Chongzhen's domineering

Chapter 346 Divide and rule: A strategy of governance along the Yangtze River

Zhang Yun, the King of Hanzhong, agreed to accept the amnesty.

This guy not only agreed to withdraw from all his territories in Shanxi, the Central Plains, and even Hanzhong, but also agreed to dismiss his men and relocate them to the Americas.

He had only one condition: that the current emperor grant him a fiefdom so that he could retain 100,000 troops for protection.

Zhu Jue seemed to want to end the chaos in the Northwest as soon as possible. Therefore, he accepted the conditions of Zhang Yun, the King of Hanzhong, without hesitation and immediately issued an edict to confer upon Zhang Yun the title of King of Gucheng, whose fief was Gucheng County of Huguang Regional Military Commission.

He also ordered people to spread rumors that the rebellion in the Northwest was about to end and that the entire Ming Dynasty was about to be at peace.

The common people of the two capitals and thirteen provinces of the Ming Dynasty were naturally overjoyed upon hearing the news.

Who doesn't want peace and tranquility in the world?

Upon hearing this news, the three powerful clans of Puzhou became suspicious and paranoid.

Are you kidding me?

Zhang Yun, the King of Hanzhong, was said to have a million-strong army under his command, and his territory spanned dozens of prefectures and counties across the three northwestern provinces.

Is this guy really willing to disband his large army, hand over a vast territory, and only retain 100,000 troops and a county fiefdom?
When Gao Yingxiang and Zhang Xianzhong heard the news, they could hardly believe their ears.

Is this true or false?

The young emperor actually bestowed upon him the title of king and even granted him a fiefdom!

The key is that they can retain their own men.

This is good news for them; they all want to accept the imperial court's offer of amnesty.

As for whether they will surrender and then rebel again, they can decide based on the situation.

Soon, Hou Xun's secret letter reached Yansui Prefecture, and Li Zicheng once again came to Yansui Prefecture to ask for advice.

Should they accept the imperial court's offer of amnesty?
Zhang Nian's intention, however, was for them to wait and see if Zhang Yun, the King of Hanzhong, would truly accept the offer of amnesty.

Zhang Yun, the King of Hanzhong, naturally accepted the offer of amnesty.

Soon, this guy began to withdraw his troops from Shanxi, and the retreating troops headed south, heading straight for Hanzhong Prefecture and Gucheng County.

Zhu Juena then issued an edict ordering the Ministry of Personnel to quickly select officials to take over the prefectures and counties that the Hanzhong army had withdrawn from, starting from Taiyuan Prefecture and moving southwards.

Around dawn that day, the imperial edict was transmitted from the Directorate of Ceremonial to the Grand Secretariat.

When Grand Secretary Han Kuang saw the imperial edict, he could hardly believe his eyes.

Did the Hanzhong army really withdraw?

He initially thought it was unlikely that Zhang Nian would send a secret message.

How could Zhang Yun, the King of Hanzhong, possibly give up his vast territory and willingly accept the imperial court's offer of amnesty?
Even if this guy has some shady dealings with the young emperor, it's unlikely he'd give up everything he has to become a minor prince in Gucheng County.

This guy is a traitor, and the strongest one at that.

The saying goes, "A general in the field may disobey the emperor's orders," let alone a rebel with such great power.

If Gao Yingxiang and Zhang Xianzhong had the strength that Zhang Yun, the King of Hanzhong, currently possessed, they certainly wouldn't willingly listen to them, obediently relinquish their territories, or even disband their troops.

Would this guy really give up everything he has?

He stared at the imperial edict, frowning and deep in thought for a long time, before finally saying loudly, "Zhenlu, come here for a moment."

What are you doing so early in the morning?
Upon hearing this, Feng Quan got up and walked over, somewhat puzzled.

Han Kuang immediately handed over the imperial edict and then asked, "Zhenlu, what do you think?"

What do you mean, how do I see it?
When Feng Quan took the imperial edict and looked at it, he was stunned.

Has the Hanzhong army really begun to abandon its territory?
How do you interpret this, and what does it mean?
Oh, I see. Shanxi was the territory of the three powerful clans of Puzhou.

These guys seem to have been so scared by the Hanzhong army that they fled with their families. If the Hanzhong army retreats now, these guys will definitely run back and continue to bully others.

You're asking me what I think?
Can I take Shanxi territory from you?
You've been running that place for over a hundred years, what chance do we have of taking it?

He paused for a moment, then asked, "Does Your Excellency have a suitable candidate?"

Candidate?
Who should be chosen?
Oh, you mean the candidates to take over the prefectures and counties?

