Night has fallen, and the house illuminated by oil lamps is a little dim.
Suddenly the surroundings were as bright as daylight, and after a flash, a loud "click" sound came, and then the sound of rain outside became noisy. Everything is very rushed and seems impetuous.
Liu Ming, the envoy of the Ming Dynasty, was still in the house. He was pacing up and down on the ground with no intention of escaping. Shocking lightning and thunder interrupted his steps. He stood still and glanced out the window, then lowered his eyes and pondered something.
Amidst the noisy rain, there was a faint cry. After a while, several followers rushed into the side room with swords in their hands, and they immediately closed the doors and windows. When Liu Ming saw this, he immediately understood: What was supposed to come has indeed come!
One of the followers turned around and said, "Master Liu, be careful, there is an assassin! One of our brothers has been hit by an arrow."<
The distance from Thanh Hoa to Dongguan is only over 300 li. Liu Ming went to Dongguan (Thang Long) and first met Huang Zhong, the leader of the Ming army stationed in Annan and the deputy governor of the Annan Governor's Office. Later, he found Nguyen Tri, an Annan official in Dongguan.Within two days, Liu Ming and Huang Zhong wrote memorials, and the military commanders of the Jinyiwei North Division and the Guards North Division stationed in Dongsheng also wrote memorials; all parties described what happened in Annan and their own views. The Governor's Office then sent a messenger to deliver the urgent report to the capital at an expedited speed of 800 miles...In June, the capital was scorching hot.During the day when the sun was shining brightly, Zhu Gaoxu rarely went out. He chose to work in Rouyi Hall, which was more spacious and ventilated. Today's memorials had been delivered in the morning; but at this time, the eunuch Wang Gui was outside the ha
In the hottest hour of the afternoon, the civil and military ministers were discussing matters in front of the emperor in the Rouyi Hall, but they could not reach a complete consensus because Zhu Gaoxu did not make a clear statement.As expected, all the nobles shouted for war and killing. They were looking forward to such a war. When they learned that something happened in Annan, some generals were so emotional under their indignant speeches that people wondered if they were secretly happy.Victory in war can give military generals more say in the court; and military merit is the only reliable way for every military general to establish his own status and reputation.Dukes and marquises volunteered. He Fu, Liu Sheng and others patted their chests and said that they would not kill the rebels and bring their heads to see them; they probably just wanted to consolidate their current positions through military merit. Zhang Fu also wanted to lead the army because
The imperial court had decided to march south again, but Zhu Gaoxu was not moved by this.The military industry and transportation system he envisioned have not been established at all, and actual profits from overseas have not been seen yet; the haze of various wars has soon appeared before us.The treasury was temporarily short of cash. If the annual cash income of several million strings of cash was used to fight a war, it would probably be used up in two battles, and the official and military salaries would not have to be paid. Therefore, if Zhu Gaoxu wanted to go to war, he could only rely on the existing ruling system, which meant adding a heavy burden to the people and military households in various places.Under a ruling system based on corvée and land tax, foreign wars could not divert domestic conflicts, but would only have a counterproductive effect. The events at the end of the Qin Dynasty and the end of the Sui Dynasty were lessons from the past
The weather was hot, and the doors and windows of the Rouyi Palace were open for ventilation. At this time, a cool breeze blew in, and Zhu Gaoxu suddenly felt a lot more comfortable; and just now he had been talking about things at sea, and he vaguely felt that this cool breeze was like a sea breeze.At a certain moment, somehow, a fragment of his memory was evoked.(A long time ago, when he was wandering along the coast, he met a middle-aged friend who had retired from the army. Once, the two chatted until late at night at the beach. They talked too much, most of which he had forgotten, because they were not important. But some of the words of that friend suddenly popped into his mind: A woman cares about herself the most, followed by her children, and then men.)Zhu Gaoxu suddenly felt that that sentence seemed to make sense.When Zhu Gaoxu was distracted, Chen's voice sounded a little trance-like, "Chen Zhengyuan is still young, and there is no one
Yao Fang had just returned home and didn't even have time to eat a meal, so he told his new wife Qin that he had to hurry out to the palace to have sex.Qin ordered the maid to boil water while she went to the room to find some decent clothes for Yao Fang. Yao Fang had been traveling on the sea for several months, and her skin had become rough and tanned by the sea breeze. She needed to take a bath, change clothes, and get ready before going to see the emperor.She picked out a light and breathable white gauze lining, a straight long gown, and a square flat towel. Then she personally helped Yao Fang bathe, very attentively."Why did the emperor summon my husband?" Qin couldn't help but ask him softly.Yao Fang said, "Before, several thousand of us stayed at the coast of North Korea. There were many civil and military officials in the fleet. They wanted to inquire about the news of Japan, but they all ended up being helpless. Only I thought of a way and
By the end of June, the 34,000 soldiers of the Six Guards had been assembled for the southern expedition. Civil officials Xue Yan, Hou Hai, Pei Youzhen and others had already left Beijing in accordance with the imperial order.Zhang Fu, the Marquis of Xincheng, was formally appointed as the General of the Expedition to the Barbarians in the Fengtian Hall. He was ordered to command the entire military power of the Beijing Camp Southern Expedition Army, the Annan Military Governor's Office, and the garrison troops mobilized from Guangxi and Guangdong, and was given the power to act at will. Chen Xuan was the chief commander of the navy, commanding all fleets participating in the war, but had to obey Zhang Fu's military orders. Liu Sheng, the Marquis of Anyuan, was appointed as the Left Deputy General of the Expedition to the Barbarians, and Yin Desheng, the Marquis of Heyang, was appointed as the Right Deputy General of the Expedition to the Barbarians.When the arm
The rainy season in Annan has not yet passed. It often rains in Dongguan City, making people feel that the roads are rarely dry, and the weather is still very hot. Most of the Ming army's troops near Dongguan are in the city and garrisons to reduce the incidence of diseases. It is said that the rebels have occupied various cities downstream of Dongguan.Liu Ming, the imperial envoy who had been sent to Annan, was feeling very depressed and caught in a dilemma living in Dongguan.The emperor asked him to come and recruit Chen Jikuan's rebels, but he obviously failed. There was no imperial edict or official document in the court ordering him to return home. Liu Ming could only stay here and ask various people for information. The person he had close contact with recently was Nguyen Tri, an Annan man and the governor of Dongguan Prefecture.There was a patio in the backyard of the government office. Rain curtains were flowing from the eaves on all four sides, a
More than 30,000 soldiers of the Beijing Army, led by generals such as Zhang Fu and others, carrying a large number of firearms, first boarded the warships of the Chaohu Navy and then traveled to Guilin Prefecture. The water journey was nearly 3,000 miles and took more than one and a half months. If there had not been no rivers and waterways, the Ming army would have taken even longer to walk.Pei Youzhen, in the seat of the Guangxi Provincial Administration, took the imperial edict and asked local governments to gather a large number of corvée men and official ships, and sent the belongings of the officers and soldiers of the Beijing camp to Nanning Prefecture by land and water. In Nanning Prefecture, they received tens of thousands of garrison troops recruited from Guangxi and Guangdong, and continued to march towards Annan.It was already mid-September when the army passed through the original border, Zhenyi Pass (You|Yi Pass).According to the seasonal d