Father-in-law Zhu Di, I am so happy to marry the disfigured princess

Seeing Zhu Youjian like this, Zhu Yuanzhang couldn't bear to say anything more.

He remained silent and just looked at Zhu Youjian quietly, hoping that Zhu Youjian could figure it out on his own.

Zhu Youjian on the other side suddenly turned his head and looked at Li Xiao.

"Li Xiao, I don't know how other future generations will evaluate me besides these."

"Didn't you say before that I made many fatal mistakes?"

"Besides not killing Wei Zhongxian at the right time, what other fatal mistake did he make?"

"You might as well just say it."

"I'm all ears."

Zhu Youjian looked at Li Xiao, his eyes were rare and firm.

Obviously, this time Zhu Youjian really wanted to hear about the mistakes he had committed.

The destruction of the Ming Dynasty at his hands has always been his heartache.

Although he was unwilling to admit that he was the king of subjugation, he also knew that he must be at fault.

But I don't know where I went wrong.

Now that someone is willing to tell him where he went wrong, Zhu Youjian naturally wants to hear it.

Li Xiao even said that he was not as good as Wei Zhongxian, so what could be more ugly than this?

If you have simply been nailed to the pillar of shame, then you should reflect on what you have done.

Even if he really had to bear the infamy of this king who had subjugated his country, he wanted to bear it clearly.

See why you will be called the king of subjugation by future generations.

Even though I know the reasons, I can't change anything.

But Zhu Youjian will feel better in his own heart.

At least he knows where he went wrong and his shortcomings.

I have a clearer understanding of myself, Ming Dynasty, and history.

Even though he is no longer in that time and space, he is still a clear-minded person.

Rather than living in a muddle, trapped in the pain of the destruction of the Ming Dynasty, unable to extricate himself.

Seeing that Zhu Youjian said this, Li Xiao didn't care anymore.

"Okay, then I'll continue."

"Listen carefully." Li Xiao looked at Zhu Youjian and said in a deep voice.

Zhu Youjian met Li Xiao's gaze and nodded fiercely.

"Your first fatal mistake was not killing Wei Zhongxian at the right time, which led to the rise of the Donglin Rebellion."

"This is because of your own lack of political experience and ability."

"Your second fatal mistake was that you missed several good opportunities in the face of the civil unrest within the Ming Dynasty."

"As a result, the subsequent civil commotion became more and more serious and completely uncontrollable."

"That's why Li Zicheng, Zhang Xianzhong and others appeared."

Li Xiao said in a deep voice.

In the fourth or fifth year of Chongzhen's reign, due to the arrival of the Little Ice Age, various natural disasters occurred across the country.

These natural disasters have caused farmers to lose their harvest and have problems eating.

In addition, the Donglin Party came to power at this time, and the taxes from the prosperous Jiangnan area were evenly distributed to those poor areas.

In those places, it was originally a problem for them to even have enough food to eat. They were already starved of food due to natural disasters and had to face the sudden increase in taxes from the court.

Soon, these people who had no food could no longer bear it.

However, the treasury of the Ming Dynasty was empty, and there was no money or food for disaster relief, so it kept plundering them.

A popular uprising soon arose, and this kind of uprising did not occur in just one or two places, but spread on a large scale and in large numbers.

First among them is the Northwest Territories.

At that time, the northwest region was almost full of rebels who stood up to resist the Ming Dynasty.

Moreover, the strength of the peasant army at that time was already considerable. According to historical records, the total strength of the peasant army reached about 20.

This is not a small amount.

You must know that during the Chongzhen period, the entire Ming Dynasty had only 100 million regular troops.

The peasant army in the northwest region alone numbered 20, accounting for one-fifth of the Ming Dynasty's army.

One-fifth may not be a large number, but don't forget that the Ming Dynasty's army was to guard all parts of the country.

Almost half of the army is stationed in areas such as the border.

At least 30% of the army is stationed on the border, while only about [-]% of the army is stationed in the hinterland of the Ming Dynasty, only more than [-] people.

At least half of the 30 people in the hinterland are stationed in two important places, Beijing and Nanjing.

There are only less than 20 garrison troops in other places.

A peasant army in the northwest has 20 people, which makes it impossible for local officials in the northwest to handle it.

