In June of the second year of Taichu, the Jingxiang area gradually entered midsummer, and the weather became hotter day by day. The post roads from Xiangyang Fucheng to various states and counties were filled with red dust, and there was an endless stream of horse-drawn carriages transporting wood and stone.
The Xianshou Mountain in the south of the city stands tall, and the Han River is vast and blue. Above the river, masts tower into the clouds. Thousands of sand boats sail up the Han River from Cuijiaying and Wangfuzhou wharfs, transporting ships of green bricks to Junzhou.
In early June, Emperor Wu Ding stayed at the Zhixiang Palace to escape the summer heat in the deep palace courtyard. For several days, he had banquets and merrymaking with the empress dowager Jin Yuji and nun Daphne. Needless to say, the joy of the three of them in the boudoir.
Wu Ju of the Southern Song Dynasty wrote a poem:
The jade screen is surrounded by red lanterns, and there are clusters of swimming fish playing with algae. The mat is covered with eight feet of white shrimp whiskers, and a red agate pillow is placed on the head. The six dragons were afraid of the heat and did not dare to move. The sea water boiled Penglai Island. The young master still feels that the power of the fan is weak, and the pedestrians are walking on the road of mortals.
This is said: "On a hot summer day, the princes, princes, and grandsons are soaking melons and plums in the water pavilion in the pavilion, and mixing ice and snow lotus roots to escape the summer heat. They still feel too hot. How do you know that ordinary people have little fame and little profit, so they have no choice but to go there in the cold weather? Walking on the road is hard work beyond words.
While Emperor Wu Ding was enjoying himself, he did not forget the major events in the world.
After having a banquet every day, the Supreme Emperor would study maps in detail. The maps Liu Zhaosun studied included the human body map - if beauty is also a sub-map - the Huaihe River map, the Huaiyang map, and the Huguang and Nanzhili maps. Junction map.
With the smooth advancement of the major corps in Hubei and Shandong directions, the Qi army has formed an encirclement of the small imperial court of the Southern Ming Dynasty.
As long as the two strongholds of Wuchang and Hefei are successfully occupied and the Hongguang regime's retreat to the north and west is cut off, the Qi army can sweep across the south of the Yangtze River and achieve the goal of crossing the river with a million troops, thus completing the occupation of the sacred land of the south of the Yangtze River. Only then could Da Qi truly replace Ming and become a veritable empire.
Of course, before that, the fighting spirit of the Ming army needs to be further destroyed, and it is best to surrender without a fight, so as to avoid unnecessary damage to Jiangnan caused by the war, although damage is inevitable.
In order to realize this combat plan, it is necessary to kill as many Ming troops as possible north of the Yangtze River. A peripheral decisive battle outside Nanjing is inevitable.
It's just that Emperor Wu Ding thought about whether to choose the location of this decisive battle in Hefei, Huaiyang or Wuchang for a long time, but still couldn't make up his mind.
Hefei or Wuchang have their own pros and cons.
If he attacks Hefei with all his strength first, Zuo Liangyu will immediately escape and lead his troops back to Nanjing City, thus strengthening the defense of Nanjing City.
If Wuchang is chosen, the Qi army will be disadvantaged in the naval battle. The empire's only navy is still fighting pirates in eastern Zhejiang, and it is impossible to intervene in the war on the Yangtze River.
"It would be great if Yang Qing'er came with me this time,"
Liu Zhaosun murmured to himself that Yang Qing'er had a good understanding of the army's food and fodder dispatch, the mountain topography of various places, and also had his own ideas about marching and fighting. It would be great if this virtuous wife was in Xiangyang.
Jin Yuji saw that the Supreme Emperor was in a daze, thinking that he was thinking about military affairs, so she said to Liu Zhaosun:
"I wonder how the wars in Korea and Beihai are going? Every time I think of the defeat of Hetuala, I worry about my husband."
The Empress Dowager Cisheng hesitated to speak. Seeing this, Emperor Wu Ding quickly comforted her and said:
"Madam, there is no need to worry. The army will never make the same mistake this time. The war in the north will be safe."
Liu Zhaosun deployed two large corps in North Korea to attack Pyongyang and Seoul with overwhelming force, and also had naval cover. In the direction of Sakhalin, one and a half corps were concentrated to deal with more than a thousand Cossack remnants. This time the traversers had to These enemies of the Empire paid a heavy price for adding insult to injury.
Emperor Wu Ding was silent for a moment and said thoughtfully: "Jin Yuji, you are originally from North Korea. Now that the army is approaching North Korea, why can you be so calm?"
"North Korea is a cold and desolate place. The king is capricious and repays kindness with evil. The concubines follow their husbands and live and die without regrets. The husbands will be killed when they should be killed and punished when they should be punished."
