The Ming Dynasty did not revolutionize

Chapter 197: Yingtian Prefecture in the nd Year of Xianning
Throughout the 42nd year of Xianning, people from all walks of life and all classes in Yingtian Prefecture of the Ming Dynasty were repeatedly shocked by various major news.

At the beginning of the year, there were rumors that His Royal Highness the King of Wu in Australia was going to lead an expedition to the north, and the entire market's elite immediately became excited.

Although it had little to do with ordinary workers, businessmen, shopkeepers, employers, and literati were all very excited, feeling that an explosive hot topic had emerged.

After the anti-Qing manifesto was made public, various public or private newspapers and periodicals began to reprint, interpret, discuss and publicize it in succession.

In fact, at the beginning, everyone was not very optimistic about King Wu's Northern Expedition itself.

After all, the King of Wu was only a vassal king, and the State of Wu had only been established for a short ten years. The key point was that its location was far south of the Nanyang Sea, a place known as Tiannan.

At the same time, some people discussed that if the continuous natural disasters did not stop after the King of Wu came to the Central Plains in person, then all the rumors in previous years would be self-defeating.

Some people were also worried. If the King of Wu succeeded, how should he manage the northern lands he had seized? Should he directly grant them to the King of Wu?
However, these concerns do not affect the discussion of the Northern Expedition itself, nor do they affect the various discussions using the Northern Expedition.

It is discussed in formal and informal newspapers, at gatherings of elites from all walks of life, and in all kinds of daily activities.

By using the vassal king, the King of Wu, to launch a northern expedition, the imperial court was reminded, either explicitly or implicitly, that it should learn from its mistakes and then be brave, and should immediately organize its forces to cooperate with the King of Wu in launching a northern expedition to the Central Plains.

The imperial court was given some face, but other vassal monarchs were criticized mercilessly.

"If all the vassal states could work together with the imperial court and march north together, the Qing invaders would have been driven back to their homeland in the northeast long ago!"

Discussions on all fronts were so heated that news of the conflicts between employers and workers that broke out last year gradually faded from the hottest pages.

What the imperial court was focused on doing at the time was to transport the disaster victims around Yingtian Prefecture to Chongming Island to eliminate unstable factors.

A large number of temporary buildings were quickly built on Chongming Island to "temporarily store" the disaster victims who gathered from all over the place.

On the surface, he turned a blind eye to matters concerning the Northern Expedition.

However, both the old emperor himself, the crown prince, and other officials and royal family members were all paying close attention to this matter.

The success or failure of King Wu's Northern Expedition will directly affect the situation in the court.

After Crown Prince Zhu Jiancan saw the manifesto to punish the Qing invaders, he immediately called together his core officials for discussion.

There were no outsiders here, and the prince was actually a little surprised and asked directly:
"Sixteenth brother is a vassal king. He directly launched a northern expedition against the Qing invaders. Is there any problem with this in terms of rules?"

Qi Xu, the Prince's Secretary, and several other officials had already considered this. They looked at each other, and Qi Xu was the first to speak:
"Your Highness, from the perspective of the rules...there is indeed no problem.

"Due to the situation during the Chongzhen period, all vassal states were allowed to expand outward on their own, and were also required to take the initiative to fight against the Qing invaders in the north.

"According to the tradition since Chongzhen, this should have been encouraged.

"For other countries that were not at war with the Ming Dynasty, they also had to consider the issue of provoking conflicts without authorization, but the Qing Dynasty did not have this problem at all.

"The Ming Dynasty and the Qing Dynasty never signed an alliance, and the Ming Dynasty never recognized the Qing Dynasty."

The prince immediately continued to ask:

"But...what if, I mean what if, Sixteenth Brother achieves victory, what should we do?"

Obviously, the prince did not have much confidence in Zhu Jianxuan. After all, he was setting out from thousands of miles away, with only a few million subjects of a vassal state against more than 100 million Qing invaders.

