Late Yuan Dynasty: I am the true emperor

Chapter 500 Don't Let the Tartar Emperor Go Away
Queen Qi finally managed to mount her camel, but Prince Ayushiridara and Hama immediately felt an urge to strangle her. This woman was so slow! If she continued to walk so slowly, they might not be able to escape either of them.

Seeing the two men looking at her anxiously, Empress Qi finally realized something was wrong. If she didn't hurry, her son might be left behind. Helpless, she could only grit her teeth and urge the guards to make the camel run faster. Fortunately, the camel was more stable to ride than a horse, otherwise she would never have chosen to leave in this way.

Unlike Empress Qi's slow pace, Xiao Tieguo's group was running incredibly fast. He and a group of Imperial Guards turned around from Yutian County and galloped all the way to Jizhou. However, after only running for about thirty miles, Xiao Tieguo was forced to stop and rest because he was really struggling to keep going.

He was obsessed with women for years, had sex with a group of monks every day, and neglected to exercise, which made him very weak. After sitting on a horse for only half an hour, his back hurt so much that he couldn't straighten up. The flesh on the inside of his thighs grew back and was rubbed raw by the saddle, causing it to bleed. His buttocks were also hurt and numb from the pressure, and he almost lost all feeling in them.

There was no other way, so the group had to stop and rest. He Weiyi then summoned the imperial physician to apply medicine to Xiao Tieguo. After the medicine was applied, he urged Xiao Tieguo to mount his horse again. Now was the time to race against the enemy. Even if it was only half an hour later, being blocked by the enemy inside the pass would have fatal consequences.

Little Iron Pot was well aware of the seriousness of the situation, but after several attempts, he was unable to continue riding. In the end, he couldn't help but sigh and lament to He Weiyi.

"Only today do I understand the reason why my thigh muscles have grown back. It seems that I was indeed too licentious and tyrannical in the past, neglecting state affairs, which is why I have suffered this calamity. But now the enemy army has outflanked me and wants to kill me, yet I cannot mount my horse at this moment. Does the Eternal Heaven really no longer protect my Great Yuan?"

He Wei sighed upon hearing this, and then comforted him, "If Your Majesty can suddenly realize the truth today, then there is still hope for the country's revival. It is common for the flesh on the thigh to grow back. If you really cannot ride a horse, then I will go find a carriage. Please wait here for a moment, Your Majesty. I will be right back."

An hour later, He Weiyi finally managed to get a carriage. He lined the carriage with thick straw and felt, and then pulled the small iron pot on its way to Jizhou.

They turned north from Yutian County. If they wanted to go to Shangdu Kaiping and escape Lu Jin's encirclement as quickly as possible, the shortest route would be to go to Jizhou first and then enter Xifengkou from Jizhou.

However, after passing Xifengkou, they cannot take Lulong Road because it is too far to the east. If they run there at this time, they may be blocked by the Shengwu Army just as they leave Yanshan.

Therefore, He Weiyi's plan was to enter Xifengkou and then turn northwest, cross the mountain valley to the west to Pinggang Road, reach Xingzhou (Chengde and Shuangluan area), and then turn into the northern section of Pinggang Road, from which he would exit the mountains and reach Songzhou.

This route is not short either. If they want to escape, they still have to be willing to march desperately. However, the entire route is through mountain valleys with rugged terrain. And since Xiao Tieguo is riding in a horse-drawn carriage, how fast can they run?
Meanwhile, in Dongchangfu (Liaocheng), Shandong, Lu Jin was also receiving news from various sources.

Yu Tonghai's Eastern Route Army landed in Jinzhou at noon on September 12th, captured Jinzhou that same day, and then led the main force of three divisions on a high-speed westward maneuver.

Meanwhile, the navy responsible for transportation had a smooth journey from Jinzhou back to Shandong, and the fleet returned to Dengzhou in just six hours on the evening of September 12. While reporting the situation to Lu and Jin, Yang Jing also led the second echelon to board ships and head to Jinzhou, landing in Jinzhou on September 14. The fleet returned the next day and picked up Liu Futong's Provisional Eleventh Army Group again to head to Liaodong.

Just as news of the successful landing of the second echelon of the Eastern Route Army in Jinzhou reached Lu Jin, Lu Jin also received another message about Dadu (Beijing).

