Zhu Yuanzhang in the cellar

Chapter 190 The beggar monk came to Sichuan
At the end of October in the winter of the sixteenth year of Chongzhen, the situation in the world underwent great changes.

Zhang Xianzhong's troops, which had been wreaking havoc in the south, were wiped out.

Li Zicheng's troops, who had occupied Henan and were marching towards Shaanxi, suffered a severe defeat, and peace quickly returned to the southern region.

Not long after, in early November, Sun Chuanting went to Changsha.

After coming back, he has changed a lot. He is full of energy, exudes calmness and confidence, and is always smiling.

After visiting the Hongwu Dynasty and witnessing the true prosperity of the Ming Dynasty, Sun Chuanting felt that with Taizu and Taizong, even though it was the end of the Ming Dynasty, prosperity could be restored.

The haze of pressure from all sides was swept away, and the last pillar of the Ming Dynasty also found the direction of his life at this moment.

And just when Sun Chuanting went to the Hongwu Dynasty to confirm Zhu Yuanzhang's identity, Emperor Chongzhen in Beijing did not even know what the situation in the south was like.

The information he can currently obtain is very limited.

According to the memorials submitted later by Sun Chuanting, Lu Daqi and others, Chongzhen now knew two things.

First, Sun Chuanting had just defeated Li Zicheng, but the Battle of Ruzhou also seriously damaged him, so he had to reorganize his troops and recruit new soldiers before he could continue to fight in Shaanxi.

Second, Lu Daqi and Zuo Liangyu have eliminated the bandits who called themselves Taizu and were entrenched in Changsha, and are now fighting Zhang Xianzhong in Hengzhou.

The situation seems to be slightly better now.

However, since Li Zicheng fled to Henan in late October and headed towards Xuhuai, by November local officials in Xuhuai, Henan, had submitted memorials to Chongzhen, requesting assistance from Sun Chuanting.

At present, the local military force in Xuhuai is very limited. It is under the command of He Tengjiao, the deputy military commander of Huaixu, and has only a few thousand soldiers and horses.

Faced with the aggressive Li Zicheng, Xu Huai and other places were unable to stop him at all.

For this reason, Chongzhen could only issue an imperial edict to appease the local area while writing a new imperial edict to Sun Chuanting, hoping that he would send troops as soon as possible to completely wipe out Li Zicheng.

But the same problem still exists. With the post station now half abandoned, it is extremely slow to convey information.

During the Tang Dynasty, An Lushan launched a rebellion in Fanyang County, which is later the area of ​​Beijing, Tianjin and Zhuozhou. Emperor Xuanzong of Tang in Chang'an learned about this only six days later.

In contrast, during the late Ming Dynasty, due to the reform of the post stations, a large number of post stations were streamlined and postmen were laid off, which greatly reduced the transmission efficiency.

It often takes more than ten days for letters to travel from Beijing to Shaanxi. It is common for official letters from southern places such as Hunan, Hubei, and Nanjing to travel to and from Beijing over twenty days, or even more than a month.

Therefore, it was estimated that the news would be sent to Sun Chuanting in December.

During this period, Sun Chuanting did not receive any orders from the court. He submitted a memorial of his own, saying that he would first defend Shaanxi, raise food and troops, and then flee to Xiangyang.

Now that he had met Taizu, Sun Chuanting submitted another memorial to the court, saying that the Qin people were already very exhausted, that there was no harvest in Shaanxi, and that he had to go to Sichuan to recruit food, fodder and soldiers.

This means that when Chongzhen's imperial edict was sent to Shaanxi, Sun Chuanting had already left Shaanxi and went to Sichuan.

Under normal circumstances, officials are not allowed to leave their jurisdiction without permission.

But don't forget that among Sun Chuanting's long list of official titles, there was a title of General Commander of the Military Affairs in Yingtian, Fengyang, Anqing, Henan, Huguang, Sichuan, Guizhou, Jiangnan and Jiangbei to suppress bandits.

In other words, as long as it was related to military affairs, including Nanjing, basically all regions in the south, except Guangxi, Guangdong and Yunnan, were under his control.

