Prince Chongzhen

Chapter 163 Go to Yingtian to save the prince!

Regardless of whether Zhu Cilang was vicious or not, after reading the letter, Duoduo felt really torn.

On the surface, the Qing court was united.

Several princes who had the power to compete for the throne not only did not fight each other, but instead gave up the throne to a little kid for the sake of the overall situation.

Judging from this alone, the minds and magnanimity of these Qing princes can be considered top-notch in the thousands of years of Chinese history.

But Duoduo, who was in the middle of it, knew that things were not like this at all.

After Nurhaci's death, except for the three young Dorgon brothers, the power of the other adult beile was roughly equal, and none of them was particularly strong.

In order to prevent a powerful master from appearing above him, Huang Taiji joined forces with several beiles to force Abahai, the mother of Dorgon's brothers, to be buried alive with him, thus seizing the Khan throne from her.

Later, in order to consolidate his position, Huang Taiji used both force and force to attack the other beiles, eventually making him and his son the most powerful among the Eight Banners.

As the saying goes, justice will always come naturally and retribution will always come.

Back then, he was able to unite the adult beiles to bully the three brothers Dorgon. After their death, Dorgon was able to understand the minds of the kings and work together to prevent Hauge from succeeding to the throne.

However, the external manifestation of this process is different from that of the past.

To outsiders, it seemed that Dorgon and Hauge were fighting for the throne, and the neutral forces represented by Daishan were mediating the conflict.

But the actual situation was that the two blue flags and the two yellow flags clearly supported Hauge, the two white flags clearly supported Dorgon, while the two red flags and the neutral forces represented by Daishan openly fought under the banner of preventing internal strife, but secretly flirted with Dorgon.

As a result, the situation changed from Hauge having an absolute advantage to the two sides being evenly matched.

Eventually, the throne of the Qing Dynasty was peacefully handed over to a six-year-old child, and the current three-way balance of power was formed in the court.

Daishan's logic of action is actually easy to understand. Although he held a high position during the years when Huang Taiji was in power, he was suppressed from time to time. If he had not been good at judging the situation and decisively chose to stay at home, he might have ended up with the same fate as the other beile.

After this experience, he certainly didn't want another emperor with absolute power to appear above him.

It is not difficult to understand why he chose to support the fight between Dorgon and Hauge, thus letting the throne fall into the hands of a harmless little kid.

With such an understanding of the situation in the Qing court, we can appreciate the meaning of Zhu Cilang's three strategies of best, middle and worst.

The best strategy was indeed the best strategy. Even if they lost Nikan and were even forced to retreat to Jiangbei, they had already won over many generals from other banners like Tulai over the past year. With the support of Daishan, as long as the three brothers responded properly, they could still suppress Hauge to some extent.

The same principle applies to the middle policy, but it still faces many risks during its implementation.

The next best option.
To be honest, Duoduo actually prefers this worst strategy. Once Hangzhou is successfully captured, the situation in Jiangnan will be completely different.

By then, with their military achievements as a foundation, the three brothers will naturally be unstoppable. It is even not impossible for the Regent to make further progress.

But as Zhu Cilang said, the risk of this strategy is too great.

If Hangzhou cannot be captured in a short period of time, Duoduo may be surrounded. Even if the whole army is not wiped out, it is very likely to suffer serious injuries.

By then, it goes without saying that Hauge will cause trouble again, and even old Daishan will ask for exorbitant prices. If the three brothers want to maintain the stability of the Qing Dynasty, they will have to lose more interests, and the good situation will be difficult to reproduce.

Zhu Cilang broke these into pieces and placed them in front of Duoduo, naturally with no good intentions.

This letter is equivalent to telling Tudor clearly: I know your situation is extremely difficult, and I also know the path you can choose.

So the question is, what should you choose when the enemy knows your situation clearly?
Do you feel like you'll fall into the enemy's trap no matter what you do?
"What do you think?"

After thinking for a long time, Duoduo still didn't make a decision. After looking at Kong Youde, who had a gloomy expression, he asked casually.

He dragged out the word "this" to show his entanglement and hesitation, and then Kong Youde frowned and said, "It's difficult."

It is certainly difficult to make up your mind in such a situation, but the word "difficult" he mentioned has another meaning.

Kong Youde was born a miner, so under normal circumstances he naturally would not think about the struggles in the court. But after reading the letter, all the chaotic events in his mind were connected together in an instant, and he also clearly realized the deeper meaning of Duoduo's question.

