Emperor Chongzhen was too extreme.

Chapter 98 Bloodshed and Turmoil: The Alien Races Need to Concentrate

"What did you say?! Who broke in?!"

Upon hearing his subordinate's report, Prince Rui, Zhu Changhao, immediately wore an expression of disbelief.

But seeing the unmistakable conviction of his subordinates, Zhu Changhao instantly lost his composure.

His expression was somewhat deranged, and he clutched his Buddhist prayer beads in both hands, muttering to himself, "Has the emperor incited public opinion again, coercing those lowly people to attack?!"

"No! This is impossible!"

"I have just shown kindness to those lowly people; they cannot be so easily swayed by the emperor!"

Seeing Zhu Changhao's mad appearance, his subordinates quickly spoke up to explain, "Your Highness! It's not those lowly commoners! It's Sun Chuanting, the one who serves the Emperor, leading a group of imperial relatives to attack!"

"They even shouted slogans, saying they were ordered to kill the princes!"

Zhu Changhao was stunned upon hearing this.

Inciting members of the royal family to kill other members of the royal family?!

How dare he?!
For money, he would actually do something so contrary to his ancestors?!
Zhu Changhao trembled all over; when the Prince of Qin died, he didn't feel anything.

But now, he is truly afraid.

Because he never imagined that an emperor ten years younger than himself could be so cruel and vicious!

Zhu Changhao, as if possessed, picked up the jade throne and golden statue on the altar and roared at his men, "Quick! Quickly order the guards of the Prince's Palace to hold those people back!"

"Send the assassins to escort me out of the city!"

As he spoke, Zhu Changhao began frantically stuffing all sorts of rare treasures into his robes.

His subordinates were also very anxious when they saw this.

You motherfucker!

What kind of time is this to still be thinking about your filthy stuff!
If they had presented these things to the emperor long ago, they wouldn't have ended up in this state!
His subordinates cursed him in their hearts.

But his feet moved without the slightest hesitation.

Under the nest, have the eggs finished?
He and the Prince's Mansion were bound by fate; if the Prince fell, he would naturally be unable to escape either.

But his men had barely run out when they heard the sounds of battle coming from outside the Prince's mansion.

Startled, he immediately ran back: "It's over, Your Highness! They've broken into the palace!"

Zhu Changhao, who was still grabbing gold artifacts in the Buddhist hall, froze upon hearing this, and the various precious treasures in his arms scattered all over the ground.

After standing there stunned for a moment...

Instead of going crazy, Zhu Changhao calmed down.

He knelt down on the prayer mat again and began rolling the prayer beads in his hand.

At this moment, it's unclear whether Zhu Changhao has gone mad or what.

I still held onto a sliver of hope.

"This time, only Sun Chuanting has come. Although Sun Chuanting is an imperial envoy, in name only he is the governor of Xi'an Prefecture."

"I have not openly committed any act of rebellion, so he certainly wouldn't dare to kill me!"

"The emperor's move against my royal palace is nothing more than for those gold and silver items."

"We will do a humble job to save our lives first, and perhaps in the future we can send that Poison Lord to the afterlife!"

Amitabha Buddha! Amitabha Buddha!

Just as Zhu Changhao was chanting Buddhist scriptures frantically in his mind, a commotion suddenly came from behind him.

He looked back.

Only then did they realize that a large group of people had already arrived outside the Buddhist hall.

The man in the center, holding a long sword and wearing an official robe, must be Sun Chuanting.

Looking at this person, Zhu Changhao straightened up and bowed in a Buddhist gesture: "Amitabha—"

"Lord Sun, I..."

The words are not finished yet.

Sun Chuanting's knife had already plunged into Zhu Changhao's chest.

Looking at Zhu Changhao's ferocious face, Sun Chuanting flicked the blood off the tip of his knife with some disgust.

Oh shit!

I'm waiting to go to the next place, I don't have time to waste talking nonsense with you!
Don't delay my return to report to His Majesty!

Go tell me what you have to say.

The more words I waste here, the more trouble might happen in Guanjun Town!
Killing the feudal lords was merely a means to an end.

We need to quickly stabilize the situation in Shaanxi.

The ultimate goal is to deal with border affairs next.