Therefore, his going to these places was not considered as leaving his jurisdiction without permission, but rather it was justified.

Before entering Sichuan, Sun Chuanting sent someone to notify local officials in Sichuan.

In early November, Zhu Yuanzhang officially entered Sichuan.

Historically, when Zhang Xianzhong entered Sichuan, he led hundreds of thousands of naval and land troops, but the journey was slow and it took him a month to reach Qutang Gorge. He fought with Zeng Ying for three months and finally arrived in Zhongzhou in April of the 17th year of Chongzhen.

Now Zhu Yuanzhang traveled light, bringing only a thousand guards with him. He first rode south to Jiangling, and then took the land route into Sichuan.

The reason why they didn't take the water route was because the middle and upper reaches of the Yangtze River were turbulent, and Zhu Yuanzhang was a powerful man and the hope of the Ming Dynasty. If an accident occurred, the consequences would be disastrous.

Therefore, it is safer to travel by land.

But even so, the speed is still very fast.

After all, the land route into Sichuan along the Yangtze River waterway has long been very mature, and when it doesn't rain, you can walk thirty or forty kilometers a day.

soon.

Five days later, the group arrived in Fengjie County, Kuizhou Prefecture.

This is the location of the Ming Dynasty's Qutang Pass and also the seat of Kuizhou Prefecture in eastern Sichuan.

Since Sun Chuanting had only sent the message a few days ago and the message had not yet reached Chengdu, Sichuan Governor Chen Shiqi did not know about his entry into Sichuan.

The people who came to respond were local officials from Kuizhou and Chongqing who had already learned the news.

Such as Ma Qian, the assistant military commander of East Sichuan, Liu Linchang, the governor of East Sichuan, Wan Yuanji, the military supervisor, Xie Shizhang, the prefect of Kuizhou, Wang Xingjian, the prefect of Chongqing, and Qin Liangyu, the chieftain of Shizhu, and more than 20 others.

The team reached Qutang Pass, which was an extremely dangerous place with the Yangtze River to the south and mountains to the north.

Looking around, the Yangtze River is joined by several rivers here, and in the middle of the rivers there is Baidi City, which guards the middle of the Yangtze River. It can be said that it is a terrain where one man can block the passage of ten thousand men.

No wonder Zeng Ying, with only a few thousand soldiers, was able to stop Zhang Xianzhong's army of hundreds of thousands in Fengjie for three months.

Although the road has existed for thousands of years, if it is guarded by enough troops, it would be difficult to break through without several or even dozens of times the number of troops.

This was actually the first time for Old Zhu to come to the Three Gorges. He had heard of the Three Gorges Dam, but he was thinking in his heart what a wonderful thing it would be if such a grand national project could be built during his Hongwu Dynasty.

The convoy arrived at Fengjie County. In the distance to the southwest, the Yangtze River was rolling, and the green water was flowing slowly to the east. Amid the dense forests, on the north bank sat an ancient city.

At the east city gate, there was a crowd of people, and about twenty or thirty officials from Kuizhou Prefecture and Chongqing Prefecture were waiting at the city gate.

In addition to the officials in official uniforms, there was an old woman riding a warhorse. Although she was not wearing armor, but only a simple winter cotton coat, she looked heroic and was particularly eye-catching.

When the group approached, Sun Chuanting was riding in the front, while Lao Zhu was sitting in the carriage.

Since Sun Chuanting was not wearing official uniform, the officials thought that the person in the carriage was Sun Chuanting, and that the Sun Chuanting in front was an official under Sun Chuanting, so they stood there waiting for Sun Chuanting to get off the carriage.

As a result, Sun Chuanting raised the imperial sword and the official seal on his waist and said, "I am Sun Chuanting. Here are the imperial sword and official seal."

Everyone was stunned, then they knelt down and said, "Your subordinate greets the commander-in-chief."

Even Qin Liangyu had to dismount and kneel.

Seeing this, Sun Chuanting hurriedly asked, "Is it General Qin, the Shizhu Xuanfu Envoy? If it is an old general, the late emperor told the officials to treat him with courtesy, and there is no need to kneel."

