Chapter 23: Grudges
In November of the tenth year of Zhengtong, the scope of the rebellion became increasingly widespread, and there were signs that it would be difficult to control.
Those who participated in the rebellion were originally local people or miners working in the mines. They were very familiar with the local terrain and were good at guerrilla warfare with officers and soldiers. They moved around all the way, which led to more and more people participating in the rebellion.
By March of the following year, the rebels had defeated the government troops sent to suppress the bandits several times and expanded their own power. It was rumored that the regular number of rebels had reached 4,000 to 5,000.
This number may not sound like a large number, but it does not include the other people who assisted the rebels. So all together, there must be around six to seven thousand.
During this period, the government troops were defeated repeatedly, but they fought again and again. Not only did they fail to cut off the rebels' retreat, but they were outmaneuvered by the rebels, causing the rebels' power to grow and the situation to become increasingly serious.
As Zhu Yuhuan expected, Zhu Qizhen did not call on Wang Ji, Zhu Yuhuan and the soldiers from Yunnan, but chose to appoint officials from the capital to go to the local area to command the officers and soldiers to fight against the bandits.
Censor Liu Hua was ordered to go and quell the rebellion, and to command the troops of Fujian, Zhejiang and Jiangxi provinces to jointly suppress the bandits.
But things clearly showed no signs of improving.
Compared with these rebels who have lived in the local area for many years, Liu Hua's combat experience is obviously not rich enough. Although he promulgated various rules and regulations for prevention and combat, he still did not gain much.
The Fujian area was still in a state of rebellion, and the people had to be conscripted from time to time to resist the bandits. For a time, the rebellious areas were unproductive and people were in panic. Under such circumstances, the rebels began to occupy cities and gained territory for long-term and sustainable development.
In addition to organizing farming, the rebel leader Ye Zongliu raided all the major mines, and all the harvests were used as "military expenses". Although the amount was not large, it was much better than the initial poverty.
After all, compared to working for the emperor, these rebels worked much harder for themselves. Even if they dug up all the gold, silver and copper, they would still get some benefits.
Not only that, Ye Zongliu even hired people to teach his rebels martial arts, trained them to improve their combat capabilities, and once again recruited many young and middle-aged men to join the ranks of the rebels.
After repeated operations like this, the number of rebels increased and exceeded 10,000.
After several battles, Ye Zongliu also realized that the combat level of the officers and soldiers was not much better. In addition, the silver mines in Fujian and other places had been almost plundered by them, so it was natural to expand outward.
When Zhu Qizhen saw the report in the capital, he was so angry that he almost vomited blood.
This bunch of useless things, whose numbers clearly far outnumbered the rebels, couldn't even defeat a wildcatter like Ye Zongliu... They had wasted his trust in vain.
The situation was now out of control. Wang Zhen also knew that Zhu Qizhen was furious. The most urgent task was to find someone to shift the blame. Liu Hua, who had been previously appointed to quell the rebellion but had no credit, became the best scapegoat.
Wang Zhen looked at the military report that had been thrown on the ground, hurried forward to pick it up, and advised: "Your Majesty, calm down. Only by severely punishing the culprit can the government troops concentrate on suppressing the bandits."
Zhu Qizhen laughed in anger and asked, "Just focus on suppressing the bandits? These idiots haven't been able to capture Fujian for such a long time, and they still have the nerve to continue suppressing the bandits? If I were them, I would be so ashamed!"
Wang Zhen swallowed hard and continued, "It was Liu Hua's poor command that gave these rebels the opportunity to expand their ranks. If we don't hold Liu Hua accountable, I'm afraid it will be difficult to convince the public."
Zhu Qizhen calmed down and said, "What you said does make some sense..."
Wang Zhen saw that he had calmed down considerably, so he continued, "If it were Minister Wang or the Princess, they would have pacified Fujian long ago. Dealing with Liu Hua is easy, but who will suppress the rebellion in Fujian later..."
Upon hearing Zhu Yuhuan's name, Zhu Qizhen sat up straight and said, "The Princess is currently busy with numerous affairs in Yunnan. How could she have the time to quell the rebellion? The officials in the capital have no experience in fighting in the south. In terms of seniority and ability, Wang Ji is superior." He was silent for a moment before saying, "The Princess Shunde has always been gentle and polite. Now that Yunnan is stable, she will be safe in Yunnan. Let Wang Ji recruit troops to quell the rebellion."
Hearing him say this, Wang Zhen immediately understood what Zhu Qizhen was thinking.
Ever since the Liu Qiu incident, the emperor had harbored a grudge against Princess Shunde, especially when he discovered that Princess Shunde had become a tool and excuse for officials to attack him.
Even if this matter was not the eldest princess's original intention, it did objectively provide "convenience" for the officials. Zhu Qizhen naturally did not want the eldest princess of Shunde to continue to "show off" and become a tool for officials to compete with him.
