Yongli Ming Dynasty

Chapter 11 Central Plains
In the courtyard of the Guiwang Mansion, Li Mingzhong untied the eunuch robes on his body, revealing the bright red military uniform underneath, and walked into the study.
As soon as he entered the study, he saw a tall and handsome young man sitting in the middle of the study. Thinking of the identity of the person in front of him, Li Mingzhong couldn't help but be shocked and sighed in his heart, worthy of being a dragon seed of the heavenly family.

"I, Li Mingzhong, the general of Wuzhou, pay my respects to Your Highness."

Li Mingzhong sighed in his heart, but he did not slow down. He walked to the table and bowed his head.

Before Li Mingzhong heard the echo, he saw the young man behind the table stood up, walked quickly to him, and helped him up with both hands.

"General, thank you for your courtesy. Please stand up quickly."

After the young man helped Li Mingzhong up, he did not speak. He took two steps back and looked at him carefully for a while before speaking.

"He has a strong back and strong waist, and arms longer than his knees. There is no better general in ancient times than him. The general is indeed a great general of the Ming Dynasty," the young man praised in a low voice.
"Your Highness, thank you for your praise."

Li Mingzhong was humble in his words. He had been in the army for decades. He was promoted from a soldier to a general. He must be very brave. Otherwise, he would not have been able to fight his way through the mountains of corpses and seas of blood to become a general. This was also what he was very proud of in his life.

Although he knew that this was mostly polite talk, Li Mingzhong couldn't help but feel relieved. Look, why don't you say that others are princes?
The two parties sat down and drank tea. The scene was a little quiet for a while, but Zhu Lang seemed not to notice it. He just raised the teacup to signal Li Mingzhong, and then seemed to be immersed in the good tea in the cup.

The tea in the palace was excellent, but Li Mingzhong had no interest in it. If he had a choice, he would rather drink wine.
However, he had been in the Ming officialdom for a long time, so he naturally knew the tone of these scholars, so he pretended to taste the tea and chewed the tea leaves in the cup.

Although Zhu Lang squinted his eyes, as if sipping tea, he was secretly observing Li Mingzhong.
The two had not spoken for three or four minutes, but Li Mingzhong was still calm and composed. Zhu Lang had also made up his mind about this man's temperament.

This man is not like an ordinary rough general. He has a calm temperament and is very experienced in dealing with superiors. He is a veteran in the officialdom and is not an easy person to deal with.

Thinking of this, Zhu Lang opened his eyes, put down his teacup and sighed.

When Li Mingzhong saw Zhu Lang put down his teacup, he immediately put down the cup in his hand and asked very tactfully:

"Why does Your Highness sigh?"

"General, what do you think of this tea?"

Zhu Lang did not explain, but asked

"The tea soup is clear and crisp, and the aroma is elegant and light. It is indeed the best tea in the world. I am very lucky to be able to taste this good tea from the prince today."

Li Mingzhong complimented him, but in fact he had no interest in these things.
It was just that he had gone to the military supervisors to ask for food and wages in previous years. These scholars always liked these tunes, so he also found a few poor scholars and learned some clichés about tasting and praising tea.
In fact, Li Mingzhong felt that these people were just talking nonsense. Even if he had found all the best tea in the world for those civil officials, in the end, those civil officials in the Governor's Office still had to take his money before they were willing to pay the food and wages.
"So General Li is also fond of this, but I'm afraid I won't be able to drink such good tea in the future," Zhu Lang sighed softly, with a look of pity.
"Your Highness is a prince, a descendant of the royal family. You can't drink any tea. If you want to drink any kind of tea, just tell us and someone will provide it for you."

Li Mingzhong was a little confused about Zhu Lang's intention. He thought that the King of Gui had summoned him to win over his 6,000 soldiers.

It's just that from the beginning to now, all this talk has nothing to do with recruiting.

Li Mingzhong also began to feel undecided, so he remained calm and just responded to Zhu Lang's words.

"General, do you know what kind of tea this is?" Zhu Lang said softly.

"Um... Your Highness, I am usually busy with military affairs. Although I like tea, I only drink ordinary tea. Your Highness's palace must have the world's famous tea. Your Highness, I am sorry that I am so ignorant and embarrassed."

Li Mingzhong's expression froze. In fact, he knew nothing about tea. In his opinion, no matter what kind of tea it was, it was just some tree leaves boiled in water. What kind of tea did it taste like?

Asking him to distinguish what kind of tea this is, isn't this making things difficult for Li Mingzhong?
It was just that he had just established himself as a good tea person, so it was difficult to change his words now. However, he reacted very quickly and immediately smoothed things over without making a sound.

"This tea is the red robe tea from Wuyi Mountain in Fujian Province. Fujian Province has been captured. In the future, there will be no more Fujian tea to drink in China," Zhu Lang said with a gloomy expression.
Li Mingzhong was suddenly stunned at this moment. The topic changed too quickly and he didn't react in a hurry. He didn't know how to respond for a while.
But Zhu Lang did not wait for his response, but suddenly stood up, clenched his right fist and pressed it against the table, with an indignant look on his face.
"I don't hate that I don't have Fujian tea to drink, but I hate that my country fell into the hands of bandits. The Eastern barbarians are cruel and treat our Han people like cattle and sheep. They kill and slaughter them at will. The Han people cry day and night. What guilt have we, the people of Fujian Province, committed? It's hateful, hateful."

Zhu Lang's eyes were slightly red, and his face was extremely sad and angry, but his eyes were secretly observing Li Mingzhong below. Li Mingzhong initially turned his eyes slightly, thinking about how to deal with Zhu Lang, but after hearing Zhu Lang's words, he didn't know what he thought of, and his expression suddenly became silent.
After a long time, Li Mingzhong slowly spoke

"The Tartars are hateful. Your Majesty is brave and will surely wipe them out in the future, saving us Han people from humiliation by the Tartars."

