Prince Chongzhen

Chapter 150 Camp Roar
January 7

Although Zhu Cilang's siege of Nikan's troops lasted only three or two days, the news had already spread throughout the Suzhou and Songjiang areas.

Of course, this news was only spread to a certain level. Ordinary people generally only knew that there was a war outside, but they were not very clear about which army was fighting which.

"Owner, I'm afraid the situation in Susong will change after this battle."

Yuebin Building is located in the center of Huating County. Its top floor has always been an excellent location for looking far into the distance, so the owner charges a slightly higher price for the private rooms on this floor.

But today was very strange. In the past, there would always be a few tables occupied on this floor, but now there was only one table on the entire floor, and there were only two people at that table.

"Nothing will change."

Hearing what the old man next to him said, the middle-aged man in more luxurious clothes made a conclusion without hesitation. After putting the fish on the chopsticks into his mouth and tasting it, he frowned and began to analyze it.

"Don't look at the fact that Nikan is surrounded by Zhu Cilang, but considering the fighting power of the Qing army, this piece of meat is not that delicious."

The views of middle-aged people are very representative among the gentry in Suzhou and Songjiang.

Anyone could have guessed that Zhu Cilang's men were just a bunch of remnant soldiers and some militiamen, while the Qing army was actually a powerful army of the Eight Banners and a group of former Ming official troops.

Given such a comparison of strength, it is difficult to hastily conclude who is in a more dangerous situation.

After all, strength is something that cannot be faked. Even if the Ming army can gain some advantages through strategy, if they are unable to turn the advantages into victory, then what awaits them is the enemy's counterattack.

Therefore, not many people are optimistic about Zhu Cilang's victory in this battle.

"Actually, I still hope Zhu Cilang wins."

"Oh?"

After a while, the middle-aged man in brocade clothes suddenly said something, and this sentence caused the old man next to him to look surprised.

"Those officials said that Emperor Chongzhen was not good in this or that, but he exempted us from taxes. If it were the Tartars, we don't know what would happen."

"That's right. If not, the family would lose 100,000 or 200,000 yuan in income every year."

The old man seemed to be very familiar with Jinyi Zhongnian's family property. As soon as he explained it, he directly produced data to support it.

The 100,000 or 200,000 taels the old man mentioned were naturally "two taels". One must know that one could earn 50,000 or 60,000 taels of silver by transporting a shipload of cloth from Songjiang to Luzon. When trade was prosperous, the output of cotton cloth in Songjiang Prefecture alone could reach a terrifying 20 million pieces.

If we add silk, tea and porcelain to the mix, with such a huge trade volume, it would be easy to pay a tax of 100,000 or 200,000 taels.

Of course, this was a time when trade was booming. Now that the Maritime Silk Road has almost been cut off, the income of these maritime merchants is naturally not as high as it used to be.

"Hey~~!"

Sighing heavily, the middle-aged man in brocade clothes seemed to be moved by the old man's words. Then he held the wine glass in his hand and was lost in thought, but no one knew what he was thinking about.

Thump, thump, thump.

Just at this moment, a sound of footsteps came up the stairs. When the two looked up, they saw Master Wen walking up first.

"Uncle, long time no see."

"Changyuan, I haven't seen you for two or three years."

The middle-aged man in brocade clothes stood up first, and then Master Wen responded very warmly.

After that, there were some formalities, and the two men sat down at the table, while the old man stood obediently behind the middle-aged man in brocade clothes.

"Manager Liu, please sit down too. We have been dealing with each other for decades, why are you being so polite to me?"

"Uncle Liu, my uncle is not an outsider, please sit down too."

"Thank you, Master Dong, and thank you, Master Wen."

The middle-aged man in brocade clothes was named Tan Changyuan. He passed the imperial examination at the age of fourteen or fifteen, but he never had good luck in the imperial examinations. When he was over thirty years old, he gave up the idea and concentrated on managing the family business.

Such a situation is very rare among aristocratic families. Even if one has poor talent, one can still become a juren and get an official position. People like him are definitely rare.

Why?

A thousand years have passed since the start of the imperial examinations in the Sui Dynasty, and while the words of the sages are only a few in total, all the changes have long been thoroughly studied.

Those from poorer families still need to rely on their own talent and hard work to comprehend, while the children of wealthy families can hire famous teachers with money.

To put it more simply, it can probably be called "standing on the shoulders of giants."

