Prince Chongzhen

Chapter 112 Where did the warship come from?

During this period, Yingtian City was filled with a joyful atmosphere. Whether it was the common people, soldiers or officials, they were all as happy as if it were New Year's Day.

The last time they repelled the Tartars, it was late at night, and the total number of participants was less than two thousand, so there was not much noise. Therefore, for most people in the city, they only knew that they had won for a while, but did not have any real experience.

But this time it was different. The flames that shot up into the sky burned for three or two hours. Even when it was about to dawn, the sky to the east of Yingtian was still bright red.

As a result, the people in the city had more personal experience than before, and the joy brought to them was naturally much stronger than before.

Of course, this only applies to ordinary people. For the nobles who are independent of the small court of Yingtian, it is a different feeling.

"My Lord! It's already this late. How can you still sit there?"

At this time, a group of nobles were gathering in Zhu Guobi's house. Dingyuan Marquis Deng Wenyu became a little anxious when he saw that he looked so calm and composed.

Zhu Cilang carried out the night raid that day almost without telling them. By the time the nobles had found out the whole story through various channels, even Xiang Rensheng, who had raided Zhenjiang, had already returned to the city safely.

From being imprisoned to being in charge of all affairs in Yingtian, from having no soldiers under his command to attacking the Tartar's logistics center.

After all these events, the nobles who had originally had no hope in Zhu Cilang had to admit that if this trend continued, not to mention defending Yingtian, even driving the Tartars back to Jiangbei seemed not completely impossible.

People are so strange, if there is no opportunity at all, they won't feel anything, but if this opportunity has passed them by, they will assume it all day long until they torture themselves beyond recognition.

This was the state of the nobles gathered in Zhu Guobi's mansion at that time.

Zhu Cilang had never counted on them at the beginning, so they were happy to hide in the corner and act like invisible people.

Now that His Royal Highness the Regent’s army is at its peak and the Tartars are about to retreat due to a lack of food and supplies, how could they be willing to miss this opportunity to share the fruits of victory?

"Now that things have come to this, what else can we do if we can't sit still?"

"Oh, Lord Duke! We are all nobles who are closely connected with the country! It was fine that we were not strong enough in the beginning, but now that His Highness the Regent has won such a great victory, it is the time for us to serve the country. How can we just sit there doing nothing?!"

"Yes, uncle, you should take us to ask His Highness for orders!"

"Sir, if you miss this opportunity, where else will you get another chance? Do you want to sink into despair?"

"You don't think about yourself, but about future generations."

Deng Wenyu's words attracted the approval of everyone present, but Zhu Guobi seemed to be unaffected and remained the same as before.

In terms of the desire for power, Zhu Guobi's desire was stronger than that of everyone present combined, but at the same time he also knew that they were of no value to Zhu Cilang at all.

Under such circumstances, even if they sincerely go to serve, they may not be accepted.

not to mention.
Is now really the best time?
After all, Zhu Guobi was different from those good-for-nothings who only chased the rising and falling prices. It was he who pulled Xu Yinjue to help Zhu Cilang take down Zhao Zhilong and others.

In this situation, he also sensed the risks among the flowers.

The Tartars' food and fodder in Zhenjiang was indeed burned to ashes, but couldn't the Tartars replenish it on the spot? After replenishing it, would the Tartars still allow Yingtian to attack them near their vital points?

If we think in this way, in at least ten days or at most a month, Yingtian will surely face the crazy revenge of the Tartars. By then, who knows what will happen to those who cry and shout that they want to serve Zhu Cilang?

"You all think this way?"

Zhu Guobi asked the question calmly, and all the nobles naturally nodded in agreement.

If it were in the past, he would probably have made a few suggestions, but after the Liang Yungou incident, he not only spoke more carefully, but also often thought twice before doing anything.

In a situation like this, let alone reminding everyone, he didn't even want to say a few more words.

just
This group of people have to be sent away eventually, and it's a good opportunity to test Zhu Cilang a little. There won't be any loss if he agrees to it, so it's better to accompany them on this trip.

"Then I will take you to the city. As for whether Your Highness will agree, I cannot guarantee it."

As Zhu Guobi spoke, he glanced around the room. When he saw Lingbi Marquis Tang Guozuo, who had the same expression as everyone else, he couldn't help but complain in his heart:

It is obvious that he has been involved with Zhu Cilang for a long time, but now he is pretending that nothing happened and coming here with these idiots to gain sympathy. It is really hateful!

