Ming Jiajing: Starting from Immortality

Chapter 197: Bloodbath in Two Provinces, the Final Battle!

In a word.

It will bring disaster.

The King of Chu originally wanted to seek a way out for the other kings, but he unexpectedly ended up in a dead end.

He lost his throne and his salary, and could no longer stay in the Ming Dynasty.

"The common people obey the decree!"

The King of Chu received the order in a daze, as if he had lost his parents.

The kings bowed in front of the emperor and said, "We bow to thank the emperor for his grace!"

By now.

The dragon's sons and grandsons have seen clearly the emperor's ruthlessness and cruelty. If they continue to tangle with him, they will die.

The 40th year of Jiajing's reign was a year of great harvest, the first in a hundred years. The people lived and worked in peace and contentment. There was no way to incite the people and force the emperor to give in.

Royal family, give up!
The Zhu clan members who were stripped of their royal titles could certainly not return to their fiefdoms and were directly escorted out of the country by the Embroidered Uniform Guards.

Afterwards, the six ministries of the imperial court, the Embroidered Uniform Guard, and the Eastern Depot cooperated in the matter of reducing the power of the feudal lords across the country.

In front of the Forbidden Gate, King Zhu Xian of Liao had been clubbed to death, and his dark yellow royal robes were soaked in blood.

A generation of Liao King died tragically!

A banquet was held at Yuxi Palace.

The emperor was hosting a banquet for all the kings. Now, the princes who had attended the banquet had either died or left. The civil and military officials, who had lost 20% of their colleagues, had to leave in compliance with the emperor's order.

Too many things happened that night. The rebel king and the traitorous ministers colluded with the Divine Privy Council to create rebellion. The King of Liao was beaten to death, all the kings were deposed and exiled, the restrictions on the royal family were lifted, and the court no longer supported the royal family...

All the living people felt exhausted and wanted to return home as soon as possible and have a good sleep.

Only Gao Gong, Hu Zongxian, Li Chunfang and Chen Yiqin remained.

Zhu Houcong looked at the elders and said, "What will people say tomorrow? Don't worry. I will forgive you."

The reputations of the emperors of the Ming Dynasty were not very good, but the prince rebelled, beat his relatives to death, deposed hundreds of thousands of royal family members and demoted them to the common people. I am afraid that in the eyes of some people, his actions were more cruel and tyrannical than the ten previous emperors combined.

No matter what rumors spread in the future, it would be impossible to say that the emperor didn't care at all.

Gao Gong understood the meaning of the music and bowed his head, saying, "Your Majesty, don't worry too much. The ministers under you are in awe of the majesty of heaven. No one dares to discuss privately, let alone collude to cause trouble.

After I leave the palace, I will call the officials from various departments to have a discussion at my private residence. I believe that the court is safe.

As for the death of the King of Liao, it was because he had no loyalty to his subjects and had the intention of usurping the throne. Your Majesty should follow the example of Emperor Renzong of Song Dynasty who executed the King of Xiangyang and use the canonical punishment to demonstrate the law of the country. The people in other provinces who are loyal to their monarch and father will surely applaud.

Similarly, Zhao Zhigao's ten clans were executed because they brought it upon themselves.

Deposing all the kings has been the wish of millions of people in the Ming Dynasty for two hundred years. It has been a huge mountain pressing on the shoulders of the two capitals and thirteen provinces. Now that the mountain has collapsed, I imagine that countless people will be in tears!

As for Prince Yu..."

At this point, Gao Gong racked his brains but couldn't figure out how to justify this "son rebelling against his father".

No one in the world is stupid. This incident will inevitably become a laughing stock now and in the future.

Just like Emperor Taizong of Tang, Li Shimin, even if he could make the Zhenguan Reign the most prosperous era in ancient and modern times, he could not change his rebel background, nor could he reverse the fact that his son was a rebel.

Among hundreds of emperors throughout history, whether wise or enlightened, tyrant or incompetent, they can all be found to have flaws on the moral level.

