I, Zhu Houzhao, join the US imperialist chat group

Chapter 220: Ming Dynasty is in chaos! Zhu Houzhao reverses his actions! Adding fuel to the fire!

Ming dynasty.

Hebei, Ansu, a village.

The border soldiers, loaded with all the spoils, left slowly and arrogantly, leaving behind a devastated village and begging people and crying children on the road.

"damned!"

"Oh shit!"

"We are the only ones who rob horses!"

"I was robbed by these bastards today!"

Among the villagers, a few young and strong people clenched their fists and gritted their teeth as they watched the team go away, and then began to gather a crowd.

Because they are not good citizens, but now in front of the more violent Nine Frontier soldiers, they can only pretend to be Huskies.

"Fellow villagers! The imperial court is unjust! Not only did they steal our horses, but today they also stole our food! This is clearly making it impossible for us to survive!"

"Today, I'm Liu Liu!"

"I'm Liu Qi!"

"Just rebel against him!"

Two fierce men in the crowd finally stood up.

"Fuck them! If they don't let us live, they can't live well either!"

Amid the shouts of the horse bandits Liu Liu and Liu Qi, the peasants in the area, who had already been suffocated by the horse government, instantly rose up in rebellion.

The Liu Liu and Liu Qi uprising, which originally broke out in the fifth year of Zhengde, was triggered ahead of time by the war disaster brought by the soldiers from the nine borders. The uprising army in Bazhou took advantage of the situation and developed rapidly. In just three or five days, Liu Liu and Liu Qi gathered tens of thousands of people and swept directly into the hinterland of Hebei.

The soldiers from the Nine Frontiers, who were the trigger point, also felt somewhat innocent.

Didn’t they just borrow some rations from the people and leave some for them?

Why did it force the people to rebel?

They couldn't figure it out, and naturally didn't want to, or even think about suppressing the rebellion, so they allowed the rebels to grow stronger.

To make matters worse, after the nine-border soldiers in Datong were absent, several small Mongolian cavalry groups broke through the Great Wall defense line and swept through one village after another like hungry wolves outside the Great Wall.

Under the double attack, chaos soon broke out in Hebei, Shanxi and other places, and the situation quickly spread to Henan, Huguang and other places.

"This... the world is in chaos!"

"How could this be?"

Ma Wensheng and others in Luoyang soon learned of this situation, and then, although they were shocked... under Ma Wensheng's call, dozens of counties with Luoyang as the center quickly became armed and separatist.

This is the north.

Meanwhile, in the South.

Yaoyuan Cave in Jiangxi Province.

"How could you do this?!"

“The rent is already very high!”

"You're doubling the amount! How are we going to survive?"

"If you can't live, then don't live!"

"Our master was also taxed by the county magistrate!"

"Ask the higher-ups!"

The evil consequences of the speculation in Baochao emerged. When some pig-killing schemes were brewing in disorderly expansion in major counties, local landlords, wealthy people and powerful gentry had to squeeze the lower classes in order to make up for their losses.

"I can't survive in this world anymore, I'm going to rebel!"

"Inverted!"

The peasant uprising that broke out in the third year of Zhengde was also instantly launched under the leadership of peasants Wang Chenger, Wang Haoba, Yin Yongshi, Hong Ruiqi and others. It soon gathered tens of thousands of people and broke out in Yaoyuan Cave, Jiangxi.

“More taxes!?”

"What kind of world is this!"

"Damn you, those dog officials!"

Taking advantage of this favorable situation, Zhu Houzhao did not increase taxes or salaries when he gathered troops in Nanjing this time.

Officials in the south also received Liu Daxia's warning.

But the lower-level officials could not bear it and took advantage of the information gap in the war as an excuse to increase taxes.

This move soon aroused dissatisfaction among the people in nearby Jing'an, Gao'an, Fengxin and other places. So Hu Xueer followed the will of the people and gathered with Chen Fuyi and Luo Changyi from Gao'an to build a camp in Hualin, Gao'an, and announced an uprising against taxation. At first there were several hundred people, but it soon grew to several thousand, and they even began to attack the county government office.

Almost half of Jiangxi was suddenly hit by thunder.

"Mr. Liu, something bad has happened!"

“Jiangxi is in chaos!”

"Someone in Guangxi is rebelling!"

In Jiujiang, Jiangxi, Liu Daxia was the first to receive the news. The situation they least wanted to see had finally happened.

All they can do is report it!

Under the influence of this easterly wind, thunderstorms also hit Guangxi, Sichuan and other places in the south.

