The most reckless man in the Ming Dynasty

The royal family rebelled, Guanzhong was shaken, and people were in danger both inside and outside.

In particular, Zhu Zongqi also asked his trusted adviser Sun Jingwen to write a manifesto and order, and copied hundreds of copies, accusing the Zhengde Emperor Zhu Houzhao of being incompetent and unjust, first using the powerful eunuch Liu Jin to cause chaos in the world, and then using the cruel official Tang Hao to persecute loyal officials, and issued a letter to the four directions, saying that he was rebelling to clear the emperor's side.

This is what is commonly called a righteous name.

Since ancient times, only names and tools cannot be given to others.

Just like when Emperor Taizong Wen started his army to quell the rebellion, Emperor Jianwen Zhu Yunwen was not only the heir to the dynasty appointed by Emperor Taizu Gao, but also came from the eldest lineage, so Emperor Jianwen represented the orthodoxy, and Prince Yan Zhu Di used the branch of the vassal king to attack the main line, which was unpopular in itself and violated the ritual system recognized by the world.

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

When Emperor Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang was in power, he was afraid that powerful officials would usurp power, so he stipulated that the princes had the right to send letters to the central government, demand the removal of treacherous officials and raise troops to clear the emperor's side!

The "Huang Ming Zuxun" clearly states: "There are no upright officials in the court, and there are treacherous rebels in the court. We must raise troops to punish them and clear the emperor's side."

Prince Yan Zhu Di used this as an excuse to accuse Jianwen's court officials Qi Tai and Huang Zicheng of being treacherous officials, and called his actions "Jingnan", which means to calm the disaster.

Therefore, Zhu Di's slogan is "Clear the emperor's side, calm the national disaster", in which "Jingnan" means to calm the disaster, calm the war, and eliminate the treacherous officials.

However, there is another rule in the law of Emperor Taizu Gao, which adds a restrictive condition to this Jingnan legacy, that is, the emperor must summon the princes first before the princes can raise troops, and after successfully eliminating the treacherous officials, they must leave Beijing within five days.

Therefore, "Fengtian Jingnan" was just an excuse and reason for Prince Yan Zhu Di to seize the throne, and it was also a righteous cause for him to stop the world's gossip.

Afterwards, Prince Yan succeeded in attacking the main line, and the Yan vassal line became the main line. After decades and hundreds of years of stable rule, the court and the public had already recognized their royal orthodoxy.

At this moment, Zhu Zongxuan was facing the same situation as Emperor Taizong Wen Zhu Di. Since he wanted to start a rebellion, he had to take the lead in occupying the righteous cause. The righteous cause Zhu Zongxuan chose was not "Jingnan" but "Qingjunce" in Taizu's legacy!

The reason why it was not "Jingnan" was because Emperor Taizong Wen himself won the world in this way, so he set strict rules for future generations. Any princes of the royal family who dared to use the excuse of "Jingnan" to raise troops would be regarded as treason and rebellion, and the world would attack them together!

Zhu Zongyi was also a smart man. He was surrounded by Confucian scholars and advisers such as Sun Jingwen, Meng Bin, and Shi Lian. Even if there were no outstanding top advisers among them, at least they had read poetry and knew how to read. So it was natural that there was no problem for him to directly copy the rebellion of Yan Wang Zhu Di.

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

In addition, the open and secret struggles between Ning Wang Zhu Chenhao and the civil officials and gentry made the people in the capital panic and uneasy, as if a storm was about to come.

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

This was a great victory document. Zhu Zongyi's rebellion had been completely quelled. It lasted only 18 days before and after, which was not an exaggeration to call it a farce.

Xiong Xiu, the left assistant minister of the Ministry of War, happily delivered the urgent document to the emperor. Zhu Houzhao squinted his eyes and carefully checked it, and then couldn't help but applaud.

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

"Come here, immediately order the Tongzhengsi to spread the news of Zhu Zongxian's rebellion to the world to calm the people's hearts!"

