Great time travel

Chapter 163 Two emperors share one court

Regardless of the ups and downs and twists and turns of the process, when the calendar turned to December, the flames of war burning in Nanjing finally gradually extinguished.

Therefore, Zhou Yanru, the first assistant who survived the near death, wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, and prepared to clean up the mess and rebuild the Nanjing court with the help of the "Friends of the Qing Dynasty".But this work first encountered a big problem. The Yonghe Emperor Zhu Yihai supported by the Donglin Party had already shaved his hair and changed into a monk's robe before the outbreak of the Nanjing War. He didn't know where he went.Since then, there has been a lot of chaos, and Zhou Yanru didn't bother to search.Now that the imperial court is about to be rebuilt, I just noticed this trouble, and immediately sat down—even the emperor is gone, whose family's chief assistant is Zhou Yanru?
You can't learn from the Poles to play aristocratic republic, and you still have a veto right? !The scholar-bureaucrats of the Ming Dynasty don’t seem to have this concept these days!
However, before Zhou Yanru could decide which clan of Zhu Ming should support and proclaim himself emperor, the "Friends of the Qing Dynasty" had already helped him solve this problem.

——Looking at the fat middle-aged man standing coweringly beside Huang Taiji, Zhou Yanru, the chief assistant of the Ming Dynasty, couldn't help swallowing with difficulty.

"...This is... the son of King Fu... Uh, no, should it be King Shaofu?"

"... Exactly, this is Daming's Shaofu Wang Zhu Yousong, who was listed on the genealogical jade plate. I guarantee that he is the real thing at a fair price, and he will be exchanged for fakes!"

Huang Taiji patted the middle-aged fat man's shoulder with a smile, and announced, "...Mr. Zhou, you Donglin gentlemen who reformed the old and established the new in the south of the Yangtze River are now at odds with that Chongzhen kid. And the whole family of King Fu also died in The hand of the Emperor Chongzhen who was dethroned is a common enemy with you. You might as well get closer in the future... Also, I heard that your original emperor has disappeared, and the throne in Nanjing is vacant. Need someone to sit? I see this A Shaofu king is very suitable, and it should be no problem for him to ascend the throne and proclaim himself emperor! Well, in order to prevent the night from having many dreams, let's make this decision!"

——Speaking of which, the fate of the young Fu Wang Zhu Yousong in this time and space can also be called extremely rough: the family of the father (Old Fu Wang) was suspected of treason, and the Emperor Chongzhen sent troops to crusade, and the whole family was wiped out.Only this Shaofu king, Zhu Yousong, escaped from the tunnel while taking advantage of the chaos. Under the cover of his confidant eunuchs and servants, he went into exile in the Lianghuai area. The rebels were captured.

Knowing that such a high-ranking prisoner of the Ming Empire had been captured, Wang Ke, the leader of Wen Xiang, was also very interested, thinking that this guy was a rare commodity to live in.But because the situation in the world was too chaotic at that time, Wang Ke didn't think about how to use this guy for a while, so he ordered Zhu Yousong to be imprisoned in Xuzhou Palace.Next, the Qing army succeeded in raiding Xuzhou, and the Shaofu king Zhu Yousong in the cell was immediately overthrown again and became a captive of Huang Taiji.

At this moment, His Royal Highness Fu Wang was thrown out by Huang Taiji as a "symbol of the transitional period" for the Qing Dynasty to rule Jiangnan.

Obviously, His Majesty the Qing Emperor's mind-blowing approach caught the scholars in the south of the Yangtze River by surprise.

Looking at the potbellied, sluggish-looking His Royal Highness King Fu, Zhou Yanru broke into cold sweat, profuse sweat, and waterfall sweat for a while!
Will it be no problem to make this Shaofu Wang Zhu Yousong the emperor?
This is obviously the big problem, okay? ! !