"It doesn't matter." Zhu Houcong shook his head and didn't care about the people's discussion about the prince's rebellion.

"Your Majesty is benevolent!"

Gao Gong immediately sang a hymn to the saint, and then said: "But in this case, no matter how it is explained, it will be recorded in history and will always be a regret for future generations."

As far as the affairs of the kings are concerned, in the view of the cabinet, the emperor has indeed become much more benevolent. In total, he only killed the King of Yi and the King of Liao, and the rest were simply expelled from the Ming Dynasty. If all goes well, many of them will die a natural death.

Zhu Houcong smiled and shook his head, saying: "I don't care what people in the future say."

"Your Majesty has a broad mind!" Gao Gong praised the emperor again.

Chen Yiqin reminded him, “Your Majesty, a banquet has resolved the opposition to the new policy in the court, but the opposition from officials and gentry in the local area has not been quelled.

The provincial, prefectural and county government offices in Henan and Shandong are still closed, and the gentry in the two provinces are still trying their best to rush to the capital."

If the problem of officials and gentry in the two provinces with strong imperial examination system is not solved, then wherever the new policy is implemented, there will be absurd things like closing down government offices and submitting petitions to the capital.

Hearing this, Gao Gong's brows immediately furrowed. His hometown was in Xinzheng County of Kaifeng Prefecture in Henan Province, which was the capital of the province. As the second assistant of the cabinet, he could not avoid the embarrassment of seeing his fellow villagers causing such a mess.

"The imperial examinations have been stopped, and all privileges of scholars have been eliminated. Merit and fame are no longer beneficial. So the merits and fame of the scholars from the two provinces who came to the capital should be cancelled, and they should be given a small punishment and a big warning and ordered to return home."

"Your Majesty, what should we do if the scholars of the two provinces are unwilling to return home?"

"I will have the Imperial Guards and the Eastern Depot send the scholars back to their 'hometown'."

Since you don't want to return to your hometown peacefully, then just go back to your hometown. It doesn't matter which home you go back to.

This did not come as much of a surprise to the cabinet. After all, the death of the scholar in Jinling City was still circulating within the Ming Dynasty.

His Majesty does not care about the scholars from the two provinces. Scholars are like straw. After you cut the old stubble, new stubble will grow again.

Zhu Houcong pondered for a moment and said, "It is not the first time in the Ming Dynasty that an official has dismissed his office. The last time it happened was in the capital, in the Daxing County Office, which is adjacent to the capital.

If scholars do not serve as officials or hold office, the court can only deprive them of their honors and reputation. However, if officials have their names on the official rolls but ignore the demands of the people for their own selfish reasons, they will not be able to escape punishment.

All provincial, prefectural and county-level governors, prefects and county magistrates in the two provinces will be executed, and the rest will be dismissed from their posts and never employed again!"

"Your Majesty, your thoughts are so thoughtful!" Gao Gong praised the emperor in response to the order.

Hu Zongxian, Li Chunfang, and Chen Yiqin looked somewhat uneasy, and kept their heads down in silence.

If the killing continues like this, all officials in the two capitals and thirteen provinces of the Ming Dynasty will be killed. I hope that the officials of the court will take this incident as a warning, cleanse their minds, mend their ways, and start a new life, instead of stretching their necks out to be killed by the emperor.

The cabinet has spent too much energy selecting people to serve as officials and does not want to send away dozens, hundreds, thousands or even more colleagues every once in a while.

Zhu Houcong waved his hand and asked, "Is there anything else the cabinet needs?"

New policies need to be implemented.

The old court also needs to be taken care of.

Gao Gong was a person who did not like to enter the palace to make speeches. After Zhang Juzheng was ordered to recuperate, the cabinet elders came to Yuxi Palace less frequently.

Although the Jinyiwei would copy the official documents delivered to the cabinet and send them to the palace, Zhu Houcong wanted to hear it from someone else.

