The Ming Dynasty began from Sarhu

Chapter 483 More money is needed

In June of the second year of Taichu, the Jingxiang area entered the midsummer, and the weather became hotter day by day. The post roads from Xiangyang Prefecture to various prefectures and counties were bustling with people, and carriages carrying wood and stones came and went in an endless stream.

South of the city, Xianshou Mountain stands majestically, the Han River surges with blue waves, and above the river, masts rise into the clouds. Thousands of sand ships sail upstream along the Han River from Cuijiaying and Wangfuzhou docks, transporting shiploads of blue bricks to Junzhou.

In early June, Emperor Wu Ding stayed at Prince Xiang's mansion to escape the summer heat. For several days, he feasted and enjoyed himself with Empress Dowager Cisi, Concubine Jin Yuji, and Sister Daphne. Needless to say, the joy of the three of them in the boudoir was beyond words.

Wu Ju of the Southern Song Dynasty wrote in a poem:
The six dragons, afraid of the heat, dared not move; the sea waters boiled Penglai Island. The young master still thought the fan was too weak, while the traveler continued on the mortal road.

During the scorching summer months, princes and nobles soak floating melons and sunken plums in the pavilions and eat lotus roots made with ice and snow to escape the heat, yet they still feel too hot. How could they know that ordinary people, for a little fame and profit, have to travel on the same road during the hottest days of summer, and the hardships they endure are beyond words.

While enjoying himself, Emperor Wuding did not forget the major events in the world.

After daily banquets, he would carefully study maps - if beauties were also maps - maps of the Huai River, Huaiyang, and the border between Huguang and Nanzhili.

With the smooth advancement of the major military groups in the direction of Hubei and Shandong, the Qi army has formed a siege on the small Southern Ming court.

As long as the two strongholds of Wuchang and Hefei are successfully occupied and the Hongguang regime's retreat to the north and west is cut off, the Qi army will be able to sweep across the south of the Yangtze River, realizing the time traveler's dream of a million strong army crossing the river, completing the occupation of the fertile land in the south of the Yangtze River, truly replacing the Ming Dynasty and becoming a true empire.

Of course, before that, it is necessary to further destroy the fighting spirit of the Ming army, and it would be best to win without fighting, so as to avoid the war causing unnecessary damage to Jiangnan, although destruction is inevitable.

In order to achieve the combat intention, it is necessary to kill as many Ming troops as possible north of the Yangtze River, and a decisive battle on the periphery is inevitable.

However, Emperor Wuding could not make up his mind whether to choose Hefei or Wuchang as the location for the decisive battle.

Hefei and Wuchang both have their own advantages and disadvantages.

If we attack Hefei with all our strength first, Zuo Liangyu will immediately escape and lead his troops back to Nanjing, thus strengthening the defense of Nanjing.

If Wuchang is chosen, the Qi army will be at a disadvantage in naval battles. The empire's only navy is still fighting pirates in eastern Zhejiang and cannot intervene in the war on the Yangtze River.

"It would be nice if Qing'er came with us this time,"

Yang Qing'er was well-versed in the allocation of food and fodder for the army, the topography of various places, and had her own ideas about marching and fighting. It would be great if this virtuous wife was in Xiangyang.

Seeing that the emperor was somewhat absent-minded, Jin Yuji thought he was thinking about military and national affairs, so she said:
"I wonder how the wars in Korea and the North Sea are going? Whenever I think of the defeat at Hetuala, I worry about my husband."

Empress Dowager Cisheng hesitated to speak, and Emperor Wuding, seeing this, quickly comforted her:

"Madam, don't worry. This time, the army will never repeat the same mistakes. The war in the north will be foolproof."

Liu Zhaosun deployed two large corps in Korea, attacking Pyongyang and Seoul with an absolute superior force, and also with naval cover. In the direction of Sakhalin Island, he concentrated one and a half corps to deal with just over a thousand Cossack remnants. This time, the time traveler would make these imperial enemies who took advantage of the situation pay a heavy price.

He was silent for a moment, then said thoughtfully:

"Jin Yuji, you are originally from Korea. How can you be so calm when the army is approaching Korea?"

"Joseon is a cold and indifferent place. Its king is fickle and repays kindness with hatred. I will follow my husband, and I will have no regrets whether I live or die. I will kill him if he deserves to be killed, and punish him if he deserves to be punished."

When Liu Zhaosun heard this, he knew that Jin Yuji was on his side. He felt warm in his heart and took the beauty into his arms, assuring Empress Dowager Cisheng:

"Before leaving, I repeatedly told Zhao Rujiao and the others that Korea is different from the mainland. Only Li Jong and his powerful ministers will be killed. If the people do not resist, they can all live."

Jin Yuji's eyes were shining, and she said softly:
"I thank Your Majesty on behalf of the people of Korea."

She suddenly remembered something and asked again:
"My dear husband, I heard that the Southern Dynasty has sent envoys to seek peace. Are you still not going to meet them?"

