Daming: I, the emperor who trains the carpenter

Chapter 818 Shu King Zhu Zhishu is dead!

Chapter 0818 Shu Wang Zhu Zhishu is dead!

Xiyuan,

Just after the new year, the sky is hazy with flying snow, and the whole world seems to be shrouded in whiteness.

All the trees and flower gardens were covered with a layer of frost and snow, and the evergreen plants such as pine and bamboo looked more green in the snow.

At this time, the water in Xiyuan Lake had already frozen, Zhang Haogu was wearing a big cloak and walking slowly on the Jiuqu corridor bridge, Zhu Youzheng was waiting for him on the island in the lake.

When I arrived at the island in the middle of the lake and entered the pavilion, I saw Zhu Youxiao sitting by the window, with wine warming on a small stove on one side, which could keep warm and keep out the cold while drinking wine and enjoying the snow. Zhu Youxiao was holding a volume of books in his hand. Looking at it, it was the Emperor Fan of Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty.

"Green Ant's new fermented wine, a small red clay stove, it's like snow in the evening, you can drink a cup of nothing."

"Bai Juyi's poem is well written, especially in this season, when I read it repeatedly, I feel a lot of emotion."

Zhu Youxiao put down Emperor Fan in his hand and looked at Zhang Haogu: "Master, what do you think of Bai Juyi's poem?"

Zhang Haogu smiled: "Xiangshan Layman's poems are naturally excellent, and when I read them now, I can still feel a bit of the meaning of the ancients."

"Yeah, I can still feel a bit of the meaning of the ancients."

Zhu Youxiao nodded, and then got up and gathered the brocade fur on his body: "Master, take your seat, and today I will drink a few cups of the wine of the ancients, and see if we can experience the state of the ancients."

"Don't dare to ask for your ears, but you have what you want." Zhang Haogu bowed, and then stepped forward to take a seat.

The two of them sat by the window like this, the snow was falling outside, and the small stove was burning brightly inside, and the rice wine warmed on the stove was already emitting a fragrance.

On the side, Wang Tigan stepped forward to share the drinks, and Zhu Youxiao held the wine glass and looked at the yellow and clear wine: "Zhen, I have read the Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty repeatedly during this period of time, and I have a deep understanding."

"Speaking of which, Master has been busy with military and political affairs these days, but it has been a long time since I have had a drink with me like this."

Zhang Haogu said: "It is the duty of a minister to share the worries of His Majesty. He is trusted by His Majesty, so why bother?"

Zhu Youxiao nodded and said with a smile: "Master is still so reassuring. Then, why does Master repeatedly contradict my opinion in the court?"

Several days of disputes at the court meeting, the old and the new parties were deadlocked on whether to send troops to counter the rebellion. The new party seemed to speak only a few people, but the new party had a cabinet veteran, and the secretary of the household department, Lu Xiangsheng, was in charge. Lu Xiangsheng came against the people.

Even if Zhu Youxiao wanted to send troops to quell the chaos early, he was very troubled that the court could not agree on the current situation.

Lu Xiangsheng's decision to stand up is obviously an opinion within the new party.

This is also why Zhu Youxiao directly invited Zhang Haogu to come here to enjoy the snow and drink wine after the court today. He really couldn't bear such a stalemate.

After drinking the wine in the glass in one gulp, Zhu You let out a sigh of relief: "I am not as good as my master. I can command troops to conquer the country, plan strategies, and win thousands of miles away. But I am also proficient in military affairs. Now hundreds of thousands of people in the southwest are rebelling. If it is not pacified by means of thunder, the entire Southwest will be in chaos. Let alone this kind of thing, a seventh-rank official can think of it, is it that Master can't think of it, or is he just turning a blind eye?"

Having said this, Zhang Haogu was shocked, obviously Zhu Youxiao didn't want to wait any longer.

Sighing lightly, Zhang Haogu said sincerely: "Your Majesty, the culprit for the civil unrest in the Southwest has become clear. This is not the responsibility of the people, and the people cannot be allowed to bear swords."

Zhu Youxiao looked at Zhang Haogu, and suddenly smiled: "Master, you and I, the monarch and his ministers have joined hands for 12 years, and it can be regarded as complementing each other, right?"

"Could it be that in Master's eyes, I'm a fool in a troubled world?"

Zhang Haogu shook his head: "I never had such an idea."

Zhu Youxiao looked out of the window with a smile: "I am the Son of Heaven, the father of all people, and the supreme being in this world."

"Since Yuji Tianxia, ​​I have been conscientious and conscientious, and I don't want to restore the glory of my ancestors all the time."

