Picturesque Rivers and Mountains in the Red Chamber

Chapter 507 "Chaos" in Jiangnan

postscript
Eight Jiangnan "chaos"

On the sixth day of May in the second year of Wu Zheng, the old palace of Jinling.

As the so-called "early spring in the south of the Yangtze River", the temperature in the south was originally higher than that in the north. However, it was early May, and the temperature in the south of the Yangtze River was already a bit hot, which made the Beijing camp army, which was dominated by northerners, slightly uncomfortable. Fortunately, this war was very It is easy and can be solved almost like an armed march, and it will not cause any problems such as "acclimatization and non-combat attrition".

However, the hot weather coupled with high humidity has also caused the growth of plants in the south of the Yangtze River to far exceed that in the north. Even though the old Jinling Palace of the Zhou Dynasty has not been used for many years, the palace still looks a bit old after some minor repairs. Only the scenery in the palace is very pleasant. Even Princess Yongchang, a woman who has not liked red clothes and armed weapons since she was a child, still thinks it looks good.

Of course, this requires removing some "disgusting" things, such as the dead bodies everywhere, the "adults" kneeling on the ground, the few palaces that were destroyed by artillery or even on fire, and the military uniforms standing solemnly on the roadside. The fusiliers from the Beijing camp with murderous faces, and the hundreds of members of Prince Leshan's family who were guarded and kneeling on both sides of the main hall.

When the Zhou Dynasty was founded, the capital was Jinling. Because it was uncertain when the Northern Expedition would be able to drive away the slaves, they simply built the Jinling Palace after the capital was established. But what no one could have imagined was that Taizu Dingdu was not enough. In the tenth year of his reign, Taizong simply went on the Northern Expedition less than three years after he ascended the throne. As a result, the old palace was not used for a few years, and like the Xuanwu Lake Royal Garden, it was basically built in vain.

Obviously, these have no impact on Princess Yongchang. She is currently dressed in a bright red outfit, wearing a cloak of the same color, a sword hanging from her waist, and a Western-style crown on her head. She walks indifferently among these scum and only glances at the top. The king of Leshan County who was kneeling for the first time—she still had to call him "Uncle Wang" after all—sat unceremoniously on the dragon chair in the middle of the palace.

In the palace, not only Prince Leshan and his family were kneeling, but even the soldiers guarding them had frozen expressions.

"What are you looking at? Don't say it's from here, even the one in the capital, it's not like I haven't sat on it before." Princess Yongchang snorted coldly, causing everyone in the palace to quickly look away, but what a certain princess didn't say was that she did "sit on it" "The dragon chair was "sited" by someone, and the title was only "slave, daughter", "Uncle Leshan Wang, what do you want me to say?"
The Zhou Dynasty was founded a hundred years ago and passed down to five emperors. However, no matter how it is passed on, it is still a matter of the direct lineage. You are Leshan County Prince. If I remember correctly, the first old prince was only Taizu Emperor Hall. Brother?It has been passed down for four generations over the past hundred years, and the emperors of all generations have favored you for not being demoted to a higher rank, so you have held the title of 'prefecture king' to this day.

But even if you have been passed down for so long, it seems that no prince has ever been in charge of anything. None of the descendants in the past generations can even get an official position. When it comes to you, I will call you "Uncle Wang" according to your seniority. ', But don't you know at all what your position is in Beijing? "

"Niece of Yongchang, it's not me who is spying on you, but what do you think you did?" Prince Leshan obviously hasn't understood the actual situation. Even though he is still kneeling, he is still relying on his elders. "We It’s not like there is no one left in the Guo family. As for passing the throne to an outsider? I admit that the boy is indeed capable. He will just reuse him in the future. Why bother?"

"It seems that what I just said was in vain." Princess Yongchang shook her head indifferently, stood up and kicked over Prince Leshan, who had turned into a fat pig, "Then let me tell you in the end. Once again, according to the rules of the world, family property has always been passed down to one's own family, but has it ever been divided with other branches? What's more, this generation and you have both come out of the fifth server!