Han Kuang was taken aback upon hearing this.

The reason he asked Feng Quan was not to discuss with him the selection of someone to take over the prefecture or county.

Actually, he just couldn't quite believe it was true, and his first instinct was to ask someone.

Unexpectedly, Feng Quan misunderstood him.

However, this misunderstanding made him realize what was going on.

Whether it's true or not, we'll know once we send someone over to check.

He paused for a moment, then slowly nodded and said, "Yes, I do have some suitable candidates."

If you have a suitable candidate, then there's nothing more to say.

Shanxi is your stronghold. No one is competing with you for that place, and no one can compete with you. We're not that bored.

Upon hearing this, Feng Quan nodded repeatedly and said, "Very well, I will inform Yu Sheng."

This means you can just suggest whoever you have in mind; we won't compete with you for them.

Han Kuang was still wondering if the Hanzhong Army would really withdraw from all of Shanxi.

The Hanzhong army truly retreated, withdrawing from Taiyuan Prefecture, Fenzhou, Pingyang Prefecture, Qinzhou, Liaozhou, Lu'an Prefecture, and Zezhou, then Zhangde Prefecture, Weihui Prefecture, and Huaiqing Prefecture, and subsequently Henan Prefecture, Kaifeng Prefecture, Guide Prefecture, Ruzhou, and Runing Prefecture, without the slightest hesitation.

However, when they retreated to Nanyang Prefecture and Yunyang Prefecture, they seemed to have nowhere left to retreat to.

This was because they had too many people, and most of them had to stay here with their families, waiting for ships to go to America, while the American fleet wouldn't return until mid-August to pick them up.

However, after retreating for over a thousand miles, almost a month had passed. By the time they had all retreated to Nanyang Prefecture, it was already early August.

The timing seems perfect. Once they pick up their families and reach the banks of the Han River and even the Tang River, the American fleet should have returned by then.

The three major clans and eight imperial merchants of Puzhou have all returned to their old strongholds. Their headquarters, shops, workshops, and even fields are still there, but their goods and grain are gone.

This is nothing to them; as long as these things remain, they can continue to act arrogantly and domineeringly.

At this time, Yang He also began to urge Huang Daozhou and Hou Xun to submit their documents.

He asked Gao Yingxiang and Zhang Xianzhong whether they would surrender or not.
If they don't surrender, then we'll have to start a siege. The Beijing cavalry are already fully prepared!

The three powerful clans of Puzhou wanted to delay a bit longer and wait, since the Hanzhong army was still there and hadn't gone to the Americas yet.

As for how to delay, that's simple. The young emperor has already met all of Hanzhong King Zhang Yun's conditions, so Gao Yingxiang and Zhang Xianzhong can also make their own demands. Raise the prices a bit, make exorbitant demands, and after some back-and-forth negotiation, it's no problem to delay for more than half a month, or even a month.

Zhu Jue never expected that these guys would dare to be so shameless. He was really going to send the Beijing cavalry to teach Gao Yingxiang and Zhang Xianzhong a lesson.

Early that morning, around 7 a.m., he led Lu Xiang-sheng, Yuan You, Cui Ying-yuan, and others to the pasture area of ​​the Beijing cavalry.

South of Daningwei City, in the shallow waters of the upper reaches of the Laoha River, was the pastureland of the Beijing cavalry.

Now that they have enough grassland, it's natural for them to start breeding warhorses.

He hadn't yet had all 40,000 horses that Cui Yingyuan and Cao Bianjiao had seized used to pull carts. After all, the Beiping Regional Military Commission only needed another 30,000 horses to pull carts for building the defense line, and there was no need for him to waste the remaining 10,000.

He also specifically ordered the selection of 10,000 superior warhorses from a total of 80,000 horses to be kept in the Beijing garrison's horse farms. He further ordered the garrison in Liaodong, Jizhou, and Xuanfu to gather all the mares capable of producing foals, preparing to begin large-scale breeding of warhorses. At this time, the number of horses in the Beijing garrison's pastures exceeded 100,000, and the boundless grasslands were dotted with countless encircling tents.

Zhu Jue rode his horse at a leisurely pace, looking at the herds of horses, and couldn't help but say with satisfaction, "Jian Dou, the capital garrison will no longer lack warhorses, right?"

How do you say this?

Lu Xiang-sheng thought for a moment before cautiously saying, "Your Majesty, the breeding of horses is quite slow. It usually takes about a year from the time a mare becomes pregnant to the time she gives birth, and the foal takes three or four years to grow before it can be ridden. Adding the time for training, it takes at least five years for it to become a true warhorse."

