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Macheng is located at the southern foot of the middle section of Dabie Mountain, surrounded by mountains on three sides, with strange peaks and beautiful waters. When the late Tang poet Du Mu passed by Qiting Town outside Macheng during the Qingming Festival, he wrote the poem "During the Qingming Festival, rains fell heavily, and pedestrians on the road were about to die. I asked where the tavern was, and the shepherd boy pointed to Xinghua Village in the distance." Many descendants of the Yellow Emperor who had never set foot on this land unknowingly integrated the apricot trees and the village here into their blood.
In fact, the most beautiful thing in Macheng is not the apricot blossoms, but the azaleas. When the flowers bloom, they cover the whole mountain and the ground, just like the red clouds floating down from the Dabie Mountains, full of fire and infinite beauty.
When Su Dongpo was exiled to Huangzhou, he went to Macheng many times to see the rhododendrons.
Unfortunately, the azalea season has passed, and Qin Mu is busy with military affairs and has no time to go and see the azaleas.
Now that the 20,000 Guanning troops have retreated to the Guifeng Mountain area, Qin Mu is leading his army back to Macheng, preparing to block the Guanning troops' way and force them to surrender when their food and grass are no longer exhausted.
The weather was hot. In the county government office, Qin Mu was fanning himself while reading battle reports from all sides.
Yan Gaofei hurried in and reported: "Sir, Mr. Sima and others ask you to return to Wuchang immediately."
"What happened?"
"Sir, the Prince of Lu and the Prince of Tang claimed to be regents in Zhejiang and Fujian respectively on the same day. Both sides refused to give in, and the dispute over legitimacy intensified. The conflict between the two families gradually became like fire and water. Now both the Prince of Lu and the Prince of Tang have sent imperial edicts to Wuchang. Mr. Sima and others ask you to return to Wuchang as soon as possible to discuss."
Qin Mu nodded, signaled Yan Gaofei to leave first, and began to think deeply.
Wu Jimin, the assistant official sitting there, advised: "Sir, you were the governor-general of the two provinces during the Hongguang Dynasty, and it was fine for you to issue orders in this capacity, but now that the Hongguang Emperor has been captured, and the Prince of Tang and the Prince of Lu are respectively regents, it is not appropriate for you to issue orders in the capacity of the governor-general of the two provinces. As the saying goes, if the name is not right, the words will not flow, and if the words are not flow, it will be difficult to be justified, which will inevitably cause doubts among the officials in Huguang and Jiangxi."
Yue Zhongliang also advised: "Sir, this matter is indeed a top priority and cannot be delayed. How to deal with it, who to support, or make other plans. Sir, you must make a clear decision as soon as possible. Otherwise, all officials will be suspicious, and the three armies will be discouraged. All ambitious people in the world will inevitably hesitate to move forward."
Qin Mu no longer hesitated, nodded to the two of them, and shouted outside the tent: "Yan Gaofei!"
"Please give your orders, sir." Yan Gaofei immediately flashed in.
"Send a message to Fanshang Village, order Huo Sheng to break camp and prepare to follow me back to Wuchang."
“Yes!”
"Also, send a message to Wuchang, asking Sima An and others to prepare the most grand ceremony to welcome the victorious army. And announce the victory report to the entire Huguang and Jiangxi regions, saying that I have annihilated 100,000 enemies in this battle to boost the morale of the people."
After hearing Qin Mu's words, Yue Zhongliang and Wu Jimin couldn't help but show joy on their faces. From Qin Mu's two orders, it was not difficult for them to see what Qin Mu had decided on in terms of supporting him.
"Sir, one hundred thousand is not enough. Why not announce the annihilation of 150,000 enemies?" Wu Jimin tried to suggest.
Qin Mu shook his head and said, "One hundred thousand is enough. I will report more victories to the people in the future."
Qin Mu's claim of 100,000 was not an exaggeration. Shang Kexi's detachment had a total of nearly 50,000 troops, and they were all wiped out.
Ajige originally had 60,000 troops, but in the end he was only able to bring back about 14,000, which means he lost 45,000 people.
Although 20,000 Guanning troops retreated to the middle foothills of the Dabie Mountains and have not yet been annihilated, it can be foreseen that these 20,000 Guanning troops have basically nothing to do with the Qing Dynasty;
The big melee that night was mainly a fight between the Guanning Army and the Tatars, and the Qin Army was actually just responsible for fanning the flames.
