Zhu Yuanzhang in the cellar

Chapter 187 Rebuilding the Ming Dynasty
Faced with the Ming army's muskets and cannons, Li Zicheng decided to avoid the attack, play to his strengths, and flee to Henan.

He actually did not lose many horses in the battle of Tongguan.

In fact, according to the biographies of Zuo Liangyu, Yang Sichang, Hong Chengchou and others in "History of Ming Dynasty", 70% of Li Zicheng's army consisted of horses, and only 30% were infantry.

The reason for this is that Shaanxi has always been the main horse producing area in the Ming Dynasty, and Li Zicheng started the uprising in Shaanxi, so naturally there were a large number of horses.

Tongguan has a narrow terrain and was a siege, which was not conducive to cavalry galloping. Therefore, Li Zicheng placed all the horses in the rear camp at that time. When attacking, he planned to use infantry to directly attack Tongguan with ladders.

As a result, when the artillery fire came down, a large number of infantrymen fled, returned to the rear camp, seized horses and fled. Many generals took their soldiers back to their camps and escaped with the horses.

There was not even enough time to burn the large amount of baggage.

This may be the talent of the bandits, and it is also the main factor that enabled Li Zicheng to stand firm for so many years.

The supplies can be left to you, but the people must flee, which is a bit like "If you save the land but lose the people, both the people and the land will be lost."

More horses means faster turning speed.

On October 26, the 16th year of Chongzhen, Li Zicheng's troops moved into Henan.

Just when Li Zicheng was like a frightened bird, fleeing eastward into Henan and heading towards the Xuhuai area.

Zhu Yuanzhang's troops, far away in Wuchang, also began to march towards Xiangyang.

His speed of conquering cities and territories was so fast that from September when he arrived in Ming Dynasty, it was only about a month before he had already taken over large areas of Hunan and Hubei.

And even that’s slow.

Because Lao Zhu spends most of his time in Changsha waiting for Zhu Yunfeng to deliver supplies.

The actual fighting may not last more than five days.

It took one day to recapture Changsha, one day to subdue Zuo Liangyu, one day to kill Zhang Xianzhong, and one day to recapture Chengtian Prefecture, De'an Prefecture and other areas in Hubei.

The rest of the time is basically spent on traveling.

So to some extent, Zhu Yuanzhang was already invincible, and all that was left was to quickly recover the territory and slowly govern it.

"Governing a large country is like cooking a small fish. The ancient sages said that it makes sense. The country has too many stubborn diseases. If you want to eradicate them, you must first use strong medicine to remove the termites that are attached to the country, then cut off the rotten sores, cut out the rotten flesh, and finally apply herbs and ointments to drive away the external injuries, so that you can slowly adjust the internal organs."

It is almost mid-winter and although it has not yet snowed in Hubei in the south, the north wind is bleak and the sky and the earth are gray. Even in broad daylight, it feels like it is going to rain.

On the road from Yicheng to Xiangyang, Lao Zhu sat in a carriage with a list in his hand.

This is the list of people to be killed later.

These included all kinds of corrupt officials and military generals in Hubei who surrendered after the fall of the Ming Dynasty, were corrupt, and oppressed the people, as well as various local powerful gentry in Hubei.

In fact, this group of people is very small, with only more than a hundred people on the list.

It’s not that Hubei is peaceful and prosperous and there are only a hundred or so corrupt officials, but it’s a problem with historical records.

After all, history books are heroic historical perspectives, and the officials who can be recorded in history are often those who have done some great things, such as fighting against bandits and fighting against the Qing army.

Or he must be of a higher rank, at least a prefect or governor.

Even many officials of the fifth rank, which is equivalent to the mayor level in later generations, were not recorded in history books.

You need to look for the local county and state annals to know that such an official had worked here in history.

Therefore, only a small number of them can be included in history books.

Most corrupt officials are not even qualified to be included in history books, and are lost in the long river of history just like countless ordinary people.

