The Ming Dynasty began from Sarhu

Chapter 356: Slow Times, Thieves in the Mountains

Zhu Youjian paced back and forth in the west warm pavilion, and the shadow cast behind him kept changing in length, casting a strange shape.

Wang Chengen stood by and waited patiently. The crackling sound of burning whale oil could be heard all around him, and the air was filled with a faint smell of oil smoke.

Eunuch Wang occasionally glanced at Tianqi out of the corner of his eye, but the emperor's young and pale face was hidden deep in the shadows, and it was impossible to tell whether he was happy or sad.

"A loyal minister is known in times of crisis. General Zhang is a man of great use!"

Zhu Youjian suddenly spoke, and Wang Chengen was startled.

"This man has a close relationship with Zu Dashou and Wu Xiang of Liaoxi. They once smuggled together. Zu and Wu were brutally murdered by the Kaiyuan army. Zhang Chun and the traitor Liu are irreconcilable. We should commend him for his loyalty to the emperor and his patriotism and make him serve the court. When the traitor Liu occupied the capital, Zhang Chun intended to lead his troops to the capital, but was forced to do so due to the traitor Liu's overwhelming power. Now, this golden opportunity has come, and the traitor Liu is weak. Let him enter the capital immediately and decide the outcome of the battle. I will draft an imperial edict to appoint Zhang Chun as the General of the State of Defense, commanding all the troops of Beizhi and annihilating the traitor Liu..."

Wang Chengen was worried that Zhang Chun was unreliable. If a fight broke out, he would probably flee even faster than Wu Xiang. However, this was the only border general the emperor could rely on.

"Wang Banban, go to Hejian Prefecture and seize this opportunity to get Zhang Chun into the capital as soon as possible!"

Wang Chengen quickly agreed.

"Be careful not to let the thief Liu discover you. When General Zhang's troops reach the city, my death squad will also take action. Then, we can cooperate with the inside and outside to kill Liu Zhaosun."

Wang Chengen had never heard Zhu Youjian say that he still had a group of assassins. Seeing the emperor's determination to fight to the death, he couldn't help but look at him with admiration.

"There is no time to lose. I will immediately draft an imperial edict and you must leave the city overnight."

Wang Chengen ground the millstone for the emperor and stood beside him, waiting for him to finish writing the edict.

Eunuch Wang held the imperial edict in his hands with great caution, as if he was holding the whole world.

"Your Majesty, rest assured. I will definitely fulfill my mission!"

Zhu Youjian looked at the eunuch's back as he walked away, ruffled his gray hair, stood up and walked out of the hall, ignoring the two big generals standing at the door who were watching him, and walked straight towards the Taimiao.

The so-called Taimiao is the Zhu family ancestral hall, which houses portraits of emperors of all dynasties in the Ming Dynasty.

When there were important festivals, or when the crown prince and empress were enthroned, or when an enemy country was defeated, the descendants of the Zhu family would go to report the good news to their ancestors.

Since Emperor Tianqi ascended the throne, state affairs have been in a state of decay, with no good things happening and funerals occurring year after year.

Whenever he heard that Liu Bang had usurped the throne, or that a guerrilla general had been deposed by Liu Zhaosun, or that a censor had been killed by Liu Zhaosun, Zhu Youjian would run to the Taimiao and cry while hugging the ancestral tablets.

Crying won't solve the problem.

Moscow does not believe in tears, and neither does the Forbidden City.

Zhu Youjian went to the Taimiao not to mourn, but to seek revenge.

After leaving the inner palace, the capital city was shrouded in gray, the air was filled with the pungent smell of coal dust and horse manure, and the roadsides were littered with feces and garbage.

The soldiers of the Wucheng Bingmasi were yawning, the dung collectors were knocking on doors from house to house, and fresh dung was steaming in the buckets.

I remember when I traveled through time earlier

Everyone behaves well
Say it one sentence

Forbidden City early in the morning
The long street is dark and deserted

The toilet that collects feces is steaming
The previous crossing has become slower
Bows, horses, and imperial edicts are all slow
A lifetime is only enough to kill one person
The guns looked good before.

The bullet is exquisite and looks good

If you kill someone, they will move.

Half an hour later, in the Taimiao, Zhu Youjian performed the ceremony of kowtow and burned incense to the portraits of his ancestors in turn.