The emperor took the initiative to ask about politics, and Gao Gong was in high spirits. He said, "Your Majesty, the Tatars have sent news that they will start the second round of trade, and have told the Ming Dynasty that they will greatly increase the weight of grain transactions, and the amount of rare treasures, gems, high-quality silk, tea, and porcelain transactions!"

There is nothing to say about increasing grain trade. It is well known that Tatars are short of food.

But with the increase in trade in precious items such as curiosities, gems, silk, tea and porcelain, it was obvious that the Tatars had taken the bait!

In other words, Altan took the bait!

“Are there any requirements for the types of food?”

"Your Majesty, the Tatars want to buy 4 million dou of stalks of rice and 4 million dou of bran," Gao Gong replied.

Four million dou equals eighty million jin.

The amount of rice that Tatar purchased this time was twice as much as last time, but it was still not enough for the two million people on the grassland to eat during this long winter.

In order to make up for the food shortage, the Tatars sought to purchase four million bushels of bran for livestock.

But there are many unreasonable aspects here. The categories and types of trade between the Ming Dynasty and Tatar are very wide.

Take grain as an example. There are many varieties of grains, including longan rice, wheat, and sorghum. Among them, longan rice is the most expensive, followed by wheat, and then sorghum.

The price of one pound of rice can buy two pounds of wheat and four pounds of sorghum.

If the Tatars could convert 4 million dou of rice into 16 million dou of sorghum, that would be enough to feed the grasslands for at least the winter.

But the Tatars chose glutinous rice and bran, which was not originally included in the grain category.

Of course, there was an invisible hand behind all the strange things. Zhu Houcong knew that it was the trained traitor Shen Weijing who was behind it.

Resource distribution is uneven in any region of the world, and this is especially true in grasslands.

For thousands of years, high-quality pasture and abundant water sources have always been distributed on the right wing of the grassland.

The nomadic tribes such as the Tatars lived near water and grass, and countless fights broke out on the left and right wings of the grassland in order to compete for water sources.

Although they are of the same ethnic group, the gap between rich and poor has made the two wings of the grassland always regard each other as enemies.

Especially after Altan expelled his nephew, the little prince, to the left wing of the grassland and became the grassland overlord in name only, the struggle between the uncle and nephew was integrated into the hatred between the two wings, making the grassland full of gunpowder.

If nothing unexpected happens, these four million buckets of bran were what Shen Weijing persuaded Altan to prepare for the left wing of the grassland.

The right wing eats rice stalks and the left wing eats bran. If this doesn't make their brains pop out, it proves that the grassland left has lost the blood in its bones.

Moreover, treasures, silk, tea, porcelain and other items,
It is obviously also prepared by the grassland right wing for itself.

With Shen Weijing's help, the gap between the rich and the poor in the grasslands was most directly compared. According to the intelligence of the Jinyiwei, Altan tried to consolidate his position by means of the mutual trade and imposed a tax increase order on the left wing of the grasslands.

The people, cattle, horses and sheep on the left wing of the grassland had to pay heavy taxes to Altan for the tents, stables and barns where they lived, as well as the food and fodder they ate.

Otherwise, the food supply to the left wing of the grassland would be drastically reduced, and the left wing of the grassland would starve to death.

Such a sinister idea was naturally thought up by Shen Weijing.

In short, Shen Weijing took advantage of the hostility between the left and right wings of the grassland, allowing the wealthy right wing of the grassland to plunder the left wing of the grassland like draining the pond to catch fish, and benefit from it.

Some members of the Qingxi Shen family traveled thousands of miles to the Great Wall, carrying things from Tatar as if they were their own home.

In terms of horses alone, the Shen family obtained 30,000 to 40,000 horses, which was more than the horses they had traded with the Tatars in the previous trade.

The Shen family knew how to do business, and they sold the horses directly to Wang Chonggu, the governor of Xuanda, for sixty taels of silver per horse.

The price was higher than the price that the Tatars sold horses to the Ming Dynasty. In a market where there was a price but no demand, the Qingxi Shen family took a big bite out of the Ming Dynasty.

