Chapter 590: Coming to Seoul

On December 15, the eighth year of Chongzhen, Zhang Zhun came to Seoul.

Along the way, the prince Li Jing and Zhang Zhun had a much closer relationship. He was very interested in asking Zhang Zhun about the big and small affairs of the Ming Dynasty, especially the situation of the battle between the Ming army and the Tartars. He was not old, but his Chinese was quite accurate. After asking, he learned that his teacher was a real Han Chinese. Zhang Zhun naturally knew everything about Li Jing and said everything. As long as Li Jing wanted to know, Zhang Zhun basically explained in detail.

Of course, it is inevitable to bring some private goods and use some careful thoughts. Zhang Zhun was also blunt in the darkness and corruption of the Ming Dynasty court. At this age, Li Yu still hates corruption very much. No monarch with great achievements can tolerate such large-scale corruption. In addition to Zhang Zhun's intentional inducement, Li Yu couldn't help but secretly swear that after he was determined to grow up and inherit the throne, he would definitely eliminate all the corrupt officials.

From Incheon Port to Seoul, there is a straight and spacious road connection. Zhang Jun and others rode their horses and came outside Seoul in just one morning. At this time, Seoul naturally had received relevant information from Yin Siming to send someone back overnight. Although Zhang Jun and Li Nei had not met yet, both sides had a certain degree of understanding. Especially when Feng Gaobao's head was sent, the confidence of the pro-war faction should be much more exciting.

"Welcome to Seoul."

"Welcome to Seoul."

Outside Seoul, Zhang Jun couldn't help but accept the second welcome from the North Koreans.

There were two Korean officials who came to greet Zhang Jun. One was Fengpingjun Li Jue and the other was Wu Daji, a doctor from Jiashan. Li Jue was a royal family member and naturally wore purple clothes. Wu Daji was a second-rank official, of course, wore red official uniforms. Behind the two, there were followers wearing blue official uniforms.

Li Jue is a very capable young man. He is about twenty-seven or eight years old. His eyes are sharp, his eyes are deep, but his skin is very fair, as if he is a woman. He is lukewarm to Zhang Zhun, and he seems to be a little resistant. He just expresses greetings in a manner and has overly enthusiastic moves, and is completely despised. Zhang Zhun can understand this. Li Jue's performance is more disappointed than resistance.

In fact, in North Korea, the most active war pro-war faction was Fengpingjun Li Jue. At the beginning, he and Mao Wenlong fought side by side to fight against the Tartars. He and Mao Wenlong joined forces to defeat the small troops of the Tartars for a time and beheaded dozens of levels. Such a record is no match for North Korea. When it comes to military command capabilities, this person is definitely the best among the Koreans.

However, the defeat of the Ming army made Li Jue very sad and disappointed. Without the help of the Ming army, relying on the Korean army alone would not be able to defeat the Tartars. In fact, in order to avoid excessive stimulation of the Tartars, his military power was lifted three years ago. If his military power was not lifted, it would not be the turn of Shen Qiyuan and Zheng Taijie to be arrogant.

North Korea speculates that if the few North Koreans Huang Taiji hate the most, Li Jue will definitely be on the list. Due to pressure from the Tartars, Li Jue has not been able to lead the army again after being lifted from military power. Li Jue was worried that it would stimulate the Tartars, so he took the initiative to put Li Jue under house arrest. Without Li Jue's approval, Li Jue would not have left Seoul.

As for Wu Daji, in terms of intelligence, he is also the backbone of the pro-war faction. However, he is also very cautious about Zhang Zhun's enthusiasm. The specific reason is still unknown. Perhaps they think that Zhang Zhun still needs to observe carefully and cannot draw conclusions yet.

After all, the battle with the Tartars was a long and difficult task, and it was never solved overnight or overnight. The general environment in the Ming Dynasty has never been very good. Even though Zhang Zhun emerged and created glory, it is still unknown how long Zhang Zhun could last. For his own safety, the North Koreans could not easily fall into Zhang Zhun's arms.

