Zhu Yuanzhang in the cellar

Chapter 170: Conquer the World Again

As night falls, Changsha city becomes quiet and silent.

The Prince Ji's Palace was magnificent and huge, stretching from Zhongshan Road in the north to Jiefang West Road in the south, Furong Middle Road in the east, and Xiangjiang Middle Road in the west.

Many famous scenic spots in the center of Changsha in later generations, including May Day Square, Pozi Street, Jiefang West, Nanmenkou, Simenkou, Jinmandi Commercial Street, Tianxin Pavilion, Changjun Middle School and so on, all belonged to Prince Ji's Palace.

Guangzhi Gate, the north gate of the palace, is near the intersection of Huangxing Road and Zhongshan Road. After going out, you can see a street full of residential houses, but many of the houses have been burned to rubble at this time.

According to historical records, when Zhang Xianzhong burned down Prince Ji's Palace, innocent people living around the palace were also accidentally injured, and the surrounding streets were damaged.

Young Zhu Di and Li Wenzhong led 800 guards out of Guangzhi Gate. It was midnight and the streets were empty.

There was no one on night watch, no one on duty, and no one patrolling.

Using thermal imaging night vision goggles, they only saw a number of bonfires burning near the north gate, but there were few people around the bonfires.

It was not cold in Hunan in early autumn, but the gatekeepers who were assigned to guard the city were all sleeping soundly in the houses on both sides of the city gate. Only three or four soldiers were leaning against the fire under the city wall.

The night was silent, with the occasional crackling sound of the firewood on the bonfire. The north wind whistled past, making the trees near the city gate rustle.

"You said that the king rejected the offer from King Chuang. What should we do next?"

Several familiar soldiers chatted while resisting their sleepiness.

They were all dressed gorgeously, with silks and satins as well as various silk cotton clothes.

But they look weird when worn on the body. Some of them are not the right size, some of them are not matched in style, and some are dirty, like Sun Wukong wearing a light blue gown.

Zhang Xianzhong had made a fortune in the past two years. He had previously captured the Chu Palace and obtained six million taels of silver. He also captured the Ji Palace and earned a mountain of gold and silver.

He certainly did not have the ability to provide his subordinates with uniform military uniforms, because Zhang Xianzhong did not have a stable base and naturally could not organize people to engage in spinning, weaving and other work.

Therefore, the peasant soldiers under his command basically robbed clothes from the rich and had money on them, but they lived a life of displacement and saw no hope.

Under such circumstances, many people in Zhang Xianzhong's army actually wanted to surrender to Li Zicheng.

After all, Li Zicheng has greater power, and there is hope in following him.

"Speak softly, don't let others hear you."

"We are all from the same hometown, so what's there to be afraid of?"

"Yes, I have thought about this, but what else can I do? I will continue to fight with the king. It is better than starving to death as before."

"One more day is one more day. You have enjoyed all the happiness you should have in this life by following the king. Killing one dog is enough for the soldiers. Killing one more is a profit. Do you want to go back to that kind of life?"

"Ah, thinking back to the old days is like a nightmare. Do you still remember that bastard official Wang Delu from my hometown? He and those wealthy families forced so many people to sell their children."

"Yes, if the king hadn't led us to chop off the head of that dog official, we would have been forced to death by now. The old emperor is enjoying himself in the capital, who would come to see us ordinary people?"

They talked lazily.

The uprisings of Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong in the late Ming Dynasty were actually very popular among the grassroots.

Because in the last years of the dynasty, there were countless exorbitant taxes and levies. In addition to the three more famous Liao taxes, Suppression taxes and Training taxes, there were also countless other levies, new taxes and military taxes.

There was also serious land annexation, and a large number of wealthy gentry tried every means to evade taxes, transferring the taxes they should have paid to ordinary self-cultivating farmers.

Only 20% of self-cultivating farmers had to bear more than 80% of the taxes. Under such circumstances, the small peasant economy went bankrupt completely, and many people were forced to sell their land, wives, children and daughters and become slaves and tenants.

