The Ming Dynasty began from Sarhu

Chapter 465 Zen Position
In May of the first year of Taichu, the two Qi armies inside and outside the Great Wall joined forces to pursue the remnants of the Qing and Korean troops and the Cossack cavalry.

On the fifth day of May, the Qi army captured Hetuala and captured more than 10,000 Jianzhou Jurchens and 20,000 bannermen. Among them, 5,000 young and strong were sent to southern Liaoning to mine, and the rest were executed.

On May 12, the army besieged Kuandian and cut off the retreat route of the Korean soldiers back to their country. Li Shunyi and the last 8,000 Korean soldiers had no way to escape and were forced by Pu Gang to jump into the river. Most of the Korean soldiers drowned, and the remaining 2,000 were captured and became miners.

On May 30th, the entire Liaodong region was liberated.

From then on, Liaodong and Liaoxi returned to the rule of the Great Qi, and the Liaoshen Campaign, which lasted for a year, finally ended.

At the beginning of July, the military operations of the Qi army in all directions were temporarily stopped. Emperor Wu Ding recuperated and prepared to launch an expedition to Sakhalin Island and Korea in the autumn.

By July of the first year of Taichu, the empire's territory included Shandong, Liaodong, Liaoxi, and eastern Henan.

Compared to a year ago, the territory of Da Qi has shrunk by more than half. However, because the emperor resolutely carried out massacres and purges, his rule is more solid than before.

Relying on the four pillars of the army, chambers of commerce, farmers' associations, and spies, the time traveler established for the first time in this land a totalitarian ruling system that penetrated into counties, villages, and even every family.

Under his rule, everyone was tied to this chariot and everyone was under close surveillance.

This is the price of empire.

A total of more than 40,000 captives were sent to mines in various places to begin their journey of atonement. They mainly included the surviving Eight Banners of Jianzhou, the Korean royal army, 520 East India Company sailors, and a Cossack mercenary force of 1,000 people.

Since southern Liaoning was occupied by the Qi army, the more than 500 East India Company employees who entered Liaodong had no way to escape. Many of them retreated to Ningguta with the Qing army and were eventually captured by the Qi army.

Emperor Wuding was very merciful in dealing with these people and simply sent them to serve in mines in various places.

Only the leader of the East India Company, Cologne, was rendered harmless, that is, executed by slow slicing.

In addition, the emperor showed special mercy and released the two Dutch sailors. Zhang Mazi instructed the two to return to Jakarta as soon as possible to demand a huge ransom from the East India Company, otherwise the employees of the East India Company might face the tragic fate of digging a hole for life.

The emperor's method of dealing with the Commander-in-Chief Li Shunyi was to execute him by cannonballing. He used a ten-pound red cannonball to tear the Commander-in-Chief's body apart. The method was similar to that used by a certain family in later generations.

The remaining Korean soldiers were sent to the most dangerous Kaiyuan coal mines, and spent the rest of their lives supporting the Da Qi Industrial Revolution.

Considering that coal mines often experience accidents such as gas explosions, water seepage and landslides, most of them will die.

The primitive accumulation of capital is bloody and cruel. Emperor Wuding handled the captives cleanly and neatly without any drag, which won unanimous praise from all parties.

The treatment of the Cossack colonists is quite creative.

More than 300 Cossacks who had eaten human flesh on Sakhalin Island had their left legs chopped off and were driven into the wilderness to survive among jackals, tigers and leopards.

The remaining 700-odd people entered the coal mine.

According to the description of the high priest who visited the mines, the captives from various countries mining in various places felt like they were in hell:

The pacification soldiers managed the prisoners in the Gongdelin (a general term for concentration camps in Qi State) style.

The miners worked seven or eight hours a day, and their only food was bean cakes, carrots, grass seeds, buckwheat, sweet potatoes and the like. Every day, people died from exhaustion, hunger or malnutrition.

Above the mine, poplars reach the sky, willows block the sun, and pines are lush and green all year round. Peach blossoms, apricot blossoms, and white locust flowers are in full bloom, and the air is filled with fragrant aroma. Bees and butterflies dance, birds sing, and the scenery is pleasant.

However, the tunnels under the mine are extremely narrow, like hell.

In many places, only enough for one person to crawl, the miners could barely stand up straight. With no ventilation equipment, they relied entirely on natural ventilation. The tunnels were stuffy and hot, with coal dust flying everywhere, like a huge steamer.

