Prince Chongzhen

Chapter 106: Change of Plan (Two in One)

When Zhou Xian just rushed out, there were still many of his own people around him, and all his attention was on the tents that had not yet been ignited, so he did not notice that he had left the team.

He walked and stopped along the way. When he saw a military tent made of felt, he poured some lamp oil on it and lit it with hay. When the tent was burning with a raging fire, he went to the next one with satisfaction.

He was the fastest learner in the flag team and had quite some experience in arson. It didn't take him long to set fire to most of the flammable tents around him.

However, when he was about to move his position, he found that in his position, not to mention seeing his own people, he could only occasionally see one or two Qing troops.

Looking at the maze of military tents, Zhou Xiancai panicked.

He clearly remembered that the generals had said that they must follow the guard camp closely, otherwise if they encountered a large group of enemy troops, these militiamen who were only good at arson would surely lose their lives.

With this in mind, Zhou Xiancai took out the standard iron rod given to him by His Highness.

Later, when he saw flammable materials, he would light them before leaving, but at this time most of his attention had turned to guarding against the Qing army, and his movements of lighting the fire were not as smooth as before.

As the saying goes, a wolf is afraid of both ends when hit with a stick.

Although Zhou Xiancai was a little nervous, there were also two people who were very cautious in the military tent not far from him.

Earlier, when Qi Laoer saw the Ming army destroying the camp wall, he immediately chased in the direction where his own flag was escaping.

But when he caught up, he found that Xiaoqi's destination was not the rear camp at all.

"Boss, aren't you going to the rear camp?"

"What are you doing there? Are you looking for death?"

"We run fast, the imperial court and the Ming army shouldn't be able to catch up with us."

"Do you think the Tartars will open the camp gate for us?" Seeing that his subordinate was so stupid, the flag bearer rolled his eyes at him and began to explain.

"I dare say you'll be shot into a hedgehog before you even get close to me."

"Why is this?"

The more Xiaoqi explained, the more confused Qi Laoer became.

In his opinion, since the soldiers in the front camp had been completely routed, it was time for the rear camp to take over and wait until the front camp was fully organized before joining forces to strangle the Ming army.

But in the final analysis, Qi Laoer had only been to Zhenjiang for a short time in his life, and that time didn't even take him a short while. How could he understand the experience summed up at the cost of so many lives?

In the end, Xiaoqi didn't explain any more, and he could only suppress his doubts and follow Xiaoqi into an inconspicuous little tent.

"There is a reason for choosing this place."

After entering the tent, Xiaoqi seemed to relax immediately, and he just kept talking without caring whether Qi Laoer had asked or not.

"Whenever they are attacked, everyone wants to get closer to the main group," Xiaoqi said, using the tip of his knife to drill into the military tent. "The people in the rear camp will naturally not open the door for fear of the enemy rushing into the camp."

Xiaoqi stopped talking when he felt a small hole had been drilled in the tent, and put one eye on it to check his vision.

"What do you think will happen to the people caught in the middle?"

"All dead?"

"It's not like they all died, but it's certain that most of them were killed or injured."

"Then this and us"

In a short while, Xiao Qi sat down on the mattress, and seeing that Qi Laoer seemed to have not understood yet, he began to guide him.

"Stupid! Everyone is running to the back gate of the camp. Aren't we safe if we hide at the edge of the village?"

Having said that, even if Qi Lao Er was slow-witted, he understood the purpose of choosing to hide here.

"To put it bluntly, isn't it just running to where there are fewer people?"

After complaining in his heart, he followed Xiaoqi's example and sat on the mattress. However, before his butt touched the mattress, he saw Xiaoqi raising his hand and shaking it, as if he realized something was wrong.

Soon, a burst of intermittent footsteps came into his ears, and at the same time, Xiaoqi tiptoed towards the small hole as if he was preparing to confirm something.

Qi Laoer knew that in their current situation it would be best not to make any noise at all, but when Xiaoqi raised his hand he was sitting down on the mattress, with his legs maintaining a very standard horse stance.

This posture was not too difficult for him, but if he continued to do it for too long he would not be able to hold on and would make noises.

Fortunately, Xiaoqi turned around after looking for a short while, and then he stretched out his hand to gesture towards Qi Laoer.

One?
Not a soldier?

Get rid of it?

After understanding Xiaoqi's meaning, Qi Laoer immediately felt relieved, and his originally stiff body slowly straightened up.

If the person in front of them was a Tartar, even if they had the courage, they would have to hide quietly in this military tent. But now the one who came was just a lone civilian, so why should he make himself so uncomfortable?
After the communication was completed, the two men moved towards the door of the military tent while slowly drawing their weapons from their waists, ready to kill the man as soon as he got close.