The so-called long-lasting peace of the Ming Dynasty was actually full of contradictions at the grassroots level. Land annexation became more and more serious, and taxes became heavier year by year. It was able to maintain its existence, but it lacked a flashpoint. During the Zhengde period of more than ten years, there were at least thirty uprisings of varying sizes.

The soldiers from the nine northern borders lost control and directly became the fuse of the explosion in the north.

In the south... Zhu Houzhao's Baochao financial pig-killing scheme finally became the last straw that broke the camel's back and it exploded.

……

Jinling!

"Your Majesty! The Hebei Provincial Governor is rushing 800 miles! Bazhou, Cangzhou and other places have rebelled!"

"Your Majesty! Henan Ma Wensheng is rushing 800 miles! Someone in Nanyang has started an uprising!"

"Your Majesty, urgent delivery from Guangxi, 800 miles away!"

"Your Majesty, there are uprisings all over Jiangxi!"

"Your Majesty, Shaanxi Governor Yang Yiqing is here to rush you from 800 miles away!"

Finally, on this day, all the news from the Fengtian Palace was finally gathered in Jinling.

It seemed that on this day, rebellions broke out in all parts of the Ming Dynasty, except for the Jinling area where Nanzhili was located. The whole of the Ming Dynasty was filled with war again.

"This……"

"Is the world in chaos?"

"This……"

Inside the Fengtian Hall, all the civil and military officials were in a collective uproar. Although they had expected this day to come, they had not expected it to arrive so soon.

This made a series of complicated gazes cast on Zhu Houzhao who was sitting on the throne, with resentment, sarcasm, and disdain.

Emperor, you finally messed up!
Especially Gao Quan and others, now it depends on how the emperor will end it.

With this kind of situation, even if Zhu Yuanzhang were reborn, he wouldn’t be able to control it!
“Has this day come so quickly?”

Li Dongyang's face was bitter and he couldn't help but look at Zhu Houzhao.

The system of two capitals and two cabinets has been restored. The world is in chaos now, and it would be good if we could restore peace.

"Alas! Your Majesty, this really shouldn't happen!" Duke of Wei Xu Ju also had a worried look on his face.

In short, except for a few people like Zhu Youlang, Huang Bao, Lin Han, and Liu Zhong who looked calm, the other civil and military officials found it difficult to remain calm.

"Any more news? Feel free to bring it to me today!"

Faced with the urgent news brought by the messengers, Zhu Houzhao remained calm, as if the chaos in the world was not caused by his Ming Dynasty, but by other trivial matters.

"No, Your Majesty."

Huang Bao looked at the memorial and said calmly, "But I estimate that the other 800-li express is also on the way! At present, except for the southern Zhili, the rest of our Ming Dynasty should be in chaos. At present, the north should be more chaotic than our south."

How could this guy be so calm and fearless and still do this kind of analysis?

All the civil and military officials looked at Huang Bao, wondering why he could remain so calm.

"My dear ministers, do you have any other urgent matters to report?"

Zhu Houzhao continued to look at other people, with no expression on his face.

What other urgent matters could be more urgent than these? The situation was urgent, and the Ming Dynasty was about to fall apart.

In comparison, the ministers racked their brains but could not think of anything else to report.

"Your Majesty, I have something else to report."

However, there really is.

At this moment, Minister of Works Li Shan stood up.

"Say!"

Zhu Houzhao nodded.

"Your Majesty, the workers of Zunhua Iron Smelting were stopped by the soldiers of the Nine Frontiers just as they were gathering. They sent a letter asking for help a few days ago."

Li Shan said seriously, "Also, the construction progress of our Jinling Iron Workshop is too slow. Your Majesty, please ask the President to coordinate 100,000 civilians for us... In addition, the situation seems to be not peaceful at the moment, and the craftsmen in Guangdong and Guangxi cannot arrive in time..."

???

As soon as the memorial from Minister of Works Li Shan came out, a row of question marks popped up on the foreheads of civil and military officials in the court.

No, buddy?
Are you sure this matter is more urgent than the chaos in the Ming Dynasty?

"Li Shan, do you need to talk about this now?"

Gao Quan couldn't help but choke back, "Your Majesty is talking about other things that are more urgent than the Ming Dynasty. Why are you talking about blacksmiths and iron smelting at this time?"

"Yes! Sir Li, this is not a very urgent matter!"

As soon as Gao Quan opened his mouth, the other censors who were under psychological pressure began to question Li Shan bluntly.

