Jingnan Strategy

Chapter 600: Postscript: Yongli New Ming
"Cough cough..."

In the ward, the smell of disinfectant is pungent, but at this moment, a large number of people gathered here.

In October of the 12th year of the Yongli reign, as King Tong of the Southwest responded to the call to defend the king, a large number of areas in the southwest fell, and Li Zheng began to reorganize his army and prepare for war.

Just before the army set out on the expedition, Li Zheng fell ill and was bedridden on October 23rd.

For a time, both father and son were lying on the hospital bed, and the selection of people to go to the southwest fell into the hands of other people.

The Battle of Transoxiana exposed the fig leaf of the so-called "sharp warriors". Although they were able to take the initiative to attack with good equipment, those who were only interested in profit could not fight against the wind after all.

After 60,000 elite soldiers were killed or captured, the remaining 130,000 elite soldiers were directly defeated, and the ordinary 160,000 government troops surrendered directly.

Excluding the casualties in battle, the Western Royalist Army now has nearly 300,000 troops and has seized countless equipment of various types.

Although the royalist army in the north is still fighting among itself, once the winner is decided, it is absolutely inevitable that they will move south.

Wang Tong, who went south, united with many princes to raise an army. With more than 300,000 troops, Sichuan would be captured in no time.

If Wang Tong really succeeded, the situation in the court would be extremely bad.

After careful consideration, the bedridden Li Zheng decided to send Jiang Qiu to the south to lead the army to resist Wang Tong, while he himself remained bedridden and guarded the north.

On the second day of the winter month, Wang De arrived in Chengdu and led 100,000 elite soldiers recruited from Japan, Korea and Southeast Asia to garrison the Minjiang and Yangtze River defense lines.

Due to the disastrous defeat in Hezhong, the government troops were inadequately equipped with weapons and equipment, so Li Zheng mobilized 1.2 billion taels of silver from bank savings and forced the people to buy government bonds to produce equipment.

As equipment was continuously produced and put into the battlefield, the southwest defense line gradually became stable.

In April of the 13th year of the Yongli reign, the Western Royalist Army led by the Prince of Liang drove the imperial navy out of the West Sea and prepared to march eastward.

In July, Wang Tong defeated Xuzhou, Jiang Qiu was defeated and retreated to Chengdu, and Wang Tong led a large army to capture Guangxi and Jiaozhi.

Upon hearing the news, Li Zheng had no choice but to lift the ban on Li Meng and appointed Li Meng as the governor of Sichuan and Guizhou, appointed Jiang Qiu as the governor of Shanxi, Shaanxi and Henan provinces, and appointed Duke of Song Hu Xiang as the governor of Huguang provinces.

Li Zheng specially summoned Li Mao to test whether he had any complaints. Li Mao deliberately expressed his complaints and asked Li Zheng for his title and wealth.

Li Zheng promised to recommend Wang Tong as Duke of Shu after he pacified him. Only then did Li Meng feel relieved and left.

On July 14, Li Meng arrived in Chengdu by plane, re-employed his old subordinates, and reorganized the Sichuan-Guizhou local army.

At that time, the military discipline of both the government army and the loyalist army was not very good, and the worst military discipline was the loyalist army recruited from Korea, Japan, Southeast Asia and other places.

Li Meng asked Li Zheng to transfer the Ruishi Army away and transfer the official troops from Shanxi and Shaanxi provinces to train him on the grounds that "the Ruishi Army becomes brave when hearing about victory, but becomes cowardly when hearing about defeat."

Li Zheng did not trust the ordinary government troops in Shanxi and Shaanxi provinces, but at the moment, apart from Li Meng, it seemed that no one could control Sichuan and Guizhou, so he approved it.

In August, as 220,000 officers and soldiers from Shaanxi, Shanxi, Henan, Northern Zhili and other provinces in the rear entered Sichuan and Yunnan, Li Zheng began to strengthen the defense line and use troops.

Wang Tong did not attack Li Mao immediately, mainly because he had to digest Jiaozhi, Guangxi and other places.

In addition, the three kingdoms of Siam, Champa and Ganbozhi were threatened by Li Zheng and sent troops to Nanzhong, Laos and Jiaozhi.