Qin Liangyu said, "Thank you, Commander."

Sun Chuanting then looked around and asked, "Who is Ma Qian?"

The Sichuan East Military Assistant was only of the fifth rank, even lower than the fourth rank prefect, but the Military Assistant was a deputy to the Censor and often served as the deputy Censor, so he was also of the fourth rank.

Although they are all of the fourth rank, the Censorate system belongs to the superior regulatory department of the provincial government system, which is somewhat similar to the relationship between the provincial judicial department and the municipal government department.

However, by the end of the Ming Dynasty, officials from the Kedao Department took over the government system and held administrative, judicial, and military powers in their hands.

The original system of military governors, provincial governors and censors, commonly known as dusi, fansi and niesi, were controlled by the supervisory agency, duchayuan censortai system.

But no matter what, they are the superiors of local departments.

Therefore, apart from the Sichuan Governor, Sichuan Provincial Inspector and other officials in the Censorate system, Ma Qian is now the highest-ranking official.

Hearing Sun Chuanting's words, Ma Qian hurried over and said, "Your subordinate Ma Qian, I pay my respects to the commander-in-chief!" "Yes."

Sun Chuanting nodded, put away his imperial sword, looked around and said, "Are all the officials from East Sichuan here?"

"Yes."

Ma Qian said quickly: "After receiving the news from the commander-in-chief, I and others quickly notified all the officials who could be notified. However, Chengdu is far away, and the governor may be late. The commander-in-chief can move to Chongqing first."

"Since everyone is here, let me tell you one thing."

Sun Chuanting looked down at the people below, and then said: "Don't panic or act rashly about what I am about to say. Let me explain it in detail."

Ma Qian smiled and said, "Don't worry, Commander. We know about this trip and we will think of a solution."

He also thought that Sun Chuanting came to Sichuan to raise food and troops.

However, the next second, Sun Chuanting said: "His Majesty Taizu came down to earth to save the Ming Dynasty from danger. He has already wiped out Zhang Xianzhong and severely damaged Li Zicheng. Now he is inspecting Sichuan and hopes that the southwest will submit to him."

Dead silence.

Many officials first showed confused expressions on their faces, and then looked at each other in bewilderment.

Even Qin Liangyu had a bewildered look on her face.

What is this talking about?
Why can't everyone understand what Sun Chuanting wants to express?
It was not until seven or eight seconds later that Ma Qian slowly came back to his senses, and then asked tentatively: "Was the commander joking with us just now?"

"No, I ask your Majesty Taizu."

Sun Chuanting dismounted from the horse and then knelt down towards the carriage.

Old Zhu lifted the carriage curtain, walked out wearing a luxurious dragon robe, and looked around majestically.

It is said that when he was in Changsha, he went back to the Hongwu period and brought back more than ten dragon robes, so he was able to change and wash the dragon robes every day.

no way.

When you go out, your identity is given by yourself.

Sometimes I feel majestic only when I put on this robe.

Otherwise, if he was dressed in cloth and no one recognized his identity as Zhu Yuanzhang, he would be no different from the old men that could be seen everywhere in the late Ming Dynasty, except that his aura was slightly different, and he looked like an official.

"Forehead"

Many officials looked at each other, some not knowing how to respond.

Old Zhu got off the carriage, walked slowly forward, and said slowly: "I am Zhu Yuanzhang. I have said this countless times since I came here. I also know that you have doubts in your hearts, so let Sun Chuanting explain it to you."

Sun Chuanting immediately said, "After Taizu passed away, he became an immortal and could travel back through time and space to the Ming Dynasty more than 200 years later. Taizu had seen the future and knew that the Ming Dynasty was about to fall, so in order to change the fate of the country, he did not hesitate to use up all his magic power to come down to earth and save the people."

After that, he looked around and said, "To be honest, I didn't believe it at first. It was His Majesty Taizu who sent the young His Majesty Taizong to Tongguan, Shaanxi to save me. After that, I followed His Majesty Taizong to Xiangyang to meet Taizu, and His Majesty Taizu used his great magical power to send him to the Hongwu period. I saw His Royal Highness Prince Biao with my own eyes, and was honored to be summoned by Empress Gao. Only then did I believe it was true. Not only me, but also Li Qiande, the governor of Huguang, and Lu Daqi, the governor of the four vassal states, also went to the Hongwu period. You can also go and see it later."

