Prince Chongzhen

Chapter 124 Chapter Difficulty Here comes the chapter (yesterday's chapter number was wrong, and I can't change it, so)
"We are incompetent! We have repeatedly put His Highness in danger!"

After seeing who was coming, the ministers present had different expressions. For example, Huang Daozhou was so angry that his legs were shaking. He just raised his finger and pointed at the person who came but couldn't even utter a complete sentence.

"Ma! Traitor! You.!"

Ma Shiying resigned and fled, throwing the city of Hangzhou into chaos. If the Yingtian soldiers had not arrived in time, the Qing army would probably have entered the city by now.

But even after Hangzhou was almost lost, he dared to show up here. How could Huang Daozhou not be shocked and angry?
"The former emperor died for his country, and I, an old minister, was left guarding Fengyang but unable to save it. This is my first sin;

Your Highness fled south, and the old ministers were unable to save him because of the general situation. This is their second crime;

Hongguang abandoned the city, and the old ministers flattered the emperor blindly, which was his third crime;

Those who commit these three crimes shall be sentenced to death.
Please send a ship to escort this old minister back to Yingtian to apologize to His Highness."

Master!

Zhu Guobi and Ma Shiying had worked together in Yingtian for recent years, so they naturally knew that the elder who had fled to Hangzhou was no ordinary person.

But when these three charges came out of his mouth frankly, Duke Baoguo still found that he had underestimated this elder.

The first crime is that Fengyang is more than a thousand miles away from Beijing. If he is guilty, then who among the Ming officials can say that he is innocent?
Regarding the second crime, when Zhu Cilang was being convicted, apart from Ji Qingyuan, Zuo Liangyu and several local governors who "spoke out for justice", who else stood up, Man Yingtian?

As for the third crime, it cannot be blamed on him since Hongguang took the blame first.

Ma Shiying apologized for his crimes in every word, but every word was also saying that he was innocent. What's more important is that he wanted to apologize to His Highness. Doesn't that mean that no one present has the right to punish him?

Zhu Guobi saw through Ma Shiying's thoughts, but as an envoy of the Crown Prince Regent, he should remain aloof. How could he personally step forward to argue with him?
However, there were few stupid people present. Even though Huang Daozhou was a little lacking in thinking when it came to this evildoer, he reacted after a moment.

"Ma Shiying! Don't talk nonsense. The crime of deserting the battlefield is enough to bring you to military court!"

"When did I flee from the battlefield?"

"You resigned and left when the enemy was at hand, isn't that desertion?"

"I'm going to look for reinforcements, why would I hang up my seal?"

"Traitor! You!"

"Before Your Highness convicted me of a crime, I was still the Prime Minister of the Ming Dynasty. Did the saints teach you to use such foul language?!"

Ma Shiying's words provoked Huang Daozhou so much that he started cursing, but before he could say a few words, Ma Shiying made him speechless again.

"Lord, everyone in Hangzhou is saying that you resigned and fled. You still need to explain this matter clearly."

Seeing Huang Daozhou defeated, Zhu Guobi had no choice but to go shirtless. However, Huang Daozhou had already figured out Ma Shiying's tactics for him, so his questions hit the nail on the head.

"Oh, by the way, let's also explain the matter of the reinforcements."

After he finished speaking, Ma Shiying did not answer directly. Instead, he slowly stood up, knelt three times and kowtowed nine times towards the letter in Zhu Guobi's hand, and then shouted "Reporting to Your Highness" before answering.

According to Ma Shiying's description, he originally hoped to reach an agreement with the Qing army to buy a chance to catch his breath, but after Chen Hongfan went back and forth several times, he noticed a lot of strange things from the clues.

For example, what Chen Hongfan reported and said to him was very different from what others heard.

For example, when Chen Hongfan returned from Beijing, he took a detour to visit several town commanders, and then Jiangbei underwent a dramatic change. Now he has close contact with Fang Guoan.
Under such circumstances, Ma Shiying would naturally send someone to investigate, and the results would naturally shock him.

It turns out that Chen Hongfan not only had contacts with military generals, but also had some connections with local civil officials.

By the time they met for the last time, Chen Hongfan's words even contained threats.

Just at this moment, the 30,000 soldiers who followed him from Yingtian suddenly became unstable.

After taking all the circumstances into consideration, he came to the conclusion that many people in Hangzhou must have been instigated by the Qing army to rebel.

"So I will secretly leave the city to contact reinforcements from various places."

"You are slandering me! When did I have any connection with Chen Hongfan?"

After hearing this, Huang Daozhou immediately jumped out again, but he had only asked one question when he heard Ma Shiying say indifferently: "Six days ago, you invited him into the mansion."

