Zhu Yuanzhang in the cellar

Chapter 221: Marching North
"woo woo woo woo."

The desolate sound of the horn resounded through heaven and earth.

Young Zhu Di didn't waste any time and quickly launched an attack as soon as he arrived at the location.

For fear of accidental injuries, he led 1,500 men to launch a surprise attack from the east; Zuo Liangyu and Lu Daqi outflanked the attack from the west.

The double-pronged attack posed a serious threat to the safety of Chuang's army.

Of course, young Zhu Di did not run straight to the enemy camp, but followed Li Wenzhong's advice and first raided the mountains in the northeast and occupied the commanding heights.

The bows and crossbows of the Chuang army were no match for the Ming army's AK. They couldn't even hurt the Ming army and were forced to flee in embarrassment.

After all, this is not the Vietnamese jungle where the grass is so dense that it is taller than people. Although there are some bushes blocking the view, the AK's strafing splashed a lot of dirt and grass, making it impossible to hide people.

After occupying a commanding height, there was no more suspense. Under the bombardment of mortars, a large number of Chuang troops fled westward and collided with Zuo Liangyu and Lu Daqi.

After a battle that was not particularly brutal and could even be considered a small-scale one, Li Guo led the remaining rebel army to surrender to the Ming army.

From then on, the Dashun regime that destroyed the Ming Dynasty in history completely disappeared.

In the afternoon, young Zhu Di set up a radio on the top of the mountain, looked at the battlefield that had calmed down in the distance, and reported the news to the Nanjing Palace.

"Hey."

Zhu Yunfeng picked up the shortwave radio headset.

"nailed it."

"The Chuang army was wiped out?"

"Ah."

"Where is Li Zicheng?"

"Jumped off a cliff."

"awful."

"I'll go back to my teacher now."

Young Zhu Di looked into the distance and left the battlefield to Zuo Liangyu and Lu Daqi's troops to clean up, and he could return to Nanjing.

"The ancestor said before that if you don't rush back to Nanjing after you destroy Li Zicheng, go to Fengyang first to wait for him, and then inform Sun Chuanting and He Tengjiao that he needs to go to Fengyang to worship his ancestors."

"it is good."

"Okay, I'll go report the situation to the ancestor first."

Zhu Yunfeng hung up the phone.

At this moment, Old Zhu was still handling official business in the Qianqing Palace.

He is simply a pervert.

Since he arrived in Nanjing, the leisurely days of the six ministries and many officials in Nanjing were gone forever.

At four o'clock in the morning, the Meridian Gate outside Nanjing was opened wide, and hundreds of Nanjing officials who were still alive, or civil and military officials who had been reinstated, promoted, or appointed, had to go to court to make reports.

After the imperial hearing outside the Fengtian Gate was over and everyone finally waited until seven or eight o'clock in the morning, they had to immediately go to the various government offices to do their work and report today's affairs to the cabinet.

In the past, the Cabinet and the Imperial Household Department of the Ming Dynasty would review and approve these memorials. After they were processed, they would be handed over to the emperor for formal promulgation and implementation.

If the emperor did not want to govern the country, the cabinet and the Imperial Household Department could basically handle daily government affairs.

It is for this reason that Jiajing could build a Taoist temple in the imperial palace and become a god, Wanli could not attend court for thirty years, and Tianqi could play with wood in the harem all day long.

But Lao Zhu's way of doing things is completely different.

What is the Cabinet Secretariat?

They had no power to review memorials and could only help to organize them.

In addition, he was responsible for drafting imperial edicts for Zhu Yuanzhang, sending memorials that Zhu Yuanzhang had reviewed, and conveying Zhu Yuanzhang's orders.

It can be said that with Zhu Yuanzhang in power, the cabinet and the Nanjing eunuch department headed by Han Zanzhou were in name only.

However, no one dared to object.

In front of Emperor Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang, these Ming officials could only obey orders and not question them.

