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

Chapter 219 The army is approaching the capital!
Inside Juyong Pass, blood flowed like a river.

There was flowing blood and broken bodies everywhere.

All those who attempted to stop Zhu Youtang from returning to Beijing paid the price with their lives.

Gao Shun, covered in blood, returned to Zhu Youtang's dragon sedan as soon as possible before he had time to check the battlefield.

"Your Majesty, Juyong Pass has been breached, and all those who resisted have been killed, but a large number of soldiers are still escaping."

Zhu Youtang smelled the bloody smell coming from Juyong Pass and frowned slightly: "Let's ignore those who escaped for now."

"Keep going and return to Beijing quickly."

"Yes, Your Majesty!"

After receiving the order, Gao Shun continued to command the central army and issued the order to set off.

"Everyone listen up, set off and return to Beijing!"

The 150,000-strong army, which had just experienced a battle and had not even cleaned the blood off their bodies, maintained their original formation and escorted Zhu Youtang all the way back to Beijing.

Only two hours passed from the start to the end of the battle.

Zhu Youtang's carriage started slowly and drove smoothly through the bloody Juyongguan.

When the Oirat people who followed Zhu Youtang back to Beijing saw such a tragic scene, expressions of horror appeared on their faces.

They couldn't imagine what the scene would be like if such a powerful army appeared on the grassland.

I'm afraid sweeping across the grassland is just a matter of a flick of the finger.

The power of the Ming Dynasty is simply unfathomable.

Those civil servants who were taken to the capital had become numb to this scene.

They have seen Zhu Youtang's iron-blooded tactics too many times.

They are struggling to protect themselves and are in no mood to lament about the plight of others.

The large army continued to drive on the official road, heading directly for the capital!

……

Some of the rebels who escaped from Juyongguan fled to other places, trying to hide their identities and hide in the mountains to avoid death.

The other part ran back to the capital!

In the capital city, martial law has been imposed since Yu Shen seized power.

Without Yu Shen's order, not even a horse could enter or leave the capital.

The purpose was to block the news that Zhu Youtang was still patrolling the border.

At the same time, Yu Shen also widely spread the false news that Zhu Youtang was captured by the Oirat people in the capital.

Only in this way would he have reason to nominate Zhu Youlang to the throne.

Only in this way could he dispatch troops from various places many times to protect the capital city tightly.

At this moment, the entire capital was deceived by Yu Shen and the border generals who participated in the mutiny.

We were caught in an atmosphere of preparing for the second defense of the capital.

Not only the officials and people in the capital thought that Zhu Youtang was really captured by the Oirat people.

Even the local troops and militiamen who were transferred to the capital thought that the Oirat people had captured the emperor of the Ming Dynasty again.

It’s no wonder that they trusted Yu Shen so much, as there had been precedents of emperors being captured.

These people will believe Shen’s lies without a doubt.

Of course, Yu Shen himself knew that the news that Zhu Youtang was captured was fake news.

Therefore, in order to prevent any accidents, these troops transferred from other places were all transferred out of the capital after helping Yu Shen successfully seize power.

Yu Shen arranged them in the Xishan military camp near the capital.

The entire capital city’s defenses were replaced by rebels brought by Cao Li from Liaodong.

Yu Shen did not dare to let these foreign troops garrison the city gates of the capital because he could not guarantee that these troops were truly loyal to him.

What if Zhu Youtang returned to the capital and the foreign troops found out that Zhu Youtang's capture was false and that Yu Shen and the border generals were really rebelling to seize power?

There is no guarantee that these foreign troops will not turn against their own side and directly open the city gates to let Zhu Youtang enter the capital.

Yu Shen's action was similar to Yang Tong's decision at that time when he did not dare to let the soldiers in Xuanfu city climb the city wall.

After all, rebellion is a very niche thing. He can win over some people, but not everyone.

Similarly, Yu Shen can deceive for a while, but he can't deceive forever!
He was also afraid of something going wrong, so he made such arrangements.

"Report! Juyong Pass was defeated! The guarding general Luo Xin was killed in the battle!"

As soon as the defeated soldiers at Juyongguan fled back to the capital, Cao Li immediately sent troops to pick them up and completely block the news.

Then he immediately told Yu Shen the news that Zhu Youtang had passed Juyong Pass and was leading an army of 150,000 towards the capital.

"What?! The Emperor has passed through Juyong Pass?"

"How did he pass Juyong Pass so quickly? What's the guard of Juyong Pass for? He couldn't even stop him for a day."

In the Ministry of War, Yu Shen, who received the news, was furious at the defeated army at Juyongguan.

Since Yu Shen seized power, the Ministry of War has become the power center of the Ming Dynasty.

All government decrees in the past month were issued from the Ministry of War, with the Imperial Household Department merely stamping them, and the Cabinet completely becoming a mere decoration.

Yu Shen also followed Yu Qian's old path and began to monopolize power.

For a powerful official like Yu Shen who seized power through a military coup, his rule was similar to that of later military governments, and it was difficult for him to avoid being autocratic.

After all, who would think power is too great?

