I have a cornucopia

Chapter 272: Eliminate the traitors and suppress the rebellion, and quell the rebellion
Zheng Chenggong's fleet finally passed through Zhenjiang and Jiangyin smoothly.

Mainly because Zeng Ying's servants intercepted three groups of messengers for him on the post road, so when Zhenjiang and Jiangyin received the news, he had already arrived.

All that was left were a small number of old-style warships at Wusongkou, which were unable to intercept even if they received the news.

As for those new warships...

We are all at the Jiujiang front line now!

However, because the wind direction had long turned back to the north, Zheng Chenggong's fleet could not go directly north and had to go out of the Yangtze River estuary and continue eastward to the open sea, that is, enter the Black Water Ocean, and then turn north.

Of course, going north was their plan, and outsiders didn’t know about it.

After they sailed to the Black Water Ocean, the officials in Nanjing actually had no idea where he wanted to go. After all, he was most likely heading south, but it seemed that he didn't need to enter the Black Water Ocean to go south, and the south was the right direction in this season. Moreover, the officials in Nanjing didn't know whether Chongzhen was dead or alive. They only knew that Chongzhen was injured. Although they knew that Chongzhen was seriously ill, the combination of illness and injury seemed to mean that he was doomed.

But the problem is, we can’t be sure!

What if he’s not dead?
After all, His Majesty the Emperor has managed to turn danger into safety many times over the years. What if he really escapes danger again?

That's trouble.

He would establish a new court in Guangzhou or Fujian, and then take Fujian, Guangdong, and Guangxi with him. Yunnan, Guizhou, and Sichuan would probably also join him. After all, the military households headed by the Mu family and the chieftains still recognized him as the orthodox of the Ming Dynasty. Wang Yingxiong and others would also be loyal subjects...

Then the remaining people in Jiangnan are traitors.

With the Emperor's narrow-mindedness, he will not understand the difficulties faced by these old ministers in Jiangnan. He will definitely label all of them as traitors.

The old ministers felt uncomfortable when they thought that they would be recorded in history as traitors in the future.

But they considered themselves to be loyal subjects. Even if they forced the emperor to abdicate, it was only for the sake of the country. This issue was not a problem in their minds. After all, even in the past, there were precedents of abandoning the old monarchs in the name of the country, and it was open. As for the secret cases, such as letting the emperor fall into the water, there were even more of them. Therefore, there was no conflict between forcing Chongzhen to abdicate and being a subject of loyalty. Forcing the emperor to abdicate was for the sake of the country, right?
As a loyal minister, one must first be loyal to the country. If one has to choose between the emperor and the country, one should of course choose the country.

It wasn't them who stopped the emperor from entering Nanjing.

It’s the people.

It is the people who no longer want the emperor.

Then forcing our way into Nanjing would certainly provoke civil unrest.

In order to save the country and win back the hearts of the people, letting Chongzhen make sacrifices was a helpless choice. Moreover, Chongzhen abdicated, the princess succeeded to the throne, and respected Chongzhen as the emperor, which was also the best result that the old ministers could strive for for Chongzhen.

It is His Majesty the Emperor who cannot understand their good intentions, not that they are disloyal to His Majesty.

They are just too loyal.

But now His Majesty the Emperor still doesn't understand, and the misunderstanding deepens. From now on, he will insist that these old ministers are traitors who killed the emperor, which will really make the old ministers very sad.

They were wronged!
More importantly, this cannot be said to be Li Zicheng's forged imperial edict, nor can it be said that Li Zicheng forced the emperor. Although it can be said that Zheng Zhilong forced the emperor, the problem is that the level of those trolls in Fujian and Guangdong is not lower than them. Huang Daozhou and Liu Zongzhou are the two major trolls in the Ming Dynasty. Or they are also gentry, they also have the right to speak and the right to record history. Fujian and Guangdong also have a lot of great scholars. They are not Li Zicheng's bandits. No matter how brilliant the Jiangnan group of sages are, they can't stop most of the Ming Dynasty from saying that they are traitors.

and so……

Then just announce that he has been killed by Zheng Chenggong!

To avoid future troubles.

At worst, even if he really goes to Guangzhou, it will be fake.

Immediately afterwards, Grand Secretary Gu Xichou, Left Censor-in-Chief of the Censorate Liu Zongzhou and others entered the palace and reported the sad news of her father's death to the Crown Prince Regent.

The Emperor was chased by rebels on the Yangtze River and his ship sank. He and Wang Chengen drifted downstream and were rescued by a merchant ship. However, due to his injuries and the cold water, he was already seriously ill when he arrived in Nanjing. In addition, the people were dissatisfied with his governance and prevented him from entering the city. In order to avoid the regent's worries, he did not report it, but placed the Emperor at the mouth of the Xijiang River for careful treatment. However, Zheng Chenggong raided the mouth of the Xijiang River in the name of offering captives, trying to snatch the Emperor and take him to Fujian, saying that his father followed Li Zicheng's example and held the emperor hostage to control the princes. The Emperor refused, and Zheng Chenggong was so angry that he shot the Emperor and threw his body into the Yangtze River...

