Yongli Ming Dynasty

Chapter 126 Secret Message
In the study room of the Guangzhou government office, a candle three fingers thick on the lampstand burned quietly, and the yellow flame illuminated the room brightly.

Zhu Lang sat behind the desk and looked at Li Chengzhi below.
"Have you finished writing the secret letter?"

“It’s already been written”

Li Chengzhi replied respectfully, and then took out a piece of letter paper from his sleeve and presented it to

Zhu Lang unfolded the letter, and the yellow firelight revealed the contents on the paper.

"Five/two-five/two, one-nine/one/one, one-two/five/four, one-two/one-four/three"

"Five/two-five/two, six/one-eight/four, one-eight/three-six/three, one-two/one-four/four"

"Three/nine/two, one-nine/one/one, one/three-four/two, one-one/nine/two"

"19/25/1, 5/25/2, 14/28/2, 15/7/4"

……

Under the firelight, there was not a single word on the secret letter, only rows of numbers, which made people dizzy.

But Zhu Lang's face was quite calm. This was not some unique secret method that Zhu Lang had come up with using the knowledge of later generations.

These columns of numbers are the encryption methods commonly used by the Ming army at this time, the Fanqie encryption method.

This method was first invented by Qi Jiguang and was first used in the south to fight against Japanese pirates. As Qi Jiguang was transferred to Jizhen, this encryption method began to spread in the northern army. It has basically become a common military encryption method in the Ming army.

The so-called fanqie encryption method is to divide each word into three parts: initial consonant, final vowel, and tone, and encrypt them separately.

The initial consonants have corresponding initial poems, and the finals have corresponding final poems.

This poem of initials and finals is actually a code book.

The person who received the secret letter only needed to check the corresponding initials and finals in the poem, and then match the marked tones to spell out the secret letter word by word.
In order to use this method of fanqie to encrypt military information, Qi Jiguang specially composed a poem with eight-tone characters and asked the military messengers to learn it in order to complete the encrypted transmission of military intelligence.

The two poems used by Qi Jiguang should also be the earliest code books in history since the invention of the fanqie encryption method.

The initial consonant poem used by Qi Jiguang is
The willows are low in the air, the waves are fighting for the sun, the orioles are happy, and they clap their hands to let you know

Rhyme poem
The flowers are fragrant in spring, the mountains are blooming in autumn, the guests need golden cups to sing, the solitary lamp shines like a silver jar, in the eastern suburbs, across the West Bridge, the roosters crow to urge the dawn, the strange plums cover the ditch
Take the first word of the secret letter, five/two-five/two, as an example

The first number five refers to the fifth word of the initial consonant poem.
The second number, erwu, refers to the twenty-fifth character of the rhyme poem, xi.

The third number two refers to the second tone.

After taking out the corresponding word in the word meaning poem, you can spell out the corresponding word. Take the initial consonant of the word "di" and the final vowel of the word "xi" to spell out "di". Add the second tone to get the word "di".

And five/two-five/two corresponds to the word enemy.
This method of fanqie encryption is extremely secretive. Unless the enemy seizes the code book and obtains the corresponding poem, even if the enemy seizes the secret letter, they will not know what information the other party is transmitting.

Li Chengzhi looked at His Royal Highness the Regent, glanced at the secret letter and put it down, then continued
"The poem with the meaning of the characters in the Jinyi Palace has just been changed. The accompanying secret room cavalry has also safely retreated into the city. No one is missing. Even if people outside the city get the secret letter, they will definitely not be able to translate the content of the secret letter."

"As long as the secret letter reaches Zhaoqing, the Jinyifu over there will be able to translate the secret letter according to the previously agreed-upon poem."

Zhu Lang put down the letter, rubbed his brows, and asked again

"Has the messenger who will accompany Ma Bao out of the city been selected?"

"They have been selected. There are five of them in total. All five of them are soldiers of the Imperial Guard."

"Among them, the person who followed Ma Bao into the camp is named Deng Shitong. He is now the commander-in-chief of the fifty-man imperial guards. His brother Deng Xianyi is the captain of the ten-man imperial guards and is also in the city now."

"I asked someone in Jiao Lian's army. Deng Shitong has been under Jiao Lian's command for two years. He was originally from the Gui Army Scout Battalion."

"This is the only pair among the three hundred imperial guards who are both in the city and have the closest relationship. The other two pairs are uncle and nephew, but their relationship is not as close as that of Deng Shitong and Deng Xianyi," Li Chengzhi replied softly.

