After two twists and turns, the sun parted the dark clouds, and a ray of golden light sprinkled on the armor of the King of Yan, as if it was coated with a layer of golden light. The King of Yan looked like his father, both of them had big heads and round faces and were handsome. In addition, he had been killing and making decisions for many years, and his prestige in Yan was not that of an emperor, but even greater than that of an emperor. With this halo on his head, he really looked like a real dragon emperor.
"Jing Nan! We will win!"
The soldiers shouted slogans again, and the "Fengtian Jingnan" oath-taking ceremony was a complete success.
When the news of Prince Yan's rebellion reached the suburb of Tongzhou, the soldiers and civilians of Tongzhou surrendered to Prince Yan automatically without any resistance.
The next day, on the eighth day of the seventh month, the Jingnan Army captured Jizhou. Zunhua and Miyun took the initiative to surrender and submit to the Prince of Yan.
On July 11, the Jingnan Army broke through Juyong Pass.
On July 16, the Jingnan Army captured Huailai.
On July 18, Yongping Prefecture submitted to the Prince of Yan.
On July 24, the Jingnan Army of the Prince of Yan's Mansion approached Xuanfu, the fiefdom of Prince Gu Zhu Tan.
The biological mother of Prince Gu Zhu Sui was the most unfortunate Concubine Guo Huifei during the Hongwu period. His maternal grandfather was Guo Zixing, who was the adoptive father of Empress Xiaoci. Emperor Gaozu was just a ceremonial soldier under Guo Zixing. He made his first pot of gold by killing Guo Zixing's biological son, forcibly marrying Guo Zixing's daughter as a concubine, and then inherited his political legacy as a son-in-law and reached the peak of his life.
This first bucket did not come in an honorable way. Emperor Gaozu had always been wary of his concubine Guo. Although she had the merit of giving birth to children, she was always kept as Concubine Hui and was never allowed to assist in managing the harem.
Concubine Guo Hui honestly gave birth to children for the Zhu family all her life. She gave birth to three sons and two princesses. One of the princesses even married into the Wuding Marquis Mansion, the family of Concubine Duanjing Guo. She thought she would live a peaceful life in her old age, but Emperor Gaozu did not let her go after all. When he was dying, he wanted Concubine Guo Hui to be buried with him...
At that time, in order to prevent the princes from posing a threat to the crown prince, Emperor Gaozu issued an edict ordering the princes not to return to the capital to mourn, but to stay in their respective fiefdoms to mourn.
Prince Gu was the youngest son of Concubine Guo Huifei. He knew that he had an awkward background, so he was sensible since childhood, studied literature and martial arts, and dared not cause trouble. After he became a fief, although he did not have earth-shaking achievements like Prince Yan, Xuanfu was an important place among the nine borders of the Ming Dynasty. He organized the renovation of the Great Wall and led troops to guard the border. Since he became a fief, Xuanfu has been peaceful, and Prince Gu has made great contributions.
Prince Gu thought that if he guarded the border honestly, after his father passed away, he might be able to use his merits to bring his old mother, Concubine Guo Hui, who had lived in fear all her life, to Xuanfu to live out her days with her grandchildren. However, he received the tragic news that his mother was buried alive with his father.
The father died and the mother was buried alive with him. If this kind of human tragedy happened to an ordinary person, he would probably collapse on the spot. Fortunately, Prince Gu was strong and had no choice but to accept this cruel fact.
However, acceptance does not mean submission. Prince Gu did not have the ambition of Prince Yan. If the princes were to be reduced, he could give up his military power and become an idle prince. But he also knew why his mother, who had been honest all her life, wanted to be buried alive with the emperor. Wasn't it to consolidate the position of the new emperor and give up a quiet harem so that the new emperor would have no constraints
After all, it is to pave the way for the new monarch.
Now Prince Yan is at the doorstep, and Prince Gu has tens of thousands of elite soldiers under his command, the kind that guards the border all year round. The local military leaders have gathered at Prince Gu's mansion, waiting for Prince Gu's order to immediately stop Prince Yan's "rebels."
