Zhu Yuanzhang in the cellar

Chapter 222: Fengtian Jingnan
The next morning.

It was the end of April in the seventeenth year of Chongzhen, almost the beginning of June in the Gregorian calendar.

The weather in the morning is still a little chilly.

The weird weather during the Little Ice Age was a widespread drop in temperatures.

Under extreme weather conditions, even southern regions such as Guangzhou, Guangxi, Zhejiang and Fujian can experience snowfall in summer.

Historical records show that from the Jiajing period to the Chongzhen period, large-scale snowfalls occurred many times in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, and countless people froze to death in the Jiangnan region.

Even the Yangtze River, the Grand Canal and the water towns in the south were frozen. The northern Henan and Hebei regions were comparable to the Northeast in winter.

When summer comes, the temperature will not rise too high, but will remain low. The lowest temperature during the day is only four or five degrees, and it can drop to minus twenty degrees at night.

For example, there is a record in the 13th year of Chongzhen that when a soldier was returning home in July, heavy snow was still falling in Henan, Hebei and other places, and many people froze to death along the way.

This shows how great the damage caused by the Little Ice Age was.

Last winter, there was heavy snowfall in the southern region. When Lao Zhu returned from the Hongwu New Year, Changsha was already a world of ice and snow.

Now it is the end of April and the temperature in the south has barely risen, reaching over ten degrees or around twenty degrees during the day.

It's a bit like the climate in Guangdong in winter, which is always different from usual.

The consequences of this are actually very serious.

Because the Ming Dynasty was highly dependent on grain from the south, grain was transported to various parts of the country through the canal to meet national demand.

However, due to the extreme weather, the Jiangnan region, an important grain-producing area, which used to be able to grow two or even three crops a year, can now only grow grain in the spring and summer. In the autumn and winter, all the rice is frozen to death, resulting in a reduction in grain production.

In addition to man-made factors, many landlords in the south stopped growing crops in pursuit of economic benefits and instead planted mulberry trees, hemp, cotton and the like, making the Ming Dynasty's food shortage even worse.

After Zhu arrived in Jiangnan, he immediately started to make drastic changes, killing a large number of landlords, distributing land to the people, and immediately urging the south to grow grain to stabilize grain prices.

It is expected that after the harvest this summer and autumn, the ruined Ming Dynasty will finally be able to breathe a sigh of relief.

In the early morning, Zhu summoned more than a thousand guards to cross the Yangtze River.

The climate in Jiangbei is still a bit cold.

However, wherever they went along the way, the people had already started planting farmland, and it was obvious that the Huainan area of ​​Yingtian Prefecture had also completed the task of distributing land.

The team continued northward and arrived in Fengyang two days later.

Fengyang had been ravaged by Zhang Xianzhong before Zhu Yuanzhang came, and even Zhu Yuanzhang's ancestral tombs were dug up.

Although it was later renovated by the eunuchs who guarded Fengyang, Zhu Yuanzhang was still very angry when he saw the appearance of his ancestral tomb. He cursed Chongzhen for his incompetence and the harmful influence of Zhang Xianzhong and Li Zicheng.

A few days later, young Zhu Di returned to Fengyang.

Zhu Yuanzhang immediately sent Li Wenzhong to Nanjing to take over Fu Youde's position and seize the power of the three original military towns in Nanjing as well as the commander of the Nanjing Jinyiwei. Fu Youde then followed Zhu Yuanzhang into the war.

In early May, the weather in Huainan was like the south of the Yangtze River in spring. It was cool despite the hot summer.

To the north of Sizhou City, Fengyang Prefecture, outside the Ming Dynasty's ancestral tomb, teams of soldiers surrounded the palace walls on all sides. Walking along the walls, there was a long passage.

Many stone sculptures of unicorns, lions, civil officials, military generals, attendants, and horse officers were built on both sides of the passage.

The surrounding area is bare. The trees that once stood there have all been cut down. Only the weeds that have grown in the past seven or eight years tell of its former glory.