"Also, call all civil and military officials to discuss matters. I want to reward the meritorious soldiers!"

The news of the rebellion was confirmed by the emperor himself, and everyone present was secretly relieved.

After all, they didn't want to experience a "Jingnan Campaign" in person, and then suffer from the pain of war and displacement!

Soon the news that Zhu Zongxian's rebellion was quelled spread, and the ministers were also very happy, and their hearts were put back in their stomachs, and then they hurried to attend the temporary court meeting.

Tang Hao was also among them. With the retirement of Duke of England Zhang Mao, he is now the head of military merit, and it is natural that he will not be absent at this time.

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

It turned out that after Yang Yiqing learned about the rebellion of Anhua King Zhu Zongxuan, he was shocked and angry and immediately controlled the local troops as the Minister of War, and then ordered the soldiers along the Yellow River to guard against the enemy and never let the rebels take the opportunity to cross the river.

The rebels and the government troops fought fiercely along the Yellow River, and the rebels failed. Then Yang Yiqing ordered Shi Yong, the commander of Lingzhou garrison, to seize the boats on the west bank of the Yellow River, stop them on the east bank, and set up camp on the east side of the river. He also secretly sent a servant to let Qiu Yue be the internal response. Cao Xiong, the general officer of Shaanxi, also asked Shi Yong to secretly write a letter to Qiu Yue to ask him to start a rebellion.

Originally, Qiu Yue had to join the rebels because he was worried about his wife and children who were still in Ningxia. As a result, Zhu Zong seized his army and distributed it to his trusted camps, which was equivalent to removing Qiu Yue's military power in disguise, annexing his troops, and even rewarding these soldiers with gold and silk. Qiu Yue saw that Zhu Zong had no great talent and strategy. Since his army was seized, he simply claimed to be sick and went home to comfort his wife and children. In fact, he was secretly recruiting warriors loyal to the emperor and the court, ready to take action when the opportunity arose.

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 loudly announced 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 be exterminated without mercy."

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 disciples of famous religions, hold the Four Books and Five Classics that have been passed down for thousands of years all day long. Even if they cannot memorize them by heart, they must also memorize the annotations of mountains of saints and great scholars, and then rely on this kind of rote memorization. He went to take the imperial examination by memorizing it, and then entered the official career and continued to hold power.

Having developed to 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 thoughts of the people!

Because society's thoughts are tightly imprisoned, any innovation or change will be regarded as heresy, as a strange technique, and the final result is that society will stagnate and no longer develop, and even the castrated Confucianism will become Manchu and Qing Dynasty. An excellent weapon to enslave the Han people, it also turned into a closed-door arrogance style.

It just so happens that it is such literati and officials, such decadent castrated Confucianism, who have the right to speak in this era, or in other words, everything in this era!

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

And this Qiu Yue has proved his personal ability to Tang Hao by putting down the rebellion. There is no doubt that he is a rare warrior nowadays.

Naturally, Tang Hao would not leave such a general without any support, or do something to suppress him selfishly because of his power. That would be real stupidity.

So Tang Hao took advantage of the discussion among the ministers and immediately came out to play loudly.

"Your Majesty, it took less than a month for the traitor Zhu Chixiu to start a rebellion and finally put it down completely. It was a farce."

"In addition to Yang Yiqing, Cao Xiong, Yang Ying and others who worked together, the one who made the greatest contribution in this battle was Qiu Yue. He is both wise and brave, and has unparalleled bravery. The court should praise it generously, so that the soldiers can be fiercely loyal to the country. !”

As expected, the first words out of Zhongshan Hou's mouth were to ask for credit for Qiu Yue.

After all, anyone with a discerning eye can see that the reason why the suppression of the rebellion was so smooth and quick was all based on Qiu Yue's heroic performance. Otherwise, it is impossible to say how long this rebellion would have lasted!

