Chapter 377: No War in Jiangbei

After passing through the middle right gate is the Cining Palace area, Chen Cao came with Zhao Xin after the next dynasty, and the person he wanted to see today was Zhang Yan, the empress of the Emperor of the Apocalypse.

There are still a lot of people serving in the entire Cining Palace, and Chen Cao takes care of people, and almost transferred more than half of the eunuchs in the Nanjing Palace.

As soon as he entered the palace, the palace maid and eunuch knelt on the ground, and Chen Cao said a few words and entered the main hall of Cining Palace.

Zhang Yan sat expressionlessly in the inner curtain, waiting for two palace maids next to her.

Chen Cao waved away the people in the hall, and then slowly walked in front of Zhang Yan, and arched his hand very respectfully: "Empress Zhang..."

Zhang Yan raised her eyes and glanced at Chen Cao, her heart was mixed, the man in front of her used to be her man's right-hand man, but now, he is a usurper traitor.

Seeing that he didn't answer, Chen Cao sat down by himself: "Imperial sister-in-law..."

Chen Cao was included in the genealogy by Zhu Youzhen after sealing the King of Liang, and was classified under the name of Zhu Changzhi, the fourth son of the Wanli Emperor, who died early, and became the heir of Zhu Changzhi.

Zhang Yan's tender lips opened lightly: "Chen..."

For a while, Zhang Yan didn't know how to call Chen Cao.

Chen Cao saw his embarrassment, so he smiled and said: "After I ascended the throne, I didn't change the name of the country, and even followed Emperor Taizu as Emperor Taizu, recognized the rule of Emperor Zhu, and also gave an order to the kings of the south, so that they could come to Nanjing immediately to congratulate, as long as they came, they would still be the prince in my Chen family in the future, so I have great respect for the Zhu family's royal family;

The imperial sister-in-law can also call me 'royal brother'..."

Zhang Yan was stunned, and then lamented: "It's all Your Majesty's fault..."

The majesty in his mouth is Zhu Youxiao, and Chen Cao also knows: "Imperial sister-in-law, the current safety of the Ming Dynasty is in my hands, if I Chen Cao falls, the entire Han family will become the slaves of Jiannu in the future, and even whether the Zhu family's royal family that was promised before can become kings is another matter." ”

Zhang Yan knew about Jiannu's inhumane behavior after breaking the pass, and after listening to Chen Cao's words, she raised her head: "Emperor... Brother Huang... What do you want me to do? ”

Chen Cao said word by word: "As the emperor and empress of the Apocalypse, I call on the world to expel the Tartars and restore China..."

"It's... It's that simple? Zhang Yan couldn't believe it: "Imperial brother, didn't you make such a holy decree after you ascended the throne, why do you still need my Zhu family to cooperate?" ”

Chen Cao smiled indifferently: "I am enthroned as the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, and I can ignore the Zhu family, but I am also a prince and a prince, and I am also willing to recognize the status of the Zhu family, I am so generous, presumably the Zhu family will not be stingy, right." ”

Zhang Yan thought for a while, and then asked, "But the imperial brother, are you worried that the southern kings will oppose it?" ”

"Hahaha..."Chen Cao laughed a few times and stood up, slowly pacing in the inner room: "Those people under my command suggested that I clean up the Zhu family's royal family, but I am merciful and do not want to kill again, but if the kings of the south want to raise a banner to rebel, I don't mind cleaning them all up, after all, the current surname Chen has nothing to do with the surname Zhu;

If you raise more vassal kings, to be honest, it will be a big burden for my prosperity in the future, if they come to Nanjing honestly this time, forget it, I will treat them as before, if they don't know the times, they have to work against me, hehe..."

Chen Cao's words Zhang Yan immediately understood the meaning, it was very simple, Chen Cao wanted to use Zhang Yan's mouth to make the southern kings submit, otherwise they would only be given cold guns and the final destruction of the royal family surnamed Zhu.

"What if they don't listen?"

Chen Cao paced behind Zhang Yan and snorted softly: "Hong Chengchou's hundreds of thousands of troops have gathered in Huguang Jiangxi, and the kings of the south... Aside from the strength of the King of Shu and the King of Chu, I really can't think of any strength they have to fight against those soldiers with muskets. ”

Zhang Yan is a woman after all, Chen Cao spoke behind her again, so frightened that she quickly stood up and avoided the side: "Emperor... Brother Huang... You... You have more respect for yourself..."

Chen Cao smiled: "Imperial sister-in-law, the intention of me to call you 'imperial sister-in-law' can be understood with your cleverness, after all, I, Chen Cao, have nothing to do with your Zhu family..."

Zhang Yan stood aside, a little cramped: "Why did you send someone to rescue us from Beijing?" ”

Chen Cao sat back in his place, with a serious face: "When I first saw the imperial sister-in-law outside Yingtai, I felt beautiful and moving, which made me always worry, in fact, I didn't hide it from the imperial sister-in-law, after seeing the imperial sister-in-law, I always liked the imperial sister-in-law, but because of the identity, but now it is not so much..."

"Don't talk about it..."

Zhang Yan's face was already red, and Chen Cao felt that he couldn't be too anxious when he saw this, so he comforted Zhang Yan a few words, and then deliberately stepped forward to force him into a corner, and came up with a wall knock trick, and said softly: "Sister-in-law and live in peace, if you need anything in the future, just tell me..."

Zhang Yan was so frightened that her face was red and her face was pale, and she didn't know what to do with it for a while.

