Chapter 180
In this world, there is no emperor who is willing to take the common people into consideration and protect them forever. He is Zhu Chongba, who is called a tyrant and a butcher emperor.
This is the most legendary man in Chinese history. He was born in a peasant family. In that dark era of frequent wars, he lit up the Chinese night sky like a bolt of lightning.
He was once a little-known novice monk in Huangjue Temple. After decades of fighting against all odds, he finally reached the pinnacle of power in the world. The most commendable thing is that even though he is sitting on the throne, holding the Heavenly Constitution in his mouth, and controlling all directions, he is still the same cowherd boy who rode on the back of an ox and looked up at the sky.
Zhu Yuanzhang never betrayed his class, even if his comrades who had fought side by side for many years left him one by one, even if he was portrayed by the scholar-bureaucrats as a murderous devil and a single man.
Since ancient times, scholar-bureaucrats share the world with the emperor, not with the people. This is an unspoken rule that rulers of all dynasties have adhered to. Zhu Chongba, a commoner in Huaiyou, did not believe this evil until his death.
Therefore, he created three major cases, that is, the Lan Yu case can actually be combined with the Hu Weiyong case, the Kongyin case, and the Guo Huan case. The three major cases all occurred with a strong purpose. The Hu Weiyong case and the Lan Yu case mainly targeted the founding heroes. The Kongyin case was because Zhu Yuanzhang believed that the officials below were contemptuous of authority. The Guo Huan case was to punish corrupt officials.
These three major cases killed tens of thousands of people. Some people say that Zhu Yuanzhang did it to strengthen the imperial power, while others said that it was to strengthen the centralization of power and pave the way for his descendants. Some people say that Zhu Yuanzhang was suspicious by nature, cruel and easy to kill.
However, in fact, this is not the case. Some people really don't understand, while others pretend to be confused. Zhu Chongba's real starting point is to allow the suffering people all over the world to live.
In order to keep the people alive, he formulated the most severe torture for officials in Chinese history. In all dynasties, when officials committed crimes, they could discuss eight things: discuss relatives, discuss old friends, discuss virtues, discuss abilities, discuss merits, discuss nobles, discuss Be diligent and discuss guests.
Of these eight opinions, Yiqin specifically refers to relatives of the emperor; Yigu refers to the emperor’s past; Yixian refers to people with high moral standards; Yineng refers to people with outstanding talents; Yigong refers to people with outstanding merits; Yigui , that is, officials of the third rank or above and people with the first rank of nobility; Yiqin, that is, people who are diligent and hardworking; Yibin, that is, people who are descendants of the previous monarch and are respected as state guests.
This set of eight discussions system originated from the "Eight Discussions" in "The Rites of Zhou·Qiuguan·Xiao Sikou". It is a concrete embodiment of the etiquette principle of "punishment does not go to the doctor" in the application of punishment. Since the late Han, Wei and Jin Dynasties, the political and economic strength of the powerful landlord class has continued to expand, and the monopoly position of the bureaucratic aristocratic group has been increasingly strengthened. When Emperor Wei Ming formulated the "New Law", in order to win over the bureaucratic aristocratic group and safeguard the interests of the ruling class, he formally incorporated the "Eight Discussions" system into the national code for the first time, gradually legalizing and institutionalizing the judicial privileges of the feudal aristocratic bureaucrats. This is also public of inequality.
Those who commit crimes can enjoy the privileges of "discussing, requesting, reducing, justifying, and exempting" in a lawful and legal manner.
But in fact, only Zhu Chongba did not recognize this trick. He killed Prime Minister Hu Weiyong. This was the first prime minister in history who was killed not because of rebellion or incompetence, but because of corruption. In the words of later generations, it serves as a protective umbrella for evil forces.
As a result, Hu Weiyong was killed. Officials who embezzled sixty taels of silver would be skinned and stuffed with grass, and the three clans would be punished. In history, being an official in any court was very satisfying. As long as there was no rebellion, the most corrupt officials would be dismissed. As long as If you don't participate in the fight for the right to inherit the heir, your home will basically not be confiscated.
But not tomorrow.
Some people say that Zhu Chongba killed the heroes, but what is the reality? Zhu Chongba killed all the meritorious officials who deserved to die. The leader of the list was naturally Xu Da. Xu Da was well versed in affairs, knew how to advance and retreat, knew military strategies, and was good at conquests...
