Ming Dynasty: Summoning game players at the beginning

Chapter 132: Twenty-eight years old, the emperor
Zhu Youjian has been very anxious recently.

The beggars in Henan are becoming more and more rampant, the rebels who were originally defeated have revived, and the bandits in the west have even rebelled again after being recruited.

The Tatars advanced deep into the interior of the country for the fourth time, but the government troops did not dare to fight back.

Countless counties and prefectures fell into the hands of bandits and invaders, and countless ancestors and people suffered.

Shaanxi Governor Sun Chuanting led more than 10,000 soldiers to fight against the Tartar soldiers across the river in Zhending. Only 100 Tartars crossed the river, which frightened more than 10,000 government troops so much that they collapsed and fled in an instant.

"Over ten thousand government troops were scared away by a hundred Eastern Tartars before they even started fighting. How incompetent!

The border troops train every year, and have I ever failed to pay them enough? I provide them with money and military pay every year, and this is how they repay the court? They are loyal to me!

They all avoid fighting to protect themselves, yet they say we shouldn't fight recklessly. My people are the ones dying every day, how can I allow them to retreat?

The emperor's curses echoed in Wenyuan Pavilion, and the ministers sitting in two rows dared not say a word.

Ever since the Tartars invaded the pass and martial law was imposed in the capital, Your Majesty has arrived at Wenyuan Pavilion on time every day to bring in a group of important officials including Yang Sichang, Hong Chengchou, and Liu Yuliang to temporarily handle military affairs.

"Incompetent! Incompetent! Incompetent!"

Zhu Youjian suddenly felt a surge of anger in his heart, making him dizzy. The eunuch next to him came forward and wanted to support the emperor, but the emperor waved his hand to stop him.

Zhu Youjian immediately sent his trusted eunuch to lead the Jinyiwei to arrest Sun Chuanting and put him in prison.

Such an incompetent person deserves to be killed!

It was Hong Chengchou who stood up and knelt before His Majesty, elaborating on the achievements made by Sun Chuanting when he was the governor of Shaanxi - Sun Chuanting had repeatedly defeated the bandits in the northwest and captured the rebel Gao Yingxiang. This was just a negligence and it was not a capital crime.

Only after Hong Chengchou's well-reasoned advice did Zhu Youjian calm down his anger.

The Emperor of the Ming Dynasty closed his eyes slightly, and only after the pent-up anger in his chest dissipated and his complexion regained its vitality did he breathe a sigh of relief and reopen his eyes.

However, Sun Chuanting could be spared the death penalty, but he had to take the blame for the defeat and be imprisoned first.

The officials on both sides did not dare to look up at the emperor. They could only raise their chins slightly and use the corner of their eyes to see how the emperor felt.

Seeing that the emperor's anger had subsided, Yang Sichang stepped forward and offered advice, "The soldiers are afraid to fight to the death because their armor and weapons are in disrepair and they are short of food and supplies. Only by replenishing troops on all frontiers, forging weapons, and boosting the morale of the soldiers can we have a chance to defeat the Eastern Tartars."

"Adding more troops to train will be another huge expense, right?" Prime Minister Liu Yuliang raised his heavy eyelids.

"If we add training pay and an extra cent of silver per mu, we can get millions of taels of silver. As long as the soldiers are willing to fight for their lives, we will not let the tragedy of the Eastern Tartar invasion happen again."

"First there was the Liao salary, then the suppression salary, and now there is the training salary. The people are suffering and resentment is boiling. If this makes the beggars and rebels become more powerful, how can we deal with it?" another cabinet member retorted.

"The additional taxes are all paid for by the land, and the land belongs to the powerful. The additional taxes will not burden the people, but will help to curb the powerful. How can it cause public resentment? It is simply that the people have been deceived by the evildoers and followed the thieves."

"But……"

"That's enough! We'll discuss the tax increase after the Eastern Tartars retreat."

After he finished speaking, Zhu Youjian felt exhausted. He tried to straighten himself up and planned to end his daily work for the day.

"Your Majesty! Great joy!"

Suddenly, a feminine voice, unique to eunuchs, came from outside the pavilion. Under the watchful eyes of the crowd, Wang Chengen hurried to Wenyuan Pavilion.

He knelt before the emperor, holding several official documents in his hands, and raised them above his head as if offering treasures, repeating words of congratulations, "Your Majesty, great joy!"

Zhu Youjian was delighted, feeling that something good was about to happen!
"Lu Xiangsheng, the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of War and the Commander-in-Chief of the Imperial Army, reported... He Lusi, a thousand-man commander under Li Mu, the guerrilla commander of the Black Flag Camp, along with Yang Guozhu, the General of Xuanfu, Liu Qin, the Deputy General, Hu Dawei, the General of Shanxi, and Chen Shiyou, the Lieutenant General of Baoding... have defeated the Eastern Tartars and beheaded them—"

Inside the Wenyuan Pavilion, a slightly feminine male voice echoed in the somewhat empty pavilion. The eunuch in gorgeous clothes was sweating profusely, his hands were shaking, and his voice was intermittent, as if he was being pricked by needles.

