Since Zhu Jinsong had become the twenty-first emperor of the Great Ming, it was naturally impossible to continue using the era name Qianlong fifty years, or any other era name, in the territories of Shandong and Henan, which were under the control of the Menglianggu rebel group.
Era names were first introduced by Emperor Wu of Han. The first era name personally promulgated by Emperor Wu of Han was "Yuanfeng," and later posthumously conferred was "Jianyuan." It then became customary for one emperor to have few as one, or as many as a dozen era names. For instance, Emperor Gaozong of Tang had fourteen era names, while most emperors of the Ming Dynasty had one era name each.
Now that it was Zhu Jinsong's turn, it was naturally time to choose a pleasant-sounding era name. After all, era names were not chosen arbitrarily; they generally carried auspicious meanings.
For example, "Yongle" carried the meaning of "eternal stability of the empire and peace for all people," while the era name "Zhengde" meant "rectifying virtue and ruling the people with self-discipline by those in positions of authority."
Of course, era names were not without their drawbacks; they could also be quite troublesome.
For instance, "Yongle" meant the same as "Changle." During the Tang Dynasty, Prince Changle, Li Youliang, was accused of usurping the throne as an imperial uncle and was reviled by later generations. Therefore, it is possible that the person who planned to bestow the era name "Yongle" upon Zhu Di also intended to subtly mock Zhu Di's usurpation as an imperial uncle.
As for later internet users, their interpretations were even more amusing. Some even believed that era names were chosen based on the principle of compensating for what was lacking.
For example, the era name "Zhengde" was often interpreted by many as the Ming court believing that Zhu Houzhao's virtue was not upright, and thus commanding him to "rectify his virtue."
In reality, era names that truly compensated for what was lacking did exist, but those era names were generally used by my Tatar Qing dynasty. For example, Puyi once used the era name "Kangde," which had nothing to do with the Great Ming.
Besides these, there were also era names like "Shenggui" used by Emperor Xiaoming of Northern Wei, Yuan Xu, and "Daxiang" used by Emperor Jing of Northern Zhou, Yuwen Chan. These era names caused no issues at the time, but in later generations, they would certainly seem like a multitude of mythical beasts.
There were also names like "Bao Da," "Wansui Tongtian," and "Tianshi Lisheng Guoqing," and so forth.
In short, choosing an era name was not as simple as internet users imagined. It generally took into account the circumstances of the emperor.
For example, to demonstrate that the emperor was mandated by Heaven and that the dynasty was legitimate, or to hope for eternal stability and prosperity under the emperor's rule, or to signify the beginning of a new dynasty and the renewal of all things, or to praise the emperor's literary and military achievements and his moral character.
The situation with Zhu Jinsong was particularly troublesome.
The idea of being mandated by Heaven and the legitimacy of the dynasty could be considered. After all, he inherited the imperial lineage of the Great Ming, and using characters like Shou, Ying, Qi, or Ming would have been appropriate. To speak of the beginning of a new dynasty and the renewal of all things was also acceptable, as the Great Ming had been extinct for over a hundred years, so using characters like Ji, Kai, Chu, or Shi would have been fine. However, Zhu Jinsong's literary and military achievements and his moral character were also evident, so using characters like Long, De, Wu, or Chang would have been perfectly acceptable.
Therefore, facing era names like "Chengming," "Xingming," "Yuanshi," "Kaihuang," "Shiyuan," "Yongchu," "Zhide," or "Guangde," Zhu Jinsong, the new emperor of the Great Ming, also found it troublesome.
What made Zhu Jinsong feel even more aggrieved was that the era name "Zhongxing" had been used by Emperor He of Southern Qi, Xiao Baorong, and also by Emperor Houfei of Wei, Yuan Lang.
Could he directly call it "Hongxing"? Would he go out to fight battles and say "Kai Pian" (opening a match), or negotiate and say "Jiang Shu" (discussing a deal), or even declare "Tsim Sha Tsui is under my protection"?
In a fit of anger, Zhu Jinsong decided to abandon the idea of choosing an era name and simply flip the table and quit the game. Since there were no pleasing era names for him to use, he would simply abolish the concept of era names, and no one else would get to play.
After all, an era name was originally just a designation used for dating. Its primary functions were to let the common people know who was sitting on the dragon throne and to serve as a representation of the year. Emperor Wen of Han, Liu Heng, had no era name, but it did not prevent him from receiving the posthumous title of Emperor Xiaowen.
To facilitate the dating methods of future generations and for globalization, Zhu Jinsong directly chose the Yellow Emperor's reckoning system, which dates the first year as "Kaiyuan" from the year when the Yellow Emperor ascended the throne as recorded in historical texts.