"I once said that I love all the people in the world as one. Naturally, I regard all the people in the world as my subjects. The people in the southwest, whether Han people, chieftains, Shengmiao or others, are all my subjects."

As he said that, Zhu Youxiao looked at Zhang Haogu: "The people's rebellion is naturally the responsibility of the local officials. I have issued an edict and ordered Jin Yiwei to take the governor of Sichuan and Sichuan, the prefect of Chengdu and others to account. These people forced us to rebel. The people of the village will inevitably have to go to the entrance of the vegetable market."

"But the officials need to be punished, and the people also need to be punished."

"It is necessary to send troops to suppress. I must quickly quell the chaos in the Southwest, so that the restoration of stability in the Southwest will not affect my plans. In this respect, I will not invent killings. If others are involved, the common people can go home on their own without any trouble."

"After all, the 50 people are also my people."

"Master, what do you think?"

Zhang Haogu already understood that Zhu Youxiao called him here to give an ultimatum. Zhu Youxiao has decided to quickly quell the chaos, and he needs himself, the chief assistant of the cabinet, to stand by his side.

And Zhu Youxiao has already confessed to Zhang Haogu that he only punishes the culprit and does not implicate others. At the same time, he severely punishes the bureaucrats in Sichuan and Sichuan. This is the safest and most traditional approach given.

What if the people rebel?
Kill the most heinous officials to calm the anger of the people, and finally kill a group of people who took the lead in the rebellion, and let the rest go.

It has been played like this for thousands of years, so it is understandable for Zhu Youxiao to do this.

With a long sigh in his heart, Zhang Haogu looked into Zhu Youxiao's eyes and knew that this was the last condition given by Zhu Youxiao.

The constant wrangling in the court these days has pushed the patience of His Majesty to the limit.

Zhu Youxiao is the son of heaven and the emperor, and Zhu Youxiao loves the people because he knows that the people are the foundation of the country, and only with the people can the country be stable and last forever.

Zhu Youxiao loves the people and does not love the people. This is not a contradiction. For the emperor, everything has only one purpose, which is to stabilize the country. On this basis, there is nothing contradictory.

Today, a group of corrupt officials can be killed for the stability of the country and to quell the anger of the people, and tomorrow the rebellious people can be killed for the sake of the stability of the country.

Everything is for the country, for the dynasty and the world.

The world belongs to the people of the world, but it belongs to the emperor more. This is Zhu Youxiao's understanding.

Zhang Haogu looked at Zhu Youxiao and suddenly realized that Zhu Youxiao was already a mature and real emperor.

"I understand." Zhang Haogu bowed and said.

"Today, Master and I will have a good drink and enjoy the snow. How can I have such leisure?" Zhu Youxiao suddenly smiled, holding Zhang Haogu's hand and looking very close.

But Zhang Haogu felt a little cold in his heart, Zhu Youxiao's change of face reminded Zhang Haogu of Emperor Taizu.

On the next day at the court, Zhu Youxiao quickly passed a series of decisions, including going out of the two lakes, sending soldiers from Yunnan to Yunnan to quell the chaos, and ordering Jin Yiwei to capture the governor of Sichuan and Shu and other corrupt officials who extorted money, and take them to the capital for trial.

After this series of orders were issued, the entire court quickly passed, and all parties began to proceed in an orderly manner. After all, when the news of the civil uprising broke out in Sichuan and Sichuan reached the capital, the ministries had already made a series of preparations according to the old rules. As long as there is an order, it can be executed immediately.

Seeing the orders issued by the cabinet one after another, Lu Xiangsheng's face was a bit ugly: "The chaos in the Southwest was all caused by those corrupt officials, and now in the end, it is the people who suffer!"

Zhang Ruitu drank tea with a smile, and looked like a good old man: "Mr. Lu, is it possible that His Majesty really let those people go completely?"

"It's easy for followers to say that the first offender has never been let go in all dynasties. The first offender is a great evil. How can we show the majesty of the court if we don't punish it severely?"

Lu Xiangsheng sighed: "I know all of these things, but according to His Majesty's imperial decree, the people are only punished, and all the Sichuan and Shu officials and those involved in the case are arrested, but they don't mention a word about the King of Shu. is the culprit."

Zhang Ruitu said with a smile: "The whereabouts of the king of Shu are still unknown, and no one has been found. How to punish him? Is it possible to send a message to let the world know that the royal family and vassal king are missing?"

"Lu Xiang, you are still too impatient."

Lu Xiangsheng looked at the silent Zhang Haogu, and asked, "What does Yuanfu think about this?"

