Jiajing Chengming

"Let Purnu withdraw!"

Altan looked at the gloomy sky, frowned, and gave this order.

Purnu had no choice but to retreat with his cavalry, leaving behind so many corpses in the collapsed wall.

"An Da!"

"I am your brother!"

"I have submitted to the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty because he is indeed an extraordinary emperor and his troops are very strong. Don't listen to the instigation of some treacherous people and let the people of the grassland die in vain. Withdraw your troops quickly. Tribute is the best choice to save the people of the grassland!"

At this time.

Under the escort of the Embroidered Uniform Guards, Jinang came to the broken wall on the hillside piled with corpses and shouted loudly to Altan.

Altan heard Jinang's words from the cavalry in front.

Altan was quite surprised by this. He did not expect that his brother would actually submit to the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty.

But after thinking about it, Altan didn't feel that surprised. He just smiled and said to Li Jin: "You are quite stupid. Under the rule of such a wise leader who even my brother has to submit to, you actually chose to defect!"

Li Jin also smiled awkwardly.

Jinang's words also surprised him, and at the same time he felt extremely disappointed, and at the same time he felt a little afraid. He really began to worry that offending such an emperor would not end well.

However, Altan did not withdraw his troops directly.

Because at this time, the sky was already covered with dark clouds.

At this time, Altan said to Li Jin: "If it rains, will the firearms of this Ming army still be usable?"

"Replying to the Khan, I don't know."

Li Jin replied.

Altan couldn't help but frowned: "How come you, a lieutenant general, don't know anything?"

Li Jin knelt down hurriedly: "Great Khan, please calm down. I really don't know, but I think it should be impossible. I have never encountered a fire gun that is not afraid of rain!"

At this time, the rain had indeed begun to fall, and it was gradually getting heavier, forming into strands of silk threads, interweaving between the sky and the earth.

When Altan saw this, he said, "Try again."

then.

Altan Khan ordered a general to lead tens of thousands of cavalry to charge the Ming army behind the collapsed border wall, while ignoring his brother Jinang.

"Raise the gun!"

Yu Dayou ordered the officers and soldiers of the Shenji Camp to raise their self-fired muskets again.

Bang bang!

A large amount of white smoke still rises in the rain curtain.

When Altan saw this scene, he was so shocked that his mouth opened wide.

The Tatar cavalry who rushed towards the Ming army in the rain also showed expressions of fear in their eyes.

But it was too late for them to retreat, and soon they fell in large numbers in the rain, with their blood washed away everywhere.

"withdraw troops!"

This time, Altan gave up completely and slapped Li Jin.

Snapped!
Li Jin was beaten so hard that rain splashed down on him.

At the same time, he was also confused.

And Altan did not say anything to Li Jin, but just ordered: "Detain this traitor! Don't let him escape, and don't let him commit suicide!"

"Yes!"

Li Jin felt something was wrong and said hurriedly, "Khan, you can't betray me. This will make people feel cold!"

At this time, the cavalry of the Ming army took the initiative to pursue when they saw Altan's army retreating.

For a time, many of Altan's cavalry were killed during the retreat.

However, because the grassland was so conducive to cavalry mobility, most of Altan and his men managed to escape successfully.

However, for the Ming Dynasty, this invasion by Altan Khan was finally safe and sound.

The Royal Guards quickly sent out cavalry to report the situation of repelling Altan Khan to Governor Cai Tianyou.

Cai Tianyou finally felt relieved.

However, in Hongci Fort, guerrilla Zhao Da was still waiting for the Tatars to enter the pass and massacre ordinary soldiers and civilians.

But Zhao Da waited for a long time and did not see any Tartars coming. Instead, he waited for the governor Cai Tianyou to come.

Cai Tianyou had already learned through his informants in Hongci Fort that guerrilla Zhao Da had closed the city without authorization and refused to allow Qing army censor Tang Shunzhi and others to enter the fort.

Therefore, Cai Tianyou brought his troops here specially.

"General Zhao, are you still waiting for the Tartar cavalry to appear?"

