I have a cornucopia

Chapter 257 Gunshots in Xi'an

On the same day that Qian Zhuangyuan shouted for a bloody battle to the end in the Senate, the Emperor, escorted by the Prince of Qin, personally left the palace and went to the Altar of Land and Grain to offer sacrifices.

As for him being imprisoned by the King of Qin...

rumor!

These are all rumors!

It is obvious that His Majesty the Emperor has been exhausted and sick over the years.

Especially when he was attacked by rebels at Lugou River, which resulted in the death of the empress and the prince, he was seriously injured physically and mentally and had to recuperate in the palace, so all the government affairs were handed over to Li Shoufu and His Royal Highness the Prince of Qin. He just stayed in the palace for a year and a half, which was much better than his grandfather. Besides, he occasionally went to Chengyun Palace to preside over government affairs. How could there be a rumor that His Royal Highness the Prince of Qin imprisoned him?
Don't wrongly accuse good people!

The King of Qin is a loyal minister, a very loyal minister.

In short, he used this method to completely dispel the rumor that the King of Qin was holding the emperor hostage to control the princes.

Then the matter was quickly announced to all quarters, or rather, the reaction of all quarters was tested. Governor of Huguang, He Tengjiao, was the first to submit a memorial expressing his joy for His Majesty's recovery.

In addition, He Tengjiao also invites Your Majesty to visit Nanjing. After all, Xi'an is not one of the four capitals, but only a vassal city of the King of Qin. It is of course fine for Your Majesty to use it as a temporary palace, but since Your Majesty has recovered now, you should visit Nanjing to ensure peace in the world when the northern capital is occupied by the Jianlu.

Therefore, Huguang officially clarified the policy of continuing non-resistance.

As for He Tengjiao's immediate kneeling, there is nothing much to say, after all, he was the first to bear the brunt of Li Zicheng's march south.

Of course, He Tengjiao was denounced by newspapers in Jiangnan as a traitor and a shameless villain, and was accused of various bad deeds, such as corruption, extravagance, and even some outrageous rumors, such as robbing men and women. Then the censors of the Nanjing Censorate submitted memorials one after another, asking the regent to remove him. After all, in theory he was still under the control of the regent court. Some even proposed to send troops to Huguang to forcibly capture him. However, it was indeed a good plan to advance westward from Jiangxi to seize Changsha and go straight to Yueyang before Li Zicheng marched south.

After all, it was Sun Kewang who entered Yueyang first last time and cut off Li Zicheng's food supply from upstream, eventually forcing Li Zicheng to withdraw.

Moreover, whether it was Wang Guangtai of Yueyang, Ma Jinzhong of Jingzhou, or Wang Yuncheng of Wuchang, they actually did not want to surrender to Li Zicheng.

If the Jiangxi Army really captured Changsha, these people might really turn into resistance.

but……

The plan was rejected by the Senate.

After all, this is very courageous, but it would be a miracle if those old guys in the Senate, whose average age is nearly 70, could have such courage.

The next person to submit a memorial to congratulate the Emperor on his recovery was Duke of Qian, Mu Tianbo, so Yunnan clearly withdrew from the subsequent war.

Moreover, after Mu Tianbo reported the rebellion of the chieftains to the court in Xi'an and obtained permission, he was officially recalled to the Yunnan Camp of the Northern Expedition Army.

The Mu family was loyal to the emperor of the Zhu family. As long as the emperor was still from the Zhu family, they didn't mind anything else. The fact that Li Cixiong was made the crown prince of Qin had already made clear the alliance between Chongzhen and Li Zicheng. Li Zicheng, who had no biological son, was also willing to use this method to complete his reconciliation with Chongzhen. Regardless of whether he would usurp the throne in the future, Chongzhen's son would be the future emperor.

The Mu family can’t resist at all.

When Sister Mei Niang usurped the throne, few of the loyal ministers of the Li family resisted.

After all, everyone understood that even if she usurped the throne, it was just to satisfy her desire while she was alive, and the throne would ultimately belong to Li Zhi's son.

Similarly, even if Li Zicheng usurped the throne in the future, it would only be for temporary satisfaction, and in the end he would still have to give the throne to Chongzhen's son.

Moreover, local forces are now very strong, and Li Zicheng has no ability to solve them at all.

This is already very clear.

Last time, he couldn't even resolve the Jiangxi issue, and the Southwest Alliance alone forced him to withdraw his troops.

Last time, at best, Jiangxi was the leader, and then Yunnan, Guizhou, Sichuan, Nanzhi, Fujian and Zhejiang each contributed a little. The only ones who really fought against him were the Jiangxi militia, Zhejiang militia, plus the Southwest Allied Forces and Zheng Chenggong's navy. The armies of Huguang watched from the sidelines, the Nanzhi militia just blocked the mouth of the lake, Yang Feng just mediated, Gao Jie and others did not participate at all, but this was enough to stop him and even force him to withdraw. He obviously does not have the ability to unify the world, so it is hard to say whether he dares to usurp the throne in the future. After all, if he really usurps the throne, he cannot solve the separatist regimes in various places. People do not recognize him, and at most he can only fence around and grow his own territory like those in the Five Dynasties...