Because the navy assisted in the defense, the three kingdoms attacked with impunity, so Wang Tong needed time to deal with the three kingdoms before he could deal with Li Meng with peace of mind.

On the fifth day of September, Wang Tong sent troops against Siam, Champa and Gan Bozhi on the grounds that they "harassed the border and harmed our people."

On the second day of October, the royal army broke into the Siamese capital, captured the Siamese King Zheng Nan alive, and the prince Zheng Ming fled to Kunlun Island.

On October 24, the army defending the king captured the capital of Champa, and the king of Champa burned himself in the fire.

On the twenty-fourth day of the winter month, Ganbozhi's capital was destroyed and the king fled to Kunlun Continent.

The Navy's carrier-based aircraft suffered heavy losses in the Indochina Campaign and were forced to return to Jiangnan for rest and replenishment.

As the main naval forces withdrew, ethnic rebellions broke out in areas of Southeast Asia such as Borneo, Sulu, Malacca, Sumatra, and Java.

The local government troops and Han people spontaneously armed themselves and fought against these ethnic rebel forces, and the situation in Southeast Asia got out of control.

On the second day of the twelfth lunar month, rebellion broke out again in Japan. The Japanese marquis Ashikaga Yoshiya fled back to Japan and secretly developed his own troops using the marquis's guards as his direct lineage.

On the second day of the second month of the fourteenth year of the Yongli reign, Li Zheng, the Earl of Pinglu, who was supported by capital, died of illness in Beijing at the age of seventy-six.

After Li Zheng passed away, the powerful capitalists on his side began to favor Jiang Qiu, who was easier to control, as the new spokesperson.

After Li Yue learned about it, he invited Jiang Qiu to Beijing on the pretext of discussing military and political affairs.

On the fifth day of February, Jiang Qiu was attacked while flying over Taihang Mountains. Li Yue sent 3,000 soldiers of the Li family as officers to take over the Ruishi Army.

On the tenth day of February, in order to resolve the stalemate on the battlefield, Li Yue began to send people to get close to the Yongli Emperor Zhu Zhongjian and try to obtain the "Heavenly Book" of the royal family.

At that time, Zhu Zhongjian was 26 years old. Although he had been under house arrest for many years, he firmly refused the people sent by Li Yue.

His request was rejected, and the people sent by Li Yue controlled Zhu Zhongjian, searched out the so-called "Heavenly Book", and sent people to arrest the powerful capitalists who were plotting to replace him. At the same time, he sent troops to take over the Imperial College.

After obtaining the Imperial Academy's research and the Heavenly Book, Li Yue ordered Zhu Zhongjian to promote him to the title of Duke of Yan and ordered the military factories in Northern Zhili and Shanxi to develop new equipment.

In March, the Western Army marched eastward to Anxi, and the Southern Army announced an expedition to the north.

On March 18, Li Meng suddenly sent a telegram to the whole country, saying that the chaos in Sichuan and Guizhou had been restored to order, and that he was preparing to march north to support the emperor, and he sent people to contact Wang Tong.

After Li Mao sent a telegram to the whole country, Hu Su, who controlled Anxi and Beiting, immediately sent a telegram to the whole country, responding to Li Mao's call to serve the king, and appointed Li Mao as the Minister of War.

On the same day, Duke of Song Hu Xiang responded to Li Mao and Hu Su and sent a telegram to the whole country to call for rebellion and support the king.

When the news reached Beijing, Li Yue was horrified and sent troops to defend the Qinling-Huaihe defense line, and also deployed heavy troops to guard the Jiangnan and Lingnan regions.

On the same day, Zhu Zhongjian learned the news of Li Meng's rebellion and happily recited a poem by Emperor Shizong Wu.

The content of "The golden monkey raised his thousand-pound stick, and the jade sky was cleared of dust for thousands of miles" made Li Yue furious, and he ordered the killing of more than a hundred eunuchs and palace maids in the Qianqing Palace.

On March 24, after several days of expedited negotiations, Li Yue and Wang Tong reached a cooperation and jointly supported Emperor Shenzong's grandson, Prince Xin Zhu Bomu, as regent.

