Zhu Yuanzhang in the cellar

Chapter 216 The Sun Comes from the South

Since February when Lao Zhu arrived in Nanjing, he officially announced his descent to the earth without any further concealment.

The news spread quickly and soon spread throughout the South.

However, the road to Beijing was long, and there were constant uprisings in the north, with bandits of all sizes wreaking havoc and public security was very poor, so news was delivered slowly.

However, many officials in Nanjing still secretly submitted memorials to Chongzhen. In addition, Zhu Yuanzhang did not conceal the news, so some retired officials, Jinyiwei, and Dongchang spies naturally passed the news on.

By the end of March, Chongzhen in the Forbidden City in Beijing finally confirmed one thing - a man who claimed to be Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty, had indeed appeared in Yingtian Nanjing City.

Moreover, this so-called Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang was supported by a large number of southern officials and sat in Nanjing city to issue orders openly.

At that moment, Chongzhen almost went crazy.

Because the earliest news about the Ming Dynasty's founding emperor Zhu Yuanzhang appeared in Huguang. Some officials secretly reported the incident to him through the cabinet, saying that such a person had appeared.

Then there were some other messy news, some saying Xu Da had come, some saying Tang He had come, and even some saying Lan Yu had come.

However, Lu Daqi, Zuo Liangyu and most of the surviving senior officials in Huguang had the ability to communicate directly with the emperor. They wrote memorials directly to inform Chongzhen that the person who pretended to be Taizu had been eliminated.

After that, Chongzhen no longer took it to heart, and was even very happy because Sun Chuanting defeated Li Zicheng and Lu Daqi and Zuo Liangyu eliminated Zhang Xianzhong.

As a result, just a few months later, strange news came from Sichuan, which made Chongzhen very puzzled.

But he didn't take it seriously at that time.

The main reason was that the Ming Dynasty was in a state of chaos, with frequent uprisings everywhere, and all kinds of miscellaneous news were sent to the court. In addition, due to the influence of bandits, the closure of roads and post stations, etc., the news was not only mixed, but also chaotic.

There were all kinds of messy news, even about hundreds of people storming a county government office in a remote area and proclaiming themselves emperor. It was also normal to have some strange rumors.

However, because it involved Emperor Taizu, Chongzhen still sent an imperial edict to Sichuan Governor Chen Shiqi to inquire about it. Chen Shiqi and others replied that it was not true and it was all rumors.

Later, people including Sun Chuanting, Lu Daqi, Li Qiande and others also wrote letters to the emperor, saying that the news about "Taizu Ye" was fake, so Chongzhen continued to ignore it.

Until now, the Ming Taizu has appeared again in Nanjing.

Nanjing is different from other places. The power of the local Jinyiwei in the late Ming Dynasty declined significantly, and the ability to monitor information was severely weakened, so the local supervisory power was seriously insufficient.

However, as one of the two capitals, Nanjing not only has eunuchs guarding Nanjing, but also has the Nanjing Jinyiwei Commander, who is responsible for the inspection and arrest work in Nanjing.

For example, after the fall of the Ming Dynasty, Zheng Zhilong's third brother, Zheng Zhifeng, the deputy general of Dengzhou, fled from Shandong to Nanjing to support Prince Fu, and was appointed by Prince Fu as the commander of the Nanjing Jinyiwei.

Therefore, although the local Jinyiwei power was not as strong as before and would obey the orders of Han Zanzhou and others, it still existed and was able to reach the emperor directly and submit secret reports to Chongzhen in the form of the Jinyiwei.

Under such circumstances, Chongzhen realized that the news in recent months about the Ming Taizu's descent to the earth might be true.

What’s even more terrifying is that the man has dominated the entire South.

After confirming the authenticity of the news, Chongzhen did not feel happy that Taizu had come down to earth, but felt deeply sad and angry.

What made people angry was that a fake Taizu actually deceived the southern officials.

The sad thing is.

Countless officials from the south surrendered.

Even according to the reports of Sun Chuanting and others.

This meant that many commanders, governors, and provincial governors in the south, including Sun Chuanting, Lu Daqi, Chen Shiqi, and Li Qiande, all defected.

For this reason, when Chongzhen received the news, he couldn't believe it at first.

When more and more news came and he confirmed that the news was true, he became furious in the Qianqing Palace and wanted to kill those ministers in the south who had surrendered to Zhu Yuanzhang.

He wanted to smash some things, but seeing that the dragon robe on his body was all patched up, he could only tear up a few memorials to vent his anger.

"They are all treacherous ministers, they are all traitors. These villains have bullied me too much."

Chongzhen was furious. He tore up the memorial paper and threw it forward. It flew all over the sky and landed on Chen Yan and Jiang Dejing, two cabinet ministers who were kneeling below.