It would be unrealistic to mobilize troops from the border to quell the chaos, because Ming's border was not stable at that time.

Hou Jin has always been eyeing Liaodong.

Therefore, facing the 20 revolting peasant army, the Ming court had a headache.

Fortunately, although the peasant soldiers at this time were large in number, they all fought independently.

They are just like rogue bandits, just making small troubles.

Without a unified organization and subordinates to form a scale, it is at best a loose alliance against the imperial court.

This kind of alliance has almost no combat effectiveness against the regular army of the Ming Dynasty.

At that time, the common people jumped up to rebel just for a bite of food. Once they really wanted to fight, these peasant armies would be in disarray.

Therefore, although the peasant army at that time caused a headache to the Ming court, the Ming court did not take these people to heart.

At that time, the Donglin Party was in power in the Ming Dynasty.

These aloof Donglin Party did not realize the seriousness of the matter at all.

In their eyes, the peasant army is nothing but vulnerable.

Therefore, at the beginning of the peasant army uprising, the Ming court did not use the power of thunder to quickly suppress it.

It just kept putting pressure on local officials and did not make other substantive decisions.

Among these peasant armies, those led by Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong had the best military discipline.

And the combat effectiveness is also the strongest.

Because Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong did not rebel just for a meal at the beginning, they had already set their sights on the dragon throne in the distant city of Beijing.

Therefore, since the beginning of the rebellion of these two people, military discipline and law have been required to treat those who follow them.

Although Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong were not the two largest rebel forces at the beginning, they were under their leadership.

Although it has gone through many twists and turns, it is growing day by day.

In the end, the peasant uprising armies led by the two men became the two largest groups of all uprising armies in the country.

They were also the two most powerful armies among all the peasant armies that resisted the Ming Dynasty.

At this time, the farmers led by Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong can be described as an army, not a peasant uprising army.

It was precisely because of the rise of Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong that the Ming court really paid attention to them.But by this time it was too late.

Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong have formed a climate, and the rebel army led by them has also formed a strong combat effectiveness.

It was not something that the local army of the Ming Dynasty could compete with.

In the sixth year of Chongzhen, various peasant armies in the northwest region crossed the Taihang Mountains from Shanxi and entered the plains and mountainous areas of southern Beizhili and northern Henan.

Trying to enter the hinterland of the Central Plains from the northwest region.

This signal is already very dangerous.

If Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong were really allowed to occupy the hinterland of the Central Plains, then the Ming Dynasty would really be in trouble.

In the past, the peasant army only rioted in the northwest, but now it has directly entered the hinterland of the Central Plains. This is unimaginable.

Once these peasant rebels caused trouble, the Ming court would really have a backyard fire.

Maybe, these peasant armies could directly overthrow the Ming Dynasty without using Liaodong's Houjin.

Therefore, the Donglin Party, aware of the seriousness of the problem, quickly sent troops to suppress it.

Only at this time did they pay attention to these peasant rebels.

It was not that these peasant rebels were afraid of overthrowing the Ming Dynasty.

The Donglin Party is afraid that these peasant rebels will directly attack the Jiangnan region from the Central Plains.

The Jiangnan area is the home base of the Donglin Party, and all their properties are there.

If the natural barrier of the Central Plains is lost, their old nest will not be protected.

In order to protect the home base of the Donglin Party, they tried their best to stop these peasant rebels.

Not to mention annihilating all these peasant rebels, at least they cannot be allowed to cross the Central Plains and go straight to the south of the Yangtze River.

Immediately, the Ming court mobilized more than 4 officers and soldiers from the four provinces of Henan, Hebei, Shanxi, and Shaanxi as well as the Beijing camp to encircle and suppress the peasant army.

Because they were worried about their base in the south of the Yangtze River, the Donglin Party in the Ming court was very concerned this time.

It can even be said that they racked their brains.

Facing these revolting peasant armies, these Donglin Party members have made great efforts.

Whether it is in terms of personnel scheduling, food, grass and baggage, or leading troops and generals.

The Donglin Party members were fully prepared, and they considered the overall situation.

The purpose is to prevent these rebellious peasant armies from coming back.

