The Holy Emperor of Ming

Chapter 359: Unifying the World (4000 words)
After staying with his family for more than an hour, Zhu Houzhao finally returned to the palace.

Zhu Houzhao spent the rest of the year slowly supervising internal affairs and entertaining his son.

The ninth year of Shengwu was a relatively peaceful year.

The Ming Dynasty did not launch any wars against other countries, but focused on reforming the Nine Western Routes and Sixteen Eastern Provinces.

The Sixteen Provinces in the East constitute the entire territory of the former Sui Kingdom.

Now this divine land belongs to the Ming Dynasty. Of course it can no longer be called Sui territory. With various reforms, re-planning of administrative regions, etc., it has become the Sixteen Eastern Provinces.

Throughout the world, the Ming Dynasty remained motionless, so of course no one dared to do anything.

Only in the northern grasslands, as if with the permission of the Ming Dynasty, the fighting became even more brutal.

However, these fights were all fought among tribes of all sizes after the fall of the Three Kingdoms.

There was no existence that was truly worthy of the attention of various countries, so it did not attract much attention.

The ninth year of Shengwu passed peacefully, and the tenth year of Shengwu arrived.

The court's focus is still on the reform of the Western Nine Routes and the Eastern Sixteen Provinces.

March of the tenth year of Shengwu.

Qin Mengyao, who was eleven months pregnant, gave birth.

Gave birth to a little princess.

Zhu Houzhao was very happy, now he had both sons and daughters.

He can also understand the difference between playing with his son and playing with his daughter.

Ten days later, he went to his father's tomb again, holding his two children in his arms, and showed his daughter to his father.

After a while, he was sure that there were still differences between his son and daughter.

My daughter is cuter and seems quieter.

But he didn't treat him any differently.

Every day, when we have dinner and the whole family gets together, I play with my two children.

After making the two little ones cry, she would laugh triumphantly and return them to their mother or give them to other concubines to hug.

Sometimes when I am free during the day, I will go to see the two little ones and take them around.

The days were quite leisurely and it was October of the tenth year of Shengwu.

After two years of silence, the Ming army moved again, with 300,000 troops marching southward in several directions to attack the Southern Song Dynasty.

The commander-in-chief is Yue Fei. After several years of military career, he has also broken through to the level of grandmaster.

At this time, a letter of surrender was delivered to the Southern Song court in Longxing.

The Southern Song Dynasty court, which had been in turmoil for the past two years, suddenly became a boiling pot of chaos and was filled with panic.

As for how to fight against the Ming Dynasty?

No one can come up with a clear solution.

Amidst the chaotic atmosphere in the Southern Song court, the Ming army marched southward and was invincible.

Or it should be said that there was no Song army that put up a firm resistance.

At most, they would just pretend to surrender.

This is the power of the Ming Dynasty today. Over the past few years, the world has come to accept that as long as Emperor Shengwu does not cause any trouble, the world will eventually return to the Ming Dynasty.

This kind of subtle influence is extremely terrifying and will automatically convince many people to surrender to the Ming Dynasty.

The troops were officially dispatched in October, and Longxing Prefecture was captured before the New Year.

On behalf of the Southern Song court, Zhao Gou formally surrendered to the Ming Dynasty.

At this time, only a small part of the entire Southern Song Dynasty territory was not occupied by the Ming army, and it lasted only a month at most.

After Zhu Houzhao received the news that the Southern Song Dynasty had been conquered, he immediately issued an edict.

Zhao Ji and his son Zhao Heng were taken to Bian Jing and cut into pieces.

Two years ago, after Zhu Houzhao destroyed the core leaders and the most elite troops of the Jin Dynasty, he ignored the rest.

With the help of some people, Zhao Ji and his son Zhao Heng escaped back to the Southern Song Dynasty.

In the past two years, the two of them and Zhao Gou have put on a lot of good shows.

Zhu Houzhao didn't care about these things. He only knew that Zhao Ji and his son were two useless people who caused the Jin and Liao dynasties to move south and killed countless people.

Not much different from Yang Guang.

The thought of letting such a person live made him uncomfortable.

So they were skinned alive.

As for the fact that this would cause anger and dissatisfaction among many people in the Southern Song Dynasty, he didn't care at all.

They are just a bunch of crappy literati with their eyes on their foreheads. It’s fine if they are not convinced in their hearts, but if they dare to do anything to disobey the Ming Dynasty, they will all be killed.

The Ming Dynasty has no shortage of literati now.

Then a group of people really stood up and cursed Emperor Shengwu.

Zhu Houzhao would certainly not tolerate them and directly ordered their execution, thus silencing all dissenting voices in one fell swoop.

A few days later, Zhu Houzhao killed Zhao Gou again.

The reason is very simple. After the fall of the Southern Song Dynasty, many things were brought to light.

At that time, the Southern Song court, mainly Zhao Gou, was eager to negotiate peace with Jin and Liao, and even hoped that the two countries would defeat the Ming Dynasty. This was reported to Zhu Houzhao.

