Prince Chongzhen

Chapter 164 Just because I don’t leave doesn’t mean they are guilty!
February 7 night
Ever since the bright yellow banner was raised on the bank of Qiantang River, the news that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince was leading troops to provide support spread at an extremely fast speed.

Afterwards, the people returned one after another, but most of the officials retreated to the south of the Qiantang River, as if there was a hungry tiger in Hangzhou.

"Teacher, all the ministers have excused themselves for not returning."

"Before, we were forced to make two plans due to the situation. Now that His Highness has returned, why haven't they come back yet?!"

As soon as the young man in front of him finished speaking, Huang Daozhou asked angrily.

There are so-called factions within the party, and there are all kinds of weird things.

Although he was allied with the Zhejiang officials headed by Liu Zongzhou, there were significant differences in the details.

Take last night's meeting for example. On the surface, although they were unwilling to give up Hangzhou easily, the local forces in Hangzhou were more reluctant to give up their own business, while Huang Daozhou was more concerned about the situation.

Based on this, after the final result was agreed upon, there was a huge difference in performance between the two.

The local forces in Hangzhou transported all their families and money to the other side of the Qiantang River as quickly as possible, while Huang Daozhou waited for the final moment to arrive in the city.

Without these people's help, his ability to obtain information in Hangzhou City was naturally greatly reduced. It was not until the afternoon that he learned that Zhu Cilang had returned to Hangzhou.

It was also because of this old man's righteousness that after receiving the news, he did not choose to meet Zhu Cilang, but immediately sent his students to notify those officials who had left Hangzhou.

just
"Teacher, although the adults have not said it clearly, but..."

"But what?"

Huang Daozhou was naturally puzzled when he saw his student returning alone, but when he asked the reason, he found that he was hesitant, so he asked again.

Huang Daozhou's student was named Chen Junyin. Although he was only about 40 years old at the time, he eventually lived to be nearly 80 years old.

Even more than 30 years later, he participated in Zheng Jing's surprise attack on Fujian as a staff member.

In that battle, he suggested that Zheng Jing abandon Shaowu, which had already been captured, plunder Shaowu's money and food, and then withdraw the entire army to Fuzhou.

Then they imitated Cao Cao's burning of Wuchao during the Three Kingdoms period and concentrated all their forces to capture Fuzhou Nantai Port, cutting off the supply source of the Qing Dynasty's Green Camp in Fuzhou.

Then, the Ming Zheng army took advantage of its numerical advantage, used human wave tactics, advanced by land and sea, divided its troops into two groups and launched a two-pronged encirclement, raiding Taijiang, the nest of the Green Camp in Fuzhou, eastern Fujian, and quickly captured Fuzhou.

This strategy was extremely suitable for the situation at that time, but due to the internal struggle, this strategy was not adopted by Zheng Jing, and Chen Junyin was even driven to a remote area to serve as a minor official.

In the end, the Qing army won this battle with fewer troops and annihilated all of Zheng Jing's elite troops in Fujian, and the Qing army also completely gained a foothold in Fujian.

Closer to home.

After hearing his teacher's question, Chen Junyin hesitated for a moment before answering, "He's probably afraid of the Crown Prince's revenge."

"revenge??"

Huang Daozhou was stunned when he heard his student's words.

This old gentleman is quite accomplished in academics, but he is so naive when it comes to mundane affairs and court disputes that it is a little ridiculous.

In the original history, after Prince Lu and the ministers of Hangzhou surrendered to the Qing Dynasty, he and Zhu Youjian followed Zheng Hongkui to Fujian.

God have mercy on me. If there were any idiot like that, he would not have left out so many legitimate governors and governors-general, and instead chose a pirate leader who was recruited from the amnesty.

"What retaliation are they afraid of?"

Seeing that his student remained silent, Huang Daozhou couldn't help but ask another question.

Although this person has various shortcomings, he does have one thing in common: he recognizes those who have achieved great things as his teachers, and he never feels dissatisfied with his students just because he is not as good as them in some aspects.

Just like now, he saw that his students had figured out the whole thing before him, and other than wanting to know it earlier, he didn't have many other thoughts.

Chen Junyin knew his teacher very well, so he had no other concerns. After Huang Daozhou urged him again, he gritted his teeth and told him all his guesses.

On the surface, the decision to evacuate Hangzhou was the result of discussions among the ministers. Although it was not completely reasonable, there seemed to be nothing wrong with it in terms of procedures.

But over thousands of years, has China ever put the real things on the table?
Therefore, when Chen Junyin went there, every official expressed the same idea: I am just obeying the decision of you all, and I have no ulterior motives. However, you may not be sure that others have evil intentions and make Your Highness feel suspicious.