To the ministers standing beside him, the eunuch's trembling hands looked as if he were holding a stack of precious treasures.

Eunuch Wang insisted on reading the contents of the memorial, but Zhu Youjian subconsciously filtered out all the clichés that wasted his hearing, retaining only the most crucial information.

"Behead 11,266 levels!"

When the feminine voice read the word beheading, it suddenly became high-pitched like a chicken with its blood pumped up, and the clear and melodious words were heard clearly by all the ministers in the cabinet.

boom!
Zhu Youjian seemed to hear a loud noise exploding in the cabinet, and a group of important officials began to whisper to each other, asking if the victory report was true.

Eleven thousand two hundred and sixty-six people were beheaded, and one of the slave chieftains was killed in battle. The slave chieftain's armor, helmet, and banner were all found!
Zhu Youjian couldn't believe his ears!

He stretched his neck to look around at the expressions on the faces of the ministers, trying to find some emotional resonance from the faces of the important officials, but these bureaucrats who had been ups and downs in the officialdom for decades were all shrewd people who kept silent. When they saw the emperor's gaze sweeping over, they hurriedly lowered their eyes and put on a submissive look.

The Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, who had heard of defeats for a long time, could never have imagined that such a shocking victory would occur today!
Zhu Youjian did not want to erase the great victory that the soldiers had won at the cost of their lives, but he did not want to be overjoyed and end up in tragedy after hearing false information.

There are too many false reports of victory like this.

People often claim to have defeated thousands of enemy soldiers, but in the end only dozens of heads are handed over. It is said that the enemy soldiers took the bodies away with them.

"Are you sure the head is real?"

Zhu Youjian leaned forward, staring closely at Wang Chengen who was kneeling in front of him, and asked questions with the determination to get to the bottom of the matter.

Wang Chengen's throat tightened, his breath was short, and his face flushed red, like an old man with phlegm stuck in his throat. He coughed hard for a long time before shouting, "Mr. Lu urgently sent over a thousand heads. After inspection by the Ministry of War, every one of them is a genuine Tartar!"

The thousand heads are all real Tartars!

Even if there weren't the more than 10,000 heads reported in the victory report, having these 1,000 real Tartar heads would be a great achievement within a few years!
Zhu Youjian immediately laughed and told Wang Chengen to stand up, and the latter thanked him.

Hong Chengchou, who was listening in, was also stunned. In the Battle of Julu, over 10,000 heads were taken. And a slave chief was also captured?
Especially the fierce warriors of the Black Flag Camp who were mentioned many times in the victory reports, they were able to hold back more than ten thousand Tartar soldiers with only more than two thousand auxiliary soldiers!

He had fought against bandits and border invaders for many years and knew how difficult it was to capture more than ten thousand heads.

The Jiannu had cavalry that came and went like the wind. The source of their more than 10,000 heads was at least 40,000 captive soldiers, and the number of combat soldiers was no less than 15,000.

This time, General Lu's direct troops and the Black Flag Battalion combined did not exceed 10,000 men. With a force of 10,000, they crushed the 40,000 to 50,000 arrogant Eastern Tartars.

This is not just a great victory, but the only epic victory since the Chongzhen period!
What kind of person is Li Youji of the Black Flag Camp? He can train such a strong and brave army. He is simply the reincarnation of Qi Shaobao!

Hong Chengchou secretly remembered Li Youji, who was a good leader of the troops.

Zhu Youjian took the victory report and read it several times personally. Sure enough, everything that happened was true and he was not dreaming.

They beheaded more than 10,000 people and even killed enemy leaders in battle. This shows how miserable the Eastern Tartars were when they were defeated and scattered.

Zhu Youjian felt particularly relieved just by imagining that scene, as if he himself was on the battlefield, holding the emperor's sword and stabbing a vicious Tartar to death.

"Good! Good! Good!"

Zhu Youjian, who always attached great importance to etiquette, did not care about the imperial etiquette this time and shouted several words of praise in succession.

He was as excited as a modern primary school student who heard that the school suddenly decided to have a week off without homework. He suddenly jumped up from his seat, waved his right hand and threw a not-so-standard right hook in the air.

"Hello, Lu Jiutai, hello to the Black Flag Camp, hello to my Ming soldiers! Hahahaha..."

After Zhu Youjian finished his comments on General Lu's Ming army, he suddenly felt a layer of hot sweat all over his body, soaking his underwear. The troubles and depression accumulated in his body seemed to be discharged with the hot sweat, and his whole body felt relaxed and comfortable as if the pressure had been relieved.

There was a lively cheer in the hall, and the ministers were talking about the Black Flag Camp, which had made a great success.

This long-awaited victory made the ministers feel like they had finally received a blessing after a long drought. Even though they were all white-haired old men over fifty years old, they felt as if they had also felt the passion and pride of killing the Tartars with their own hands for the glorious victory won by the soldiers on the border.

"I congratulate Your Majesty and the Great Ming Dynasty!" Yang Sichang stepped out first and saluted the emperor respectfully.

