The Wanli Emperor of the Ming Dynasty was extremely rebellious

Chapter 282 Does Yang Yinglong Want to Rebel?

In order to cut off the connection between the remnants of the three major families in Puzhou and the northern barbarians, Wanli was really ruthless.

He would throw anyone captured by the secret guards into the imperial prison without hesitation and torture them to extract confessions.

Anyone who was tortured and found to be related to the remnants of the three major powerful families in Puzhou would be beheaded in public, no matter what name or surname they changed.

This massacre directly angered the remnants of the three major powerful families in Puzhou.

They are going to take revenge at all costs.

So, how do they retaliate?
As the New Year approaches, the capital is filled with joy.

At this time, the soldiers in the Beijing camp, the imperial guards and the Jinyiwei, as well as the craftsmen and merchants, all had money. There were more and more workshops, teahouses, restaurants, etc. among the people, and the common people had more and more ways to make money. Everyone had money to celebrate the New Year.

In addition, the Beijing Xingdusi has been recovered, and the imperial army has captured the Chahar area within a radius of thousands of miles. The capital has become impregnable, and the threat from the northern barbarians is expected to be quelled. The Ming Dynasty is about to enter a peaceful and prosperous era, and the people are truly happy.

Wanli was also quite happy these days. After the Chahar tribe was taken down, the number of his navy's fast ships was almost ten thousand, and the business of lamp oil and coal was also booming. He no longer lacked money to pay food and wages.

Under his rule, the Ming Dynasty became increasingly powerful, and a peaceful and prosperous era was truly coming, so of course he was happy.

However, some people just don't want him to be happy, or in other words, don't want him to govern the Ming Dynasty into a peaceful and prosperous era.

On the twelfth lunar month, around noon, he teased the babbling little princess for a while, and then walked towards the imperial study with a satisfied look on his face.

Although it was freezing cold outside, it was warm as spring in the Qianqing Palace and Kunning Palace.

He even installed glass windows and coal stoves in all the corridors outside. In this way, the imperial guards, eunuchs and palace maids on duty outside were no longer cold, and everyone looked very comfortable.

Everything was fine at first, but when he came to the imperial study and opened the first memorial, all his good mood disappeared.

Guizhou Governor Ye Mengxiong reported to the emperor that Yang Yinglong, the envoy of the Bozhou Xuanwei Office, was guilty of 24 crimes, including murdering his wife and mother-in-law, embezzling disaster relief funds from the imperial court, privately minting coins, colluding with bandits, and plotting rebellion.

This guy also claimed that Yang Yinglong was the source of the chaos in the southwest, and that if he continued to be indulged, he would rebel sooner or later. He suggested that Yang Yinglong be dismissed and investigated, and that the Bozhou Xuanwei Office be abolished and placed under the jurisdiction of local officials.

The memorial also included a blood-written appeal from Yongchuan County Magistrate Zhang Shizhao, accusing Yang Yinglong of killing his wife and mother-in-law, his niece Zhang and Zhang's mother Guan, and threatening to wipe out the Zhang family.

This means that if Yang Yinglong killed his wife and mother-in-law, the other twenty-three charges are true.

Did Yang Yinglong want to rebel?
Wanli actually checked this.

He knew that the rebellion of Yang Yinglong in Bozhou was one of the three major campaigns of the Wanli Emperor, so he would naturally investigate whether Yang Yinglong had any intention of rebelling, or whether he showed any signs of disobeying the court's jurisdiction.

Unexpectedly, the results were exactly the opposite.

Not only did Yang Yinglong not have the slightest intention of rebelling, but he often led his troops to suppress rebellions.

The meaning of "joining the army" is to obey the orders of the court and lead the army to quell the rebellion with the governor or governor sent by the court.

In the fifth year of Longqing's reign, Yang Yinglong inherited the post of Xuanwei Envoy of Bozhou, and then he participated in the expedition to Yangliugou, where he was the first to climb the mountain after defeating the enemy; he participated in the expedition to Hama, where he was the first to climb the mountain after defeating the enemy and captured many spoils; he participated in the expedition to Jiusi, where he killed countless captives. With his accumulated military merits, he was promoted to General of the Cavalry!
The merit of being the first to reach the target is no joke. The four major military merits are being the first to reach the target, breaking the formation, beheading the general, and capturing the flag. Being the first to reach the target is the first and also the most dangerous.

The first to climb the city wall during a siege means the first soldier to survive.

This may seem simple, but it is actually extremely dangerous. The casualties of the attacking side in a siege are quite large. The attacking soldiers must first withstand various attacks such as arrows, rolling logs, thunder stones, boiling water, hot oil, etc., and they must also climb ladders and kill off the defenders on the city walls. You can imagine how difficult it is.

In history, many of those who were awarded the honor of being the first to reach the enemy's territory later became famous generals, such as Yu Jin and Le Jin under Cao Cao, and Xu Da and Chang Yuchun under Emperor Hongwu.

It would have been fine if Yang Yinglong had led the army to fight, but he had also been awarded the honor of being the first to reach the target twice. Did he want to rebel?

He is sick!

If he wanted to rebel, would he personally lead his soldiers to help the imperial army attack cities and plunder strongholds, braving arrows, rolling logs, thunder stones, boiling water, and hot oil, and even be the first to reach the city twice?
There is also the phrase "join the army in the expedition and kill countless enemies". These eight seemingly simple words actually represent a mountain of corpses and a sea of ​​blood.

The Jiusi Duzhan barbarians have been rampant in the Xuzhou area since the Hongwu Dynasty. Relying on the fact that the mountain city is easy to defend and difficult to attack, no one can control them. The Ming Dynasty court sent troops to conquer them many times but returned empty-handed.

