Prince Chongzhen

Chapter 116 Suppression
After the banquet, Shen Tingyang returned to his home.

He was originally from Chongming, and since he entered the officialdom, he had been transferred to various places and had never returned to the island.

He originally thought that this situation would continue until he was old and frail and retired to his hometown, but who knew that at the last moment he would get the opportunity to stay at home for a long time because of the collapse of his country.

This made Shen Tingyang unsure whether to be happy or sad.

However, judging from the current situation, such days will not last long.

The Tartars' heavy taxes and levies have aroused public resentment. As long as His Royal Highness the Regent raises his hand and calls for action, the righteous people will rise up.

By then I will have to leave Chongming again.

Thinking of this, Shen Tingyang stretched comfortably and prepared to go to bed, but before he took a few steps toward the bed, he heard someone reporting from outside.

"Master, Lord Tian wants to see you."

"What's the matter?"

"No, but I think Mr. Tian seems to be very anxious."

The banquet was over in three or four quarters of an hour at most. If nothing serious had happened, Tian Yang would not have come to look for him at this time.

But at this time of year, what else could possibly happen except an attack from the Tartars?
Thinking of this, Shen Tingyang's heart sank, and he rushed out of the bedroom and ran to the front hall without even tidying up his clothes.

Normally speaking, Chongming Island has the advantage of boats and ships, so the Tartars should not be able to sneak up quietly. However, he has witnessed how bad the military discipline of the other battalions has been in recent days, so he was not sure whether the soldiers on duty had deserted.

When he ran to the front hall in a hurry, he saw Tian Yang pacing back and forth in the hall.

Shen Tingyang was even more anxious in this situation. He asked without waiting for the two sides to greet each other: "But the Tartars?!"

"Hey!" Tian Yang's attention was drawn to this sound, but before he could answer, he used his right fist to hit his left palm fiercely, and then said with great sorrow: "If only it were the Tartars!"

Not a Tartar?

So why is it like this?
"There are two battalions of soldiers in Huaihai Town demanding pay!"

Hearing this, Shen Tingyang's tense heart finally relaxed.

At the end of the Ming Dynasty, any official who had any connection with the military was familiar with the issue of salary demands.

If there is no money, such things can be made into a bigger fuss than the sky. It is not uncommon for the army to be mobilized, officials to be killed, and officials to surrender to the enemy. But if there is enough money, it can be resolved with just a few words.

Therefore, for Shen Tingyang, who came from a wealthy family, the danger of rioting for pay was much lower than other things.

"You really scared me to death, let me go change my clothes."

"Oh my! Where do we have the time to change clothes? They are not making trouble for us this time, but for His Highness the Regent!"

Making trouble for His Royal Highness the Regent?
If you have the ability to defeat the Tartar army, then go and cause trouble in Yingtian.

Tian Yang spoke nervously, as if he took the matter very seriously, but Shen Tingyang looked as if he didn't care much, which made him unable to react.

"Oh! My Lord Shen! They went to Yingtianbing!"

There was a snap.

Shen Tingyang leaned on the table, and the vase on it fell to the ground.

When he slowly turned his head back, Tian Yang saw that his eyes were full of bloodshot.

The riot over pay had come to the Yingtian soldiers who had just arrived on the island. If Shen Tingyang said that there was no one instigating it, he would never believe it even if he was beaten to death.

"Why would you go there?!"

"How should I know?" Tian Yang answered in surprise as he looked at Shen Tingyang who seemed to be ready to devour someone. But then he seemed to have thought of something and shouted, "Are you doubting me?!"

"We just arrived on the island at noon, and we went to make trouble at night. Is this a coincidence?!"

"How do I know if it's a coincidence?! Why don't you, the soldiers of Huaihai Town, go and cause trouble for Zhang Shiyi?!"

"伱!"

"You know what's going on with him, right?" Tian Yang paused for a moment, then pointed at Shen Tingyang as if he had figured out something and said, "You're afraid that something might happen to Ying Tianbing and you won't be able to explain it to the Regent, so you want to put the blame on me!"

"I!"

"You are such a good guy, Shen Tingyang. You pretend to be a chivalrous man in your simple life, but when you take action, you show no mercy at all!"

"no!"

"Well, things have come to this point. I'm afraid Ying Tianbing's life is no longer safe. I'll go back and pack up my things, and then go to Your Highness with you to fight this lawsuit!"

"and many more!"

After Tian Yang finished speaking, he walked out angrily. Shen Tingyang was stunned for a moment, then stopped him.

After being disturbed by this meal, his mind was a little confused.

