Jiajing Chengming

Li Jin did not expect that Altan would praise Emperor Jiajing, and even his words showed that he wanted to give up the conquest of Central Plains and only wanted to be a tribute because of Emperor Jiajing.

This made Li Jin very disappointed and resentful.

This made him realize that his attempt to use foreign forces to counter Jiajing's reforms seemed to be doomed.

So he was very disappointed and angry about the cautious attitude shown by Altan at this time.

But Altan was obviously more cautious than he thought.

Because at this time, Altan continued to say: "This time, let's just plunder the capital!"

"We can only sweep around Datong, and we must plunder and withdraw quickly! Otherwise, we will be caught by the large number of reinforcements sent by them. Such a far-sighted emperor will definitely train strong soldiers and send strong soldiers to strengthen Datong's defense."

"So, this time we can no longer think of plundering the population to expand our army. We can only use killing to create panic. Once we capture a village, we must slaughter everyone there. Then we can send envoys to ask the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty to accept the tribute and release my brother!"

When Li Jin heard this, he was shocked.

But when Li Jin thought about the harm that Jiajing's reforms had brought him, he could no longer occupy military land or enslave military households.

He felt that Altan's decision to massacre the soldiers and civilians of Datong was not necessarily a bad thing.

In his opinion, since Jiajing's reform of military households was intended to liberate the military households and strengthen the military strength of the Ming Dynasty, if Altan and others were able to massacre a large number of military households in Datong, it would definitely make Jiajing feel unhappy, just as Jiajing's reforms had brought him unhappiness.

Li Jin also knew that the current emperor Jiajing had always shown love for the people.

He was too lazy to analyze whether Jiajing truly loved the people or not, but he knew that if a large number of soldiers and civilians were massacred in Datong, it would be very uncomfortable for Jiajing to love the people, whether he was pretending to love the people or not.

In any case, population is also a form of wealth, and an important one at that.

If Datong really loses a large number of Han people, the ratio of Hu and Han people in the border town of Datong will change even more.

He believed that Jiajing would not remain indifferent to this result.

So, after Altan said this, Li Jin echoed:

"Great Khan is wise! This is undoubtedly a proper policy. It will not only bring greater panic to the Han people along the border, but will also make the Emperor of Ming realize that although the warriors of the grasslands cannot revive the Yuan Dynasty, they can still threaten the peace of his border! And his reforms have exacerbated this anxiety!"

"That's right!"

"Whether the Ming emperor realizes it or not, his reforms will not only be opposed by the powerful and wealthy families within the country, but there will also be external forces that will try their best to interfere."

"I want the Emperor of Ming to know that the Tatars are a force that he must always keep in mind and not ignore!"

"If he can't destroy us, then he must show us respect and be gentle!"

Altan also reined in his horse and echoed him.

And because they were about to arrive at Datong Town, Altan Khan specially allocated 3,000 cavalrymen to Li Jin, asking him to take these cavalrymen to scout ahead.

Li Jin and his servants, together with the three thousand cavalrymen, headed for Datong Town first.

When Li Jin was on his way to Datong Town, he called Feng Gu, one of his most trusted servants, and told him:
"You sneak in from the direction of Zhenchuan Fort first and tell my uncle that Altan Khan has decided to send troops to Datong to suppress all the forts, and this time he will only slaughter them. Tell him to be careful and not to allow ordinary soldiers and civilians to enter the forts. Let the people of this emperor bear the price of his reforms!"

Feng Gu agreed and entered the mountains and forests of Datong Prefecture, heading towards the collapsed area with ease.

then.

It was not long before Li Jin's uncle, Zhao Da, the guerrilla commander of Hongci Fort, learned that Altan Khan was going to break through the pass and massacre Datong under the leadership of Li Jin.

Zhao Da was very excited about this.

"Great!"

"Like Li Jin, I have long been frustrated by the military household reform. If I were not reluctant to give up my hereditary position, I would have wanted to surrender to the Tartars!"

"Now that Altan Khan has invaded and wants to massacre Datong, it is a good opportunity to let the emperor who is keen on reform in the court know that the price of reform is the tragic death of more soldiers and civilians!"

So, at this moment, Zhao Da slammed the table, stood up, stroked his beard, and spoke to his own children with great enthusiasm in his own courtyard.

then.

Zhao Da said to himself again: "Your Majesty, Your Majesty, when the Tartars come and slaughter the military households here, it will be a lose-lose situation! At that time, you will know that some things are not what you want, even if you are the emperor. In this world, only people can save themselves. You, the emperor, cannot save the poor military households in the world!"

Zhao Da said this and told his own sons and daughters, "Pass my order, the whole fort is under martial law. All soldiers and civilians who are not from the fort are not allowed to enter. Anyone who enters will be driven out! The reason is to prevent the Tartar spies from entering!"

"Let those small households living in the countryside outside the fortress and those living in the fortress who have not donated their land to the army experience the cruelty of the Tartars!"

"Yes!"

Zhao Da then continued to sneer.

Snapped!
"Get out, get out now!"

"Damn it, if you don't get out of here, I'll think you're a spy and beat you to death!"