"not see!"

Liu Zhaosun smiled, stretched out his hand towards Nanzhili, south of the Yangtze River, and pointed at the map, saying:
"Why didn't they negotiate peace when I was in Liaodong? Why didn't they negotiate peace when I besieged Xiangyang? Now that Xiangyang has been captured and the army is approaching, the Southern Dynasty knows to negotiate peace."

"If Zhu Yiming hadn't received the support of Emperor Hongguang over the past few months, he wouldn't have resisted to the end, causing tens of thousands of Xiangyang citizens to be buried with him. After Prince Xiang's death, Zhu Changling even gave this butcher the posthumous title of 'loyalty', deliberately trying to disgust me!"

Seeing that Emperor Wu Ding was furious, Jin Yu Ji stopped talking. At the last moment before Xiangyang City was broken, Zhu Yiming drove the people to the city to defend it, even women and children were not spared, resulting in the deaths of countless people.

Although the Qi army did not deliberately massacre the city, after the battle, it had the effect of a massacre, and more than 30,000 civilians in the city were killed.

Although the time traveler had always been quite tolerant of Zhu Yuanzhang's descendants, Zhu Yiming's actions still made him furious. Therefore, after the fall of Xiangyang City, the King of Xiang was executed by slow slicing.

On June 18th, Emperor Wu Ding ended his short summer vacation and continued to work on state affairs.

The retired emperor rushed to Junzhou to inspect the construction of Tianxin City, which he had been longing for.

It was midsummer and the heat along the way was unbearable. Jin Yuji and Daphne could not travel together, so they stayed in the Xiangyang Palace, waiting for the return of the emperor.

Emperor Wuding only brought Zhang Donglin Yu and others, as well as the former Ming Emperor Zhu Youxiao. The Carpenter Emperor was quite knowledgeable about mortise and tenon joints and bracket techniques, and was appointed by the retired emperor as one of the architectural consultants for Tianxin City.

Dougong (a bracket arch) is a special component in ancient architecture, composed of square brackets (dou, sheng, gong, qiao, and ang). It supports the roof from above and connects to the pillars from below, and possesses strong earthquake resistance. The emperor and his entourage rode swiftly, arriving at the Tianxin City construction site two hundred miles away the next day.

Craftsmen cut the stones transported from Yunyang and Xichuan on site, and some workers used stone hammers to cut another kind of rough stone, which would be used as the foundation, which was five meters deep, to ensure that Tianxin City was as solid as a rock and unbreakable.

The stonemasons were hammering the stones and roughening the stone surfaces. Some craftsmen transferred from the Ministry of Works piled up the stones and used plumb lines to build straight walls.

The outer perimeter of the new city is supported by 10,000 tall and thick masts, which are arranged according to the shape of the foundation, which is the same as the circumference of the permanent Tianxin City. The city is shaped like eight poles, and countless rockery have also been transported to the construction site. They declare with magnificent momentum that Tianxin City will be built here.

All the people around Junzhou who could pick up hammers and pliers were conscripted to this huge construction site next to the Han River. Some young and strong people put aside their urgent matters and work in the fields to help carry earth and rocks, mix mud, and participate in the construction of the imperial capital.

Before Emperor Wu Ding arrived in Junzhou, a supernatural incident occurred on the construction site.

In June, a strong wind on Wudang Mountain destroyed all the scaffolding.

The masts, planks, beams, and joists were in a mess, and the ground was covered with dense hailstones.

It was as if a demon had suddenly descended upon the world; the craftsmen and common people were frightened out of their wits, and called the storm the work of a Taoist priest who had died suddenly.

After Emperor Wu Ding arrived in Junzhou, he immediately ordered the high priest and Ke Zhen'e to perform rituals on the altar, and asked civil officials to distribute food to the affected people. That day, the storm and hail subsided and the construction site resumed work smoothly.

At the end of June, news of Wu Aheng's victory in the battle with Zheng Zhilong in the Zhoushan Islands was reported back to Xiangyang. It was said that Zheng Zhilong had fled to Fujian. Wu Aheng asked for permission to continue the pursuit in the Tangbao, but this request was directly rejected by the emperor.

"Let's put the naval battle on hold for now. I need to prepare for the Huaihai Campaign and the Yangtze River Crossing Campaign. Have the warships withdraw to the inland rivers to cover the troops crossing the Yangtze River."

In July of the second year of Taichu, Emperor Hongguang, who had a premonition of impending disaster, asked his ministers for advice in the main hall of the Forbidden City in Nanjing, asking how to deal with the rebellious Qi.

The officials of the Southern Ming Dynasty were speechless. The road before them was very clear. They were no match for the Qi army in the Northern Expedition, and they had no capital for peace talks. Zuo Liangyu was too powerful to be controlled and was already a tiger that could never be fed.