If we only look at the question itself, Duoduo was just asking how to choose, but the letter has already linked the struggles among several forces in the court with the three strategies of upper, middle and lower. So no matter what suggestion Kong Youde puts forward, it represents his support for the subsequent way of struggle.

To put it bluntly, Duoduo received this letter to force Kong Youde to take sides.

Honestly speaking, if Liu Liangzuo and Li Chengdong were here, they would probably happily stand on the side of the three Dorgon brothers. However, Kong Youde had been hanging out with the Manchus for more than ten years and knew very well that if a Han Chinese interfered with Manchu power, he would die without even knowing how he died.

Under such circumstances, not to mention that he really didn't know what to do, even if he knew something, he certainly wouldn't dare to show off at this time.

As for whether this would offend Duoduo.
He was not too worried about this. After all, all the Han ministers in the court did the same. As long as he tried his best against the Ming Dynasty, Duoduo would not hold a grudge against him too much.

"You are a member of the Han Army Banner, and you are also the prince of my Great Qing. How can you not have an idea about this matter?"

Duoduo did not reveal much emotion when he spoke, but his pale face still frightened Kong Youde. However, he obviously knew that it was not wise to force the Han people to take sides on such matters, so he just followed up with a sentence.

"Forget it, since you don't have any ideas, I won't force you."

After he finished speaking, Kong Youde breathed a sigh of relief very obviously. Although Duoduo was still somewhat unwilling, he really had no choice but to stop for a moment and then focus on his business.

"Order all troops to assemble nearby."

"What about Tunqi?"

"Don't move on Tunqi's side for now. Wait until the situation changes."

As Duoduo's military order was issued, messengers went to various places in the south of the Yangtze River.

Although he had not yet decided whether to fight or retreat, he had already realized that his passivity was entirely due to the dispersion of his forces.

It will take several days for the Ming army to return. If we can regroup the army before them, we may be able to give it another try.

"After fighting for so many years, am I still unable to break out of the box set by a brat?"

Duoduo had followed the army in its battles since he was in his teens, so he was naturally proud of himself. However, although the Qing army occupied a huge part of Jiangnan, its control ability was very weak.

In the early days, the army's unstoppable momentum was not obvious, but with the slightest setback it would inevitably face a situation where it was devoured by a pack of wolves and tigers.

Ningguo Prefecture, Nanling County

After Huang Degong's defeat, the Qing army sent some troops to take over the counties south of Wuhu. Afterwards, Zuo Menggeng and Yuan Jixian went north along the river to try to relieve Yingtian, and then several rebel armies rose up in response, and Nanling County was finally returned to the hands of the rebels a few days ago.

"Teacher, there's news! There's news!"

Following a shout, a scholar hurriedly ran into the lobby of the county government office. The green-robed official who was staring at the map in a daze in the hall immediately came over after hearing the shout.

"Report quickly!"

The official in the green robe was named Jin Sheng, and he was from Xiuning County, Huizhou. He had served as the Imperial Censor and Military Inspector during the reign of Chongzhen. However, as his suggestion for making special appointments was not adopted, he resigned on the grounds of illness and returned home.

His subsequent experience was quite similar to that of Yang Tinglin. Both of them recruited soldiers in the countryside and refused to accept the official position in the Hongguang Dynasty.

When the Qing army crossed the river and the trend of overthrow became apparent, he and Yang Tinglin almost raised an army to defend the king at the same time. However, after Yang Tinglin met the uncle and nephew of the Xu family on the way north, he turned back and went to Hangzhou, while he, after learning some news, captured various counties along the way and headed straight for Wuhu.

According to the original history, he captured several counties south of Wuhu within a few months after he started his rebellion. If he could maintain this situation, he might be able to cooperate with Yang Tinglin to deal a heavy blow to Jiangxi and Anhui.

But by then the Qing army had already occupied Jiangsu and Zhejiang. Not only did they have sufficient troops to the south in Anhui and Jiangxi, but they also had the help of many traitors. In the end, Jin Sheng was defeated and killed after the traitors pretended to surrender, and several counties in this area fell completely into the hands of the Tartars.

However, at this time, because Zhu Cilang had tied down a large number of Qing troops in Suzhou and Hangzhou, the pressure on Jin Sheng was much smaller than in history. But at the same time, the transmission of information was still as unsmooth as in history.

As a result, this group of people with certain combat capabilities lost contact with the court, which is a pity.

"Teacher, great joy! Great joy!"

