Chapter 48 Songming City is Different

Just when Zhu Chong in Yunnan was making his plans and delaying time, Mu Ying rushed back to Yingtian Prefecture.

After returning to Yingtian Prefecture, Mu Ying immediately went to the palace to see the emperor. Old Zhu met his adopted son in his imperial study.

"What did you say? Say it again, you and Fei Ju led hundreds of thousands of people, and were all suppressed?"

Old Zhu stood up and leaned against the table, his eyes fixed on Mu Ying. He was shocked and couldn't believe what Mu Ying had just said.

"Father, every word I say is true!" Mu Ying knelt on the ground. "Marquis Pingliang and the hundreds of thousands of soldiers present can all testify to the situation at that time. Songming City is now showing signs of becoming a serious threat to the Ming Dynasty!"

"The people of Songming City have no respect for our Great Ming. I have tried to accept them, but they have all been rejected and humiliated without exception. This has been mentioned in the memorials submitted by the Marquis of Pingliang and me before."

"If this rebellious city is not dealt with soon and allowed to grow, it will surely become a threat as great as King Liang!"

After hearing what Mu Ying said, Zhu Yuanzhang frowned, but he felt a little disapproving in his heart.

"Aying, the envoys we sent to Yunnan and Yunnan should have arrived in Songming City by now. Whether to attack Songming City or to pacify them should wait for the news from the envoys before deciding."

Mu Ying frowned upon hearing this and said stubbornly, "I agree. I believe that the unruly people of Songming City have no intention of negotiating with the Ming Dynasty. They are constantly preparing for war and developing military equipment."

"What I just said is absolutely true. When I first saw Songming City, it was just a small town. But after just over a month, Songming City has become like Yingtian Prefecture. Moreover, their military equipment is comparable to ours..."

"Aying, we understand. You go down first." Old Zhu saw that Mu Ying was determined not to give up until he achieved his goal, so he picked up the teacup in front of him and said lightly.

"Father?" Mu Ying looked up in surprise and found Zhu Yuanzhang looking at him with a gloomy face. Knowing that it was useless to say more, he could only take his leave honestly.

After Mu Ying left the imperial study, Zhu Yuanzhang turned to Mao Xiang in the shadows and asked, "How credible are Aying's words? Why do we feel that he has become increasingly unstable since his trip to Yunnan? Is he still too young?"

Mao Xiang hesitated for a long while before saying, "I do believe that what Xiping Hou said is true, but there are many strange things about the Songming incident. Your Majesty should wait for the news from the Jinyiwei before making any decisions."

"But if this is really as Xiping Hou said, in my humble opinion, I'm afraid that with the 200,000 troops of Xiping Hou and Pingliang Hou, it would be difficult to hold the situation."

After hearing what Mao Xiang said, Zhu Yuanzhang raised his thick eyebrows slightly, but did not speak immediately. Instead, he paced around the imperial study. Mao Xiang remained the same, hiding in the darkness, waiting for Zhu Yuanzhang's next instructions.

After a long while, Old Zhu stopped and said slowly, "No matter what the Jinyiwei's subsequent investigation says, let's wait for the delegation's reply. The Yunnan-Dian incident is indeed as you said, with too many strange things."

"Although Mu Ying is young, he is also a sensible person. He would never deceive me, but..."

At the end of the conversation, Lao Zhu stopped talking and Mao Xiang didn't ask any more questions. Since the tone had been set, there was no need for him to give too much advice.

Zhu Yuanzhang set the tone, and the Yunnan and Yunnan delegations felt uncomfortable.

At Zhu Chong's command, the army of Songming surrounded all areas within 50 miles of Songming in the name of exercise. The place where the delegation was stationed happened to be within the range of the exercise.

For a full ten days, the Ming Dynasty delegation was trapped due to improper exercises. Although the Songming army did not do anything to them during these ten days, it was still very uncomfortable to be trapped in the camp all day long by an army of more than 100,000.

The Ming Dynasty delegation even thought at one point that the Songming army was taking the opportunity to do something to them, but ten days later, the appearance of Changsun Shunde surprised them.

Changsun Shunde was not very good at leading troops in battle, but he was good at handling domestic affairs and was good at using some insidious tactics.

The Ming Dynasty delegation originally thought that they could finally negotiate, so they were ready to use all their tricks to deal with Changsun Shunde, and even thought at one point that Changsun Shunde was the lord of Songming City.

As a result, when everything was almost discussed, Changsun Shunde said, "Please wait a moment, I will report to my master." Only then did he realize that he had underestimated the real lord of Songming City.

Then Changsun Shunde said, "My master does not agree," letting the Ming Dynasty delegation know that they had been fooled.

By this point, the Ming Dynasty delegation had been staying at the outskirts of Songming City for a full month. The entire negotiation, from beginning to end, was in vain. So after being escorted out of the country, the Ming Dynasty delegation immediately sent a sharply worded memorial to Yingtian Prefecture.

The memorial was quickly placed on Zhu Yuanzhang's table. After reading it, Zhu Yuanzhang's face was longer than a donkey's.

"That's really going too far. It seems Mu Ying is right. Those unruly people in Songming City are really stubborn and unrepentant. Don't blame me for being rude!"

After that, Zhu Yuanzhang issued an edict, summoning Mu Ying and Fu Youde to meet him.

Soon, Fu Youde and Mu Ying came to the imperial study together and knelt down to meet Zhu Yuanzhang.

Zhu Yuanzhang did not beat around the bush and directly threw the memorial to the two of them. After Mu Ying read the memorial and looked at Zhu Yuanzhang's expression, he immediately understood why Zhu Yuanzhang summoned him.

"Your Majesty, since such a traitor is unwilling to submit to the Ming Dynasty, then we must simply eliminate him to prevent future troubles!"

Fu Youde stood at an objective point of view. After reading the memorial, he immediately expressed his own opinion. At this time, the generals of the Ming Dynasty were all warmongers. Anyone who dared to offend the majesty of the Ming Dynasty would be killed without mercy. Anyway, they were not afraid of war!

Old Zhu nodded slightly and looked at Mu Ying. "Aying, you've dealt with the people of Songming City before. In your opinion, if we let you and General Fu go to Yunnan together, how many troops and equipment would we need to capture Songming?"

Mu Ying was waiting for Zhu Yuanzhang to say this. He bowed and replied, "Father, Songming City is now surrounded by high walls and deep moats, and its troops and weapons are not inferior to ours. In my opinion, if we want to completely eradicate it, we will have to mobilize half of the country's firearms to achieve success!"

"Half of the firearms?" Old Zhu glared and was a little skeptical of Mu Ying's words. He had used the weak to defeat the strong and did not use so many firearms when dealing with his biggest enemy in his life, Chen Youliang.

The Ming Dynasty had already been established for ten years, but Mu Ying said that he wanted to use so many firearms for a small border town. How could Zhu not think too much?

"Father!" Mu Ying saw the doubt in Old Zhu's eyes and quickly explained, "This son is not exaggerating. You should have received information from various sources. Songming City is different from any opponent we have encountered before!"