Many people saw it, and Qian Qianyi, the former Minister of Rites and veteran of the Council of Elders, tried to rescue him, but was also killed by Zheng Chenggong.

The bodies were found.

Of course, it was Qian Qianyi's body.

Your Majesty's body has sunk into the Yangtze River and cannot be found.

Now that Your Majesty has passed away, the country is without a master. Your Majesty has only three sons, none of whom are over one year old and are imprisoned by Li Zicheng. At this time, we can only ask the Regent to succeed to the throne to ensure the stability of the country.

Of course, the Regent would definitely refuse.

This was expected. After all, Liu Zongzhou and others knew that Zheng Chenggong was actually recruited by the princess. But they had no other choice. Although the princess was obviously not honest, if it was someone else, it would be impossible to win over Yang Feng. Only by establishing a empress could Yang Feng be satisfied. Similarly, she was the best choice. If someone else was established, the people might not accept it. As for the issue of her dishonesty, this was not important. As long as those who could be trusted around her were cleared out, what could a young girl like her do?
After the Regent refused to succeed to the throne, all the civil and military officials of the court, the senators of the Senate, and the students of the Nanjing Imperial Academy knelt down to petition.

But the regent still disagreed.

Then the emotionally excited students of the Imperial College began to attack Chengtian Gate, and were shot at by the defenders again, and more than a dozen students were killed.

That night, instigated by those impulsive students, the militia began to attack the palace.

Although the guards, including the female soldiers led by Dong Qiongying, held on, the latter's advantage of dozens of times in numbers was overwhelming. After a melee in the middle of the night, the militia broke through Chengtian Gate. At the same time, the militia outside the city raided the Southwest Allied Forces camp. Because Feng Shuangli defected and became an insider, the Southwest Allied Forces camp was breached. Zeng Ying protected Huang Daozhou and escaped. The remaining guards and female soldiers in the palace retreated to Wuying Hall. After being surrounded by the militia, the princess came forward to exchange the succession to the throne in exchange for the militia to stop the attack, including the ceasefire outside the city, but the guards, Dong Qiongying and the remaining female soldiers were expelled from the palace.

The guarding of the palace was taken over by the militia.

The next day, the Regent officially ascended the throne in Wuying Palace, dismissed Ma Shiying for his incompetence, and appointed Liu Zongzhou as the Grand Secretary of Wuying Palace.

The new cabinet was eager to make the facts known to the world.

half a month later.

Anton Wei.

Shandong Governor Qiu Zude, who had already received the news of the Empress' succession to the throne, looked at Zhang Jiayu and others in front of him with complicated eyes.

Of course, there is no Zheng Chenggong.

The latter was still waiting on his battleship.

His fleet encountered Lin Qingye's patrol boats off the coast of North Korea. At that time, Lin Qingye had already occupied the Jeolla area...

Of course, this is with the cooperation of local powerful people.

Moreover, even Li Jong acquiesced. After all, at that time, Korea was still subject to the Qing Dynasty. It was not that they did not want to rebel, but they did not know who to rebel against. To Li Zicheng? To Nanjing? What if they rebelled against the wrong party?
It's better to wait and see. And even if they return to the Ming Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty will not give them anything.

Moreover, the Qing Dynasty actually left quite a few people in Liaodong. In fact, because of the failure in the interior, even if Dorgon wanted to go all out, others also wanted to leave a way out. Besides, he was in the south and couldn't take care of many things. So Jirgalang had already acquiesced to the flag owners of each flag to transfer some of their own flags back to Liaodong for garrison. In addition to the ones who were originally left behind, the Qing Dynasty could still gather tens of thousands of people in Liaodong, and with the Mongolians who followed, it still had the ability to strike Korea again.

After all, it doesn't take too much to beat them, 20,000 cavalry are enough.

Li Jong did not dare to break openly with the Qing Dynasty, but when the latter asked him for food, he did not want to give it, so he just left Jeolla, the main grain-producing area, to Lin Qingye.

It’s not that I don’t want to provide grain to the Qing Dynasty, but my main grain-producing areas are occupied by rebels, and I have no ability to take them back.

I really have no food.

Anyway, I am like this, you guys can do whatever you want!

At worst, we can just go our separate ways.

This would make it difficult for the Qing Dynasty to force him. After all, if we really fall out, he can still cause some trouble. Especially now that Huang Fei still controls Lushun, the Qing Dynasty should try its best to maintain defense in Liaodong.

