Chapter 525: The Northern and Southern Dynasties

On February 16, the Ming Dynasty officials in Nanjing submitted a letter to the crown prince Zhu Cilang, who succeeded to the throne as emperor because Emperor Chongzhen died for his country.

On February 20th of the First Year of Hua, Zhu Cilang became emperor and his emperor name was Hongguang. In history without Li Meng, this emperor name should have been inherited by one of his distant brothers.

Liu Zongzhou was appointed as the chief minister of the cabinet and the Minister of Rites, and Ma Shiying was appointed as the deputy assistant and the Minister of War. The Grand Secretary of the cabinet was not allowed to manage the Ministry of War according to the rules of the Ming Dynasty. Sometimes, exceptions were extremely favored by the emperor. Now everything in the Jiangnan area is hasty and can only be handled specially.

The eunuch Liu Yuanbin, the governor of Nanjing, was the leader of the eunuch, who was in charge of the inner palace and the Nanjing Jinyiwei, Huang Degong was the general of Yingtian, and Liu Liangzuo was the general of Zhenjiang, guarding the important places in Nanjing.

When he ascended the throne, Zuo Liangyu, the Marquis of Ningnan in Jiujiang, was granted the title of Ningnan Duke and the first-class title of Ming Dynasty. In other words, Zuo Liangyu and Li Meng are now the same title, if they are in the same system.

Most of the generals received titles, Huang Degong was named Zhongyong Bo, and Liu Liangzuo was Yi Yong Bo. In the past, if a general wanted to get a title, he would have to make great contributions.

Now that the small court in Jiangnan was established, Emperor Hongguang gave up his titles like he didn't want money. Liu Zongzhou claimed to be a square man, but he kept silent about this matter that violated the rules of etiquette.

The territory controlled by the small court was the Jiangnan part of the Southern Zhili, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Fujian, Guangdong, Yunnan, Guizhou, Guangxi, and Sichuan. It also looked half of the country, but if you count it carefully, Jiangxi was equivalent to the territory of Zuo Liangyu, the king of Ningnan. Fujian was the independent kingdom of the Zheng family. The distance between Guangdong, Guangxi and Yunnan and Guizhou was too far away, and the distance could not relieve the near thirst. Looking at the situation in Sichuan, it was either taken away by refugees or Shandong.

The ones that could be truly controlled were Jiangnan and Jiangxi. The force he relied on was the tens of thousands of soldiers of Lu Jiude, the troops of Huang Degong and Liu Liangzuo, the troops brought back by Ma Shiying from Fengyang, and the nobles represented by the Xu family, the garrison of Nanjing.

In such a situation, there is no saying that the imperial court is armed. Basically, the soldiers and horses everywhere are controlled by themselves in their own hands, and the soldiers are the generals. To put it bluntly, this situation is warlordization. Several warlords have joined together to support the existence of the emperor. Now that the soldiers are in their hands, they are in strength, and no one will hand over the military power. Whether the emperor can mobilize it depends on the attitude of the warlords towards the young emperor.

What's more, Zhu Cilang is not old and has been raised in the palace since he was a child. He is confused about the matter of governing the country and seizing the world. It is all taught by Lu Jiude and Liu Zongzhou, and there is no prestige. The only way is to spread the title and win over the hearts of the people.

During this period, Northern Zhili killed people every day. Except for Hejian Prefecture and Yongping Prefecture, the people in other parts of Northern Zhili had a good impression of Shandong.

Jiaozhou Camp is not only a light exploitation of local governments, but also very reasonable. As long as you do it according to the rules set by him, you will definitely not cause any trouble.

People are bullied by others, and the government is so easy to talk to. Many powerful people among the people have begun to think about making some tricks to see if they can make some profits from this Jiaozhou camp.

With this mentality, Emperor Chongzhen was killed and a large number of defeated soldiers poured in. The security of several prefectures around the capital suddenly collapsed, and the defeated soldiers were burning, killing and looting everywhere. Villages that had been peaceful for a while became nervous again. The wealthy families mobilized their servants and the people to protect themselves, while the small families fled to Hejian Prefecture or Yongping Prefecture.

However, this situation did not last long. Immediately afterwards, the Hebei Army in Jiaozhou Camp, the armed Yanding and the village guard team began to enter in large numbers.

Jiaozhou Camp, which always gives people the impression of being harmonious and strict military discipline, exposed his iron-blooded side. The armed forces cleared everywhere. How could those defeated soldiers who were just candid? They were thinking that being caught would be hard labor, and they would escape when the time came.

Who would have thought that what Jiaozhou Camp did was to kill. He caught the defeated soldiers and beheaded on the spot, did not accept surrender, and did not treat the wounded. After being caught, he could only kill him.

At about the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, abnormalities will be pacified on the local area, and the road will not be collected at night and the door will not be closed. The name of Jiaozhou Camp can stop children from crying at night.

The people with distorted thoughts in the local area were silent, and no one dared to speak or move, desperately supporting the army and helping the money. Only then did everyone remember that the Shandong soldiers slaughtered more than 40,000 Tartar soldiers and horses in Northern Zhili, and placed them outside the capital.

Until the local area was killed, Zhang Jiang, the general of Hebei Army, issued an order to seal the sword, and could accept the surrender of the defeated bandits. All prisoners would be sent to the military farms everywhere for five to ten years of hard labor, and the level of their military farms should be adjusted according to their performance.