"please."

"please."

With mutual politeness, the group slowly entered Seoul.

Seoul, which is Seoul in the future, is definitely not as lively as in later generations. The entire Seoul looks deserted. Except for the North Korean soldiers who are patrolling, they rarely see people. The streets are spotless and unreasonable. However, such a city is more like a decoration than a truly spiritual city.

In fact, for North Korea, Seoul was definitely a very young city. In the early years of Hongwu, North Korea's Taizu Lee Sung-gui returned from Weihua Island and defeated the Goryeo Dynasty and established the Joseon Dynasty. But he believed that he had not yet fully grasped the people's hearts. In order to get rid of the shadow of the Goryeo Dynasty, Li Sung-gui decided to move the capital. According to the popular Feng Shui geography at that time, the capital was determined to be in front of the Beiyue Mountain in Hanyang.

Taizu then moved the capital to Hanyang, built the ancestral temple, Soji and Gyeongbok Palace, and also set up the Seoul Prefecture as the agency to manage the administrative and public security of the capital area. Around the ridges of Beiyue Mountain, Inwang Mountain, Nanshan and Luoshan, a city wall was built about 18 kilometers long. A few years later, Taizong determined the plan for the backbone road. Twenty years later, Sejong built the city wall after ascended the throne and ended the management project of Cheonggyecheon.

Seoul in the early days of North Korea was carefully planned and built. It used Beiyue Mountain as the background, arranged palaces, country and temples, and built roads with Gwanghwa Gate, Jong Road and South Gate as the center. The Seoul seen by Zhang Jun was actually very vast in area. Its jurisdiction area is a city surrounded by four mountains, with a total area of ​​more than 50 square kilometers. On the Korean Peninsula, Seoul is definitely the largest city.

Since the population of North Korea is not large and Seoul is a young city, the population of Seoul has not been large. The population of Seoul has been very slow. From the early days of North Korea to the Ionchen Japanese Rebellion, it took a total of two hundred years, and the population of Seoul has increased to about 100,000 to 150,000. However, after the Ionchen Japanese Rebellion, Seoul's population once decreased to less than 40,000. No wonder the streets now look empty.

Of course, the advantage of a small population and a small population is that the land is cheap. As long as you have money, you can occupy a large area and build overly spacious houses. Seoul is large in area, and the population living here is mostly two classes of nobles. Therefore, there are many luxurious buildings and many palaces.

The place where the North Korean side arranged for Zhang Jun was the Lingyang Palace. This palace was the residence of the North Korean king Lee Seok before the ascension of the throne. At that time, Lee Seok summoned Li Gui, Li Shi, Jin Zidian and others to launch a coup, and eventually expelled Guanghaijun and became the new king of North Korea. After he ascended the throne, he ordered the expansion of the Lingyang Palace and let him go side by side with Qingyun Palace. He once wanted to move the palace back to the Lingyang Palace, but was later successfully dissuaded by two nobles.

Arranged Zhang Zhun to stay in Lingyang Palace, which naturally gave enough face to the Celestial Kingdom. According to Feng Menglong's report, before that, North Korea was preparing to arrange for Zhang Zhun to live in another palace. The other palace was of course not as precious as the Lingyang Palace. It is obvious that the force Zhang Zhun displayed in Incheon Port had already taken obvious effect. Zhang Zhun's position in the minds of the North Koreans was raised to a new level with the roar of the guns, cannons and ships of the Tiger Ben Army.

Li Jue and Wu Daji sent Zhang Jun to the door of Lingyang Palace and said goodbye. North Korean King Lee Nai will hold a banquet in the evening to welcome Zhang Jun's arrival. Before that, Zhang Jun has enough time to rest. Of course, North Korea has arranged reception staff in Lingyang Palace. Any needs of Zhang Jun can be handled by them.

"Zhang Zhun, why did you come?"

As soon as he entered the door, Zhang Zhun heard the chirping sound of Chen Lingfei.

