Chapter 709: Your Majesty, Urgent Report! Shuntian Prefecture Has Fallen!

The reason Zhu Yijun repeatedly mentioned the grain problem was that in the original two Wanli-era wars to aid Korea, Korea repeatedly stabbed the Great Ming in the back. Clearly, grain "was not transported by anyone, piled up in the open, and could be eaten at any time," yet they left it to rot in the open rather than handing it over to the Great Ming army, leaving the Great Ming soldiers fighting in Korea to starve and freeze.

In the 21st year of Wanli, before the Great Ming army officially entered Korea to fight, the King of Korea, Li I, and officials like Cui Xingyuan promised to provide 40,000 soldiers and 20,000 warhorses with two months of military rations. Under the leadership of Li Rusong, 40,000 Great Ming troops officially entered Korea to fight.

Li Rusong aided Korea, and at the cost of 796 casualties in Pyongyang, eliminated over 10,000 Japanese pirates. Konishi Yukinaga suffered over 10,000 casualties and fled Pyongyang. However, after the great victory in Pyongyang, the grain promised by Korea was delayed in being delivered to the Ming army.

Song Yingchang, the Minister of Military Affairs and Liaodong Coordinator, cursed the King of Korea, Li I, and Cui Xingyuan in his memorial, crying over the miserable state of the troops fighting in Korea: "Since the troops crossed the river, they haven't had a drop of vegetable, meat, salt, or fermented beans to eat. Their armor is infested with lice, their clothes and shoes are tattered. Whenever it rains, they are soaked to the bone, hugging each other and crying. Over 16,000 horses have died. One can imagine the state of the soldiers."

Song Yingchang was a civil official; he wished he could kill all the Korean monarchs and officials!

After winning a great victory in Pyongyang, over 16,000 horses died of starvation alone. One can imagine the degree of grain shortage.

Li Rusong could only remain motionless, waiting for a full two months until the Great Ming grain arrived before he could continue his advance. During these two months, the King of Korea, Li I, kept urging Li Rusong to advance, and the Great Ming Emperor and the Minister of War also urged him repeatedly. But Li Rusong remained as motionless as a pine. He explained to the court that there was nothing to eat or drink, while the King of Korea quibbled that they were exhausted by years of hardship and could not recover.

And the Wanli Emperor's attitude towards this was: "It is pitiful, not entirely deceitful; I trust their sincerity."

The Wanli Emperor believed the King of Korea, Li I's, explanation, repeatedly issuing edicts to urge the advance. Li Rusong complained bitterly, but the Emperor didn't believe him, so what could he do?

Whenever the Great Ming army won a battle, this situation would appear again. They fought countless verbal battles, but verbal battles couldn't produce grain. The court urged, the soldiers starved, the horses collapsed, and the gunpowder was insufficient. Li Rusong had been arrogant in Liaodong for half his life, but he had never fought such a suffocating battle.

Now, Li Shunchen also told the Emperor straight to his face that the grain problem was not that Korea couldn't, but that they weren't willing.

"Why aren't they willing? Are the Japanese pirates attacking the Great Ming Dynasty?" Zhu Yijun was very puzzled. Was the Korean King Li I's brain kicked by a donkey? It was Korea that was being attacked by the Japanese pirates, not the Great Ming!

Even if they had it, they wouldn't give it, insisting that the Great Ming transport it from the hinterland. Transporting 10,000 shi of grain from Tianjin Port required 30,000 shi in transport costs! The Great Ming might be the Heavenly Kingdom, but even if they fought like this for seven years, they couldn't hold up!

"In my King's eyes, the Japanese pirates are thieves, and the Heavenly Army is also thieves. The Japanese pirates cannot be too powerful, and the Heavenly Army cannot be too powerful either. If the Heavenly Army is truly that 'Army of the King,' then how can he, the King of Korea, be the King of ten thousand people?" Li Shunchen answered very quickly, without even a hint of hesitation, his tone even carrying some grievance.

Li Shunchen was truly aggrieved!

The reason Li Shunchen could give the answer so quickly had to do with his experience in Korea. Korea also had a wind of "valuing literature and despising martial arts." When Li Shunchen led troops to fight in Korea, grain could only be raised by himself. Raising it by himself meant burning, killing, and looting, taking by force. For a time, the Korean soldiers were indistinguishable from bandits in the eyes of the common people. It was difficult to be a military general in the Great Ming, and it was also difficult to be a military general in Korea.

