As soon as Cao Zideng, the governor of Ningxia, finished speaking, Deputy Commander-in-Chief Kuai Bai hurriedly walked towards him and said solemnly, "It's bad. News came from Beijing that soldiers have been mobilized in Guyuan, Yan'an and other towns!"
After hearing this, Cao Zideng couldn't help but feel nervous: "Is this aimed at us?"
"So, we still let the court know about our killing of the clan?"
Zhu Yifang also asked at this time.
Cao Zideng said with some disappointment: "I thought that even if such news was reported, Enfu would suppress it for me."
With that said, Cao Zideng looked at Zhu Yifou and Kuaibai and said:
"But no matter what, we didn't expect this day!"
"The imperial court does not distinguish between high and low, and everyone is exempted from corvee service. This is an act that disrupts the government of the world and is unethical. No matter how the imperial court deals with us, there is only one way for us."
"That's anti!"
Afterwards, Cao Zideng handed over his hand to Zhu Yifan: "Your Highness, please raise the flag of righteousness again, pray for the peace of heaven, and clear your side!"
Although Zhu Yijun's reforms benefited the common people all over the world, they did affect the interests of many powerful bureaucrats.
For some powerful bureaucrats, preventing them from servile the military and civilians in the name of the court is simply equivalent to killing them.
After all, these powerful bureaucrats do not want to have to pay money and ask for the consent of ordinary people when labor is needed.
Because they don't have this awareness.
They have long felt that as a top figure, it is normal for them to enslave the people, and they have long felt that the people should be enslaved by them.
Even Xu Xiake, a geographer of the Ming Dynasty, recorded in his notes that when he was traveling, he forcibly captured people to serve him and were beaten when the people refused. Instead of feeling ashamed, he felt proud, thinking that he was teaching the unruly people a lesson. It’s a very fulfilling thing.
Therefore, for the powerful bureaucrats who are used to procuring labor for free, asking them to pay for labor and treat the common people as human beings will make them feel like they are suffering a big loss.
The same goes for Cao Zideng. The imperial court exempted all the people in the world from corvee service. In his opinion, it was an unjust act. It was forcing him to give away money to the people for free and forcing him to treat the people as human beings.
In addition, in the Ningxia area, there were many Han captives but few, and his subordinate Kuai Bai had turned against him. He could either recruit Han soldiers and Han people to kill Kuai Bai, or collude with Kuai Bai, but the former was difficult to do because he had already brought down the lower-level people. Han Chinese officers and soldiers had their military pay deducted and bought subscription tickets.
Therefore, Cao Zideng had no choice but to choose the second way, and at this time he used this as an excuse to persuade King Qing to rebel.
"I didn't expect this day to come."
Qing Wang Zhu Yizhen, who also colluded with Cao Zedeng and Kuaibai because he wanted to enslave the lower-level clan and people, now felt his heart pounding and asked Cao Zedeng:
"Will we succeed?"
Cao Zideng replied: "You don't have to ask whether you can do anything, but ask whether you should!"
"Your Highness, as a descendant of Taizu, you should raise troops to protect the ancestral system! Otherwise, instead of hesitating now, Your Highness should have refrained from slaughtering the clan and forcing the people to be slaves! Treat them with new etiquette!"
"Whether it's against it or not!"
"Your Highness, give me a happy word!"
At this time, Kuai Bai drew out his sword and said:
"There are hundreds of thousands of troops outside the suit, waiting for a response. There are also tens of thousands of soldiers and horses inside the suit ready at any time. If His Highness refuses, then we have no choice but to kill His Highness first, and we will raise our own troops!"
In the entire Hetao area and even Hexi, the conflict between Ming and Mongolia is actually intensifying.
First of all, the influence of climate factors has caused the Mongolian tribes’ grazing income to become lower and lower, while the plundering income has become more and more cost-effective compared with grazing and trade. Therefore, the frequency of Mongolian tribes plundering Han people has increased, resulting in borderland The conflict between Han and Mongolia became very intensified.
