Dorgon had the final say in the Qing court. His orders were equivalent to imperial edicts. Moreover, given his relationship with Bumbutai, it would not be difficult for him to issue an imperial edict in the name of the emperor. Once the imperial edict arrived and he refused, it would be equivalent to officially breaking off relations.

In this case, the only way left for Hauge was to rebel. If the whole of Korea was under Hauge's control and no civil strife broke out, Hauge might still have some confidence. With the Eight Banners troops in his hands and the Korean army, it would not be difficult for him to confront Dorgon from the east to the west and establish a separatist regime.

But now civil unrest has broken out in North Korea, and he has not been able to quell it despite great efforts, and the situation has even gotten worse. If he cannot control North Korea, he will lose the territory under his control. In this case, he cannot even stabilize North Korea with just his own troops, so how can he compete with Dorgon?

At present, the Eight Banners of Korea are nominally controlled by Hauge, but in fact, Hauge actually controls part of the Zhenglan Banner and the Huangqi Banner, the latter of which was specially allocated to him by Huang Taiji when he went north to fight, and has always been his subordinate. Apart from these two parts, there are the Huangqi Banner troops of Wuying County Prince Ajige.

Hauge never trusted Ajige at all. You should know that Ajige and Dorgon were brothers. They were both born to the queen Abahai and had the same mother.

The reason why Dorgon asked Hauge to come to Korea before, apart from other reasons, was that Ajige was in Korea. No matter how Hauge did in Korea, Ajige could contain him in Korea, and Hauge had no way to do whatever he wanted in Korea without Ajige.

Moreover, this time he was asked to return to Shengjing, but Ajige was not allowed to go back. Instead, he was ordered to hand over the Eight Banners of Korea to Ajige as a temporary commander, and let Ajige continue to be responsible for quelling the civil unrest in Korea. How could Hauge not see the trick in this? It was clear that he wanted to take away his military power in this way. Once he handed over the military power to Ajige, he would be completely finished.

In addition, during the military operations to quell the Korean civil strife over the past six months, Ajige did not obey all the orders issued by Hauge, but instead secretly did many small actions, which Hauge saw. If it were not for Ajige's attitude and his ability to cooperate with him, let alone whether the Korean civil strife could be completely quelled, at least the so-called Korean military marshal, Ayawada Prince Yi Yu, would have been destroyed long ago, and how could he still be at ease today?
From this we can see that Ajige was not only not a helper to Hauge in Korea, but was instead a nail planted in advance by Dorgon for today's action.

Therefore, no matter what choice Hauge made, it would be a dead end. If he went back, he would lose his freedom. If he did not go back, Ajige would definitely follow Dorgon's orders to deal with him. By then, relying on just Seoul, Hauge had no confidence that he could withstand the attack of the army transferred from Liaodong by Ajige and Dorgon. As for the small Korean court he was supporting now and the Korean officials he used, it goes without saying that these people were all cowards who were greedy for life and afraid of death and were not worthy of being used at all.

what to do? what to do!
A deep feeling of powerlessness arose in Hauge's heart. Could it be that as the eldest son of Huang Taiji and the legitimate successor to the Qing Dynasty, he had to watch himself fall into the abyss and be bullied to death by Dorgon?
I am unwilling to give in! I am unwilling to give in!

Hauge gritted his teeth, clenched his fist and smashed the table in front of him hard. There was a loud bang, and the table was smashed to pieces by Hauge's heavy punch. The broken wooden boards fell to the ground in an instant.

"Your Highness!" Hearing the noise inside, the guards outside rushed in, but they only saw Haoge inside in good health, and a broken table on the ground collapsed in half.

"Get out!" Hauge turned around and yelled. He was in a very bad mood, and because of drinking, his eyes were red.

The guards quickly stepped back and took a few steps away from the door. Just as they were about to close the door, they heard Hauge's order.

"Go! Call Yabulun to me."

"Yes!" the guard responded and closed the door.

A quarter of an hour later, Hauge's confidant Yabulun came in a hurry. When he arrived at the door, he did not push the door open immediately. Instead, he stood outside the door and said, "Your servant Yabulun wishes to see the prince."

"come in."

Yabulun then pushed the door open and walked in. After entering, he saw Haoge sitting upright. He took two steps forward and knelt down in front of Haoge: "Your Majesty, I pay my respects to you..."

"Stand up and talk." Hauge raised his hand, and Yabulen stood up and stood in front of Hauge with his hands hanging down.

"I asked you to send people to Jeju Island a few days ago. How is the progress now?" Hauge asked directly.

