Chapter 275 A Farce

The clan rebelled, there was a great earthquake in Guanzhong, and there was danger both inside and outside.

In particular, Zhu Chixiu also asked Sun Jingwen, his confidant, to write hundreds of edicts and orders, and copied hundreds of them, accusing the Zhengde Emperor Zhu Houzhao of being stupid and immoral. When you make trouble, you want to clear the emperor's side.

This is what is commonly known as righteousness.

Since ancient times, names and tools cannot be faked.

Just like what happened when Emperor Taizong Wen launched an army to quell the troubles, Emperor Jianwen Zhu Yunwen was not only the dynasty heir appointed by Emperor Taizu Gao, but also came from the direct lineage. Therefore, Emperor Jianwen represented orthodoxy, while King Yan Zhu Di was regarded as the vassal The king's branch went against the main line, which was unpopular in itself and violated the etiquette system recognized by the world.

The name of righteousness that King Zhu Di of Yan was looking for was a legacy of peace left by Taizu when he was in power.

When Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang was in the country, he was afraid that powerful ministers would usurp power, so he stipulated that vassal kings had the right to send documents to the central government to demand treacherous ministers and raise troops to clear the emperor's side!

It is clearly written in "Huang Ming Ancestor Instructions": "If there are no honest ministers in the dynasty, and there are traitors and traitors in the dynasty, troops must be raised to punish them in order to clear the emperor's side."

King Zhu Di of Yan used this as a reason to accuse Qi Tai and Huang Zicheng, the court officials of Jianwen, as treacherous ministers who needed to be punished. He also called his actions "Jingnan", which means Jingnan.

Therefore, Zhu Di's slogan is "Qing the emperor's side, Jingguo is in trouble." Among them, "Jingnan" means to calm down troubles, quell wars, and wipe out treacherous ministers.

However, there is another rule in Emperor Taizu Gao's law, which adds restrictions to this Jingnan legacy. That is, the emperor must first summon the vassal king, and then the vassal king can raise troops. After successfully eradicating the traitor, it will take five days. Leaving Beijing within.

Therefore, "Fengtian Jingnan" is just an excuse and reason for King Yan Zhu Di to seize the throne, and it is also a righteous claim that he wants to silence the world.

Afterwards, King Yan successfully rebelled against the main line, and the Yan vassal line became the main line. After decades of stable rule, the government and the public had long recognized the orthodox identity of their lineage.

At this moment, Zhu Zhixiu faced the same situation as Emperor Taizongwen Zhu Di. Since he wanted to rebel, he had to take the lead in occupying the rightful position. The rightful position Zhu Zhixiu chose was not "Jingnan" but the "Qingjun side" in Taizu's legacy!

The reason why it is not "Jing Nan" is because Emperor Taizong Wen himself conquered the world in this way, so he set strict rules for his descendants. Anyone who dared to use "Jing Nan" as an excuse to declare war would be regarded as a plotter. Rebellion, the whole world will fight against it!

Zhu Chixiu can be considered a smart man, and he is surrounded by Confucian counselors such as Sun Jingwen, Meng Bin, and Shi Lian. Even if there are no outstanding counselors among them, at least they are those who have read poetry and books and are literate, so he directly copied Zhu Di, the king of Yan. There is nothing wrong with conspiracy and rebellion.

As the news of Anhua King Zhu Zhixiu's rebellion spread, the whole world was shaken and uneasy.

Coupled with the overt and covert fighting between Ning Wang Zhu Chenhao and the civil servants and gentry, it made people in the capital panic and uneasy, and it looked like a storm was about to come.

Time gradually passed in this strange atmosphere. Just when the government and the public were still worried about the rebellion, an unexpected news suddenly arrived in the capital.

This is an official document of great victory. Zhu Zhixiu's rebellion has been completely put down. It lasted only 18 days. It is not an exaggeration to call it a farce.

Xiong Xiu, the left minister of the Ministry of War, happily delivered this urgent document to His Majesty the Emperor. Zhu Houzhao squinted his eyes and looked at it carefully, and then couldn't help but clasp his hands in admiration.

"This Qiu Yue is indeed a loyal and loyal general!"

"When you come, please immediately order the General Administration Department to spread the news of Zhu Chixiu's rebellion to the world, so as to reassure the people!"

"In addition, we will convene all civil and military officials to discuss matters. I will reward the meritorious soldiers!"

The news that the rebellion was put down was confirmed by His Majesty the Emperor himself, and everyone present secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

After all, they don't want to experience a "Jingnan War" personally and then suffer the pain of displacement due to war!

Soon the news spread that Zhu Zhixiu's rebellion was put down, and the ministers were overjoyed, with a heart in their stomachs, and hurried to attend the impromptu court meeting.