Secondly.
As the Han people in the country are getting richer and richer, and fewer and fewer Han people are willing to be slaves, more and more Han merchants come to buy Mongolian slaves, which makes many Mongolians join in, which in turn leads to many herdsmen that the Mongolian nobles can enslave. The population has been greatly reduced, which has made many Mongolian nobles increasingly dissatisfied with the new rituals implemented by the Ming Dynasty.
at last.
It is precisely because of the large number of Mongols who have attached themselves to the outside world, whether as slaves or as people, that the number of Hu people in Ningxia has increased. Relatively speaking, the Han people no longer have an advantage here, so there are many uninhabited people. The Mongols, who had just assimilated, began to bully the Han more and more frequently, further intensifying the Han-Mongolian conflict.
Even generals like Kuaibai, who had already surrendered to the Ming Dynasty, had thoughts of rebellion. They no longer wanted to be ministers of the Ming Dynasty. They just wanted to collude with the Mongolian nobles who had not surrendered to the Ming Dynasty and plot the entire Central Plains!
no way.
The fertile land of China's Kyushu has always been coveted by the surrounding ethnic groups. They must either peacefully annex it or conquer it.
If you can choose the latter, naturally no one will choose the former.
And now Kuaibai wants to use the latter method to directly conquer the Han family, because Zhu Yijun's new policy cannot be accepted by him.
He originally thought that Neifu could become a local emperor, that is, a big landowner. However, because of the restructuring, he not only failed to become a local emperor, but also because he regarded ordinary Han people as human beings, and he could not bully even ordinary Han people.
Therefore, Kuaibai couldn't accept it.
Just because Kuaibai couldn't stand it, and because the upper-class Mongolian figures in and outside Ningxia were a little eager to make a move, Cao Zideng and other Han officials and generals were willing to collude with him while they couldn't stand being exempted from corvee service.
Zhu Shenshuang was also worried that he would be killed directly by Kuaibai, and said: "Then raise an army. The traitorous ministers in the court are acting against the will. It is the right time to follow the "Huang Ming Ancestor Instructions" to attack the powerful traitors!"
"In that case, I would like to inform Deputy Envoy Wan Shide and other officials to come to the palace and support His Highness as king!"
Cao Zideng hurriedly said something and left.
But not long after, Cao Zideng's confidant Tu Wenxiu came to him and said: "The deputy envoys Wan Bingxian and Xiao Ruxun refused to leave Huamachi. They said that there were traps gathering troops outside the Great Wall Pass and they did not dare to leave their posts without authorization."
After hearing this, Cao Zideng's face darkened, and he came over to Kuaibai and said, "Send troops immediately. No need to ask any more questions. Wan is already on alert. If we don't raise troops, we may be in trouble!"
"Okay, I will personally lead the troops to seize the city!"
Kuai Bai immediately took Cao Zideng's governor's ticket and his elite servants, and first went to the General Military Office to find Zhang Jizhong, the commander-in-chief of Ningxia.
Zhang Jizhong asked: "What's the matter with Fuyuan that you want me to see you for?"
"Fu Yuan asked the Duke if he is willing to support King Qing as king and challenge the unjust court?!"
Kuai Bai asked.
Zhang Jizhong was shocked after hearing this: "How can Fuyuan rebel?"
"Does the father want to do it or not?"
Kuai Bai drew his sword and asked.
Seeing this, Zhang Jizhong said in a deep voice: "I would rather break my neck than betray the emperor!"
Phew!
Kuaibai stabbed Zhang Jizhong to death, and then personally led his retainers, governor Chi, and sent troops to break into Zhang Jizhong's camp, and killed all Zhang Jizhong's officers and generals including the guard Li Cheng'en.
Then, Kuaibai led his troops to occupy the city gate directly, released the prisoners, robbed the people's property in the city, and even raped the women on the spot.
