Corrupt official in the Red Chamber

Chapter 419 Siege of Jinling

Because the Empress Dowager passed away so suddenly, many steps were omitted, and the coffin was directly put on the coffin and placed next to the Supreme Emperor.

As for other etiquette, all were not held.

Because according to Jia Rui's arrangement, tomorrow will be the day when the Supreme Emperor will be buried. At the same time, according to Jia Rui's promise to the Queen Mother, she will be buried with the Supreme Emperor, so nothing else can be held.

On the second day after the death of the Empress Dowager, the emperor finally appeared in front of the Supreme Emperor's soul again.

First they offered incense and bowed, and then the emperor and empress dowager's souls were transported out of Qianqing Palace.

After their coffins were followed by the emperor, Jia Rui, and the civil and military officials of the Manchu Dynasty. After that, white sails were everywhere, and paper money was flying everywhere.

Ordinary people were kneeling on both sides of the road, and the people were crying along the way.

Of course, not all of these people were really crying, most of them were arranged by people sent by Jia Rui.

In this way, we left the capital and headed north to the imperial mausoleum.

Jia Rui personally sent the tombs of the Supreme Emperor and the Empress Dowager into the underground palace.

After coming out, the underground palace was sealed, and then sacrifices were performed before returning to the capital.

After coming back, Jia Rui breathed a sigh of relief. These more than forty days had made Jia Rui very tired.

Now that this big thing is finally over, Jia Rui begins to prepare to deal with Jinling's affairs.

Jia Rui first returned home to rest for the night, and came to the Yangxin Hall in high spirits the next day.

After sitting firmly, Jia Rui called Qin Shun over and asked, "How is the situation on the other side of Jinling?"

"My lord, the commotion in Jinling is still fierce. I heard that Zhen Dianlun is preparing to make Prince Yizhong the emperor, and then he can legitimately confront the imperial court."

Jia Rui smiled.

This Zhen Dianlun is getting more and more crazy now, and has even reached the point of losing his mind.

With just a few people and such a small territory, he actually wants to establish an emperor. Isn't that a fool?

"What about other places? No one jumps out to cater to you?"

"My lord, the rest of the country is pretty calm, but some chieftains in Guangxi are trying to make trouble."

Jia Rui smiled. These chieftains were all local emperors. As long as there was any instability in the Central Plains, they would be the first to jump out.

However, Jia Rui didn't care about them. As long as these people dared to make trouble, Jia Rui would send troops to sweep them away.

Moreover, Jia Rui already had a relatively immature idea in his mind, which was to organize the Ryukyu natives and soldiers from the Nanman Kingdom to serve as a vanguard for the soldiers of the Central Plains Dynasty.

In this way, every war can reduce the casualties of the Central Plains people. As for those indigenous people and foreigners, Jia Rui simply does not think that their deaths will cause any loss to the Central Plains.

"Okay, don't worry about Guangxi now, let's solve the Jinling matter first."

Now that the Supreme Emperor has entered the imperial mausoleum, no one has caused trouble elsewhere for such a long time, which means that everyone who jumped out has already jumped out, and it is time to deal with the aftermath.

Jia Rui pondered for a moment, and then said: "Let Tang Zhen's navy block the Jinling River and assist the Jinling Jiedushi to recover Jinling."

"Let Song Jian's troops cross the Yangtze River as quickly as possible, join up with the infantry troops of Jinling Jiedushi, and capture Jinling as quickly as possible."

"At the same time, we will send a notice to all places to strictly investigate the traitors who escaped from Jinling. If anyone is found to be hiding, they will be arrested immediately and they will be charged with the same crime as traitors."

Lao Li thought for a moment, and then said in a low voice: "My lord, what should I do about Mrs. Zhen and the second son of the Zhen family?"

Jia Rui scratched his head a little. One of these two people was the nanny of the Supreme Emperor, and the other was the father of his concubine. He wanted to look at the Buddha's face even if he didn't look at the monk's face.

"After capturing these two people, please bring them to the capital for resettlement."

Then Jia Rui said: "Jia Zheng, the governor of Hainan, has done well in the past few years. Let him return to Beijing and serve as the Minister of Rites."

"Sir, what should I do with Wang Shangshu of the Ministry of Rites?" Qin Shun asked from the side.

Jia Rui frowned and then said: "Wang Shangshu has been very conscientious in his work in the past few years, especially this time when the Supreme Emperor passed away. He was there to remind him of many etiquettes and that he had meritorious service."

Jia Rui stood up and walked around a few times, and then said to Qin Shun: "Go to Wang Shangshu's house in person and tell him that after resigning as Shangshu of the Ministry of Rites, he will be sent to Jinling to preside over Jiangnan Province."

Jia Rui's arrangement is quite reasonable.

In terms of grade, the governor of Jiangnan and the minister of the Ministry of Rites are at the same level.

In terms of power, the Ministry of Rites handles some leftover matters in the court. It is said to be a Qingshui Yamen, but the governor of Jiangnan is different. It is a parent official who controls the entire people's livelihood in Jiangnan Province.

Moreover, Jiangnan Province is world-famous for its affluence, which is a fat gap within a fat gap.

Therefore, Jia Rui believed that Wang Shangshu would not refuse.

