Chapter 363: Untitled
After hearing what Princess Kunxing said, Lu Ling said, "They're also doing this for the Ming Dynasty! We all know that your prince is completely devoted to the court. But how many of those outsiders know this? Aren't they just afraid of a mutiny like the Chenqiao mutiny?"
"How can it be the same? The situation is so dangerous now! If he really has that intention, the only ones who will be happy are the Jianlu and those rebels. By then, the world will be in chaos and no one will be good." Princess Kunxing said.
"If one day the Jianlu are pacified and the country is at peace, shouldn't the military and political power also return to the court?" Lu Ling said.
After listening carefully, Kunxing knew that Lu Ling had connections with the outer court and wanted his family to hand over power!
Princess Kunxing smiled and said, "Of course. Although I married into the Zhao family, my last name is Zhu. I can't watch my father and brother's kingdom fall into the hands of others."
Despite saying this, Princess Kunxing was thinking: If you women can't give birth to a son, don't blame me for being rude. So what if my son Yuming becomes the emperor?
"Recently, there have been continuous floods on both sides of the Yangtze River. Huguang and Jiangxi have become swamps. How much silver has the cabinet approved for disaster relief?" asked Princess Kunxing.
Lu Ling pulled out a memorial, handed it to Princess Kunxing, and said, "Two million taels of silver. They said the money would be directly allocated to He Tengjiao, the Governor of Huguang. He will be personally responsible for disaster relief!"
Princess Kunxing remained silent, instead looking down at the memorial. Seeing the cabinet's opinion was indeed correct, she immediately approved it: The cabinet was to appoint a disaster relief inspection team, two from the Ministry of Works and one from the Ministry of Justice. They were to lead 3,000 troops south to guide Governor-General He Tengjiao's disaster relief efforts. Any evidence of shoddy work, embezzlement of relief funds, or abuse of the people was to be put to death without mercy! She also granted the Imperial Sword, declaring that officials below the third rank could be executed without permission!
After reading this, Lu Ling was shocked. She found that her sister-in-law was very murderous.
In fact, she didn't understand that in troubled times, severe punishments were needed to prevent the government from forcing the people to rebel! I'm not afraid of natural disasters, I'm just afraid of man-made disasters after natural disasters.
"Sister, isn't your murderous intent a bit too much?" Lu Ling said carefully.
"What's that? It's not like you haven't been among the people before. Don't you know what kind of people those officials are? Without someone with authority to watch over them, it would be good if 10% can reach the project or the hands of the people!" Princess Kunxing asked.
"Sister is right! I'm just afraid of the court officials..." Lu Ling was interrupted by Kunxing before she could finish her words.
"What are you afraid of them doing? You are the queen mother, there is no need to care about what they think. Because they may not care about what you think, all they see is profit." Princess Kunxing said.
Lu Ling was indeed unfamiliar with government affairs, and Concubine Huang Shu had been ill recently and had been confined to the palace. No memorials were sent to her, so the two of them were now in charge of the overall situation.
Lu Ling became a secretary because she had no ideas of her own and had to obey the orders of the cabinet and court officials.
Princess Kunxing had been staying by Zhao Xiaofei's side for the past few years, and had been influenced by his ideas and behavior. Therefore, she was quite knowledgeable about government affairs and had her own ideas.
After she put down the memorial, a palace maid came over and rubbed her head. She had no idea how many memorials the two of them had read, and it was giving her a headache. Big matters were fine, but even trivial matters were reported. Even things like erecting chastity arches for local women were reported to her. What the hell are you officials from the Ministry of Rites for?
The maid massaged her while Lu Ling continued to read the memorials. She believed that diligence could make up for lack of talent. However, some things were not so. The Minister of War, Wang Jiayan, asked the court to urge the Kenan Army to quickly wipe out Li Zicheng and then divide the troops to attack Shanhaiguan.
She handed the memorial to Princess Kunxing, who took it and became furious. She said, "If he had the guts, he should have gone and attacked Xi'an! We shouldn't have rescued him from the capital in the first place. He doesn't know much about military affairs, yet he's still meddling in our affairs."
"How is the prince doing in Xi'an now?" Lu Ling asked.
"The Kenan Army didn't suffer too many casualties. It was the group of traitors who were incorporated into the army that suffered the most deaths. If it weren't for their reputation, Xi'an would have been taken long ago!" said Princess Kunxing.
"We have limited money and food, and we can't delay too long," said Lu Ling.
"Of course! As long as you don't say that my husband killed too many people, we can take Xi'an City tomorrow. At worst, we can just burn it down!" said Princess Kunxing.
"They want the horse to run, but they don't want to give it more food!" said Lu Ling.
At the gates of Xi'an, the original plan was to capture the city in three or seven days. But what happened? It's been half a month, and there hasn't been much progress.
The city of Xi'an had long been turned into an ant nest by Li Zicheng's troops, with many roads and tunnels. The Ming army could hardly defend against it, and even Wu Sangui and Kong Youde were no longer in a hurry.
"How many people died?" Zhao Xiaofei asked.
"Your Highness, more than 100,000 people have died. Nearly 20,000 soldiers of the Kenan Army have died. We can't defend ourselves against it!" said General Zhou.
"How many people surrendered voluntarily, and how many did you rescue?" Zhao Xiaokun asked.
"Not many people actually surrendered, less than 10,000. We captured 20,000 to 30,000 civilians, but it can be seen that they are very hostile to us!" Wanshan said.
Wu Sangui and Kong Youde were no longer motivated. Their strength had been severely weakened in recent days, with both sides losing over 80,000 men. With over 50% of their forces gone, they were already a bit scared. So they just stood there and said nothing.
Zhao Xiaofei had lost his patience and said, "Use fire! The Ming Dynasty doesn't have enough soldiers and time to waste here. The Jianlu from the north could march south at any time."
After Zhao Xiaofei said this, Wanshan Zhou Shuai breathed a sigh of relief. Wu Sangui and Kong Youde also breathed a sigh of relief.
The next day, the earth rockets and catapults were reloaded with incendiary bombs.
Except for Li Zicheng's palace, the surrounding area was engulfed in flames.
From time to time, you can see someone coming out from an unexpected place, rolling on the ground covered in flames, and finally being burned to death.
Others, their bodies on fire, rushed towards the Ming army, intending to die together with them. Unfortunately, they didn't have the chance to do so. Before they could get close, they were either killed by muskets or stabbed to death by spears.
The fire burned for many days and killed about 100,000 people.
Zhao Xiaofei and Zhao Xiaokun had long been numb to death, but Zhou Shuai and Wan Shan felt it was a pity. If these people could be given to them, they could make a very good overseas pioneering group.
Only Fang Xinyu didn't mind. Ma Xiangling, standing by on horseback, said, "Prince Li should have done this long ago! There's no need to pity those rebellious people; they're dead. Your Highness is a man of integrity, but it's a pity he chose the wrong time and the wrong person."
"A kind-hearted man cannot command an army! Your Highness is still kind-hearted and soft-hearted." Fang Xinyu said.
"I heard that your two brothers are leaving?" Ma Xiangling asked.
"Let them go their way, but I still have you. I want to stay with you!" Fang Xinyu said.
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