I wield power with my innate talents, and forge the Heavenly Court.

Chapter 210 Sending Proclamations to All Directions: Zu Dashou's Choice
In August of the ninth year of the Chongzhen reign, Wang Chao led the People's Salvation Army to occupy Shuntian Prefecture of the Ming Dynasty. He ordered the People's Salvation Army to conduct a public trial and confiscate the property. In the end, they obtained gold, silver, antiques, houses, land and other assets worth hundreds of millions of taels of silver.

After reaping the final rewards, Wang Chao, Wang Zhiyuan, Wu Chang, and others couldn't help but sigh that the Ming Dynasty's demise was not unjust.

The country and the emperor had no money, the common people had no money, and the only wealthy were a small group of people who did nothing but cause trouble. How could the Ming Dynasty not perish?
In addition, Zhou Kui, the father-in-law of the Ming emperor who was highly regarded by Chongzhen, also betrayed his grandson, the crown prince of the Ming dynasty, in order to save his life.

Ultimately, however, the dynasty did not make an exception for him.

As for the Crown Prince Zhu Cilang, he was only a child of about ten years old. The dynasty naturally wouldn't do anything to him, but simply placed him in a separate courtyard of Zhou Kui and let him go to school with other children his age.

Wu Chang and Wang Zhiyuan, who were standing beside Wang Chao, couldn't help but say, looking at the fist-sized ball of golden light above Zhu Cilang's head:

"Your Majesty, wouldn't keeping him around cause some trouble?"

"Trouble? What trouble? When they occupied the world, we easily overthrew them all."

Moreover, what about now?
We will occupy the entire Ming Dynasty. Even if some people still yearn for the Ming Dynasty, they will only be a small minority.
They're fine if they don't cause trouble.

If they jump out, hehe.

Wang Chao looked in Zhu Cilang's direction, a cold smile appearing on his face.

If someone were to cause trouble in the future, wouldn't Zhu Cilang, the last crown prince of the Ming Dynasty, be the perfect target?
Let's see how many people will eventually come forward.

Or perhaps, no one dares to step forward.

But it doesn't matter. He has now set his sights on the heavens and has a greater goal: to transcend the world.

He no longer cared much about things within this realm.

After reorganizing various affairs in the capital, the dynasty issued proclamations to all directions, ordering the Ming armies in various places to surrender and await the takeover by the People's Salvation Army.

Under no circumstances should they resist stubbornly or bully the people; otherwise, they will be executed without mercy.

After receiving the news, morale plummeted from officials and generals down to ordinary soldiers, and they could no longer muster any fighting spirit.

Even loyal and renowned generals like Lu Xiangshan and Sun Chuanting had lost all fighting spirit at this moment.

They were somewhat unwilling to surrender to the militia.

But when asked to lead the army and continue fighting, they lost their will to do so.

The Ming Dynasty has fallen, so who else are they supposed to serve?

Most importantly, the morale of the soldiers under his command was low, and they had no will to fight.

Given the vast disparity in combat strength between the two sides, even if they managed to force their troops into battle, it would only result in increased casualties.

In the end, they all gave up resisting.

However, they showed no intention of surrendering.

Instead, he resigned and returned to his hometown after the People's Salvation Army took over the army.

The dynasty did try to recruit these people.

However, after they refused, the dynasty gave up on the idea.

He has no shortage of military leaders now.

Since they are unwilling to serve as officials in the new dynasty, so be it. They can't cause any trouble anyway, and he's not that petty.

In October of the ninth year of the Chongzhen reign, most areas of Shanxi, Shandong, Henan, and Beizhili were pacified by imperial decree. Numerous rescue armies and officials at all levels were dispatched to various places to bring these areas under complete control.

In the south, Wang Shi, Li Yu, and others have already occupied Zhejiang and Jiangxi provinces, leaving only Guangdong, Guangxi, and Fujian provinces.

After receiving the dynasty's orders and learning about the various policies of the Salvation Army, the Ming soldiers and civilians in the three provinces, after a period of turmoil, began to wait for the Salvation Army to take over.