"Don't keep me in suspense any longer. Tell me quickly."

During these days, although Jin Sheng's troops conquered several cities in succession, they were located in an area with deep valleys and mountains and were almost cut off from the areas of Jiangsu and Zhejiang. Therefore, collecting various information while fighting with the Qing army became the most important task of their troops.

However, there has been no news from the several spies sent out earlier, and there has been no gain in the occupied counties. So when Jin Sheng received the news from the outside world, not only was he overjoyed, but even the soldiers were at a loss as to what to do.

"A caravan of a wealthy family in the city just returned yesterday. According to them, the Ming army is fighting fiercely with the Qing army in Suzhou and Hangzhou."

"Su Hang? Who is leading the troops?"

"They don't know much about this either. It seems to be His Royal Highness the Crown Prince."

The scholar explained a few words, but Jin Sheng became less and less confused the more he listened.

According to earlier news, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince should be defending Yingtian at the moment, but how come he has gone to Suzhou and Hangzhou in just over a month?
Someone must be using the prince's name to unite all the forces.

With a guess in mind, Jin Sheng no longer worried about the details.

"Do they know what the battle is like?"

"It is said that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has surrounded tens of thousands of Qing troops near Taihu Lake. I think they should be fighting fiercely at this time."

"really?"

"really."

After getting confirmation again, Jin Sheng felt ecstatic.

He did not expect too much when he first started the rebellion. He just felt that as a minister of the Ming Dynasty, he should not be passive.

Later, when he heard that the descendants of the previous emperor were defending Yingtian to the death, and that the armies of Zuo and Yuan were blocked from advancing north, he set his sights on going to Wuhu to reinforce.

How could he not be excited when he learned that such a big battle was fought in Suzhou and Hangzhou?

"Teacher, once Suzhou and Hangzhou wipe out this group of Tartars, the situation in the entire Jiangnan area will change."

At this point, the scholar's excitement was beyond words, but Jin Sheng's expression changed and he immediately ran towards the map.

According to common sense, he should be as happy as the soldier to hear such news, but as an official who has served in Beijing for many years, he has a very clear understanding of the combat effectiveness of the Ming and Qing dynasties.

In his concept, the Guanning Iron Cavalry and the Eight Banners soldiers should be at the top, followed closely by the Ming border troops and the elite rebels. Military garrisons and ordinary soldiers from all over the country cannot be compared with these troops, and the soldiers from Jiangnan should be ranked last.

Based on this, anyone who hears such news will be worried.

"I'm afraid it's a trap."

"teacher?"

The scholar was obviously a little skeptical about this judgment, but it was only thanks to Jin Sheng's planning that they were able to capture several counties along the way. Now that the teacher has made such a judgment, it is probably not far from the truth.

"Wenshi, the Suzhou-Hangzhou area is densely covered with waterways. As long as the troops hide among them, the Tartars will have no way to deal with them. But now."

Hearing this, the scholar's face suddenly froze, and the joy he had just felt completely disappeared from his heart in an instant.

The scholar's name was Jiang Tianyi. He was a student accepted by Jin Sheng when he was training troops and teaching in Xiuning. Since he followed his teacher to raise an army to serve the king, he became Jin Sheng's right-hand man.

However, he was still young and lacked experience and knowledge, so it was only after his teacher's analysis that he realized the danger.

"Teacher, then we..."

"Nothing can be done. Nothing can be done."

Jiang Tian originally wanted to ask if there was any way to rescue him, but he had only said half of his words when he saw his teacher mumbling in despair.

They are now at least four or five hundred miles away from Suzhou and Hangzhou, and many cities in between are under the control of the Qing army. Even though the control is not very strong, they still have to fight all the way if they want to get through.

In this situation, even if every city they encounter can be conquered in one battle, it will take at least a month. By then, the war will probably be over. What difference will it make whether they arrive or not?

When he thought of this, Jin Sheng suddenly felt dizzy.

Seeing his teacher's mood fluctuating greatly, Jiang Tianyi reached out to help him and couldn't help but persuade him: "Teacher, don't worry, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is still in Yingtian. As long as we help Governor Yuan break through the Qing army's defense line, everything can be done."

Correct!
No matter how bad the situation gets, there will always be people who fight to the death. As long as His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is rescued from Yingtian, there will still be hope even if we retreat to Huguang.

"Pass the order! The army will set out tomorrow to attack Fanchang!"

The weekend is busier than working hours, it's really helpless
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(End of this chapter)