Late Yuan Dynasty: I am the true emperor

Chapter 504 contains no history of the Yuan Dynasty, only the history of the Later Five Dynasties.

On the last day of September, the 30th, at noon, the main force of the Southern Route Army led by Lu Jin finally arrived at the gates of Dadu. Liu Zixian, the head of the North China intelligence station who had been lying in wait nearby for a long time, immediately came to pay his respects.

"Liu Qing, you've worked hard. How is the situation in Dadu now?" Lu Jin asked as soon as he saw him in the camp.

The words "You've worked hard" immediately moved Liu Zixian deeply. What emperor was so considerate of his subjects that he would take the initiative to comfort them without waiting for him to say hello? How could one talk about hardship when one could follow such a monarch?

Liu Zixian quickly bowed and said, "Serving the court and being loyal to Your Majesty is my duty. I dare not complain about the hardship. Thank you for your concern, Your Majesty."

Lu Jin immediately said, "You have made great contributions this time, constantly relaying the situation of the Yuan court to me, which allowed me to calmly plan this Northern Expedition. The capture of Tuoguan Timur and the Yuan crown prince is largely due to your efforts, and I will certainly reward and promote you."

Seeing that Liu Zixian was about to make another polite declaration of loyalty, Lu Jin quickly raised his hand to interrupt him, reminding him, "Dadu has not yet been conquered, so we should prioritize military matters. Let's talk about the current situation in Dadu first."

"Yes." Liu Zixian quickly took out a map of the city of Dadu and presented it to Lu Jin before speaking.

"Your Majesty, the total population of the military and civilians in Dadu City is less than 50,000. The city's defenses are very weak. There is some food, which was just delivered to the city in August. However, the Yuan army's garrison is insufficient and their morale is low. On the other hand, our army has a large number of troops. As long as we attack from all sides, we will definitely be able to take it easily."

"As for the situation inside the city, before Emperor Yuan fled on September 12, he ordered Prince Yi, Hundu Temur, to stay and guard the capital, but he did not give him many soldiers. It was clear that he was meant to die. Moreover, this fellow is still young and has not yet reached adulthood. His will is not firm, and it is very likely that he could be persuaded to surrender the city voluntarily."

"However, the situation changed again. After Emperor Yuan's entourage arrived at Yutian County on September 14, he learned that our army had captured Jinzhou. So he turned around and broke out separately. Emperor Yuan led the Kheshig army to Xifengkou, preparing to go to Shangdu. The Crown Prince, Empress Qi, and Prime Minister Hama turned to Junduxing, intending to break out to Xinghe Road. However, the Empress Hongjila and Emperor Yuan's entourage did not arrange a place to go."

"After Emperor Yuan and the Crown Prince and Prime Minister broke out of the siege separately, the Empress had nowhere to go, so she led the entourage back from Yutian and returned to Dadu on the nineteenth day of the ninth month."

"Although Hongjila was not favored by the Yuan Emperor, as a noblewoman of Mongolia, she was unwilling to surrender easily. After returning to the city, she distributed all her wealth and urged her soldiers to defend the city strictly, wanting to fight like a cornered beast."

"I have not been able to enter the city for nearly half a month, so I do not know the current situation. However, with the Hongjila clan in the city, I still suggest that we should focus on fighting and use fighting to persuade them to surrender. If we use both, I believe that the Yuan army, whose morale is already low, will not put up much resistance."

Lu Jin frowned upon hearing this. "Since you haven't been able to enter the city for half a month, how do you know the current situation in the city?"

Liu Zixian quickly explained, "Your Majesty, I had previously bribed several eunuchs in the Yuan court. When the Empress returned to the city with the imperial entourage, many of the palace servants in the entourage, knowing that the Yuan court was about to perish, fled. One of the eunuchs I had bribed also escaped and found my shop outside the city, telling me about the Empress's return."

"Although the Empress Dowager has ordered the strengthening of the defenses of Dadu, the people in the city still need firewood. Before the army arrived, although the defenses were tight, there were still opportunities to make contact with the city. These are messages from my informants in the city before the army arrived."

Lu Jin nodded, finally believing his words, and then said, "Since this woman wants to fight to the death, there's no need to try to appease her anymore. As for that Prince Yi, Hundu Temur, the Great Yuan only has one capital left, so he's not worth appeasing anymore."

"Zhu Liangzu, Liao Yongzhong."

"Chen is here!"

"You two will command the siege, fight swiftly and decisively, and do not allow a single person in the city to escape."

"Yes!"

