Yongli Ming Dynasty

Chapter 130 Inside and Out
In the study, Zhu Lang knew that the messenger had been successfully sent out, and his face was also relaxed.

It was already late at night. Zhu Lang took a sip of the teacup. The cold tea sobered him up instantly.

Zhu Lang rubbed his brows, his face looked tired. There were some papers scattered on the desk. Under the light, the handwriting on the papers was visible.

The paper clearly lists items such as city defense and recruiting soldiers.

Further down, it says "Grant an official to assist in the defense, and establish a new system"
Under this entry, a lot of stuff has been written for half a page, but this entry is now circled in red with a question mark next to it.

Zhu Lang picked up the brush and looked at the red circled words "Ci Guan Xie Shou" with a hesitant look on his face.
After sending Ma Bao and the others away, he returned to his study and started to make a plan for defending the city. However, as he was writing, he connected the plan for defending the city with an idea he had previously thought about.

Since he took the throne as regent, he has always wanted to fill the court with a group of his own people. Su Guansheng was his initial attempt, but there were too few Su Guanshengs to meet his requirements.

Some of his future plans will inevitably arouse strong opposition from the orthodox ministers of the court. This is not a problem that can be solved by winning over one or two prime ministers.

If his plan aroused resistance from officials throughout the court, it would be useless for him to force the cabinet to approve it.

After all, the matter still has to be done by the ministers under the court. The officials cannot stop his decision, but they can secretly ruin his plan.
As long as the officials below refused to cooperate, or even deliberately misinterpreted the imperial edict to provoke civil unrest, no matter how good Zhu Lang's reforms were, they could turn them into bad things.

Therefore, Zhu Lang had been preparing to fill the court with a group of officials who would obey his orders completely. These people did not have to hold high positions, but they had to be numerous, at least dozens or even hundreds of people.
In this way, when the court ministers refused to cooperate, Zhu Lang could quickly take over with this group of people and force his plan forward.

Therefore, it is better for these people not to come from the official path of the imperial examination. Only in this way can they not be bribed by the various factions in the court and can only rely closely on Zhu Lang.
Now there is an opportunity for Zhu Lang to bring a large number of people into the court, but Zhu Lang still has some doubts about this matter.

This opportunity is rare, but the first priority right now is to defend Guangzhou.

He was somewhat worried that doing this suddenly at this time would cause strong opposition from the central officials in the city, affecting the defense of Guangzhou.

So he has been hesitating whether to take this opportunity to promote this matter.

Zhu Lang thought about it for a while, but still couldn't figure it out, so he simply moved the letter paper on top and prepared to continue deleting and modifying other entries.

There was a slight sound from the door, and then Li Chengzhi pushed the door open and walked in.
Zhu Lang looked at Li Chengzhi who had returned and asked

"What else?"

"Just now the imperial guards reported back that half an hour ago, Lord Lu invited Lord Su, Wu Bing, Gu Yuanjing and other central officials and Guangzhou prefect Chen Bangyan to discuss matters in the side hall of the government office," Li Chengzhi replied respectfully.

"Meeting? What did they say?"

Zhu Lang narrowed his eyes slightly, but suddenly put down his brush and said softly
"Lord Lu persuaded Lord Su to submit a joint petition in the name of the critical situation, asking Your Highness to evacuate Guangzhou as soon as possible. Minister of Rites Wu Bing and others also urged Lord Su on the grounds that Your Highness is the foundation of the country. Lord Su has agreed to submit a joint petition."

"Then Lord Lu decided on a plan to evacuate from Guangzhou by water from the south. He also discussed burying the imperial silver secretly on the spot to prevent it from being obtained by the Qing invaders. All the ministers present at the meeting had no objection to this."

"Everything is ready. Our Lord Lu has really thought through everything so that he can escape as soon as possible."

Zhu Lang sneered, but Li Chengzhi below remained silent, as if he had not heard the ridicule from His Royal Highness the Regent above.

Zhu Lang had a calm expression on his face. He had already anticipated that the ministers would try to escape.
In fact, as early as this afternoon when Ma Bao was interrogated, the ministers were already a little impatient. If Zhu Lang had not refused on the pretext of the unclear situation, I am afraid they would have decided to evacuate on the spot.

There are no soldiers in the city. The Qing army will arrive in three or four days. If we don't flee now, when will we flee?

Moreover, they had the perfect excuse of ensuring the safety of the regent. Even if they lost Guangzhou and Guangdong Province, they would not have to worry about the court's accountability.

Therefore, the ministers felt less and less psychologically burdened about abandoning the city and fleeing.
Although according to Li Chengzhi's words, all the ministers had reached a consensus and were ready to evacuate, Zhu Lang was not worried at all.

Let alone the decision to leave or not, which ultimately lies in the hands of Zhu Lang, the regent. Even the so-called unified opinion of the ministers of the previous dynasty is not solid at all.

