The Ming Dynasty began from Sarhu

Chapter 506 A Long Talk with Bumbutai
Back then, Bumbutai, with the support of Kaiyuan forces, became the Khan of Khorchin, the first female Great Khan on the grasslands. Later, Huduntu rose to power and threatened Liaodong, becoming a common enemy of both sides. Kaiyuan and Khorchin formed an alliance.

In the first year of the Tianqi reign, the Kaiyuan soldiers and the Khorchin joined forces to repel Ligdan Khan and chased him all the way to Qinghai, where he never recovered.

Now that Ligdan Khan has died of illness, Bumbutai has finally avenged her death.

In the past two years, the Khorchin people have assisted the Qi army in dealing with the bandits in Shaanxi many times. When Du Du rebelled, the Khorchin tribe and the Bordered Blue Banner fought several battles in Yehe, but the strength gap was too great and they were ultimately no match for the Qing army.

The Mongolian grasslands enjoyed good weather and good harvests under the Little Ice Age climate, which was in stark contrast to the doomsday scene of successive disasters in the interior of the country. The pastures were fertile with water and lush grass, and the cattle and horses thrived. The development of animal husbandry led to a rapid increase in the population of the Khorchin tribe. By the summer of the third year of Taichu, the number of people under Bumbutai's rule had increased from 50,000 during the Wanli period to 100,000.

Looking at Bumbutai who had hurriedly returned and the beautiful girl standing in front of him, Liu Zhaosun was surprised.

Why did he lead his people away from the paradise of Korqin?

The reason is simple: Tsarist Russia came.

~~~~
On the third day of September, on the eve of his personal expedition, Emperor Wuding formally summoned Bumbutai to the Huangji Hall.

The retired emperor praised the Khorchin Khan highly and issued an edict imitating the system of the Qin and Han dynasties, conferring the title of Marquis of Loyalty on Bumbutai, establishing his government in Jinzhou, and rewarding him with 10,000 taels of silver. The elite cavalry of the Khorchin tribe was incorporated into the First Corps to guard Liaodong.

When the imperial edict was issued, all the ministers were shocked and the whole court was shocked.

It should be noted that since the pre-Qin period, there have been only five women in China who were granted the title of nobility.

In the Western Han Dynasty, the three marquises of Lu, Ci (mother of Marquis Xijuan of Lu), the marquis of Wuci Ting, Xu Fu, and the marquis of Yin'an (Liu Bang's sister-in-law), were all conferred titles by Liu Bang.

Marquis of Linguang, Lü Shi (sister of Lü Zhi and wife of Fan Kuai) and Marquis of Ying (wife of Xiao He), both of whom were conferred titles by Lü Zhi.

The time traveler bestowed the title of nobility (Marquis of Loyalty) that originally belonged to Qin Liangyu to Bumbutai. Not only did he confer the title of nobility on her, he also rewarded her with the land of Jinzhou - the Khorchin army was disbanded - which shows how much he doted on the little sister.

Bumbutai wore a coral bead headband, a red robe with a colorful silk belt, and thick felt high-waisted leather boots. With her handsome and extraordinary appearance, she was magnificent and majestic, and was certainly not comparable to the beautiful girls from inner China.

Beside the throne, Empress Dowager Cisi winked at Bumbutai. Marquis Zhongzhen raised his head to look at the retired emperor and the empress dowager and swore a solemn oath.

"I bow down to thank the Supreme Emperor for his great grace. The Eternal Heaven is above. From now on, the Khorchin tribe will belong to the Great Qi. As Qi people, we will be Qi ghosts in death. Even if the mountains are gone and the grasslands are broken, how dare you betray Qi! If you break this oath, you will be eaten to death by the eagles of the grasslands!"

On that day, Marquis Zhongzhen received the imperial edict to express his gratitude, but did not rush back to the camp outside the city. Instead, he stayed to attend the Supreme Royal Banquet.

Liu Zhaosun, Liu Yufei, Jin Yuji, Yang Qing'er, and Chen Yuanyuan were all present, and everyone sat around the Eight Immortals Table. The young emperor Liu Kan had a day off and, on the orders of his father, came to welcome the Marquis of Loyalty.

The children were overjoyed that they no longer had to recite "The Book of Documents" and "The Great Learning" in front of Qian Qianyi, and no longer had to follow Johann Adam Schall von Bell to draw geometric diagrams.

The emperor had something urgent to do.

While his father was not here, Bumbutai said to the little emperor:

"How old is your Majesty? Do you like reading?"

Liu Kan quickly glanced around, making sure his father was not around. Seeing Dongfang Zhu had also left, he stopped chewing the mutton and stared at the slender, charming, and long-black-haired exotic beauty with wide eyes. He spread out his little fingers and counted them one by one:

"One, two, three, four, five, five years old."

The little emperor stuck a dagger into the roasted whole lamb and said childishly:

"I don't like reading!"

Bumbutai laughed.

"Do you like the teacher?"

"dislike!"

Jin Yuji and Yang Qing'er looked at each other and were about to stand up to educate Liu Kan. Chen Yuanyuan watched the fun while eating melon seeds.

Bumbutai smiled and said, "What's wrong? Did he hit you? Sister will help you vent your anger."

Liu Kan angrily said, "That villain! Not only did he beat me, he also went to complain to Father, urging him to depose me and make Liu Yufei the emperor. Sister, how can the eldest princess be an emperor if she loves eating and sleeping? Father will listen to you. Speak a few words for me and have Mr. Qian exiled to Seoul to be a male prostitute."

Bumbutai looked at the fat girl Liu Yufei sitting next to her.

The eldest princess was a foodie, just like her father, she loved meat. These days, she'd been eating frogs and crucian carp with Liu Zhaosun, and had been eating local specialties from Hunhe for half a month. She hadn't had proper mutton in a long time.

At this moment, she was immersed in the world of food and had no idea that her brother was saying bad things about her.

Bumbutai was speechless.

"The Yangtze River's waves behind push the waves ahead. Your request is a bit excessive. I can't help you."

Jin Yuji smiled at Liu Kan and said, "What sister? She is your father's lover. You should call her, hey, Qing'er, how do you say it in Khorchin..."

Yang Qing'er turned around and looked at Bumbutai, smiling without showing her teeth:
"Eji (Mom)."