According to the Gregorian calendar, the first year of Xuanyuan, also known as the Year of the Yellow Emperor, is calculated to be 2697 BC. Therefore, Qianlong's fifty years, when converted to the Yellow Emperor's reckoning, should be 1785 AD plus 2697 years, which equals the forty-fourth year of Kaiyuan, or Kaiyuan 4482.
As for whether this would offend the Yellow Emperor, Zhu Jinsong felt that it was impossible. What ancestor would dislike their descendants? Even if the Yellow Emperor were angry, would he strike down a lightning bolt?
Of course, there was another deeper reason for choosing the Yellow Emperor's reckoning system besides Zhu Jinsong not finding an era name he liked.
Inheritance.
As long as Zhu Zhongrou, the emperor of the Great Ming, recognized the Yellow Emperor's reckoning system, then the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors, as well as the Xia, Shang, and Zhou dynasties, would become established historical facts.
This would also prevent foreigners from babbling nonsense about the Xia Dynasty not existing.
As for whether international friends would recognize the Yellow Emperor's reckoning system and the existence of the Xia Dynasty when interacting with them in the future, or whether it would cause them inconvenience, it was entirely outside of Emperor Zhu's considerations.
A street in all directions, ask around who is the father.
If the father uses the Yellow Emperor's reckoning system, who would care about the opinions of their sons and grandsons?
Whether they admit it or not, they would have to admit it.
However, using the Yellow Emperor's reckoning system was not that easy. First, the exact date of the Yellow Emperor's enthronement was difficult to determine. One could not simply say that Emperor Zhu declared that the Yellow Emperor ascended the throne 4482 years ago, and expect everyone to accept it, as dating involved too many issues and required careful research.
Our Great Ming is not like those barbarians, who would engage in the despicable act of forging history.
Fortunately, Zeng Cheng had served as the prefect of Tai'an Prefecture for several years. After the newly appointed twenty-first emperor of the Great Ming, Zhu Zhongrou, declared his intention to use the Yellow Emperor's reckoning system, Zeng Cheng immediately led his men to research various ancient texts and prove that Emperor Zhu Zhongrou was correct.
That's right, the Yellow Emperor ascended the throne four thousand four hundred and eighty-two years ago, so the current year of 417 for our Great Ming is the 4482nd year of the Yellow Emperor.
Then, Zhu Zhongrou issued a proclamation throughout the empire via the Menglianggu newspaper.
The reason for using the name Zhu Zhongrou, besides proclaiming the legitimacy of the Great Ming, was primarily because the name Zhu Jinsong had signed a peace treaty with my Tatar Qing.
It was Zhu Jinsong who signed the peace treaty with your Tatar Qing, and it was I, Zhu Zhongrou, who dispatched troops to fight your Tatar Qing, understand?
The proclamation from Emperor Zhu was very simple, so simple that anyone who could read could understand it.
"Expel the Tatar barbarians, restore China, establish order and righteousness, save the people, equalize land and reduce taxes, and the world will be one family."
Emperor Zhu stated that those who were willing to recognize the twenty-four-character platform and surrender voluntarily could directly contact Menglianggu, and they would be dealt with leniently as defectors. As for those who did not recognize this twenty-four-character platform, it did not matter; Emperor Zhu would defeat them one by one until they recognized it.
Then, all the rebels, big and small, under heaven were amused to the point of laughter, even to the point of stomach pains.
There were no less than a hundred, if not eighty, rebels under heaven. Among them, those who claimed to be the fifth-generation grandson of Emperor Chongzhen were no less than seventy, if not eighty. Why did Zhu Jinsong think he was the true fifth-generation grandson of Emperor Chongzhen?
Just because he was named Zhu Zhongrou?
I am also named Zhu Zhongzhi / Zhu Zhongji!
Besides, with the world in such a mess, do you, Zhu Jinsong, really think you can establish dominance over the Central Plains?
It is still unknown who will emerge victorious.
Of course, despite the laughter, none of the rebels dared to truly underestimate Zhu Jinsong, the arch-rebel.
Whether it was Zhu Zhongzhi, Zhu Zhongji, or any other rebel leader under heaven, they all knew that Zhu Jinsong, the arch-rebel, was the first to raise the banner of rebellion, now occupied the largest territory, possessed the most and finest firearms, and commanded the most capable troops. Now that Zhu Jinsong, the arch-rebel, had suddenly ascended the throne and declared his intention to "rectify the source and purify the origins, and unify the universe," anyone who dared to treat this arch-rebel as a joke at this critical juncture would likely become a joke themselves.
Zhu Zhongzhi immediately summoned his ministers: "The rebel Zhu Jinsong of Shandong has now changed his name and claims to be the fifth-generation grandson of our Great Ming's Emperor Chongzhen."
"What is laughable is that I was not aware of the existence of such a brother?"