The most important thing is that he and Zhu Chongba will always be of the same mind.
Xu Da is Zhu Di's father-in-law, the father-in-law of Emperor Yongle, and the father of Queen Renxiao.
People all over the world admired him. After his death, there were rumors that he had a carbuncle on his back and could not eat hair. The superior (Zhu Yuanzhang) gave him a steamed goose. Xu Da ate it with tears and died.
However, all the civil and military officers of the court and the three armies knew that the marshal's only weakness was that it was so delicious! The commander-in-chief of the armed forces is a foodie. This is an indisputable fact and one of the top military secrets of the Ming Dynasty.
The best steamed goose! This is a disease acquired when one is poor. Wei Guogong can hardly walk when he smells the smell of steamed goose, and his saliva can pour into the entire Xuanwu Lake. Even if Wang Baobao comes in at this time, don't disturb him, otherwise you will die worse than Wang Baobao. awful.
Although Xu Da knew clearly that his illness required dietary restrictions, he insisted on eating steamed goose and ended up eating himself to death.
"Born to be delicious, you will eat it even to death!"
This is the elegiac couplet written by Zhu Yuanzhang, the emperor of Ming Dynasty, to the marshal of Ming Dynasty after learning that his old friend was heading west. The eight words are full of grief and indignation!
In fact, when it comes to military merit, if it is said that the master is superior to the master, Lan Yu is nothing. He is not even worthy of carrying Xu Da's shoes. In front of Xu Da, Chang Yuchun, Fu Youde, Li Wenzhong, and Tang He, Lan Yu is nothing?
As long as Lan Yu stayed on his own terms, he had nothing. As the founding emperor, Zhu Chongba's style and magnanimity ranked him among the top three emperors, not to mention the best among all previous emperors.
It's just a pity that all Zhu Chongba's hard work was wasted.
When Cheng Shijie sighed with emotion, even Fu Zonglong, who had good moral character and integrity in the history of the Ming Dynasty, showed hesitation. It was obvious that he did not agree with Cheng Shijie's words.
He believed that it was the blessing of God, or it could be said that it was the contribution of Cheng Shijie, the pillar of the country. How could the ignorant and ignorant Shengdou people protect the Ming Dynasty?
Of course, Fu Zonglong did not argue with Cheng Shijie on this issue. He was attracted by the sound of artillery on the battlefield. In order to reduce the pressure on the Dongjiang Army, Cheng Shijie ordered Ning Haijun's artillery to target the range of 500 steps in front of the Dongjiang Army. Provide fire coverage.
Thirty-six three-inch cannons, which are breech-loaded smoothbore cannons, are firing hard at Jiannu. Now there is no need to deliberately aim. The 20,000-strong army spreads out. It is such a big group that it can be hit with both eyes closed. , Besides, the battlefield is so smoky that even if you want to aim, you don’t believe it. It’s better to just close your eyes and blindly blur.
The Jiannu army has been inseparable from the cannons of Ning Haijun since Bali Bay. They are scared to death of these ghost cannons. When the cannons rang out, all the Jiannu warriors shivered instinctively and felt crazy. Ask the shaman to bless them and never let the shells fall around them!
Unfortunately, there were too many of them, and the great shaman could not cover so many people. The cannonballs fell, and orange smoke rolled up. Many Jiannu warriors were thrown into the night sky like ants, leaving bursts of blood rain.
Jiannu's originally high morale took a hit and suddenly fell into low spirits. The most terrible thing is that Ning Haijun's artillerymen are as if they have been beaten to death. They don't care about what they can hit, and they just keep their heads down and pretend to hit hard.
Almost every shell that fell caused casualties to the Jiannu. The tragic scene of blood and flesh flying everywhere made them extremely frightened. If it were a solid shot put, it would kill and injure at most a few people with one cannon. But the shells were different. If they landed in the most densely populated areas, it would not be impossible to kill a dozen or dozens of people with one cannon.
And no matter how strong your martial arts skills are or how many layers of armor you wear, you will still be crippled if you are hit to death. How are you still playing tricks? Hundreds of artillery shells fell, and the slave army became chaotic. Many people threw away their weapons, covered their ears and shouted wildly, running wildly. As for the horses, they even screamed at the top of their lungs and rushed around. The owner was forced to use a knife to quiet it down.
"Dong dong dong..."
