Zhu Yuanzhang in the cellar

Chapter 217 Public Opinion Offensive, Give Chongzhen a Dignity

Forbidden City, Beijing.

During the Ming Dynasty, Beijing formed a north-south structure.

The south is the outer city and the north is the inner city, hence the saying that the south is poor and the north is noble.

Coming out of Chengtian Gate of the Imperial City, there is a long Imperial Street.

On both sides of the Imperial Street are various government offices, including the Six Ministries, the Imperial Medical Service, the Imperial Carriage Treasury, the Governor's Office, the Embroidered Uniform Guard, etc.

Continue south from the Imperial Street and exit the Daming Gate, and you will see the residences of the common people. The Xijiang Rice Alley on the right leads to the Dashiyongfang, and the Dongjiang Rice Alley on the left leads to the Xiangxunfang.

Although it is called the residence of common people, it is actually the place where the residences of dignitaries gather. There are countless mansions and vermilion courtyards in the inner city.

Moreover, many high-ranking officials and nobles lived in the inner city. If you threw a brick from Zhengyang Gate toward Daming Gate, three out of ten would be nobles and lords, and the other six would be high-ranking officials of unknown rank.

The fourth-rank prefect who holds the power of life and death in a place is just a small official here, and there are many officials of the third or fourth rank and above in the government offices on both sides of the Imperial Street.

At this moment, there was a turbulent situation in the inner city.

In recent days, many officials in the court have received letters from various relatives and friends in the south, informing their relatives and friends about Zhu Yuanzhang's affairs.

Some were dismissive, some were very serious, and some were half-believing and half-doubting, not knowing whether it was true or not.

But the news spread quickly.

Every family has slaves and servants, so this kind of news that was deliberately spread on a large scale could not be concealed at all, and soon many people also knew about it.

By mid-April, the street outside Liulichang in the west of the outer city was bustling with people as usual.

But what’s different from before is that today there is new topic to talk about.

In a teahouse on the street, someone whispered to a friend, "Have you heard anything these past two days? There's a big commotion in the south."

"You know it too?"

"My nephew works for Minister Fang, and he heard what Minister Fang's companion and the emperor said with his own ears."

"Tell me, is it true or false?"

"How could it be false? Are all the great men in the south fools? Moreover, I heard that Commander Sun and many governors in the south were taken to the Hongwu Dynasty by Grandpa Taizu."

"It would be great if it was really Grandpa Taizu."

As a few people were talking, a few middle-aged men in Confucian robes walked in from outside the door.

After hearing what they said, someone glared at them and said, "What are you all mumbling about? You are a bunch of unruly people, you don't work all day long, you just hang around in the alleys, join in the fun, stir up trouble, do you think you can slander the great grandfather's deeds?"

"Who are you?"

Someone angrily said: "We are talking about our own business, why should we bother you?"

"My officer and soldiers are in charge."

The man in Confucian robes took out the official badge from his waist and said.

"Let's go."

Several people hurriedly walked out of the teahouse with their heads lowered.

It was just after noon, around 11 a.m., and it was time for all government offices to have a lunch break.

Officials in the Ming Dynasty went to work early and left work early. After the court was dismissed, they returned to their respective offices to do their work, had lunch and a nap at noon, and could leave work around 4 pm.

These men in Confucian robes were good friends of several officials. In the past, officials did not dare to contact them openly in private, but in the late Ming Dynasty, it didn't matter anymore.

The group came to the second floor of the teahouse facing the street and sat down while looking down at the people coming and going on the street below.

After the tea, cakes and snacks were served, a few people started chatting.

But as the conversation went on, the topic naturally soon turned to Zhu Yuanzhang.

Someone said, "Brother Shiheng, Brother Guohua, Brother Zhisheng, what do you think about what's happening in the south?"

"What else can we see? Naturally, the ministers in the court will discuss countermeasures."

Wu Guohua, Zuo Chunfang Zuo Zhongyun, did not want to talk about it, even though his good friend Xia Yujin, who was also a Jinshi in the same year, wrote to him.

Moreover, in history, Wu Guohua did not serve the Qing Dynasty and did not surrender to the Jian Nu, so he could be considered a loyal minister of the Ming Dynasty. However, since it was such a big matter concerning the court, he still dared not speak rashly.

Only Guang Shiheng, the military official, snorted coldly and said, "These are just traitors talking nonsense. I don't believe them anyway."

"If you ask me, now that all parts of the South have surrendered, so many people believe that he is the Great Ancestor, even Commander Sun... This matter is probably true."

Li Zhisheng, the director of the Imperial College, curled his lips and said, "I'm afraid the Ming Dynasty is really going to change."

"Shhh."

Dai Ming, the doctor of the Ministry of Personnel who had started the conversation earlier, quickly signaled Li Zhisheng, "Keep your voice down, don't let the Jinyiwei hear it."

"What are you afraid of? I don't believe you didn't receive the letter."

"So what if I received it? I don't believe it anyway. Besides, you just want Taizu to come down to earth. How many officials were killed during the Hongwu period?"

