The emperor was discovered by the ministers on the second day after he left Beijing, and it was too late to pursue him.
Qingliu, headed by Yang Tinghe and Liang Chu, immediately wrote a memorial to advise the emperor, asking the emperor to put state affairs first and return to the capital as soon as possible to take charge.
But Jin Gui, Yang Yiqing, Lu Wan, Wang Qiong, Li Xunxue and other ministers, while issuing the memorial, actually made an appointment to invite Wang Yuan to the frontier. They felt that Wang Yuan knew the soldiers and was deeply favored, so they might be able to persuade the emperor to come back.
, it can ensure the emperor's safety even if he doesn't come back.
"I have taken leave to go back to Guizhou to get married and will leave tomorrow," Wang Yuan said.
Yang Yiqing said angrily: "Wang Shilang, which one is more important, His Majesty, or your marriage?"
Wang Yuan replied with a smile: "Your Majesty must be safe. How could the three guards of Duoyan provoke the Ming Dynasty at such a critical moment? Jiang Bin is not a fool. It is precisely because he saw this that he dared to encourage your Majesty to go to Xifengkou."
"Don't be afraid of ten thousand, just be afraid of what happens." Lu Wan interjected.
Lu Wan, the Minister of Civil Affairs, had completely broken with Qingliu and even offended many civil servants who were not from Yang Tinghe's faction. Once something happened to the emperor, Lu Wan was really going to die, and Yang Tinghe could kill him with any accusation.
Therefore, Lu Wan was absolutely loyal to the emperor, even though he once helped King Ning restore the guards - requesting the restoration of King Ning's guards was a memorial written by Lu Wan, and Yang Tinghe drafted and issued the imperial edict based on this memorial.
Historically, Yang Tinghe poured all the dirty water on Lu Wan, thereby extricating himself from the rebellion case. Lu Wan was exiled to Fujian by Yang Tinghe, and died in depression in Jinghaiwei, Fujian. Even his ninety-year-old mother was not spared.
, he was immediately put to death in prison.
After Lu Wan finished speaking, Wang Qiong also said: "Please put state affairs first, Minister Wang, and don't refuse!"
Wang Qiong, as the Minister of War, has been busy in the past few months, busy quelling the rebellion in the capital, and has wiped out several groups of mountain bandits and horse thieves.
Jin Gui suddenly stood up and bowed squarely to Wang Yuan: "Wang Shilang, please go to Xifengkou!"
Li Xunxue also stood up and bowed: "Please, Minister Wang!"
Everyone bowed and made requests. Those present either belonged to the imperial party or had a bad relationship with Qingliu. They were most afraid of something happening to the emperor. Even Yang Yiqing and Lu Wan, who were deeply conflicted, temporarily put aside their fight and united to resist Yang Tinghe.
.
There are two cabinet ministers in front of them, one is the Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, the other is the Minister of the Ministry of War, and the other is the Minister of the Ministry of Etiquette. In terms of strength, they can eclipse the chief minister Yang Tinghe, but they are only slightly united now, and they will definitely attack each other when the emperor comes back.
Moreover, Yang Tinghe controlled the Sixth Section and was using the Sixth Section to suppress the Sixth Department.
A bunch of important ministers collectively bowed to him, how could Wang Yuan refuse? He could only postpone his return to his hometown, and rode straight to Xifengkou on the same day, calling Yuan Da who was studying martial arts with him.
It was only seven or eight hundred miles from Beijing to Xifengkou, and Wang Yuan could reach it in a few days on a fast horse.
Zhu Houzhao had about two thousand light cavalry with him, all of whom were Jizhen cavalry. He left in a hurry this time, not even taking Baofang's heavy cavalry with him, and not a single soldier from the Beijing camp.
Zhu Houzhao had just returned from hunting in the grassland. Today he not only hunted rabbits, but also a sika deer. He was in a good mood and asked with a smile: "Why are Erlang here? Aren't you going back to Guizhou to get married?"
Wang Yuan sighed and said: "Well, all the ministers in the dynasty asked me to protect you. I naturally know that your majesty is not in danger, but the face of the ministers can't be wiped out."
Zhu Houzhao complained: "These big turbans are so troublesome!"
Wang Yuan asked: "Have the three guards of Duoyan sent protons?"
Zhu Houzhao said with a smile: "In the past few days, I was hunting outside the pass (outside Xifengkou), and some Mongolians were peeping from a distance. They were probably sent by the three guards of Duoyan to find out the news. I also flew the yellow dragon flag to deliberately scare them."
