Prince Chongzhen

Chapter 153 When to retreat?

Although Nikan's death was somewhat unexpected, it was actually just a matter of a few days earlier or later.

Even if some scenes of the Qing army fighting desperately to charge into the battlefield were added during the period, it would probably not change the result that he was buried here.

So when Zhu Cilang learned the news of Nikan's suicide, he didn't feel too upset.

"Report the victory to all the armies and say that Nikan was knocked off his horse by you and killed by General Hu himself."

"Yes."

After the last dispute with Liang Yungou, Zhu Cilang no longer paid much attention to the first merit when calculating the achievements of his subordinates. However, the significance of Nikan's head was too important. Even though he committed suicide, he thought that Hu Maozhen should kill him personally.

This approach is actually similar to the way Liangshanpo recruited people to join its gang, but if you think about it carefully, there are reasons why it has to be done this way.

The main reason is that Hu Maozhen surrendered too quickly and too thoroughly, cutting off his retreat. Who can guarantee that he will not turn around and throw himself back into the arms of the Qing Dynasty?

"Your Highness, General Hu forced a stack of banknotes into my hand earlier."

"Oh? How many?"

"Well, about three or four thousand taels. I haven't looked closely yet."

"Keep it. They looted a lot. It can be considered as robbing the rich to help the poor."

Xiang Rensheng was about to accept the order and leave, but before he turned around, he remembered that he still had a stack of silver bills in his pocket.

However, Zhu Cilang didn't seem to care too much about it. He just asked a few questions and then ignored it.

But more than a month ago, Xiang Rensheng was a man who worked hard for a few taels of silver. Now that such a large sum of money was in his pocket, he was nervous and hesitant, not knowing whether he should really accept it.

"It doesn't matter."

Seeing him like this, Zhu Cilang could probably understand what he was thinking. Coincidentally, Chang Guanlin was also beside him, so he took this opportunity to express his views on this matter.

"You are all people around me, and it is inevitable that someone will come to curry favor with me in the future," he said, glancing at the expressions of the two people. Seeing that they were somewhat submissive, he continued, "It's not a big deal to collect some money, but you have to understand what you should and shouldn't do."

As the saying goes: When the water is too clear, there will be no fish.

So it didn't seem like a big deal to allow his subordinates to accept some money.

It can be effective from top to bottom.

If Zhu Cilang can acquiesce to Xiang Rensheng's men to accept several thousand taels of silver notes today, then Xiang Rensheng will dare to accept more tomorrow, and the day after tomorrow he may give bribes to someone because he did not receive the silver.

By then, once the trend becomes established, it will be the case that high-ranking officials will be more corrupt, and low-ranking officials will be less corrupt.

But what can Zhu Cilang do?

To be honest, every soldier and every general of the Ming Dynasty was fighting for his family's empire.

Although the soldiers would receive a few taels of silver as a reward for every battle they fought hard to win, Zhu Cilang would gain a huge amount of property as a result.

Take this battle for example. If the battle in Jiangnan ended with victory for the Ming army, the Ming Dynasty would be able to collect taxes from here.

Even if there were interference from aristocratic families, this tax was still huge compared to the several thousand taels of silver.

Under such circumstances, acquiescing in the matter naturally became his only option.

With a slight sigh in his heart, Zhu Cilang stopped worrying about this problem that almost no one could solve. After collecting his thoughts, his mind couldn't help but drift to Hangzhou.

Although Hu Maozhen had led his troops to suppress the camp rebellion at this time, it would still take a lot of time to truly pacify the two camps and the two or three thousand troops.

If we take into account the more than one thousand real Tartars guarding the camp, it may take another day or two to completely end the battle here.

If it were an ordinary season, he would only have to wait for a day or two. Once everything here was cleaned up, he would personally lead the army back to Hangzhou to provide assistance.

But in order to build this wooden wall of more than ten miles, he had already ordered all the civilian ships to be dismantled, but the remaining warships were not enough to bring back tens of thousands of troops at once.

As a result, he couldn't wait any longer.

"Commander Chang, you guys hurry up and finish the battle here. I'm going back to Hangzhou first."

"Your Highness, why don't you let me lead the troops there?"

After giving instructions to Chang Guanlin, Zhu Cilang was ready to turn around and leave, but as soon as he moved, Chang Guanlin rushed in front of him and directly stopped him.

Since Yingtian, Zhu Cilang has been appearing wherever there is danger. He is naturally used to it, but trusted generals like Chang Guanlin always feel a little embarrassed.

In addition, a large group of Qing troops was heading towards Hangzhou, and everyone knew that the danger was extraordinary, so this interception was understandable.

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"If you leave, will I be the one to lead all these soldiers?"