After Zhu Lang decided to let Ma Bao out of the city, he asked Li Chengzhi to immediately start selecting messengers to leave the city. The situation in the city was critical. If he randomly selected a messenger, even if he really sent him out of the city, who knew whether these people would run away halfway, or directly report and surrender to the Qing army.
No matter how great an emperor is, can his own life and wealth be more important?

Therefore, the first requirement for the selection of this messenger is that he must be reliable, and the second is that he must be proficient in horse riding.

If you don't know how to ride a horse and can't send a message quickly, it's useless to send it out of the city even if you are loyal.

In order to achieve these two conditions, Li Chengzhi gave priority to soldiers whose relatives were still alive in the imperial army.

One person stayed in the city as a hostage, and the other went out of the city to deliver the letter. In this way, even for the safety of relatives in the city, the messenger would never defect, but would find a way to deliver the letter to Zhaoqing as soon as possible.
"Then let's decide on this person. What does he want?" Zhu Lang said softly, and then he spoke again.

"I don't have any special requirements. I just heard that I have to shave my head and keep a braid when I join the camp, so I'm a little reluctant," Li Chengzhi said softly.
"A good soldier of the imperial guards suddenly has to shave his head. He should be reluctant."

Zhu Lang spoke softly, thought for a moment, and then said

"If you succeed in seeking help this time, you will promote Deng Shitong to the rank of Jinyiwei Qianhu."

"Tell him that his brother will not participate in the defense of the city. If he dies in the line of duty, the position will be given to his brother. The court will transfer his brother away from the army and allow him to have his own children."

"Explain everything to him clearly. As long as he works hard, as long as the imperial court comes to power, the Deng family will be prosperous and prosperous forever."

"I know it"

Zhu Lang spoke softly, and Li Chengzhi also responded respectfully and stepped back to prepare.

At midnight, Guangzhou was completely silent. In the darkness, only the torches on the top of the city were burning, making slight beeping sounds from time to time.
Zhu Lang stood on the top of the city wall. A few dozen steps away, huge fires were burning in the darkness, dimly illuminating the city wall.

In the shadows of a corner of the city wall, a hanging frame slowly fell down along the wall, and soon all six figures fell down the wall.
The figure avoided the fire in front, moved forward, and soon disappeared into the darkness.

Zhu Lang stood on the top of the city wall, watching the crowd disappear into the night, and remained silent for a long time.
The evening breeze blew, and the torches on the top of the city flickered, illuminating Zhu Lang's face.

Although the Qing army's surprise attack today was thrilling, after everyone retreated into the city, they also roughly estimated the number of Qing troops attacking outside the city.
The Qing troops that attacked this time were only a few hundred. After Jiao Lian led his troops to drive them away, there were no more than three or four hundred Qing troops outside the city.
There are still 300 imperial guards in the city, and with a veteran like Jiao Lian leading the army, if he wants to evacuate Guangzhou at this time, Li Chengdong outside the city will definitely not be able to stop him.
But Zhu Lang was unwilling to flee like this. The Qing army had already occupied Chaozhou and Huizhou. If Guangzhou was taken by the Qing army at this time, Guangdong Province would fall immediately.

Guangzhou is in the south and Ganzhou is in the north. As long as the Qing army in Ganzhou moves, the Qing army will advance from both north and south. At that time, no one will be able to defend Guangdong Province.
In fact, even if the Qing army did not raid Guangzhou this time, most of Guangdong Province would have fallen.

Huizhou is just behind Nanxiong. The Qing army can go straight to the rear of Nanxiong Prefecture through Huizhou. The two strategic points of Nanxiong and Meiguan can no longer be defended.
In other words, if the Qing army advances steadily, the best outcome for the Ming Dynasty now is to give up eastern and northern Guangdong and shrink the battle line to Zhaoqing and Guangzhou.

The Ming court would probably have to retreat to Guangxi Province as it did in the past. Western Guangdong was already the front line, so what else could they do if they didn't retreat to Guangxi Province?

But now he still has a chance to turn the tables!
Zhu Lang looked at the deep night outside the city, and a stern look flashed across his face.

Li Chengdong led his troops to advance recklessly. In order to capture him, the regent of the Ming Dynasty, he even besieged the city and cut off the messengers, hoping to capture him.
As long as he used himself as bait, Li Chengdong would surely urge the main force of the Qing army to attack Guangzhou and then catch this big fish.