Zhu Liangzu and Liao Yongzhong accepted the mission and obtained a map of the city from Lu Jin. After studying it, they found that this battle was not difficult. The main problem was that Yuan Dadu was too big. It was 13 li wide from east to west, 15 li long from north to south, and had a circumference of 28.6 kilometers. It also had eleven city gates. Not to mention that there were hardly any soldiers in the city, even if all 50,000 people in the city were soldiers, could 50,000 people stand on the 28.6-kilometer city wall?
If the city walls aren't even full, what's the point of defending them? So, in military defense, a city that's too big isn't necessarily a good thing.
Historically, when Xu Da was in charge of guarding Beiping, he moved the northern city wall of Dadu five li to the south, reducing its area by almost one-third. Later, after the Ming Dynasty moved its capital to Beijing, the city became too small due to population growth, so a southern city was built, resulting in the layout of Beijing during the Ming and Qing Dynasties. This was essentially moving the entire city five li to the south from the foundation of Yuan Dadu.

After discussing it, Zhu Liangzu and Liao Yong'an decided that they didn't even need to build fortifications and could directly attack the city. The Yuan capital had 11 city gates. They would first use cannons to blast open the gates, and then each regiment would rush in. With the small number of troops in Dadu, they wouldn't be able to stop them even if they wanted to.

At 10:00 a.m., all troops were ready. With a burst of fierce artillery fire, the flimsy city gates of Dadu were suddenly flung open. The troops, organized by regiment, fiercely rushed into the city and quickly occupied Dadu according to the pre-battle plan.

Lu Jin entered the city through the Qi Hua Gate on the east side. As soon as he entered the city gate, he grimaced and cursed inwardly that the city defenses of Dadu were really not good.

The walls of Dadu were only temporarily reinforced after the Red Turban Rebellion. Even after the reinforcement, the base of the walls was only 2.5 meters thick, and the top of the walls was even narrower, probably less than two meters. The height of the walls was only about five meters, which was really unbecoming of the capital.

The key point is that the city wall wasn't covered with bricks, but rather with a layer of straw mats made of reeds. Lu Jin really couldn't understand what the purpose of this straw mat was. Was it perhaps to make it easier for the attacking side to set fires?
Before they even reached the imperial city, just as they arrived at the Yuan Dynasty's Privy Council on the east side of the city, Liao Yongzhong escorted a young man over.

"Your Majesty, this is Hundu Temur, the Prince of Yi of the barbarians. What should we do with him?"

Hundu Timur was only 17 years old. He had no intention of holding out to the death. He was just waiting for the Holy Martial Army to arrive before surrendering. If it weren't for the Empress Dowager's insistence, this battle would never have happened. Upon seeing Lu Jin, Hundu Timur immediately knelt down and said, "Your humble servant is willing to submit to the new dynasty and pays respects to Your Majesty the Emperor."

Lu Jin looked at him expressionlessly and immediately said, "Raise your head."

Hundu Temur raised his head in fear, not knowing what Lu Jin meant. Lu Jin looked at the boy's panicked eyes and asked again, "What is your relationship with Temujin, you Prince Yi? Which branch of the royal family are you from?"

Hundu Temur immediately replied, "Your Majesty, my ancestor was Temujin's younger brother, Temuge Ochijin." "Oh, I see. Take him away and execute him," Lu Jin continued expressionlessly.

Upon hearing this, Liao Yong'an immediately waved his hand, and soldiers were about to drag Hundu away. But at that moment, Li Shanchang shouted "Wait!" and stopped the men who were about to carry out the execution.

Lu Jin immediately looked over with a puzzled expression, and Li Shanchang stepped forward to explain, "Your Majesty, the two kings and three retainers cannot be abolished. You should know the story of the originator."

"Furthermore, there are still many members of the Yuan imperial family in the northern deserts and the northeast that have not yet submitted, and there are also many remnants of the Yuan forces in the northwest that are waiting to be pacified. Your Majesty may feel good about killing this person today, but it will be very detrimental to pacifying the remaining Yuan forces in the future. I urge Your Majesty to think twice before acting."

Lu Jin thought for a moment before saying, “The previous enthronement edict was written very clearly. You should already understand my attitude. The Hu Yuan dynasty usurped China and was not the ruler of China. I do not recognize the legitimacy of the Yuan dynasty. Since it was not the ruler of China, why should we adhere to the so-called Two Kings and Three Respects?”
"Moreover, I have already captured Tuoguan Temur and his son. It is already a great favor to spare them. As for the other members of the Hu Yuan royal family, it is fine not to keep them."

"The matter of pacifying the remnants of the Yuan forces is also unrelated to this Prince Yi. Currently, there is only Prince Liao, Azashili, in the Northeast, and Prince Liang, Bazalawarmi, in Yunnan. Neither of these two can be pacified; military action is necessary."

"As for the Northwest and the Xuanzheng Yuan, they are all former Yuan officials. There is no need to win over the imperial clan to pacify them, so what is the point of keeping Prince Yi here?"

