The Ming Dynasty began from Sarhu

Chapter 607 Ruan Dacheng's Western Expedition

Ruan Dacheng would never have dreamed that one day Zhu Changling would ask him to lead his troops to fight a decisive battle with the Qi army.

As the chief minister of the Hongguang Dynasty, Ruan Dacheng possessed the same temperament as other Hongguang monarchs and ministers: living in peace in a corner, trying to survive, getting by, and indulging in luxury.

And the most important one is to unite the party and eliminate the dissidents.

Over the years, Ruan Dacheng has directly or indirectly helped Qi eliminate a large number of enemies in the south. If these people were still alive, they would definitely create trouble for Liu Zhaosun's cause of unifying the world.

For example, Liu Zongzhou, Shi Kefa, Huang Degong, Liu Zeqing...

Ruan Dacheng reached a height in party struggles that ordinary people could hardly reach.

On the eve of Zuo Liangyu's army's attack on Nanjing, he did not forget to throw dirty water on Yuan Linhou who was defending Jiujiang. When the Qi army defeated Zuo Liangyu and was approaching Zhenjiang, Ruan Dacheng was still busy fabricating charges against Zheng Sen (specifically, treason), although there had been no news of that group of pirates for a long time.

With the Qi army at the gates of the city, Ruan Dacheng's expertise in factional fighting was no longer of any use. His enemies were either killed or fled, and those who remained in Nanjing were basically stubborn people who were prepared to die for their country.

Ruan Dacheng did not want to die, he wanted to live, but Zhu Changling had learned the essence of his relative Zhu Youjian in terms of employing people. In a word, it was:

When employing people, be suspicious of them; when you are suspicious of them, employ them.

On the eve of the fall of the Hongguang court, Zhu Changling decided to let Ruan Dacheng repel the Qi army. To put it bluntly, he wanted him to die in his place.

Lord Ruan is about to create a record - the record of the Prime Minister of the Ming Dynasty personally attending the battlefield, although he does not want to create this record at all.

On the fifth day of May, before the Ming army officially set out, Prime Minister Ruan secretly sent envoys to exchange information with the State of Qi, hoping that the emperor would accept his surrender. It would be best if after surrendering, he would devote himself to the Great Qi until his death, that is, give him another official position.

Whether Liu Zhaosun received Ruan Dacheng's secret letter remains a mystery.

After Ma Shiying left the Qi cabinet, Ruan Dacheng's network of relationships in Qi was basically completely severed.

The new Prime Minister Lu Xiangsheng was not interested in this timid Prime Minister of the Southern Ming Dynasty. Ruan Dacheng went to find Qiao Yiqi, hoping to gain the trust of the emperor through Qiao Dazui's relationship. However, Qiao Yiqi ignored him.

Kang Yingqian's death was inextricably linked to Zuo Liangyu's surprise attack on Xuzhou. Although Ruan Dacheng had strongly opposed Zuo's Northern Expedition, given the massacre in Xuzhou and Kang Yingqian's sudden death, Qiao Yiqi naturally blamed the Southern Ming court for all the tragedies.

In reality, Qi's internal political system has undergone tremendous changes in recent years. Extremism and retrogression have intertwined, and conservatives and radicals have engaged in a bloody struggle. Amidst this, Qi's foreign policy has been erratic, fluctuating between war and peace, vacillating between left and right.

Ruan Dacheng was at a loss and didn't know what to do.

Until he inexplicably went to the battlefield.

"During this Western Expedition, all troops will be under the command of Mr. Ruan. We must work together to protect the Ming Dynasty. If we can win, you will be my Pei Du and Zhao Hu! You will be instrumental in rebuilding the Ming Dynasty! I am in Nanjing, waiting for your report of victory!"

On the second day of May, at the Stone City Gate, west gate of Nanjing.

The Hongguang Emperor toasted from afar, and a eunuch stepped forward to refill the cup. Zhu Changling personally handed the imperial wine to Ruan Dacheng and bestowed upon him treasures such as the chief minister's official robes, platinum, and silk. He also bestowed upon Ruan Dacheng a large amount of gold, silver, and silk to reward the soldiers of the Western Expedition. Ruan Dacheng was specially promoted to the title of Grand Tutor. This position was rarely bestowed upon Ming Dynasty officials, and at most was only granted posthumously to officials who had made significant contributions to the country.

"When the country is in trouble, loyal ministers are revealed. I won't resort to clichés. I pray that Grand Tutor Ruan will be victorious and defeat the Qi invaders! I hope the Ming Dynasty will be forever secure!"

After hearing the emperor's encouragement, Ruan Dacheng was so moved that tears and snot streamed down his face. He knelt before Zhu Changling and cried inconsolably:
"I am grateful for the favor bestowed upon me by the Holy Emperor. Even if I die a thousand times, it would not be enough to repay your Majesty. This time, I will fight a bloody battle with the Qi bandits. If I fail, I will die a martyr. I must die one day to repay the Ming Dynasty and destroy this morning's food for the Emperor!"

Zhu Changling didn't know whether he was acting or was really moved by Ruan Dacheng, but he burst into tears on the spot.

The king and his ministers hugged each other and cried bitterly.

