Wind Rises in North America 1625

Chapter 339 Namhansanseong (Continued)

The 2th day of the first month of the tenth year of Chongzhen's reign (February 22, 1637).

The sky cleared after the snow, but the cold wind still howled. Namhansanseong Fortress was shrouded in a thick snow curtain, and the North Korean soldiers on the city wall huddled together, their breath quickly condensing in the frigid air.

The city's food supplies were running out, and soldiers who had frozen and starved to death lay scattered in the streets and alleys, with no one to bury them.

King Injo of Joseon, wrapped tightly in his dragon robe, sat pale-faced on the throne, with his ministers standing on either side below, the atmosphere heavy and tense.

"...Pyeongan Circuit Inspector Hong Myeong-go, under the command of Western Route Commander Kim Ja-jeon, led 8,000 troops with Pyeongan Military Commissioner Ryu Rim to meet up at Miwon. However, this morning at 1:00 AM, they were ambushed by the Qing forces in Gimhwa County, Gangwon Province. Hong Myeong-go was trapped in the enemy lines, and more than 6,000 government and soldiers were killed or wounded. Ryu Rim led the remaining troops to break through the encirclement, but his whereabouts are unknown." Grand Censor Kim Sang-heon's voice was low and echoed in the hall.

The clerk of the Ministry of Personnel, Cui Mingji, suddenly knelt down, his forehead touching the ground: "Your Highness, the Qing invaders have been besieging the city for over a month, and all the armies sent to defend the capital have been defeated. Now, the city is out of food, and the soldiers are freezing and starving. If we delay any longer, I fear that the army and the people will perish. I beg you to immediately...send an envoy to negotiate peace!"

Last night he risked his life to sneak back and bring back the Qing army's final ultimatum.

"If they do not surrender, slaughter them all."

"Absurd!" Before the words were even finished, the Censor Yin Huang slammed his fist on the table and stood up, his hair and beard bristling. "Choi Myung-gil, how dare you try to persuade us to surrender? For three hundred years, Joseon has served the Ming Dynasty. How can we kneel before barbarians?"

"Back then, Emperor Wanli saved Korea from the hands of the Japanese pirates. If we surrender today, how will we face Emperor Shenzong in the afterlife? Your Highness, I request to lead my elite troops to break through the siege and fight the Qing invaders to the death! Even if we die in battle, we will not fail the name of 'China'!"

Li Zong's fingers dug deeply into the armrests of the throne, his face contorted in agony.

He suddenly thought of Prince Gwanghae—his cousin who had been overthrown by him for "secretly colluding with the Later Jin."

If I were to surrender now, wouldn't things be even worse?
However, the Qing army's cannons outside the city had already been set up on the mountain ridge, their dark muzzles pointing directly at the royal flag.

Hong Yihan, the head of the Censorate, stepped forward, his voice hoarse but firm: "Your Highness, even if only one soldier remains, we must not surrender! Back then, Prince Gwanghae secretly colluded with the barbarians, and the whole country united to punish him. If we surrender today, wouldn't we be destroying our own country?"

Li Zong's eyelids twitched upon hearing this.

Choi Myung-gil shook his head and sighed: "Hong Si-hein, do you want the entire city's soldiers and civilians to be buried with us? Or do you want our Joseon to fall into ruin and our king to die for the country? The Qing army has promised that if Your Highness surrenders, the royal temples can be preserved, the people of the country can be saved, and our Joseon can be restored to its former state."

Cui Hui, the judge of the Ministry of Revenue, also sneered repeatedly: "What are you all still arguing about? The people in the city are exchanging children to eat, the soldiers are so hungry they can't even draw their bows, and even the Holy Emperor is deeply troubled by this."

"Lord Yoon is going to die for his country, and Chief Justice Hong is going to sacrifice himself for the nation? Fine! But tens of thousands of captive civilians outside the city are crying out, 'Our king, save us!' Millions of Korean citizens are also hoping for the court's relief and peace. If you die, who will care for them?!"

As he spoke, he angrily pointed out the window, where faint, mournful cries could be heard in the cold wind—the wails of Korean prisoners in the Qing army camp.

Li Zong suddenly stood up, his body trembling slightly beneath his dragon robe.

He walked to the shrine in the corner of the hall, trembling as he picked up the scroll of the Wanli Emperor's Imperial Edict—the Ming Dynasty's decree conferring titles upon Korea after the Imjin War; the silk was already yellowed with age.

“Three hundred years of blood and loyalty is a great matter…” he murmured, tears falling onto the four vermilion characters “the grace of rebirth”. “But today I must submit to the Tartars. How can I face my ancestors?”

"Your Highness..." Upon hearing this, all the ministers knelt down.

Suddenly, Li Zong turned around and roared, "Cui Mingji! Draft surrender document..."

Jin Shangxian immediately raised his head in disbelief: "Your Highness, this is unacceptable! This is the shame of Emperor Qinzong of Song during the Jingkang Incident!"

Hong Yihan was also furious, staring straight at Li Zong: "Your Highness, things have not yet reached the final and perilous point, why have you come to this!"

"Yes, Your Highness, when the Ming Dynasty learns that the Qing invaders have entered our Korea, it will certainly not sit idly by. The Heavenly Army will arrive soon, and the Wanli Emperor's affair will be repeated!" said Wu Daji, the deputy director of the Hongwen Hall, with grief.

