Zhu Yuanzhang in the cellar

Chapter 228 The Butcher of Jia Shen
At Zhu Di's command, the old, weak, sick and disabled members of the Beijing garrison, led by Li Guozhen, returned to their camp.

Sun Chuanting's troops quickly took over the city's defenses.

Beijing was a very large city at the end of the Ming Dynasty, with sixteen city gates, seven in the outer city and nine in the inner city. It was lined with streets and markets, and there were countless magnificent mansions.

With Sun Chuanting's army of over ten thousand men, they could basically only guard the city gates; controlling the entire city of Beijing would be extremely difficult.

However, following Zhu Di's order, the whole city was filled with fear. People were told to stay at home, shops on the streets were closed, and what should have been a lively afternoon became very desolate.

Soon, each city gate was guarded by two hundred men from four banners, while the remaining ten thousand men were divided into dozens of squads to patrol the streets of the capital.

For a while.

The entire city of Beijing was placed under martial law.

Outside the Fengtian Hall, several horse-drawn carriages carrying loudspeakers, sound systems, microphones, and other equipment slowly walked down to the stage.

Zhu Yunfeng directed the soldiers to begin assembling.

Below, under the blazing sun, many of the courtiers were puzzled by Zhu Di's intentions, exchanging bewildered glances.

Taking advantage of this moment, Zhu Di had several chairs brought over, pressed Chongzhen down into one of them, and then said to Wang Chengen, who was standing to the side, "Go and call the Crown Prince here."

Chongzhen said urgently, "If there's anything, just come at me. Why make things difficult for the Crown Prince?"

"hehe."

Zhu Di smiled and said, "Why would I make things difficult for my descendants? It's just that my father said he would be the emperor of the Ming Dynasty. Since he's going to be emperor, he has to learn something. This is the first lesson I, his ancestor, am giving him."

After saying that, he looked at Wang Chengen and said, "Hurry up and go."

Wang Chengen hesitated for a few seconds, then bowed and left, stepping aside. He instructed several eunuchs in the palace to immediately go to the East Palace and summon Crown Prince Zhu Cilang to the Fengtian Hall.

After a while, Zhu Cilang arrived, and the loudspeaker was ready.

Zhu Cilang knelt and kowtowed to Zhu Di. Zhu Di gestured for him to sit to the side before picking up the microphone, walking onto the stage, and looking down at the assembled officials.

The officials also raised their heads, many of them looking bewildered, while others realized something and sweat beaded on their foreheads.

A gentle north wind blew, lifting the hem of Zhu Di's dragon robe and the long hair at his temples.

Groups of soldiers stood below, their menacing gazes sweeping across the entire area.

this moment.

Zhu Di, who never served as emperor for even a single day, was more like a ruler of the world than Chongzhen, who reigned for seventeen years.

About a minute later.

For those below, that minute felt like an eternity.

Zhu Di picked up the microphone and slowly began to speak: "Gentlemen, you must be wondering what I'm going to do after I enter the city."

"Of course, some people must have guessed it."

“You have many relatives and friends in the South. I wrote to you to tell you about the situation there. I believe you should also know what your father is doing in the South.”

"Indeed, the Ming Dynasty has reached the point of national collapse and destruction."

"Li Zicheng captured Beijing on March 19th of this year. Emperor Chongzhen hanged himself on Coal Hill. The Ming Dynasty fell. Wu Sangui opened Shanhaiguan Pass and let the Qing army into the pass. From then on, the Central Plains fell and the country was shattered."

"If it weren't for the founding emperor becoming an immortal and paying a great price to descend to earth and save the world, all of you here would have become subjects of a fallen nation, and many of you would have died."

"Among you, some were killed by the traitor Li, some fled to the south, and some even died for their country with their families. In this respect, I am very gratified that at least the Ming Dynasty's three hundred years of nurturing scholars has not been in vain."

"But some people, who privately embezzle and break the law countless times, outwardly claim to be honest and loyal. As a result, when the country was destroyed, not only did the traitor Li confiscate their property to pay for the war, but he also surrendered and betrayed the country. When the traitor Li came, they joined him; when the Jurchens came, they joined the Jurchens. They are truly shameless and utterly shameless."

Zhu Di spoke in a very heavy tone, his words conveying the majesty of the Yongle Emperor, his gaze like that of a lion glaring down, filled with anger.