Guang Shiheng sneered and said, "We all passed the imperial examination in the same year and have served in the court for many years. We already know each other's backgrounds. When Taizu comes, how many of us will have a good ending?"

Everyone fell silent.

In the final analysis, eight out of ten officials in the Ming Dynasty were corrupt, and those who were not greedy or did not take advantage of others were often rich second-generations who had a solid family background and had no need to engage in corruption.

Given Taizu's temperament, if he really came down to earth, he would probably kill 80% of the officials in Beijing.

Moreover, I heard that officials were being killed in the south. If Taizu came, no one here would have a chance to survive.

"Well, having said that, rumors are just rumors after all. I think Brother Yu Jin is also confused. How can you believe such nonsense?"

"That's right, the dead cannot be resurrected. Even if Grandpa Taizu ascended to heaven and became a god, he can't come down to the mortal world."

"No wonder there have been people writing petitions in recent days hoping to send troops to the south and impeach those high-ranking officials in the south. It turns out they are really pretending to be His Majesty Taizu."

"Forget it, let's not say these spoiling words. Come on, come on, have some tea."

When it came to this, several people's attitudes suddenly changed and they began to disbelieve it.

No wonder they don’t believe it.

After all, it was easy for the ancients to become a tiger if three people were involved.

It is difficult to tell whether the news is true or false, especially in these turbulent times, when all kinds of rumors and gossip are flying around.

Yuan Chonghuan was killed because the Later Jin used a counter-espionage tactic to accuse him of colluding with the Later Jin.

It was difficult to tell whether such news was true or false, and Chongzhen was a stubborn and self-righteous person. He believed the slander and suspected Yuan Chonghuan of colluding with the Later Jin Dynasty. He did not give Yuan Chonghuan a chance to defend himself and immediately imprisoned and killed him.

People are more willing to hear news they want to hear than news they don't know whether it is true or not.

For the common people, if they heard that Taizu had come down to earth to save the world, this turbid world had already made their lives very difficult, so they would naturally be willing to believe in the appearance of such a savior.

But for the officials, they didn't want Zhu Yuanzhang to come.

After all, Zhu Yuanzhang was too cruel in killing officials. Even though they were all scholars, they had more subjective consciousness and ideas than those ignorant people. He knew that a large number of officials in the south were not fools, and the fake Taizu could not pretend to be the real Yuanzhang.

However, when they saw the letter saying that Zhu had begun killing officials in the south, most of the senior officials in Beijing scoffed.

Anyway, they don't want a King of Hell to appear.

The natural result was that the officials did not believe it, but the people below hoped that Taizu would really come.

So in the past few days, he wrote letters to Chongzhen's desk, denouncing the fake emperor in power in the south and saying that there were countless officials in the south who were traitors to the emperor and selling out the country. Memorials came in like snowflakes.

In fact, whether it was Chongzhen or the officials, they all knew that so many officials in the south were not fools and could not be fooled by a fake Taizu. The letters sent by relatives and friends were most likely true.

But even if it was true, they hoped it was false, including Chongzhen, who instinctively classified such things as rumors.

First, it is difficult for people to believe facts beyond their own knowledge before they see them with their own eyes.

Secondly, it has nothing to do with people’s intelligence; it only depends on their stance and interests.

soon.

More than ten days later.

By late April, people from Lao Zhu's faction also arrived in Beijing.

It was still Teahouse Street outside Liulichang Street. It was evening and the sky was gradually getting dark.

Someone set up a wooden board on the street outside Liulichang, and then hung a silver curtain, which aroused the curiosity of people around.

"This cloth is so novel. I have never seen this kind of cloth before. It looks like it is shiny and oily."

"What is this doing?"

"I see. It must be those foreigners again. They prop up a wooden board when they paint."

“But this board is too big.”

Everyone was talking about it.

The Ming Dynasty was no longer so closed in the middle and late periods. In fact, the maritime ban policy of the early Ming Dynasty was already in name only.

The Jiangnan region had very close exchanges with East Asia, Southeast Asia, Central Asia, West Asia and even Europe, and even a large number of Western missionaries came to China.

Matteo Ricci, Johann Adam Schall Johann Adam Schall von Bell, and Nicolas Trigault are typical representatives among them and are very famous in later generations.

Among them, Westerners brought their oil painting techniques.

For example, You Wenhui, the first Chinese oil painter in ancient times, studied oil painting techniques under Matteo Ricci. The "Portrait of Matteo Ricci" he painted for his teacher Matteo Ricci is the earliest existing oil painting with a clear Chinese signature.

Therefore, the Ming Dynasty at that time was actually quite open-minded, and they were able to see a lot of scientific knowledge that emerged after the Western Renaissance.

It was not until the Qing Dynasty that my country truly closed its doors to the outside world, causing it to lag completely behind the Western world.

However, the Ming people had rarely seen Westerners using such large wooden boards when painting oil paintings, not to mention that they had never seen the large amount of pigment needed for oil painting.

The sky gradually darkened, and by dusk, the onlookers were losing their patience and were about to leave.

Unexpectedly, the wooden boards were put up and started to be arranged again.

