Yongli Ming Dynasty

Chapter 165 Return to Righteousness
Outside Guangzhou, in the early morning, groups of Qing army soldiers with hemp ropes tied to their hands walked out of the camp in the north of the city and were driven to the parade ground in the east of the city.
On both sides of the road, Ming cavalrymen led teams of soldiers past on horseback, searching all around the north of the city, constantly searching for the fleeing soldiers who had fled last night.

It was just after the battle, and the defeated soldiers had no time to flee. If they were not captured in time, it would not be long before countless bandits and robbers appeared in northern Guangdong.

At the intersection of the official road in the north of the city, hundreds of bloody heads were piled together to form a Jingguan. The one on the top was Bai Yindai, who looked ferocious.

When the fleeing soldiers saw the Jingguan on the roadside, they all trembled and lowered their heads in fear.

Last night, thousands of Ming soldiers invaded the camp. With the cooperation of Ma Bao, Liu Qijiao, Deng Yao and others, Tong Yangjia and Li Chengdong were quickly captured. The Qing army was leaderless and in chaos, the entire Qing army camp collapsed.
This morning, we counted and found that more than 2,000 people were killed or wounded in the camp alone, and more than 2,000 horses were seized, as well as countless armor, swords, guns and other weapons.
Hundreds of inspectors in the city now have a new mission and are urgently sent out of the city to count the spoils of war in the camp.
In addition to these military supplies, the Ming army also found nearly 600,000 taels of silver in the tents of Tong Yangjia and Li Chengdong.

Tong Yangjia, Li Chengdong and others came at a high speed, so naturally they would not bring too much silver. Almost all of this silver was looted by Li Chengdong and others from the people near Guangzhou. It can be said that most of the floating wealth outside the entire Guangzhou city was looted by Li Chengdong and others, and then fell into the hands of the court. It can only be said that war is indeed the fastest way to make a fortune.
Guangzhou government office. Zhu Lang is sitting at the top wearing a brand new dragon robe. Below him, on the left, sit three cabinet ministers: Lu Daqi and Chen Zizhuang. On the right sit Jiao Lian and Li Mingzhong.
Below Li Mingzhong stood a burly man in a red military uniform. He was Ma Bao, who had just rushed into the city this morning.
Jiao Lian and his partner had spent almost the entire night arranging the battle plan, commanding the defeat and capture of the defeated soldiers, and so on. They had entered the city early this morning, so before the three ministers entered, they had already sat in the hall.

The three cabinet ministers entered the hall and saw that Jiao and Li did not care. His Highness had always favored military officials, and at this time, it was indeed impossible to return to the situation in the past when military officials were like servants to civil officials. Therefore, they gradually got used to the situation where military officials participated in the discussion.
But when the three ministers saw Ma Bao standing behind them, they were all stunned, and then their expressions were different.
Lu Daqi raised his eyebrows, his eyes thoughtful, nodded slightly to Ma Bao and sat on the main seat above. Chen Zizhuang frowned slightly and glanced at Ma Bao opposite him. Su Guansheng smiled slightly, nodded slightly to Ma Bao, and then sat on the chair.
Ma Bao looked at the old men with different expressions walking into the hall, and his heart became more and more nervous. After seeing the smile on Su Guansheng's face, Ma Bao felt a little relieved.

At least one of the three ministers seemed to be nice to him. Ma Bao's mind turned slightly, and he carefully recognized Su Guansheng's face, then lowered his head again.
Zhu Lang didn't care about the attitude of the ministers below. Seeing that everyone was present, he spoke directly.

"Now that everyone is here, let's start discussing matters."

"Bring up Li Chengdong and Tong Yangjia first. Let's take a good look at what the difference is between this Qing governor and general who has surrounded us for half a month."

Zhu Lang had an upbeat look on his face, and Li Chengzhi, who was standing beside him, waved to the audience. Soon, Li Chengdong and Tong Yangjia were brought into the hall by the Imperial Guards.

Both of them had heavy iron handcuffs on their hands. Li Chengdong was wearing a black military uniform and had a burly figure, but his hair was disheveled.
Li Chengdong entered the hall and first looked up at the young man in a bright yellow dragon robe. After seeing the culprit who had caused him to lose several battles, Li Chengdong suddenly looked down at a figure beside him.
"Ma Bao, I thought I treated you well, but you betrayed me!"

Li Chengdong spoke in a low voice, like an angry beast, staring at Ma Bao standing on the side, the shackles on his body clanking.

The moment he saw Ma Bao, he immediately understood everything: why he had suffered repeated setbacks outside the city, why the Ming court in the city could repeatedly launch surprise attacks, and why the camp was defeated in one fell swoop last night even though it was clearly strictly guarded. It was all because of Ma Bao!

