The Ming Dynasty began from Sarhu

Chapter 605 Three Days in Linchuan
In April, the south wind blows and the flags flutter.

The retired emperor of the Great Qi Dynasty was in high spirits, wearing a helmet and armor, riding a horse. Surrounded by many followers and guards, he set out from Deshengmen, the east gate of Nanchang, to the eastern suburbs of the city to offer sacrifices.

Various carriages and horses, guards and servants, formed a black torrent that extended from Nanchang City to Gaotian Gong Village.

The imperial guards were dressed in military uniforms, armed with sharp weapons, and rode on horseback in front of Emperor Wu Ding's carriage.

The retired emperor was surrounded by his confidants including Zhang Dong, Pei Dahu, Lin Yu, Liu Xingzuo, Qian Qianyi, and Zhang Pu.

Following the team were the empire's eunuchs and civil officials. The civil officials were dressed in luxurious clothes with patterns on them, but they did not have the emperor's luxurious military uniforms without dragon patterns.

"Your Majesty, Prime Minister Hui Deng concealed the amount of gunpowder in Linchuan, had the quartermaster request food and fodder from Nanchang, and secretly sent people to contact the Fujian pirates. I'm afraid they're planning a rebellion."

"Come closer and speak. I didn't hear you clearly."

Zhang Dong loosened the reins, and the warhorse under him felt relieved and quickly caught up with the luxuriously decorated mount in front.

Liu Zhaosun rode on his horse and slowly looked around. He was surprised to find that the mountains, rivers, and vegetation here had not changed much compared to more than 20 years ago.

When Liu Zhaosun was ten years old, his adoptive father, Liu Jing, was demoted by Emperor Wanli and deposed as a general. He returned to his hometown of Gongcun, Nanchang, and became unemployed. Liu Zhaosun followed him to Jiangxi. He remembers often going to the river at the entrance of Gongcun with his adoptive father's retainers to fish and catch shrimp.

Back to reality, all I see are fluttering black flags and majestic war horses. The vanguard of the sacrificial team has arrived at Gong Village, and the tail is still lingering at Deshengmen.

The retired emperor scratched the exaggerated gold-thread winged hat on his head and habitually pushed down the brim of the hat, which was his action before every battle.

"If it rains, my mother will get married. If he wants to rebel, let him do it."

Zhang Dong, who was wearing fish-scale armor, agreed and said nothing more. He was about to turn his horse and leave when he heard the emperor say:
"General Hui is probably still hesitant. Let your people help him and strengthen his resolve to rebel. If you want to rebel, do it sooner rather than later. Next month is the Empress Dowager Cisheng's 33rd birthday. I don't want to wait until then to kill anyone. It would be unlucky."

When Liu Zhaosun said the three words "unlucky", a superstitious look appeared on his face.

Zhang Dong nodded. The leader of the Suoyi Guards certainly knew what "helping General Hui" meant. He pulled the reins and adjusted the speed of his horse to prevent it from overtaking the emperor.
"Your Majesty, the wealthy families in Linchuan, including dozens of students, not only continue to bind their feet, but also beat to death a civil affairs official sent to them. Prime Minister Hui Deng in Linchuan has not intervened. I am worried that these people will collude and incite the ignorant people, which will inevitably..."

"Hahaha, Linchuan, the hometown of Duke Wen of Zhu. A saint is indeed a saint, comparable to Duke Yansheng. They are both heroes. I like them!"

The retired emperor sneered, causing the noble imperial horse under his crotch to snort in fear.

Liu Zhaosun stroked the horse's mane, comforting his mount while saying murderously:

"If there are few thieves, kill fewer; if there are many thieves, kill more. To deal with those stubborn traitors, at worst, I can come to Linchuan for three days."

Zhang Dong didn't know about the Qing Dynasty's hair-shaving order and the Yangzhou Ten Days, so he didn't understand what the Linchuan Three Days meant. However, when he saw the reaction of the retired emperor, he knew it was not a good thing, so he didn't dare to ask more.

"Zhang Dong, how many years have you been with me?"

Zhang Dong blurted out, "Your Majesty, I have been following Your Majesty to fight against the Jiannu for eighteen years, since the forty-seventh year of the Wanli reign of the Ming Dynasty."

"Eighteen years, Zhang Dong, you are forty this year, right?"