On the 28th, Wang Tong's troops were integrated with Li Mao and Hu Xiang's 400,000 troops, and a total of 700,000 troops were deployed to launch the Northern Expedition.

On the 29th, Li Yue personally led the army south and stationed troops on the Qinling Mountains and the Yangtze River defense line.

On April 20th, the troops of the Qinwang Army were divided into three routes: Li Meng attacked Qinling Mountains, Wang Tong attacked Huguang, and Hu Xiang attacked Fujian and Jiangxi.

On the 24th, Hu Su organized his army to march eastward.

On the second day of May, the Battle of Qinling broke out. In this battle, Li Yue used 600 "wheeled vehicle-mounted rocket launchers" with the latest technology from Taixue to suppress the artillery of Li Yue's troops.

Compared with self-propelled artillery, the power and mobility of vehicle-mounted rocket launchers have been greatly improved, making it difficult for Li Yue's 300,000 troops to attack.

On May 14, Hu Su led his troops to invade Gansu. Li Yue took the opportunity to order the air force to airdrop propaganda posters. The content of the propaganda was not the same old content of soliciting surrender, but a manual telling some stories about Emperor Shiwu's governance.

Among them, the story of wealth distribution is touching.

On May 19th, Li Meng ordered 300,000 troops to sing military music such as "The March of the Elephant King" and "The March of the Army" in various places in the Qinling Mountains.

These military music, composed and written by Emperor Shiwu himself, accompanied by propaganda brochures and the news that Gansu had been invaded, led many officers and soldiers to surrender.

Faced with the surrendering officers and soldiers, the elite soldiers led by Li's descendants pulled the trigger without hesitation.

While the two sides were fighting, Li Meng took the opportunity to launch an offensive and ordered the entire army to sing "The March of the Elephant King" while attacking.

At that time, Li Yue was resisting the attack of Hu Su in Longshan. When he learned that Li Mao was attacking Qinling Mountains, he hurried back to defend.

To make matters worse, on May 22, the power struggle within the Northern Army ended, and Yang Geng, the son of Yang Fang, gained the support of a large number of military officers.

On May 24, Yang Geng announced that he would march south to support the king.

On May 28, the Yanshan defense line was in danger. At that time, people in Guanzhong took to the streets to protest, and officers and soldiers responded to the call for support.

On the 29th, Li Yue ordered the entire army to withdraw to Jiangnan, and ordered Zheng Lingyao to escort Emperor Yongli Zhu Zhongjian and transport the gold in the national treasury to Jiangnan.

On the first day of June, the Qinwang Army recaptured Shaanxi.

On the seventh day of June, Huguang and Fujian were recovered.

On June 12, in order to buy time for retreat, Li Yue consolidated his defenses in the Huaihe River, northern Jiangxi, and northern Fujian areas.

In July, the northern, western and southern royalist armies basically merged together, with a total strength of 1.37 million, and recovered the entire territory of northern Zhili, Shanxi, Henan and Shandong.

On the second day of August, Li Yue was stationed in Jiangnan and ordered his eldest son Li Ling to lead Kong Shen, Wu Xiong and seven fleets and 60,000 elite soldiers to go out to sea to quell the rebellions in Japan and Southeast Asia and recover vast areas such as Japan, Southeast Asia, and Nanzhou as a retreat.

On the ninth day of the eighth month, Li Yue prepared to lead the Yongli Emperor Zhu Zhongjian to retreat to Japan and wait for the Nanyang rebellion to be quelled before heading to Nanyang.

On August 17, Ye Jiguang, the military attaché of the Donghai Guard, killed the guard commander Wang Jinghai. In response to the call for the king to come to the throne, he also sent a telegram to the world to explain Li Yue's plan.

Upon learning the news from Li Yue, Li Mao immediately discussed with Wang Tong, Yang Geng and others and sent the six fleets of the Northern Army that were used to restore order to join forces with the Northeast garrison troops to retake Korea.

The reason why the three parties discussed so quickly was that they saw that the Ming Dynasty was not yet doomed.

Of course, this unfinished fate does not refer to the imperial system, but to the country of Ming Dynasty.

The imperial system must be changed, so they took the lead in launching the rebellion against Prince Zhu Bohai of Liang.