The assembled officials below were in an uproar. They looked at each other, many of them already drenched in sweat and increasingly at a loss.

"To be honest."

Zhu Di then slowly walked up the steps and said softly, "I, Emperor Taizong, have done everything I should have done while I was emperor."

"Dynastic changes have been a common occurrence throughout history. From the Xia, Shang, and Zhou dynasties to the Qin, Han, Jin, Sui, Tang, and Song dynasties, there have been no thousand-year-old empires or immortal achievements."

"The Ming Dynasty has experienced periods of prosperity, revival, and decline. Even in its demise, it could not escape the cycle of a thousand years."

"Although the country is the result of my father's hard work, now that he has become an immortal and an ancestor, there is nothing he cannot let go of. Let him return to dust and ashes."

"But why would Father be willing to exhaust his magical powers to descend to the mortal realm in this late Ming Dynasty?"

Zhu Di descended the steps one by one, walking among the crowd. Looking at the faces of these officials, some old and some still in their prime, his words were filled with restrained anger: "It's because there are traitors and lackeys, and scum of the Han people."

“Father doesn’t hate Li Zicheng for destroying our Ming Dynasty, nor does he hate those bandits and uprisings. If a dynasty is corrupt, then it should perish. As long as it is still the world of the Han people, a dynasty of the Han people, and the Han people are not enslaved like they were in the Yuan Dynasty, that is enough.”

"But my father spent his whole life resisting the tyrannical Yuan dynasty, and finally drove out the barbarians and restored the clothing and customs of the Han Chinese. When our great Ming dynasty was about to fall, the country was occupied by the barbarians from beyond the Great Wall. What an irony, what a source of hatred."

"The barbarians have ordered you to remove your clothes and shave your heads. You obediently comply. Scholars have no sense of shame or aversion. Those who hold high office and enjoy great fame take pride in begging for surrender while wearing masks; and all the regional commanders have turned against their own side and turned inward."

“Look at you high-ranking officials, each of you holding high positions and enjoying the prestige of the literati. Yet when the country is destroyed and your families are ruined, you are not even as good as three minor officials from Jiangyin.”

"Don't you like to sell out your country for personal gain and kneel down to the enemy?"

"Well."

Zhu Di said in a deep voice, "I will kill you all today, and in the future I will send the entire Jurchen clan to the Yellow Springs to meet you and have a proper talk with you about our master-slave relationship."

None of the civil and military officials dared to stand up and speak.

Because if you stand up and say something at this time, does it mean that you will surrender to the Jurchens in the future?

Therefore, although everyone was trembling with fear, no one dared to question or object.

This illustrates the importance of having a voice.

Emperor Chongzhen had a sword, but he couldn't distinguish between good and bad, loyal and treacherous, nor did he have the ability to kill all the officials in the court. Otherwise, no one would help him. Therefore, his sword was not scary.

If Emperor Taizu or Emperor Taizong had had swords, it would have been a completely different story.

These two killing gods wouldn't care about such things.

They were a hundred, a thousand, ten thousand times more shrewd than Emperor Chongzhen. Even if all the civil and military officials in the court were killed, they could quickly summon a group of officials to handle the matter.

Leaving aside the number of officials who died in the four major cases of the Hongwu reign, even after Zhu Di's successful Jingnan Campaign, nearly 70-80% of the more than 1,000 officials who died in Nanjing in the Renwu year still did not affect Zhu Di's rule.

Therefore, everyone understands that this is a matter of life and death.

Whether you survive or not depends on the choices you make in the future.

"Before we begin, let's sacrifice someone to raise the flag."

Zhu Di's words had already intimidated everyone. He suddenly grinned, slowly walked back to the stage, and shouted, "Sun Chuanting!" "Your subject is here."

Sun Chuanting stepped forward again and bowed.

"Sacrifice Li Chengdong to the flag!"

Zhu Di sat back on the dragon throne and spoke with a murderous aura.

"Yes!"

Sun Chuanting waved his hand.