If Princess Shunde had not been the beloved daughter of the late emperor and had not had a very good relationship with the emperor, she would probably not have been able to escape the fate of these officials.
Wang Zhen quickly said, "Your Majesty is wise."
With the emperor's permission, Wang Zhen immediately asked Ma Shun to order the Jinyiwei commander Deng An to blame the responsibility on Liu Hua's incompetence. In this way, the blame for the expansion of the rebellion was put on Liu Hua.
If we can’t deal with the rebels, can’t we deal with an official?
Wang Zhen had just ordered the arrest of Liu Hua and held him accountable, but unexpectedly, Liu Hua committed suicide by taking poison after hearing the news. The meaning behind this behavior is self-evident.
With Liu Qiu's previous experience as a lesson, Liu Hua would rather commit suicide than go to prison.
Unable to capture Liu Hua, the furious Wang Zhen had no choice but to arrest all of Liu Hua's family members. The men were sent to the border as soldiers, and the women were confined to the laundry bureau.
The charges were laid, but the rebels still had to be dealt with. Zhu Qizhen no longer hesitated and decisively appointed Wang Ji to go to Fujian to suppress the bandits. At the same time, he recruited soldiers in Huguang and Guizhou to fight the rebels together.
The reason is simple. The number of rebels is increasing. The troops that Yunnan can mobilize are no longer enough to deal with the rebellion, not to mention that Princess Shunde is still in Yunnan. A certain amount of troops is needed to protect the princess, so conscription is inevitable.
Even so, Zhu Qizhen was still a little annoyed.
It has been nearly two years since the rebellion of Ye Zongliu and others was completely put down. If it continues like this, not to mention the impact on the stability of the situation in the south, Emperor Zhu Qizhen will lose face.
He ordered the government troops to suppress the bandits, but the government troops suffered successive defeats. He also ordered Liu Hua to suppress the rebellion, but to no avail.
As easy as the Luchuan battle was won, it is now embarrassing that Fujian has been repeatedly defeated in suppressing the rebellion.
Whenever Zhu Qizhen mentioned the affairs of Fujian during court sessions, his tone became more angry and embarrassed.
Zhu Qizhen's irritability was obvious to all, and everyone kept a low profile and did not dare to provoke him easily.
Fortunately, Concubine Zhou gave birth to another child for the emperor during this period. The joy of the birth of the eldest prince diluted the originally tense situation.
The emperor finally had a eldest son. According to the rules set by Emperor Taizu, Zhu Qizhen named the eldest son "Jianshen".
But after all, the emperor and empress were still young and there was a possibility that they would give birth to children in the future, so Zhu Qizhen naturally would not consider appointing the eldest son as the crown prince.
However, one must always be cautious when training the eldest prince.
Although he doted on Zhou Yingying very much, Zhu Qizhen still had a certain understanding of Zhou Yingying's personality and abilities.
No matter how smart and charming Zhou Yingying is, she has obvious deficiencies in knowledge and character.
But if Queen Qian was like the current Empress Dowager Cihui and failed to give birth to a prince, then the throne of the Ming Dynasty would naturally belong to the newly born Zhu Jianshen.
The upbringing of the future emperor must not be taken lightly. Zhu Qizhen did not want his son to be a mediocre person who would be manipulated by ministers.
After much deliberation, there were only two people suitable to raise the eldest prince: the two Empress Dowagers. Both had been in the palace for many years and were considered well-read among women, but each had their own flaws.
Empress Dowager Cihui had no blood relationship with the eldest prince, while Empress Dowager Sun had hoped to prove her status through her son as early as when Zhu Qizhen ascended the throne. The former was prone to being a hands-off boss, while the latter was too complicated.
Fortunately, the eldest prince is still young, and it will not be affected if he stays with his biological mother for the time being.
As for the issue of education, there is no need to rush. We can wait until later to select someone with real ability from among the eunuchs and female officials to teach the eldest prince.
Soon after her son was born, Zhou Yingying became worried that Zhu Qizhen would follow Zhu Zhanji's example and take the eldest prince to be raised by the two Empress Dowagers, so she secretly found Han Guilan to inform her early on.
Han Guilan repeatedly reassured Zhou Yingying that the eldest princess would definitely find a way to keep the eldest prince by her side.
Afterwards, Zhou Yingying observed for a long time and saw that Zhu Qizhen really had no intention of taking the eldest prince away. She secretly breathed a sigh of relief and felt that the eldest princess was so foresighted.
Her son is the eldest prince. As long as the queen does not give birth to a prince like Empress Dowager Cihui, the future throne will definitely belong to her son. At that time, it will surprise those who once thought she was dreaming.
Of course, Han Guilan would not tell Zhou Yingying that Zhu Yuhuan had not given any instructions beforehand and had no means of response.
Zhu Yuhuan gave Han Guilan the greatest autonomy and asked her to greet the female officials who could be dispatched by the Six Shangs. Although Han Guilan could not say that she knew everything that was going on in the harem, she had a general idea of it.