Zhu Cilang's words alone left Chang Guanlin speechless, and he could only watch His Royal Highness the Crown Prince leave.

To ordinary people, leading troops means that the generals point out a path and let the soldiers follow it. It sounds simple, but if there are no generals who have commanded troops for many years to arrange various things, the army may be dispersed after marching for dozens of miles, not to mention fighting against a strong enemy after a long journey.

So, after Xiang Rensheng returned, Zhu Cilang set out on his journey home with the guards who had just fought a battle, while Chang Guanlin could only vent all his helplessness on the more than a thousand bannermen.

To be honest, although Zhu Cilang had reasons to go to various battlefields in person, his firefighter-like behavior was criticized by civil officials.

If we talk about the reasons, there is naturally concern for his safety, but who can guarantee that this is not an attempt by the civil officials to sever the union between imperial power and military power?
Although this guess is a bit prudent, the precedent before him does not allow Zhu Cilang to be careless.

Just like Wuzong, he had been trying to strengthen his influence over military power throughout his short life, and thanks to his efforts, military power did show signs of moving closer to imperial power.

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As luck would have it, Wuzong accidentally fell into the water during an outing. Seven months later, he died of pneumonia and vomiting blood caused by the fall.

Zhu Cilang naturally didn't know whether this matter was true or not, but he knew that it was better to be cautious, so it was not difficult to understand why he hid Wang Fuping in the dark.

Pulling away, get back to business.

In Zhu Cilang's original plan, all his actions were actually just to achieve one goal, which was to weaken the Qing army as much as possible.

Judging from the current situation, the loss of Nikan's troops will not only greatly weaken the actual strength of the Qing army, but also strike a blow to its arrogance.

But everything has two sides. While Zhu Cilang succeeded in his plan, he also inevitably exposed his weaknesses to the Qing army.

In fact, according to common sense, Hangzhou, with its city walls, should not be considered a weak spot, but who would have thought that Duoduo ordered Wu Zhenchaoha to go south for support in advance.

When facing this army with extremely strong firepower, Hangzhou, which could be considered a strong city, naturally became the biggest weakness of the Ming army. Wuzhen Chaoha means heavy troops in Manchu, and it was originally a field artillery unit formed by Han people who surrendered to the Jurchens.

Later, as more and more Han people surrendered to the Jurchens, this group of people eventually evolved into the Eight Banners of the Han Army, but their combat methods remained unchanged.

So when Kong Youde's troops arrived, the Hangzhou city wall experienced an unprecedented harsh test.

"boom!"

"boom!"

"boom!"

As bursts of artillery fire rang out, the Hangzhou city wall, which was more than ten feet thick, trembled. The soldiers hiding on the inner side of the city wall couldn't help but worry about how long the city wall could hold out.

"Don't climb too hard! Be careful not to hurt your lungs!"

Fang Yuanke crouched over and patrolled the city wall, and he would slap any soldier who pressed his chest or abdomen to the ground.

Yesterday, before dark, he received a military report saying that Qing troops were approaching the city.

At first he didn't care about it. He just reported the matter and then took a walk around the city.

But who knew that before he left the city, he saw the group of Tartars pushing out cannons.

By that time, he had probably figured out what these Tartars were going to do, but he and Fang Guoan had lived in Jiangnan for a long time, and at most they had only heard of artillery as a siege weapon, but had no specific concept of it.

As a result, they missed the best opportunity to destroy the artillery positions.

It is not difficult to guess what happened next. Eight or nine hours have passed since the cannon was set up, and during this time, bursts of cannon fire could be heard outside the city of Hangzhou at regular intervals.

During this period, Fang Yuanke also tried to fight back with the artillery on the city wall, but the artillery in Hangzhou was all outdated. Not only could they not hit the Tartars, but two of them even exploded.

Under such circumstances, the defenders could only adopt a passive defense mode before the leaders in the city could come up with a countermeasure.

"My Lords, we cannot delay any longer. The cannons have been firing all night, and I'm afraid the city walls won't hold out for a few days."

Fang Guoan said this anxiously, while several people who held different opinions were still busy arguing about right and wrong. It was not until he hit the pillar beside him hard that the room finally quieted down a little.

During the earlier meeting, there was a big conflict between the ministers and the princes. If the Queen Mother had not stepped in in time to stop it, it is hard to say whether the matter would have gotten out of hand.

However, despite all the quarrels and noise, even the princes and Zheng Hongkui thought that the important people should be evacuated first.

The court officials firmly believed that even if the Tartar reinforcements were about to arrive, Hangzhou still had a good chance of being able to defend itself until Zhu Cilang led his troops back.

But now the situation has undergone a subtle change due to the shelling that night.