The lack of support from Zhang Shiyi's troops was indeed serious, but the timing of this incident was too coincidental. The combination of the two factors made him unsure whether to believe his own thoughts or Tian Yang's explanation.

"Use your brain. If it were you, would you choose the time when Ying Tianbing first arrived on the island?"

Shen Tingyang was at a loss.

What Tian Yang said was indeed reasonable. Everyone knew that he belonged to Prince Yiyang. If he really interfered at this time, wouldn't he be turning the conspiracy into a louse on a bald head?
But who else could it be but him?
"Hurry, something happened!"

A loud voice pulled Shen Tingyang out of his thoughts. When he looked outside the hall, he saw Zhang Pengyi walking in hurriedly.

"Huh? Lord Tian is here too?"

"Ah."

"knew?"

"Ah."

"I have prepared the troops, go and see if you can save a few."

Under Zhang Pengyi's urging, the two of them finally seemed to think about the real business.

In fact, the two of them were not wasting time. In their opinion, although the battle record of the Yingtian soldiers was amazing, it was somewhat tricky, and their actual combat power was probably only similar to that of the four towns.

Based on this, under the siege of the two camps, it is likely that only a few of the three hundred Yingtian soldiers would survive.

Therefore, Shen Tingyang wanted to find out the mastermind behind the scenes as soon as possible so that he could give an explanation to the prince as soon as possible.

This is probably the only thing he can do to make up for it.

After a while, the three finally met up with Zhang Pengyi's troops outside the city.

"Sir Shen, I have paid the soldiers for their departure. Please make arrangements for them when we are done."

"How many?"

"I brought two thousand, four or five hundred taels will be enough."

"Ah."

Halfway through the walk, Zhang Pengyi quietly leaned close to Shen Tingyang and said something a little embarrassedly, and he did not refuse at all.

When he was experimenting with sea transportation, he used his own property to invest when the court had no money. Now that the country is about to perish, he is even more prepared to destroy his family property to help.

But in the current situation, no matter who the mastermind behind the scenes is, Chongming Island has lost the basis for mutual trust with Yingtian.

Without the help of the soldiers from Yingtian, even if he destroyed his family, it would be unlikely for the navy to achieve anything. Thinking of this, Shen Tingyang was naturally depressed, but after a while, the noise coming from the front of the team attracted his attention.

"What happened ahead? Why are you standing still?"

Zhang Pengyi asked sternly when he saw the team in front stopped moving forward.

Although the team of more than 2,000 people was not too long, it stretched for nearly a mile. In addition, it was late at night, and even with the moonlight, it was impossible to see what was happening in the front.

"Peng Yi, why don't you go to the front and take a look at the situation."

"Ah."

Shen Tingyang urged him, but Zhang Pengyi just responded verbally without moving his hands or feet.

Normally, he couldn't just fall behind the team and ignore it, but this trip was to suppress the rebellion after all, so how could he dare to put himself in danger?
However, these soldiers were worthy of the money Zhang Pengyi had agreed to pay for the march. After only a moment, they saw a soldier running over in a panic to report: "General! The rebels are coming to attack us!"

As soon as these words were spoken, Shen and Zhang were stunned where they were. Tian Yang didn't know what was going on. Although he was also extremely surprised, he was not as surprised as them.

“Did I see that?!”

"You're right," the soldier responded to Tian Yang, and then said to Zhang Pengyi, "General! How should we respond?"

how to respond?

Since the rebel soldiers are coming this way, they must have been killing people in the Yingtian soldiers' camp and wanted to enter Chongming County to plunder.

If it happens under normal circumstances, the worst that can happen is that you can give way to them and wait until they calm down before making an example of the leader.

But now the families of all the adults are in Chongming County. What else can they do except hold off the rebels for a while?
"Go and get the families of the masters to leave the county!" Zhang Pengyi shouted to the soldiers beside him, and then controlled his mount to move forward a few steps: "Form a formation! Quickly form a formation!"

Even the elite troops in the army might not be able to change their formation to meet the enemy during the march, let alone the naval and land camps under his command?
At the command, the queue, which had originally had a rough outline, immediately became a mess.

Seeing this, Shen Tingyang knew that he couldn't rely on such a team, so he shouted to Tian Yang who was still in a daze: "Master Tian, ​​don't be stunned, go and mobilize our troops quickly, we must not let the chaotic army enter the city!"

"Ah? Oh! Hey!" Tian Yang responded three times in a row, and then said in great annoyance: "How can we mobilize troops now in time!"

How could Shen Tingyang not know that it was too late? But if he didn't try at all, would he just watch the chaotic army enter the city?

