Chapter 2321
As Andao Shi knew, most of the officers of the city defense army came from extraordinary backgrounds. They either came from noble families or came from official positions. There were even relatives of the royal family serving in the army. These people usually live a happy life and have never suffered such hardships. Now they want to say a few soft words to beg Andao Shi for mercy, but it is too late.
Andao Shi had already figured it out at this time. Since the process of handing over the city defense would inevitably offend these officers and even be resented by them, it would be better to just do it right and establish authority from the beginning. Anyway, the backers behind him are the Crown Prince and Haihan, so there is no need to be afraid of the identities and backgrounds of these people.
Therefore, the Haihan military police who were invited brutally tortured these people, but An Daoshi saw it but showed no intention to dissuade them. He has figured out that after the chaos in Seoul, the more he actively separates himself from the traditional forces in Seoul, the easier it will be for him to gain Li Xie's trust and dependence.
After the first two were beaten with military sticks, they both lay on the spot and made no sound. It was unclear whether they were out of breath or had fainted from the pain. The two military policemen killed two of them in one go, which was a lot of physical exertion. They took a break with their military sticks and prepared to execute the third person after recovering a little.
Seeing that he had a chance to breathe, the third person quickly shouted to An Daoshi: "Master An, I have important military information to report!"
Andao Shi walked slowly over, stood beside him and said coldly: "Do you know the punishment for lying about military information?"
The officer hurriedly responded: "You know the rules of the military. If you lie about military information, you can be punished with twenty sticks, and if you are serious, you can be executed! But the villain is definitely not lying. Please tell me, Mr. An!"
Seeing that the man was excited, Andao Shi didn't seem to be faking it, so he immediately asked: "Is the military situation you mentioned related to the recent rebellion in the city?"
The man suddenly became silent and just nodded in a subtle way to express his affirmation of this question.
Andao Shi suddenly understood that this person probably wanted to use some information in exchange for avoiding the pain of eating a military stick. He took the initiative to confess before being tortured. This shows that this person must have been accustomed to being pampered and had never suffered much at all. He had already backed down when he saw the bloody scene of torture. Seeing that it was his turn to be the next person to be tortured, this man did not dare to delay, and finally used his ultimate move regardless.
"Then what method do you have to win my trust?" Andao Shi asked.
The man quickly responded: "You can swear that what you say is true..."
"That's not necessary." An Daoshi shook his head and said: "Swearing and swearing has no practical effect... You should have a family member who is an official in the court, right? Why not report your name and official position and let me see if you know anyone."
Of course, Andao Shi was not concerned about the situation of this person's family, but wanted to see which camp this person belonged to, and then make a judgment on the so-called military information he was about to provide.
The division of officialdom in North Korea is very simple. The main factions are the peacemaker represented by Cui Mingji and the anti-peace faction represented by Kim Sang-heon. The remaining few people sit on the fence. Although An Daoshi has a low official position and is not qualified to go to court, he also knows that it is normal for the two factions to attack each other's political ideas. As for outside the court, they will naturally use various shady tricks to attack their opponents. .
Andao Shi judged that if the city defense officer who wanted to proactively provide military information had a minister in his family, then he was probably one of the two factions. However, he did not know at this time that Jin Shangxian had provided more information to Li Xie. At this time, Cui Mingji was not even alive, otherwise it would be easy to judge who the people controlling the city gate were taking orders from.
This is also because Li Zhi was too cautious and did not share the matter of Jin Sangxian's letter leaving the city with his subordinates in time. Otherwise, An Daoshi would not have wasted time to slowly deal with this person. He must have subconsciously classified him as Jin Sangxian at the first time. Xian's camp.
The officer hesitated for a moment, lowered his head and whispered: "My father is the general manager of Longhu Camp."
When Andao Shi heard this, he suddenly realized that this man with such a weak character could become an officer in the city defense army. It was probably his father who was involved in this. You must know that the position of the Commander-in-Chief of Longhu Camp is a high-ranking official of the second rank, and it is also a rare position in North Korea's military service organization.
However, if in the future such people rely on their family background to climb to high places and control the military power, it will certainly not be a good thing for the country. At least Andao Shi looks down on such descendants of officials who have no real ability.