Emperor Tianqi looked down at the curling green smoke rising from the incense burner. Above his head, Zhu Yuanzhang seemed to be resurrected before his eyes.

Zhu Yuanzhang, the wise and powerful figure who began his career with a broken bowl and ultimately conquered the world, had a stubby face and a profile that resembled Bald Qiang. At this moment, he stood in a phantasmagorical realm, looking down at his descendants, striving to maintain the dignity of a founding emperor.

The rich Fengyang accent of Emperor Taizu of Ming Dynasty resounded in the Taimiao:
"Listen up, you prodigal son, Zhu Youjian! When Zhu Houcong was emperor, the country was mighty strong. He fought the Mongols, the Miao people, and the Japanese, and all behaved well. Civil officials and eunuchs were given fifty lashes each. The court officials all obeyed the emperor, so the country was stable and the people lived and worked in peace. Later, he practiced alchemy and cultivating immortality, which was a lot of bad things, but he was still considered a good emperor. Now look at you prodigal sons! You killed Wei Zhongxian, cut off your own hands and feet, and sent out incompetent generals. You have ruined the country I conquered! Now Liaodong has fallen into the hands of Liu Zhaosun, and you bastards have harmed so many people outside the Great Wall! I am in heaven, and I see that damn Li Xianzhong and Zhang Zicheng causing trouble in the Great Wall. You, Zhu Youjian, must capture them and have that damn Liu Zhaosun tortured to death!" (See note 1)

Zhu Youjian clenched his fists and looked up at Zhu Yuanzhang in the void, tears blurring his eyes:
"The Great Ancestor has appeared! This unworthy descendant, Zhu Youjian, has carefully heeded the Great Ancestor's instructions! We must slay the thief Liu and safeguard our ancestral legacy!"

Zhu Youjian leaned on the incense table and cried, with a look of resentment, longing, sobbing and complaining.