On September 12, the very day the Yuan court's central government fled from Dadu, the intelligence bureau in Dadu sent an alert to Lu Jin. They first sent people by canal from Dadu to Tongzhou, then south along the canal to Tianjin, where they transferred to sea ships at Dagu Port, and then sailed all the way from the Bohai Sea to Dengzhou in Shandong, before finally transferring to land transport to Lu Jin. The entire journey took three days.

In other words, Lu Jin only confirmed on September 15th that Xiao Tieguo had indeed run away from Dadu. After receiving this news, he immediately summoned the generals of the Southern Route Army, as well as Xia Yu, Bao Yu, Li Shanchang, and others for a meeting.

Lu Jin laid out the message from the Dadu intelligence station in front of everyone before saying, "The Yuan court's central government has moved. Tuomeng Temur received the news around September 11th, packed his things for a day, and began his escape on the 12th. Our intelligence station in Dadu sent a message saying that they saw Tuomeng's imperial entourage leave the city and head east. What do you think of this?"

Upon hearing this, Bao Yu immediately analyzed, "Your Majesty, I am in charge of the intelligence bureau and know a little more about the situation in the Yuan court. After the Prime Minister Hama and Empress Qi colluded to frame and depose Tuotuo, the two of them intended to depose and install the emperor, force the Yuan emperor to abdicate, and wanted to support the crown prince to take the throne ahead of time."

"And this Empress Qi is a Goryeo person. Her brother Qi Zhe also holds great power in Goryeo and can control everything. Emperor Yuan was exiled to Goryeo when he was young and had a good impression of Goryeo. He also had King Wang Jeon of Goryeo build a palace for him. It is likely that he had planned to move the capital to Goryeo long ago."

"Currently, Emperor Yuan himself wants to go to Goryeo, while Hama and Empress Qi want to launch a coup to depose and install the emperor. They also need the support of Goryeo's maternal relatives. Therefore, they have temporarily reached an agreement to go to Liaoyang first via the coastal road and then go to Goryeo. It is very likely that they will head east after leaving the city, which is reasonable."

Everyone nodded in agreement with Bao Yu's analysis, except for Zhu Liangzu and Liao Yongzhong, who grimaced in disbelief.

Even at this point, the Yuan court's central government was still embroiled in internal strife. The most outrageous thing was that the crown prince was joining forces with powerful ministers to fight against the emperor. They couldn't understand it at all. "You're already the crown prince. The throne will be yours sooner or later. Is it necessary to launch a coup at this time to force me to abdicate?"

At that moment, Xia Yu, as Lu Jin's top military advisor, also stepped forward and spoke in front of the map.

"Your Majesty, based on their actions, I have a rough guess. They must have received news of our army's advance into Shanxi before setting off eastward. However, they left the city on the 12th, and our eastern army also landed in Jinzhou on the 12th and captured the city on the same day. If nothing unexpected happens, this news should also reach Dadu."

"If we continue to extrapolate, Emperor Yuan's journey will definitely receive a warning from Jinzhou halfway through, that the coastal route has been blocked by our army. In this way, their trip to Liaodong will be impossible. Moreover, after learning that our army has simultaneously dispatched troops from Shanxi and Liaodong, they should also understand our army's intention in this battle, which is to make a detour and create a large encirclement to wipe them out in one fell swoop."

"At this point, Emperor Yuan's entourage would certainly not continue along the coastal road. They had two choices: either return to Dadu and wait for their fate, or abandon the entourage, travel light, and break through from Lulong Road or Pinggang Road to Shangdu."

"The second option for breaking out can be divided into two types: one is to break out separately, and whoever escapes will live; the other is to break out in a concentrated manner, taking all available soldiers with them. Even if they encounter a blockade by our army, they should fight to the death to break out and escape."

Everyone nodded again upon hearing this, agreeing with Xia Yu's assessment. Lu Jin then spoke up.

"I think so too. Therefore, the central and eastern armies must not only not relax, but also speed up their advance as much as possible. We must stop Toghon Temür before he breaks out of the encirclement."

"Immediately send orders to the two front lines in the Middle East: at all costs, even if it means our men and horses are exhausted, stop Little Iron Pot!"

"Yes!"