But plans are always not as good as changes. Just when they were ready to go, the footsteps suddenly stopped, and then moved farther and farther away from them.

Seeing this, Qi Laoer felt relieved, but Xiaoqi's expression suddenly became fierce.

"Chase!"

"what?"

He thought that since the man had left, the two of them should wait here until dawn before going out.

But in Xiaoqi's opinion, that man was a credit to him, and if he was just allowed to get away, wouldn't it be a waste of God's kindness?

The two men had different thoughts, but Qi Laoer was just a small soldier after all. Even if he was unwilling to fight, what could he do since his own flag had already made the decision?

After leaving the military tent, Xiaoqi waved the flag in all directions. After figuring out the direction the man left, he led Qi Laoer to chase after him.

The reason why Zhou Xiancai turned around was simple.

There is not even a ghost to be seen here, so it is definitely not the place where a large group of people should be.

Because of this, he was always on guard and became alert when the two men were still a few feet away from him.

Afterwards, the three men fled while two chased them. From time to time, the sound of metal clashing could be heard. By the time Qi Laoer and the other two reacted, they were already approaching the center of the battle.

Looking at the ferocious Ming army not far away, Xiaoqi felt a little regretful. But just when he was about to retreat with Qi Laoer, he saw several Ming soldiers rushing towards him.

How should we deal with such a situation?

Xiaoqi once again taught Qi Laoer a lesson through practice.

He threw the weapon in his hand towards Zhou Xiancai, turned around and kicked Qi Laoer from behind.

Then he used this force to escape into the distance at an extremely fast speed, while Qi Laoer, who was still a little dazed, staggered towards Xiang Rensheng.

After all, he had inherited Xiaoqi's true skills, and he knew that if he charged into the Ming army in this manner, he would certainly lose his life.

He simply gave up trying to control his balance and fell in front of Xiang Rensheng in a completely harmless posture.

"Master, spare your life!"

"Who is your commander-in-chief?"

Marshal?

This question touched upon Qi Laoer's blind spot in knowledge.

Zhenjiang was under the jurisdiction of Yingtian, but Yingtian didn't seem to have any generals who could follow the army. How could he answer? "From Zhenjiang?"

"Ah."

"That's him, take him away!"

Zhu Cilang had begun planning this night attack as soon as he took control of the military power in Yingtian.

However, due to changes in objective conditions, its main purpose has changed again and again.

Initially, he just thought that he could not passively take the beating, but should strike the Tartars unexpectedly to boost morale at home and deter the enemy externally.

Afterwards, because Zhu Baozi brought the news that most of the Qing troops had already dispersed, their purpose became even clearer.

At this time, although the specific purpose of the night attack had changed slightly, its essence had not changed at all.

In general, night attacks were used as a means to slow down the Tatars' siege of the city.

But when Zhu Cilang learned that Zhenjiang had stored a large amount of money, food and supplies, and only stationed these two or three thousand local surrendered troops, his mind changed.

It's like a scumbag meeting a new target, becoming so decisive and decisive.

At that moment, the only word left in Zhu Cilang's mind was Zhenjiang.

All the ideas of slowing down the Tartar attack, boosting morale at home and deterring powerful enemies abroad were thrown out of his mind.

just
Is this news credible?
If it is true, what should we do next?
"How could a place as important as Zhenjiang only have three or two thousand local garrison troops?"

After asking this question, Zhu Cilang stared at Qi Laoer, who was about ten feet away. Even though it was very dark at night, he still wanted to find some clues that could provide evidence from that blurry face.

"To answer the commander, there were indeed more than these people before. In addition to us, there were also some Tartars."

While answering, Qi Lao Er raised his eyelids and glanced forward secretly.

When Zhu Cilang spoke, he felt that the voice seemed a little too young, but when he roughly judged the age of the "Marshal" by the moonlight, the surprise in his heart made him forget to say the rest.

"Then why did you say that there were only three or two thousand troops stationed there? That's inconsistent. Are you trying to deceive me with your big words?!"

Hearing Zhu Cilang's shout, Qi Laoer was immediately frightened and even spoke with a tearful tone.

"General~~~! The Tartars have all left the city, and those of us who were transporting grain and grass have been forced to stay in the camp to do hard labor. There really aren't many people left in Zhenjiang City."

After hearing this, Zhu Cilang had already determined the truth of the news, so he naturally began to deduce based on it.

Since Zhenjiang is short of military forces, the supplies and money stored there will be like being thrown on the road. As long as they can be burned, there will be only two options left for the Tartars.