The Heavenly Army being truly the "Army of the King" would seriously affect the foundation of the Korean King's rule. This was the full picture of what Li Shunchen called "not that they couldn't, but that they weren't willing."

"Korea has many mountains. The King's carriage leaves Hanseong, then leaves Kaicheng, then leaves Pyongyang, and can reach Yizhou. The King's carriage can move with the situation, but how can the common people move?" Li Shunchen bowed his head and said: "I hope the Great Ming Heavenly Army will save the common people of Korea from being hung upside down, and I also hope Your Majesty will see clearly the short-sightedness of the Korean princes and nobles, and not be deceived."

In Li Shunchen's view, being able to become a Tatar official in the Great Ming after the war was his best outcome. If he died on the battlefield, he would be a loyal hero who resisted the Japanese. Either way, he wouldn't lose. Only continuing to be loyal to the King of Korea was the stupidest act.

It wasn't worth it. Li Shunchen already hated the ruling class of Korea to the bone.

This is "three feet above the head, there are gods." In doing things, one cannot act like a beast. The Great Ming army is entering Korea to fight. Eliminating the Japanese pirates is to eliminate them for Korea, and saving the common people of Korea. As a result, when the Great Ming army enters Korea, the enemy is not only the Japanese pirates, but they also have to play wits and courage with these beasts. He hoped that the Great Ming court would see the true face of these beasts as soon as possible and reduce losses.

Especially His Majesty.

This is the basic morality and bottom line of a person. No matter how you put it, it is the Great Ming entering Korea to fight, and they are saving Korea.

For the Great Ming, exterminating Japan is not necessarily about borrowing the way through Korea. They can set off from the Nagasaki Governor's Office—a sharp knife inserted directly into Japan. The Great Ming navy is strong and is constantly getting stronger. Li Shunchen arrived at the Great Ming and saw the court gazettes. Recently, the Great Ming court had been arguing, arguing for the expansion of the navy.

It was mainly arguing about how much to expand. The radical faction thought 50,000, the conservative faction thought too much, 30,000 was enough, and the extreme conservative faction thought 100,000, expanding to 200,000 navy troops, which would be the same as the Yongle era, counting as restoring the ancestral laws.

"Sending troops in all directions, transporting grain for a thousand miles. The King of Korea is so unreasonable. If the soldiers enter Korea, they will inevitably starve and freeze. I truly cannot bear it." Zhu Yijun thought for a long time, took a deep breath, and said to Li Shunchen.

This is not sending soldiers to Korea to fight, but letting the soldiers go to die. For the Great Ming Capital Battalion sharp soldiers, cultivating one soldier is equal to sixteen cows. How could Zhu Yijun bear it?

"Actually, this is nothing." Li Rusong said with a dazed look: "We can just bypass the Korean King! After taking a place, we will make it Han land. Take it inch by inch, fight our way in, and we can lay the grain supply in."

Qi Jiguang's face was calm, even a bit serious. Li Shunchen looked left and right and didn't speak. Everyone looked at His Majesty the Emperor.

Li Rusong's matter-of-fact statement actually meant that he had already regarded Korea as something in his pocket. After the great war, how many of the 17 million people in Korea would be left? The disaster of war is much, much more serious than natural disasters. After the war, Korea could be completely self-sufficient. The Great Ming incorporating the Korean Peninsula into its territory, even with the "calculating base Confucian" style of the dynasty, could not calculate away this expansion.

"What does General Li think?" Zhu Yijun looked at Li Shunchen and asked.

"Your servant thinks there is nothing wrong with it. The common people of Korea sincerely hope for rain." Li Shunchen did not hesitate much and was very supportive of Li Rusong's radicalism.

Korea is divided into northern and southern parts. The north has many mountains, the land is barren, 70% dry fields, 30% paddy fields, roads are not easy to build, products are not very rich, and rainfall is low. The south is a plain, 70% paddy fields, 30% dry fields, vast plains, roads are easy to build, the population is relatively dense, and there are many ports, and industry and commerce are developed.

If the Great Ming took away the north alone, the calculating base Confucians would knock on the abacus and loudly question the Emperor: "Opening up the territory to get these mountain hollows—are you preparing to alleviate poverty! Can't you find a place with better natural endowments to open up the territory!"

But if the Great Ming took both the north and the south, the calculating base Confucians would knock on the abacus and barely accept this expansion.

