stubborn thief

Kaifeng City.

On the day the Yellow River breached its banks, Zhang Renxue, the general of Henan, was a guest at the Zhouwang Palace in the city.

He, along with his eldest son Zhang Xiangsheng, met with Zhu Gongxiao, the heir apparent of the Prince of Zhou, who was observing mourning, to discuss having the Prince of Zhou fund the construction of Kaifeng.

Zhang Renxue served as the General Commander of Henan, in charge of the defense of Henan. He was very clear about the special situation of each prefecture and vassal state in Henan. These vassal states of the Ming Dynasty were all forces that the Ming army could win over in the war.

This year, in particular, Henan suffered from drought and locust plague. It is no exaggeration to say that people in various places are living in dire straits. It is necessary to ask many vassal kings to contribute funds to relieve the people, support the army, and repair the city.

Such a task would be even more difficult in other provinces.

If the vassal king is not wise, he will naturally not provide financial assistance; if he is wise, he will not dare to provide financial assistance.

However, in Henan, thanks to Zhang Yichuan's entry into Henan, also known as the "Zhang Zhi Rebellion," the old story of breaking through Yongning City and killing the Prince of Wan'an, all the feudal lords in Henan were in danger and did not oppose this matter.

The only things open to discussion are the form and amount of the financial aid.

Of all the prefectures in Henan, only the vassal states of Nanyang and Kaifeng were relatively difficult to manage.

The Tang vassal state of Nanyang Prefecture is without a leader. The former Tang Prince Zhu Yujian has been captured by the Embroidered Uniform Guard and sent to the high walls of Fengyang for raising an army without authorization.

The court is still selecting a new Tang emperor, and a result is expected within one or two months. It is highly likely that Zhu Yujian's younger brother, Zhu Yuwei, will be appointed as the new Tang emperor.

Even the most important matters had to be discussed by Zhang Renxue after Zhu Yuwei inherited the title.

Another difficult issue was the Zhou vassal state of Kaifeng.

Because the old Prince Zhou, Zhu Suzhen, was over seventy years old and in poor health, he passed away last year; the next prince of the Zhou vassal state is the heir apparent, Zhu Gongxiao.

However, according to custom, the heir of the Zhou vassal state must observe a full 27-month mourning period for the late king before he can inherit the title according to the established rites.

Therefore, at this time, the Zhou vassal state was nominally without a leader.

However, the Zhou vassal states were different from the Tang vassal states, which had a long history of lawlessness and disorder. The Zhou vassal states were all wise and virtuous rulers, and the people there were also long-lived.

Zhu Gongxiao is now over fifty years old. As early as the seventeenth year of the Wanli reign, he was granted the title of Prince of Zhou. He is wise, virtuous, filial, knowledgeable, and fond of literature. His moral character is impeccable, and he conforms to the patriarchal system. It is only natural for him to inherit the vassal state.

Therefore, Zhang Renxue sent officials to other vassal states, but he came in person to explain the advantages and disadvantages to the heir of the Zhou vassal state, emphasizing that time was of the essence, and to finalize the matter before the heir succeeded to the throne.

Skillful.

Zhu Gongxiao, the heir apparent of the Zhou family, was also looking forward to discussing this matter with Zhang Renxue.

Just a few days ago, Zhu Gongxiao obtained a memorial inscription from Liu Chengzong after his victory in the Lingdong campaign.

Each of the vassal states of the Ming Dynasty had its own unique character.

For example, the people of Zheng Fan loved music, the people of Lu Fan loved making utensils, and the people of Zhou Fan loved reading.

This vassal state had the best book collection in the world, and its printing industry was also highly developed. As a result, members of the royal family generally loved reading, writing, and printing books.

The inscription written by Qian Shisheng was nothing special. Zhu Gongxiao also lacked knowledge of war. After reading the inscription, he felt that it was nothing more than praising Liu Chengzong's victory on the border.

Is it strange that Liu Chengzong won?

Zhu Gongxiao found it not surprising at all; at most, the battle results advertised on the inscription might have been somewhat exaggerated.

What truly caught his attention was the long list of 3,880 names of those who died in battle on the monument.

In war, death is a normal occurrence.

There was no such thing as Liu Chengzong's army only killing people without causing any deaths.

However, in Zhu Gongxiao's opinion, there were too many people with the surname Zhu on the list of the dead.

If that were all, it wouldn't be so bad. The key point is that many of those soldiers with the surname Zhu were named according to the five elements, which shows that they were genuine members of the royal family.