With the current strength, Xuanfu is more than capable of fighting the Yan army and blocking the Prince of Yan from advancing into the Central Plains. However, Prince Gu has his own plans due to years of grievances: Why should the little emperor in Nanjing ask me to risk all my family fortune and even my life to stop my fourth brother's army
Are we familiar with each other? Didn’t the young emperor want to reduce the power of the princes, force the whole family of the King of Xiang to death, and reduce the five brothers to commoners and imprison them in Fengyang
In order to protect this little emperor, my mother suffered all her life and was even buried alive with him, without ever enjoying a single day of happiness.
After this nephew came to power, he pointed his knife at the royal family all day long, attacking both uncles and princesses of their aunt's generation indiscriminately. Who can stand this
Maybe if Fourth Brother comes to power, my life will be better.
Therefore, Prince Gu Zhu Sui simply gave up his job and left, taking his palace soldiers and his wife and children with him to the capital. The Yan army easily took over the important military base of Xuanfu...
On July 27, Zen Master Daoyan used a counter-espionage strategy to cause internal strife among the soldiers guarding Songting Pass, killing their general and forcing them to surrender.
By August, the Yan army was approaching the territory of Zhu Zhi, the King of Liao who was guarding the nine borders of the Ming Dynasty.
Zhu Zhi, the Prince of Liao, was born to Concubine Han, a tribute girl from Goryeo. Concubine Han died early, thus avoiding the fate of being buried alive with the emperor. The Prince of Liao and the Prince of Yan were not close. When Emperor Jianwen reduced the power of the princes, he first took out the Prince of Yan's younger brother, Prince of Zhou, Zhu Su, to build an island as a warning to others. Many princesses and princes of the royal family wrote to the court to plead for the doctor-crazy Prince of Zhou, but the Prince of Liao chose to protect himself and did not write to the court to plead for him.
The nine princes who guarded the nine borders of the Ming Dynasty had been fighting against the Northern Yuan Dynasty for many years to protect the borders of the Ming Dynasty. Therefore, these nine princes were all brave and good at fighting. The soldiers in the prince's mansion were all elite soldiers who had experienced hundreds of battles. The strength of the King of Liao was comparable to that of the King of Gu. He despised the King of Gu for being "cowardly and incompetent" and not even resisting. He fled to the capital in disgrace, which was a disgrace to the reputation of the nine princes of the nine borders of the Ming Dynasty.
So when the Prince of Yan rebelled, the King of Liao prepared his troops and made good preparations for a fight with the Prince of Yan. On the one hand, it was to protect his own fiefdom, and on the other hand, it was to show his loyalty to the young emperor. Even if he was to be weakened in the future, he would do so in a gentle manner.
The King of Liao had a wishful thinking. He stayed on guard all night, ready to fight a tough battle with his fourth brother.
At the same time, in the capital, thousands of miles away.
Ming Dynasty Palace, Kunning Palace.
Hu Shanwei led Princess Ying to meet Queen Ma.
Guo, the wife of Prince Ying, the eldest daughter of Marquis Wuding Guo Ying, and the niece of Consort Duanjing. The Guo family was so prominent in the past that it was one of the only five old noble families left after Emperor Gaozu's purge. However, Emperor Jianwen disliked the Guo family because the second daughter of Guo became the concubine of the Prince of Yan, so he did not value the Guo family's children. Even when selecting a companion for the crown prince, four of the five great nobles in the capital had their grandchildren selected, but the Guo family was left out and was about to decline.
Empress Ma followed her husband's lead. Her husband deliberately treated the Guo family coldly. She was not allowed to be too close to the Imperial aunt, Princess Guo of Prince Ying, and was polite yet distant.
Princess Ying first performed the great ceremony of courtesy between the monarch and his subjects, and then Empress Ma returned a half-courteous ceremony, which was considered a family ceremony.