~~~~~~
Bumbutai and Liu Zhaosun had a special relationship. As early as when Liu Zhaosun was the general of Kaiyuan, the two were like brother and sister. They could talk about anything when they were together, which aroused Jin Yuji and Yang Qing'er's imagination.

Fortunately, Liu Zhaosun is fundamentally different from other time travelers. In addition to his extremely unstable personality, he is not very interested in raising loli. Even when facing a beauty like Bumbutai, who is one in a million, he has never had any distracting thoughts.

Of course, that was all before the Wanggongchang explosion.

After the Big Bang, everything changed.

Emperor Wu Ding was completely transformed.

In the past, people believed in the kingly way, restrained themselves, and restored propriety, treated the virtuous and humble with respect, and Zhou Gong spit out food to feed the people, and the world was at peace with them. Now, tyranny, torture, power-seeking, deceit, and sorcery are rampant and extravagant.

I used to have a low alcohol tolerance and didn’t like to eat meat or drink, but now I’m addicted to alcohol and can’t live without meat.

In the past, he was as averse to women as Liuxia Hui, a medieval Puritan, but now he indulges in women every night.

The women favored by Emperor Wu Ding at present include: the two Empress Dowagers Jin Yuji and Yang Qing'er, the one Concubine Chen Yuanyuan, the Japanese Princess Tokugawa Chihime, the nun Daphne, and the two palace maids Amber and Azalea.

Despite this, Liu Zhaosun still felt that beauty was not enough, and he instructed Dongfang Zhu to seize the opportunity to "collect many women from the people and bring them into the imperial court." On the third day of the ninth month, a meteor fell to the earth, and the stars changed.

On the night of the third day of the Lunar New Year, a rice-sized meteor in the northeast direction suddenly turned into a big lantern, emitting red and yellow light, dazzling and brilliant. According to the Imperial Astronomical Observatory, this was a very bad omen.

Hu Xiao, the censor of Henan Province, got the news from somewhere that the palace was going to increase the number of palace maids, so he used the fact that "an evil star appeared in the Cining Palace" as an excuse to conclude that the star change must be affecting the concubines in the palace.

