Chongzhen's domineering

Chapter 212 The Ruthless Emperor's Heart of Stone (Part 2)

The Zheng, Zhou, Lu, Chong, and Rui vassal states were all captured by the rebels.

The rebels Gao Yingxiang and Zhang Xianzhong seem to have no intention of stopping at all; these two are leading their troops straight towards Henan Prefecture and Nanyang Prefecture.

Both the Tang and Fu vassal states are in danger.

After Huang Zongzhou's urgent memorial arrived in the capital, the urgent memorials from the Tang Emperor and the Fu Emperor followed shortly afterward.

Zhu Jue seemed to be heartless; he had no intention of sending troops to rescue them at all. No matter how these vassal kings pleaded for help, he would just say "Report again" without any expression on his face.
Now, the vassal kings of the Central Plains can only seek revenge in the next life.

Do you think the rebels would let the princes and royal family members get away with it?
These princes and members of the imperial family can be said to be the main culprits behind the hunger of the disaster-stricken people in the Central Plains.

Eight or nine tenths of the Central Plains have been annexed by the princes and royal families. If the rebels don't seek revenge on them, who will they seek revenge on?

The princes and imperial family of the Ming Dynasty had never suffered such a catastrophe, and the officials of the outer court were dumbfounded.

The young emperor is too cold-blooded!

The princes and their relatives were all members of the imperial family.

Originally, the fact that the princes and members of the imperial family were dealt with by the rebels had little to do with the officials of the outer court, as it was all a matter within the Zhu Ming imperial family.

Historically, this was the case. Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong nearly wiped out all the princes and members of the imperial family of the Ming Dynasty, and the officials of the outer court seemed to have little reaction. However, Emperor Chongzhen was as anxious as an ant on a hot pan, frantically mobilizing troops to surround and intercept the rebels.

This time it's different. Five vassal states have been captured, and it's unknown whether those vassal kings and their families were captured or killed by the rebels. Emperor Chongzhen, possessed by Zhu Jue, didn't react at all and didn't send out a single soldier!

The Donglin faction and even the Qi-Chu-Zhe faction in the court were originally happy to see this happen, because the chaos in the Ming Dynasty gave them an opportunity, and the more chaotic it was, the more opportunities they had.

Several of these vassal states have been captured, and the fate of tens of thousands of vassal kings and royal family members is unknown, which is actually a good thing for them.

This was an incredible stroke of luck, especially for the Donglin clan or the three powerful families of Puzhou.

This was all because Gao Yingxiang and Zhang Xianzhong had enough money and supplies after conquering so many vassal states.

In this way, not only could Gao Yingxiang and Zhang Xianzhong expand their forces at an alarming rate, but they also no longer needed to secretly provide them with money and supplies.

Although the Qi, Chu, and Zhe factions were not involved in this matter, they also hoped that the Ming Dynasty would continue to be in such chaos.

With the Ming Dynasty in such a state of chaos, their opportunity is about to arrive.

They generally assumed that with so many vassal states already conquered, the young emperor must be frantic, like an ant on a hot pan.

As a result, the little emperor didn't react at all!
How does this work?
The young emperor must be in a hurry, and he must be in a rush, so that he doesn't make mistakes in his haste.

The officials in the outer court seemed to have had enough and couldn't help but submit memorials to the emperor.

Early that morning, around 7 a.m., Zhu Jue had just arrived at the main hall of Yu Xi Palace and opened the first memorial when he couldn't help but let out a cold snort.

The Minister of Rites, He Ruchong, submitted a memorial concerning matters concerning the princes and members of the imperial family.

The memorial implies that since the princes and members of the royal family are all of imperial blood, and so many have been captured, troops must be sent to rescue them.

The cabinet also submitted a draft proposal, suggesting that troops be mobilized immediately to suppress the rebels and rescue the captured princes and members of the royal family.

Do you even know that the princes and royal families are all of royal blood, and not your relatives?

A dog takes a mouse, so mind your own business!
No, these guys seem to be more than just meddling in other people's business.

If he really mobilizes a large army to rescue them, there won't be many troops left in Liaodong or even the capital, and then the Jurchens will have another opportunity.

These guys are still secretly trying to help Huang Taiji use a feint attack!
You guys want to play, right?

I'll play along with you!
We'll see who gets the upper hand then.

Zhu Jue thought about it carefully, then pretended to be worried and said, "Ruoyu, reply: the three rebel armies together are more than two million strong. Where can I mobilize two million troops to suppress them? You all need to think of a solution."

Uh, what does that expression mean?
Do you really want to mobilize a large army to suppress the rebels?
"Impossible!" Liu Ruoyu was stunned when she saw this.