But with Andao Shi's knowledge, he couldn't tell which camp the general manager of Longhu Camp belonged to. He thought about it and signaled the two military policemen who were executing the execution to continue resting, while he went to explain the situation to Sun Zhen and ask for his advice. Opinion.
Although Sun Zhen is not aware of these messy things in North Korea's officialdom, he has been fighting overseas for many years and has come into contact with many leading parties and prisoners of war, so he has a lot of experience in this regard.
After listening to Andao Shi's story, he only thought about it for a moment and already had an idea: "Since this person thinks that what he knows can offset the military punishment, it should not be a trivial matter. But you take this person into custody first, don't Interrogate him in this public place to prevent the information from leaking and losing its value. The Military Intelligence Bureau will make its own judgment."
Nowadays, the number of people under Li Zhen's command is very limited, and naturally there is no condition to conduct specialized intelligence analysis and judgment. This work can only be left to the Haihan Army.
After hearing this, Andao Shi thought it was reasonable, so he followed Sun Zhen's instructions and first detained the man alone in a temporarily requisitioned house near the city gate. As for the two people who had finished eating the military sticks, they finally woke up at this time and slowly began to moan loudly.
The more than 200 Korean soldiers who were cleared out of Sungnyemun Gate were sent to centralized placement outside the city for easy monitoring. With the previous vivid examples, these Korean soldiers became much more honest. No one dared to question Haihan's arrangements out loud, let alone try to escape. They all went to the temporary settlement arranged by Haihan honestly. It is guarded by the navy under Wang Tom.
At this time, the Q&A in the Qinzheng Hall in the city was still going on. Jin Shangxian spent a lot of time describing to Li Xie and Qian Tiandun how Cui Mingji colluded with the Manchus and mobilized multiple armed forces to launch this attack in the city. A coup. However, Qian Tiandun had doubts about Kim Sang-heon's position in the coup from the beginning. If you listen to his story with such an attitude, you will naturally feel that there are loopholes everywhere. Apart from anything else, even if everything goes as smoothly as Cui Mingji planned, how can he really get support and asylum from the Manchus? You must know that there is still a bridgehead as the Datong River base four hundred miles north of Seoul. Even if the Manchu Qing wants to send its troops southward again, it will be difficult to cross this hurdle.
Since the Qing army cannot be brought in, even if he kills the king, he is at best a rebellious minister and cannot fundamentally subvert the country. Once the Haihan Army intervenes, everything will be in vain, and it will be difficult to escape pursuit afterwards. But how could a figure like Cui Mingji, who responded to everything in the court, easily put himself in a difficult situation and leave ample opportunities for his political opponents to make a comeback?
Therefore, in Qian Tiandun's view, Kim Sang-heon's story is full of loopholes, and it is obvious that a lot of tampering has been done to the actual situation. If he was given a few more days to slowly prepare, he might be able to make the whole story more complete.
Li Zhi, on the other hand, was dubious. Even though he had been reminded by Qian Tiandun and knew that there was something wrong with Jin Sangxian's statement, his inherent impression of Cui and Jin over the years made it difficult for him to make a more objective judgment.
However, neither Qian Tiandun nor Li Xie tried to point out the various loopholes in Jin Sangxian's words. Li Zhi felt that he did not know enough about the situation in Seoul and wrongly blamed Jin Sangxian, while Qian Tiandun thought that Jin Sangxian and his officials were still needed to continue to maintain the operation of the city, and it seemed that Kim Sangxian did not want to The plan to escape here is obviously to continue serving as an official under Li Xie, so there is no need to rush to control him personally.
Qian Tiandun immediately stated that three things must be implemented immediately. The first is for the Haihan Army to take over the defense of Seoul, and the local army must not resist. The second is to retrieve the bones of King Li Zhu, and the Haihan Army will be responsible for subsequent processing. The third thing is to arrange for Li Zhi to ascend the throne as soon as possible to ensure the continuation of the ruler's qualifications.
On the cleanup list that Qian Tiandun asked Li Zhi to give earlier, many people died in the city inexplicably because of this coup. The remaining people were almost all officials from Jin Sangxian's faction. In addition, people were still needed to maintain the operation of the city, so Qian Tiandun could not order the arrest of these people.