Looking at the wrinkles carved all over Zhang Mazi's face, because there were so many wrinkles, it was hard to tell where his pockmarks were.

"Your Majesty has a very good memory. He just turned forty."

Liu Zhaosun recalled the famous saying, "Trust the wisdom of future generations," and looked at the trees on both sides of the post road that were constantly being surpassed:

"Each generation has its own tasks. Time is running out for our generation, and some things cannot be left to future generations. The wisdom of future generations may not be better than that of their predecessors. If I don't do it, Liu Kan will scold me in the future."

Zhang Dong seemed to be lost in thought.

"When we get to Gong Village and visit my adoptive father's grave, you and I will come burn some paper money for him. You and I are the only people he recognizes in this world. Supervisor Qiao's whereabouts in Shenyang are unknown... Go call Deng Changxiong and Qian Qianyi. I have something to tell them."

Zhang Dong agreed and quickly turned his horse around and retreated to the rear of the team.

Liu Zhaosun watched Zhang Mazi go away, sighed, closed his eyes slightly, and two lines of tears slid down the corners of his eyes.

We walked down the post road and entered the village. There was a bit of congestion in the team.

His mind was exceptionally clear. He had actually anticipated the news of Hui Deng's opposition, but he had not expected that the ban on foot binding would be so difficult to implement in Jiangxi.

During this period, he was reflecting on whether he was too lenient towards the Ming officials who surrendered. Compared with the previous harsh laws, this was an overreaction.

As my thoughts were in turmoil, a bell sounded in my ears. I opened my eyes and saw Qian Qianyi riding a donkey, followed by Deng Changxiong.

Qian Qianyi suffered from rheumatic pain and could not ride a horse or touch cold water. He used to ride a donkey when he was in Jiangnan, and this habit continued until he entered the Qi Dynasty. Liu Zhaosun once issued a special decree, allowing the Grand Secretary to ride a donkey, even though it was unsightly and against etiquette.

"Grand Secretary, do you know about Linchuan?"

Qian Qianyi said calmly, "General Zhang has just told me everything. How does Your Majesty intend to deal with this?"

"I want to hear your ideas first."

The Grand Secretary grasped the donkey's reins with his left hand, stroked his beard with his right, and after a moment's thought, he came up with an answer. "I believe they must be killed, and savagely so."

The emperor didn't expect Qian Qianyi to react like this, and asked in surprise, "Tell me about it."

"Your Majesty, please pardon me."

Liu Zhaosun waved his hand and said, "The speaker is innocent. Please speak."

Qian Qianyi asked the donkey to come closer and said in a low voice, "Your Majesty, I believe that the dangers of the Great Qi now lie within, not without."

"Inside?"

The tall royal horse looked at the approaching little donkey with great interest.

"Since the Shenyang Rebellion, with the executions of Jin Yinghe, Yang Tong, and others, more and more people within the court have advocated for a restoration of the pre-Ming legal system. They are becoming increasingly arrogant, even influencing national policy. For the long term, they must be suppressed. The Linchuan Rebellion presents an opportunity. While there's currently no evidence that Prime Minister Hui Deng is colluding with this force, if this trend continues, the surrendered Southern Ming officials will undoubtedly collude with the remnants of Chen Xin's faction. Once this situation becomes too powerful to be eradicated, another disaster in Shenyang is inevitable. As the saying goes, overgrown weeds cannot be removed. Your Majesty has tolerated them for too long; it's time to close the net!"

The emperor tightened the reins while the mount under him was teasing the little donkey.

"So, Grand Secretary, which faction do you belong to? Do you advocate the complete restoration of the Qi Dynasty's Land System, or its complete abolition and imitation of the Ming Dynasty? Are you on good terms with Lu Xiangsheng, or are you on the side of General Qiao?"

Qian Qianyi's face changed drastically. He immediately got off the donkey, knelt on the dusty post road, and kowtowed repeatedly.

"Your Majesty, I have no party and no selfishness! I am a lonely old minister! If we talk about forming a party, I belong to your Majesty's party..."

"Alright, you eloquent speaker, get up. I just said it casually, why do this? Don't dirty your robes. We still have to offer sacrifices to King Linchuan later."

Qian Qianyi quickly stood up and rode on the donkey again, and the donkey let out a mournful cry.