Through the ruins in the distance, you can vaguely see that the former palace walls were destroyed in the war. The new walls were painted with a layer of white paint, and it was obviously repaired recently.

There used to be a large number of palaces further away, but they had long since disappeared in the long river of history and were burned down.

Cross the bridge outside the palace and enter the hall, where there are tablets of Zhu family ancestors. There is a lot of incense burning and someone is cleaning it all the time.

Behind the palace are the tombs of Zhu Yuanzhang's parents, brothers, sisters-in-law, and nephews.

At this moment, Zhu Yuanzhang led the descendants of the Zhu family and a group of civil and military ministers to stand in front of his father's tomb to pay homage.

Zhang Xianzhong excavated the tombs of Zhu's ancestors and scattered their remains everywhere. It was later repaired by the Fengyang governor and the eunuch garrisoning Fengyang.

But even after the renovation, it still looks desolate.

The cool summer breeze blew on the barren grass slope. The few newly planted trees around the grave were only seven or eight years old. Their trunks were very thin, and they swayed gently in the wind, making a rustling sound.

Zhu Yuanzhang sat in front of his parents' grave with tears in his eyes. He dropped the wine glass in his hand to the ground and toasted his parents with a glass of wine.

The breeze blew through his gray hair, and there was endless sadness in his eyes.

"Dad, Mom. Our descendants are incompetent and cannot protect the Ming Dynasty. They also bring trouble to our ancestors."

"I have killed Zhang Xianzhong to avenge my parents."

"Back then, the Yuan Dynasty was brutal and people's lives were difficult. I had no choice but to join the rebel army, but I ended up becoming the emperor."

"But now the Yuan Dynasty was defeated by our Ming Dynasty, and now the Jian Nu has come. I was unfilial and failed to leave a lasting foundation for the Ming Dynasty, and later the Jian Nu took over our country."

"It is fate that has brought me here. My parents will suffer a great disaster in a hundred years, and I wish I could come here earlier."

"Although my family's revenge has been paid, the hatred for my country is hard to erase. Although I have already defeated Zhang Xianzhong and Li Zicheng, the hatred of the Jiannu who slaughtered the Central Plains and destroyed the clothes and hats of the Han people still lingers in my heart all the time and I cannot extricate myself from it."

"I pour this wine today to pay tribute to my parents, brothers, sisters-in-law, and nephews. When I march north again, I will make sure that the Jiannu people will be destroyed and exterminated, and wipe out the hatred of the Chinese people!"

After pouring the wine, Old Zhu waved to Little Zhu Di, Zhu Yunfeng and the others and said, "Come over and burn some incense for our ancestors."

Young Zhu Di stepped forward, held up the incense sticks and bowed three times respectfully. Finally, he inserted the incense sticks into the large incense burner and said, "Grandpa, grandma, this time I will definitely go north to destroy the Jian Nu."

After he left, Zhu Yunfeng also went up to burn incense.

Although he is only a descendant of King Ji, if we trace his roots, he is also the orthodox descendant of the Zhu family and the direct descendant of Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Di. This is also his ancestral tomb.

"Grandparents, grandma, your descendants Zhu Yunfeng are offering incense to you two, hoping that you will bless us in heaven and let your grandson be smooth and successful."

Zhu Yunfeng bowed solemnly, causing Zhu Yuanzhang next to him to frown frequently.

Does this kid treat his ancestors as a wishing well?
However, thinking that people in later generations seemed to be of the same character, he could only relax his brows.

Soon the ancestor worship ceremony was over.

Old Zhu put his hands behind his back and walked slowly in the long corridor.

Zhu Yunfeng and little Zhu Di followed closely behind him.

The rest of Fengyang Governor Lu Zhenfei, Xuhuai Military Affairs Officer He Tengjiao and many local officials followed behind from a distance.

"Fourth."

"Father."

"I'll wait for Fu Youde to come here, you take the others and go first."

"it is good."

