Jingnan Strategy

Chapter 598 Postscript: Yongli (1)

"Bang bang bang!"

"The traitors Yang Fang and Zhang Huaiyun are inside, no one is allowed to retreat!"

"Kill the traitors Yang Fang and Zhang Huaizhen, and rescue His Majesty!"

On the night of October 21st of the second year of Longwu, Duke Yang Fang of Yue and Duke Zhang Huaiyin of Ying led the Yanshan Guard and the Jilin Guard to fight against the rest of the Shangzhi troops led by Li Yue, the son of Li Zheng, in the inner court of the Forbidden City.

As Xuanwu Gate was lost, Yang Fang and Zhang Huaizhen led their troops to protect Zhu Zhongjian in defending the walls of the three main halls of the inner court.

Li Yue ordered his men to use explosives to blow a hole in the palace wall and ordered his soldiers to attack.

Although Li Yue and other military officers accused Yang Fang and Zhang Huaiyun of being traitors, the grassroots soldiers under their command knew very well who the real traitors were.

Perhaps it was because they felt guilty that they were unable to unleash the fighting power they should have.

"boom!"

A gunshot was heard and Li Yue was almost hit by a bullet. He subconsciously looked towards Kunning Palace.

"Li Yue, you are really good at talking nonsense. If you have the guts, don't let your brothers die. I will fight you in a one-on-one duel!"

Zhang Huaiyun's voice rang out from behind the palace wall. Li Yue was so angry that he simply waved his hands and said, "Blow up all the palace walls!"

Under his command, many soldiers began to blast with grenades.

Since the walls of the three main halls in the inner court were only a few feet thick, many sections of the walls quickly collapsed under the attack of the rebels.

Yang Fang and Zhang Huai'an led their troops to counterattack. The Jilin Guard and the Yanshan Guard had a variety of individual weapons such as anti-tank rocket launchers and automatic rifles, plus enough bulletproof vests and protective gear. For a time, Li Yue's troops suffered heavy casualties.

"Brothers outside may still have a chance of survival if they turn against us. The Ming Dynasty is the world of the royal family and the people, not the world of powerful officials. Brothers..."

"boom!"

Yang Fang and Zhang Huaiyun used loudspeakers to persuade the enemy to surrender, but even though Li Yue cut off the wires with his gun, the fact that the army's morale was shaken was a fact.

The morale of ordinary soldiers was low, the tanks outside could not get in, the armored vehicles could not withstand the anti-tank rocket launchers, and Yang Fang, Zhang Huaiyun and others had set up booby traps and landmines. For a while, Li Yue was unable to attack.

The two sides were deadlocked for a whole night, and Yang Fang had been sending telegrams to the world in plain text, announcing the news of Li Yue's attack on the Forbidden City to the world.

His several telegrams were received by spies from various countries lurking in Beijing, and they continued to send the news out.

When Li Zheng reacted and rushed over with Zheng Lingyao and others, the first thing he did was to calmly order: "Negotiate with them via telegram!"

Since weapons of mass destruction could not be used in the Forbidden City, Li Zheng had no way of attacking the three main halls and could only negotiate with Yang Fang and Zhang Huai'an.

Li Zheng’s request was very simple, that is, Zhu Zhongjian must stay in the Forbidden City in Beijing and must not leave the Forbidden City.

Li Zheng knew that Jilin and Yanshan Guards were short of ammunition, so he wanted to buy time to find a way to deal with Yang Fang and Zhang Huaiyun.

However, faced with his conditions, Yang Fang and Zhang Huaiyun chose to refuse.

Their conditions were simple; that was that Li Zheng and Zheng Lingyao retire.

Although this is only a temporary solution and not a permanent one, other powerful people may not have the ambitions of Li Zheng and Zheng Lingyao, and the status of the royal family can still be guaranteed.

This condition undoubtedly angered Li Zheng and Zheng Lingyao, and they began to order a continued attack on the three main halls.

Unfortunately, they miscalculated. Yang Fang had already prepared sufficient ammunition, enough for Jilin and Yanshan to maintain the current intensity of the battle for a week.

Although many people in Yanshan Guard and Jilin Guard defected, their number was only more than 200. After suppressing them, there were still more than 6,400 people in the two guards.

After the battle just now, the Second Guard still has about 6,000 people.

When Li Zheng did not dare to use aerial bombs and artillery, they were enough to support the local royal family and some generals to send telegrams to the king to support him.

