Luyang Pass is the most important pass guarding the Lushan Mountains. It serves as the transportation hub between Luoyang and the Nanyang Basin and has been a battleground for military strategists since ancient times.
"I heard that crows led Liu Xiu here three times, so the people called this the Three Crows Road?"
"There is indeed such a legend."
Zhu Yihai stood at Luyang Pass and felt the historical charm of this world-famous pass. It was once an important pass of the Chu Great Wall. The 1,600-mile Chu Great Wall started from Yunyang Zhushan in the west, to Lushan, Nanzhao and other counties in the east.
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Li Bai once wrote poems, Hu Feng followed the horse, and the snow embraced Luyang Pass.
Luyang Pass is a dangerous place, with two mountains standing on the wall, flowing water in the middle, mountains interspersed with mountains, and beautiful trees and clouds.
Now this dangerous place is occupied by the Ming army, and the emperor has just arrived here from Luoyang.
"Your Majesty, Xu Qiyuan is here."
Zhu Yihai couldn't help but sigh when he heard the name, "Please come to Mr. Wen and the Ministry of High Engineering,"
He also called Grand Scholar Zhu Dadian and co-organizer Du Yinxi. These two people are from Huguang, and they can be considered as working together with Xu Qiyuan.
Xu Qiyuan was from Hefei and was born in Juren. During the Chongzhen period, he served as the magistrate of Yunyang. At that time, Yunyang in Huguang was in chaos. Wang Yongzuo, Zuo Liangyu and others were defeated one after another. However, Xu Qiyuan stood firm in Yunyang and fought many fierce battles with Zhang Xianzhong, Li Zicheng and other thieves.
Together with Gao Douxun, he surrendered Wang Guangen and gathered many defeated soldiers.
At the most critical moment, all thirteen prefectures in Hunan and Hubei fell, and only Yunyang held on.
Yunyang survived because Xu Qiyuan was able to defend it and Wang Guangen was good at fighting.
But now, Wang Guangen asked his generals to chop off his head and surrender, and Xu Qiyuan even held up his head to plead guilty.
Wen Anzhi, Zhu Dadian, Du Yinxi, Gao Douxun, He Tengjiao and Wang Yongzuo all came.
"How does Your Majesty plan to deal with the people in Yunyang?"
Wang Yongzuo asked first. He once served as the governor of Yunyang, and Xu Qiyuan was also considered one of his old subordinates. When Wang Yongzuo moved to Xiangyang, Zuo Liangyu abandoned the city and fled. Xiangyang fell, the vassal king was killed, and Wang Yongzuo also dismissed Yangyang.
He was imprisoned and almost killed. Later he was dismissed from his post and returned to his hometown in Kunshan. Together with Gu Yanwu and others, he raised the flag and raised an army to respond to the supervision of the Lu State. However, he also had the merit of following the dragon. Now he has a good official career, and he has been admonishing the officials to the left.
He had a good impression of Xu Qiyuan, he was quite capable.
Both Gao Doushu and Gao Doushu made great contributions to the defense of Yunyang, but now they are in such a situation, which can't help but make people sigh.
"Your Majesty, I believe that Xu Qiyuan was also coerced by Wang Guangen. When investigating the crime, the truth should also be considered."
Among everyone present, Gao Doushu is an old comrade who has worked side by side with Xu Qiyuan for several years. Gao Douxun actually made great achievements when he was guarding Yun. Now he can't bear to see his old friend end up like this.
"Mr. Wen?" Zhu Yihai asked the first assistant.
Wen Anzhi sighed, "I was ordered to go to Yunyang earlier. Although I didn't get along with Xu Qiyuan for a long time, he was indeed a rare official. He stayed in Yunyang with Gao Gong for several years, and his performance was remarkable. Later, he lost his integrity.
It is true that I was coerced by Wang Guangen, but I think it was not all coercion.
After he surrendered to the captives, he was first granted the title of Right Vice-Captain Censor, and was retained as the Governor of Yunyang. Later, he was granted the title of Youdu Censor, the Crown Prince Taibao, the Minister of War, and the title of Marquis of Nanyang. If he was merely a coercion,
It is impossible for the Tatars to give him one liter after another.