However, he quickly realized that His Majesty meant to have some fun with those officials in the outer court!
He wrote all the red-inked comments on the memorials, and he was also present when Pan Yunteng came to court. He naturally knew the Emperor's attitude towards the princes and members of the imperial family.

His Majesty intends to use the rebels to deal with the vassal kings and members of the royal family!
But His Majesty is putting on this expression right now. What does it mean? Do you even need to ask?
He thought for a moment, then picked up his pen and began to write quickly.

After some embellishment, this batch of red paper money became "I do not wish to save the princes, but there are simply too many rebels, and without enough manpower, I cannot save them. If you have a way to save them, then please submit your memorial immediately!"

Zhu Jue took the approved memorial and nodded approvingly.

As for finding a way to save the prince, what a load of rubbish!
Right now, all he could think about were warships and "cooperative development"!
After hastily reviewing the memorials, he led Zheng Zhilong, Wang Chengen, Fang Zhenghua, and others straight to the shipyard.

The irrigation canals had already been dug, and the soldiers of the Beijing garrison had begun making ice to drain the water.

The soldiers of the Beijing garrison were incredibly excited.

They never expected to have this extra income.

The shipyard has more than 300 waterways, which together contain more ice than the moat of the northern outer city. The newly dug ice cellars are about to be filled, and they will have to open more ice cellars.

Their ice cellars were dug several meters deep, and a full one could sell for at least ten taels of silver. Many of them had dug more than one ice cellar, so each person could now dig at least one more ice cellar.

These ice blocks are like pure silver to them, how could they not be excited?
Wang Zheng was also very excited at this moment, because after the waterway was cleaned up, he would be able to test-produce the large Zhiyuan merchant ship, the medium-sized Weiyuan warship, and the small Zhenyuan warship.

Seeing their excitement, Zhu Jue couldn't help but nod to himself.

As long as everyone is motivated, that's how the Ming Dynasty can flourish.

He glanced at the water release and ice-making process before asking, "Liangfu, which type do you think is easiest to build: the large Zhiyuan merchant ship, the medium-sized Weiyuan warship, or the small Zhenyuan warship?"

This seems to be a no-brainer.

Without hesitation, Wang Zheng replied, "Your Majesty, of these three types of ships, the small Zhenyuan warship is naturally the easiest to build. This is because the small Zhenyuan warship also costs 1,600 liang (a unit of weight), and we have built quite a few ships of 1,600 liang, both assembled from parts and assembled from whole planks."

The hull of this small Zhenyuan warship is actually similar to our small Weiyuan warship and medium-sized Zhiyuan merchant ship, which are assembled from a single piece. It just needs to be reinforced in some places. There shouldn't be any problem building it.

The large Zhiyuan merchant ships and the medium-sized Weiyuan warships are a different story. They are both made of 3,000 liang (approximately 1,500 tons), and are 14 or 15 zhang (approximately 6.6-7.6 meters) long and 7 or 8 zhang (approximately 3.3-4.6 meters) wide. We've never built ships this big before. I wonder if there will be any problems.”

The small Zhenyuan warship had three decks and could carry more than forty cannons, making it quite powerful.

He had already thoroughly investigated the matter and found that the main warships of the Dutch and Spanish were only equipped with about twenty cannons. Warships that could actually carry fifty, sixty, or even a hundred cannons were extremely rare.

At least, Zheng Zhilong had never seen it, and it had never appeared in Southeast Asia.

In other words, if they could build a small Zhenyuan warship, they would be able to suppress the main warships of the Dutch and Spanish.

As for the medium-sized and large Zhenyuan warships that can carry fifty or sixty or even a hundred cannons, it seems that there is no rush to produce them at this time.

They still need to develop the medium-sized Weiyuan warship, which can carry more than twenty cannons, before they can continue to develop the medium-sized Zhenyuan warship and the large Weiyuan warship. Only after the large Weiyuan warship is developed can they develop the large Zhenyuan warship.

Another point is the issue of materials. Large warships like the Weiyuan and Zhenyuan require whole planks over twenty zhang in length, and these planks are hard to find these days. They can't build many large warships like the Weiyuan and Zhenyuan.

In other words, their main warships in the future will be the small Zhenyuan warship, the medium Weiyuan warship, and the medium Zhenyuan warship.

In particular, the small Zhenyuan warship mainly requires ship planks that are over ten zhang long. This material is readily available, and they can build it in large quantities.

Zhu Jue thought about it carefully, and then decisively said, "Then you should hurry up and develop the small Zhenyuan warship. We will try to build a batch this year."

Those are real warships and gunboats; I've wanted to build them for a long time.

Upon hearing this, Wang Zheng rubbed his hands excitedly and said, "Your Majesty, I understand. Once the water in the waterway is drained, I will lead my men to develop the solution."

(End of this chapter)