Ming Dynasty: A mere unruly commoner is rebelling against the heaven?

Chapter 182: All heads were cut off and a Jingguan was built! (Part )

Yang Kui's face was covered in blood, but he stared at Zhu Youtang with eyes full of hatred.

Zhu Youtang looked at Yang Kui and said coldly: "Why do you and Yang Tong want to rebel?"

"The emperor is incompetent, why don't you rebel?"

Yang Kui stretched his neck and fought back forcefully.

The truth had been revealed, and he knew he could not escape death, so he had given up completely.

Zhu Youtang was so angry at Yang Kui's words that he laughed: "Haha, an emperor who checks the number of troops, food, wages, and munitions on the border is a tyrant, then what is a saintly ruler?"

"If I allow you to smuggle arms, withhold food and wages, eat empty salaries, and become traitors, then I am a wise ruler?"

"Who is the wise ruler? Zhu Gaochi or Zhu Qiyu?"

"Humph!"

Yang Kui struggled hard, but was held tightly by the Jinyiwei behind him: "It's not you anyway!"

"You let eunuchs interfere in government affairs, persecute loyal officials in the court, plunder the people's land, and send eunuchs to interfere in military affairs at the border towns!"

"You are the eternal tyrant, a tyrant that everyone deserves to kill!"

Unexpectedly, when Zhu Youtang heard Yang Kui's yelling and cursing, he felt very calm and even a little ridiculous.

These noble classes have been separated from the lower classes for too long.

They have been making a living by exploiting the lower classes since they were born.

In their eyes, the lower-class people can no longer be called human beings, but are just cattle and horses serving them.

In their eyes, the common people are gentry, landlords, and local tyrants.

Zhu Youtang's investigation of land ownership throughout the country affected the interests of the gentry and landlords. In his eyes, that was just plundering the land of the common people.

If this kind of emperor is not a tyrant, what else can he be?
All emperors who targeted gentry and landlords were tyrants and deserved to be killed!

Only an emperor who sympathizes with the "people" like them is a good emperor and an emperor worthy of praise.

Just like Zhu Qiyu and Zhu Gaochi.

The Jingtai Period and the Renxuan Period were both prosperous times for these gentry, landlords and "common people"!

As for the bunch of cattle and horses below, who cares about their lives? !
Zhu Youtang had no interest in arguing with such a person.

These frontier generals, civil servants, gentry, landlords, and local tyrants are collectively called the rentier class.

They do not directly participate in production activities, but make a living by exploiting the production value of others.

The emperor himself is the largest rentier class.

The emperor relied on these rentier classes to help him rule the world.

But when these rentier classes manage the people, they naturally exploit the lower-class people vigorously.

The more they exploited the lower classes, the more they undermined the foundation of the emperor's rule.

When the lower-class people can no longer bear the exploitation of the rentier class, they will rise up in rebellion.

This is the law of dynastic cycles.

Therefore, the emperor had irreconcilable conflicts with these rentier classes.

In a sense, the emperor actually has common interests with the people at the bottom of society.

To break the dynastic cycle, we must undergo self-revolution.

Now, Zhu Youtang's crackdown on border generals, civil officials, gentry, landlords, and local tyrants is actually a self-revolution.

Taking action against these people is the true way to prolong the life of the Ming Dynasty.

Instead of organizing a group of people to prevent the emperor from returning to the capital, the Ming Dynasty could have been extended.

Zhu Youtang was born with irreconcilable conflicts with these rentier classes.

In Zhu Youtang's eyes, these people are all going to die.

Zhu Youtang could not change their thoughts, but could only change their life and death.

So Zhu Youtang stopped dwelling on the matter and asked his question directly.

"You are soldiers from Xuanfu, why did you launch the attack from the direction of Juyongguan?"

"Did Juyong Pass and Zijing Pass also participate in the mutiny you planned?"

"Besides Xuanfu, how many other border towns in the Ming Dynasty have experienced mutinies?"

"How many soldiers are there in Xuanfu City now? Have they all become rebels?"

"Are you colluding with these civil servants around me?"

As soon as Zhu Youtang finished speaking, Yang Kui hadn't said anything yet, but Xu Pu and Liu Daxia, who were standing next to him, slid down and knelt down next to Zhu Youtang from a distance.

"Your Majesty! It's unfair!"

"Your Majesty! I have absolutely no secret connection with this traitorous traitor!"

"Your Majesty! You just saw it. These rebels rushed into the Tumubao camp and hacked at our civil and military officials without saying a word."

"They have killed more than a hundred civil and military officials. How could we possibly collude with them?!"

"Yes, Your Majesty! We can't just do this to ourselves, right?"

At this moment, Xu Pu and Liu Daxia's desire to survive was extremely strong.

Zhu Youtang glanced at Xu Pu and Liu Daxia who were kneeling beside him, and felt that they, the civil servants, should be unaware of the Xuanfu mutiny.

These civil servants only have the courage to abuse their power and engage in corruption, but not the courage to rebel.

But Zhu Youtang absolutely did not believe that these civil servants and border generals had not colluded privately before.

If Yang Tong of Xuanfu had not colluded with the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Revenue, he would never have been able to get so much arms!

Yang Kui on the ground was stunned at first, then he laughed sinisterly: "Hahaha! That's right! We did collude with the civil officials of the court!"

