Chapter 178: China is rich in emperors this year (4)
In June of the seventh year of Chongzhen, Huguang Province, Xiangyang Prefecture
In the Yin'an Hall of Prince Xiang's Mansion of the Ming Dynasty, where the plaque "Chuang Wang Mansion" was hung not long ago, the new "Chuang King" Li Zicheng, who has not yet turned into a one-eyed dragon, is wearing a newly made golden crown and sitting majestically on the dragon. On the chair, he narrowed his eyes and looked around at the generals in the palace.
In the center of the Yin'an Hall, an old scholar wearing a Confucian shirt and a scarf was kneeling. He was holding a book in his hand and tremblingly reciting an obscure article: "... Chen Wen Tiansheng The people are prosperous, and the king is a tree. Therefore, when facing the world, Sima Liyuan saw this. Knowing that heaven and earth cannot lack food, he bends his body to worship it; he knows that Li Yuan cannot be left without a master, so he has no choice but to come. Therefore, it is vigorous and vigorous, and its style is established for eternity. After three or five years, it will fall, and it will be unstoppable.
His Majesty, King Chuang, has spread his virtues everywhere since he came to the throne, and his kindness extends to all things. It surpasses the past and surpasses the present, even though the Tang and Yu Dynasties could not surpass this. At the meeting of all the wise men, they all said that the emperor's death was over. I heard that the Hun Ming has been used repeatedly, but whether it is harmonious or not, the destiny has not changed, and the calendar has returned. It may be difficult to consolidate the country, or it may be difficult to enlighten the Holy Ming. Qi was plagued by ignorance, but Xiaobai was the leader of the five uncles; Jin was plagued by Li Ji, and Chong'er was in charge of the alliance of princes...
I heard that your honorable position cannot be empty for a long time, and all opportunities cannot be empty for a long time. If a day is empty, the position will be in danger; if there is a day of empty space, everything will be in chaos. Now is the season of a hundred kings, the meeting of Yangjiu, cunning bandits are spying on the country, waiting for the flaws of the country, the Li Yuan is in turmoil, and has no care, how can An be abandoned without mercy? I hope Your Majesty will keep the love of Shun and Yu, and keep the restraint of resisting correction; take the country as your priority, and don’t put small deeds first; worry about the head of Guizhou, and don’t give in as a matter of concern; go to the ancestral temple to comfort the ancestral temple, and take care of it below. Explain the sincerity of the whole world. It is said that prosperity is born from dry catkins, flesh is nourished from rotten bones, and gods and men find peace without any misfortune.
I heard that a virtuous person occupies the honorable position. Now I look up at the sky and observe the people's hearts. The number of Zhu Ming is over, and the fortune depends on Li. Xuande is connected with the gods, and the holy posture is combined with the two rituals. It corresponds to the period of life and brings luck for thousands of years. The sign of auspicious signs indicates signs of signs from heaven and man; the sign of resurgence is a sign of prophecy. Your Majesty is bright and the sun and the moon are bright, and there is no shadow or candle. He is far-sighted and far-sighted, coming from his heart. He is overwhelmed with worries about the country, and he is too late to see the road to prosperity for humans and gods. Therefore, there are thirty-four Huguang students, including XXX, ”
Such abstruse and difficult-to-speak rhetoric was obviously not something that Li Zicheng's peasant army generals, who could barely read a few characters, could understand. So just when the Confucian scholar read a few words in a measured tone, some of the generals present were already yawning profusely and their eyelids were shaking.
It wasn't until the Confucian scholar finished reciting this carefully written message of persuasion that he knelt on the ground and raised his hands above his head. All the generals in the palace quickly cheered up and prepared for the important event that had been rehearsed many times - King Li Zicheng sat there pretending to be reserved for a while, then slowly stood up, took the form of persuasion, and threw it lightly to On one side, "... first I have the intention, but I have only occupied the four prefectures of Xiangyang, Nanyang, Chengtian, and De'an when I broke into the camp. The territory is limited and the foundation is not stable. Carrying out such a big thing rashly will only make people laugh. This matter will be dealt with in the future. Let’s talk again!”
"...King Chuang, you must not belittle yourself. If the name is not right, then the words will not be right! If there is no righteous name, how can we govern the place?"
