Emperor Chongzhen was too extreme.

Chapter 95 Using Death to Nourish Life: A Dilemma to Resolve

Outside the government office.

Upon hearing this, the remaining officials felt a chill run down their spines.

It immediately enveloped the entire body, shattering all of a person's will and thoughts.

They could understand the latter two's poor performance and their intention to flee.

But what the hell does it mean that even suicide out of fear of punishment can result in being executed by slow slicing?!

People didn't understand, but they really didn't dare to let anyone die anymore.

Because they had no doubt.

If they dared to seek death, the emperor would definitely dig them out of the ground and skin them alive again.

Not only that!

Their families will definitely be killed by extreme means!

He was able to exterminate the entire clan of princes and nobles, kill nine out of ten counties, and dismember dozens of high-ranking officials in front of the entire city's residents and officials.

What is there that an emperor like that wouldn't do?!
Even the founding emperor seemed merciful in his presence!

now.

The regret in his heart even overwhelmed his fear of death.

They regretted not running away sooner after they had made enough money.

Like some of his former colleagues—some people amassed enough money and, seeing the public outrage growing, simply abandoned their posts and fled.

Of these, a large portion fled to the Jiangnan region, while another portion went directly north to the Mongol tribes.

They don't care about the former.

Because that place is a truly ruthless place where people can eat each other without blinking an eye; if they went there, they would only be treated like wild dogs and killed by the powerful and wealthy families.

Then they casually tossed it aside on the roadside.

But the latter, which they used to despise, they now genuinely envy.

I've heard that some people who went to the Six Ministries of Mongolia not only managed to preserve their property but also managed to get a minor official position and live a very comfortable life.

If they had run away sooner, they wouldn't be in this desperate situation where they can neither live nor die!

But feelings of regret and envy swirled in his heart, eventually turning into intense hatred for those who had run away.

Driven by immense fear, this hatred was utterly pure:
We were all originally officials in Yan'an Prefecture, and now we're suffering here while you're enjoying yourselves outside?!
Fuck you! We'll drag you all down with us when we die.

Although the county-level officials did not communicate at all, they reached a very strange consensus in their hearts at this time.

Is the land allocated to the people properly managed?

you can!

I will definitely work hard when I get back, because nobody wants to suffer such torment.

But after I finish this, I will not only report these documents, but also the Han Chinese who have fled to the various Mongol tribes over the years.

On the one hand, the thought that those officials who fled are still alive and well makes people feel worse than if they themselves were dead.

On the other hand, there was one point that none of the officials dared to admit at the time.

They don't even have the courage to secretly admit it to themselves.

That is, they wanted to use this to report and seek revenge against the emperor.

no way.

Physically, he has already been completely destroyed by the emperor.

If we don't employ some kind of mental victory strategy, then people will simply become walking corpses.

In a sense, this can be considered the body's self-protection mechanism.

Your emperor enjoys killing officials of the Ming Dynasty, doesn't he?!
Alright! So, will you kill these Ming officials who have fled abroad?!
If you act impulsively and actually try to kill someone, you'll most likely die out there yourself.

If you don't kill them, then you are an incompetent ruler!
Throughout history, only emperors who could expand the territory were considered true Sons of Heaven!

What kind of skill is it to only kill your own people?!

Emperors Tang and Song, Qin and Han—which of them didn't defeat the surrounding foreign tribes so thoroughly that they couldn't raise their heads?
They even went so far as to send envoys to have sex with the mother of the king of a small country!
But what about you?!

The captives from Shaanxi and the Western Barbarians were treated as objects of pleasure, freely coming and going.

Needless to say, the Liaodong region also had Japanese pirates and local chieftains.
There were countless foreign tribes surrounding the Ming Dynasty.

Which of these people can you possibly control?!
You only dare to kill us, but you don't dare to kill those who have fled outside with their families.

We'd rather die than acknowledge you as the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty!
Although this kind of mental victory method is somewhat absurd.

But in the current situation, it does indeed exist in the subconscious of these officials.

However, it's just a subconscious thought.

They didn't even have the slightest courage to rise to the surface.

Because I was truly terrified, so terrified that I couldn't be more terrified.

Once this thought took root in their minds, these officials were destined to have no further opportunity to ponder these matters.

Not long after.

They were then taken away by the Embroidered Uniform Guard to carry out their duties.

Yan'an Prefecture was not as large as Xi'an Prefecture; it only had sixteen counties in total.

Therefore, it is not a great burden for the already small number of people in the Holy Chariot team.