The Prime Minister Liu Yuliang, standing by, was slightly displeased that someone had gotten there first, but he still followed the joyful atmosphere and respectfully conveyed his "blessings" to the emperor, "I congratulate Your Majesty, the soldiers at the border, and the Ming Dynasty!"

The two big men took the lead, and the other important officials echoed, "I congratulate Your Majesty and the Ming Dynasty!"

The voices of congratulations from the ministers echoed in the cabinet and could not dissipate for a long time. It was the first time that Zhu Youjian received such pure blessings from the ministers, and the first time he felt the sense of accomplishment and pride brought by the emperor's rule.

It seemed as if all the hardships and setbacks he had endured in the eleven years since he ascended the throne had vanished at this moment, and he was richly rewarded.

The soldiers of the Black Flag Battalion traveled thousands of miles from Henan to the north to serve the king with a heart of devotion that is evident to all.

The pure heart of the soldiers who risked their lives to defend their country made Zhu Youjian feel the patriotism that could not be accurately described in Confucian classics, and he couldn't help but feel his head hot and his blood boiling.

If the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty had not had to stay in the center to stabilize the government, he would have wanted to lead the army in person and work with those patriotic people to drive out the Tartars and recover the lost territories!

"Reward! We must reward meritorious officials generously! Don't let the soldiers lose heart! Lu Jiutai has made great contributions. Reinstate his title of Minister of War and grant him the royal banner..."

Zhu Youjian specially deducted silver from the treasury to reward the soldiers of General Lu who had made meritorious services, and each soldier was rewarded with five taels of silver.

At this time, Liu Yuliang mentioned that when Lu Xiangsheng left the capital, he had more than 20,000 soldiers under his command, but when he was surrounded in Jiazhuang, he only had 7,000 soldiers left.

Where are the others?

When Zhu Youjian heard this, he felt as if he had just woken up from a dream, but Yang Sichang beside him frowned, as if something had been exposed.

Zhu Youjian issued an order to reprimand these cowards who avoided fighting. Those who should be dismissed from their posts should be dismissed, and those who should be rewarded with meritorious service should be rewarded with meritorious service. He also ordered them to obey the military orders of Lu Xiangsheng, the commander-in-chief who was sent to support the king.

If anyone again finds someone trying to escape and ruin the overall situation, Lu Xiangsheng will be allowed to execute him first and report to the king later using the king's order!

He also specifically mentioned in his report that Li Youji, who was injured at home, was generously rewarded, promoted three levels, and given various additional titles, etc.

Of course, some ministers poured cold water on the idea, claiming that Li Youji had just been recommended as a guerrilla by the governor of Henan, but he was promoted again within a few months.

He is not even twenty years old yet, so it might not be a good idea for him to get a high position suddenly.

"Why not! The Ming Dynasty is in need of talents, and suddenly got such a brave and talented general, why can't we reward him?

Li Youji pursued and suppressed the bandits for me, and defeated 100,000 of them. He was wounded more than ten times but still led his troops north to defend the king. He fell off his horse and was sent for emergency treatment before I had to appoint one of my subordinates to lead my men north to defend the king.

His Black Flag Battalion lifted the siege of Jiazhuang, saving the lives of thousands of Ming soldiers! Such a loyal and capable general, tell me how I cannot reward him!
Do you really want to punish loyal ministers and good generals, causing the soldiers to shed their blood and leaving me with no one to use? "

"My advice was inappropriate. I am guilty!"

Upon hearing this, the minister immediately knelt down. Given Zhu Youjian's temperament, if he wanted to kill the civil minister, he would do so at will.

Yang Sichang also stepped forward to persuade them that it would be better to suppress Li Youji's official position first. At present, the main force of the Eastern Tartars had not retreated, and there was still a chance for him to make meritorious service.

If someone makes a mistake midway and the official position he has just been promoted to is demoted, it will make everyone unhappy. It is better to wait until the Eastern Tartars have completely retreated outside the Great Wall and everything has calmed down before rewarding them for their merits.

Zhu Youjian, who had always valued Yang Sichang, finally gave in and promoted Li Youji to only one level for the time being.

Li Youji was promoted to Lieutenant General of Runan, and the number of soldiers was increased from 1,500 to 3,000. Lieutenant General Li was also given a special reward of 5,000 taels of silver to encourage him to take care of his health and continue to serve the country.

Hong Chengchou took the opportunity to propose that the military pay for Lieutenant General Li's troops should be paid according to the border army regulations, which would also boost the morale of Li Mu's brave soldiers.

Zhu Youjian, filled with joy, responded with full energy, "Yes!"

Part of Henan had been cut off by the Qihuo bandits, and half of the military pay for Lieutenant General Li's troops came from the Nanzhili subsidy.

Zhu Youjian looked through the reports again, savoring every word and sentence in them. He couldn't help but look up to the sky and shout, "Good! Good! Good!"

The court's decision was rushed to Linqing via the court's "angel".

Li Mu, who was far away in the mall, also received a notification sound of system rewards when the player won that day.

However, this time the reward seemed to be more than just destiny points, there were also unexpected surprises that he had never seen before.

(End of this chapter)