The Ming Dynasty began from Sarhu

Chapter 852 The Death of the Princess

In the winter of the 19th year of Guangde, the Qi army won successive victories on the battlefield in Henan. In November, the Qi army successively captured Nanyang, Zhengxian, Kaifeng and other places.

Liu Yufei was not prepared for such an outcome.

In order to supply food and fodder to the rebels, the eldest princess decided to make things difficult for the people and ordered that taxes in Shandong, Henan and other places be collected after sixty years.

The heavy taxes and levies almost squeezed the people dry.

Despite this, the rebels did not achieve a decisive victory on the battlefield.

As time went on, the Southern Army gained a clear advantage and the counterattack became more fierce. Anyone with a discerning eye could see that the rebels were doomed.

The weather was cold, food supplies were cut off, and external aid was lost. Rebellions continued in various places. The eldest princess and her cronies had lost the support of the people and their morale was low. The various rebel forces turned against them and surrendered to Emperor Guangde.

Trapped in Jinan, Liu Yufei was in a desperate situation surrounded by enemies on all sides.

"The Kaifeng garrison surrendered without a fight and welcomed the Crown Prince into the city. Luoyang is also ready to make a move. I'm afraid we can no longer stay inside the pass."

"Princess, while Liu Wuji is still struggling to gain a firm foothold, quickly retreat to Liaodong. It will be too late to leave!"

Liu Yufei couldn't hear clearly what her subordinates were talking about, as the situation was not developing at all as she had imagined.

The army was defeated like a mountain.

Liu Qian said bitterly, "The farmers and merchants in every prefecture have rebelled. The peasants have volunteered to lead the army. Last month, when we arrived in Kaifeng, the farmers hid their food and refused to give it to us. When Liu Wuji arrived, they dug the food out of their cellars to reward the army! This bunch of unruly people deserves to be killed!"

The matter has come to this, and it is useless to say more.

The princess shook her head and sighed, "Father's campaigns were fought far and wide, and the people supported him unanimously. We were only trying to make them suffer, promising to repay them double in the future, yet they turned to the tyrant!"

"Heaven wants to kill me! Since the people are no longer here, I will surrender to Liu Kan and let him deal with me. You can all run for your lives!"

The group of close friends looked at each other in confusion, and Liu Qian lowered his voice and said:
"Sister, you can't be discouraged. Everyone is counting on you!"

The King of Chu also advised, "Yes, if we lose, not only Liu Kan, but even the nobles of Tianxin City will make us pay with our lives! Especially at a time like this, we must not admit defeat! Fight them to the end!"

Deng Beiwu slammed the table and stood up, shouting, "The princess and the princes are all Liu Kan's brothers and sisters. He may not kill you out of consideration for family ties, but us generals, according to the conditions proposed by the British, even if we surrender, we will not escape death!"

Yang Sangui echoed, "Marshal Deng is right! Although we are descendants of nobles, Liu Kan will not let us off easily! Let's fight! At worst, we can secede from Liaodong. If we can't hold Liaodong, we can flee to Japan. In short, we can't just sit and wait for death inside the Great Wall!"

A general at the back shouted, "Da Qi and Wa are sworn enemies. The Shogun will not take us in. If you plan to establish a secession in Liaodong, you should contact the Koreans as soon as possible and use them as backup! This is the best strategy."

When the King of Han and the King of Chu looked back, the person who spoke was Lin Sanping, the nephew of Lin Yu, the second bravest warrior of the Great Qi. He had now become the eldest princess's best friend and the enemy of Emperor Guangde Liu Kan.

The generals in the hall were clamoring and shouting that they would fight to the death with Emperor Guangde and would rather die than surrender.

King Liu Qian of Han and the others calmed down a bit and insisted on asking Liu Yufei to express her opinion. The princess remained silent. Liu Qian had no choice but to bite the bullet and said:
"We are sworn enemies of the new policies. Surrendering to the court will mean death. The new policies will remain unchanged. By then, Great Qi will no longer be Great Qi, and we will be annihilated. Rather than surrender, we must give it a try. If we can no longer stay inside the Great Wall, we will retreat to Liaodong."

Liu Yufei's eyes gradually focused, as if she had regained her consciousness.

"Then we will retreat to Liaodong and take our time. We will send people to contact Korea, hoping that the Korean king will stand with us."

After Liu Yufei finished speaking, she silently said in her heart:

"Father, if you are still alive, please protect our country and its people from being destroyed by Liu Kan."

~~~~~~~~
In mid-December of the 19th year of Guangde, Princess Liu Yufei, under the protection of her loyal guards, boarded a boat from Dengzhou and fled across the sea to Liaodong.

The rebel army was almost completely wiped out in the Central Plains, and suffered successive losses after retreating to Shandong. In the end, less than eleven of them followed Liu Yufei to escape across the sea.

The 200,000 rebel troops north of the Yangtze River were destroyed in just two years, and only less than 20,000 people escaped back to Liaodong.

Crown Prince Liu Wuji led his army to pursue the rebels to Shanhaiguan and quickly broke through the city.

The staff of the Eastern Palace persuaded the prince to continue the pursuit and kill all the rebels.

According to Liu Kan's character, if he got the news that Liu Yufei had escaped, he would most likely show leniency to his sister.

If that is the case, I am afraid there will be endless troubles.

"Even weeds are hard to get rid of, let alone the eldest princess. If we don't seize the opportunity to pursue her, and she colluded with Korea and established control over Liaodong, it would be difficult for you to quell the rebellion when you ascend the throne in the future."

The prince cried and said, "The eldest princess has treated me well. She is the flesh and blood of the retired emperor, the elder sister of my father, and my aunt. I cannot bear to harm her! Besides, I am only the crown prince now. The military and national affairs must be decided by my father. How can I act on my own? Please stop forcing me!" However, the staff and generals repeatedly advised him against it.

"A general is not bound by his sovereign's orders when on the battlefield, let alone you, the crown prince!"

"If you don't kill Liu Yufei, we'll all die first!"

Finally, without waiting for his father's order, Liu Wuji sent a large army to blockade Shanhaiguan, and sent a navy to join the British to blockade Bohai, cutting off the connection between Dengzhou and Liaoxi, and not allowing Liaodong to sail south. At the same time, he ordered the King of Korea to unite with the Great Qi to suppress the rebellion.

Liaodong was cut off from food supplies, and the King of Korea refused entry to the rebels.

At the end of March in the 20th year of Guangde, the desperate rebels surrendered to the southern court, handing over the eldest princess, the King of Han, the King of Chu and other leaders.

Liu Kan and his ministers had serious disagreements over how to deal with the eldest princess.

Emperor Guangde still adopted a conciliatory policy towards his sister who wanted to kill him. He could not bear to kill her and advocated exiling her to Korea or Annan to save her life.

Over the past twenty years, Emperor Guangde has pardoned Liu Yufei many times.

In the eyes of the ministers, because of Emperor Guangde's patience and concessions, the eldest princess became more and more demanding and almost destroyed the entire empire.

On the second day of April in the 20th year of Guangde, Liu Kan mentioned in his letter to Liu Wuji:

"The princess has no bad intentions. She has only been instigated by treacherous people to become my enemy over the years. What's the point in killing her? It would be better to exile her to Annan."

When the news came out, the ministers were in an uproar.

Everyone was dissatisfied with this way of handling the matter. Under the instructions of Liu Wuji, the chief officials from various parts of the south advised the emperor to eradicate the problem completely and avoid future troubles.

"Your Majesty, think twice! Liu Yufei has brought chaos to the world. This rebellion has destroyed nine out of ten houses in the Central Plains, and countless soldiers and civilians have died. If you don't kill her, how will the people of the world view Your Majesty? How will they view the Great Qi court?"

But no matter how the ministers dissuaded him, Emperor Guangde insisted on protecting his sister.

Liu Wuji reported to his father, reminding the emperor that Da Qi was no longer the Da Qi of the past, and the court was returning power to the people. Could a traitor like Liu Yufei, who had brought disaster to the country and the people, be pardoned just because the emperor said so?
If this is the case, what was the point of my father’s previous efforts?

Dealing with rebellion is not only a family matter, but also a national affair that concerns the future of the empire.

All the ministers made suggestions, and even Augusta started to influence the emperor.

"Your Majesty, why do you want to leave the female devil in the world? Aren't you afraid that she will make a comeback?"

Liu Kan said disapprovingly, "Her followers are either dead or in exile. What kind of trouble can she cause by exiling her to Annan?"

Augusta shook his head and said, "No, everything is possible."

"Did the ministers ask you to say this to me?"

"No, as the Queen of Daqi, don't I have my own ideas?"

Seeing that he could not convince the Queen, Liu Kan had no choice but to reveal his cards:
"I don't want to kill Liu Yufei. Besides the brotherly bond, more importantly, I don't want to set a precedent for fratricide within the royal family. I don't want to be Li Shimin. I don't want Liu Wuji to be Li Shimin either!"

"For the royal family, fratricide is a curse. Once it's started, future generations will follow suit."

The Swedish woman sneered, "She doesn't care about that. She just wants to kill you! Abolish the New Deal!"

Liu Kan shook his head and said, "In short, I don't want to be Li Shimin."

Augusta had a superficial knowledge of Chinese history. After thinking for a while, he asked:

"Your Majesty, are you referring to the Tang Dynasty emperor who killed his brother at the gates of the palace and forced my father to abdicate?"

"Besides him, who else?"

The Swedish woman blinked her eyelashes, staring at Emperor Guangde with her deep blue eyes, and said meaningfully:

"The Crown Prince is a brave and skilled warrior, very much like Taizu. He has made great contributions in suppressing the rebellion this time and has the support of the people. Most importantly, he is only sixteen years old this year and may not be inferior to that Tang Dynasty emperor in the future. After Liu Yufei's death, future generations will only remember Liu Wuji's achievements and not care that he killed his aunt and uncle. This is a fact that you, Your Majesty, must face."

Emperor Guangde sighed helplessly:
"Then let's deal with the princess according to the law, leave her body intact, and bury her next to our father."

(End of this chapter)