Zhu Yunfeng stepped forward helplessly, holding a tablet and speaking into the microphone: "Li Chengdong, in his youth, followed Gao Jie, a subordinate of Li Zicheng, as a bandit, known as 'Li Hezi.' Later, he followed Gao Jie to surrender to the Ming Dynasty, rising through the ranks to become a general, stationed in Xuzhou. In the first year of the Hongguang reign (the following year), the Manchu Prince Yu, Dodo, and Minister of War Zhang Cunren conquered Jiangnan. Li Chengdong led his troops to shave their heads and surrender to the Manchus. He then followed the Qing army to attack Zhejiang, Fujian, and Guangdong, participated in the Jiading Massacre perpetrated by Zhang Cunren, captured and killed the Southern Ming Shaowu Emperor Zhu Yujian, and murdered the anti-Qing ministers Chen Zizhuang and Zhang Jiayu. In the fourth year of the Shunzhi reign (three years later), he was appointed Governor of Guangdong and given the title of Left Vice-Governor. In the first month of the fifth year of the Shunzhi reign, Li Chengdong clashed with Tong Yangjia, the Governor-General of Guangdong and Guangxi, and gathered a crowd to rebel against the Qing and return to the Ming, being enfeoffed as Duke of Hui. In the sixth year of the Shunzhi reign, Li Chengdong led troops to Jiangxi, but was defeated and drowned."

Sun Chuanting's soldiers carried out Li Chengdong, who was bound hand and foot.

Li Chengdong still cried out for justice, "Your Majesty, Your Majesty, this is all untrue, all untrue! How could you frame me? How could you frame me!"

"Humph!"

Zhu Di shouted, "Execute him by slow slicing!"

The soldiers immediately pinned him to the ground, and an executioner came out and began to slice his flesh with a knife.

"what!"

Li Chengdong let out a shrill scream.

The execution by slow slicing should have involved three thousand cuts, but Zhu Di requested that only one hundred cuts be used.

It wasn't that he was merciful, but rather that there were still many people to kill, and there was no need to waste too much time.

Zhu Yunfeng was kind-hearted and couldn't bear to see such a cruel scene. He pursed his lips and ran to hide in Fengtian Hall. Hearing the endless screams outside, he exclaimed that the fourth brother was ruthless.

The officials outside were forced to watch the entire execution process. The screams were deafening, and many of them were so frightened that their legs trembled and hot fluid flowed from between their legs.

Although only a hundred cuts were requested, the executioner was still sweating profusely and it took almost an hour to finally complete Zhu Di's request.

All the flesh on Li Chengdong's body was scraped off. In fact, by the twentieth cut, he was barely clinging to life, but he was still kept alive until he was finally killed after who knows how many cuts.

After the execution, only bones remained on the spot, the ground was covered with bright red pieces of flesh and blood, and the pungent smell of blood was overwhelming, causing many officials to vomit repeatedly.

"The appetizers are over, it's time for the main course."

Zhu Di patiently waited until Li Chengdong was skinned alive, then said expressionlessly, "Minister of War Zhang Jinyan!"

Zhang Jinyan was so frightened in the crowd that he almost collapsed to the ground.

Upon hearing Zhu Di's words, he instinctively cried out, "Your Majesty, Your Majesty, I am here!"

"In February of the seventeenth year of the Chongzhen reign (1644), when Li Zicheng approached the capital, Zhang Jinyan, the Minister of War, refused to adopt the correct advice to urgently recruit soldiers to defend the capital and to call on the people to come to the aid of the emperor. He also concealed military intelligence. In March, Li Zicheng captured the capital, and Zhang Jinyan and Grand Secretary Wei Zaode led all the officials to present congratulatory gifts and welcome him."

When Zhu Yunfeng heard that Zhu Di was about to serve the main course, he squatted at the entrance of Fengtian Hall, not daring to look at the corpse of Li Chengdong, who had already been skinned alive. He held a tablet and read aloud: "In the third year of the Shunzhi reign of the Qing Dynasty, General Huang Ding of the Qing Dynasty, under the order of Hong Chengchou, entered the mountains to persuade Zhang Jinyan to surrender. Zhang Jinyan surrendered to the Qing Dynasty. After the ninth year of the Shunzhi reign, Zhang Jinyan served successively as the Right Provincial Administration Commissioner of Shandong and the Left Provincial Administration Commissioner of Zhejiang. In June of the seventeenth year of the Shunzhi reign, he was arrested and imprisoned due to the 'literary inquisition'; in November, his family property was confiscated and he was exiled to Ningguta."

