Daming Military Empire

Chapter 78
At the beginning of the new year, Vientiane was renewed. After three years of rectification, the Ming Dynasty finally got rid of internal conflicts, no longer fought for power, and no longer fought against dissidents. Now all officials are only looking forward to the emperor Zhu Cijiong.

On the sixteenth day of the first lunar month, just after the Lantern Festival, Zhu Cijiong held a court meeting to discuss how to deal with the peasant uprising army and Houjin. The participants included:

Xu Guangqi, a Bachelor of Jianji Temple, Minister of Rites, and the new Chief Assistant of the Cabinet;

Bachelor of Wenyuan Pavilion, Minister of the Ministry of Finance, Lai Daozong;

Yang Sichang, a scholar of the Wuyingdian University and Minister of the Ministry of Officials;

Bi Maokang, Secretary of the Ministry of Industry;
Qiao Yunsheng, Shangshu of the Ministry of Punishments;
Admiral of the Beijing Camp, Qin Liangyu, Marquis of Zhongzhen;
Luo Yangxing, Zuo Dudu and Jin Yiwei Commander of the Five Armies Commander's Mansion;
Eunuch Bingbi, Supervisor of Rites, and Cao Huachun, Admiral of Dongchang;

In addition, since Sun Chengzong, the Minister of War, and Yuan Chonghuan, the left servant of the Ministry of War, were both far away in Liaodong, Zhu Cijiong specially asked Sun Yuanhua, the right servant of the Ministry of War, to attend the meeting on behalf of the Ministry of War.

When everyone arrived, Zhu Cijiong coughed and moved: "The banditry in the Northwest has been going on for three years, and Liaodong's establishment of slaves has been deceiving me for more than ten years. In the past, the imperial court was full of internal friction and the treasury was empty. It’s settled, it’s time to deal with these rebels, let’s discuss how to do it.”

Everyone gave way to each other with their eyes, and finally the new chief assistant Xu Guangqi couldn't resist everyone's urging eyes, and walked out first, cupped his hands and said: "Qizou the emperor, I think that the Liaodong army is full of fine food now, and the town's grandson Sun Cheng After a long battle, Zong's subordinates, Yuan Keli, Yuan Chonghuan, Mangui, Zu Dashou, Zhao Lijiao, He Kegang, Mao Wenlong, Cao Wenzhao, etc., are all rare generals. It is the right time to counterattack Jiannu. The banditry is nothing more than a gang of mobs, as long as Houjin is dealt with, it will be easy to deal with them again."

When everyone heard the words, they all nodded in agreement, only Yang Sichang, the new Minister of the Ministry of Officials, bowed his head and remained silent.

Seeing this, Zhu Cijiong encouraged him: "Yang Aiqing, do you have any different suggestions? Just say what you have, don't worry, no one will hold grudges against you, now it is no longer a party."

Everyone smiled when they heard the words, and the tense atmosphere was relieved. Only then did Yang Sichang pluck up the courage to go forward and cup his hands and said: "Qizou the emperor, I think that the establishment of slavery has become a trend, and it must be ten or eight years. The anti-thieves started in the northwest. If the imperial court vigorously encircled and suppressed them, it would take one or two years soon, and three or four years later. If they abandon the northwest and attack Jiannu now, and wait for the anti-thieves to become powerful, the Ming Dynasty will be attacked on both sides. Therefore, the humble minister It is recommended to suppress the rebels first, and then attack Jiannu."

What Yang Sichang said seemed to make sense, Zhu Cijiong was in a dilemma, who did he listen to?

At this moment, Wang Chengen suddenly appeared at the entrance of the main hall. He knelt on the ground and said cautiously: "Qi Zou the emperor, Jin Yiwei's spies sent an urgent document from eight hundred miles from Liaodong."

When Luo Yangxing heard the words, his face was flushed and he was very embarrassed. What's going on with the people below, the secret report is the secret report, can't you wait for me to go back and submit it?It was actually sent to the palace. Didn't you see that military affairs are being discussed now!
Zhu Cijiong didn't care, anyway, the discussion couldn't be finished in a few clicks, he said flatly: "Since it's an urgent document, let's submit it."

Then Wang Chengen took out a waxed envelope from his arms, stooped into the hall, and put his hands in front of Luo Yangxing.

Luo Yangxing took the envelope and looked at it, he was surprised, it actually said: "Hurry up, hurry up, please send it to Mr. Luo for reading."