Indeed, according to the rules of feudal etiquette, if the royal lineage of Emperor Chongzhen is not considered, then the Ming clan closest to the emperor's bloodline is the family of King Fu in Luoyang - King Fu is the son of Emperor Wanli, Emperor Chongzhen and Uncle of Emperor Tianqi, Emperor Wanli had intended to depose the crown prince (Emperor Taichang) and let this youngest son inherit the throne... Moreover, Emperor Chongzhen really disregarded family affection in order to recruit troops to prepare for the war and raise military pay for the crusade against the Donglin Party in the south of the Yangtze River. Killed the whole family of King Fu.It seems that this King Shaofu and the Donglin Party should be able to speak well.

But the problem is, it is true that King Fu and Emperor Chongzhen have a new enmity, but it is also an old enmity with the Donglin Party members in Jiangnan!
I remember that in the battle for the establishment of the crown prince in the last year of Wanli, the Donglin Party at that time stood clearly on the opposite side of King Fu.In order to thwart Emperor Wanli's attempt to let his youngest son, King Fu, inherit the throne, the early Donglin gentlemen exhausted all kinds of tricks and tricks, and finally put the old King Fu He was rushed to Luoyang.The whole Donglin Party was very proud of this, and they also labeled it as a great achievement that lasted through the ages... If Zhu Yousong, the son of King Fu, was promoted to the throne now, wouldn't it be tantamount to slapping himself in the face?
But the question is, is Zhou Yanru, who is unarmed, able to say "no" to the bloody knife of the Qing emperor?

Therefore, no matter how painful the slap in the face was, the small group of the Nanjing Donglin Party headed by Zhou Yanru could only thank the Manchurian master for the slap with tears in his eyes.

Of course, he can also find a rope to hang himself to die like those ethical scholar-bureaucrats in the history books, and use his full name as Jie.

But the question is, now that he has reached this point, does Zhou Yanru still have any reputation to speak of?
As I said before, the vast majority of people who seek death in the world, if a suicide fails, they usually don't have the courage to immediately start a second suicide.Today's Zhou Yanru, in order to fight for power and profit in the troubled times, has even done such things as supporting a false emperor and borrowing the help of captives to suppress them. Naturally, there is not much left of this morality.Isn't it just supporting the King of Fortune, what's so great about it?Is it worth dying for it?

So what if you slap yourself in the face?Face slapping is something like that, you just get used to it.

Besides, even if Zhou Yanru wanted to "repay the king with his death", Chongzhen Emperor Zhu Youjian and Yonghe Emperor Zhu Yihai probably would not accept his love!
Therefore, on the third day of December in the sixth year of Chongzhen, under the persuasion of Zhou Yanru, the chief assistant of the former cabinet, Zhu Yousong, the king of Shaofu, ascended the throne in Nanjing Imperial City and proclaimed himself emperor. He changed his year name to Hongguang, and was known as Emperor Hongguang in history.At the same time, he worshiped the Qing Emperor Huang Taiji as his adoptive father, and called himself "Emperor Son".

Next, as the saying goes, one emperor and one courtier, since Nanjing has Emperor Hongguang, there should also be corresponding courtiers.But the problem is that during the previous war, almost all the ministers and servants of the Nanjing court escaped, leaving only two or three big cats and kittens headed by Zhou Yanru. team.Besides, the Eight Banners of the Qing Dynasty launched an all-powerful army, sacrificed so many warriors, and finally captured the city of Nanjing. Is it necessary to carry forward the spirit of selfless internationalism and really let Ming Dynasty restore the country here?