Today, Mr. Zhu is reviewing an official document.

It was not a memorial, but a list of names to be cut for the final approval.

Changzhou, Suzhou, Songjiang and other places under the jurisdiction of Yingtian Prefecture are very prosperous. Since ancient times, they have also been one of the gathering areas for salt merchants, tea merchants and grain merchants.

Among them, there are countless wealthy and powerful families. For example, the Xu Jie family has more than 400,000 acres of land in Songjiang Prefecture.

Although Xu Jie had been dead for 60 years at this time, unlike Yan Song who fell from power and could not be easily dealt with by local officials, Xu Jie retired and only Gao Gong and Hai Rui harassed the Xu family.

However, after Gao Gong and Hai Rui were dismissed from office and his student Zhang Juzheng became the chief minister of the cabinet, the Xu family was taken care of by Zhang Juzheng, and their descendants all became officials. Therefore, the family's fortune continues to this day, and it is still the richest and most powerful family in Songjiang Prefecture.

At the end of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang ordered a thorough investigation of wealthy households in the south, including all kinds of salt merchants, tea merchants, grain merchants and landowners in Jiangnan. Those who were traitors would inevitably be put to death, and all their property and personnel would be confiscated.

The property will be confiscated and the people must hand over the list to Zhu Yuanzhang. Usually these people have gone through a series of reviews by local officials and the Embroidered Uniform Guard, and are basically the people who are to be killed, so they are waiting for Zhu Yuanzhang's approval.

In fact, such a killing will definitely have serious consequences for the market.

Although these salt, tea and grain merchants are despicable and they make a fortune in times of national crisis, without these people running the business, the prices of goods on the market will skyrocket.

Therefore, Zhu Yuanzhang established a state-owned trading house to turn these basic living materials into government-owned goods. He also confiscated the shops and grains seized from various households and sold them at a significantly reduced price to meet market demand.

After a series of operations, the originally high salt and grain prices in the Jiangnan region fell rapidly, prices were maintained, and people were able to have access to grain and salt.

of course.

In the late Ming Dynasty, when natural disasters were frequent, doing so would be tantamount to killing the goose that lays the golden eggs if subsequent output could not keep up.

Therefore, Zhu Yuanzhang had to start the spring plowing immediately and asked Ji He to return to Changsha to transport a large amount of new seeds, fertilizers, and pesticides to the end of the Ming Dynasty, and then transport them quickly to the south of the Yangtze River by water to carry out the first wave of agricultural revolution.

Currently, Yunfeng Group has its own fertilizer and pesticide factories. Compared with the previous times when they had to transport the goods secretly, they can now have as much as they want.

Therefore, Zhu Yuanzhang does not have to worry about the shortage of food after the autumn harvest in the south in July and August this year. He can boldly kill all these traitorous parasites.

With just one order from him, hundreds of people fell to the ground.

But Old Zhu didn't even blink.

"Ancestor."

When Zhu Yunfeng returned to the main hall, he saw Old Zhu throwing the approved document on the table and asking Han Zanzhou to send it to the cabinet in front.

Han Zanzhou held the documents in both hands and walked backwards out of the Qianqing Palace. After he left, Old Zhu picked up a new memorial and said without looking up, "What's the matter?"

"Li Zicheng is destroyed."

"Oh?"

When Old Zhu heard the news, he finally looked up at him.

Zhu Yunfeng didn't have much feeling about the man who destroyed his Ming Dynasty, but Old Zhu must have felt extremely disgusted.

He said in a deep voice: "Have you captured Li Zicheng?"

"Didn't catch it."

"Let him run away? What does Lao Si do for a living?"

"He committed suicide by jumping off a cliff before his demise."

Zhu Yunfeng shrugged.

"pity."

Old Zhu smacked his lips.

It was a pity that Zhang Xianzhong was killed by a cannon, and it was also a pity that Li Zicheng jumped off a cliff.

