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Chapter 177: China Produces Emperors This Year (3)

In March of the seventh year of Chongzhen, Beizhili, Luanzhou (near modern Tangshan), Shifokou

Although in the official establishment of the Ming Dynasty, Shifokou is not even a county seat, but just a self-formed township, or the private manor of a large landowner. But in fact, the splendor and delicacy of Shifokou have far surpassed the vast majority of ordinary county towns on the North China Plain.

As the holy city of the Smelling Fragrance Sect, the area of the city itself is not large, with a circumference of only four miles, but the architectural planning is particularly exquisite. More than 300 years ago, the building area of Shifokou was not large, and the circumference was only four miles. But the scale of the building is particularly particular. First of all, in the suburbs, "Qianting (Zhang Tingzi) Houdian (Houdianzi) Donggu (Leiguzhuang, later renamed Leizhuang) West Building (Xujialou)" was set up in the suburbs to be responsible for receiving believers from the Quartet "tribute". In addition, there is also a huge group of temples: at the foot of the northeast mountain of the city is the "temple of the gods", and the descendants are accustomed to call it the "hail temple", and the temple enshrines the two-meter-high red granite Maitreya Buddha statue, from which the stone Buddha's mouth is named. Every year during the Dragon Boat Festival, there is a grand temple fair that lasts for a month. Just the monks in the temple accept the sesame oil from the incense donor, there are several Ding jars. Xiguan is the old man's temple, Niangniang Temple, land ancestral hall, Sanguan Temple; Nanguan is the Bodhi Temple, the Eight Immortals View City God Temple. Among them, the "Divine Temple" and the Bodhi Temple are the most spectacular, covering an area of 100 acres. These temples are all carved beams and painted buildings, and the yellow glazed tiles cover the roof, showing a luxurious atmosphere of resplendent wealth and wealth.

And the "Holy City" Stone Buddha Mouth itself is naturally rigorous in structure and full of style. The walls are strong and the gates are majestic, no different from any city built by the imperial court. There is only one east-west street in the city, and two archways are built at both ends of the street, which are engraved with "the master of Qingshan" and "the reincarnation of Maitreya" respectively. In the center is the residence of the sect leader, covering an area of more than 100 acres before and after. The inner courtyard has a living room garden, and the side courtyard has a guard hall martial arts field. In addition, there is also an area of 100 acres, erected 24 "turtle and dragon openwork tablet", the specifications are similar to the mausoleum of the emperor's mausoleum, but also show the extraordinary style of the stone Buddha's mouth.

Since the first generation of the sect leader Wang Sen founded the Wenxiang Sect in the Wanli period, for the ethereal dream of the emperor, the Wang family has been in the Shifokou base camp, painstakingly managed for decades, and its influence can be said to be deep-rooted. Even after the failure of Xu Hongru's uprising during the Apocalypse and the setback of the Wenxiang Sect's army in Lianghuai in the past two years, when Sect Master Wang Ke successfully fled back to Shifokou with holy relics, relying on the huge amount of money and food accumulated in the city and hundreds of thousands of fanatical sect members, he still regained considerable strength again in just a few months.

At this moment, in the main altar hall of the Wenxiang Sect in Shifokou, there is a group of cigarette smoke, and dozens of men wearing various gorgeous costumes and serving as the main protector of the immortal master incense in the Wenxiang Sect are all kneeling and bowing in the hall to the "holy relics" hanging high on the incense case, with a long fox tail.

And Wang Ke, the leader of the Wenxiang Sect, stood on his waist that had been a little stiff recently, wearing a Ming and Huang dragon robe, sitting upright, staring at the dozens of immortal masters who came from various prefectures and counties in Beizhili with a blazing gaze, and only after they finished saluting did they shout loudly: "...... Since the founding of the ancestors, this religion has been on the road for decades! Although Emperor Zhongxing Fulie (Xu Hongru) failed to raise righteousness in Shandong, and the sect leader also lost in Lianghuai last year, this is just a temporary dormancy! There are still tens of millions of believers in this religion, and the foundation of the stone Buddha's mouth is still there, which is the foundation of the emperor!

Now that the Ming Court is falling apart, the Qing Dynasty is flourishing and declining, the world is in turmoil, and the people of Li are miserable, it is the time for the cause of our holy religion to flourish! Therefore, the leader of this sect summoned all of you to come to the main altar to discuss the important matter of raising troops again and recovering the country! ”

When dozens of Immortal Master Incense Lord Dharma Protectors heard the sect leader's ambition, they all said, "...... Sect Leader Hongfu Qitian, Glory Holy Sect! King Ming is reincarnated. ”

“…… Very good! Then the sect leader will respond to the heavens, raise troops to rebuild the Chinese Qiankun, and vacuum the hometown......" Seeing that everyone agreed, Wang Ke Sect Master laughed loudly, and then stood up, "...... From now on, the head of this sect will ascend the throne again, and as for you, you will also have the reward of the princes......"