Not to mention that Han Guilan had been with Zhu Yuhuan for many years and knew the emperor's temper very well. Combined with the news she got outside the palace, Han Guilan could guess that the reason why the emperor did not adopt the eldest son to the two empress dowagers at the first time was that the emperor's mind made him unwilling to trust anyone, and he would not hand the eldest son over to either of the two empress dowagers.
But the good times didn't last for a few days, and the situation became a little bad again.
The reason was simple. Wang Ji brought most of his troops to Fujian to quell the rebellion, many of whom were local natives. Guizhou and Huguang had been suffering from major and minor disasters in recent years, and they were short of food and clothing. Now there was no labor force, so many people complained. Some even imitated Ye Zongliu's rebellion in Fujian and rose up in rebellion.
Now everyone knows what it means to suppress one problem only to have another one pop up.
Zhu Yuhuan was in Yunnan, where news arrived faster than in the capital, so he had naturally heard about the local uprising long ago.
However, Zhu Yuhuan did not have the power to mobilize soldiers, so he could only listen.
Considering how well Zhu Yuhuan knew Zhu Qizhen, and the fact that news was transmitted too slowly in Yunnan, Zhu Qizhen should have insisted on sending his officers and soldiers to fight and suppress the bandits.
In his opinion, although the native uprising coincided with the events in Fujian, compared with the miners, the natives in Guizhou and other places lacked young and strong combat power and were easier to deal with than Ye Zongliu.
In Zhu Yuhuan's view, Zhu Qizhen had hit two brick walls in a row.
"I'm afraid he thought these people acted this way on a whim after seeing Ye Zongliu and the others resist."
Huai En ground ink for Zhu Yuhuan and said, "Although the language and writing of these natives are different from ours, they are still living people. They will do anything to survive."
Zhu Yuhuan stared at the letter and pondered for a moment before saying, "Some people are born to live effortlessly. How can they understand the suffering of those who struggle to survive?"
In fact, she knew very well that Guizhou was currently short of manpower, and many of the people who revolted were the elderly, the weak, women and children. Although most of them were local people familiar with the geography, it was absolutely impossible for them to imitate the Fujian uprising and fight a protracted war with the government.
Seeing her writing so smoothly, Huai En just stood by silently.
Zhu Yuhuan finished his work, watched the ink dry, and then handed the letter to Huai En, saying, "Take a look."
Huai En took the letter and saw that it was written to Huang Jinfeng. The general content was to let her and some merchants reveal the news that Wala intended to go south to invade the border in the capital.
Huang Jinfeng was doing business on the northern border and had frequent interactions with the people of Tatar. In addition, she was proficient in the language and could do some favors, so she was able to find out a lot of information.
For example, Yesen, under the pretext of helping the Ming Dynasty fight the Wuliangha, sent envoys to the border to beg for food from the emperor. However, Zhu Qizhen was preoccupied with the rebellion in Fujian at the time and had no mood to send away beggars, so he instructed Guo Jing to refuse Yesen entry. Later, Yesen sent another envoy to Beijing to pay tribute, with the number of envoys far exceeding the imperial limit on foreign tributes. This, coupled with the uprising of the natives in Guizhou, put the finances under strain. Zhu Qizhen certainly would not allow Wang Zhen to be as "generous" as before.
In addition, Shi Heng's recent observations on Guo Jing and others have shown that these people's recent contact with the Oirat is not as close as when they were smuggling before. The amount of smuggling has obviously decreased and the frequency has also decreased. It can be seen that they have noticed the change in Zhu Qizhen's attitude and are worried that one day the court will thoroughly investigate the matter and implicate themselves.
But they were reluctant to give up the profits from smuggling and still maintained small-scale smuggling transactions with the Oirat.
Zhu Yuhuan could almost guess Yesen's anger.
After all, he had not been able to get this amount before. He had given quite a few bribes to Wang Zhen and Guo Jing. Guo Jing still had some conscience, but Wang Zhen turned his back on him. For Yesen, this was a great insult.
Huang Jinfeng's letter was full of concerns about the border. Based on some of the information she had obtained, it was clear that Yesen had rebellious intentions.
Yesen was quite strategic. He adopted the strategy of "making friends with distant tribes and attacking nearby ones" towards the tribes on the grassland. He gave equal importance to war and marriage, and quickly strengthened the power of the Oirat.
As the Oirat grew stronger, Yesen needed to obtain more resources. This need was far beyond the ability of other tribes on the grassland, so it was only a matter of time before Yesen turned his attention to the Ming Dynasty.
Although Zhu Yuhuan could not control the Oirat, he could control Zhu Qizhen.
She knew better than anyone that Zhu Qizhen desired fame beyond that of an ordinary emperor, so she had a strong need to prove herself.
What Zhu Yuhuan needs to do is to speed up this process.
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