Ming Dynasty: Summoning game players at the beginning

Chapter 256 Mouse Tail Juice
Yeah, that's outrageous.

Li Mu felt that he had fought hard but did not get the emotional value he deserved, and his heart was "disheartened".

He looked at the "Sleeping Emperor" carefully, as if he could see the history of another world line through the mortal body.

According to public opinion, Zhu Youjian was an incompetent emperor. He was like a madman sent by God to deliberately drain the last bit of vitality of the Ming Dynasty.

The Chongzhen Dynasty lasted for seventeen years. When Zhu Youjian first ascended the throne, he hated the eunuchs and later he used eunuchs crazily and put the blame on his ministers instead of taking it himself.

He arrested and executed his ministers for a single disagreement, forced them to leave the country and go to war, micromanaged the outcome of wars, frequently replaced the prime minister, and was extremely protective of those he trusted, while wishing death upon those he disliked...

Countless examples have proved that Zhu Youjian could control the officials in the court and kill anyone he wanted, but he was a "madman" who did not know how to govern the country and the enemy's favorite "pig teammate".

Zhu Youjian tortured loyal ministers to make them feel disheartened, and trapped military generals to the point where they died without a burial place.

It is a miracle that the Ming Dynasty could survive the turmoil of Zhu Yuanzhang for seventeen years before it fell. It also indirectly proves that this "broken machine" of the Ming Dynasty still has rich heritage.

If it hadn't been consumed by multiple parties, it might not have died in seventeen years.

Li Mu stood in front of Zhu Youjian's bed and couldn't help but feel confident that he could do it.

His personal ability to govern the country is limited, but he has a group of gamers who are sometimes crazy and sometimes righteous, enough to manage such a big world.

He really wanted to yell at Zhu Youjian, "Get down and let me sit in your seat."

But he didn't shout out loud after all, but stared quietly at the Ming Emperor who promoted him quickly but also managed the country in a mess.

He thought to himself, today he defeated the Tartars and saved Zhu Youjian's life, and the world would see his "great loyalty" to the emperor. The next time they met, there would be no more formalities between the emperor and his subjects.

Li Mu closed his eyes and took a deep breath, immediately changing his mindset to that of a "loyal minister".

He asked the doctor about Zhu Youjian's physical condition.

Although Zhu Youjian and his servant were not in danger of death, the doctors accompanying the army were unsure when he would wake up.

Li Mu thought to himself that it was impossible for him to command tens of thousands of troops to stay here with Zhu Youjian on his "vacation" and sleep. The aftermath of the war had to be cleaned up, and other lost territories in Liaodong had to be recovered.

The Beiwei Army's strategy must be implemented, and then he will lead his troops back to southern Henan to prepare for the next major event.

He could not allow Zhu Youjian or anyone else to ruin the "overall situation in Liaodong", so he had to find a way to get the emperor and the civil officials to leave Liaodong, at least before the Beiwei Army completely took control of Liaodong and stopped them from disturbing it.

Staring at Zhu Youjian's neck in a daze, Li Mu suddenly had an idea in his mind.

He turned around and looked at the civil and military officials around him, and asked sternly, "Why didn't anyone stop Your Majesty from personally leading the army and taking such a risk?"

The military generals had no psychological burden. They fought desperately in this battle and almost wiped out their troops - the 60,000 troops before the expedition were reduced to 10,000 soldiers now. It is unknown how many warriors died fighting for the emperor.

They are worthy of the emperor and even more worthy of the world.

The civil officials looked at each other, feeling guilty and wronged.

Hong Chengchou, the nominal commander-in-chief, was particularly confused. They said they had warned Zhu Youjian many times, but Zhu Youjian refused to listen.

You have to know that the emperor is a ruthless ruler who can kill any governor or governor-general he wants. He commands 20,000 soldiers from the Beijing Camp and the Yongwei Camp. Which civil servant would dare to dissuade him from doing so?
Even if there were stubborn people who knelt on the ground, the emperor would send loyal soldiers to drag them away at the slightest word, and no one could stop the emperor's determination to "recover Liao".

But Li Mu didn't care about these messed up reasons. To borrow a phrase often said by the Beiwei Army, "If loyalty is not absolute, it is absolutely disloyalty."

Civil officials usually love to talk about how if the ruler wants his subjects to die, the subjects have to die. They talk about the Three Bonds and Five Constant Virtues in a very reasonable way, but why are they afraid of sticks and knives when it comes to putting them into practice?

A group of pedantic literati who claimed to be loyal ministers could not even stop the emperor, and almost "killed" the emperor and ruined the Ming Dynasty.

Absolutely incompetent and disloyal!

