The Ming Dynasty began from Sarhu

Chapter 862 Ram's Festival

In the spring of the second year of the Tianshou reign, the armies of the north and south arrived at the outskirts of Tianxin City. Empress Tianshou's forces, commanding the suppression of the rebellion, numbered a staggering 150,000. The Qin army engaged in a fierce battle with the Jingnan forces at the gates of Xiangyang. The fighting spread to over a dozen prefectures and counties, inhabiting millions of people, and plunged Great Qi into catastrophe once again.

Emperor Guangde once said:

All under heaven belongs to the people, and all within the four seas are the people's servants.

In Qi, even the poorest man in his thatched hut dared to challenge the emperor's authority.

His thatched hut may be shabby and the roof may be crumbling; the autumn wind can blow into this house and the winter rain can beat into this house, but the emperor cannot step into this house, and the emperor's thousands of troops dare not cross the threshold of this broken house.

If Liu Wuji and others were allowed to occupy the capital, seize the throne and regain power, the thatched cottage of the Qi people would no longer exist, and Emperor Guangde's decades of reform would be destroyed.

The military settlement system will be restored, and freedom of assembly, association and speech will no longer exist...
What is most unacceptable is that land and property will also be designated as "government land" and "government property", and will lose protection. All owners and their descendants will become slaves.

Realizing the horrific consequences, people from all over the country spontaneously organized themselves. Farmers, businessmen, miners, fishermen, everyone took up hunting rifles to defend the results of reform.

The people of Qi were warlike, and Emperor Guangde did not ban firearms, so the number of firearms held by the people was quite considerable. Fishermen on the Han River even equipped their fishing boats with cannons.

With the support of the people, the offensive and defensive situations of both sides were reversed in many cases.

Liu Wuji relied on his strong military force and rashly engaged in a decisive battle with the government army.

As a result, they were defeated once in Xiangcheng, twice in Nanzhang, and thirdly in Yicheng.

After three defeats, the army's morale was low.

In April, the anti-rebellion troops surrounded Liu Wuji from all sides and trapped him in the Walnut Valley area of Yicheng.

Most of the rebel soldiers were from the north, and they were not used to the climate and water there. After a series of crushing defeats, their morale was completely lost and they fled in droves.

Liu Wuji was also terrified and unable to stop his soldiers from fleeing.

By mid-April, seven or eight out of ten rebels had been killed, leaving only the elderly, the weak, the sick, and the prince's cronies, a total of barely 10,000 people.

Liu Wuji was in dire straits.

Since the crown prince started his rebellion, all he has been thinking about is restoring the centralized rule of his grandfather Liu Zhaosun's era, restoring the imperial power, dragging hundreds of millions of people into hell again.

However, the people of Da Qi today are no longer willing to go back to the past, to the era of militarism and living like beasts of burden.

Therefore, the prince's "pacification campaign" was doomed to fail.

On the eighth day of May, Liu Wuji broke out to the east. On his way to Gucheng, he was tied up and escorted to Tianxin City by his subordinates as a token of his surrender.

~~~~
On the dusty post road, the carriage carrying the prince creaked as it rolled over a wild grass.

Liu Wuji, with his hair disheveled, shook the wooden fence vigorously and shouted at the surrounding soldiers:
"Let me out! I'm here to quell the rebellion! What are you going to do?"

Jiang Bailing, the general of Xiangyang, said sarcastically, "Prince, save your energy. You'll arrive in the capital tomorrow! If you have any grievances, go and speak to His Majesty!"

The prince suddenly jumped up and rushed towards Jiang Bailing, and was tied up tightly with iron chains.

"How dare you, you bastard, lie..."

Jiang Bailing pulled the reins and said to the guards:

"Shut him up."

"Jiang Bailing! Are you afraid that the emperor will know about the peace talks in Xiangyang?..."

Before Liu Wuji could finish his words, horse manure was piled up on his head.

Jiang Bailing walked outside the fence and said threateningly:
"You're calling me by my name here, and I won't argue with you. But if you dare to speak nonsense again in the capital, I'll submit a petition to the emperor and sentence you to death by slicing! The new emperor is always willing to accept advice!"

Liu Wuji spat out the horse manure and continued to curse.

Jiang Bailing loosened the handkerchief covering his nose and said word by word:

"The deaths of the people of Da Qi are more than tens of millions. Now everyone wants to kill you. If I were you, I would go to the capital quietly to face the punishment. If I let you go now, I'm afraid not even a bone will be left of you."

Liu Wuji's face changed drastically and he stopped talking.

During this "Battle of Jingnan", countless villages were burned down, countless civilians were slaughtered, and countless fields became barren.

As the main culprit, even if Empress Tianshou could issue an edict to pardon him, the people of the world would not let him go.

A trace of fear flashed in the prince's eyes, and he silently curled up in the weed-filled corner.

~~~~~~~~~~
Huangji Palace in Tianxin City.

The empress, who had just finished her morning court session, suddenly received a report from the Ministry of War. She glanced at the ministers around her who were about to leave the court and suddenly said excitedly:

"My dear ministers, I have just received news that the Yicheng rebels have surrendered, and Liu Wuji has been captured. He is currently being escorted to the capital by the Xiangyang General!"

The hall suddenly fell silent.