"Secondly, since the Yuan court has already learned of our army's intentions, the Southern Route Army does not need to wait until September 17th. Order all units of the Southern Route Army to prepare food at the third watch of the night, break camp at the fifth watch, and issue proclamations to launch a northern expedition against Dadu!"
"Mr. Baishi, prepare the grain and the cargo ships. Our northern expedition may not necessarily be for fighting. I think it is more likely to be for disaster relief."

"Yes!" Everyone present immediately bowed and agreed.

The following morning, September 16, the Southern Route Army, led by Lu Jin, Zhu Liangzu, Liao Yongzhong and others, officially set off. The army, numbering over 100,000, along with grain transport ships and laborers, totaling nearly 200,000 people, marched in a mighty procession along the Grand Canal toward North China.

Starting from Dongchangfu (Liaocheng) and heading north along the canal, one encounters Gaotang, Enzhou, Dezhou, Lingzhou, Jingzhou, Dongguang, Nanpi, Cangzhou, Qingzhou, Haijin Town (Tianjin), Tongzhou, and Dadu. These are just the 'cities' along the canal; there are even more prefectures and counties on both sides of the canal.

However, in reality, Hebei under the Yuan Dynasty did not have that many people. It can be said that the further north you go from Shandong, the fewer people there are. Although many places on the Yuan Dynasty's Hebei territory were administratively classified as prefectures and counties, most of those places did not even have a single rammed earth city.

Just how bad was the situation in Hebei? In the early years of the Hongwu reign in the original history, when the envoys from Goryeo came to pay tribute, they still traveled by land. They had to go from Liaodong through Hebei all the way south to Yingtian. The Goryeo envoys would record in their travelogues that Hebei was almost like a ghost town. They could only see some people after crossing the Huai River. They could only return to the human world when they reached the capital (Yingtian Prefecture).

This situation lasted for decades until Zhu Yuanzhang passed away. Later, during Zhu Di's rebellion, historical records mention a certain county where the county government was located right next to a field. Due to severe population decline, many places in Hebei could not even build city walls, and the county government was situated in the farmland.

This situation only began to improve slowly in Hebei after Zhu Di moved the capital to Beijing and forcibly relocated many wealthy families to the north.

As for now, there are still cities along the way for the Northern Expedition, such as Enzhou, Dezhou, Gucheng, and Lingzhou. These four cities were newly built last year and are the second line of defense that Xuexue focused on building around Dezhou. The purpose is to use these four strong cities along the canal to support each other and block the Holy Martial Army from continuing its northern expedition along the canal.

However, when the day actually came, these four cities did not play their due role at all. Except for Dezhou, the other three cities surrendered without a fight. The only reason that Dezhou did not surrender was because the one guarding Dezhou was a staunch traitor, Shi Pu, the Grand Councilor of the Yuan Dynasty.

This guy was from Xuzhou and was a Han Chinese Jinshi (successful candidate in the highest imperial examination) in the fifth year of the Zhizheng era. He participated in compiling the history books of the Song, Jin, and Liao dynasties. Later, when the Red Turban Rebellion broke out, Shi Pu volunteered to suppress the Red Turbans. He got his wish and was led by Tuotuo to attack Xuzhou. After Tuotuo was demoted, this guy was arranged by Xuexue to serve as cannon fodder in Dezhou.

However, Shi Pu had no awareness of being cannon fodder; he was very loyal to the Yuan Dynasty.

However, although Shi Pu was a die-hard, the Yuan army stationed in Dezhou was not. When Lu Jin led his army to the city of Dezhou, he immediately ordered Zheng Yong's cavalry division to shoot letters into the city to persuade them to surrender. The letters said that the Ming Dynasty had dispatched a million troops in four routes to launch a northern expedition. Now, Shanxi and Shaanxi were all under the Ming Dynasty's control, and the eastern route army had also landed in Liaodong. Now, from Liaoyang to Daning and Songzhou, and from Taiyuan to Xinghe Road (Zhangjiakou), the entire area was under the control of the Shengwu Army.

Your Great Yuan Emperor has abandoned you and is desperately trying to break through to Shangdu, but it's no use. Toghon Temür is now trapped, and no matter where he runs, he will eventually become my prisoner.

The trend of the world is overwhelming and unstoppable. Those who follow it will prosper, and those who oppose it will perish. The tyrannical Yuan dynasty was despised by Heaven, while the newly born Ming dynasty has pacified most of the country. People and soldiers flock to it. This is the mandate of Heaven. How can you possibly oppose it?