This dull sound suddenly sounded. Upon hearing this sound, the Jiannu warriors' expressions changed drastically. They turned to look at the Ming army artillery position that had been shrouded in fireworks. No matter whether they were soldiers or generals, there was a trace of despair on their faces!
There is no doubt about the power of the thunder cannon. Regardless of its short range, one explosive cannon is more powerful than three or five three-inch artillery shells. Once it hits, one explosive pack can blow up half a cow.
As the sixty-eight deployed thunder cannons began to fire explosive packets, a large packet of explosive packets flew out, swirling all the way, making all kinds of strange trajectories and falling into the Jiannu formation.
"Boom boom boom boom..."
Frightening clouds of gunpowder smoke wrapped in flames soared 20 to 30 meters high. Thunderous and violent explosions shook everyone present, and the shock wave of the explosion swept everything.
The shock wave of the explosion struck in all directions. Countless Jiannu warriors felt as if they were standing on an erupting crater. The dazzling fire flashed, the ground shook violently, and their bodies, spears, armor... everything was shattered. Come.
Many people's bodies were torn apart by the blast wave and were thrown around. Many were so shaken that their feet flew several meters off the ground and then fell heavily to the ground. Their orifices were bleeding and they could never stand up again. His internal organs were shattered.
God knows how many slave-building soldiers were reduced to ashes in this round of shelling. God knows how many people were covered in fire and had multiple pieces of shrapnel shot into their bodies. They fell in pain in the sea of fire. The ground wailed.
The Mongolian cavalry who surrendered to the Ming army looked frightened, shouting and neighing. They were thankful that they surrendered early, otherwise, if this round of shells fell on their heads, they would all be finished.
Guan Ningjun's face turned pale and he looked at each other in shock.
Wu Sangui finally understood how Cheng Shijie chopped down Jiannu like melons and vegetables. If he had such a cannon, he could also press Jiannu to the ground and rub him.
The soldiers of the Ming Army were all greatly boosted in morale. They held their weapons high and cheered wildly. Especially the Dongjiang Army. After seeing large swaths of Jiannu soldiers being swallowed up by the overwhelming flames, their originally low morale stopped instantly. It's picking up, and it's jumping straight up like a rocket!
When they saw artillery pouring into the center of the Jiannu army, they knew that they would win this battle.
When Huang Taiji saw this scene, he clenched his fists loudly and his eyes were so red that he almost bleeded: "Damn, it's this ghost cannon again! This ghost cannon is so powerful! Every time it concentrates its fire, it will blow up." Or burn hundreds of them to death, how can we fight this battle?"
The generals of Jiannu were all stunned. They looked at each other and saw the same pale faces.
The firearms of the Ming army were so powerful. If they were applied to the battlefield on a large scale, would Hou Jin still have any hope of winning?
Cheng Shijie was very satisfied. He spent a lot of money on this round of bombardment. One shell cost fifteen taels of silver. Even the shells of the flying thunder cannon cost nearly forty taels. Of course, the flying thunder cannon cost more than 40 taels of silver. Langjigun needs to save some money.
When this round of shells went down, seven to eight hundred taels of silver were thrown out, which was equivalent to more than a hundred cows flying away.
Cheng Shijie didn't show any signs of physical pain. He smiled lightly and said, "This is just the beginning!"
Cheng Shijie still has cannons, howitzers, rocket launchers, mortars, and breech-loading rifles that he hasn't finished yet, so you can take your time and play with them!
Fu Zonglong's performance was such that he could stuff a goose egg into his mouth. The officials behind him were also shocked. A few timid ones ran away with their pants in hand. It was obvious that they were frightened to the point of peeing.
No one like these officials could be scared to death by the Ming army's own artillery.
As Ning Haijun's artillerymen quickly stuffed the shells into the gun barrel, and then pulled the gun rope.
"Boom boom boom boom..."
A new round of bombardment started again, which meant that another seven to eight hundred taels of silver were gone. Not long after the establishment of the slave formation, balls of orange-red fireballs rose up, and there was another round of screams.
Fu Zonglong, the governor of Jizhou, Baoding, Tianjin, is different from Gao Di. He rose from the grassroots level. During his tenure as the patrol commander of Guizhou, he put down the Anbangyan Rebellion. He is not unfamiliar with various firearms and artillery in the army. .
But the problem is, the Ming army artillery and firearms he knows are actually very bad in terms of lethality. How many people can be killed depends on luck. If it is in a bad mood, does not explode or only explodes into two pieces, then there is nothing anyone can do about it. .