Yu Shen thought that the Juyongguan defense line would collapse, but he didn't expect it to collapse so quickly and so thoroughly! It only lasted two hours before the entire line collapsed!
The deserter from Juyongguan, who was angrily rebuked by Yu Shen, felt extremely aggrieved.

This is an army of 150,000 troops approaching!
There are even 70,000 troops from the Xianzhen Camp inside!
It’s pretty good that they can hold on for two hours!

Yu Shen frowned, lost in thought.

In the entire capital, no one is under more pressure than him.

After forcing himself to calm down and think, Yu Shen made a prompt decision!

"Quick! Spread the word in the capital immediately!"

"The Oirat people captured the emperor and intended to use him as a threat to seize the capital!"

"Wala is leading an army of 150,000 and is about to attack the city!"

"Tell the Ministry of Works to bring out all the hastily made barricades and surround the capital. We must not let the Wala cavalry get close to the city gates!"

"Call all the soldiers around the capital, stand guard around the capital, and be ready for battle!"

"Yes! Your lord!"

After Yu Shen gave the order, the head of the Ministry of War immediately took charge and implemented his order.

Then, Yu Shen looked at Cao Li on the side.

"General Cao Li, the army in the capital is of utmost importance and must not be lost."

"The previous rewards alone may not be enough. We must formulate a set of severe punishment measures."

"Only by using both coercion and inducement can the loyalty of the army be guaranteed."

Cao Li nodded, agreeing deeply: "What Yu Shaobao said is exactly right, I would like to hear the details!"

In a hurry, Yu Shen couldn't think of any good punishment measures.

Why not just use the punishment measures that Yu Qian formulated when he fought in the battle to defend the capital?

"Pass the order down. In the capital's defense army, each team will have two commanding officers."

"If an officer ignores the retreat of his soldiers, the officer in charge can immediately cut off his head!"

"If any soldier retreats without paying attention to his leader, the rear team will kill the front team!"

"If a soldier fails to advance bravely and causes the leader to be captured, his entire team will be killed!"

"Any leader who is not brave enough to advance and causes the loss of thirty people will be beheaded and his family property will be confiscated!"

"All the generals, lead the troops to line up outside the city and close the nine gates. Anyone who enters the city without permission will be executed immediately!"

"If a soldier surrenders to the enemy, his entire family will be beheaded and their property will be confiscated!"

"Anyone who spreads rumors, stirs up trouble, misleads people, or obstructs military orders will be executed by slow slicing! Their property will be confiscated!"

"Soldiers who desert the battlefield or disobey orders will be executed immediately!"

"General Cao Li, your subordinates will be the commanders of this army!"

When Cao Li heard the decree issued by Yu Shen, even he couldn't help but gasp.

This decree is really too harsh!
Yu Qian issued these decrees during the defense of the capital.

For a period of time afterwards, these decrees were used as examples of the Ming Dynasty's military governance and were positively promoted.

But soon, everyone realized something was wrong.

Isn't this kind of system Yu Qian using the lives of soldiers' families to threaten soldiers and prevent them from rebelling?
This method is extremely vicious and despicable.

If they would kill the soldiers' entire families at any time, who would dare to join the army in the Ming Dynasty?
Zhu Youtang sentenced soldiers and their families who were guilty of treason, launching mutinies, and attempting to kill the emperor to tattooing and exile.

Only those military officers were sentenced to execution along with their entire family.

As for those soldiers who were simply afraid of fighting or surrendered, Yu Qian would kill the entire family.

This is simply a law that goes against the will of heaven, the law of the king, and human ethics.

So since Yu Qian used it once, no one dared to use such a brutal law anymore.

Until today, Yu Shen, who was forced into a desperate situation by Zhu Youtang, finally used such a despicable decree again.

This was implemented together with the bounty decree issued by Yu Shen earlier. One was for intimidation, the other for inducement, so that the soldiers in the capital did not dare to rebel!
Cao Li's action of sucking in a breath of cold air stimulated Yu Shen's sensitive nerves.

He glared at Cao Li sinisterly, his eyes narrowed.

"General Cao, do you have any problem with my decree?"

At this time, after seizing the highest power, Yu Shen was no longer the Minister Yu who was ignored by everyone before.

At this time, he was Yu Shaobao, who held the emperor hostage to command the princes and had the final say in the capital!

Cao Li was stared at by Yu Shen, and was startled. He quickly accepted the order: "No! No objection!"

"Master Shao Bao is wise, I will do it right away!"

After saying this, Cao Li immediately left the Ministry of War and announced Yu Shen's order.

Soon, the news that the Oirat people were going to invade the capital spread like wildfire in the capital.

Because there had been a battle to defend the capital before, people in the capital were in panic at this time.

Not only the people and officials were afraid, but even the emperor Zhu Youlang was afraid.

The 250,000-strong army, including the soldiers brought by Cao Li from Liaodong, were arranged by Yu Shen to meet the enemy outside the city.

Don't leave a single soldier on the city wall!
Two hundred and fifty thousand troops are outside the capital, ready for battle!
After a night of strategic deployment and anxious waiting.

At dawn, Zhu Youtang's large army finally arrived at the capital.

An army of 150,000 is approaching the capital!

(End of this chapter)