After swiftly and efficiently dealing with Prince Rui, Sun Chuanting turned to the crowd behind him and spoke loudly:

"Immediately transport the grain stored in Prince Rui's mansion to Yansui Military Town, and seal off all other gold and silver treasuries."

"You will immediately follow me to execute the next vassal king. I guarantee in the name of His Majesty that after all the vassal kings in Shaanxi have been dealt with, you will not be shortchanged by a single penny!"

The crowd raised their arms in response: "We will die for Your Majesty!"

Sun Chuanting breathed a sigh of relief.

at this time.

The power of the emperor's prestige was fully demonstrated.

Prestige is something you can't see or touch.

But if the emperor's prestige is insufficient, then when it comes to dividing the spoils of war, Sun Chuanting dares to say, "Let's not divide them yet, let's wait until we finish fighting the next enemy before we divide them!"

That would likely cause an immediate mutiny.

And now.

With the emperor's prestige pressing down on them, they could accomplish something that even killing Sun Chuanting couldn't with just a word.

A great emperor throughout history, nothing surpasses this.

Without pausing, Sun Chuanting led his large, highly motivated army to continue marching toward the next objective.

One wave subsided only for another to rise.

A bloodbath erupted in Shaanxi!
that's it.

About two or three days later.

All the vassal kings in Shaanxi who posed a threat had been slaughtered by the torrent of lower-ranking members of the imperial clan.

Over the past two or three days.

Sun Chuanting barely slept either, but he seemed to be on steroids, becoming more and more energetic as he killed.

no way.

With each death of a feudal lord, Sun Chuanting felt he was one step closer to his goal.

Under this extremely strong positive feedback, Sun Chuanting did not feel tired at all, even if he stayed up all night.

However, after killing all the vassal kings in Shaanxi.

The remaining lower-ranking relatives posed a challenge for Sun Chuanting.

The reason is nothing other than that these people are willing to risk their lives to join the Holy Carriage.

"His Majesty has been so good to us. If we don't risk our lives to protect him, are we even human?!"

"His Majesty is going to the border? We'll go with him! We've already taken the money, why would we back down?!"

Faced with these people, Sun Chuanting had no choice but to forcibly send them back to their hometowns.

The reason, however, is still related to food.

Let's set aside the question of how strong these people are.

If so many people were to flock to Yansui Military Town, the town would face famine within two days.

Therefore, letting these people divide the money and go home is the best choice.

After dealing with these matters.

After a short rest, Sun Chuanting immediately went to the city of Yan'an to report the situation of the past few days to His Majesty.

Unfortunately, things didn't go as planned.

Sun Chuanting had just arrived in the prefectural city when he heard that His Majesty had already left for Yansui Military Town ahead of him.

However, Sun Chuanting was not in a hurry to chase after him.

He wasn't tired, but his men were exhausted. So Sun Chuanting ordered them to rest in the city for a day and set off again the next day.

However, this rest was not a big deal.

After moving into the government office, Sun Chuanting was immediately shocked and then became extremely anxious.

Because he was inside the government office.

They saw the land and population statistics sent by officials from various parts of Yan'an Prefecture.

Looking at the strings of numbers on these lists.

Sun Chuanting grew increasingly alarmed.

He couldn't help but change his expression drastically, prompting his attendant to ask, "Lord Sun, what's wrong?!"

Sun Chuanting did not answer, but waved his hand to dismiss his attendants and continued to look through the lists.

According to these lists.

The local population of Yan'an Prefecture was approximately seven or eight hundred thousand.

In reality, the figure could reach as high as a million.

After all, these days, the actual number of household registration statistics is generally less than the number of people.

This is what worries Sun Chuanting.

You won't know some things until you look them up, and once you do, you'll be shocked.

With so many mouths to feed, how will we satisfy them?!
Sun Chuanting has confiscated the property of several princes in the past few days.

Therefore, he knew it all too well.

Those grains that were supposedly piled up like small mountains in the government granary.

With such a huge population base, it's just a drop in the ocean.

He had thought.

By plundering some grain from the foreign tribes, the famine in Yan'an Prefecture could be completely alleviated.

But now it seems he was too optimistic.

Unless Your Majesty directly wages war against the six tribes of the grasslands and seizes all their grain.

Even though His Majesty was considered to have extraordinary talent in Sun Chuanting's eyes, Sun Chuanting knew that this was impossible.