With the cheerful sound, Chen Lingfei, who was waving and waving, came out of the hall slowly.

I only saw her appearing in front of Zhang Jun in authentic North Korean clothing. She was very pretty and had a bit of a rare weakness, probably because of the feeling that the clothes she wore to Zhang Jun. The North Korean clothing was very generous, completely covering her figure. However, she was indeed a versatile god, and no matter what kind of clothes she wore, she looked quite beautiful.

Zhang Zhun looked at Chen Lingfei up and down, and asked in confusion: "It seems you are not wronged!"

Chen Lingfei said with a little confused: "What kind of grievance am I suffering?"

Zhang Zhun frowned and said, "Don't the North Koreans want to seize you?"

Chen Lingfei said a little confusedly: "No! The North Koreans told me that you are coming to North Korea. You are not familiar with North Korea and may not bring anyone. So I asked me to play on Ganghua Island for a few days. After you come, I will be a staff member for you. Their queen accompanied me to play on Ganghua Island."

Zhang Zhun understood.

The North Koreans used a small method to hide it from Chen Lingfei. The eldest lady of the Shen family is sometimes as careful as her hair, and sometimes she is careless. She almost got sold by someone, and she happily helped count the money!

Sure enough, after Chen Lingfei finished speaking, she danced a few more dance steps in front of Zhang Zhun, spinning her clothes on her body, like a little peacock with open screen, and then said to Zhang Zhun happily: "This is the clothes given to me by their queen. Do you think it's good?"

Zhang Zhun said casually: "It's okay!"

Seeing Zhang Zhun's expression was wrong, Chen Lingfei stopped dancing with regret and said in wonder: "What's wrong? Don't you like such clothes? Well, it's not as good-looking as we Han people. I'll wear it here, and I won't wear it when I go back."

Zhang Jun shook his head and said calmly: "It's nothing. If you like to wear it, continue wearing it. You can wear it anywhere... How are you playing on Ganghwa Island? What did the Queen of North Korea tell you?"

Chen Lingfei immediately regained her excited look and said happily: "It's so fun! Really! It's so fun! The queen didn't tell me anything, she just cooked delicious food for me every day and took me everywhere to play every day!"

Zhang Zhun looked at her expression and obviously did not suffer any grievances, so he stopped talking. He asked Chen Lingfei to come to North Korea, but in fact he also hoped to contact North Korea through her special identity. In other words, he actually had the intention of using Chen Lingfei to build a bridge. Now that he has achieved his goal, Chen Lingfei didn't feel it, so there is no need for him to say it out. It's rare to be confused in life!

When Chen Lingfei saw that Zhang Zhun was not angry, she immediately relaxed. She greeted Ji Yuqing and Xu Qingluan, and said with a proud and narcissistic smile: "Come on! You all come here! The queen has given me a lot of things!"

Zhang Zhun naturally had no interest in studying the gifts given to Chen Lingfei by the Queen of Korea. Ji Yuqing and Xu Qingluan were very interested. They were both women, so they could not help but have a little jealousy, so they rushed over to watch. Several women gathered together to look at this and that, chirping and talking a lot. It seemed that there were countless larks in the Lingyang Palace, full of joyful laughter.

There were quite a lot of things that the Queen of North Korea gave to Chen Lingfei, most of which were all kinds of precious clothes. Perhaps the queen also realized that Chen Lingfei liked to dress up the most. In addition to the precious clothes, there were also many rare antiques of extraordinary value. Chen Lingfei actually liked to study antiques when she was free, but unfortunately, there were no rare antiques here at Zhang Jun. This time she came to North Korea, she made a lot of money.

Chen Lingfei was obviously bribed by the Queen of North Korea. In front of Zhang Jun, she only said good things about the North Koreans. Fortunately, the girl Sisi next to her was quite clear-headed and had to remind her ladies repeatedly not to be too happy. Chen Lingfei controlled her emotions. Otherwise, with her temperament, she would not be surprised at all.