Ma Bao informed the Ming army in the city of all the arrangements made by the general, which allowed the Ming army to gain the upper hand repeatedly. If it were not for Ma Bao, I am afraid that I would have already broken through Guangzhou and captured all the Ming court civil and military officials.
"Ma Bao, I have never let you down in any way in terms of soldiers, money and food, yet you want to betray me!"

Li Chengdong stared at Ma Bao intently. He thought to himself that he had been very kind to his subordinates. If he had a share, his subordinates would have a share. Even when he was escaping yesterday, he had not forgotten these subordinates and had notified them to escape with him.
Of course, he also wanted to rely on his generals to make a comeback, but he asked himself if he had done anything wrong to his subordinates. However, he never expected that Ma Bao would betray him, and it was very likely that he had surrendered to the Ming court before they were besieged by the Ming army.

Ma Bao lowered his head at this time, with evasive eyes, not daring to look at Li Chengdong who was staring at him.
Ma Bao had no way to refute it. Li Chengdong took him from the Qing army, which prevented him from becoming a slave in the Jurchen army. It was not an exaggeration to say that he was very kind to him. This time he really betrayed Li Chengdong who had been kind to him.

Ma Bao was ashamed, but he was even more anxious in his heart. His Highness the Regent and all the ministers and generals of the court were here, but he was speechless when Li Chengdong asked him on the spot. Although he had helped the court win a great victory, who would like a traitor?

Moreover, he betrayed Li Chengdong, who had done him a great favor. If he allowed Li Chengdong to continue talking like this, I am afraid that even His Highness would be prejudiced against him.

Ma Bao glanced secretly towards the hall. Sure enough, everyone in the hall was silent, staring at this place with different expressions. Jiao Lian and Li Mingzhong had indifferent expressions on their faces.

As mentioned before, although Ma Bao had made great contributions to the court, who would like a traitor? This was especially true for military officials like Jiao Lian who were known for their loyalty and righteousness.
Seeing the ministers in the hall standing still and saying nothing, Ma Bao felt disappointed. Judging from the attitude of the ministers in the hall, his future situation in the Ming court would probably not be any better.

He looked up at His Royal Highness the Regent, and found that His Royal Highness the Regent seemed to be attracted by this place and looked at the two of them.
Seeing this, Ma Bao's heart suddenly tightened, and a trace of cold sweat appeared on his face. He couldn't go on like this. Ma Bao gritted his teeth and was about to speak.

But Ma Bao looked up at Li Chengdong, who was handcuffed and had disheveled hair, and his expression froze. He couldn't say a word that was on the tip of his tongue, and lowered his head again.

"Last March, I received 300 armors. When you first arrived, my army had no armors. Who provided armors for your personal guards?"

"Last year, when we attacked Jiading, did I lose your share of wealth after the city fell?"

"I got 800 horses when I entered Fujian this year. Did I send them to your army?"

However, Li Chengdong kept talking angrily, talking about his favor and promotion to Ma Bao. With every word Li Chengdong spoke, Ma Bao lowered his head a little more. For a while, the whole hall was filled with Li Chengdong's angry shouts.
The people in the hall were listening to Li Chengdong's words quietly, and their eyes looking at Ma Bao became more and more strange.
If Li Chengdong had scolded someone else, everyone in the hall would have certainly scolded him. However, Li Chengdong scolded Ma Bao, the new surrenderer. The ministers had different thoughts, and for a moment no one in the hall spoke.

Lu Daqi looked at Ma Bao, who just lowered his head and said nothing, and his eyes flickered. He felt that the time was almost right, and was about to speak, but suddenly a shout came from above.

"What a great favor, but Li Chengdong and Ma Bao have never betrayed you!"

The Regent spoke in a cold voice. Everyone in the hall heard his words and looked at him with astonishment on their faces.

Although Li Chengdong was undoubtedly a Qing invader, Ma Bao did betray Li Chengdong. It cannot be said that Ma Bao was not a traitor just because he surrendered to the imperial court.

The Regent glanced at the astonished crowd below, then looked at Li Chengdong and spoke loudly.

"Ma Bao is rebelling against the Qing Dynasty, not against you, Li Chengdong!"

"Ma Bao was born in a rebel camp. When the imperial court was still prosperous, Li Zicheng was almost driven to despair by the imperial court. Why didn't Ma Bao betray Li Zicheng and come to join the Ming Dynasty?"

"Now that half of the Ming Dynasty has fallen, not to mention those of you who came from the camp, even the ministers and generals from the court have surrendered to the Tartars. The Qing army is so powerful now, and the Ming Dynasty is in turmoil. Why is Ma Bao betraying you, Li Chengdong, and surrendering to the Ming Dynasty?"

"Ma Bao is not rebelling against you, Li Chengdong, but against the Qing Tartars!"