After a moment's silence, the ministers congratulated Emperor Tianshou, declaring that this was the blessing of Emperor Guangde, the appearance of Emperor Taizu, and God's blessing on Da Qi.

After all the ministers congratulated her one by one, Queen Tianshou looked around and the ministers immediately quieted down.

"Everyone, Liu Wuji's rebellion has been put down, but my brother is still alive. He is the son of Emperor Guangde and my biological brother. Tell me, how should we deal with him?" Everyone looked at each other, obviously unwilling to get involved in the royal struggle.

After a while, seeing that no one spoke, the empress had to turn her gaze to Prime Minister Kang Guangxu who was standing in the front.

"prime minister."

Kang Guangxu took a step forward and said cautiously:
"Your Majesty, be aware that the traitor Liu murdered his father and usurped power, inciting rebellion, coercing the rebels, and slaughtering lives! If this traitor is not executed, how can we comfort the people who died? And comfort the spirit of the late emperor in heaven!"

Grand Secretary Chen Mingxia echoed, "If it weren't for Your Majesty's wisdom and courage to turn the tide, the late emperor's reforms would have been ruined by this villain! If that were the case, we, the ministers, would be eternal sinners! Liu Wuji must die!"

"You must die!"

The two bosses set the tone, and all the ministers made suggestions, citing classics and threatening to use lingchi or chariot quartering to execute Liu Wuji.

However, the tortures mentioned by the ministers had long been abolished. Da Qi was a civilized country, unlike the former Ming Dynasty.

Emperor Tianshou looked at his ministers silently for a long time.

In a sense, the empress and her father Liu Kan had very different personalities.

Emperor Guangde was kind by nature. During his reign, he had pardoned his sister many times - the imperial princess who was even crazier than Liu Wuji. Even though Liu Yufei committed heinous crimes one after another, Liu Kan still regarded this female devil as his own family and could not bear to kill her.

His daughter, Empress Tianshou, who once became a nun and now succeeded to the throne, adhered to the principle of "repaying evil with kindness, how can you repay kindness with evil?" In her opinion, Liu Wuji must die.

The Queen will never let her brother off easily.

All the soldiers and civilians in the world wanted Liu Wuji dead.

Of course, with the Queen's current power, it is not impossible for her to save her brother's life if she really wants to.

However, the empress could not issue an edict, nor would she let this unforgivable brother go.

The trial of Liu Wuji is approaching.

This will be a public trial, a real one.

It is the "Festival of the Ram".

~~~~~~~~~
The trial date was set for Tiansheng Festival, which was the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, the birthday of Taizu Liu Zhaosun.

The venue was chosen to be the square outside Zuoanmen.

On that day, Zuoanmen was packed with people from the capital who came to watch the excitement, including some of the prince's party members who had served the prince in the past.

Liu Wuji was tied up and tied to a wooden pillar. The executioner did not show any reservations about the prisoner because today's user was an important royal family member.

The presiding judge was Prime Minister Kang Guangxu, and Emperor Tianshou did not attend to see Liu Wuji off.

Amidst the clamor of the crowd, through the layers of red smoke and dust, Kang Guangxu recalled the advice of a wise man many years ago:

Let the Great Qi split into dozens of small countries, let them attack each other and fight endlessly, so that firearms can be continuously improved and officials can have a bottom line... This is the way of a saint.

Such remarks that divided the empire and obstructed national unity were undoubtedly severely punished.

Emperor Taizu Liu Zhaosun was merciful and only ordered him to be beheaded, not following the advice of Kang Yingqian and others (to execute him by slow slicing).
Liu Wuji, whose head was being dragged by the executioner, struggled to get free and shouted loudly:

"What did Emperor Guangde say to Princess Xining before his death? Have you all forgotten it? You bunch of traitors!"

Kang Guangxu replied expressionlessly, "How dare you mention the late emperor! Emperor Guangde said that day that his daughter, the current Emperor Tianshou, should be Yao and Shun.

The executioner carried Liu Wuji back to the chopping block like a chicken and was about to raise his knife when Kang Guangxu walked down from the execution platform and looked at the prisoner as if he were a dead object.

"I am the emperor of Da Qi! She is the emperor who usurped the throne!" Liu Wuji said incoherently.

Kang Guangxu looked up at him and said with pity:
"The empire is still growing, and its future is limitless! But you, the deposed crown prince, only want to plunge Da Qi into darkness. You have given Da Qi a possibility, a possibility with the bleakest prospects. This is something that I and no one else will allow!"

"This is the reason to kill you!"

Although Liu Wuji was the crown prince, he and Kang Guangxu were destined to be from two different worlds. He was unwilling to listen to what the Grand Secretary said, and he could no longer understand it.

However, when she heard that she was really going to be executed, she couldn't help but be furious.

In those days, the eldest princess Liu Yufei launched a rebellion and brought disaster to the world, but Emperor Guangde finally pardoned her.

"Why is she so cruel?"

"I am just following your orders. As for the rest, I have nothing to say."

Liu Wuji realized that his death was approaching, but he didn't want to die. He still wanted to make a final struggle.

"Where is the Emperor Tianshou? I want to see her! She said in person that she would not inherit the throne. She..."

Kang Guangxu interrupted Liu Wuji and said word by word:

"Today is the festival of the Ram, the day of your death. Today, everyone in the world will see what happens to those who betray the New Deal."

(End of this chapter)