Many people could not even become slave tenants and could only become refugees begging for food, killing officials and rebelling.

The key is that these heavy taxes and levies are effective.

However, most of the exorbitant taxes collected in the Ming Dynasty were embezzled by corrupt officials, and the military pay distributed was even more empty.

The main reason for Li Zicheng's uprising was not only because he lost his job at the post station, but also because he killed someone in his hometown. In order to avoid lawsuits, he ran to the border and joined the frontier army.

As a result, the Qing army attacked and the court mobilized border troops for defense.

While on the road, Li Zicheng's troops had been owed wages for a long time. The court allocated the money, but Lieutenant General Wang Guo withheld it, which incited a mutiny, and Li Zicheng took the opportunity to revolt.

It can be said that the entire late Ming Dynasty was not without room for recovery, because natural disasters were only one aspect, and the biggest reason was man-made disasters.

The gentry and landlords evaded taxes and passed the taxes on to the people.

The officials and generals were corrupt and incompetent, and they engaged in rampant corruption and embezzled money from the national treasury.

As long as these two fundamental problems could be solved, the Ming Dynasty might be able to revive.

But unfortunately, Chongzhen obviously did not have this ability.

Therefore, under such circumstances, the lower-class people were living a life worse than death and wished the Ming Dynasty would perish, and they continued to support the uprisings of Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong.

When the government troops came, the people informed them, and Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong knew the route of the government troops' movement very well.

In simple terms, Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong were supported by the people.

However, Zhang Xianzhong became more and more anthropomorphic in the later period. Before entering Sichuan, he was still a little particular, only looting the palace of the king, corrupt officials, and wealthy landlords and gentry. But after entering Sichuan,
If the Qing army had not entered the pass, the Han Dynasty would most likely have been replaced by the Dashun Dynasty, which would have replaced the Ming Dynasty.

However, the Qing army entered the pass, allowing the Manchus to reap the benefits.

At the entrances of residential alleys on both sides of the city gate, Lao Zhu was observing with a drone.

The drone made so little noise, and coupled with the howling autumn wind at night, no one noticed that there was something flying overhead in the night.

This is the latest model of drone, which can conduct two-way conversations, including shouting and receiving sound, and it is just short of being able to fire bullets.

Hearing the conversation of the refugees below, Lao Zhu's face looked a little ugly.

Zhu Yunfeng said, "Grandfather, you should be familiar with this. The end of the Ming Dynasty was even worse than the end of the Yuan Dynasty. The end of dynasties is always like this."

"Ah."

Although Lao Zhu looked unwilling, he still accepted the fact and said, "I know."

"So what are your plans next?"

Zhu Yunfeng asked curiously.

He wanted to know what Lao Zhu was planning.

It was to kill all the bandits and Qing troops and continue to maintain the ruined Ming Dynasty.

Or maybe change the world and create a bright future?

Old Zhu glanced at him and said calmly: "If I can open the country for the first time, I can naturally open it for the second time."

The bandits must be killed.

Landlords, gentry, officials and military generals who withheld soldiers' wages were also to be executed.

But before that, we must first gain a firm foothold in Changsha!

It is true that Zhang Xianzhong's subordinates were all exploited working people.

But they also killed innocent people indiscriminately. In addition to robbing wealthy landlords and officials, many ordinary people were also oppressed by them.

So at this point, it is actually no longer a question of right or wrong, only the stance remains.

Old Zhu waved his hand and said, "Go!"

Immediately, several flags of soldiers emerged from both sides and rushed into the streets according to the deployment.

They took out grenades, poked open the windows of the houses, and threw the grenades inside.

Then he moved further away, raised his AK and fired at the soldiers guarding the city gate.

"boom!"

"Ta-ta-ta-ta!"

The explosion suddenly sounded.

With a loud noise, flames burst out in the house and smoke rose up.

Before the soldiers at the city gate could react, they were quickly shot dead by automatic rifles.

The huge explosion alarmed the soldiers guarding the city gate who lived in the surrounding houses.