Just when Chen Cao made further moves after Zhang Yan, who knew that Chen Cao smiled and stood away seriously: "Imperial sister-in-law, you think carefully, if you agree to my previous suggestion, please make a decision as soon as possible, otherwise when the group of princes and princes choose to establish themselves as emperors without knowing what they wanted, at that time, I... For the sake of the Daming Jiangshan Society, he had to make a heavy hand. ”

Chongzhen's queen Zhou is in Cining Palace, but she has just died her husband, Chen Cao will not provoke it, but just tell the eunuch palace maid to take good care of Cining Palace and then leave.

Two days later, Chen Cao received the first wave of military reports from Yangzhou.

According to reliable sources, on the third day of the reign of King Lu, the Tartars launched a general attack on Jinan, according to the spies on the periphery, mainly to the puppet army of Toucheng as the main force, the city of Jinan was broken for five days, Your Majesty, the Tartars slaughtered the city in Jinan...

In addition, Zhou Yuji, the chief soldier of Bauhinia Pass, and his wife covered the fleeing King of Jin, King Dai, and King Gu to go south, and it is estimated that they will soon arrive in Yangzhou. ”

Chen Cao listened to Zhao Xin's report, and then asked, "What did Zhu Yanrong say?" ”

"According to the report from Yangzhou, Zhu Yanrong has been in contact with our people, but there are still many diehards of the Zhu family in the Gaoyou army, as well as Qin Liangyu and others, and several captains of the horses heard that after the destruction of the Jingshi City, they even directly divided tens of thousands of troops to go north to King Qin, and it is estimated that they have died in Jinan;

According to Yichen's analysis, Zhu Yanrong is likely to choose to surrender when Gaoyou can't stop the Tartars. ”

Chen Cao gently knocked on the armrest of the throne, and then frowned: "Once Shandong falls, there will be a large number of refugees and guards rushing to come, and Zhu Yanrong's ability is not enough to envelop so many people, so I still believe that he will make a move in the near future." ”

A Jinyi guard captain came to the Qianqing Palace to roll call, and after entering, he saluted Chen Cao: "Your Majesty, the official letter sent by the headquarters of the Shence Army." ”

Chen Cao opened it and said: "Hong Chengchou's urgent report, the southern feudal kings surnamed Zhu have supported their troops to stand on their own, and refused to accept my order to go north to Nanjing, only the Tang King of Henan and the King Gui of Guangxi expressed their willingness to respond to Empress Zhang's suggestion. ”

Saying that, Chen Cao threw the official document on the imperial case in front of him: "Headed by the king of Chu, the king of Shu, and the king of Xiang, the kings of the south have all stood on their own... Fuyuan, what do you think? ”

After Chen Cao became emperor, in order to improve his status, he rarely called his subordinates.

Xu Fuyuan stood aside and thought for a long time: "Originally, Your Majesty was going to build a fief for the king of the Zhu family in Nanzhili, but now it is a good thing that there are so many people in the south who are rebelling, but you can order Commander Hong to pull one dozen and one, and you can use the Guiwang family and the Tang Wang family as a flaunt." ”

"Zhu Yujian, the prince of the Tang Domain, also helped fight me, although Li Yan surrendered, but this guy still ran away, and now he actually figured it out?" Chen Cao thought about it for a while, and then felt that Xu Fuyuan was still very reasonable, after all, Zhu Yujian in history was also the only bloody person in the Zhu family in the late Ming Dynasty, and he could be used as a pawn to give an explanation to the descendants of the Zhu family: "Since the Tang Fan and the Gui Fan are familiar with current affairs, as long as they arrive in Nanjing, I will not blame the past, and still regard them as hereditary Tang Kings and Gui Kings, and they can be officials, and the rest of the people will not have this opportunity in the future." ”

"Your Majesty, the kings of the Zhu family in Huguang and Jiangxi and other places, do you want to kill or stay?"

Chen Cao touched his chin and thought, and finally made a decision: "After all, the Zhu family has ruled the Ming Dynasty for more than 200 years, and it still has a status in the people's cognition, and the people will be enlightened in the future, if they are prejudiced against my treatment of the royal family of the previous dynasty after my death, it will still have an impact on the descendants of my Chen family, and it can be done according to Zhao Kuangyin's model, but it needs to be improved;

In this way, I am assured of Hong Chengchou's ability to do things, the kings of the south are basically empty shelves, and there will be no room to fight back under the blow of the rifle, and it is only a matter of time to clean them up, and send a decree to Hong Chengchou, telling him that as long as the king of the Zhu family chooses to surrender, he will stop fighting and surrender, and send them to Nanjing, remember to warn him not to kill the Zhu family clan without permission. ”

"Your Majesty is merciful..."

There were still many original officials in Nanjing, and when they heard Chen Cao say this, they all bowed down and sang praises of virtue.

Taking this opportunity, Xu Fuyuan bowed down: "Your Majesty, the minister has suggestions..."

"Speak..."

"In the past, when Emperor Taizu founded the country in Nanjing, the Northern Yuan Dynasty still had the northern land, and Emperor Taizu still made meritorious contributions, and the ministers knew His Majesty's good intentions, and the ministers also suggested that after the knighthood, they could decide whether their titles were hereditary, reduced, or liuju, or military merits and honors...

If His Majesty does this, it can not only avoid the excessive feudal title caused by redundancy and bring tax pressure to the dynasty, but also allow the meritorious heroes to be motivated in a certain form, avoid the phenomenon of the hereditary titles in the Zhu Dynasty period being eroded and the descendants useless, and cut off the idea of the father's generation fighting the country and the future generations enjoying the country. ”