Chen Yan shrank his head, and seeing Chongzhen gasping for breath and furious, he quickly spoke up to persuade him, "Your Majesty, calm down, Your Majesty, calm down."

"Calm down?"

Chongzhen looked at him angrily with his eyes wide open and said, "They all came to join a fake Taizu. They are all traitors. Do you want me to calm down?"

Jiang Dejing also hurriedly said: "Your Majesty, the most urgent task is to come up with a countermeasure."

"Then tell me, what should we do?"

Chongzhen sat back down at his desk and stared at them with a raised brow.

The two looked at each other and looked at each other.

They were the favorites of Chongzhen in the late period, and neither of them was a good person. They only catered to the emperor's wishes and came up with some ideas that Chongzhen wanted in order to please him.

But if any serious ideas could be put forward, the Ming Dynasty would not have perished.

In fact, in history, at the end of the 16th year of Chongzhen, Li Zicheng captured Shaanxi and attacked Shanxi. Shuntian Governor Yang E suggested withdrawing Wu Sangui who was stationed in Ningyuan to guard Shanhaiguan and support the capital.

Chongzhen thought it was reasonable, but Chen Yan thought it was not, so he used various theories to persuade Chongzhen, which led to the matter being delayed again and again, delaying the opportunity to fight.

As a result, Li Zicheng conquered Shanxi, and Chongzhen was furious and dismissed Chen Yan from office in January of the 17th year of Chongzhen.

So at this time in history, Chen Yan had already been dismissed from office, and should have even been captured by Li Zicheng. In the end, he paid a lot of silver and money to save his life, but he still lost his life.

However, since Li Zicheng failed to capture Shaanxi and was even chased around by the young Zhu Di, Chen Yan's career and his life were indirectly saved.

However, Chen Yan and Wei Zaode were just trying to please the emperor to get promoted, so they naturally had no skills. So they could only say, "I think that if Your Majesty wants to send troops to fight the bandits, the treasury has no money and no troops to send. But you can mobilize the officials and troops in the south to put order out of chaos."

"Yes."

When Wei Zaode heard what Chen Yan said, he immediately said, "Many officials in the south believed in rumors. Many people followed the so-called Taizu because he called himself Taizu. This undoubtedly shows that they are loyal to the Ming Dynasty, but that person called himself Taizu of the Ming Dynasty, which made some officials believe in him. So under the leadership of these people, all officials in the south believed it. Now your majesty has issued an edict to denounce such falsehoods and order them to execute the traitors immediately, so that the south can be settled by issuing an edict."

"Well"

Chongzhen slowly calmed down, and after thinking it over, he felt that this was the only way, so he nodded and said, "Okay, then let's do as you two gentlemen say." Since Chen Yan had not yet made the mistake in judgment that led to Li Zicheng's army approaching Beijing, Chongzhen still trusted them very much at this time, and even called them "sirs" in history, thinking that they had some great talents.

But no matter whether they are talented or not, if you think about it carefully, there is really nothing we can do now.

There were no soldiers, no money or food. There seemed to be no other way except to find a way to make the southern officials change their ways and let them solve the problem themselves.

"Now that the bandits have occupied Nanjing, I am worried about the grain transport problem. The North must rely on the grain from the South to survive. Once the grain transport is cut off, Beijing will be lost, so we should be cautious about this matter."

"But fortunately, it seems that the bandits wanted to conceal the news. Not only did the amount of grain delivered to Beijing last month not decrease, but it was even much more than before, which stabilized the grain prices in Beijing."

"According to the report, that person confiscated the property and grain of many officials in Nanjing in the name of killing traitors. Perhaps the grain transported this year is much more than in previous years because of the money he confiscated."

"Then why did he send the money and grain he seized to Beijing?"

"Could it be that this guy really treats himself as the great ancestor? I think he is a liar, or he is afraid that the southern officials will become suspicious, so he does this."

"That should be the case. After all, His Majesty is in Beijing. If he cuts off the grain transport, the officials in the south will immediately suspect him. From this point of view, the officials in the south are still loyal to the country, not traitors."

The two of them opened their minds and began to analyze the situation logically and even made excuses for the many southern officials.

They didn't dare to really say bad things about Southern officials.

Southern officials were the main group of scholar-officials and had a great say in the Ming officialdom.

Although they are divided into different factions, if their interests are really touched and they gather together to attack them, the outcome will be unimaginable.

So they could only choose to protect and find excuses to exonerate the officials from the south who surrendered to Zhu Yuanzhang.

Moreover, there were too many officials who had surrendered to Zhu. Although a large number of officials had been killed, there were also many officials who had died for their country. In addition, the number of officials who had been reinstated by Zhu was nearly tens of thousands.

If the two of them dare to offend such a huge group, they will die without knowing how.

"Forget it, let's not talk about this for now. Sun Chuanting and Lu Daqi have failed to live up to my high expectations and have even joined the rebels. Their crimes are truly unforgivable. I will put them in jail."