Li Mingzhong replied, and then remained silent, but his face no longer had the slick look he had before.

The scene was somewhat silent for a while, but Zhu Lang was delighted. This reaction of Li Mingzhong was exactly what he wanted to see.
If what he said just now was to persuade him that the Tartars were brutal and that he needed to take a long-term view, then it means that Li Mingzhong has been frightened by the Qing Dynasty. Even if he is still in the Ming Dynasty, he will probably just go with the flow. Once he has the chance, he will probably surrender to the Qing Dynasty immediately.

But if he was filled with righteous indignation and acted loyal to his country, ready to send troops to wipe out the Qing Dynasty and restore the Ming Dynasty, that would also not work.

If Li Mingzhong had this reaction, either he was just acting, looking honest but actually being cunning, or he was just too arrogant and didn't know his own worth.

On the contrary, this reaction just now is the best. This shows that the other party really dislikes the Qing Dynasty, but also knows that the current military strength of the Ming Dynasty cannot compete with the Qing Dynasty, so he looks like hesitant to speak.

Thinking of this, Zhu Lang couldn't help but relax a little.

"Why did the prince ask me to come here today?"

Li Mingzhong seemed to be in a bad mood and didn't want to beat around the bush. He asked directly

"I heard that the general came here to serve the king and traveled through several provinces. I grew up in the palace. Although I have been away from home for several years, I still don't know much about the affairs of the people. So I want to meet the general and learn about the people's situation. I wonder if the general can help me solve my doubts."

Li Mingzhong then began to talk about how he received the imperial order to aid Jiangxi in Wuzhou, how they marched on the road, how the prefectures and counties along the way closed their city gates and were afraid of the enemy, and how some local officials forced people to collect taxes, the people fled, and the fields became barren.

Zhu Lang listened to what Li Mingzhong said, and his expression became more serious.
Li Mingzhong didn't know why, but when he saw the solemn look on the young man's face, he felt a strange sense of mission in his heart. He began to describe the situation in more and more detail, and even began to talk about some of the hidden rules of local officials that he shouldn't have mentioned.

In fact, Zhu Lang did not pay much attention to what Li Mingzhong said about the people. The Ming Dynasty had been established for a hundred years, and the rotten things had already been rotten.
He is not the prince who grew up in the palace and knows nothing about the outside world. Zhu Lang comes from the future and has long been aware of the chaos at the end of the dynasty.
The various operations of the Ming gentry, such as the annexation of land by officials and wealthy families, the collection of taxes by clerks, the three taxes, the fire consumption, the flying and fraudulent mail, etc., had long made it impossible for the common people to survive. Otherwise, there would not have been people like Li Zicheng who responded to the call and rose up.
The fact that Li Zicheng and others started the rebellion more than a decade ago shows that the people of the Ming Dynasty were already suffering.
Now, more than a decade has passed, wars have continued, and Zhu Lang is in the Southern Ming Dynasty, where the central government has no deterrent power. The local gentry and officials will only become more and more aggressive. Zhu Lang has already estimated the situation of the people.

What really excited Zhu Lang was the attitude of Li Mingzhong in front of him.
This man seemed to be a loyal minister. Even if he was not loyal to Zhu Lang, he was at least loyal to Ming Dynasty. This made him feel more relieved.
"I led my troops to the border of Guangdong and Jiangxi. Suddenly, news came from the court that the late emperor was in Tingzhou, and the city in Jiangxi Province that I had saved was also captured by the Qing army. Jiangxi Province was in chaos. I was short of food and didn't know what to do. I had to retreat to Zhaoqing and beg for food from the Guangdong and Guangxi Governor's Office," Li Mingzhong said at last.

"The general is loyal to his country, traveling thousands of miles to serve the king. If the Ming Dynasty could have more people like him, there would be no need to worry about the destruction of the Eastern Tartars and the prosperity of the country," Zhu Lang sighed softly.
"I dare not, I am just doing my duty."

Li Mingzhong stood up, bowed his hands, and thanked Zhu Lang. Listening to Zhu Lang's words, Li Mingzhong felt that he was really worried about the Ming Dynasty.

Although the city he wanted to save was breached, although he turned back halfway, and although he lost the emperor halfway, can he be blamed for this? No, if anyone is to blame, it can only be blamed on the Ming Dynasty's failure to live up to expectations.

"I heard that the general and Kong Youde of the Qing Dynasty were both generals. I wonder if this is true."

Zhu Lang looked at Li Mingzhong, who had a smug look on his face, and suddenly changed the subject and asked

"This... is true. This general and that traitor Kong Youde did serve under the command of the same general in Dongjiang Town. However, that was eight or nine years ago. Moreover, that traitor Kong was very domineering, and this general had no contact with him."

Li Mingzhong's heart trembled, but his mind suddenly became alert.
He secretly raised his head and looked warily at the young prince in front of him, wondering what this prince meant.

"Kong Youde surrendered to the Qing Dynasty and was said to have been made a prince. Why didn't the general surrender to the Qing Dynasty with Kong Youde?"

Zhu Lang asked softly, staring at Li Mingzhong below.
Li Mingzhong looked a little stunned. He was silent for a moment, and then he spoke loudly.

"Your Highness, you are joking. Although I am a military man, I also understand the righteousness. People from the Central Plains should stay in the Central Plains. I do not wish to be rich and noble in other places."

Zhu Lang looked a little surprised, but as he looked at the solemn middle-aged general below, his eyes became more and more satisfied.
He originally just wanted to win over Li Mingzhong temporarily, just to prevent him from joining Ding Kuichu, but now he was thinking about getting him to join his army.
(End of this chapter)