Next, the government troops of Hongci Fort, Zhongwei, Datong, began to drive out the soldiers and civilians from the small households in the fort.

As the highest commander here, Zhao Da has completely controlled the government troops here.

Therefore, as long as Zhao Da does not directly rebel, the government troops here will not refuse to execute Zhao Da's orders.

What's more, Zhao Da's reasons were quite justified.

"Why are you letting us out? We paid!"

A soldier or civilian from a small household did not understand and was whipped by a soldier while asking. "I'm afraid you are a Tartar spy. Don't you understand?"

"If you want to blame someone, blame the current emperor for his misrule, which led to the Tartar invasion!"

Then the government troops gave this reason.

These small-scale soldiers and civilians had no choice but to leave Hongci Fort, but because they no longer had the support of the fort walls, and when they heard that the Tartars were coming, they naturally became even more frightened and began to flee southward towards Datong City.

After the small military and civilian households in Hongci Fort were driven out, Hongci Fort completely closed the fort gate and retracted the drawbridge.

Zhao Da also came to the fortress wall with satisfaction, looking at the panic-stricken soldiers and civilians who were driven out.

However, at this time, Zhao Da's son Zhao Zhen came running over and said, "Father, I just got a ticket. Tang Shunzhi, the Imperial Censor and Inspector of the Qing Army, is coming to our Hongci Fort to check the military households and military fields!"

"Then we will not let him in on the pretext of preventing the Tartars from attacking the fort."

"Use the Tartar's knife to get rid of him!"

Zhao Da therefore said.

Three days later.

Tang Shunzhi did arrive at Hongci Fort, and the cavalry that accompanied him shouted across the river: "Open the door! Our master is the Imperial Censor and Trial Imperial Censor of the Qing Army sent by the court!"

"Our superiors said that the Tartars have come to Datong. For the safety of the people in the fortress, the city gates cannot be opened. Even if the Qing army censors, inspectors, and even the governors come, they cannot be let in!"

"If you have anything to say, wait until the Tartars withdraw their troops!"

At this time, the soldiers on the castle wall shouted loudly.

"unacceptable!"

Trial Censor Ge Shouli couldn't help but said something with a sullen face.

Tang Shunzhi held Ge Shouli back and said gloomily, "This General Zhao must be trying to get rid of us with the help of the Tartars. It's useless for us to say anything. Afterwards, he will say that he had to do this for the safety of the people in the fort."

After hearing this, Ge Shouli said, "How despicable!"

Tang Shunzhi just smiled and said, "Never mind him, we will just check the military households and military fields outside the fort first!"

That afternoon, Zhu Houcong, who had just finished his court session, was relaxing in the Imperial Garden.

Although it is already March, the spring rain never stops and the weather is always cloudy and sunny.

This afternoon, it was a rare sunny day.

Zhu Houcong also came to this imperial garden.

The dead trees in the garden have gradually turned green, but there is still some snow in the cracks of the rockery in the corners of the wall.

The accumulated snow still pressed down some plants, stubbornly preventing the imperial garden from adding more greenery.

Zhu Houcong didn't know how many obstacles there were in his attempt to revive the empire.

But what he was sure of was that there were definitely still a large number of people who did not want him to save ordinary military households from suffering and rebuild the military aristocracy of the Ming Dynasty.

These people are certainly not enough to make him feel cold, but they may be stubborn enough to let ordinary military households know that reform will make them worse off than not reforming.

The Tatars who are about to invade the south will further impose a price on his reforms.

When he thought of this, Zhu Houcong couldn't help but clench his fists.

He didn't know whether the emperor's personal troops he sent to Datong could repel Altan's troops before they invaded Datong, nor did he know whether Jinang could persuade Altan to leave, and he didn't know whether the Shenjiying he sent could use new muskets and new tactics to let Altan know that they would not get any advantage.

All of this is still unknown.

But Zhu Houcong hoped that Altan would withdraw his troops so that fewer soldiers and civilians would die because of the reforms.

Prosperity, people suffer; death, people suffer.

Many times, this world is so cruel to the people.

Even if the rulers implement reforms to benefit the people and improve the situation of the lower-level military and civilians, it will be the people who will bear the cost of this reform.

"Your Majesty! The Wang family has been ordered to report that Lord Zhenze's condition has suddenly worsened."

Just as Zhu Houcong was secretly sighing over this, Huang Jin came and reported to him that Wang Ao's condition had worsened.

Zhu Houcong looked at the blue sky and said, "Then let's go, I'll go see him."

Huang Jin bowed and said yes.

Zhu Houcong soon arrived at Wang Ao's residence.

The Wang family members also knelt outside the middle gate when Zhu Houcong came.

"Let them stand up."

After Zhu Houcong said this, he quickly walked towards the front door of Wang's house, and when he came to Xu Jin, he ordered, "Take me to see your father-in-law."

Xu Jin stood up and said yes, then took Zhu Houcong to Wang Ao's bedroom.

Xu Jin was very surprised that Zhu Houcong would come to the Wang family to visit his father-in-law, but he was also very grateful. !!! !!! !!! !!! (End of this chapter)