As long as there is chaos outside, their conditions will always be agreed to.

After all, Li Zheng and Zheng Lingyao cannot represent all the powerful people. Maintaining the current situation is the idea of ​​all the powerful people. If Li Zheng and Zheng Lingyao cannot do it, then they will have to step down and retire.

In the early morning, 28 kings from the mainland, including Prince Ning, Prince An, and Prince Han, successively called Li Zheng and organized their armies to take control of the city where the prince's palace was located. The troops to support the king were ready to march north at any time, and the local situation was tense.

Due to Guangzong's open policy, the military strength of the royal family increased dramatically. In addition, they were under the slogan of protecting the royal family. Morally speaking, they had the upper hand.

At noon, the princes of Liang and Yong in the west also began to control the cities where they were enfeoffed and sent calls to Beijing.

At this time, there were already 194 princes and dukes of the royal family who responded to the telegram to support the king. The number of troops was difficult to estimate, but it was at least no less than 300,000.

Seeing that the Cold War was about to turn into a hot war, and with the control of more than 200 prefectures lost, Li Zheng and Zheng Lingyao were also under pressure from other powerful people.

Only by maintaining the status quo can they better maintain their current lives. What they want is power and money, not war.

Before dusk, all princes and dukes responded to the telegram to defend the king. The Ming Dynasty court controlled by Li Zheng and other forces had lost 324 prefectures, while the entire Ming Dynasty had only more than 1,200 prefectures.

In addition to the royal family, local royalist generals also began to express their views.

The commander of Nanzhongdu, Duke of Nanguo (Wang Xuan) Wang Maogong responded to the telegram to support the king.

The military governors of Bohai, Daning, Mobei and other places all responded to the telegram calling for the king's support.

Seeing that most of the financial resources were lost, Li Zheng and Zheng Lingyao were desperate and used artillery on the squares of the three main halls.

However, for fear of harming Zhu Zhongjian, they only dared to use artillery with a caliber less than 70mm to attack.

At 11 p.m., as more and more telegrams responded to the call for support, hundreds of thousands of protesters gathered outside the Forbidden City in Beijing.

They were neither blind nor deaf, and they knew exactly how long the gunfire and artillery fire in the Forbidden City had lasted.

Although they usually used "anti-imperialism" as their slogan, when the emperor Zhu Zhongjian was in danger, they still stood up and expressed their stance with actions.

At three quarters past midnight, under pressure, Li Zheng ordered the army to stop the attack and withdraw from the Forbidden City in an orderly manner.

At 11:55 p.m., Li Zheng, Yang Fang and Zhang Huaiyin each took a step back. Li Zheng handed over Zhu Jing and seventy-three others who had opened the city gate, and at the same time resigned from his post as naval commander-in-chief.

At 11:07pm, Li Zheng sent a telegram announcing his resignation as admiral of the navy and explaining the reasons and consequences.

According to their explanation, this was not a rebellion, and Zhu Jing, a centurion of Yanshan Guard, and others lied that Yanshan Guard and Jilin Guard had kidnapped the emperor, which led to the conflict, and the casualties on both sides were limited.

At 8:00 pm, Yang Fang, Zhang Huaiping and others issued a telegram in the name of Zhu Zhongjian, announcing that the rebellion had been quelled and Zhu Jing and others were executed by slow slicing for the crime of rebellion...

Although Li Zheng was temporarily at a disadvantage, the result was that the Ministry of Revenue lost most of its tax revenue.

The royal family occupied many prefectures and counties, thereby obtaining a stable source of tax revenue; the same was true for some local dusi.

Having lost most of their tax sources, and with the royal family and the royalist commanders constantly expanding their armaments in order to gain greater voice, the powerful people, after dismissing Li Zheng, the naval commander, supported Zheng Lingyao to start expanding the army.

Zhu Zhongjian was confined in the Forbidden City. Yang Fang and Zhang Huai'an had only 5,000 soldiers and horses left, and they could only protect his safety. The idea of ​​escorting him to other places became a luxury.

The authority of the Ming Dynasty court declined after this incident. Since it happened on the Renyin day, it is also called the "Renyin Palace Change."

After the Renyin Palace Coup, the Ming court was still able to control an army of 1.2 million, and members of the royal family continued to recruit soldiers. The seven local governors who had previously responded to the call to support the king also did the same.

Although the imperial court still had the upper hand in terms of territory, finance and military, the powerful were not willing to fight, so a hot war did not break out.