Although Zhang Haogu was in a bad mood, he didn't show it: "Is there anything wrong with His Majesty's handling? Zhu Zhishu is the clan vassal, so His Majesty will naturally deal with him after he finds it."

Also seeing Lu Xiangsheng's helplessness, Zhang Haogu sighed: "Don't worry, Zhu Zhishu, the king of Shu, must be at the end of his life, causing such a big disaster, it will be inevitable to cut the rank and ban in the future."

As Zhang Haogu said, Zhu Youxiao didn't have a good impression of Zhu Zhishu. If Zhu Youxiao didn't have scruples for causing him such a mess at the beginning of the year, he would have wanted to kill Zhu Zhishu directly!
But how can the clan vassals kill them?
No matter how big the punishment is, it can only be cut and banned, and killing is definitely not allowed.

After issuing an order to mobilize troops to quell the rebellion, Zhu Youxiao gave Wei Zhongxian another task: "Send people to Sichuan to find traces of the King of Shu."

"No matter what, he is the vassal of the imperial court and the clan of the Ming Dynasty. He cannot disappear for no reason. Find him and bring him back!"

At the beginning of March in the 14th year of Apocalypse, the imperial court issued a decree to suppress the rebellion in the southwest, mobilize new troops from Yunnan and Hubei, with [-] new troops as the main force, and cooperate with tens of thousands of local county soldiers and township braves to form a large army to fight the rebellion.

The rebellion of hundreds of thousands of civilians seems huge, but it is really nothing in front of the new army. After all, more than 50 civilians are civilians. Compared with professional soldiers like the new army, whether it is military literacy, equipment, or physical fitness All very different.

Thirty thousand new troops are enough to suppress 50 rebels.

And the chief general who led the army to suppress the rebellion was Lang Pingyu from Yunnan.

When they arrived in Sichuan, the armies of the three routes arrived outside the Chengdu Mansion side by side. After surrounding 50 people in the Chengdu Mansion, they were also preparing to start to quell the chaos.

Lang Pingyu looked at the generals and the school lieutenants: "Everyone should pay attention to this counter-rebellion. The imperial court's decree is to only punish the chief criminals, and there must be no more killings. The cabinet also has decrees, let us handle it carefully, so we use coercion as our main goal." Lord, use your sword as little as possible."

All the towns on the side said: "That's right. In the end, they are all the people of our Ming Dynasty. If they were not driven to nowhere by those corrupt officials, they would not have rebelled. The life of the people is not easy. Look at our journey. You see, although these people are said to have rebelled, they have not committed any crime against Duqiu, the county capital, nor have they harassed or killed people. They are obviously people from good families. For these people, we should try our best to appease the people."

Lang Pingyu said: "That's right. Yuan Fu's intention is to recruit as much as possible to surrender. We must declare the court's attitude towards those people. As long as they surrender, they can go home. The court will allocate land to them so that they can farm with peace of mind."

Someone said with emotion: "These people swept all the way to Chengdu, and they didn't attack the county towns, they didn't burn, kill and loot. Although it was an uprising, to put it bluntly, it was just helping the old and the young to seek an explanation from the king of Shu and the officials of Shu. They are all poor people."

Everywhere he said this, all the generals sighed.

Everyone came out of Datong Academy. Who doesn't know the suffering of the people, and who hasn't experienced suffering when they were young?
Therefore, the counter-insurgency army besieged and did not attack Chengdu. At the same time, they sent people to issue a notice stating the imperial government's decree and urging the people to return to their hometown.

At this time, the inside of the rebel army is also in panic because of the arrival of the imperial army. The imperial army, these are the elites of the southern and northern wars. Don't they themselves know what the virtue of the rebel army is?
There is no iron armor, no artillery, very few shotguns, and the main weapons are agricultural tools and bamboo spears. How can they compare with the elite of the imperial court?
Once the imperial army came, the rebel army would definitely collapse in a real fight.

At this time, the imperial army sent people to persuade them to surrender, which naturally caused the rebels to suffer internally.

The leaders of the rebel army gathered together to discuss the requirements given by the court.

"Obviously the imperial court will not pursue the responsibility of the common people. As long as we are arrested without a fight, the common people will have a way to survive."

"That's right, the imperial court has already made a decree, saying that only the chief villains will be punished, and the people will still have fields to plant after returning home. There will be no talk of reckoning after the fall. Moreover, the imperial court will provide relief to the common people, and at the same time severely punish those corrupt officials."

"I heard that the Jinyiwei of the imperial court is about to arrive in Chengdu Mansion, and those corrupt officials in Chengdu Mansion will not be able to escape by then, and they will all go to Caishikou to ask for execution!"

"If these corrupt officials die with us, then we are worth it!"