Seeing that Tian Yang was indifferent to his opinion, he knew that this man was frightened and no longer expected him to do anything.

But the rebel army must be stopped and Chongming City must not be harmed. In his anxiety, an idea suddenly came to his mind.

"Form a battle array! Each person who stops the rebels will receive five cents of silver. Rewards will be calculated separately!"

Such a reward was already considered top-notch, but the soldiers only moved a little faster; their morale did not seem to be much different from before.

As the saying goes, money makes the world go round.

But even if you have money, you have to have the life to spend it.

Which of these veteran soldiers doesn't know that the rebel army has gone blood-thirsty?
The battle array at this time is just a show for you gentlemen. Who is willing to really exchange his life for a few coins?

As for whether deserting from the battlefield will lead to retribution,
It's funny to say that many times the soldiers' retreat was supported by the generals.

Why?

The soldiers are unwilling to risk their lives to earn money, so do you think the generals are willing to risk their own livelihood to fight for that damn official position?

But when repeated unanimous retreat became a habit, the army's only ability was to ravage the civilians, and the generals could only let it go.

"Form a battle array! Each person who stops the rebels will receive five cents of silver. Rewards will be calculated separately!"

At this time, apart from the footsteps of the soldiers, the only sound in the field was Shen Tingyang's shouting at the top of his lungs.

As for Zhang Pengyi and Tian Yang, one just looked on blankly while the other was still in regret.

This scene seemed very similar to the situation since the generals landed on the island, with Shen Tingyang the only one running around, while the others seemed to be drifting with the flow and losing interest.

"The rebel army is coming!"

I don't know who shouted, and the three people who were originally doing their own thing turned their attention to the darkness in the distance. Then figures kept jumping out of the darkness, and after gathering into a group, they had the momentum to destroy everything in front of them.

"You two lords, please retreat first. I will hold on here for a while."

At this point, Zhang Pengyi had given up his last glimmer of hope. After saying something to the two of them, he tightened the reins, ready to turn the horse's head at any time.

"How can we retreat? How can we retreat? If the rebels invade Chongming, how can I face my fellow countrymen?"

As Shen Tingyang spoke, he drew his sword from his waist.

Then, without waiting for others to say anything, he urged his horse to go to the "front of the battle".

"Master Shen!"

Tian Yang could ignore the situation, but Zhang Pengyi and Shen Tingyang had known each other for many years, and his troops needed his support for military pay. He could not let him sacrifice his life in vain, both for public and private reasons.

So the moment Shen Tingyang moved forward, he could only chase after him.

"Sir, as long as the green mountains remain, there will be no shortage of firewood!"

Shen Tingyang had no response to Zhang Pengyi's persuasion. Apart from moving forward, he did not make any movement at all.

"Sir, please don't be impulsive!"

"I am not impulsive," Shen Tingyang finally responded, as if struck in the heart by the word "impulsive": "The late emperor treated me well. If I had not thought about reviving the Ming Dynasty, I would have followed the late emperor after Beijing was captured."

Zhang Pengyi listened to Shen Tingyang's words, but his eyes kept glancing towards the front of the "formation".

At this time, there were only more than 20 steps left between the two armies. If he could not persuade him to come back, he should withdraw quickly, otherwise it would be troublesome if he was trapped in the chaos.

"His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is still in Yingtian, there is always a chance."

"The Yingtian soldiers are gone, how can His Highness still trust us?"

"Oh~~~~," Zhang Pengyi sighed, knowing that Shen Tingyang had completely lost the last glimmer of hope.

Under such circumstances, no matter how unwilling he was, he had no choice but to turn his horse around.

"In that case, I will return to Chongming first."

After saying this, Zhang Pengyi spurred his horse and rode away, but after only two steps he heard cries for mercy coming from behind him.

"This bunch of killers didn't even dare to resist for a moment!"

After muttering in his heart, he whipped the horse hard again, fearing that if he ran too slowly he would be trapped in the chaos of the army.

Being the general, his mount was naturally extraordinary. With just a whip, both he and the horse rushed out with a whoosh.

Now that the speed had been increased, Zhang Pengyi felt at ease. However, when he focused on the road ahead, he discovered that Tian Yang, who had escaped before him, had stopped his horse and stood more than ten steps in front of him.

"Run! What are you looking at?!"

He shouted, but Tian Yang seemed not to notice and just stared blankly at the "formation" with his mouth open.

Seeing this, Zhang Pengyi felt a little curious. Since the horse's speed had already been increased, it would not hurt to look back.

When he saw the scene in front of the battle, he was immediately shocked.

"How can it be!?"

(End of this chapter)