Chongzhen's domineering

Chapter 343 Feigned Appeasement and Yingxiang's Dilemma
While Cui Yingyuan and Cao Bianjiao were leading their cavalry southwards, Pan Yunteng was traveling by horse-drawn carriage towards Daningwei.

There's only one main road leading to Gubeikou in the Yanshan Mountains, so they inevitably passed each other by.

Pan Yunteng looked at the endless cavalry and couldn't help but look puzzled.

What were these cavalrymen doing?

Has something happened in the capital?

That seems unlikely.

He passed through the capital on his way here, and everything was calm and peaceful there, nothing happened at all.

So what were these cavalrymen doing?

He pondered for who knows how long before the carriage finally arrived at the magnificent Daning Garrison City.

It was already around 5 PM, and the sun was about to set.

Zhu Jue, Lu Xiangshan, Yuan You, Zhou Yuji, Huang Degong, and others were sitting around in the simple kitchen of the Governor-General's Mansion of Daning, preparing to have a meal.

At this moment, the kitchen was just like the main hall, with only tables and chairs. Even the back kitchen hadn't been built yet. They simply ordered someone to set up a large army pot and stew a whole lamb soup.

The ingredients for whole lamb soup are very simple: ginger, garlic, dried chili peppers, and wild leek sprouts unique to the grasslands.

However, when fresh mutton is cooked with these simple ingredients, the aroma of the meat is quite rich.

The aroma was so enticing that everyone was tempted. After Wang Chengen and several imperial chefs had taken turns tasting it, Zhu Jue was just about to call everyone to scoop it out and start eating when Fang Zhenghua suddenly strode over, cupped his hands and bowed, saying, "Your Majesty, General Pan requests an audience."

General Pan?
Pan Yunteng seems to be busy right now. Could it be that Pan Guozhong has arrived?

Zhu Jue was taken aback for a moment before loudly announcing, "Summon them."

Soon, Pan Yunteng strode in, cupped his hands and bowed, saying, "This humble general greets Your Majesty."

Why did this guy come here?

Zhu Jue was taken aback for a moment before gesturing for Wang Chengen to bring over a stool. He then greeted, "Yun Teng, haven't you had dinner yet? Come, sit down and eat with us."

Pan Yunteng hadn't just missed dinner; he hadn't eaten for days. To avoid revealing his identity, he had the bodyguards who brought him here constantly rushing over. Except for relieving himself, he hadn't gotten out of the car. As for food, it was just the flatbreads, buns, and steamed buns that the bodyguards bought for them along the way.

He'd been craving soup for the past few days, and the aroma of the whole lamb soup made him swallow hard before he carefully sat down.

Zhu Jue then ordered Wang Chengen to bring out a set of chopsticks and a bowl before asking, "Yun Teng, why did you come all this way? Have you finished dealing with things in Shanxi?"

How do you say this?

Pan Yunteng said with a hint of shame, "Your Majesty, this humble general is incompetent. I have not yet wiped out the rebel Gao Yingxiang, nor have I captured the three powerful clans of Puzhou. As for the Prince of Dai, I have no way to attack Datong Prefecture."

What is going on here?
Zhu Jue then ordered someone to ladle him a bowl of whole mutton soup before asking, "What's wrong? Have you run into trouble?"

Pan Yunteng said with some helplessness, "Yes, Your Majesty, these three things are all a bit troublesome."

The rebel Gao Yingxiang fled all the way to Baode Prefecture, where there are dense mountains and ravines, and we can't get there in a while.

The three powerful clans of Puzhou had long since fled, leaving the city almost half empty.

As for Datong Prefecture, Yanmen Pass is like an insurmountable barrier, and the border troops are defending it desperately. This humble general is incompetent and simply cannot take it.

This is really troublesome.

Zhu Jue nodded slowly, then asked, "Approximately how many men does Gao Yingxiang have left?"

Pan Yunteng explained in detail: "This time we didn't kill many rebels, only about 40,000 to 50,000. However, after we besieged many cities, the rebels inside surrendered for some reason."

We've captured nearly 400,000 prisoners. I estimate that Gao Yingxiang's remaining rebel forces number less than 400,000.

Why are so many rebels surrendering this time?
You've probably terrified the eight imperial merchants, so Gao Yingxiang was probably too scared to care about the rebels defending the city.