Not even as good as the latter.

Even if those in the Five Dynasties were able to expand their own territory, at least their strength was still enough to make the local separatist forces submit to them. However, his strength was not even enough to make the separatist forces submit to him.

In that case, it would be beneficial for him to hold the emperor hostage and control the princes.

As for this time...

He can't even deal with Jiangxi, how can he defeat Jiangxi, which is three times his size?

In this case, why not just stand by and watch? If he loses, everyone will be happy. If he wins, it will be a pyrrhic victory, and he will not be able to deal with the local forces. It is even possible that he will be killed by others.

In the final analysis, people don't have any good feelings towards the gentry in the south of the Yangtze River. These guys have committed too many sins in the past. Even the gentry in Huguang are actually happy to see them get into trouble.

Party strife!
Even in peacetime, there are constant party struggles and fierce fighting. Can we expect to help each other when disaster strikes?
Helping each other is unexpected, but harming your neighbor is eternal.

So after Mu Tianbo, Wang Yingxiong, the governor of Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan, also presented a letter to congratulate the Emperor on his recovery.

The Southwestern Confederacy officially withdrew from the war.

Of course, Zhang Xianzhong certainly couldn't do that, but he had no say. After all, his official identity was merely the commander-in-chief of Sichuan militia.

So he didn't need to express his opinion.

Similarly, the three provinces of Fujian, Guangdong and Guangxi do not need to make any statement for the time being.

It would be enough to just stand by and watch. There was no need to be as foolish as Mu Tianbo and to express one's opinion. However, there was civil unrest in Guangxi, and the governor Qu Shisi was reported to the Inspector General for corruption.

Of course, it was just a report, not true, but some people in the public who didn't know the truth surrounded the governor's office because of it. Fortunately, several elders from the Elders' Association went over to explain, and they dispersed. As for Qu Shisi silently burning the letter he had written to attack the rebels, this was definitely unrelated to this. Similarly, there was the Fujian Governor Wu Zhiping. Before he had time to write, he was invited to drink tea by the Fujian Elders' Association. After drinking tea, he would not write again, and he also had several Fujian-born aides around him.

At this point, all parts of the Ming system have expressed their positions. Shandong is of course also watching, but strangely enough, Nanjing has not responded at all...

Prime Minister Ma is ill.

The illness is very serious and he is said to have fallen into coma several times.

After all, Prime Minister Ma has worked extremely hard in the past two years, and even a strong man would be exhausted.

As for His Royal Highness the Crown Prince who is the Regent, he has stopped leaving the palace under the advice of his ministers because of the rebellion caused by the Jianlu spies last time. In order to strengthen the protection of the imperial palace, four battalions were selected from the militia of Yingtian, Huizhou, Ningguo and Taiping prefectures to be stationed outside the four gates respectively. Even the Qianbu Gallery commercial street was closed. After all, the Jianlu spies hid in the shops in the commercial street last time.

It must be closed. In short, His Royal Highness the Regent Crown Prince is now very safe.

Not only could the Jianlu spies no longer break into the palace, even the attendants and guards inside the palace could not break out of the palace.

Safety.

Absolutely safe.

Xi'an.

School grounds.

"Long live the emperor! His Royal Highness the Prince of Qin is nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine years old!"

Prime Minister Li prostrated himself on the ground, kowtowing and shouting with an excited trembling voice, almost at the top of his lungs.

"Long live the emperor! His Royal Highness the Prince of Qin is nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine years old!"

All the civil and military officials behind him had no choice but to follow him and add ninety-nine years to Li Zicheng's age, so that His Royal Highness the Prince of Qin was only one year younger than Chongzhen.

At this time, the emperor was wearing a leather cap, and Li Zicheng, wearing a golden armor, stood beside him. They shared an oversized yellow umbrella, and the two stood side by side, accepting the kowtows of the civil and military officials. In front of them, there were teams of soldiers ready to go, and outside the parade ground were the people watching. Under the protection of His Royal Highness the Prince of Qin, the emperor would lead the elite troops of the Beijing camp to the south, and then gather the troops along the way, and finally go south to Hankou with 200,000 troops, board the ship in Hankou and go down the river.

However, at this time, there were even Mongolian cavalrymen in the Beijing camp...

Very normal.

Because behind His Royal Highness the Prince of Qin, there is a concubine dressed in Mongolian clothes, Borjigit Namu Zhong, who was once the wife of Lin Danhan, and later the wife of Huang Taiji, but now is the concubine of the Prince of Qin. She is silently watching the expedition that her third man is about to embark on, so it is also reasonable that a group of masters chanting scriptures appear next to her.

In fact, Gushri Khan has already sent envoys to Li Zicheng.

Pay tribute to the Ming Dynasty!

This does not prevent him from continuing to pay tribute to the Qing Dynasty.

