Prince Chongzhen

Chapter 188 If you can't do the beginning and the end, don't blame me for turning against you
For Qi Yingyun, all this happened too suddenly, so suddenly that he was still a little confused when he stepped out of the camp gate holding the white flag.

He knew about the conflict that had taken place in the camp the day before, but as the only lieutenant general of Liu Zeqing's army who was still left in the Hangzhou camp, he did not say anything about it, let alone try to get back the face for his own soldiers.

After all, he was just a lieutenant general, and there was nothing wrong with the way Li Benshen handled the situation. Why should he cause trouble for the admiral?

But even though he thought so, the generals and soldiers could not swallow this humiliation.

Last night, a large number of guerrillas and commanders came to his tent and complained about how they were being oppressed by the people in Gaojie Town.

Qi Yingyun naturally did not comment on this.

After Gao Jie's death, the three towns had often ganged up on those people who had lost their backbone. Now that those people are highly valued by the Tartars, isn't it reasonable for them to give back some three or two percent of their profits?
After persuading everyone to leave with kind words, he didn't take it too seriously.

It is said that what kind of general you lead will determine what kind of soldiers you will have. With Liu Zeqing being a commander who would run away when he encounters an enemy, how could the generals under his command have the courage to cause trouble?
But man proposes, God disposes. After being tormented by the Ming army today, rumors began to spread in the camp.

Some said that Duoduo had already fled with his bannermen, while others said that Li Benshen was also preparing to flee north.

Some even said that these surrendered soldiers were the price Duoduo paid to buy the life of the Crown Prince of Ming.

absurd!

This was Qi Yingyun’s first reaction after hearing these rumors.

As a man who had barely stepped into the ranks of high-ranking military generals, he naturally understood that Duoduo could escape if he wanted to, and would never buy his life from the Crown Prince of the Ming Kingdom.

But it was of no use for him to understand. As the rumors spread in the military camp, the soldiers became more and more excited. Coupled with the conflict of the previous day, the situation became somewhat out of control.

Finally, the soldiers went to Li Benshen's camp to ask for an explanation, but Li Benshen refused.
“Don’t release the arrows~~~~~~, don’t release the arrows~~~~~~~.”

No matter how confused he was before, Qi Yingyun realized his situation after seeing the Ming army's formation ready for battle.

At the same time, he saw a rider heading towards the Ming army formation from a distance.

“Don’t release the arrows~~~~~~, don’t release the arrows~~~~~~~.”

At this moment, he had no time to think about where the rider came from. He waved the white flag in his hand desperately and headed straight for the Ming army.

"Stop!"

When he was still ten or twenty steps away from the Ming army, soldiers stopped him. After a search, someone led him to the main camp.

Never say anything wrong, never say anything wrong.

As he walked, Qi Yingyun kept muttering to himself. When he saw the young man surrounded by a group of soldiers from afar, he took a few quick steps, then knelt down more than ten steps away and began to cry.

"After being buried in the dust for half a year, I am now able to return to the Ming Dynasty. God is truly merciful~~~!"

What do you mean?
As a rebel, why do the words he says sound like Zhang Qian who is about to return from the Western Regions?
Such a situation made it difficult for the generals to react, but Zhu Cilang was a man who had been influenced by various novels and movies. It only took him half a breath to guess what was going on.

Is this a defense of innocence?

You have to know that as a rebel, if you don't make some contributions, you will definitely be liquidated.

Just like Hu Maozhen's troops, even though they used Nikan's head as a token of merit to redeem themselves from their crimes, they still could not escape punishment.

Even though the war between the Ming and Qing dynasties had not yet ended, Zhu Cilang had no intention of sending them to the front line.

And how can these guys who are already dead get the confidence that they can escape reckoning?
With this in mind, Zhu Cilang said nothing. He just looked at the general lying on the ground quietly, waiting for his next performance.

Although Qi Yingyun was lying on the ground crying, he was also paying attention to the reaction of the young man.

After seeing that the other party allowed him to cry and plead, he was not too surprised, and then continued: "Today, we are more than 26,000 people returning to the Ming Dynasty, and hope that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince will take us in."

Sheltering is necessary, but there is a huge difference between this and sheltering.

The counterattack launched by Hu Maozhen's troops greatly shortened the duration of the Battle of Suzhou and Songjiang, and also greatly reduced the losses of the Ming army.