He wrote to Emperor Wuding, "The concubines of the (Qi Dynasty) are secluded from the harem, the elderly are unknown, the young are filled with resentment, and the widows and orphans are filled with sorrow." He suggested that in order to comply with the will of heaven, the most urgent task was to release the palace maids. He suggested that Emperor Wuding release all the palace maids from the Ye Ting of the previous Ming Dynasty (Wanli, Taichang, Chongzhen, and Tianqi) who had not been favored by the previous emperor.

Liu Zhaosun was furious when he heard this, and what made him even more angry was that Hu Xiao used Wu Zetian as an example in his memorial, citing classics and saying:
"Tang Gaozu was a bad ruler, and Empress Wu Zetian was cruel, almost endangering the country. This is not something you should mention to Your Majesty, but we should learn from the mistakes of the past." (Note 1)

Seeing that the Eastern Expedition was about to begin and the flood and plague had just passed, Hu Xiao wanted to blame the natural disaster (meteor shower) on the imperial court and threaten the retired emperor to release the palace maids. This was clearly an allusion to Bumbutai being Empress Lü and Empress Wu Zetian. Not only would this cause attacks on Marquis Zhongzhen, it would also disrupt the morale of the army. His intention was to kill him.

When Bumbutai was enthroned that day, some old officials in the court were quite dissatisfied, thinking that Khorchin's return to the east was forced, and there was no need to divide the land and confer titles on him.

Emperor Wuding judged that there was someone behind Hu Xiao, possibly an old official, Chen Yuanyuan, or a relative.

With war imminent, a general purge was inappropriate. Coincidentally, Ma Shiying, the Marquis of Xun, submitted a memorial to the court, pleading for the Henan Provincial Censor: "My memorial originally sought to free the palace maid, but you have spoken wildly. Although absurd and foolish, you are, after all, a foolish and honest man."

Therefore, the Ministry of Justice sentenced Hu Xiao to immediate death, but later changed it to dismissal from office and becoming a commoner.