"Since the Qing invaders entered the country, you have been accomplices to the Tartars and committed countless atrocities and killed countless Han people on both sides of the Yellow River. Don't you know?"

"Ma Bao and his loyal army did not rebel for themselves, but because the Qing government was unjust and treated our Han people like cattle, sheep and slaves, so they resolutely returned to the righteous and rebelled."

"If we are going to rebel, Ma Bao is rebelling for the millions of Han people in this world. Li Chengdong, you have shown great favors to the people, but can your favors be compared to those of the millions of Han people in this world?"

The cold words kept echoing in the hall, and when Lu Daqi, Chen Zizhuang and others heard it, their faces suddenly became serious and they looked at Li Chengdong and others below.
Ma Bao was stunned when he heard this, and then he suddenly looked up. When he saw the cold and unpretentious Regent, Ma Bao's heart suddenly trembled.

Ma Bao's expression suddenly calmed down. He raised his head and looked straight at Li Chengdong in the hall. There was no more evasion in his eyes.

At this time, Li Chengdong no longer looked at Ma Bao, but stared at the Ming court regent who had caused him to fail several times.

Li Chengdong glanced at the ministers in the room and spoke in a cold voice

"It should be you who persuaded Ma Bao to surrender. Yes, I, Li Chengdong, am just a general. How can I be compared with you, the regent of the Ming court? Ma Bao will have a bright future if he surrenders to you."

"Ma Bao voted for you, so you naturally have to speak for him. Otherwise, who would dare to vote for you in the future?"

"But you are just making specious arguments now. I am now a Qing general. What is the difference between rebelling against the Qing and rebelling against me? I, Li Chengdong, don't know how to judge people. If I lose, I lose. Why do you have to hide it?" Li Chengdong snorted coldly.

Li Chengzhi, who was standing by, heard Li Chengdong's disrespectful words and was about to scold him. However, the Regent was furious and spoke directly.

"What difference does it make? It certainly makes no difference to someone like you who has betrayed his ancestors. It's up to you whether you want to be a dog for the Tartars, but there are many people in this world who don't want to!"

"Do you really think that if you keep your braids for two days, you can really become a Manchu? In the eyes of the Qing invaders, you Han surrendered generals will always be slaves and running dogs."

"You think you are the only one who is extremely smart, and others don't know that surrendering to the Qing can save their lives. Why are there so many people in this world who would rather die than surrender to the Qing? Because I, the heroes of the Han family, should be upright and upright. How can I be a dog for the barbarians?" Li Chengdong looked at the contemptuous looks from Lu Daqi and others, and the scarlet robes behind them. I don't know what he thought of, his eyes suddenly turned red, and he shouted

"That's enough. You guys are all like this. You talk about righteousness all the time."

"You think you are the only ones who understand justice, and everyone else is ruthless. If there is a choice, who would be willing to surrender to the Qing?"

Li Chengdong's face was filled with resentment. Even Tong Yangjia beside him was stunned. Looking at the crazy Li Chengdong, Li Chengdong didn't care at all and spoke angrily.

"Since the Jiashen Rebellion, countless people have surrendered to the Qing Dynasty. Wu Sangui surrendered, Hong Chengchou surrendered, and so many ministers in Nanjing surrendered, but I, Li Chengdong, could not surrender."

"That day, we were stationed outside Nanjing and were ready to fight to the death, but Emperor Hongguang fled overnight, leaving us behind. Where was the court you mentioned at that time, where was the justice, and where was the hero of the Han Dynasty?"

"Do we have to learn from those old men and commit suicide for our country in order to understand justice?"

"It was the imperial court that betrayed us first, not us soldiers who betrayed the imperial court!"

"I have traveled all the way from Jiangnan, and there are more than tens of thousands of officials and gentry who surrendered and led the way. We surrendered to the Qing Dynasty not because we don't want to be Han people, but because the fate of the Ming Dynasty has come to an end. Is it a crime for us to ask for a way out?"

Li Chengdong seemed to have some confidence when he said this, and he gradually calmed down, glancing coldly at the ministers in the hall.

When Lu Daqi and others heard this, they were silent for a while. Lu Daqi, Chen Zizhuang and others were even the witnesses of the Nanjing incident.

Hongguang abandoned all the civil and military officials in the city and fled overnight, causing an uproar in Nanjing. The situation suddenly collapsed. They were angry and cursed in private. Even Chen Zizhuang was discouraged and resigned from his post and returned home alone.

Nanjing was in chaos at the time. Who can tell who was right and who was wrong?