Princess Guo of Prince Ying said, "Today I am meeting the Queen because of a major military matter, but the Emperor is so busy that he has no time to meet her, so he had to ask Concubine Hu to meet the Queen."
Empress Ma frowned, "The harem is not allowed to interfere in government affairs, how could the princess not know that?"
Hu Shanwei handed an opened letter to Queen Ma, "The military situation is urgent. After reading it, I think it is very valuable, so I will bring Princess Ying to see the Queen."
Empress Ma did not believe Princess Ying, but believed in Hu Shanwei's judgment, so she opened the letter and took a look. Her face suddenly changed, and she took the letter to the Qianqing Palace to find Emperor Jianwen.
This letter was written by Miss Guo Er, the concubine of the Prince of Yan, to her elder sister, the Princess of Ying. It was basically about family matters. There was a paragraph saying that the uncle of the King of Liao was a man who was cold on the outside but warm on the inside. Although he did not plead for the King of Zhou who was demoted to a commoner, when the Prince of Yan brought his family back to Yan and passed through the vassal state of the King of Liao, the uncle of the King of Liao hosted a banquet for them, asked about their well-being, and even sent troops to escort them.
In the letter, Miss Guo Er also lamented that although she was the concubine of Prince Yan, she had always lived in the capital and had never seen what the Prince Yan's Mansion in Beiping looked like. She thought that the nine vassal kings were independent of each other and had no influence on each other. Now it seems that the rumors were all false. What you hear is not as good as what you see. The real relationship between the emperor's uncles is actually quite good.
When Emperor Jianwen saw it, his expression changed. These uncles were so cunning. Some played the good cop and some played the bad cop. He almost got fooled again. This King of Liao didn't try his best to stop the Yan army as he wrote in the letter. It was obvious that he wanted to take his troops and join the Yan army and become corrupt!
Fortunately, the Crown Prince's concubine Guo accidentally revealed the secret, and Princess Ying was very understanding and sent the family letter to the palace. Emperor Jianwen immediately issued an imperial edict and sent it to Guangning, where Zhu Zhi, the Prince of Liao, was enfeoffed.
In Guangning, the King of Liao was convening a mobilization meeting before the battle. The Liao army's fighting spirit was aroused, and they were ready to fight a decisive battle with the Yan army that was rebelling in the name of pacifying the rebellion.
When the Liao King was about to give the order to deploy his troops, a sharp voice rang out, "The imperial edict has arrived!"
The King of Liao thought that it was food and fodder sent by Emperor Jianwen to comfort the troops, so he knelt down immediately to listen to the order.
The angel said, "The Emperor, by the Mandate of Heaven, hereby decrees: Prince of Liao Zhu Zhi shall immediately evacuate his territory and return to the capital to await orders. No mistakes shall be made. This is my decree!"
The King of Liao was confused and suspected that he was hallucinating. "Eunuch, what are you talking about?"
The angel snorted coldly, "The Emperor wants the King of Liao to return to the capital immediately and not to engage in direct conflict with the Yan army. The King of Liao still refuses to accept the order? Does Your Majesty want to disobey?"
The King of Liao had no choice but to withdraw his troops. Not to mention stopping the Yan army, he couldn't even defend the city. He evacuated his fiefdom that same day and handed over such a large piece of land to the King of Yan.
As a result, the King of Yan occupied the Liao territory without any effort.
The King of Liao fled to the capital with his family, but before they reached the capital, tens of thousands of soldiers under his command were stopped by Duke of Cao Li Jinglong, who demanded that they lay down their weapons, set up camp in the suburbs and await arrangements.
Seeing Li Jinglong's arrogant look, the King of Liao felt so humiliated that he burst into anger and slapped his nephew in the face.
With a snap, half of Li Jinglong's face was swollen, "You... you dare to hit me!"
