Prince Chongzhen

Chapter 161 Southerners are despicable!

"boom!"

"boom!"

"boom!"

The artillery position in front of the Qing army was only a few miles away from the Hangzhou city wall. Considering that there were defeated troops blocking the way ahead, Xiang Rensheng chased the Qing army all the way.

But who would have thought that the Tartars really did not take the lives of the surrendered soldiers seriously. When they were more than 200 steps away from their front-line artillery positions, they actually lowered the muzzles of their guns and fired at the huge crowd.

Seeing that the Qing army was so decisive, even though Xiang Rensheng was unwilling, he had to lead his troops to retreat. The final result of this battle was limited to defeating the Qing army's siege troops.

"Your Highness, why don't we go out of the city at night and steal the Tartar artillery position?"

Fang Guoan was naturally delighted to see the guards and soldiers returning victoriously, but at the same time, the artillery positions set up by the Tartars in front still loomed like a cloud in his mind.

During this period of time, he had learned from Zhu Cilang about the battle situation in the north. He also knew that although the battle there was no suspense, the army was still dealing with the remaining Qing troops, and His Highness only brought 800 guards with him.

In such a situation, the Qing army's artillery positions must be eliminated, or at least the small cannon in front must be dealt with. Otherwise, if the Tartars continue to bombard for a day or two, the gap in the city wall will naturally become larger and larger. By then, the Tartars only need to rush in with their entire army, and Hangzhou will no longer be able to be defended.

"Don't worry about this for now."

Zhu Cilang naturally understood Fang Guoan's intention, but he also knew that the soldiers needed to rest, so after weighing the pros and cons, he finally decided to temporarily give up the plan to take down the artillery position.

Of course, this does not mean that he was willing to be a target of the Tartar artillery. After all, if he allowed the Tartars to do whatever they wanted, it would be impossible for him to defend Hangzhou without the protection of the city walls with the limited troops he had.

This way.
"Hang the things up in the city."

As soon as he finished speaking, the soldiers trotted away.

Fang Guoan could guess that the "thing" His Highness was talking about was something used to resist the Tartar artillery, but he couldn't figure out what kind of "thing" could be so powerful.

But before the soldier returned, he heard a howling. When he looked in the direction of the sound, he saw Ma Shiying and Zhu Guobi coming together.

“Your Highness~~~~~~!”

“Your Highness~~~~~~!”

The two veteran ministers, who were both movie emperors, were extremely synchronized in their tone and movements, and they even stumbled at the same time when they ran in front of Zhu Cilang.

Although Zhu Cilang couldn't see through their thoughts like seeing through fire, it was not difficult for him to guess 50% to 60% of them.

After all, they were able to stay in Hangzhou during the period when all the ministers were scrambling to escape. This alone was enough to make His Royal Highness the Crown Prince cooperate with them.

"A loyal minister is known in times of trouble. You two are the pillars of the country. Please take care of your health."

"This old minister is incompetent!"

Before Zhu Cilang finished his words, Ma Shiying knelt down, holding the hand he had just extended.

According to the rules of the imperial court, ministers did not have to kneel and kowtow to the emperor on normal occasions, but his words not only made the kneeling reasonable, but also took away the right to speak first from Zhu Guobi.

In this way, he naturally became the first person to report the situation to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, and Zhu Guobi, whose rhythm was interrupted, became a little embarrassed.

"I, your Highness, cannot help stabilize the situation in Hangzhou, nor can I help General Fang defend the city. If your Highness had not returned in time, I don't know if I could have waited for Zhu Dadian's reinforcements to arrive~~!"

"Stabilize the situation", "Defend the city", "Reinforcements have arrived".

Although Zhu Cilang had some complicated thoughts, due to his limited experience, when he first heard these words, he just thought that Ma Shiying was seeking credit in the name of apologizing.

You see, although you have dismissed me from my post, I am still trying my best to do these things that are not part of my job. Shouldn't such a loyal minister be reinstated?

"I'll be relying on you guys in Hangzhou during my absence."

As Zhu Cilang spoke, he was about to bow to the three people, but just as he was about to make the move, he was stopped by Zhu Guobi.

"Your Highness entrusted me with an important task, but we have allowed the situation in the city to become so chaotic."

Hearing this, Zhu Cilang suddenly realized that these two people were neither asking for guilt nor seeking credit, but filing a complaint.