Because he wanted to torture these two people to death. However, compared with Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong, the Jian Nu was the target that Zhu hated the most.

After all, he was the one who drove out the barbarians and restored China.

As a result, he drove out the Mongols, and the Jurchens and the Jiannu occupied the Han people's territory again.

His Ming Dynasty had become a Han dynasty sandwiched between two barbarians. How could Zhu Yuanzhang remain calm?
"Now that Li Zicheng has been destroyed, the next step is to head north."

Zhu Yunfeng asked tentatively.

"Ah."

Old Zhu lowered his head and glanced at government affairs.

There is no end to the government affairs.

But there is nothing we can do.

I have to go to Beijing, and there are too many things to deal with in the south.

He was required to give instructions for allocating land, investigating corrupt officials, landlords and evil gentry, mobilizing personnel, and arranging for people in various places to resume production.

We can't ask Zhu Biao to take over.

"Forget it. I have basically dealt with the situation in the south. I can just let Baoer stay in Nanjing to help me deal with the aftermath."

Old Zhu thought to himself, then stood up and said, "Someone come."

"His Majesty."

Guards came in immediately.

"Xuan Shi Kefa, Ma Shiying, Xiong Mingyu, Gao Hongtu, Zhang Shenyan, Guo Weijing, Jiang Yueguang, Jiang Yihong and others come in."

"Yes."

The guard then went out.

After about ten minutes, several cabinet ministers who were working in the Fengtian Hall and more than ten people including the six ministers who were working in the six ministries outside the Meridian Gate entered the hall.

"See Your Majesty."

Everyone bowed their hands and saluted.

Zhu Yuanzhang stood up, holding the table, and with his hands behind his back, he walked around the table to the front of the stage and said condescendingly: "Li Zicheng has been destroyed, and the bandits who have been disturbing the heartland of the Central Plains for more than ten years have been basically eliminated. The remaining ones are mostly minor troubles. The south has been settled, and I have decided to lead my troops north."

Shi Kefa and the others looked at each other. Zhang Shenyan plucked up his courage and said, "Your Majesty, His Majesty Chongzhen is still a little young and hot-tempered. Your Majesty also said that His Majesty hanged himself to death for his country, and his character remained. There must be a traitor who has deceived His Majesty. I think it is better not to use force again. The north should be settled by issuing an edict. Then His Majesty will understand your good intentions."

Although Lu Jiude and the others have not returned yet, thanks to Zhu Yunfeng's big mouth, the news that Zhu Youjian did not repent and instead talked back to Old Zhu when he scolded him yesterday has already spread.

When the ministers learned about this, they were almost scared to death.

From the perspective of law, reason, filial piety and various other principles, they must of course obey Zhu's orders. After all, it was Zhu who founded the Ming Dynasty, and in terms of seniority, Chongzhen could not catch up even if he flattered him.

But no matter what, for these ministers, Zhu Yuanzhang is the emperor and father, and Chongzhen is also the emperor and father, and they must both be protected.

So even though Zhu Yuanzhang was so angry that he vomited blood and threatened to attack Beijing and capture Chongzhen and hang him up to beat him,

People like them must also stand up and say a few good words for Chongzhen.

However, Zhu Yuanzhang was extremely angry at such an unworthy descendant and immediately shouted, "Don't say anything. I don't have such an unworthy descendant. He is incompetent and mediocre, unworthy of his position, and dares to talk back when I say a few words to him. What's the point of having such an emperor?"

"His Majesty."

Shi Kefa and others wanted to say something else.

Old Zhu glared at them and said, "I founded the Ming Dynasty. I can give the throne to whoever I want. Do you want to interfere in my family affairs?"

If it were any other emperor, as a Ming Dynasty civil servant who specifically went against the emperor, he would definitely stand up and say, "The royal family has no family affairs, the emperor's family affairs are also state affairs, and we are arguing for national affairs."

But this is Lao Zhu.