After this incident, no one in the Great Qi dared to interfere with the emperor's purchase of women from the common people and their appointments into the imperial court, nor did they dare to inquire about the affairs of the Marquis of Loyalty.

~~~~~
On the night that Bumbutai went to the retired emperor, that is, August 19th, Emperor Wuding urgently summoned Xie Yanghou to the Qianqing Palace to question Li Sanguang and the other two.

Xie Yang was still brooding over the quarrel with Sun Chuanting in Qixing Tower four days ago.

Director Xie firmly opposed the advice of Sun Chuanting, Ma Shiying and others to "make the people suffer further", believing that doing so would be to alienate oneself from the world.

After the banquet at Qixing Tower, Xie Guangkun and Sun the Barber (Sun Chuanting's nickname) immediately impeached each other, submitting five memorials in just three or four days. They attacked each other on every level, from character to political achievements to appearance. Sun Chuanting mocked Xie Yang's "seeking fame and reputation, which would not help." Xie Yang, in turn, accused Sun Chuanting of being a murderer, no less prolific than Lai Junchen and Zhang Tang.

"I summoned you here today to discuss the matter of buying grain."

Xie Yang knew very well that the food, fodder and livestock brought by the Khorchin people were only enough for the Eastern Expedition Army. It was still far from enough to provide relief to the victims in Liaodong. However, with the war imminent, where could he buy food?

"Your Majesty said you wanted to buy food?"

Liu Zhaosun glanced at Xie Yang and said firmly, "Go to Jiangnan to buy food."

Hou Xun had participated in the Xuzhou peace talks with the Southern Ming court and was also friends with Ruan Dacheng, so he knew a lot about the Southern Ming court. After hearing what Emperor Wu Ding said, he quickly said:
"Your Majesty, the Southern Dynasty just contributed 20,000 dan of grain to Great Qi in June. Seventy years later, the taxes paid by the people in the Hangzhou area have been collected. The poor have no money and even less food."

"Then collect the money and grain from the rich."

Emperor Wuding was worried that the three of them didn't understand, so he explained to them, "Jiangnan has not suffered from floods or plague. The annual tribute of grain paid by Zhu Changling is just a drop in the bucket. The wealthy and prominent families are still hiding grain and are looking to them for food."

Xie Guangkun smiled bitterly and said, "Your Majesty, it's not that easy to buy. Now everyone in the south knows that Great Qi is short of food, and they're raising the price. The Ministry of War has used up all the money in the treasury on training troops and building ships, disaster relief, and road construction. How can there be money left to buy food? Why not send Qin Jianxun to lead his troops to rob us!"

Liu Zhaosun stared at Xie Yang in a daze. Xie Yang laughed and waited for the emperor's order.

This civil affairs official was forced to ask for money and food every day. All he thought about was food, and even his dreams at night were about food.

It looks like he's almost going crazy.

"Rob?"

Liu Zhaosun quickly shook his head and said disapprovingly, "We can't go to war with the Southern Dynasty now. We must at least wait until the Eastern Expedition is over and we have some time to recuperate before we can march south. We must not act too hastily, otherwise we will end up like the early years of Wuding."

If the Qi Dynasty were to march eastward to conquer Korea, it would have to exert all its strength just to annex the three northern provinces (Pyeongan-do, Nyeongan-do, and Hwanghae-do). How could it open up another front in the south at the same time?

"There are other things I can trade with them."

Hou Xun and Xie Yang pricked up their ears and asked in unison:
"May I ask, Your Majesty, what is it?"

A few days ago, in order to raise grain, Emperor Wuding sent Dongfang Zhu, Pei Dahu and others to search the national treasury. Xie Yang couldn't think of anything else that he could use to trade with the local tyrants and evil gentry in Jiangnan.

Before Emperor Wuding could reply, Hou Xun spoke first, "Your Majesty, are you planning to send the cattle and sheep gifted by the Khorchin tribe to Jiangnan?"

"It will take a long time to send 30,000 sheep to Jiangnan, right?"

Liu Zhaosun chuckled and decided not to beat around the bush with the two of them, and finally told them his plan.

"Do you remember the over 10,000 antique calligraphy and paintings that the Kaiyuan Army confiscated from the Kong family in Qufu during the first year of the Taichang reign?"

Hou Xun and Xie Yang looked at each other in confusion. Hadn't those antique calligraphy and paintings been reduced to ashes in the Wanggongchang explosion?

Emperor Wuding looked at Li Sanguang, who had been silent the whole time, patted the one-armed peasant's remaining shoulder, and said solemnly:

"All the treasures of the Kong Mansion are hidden in the tomb of Empress Zhang. Sanguang, have Wu Xiaolinyu escort you to the capital and use the methods taught to you by Master Xu (Xiake) to retrieve the antique calligraphy and paintings."

Li Sanguang raised his one arm and was about to kneel down to pay his respects, but Liu Zhaosun held him back and said, "Don't disturb Empress Zhang."

"The minister obeys the order."

Xie Yanghou Xun was stunned. This act of robbing his own mausoleum was truly jaw-dropping.

Emperor Wu Ding glanced at the two of them and said calmly, "Are those items in the Kong Mansion valuable?"

Hou Xun had been with Ma Shiying in welcoming and seeing off guests, and he had been in the Jiangnan officialdom for many years, so he was quite knowledgeable about antiques, calligraphy and paintings. He said quickly:

"They are priceless. Just the ancient tripods from the Shang and Zhou dynasties in the Yansheng family are priceless treasures. I heard there are also calligraphy and paintings by Wang Xizhi and Yan Zhenqing's authentic "Eulogy for My Nephew", which are worth more than ten times that of Dong Qichang. If these treasures flow into Jiangnan and find the Donglin Party, they will be willing to give them food, even their lives..."

Liu Zhaosun said with a lost look, "As long as it's valuable, it's good."

On September 15th of the third year of Taichu, it began to drizzle in Shenyang. Emperor Wuding killed the Korean envoys at Guangji Gate as a sacrifice to heaven and announced that he would lead the army in person.

Note:
1. "The Veritable Records of Emperor Taizu of Qi," Volume , August , the third year of Taichu; "The Biography of Hu Xiao," Volume , "History of Qi," by Qi Meng et al.

(End of this chapter)