Yongli Ming Dynasty

Chapter 378: Change of Location
In Saoye Mountain House, scholars and literati walked around, and the bookshelves were filled with thread-bound books.
The classics and history section contains large volumes such as the Old Book of Tang, History of the Five Dynasties, and Academic Cases of the Song and Yuan Dynasties. The poetry section contains selected poetry anthologies such as Thousands of Poems, Selected Yuan Poems, and Selected Tang Poems.

The contemporary literature section contains the Four Books of the Ming Dynasty, the Selected Essays of the Second and Third Provincial Examinations of the Ming Dynasty, and other books for the imperial examinations.

Li Wen walked around and then walked to the counter and said

"The Xingming Times is available for sale in the bookstore."

Yang Bingzhong was wearing a long gown. He looked up at Li Wen in front of him. Suddenly a smile appeared on his face. He spoke softly.

"Look at what you said, brother. Nowadays, every bookstore in the city sells Xingming Times. My bookstore certainly sells it."

Li Wen nodded and continued

"I'm new in Guangjing and not very familiar with the situation in the court. Is it possible to buy past issues of the Times here?"

"Brother, you have asked the right person. There are many book craftsmen in my bookshop, and they all reprint newspapers and magazines for Xingming Times."

"If we talk about the most complete house in Guangjing, my house is second to none. I'm afraid no one dares to say it's first."

Yang Bingzhong took out a newspaper from under the counter and said:

"Xingming Times is a public publication, and it is not a great achievement to be able to get the regular edition every ten days."

"Whenever something important happens in the court, Xingming Times will issue a temporary supplement. Being able to prepare all these temporary supplements is considered a skill."

"Brother, please take a look at this newspaper. This is the latest supplement published by Xingming Times five days ago."

"In one month, it will be the sixth anniversary of the death of our great Ming Emperor. His Majesty the Regent and the court have decided to hold a grand memorial ceremony. This is why the Times is publishing a new issue."

Li Wen was stunned when she heard this. After a long while, she spoke in a muffled voice.

“It’s been six years already?”

Li Wen looked at the memorial in the newspaper with a sad look on her face.

"The late emperor was a man of great courage and determination, who worked hard day and night to seek the best governance. He never expected that he would be misled by a mere meat-eating man and end up dying for his country."

"When the late emperor passed away in the capital, he was still concerned about the people of our Ming Dynasty. He was truly a benevolent emperor of our Ming Dynasty. How could heaven lose our wise ruler? How great is my hatred for him."

Yang Bingzhong looked at Li Wen, who looked sad, and a strange color flashed in his eyes, but soon a heavy look appeared on Yang Bingzhong's face, and he sighed softly.
"Since the death of the previous emperor, our Ming Dynasty has been overthrown, the people have been slaughtered by the Eastern Tartars, the country has been in turmoil, the Central Plains has been divided, and the people from north to south have all cried and wailed."

"Fortunately, His Royal Highness Gui Jianguo ascended the throne, fought against the invaders, and stabilized the country. This is how we were able to preserve the Central Plains artifacts and protect the southern half of the country."

"This must be the blessing of our ancestors, which is why our Ming Dynasty has regained a wise ruler."

Yang Bingzhong said this, looking at Li Wen who nodded frequently, a stern look flashed in his eyes, and he said

"The death of the late emperor was heroic, but the ministers who died with him were also loyal and brave"

"The imperial court is holding this grand sacrifice not only to commemorate the late emperor, but also to commemorate the officials who died in the Jiashen Incident."

"After the rebels invaded the capital, 22 ministers of the capital followed the late emperor to die for their cause. The 22 virtuous ministers were so dignified and upright that they can truly serve as role models for generations to come."

"Now, Your Highness will make the martyrs known to the world, and move them to the monument to the heroes and martyrs for a memorial ceremony. This will comfort the loyal souls of the heroes and martyrs."

Upon hearing this, Li Wen also looked at the list of people to be sacrificed in the newspaper. The first one was Fan Jingwen, the Grand Secretary of the Dongge and Minister of Works during the Chongzhen Dynasty, followed by Ni Yuanlu, the Minister of Revenue, Li Banghua, the Left Censor-in-Chief, and others.