Faced with Li Zicheng's hypocritical refusal, some "loyal ministers" immediately came forward to argue, "...The barbarian chief Dorgon only had two palaces, so he dared to proclaim himself emperor! Now that your majesty has elite soldiers from the camp, and To win the support of the people, all you need to do is to raise your arms and raise your arms, and all the heroes in the world will surely respond. ”
The generals of Chuangying who had been posing for a long time below also knelt down and shouted: "... Please King Chuang ascend to the throne quickly! Lead us to conquer the world!"
Although everyone was enthusiastic, Li Zicheng still made three concessions in accordance with ancient etiquette. Only then did he accept the generals' wishes, declare his accession to the throne and proclaim himself emperor, and make Xiangyang his capital. Originally, with the name Chuangying, the country should naturally use the word "Chuang" as its name. However, the name "Dachuang Kingdom" was so unpleasant that even the generals of Chuangying found it unbearable, so they changed it to Dashun—— At this point, another Dashun Emperor has emerged!
Next, as Li Zicheng brazenly proclaimed himself emperor, the other bandits scattered in Huguang and the Central Plains were also deeply stimulated and began to think of being a loner. However, many of the bandit leaders had few soldiers and horses, were weak, and their territory was close to Chuangying. They did not dare to disobey this powerful neighbor, so they had no choice but to accept the title of Duke in name from the Emperor of Dashun, Li Zicheng. Kneel down and bow to this reckless emperor.
Some rogue leaders with strong soldiers and horses under their command naturally wanted to start a new business - for example, Luo Rucai, nicknamed "Cao Cao", had just captured Changsha at this time, and his soldiers, horses and territory were not much worse than Li Zicheng. I heard that Li Zicheng had become the emperor, so naturally he was not to be outdone. He immediately kidnapped a group of old Confucian scholars who lacked moral integrity and concocted some auspicious signs in a serious manner. Then he forged a family tree with noble blood, and finally. Luo Rucai also made "three concessions and three concessions" in a very stylish way, and held a grand ceremony to worship heaven in Changsha. He officially ascended the throne as emperor, established the Great Chu Kingdom, and made Changsha its capital. The generals and ministers seemed to be fighting against Li Zicheng's Dashun Dynasty.
Next, Zhang Xianzhong, who was entrenched in Nanchang, Jiangxi Province, also began to prepare for proclaiming himself emperor in the same way. A certain Western missionary who had just been appointed by Zhang Xianzhong as an official of the Qintian Prison suddenly discovered the existence of the universe. Great changes, especially strange activity in the movements of the stars ; Later, huge fruit trees were discovered on the banks of Poyang Lake; and then some people saw the magical sight of a golden dragon flying over Zhang Xianzhong's Chinese army tent... In short, there were all kinds of weird and auspicious supernatural rumors. Come on, there are so many of them that they are simply too numerous to mention.
Faced with so many good omens, Zhang Xianzhong's subordinates naturally cheered for joy. Various literary and literary forms of persuasion came like a snowflake, and some even killed old hens and got blood seals to write in them. Naturally, Zhang Xianzhong lived up to expectations and proclaimed himself emperor, establishing the capital in Nanchang and founding the country.
Regarding the news that Zhang Xianzhong and Li Zicheng were proclaimed emperors one after another, classmate Wang Qiu, who has been living in Fenghuang Villa in Hangzhou for a while, expressed great interest. Among them, whether Li Zicheng established the Dashun Kingdom in Xi'an or Xiangyang, it sounds like he was doing well. But it would be a bit strange if Zhang Xianzhong, the "Daxi Emperor" in history, established the "Daxi Kingdom" in Jiangxi instead of Sichuan - although Jiangxi also has the word "西", looking at the map, it is obvious that It is located in the southeast of China. If the country was founded here and it was called "Daxi", it would be a bit inappropriate no matter how you look at it.
Then, Wang Qiu was shocked to learn that Comrade Zhang Xianzhong had chosen a very imaginative and surreal country title for himself:
"...Big cute country? How could Zhang Xianzhong come up with such a name?! This guy is obviously not cute at all, okay?!"
Faced with Wang Qiu's exclamation, Zhao Yingong was very calm, "...Don't worry, I can confirm that this Zhang Xianzhong should not be a time traveler. This country name has nothing to do with the cute culture of our era. It just follows the late Yuan Dynasty. The old practice of Tianwan Kingdom is just to plant grass on the head of Ming Dynasty..."