Seeing that he could not participate in the Eastern Expedition, Zhu Bohai immediately changed his strategy and attacked Shannan, Persia, and the Arab regions.

Before he attacks these places, Li Meng and his men must take the lead in resolving issues in the east.

The navy is the foundation of Li Zheng's fortune. If he retreats to Southeast Asia, Li Meng and his men will need to spend more than ten years training the navy and recovering Southeast Asia.

On August 20, under the command of the Royalist Army, six fleets of the navy under its command marched south from Lushun, and the main force of the Royalist Army also launched a major counterattack.

Because of the moral obligation to serve the king, almost all the people in the Central Plains were mobilized. Various factories worked overtime to produce materials. Even though Li Yue had moved many factories, most of them were still able to produce enough materials for the King's Army.

On the first day of September, the East China Sea naval battle broke out, with six fleets from the East China Sea and seven fleets including the South China Sea fighting in the Yellow Sea.

Due to the insufficient naval power and the fact that the government troops were still stronger in the air force, the six fleets in the East China Sea were temporarily forced to retreat back to Lushun.

On September 16, the Huaihai Campaign broke out, with 600,000 troops fighting against the 800,000 Eastern Army temporarily recruited by Li Yue.

On September 24, the Jiangxi Campaign broke out, with 400,000 troops fighting against 200,000 Eastern Army troops.

On October 5, Li Ling led his army to Japan and began to suppress the national rebellion.

Since the main targets of the ethnic rebellion were Han immigrants, a large number of Han immigrants in Japan began to support Li Ling in suppressing the rebellion.

On October 16, Li Ling fought with Ashikaga Yoshiya at Okehazama, where 30,000 Japanese soldiers were beheaded and 40,000 captured Japanese soldiers were shot dead.

On October 20th, Li Meng commanded the Second Corps to raid Xuzhou and captured Yunti Pass. The army marched straight in and arrived at the eastern part of Yangzhou City on the fifth day of the winter month.

This battle almost replicated the battle of Emperor Wu of Han entering the Huai River more than 300 years ago.

While Li Meng's main force was attacking, Hu Su, Yang Geng and others also led their left and right armies to split and encircle the 800,000-strong Eastern Army that was composed of conscripted men.

On the fifteenth day of the winter month, a vast area north of the Yangtze River was recovered, more than 600,000 of the 800,000 Eastern Army troops were captured, and the 60,000 surrendered elite army prisoners were executed.

The 600,000 captured Eastern Army troops burst out with powerful combat power after surrendering, changing their previous passive combat style.

As the sun was setting, Li Yue immediately abducted Zhu Zhongjian and fled to Japan, and ordered the navy to quell the rebellion in Southeast Asia immediately.

On the 22nd day of the twelfth lunar month, the Battle of Crossing the Yangtze River began. Although the Eastern Army had enough warships, only four of the six fleets of the Royalist Army remained after the Battle of the East China Sea.

After a brief rest, these four fleets also participated in the crossing of the river campaign that year.

On the 25th day of the twelfth lunar month, as a soldier rushed onto the Jiangdong Gate Tower in Nanjing and kicked the "Li" flag in one foot, the Suzaku flag of Bohai was once again planted on the top of Nanjing City after more than 300 years.

The difference is that last time it was Qilin Gate that first raised this flag, while this time it was Jiangdong Gate.

On the same day, Li Ling bloodily suppressed an army of more than 200,000 ethnic rebels in Edo, and their corpses floated in Edo Bay.

The next day, Li Yue took Zhu Zhongjian hostage and arrived in Edo under the escort of Zheng Lingyao.

At that time, the sea was filled with corpses. Zhu Zhongjian was horrified and fell ill.

On the ninth day of the first lunar month in the fifteenth year of the Yongli reign, the loyalist army recovered Jiangnan, and from then on there were no more rebels on the land of Zhongzhou.

On the eighteenth day of the first lunar month, the Regent Zhu Bomu issued an order to reward meritorious officials. At the same time, he appointed Cao Xianhu of the Western Army as the commander-in-chief of the Western Army and ordered King of Liang Zhu Bohai and others to return to their respective fiefdoms.

