kvmb Chapter 178: Pacification of the North
Chapter 178: Pacification of the North
15
Just when the troops of He Shixian, Tong Zhongkui and others were about to arrive at the capital, the rebel army that occupied Yanjing suddenly abandoned the city and fled, taking more than 7000 million taels of silver looted from the city and headed straight to the south.
Afterwards, the rebels happened to encounter the 60,000-strong army led by Lu Cheng, and a great battle broke out. The result was naturally no surprise. The rebels were defeated in the first battle. Except for a few who fled, the rest basically surrendered and handed over more than 70 million taels of silver and various supplies looted from Kyoto.
Afterwards, Lu Cheng left another 2,000 soldiers from Liaodong to reorganize the rebel army, and led the rest of the soldiers into the capital with more than 500 million taels of property.
Immediately afterwards, He Shixian, Tong Zhongkui and others also led their troops to the capital.
At this time in the capital, Emperor Tianqi and Prince Xin Zhu Youjian had both died, and the rest of the Zhu family's royal relatives were also basically killed. The throne was vacant and people were in turmoil.
After Lu Cheng's troops entered the capital, they immediately posted notices to reassure the people and sent out a large number of patrol soldiers to maintain law and order on the streets of Yanjing and stabilize the people's emotions.
At the same time, Lu Cheng also mobilized various food supplies and allowed all the grain and oil stores on the street to open for business. All other shops and restaurants were also open for business as usual. People could live their normal lives during the day, and the order in the entire Yanjing quickly stabilized.
In the winter of the sixth year of the Tianqi reign, the Ming Dynasty, which had lasted for more than 250 years, came to an end.
Inside the Forbidden City, Lu Cheng and a group of personal guards walked into the Huangji Hall, where the Ming Emperor held court.
When this hall was first built, it was called Fengtian Hall. Later, it was destroyed twice and renamed Huangji Hall after reconstruction. In the Qing Dynasty, it was renamed Taihe Hall. Walking into the hall and looking at the dragon throne in front of him, Lu Cheng's heart was inevitably a little turbulent.
After traveling through this world for nearly ten years, he had walked step by step from an unknown young general of the border army of the Ming Dynasty to where he is today, and finally arrived in front of this chair.
The country is so beautiful that it has attracted countless heroes.
It is this chair, this throne, for which countless heroes have devoted their entire lives and risked their lives for thousands of years.
Now, I have the opportunity to go up and feel it.
Lu Cheng walked to the lofty dragon throne, reached out and stroked the golden dragon on the back of the throne, then turned around and sat steadily on the throne.
Seeing this, the guards below immediately knelt on the ground and shouted, "Your Majesty!"
Lu Cheng waved his hand: "Alright, alright, get up, it's not the right time yet, keep a low profile."
Needless to say, the personal guards who were able to follow Lu Cheng were very loyal, and many of them were orphans from the Liaodong Welfare Institute.
After feeling the dragon chair, Lu Cheng was also somewhat emotional: "It is just such a chair. How many men in the world dream of sitting on it. However, the workmanship of this chair is indeed good."
Some people in later generations believed that the emperor's dragon throne was made of pure gold.
In fact, pure gold is extremely soft and has a very high density. If it is made into a large object, it will easily deform. Moreover, with the density of gold being nearly 20 times that of water, if you really want to make a dragon throne, the amount of gold consumed is not a small amount.
In fact, this dragon throne is made of golden nanmu wood, but it is coated with a layer of gold powder.
After sitting on the dragon throne for a while, Lu Cheng walked out of the Hall of Supreme Harmony, only to find that snowflakes were already falling from the sky.
A guard brought a fur cloak and put it on Lu Cheng.
Lu Cheng put his hand on the hilt of the knife, shook his cloak, stood up and walked outside.
At this moment, Lu Cheng is not suitable to live in this palace.
As they walked, Lu Cheng asked about the situation in the palace: "How many concubines, maids, and eunuchs are there in the palace? Have they all been settled now?"
"Your Excellency, when the rebels entered the Forbidden City, most of the eunuchs had died in the battle, and many of the concubines and maids had also fled. Now, there are about 1,200 concubines and maids left in the palace. There are only about 600 eunuchs left."
According to some historical records of later generations, when the Ming Dynasty palace had the largest population, there were 9,000 palace maids and 100,000 eunuchs.
Of course, this number may be a bit exaggerated, but even at the end of the dynasty, there are one or two thousand palace maids and concubines in the palace, and thousands of eunuchs.
