Chapter 244: The faces of the officials and gentry after learning about King Ning’s defeat
At this time, the imperial court's 100,000-strong army had all gathered in Jinxian, both on land and water.
But King Ning was at a loss now. He stood on the boat, looking at the distant waterway, and could only ask Li Shishi, Liu Yangzheng and other civil officials: "Gentlemen, what should we do now?"
Li Shishi, the censor of Zuodu who had become an official, didn't know how to deal with it. He really didn't expect that his 60,000-strong army would not even be able to defend Nanchang City. Even now, he had to retreat before the world was in chaos. On to the water.
The same goes for Liu Yangzheng. He has even begun to wonder what will happen to him if he is caught by the court.
"Your Majesty, it's bad, fire ships, there are many fire ships coming!"
At this time, a eunuch in Prince Ning's Mansion shouted. Prince Ning looked back and saw that the sky was full of fire, and it was burning towards his warship connected with iron chains, like it was swallowing up the river to fill the sea. There were even battles. The ship was engulfed in flames.
Yi Gu, a first-generation general in Prince Ning's Mansion, couldn't help shouting: "Your Majesty, hurry up, let them cut off the iron chain, don't let the fire spread to the main ship!"
King Ning also hurriedly followed Yi Gu's advice and ordered the connected warships to be cut off, and then ordered his officers and soldiers to escape first on his own main ship. As a result, he ran aground because of his hasty escape, and the main ship unexpectedly ran aground. Can't move anymore.
At this time, the officers and soldiers under the command of Wang Shouren had caught up.
As a result, King Ning was captured, and the civil and military officials who rebelled with him and even his concubines either had no choice but to dive into the water or were also captured.
A rebellion by King Ning that lasted less than two months ended completely.
The cities occupied by King Ning were also recovered by the government troops one after another.
All the capital that King Ning had painstakingly managed for many generations was owned by the imperial court.
The entire northern Jiangxi region returned to calm again.
However, Wang Shouren did not directly disband the 80,000 officers and soldiers he had trained. He had to wait for the arrangement of Emperor Zhu Houzhao, and at the same time prevent the officials and gentry who had not received the news that King Ning's rebellion had been put down at this time from taking the opportunity to cause chaos.
In fact.
Because the rebellion was put down too quickly.
At this time, except for Nanchang Prefecture and Nankang Prefecture, the powerful officials and gentry in other areas have not yet heard the news that the rebellion has been put down. They are either in panic or anxious to make a profit from the chaos.
Xu Zan, the magistrate of Jiujiang, who should be the minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs under King Ning at this time, did not know the news that King Ning's army had been put down. At this time, he was leading a group of gentry to look at the vast Yangtze River and chant. Poems and poems.
A group of gentry also echoed Xu Zan. Among them, one of the first members knelt down and worshiped: "Your Excellency is the reincarnation of Wuhou (Zhuge Liang). Now he is following King Ning to rectify the world. He will definitely be crowned king and marquis in the future. My student Ye Meizhen has no respect for me." , only as a parent, I hope you will accept the student as your adopted son and the student’s sister as your adopted daughter!”
Xu Zan was confused, but when he saw that the student was fair and fair, he was immediately overjoyed and hurriedly helped the student Ye Meizhen: "Very good. Seeing that you are filial, I will accept you as my adopted son. Your sister is an adopted daughter. You can bring your younger sister to meet her parents tonight!”
"Thank you, parents!"
The student, Ye Meizhen, was busy kowtowing again.
Seeing this, some gentry quickly congratulated him.
Only one of the students, Zeng Cunren, who was standing at the very end, could not help but shake his head: "The emperor spent ten years to prevent the subjects of the world from kneeling down easily, but it is a pity that even the scholars now bend the knee to worship at will, and even recognize others at will." Parents are really shameless. I really don’t know if the court feels sorry for them or if they don’t deserve to be respected by the court!”
No matter how self-respecting scholars like Zeng Cunren lamented for scholars like Ye Meizhen in their hearts, Ye Meizhen herself was very happy. For Ye Meizhen, Mr. Futai, to be precise, Mr. If he becomes his adopted son, he will be able to work as an official with Prince Ning in the future, instead of having to wait for ten years of hard work and suffer hardship.
