The Ming Dynasty began from Sarhu

Chapter 284: Forced Palace (I)

Kaiyuan sent a surrendered eunuch into the city to deliver the message.

After entering the city, Eunuch Du entered the Qianqing Palace and said to Emperor Chongzhen:
"The Liu bandits are strong and unstoppable. I hope Your Majesty will reconsider."

"The thief Liu requests the court to cede territory in exchange for peace. He cedes Liaodong, Liaoxi, and Shandong, and allows the Marquis of Ping Liao to divide the country and become king. In addition, he must reward the Kaiyuan army with five million taels of silver. From now on, the Marquis of Ping Liao will assist the court in suppressing the bandits within the Great Wall and defending against the Mongols and Tatars. However, the Marquis of Ping Liao will not attend the court."

Zhu Youxiao raised his hand tremblingly.

Looking around, the ministers around him were afraid of taking responsibility and said nothing.

Seeing the urgency of the situation, the grandson of Emperor Wanli and the prince of Emperor Taichang, no longer cared about his position as the emperor or the royal family's dignity, and shouted to Du Xun:
"Go back and tell Marquis Ping Liao that I agree!"

Upon hearing this, the officials who had been silent just now immediately became furious and began to persuade the emperor.

"Your Majesty, the national treasury is currently running short of revenue. Last year, the tax revenue collected from various regions was a mere three million taels, and now we are short one and a half million taels. How can we possibly come up with five million taels?"

"Your Majesty, Liu is a ruthless thief, demanding five million taels right out of his mouth. Back then, this thief also made such a huge demand in front of Emperor Shenzong! There's no need to pay any attention to him!"

"The capital is as solid as a rock. Liu the traitor has advanced alone deep into the enemy's territory. Haven't you heard that a weak crossbow cannot penetrate a thin silk cloth? Once the loyalist army surrounds us from all sides, we will surely..."

The seventeen-year-old Chongzhen Emperor Zhu Youxiao suddenly saw the true face of this group of Donglin gentlemen.

"I intend to negotiate peace with the Marquis of Ping Liao, but the treasury is empty and I have no idea what to do. To raise five million silver coins for the reward, I must rely on you, my dear ministers."

Zhao Nanxing said in a deep voice:

"Your Majesty, our ancestors have accumulated wealth for three hundred years, and yet we are now in such a predicament?"

Zhu Youxiao saw that Zhao Nanxing was asking questions even though he knew the answer, and he couldn't help but get furious:
"The two million treasury coins left by the late emperor have been handed over to the Ministry of War to be distributed in western Liaoning as Liao military pay! Zu Dashou has deceived the emperor and harmed the country. This is truly despicable!"

"The Ming Dynasty has enjoyed over two hundred years of existence, but now it has fallen at my hands. In the afterlife, how can I face my ancestors?"

"Now the situation is urgent. The survival of the country depends on a single thought. My dear ministers, please donate generously and help us overcome the national crisis. Once the Kaiyuan rebels are defeated and Liu retreats, I will repay you double!"

On May 6, the first year of Chongzhen, in the Qianqing Palace in the capital.

The anxious Zhu Youxiao was almost begging his ministers.

In the beginning, they instigated Liaoxi to become enemies with the Kaiyuan Army, and then declared Ping Liaohou a traitor. All these were the ideas decided by these ministers.

All the officials compared Ping Liao Hou to an old slave who rebelled against the Ming Dynasty due to the "Seven Great Hates", and compared Kaiyuan to the Later Jin Dynasty.

They swore solemnly in front of the emperor that as long as Zu Dashou of Liaoxi took action, as long as the emperor was firm and decisive, and as long as the entire Ming Dynasty was united, the thief Liu would be wiped out in no time.

These civil servants and nobles in Beijing had unwittingly led themselves into the bloody battle of Hunhe, believing that with a single victory they could annihilate the Kaiyuan army and completely eliminate these barbarians from outside the Great Wall. Their solemn promises now seemed ironic.

We had agreed that everyone would be united and that we would achieve victory in one battle. But now Zu Dashou is dead, Liaoxi has been destroyed, and the Kaiyuan army has been invincible all the way until they arrived at the gates of Beijing.

What is happening now is basically a replica of Li Zicheng's Eastern Expedition twenty years later.

Of course, in this historical dimension, Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong may no longer exist.

Emperor Chongzhen knew that there was no money left in the imperial treasury and was now at his wit's end, so he had to ask the officials for help.

"If we can gather five million silver rewards, the bandits will leave. Then, we can gather all the troops in the world to support the king, and perhaps we can fight."

Zhu Youxiao looked at the ministers with anticipation.

The court discussion lasted from noon to afternoon, lasting more than two hours, and finally ended with the ministers "running out of money and unable to do anything."

The envoy of Ping Liaohou, who had been waiting for a long time, had already become impatient and kept urging him.

Zhu Youxiao threatened to commit suicide and threatened to hang himself on the crooked tree on Coal Hill. Even after this, his loyal ministers and generals still refused to give him a penny.

Only a few nobles including Li Mingrui, the scholar-official, Zhang Qingzhen, the Marquis of Hui'an, Fang Lutai, the Marquis of Nanhe, and Chen Changheng, the Marquis of Su'an, generously donated tens of thousands of silver coins on the spot, and denounced those officials who were submissive, calling them beasts in human clothing.

Together with Zhu Youxiao's limited treasury, he could barely scrape together 50,000 taels of silver, which was far from the 5 million taels proposed by Liu Zhaosun.

Emperor Tianqi had no choice but to order Du Xun to leave the city and report to Ping Liaohou:
"It will take some time to raise the silver. Besides, the division of the land and the enthronement of the king are of great importance. I will consider it again. Please give the Marquis of Ping Liao some time."

Du Xun, who had been waiting for three hours, hurriedly saluted the emperor and quickly left Zuoanmen.

Outside Zuoanmen, in the main military tent of Ping Liaohou, Liu Zhaosun knew that Zhu Youxiao could not come up with the money after hearing what happened in the Forbidden City.

He looked at his confidants around him and said calmly:
"The emperor has been kidnapped by rebels. The rebels in the city refuse to negotiate and are using the millions of people in the capital as shields to resist to the end. What should we do next?"

In fact, there was no other way to go but to continue the Jingnan Campaign to purge the court.

Liu Zhaosun did not want to bear the stigma of treason and regicide and be recorded in later history.

He glanced around, and finally his eyes fell on Kang Yingqian. Kang Jianjun understood what he meant and immediately stood up and said:
"General Liu, since the Emperor has been abducted by the treacherous Donglin clan and has been ordered not to leave the Forbidden City, the Emperor is in dire straits. It is time for us loyal ministers and generals to serve our country. We must storm the capital, slaughter the culprits, and rescue the Emperor from this precarious situation! Troops from all over the country are arriving soon to support the Emperor. Those local generals and lieutenant commanders are inexperienced and will inevitably be deceived by these traitors and do things that are detrimental to the Kaiyuan army. Time is of the essence and there is no time for delay! We must order an attack on the city immediately!"

Seeing this, Ma Shiying and others thought they would miss this rare opportunity to show their loyalty, and they all echoed:
"Marquis Ping Liao led a large army into the pass to quell the rebellion. To save the emperor, he braved arrows and stones, risking his life. All his sacrifices were for this moment. We must not hesitate! We cannot let the traitor escape!"

All his subordinates persuaded and encouraged Liu Zhaosun to advance immediately.

(End of this chapter)