On the way into the city, he saw that the people were rushing out of the city, but at that time his whole mind was on the battlefield and he did not think about it carefully.

But now, after being reminded by the two old ministers, he suddenly realized that the people had already started to flee, so wouldn't the officials have already run away?

So the question is, why are these two still in the city?

Zhu Guobi was not difficult to understand. After all, he was brought here from Yingtian. Although he could not be said to be absolutely loyal, his interests in certain matters were consistent with his own. Even if he was not as determined as Fang Guoan to live and die with the city, he should also make some efforts.

But what about Ma Shiying?

After several turns of thought, Zhu Cilang still couldn't figure out the logic of his actions for a while, but this was not important, after all, Lord Ma had not yet submitted his letter of surrender.

"Your Highness! Where are you hanging?"

While they were talking, several guards came over carrying an object wrapped tightly in a white sheet.

"Hang it outside the city wall, and send someone to deliver a letter to Duoduo," Zhu Cilang arranged it and turned to Ma Shiying and others. However, he just turned around and shouted to the soldiers as if he had thought of something, "Remember to take down the list."

Zhu and Ma were naturally confused. Fang Guoan knew that this was the object that His Highness used to delay the Tartar artillery, so he asked tentatively: "Your Highness, what is that?"

"Nikan."

When these words were spoken, except for Fang Guoan who already knew the war situation in the north, Ma Shiying and Zhu Guobi were all shocked and stood still.

Nikan's body appeared in Hangzhou. Doesn't that mean the North has won?

That's 40,000 troops, how could they be defeated in just a few days?
"I, your Highness, congratulate you on your triumphant return!"

"I, your Highness, congratulate you on your triumphant return!"

Hearing the flattery of Zhu and Ma, Zhu Cilang no longer concealed anything and in a few words he told them the important parts of the war situation in the north.

"Your Highness is in charge of the overall planning. It is a blessing for the Ming Dynasty and the world!"

The two were about to say a few more words, but they saw Zhu Cilang wave his hand and then changed the topic directly. "Mr. Ma, the battle situation in the north needs to be conveyed to the officials in Hangzhou. I will leave this matter to you."

"Don't worry, Your Highness. I will handle this matter properly."

Before he finished speaking, Ma Shiying responded without any hesitation.

As an old fox, he naturally understood the meaning of the words of Zhu Cilang, the little fox.

Basically it is to check who has deserted the battlefield and who is still in the city.

It is obvious that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince wants to use his own hands to carry out a round of purge of local forces in Hangzhou.

To put it bluntly, it means asking him to do something offensive for His Royal Highness the Crown Prince.

In fact, it made no difference to Ma Shiying whether he offended the local forces in Hangzhou or not. After all, they had been enemies for a long time, so even if some new hatreds were added, it would not be a big deal.

But he knew very well that there was more than one side to the story. If one looked at it from the perspective of the local forces in Hangzhou, the matter would most likely look different.

His Royal Highness the Crown Prince originally only wanted to report the battle situation in the north to his ministers in Hangzhou after repelling the enemy, but Ma Shiying ignored the facts, framed him, and used all kinds of dirty tricks to deceive His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, which ultimately dealt a serious blow to the clean stream of the court.

In such a situation, what would they do?
Either he surrendered to the Tartars with all his might, or he tried his best to persuade the Crown Prince to understand the "facts".

The Donglin people have always valued their personal reputation more than anything else, so it is naturally unlikely that they would surrender to the Tartars. The only thing left is to advise them strongly.

It can be imagined that after some strong remonstrance, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince might repent and restore the balance of power among the various parties in the court.

There is no doubt that this must be the beginning of a major case. The local forces in Hangzhou will definitely suffer a huge blow in the process and will be forced to move closer to the imperial power.

As the main executor of this matter, although Ma Shiying would gain certain benefits in the process, his party dispute with Donglin would be completely transformed into personal hatred.

You must know that even a vengeance of ten generations can still be avenged!
After completing the transformation of the nature of hatred, Ma Shiying would certainly face Donglin's endless revenge. At that time, in order to protect himself, how could he not move closer to the imperial power?
In this way, the local forces in Hangzhou and Ma Shiying would lose the ability to restrict the imperial power, and the small court would naturally change from an institution for consultation among various forces to a tool for embodying Zhu Cilang's will.

So the question is, why did Ma Shiying agree to such a task?

Four words: forced by the situation.