But it was obvious that Ye Meizhen sold himself too quickly. Just a moment after he appointed Xu Zan as his adoptive father, Xu Zan's generals hurried over and whispered: "My lord, King Ning has been defeated! Escape from the water. The officers and soldiers of King Ning who arrived in Jiujiang said that King Ning was captured alive by the court, and the people also said that a fire burned on the water across Nanchang for a long time and it was not extinguished for a day. "
"How is this possible, how is this possible! This, this".
Xu Zan couldn't believe this was true, because he remembered that King Ning's message said that he had an army of one hundred thousand! However, Xu Zan still made an excuse and returned to his government office first, and then immediately sent someone to confirm the news again. While he himself paced anxiously in the room, thinking about what he would do if King Ning was really defeated. Is it good?
Early the next morning, Xu Zan, who had not slept well all night, saw his people coming back at dawn and said: "Sir, King Ning is really defeated. The people we sent to contact King Ning escaped and brought him back." The news has been told to his subordinates, and he is waiting outside. If you don’t believe it, you can send it to him and ask him personally.”
Xu Zan then met the people he sent to contact King Ning, and was finally convinced that King Ning had indeed been defeated. He immediately collapsed on the ground and did not recover for a long time. He couldn't help but grab the sword of his own soldier and prepared to kill himself. But when the cold blade touched his neck, Xu Zan did not dare to scratch it.
However, Xu Zan had an idea and suddenly thought of an idea, and hurriedly ordered:
"Hurry, hurry, hurry up and go to Nankang. Just say that we are going to suppress the rebellion! When the time comes, the heads of the common people will be chopped off and they will be said to belong to the rebels. We have done meritorious service and the court will not do anything to us. .”
Xu Zan now could only hope that the court would not know about his rebellion, thinking that he could get away by pretending to be suppressing the rebellion.
But not long after Xu Zan finished speaking, shouts of murder came from outside the government office. Xu Zan couldn't help being shocked. But at this time, outsiders from the government office had already rushed in, and the leader among them was the man who recognized him as his adoptive father during the day. Ye Meizhen, Xu Zan only heard Ye Meizhen shout:
"Traitor! You are a disloyal and unjust person who has taken refuge in the rebellion against the king! Today, Ye and all the villagers in Jiujiang will get rid of you on behalf of the court! Ye can give you a chance to hang yourself, otherwise they will chop you up." Die!”
Ye Meizhen also knew the news of King Ning's defeat last night. He was also very depressed about this. He had just recognized Xu Zan as his adopted father, but he did not expect that King Ning, whom Xu Zan had taken refuge in, was so unreliable. He was killed even after two months of raising troops. After being put down, he could only organize the villagers to come and kill Xu Zan. First, he killed people to silence him so that the court would not know that he had taken refuge with Xu Zan. Second, he took the opportunity to show his loyalty to the court.
Xu Zan was extremely angry when he saw this. He couldn't help but cursed:
"Ye Meizhen, you shameless villain. Yesterday you recognized me as your adoptive father, and today you are going to kill me. You are a member of our scholar forest in vain!"
"You are such a mouthful! I, Ye Meizhen, have been familiar with scriptures since I was a child and know the great meaning of loyalty and filial piety. How could I consider a thief as my father? How could I betray the imperial court, betray my parents, and associate with traitors like you? It is precisely because Ye has the imperial court in her heart, today I have to risk the sin of the nine tribes and organize the village soldiers to kill the rebels like you! Villagers, kill this rebel! I will reward you with a hundred taels of silver for killing him! Ten taels of silver!”
Ye Meizhen started shouting as he spoke, and because he proposed a reward, the morale of the village soldiers was even higher, and they started fighting with the officers and soldiers of Xu Zan's government office.
Xu Zan was so angry that he breathed rapidly and shouted loudly: "Whoever kills this snob, I will give him a thousand taels of silver!"
Xu Zan's soldiers were naturally more effective than these villagers. Now when he heard that his own master had also offered a reward, he fought bravely and defeated these villagers. Xu Zan's other officers and soldiers also rushed after hearing the news. Come.
