Prince Chongzhen

Chapter 118 Who is persuading whom?

January 6

The city of Hangzhou has been in a state of turmoil these past two days.

Previously, the small court of Prince Lu, under the leadership of Ma Shiying, tried to make peace with the Qing army, but the talks were going well when Duoduo suddenly appeared in Tangxi, north of Hangzhou City, for some reason.

In this situation, someone should have made a decision on whether to fight or make peace, but who would have thought that Ma Shiying would simply hand the seal back to the cabinet as he had done before, and disappeared.

"Still no news from the Lord?"

Looking at the several panting eunuchs, Prince Lu Zhu Changxun couldn't help but feel hatred in his heart.

If Ma Shiying hadn't forced him, there was no way he would have become the regent.

Now, look what's wrong. The people who always talk about serving the country and the people have run away, leaving him, a person who has no interest in the position of regent, here to take the blame. How can he not hate him?
"Your Highness, please stop thinking about it. Now you should think about organizing your troops and preparing for war."

"The Tartars have already reached the city. How should we organize our troops? How should we prepare for war?"

Huang Daozhou had just begun to speak when he was interrupted by the Minister of War Zhang Bingzhen. Then, without waiting for Huang Daozhou to react, Zhang Bingzhen quickly recited a series of reasons why the policy was undefendable.

"Your Highness, as soon as Ma Shiying left, the soldiers he brought with him immediately became chaotic. Now the only soldiers available in the city are Fang Guoan's battalion, and there is really no way they can defend the city."

The morale of the soldiers led by Ma Shiying was already unstable. After his escape, the 20,000 soldiers were almost on the verge of collapse. It was a pipe dream to expect them to fight the enemy.

Although Fang Guoan's troops are still capable of fighting, there are only a little over 10,000 of them at most. With this number of people, it is not enough to suppress the Yingtian soldiers, so how can they possibly defend the huge city of Hangzhou?
Zhang Bingzhen was originally the governor of Zhejiang. After Zhu Changxun became regent, he appointed him as the Minister of War.

As the local official and the one in charge of military affairs, his words were certainly not entirely unreasonable, but to Huang Daozhou, they sounded truly despicable.

"Traitor! How dare you lie to the emperor!"

He threw the booklet in his hand at Zhang Bingzhen and was about to pounce on him. If others had not stopped him, a fight might have taken place.

"It will take less than half a day for the rebel forces to enter the city. How dare you say you have no troops to use?!"

Huang Daozhou struggled and shouted curses, but Zhu Changxun, the regent, could only come out to dissuade him like an uncle next door.

"Mr. Huang, calm down. We are just expressing our opinions. Why get angry? Why get angry?"

"Your Highness! This thief must be in collusion with the living Qin Hui! Maybe they have already discussed it with the Tartars and are just waiting for Hangzhou to open the city and surrender!"

When Liu Zongzhou failed to be recruited, Huang Daozhou, as one of the two Zhous, naturally became the representative of the local forces.

So although he couldn't claim to know everything Chen Hongfan had done in the past few days, he could roughly get some clues from the people he visited.

As a result, Zhang Bingzhen, who had a close relationship with Chen Hongfan, naturally became the second "living Qin Hui" in his eyes.

"Huang Daozhou! How dare you slander me in front of His Highness!"

Huang Daozhou's words were heartbreaking, how could Zhang Bingzhen tolerate it? Taking advantage of the moment when Huang Daozhou was stopped by someone, he suddenly took a step forward and punched Huang Daozhou in the face.

Then a physical fight between the old ministers took place in front of Zhu Changxun.

During the Ming Dynasty, it was not uncommon for officials to perform martial arts in front of the emperor.

But now they were facing a powerful enemy, and the matter being discussed concerned the lives of all people. The two of them actually did such a thing at such a time. They didn't look like they were loyal to the emperor or the country at all, which made the already anxious Zhu Changxun feel furious.

"Pull them all down! Pull them all down!"

As soon as he finished speaking, a group of eunuchs hurriedly dragged the two men outside. In a short while, only Zhu Changxun and Chen Hongfan were left in the hall.

"Don't blame me, General. Mr. Huang has a hot temper and it's not the first time he speaks without restraint."

"Your Highness, it's alright. I have a clear conscience. Let others say whatever they want to say." At this point, Chen Hongfan smiled bitterly, and then continued, "They have already forced Ma Gelao to leave. If I am provoked to do something stupid again, then only Your Highness will be left..."

"Did they force Elder Ma to leave?!"

"I'm an old minister who has spoken out of turn! I'm an old minister who has spoken out of turn!"