This is also compensation for Jia Rui letting him vacate the position of Minister of Rites.

"As for the governor of Hainan? Just tell the cabinet and let them choose someone."

After Jia Rui finished speaking, he stretched himself, returned to the kang and began to review today's memorial.

Lao Li next to him had already memorized Jia Rui's instructions one by one, and then sent them to the cabinet, asking them to stamp the letters and send them to various places for execution.

The imperial court finally started to move. First, they rushed eight hundred miles to the Southern Barbarian Kingdom through the channels of the Intelligence Department.

After receiving Jia Rui's order, Tang Zhen did not dare to neglect and immediately led the main force of the navy in person to set off from the new capital of the Southern Barbarian Kingdom. After seven or eight days of wandering at sea, they finally entered the Yangtze River estuary and then appeared on the Jinling River.

At this time, flags were fluttering outside Jinling City and sleeves were fluttering.

It turned out that Song Jian's 60,000 cavalry had crossed the Yangtze River and appeared at the gate of Jinling City, where they joined the 30,000 infantry of the Jinling Jiedu Envoy.

In addition to these two troops, other troops from Jiangnan Province are slowly converging on Jinling. Now there are nearly 150,000 infantry and 60,000 cavalry under Jinling City.

These people surrounded the entire Jinling City.

On the top of the city of Jinling, Zhen Dianlun looked at the dense crowd below, his face was as white as snow, and his heartbeat was about to jump out of his throat.

He had no idea that no one from all over the country would respond when he called out.

Now, it's all about fighting against Jia Rui on his own.

At the same time, he did not expect that the generals everywhere had no ambition at all and just obeyed Jia Rui's orders.

Isn't this playing tricks on people? Can't you be like those generals in history and have your own spirit?

In desperation, Zhen Dianlun once again started to catch young men in Jinling City.

This time, all the men who could be seen on the street were arrested by Zhen Dianlun's men, and then they threw a weapon and put on some clothes, and they were regarded as soldiers.

But even so, Zhen Dianlun's army in Jinling City only expanded to 50,000.

Moreover, there were no generals available under him, so Zhen Dianlun trained these people according to the words in the military book. As for the results of the training, it is a matter of taste and wisdom.

Of course, in order to maintain the morale of this army, Zhen Dianlun spent a lot of money. During this period, he threw away nearly one million taels of silver.

It was precisely because of the money offensive he used that these newly captured young men did not disperse.

"Master Zhen, let's see if we can defend Jinling City?"

Zhen Dianlun looked back and saw that Prince Yizhong had also climbed up the tower.

Prince Yizhong was much calmer than Zhen Diangling. Although his face was not good-looking, he still stood upright.

"Hard to say."

Prince Yi Zhong looked at the vast army below, lowered his head and thought for a moment, and then said: "If you want to pull some more people, especially those old and young women, and let them block the front line, I don't believe in the generals below. Dare to kill innocent people indiscriminately."

Zhen Dianlun's eyes lit up after hearing this, and he thought this was a solution.

Jia Rui is a hypocritical person. If the indiscriminate killing of people happens in Jinling City, he will have to give an explanation to the world.

In this case, the generals on the front line will be severely punished.

I believe that the generals on the front line also understand this truth, so as long as there are old, weak, women and children in front, these people will not dare to exert force. Otherwise, who knows whether Jia Rui will settle the score later.

"Your Majesty's words are golden and good words. I will do it now."

After Zhen Dianlun finished speaking, he hurried down the tower.

Prince Yizhong looked at the soldiers and horses outside, not knowing what he was thinking.

After a long time, he took a deep breath, and then walked down the tower with firm eyes.

After returning to his so-called palace, he immediately called an old nanny over.

"Mommy, what should we do next with the current situation?"

The old nun's face was very tired, and she said with difficulty: "Based on the old slave's plan, we should break out of the encirclement immediately."

Prince Yizhong rubbed his forehead and said: "If we break through, we will be the lost dogs, and we will never have a chance to turn around."

"My lord, even if you become a lost dog, it is better than dying in Jinling City."

"Do you think Jinling City cannot be defended?"

The old nanny sighed, and then said: "Back then, the old slave also followed the Supreme Emperor in his southern expedition. At that time, Jinling City was also in the hands of the rebels."

The old woman's eyes were a little wandering, as if she was lost in memories.

"At that time, the rebellion had 80,000 people guarding Jinling City, and every soldier had been trained for many years and was very well-equipped."

"But even under such circumstances, the city was still captured by the imperial army within a month."

"That night was so miserable! All the rebels were killed by the imperial army that entered the city. Even the rebel leader was not spared. His family members were all thrown into the military camp and used as military prostitutes. Finally, they were tortured to death. die."

When she said this, the old mama's eyes were full of fear.

"But today is different from the past. Doesn't Jia Rui care about the people of Jinling City?"

The old mama looked at Prince Yi Zhong with hatred and said: "How can the king have any friendship? In the eyes of the king, these common people are just animals that can be driven."

Prince Yizhong lowered his head and stopped talking. After a while, he said: "If we had known that things would develop to this point, we should not have cooperated with Zhen Dianlun when we were at sea."

(End of this chapter)