A century-old family that runs through the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 370 Change

"In July of the 22nd year of Wuxing, Chongzu proclaimed himself emperor in Luoyang and named him 'Da Shun'. The world was shocked. When the news reached Beijing, the emperor was furious and said: 'How dare you, a traitor, to overstep his bounds?' He was so angry that he suddenly vomited blood. He fell to the ground."

"I was seriously ill for two months and died in the palace."

……

The sudden death of Emperor Wuxing was unexpected by no one, but he was already considered a long-lived person among emperors, and his health was not much better. When he suddenly heard the news that Wang Chongzu had proclaimed himself emperor, he was filled with anger. His sudden death was not an accident.

Posthumous title: Datian Chandao, dunfilial piety, dutiful friend, Zhang Wenxiang, Emperor Wujing, Mu Zhuang, Qinliang, and the temple name Duanzong.

Prince Zhu Yousong ascended the throne and was named Hongguang.

The six cabinet ministries under his command also had a different set of people at this time.

The chief minister of the imperial court at this time was named Liu Yuliang, but he was not Zhou Yanru. Zhou Yanru had already resigned due to the repeated failures of the Ming army against the Jiangsu and Zhejiang military governments. What is more unfortunate is that he cannot go home now if he wants to, so he can only Lives in the capital.

The second assistant Ni Wenhuan died in the 20th year of Wuxing, and was replaced by Chen Yan. He knew that Liu Yuliang had no ability. At that time, he only relied on gaining reputation everywhere, so he wanted to pull him down. Replace yourself.

Zhou Yanru, seeing that the emperor had changed, also sought to resurrect. He had served in the court for many years and had his own connections and power.

His eyes were now filled with the ambition to change the dynasty.

Once he changed his previous harsh treatment of the gentry and wealthy households, he established various preferential treatment policies, and even adopted a large number of great scholars from the people. His reputation was suddenly reversed. When talking about him in many areas, they no longer mentioned him as a bandit. It is a "false emperor". Although he still does not recognize his throne, this change has proved his rise in status.

At this critical moment, the DPRK and China were at war with each other and in chaos. All forces took the opportunity to attack the city and seize territory, all relying on the hard support of a few loyal generals.

On the other hand, after Wang Chongzu proclaimed himself emperor, he continued to conquer the south and north, and successively took over Shandong, southern Shanxi, and eastern Shaanxi. His popularity was unparalleled for a while, and even overshadowed the Jiangsu and Zhejiang military governments that had been focusing on low-key development during this period. He became the most threatening bandit to the imperial court.

Although the Ming army in northern Henan has 90,000 soldiers, it is seriously underpaid, and many of them are newly recruited soldiers. Their combat strength is only comparable to that of ordinary bandits, and it is even worse than Wang Chongzu's subordinate army. They only resisted. After more than ten days, the entire army was declared to have fallen, and the Shun army entered the territory of Beizhili.

He proudly said to Gu Junen:

"I own all the Central Plains, and I have hundreds of thousands of troops under my command. Now that all the heroes have bowed their heads, it's time to go north to destroy Emperor Ming and establish Zhengshuo."

At this time, Beizhi was also severely affected. Even though it was said to be at the foot of the emperor, it was still full of refugees. Although Wang Chongzu had restored taxes some time ago, it was still better than many officials who were exploiting local areas at this time, let alone the scholar-bureaucrats. Not as resistant as before.

In February of the first year of Hongguang, that is, the third year of the Jiangsu and Zhejiang military governments and the first year of Dashun, Wang Chongzu swore to fight for the Northern Expedition at the gate of Luoyang City. He issued a proclamation, declaring that "the energy of the Ming Dynasty has been exhausted" and "Shundong will stand up for the Ming Dynasty." He commanded 300,000 troops. It is said to be 800,000, and he went north to replace it with Ming Dynasty.

The area ruled by the Dashun Dynasty was much more peaceful. Just because of the years of war, a large amount of land was vacant, and the conflicts caused by the land were directly alleviated.

Suddenly, chaos broke out in the court again.

Wang Chongzu was extremely proud of being so well-served by all the guests in the world, and his ambitious eyes finally turned to the capital in the north.

After all, Dashun had already started recruiting scholars, and even Confucius Yan Shenggong had already obeyed him. At this time, the only difference between Dashun and Ming Dynasty was the orthodox title.

The title of orthodoxy can be obtained by Wang Chongzu as long as he captures Beijing and makes Emperor Ming collapse in the palace or abdicate. Now that he has defected, it is the merit of Conglong.

In this case, many cities almost surrendered directly. Even if some cities stood firm, they could not withstand the power of the 300,000-strong army. They stepped over with iron hooves and were defeated and died. "Urgent report, the thieves entered Beizhili, destroyed Shunde, and the prefect hanged himself!"

"The thieves sent detailed operations into the city, and cooperated with the inside and outside. It's really certain that it has fallen!"

"Many prefectures and counties are greedy for life and afraid of death, and many cities directly surrendered. Please judge the crime..."

"Urgent report, the traitors have arrived at the gates of Baoding City! We attacked forcefully for a day and a night. Fortunately, the defenders are brave and the soldiers are still holding fast. The magistrate asks the court to send troops for reinforcements as soon as possible!"

After Baoding, there is Shuntian Mansion! It can be said that the other party has already arrived in Gyeonggi!

In the more than two hundred years of the Ming Dynasty, there has never been such a critical situation.

The sky in the capital seemed to have collapsed. On this day, the court hall was silent. Gloom and fear, ambition and cowardice were mixed together and appeared on the faces of the courtiers, which looked particularly wonderful.

Zhu Yousong did not expect that he would have to face such a critical situation just after he took office. Fortunately, he had been educated for many years as a prince, and his father was the Emperor Wu of the generation. Naturally, he had experienced many military affairs. , at this time he smelled slightly of alcohol, glanced below, and asked:

"Do you have any good ideas?"

Chen Yan stood up. He knew this was a good time to take the lead, so he said loudly:

"Your Majesty, the capital city is high and deep. Although the bandits are numerous, they may not be able to capture it. The most urgent task now is to count the troops and choose a good general to prepare for war..."

Zhu Yousong nodded, these are all realistic words, so he said:

"According to Chen Aiqing's words, the Beijing army was mobilized to prepare for war. At the same time, orders were sent from all directions to come to King Qin."

Seeing that the ministers around him still had sad expressions on their faces, Emperor Hongguang pulled out the sword from his waist, and with a hint of drunkenness, slashed it heavily on the table in front of him:

"Everyone, when the thieves come to the city, I will personally wear it and live and die with the capital."

His momentum affected many courtiers present, and everyone's hearts calmed down unconsciously.

As for the generals guarding the city, Zhu Yousong inspected it and finally chose Liang Guogong Lan'an.

Although his record is not very good, he is the only one in the capital who has enough status to command the capital army and has experience in battle.

After some statistics, it was found that although there are common measures such as empty pay among the Beijing army, fortunately, the world has been uneasy recently, and there are also a large number of refugees near the capital. Therefore, the nobles did not go too far, and the garrison in the capital is still as high as 70,000. , combined with the artillery lined up in the fortified city and the city head, it will never be lost to the enemy.

Manchao Wenwu breathed a sigh of relief.

And King Qin's order quickly spread to the capital.

Suddenly, the world was in chaos. Generals from all over the country who were still loyal to the Ming Dynasty raised their troops to the north one after another, and everyone's eyes were turned to the north.

(End of this chapter)