The Ming Dynasty did not revolutionize

Chapter 198 Should he come over, or should I go over?

Things were changing faster than the prince had expected, and there was no need to wait until the end of the year.

At the end of August in the 42nd year of Xianning, the Qing emperor's surrender letter was delivered to Yingtian Prefecture.

Including the surrender letter itself, the seal and map of the Qing Dynasty, several photos taken by Wu craftsmen, and Zhu Jianxuan's arrangements for these people.

The old emperor was filled with emotion as he looked at these things, and was also amazed at the photo.

Then I felt inexplicably melancholy again.

After hesitating and considering for a long time, he finally ordered the information to be made public.

At the same time, the general route of the King of Wu's Northern Expedition was made public, as well as previously unpublished naval battle reports, which were also made public through the official bulletin.

It was only at this time that the people finally realized that the traditional northern expedition route by land was actually just a small force of the Wu State's northern expedition army.

From the very beginning, the main force of the Wu State attacked Huanglong and headed straight for Shuntian Prefecture.

The Ming Dynasty's elite were in an uproar.

The prince took the latest court bulletin and handed it to his secretary Qi Xu to read:

"Sixteenth brother...the Northern Expedition was a great success.

"The Qing emperor opened the city to surrender and demanded that the garrisons in various places surrender.

"It is estimated that news of the restoration will be heard from Liaodong, Shanxi and Shaanxi before the New Year.

"Sixteenth brother now has the merit of rebuilding the country..."

Several officials of the Prince's Mansion, led by Qi Xu, were originally very excited.

But after hearing the prince's last words, they all fell silent again.

The so-called merit of rebuilding the country is a great achievement for the emperor, and he can be called the ancestor in the temple name.

If the person who accomplished this was an ordinary minister or even a vassal, it would be fine, at most his achievements would be considered as frightening to the ruler.

But this King Wu is the biological son of the current emperor and queen.

When the old emperor was still alive, he could still view the entire world as one through the old emperor's identity.

Once the old emperor passed away and the prince succeeded to the throne, the world would be divided into two halves.

As for reducing the power of the vassal states, the current imperial court is unlikely to be able to defeat the King of Wu.

Taking the Qing Dynasty as a reference, even if the Ming Dynasty government made an all-out northern expedition, it would not be able to complete the task within a year.

If the crown prince really wants to reduce the power of the princes after he ascends the throne, then the King of Wu will probably have to directly launch a campaign of rebellion to purge the court of evil officials.

The King of Wu's popularity among the people was also at its peak. Even if the imperial court did not mention the issue of reducing the power of the princes, the King of Wu would still directly seize the throne by force, which only resulted in a slight loss of popularity.

Now the prince's direct subordinates and most of the officials in the Ming court naturally support the prince.

But now these court officials seem to be unable to do anything.

The King of Wu was a vassal king who had just eliminated the vassal king of the Qing army. Unless he himself committed an unforgivable crime, there was no reason to do anything to him.

After a long silence, Qi Xu suggested tentatively:
“Your Highness, would you like to ask the old gentlemen to write to His Majesty, requesting His Royal Highness the King of Wu to hand over control of the Central Plains provinces to the Ming court?

“Or accuse His Royal Highness the King of Wu of presumptuous conduct in dealing with the rulers and ministers of the Qing Kingdom on his own.

"Or maybe it's a suggestion for His Majesty to go north to pay respect to the ancestral tombs."

The prince just shook his head and waved his hands:
"These practices may seem reasonable, but they will only intensify conflicts and are meaningless. Let's not talk about them anymore."

After hearing this, Qi Xu said nothing more, and today's internal meeting ended.

But within a few days, someone wrote to the emperor, asking the court to demand control of the Central Plains provinces from the King of Wu.

When the old emperor saw the memorial, he threw it aside and ignored it.

In the following months, news came from Shanxi, Shaanxi and Liaodong one after another, and the Northern Expedition Army actually resolved the war in the north before the New Year.

However, memorials concerning the King of Wu began to appear frequently in the central court.

Originally, various demands were put forward, but the old emperor ignored them. As a result, the number of memorials increased and the content became more and more intense.

Accusations such as disrespect for the emperor, lawlessness, presumptuousness, and disrespect were put on him one after another.

Some people also strongly advocated that the feudal lords should be weakened. The key is that the largest vassal state, Wu, should be weakened first, so that the world can be unified directly.

The old emperor didn't take it seriously at first, but he got tired of it after a while.