“…… Thank you, Your Majesty! Your Majesty is the king of Ming, who will recreate China and dominate the world! ”

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So, in early March of the seventh year of Chongzhen, Wang Ke, the leader of the Wenxiang Sect who got rid of the house arrest of the Qing court from the south and fled all the way back to the main altar of Shifokou in Luanzhou, after waiting for a few months, once again raised troops in Shifokou to claim the emperor, announced the establishment of the "Mahayana State", and issued the prime minister with official positions such as the Metropolitan Procuratorate of the three provinces and six ministries, as well as a large number of dukes, marquis and earls titles, to "reward" many chaotic followers.

Immediately afterwards, when he learned that the sect leader Wang Ke had risen, hundreds of thousands of Smelling Fragrance Sect members all over the northern land immediately responded with troops. Zu Dashou, who was sitting in Beijing, was shocked when he heard the news, and hurriedly suppressed the Wenxiangjiao rebellion in the Gyeonggi area, and then gathered 10,000 Guanning troops and rushed towards the Shifokou in Luanzhou.

I have to admit that although Luanzhou Shifokou is the foundation of the Wenxiang Sect for generations, Luanzhou is surrounded by the Great Wall to the north, the sea to the south, Shanhaiguan to the east, and Beijing City to the west, so there is little room for maneuver. If you can't take Beijing in one fell swoop after the army is raised, you will be in a difficult situation.

But after so many previous wars, His Majesty Wang Ke, as the leader of the Wenxiang Sect and the "Mahayana Emperor", also understands this truth. Therefore, after being proclaimed emperor, Wang Ke swept away the goods and grain hoarded in Shifokou, and coerced hundreds of thousands of hardcore believers, and gave up Shifokou before Zu Dashou's soldiers came to suppress it, and moved westward to southern Hebei, jumped out of the encirclement of the Guanning army, and suddenly made this dead end to life!

After the collapse of the Qing court, the Guanning army was confined to the Gyeonggi area for a long time due to internal division and containment, and failed to expand rapidly. And the westernmost part of Dengzhou Town, Chen Xinshuai, only hit Jinan, and even the entire territory of Shandong failed to hold a stable position. Therefore, after the Qing court withdrew from the north, hundreds of county towns in southern Hebei and northern Henan fell into anarchy, and the Wenxiang Sect forces immediately took advantage of the situation and established "secret governments" in many prefectures and counties. As soon as the sect leader arrived, these "underground parties" immediately turned from dark to light, and in the blink of an eye, they established an "eight-hundred-mile Mahayana country" from Baoding in the north to Kaifeng in the south!

Now these Smelling Fragrance Sect demons actually went to southern Hebei to resurrect, and the Jin King Zu Dashou, who had pounced in Luanzhou, naturally wanted to go south to conquer. However, at this time, the Guanning army had just been divided, not only was Wu Xiang taken away a considerable part of the troops, but even Zu Dashou's elite lineage, there were also many Wu soldiers and horses in southern Shanxi and Luoyang to confront each other, and then after deducting the left-behind troops in Beijing and Shanhaiguan, Zu Dashou had very limited mobile troops at hand, and was forced to temporarily gather some miscellaneous recruits to march south, and only as a result of hitting the Zhending Baoding line, he could no longer push it back, so he had to withdraw his troops.

After repelling Zu Dashou's attack, seeing that the Mahayana Kingdom had temporarily gained a firm foothold, Wang Ke announced that the capital would be set in Hebei Damingfu, renamed "Shenjing", and sent envoys to contact the "Great Zhou State" of Luoyang Wu Xiang, in an attempt to imitate the Three Kingdoms when Shu and Wu formed an alliance against Wei, and formed an alliance to resist Zu Dashou's Jin State. And Wu Xiang, the king of Zhou, who had just escaped from Beijing, was naturally happy to agree and formed a bloody alliance with Wang Ke.

As a result, when Nanzhili fell into the juxtaposition of the five emperors, the Central Plains also appeared in the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms of the North" in which the Zhou and Jin dynasties competed for hegemony.

But the problem is that among the three families, Wang Ke, the weakest Wenxiang Sect leader, has already claimed the title of emperor, while Zu Dashou and Wu Xiang are still only the kings of Jin and Zhou, and there seems to be a bit of an imbalance in status. Therefore, before concluding an alliance with Wang Ke, according to the opinions of a group of civil and military officials, Wu Xiang, the king of Zhou, set up an altar to worship the sky, set the capital Luoyang, and proclaimed himself the emperor of the Great Zhou. And Zu Dashou, the king of Jin who was entrenched in Beijing, suddenly heard that the two opponents were emperors, but he was only the king of Jin, and he felt that the price was really a little cheap. So after sending an envoy to communicate with Marshal Huangshi, who was guarding Liaodong, and now the "Ao Song" side did not mind a few more emperors in the Central Plains, he was also happy to upgrade his title to Emperor of the Great Jin Dynasty, with the capital in Beijing.

Next, it seems that God still thinks that the current "Romance of the Three Kingdoms of the Northland" is not lively enough, and a new player is stuffed in.