Apart from anything else, as long as Zhu Lang made his attitude clear, Su Guansheng, Gu Yuanjing and others would have to change their words immediately and follow Zhu Lang's opinion, whether they were willing or not.

As long as Zhu Lang doesn't want to leave, the officials will not be able to leave.
It is reasonable to flee, but it is even more reasonable not to flee!
The emperor guards the country's gates. Is there any greater truth than this?
Zhu Lang thought for a moment, then suddenly spoke softly

"Has Jiao Lian gone?"

"According to the report from the Imperial Guards, Elder Lu sent someone to invite Lord Jiao, but Lord Jiao did not show up."

Zhu Lang heard what Li Chengzhi said, and a hint of satisfaction flashed in his eyes.

The generals in the army should obey the orders of the court and march to fight, instead of getting involved in whether to fight or defend. That is not what the generals in the army should consider.

The army obeys the orders of the court. This is the consensus of the government and the opposition.

But the difference is that the ministers think that the court should be the Ministry of War or the Cabinet, while the emperor thinks that the court should be the emperor himself.
As the commander of the imperial guards, Jiao Lian must listen to the emperor.

If Jiao Lian really went to discuss with Lu Daqi and others tonight about whether to fight, defend or leave, then Zhu Lang would probably have to talk to Jiao Lian overnight.
Fortunately, Jiao Lian was still sober and did not contact the civil officials in the court without authorization.

Zhu Lang was about to ask about the details of the discussion between Lu Daqi and others when there was another knock on the door, and then Li Guoyong pushed the door open and walked in.
Li Guoyong was also surprised when he saw Li Chengzhi in the room.

He thought about it for a moment and felt that what he wanted to report was not something that needed to be concealed, so after paying his respects, he spoke directly.

"The Concubine Dowager from the Imperial Harem has sent Ma Mingtu over. Ma Mingtu is waiting outside the courtyard now. Does Your Highness want to see him?"

"Ma Mingtu, what is he doing here?"

Zhu Lang rubbed his brows, and after a second thought, he understood what the harem meant.

The harem and Zhu Lang's carriage were in the middle of the convoy, so the harem was only frightened by the surprise attack today, and then they all retreated safely back to the city.
However, after Zhu Lang entered the city, he was busy interrogating Ma Bao, and then he was busy sending messengers out of the city, so he didn't go to see the people in the harem. Wang Shuyu was probably frightened today, and she felt uneasy when she saw that she hadn't visited him for a long time, so she sent someone to come.
Zhu Lang gave Li Guoyong an order, and soon Ma Mingtu was led into the room.

Ma Mingtu bowed to the Regent Palace above him and spoke respectfully.

"You were attacked today, and the Concubine Dowager is very concerned about your safety, so she asked me to invite you to the harem to see you."

"Also, the harem has already packed its luggage. The Concubine asked me to ask when we will set off..."

"Who told you to pack your luggage?"

Ma Mingtu was halfway through his speech when he suddenly heard an angry shout from above. Ma Mingtu trembled and immediately knelt down.
Zhu Lang's face turned cold and he immediately spoke

"Tell the Concubine that I am discussing the defense of the city with the ministers of the previous dynasty and have no time to meet you for the time being."

"Let the Concubine Dowager control the harem. If there are any rumors in the harem, let the Concubine Dowager deal with them immediately. Don't let the people in the harem cause trouble and disrupt the morale of our army."

Ma Mingtu looked at the cold-looking young man above him, his face full of fear, and he crawled on the ground tightly.
But before he could reply, the words of His Royal Highness the Regent came from above.
"If you can't figure out how to report back, just tell the Concubine exactly what I said just now. Do you understand?"

"I understand. I will go back and report to the Concubine right away."

Ma Mingtu replied immediately, then stood up in panic and was taken out of the room by Li Guoyong.

Zhu Lang looked at Ma Mingtu's receding back, his eyes turned cold, and he looked at Li Chengzhi below and said

“This was also done by Lu Daqi.”

Although His Royal Highness the Regent asked a question, his tone was very affirmative.
Li Chengzhi's face also became serious, and he replied respectfully:
"The city's Tiqi are short of manpower, and we have to prioritize sending messengers out of the city. After Elder Lu and others discussed the matter, I stopped monitoring them."

"I am not sure whether Lord Lu sent someone to contact the people in the harem. This is my dereliction of duty. Please punish me, Your Highness."

Li Chengzhi bowed and pleaded guilty, but Zhu Lang just waved his hand and said nothing.

Zhu Lang sat behind the table, silent for a moment, but suddenly spoke softly

"Attacking from both inside and outside, Lu Daqi is really good at this. He even prepared the steps for me in advance."

"It's a pity that I have to let him down. Although he has prepared a step for me, I just don't want to come down from the stage."