Zhang Zhun couldn't help but shake her head. Chen Lingfei was actually a soft-hearted person who was not hard-working. The Koreans used medicine to her and really locked her life. Of course, the Koreans' purpose was to contact themselves through Chen Lingfei. There were some shameful means in the middle. However, since they came, it didn't matter.

Chen Lingfei was happy for a long time before she realized that Zhang Zhun seemed a little unhappy. She was still a little afraid of Zhang Zhun, so she couldn't help but say carefully: "Don't I accept the things she gave?"

Zhang Zhun shook his head and said affirmatively: "No. Since it was given to you by someone else, you can accept it openly."

Chen Lingfei was relieved. But after a while, she said cautiously: "But you... look bad... don't be upset..."

Zhang Zhun nodded and said slowly: "I have something to ask you. I don't want to blame you. I will tell me all the things you learned in North Korea."

Chen Lingfei hurriedly said, "What do you want to know?"

Zhang Zhun said casually: "You can say whatever you know?"

Chen Lingfei rolled her eyes and said quickly: "I really don't know anything else, I know one. The queen has a cousin, so beautiful. That day I suddenly saw her and thought she had descended to earth. However, it seems that the queen doesn't like her cousin very much. She is a descendant of Guanghaijun in the past..."

Zhang Zhun shook her head, interrupted her words, frowned and said, "This is worthless. You can say something valuable. For example, the internal conflicts of the high-level North Korea, the internal situation of the North Korean army, etc.."

Chen Lingfei thought about it seriously, and then said helplessly: "Then... it will be gone."

Zhang Zhun could only be speechless.

Chen Lingfei was indeed filled with a ecstasy soup on Jianghua Island, and she only knew how to play.

Zhang Zhun had to take the initiative to ask: "Have you seen North Korean warships on Ganghwa Island?"

Chen Lingfei said casually: "I saw it! I said I am here to protect the queen's safety!"

Zhang Zhun couldn't help but reach out and knocked on her forehead, saying, "You can also protect the queen's safety! Others are here to monitor you!"

Chen Lingfei said half-believingly: "Ah? Is that right?"

Zhang Zhun told the whole story about the cause and effect of the matter.

Chen Lingfei thought about it for a long time in a daze, but still looked a little disbelief. Finally, she said in wonder: "It seems... I haven't been hurt?"

Zhang Zhun was speechless again.

Fortunately, Miss Sisi was quite calm, and she provided more detailed answers to Zhang Zhun's questions. Near Jianghua Island, there were indeed North Korean warships, with a total of more than 20 ships. As for the number and commander, Miss Sisi didn't know. However, she recorded the shapes and sizes of the Korean warships. After comparison, it can be confirmed that they were all turtle ships unique to North Korea.

"That's right."

Zhang Zhun nodded with satisfaction.

The main warships of the Korean Navy were concentrated on Ganghwa Island, which obviously had special purposes.

Ganghua Island is less than 100 miles away from Seoul and less than 50 miles away from Incheon Port. Since Ganghua Island is separated from the mainland and is close to Seoul, if there is any disturbance, the King of Korea likes to send his concubines and children to Ganghua Island to make safety. Over time, many scenic spots and historical sites have been formed on Ganghua Island, and dozens of palaces of all sizes have been built. No wonder Chen Lingfei had a lot of fun on Ganghua Island.

From a military strategic perspective, Ganghwa Island is also the main force to protect Seoul. The Korean navy can go ashore here at any time to support Seoul. Or welcome the fleeing kings here and bring them to the sea. Ganghwa Island is different from Incheon Port, which is completely the king's private territory. No matter what they do, the outside world will not know.

“Jianghua Island…”

Zhang Zhun slowly pondered alone.

He inferred that in the past, the Korean navy should have been hiding near Jianghua Island for many years, which led to the outside world thinking that they were very mysterious. The Hu Ben Army has never had accurate information about them. Now, with the gradual emergence of Jianghua Island, the Korean navy has gradually emerged from the water.
Chapter completed!