"We won't bring too many people with us this time. We'll leave three towns of soldiers in Nanjing and have Bao'er garrison there. Where is Sun Chuanting now?"

"There were sporadic rebellions in Henan before, so he went to Henan."

"Send someone to inform him to lead his troops to go with you, and have Zuo Liangyu come to Fengyang immediately."

"Yes."

Little Zhu Di nodded.

This time, there were actually three forces that encircled Li Zicheng.

He Tengjiao only has a few thousand people, and they basically just do the supporting work.

The main force of the pursuit was Zhu Di, followed by Sun Chuanting, and then Zuo Liangyu and Lu Daqi from Huguang.

However, Sun Chuanting does not have many men, only about 10,000 at present, so they cannot help much and have been controlling the periphery.

After Li Zicheng was eliminated, Sun Chuanting led his troops back to Henan to deal with some sporadic uprisings in Henan.

Now Henan, Shaanxi and other places are really in chaos, not only natural disasters are frequent, but also uprisings are constantly going on. Sun Chuanting can be said to be running around and devoting himself to the Ming Dynasty. Fortunately, after Zhu Yuanzhang came, the south has been pacified, and a large amount of food and grass has been confiscated, which has helped the troops loyal to Zhu Yuanzhang in various places to replenish a lot of money and food.

Otherwise, even if Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor, were to be resurrected, without money and food, a large number of troops would probably have been defeated.

At present, Tang He is stationed in Sichuan, Feng Sheng is in Huguang, Xu Da is in Changsha, Fu Youde is on the way to Fengyang, and Li Wenzhong is stationed in Nanjing. Several generals have their own destinations.

In fact, Zhu Yuanzhang did not have many soldiers and horses under his command.

In addition to the more than 5,000 people brought from the Hongwu period, Zuo Liangyu had more than 30,000 people, and Sun Chuanting and Lu Daqi each had more than 10,000 people.

After that it was the three towns of Nanjing. After eliminating the old and weak, leaving only the elite soldiers, there were about 30,000 of them.

There were also some others like He Tengjiao and Qin Liangyu who each had several thousand men. When all the soldiers were added up, the total number was less than 100,000, and they were scattered all over the place.

But there is nothing we can do.

The large-scale uprisings of Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong had been suppressed, but small-scale uprisings continued across the country.

There were natural disasters and chaos in the late Ming Dynasty. Even though the man-made disasters in the south had been eliminated, there was nothing that could be done to stop the natural disasters.

Even if Zhu is really a sun, he can only shine on the areas he actually controls. He is still powerless to control Henan, Hebei, Shaanxi, Shanxi, Shandong and other places.

So he needs to leave troops behind in various places.

On the one hand, they acted according to his orders and continued to kill corrupt officials, landlords and evil gentry, and confiscated their property in order to achieve the purpose of reshuffle.

Secondly, it was also to suppress possible uprisings that might occur locally, such as the southern landlords' rebellion against Zhu, the uprising of the ethnic minority chieftains in Sichuan, and the rebellion of the people in the disaster-stricken areas such as Huguang and Huainan who could not bear the heavy burden.

"You can leave today."

Old Zhu added: "I will wait for Fu Youde in Fengyang, and there are too many follow-up supplies, so I will also be needed to follow."

Little Zhu Di said: "That child will be the pioneer for his father."

"Ah."

Old Zhu nodded.

Zhu Yunfeng immediately said, "I'll go too. I'll go with Lao Si."

"This is marching and fighting. Can you do it?"

Old Zhu glanced at Zhu Yunfeng.

People in later generations are spoiled. Just look at how fat the fourth child became after living in modern times for a few years.

If the fourth son had not suffered a lot in his childhood, and later worked hard to become stronger, and worked out to lose weight, I'm afraid that Emperor Yongle would have perished in later generations.

You are a rich second-generation who grew up in the future, who has never lacked food and clothing and has never suffered any hardship. Even if your parents became a poor second-generation after they went bankrupt, how can you be as hardworking and able to travel thousands of miles like an ancient soldier?
"I can just take the carriage anyway."