"Uncle, I am here to buy some goods."

After some pleasantries, Tan Changyuan told him the purpose of his visit. Mr. Wen was stunned for a moment, as if he had never expected this to be his purpose.

As far as he knew, there were hundreds of merchant ships sent to the East, West and South Oceans in the early years. In recent years, except for the East Ocean, which was still maintained by Zheng's family, there were about ten ships, but it was difficult to maintain even ten ships in the West Ocean and South Ocean.

As a result, not to mention the Tan family which does maritime business, even the Wen family which produces cotton cloth had to drastically reduce the number of looms and shift the focus of the family business back to farming.

But speaking of it, the cotton cloth business really makes money quickly, so after being stunned for a moment, Mr. Wen immediately asked, "Can we do business at sea again?"

"It's hard to say. My nephew found a partner in Southeast Asia. As to whether it can be used, we need to see the results of this trip first."

After hearing this, although Master Wen was very curious, he also knew that the other party would never reveal a single detail, so he took the initiative to ask about the types and quantities of goods the other party needed.

After a while, the two men agreed on the price, but some trouble arose when they mentioned the delivery date.

"Ten days is too short. Everything else is easy. I already have some ready-made ones, but this porcelain..."

This wasn't something Master Wen was deliberately doing. Jiangnan was a place where cotton was grown and silk was produced, so naturally, as a wealthy family, he had plenty of cotton cloth and silk. However, this place was still quite a distance away from the porcelain production area, and it had to pass through the place where the Ming and Qing dynasties fought. So, the best way to raise funds was to acquire them from other wealthy families, which would take quite a while.

This is not to say that there is no porcelain on the market, but the quality of those sold to ordinary people is slightly lower, and their prices are not as affordable as they have been resold several times.

Taking all these factors into consideration, Mr. Wen felt that time was a little tight.

"Uncle, do your best. The porcelain business has always been handled by the red-haired devil. I just want more goods."

The serious business had been discussed and someone removed the food and drinks from the table.

After that, the conversation turned to business. "Nephew, have you arranged everything for the Qing Dynasty?"

"Hey, this is ridiculous. I thought that the Ming Dynasty was powerless to resist, so I promised Ezhen, the Tartar stationed in Suzhou, 500 taels per month and gave him many rare things.

But who knew that he would be surrounded just a few days after I left, and I don’t know if the money I spent would be wasted.”

"Don't worry, nephew. The one besieging Ordu is Wu Zhikui. He is a slippery man and will definitely not fight to the death with him," said Master Wen. He raised his glass and clinked it with Tan Changyuan's. After drinking the wine, he continued, "Once the situation in Dahuangpu is resolved, the siege of Ordu will naturally be lifted."

Although Mr. Wen did not point it out explicitly, his words clearly implied that he was more optimistic about the Qing army's victory.

To be honest, he really hoped that the Ming army could win and that Ordu would be completely wiped out. But now, although the Ming army has surrounded the Qing army in Dahuangpu, they are certainly like a mouse gnawing at eggs - they have no way to start.

If the time drags on for too long, Hangzhou might send troops to help, and by then it is still unknown whether the Ming army can escape safely.

This is indeed a very realistic issue, and Zhu Cilang naturally considered it carefully before sending out his troops.

According to his original idea, as soon as the Qing army surrounded him, he would use various methods to "exhaust their troops", and when their soldiers were close to their limit, he would gradually nibble away at them with his elite troops.

By then, under various pressures, rifts will inevitably appear between the Eight Banners and the surrendered troops, and he will be able to take the opportunity to divide them and minimize the losses as much as possible.

just
He underestimated the surrendered troops' desire to survive and their ability to assess the situation.

The Qing army had been surrounded for less than a day when Hu Maozhen came running to him to discuss rebellion, and even agreed to use the heads of Nikan and several thousand Eight Banners soldiers as a token of his surrender.

In such a situation, Zhu Cilang was naturally extremely vigilant!

Yes, not only was he not carried away by the victory that was within his grasp, but he actually developed deep doubts about Hu Maozhen's motives.

He knew very well that none of those who could make a name for themselves in this era were easy to deal with, so he didn't even expect to be able to do something stupid and then surrender.

But from beginning to end, Hu Maozhen only asked the Ming army to play supporting role and help him to contain the rest of the surrendered troops.

In this situation, even though he was full of doubts, he really couldn't find any evidence to support this speculation.