At least it must be ensured that these revolting peasant armies cannot have any possibility of getting involved in the Jiangnan area.

With the full cooperation of the Donglin Party members of the Manchu Dynasty.

This time, the Ming court's deployment was very effective, and various units of the uprising peasant army failed one after another.

He was beaten so hard by the officers and soldiers of the Ming Dynasty that he was almost unable to fight back.

No matter what, the regular army will always be the regular army.

What's more, they have the support of the Ming Dynasty.

Whether in terms of food and grass or commanding battles, the miscellaneous rebel peasant army was no match for the regular army of the Ming Dynasty.

Those who rebelled against Ming Mingjun faced the situation of complete annihilation.

Faced with this desperate situation of imminent annihilation of the entire army, the rebel peasant army began to feel a little timid.

These rebel peasant armies knew very well that although they were larger in number than the Ming Dynasty's army.

But the combat effectiveness is still not comparable to the army of the Ming Dynasty.

If they continue to resist stubbornly, they will probably be annihilated in the end.

Therefore, many people immediately became frightened and thought of surrendering.

The more powerful peasant armies did not plan to confront the Ming Dynasty head-on. They planned to conserve their strength and wait for the opportunity.

The Ming court on the other side did not want to cause too many casualties, nor did it want to continue fighting to consume national power.

Then he also started to think about recruiting people.

This coincides with those rebels who intend to preserve their strength and wait for the opportunity.

Immediately, many leaders of the peasant rebel army were ready to accept the recruitment of the Ming court.

Among them was Li Zicheng.

At that time, the Ming army general Wang Pu and the eunuch Yang Jin who were responsible for countering the rebellion thought that these peasant rebels had been completely intimidated by them.

I was completely defeated by them, so I planned to surrender.

Suddenly, the Ming army was overjoyed.

Everyone thought that this counterinsurgency was over and done.

Immediately, the generals of the Ming army who were encircling and suppressing the peasant rebel army immediately reported to the court that the peasant rebel army here had decided to recruit troops.

At this time, the Ming Dynasty's treasury was empty, and countering the rebellion originally gave the Ming Dynasty a headache.

If we can solve this rebellion in such a short period of time and subdue these rebellious peasant armies, it will definitely be a great achievement.

Therefore, after receiving the news that the Peasant Rebel Army was willing to recruit soldiers.

The Ming army general Wang Pu and the eunuch who oversaw the army ordered the Ming army not to attack the peasant uprising army before receiving military orders.

Because they were afraid of accidentally angering these peasant rebels.

It will take a long time to fight again.

And now, if the peasant rebel army plans to accept recruitment and surrender, then this is a great achievement.

But if there is a fierce battle with the peasant uprising army, there may be some serious casualties on the Ming army's side.

That is sin.

The merits and demerits of these Ming army generals and the eunuchs who supervise the army are clearly distinguished.

But how did they know that these peasant rebels were pretending to surrender in order to gain opportunities to counterattack.

Unfortunately, the troops of the Ming Dynasty were still kept in the dark, dreaming of their own surrender.

After the Ming army stopped encircling and suppressing these peasant rebels, these peasant rebels also had a chance to breathe.

Taking advantage of this time, the peasant rebel army began to redeploy its combat strategy.

Because the Ming army would not attack them at all at this time, they would have the opportunity and time to detect the surrounding terrain and the Ming army's march and deployment.

Once they have useful information, they will wait for a suitable time to launch another attack on the Ming army.

The Ming army on the other side, faced with the surrender of these peasant rebels, was still waiting bitterly for a reply from the Ming court.

Zhenzhen stayed in place and did not launch any attacks on the peasant rebels.

This delay lasted half a month.

And half a month is enough time for a lot of things to happen.

Previously, the Ming Dynasty's army used the natural barrier of the Yellow River to tightly surround the peasant uprising army and restrict their activities.

But during the period when the Ming army gave up attacking them, the Yellow River slowly froze due to the gradually cold weather.

Seeing that the Yellow River was frozen, the peasant rebel armies in various ministries started to think about it.

This is simply God giving them a way out.

Immediately, all the peasant rebel armies began to take advantage of the ice of the Yellow River to cross the Yellow River and point directly at the hinterland of the Central Plains.

(End of this chapter)