Qi Jiguang believed that this expedition to Korea should be done step by step, and Li Rusong had no good way, so he just copied the unique skill of the Great Ancestor, Emperor Taizu—taking it inch by inch.

"Taking it inch by inch" is a strategy that Zhu Yuanzhang used very widely, and it has been used repeatedly for two hundred years.

This strategy is actually a variation of the scorched-earth strategy. You fight a hundred miles but only take ten. You don't blindly expand the results of the battle, and you don't blindly pursue. These ninety miles become a buffer zone for the war. In this situation, fighting will break out at any time. In this case, the buffer zone will become a no-man's-land. This is very cruel, but it is also an effective strategy.

The only problem with this way of fighting is that it is a bit slow. Slow means protracted. The court cannot keep flipping the pancake. It must be implemented consistently. Besides being slow, there are many benefits. The biggest benefit is that there are no future troubles, because in the gradual stage from buffer zone to no-man's-land, people have already made their own choices.

"Your Majesty, is there a problem with what I said?" Li Rusong asked in a low voice.

"No problem! What I want is this kind of matter-of-factness, taking this matter as your own business and being righteous!" Zhu Yijun said with a smile on his face.

His Majesty said there was no problem, and Li Rusong truly believed it. He believed in Qi Jiguang and also in His Majesty. If His Majesty said his idea was right, then no one could say it was wrong.

Li Rusong didn't like politics. He even opposed civil officials overseeing military affairs. He felt that his father, Li Chengliang, was a bit too cunning, and as a descendant of a military merit family, he could be simpler—simply being a military general, fighting for the sake of victory.

And this simplicity of Li Rusong was the greatest reliance on His Majesty shaping an environment where military generals and soldiers didn't need to face so many ghosts and monsters.

Being a general in the Wanli era was a kind of luck.

Li Rusong was itching for a fight, so he started fighting with Li Shunchen. Li Shunchen was no match for Li Rusong. Now Li Rusong was the Great Ming's number one fierce general. Even the gradually aging Qi Jiguang could no longer beat Li Rusong. Xiong Tingbi had passed the provincial examination and was preparing for the metropolitan examination next year at the Quan Chu Hall. Otherwise, this Li Shunchen probably couldn't even bully Xiong Tingbi.

Li Shunchen could fight, but that was just on Korean soil. Compared to the Great Ming fierce generals, there was still a big gap.

"Your Majesty, the Marquis of Ningyuan has arrived." The small eunuch reported to His Majesty. Li Chengliang had come to say goodbye. Before the New Year, he had to return to Liaodong.

"Paying respects to His Majesty, may His Majesty live ten thousand years, ten thousand years, ten thousand ten thousand years."

Zhu Yijun smiled and said: "Marquis of Ningyuan, please sit. I truly feel guilty. The Marquis is old and does not want to fight, but the Great Ming army is going to Korea to fight, and I am not at ease with others."

"If the monarch has an order, the subject will naturally go through fire and water." Li Chengliang bowed his head again before sitting down. This time returning to Liaodong, Li Chengliang submitted two memorials to refuse, believing that Wang Rulong was enough in Liaodong and he didn't need to go. But Wang Rulong wanted to follow Qi Jiguang into Korea, and for a time, there was no suitable candidate in the court.

Li Chengliang truly didn't want to go to Liaodong anymore. Everyone said he was "raising bandits for self-respect." In order to ensure the hereditary succession of his family's title, Li Chengliang also had to actively reduce this possibility. Moreover, fighting a war was a very exhausting thing, and it was definitely not easy.

But the situation was the situation, and he had to go.

Feng Bao explained the situation reported by Li Shunchen one by one. Li Chengliang's eyes were bright, and he listened attentively and thought carefully. When he heard Li Rusong say the four words "take it inch by inch," he smiled and said: "Let His Majesty see a joke. My eldest son has always been simple and brave. He hasn't even taken it down yet, and he has already divided it into his own family gate."

"However, the road maps of the capital and Pyongyang presented by Li Shunchen—I think they cannot be fully trusted. Your Majesty, it is not that I don't trust Li Shunchen. Li Shunchen is here, but I don't trust the King of Korea, Li I. The maps he gave to the envoys might have parts that are correct, but there must be mistakes."

"If the court trusts them all, it will suffer a great loss."

Zhu Yijun suddenly raised his head and looked at Li Chengliang. It had to be said that ginger is still old and spicy. Li Chengliang's distrust of the King of Korea had reached the extreme, even believing that Korea had set traps in the maps given to the Great Ming!