Under such circumstances, it is actually not easy to eliminate the cancer in Hubei.

First of all, a lot of people have to be killed, and we have to find people to fill the vacancies immediately.

Secondly, due to the lack of historical records, a large number of corrupt officials and bad landlords and gentry were not recorded, so people had to be sent to investigate.

Therefore, Lao Zhu felt quite emotional.

Looking at the list, Lao Zhu continued, "Weeds in the fields must be dug out, and pests on the crops must be removed. In the last years of the dynasty, governance alone is no longer effective. We have to kill them."

He sighed.

In Hunan, Zhu Yuanzhang did not kill many corrupt officials. Instead, he ordered Lu Daqi and others to confiscate the land of the landlords and gentry. He started to take action against the landlords and gentry, and let Xu Da, who stayed in Hunan, turn the knife against the Hunan gentry.

It’s not that Zhu Yuanzhang turned a blind eye to corrupt officials in Hunan, but that there were not many corrupt officials in Hunan. After Zhang Xianzhong came, all the officials ran away.

Many of them surrendered to Zhang Xianzhong and were ordered to be killed by Zhu Yuanzhang.

Now many former Hunan officials still don’t know that Hunan has been recovered. Zhu can’t hunt them down all over the country.

Hubei is different.

Zhang Xianzhong did not occupy the entire Hubei Province, he only captured Wuchang and then quickly moved south.

Li Zicheng only occupied one-third of Hubei's territory, so many Hubei officials fled to places they had not occupied, and then ran back after Zuo Liangyu recovered Hubei.

Under such circumstances, Zhu Yuanzhang could naturally take drastic measures in Hubei, kill the officials who should be killed, clear the land and return it to the people, and govern the province harshly.

However, he has not taken any action yet because Hubei has not been completely recovered. He will wait until Xiangyang is captured.

"Times of trouble do call for severe punishments. And, ancestor, have you been reading some dragon-slaying techniques on Little Red Book recently? Your style of doing things seems very familiar to me."

Zhu Yunfeng asked tentatively.

Zhu Yuanzhang smiled mysteriously, lifted the curtain meaningfully, glanced at the distant sky and said, "He is indeed an extraordinary person. The Tang and Song dynasties are slightly inferior. I admit that only he can say that."

"Okay."

Zhu Yunfeng trembled all over, and Old Zhu really looked at it.

But he wasn't too surprised.

Little Zhu Di has been in modern times for so long that he even has his own WeChat and accounts on various platforms like Bilibili, Douyin, and Xiaohongshu.

It is normal to be able to access these and bring them to Ming Dynasty.

It just makes people think.

What changes will occur to a patriarchal emperor in a feudal society, the owner of the ideas that the gentleman hates the most, after seeing his great ideas.

Should we reflect seriously or just ignore it?
Perhaps what Lao Zhu is doing now proves that he has found the answer.

After all, he himself should be aware that if the Ming Dynasty clings to the old feudal system, the end of the Ming Dynasty will probably not be very good.

"Your Majesty, Xiangyang is just ahead."

Mao Xiang's voice came from outside.

Zhu Yunfeng drew aside the curtains and saw a magnificent city appearing in the distance.

The city is majestic and tall, surrounded by water on all sides, and the moat is incredibly wide. At first glance, it is wider than an average medium-sized river. It is said that the average width is more than 180 meters.

No wonder it took the Yuan Dynasty six years to conquer the Southern Song Dynasty in Xiangyang. If they had prepared enough food and grass, ten thousand people would have been enough to resist an army of one hundred thousand.

"Let's go into town."

Old Zhu said calmly. Tang He had already led his army to Xiangyang.

Yang Yanchang, a general under Li Zicheng in Xiangyang, did not defend at all, but chose to abandon the city and flee after Tang He arrived.

So now Xiangyang has become an empty city.

Tang He has already entered the city.

Although Xiangyang City has high and thick walls and an exaggerated moat, there are still bridges for passage.