"Impossible, impossible! Your Majesty, Emperor Taizong, you are wise! Your Majesty, you are wise! I will never surrender! I have not surrendered!"

Zhang Jinyan's eyes widened in disbelief as he shouted.

However, soldiers had already gone in and seized him, dragging him down the steps like a dead dog. Zhu Di simply said coldly, "Kill!"

"Pfft!"

Without hesitation, the executioner swung his blade and chopped off his head.

All of this happened so fast that Zhang Jinyan didn't even have time to react. His head spun around on the ground a few times, still with his eyes wide open.

The officials below were also stunned, exchanging glances. None of them had expected that Emperor Taizong knew almost everything about what had happened to them afterward.

Although they didn't know if it was true or false, the information was so detailed that it was hard to believe it was all fabricated.

"Zhang Xin, Minister of Justice!"

Zhu Di shouted again, almost as if the Grim Reaper had called out his name.

"Zhang Xin was from Yexian County, Shandong Province, during the late Ming and early Qing dynasties. He became a Jinshi (successful candidate in the highest imperial examination) in the fifth year of the Tianqi reign of the Ming Dynasty. During the Ming Dynasty, he rose from county magistrate to Minister of Justice. At the end of the Chongzhen reign, he surrendered to Li Zicheng. In the second year of the Shunzhi reign of the Qing Dynasty, he was recommended for a position and appointed as the Left Vice Minister of War and concurrently Right Vice Censor-in-Chief, and then Governor of Tianjin. In the fourth year, he retired due to illness!"

Zhu Yunfeng said.

"Your Majesty, Your Majesty, I am innocent! I have been wronged! This is all...!"

Before Zhang Xin could even defend himself, he was dragged out and hacked to death.

“Dang Chongya, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue”.

"Dang Chongya was a Jinshi (successful candidate in the highest imperial examination) in the fifth year of the Tianqi reign of the Ming Dynasty, and rose through the ranks to become the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue."

Following the words of Zhu Di and Zhu Yunfeng, another official was killed.

According to historical records, there were approximately two to three thousand officials in Beijing when the Ming Dynasty fell.

About 1,200 of them surrendered along with Chen Yan, Wei Zaode, and others.

When the Manchus came, they switched allegiance to them.

Of the remaining thousand or so people, some fled the city, some committed suicide for their country, and others disappeared without a trace.

It could be said that half of Beijing was filled with traitors and traitors.

There were about five or six hundred officials present. Zhu Di read out their names, and Zhu Yunfeng recounted their life stories. None of them could escape.

By the end of the killing, Zhu Di could no longer recite the names. He could only remember about twenty or thirty high-ranking officials, from Grand Secretaries to Ministers to Vice Ministers and other senior officials. The rest could simply be listed.

There are many historical materials from the late Ming Dynasty, such as "The Ministers Who Followed the Traitors," "The Record of the Torch," "The Northern Chronicle of the Late Ming Dynasty," "National Records," "The Record of Survival," and "The Stone Chest Book," which contain numerous lists of loyal and treacherous officials.

The list was also handed over to Sun Chuanting to read aloud, while Zhu Yunfeng held a tablet and was responsible for reading the biographies of those who were going to die.

Zhu Di turned his head and saw that Zhu Cilang had somehow hidden behind a pillar, cowering in fear, too terrified to look at the horrific scene below.

As for Emperor Chongzhen, he remained calm. He had killed quite a few officials, so this scene did not frighten him.

Seeing this, Zhu Di walked over to Zhu Cilang, lifted him up, pressed him into a chair, grabbed his hands to prevent him from covering his eyes, and whispered to him, "Grandson, you are the Crown Prince of the Ming Dynasty, and you will be the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty in the future. How can you grow up without experiencing things? Watch carefully, see how your ancestor kills all these treacherous and rebellious officials. When you become emperor, you must be like your ancestor, killing those who should be killed and protecting those who should be protected. You cannot be soft-hearted, nor can you be like your father who cannot distinguish right from wrong, do you understand?"

Zhu Cilang was, after all, just a teenager. He was trembling all over, his eyes were glazed, and he could no longer speak.

The brutal killings continued down the steps.

Don't know when.

Blood has already flowed like a river.

(End of this chapter)