This made Zhu Yijun break into a cold sweat. Li I really might have dug a hole for the Great Ming!

"The Marquis of Ningyuan's words make great sense!" Zhu Yijun said very firmly: "This map should be drawn by the Great Ming itself to be credible."

"I don't trust the King of Korea. Since the Great Ming opened the seas, even Japan has ports like Nagasaki, Hiroshima, Harima, Settsu, Izumi, and Osaka Sakai. But Korea doesn't have a single one. Korea clearly has good ports like Yizhou, Incheon, and Fushan, but to this day, not a single port has been built to trade with the Great Ming." Li Chengliang leaned forward slightly, his face solemn: "Your Majesty, Korea is resisting." Li Chengliang knew Korea very well. Korea had so many good ports, but not a single one had been built. Instead, they clung to the tribute trade. This was not for the Great Ming's rewards. The Great Ming indeed paid back double, but for Korea, it was more to monopolize the trade rights with the Great Ming.

In Li Chengliang's view, this was resistance.

Resistance to the silver trade system that the Great Ming was gradually forming.

The Great Ming had already quietly constructed a supply system with silver as the main circulation medium. This could be seen from the payment of military pay. The Great Ming's full pay was half silver from the court, and the rest was in kind from the localities. The localities took silver from the court. Standing from the court's perspective, the full pay was all silver. From the local government's perspective, they bore half the physical goods. From the soldiers' perspective, they received flat-priced physical goods and sufficient silver military pay.

And Korea's closed-door policy created an environment where Korea had no silver as a general equivalent. When the Great Ming soldiers entered Korea to fight, the first thing they had to consider was the silver for the soldiers, which had no place to be spent. Entering Korea to fight, grain comes first.

"Your Majesty, I have a memorial on the five things for pacifying the Japanese in Korea." Li Chengliang took out the memorial and presented it to His Majesty in person.

First, the division of power and responsibility: the Great Ming would transport grain to Liaodong, and the Liaodong side would be responsible for transporting grain from Lushun and Liaoyang to Yizhou, Korea. Li Chengliang guaranteed that there would be no trouble with grain on this section of the road; second, level the roads from Lushun to Yizhou and Liaoyang to Yizhou, and build post roads with engineering battalions within the scope of their ability; third, select those who are familiar with Korean affairs, have talent and knowledge, are practiced in affairs, and are familiar with the dangers of the roads to be guides for the army; fourth, build vehicles and prepare 50,000 cattle and horses to be transported to Yizhou for the army to use; fifth, recruit 1,000 squad leaders to Korea for backup, to facilitate the transport of grain.

"Now add one more item: recruit grain chiefs from various places to enter Korea to farm and cultivate fields." Li Chengliang added a temporary item, making it the six things for pacifying the Japanese in Korea.

The last item was an additional item due to changes in the Great Ming's strategy. If they took it inch by inch, they must farm and cultivate fields, supporting the war with farming. Otherwise, long-term consumption would be a burden that the Great Ming court could not bear. Farming or military colonies were the prerequisite for taking it inch by inch. Otherwise, a protracted war would inevitably cause a huge burden on grain.

Li Chengliang's meaning in submitting this memorial was very clear. He was not returning to Liaodong to enjoy happiness, but to handle affairs with all his heart, ensuring the smooth progress of the Great Ming army's expedition in Korea.

"The Marquis has worked hard. I wonder if the Marquis is willing to guard Korea after the war?" Zhu Yijun asked quite seriously.

"Whoever wants to go, let them go. I won't." Li Chengliang said immediately: "That poor and remote place, I am not willing to go. Moreover, I am an old bone, and I won't be able to guard it for many days. His Majesty should choose another virtuous person."

Li Chengliang looked at Li Rusong. Unlike Yin Zhengmao and Zhang Yuanxun, his son Li Rusong was going to be the Capital Battalion Regional Commander and the Great Ming Grand General. If he went to Korea to be a local snake, it would affect Li Rusong's progress.

He couldn't go. Besides, he felt that he was an old bone and wouldn't live for many more days. He wouldn't be able to guard it for many days.

Li Chengliang didn't know he could live to be over ninety. He felt that at his age, in a few years, he would be a withered bone in the grave.

"Let's talk after the fight." Zhu Yijun nodded, not overly entangled in this matter.