Lin Dan Khan, a descendant of the Mongolian golden family who has been forgotten by everyone for a long time, and the Chahar tribe who is entrenched in the Hetao, also announced that he inherited the throne of the Great Yuan Emperor in the summer of the seventh year of Chongzhen, and is qualified to participate in this game of competition in the Central Plains!

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As the last Mongol khan in official history, Lin Dan Khan was also a tragic figure similar to Emperor Chongzhen, and also had an amazing talent for death. The Mongol Khanate, which was originally handed over to him by his father, was somewhat similar to the early Holy Roman Empire, although the princes were divided and divided into different systems, and the authority of the khanate court was limited, but it still barely maintained a unified appearance by relying on the beliefs of Tibetan Buddhism and the ancestral legal system inherited from the time of Genghis Khan. However, under Lin Dan Khan's "religious reform", the Mongol Khanate, which had barely made do before, was soon completely divided and collapsed by him!

In Tibetan Buddhism, there are various schools such as yellow, red and white flowers. When Lin Dan Khan first ascended the throne, the Yellow ♂ Sect prevailed in the Mongolian steppe, and Lin Dan Khan was also a follower of the Yellow ♂ Sect at first. But when he was twenty-six years old, a living Buddha of the Red Sect came up from the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, and after meeting Lin Dan Khan, he cast a spell, which made the young Lin Dan Khan deeply impressed, named him a national teacher, and received an initiation, and since then he has converted to the Red Religion. Next, Lin Dan Khan squandered a huge amount of money to overhaul the Red Religion monastery, in an attempt to turn the Red Religion into the state religion of the entire Mongolian steppe!

As we all know, the Reformation was all about bloodshed. As a result, just like the Thirty Years' War in Europe during the same period, fierce religious wars broke out in the Mongolian steppe, and the Khan court that believed in the Red Religion and the various tribes that believed in the Yellow ♂ Religion were completely torn apart.

After defeat, the frightened Lin Dan Khan no longer dared to compete with the Jurchens, and ordered to abandon his ancestral homeland and lead his troops to move west to the Hetao area to avoid the invasion of the Jurchen iron cavalry. The Mongol tribes were so disappointed by this that they rebelled and did not want to continue to follow the Great Khan.

According to the original history, after the victory in the Battle of the Great Ling River, the first generation of Tianjiao Emperor Taiji will lead the Jurchen Eight Banners to the west to conquer the Hetao, and strike the final blow against Lin Dan Khan, who is still breathing, and completely destroy the hegemony of Genghis Khan's descendants. But in this time and space, because the Qing army found an opportunity to enter the Central Plains in a big way after winning the Battle of the Daling River, and could no longer take care of the barren Saibei, it invisibly let Lin Dan Khan escape.

Therefore, after retreating to Hetao for a few years, because he has not been attacked by the military, Lin Dan Khan has gradually gained a firm foothold here. But his situation is still very difficult, because the continuous disasters of the Xiaoice River period at the end of the Ming Dynasty also affected the Mongolian steppe, making the Hetao, once known as the "Saiwai Jiangnan", a heavy snowfall for many years, crops were not harvested, livestock froze to death in large numbers, and even a plague broke out.

For this reason, Lin Dan Khan had no choice but to go south to plunder the Han land in an attempt to solve the problem of food for the Chahar tribe. Unexpectedly, at this time, the Central Plains fell apart, and the border fortresses attacked and killed each other, and in the face of the southward attack of the Mongols, the resistance that could be organized was extremely weak. Lin Dan Khan's Chahar Mongol cavalry easily invaded Ningxia and northern Shaanxi, occupying a large area south of the Great Wall, and could not help but be very happy.

Later, Lin Dan Khan heard that the Ming Dynasty had died, and the Jurchen Eight Banners, which made him extremely afraid, were almost finished, and the Central Plains had no master, so he was even more overjoyed, thinking that he was destined to return. So, Lin Dan Khan tied up a few trembling Han Confucian students, asked them to persuade themselves to enter the table, and then ascended the throne in Ningxia Mansion, proclaimed himself Emperor Dayuan, set his capital in the Naturalization City of Hetao, and announced that he would restore Kublai Khan's country.

Although Lin Dan Khan's real military strength was very weak, the Zhou and Jin countries, which were entangled in the Central Plains, could not take care of the northwest corner, and around the Hetao, there were no strong enemies that could threaten the Chahar Department for the time being, so this nondescript Great Yuan Empire actually survived temporarily.

At this point, with the Qing Dynasty Dajin (Dolgon's separatist force) Da Zhou, Da Jin, Da Mahayana Da Yuan, a series of new countries, in the old territory of the Ming Empire was established one after another, the unification era belonging to the Ming Dynasty officially ended, and since then it has entered the Warring States era of competing for hegemony.

At the same time, it seems that the remaining territory of the Ming Dynasty is still too large, and in this year, a bunch of emerging countries under various banners have also suddenly emerged in the southern provinces of China, which are unscrupulously gnawing on the remnants of the Ming Dynasty......