Qi Xu continued to report:
"During the Chongzhen reign, clear rules were also set.

"If the vassal states fought against the Qing invaders on their own without the help of the imperial court, and the land was seized by the vassal states on their own, the vassal state monarchs could take it themselves or apply to transfer it to their children.

"In a county, a county man can be given the title of county chief and concurrently the chief of the county; in a prefecture, a county earl can be given the title of prefecture chief and concurrently the chief of the prefecture; in a province, a duke can be given the title of state chief and concurrently the chief of the province.

“If His Royal Highness Prince Wu can win, it will certainly be a good thing for the court.

"The vassal states are at least part of the Ming Dynasty, and the common people and merchants can come and go freely. The Qing invaders are actually enemy countries..."

The prince remained silent after listening to these words. Qi Xu and others knew that this meant that the prince was not satisfied with this answer.

So Qi Xu continued to explain and persuade:
“The Wu Kingdom only has five or six million people, and they are all disaster victims who have just been relocated. It will take time for them to stabilize again.

"Being able to organize 100,000 soldiers is the limit, otherwise we wouldn't have to go to Japan to recruit soldiers.

“The Qing State has over a million troops. If they focus on defending the Huaibei area, even if it’s ten against one, it will be enough to delay the Northern Expedition Army of the Wu State.

"It is obviously impossible for a newly established vassal state to win against the Qing Dynasty, a country with a population of more than 100 million.

"The Ming Dynasty fought against the Qing invaders for more than a hundred years, which is simply not comparable to the Western barbarians like the Ottomans and the pirate countries in North Africa.

“I believe that Your Highness the King of Wu can at most seize a few pieces of land in the Huaibei area, and will definitely not be able to advance even a little bit once he reaches the Yellow River.

"Even if we are able to achieve a complete victory in the encounter, if we want to continue to expand the results on a large scale, we must have the main force of the imperial court directly participate in the battle."

The prince finally spoke after hearing this:

"Indeed... I really hope that my sixteenth brother can win a great victory, and then the imperial army will attack and wipe out the Qing invaders in one fell swoop."

The prince's mind calmed down, and he began to prepare himself mentally, waiting to receive his younger brother back to the court.

After this, public opinion continued to brew for more than two months. By March, the topic of King Wu's Northern Expedition began to fade.

Because there was no sign of King Wu's army.

The prince also began to feel confused, and he and his officials also began to feel confused.

"Is it possible that Sixteenth Brother's plan to march north was just verbal? Did he give up after realizing that he had no chance of winning?"

Many social elites who pay attention to related news also think so.

But there are also a small number of people who always believe in the King of Wu, thinking that the King of Wu must be making all the preparations, and when the time comes to take formal action, he will surely achieve a surprise victory.

Then, not long after, several explosive news items suddenly appeared in the court's public bulletin.

"The Earl of Huai'an plotted rebellion and surrendered to the enemy, colluding with the Qing army's main force in Huaibei, more than 50,000 people, to cross the river.

"The Wu Kingdom's northern expeditionary army seized Haizhou by sea, swept through the prefectures and counties north of the Huai River, and cut off the retreat of the Qing invaders and the rebels.

"The main force of the imperial court, the Yangzhou Division, and the Northern Expeditionary Army of the Wu Kingdom, surrounded and annihilated the Qing army, the Huaibei Army, and the Huai'an Earl's rebel army, totaling 80,000 people, under the Yellow River embankment in Huai'an, and the Qing bandit general Hailancha surrendered."

When this news was released, various political figures in the society realized that the imperial court and the King of Wu had fought a war silently without anyone knowing.

At the same time, many people subconsciously suspected that there was something wrong with the official report, and whether there was something wrong with the statement "encirclement and annihilation of 80,000 people"?
It should be "defeated 80,000 people" instead of "annihilated 80,000 people"? What is the scale of 80,000 people?

