Prince Chongzhen

Chapter 132 A Time of Chaos

Party strife is the cause of a country’s downfall, but it is not the root of its downfall.

The Ming Dynasty had been established for nearly three hundred years, and various contradictions had accumulated to an unprecedented level. It happened that Li Zicheng had maintained his previous "bandit" style after entering Beijing.

Therefore, the aristocratic families who felt that their property was in danger decisively gave up their cooperation with the Dashun and turned to the Tartars.

Of course, after the land grabbing, the aristocratic families also felt the danger of their family business being cut off by the Qing Dynasty, and then took the opportunity of the shaving order to start a vigorous anti-Qing movement.

However, this kind of resistance relying on the old system could only serve to add more military merits to the Eight Banners. It was absolutely impossible for them to return to the Ming Dynasty, which was the most lenient to them.

So the question is, how should Zhu Cilang deal with this situation?
Relying on the old system will make it impossible to get rid of past contradictions. With so many contradictions, there is no need for the Tartars to attack; internal strife will be enough to consume most of the strength.

But if we don’t rely on the old system, we probably won’t even be able to survive the initial wave.

This is how things are in general. When you are at the end of your rope, a way out will always be placed in front of you. But regardless of whether this road is accessible, the difficulties and thorns along the way are already clearly placed in front of you from the moment they appear.

However, Zhu Cilang ultimately possessed advantages that Hongguang, Longwu, and even Chongzhen did not have.

After hundreds of years of research and summary by later generations, he not only knew the root causes of these difficulties and thorns, but also knew which ones would lead to death and which ones could be overcome.

Therefore, after realizing that the Yingtian strategy was not applicable to Hangzhou, he decisively changed his course and chose to cooperate with the old system to a limited extent.

As for this limit
After dismissing all the ministers, Zhu Cilang retained several generals.

Everyone knew that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince wanted to consult with the two gentlemen, General Huang and Zhu, but they didn't know that this was just one of his reasons.

"I think you all understand my thoughts. Please share your thoughts."

say what?
Is it an opinion on the old men's quarrel, or an opinion on how to plot?

As for how he planned, Zhu Cilang's previous performance had been very obvious. As for his opinion on the debate, the court has always been like this for so many years. What else can he say?
But since His Highness has already asked, how can I answer like this?
"Your Highness, I think we should fight."

After seeing Zhang Guowei come out first, Zhu Cilang was about to ask him some detailed questions, but before he could open his mouth, he saw the rest of the people come out one after another.

"I second the proposal."

"I second the proposal."

"I second the proposal."

"I second the proposal."

The opinions of the generals were surprisingly unanimous. Except for Zheng Hongkui who hesitated for a moment, the others immediately expressed their support for Zhang Guowei.

As to whether to fight or defend, Zhu Cilang had already made up his mind. He kept these generals and officers mostly to test which side they leaned towards through their opinions on the matter.

However, these people were extremely consistent in their opinions on the matter of fighting and defending. How could he test them in this situation?
Looking at the people standing in the hall, Zhu Cilang recalled the homework he had done before.

Zhang Guowei seemed to be a technical bureaucrat. During his decades in office, he spent most of his time repairing canals and controlling water supplies, and seemed to have rarely intervened in party disputes.

Li Yongmao had been under Ma Shiying's rule for a long time, and he was the one who testified that Ma Shiying had previously spoken about seeking reinforcements.

Needless to say, Zheng Hongkui had little to do with whether to fight or defend, and he probably just followed the trend.

However, Fang Guoan is a local and must have some connection with Huang Daozhou. Yang Tinglin is Huang Daozhou's best friend. These two also did not support the defense plan for some reasons.

"What Mr. Huang said earlier was not without reason. Why are you all so unanimous?"

Zhu Cilang did not specify who should answer the question, but his eyes were always on Fang Yang and Yang when he asked the question, so they all knew who should answer the question.

"Your Highness, I have three reasons." Seeing His Royal Highness the Crown Prince looking at him and Fang Guoan, Yang Tinglin, a civil servant, took the lead and stepped forward.

“First, although our army has lost most of Jiangnan since the Tartars crossed the Yangtze River, the battle of Hangzhou has greatly boosted the morale of the army. If we delay for a few more months, the morale will surely dissipate.

Secondly, although most of our reinforcements are new recruits, Lord Zhang is in charge of soldier training, and my subordinates have been trained years ago. Further training will not necessarily lead to any improvement. It would be better to take advantage of the Tartars' division of troops and fight a few battles.