Huang Daozhou was able to become a great scholar of his time, so he was certainly not a dull person. After his student finished speaking, he roughly understood what he meant.

"These people are too cunning! As long as you behave yourself, what does it matter if others really slander you?"

Chen Junyin naturally agreed with what his teacher said, but at the same time he was also very clear, how many of those people could be considered upright?
If they didn't get the promise from certain people, I think they would never dare to return to Hangzhou.

"Teacher, they want you to go to His Majesty to ask for his order."

"Don't go!"

Before he could finish his words, Huang Daozhou decisively refused.

He understood what "asking for an imperial decree" meant, but in his opinion, the evacuation of Hangzhou was the result of a joint discussion among the ministers. Even if His Royal Highness the Crown Prince really had doubts about this, he could just wait until the punishment was handed down to make an excuse.

How can we stay outside the city like this and ask myself to ask for orders?

In a word: it is not in compliance with regulations!

"Teacher, I think so too, but..."

"Just what?"

"It's just that you haven't gone to pay your respects to His Highness since he came back, which seems to be against etiquette."

"This"

"Besides, Your Highness is not aware of the concerns of the ministers. If no one reports it, I am afraid that some misunderstanding will eventually occur."

"That makes sense, but I will never ask for your permission."

After all, he was a student who had followed him for many years, so just a few words made Huang Daozhou change his mind.

According to his thinking, Zhu Cilang had only been there for six or seven hours, during which time he had led his troops to fight a battle. Naturally, he could not understand the thoughts of the ministers on the other side in such a short time.

But Zhu Cilang is not his cheap father after all, so how could he not know the importance of intelligence?
Not to mention whether Wang Fuping's men had achieved any results in Hangzhou, just Ma Shiying's channel was enough for him to know what those people were thinking.

"Your Highness, these people are lingering on the other side. They must have ulterior motives. To prevent any changes, I request that you send troops to capture them!"

Ma Shiying spoke righteously, but Zhu Cilang just frowned and kept weighing the pros and cons. After finishing his fight with Kong Youde, he devoted all his energy to handling various mundane affairs.

The lack of weapons and supplies naturally made him worry about the lawsuit, but what shocked him the most was that the soldiers were fighting in damaged armor.

The biggest advantage of cotton armor is that it is easy to maintain. Once a piece of armor is damaged, you only need to replace it with a new one, and there is no need for a special craftsman to repair it.

But even under such circumstances, Hangzhou actually did not provide even a piece of armor to Fang Guoan's troops on the grounds that they were foreign troops.

Such a situation naturally made him extremely angry, but the cries of pleading of those minor officials before they were beheaded forced him to admit that Hangzhou was different from Yingtian after all. With the old system almost intact, these minor fights could only serve to appease the soldiers and treat the symptoms instead of the root cause. It was absolutely impossible to completely eliminate such a situation.

Fortunately.
"They are all important officials of the country. It would be too much to send troops to arrest them directly. The correct way is to first order people to run the various government offices in the city."

Hearing this, Ma Shiying was stunned for a moment, but when he was about to persuade her again, he seemed to have thought of something, and his face turned stern and he fell silent.

During the day, Zhu Cilang had asked him to "notify" various officials, and he also understood the meaning of it. Several teams of soldiers were waiting outside the city.

But when it was already dark and the city gates were about to be closed, there was no sign of a local Hangzhou official.

In such a situation, Ma Shiying came to Zhu Cilang to complain as if he had found a treasure, but he never expected that the prince would react like this, which made him unable to react for a while.

However, Ma Shiying was not an ordinary minister after all. Putting aside his experience as a governor and cabinet minister, the fact that he was born in Guizhou and ranked among the nobles was already a rare talent.

So when he saw Zhu Cilang's half-smile, he immediately understood the reason.

According to the plan made during the day, at most they would just pick out a few unlucky guys to make an example of them. When the dust settled, they could inject a few grains of sand into the Hangzhou system, but without spending some effort, they would not be able to have much impact on the local forces.

But now the situation is different. The ministers are lingering on the other side of the river and are reluctant to return, while Duoduo’s army is watching covetously outside the city.

Under such circumstances, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince naturally made restoring the operation of the government offices in the city his top priority.

But after His Highness has restored the city's operations.
Is this Hangzhou city still the original Hangzhou city?
"Lord Ma, don't bother two masters for one thing. Since everyone has doubts, I will leave the affairs of Hangzhou to you first." Zhu Cilang paused for a moment, and when he saw that there was no expression on his face, he continued, "You should focus on military affairs and don't let me down."