Not to mention what it meant to have the power of a great victory, just the presence of Duke Baoguo beside him made it impossible for him not to respond.

Although there will be many negative consequences if he agrees to this matter, if he does not agree, he will completely become the target of slaughter with the knife in Zhu Cilang's hand.

You know, people are not just talkers. Even if he stays in the city, it doesn't mean anything.

Zhao Zhilong of Yingtian is still staying in the city. Can it still be said that he is ready to fight the Tartars to the death?

From this, it is easy to imagine that if it were not for the stability of Hangzhou, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince would not care whether he had to deal with both the local forces in Hangzhou and Ma Shiying at the same time, given his absolute reason and absolute power.

In this way, there will naturally be no suspense as to what choice Ma Shiying will make between the knife and the fish.

Seeing Ma Shiying taking orders and leaving, Zhu Guobi felt relieved but also a little disappointed.

He could clearly understand the pros and cons, but no matter what, he could not deny that carrying out this matter would mean holding enormous power.

This is indeed a huge attraction for him, but at the same time the huge risks make him hesitate.

His way of doing things as a nobleman is slightly different from that of civil servants like Ma Shiying.

Although their essence is to continue the family, in terms of specific actions, the nobles' desire for power is weaker than that of the civil officials.

After all, civil servant families who have lost their power will have to face encroachment from other families, but the nobles are not too worried about this because of their shared destiny with the country.

As for why most of the nobles in Yingtian preferred to surrender to the Qing rather than fight to the death for the Ming Dynasty.
To put it bluntly, they have almost no say in state affairs. In this situation, they might as well try to gamble their family property and take their destiny into their own hands.

Closer to home.

Just when several people were thinking about their own things, there was chaos outside the city.

Although Duoduo fainted extremely suddenly, the situation was not too chaotic because of the presence of the Han prince Kong Youde.

just
"Your Highness! That must be a trick by the southerners. How could the prince, who led tens of thousands of troops, be killed by the Ming army?!"

After someone started talking, all the generals present began to express their ideas.

Some said that Li Benshen should organize another attack, while others said that the flag soldiers should be sent directly to attack the city. But no matter what their views were, they all clearly expressed that they did not believe that Nikan was dead.

This is no wonder. Nikan has been in the army for many years. Although his record is not particularly brilliant, he can definitely be regarded as a man who knows military affairs and is good at fighting. Under the leadership of such a strong general, how could there be any problems with tens of thousands of troops?
What's more, even if something went wrong, couldn't they send someone to report it?
To be honest, Kong Youde also held the same view, but how could he launch an attack immediately after being defeated?

What's more, he was just a Han prince. He had already reached his limit by helping to stabilize the situation when Duoduo fainted. If he did too much, who knows if the Tartars would become suspicious?

This was not Kong Youde's way of judging others by his own mean character. After all, he had been in the Qing Dynasty for more than ten years, and he knew very well that the nobles of the Qing Dynasty all had the habit of turning their backs on people.

In such a situation, he would naturally seek stability when doing things.

just
"Your Majesty! Look!"

Just when Kong Youde was annoyed by these Eight Banners generals, a sharp-eyed general saw that the Ming army had hung an object on the city wall. When he took a closer look, he found that the object seemed to be...
Earlier in the city, because it was wrapped in white cloth, Zhu Ma and others could not tell what it was for a while. But now that the white cloth is gone, even though they are separated by a distance of several miles, the Qing army generals can tell what it is from its shape.

"Your Majesty, your telescope."

As the saying goes, one won't give up until he reaches the Yellow River, and one won't cry until he sees the coffin.

Even if everyone has already made a guess, it is still hard to avoid believing it without final confirmation.

Kong Youde looked through the telescope for a while, then passed it to the Eight Banners general beside him. After the general looked at it for a while, he silently passed the mirror to the next person.

This round took about an incense stick of time, but during this process, no matter whether those holding the mirror or not, no one uttered a word. It was obvious that they either verified the authenticity of the news themselves or verified the authenticity of the news from the performance of others.

At this time, all the generals around Kong Youde fell into silence, and no one paid attention to whether they should launch an attack on Hangzhou immediately.

However, among these generals there were a few who were on good terms with Nikan. While others were thinking about the changes in the war situation, they did not forget Heshuo Beile who was hanging on the city wall.

"Your Highness! The southerners are despicable. We must find a way to redeem the body of the prince."

(End of this chapter)