At the same time, King Zhu Shensong of Qing also formally issued a proclamation to Fengtian Jingnan, asking all the vassal kings in the world to jointly punish the traitors, and also asked the entire Ningxia and Hexi fortresses to surrender, especially Wan Shide and Xiao Ruxun who were in Huamachi. A decree was sent to the two men to surrender immediately, and they were lured with high-ranking officials and generous salaries.
Because Huamachi is an important town heading east to Yulin, and it is also an important pass for Taolu to enter the pass.
But Wan Shide and Xiao Ruxun refused to surrender.
This made Kuai Bai very angry, and he said to Cao Zideng: "It seems that I have to personally lead the troops to conquer these two places."
Cao Zideng said: "First attack Huamachi! No matter what, we must allow the trappers to come in. We should send people to contact the trappers and promise to return Huamachi to their grazing land in the future and let them help fight against Huamachi." , this can be regarded as a two-sided attack, ensuring nothing goes wrong.”
I bowed my head.
…
Huamachi.
Wan Shide was asking Xiao Ruxun: "Has the news of the rebellion by King Qing, Cao Zideng, Kuaibai and others spread?"
Xiao Ruxun replied: "The news has spread. I believe Xiao Butang will get the news soon."
Then, Xiao Ruxun asked Wan Shide: "How did Bing Xian expect that they would raise troops?"
"In the entire Ningxia area, there are already many barbarians and few Han people. However, now there is a tendency that the barbarians want to enslave the Han people. Naturally, the captive chiefs and generals are unwilling, so sooner or later something bad will happen. Therefore, I have already bribed the governor's office in advance. I had an informant in order to know the situation as early as possible. When he, Cao Zideng, decided to plot rebellion, someone around him had already passed on the news, so I knew it."
Wan Shide said.
Xiao Ruxun said: "The humble post also has this concern, so we have already ordered people to prepare more food, fodder and weapons. Now we are just waiting for the imperial decree."
…
"In the case of King Qing, whether he is killing the clan alone or colluding with local bureaucrats to kill the clan, we have to deal with things that may be counterproductive. The Privy Council is right to mobilize troops in advance."
"But from my perspective, I'm afraid that if you mobilize your troops, you will still scare the enemy. Who would think that the world would be in chaos because I will never exempt the people from corvee service?"
Shi Yusi.
After Zhu Yijun came here, he discussed with Shen Shixing, Qi Jiguang and others about King Qing's embezzlement of the Mo clan's salary and the massacre of the clan, and he said this at this time.
After Zhu Yijun said this, Shen Shixing stood up first and said: "Your Majesty is right! Speaking of this, it is not only because the permanent exemption from corvee has caused dissatisfaction among some powerful officials, but also because the imperial court is currently taking the initiative to provide relief to the Mongols and encourage them. It is related to taking Mongolian people as slaves, which caused dissatisfaction among the Mongolian nobles. This is all related to my implementation of the new policy that allows the trading of people who are not of my own ethnic group, and I am willing to be punished."
Zhu Yijun waved his hand: "The Mongols have immigrated in large numbers because of hunger and cold, and we Han people are getting richer and richer, and the need to buy and sell Mongolian children as slaves is inevitable and cannot be prohibited. How can I blame you for this? We can only blame the Mongolian nobles for their own inflated ambitions and stubbornness, so they thought of using this method to fight against the imperial court, they are really overestimating their capabilities!"
"Thank you for your magnanimity, Your Majesty."
"I am very grateful."
"Your Majesty, in my humble opinion, the fact that King Qing colluded with the Taoists to massacre the clan gave the imperial court an opportunity to regain the Hetao."
"Your Majesty can issue an edict to require the Taolu chief to surrender on the grounds that the Taolu forces forced the Qiang clan to massacre his clan members. Otherwise, he will be conquered with a large army!"
Shen Shixing continued talking at this time.
Zhu Yijun said: "Very true!"