"This son is indeed quite brave. After the war, it wouldn't be a waste of his talent to be an official in the Great Ming." Li Chengliang looked favorably upon Li Shunchen. Putting him in Korea was a bit of a waste. In the war to exterminate the Japanese, Li Shunchen could play the role of "buying horse bones with a thousand gold," which was conducive to the Great Ming's civilization of Korea.

Li Shunchen being reused represented that the Great Ming did not overly despise the local attitude of Korea. This attitude could very effectively alleviate the contradictions in the Great Ming's civilization. Some things, if Li Shunchen, a Korean, said them, would be much more effective than if the Great Ming said them.

The Ministry of Rites also did things in an orderly manner and really found Oda Oichi to inquire.

Oda Nobunaga's slogan of "ruling the world" indeed shouted "Sweep across the Ming country, unite the three countries into one," and Hashiba Hideyoshi clearly explained the meaning of the two words "Entering Tang": "In my lifetime, I will surely add the Tang land to my territory." According to Oda Oichi's account, the wind of "Entering Tang" in Japan was extremely strong, which was the fundamental reason why Oda Nobunaga could launch the war of invading Korea.

The accusation against Japan by the Korean envoys Li Hubai and Li Shunchen was completely established, and there were even details that Korea didn't know, such as Mōri Terumoto having frequent contacts with Great Ming merchants, and even saying to others many times: "Once we attack Tang, the Ming country will inevitably have thousands of people responding to join the grand event," and other words.

The Japanese pirate problem from the mid-Jiajing period to the early Wanli period was the most typical case.

When the Ministry of Rites reported the situation to the court one by one, they received the Emperor's approval: "When I was on the Southern Inspection, I still killed too few."

When the Great Ming's huge war machine began to run slowly, in December of the 13th year of Wanli, Japan launched an invasion of Korea on the 2nd day, using the Korean King's refusal to pay homage in Kyoto as an excuse.

"Your Majesty, urgent report! Shuntian Prefecture has fallen!" A small eunuch holding the report rushed into the Tonghe Palace, truly panicked. "Shuntian Prefecture has fallen"—these five words came out, scaring the small eunuch half to death. Did Japan have some kind of sorcery? How could they fight from Japan to the Great Ming capital!

"What kind of thing? Shuntian Prefecture has fallen?" Zhu Yijun took the report, his face full of confusion. He was in Shuntian Prefecture himself. If the Japanese pirates really fought to the capital, he, the Emperor, wouldn't know? Was Oda Nobunaga going to execute a decapitation strike?

Zhu Yijun finished reading the report and realized that it was not the Great Ming's Shuntian Prefecture that had fallen, but Korea's Shuntian that had been captured by the Japanese pirates.

Korea's Shuntian Prefecture was near the Noryang Strait—it was the Noryang Strait of the Battle of Noryang. This report looked extremely scary. Those who didn't know would think that the Great Ming Emperor had been captured by the Japanese pirates.

The Japanese pirates divided their troops into three routes: one route captured Fushan and Dongnae, and the vanguard had reached Gyeongju; one route captured Masan, Geoje, and Okpo; and one route attacked Noryang and Shuntian. This route looked like it was going to raid Hanseong.

"Is Korea so fragile? They couldn't even withstand a single blow, and all the defenses were broken through. They couldn't even last a single round!" Zhu Yijun stood up abruptly and looked at the map. The situation was even worse than he had imagined. Korea was collapsing at the first touch, falling like a landslide.

Even the most radical Li Rusong thought Korea could last three months, and Qi Jiguang thought that no matter what, Korea could last half a year. As a result, in this engagement, in three days, all the defense lines were like decorations. Three months? One month was already a stretch.

"What are the Korean civil and military officials doing?" Zhu Yijun pointed at Fushan on the map: "Fushan, Okpo, Shuntian—in my military-blind view, they are all places easy to defend and hard to attack. These three places were actually taken down within three days. This Korea is truly mud that cannot be supported on the wall!"

Zhu Yijun didn't understand military affairs, but with his shallow military knowledge, these three places were actually taken down within three days. This Korea was truly mud that couldn't be supported on the wall!

"Your Majesty, there are moles." Feng Bao also finished reading the report and said immediately: "There are quite a few generals in Korea who have been bought off. Wherever the Japanese pirates' vanguard reached, these generals directly opened the city gates and surrendered."

"Then it's not strange." Zhu Yijun nodded, understanding why the war was fought like this.