The third is the people's will. As far as I know, in the past few months, the Tartars have not only imposed heavy taxes, but also seized people's land by horse racing. If we take this opportunity to attack decisively, the people will surely rise up.

With these three points, the royal army will surely be able to drive the Tartars back to Jiangbei."

Zhu Cilang listened and nodded slowly.

This passage is well-reasoned and obviously not made up on the spur of the moment after realizing his own thoughts.

But if this is true, then Yang Tinglin had decided to fight from the very beginning, which means that he did not change his mind because of his friendship with Huang Daozhou, so he is not the kind of person who only cares about his position regardless of right or wrong.

But would such a person really exist in the officialdom of the late Ming Dynasty?
This is not Zhu Cilang's prejudice. The fierce internal strife in the late Ming Dynasty has been a recognized fact in later generations, but this does not mean that all Ming officials actively participated in it.

Take Yang Tinglin for example. He impeached the Minister of War Yang Sichang when the Qing army entered the Great Wall.

The memorial pointed out sharply: "Your Majesty has the intention to attack, but the ministers have no talent to resist the aggression. They are not well-informed and treat the country as a joke. Sichang and Wu Aheng, the governor of Ji and Liao, supported each other internally and externally, conspired together to harm the country, and together with Gao Qiqian and Fang Yizao, they advocated peace and deceit, and military preparations were forgotten, leading to this."

He also suggested that the commander-in-chief Lu Xiangsheng "gather reinforcements from all directions and seize the opportunity to attack the enemy", emphasizing that "this is the most urgent task today."

In general, he saw Yang Sichang's incompetence in military affairs, and also saw that some people wanted to use the Qing army's invasion to force Chongzhen to agree to peace terms.

His subsequent dismissal from office and refusal to be summoned by Hongguang have already been mentioned before, so I will not repeat them here.

The key point is that when he led Jiangxi to resist the Qing Dynasty, he was not only able to unite various civil and military officials, but also treated his soldiers equally and never treated them unfairly because of their faction, background or nationality.

Such a capable, principled minister who was not keen on party struggles was rare in the late Ming Dynasty. It was no wonder that Zhu Cilang felt doubtful.

After Yang Tinglin finished speaking, Zhu Cilang did not comment. Fang Guoan, who was standing aside, saw the Crown Prince looking at him and poured out all his thoughts.

"Your Highness, I can't think of too many reasons, but my men have fought in tough battles, and the soldiers in your army are not ordinary recruits. With these tens of thousands of soldiers, even if the Qing army is strong, we can hold it off for a while."

After he finished speaking, he glanced at the Crown Prince's expression, and seeing that he seemed to be waiting for him to speak, he racked his brains and said a few more words. "Besides, if we don't dare to fight with the Tartars before they gain a firm foothold, how can the Ming Dynasty recover the lost territory if they gain a firm foothold?"

Upon hearing this, Zhu Cilang was completely speechless.

Although Fang Guoan's reasons were not as clearly listed as Yang Tinglin's, it was obvious that what he said was not made up on the spot.

Under such circumstances, he was really confused.

One of these two men is Huang Daozhou's best friend, and the other one belongs to the local Zhejiang force based on his family background. But how come both of them support Zhu Datian, the remnant of the "Eunuch Party" who is competing with Huang Daozhou?
Is it
its not right.

As soon as the thought came to his mind, it was extinguished by Zhu Cilang.

Then he turned his gaze to the other people, and everyone told him the reasons in their minds.

The purpose of identifying the positions of the commanders and generals this time probably failed, but it would be a bit biased to say that there was no gain at all.

He had previously decided that it was better to attack early than late. After listening to the reasons of these generals and officers, he became even more certain of the correctness of this strategy. He also realized from everyone's comments that the reinforcements brought by several generals were very different from what he had expected.

He once thought that the reinforcements led by Zhang, Yang and Li were all at the level of Yingtian militia, but after listening, he found that Zhang Guowei's troops had been trained for a long time, Yang Tinglin's troops were re-recruited after being disbanded years ago, and although Li Yongmao's troops were all newly recruited, there were also a considerable number of veterans as the backbone.

There is still some gap between this level of army and the level of Yingtian militia.

Of course, this doesn't mean they will be that strong.

After all, there are too many factors that determine whether an army can fight, and training is just one of them.

After reporting and listening, although Zhu Cilang did not achieve his goal, he did not gain nothing at all. After seeing off the generals and officers, he thought about it again, and finally asked Zhu Guobi a question with some confusion.