The longer the rebellion lasts, the greater the impact on the court's prestige. Not to mention that Qiu Yue captured all the masterminds including Zhu Zhixiu alive in one fell swoop. This achievement is enough to arrogant everyone and no one can deny it.

At this juncture, Yang Tinghe, Wang Hao 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 to a higher position.

Qiu Yue's previous official position was that of Ningxia guerrilla general and concurrently serving as the commander of the capital. Later, in order to allow him to coordinate internally and externally, the court added the deputy commander-in-chief. Now that Qiu Yue has lived up to expectations and made such great achievements, it would be unjustifiable if he was not knighted!

According to the Ming Dynasty system, no one can be granted a title without military merit, and putting down rebellions naturally also belongs to military merit.

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

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

"Your Majesty, what Marquis Tang said is absolutely true!"

"I second the proposal!"

Xing Wang Zhu Youqi was not idle either and also came out to second the proposal.

Upon seeing this, Zhu Houzhao nodded with a smile, very satisfied with the two kings' enlightenment.

"Of course I won't treat my meritorious ministers unkindly. What's more, he is such a loyal, brave and brave general. How can he let the soldiers of the three armies feel cold?"

"Draft an edict to confer Qiu Yue the title of Bo of Xianning. He will be promoted to the rank of Xuancheng Xuanli Military Minister, Special Administrative Officer of Ronglu, and Zhuguo. He will be granted an annual salary of 1,000 stones. He will also be granted a hereditary title and be promoted to the General of the Western Conquest. Commander-in-Chief Qianshi, and the Chief Military Officer of Ningxia!"

Hereditary earl, this title is quite good.

After all, with the decline of military commanders and nobles day by day, most of these so-called princes are just useless people who are just lying on their father's merit list and waiting to die.

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

In the middle and late Ming Dynasty, a general who could obtain a hereditary earl by virtue of his military merit was considered a natural general.

Hereditary earl, governor of Qianshi, and chief military officer of Ningxia.

Because Qiu Yue put down the rebellion this time, it is not an exaggeration to say that he reached the sky in one step.

The next step is to decide on the rewards for others.

After all, without Yang Yiqing, Cao Xiong and others taking charge of the overall situation and blocking the rebels at the mouth of the Yellow River, Qiu Yue would not have the opportunity to directly attack Huanglong and make great achievements.

Finally, after discussion among the officials, the heroes who helped quell the chaos were rewarded with financial rewards.

Jiang Han, the commander-in-chief of the Yansui Army, received an imperial edict for his son Jiang Shi's memorial, and was granted a memorial ceremony. An altar was added for sacrifice, and a tomb was built by Yousi for burial. Jiang Shi requested to inherit the original post of Yulin Guard, which was approved, and he was appointed as one level higher than his original position. Cao Xiong, the commander-in-chief of Shaanxi Province, was promoted to the governor of the left, and his son Cao Mi was also promoted to the rank of Qianhu. Yang Yiqing, the Minister of the Ministry of War, was promoted to the state of Zuozhu. The meritorious officials were awarded platinum and colorful brocades.

If there are rewards based on merit, there will be severe punishment based on crime.

Needless to say, Zhu Chixiu was the mastermind. As early as after he openly rebelled, Zhu Houzhao sent officials directly to the ancestral temple to remove Zhu Chixiu from the title of prince and prince. He was removed from the Ming Dynasty clan and was reduced to a commoner, just like a lonely ghost. At this moment If he is captured alive and sent to the capital, he will be beheaded together with his followers!

There was also Zhu Taihang, the king of Qing. As the main vassal king, he could not restrain the clan members in the vassal line, which caused such a catastrophe. Zhu Taihang was naturally guilty of negligence, so Zhu Houzhao cut off his bodyguards. , one-third of the revolutionary salary, and his long history of being demoted to guard the border can be regarded as a clear case for the new system of vassalage!

It can be said that Zhu Zhixiu's rebellion lasted for only eighteen days, and was finally put down by Qiu Yue on his own. The impact was not very great, and it was indeed a ridiculous farce.