The Great Ming army had its own plan and still needed to prepare. They wouldn't set off for Liaodong until after the New Year. After arriving at the Liaodong Regional Military Commission, they would look at the situation and head to Jiuliancheng, and then enter Korea to fight after the Emperor's edict. The Great Ming was not in a hurry; the one who should be in a hurry was Korea.

The Great Ming Emperor knew about the fall of Fushan earlier than the King of Korea. The Great Ming had seriously overestimated Korea's resistance ability. On the 19th day of the Japanese invasion of Korea, the Korean capital, Hanseong, fell.

The news reached the Great Ming, and the eyes of the civil and military officials of the Great Ming court almost popped out!

On the 21st day of the twelfth month of the 13th year of Wanli, in the Wenhua Hall of the Great Ming court, the civil and military officials participating in the court discussion were discussing heatedly. As the small eunuch shouted "His Majesty has arrived," the officials quieted down.

Zhu Yijun walked onto the platform with a dragon-like gait, waved his hand and said: "No need for formalities, sit."

"From the Japanese pirates swearing to send troops, it has only been nineteen days, and the Korean capital, Hanseong, fell yesterday. Even if they were 300,000 pigs, the Japanese pirates couldn't catch them all in nineteen days. But Korea's 300,000 people only took nineteen days to lose their capital. I truly have opened my eyes!" Zhu Yijun looked at the Grand General Qi Jiguang and asked with a frown: "Qi Shuai, were the Japanese pirates this fierce in the Southern Yamen?"

"Your Majesty, when the Japanese pirates invaded the Southern Yamen, they were beaten back by 3,000 troops of the Zhenwu Battalion. They pursued for 120 miles, beheaded over 1,200 people, and burned over 100 ships. There were over 3,400 Japanese pirates who invaded." Qi Jiguang hurriedly bowed his head and said.

Although the Great Ming south dismantled its city walls, although the Great Ming south was very "valuing literature and despising martial arts," and although the Great Ming had all kinds of troublesome things that could fill several books, the Japanese pirates never got such benefits in the hands of the Great Ming.

Korea claimed to have 300,000 soldiers, yet the Japanese pirates took the capital in nineteen days.

"Even Oda Nobunaga's black barbarian Yasuke can show off his power in Korea!" Zhu Yijun didn't know whether to laugh or be angry. It was truly too fragile.

Oda Nobunaga had a samurai named Yasuke, who was a black barbarian, a proper West African slave, trafficked to Japan by red-haired barbarians. On the Korean battlefield, he was like a god of slaughter, invincible. It was truly laughable.

"Your Majesty, should we advance the troops? The army is defeated like a mountain. Looking at this posture, Korea won't be able to hold on for three months." Zeng Shenwu, as a conservative, believed that as a suzerain, the Great Ming should send troops now. Since the King of Korea couldn't defend, let the Great Ming replace him.

The rapid defeat in the three battles of Fushan, the Japanese pirates' attack like a sharp blade cutting through tofu—the chain reaction of defeat, once it started, couldn't be stopped at all. After morale completely collapsed, it was impossible to form any effective resistance.

"No hurry." Zhu Yijun shook his head: "Military affairs are of great importance. Since the strategy has been set, we must make full preparations."

"Your servant obeys the edict." Zeng Shenwu bowed his head and accepted the order. Before the Great Ming intervened with force, there was no need to be in a hurry.

"Your Majesty, the sons of the Japanese King Oda Nobunaga have all successfully arrived at the Great Ming. They have now checked into the Four Barbarians Hall. Oda Oichi and Kanda Shinichi submitted a national letter from Oda Nobunaga, requesting to submit." The Minister of Rites, Wan Shihe, presented a national letter to the Imperial front.

Zhu Yijun opened it and looked for a long time. Oda Nobunaga promised in the national letter: the military edge would stop at Hanseong and not continue to attack, leaving northern Korea as a buffer zone with the Great Ming; and ceded the already occupied Incheon to the Great Ming; requested the Great Ming navy to station troops in Incheon, Fushan, and the Yamatai military port for containment; Oda Nobunaga promised that as long as he was alive, he would not attack the Great Ming. If there was any violation, he would be arrested by the Kyoto Investigation Department.

"Delaying tactic?" Zhu Yijun held up the national letter in his hand and said: "Even the Japanese pirates know how to handle diplomacy in war! They know the Great Ming is the key to the victory of this battle and will use every means to delay the Great Ming's entry into Korea. And Korea! Still crying about the so-called 'parent nation'!"

"How can people be so stupid!"