Chapter 158, Huang Taiji’s failure to come
South Zhili, Jiangbei, Yangzhou Prefecture
This land was originally Hancheng of the Wu State, and Guangling County was established in the Eastern Jin Dynasty. It was renamed Yangzhou in the Tang Dynasty. It borders the Yangtze River to the south and the Central Plains to the north. As early as the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, it was already an important transportation hub. The oldest section of the Grand Canal is located here. It was built by King Wu Fucha and was called Hangou at that time.
After the opening of the North-South Grand Canal in the Sui Dynasty, Yangzhou became a large port integrating the river and the sea. With its unique advantages, Yangzhou became the center of shipping and commerce in the world. As China's economic center slowly moved southward after the mid-Tang Dynasty, the population increase and economic development in the Jiangnan region made Yangzhou's commercial status more stable. It connects Bashu, the two lakes, Jiangxi, Jiangsu and Zhejiang through the Yangtze River Basin, and connects to the north through the Grand Canal. , connecting Fu through coastal Jian, Guangdong, and overseas trade with Japan, Dashi, Persia, and India, it became the most prosperous commercial city in China during the Tang Dynasty. The poem said: "Ten miles long street, hundreds of thousands of homes, night markets with thousands of lights, tall buildings with red sleeves." "Even the famous Japanese envoys to the Tang Dynasty often landed in Yangzhou.
In the Ming Dynasty, the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal was connected throughout, and there was no longer any land transfer. Because Yangzhou was located in a prime location of the Grand Canal, where the north and the south met, it became extremely prosperous, with a population of as many as 800,000. There are not only the extremely wealthy and extravagant salt merchants, the Yangzhou thin horse that is coveted by lustful people all over the world, but also the famous Twenty-Four Bridges of Wind and Moon, where literati and poets from all walks of life hang out, leaving behind countless poems that have been recited for thousands of years.
Although after more than half a year of tug-of-war between the Wenxiang cultists and the Ming Dynasty officials, the charm of this famous Huaizuo capital has been greatly destroyed by the war. But in the eyes of the Manchu Tatars from Baishan and Heishui, Liaodong, they are still prosperous and rich that make them admire and covet - even though these Manchu uncles are no longer country bumpkin in the past in remote and remote areas, but in this year's expedition to the Central Plains , I have seen a lot of markets.
"...As the ancients said, you can take a hundred thousand guan with you and ride a crane down to Yangzhou! This land of Huaiyang is indeed prosperous and rich, and can support an army of one hundred thousand!"
Huang Taiji enthusiastically held the riding whip in his hand and rode his horse slowly on the streets of Yangzhou Fucheng. While admiring the rows of buildings around him, he said, "...in-law! You see, although my Qing Dynasty has a slight setback, But after all With the blessing of our ancestors, this prosperous territory thousands of miles away, and these many Eight Banners warriors who are good at conquering and fighting, it can be said that the foundation for world supremacy is still there. As long as the time comes, there is no need to worry about it not being able to flourish again. "
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Kong Yinzhi, who was walking beside Huang Taiji to "accompany him", heard this and had to squeeze out a smile that was uglier than crying. He nodded and said in agreement, "...the emperor is right, the emperor is the heaven." The stars are coming down to earth, and those who shoulder the great destiny of the world will surely be able to find peace and prosperity in the near future..."
"...Yes! Now I have brought your Confucius family under my Zhenghuang banner. Not only did I give you the surname Aixinjueluo, but I also allowed the Confucius family to intermarry with me and the Eight Banners of Manchuria. From now on, we will be prosperous with our Qing Dynasty. So this Qing Dynasty The descendants of these saints also have a share in the country and the country!”
Huang Taiji, who had just adopted the eldest daughter of the Kong family as his concubine, said with a smile, "...I will ask Mr. Guo Zhang to help me more in the future!"
Hearing these words, Yan Shenggong Kong Yinzhi couldn't help but stretched out his hand to touch the money rat tail braid on the back of his head. Although he kept thanking him, his heart felt even more painful - he was beaten by the Qing Emperor Huang Taiji. After raising the flag and giving surnames, all the descendants of the saint in their family have been forced to change their surname to Aisin Gioro, and God knows if they are still Han Chinese! Will the scholars in the world still recognize the honorable status of the descendants of their family of saints in the future?
If one is unlucky, he might be robbed of the signboard of Yanshengong Mansion by those damn gangs in the south...
(When the Northern Song Dynasty fell, some of the descendants of the Confucius family stayed in their hometown and joined the Jin Dynasty, but some people followed the Song family and moved to the south of the Yangtze River and established another family. After the establishment of the Ming Empire, the two Confucian families, one in the south and one in the north, still A long-standing lawsuit was fought over "who is the authentic descendant of the saint")
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Speaking of which, if he had a choice, Yanshenggong Kong Yinzhi would definitely be unwilling to be carried into the Manchurian Yellow Banner.
