Chapter 19: Spreading the Good News
In the autumn of the ninth year of Zhengtong, military reports quickly arrived in Beijing, which actually alleviated Zhu Qizhen's worries at the time. The reason was simple: now everyone no longer had to focus on these unimportant matters.
The Uriankhai are harassing the border and acting capriciously. This is a matter of national importance. The court is full of officials who have entered the officialdom through the imperial examination, but they are staring at the so-called "Nightmare Town" every day and don't even know the safety of the border. How can this be tolerated?
Taking this opportunity, Zhu Qizhen immediately began to denounce officials, including Yang Pu.
To be more precise, Yang Pu took this opportunity to back down.
How could Zhu Qizhen not see Yang Pu's plan, but this was in line with Zhu Qizhen's thinking.
If he continued to investigate, Zhu Qizhen could trace all these problems back to Yang Pu and deal with him properly.
But with Yang Shiqi as an example, others probably wouldn't dare to do anything like that again. Since Yang Pu wanted to leave, let him go. There was no shortage of people for the position of Prime Minister in the cabinet anyway.
Compared with these, Zhu Qizhen is more concerned about the harassment of the border by the Uriankhai.
He was originally worried about the Oirat, but he didn't expect that the Uriankhai would dare to climb up the pole. Zhu Qizhen certainly could not tolerate them taking the initiative to provoke him.
If I can’t deal with the Oirat Mongols, can’t I deal with you, the Uriankhai Mongols?
With such a big event happening, not only Zhu Qizhen was eager to take action, but Wang Zhen was also eager to try.
He had just "caused trouble" for the emperor, and now was the best opportunity to make amends, so Wang Zhen certainly couldn't miss it.
Zhu Qizhen ordered Chengguo Zhu Yong, eunuch Sengbao, and Gongshun Hou Wu Kezhong to go out of Xifengkou; Xu Heng, Jiang Xin, and eunuch Cao Jixiang to go out of Jielingkou; Ma Liang and eunuch Liu Yongcheng to go out of Liujiakou; Chen Huai and eunuch Danzhu to go out of Gubeikou; Cao Yi, Shi Ju, and Cui Yuan to go out of Liaodongdusi, to form the eastern route. It was obvious that he intended to wipe out the three Uriankhai guards in one fell swoop.
This was not enough, so Zhu Qizhen ordered Yang Hong, Zhu Qian and Shi Heng to send out troops together. More than 10,000 people gathered together to gather intelligence, search and kill, and strive to completely wipe out the Uriankhai.
During this period, Duke Chengguo Zhu Yong once lingered and missed the opportunity to fight. Such a mistake should have been reported, but Zhu Qizhen, who had been very picky with officials before, was very generous at this moment, saying that Zhu Yong "has no merit, but has worked hard" and there is no need to be petty.
In the end, the war against the Uriankhai was a great success. Zhu Qizhen was in a very good mood, and Zhu Yong's minor mistakes were naturally ignored.
Zhu Yuhuan in Yunnan was the first to receive the news of Yang Pu's resignation, and couldn't help but sigh that the old fried dough sticks are still the smoothest.
She had initially wondered if Yang Pu, so blatantly directing other officials to exploit this incident, wasn't he afraid of being targeted by Zhu Qizhen? Now it seemed that Yang Pu knew Zhu Qizhen wouldn't treat both prime ministers the same, so he acted so boldly.
In this way, Yang Pu could not only escape unscathed, but also create a situation where Zhu Qizhen was targeting Yang Pu, and he would appear to be a victim in the eyes of other officials.
It seems that the time spent in the imperial prison was not in vain.
As for Zhu Qizhen's expedition against the Wulingha, this matter had both advantages and disadvantages. One was that it relieved the pressure on the Ji-Liao border to a certain extent, and made the overly arrogant Wulingha know what restraint meant. But the Oirat people who were nearby must have been happier than Zhu Qizhen.