Zhu Houzhao certainly couldn't tolerate this. He was disgusted enough by these useless emperors of the Zhao family, so he just killed them directly.

As for any impact or anything like that, he doesn't care at all.

If you have the guts, resist.

In addition to Zhao Gou, another person was killed, his name was Qin Hui or something.

Because Qin Hui was the one who gave advice to Zhao Gou and tried to make Jin and Liao defeat the Ming army.

After killing the three useless emperors and some ministers of the Zhao family, Zhu Houzhao felt much more comfortable and didn't care about their influence at all.

Moreover, he had not yet conferred titles on the Zhao family in accordance with previous national customs.

In his opinion, the Zhao family was useless and should have all died long ago to thank the world.

You still want him to be conferred a title and continue to enjoy wealth and glory? That's impossible.

He was too merciful by not killing all the members of the Zhao family.

These events, taken together, did cause a stir, mainly in the Southern Song Dynasty, but also in other countries throughout the world.

The State of Song had nurtured scholars for more than a hundred years and still had many loyal ministers.

Many people can't stand it and do something overtly or covertly.

All the countries in the world were in panic.

Once again, they witnessed the tyranny, cruelty and brutality of Emperor Shengwu.

Not to mention that he personally skinned Yang Guang alive.

This time, the three father and son Zhao Ji, Zhao Heng and Zhao Gou were also killed. It was simply too much.

There is absolutely no respect for people like them.

As for the mistakes made by Zhao Ji and his two sons, they didn't care at all, they were all in the past.

The Ming Dynasty was the victor, so why didn't it give the loser some dignity?
He is simply the greatest tyrant of all time.

The crowd became increasingly hostile, angry, and frightened.

But on the surface, congratulatory messages were urgently sent to the capital of the Ming Dynasty.

It is filled with various congratulations and praises.

There wasn't even a hint of dissatisfaction.

As for those who felt indignant for the Zhao family, Zhu Houzhao didn't even take them seriously. He didn't even need to do anything because someone would naturally teach them how to behave.

The tenth year of Shengwu was spent in conquering the Southern Song Dynasty court.

Apart from that, not much happened in the Ming Dynasty that year.

For Zhu Houzhao himself, it was the birth of his first daughter, and Yin Tianxue, Shangguan Xiaoxian, Jin Bingyun, Bai Fanghua, and Yang Yaoqin successively broke through to the level of grandmaster.

The eleventh year of Shengwu arrived. Amid the panic and fear of all the countries in the world, the Ming Dynasty still chose to recuperate. Reforms were launched in the ten territories of the Southern Song Dynasty that had just been conquered, while consolidating the reforms in the nine western territories and the sixteen eastern provinces.

Another thing happened this year.

There are two new concubines in the palace.

One is Lianxing, and the other is Futianxiang.

The entry of these two into the palace immediately attracted the words of Yao Yue and Fu Tianjiao, as well as the resentful looks of most of the women.

Especially Yao Yue, some of them could not accept it, which was even more uncomfortable for her than Zhu Houzhao taking other women as concubines.

"Your Majesty, why do you want to take Lianxing as your concubine?" That night, in front of all the ladies, Yaoyue asked directly with an unpleasant look on her face.

"Lianxing is so nice and likes me. She is also your sister. Of course I can't refuse her." Zhu Houzhao said as a matter of course.

"Hmph." Yao Yue snorted softly, feeling a little agitated.

“Your Majesty, are you targeting my sister now?” Fu Tianjiao couldn’t help but said resentfully.

She really didn't expect that Tianxiang could enter the palace.

Moreover, she took the initiative to express her love to His Majesty, and His Majesty agreed immediately.

The other concubines looked at Cheng Lingsu with alert eyes.

What Fu Tianjiao said was indeed true.

Look, this is Cheng Lingsu, the good sister that His Majesty mentioned before.

Lianxing, Yaoyue's younger sister.

Fu Tianxiang, the junior sister who was raised by Fu Tianjiao, is like her own sister.

Isn't it that you specifically target your younger sister?
At this moment, Cheng Lingsu did not feel offended. She just held her son and looked at him with a smile.

"Is there?" Zhu Houzhao blinked, thought about it, and it seemed so.

The three women who entered the palace later were all good sisters.

The next moment, he waved his hand nonchalantly and laughed, “Isn’t this better?
My good sister has become my wife, and from now on we are truly a family, and we will never be separated.”

"Hehe, then shouldn't I thank you?" Yao Yue was so angry that she laughed.

The other concubines also looked helpless, and then there was a burst of resentful voices.

Zhu Houzhao felt a bit of a headache after hearing this and immediately went to play with his children.

Three days later, six days later, Lian Xing and Fu Tian Xiang entered the palace one after another.

From then on, there were seventeen girls and one girl for two nights a month, and the number of days in a month was not enough.