The problem is that in front of the swords and bows of the Manchu Eight Banners soldiers, he has no right to choose at all.
——Previously, when Fan Wencheng followed the etiquette and came to Qufu Yan Shenggong's Mansion to inform that the Qing Emperor was coming to "visit" the Confucius Mansion, the Confucius family even held a closed-door meeting specifically for this purpose. Although not long ago when Huang Taiji proclaimed himself emperor in Xuzhou, Kong Yinzhi not only took the initiative to persuade the emperor to enter the country, but also paid tribute to money, silk, satin and other property. He also wrote several extremely disgusting articles and tried his best to flatter the Qing court. Do whatever flattery you can.
But the problem is, there is an old saying that this is the time and the other is the time. At that time in July, the Qing Empire was indeed invincible in sweeping the Central Plains, with the momentum of sweeping the world and annexing Liuhe. But three months later, the Qing Empire, which not only lost its hometown in Liaodong, but was driven out of Beijing by Guan Ning's army, has become a withered skeleton in the grave in the eyes of everyone in the Kong family, with only the ability to survive. .
However, although the Qing court, which is now like a bereaved dog, is obviously no longer as good as a phoenix, and can't even hop around for a few days, at least a skinny camel is bigger than a horse, at least those tens of thousands of fierce and bloodthirsty people The Tatar cavalry must be unstoppable by the rich and idle people in the Confucius family.
Therefore, the Confucius family discussed it for a while, and finally decided to entertain the barbarian emperor politely and send a lot of flattery. If that didn't work, they would give some money and food to reward the soldiers and horses. In short, it was just a show off. Just try your best to send these Manchu uncles away safely.
Regrettably, these descendants of Confucius seriously overestimated the reverence of the Manchu Tatars for the sage Confucius and did not flee with their families as soon as possible. As a result, they all The son was in danger of extinction: Huang Taiji had just entered Qufu with his army, and ordered to surround the Confucius Mansion and not allow the saint's descendants to escape. Then he pretended to summon Yan Shenggong Kong Yinzhi, saying that he would carry a flag and give him a surname.
Kong Yinzhi initially resisted, but after learning that if he refused to carry the Zhenghuang Banner, the Qing Emperor would have to chop off his head and replace him with a more obedient person as Duke Yansheng of the Qing Dynasty. This guy shrunk in shame and became a Zhenghuang Banner man, changing his surname to Aixinjueluo.
Next, Huang Taiji ordered all the people in Qufu to shave their heads and change clothes. Under the threat of knives, the young and old of Yan Shenggong's mansion had to take the lead in responding positively and held a very grand shaving ceremony in public. In return, Huang Taiji not only continued to confer Kong Yinzhi as Duke Yansheng of the Qing Dynasty, but also gave him the empty official title of Minister of Rites. It's just that they had their heads shaved and received the title. Since the Kong family has also become Zhenghuang Banner people, then their whole family is naturally Huang Taiji's slaves, and the slave's things are the master's things, and the master's things are still the master's things...
Ahem, I'm off topic. In short, according to the above logic, the land and property of the Confucius family have all become the imperial estate of the Eight Banners, and the tenant farmers of the Confucius family have all become the slaves of the Eight Banners. From now on, the gold and silver treasures of the Confucius family also belong to Huang Taiji, the Yellow Banner. host. As for the magnificent Yanshenggong Mansion, Huang Taiji ordered it to be converted into a palace of the Qing Dynasty to accommodate some of the Eight Banners family members returning from Beijing.
But the problem is, if this happens, since the Kong family's property has changed owners, where should the Kong family themselves move?
Regarding this issue, Huang Taiji waved his hand generously: The young female relatives of the Confucius family can sleep in the same bed as the master of the Eight Banners!
As a result, from Huang Taiji on down, many Eight Banners nobles practiced the national integration of "Manchu and Han as one family" in Qufu. Those few noble ladies of the Kong family were all divided up by the wolf-like and tiger-like Eight Banners dignitaries. If they were lucky, they could become concubines or concubines, but if they were unlucky, they would only be given the title of concubine. What's worse is that even Yan Shenggong Kong Yinzhi and his son's favorite beautiful concubines, and even the two granddaughter-in-laws who were married by the Ming matchmaker, were unreasonably snatched away by some Beile masters. From then on, they only had To be able to moan in joy under the crotch of these Eight Banner nobles...
As for the men in the Kong family, there is no need to worry about having nothing to do. As a Zhenghuang Banner, he is born to be the emperor's slave. When the female members of the Kong family were attending to the Manchu uncle's bed, men were naturally responsible for tasks such as chopping wood, fetching water, feeding horses, and cleaning the house. It doesn't matter even if you don't know how to work. The Eight Banners of the Qing Dynasty never raised lazy people. They would kill them all and feed them to dogs. So, in the face of the threat of death, these young and old men who originally needed to be taken care of quickly learned the lesson. Various tasks of serving people: Those who have not learned how to serve others are said to be buried in mass graves.