“My dear!!”

"His Majesty!!"

The two men's hands finally clasped together.

The flags of the Western Expedition Army covered the sky as teams passed through the stone city gate. The city walls were filled with crows, cawing loudly.

On the sixth day of May, the Ming army stopped and set up camp east of Anqing City, confronting the Qi army from a distance.

Ruan Dacheng did not dare to fight any of the Qi troops. During that time, he spent his time in Anqing like this:
Every day, he would drink and have fun with his staff, compose poetry with scholars, and at night, drink all night long with two beautiful and skinny horses.
Every two or three days, he had his staff write a letter and send it back to Nanjing to be presented to the emperor. The content of the letter was always the same:
Victory, victory, victory! The imperial army triumphed, the Qi army suffered a crushing defeat. The Qi army, having shot itself in the foot, began to flee westward. The Hongguang Emperor also tacitly sent Ruan Dacheng an imperial edict every two days. The content was always the same and cheesy, much like the secret correspondence between the Yongzheng and Qianlong emperors and their provincial governors.

The country's fortress!

With the Prime Minister here, I feel at ease!
When will the Prime Minister return to Beijing?

What's the weather like in Zhenjiang?
Are the Zhenjiang bayberries ripe?
When can I drink plum wine with the Prime Minister?
In early June, the Qi army was stationed outside Anqing City and suspended its eastern expedition due to the plum rain, malaria, humidity and heat in the south, and the unfamiliar climate and water.

Upon hearing the news, Ruan Dacheng was ecstatic, believing that it was the gods' help, and immediately sent envoys to Qi to beg for peace.

It was not until three consecutive letters fell on deaf ears and received no response that he felt scared.

Ruan Dacheng suspected that the Xuzhou incident made Liu Zhaosun bear a grudge against him. He did not dare to stay under the eyes of the Qi army any longer, so he announced that he had defeated the Qi invaders and returned to the east in triumph.

When he returned to Nanjing, Emperor Hongguang immediately promoted Ruan Shoufu to the rank of Grand Tutor, and appointed his son as the Secretary of the Central Secretariat, and gave him silver coins and a dragon robe.

A gossiper composed a poem mocking Ruan Dacheng for being as fearful of the enemy as a tiger and thus misleading the country and the people:

"The enemy, fearing malaria, longed to return, and all their gold and rouge were carried back. There had been no news from Zhenjiang for six months, but yesterday the Prime Minister arrived with news of victory."

Ruan Dacheng had been a Hanlin official for a long time and naturally had no knowledge of military affairs. There were rumors among the people that he accepted bribes from the Qi army, such as ten carts of jewels and dozens of beauties, and that was why he allowed the enemy to advance eastward. This was, of course, nonsense.

In fact, Wang Dehua, the commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard and the Minister of Ceremonies, was the mastermind behind such rumors, because Ruan Dacheng had offended the eunuchs and the Embroidered Uniform Guard during his early reforms.

In short, people continue to curse Ruan Dacheng.

The scholar Li Qing once summarized the different fates of the two prime ministers of the Southern Ming and Northern Qi dynasties in this way:

The one who was greedy and incompetent and brought harm to the country, but did not kill anyone, was Shiying; the one who was greedy and treacherous and brought harm to the country, and also wanted to kill people, was Ruan Dayue.

Ruan Dacheng could not be considered a treacherous minister. Since the Song Dynasty, there had been no emperors in China who were cruel by nature, only treacherous ministers who deceived their masters.

A treacherous minister is a panacea that can be used by emperors of any dynasty to shirk responsibility.

Zhu Changying is just one example.

As the last emperor, he worked hard for eighteen years and was even more like Zhu Youjian than Zhu Youjian. At the last moment, he was so thin that he was no longer human.

However, Zhu Changling's other side was indecision, great ambition but little talent, and he lacked almost all the qualities that a king should possess.

Later generations gave him the character of the last tragic emperor, so all the blame for the Ming Dynasty could only be borne by people like Ruan Dacheng and Zuo Liangyu...
In early June, Ruan Dacheng was sentenced to death by the extremely angry Emperor Hongguang.

However, at this time, the Southern Ming Dynasty was also about to end.

On the sixth day of the sixth month of the first year of Guangde, the three major corps of the Qi army, together with various units in Jiangnan and Jiangxi, surrendered to the Ming army, totaling 130,000 people. They broke through Anqing and arrived at the city of Shitou.

At this time, the Ming court was in trouble both internally and externally, and the reinforcements were either besieged or thousands of miles away.

Liu Zhaosun sent a surrender official into the city to inform Emperor Hongguang, asking him to surrender voluntarily, following the example of the last emperor of Southern Tang surrendering to Emperor Taizu of Song.

He can be enthroned as the Marquis of Disobedience to save his life.

In order to reassure Zhu Changling, Liu Zhaosun specially asked the envoy to bring an important person into the city.

That person was none other than the former Ming Chongzhen Emperor Zhu Youjiao.

Zhu Youxiao's current position is the head of the Ministry of Works of the Great Qi Dynasty, and he also has his own fiefdom and title.

This was the last and best condition offered by the State of Qi to Zhu Changling.

(End of this chapter)