After receiving this news, the defeated soldiers and the bandits who took advantage of the chaos were really like a general amnesty. They were already scared of being killed by the Jiaozhou camp. What is the hard labor of a few years? It is better than being killed by these killing gods.

The Liu family in Jinzhou in Zhending Prefecture is finally proud. There is a problem with the powerful families in Northern Zhili, that is, the royal village in Northern Zhili has too many noble industries. If you want to make money, it will always cause conflicts of various types and such. Although there are many people in the Liu family who are officials, the royal bloodline is far behind compared to those noble children.

Now, everything is different. At present, the Liu family in Jinzhou is the only family with a relationship with Shandong. Li Meng also lacks people in his bag. He directly ascended Liu Qing as the governor of Northern Zhili and governed the various prefectures except Shuntian Prefecture. The business of the Liu family has expanded. The governor of Northern Zhili does not have this position at all, but now there is no official position in all prefectures, prefectures and counties in Northern Zhili that are more legitimate than this.

Liu Qingyang knew that he was playing the chess pieces, helping the army to move in Shanxi, logistics on the grassland, and intelligence investigation in northern Zhili, making connections, and handling military pay. These things were rewarded by the Duke of Qi. If he wanted to be even richer in the New Dynasty, it would depend on his performance.

Liu Qingyang from the Liu family was lost in the tide of the times in the era without Li Meng. However, in this era, some people appreciated and promoted it, and soon shone with their own light. Although Li Meng asked Liu Qingyang to maintain the Hebei area for a long time, Liu Qingyang was actively observing the actions of Henan and Shandong, as well as Hejian Prefecture and Yongping Prefecture, which were ruled by Shandong for a period of time. No one told him to start to clean up the land everywhere, and re-invent the Huangzhuang Real Estate, register and register, and hand over the statistical results to Li Meng.

Liu Qingyang's move was indeed appreciated by Li Meng. He must not remember it in his heart, and it will be of great use in the future.

The surrender document of Shanhaiguan General Gao Di was issued on the 12th day of the first lunar month. He and his soldiers were blocked in a small place on Funingwei, and the news was extremely blocked.

After knowing the situation outside, Gao Di, the general of Shanhaiguan, regretted it too late. All he could do was to send the surrender documents to the Duke of Qi as soon as possible.

When Gao Di sent the surrender document, he was also scheming. Wu Sangui, the general of Ningyuan regiment training, who was more obscured than his news, did not inform him.

He could understand in his heart that people like Duke Qi who accomplished great things must be quite strong. Although he made a little late, he would be forgiven. On the second day of the second month, he received a notice that the general Zhang Jiang, the Hebei general, personally led 6,000 troops to the city of Funingwei.

Surrender, one tael of silver and one soldier, preserve the family property and become a rich man. The conditions in Shandong were made in a straightforward manner. After hearing this, Gao Di, the general of Shanhaiguan, felt that it seemed like five thunder was thunder. In this position, he responded to the response. How could he give up easily like a local emperor?

But what if you don’t lose it? Can you fight with Shandong soldiers? Gao Di is not sure about this. His several soldiers and horses are all in the hands of the other party, and they are completely defeated. How can he fight?

Now Gao Di has understood that the best result is to save the family property and family as Shandong requires, and to be a rich man in the rest of his life. He is unwilling to give up so many things and such a position.

The reason why he decided to surrender was very simple. Zhang Jiang, the general of Hebei Army, brought sixteen-pound field artillery this time, removed the cannons from the city, loaded ammunition, and bombed them out in one shot.

Among the current watercraft ships in Jiaozhou Camp, there are longer caliber guns with larger caliber guns, but in land warfare, this is the most powerful firearm. When one shot was fired, the wall of Funing Wei was blown open, and the bricks and stones were shattered. The guards on the city had already flashed far away, but when they saw this gap, everyone was shocked. With such a shot, the wall was opened directly.

If the force is so different, why not fight? Will the enemy soldiers wearing armor and muskets and spears come in to massacre?

Fortunately, the officer guarding the city wall was Gao Di's confidant, and he still had some conscience. Before surrender, he hurried to Gao Di's mansion in the city and talked about the situation outside the city. Gao Di completely lost his heart. He sent someone to shout at the top of the city to temporarily stop the offensive.

In the afternoon of that day, Gao Di led his army generals to surrender, handed over all military power, and brought his family property to live in Shandong with his own family property.

On the second day after Emperor Hongguang ascended the throne in Nanjing, the governor of Shanxi and the officials of Shanxi prefectures and counties jointly wrote a letter to the Duke of Qi, requesting Jiaozhou Camp to enter Jin to maintain public order. All officials in Shanxi were willing to accept the arrangements of Duke of Qi.

On the first day of the first month of the first year of Hua, Duke Li Meng of Qi called himself the King of Qi. On the same day, Shandong issued a "selling policy for handling and selling land without owners" to the world, and the world was noisy.

The Hongguang regime in Jiangnan was called the Southern Ming Dynasty by the world. Some literati wrote lilac poems and mocked him: it was bustling with people, and the new dynasty looked like, but I don’t know whether it was Chen or Tang.
Chapter completed!