Zhu Yuanzhang in the cellar

Chapter 223: Shooting as soon as entering the city

"Any Ming official, soldier or civilian who obstructs the Holy Emperor's coming shall be executed along with his entire clan."

Young Zhu Di even ran to the boat during his break to see what slogan was written on the other side.

After reading it, I looked like an old man on the subway with his cell phone, with a frown on my forehead.

What the hell is this?

I am marching north on my father's orders.

Can't you be more serious?

You think you're just surfing the Internet and making jokes, right?

Little Zhu Di strongly requested that such a shameful thing be taken off, but Zhu Yunfeng refused to agree.

There was even a fierce physical conflict between the two sides.

Without Ji He's help, Zhu Yunfeng was quickly locked in a neck lock by little Zhu Di with his elbow.

But even so, he still shouted: "You want to lock my neck, right? If you dare to tear it, I will go back and smash all your computer, game console and tablet."

This sentence hit the soft spot of little Zhu Di, and he could only let go of Zhu Yunfeng in dismay, saying helplessly: "You are really a talented person, how can nine years of compulsory education make you so outstanding."

"hey-hey."

Zhu Yunfeng chuckled.

The army then carried such banners all the way along the Huai River towards the Grand Canal.

Huainan belonged to the territory of Nanzhili, and all the southerners had already surrendered to it. After leaving Fengyang Prefecture, you arrived at Huai'an Prefecture.

Huai'an prefect Zhong Yuande had surrendered long ago and personally led the surviving civil and military officials of Huai'an to greet them and respectfully invited them into the city.

They waited in Huai'an for five or six days before Sun Chuanting from Bozhou arrived with 10,000 troops.

After a day's rest we set off again.

The Grand Canal was the most important transportation route in the Ming and Qing dynasties, without a doubt.

Huai'an Qingkou Hub is the intersection of Tongji Canal and Zhongyun Canal. Here the waterways are unified and head southward, entering the Liyun Canal, and then crossing the Yangtze River to the Jiangnan Canal.

Therefore, this was an extremely prosperous area in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. There were crowds of people inside and outside the dock, and countless passengers and cargo came and went every day.

During this period, as Zhu Yuanzhang made great efforts in Jiangnan, the news was also spread along the north-south freight and passenger transport of the canal. Many people knew that Taizu had descended to the earth and was about to launch a northern expedition.

Now that young Zhu Di has arrived in Huainan, countless people have come to join his army, including a large number of former Luo sect members, all of whom want to see Chengzu's elegance.

The city was suddenly bustling with traffic, and people from all walks of life gathered together.

Young Zhu Di naturally didn't care about these things.

He only sat in the Huai'an government office for a while to arrange some things, and then lived in the military camp outside the city.

No matter what the intentions of these people are, whether good or evil, they have no ability to touch them.

After all, if various organizations such as Luojiao, Wenxiangjiao, and Zhaijiao were useful, Li Zicheng would not have destroyed the Ming Dynasty and the Jian Nu would not have taken over the world.

But they did have a lot of people, especially the Luo Sect, which later became the Cao Gang. They had disciples all along the canal, were well-informed, and had many spies. Every day, there were endless curious people standing far away outside the military camp to inquire about the situation.

After only staying in Huai'an for a few days, there were at least tens of thousands of people watching outside the military camp, and people flocked in from all over the place every day. There were countless dignitaries and high-ranking officials who came to see him.

This embarrassing situation was not avoided until Sun Chuanting arrived with 10,000 elite troops to escort young Zhu Di further north.

“They are all your fans.”

In early May, the summer breeze blows on your face and the sun hangs high in the sky, but it does not feel too hot. Instead, there is a cool breeze and the frost has dried up.

The Little Ice Age was not entirely bad. At least it was still very comfortable in the summer.

Zhu Yunfeng stood at the stern of the boat and held a drone in the sky. From the video, it can be seen that after they came out of Huai'an Wharf, countless small boats followed them, and there were thousands of followers on both sides of the strait.

For those who wanted to join the army, Zhu Di had asked Huai'an prefect Zhong Yuande to issue a notice, telling the people who came to Huai'an these days that their army was sufficient and that it would not take so many people to capture Beijing.

And the people should work and return to their hometowns. After that, the court will order a thorough investigation of the land in various places, distribute land to the poor people, and let them return to their hometowns to wait for good news from the court.