According to statistics after the war, no less than 2,500 Tatars died under the swords of the Guanning Army that night, and the Guanning casualties reached more than 4,600.
Under such circumstances, it is unlikely that the 20,000 Guanning Army will return to the arms of the Qing Dynasty, and Qin Mu will not allow such a thing to happen.
The 20,000 Guanning troops were short of food and could not stay in the Dabie Mountains for long, let alone cross the hundreds of miles of mountains to escape north. They now had only two choices: defeat the Qin army or go down the mountain and surrender.
If they had the confidence to defeat the 100,000 Qin troops, they would not have retreated to the mountains.
Guo Yunlong and Hu Shouliang are still making their last struggle, but they just hope to get the price they want.
All in all, Ajige lost as many as 90,000 men and horses, so Qin Mu's report of 100,000 was not excessive.
Qin Mu quickly made some arrangements for the next battle, and the eastern front was naturally handed back to Meng Ke;
Liu Meng was responsible for leading the army to continue besieging the 20,000 Guanning troops;
Ma Yongzhen was responsible for capturing Wuyang Pass and coordinating with Li Guo's troops.
Su Jin, Zhao Han, Yue Zhongliang and others continued to be responsible for the reorganization of the original Dashun Army;
Another assistant, Wu Jimin, was sent to be in charge of the negotiations with Guo Yunlong and Hu Shouliang.
After making these arrangements, Qin Mu and Huo Sheng immediately led the troops from Fanshang Village back to Wuchang.
There were 20,000 troops out, but only 7,000 were left when they returned. They fought bloody battles one after another, which were extremely tragic. They were heroes in life and souls in death. They deserved the most grand welcome and the warmest cheers.
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Fuzhou.
A rather grand coronation ceremony finally came to an end, and Zhu Youjian officially became emperor. Instead of changing the reign title the following year as per previous practice, he immediately changed the reign title to Longwu.
It is not difficult to see from this reign title that Zhu Youjian hoped to become the second Emperor Guangwu and revive the Ming Dynasty.
He renamed Fuzhou to Fujing, changed the temporary residence of Fuzhou to Tianxing Prefecture, and built the Imperial Ancestral Temple, Sheji Temple and Tang State Ancestral Temple. He promoted Zheng Zhilong to Pinglu Marquis, Zheng Hongkui to Dinglu Marquis, and conferred Zheng Zhibao the title of Chengji Earl and Zheng Cai the title of Yongsheng Earl.
Huang Daozhou was appointed as the Minister of Personnel and Grand Secretary of Wuying Palace, Jiang Dejing was appointed as the Minister of Revenue and Grand Secretary of Wenyuan Pavilion, Zhu Jizuo was appointed as the Minister of Rites and Grand Secretary of Dongke Palace, Zeng Ying was appointed as the Minister of Works and Grand Secretary of Dongke Palace, Huang Mingjun, Li Guangchun, Su Guansheng and others were appointed as the left and right vice ministers of the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of War and Grand Secretary of Dongke Palace.
Zhu Youjian was well aware that he had no blood relationship with Emperor Chongzhen, and his status as a distant vassal could not be changed. Moreover, he was a criminal behind bars a year ago, and under normal circumstances he had no qualifications to compete for the throne.
In order to win people's hearts, he was generous with official titles, not only rewarding the Zheng family who held real power in Fujian, but also rewarding all the officials who supported him, and he conferred titles of Grand Secretary on more than 20 people. The number of people who entered the cabinet was unprecedented.
For a time, the streets of Fuzhou were full of university scholars. When a rock fell from the sky and killed ten people, at least eight of them were university scholars, and the remaining two were at least prefects or ministers of temples. None of them were soldiers, because the soldiers of Emperor Longwu - or more precisely, the soldiers of Zheng Zhilong - were basically all floating on the sea.
It would have been fine if he had just given away many official titles, but Zhu Yujian also gave away the throne. Isn't that strange
If we count by bloodline, the person who is most qualified to succeed the throne is undoubtedly Chongzhen's uncle, Prince of Gui Zhu Changying, who is also the father of Zhu Youlang who went to Jingmen to find Qin Mu.
Because of this, Zhu Youjian clearly stated to the King of Gui in his edict as the regent that he had no son, "The world belongs to the king."
This was the first throne he sent to King Gui.