"My Lords, Lord Li's matter is indeed urgent right now... I can testify to this!" However, in the face of everyone's attack, Yang Shousui, the Minister of Works from the capital, actually stood firmly on Li Shan's side.

At present, there are two ministers of industry in Jinling's officialdom. However, Yang Shousui has automatically become Li Shan's subordinate.

"Um... Minister Yang, you... you..."

Yang Shousui's support for Li Shan made it difficult for other civil and military officials to be dealt with.

"This matter is more urgent than any other! You don't have to say anything, the craftsman is more important!"

"Well, Duke Wei, you arrange 3,000 new troops to drive the Ming No. 3 and No. 4 ironclad ships directly to the sea route to the Zunhua Iron Workshop in Northern Zhili to pick up those craftsmen!"

Zunhua Iron and Steel is currently the largest iron ore production base in the Ming Dynasty. The number of workers reached more than 2500 at its peak and more than 1500 at its lowest. It was the largest iron ore production base in the middle and late Ming Dynasty.

The 50,000 tons of steel provided by Cleveland has been put in place for the newly expanded imperial mausoleum in Jinling.

Fifty thousand tons of iron, one hundred million jin!

It is as much as the iron production of the Ming Dynasty for four years.

Zhu Houzhao had already realized the importance of steel, whether it was the ironclad ships given by Roosevelt before, or the ironclad ships he would imitate when laying railways in the future.

Both require iron.

Therefore, it is imperative to properly digest these 100 million kilograms of steel.

The priority sequence should be before suppressing the rebellion.

Faced with this 100 million kilograms of steel from America, the two Ministers of Industry, Li Shan and Yang Shousui, were naturally in pain and joy. It took a huge amount of manpower to digest and arrange it...

They could only urgently mobilize all craftsmen across the country to come here and try to overcome the steel problem with the number of manpower.

In addition...the ironclad ships given by Zhu Houzhao also required a large number of craftsmen.

Because only craftsmen can operate this kind of boat.

The advantages of skilled workers are directly reflected.

Soldiers and farmers are easy to find, but these skilled craftsmen are really hard to find.

"Yes."

Xu Yu naturally knew about this and immediately accepted the order.

Huh?! Huh?

When Zhu Houzhao issued this order, all civil and military officials were shocked again. Are the craftsmen really more important than suppressing the rebellion?
"In addition, President, please gather another 100,000 laborers to supplement Li Shan and others. The iron smelting workshop in Nanjing is also very important." Zhu Houzhao made further arrangements.

"Your Majesty, one hundred thousand civilians... It's a bit difficult. There are not so many young and strong people around Jinling now..."

Zhu Youlang had a headache. The supplies Zhu Houzhao gave him were too much. He also had to build the imperial mausoleum and transport the supplies... Currently, he could only rely on manpower, and the manpower gap was indeed huge.

"Then recruit again!"

"Isn't there unrest in Jiangxi? Aren't there unrest everywhere now?"

"With so many refugees, are you still worried that you won't be able to recruit people?"

"This is it! Lin Han, you officials in the Ministry of Personnel should issue an order... If the southern provinces cannot afford so many refugees, just let the local officials arrange for them to come to Nanjing! The same goes for the northern provinces! Give those people a way out and let them come to Nanzhili! I promise that they will not starve to death!"

Zhu Houzhao waved his hand and solved Zhu Youlang's problem in a blink of an eye.

what?
This……

The civil and military officials were stunned again. What kind of reverse operation was this? In the past, refugees from wars were the most troublesome. It was difficult for anyone to handle them.

But now, in Zhu Houzhao's eyes, these refugees are actually labor.

They didn't understand and were shocked.

"Yes!"

"Yes!"

However, Zhu Youlang and Lin Han obeyed Zhu Houzhao's orders in full.

"Your Majesty... With so many refugees, our Ministry of Works may not have enough manpower..."

Li Shan was in trouble again.

"Then send more people, find a place to house them, and build huts for those who need them..."

Zhu Houzhao was a little annoyed: "You should take more initiative. You can't let me solve everything, right?"

"This is!"

Li Shan and Yang Shousui could only continue to take on the task with a headache. It was not that they did not want to do it themselves, but their Ministry of Industry had been under the greatest pressure in recent times.

"Your Majesty, no! If we let those refugees come to Nanjing... our food, everything we have, might..."

At this moment, some officials also reacted and wanted to express their opinions again.

"This is not something you censors should consider!"

"If you are really bored, report directly to the Ministry of Industry and let Li Shan and Yang Shousui find work for you!"