Chongzhen said: "Mr. Fasheng, you should immediately draft an imperial decree and send the Jinyiwei to bring them back."

"Your Majesty, you cannot."

Wei Zaode immediately advised: "They are not like Yuan Chonghuan and Xiong Wencan. They have already formed a separatist trend in the local area. If we capture them, the consequences will be disastrous."

"Forehead"

Chongzhen suddenly realized that he had been so angry that he treated Sun Chuanting and Lu Daqi as Yuan Chonghuan and Xiong Wencan.

Yuan Chonghuan and Xiong Wencan were also high-ranking officials in charge of military power, but at his command, they were immediately dismissed from their posts, taken to the capital for trial, and then ordered to be killed by Chongzhen.

The reason for this at that time was that he was the common ruler of the world. Although the country was turbulent, it was far from being as corrupt as it is now, and the two did not dare to have any rebellious thoughts.

At present, Sun Chuanting and others have already worshipped the fake Taizu in the south as their master. If he issues such an order again, it is very likely to arouse Sun Chuanting and others' rebellious hearts, and then it will be impossible to even persuade them to turn back.

"Yes."

Chongzhen gradually regained his senses and said, "Then issue an edict to appease them. Don't be too harsh. Just ask them why they abandoned me and the Ming Dynasty. If they still care about the country and me, they should go to Nanjing immediately and arrest the traitor who pretended to be Taizu and send him back."

"Yes, I will go and recruit them immediately."

Chen Yan breathed a sigh of relief. Living with the emperor is like living with a tiger. Life is not easy.

At that moment, Chongzhen issued imperial edicts to officials in the south, requiring them to immediately eliminate the fake Taizu in the south, restore order, and return to the embrace of the Beijing court.

But Chongzhen obviously did not realize the seriousness of the matter. Now the Ming Dynasty was already in turmoil, but the south had already been pacified by Zhu Yuanzhang.

Under a series of drastic and brutal policies, the South actually achieved peace for a short period of time.

This policy may be crude, but it is very effective.

Kill the corrupt officials and landlords, and distribute the land to the people. The people will be able to grow crops and eat, and will not rebel, so they will naturally live in peace.

After arriving in Nanjing, Zhu Yuanzhang no longer hid himself and announced his arrival to the world. The news first fermented in Nanjing in February, and then spread almost throughout the south in March.

In April, many officials in the south wrote letters to their relatives, friends, classmates, visiting teachers and students in Beijing, informing them of what had happened.

Among them was Cabinet Grand Secretary Jiang Dejing.

He was a Jinshi in the second year of the Tianqi reign, and was a fellow Jinshi with Lin Yinchang and Huang Daozhou, with whom he had a very good relationship. He was one of the few wise and capable ministers in the cabinet in the late Ming Dynasty.

Although Lin Yinchang did not surrender to the Jiannu and served the Qing Dynasty, he was envied by Zhu Yuanzhang because he did not serve the Ming Dynasty in the Longwu court. Although someone recommended him, Zhu Yuanzhang did not summon him.

However, Huang Daozhou was a famous minister who fought against the Qing Dynasty. Zhu Yuanzhang liked him very much, so he summoned Huang Daozhou to Nanjing to serve as the Grand Secretary of the Nanjing Cabinet and formed a cabinet with Shi Kefa and others.

Huang Daozhou wrote a letter to Jiang Dejing, explaining the whole process to him.

After reading it, Jiang Dejing didn't say anything, but just laughed twice, then remained silent for a long time. Finally, he chose to secretly arrange someone to spread the news.

In fact, he just added fuel to the fire.

By the end of the Ming Dynasty, the north and the south were no longer as divided as they had been at the beginning of the Ming Dynasty. Many people who served as local officials in the south were from the north and had many relatives and friends in the north.

They not only write letters to their friends in Beijing, but also write letters to their families in their hometown to explain the situation.

Of course there are risks in doing this.

In a rage, Chongzhen might launch a major case. What if all the people who received the letter were executed?
However, they were forced to spread the news of Zhu's coming according to Zhu's wishes.

Secondly, they only explained the cause and effect and would not persuade their family and friends to come to the south to join Lao Zhu.

Thirdly, this was a collective action of officials in the south who had submitted to Zhu Yuanzhang. Thousands of officials wrote letters and sent them to the north through various channels.

As the saying goes, the law does not punish the masses. More than 90% of the officials in Beijing received the letter. No matter how cruel Chongzhen was, it was impossible for him to kill all the officials in the city.

So in the past ten days or so, a large number of officials, relatives of officials serving in the south, and the people have heard the news and heard that Zhu Yuanzhang appeared in the south and came down to save the Ming Dynasty.

A sun is coming from the south!
(End of this chapter)