Two or three elite soldiers, along with some attendants, would be enough to keep these people under close surveillance.

At the time, the brutal execution of the dead by a thousand cuts was being performed in the city of Yan'an.

Sun Chuanting also led a team of men and rushed over overnight.

Although the recent back-to-back work would be unbearable for most people, it was fueled by Sun Chuanting's patriotic spirit.

Far from feeling tired, he even took the time to observe the local conditions while traveling.

no way.

Recently, there has been a lot of activity in Shaanxi.

The entire Shaanxi province was thrown into turmoil by His Majesty's arrival.

It is under this situation.

While on his journey, Sun Chuanting heard some news that greatly worried him.

After hearing that the entire Qin royal family had been exterminated by His Majesty, Zhu Changhao, the Prince of Rui of Hanzhong Prefecture...

They even began to openly send men to plunder all the fugitives from the prisons of the prefectural city and several surrounding counties, and to train them day and night as suicide soldiers in the Prince's Palace.

Prince Rui has only been enfeoffed for the past two years. Although he is not as powerful as the Prince of Qin, who has been operating in Shaanxi for many years, he is still not to be underestimated.

Don’t say anything else.

The Prince Rui's Mansion alone occupied an area that was half the size of the city of Hanzhong Prefecture.

It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that the entire prefecture was an independent kingdom of Prince Rui alone.

Moreover, not only were there many servants in the Prince's mansion, but the amount of land owned by Prince Rui was also astronomical.

The only fertile land in his residence that was explicitly recorded was fertile land, not ordinary land.

It covers a massive area of ​​two million acres.

Of these two million mu, more than half are located in Shaanxi Province, while the rest are distributed in Shanxi, Henan, and Sichuan.

In present-day Shaanxi, Prince Rui, Zhu Changhao, was a figure in no way inferior to Prince Qin, Zhu Cunshu.

But for such a behemoth.

What Sun Chuanting was actually worried about was not how strong Prince Rui was.

If you can kill the King of Qin, why can't you kill Prince Rui?!

What Sun Chuanting is really worried about is time!
Your Majesty could certainly incite public opinion to eliminate Prince Rui, just as you did with the King of Qin.

The problem is, this takes time.

Even if it's faster than when the King of Qin was appointed, it still takes time.

This period of time was not long, and after a few days, the grain in Yan'an Prefecture was still enough to support the entire prefecture's expenses, and there would be no major problems.

The problem is that the pressure exerted on the border by the Yansui military garrison is simply too great.

After all, judging by the timeline, the Mongol tribes would probably be heading south to raid in just a few days.

The matter of the Yansui military garrison could only be resolved with His Majesty's personal presence, which made the situation quite thorny.

The Prince Rui's mansion has clearly shown signs of rebellion. If trouble arises at the border and the Prince Rui seizes the opportunity to raise an army, it will be a pincer attack.

Therefore, Sun Chuanting wanted to rush over to advise His Majesty:
In the coming days, we should refrain from taking any action against the imperial family. In fact, we should not only refrain from taking any action, but also use some means to appease them.

We should at least stabilize the border before taking any action.

Although this move shows a hint of yielding, for the sake of the overall situation, they can only endure it for now.

Sun Chuanting also deeply resented Prince Rui's recruitment of outlaws.

However, various difficulties arose one after another in Shaanxi, and Sun Chuanting could not think of any other way besides offering reassurance.

And the most fatal thing is...

Sun Chuanting was also worried that Prince Rui was only pretending to accept the appeasement, while secretly plotting something big.

Having learned from the example of the King of Qin, these princes would definitely not sit idly by and wait for their doom.

But they simply couldn't survive.

More than one million mu of fertile land, how many people could that feed?
Not to mention the grain stored in the mansion; if taken out, it might be enough to feed Yan'an Prefecture for several days.

Thinking of this, Sun Chuanting took a deep breath and quickened his pace.

He prepared to recommend himself to His Majesty again—for the sake of the greater good, Sun Chuanting wanted to personally go to Hanzhong Prefecture to appease Prince Rui.

To put it bluntly, apart from Sun Chuanting himself, there is really no one else in the imperial procession who can handle this matter properly nowadays.

Surely His Majesty can't possibly condescend to appease the rebels himself?
Therefore, although the journey was fraught with danger, Sun Chuanting felt no fear whatsoever.

