Chapter 487: Emperor Chongzhen’s reversal caused chaos in the world
On the last day of late autumn in the tenth year of Chongzhen’s reign, a bloody storm broke out in the imperial palace in Nanjing City without anyone knowing.

Tens of thousands of palace maids and eunuchs were purged and beheaded for various reasons.

Most of these people are civil and military ministers in the court. They have deployed spies in the palace through various means and are extremely involved.

A small number of them were extremely greedy and were bribed by foreign officials and betrayed the royal family.

Since Chongzhen had an amazing encounter and came to his senses, he secretly asked Wang Chengen to be in charge of the investigation, and it took several months to compile the list of people for this round of purge.

In this great world, there are more than 300,000 palace maids and eunuchs living in the Ming Imperial City.

During this bloody night purge, more than 100,000 people were killed, and the blood flowed like a river.

It is conceivable what the interior of the imperial city was like after being infiltrated in the past.

Fortunately, with the 100,000 elite soldiers of the Yongwei Camp led by Zhou Yuji and Lu Jiude, there were enough people to cooperate with Wang Chengen to complete this round of purges.

At dawn, the noisy imperial city finally quieted down.

“Zhou Yuji, lead the soldiers of the Yongwei Camp, leave the palace and quickly surround the Chengguo Mansion to prevent him from gathering the soldiers of the Beijing Camp to cause chaos.”

Chongzhen, who had just personally executed powerful eunuchs such as Wang Dehua, Gao Qiqian, and Wang Yongzuo, saw the dawn coming, with a cold light in his eyes. He shouted to Zhou Yuji, the commander of the Yongwei Camp, who had just finished lining up his troops, “Last night, Huang Degong led his 1.5 million new army soldiers and quietly crossed the river to surround the four gates of Jinling City.”

“I just sent a message through a Level 5 Spirit Bird, asking Huang Degong’s million-strong army to work together with the Brave Guard Battalion to take control of Jinling City as quickly as possible.”

“Zhu Chunchen, Zhao Zhilong, Qian Qianyi, Zhu Guobi, Zhang Gongri, Wang Duo, Cai Yichen, Li Zhan and other traitors on the list will all have their property confiscated and their clans exterminated!”

“These traitors who pretend to obey but actually disobey, each deserves death. There is no need for the three courts to hold a trial, just behead them directly!”

Chongzhen’s tone was cold and full of hatred. Even Zhou Yuji, Lu Jiude, Wang Chengen and others in front of him felt cold all over.

It is conceivable how deep the hatred was in Emperor Chongzhen’s heart.

If it weren’t for these hypocritical guys who were insatiable and ignored the people’s livelihood in their fight for power and profit, how could there be rebel armies rising up and people living in misery?
Naturally, there would not be a big bandit like Li Dingguo who took advantage of the situation to rise up and seize half of the Ming Dynasty in just seven years.

This was only the first wave of the purge. Countless officials, gentry, and powerful people in the south of the Yangtze River were subsequently included in the list of people whose property was confiscated and whose families were exterminated.

“Huang Degong led a million-strong army to the outskirts of Jinling City?”

“That’s great!”

“This way our actions will be foolproof!”…

As soon as Chongzhen finished speaking, everyone at the scene was suddenly overjoyed.

“I will personally go with you and kill that bastard Zhu Chunchen with my own hands, only then can I eliminate the hatred in my heart!”

After Emperor Chongzhen finished speaking, he held the Emperor’s Sword in his hand, and his natal artifact, the Witch God Temple, flashed out and hovered above his head.

After several months of seclusion and cultivation, due to the magic of the witch god’s essence and blood, his cultivation level incredibly soared to the late sixth level!

Judging from his cultivation level alone, Chongzhen can already be called one of the strongest in the nine provinces of China.

“Rub…”

His Majesty was leading the army personally, so Zhou Yuji and others dared not be negligent and quickly led the soldiers of the Yongwei Camp to follow.

A moment later, the Meridian Gate opened wide, and teams of Ming Dynasty soldiers dressed in red mandarin duck spiritual weapon uniforms flew out in a military killing formation.

After leaving the imperial court, the large group of people immediately split into two. One group followed Chongzhen and Zhou Yuji and headed straight to the nearby Chengguo Mansion.

The other part, led by Wang Chengen and Lu Jiude, rushed towards the base of the 500,000 Beijing camp soldiers.

In order to minimize the difficulty of this round of purge, it is undoubtedly of utmost importance to disarm and detain the officers and soldiers inside and outside the city of Jinling, and then identify and kill the guilty.

Almost at the same time, Huang Degong, who received the imperial edict from His Majesty, ordered the 1.5 million new army soldiers gathered outside the four gates of Jinling to swarm into Jinling City from all directions!

As the sky just brightened, there was an uproar in the huge city of Jinling!

