Prince Chongzhen

Chapter 2 Pretending
"Boss! I've got it done."

Just as the jailer was doing his best to show his loyalty to the prince, the jailer came in carrying several pieces of wet linen.

"Your Highness has just woken up, don't let the cold water shock you!"

The jailer took two steps at a time and rushed to the jailer before he could speak again. He snatched the sackcloth and threw it out of the cell.

"can."

The jailer obviously didn't understand the current situation, but just as he opened his mouth, he heard the prison boss continue: "Listen to me! Your Highness is weak and can't stand this!"

Perhaps because he saw that the jailer's tone was too harsh, the "prince" waved his hand and said softly, "He also has good intentions, there is no need to blame him too much."

Then, the prince, feeling relieved, brought the topic back to the topic: "I am now in prison, and I don't know how to repay you two for saving my life. It's really sad and lamentable."

"Don't sigh, Your Highness. The city is leaderless right now and they are all waiting for you to take charge of the situation." The jailer consoled him and then repeated the news the jailer had heard, adding his own guesses.

As the jailer spoke, the prince's expression became more and more gloomy.

When he pretended to be unconscious, he heard the conversation between the two people saying "Your Majesty ran away" and thought he had traveled through time and space and became the prince of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang.

But only now did he realize that he had become the Crown Prince Zhu Cilang of Chongzhen, whose identity had long been denied by the authorities!

Although they are both crown princes, the situation he faces now is countless times more difficult than that of Li Heng. To describe it as hell mode is not even enough to describe how difficult it is.

At least, everyone in the Tang Dynasty recognized that Li Heng was the only heir.

Although the Ming Dynasty still held half of the country at this time, it was the strongest in China on paper. Logically speaking, it should have been able to expel foreign enemies and quell civil unrest.

But as a later generation, he knew that the Southern Ming Dynasty not only failed to recover the lost territory, but also completely lost half of its territory within a few years.

Since then, China, which had been glorious for thousands of years, has completely fallen into decline.

Later scholars analyzed countless reasons from various aspects, but in his opinion, the most critical factor was the incompetent emperors.

Hongguang left Yingtian, such a strong city, undefended and, upon hearing the news of the fall of Yangzhou, he fled overnight with only a dozen eunuchs!

Most of the people in power after that also fled in panic whenever the Qing army approached.

This may be correct from a tactical point of view, but from a strategic point of view, wasn't it during these repeated routs that the Ming royal family gradually let down the people's hearts?
In such a situation, there were still countless people of noble character and lofty ideals in the Southern Ming Dynasty who were willing to die for it. It is truly amazing.

Recovering his thoughts, Zhu Cilang asked the prison boss who was waiting at the side: "There have been many twists and turns today, and I forgot to ask your names."

"I dare not, I dare not. I am Wang Fuping, the head of the prison in the Ministry of War." Then the head of the prison pointed to the jailer beside him and said, "His name is Li Zhonghu, and he has been serving in this prison for three or two years."

Zhu Cilang nodded, and then asked casually, "How many jailers are there in this prison?"

"There are a total of fifteen jailers in the Ministry of War. You are the only one here recently, so the other jailers are on leave." Seeing that the prince seemed a little disappointed, Wang Fuping continued, "But there are still sixty or seventy yamen runners and messengers in the Ministry of War. If the prince has any orders, I can contact the personnel in each department."

With the previous preparation, Zhu Cilang would not be too surprised even if Wang Fuping acted more insightful.

Which of these old officials is not a shrewd person? Now that they know the current situation, they can certainly guess the reason why His Royal Highness asked the question.

"Remember, be quick!" After a short pause, Zhu Cilang continued, "When I stabilize the situation in the city, you will be the first to do the work."

After the two left, Zhu Cilang changed into a more comfortable position and started to think in his mind.

There seem to be many choices before him now, but each one is a bottomless pit!

It is definitely not advisable to escape. Not to mention whether he can escape, even if he escapes, where can he go? With the title of Chongzhen's prince, he might die inexplicably one day. Surrender seems to be a good choice. The Qing Dynasty entered the pass with the pretext of Chongzhen's revenge, and he, the Chongzhen prince, will definitely be treated well. But if there is no Southern Ming, what value does he have?
Wasn’t Prince Beilai also executed together with Hongguang in history?
What's more, the risk factor of lowering the Qing Dynasty is too high.

Since we can neither escape nor surrender, the only option left is to defend.

This road seems extremely dangerous, but the walls of Nanjing Yingtian City are high and thick, so it should be no problem to defend it for a month or so.

By then, even if the Southern Ming has lost the support of the people and all its forces are doing their own thing, there will still be people coming to its aid in the end.

Zhu Cilang changed his posture while thinking in his mind.

The most important thing now is to prevent yourself from becoming a human stamp.

Chen Si and his gang said that they came to me to take charge of the situation, but who could tell what their real intentions were.

What's more, all power is in the hands of others. Even if there are no problems for the time being, it is hard to say how much say I will have after three or five days.

If we don't want to become a human-shaped stamp, servants like Wang Fuping are the key.

In terms of combat power alone, these officers naturally cannot compare with the more than a thousand strong men under Chen Si, but not everything requires resorting to force.

Since Chen Si wanted him to take charge of the situation, he was acknowledging his status as the crown prince.

With a righteous cause in hand and the help of the police, he should be able to control Chen Si and his gang in a short period of time.

By then, as long as he did not make any big mistakes in decision-making, this group of people would be the capital to stir up trouble in Yingtian.

Such calculations may seem like child's play, but to be frank, who in power can control everything? Isn't it always a small number of people who control the majority?
However, the gap between the dozens of servants he had as capital and the nearly one million people in Yingtian City was quite large, so he needed to plan carefully what to do.

But everything depends on human efforts. As long as he can secure his status as the crown prince, in this era of competition for the worst, maybe he can really create a new world for himself!
When you have something on your mind, time passes faster than usual.

Just as Zhu Cilang had a rough idea in his mind, a burst of noisy voices came into his ears from outside the cell.

"Search! We must find the prince!"

"Then let the prince appoint my fourth brother as a general!"

"Yes! This is what it is."

"The merit of following the dragon! I can tell from the look of it that you didn't listen carefully to what Fourth Brother said."

Zhu Cilang's heart sank. Things were indeed taking a turn for the worst.

Who else would gather here at this time except Chen Si?
But now I'm alone, and there's a chance I'll be completely controlled by him.

By then, even if Wang Fuping summoned more people, what would it help?

"Now that things have come to this, we can only try to delay time."

With his mind made up, Zhu Cilang forced himself to stand up and walk out of the cell despite his injured body, shouting in the most majestic voice he could think of: "I am here! Who are you?!"

When talking about the hasty escape, some readers said it was "unobjective".

It is an indisputable fact that the Qing army fled in panic as soon as they arrived. There is no doubt about this.

Although the damage this behavior brought to the Southern Ming was invisible, it was extremely fatal.

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(End of this chapter)