At this time, many members of the royal families of vassal states no longer followed the naming conventions passed down from their ancestors.

This phenomenon was less severe elsewhere, but it was extremely serious in the Zhou vassal state where Zhu Gongxiao was located.

Because there are fixed rules for naming newborns of the imperial clan, the vassal state reports the birth of the child to the Imperial Clan Court, which then names the child with two characters according to the lineage of each vassal state.

As for Zhu Gongxiao, the Imperial Clan Court may have initially named him Zhu Gonghao or Zhu Gongxuan. Then, based on the last character, they checked his lineage of vassal states. According to the rules, the character needed to have the radical "wood" (木), and then they found a character with a similar meaning to his given name from among those characters.

If you really can't find one, create one and then decide on a name for it.

Having a name meant being listed in the imperial genealogy, which also meant receiving a title and a stipend.

At the very least, he's a lieutenant in Fengguo.

However, as early as the Jiajing period, the issue of stipends for the imperial clan had become a national problem. The court tried various methods, including overt and covert delays, to prevent the imperial clan from receiving enough stipends. Court officials complained that the number of imperial clansmen was increasing and that the imperial clansmen were living in poverty.

The Imperial Clan Court was caught in the middle and could only suffer from being squeezed in.

Therefore, the people in the Imperial Clan Court were the earliest members of the imperial clan to begin saving the country in the Ming Dynasty.

They tried to solve the problem at its root—by not naming newborns.

It's not that they don't get started, it's that they start slowly and gradually. It's common for the heirs of princes to take one or two years, the heirs of dukes to take three or five years, ordinary generals to take five or six years, and even lieutenants to take eleven or twelve years.

Without a name, the newborn is not registered in the genealogy; without a title, there is naturally no need for a stipend.

This underhanded trick greatly troubled Zhou Fan.

Because the Zhou dynasty had the most members of the imperial family in the country.

As early as the Jiajing era, when there were only 20,000 members of the imperial clan with genealogical records and titles, the Zhou family, with a population of over 5,000, accounted for a quarter of the total imperial clan population.

The Zhou vassal state had a large population and a significant gap between the rich and poor. The difference between the eldest sons and the poorest sons was even greater than that between princes and commoners.

Minor problems in other vassal states became major problems in the Zhou vassal state.

Zhu Gongxiao's great-grandfather had a lieutenant named Zhu Qinyu who was in charge of maintaining the state. He was pursuing the return of the stipends withheld by the local government and wrote to the Jiajing Emperor, criticizing him for his obsession with immortality, implying, "Your relatives are starving, and you're still giving them food to cultivate immortality!"

The Jiajing Emperor couldn't bear to see his relative starving, so he directly accused him of slander, stripped him of his title, and imprisoned him in a high wall. With this series of measures, he sent Zhu Qinyuan to Fengyang, solving his problem of not having food.

His son belonged to the "Chao" generation and had already been given a name by the Imperial Clan Court, but because his father had broken the law, no one dared to request a title for him, and he was so poor that he had nothing to eat. Others suggested that going to jail was his way out, so he also submitted a memorial to the emperor to discuss the government and persuade Jiajing to release his father.

He also went inside the high walls and got a secure job.

The plight of Zhou Fan's impoverished clansmen is evident.

For this reason, Prince Zhu Gongxiao was more afraid of Liu Chengzong's Ming imperial army than the princes and heirs of other vassal states.

This means that with this royal army present, no vassal state can unite as one to fight against Liu Chengzong.

Liu Chengzong's ambitions seemed boundless, and it was only a matter of time before he attacked Henan. So when he heard that Zhang Renxue, the general of Henan, had come to Kaifeng, the crown prince Zhu Gongxiao immediately ordered officials in the country to welcome him. When he heard that Zhang Renxue wanted the princes to raise funds, he immediately said: "General Zhang, please speak up. All the expenses for repairing Kaifeng will be borne by the Zhou princes."

Zhang Renxue was overjoyed.

Zhou Fan then hosted a banquet in his honor, but because Zhu Gongxiao was still in mourning, there was no wine or music during the meal.

But the ease with which he managed the funds and provisions for the repair of Kaifeng lifted a heavy weight off Zhang Renxue's heart, making him feel so good he could drink water.

He knew that as Liu Chengzong won victories on the border, his focus would inevitably shift to the Central Plains. Henan was now the front line directly facing the Marshal's army, and what awaited him next was a fierce and violent conflict.