Finally, he wiped his tears and looked back at the censor who followed him, murderous intent:
"Li Ruolian, are all the assassins ready?"

~~~~
When Emperor Tianqi and Wang Chengen plotted to assassinate Liu Zhaosun and planned to rebel again, Liu Zhaosun, the victim of assassination, was never idle for a moment.

Saying it out loud might hurt Zhu Youjian's self-esteem, but the Duke of Huguo's thoughts were actually not on the emperor at all.

Perhaps it was out of trust in Emperor Tianqi, or perhaps it was out of contempt for him, but during this period, the number of eunuchs and palace maids stationed in the Qianqing Palace by the National Protection Police decreased significantly.

The Duke of Protectorate's attention was focused on the war in Shaanxi. For several days in a row, Yang Hao, the old man, would rush to the Duke of Protectorate's residence early to discuss state affairs with his son-in-law. By November, Shaanxi and the capital were still cut off from each other, and even merchants and travelers were scarce.

The Duke of Huguo was worried all day long, sensing that Deng Changxiong had been badly defeated and that the Kaiyuan army had suffered heavy casualties in Shaanxi.

In order to prevent the farce of Li Zicheng's armed march all the way to Badaling in the 17th year of Chongzhen from happening ahead of time, the Protector of the Country began to work on the defense of the capital early. He planned to withdraw troops from various places, abandon Shandong, and transfer all the garrisons in Shandong and southern Liaoning to the capital to replace the unreliable Ming troops in various places in northern Zhili.

Only in this way can we resist the snowballing growth of the bandits and finally choose the opportunity to fight a decisive battle with Li Xianzhong or Zhang Zicheng.

However, this strategy of robbing Peter to pay Paul is obviously of no help.

But now that things have come to this, I can’t care less.

I can only blame myself for being stupid and listening to Kang Yinggan's instigation, leading my troops into the pass too early.

I thought that after entering the pass, I would easily win the game by sweeping millions of troops across the river, but I didn't expect to be beaten back to my original form at the first level.

The Duke of Protectorate was deeply regretful at this time. The bandits around 1624 were far from being as weak as he had imagined.

Facts have proved that simply measuring the strength of an opponent by the development of time is like trying to find a sword by carving on the feet, and is a mistake of mechanical materialism.

The bandits in this dimension, whether it is Zhang Zicheng or Li Xianzhong, are much more powerful than in history under the butterfly effect.

"My dear son-in-law, don't be discouraged. Victory and defeat are common in the military."

His father-in-law filled the cup of tea for the Duke of Huguo. Liu Zhaosun took it with both hands and forced a smile at Yang Hao.

"Now that things have come to this, we should think about the current situation. As the saying goes, before we can resist foreign aggression, we must first stabilize the country."

Liu Zhaosun said "oh". Without Yang Hao saying anything more, he knew what his father-in-law was going to say next.

"My dear son-in-law, I heard that Kang Yingqian has now become the Prime Minister. What kind of person is he? In the 37th year of the Wanli reign, he ranked last among the top three Jinshi. All he thinks about is vying for power and profit. He would do anything to get to the top. For his own selfish reasons, he encouraged my son-in-law to enter the pass and even encouraged you to mobilize troops everywhere. Now that Shaanxi has failed and chaos has broken out in the Central Plains, where has he been hiding? Do you have any plans or strategies?"

Liu Zhaosun looked at Yang Hao and knew that he and Kang Yingqian were incompatible:
"Father-in-law, General Kang is an old friend. Without him at Sarhu, I wouldn't have survived, let alone seen you."

"My dear son-in-law, you should kill this man, otherwise Kaiyuan will continue to suffer internal strife!"

Liu Zhaosun waved his hand:
"My decision to enter the customs is my own. It has nothing to do with anyone else. I will take the full responsibility. Kaiyuan is thriving, and as the territory expands, internal friction is inevitable."

Yang Hao was speechless.

In recent days, with the connivance of the Duke of Protector of the Country, Zhang Yan and Kang Yinggan became more and more arrogant. The high-ranking officials in the capital regarded Zhang Yan as the Duke of Protector of the Country's legitimate wife and ran to curry favor with Kang Yinggan. Kang Yinggan became the chief minister of the cabinet, which made the chief minister Yang Hao very embarrassed.

"Madam Jin, Madam Yang, and Madam Zhang, the three parties are evenly matched in strength. You let them fight fiercely. Don't you know the harm of factional strife in the Ming Dynasty?"

Liu Zhaosun nodded slightly.

"Fighting is everywhere. If any of the ladies is too weak, I will be worried. Let them fight. Wang Yangming said that thieves in the mountains are easy to defeat, but thieves in the heart are hard to defeat and difficult to detect. Let them fight, and the thieves in everyone's heart will be revealed. Then I can clean it up..."

Yang Hao was speechless for a long time.
"My dear son-in-law, you are playing with fire and getting burned! If you are not careful, you will be torn apart. I have said that I would punish Kang Yingqian, but you have always ignored him and let him become so powerful that he cannot be eliminated. Do you know how many people support him now?"

Liu Zhaosun chuckled, the situation was not as serious as Yang Hao said.

"That's why we have to let them stir up trouble on their own. Once Shaanxi is pacified, I will clean out the internal thieves and perhaps kill another batch."

When the Duke of Protectorate spoke, his expression was cold and expressionless, as if he was talking about something that had nothing to do with him. Yang Hao couldn't help but gasp when he saw his son-in-law's look.

Liu Zhaosun looked ahead with a cold gaze:

"Except Yang Qing'er, Jin Yuji, Qiao Yiqi, the Central Army Guards, and you, my father-in-law, everyone else can die."

Yang Hao didn't dare to say anything more.

"My dear son-in-law, Qiao Yiqi has met with Eunuch Wang from the Imperial Household Department."

Liu Zhaosun nodded. Wang Chengen was a spy planted in the Forbidden City, so there was nothing strange about his contact with Qiao Yiqi.

"Qiao Yiqi is a man you know better than I do. I wonder what intelligence he has brought to the Emperor this time."

Liu Zhaosun laughed loudly.

Yang Hao failed to overthrow Kang Yingqian, and now he wants to deal with Qiao Yiqi.

"Jianjun Qiao has no bad intentions. No matter what he does, I will not kill him. But Zhu Youjian is different. I have spared him twice, and he still wants to play with fire."

Liu Zhaosun gave the emperor many chances, but Tianqi refused to be content with being Emperor Xian of Han.

In this case, we have no choice but to send the emperor on his way.

Note:
1. Adapted from Zhu Yuanzhang's Imperial Edict to Imperial College Students

(End of this chapter)