However, Lao Zhu had already observed their residences with drones. Some were shot as soon as they left the house, some were hit with grenades, and some died without knowing how they died.

For a moment, screams, explosions, gunshots, and shouts were heard one after another. In just a moment, the North Gate was easily taken by Zhu.

After taking control of the north gate, Lao Zhu immediately climbed up the city wall. Through the drone, he saw flames blazing from the other three gates, including the provincial government gate. After just a few minutes, the sound became silent, and even the screams seemed to be covered by the night wind.

"Your Majesty, the government office has been taken, and the rebel generals have been killed."

"Your Majesty, the south gate has been taken, and I am leaving the city and heading towards the enemy camp."

"Your Majesty, the East Gate has been taken."

"Your Majesty, the west gate has been opened."

The voices of Fu Youde, Tang He, Feng Sheng and others appeared on the intercom.

During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, there were nine city gates in Changsha City, namely Liuyang Gate, Xiaowu Gate, Linxiang Gate, Chaozong Gate, Huangdao Gate, Xiangchun Gate, Xinkai Gate, Tonghuo Gate and Derun Gate. Old Changsha is also known as the Old Nine Gates.

However, the shape of the city is still a relatively regular rectangular block, so the nine city gates are mainly concentrated in the four directions of southeast, northwest, northeast and southwest, and the city gates in each direction are also counted according to the direction.

For example, Xiangchun Gate and Xinkai Gate in the north are commonly known as the North Gate, while Huangdao Gate in the south is commonly known as the South Gate, which is a shortened name.

Basically, what was said on the walkie-talkie meant that all the city gates in all directions had been captured.

"Let's go, get out of town!"

Seeing that the city had been quickly captured by the people he sent out, Zhu ordered Mao Xiang beside him, "You take your men to the south of the city immediately and annihilate Sun Kewang's troops."

"Yes!"

Mao Xiang took the order and left.

The city gates were wide open, and tricycles came onto the street from the direction of Prince Ji's palace in the distance and headed towards the north gate.

When little Zhu Di arrived at the city gate, he shouted, "Father, I'm leaving."

"Ah."

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded and said, "Be careful."

"Yes."

Little Zhu Di said to Li Wenzhong beside him: "Brother Baoer, let's go."

The two of them rode their three-wheeled motorcycles out of the city in a mighty procession.

Now time is short and the task is heavy, they must set off as soon as possible and rush to Tongguan.

Looking at their departing backs, Lao Zhu put his hands behind his back and frowned slightly.

He didn't want to do that if he could.

But perhaps this is also an opportunity to train the fourth child.

Now that the fourth brother can no longer become the King of Yan, he cannot go to Peking to practice his skills in marching and fighting.

Then let him show his skills in the late Ming Dynasty.

In the darkness of night, bursts of gunfire were heard in the south of the city.

The remaining civilians in the city were terrified and trembling with fear.

After about forty minutes, Fu Youde reported to Zhu Yuanzhang: "Report, Your Majesty, most of them have been annihilated, many have fled, and the body of the enemy general Sun Kewang has not been found yet."

"Well, that's fine. Can their baggage be obtained?"

Old Zhu asked.

It is normal not to annihilate the enemy.

First of all, it was the middle of the night and it was easy to escape in the dark.

Secondly, there are so many people on the other side, and they are not fools who will stand there in line for you to shoot.

So it doesn’t matter whether we can wipe them out completely or not, what matters is that something must be left behind.

"It has been seized."

"Drag them all into the city."

"Yes."

In the middle of the night, countless carriages were brought into the city.

The city of Changsha changed hands overnight.

The people in the city were already in a panic, but they all hid in their homes and dared not come out.

It was not until the next morning that the patrolling guards beat gongs and drums and shouted, "The Great Ming Taizu has come to save the people, to suppress the bandits and kill the corrupt officials, to open the warehouses and release the grain. Those who want grain can come to the main street of the outer vassal of the Jiwangfu."