But look at these cannons, they are completely different. One cannon blast will kill not only a dozen, but also twenty or thirty! Such a terrifying firearm, even your copper skin and iron bones can't resist it!
As the right minister of the Ministry of War and the censor of Qiandu, and the governor of Jimen, Liaodong and Baoding military affairs, Fu Zonglong looked at the artillery in Cheng Shijie's army with his eyes like a thousand-year-old bachelor looking at the most beautiful woman.
As Ning Haijun's artillery extended, the Jiannu offensive troops were dispersed. In the area where the Jiannu army was located, explosive points exploded all over the mountains and plains. There was almost no gap in the explosion. The shields in the hands of the Jiannu warriors along with their arms Flying all over the sky.
Such a shocking scene left Gao Qiqian speechless and speechless.
The faces of Wen Tiren's confidants were even more frighteningly pale. They even trembled uncontrollably and murmured: "The evil method, the evil method, it must be the evil method!"
Gao Qiqian murmured: "With such a strong army, the Ming Dynasty will have no worries from now on!"
Several of Wen Tiren's confidants looked at each other, each of them worried.
Cheng Shijie's strength is so powerful! It's okay that he is a loyal minister. If he is determined to rebel, who can stop him?
What's even more terrifying is that he also has a large number of extremely powerful cannons in his hands!
We can no longer allow him to grow and develop, we must find a way to weaken his strength! A military commander who is too powerful, whether loyal or treacherous, will be of no benefit to the civil servant group.
What the Wenchen Group wants is to firmly control all power in their own hands. No matter whether the person sitting on the dragon throne is named Zhu or Aixinjueluo, as long as the power is delegated to them, they will bow to him!
In the blink of an eye, Ning Haijun was already in close combat with Jiannu Xiang.
Under Ning Haijun's fierce offensive, Jiannu was retreating steadily and was about to be defeated.
At this time, Fan Jingwen, the Minister of War, had nothing to do with Fan Wencheng. Fan Wencheng was from Shenyang, and Fan Jingwen actually had similar resumes to Lu Xiangsheng. His rise was the same as that of Lu Xiangsheng. During the Jisi Revolution in the second year of Chongzhen, Lu Xiangsheng, as the prefect of the daimyo, recruited more than 10,000 people to strengthen the Northern Shangqin King. Fan Jingwen, who was the governor of Henan at the time, also led 8,000 of his men to send troops to serve the king and raised his own military pay.
However, Lu Xiangsheng led the Damingfu rebels to fight against the Jiannu in Daxing County, repelling two Niulu and more than 600 Jiannu who attacked Daxing. However, Fan Jingwen's troops did not participate in the battle and only marched in a circle.
Fan Jingwen was also the last cabinet scholar of the Ming Dynasty. When Li Zicheng's Dashun army entered Beijing, he did not surrender but jumped into the ancient well next to the Shuangta Temple and died. When Fan Jingwen died, he thought that the emperor had fled to the south, but he did not know that the emperor had hanged himself. After his death, he was given the posthumous title Wenzhen as Taifu.
Among the officials who followed Fu Zonglong, Fu Zonglong had the highest official position, and he was second, serving as the Minister of War. He saw that the Ming army was about to win a decisive victory.
Several officials gathered around Fan Jingwen and said, "Master Fan, if that warrior is so powerful and powerful, and if he is allowed to achieve such great achievements, who else can control him?"
"The arrogance of the warriors is getting more and more arrogant, but the country's power is getting weaker and weaker. I'm afraid it's not the blessing of the Ming Dynasty!"
"Why don't you persuade Master Fu to quickly send an order to the entire army to stop the attack?"
"It's useless! Fu is so excited now that he wants to go to the battlefield and fight in person. Who can persuade him?"
Although Fan Jingwen was considered a loyal minister, he was a civil servant first, and it was politically correct to suppress military attachés. Fan Jingwen naturally thought of a person who could solve the current crisis.
The extermination of Jiannu can be put aside for now, but the pattern of using civil servants to control military forces cannot be broken. Although Wu Sangui is also a military minister and was born as a general in western Liaoning, he and Zu Dashou have broken up now. Life must be very sad now. If it is allowed If Cheng Shijie wins this battle again, nothing will happen to the Wu family without him in the future.
