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

Chapter 982: The Sorrow of North Korea
"My lord, are you okay?"

After killing the Korean soldiers, Yabulun, who came to reinforce, found Hauge immediately and asked him with concern.

"The king is fine!" Hauge said gritting his teeth. He was slightly injured and had a knife wound on his left arm.

"Your Highness, you are injured!" Yabulun's eyes fell on Hauge's left arm, and he was shocked when he saw the blood oozing out.

"If I say it's okay, then it's okay. This minor injury is nothing to me!" Hauge said coldly. He had been through many battles and had fought on countless battlefields, but there were only a few battles in which he was injured. However, today he almost capsized in the ditch and actually injured his arm at the hands of these Koreans. This was intolerable for Hauge, who had always been proud.

If he hadn't been so decisive just now, and if the guards around him hadn't protected him, he might have died at the hands of these lowly Koreans. Where had Haoge suffered such a loss in his life? Today's experience made Haoge furious.

"Your Highness, we've found the person!" Just then, a personal guard came to report.

"Where are the people? Bring them up to me!" Hauge asked directly.

"Your Majesty, we have found the person...but...but..."

"But what?"

"Someone is dead. It was so chaotic just now that we don't know how he died. The body is right in front." The other person pointed in a direction.

Haoge was stunned, his face looked very ugly, then he strode forward. After a while, he arrived at the place and took a closer look. As the personal guards said, the father-in-law of the Korean king, Han Junqian, the Prince of Xiping Prefecture, had become a corpse, lying on the ground. He had been stabbed several times, his face was distorted with frozen fear, and the light in his eyes had long gone.

"Hmph! He got it easy!" Haoge snorted after confirming the other party's identity. He originally planned to find this guy and torture him to vent his anger. But he didn't expect that this guy was dead, and it was unclear how he died. It was too chaotic just now, with thousands of people fighting in a mess. Han Junqian, the Lord of Xiping Prefecture, was old and weak, so it was normal for him to accidentally die in the chaos.

No longer looking at the corpse on the ground, Hauge glanced left and right, then turned to the palace in front of him.

"Pass on my order! Gather all the troops in Seoul and take over the palace!"

"Your Majesty! This matter is of great importance. Why not invite Prince Wuying back to Seoul to discuss it before..."

"What to discuss? There's no need for that!" Hauge interrupted Yabulun without even thinking. Anger flashed in his eyes as he stared at the royal palace not far away. He had suffered such a big loss today. In addition, he had found the memorial submitted by the King of Korea. The hostility of the Korean monarch and his ministers towards the Qing Dynasty was already very obvious. Could he just let it go?

As for discussing with Ajige, Hauge had no such idea at all. Ajige was not in Seoul now, he was suppressing the rebellion in other parts of Korea under his own orders. Moreover, Hauge looked down on Ajige. Ajige and Dorgon were brothers. It was Dorgon who made Hauge fail to ascend the throne. Ajige, as Dorgon's elder brother, was not the same kind of person as Hauge. Moreover, Ajige was simple-minded and acted rashly. Now Hauge was the main general in Korea, and Ajige was just his subordinate.

Besides, the commander-in-chief should make the decision when necessary. Now that the evidence of the King of Korea's intention to join the Ming Dynasty in rebellion is solid, he, as the general, has the right to act at his own convenience. Moreover, Hauge had just experienced a thrilling battle and almost got himself trapped. In this case, how could Hauge let the King of Korea, Yi Jong, go?
Speed ​​is of the essence in war. Although Hauge has troops stationed in Seoul and the Eight Banners are not weak in combat, they are after all located in the capital of Korea. Moreover, judging from the battle situation just now, the Koreans are not really invincible. If Li Jong comes to his senses and summons the Korean army in the name of the king, he may not be able to defeat the enemy.

He who strikes first is the strongest, and he who strikes later will suffer. Hauge had no time to seek Ajige's opinion, let alone to recall Ajige's troops, but he was confident that he could take over the Korean royal palace with the troops at his disposal.

As long as he could control the King of Joseon and then the nobles of Joseon, there would be no trouble in Joseon. As for Yi Jong's intention to rebel against the Qing Dynasty and flirt with the Ming Dynasty, he would settle accounts with him later. At that time, he would let Yi Jong clearly know who was the real master of Joseon.

Seeing that Hauge had made up his mind, Yabulun had no choice but to obey the order and immediately go back to mobilize the troops to besiege the Korean royal palace.

The Eight Banners were mobilized very quickly. Soon, Hauge's men arrived one after another. Looking at the 3,000 elite Eight Banners behind him, Hauge felt completely confident. Just as he was about to order an attack on the palace, the palace sent an envoy to negotiate tremblingly. "Messenger? What did he say?" Hauge asked directly.

"Your Highness, the other party said that it was just a misunderstanding. The King of Korea did not force the Qing Dynasty to do anything. It was all the personal behavior of Han Junqian, the Prince of Xiping Prefecture. The King was deceived by him. As for the Korean soldiers who fought against our army, it was not the King's order."