Since Your Majesty ascended the throne, the strength of the Royal Family has been increasing day by day. At first, my father was only in charge of the world's military forces in name, but now His Majesty holds more than [-]% of the best military strength in the world. If the Emperor Brother has something to do, he still has to keep his mouth open. After discussing with those poor people, what His Majesty wants to do now only requires a decree.

You losers like you dare to peek into the throne, so what if you sit on the throne?It's just a bunch of mud-carved wood sculptures with big turbans on the table. Who would care?Seeing that you are also a branch of the Taizu and the royal family has its own dignity, I will ask someone to bring the poisonous wine later, so that you can keep a whole body and die in a dignified manner. "

"Niece Yongchang——" Prince Leshan's face changed completely, "Aren't you afraid of the world's mouth? Don't forget that Jiangnan is the land of civilization in the world, and Zhou Yang's reputation for cruelty and coldness is known to the world. If anything bloody happens again, the world will explode, and he will inevitably end up like Emperor Yang of Sui!"

"Do you know where you lost?" Princess Yongchang, who was about to leave, heard these words, walked to the door and stopped again, pointed to the "high officials" kneeling in the open space in front of the main hall and sneered, "You guys As soon as you started contacting Jiangnan, I have already set my sights on you. Every step you take after that, you are not out of my sight.

Your bargain today will appear on my desk tomorrow or even tonight. The soldiers you have worked so hard to win over are just a few scoundrels who have been eliminated by the imperial court and are still evil-minded. So, your My precious son ascended the throne on April [-]th, and I led the troops to the Yangtze River on the third day of May.

Of all the 'imperial envoys' you sent out to contact us, those who took the land route have probably not arrived yet, and those who took the water route have already been thrown into the Yangtze River. The distribution list of all your 'official positions' was decided as early as mid-April. The palace already knows about it in the capital, so I have never thought of interrogating all the thieves in the old palace.

Jinling is an important town in the world, and its city defenses are second only to the capital. However, you have only recruited less than five thousand households of miscellaneous soldiers. Because of the garrison in various places in the south of the Yangtze River, only these five thousand households have been abandoned, and the rest have long been abandoned. The secret order from the Privy Council was obtained, not to mention that only civilian officials were stationed in Jinling, and the Jiangnan Admiral, the head of the military generals, was in Anqing.

Even if you want to expand your troops, you can only find some rogues to make up the numbers, because His Majesty deliberately indulged in just a few. In less than a year, the reputation of wealth has spread all over the world in Jiangnan. You have made people angry and resentful, and the people's lives are in dire straits. Which one? Will you pay attention to these ignorant things like you?
Even now, the soldiers brought by the palace are still angry. The troops arrived on the third day of May. After one day of repairs, they began to attack the city. They opened the city gate in one assault. It took two days to clean up the city and arrest the rebellious officials. Thief, the last of the six regiment camps that have arrived in three batches in the past three days has not been used much yet.

Uncle Leshan Wang, why do you want me to think so highly of you?You can't even allocate credit to less than [-] soldiers and horses, so that before departure, none of the reward plans given by His Majesty can be used. In order to appease the resentment of the soldiers, I can only spend twice as much as the reward silver. , How can I collect money without killing a few more people who don’t know how to die? "

As soon as she said this, the "adults" who were kneeling in the open space in front of the palace all turned pale!

"Your Highness Yongchang, aren't you afraid that the history pen is as sharp as a sword?" The judge should be the chief minister of the "New Dynasty" who has only served for seven days. "You kill the gentry on your own and treat the world's scholars poorly. Your Highness, please don't forget this. The world can be taken away immediately, but it cannot be cured immediately!"

