The Ming Dynasty began from Sarhu

Chapter 492 December Countercurrent
"Zhang Yingkui, the prefect of Guangping, and Li Lusheng, the magistrate of Jieze, are so bold! Without my order, they dared to confiscate property and starve so many people to death!"

On the 28th day of the 12th lunar month in the second year of Taichu, at the Prince Fu's Palace in Luoyang, Emperor Wuding tore the newspaper in his hand into pieces and threw the scraps of paper in Zhang Dong's face. After doing all this, he was still not satisfied, so he grabbed the teacup on the table and smashed it to pieces. He was so angry that he spoke incoherently.

"Kang Yingqian, I said not to kill, not to kill, but these former Ming officials who surrendered dared to do it themselves. The farmers' association hasn't been stationed in Jieze County yet, right? It's all because of you. You kept saying to slow down, slow down, and now it's slowed down like this. You are a bunch of corrupt officials, kill them!..."

Zhang Dong looked at the tea splashing on his leather boots and didn't dare to lift his foot to avoid it.

After Emperor Wu Ding finished speaking, Zhang Mazi carefully explained: "I have committed the crime of negligence. I have sent people to Guangping Prefecture..."

"Send people! Do you know how to send people now? What were you doing the past few days?!"

Liu Zhaosun became more and more angry as he spoke, and he slammed the table and stood up. Because he used too much force, the table in front of him broke into pieces and turned into a pile of broken wood chips.

Dujuan Humber, who was standing beside him, had never seen the emperor so angry. She was so frightened that her face turned pale and she stepped back repeatedly.

"I've said before that all punishments for Supervisors Kang and Qiao were just a warning to others, to scare them. They wouldn't harm their families. Now, they've starved over a dozen people to death. If a bunch of old officials were to look at this, they'd all blame me for being mean and ungrateful. Who would be willing to work for me, or do their job properly, in the future?"

Zhang Dong said nothing, beads of sweat oozing from his forehead. The Suoyi Guard had been busy with the Korean War and Xuzhou during this period, and had indeed neglected to guard Guangping Prefecture (there were not enough people to begin with).

Unexpectedly, Zhang Yingkui was such a bastard that without waiting for the imperial edict, he brought people to raid Kang Yingqian's hometown and caused such a big incident.

"Immediately send someone to capture the prefect and the county magistrate and bring them to Luoyang. I will kill them to avenge Kang Yingqian!"

A hoarse voice came from the entrance of the hall:
"Your Majesty, urgent news from the southeast..."

Liu Zhaosun waved his hand impatiently, signaling his father-in-law to get out.

Dongfang Zhu glanced at Zhang Dong who was kneeling on the ground and added, "Your Majesty, there is another letter from the palace, it seems to be from the Queen Mother."

When Liu Zhaosun heard that the letter was written by Yang Qing'er, his expression relaxed and his clenched fists loosened.

"Bring it here."

Dongfang Zhu walked in in small steps, not even blinking as he walked past the broken teacups and wood chips on the floor.

Dongfang Zhu bowed and was about to leave when the Emperor stopped him and said, "Leave the other one behind as well."

Emperor Wu Ding unfolded the two letters and read them carefully, his expression slightly relaxed. Zhang Dong saw this and said hurriedly:
"Your Majesty, my people in Jize County report that Lin Yu and Wu Xiao have rescued the Kang family. I have dispatched capable personnel to protect Supervisor Qiao's family in Shandong. Local officials have been informed that they are not allowed to move without authorization."

"Nonsense! Lin Yu and Wu Xiao were sent by me, and the Imperial Guards have to clean up your mess!"

Qiao Yiqi's ancestral home was Taicang in Jiangnan. Around the time Emperor Wu Ding ascended the throne, he moved his family (his elderly mother) to Shandong and settled in Jining.

"Shandong is our home base. I don't believe anyone in Shandong would dare to embezzle or do anything reckless!"

The Emperor, still furious, gnashed his teeth and said, "I thought the Guangping prefect was an honest official, but I didn't expect him to be so greedy. I should have killed him when I first ascended the throne. Forget it, blame me for not judging people!"

Liu Zhaosun asked Zhang Dong to stand up and speak. Zhang Mazi stood up tremblingly, not daring to look the emperor in the eye.