Faced with this situation, His Majesty Huang Taiji once again fully developed his divergent thinking, and put forward the rationalization proposal of "one imperial court with two brands"——I saw Huang Taiji patted Zhu Yousong's shoulder with a smile, The timid "Emperor Son" said: Son, since you worship me as a foster father, then we are a family.A family should not be separated from each other. My court is your court, and my courtiers are your courtiers. This saves trouble and money!Since then, the Qing and Ming have merged into one, and there will be no more conflicts. Isn't it a good thing?
——In the past, Shi Jingtang, the emperor of the late Jin Dynasty, ceded the sixteen prefectures of Youyun, and called Yelu Deguang, the lord of the Khitan, the son of the emperor, and left him with eternal infamy, but even so, he did not invite Yelu Deguang to Bianliang (Kaifeng). Or move to Shangjing in the Liao Kingdom by yourself, and come to court with father and son together...

Zhu Yousong's feelings about this matter must be very distressed, but the problem is that he, the emperor, also does not have the right to say "no".

In short, just like many troops of European countries in later generations, they belong to both NATO and the European Union.Now the Qing court, which followed Huang Taiji to Nanjing, quickly put up two signs, each official holding the same official position in both Ming and Qing Dynasties.For example, Hong Chengchou, who had just shaved his hair a year ago and left a money rattail braid, found out dumbfoundingly that he had become a cabinet scholar of Emperor Hongguang of the Ming Dynasty again... From then on, every day in the Nanjing Imperial Palace At that time, there were two people sitting on the altar of the Golden Luan Hall. The Qing emperor Huang Taiji naturally sat on the dragon chair, while the Hongguang emperor Zhu Yousong took a bench and sat at Huang Taiji's feet. The two emperors received civil and military exercises together. The pilgrimage ceremony of hundreds of officials...

In the end, as a reward for Zhou Yanru's knowledge of current affairs, Huang Taiji let him continue to serve as the chief assistant, and he also accepted the appointment of the two emperors Huang Taiji and Zhu Yousong at the same time. The chief assistant of the cabinet of the Qing Dynasty.In addition to having no power at all, and not even an office location, it can be said that the scenery is infinite, directly following the legendary Mr. Su Qin who "has the seal of the six kingdoms" in the Warring States Period! !
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Although under Huang Taiji's brainstorming, there appeared in Nanjing the strange phenomenon of "two emperors in the same palace" and "the two countries share the imperial court and the capital", but for the gentlemen in the south of the Yangtze River who have lost their integrity, there is basically nothing left. Said that as long as it does not violate their interests, everything is negotiable.

But the problem is that it is impossible for Huang Taiji not to offend their interests-the demands of these gentlemen and gentry in the south of the Yangtze River are that they are not even willing to pay taxes.But Huang Taiji's plan is to confiscate all their farms and mansions, and by the way, relegate this group of scholars to slaves in clothes!

After the battle of Nanjing ended, Huang Taiji took stock of the military strength at hand and found that there were still 2 Manchurian bannermen, [-] northern Han troops, and more than [-] newly recruited surrendered Ming troops and the former Nanjing court Yangtze River Sailor and so on.

Obviously, with just [-] Manchurians, there is no way to gain a firm foothold in the unfamiliar Jiangnan.

Therefore, according to the principle that "he who has a strong army and a strong horse can be the emperor", Huang Taiji believed that his most urgent task was to win over the hearts of the army.Try to turn the soldiers other than the Manchurians into real people. For this reason, let them "have perseverance" and seize the property of the landlords and gentry in the south of the Yangtze River to satisfy their appetite... Of course, this is the way to do it If it is not, it will definitely offend the powerful Donglin Party landlord and gentry group in the south of the Yangtze River.But through this period of contact, Huang Taiji has also seen through their essence, and feels that this group of people is simply a group of unfamiliar white-eyed wolves. Back then, the Emperor Chongzhen treated them so kindly and gave them so many privileges. He just appointed a political enemy of the Donglin Party as the chief assistant, and they wanted to support a false emperor to rebel.Now that he, the Khan of a foreign race in Liaodong, is the emperor, how can he expect these white-eyed wolves to be convincing and loyal to him?
Since the Jiangnan scholars are a gang of scourges no matter what, and they will rebel sooner or later, it is better to kill them and eat them early.