The People's Salvation Army is simply too powerful now. In just a few months, it has swept across the north and south of the country and even occupied the capital, Shuntian Prefecture.

In addition, the previous attack on Yingtianfu by the 400,000-strong allied army was annihilated by the militia, leaving these areas short of soldiers and lacking morale, making it impossible to organize a decent army.

Most importantly, the various policies of the People's Salvation Army were a great temptation for the soldiers and civilians at the grassroots level. They even looked forward to the arrival of the People's Salvation Army and nervously imagined a better life in the future.

Under such circumstances, even if some officials and generals still wanted to resist, it would be like a skilled cook trying to make a meal without rice.

They naturally had no choice but to give up resistance and obediently wait for the People's Salvation Army to take over.

Of course, there were also some die-hards who were unwilling to give up the rights and interests they had gained and forced the military and civilians to resist.

However, this coercion of the military and civilians naturally provoked resistance, and before the rescue army arrived, they had already been killed.

Some clever ones simply cut off internal and external communication, fooled the people, and demonized the militia, instilling fear in the people and soldiers so that they would fight to the death and at least obtain some promises.

Of course, the promises the people wanted were things like not killing them or seizing their food and land.

As for the organizers, they naturally wanted to preserve their wealth and gain certain privileges.

As for those who are truly devoted to the Ming Dynasty, it cannot be said that they don't exist, but rather that they are extremely few.

Neither the dynasty nor the militia would ever tolerate such people.

They didn't even need to launch a full-scale attack; simply occupying the surrounding areas and spreading propaganda about the People's Salvation Army policy would be enough to shake the morale of the lower-level soldiers and civilians and force them to surrender.

As for those who stubbornly refuse to surrender, or even want to launch a counterattack to save the militia, they will not be polite. Whether they are forced or misled, they will not hesitate to open fire.

While the provinces south of the Yangtze River surrendered one after another, the generals of the armies on the northern border were also pondering their next move.

The People's Salvation Army has now almost occupied the entire Ming Dynasty, and they are naturally inclined to surrender.

However, compared to the southern military commanders who had not been on the battlefield for a long time, they were real commanders with real power, commanding tens of thousands of troops.

They were naturally unwilling to relinquish all their military power, undergo training in the People's Salvation Army's recruit camp, and then be assigned to unknown posts, thus being at the mercy of others.

Unfortunately, the People's Salvation Army was different from ordinary ancient regimes; it wouldn't treat you specially just because you were an enemy general who surrendered.

At most, they would only consider your surrender and the city's surrender, calculate your military merits, and then appoint you to a corresponding position. Meanwhile, at this time, Huang Taiji of the Qing Dynasty extended an olive branch to them.

They were granted titles of nobility, dukedom, or even, like Shang Kexi and others, the title of king of a different surname.

Unsurprisingly, many people were tempted.

However, some people have a clear understanding that the People's Salvation Army had once defeated the Qing army with fewer troops outside the Great Wall, and even nearly killed Huang Taiji and Dorgon, which made them unwilling to surrender to the Qing army.

In fact, the vast majority of generals were unwilling to surrender to the Later Jin.

At this time, the commander-in-chief of Liaodong was Zu Dashou.

In 1631, Zu Dashou was besieged by the Qing army and surrendered. He later defected to Jinzhou and resisted the Qing army's attack on the Ming Dynasty again.

It wasn't until 1642 that Zu Dashou finally surrendered to the Qing army.

After careful consideration, Zu Dashou felt that as a general who had surrendered and then rebelled, he might not have a good outcome if he surrendered to the Qing court.

In the end, Zu Dashou decided to surrender to the People's Salvation Army.

With Zu Dashou, the supreme commander, showing favoritism, those voices wanting to surrender to the Qing court were immediately suppressed.

When the dynasty received the news, it was actually somewhat hesitant.

Historically, Zu Dashou was stationed at Dalinghe in 1631. When he was besieged by the Qing army and driven to the brink of despair, he once ordered people to be eaten.

