Of course, the miracle that turned the tide did not happen.
This was because even more Qing troops had arrived at the battlefield. Fortunately, Li Daoxuan's path of retreat had already been forcefully opened. He led the remaining 400 Jinyiwei cavalry to rush out before the Qing army surrounded him. Then, he headed east and headed straight for Jizhou. As for Tian Jianxiu...
They also fled.
However, unlike Li Daoxuan, he led about three thousand of the Shun Army's main force into the forest and headed in the direction of Ji Province. As for their fate…
That had nothing to do with Li Daoxuan!
He continued to head east and arrived at Lulong three days later. At this time, the flag of the Ming army had been raised on the city wall of Lulong. Just as Li Daoxuan thought, when Wu Sangui received the imperial edict from Du Yinxi and led the army out of Shanhaiguan, Bai Guangen, who had just received the news of Li Zicheng's defeat in the Battle of Huairou, did not hesitate to abandon the darkness and join the light. He brought Funing, Changli, Lulong, Yongping Prefecture, and Luanzhou in the south, a total of 40,000 troops, to surrender to the Ming court again.
The reason why he said again was because this was already the second time.
Uh, he was a bandit.
"Drag him out and behead him!"
Li Daoxuan, who had reached Lulong and met up with Wu Sangui, looked at Bai Guangen, who was kneeling in front of him, and said with disgust.
"Eh?"
Bai Guangen was dumbfounded.
"Didn't you hear? Do I have to do it myself? Pass down my decree. In the future, all officials and generals who surrender will not be pardoned. Even those who surrender will not be pardoned. I do not need such officials. I have been too tolerant of them in the past, which is why they have fallen to the point where their ancestral temple is covered in dust and their relatives are killed. From today onwards, I have to harden my heart and set up rules. In the future, I do not want those capricious rebellious officials! I don't want any of them!"
Li Daoxuan said.
"Your Majesty, Your Majesty, Wu Sangui promised me to let bygones be bygones!”
Bai Guangen howled.
"Uncle Chang, did you promise him?”
Li Daoxuan asked Wu Sangui.
Bai Guangen also looked at Wu Sangui with anticipation.
"Your Majesty, I did promise him. Although Bai Ni surrendered to the bandits, he had fought for the court in Liaodong and Shaanxi in the past. I thought that he should be given a chance to turn over a new leaf.”
Wu Sangui said.
"In that case, I won't kill him for your sake, but I won't use such a person anymore. Exile him, exile him to Dongyi! Count of Nan 'an, I'll leave this guy to you. Not only him, but all of his capricious generals will be exiled to Dongyi. I will allow them to turn over a new leaf. There are still red-haired people and foreigners there. They can fight with Count of Nan' an. If they make any contributions, I will pardon them. As for their families, you don't have to implicate them.”
Li Daoxuan said to Zheng Zhilong.
"You fatuous ruler, you fatuous ruler!"
Bai Guangen cursed as if he was on the verge of collapse. Then, he got up and tried to run out, but he was immediately kicked down by Liang Cheng. A group of Embroidered Uniform Guards quickly went forward to take him down.
They didn't notice that the two trusted aides of Bai Guangen had run away as fast as they could. Just as the Brocade Guards dragged him out and locked him in a cage, preparing to send him back to Shanhaiguan to be used as cannon fodder in Dongyi, the mutiny of Bai Guangen's subordinates was inevitable. Those generals of the White tribe who knew that they would suffer the same treatment gathered their troops as quickly as possible before the Brocade Guards could catch them. Then, they attacked the county government where Li Daoxuan temporarily lived.
And then…
"I am here, who dares to cause trouble?"
Li Daoxuan stood in front of the county government and shouted.
As he spoke, he raised his hand and picked up the stone lion beside him. He did not even need two hands to pick up this small thing that weighed a few hundred pounds. He could pick it up with one hand and throw it out. It was like a huge cannonball that smashed into the street in front of the mutiny soldiers, smashing a huge pit in the ground.
The mutiny soldiers were as silent as cicadas in winter.
"Brothers, don't be afraid. Let's attack together and kill this dog Emperor!”
A White Commander waved his saber and shouted, but no one responded.
Then, a few soldiers silently dropped their weapons and knelt on the ground. Soon after, more and more soldiers knelt. They were not stupid. The Emperor exiled the generals, not the soldiers. Previously, they were just excited and filled with fantasy under the encouragement of these generals. But now that a basin of cold water was poured on them, they immediately woke up.
The generals looked at each other and quickly knelt down as if they had accepted their fate.
After all, they were only exiled, and their families were not implicated. All these years, they had all plundered tens of thousands of family wealth. As long as they followed Zheng Zhilong and made some military achievements, give this old pirate some benefits, and he would be pardoned and go home to retire.
The general who was wielding the saber looked at this scene in a daze. He held the saber like a clown. He wanted to rush forward to take a look at the stone lion, but he did not dare. In the end, he placed the saber on his neck and wanted to commit suicide, but he did not dare to pull down the last one. He was conflicted and suddenly lay on the ground and cried,"Emperor, please have mercy. We were all forced by that Bai Guangen.”
"Humph!"