Your continued resistance will not end well. You might as well surrender now and give yourselves a chance to survive. Otherwise, don't blame me for not warning you in advance.

After the letter of surrender was copied and shot into the city, fighting broke out in the city soon afterward. The Yuan general in the city immediately tied up Shi Pu, opened the city gates, and surrendered the city. Then, this guy was brought before Lu Jin.

Zhang Dingbian, the commander of the vanguard regiment of the 8th Imperial Guard Division, who was fighting under Lu Jin for the first time, personally dragged Shi Pu over. This guy still refused to bow his head, holding his neck up and refusing to kneel. When he saw Lu Jin wearing a round-necked robe with dragon patterns, he immediately cursed.

"How dare this traitor presume to call himself a false emperor! Quickly relinquish this false title! Now that I'm in your hands, you can do whatever you want with me, but don't even think about me surrendering to this heretical cult rebel! Come on, kill me!" Zhang Dingbian was enraged upon hearing this and punched Shi Pu in the stomach, almost making him vomit his gall. "You traitorous dog, you still dare to be so arrogant even now? Try shouting at His Majesty again!"

Zhang Dingbian then asked Lu Jin, "Your Majesty, this fellow is so ungrateful, why not just kill him?"

Upon hearing this, Lu Jin laughed and said, "No, this fellow is a Jinshi (a successful candidate in the highest imperial examinations) after all. It would be a pity to kill him."

“Well, what’s so special about a Jinshi? Every year there are hundreds of Jinshi.” Zhang Dingbian was a little confused, but then emphasized, “This guy is disrespectful to His Majesty and refuses to surrender even in the face of death.”

Lu Jin continued, "That's for the best. Otherwise, if he really surrenders, I won't have a reason to punish them."

"In that case, since this fellow is so fond of being a traitor, let him be one to his heart's content. Tattoo the words 'forgetting one's ancestors' on his left hand, 'delighting in serving barbarians' on his right hand, and 'born a lowly servant' on his face. Then exile him to Xinjin Prefecture."

"I heard he is from Xuzhou. Go and check what family members he has. All male members within three generations should be exiled overseas, and all female members should be sent to the army and given to soldiers as wives. Moreover, those who are exiled are not allowed to take the civil service exam or serve as officials for five generations."

"The overseas regions are currently short of people, and with the new dynasty just established, it's best to reduce the killing. Mr. Baishi, please take note: from now on, except for the ten heinous crimes, all other death row inmates who wish to be exiled can be spared their death sentence."

"Furthermore, if any other individuals refuse to surrender like this barbarian during this Northern Expedition, or commit numerous atrocities that arouse great public resentment, they shall all be dealt with in the same manner, and the officials of each prefecture and county shall be notified."

"Yes, Your Majesty, I will take care of it immediately." Li Shanchang glanced at Shi Pu, shook his head, and immediately agreed.

Upon hearing that the men of his three clans were to be exiled and the women to be sent to the army, Shi Pu was enraged and his eyes widened in fury. He shouted again, "Traitor! If you're going to kill someone, kill me alone! What kind of hero drags women and their families into this? If you have the guts, come at me!"

Upon hearing this, Lu Jin said, "People always have to pay the price for their decisions. Isn't this the choice you made yourself? Stop shouting. If you keep shouting, your three clans will become nine clans. Take him away. I don't want to hear him speak anymore."

Zhang Dingbian was somewhat stunned when he heard Lu Jin's method of handling the situation. Good heavens, it seems you're ruthless after all. I only said I wanted to kill this guy, and you directly exiled his entire clan overseas. After calming down, Zhang Dingbian replied, "Yes."

After capturing Dezhou, the army continued northward, and the prefectures and counties along the way surrendered without resistance. There were hardly any major battles in Jizhou, Zhaozhou, Jingzhou, Cangzhou, Zhengding, and Baoding. After the details of this northern expedition were disseminated, smart people could naturally see that the fall of the Yuan Dynasty was a foregone conclusion. At this point, to remain stubborn and resist would be incredibly foolish.