"Duke, isn't the party struggle in the court extremely fierce?"

Hearing this, Zhu Guobi was speechless for a while, and couldn't help but complain in his heart: I am a member of the Donglin Party, how can you ask me directly about this? When you don't trust me, you don't even allow me to interfere in trivial matters in the army. Once you trust me, why do you ask me even such sensitive questions?

You may complain in your heart, but you still have to answer what you are supposed to answer. Otherwise, you will lose the trust that you have worked so hard to gain.
just
Zhu Cilang asked casually, but Zhu Guobi could not take it lightly.

To those who didn't know the inside story, he could just make up a bunch of nonsense or talk about unimportant things, but Zhu Guobi knew that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince was not as easy to fool as the late emperor.

It should be noted that among the people most trusted by His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, Xiang Rensheng and Xu Yu are both on the surface, but who can be sure what Wang Fuping is doing?
Maybe some people have completely forgotten him.

"Your Highness, I am a member of the Donglin Party, so the party struggles I see are somewhat different from those seen by others."

Upon hearing this, Zhu Cilang looked at this top noble with some surprise in his eyes.

In his impression, the Donglin Party seemed to be made up of famous literati. He had never expected that a nobleman like Zhu Guobi, who had become a Duke by virtue of his contribution to the enthronement of the emperor, could sneak into the party.

So his surprise was extremely natural, real and uncontrolled, but the same expression could mean different things to different people.

At this time, Zhu Guobi felt that the Crown Prince's expression was somewhat artificial and exaggerated, and he concluded in his heart that he had long known of his identity as a member of the Donglin Party.

"Donglin is called a party, but in fact it is very fragmented, just like a business partnership."

"Doing business?!"

Hearing this, Zhu Cilang was almost frightened to jump up.

He really didn't expect that someone would use this word to describe the Donglin Party, but the more surprised he was, the more Zhu Guobi was certain that His Highness must have known a lot, and thus he lost his last bit of luck.

After a while, Zhu Guobi stopped talking. After listening to his "confession", Zhu Cilang felt that it was not much different from the "struggle for interests" he had imagined, so he did not show too much surprise.

The great man once said: There is no party within the party, but imperial thinking; there is no faction within the party, but all kinds of strange things.

The Donglin Party was mostly composed of scholars from Jiangsu and Zhejiang. Its most important proposition was to oppose the court's taxation of industrialists and businessmen. Taking advantage of the opportunity when Emperor Chongzhen was eliminating Wei Zhongxian's power, they abolished or reduced the tax burden of overseas trade taxes, mining taxes, salt taxes, tea taxes and other taxes.

To put it bluntly, it represented the interests of the merchants and landlords in Jiangsu and Zhejiang at that time.

It’s just that there are conflicts of interest between Jiangsu and Zhejiang, and there are also conflicts of interest within Jiangsu and Zhejiang, so there are all kinds of conflicts within the Donglin Party.

By the time of Chongzhen, many officials from Jiangsu and Zhejiang had already left Donglin, and many officials from other provinces had joined Donglin.

Therefore, the party struggles at this time were not as dominated by the XX Party and the XX Party as in the early years, but tended to develop into personal grudges.

This brings up a very serious problem. Party disputes can be eliminated when interests and political views are consistent, but personal grudges will continue without reason and may even spread through children, friends, and students.

Unless it disappears with the death of the body, the grudge will always exist.

Zhu Cilang met several groups of people today, each of which gave him a further understanding of this chaotic time and also lowered his expectations for this old system to the extreme.

However, after that, he was no longer as optimistic as before about how to get rid of the old system because of his deeper understanding. He even had a sense of compromise in his heart, wanting to deepen the cooperation that could have been ignored.

He knew very well that such an idea was like drinking poison to quench thirst. As long as he obtained the help of the old system, he would inevitably absorb the old people, and thus he would inevitably carry the old contradictions on his shoulders.

But faced with the huge gap in strength, he seemed to have no other choice.

This dilemma made Zhu Cilang feel powerless.

But if you think positively, what you have gained today is not all negative, such as the tacit understanding reached with Queen Mother Zou, the successful appeasement of the princes, the firmness of the plan for the Suzhou and Songjiang campaign, and even the new understanding of the various supporting forces.

These can be said to be of great benefit to Zhu Cilang, whether in the long or short term.

After a long while, he still couldn't think of a proper solution.

In this situation, I can only comfort myself in my heart: let's finish this battle first, maybe there will be some changes.

(End of this chapter)