“The Ming Dynasty?” Choi Myung-gil gave a bitter laugh. “Since the Battle of Sarhu, when has the Ming army ever truly saved my Joseon? Now, within the Ming Dynasty’s borders, bandits are rampant in the Central Plains. Why would they bother to mobilize their troops for a small vassal state like mys?”

“Your Highness, our Joseon is not yet at the end of its rope, and we must not surrender!” Yin Ji, who was also the vice-principal of the Hongmunggwan, ignored Cui Mingji’s surrender remarks and stepped forward to face Yi Zong directly: “A few days ago, news came from the Haixi Protectorate that the local garrison in Haizhou had defeated the Qing invaders and beheaded hundreds of elite Eight Banner cavalry.”

"A few days earlier, there was the great victory at Jianghua Island, in which the Qing army lost more than a thousand men and dared not launch another attack by sea. In addition, the Ming Dynasty sent troops from Dongjiang Town to Tieshan to harass the Qing army's supply lines, repeatedly inflicting heavy losses on the Qing army and disrupting their logistics."

"If we persist and fight the Qing invaders to the bitter end, the Ming Dynasty will surely send a large army by land and sea to strike the Qing invaders' lair and save our Korea from the brink of death!" Upon hearing this, Yi Jong hesitated again.

Yes, our Korean army is not so weak. We can still put up a fight against the Qing invaders and defeat them.

In addition to the two great victories at Ganghwa Island and Haeju that Yin Ji just mentioned, on the seventh day of the first lunar month, Jeolla Province Inspector Li Shifang led 6,000 loyal troops to rescue Namhansanseong. They fought fiercely with the Qing forces at Gwanggyo Mountain in the southwest, killing Yang Guli, a second-class duke of the Qing, and killing or wounding more than 100 Eight Banners soldiers, which greatly boosted the morale of the army.

Furthermore, the Qing forces besieged Namhansanseong for over a month, but despite the defenders' tight defenses, they made no progress and suffered heavy losses.

Even though the Qing forces deployed numerous cannons outside the city, they were unable to scale the walls of Namhansan.

The only concern is that food supplies in the city are running low, and the morale of the officers and soldiers is low due to the long-term siege by the Qing invaders, making it difficult to hold out for long.

But to say that we've reached the end of our rope is an exaggeration; we can still manage to get by for now.

The problem is, if we persist, will something "unspeakable" happen?
It's truly difficult for a monarch to die for his country!

Oh, by the way, as the Qing invaded in large numbers, instability was also emerging in various parts of the country.

Local armed separatist forces in the northeastern part of Hamgyong Province have been waging large-scale attacks and plundering the area to expand their power.

Furthermore, the overseas outlying island of Jeju Island was also brazenly occupied by an unknown force, isolating it from the mainland.

As for the various civil unrest and riots that have occurred in the eight counties, there will probably be no shortage of them.

The world is about to fall into chaos, and the traditional moral order is being lost. How tragic!

So, should we fight or surrender?

For a moment, Li Zong was at a loss.

"Your Highness, distant water cannot quench immediate thirst!" Choi Myung-gil cried out. "If we go to war, all of us, the king and his ministers, will die, and Korea will surely perish; if we make peace, there is still a glimmer of hope. Your Highness, please think it over!"

Jin Shangxian sneered: "Judge Cui, the humiliation of the Jingkang Incident in the Northern Song Dynasty was also due to the mistake of advocating peace! If we surrender today, we will all be recorded as sinners for all time in the annals of history!"

Li Zong remained silent for a long time before finally speaking, his voice hoarse: "How could I not know the greater good? But the Qing army outside the city numbers 100,000, while the city's food supplies are almost exhausted, and the number of people dying of cold and hunger is increasing daily. If I were to die in battle, it would be a relief, but what about the people of this city, the people of the world..."

At this moment, the garrison commander Li Shibai hurriedly entered, knelt down and reported: "Your Highness! The Qing army attacked the North Gate again. Although our army repelled them, we suffered heavy casualties, and our gunpowder is almost gone!"

Li Zong closed his eyes, and a tear slid down his cheek.

He recalled the birthday of Emperor Chongzhen. Just a few days earlier, he and his ministers had paid homage to the Ming Dynasty from afar, only to hear cries of grief rising from the city.

Now, he has to make a choice.

Cui Mingji advised again: "Your Highness, although the Qing are barbaric, all they ask for is to become vassals and pay tribute. If we can endure this humiliation for now and wait for our national strength to recover, it will not be too late to seek revenge!"

Enraged, Kim Sang-heon grabbed Choi Myung-gil's sleeve and shouted, "You treacherous villains, you've ruined the country and its people!"

Li Zong slowly rose and looked out at the snowstorm outside the palace: "Enough... Issue an edict, ordering Cui Mingji to draft a letter of surrender. I... will leave the city and surrender."

The hall was deathly silent, except for Kim Sang-heon, Oh Dal-je, and other anti-peace faction members who knelt and wept, crying out, "Your Highness, you mustn't..."

Li Zong smiled bitterly: "Jin Qing, it's not that I'm afraid of death, it's just... I can't bear to see the entire city's people perish because of my will alone."

Upon hearing this, the crowd erupted in mourning.

(End of this chapter)