Some people even suspected that the entire battle report was fake, because Huai'an had very convenient access to the Yangtze River via the canal, and there had always been merchants coming and going.

I just heard that something happened in Huai'an these few days, and the court just transferred the garrison in Yangzhou to the north.

A super-large-scale battle to encircle and annihilate 80,000 people cannot be over in just a few days. It is possible that it will last for ten days, half a month, or even several months.

But two days later, the heads of Qing general Hailancha and several of his subordinates were collected and sent to Yingtian Prefecture.

There were also tens of thousands of Qing prisoners and the surrendered Earl of Huai'an, who were escorted back to Yingtian Prefecture by the Yangzhou troops.

The civilian elites, who were slow to receive news, finally confirmed that the outrageous imperial report from the court was true.

The imperial court and the King of Wu really won a great victory quietly.

Not only did they recapture the Huaidong area north of the Yellow River, but they also eliminated the small vassal town of Huai'anbo. It was really a great event. The upper and middle class elites of Yingtian Prefecture were all excited, and then there were spontaneous celebrations that lasted for many days. The whole city was decorated with lights and firecrackers for many days.

The employers became more determined to fight against the unrestful workers.

Relatively speaking, the prince and his subordinates had more accurate and detailed information.

First, he learned that the Earl of Huai'an asked for help, then he learned that the emperor had arranged for the Yangzhou troops to march north, and then the next thing was that the Yangzhou troops were ambushed.

In the end, the King of Wu inexplicably sent 20,000 people over, and the result was immediate victory two days later.

The most crucial issue is that Fei Chun brought back news that his magical sixteenth brother actually launched a full-scale attack by sea.

They had actually captured Jeju Island and Incheon Port, and started fighting in the Korean region ahead of time.

The imperial court did not announce this information to the public because King Wu's Northern Expedition was still sudden and the Qing court should not be aware of the scope of King Wu's activities.

If these things were made public in the court bulletins, the Qing Dynasty might be able to obtain relevant intelligence through spies within the Ming Dynasty.

While the prince was pleasantly surprised at the great victory of the Northern Expedition, he also instinctively felt an uncontrollable worry in his heart:

"The imperial army did not intervene in the area east of the Huai River to the north of the Yellow River. It was occupied directly by my sixteenth brother from the sea. According to tradition, does it belong to the Wu Kingdom?"

The Eastern Palace officials headed by Qi Xu had the same complicated expressions and feelings:
"According to the rules, this is indeed the case. This was a promise made by the imperial court during the reign of Emperor Chongzhen in order to encourage the various vassal states to take the initiative to counterattack the Qing army.

"In fact, what is more important is that the Qing's main force in the Huaibei area was defeated, and the southern Shandong area around Haizhou was completely open to the Wu Kingdom's Northern Expedition Army.

"For the Qing Dynasty, the Yellow River defense line is gone..."

The prince actually knew more information. Since the King of Wu came from the sea, it was not just southern Shandong that was open to the Northern Expedition.

The entire southern Shandong coastline was open to the Northern Expedition.

When the prince thought about these things, he felt a dull pain in his head, as if something wanted to jump out.

But this news is just the beginning.

The subsequent intelligence, especially the intelligence that the prince was able to obtain, was more sensational than the previous one.

The King of Wu's army marched northward and directly penetrated all of the Qing Dynasty's maritime defenses.

It took only more than half a month to quickly defeat the entire inland sea fleet of the Qing Dynasty and rush directly to the city of Shuntian Prefecture.

Then they began to surround and attack the reinforcements under the city of Shuntian Prefecture - this was how the prince and his staff understood it.

When the prince was in the court and in front of his father, he was still able to appear calm and surprised.

But when he returned to his palace and discussed the situation with his subordinates alone, he could no longer control his emotions:

"How is this possible, Mr. Qi? How is this possible? Sixteenth brother really went straight to Huanglong and directly surrounded Shuntian Prefecture!"