The objective law is that the country's strength is what it is; Shaanxi simply cannot withstand such turmoil.

If the Six Kingdoms of the Grasslands were to drag things out for even a few days, the entire Shaanxi province would collapse.

And what's more terrible is.

The population of Yan'an Prefecture consisted mostly of the elderly, the weak, the sick, and the disabled.

In other words, their productivity is very low.

Even if all the land were given to them to cultivate.

They still can't grow many crops; on the contrary, they consume even more food in the process.

If that's the case, the famine might become even more severe by next spring!

How to do? !

These past few days, Sun Chuanting, who had never even blinked when killing, has become truly anxious.

He never imagined things would develop to this point.

It's like you've put in countless efforts towards a goal, but suddenly a problem arises that you just can't solve.

It will make everything you've done before go to waste.

We need to transfer grain from other prefectures in Shaanxi or relocate disaster victims there.
It's no use; other prefectures are barely able to support themselves either.

Even if Your Majesty forcibly conscripts from other provinces, it won't work!
Sun Chuanting knew how corrupt the Ming Dynasty had become; such an imperial edict was tantamount to slow suicide.

In a hurry.

Sun Chuanting even thought of his hometown, which is Shanxi, a neighboring province of Shaanxi.

Because Shanxi has Jin merchants.

Merchants are, after all, profit-driven.

If we spend a lot of money, we might be able to buy some food from them.

However, this move also carries enormous risks.

Because those Shanxi merchants would most likely stab you in the back.

Although Sun Chuanting, who grew up in Shanxi, also deeply resented these people.

But given the greater good of the situation, we may have no choice but to endure this for the sake of the country.

Immediately.

Sun Chuanting didn't have time to think too much.

He told the others to stay at the government office and continue resting.

Then he selected two attendants who were still in relatively good spirits and immediately rode off on fast horses to chase after the emperor.

He must go and discuss this matter with His Majesty immediately; not an hour can be wasted!

Fortunately, the imperial procession had not gone far.

Half a day later.

Sun Chuanting finally caught up with the Emperor's arrival.

At that moment, he couldn't care less about etiquette.

After entering His Majesty's carriage, Sun Chuanting quickly revealed all his concerns after reviewing the list of commoners.

But what Sun Chuanting didn't expect was...

Faced with his own concerns, His Majesty simply asked a casual question.

"What's so difficult about this?"

Sun Chuanting:
What does it mean...?

What's so difficult about this...?
Such a serious problem...isn't it difficult to solve?!

Sun Chuanting was momentarily stunned.

After a long silence.

Sun Chuanting took a deep breath and cautiously inquired:
"So, how does Your Majesty intend to resolve this?"

Honestly.

Sun Chuanting was truly afraid that His Majesty's solution would be to kill all those people as well.

After all, given His Majesty's temperament and abilities, he really is capable of doing such a thing.

But Sun Chuanting did not expect that His Majesty would ask him a question that seemed to have nothing to do with the matter at this time.

"What is the strength of the Six Grassland Tribes in the Hetao region?"

Although he didn't know why His Majesty asked this question, Sun Chuanting still answered honestly:

"Among the six tribes of the grasslands, the Chahar and Ordos tribes were the most powerful, according to the records of the border documents."

"Both armies have more than 10,000 soldiers and a population of over 100,000, but the official documents must have exaggerated this."

"According to what I learned in Yansui Military Town a few days ago, the actual strength of these two units is about several thousand soldiers and about fifty thousand people."

Speaking of these things.

Sun Chuanting couldn't help but feel a tightness in his chest.

There is no other reason.

A single tribe on the grasslands can have tens of thousands of people. How could herding alone possibly support so many people?!

How did they manage to survive, and even thrive, on the grasslands where large quantities of food could not be grown?

They still rely on exploiting the people of Yan'an Prefecture to squeeze them dry!
Hearing Sun Chuanting's answer, Zhu Youjian nodded and continued:

"After eliminating the Ordos tribe's forces, bring all 50,000 people from their tribe into Yan'an Prefecture."

"Then send these 50,000 people to centralized quarantine."

"Then send these 50,000 people to a place to gather them together for overall planning, and have them work the land for eleven hours every day."

"Wouldn't that solve the problem?"

Sun Chuanting: ?

(End of this chapter)