Therefore, on the second day after Emperor Hongguang ascended the throne, Huang Taiji issued a murderous imperial decree, announcing: "...Nanjing is a city full of treacherous people, all of whom have secretly communicated with the abolished Emperor Chongzhen. Therefore, all the people are demoted as slaves." , take all their wealth and houses, and reward the warriors of the Qing Dynasty! Those who dare to resist will be killed without mercy!"

In an instant, the remaining 50 citizens in Nanjing, whether they were traffickers, pawns, scholars, or even royal relatives and official families, were all demoted from free people to coated slaves.And the mansions and properties of these citizens will naturally all belong to their future owners!
For a while, the whole city of Nanjing was in a panic.Countless citizens flocked to the city gates everywhere, trying to escape from the slave camp, but they were stopped by the prepared Qing army, and they drove back with a mess of sticks and whips—the gates were blocked, and the gates on the city walls were blocked. The artillery was aimed at the city. Tens of thousands of soldiers of the Qing army, including those who had just surrendered from the Ming Dynasty, were all armed with swords and guns, eagerly staring at the citizens in the city, as if they were looking at a group of lambs waiting to be slaughtered!

In the end, these 50 citizens finally discovered that they have become a bird in a cage, and they can no longer escape, and they are destined to become slaves.So some hanged themselves, some jumped into the Qinhuai River, and more accepted their fate in despair. The whole family sat on the street and howled.

Accompanied by the loud cries of the citizens of Nanjing, the soldiers of the Qing Empire all got mansions, money and slaves, and naturally they had to have farms next.For this reason, Huang Taiji issued an imperial decree on the sixth day of the twelfth lunar month: "...all the people in the prefectures and counties near Beijing who have no owner of wasteland, and the emperors, son-in-laws, princes, marquises, uncles, eunuchs, etc. of the Ming Dynasty who died in the war Countless, many unclaimed lands... Let them all be distributed to the kings, ministers, soldiers, etc. who came from the north."

Since then, the Qing Empire has launched a vigorous "horse race enclosure movement" in the south of the Yangtze River.

——Although according to Huang Taiji's statement, the enclosed land should be all unowned wasteland, but when it comes to implementing the policy, in fact, it is often occupied by one piece of owned and unowned land.Later, they simply selected farms that were cultivated by people. In this way, not only did they have fields, but they also had serfs who cultivated the land.Huang Taiji also specially stipulated the standards. According to the title and official position, as well as the number of military exploits, each soldier and clerk of the Qing Dynasty can be allocated a certain number of farmland and slaves... So far, the society in the Qing-occupied area in the south of the Yangtze River The system has completely regressed back to the era of serfdom.

At the same time, after learning that the Jiangnan side had started to "distribute welfare" wantonly, the various Qing troops (mainly the loyal and unreliable Han army, as well as other Manchu forces who originally opposed Huang Taiji) stranded in Jiangbei ) and other armed forces also crossed the south of the Yangtze River from Yangzhou and other places, wanting to get a share of the pie.And Huang Taiji, who is determined to lay a foundation in the south of the Yangtze River, never refuses these new recruits, announcing that he will "equalize the rich and the poor"—since the local tyrants in the south of the Yangtze River are so rich, we poor people in the north will equalize their wealth !So that everyone has a house, a land and a woman!

Although such revolutionary words were spoken by Huang Taiji, an alien invader, it felt awkward no matter what.However, many more awkward things have happened, and there is no difference between these one and two things. In short, the Qing government followed the principle of "granting land by counting Ding", and all generals and soldiers who crossed the river to seek refuge with Huang Taiji, Everyone can get a certain amount of land according to the level.Of course, the serfs who cultivated the land had to be caught by themselves.In this way, they forged countless grievances in the south of the Yangtze River, and had to rely on themselves, the emperor.