Cai Tianyou asked this question after meeting Zhao Da.

Zhao Da was shocked when he heard this, and hurriedly bowed and said, "Why do you ask me this? I don't have the heart to wait for the Tartars to come!"

"Since you don't have such intentions, who told you that the Tartars would come?"

"Why do you use this as an excuse not to let the Qing imperial censors into the fort?"

Cai Tianyou questioned Zhao Dalai.

Zhao Da said: "I also heard it from my humble subordinate Ye Bu Shou, and I have already sent someone to inform the governor, but I don't know why the governor hasn't received the news yet."

"The Tartars did come, but they were repelled by the emperor's personal army."

"But the Imperial Censor has reported you, so His Majesty has asked the cabinet to deliver it to me immediately. You will be executed for obstructing the emperor's order and resisting the reform!"

"In addition, your sons and retainers will also be sentenced to death for the crime of colluding with the emperor to resist the imperial decree! Their heads will be sent to the nine frontiers!"

"You are all military households, so Your Majesty does not need to go through the court."

Cai Tianyou said as he waved his hand: "Capture Zhao Da and the others!"

After Cai Tianyou said this, the officers and soldiers of his battalion arrested Zhao Da and all his children and servants who came with him.

Zhao Da was naturally confused after hearing what Cai Tianyou said. Even after being arrested, he couldn't help but mutter:
"How could this happen? How is this possible? How could the Royal Guards be so powerful?!"

Click!

Zhao Da, who was puzzled, was beheaded on the spot before he could finish his words.

All his sons and servants were beheaded.

When Zhu Houcong learned that Zhao Da refused to allow the Qing army censor Tang Shunzhi and others to enter Hongci Fort on the grounds of guarding against the Tartars, he did issue an order to the governor Cai Tianyou to execute him directly.

In Zhu Houcong's view, soldiers must obey the king's orders as their first duty.

Not to mention that the Tartars had not yet invaded, even if they had already invaded, they could not stop the ministers from carrying out the king's orders.

In short, as the favors to military households increase, the requirements must also become stricter.

In the past, the imperial court did not give enough favors to military households, so naturally it could not be strict.

But now that the imperial court has carried out military reforms and raised the status of military households, the requirements will naturally become stricter.

Therefore, after hearing that Zhao Da had ignored the imperial policy of military reform, Zhu Houcong directly ordered the execution of Zhao Da and his children and families.

For Zhu Houcong, the greatest crime was for military generals to be disloyal and disobedient.

No tolerance!

Not long after this, Zhu Houcong learned that the Jinwu Guards had repelled An Da.

Zhu Houcong was naturally very happy about this.

This made him realize that his new muskets and new tactics could indeed suppress the Tatar light cavalry in field battles. In this regard, Zhu Houcong was more confident in carrying out reforms.

He no longer had to worry about his lack of military strength and make various compromises.

All he needs to do now is to use the increased financial resources and the large number of soldiers released after the current reform of military households to expand the army massively.

As long as the army is expanded to a certain size, he will be able to eliminate all the disobedient people inside and wipe out all the disobedient barbarians outside!
"Your Majesty, Altan sent an envoy, hoping to pay tribute, and sent back the defected Lieutenant General Li Jin."

A few days later, Prime Minister Yang Yiqing reported something to Zhu Houcong.

Zhu Houcong laughed after hearing this: "It seems that Altan is indeed frightened by the new firearms and new tactics used by my personal guards!"

"Your Majesty is saying that he is not only afraid of the new firearms and the new tactics of infantry, artillery and cavalry coordination of our Great Ming, but also afraid of our Great Ming's current financial resources. After all, with our Great Ming's current financial resources, as long as we are willing, we can double or even increase such an army tenfold at any time, and then actively sweep the grasslands, forcing them to migrate frequently and not live permanently in the southern desert and the Hetao area."

Yang Yiqing followed suit.