Tang Hao is also on this list. With the retirement of the British Duke Zhang Mao, he is now the leader of military honors, so it is naturally impossible for him to be absent at this time.

At the beginning of the court meeting, Xiong Xiu, the left minister of the Ministry of War, read out the contents of the official document of the great victory in front of everyone, and heard the ministers talking about it.

It turned out that after Yang Yiqing learned about the rebellion of Anhua King Zhu Zhixiu, he was shocked and angry and immediately controlled the local army and horses as the Minister of War. Then he ordered the soldiers along the Yellow River to guard and defend to the death, and the rebels must not take the opportunity to cross the river.

There was a fierce battle between the rebels and the official army along the Yellow River, which ended in the defeat of the rebels. Then Yang Yiqing ordered the Lingzhou garrison to command Qian Shi Yong to seize the ships on the west bank of the Yellow River, park them on the east bank, camp in the east of the river, and secretly send The servant asked Qiu Yue to be the internal correspondent, and Cao Xiong, the commander-in-chief of Shaanxi Province, also asked Shi Yong to write a secret letter to Qiu Yue asking him to take action.

Originally, Qiu Yue had no choice but to join the rebel army because he was worried about his wife and children who were still in Ningxia. However, Zhu Zhixiu seized his army and distributed it to the battalions of his close associates. This was equivalent to removing Qiu Yue's military power in disguise and annexing his subordinates. , and also used gold and silk to reward these soldiers.

Qiu Yue saw that Zhu Zhi did not have great talents and far-sighted strategies. Since the army was captured, Qiu Yue simply claimed to be ill and went home to comfort his wife and children. In fact, he secretly recruited strong men who were loyal to the emperor and the court in preparation for the opportunity.

Zhu Zhixiu's confidant He Jin and others believed in Qiu Yue and often asked him about his plans. Qiu Yue pretended to be honest and even deliberately sent people out of the city. When he came back, he falsely reported the movements of the army and said that the army had arrived overnight, misleading Zhu Zhixiu, He Jin and Ding. Troops were sent out to guard the ferry to prevent the officers and soldiers from crossing the river.

Zhu Zhi was afraid, so he sent He Jin and Ding Guang to command Zheng Qing and other three thousand people to go out to guard the ferry dam. Only Zhou Ang stayed behind. In addition, Zhu Zhixiu also sent envoys to show off their teeth (in ancient times, troops were sent out to hold flags). ) called Qiu Yue in his name, but Qiu Yue kept complaining that he was ill.

Later, Qiu Yue learned that instead of blaming him, His Majesty the Emperor did not consider him guilty of surrendering to the enemy at all, and appointed himself the Deputy Chief Military Officer. He was even more grateful to His Majesty the Emperor, and became determined that "a scholar will die for his confidant", so Qiu Yue Yue is ready to respond to the imperial army's internal and external cooperation.

Because it was unfavorable to cross the Yellow River eastward, Zhu Zhixiu sent his confidant Zhou Ang to visit Qiu Yue's home and ask for advice. Qiu Yue was very happy when he saw this and said happily: "The two murderers are far away from here, and this thief is alone. Fortunately, he came back on his own initiative now." , God helped me to win.”

So Qiu Yue wrapped his head in a turban and put on his armor and went to see Zhou Ang. He deliberately lured Zhou Ang into the bedroom, and then ambushed Zhou Ang between the screens in the courtyard. He made an agreement in advance: "If you call for tea, you will attack."

The servants Tao Bin and Laide killed him with Tieguduo, beheaded him, and directly started to bring order to the chaos.

Qiu Yue took Zhou Ang's head and announced loudly in the market: "The traitor has been brought to justice, can everyone act with me? Wealth can be obtained in a moment, and those who don't understand will not be spared."

For a time, there were tens of thousands of followers, so Qiu Yue personally mounted his horse and went out to command the strongman Yang Zhen and more than a hundred people to directly attack the Anhua Palace. He led them to directly surround Zhu Zhixiu's residence, and shouted that he was serving the emperor. His Majesty the Emperor has ordered a crusade against the traitors. Anyone who dares to be his enemy will be regarded as traitorous and the nine tribes will be killed!

At that time, Zhu Zhixiu's soldiers were still guarding him. Qiu Yue killed dozens of the leaders and said to the remaining party: "You are all people who have been coerced and followed. If you can lay down your arms and come to submit, don't ask any questions, otherwise it will be regarded as a conspiracy." Go against the rules and kill the nine tribes!"

Under the threat of the Zhujiu clan, the rebel soldiers did not dare to resist Qiu Yue's troops, and were quickly killed and retreated.

In the end, Qiu Yue successfully entered the Anhua Palace, killed eleven rebel masterminds including Zhu Xia, Sun Jingwen, and Shi Lian, and captured alive Zhu Jixiu, his son Zhu Tailu, Yibin Xie Tinghuai, Han Tingzhang, and party members Li Fan, Zhang Huitong, etc. A group of rebel leaders completely ruined Zhu Zhixiu's grand hegemony.