Actually, this city was built by Zhu.

During the Southern Song Dynasty, Xiangyang was badly damaged and the Yuan Dynasty rulers did not repair it.

It was not until the end of the Yuan Dynasty when the world was in chaos that Zhu Yuanzhang conquered Xiangyang and ordered Duke of Weiguo Deng Yu to repair it. Now, more than 200 years have passed, and it still retains its original appearance.

The convoy slowly arrived at the bridgehead, where Tang He was already waiting. Under his leadership, the convoy drove into Xiangyang city in a mighty manner.

After a tiring journey, Zhu Yuanzhang did not hold a meeting but let the soldiers take a rest.

This time he ordered Fu Youde and Lu Daqi to stay in Wuchang, and only brought a few people with him, including Huguang Governor Li Qiande, Hubei Governor Wang Yangji, Huguang Circuit Inspector Liu Xizuo, Wuhan Huangzhou Military Preparations Commissioner Du Yinxi and others.

In addition, Zuo Liangyu had also entered Wuchang City with his soldiers and was rushing to meet up with Zhu.

Zhu was a fierce fighter. Wherever he went, people surrendered to him and he had almost no enemy.

But the shortcomings are also obvious.

That is because there are too few troops and they cannot defend anywhere.

In other words, Zhang Xianzhong was ignorant of his own danger and thought that he could deal with Zuo Liangyu by recruiting more soldiers and horses. He wanted to eliminate Zuo Liangyu and then capture Hunan and Jiangxi as a foundation for his grand cause.

If it were Li Zicheng, having seen the power of modern firearms, wouldn't he have run away as soon as he saw Zhu Yuanzhang like a rabbit seeing an eagle?
Therefore, Zuo Liangyu's role was reflected.

After Zhang Xianzhong was eliminated, Liu Wenxiu, Li Dingguo and a large number of Zhang Xianzhong's troops surrendered. Zuo Liangyu almost annexed Zhang Xianzhong's entire army. His strength was so bloated that he already had 100,000 combat soldiers, plus a total of 500,000 family camps, which was completely comparable to Li Zicheng.

But he did not dare to have any ambitions at all, but obediently followed Xu Da's orders, leaving part of his own troops who had been scattered in Hunan to garrison the local area, and he himself led a large number of troops to Wuchang.

After that, he had to obey Fu Youde's command, and continued to disperse his troops and leave them in various places in Hubei, and he himself led the remnants of Zhang Xianzhong to Xiangyang.

Under normal circumstances, if other warlords were to have their troops dispersed like this, they would have turned against the enemy long ago.

But in front of Zhu Yuanzhang, Zuo Liangyu didn't dare to say a word and just surrendered obediently.

In addition to Zhu Yuanzhang's overwhelming prestige in the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang sent Jiang Lin with 300 people to follow Zuo Liangyu.

Although there were only 300 people, they suppressed the hundreds of thousands of remnants of Zhang Xianzhong. Especially after they heard that Taizu was resurrected and it was Xu Da, the founding King of Zhongshan, who defeated them, they dared not act rashly.

So to some extent, Zhu Yuanzhang's army had only a few thousand people, and they were broken up. Young Zhu Di took some away, and Xu Da left some, so he only had two or three thousand people around him.

But it was these two or three thousand people who were conquering the world, and with hundreds of thousands of vassal troops following them, they could not only conquer a place, but also govern it.

It is also a direct reflection of Zhu's own prestige and ability.

Otherwise, if it were someone like Sun Chuanting, even if he was a first-rank military governor, he would find it difficult to eliminate corrupt officials and deal with local bullies and gentry in the face of the complex network of relationships in the local area and the entanglement with various forces in the court.

After resting for a day in Xiangyang, the current focus is to investigate Li Zicheng's movements and next arrangements.

The next day, Zhu Yuanzhang held a meeting at the Prince Xiang's Mansion in Xiangyang.