Moreover, after he was surrendered, he never contacted the court, not even a word.
He has a big problem. When Wang Guangen and others rebelled, he cannot shirk responsibility, and he was even one of the masterminds. Now that he has surrendered in a desperate situation, he must not be easily forgiven. He is different from ordinary civil servants and generals who have surrendered."
Xu Qiyuan was the governor of Yunyang appointed by Zhu Yihai. He did not surrender when the city was under siege and food supplies were exhausted, nor was he captured. He actively rebelled.
"It must be severely punished, preferably by execution, to set an example, otherwise where is the national law and where is the majesty of the court?"
"Even if Wang Guangen committed suicide, the officers in Yunyang who participated in the rebellion, such as Li Maochun, Hu Tingcheng, Yang Mingqi, Yu Qifan and other battalion officers and above, should all be beheaded to make it clear to the world.
Ding, an officer's family, can escape death, but he must be sent to Taiwan, Yunnan, Hainan and other places to open up wasteland. The rest of the soldiers are best not to resettle on the spot, but should all move to Taiwan, Guangxi and other places to settle down and clear up wasteland to guard the border."
Wen An's attitude is very clear and must be treated differently.
The rebellion of Wang Guangen, Xu Guangqi and others in Yunyang was a rebellion within the Shaotian Dynasty. It was different from the rebellions of Li Chengdong, Tu Guobao and even Wu Sangui. Those who rebelled during the Chongzhen Dynasty or later did not rebel from the Shaotian Dynasty. And Yun Yang
Yang's group had already worshiped Emperor Shaotian and even became a town, but later rebelled.
It is even different from the rebellion in the Zhongwu towns in Huguang. Those who fled after the defeat, some took the opportunity to plunder places, and some defected to the Qing army.
The imperial court showed no mercy towards them.
But these people in Yunyang are worse than Zhongwu and others.
Must be severely punished.
Otherwise, where is the majesty of the imperial court?
In the future, wouldn't these local military leaders be able to do as they please, and be more able to attack Qin Muchu at will?
The six ministers present here all came from Yunyang, Huguang, and had an old relationship with Xu Qiyuan. But after Wen An's words, everyone could no longer plead for him.
Zhu Yihai glanced at the several ministers and said, "What the chief minister said makes sense. When a country moves from troubled times to a peaceful world, systems and laws are indispensable."
"Call Xu Qiyuan in."
Xu Qiyuan was very frightened when he came to the audience dressed in white robe.
Zhu Yihai was not polite to him at all. In fact, this was the first time the two met. When Zhu Yihai started his army in eastern Zhejiang, he conferred titles on a number of officials in Huguang and also on Xu Qiyuan, the high-ranking minister in Yunyang. After that, Xu Qiyuan stayed in Yunyang until
now.
The monarch and his subjects met for the first time.
Xu Qiyuan was surprised by the emperor's youth and majesty, which was more majestic than the portrait on Shaotian's gold and silver coins.
"Guilty minister..." Xu Qiyuan was just about to kneel down, but Zhu Yihai snorted unceremoniously, "I grant you the title of governor of Yunyang, but you must be a minister of the Ming Dynasty, and you must be the governor of the Tatars.
Wang Guangen surrendered to the captives, and there was still a prince. If you surrendered to the captives, it would only be a replacement to keep him in office. Is it worth it?"
"The sinner is temporarily confused!"
"Hu Tu? What a good Hu Tu. That sounds easy, but can you respect your own conscience?"
"Needless to say, I can't spare you. I treated Yunyang's troops well back then. Those thousands of remnant soldiers and a ruined city. I will give you officers and titles, Wang Guang'en will make you a marquis, and I will grant you the title of admiral. I promise you
As a town of its own, you were appointed governor and promoted to higher ranks. But you only think of treating Yunyang as your own private territory, and you even surrendered the captives in order to resist reorganization. This has completely crossed my bottom line!"
"Come here, bring Xu Qiyuan and others to justice in front of the army and behead them to death."
"Everyone's family was confiscated and they were exiled to Yunnan and Guizhou!"