In Zhu Guobi's opinion, although Tang Guozuo was not eye-catching in the previous Liang Yungou case, the role he played was extremely crucial.

It was precisely because of the appearance of him and Qian Qianyi that everyone successfully believed that Liang Yungou was just unlucky and the truth just happened to fall into Zhu Cilang's hands.

As a result, most of the civil servants' resentment was directed to Qian Qianyi, and no one considered what role the wise and powerful Regent played in this matter.

Under such circumstances, Tang Guozuo must have sided with Zhu Cilang very early on.

If you think more deeply
Could it be that Tang Guozuo is the spy hidden beside him?

Could it be that His Highness already knows what I said and did before?
Could it be that Liang Yungou was the chicken that was killed for him to see?
Zhu Guobi naturally thought deeply about it. Although the Liang Yungou case was purely the work of Zhu Cilang, Tang Guozuo was truly an accident.

As for himself.
Although Zhu Cilang knew that Zhu Guobi and he were not of the same mind, he had so many things to take care of all day long, so how could he have the energy to deal with a nearly idle duke?

Take this moment for example, it took him half a day to patrol the military camps and key points in the city. He had originally planned to go to the wounded camp to check but was stopped and taken directly to the Ministry of War.

"Minister Liang also has to deal with so many files?"

Looking at the tall pile of files, Zhu Cilang's heart skipped a beat, and then his scalp felt tingling.

"Your Highness, we have dealt with all these people, Ping Suliang..."

"That's fine, just call him Sir Liang."

The conversation involved the criminal official, and the old official didn't know how to address him for a moment. After Zhu Cilang finished speaking, he continued, "Usually, Lord Liang only looks at the result."

"So I just need to flip through it?"

"Yes."

Hearing this, Zhu Cilang breathed a sigh of relief. But when he was about to follow up with the rules, he suddenly had an idea and walked past the book that was placed alone on the table. He picked up a book at random from the pile and started flipping through it.

The last time when discussing merits, Liang Yungou blocked the rewards for the soldiers who participated in the battle based on the number of heads. This time when Zhu Cilang arranged for the Ministry of War to review the merits, he instructed them to take the performance of the soldiers into consideration.

However, over the past hundred years, people have focused on the initial achievements and ignored the military achievements. He is still somewhat curious about how these clerks in the Ministry of War do their work.

"Yes, did you guys come up with these by yourselves?" Zhu Cilang couldn't help but praise after flipping through a few pages.

The book he drew recorded the militiamen who had made outstanding contributions that night. It not only gave a brief description of the militiamen's achievements, but also had signatures from the militiamen themselves, the flag officers, and the investigators.

The superposition of several items not only greatly increases the difficulty of fraud, but also enables investigation after the problem is discovered.

Of course, if you want to make assumptions, there are many ways to do it, but is there a perfect system in the world?

For Zhu Cilang at this moment, the most important thing is to use it. As for the others, he can only make up for it after finding the loopholes.

"Your Highness, we dare not take credit for this. These are determined after looking through the records during the Hongwu period."

"Well, you did a good job. The fact that you thought of looking through the records shows that you put a lot of thought into it."

After all, compliments are just saliva, so Zhu Cilang would naturally not be stingy with them.

But to have clearly assessed the soldiers' battlefield performance in just a few days, these clerks must have put in a lot of effort. How could he have the nerve to send them off with just some cheap words?
"After that, ask Mr. Ji for ten taels of silver, and I'll treat you to a drink."

"This is all part of our job, and I don't deserve any additional reward from Your Highness."

Ten taels of silver may not seem like a lot, but if it is shared equally among each person, it can be used to buy a meal outside and some vegetables and side dishes for the family, so it is certainly not a small amount.

"Okay, you go and do your work."

Zhu Cilang said this with a smile, and then picked up the booklet that was placed on the table.

This battle was of great significance. Not only did it cause great casualties to the Qing army, it also directly destroyed the Tartars' food and grass. Therefore, Zhu Cilang was particularly generous when distributing rewards.

Needless to say, there were rewards of varying amounts depending on the tasks undertaken by the unit and individual performance. The most rare thing was that twenty or thirty soldiers with extremely outstanding performance were awarded hereditary military positions.