In the 14th year of Chongzhen, Zhang Xianzhong conquered Xiangyang, killed Prince of Xiang Zhu Yiming, and slaughtered all the people in Prince of Xiang's palace, but he did not burn the palace, so it was preserved.

Originally, Yang Yanchang planned to burn Xiangyang when he left, but Tang He acted too quickly. Almost as soon as Li Zicheng ordered Yang Yanchang to abandon the city and flee, Tang He's army arrived.

Yang Yanchang had no choice but to escape by boat. Before leaving, he set fire to Prince Xiang's palace. Fortunately, Tang He quickly entered the city and organized people to put out the fire, so that no damage was caused to the palace.

Otherwise, Lao Zhu wouldn’t even have a place to live.

Everyone gathered in the palace hall.

More than 20 civil and military officials including Zhu Yunfeng, Ji He, Tang He, Feng Sheng, Mao Xiang, Li Qiande, Wang Yangji, Liu Xizuo, and Du Yinxi were among them.

of course.

There are naturally differences in closeness and status.

The ones closest to Lao Zhu are Zhu Yunfeng and Ji He, followed by Tang, Feng Sheng and Mao Xiang. They can surround Lao Zhu.

The rest of the people could only stay a little further away, standing cautiously on the periphery and not daring to come closer.

At this time, Lao Zhu had already developed the habit of commanding the post.

There was a large table in the middle of the hall, on which were placed various maps, official documents, and notebooks and tablets carrying information.

Behind him was a large blackboard with some situation maps hung on it.

At present, they have no information about Li Zicheng's movements, but according to speculation, he is either in Nanyang or has escaped.

Therefore, everyone began to discuss the next course of action.

"If nothing unexpected happens, Li Zicheng should have fled to Henan."

Zhu looked at the map and thought, "After the disastrous defeat at Tongguan, he will definitely not dare to fight Sun Chuanting again. We have recovered Hebei and are pressing him step by step. He can only go to Henan."

"Then should we chase him and kill him?"

Tang He asked carefully.

As the biggest fake among the founding dukes of the Ming Dynasty, Tang Helun deserved no title of marquis based on his military merits. He was admitted into the rank of duke purely based on his seniority and Zhu Yuanzhang's forced promotion to him.

But he was a good person and knew his own limitations. He never acted arrogantly because he was Lao Zhu's childhood friend. Instead, he followed Lao Zhu's instructions in everything, just like Lao Zhu's yes-man.

Perhaps it was because of this that Zhu Yuanzhang realized that he posed no threat at all, and thus escaped the major purges and enjoyed his old age.

Old Zhu glanced at him and said, "You are a first-rate thief. Just send a general to chase you."

After that, he looked at Zhu Yunfeng and said, "Yunfeng, what do you think?"

This is all about strategy.

Although Zhu Yunfeng likes to eat, drink and have fun, as a person of later generations, he is full of theoretical knowledge and has a rich foundation in politics. He has also thought about macro-strategy to a certain extent, so he said: "It depends on our goal. Do we simply eliminate the bandits and the Jiannu and leave a ruined Ming Dynasty to Chongzhen, or do we make a good job and rebuild a new Ming Empire on the ruins."

"What do you say?"

Old Zhu also glanced at him.

Zhu Yunfeng understood and said, "I see. Then we will take Sichuan first, then Yingtian, and take half of the country first. We should govern it, then go north to Beijing, take up arms and go to Luoyang, slap Chongzhen in the face, and then destroy the Jiannu and rebuild the Ming Dynasty. What do you think, ancestor?"

Old Zhu smiled happily and said, "Good, I like it very much."

He said in surprise: "Yunfeng, I usually see you laughing and joking, and you are not serious. I didn't expect you to have such a strategy and even know to take Sichuan first."

Zhu Yunfeng said proudly: "That's a must."

Do I have to tell you that I read about the ancient grand strategy research on Bilibili?

(End of this chapter)