Li Wen looked at the names on the list, some familiar and some unfamiliar, and his face became more and more sad. Some of these people he had only heard of, but some of them were his teachers, friends and elders.
Li Wen looked at the handwriting on the paper, but her expression suddenly froze. Li Wen's eyes fell on a name at the end.
"Li Fengshen, a doctor of the Ministry of Works, was loyal and dedicated to his duty. He was posthumously awarded the title of Zhongjie (loyalty)"

Li Wen's eyes suddenly turned red, and he wanted to cry. Li Fengshen, the Minister of Industry, was Li Wen's father. Li Wen never thought that he would be able to see his father's name again in the Ming Dynasty.

When Li Wen went to Saoye Mountain House, Leng Sengji also took action in the city and began to promote peace talks.

At the Lu Mansion in Guangzhou City, Leng Sengji led Luo Shi and others to wait outside the mansion gate.
The steward of the Lu Mansion walked out of the mansion and looked at the cold monks wearing hats and scarves at the door. He looked disgusted and shouted coldly:
"My master doesn't know any Cai Yunxian. How dare a shameless old thief try to slander my master's reputation? Get out of here!"

The steward of the Lu Mansion threw a piece of paper out of the door, and then slammed the door shut.
The letter slowly fell to the ground, revealing the words on the cover.

"I, your humble brother Cai Yunxian, respectfully pay tribute to Grand Master Lu's kindness."

Leng Sengji looked at the letter that fell to the ground, then looked at the closed door in front of him, but there was no anger on his face.

Leng Sengji chuckled, but he didn't care about the envelope on the ground, and turned around and left with Luo Shi and others.
At Chen Zizhuang's residence, Leng Sengji stood outside the door holding a letter, his hands behind his back.
Not long after, the housekeeper of the Chen Mansion walked out of the house with the same look of disgust on his face.
The old steward of the Chen Mansion looked at Leng Sengji and others at the door and said in a cold voice

"Wang Juesi betrayed the reputation of the world, surrendered to the enemy, opened the city to surrender, brought disaster to the country and harmed the people. My master has long since severed ties with this thief."

"My master has no connection with this villain anymore. You and these Tartars should leave immediately. If they dare to cause trouble again, my master will never let them off easily!"

After the old steward of the Chen Mansion finished speaking, he slammed the door shut again. Leng Sengji and others were not only unable to enter the mansion, but they were also unable to deliver the letters in their hands.
Guard Commander Roche looked at the slamming door and said with an unpleasant expression:

"Sir, these Ming court officials are all cowards. I'm afraid no one dares to see us. What should we do now?"

Leng Sengji heard this, but he chuckled and said

"What should I do? There is a saying in the Ming Dynasty that one should be loyal to the person who entrusted him with the task. Since we have brought the letter for someone else, we must deliver it."

"This Ming man is ruthless and ruthless. We Qing people cannot break our promise to him. Let's go to the next one."

Leng Sengji put the letter in his hand on the ground, and then led Luoshu and others to leave directly to the residence of He Wuzuo, the next Grand Secretary of the Ming Dynasty.

Leng Sengji and his companions visited the ministers of the Guangdong Provincial Court and other important officials with letters for several days, but they were all turned away.

Leng Sengji and his men were indeed well prepared. They had five cabinet ministers in the Ming court, plus more than ten ministers from the six ministries and nine departments. Leng Sengji was able to produce letters from these ministers' old friends and visit them.
Cai Yunxian, who wrote to Lü Daqi, was originally named Cai Yichen. He was a minister of Wenyuan Pavilion and Minister of Rites during the Hongguang reign. Wang Juesi, who wrote to Chen Zizhuang, was originally named Wang Duo. He was also a minister of Dongge during the Hongguang reign before surrendering to the Qing dynasty.
During the Hongguang Dynasty, Chen Zizhuang was the Minister of Rites, and Lü Daqi was the Left Vice Minister of Rites. They were both ministers in the same palace as Wang Duo, so they were naturally old acquaintances.

Of these two, Wang Duo is the most famous. Wang Duo is good at calligraphy and painting. He is a world-famous calligrapher at that time. Together with Dong Qichang, he is known as the "Southern Dong and Northern Wang". He is an indispensable figure in the history of calligraphy and painting in the Ming and Qing Dynasties.