Xiang Rensheng led the guard battalion in an expedition of hundreds of miles, and after completing the mission, he led the troops back safely. He naturally obtained the only hereditary centurion title in this battle.

Although Chang Guanlin and Yan Yingyuan performed well, they did not participate in the raid on Zhenjiang, so they only got a small hereditary flag.

The most unlucky one was Xu Renjue. Although he also participated in this battle, because he was coordinating the actions of the militia throughout the whole process and failed to lead an army alone, he could only watch helplessly as the hereditary military position passed him by.

If we follow the old rule of giving priority to the first meritorious service, then the people who made the greatest contributions in this battle must be the militiamen.

Although they were not able to achieve every kill, their total kill count was far ahead of the other groups due to their number of people.

But if they follow the new merit calculation method, which takes battlefield performance, mission difficulty, and impact on the overall battle situation into consideration, they will be at the end of the pack.

From this we can see the urgency and necessity of changing the way of calculating work performance.

After flipping through the book for a while, Zhu Cilang found that the rewards were roughly in line with what he had thought, so he closed the book and asked the old clerk standing beside him, "Do we also need to register the additional militiamen with the Ministry of War?"

"Your Highness, several generals have been selected, and we are currently making the registration list."

From the very beginning, Zhu Cilang planned to build up the military framework with elite troops first, and then gradually expand it by selecting available soldiers.

After this battle, each group of troops had demonstrated their combat effectiveness, so he planned to expand them to a certain extent based on their numbers.

However, when it came to the actual implementation, Zhu Cilang spent a lot of time thinking about the source of the soldiers.

At this time, the only troops worth expanding in Yingtian City were the Guard Camp, Zhutang Youth, Chang Guanlin's team, and the four troops under Li Chaodong.

If we think in normal terms, even if the number is doubled, the soldiers and civilians in the city should be enough.

However, expansion is not something that can be done by simply grabbing some people and adding them in. It is necessary to select suitable troops according to their tactics and characteristics in order to achieve the effect of strengthening the military. Otherwise, the possibility of counterproductive results may be greater.

Chang Guanlin's side is the easiest. He just needs to follow his method and select some soldiers from each guard to fill in the garrison. However, the other three groups have their own troubles.

The trouble with the Suwei Camp and the young men from Zhutang is that one of them is an excellent archer and the other is physically strong. If the new recruits fail to reach their level, it will affect their combat effectiveness.

As for the trouble with Li Chaodong's troops, it was Li Chaodong himself.

After more than ten days of meticulous treatment by Doctor Zheng, his life was finally saved, but it was no longer possible for him to fight in the battlefield.

This raises a question: who can be the head of this team?

In fact, both Captain Liu and Xu Renjue could be considered qualified, but in Zhu Cilang's opinion, one of them lacked ability and the other lacked prestige.

If the appointment is made rashly, it may bring harm to this unit that was the first to make military achievements, which is really a dilemma.

No better than.
With an idea in mind, Zhu Cilang began to think carefully about it, but before he could come up with a result, he saw a large group of people led by Zhu Guobi walking into the lobby of the Ministry of War.

"Greetings to His Royal Highness the Regent."

"This is what you are doing?"

Seeing this situation, Zhu Cilang was naturally surprised.

Since he took charge of Yingtian, the civil servants have either deliberately caused trouble or stood on his side. No matter which behavior they did, it can be said that they made a choice based on their own cognition.

However, this group of nobles hid themselves in the dark corners as much as possible like maggots. Apart from observing everything that happened inside and outside Yingtian, they did not take any initiative to respond to the changes in the situation.

That was why he was so patient with the civil servants, willing to spend more time on them even if they disagreed with him, but he treated these nobles as if they were transparent.

"Your Highness, we haven't had the chance to congratulate you since we defeated the enemy. We just happened to meet today, so I brought them here."

Oh, you are here to share the fruit.

As soon as Zhu Guobi finished speaking, Zhu Cilang guessed their purpose, but he himself did not get much benefit, so how could he give them any extra?

To be fair, their identities can greatly enhance the legitimacy of Zhu Cilang's small court.

If the two sides maintain this kind of relationship, he would be happy to put these mascots in his home, but.
Thinking of this, Zhu Cilang's smile grew wider, as if he was extremely happy that the nobles came to congratulate him. But when he was about to say something, he heard footsteps, and then saw a soldier running in.

"Your Highness! Several boats were spotted fighting on the river!"

(End of this chapter)