"There have been wars in both the north and the south these days, and the Suoyi Guards have been busy running around. You've worked hard on your own."

The emperor patted Zhang Dong on the shoulder.

"I have brought shame upon Your Majesty and deserve death. Please punish me!" Emperor Wu Ding sighed, "Now you understand why you stopped at the Huai River and didn't go south any further."

Zhang Dong nodded vaguely.

"The territory has been conquered, but many prefectures and counties are just rebranded. The essence remains the same. The kingdom I worked so hard to build is not for these parasites to enjoy!"

After a brief moment of frustration, intelligence chief Zhang Dong quickly regained his cold-blooded and cruel nature, quietly listening to the emperor's orders:
"Don't worry about the Korean affairs in Xuzhou for now. I'll let Yang Tong's pacification troops handle it. Now, concentrate your efforts, cooperate with the combat troops, and immediately begin the purge. Clean out all the evil spirits in Huguang and Henan. If you can't kill them all in one go, kill them multiple times. Do you understand?"

"I heard it clearly,"

"Start with Guangping Prefecture. Remove all the former Ming officials who surrendered. Execute those who should be killed, exile those who should be exiled! Organize farmers' associations and chambers of commerce, and let the army take over..."

~~~~~~~
As the New Year was approaching, Emperor Wuding celebrated the Spring Festival in the Prince of Fu's Palace. At the New Year's Eve family dinner, the retired emperor entertained Sun Chuanting, Ma Shiying, Xu Guangqi, Huang Gongfu, Song Yingxing, Sen Ti, Ge Yewen and others.

According to the retired emperor, these ministers will form the new power center of the empire.

The retired emperor once again emphasized to his ministers the new policies he was implementing.

Emperor Wu Ding reiterated that all rebels in the empire would be eliminated without any leniency.

He called on the ministers who held the highest power in the empire to persist in studying the new policies and to write a report on their learning experience every two weeks in the form of a memorial to be submitted to him for his review.

Later historians commented that around the third year of Taichu in the Great Qi Dynasty, with the gradual retirement of the first batch of veterans such as Kang Yingqian, Qiao Yiqi, and Wang Huazhen, a new core of imperial power gradually emerged.

The rise of Sun Chuanting, Ma Shiying, Xu Guangqi, Huang Gongfu, Jin Ni Ge, and Song Yingxing marked the beginning of a major change in the empire's transition from the rule of traditional Confucian civil servants who were well-versed in the Four Books and Five Classics to the rule of technocrats who were proficient in natural sciences.

The complete abolition of the imperial examination system in the third year of Taichu further highlighted this trend. The details of the abolition of the imperial examination system and the political earthquake it caused will be described in detail later, so I will not mention it here for the time being.

Song Yingxing successfully developed an improved steam engine, and the manned hot air balloon developed by Francisco and Ginnigo successfully flew. Although the direction of the hot air balloon could still not be controlled and each ride was a bit exhausting (basically, there was no return), at least they finally had a decent piece of black technology.

Song Yingxing invented a mini steam car that heated water in a container to generate steam. The kinetic energy of the steam pushed the gears next to it, which in turn drove the axles above the wheels, ultimately allowing the wheels to roll forward.

Strictly speaking, this is the world's first self-propelled car.

In order to please the retired emperor, on the fifth day of the first lunar month, Song Yingxing presented this invention to Emperor Wuding in the name of a gift.

This small steam locomotive sparked Liu Zhaosun's great interest. Although the car exploded into pieces after running for less than half an hour, the time traveler had already begun to fantasize about whether he could develop a steam-powered aircraft, an aerial fortress similar to the B25 bomber...

At the height of the celebration, Emperor Wuding warned that an enemy counterattack would soon come.

As expected, at the beginning of the first lunar month, a rebellion broke out in western Henan.

The three fronts were Korea in the north, the Huai River in the south, and the civil war.

"We are fighting on three fronts, and we must win on all three! We must seek common ground, not differences, and exterminate all rebels. Deng Changxiong, I hand Henan over to you. If the rebellion in Henan delays the war in the north and the construction of the capital, I will punish you."

Deng Changxiong said solemnly:

"Your Majesty, don't worry. With me here, there will be no chaos in Henan."

(End of this chapter)