This is really slow.

Upon hearing this, Zhu Jue pondered and asked, "Do you mean that the Beijing garrison's horse farm will only start producing warhorses gradually in five years? How many warhorses will it be able to produce in a year then?"

It’s hard to say.

Lu Xiang-sheng estimated: "Your Majesty, there are only about 60,000 mares in the Beijing garrison at present. And it is considered good if two mares can produce one foal a year. Therefore, in five years, the Beijing garrison will be able to produce about 30,000 adult horses every year."

These foals are not necessarily all males; mare will make up about half. Therefore, after five years, the Beijing Horse Farm will only be able to produce a little over 10,000 warhorses.

However, these mares can give birth at three or four years old, which will increase the number of breeding mares at the Beijing garrison horse farm, and consequently, the number of warhorses produced will certainly increase as well.

It takes five years to produce more than 10,000 warhorses?
That's too slow.

It seems the old saying is true: nothing is faster than robbery.

In the early stages, they still had to plunder, seizing all the horses from the Tatar and even the Oirat tribes, and then turning the entire Beiping Regional Military Command into the horse farms of the Beijing Garrison. Only in this way could the number of horses increase dramatically year by year.

As they were discussing their plans, a fast rider suddenly galloped in from the south.

Soon, Fang Zhenghua strode over with two memorials in his hands, bowed, and said, "Your Majesty, the Governor of Shanxi, Huang Daozhou, and the Governor-General of the Three Border Regions, Hou Xun, have sent an urgent report from eight hundred li away."

Why do these two people's memorials always arrive at the same time?
Although Huang Daozhou and Hou Xun both belonged to the Donglin Party, they were not on the same path.

Huang Daozhou was a radical; he liked to be straightforward in everything he did and was willing to speak frankly and directly to those in power.

Hou Xun, on the other hand, belonged to the moderate faction. He preferred to do things behind the scenes and never openly opposed the emperor.

It's impossible that the two of them agreed to present their memorials together.

This was probably intentional on the part of the three powerful clans of Puzhou. These guys probably wanted him to think that Donglin was a monolithic entity.

Hmph, just a trivial skill.

Zhu Jue snorted inwardly, then took the memorial and read it carefully.

Upon seeing this, he couldn't help but let out a cold snort.

Gao Yingxiang and Zhang Xianzhong actually dared to make exorbitant demands of him!
These two guys seem to have agreed to be recruited, but the conditions they've proposed are quite unreasonable.

Gao Yingxiang actually wanted to retain 200,000 troops and also wanted a prefecture as his fief.

Zhang Xianzhong also wanted to retain 100,000 troops and a prefecture as his fief.

This guy has less than 100,000 men under his command, yet he still wants to keep 100,000. This is going too far.

Why would Gao Yingxiang and Zhang Xianzhong make such outrageous demands?
Without a doubt, it was instigated by the three powerful clans of Puzhou.

These guys are just trying to stall for time.

You dare to play this trick on me?
Zhu Jue thought for a moment, then asked, "Jian Dou, where are the cavalry of the capital garrison now?"

Lu Xiang-sheng cautiously said, "Your Majesty, they are grazing their horses in the Quanningwei area. The grasslands here are limited. If all 30,000 warhorses are raised here, there won't be enough pasture for them."

Furthermore, the grazing of the Jingying cavalry in the Quanningwei area could also serve as a sentinel, preventing the Jurchen cavalry from invading from the Lamulun River and the Xiliao River line.

It's already August.

Zhu Jue then asked, "Shouldn't the fifteen garrison cities on the south bank of the Lamulun River and the Xiliao River be completed soon?"

Lu Xiang-sheng nodded repeatedly and said, "Yes, Your Majesty, the fifteen garrison cities will be completed in about ten days."

Ten days, right?

Zhu Jue nodded slowly, then decisively said, "Order your officers to select 100,000 elite infantrymen from among the more than one million infantrymen, and have them all rush to Da Ning Wei to assemble. They must all be assembled within ten days."

"We'll equip them with 50,000 muskets, and each ten-man squad will be given a box of grenades."

What is this for?
Upon hearing this, Lu Xiang-sheng was taken aback for a moment before nodding repeatedly and saying, "Your Majesty, I understand."

Zhu Jue nodded slightly, then solemnly said, "Ruoyu, draft an edict to have Huang Daozhou and Hou Xun issue an ultimatum to Gao Yingxiang and Zhang Xianzhong. Within half a month, Gao Yingxiang and Zhang Xianzhong must accept the amnesty. Otherwise, I will send a large army to annihilate them."