However, even if there is no evidence, we still need to be careful and not be careless at all.

Before Xiang Rensheng led the elite troops to join Hou Chengzu, he even reminded them more than once: "Don't advance rashly after crossing the river. You must be able to withdraw in time if the situation is not right."

This also shows how much risk Zhu Cilang considered this action to be risky.

As night fell, Xiang Rensheng finally arrived at the north bank of the Qiangkai River. After some negotiation with Hou Chengzu, he led more than 3,000 people by boat to the south bank.

According to Hu Maozhen, in addition to the more than 10,000 Qing troops under his command, there were also 8,000 to 9,000 surrendered troops under Liu Liangzuo and 6,000 to 7,000 surrendered troops from other subordinates. Xiang Rensheng's task was to contain the more than 10,000 surrendered troops.

Three thousand troops gradually approached the surrendered army camp under the cover of night. When they were about two or three miles away, Xiang Rensheng ordered the main force to stay on the spot, while he himself quietly moved forward according to the routine of the last night attack on the Qing army in Yingtian.

But what was surprising was that until the Qing army camp appeared in their sight, they didn't even see the shadow of a sentry post.

Such a situation can certainly be explained by the low morale of the Qing army, but if we take into account the instructions of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, who can be sure that this is not a means for the Tartars to paralyze them?

"Spread out a little more to the left and right."

After whispering an order to the others, Xiang Rensheng stared straight ahead, trying to make out something from the vague scene.

Normally, since he was the one leading the troops to carry out the operation tonight, he should not have risked his life to investigate the enemy's situation. However, among all the troops he led, he was the most experienced, so he had to do so somewhat out of necessity.

Perhaps because there are not many trees here, the Qing army camp seems to be made up entirely of low walls made of piled earth.

Although there were soldiers inside, judging from their positions, they were probably just doing their job and didn't pay much attention to the outside world.

Seeing this situation, Xiang Rensheng naturally believed it. After hesitating for a moment, he brought two more people to the front.

Although Zhu Cilang sent troops to contain the surrendered troops according to the agreement with Hu Maozhen, Xiang Rensheng knew how vigilant the Crown Prince was.

Therefore, he wanted to find out as much as possible about the enemy's situation.

Xiang Rensheng moved forward cautiously, but still did not find any trace of the sentry post. When he was only twenty or thirty steps away from the Qing army camp, he stopped moving forward and instead looked carefully.

Sure enough there is a problem!
Near the women's wall, there were indeed many spiritless surrendered soldiers, but inside the camp, teams of patrolling Tatars would appear from time to time.

He didn't know what this loose-on-the-outside, tight-on-the-inside look meant, but he knew it was definitely not normal.

No, we have to inform His Royal Highness the Crown Prince as soon as possible.

With this in mind, Xiang Rensheng slowly retreated, but before he could retreat far, he heard a series of unusual noises coming from the camp.

He hesitated.

Your Highness should be informed as soon as possible that the Qing army is loose on the outside but tight on the inside, but it is also necessary to investigate the noise that has just been made.

After three or two breaths, the soldier who came with Xiang Renming rushed back to report the news, and he himself sneaked towards the Qing army camp.

At this time, the sounds coming from inside the camp were no longer as intermittent as before. Although they were still not very clear, one could generally make out that someone seemed to be shouting something.

In this situation, Xiang Rensheng was extremely confused.

He had been in the army for less than two months, but he knew that he must not make too much noise in the barracks at night.

This is an iron rule in the military, and no one dares to disobey it.

Could it be that the military discipline of this surrendered army has deteriorated to such an extent due to the loss of its commander?

Less than a moment after the thought came to his mind, he saw a group of Tatar soldiers who were on patrol suddenly stop and seemed to be arguing about something.

In this situation, Xiang Rensheng naturally thought that they were preparing to go and suppress the rebellion. However, who would have thought that after they had discussed it, not only did they not go into the camp, but they disappeared along the outskirts of the camp.

After all, Xiang Rensheng was just a new recruit, and the situation before him completely touched his blind spot.

Just as he was full of doubts, the noise inside the camp grew louder and louder, until it drew all his attention there.

At this time, the sound was so loud that it could be heard clearly outside the camp. Xiang Rensheng didn't even need to look too hard to tell that it was a mixture of shouts and howls.

Oh my god! It was Ying Xiao!
(End of this chapter)