The Ming Dynasty began from Sarhu

Chapter 927 Tigers, Leopards, and Jackals
"I am nearing the end of my life, and I am still somewhat uneasy about handing the throne over to you."

"Father, do you have a better choice?"

Like his ancestors, this emperor of the Great Qi Dynasty was destined to die young.

Liu Ye is in his sixties, which is his limit, meaning that the old emperor could pass away at any time.

Unlike his ancestors, Liu Ye did not pursue immortality. He was a devout Buddhist and becoming the nominal emperor of the Great Qi Dynasty was nothing short of an ordeal for him.

Only death can reduce everything to nothingness, and only then can his suffering end.

Immortality, or rather, prolonging life, is nothing more than prolonging the suffering in the world.

"You must not act recklessly."

"I will quell the regional warlords and rebuild the Great Qi."

The old emperor was still rambling on and on, but his successor was already getting impatient.

Where the empire is headed in the future has become Liu Ye's biggest worry.

The destructive desire that Liu Xuan displayed was terrifying.

He advocates for decentralization.

Advocating for deep integration with Europe.

The next emperor of the Great Qi Dynasty believed that the excessive concentration of power would lead to the monopolization of power and that the people needed more choices.

The current system of regional military governors has proven to be a failed attempt at democratization in the imperial process.

It simply replaced one emperor with dozens of emperors; it did not change the nature of autocracy.

Therefore, it must be destroyed.

It's not just about unification; centralization is the root of all evil.

To destroy autocracy, it is not enough to simply divide the empire physically; it is even more necessary to address the psychological aspects of the people.

Saline-alkali land cannot grow beautiful flowers.

To restore life to this land, the source of evil must first be destroyed.

Liu Xuan's governing strategy can be summarized as follows:
Destruction, rebirth.

First, mobilize the people, destroy the power of the various regional military governors, and take power back to the royal family. Then, relying on the supreme imperial power, redesign the imperial system.

As for what the new system is, Liu Xuan himself couldn't say for sure, but in short, it's a different system from the current one.

The best system is not designed; it should develop freely.

However, achieving this is indeed too difficult.

The situation is critical, we can't worry about anything else, let's destroy it first.

Liu Ye knew about his son's ambitions very early on.

However, the old emperor was frail and had only one son. If he did not pass the throne to Liu Xuan, the Liu family line would be cut off. If Liu Xuan became the next emperor, the future of the empire would be in grave danger.

This is a dilemma.

Liu Ye felt remorse.

Adding to the shock and grief of the previous year, the elderly man, already suffering from poverty and illness, gradually began to show signs of impending death.

In April 1735, the old emperor's old illness relapsed, and he was bedridden. Soon after, he passed away.

According to ancestral custom, the old emperor passed the throne to his crown prince Liu Xuan, and before he breathed his last, he earnestly gave him these instructions:
"My son should be like Yao and Shun! My son should be like Yao and Shun!" Before Liu Xuan could even offer a few words of comfort, his father passed away.

Whether Liu Xuan could become a Yao or Shun is another matter, but the sudden death of the old emperor cast a tragic shadow over the empire.

In 1756 AD, the 120th anniversary of the founding of the Great Qi Dynasty, ten years after Liu Xuan ascended the throne, he took two important measures to strengthen imperial power.

First, he personally organized an elite force directly under his command—the Longxiang Army.

Secondly, he issued a decree through the parliament, stipulating that from this day forward, the sons of the deceased lords of the vassal states would not be allowed to inherit the position, and the selection of the new lords would be decided by the Tianxin City authorities.

In other words, the era of regional warlords vying for power was coming to an end.

After ten years of accumulation, by 1756, Liu Xuan directly controlled the Longxiang Army, which numbered over 200,000 men, making it a force to be reckoned with.

In contrast, the seven major military garrisons outside the capital region—Changsha, Panyu, Langfang, Handan, and Liaoyang—had fewer than 150,000 troops.

