Zhu Yuanzhang in the cellar

Chapter 246 Time to Go Home for the New Year
Shenyang was renamed Shengjing during the Qing Dynasty.

It was reduced to ashes at that moment.

The raging flames burned for three days.

On the first day, the fire raged, and black smoke blotted out the sun.

The flames burned continuously from early morning until evening.

The next day, many bright flames could still be seen after nightfall, and the firelight illuminated the sky at midnight.

By the third day, most of the open flames had gradually died down, but beneath the ashes, there was still burning charcoal.

Many Ming soldiers who entered the city were wounded as a result.

It wasn't that they were attacked by the remnants of the Jurchens in the city, but rather that there was a place that looked like it had been extinguished, and if you weren't careful, you would burn a hole in the sole of your shoe if you stepped on it.

For a time, the Hongwu artillerymen had acquaintances everywhere in Shengjing City, much like the barbecue master Li Mei had acquaintances in Tokyo.

Of the hundreds of thousands of people in the city, more than 90% died from the bombing, the explosion of the gunpowder depot, and the subsequent fire.

The remaining people were also killed by Lao Zhu.

However, he still obtained an important piece of information from these remaining people.

That is, the Jurchens were not completely wiped out in one battle.

Regent Dorgon, having witnessed the strength of the Ming army on several occasions, grew fearful and chose to flee north with two white flags.

Upon learning of this, Old Zhu was naturally very unhappy and wanted to order a pursuit.

However, Dorgon had made prior arrangements, transporting a large amount of supplies and slaves away early on, leaving only a few light cavalry with him. Upon discovering that Shengjing was in danger, they immediately fled to the north.

Old Zhu's men only saw some hoofprints. They followed the hoofprints for two days, but eventually they disappeared on the horizon.

Since the snow has stopped in the last few days and the winter sun has come out, we can still chase horses using the hoofprints and fresh manure.

When they reached Fanhesuo, which is the area around Tieling City in later generations, it started snowing again.

The heavy snow covered the hoofprints and horse manure.

On this vast land, no one knew which direction the Jurchens had gone.

North, northwest, or northeast?
The young Zhu Di, who was in charge of leading the pursuit, was quite similar to his later five campaigns against the Mongols, in which he repeatedly lost track of the main Mongol forces and could only return disappointed in the end.

Just then, Zhu Yunfeng offered his suggestion, noting that during the Chongzhen era, let alone industrialization, even the agricultural era had not yet reached its peak.

The country is in a period of decline.

Although supplies could be transported from modern times, Changsha is thousands of miles away from Northeast China, making the transport of supplies extremely difficult. It would probably take forever to find Dorgon's whereabouts.

Therefore, Zhu Yunfeng accepted Zhu's suggestion to withdraw his troops from Shenyang, return to Beijing, and go back to the capital.

Shenyang is more than 600 kilometers away from Beijing, so the return trip was faster than the trip there.

Because Zhu De still had to rebuild Shenyang, he left Yu Anxing, Zhu Guodong, and others with more than 20,000 troops and a large amount of supplies to garrison Jinzhou.

When the weather warms up in the spring and summer of next year, the city will be rebuilt on the ruins of Shenyang.

Although Shenyang was razed to the ground, a large amount of manpower and resources had to be spent to rebuild the city.

However, if we want to take Shenyang completely, we can't use artillery. If we rely solely on rifles to capture the city, countless people will die.

Therefore, exchanging a city for the lives of a large number of Chongzhen Dynasty soldiers was still a worthwhile deal.

In those days, there weren't many Ming soldiers who could still serve the Zhu family without making a sound, so Zhu naturally had to take care of these loyal soldiers.

Ten days later, on the fifteenth day of the tenth month of the seventeenth year of Chongzhen's reign, Emperor Chongzhen had already hanged himself from a tree in the southeast for half a year by this time in history.

Now he lives in the Fengyang Imperial Mausoleum. Although he is nominally under house arrest, local officials dare not disrespect him, and he is served by Lu Jiude, the eunuch in charge of Fengyang. So he lives a carefree life.

Outside Chaoyangmen in Dongcheng District, Beijing, a procession slowly approached amidst the wind and snow, about to reach the city gate.

Zhu Yunfeng, accompanied by Crown Prince Zhu Cilang and officials, went to greet them.

At the very front, riding a tall horse, was young Zhu Di. He was very happy to see Zhu Yunfeng from afar, and he gently spurred his horse, which trotted closer in the snow.

It's certainly not a good place for horses to gallop across snowy terrain, but the warhorses of the Ming Dynasty were mostly Mongolian horses, which historical records describe as "crossing snowy plains as if walking on flat ground."

Therefore, Zhu Di arrived quickly. He approached the welcoming party first, dismounted gracefully, and cheerfully stepped forward, saying, "Yunfeng."

"Tsk, tsk, tsk."

Zhu Yunfeng clicked his tongue and said, "I heard you lost Dorgon?"

Zhu Di's face immediately fell, and he rolled his eyes, saying, "I thought you missed me a lot after not seeing me for so long, but you start insulting me as soon as we meet. Don't bring up things that are hard to talk about. Can't you say something happy?"