Of course, as the head of the Confucius Mansion in Shandong, Yanshenggong Kong Yinzhi and his sons did not have to perform such lowly duties. Instead, they enjoyed the privilege of accompanying the imperial chariot and received daily advice and instruction from His Majesty the Qing Emperor. Their various advantages of being Zhenghuangqi's slaves...
Compared with Yan Shenggong and his family who were crying without tears, the Qing Emperor Huang Taiji was now very proud. The harvest from the inspection of the Confucius Mansion was far richer than expected. Five hundred thousand taels of food alone were confiscated. As for gold, silver, jewelry, silk and satin, spices, cloth, etc., they were worth more than three million taels in cash equivalent. . The soldiers of the Eight Banners made a huge fortune, and they were all happy from ear to ear. Although according to the moral standards of this era, such actions of plundering Confucius's house can be called crazy. It can be said that he is an enemy of the world's scholars and extirpates himself from the scholars in the Central Plains. But Huang Taiji was also very helpless: after losing his homeland and suffering repeated disastrous defeats, his ability to restrain the Eight Banners of Manchuria had rapidly declined to a very dangerous level. If we can't find a fat sheep to slaughter as soon as possible to satisfy the appetite of the Eight Banners soldiers, the Qing Empire may really fall apart!
Nowadays, the Northland has suffered from repeated wars and is extremely dilapidated. Apart from the aloof Confucius Mansion, where are there other fat sheep to slaughter?
Fortunately, under the clever propaganda of Fan Wencheng and other civil servants, Huang Taiji's "marriage" to the Confucius Mansion in Shandong was actually a bandit move to confiscate the house, but it was actually packaged as a sign of admiration for enlightenment and courtesy to Confucians - —Otherwise, why would the Qing emperor marry Miss Kong as his concubine? But even Huang Taiji himself knew very well that this matter could not be suppressed after all, and he himself had no idea how long he could deceive the world.
In addition, there was another thing that made Huang Taiji slightly unhappy. That was the previously captured leader of the Wenxiang Cult, Wang Ke, who somehow managed to escape while Huang Taiji was leading his troops to raid the Kong Mansion. He even took away the fox tail that was a sacred object of the Smell-Incense Cult!
However, when the furious Huang Taiji quickly sent people to trace the escape traces of the Wang Ke leader, and finally discovered that he did not return to Lianghuai in the south to prepare for another uprising, but fled all the way to his hometown in the north, he became much lazier. Mind your own business. Anyway, the current territory of the Qing Empire is no more than Yanzhou Prefecture in the north. As long as you don't continue to oppose the Qing Dynasty in the Huaihe River area, then you can make as much trouble as you like in the north! If the Wenxiang Cult demons can create more trouble in the north for Wu Xiang and Zu Dashou, the two bastards who have tricked him, Huang Taiji might even applaud him!
In addition, a happy event happened recently that made Huang Taiji's heart beat, and this was also the purpose of his personal tour of Yangzhou in the south.
——Because this may very well mean that the Qing Empire’s fortunes will turn around! Of course, this also means that Huang Taiji will succeed in peace and prosperity!
Just as Huang Taiji was swaggering through the city with cheers and crowds, and slowly arrived near the Yangzhou Pier, Abatai, the Yangzhou guard of the Qing Dynasty, finally ran over panting and brought the good news that Huang Taiji had been waiting for. "...Your Majesty! Your Majesty! Jiangnan really sent a ship over!"
After taking a few breaths, Abatai smacked his lips again and muttered, "...it's a shame that those Southern Dynasty officials are so stingy. They begged us to help Nanjing rescue the siege, but there was no reward of one tael of silver on the ship. They just gave it away casually. Bring some meat and wine to settle the matter, it’s like sending a beggar away..."
"... Why bother worrying too much about trivial matters? As long as these smart fools are willing to send a ship to the north of the Yangtze River to transport my Manchurian cavalry across the river, that's enough!" Huang Taiji sneered, "... If the scholars of the Southern Dynasties don't pay them food, , my Eight Banners men, won’t you go get it yourself?”
——On October 17, the sixth year of Chongzhen, after the disastrous defeat in the Wuhu Battle and the loss of the main force of the Eastern Army, and facing the crisis of approaching the city, Zhou Yanru, the chief minister of the Yonghe court in Nanjing, finally made up his mind to "borrow help from the Eight Banners of the Qing Dynasty in Jiangbei" "Suppress". On the 20th, under the transport of the Nanjing Imperial Yangtze River Navy, the Qing Emperor Huang Taiji personally led eight thousand cavalry, crossed the Yangtze River south from Yangzhou, and landed in Zhenjiang, announcing that he would rescue Nanjing.
At the same time, after learning that the Western Army was victorious in Wuhu, Emperor Chongzhen hurried to the front line, preparing to personally supervise the invasion of Nanjing. Another battle to determine the fate of the world is about to begin under the walls of Nanjing...