After making a joke to ease the atmosphere in the hall, Zhu Zhongzhi continued, "However, this brother of mine is quite powerful. Now that he has raised the banner of rectifying the source and purifying the origins, he is likely planning to use force externally."
"If this brother of mine leads his troops north to Zhili or south to Jiangsu, it would be manageable. But if my brother leads his troops to attack our Shanxi, do you esteemed officials have any countermeasures to repel the enemy?"
Hearing his emperor mention "this brother of mine" in almost every sentence, the atmosphere in the hall was not as tense as before.
It is often the case that as long as the central pillar at the top remains calm and does not court disaster, those below can have confidence. If the central pillar at the top has no idea, then the subordinates will fall into chaos.
The most obvious examples are Emperor Qianlong and Zhu Zhongtao, who had previously occupied Henan.
Emperor Qianlong courted disaster himself, while Zhu Zhongtao, who occupied Henan, was thrown into panic upon hearing of Zhu Zhongrou, and thus Henan could not resist for long.
Now, Zhu Zhongzhi, the Shanxi version of the Great Ming Emperor, calmly summoned his officials, smiling as he discussed with them how to deal with Zhu Zhongrou's attack, which greatly reassured the ministers of the Shanxi version of the Great Ming.
However, while reassured, the entire court of the Shanxi version of the Great Ming found Zhu Zhongrou, the arch-rebel, to be a headache – they still had to guard against Tatar attacks, while Zhu Zhongrou could achieve successive victories and force the Tatars to cede territory and pay indemnities. The gap was not small.
However, before the emperor and ministers of the Shanxi version of the Great Ming court could come up with a countermeasure, they received another piece of news that made them wish they were dead.
Another group of rebels entrenched in Yan'an Prefecture began to respond to the Shandong bandit leader Zhu Zhongrou.
There were two bandit leaders entrenched in Yan'an Prefecture: one was Zhu Sanshun, and the other was Liu Erniu.
After the Shandong bandit leader Zhu Jinsong unfurled the banner of Zhu Zhongrou, the Zhu Sanshun, who had already occupied the entire Yan'an Prefecture and was expanding outwards, also unfurled the banner of Zhu Zhongrou, claiming to be Zhu Zhongrou's own brother, and that the rebels in Yan'an Prefecture accepted the leadership of the Shandong rebels.
What in the world is this?
To the east was Shandong under the rebel Zhu Zhongrou, and to the south was Henan under the rebel Zhu Zhongrou. They had originally thought that the west and north would be their last two escape routes. However, it now seemed that Yan'an Prefecture in the west was not an escape route at all, but a dead end!
And compared to the headache and entanglement of the Shanxi version of the Great Ming court, Emperor Qianlong of the Tatar Qing was furious.
Although Emperor Qianlong's intellect was not particularly sharp, he could understand the shameless behavior of Zhu Jinsong, the traitor, who first accepted the peace money and then ascended the throne, even shouting "Expel the Tatar barbarians."
"He dared to deceive me!"
Nearly infuriated, Emperor Qianlong, while smashing things, angrily cursed, "First he signed a peace treaty with my Tatar Qing under the name Zhu Jinsong, and then he ascended the throne under the name Zhu Zhongrou. What does he want! He is treating me like a fool!"
While Heshen, the Minister of the Middle Kingdom, muttered to himself thoughts as rebellious as "you are indeed a fool," he bowed and said obsequiously, "Your Majesty, please calm your anger. In this servant's opinion, it is not necessarily a bad thing that the rebel Zhu Jinsong has unfurled this banner."
Seeing Emperor Qianlong glance at him, Heshen quickly explained, "According to the intelligence reports, the rebel troops under the rebel Zhu are not assembling towards Zhili, but are concentrating towards Shanxi and Jiangsu."
"This means that the rebel Zhu of Shandong intends to eliminate the two rebels in Shanxi and Jiangsu."
"Now that the rebel Zhu of Shandong has hastily ascended the throne, it is likely that many of the systems under his command are not yet complete."
"In such a situation, when engaging in warfare, and moreover dividing forces to fight on two fronts, how can the rebel Zhu of Shandong not be defeated?"
"Therefore, in this servant's opinion, Your Majesty might as well continue to sit and watch the tigers fight, and let the rebel Zhu of Shandong continue to fight the rebels in Shanxi and Jiangsu."
However, Emperor Qianlong was somewhat tempted.
The rebel Zhu of Shandong is now fighting on two fronts. If he fails in one of them, wouldn't my Tatar Qing have an opportunity?
After thinking for a moment, Emperor Qianlong said, "If my Tatar Qing were to provide some matchlock guns and flintlock guns to the rebel Zhu of Shanxi, I wonder..."
Upon hearing Emperor Qianlong's words, Heshen was immediately startled.