Yidu City, Prince Heng's Mansion.
It is said to be a royal palace, but it is actually a royal city! The city has high walls and is protected by moats on all sides. If there were no Hongyi cannons, this royal city alone would be enough for Zhu Cixiang's new army to overcome difficulties.
Although the new army that has overcome difficulties is now well-disciplined, with orderly formations and high morale, it is still far from being a truly invincible elite force!
They don't have the Hongyi cannon that can break the city, nor do they have a sufficient number of firecrackers. Basically, they can only rely on spears, bows and arrows, and knives to support the market.
Such an army may be able to exert good combat effectiveness in field battles, but it is impossible to break through Yidujian City and Hengwang City.
However, on the night of the second day of July in the seventeenth year of the Chongzhen reign of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Cixiang was already sitting in the Yin'an Hall of Prince Heng's Mansion, smiling and looking at Prince Heng Zhu Youyi and his sons, who were stripped of their python robes and regular clothes. Wearing white clothes, he knelt down in his hall.
Yidu City and Prince Heng's Mansion are now firmly under the control of the new army of Kenan!
Li Shiyuan, the former Qingzhou branch garrison general who assisted Zhu Cixi in controlling the Heng Palace, had now become the imperial envoy to guard the Qingzhou local military officer and was knowledgeable about Qingzhou government affairs. In other words, he had captured all the military and political power of the Qingzhou government!
Li Shiyuan, the newly appointed official, is now standing beside Zhu Cixiang, interceding for Prince Heng Zhu Youyi.
"Master Qiansui, although His Highness Prince Heng surrendered to Chuang Ni, he finally repented and sent his ministers to sneak attack Chuang Ni Yao Yingfeng's troops and kill them. Finally, he could atone for his sins. I hope you can help him. Your Royal Highness, the Military Prince, may show mercy and spare him from the death penalty."
Just to avoid death... Living sins cannot be forgiven, and Heng Fan will definitely be gone. King Heng was deposed as a commoner and was imprisoned for life by a high wall. The princes of counties below Heng Fan, the generals of Zhenguo, and the lieutenants of Fengguo must also be deposed as commoners. From now on, the whole family can fend for itself!
Thinking of the hard days ahead, King Heng and his sons couldn't help but burst into tears. It was sad to see them.
However, Zhu Cixiang still had a smiling expression and was not moved at all.
"Hengfan, stop crying! There's no point in crying!" Zhu Cixiang said, "Although Commander-in-Chief Li is willing to give you some of his credit, I don't believe it. You are such a coward, how dare you give Commander-in-Chief Li some credit? Order to fight against the bandits? Your crime is unpardonable!"
Unpardonable?
Just dying?
Prince Heng Zhu Youyi was so frightened that he couldn't even cry. His whole body was shaking, his lower body was still warm, and then there were traces of water on the floor tiles.
"It's not forgivable," Zhu Cixiang looked at his cowardly look and smiled, "But you can make atonement by performing meritorious deeds! Heng Fan, do you want to atone for your sins?"
Can you atone for your sins?
"Think, think..." King Heng Zhu Youji heard that he could live, and kowtowed quickly, "I am willing to dedicate all my property to His Highness the Crown Prince, but I only ask His Highness to spare my life. I will grow old within the high walls of the Yangtze River."
"Haha," Zhu Cixiang smiled and shook his head, "It's not enough! Your sin is too great and your family property is too small. It's not enough to atone for it! What should we do?"
"This, this..." Prince Heng Zhu Youyi was speechless. He was willing to give up all his family property, and if it wasn't enough, there was nothing he could do.
"I don't need your family property." Zhu Cixiang smiled at this time and pointed out the way for Prince Heng Zhu Youyi, "I can also keep your throne for you. Of course, you can't stay in Qingzhou, follow I’ll go to Nanjing and I’ll give you a palace for your retirement, what do you think?”
Is there such a good thing?
King Heng Zhu Youyi was a little stupid. He was unpardonable just now, but now he can even retain the throne?
Zhu Cixiang looked at the stunned vassal king and whispered: "Prince Heng, if you want to go to Nanjing alive and enjoy happiness, you have to work for me. Are you willing to work for me?"
"Yes, yes..." Prince Heng nodded repeatedly, and then said with a sad face, "It's just that the guilty minister is stupid and can't do anything!"
"It doesn't matter if you don't," Zhu Cixiang said with a smile, "I will ask someone to teach you how to do things... Here is the person coming, Zhu Chunchen, the commander-in-chief of the Xuanyu Camp!"
The person who was sent to teach King Heng how to do things was Chengguo Gong Zhu Chunchen. He is now the commander-in-chief of the imperial camp, a very big official!