All of a sudden, tens of thousands of northerners happily came to Nanjing, the largest city in the world, to settle down.Many guys who were originally small army leaders or even bandit leaders lived in deep houses, sat in eight-carried sedan chairs, and slept with Qinhuai beauties.Everyone seemed to have won the first prize in the lottery, and fell into the joy of entering "paradise".

As a result, the Qing Empire quickly gained a large number of hardcore supporters in the south of the Yangtze River, but those Nanjing people who were demoted to slavery, especially those women with small feet and the elderly and weak, not only lost their freedom, but also separated from their husbands and wives and families. They were also forced to do rough and tiring work that they had never done before, such as sewing clothes for the Qing army, transporting military rations, and even building government offices and excavating fortifications. Many people were soon exhausted to death.

Of course, such a simple and crude "land reform" policy will naturally lead to serious backlash and even armed resistance in the countryside of Nanjing.However, relying on the continuous acquisition of soldiers from Jiangbei, the Qing army easily crushed the desperate struggle of the local gentry.

However, as the ranks of the Qing army expanded day by day, the fields and serfs near Nanjing City were not enough.However, Huang Taiji said very wisely: It doesn't matter, there is not only Yingtian in the south of the Yangtze River, there is still a lot of land that has not been enclosed!As a result, soldiers and gangsters holding the banner of the Qing Dynasty launched a vigorous campaign against local tyrants in Taiping Mansion, Ningguo Mansion and Zhenjiang Mansion soon after. Everywhere——Just like the Comrade Ah Q described by Lu Xun, his motivation for going to the "revolution" was nothing more than "ingots, foreign money, and foreign gauze shirts" plus "Ning-style beds for talented ladies". I am afraid that the ideological awareness in the midst of the war is not as good as that of Comrade Ah Q!
Faced with such a purgatory scene of devastated lives and bustling prosperity, Emperor Hongguang, who was purely a puppet, naturally did not dare to speak or act.

On the contrary, Zhou Yanru, a powerless and powerless chief assistant, really couldn't stand it any longer, so he took the courage to find an opportunity and put forward advice to Huang Taiji, hoping that the Qing Empire could restrain the soldiers, treat the gentry well, and give the Donglin Party High-ranking officials and rich salary, and at the same time exempting them from the burden of money and food, so that the gentry of the world can return to their hearts, and reproduce the grand occasion of "all beings and prosperity" in the early years of Chongzhen, making Haiqing, Heyan, and the world a great order.

However, Huang Taiji was not at all interested in the grand occasion of "Zhongzheng Ying Dynasty", but was very interested in the family property of "Zhongzheng". He had already made up his mind to restore slavery in Jiangnan, so he immediately retorted that, as far as he knew, the The scholars here are not honest gentlemen, but a group of shameless people without fathers and kings. They are not worthy of living between heaven and earth. It is the benevolence of the Qing court that did not punish them. What about more benefits?Now that the Qing Dynasty is in trouble, it is only natural to borrow their children's money to reward the generals.

——The reason why scholars in the feudal dynasty often act arrogantly is because no matter who is the emperor in this world, in order to maintain a unified imperial bureaucracy, they must treat cultural people like them with courtesy.However, when the rulers are determined to learn from medieval Western Europe, restore the feudal lord system, and no longer need a bureaucracy, then these cultural people become useless.

The stunned Zhou Yanru had no choice but to say that if the Qing Dynasty insisted on doing this, the land in the south of the Yangtze River might not be easy to calm down.On the other hand, Huang Taiji patted the saber on his waist confidently: "...It doesn't matter, as long as I still have my bow and saber, so what if the unruly people in the south of the Yangtze River are not easy to calm down? Just kill them as an example!"

On the other hand, seeing that the master of the Qing Dynasty, who had finally been invited from Jiangbei, turned out to be the demon king Shura who wanted to confiscate the homes of scholars and bureaucrats like himself, the Jiangnan Donglin party members who regretted it hurriedly organized a private gathering to discuss how to deal with it. Self-help strategies in today's crisis...