"Don't worry, His Majesty made arrangements for this last year. Otherwise, what do you think 'Enke' does?" Princess Yongchang looked at him with pity and said in a sarcastic tone, "Historical writing is as sharp as a knife? That depends on his ability. I don’t have the courage of Tai Shigong; another one, the so-called ‘People’s Scholars’ in the world will not speak for the dead - come here, I will send you all on your way!”

On April [-], the "New Dynasty" ascended the throne in Jinling and announced it to the world.

On April 25, we rushed eight hundred miles to the capital.On the third day of May, the first two regiments of the Beijing Camp, which had already entered a state of combat readiness, all took a clipper ship and sailed south to the Yangtze River north of Jinling City. The main force of the Ryukyu Navy arrived first.

On the fourth day of May, more than 1 firearms soldiers and horses, who had been repairing for a day, entered the city in the first round of siege. Basically without any casualties, they entered Jinling City from the city gate that was blasted by ten-pound field artillery. The big turbans who caused trouble even The doorway is not blocked.

On the sixth day of May, all the people involved in the area around Jinling who had been secretly targeted by Princess Yongchang were arrested and brought to justice and sent to the Old Palace of Jinling. After the main people were arrested, the families of these people were immediately labeled as "Execution of the Nine Clan" All the standards were cleansed, and local officials who were rebellious or inactive were also killed. The former also punished the nine tribes, and the latter killed everyone in the family.

On the evening of the sixth day of May, more than [-] new scholars, born in the first year of Changxing and the first year of Wuzheng, arrived at Jinling City.

On the morning of the seventh day of May, all the officials and key members of the "New Dynasty" were publicly executed. A total of thousands of people were shot, led by the Jiujiu tribe, and all key members were executed. A total of more than 2 people were killed, and nearly 5 people were killed successively. Being implicated, all the so-called "noble families and scholars" in Jiangnan were wiped out. During this period, all the new officials who took office "visited".

On the afternoon of the seventh day of May, a mixed town governor with three infantry households, one cavalry household, and one artillery household escorted officials at all levels to various places in the south of the Yangtze River. At the end of this purge, the troops who escorted them to their posts will have to clean up the local garrison and rebuild the military system, which is estimated to take two to three months.

On the tenth day of May, about two hundred officer cadets who had already been on standby after graduating from the Army Command College in Beijing went to Jinmen Port after listening to the "Sacred Instructions", where they would board a ship and set off for Jiangnan. If there is no surprise, these new officers and those who had just The newly appointed Jinshi will not get a chance to rest until the end of the year.

The above are all the troubles the so-called "Jiangnan Aristocratic Family" brought to Zhou Yang.

On May [-]th, in the Imperial Palace of the Capital, the Hall of Supreme Harmony, the original "Imperial Gate Listening to Government" meeting and now the military and political affairs meeting - not long after Zhou Yang ascended the throne, he abolished the basically useless wrangling meeting and changed it to In order to report matters step by step, those that can be handled by themselves, and those that cannot be handled are brought to the general meeting for discussion, including the various impeachments of Yushitai.

What, Hanlin Academy?Zhou Yang directly ignored this "clean and expensive" department, which is now a nursing home for distribution.

"Reporting to Your Majesty, the chaos in the south of the Yangtze River has now subsided. Governments at all levels have their own government affairs councils to arrange, and the new personnel arrangements for the garrison in various places have been compiled into a book. Now I officially report to Your Majesty." The most important thing these days is the war in the south of the Yangtze River. , the new military arrangements are naturally the end point of the discussion at the conference. It is normal procedure for Niu Jizong, the military aircraft foreman of the Privy Council, to report it at this time.

"Niu Aiqing is interested. The Privy Council can make arrangements for the appointment and dismissal of official positions below one thousand households and then record them. I won't ask." Zhou Yang nodded to express his understanding. "For the appointment and removal of official positions above the commander, you can pick them out from the materials. Afterwards, I will make a special report, and after it is fully determined, the appointment and dismissal will be issued according to the procedures, and those who should be announced will be published through the "Di Bao".

