In fact, the entire Ming Dynasty was destined to change hands from the moment Zhong Yu planned a full-scale counterattack.
After these years of hard work, the Ming Dynasty has long been strong on the outside and weak on the inside.
Just like now, the Ming Dynasty still has millions of troops, and most of them are elites who have experienced wars and seen blood, and have strong military strength.
But what is the reality? The Ming Dynasty was like a dilapidated house. Nowadays, efforts are being made to repair it here and there, but it still leaks everywhere. There is no big benefit at all. It just delays the collapse of the house a little.
The Ming Dynasty had an army of millions, but in fact it was impossible to get enough food and grass to send 100,000 troops for a year, and the army was often short of food and pay. The soldiers were often bullied by the officials and treated like slaves, and resentment was born among the superiors and subordinates. .
As for the internal governance of the Ming Dynasty, except for the first one or two years due to the crisis of destruction, it became a little clearer and officials restrained themselves.
In the past two years, as the Ming Dynasty continued to gain victories over the rebels and regained lost territory, those officials had long been slacking off. Corruption, which had been slightly restrained, became more rampant, and even tampered with soldiers' pay.
Especially because of the expansion of the Ming Dynasty, a large number of official positions became vacant. In order to compete for official positions, these officials formed cliques and factions for their own personal gain, and fought for these interests.
All in all, today's Ming Dynasty is in a mess internally and does not have any energy to deal with external troubles.
Now Zhong Yuqing has 1.5 million soldiers, and the army is united as one, united inside and outside the court, and because of the support from the outside world, there is enough food and grass, enough to fight a million-man war for more than ten years And no food.
With such advantages, how difficult would it be to deal with an extremely shabby Ming Dynasty
The only thing he was worried about was whether Zhong Yu could break through the eighth level first before the eighth-level Taizu of the Ming Dynasty took action.
March of the 8th year of the Emperor Yuan Dynasty.
Emperor Zhong Yu of the Yu Kingdom led his troops in Zhengzhou City, the capital, to swear an oath to crusade against the unjust Ming Dynasty. A million-strong army marched out of the Yu Kingdom and swept towards the broken Ming Dynasty.
Millions of troops came out in full force. The 300,000 Ming troops who stayed on the eastern border to defend Yue were naturally no match. They were all defeated in less than a month. Subsequently, the remaining two provinces in the east were captured by the Yu Kingdom, and the Ming Dynasty's forces completely withdrew from the eastern region.
After the news reached the capital of the Ming Dynasty, the Ming Emperor was furious and ordered the garrison from all over the country to strictly guard the territory, and once again prepared to form a large army to fight against the rebellion.
Moreover, the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, despite the dissuasion of his courtiers, went to see Emperor Taizu in person and asked Emperor Taizu to help him suppress the rebellion.
However, the emperor's request was not agreed to by Emperor Taizu. Instead, he was severely reprimanded.
Ever since Emperor Taizu conquered the Ming Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty has gradually declined. Now, the descendants of the descendants are unfilial, and four generations of mediocre lords have appeared in succession. They are indulged in pleasure and have turned the originally powerful Ming Dynasty into such a mess.
Emperor Taizu had long been resentful, but due to the restrictions of heaven, it was inconvenient to come forward to reprimand and change the imperial court.
Now this incompetent descendant actually wanted Taizu of Ming Dynasty to personally eliminate the rebellion, which really aroused the anger of Emperor Taizu.
So Emperor Taizu refused.
In the eyes of Emperor Taizu, a mere rebel with no more than seventh-level strength could have any real impact on the dynasty with his eighth-level immortal.
Now that the rebels are stronger, their descendants and descendants should work hard to improve themselves, rectify the government, and find the reasons from themselves. Instead of the extravagance in the court like now, the emperor was immersed in enjoyment and ignored the government affairs at all.
After being rejected, the Ming Emperor was helpless without the support of Taizu. Although he had no worries about his throne, as long as Taizu did not die, no one could take it away.
But if too much of the territory under his control is lost, the taxes the emperor can receive will also be reduced in disguise, and the luxurious life he can enjoy cannot maintain the previous scale.
For the sake of his future happy life, the Ming Emperor had to issue an order to recruit troops.
At the same time, powerful officials from various places were asked to donate food and wages to build an army.
After being treated like this by the Ming Dynasty emperor, officials from all over the country complained. They all felt that the emperor was robbing money from their pockets and were extremely dissatisfied.
However, the emperor's order cannot be violated. As long as the flag of the Ming Dynasty has not fallen, these officials will not dare to openly refuse the Ming Emperor's order, and they will still have to pay the money and food that should be given.
However, their money could not be given to the emperor in vain. It needed to be recovered from other places, so they thought of the people everywhere.
Almost immediately following the emperor's donation order, officials from various places took matters into their own hands, and more and more taxes were collected with clever names, covering almost all aspects of people's lives.
How specific is it? In a relatively typical local county, a household has to pay hundreds of taxes, with zero tax purposes.
Everything in the world is not the king's land, and the shores of the land are not the king's ministers.
Since the whole world is the emperor, then if you, a pariah, drink water, you will be drinking water from the emperor, and you will have to pay a water tax. When you harvest rice, you need to pay a rice tax, and when you go to a manhole, you need to pay a manhole tax. No matter what, people will be charged for everything they do.
This was all at once, forcing the common people to have no way out. Large-scale refugees fled and countless bandits spread all over Dalian in an instant, making the security problem in Ming Dynasty even more serious.
And because of the Ming Emperor's repeated capriciousness, the decrees promulgated were changed day after day, which had completely broken the hearts of the people at the bottom.
Now, if they had come to the six southern provinces or other parts of the Ming Dynasty yesterday to recruit troops, they would be used to fight against the Ming Dynasty's crusade, and they would never surrender like before.
Not only the people at the bottom, but even the wealthy class in the middle class of society, the actual local controllers composed of small businessmen and small landowners, their interests have also been seriously damaged by these changes in government orders, especially now that parents and officials are everywhere. When searching for the people's fat and the people's anointing, as local wealth, they were treated as pieces of fat.
The only people who really benefited from this turmoil were the big landowners, businessmen and nobles.
Because they are decision-makers, they can use their power to benefit themselves at will, and no blind person dares to cause trouble for them.
(End of chapter)