Southern Ming: A boy soldier at the beginning, supporting the world

Chapter 306: Fighting for the Title of King
Li Ruyue, the censor of Shandong Province, impeached Cen Danchu in a memorial, saying that he "arbitrarily killed nobles and usurped the throne, and was as treacherous as Mang and Cao. He requested that he be executed in the same way as the state tutors and seal selectors to eliminate the national threat". He also knew that Chen Bangfu and Zhao Yinxuan were guilty of crimes that could not be punished, so in his memorial he requested that Emperor Yongli "also issue an edict to charge the state tutors and seal selectors with their crimes, and give them bad posthumous titles to punish the traitors".

Emperor Yongli was stationed in Long'an County, Nanning Prefecture, and all expenses were supplied by the Red Army. Li Ruyue was sensational and alarmist, but most of the emperor and his ministers did not take it seriously. Emperor Yongli did not dare to offend Cen Danchu, so he beat Li Ruyue 40 times in court on the pretext of making irresponsible remarks, and kept the memorial in the palace without sending it out, intending to protect him.

Unexpectedly, Li Ruyue was afraid that the world would not be in chaos, so she copied the memorial three times, titled "The Imperial Censor of Shandong Province of the Ming Dynasty" on the cover, and sent one copy to Ningguo Mansion, one to the general's headquarters, and the other to Zhenxing Newspaper.

The whole world was in an uproar, and Cen Danchu was also quite angry, but he was afraid to take action and didn't want to deal with Li Ruyue.

Fang Yizhi and others strongly advocated easing the tension. Seeing that Cen Danchu was still angry, they advised:

"Since the migration to the south, the population has dwindled. Talented people have been cast aside, while those without talent are left to work for nothing. Li Ruyue is just a clown trying to attract attention by confusing right and wrong. Why should the general bother with him?"

"Li Ruyue was hostile to the peasant army. When she saw the general taking in the loyal camp, she was unhappy, so she barked at the sun like a mad dog to seek fame."

Intelligence Bureau Director Feng Jiali, Secretary Lang Yang Yunqing and others are all close confidants of Danchu and advocate severe punishment for Li Ruyue:
"In March of the fourth year, the general sent troops to aid Guangdong, first defeating the two vassal states of Jingnan and Pingnan, and then annihilating the vassal state of Dingnan. This stabilized the court and brought peace to the emperor and his ministers. Li Ruyue is ignorant of the situation, spreading rumors and disrupting the government, and even dared to submit a petition to kill the general. How can this be tolerated?"

"The court has caned Li Ruyue forty times, but she is still alive and kicking. This shows that the court has no intention of punishing her. If we sit back and do nothing, the soldiers on the front lines will be disheartened, and if the news gets out, the Tartars will laugh at us."

Fang Yizhi was unwilling to kill Li Ruyue and advised: "Li Ruyue is only interested in fame. If we kill him, it will only help him. It is better to ask for an imperial decree to demote him to a commoner and never employ him again for his descendants."

Danchu was quite disappointed. Although Fang Yizhi was extremely intelligent, he was the son of a rich family and had served in the Yongli Dynasty. He had a strong sense of orthodoxy. He was like Xun Yu in the Three Kingdoms period, Cao Cao's chief strategist, but he would not obey Cao Cao's usurpation.

Cao Cao? I don't know when Danchu started to compare himself to Cao Cao? On second thought, the Red Army he founded has made rapid progress in the past few years, but it is not stable. Cao Cao is from a big family after all, and he has the support of the Cao and Xiahou clans. He only has a few trusted generals, and the integration of the Zhongzheng Camp, Dongxun, Yunnan Division, and Dingnan Clan is not strong enough. He only controls the province of western Guangdong, and he dares to think of usurping the throne?

Danchu was ashamed, collected his thoughts, and sighed: "No one is perfect, how can we be satisfied in everything? How can we please everyone? I don't hate Li Ruyue for impeaching me, nor do I hate him for making bad words to disrupt the government. I just hate that the emperor and his ministers are not on the same page and have no plan for the frontline war. The court officials don't know the difficulties of the frontline war, but instead slander the generals and speak nonsense. The court is so foolish, and still talks about revival. Isn't it just a foolish dream?

"Although the Tartars are barbarians, they have strict laws. Fulin is only thirteen years old, but his intelligence and courage are far greater than those of Emperor Yongli. The court does not think about making progress, but is complacent with the victory in Guilin. Don't you know that if Chen Bangfu and Zhao Yinxuan are not killed, how can they deter the other towns? Strict military orders? If the military orders are not strict, how can we have the Red Army today? If there is no Red Army, how can we kill Kong Youde? How can the court live in peace in Long'an?"

Some things are really not easy to plan with Fang Yizhi, Qian Bingdeng and others. After dinner, Danchu left Feng Jiali, Yang Yunqing, He Zhaoji and other confidants.

"If we don't get rid of Li Ruyue, we can't maintain the prestige of the general, nor can we threaten the ministers. The Red Army, with the power of victory, sent people to Long'an to ask for permission to kill Li Ruyue. The emperor will not disobey." Feng Jiali guessed Danchu's intention and was determined to put Li Ruyue to death.