At the beginning of the Wanli period, the Jiusi Duzhan barbarians rebelled, and the imperial court recruited soldiers from the chieftains of Bashu, Yunnan, and Guizhou to suppress the rebellion, a total of 140,000 troops.

Yang Yinglong mobilized 50,000 to 60,000 troops from Bozhou to fight against the Jiusi Duzhan barbarians, and captured countless enemies.

Although he did not get the credit for being the first to land that time, he was the chieftain who sent the most troops and killed the most enemies.

After Wanli checked all the court records about Yang Yinglong, he felt that this guy would not be able to rebel.

In addition, judging from Yang Yinglong's battle record, the Bozhou Army is also a rare mountain warfare force. It is not so easy to run into their territory and wipe them out.

At this moment, he also had to completely quell the Northern Tartar Rebellion, and he didn't have the time to care about Yang Yinglong for the time being. Therefore, he asked Qin Liangyu and Ma Qiancheng to train the White Spear Soldiers as much as possible as a precaution, and did not take the initiative to attack.

Unexpectedly, Guizhou Governor Ye Mengxiong suddenly did this.

What happened to Yang Yinglong? Why did he suddenly kill his wife?

And what about Ye Mengxiong? Why did he suddenly report that Yang Yinglong would rebel?
This seems to be exactly the same as the Haibai Rebellion.

At the beginning, the three major powerful families in Puzhou had been spreading rumors that Haibai would rebel. Haibai didn't want to rebel, so they forced Haibai to rebel.

Then he said, you see, this guy just wants to rebel!
Could it be that this is another conspiracy by the three major families of Puzhou?

He thought about it carefully, then said decisively, "Uncle, send someone to the Ministry of Personnel to get the resume of Guizhou Governor Ye Mengxiong. Also, send an urgent message eight hundred miles away, ordering the Deputy General of the Shenwu Left Camp, Liu Jing, to return to the capital for an audience."

At the beginning of the Wanli period, the Jiusi Duzhan barbarians were conquered. Liu Jing's father, Liu Xian, who was the left general of the Zuo Jundudu Mansion at the time, was the main general. Liu Jing followed his father in battles all over the country and should have some impression of Yang Yinglong.

However, Liu Jing is still in the Chahar tribe and will definitely not be able to come over for a while.

Li Xuancheng quickly sent the resume of Guizhou Governor Ye Mengxiong.

When Wanli saw it, he couldn't help but snort coldly.

Ye Mengxiong, a Jinshi in the 44th year of Jiajing, ranked 133rd in the third class, and was initially appointed as the magistrate of Fuqing County.

In the second year of the Longqing reign, he was promoted to the director of the Ministry of Revenue because of his integrity. In the fifth year of the Longqing reign, he was inexplicably transferred to the position of inspector of Shaanxi Province.

In the first year of the Wanli reign, he was promoted to Langzhong of the Ministry of Revenue and served as the prefect of Ganzhou. In the sixth year of the Wanli reign, he was demoted to the county magistrate of Heyang County, Shaanxi Province because of his lip service to Zhang Juzheng's reform.

Then, in the tenth year of Wanli, Zhang Juzheng died, and he immediately rose to prominence and was promoted to Deputy Censor of the Yunnan Judicial and Censorate. In the thirteenth year of Wanli, he was promoted to Governor of Guizhou.

It is obvious that this guy is Gao Gong's disciple and Zhang Siwei's junior brother.

Because the chief examiner of the Yichou examination in the 44th year of Jiajing's reign was Gao Gong.

Of course, it doesn’t mean that all the Jinshi who passed the imperial examination in the 44th year of Jiajing were Gao Gong’s disciples, but Ye Mengxiong definitely was one.

The Minister of Personnel in the second year of Longqing was Yang Bo, the Minister of Personnel in the fifth year of Longqing was Gao Gong, and the Minister of Personnel in the first year of Wanli was Yang Bo again.

He was a Jinshi who ranked 133rd in the third class and was a candidate for being a county magistrate. Suddenly, he was promoted to the Director of the Ministry of Revenue, then to the Inspector-General, and then to the Doctor of the Ministry of Revenue. In just a few years, he was promoted to the fourth rank. Under normal circumstances, this would be impossible. Even the first place in the first class could not be promoted so quickly.

If Gao Gong, Yang Bo and Zhang Siwei had not deliberately promoted him, he might never have become a prefect in his lifetime.

This is the conspiracy of the three major families in Puzhou.

There is no problem with Yang Yinglong, the problem is Guizhou Governor Ye Mengxiong!

He couldn't remember exactly when the Yang Yinglong Rebellion in Bozhou occurred in history.

However, it must have been after Zhang Siwei's death.

These guys are holding this card in their hands, ready to play it when needed.

In other words, they could easily force Yang Yinglong to rebel just as they forced Haobai to rebel.

So, what to do?

It seems that the best way now is to dismiss Guizhou Governor Ye Mengxiong and investigate him.

However, this is only a temporary solution and does not address the root cause.

The three powerful families in Puzhou are confident that they can force Yang Yinglong to rebel, so they must have planted people on Yang Yinglong's side.

Ye Mengxiong was just carrying out their conspiracy. It would be useless to capture Ye Mengxiong, and it would only alert the enemy.

He could just pretend to be confused and watch the show first to see what conspiracy and tricks these guys were playing, and then take action at the most critical moment.

Thinking of this, he couldn't help but curl up the corners of his mouth and smile evilly to himself.

You want to force Yang Yinglong to rebel, right?
Okay, let me see how you force me.

You play the good guy and I play the bad guy. I want to see how you perform this scene.

(End of this chapter)