There Is No Sejong In My Joseon [EN]: Chapter 306

My vision is spinning.

More concerning is that my family, who should definitely be in Hanyang, is looking down at me.

And if that weren’t enough, they’re taking turns offering me words of encouragement.

– Get up, you must get up. Hurry!

– You have to get up. You are the pride of Joseon! Arise, Your Majesty!

– Get up. Hurry, get up!

“Hah, Grandpa?”

– You are my grandson. The grandson of Yi Seong-gye, the commander-in-chief of the Joseon Independence Army. Get up now, Your Majesty!

Grandpa wasn’t from the Independence Army, but from the rebel army.

What is this, even the dead are showing up.

“Ugh…”

A stabbing pain jolted me awake.

The moment I opened my eyes, I heard several people around me sigh in relief.

“Your Highness, I’m so glad you’ve opened your eyes.”

Do poked his head out, his eyes dark with exhaustion.

“What are you doing here?”

Why is this guy, who should be in Liaodong, here?

More importantly, what’s with the dark circles under his eyes?

“As soon as I heard that you had been hit by an arrow, I rushed here like the wind. Anyway, I’m really glad. I don’t know what would have happened if you had died, Your Highness…”

So, even as a brother, he’s worried about me?

My heart felt a little touched, but Do continued.

“Even if you were to die, you should go back to Joseon to die. If you die now, it’s all over.”

“You always have to say something like that.”

I asked, enduring the pain.

“What happened to Shanhaiguan?”

“Our forces have taken it. The Duke of England, Zhang Bo of Ming, captured the traitor Goshu and surrendered.”

Kim Jong-seo, who had been waiting anxiously, said.

The Prince of Han, Zhu Gaoxu, was killed, and the Prince of Zhao, Zhu Gaosui, was taken prisoner.

They’ve dealt with the two traitors! The war is over… or is it?

‘No way.’

“Then you should have run straight to Beijing! What on earth have you been doing?”

“How could we when Your Majesty was injured!”

“Is that important now? The Prince of Zhao and the Prince of Han have both been finished off by our forces, Beijing won’t last long!”

I said that.

They finally had a chance to occupy Beijing, but they’re leaving it to someone else.

‘It’s not bad for the Uriangkhai [a Mongolic people inhabiting parts of Mongolia and Russia] bastards to get their hands dirty instead.’

Even if they are the guys who bought cannons from us, they probably haven’t crossed Juyongguan [a mountain pass in the Great Wall of China] yet.

I couldn’t just stand by and watch the Crown Prince’s army take Beijing without any losses.

“That’s right. Furthermore, it is truly fortunate that you were injured, Your Highness.”

“What the hell?”

“Please calm down and listen. There may be those who slander us, saying that our army has other intentions in occupying Beijing, but who would dare to object when they see this wound?”

Well, that’s true.

My injury is like a symbol of the Joseon army’s fighting spirit and selfless devotion this time.

Where else in the world is there a tributary state that helps out so much that even the king gets hurt?

My in-laws are truly blessed.

“We’ll strike first before anyone else can get their hands on it!”

However, there was one person who was restless as a dog about to poop when this decision was made.

“It is the Duke of England who joined the banner of Gumingaido this time and opened Shanhaiguan.”

A meritorious subject for two generations, a favorite general of the Yongle Emperor, and a collaborator who brought the Prince of Zhao.

I couldn’t treat him carelessly.

“Your Majesty, the King of Joseon.”

Zhang Bo said in a low voice.

“Speak comfortably.”

No one who actually speaks comfortably when told to speak comfortably can survive in society.

However, Zhang Bo made a brazen request, whether he was clueless or pretending to be.

“The rebels have already been suppressed, so is there really a need to advance to Beijing? The Crown Prince’s army is close at hand, so leave the restoration of Beijing to them, and Your Majesty should stay in Shanhaiguan and rest.”

“No, the Prince of Zhao and the Prince of Han have been defeated, but there is still a man named Meng Xian, their subordinate, remaining.”

Zhang Bo nodded as if he was just testing the waters.

“Then I have a plan, please listen.”

“I will listen carefully, so please speak.”

“A man named Zhu Ying is still in Beijing, a loyal man who refused to cooperate with the rebels. Before I left, I discussed with him and told him how to retake Beijing.”