Ultimately, however, the dynasty accepted the surrender of a general who had surrendered voluntarily and had not caused any harm to the militia.

After all, in times of natural disasters and famines, there are definitely many people who have eaten people. Since the dynasty has already accepted and resettled them as disaster victims, why should it treat them differently?

As for Wu Sangui, who once opened the Shanhaiguan Pass and let the Qing army into the pass, he was at this time just the Right Battalion Commander of the Liaodong Cavalry Vanguard, and naturally he obeyed his uncle Zu Dashou.

Upon learning of this, Huang Taiji was furious and immediately ordered an attack on Jinzhou.

At the same time, he also ordered Dorgon and Yuetuo to each lead 10,000 troops to break through the passes at Xifengkou and other places before the Salvation Army had fully established itself and reached the Great Wall, in order to carry out another plunder.

In the beginning, they were indeed unstoppable.

However, in October, after a thousand militiamen arrived in places like Santunying and Jizhou Town, the situation instantly reversed.

Amidst the cacophony of gunfire, over ten thousand Qing soldiers were killed, five thousand were captured, Yuetuo was killed in battle, and Dorgon fled in disarray beyond the Great Wall.

On October 15, the People's Salvation Army took over the Great Wall.

On October 16, 20,000 soldiers of the Salvation Army entered the area outside the Great Wall and began to take over various cities one by one.

On October 20, 5,000 soldiers arrived in Jinzhou to save the people.

At that time, Zu Dashou, who was holding Jinzhou and waiting for reinforcements from the Salvation Army, suddenly heard his subordinates report that someone from the Salvation Army was requesting an audience.

Zu Dashou, who was in a bad mood, was overjoyed after hearing his subordinate's report and immediately ordered that he be brought to see him.

However, in the next instant, he stopped his subordinate who was about to turn and leave.

"Wait, I'll go see him myself."

As he spoke, Zu Dashou straightened his clothes and strode out of the mansion.

When he arrived at the gate of the mansion, he saw a middle-aged man dressed in gray standing quietly at the gate, looking at him with a smile.

"This must be the Heavenly King's messenger."

Upon seeing the man, Zu Dashou immediately rushed forward.

"Hehe, I am Ye Changming from the Military Intelligence Division of the People's Army. General, you must be General Zu Dashou."

"Haha, that's right, I am indeed Zu Dashou."

Zu Dashou stepped forward with a loud laugh, adopting a very humble posture.

Since he was prepared to surrender to the militia, there was no need for him to put on an arrogant act, nor was there any need for him to make a grand display to show off his authority and ability.

His ability and value were already demonstrated by his garrisoning of Jinzhou City and resisting the Qing army's attack; there was really no need for him to do anything superfluous.

Moreover, this was the first militia he had ever encountered.

Being on good terms with him would also allow him to obtain more inside information about the People's Salvation Army, which would be of great benefit to his future official career.

After entering the living room of the mansion and exchanging pleasantries, Zu Dashou inquired about the reinforcements.

"General, do not worry. Five thousand troops have already reached a hundred miles away and will arrive tomorrow, lifting the siege of Jinzhou."

Upon hearing this news, Zu Dashou was overjoyed; the reinforcements from the People's Salvation Army had finally arrived.

Although he didn't know how this person from the Salvation Army's Military Intelligence Division knew that the Salvation Army's reinforcements had arrived a hundred miles away, even though the Qing army was completely surrounded.

But no matter what, as long as the reinforcements for the militia arrive, that's all that matters.

Perhaps the militia had some special way of transmitting messages.

However, that's not what he's concerned about right now.

However, Zu Dashou then frowned, a sense of worry rising in his heart.

How could five thousand soldiers possibly lift the siege of Jinzhou?

Aren't the People's Salvation Army and the Heavenly King Dynasty a bit too arrogant?
If the reinforcements are wiped out by the Qing army, things will be very bad.

Thank you to reader [太昊穹高] for the 1100 reward!

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(End of this chapter)