After Liu Zhaosun heard this, he knew that Jin Yuji was already standing with him. He felt warm in his heart, took the beauty into his arms, and assured the Empress Dowager Cisheng: "Before leaving, I have already told Zhao Lianjiao They repeatedly warned that, unlike the mainland, there was no need to implement the "Qi Dynasty Land Acquisition System" for the time being, and that only Li Zhu and his powerful officials would be killed. The Korean people could survive if they did not resist."
Jin Yuji smiled and said in a sweet voice: "I would like to thank Your Majesty on behalf of the Korean people."
She suddenly remembered something and asked again:
"Husband, I heard that the Southern Dynasty sent envoys to sue for peace, but you still haven't seen them?"
Liu Zhaosun smiled happily, stretched out his big hand towards Nanzhili, south of the Yangtze River, pointed at the map and said:
"Asking for peace? Why didn't they negotiate for peace when I was in Liaodong? Why didn't they negotiate for peace when I besieged Xiangyang? Now that Xiangyang has been defeated and the army is pressing down, the Southern Dynasty knows that peace is being negotiated."
"In the past few months, if Zhu Yiming had not been supported by Emperor Hongguang, he would not have resisted to the end. He killed tens of thousands of Xiangyang people and was buried with him. After the death of King Xiang, Zhu Changhui gave the butcher the posthumous name "Zhong", with the intention of disgusting me. !”
Seeing that Emperor Wu Ding was furious, Jin Yuji stopped talking. At the last moment when Xiangyang City was destroyed, Zhu Yiming drove the people to the city to defend themselves, even women and children were not spared, and countless people were killed.
Although the Qi army did not deliberately massacre the city, after this battle, it caused the effect of massacre of the city. More than 30,000 people in the city died.
Although the time traveler has always been quite tolerant towards Zhu Yuanzhang's descendants, what Zhu Yiming did still made him furious. Therefore, after the city of Xiangyang was destroyed, King Xiang was executed by Ling Chi.
On June 18, Emperor Wu Ding ended his short summer vacation and continued to take care of state affairs.
The Supreme Emperor rushed to Junzhou to inspect the construction of Tianxin City, which he had longed for.
In midsummer, the heat along the way was unbearable, and it was inconvenient for Jin Yuji and Daphne to go together, so they stayed at the Xiangyang Palace, waiting for the return of the Emperor.
Emperor Wu Ding only brought along Zhang Dong Lin Yu and others, as well as the former Ming Emperor Zhu Youxiao. The carpenter emperor had a lot of research on mortise and tenon and bracket technology, and was appointed by Liu Zhaosun to be one of the construction consultants of Tianxin City.
Dou Gong is a special component in Chinese architecture, which is composed of square dou, rise, arch, warp and high. The upper part supports the roof and the lower part connects to the columns, which has strong earthquake resistance.
The Supreme Emperor and his party rode on fast horses and arrived at the Tianxin City construction site two hundred miles away the next day.
Craftsmen cut the stones transported from Yunyang and Xichuan on the spot, and some workers used masonry hammers to cut another kind of rough stone. This stone will be used as the foundation, and the foundation will be as deep as five feet, ensuring that Tianxin City is as solid as a rock and unbreakable. .
The masons hit the stones with hammers and roughened the stone surface. Some craftsmen transferred from the Ministry of Works raised the stones and then used plumb lines to build straight walls.
The periphery of the new city is supported by 10,000 taller and thicker masts. The masts are arranged according to the shape of the foundation, which is the same as the perimeter of the permanent Tianxin City. The city has an eight-pole shape. Countless rockeries were also transported to the construction site. The momentum announced that Tianxin City would be built here.
All the people around Junzhou who could pick up hammers and tongs were conscripted to this huge construction site next to the Han River. Some young men put aside their urgent matters and work in the fields to help move earth and rocks, stir mud, and participate in the imperial capital. of construction.
Before Emperor Wuding Xingluan arrived in Junzhou, a supernatural incident occurred on the construction site.
A strong wind on Wudang Mountain in June destroyed all the scaffolding.
The masts, planks, beams, and joists were in a mess, and dense hailstones remained on the ground.
It was as if a demon suddenly descended into the world; the craftsmen and the people were frightened out of their wits and said that the storm was caused by the Taoist priest who died violently.
After Emperor Wu Ding arrived in Junzhou, he immediately asked his high priests and Ke Zhen'e to perform rituals on the altar, and asked civil affairs officials to distribute food to the people affected by the disaster.
Daqi officials rebuilt everything in two days.
At the end of June, news of the victory between Wu Aheng and Zheng Zhilong in the Zhoushan Islands came back to Xiangyang. It was said that Zheng Zhilong had fled to Fujian. Wu Aheng asked in the Tangbao to allow him to continue the pursuit. This request was directly rejected by the Emperor.
"The naval battle will be slowed down for a while. I want to prepare for the Huaihai Campaign and the Crossing the River Campaign. I will have the warships withdraw from the inland river and cover the soldiers to cross the Yangtze River."
In July of the second year of Taichu, Emperor Hongguang, who had a premonition of an imminent disaster, asked his ministers for advice in the main hall of the Forbidden City in Nanjing on how to deal with the uprising.