As a result, Ye Meizhen's soldiers were attacked from both sides and were defeated in a short time.
Ye Meizhen also didn't expect that these local soldiers he brought failed to kill Xu Zan, but instead put himself in crisis. Therefore, he also panicked, and with a plop, he knelt in front of Xu Zan again: "Yiyi Father! My son is just confused for a moment, please forgive me!”
Xu Zan was naturally not in the mood to forgive Ye Meizhen, so he ordered people to hack Ye Meizhen to death. He immediately wrote a memorial to the court, saying that a man named Ye Meizhen had defected to Prince Ning and became a rebel, and was trying to seize the Jiujiang government office. , was killed by himself, and at the same time said that he would lead troops to Nanchang to participate in countering the rebellion.
These civil servants and gentry who blindly responded to King Ning's rebellion became anxious. They either acted to cover their ears or deceive others, or they directly changed the banner of helping King Ning to crusade against the rebels. In short, like Xu Zan There are many such examples.
For example, at this time, the Anqing magistrate Yi Xizhi had just received the news that King Ning led an army of 100,000 troops to rebel. He immediately ordered the opening of warehouses to release grain and recruit soldiers and horses. However, just as he had just summoned a team of soldiers and horses to prepare to respond to King Ning's At that time, I learned the news that King Ning's rebellion had been put down.
Therefore, Yi Xiyi could not help but hesitate for a moment, thinking to himself: "Oh my God, should I follow King Ning in rebellion?"
All in all, the fact that King Ning launched an army to rebel and was quickly put down revealed the true colors of many civil servants and gentry in the south who were dissatisfied with the imperial court. They changed their faces faster than turning the page of a book.
After Zhu Houzhao learned about King Ning's rebellion in the capital at this time, he also guessed that there must be some civil servants and gentry who only knew how to protect their own interests. They would take advantage of King Ning's rebellion to make a big fuss, and even intend to mess up the world. After all, if it failed, it could be said that anyway All this was caused by King Ning, and they did not need to take responsibility.
Therefore, Zhu Houzhao immediately issued twelve edicts, the first of which was to order local governments at all levels not to recruit troops to quell the rebellion without permission and to send troops to Jiangxi. At the same time, Zhu Houzhao also ordered these local officials and the villagers to only be responsible for The purpose of local defense work is to prevent these ill-intentioned officials and gentry from acting rashly.
In addition, Zhu Houzhao also issued an edict ordering military generals from all over the country not to lead their troops across the river to quell the rebellion without authorization. Wang Shouren was appointed as the Superintendent of the Five Provinces with the title of Left Minister of the Ministry of War, and was fully responsible for quelling the rebellion.
Naturally, Zhu Houzhao did this to prevent other non-native officers and soldiers from the imperial court from taking the opportunity to burn, kill and loot in Jiangxi in the name of counterinsurgency. After all, Zhu Houzhao knew the discipline of the local officers and soldiers of the Ming Dynasty. Basically, he would not rob like bandits when he went to a place. It is impossible for the common people, otherwise they would not be called soldiers and bandits.
Therefore, in order to avoid intensifying class conflicts, Zhu Houzhao strictly prohibited officers and soldiers from other places from acting without authorization, and only gave Wang Shouren full responsibility for dispatching officers and soldiers in Jiangxi Province. After all, most of the officers and soldiers in Jiangxi Province were locals, and their discipline was relatively better, not to mention that Wang Shouren recruited and trained according to Zhu Houzhao's requirements, and the military discipline itself is much stricter.
Moreover, Zhu Houzhao also believed that Wang Shouren could put down the rebellion of King Ning by relying solely on Jiangxi's officers and soldiers.
The main purpose of writing this chapter is actually to show the faces of some short-sighted civil servants and gentry. I would like to thank my book friend Mo Yue Luoyu for the 100 starting coin reward. Suddenly my waist hurts as soon as I sit down. I originally wanted to stop updating, but I wanted to I think I should stick with it, observe it for two days, and continue writing the second chapter. After all, I have been updating 6,000 words every day for ten days. Please go away if my back hurts
(End of chapter)