Zhu Jue nodded slightly and then asked, "How are things going with the eight imperial merchants?"

Pan Yunteng then explained in detail: "Your Majesty, I have killed almost all of their relatives and friends who remained in Yuci, Taigu, Qixian and Jiexiu. I have also killed anyone that the secret guards found."

I looted their headquarters, workshops, fields, shops, houses, and courtyards. I didn't get much gold or silver this time, but I did get a lot of grain and goods.

According to the intelligence gathered by the secret guards, less than 10% of the eight major imperial merchants should still be alive. However, their chief managers haven't been caught yet; they're all still doing business in Datong and Xuanfu towns.

Those guys are still in Datong Town and Xuanfu Town, right?

Yanmen Pass is known as a natural fortress; you'd have a hard time getting through it.

Cui Yingyuan and Cao Bianjiao have led their cavalry to Xuanfu Town. Should we let them make their move?

Zhu Jue thought about it carefully and decided to give up.

Cui Yingyuan and Cao Bianjiao are leading 40,000 cavalrymen, so the eight imperial merchants must all be eyeing them. Once they make a move, the eight imperial merchants will probably scatter and flee in terror.

If we were to send the people of the eight great imperial merchants to the Chahar and Tumed tribes, it would be like stirring up trouble. It would be better not to create any unnecessary complications.

At this moment, Pan Yunteng is still unable to defeat Yanmen Pass, and he can't deal with the Dai princes and their clansmen either. What should he do?

It doesn't seem right for him to send the Hanzhong army to attack the border town. After all, there are only a few traitors among the border soldiers. Most of them are forced to follow orders without any choice.

Besides, if the Hanzhong army were to attack, those traitors would surely flee, and the ones who would be sacrificed would be the border soldiers who had no choice in the matter, which would be a losing proposition.

Actually, by this time, the princes and royal family members had almost finished dealing with the situation.

Originally, the most serious cases of land annexation were the princes and royal families in Henan and Shanxi, followed by the Qin princes in Xi'an Prefecture and the Shu princes in Chengdu Prefecture.

By this time, all the princes and royal families in Henan had been dealt with, and only the Dai princely family remained in Shanxi. Moreover, the Dai princely family had been dealt with by Wei Zhongxian once and was no longer as powerful as before. The Qin princely family in Xi'an Prefecture had also been dealt with by Zhang Xianzhong, and the Shu princely family was not much better.

Besides, now that he has military power, he has many ways to deal with the princes and royal families, and he no longer needs to rely on rebels to do so.

In terms of influence, the remaining princes and royal families were not as influential as these few rebel groups.

If he keeps these rebel groups around, Shanxi, Shaanxi, and even the Central Plains will become lawless lands, which is very detrimental to the development of the Ming Dynasty.

Zhu Jue thought about it carefully, and then decisively said, "Yun Teng, you have already done a lot. There is no need to force things anymore. You should prepare to accept Xiu Ling's offer of amnesty."

Does this mean we don't need to pretend to be rebels anymore?

Pan Yunteng nodded slowly, then asked cautiously, "Your Majesty, what should be done with the hundreds of thousands of troops under my command? Should we send them back to their hometowns to farm, or should we have them join the government army directly?"

And what about the nearly 400,000 prisoners of war?

The Hanzhong army still has some fighting strength, so it seems a waste to simply send them back to farming.

However, these guys were rebels after all, so it seems a bit inappropriate to directly convert them into Ming soldiers.

Pan Yunteng knew that the Hanzhong army was faking a rebellion, but the other members of the Hanzhong army didn't know that; most of them thought it was a real rebellion.

Directly conscripting those who dare to rebel would definitely cause problems.

Zhu Jue thought about it carefully before solemnly saying, "We don't know how long the drought in the Northwest will last. Even if they return home, they probably won't be able to grow any food. Let them take their families to the Americas to settle down."

There is plenty of farmland and mineral resources in the Americas. After they migrated there, each family was allocated fifty acres of land, and they could also mine for money during the off-season, which was much better than enduring hardship in the Northwest.

Those prisoners will also be taken to America to help them farm, and they can be kept watch over as well. You can have your men talk to the prisoners, saying that if they work honestly, they can bring their families over later, and each family will receive fifty acres of land.

Uh, to America?
That's across the ocean, I heard it's tens of thousands of miles from the Ming Dynasty's mainland.