Zhu Yunfeng said confidently.

Old Zhu was so angry that he laughed and said, "Do you think fighting is just for fun?"

"Old Four has guns and cannons. If I get hurt or die, I will never let him go even if I become a ghost. Old Four should also jump into the river to accompany me."

Zhu Yunfeng became even more confident.

TM's.

You bring a large number of modern weapons and equipment, AK automatic rifles, mortars, rapid-fire cannons, as well as various high-calorie marching rations, drones, night vision goggles, binoculars, military tents, sleeping bags and other logistical equipment.

We can't defeat an ancient army that relies entirely on bows and arrows for long-range weapons, doesn't have enough food to eat, doesn't have warm clothes to wear, and sometimes has to sleep outdoors.

Old Four, go bang your head against the wall.

Little Zhu Di said happily: "Father, let him go. He is right. If he gets hurt in this situation, I will be too ashamed to live."

"Okay, just be careful with yourselves."

Old Zhu nodded.

Indeed.

Modern weapons were indeed very lethal in ancient times, but he also had sufficient logistics, with hundreds of tons of supplies being transported over. He had no shortage of bullets, artillery shells, and food, so there was no need to worry.

"Then let's take the canal."

Little Zhu Di thought for a moment and said, "Supplies are transported by river, so we can go by land and push our way across."

"Okay then, I'll follow you."

Zhu Yunfeng put his arm around little Zhu Di's shoulders and said with a smile, "It's just right to go to Beijing for a visit."

By the afternoon, little Zhu Di was ready.

He led 1,500 men and more than 10,000 civilians carrying a large amount of supplies along the Huai River into the Huai'an Canal and headed north.

Sun Chuanting was in Bozhou, and young Zhu Di sent someone to inform him to set off immediately. The two sides would meet in Xuzhou and then head for Shandong.

Old Zhu accompanied Zhu Di all the way to the bank of the Huai River and watched the team slowly go away.

More than an hour later, when the team was about to arrive in Linhuai County, Zhu Yunfeng got out of the carriage, stood on the shaft and looked around.

The people around were riding on horseback and moving slowly eastward. More than 20 ships on the canal to the north were moving parallel to the troops.

The wilderness is flat. The Huai River has nurtured countless children on both sides of the strait. The plains are fertile fields for thousands of miles. A large number of people are working in the fields, looking forward to a good harvest in the second half of this year.

"Fourth."

Zhu Yunfeng shouted.

Little Zhu Di had been standing by the carriage and asked, "What's wrong?"

“How far is it to Beijing?”

"If everything goes well, it will take about a month. If not, it will take two months."

"Why is it not going well?"

"Isn't Chongzhen a rude kid? What if he sends people to stop us? It's normal to be delayed for a few days after fighting for a day or two."

"I have a plan that will make the journey unobstructed."

Zhu Yunfeng pointed his right index finger to the sky, his eyes showing wisdom.

"What's the plan?"

Little Zhu Di asked cooperatively.

"Captain Zhou, hang it up."

Zhu Yunfeng took out the walkie-talkie and shouted.

Little Zhu Di immediately looked in the direction of the ship.

Naturally, there were also troops on the fleet, led by Zhou An, a centurion in the army.

Not long after Zhu Yunfeng’s shout, people came out from the bow in the distance and began to make arrangements on both sides of the ship.

Little Zhu Di took out his telescope, looked carefully for a while, and almost peed himself.

Because there were banners lowered on both sides of the ship and hung on the side and bow of the ship.

On both sides of the bow were hung "Emperor Taizong's Personal Arrival" on one side and "Fengtian Quelled the Rebellion" on the other.

On both sides of the ship were long banners that read "You are the unworthy descendant of Chongzhen. Grandpa Taizu and Grandzong are here to take you away."

The other side is not visible.

But it’s probably not a good word.

(End of this chapter)