He had already made such preparations and followed us to Shanhaiguan?

It would be quite a headache if a coup d’état occurred in Beijing and they switched sides to the Crown Prince.

“He may have already succeeded, but even if he hasn’t, I will encourage him to respond from within. If that happens, wouldn’t it save countless lives in the city!”

We all narrowed our eyes at Zhang Bo, who had suddenly become a philanthropist.

What he wanted to save wasn’t the people of Beijing, but Beijing itself.

Zhang Bo’s impatience to protect Beijing, the control tower, was evident.

Even though the Northern Army had been crushed and many of the remaining soldiers were involved in the rebellion, that wasn’t the end of it.

You can rebuild an army, but it’s hard to rebuild Beijing, the ‘capital’ that contains the Yongle Emperor’s wishes.

“Let’s go to Beijing for now.”

Let’s go and decide.

Now that things have come to this, we should at least take a look at Beijing.

If the gates of Beijing open too easily, there won’t be anything for us to do, but there’s still a possibility that the enemy will make a last-ditch effort.

However, when we advanced quickly and reached Beijing.

Everyone, including me and Zhang Bo, could only stare blankly at the unexpected sight.

‘Beijing is on fire?’

Black smoke was constantly rising from Beijing in the distance.

I haven’t done anything yet.

What the hell is going on?

===

Contrary to that delusion, however, Beijing was collapsing from within.

Meng Xian, who had been appointed as the governor of Beijing by Zhu Gaosui, was in charge of control, but of course, with the Zhao army collapsing on all sides, his orders were not properly followed.

It was thanks to this that Commander Zhu Ying was able to prepare to exploit the gaps by co-opting other surrendered generals.

However, the people of Beijing moved even faster than that.

“The Prince of Zhao has become a prisoner of the Joseon army!”

“The Joseon army is invading!”

“No! Juyongguan has already been breached and the Uriangkhai bastards are invading! They’re planning to destroy the city and turn it into a wasteland!”

Rumors, whether true or false, spread quickly, and at the same time, fire demons rose from all over the place.

“This damn city is finally collapsing!”

This was not a deliberate act planned by someone.

It was just that the end-of-the-century atmosphere in Beijing made the people break into warehouses and set fires on their own.

“If Beijing burns, we can go back to our hometowns!”

“Take out anything that’s worth money and set fire to everything else!”

Ever since the Yongle Emperor forcibly raised Beijing as the capital, collecting wealth and relocating people.

Beijing was not their hometown.

For the wealthy people who lived in Jiangnan [a region in China south of the Yangtze River], the winter in Beijing was harsh, and they could never get used to the dry weather and the sandstorms that came every year.

Nevertheless, if the Yongle Emperor had been alive, they would have simply resigned themselves to it, but now that the emperor was dead and the country was turned upside down.

When news came that the Prince of Zhao had been defeated and the barbarians were invading, Beijing was no longer at a level where it could control the situation.

Before Zhu Ying could take any action, Beijing was ablaze.

“Damn it! I’m too late!”

Zhu Ying jumped up and down, but there was no better opportunity to start a revolt than this.

Taking advantage of the fact that Meng Xian, the governor of Beijing, was focused on suppressing the rebellion, Zhu Ying stormed the government office with his comrades who had decided to switch sides.

“Traitor Meng Xian! Surrender peacefully!”

Meng Xian, who had already been cornered, did not attempt any useless resistance.

However, he had no intention of being captured and subjected to the death of a thousand cuts.

“If the Prince of Zhao had listened to me, how could today’s events have happened!”

Meng Xian lamented for a long time before throwing himself from the walls of Beijing.

With Meng Xian, the strategist of the Prince of Zhao and the governor of Beijing, also dead, there was no one left to resist to the end.

The Zhao army was thus completely wiped out, even the last remnants.

With the Zhao army destroyed, it was Commander Zhu Ying who temporarily seized control of Beijing.

However, neither Meng Xian nor Zhu Ying had any way to calm Beijing, where the chaos had reached its peak.

Zhu Ying and the small number of troops who followed him could only stare blankly at the burning Beijing, waiting for someone to advance.

And the first person to reach Beijing and end this chaos.

It was King Yi Je of Joseon.

===

“…”

Everyone who was looking at the burning Beijing was silent.

