The Ming Dynasty did not revolutionize

Chapter 184 Let Hongli come out to see me

Although Qianlong, as an emperor, felt that the situation took a turn for the worse too quickly, he still had a little buffer time compared to ordinary people.

After all, these pieces of bad news were delivered to Qianlong over three days.

But ordinary citizens in Shuntian City had no idea about the previous news.

They were originally living their lives normally, and were leisurely analyzing and discussing how long the Southern Ming would take to fight in the Huanghuai region.

As a result, when they woke up, the Southern Ming army was already at the gates of the city.

The war that was supposed to be far away in the sky has now arrived right in front of them, and the situation seems to be about to change.

No one was prepared at all and was stunned.

Naturally, no daily necessities were stockpiled. As the news of the appearance of Ming troops outside the city spread, the prices of rice and flour in the city immediately soared again.

There was no one hanging around on the streets anymore. Most people stayed at home, waiting and observing how the situation would develop.

Small groups of people met privately to exchange information and discuss current and future situations.

Everyone was speculating whether the sudden appearance of the Ming army was a normal war of annihilation to unify the world, or a sudden invasion attack.

The Qing Empire is now completely on the decline, or it was just accidentally attacked by the enemy.

The main reason was that the Southern Ming army arrived too quickly. There was no continuous news spreading every once in a while to explain where the Southern Ming army had marched to, and there was no time to build up emotions.

So many people, like Agui, speculated that this was most likely a sneak attack and they would probably retreat after a brief looting.

At the same time, the Northern Expedition Army of the Ming Dynasty Wu Kingdom outside the city was also continuing its combat mission.

Wave after wave of land forces approached the city of Shuntian Prefecture and, after defeating the surrounding defenders, began to sweep through the surrounding counties and towns like autumn wind sweeping away fallen leaves.

The officials and people in the counties and towns around Shuntian City realized the reality earlier than the officials and people inside Shuntian City.

The Ming army did not simply occupy county towns and township settlements, but completely took over and controlled the places.

What surprised the surrendered or captured local officials the most was that the young officers of the Southern Ming Dynasty could actually write and calculate, and the ordinary soldiers could actually read and write.

The number of literate people in a company of 100 may be greater than that in the entire county government.

A company commander with his soldiers can directly control a county town and ensure the normal operation of the county's basic affairs. Adding another company can control the surrounding towns and villages.

At the same time, more and more soldiers gathered in and around Shuntian City, but Zhu Jianxuan never ordered an attack on the city.

Even the secretaries and officers who accompanied Zhu Jianxuan in the Northern Expedition were confused.

Duan Yucai couldn't help but ask:

"Your Majesty, our soldiers have already taken control of Shuntian Prefecture. Why don't we just capture the city? Shuntian Prefecture's defenses won't be able to withstand our artillery fire."

Zhu Jianxuan did not answer directly, but asked earnestly:
"Mr. Duan, what do you think is the biggest difference between Shuntian Prefecture and other ordinary county towns and prefecture towns?"

Duan Yucai answered as a matter of course:
"Shuntianfu City is the Beijing of our Ming Dynasty. It has the imperial palaces from Yongle to Chongzhen of our Ming Dynasty. It is now also the capital of the Qing Dynasty.

"After the Qing invaders entered the city, they drove out the people in the inner city and moved the Eight Banners generals and soldiers into the inner city."

Zhu Jianxuan explained on this basis:

"That's right, the biggest difference between Shuntian City and other cities is the hundreds of thousands of Qing Dynasty Eight Banners descendants in the inner city.

"They are not ordinary people of our Ming Dynasty. They share the same honor and disgrace with the Qing Dynasty and their interests are closely related.

“We can quickly capture ordinary cities because there are not a large number of Eight Banners descendants in the city, at least not all of them are Eight Banners descendants.

"If we forcefully attack Shuntian City, the hundreds of thousands of Eight Banners soldiers in the inner city will definitely fight to the death.

“We could win, but the whole city would be destroyed.

“So I wanted to force Qianlong to open the city and surrender, and let him lead these Eight Banners children out of the city.

"We take over our old capital intact, not just a ruin."

Duan Yucai suddenly realized after hearing this:
"Your Majesty is wise, and I am grateful for your teaching."

The most crucial foundation for the Qing Dynasty to maintain its rule for a long time was the Eight Banners military aristocracy group.

They are the masters of an entire country with a clear identity.

Although different from modern citizens, their status and mentality are to some extent close to aristocratic citizens.

It is still the late Qianlong period, and the Qing Dynasty has been fighting wars for more than a hundred years.

The combat effectiveness of the Eight Banners descendants in the inner city is definitely stronger than during the Eight-Nation Alliance period in history.

This can be seen from the results of the previous battle with the Eight Banners.

Green Camp soldiers would usually surrender when they were in despair, but most of the Eight Banners officers chose to fight to the death.

If the Northern Expedition Army forced its way into Shuntian City, these Eight Banners descendants would definitely cause great losses to the Northern Expedition Army.

The most critical problem is that they might end up setting fire to the city.

So Zhu Jianxuan was also willing to talk to Qianlong.

Of course, Zhu Jianxuan would not give Qianlong any good conditions and would not allow him to return to any place to become king.

The only condition Zhu Jianxuan could give him was not to massacre the city; there would be no other guarantees.

The descendants of the Eight Banners are all military aristocrats. They are much stronger physically than ordinary people. They should be good at mining coal if sent to Liaodong.

If Qianlong did not surrender, he would besiege the city and starve the Eight Banners to death. After all the soldiers on board the Northern Expedition fleet landed, Zhu Jianxuan also went ashore with the last batch of soldiers.