Li Daoxuan sneered.
" Pass on my decree. From now on, if anyone who defected to me is captured, all the officials with grades will be exiled to Dongyi before they surrender. Those without grades will be demoted to civilians along with the soldiers. Not only them, but all the officials who defected to me in Yongping County will follow this example. I gave them a chance back then. Those who are truly loyal to me have followed me to Shanhaiguan. The rest of them are receiving my salary but want to have a foot in two boats. Do you think that I am someone you can deceive at will?
It was not only the officials who had rebelled, but all the other officials who had achievements in the court were disqualified from tax exemption. Since they had all read poetry and books, they should know the way of sages. Did the way of sages teach you to open the door to welcome thieves and kneel down to surrender to thieves? Scholar, tribute student, supervisor, juren, you all eat my salary and enjoy my tax exemption. When I need you, you all become fence-sitters. Now that I'm back, do you still want to continue? I don't blame the commoners for not eating my food, but those with achievements can't. In the future, they will pay all the taxes that should be paid to me like the commoners. In the future, all the lands that I have recovered will be treated like this!”
He continued.
Speaking of which, he had done his best to make use of the topic to express his abilities.
But he was confident!
He had the moral high ground!
First of all, there were those who ran to Shanhaiguan with him as a comparison. This could clearly distinguish between loyalty and disloyalty. Since they were disloyal, it would be reasonable and legal for him to punish them.
Needless to say, those officials were all paid by him, and although those scholars were different from the officials, they did not have to pay taxes in the Ming Dynasty. There were even some who enjoyed the imperial court's salary as a subsidy. In other words, they were all paid by him! You hold my rice bowl but are not loyal to me. This logic doesn't make sense no matter what, right? Isn't it right for me to exile those high-ranking officials? For those Elementary Scholars who enjoy my preferential treatment, is it wrong for me to cancel your preferential treatment?
No matter how you count it, I am righteous.
And then…
"Your Majesty, this, this, please reconsider, Your Majesty!”
Wang Yongji said.
Old Wang did not expect him to play this game. He was so scared that he ran all the way from Shanhaiguan.
If this was the case, who would surrender? Also, the abolition of the tax-free treatment was to push all the scholars in the occupied areas to the enemy's side. Those scholars were not just scholars, but almost all gentry. They relied on these achievements to enjoy the tax-free privilege. If you asked them to pay taxes, it would be stabbing their hearts. In the past, Li Zicheng was a thief in their hearts. They looked forward to the Emperor, the Holy Lord, but if they did this, the Emperor would immediately become the ruler of Jie Zhou!
"A ruler should reward good and punish evil, reward loyalty and punish crafty sycophants. Of course, I am not stingy with rewarding loyal officials and righteous people who follow me, but if I don't punish these capricious villains, how can I make the world know loyalty and evil? How can I make the people know good and evil?”
Li Daoxuan said righteously.
"Your Majesty, but, but these scholars of Yongping also donated food to help Your Majesty.”
Old Wang said.
He didn't really care about Li Daoxuan taking care of Bai Guangen and the other surrendered soldiers. Although this would cause the generals who surrendered in the future to not dare to surrender, these fence-sitters wouldn't dare to use them even if they surrendered. Who knew that they would betray the Emperor again at a critical moment? It was good to get rid of this kind of person as soon as possible, but Li Daoxuan's punishment for those rebellious officials and scholars or gentry made his heart pound.
This would cause a huge mess.
"That's why I only removed their tax-free privileges and not punished them more severely. As for the food they gave me, I will fulfill what I promised them back then. I will compensate them tenfold. I will give them a position in the Brocade Guard.
However, I will punish them as well.
If they were truly loyal, they would have followed me to Shanhaiguan Pass and fought a bloody battle with that traitor for me. However, they didn't. They gave me food, but they also gave Chuang Ni gold and silver. When Chuang Ni came here, which one of them didn't offer gold and silver and kneel down to welcome him? They are still two-timing. I want to tell them that this is not possible. Loyalty is loyalty and cannot tolerate any filth. Don't think that I will be played by them like I was in the past. They should be glad that they gave me food to help. Otherwise, the punishment would not be just this!”
Li Daoxuan said.
Uh, do you mean to say that in the future, you'll be even more ruthless in other places?
Wang Yongji was dumbfounded.
"Your Majesty, Your Majesty, please think twice. Don't act on impulse!”
he stammered.
"Is my words useless?"
Li Daoxuan shouted.
"Your Majesty, as the chief assistant, I have the responsibility to correct Your Majesty. Your Majesty has disobeyed orders, so I dare not accept your summons. If Your Majesty insists on this, please remove me from my position as chief assistant first!”
Wang Yongji knelt down and said.
"Then don't be the chief assistant anymore. Pass down the decree. The chief assistant of the Jin cabinet, Wang Yongji, will be promoted to the Marquis of Gaoyou and will be given the title of Young Fu. He will be dismissed from his position as the chief assistant and will remain as the Minister of Personnel! Appointed cabinet second auxiliary, Ningyuan Bo Li Yutian as cabinet chief auxiliary, concurrently serve as the Ministry of Revenue Minister as usual!”
Li Daoxuan said.
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