Zhu Houcong was deep in thought at this time and ordered: "Tell the envoy to go back and tell him that Altan has repeatedly violated the border and killed our Han people. This time he even threatened to massacre our Han people. His crime is very serious. I will not agree to his tribute just because he wants to. I am the ruler of the world, and I will naturally not tolerate anyone who challenges my authority. Anyone who provokes me will be punished!"

"He, Altan, is no exception!"

"If he really cares about the people of the grasslands and wants to pay tribute to me, instead of trying to develop his own firearms for the sake of temporary expediency, he should come to me in person to apologize!"

"Only then can I consider granting them tribute."

"Also, have Li Jin executed by lingchi, similar to the punishment given to Liu Jin! Add 1,500 cuts! Let the Imperial Hospital send a new surgeon to do the lingchi, so as to train his surgical skills."

Zhu Houcong continued.

"Yes!"

Yang Yiqing quickly agreed.

He could feel that the emperor had become even more powerful after defeating Altan Khan, and had no intention of easily appeasing the foreigners.

Li Jin did not expect that because Altan Khan failed to successfully plunder Datong, he was sent back to the Ming Dynasty as a gift of goodwill by Altan Khan.

This scared him terribly.

And when he knew that the emperor was going to skin him alive with five thousand cuts, he fainted.

Because he really didn't expect that the emperor hated traitors and collaborators so much.

"His Majesty!"

"I am guilty, please show mercy! Woo woo!"

"Five thousand swords, I really can't bear it!"

When Li Jin was taken to the execution ground, he couldn't help but cry out.

He now regrets so much that he decided to defect to the Tartars.

But he really didn't expect that the emperor could scare Altan so much that he would send him back on his own initiative.

"This is five hundred taels of gold as a token of our master's kindness. Please consider our master's respect for you and speak up for the peace. After the matter is accomplished, our master is willing to give you another thousand taels of gold as a thank you."

When the news of Altan Khan's request for tribute reached the capital, Lu Ying, the Left Censor of the Military Department, received a bribe to facilitate the tribute.

A Tatar leader like Altan would naturally have unscrupulous businessmen who would cooperate with him.

Altan was also well aware of the officialdom atmosphere in the Ming Dynasty. He knew that many Ming bureaucrats had no loyalty in their hearts, only business. Moreover, most of them only dared to resist their superiors in order to gain the reputation of being upright, but did not dare to refuse private bribes and cut off their financial resources.

Therefore, while Altan Khan openly expressed his willingness to pay tribute, he asked the corrupt Ming merchants who cooperated with him to bribe the bureaucrats in the capital and let the bureaucrats speak for him to facilitate the payment of tribute.

Most of the merchants who cooperated with Altan were from Shanxi.

However, at this time, the Shanxi merchants had not yet grown large, and their influence in the court was still limited. At least they had not yet developed to the point where the Shanxi Party emerged, and their power was still relatively dispersed.

According to the historical context, if they wanted to become bigger, they had to wait until after Altan Khan and the tribute trade. They were able to first increase their financial resources by expanding border trade through the tribute trade, and then vigorously train their children to enter officialdom and intermarry with each other, so that many of the officials in the court were their people. Then, after the Jin Party was formed, they could truly become big.

Now, they can basically only use money to bribe officials in the court, and their ability to sell out national interests is limited.

Therefore, Fan Liang, a corrupt businessman in Jin, now only used money to bribe Lu Ying, the Minister of State Affairs, on behalf of his client Altan.

He was just a middleman, and even the three thousand taels of gold were paid by Altan.

Lu Ying chose to accept it.

Because even though Zhu Houcong has now improved the treatment of bureaucrats a lot, it is still difficult to eliminate corrupt bureaucrats.

Moreover, Lu Ying also knew that if he didn't take it, there would be one more person who took it and would hate him.

Of course, more importantly, he himself could not resist the temptation of easy money, and he also hoped to use the method of tribute to achieve the goal of doubling the war and stopping the war, so that the court would no longer have to pay too much attention to military development and improve the status of military households.

Therefore, Lu Ying chose to take it, and said: "Okay, okay, I can't bear to see the soldiers and civilians in the border areas suffer from the war, so even if you don't send these, I will still advocate for tribute."