Li Chengdong looked at the silent ministers in the hall, his expression becoming more and more determined.
Zhu Lang glanced at the silent hall, but his expression remained unchanged. His eyes turned and he suddenly spoke in a cold voice:

"The Ming Dynasty was plagued by many problems. The three taxes were imposed, and the gentry seized the people's land, leaving the people with almost no place to live. So when Li Zicheng rose up, the Ming Dynasty was in flames. After Jiashen, the gentry had different ideas. They welcomed the Chuang and Qing just to protect their own land and property."

"Only a few loyal ministers such as Lü Ge Lao, Chen Ge Lao, and Su Ge Lao are left, working hard for the Han Dynasty."

"You saw no way out at that time, so you surrendered anyway."

Lu Daqi and the others felt relieved at first, but then they recalled what His Majesty the Regent had just said, and their faces changed immediately, staring at His Majesty the Regent above them.

They instinctively felt that His Royal Highness the Regent was hinting at something, but His Royal Highness the Regent above just nodded and said nothing more. He looked at Li Chengdong below and spoke in a cold voice.

"But anyone in the world can say such things, except you, Li Chengdong!"

His Highness the Regent spoke sternly, and before Li Chengdong could say anything, he continued

"It would have been fine if you surrendered to the Qing, but you actually massacred hundreds of thousands of Han people in Jiading just to curry favor with the Tartars."

"I'm afraid that the number of Han people killed by the Tartars is not as many as you, Li Chengdong. You, an accomplice of the tiger, dare to tell me that you have no choice!"

When Zhu Lang said this, his expression became more and more angry, and he shouted
"Li Chengdong, you used hundreds of thousands of Han people to exchange for a position of general from the Tartars. When you fell asleep at night holding your position of general, did you ever hear the cries of hundreds of thousands of lonely souls?"

The ministers below all looked stern when they heard this, staring at Li Chengdong in the hall.
At this moment, Li Chengdong's face finally showed a trace of panic, and the calmness on his face completely disappeared.

But Li Chengdong looked at His Royal Highness the Regent above him, but he forced himself to remain calm and said in a deep voice:
"I had already surrendered to the Qing court at that time. What could I do if the Qing court ordered me to do something? If I didn't obey, I would have been the one to die. I had repeatedly persuaded them to surrender, but the soldiers and civilians of Jiading still didn't understand the situation and stubbornly resisted. This world is a world where the strong prey on the weak..."

Li Chengdong had just said half of his words when the regent above him suddenly stood up in anger and spoke in a stern voice.

"Well, what a law of the jungle!"

"This is how things work in this world. The Ming Dynasty and the Qing Dynasty will eventually have to discuss this world's principles on the battlefield."

"Li Chengdong, don't you want the strong to prey on the weak? Now that the imperial court is strong and you are weak, I will naturally be able to prey on you!"

"Li Chengdong, you will be cut into pieces and apologize to the hundreds of thousands of people in Jiading."

The Regent above spoke in a hateful voice. Li Chengdong's face flashed with panic when he heard it.

But at this time, Zhu Lang didn't want to say anything more. His face was cold and he waved his hand. The Jinyiwei soldiers beside him pushed Li Chengdong out of the hall.

After Li Chengdong was suppressed, Zhu Lang looked at Tong Yangjia who was standing beside him.

Tong Yangjia saw the cold look on His Highness the Regent's face and trembled immediately. He forced a smile on his face and said

"Your Highness, I am..."

Tong Yangjia was about to reveal his origins in order to gain a chance of survival, but before he could finish, he was interrupted by His Royal Highness the Regent.

"Tong Yangjia, Tong Jia clan, one of the eight surnames of the Qing dynasty, how could I not know?"

Zhu Lang's face was cold. Without waiting for Tong Yangjia to speak, he continued
"You are Manchu, I am Han, you and I are originally enemies of different races. You, the Eastern Tartars, killed 100,000 of my people in Jiangnan. One day, I will kill 100,000 of your Qing courtiers as retribution."

Tong Yangjia's face turned pale when he heard His Highness the Regent's words. However, before he could beg for mercy, His Highness the Regent looked at Li Chengzhi and said:

"Take him away and ask him about the situation of Dorgon and others in Fujian Province and the Qing court."

Li Chengzhi's face turned serious and he answered respectfully. His Highness the Regent looked at the pale Tong Yangjia and said:

"You can also keep silent and be a loyal and unyielding minister to the Qing court."

"I have heard people say that all of you Tartars are brave and fearless. This time I want to see if all of you Tartars are really brave and fearless."

"Once you join my Jinyiwei, even if you are made of iron, I can refine iron juice for you!"

Tong Yangjia looked at the cold-looking young man above him, and a look of despair finally emerged on his face. The last bit of desire to survive in his heart completely dissipated.

Zhu Lang no longer cared about Tong Yangjia. He waved his hand and the Jinyiwei escorted the pale-looking Tong Yangjia out of the hall.

(End of this chapter)