The governors, provincial governors and officials were scolded so much that they looked as pale as death, like primary school students who lowered their heads after being scolded by their class teacher.

If an ordinary military man criticized a civil official in person, he would not only be beaten with a stick, but also be dismissed from his job and imprisoned.

But Hong Chengchou, the governor of Ji and Liao, was speechless.

The young general in front of them not only saved all their lives, but also made great contributions to saving the emperor.

Li Mu, who had just fought a bloody battle, was stained with blood and violence. The courageous aura that defeated the main force of the Tatars seemed to turn into a terrifying black dragon, strangling the throat of everyone present.

No one dared to refute it for any reason, and they could only bury the unhappiness of being scolded deep in their hearts.

Seeing that the officials present were being scolded by him like his grandsons, Li Mu hastened to add a few words that the soldiers had made great contributions by shedding their blood for the emperor.

"Without the valiant efforts of all of you warriors, I'm afraid even I wouldn't be able to rescue Your Majesty. My southern army would be in danger, and Liaodong would be lost. It's truly a matter of fate!" Li Mu clasped his fists in gratitude at the veteran generals. "I'd like to thank you all for saving the Ming Dynasty, the tens of thousands of soldiers in the southern army, and the suffering people of Liaodong! Thank you!"

Li Mu's words were like a spring breeze, and the hard work of the veteran generals who had fought for many days seemed to be comforted. Some simple-minded generals even shed tears.

"Commander Li!"

As expected, only military generals understand the "difficulties" of military generals. Governor Li angrily rebuked these incompetent civil officials and also vented their anger.

More than ten generals began to chatter about their depression in the past few days, mourning how tragically those soldiers died. In order to verify the military merits of the living and provide compensation for the dead, they made the details of military merits public to all civil and military officials to prevent anyone from stealing the credit.

The Liaodong Governor looked left at the emperor lying on the bed, and right at the generals surrounding Li Mu who were crying and expressing their heartfelt feelings.

This strange feeling was like the feeling of a wife cheating on her husband in front of him who was unconscious on the sickbed.

Before the civil officials could react, Li Mu threw another blow. "The crisis has been resolved. Escort His Majesty back to the capital immediately! His Majesty is the foundation of the country, and no further mistakes can be made! There are also many miraculous doctors within the borders. It is the duty of a loyal minister to revive His Majesty!"

As soon as these words were spoken, the confidence of the moral high ground was like a mountain, insurmountable. Many civil officials and military generals echoed these words, not only to save His Majesty, but also for their own safety.

I don't want to stay in Liaodong, which is full of dangers, for a moment.

However, the "receiving officials" headed by the Liaodong Governor refused to agree.

They have now escaped from the clutches of the enemy and it is time for them to head to Liaodong to reap the fruits of victory. How can they give up?

So they said that it was their duty to recover Liaodong and they were willing to go to Liaodong with the victorious soldiers to arrange the aftermath work.

How could Li Mu let them have their wish? He immediately laughed coldly, his tone filled with sarcasm and contempt, "The Tartars in northern Liao haven't dispersed yet, there are still fierce captives in the eastern border, and there are also Tartar troops entrenched in Korea. The Tartars defeated in this battle have fled far away to the grasslands, and they are even more of a threat.

Liaodong may seem to have been recovered, but in reality it is surrounded by enemies on all sides. How can it be completely stabilized without a year or two of fighting? You can barely even save His Majesty's body, how can you possibly save Liaodong?"

Of course Li Mu didn't tell the truth.

All the Tartar settlements in the north and east were burned down, and this important information had not yet been reported to the court. The only enemies to worry about were the Tartars who had fled to the grasslands and those who had occupied Korea.

The former is a headache for all nine borders of the Ming Dynasty, while the latter only requires sending a group of brave soldiers to deal with the Tartars.

It took several months for the officials of the imperial court to sort out the intelligence. By then, the Beiwei Army had already taken over the Liaodong area and could have ignored orders or announcements.

"This……"

Fang Yizao and others were slightly stunned. Li Mu's intimidation was effective.

The receiving officials thought of the "Siege of Dujiatun" and combined it with Li Mu's words "enemies on all sides", and the trouble level of the Liao affairs escalated rapidly.

They once recalled the horrific scene when all the Liao land was lost, dozens of military forts were burned down, and the military and civilians fled west in panic.

Most officials chose to return to western Liaoning on the spot and stay in the safe Ningyuan and Shanhaiguan first to observe the development of the Liao situation.

Even though a small number of officials were obsessed with the huge benefits after "recovering Liao", they had to consider the embarrassing situation of no one cooperating with government affairs. Besides, the emperor was in a coma and could not make a decision on Liao affairs.