After all, the King of Liao was the son of Emperor Gaozu, and he had his pride. He looked down on the King of Yan, so how could he look up to Li Jinglong? He spat, "In terms of title, I am a prince, and you are just a duke; in terms of seniority, I am your uncle, and you are my nephew. No matter what, I can beat him!"
Li Jinglong was so angry that his teeth itched, but the Liao King was right. The Liao King could beat him despite his seniority. He had no choice but to ask Emperor Jianwen for justice. Emperor Jianwen comforted this expert in reducing the power of the vassal states, "The Liao King has a bad temper. You should just bear with it."
The King of Liao went to the palace to meet Emperor Jianwen and expressed his submission. "… I am loyal to you, and the sun and the moon can bear witness to my loyalty! Now my wife and children are in the capital, and I am reluctant to leave the beautiful land of Liao. Please allow me to lead my old subordinates to attack the Yan army and recover the land!"
The King of Liao had been working in the vassal state for many years and had developed feelings for the land. He was reluctant to give it up to the King of Yan and wanted to lead his troops to take it back.
Seeing that the King of Liao was so sincere and had hostages in his hands, Emperor Jianwen did not dare to go back on his word. He thought to himself, was I too suspicious and wrongly accusing him
He was immediately tempted, but Emperor Jianwen remembered the letter from Miss Guo Er. He decided to wait and see and did not agree to the King of Liao's request.
As a result, just as the King of Liao left the palace, urgent military information came from the front line:
Zhu Quan, Prince of Ning, one of the nine princes of the nine borders of the Ming Dynasty, led the military and civilians of the vassal state, together with the famous Mongolian cavalry "Three Guards of Doyan" under his command, to join the Jingnan Army of Prince of Yan. The two malignant tumors became involved!
In fact, Prince Ning just wanted to wait and see, but was forced to join the gang. The process was comparable to that of Lin Chong, the instructor of the 800,000 imperial troops, who was forced to join the Liangshan gang.
Ning Wang Zhu Quan was second only to Yan Wang in power. His vassal state, Daning, bordered the Northern Yuan Dynasty, located at the military fortress Xifengkou. To the east was the territory of Liao Wang Zhu Zhi, and to the west was Xuanfu, the vassal state of Gu Wang Zhu Sui who had voluntarily abandoned the city and fled. It was a military stronghold. Because Zhu Quan's territory was in Mongolia, with his mediation, the Mongolian tribes announced their breakup with the Northern Yuan Dynasty, and threw themselves into the arms of the Ming Dynasty, becoming three guards of the Ming Dynasty, known as the "Three Guards of Duoyan".
The characteristics of these Mongolian cavalrymen are that they are particularly good at fighting... and whoever gives you milk is your mother.
Prince Ning gave them military pay, so they followed Prince Ning. Prince Yan sent Zen Master Daoyan and his disciple Ma Sanbao to persuade them to give them more food and military pay, so they followed Prince Yan, and when Prince Ning was out of town to negotiate with Prince Yan, they surrounded Prince Ning's mansion and placed his wife and children under house arrest.
Prince Ning was also trapped by his cunning fourth brother. Seeing that the situation was hopeless, he had no choice but to announce that he would join the Jingnan Army and follow his fourth brother to serve the king.
However, Emperor Jianwen did not know the whole process. He only knew that Prince Ning led the elite cavalry "Three Guards of Duoyan" to join Prince Yan in rebellion. He was immediately furious and immediately sent someone to call back Prince Liao Zhu Zhi and scolded him:
"Now that things have come to this, what else do you have to say? You still say that there is nothing between you and the King of Yan? If I hadn't called you back, would you have also taken your army to join the King of Yan?"
Faced with three fatal questions, the King of Liao felt even more wronged than Dou E! Looking at the young emperor, the King of Liao thought to himself, "I wanted to help you, but you took my kindness for granted."
Forget it, I won't care anymore. The more I care, the more trouble I'll cause. I might as well learn from King Gu and abandon the city and run away cleanly from the beginning!