Henan has been hit by drought and locust plagues this year, leaving its troops weak and its food supplies insufficient. All it can rely on are a few fortified cities like Luoyang and Kaifeng.

During the Song, Yuan, and Ming dynasties, Kaifeng remained largely unchanged except for the brick-clad city walls; it essentially maintained the same specifications as Bianliang (Kaifeng) in the past.

During the Song Dynasty, there were ten city gates. At the end of the Yuan Dynasty, as an important stronghold to suppress the Red Turban Army, five gates were sealed, leaving only five gates open for defense.

Later, Xu Da conquered the city and renamed it Beijing on the basis of the old city. The city was renovated and its circumference was 20 li and 195 steps. It was 35 feet high and 31 feet wide, and served as the capital of the Ming Dynasty.

Finally, the city wall was covered with bricks.

However, due to the destruction caused by war in Kaifeng, the Hexi and Henan regions in the early Ming Dynasty were sparsely populated and inaccessible by the Grand Canal. In the eleventh year of Hongwu, the title of Beijing was revoked and the area was taken over by Prince Zhu Su of Zhou.

It remains the largest city in the Central Plains.

These two major cities were particularly important in Zhang Renxue's Henan defense system.

After the renovation of the Prince Fu's Mansion last year, Luoyang has built outer walls and repaired city walls, so it is no longer under pressure to protect itself. Now, the only thing that worries Zhang Renxue is the big city of Kaifeng.

Now that he had received the promise of funding from the Prince of Zhou, Zhang Renxue was overjoyed and immediately presented a plan to increase the height of the city to five zhang and widen its width to three zhang and one chi, so that it could be equipped with heavy cannons from the Red Barbarians, which would be beneficial for defense.

The banquet was a joyous occasion for both host and guests, who were in mourning.

Just as the banquet was drawing to a close and everyone was about to take their seats, a terrifying loud noise came from outside Kaifeng City.

The officials in the Zhou royal palace were thrown into chaos. No one knew what had happened, and they could only wait anxiously for news from outside the city.

A moment later, Sun Chengze, the magistrate of Xiangfu County, which was located near the prefectural city, stumbled into the palace. His face was ashen, and his eyes searched the hall with suspicion. It wasn't until he saw Zhang Renxue that he seemed to find a pillar of support. He took a few deep breaths, swallowed hard, and said, "General Zhang, the dike has breached!"

Along with these words, the sounds of commotion from outside the city, sometimes near, sometimes far, reached the palace.

Zhang Renxue was struck dumb, and hurriedly asked, "Where did the breach begin?"

The people inside the palace were thrown into chaos. Some were frightened and worried, but most were numb.

The Yellow River has breached its banks again.

In Henan, especially Kaifeng, during this era, the Yellow River breaching its banks was not a new phenomenon.

Experienced people can tell which river channel it will seize and flood hundreds of miles along the way just by hearing about the section of the river that has breached its banks.

Because the Yellow River breaching its banks in Kaifeng, Henan, is all too common.

Over the past two thousand years since the Zhou Dynasty, the Yellow River has breached its banks more than a thousand times, with nearly three hundred of those breaches occurring in Kaifeng.

In the 138 years from Hongwu to Hongzhi alone, the Kaifeng section of the river breached its banks as many as 26 times.

The most recent breach was four years ago in Mengjin, where the river flooded the area between Luoyi and Ershui, turning it into a vast swamp. People were displaced and beggars were everywhere. Eventually, those refugees who were struggling with the flood and the plague followed Zhang Yichuan all the way to Fengyang.

Now, this horrific scene is about to repeat itself.

For Zhang Renxue, the most crucial issue was that Henan was in danger.

This breach in the dike means that Kaifeng will have to focus its limited resources on river defense amidst the natural disaster, and the progress of repairing the city walls will be slowed down... He didn't know if Liu Chengzong would give him more time to repair the city walls.

Upon hearing Zhang Renxue's inquiry, Sun Chengze, the magistrate of Xiangfu County, hurriedly replied, "Commander Zhang, the river breached at Heigangkou, but it did not overflow the city's protective dike. Kaifeng City is safe, but I fear it will flood Shandong along the old course of the Bian River."

Kaifeng had extensive experience in controlling the river, and outside the city was the larger Song City, which in turn was surrounded by a massive dike.

Under normal circumstances, Kaifeng would not be flooded due to a breach in the dike.