Several people took out a strange little box from the box, placed it on a table not far away, and pointed a lens at the screen.

Then they pressed a button and a light suddenly appeared on the screen.

Written on it are four big characters: "Huawei Technology."

"???"

Countless question marks suddenly popped up over the heads of the onlookers.

What is this?

Before everyone can figure out the situation.

Soon, a new image suddenly appeared above, scaring the people around so much that they stepped back.

Because they saw a magnificent palace appear on the screen, and then the camera slowly zoomed in.

Everyone felt as if they were being sucked in as they were immersed in the scene. A feeling of dizziness came over them and their perspectives entered the palace and slowly focused on the dragon throne above the palace.

On both sides of the palace, one can see warriors in serious silver armor standing sternly, and on the dragon throne above, an old man sits majestically.

"what is this?"

"Shh, don't talk."

Some people slowly came to their senses and asked carefully, but were stopped by others.

Everyone watched it all with rapt attention.

The camera continued to move forward and slowly came to the central hall of the hall, and the camera was aimed at the old man in the dragon robe above.

He looked serious and spoke slowly and forcefully, "I am Zhu Yuanzhang!"

The sound came from that small box, and scared the people around it so much that they stepped back.

At first, everyone was watching from a very close distance, but after these two shocks, there was almost no one left within a radius of four or five meters.

The old man continued, "After I die, I will become a god, traveling through the long river of history, looking at the past and the future. I saw my son and grandson killing each other, and I saw that more than 200 years later, the Ming Dynasty was ruined, destroyed by bandits, and then seized by the Jiannu outside the Great Wall. I also saw that when the Jiannu took over the country, in order to prevent the Han people from driving them out of the Great Wall again, they were even more fierce and brutal than the old Yuan Dynasty, forcing the Han people to shave their heads and change their clothes, and they lost their clothes. Over the past 200 years, they killed countless common people, and finally caused the decline of our Chinese civilization. We were invaded by Japanese pirates from overseas, and more than 30 million people were killed and injured."

"I am deeply saddened. I hate that my descendants have failed to protect this Han Chinese homeland. I also hate Li Zicheng, Zhang Xianzhong and other bandits who destroyed the Ming Dynasty, and I hate the Jian Nu who invaded from outside the Great Wall even more."

"For this reason, I have given up all my immortal powers, descended to the mortal world, and reborn as a human to save this ruined Ming Dynasty."

"Now I have gained the support of many officials in the south. Many of them died for their loyalty to the emperor during the invasion of the Jiannu. I sent them to the Hongwu Dynasty of the Ming Dynasty with magical instruments to see the secrets of heaven."

"I am here this time to clean up the Ming Dynasty, just like I did when I swept across the Yuan Dynasty and destroyed Mongolia, and to create a bright and clear world."

"I hope that the people of the Ming Dynasty will wait a little longer. When I lead my army to Beiping, that will be the time for me to let the people live and work in peace and contentment. It will also be the time for the Jiannu outside the Great Wall and the remnants of the Northern Yuan Dynasty to perish."

"I will only tell our descendants about the emperor Chongzhen who destroyed the Ming Dynasty."

"You are extremely stupid and incompetent. Your ability and virtue do not match your position. You are half responsible for the fall of the Ming Dynasty. I am very disappointed."

"However, when your country was destroyed and your family was ruined, you did not surrender to the bandits and chose to hang yourself on Coal Hill. This can be regarded as giving dignity to my Ming Dynasty and leaving behind a trace of integrity."

"I order you to come to Nanjing and see me immediately, return the country to me, and live as a peaceful prince. If you don't obey, you will be imprisoned in Fengyang forever!"

After saying this, the image slowly faded to black.

The people around were all dumbfounded.

Many people looked around, their calves trembling.

Then someone shouted, "Shuntianfu Yamen runners and Jinyiwei are here, run!"

Everyone panicked, some took a few steps and fell down, some supported each other and ran into the alley trembling, and some sat down on the spot, still maintaining an expression of disbelief.

Only the few people who were screening the video remained standing where they were, pressed a switch, and continued to play the video that Zhu Yunfeng had taken for Lao Zhu.

Not long after, a large number of Jinyiwei and Shuntianfu yamen runners heard the news and arrived.

In fact, there is more than just the street outside Liulichang.

There were projectionists on hundreds of streets in dozens of markets in the inner and outer cities, including Zhengxifang, Zhengdongfang, Chongbeifang, Xuanbeifang, Baizhifang, and Chongnanfang.

There was even an imperial edict written by Zhu Yuanzhang, which was sent all the way to Beijing by the Nanjing Jinyiwei and headed to the Forbidden City like a group of death warriors.

Many people are destined to remain awake this night.

Because this was not just a public opinion offensive launched by Zhu Yuanzhang to quickly spread the news that he had arrived in the Ming Dynasty.

It was also the last chance for Chongzhen.

After all, although Chongzhen's descendant was not a good person, he still left the Ming Dynasty with one last bit of dignity, so Zhu Yuanzhang was willing to give him some dignity.

Otherwise, Lao Zhu would have to give him face himself.

(End of this chapter)