Zhang Bo’s face, who had been vehemently arguing that Beijing should not be touched until recently, was stiff.

‘Can this be restored?’

I clicked my tongue as I looked at Beijing, which had collapsed to an extent that could not be compared to when I had passed through it to enter the court ten years ago.

‘No, I was originally planning to destroy Beijing anyway…’

How many nights did I lose sleep over that?

‘Well, not many, though.’

Anyway, the resentment of the people who were forcibly relocated must have been much greater than I thought.

I never thought they would blow up Beijing themselves.

“I heard that thanks to the uprising of many people, the remnants of the enemy were easily defeated.”

I didn’t bother to mention the destruction and arson committed by those people.

Well, does that matter?

What matters is that we were able to recover Beijing thanks to their righteous uprising.

Although the government’s warehouses were looted and the palace was burned down, the people rose up because of their loyalty to the country.

Zhu Ying expressed his agreement with my words through silence.

Since Beijing had really entered a state of anomie [a state of social instability caused by the erosion of standards and values], these guys must have been able to cut off Meng Xian’s head and escape from the rebellion train.

Who cares if the Yongle Emperor’s dream disappears in the process?

Not long after we set up camp in Beijing’s Forbidden City (what it used to be), news of the allied forces was coming in one after another.

“Juyongguan surrendered after hearing of the fall of Beijing. The Uriangkhai are advancing south.”

“The Crown Prince’s army has crossed the Yellow River. It has been reported from Nanjing that the Crown Prince will personally lead the army.”

Our faction, which advocated the banner of suppressing the rebels and saving Ming, was all flocking to Beijing.

“It’s time to get paid for our participation in the war.”

The faces of the military officials, including Choi Yun-deok and Kim Jong-seo, were greatly excited.

They had captured Liaodong, which had joined the rebels, and collapsed the main force of the Prince of Zhao.

They had killed the two leaders of the rebels, the Prince of Han, and captured the Prince of Zhao.

They had even taken over Beijing intact, so it was a foregone conclusion that Ming would have to give them a big reward.

Now, all that was left was to figure out what to eat to make it known that they had eaten well.

I should check out my nephew’s generosity.

===

Although the rebellion had not officially ended, there were those who were secretly designated as meritorious subjects.

To be precise, those who had no choice but to be treated as meritorious subjects.

For example, Prince Zhu Quan of Ning, who did not get involved in this rebellion even though he had been backstabbed by the Yongle Emperor.

He did nothing, but as such, he was compared to the two rebellious princes and was scheduled to be awarded the first class of the Pingnan Meritorious Service as an exemplary case of a loyal member of the royal family.

This case was easy.

It was called the first class meritorious subject, but it was enough to increase the stipend a little.

However, it was inevitable that the other meritorious subjects, especially foreign meritorious subjects, would be a headache.

“Let’s give Danning to the Uriangkhai Three Guards. Wasn’t that what the Yongle Emperor promised anyway?”

“But Danning is already in their hands. Will they be satisfied with that?”

“This time, the Taining Guard took the lead in making contributions, so we should give them an appropriate title to raise their shoulders. Then, we should have the Fuyu Guard or the Taan Guard check them on their own.”

“Then what about Joseon?”

That was the problem.

The Three Yangs: Yang Shiqi, Yang Rong, and Yang Pu.

These men, who were practically responsible for the internal affairs of the Ming Dynasty, were racking their brains over the existence of Joseon.

It was clear that they had made great contributions in suppressing the greatest national crisis since the Jingnan Rebellion [a civil war in the early Ming Dynasty], but….

‘Basically, isn’t Joseon a foreign country?’

The Crown Prince seemed greatly moved that his maternal uncle, the King of Joseon, had come to help, but the emotionally barren Three Yangs were concerned.

“I think I should go with the Crown Prince in person.”

Yang Shiqi made a firm decision.

“You’re going in person?”

“There will definitely be a reward ceremony, and we need someone to speak frankly to the Crown Prince, don’t we? I will go and clearly distinguish the merits, whether they are high or low, and whether they exist or not.”

It was a relief that Yang Shiqi was going along.

No matter how affectionate the Crown Prince was, he would not ignore his words and give everything to the King of Joseon.

Thus, Yang Shiqi set off for Beijing with the Crown Prince’s carriage.

—

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End

ⓒ Pitkong