At the beginning of October, the old emperor, who had had enough, ordered the dismissal of a new batch of ministers who had accused and impeached the King of Wu and exiled them to the Falkland Islands as grassroots immigration officials. It was only then that the prince realized that a large number of people had begun to attack the King of Wu.

After the prince received the news, he returned to his Chunhe Palace and immediately summoned Qi Xu and other officials to ask them directly what was going on:

"Didn't I tell you not to do these things? It will only anger Father!"

Qi Xu was quite surprised and said:

"Your Highness... This matter has nothing to do with us. We have never leaked even a little bit of what we discussed with the world.

“It should be that the gentlemen in the court also had similar ideas as we did at the beginning.

"So they did these things on their own initiative, without my request."

Taixi was also a little surprised:

"You didn't join the fight? They wanted to do it all by themselves? They should know that this approach is useless!"

Qi Xu was silent for a few seconds, then sighed and said:

"These gentlemen must have felt hopeless about the situation, so they expressed their true emotions and willingly waited for punishment."

The prince understood the mentality of these people and became even more desperate.

The one who took the initiative to impeach the King of Wu at this time must have been the minister who respected the etiquette of seniority and could not accept the reality that the King of Wu occupied the Central Plains.

Most of these people are on my side.

It’s not that they have a high interest in the matter, but they think the King of Wu has indeed gone too far, that the current situation has indeed reached a deadlock, and they see no hope of getting better in the future.

The old emperor seemed a little impatient. When he saw the news of surrender of Shanxi, Shaanxi and other places conveyed by the envoy of King Wu, he sent Fei Chun to Shuntian Prefecture.

He asked Fei Chun to inform the King of Wu and ask him to come to Yingtian Prefecture to see him before the New Year.

Fei Chun arrived in Shuntian Prefecture, conveyed the old emperor's request, and participated in the ceremony of King Wu rewarding his meritorious officials.

After the ceremony, Fei Chun, Duan Yucai and Cao Zhendong slowly figured out the King of Wu's true intention.

Before the end of the 42nd year of Xianning, Fei Chun came to Yingtian Prefecture again with a group of guards.

First, he went to pay a visit to the old emperor and presented the letter written by King Wu to the old emperor.

When the old emperor saw that King Wu did not come, he became a little annoyed.

I opened the letter and read it first, and found that there were only a few words explaining why he did not come to Yingtianfu.

They said that the current situation was not suitable for coming here, and that there were too many things to be done in the north.

More content is about suggestions on resolving the conflicts between the bosses and workers in Tianfu, arguing that the court should take a neutral position to resolve the conflicts between the two sides.

We should take the initiative to formulate reasonable wage standards to eliminate the current tense situation and restore normal industrial production.

The old emperor could not read the following content at all, and angrily shouted:
"What a bastard! He really is disrespectful to his superiors.

"Fei Chun, go back and tell the King of Wu to come over to see me immediately.

"Otherwise, I will wait until spring comes and head north to Shuntian Prefecture to teach him a lesson!

"Is he going to come here by himself, or should I go find him?"

Fei Chun knelt down helplessly:

"Your Majesty, calm down. His Royal Highness the King of Wu definitely has no intention of disrespecting the emperor. It is just that the current situation does not allow it.

"Given the situation in Yingtian Prefecture, it would be inappropriate for Your Highness to lead the army here or not, and it would also be inappropriate for Your Highness to enter the city or not."

The old emperor calmed down a little, then thought about the reality a little and realized that what Zhu Jianxuan said did make some sense.

With his current identity, he really doesn't dare to enter Yingtian Prefecture alone.

Although there are a large number of people here who support him very much, there are also a bunch of old bureaucrats who wish he had never appeared.

If he didn't bring his troops with him, or entered the city alone, he would be in real danger.

Most of the time, if he brings troops here but does not enter the city, more people will find fault with him and think that he is planning to rebel.

But the old emperor also discovered that the correct way seemed to be to take the initiative to go to Shuntian Prefecture.

Leaving behind the bureaucracy of Yingtian Prefecture, he went to the new environment of Shuntian Prefecture to handle affairs.

It's so hot, today's temperature is over 40 degrees, which makes me despair. The rural house I live in has no insulation layer. The air conditioner is useless in this kind of weather. The air conditioner is turned to the maximum gear, and the indoor temperature is still above 32 degrees. I feel that the mattress is too hot when I lie on the bed...



(End of this chapter)