In this way, Lin Qingye controlled the Jeolla area under the banner of Jingnan. Although he was in a confrontation with Yi Jong, he actually sold grain to him. In addition, with the influx of a large number of Shandong fishing boats, he also had good development. After encountering Zheng Chenggong's fleet, Lin Qingye immediately invited the fleet to Mokpo Port and ordered his speedboat to report to Dengzhou. Then Qiu Zude, who received the news, rushed to Andongwei. Zheng Chenggong's fleet did not go to Dengzhou. After waiting for the wind at Mokpo Port for three days, it was led by two Shandong trawlers and went directly to Andongwei from Mokpo Port on the northeast wind. Qiu Zude and the head of the Shandong Tongshan Association, Fan Fucui, also arrived at the right time, and they met in Andongwei.

"how?"

Fan Fucui looked at Yang Xiu.

The latter was comparing the letters between her and the princess with the secret order in Zheng Chenggong's hand.

Of course, there is actually no need for comparison. After all, the princess's secret order was written with a marker pen, and no one in this era could produce the same ink. Even if there was no such thing, Wang Chengen was enough to prove the authenticity. After all, everyone knew his loyalty to His Majesty the Emperor.

"it is true."

Yang Xiu said with certainty.

Then old man Fan brewed his feelings...

"His Majesty!"

He wailed in pain and then threw himself directly onto Chongzhen's coffin.

Then Qiu Zude and the officials, elders, and Confucian knights who had come to welcome the emperor all knelt down wailing, and the dock was filled with crying.

Of course, everyone's feelings for His Majesty the Emperor were just a few cries out of politeness.

They have long regarded His Majesty the Emperor as a dead man...

It's not just them. To be precise, most of the gentry in the world have already regarded His Majesty the Emperor as a dead man. Since he was captured by Li Zicheng, he has been dead in the hearts of the gentry. His jumping around during this period can only be regarded as a resurrection. This is also the reason why the militia is so keen on firing at him. Isn't it better for you to be a living dead in the palace in Xi'an? Why do you have to resurrect and come out to scare everyone? Do you still think that anyone misses the more than ten years you ruled?
No one misses it.

Everyone is glad to finally be rid of you.

Now that you insist on posing as a dead body, we can only welcome you with cannons.

If you rot honestly in a tomb in Xi'an, you will be a tablet worshipped by everyone. But if you resurrect your corpse, it would be wrong for you. If you do that, you can only be a monster.

Fortunately, he is now really in the coffin and has been nailed to death. He can no longer come back to life.

Fan Fucui even touched the coffin lid with his hand, as if to test whether it was thick enough to be pushed open by the emperor inside...

"Your Majesty, rest assured. I, along with the millions of people in Shandong, will never coexist with the rebels!"

He felt the hardness of the coffin lid, wiped his tears with satisfaction and said.

Qiu Zude, who was standing nearby, quickly stood up and helped him up. The other senior officials also quickly stood up.

"Zhiyuan, although those traitors who murdered the emperor are indeed unforgivable, there is one thing that is true. Since His Majesty has passed away, this country cannot be without a monarch for a day. His Majesty has only three sons, not only are they all under one year old, but they are all in the hands of the rebels. The only ones who are outside are the two princesses. Although it is indeed unprecedented for a princess to succeed to the throne, there is no other choice now. It is indeed true that the regent can only succeed to the throne. Moreover, the order issued by Governor Zheng is also the secret order of the regent. We are here to fight against the rebellion, but we will only fight against the traitors, not the empress.

We are following the secret order of the Empress to clear out the treacherous officials of the Ming Dynasty, honor the Emperor, exterminate the traitors, and quell the rebellion in the name of Heaven."

Fan Fucui said to Zhang Jiayu and others with a serious face.

The latter looked at him with some surprise...

Isn't this too fast?

We haven't even mentioned it yet!
In fact, they came to Shandong with trepidation. After all, Yang Feng is still missing, and the one who truly controls Shandong is the Tongshan Society headed by Fan Fucui. It is hard to say whether they will stand in the same camp with them.

But now...

Why does it seem like everyone is so impatient?

So you are all waiting for this opportunity?
"I will obey you in everything."

Zhang Jiayu said quickly.

"That's good."

Fan Fucui took his hand and said with satisfaction.

So when it comes to the issue of the empress, both the north and the south have no objection. It’s not that people don’t like the empress, they just don’t like the empress being controlled by the Jiangnan Group.

Just then...

"The King is back, the King is back!"

Behind them, shouts of surprise came from afar on the sea.

The Yang Xiu sisters immediately ran to the dock. Fan Fucui and the others were also looking at the dock in amazement. There, a whaling ship that had obviously returned from a long voyage was passing through dense warships and fishing boats. A small pilot boat had already dragged the brown cable on it to the dock and connected it to the towing capstan. The capstan was turned by the shackled Jiannu coolies, dragging the whaling ship with a deep draft and obviously a good harvest closer to the dock. On the deck at the bow, a figure stood with his hands behind his back, looking at the shore in the wind with a pretentious calmness...

The Prince of Donghai of the Ming Dynasty, who had been missing for several months, the commander-in-chief of Ji and Liao, and the governor of coastal military affairs, finally returned to his loyal hometown.

(End of this chapter)