Pan Yunteng was taken aback for a moment before nodding repeatedly and saying, "This subordinate understands." Zhu Jue nodded slightly and then decisively said, "Ruoyu, draft an imperial edict to promote Yang He to Minister of War and Right Vice Censor-in-Chief of the Censorate, and to oversee the three provinces of Henan, Shanxi, and Shaanxi, in charge of pacifying the rebels. Yang He will still be in charge of pacifying the Hanzhong Army, Huang Daozhou will be in charge of pacifying the rebel Gao Yingxiang's troops, and Hou Xun will be in charge of pacifying the rebel Zhang Xianzhong's troops."

Upon hearing this, Pan Yunteng suddenly remembered another question.

He couldn't help but take a sip of mutton soup before cautiously asking, "Your Majesty, when will this humble general accept the offer of amnesty?"

This is not urgent.

Zhu Jue pondered and said, "Wait a bit and see how things go. If Gao Yingxiang and Zhang Xianzhong don't accept the offer of amnesty, then you shouldn't accept it either."

Does this mean that if Gao Yingxiang and Zhang Xianzhong don't accept the offer of amnesty, I'll just keep attacking them?

With the imperial edict issued, Yang He didn't need to do anything. After all, it was just a matter of the emperor's word when Pan Yunteng would accept the amnesty. It seemed that all Yang He needed to do was urge Huang Daozhou and Hou Xun to offer amnesty to Gao Yingxiang and Zhang Xianzhong.

After receiving the imperial edict, Hou Xun did not immediately go to Xi'an to offer amnesty to Zhang Xianzhong. Instead, he went to Yansui to find Zhang Nian.

Huang Daozhou, however, acted like a fool and went straight to Baode Prefecture to recruit Gao Yingxiang.

This guy is not only a smooth talker, but he's also incredibly fierce, to the point of being reckless. If they weren't so fierce, they wouldn't have been able to speak so frankly.

Historically, he organized several thousand local militiamen and charged towards tens of thousands of Jurchen troops!
As a result, he was defeated, captured, and executed by the Jurchens.

In that situation, he dared to go even knowing he was going to die. Now, Gao Yingxiang might not even dare to kill him, so naturally there's nothing he wouldn't dare to do.

At this time, the Shanxi Three Offices had all moved to Datong Prefecture. When the Hanzhong Army reached Taiyuan Prefecture, the officials of the Shanxi Three Offices were not foolish enough to wait to die in the city. They unanimously suggested that Huang Daozhou lead them to Datong Prefecture, saying that it was to preserve their strength to deal with the rebels.

Huang Daozhou wasn't being stubborn this time, unlike Liu Zongzhou who died because of his stubbornness. He really wanted to conserve his strength to deal with the rebels.

Therefore, this time he decisively moved the officials of the three departments of Shanxi to Datong Prefecture, and used the power of the governor to mobilize the border troops of Datong Town to defend the Yanmen Pass and Ningwu Pass line. The reason why Pan Yunteng could not conquer them for a long time was also largely due to him.

After receiving the imperial edict, this guy actually took a few close followers, rode his horse to Shuozhou, and headed straight for Baodezhou.

At this time, Baode Prefecture was in chaos. The 300,000 to 400,000 rebels under Gao Yingxiang had almost filled the valleys and ravines within a hundred miles around the prefecture. Ordinary people could hardly move an inch here, let alone court officials.

Fortunately, at this time, almost all the generals under Gao Yingxiang were defectors from the border army, and they still knew about Governor Huang Daozhou.

Therefore, Huang Daozhou rushed over recklessly and was not killed by the defeated rebels.

These guys even hurriedly sent someone to the state capital to report the news.

When Gao Yingxiang heard the news, he was completely overwhelmed.

Huang Daozhou was unaware of his relationship with the three powerful clans of Puzhou, but he himself was well aware of it. At this moment, the three powerful clans of Puzhou considered themselves Donglin members, and Han Kuang was pretending to be the leader of Donglin. This guy definitely couldn't be killed.

Not only can this guy not be killed, but it seems he also needs to meet him; simply telling him to get lost is definitely not an option.

He had no choice but to order his trusted generals to set up their formation in the main hall of the prefectural government office, and then ordered someone to bring Huang Daozhou over.

The city of Datong is more than 500 li away from the city of Baode. Huang Daozhou has been traveling for nearly three days. It is already past 3 PM and he has not yet had lunch.