If you dare to say this, no matter whether you die a heroic death for your country or not, Zhu Yuanzhang will kill you on the spot. Even if you are unlucky, it will not be enough for him to kill you alone, but he will also punish your entire clan.

So when faced with Lao Zhu's angry questions, everyone looked at each other, and finally swallowed whatever they wanted to say.

Gao Hongtu had no choice but to say, "But your majesty wants to lead his troops north, what should we do with the government affairs in Nanjing?"

"I will ask Li Wenzhong to stay in Nanjing to handle government affairs."

Old Zhu waved his hands and said, "I have thought about letting Tang Wang Zhu Youjian supervise the country and let him inherit the throne in the future. Zhu Youjian is dedicated to the country and the people. When the country was in danger, other princes stayed in their fiefdoms, but he organized troops to save the country. I just hate that Chongzhen is so stupid that he didn't want such a loyal prince, but tortured him instead."

"After the Jian Nu conquered Nanjing, he proclaimed himself emperor in Fujian as Longwu. If it weren't for the fact that the Zheng family, except for Zheng Chenggong, were all villains, Zhu Youjian might have had the possibility of restoring the dynasty."

"But I have also heard that Crown Prince Zhu Cilang is very intelligent and has the potential to be a wise ruler."

"After all, the King of Tang is a distant relative. Since the Fourth Prince has seized the world, the world should belong to his descendants. I will not appoint a new ruler. I will depose Chongzhen and imprison him forever in Fengyang, let Zhu Cilang ascend the throne, and select talented people to assist him."

After these words, the ministers looked at each other.

Shi Kefa took the lead and said, "Your Majesty is wise."

Everyone also hurriedly said: "Your Majesty is wise."

This is actually the best solution.

For the ministers, Chongzhen was the orthodox one after all.

The reason why the Southern Ming Dynasty was in chaos was that Chongzhen hanged himself, and none of his sons escaped.

If Chongzhen died, let alone Zhu Cilang, even if Zhu Cijiong and Zhu Cizhao, the two illegitimate eldest sons, fled to the south, there would be no chance for Prince Fu, Prince Tang and others.

Therefore, the ministers must have hoped that Chongzhen’s descendants would inherit the throne, which is also in line with the law.

As for Lao Zhu.

He actually considered replacing Zhu Youjian.

But in the end it was rejected.

This actually has nothing to do with whether Zhu Cilang is really talented.

But Zhu Youjian is not a descendant of Empress Ma.

Although there is actually no saying in the Ming Dynasty that only Empress Ma has the right of inheritance.

But this fact was basically accepted in the early Ming Dynasty.

Except for Zhu Di, the other three, Zhu Chong, Zhu Gang and Zhu Su, could still become emperors like Zhu Di as long as they or their descendants who inherited their titles succeeded in the Jingnan Rebellion.

But if it weren't for the sons of Queen Ma, if the Jingnan Rebellion had succeeded, I'm afraid all the princes in the world would have rebelled.

In the end.

It's not just that Zhu Yuanzhang deeply loved Empress Ma.

At the same time, Empress Ma was also a member of the Huaixi noble group, and even a leading figure among them.

Empress Ma accounted for at least one-third of the credit for Zhu Yuanzhang's success in establishing his kingdom.

Therefore, only the son of Zhu Yuanzhang and Empress Ma had the right to inherit the throne.

This is an undoubted fact.

Therefore, Zhu Yuanzhang thought carefully and decided that Chongzhen must be deposed, but since Zhu Youjian was not a direct descendant of Empress Ma, there was nothing he could do.

"Send an order, gather the three armies immediately, and follow me across the river to Fengyang tomorrow. You will stay in Nanjing to assist Wen Zhong."

Zhu Yuanzhang looked around and said, "Remember, do everything according to my instructions. If you act on your own or shield criminals, you will lose your life."

"Yes, I obey your order."

All the ministers were startled and bowed in obeisance, not daring to have the slightest thought of disloyalty in their hearts.

(End of this chapter)