"Your Majesty, you can start drafting the edict. It is necessary to explain to the world what happened in Seoul as soon as possible." After Jin Shangxian and other ministers resigned, Qian Tiandun began to make further suggestions on governance to Li Xie.
Li Zhi heard this and asked: "Are we just going to follow the version given by Lord Jin just now?"
Qian Tiandun shook his head and said: "You don't need to write in such detail, just say that the king was killed by a traitor. The relevant yamen are currently investigating the cause of the matter. As for the focus of the edict, you must put it on yourself. Ascension to the throne and becoming king is a major event. We must try our best to ensure that all prefectures and counties across the country receive this news.”
"My father's body is still cold, wouldn't it be a little bad to rush to the throne in such a hurry?" Li Xie still had a lot of doubts about this.
Qian Tiandun said: "Extraordinary things are done in extraordinary times. Prince, you have to know that only after you ascend the throne, whether it is investigating the truth or purging dissidents, can you have enough power to promote it. Do you want to put it forward?" It may be very difficult to ascend the throne after all issues have been resolved.”
Even though Li Zhi still had concerns in his heart, he had to admit that what Qian Tiandun said was reasonable. As the current prince, he would still have some inconvenience in dealing with all aspects of matters. After he ascended the throne, he could use the name of the king to issue various orders. With this kind of government order, there will no longer be cases where the name is not justified and the words are not consistent.
After Qian Tiandun discussed the matter with him, he turned around and left the Qinzheng Hall, announcing to the ministers waiting for news outside the hall that Li Xie was about to ascend the throne. Li Cao Banshu unfortunately died in this coup, so the relevant ceremonies could only be organized and implemented by Li Cao's counselors, counselors, counselors and other officials.
Li Zhi sat alone in the hall, feeling that the environment here was both familiar and strange. Before he went abroad, he had been attending court with his father and learning to handle government affairs. There was always a chair belonging to him next to the throne in the Qinzheng Palace.
But many of the familiar faces that used to be seen in Qinzheng Hall have now disappeared. The people responsible for security inside and outside the hall were no longer the imperial guards, but were all replaced by the Haihan Army.
As for how much it would cost to bring back so many bodyguards, Li Zhi is too lazy to think about it now, but he knows that the money must be well spent. If he comes forward to contact the forces that control the city defense, it may be difficult to enter the city smoothly so quickly. . But now he entered the city and returned to the palace without firing a shot, and successfully took back the throne. This is probably the deterrent power of the Haihan Army.
Speaking of the throne, Kim Sang-hyun previously said that Lord Fenglin and Lord Linping were both safe and sound in the palace. Li Zhi was wondering if he should visit them, but immediately rejected the idea. He had known about Cui Mingji's support for Lord Fenglin for a long time, but he had never regarded it as a threat. But this coup may be the closest that Lord Fenglin gets to the throne. If Li Zhi comes back ten days and a half later, someone may support his two younger brothers.
Li Zhi felt that it was not the right time to meet his brothers at this time. He would rather wait to investigate the coup and arrest those who should be arrested and kill those who should be killed. After everything was dealt with properly, he would meet with his two brothers. Meeting each other may dispel some of their unrealistic fantasies.
Of course, if it is finally found out that Lord Fenglin was actively involved in this matter, then Li Zhi probably wouldn't mind banishing him to a place far away from the city like Ganghwa Island or Jeju Island, so that he could be as far away from the throne as possible for the rest of his life.
The operation to take over the city defense is still in progress. With the experience of Sungnye Gate, the Haihan Army's takeover of the other three city gates appears to be more orderly. For those officers who were unwilling to hand over their military power easily and accept the arrangements, Haihan adopted simple and effective methods and directly arrested them on the spot in the name of committing chaos and violating military regulations. Just cut off the thorny ends and the rest will be much easier to deal with.
By sunset that day, the Haihan Army finally completed the handover of the defense of the four city gates and officially brought the city under its jurisdiction.
However, in order to facilitate the management of this city, a strict curfew is still enforced in the city, and all people are prohibited from going out as soon as the sun sets. Those who want to leave the city need to apply to the Haihan Army for approval, and they can only go out of the city after receiving permission.
Wang Tom's naval force effortlessly took over the North Korean navy stationed locally, and conveniently put seals on all warships, prohibiting the navy from using these large combat tools in the near future.
(End of chapter)