But Zhu Di obviously underestimated his own charm. Although he was rejected when he joined the army, there were still many people who were willing to follow him, and they would rather walk with him.

After all, the flow rate of the canal is very slow, and the ships passing by often need to be rowed slowly by manpower, or even need the help of trackers on the shore to tow them forward. The speed of travel is very slow, about five or six kilometers per hour, which is completely within the reach of people walking.

"I hope they can go back to their hometown instead of joining in the fun."

Zhu Di was speechless and said, "With such a large group of people following me, people who didn't know would think I was going to a gang fight."

"This is no different from a gang fight."

"But they are always following us. What should we do with their food, drink, defecation and urination?"

"Look carefully at the screen."

Zhu Yunfeng pointed at the drone screen and said, "Do you think the real poor people at the bottom of society will have a chance to come and chase stars? Those who can come are those who have information, connections, and travel expenses. Are you still afraid that they will starve to death?"

Zhu Di leaned over to take a look and saw that indeed there were many people on both sides of the river wearing silk and satin, carrying large and small bags, sitting in horse-drawn carriages, or with hired carriage drivers following them from a distance.

There may be poor people, but they are basically the lower-class people of Huai'an, and they can't stay with us for too long before they have to go back.

After all.

Chasing stars also requires costs. Without wealth, how can you follow Zhu Di?

"so troublesome."

Seeing this, Zhu Di shook his head.

These people just followed, and their only desire was to join the army.

He couldn't agree to them, and there was nothing he could do about them.

"To be honest, if young people in the future traveled back to the Republic of China and met that gentleman, they would follow him to complete the Long March. This is actually the same as them."

Zhu Yunfeng smiled and said, "But the difference is that you don't need so many troops. You should think about how to place them."

"Sun Chuanting."

Zhu Di took out the walkie-talkie and shouted.

Sun Chuanting, the guard on the shore, received Zhu Di's order. According to the instructions of the messenger, he hurriedly pressed the intercom and replied, "Your Highness."

Since Zhu Yuanzhang was still alive, Zhu Di only asked them to call him King of Yan, so they could not call him Taizong or Chengzu.

"You arrange for someone to persuade them to leave and tell them that Taizu will also be arriving in Huai'an soon. If they want to join the army, it will be up to Taizu to decide."

"Yes."

Sun Chuanting immediately arranged for people to go to the rear to make the announcement.

Zhu Yunfeng gave a thumbs up and said, "Are you really not afraid of your father spanking you?"

Little Zhu Di said proudly: "My father loves the people like his own children. How can he not be happy when so many people come to seek refuge with him? Besides, the food and grass I brought are not much, and it is not easy to distribute them. My father brought countless supplies, so it is easy to settle them."

According to official statistics, the population at the end of the Ming Dynasty was approximately 60 million.

Because of the issue of hidden population tax, later historians estimated that the population at the end of the Ming Dynasty was about 100 million, and the peak was estimated to be 190 million. It can be said that there were people everywhere in the world.

Their great fanfare along the way would certainly attract many poor people along the canal to join the army and follow Taizu and Taizong to conquer the world.

It would be unacceptable to turn these people away when they came to seek refuge, so at least we should give them some food and let them return home to wait for Zhu Yuanzhang to capture Beijing. Then we would start to investigate corrupt officials, landlords and evil gentry all over the country and distribute land to them.

But the young Zhu Di only brought more than 1,000 people, plus Sun Chuanting's more than 10,000 people, and there was not much food and supplies. A direct refusal would chill the people's hearts, but there was no way to give food and supplies, so he could only push it to the old Zhu.

Old Zhu has too much baggage.

His own team consisted of about 40,000 people from Zuo Liangyu and Lu Daqi, but he also hired more than 300,000 civilians.

In addition to the large amount of military equipment and supplies brought from modern times, there were also a lot of grain seized from Jiangnan. The total amount of various baggage was tens of thousands of tons, and there were only thousands of large and small grain transport ships.

Therefore, even if many people along the route seek refuge, it would not be a problem to distribute some food and travel expenses for their return trip.

After all, we must spread Taizu's reputation for being benevolent to the people, so that people all over the world will support him.