"Originally, I waited for the uprising because there was no way to survive, not because I really wanted to rebel. Now that the court forgives my fathers and folks, it is a good deal to exchange our lives for the people's livelihood!"

The leader of the rebel army was originally from a good family. It is exactly that sentence, if it is not forced to help, who would want to rebel?
Now that the imperial court is willing to give 50 people a way to survive, they will die if they die.

Suddenly someone worried: "Will the imperial court deceive us?"

The leader who looked like a scholar said: "How can the imperial court deceive us? The imperial court's [-] troops can wipe out us mobs. These are all military achievements for the officers and soldiers. Now they are only besieging and not sending troops to suppress them. It must be With the will of above."

"Your Majesty and Yuanfu are both people who love the people. How can they be dishonest? As long as we die, our fathers and villagers will be able to live in peace."

A man stood up and said, "We are destined to die, and now the court is willing to let everyone go, so what if we die?"

"That's right, if we can exchange our death for everyone's livelihood, then we've made a profit." Someone laughed.

Soon, an agreement was reached within the rebel army, and they went to ask the imperial army to surrender.

In the camp of the imperial court's counter-insurgency army, Lang Pingyu saw several people from the rebel army who came to surrender: "Are you the ones in charge?"

"That's right, it's us." These leaders of the rebel army seemed very calm.

"Why do you want to oppose it? Obviously, the New Deal will soon be implemented in Sichuan and Sichuan." Lang Pingyu sighed regretfully.

A man smiled: "General, you are a good person, and we don't want to rebel. But those dog officials forced us to die. It doesn't count if the family goes bankrupt. Selling children and selling daughters, the separation of wives and children is a catastrophe. In [-], the common people had to pay all kinds of exorbitant taxes and miscellaneous taxes, and they insisted on forcing us to death. We have been patient and waiting for the past year, but if there is a chance of survival, we will not rebel."

"Isn't it possible to sue the officials?" A general asked.

Another leader of the rebel army smiled and said, "General, your question makes people laugh. Why did Emperor Taizu rebel instead of suing the officials when he was cornered?"

"The sky is high and the emperor is far away, there are many corrupt officials, and the people have no way of life, so what if you don't treat them differently."

Listening to this man's words, thinking about what he saw and heard along the way in Sichuan, Lang Pingyu and the generals of the new army all looked ugly. You should command troops to conquer the country and go to the bloody battlefield with the enemy instead of attacking the people here.

As long as there is an upright and arrogant general, who is willing to attack these poor people?

But these corrupt officials in Sichuan forced more than 50 people to rebel, and forced them to come here to suppress the rebellion.

"Don't worry, after you are captured without a fight, the people will be safe and sound, and none of these corrupt officials in Sichuan will be able to escape." Lang Pingyu said.

"What about Zhu Zhishu, king of Shu? What will happen to him?" asked the leader of the rebel army.

"The King of Shu has not been found so far, and after he was found, he was taken to the capital, where he was cut off from the rank and banned, and he will be a useless person for the rest of his life." Lang Pingyu said.

"Hahahaha, since that's the case, then we have no regrets. I really didn't expect that we, the ordinary people of Shengdou, would be able to bring down a prince in the end, hahahaha." The leader of the rebel army smiled, obviously satisfied.

Soon, 50 rebels surrendered to the imperial army in batches. What the new army had to do now was not to suppress the rebellion, but began to make proper arrangements for the rebels.

At the same time, Jin Yiwei arrived in Sichuan, led by a party of emissaries, and took down the governor of Sichuan and Sichuan, the prefect of Chengdu and their families. For these corrupt officials, hundreds of prison vehicles were prepared. Those corrupt officials After being stripped of court clothes and entering Beijing in a prison car, the people in Sichuan and Sichuan applauded, and many people even gave up the firecrackers with tears of joy.

The leaders of the rebel army burst into laughter after knowing the fate of these corrupt officials, saying that they would die without regret.

Everything is developing as everyone expected, and it seems that a satisfactory ending will soon be ushered in, but at this time there is an accident: Zhu Zhishu, king of Shu, is dead!

Yes, Zhu Zhishu is dead.

When Jin Yiwei came to Sichuan, in addition to arresting the offending officials, the most important thing was to find traces of Zhu Zhishu, an important clan vassal.

After Jin Yiwei searched and investigated all over the mountains and plains, he finally found Zhu Zhishu's almost indistinguishable corpse. If it weren't for the soft armor brocade and jade pendant inside, Jin Yiwei would not have believed this mutilated corpse. It was the former king of Shu!
And the death of King Shu also means that things have gone in a direction that no one could have expected.

(End of this chapter)