"This"

"Is it really His Majesty Taizu?"

"Master Commander's words are so true that they don't seem to be false, not to mention the recent rumors."

Many officials were whispering to each other.

The exchanges between East Sichuan and Huguang are actually very frequent because they are not far away.

During the Ming Dynasty, Badong County belonged to Jingzhou Prefecture of Huguang Provincial Administration. It can be said that eastern Sichuan and Jingzhou are connected by water and are very close.

Therefore, what happens in Hunan and Hubei can easily spread to eastern Sichuan.

There have been rumors recently that a man who claimed to be Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty, emerged in Changsha and drove Zhang Xianzhong away.

Later, there was news that Lu Daqi and Zuo Liangyu had captured Changsha and Zhu Yuanzhang had been executed.

But there were also various rumors saying that Lu Daqi and Zuo Liangyu had already surrendered, and that Zhu Yuanzhang had already taken over Hubei.

All kinds of other news were flying around, and no one knew whether they were true or false. Anyway, there were many merchants and refugees traveling back and forth, so there were many true and false news, and the officials in eastern Sichuan naturally could not confirm them.

In fact, although the news of Zhu's coming was kept secret by senior officials such as Sun Chuanting, Lu Daqi, and Li Qiande, they did not report it to Chongzhen.

However, he had appeared in the officialdom of Huguang many times, and many middle and lower-level officials knew about it, and the news had actually spread long ago.

There were even officials who secretly submitted memorials to Chongzhen.

However, ancient times were not like later times, where there were telephones or the Internet to transmit information.

So, firstly, the news spread slowly, and secondly, there were too many true and false news. Some people reported it secretly, and naturally there were also people who wrote letters to conceal it.

For example, telling Chongzhen that Lu Daqi and Zuo Liangyu had recovered Hubei, rather than telling him that Zhu Yuanzhang had come.

Therefore, it was difficult for Chongzhen to distinguish the truth from the false among the numerous and complex information.

The same is true for officials in eastern Sichuan.

Now it seems.

These news are probably true, except that it was not Lu Daqi and Zuo Liangyu who captured Changsha, but that they surrendered to this Taizu.

Now even Sun Chuanting, who holds the imperial sword, has surrendered, so this is probably very credible.

"If any of you want to go to the Hongwu Dynasty to take a look, it's not difficult. I have set up a teleportation array in Changsha. You can go there and find out the truth."

Seeing that everyone still had doubts on their faces, Zhu Yuanzhang said, "But the most urgent task now is that I must pacify the south to solve the current disaster of the Ming Dynasty's destruction. I must now make the people of the world believe in my identity to calm their hearts."

Sun Chuanting also continued, "His Majesty Taizu is right. If you have any doubts, just go to the Hongwu Palace. It won't take a few days to get to Changsha by boat. The most important thing now is that everyone is sure that Taizu has really come."

"If it is really His Majesty the Great Ancestor who has descended to the earth, we are naturally willing to submit to him, but..."

Ma Qian hesitated slightly.

"Just what? If you don't believe me, just go to Changsha."

"only."

Ma Qian thought about it and it seemed that there was nothing wrong.

If it is really Emperor Taizu who has come, what else can we do except kneeling and kowtowing?
So he hesitated for a moment, and finally knelt down to Zhu Yuanzhang and said: "Your Majesty, I pay my respects to you."

When someone takes the lead, others will naturally follow.

After everyone looked at each other, they slowly began to kneel down and said, "Greetings to His Majesty Taizu."

Qin Liangyu hesitated for a moment and was about to kneel down.

Zhu Yuanzhang stopped her and said, "Qin Liangyu doesn't need to kneel. She is my loyal minister of the Ming Dynasty. She is as brave as a man. Come with me."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

At this moment, Qin Liangyu was like a new recruit, obediently following Zhu Yuanzhang's left side into Fengjie County.

(End of this chapter)