"It's a good thing, isn't it?" Zhu Yunfeng said. "According to the information I checked, most of the workers along the canal are disciples of the Luo Sect. These people are well-informed. The stories of you and your ancestors along the way will surely spread throughout the world through their channels. By then, it will be very beneficial to your own prestige and to your reputation of loving the people. I estimate that when you arrive in Shandong, basically every place where you go will have to open its doors to welcome us into the city."

Little Zhu Di was surprised and said, "The news that we killed corrupt officials in Jiangnan has spread a long time ago, and they still dare to open the door?"

“But we didn’t kill the corrupt officials.”

Zhu Yunfeng curled his lips. Zhu Di had been fighting a war before, while he had been in Nanjing helping Zhu handle government affairs. He knew the inside story of this matter better than Zhu Di.

Zhu Di frowned.

Didn’t kill the corrupt officials?

What do you mean?
"Being a corrupt official doesn't mean you are unpatriotic. There are many who have died for their country."

Seeing that Zhu Di didn't quite understand, Zhu Yunfeng said directly: "You know how the Zhu family treats the officials of the Ming Dynasty. If you are not greedy, you can't survive. Our ancestors could only let these corrupt officials go and kill those who surrendered and sold out the country. Do you understand now?"

"I see."

Zhu Di suddenly realized and said, "So the news that spread out was actually that my father was killing those officials who later surrendered to the Jian Nu. But they knew whether they were greedy or not, and no one knew whether they surrendered to the Jian Nu or not."

"Yes."

Zhu Yunfeng said happily: "So the initiative is actually in our hands. Whoever we say surrendered to Jian Nu surrendered. Of course, it must be based on history books. It is impossible to really kill loyal ministers who died for the country. They may be greedy, but we don't know whether they surrendered later. If they dare to refuse to surrender and provoke you to attack, doesn't it prove that they have something to hide? Which official in the city dares to do this?"

"Brilliant."

This was all Zhu Di had left to say.

Under Sun Chuanting's persuasion, the people who followed behind gradually dispersed and returned to Huai'an to wait for Zhu Yuanzhang to come.

The team moved on.

A few days later, they passed Huai'an Prefecture and arrived in Yanzhou Prefecture.

At this time, Yanzhou prefect Gong Jilan was in a dilemma.

Shandong suffered repeated persecutions from the Qing Dynasty's slaves in the late Ming Dynasty, and a group of anti-Qing officials emerged, but there were also many traitors and surrenderers.

Gong Jilan was a Jinshi in the tenth year of Chongzhen. He served as a local county magistrate and was later transferred to Yanzhou as a Tongzhi.

In the 13th and 15th years of Chongzhen, he followed the Yanzhou prefect Ni Cheng in his tenacious struggle against the Qing army that harassed Shandong, and was promoted to Yanzhou prefect for his merits.

After the fall of the Ming Dynasty, he went south to join the Hongguang regime, and later went to the Longwu regime, serving as the deputy envoy of Guangdong's military preparations.

The Southern Ming Dynasty also collapsed. Gong Jilan resigned from his official position and fled back to his hometown of Taizhou to live in seclusion. He and his son Gong Weiliu never served the Jiannu throughout their lives.

But Zhu Yunfeng himself didn't know that he could find this information.

Although I feel that I should be a loyal and patriotic person, I am always uneasy when I reach this juncture.

Countless officials from the south sent letters to the north. As the governor of a place, Gong Jilan was not a particularly low-ranking official. He must have had colleagues, classmates, and other students who were officials in the south write letters to inform him.

In the final analysis, Zhu's current logic of killing has changed from killing corrupt officials to killing traitors. Whether they are corrupt or not is up to them, and no one knows whether they have committed treason or not.

This made many officials in Yanzhou Prefecture feel uneasy.

"Fu Jun."

At this time, someone came in from outside the government office and reported: "Emperor Chengzu has arrived in Yanzhou Prefecture, and Xu Duxian and Wang Xuntai have arrived in Ningyang."

"I didn't expect Xu Duxian and Wang Xuntai to be here too."

Gong Jilan smiled bitterly and said, "In that case, then I will gather all the city's officials above the seventh rank and follow me to welcome the governor and the inspector."

The governor was named Xu Biao, and he was the governor of Shandong and Hebei. In history, he died fighting during the Jiashen Rebellion and died for the Ming Dynasty.

The inspector was Wang Yongji, the governor of Shandong, who later surrendered to the Qing Dynasty.