Qiu Yue greeted Yang Ying's army, sent word to Zhu Chi to summon He Jin and others to return, and secretly informed his subordinates about the situation of Zhu Chixiu's capture alive. He sent Gu Xing'er to inform Zheng Qing to let him go anyway. When He Jinzheng returned to the army, Zheng Qing and others immediately used his troops to kill Hu Xi, Wei Zhen and more than ten people, and then went to the mouth of the river to capture and kill Liu Yue and Jiang Yong. The rebels were defeated. He Jin, Ding Guang, Xu Qin, Yang Tai and Wang Fu fled into Helan Mountain alone and were captured by Luo soldiers. Shen Jujing and others were also captured alive.

After that, things became much simpler. Even the senior members of the family were all taken out by Qiu Yue. The rest of the rebels had no courage to continue the rebellion, so they just surrendered. The imperial army put down the rebellion almost without any blood.

Looking at the entire counter-insurgency process, there is no doubt that the most outstanding person is Qiu Yue, the deputy commander-in-chief who is extremely resourceful and courageous.

Even Yang Yiqing, the Minister of War, only coordinated the overall situation and forcibly stabilized the situation without allowing the rebels to expand their results. However, Qiu Yue really used his own power to go straight to Huanglong and capture all the rebel masterminds alive. It is not an exaggeration to say that he single-handedly put down this rebellion.

Even though Tang Hao had listened to the whole story at this moment, he was also a little emotional.

This Qiu Yue really has some abilities. No wonder he came into the eyes of the British public Zhang Mao. He once became the nine-sided general selected by the Xungui Group and the spokesperson of the Xungui Group in the future.

It's a pity that he had a bad life and met Tang Hao who suddenly came to Ming Dynasty, so the trajectory of his life changed slightly.

However, the more brilliant Qiu Yue was, the happier Tang Hao was.

The reason is very simple. The Ming Dynasty now has too few useful generals.

Tang Hao wanted to revive the Ming Dynasty, wanted to make a difference in this era, and wanted to change the collapse of the last Han Dynasty. It was not enough for him alone.

To do all this, Tang Hao must cultivate countless like-minded people, and let more people enjoy and obtain benefits in the process, thus becoming his supporters and followers, just like The same goes for Tang Mu, Xu Tianci and others.

Today, the political structure of the Ming Dynasty is deformed and ridiculous. The civil servants and gentry control the government and constantly seize profits and consume the national destiny of the Ming Dynasty. So much so that Tang Hao and Zhu Houzhao had to take risks and bring the power of the clan into the dynasty to fight against the civil servants and gentry.

In this era, all discourse power and knowledge dissemination were in the hands of Confucian literati.

These disciples of famous religions controlled the power of the Jin gentry in the court, and also controlled the voice of the court; in the countryside, they were the gentry, controlling local fields, holding the lifeblood of the people, and also controlled the local voice in disguise.

Therefore, all the right to speak is in the hands of these gentry and famous disciples.

However, this Confucian thought has long been decayed and lost its vitality. In other words, due to generations of misinterpretation and development, it is no longer suitable for the needs of society.

All scholars, all children of famous schools, hold the Four Books and Five Classics handed down for thousands of years all day long. It is not enough to memorize them by heart. They must also recite the annotations of the great sages and Confucian scholars, and then use this rote memorization method to participate in the imperial examinations, and then enter the official career to continue to hold power.

At this point, it is almost destined that Confucianism will only slowly hinder the progress and development of society. In addition, the popularity of Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism has directly imprisoned the people's thoughts!

Because the thoughts of society are imprisoned, any innovation and change will be regarded as heresy and strange skills. The final result is that society stagnates and no longer develops. Even the castrated Confucianism has become an excellent weapon for the Qing Dynasty to enslave the Han people, and it has also led to the arrogant style of closing the country to the outside world.

It is precisely such literati and scholars, such a corrupt castrated Confucianism, who have mastered the discourse power of this era, or everything in this era!

Therefore, no matter what, Tang Hao must break the layers of blockade of Confucianism on the Ming Dynasty!

And this Qiu Yue has proved his personal ability to Tang Hao through this rebellion. He is undoubtedly a rare general at present.

Tang Hao will naturally not let such a general go without promotion, or do something to suppress him because of power and selfishness. That would be really stupid.

So Tang Hao took advantage of the discussion among the ministers and immediately stepped out and played loudly.

"Your Majesty, this time the traitor Zhu Zongqi started the rebellion and finally put it down completely in less than a month. It's simply a farce."

