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

Chapter 984 Counterattack
Dorgon requested to hold a court meeting in the name of the regent prince. After learning about this, Zhezhe agreed, and the court meeting was soon held in the Shengjing Palace.

At the court meeting, the young emperor Shunzhi sat on the throne, and there was a chair slightly behind and to the left of the throne, where sat the Empress Dowager Zhezhe. Shunzhi's biological mother, Bumbutai, had no seat at all, and even her figure did not appear at the court meeting. Although she was the emperor's biological mother, legally speaking, Zhezhe was the emperor's mother, even if the young emperor was not born by Zhezhe, the rules were the rules.

There are two chairs on the left and right below the steps of the emperor's throne. These are the seats for the two regent princes. The one sitting on the left is Jirgalang, the nominal first regent prince, and the one sitting on the right is Dorgon.

Standing on the left and right sides of them were the civil and military officials of the Qing Dynasty, including the noble princes, dukes, generals of the Eight Banners, etc. Of course, there were also positions for Han officials such as Fan Wencheng and Ning Wanwo, but in comparison, their positions were much further back.

"There is a great chaos in Korea. Prince Su Haoge and Prince Wuying submitted separate memorials to the emperor. Their memorials arrived in Beijing yesterday. I think you all know about this. Let's all tell us how to deal with the Korean issue. Do you have any good ideas?" Zhezhe, the empress dowager, spoke slowly, looking at the people below.

Jirgalang did not speak, and lowered his head slightly as if he had not heard anything at all. Although he was the first regent prince, he had already fallen behind in the competition with Dorgon. Moreover, Jirgalang was very aware of his situation and disadvantages, and had no intention of competing with Dorgon at all. Therefore, he was actually just a decoration as the regent prince. He hardly took care of government affairs on weekdays, and naturally would not take the initiative to speak up for things like today.

As for Dorgon, he had a sharp gaze, sat there with his back straight, a smile on his face, and also did not speak, waiting patiently for others to speak first.

Sony stood up first, bowed in the direction of the throne, and said, "When the late emperor conquered Korea, the ruler of Korea surrendered to the Qing Dynasty. The late emperor, in consideration of its obedience, left Korea as a vassal state of the Qing Dynasty. Since then, Korea has always been respectful to the Qing Dynasty. The great changes in Korea this time were caused by Prince Su Haoge's mistakes in handling affairs, which led to the chaos. I think Prince Su Haoge is not to blame. I beg the Queen Mother and the Emperor to summon Haoge back to Beijing and severely punish him..."

"Nonsense!" Before Sony finished speaking, Prince Cheng Yuetuo stood up and said, "How do you know that Prince Su is to blame for the Korean incident? Judging from the news, it is clear that the Korean leader acted illegally, rebelled against the Qing Dynasty, and defected to the Ming Dynasty! The memorial sent by Prince Su clearly stated that he intercepted Han Junqian, the Prince of Xiping, outside the Korean palace and found the Korean leader's edict on him. The edict clearly stated that the Korean leader intended to unite with the Ming Dynasty to rebel against the Qing Dynasty! Han Junqian, the Prince of Xiping, is the father-in-law of the Korean king. Isn't this any different from the imperial edict of Emperor Xian of Han during the Three Kingdoms period?"

"Moreover, Prince Su did not kill anyone first. He just wanted to imprison Han Junqian, the Prince of Xiping Prefecture, and then seek justice from the King of Joseon. From this point of view, Prince Su certainly did nothing wrong. On the contrary, the Joseon people were desperate after seeing the failure of their plan, and they intended to kill Prince Su outside the palace. Prince Su was forced to defend himself. In this battle, our Eight Banners suffered heavy casualties, and even Prince Su himself was caught off guard and almost died in the hands of the Joseon people."

At this point, Yue Tuo sneered, "Prince Su is a prince of the Qing Dynasty, the eldest son of the late emperor, how noble is his status? The Koreans actually dared to attack him, could it be that Prince Su would not resist and let them kill him? Isn't this a joke?"

"Prince Cheng is going too far." Before Sony could say anything, Tulai objected: "Although Prince Su acted in self-defense, he had clearly led his troops to defeat the Joseon soldiers, and Xipingfuyuanjun Han Junqian also died in the chaos. This shows that Prince Su had already controlled the situation at that time. If that's the case, why bother to make a final decision?"

"Although Korea is a small country, it is still a country after all. Even if the ruler of Korea intends to rebel against the Qing Dynasty, there is no need to massacre the Korean royal family! Prince Su only needs to control the Korean palace, imprison its ruler, and order him to issue an edict to inform the Korean subjects. He can suppress the matter by simply saying that it was done by Han Junqian, the Prince of Xiping. Moreover, with the Korean royal family in hand, Korea will not be in chaos. Why raise troops to attack the palace, rush into the palace, burn, kill and loot? As a result, the ruler of Korea, the crown prince, and the princes all died in the sword? Doing so will completely intensify the contradictions and will not be worth the loss!"

"Prince Cheng just said that the King of Korea's actions are equivalent to the Secret Edict of Emperor Xian of Han during the Three Kingdoms period. Since Prince Cheng is familiar with the Three Kingdoms, he should know what Cao Cao did back then. Prince Su could have followed Cao Cao's example and used the emperor to command the princes and asked the King of Korea to come forward to explain the matter. But he didn't do that. Instead, he directly used force to solve the problem, which led to the terrible consequences today."