As the commander-in-chief of the Western Route Army, Hong Chengchou may have been blamed for the siege of Dujiatun. He has already lost his command ability, and his words and actions are not very convincing.

So everyone had no choice but to agree with the proposal of the "loyal minister" Li Mu and escort His Majesty away first.

Li Mu, who had made great contributions, had to stay in Liaodong for some time, and the two sides had to divide their troops into those who protected the emperor and those who recovered Liao.

After the battle, a review revealed that both sides still had nearly 70,000 combat and auxiliary troops. Over 10,000 soldiers and horses escorted the emperor back to western Liaoning—Dujiatun was not far from Songjin, and with the Tartars now far away, there was no room for another "siege of the emperor" attempt.

The remaining 50,000-odd soldiers of the Southern Army "obeyed" Marshal Li's order to stay in Liaodong to eliminate the remnants of the Tartars.

The army escorting the emperor left as Li Mu wished. Li Mu successfully "corrupted" some soldiers of the Western Route Army, but also lost some of his "direct lineage".

Liu Qin and Wang Chengdong, who were also members of the "Tongxin Society", decided to escort the emperor back after Li Mu repeatedly persuaded them to do so.

The idea of ​​loyalty to the emperor overwhelmed the loyalty to the Marshal. Perhaps at this moment, the two old comrades made the choice to stand on the side, and one day when they meet again, they will no longer be friends.

The civil officials looked back at Dujiatun on horseback, with mixed feelings in their hearts.

Now, after all the trouble, not only were most of the emperor's direct troops lost, but even the loyal soldiers who obeyed the emperor's orders suffered heavy losses.

In the future, the weight of the central government’s words will be greatly reduced. How can it restrain the generals in various places from raising their own troops?
For example, Li Mu of the Black Flag Camp and Zhang Xianzhong of the Beiwei Army, who made great contributions in this battle, must be rewarded by Your Majesty. Other generals must also be rewarded according to their merits, either with money or land.

The civil officials did not get much credit in the battle to recover Liao, and even made mistakes.

The status of military generals increased rapidly, and the balance of "using civil power to control military power" was undoubtedly broken.

It would be fine if Li Mu and Zhang Xianzhong were loyal ministers, and the court could still mobilize their troops to quell the rebellion.

But if one side suddenly rebels, loyal ministers rise up to fight for the country, and the two sides fight each other, the Ming Dynasty version of "Li Zhang Rebellion" will be staged, and it is very likely that the country will be taken advantage of by beggars, rebels and other bandits.

If a treacherous minister gained power and invaded the interior, or a loyal minister was crowned with a yellow robe by his subordinates, they would have to rebel. One would kill people everywhere in the interior, while the other would dominate the outside of the Great Wall in Liaodong.

By then, both sides will have expanded into their complete forms and will fight to the death for the world.

Victory on one side would bring about a change of dynasty. If both sides were to suffer losses, generals and officials across the Ming Dynasty would recreate the separatist regimes of the feudal states.

Regardless of victory or defeat, it will not benefit these high-ranking officials.

This is what it means to be more successful than your master and endanger the country.

Many civil officials made up their minds that when His Majesty woke up, they would learn from the lessons of the Siege of Dujiatun and advise His Majesty to weaken the military power of these soldiers.

Whether to use the Black Flag Camp to weaken the Beiwei Army or use the Liaodong Town to contain the Beiwei Army depends on how the situation develops next.

A worse possibility is that the Black Flag Camp still has control over the Beiwei Army, and the elite soldiers of the Beiwei Army are all chess pieces in Li Mu's hands.

The two sides were one inside and one outside. The Black Flag Camp eliminated the beggars, the rebels, and the western bandits, while the Beiwei Army killed all the Tartars and stabilized the area outside the pass.

The two worked together to launch a northern expedition, and the Ming Dynasty was crushed by the giant pincers. The court could only change its flag under the tyranny of the "great loyal minister".

After thinking about it, they put this horrifying idea behind them. They didn't dare to imagine how terrifying it would be if Li Mu really had such control.

That is not a human being, but an evil spirit that is so smart that it is almost like a demon!
……

Looking at the backs of the Western Route Army leaving, Li Mu heard a crisp system prompt in his mind -

[You have defeated the slave chief Huang Taiji and restored Liao. From now on, you will be famous. The whole world knows about your righteousness in saving the king and your martial arts in defeating the slave chief. There is no general in the Ming Dynasty whose reputation can match yours.

Will you serve the Ming Dynasty loyally to the end, becoming a loyal minister whose name will be remembered in history, or will you seize the throne, create a brand new empire, and send your legions to every corner of the world?!