Fang Yizhi, Qian Bingdeng and other scholars did not agree to kill Li Ruyue, and Emperor Yongli also wanted to protect her. Danchu did not want to act rashly and said:
"Otherwise, it is better to destroy the heart than to kill him. Li Ruyue is only after fame, and I will not let him succeed. I will do as the Left Assistant General said and send someone to Long'an to ask for an order to dismiss Li Ruyue and make him a commoner, and never employ him again. Then let the Zhenxing Newspaper publish an article to refute Li Ruyue and make sure he loses his reputation."

"Good." Everyone praised.

When talking about Long An's whereabouts, everyone has concerns.

The Yongli court moved to Long'an County, Nanning Prefecture, which greatly improved Cen Danchu's reputation and brought valuable talent resources to the Red Army. The court relied on the Red Army for every grain of rice and silver, and responded to the Red Army's requests. However, as the political situation stabilized, the court officials wanted to take back power and maintain the privileges of civil officials over military generals. The court also wanted to take back power and maintain the dignity of the system. Li Ruyue impeached Cen Danchu, and Emperor Yongli secretly protected him, which was a typical manifestation of this mentality. Yang Yunqing said it very bluntly: "When the Tartar invaded, the court had no strategy to resist the enemy, and the officials were like dogs that had lost their homes. The general accepted the court and set up his residence in Long'an, which made the emperor and his officials stable. Our Red Army fought hard and sacrificed thousands of lives, and finally turned the tide and wiped out the Tartar in Dingnan. The officials in the court did not contribute a single ounce of merit, but they submitted a petition to impeach the general, implicitly intending to fight for power. To handle major events, it is important to concentrate power on specific matters. The court is incompetent and cannot bear the responsibility of reviving the country. In order to prevent problems from happening, the general should not avoid suspicion, take on major powers, and manage major policies. Our Red Army is united and will swear to support the general until death."

"Well," Danchu felt much better and said, "Even the Tartars can see it clearly. The soldiers in Dingnan are proud to surrender to the Red Army and ashamed to surrender to the court. Setting up the temporary residence in western Guangdong is a good thing for the Red Army and the overall situation. But good things cannot turn into bad things. We have to come up with a rule to prevent good things from turning into bad things."

Although the words were said cryptically, everyone understood clearly.

He Zhaoji was promoted from a scholar to the head of the Red Army's operations department. He was loyal to Danchu and said, "It would be better to control the financial resources and reduce the court's expenses. For example, on the grounds that there is no military pay, the monthly supply to the court can be reduced to 1,000 taels of silver and 300 dan of rice. The court has no money and cannot support too many redundant officials, so the officials will not make trouble out of nothing."

"This is a brilliant plan." Feng Jiali agreed, "One thousand taels of silver and three hundred dan of rice are more than enough to feed two to three thousand people. The concubines and ministers are particular about pomp and circumstance, wasting silver and rice, but the number of people they can feed is reduced by half. Including the families of ministers, soldiers, and soldiers, if we maintain a scale of one thousand people, Long'an County can barely provide it with the entire county."

"The Imperial Camp is useless, so it's better to simply disband it and only keep a guard of about 100 people to serve as a ceremonial guard."

"The Long'an County Titang official controls the government and has an important responsibility. Loyal and careful people should be selected to serve as the Titang official."

……

Everyone talked at once and offered many valuable suggestions.

Yang Yunqing was a secretary who spent every day with Danchu and understood his thoughts best. He said, "The general should strive to be crowned a king. No matter if it is a one-character king or a two-character king, as long as he has the title of king, he can open a government with a legitimate reason and be above many dukes and generals. Then he can use the order of the crown to call for it, and he doesn't have to ask the emperor for permission for everything."

Danchu suddenly realized that he had unknowingly followed Sun Kewang's old path.

However, Li Dingguo, Liu Wenxiu and Sun Kewang were not on good terms, and Sun Kewang was unable to fully control the Dashi Army from beginning to end. From this point of view, Danchu still had an advantage over Sun Kewang.

In history, Li Ruyue also impeached Sun Kewang. Sun Kewang's method was cruel, and he directly skinned him alive. As for Emperor Yongli, Sun Kewang was also simple and rough, and put Yongli and his ministers under house arrest in Anlong Qianhu, Guizhou, and made things difficult for them. When distributing silver and rice, he said, "The emperor and the empress receive a certain amount of silver and rice every month."

Sun Kewang did not maximize the value of the small court. Instead, he was burdened by it. He became enemies with the two brothers Li Dingguo and Liu Wenxiu, and eventually fell into disgrace.

In the complicated history of the Southern Ming Dynasty, Cen Danchu had to rely on the orthodox status of the Yongli small court, but also guard against the chaos caused by small officials. He had to resolutely fight against the Manchu Tartars, but also unite and guard against Sun Kewang, Zhu Chenggong and other meritorious officials.

This undoubtedly requires higher political wisdom.

(End of this chapter)