"Your Majesty, I arrived at Jeju Island half a month ago. After I arrived on the island, I followed your instructions..." Yabulun reported everything. In fact, he had already reported these situations to Hauge, but today Hauge asked again, so he naturally reported again. After listening to Yabulun's report, Hauge frowned slightly and asked directly: "I don't care about the new king of Korea. I'm asking about other things, that is, the attitude over there."

As he spoke, Hauge pointed towards the south.

"Your Highness, are you talking about... the Ming Dynasty?" Yabulun couldn't help but ask.

Hauge nodded slightly. Yabulun thought for a moment and said, "The attitude over there is not clear. Although they did not refuse our people to meet the new king of Korea, they sent people to accompany us all the way. Moreover, after meeting the new king of Korea, they did not give any response. Now my people are still staying in Jeju Island. For the time being, I don't know whether I should come back or continue to wait."

Haoge thought for a while, and his fingers on his knees moved slightly, as if he was thinking about something. After a while, he let out a long breath, and said with a relaxed look: "It's not a bad thing to have no conclusion. So, you send someone to Jeju Island and bring a letter directly to me. This letter does not need to be given to the Koreans, but directly to the officials there to ask about their attitude."

"letter?"

"Yes! Letter!" As he spoke, Hauge took out a letter from his bosom. This letter was written by him just now, and it was stamped with wax and his seal. Yabulun took the letter, took a look at it, and then carefully put it in his bosom, and continued to ask Hauge if he had any other instructions.

"This matter must be handled as soon as possible. You must arrange it yourself and not leak the news. If there is a reply, please report to me as soon as possible. Remember!"

"Yeah!" Yabulun responded, then he hesitated and asked Haoge: "Your Highness, Shengjing..."

"Don't worry about Shengjing, I have my own plans. Also, send someone to keep an eye on Ajige, and report immediately if Ajige makes any unusual moves. In addition, gradually recall the troops you sent out these days and station them in Seoul. I have other arrangements."

"Your Highness, please think twice!" As Haoge's confidant, how could Yabulun not know that his master had other ideas? In addition to the great changes in Shengjing, Yabulun was worried that if Haoge did something wrong, he would be doomed, so he couldn't help but persuade him.

"Yabrun!"

"The slave is here!"

"How long have you been following this king?"

"I have followed Your Majesty since the late Emperor ascended the throne, and it has been more than eleven years now..." Yabulun replied solemnly.

"It's been eleven years." Hauge couldn't help but sigh as he looked at the other person. He still remembered that Huang Taiji had just proclaimed himself emperor from the position of Great Khan, and the Later Jin Dynasty was changed to the Qing Dynasty. As the eldest son of Huang Taiji, he was only in his early twenties at that time.

In a blink of an eye, eleven years have passed. Hauge is now over thirty years old. The young man back then has become a middle-aged man today. Yabulun, who used to follow him as a guard, has become a general and confidant under his command. Everything has passed, but it seems like just yesterday!
"Time flies so fast." Hauge's voice was filled with sorrow, as if he was lost in thoughts of the past. He said to Yabulun, "Do you still remember the promise I made to you? It's a pity that I didn't keep it, but today I want you to follow me to take risks again. Once you do something, your life and death are unpredictable. Yabulun, you have followed me for so many years. Although you and I are master and servant, we are actually brothers. If you don't want to, I won't force you..."

"Your Highness! What did you say?" Yabulun was immediately anxious. His face flushed as he interrupted Haoge and said firmly, "Your Highness, you are the eldest son of the late emperor and you are of noble status. If you can make such a decision, why can't I? Your Highness's kindness to me is something I cannot repay even if I die. Wherever Your Highness goes, I will go! Even if it means death, I will be willing!"

"Good!" Haoge stood up suddenly, his face full of relief. He put his hands on Yabulun's shoulders and said solemnly: "Today, I swear here that you and I are no longer master and servant but brothers. If I can escape this disaster, I will never let you down!"

"Please rest assured, Your Majesty. I will leave this matter to you! Just wait for me, Your Majesty. I will do everything for you!" Yabulun said to Hauge excitedly. Hauge nodded vigorously. Yabulun saluted Hauge solemnly, then stood up and left without looking back. Looking at Yabulun's resolute face and footsteps, Hauge felt a sense of heroism in his heart. The previous decadence was swept away, replaced by the determination and confidence of the past.

"Dorgon! Dorgon!" Hauge muttered Dorgon's name, and suddenly burst into laughter. The laughter echoed in the room for a long time. When the laughter faded away, Hauge suddenly drew out the sword from his waist, stretched out his finger to flick the sword, and a crisp chanting sound rang out. Hauge stared at the sword that Huang Taiji gave him personally, and said with a smile: "I will use this sword to drink your blood. Are you ready? Haha! Hahaha!"

(End of this chapter)