Then, Zhu Yijun said: "The Hetao is full of hidden dangers. I have discussed this matter with the ministers before, and have concluded that there will be a great chaos sooner or later. This new policy of eliminating corvee and allowing the sale of non-nationals has intensified it. This incident made this happen in advance, and what is even more hateful is that in order to continue to enslave their compatriots, King Qing and Cao Zedeng wanted to join the Tatars in conquering the country."
Zhu Yijun said it was hateful, not accidental.
This is because he knew that many people in the Ming Dynasty did not have such strong national and national concepts, but only the concept of world.
Especially the ruling class, they care more about their own interests.
You know, even when Zhu Di raised an army, he would unite with the Mongols like Duoyan Sanwei. Didn't King Qing know that he would learn from Zhu Di and unite with the Mongols?
Therefore, Zhu Yijun was not surprised that King Qing and Cao Zideng colluded to trap the prisoners, but he just felt it was hateful.
Why is it hateful?
The reason is that the new rites have been implemented for so long, and the upper-level bureaucrats of the ruling class, such as King Qing and Cao Zedeng, still do not take betrayal of the country and the nation seriously. It can be seen that many people in the ruling class are naturally reactionary, and this reactionary nature has been reflected in history. It also promoted the later Manchu Qing Dynasty's entry into the Central Plains.
"However, this does not mean that the previous New Deal cannot be implemented."
"As Yuan Fu said, this restructuring has both pros and cons. While we gain a lot of people's hearts, we will also lose some;"
"Reform!"
"It has never been about treating guests to a meal and satisfying everyone. All we can do is satisfy the majority of people. There is no doubt that whether it is to exempt people from corvee or allow the buying and selling of non-residents, it will make the country's big people happy. The majority of the people are satisfied.”
"The former helps small people and middle-class families to be relieved, while the latter allows big families to still have a source of slaves."
"It's just that the Tatar nobles who don't want to live under us, the Han people, and don't want to change their customs, and the powerful bureaucrats of this dynasty who don't want to regard their fellow countrymen as innocents, must unite together and restore the old etiquette."
"There is no way to talk about this, we can only deal with it through war!"
"You can only die or I can live!"
Zhu Yijun said, "Therefore, we should repeat the same tactics and completely eliminate all possibilities for the old rituals to dominate the national destiny again!"
"Your Majesty, Holy Might!"
Shen Shixing and other officials in power all raised their hands and said yes.
Then, Qi Jiguang cupped his hands to Zhu Yijun and said: "Your Majesty, in that case, please transfer Ma Gui back and let him lead the troops to recover Hetao."
"I second the proposal!"
"The Privy Council has asked Tielinghou, Governor of Shaanxi, to send troops from various towns in Shaanxi to Ningxia. In this way, once Ningxia rebels, they can attack separately!"
Li Chengliang followed suit at this time.
"allow!"
Zhu Yijun nodded, and then ordered: "Send fast horses and ask what is the situation in Ningxia now?"
"Fast horses have been dispatched, but everything still takes time."
Qi Jiguang replied.
Zhu Yijun didn't say anything after hearing this.
…
At that time.
Ningxia, Huamachi.
More than 100,000 captives are approaching here.
If tens of thousands of people are gathered together, there will be no bounds, let alone more than 100,000 soldiers approaching Huamachi.
Wan Shide, Xiao Ruxun and other Han people in Huamachi City also changed their colors after seeing the captives coming to Huamachi like a black torrent.
At this time, Kuaibai and Zhulitu met outside the Huamachi Great Wall Pass.
Kuaibai said to Litu: "What Duke Cao means is that if Taiji doesn't want to just get Huamachi as a grazing land, he should surrender to King Qing and follow the example of the three guards of Duoyan who surrendered to King Yan. Only in this way can the Han people not think that This uprising is because the Mongols want to enslave the Han people, but King Qing wants to clear his side! It will make more Han people less willing to resist. I wonder what Taiji thinks?"
(End of chapter)
