The blueprint described by Zhu Ying boosted Zhu Yuanzhang's spirits.

This is a new path, especially for the current Ming Dynasty.

Zhu Yuanzhang, who was well-versed in history, also knew that a dynasty that could not continue to expand would eventually become stagnant and gradually decay.

At that time, the dynasty will fall.

Zhu Yuanzhang established a large number of systems to regulate officials and people, in order to allow the Ming Dynasty to have a longer national prosperity.

After hearing Da Sun's guess and decision about Dongsheng Shenzhou, the situation suddenly opened up.

"It seems that we need to invest more money in this route."

Zhu Yuanzhang couldn't help but speak.

After figuring out these things, he became even more anxious than his eldest grandson.

Now that the Ming Dynasty had steam ironclad ships, except for the trouble with coal, its ability to deal with maritime risks had greatly improved.

Besides, it is relatively safe to go north along the coast.

Coal and other materials were being vigorously developed in the Ming Dynasty, and the application of steam engines made mining more efficient than before.

Gunpowder also plays a big role in mining.

Other mineral deposits may be in small quantities due to continuous development, but the use of coal is not long and the reserves are still sufficient.

On the grassland, Ben Ya Shi Li was captured alive and Aluta fled into the forest.

The Ming Dynasty would be able to free up its hands to deal with Goryeo.

Lee Seong-gye's pressure suddenly increased.

"These damned Tartars, where did their former glory go? How could they be destroyed so easily by the Ming Dynasty?"

"Is Prince Canyuan a pig? He could be captured alive."

"Damn it, damn it, damn it. The Ming Dynasty must be gathering troops to deal with me now."

Lee Seong-gye went crazy in the palace, and expensive porcelain was smashed continuously, but it still couldn't appease Lee Seong-gye's anger.

Even when he saw the kneeling palace maid, Lee Seong-gye kicked her directly.

The only one who remained motionless was the commander of the imperial guards, Wang Hu, who was standing behind in armor.

"Wang Hu, what should I do now?"

After venting his anger, Lee Seong-gye sat on the ground. He was almost mentally broken.

The pressure on the Ming Dynasty was too great, especially after the information they had obtained revealed that an army of hundreds of thousands was not something Goryeo could contend with.

Not to mention that the Ming Dynasty was particularly good at sieges, and the scale of Goryeo's city walls was not large, which was obviously not enough to stop the Ming army.

"Maybe Your Majesty can hide for a while." Wang Hu made a fairly pertinent suggestion.

Goryeo initially established a four-capital system modeled after the Liao and Song dynasties.

In addition to Kaijing, there are also Xijing, Tokyo, and Nanjing.

In the entire Goryeo, only these four cities could stop the Ming army, and the other small cities were not worth mentioning.

Xijing, which is Pyongyang in later generations, is now controlled by Zhu Quan, the King of Ning of the Ming Dynasty, so naturally it is impossible to go there.

Lee Seong-gye's only choices were Nanjing, Seoul and Tokyo and Gyeongju.

At this time, Lee Seong-gye seemed to have grabbed a life-saving straw and decided to run away immediately.

In fact, Kaifeng’s location is still very good, but it was the first to bear the brunt of the Ming army.

Nanjing Seoul, which is a little further behind, or Tokyo Gyeongju, which is by the sea, is where Lee Seong-gye decided to go.

Even if he was defeated, Lee Seong-gye could still take a boat from Tokyo Gyeongju to Japan to seek refuge. Although he had to live under someone else's roof, at least his life was saved.

The war in Goryeo soon began.

The Ming army made sufficient preparations, and hundreds of thousands of Ming troops, led by Zhu Chong, entered the Goryeo region openly.

The army controlled by Prince Ning Zhu Quan here soon joined the Ming army.

In fact, many Goryeo soldiers had no aversion to the Ming army, because Goryeo had always been a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty, so isn't it normal for people from the suzerain state to come?

Faced with the massive attack of the Ming army, most cities did not even show any intention of resisting.

Most of the small cities in Goryeo had only a few thousand soldiers in total. How could they stop the hundreds of thousands of Ming troops? It was like using an egg to hit a stone.

The army reached Kaifeng without encountering any resistance.

When he arrived at the city of Kaijing, Zhu Chong thought he would have to fight.

However, the gates of Kaijing City were wide open, and the ministers inside came out and knelt in surrender.

This left Zhu Chong and Zhu Di speechless.

Especially Zhu Di.

Because Zhu Gang captured Ben Ya Shi Li alive, he suffered a great blow to some extent.

Although Zhu Di had no intention of competing with Zhu Gang on the surface, who would feel good about that?