But even so, Zhu Cilang still ordered them to conduct "self-examination and self-correction", and anyone who had harmed the people would be dealt with by military law.

This kind of "self-examination and self-correction" seems to be for the purpose of enforcing military discipline, but in fact it is to free up positions so that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince can place people and strengthen control over his troops.

If Hu Maozhen’s troops had to go through this, how could these guys in the Qing army camp possibly escape?
Therefore, when Zhu Cilang heard what Qi Yingyun said, he would naturally put on airs because of his dissatisfaction.

"No matter what the reason is, it's always good to be able to turn from darkness to light, but you have followed the Qing army all the way here, and you must have done many things that angered the heavens and the people." Zhu Cilang paused here, as if waiting for the general to digest these words, and as if observing his reaction: "You all need to know that the military discipline under my command has always been strict, and we will never tolerate such scum."

"I understand! I understand! Your Highness, you don't need to say anything about these matters. I will take care of them."

After he finished speaking, Zhu Cilang was not happy about the other party's frankness, but was a little surprised.

Listening to what the general said before, it seemed that he was trying his best to exonerate himself. Zhu Cilang thought that he was doing this probably just to preserve his own power.

But from what he said now, it seemed that it was not the case, which made Zhu Cilang a little confused.

"How are you going to cook?"

"I will return to the camp immediately and lead my troops to tie up all those beasts in front of your highness's tent."

Headquarters?

The more Qi Yingyun spoke, the more Zhu Cilang didn't understand. Shouldn't a commander-in-chief be the one to come forward to request surrender?
"What is your current position?"

"Your Highness, I am Qi Yingyun, a subordinate of Liu Zeqing. I am the highest-ranking officer in the army, so I am here to surrender."

"What about the generals and lieutenants?"

"Your Highness, some of them left when Liu Zeqing abandoned the army and fled. The rest are in Jiangbei and Guanzhong. Now I am the only lieutenant general among the more than 26,000 people."

After some discussions, Zhu Cilang finally understood why he had never seen Liu Zeqing's troops on the battlefield.

Aren’t these just a group of leftovers? But I wonder how many will be left after the layoffs and replacements.

Thinking of this, Zhu Cilang, who had been looking forward to gathering this group of people, suddenly lost interest.

"Go."

Qi Yingyun said this calmly, and left. When he was a little further away, Zhu Cilang asked the scout standing by his side, "Did you see clearly? Was it Li Benshen who escaped?"

"Your Highness, we all saw you and him from a distance when you met before, so it must be correct."

"Well."

Although Qi Yingyun did not explain, considering Li Benshen's escape and the shouts and screams coming from the Qing army camp, how could Zhu Cilang not guess what had happened?

But now that the overall situation has been decided, he has no time to pursue these issues.

After a while, the gate of the Qing army camp opened again, and then Qi Yingyun was seen walking towards this side with a rosy face.

"Your Highness! I have fulfilled my mission and have arrested all the soldiers who assisted the tyrant." Zhu Cilang was a little surprised when he heard this.

According to common sense, Qi Yingyun was not the commander of the entire army, so how could he kidnap someone so quickly?
But now all his attention was focused on Duoduo's whereabouts, and he only had a slight doubt for a moment before putting all these things out of his mind.

"Yeah, well done."

Zhu Cilang praised him and turned to Fang Guoan, presumably intending to let him take over the reorganization.

But before he could open his mouth, he saw a tied-up general rushing out of the Qing army camp gate, followed by several soldiers with weapons in hand, chasing him closely.

For those in a higher position, they can choose to pretend they don’t know about certain things, and then find an opportunity to punish the person who did it.

But if this person can't even take care of the beginning and the end, then don't expect anyone to cover up for him.

"bring it here."

As soon as he finished speaking, the soldiers took action. In just a moment, the tied-up general was brought in front of Zhu Cilang.

"Qi Yingyun! You despicable villain! We agreed to drive Li Benshen away and then surrender to the Ming together, but you actually tied us up and took credit for it?!"

Bad thing!

It's all shit!

After hearing this, Zhu Cilang had this thought in his mind.

To be honest, these rebels only decided to surrender to the Ming Dynasty when they were left with no other options.

This group of people neither achieved great merit like Hu Maozhen and cut off their own retreat route, nor did they have as strong fighting power as Hu Maozhen's men.

Therefore, in his eyes, the best way to deal with this army is to get rid of all the officers and use them as reinforcements.