The Uriankhai's harassment of the Ming border was one thing, and their relationship with the Oirat was not much better. If the Oirat were not there, the Ming army would not be able to completely control Liaodong and other places, and the Oirat might go to the Ji-Liao area to graze.
The weakening of the Wuliangha, like the complete annihilation of Adai, can be considered a good thing for the Oirat.
Not to mention that Wala is now in the process of unification. Wouldn't it be great to have one less foreign enemy?
However, in Zhu Qizhen's view, this must be a very good thing.
In his eyes, whether it was the Oirat, the Tatar, or the Uriankhai, they were all absolute enemies.
No matter how powerful these tribes were, for Zhu Qizhen, it made no difference whether he eliminated one or two, because they would all be annihilated sooner or later.
Since this was the case, every fewer enemy was a fewer enemy, and they were all annihilated by him personally, Zhu Qizhen was happier than anyone else.
Under normal circumstances, the Oirat Mongols were gradually becoming stronger, and the border troops should have kept pace with the times. By then, the Ming army would have been able to defeat the Oirat Mongols even if it relied solely on numbers.
If everything were just that simple, it would be a happy ending for everyone.
Zhu Yuhuan looked at the thick letter marked with the emperor's name, and couldn't help but raised her hand to rub her eyebrows. She looked at Huai En and asked, "Could this letter also be..."
She really didn't want to see any more of this upsetting news.
Seeing her look of hesitation, Huai En immediately explained, "This is good news from the capital. The eldest princess has been born. The emperor personally named her 'Shu Yuan'. Not only did he reward the eldest princess with 100 taels of platinum, he also granted her additional farmland and promoted Concubine Zhou to the rank of De Fei. The old lady and the second prince both sent gifts to celebrate the birth of the eldest princess."
Zhu Yuhuan finally breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Great, great... This can be considered a happy event." She then reached out to read the letter, her frown gradually relaxing. She smiled and said, "Yu'er has grown up. Mother and Tongtong are currently helping him find his mother. They say His Majesty has already ordered preparations to be made, and the wedding will be in August after the New Year. I believe that in three or four years, Empress Wu will become a grandmother."
Huai En had naturally seen the news a long time ago, and said in a gentle voice: "His Royal Highness Prince Qing has reached the age of marriage, but he was previously busy with the arrangements for the Emperor's wedding, the expedition to Luchuan, and the reform of the natives, so he didn't have the time to take care of it... Now that everything has been resolved, it is time to prepare for His Royal Highness Prince Qing's wedding."
Zhu Yuhuan said with a smile: "It can be regarded as a double happiness, but I am afraid that Brother Yu will not be able to go out to serve as a vassal for a while."
Huai'en understood what Zhu Yuhuan meant. Zhu Qizhen had no son now, so he needed Zhu Qiuyu, the "reserve member", to stay in the capital just in case.
"Her Royal Highness is still in the capital. I'm afraid His Royal Highness Prince Qing is reluctant to leave."
Zhu Yuhuan shook his head helplessly and said, "Empress Wu hopes more than anyone else that he can stay away from these troubles."
Wu Miaosu knew Zhu Yuhuan's thoughts very well. Although she knew that Zhu Yuhuan would not harm Zhu Qiyu, as the old saying goes, "Misfortune comes unexpectedly", Zhu Qiyu was a vassal king, so it was better for him to stay as far away from the power vortex of the capital as possible.
Huai En picked up the letter from the capital that was sent with the caravan and said, "Your Highness, Guilan's letter is also here."
Zhu Yuhuan took the envelope and opened it. He couldn't help but raise his eyebrows slightly and said, "It seems that we will be leaving soon."
Huai En looked puzzled and said, "Let's go?"
Zhu Yuhuan raised the letter in his hand and said, "Your Majesty's intention is that once Yunnan's steam engine is fully mature and can be applied to mining, we will bring it back to the capital for your Majesty to personally inspect. At this rate, we should be able to return before Yu'er's wedding."
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