"Except for Yang Yiqing, Cao Xiong, Yang Ying and others who worked together, the one who made the greatest contribution in this battle is Qiu Yue. He is both wise and brave, and he is unparalleled in bravery. The court should praise him greatly, so that the soldiers can be motivated to be loyal to the country!"

As expected, the first sentence that Zhongshan Hou opened his mouth was to ask for credit for Qiu Yue.

After all, anyone with a discerning eye can see that the reason why the rebellion was put down so smoothly and quickly was all based on Qiu Yue's heroic performance, otherwise it is unknown how long this rebellion would last!

The longer the rebellion lasts, the greater the blow to the prestige of the court, not to mention that Qiu Yue also captured all the masterminds including Zhu Zongqiang alive in one fell swoop. This achievement is enough to overshadow everyone and no one can erase it.

At this juncture, Yang Tinghe, Wang Ao and others did not say anything.

After all, the facts are in front of us. If nothing unexpected happens, Qiu Yue will definitely be promoted.

Qiu Yue's previous official position was Ningxia Guerrilla General and Commander-in-Chief. Later, the court added a deputy general to allow him to cooperate with the outside world. At this moment, Qiu Yue lived up to expectations and made such a great contribution. It would be unreasonable if he was not given a title!

According to the Ming system, no one can be given a title without military merit, and putting down a rebellion is naturally a military merit.

Therefore, it is natural and reasonable for Qiu Yue to be promoted.

Ning Wang Zhu Chenhao also reacted. Whether it was to fight against the civil officials and gentry, or to obey Tang Hao's support for him, he should stand up clearly at this moment and ask for merit for Qiu Yue.

"Your Majesty, what Lord Tang said is very true!"

"I second the motion!"

Xing Wang Zhu Youluo was not idle either, and also stepped out to second the motion.

Zhu Houzhao smiled and nodded, and was very satisfied with the two kings' tact.

"I will naturally not treat meritorious ministers unfairly, not to mention such a loyal and brave general, how can I let the soldiers of the three armies feel disappointed?"

"Draft an edict to confer Qiu Yue the title of Xianning Earl, and to give him the honorary rank of loyal and loyal military official, special promotion and honorary doctor, and pillar of the country, with an annual salary of one thousand stones, and to grant him a hereditary imperial edict, and to promote him to the general of the Western Expedition, the deputy governor, and the general of Ningxia!"

Hereditary Earl, this title is considered very good.

After all, with the military generals and nobles declining day by day, most of these so-called dukes and marquises are just useless people who are just lying on the merit books of their fathers and grandfathers and waiting to die.

Well, except for Tang Hao, the Marquis of Zhongshan, but this hereditary marquis inherited the title of Tang He, a famous general of the founding of the country, in addition to his own merits in saving the emperor, so there is no comparison.

In the middle and late stages of the Ming Dynasty, a border general who could obtain a hereditary earl by virtue of his own military merits was already a natural general.

Hereditary earl, deputy governor, and Ningxia general.

Qiu Yue was able to rise to the top in one step because of the suppression of the rebellion.

Next, it was to discuss the rewards for other people.

After all, without Yang Yiqing, Cao Xiong and others to preside over the overall situation and block the rebels at the mouth of the Yellow River, Qiu Yue would not have had the opportunity to attack Huanglong and make great contributions.

Finally, after discussion among the ministers, the meritorious officials who assisted in the suppression of the rebellion were rewarded with money and property.

Jiang Han, the general officer of Yansui, was granted a funeral and an altar for sacrifices because of his son Jiang Shi's memorial. The officials built a tomb for him. Jiang Shi requested to inherit the original post of Yulin Guard, which was approved, and he was appointed as a manager one level higher than his original post; Cao Xiong, the general officer of Shaanxi, was promoted to the position of Left General, and his son Cao Mi was also given the title of Qian Hu because of the influence of the title; Yang Yiqing, the Minister of War, was promoted to Special Advancement and Left Pillar of the State... The meritorious officials were awarded platinum and colorful brocade.

There are rewards for merit, and there are severe punishments for crimes.

Needless to say, Zhu Zongxian, the mastermind, had been directly sent to the ancestral temple to remove Zhu Zongxian's title of Prince, and removed him from the Ming royal family, making him a commoner, like a lonely ghost. Now he was captured alive and sent to the capital, and he will be beheaded together with his followers!

There was also a Prince of Qing, Zhu Taihong, who, as a vassal prince of the main line, failed to restrain the members of the royal family within the vassal system, which led to such a disaster. Zhu Taihong naturally had an unshirkable crime of negligence, so Zhu Houzhao reduced his guards, abolished one-third of his salary, and demoted his Chengfeng and Changshi to guard the border, which also set a clear example for the new system of royal family and vassalage!

It can be said that Zhu Zonghong's rebellion, which lasted only 18 days, was finally quelled by Qiu Yue alone, and the impact was not very great. It was indeed a ridiculous farce.