But Wang Chonggu and the Ming court could only endure it for the time being and let the Qingxi Shen family make huge demands.

Including cattle, sheep, and some animal skins, the imperial court bought them all at huge prices.

In just two months, the Shen family of Qingxi extorted more than three million taels of silver from the Ming Dynasty by using livestock such as cattle, horses, and sheep.

While Qingxi was opening a family tree for Shen Weijing, he was also sending more members of the clan to travel between the grasslands and the Central Plains, taking advantage of both the Tatars and the Ming Dynasty.

The Jinyiwei recorded all these accounts in a small notebook, and would settle the accounts with the Qingxi Shen family after the Tatars were defeated.

"What does Tatar want to trade in this transaction?"

"Your Majesty, it's mainly horses. The Tatars are offering 40,000 horses to sell to our dynasty, as well as 200,000 animal skins, and 300,000 cattle and sheep." Gao Gong replied respectfully.

Apart from livestock, there is really nothing else to produce on the grassland. Living livestock are sold by the head, and dead livestock are skinned and sold.

In the first mutual trade, the Tatars did not sell their cattle and sheep, but this time they chose to sell them. The reason was very simple. First, the gold and silver treasures looted from the Ming Dynasty in previous years were exhausted. Second, the cattle and sheep came from the left wing of the grassland, which was used to compensate for the increased levies and taxes.

In other words, Altan Khan used the cattle, horses and sheep of the left wing of the grassland to exchange for rice, treasures, silk and other items from the Ming Dynasty, and then gave the bran to the people on the left wing of the grassland as alms.

"All approved!"

Zhu Houcong didn't know how to comment, so he simply stopped commenting and said coldly: "The rice is still sold to Altan at two taels of silver per bushel, and the silk, gems, tea, and porcelain are the same as last time. The four million bushels of bran are the royal gift for me to confer Altan the title of Shunyi King.

They ate all the horses, cattle, sheep, animal skins, etc. sold by the Tatars, as well as the horses and livestock brought from the grassland by the Shen family in Qingxi, no matter the price!

The secret order was issued to Qi Jiguang and Yu Dayou to immediately go to Jizhou Town and Guyuan Town to take over the affairs of the border towns, train the troops and prepare for war, and to march out in the spring of next year to conquer the grasslands! "

The land of the Loop.

More than 100,000 horses can be produced each year. After the inferior horses are eliminated, the number of war horses that can be trained each year is about 100,000.

War horses start serving at the age of two or three and retire in their teens. Their service life is quite long, but the losses in war are also quite great.

In the entire Tatar world, the number of war horses is maintained at around 500,000 all year round, and the reason why the Tatar cavalry is so powerful is that they can ride three horses at a time and run as fast as the wind.

In the past few months, the Ming Dynasty has obtained 50,000 to 60,000 horses from the grasslands. With the addition of these 40,000 horses, the total number of horses has reached 100,000, accounting for 20% of the total war horses of the Tatars.

The trade is there and will be opened. Shen Weijing and the Qingxi Shen family are still making efforts. It is expected that before the beginning of next spring, the Ming Dynasty will be able to obtain 100,000 horses from Tatar.

As one side gained strength while the other lost strength, Zhu Houcong felt that the beginning of next spring would be the time to send the Tatars on their final journey!
As for the alliance, the Tatars have been constantly making small moves to harass the Ming Dynasty. There is no trouble now, but when war comes, that will be a reason to start a war.

When they suddenly heard that a war was about to break out, Gao Gong, Hu Zongxian, Li Chunfang and Chen Yiqin's hearts began beating violently. They were not afraid, but excited. The Ming court had been waiting for this day for too long.

"I obey your order!" Gao, Hu, Li and Chen bowed and accepted the order.

The war is about to begin.

The imperial court also had to make preparations for logistical supplies in advance. However, the mutual trade provided a reasonable explanation for the Ming Dynasty to conceal the transportation of logistical supplies to the border towns.

With the right time, right place and right people, perhaps this will be the final battle between the Central Plains and the grasslands!