Tulai's words made many people nod their heads repeatedly, and they all felt that Hauge was too rash.

He had clearly controlled the situation at that time, so there was no need to rush into the palace and eventually kill the King of Korea, including the Crown Prince and the princes. What good would it be to do so? Wouldn't it be better to learn from Cao Cao at that time? Even if Han Junqian, the Prince of Xiping Prefecture, died in the chaos, he only needed to find one or two scapegoats from the royal family, and then issue an edict in the name of the King of Korea to explain that it was done by the people below, and he, as the King, was just deceived, and then execute these people. In this way, it can not only play the role of warning Korea, but also stabilize the situation in Korea, which is much better than the current situation. But Haoge took the most drastic measures and directly led his troops to break through the palace, which eventually led to such a result.

In everyone's opinion, it didn't matter whether the Koreans died or not. Even if the Korean king, the crown prince, and the princes were all dead, it would only mean the death of a few Koreans. But the problem was that the Korean king lost his life, and the Korean palace was almost burned down by Hauge. The consequences of this incident were too serious.

Now the whole of Korea is in chaos. Both the Korean people and the Korean nobles, including the local aristocratic families, regard the Qing Dynasty as their mortal enemy. Korea, which had been in rebellion everywhere before, is now even more chaotic. Even the Korean army and the previous rebel army have united and, under the leadership of the surviving nobles and aristocratic families, they are resisting the Qing Dynasty's rule over Korea. In this situation, let alone continuing to obtain supplies from Korea, it is probably difficult for the Qing Dynasty to control Korea again.

The reason for this result is entirely due to Hauge's fault. Hauge handled this matter incorrectly, and his responsibility cannot be shirked in any way. So from this point of view, Sony and Tulai's attitude is not wrong. Since Hauge made a mistake, he should be recalled to Shengjing and then dealt with in any way, even if he is Prince Su.

But this practice was intolerable to Yuetuo. Yuetuo was Daishan's eldest son and had made outstanding contributions in the Eight Banners. Now Daishan was old and weak, and had been recuperating at home for a long time and no longer participated in political affairs. However, Daishan's prestige and status in the Eight Banners were unmatched by others.

Yuetuo has now almost inherited Daishan's political "legacy", including most of Daishan's power in the Eight Banners. Moreover, Yuetuo is a well-known imperial power faction in the Eight Banners and is loyal to the emperor, even though the emperor sitting on the throne is just a baby.

In addition, Yuetuo had always been loyal to Huang Taiji and was one of the supporters of Hauge's succession to the throne. Although Hauge ultimately failed to become emperor, Yuetuo still had some feelings for Hauge while being loyal to the current Emperor Shunzhi. Moreover, he knew in his heart that Hauge was not tolerated by Dorgon and others, and Dorgon's power was getting stronger and stronger, and Hauge could no longer contend with it.

At present, Haoge has mishandled the Korean issue again. If Dorgon takes advantage of this matter, Haoge will be in trouble. Considering the past relationship and the fact that Haoge is the elder brother of the current emperor, Yuetuo must protect Haoge no matter what and must not let Haoge die. That is why he took the initiative to defend Haoge.

Seeing that more and more people wanted to severely punish Hauge, Yuetuo couldn't help but feel anxious. At this time, Prince Yu Duoduo stood up. Seeing him come out, Yuetuo's heart sank slightly. Prince Yu Duoduo was not an ordinary person. He was a powerful figure among the Eight Banners and was Dorgon's younger brother. His words carried much more weight than Sony, Tulai and others. If he also supported that the responsibility was on Hauge, then Hauge would probably find it difficult to get away with it this time.

"I think that although Prince Su is guilty, his circumstances are excusable." Unexpectedly, Duoduo gave Yuetuo a surprise as soon as he opened his mouth. He never expected that Duoduo's attitude was not to severely punish Haoge, but to speak for Haoge.

Duoduo said: "The situation on that day was complicated, and from the news from Korea, it is true that Prince Su was besieged by the Koreans and almost trapped. We are all commanders, and we should know that we need to be decisive on the battlefield. Once we hesitate, the consequences are unpredictable. So even if Prince Su went a little too far on that day, it is understandable. It is said that before attacking the palace, Prince Su had someone take a message to the King of Korea, asking him to surrender and explain the matter. But the King of Korea not only did not do so, but also held his ground. It is clear that he was guilty. After Prince Su broke into the palace, he took poison and committed suicide in the palace. This is the real cause of death of the King of Korea."

"From this, we can see that the evidence of the King of Korea's betrayal of the Qing Dynasty is solid, and he was not innocent when he committed suicide out of fear of punishment. Although the Korean Rebellion is somewhat related to Prince Su, the real blame cannot be pinned on Prince Su. As for what happened later, it is not something Prince Su can control. At present, Prince Su controls Seoul, which is considered to be a good thing. In my opinion, there is no need to pursue any responsibility now. Instead, it is more important to find a way to stabilize the situation in Korea."

When Duoduo said this, everyone had different expressions. Some were surprised why Duoduo would speak for Haoge? Some were secretly happy because Duoduo stood on Haoge's side. With Yuetuo's help, Haoge might be protected. After listening to his brother Yuetuo's words, Dorgon looked at Duoduo with a sharp gaze. Duoduo did not avoid him, but smiled at Dorgon with a calm attitude.

(End of this chapter)