"His Majesty the Great Ming Taizu has come to save the people, to suppress bandits and kill corrupt officials, to open warehouses and release grain. Those who want grain can come to the main street of the outer vassal of Jiwangfu."

The shouting was not just ordinary shouting, but he was wearing a speakerphone and had a large loudspeaker on his waist. The sound of gongs and drums was deafening, shocking the people on the street.

"Did you hear it?"

On Wenxing Street, which faces Sunjia Bridge, someone opened a window on the second floor and saw a soldier in strange clothing shouting outside. He couldn't help but ask, "Is His Majesty the Great Ancestor here?"

"These days, all kinds of demons and monsters have emerged, including the one called Zijinliang, the one called Chuangwang, the one called Badawang, and the one called Cao Cao. Now there is another one called Taizu."

In the back, a scholar was chatting with his friend.

Most of those who can still hide in the city are middle class, with a little extra money to survive, but not so much that Zhang Xianzhong would covet it, so there are many scholars among them.

"But they are so powerful. There are tens of thousands of Zhang Xianzhong's troops outside the city. How could they break through it overnight?"

"No matter how powerful he is, what can he do? If he dares to call himself the Great Ancestor, the officers and soldiers will surely surround him with heavy troops."

"That's true, but I think their military discipline is extraordinary. Zhang Xianzhong's troops are like a pile of loose sand, but they are marching in the streets, lined up in an orderly manner, and their momentum is as high as a rainbow."

"It's useless to have a strong momentum. We still need a lot of soldiers and a lot of food. As soon as we entered the city, we opened the warehouse to release food. I'm afraid we don't have many soldiers, so we want to take the opportunity to recruit."

"There is food to be collected, do you want to go?"

"Of course we'll go if it's free, but let's wait and see. What if it's a trap to lure us in?"

"Then let's wait and see."

For a time, many people in the city had this idea and kept the doors closed.

Only some people who had no surplus food at home had to take the risk and carefully walked out of their homes and head towards Prince Ji's Palace.

They also encountered patrolling soldiers on the way, and they hid in fear for fear of being caught by them.

But surprisingly, those strangely dressed soldiers just glanced at them and continued to line up in an orderly manner, marching in step and patrolling the streets.

About half an hour later, nearly ten thousand people had gathered in the square outside Prince Ji's Palace.

In fact, there is more than this in Changsha City.

Because of water transportation, Changsha gradually became prosperous and populous starting from the Song Dynasty. By the end of the Ming Dynasty, the population had exceeded four or five hundred thousand.

However, when Zhang Xianzhong entered Hunan, many people in the city fled, and the Prince Ji's mansion and the soldiers defending the city were wiped out, resulting in a drop in the population by half.

But no matter what, there are still 200,000 or 300,000 people, so it's not possible that there are only these few people left.

However, the situation is unclear now and everyone is still afraid to act rashly, so they all hide at home and watch the situation.

On the street outside the burned Prince Ji's Mansion, Zhu had a platform built and a loudspeaker placed on it. Below the platform was a mountain of food and fodder seized from Sun Kewang.

He looked around and saw that there were not many people below. He frowned slightly, but after a while, he still stood on the stage and shouted into the megaphone: "I am Zhu Yuanzhang! This time I came to the mortal world to save the people and conquer the world once again!"

"This is the territory of the Ming Dynasty, now and in the future!"

"I am here, and I will lead the people of Changsha to rebuild the Ming Dynasty. Kill all corrupt officials! Kill all those who oppress the people! Kill all those who rebel! Wherever the Ming army goes, the bandits will perish!"

"From today on, I will govern the country from the Changsha Prefecture. All the former Ming officials can come and seek refuge. But if they are corrupt officials, they will be killed without mercy. From now on, I will restore order in Changsha, and the people will work on the land and go home. I decree this."

As soon as he finished speaking, there was an uproar below.

Never expected it.

The guy who’s rebelling above is serious about it.

He really called himself the Taizu of the Ming Dynasty.

(End of this chapter)