On the 22nd day of the first lunar month, Zhu Bohai did not obey Zhu Bomu's order, but led his troops to occupy the area west of the Pamir Mountains.

Zhu Bohai and others supported the monarchy, while Li Mao and others behind Zhu Bomu hoped to reform the system.

If Zhu Zhongjian had not been alive and Li Yue had not been killed, I am afraid that friction between the two sides would have continued.

On February 15, Li Ling pacified Japan. According to statistics, the number of rebel troops suppressed reached 420,000. In addition, an unknown number of national independence protest teams were suppressed.

On the 27th, Li Ling organized his army and headed to Southeast Asia to quell the rebellion.

At the same time, Li Yue also began to install the large number of factory and shipyard machines shipped to Japan, and began to develop a new naval force.

On the eighth day of March, Li Meng and others took a very short time to sort out the current finances of the court.

According to the population data before the war, the current Beijing court still has a population of 47 million, and the financial situation after the war is about million, accounting for about % of the pre-war financial situation...

According to statistics, the western region occupied by King Zhu Bohai of Liang and Kings of Ba, Yong, and Yong had a population of over 14.7 million and a fiscal revenue of about million, accounting for about % of the pre-war fiscal revenue.

In addition, if Li Yue successfully took over the Nanyang and Nanzhou regions according to his plan, the population would be about 9.3 million and the fiscal revenue would be about million, accounting for about % of the pre-war fiscal revenue.

The combined population of independent regions such as Beizhou, Dongzhou, and Kunlunzhou is about 120 million.

However, these regions accounted for only about 20% of the fiscal revenue before the war, not even 29%.

If we reversely infer the 9% of fiscal revenue that disappeared based on tax collection, it would probably be the economic loss caused by the years of turmoil in the Ming Dynasty, while the population loss cannot be calculated for the time being.

After sorting, it was found that the Beijing court's military expenditure reached 68% of its fiscal revenue, and the number of troops was as high as million.

Such military expenditure is undoubtedly too high. If the court wants to strengthen its naval power, there will be no so-called people's livelihood economy in the world governed by the Beijing court.

On the second day of April, following Li Meng's suggestion, the Beijing court decided to reduce the army to 1.5 million.

After the implementation of this policy, the proportion of military expenditure was reduced to 46%, and the navy also received funds for building warships.

However, at this time, the Ming court had misappropriated about 2.7 billion taels of savings from the people in banks and 1.6 billion taels of national debt, and printed 1.5 billion banknotes because of the extravagant spending of Li Zheng and his son.

Most of this money was not put to good use, but was instead embezzled by the powerful capital behind them through various means.

Now that this group of people followed Li Yue overseas, they would be punished even if they came back, so Li Meng decisively confiscated their property.

According to the investigation, the twelve major families, including Li Yue, Zheng Lingyao, Jiang Qiu and others, seized more than 3 billion in wealth during the entire war.

The wealth seized from the bank alone, as well as the wealth they left in Zhongzhou and failed to take away in time, already exceeded 3.6 billion Ming Tongbao coins.

In addition, in the past fifty years, the twelve major families have monopolized the domestic economy and made a fortune from the national crisis. The wealth they have seized is about 8.2 billion Ming Tongbao, which is equivalent to the wealth that the Ming Dynasty could accumulate if they did not eat or drink for twenty-one years.

Of the 20 billion in wealth, less than % was used for the country and the subsequent war, and the rest went into their pockets.

It was precisely because too much money flowed into their pockets that the treasury was empty, and Li Zheng had to print a large amount of money and issue various bonds to cope with military expenditures.

It’s a pity that most of the 3.6 billion in wealth confiscated were factories, shops and land, with only a small amount of cash.

Most of these factories and shops were sold, and the land was distributed equally to the affected people according to the old system.

After selling off factories and shops for more than half a year, the final amount of wealth was about 1.2 billion taels.

Most of this wealth was used to redeem government bonds.

At the same time, Li Ling, the son of Li Yue, led his troops to quell the rebellion in Southeast Asia and bloodily suppressed 724 national independence armies of all sizes.

On September 15th, Li Yue, under the escort of twelve fleets, took Zhu Zhongjian to Java City in Nanyang.