As the representative of the princes, Zheng Hongkui once again proposed that important figures should be evacuated to the rear.

Ma Shiying, who was not very firm to begin with, seemed to be extremely afraid of the power of artillery. Although he did not directly support the retreat with his horses and carriages, he showed signs of hesitation in his words.

Under his influence, even Li Yongmao, who commanded a large number of troops, behaved ambivalently.

As for local forces such as Huang Daozhou, although they still felt that Hangzhou should not be abandoned easily, they were not as strongly opposed to Zheng Hongkui's proposal as they had been in the previous few days. They even suggested that troops should be divided and deployed to the south of the Qiantang River to set up a defense line in advance.

Normally, under such circumstances, the ministers should have nothing to argue about, but who would have thought that the parties could not reach a consensus on the timing of retreat, and the argument has continued from last night to now.

"General Fang, tell me the truth. If the city wall really collapses, how long can the soldiers in the city hold out?"

When Huang Daozhou asked this question, everyone turned their eyes to Fang Guoan, but how could he give an accurate number in the current situation?
Therefore, after hesitating for a moment, Fang Guoan gritted his teeth and said, "Don't worry, Mr. Huang. If the city wall collapses, I will hold on with my troops until the evacuation is complete."

In fact, from the bottom of his heart, Fang Guoan did not support retreat, but when a group of civil officials were discussing matters, how could he, a military general, have the qualifications to interrupt?

"General Fang, there are so many people in the city. Even if we start to retreat now, we may not be able to evacuate all of them. If we really wait until the city wall collapses, how long can your troops hold out?"

After hearing Fang Guoan's answer, Zheng Hongkui immediately asked back.

Earlier, he had no particular preference on when to retreat. After all, all his troops were warships, and the Tartars had no control over whether he should leave or stay.

But he had seen from afar when the Tartars set up their artillery positions yesterday. They could hit the city walls from that distance, so he had no choice but to use the red cannon.

Under such circumstances, he naturally had to leave quickly before Hangzhou fell. Otherwise, if he was hit by a few rounds of red cannons, the warships under his command would not be as strong as the city walls of Hangzhou.

"If the Tartars break into the city before we complete our retreat, all of our troops will be killed."

Fang Guoan replied sullenly, which made Zheng Hongkui feel a little embarrassed.

Everyone here has prepared to sacrifice their lives for the country, but he is still struggling with when to evacuate.

In comparison, no matter what Zheng Hongkui was planning, he couldn't help but feel ashamed of himself.

"My Mr. Huang! General Fang!

The more than ten guns of the Tartars were all red-coated cannons bought from the red-haired devils. The Hangzhou city wall would definitely not last for a few days under such firepower.

Why are you still fussing over whether to retreat a few days earlier or a few days later? Do you really want Hangzhou to repeat the mistakes of Yangzhou? ! "

When people feel ashamed, they will naturally try to find justifications for their behavior, and the Ten Days in Yangzhou was Zheng Hongkui's way of finding a fig leaf for himself.

If he really wanted to withdraw, Zheng Hongkui would probably only take away people who were valuable to the Zheng family. How could he take away the four or five hundred thousand people in Hangzhou?
But then again, when everyone thought that Hangzhou was undefendable, his words were extremely damaging to Huang Daozhou and Fang Guoan.

Huang Daozhou refuted him without waiting for him to finish his words: "Hangzhou is a city of our Han Dynasty. If the Tartars just fired a few cannons and the city was empty, how can the soldiers defend the city with peace of mind?!"

"Mr. Huang, don't harbor any more illusions. I'll bet my life that once the city wall collapses, General Fang will not be able to hold out for more than two days!"

As soon as these words were spoken, everyone's attention was focused on Fang Guoan again, but this time he just remained silent, obviously unable to refute Zheng Hongkui's statement.

As a result, not to mention the ministers who were planning to withdraw directly across the Qiantang River, even Huang Daozhou, who represented the local forces in Hangzhou, fell silent.

Since the Tartars crossed the Yangtze River, although the Ming Dynasty has achieved several notable victories under Zhu Cilang's schemes, and now has surrounded and killed tens of thousands of Tartars, it can be said that this is all the result of the planning of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince. There is not a single troop in the entire Jiangnan region that can fight the Tartars in a fair fight.

Under such circumstances, how could the ministers have the confidence to defend Hangzhou without a city wall as a barrier? How could they dare to make unnecessary sacrifices?
There was silence in the hall. Zheng Hongkui thought he had convinced Huang and Fang. After glancing at the rest of the people, he prepared to arrange the retreat.

But at this moment, Fang Guoan, who had been silent for a long time, suddenly said: "My lords, please retreat. I will lead my troops to guard the retreat for Your Highness."

(End of this chapter)