Under the precise guidance of the newly reorganized Jinyiwei and Dongchang soldiers, the mansions of the powerful and wealthy were surrounded and then forced into, setting off an endless bloody storm!
The officials and gentry of the Southern Ming Dynasty and the aristocratic families in the south of the Yangtze River could never have imagined that Chongzhen, who had always been at their mercy, would have the courage and strength to turn the tables!

As one Qi Refining Realm master after another, including Duke Chengguo Zhu Chunchen, were killed by Chongzhen himself using his own divine weapon, his prestige among the soldiers grew higher and higher.

“hold head high!”

The Golden Dragon of the Ming Dynasty, which was originally on the verge of death, began to recover its vitality thanks to the rising national fortune. Emperor Chongzhen, who was closely connected with the national fortune, even heard faintly the dragon’s roar and a rare smile appeared on his face.

Unfortunately, this top-level innate artifact of the Witch Temple is not an artifact of luck, and cannot be used to suppress the country’s destiny. It can only suppress Chongzhen’s own destiny, which is a pity.

……

“The situation in Jinling City has changed?”

“Emperor Chongzhen actually broke through to the late sixth level?”

In the imperial garden of the northern capital, Li Dingguo was stunned when he received an urgent report from Wei Jinfan, the head of the Military Intelligence Department.

It wasn’t that he wasn’t calm enough, but the content of this urgent military intelligence was too shocking and beyond his imagination.

No one could have imagined that Chongzhen would not only make such a stunning comeback, but also improve his own cultivation so dramatically.

Ever since the death of Emperor Taizong Zhu Di, the bloodline of the Ming royal family seemed to be under some kind of curse, with each generation becoming weaker than the previous one. In the past thousand years, no emperor has been able to break through to the Qi Refining Realm.

Chongzhen, who had always been in a state of impotence and rage, was able to break the blood curse. In just one year, he made an incredibly rapid breakthrough to the late stage of level six.

According to the military intelligence personnel, he also has a very powerful innate life weapon.

Duke Chengguo Zhu Chunchen, who had reached the peak of level five cultivation, was killed by Chongzhen using his natal artifact, the Bloody Palace, in just one encounter, leaving no trace of his body!
“Commander-in-chief, the latest military intelligence I received shows that Chongzhen has successfully counterattacked, and with the help of the million-strong army led by Huang Degong who came back in time to provide assistance, he has completed the cleansing operation of the ancient capital of Jinling.”

Wei Jinfan’s face was extremely solemn. He continued to report, “In the city of Jinling, which has a population of tens of millions, Chongzhen slaughtered people like a river of blood. Most of the officials, noble families, and wealthy merchants in the city have had their property confiscated and their clans exterminated. At least three million people have been killed!”

“After the great purge in the city was completed, Chongzhen, who had obtained a huge amount of money and supplies, immediately began to integrate the millions of surrendered soldiers and expand the Yongwei Camp.” “The latest intelligence shows that Huang Degong is leading an army of 1.5 million and is attacking in all directions to quickly clean up the towns around Jinling.”

“With the annexation of Gao Jie and Liu Liangzuo’s Lu Xiangsheng, and the annexation of Yangzhou Liu Zeqing’s Sun Chuanting, and the remote coordination with Nanjing, Chongzhen currently controls most of the officers and soldiers of the Southern Ming Dynasty. The total force exceeds five million, and the elite troops also exceed one million!”

Even Wei Jinfan, who had experienced countless storms and was knowledgeable, was shocked by Chongzhen’s series of major actions, and there was amazement in his tone.

“Ah.”

Li Dingguo’s eyes flickered, and he thought to himself, “Could it be that the changes in the Southern Ming Dynasty are the result of the modification of the original rules of this great world?”

There is no doubt that the changes caused by Emperor Chongzhen have added a lot of difficulty and variables to Li Dingguo’s plan to unify the nine provinces.

He looked up at Wei Jinfan and asked, “How is the current situation of our army’s battle to the south?”

Three months ago, after Li Dingguo completed the military reform and upgrade of the Fuxing Army, he suddenly felt a sense of vitality. After informing everyone in the military, he immediately went to the secret realm of Yuquan Mountain to practice in seclusion and break through.

It was not until yesterday that he broke through and successfully reached the late sixth level.

So he didn’t know the latest battle situation.

“Commander-in-chief, our army’s current southward movement is going very smoothly, and the progress has even exceeded expectations.”

Wei Jinfan quickly reported, “In view of the planned actions of Emperor Chongzhen, neither Lu Xiangsheng nor Sun Chuanting, nor the troops of Huang Degong who had already retreated from Jiangbei to Jiangnan, have engaged in direct battle with our army and have been retreating in an orderly manner.”

“Without intending to do so, Lu Xiangsheng and Sun Chuanting’s troops succeeded in annexing Gao Jie and Liu Zeqing’s new armies.”