Time quickly passed from the turbulent second year of Longwu to the first year of Yongli. It was also from this year that the Ming Dynasty no longer had the intention to focus its attention abroad, but instead focused all its attention on the country.

In February of the first year, Li Zheng was appointed Assistant Minister of the Military Department of the Ministry of War.

In March, Jiang Qiu was appointed Admiral of the Navy, and the French Revolution broke out in the same month.

In April, countries around the world followed the Ming Dynasty and launched an arms race.

This year, due to the loss of most of the tax sources, the proportion of Ming Dynasty’s military expenditure in fiscal revenue increased from 17% to 34%...

As the arms race unfolded, Ming Dynasty's military expenditure further increased to 38%. Seeing this, other countries also increased their military expenditures.

In September, a national rebellion broke out in Japan due to instigation. The navy joined hands with the Japanese governors to suppress it, resulting in the death toll reaching hundreds of thousands. Beijing was condemned by the royal family and local governors.

In October, rebellions broke out in Nanzhong, Yunnan, and Sichuan, but were quickly suppressed, and the results of the suppression were not made public.

In April of the second year, Li Meng was promoted to the position of instructor of Sichuan Provincial Government, responsible for the education work of the entire province.

In July, Hu Su was promoted to deputy commander of Anxi.

In October, the remnants of the southern kingdom of Dongzhou rebelled. The vassal kings did not mobilize their troops, and the Dongzhou Military Commander had only 36,000 troops, making it difficult to suppress the rebellion. The imperial court dispatched the three Mingyang Guards of the navy to suppress the rebellion.

In November, the Northern Kingdom declared independence from the Ming vassal system and launched an attack on the three divisions of Northern Continent with an army of 120,000.

Because the feudal lords occupied a large number of prefectures, the Beizhou Dusi had only 24,000 troops at that time.

Despite their advanced weapons and the coordination of the navy, army and air force, they were outnumbered and were unable to penetrate deeply and destroy the country after only repelling the Northern Army.

In the twelfth month, the imperial court dispatched nine additional troops from the East Sea, North Sea, South Sea and other places to go to Beizhou to destroy the Northern Kingdom.

On the fifth day of the fourth month of the third year, Ning Wang Zhu Shuhao raised an army, claiming that "the emperor was being held hostage by the powerful ministers Zheng Lingyao and Jiang Qiu", and led 60,000 troops to support the emperor. An Wang responded by leading 40,000 troops to capture cities and plunder land in Shannan.

On the sixth day, the court condemned the actions of Prince Ning and Prince An as rebellion and asked Zhu Zhongjian to issue a telegram of condemnation.

At the same time as the condemnation, the court dispatched Li Minzhong, the governor of the Southern Army, as a general to suppress the rebellion, and dispatched troops from Huguang, Henan, Nanzhili, Sichuan and other places to suppress the Ning Wang rebellion.

The newly appointed commander-in-chief of the Western Army, Zhang Bao, led troops from Persia, Hezhong, Shannan and other places to encircle and suppress King An.

After receiving the order, Sichuan did not mobilize troops. Only troops from Huguang, Henan and Nanzhili were mobilized to suppress the rebellion.

The people of Nanyang Prefecture and the surrounding prefectures fled, and Prince Ning occupied Xiangyang, Guide and other prefectures, and was surrounded by court officials and soldiers.

Many capitalists in the Central Plains took advantage of the war to raise prices.

On the tenth day, food was looted in various commercial cities in Kaifeng, and prices continued to rise. A pound of rice was even sold at a high price of ten cents. Many supplies were blocked by human factors and could not be transported into Huguang and Henan regions.

Many private factories defaulted on their contracts and sold their businesses due to the lack of raw materials, and a large number of factories were merged and acquired.

In order to increase profits, the factory after being acquired began to reduce the workers' wages from three taels per month to two taels on the grounds of increased war costs.

The workers who were making trouble were dispersed by the soldiers. In order to make a living, most of the workers had to endure the grievances and continue working.

Due to the increase in military spending, the imperial court began to lower the thresholds for various taxes. Coupled with rising prices, a large number of middle-class people were exploited by the imperial court and upper-class capital and went bankrupt.

On the second day of May, Prince Ning's rebellion was suppressed and he committed suicide by shooting himself.

The imperial court captured 39,000 rebels, killed 14,000 and left 7,000 missing, and the government troops suffered 8,200 casualties.