Zhu Lang sneered. He originally thought that it would be extremely difficult for him to make up his mind to defend the city.

Now it seems that he not only has to defend the city at his own risk, but also has to drag all the ministers to defend it together.

Li Chengzhi looked at the mocking expression on His Royal Highness the Regent's face and was silent for a moment, but suddenly he spoke

"Although the ministers in the court are concerned about self-preservation, evacuating at this time is also the right strategy to preserve the foundation. Your Highness, do you really want to take the risk and seize that glimmer of hope?"

"Let's not talk about whether the 30,000 troops from Zhaoqing can arrive in time. Even if they can, the Qing army has always been strong and I'm afraid..."

Li Chengzhi received Zhu Lang's order to secretly test Ma Bao's knowledge of the military situation in Guangdong Province, and naturally understood the intention of His Highness the Regent.

After His Majesty the Regent discovered that the Qing army's intelligence was wrong, he decided to use himself as bait to lure out the Qing army, and then mobilize the army in the court to annihilate them under the city.
But he still felt that this plan was too risky.

There were only 300 people in the city, and it was already very difficult to hold off the 7,000 people from Li Chengdong's headquarters.
If the Zhaoqing army could not arrive in time, they might even have to face the siege of Li Chengdong and Tong Yangjia's 10,000-man army with only 300 people.

If this is accomplished, everyone will be happy. Not only will the court be able to get rid of its decline, but your highness's prestige will also reach a peak. The governors and ministers of Hunan, Guizhou, and Yunnan provinces will probably no longer dare to disobey orders and ignore announcements.

Li Chengzhi was in charge of the Jinyiwei, so how could he not know the current situation in the court? The court ostensibly owned several southern provinces such as Yunnan, Guizhou, and Hunan. When the court was established, the governors and ministers of these provinces also sent people to send in congratulatory letters, but apart from the congratulatory letters, there was nothing else. In fact, the court had no control over the people of these provinces at all.
It is said that Yunnan Province had been in chaos since the Longwu Dynasty. Now that there has been no news, it is impossible to figure out what is going on. Wang Xiang, Pi Xiong and others in your province have their own thoughts.

He Tengjiao of Hunan Province was even more amazing. After he subdued the remnant of the rebel army, he was said to have nearly hundreds of thousands of soldiers. His Highness the Regent made some maneuvers and won the hearts of the generals of Guangxi Province, but he still has less than 100,000 soldiers.

Such a powerful governor, the court could only let him do what he wanted during the Longwu Dynasty. When His Royal Highness the Regent came to power, he became even more powerful and could no longer be transferred.
Hunan Province has always only asked the imperial court for soldiers and food, and has never paid taxes to the imperial court. The entire Hunan Province is almost ruled by He Tengjiao, and officials from top to bottom are almost all decided by He Tengjiao.
Although the imperial court still seems to control several provinces, it can actually only control Guangxi and Guangdong. The governors of other places obey the imperial court's orders on the surface, but in fact they are already doing their own things.

This is also the reason why His Highness is so determined to defend Guangzhou. It can be said that whether Guangzhou can be defended not only affects the initiative of the imperial court in the south, but also determines the future relationship between the imperial court and other provinces.
If Cheng can rely on the power of a great victory, he can naturally gradually subdue the disobedients and gradually take back the power of various places. This is why His Royal Highness the Regent is willing to take such a risk.

But if it fails, the consequences will be disastrous. Although the Qing army has 20,000 troops, the stakes here are the lives of His Royal Highness the Regent and the lives of all the civil and military officials in the court.
Li Chengzhi wanted to say more, but Zhu Lang interrupted him with a wave of his hand.
"Chaozhou and Huizhou have already surrendered without a fight. If a few hundred Qing troops were allowed to seize Guangzhou, it would be a joke."

"Even if Fujian Province is lost, at least the previous emperor died for his country. If we evacuate now, wouldn't it mean that the court will lose the entire Guangdong Province without firing a single shot?"

"Then what was the point of me taking on the position of regent when we had worked so hard to eliminate Ding Kuichu? I really can't accept it."

Zhu Lang had a gloomy look on his face, but he suddenly stood up and said in a cold voice
"Although the Qing army has 10,000 people and there are only 300 imperial guards in the city, there are more than 100,000 civilians in the city. I don't believe that more than 100,000 people can't hold out for even a few days."

Li Chengzhi stood in the room in silence for a long time, but Zhu Lang was no longer looking at Li Chengzhi below, and said

"I have made up my mind on this matter, Chengzhi, there is no need to say anything more"

"Now follow me to the lobby. The elders from the previous dynasty are probably waiting impatiently. Let me first stop these loyal and virtuous people from thinking about this, so that the people in the city can defend the city together."

Zhu Lang's face flashed a stern look, and after he finished speaking, he walked out the door, and Li Chengzhi followed closely behind him, quickly catching up.

(End of this chapter)