His Majesty is even preparing to personally lead the expedition for the sake of the Ming Dynasty. How could he, as a subject, possibly be afraid of death?!
After he personally confirmed with His Majesty the news of the imperial expedition, he immediately requested permission to set off for Hanzhong Prefecture.

Just as Sun Chuanting was pondering how to appease Prince Rui, Zhu Changhao.

Inside the Prince Rui's Mansion in Hanzhong.

Zhu Changhao, who was not yet thirty years old, was wearing a kasaya and solemnly watching the soldiers in the palace fight to the death while rolling the Buddhist beads in his hand.

Zhu Changhao began practicing vegetarianism and reciting Buddhist scriptures in his youth.

He has never been interested in women, but he loves money.

Before he was enfeoffed in the capital, he had been trying to obtain money from the imperial treasury and the Ministry of Revenue through various means.

Even said.

She even used the excuse that she needed money to buy things in preparation for her wedding countless times.

They just wanted more silver and land.

There's no way around it. As a monk, I won't indulge in lust, but you have to leave me some money, right?

And now.

He had already heard about the Qin king's family being raided and his clan being exterminated.

Therefore, in order to protect the love of one's life.

Even Buddhists are now forced to take up the butcher's knife.

He learned in detail about how the King of Qin was eliminated and finally concluded that the King of Qin died because he did not seize the initiative from the beginning.

The result was that being slow at one step led to being slowed down at every step, and he was eventually tricked and killed by that wicked emperor.

Therefore, Zhu Changhao would never make such a basic mistake again.

If the emperor dares to come to Hanzhong Prefecture, he will lead his troops to ambush him and fight the emperor to the death.

As a Buddhist, Zhu Changhao did not want things to come to this point with his own blood relatives.

But who could blame him when the emperor was simply too ruthless?!
Just moments ago, Zhu Changhao's face, which resembled a Buddha statue, was reflected in his robes, recalling the emperor who dared to confiscate the property of his own clan and distribute it to the common people.

Suddenly, he became insane and monstrous.

The sounds of the armored soldiers fighting ahead grew increasingly intense, and the prayer beads in Zhu Changhao's hand rolled faster and faster.

slam-la-

For some unknown reason, the string of the Buddhist prayer beads in his hand, worth thousands of taels, suddenly snapped, and the beads scattered all over the ground.

Zhu Changhao looked up and realized that the fighting ahead had stopped.

The last nominal enemy was also beheaded as the prayer beads broke.

Lessons from the past, the teacher behind the car.

With the example of the King of Qin before him, King Rui would naturally choose to train soldiers using living people in order to protect himself.

Only in this way can the combat effectiveness of the army be maximized.

This was also because of the King of Qin.

Among the training supplies selected by Zhu Changhao, there were no ordinary people.

Some of them are criminals who committed crimes but were not severely punished enough.

The other part consists of some of the lowest-ranking members of the imperial clan within Hanzhong Prefecture.

Although those lowly people were no good, their combined strength was indeed enough to attack the royal palace.

Therefore, Zhu Changhao naturally wouldn't provoke them again.

Not only did he not provoke them, he also reduced or exempted many taxes for the lowly people of Hanzhong Prefecture.

Although those taxes were only added after he came to take up his fief.

But he had only been in Hanzhong for a short time and hadn't had time to wreak havoc yet.

Therefore, this move was made.

It was now impossible for the emperor to remove him by inciting public opinion.

As for those lower-ranking members of the royal family, they were deliberately captured by Zhu Changhao.

After all, training troops always requires supplies, but the common people cannot be affected.

Then we can only target these lower-class members of the royal family who live worse than ordinary people.

to be honest.

The gap between members of the royal family is greater than that between a person and a dog.

Zhu Changhao did not regard these lower-ranking members of the royal family as the same species as himself.

Moreover, Zhu Changhao's move had a deeper meaning beyond just training troops.

Now everyone in Shaanxi knows that the emperor killed members of the imperial clan just like officials.

Then, after a while, we'll pin this on the emperor.

This naturally stirred up resentment among the entire Shaanxi imperial clan.

If your emperor can manipulate public opinion, do you think my imperial family can't too?!

Think of this.

Zhu Changhao bowed forward and chanted "Amitabha" towards the corpses scattered on the ground.

He looked at the corpses, his expression shifting from madness to pity.

These people are merely enduring the karmic fire of fate while they are alive.

This humble monk's actions can be considered as sending them to the Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss.

Zhu Changhao silently added another merit to his record in his heart.

Simultaneously.

He couldn't help but think of the emperor's recent actions, and his eyes narrowed slightly.