Destiny value received 70000
Reward: 0 resurrection reserves, obtain permission for a second permanent resurrection point, current number of constructions: ]

The system's reward arrived late, but it did, and the "second permanent resurrection point" immediately caught Li Mu's attention.

Although it cannot be built at the moment, Li Mu is well aware that according to the system's reward trend, sooner or later the number 0 will be increased to 1, just like the reward for the battle flag.

The first resurrection point is located in southern Henan, which is considered the central China region. So the second resurrection point should be in the north.

At the very least, it must be an area with convenient transportation, close to the river and the sea, with flat terrain, so as to radiate to the enemies in the north and better develop the wasteland in the northeast.

Li Mu thought about it and decided to rely on the players' ingenuity.

After all, his strategy was limited, and he couldn't consider the pros and cons carefully, so he posted it on the forum under the name of a player for everyone to discuss.

"If there is a second permanent respawn point, where would it be best to place it?"

Putting the issue aside for a while, Li Mu quickly bet all 70,000 destiny points to summon players - the previous 30,000 reserved points remained.

As a familiar glare flashed through my mind, the reward I received came into my mind—

[2000 players, kilograms of sweet potatoes, kilograms of rice, signal guns, rounds of flares and rounds of smoke flares, sets of modern night vision goggles, repairs of COS custom suits]

If these two thousand players are willing to stay in Liaodong, then there will be 14,000 fighting and staying players gathered in Liaodong at this time!

It is far more than all other war zones combined, which goes against Li Mu's balance and containment strategy.

Killing the Tartars was an urgent task before, but now that the Tartars have been almost destroyed, it is time to start diverting players to other regions.

Li Mu adjusted the rewards for the major war zones, especially strengthening the mission bonus of "Lurking in Rural Areas of South China", while arranging for new players to land in the camp outside the city.

However, in just a short moment, 1,500 people entered Liaodong through the battle flags, and the remaining 500 people chose the first resurrection point and were evenly distributed into various war zones.

The original supporters of the Liaodong war zone also began to return one after another.

They took off their armor and put it neatly into the baggage carts. Then, under the pretext of cleaning up the corpses after the battle, they used simple wooden stakes and short spears to commit suicide, falling directly into the pit filled with corpses, saving their teammates the trouble of carrying the corpses.

As they turned into nameless corpses underground, at the same time, bodies appeared out of thin air in another fortress.

Some people walked out of an empty shell of armor, some climbed out of a dry well covered with spider webs, some hatched from "insect eggs", some opened the coffin and shouted, "The King of Vampires has returned", and some opened a large "shell" and looked like a monster.

Putting aside the diverted players, there are still 10,000 people left in the Liaodong war zone.

Considering that there are indeed some risks in Liaodong, Li Mu decided not to force the diversion and give them time to manage Liaodong.

Whether to continue expansion, focus on development and farming, or do both is left to the players to decide. He only makes some strategic arrangements in the general direction.

He activated the system to add several special copies.

Each special copy has a special time limit and corresponding triggering conditions, such as the "Liaodong Rebellion" that Li Mu had already anticipated.

He set several prerequisites for the players to meet together:

Condition one: It will take at least three months to digest Liaodong.

Condition 2: Train at least 50,000 garrison militiamen.

Condition three: Prepare enough ammunition and food for half a year's war before the war.

Condition four: Create a just cause for anti-Ming resistance so that the Liaodong military and civilians, and even the people inside the Great Wall, will sympathize with the Beiwei Army’s “rebellion”.

Condition five: On the day of the rebellion against the Ming Dynasty, the leader must lead his troops back to southern Henan within one month.

Of course, the above conditions that need to be met at the same time seem to be many, but in fact, Li Mu will help solve some of them, such as training militia, preparing supplies, and returning home quickly.

Since the Qing Dynasty was completely defeated, he needed a new "enemy" to replace the Qing Dynasty's ecological niche.

He wanted the "new enemy" to continue to threaten the Ming Dynasty outside the Great Wall, and even force the Ming Dynasty to give up all territories outside Shanhaiguan and retreat inside the Great Wall.

The Ming Dynasty must perish, but when and at whose hands it will perish must be decided by Li Mu alone.

……

Li Mu arranged for his soldiers to deal with the corpses on the battlefield, and then took tens of thousands of captured prisoners and tens of thousands of his troops to Haizhou to celebrate the victory, and discussed the issue of Liaodong governance with the players.

On the other side, the defeated Qing soldiers who were escorting Huang Taiji to escape ran for hundreds of miles and finally stopped at a place where Mongolian tribes were active in the south of the desert.

(End of this chapter)