Prince Chongzhen

Chapter 100 The wait is finally here

The time of day refers to the laws governing the operation of nature.

This law does not have any bias depending on whether you are just or not.

This is probably what is meant by “Heaven and earth are unkind and treat all things as straw dogs.”

Take the plum rain for example. The continuous rainfall would certainly delay the Qing army's preparations for siege, but it was also a challenge for the Ming army who were eager to launch a night attack.

Why?

Continuous rainy weather is inevitably accompanied by thick clouds, which in turn reduce visibility at night to a minimum.

Under such circumstances, it would be a problem for the Ming army to organize a successful night attack, or even to bring its troops intact to the vicinity of the Qing army camp.

Fortunately, the clouds today were finally thinner. According to Chang Guanlin and Xiang Rensheng's estimation, such clouds would not completely block the moonlight, so the beacon fire on Yingtian City was lit when the Tartar scouts appeared.

As to why this beacon was lit.
Yan Yingyuan has been very anxious these days.

He didn't know whether those young men could reach Yingtian safely, nor did he know whether they could meet His Royal Highness the Crown Prince smoothly after entering Yingtian, and he didn't know whether they could gain the trust of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince.

All he could do was wait, waiting for that glimmer of possibility in this deserted body of water.

Fortunately, his hard work paid off. Around noon, the young man he sent out to observe the signals on the city wall finally came back.

"Sir, there is smoke rising from the city!"

Seeing his master looking at him with hope in his eyes, the young man quickly ran to Yan Yingyuan and spoke in a low voice.

As the saying goes, if you keep it for a long time, you will lose it.

The game between the attacker and the defender is actually very simple. Everything is based on the premise that the city wall will be breached sooner or later.

For both offense and defense, it is necessary to continuously inflict damage to the city walls. As for the defenders, they must either be very confident in the strength of the city walls and hold out until the attackers run out of food and aid, or they must not be confident in the city walls and use various methods to delay the enemy's attack.

On this basis, a variety of methods evolved, and eventually a science of attack and defense was formed. Yan Yingyuan, a small historian of Jiangyin, was very knowledgeable about this science.

Therefore, he naturally attached great importance to this night attack.

When the young man heard the words, this middle-aged man, who was over forty, almost jumped up with excitement.

"Send the order to prepare."

Although he was excited, he did not forget his main business. At his command, the six hundred Zhutang young men immediately took action.

These young men have been fighting with him since they took office in Jiangyin. Although some of them were killed and some were replaced, the combat effectiveness of these six hundred people has always been maintained at a considerable level.

It is hard to say about the Tartars, but Yan Yingyuan is confident that these young men can be considered strong among the Ming Dynasty's official troops.

"Sir, can you give us a new name after this battle?"

Just as Yan Yingyuan was frowning in thought, a young man who was helping his comrade to fasten his leather armor said something with a smile.

"Why?"

"I'm about to get married and have kids, and you're still a teenager."

Hearing this, he couldn't help but look around.

When they first followed him, most of them were only sixteen or seventeen years old. Although there had been new recruits in the camp over the years, the earliest batch had grown from teenagers to young adults, so the title of six hundred Zhutang teenagers seemed inappropriate.

Thinking of this, Yan Yingyuan couldn't help but feel a warmth in his heart, but after changing his mind, his mood became depressed again.

If His Royal Highness the Crown Prince agreed to his plan, then his six hundred men would only need to provide support from the side during this night attack.

However, the enemy in front of them was the Qing army that dominated China. After this battle, I don't know how much the number of 600 would be reduced. As his mind wandered, the smile on Yan Yingyuan's face disappeared without a trace, and the young man saw this and focused on tidying up his comrades' armor.

After a while, all the young men were dressed in their armor, and Yan Yingyuan didn't say a word during the whole process.

Seeing this, a young man wearing the standard cotton armor of the Ming army stepped forward to comfort them.

"Sir, the elite Tartar troops are not in the camp, and Your Highness has us to assist him, so this battle should be easy."

He thought that his master was worried about the battle tonight, so most of his words were about describing his side's chances of winning.

But what he didn't expect was that while his master was worried about this battle, he was also concerned about their safety.

Although he was concerned, Yan Yingyuan, who had led troops for many years, knew that this was not the time to be sentimental, so he responded casually with a few words and then moved the topic back to the night attack.

"This is not your first night raid. In the past, you were able to kill pirates and robbers until they cried for their parents. I believe that this time you can also let the fake Tartars see how powerful we, the real Han people, are."

When talking about past achievements, the atmosphere in the field suddenly became relaxed.

When the pirate Gu Sanmazi led a hundred warships to invade Huangtian Port, they were just newly recruited militiamen. But under such circumstances, they still defeated Gu Sanmazi so badly that he never appeared in Jiangyin again.

Although the enemy now has many people, we are not fighting alone.

What's more, most of the real Tartars had already gone out, and those left behind in the camp were, to put it bluntly, the former government troops. Such an enemy was not enough to make these young men feel afraid.

Generals need to boost morale before a battle, and there are many ways to do this depending on the environment and the generals' habits.

What Yan Yingyuan chose was to boost confidence by past battle records, thereby bringing the morale of his subordinates to an extremely high level.

"Congratulations on building a warehouse."

"exist!"

Now that morale has been boosted, all that remains is the task of settling down.

Following his command, the young man who was wearing the Ming army's cotton armor stepped out.

"You lead our troops ahead and be responsible for killing the Tartar sentries."

"Order."

To be honest, these 600 Zhutang young men were not regular Ming troops, but their existence was somewhat similar to that of militia forces.

Therefore, there are not many people in this army who can wear the Ming army's cotton armor.

But then again, how easy is it to get a set of Ming army cotton armor in such a team?
If it weren't for his qualities such as frontal combat capability, control of opportunities, and combat experience that were far superior to others, he would probably be beaten to a pulp at night if he put on armor during the day.

"The rest of you will be with me. When you see the defenders approaching, set fire everywhere and do your best to disrupt the enemy."

"Yes!"

After the military order was passed on, everyone started to move.

Zhu Jiancang and others bowed to the others, and then headed towards the Qing army camp along the road that had been surveyed in advance.

At this point, Yan Yingyuan felt reluctant to leave, but he also knew that it was not appropriate to say anything unlucky at this time, so he let the group gradually disappear among the grass.

It is said that a kind person cannot command an army.

He naturally understood this truth, but how could an ordinary person bear to send the child who had grown up under his watch to the battlefield?
“I hope everything goes well in this battle.”

(End of this chapter)