Seeing that Chen Hongfan was so frightened that he kept kowtowing on the ground after he asked just one question, even a fool would know that there must be something fishy going on.

But how can we get Chen Hongfan to tell us the whole story?
Zhu Changxun went forward to support Chen Hongfan who was kneeling on the ground, while he kept thinking in his mind.

Just as the two of them looked at each other, he finally came up with an idea.

"General, everyone says you are a living Qin Hui, but I know the pain in your heart. If you can defeat the Tartars, who would want to say anything to those barbarians?"

At this moment, Chen Hongfan didn't know whether his pain point was touched or for some other reason, but tears as big as red beans rolled down his cheeks.

"Your Highness, everything this old minister does is to preserve the Ming Dynasty's incense stick."

After he finished speaking, Chen Hongfan burst into tears. Although Zhu Changxun was a little anxious, he didn't dare to ask any more questions seeing him like this.

After a while, Chen Hongfan's crying gradually subsided, and then without waiting for Zhu Changxun to speak, he took the initiative to speak.

"Because of what Your Highness said today, I am not afraid of retaliation. They colluded with Fang Guoan to do something illegal, so that's why Lord Ma fled Hangzhou overnight."

"Ah? The Ma Ge's army is strong, how can they..."

“Your Highness, you don’t know that all of Ma Gelao’s soldiers were kidnapped from Yingtian. Now the soldiers are blaming the loss of Yingtian on him. How can he make the soldiers obey his orders?

Moreover, among the reinforcements that came to Hangzhou, whether it was Yang Tinglin, Zhang Guowei, or Li Yongmao, they were all at odds with the elder, so how could he not flee under such circumstances? "

At this time, Zhu Changxun was so shocked by the inside story that he lost his mind. Apart from constantly thinking about Chen Hongfan's words, he had no other thoughts.

Once upon a time, Ma Shiying was like an insurmountable mountain standing in front of him, but now after hearing what Chen Hongfan said, he realized that this old man Ma was actually a weak man who was frightened to the point of resigning and fleeing after hearing just a little rumor.

If he had known this, why would he obey Ma Shiying's orders?

"Your Highness."

"Oh, Mr. Chen, please continue."

After waking up Zhu Changxun who was somewhat dazed, Chen Hongfan continued, "The Tartars are now at the gates of the city. I hope Your Highness will decide as soon as possible whether to fight or make peace."

Hearing this, Zhu Changxun felt annoyed again.

How could he not know that he should make a decision sooner rather than later? But now the court officials started quarreling without even saying a few words to each other. It would be better if Lord Ma was still around, because he could always come up with a solution no matter whether it was right or wrong.

"My dear, tell me the truth. Can this peace be negotiated?"

When thinking of Ma Shiying, one naturally thought of negotiating peace with the Qing army. Coincidentally, Chen Hongfan was the main executor, so Zhu Changxun hoped to get some accurate information from him.

But unexpectedly, after the voice fell, Chen Hongfan just lowered his head and said nothing for a long time, as if he didn't hear his voice at all, and seemed to be making a difficult decision in his heart. In this situation, Zhu Changxun didn't have the patience to wait any longer, and seeing that the other party was reluctant to speak, he urged him directly.

"My dear, there is no one else here, just speak your mind."

"Negotiation is hopeless."

"No hope? Isn't it okay to give all of Nanzhili to the Tartars?"

Hearing this, no matter what Chen Hongfan was thinking, he gave a bitter smile and continued, "Your Highness, let alone Nanzhili, even giving Zhejiang to the Tartars is probably not acceptable."

"How. How come they have such a big appetite?!"

"Your Highness, almost everything north of Hangzhou is in Duoduo's hands, and the areas around Nanchang to Hangzhou have been occupied by Ajige's tribe.
Being attacked from both sides, not only Jiangsu and Zhejiang, but also Fujian and Huguang were under the attack of the Tartars.

In this situation, do you still want to make them retreat with just one word? "

As soon as he finished speaking, Zhu Changxun, who was squatting on the ground, suddenly sat down on the ground in a daze.

This was the first time he heard such a realistic analysis of the battle situation, and also the first time he truly felt the meaning of being in a precarious situation.

He had never expected to drive the Qing army back to Jiangbei, nor did he even think he could keep Hangzhou. But he never expected that the Ming Dynasty, which seemed to still hold half of the country, might not even be able to keep Huguang.

"Your Highness, the best plan now is to either move to the southwest or surrender directly. Any other plan will lead to death."

Seeing that Zhu Changxun was already in a state of confusion, Chen Hongfan decided to strike while the iron was hot. After saying this, he stopped talking and just waited quietly for Zhu Changxun to make a decision.

"Why not just surrender?"