In June, Zhang Bao, commander-in-chief of the Western Army, led an army of 70,000 into Shannan. Led by the 30,000 troops of the Shannan Military Commander, the iron torrent of the 70,000-strong Western Army took only half a month to recapture Shannan.

Prince An disappeared, 30,000 of the 40,000 troops who were sent to support the king were captured, more than 10,000 were killed or missing, and the government troops suffered less than 4,000 casualties.

The government troops proved their strength with two victories and regained actual control of Nanyang Prefecture and the three prefectures of Shannan.

On the second day of September, Duke of England Zhang Huaiyin was attacked and killed by a soldier of Yanshan Guard while inspecting the Forbidden City. Admiral Jiang Qiu took the opportunity to lead his troops to take over the Forbidden City and control the soldiers of Yanshan Guard and Jilin Guard.

When Yang Fang, the Duke of Yue, heard the news, he took off his armor, cut off his beard, burned down the room he lived in, and escaped from the Forbidden City disguised as a clerk.

On the second night of the New Year, Jiang Qiu sent a telegram in the name of Zhu Zhongjian, saying that Yang Fang ordered soldiers to attack Zhang Huaibin and then burned himself to death out of fear of punishment.

At that time, the imperial court's military power was strong, the vassal kings had newly recruited troops, and the production of weapons was slow. They did not immediately turn against each other, but remained silent and actively developed their armaments.

On the second day of the twelfth lunar month, Jiang Qiu and Zheng Lingyao issued a telegram in the name of Zhu Zhongjian, ordering Duke of the South Wang Maogong to come to Beijing to serve as the commander-in-chief of the central army.

On the third day of the first lunar month, Wang Maogong declined on the grounds of old age.

On the 16th day of the first month of the fourth year, Jiang Qiu and Zheng Lingyao dismissed Wang Maogong from his post as the commander of the Southern Central Command on the grounds that he was old. At the same time, they transferred six fleets including the Western Fleet to station troops at Chadi Port.
On the 20th, Wang Maogong retired under pressure, and Jiang Qiu and Zheng Lingyao appointed Wang Maogong's son Wang De as the commander of Nanzhongdu.

In April, Hu Su was promoted to the commander-in-chief of Anxi.

In May, Li Meng, who had a weak background, found it difficult to be promoted, so he began to influence the people around him as a teacher.

At that time, workers were complaining because wages were falling and working hours were increasing across the country.

Li Meng's theory was quickly recognized by the workers.

In July, in order to solve the financial problem, Zheng Lingyao announced that the starting point for agricultural tax collection would be lowered to 30 mu per household, which caused a lot of unrest in the local area, but it was all suppressed.

The Chengdu Plain, one of the seven granaries of the Ming Dynasty, suffered the worst damage, and the agricultural tax starting from 20% made the farmers miserable.

On the ninth day of the eighth month, Li Meng went to the capital as a representative of the Sichuan Provincial Government to talk about the pressure on the people of Sichuan, but was not taken seriously.

During this period, Li Zheng met Li Mao, admired him very much, and kept him, transferring him to the position of Chief Secretary of the Ministry of Rites.

During his stay in Beijing, Li Meng did not promote his own theories, but changed his tone and acted cautiously.

On the second day of September, Yang Fang, who had been dead in the public eye for almost a year, sent a telegram in Jilin, accusing Jiang Qiu of hiring a killer to kill British Duke Zhang Huaiyun and then pinning the blame on himself.

At noon on the same day, Yang Fang issued the "Fengtian Serving the King Proclamation", in which he raised an army to serve the king, saying: "The country has nurtured the people for three hundred years, and our soldiers and civilians have been blessed by Emperor Wu for generations. Now the country is in danger, and the survival of the royal family is at stake. Our soldiers and civilians have no regrets even if they die."

On the third day of September, the armies from Daning and Mobei responded to the call of Yang Fang, Duke of Yue, and rose up to support the king.

On the fourth day of September, Cao Mengming, the commander-in-chief of Liaodong, was killed by his military officers, and Liaodong responded to the call for the king to be saved!
The incident happened suddenly, and Jiang Qiu and Zheng Lingyao could only blockade the important military locations along the border from Shanhaiguan to Juyongguan in time, and at the same time transfer troops from the Central Plains to the north to provide assistance.

On the fifth day of October, Yang Fang sent a telegram to the whole country, announcing that the army to support the emperor would attack Beijing on the sixteenth day of the first lunar month, and hoped that the people of northern Zhili would evacuate the area.