——The so-called "Tianwan Kingdom" was the political power established in the Huguang area by Xu Shouhui, leader of one of the rebel armies, during the peasant uprising at the end of the Yuan Dynasty. How did such a peculiar country title "Tianwan" come about? This is actually a word splitting game - Tianwan, if you remove a horizontal line on the sky, it is Da, and if you remove the treasure hijab on it, it is Yuan. In other words, our Tianwan Kingdom will definitely beat the Yuan Kingdom, because I have already Literally holds you down.
But in the eyes of modern people, the idea that the world is over and the world is over always means "it will be over in two days."
However, although Tian Wanguo's name was unlucky, its vitality was still tenacious. It actually took nine years before it perished in the chaotic times of the late Yuan Dynasty.
Closer to home, now that Zhang Xianzhong has proclaimed himself emperor and wants to replace Daming in ruling the world, he also plays a word-replacing game with the word "Da Ming" and initially plans to name the country "Tianmeng". But his adopted son Sun Kewang, who had attended private schools for several years and had a little bit of ink in his belly, advised him that since ancient times, a two-character country name was not as noble as a one-word country name, so Zhang Xianzhong changed the name of the country to "Big Meng", self-proclaimed "Cute King"...
In short, in mid-July of this year, all the senior generals gathered in Nanchang Tengwang Pavilion, which was temporarily hung with bright yellow silk curtains. The "Cute Emperor" Zhang Xianzhong, who has no cute elements in his body, is sitting high on the dragon throne, looking at his subordinates with a smile and saluting: Long live the Emperor! Long live! Long live!
At this time, Zhang Xianzhong's territory was actually very small, only a small area from Jiujiang to Nanchang, but the ostentation was huge. So since he ascended to the throne, "Emperor Meng" Zhang Xianzhong has been busy: first of all, he promulgated the reign name as "Tianmeng" - although these two words are not used in the country's name, it seems good to change it to the imperial title. Next, of course, he generously rewarded his subordinates and issued a lot of titles such as Grand Master, Prime Minister, and Duke. Then there were numerous bureaucracies imitating the Ming Dynasty’s bureaucracy, such as the Cabinet, the Fifth Military Governor’s Office, the Sixth Department of the Central Committee, the Imperial College... Every bureaucracy in the Ming Dynasty was set up, and His Majesty Zhang Xianzhong, the “Cute Emperor”, also had to do it. It’s true that I wonder how he arranged the manpower and was able to free up manpower to go out and fight?
At this point, when the four kingdoms of Mahayana, Dazhou, Dajin, and Yuan Dynasty were competing for hegemony in the north, the middle reaches of the Yangtze River in southern China also staged a tripartite drama of Dashun, Dachu, and Dameng... and various There are so many small separatist forces that have not claimed the title of emperor that they are too numerous to mention.
※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※
On the other side, I saw all kinds of vulgar barbarians, thieves and grass bandits setting up altars to worship heaven one by one. They became emperors with various names one after another. The real sons and grandsons of the Zhu Ming Dynasty also Unable to sit still, they also joined in the increasingly lively trend of proclaiming emperor.
The first person who jumped out was King Gui Zhu Changying. He was the seventh son of Emperor Wanli. He was granted the title of Hengzhou (modern Hengyang) in Hunan Province. He was the uncle and elder of Emperor Chongzhen and Emperor Tianqi. After confirming the death of Emperor Chongzhen, Zhu Changying, the king of Gui who had high ambitions but low ambitions, openly jumped out at the instigation of a group of down-and-out scholars, saying that "the country is in trouble, and a eldest king must be established." , claiming that they would take over the burden of the emperor of tomorrow from the shoulders of the younger generation, and also claimed that they would "fight the bandits in the north, drive out the Tartars in the east, and pacify the bandits in the south" to restore the ancestral country, and all kinds of free talk made the mountains ring loud.
However, His Royal Highness Prince Gui was really unlucky, because his territory of Hengzhou happened to be caught between bandits and thieves. As a result, he had just announced in the palace of Hengzhou that he would proclaim himself emperor and ascend the throne, and the enthronement ceremony had not even begun yet. Before it could be held, Luo Rucai led tens of thousands of bandits to leave Changsha and rush to Hengzhou with great momentum. At this time, King Zhu Changying of Gui, who discovered that he was unarmed, had to evacuate Hengzhou in a hurry and fled to Guilin, Guangxi.