The people of the north, seeing that the Ming army was disciplined and did not harass them, felt less afraid. They also heard that the Ming emperor was going to distribute grain to relieve the disaster, so countless refugees who had no food came to serve as laborers to transport grain for the army, just hoping that the emperor would give them a bite to eat.

Throughout the Northern Expedition, he didn't care when Shi Pu scolded him, and even smiled. On the contrary, it was the suffering people and the devastated and dilapidated landscape that made him frown. Compared with the South, it was no exaggeration to call the North a ghost town.

Lu Jin personally met with several refugees and inquired about the situation in the north. The answer he received was that a few years ago, during the great flood, the Bai Mao dike of the Yellow River in Cao County, Heze, Shandong Province, broke. The floodwaters rushed all the way from Heze to the Bohai Sea, and the affected area covered a large area of ​​northern Shandong and southern Hebei. Here, you could grab a handful of soil and it was all sand. Almost an entire province had become a Yellow River flood zone.

This flood was arguably far better than the previous floods in the Yangtze and Huai River basins. The Yuan court ignored the previous floods in the Yangtze and Huai River basins, treating them as if nothing had happened and completely disregarding the lives of the people. However, this flood in Shandong and Hebei directly destroyed the Grand Canal and the Changlu Saltworks in Hebei.

This concerned the grain transport for the Mongol lords in Dadu and nearly 30% of the country's salt tax. The Mongol nobles in Dadu could no longer sit still, which led to the governance of the river by Toqto'a and Jialu, and the subsequent Red Turban Rebellion.

Jia Lu's river management strategy was to combine dredging and blocking. Simply put, he dredged the Bian River, which was silted up by the Yellow River, and then blocked the breached dikes. Of course, he mainly built the north dike of the Yellow River. However, this also reveals the Yuan court's ulterior motive: to protect the north and abandon the south.

These inhuman Mongol Tartars didn't care about the lives of the people at all. Jia Lu's river management saved northern Shandong and Hebei, and even Dadu (the capital of the Yuan Dynasty). But the Yellow River under his control became a sword hanging over the heads of the people of Jianghuai. Now the floodwaters can't go north, so they can only flood south. Who knows when Jiangsu and Anhui will face another major flood.

The historical figure Xia Yuanji, the Minister of Revenue during the Yongle reign, spent decades working on flood control in the Jianghuai region, often away from home. Even so, the area of ​​Hongze Lake next to Gaoyou continued to expand year after year. This was all to clean up Jia Lu's mess; it was a landmine planted by the Yuan Dynasty for the Ming Dynasty!
After Jia Lu controlled the floods, the floods in Hebei gradually receded, but the uprisings in the south intensified. Later, Tuotuo relocated refugees from Henan, Anhui, and Shandong to Hebei to cultivate land, which indeed led to two bumper harvests in Hebei. However, the grain harvested from the land was taken by Tuotuo as military rations for the conquest of Xuzhou. The people who had grown the grain with their own hands did not change because of the land reclamation and still could not fill their stomachs.

Immediately afterwards, Toqto'a was demoted, and after Hama came to power, he only knew how to engage in political struggles and seize power, and did not care about the matter of land reclamation at all.

As a result, the people who had settled in Hebei lost the support of the government, and the harvest of the first year was taken by Tuotuo as military rations. They were unable to continue to settle in Hebei, so most of them became refugees again, struggling on the brink of starvation, to the point that they resorted to cannibalism.

Lu Jin remained silent after listening, because he actually bore some responsibility for this. He had ordered a reduction in the food supply to Dadu, preventing the Yuan court from accumulating enough military provisions to launch another southward campaign, with the aim of weakening the Yuan court's war potential.

If you ask Lu Jin if he feels guilty, he definitely does. But if you ask him if he would do it again if he could do it all over again, he would definitely do it again.

Because this is war, there is no mercy to speak of. If he were to let the Yuan court hold out for a few more years because of his own womanly compassion, and the war continued, the number of deaths would only increase in the end. So although he felt guilty, he had no regrets. Even if it happened ten or a hundred times, he would still order the supply of food to Dadu without hesitation!
After investigating the local conditions in the north, Lu Jin summoned his civil and military officials and discussed with them the matter of abolishing prefectures and merging counties in Hebei during the march.