Therefore, even though he realized that something was wrong, he did not think much about it, let alone pursue it.

But who knows now.
"Say!"

Zhu Cilang was in a bad mood and had lost his usual kindness. Just this one word frightened Qi Yingyun so much that he fell to his knees.

"Your Highness, please forgive me. These people have indeed helped the tyrant to commit atrocities!"

"You are talking nonsense! When have we ever helped the tyrant to commit atrocities?"

Seeing that the two were about to engage in a verbal battle, Zhu Cilang became more and more impatient.

Afterwards, he didn't care what crime Qi Yingyun wanted to accuse those generals of, nor did he care what reasons those generals would use to refute, and he directly said in a deep voice to the soldiers beside him: "Pass the order."

"I will obey your order."

"Order all the surrendered soldiers to lay down their weapons and line up outside the camp. Anyone who disobeys this order will be executed!"

If it was an hour ago, he would not have dared to give such an order even if he was beaten to death. But now a conflict has obviously broken out among the rebel generals, and the army of more than 20,000 people is in disarray. Even if he directly sends troops to attack, there will not be many casualties.

Not only Zhu Cilang understood this truth, but even the soldiers in the army knew it clearly.

Before he could finish his words, a group of soldiers rode out on horseback and headed straight for the Qing army camp.

At this point, there is no suspense.

Even if there will be some disturbances when reorganizing this team, it will not have any impact on the overall situation.

"General Fang."

"Your Highness."

"The matter of reorganization and selection is now left to you. The generals on the left and right have been captured. You can use them as reinforcements."

"Order!"

Honestly speaking, Fang Guoan didn't think much of these people. In his mind, the best reinforcements were the new soldiers recruited by Zhu Datian and Yang Tinglin.

But he also knew that how could they easily hand over the soldiers they had recruited with great difficulty?
It is a helpless act to select some useful ones from these veterans.

However, using these people as reinforcements is not entirely useless. After all, they have been in the army for many years and do not need to be taught from scratch. As long as the military discipline is strict and the number of reinforcements at one time is not too large, it will not have much impact on the combat effectiveness.

"Your Highness! I have important military information to report!"

Just as Zhu Cilang was explaining things to Fang Guoan, the bound general seemed to have thought of something. He then knelt a few steps towards the Crown Prince and began to shout loudly.

"bring it here."

Seeing that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince had promised him to speak, the general knelt and took a few steps forward without waiting for the soldiers to come over: "Your Highness! Yesterday, I heard from the captain of Li Benshen's army that Duoduo must have entered Tianmu Mountain!"

Tianmu Mountain?
As soon as he finished speaking, Zhu Cilang became confused.

He had already cleared the way for Duoduo to return north, and even though there were still many arrangements to be made afterwards, they were only for the second half of the journey.

But from what the general said, it seemed that Duoduo did not take the Huzhou route as he had expected, which puzzled him for a while.

Could it be that he is heading south to meet up with Ajige?

Thinking of this, Zhu Cilang couldn't help but recall the situation in the south.

Although Ajige's troops have now chased Li Zicheng's remnants to the point where they have no way out, they are still at least a thousand miles away from Hangzhou.

If Duoduo really had the ability to go all the way south to find Ajige, it would be easier for him to just capture Hangzhou in one go.

But if he wasn't heading south, why would he go into Tianmu Mountain?
"Your Highness, I heard that a group of Tunqi is in a stalemate with our army in Wuhu."

Perhaps the general saw the doubt in the Crown Prince's mind, so he continued to explain.

However, due to geographical limitations, Zhu Cilang was not clear about the situation there, so after he explained, he found that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince seemed even more confused than before.

The general knew very well that whether he could demonstrate certain value in time would determine his future fate, and Qi Yingyun was also well aware of this. But when he wanted to interrupt and explain it in detail to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, he heard the sound of horse hooves, and then a knight came galloping.

"Your Highness! General Chang has an urgent message!"

After taking the letter from the knight, Zhu Cilang opened it and read it carefully.

After a while, he handed the letter to Fang Guoan and closed his eyes to think.

There was nothing else in the letter except the situation in southern Anhui and Chang Guanlin's deployment of troops to provide support.

But after reading the letter, Zhu Cilang not only did not feel the slightest bit worried about the unexpected situation, but instead had some other thoughts in his mind.

(End of this chapter)