Zhu Houzhao wanted to change it to one woman per month per night, but at dinner time that day, when he was halfway through his words, the looks from the women suddenly made his scalp tingle, and he swallowed his words back.

There is no other way, it will still be two nights, so we have to take turns.

The twelfth year of Shengwu arrived.

Daming took action against Li Yang.

Five hundred thousand Ming troops landed in Liyang and were invincible, with no one to resist them wherever they went.

In June of the twelfth year of Shengwu, the Beiliang Palace in Liyang declared its submission to the Ming Dynasty.

The condition of surrender is unconditional.

Because now, no one can negotiate with Zhu Houzhao and the Ming Dynasty.

If you dare not submit unconditionally, I will help you submit unconditionally.

The Beiliang Palace only tried a little before surrendering wisely.

The Zhao family of Liyang was also very sensible. When the Ming army was about to reach the capital, they surrendered decisively.

Although some of them were worried about the treatment they would receive after surrendering, they knew better that they would not be able to defeat or resist the enemy no matter what.

If we dare not surrender now and are caught by the Ming army, we will be completely finished.

In the twelfth year of Shengwu, the Ming Dynasty completely took over the entire Liyang.

In August, Emperor Shengwu personally came to Liyang and visited Emperor Wu City.

Wang Xianzhi, who was known as the second best in Li Yang, blocked three swords from Emperor Shengwu and was seriously injured.

Wudi City was renamed from then on.

When the news came out, the entire Liyang, which had been experiencing some undercurrents, suddenly became quiet.

Faced with a being that possesses such great power, everyone knows that nothing they do will be of any use.

Now all he can do is hide his strength secretly and wait for Emperor Shengwu to die.

At this point, the four continents of China were all brought under the rule of the Ming Dynasty.

The world can be said to be unified.

When the news came out, countless people cheered and were shocked.

The world is actually unified!

The incomparable shock impacted the minds of countless people.

They never thought that there would be someone who could actually unify the world!
In the last few months of this year, the whole world was in the shock of unification.

Another thing happened this year. Lian Xing and Lian Xiu Xiu became pregnant one after another.

In the thirteenth year of Shengwu, Lianxing and Lianxiuxiu both gave birth to a boy.

At the same time, the Northern Mang was destroyed, and there was no other country in the world that could be called a great power except the Ming Dynasty.

All the countries in the world submitted more obediently to the Ming Dynasty, looking at the towering giant with great awe.

This year, Zhu Houzhao led the cabinet and the military cabinet to formulate a national policy of recuperation, consolidating the reforms thoroughly, and deeply rooting the hearts of more than one billion people on the four continents.

As a result, the Ming Dynasty court became even busier.

The Factory Guards and the Martial Arts Hall also expanded rapidly, and together with the army, they suppressed various places.

For better governance, the four continents were also officially called the Western Nineteen Provinces, the Eastern Sixteen Provinces, the Outer Twenty-three Provinces, and the Inner Fourteen Provinces.

The nineteen western provinces include the former territory of the Song Dynasty and the territory in the north occupied by the Jin and Liao dynasties.

The Sixteen Eastern Provinces included the former territory of the Sui Dynasty, as well as part of the territory of Goguryeo and the former Turkic region.

The outer twenty-three provinces include the former Liyang territory and part of the Beimang territory.

The "Inner Fourteen Provinces" refers to the original thirteen provinces of the two capitals of the Ming Dynasty, excluding the fourteen provinces of Northern Zhili and including the fourteen provinces of Southern Zhili.

The status of Nanzhili was officially abolished.

The Ming Dynasty thus formed a ruling territorial system of one capital and seventy-two provinces.

This unprecedented, nascent empire ushered in comprehensive development.

Everything looks so beautiful.

In the 14th year of Shengwu, Zhu Houzhao issued another order to destroy the three kingdoms of Western Xia, Dali and Tubo.

The Ming Dynasty added three provinces, bringing the total to seventy-five provinces.

It was very easy for the Ming Dynasty to destroy these three small countries, and it did not affect the Ming Dynasty's national policy of recuperating and rectifying internal reforms at all.

The subsequent governance will be much more troublesome.

In the fifteenth year of Shengwu, the world had been unified for more than two years. Zhu Houzhao and the core leaders of the Ming Dynasty had all sensed some bad signs.

The territory of the Ming Dynasty is now too large, and various problems such as corruption are increasing.

There is also an atmosphere of luxury and indulgence.

Zhu Houzhao was furious and reprimanded the factory guards and killed many people, including three grand masters.

Then he went on a tour around the world.

I personally visited all 72 provinces.

This time, it took him more than half a year, and he saw a lot of things that made him furious.

There was no hesitation at all, and this could be described as a parade of killing.

He started killing as soon as he left the capital, and killed people in all 72 provinces. As long as he saw any signs of rebellion, he would kill them without hesitation. No matter who was involved, he would uproot them.

(4000 words, the new book will be published in the next two days, thank you for your support.)
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(End of this chapter)