"Your Majesty is the purest and most filial son, worthy of the admiration of all people! If Prince Linchuan knew this in his afterlife, he would also be aware of the great grace of the Holy Dynasty..."

Liu Zhaosun waved his hand.

"Okay, let's get on with the business."

King of Linchuan was Liu Jing's title. If Liu Jing was the biological father of the retired emperor, Liu Zhaosun would posthumously confer the title of Liu Dadao as the ancestor of the Great Qi Empire.

Qian Qianyi bowed and continued, "Your Majesty, please be advised. The people of Jiangyou are simple and honest, but the influence of Cheng and Zhu's teachings is deep. They often claim that nature is determined by destiny and temperament, but in fact they are deceiving themselves and the world. The reason why the former Ming Dynasty was ruined was almost half due to this. Your Majesty led the royal army into the pass and was invincible, but the so-called loyal ministers of the Southern Ming were all useless. They sat idly by and talked about temperament when there was no trouble, but died for the emperor when disaster struck, which was of no help. The so-called misleading of talents and ruining the world is the teachings of the Song Dynasty."

The emperor nodded slightly, and Qian Qianyi continued to scold: "It is Zhu Xi who has made all the scholars in the world buried in piles of old papers, wasting their energy and becoming weak, sick and useless people!"

"Linchuan, the hometown of Zhu Xi and a seat of Neo-Confucianism, has been honored by successive dynasties since the Song Dynasty, making it practically no different from Qufu in Shandong. The high priest previously detailed how countless chastity arches are located in Linchuan alone, with the number of so-called chaste women far exceeding that of any other prefecture or county. This shows how deeply harmful the influence of Neo-Confucianism is to foolish men and women. If it is not corrected, it will in three to five years infect the entire world. Your Majesty won the world with the power of archery and horsemanship, and ruled it with justice. However, Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism is incompatible with our dynasty's land system. If left unchecked, it will undermine the foundation of our nation. Therefore, we can use the opportunity presented by the ban on foot binding to lure these evil thieves out of their lair, rounding up these evil thieves and their ilk like Prime Minister Hui Deng, and completely eradicating their influence, thus preventing this threat for generations to come."

The Emperor, clapping his hands, smiled and said, "Great minds think alike. It is truly commendable that Grand Secretary has such an awareness. Since someone is willing to die for foot binding and be buried with the Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism, I will help them. This is a battle for the kingly way of education, no easier than fighting on the battlefield. Grand Secretary, once Linchuan is pacified, the rest will be up to you. I want a clean Linchuan, a clean Great Qi."

"The minister obeys the order."

Liu Zhaosun called Deng Changxiong again and arranged the combat operations in detail with this old subordinate.

"After Prime Minister Hui Deng started the rebellion, you immediately attacked the city. After the city was captured, except for the innocent common people, all the wealthy and powerful people were slaughtered."

Deng Changxiong looked serious and nodded.

The Emperor pointed to a cemetery in Gong Village and said to his old subordinates:

"The Battle of Linchuan was the most crucial battle between Great Qi and Ming. It wasn't just about banning foot binding, but more importantly, it was about breaking the will of the wealthy and powerful, shattering millennia of rites and customs, and forcing those masters to treat the common people with equality. There couldn't be even a moment of hesitation, otherwise, all the causes we fought for would collapse, and all those who died would have died in vain."

The Emperor added, "We can drive the Ming army's surrendered soldiers into the city, and the Second Corps will be responsible for supervising the battle to prevent blood from getting on their hands."

This is the third day in Linchuan.

Deng Changxiong clasped his hands together and said in a booming voice, "I obey your command!"

The back of my hand suddenly felt cold; it was raining.

Liu Zhaosun looked up at the sky and saw a bloody rain falling.

~~~~
The entrance of Gong Village.

All the horses were silent, the wind and rain were bitter, the flags were withered, and the fighting was silent.

Liu Zhaosun lit candles in front of his adoptive father's tomb and laid out incense, flowers, wine and food. Zhang Dong stood behind him holding a paper umbrella.

The Emperor Taishang bowed to Liu Jing, who was lying in the tomb, and said:

"May the spirit of my foster father in heaven protect Da Qi and put an end to this world conflict soon. However, the thieves are extremely vicious and cruel, so I have no choice but to kill again..."

(End of this chapter)