On the seventh day of October, when arriving at the Yongle Islands in the South China Sea, Zhu Zhongjian died of illness at the age of 27.

Since Zhu Boqian had only one son, Zhu Zhongjian, and Zhu Zhongjian did not have any children during his house arrest, when Zhu Zhongjian passed away, Zhu Boqian's lineage became extinct.

In addition, the rest of Ming Guangzong Zhu Yizhen's sons also rose up in rebellion to defend the king during this turbulent decade or so, but were suppressed and some died.

Except for the three princesses, the male descendants of Zhu Yizhen's lineage are basically extinct.

According to the rule of "the younger brother succeeds the elder brother" in "Imperial Ming Ancestor Instructions", the throne was immediately transferred from the line of Zhu Yizhen, the eldest son of Emperor Shenzong, to the line of Zhu Yizhen, the second eldest son, Prince Xin.

In other words, the regent in Beijing, Prince Xin Zhu Bomu, became the emperor who should have ascended the throne according to the rules.

On October 8, Li Meng sent a telegram to countries around the world, condemning Li Yue for plotting to murder the Yongli Emperor Zhu Zhongjian.

At four quarters past the hour of the chen, Zhu Bomu also sent a telegram to the world, expressing his condolences for Emperor Yongli. At the same time, he posthumously named him Sizong, and gave him the posthumous title of Emperor Shaotian Yidao Gangming Kejian Kuiwen Fenwu Dunren Maoxiaolie.

Since the princes of Nanyang and Nanzhou had basically been suppressed in the past, Li Yue could not find a suitable prince to support for a while, and the prince of Yingzhou was from Zhu Biao's lineage, so supporting him was no different from being a traitor.

After thinking about it, Li Yue didn't know what to do for a moment.

On October 30, Zhu Bomu ascended the throne and became emperor at the persuasion of Li Meng and others. At the same time, he sent telegrams to countries around the world, reviewing the shortcomings of the past imperial system.

The imperial system was crude and unsuitable for the increasingly complex and booming economic development.

The imperial system is not to be eliminated, it is just not to be chosen.

Afterwards, Zhu Bomu began to promise that from then on, the system of nominal monarch would be started and the next year would be changed to "the 396th year of the Ming Dynasty". From then on, there would be no reign title.

Under the system of figurehead monarchy, the emperor has the right to propose and make suggestions, but not the power to make decisions.

"Government is handled by the palace, and sacrifices are conducted by me" is the theme of the system of nominal monarchy.

This theme basically removed the emperor's title of "tyrant". Even if the people opposed tyranny in the future, they could not oppose Zhu Bomu.

The person in charge of the palace or cabinet is called the Chief Assistant, followed by the Second Assistant, and below that are the seven cabinet ministers.

As for the original six departments, they will be specialized in their duties and eventually changed to twelve departments in order to adapt to more complex situations.

Apart from allocating two million taels of Ming Tong Bao to the royal family every year, the imperial court does not need to fund any other matters of the royal family.

In addition, many industries that once belonged to the royal family were handed over to the court for management in the form of a shareholding system. The royal family only received dividends but did not participate in management.

Under the system of nominal monarchy, the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty completely became a mascot, which caused panic among many royalists and also intensified the conflict between the East and the West.

However, before the outbreak of the East-West conflict, in order to have an orthodox slogan, Li Yue proclaimed himself emperor in Java City on the 24th day of the winter month in the 15th year of the Yongli reign, and named his country "Da Yan".

On the same day, Li Yue ordered Zheng Lingyao to compile official history books such as "History of Ming Dynasty" and "General History of Ming Dynasty" to finalize the history of the Ming Dynasty, and posthumously named his father Li Zheng as "Emperor Taizu Gao of Yan".

In fact, according to the theory of first receiving the title, Li Yue should posthumously confer the title of Emperor Taizu of Yan on Li Chengliang.

But Li Yue himself knew that what his family did was not honorable, so he chose Li Zheng to be the first person to receive the title and the first order.

Li Yue's actions undoubtedly put himself in the spotlight.

On the seventh day of the second month of the 397th year of the Ming Dynasty, Prime Minister Li Meng sent a telegram to the world... Go south to quell the rebellion!
(End of this chapter)