"I was just asking how the negotiations were going!"

"There was no one else around at the time, so you could talk to yourself."

"you!"

"Mr. Huang, please be patient," Zhu Guobi said impatiently when he saw that he was about to curse again, and then asked Ma Shiying, "Why did you have to make this trip in person?"

"In those days, everyone seemed to me like a Qing army spy. There was really no one I could trust."

"Have you found the reinforcements?"

"Found it. The Minister of Military Affairs Zhang Guowei, the Jiangxi Governor Li Yongmao led the troops, and the Right Minister Yang Tinglin, the three of them led a total of 50,000 troops and are stationed outside the city."

At this point, seeing that Zhu Guobi did not seem to intend to continue asking, Ma Shiying continued, "Originally, I planned to lead troops into the city to clean up the scoundrels, but when I got outside the city, I understood the whole story, and then I realized that I had wrongly accused you gentlemen."

Are there any loopholes?

It seems there is, but it seems there isn't.

But after this narration, everyone present couldn't help but think of what Zhu Cilang had said in his heart: "I have no other request to you gentlemen, but I hope you will put aside your past grudges, work together, and prevent Hangzhou from falling into the hands of the enemy."

Assuming that what Ma Shiying said is true, then all of this happened because of the defenses among the various forces, and what Chen Hongfan did was at best just an initiation.

The people in Hangzhou not only failed to notice this, but because of their own thoughts, they actually became accomplices of Chen Hongfan.

In comparison, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, who was thousands of miles away, was able to make such an accurate judgment on the situation in Hangzhou and issue an advance warning. What a keen insight and profound understanding of the situation.

"Your Highness the Crown Prince really has a keen eye."

Zheng Hongkui, who had not spoken much for half the evening, let out a sigh, which seemed to make everyone present feel a little ashamed.

At this point in the development of the situation, it seems unlikely that Ma Shiying would be able to escape from the battlefield.

Seeing that things that were originally going smoothly became complicated again because of Ma Shiying's arrival, Zhu Guobi couldn't help but think carefully.

In the absence of Ma Shiying, the situation in Hangzhou was that local forces and the Yingtian Army jointly fought against the Tartars.

But when he arrived, regardless of whether the local forces would let go of their grudge against Ma Shiying, even the Zheng family, which had originally had no sense of existence, suddenly came back to life.

It's not that Zhu Guobi is suspicious. Zheng Hongkui's previous words seemed to be just a sigh, but if you think about it carefully, you can find that this sentence made Huang Daozhou unable to play dumb. He was forced to "remember" the Crown Prince's earnest expectations and could no longer pursue Ma Shiying.

How can such an important sentence be just an ordinary sigh?

Thinking of this, Zhu Guobi couldn't help but think of Lingbi Marquis Tang Guozuo in Yingtian City.

Since you want to play, I will help you find a suitable opponent.

"Your Highness can think of the situation in Hangzhou from thousands of miles away, which shows how fierce the internal struggle among you is."

After he finished speaking, Zhu Guobi glanced at everyone's faces, and after seeing their expressions clearly, he said with great sorrow: "In this critical moment, I hope you will put the overall situation first."

"Your Excellency is too kind."

"Your Excellency, you are too kind." The atmosphere in the field eased again, and even Huang Daozhou stopped pestering Ma Shiying.

Seeing this, Zhu Guobi asked again: "Lord, where are the three adults you mentioned?"

"Duke, please stop calling me your Excellency. I cannot deny my guilt for what has happened to the country. I will return home after reporting to His Royal Highness the Regent."

Retreat to advance?

Zhu Guobi raised his eyebrows but did not respond to him. After asking the three people's locations, he sent someone to invite them.

To be specific, he was quite conflicted about this situation.

To say that he had changed his ways during this period and become a loyal subject to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince would surely be a lie that deceived not only others but himself.

But due to the situation, even if he didn't want to be a loyal minister, he had already suppressed his previous thoughts in his heart.

However, this does not mean that he is unwilling to cause some trouble to someone within a reasonable range.

For example, on how to treat Ma Shiying, he could be tougher or softer, but in the end he chose the one with the most variables.

Of course, Zhu Guobi would definitely not dare to do it openly. Not to mention that the soldiers he brought this time were not under his control, even if he really led the troops, his entire family was in Yingtian, and he would not do much without sufficient benefits.

"The three adults have arrived."

After a while, a report came from outside the hall, and then several people were seen entering the hall.

Among the first three people, one old and one young were both wearing bright red official robes, while the other old man was only wearing a coarse cloth gown.