At that time, there were about 30 million people in Northern Zhili. After hearing the news, 30 million people in Northern Zhili began to evacuate on a large scale. Capital took the opportunity to merge a large number of private factories and at the same time raised prices. The court transferred official troops from the west and south to the north.

On the second day of the first lunar month, the imperial court stationed 320,000 troops on the defense line from Shanhaiguan to Juyongguan, while the army stationed to defend the king had 240,000 troops against them.

In addition, the imperial court had 60,000 troops on the south bank of the Yalu River in Korea, ready to cross the river and launch a surprise attack on Liaodong at any time.

During this period, Yang Fang sent people to rescue Zhu Zhongjian several times... but to no avail.

On the battle front, the morale of the troops supporting the emperor was high, while the morale of the government troops was low because they knew the truth, and the number of deserters reached hundreds every day.

If this trend continues, the two sides will be in a stalemate for a year or two, and there will probably be no one left on the government army's positions.

Since there were sufficient resources outside the Great Wall, Yang Fang was not in a hurry to attack, but waited for an opportunity in the stalemate.

The number of government troops is 1.2 million. Even if the number increases to 2 million after several years of arms race, only nearly 400,000 are now used for confrontation in the Northeast. The military strength in other places will undoubtedly become very weak.

Such weakness is the best opportunity for some ambitious people with weak wills...

"boom!"

On the seventh day of March, after nearly half a year of confrontation in the north, the Prince of Qi in Guangzhou telegraphed the whole country to come to the rescue and led an army of 40,000 to attack Guangdong. The court hurriedly dispatched troops to quell the rebellion.

On the twelfth day, the King of Liang announced his support for the king and began to attack the north of Qi.

On the 15th, King Yong began to attack the West Sea.

On the 16th...

On the 17th...

On the 18th...

In less than half a month, a large number of royal family members began to rise up in arms. They used the excuse of "serving the king" to expand their territory, and parts of Dongzhou, Beizhou, Nanzhou, and Kunlunzhou were out of control.

As the court's troops were constantly dispatched, the two million troops pale in comparison to such a vast territory.

On April 22, Zheng Lingyao announced an expansion of the military by three million. The military expenditure accounted for 40% of the fiscal budget, up from % after the tax threshold was lowered...

On the second day of May, the loyalist army on the northern front suddenly launched an attack, and the Yanshan defense line was in danger.

On the tenth day of May, Li Zheng was reappointed to a military post and went to Yanshan to take over the defense line as the Minister of War and the Commander-in-Chief of the Central Army.

After Li Zheng arrived at Yanshan, he began to select the greedy people from more than 300,000 people.

He allocated 4 million in military funds to select soldiers who dared to fight outside the defense line, and finally selected 12,000 people from the Four Guards.

Although they knew that their side was not a righteous army, with a reward of more than three hundred taels per person, the so-called will and morality were nothing but vague things.

Under the command of Li Zheng, these twelve thousand men roamed around various defense lines and gave a fierce counterattack to the army that was defending the king.

Compared with the other 300,000 officers and soldiers who were guilty and did not want to fight, these 12,000 people who were only interested in profit became the biggest opponents of the Royalist Army.

All of this was seen by Li Meng, who was brought by Li Zheng.

"Yinzhi, how about this scout of mine?"

Sitting on the emperor's throne in the former Yanshan Palace, Li Zheng, who was in his sixties, asked Li Meng proudly.

At that time, Li Meng had lost some of his rusticity, and there seemed to be endless worries between his brows.

Facing Li Zheng, a person called "traitor to the country" by the world, Li Meng saluted respectfully and said:
"A big reward will always bring brave men, and there is no lack of brave men in the world."

"The governor's methods are amazing..."

Li Meng said this, but Li Zheng saw his calmness, so he couldn't help but ask curiously: "It seems that in your eyes, my vanguard troops are probably not enough to surprise you."

"I am very curious about what kind of army can really impress you."

Through these days of getting along, Li Zheng admired Li Meng more and more, and also understood his abilities.

He was not only good at writing and governing, but also had his own insights on leading troops in battles, although he had never actually led troops.

"Do you look at me with new eyes?" Li Meng was silent after hearing these words, but his eyes gradually became brighter from dull.

After a long while, he slowly spoke with a firm tone: "Soul, faith!"

(End of this chapter)