Then, in order to subdue the Lu Regent in eastern Zhejiang, Zhu Youjian sent Liu Zhongzao, a military official, as an envoy to Shaoxing to issue an edict announcing that the two families were equal. The ministers appointed by the Lu Regent could hold the same official positions in the Longwu court;
At the same time, he also said to Zhu Yihai, the Prince of Lu: "I have no son, and you are my nephew. Let's work together and worship the Xiaoling Mausoleum together. I will rule the world, and it will eventually be yours."
Here you go again, always using your childlessness as an excuse in the regent edict. You have already given the throne to the King of Gui, so is there another throne for me
Of course, Prince of Lu Zhu Yihai refused to accept Zhu Youjian's free gift and insisted that he was the orthodox one.
At this time, Bolo led the Qing army to attack Shaoxing. Zhu Yihai could not resist and sent an envoy to Fuzhou to ask Zhu Youjian for reinforcements. In the letter, he only called Zhu Youjian "the emperor's uncle" instead of "Your Majesty".
Zhu Youjian was furious. Not only did he not send reinforcements, he also ordered the execution of the messenger of Lu Jianguo. Because of this, Zhu Youjian returned to the harem still furious.
Empress Zeng, who had always depended on him, asked the reason and advised: "Your Majesty, don't worry about this. The soldiers and generals in East Zhejiang are few and far between. How can they fight against the Tartar cavalry? If Prince Lu doesn't obey the imperial edict, he won't be able to last long. Your Majesty should consider your current situation. Fujian is owned by the Zheng family. The Zheng family was born as pirates. I'm afraid they will be difficult to rely on. Your Majesty doesn't have a single soldier. You should make other plans. Send loyal ministers to recruit new troops for your command. In the future, to restore the foundation of our ancestors, we need the emperor's own army to succeed."
Empress Zeng was alert by nature, well-read, and quite talented; she could remember everything about troops, money, and grain. Just from what she said, it can be seen that she was ten times better than Zhu Youjian.
Zhu Youjian couldn't even tell the priorities apart, and was busy competing with his nephew Zhu Yihai for the reputation of righteousness. However, Empress Zeng revealed the secret: there was no need to compete with Prince Lu, because Prince Lu, who was in the lead, would be destroyed in the blink of an eye. Why argue with a dying man
Zhu Youjian had always respected his wife who had shared his hardships. After she enlightened him, Zhu Youjian suddenly understood and said quickly, "What the queen said is very true. Queen, who among all the ministers in the court do you think should be sent out to recruit soldiers?"
"Huang Daozhou, the Grand Secretary of Wuying Palace, is a loyal and righteous man. Your Majesty can send him out to recruit soldiers."
"Okay, let Huang Daozhou go."
"Your Majesty, this alone is not enough. Newly recruited soldiers are difficult to use and need time to train. The most urgent task is to not let the Zheng family dominate. We must contain them so that they can truly obey your majesty's will."
"Queen, please tell me how to contain him."
"The only person in the world today who can compete with the Zheng family is the Governor of Huguang, Qin Mu. Although Qin Mu also has different intentions, the emperor must win his support now. Then, Qin Mu and the Zheng family can compete with each other. In this way, the emperor will have room to maneuver."
Zhu Youjian heaved a sigh of relief and said, "Don't worry, Queen. I have already sent an envoy to deliver the imperial edict. I hope there will be a reply soon."
Empress Zeng shook her head and said, "Your Majesty, I have learned from the previous imperial edict that Qin Mu is ambitious and has already carved out a territory to be king. The title of Duke may not impress him. Your Majesty, after careful consideration, it is better to confer him a title of king first, so that he can check and balance the Zheng family. After the emperor's personal army is trained in the future, it will not be too late to slowly weaken the Qin and Zheng families."
Zhu Youjian said in embarrassment: "Queen, you know that according to the laws of our ancestors, people of different surnames cannot be crowned kings."
"Your Majesty, at this time when the country is in danger and the survival of the country is at stake, some flexibility must be adopted. Moreover, I am not asking Your Majesty to make Qin Mu a king just like that. Your Majesty can first give Qin Mu the surname of the country and then make him a king. In order to appease the Zheng family, Your Majesty can choose one person from the Zheng family and give him the surname of the country to show that you treat everyone equally."
"Let me think about it... Let me think about it..."
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ps: Chrysanthemums are blooming all the way these days!
Please give me a monthly ticket!
Please give me a monthly ticket!
Please give me a monthly ticket!
.(To be continued..)
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