The Yuan Dynasty's administrative divisions in the "Central Secretariat" were too fragmented, with a large number of prefectures and counties, but the population was extremely small. Some counties were called counties, but in reality, the total population of the entire county, including men, women, the elderly, and children, was only a few thousand. In this case, was there any need to establish counties? It would have been better to abolish the administrative divisions and merge several prefectures and counties into one, or downgrade some prefectures and counties to towns. This would not only save administrative expenses but also flatten the administrative structure and improve management efficiency.

Anyway, if we want to change it, it's not a big deal to upgrade it to prefectures and counties after the population recovers. Lu Jin also proposed a goal: the number of prefectures and counties in northern Shandong and Hebei should be reduced by at least one-third.

They continued northward in this manner. On September 26, when the vanguard of the Southern Route Army arrived at the Mazu Temple in Tianjin, Lu Jin received news from both the Eastern and Western Route Armies. Yu Tonghai's troops of the Eastern Route Army had occupied Songzhou on September 18 and captured Jianshan Village west of Songzhou on September 19. They also sent out two thousand scouts to patrol various mountain passes on the northern slope of the Yanshan Mountains to see which way Xiao Tieguo would emerge.

In Shanxi, Chang Yuchun captured Datong on September 13th. After another four days, on September 17th, he finally captured Xinghe Road (Zhangjiakou), blocking the north entrance of Jundu Pass and all exits around Yefuling. He was just waiting to see if Xiao Tieguo would come to him on his own.

The two flanking forces were exhausted, but now that they had reached their destination, they could finally rest.

Meanwhile, Xiao Tieguo and his group broke through to the north on September 14th. Although they hurried as fast as they could, the journey from Yutian to Jianshanzhai (near the north entrance of the Gangdao Road) in Songzhou (Chifeng) was still a full 600 li. They first traveled by cart, then by horse and camel, maintaining a speed of 100 li per day on the rugged mountain road, but they were still a step behind Yu Tonghai.

Yu Tonghai had already occupied Songzhou on September 18th and besieged Jianshan Village on September 19th, while Xiao Tieguo and his group only arrived on September 20th, just one day later than Yu Tonghai. However, that one day seemed to be an insurmountable barrier, firmly trapping them in the valley of Yanshan.

On the 20th, when the vanguard of the Yuan army's Kheshig had just arrived at the mountain pass, they found that the road leading out of the mountain was blocked by the banners of the Shengwu Army. The Yuan army was immediately plunged into an ice cave, and no matter how hard they rushed, they were unable to break through before the Shengwu Army.

Upon receiving the report from the vanguard, He Weiyi immediately reported to the exhausted Xiao Tieguo with a serious expression, "Your Majesty, it's bad. We're too late. The mountain pass ahead is already full of enemy flags. We're blocked."

Upon hearing this, Xiao Tieguo's face turned ashen, and he gripped He Weiyi's hand, trembling all over. "Is there any other way now?"

He Weiyi thought for a moment with difficulty, and after hesitating for a long time, he said, "It's too late. Even if there were other ways, they would be methods with a nine-out-of-ten chance of failure."

"Isn't there still a glimmer of hope? Tell me quickly what the method is!" Tuojun Tiemuer urged immediately.

He Weiyi then said with difficulty, "Unless we abandon all our supplies and mounts and cross the mountain, even if we can cross the mountain without horses and supplies, the enemy will send a cavalry unit to chase us, and it will be difficult for us to escape to Shangdu."

"and"

"And what?"

"The rebel army moved so swiftly that it's hard to say they didn't attack Shangdu. Jianshan Village is only two hundred li away from Shangdu. If the rebel army had arrived a few days earlier, Shangdu might have already been captured by now."

"Even if we manage to escape to Shangdu by the chance, we'll probably be just getting out of the wolf's den only to fall into the tiger's mouth."

Upon hearing this, Tuojun Tiemu'er's face quickly turned ashen.

Just then, a gunshot rang out from the mountain pass. It was the distinctive sound of the flintlock muskets of the Holy Martial Army, which echoed through the valley for a long time, making the hairs on the foreheads of the Yuan soldiers stand on end.

Then they heard someone laughing wildly in the valley.

"Hahahaha, it's the Tartars! The Tartars are coming this way! Hahahaha, all our hard work these past few days has paid off! Brothers, grab your weapons! This incredible achievement is in our hands! Everyone, stay alert! Don't let the Tartar emperor escape!"

(End of this chapter)