However, food was no big deal to the hothead; his mind was full of thoughts about recruiting Gao Yingxiang.

Since Gao Yingxiang was willing to meet him, there was nothing he wouldn't dare to do.

He strode confidently into the hall.

As for the menacing rebel generals on both sides of the hall, he didn't take them seriously at all, nor did he take the rebel king Gao Yingxiang seriously.

That's just how this guy is. As long as he thinks he's right, he's not afraid of even the emperor, let alone a rebel leader.

He actually said with a righteous and awe-inspiring expression: "Gao Yingxiang, the Emperor has decreed that as long as you are willing to submit to the court, your past actions will be forgiven. I advise you to quickly lead the people to submit, so as to avoid the disaster of being torn to pieces."

This guy was actually sent by imperial decree to offer amnesty!

Gao Yingxiang frowned slightly when he saw that this guy looked like a clueless greenhorn.

He knew very well that although this guy and Han Kuang were both from the Donglin faction, they were not on the same side. If the three powerful clans of Puzhou wanted him to submit to the imperial court, they would never let this guy come. The three powerful clans of Puzhou had special people to deliver messages or orders to him, not this guy at all.

In other words, this guy was indeed sent to offer amnesty on the orders of the young emperor, not on the orders of Han Kuang.

Would he accept being offered amnesty?
That depends on what the three powerful clans of Puzhou think.

What a nobody! He's the governor of Shanxi!

He frowned and pondered for a while, then replied perfunctorily, "Lord Huang, this matter is of great importance, and I need to consider it carefully. Why don't you go back first, and I'll send someone to tell you after I've thought it through?"

This means they want to get rid of this guy first, and then ask the three powerful clans of Puzhou what they think.

Huang Daozhou was of course not going to leave. He could nag endlessly even if the current emperor didn't listen to him, let alone a rebel king.

He immediately started rambling on about benevolence, righteousness, morality, ethics, and serving the country, the people, and all living beings, just like chanting scriptures.

Upon hearing this, both rebel generals frowned.

Gao Yingxiang was so annoyed that he wished he could chop the guy up with a knife!
However, he didn't dare to chop this guy up, and whether or not he could accept the offer of amnesty was not something he could decide.

He could only listen to the guy's rambling while frowning and trying to think of a solution.

After rambling on for a while, he seemed to have gotten sore throat that he had to stop and catch his breath. He had also come up with a solution.

He feigned concern and said, "Lord Huang, you must be tired from your journey and haven't had lunch yet. Why don't you go and eat first, and I'll think about it carefully before we talk?"

What should we eat at this time?

Huang Daozhou took a breather and then launched into a long, rambling monologue.

Gao Yingxiang suppressed his urge to kill and listened for a while. When the man stopped to catch his breath, Gao Yingxiang quickly provoked him, saying, "Lord Huang is a high-ranking official in the court. You can't get used to our simple food here, can you?"

What are these words?

Do you think I usually live a life of debauchery?

I usually eat simple meals, okay?
Huang Daozhou immediately retorted, "What's wrong with simple food? I love simple food."

Sure enough, these hotheads couldn't stand being provoked.

Gao Yingxiang quickly continued to provoke, "Words are no proof. Why don't you, Lord Huang, try it first and see if you can stomach it?"

Huang Daozhou was actually extremely hungry and thirsty.

After Gao Yingxiang's provocation, he finally nodded and said, "Let's give it a try. I want to see what I can't stomach."

Upon hearing this, Gao Yingxiang quickly gave a wink to his trusted confidant who was in charge of meals.

The confidant could only lead Huang Daozhou away as if he had lost his parents.

Seeing this, Gao Yingxiang actually sat there frowning and deep in thought.

Of course, he wasn't considering whether or not to accept the emperor's offer of amnesty; he was considering who to ask.

At this moment, it seems that the three major clans of Puzhou have all been scared away by the Hanzhong army. Where can he find someone to ask?
Should we send someone to the capital to ask Han Kuang about this?
He wouldn't dare do that either.

After much thought, he could only beckon his nephew Li Zicheng to his side and whisper some instructions in his ear.

At this moment, it seemed that only Zhang Nian, one of the three powerful clans in Puzhou, was nearby. So he could only ask Li Zicheng to find a boat to cross the river and ask Zhang Siwei's eldest grandson, Zhang Nian.

(End of this chapter)