Thousands and tens of thousands of people lived in a palace just to serve an emperor.
Just think about this number and it’s not difficult to understand why so many people want to be emperor.
During the Yongle reign of the Ming Dynasty, there were more than 8,300 rooms in the imperial palace. After many expansions and additions, the number of rooms in the Forbidden City has now exceeded 10,000. In the Qing Dynasty, the number of rooms changed again. More than 9,000 rooms have been preserved.
There are less than two thousand people left in the palace, and it sounds a bit deserted.
Shaking his head, Lu Cheng stopped thinking about it: "Let people clean up the Forbidden City as soon as possible. As for the eunuchs, maids, and concubines in the palace, keep them in the palace. Don't let them go out, and don't embarrass them."
"Yes, my lord."
Although the rebels who had entered Beijing before were under control and did not harass the people too much, there were too many of them after all, and there would always be some people who would take risks when faced with the temptation of money and women.
What's more, many high-ranking officials were purged by the rebels, and many people were killed.
The cleanup of the entire capital city will also take a lot of time.
After leaving the palace, Lu Cheng led his guards to the gate of a remote house in the city.
When the guard standing at the door saw Lu Cheng, he hurriedly bowed and saluted. Lu Cheng waved his hand and a guard opened the gate.
I walked into the yard and came into the house. There was a charcoal fire burning in the house, which was completely different from the outside world.
Lu Cheng glanced at the old eunuch who was sitting at the table drinking wine, smiled and cupped his hands: "Eunuch Wei, you are living a good life."
This old lady was none other than Wei Zhongxian, the powerful eunuch in the Ming Dynasty.
Wei Zhongxian looked Lu Cheng up and down and said, "Is this the General Lu who was so powerful in Liaodong and destroyed the Jian Nu? This is the first time I have seen him. He is indeed very brave and extraordinary."
"I have also heard of Eunuch Wei's great name for a long time."
"It's a pity that I am now just a prisoner. I wonder how Lord Lu is going to deal with me, an old man?"
"That depends on what Eunuch Wei chooses. He can enjoy his old age in peace, or he can..."
Lu Cheng did not say the next words, but the meaning was conveyed, and Wei Zhongxian naturally knew the implication.
"Sir Lu, I, Wei Zhongxian, have lived for so long, and I never easily believe in any promises."
"Eunuch Wei, you are joking. I have not made any promises. As for Eunuch Wei's money, it may not be a small amount, but I don't take it too seriously. I have destroyed the Jiannu. The property seized from the Jiannu's Hetuala City must be more abundant than Eunuch Wei's wealth. As for when Eunuch Wei wants to leave this yard and take a look outside, it is entirely up to you to decide."
After Lu Cheng finished speaking, he walked out without looking back.
At this time, Wei Zhongxian only had his adopted daughter Wei Ting by his side.
As for Wei Zhongxian's other subordinates, they were all dead, including that "Bibala Zhao Jingzhong".
According to the report from his guards, Zhao Jingzhong wielded the spear with great vigor, with a bit of the style of Zhao Zilong, but in the end he was hit by several bullets and fell to the ground and died.
As for Shen Lian, the important protagonist of Embroidered Spring Blade, he took advantage of the chaos to escape after the rebels attacked Kyoto City.
Lu Cheng specially sent someone to rescue Lu Wenzhao, and also took Pei Lun and Lu Jianxing away, but he did not care about Shen Lian.
I have to say that Shen Lian is indeed quite lucky, as he was able to escape from Yanjing City during the chaos.
However, Lu Cheng didn't care about these.
Apart from the "halo of the protagonist", Shen Lian was just a small captain of the Jinyiwei. He did not have any outstanding talents and was even prone to acting on impulse. He would always do bad things because of women, but would always be able to escape alone in the end.
In comparison, Pei Lun and Lu Jianxing both have some abilities and are hard-working and down-to-earth.
Lu Cheng planned to retain the Jinyiwei and merge it into his own intelligence agency in the future.
By the time Lu Cheng had arranged all the affairs in Kyoto, it was already the end of the year. War reports from various places were sent to Kyoto one after another.
Shanxi, Hebei, Shandong, Henan, Shaanxi, Gansu and Ningxia have been basically pacified, but the coastal areas in the south are still fighting. The chieftains in Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan are still fighting against the Ming army, and some Zhu family princes in the south are trying to save the Ming Dynasty...