At this time, he should have been transferred to Shanhaiguan by Chongzhen to serve as the Governor of Ji and Liao, but later he followed Wu Sangui to join the Jian Nu.

But now, because Zhu Yuanzhang had cleared out the bandits who were causing chaos in the country, Chongzhen had the money and food given by Sun Chuanting to send to Shanhaiguan.

In addition, Chongzhen transferred more than ten generals from Shanxi and Hebei, including Zhou Yuji, Ma Dai, Ma Ke, and Xu Dingguo, and sent Wang Jiayan, the right vice minister of the Ministry of War, to Ji and Liao to guard against the Qing Dynasty.

At this time, the Manchu Qing Dynasty had resolved the power struggle after the death of Huang Taiji and was eyeing the areas within the Great Wall.

The Ming Dynasty issued silver and increased its troops, and the news of Zhu Yuanzhang's coming spread throughout the city. Dorgon was suspicious for a while and did not dare to continue the invasion, so Wang Yongji was not transferred.

soon.

Two days later.

Xu Biao and Wang Yongji arrived in Jining with many Shandong officials.

In the distance on the canal, dozens of ships were moving slowly forward, with slogans with red background and white letters hung on both sides of the ships, and a large force on the shore was slowly following.

"It's His Majesty Chengzu who has arrived."

Xu Biao looked around and said, "Now that Taizu and Chengzu have come down to earth to save the world, the news has spread all over the world. Even the emperor has confirmed the news, so we don't have to hesitate any more. We should submit to him."

Wang Yongji also said righteously: "I know that my colleagues are worried, but as the saying goes, a man of integrity is not afraid of his own shadow. Whether you become a traitor in the future or not will be recorded in history. If you are upright people, what do you have to fear?"

"What the Patrol Master said is true. We are not afraid of our own flaws. We will surely sacrifice our lives for our country in the future. Being frightened now only proves that we have something to hide."

"I am not afraid at all anyway. What is there to worry about? If I surrender to the Jian Nu in the future, it will be a shame for my ancestors. Your Majesty Chengzu does not need to do anything. I will jump directly from this shore into the river."

"Yes, that's right. A gentleman is open and honest, while a villain is always worried. I am confident that I don't have the ability to share the worries of my king and father, but I still have the courage to hang myself and die for my country."

Although many officials were nervous in their hearts, they still appeared righteous on the surface.

After all, if you were really cowardly, wouldn't it mean that you betrayed your country later?
As everyone was cheering each other on, the team slowly approached.

Xu Biao and his men approached.

Zhu Di, Zhu Yunfeng, Sun Chuanting and others got off the ship.

Xu Biao stepped forward, bowed and said, "Your Highness Xu Biao (Wang Yongji, Chen Qianfu, Gong Jilan) pays homage to His Majesty the Emperor Chengzu."

"What a bullshit Chengzu! Jiajing's grandson is mentally ill. What Chengzu is he offering to me?"

Zhu Di walked up to him arrogantly and shouted, "Call me Taizong."

"You are so good at pretending."

Zhu Yunfeng despised him in his heart.

If Lao Zhu were here, he would probably slap him.

But this arrogant attitude is actually very effective against those officials.

In their minds, Emperor Yongle, who was in his youth, must have been so youthful and vigorous, which is why he had such great talent and strategy later on.

Everyone felt that Zhu Di was majestic and had the power of an emperor, and they all bowed and said, "I pay my respects to the Emperor Taizong."

"Ah."

Little Zhu Di looked at Wang Yongji and asked, "What's your name?"

"Minister Wang Yongji!"

"boom!"

After the gunshot, a bloody hole appeared between Wang Yongji's eyebrows. He collapsed with his eyes wide open.

Everyone was so frightened that they almost knelt down on the spot.

Young Zhu Di put away his pistol, looked around and said, "This guy later surrendered to the Jian Nu. I will execute him. Do you have any objections?"

"I wish I could kill these traitors hiding in the Ming officialdom."

"Yes, your majesty, you killed well."

"Your Majesty is mighty and majestic, and we, the subjects, are sincerely convinced."

Everyone was trembling in their hearts, but they still kept on pretending to be strong. It was their trembling legs that betrayed them.

Zhu Di smiled and waved his hand, saying, "Enter the city!"

(End of this chapter)