After all, Li Zicheng now controls the trade routes to the Western Regions. As the de facto leader of Oirats, Gushri Khan is Li Zicheng's next client, so maintaining friendship is a must. Moreover, Namu Zhong also believes in the Yellow Sect. In this case, Gushri Khan certainly doesn't mind stepping on another boat.

After all, the Qing Dynasty, whose emperor and empress dowager were captured, is not a good candidate for vassalage...

This incident has a very bad impact.

Especially, Sister Dayuer was actually captured twice.

This kind of thing is shameful enough if it happens once, how could a queen mother be arrested a second time?

It's really destructive to your worldview.

This makes it difficult for fence-sitters to have too much confidence in our Qing Dynasty, so Gushri Khan, a smart man, of course, quickly found another boat to step on. After his envoy arrived in Xi'an, Li Zicheng directly handed him over to Namu Zhong for reception, and then negotiated various interest exchanges and brought the envoy to meet Chongzhen. The latter conferred Gushri Khan the title of Hue County Prince. As for the Khan title and the titles of the masters, this was copied directly according to Namu Zhong's suggestion. In fact, the one that ran away later was the first one given by Altan Khan, and the remaining one was given by Gushri Khan. The Ming Dynasty gave the title of Duoerzhishang to the former, and this one was conferred by Wanli, but Li Zicheng didn't care about these. He listened to his concubine on this issue completely, and the latter knew more about the plateau than all the officials of the Ming Dynasty.

After all, her ex-husband died in Qinghai.

Finally, Chongzhen gave the two masters clear titles.

Like Altan Khan, Gushri Khan was granted the title of prince. In addition, according to Ming custom, he was also appointed as the envoy of U-Tsang and the commander of Dogandu.

As for the chiefs under him, they only need to take a list and be given a title such as Tongzhi or Zhihuishi, and the title will be hereditary in the future.

As for the Mongolian cavalry under Li Zicheng, they were from the Ordos tribe, which was the Ikh Ju League of the Qing Dynasty. They had officially severed ties with the Qing Dynasty. After all, the Qing Dynasty could no longer give them anything, but Li Zicheng could give them food for trade. The leader of the Ikh Ju League, who was originally from Ordos Jinong Elinchen, took over the title of King Shunyi of the Ming Dynasty and became the heir to the Altan Khan system.

So in order to show his loyalty to the Ming Dynasty, and also for the food promised by Li Zicheng, his nephew Batu followed Li Zicheng with two thousand Mongolian cavalry.

In this hungry age, whoever has food is the boss.

Nothing else matters.

The Qing Dynasty is barely able to get enough food from its own hard-earned crops. Can we expect the Mongolian herdsmen to starve along with them?
We don't have such deep feelings yet.

It is estimated that the Ordos tribes under the Shunyi King system have been paying tribute to the Ming Dynasty for more than half a century.

It has only been ten years since you paid tribute to the Qing Dynasty.

Make peace for profit, and disperse if there is no profit. If Chongzhen had not been reluctant to spend two thousand taels of silver a month, the Dongtumed people would not have surrendered to Huang Taiji, and Huang Taiji would not have been allowed to enter the pass unimpeded. But now it is the Qing Dynasty that has nothing to offer, and Li Zicheng has both silver and food, so why doesn't he come over and kowtow?
"It's not shameful to make money."

Prince Yang mixed in the crowd, watching the Mongolian cavalry who were also howling, amid the cheers of His Royal Highness the Prince of Qin, who was nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine years old.

But then he turned his gaze to a distance away, where there were also two people watching these Mongolian cavalrymen...

One of them bowed his head and cursed.

Then they pushed forward together through the crowd.

Yang Feng was also pushing forward from behind, but no one paid attention to them. At this time, they were surrounded by people cheering excitedly.

The people of Shaanxi supported Li Zicheng's march southward because the King of Qin's march southward would bring them a large amount of food. Although Li Zicheng withdrew his troops last time and failed to achieve his goal, the food he brought back to Shaanxi caused the grain price in Xi'an to plummet to two taels per stone. This price was simply a dream, considering that in the past it was more than five taels per stone.

His trip to the south can really bring benefits to the people.

This trip south will also bring the most anticipated food to the people of Shaanxi this winter, allowing them to have enough food to eat.

They sincerely cheered for Li Zicheng.

His Majesty the Emperor held the hand of His Royal Highness the Prince of Qin and demonstrated the affection between the monarch and his subject to the soldiers and civilians.

Soon the two men squeezed to the front, and Chongzhen and Li Zicheng, who had completed the show of unity between the monarch and his subjects, walked down the stage hand in hand. Chongzhen climbed onto his carriage, and Li Zicheng rode on his horse. They walked forward together like Yang Feng guarding the princess...

The two men almost simultaneously pulled out their flintlock pistols, aimed at Chongzhen, and pulled the trigger without hesitation. The brick that flew out of Yang Feng's hand also hit one of them on the head. He screamed, holding up the pistol that was spewing flames, and bumped into his companion again...

(End of this chapter)