However, there are no soldiers in the imperial camp. There are only two generals, four admirals, and a bunch of generals, deputy generals, and staff generals. In short, if those nobles and hereditary high-ranking military attachés who followed Zhu Cixiang from Beijing had no other place to arrange, they would just put their name in the imperial camp and get a share of money and food for free.
By the way, the civil and military officials who followed Zhu Cihong can now receive their full salaries without compromise. Their legal income is actually higher than when they were in Beijing.
Of course, Zhu Cixiang did not treat these nobles and hereditary military attachés in the imperial camp as useless - as long as these people are used in the right place, they can all be pillars!
Even King Heng Zhu Youyi is quite useful as long as he makes good use of it.
...
In Yanzhou, Shi Si, the chief of Prince Lu's palace, and Shi Kefa, the commander-in-chief of the palace.
In a reception hall, several cups of tea are emitting a strong aroma of tea. Shi Butang changed into a loose jade-white Confucian uniform, without wearing a hat, and sat leisurely at the top.
The three visitors were all dressed as scribes, and one of them was Kong Yinzhi, Duke Yansheng. The other man had a gray and thick beard and was Gao Hongtu, the Minister of Household Affairs in Nanjing who had just arrived in Yanzhou.
There is another person who is a thin scribe with a goatee and blistered eyes. He is about the same age as Gao Hongtu, about sixty years old. This man is very powerful. He is the leader of Donglin. Qian Qianyi is famous in history for his allusions of "the water is too cold" and "the scalp is itchy".
Gao Hongtu led most of the ministers and ministers who stayed in Nanjing to go north to welcome him. The Six Ministries of Nanjing were headed by Shi Kefa, followed by Gao Hongtu and Zhang Shenyan. Now only Zhang Shenyan, the official minister of Nanjing who is ill and unable to travel, is still staying behind, and the other five ministers have gathered in Yanzhou.
Qian Qianyi was not an official in office. He, the leader of Donglin, had poor official luck. In the tenth year of Chongzhen, he had a political dispute with Wen Tiren and both sides suffered losses. He was punished by declassification and returned home, and has been unemployed ever since.
Xu saw some opportunity this time, so he took several disciples and went north to Yanzhou with Gao Hongtu.
"Accept, although you are in the opposition, you are recognized as the leader of Donglin, and your reputation is even higher than us. This time, I have to rely on you to advise the Holy Emperor and Prince Fujun! If you can mobilize more It would be great if some talented people from Southern Zhili can jointly submit a letter to make suggestions and create a trend."
Shi Kefa's face was solemn, his tone was calm, and he spoke his thoughts slowly.
When it comes to confronting Zhu Cixiang, Shi Kefa has always been firm but not cruel!
Zhu Cixiang, an unfilial son who dares to attack the foundation of Great Tomorrow, will definitely oppose it! However, he did not dare to summon troops and sent troops to Dengzhou to fight Zhu Cixiang. Instead, he wanted to defeat His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, who had a new army of 60,000 people to overcome difficulties, through public opinion offensive.
And he didn't dare to openly raise the banner of deposing the prince - because Chongzhen had no spare tire around him, who would be the leader of the country if he deposed the prince?
If you can't abolish it, then you can only ask the prince to return to Chongzhen and think about it behind closed doors...
Of course, based on public opinion and public opinion alone, Zhu Cixiang would probably not back down. Therefore, military preparations must also be made! The soldiers of the four towns, plus the army of King Qin brought by Shi Kefa from Nanjing, plus the land and water troops of Liudu controlled by the nobles of Nanjing.
There are more than 150,000 book soldiers in total!
There are 150,000 troops on paper, plus Nanjing officials, plus public opinion in Southern Zhili, plus Duke Yan Sheng, who has the power of a vassal king here in Shandong.
Zhu Cixiang should be afraid, right?
Even if all power is not returned to Chongzhen, he will still make concessions on the land issue to the landowners and literati who are the foundation of the Great Tomorrow, right?
Qian Qianyi gently turned the tea bowl in his hand, as if he was thinking about something, when footsteps suddenly sounded outside the door, and then he saw Shi Dewei walking in quickly, holding a newspaper and a decree in his hand.
"Father, Your Majesty has left Dengzhou and arrived at Yidu, the capital county of Qingzhou. He is stationed at Prince Heng's Mansion. He has also ordered His Highness Prince Heng and Duke Rong Cheng, the commander-in-chief of the imperial camp, to be the superiors. He is leading people to Yanzhou Mansion. He is expected to be there tomorrow. Arrive in Qufu.
In addition, a decree was sent, saying that the emperor and the prince wanted to worship Confucius in Qufu. He ordered Duke Yan and the governor of Shandong to arrange the pick-up arrangements with King Heng and Duke Cheng. "