After Emperor Hongguang ascended the throne, Wang Duo was summoned to the court by Emperor Hongguang because of his reputation among the literati.
But Wang Duo was nothing more than a poet. During the reign of Emperor Chongzhen, Wang Duo held positions as a noble official such as the Minister of Rites of Nanjing. He had no experience in supervising the affairs of a place.

It is no problem for Wang Duo to be good at calligraphy and painting, but it is impossible for him to be good at governing.

After the Qing Dynasty attacked Nanjing, Emperor Hongguang fled in panic, and Wang Duo, the so-called Wenyuan Pavilion Grand Secretary, and Qian Qianyi and others directly opened the city to surrender to the Qing Dynasty.

Of the ministers left by the Ming court during the Chongzhen reign, the Qing court used a group of them when it occupied the capital, a group of them surrendered when it captured Nanjing, a group of them surrendered when it captured Lu and Zhejiang, and another group of them surrendered after it captured Fujian. All of them were high-ranking officials in the central government.
At this time, most of the high-ranking officials on both sides of the Ming and Qing dynasties were old acquaintances, so it was very easy for the Qing court to find someone to write a letter.

Among all the ministers in the Ming court of Guangdong Province, the one with the lowest status in the past was Su Guansheng.
Before the Longwu Dynasty, Su Guansheng's highest official position was only that of a prefect. It was not until he succeeded in supporting the Longwu Emperor that he rose to prominence and was suddenly appointed as prime minister.

But even for a cabinet minister like Su Guansheng who rose suddenly, the Qing court was able to find a prosecutor in Shandong Province who had worked with Su Guansheng in the past and wrote to Su Guansheng to reconnect with them.
In fact, the people Leng Sengji and others wanted to contact the most were the commanders of the imperial guards in the Ming Dynasty.

However, after a search, the Qing court found that there were not many old friends related to these military officials.

The information about the chief generals of the five imperial guards of the Ming court had long been no secret to the Qing court, but the problem was that these high-ranking military officials in the Ming court had a very low status before the establishment of the Guangdong Province.
Jiao Lian, the commander of the Longxiang Army who was the most trusted by the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, was only a deputy general of a remote province during the Longwu Dynasty. He was promoted after suppressing the rebellion.
Before suppressing the rebellion of Prince Jingjiang, Jiao Lian was just a lieutenant general, barely a mid-level general. Before Jiao Lian became the commander of the Longxiang Army, no one knew him.
Needless to say, Ma Bao of the Tengxiang Army was just an unknown soldier under the command of the Chuang Camp. Even Gao Yigong and others in the Chuang Camp did not recognize Ma Bao at the beginning, let alone the Qing court.
This was especially true for Li Dingguo and other generals of the Loyalty Camp. All the generals of the Western Camp had now surrendered to the Ming court. Except for those under Haoge, there were basically no generals of the Western Army who surrendered in the Qing court.

The only people in the Qing court who could possibly instigate a rebellion were Li Mingzhong and Li Guo of the Wuxiang Army.

Li Mingzhong was once a general in Dongjiang with Kong Youde and others, and Li Guo was connected with the Chuangying army that surrendered to the Qing court, but both of them are now leading troops outside and are not in Guangzhou.
At the door of the residence of Zeng Ying, the Minister of Industry, the door slammed shut again.

Roche looked at the closed door in front of him, his face gloomy, and said

"Sir, all the ministers of the Ming court and the senior officials of the six ministries have been visited, and only Qu Shisi is left. Do you still want to send him off?"

"Go back. Qu Shisi is the Prime Minister of the Ming court and a person who can really talk business. After sending letters these days, it's time to talk about some serious matters."

Leng Sengji glanced behind him, then chuckled, dropped the letter in his hand, and turned back to Sifang Pavilion.

In the crowd behind Leng Sengji and others, there were seven or eight men who looked like businessmen.
Although these people were carrying loads and holding signs, as if they were trying their best to sell goods, their eyes were all intentionally or unintentionally staring at Leng Sengji and others in front of the mansion gate.