"Humph, such words can only fool a three-year-old child. Could it be that this king is still a baby?" Haoge laughed angrily. The evidence was irrefutable and he did not deny it. How could the King of Joseon, Yi Jong, use this excuse to prevaricate? Was Han Junqian, the Prince of Xiping, summoned to the palace by Yi Jong? Did he conspire with Yi Jong in the palace? And was the memorial written by Yi Jong himself? Was it stamped with the seal of the King of Joseon?

Was the Korean soldier who almost knocked him over just now the guard of the Korean palace? Was the one who came later the Korean army? All of these were true, but Li Jong was still lying with his eyes closed? If Li Jong had admitted it directly, or had rushed out of the palace to apologize, maybe Haoge would have looked up to him. But now Li Jong was completely shirking the responsibility and pretending to be as pure as an innocent little white rabbit. Isn't this a joke?

"Tell Li Jong to give him one stick of incense to rush out of the palace and apologize, and perhaps I will spare his life." Haoge sneered and gave the other party this direct answer.

After driving the other party's envoy back, Hauge waited for a moment and saw that there was no movement in the palace, and there was no sign of Li Jong trying to escape from the palace. Hauge did not care whether the incense stick time was up or not, and directly launched an attack. As his order was issued, the elite Eight Banners who had been prepared for a long time began to attack the Korean palace. For a while, the sound of killing was deafening and smoke was everywhere.

Although the Joseon Royal Palace is a royal palace, the King of Joseon was only a prince in the Ming Dynasty, but after all, Joseon was a country and the king was the monarch, so the palace was built very solidly and was not bad in terms of defensive level.

Unfortunately, the fighting power of the Korean soldiers was a bit weak, especially since Hauge had just defeated most of the palace guards. Those palace guards were either killed outside the palace or fled without a trace. Moreover, the palace incident also frightened the Korean defenders in Seoul. Now the elite Eight Banners attacked the palace in a large scale. Although there were also several nobles from the Yangban class who came to rescue, they were no match for Hauge. It didn't take much effort for them to be defeated by Hauge. The Eight Banners attacking the palace also made rapid progress. In less than half an hour, they broke through the palace defense and climbed onto the city wall.

Once the city wall collapsed, the palace was lost as well. When the palace gates were opened, the Eight Banners soldiers swarmed in, and the Korean palace had fallen into Hauge's hands.

The ferocious Eight Banners soldiers rushed into the palace and started doing their old business, burning, killing and looting with great enthusiasm. Moreover, this was also done deliberately by Hauge. Since the Kingdom of Korea did such a thing, it must bear the price. How could Hauge not vent his anger?

Upon learning that the palace had fallen, Li Jong's last glimmer of hope for rescue by his own army was gone. He fell to his knees, tears streaming down his face, and filled with regret.

If they had known this would happen, they should not have betrayed the Ming Dynasty and surrendered to the Jiannu. Submitting to the Jiannu was simply courting death. It is all Korea's fault that it ended up like this.

After that, North Korea should not have been indecisive, trying to maneuver between the Ming Dynasty and Jiannu. Until today, it was not careful enough, which led to the news being leaked and discovered by Hauge, which led to the current result.

Faced with such a situation, Li Jong was completely desperate. He knew that Hauge would never let him go no matter what. Once he was caught by Hauge, what awaited him was immense humiliation, and even the destiny of the Joseon Dynasty would be difficult to preserve.

no! can not be like this!
Li Jong shook his head vigorously. Although he was not a wise ruler, he was not a foolish ruler either. In fact, Li Jong was very capable as the ruler of Joseon. It was a pity that he had bad luck as he was caught between two powerful countries, Ming and Qing. Moreover, Joseon was weak. As a ruler, he did not have many choices. He had thought of juggling both sides in this way to ensure Joseon, but he did not expect such a result.

As a king, he absolutely could not accept such humiliation. If he ended up like this, how would the Korean people view the Joseon Dynasty? Thinking of this, Li Jong made a decision. He was ready to die to arouse the loyalty of the Joseon people to the Joseon Dynasty. If he died like this, at least the Joseon people would remember his heroes who died for Joseon, and thus it would be possible for the Joseon Dynasty to continue to exist.

Just like that, before Hauge's Eight Banners soldiers attacked the main hall, Li Jong ended his life with a cup of poisoned wine. The King of Korea ended his life in this way. His body lying on the ground gradually became stiff, and his lifeless eyes stared at the magnificent roof of the hall, as if expressing his unwillingness.

After breaking into the palace, the Eight Banners soldiers burned, killed, looted and even raped without restraint. The eunuchs, palace maids and even female officials in the palace all suffered. Even the concubines and princesses in Li Jong's harem could not escape.

In order to avoid humiliation, Yi Jong's queen and princess committed suicide. Yi Jong's crown prince was killed by the Eight Banners during the resistance. As for the other sons, they were either killed or captured. All the gold, silver and jewelry accumulated by the Yi Dynasty for two hundred years in the palace were looted. The massacre did not end until late at night. When Hauge entered the palace, there were not many living people in the entire palace.

(End of this chapter)