I was thinking of doing something big, but this is the result?

For the generals and ministers defending the capital, their king had already fled, so why should they die?

Fighting against the Ming army felt like rebellion to many people.

The most important thing is that they did not think that the Ming army would affect their interests. The one who took the blame was Lee Seong-gye. Even if they were ruled by the Ming Dynasty, at most they would just have a new king.

Lee Seong-gye, who had just arrived in Seoul, received the news of Kaesong's surrender and was so angry that he cursed.

"I trusted these rebels so much, but they didn't put up any resistance and surrendered as soon as they saw the Ming army. This is a disgrace to Goryeo."

"Don't fall into my hands. One day, I will kill them all."

Li Chenggui cursed angrily, but after calming down, he began to prepare an escape plan.

It was obvious that Seoul could not be defended. If the city was besieged, he would not even have a chance to escape.

Tokyo Gyeongju was Lee Seong-gye's target.

He planned to concentrate all his forces and put up a tenacious resistance against the Ming army in Tokyo Gyeongju.

On this point, Lee Seong-gye's thinking is still very clear.

Because he didn't need to defend a large territory, he only needed to defend a city and delay the Ming army.

He believed that the Ming army could not stay in Goryeo for too long.

At the same time, he hoped that Aluta could take this opportunity to escape from the forest, so that the Ming army would have to hunt down Aluta.

As long as the Ming army leaves, Goryeo will still be his.

After gathering his troops, Lee Seong-gye once again carried a large amount of food and logistics and rushed towards Tokyo Gyeongju.

This time, he replaced the general who stayed in Seoul with his own confidants.

To keep it secret, he took away the wife and children of this confidant.

Of course, not just him, but also the wives and children of many ministers and generals were basically taken away.

From Seoul to Tokyo Gyeongju on the coast, one has to cross most of the Goryeo region, a distance of more than 600 miles.

Lee Seong-gye was carrying too many people, food, and gold and silver, and could only walk about fifty miles a day, which was already his limit.

This means that it will take him at least ten days to reach Tokyo Gyeongju.

This means that Seoul will have to hold out for more than ten days.

Lee Seong-gye did not instruct them to hold out to the death, but they had to hold out for at least fifteen days.

If he heard the news that Seoul had not been defended for twelve days, their wives and children would all be executed.

Lee Seong-gye only left behind 20,000 troops, but that was enough to defend the city, after all, there were many people in the city who could help.

As the old saying goes: Attack with ten times the force and surround with five times the force.

This means that attacking a city requires ten times the number of troops as defending it.

Zhu Chong's army was mainly composed of cavalry, including infantry and the troops of the previous King Ning, totaling 120,000 people.

It is enough for siege.

But it won’t happen quickly.

The city walls of Seoul were quite good, and Lee Seong-gye asked them to defend the city for half a month before surrendering, which was indeed not difficult.

Theoretically, if we hold on, two or three months won't be a problem.

It took the Ming army more than half a month just to build the siege equipment.

Under the city of Seoul.

The city gates were closed and soldiers were guarding the city walls. The meaning was very clear.

"It seems that Lee Seong-gye has run away again." Zhu Di looked at the situation on the top of the city and said.

Zhu Chong couldn't help but ask, "Why do you think so?"

Zhu Di said: "Li Chenggui has about 100,000 soldiers and horses, but the guards on the city wall seem dense, but in fact they are a bit scarce."

"They deliberately hung up Lee Seong-gye's royal flag to create the impression that Lee Seong-gye was here."

"But if Lee Seong-gye is really here, and our army attacks, he will definitely climb the city walls and look out."

"Kaesong was lost at any time, so how could he defend Seoul, which is only a few days away? It's obviously just a trick."

Zhu Chong nodded and asked casually, "Old Seventeen, you have been in Goryeo for quite some time, and you have a general understanding of Lee Seong-gye's personality. Did he run away?"

Ning Wang Zhu Quan said: "Fourth brother, what you said makes sense. Lee Seong-gye has most likely escaped. Judging from his appearance, he is planning to go to the seaside."

"If we can't defend the city by the sea, we can think of escaping to the sea."

"Goryeo is colluding with Japan, so he probably wants to go to Japan to hide."

Zhu Chong said: "Li Chenggui is a smart man. He wants to delay us so that Alutai can share the pressure with him."

"If that's the case, then there's no need to storm this city, it would just kill soldiers."

"Old Four, you and Old Seventeen each lead 50,000 cavalry to pursue Lee Seong-gye. Let's siege this city first."

There are no narrow passes or dangerous roads in Seoul, so you can just bypass them.

Fifty thousand cavalrymen are enough to pursue on the plain.