Then, with the support of the Ming Dynasty officials in Guangxi, Zhu Changying finally successfully ascended the throne in Guilin, formally inherited the throne of the Ming Empire, and promulgated the new year name Yongli. Unfortunately, the bad luck of Emperor Yongli seemed not to be over yet. On the day after he ascended the throne and proclaimed himself emperor, he initially cleared out the "Australian thieves" in the Guangdong occupied area, and then raised 40,000 troops, claiming to be 100,000, to march along the Xijiang River. Move forward together and launch a massive Guangxi strategy!
In just one month, these short-haired soldiers with different skin colors and complicated banners invaded hundreds of miles of Guangxi, and defeated a series of famous cities and towns such as Wuzhou, Xunzhou, and Liuzhou. The governors of Guangxi were all defeated and killed in Liuzhou. Although Guilin seemed to be far away from the Kun bandits' front, Emperor Yongli, who had become a frightened bird, quickly fled and took the entire army over the mountains and ridges, and fled all the way to Guiyang.
However, just when the newly minted Emperor Yongli finally escaped to Guiyang City to take a breather, and was about to rely on the remaining Yunnan, Guizhou, and Sichuan provinces in the southwest of the Ming Dynasty to continue dealing with bandits and bandits, he suddenly However, a piece of bad news like a bolt from the blue was received from the north: In the second month after he proclaimed himself emperor in Guilin, Zhu Zhishu, the king of Shu, also ascended the throne and proclaimed himself emperor at the Shu Palace in Chengdu with the support of Sichuan civil and military officials. Got it!
At this time, the internal contradictions immediately overwhelmed the external contradictions. The two emperors of Guiyang and Chengdu denounced each other as false emperors, and made loud noises at each other. At the same time, they tried their best to win over the hereditary Prince Mu in Yunnan, thus a drama unfolded. "Annals of the Three Kingdoms in the Southwest"... However, since the King of Shu and the King of Gui did not have many soldiers and horses, and they were blocked by thousands of mountains and rivers, neither could attack the other, so this confrontation is expected to last for a long time.
At the same time, in the far northwest frontier, Zhu Shihong, the Su king of the Ming Dynasty, was also supported by the remaining civil and military officials of the Ming Dynasty in Gansu. He ascended the throne in Lanzhou to supervise the country, and a few months later he officially proclaimed himself emperor and established the A small separatist regime emerged.
In addition, King Qin of the Ming Dynasty, whose fiefdom was in Xi'an, originally seemed to have the intention of inheriting the throne of the Ming Dynasty. However, Shaanxi was too close to several powerful neighbors. Before he could convince the civil and military officials in Shaanxi, the Guan Ning cavalry led by Wu Sangui, the crown prince of the Zhou Empire, had already captured the city of Xi'an. The unlucky last king of Qin failed to escape when the city was destroyed and became a prisoner. Then he was strangled to death in his palace by Wu Sangui's order with a bowstring...
With the Ming vassal kings such as King Gui, King Shu and King Su proclaiming themselves emperors one after another, the land of China in the seven years of Chongzhen suddenly became more and more lively. In the Ming Dynasty alone, there were six emperors standing at the same time, and the emerging countries were even more prosperous. In one breath, there are Da Yuan, Da Qing, Da Jin, Mahayana, Da Zhou, Da Jin, Da Shun, Da Chu and Da Meng, a total of nine! Suddenly, the idea of being lonely, Taoist and few seems to have become a common practice in China.
So far, as for the epidemic of proclaiming emperor in China during the seventh year of Chongzhen, all modern Chinese travelers have just stayed away from it and watched the excitement. But next, Wang Qiu suddenly learned that they were also going to canonize an emperor and enthrone him!
——And she is also an underage empress...or is it a loli empress that is common in anime but rare in reality? !
"...Well, I basically understand the reason why the above agreed to canonize this female emperor. Anyway, we are a republic, and the title of emperor does not matter...but...I remember that little loli seems to be Just live on Huaguo Mountain! Haha, the empress of Huaguo Mountain? This always sounds like a female monkey! It's quite interesting, why don't you let me go..." So, after Wang Qiu volunteered, the relevant parties prepared a set of clothes for him that were as gorgeous as stage costumes, and there was also a set of clothes. The President of the country wrote the "Imperial Decree of Canonization" in his own handwriting, and then sent him to Huaguo Mountain to preside over the matter of a certain little loli being crowned emperor...