……

grassland.

The Chahar tribe, also known as the Little Prince tribe, is one of the most famous tribes on the grassland and was once known as the Central Ten Thousand Households.

It was the grazing place of Sun Khan, the Khan of the Left Wing of the grassland.

The Little Prince does not refer to a specific person, but is an alias for the Khan of the Left Wing of the grassland in the Ming Dynasty.

It started with Makogurjisi (Ukeketu Khan).

At that time, the grassland was in turmoil and wars were raging, and powerful officials were monopolizing power. The Khan became a tool for the powerful officials to fight for hegemony and could be deposed or killed at will.

Daizong Khan Toghtobuha competed for power with the Oirat leader Yesen, was defeated and killed.

In the fifth year of Jingtai in the Ming Dynasty, the leader of the Karashen tribe, Borai and others, made the young Markogurgis the Khan, and the Ming people began to call him "the little prince".

After that, Dayan Khan, Buchi Khan and Dalaisun Khan were also called little princes.

The Ming Dynasty called Dayan Khan's direct left-wing Chahar tribe the "Little Prince Tribe".

In the 14th year of Chenghua, the Great Khan of the Grassland, Mandulu, died, and his wife, Manduhai, became regent.

She brought up Batumengke, the only heir of the Golden Family at that time, and married him to the young Batumengke according to the custom of levirate marriage among northern ethnic groups. In the 16th year of Chenghua, she assisted him to ascend the throne and honored him with the title of Dayan Khan.

But the grassland was divided into many parts at that time, and many forces existed. Dayan Khan then devoted his life to the cause of unifying the grassland.

In the 19th year of Chenghua, after being defeated by the Khanate's army, Grand Master Yismain fled to the northern mountain area of ​​Hami, where he joined forces with the Lesser Eleuth tribe and operated in the Gua and Sha states.

In the 22nd year of Chenghua, Dayan Khan sent the Junior Master Toguoqi of Gorlos to lead an expedition. Yismain was shot dead by Junior Master Toguoqi himself. After three years of hard fighting, Yismain's forces were finally completely eliminated.

The Khan, who was born in Oirats and was the grandson of Oirat leader Yesen, the brothers Yibulala and Yeliyasi, led more than 10,000 people eastward and occupied the territory of Yongshebu tribe on the right wing of the grassland, which originally belonged to Yismain, and then occupied the territory of Ordos tribe on the right wing.

The Yibula brothers colluded with Mandulai, the leader of the Ordos tribe, to oppose Dayan Khan's rule. They constantly provoked and caused trouble, disturbing the peace of the grassland, and then dispatched troops to launch a rebellion.

Dayan Khan's second son Ulus Bolot, who had just been transferred to Jinong of Right Wing 30,000 Households, was killed in the war. Right Wing 30,000 Households were stationed in Hetao, Ordos Plateau, north and south of Yinshan Mountain, and Datong and Xuanfu border areas. The strategic position of this area was very important. At the same time, Right Wing 30,000 Households had hundreds of thousands of Mongolian people, which could be regarded as half of Mongolia.

The news of the right wing's rebellion and Jinong's murder reached the Khanate, shocking Dayan Khan greatly.

He immediately realized that the rebellion of 30,000 households on the right wing was directly related to the success or failure of the cause of unifying the grassland, whether the Khan's power could be consolidated, and whether the grassland could be revitalized.

Dayan Khan had to devote all his strength to a decisive battle with Yibula, Mandulai and other leaders. Dayan Khan ordered the allied forces to quell the rebellion and attack in different directions.

During this period, the Khorchin tribe, which was stationed in the northeast, was a relatively powerful and populous tribe. They were descendants of Genghis Khan's brother Hasar and members of Genghis Khan's Golden Family.

Dayan Khan respected the Khorchin tribe and treated them as brothers. They shared the same goal of unifying and revitalizing the grasslands, so the Khorchin tribe actively supported Dayan Khan and sent its main force to join the coalition forces to quell the rebellion.

