Emperor Chongzhen of the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 29
Zhu Youjian's act of directly beheading 23 lives of Wu Sangui's family completely cut off all officials' illusions about Wu Sangui.

It is also a sign of his complete break with Wu Sangui as the emperor.

Zhu Youjian's move was not out of a whim, nor was he really willing to be so cruel.

But in this turbulent situation, he must do this, must express an attitude, and must show decisive behavior for this attitude.

Zhu Youjian wanted to use this to tell the officials that he could not tolerate a traitor like Wu Sangui who betrayed the interests of the Han people.

The officials who followed Zhu Youjian could only agree to choose to break with Wu Sangui, stop fantasizing about Wu Sangui, and devote more energy to strengthening themselves.

And in this case, in the days to come, these bureaucrats who were born as gentry will also be able to accept trespassers who were born as refugees.

He may even have to change his attitude towards the thief Li Zicheng.

Since Wu Sangui surrendered Jiannu and introduced Jiannu into the customs, it marked that the situation of the whole world had changed.

The main enemy facing the Ming Dynasty was no longer Li Zicheng, the invading army who captured the capital of the Ming Dynasty, but the Eight Banners who established slaves and the scum of the Han people who took refuge in them.

The behavior of the military aristocratic group formed by these people is barbaric and backward.

Zhu Youjian must make his bureaucrats realize this.

Now that Zhu Youjian has recruited [-] Chuangjun from Liu Fangliang's department, plus Zhou Yuji's bravery recruited in Shanxi before, half of his three guards are from ordinary people.

From a certain point of view, the composition of the southward withdrawal team led by Zhu Youjian is not simple.

Zhu Youjian also wanted to use this to enhance the communication between the gentry and Lishu, and through himself to integrate them into a group with common interests, and thus restore the social order of Ming Dynasty.

Zhu Youjian also tried to mobilize the enthusiasm of the two classes of gentry and Lishu during the southward retreat.

As an emperor, he was willing to be this kind of chelating agent, so that Daming had sufficient strength to deal with foreign enemies, instead of letting the entire court still fall into endless internal strife.

Because the establishment of slaves entered the customs, the time to withdraw southward was even tighter, so the army withdrawing southward was now on the road day and night.

Although it was a southward retreat of 15 people, they arrived in Jinan City within three or four days and officially entered the center of Shandong.

Entering Shandong means not far from Jianghuai.

After crossing the Jianghuai River, it is Jiangnan, and then there is no need to worry about the danger of soldiers overwhelming the border in the next year.

It's just that from Jianghuai to the south of Shandong is the territory of Shandong General Liu Zeqing.

Zhu Youjian now has an army of 15, so he is not afraid of Liu Zeqing, but as he thought earlier, he does not want to cause too much internal strife with a warlord like Liu Zeqing, so as not to damage Daming's vitality in the future against Jiannu in vain .

Therefore, Zhu Youjian hopes to solve the problems of Liu Zeqing and the other three towns in Jiangbei once and for all.

Although Liu Zeqing, Gao Jie, Liu Liangzuo, and Huang Degong, the commanders-in-chief of the four towns in Jiangbei, were good and bad, and each had their own concerns, they were still Daming's army after all.

Therefore, Zhu Youjian did not want his troops withdrawing from the south to fight with Liu Zeqing.

This will not only cause unnecessary losses to his southward retreat army, but also reduce an army to resist the establishment of slaves.

However, Liu Zeqing had to get rid of it!

If Zhu Youjian's memory is correct, Liu Zeqing will voluntarily surrender in the face of Jiannu going south.

Although Zhu Youjian has already warned civil and military officials all over the world not to surrender to the Qing by beheading 23 lives of Wu Sangui's family.

But Zhu Youjian still couldn't guarantee whether Liu Zeqing would surrender, or even contacted Jiannu at this moment, intending to kill himself in Shandong.

From how to deal with Jiannu going south to how to deal with the warlord Liu Zeqing who is about to hinder the southward withdrawal, Zhu Youjian had to make a definite decision on all these dreadful matters.

Therefore, as soon as the southward retreating army arrived in Jinan, he immediately held a dying court meeting.

This time, Zhu Youjian must have a correct and clear strategic guiding ideology if he wants his own Daming.

"Now that traitor Wu Sangui lured the Qing army into the pass, which means that our enemy has changed. Although the trespasser Li Zicheng is unforgivable, at the critical moment when Jiannu is waiting for an opportunity to take away our Han people, whether it is me or you We all have to let go of our hatred and focus on dealing with Jiannu, and for thieves, if necessary, we can even appease them and provide help!"

When Zhu Youjian said this, the officials couldn't help arguing a lot. They chose to follow Zhu Youjian to the south instead of taking refuge in bandits. It has something to do with them being more stubborn gentry, otherwise many of them would directly choose to take refuge in Li Zicheng.

Therefore, Zhu Youjian said at this time that he would consider appeasing Li Zicheng and even pardoning his crimes, which was naturally difficult for the officials to accept.

In fact, when Liu Fangliang was recruited and Liu Fangliang was allowed to lead a guard army alone, many officials who followed him were disgusted, but because Zhu Youjian insisted on using Liu Fangliang as an excuse to disintegrate the morale of the thieves, all the officials had to accept it. .

Young master Zhu Youjian had no choice but to continue to explain, and if he couldn't explain it, Zhu Youjian simply dismissed him from his post.

After all, as an official at the center of the Ming Empire, if you still limit your thinking within your own class, then there is no need to rule the world.

Under the pressure of Zhu Youjian's interpretation and strong authority, the officials finally accepted the idea of ​​fighting against the outside world first and then reconciling the inside.

Because of this clarification, the troops retreating south finally had a common goal, which was to revive Daming and eliminate Jiannu!
People who were born as refugees such as Liu Fangliang and gentry and civil officials who were born as scholar-bureaucrats such as Li Banghua can naturally unite better.

Zhu Youjian knew that the terrible thing about building slaves was that they had a clear political and strategic direction, and all banners and ministries had a common goal to occupy the world.

And what Zhu Youjian has to do is to let himself and his people have a common political goal, so that he can integrate the forces of all classes and change the trajectory of history.

However, just when Zhu Youjian was clarifying his Ming political goals in Jinan, Wu Sangui received 23 heads of his father and other family members and the letter of breaking up relations with Chen Yuanyuan was also sent back.

"Your Majesty, after seeing the head and the letter, Wu Sangui just scolded Li Zicheng, and immediately put on sackcloth and filial piety. He even threatened to kill Li Zicheng who killed the 23 relatives of his family! Jiannu invaded Fengrun, forcing Li Zicheng to retreat to the capital!"

After Zhu Youjian heard the news, he sighed helplessly: "This Wu Sangui is really shameless, I killed your whole family, and you still want to cover up your hatred for me, and even pour dirty water on Li Zicheng. Is Li Zicheng a farmer who bullies others? I killed him, and your concubine is also in my hands. If you have the ability to come to me, why are you so hypocritical!"

(End of this chapter)