"And we were in contact with Xu Pu and Liu Daxia. They were the ones who sent us firearms, and we smuggled them to the grassland tribes of the Northern Yuan Dynasty!"

Starting a rebellion was already a dead end, and Yang Kui didn't care about adding another charge of having an affair with a civil servant.

As soon as Yang Kui finished speaking, Xu Pu and Liu Daxia flew into a rage and quickly scolded Yang Kui.

"Yang Kui, stop slandering me! When have I ever had any contact with you guys?"

"This is slander! This is blatant slander!"

"Your Majesty! He is slandering me! He is slandering me!" "..."

Zhu Youtang frowned, thinking they were noisy.

"Shut up!"

Zhu Youtang immediately ordered Wang Zhi: "Tie them up for me. I will know whether they have secretly communicated with the border when I arrive in Xuanfu."

"Yes, Your Majesty!"

Wang Zhi gave a look, and immediately four Western Factory guards came up, put shackles on Xu Pu and Liu Daxia, and dragged them away.

Xu Pu and Liu Daxia were imprisoned again.

After his ears became quiet, Zhu Youtang looked at Yang Kui again.

"What about your other questions? Keep going."

Yang Kui laughed: "Hahaha! Just kill me! Apart from the question just now, I won't answer any other questions!"

"Did not say?"

"Did not say!"

"it is good."

Zhu Youtang looked at Gao Shun expressionlessly, with a flash of anger in his eyes.

"Gao Shun!"

"The general is here!"

"Record the names and faces of all the rebels."

"Then they will all be beheaded and their bodies will be used to build a memorial for the dead!"

"Yes, Your Majesty!"

After receiving the order, Gao Shun immediately turned around and arranged for the people from the Xianzhen Camp to carry out the execution.

Zhu Youtang's order obviously frightened everyone present.

More than 12,000 battle-hardened Ming border troops were just beheaded?!
Do you know how much time and money it takes to train such an army?

If these twelve thousand border troops died, the military strength of the Ming Dynasty’s border towns would be greatly reduced!
Zhu Youtang, aren't you really afraid of being accused of causing a serious decline in the military strength of the Ming Dynasty?

Yang Kui first widened his eyes and stared at Zhu Youtang blankly, then let out a heart-wrenching scream.

"You are crazy! These are the border troops of the Ming Dynasty. They have shed blood and sacrificed their lives for the Ming Dynasty!"

"How dare you kill the border troops? How could you kill the border troops?"

"The rebellion was caused by me, you can recruit them!"

"Why did you kill them all? Why?"

"..."

Yang Kui's veins popped up with excitement and his face turned red.

According to convention, after a mutiny occurs, the mastermind is usually severely punished, while the soldiers under him are mainly appeased.

After all, a combat-ready army is extremely rare, and it would be a real pity to just kill them all.

But Zhu Youtang had already made up his mind to kill, not to mention that this army was Yang Tong's personal army and was very loyal to Yang Tong.

Even if they attacked Zhu Youtang's camp, Zhu Youtang would never leave a single person alive.

Anyone who dares to attack the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty will only end in death!

Not only Yang Kui, but other rebels who were sentenced also begged for mercy.

"Have mercy! Your Majesty! We have surrendered, Your Majesty!"

"Your Majesty! We are only following orders. This is not a crime, Your Majesty!"

"Your Majesty, we are willing to pledge our loyalty to you again and guard the border for you! Please don't kill me, Your Majesty!"

"Your Majesty! We know we were wrong! Please give us another chance, Your Majesty!"

"..."

Zhu Youtang said casually: "You can answer the questions I just asked."

Suddenly, these rebels seemed to have grasped a life-saving straw, and they all started talking at once, vying with each other.

"Your Majesty! I know! I know!"

"We first went from Xuanfu to Zijing Pass and set up an ambush halfway."

"Later, Yang Kui led us through Zijing Pass and went to Juyong Pass, so we came from the direction of Juyong Pass."

"Your Majesty, you are right. Juyong Pass and Zijing Pass also participated in Yang Tong's mutiny!"

"In addition to Xuanfu, there are three other border towns, Datong, Liaodong, and Suzhou, that participated in the mutiny led by Yang Tong."

"I really don't know how many soldiers are in Xuanfu City, but I am sure that not all of them followed Yang Tong in the rebellion."

"..."

These soldiers have been following Yang Tong. They participated in the mutiny throughout and naturally knew a lot of things.

Moreover, they had no qualms about betraying Yang Tong.

After all, Zhu Youtang was the emperor of the Ming Dynasty, and it was not shameful to surrender to the emperor of the Ming Dynasty.

Besides, the same old saying goes, what's the point of living for just a few dozen taels of silver a year?!

Only Yang Kui looked at the group of personal soldiers in astonishment, somewhat unable to believe it.

"You! You guys!"

Yang Kui never expected that these personal soldiers would turn against him so quickly in the middle of a battle.

The previous moment he was still pleading for these personal soldiers, and the next moment they decisively sold him and Yang Tong out.

Is this how these soldiers repay Yang Tong's trust and preferential treatment? !

After Zhu Youtang got the information he wanted, he nodded and waved to Gao Shun.

"cut!"

(End of this chapter)