First, it is nothing more than withdrawing the troops as soon as possible before the food and grass are exhausted.
As for these two.
Thinking of this, Zhu Cilang couldn't help but shake his head: How can you think so far ahead when this isn't even a thing that's happened yet?

"Your Highness, it is true."

Just when Zhu Cilang had just pulled himself out of his daydream, Xiang Rensheng, who had just interrogated the other captured Zhenjiang soldiers, came to him.

It would be a good thing to confirm the news again, but his brows furrowed even more after hearing the report.

Why?

The greater the profit, the greater the risk and difficulty.

Zhenjiang is about one or two hundred miles away from Yingtian, and there are always Tartar scouts roaming around. Even if these two points are ignored, we still need to find a way to break through the city wall.

The distance is not difficult to deal with. With the cover of this night attack, as long as the guard battalion sets off immediately, based on their speed, they can probably reach Baohua Mountain between the two cities before dawn.

Although this mountain is not big, it is enough for the guard camp to hide for a whole day, but what about after that?

Scouts, distance, and the damn Zhenjiang city wall, each of these are obstacles that must be overcome but cannot be overcome.

Thinking of this, Zhu Cilang’s brows couldn’t help but frown even more tightly.

In fact, he could already guess which path Duoduo would choose, and he had also thought about what changes this path would bring to Yingtian, Jiangnan, and the war situation between the Ming and Qing dynasties.

But faced with these unsolvable problems, he was helpless.

Under such heavy pressure, his already healed injuries even began to ache slightly.

"Your Highness, Zhu Baozi is back."

Zhu Cilang's entire mind was focused on how to capture Zhenjiang. When the soldier reported to him, he just glanced blankly into the distance, and didn't even realize that there was a middle-aged man with a longbow beside Zhu Baozi.

"Your humble servant Yan Yingyuan pays respects to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince who is the Regent."

As soon as the name Yan Yingyuan came out, Zhu Cilang immediately woke up from his thoughts.

When he looked again, he saw a man prostrating himself about ten feet in front of his horse with great respect.

In this situation, not to mention that Zhu Cilang knew about his brilliant military achievements, he didn't know how he could treat badly the loyal and brave men who came from thousands of miles away to help.

"Please get up quickly! Please get up quickly!"

Zhu Cilang kept talking, but his legs and feet were not slowed down at all.

Under the gaze of everyone, he jumped off his horse, rushed to Yan Yingyuan in two steps and helped him up.

"I have known from the memorials that there is a Dianshi in Jiangyin who is very good at archery. Today I see that he is indeed extraordinary."

"The late emperor also knew me?!"

As soon as these words were spoken, Yan Yingyuan's eyes widened in shock.

In his opinion, being able to see His Royal Highness the Crown Prince in person was already a great fortune for a mere ninth-rank official like him. Now it sounded as if even the late emperor knew that there was such a person as him in the world. How could Yan Yingyuan not be surprised?
"Of course I know that. Father once said that you will be of great use after you have gained more experience. What a pity..."

At this point, Zhu Cilang's voice gradually became low, and it was unclear whether he was regretting that Chongzhen died for his country or regretting that Yan Yingyuan was not able to be put to a great use.

"Your Highness, my condolences."

Yan Yingyuan had just been promoted to the ninth rank, so how could he know how to comfort such an important figure as the prince? He tried to hold it in for a long time but could only utter these words, which made it difficult for Zhu Cilang to recover from his grief so quickly.

"The country has only seen loyal and brave men when it comes to this. If we can get your help soon, the Tartars will not be able to fly across the Yangtze River even if they have wings."

Zhu Cilang brought the topic back to the topic with an extremely abrupt turn of events, and then gave a general account of the situation at the time.

But what was both reasonable and unexpected was that as soon as he finished speaking, Yan Yingyuan said without hesitation: "Your Highness, this matter will still fall on these people."

"them?"

"That's right. If they lead the way, we can only deceive the Qing army scouts and trick the Zhenjiang city gate into opening."

Looking at Qi Laoer and others kneeling on the ground, Zhu Cilang suddenly hesitated.

It's not like he hadn't thought about this method before, but these people were fickle and couldn't be trusted.

If we put all our hopes on them, the risk would be quite high.

"Your Highness, can you please let me handle all the money in Zhenjiang?"

Zhu Cilang naturally agreed to this request as much as possible, but at the same time he was extremely curious about how Yan Dianshi would act.

"Did you hear everything your highness said?"

Yan Yingyuan asked the surrendered soldiers, and after seeing them nodding their heads, he said, "As long as you can help the royal army enter Zhenjiang, you can take as much money as the Tartars have left in the city."

(End of this chapter)