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

Chapter 274 The Noblest Contempt!
After understanding the whole story, Wang Yue's expression relaxed.

Although deep down in his heart, Wang Yue did not completely believe in Mu Cong, but for the sake of Mu Sheng, Wang Yue was still willing to believe in Mu Cong's original intention.

"If that's the case, then Wang has misunderstood the Duke."

"Quick, let them go."

The Xianzhen Camp then let go of Mu Cong and his subordinates, and the originally tense atmosphere slowly dissipated.

After a small incident, Wang Yue and Mu Cong sat opposite each other and talked about what they had encountered along the way.

Wang Yue also told Mu Cong that the thing that puzzled him most during this period was the lower-class people in Annan who were full of hatred for the Ming army, unafraid of death, and frequently launched suicide attacks on the Ming army.

Mu Cong sighed: "I have also encountered the things you mentioned. I think I should know what this is about."

Mu Cong told Wang Yue, "According to my grandfather, in the fourth year of Yongle, when the Ming Dynasty first invaded Annan, it used Hu Jinyi and his son to kill the two rulers of the Chen family of the previous dynasty."

"He also listed twenty major crimes of Hu Jin's father and son, such as cruel punishments, brutal killing of innocent people, heavy taxes, and endless exploitation. He also said that the arrival of the Ming army was to save the people from suffering and restore the Chen family's ancestral worship."

"As a result, the people of Annan were shaken. Many Annanites were tired of Hu's harsh rule and had no intention of fighting."

"The Ming army was unstoppable, and they conquered the capital of the Ho Dynasty, Thanh Hoa, and captured the Ho father and son alive and sent them to Yingtian for execution. In less than a year, the Ho Dynasty was destroyed by the Ming Dynasty."

"But in the third year of Xuande, Le Loi rebelled and the Ming army marched south again. The Annan people, who had never resisted before, launched a very fierce resistance against the Ming army, just like this time."

"Later, my grandfather found out that it was because after Le Loi's rebellion, he attached great importance to educating the lower-class people in Annan."

"He sent a large number of officials to various villages in Annan to publicize the brutality of the Ming army and the benevolence of his Li army."

"He also said that his own struggle against the Ming was a benevolent and righteous act, and that the purpose was to pacify the people and to punish the enemy, and not to eliminate violence first."

"As a result, the lower-class people in Annan had a very strong resistance to the Ming army and were more willing to be close to the Le Dynasty."

"Over the past few decades, I'm afraid that this kind of propaganda from the Le Dynasty has become more deeply rooted in people's hearts, and the hostility of the people of Annan towards the Ming army has only increased."

After hearing this, Wang Yue nodded silently.

At this moment, all the doubts in his heart were resolved, and he could understand the reasons for this change.

To put it bluntly, this was a pre-war propaganda offensive that played an important role.

During the first expedition to Annan, the Ming army occupied Dayi and gained the support of the local Annan people in the name of benevolence and righteousness.

When it came to the second expedition to Annan, Le Loi took the lead in propaganda and took the lead in occupying the righteousness of benevolence.

In fact, whether or not one is truly benevolent and righteous is not important at all.

What is important is who has a more powerful propaganda offensive and who is more capable of misleading people.

The people are blindly obedient; they will not stand on one side just because it is right.

They will only stand on the side where there are more people.

The same is true in terms of ideology. The more people who hold the same ideology, the more people will be attracted, and they will actively synchronize their own thoughts with the collective ideology.

With more people, they will feel more secure, both in combat and in thought.

Judging from the results, the brainwashing tactics of the Le Dynasty were very successful.

The lower-class Annanites had less money to receive education, the easier it was for them to be brainwashed, and thus they hated the Ming army very much.

However, the upper-class Annanites who had the money and education to support them were not affected by brainwashing tactics at all, and only made decisions based on their own interests.

As for these upper-class Annamites, they looked down on the lower-class Annamites, believing them to be ignorant and lazy and not worthy of associating with them.

In their eyes, there was no difference between the lower-class Annan people and pigs, dogs, cows and horses.

They were only concerned with instilling their brainwashing tactics into the lower-class people, making them full of hatred for the Ming army, so that after the Ming army invaded Annan, they would serve as cannon fodder to resist the Ming army's attack.

But just now, the lower-class people whom they despised, along with all of them, the upper class who considered themselves noble, were heading towards destruction together!
The behavior of these lower-class people, who broke through all barriers of rank and status and perished along with all the upper-class nobles, was the noblest contempt!
This kind of contempt made those high-ranking officials, nobles, wealthy businessmen, and gentry feel helpless and desperate, desperate but without a solution.

This is the noblest contempt of the lowest class of people towards the upper class aristocrats!
……

Thang Long City.