"Happy things?"

Zhu Yunfeng thought for a moment and said, "I heard you didn't fight a single battle, and then it was over?"

"Zhao! How dare you! You spend your days indulging in pleasure in the palace. Now I hear you're about to become emperor. I bet even if you do, you'll be a tyrant."

Zhu Di was furious.

He always wanted to fight, but he didn't actually fight a single battle along the way.

When they reached Shanhaiguan, Zhou An and his hundred men routed Dorgon's army of over 100,000.

They fled to Ningyuan, but surrendered before even entering the city.

Shenyang goes without saying.

The city was bombarded with rapid-fire artillery; hundreds of tons of shells, along with the large amount of gunpowder piled up in the city, leveled the entire city, leaving him with no chance.

Zhu Di has yet to have the blood of the Jurchens on his hands.

When he heard that Dorgon had run away, he thought his chance had come and volunteered to chase after him.

Before setting off, he was still thinking about taking an AK and shooting Dorgon.

They actually lost track of it.

It's even more painful.

It's just really annoying.

It somewhat damages the reputation of Emperor Yongle.

"That's still better than you shouting that you want to be my general, but you didn't get anything in return."

"So soon you've started calling yourself 'I'?"

"That is."

"But I heard you play video games every night. How can you be so good at governing a country?"

"You don't know anything. This is called macro-control. Sometimes reforms don't need to be very precise. A visible hand will always keep things on the right track."

"But you can't blame me for not killing anyone when I went to fight the Jurchens. It's because the Jurchens prepared so much gunpowder in the city that it all exploded as soon as the cannons fired."

Zhu Di was helpless.

In fact, when attacking Shenyang, he still hoped that the artillery would only break down one side of the city wall, so that he could lead his troops into the city to slaughter the Manchu Jurchens.

However, the Jurchens had unforeseen that they had stockpiled too much gunpowder in the city, which led to the massive explosion caused by the cannon fire that blew up the city.

When he entered the city, it was almost deserted; there were hardly any heads left to collect.

This is very uncomfortable.

"What are you talking about?"

Just as the two were exchanging insults...

The carriage slowly approached, and Zhu Cilang lifted the curtain and stepped out. The civil and military officials, along with Zhu Cilang himself, hurriedly knelt down and said, "Greetings, Grand Ancestor (Grandfather)."

Zhu Yunfeng didn't offer any greetings, but went up to him with a grin and said, "Just kidding with the fourth brother. How was it, Ancestor? Did you enjoy the killing?"

"What's so great about it?"

Zhu Yuanzhang said irritably, "I can't quell my hatred until I've slaughtered the entire Jurchen clan."

"Actually, this isn't such a bad thing."

Zhu Yunfeng stepped aside and walked alongside Lao Zhu.

The civil and military officials, along with their attendants and guards, quickly cleared a path, with three people dressed in dragon robes walking at the very front.

Next came Crown Prince Zhu Cilang and all the civil and military officials, who all obediently and consciously kept a little distance.

All three of them had their hands behind their backs and walked with a rather decisive and efficient gait.

Zhu Yunfeng now finally understands why the ancients liked to stand with their hands behind their backs; it was because their robes were relatively loose and their sleeves were wide.

Walking like this is not only comfortable, but also quite aesthetically pleasing.

"How can it not be a bad thing?"

Old Zhu said with some displeasure, "The Jurchens are ultimately a major threat. As long as they are not eliminated, they will remain a thorn in our side."

Zhu Yunfeng then said, "Ancestor, now you know about the rivalry between the US and Russia, right?"

"Oh?"

Zhu Yuanzhang stopped abruptly, turned his head and glanced at Zhu Yunfeng in surprise, then laughed: "You little Jurchens, do you think you're worthy to contend with my Great Ming?"

"But I'm not talking about two poles, but rather that after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia completely sided with the West and almost fawned over it."

Zhu Yunfeng continued, "But what did we get in return? The West repeatedly targeted Russia, treating it like a dog, constantly pushing its military forces to Russia's doorstep, and suppressing it in all aspects with a constant stream of sanctions."

"what do you mean?"

Old Zhu started walking forward again, but slowed down his pace.

Zhu Yunfeng, standing almost side-by-side with him, said, “After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Western world no longer has any enemies. If Europe were to become closer to the Soviet Union, the combination of European technology and the Soviet Union’s cheap energy would be a terrifying prospect. Therefore, the United States must continue to portray the Soviet Union as a military enemy in order to divide Europe and achieve their goal of being isolated overseas and remotely controlling the mainland. The Jurchens certainly do not deserve to be called the Soviet Union, but the Ming Dynasty needs an enemy to accelerate its development.”

"I understand."

Zhu Di, who was standing nearby, understood and said, "If there is no opponent, the court will inevitably become complacent. But as long as we vigorously publicize the fact that the Jurchens will enslave our Han sons and slaughter millions of Han people in the future, our Great Ming will vow to avenge them. In this way, we will have the motivation to develop actively."

"Yes."

Zhu Yunfeng nodded and said, "This can be considered a kind of political correctness."