More and more people are offended.
Although Ma Shiying felt helpless, he could only respond with a heavy heart: "I will definitely live up to your trust."

On the surface, this matter seems to be nothing, it is just about providing logistical supplies for the army.

But how can logistical supply be achieved so easily?

Food, silver, wages, weapons and equipment all require the coordination and assistance of the wealthy families in the city. The local officials in the past could not get much out of these people. What could Ma Shiying, an outsider, do?
If he wants to "live up to His Highness' trust", he must use both soft and hard tactics, even
Thinking about it this way, this task is really not as good as capturing the escaped ministers.

As for his original intention to compete with Zhu Cilang.
Hey~~~~~
With a long sigh in his heart, Ma Shiying planned to take his leave and return home to call his men to have a good discussion. However, before he could open his mouth, he heard a voice coming from outside the military tent.

"Your Highness, the old minister Huang Daozhou requests to see you."

"Oh? It's Mr. Huang. Please come in."

Although Zhu Cilang's voice was not loud, it was still clearly heard by Huang Daozhou. In a moment, he appeared in the military tent with Chen Junyin.

Under normal circumstances, Chen Junyin was not qualified to appear in front of Zhu Cilang, but Huang Daozhou brought him here considering that as someone who had personally met the ministers on the other side, he would definitely be asked something by His Royal Highness the Crown Prince.

Of course, no one can deny that the teacher has the intention to help the students, but this kind of thing is not a big deal, so who can really stop him from joining the account?

"Your Highness, I am Chen Junyin, and I pay my respects to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince."

After entering the tent, Huang Daozhou simply bowed and saluted, but Chen Junyin, who appeared in front of the Crown Prince for the first time, saluted very properly, and only stood obediently behind his teacher after Zhu Cilang responded.

"Mr. Huang, who is this?"

"Your Highness, this is a bad disciple. Because I have reported that he is related to me, I did such a rude thing."

Although he said it rudely, he could have asked Chen Junyin to wait outside and then called him into the tent when His Royal Highness the Crown Prince asked about it.

Zhu Cilang was not very familiar with the etiquette and did not think anything of it, but Ma Shiying, who was standing on the side, knew it very well.

It's just that promoting one's own students is an established rule in official circles, just like the things like Piao Mo and Huo Hao, so he didn't say anything to stop them.

"What do you want to report, sir?"

Hearing Zhu Cilang's question, Huang Daozhou stepped aside, and then Chen Junyin briefly described what he had seen on the other side.

However, he remembered what his teacher said in his heart and just spoke the truth without mixing in any of his own guesses.

After a moment, the words fell.

Huang Daozhou was even prepared to accept Ma Shiying's sarcasm, but who knew that Ma Shiying had no reaction at all after hearing it, which made him a little confused.

"They have no king or father, and they are lawless! Are they planning to flee from the battlefield and let me go to ask them to come?!"

"Your Highness, although they did have their faults, they definitely did not flee from the battlefield."

Facing the furious Zhu Cilang, Huang Daozhou not only did not show any fear on his face, but instead spoke eloquently and stated his reasons one by one.

"First, except for the prefect of Hangzhou, the rest of us have no responsibility to defend the territory. Second, the decision to abandon Hangzhou was made by all the ministers last night. If we want to punish them, all the ministers should be punished together."

After hearing what his teacher said, Chen Junyin couldn't help but wail in his heart: He was so focused on turning the situation around that he forgot about the teacher's temper.

With this in mind, he secretly glanced at the Crown Prince, and when he saw his livid face, he knew that the matter was most likely doomed.

"So according to you, these people are innocent?!"

"Not guilty."

"If you are not guilty, then why didn't you leave after the discussion last night?!"

After Zhu Cilang asked this question, he waited to see how Huang Daozhou would answer, but the old man was only slightly stunned and then answered righteously: "Your Highness is fighting in the front, and the city cannot be left unguarded. If the general of the real side is defeated, I will be loyal to the country, but this does not mean that the ministers are guilty of retreating."

"You!!! Get out!!!"

Seeing that the Crown Prince was so furious, Chen Junyin could not let Huang Daozhou continue speaking. He secretly pulled Huang Daozhou's clothes from behind, then apologized and pulled his teacher away from the military tent.

In such a situation, even the soldiers outside the tent were trembling with fear, but Ma Shiying, who was standing beside them, was secretly happy.

"Finally, another one has fallen into the trap."

I succeeded! I got it out successfully!


(End of this chapter)