But what Lu Ying did not expect was that he soon learned the news that the emperor refused to pay tribute.

This made Lu Ying very angry.

After all, not only would the emperor's decision cause him to lose a thousand taels of gold in vain, he would also have to watch the court continue to use the enmity with Altan to expand its military and increase financial spending, so that these bureaucrats who only wanted the emperor to save money and give benefits to the gentry of the world would not be able to live as extravagantly as before and keep more than ten concubines and build five or six gardens.

Lu Ying submitted a memorial to the emperor, requesting him to revoke his order, arguing that tribute could end hostilities and allow soldiers and civilians in border areas to no longer worry about war.

Not only Lu Ying submitted such a memorial, but several court officials also submitted similar memorials.

Zhu Houcong naturally disagreed with this.

However, Lu Ying brought up the matter again in the imperial court because of the temptation of one thousand taels of gold, and said:
"Your Majesty, do you really want to ignore the safety of the border residents and the heavy military expenses of the court, and insist on angering the Tatars and causing war in the border areas?"

"I ask Your Majesty to allow Altan Khan to pay tribute and open up border trade to benefit the people of both countries!"

As Lu Ying spoke, he bowed again and began to make his statement.

Zhu Houcong knew that these censors would rather resist their superiors than refuse personal gain, so he said again: "Your request is not granted!"

"Your Majesty, by doing this, you are disregarding the lives of soldiers and civilians in the border towns!"

Lu Ying couldn't help but say this again.

Zhu Houcong stood up and said coldly: "Come here, drag this man away and hang him for the crime of disobeying the emperor! Also search his house and check if he has any collusion with the enemy!"

Lu Ying was shocked and raised his head suddenly.

"Also, all those who have previously submitted petitions for tribute will be dismissed from their posts and placed on leave!"

"In addition, anyone who submits a petition to ask for peace and tribute will be charged with treason!"

Zhu Houcong continued.

After that.

Zhu Houcong looked down at all the ministers and said, "Altan Khan has repeatedly invaded our borders and killed our soldiers and civilians. This time he invaded Datong and threatened to slaughter our soldiers and civilians. He is a wolf with no humanity. He is a man who fears power but not virtue. Trading with such people is undoubtedly courting disaster. It is helping them to grow bigger. In the future, they have the ambition to continue to kill our people and destroy our country! Therefore, we can only destroy such beasts, not pay tribute!"

"If Altan really wants to stop fighting and submit to me, he should tie himself up and come to me to apologize!"

Zhu Houcong's words shook the entire Golden Palace.

"Your Majesty, please think twice. Although Lu Jijian is rebellious, he is loyal to the emperor and loves the people. Please be merciful and forgiving and pardon his crime, so as to avoid the suspicion of punishing him without teaching him a lesson."

At this time, Prime Minister Yang Yiqing pleaded for Lu Gang.

The Minister of Personnel Zhao Huang and the Minister of Punishment Hu Shining all knelt down and said, "Your Majesty, please show mercy and forgive his crime!"

"Killing without teaching?"

Seeing that only about half of the courtiers knelt in the court, and the other half, such as Zhang Cong and Gui E, did not kneel, Zhu Houcong asked in a cold voice, and then shouted at the kneeling ministers:

"Repay evil with kindness, how can you repay kindness? If a saint teaches, does he, a Jinshi who has passed the imperial examinations twice, need me to teach him again?!"

"Immediate execution without mercy!"

"You dare to accuse me of not caring about the lives of my people. You are blind and evil!"

Zhu Houcong then brushed his sleeves and sat down.

Lu Gang knelt down with a plop, kowtowed and said tremblingly:
"Your Majesty, please calm down. I did say something wrong just now. Since Your Majesty ascended the throne, you have helped the people and reduced taxes many times. You can say that you have implemented good policies every year. You are indeed not a tyrannical king who ignores the lives of his people. I was impatient and lost my mind. I was disrespectful to the king. I only ask Your Majesty to forgive me for my ignorance and impulse!" (End of this chapter)