As for their conditions, they were absurd. Gao Yingxiang could only retain 100,000 troops and his fiefdom was limited to a county. Zhang Xianzhong could only retain 50,000 troops and his fiefdom was also limited to a county.

These are the conditions I have given them. If they do not agree, then they can expect to be annihilated.

Upon hearing this, Liu Ruoyu immediately ordered someone to bring over the drafting materials for the imperial edict, and then sat cross-legged on the grass and began to write furiously.

Seeing this, Lu Xiang-sheng couldn't help but ask, "Your Majesty, if I may be so bold, they have retained so many troops and fiefdoms. If they were to rise again, wouldn't it be just as troublesome for us to deal with them?"

I have already considered this.

Zhu Jue explained in detail: "They can keep their troops and ask for fiefdoms, but the location of these fiefdoms will be determined by me."

When the time comes, I will assign them to the Han River basin, Guanghua and Xinye on the opposite bank of Gucheng. On the surface, I am letting them govern along the river with the Hanzhong Army, but in reality, it is an encirclement.

You should know that Guanghua and Xinye are flat plains, and that place is bordered by Xiangyang to the east, Yunyang to the west, Nanyang to the north, and Gucheng to the south, with the Tang River blocking their way to the east.

Once they get there, they'll be trapped. We just need to station large forces in Xiangyang, Yunyang, and Nanyang, and they won't be able to escape.

Well, that place is nice, but the question is, how many troops would it take to surround 150,000 men?
Lu Xiang-sheng thought for a moment and then asked, "Your Majesty, Guanghua and Xinye have open terrain. If we want to surround Gao Yingxiang and Zhang Xianzhong's 150,000 rebels, how many troops will that require? And where will we get these troops from?"

The reason he asked this question was that, apart from the Beijing Garrison and the Liaodong Border Garrison, all the other border garrisons had spies within them. If they were to be transferred to suppress the rebels, they would certainly not be able to do so.

Zhu Jue patiently explained, "The terrain there is indeed open, but Guanghua and Xinye are located right in the angle between the Han River and the Tang River. The east, west and south sides are all wide waterways, so it's impossible to cross the river without building a pontoon bridge."

We only need to send a small fleet of fast ships to patrol the river day and night, and the rebels will have no way to cross the river and escape.

As for the north, Nanyang Prefecture, Dengzhou, Yunyang Prefecture, Junzhou, along with Zhenping, Neixiang, and Xichuan, form a semicircle. We only need to disperse the 100,000 elite infantrymen we selected to garrison these cities, and the rebels will definitely not be able to escape for a while.

In addition, Tongguan is also guarded by 10,000 elite Liaodong cavalry under Wu Xiang and Zu Dashou. If Gao Yingxiang and Zhang Xianzhong accept the amnesty, they will not need to guard Tongguan. We can transfer these 10,000 elite Liaodong cavalry to Nanyang Prefecture.

In this way, if Gao Yingxiang and Zhang Xianzhong dared to surrender and then rebel again, ten thousand elite Liaodong cavalry could rush over within a day. Their rabble was no match for ten thousand elite Liaodong cavalry.

That seems to make sense.

Lu Xiang-sheng may seem like he's relentlessly asking questions, but he's actually helping the current emperor identify and address any shortcomings.

This is similar to the "Questions and Answers between Emperor Taizong of Tang and Li Weigong" in the Seven Military Classics. Every time, he would ask about any loopholes he could think of, so as to avoid any loopholes in the current emperor's decision-making.

He thought about it carefully again before solemnly saying, "Your Majesty, there is one last question: will Gao Yingxiang and Zhang Xianzhong obediently go to Guanghua and Xinye?"

Would they dare not go?

Zhu Jue said with a stern face, "That's not up to them. If they dare not go, then we will mobilize the Beijing cavalry and 100,000 elite infantry to encircle and annihilate them."

Besides, the Hanzhong army had already withdrawn from all the occupied territories and obediently gone to Gucheng. In the end, only Guanghua and Xinye were left unaccepted because their disbanded troops and families were going to the Americas by ship. There was nowhere else to settle Gao Yingxiang and Zhang Xianzhong.

Don't worry, the reason they're dragging their feet is that the three powerful clans of Puzhou are waiting for most of the Hanzhong army to migrate to the Americas. Once the Hanzhong army has all migrated, the three powerful clans of Puzhou will be at ease.

"If they don't accept the offer of amnesty, the three powerful clans of Puzhou will not agree. They still want to keep them around to continue cooperating with the Jurchens, and they certainly don't want to be wiped out by us."

(End of this chapter)