Ruan Dacheng accepted many benefits from Ma Shiying and others, and had become the number one spy planted by Qi State in Nanjing. At his request, the Hongguang court sent an unprecedented luxurious delegation, carrying 100,000 taels of silver, 1,000 taels of gold, and 2,600 pieces of brocade, to Xiangyang in the north at night, trying to beg Emperor Wuding to postpone the attack on Nanjing to prevent the people in the south of the Yangtze River from suffering from the war.

Unfortunately, Emperor Wuding did not receive them, although the delegation included famous figures such as Lu Zhenfei, Xiong Ru, Huang Gongfu, and Du Yinxi.

On the seventh day of the seventh month, Ma Shiying, the Minister of Rites, received the Southern Ming delegation in the side hall of Prince Xiang's palace.

Ma Shiying didn't waste any words and stepped forward to threaten:

"You are traitors to the Ming Dynasty, you have no sense of honor and shame, and you don't know the righteousness between the ruler and his subjects. Your first crime is not saving the late emperor; your second crime is arbitrarily establishing an emperor; your third crime is raising troops in various towns and abusing the people. Our emperor has been merciful and has tolerated you until now, but you have refused to repent and have persisted in your ways. I will send troops to punish you any day!"

The first one was not to rescue the late emperor, that is, the Tianqi Emperor Zhu Youjian. During the Battle of Beijing, there were almost no troops from all over the country to support the emperor. At that time, the southern part of the Ming Dynasty was not without troops to support the emperor. For example, Huang Degong and Zuo Liangyu, who later became the Four Commanderies of Jiangbei, had troops under their command. However, they hesitated and did not dare to enter the capital to support the emperor. Therefore, Ma Shiying's first point was indeed correct.

The second point is the unauthorized establishment of an emperor. After the death of the Tianqi Emperor, the Ming Dynasty immediately installed a collateral descendant, Zhu Changling, as the new emperor in Nanjing. This became the Hongguang Emperor. According to the Ming Dynasty's succession system and ethics, the Prince of Gui's succession to the throne was an act of usurpation. Since the Prince of Fu had not yet ascended to the throne, Ma Shiying's point made sense.

The third point is that each town had its own army and abused the people. This is true. After Zhu Youjian's death, the Ming Dynasty established the Four Towns of Jiangbei and made them responsible for collecting taxes in the areas under their jurisdiction. As a result, the Four Towns plundered the people. On the other hand, the warlords in the Four Towns were not good at fighting and were specialized in oppressing the people, so this point is also true.

Seeing that Ma Shiying was so cruel, the Southern Ming delegation did not give them any room to speak and were unable to refute.

Faced with Ma Shiying's scolding, he could only swallow his anger and let him do whatever he wanted.

Emperor Wuding was not very interested in peace talks. He had already put forward extremely harsh conditions and asked Ma Shiying to read them to the Southern Ming delegation:

"My emperor is merciful and cannot bear to see the suffering of the people. If he wishes to negotiate, he must agree to the following:
1. Ming submitted a letter of allegiance to Qi and was enthroned as emperor by Qi.

2. The boundary between the two countries is the middle reaches of the Huai River in the east and Wuchang and Hanyang in the west. From the Huai River to the west, the Ming Dynasty ceded Huangzhou (Huanggang), Hefei, and the entire province of Jiangxi to Qi.

3. Every year on the Emperor of Qi’s birthday and New Year’s Day, the emperor would send envoys to offer congratulations.

4. Next year, 250,000 pieces of tribute cloth, 10,000 kilograms of tea, and 3,000,000 taels of silver shall be delivered to Sizhou (northeast of Luyi County, Anhui Province) every spring for payment.

5. Qi promised to marry Emperor Tianqi’s son Zhu Cilang and Princess Changping.

Before Ma Shiying could finish, Huang Gongfu, a former councilor of the Huguang Provincial Government and a man in his fifties, slammed the table and said angrily:

"How can this be? You're surrendering, ceding territory, paying annual tribute, and becoming a vassal. This isn't an alliance, it's more like a surrender! I absolutely refuse to agree to it!"

Lu Zhenfei, Xiong Ru and Du Yinxi also left in anger.

Since then, the Qiming peace talks have broken down.

Emperor Wu Ding then ordered the Third Corps to attack Hefei from Shandong. Within five days, more than 10,000 troops under Zuo Liangyu were annihilated, and Nanjing was shocked.

In early August, the Southern Ming court was forced to accept the peace terms and sent Lu Zhenfei, Xiong Ru, Huang Gongfu, Du Yinxi and others to Xiangyang for peace talks.

Ma Shiying said to Huang Gongfu, who had come all the way to seek peace, with a sly smile on his face:
"My emperor is merciful and will not bother with you traitors! However, Mr. Huang, you have to pay more. The annual tribute will be increased from 3 million to 5 million! In addition, my emperor also wants Zheng Zhilong's head!"

(End of this chapter)