Judging from the intelligence received so far, Lee Seong-gye seems to be planning to go to Tokyo Gyeongju.

But not necessarily.

If Lee Seong-gye planned to escape by sea, Tokyo Gyeongju would not be a good choice.

It is true that the city walls there are quite tall and can hold out for a while, but once surrounded, there will be no way out, even if it is less than thirty miles away from the sea.

Heading south, Lee Seong-gye had several options.

The first is Gyeongju, followed by Busan, Suncheon, and Naju are all possibilities.

"Maybe he ran to Qicheng Island." Zhu Quan thought as he looked at the map.

Giseong Island is known as Geoje Island in later generations.

Zhu Di looked at the map and said, "It is indeed possible."

Compared to other places, Qicheng Island is obviously in a better location.

First, surround the sea on all sides, which can effectively block the Ming cavalry, and if they cannot hold on, they can leave by boat at any time.

Not far away is Tsushima Island.

The Ming army could only attack them with ships.

Lee Seong-gye could continue to flee to Japan.

The more Zhu Quan and Zhu Di looked at it, the more likely it seemed.

"Perhaps Lee Seong-gye is not so smart. We can't let go of other places. Let's wait for the main force to pursue Qicheng Island, and send some scouts to other places."

"If we went somewhere else, there wouldn't be such trouble."

Zhu Di thought for a while and said.

This plan was approved by Zhu Quan, who immediately without hesitation, gathered 70,000 troops and headed straight for Qicheng Island.

Another 30,000 soldiers and horses were sent to explore possible areas.

Lee Seong-gye does have some abilities.

Just as Zhu Di and others had guessed, shouting about going to Tokyo Gyeongju was just a cover, and he had no intention of defending the city at all.

After seven days of traveling out of Seoul, Lee Seong-gye found an ambush site and arranged 20,000 soldiers to ambush the Ming army.

He then divided the personnel into four groups, sending them to Tokyo Gyeongju, Suncheon, and Naju respectively, while he himself took the troops and treasures to Qicheng Island.

Lee Seong-gye had no intention of traveling slowly, as he still had some cavalry at his disposal.

Many of the war horses were donated from the grassland.

No matter what, he has given 500,000 shi of grain, so it’s not too much to ask for some war horses.

And Aluta himself no longer had the ability to raise more war horses.

Lee Seong-gye, with 8,000 cavalrymen, broke away from the slow marching convoy and headed directly for Giseong Island.

On Qicheng Island, he still has 50,000 naval troops.

This is the money he used to escape.

Even if Qicheng Island cannot be defended, there is still Tsushima Island, and there is Japan to retreat to.

Lee Seong-gye had thought of many possible escape routes.

He was determined to fight the Ming army to the end.

The main word: drag.

If he could delay the Ming army until they leave, it would be a victory for Lee Seong-gye.

Even if Goryeo fell into the hands of the Ming Dynasty, no one would care.

In today's situation, being able to survive is a real skill.

Even Lee Seong-gye had thought about it. If the situation in Japan was not good, he would simply abandon his identity as the King of Goryeo and flee to Southeast Asia or even the West.

At this time, Lee Seong-gye had no psychological burden of being a king.

It has not been half a year since he got the title of King of Goryeo. Before that, he was just a general, so he was open-minded.

People have to survive. From the day he started the rebellion, Lee Seong-gye had already thought of a way out.

The 20,000 ambush troops left by Lee Seong-gye still caused considerable trouble to Zhu Di and Zhu Quan by relying on the terrain.

It's just a hassle.

Under the iron hooves of 70,000 cavalry, 20,000 infantry are completely not enough.

Not to mention that Zhu Di and Zhu Quan led the team.

Lee Seong-gye did not tell these infantrymen his purpose, and he still insisted on heading to Tokyo Gyeongju.

However, the information obtained from the interrogation made Zhu Di and Zhu Quan more convinced that he might escape to Qicheng Island.

How could a normal soldier know where he was going? Under the interrogation of the Ming army, almost most of the Goryeo soldiers revealed that Lee Seong-gye was going to Tokyo.

They weren't lying, that's what they heard.

However, news that even soldiers knew could not be true.

Zhu Di and Zhu Quan set out again to pursue Lee Seong-gye.

On the third day, a convoy was seen in the distance, with sporadic soldiers escorting it.

Almost all the people in the convoy were young and old, even the soldiers were just there to make up the numbers.

Upon learning that Lee Seong-gye had already left with his cavalry, Zhu Di and Zhu Quan hurriedly continued their pursuit.

If we could intercept Lee Seong-gye before he enters Giseong Island, things would be much simpler.