At this moment, Yang Shengwu, an official among the guests, stood up and said in a mixed accent, "The most urgent task is for Commander Zhang to lead his troops to patrol the dike and guard against the White Lotus Sect so as to prevent them from taking advantage of the situation to cause trouble."

Yang Shengwu was from Mile, Yunnan. He was a Jinshi (successful candidate in the highest imperial examination) in the fourth year of the Chongzhen reign. He had previously served as the governor of Hedong Salt Lake Circuit and was a capable official with both literary and military skills.

During his tenure, the salt tax in Hedong was in arrears, causing great suffering to the people. He personally led laborers to dredge the salt ponds, increasing the production of brine salt, which enabled the local area to pay off the overdue salt tax and increase revenue for the imperial court.

At the same time, thanks to Liu Chengzong, they were caught up in the White Lotus Rebellion in Shanxi.

He was wealthy from managing salt, and while distributing porridge to help the people, he also suppressed rebellions, killing the White Lotus sect leader who rebelled in the Hedong area, which dealt a heavy blow to the Three Calamities Society's development in Shanxi.

It is precisely for this reason that Yang Shengwu has now been rewarded for his meritorious service and promoted to the position of Inspector of Henan.

The sudden breach of the Yellow River made Yang Shengwu deeply uneasy. He said, "There are already local bandits in various prefectures and counties who are causing trouble, especially in places like Runing where there have been continuous battles. Now that the Yellow River has breached its banks, I'm afraid that bandit leaders in various places will rush to cause trouble. We must be on guard."

"Henan has no great generals, so please ask Commander Zhang to transfer Lieutenant General Chen Yongfu to guard Runing."

Zhang Renxue nodded repeatedly at the previous remarks. After all, Henan had never even had a permanent commander-in-chief in the past, and there were no generals. Chen Yongfu, the deputy commander, was already the highest-ranking general in Henan.

However, Zhang Renxue disagreed with transferring Chen Yongfu to Runing.

"The local bandits are a motley crew and not worth worrying about. Chen Ji, the commander of Chenzhou Guard, Liu Hongqi, the commander of Xiping, and Zhu Rongzu, the guerrilla commander of Runing, are all knowledgeable generals. They are more than capable of defeating the bandits in battle."

Zhang Renxue mentioned several generals near Runing Prefecture in succession, and then said: "What I am worried about is Zhang Tianlin, who is guarding Tongguan. We have fought several times. His army is equipped with fast horses and longbows. The government army has not been able to defeat him. Now he may take advantage of the situation to plunder eastward into Henan. After passing Songshan, everything is plain. Chen Yongfu is left to guard Luoyang and should not be moved lightly."

Yang Shengwu shook his head. Although he agreed with Zhang Renxue's idea of ​​guarding against the Marshal's Mansion, he found it hard to take the candidates Zhang had proposed seriously.

Chen Ji of Chenzhouwei was the tallest among the short; he was honest and steady, but didn't have any outstanding talents.

Liu Hongqi, the commander of Xiping, was a local bandit in Henan. He established a stronghold and gathered men. When Zuo Liangyu was promoted to the position of commander-in-chief in charge of suppressing bandits in Henan, he conveniently gave this bandit the official position of commander of Xiping.

This is a job without a position, salary, or quota.

Zhu Rongzu, the guerrilla general of Runing, was an even more exemplary figure of rapid advancement.

Three years ago, he was just a yamen runner named Ma Kuai. But when Zhang Yichuan's 100,000-strong peasant army marched into Fengyang, he chased down bandits and made meritorious contributions. The yamen runner transformed into a guerrilla general.

They are all unconventional ways.

Prince Zhu Gongxiao could see the anxiety of Zhang Renxue and Yang Shengwu.

The floodwaters outside the city were still spreading, but they saw the flames of war about to rage across the Central Plains.

"You two need not worry about Kaifeng under the flood. Gong Xiao is neither talented nor virtuous enough to undertake such a great task as providing relief to the victims and repairing the river defenses. However, he is well-paid with rice and gold. Zhou Fan will take full responsibility for the labor and food expenses required, so that others need not worry about it."

"I can also do my part to protect the territory and its people. I implore the authorities of Kaifeng to issue a proclamation to reassure the people and recruit students and righteous citizens to form community soldiers. They will be trained to defend the city. Whether it be bandits, outlaws, or generals and soldiers, if they dare to come to Kaifeng... a community soldier who kills a bandit while defending the city will be rewarded with fifty taels of silver!" (End of this chapter)