“However, they did not have enough time to complete the integration of the new army and did not dare to engage in direct combat with our army. Moreover, they must have received an imperial edict from Chongzhen and obtained a large number of troops, wealth and supplies, so they have been retreating southward.”

“It seems that they want to completely abandon the Jiangbei area and evacuate to the south of the Yangtze River, trying to use the natural barrier of the Yangtze River to confront our army across the river.”

Her words were full of regret. “Unfortunately, because our army has occupied too much territory recently, we have to divide our forces to suppress it and stabilize the people’s livelihood order in various places. We can only watch helplessly as we miss the opportunity to continue pursuing the enemy.”

The fundamental reason for this situation is that the territory abandoned by the enemy is too vast, and there are too many towns and entrances, making it difficult for the soldiers of the Restoration Army to split their forces and they are short of manpower.

The Fuxing Army was already very busy just taking over the vast area of ​​Jiangbei that was abandoned by the Southern Ming Dynasty. Without any movement, they naturally could not continue their high-intensity pursuit of the enemy.

This is not because the Restoration Army does not have enough reserve personnel, but because the newly occupied area is too large and requires a lot of time.

Not to mention that in the Central Plains and the Huai River regions, there are countless aristocratic families, wealthy merchants and dark forces that need to be cleaned up in a timely manner to avoid leaving behind huge hidden dangers.

Although this round of battle to the south was as easy as the Fusion Army grabbing land.

But it was precisely such an easy large-scale operation that almost tied up all the forces of the Restoration Army and prevented it from being completed in one go.

Due to the drastic actions of Emperor Chongzhen, the current bizarre war situation has arisen, which is overwhelming.

Both the Fuxing Army and the Jiangnan aristocratic families were shocked by the latest major changes in the situation, and were subsequently busy and overwhelmed.

They died and their clans were destroyed. Even the new round of major operations of the Renaissance Army was as easy as crossing the Yellow River to take over the territory. Millions of soldiers were so busy that they had no time to spare.

“take it easy.”

Li Dingguo was also a little speechless, shook his head and said, “Our policy of taking over a place and governing it well remains unchanged.”

“Let the soldiers take steady steps and systematically take over the Jiangbei area abandoned by the Southern Ming Dynasty, and govern it according to the routine model we have formed.”

“It must be said that Chongzhen’s radical transformation this time was a great success, as if blessed by heaven and earth.”

“He not only re-stabilized the imperial power and regained control of the military, but also prevented our Fuxing Army from crossing the river and advancing south again for several years, and resolved the crisis of the Southern Ming Dynasty’s demise. It can be said that he killed three birds with one stone.”

Li Dingguo’s helplessness was truly sincere and not an exaggeration at all.

In the final analysis, this is a war among the Han people, and all aspects must be restricted.

It is impossible for the soldiers of a large number of towns and villages that were abandoned by the Southern Ming Dynasty and taken over by the Fuxing Army to just walk away after taking over, causing chaos in the local order.

It’s not like fighting with aliens where you just kill them indiscriminately.

Taking over such a vast territory and a large number of Han compatriots at once caused the strength of the Fuxing Army to be rapidly diluted, making it unable to withdraw in a short period of time.

The hundreds of newly occupied towns required a huge amount of manpower and resources to deal with.

This is despite the fact that the Renaissance Army has trained a large number of government officials and warrior recruits in the past few years.

It would take a very long time and cost a huge amount of manpower and material resources to restore people’s livelihood and order and complete the internal cleansing in these densely populated Central Plains regions.

Just as Li Dingguo said, the Fuxing Army, which was already overfed, had taken on another huge piece of fat meat. In the next few years, it would not be able to cross the river and head south.

It can be said that although the Fuxing Army seemed to have gained the upper hand in this round of combined attacks by Emperor Chongzhen, he was actually the biggest winner.

Of course, the prerequisite is that Chongzhen can defeat the subsequent Jiangnan families and the counterattacks they will inevitably launch.

But this is undoubtedly difficult to do.

Therefore, the next few years will be truly chaotic and dizzying.

The Fuxing Army in Jiangbei, which was in the battle situation, naturally worked hard to improve its internal strength, trying its best to restore the people’s livelihood order in the area and eliminate various internal hidden dangers.

Chongzhen, who regained control of the Southern Ming Dynasty, had to face a major counterattack from the alliance of Jiangnan aristocratic families despite holding great power.

The rebel army entrenched in the five southwestern provinces and warlords such as Hong Chengchou and Zuo Liangyu would certainly not be willing to be left out and would take the opportunity to cause chaos in an attempt to strengthen themselves.

In addition, Huang Taiji, who occupied the Goguryeo Dynasty, also wanted to cause trouble.

As well as the Japanese country and the white barbarians along the coast of the Ming Dynasty who also want to take advantage of the chaos to stir up trouble, how can the Eastern world be described with just one word of chaos in the next few years?

This is why Li Dingguo felt so helpless just now.

(End of this chapter)