Chapter 38: Restoration
Seeing that Ye Mingsheng noticed him, Liu Shilin's eyes flickered, but he still took out a letter from his arms and handed it over.

"This is a secret letter that Lord Shen gave me before he left. He told me to pass this letter to you, Lord Ye, after we conquer the royal city!"

Ye Mingsheng was a little surprised to hear that Shen Jianzhong had a letter for him. When he took the secret letter and read the contents, Ye Mingsheng shook his head helplessly and said:

"I know what to do. Ye will definitely restrain his subordinates and will not harass the wealth and women in the royal city in the slightest."

After saying this, Ye Mingsheng took off the sword from his waist, handed it to Ye Tie beside him, and said very solemnly: "You hold this sword, if there are anyone who violates military discipline and makes trouble, kill them all!"

"As ordered!"

After receiving the order, Ye Tie took the sword and rode towards the palace.

Seeing this, Liu Shilin clapped his hands and exclaimed: "Master Ye, you are really strict in managing the army. It is admirable!"

After chatting with Liu Shilin for a while, Ye Mingsheng, who had not slept all night, could no longer hold on and hurried back to the military camp outside the city to rest.

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When the royal city of Gongdu was breached, on the path from Liujing to Anchuan North Road, in a dilapidated temple, a dozen strong men in ordinary clothes were sitting together by the fire to keep warm.

Judging from their clothing, these people look no different from the refugees roaming around the palace, but if you look closely you will find that these people are extremely well-trained.

Not only were there people standing guard outside the temple, responsible for perimeter security, but when the people inside the temple sat down, they also secretly formed a military formation to protect the thin, sad-looking young man who was sitting in the center of the temple, in the cleanest position.

Seeing Li Xuanchang's loss of appetite, Park Jingyuan looked somewhat helpless, but still took a bag of dry food, walked over and said:

"Your Highness, please eat something."

"General Park, please eat. I'm not hungry."

Li Xuanchang, who was worried about his father, shook his head. After hesitating for a moment, he continued in a low voice:

"Father should..."

Feeling the hope in Li Xuanchang's words, although Park Jingyuan wanted to give him a hopeful answer, he still shook his head cruelly.

After all, the greater the hope, the greater the disappointment. It is better to suffer a short pain than a long one!
Seeing the answer given by his father's most loyal general, Li Xuanchang's eyes quickly dimmed.

"Your Highness, you must cheer up. Although the king died for his country, as long as you are still here, there is still hope for the palace. Sooner or later, we can kill all these treacherous Zhou people and recover our palace!" Park Jingyuan vowed:
Park Jingyuan's words were powerful and immediately aroused the rage of revenge in Li Xuanchang's eyes. Seeing that his words were effective, Park Jingyuan was delighted and continued, "Your Highness, the Great Zhou seems to be very powerful now, but in fact it is strong on the outside and weak on the inside, with vassal states outside and treacherous ministers inside!"

"The Prime Minister Shangguan Hongyuan, who commands hundreds of thousands of imperial guards in the imperial court, is plotting to usurp the throne. Everyone knows that war between him and the aristocratic families of the imperial court and the vassal states that have their own troops is inevitable. There will be a war sooner or later!"

"By then, they will be too busy taking care of themselves to interfere in the affairs of our capital. That will be the perfect time for us to restore our country!
"Your Highness! The Li royal family has been passed down in the palace for a hundred years. The government is stable and the people are in harmony. As long as the Zhou Dynasty falls into chaos, Your Highness, you only need to raise your arms and call for action. The people loyal to the royal family will surely come to you with food and drink. Restoring the country will be a natural thing!"

Park Kyung-won's words were undoubtedly a bundle of dry firewood, making the fire in Li Xuanchang's heart burn more and more vigorously. The young prince, like a drowning man grasping a straw, tightly grasped Park Kyung-won's arm, and said with burning eyes and eagerness:
"General Park, tell me quickly, what should I do now?"

Hearing Li Xuanchang's question, Park Jingyuan smiled with relief and handed over the dry food in his hand.

"Your Highness, the people of Zhou have a good saying: A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. The first step in restoring the country is for you to take care of yourself!"

Looking at the dry food handed to him by Park Kyung-won, Li Xuanchang took it without hesitation and started to eat it voraciously. In fact, he had not eaten for a whole day and was already starving.

It was just because his father died that he had no mood or appetite to eat. Now after Park Kyung-won's guidance, he has rekindled his fighting spirit!

When Li Xuanchang had almost finished eating, Park Jingquan slowly began to tell him his plan.

"Your Highness, the Zhou Dynasty is now at its peak. What we need to do is to hide and protect ourselves. We cannot fight the Zhou Dynasty head-on. We must bide our time and wait for the opportunity."

"When we left, we took a lot of property from the palace. It was not convenient for us to carry a lot of property, so I divided it into several parts and gave them to the soldiers of the Red Tiger Army to secretly take them to a secret place for storage, waiting for the opportunity to come one day, so that you can use them to raise an army!"

"Secondly, Your Highness, you can write a few handwritten letters and secretly send them to Jiang Shouye, Zhao Mingxi and other men who hold military power and are loyal to the king, asking them to pretend to surrender to the Zhou court, preserve their strength, and wait for the opportunity to restore the country."

"As for ourselves, the Great Zhou court will not let us go. We must leave the palace. I have already made arrangements. We will head east to Kangshan Port. The people of the Zhou Dynasty will not be able to infiltrate anywhere for a while."

"We can set sail from Kangshan Port to Dongdao. The shogun there, Toyotomi Ieyasu, has always been arrogant and has always dreamed of conquering the Zhou Dynasty. Therefore, their relationship with the Zhou Dynasty is very bad. We can go to their territory, quietly develop and accumulate strength, while contacting old ministers who miss their homeland. As long as the time is right, we can fight back."

"Your Highness, although the Zhou Dynasty is strong, they have made many enemies. This time they annexed our capital. Our neighboring Silla, Baekje, Goguryeo and even the Luobi people and the Golden Horde will feel threatened by them. As long as we explain the pros and cons and lure them with benefits, we can gain their support. Restoring the country is by no means an empty talk!"

At the end of his speech, an emotional Park Kyung-won clenched his fists and waved them vigorously.

Li Xuanchang was also completely inspired by his words. He nodded vigorously, his pale face full of anticipation.

(End of this chapter)