"This is the Minister of Military Affairs, Mr. Zhang Guowei, and this is the Governor of Jiangxi, Mr. Li Yongmao," Ma Shiying said, pointing at the old man in red robe, and then introduced the slightly younger one to everyone.

When it was the last person, the old man in the long gown took the initiative to say, "I, Yang Tinglin, am a country bumpkin, and I don't hold any official position."

"Boxiang, why are you like this again? It's not like Emperor Hongguang didn't grant you an official position."

Yang Tinglin's words immediately drew Huang Daozhou's rebuttal.

The two of them were very close friends, and Yang Tinglin was once implicated and imprisoned because of Huang Daozhou, so he was a little more casual when talking to them.

"It would be fine if you didn't mention this, but if you did, I would like to ask you, why didn't you try your best to rescue your Highness when he was imprisoned by Prince Fu?"

"This matter is complicated and cannot be explained in one word."

"Humph! Complicated? It's nothing more than forgetting the kindness of the old master."

Yang Tinglin did not give these people any face because there were ministers in the room, and the atmosphere in the room became extremely awkward.

Seeing this situation, Zhu Guobi should have said something to ease the situation, but Yang Tinglin's stubborn character was already known to everyone in the court and the country. How could he, who had received great benefits during the Hongguang Dynasty, dare to run into such bad luck?
"Master Yang, we agreed on this when we came."

Just when the adults were at a loss, a female voice came from behind the three men. It was only then that everyone realized that there were two children following Yang Tinglin.

"The third son of the Xu family?"

"Xu Wenjue has met the Duke of Baoguo."

"This is.?"

"This is my eldest brother's only daughter, Xu Shaoyue."

"Why are you two here?"

Just now, Zhu Guobi's attention was on Yang Tinglin and others who commanded a large army. It was not until that voice came out that he recognized that the boy seemed to be Xu Yinjue's third brother.

Afterwards, the two men recounted the important experiences they had experienced after leaving Yingtian, which surprised the veteran officials.

In less than a month, the two of them have been involved in so many major events, which makes people wonder whether to say they are lucky or unlucky.

"My father, is he okay?"

"Well, of course it's good. Duke Wei is currently concentrating on training a new army for Your Highness. I'm afraid it won't take long before some results are achieved."

"He wasn't hurt that night?"

Everyone gained a lot of important information from the conversation between Xu Shaoyue and Zhu Guobi, but the word "injured" aroused their curiosity by nature.

"You mean that night? It was quite suspenseful."

Zhu Guobi knew how to tell a story. He used this sentence to arouse everyone's interest before slowly starting to tell the story.

"As soon as we arrived at the camp, several beacons were lit one after another.

At that time, everyone thought that the outer city had been breached and His Highness had died for his country, so they planned to defend the inner city to the death. If it really didn't work, they would be ready to follow His Highness."

Having said this, he paused for a moment, as if recalling how critical the situation was at the time, but after a moment he seemed to think of something funny, smiled slightly, and then continued.

"Xu Yu even prepared white silk, waiting for the city to fall and then he would die for his country. But who knew that the victory report came just as he entered the tower. Your father was so happy that he remembered him after a while. If it had been a little later, Xu Yu would have died in vain."

The scale of the battle that night was not large, and not a single Tartar broke through the outer city, so Zhu Guobi could not describe any battle scenes. However, Yang Tinglin and Huang Daozhou thought that he was afraid of frightening everyone present, so he deliberately concealed the cruelty of the battle.

"The ministers of Yingtian are role models for our generation. Please accept my respect, sir."

"Please accept my greeting, sir."

"Please accept my obeisance."

"Please accept my obeisance."

Yang and Huang bowed to Zhu Guobi at the same time, and then the pro-war forces followed suit.

What can others do in this situation?

When the country was collapsing, Yingtian was still fighting alone. Faced with such a strong contrast, they had no choice but to follow suit.

"Please stand up, everyone. I didn't do anything. It was all thanks to Your Highness who personally fought off the enemy on the city wall that night. If you really want to bow, please wait until you see Your Highness."

As a super duke, how could Zhu Guobi never be worshipped by anyone?

But at this time, all the people who bowed to him were important officials in the court, and they all did so sincerely. He had never experienced such a feeling before.

After a while, all the ministers stood up, and the Minister of Military Affairs Zhang Guowei took the opportunity to ask another question.

"How could His Highness personally fight the enemy?"

"Ah! You don't know.

Our Highness would like to personally charge into battle in every battle.

Take the attack on Zhenjiang for example, if we hadn't tried our best to stop him, he would have led the army himself."

Upon hearing this, everyone present had different expressions, but they had almost the same idea in their hearts.

"Oh my god! I just sent away a cowardly person, and now here comes another one who doesn't care about his own life."

(End of this chapter)