The capital city.
When Li Qin arrived in the capital, he received the same treatment as when he conquered Shanxi. Emperor Zhu Qizhen personally greeted him, and all the officials knelt to welcome him.
Li Qin even rode back to the Forbidden City with the emperor in the imperial carriage.
Countless citizens along the route, whether voluntarily or involuntarily, came out to cheer and celebrate Li Qin's victory.
The outcome of Li Qin's battle with the Tatars this time was indeed beyond everyone's expectations.
After all, in the past two decades, the imperial court, under the leadership of Zhu Qizhen and Wang Zhen, had suffered repeated defeats against the Tatars in the north.
This time, the Tatar Khan Lingdan Batur led an unprecedented force of 200,000 Tatar troops south.
Li Qin, however, led an army of 100,000 northwards and defeated the Tatar Khan who had dominated the northern part of the Great Wu for twenty years.
They defeated a Tatar army of over 200,000.
This achievement is unprecedented since Emperor Taizong.
Before this expedition, everyone predicted that Li Qin would at most force back the 200,000-strong Tatar army, and at most achieve a minor victory.
Unexpectedly, he actually defeated the 200,000-strong Tatar army, and won a great victory.
It's important to know that such a resounding victory is extremely rare.
The Tatars were all cavalry, and each man rode a horse; they were also extremely adept at assessing situations.
Seeing that things were going badly, he ran faster than anyone else.
With their skills honed from childhood on horseback and their vast numbers of horses, they were able to achieve great things.
You're impossible to catch up with.
It can be said that there were victories, but very few decapitations.
Li Qin's attack not only resulted in the beheading of tens of thousands, but also the killing of the Tatar Khan Lingdan Batur.
Li Qin, who had just arrived in the Forbidden City, looked at the kneeling officials below and the nervous Emperor Zhu Qizhen sitting behind him.
He waved his hand, signaling Xi Ning behind him to begin reading the imperial decree.
"By the grace of Heaven, the Emperor decrees: The Duke of Liaodong, having fought the Tatars in the north, beheading tens of thousands, including the Tatar Khan, has rendered outstanding service and is hereby granted the title of Prince of Liao..."
Although the officials kneeling below were surprised, none of them dared to stand up because of their fear of Li.
Only Qian Qianyi, the cabinet member kneeling in front, trembled, seemingly wanting to rebuke Li Qin for bestowing upon him the title of king.
But in the end, he was too cowardly to do anything.
Instead, they joined the surrounding ministers in shouting praises of the emperor's wisdom.
Li Qin looked at the reactions of the officials in front of him and gave a cold smile.
Just as he had expected, none of the ministers in front of him dared to object.
After announcing his imperial edict bestowing titles upon the kings, he continued to announce the rewards for those who had rendered meritorious service.
The current government's actions are just for show, merely going through the motions.
They basically have no decision-making power left.
They either approve or strongly approve of any decision Li Qin makes.
Even if they knew that Li Qin had been enthroned as Khan by the Tatars in Liaodong, not one of them dared to speak of it.
Zhu Qizhen, on the other hand, remained seated on the dragon throne, acting as a puppet ever since the last rebellion.
He dared not do anything anymore.
He is now basically locked up in a courtyard that has been sealed off with bricks, like a prisoner.
The scope of their activities has been greatly reduced, and now those eunuchs don't even maintain a semblance of respect.
Everyone despised and insulted him.
Now that Li Qin has made him a king, he probably won't be able to endure this prisoner-like life for long.
After dealing with the court's public relations projects, Li Qin returned to his residence.
After all, the center of power in the capital is now in his own residence, not in the Forbidden City.
After Li Qin returned to his residence, his wife Zhuang Xiaoyu immediately came to pay her respects with his concubines.
This included Jiang Qingyue, who was already pregnant, and the few others he had brought out from the Forbidden City.
Looking at the group of people in front of him, Li Qin wondered if he should have some fun tonight?
He had suffered terribly during his time on the expedition.
After dismissing the group, Li Qin immediately returned to his own hall.
By this time, everyone from his military intelligence room had already gathered here.
During this time, when they had already gone on their own expedition, all the memorials concerning court affairs that they had handled were placed in front of them for them to review.
After all, although he led the army into battle, the imperial court was still operating as usual, and those matters still needed to be handled by someone.
While he was fighting the Tatars outside the Great Wall, much of the information he received was either unavailable or received in a timely manner.
Looking at the memorial in front of him, Li Qin knew that he would be busy for a while again.
He took the seat of honor and asked the crowd before him:
"Has anything major happened during this time?"
After he finished speaking, Gu Deyuan immediately stood up and said:
"Your Highness, this is a memorial from Henan from not long ago. Because you were in Liaodong, it was not sent to you in time."
After receiving the memorial, Li Qin was also taken aback when he saw its contents.
He then closed the memorial and said:
"Have troops from Huguang been sent to support Dong Zhonglou?"
"Yes, Your Highness, but they have already been defeated. After learning of the defeat of the Huguang reinforcements, Dong Zhonglou of Nanyang immediately led his troops to flee to Xiangyang in Huguang."
Our army seized the opportunity to pursue and captured Xiangyang, opening the gateway to Huguang.
The garrison commander of Xiangyang surrendered, as did the cities of Xiangyang Prefecture, including Fancheng. In accordance with the policies formulated by Your Majesty, their official positions were retained.
However, Dong Zhonglou still managed to escape. Now, General Liu Shengwu and others, along with Commander-in-Chief Li, have led their troops into Huguang after capturing Nanyang.
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