This balance of military strength became the foundation and source of confidence for Tianxin City to eliminate the regional warlords.

The empire has passed its most dangerous moment, and Liu Xuan is seeking ways to recentralize the various powers that have been delegated to local authorities.

Now that the emperor has firmly regained control of the capital region, he naturally wants to turn his attention to the most unruly Liaodong warlords, intending to regain control there.

Military strength alone is not enough to achieve our goals, but fortunately the national treasury is well-stocked.

Ten years ago, Liu Xuan had just ascended the throne and immediately began to reform the fiscal and tax system.

The emperor ordered the Minister of Finance to take significant measures, consolidating the financial and tax management authority, which was originally scattered among various departments such as salt and iron, transportation, and green crops, into the hands of the Minister of Finance.

This move effectively strengthened Tianxin City's control over the finances of the various vassal states, while perfectly avoiding a backlash from local forces caused by the consolidation of imperial power.

Of course, while Liu Xuan was carrying out sweeping reforms, there were many voices of opposition from the regional military governors.

However, since the emperor already possessed sufficient wealth and controlled a powerful army, he was confident that he could overthrow everything.

Of course, before formally reducing the power of the princes, Liu Xuan still informed his British relatives in advance to ensure that he would not repeat the mistakes of the past and to ensure that the British would not cause trouble when the reform reached a critical stage.

Of course, while Liu Xuan was undertaking sweeping reforms and working diligently to govern the country, the unruly generals in important cities such as Changsha, Panyu, Langfang, Handan, and Liaoyang were not idle either.

When everyone realized that the new emperor was going to abandon democracy and the policy of a figurehead monarch and was going to use them as a scapegoat, all the vassal lords realized that if they wanted to firmly grasp the power in their hands and not be plotted against by Tianxin City, they needed to put more pressure on Tianxin City and could not sit idly by and wait for their doom.

In 1757, the twelfth year of Liu Xuan's reign, Li Baojun, the governor of Chenzhou, fell ill and died. His son, Li Weiqiu, then petitioned the parliament to succeed his father as governor of Chenzhou.

When the news reached Tianxin City, it immediately caused a great stir.

Liu Xuan decisively rejected Li Weiqiu's request.

Other experienced and shrewd ministers, fearing that the emperor's rash actions would provoke a rebellion by the regional military governors, submitted memorials requesting the emperor to rescind his decree.

Liu Xuan made a strong statement: The parliament passed a law last year that the sons of regional lords cannot inherit official positions unless a majority of the members of parliament agree!
Upon hearing this, Li Weiqiu was furious. He took decisive action and joined forces with the governors of Weibo, Panyu, and Handan, including the governors of Di Yue, Li Fuji, and Mu Chongyi. The four governors gathered their troops and launched a rebellion.

Liu Xuan was worried about not having an excuse to quell the regional warlords, but unexpectedly, his opponents delivered themselves to his doorstep. He secretly made up his mind to make an example of them and use the heads of Li Weiqiu and others to restore imperial prestige and consolidate imperial power.

Parliament swiftly passed a bill to quell the rebellion and dispatched General Ma Tao of Tongzhou and Military Governor Li Wanglie of eastern Sichuan with an army of 100,000 to suppress the uprising.

Despite opposition from many court officials, the emperor acted unilaterally, and the suppression of the rebellion progressed quite smoothly.

Li Fuji, the governor of Panyu, died suddenly from illness. His son, Li Shou, abandoned the city and surrendered, giving all of Panyu to the imperial court.

After suffering repeated defeats in his confrontation with Li Wanglie, Mu Chongyi, the governor of Handan, ultimately chose to climb the Qixing Tower in Handan and set himself on fire.

As for the culprit, Li Weiqiu, his fate was tragic. With the help of an inside man, he was assassinated by assassins sent by Ma Tao.

The last remaining rebel army of Di Yue, seeing that the other three armies had either died or surrendered, knew that they were outnumbered and had no choice but to surrender to the Qi army.