Zhu Changhao has been sending people to gather intelligence on the emperor recently, and now he knows that the emperor has sent most of his troops to the Yansui military garrison.

In this way, if the emperor were to come to Hanzhong Prefecture again...

Then it would be easy to send him to the Pure Land together.

Even if he doesn't come, he will do everything he can to send him there.

Foreign invasions of the border were common occurrences, a fact well-known throughout Shaanxi.

When foreign tribes invade, the emperor will surely go to Yansui to guard it.

And take advantage of this time.

If I stab him in the back, he will surely die.

Zhu Changhao had no time to think about the consequences of his actions; at that moment, all he wanted was for the emperor to die.

no way.

Those who renounce worldly life, for the sake of their sole faith, will naturally be willing to risk everything and disregard all consequences.

Prince Rui, Zhu Changhao.

Inside the Yan'an Prefecture government office.

Zhu Youjian looked at the names on the imperial clan register and prepared to send people to confiscate his house and execute the entire clan.

Honestly.

He's been quite busy lately, so he hasn't had a chance to hear any news about Prince Rui's intention to rebel.

Therefore, the reason why Zhu Youjian planned to kill Zhu Changhao was not because of this.

Instead, it was those officials who had just been released that morning who had brought him lists of fields and household registrations in the surrounding counties.

This was the very thing that Ming Dynasty officials relied on for embezzlement.

If you don't even know how many people or how much land your county has.

How are we supposed to make money then?!

Therefore, each official secretly kept a ledger of these things.

Zhu Youjian's strategy for governing Yan'an Prefecture was actually quite simple.

After clarifying the population and land area of ​​each county, we directly planned and allocated grain to ensure that all the people in the prefecture could survive the winter.

As for where all this grain came from, one source was some from areas less affected by the disaster, such as Xi'an Prefecture.

But most of the time, it still comes down to grabbing.

After all, the former is barely able to make ends meet.

So it was at this time that Zhu Changhao, who owned millions of acres of fertile land, came into Zhu Youjian's sight.

Whether Zhu Changhao deserved to die or not was completely unimportant to Zhu Youjian.

Whether his death was beneficial to the empire is what matters.

obviously.

Zhu Changhao's death was very advantageous.

So at this point, he was bound to die no matter what.

As for how to kill him.

For Zhu Youjian, it wasn't even a problem.

There is a shortage of manpower and time. From an objective point of view, the situation is indeed somewhat unfavorable.

But all it takes is one move to shift the focus away from the conflict.

All the problems were solved in an instant.

Using lower-ranking members of the royal family to kill upper-ranking members is an incredibly easy task.

Zhu Youjian, who was well aware of human nature, knew all too well that the hatred of the lower-ranking members of the imperial family for the powerful princes was much stronger than that of the common people.

Zhu Youjian has been studying this matter these past few days, and the issue of the Ming Dynasty's imperial clan is quite complex.

Apart from the top-ranking princes, dukes, generals, and lieutenants, the rest of the so-called imperial family members were merely figureheads.

These members of the royal family actually constitute the vast majority of the entire royal family.

But their lives were even more miserable than those of ordinary people.

Ordinary people could still farm and do business. Under the oppression of ancestral rules, these people could only rely on their salary to make a living.

But Shaanxi simply couldn't pay the salaries.

If the conflict between the common people and the feudal lords is purely a class conflict.

In addition to class conflicts, there were also significant internal conflicts between the lower-ranking members of the royal family and the vassal kings.

One’s own suffering is terrible, but the wealth of one’s relatives is even more distressing.

This is the deepest hatred in people's hearts, or it can be called a deep-seated flaw.

Therefore, for Zhu Youjian...

A single imperial edict was enough to incite all the lower-ranking members of the imperial family in Shaanxi.

Just as he was about to issue the edict, a young eunuch bowed and reported, "Your Majesty, Lord Sun Chuanting requests an audience."

Zhu Youjian nodded: "Bring him here."

Sun Chuanting was led into the room. After paying his respects, he was about to speak to His Majesty about the Prince of Rui of Hanzhong Prefecture when His Majesty's casual remark left him momentarily stunned.

"Chuan Ting, you've come at the perfect time."

"Take men to Hanzhong Prefecture, confiscate the property and exterminate the clan of Prince Rui, Zhu Changhao. After dealing with Prince Rui's mansion, go and deal with the remaining princely mansions in Shaanxi as well."

Sun Chuanting: ?

　There will be another chapter later

　　
　
(End of this chapter)