Baoguang Palace.

The letter asking for help from Xuanhua Prefecture was delivered to the Baoguang Palace in Thang Long, the capital of Annan, at full speed.

The current King of Annan, Le Hao, grandson of Le Loi, has received this letter for help.

One thing that needs to be corrected is that at this time Li Hao had changed his name to Li Sicheng, but Li Hao's name was still written in the edict requesting the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty to confer the title.

To put it simply, he was called Li Hao in the Ming Dynasty and Li Sicheng in Annan, and these two names were used at the same time.

To put it bluntly, Li Sicheng is Zhu Qiyu of Annan.

He himself did not hold power, and only relied on currying favor with the two most powerful ministers of Annan, Nguyen Chi and Dinh Lie, to preserve the title of King of Annan.

History always repeats itself. A previous mutiny in Annan was similar to the Battle of Tumu.

After Le Loi's death, Le Loi's second son Le Yuan Long became the King of Annan.

When Li Yuanlong was in his prime, he went on a visit abroad by chance. While reviewing the troops, he saw a maidservant who was quite good-looking, so he summoned her to serve him.

Two days later, Li Yuanlong died suddenly.

Therefore, the most dangerous thing in the world is to investigate the military’s accounts.

Zhu Qizhen was merely trapped by the border troops and unable to return home, while Li Yuanlong was killed directly.

Li Yuanlong had four sons, namely Li Yimin, Li Kechang, Li Bangji and Li Sicheng.

At the beginning, Li Yuanlong appointed his eldest son Li Yimin as the crown prince. A year later, he abolished his title and appointed his third son Li Bangji as the crown prince.

A year later, Li Yuanlong died suddenly, and Li Bangji, who was only two years old, became the King of Annan.

The king ascended the throne at a young age, and the queen mother was in charge of the government behind the scenes. Ministers Zheng Ke, Nguyen Chi, Le Shou, Le Lie, Le Bai and others assisted Le Bang Ki in ascending the throne.

The power of Annan was entirely in the hands of the harem and the three ministers.

In the fourth year of Jingtai, Li Bangji took power and began to evaluate all officials, set salary standards for officials, and stipulate the laws on fiefdoms for kings and princes.

Li Bangji's move was clearly aimed at attacking the interests of ministers and nobles and maintaining imperial rule.

After seeing this, do you feel that this script is very familiar, as if you have seen it before in the life of Emperor Yingzong?

But Li Bangji's ability was far inferior to that of Emperor Yingzong. Emperor Yingzong knew how to divide the people step by step. He first arrested Yang Shiqi's son and threatened Yang Shiqi with his son's life, and finally caused Yang Shiqi to die of fear, thus disintegrating the cabinet power controlled by the Three Yangs.

But Li Bangji knew nothing and was carrying out reforms without clearing out the opposition forces within the government.

Just five years later, in the third year of Tianshun, the eldest prince Li Yimin, who had been silent for a long time, suddenly rebelled. He led more than a hundred scoundrels, made ladders and entered the city at night, broke into the palace, and beheaded Li Bangji.

A coup d'état was accomplished with just a hundred men and a few ladders. It was so sloppy that even novels wouldn't dare to write it like this.

This is so outrageous, can this be called a coup?
As expected, a high-end coup only requires a simple way to happen.

No one would believe that there was no tacit approval from the ministers and princes.

After Le Nghi Min inherited the throne, he began to purge political enemies of the previous dynasty. Ministers such as Zheng Ke, Nguyen Chi, Le Shou, Le Lie, and Le Bai were all beheaded.

After Li Yimin came to power, he set up six ministries and six departments, as well as prefecture, county and state officials. This was the beginning of decentralization.

Because the official system of the Le Dynasty was modeled after that of the Song Dynasty, there were three officials, namely the Grand Commandant, the Minister of Works, and the Prime Minister, as well as the Prime Minister, who was the Minister of the Secretariat.

The six ministries and six departments are directly responsible to the king, and Li Yimin wants to change them into Ming Dynasty official positions.

The biggest difference between the official positions in the Ming Dynasty and those in the Song Dynasty is that there were no three officials and no prime minister, and the power in the hands of ministers was greatly reduced.

How could the ministers of Annan allow such a thing that goes against the laws of their ancestors?
So, just eight months later, Ruan Chi, Ding Lie and others, who were in charge of the imperial court and were in charge of the important military and state affairs, launched a coup and killed Li Yimin.

After Li Yimin died, the ministers were wondering where to get a mascot to put up for him.

First, they found Prince Gong Li Kechang and asked him to inherit the throne of King of Annan.

But Li Kechang was as smart as Mingxiang King Zhu Zhanji. He could tell at a glance that these ministers were looking for a lucky charm. He was unwilling to get involved in this mess and refused sternly.