I have to say, this emperor is so courageous!
The full name of Xifengkou is "Xifengkou Pass", which is one of the important border passes of the Ming Dynasty. The emperor drove the border pass and frightened the officials. He even dared to fly the Yellow Dragon flag and go out to hunt on the grassland.
Zhu Houzhao brought Wang Yuan to his tent, called Jiang Bin and Xu Tai, pointed to a map and said: "I personally went out to check, and asked many soldiers, and I have new ideas in my mind. I want to regain Daning."
City, we must first recover the Kuanhe River. If the Kuanhe River is restored, then Kaiping can be recovered. The ultimate goal is to recover Quanning!"
Daning is the later Ningcheng of Inner Mongolia; Kuanhe is in the southeast of Chengde, which is the later Kuancheng; Kaiping is the upper capital of Duolun County in Xilingrad; Quaning is the Wengniute Banner of the later Inner Mongolia.
These four cities were all owned by the Ming Dynasty during Zhu Yuanzhang's time, and guard posts and post stations were set up and garrisoned by Han troops.
Zhu Di wanted to fight Zhu Yunwen, but suffered from insufficient troops, so he went to these places to "recruit troops."
These Han troops, whose hometowns were all in the south, were homesick and followed Zhu Di south to fight. Especially the city of Daning was evacuated by Zhu Di. Except for the direct guard of the first Ning King, all the rest of the Han troops were gone.
As a result, the three guards of Duoyan continued to move south.
First, they illegally occupied Quanning City, then Daning City, and then Kuanhe City. Finally, because of the difficulty in transporting grain and grass, the Ming Dynasty forced the Ming Dynasty to abandon Kaiping Guards and abandon Kaiping City to Duoyan Sanwei.
Officials of the Ming Dynasty said that by awarding the Daning Guards to the Duoyan Guards, they were just helping Zhu Di to cover up.
These cities all belong to the Ming Dynasty and have been illegally occupied by the three guards of Duoyan to this day!
However, for the Duoyan Three Guards, every gain must come with a loss. After they occupied many cities, their headquarters directly changed from nomadic herding to stationary herding. If one day Wang Yuan leads his army to go on an expedition, he is not afraid that he will not find the enemy on the grassland, because
The city cannot be packed up and taken away, you can just lead your troops to attack the city.
Wang Yuan reminded: "Your Majesty, if you want to go to war, you have to wait at least three years. The people of Hebei are suffering from food requisition and corvee labor. They have broken countless families and become thieves. If there is another war, there may be another Liu Liu Liu Qi.
only."
"Food, food!" Zhu Houzhao had a headache.
This time the homes in the capital were confiscated, and all those who were favored were confiscated. The harvest was huge. More than three million taels of silver were obtained directly, as well as countless properties, shops and fields. But there was not enough food, because those things grew from the ground.
You can't let soldiers eat water and boil money to fight.
Wang Yuan suddenly said: "Your Majesty, please step aside."
Zhu Houzhao waved his hand to the eunuchs and generals beside him and said, "Please step aside first."
Zhang Yong did not come with him this time and stayed in the capital to be in charge of the Supervisor of Ceremonies.
Jiang Bin, Xu Tai and others retreated and glanced at Wang Yuan before leaving. Their eyes were full of envy, jealousy and hatred.
Wang Yuan said: "If you want to get food, you must reform. If your Majesty is impatient for reform, there is a quick way to ensure that countless grains can be increased in a short period of time."
"What's the quick fix?" Zhu Houzhao said happily.
Wang Yuan said: "The most serious land annexation in the Ming Dynasty was in the three provinces of Nanzhili, Zhejiang and Jiangxi. This time King Ning rebelled, countless gentry in Jiangxi must be involved, so why not take the opportunity to take back the land and give it to the refugees and landless people to cultivate
?The gentry can be exempted from taxes and evade taxes, but the peasants cannot. Wouldn't this mean countless more grains?"
Zhu Houzhao hesitated and said: "There are too many civil servants in Jiangxi, so I'm afraid it won't end well."
Wang Yuan smiled and said: "Sooner or later, we have to clean up the fields, otherwise there will be more bandits in Jiangxi. In this case, why not seize the opportunity of Prince Ning's rebellion? Once involved in the serious crime of rebellion, you will either let it be slaughtered. Or you will destroy Jiangxi."
The gentry were slaughtered until rivers of blood flowed, and who dared to say no?"
Zhu Houzhao thought carefully and suddenly gritted his teeth and said: "Then kill him!"