Emperor Chongzhen of the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 45 Arriving in Jiangnan ([-])

It was early June.

The weather is getting hotter.

As soon as he left the border of Shandong, Emperor Zhu Youjian of the Ming Dynasty felt the heat from the Jianghuai River.

Although it is extremely hot.

But whether it's the emperor Zhu Youjian, the officials, or the concubine's maidservants.

The heartstrings that had been tensed for a long time relaxed a lot.

Gao Jie, the general officer of Xuzhou, did not disappoint Zhu Youjian.

Not long after seeing Li Banghua and Liu Fangliang's troops, Gao Jie immediately raised troops to encircle and suppress Liu Liangzuo's troops in Shouzhou.

In other words, there will no longer be threats from Xuzhou and Shouzhou in the Huaiyang area.

From the moment he left Shandong and entered the border of the Jianghuai River, Zhu Youjian's withdrawal to the south has been without any crisis.

Now just wait for the smooth arrival in Nanjing.

Shi Kefa, the accompanying eunuch, and Chen Chunde, the censor of the left deputy capital, had been ordered to go to Nanjing ahead of schedule, ordering the six ministers and officials above the second rank in Nanjing to prepare to pick them up.

Li Mingrui, the governor of Huaiyang, began to order by Zhu Youjian to summon the prefects and Taoist officials of Huai'an and Yangzhou boundaries to discuss the defense of Huaiyang boundaries.

Zhu Youjian also told Li Mingrui that every time the troops withdrawing from the south reached a county in Huaiyang, they would post notices of the emperor's recruitment of troops.

The Jianghuai area, that is, the Huaiyang area, is located in the middle of the north and the south, so the folk customs have always been strong, and most of the world's elite soldiers and generals come from here.

Most of the founding states of the Ming Dynasty were built by the children of Jianghuai.

Moreover, because of this, the people in this area have a deeper feeling for Daming.

It is naturally necessary for Zhu Youjian to recruit the emperor's pro-army here.

Although he now controls more than [-] troops, most of them are miscellaneous brands composed of the Beijing camp and the Chuang army.

If Zhu Youjian wants to train a million tiger and wolf division, he has to recruit troops again.

Naturally, there was no limit to the emperor's recruitment of soldiers. Zhu Youjian not only asked the children of the common people to join the army, but also asked the scholars to join the army.

And Zhu Youjian also made it clear to the world that from then on, there is no distinction between civil and military, and scholars can join the army as well as generals and prime ministers.

Although the whole world was in an uproar, everyone was quite critical of His Majesty Zhu Youjian's move.

But Zhu Youjian is now a mighty dragon, and his cadres are arbitrary, so the officials who follow him naturally dare not violate it, so the will has been passed on to the common people in Huaiyang.

Zhu Youjian didn't bother to pay attention to the reaction of southern officials.

I haven't arrived in Nanjing yet, so if I don't hurry to announce a few orders that touch the interests of the gentry in the south of the Yangtze River, it will be even more difficult to implement them after I arrive in the south of the Yangtze River.

Huai'an and Yangzhou are still alive in the boundary of Huaiyang, and the rest of the prefectures and counties have long been horribly damaged by Liu Zeqing's man-made disasters.

Therefore, as the governor of Huaiyang, Li Mingrui only needed to recruit troops and collect business taxes in the two cities of Huai'an and Yangzhou.

Li Ruolian, the commander of Jinyiwei, was ordered by Zhu Youjian to assist Li Mingrui in order to deal with the tax resistance of merchants in these two places.

All the way south, Jinyiwei and Dongchang have recruited many young men with excellent martial arts skills. Li Ruolian alone has three thousand captains, so it is not difficult to assist Li Mingrui in handling the Huaiyang matter.

And Zhu Youjian and others boarded a ship in Yangzhou under the escort of the [-] Guards Second Army of Yuma Supervisor He Xin and went south.

Along with Zhu Youjian and other southward withdrawing teams, there were naturally 800 million taels of cash silver, tens of thousands of hanging copper coins, and gold, jade, antiques and gold and silver jewelry worth tens of millions of taels.

At this time, the water transport from Yangzhou to Zhenjiang can be said to be a battle of hundreds of boats and thousands of sails.

Zhu Youjian was independent from the bow of the boat, looking at the blue sky and the verdant willows and pavilions on the shore.