Qi Xu didn't know how he came back and was extremely shocked by the news.

This news was not reported in the official gazette.

The official report only contained the news that the Wu army had besieged Xuzhou and entered Lu'an to join the Northern Expedition with the Marquis of Huainan.

The prince walked back and forth in the room several times and asked an even more unanswerable question:

"If, I mean if, Sixteenth Brother really conquered Shuntian Prefecture, should the court grant Shuntian Prefecture to him?"

Qi Xu felt that the current reality seemed like a dream:

"Your Highness Prince Wu was able to capture Tianjin and then approach the city of Shuntian Prefecture. This is the greatest victory since Chongzhen.

“Even if we fail to conquer Shuntian in the end, it will become a topic of discussion among the civil and military officials of the world.

“If we really capture Shuntian Prefecture, and the imperial court then takes advantage of the situation to launch a large-scale northern expedition to recover the homeland in the north, then His Royal Highness the King of Wu’s great achievement will truly be like rebuilding the country.

“According to the original regulations, the land that the King of Wu recovered himself should indeed be granted to His Royal Highness the King of Wu.

"But the key is His Majesty's intention..."

The prince felt like his brain was about to explode. At the same time, he was expecting the King of Wu's Northern Expedition Army to win, but he was also worried that the King of Wu would stay in the Central Plains after the victory, which would make him completely out of control.

Amidst such confusion and anxiety, more important good news came back one after another.

And most of it is information that can be made public.

The local Qing troops were quickly defeated by the Northern Expedition Army of Wu, and local prefectures, counties and cities were constantly conquered and recaptured by the Northern Expedition Army.

When summer came, notices of the liberation of a certain place could be seen every day in official gazettes and private newspapers.

Often there are more than one capture in a day, and each capture may involve more than one state or county.

It is obvious that the Northern Expedition Army was divided into several routes. After the cities where the Qing Dynasty's main garrisons were captured, the surrounding prefectures, counties and cities began to surrender.

The entire Yingtian Prefecture, the entire Jiangnan area, and even the entire Ming Dynasty central court area was filled with jubilation.

The elite class who care about external events are becoming more and more excited. Almost every day, people prepare large quantities of fireworks and firecrackers and set them off all night in open places.

By the time autumn came, news from all sides was even more exciting.

The liberation of a small place no longer needs to be explained in special pages. Only the liberation of an entire province and the simultaneous liberation of large areas of multiple prefectures are worthy of special reports.

The news of the liberation of the Huaibei area of ​​Southern Zhili, the entire Henan Province, and the entire Shandong Province spread gradually.

The common people knew that the Northern Expedition Army had entered the territory of northern Zhili.

If all goes well, most of the Central Plains will be liberated by the end of this year.

However, autumn is coming soon, and we should be able to capture most of Hebei in autumn, but Shuntian Prefecture is unlikely to be captured.

It is impossible to continue fighting in the icy and snowy north in winter. We hope that we can conquer Shuntian Prefecture and achieve a complete victory in the early spring of next year.

And the prince knows even more.

Knowing that their miraculous brother had been hiding in Shuntian City for half a year, the emperor and high-ranking officials of the Qing Dynasty could no longer hold on.

At the same time, we also know that the entire Korea has been basically recovered, and the Wu vassal army has entered Liaodong.

The key point is that the Qing Dynasty’s retreat route outside the Great Wall, Shanhaiguan, had already been occupied.

The Qing high-ranking officials in Shuntian Prefecture either surrendered or starved to death.

The biggest news before the end of the year may not be the recovery of Northern Zhili or the recovery of the entire Central Plains, but the news that the Qing emperor surrendered and the Qing Dynasty was completely destroyed.

When the Crown Prince and his subordinates discussed things alone recently, the atmosphere had changed unconsciously.

The prince no longer expresses his opinions on the Northern Expedition.

Instead, the officials were a little excited and wanted to get more information that was not available outside through the prince.

(End of this chapter)