Li Shanchang hadn't expected that Lu Jin had already planned for those places, but hearing that Lu Jin was still determined to kill the Yuan imperial family, especially since Lu Jin didn't recognize the legitimacy of the Yuan court, he asked again.

"Now that the Yuan Dynasty has been destroyed, and His Majesty does not recognize it as the legitimate dynasty, how should the history books be compiled?"

Lu Jin had actually planned for this issue, and upon hearing this, he immediately said, "We already have the History of the Five Dynasties. As for the New History of the Five Dynasties, let's follow the same format and put the Song, Jin, Liao, Western Xia, and Yuan dynasties together to compile another History of the Later Five Dynasties."

Upon hearing this, Li Shanchang's jaw nearly dropped to the ground. He hurriedly said, "Your Majesty, isn't this somewhat inappropriate? Does this mean the history of the Song Dynasty also needs to be revised? Then was the Song Dynasty truly legitimate? Also, although the Yuan Dynasty was a foreign ethnic group, it did once unify the country. Is it appropriate to combine it into the Five Dynasties?"

Lu Jin said, “What’s wrong with that? Song, Jin, Liao and Western Xia were never unified. They were all separatist regimes, just like Liang, Southern Chen, Northern Qi and Northern Zhou during the Five Dynasties. What’s the difference?”

"As for unification, the Sui Dynasty also unified the country, but it was a short-lived dynasty, lasting only two generations, just like the Yuan Dynasty, whose reign lasted less than a hundred years."

"If we have to look for precedents from the past, the Northern Qi was a foreign ethnic group that was Sinicized, just like the Yuan. It was a short-lived unified dynasty, similar to the Sui Dynasty. The unified Sui Dynasty can be included in the history of the Five Dynasties, so why can't the Yuan Dynasty?"

"Our Great Ming Dynasty inherited the legal system of the Great Tang Dynasty. The Song, Jin, Liao, Yuan, and Western Xia dynasties were just another Five Dynasties. The end of the Yuan Dynasty was just like the chaotic end of the Sui Dynasty, with warlords vying for power and the world fighting for supremacy. The new dynasty will once again unify the world, just like the Great Tang Dynasty. What's wrong with that?"

Li Shanchang was stunned upon hearing this.

That makes a lot of sense. If we compare them like that, it really is a fifth generation, except that this fifth generation is a hundred million years longer than the previous one. But if we really calculate it that way, it makes sense.

Seeing that Li Shanchang had nothing to say, Lu Jin asked again, "Does the gentleman still have any objections?"

Li Shanchang quickly replied, "Your Majesty, I am willing to listen to you. It is not a big problem if we do not recognize the legitimacy of the Yuan dynasty. However, I am afraid that the Confucian scholars of the world will not accept the former Song dynasty as a separatist regime."

"Hehe." Lu Jin immediately laughed, "The history books of the Song, Jin, and Liao dynasties were dragged on for so long that even when the Yuan dynasty was about to fall, there was still no debate about which of the three kingdoms was the legitimate successor. It was only when Toghto made the final decision that all three kingdoms were legitimate that the dispute was stopped. As a result, the history books of the three kingdoms were only compiled a few years before the Yuan dynasty fell."

"If there is still controversy surrounding the new dynasty, I think there is no need to argue about it. None of the three dynasties unified the country; they were all separatist regimes. There is nothing to argue about."

"As for the Confucian scholars who do not agree..."

Lu Jin glanced at Bao Yu and Xia Yu beside him, "You two are also Confucian scholars. Do you think what I said is right?"

“Your Majesty is wise. The Song, Jin, and Liao dynasties were never unified, just like the late Tang and Five Dynasties.” Bao Yu and Xia Yu, Lu Jin’s two staunch confidants in the Privy Council, immediately bowed in support.

Seeing this, Li Shanchang knew that Lu Jin's mind was made up. As for whether the Confucian scholars would accept it? Whether they would or not was up to them. Did Lu Jin need the Confucian scholars' approval? Not necessarily. Once modern education was established, where would the old Confucian scholars' voice be?
Seeing that Li Shanchang was finally speechless, Lu Jin looked at Liao Yongzhong again and said, "Take him away and execute him. Don't make me say it a third time!"

"Yes!"

Liao Yongzhong waved his hand, and several soldiers immediately dragged Hundu Temur away. Just as they turned the corner, a gunshot rang out in the distance. Temujin's bloodline was severed on the spot. Seeing this, Li Shanchang dared not object anymore.

Continuing forward, past the Privy Council, we had just reached the Lingxing Gate, the outer gate of the imperial city, when several imperial guards who had previously stormed the city came to report.

"Your Majesty, that Tartar woman in the palace is of a strong character and refused to surrender. She hanged herself."

(End of this chapter)