When the captives were mining, they used the long bamboo tubes mentioned by Song Yingxing in "The Exploitation of the Works of Nature" to insert into the coal seams to expel gas. However, the effect was not good and explosions often occurred.

The prisoners worked naked, and after swinging a few pickaxes, they would sweat profusely, ache all over, and have difficulty breathing. Of course, no one dared to faint, because if they fainted, the guards would treat them as dead and throw them into the "mass grave."

There is one or two "mass graves" next to each mine in Liaodong.

At first, when miners died, the civil officials gave them a thin coffin. Later, they gave two miners one coffin. Later, they just threw the coffin away. They even threw away prisoners who were seriously ill and unable to work but were still alive.

The mine has regulations that in order to prevent gas explosions, workers can only light lights when going up and down the mine, and can only work in the dark when mining.

Each work surface only has shovel heads, sacks, pickaxes, hammers, chisels, basket heads, etc.

Furthermore, the tunnels were flooded year-round, and there was no drainage machinery, so the prisoners had no choice but to stand in the water to work. Typically, after three days in the mines, the skin below the calves would rot and break.

The miners had to separate their toes with sorghum stalks before lying down every night, otherwise their toes would stick together the next day.

The 28th day of the sixth month of the first year of Taichu.

After careful consideration, Liu Zhaosun decided to abdicate the throne to Crown Prince Liu Kan.

Liu Kan is the famous Emperor Wu of Qi in history.

Emperor Wuding's decision was wise. After all, Liu Kan had already proclaimed himself emperor the previous year. If he abolished the throne just because of his own love for power, it would be too frivolous.

Emperor Wuding first issued an imperial edict to his ministers, which roughly said that in order to distinguish themselves from the emperors who abdicated in the Tang and Song dynasties (Emperor Gaozu Li Yuan of Tang and Emperor Gaozong Zhao Gou of Song), the ministers must discuss the etiquette procedures in detail and must not "use any rituals without any basis."

This abdication ceremony also became an extremely luxurious political farewell ceremony held by the warmongering Liu Zhaosun for himself.

Of course, Emperor Wuding did not give up power because of this, but was just manipulating it behind the scenes.

After the abdication edict was issued, the court decided on the crown prince and designated this year as the first year of Taichu.

The ministers of rites agreed on the etiquette for the abdication ceremony and established the detailed procedures.

First, before the abdication ceremony, officials were sent to offer sacrifices to heaven, earth, the Taimiao, and the state. On the day of the ceremony, various departments set up rituals, regulations, and ceremonial guards.

Because the process is too complicated, it is roughly summarized as follows:
The throne of the retired emperor was set up in the Hall of Supreme Harmony, with a treasure table in the middle. Long and large tables were set up on the left and right of the hall, and slightly south of the treasure table, on the east and west sides.

Outside the palace, a yellow table was set up in the middle of the red steps of the Hall of Supreme Harmony, a ceremonial procession was displayed in front of the hall, and a sedan chair was set up outside the Gate of Supreme Harmony. Outside the Meridian Gate, five chariots, trained elephants, guard horses, a yellow canopy, a cloud tray and other grand processions were displayed in that order.

Before the ceremony began, Cabinet Scholar Qian Qianyi presented the imperial edict of succession to the throne on the east table in the main hall, officials from the Ministry of Rites presented the congratulatory letter on the west table, and the Grand Secretaries and others went to the Qianqing Gate to request the emperor's imperial seal to be placed on the left table in the main hall.

After the announcement, he put the memorial back on the original case and left.

The ceremonial officer gave the order to "rise", and the successor emperor Liu Kan (who was replaced by the empress dowager Jin Yu Ji because he was young) stepped back and stood on the left side (the west side of the main hall) again.

Grand Secretaries Qian Qianyi and Hou Xun knelt in front of the imperial steps of the Hall of Supreme Harmony. The Grand Secretary on the left asked for the emperor's imperial seal and knelt to pay homage to the retired emperor.

Liu Zhaosun personally presented the imperial seal to the new emperor, and Jin Yuji knelt on the emperor's behalf to receive the seal.

Then the imperial seal was handed over to the Grand Secretary on the right. The Grand Secretary knelt to receive the imperial seal and placed it on the table on the right side of the hall.

The new emperor went to pay homage to the throne. Music played and the ceremonial officer sang: "Kneel down, kowtow, stand up." Concubine Jin Yu, on behalf of Liu Kan, led the officials in performing the nine kowtows to the retired emperor.

The ceremonial officer chanted "retreat", the music stopped, and the abdication ceremony was completed.

(End of this chapter)