The ministers of the Southern Ming Dynasty were speechless. The road before them was very clear. The Northern Expedition was no match for the Qi army, and there was no capital for peace talks. Zuo Liangyu was in great danger and was already an evil tiger that could not be fed.
Ruan Dacheng received many benefits from Ma Shiying and others, and became Qi's number one spy in Nanjing. At his request, the Hongguang court sent an unprecedented luxurious mission, carrying a hundred thousand taels of silver and one gold. Thousand taels and 2,600 horses of python and satin went north to Xiangyang at night, trying to beg Emperor Wu Ding to postpone the attack on Nanjing to prevent the people in Jiangnan from suffering military disasters.
It was a pity that Emperor Wu Ding did not receive them, although there were many famous figures such as Lu Zhenfei, Xiong Ru, Huang Gongfu, and Du Yinxi among the delegation.
On the seventh day of July, Ma Shiying, the Minister of Rites, received the Nanming envoy in the side hall of Xiangwang Palace.
Ma Shiying didn't talk nonsense. He stepped forward and threatened:
"Being hypocritical and rebellious, having no regard for integrity, not knowing the justice of the emperor and his ministers, not saving the late emperor is the first crime; setting up an emperor without authorization is the second crime; supporting troops in every town to abuse the people is the third crime. My emperor is kind and has indulged you until now, but you have no intention of repenting. , insisting on going his own way, sending troops day and night to punish him!"
The first is not to save the late emperor, that is, the Tianqi Emperor Zhu Youjian. During the Battle of Beijing, there were almost no soldiers to serve the king in various places. At this time, there were not no soldiers and horses in the south of the Ming Dynasty to serve the king. For example, Huang Degong, Zuo Liangyu and others in the four towns in Jiangbei later had soldiers and horses, but they could not patrol. King Qin did not dare to enter the capital, so the first point Ma Shiying said is indeed no problem.
The second article is to establish an emperor without permission. After the death of Emperor Tianqi, the Ming Dynasty immediately installed Zhu Changhui, a collateral descendant, as the new emperor in Nanjing. This was Emperor Hongguang. According to the inheritance system and ethics of the Ming Dynasty, King Gui's succession to the throne was a transgression, because King Fu had not yet existed at this time, so Ma Shiying's statement also makes sense.
Article 3: Each town supports troops and abuses the people. This is also true. After the death of Zhu Youjian, the Ming Dynasty established the four towns in Jiangbei and directly let the four towns collect the taxes in the areas under their jurisdiction. So the four towns plundered the people. On the other hand, the four towns The warlords were originally incapable of fighting and specialized in oppressing the people's army, so this is also true.
Seeing how cruel Ma Shiying was, the Nanming envoys gave them no room to speak and were unable to refute.
Facing Ma Shiying's rebuke, he could only swallow his anger and let him slaughter him.
Emperor Wu Ding was not very interested in peace talks. He had already put forward extremely harsh conditions and asked Ma Shiying to read them to the Nanming envoy:
"My emperor is kind and can't bear the loss of life. If you want peace talks, you must agree to the following:
1. In the Ming Dynasty, Qi Feng declared himself a minister and was canonized as emperor by Qi.
2. The borders between the two countries are bounded by the Huai River in the east and Wuchang and Hanyang in the west. From the Huai River to the west, Huangzhou (Huanggang) and Hefei were cut off in the Ming Dynasty, and the whole province of Jiangxi was merged.
3. Every year on the birthday of the Emperor of Qi, envoys are sent out to congratulate him.
4. Next year, 250,000 taels of tribute cloth, 10,000 jins of tea, and one million taels of silver will be delivered to Sizhou (northeast of Yueyi County, Anhui) in the spring of each year.
5. The prince Zhu Cixiang and Princess Changping of Emperor Tianqi are all here to attend.
Before Ma Shiying could finish speaking, Huang Gongfu, who was in his late fifties and was the former Chief Secretary of Huguang, took the case and said angrily:
"That's unreasonable! You claim to cede territory, pay tribute every year, and list yourself as a vassal. Rather than saying it is a covenant, it is better to call it a letter of surrender! I will never agree!"
Lu Zhenfei, Xiong Ru, and Du Yinxi also walked away.
Since then, the Qiming peace talks collapsed.
Emperor Wu Ding then ordered the Third Corps to launch an attack from Shandong to southern Zhili. Hefei was severely damaged, Zuo Liangyu suffered 10,000 casualties, and Nanjing was shocked.
In early August, the Nanming court was forced to accept the terms of the peace talks and once again sent Lu Zhenfei, Xiong Ru, Huang Gongfu, Du Yinxi and others to Xiangyang for peace talks.
Ma Shiying said to Huang Gongfu with a sinister smile:
"My emperor is kind, peace talks are of course possible, but Mr. Huang, we need to increase the money. The annual currency will be changed from one million to one and a half million!"
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