Leng Sengji turned and left. The Jinyi Mansion's secret agents left one person to monitor the letters in front of the mansion, while the rest followed closely behind to continue monitoring the actions of Leng Sengji and others.

After Leng Sengji returned to Sifang Pavilion, he did not choose to go to Qu Shisi's residence again.

Soon after Leng Sengji returned, he formally proposed to meet with Qu Shisi through the Honglu Temple.

Although Leng Sengji and others wore hats to cover their braids these days, they did not deliberately hide their whereabouts.
The officials in the capital now all knew that the Tatar envoys were visiting the ministers in the name of delivering letters to old friends.

On the first day when Leng Sengji went to the residence of Lu Daqi and others, a minister in the court had already submitted a petition, requesting that the Tartar envoys be detained on the spot and not allowed to sow discord in the city and cause chaos to the people.
However, when the memorial was delivered to the palace, it fell on deaf ears and no response was given. The Qing court delegation continued to move freely every day, and the silence and indulgence in the palace also made the ministers in the city begin to wonder.

In Guangzhou, the ministers who had received the Qing court's letters angrily refused to see them, while the ministers who had not received the letters avoided them as much as possible, fearing that Leng Sengji and other Tartars would come to their doorsteps.
The people in the city were safe and sound, but the officials in the court began to feel a little nervous.

After Leng Sengji and others formally requested a meeting, they finally met Qu Shisi in the Honglu Temple.

The door of the hall of the Honglu Temple was wide open. Qu Shisi, wearing a bright red official robe with a crane pattern, sat on the left. Opposite him was a cold monk with a thin braid and a black robe.
Qu Shisi had no expression on his face, but Leng Sengji was the first to speak.

"I'm here to see you today, Mr. Qu, for both official and personal matters. This is the letter that Mr. Mu Zhai asked me to bring to Mr. Qu. Please accept it, Mr. Qu."

Leng Sengji took out an envelope from his sleeve and placed it on Qu Shisi's desk.

Qu Shisi just glanced at the envelope on the table and said coldly
"I have nothing but official business with you and the other Eastern Tartars, not personal business."

Leng Sengji looked at Qu Shisi with an indifferent expression, but he didn't care and smiled softly.

"Mr. Qu is the Prime Minister of the Ming court and a famous official in the country. How dare you not even read the letter at this time?"

"Besides, what Mr. Mu Zhai said in the letter is also what I want to discuss with Mr. Qu today."

Qu Shisi ignored Leng Sengji's provocative words. After thinking for a moment, he took out a knife, cut open the envelope, and took out the letter.

"Jiaxuan is now the head of state, shouldering the weight of the world. I hope Jiaxuan will take the people of the world into consideration, promote peace talks, stop the fighting, make the two dynasties form a brotherly alliance, and repair the friendship between the two countries..."

After reading the letter in his hand, Qu Shisi snorted coldly and said directly

“Just a fake letter”

Leng Sengji heard this, but he chuckled and said

"This letter was handed to me personally by Mr. Mu Zhai. Mr. Qu is Mr. Mu Zhai's senior student. Is it possible to hide the authenticity of this letter from Mr. Qu?"

Qu Shisi no longer wanted to beat around the bush with Leng Sengji, so he spoke directly.

"Envoy Leng, please tell me what you want to talk to me about today. If you want to talk to me just to say this nonsense, then don't waste my time."

Leng Sengji's expression straightened when he heard this, and he said

"Today I am looking for Mr. Qu to discuss peace."

"Since the year of Jiashen, our two dynasties have been engaged in battles year after year, with both sides winning and losing. Today, I am here to speak openly and honestly."

"Mr. Qu is the Prime Minister of the Ming court, and he must be well aware of the situation. Now that both you and I have stationed troops on the border for several years, it has been difficult to make any progress. It is meaningless to continue wasting time like this."

Qu Shisi was about to open his mouth to refute, but Leng Sengji did not give Qu Shisi a chance and continued to speak.

"The purpose of this mission by the Qing court is to demarcate the border with the Ming Dynasty and to negotiate peace on another territory!"

Leng Sengji looked serious as he stared at Qu Shisi opposite him. His clear voice kept echoing in the room.
(End of this chapter)