Xu Qiyuan still harbored the slightest bit of luck, thinking that the emperor was always kind and would accept even Hong Chengchou, Qian Qianyi and others, Wu Sangui was willing to surrender, and even Shunying Xiying was recruited, and even the sons of Zhang Xianzhong and Zheng Zhilong were accepted as righteous.
He was also an important minister of the imperial court, and at most he was dismissed.
Unexpectedly, he would receive such a severe punishment. He was so frightened that he fell to the ground.
"Drag it down!"
Xu Qiyuan was a civil servant who knew how to fight and defend. He was considered very capable among the officials in the late Ming Dynasty. However, at this time, he still went to surrender the captives. Zhu Yihai could only say that this man was indeed a fool.
We must set an example and must be dealt with strictly.
If he is not a model, he can be sent to Yunnan to expand borders, but now he must be killed.
Killing Xu Qiyuan and completely eradicating Yunyang Town would also be a good opportunity to scare several other towns, especially Jiangxi's Jin Shenghuan, King Deren, Zhang An, etc. The next step is to take away their military power.
From the inside out, step by step.
If the imperial court could not get rid of these warlords, even if the Tatars were driven away, there would be no hope of resurgence. It was precisely for this reason that Zhu Yihai was not in a hurry to attack Beijing directly.
He attaches great importance to the improvement of the imperial camp, and even more to the true control of the recovered land.
Even if the rear is unstable, the front can be stable.
Li Zicheng's initial rise and fall was in a hurry. The key point is that he did not establish a truly stable rule. Although he won military victories and occupied many places, they were only superficial. A large number of generals who surrendered on the lookout were not loyal.
Few of the powerful gentry who surrendered were sincere.
So once he loses, he will never get up again.
"Let Zhu Pengfei take a step back, don't be so impatient, don't cross Gucheng yet, don't scare Nikan, Basha and the others," Zhu Yihai looked at the good news in the newspaper, "Zhu Pengfei's Shaanxi-Gansu camp and Xing'an Prefecture
The Xing'an Tun towns of He Zhen, Sun Shoufa, Yao Ke and others were merged and reorganized into the 19th Town of the Imperial Camp. Zhu Dingguo's troops from that town, together with the troops of Gao Bizheng, He Yaoqi, Liu Tichun and others, were reorganized into the Imperial Camp.
Town Twenty.”
"Each town has 15,000 auxiliary soldiers. Nineteen towns will be stationed in Shaanxi from now on, and twenty towns will be stationed in Hubei. After the reorganization is completed, some of the remaining soldiers will be garrison troops, the rest will be post soldiers, and the remaining soldiers will be retired to serve the people and be resettled locally.
."
"The main elite forces of Zhu Shengli and Li Chixin were reorganized into the ninth town of the imperial camp and will be stationed in Hunan from now on. Zhang Shipeng's Sichuan Guixing camp and other troops and horses in central Sichuan were reorganized into the tenth town and stationed in Sichuan.
Yuan Zong's troops, as well as the troops and horses of the imperial camp, were reorganized into the 11th town and stationed in Guizhou."
"In the eighth town of Liu Mu, the soldiers are stationed in Jiangxi. In the seventh town of Zheng Zunqian, the soldiers are stationed in Jiangbei."
"Zhu Zhongyi's 18th Town was stationed in Henan."
Zhu Yihai made arrangements to gradually complete the reorganization of Jiangxi, Jiangbei, Henan, Shandong, Hubei, Hunan, and Yunnan, Guizhou, Sichuan, Shaanxi, and Gansu. Basically, a new imperial camp town would be set up in each province, and another garrison town would be set up in border and poor provinces, as well as several regiment training.
Basically, it is necessary to use the imperial camp as the main force to reorganize and merge the outer towns, villages, towns, etc. that still exist in various places, and further clean up those local armed forces, especially the kind of local and copycat armed forces.
Zhu Yihai is more concerned about this than going straight to Beijing.
Without wiping out these various local armed forces first, it will be difficult to truly gain control of the local area, and it will be difficult to rectify officialdom, clear fields, register household registration, reduce rents and interest rates, etc.
If these places are not completely controlled, they will become black holes, both financially and in terms of governance, with endless consequences.