Afterwards, Ruan Chi, Ding Lie and others went to the Western Residence and asked Li Sicheng to succeed to the throne.

Li Sicheng, like Zhu Qiyu, was willing to be the mascot and thus successfully succeeded to the throne.

But after Li Sicheng succeeded to the throne, he was afraid of repeating the same mistake, so he first ordered the killing of Li Kechang.

Then, Li Sicheng issued a general amnesty, gave land to officials, promoted the imperial examination system, and reformed the tax system...

His tax reform was similar to Zhang Juzheng's Single Whip System, which converted all taxes originally paid in kind into silver.

This gave local gentry a lot of room for maneuver, greatly increasing the burden on the people.

Zhang Juzheng's One Whip Policy and his silver standard system were the reforms that caused the greatest harm to the Ming Dynasty, no doubt about it!

To put it simply, Li Sicheng's orders are: I will issue all orders that are beneficial to officials, and I will not issue any orders that are not beneficial to officials.

Of course, whether he gave this order is debatable.

It is possible that Li Sicheng was just like Zhu Qiyu, a rubber stamper. He simply stamped the policies drafted by officials.

What they have in common is that Li Sicheng's reputation in Annan is as good as Zhu Qiyu's.

They were all praised as wise and benevolent kings who were rare in heaven and never found on earth.

If the officials don’t praise a monarch who listens to their officials so much, who will?
Do we have to wait for the lower class people to praise us?
So, without comparison, there is no harm.

After learning about the political context of the Le Dynasty, I discovered that compared with the same era, Emperor Anh Tsong's political methods were relatively sophisticated.

Although he was caught in the Battle of Tumu, at least he saved his life, and he successfully restored the throne and took revenge.

Since ancient times, it has not been easy for an emperor to ascend the throne for the second time.

……

Inside the Baoguang Palace, Li Sicheng held the letter for help in his hand and looked helplessly at the two important ministers in front of him, Ruan Chi and Ding Lie.

The two of them, one was the Prime Minister, and the other was the Grand Commandant who controlled the military forces of the world.

The one civil and the one military held Li Sicheng tightly, leaving him without any power to resist.

"My two ministers, what should we do? The Ming army has already reached Xuanhua Prefecture!"

Prime Minister Ruan Chi frowned and said, "How could this happen? In the past few decades, we have never seen a large-scale invasion by the Ming army."

Taiwei Ding Lie frowned and said, "Could this be Ming's revenge for us sending troops to harass the Ming border a few days ago?"

After hearing this, Li Sicheng was even more terrified: "I told you, I shouldn't have listened to those Ming people and shouldn't have sent out the troops!"

"Now, the Ming army is heading south, and we are in trouble. We are finished. We are completely finished now!"

Hearing Li Sicheng's words, Ruan Chi frowned impatiently: "Your Majesty, the King of Taizu was able to become independent back then, thanks to the supplies and weapons funded by the Ming people."

"You asked us for something before, how could we not agree?"

"Besides, now that it has happened, there is no point in regretting it. It is better to think carefully about how to make the Ming army withdraw!"

Ding Lie also nodded: "Yes, Your Majesty, it would be best to avoid a full-scale war with the Ming Dynasty as much as possible."

"But your majesty does not need to worry too much. King Taizu was able to defeat the Ming army and successfully gain independence."

"We are now stronger than before. Even if an all-out war breaks out, we are still capable of fighting!"

Ding Lie's words were not deliberately exaggerated.

Because of the policy of universal military service formulated by Le Loi before, the Le Dynasty was able to quickly organize a large number of militias. Not long ago, Annan also captured Laos, Champa and other places.

Ding Lie's words made Chen Sicheng feel a little relieved, but after years of submission, his deep fear of the Ming Dynasty still existed.

At this time, Ruan Chi, the prime minister, still gave two more reliable solutions.

"Going to war with the Ming Dynasty is the worst option. It would be best if we could stop the fighting."

"We should immediately present a letter of apology to the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty and ask him to withdraw his troops. We can compensate him with a large amount of gold, silver, jewelry, and human products..."

"As long as His Majesty can calm down and withdraw his troops, we can agree to any conditions he may have."

Chen Sicheng frowned, his face full of doubt: "Will this work?"

Ruan Chi replied in a deep voice: "The Emperor of the Ming Dynasty cares most about his reputation. As long as we are humble enough, it should not be difficult to reach an agreement. After all, war is also a huge loss for the Ming Dynasty."

"As for the end." Ruan Chi sighed and said, "Hurry up and contact Zhang Peng, the Minister of War of the Ming Dynasty, and ask them to think of a way to stop the Ming army from continuing to move south."

(End of this chapter)