Zhu Houzhao directly retorted that the management of tens or hundreds of thousands of people would require a large number of grassroots literate staff.

For this reason, Li Shan and Yang Shousui had complained to him many times.

"Okay, okay, your majesty, that's good!"

Upon hearing this, Li Shan looked at the censors with great joy. His fiery eyes made the censors shut up immediately. They had seen how busy the Ministry of Works was these days. It was not a job for a human being.

"And there's more! Li Shan, Yang Shousui, you are not allowed to say anything more!"

After resolving this matter, Zhu Houzhao continued to look at other people.

"Your Majesty, our Ministry of Revenue... is also short of manpower right now."

The Minister of Rites Liu Zhong, who was also the Minister of Revenue, couldn't help but complain. The various grain supplies were overwhelming them.

"Report to the President! Same approach!"

Zhu Houzhao glared at him and passed the matter back to Zhu Youlang in a bad mood.

Zhu Youxuan: ...

"Your Majesty... the current task should be to resolve the rebellions across the country, right?"

Seeing that Zhu Houzhao and the others were going further and further off topic, Li Dongyang finally couldn't help it and quickly got back to the main topic.

"The rebellion must be resolved! However... Speaker, this matter should not be your responsibility, but now is the time to use people. Speaker, I have an order for you. You are responsible for sending people to inform the provincial governors and prefects across the country to recruit soldiers and organize militia to quell the rebellion."

Zhu Houzhao finally got back to business.

"Your Majesty! No! You are delegating military power, which will cause the local areas to become too powerful and lead to separatist regimes! This is what happened in the late Eastern Han Dynasty!"

As soon as these words were spoken, Duke of Wei Xu Ju subconsciously spoke to comfort him.

hiss!
At this moment, all the civil and military officials present also took a deep breath.

The Ming Dynasty had not yet reached this point, so why would Zhu Houzhao delegate the military power without authorization?

"That's right, there is a problem... How about the princes return to their fiefs, and I let them recruit soldiers and organize to quell the rebellion?"

Zhu Houzhao looked at the princes present with a playful look.

"Your Majesty! Don't leave! We still need to worship Taizu here!"

"Your Majesty, we can't do this! We have been pampered for so many years, we can't do this!"

"Absolutely not!"

When Prince Ning, Prince Anhua, Prince Yi and others heard this, they waved their hands.

This was obviously a big trap. After hearing about so many rebellions, Prince Ning and others also had some ideas.

Now that they go back, they will be forced to stand on the opposite side of Zhu Houzhao, and there may be a chance.

But now… I absolutely cannot express any meaning at all.

"Your Majesty, this won't do."

The corners of Xu Yu and Li Dongyang's mouth twitched. Could the emperor be more reliable?

Although they had to admit that no one had claimed to be the emperor at that time and the Ming Dynasty was not in extreme chaos, it was Zhu Houzhao's inexplicable move that made all the princes gather in Nanjing.

But if we let the princes go back to their natural habitat, that would be a really stupid move.

"Why not! The world is in such chaos right now, the princes are just here alone, they also have families..."

"The ancestral precepts of our great ancestor have all said that the princes are there to protect the Ming Dynasty when it is in the most dangerous time..."

"so……"

It's a trap! The more Zhu Houzhao said this, the more frightened Prince Ning and Prince Anhua became, and they dared not fall for it.

"Your Majesty, we are determined to protect Taizu together with Your Majesty in Jinling!"

"Yes! Your Majesty, we are determined to protect Taizu in Jinling! Protect the ancestral mausoleum!"

The princes expressed their opinions one by one.

"Forget it! You don't have to go! Let's arrange it this way for now! Li Dongyang, inform the whole country... and have all places organize group training!"

He just tried to test the waters a little, hoping to solve the problem of the vassal kings in one fell swoop.

But they were not fooled, so Zhu Houzhao put the matter aside for the time being.

"Duke Wei, you should continue to expand the army to 200,000 and train new troops. In addition... you can first send 3,000 to 5,000 people to various places to help them quell the rebellion!"

"Don't worry, just do what you need to do!"

"Don't worry about the military operations!"

"that's all……"

"Dismiss the dynasty!"

Faced with such a precarious emergency situation of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Houzhao's series of arrangements were, to be honest.

Most of the civil and military officials still couldn't understand it, and always felt that Zhu Houzhao's arrangements were too frivolous.

Not only is it too trifling, it also seems to be adding fuel to the fire.

Do you think the Ming Dynasty isn’t chaotic enough?

(End of this chapter)