"Wei Chen obeys the order!" Niu Jizong immediately bowed, "Your Majesty, there are also the rewards and punishments for the combatants in this war. Wei Chen has also compiled the Privy Council's suggestions. After discussing with other military aircraft, Wei Chen felt that such a major event After the war is decided, a reward ceremony should be held for the people of the world to hear."

"Well," Zhou Yang thought for a while and then said, "Let's put it this way, compile all the key materials of the rebel bandits who were killed and executed into a book. This needs the cooperation of the Government Affairs Council and the Privy Council to finalize it as soon as possible. Once it is completed, it will be published in the world; what Niu Aiqing said It is better to hold the reward ceremony together at that time, and just inform the entire army beforehand."

"Your Majesty, your Majesty!" Niu Jizong expressed joy. The effect of such a positive and negative comparison announcement is far better than the simple announcement of rewards he mentioned before. He thought about it and then said, "Wei Chen will definitely organize capable personnel to work with the Government Affairs Council." Cooperate to complete the order as quickly as possible; but this time the banditry incident reminded me of the old case when the thief Yu Chong conspired to assassinate the late emperor."

"What Niu Aiqing said is reasonable, so let's settle it as usual." Zhou Yang understood what Niu Jizong meant, and wanted to engrave stone monuments and set up iron cases for all the so-called "family and scholars" who participated in the rebellion, and then put everyone's Dirty things are published in the world, and they are completely crucified to prevent any "repetition" in the future by civil officials. Things haven’t been fully implemented yet, right?”

"Your Majesty, the information has been sorted out, but it has not been published yet." Li Mian, the elder in charge of culture and education, had a twitching expression, but he could only bite the bullet and go out, "The construction of the 'Integrity and Morality Education Cemetery' has been discussed by Shen (Chu) ) Ge Lao (in charge of construction) has been raising funds, but the court's income has been tight in recent years."

"It doesn't matter, I will order the Ministry of Internal Affairs to pay for this construction in full after I am in court. I just need to send an audit team to monitor all expenses in detail." Zhou Yang's answer made all the civil servants twitch, "Also, Niu Aiqing doesn't need it either. I am worried that the Ministry of Internal Affairs will also fully pay for the announcement and publication of the war just mentioned.”

Anyway, this time we basically robbed the entire Jiangnan aristocratic family, and the income in cash alone was over [-] million, not counting gold, jewelry and other valuables and the most valuable real estate, land and other real estate, it would be at least more than [-] million when it was all over. Two harvests, two cemeteries were built, and thousands of sets of books were printed. It’s drizzle!

"Your Majesty, there are also the appointments of officials arranged by Jiangnan. The ministers have also ordered people to compile them into a book and brought them today." Lin Ruhai quickly changed the subject regardless of etiquette. He believed that someone would give him this little face. , "Just because of this, the land south of the Yangtze River needs an official with sufficient prestige to guard it."

"Governor of Jiangnan?" Zhou Yang smiled and had no objection to my father-in-law's little thoughts, "In this way, you and the elders will discuss a few suitable ones, and prepare their resumes, and then we will discuss it together - —Niu Aiqing, the selection of Jiangnan Admiral will also be arranged according to this standard and will be discussed together when the time comes."

"I obey the decree!" Of course no one would comment on this matter.

"By the way, when you are preparing candidates, you'd better think twice." Zhou Yang added, "The land south of the Yangtze River is too important. All such rich areas are divided into one, and it is not for political purposes." Dao, what I want is to divide it into two parts, with Anqing and Jinling as the capitals respectively. You will discuss the specific division and report it to me. Generally speaking, it will be based on region, taking into account folk customs and war preparations. Do you understand?"

"I obey the decree!" Suddenly there are two more places for the feudal officials. Who would be stupid to object!
(End of this chapter)