Dayan Khan used the Uriankhai and Khorchin to fight against the Ordos tribe on the right wing, the Golkha tribe to fight against the Tumed tribe on the right wing, and the Chahar tribe to fight against the Yongshebu tribe on the right wing.

In the fifth year of Zhengde, Dayan Khan personally led his troops to attack the right wing. The troops passed through the Wenggun Mountain Gorge and camped on the banks of the Turgen River.

At night, the Dalat tribe drove their cattle to harass Dayan Khan's camp. Dayan Khan's troops thought that the right-wing army was attacking them, so they panicked, lost their composure, and retreated in a hurry. The first attack ended in failure.

Soon, Dayan Khan organized a coalition force and launched a second expedition against the right wing.

The leader of the Khorchin tribe, Ordoguhai, who came to help Dayan Khan in the battle, and his son Burhai formed an elite cavalry and participated in the battle.

At this time, the two sides launched a fierce battle in Darantligun. The battle was extremely fierce. During the battle, Burhai of the Khorchin tribe died in the battle.

But the coalition forces won the final victory and defeated the army on the right wing of the grassland. Yibula and Mandulai both fled to the shores of Qinghai Lake.

Since then, Dayan Khan has completed all the conditions for unifying the grassland, truly placed the left and right wings of the grassland under his control, revitalized the long-declining Khan power, re-established the rule of Genghis Khan's Golden Family over the various tribes of the grassland, and brought the grassland back to life. Therefore, Dayan Khan was called the "Lord of the Revival."

And in the twelfth year of Zhengde, Dayan Khan died.

Dayan Khan's eldest grandson Bodi inherited the throne, but the power of the right wing Jinang and Altan had risen, and the unified grassland was once again facing division. Even if Bodi tried his best to save the situation, he was powerless.

It was not until the 26th year of Jiajing that Bodi died and his son Dalaison succeeded him. As his uncle, Altan could no longer conceal his ambition and expelled his nephew Dalaison, the new Khan of the grassland, and controlled him on the left wing of the grassland for more than ten years.

Since then, Sun has been intimidated by the power of his uncle Altan Khan, and has been constantly giving in to the struggle between the left and right wings of the grassland.

It was almost noon that day when war horses came galloping from the western grassland, taking away cattle and sheep from the tents of the little prince's tribe and horses from the stables.

Seeing their hope of survival being deprived, some members of the Little Prince's tribe chose to resist to the death, but they died tragically on the spot in front of the elite cavalry of Altan's tribe.

It was not until the people of Altan's tribe took away the livestock that were equivalent to heavy taxes that Da Lai Sun dared to show up and comfort the tribesmen who had lost their cattle, sheep, and relatives.

Hulahaci, the leader of the Kolkha Wanhu tribe, was the grandson of Dayan Khan. He was of the same generation as Altan Khan and the uncle of the little prince Dalaisun.

Looking at the cavalry of the Altan tribe on the right wing of the grassland and the cavalry of the Altan tribe rampaging on the left wing of the grassland, Hulahachi was completely furious. "Khan, we Tatars are all soldiers. We graze in peacetime and draw our bows in times of crisis. When we fought with the Ming army before, we prepared our own rations. Altan would take a share of what we got.

Now that there is no war, the trade has been opened and Altan controls the trade. It is already expensive for us to buy food and other things from the Ming people. After Altan buys them, he adds an extra layer of tax when selling them to us. We can still tolerate all this.

But Altan is a wolf of the grassland. Our tolerance was met with Altan's greed. Altan wants you, Khan, to surrender your throne and the entire left wing of the grassland to recognize his overlordship. He also wants to continue to increase taxes on us. The grass that livestock eat and the water that they drink are given to us by the Eternal Heaven. What does this have to do with Altan?
But Altan wanted to levy taxes and increase taxes. Is this bastard still a human being?

If you ask me, rather than being exploited to death by Altan Khan and the grassland right wing, why don’t we surrender?”

"Who will surrender?"

"Ming Ting!"

(End of this chapter)