You and fourth brother go and fight, I will just sit on the mountain and watch the fight. Whoever becomes the emperor will be a member of the Zhu family anyway.
In this way, the only prince who clearly supported Emperor Jianwen became silent, depressed all day long, waiting for the final outcome.
The Yan army captured the city of Beiping on the night of July 6, and successively swallowed up the territories of Prince Gu and Prince Liao. In just one month, the Prince of Yan's Mansion controlled the northeast and northwest and occupied three of the nine borders of the Ming Dynasty. Its unstoppable momentum shocked the government and the public.
Prince of Yan Zhu Di slowly headed towards the Central Plains. There were villages scattered ahead and the throne was right in front of him.
Why has the imperial court failed to organize central troops to quell the rebellion in the past month
Because Emperor Jianwen has been holding meetings for the past month to look for the best candidate to serve as commander-in-chief.
The court was arguing like a market every day, and Emperor Jianwen was wavering and undecided. He felt that everyone had advantages and disadvantages.
Among them was Li Jinglong, Duke of Cao, the emperor's cousin and a master at reducing the power of the feudal lords. However, he had no experience in fighting big battles, and only engaged in small battles. The most he did was to train troops and conduct military exercises.
Duke of Wei Xu Huizu. The descendant of a famous general, he was brave and good at fighting. He had been on the expedition with his father Xu Da since he was young. He had experience in fighting and winning big battles. He was loyal to the court and was currently the most popular candidate for the Northern Expedition to quell the rebellion.
But the disadvantage is obvious: he is the eldest brother of the Princess of Yan. Emperor Jianwen is worried that this second Duke of Wei will defect to support his eldest brother-in-law, the Prince of Yan.
Geng Bingwen, Marquis of Changxing. The only veteran who survived from the founding of the Hongwu Dynasty to the present. After the four major cases of the Empty Seal Case, Hu Weiyong's Rebellion Case, Li Shanchang's Rebellion Case, and Lan Yu's Rebellion Case, Geng Bingwen was the only one who survived. Moreover, the Princess Jiangdu, the elder sister of Emperor Jianwen, married Geng Bingwen's eldest son, showing his loyalty.
The disadvantage is that he is really old. Lian Po is old, can he still eat
Mu Sheng, Duke of Qian. A descendant of a famous general, like Xu Huizu, he was a second-generation military man who was particularly good at fighting and had practical experience. Moreover, Mu Sheng's mother, Lady Geng, Duke of Qian, was the eldest daughter of Geng Bingwen, Marquis of Changxing, and her loyalty was beyond doubt.
However, the disadvantage is that it is a rule established by Emperor Gaozu that the Mu family has been guarding Yunnan for generations. Once Mu Sheng is called upon, Yunnan will surely be in chaos. By then, the Ming Dynasty will be attacked from all sides, adding insult to injury.
Qi Tai, the Minister of War. The highest commander of the Ming army and a minister of state. However, Qi Tai was a Jinshi (imperial scholar) who could write articles and take military exams, but he had never seen blood, had no actual combat experience, and would never fight.
The Yan army marched southwards into the Central Plains after a great argument at the imperial court. Emperor Jianwen could not wait for the ministers to come to an agreement, so he simply appointed Geng Bingwen, the most reliable veteran general, as he thought his sister's father-in-law would definitely not betray his family.
Although he is a little old and doesn't have the physical strength to fight on the battlefield, he should have no problem commanding the army.
Therefore, Emperor Jianwen appointed the 65-year-old Geng Bingwen as the commander-in-chief, leading 300,000 northern expedition troops to the north to block the 100,000 Yan troops.
Emperor Jianwen thought, 300,000 against 100,000, three against one, we will definitely win! Clenched fist!
The author has something to say: The magical Jingnan Campaign has begun.
There is a 100-point question tonight for the first reader to answer it correctly.
There is a line in this chapter that is a line from Jay Chou's lyrics. Which line is it