Why don't later generations hate the Mongols and the Manchus? Besides the fact that the Manchus massacred millions of Han people in the early period and humiliated the country in the later period, the main reason is the lack of a reckoning with the Manchus.

"The Yuan Dynasty, established by the Mongols, also massacred Han Chinese, but the Ming Dynasty purged them. It launched several northern expeditions, inflicting heavy casualties on the Mongols. Although there was a disastrous defeat at the Battle of Tumu, the Ming Dynasty won more battles than it lost against the Mongols."

"In contrast, the Manchu Qing dynasty..."

"After the establishment of the country, it closed itself off from the world. Emperor Kangxi had even eaten chocolate and knew about the development of the West, but he just refused to accept advanced productive forces."

"Later, it was divided up by countries around the world and became a semi-feudal and semi-colonial state."

"Puyi, the last emperor, even sided with the Japanese executioners who slaughtered Chinese men and became a puppet. It can be said that the entire Qing regime, from its establishment to its end, was stained with the blood of the Chinese people."

"But the new era did not purge these feudal remnants, which led to the Qing Dynasty becoming the most shameful dynasty in Chinese civilization, even worse than the Jin and Song Dynasties."

"Of course, it must be said that the Manchus in our country in later generations are still fine, as they are one of the fifty-six ethnic groups. But the Manchu royal family and those old retainers who support them must be completely eradicated."

"Because these people not only oppressed the Han people, but also other ethnic groups. Even many Manchus rebelled because they were exploited, which shows how hated the Manchu emperors were."

“These things have disappeared from the history of our area, but there may still be some old-fashioned people on the internet who occasionally come out to disgust people.”

"But we must thoroughly settle things here."

"Dorgon has fled, but the Mongols and the Manchus are still here. The Ming Dynasty must make enemies and carry out military operations at all times to fight against the Manchus and Mongols outside the Great Wall."

"If this continues, the Ming army will also be trained and will be able to continuously seize benefits from beyond the Great Wall."

"As long as we guide them in the right direction and bring them steam engine technology and advanced steelmaking technology, then the Mongols and Manchus will become the driving force for the Ming Dynasty's progress, constantly pushing the Ming Dynasty to develop."

"To some extent, as long as Zhu Cilang and the future emperor hold this idea, and if you, our ancestor, leave behind ancestral instructions to force the Ming Dynasty to eliminate the Mongols and Manchus, then the development speed of the Ming Dynasty here should far exceed your expectations."

After he finished speaking, Old Zhu fell into deep thought.

In fact, what Zhu Yunfeng said makes a lot of sense.

Of course, he could wipe out all the enemies of the late Ming Dynasty in one fell swoop, leaving a comfortable zone for the future Ming Dynasty to develop well.

But this is not a good thing.

First, it is easy to develop path dependence. Whenever the Ming Dynasty is on the verge of life and death, people think that the founding emperor will come to save it. So they simply give up and continue to play music and dance.

Even if we leave them the right path, thinking that we have people in heaven anyway, we can ask our ancestors to come down to earth when things get really bad.

Perhaps Zhu Cilang would not have done that.

But who can guarantee that the next generation, the generation after that, and the generation after that emperor won't do the same?
The examples of the Jiajing and Wanli emperors are not far off.

Secondly, leaving an enemy or a target for the Ming Dynasty would give the Ming Dynasty more motivation to become stronger.

Just as Liu Bang experienced the siege of Baideng, generations of the Han Dynasty had a goal to strive for.

Afterwards, he worked diligently to govern the country, and after decades of accumulating wealth, he was finally able to fight the Xiongnu to the death.

This led to Emperor Wu of Han's sweeping conquest of the northern deserts.

Therefore, from this perspective, Dorgon's escape was indeed not a bad thing.

Although the story of the catfish effect is fictional, the effect is real. Whether for a country or a company, competition and goals are the foundation for development and progress.

"Ah."

After thinking it through, Old Zhu nodded and said, "You're right, that's true. I was still a little unsatisfied and wanted to fight the Mongols again, but now I think it's unnecessary."

Zhu Yunfeng laughed and said, "There is indeed no need for that, because the Mongols have already been defeated. The Manchus sent Mongols who had surrendered to them to harass Shanxi. Fu Youde personally led the troops and killed more than 10,000 Mongols, which terrified the Mongols."

"Ok."

Old Zhu was speechless. Then he raised his head, looked at the sky, and muttered to himself, "What should I do after that? I feel like I should do something for this Ming Dynasty."

"And then?"

Zhu Yunfeng yawned boredly and said, "Let's go home for the New Year. It's almost the end of the year, we should go back."

"Yes."

Old Zhu only remembered after being reminded.

This year is October of the seventeenth year of Chongzhen's reign. The end of the year is fast approaching, and the twentieth year of Hongwu's reign is just around the corner.

It will soon be the eighth year since Zhu Yunfeng came to the Ming Dynasty.

He hasn't been back for ten months.

I wonder how well the management of Biao'er is going.

"Fighting makes me senile. I almost forgot that it's almost the end of the year and I should go home for the New Year."

Old Zhu laughed, his leisurely gaze turning south.

It's definitely time to go back.

(End of this chapter)