! ! ! ! ! ? ? ? ? ?
When Chen Hongfan heard the words, he opened his mouth in shock.

According to his idea, Zhu Changxun would choose to go to the southwest. In this way, as a trusted minister, he would have the opportunity to make new contributions to his master.

But now.
"Your Highness, there are still several provinces in the southwest. We must not surrender!"

"Half of the country cannot stop the Tartars, how can there be any hope after losing the land with abundant money and food?
If we really wait for the Tartars to invade the southwest, won’t we be dead?
It would be better to negotiate terms with the Tartars as soon as possible while we have the southwest in our hands."

"Your Highness, He Tengjiao is in Hunan, Ding Kuichu is in Guangdong, and Zheng Zhilong is in Fujian. The three of them have a lot of troops. If they surrender like this, won't they be laughed at by the world?"

Normally speaking, changing roles too quickly would always make people feel a little uncomfortable, but Chen Hongfan was used to doing this kind of thing after all. In addition, he had a deep understanding of the current situation of the Ming Dynasty, so he thought of his words in just a moment.

"Are you hoping they will come to your aid or are you fleeing to them?"

"Of course it is."

After asking this question, Chen Hongfan wanted to answer directly, but after he said only three words, he widened his eyes and looked at Zhu Changxun who was still sitting on the ground as if he had thought of something.

"Your Highness, are you afraid of being held hostage by them?"

"Just call it a puppet, no need to say it in such a nice way."

In the end, it's everyone's business.

Chen Hongfan had been thinking about how to make new contributions for his master, so when he thought he was standing in Zhu Changxun's perspective, he only thought of the superficial aspects.

"Whether it's Yingtian or Hangzhou, the government is controlled by those people. If we flee to other places, I think the situation will be the same. It's better to surrender directly and save ourselves from the pain of the bumpy ride."

Persuasion is usually only effective when the other party is hesitant. If someone has already made up his mind about something, even eight oxen will not be able to pull him back.

In Chen Hongfan's opinion, Zhu Changxun was in this situation at the moment, so he was prepared to go with the flow and make some slight adjustments to his strategy.

"Your Highness, Huang Daozhou and his ilk are quite powerful in the city, so surrendering is not so easy."

"Don't you have some friendship with Fang Guoan? With his help, it shouldn't be difficult to open the city."

Hearing this, Chen Hongfan suddenly felt a chill running down his spine.

He had indeed gone to look for Fang Guoan several times, but he did it in a very secretive way. It is possible that even Ma Shiying did not know about it. How did this puppet know about this?

"Your Highness, I have no personal relationship with Fang Guoan. At most, he just asked me about the negotiation situation."

"Oh? Did you tell me the truth, my dear?"

Chen Hongfan was certain that no one knew about his camping in Fangguo, and Zhu Changxun seemed to have just said it casually and did not dwell on it any further.

"About a few words."

"What does he mean?"

“He did not directly state his position.”

With just that one sentence, the initiative of the conversation fell into Zhu Changxun's hands. Although both of them were now working towards the same goal, this way of talking still made Chen Hongfan find it difficult to adapt.

"Then in your opinion, can this person be won over?"

"Your Highness, although Fang Guoan is not very resolute, he is a native of Zhejiang after all, and has some connections with Huang Daozhou and Liu Zongzhou. It will be difficult to make him abandon the Ming Dynasty and return to the Qing Dynasty unless he is forced into a corner."

"That's it."

At this point, Zhu Changxun had already obtained all the information he wanted from Chen Hongfan. All that remained was how to welcome the Qing army into the city right under the noses of Huang Daozhou and his men.

It's easy to say, but Huang Daozhou is watching Hangzhou city, and Fang Guoan is guarding outside the city. If they can't let them reveal any flaws, it will be extremely difficult for them to welcome the Qing army into the city.

"My dear, if Fang Guoan is gone, can you open the city gate?"

Hearing this, Chen Hongfan looked at Zhu Changxun with some confusion.

Without Fang Guoan, he and Zhang Bingzhen would be able to easily open the Hangzhou city gate with the hundreds of men under their command.

But then again, can Fang Guoan just disappear like that?
If you really have this ability, why don't you just kill Dorgon and save yourself the trouble here?

"Your Highness, Lord Zhang and I still have eight or nine hundred men and horses, but..."

"Well, that's good. Leave Fang Guoan's matter to me."

Before Chen Hongfan could finish his words, Zhu Changxun confidently interrupted him.

In this situation, Chen Hongfan became even more confused, but before he could ask any more questions, he saw Zhu Changxun straighten his clothes and bowed to him.

"I'll be in trouble for contacting the Qing army. My life is in your hands."

(End of this chapter)