He has a kind of access to a world of flowers.

It is said that the south of the Yangtze River is a gentle and rich town, where flowers and willows are flourishing.

Zhu Youjian feels the same now.

This is the most affluent area in Ming Dynasty, with a highly developed commercial economy.

Ever since he passed Yangzhou, he could smell the refreshing scent of makeup in the moist air.

From north to south, it is difficult to connect the chaos and barrenness of the Central Plains with the tranquility and prosperity here.

It is also difficult for Zhu Youjian to imagine that in the future, once Jiannu's iron hooves go south, what will happen to this picturesque Jiangnan border.

Dali Temple Minister Jin Xuan was born and raised in Wujin, Southern Zhili, and a native of Jiangnan.

In the past few days, he took orders from Zhu Youjian to explain the customs and cultures of various places in the south of the Yangtze River to Zhu Youjian.

Jin Xuan was also radiant at this time, he was also very happy to be able to follow the emperor back to his hometown, and escaped from the north where wars and disasters continued.

Although he has to be by the king's side now, he has to be careful to deal with Zhu Youjian's thunderous anger at any time.

However, the misty rain in the south of the Yangtze River also made him forget about the danger, so he naturally acted as a commentator for Zhu Youjian.

For example, officials from all walks of life in the south of the Yangtze River are very popular, and the items that literati and bureaucrats often play, who is good at painting, who is good at calligraphy, who is good at piano, etc., as well as famous specialties from various places.

However, most of the accompanying officials are officials from the north.

Therefore, after seeing the beautiful mountains and rivers in the south of the Yangtze River, I still feel a little bit sad about parting. Then I think about my hometown, which should be so beautiful, but it is suffering from thieves and tartars. The relatives don't know how life and death will be, so each of them can't help but show a sad look.

Most of the civil and military officials who followed Zhu Youjian to the south, such as Dang Chongya, the left servant of the household department, He Xin, the imperial horse supervisor, Shen Jiayun, the prime minister of Taipusi, and Yushi Chengde, all sent joint papers to Zhu Youjian, imploring His Majesty the Emperor of Ming Dynasty to revive the army as soon as possible. Mountains and rivers, the north is restored to the Central Plains, the capital is returned to the capital, and the world is pacified.

Zhu Youjian knew that these northern officials who followed him were worried that they were only obsessed with being Song Gaozong, and they would forget about the great cause of the Northern Expedition when they arrived in the south of the Yangtze River, and wanted to live in peace.

Zhu Youjian did not reject the request of these northern officials who had left their hometowns, and immediately approved the request. He still took Nanjing as his business and did not change to the capital, which showed that he did not have the heart to settle down in the south.

At the same time, Zhu Youjian immediately sealed these northern officials in the name of his contribution to withdrawing escorts from the south of Syria, so as to improve their status in the court and prepare for future confrontation with southern officials, especially the Donglin Party.

Zhu Youjian can even predict that in the future, once the threats of slavery and thieves are lifted, there will likely be a war faction and a peace faction.

Needless to say.

Most of the officials from the south will definitely not be willing to use their own interests to realize the dream of returning the homeland for the officials in the north, and become the main peace faction.

In other words, in the future, this group of northern officials will become the backbone of the emperor's Northern Expedition.

Chen Chunde, the censor of Zuodu, was conferred the title of censor of Zuodu, and he was in charge of the Metropolitan Procuratorate.

Shen Jiayun, the prime minister of Taipusi, was promoted to be the left servant of the Ministry of Rites, in preparation for the opening of a department in the future to recruit scholars from the north and the south.

Yushi Chengde was promoted to Yingtian Fuyin to control the capital.

Dali Temple Qing Jinxuan was promoted as a bachelor of the Imperial Academy and Zuo Shilang of the Ministry of Officials, in preparation for joining the cabinet in the future to win over officials from the south.

He Xinjia, the eunuch of the Royal Horse Supervisor, was also in charge of the Nanjing Jingying.

Before arriving in Nanjing, Zhu Youjian directly bypassed the southern officials and placed the accompanying officials into key departments such as Yingtianfu, the Ministry of Officials, the Ministry of Households, the Ministry of Rites, and the Metropolitan Procuratorate.

However, most of the six departments and nine ministers who stayed in Nanjing still had to face the fate of continuing to sit on the bench or being transferred to other places as magistrates.

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(End of this chapter)