Five urgent words in a row are already the most urgent information. No wonder they couldn’t wait for a moment, and they were all sent to the palace. Mr. Xiao Luo’s title proved to be the elite left behind by his father. What made them rush? how about this?
He hastily checked the seal, then impatiently tore open the envelope, took out the letter paper inside, and read the secret report:

Report to the commanding officer: Jiannu Shengjing suddenly installed eight red cannons. The villain pretended to be Jiannu and sneaked up on the city wall to check. He found that the cannon was actually made by Jiannu. The year, month, name of the supervising official, the foundry, and the blacksmith.In addition, the dates engraved on this batch of eight cannons are all the first month of the fifth year of Jiannu Tiancong.

The fifth year of Jiannu Tiancong was the fourth year of Ming Chongzheng. It was this month that Jiannu actually made Hongyi cannons, and there were eight of them!After reading it, Luo Yangxing's expression changed. He carefully presented the secret report to Zhu Cijiong to see what the emperor had to say.

Zhu Cijiong took the secret report and took a look. Damn it, Hongyi Cannon!This is troublesome, Hou Jin will also make cannons, and the difficulty of siege has risen sharply. It seems that there is no need to count on Liaodong for the time being.

He handed the secret report back to Luo Yangxing, and signaled him to circulate it around. After everyone had read it, Zhu Cijiong said helplessly: "It seems that Liaodong cannot be attacked for the time being. Let's make plans after I develop a new type of artillery from Daming." .Now we can only deal with the rebels in the northwest, let’s discuss how to suppress the rebels.”

Using human flesh to carry cannons hard, just kidding, Nurhachi didn't believe in this evil, and he died in the end.Naturally, the officials of Daming would not take this foolishness. Everyone thought that what Zhu Cijiong said was reasonable. Let Jiannu be released, and the Northwest should be pacified first.

Everyone offered advice and suggestions, some advocated appeasement, some advocated encirclement and suppression, some advocated returning them to their original places, and some advocated killing them all, among which Yang Sichang's suggestion was the most pertinent.

His suggestion can be summed up in eight words: "Four positives and six odds, spread the net on ten sides."

Si Zheng refers to the four provinces where the peasant uprising army is currently active, namely: Shaanxi, Shanxi, Henan, and Sichuan.

Liu Ou refers to the six surrounding provinces, namely: Beizhili, Shandong, Nanzhili, Huguang, Jiangxi, and Guizhou. The governors of these six provinces cooperated in the suppression, strictly guarding against death, and preventing the rebels from fleeing everywhere.

Finally, a governor was appointed to lead the imperial army to chase down the main force of the rebel army, leaving them nowhere to escape.

He also used this trick during the Chongzhen Dynasty, and it did have a miraculous effect at the beginning. Zhang Xianzhong who was chasing him had no choice but to surrender to Ming Dynasty;But later Zhang Xianzhong backed down and re-judged, and played a game of hide-and-seek with the main force of the Ming army against his tactics, which made Yang Sichang exhausted.

In the end, Li Zicheng broke through Luoyang and executed Zhu Changxun, the emperor's uncle Fu; Zhang Xianzhong broke through Xiangyang and killed Zhu Yiming, the king of Xiang.

Naturally, Zhu Cijiong would not make the mistake of Emperor Chongzhen again. He synthesized the suggestions of all the people, combined with the lessons of the failure of the Chongzhen Dynasty, and proposed a new strategy, that is: wait for the rabbit, and gradually eat away.

The overall meaning is to recruit and encircle and suppress, but there is no need to chase and suppress. The rebel army always needs to eat. Now there are basically cities in the disaster-stricken areas where there is food. Just send heavy troops to guard the important state capitals. Once the rebel army When attacking the city, the neighboring imperial troops immediately surrounded them. Those who were willing to surrender would disarm them, and those who were unwilling to surrender would fight until they surrendered.

In fact, these are not the key points. The most important point is the handling after the surrender. The Chongzhen Dynasty was defeated on this point. The rebels, including Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong, had actually surrendered. As soon as they surrendered, the Emperor Chongzhen sent them back. In the end, they turned back not long after returning home, and some even turned back halfway before they even got home!
Going back and forth like this is tantamount to working in vain.

Zhu Cijiong thought of a brilliant idea for this point, what is this idea?

Of course you can't kill them, they are all your own people.

How to deal with it, let’s see the next chapter.

(End of this chapter)