According to Ma Bao, the main force of the Qing army that entered Guangdong from Fujian Province was only 17,000 to 18,000 people.

After these people were divided to guard the rear, the army that could finally reach Guangzhou would be no more than 15,000 people, and it would not be surprising if there were only a little over 10,000 left.

However, Zhaoqing had 30,000 soldiers, and the extra 10,000 were elite soldiers led by Jiao Lian, Li Mingzhong and other northern generals.

Ma Bao estimated that it would take three or four days for the Qing army to arrive. If the messenger could successfully leave the city tonight, then by the time the Qing army arrived, Zhaoqing City would have received the letter for help.
Zhaoqing and Guangzhou are more than 200 miles away. Although the army in Zhaoqing City is not well prepared for food and fodder, the sudden journey will inevitably be slow, but it will take at least three or four days to get there on a 200-mile journey.

In other words, as long as Zhu Lang defended the city for three or four days, Zhaoqing's army would be able to reach Guangzhou.

By then, he would have a greater chance of annihilating the Qing army at the gates of Guangzhou, as they would have more people against fewer.
As long as we can defeat the main force of the Qing army, the Qing troops in Chaozhou and Huizhou provinces will certainly be terrified.
At that time, as long as we march all the way, we can directly recapture the lost Chaohui Prefecture and push the front line directly to the border of Fujian and Guangdong.
Li Chengdong and Tong Yangjia led the Qing Dynasty's garrison troops in Fujian Province when they attacked Guangdong. If this group of troops was defeated, not only would the crisis in Fujian Province be resolved immediately, but the Qing army in Fujian Province would also be depleted of manpower.
By then, Zhu Lang could even lead his troops to attack Fujian Province directly. If he could obtain the cooperation of Zheng Chenggong and other remnant naval forces of the Zheng family, it would not be impossible to even recapture the coastal prefectures and counties of Fujian Province such as Zhangzhou and Quanzhou in one fell swoop.
Even better, if he could defeat this Qing army under the city of Guangzhou, the Qing army around Guangdong Province would certainly be shocked, and the Qing army in Ganzhou would probably hesitate and wait and see.

The Qing troops in Fujian Province were destroyed after they captured Chaozhou and Huizhou. The Qing troops in Gan Province already have the dangerous Meiling Pass in front of them. Who dares to say that they can attack Guangdong Province at this time?
In other words, as long as Zhu Lang can defeat the Qing army from Fujian Province under the city, the situation in the entire Guangdong Province will be revitalized immediately, and the strategic initiative of several southern provinces will fall back into the hands of the Ming Dynasty.
The only problem now was how to hold Guangzhou for three or four days against the attack of the Qing army of more than 10,000 troops without the arrival of the main force of Ganzhou.

Zhu Lang looked at the Guangzhou city behind him, his eyes deep.

Although there were only 300 imperial guards left in the city, there were still hundreds of thousands of civilians in the city. With so many people and the support of the city walls, he didn't believe that they couldn't hold out for even three or four days.

Zhu Lang's eyes flashed with a hint of coldness. Even if it cost him human lives, he had to hold out until Zhaoqing's main force arrived.
This was not because he was cruel. Given the wealth of Guangzhou City, if Zhu Lang led his men away at this time, Li Chengdong would definitely vent his anger in the city and allow his soldiers to plunder after discovering that he had lost this big fish.
The fate of the people in Guangzhou will be even worse by then. The bloody smell in Jiangnan has not yet dissipated.
Using civilians to resist the Qing army would certainly result in heavy casualties, but if Guangzhou could be defended, the casualties would only be the civilians of Guangzhou, and Zhu Lang would be able to provide them with pensions afterwards.
If Guangdong Province falls, then all the people in the province will cry and wail on the roadside.
Zhu Lang looked at the dark night outside the city, without any hesitation, and suddenly turned around and walked towards the city.
In ancient times, the initial consonants m and w could be used interchangeably.

Qi Jiguang's Eight-tone Poems of Word Meanings uses the Fujian dialect, which has eight tones. Here we simplify it to four tones.
In fact, the fanqie method used by Qi Jiguang is very complicated. Due to the characteristics of the dialect, the combination of some initials and finals sometimes needs to be coordinated with the tone to accurately translate a word. It is actually very complicated.
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(End of this chapter)