On March 6, the 42nd year of Xianning, Zhu Jianxuan rode on horseback to Nanyuan in the south of Shuntian Prefecture, which was Nanhai Zi before the Chongzhen Dynasty.

Nanhaizi is the largest royal garden in Shuntian Prefecture, with a total area three times the size of the entire city of Beijing.

In fact, Nanhaizi cannot be considered a royal garden, but rather a group of royal gardens distributed in a large manor hunting ground.

This was the hunting ground for the royal families of the Liao, Jin, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties. In the early days it was simply used for hunting. After the Ming Dynasty, people began to build garden buildings in the courtyard.

Before the Chongzhen period, there was the "Nanhaizi Jingjun", which was composed of eunuchs who had committed crimes and the lowest-level eunuchs, who raised pigs and grew vegetables in Nanhaizi.

After the Qing Dynasty entered the Pass, the eunuch's office of "Admiral Nanhai Zi" was converted into a temporary palace by Shunzhi, renamed the East Palace during the reign of Kangxi, and renamed the Old Yamen Palace during the reign of Qianlong.

Zhu Jianxuan came to this old yamen palace and stayed for a while, where he accepted the worship of generals from various divisions under the city of Shuntian Prefecture.

Then he met with Heshen, Ji Yun, Mingliang and others who had just come out of the city for negotiations.

Zhu Jianxuan sat on a chair under the throne, while Heshen, Ji Yun and Mingliang obediently performed the four bows required of a prince of the Ming Dynasty.

Zhu Jianxuan watched them finish their worship, still lying on the ground without daring to get up. He waved his hands with satisfaction and said:

"Be flat."

"Thank you, Your Majesty."

Heshen and the other two immediately kowtowed again to express their gratitude, then they stood up cautiously, lowered their heads and glanced at Zhu Jianxuan.

Heshen and Ji Yun were basically certain that the person before them was the King of Wu whom they had met six years ago.

Even when he was sitting there, you could see that he was obviously very big, beyond the average size of an ordinary person.

At that time, Zhu Jianxuan was probably only 1.6 meters tall, and now he certainly looks over 1.8 meters tall.

As a representative, He Shen said a lot of greetings and compliments, and then stated the purpose of his group's visit:
"May I ask the king how we can withdraw our troops? We will try our best to meet any request you have."

Zhu Jianxuan seemed very surprised and asked back:

"Why should I leave? This is Shuntian Prefecture of my Ming Dynasty, this is Beijing City of my Ming Dynasty. Aren't you the ones who should leave?"

Heshen and Ji Yun felt a little desperate after hearing this. It seemed that the other party really didn't want to leave after coming here.

Since the other party said that it was he who should leave, the best outcome would be for the Qing Dynasty to withdraw from the area outside the Great Wall.

But Mingliang was a little unconvinced, and couldn't help but say something soft but hard:
"My Lord of the Southern Ming, your surprise attack this time has made the Qing Dynasty on guard, but it is not so easy for you to stay.

"Once the troops from all over the country gather to support the king, you won't be able to stay here for long even if you want to."

Zhu Jianxuan glanced at Mingliang, then waved his hand outward:

"Drag him out and behead him."

The guards on both sides immediately stepped forward, grabbed Mingliang's arm and dragged him out.

Mingliang was startled and surprised:
"What are you going to do? When two countries are at war, they don't kill envoys."

He Shen and Ji Yun also immediately knelt down and begged for mercy:
"Your Majesty, spare your life, Your Majesty, please spare your life."

"Mingliang is just a warrior, I don't know the etiquette, please forgive me, Your Majesty."

But Zhu Jianxuan completely ignored them, picked up the teacup and took a sip.

Mingliang was dragged outside the palace and beheaded. His head was brought back on a tray and placed in front of Heshen and Ji Yun.

Heshen and Ji Yun looked at the bright head, which was covered in blood and had wide-open eyes. They obviously could not accept why they were beheaded.

Their hearts were about to beat out of their chests. Both of them were smart people, so they could understand why Zhu Jianxuan wanted to kill Mingliang.

Because the logic of this King Wu is that the Ming and Qing dynasties are not two countries now, but the Ming Dynasty court and the Nurgandusi Jianzhou Zuowei, or the Ming Dynasty court and the Qing rebels.

If you admit that you are a subject of the Ming Dynasty, you must show enough respect to the prince of the Ming Dynasty.

Mingliang called himself the Southern Ming Dynasty right from the start, and at the same time he directly called himself the Qing Dynasty, which means he thought that the two sides were two countries.

Later he shouted even louder, "When two countries are at war, envoys will not be killed." It would have been better if he hadn't said this, as there would still be a glimmer of room for maneuver. If he said it, he would definitely die.

If Zhu Jianxuan did not kill him at this point, it would mean that he tacitly accepted the "two countries" he mentioned.

Zhu Jianxuan took another sip of tea and continued to instruct Heshen and Ji Yun:

"Take this back and show it to Hongli, and tell him to choose someone who knows the etiquette and rules when he comes to pay homage to the prince next time."

Zhu Jianxuan could not directly execute Fengshen Jilun six years ago, but now he will not give any chance to these Qing people who fail to understand the situation.

Heshen and Ji Yun both wanted to run away now, but thinking about their missions, they couldn't just leave like that.

There was silence for a few seconds, and He Shen boldly asked cautiously:

"May I ask, Your Majesty, how can we... reach a truce? Please let us know any requests you may have, so that we can go back and speed up preparations."

Zhu Jianxuan seemed a little impatient and said:

"Don't Hongli know what he should do?

"Let Hongli himself come out and apologize with the officials of Jianzhou Zuowei.

"Otherwise I will go into the city to quell the rebellion myself!"

(End of this chapter)