If they could persuade Wu Sangui to open a gap and let Jiannu break out, Wen Tiren could definitely use this as an excuse to severely attack Cheng Shijie's prestige. After they had accomplished such a great feat, the chief assistant had to show his strength no matter what he said and let them work harder. Is it a good job to be an official?
As for what kind of consequences it would bring to the Ming Dynasty if these tens of thousands of elite elites fled back, that was not their thing to consider... Isn't it because Cheng Shijie was still there!
Fan Jingwen and other officials were in Cheng Shijie's camp. Although they were very careful when speaking, Cheng Shijie's military supervision system was not a vegetarian.
The soldiers responsible for protecting these civilian officials were all from the military supervisory system. They naturally received the news, and Chen Guodong reported the news to Cheng Shijie.
Cheng Shijie's reaction was very bland, and there was nothing more to say after he knew it.
Regardless of Cheng Shijie's light words in front of Fu Zonglong, when it was time to bleed Jiannu, he would not be merciful. He knew that Jiannu was a Xiaoqiang, and as long as there was a certain chance, they would definitely rise again.
Cheng Shijie's bottom line is not to kill Huang Taiji, but as long as he can weaken Jiannu, it can be weakened.
Less than a quarter of an hour later, Wu Sangui found Zu Dabi, Zu Dale, Zu Kefa and others. Wu Sangui said: "Second uncle, third uncle, what should we do now?"
"What should I do?" Zu Dabi was a simple man. He originally liked Wu Sangui very much, but Wu Xiang cheated Zu Dashou. Zu Dabi had a prejudice against Wu Sangui and his son, and his tone of voice was very unkind.
Wu Sangui smiled bitterly and said: "We don't have any beheadings. If we don't take action, all the slaves will be killed by Cheng Shuai's people. This is wrong!"
Zu Dale was also eager to make meritorious deeds, but was taken advantage of by Wu Sangui. He also felt something was wrong: "That's right, if we don't do anything, Ning Haijun will kill them all!
Zu Kefa was even more anxious. Zu Dale and Zu Dabi had enough military merits, so his trip was in vain. Seeing Jiannu being beaten to death by Ning Haijun, how long would he wait if he didn't take the military merits now?
Zu Dabi thought for a while and said, "Don't be anxious, wait a little longer, let's wait until Cheng Shuai's order comes, and we'll go up again!"
Wu Sangui frowned and said: "Cheng Shuai relies on infantry for everything, so why do we need cavalry? Let me tell you, Cheng Shuai just got the attack sequence wrong. We should let our cavalry come up and rush into the Jiannu army formation." If there is chaos, let the infantry press forward and defeat them in one fell swoop!"
Seeing Zu Dabi's hesitation, Wu Sangui pointed at the Jiannu army and said, "The Jiannu army now is a ripe fruit!"
At this moment, a green firework was suddenly spotted in the air. The firework exploded in the air. Zu Dabi laughed and said, "The time has come. Cheng Shuai has come down. Soldiers, follow me!"
Under the leadership of Zu Dabi, Guan Ning's Zu Jiajun and Wu Jiajun cavalry exceeded 10,000 cavalry and attacked Jiannu.
Tens of thousands of people, boundless.
Tens of thousands of cavalry charged, making a lot of noise.
Huang Taiji clearly felt the ground shaking. More than 10,000 Guan Ning Army cavalry were galloping. The momentum was so scary that even though the battlefield was already dark, he, a veteran on the battlefield, could not hide it.
Huang Taiji judged from experience that the Ming army's cavalry was moving towards the Dongjiang Army, but the speed was not fast. He couldn't help but be a little confused. What was the Ming army doing? Is it because the infantry is in a melee and the cavalry cannot participate in the battle, so this powerful cavalry is used to put pressure on them and boost the morale of the infantry?
Judging from normal circumstances, his judgment still makes sense, but when fighting with Cheng Shijie, you can't even imagine that you will encounter normal circumstances!
He soon discovered that he was too naive.
As the cavalry of Guan Ning Army joined the battle, Jian Nu was killed like a chicken by the Guan Ning Army.
At the most critical moment, Wu Sangui fell off his horse, and Wu's Guan Ningjun was shocked: "Protect the young general!"
The Wu family's army was in chaos, and a huge gap suddenly opened in the encirclement.
When Huang Taiji saw this scene, he almost wanted to cry. Happiness came too suddenly.
(End of chapter)
