Prince Chongzhen

Chapter 208 There is something in the words
Duoduo left Xuancheng with thousands of troops. Even if the Ming army did not notice such a large-scale troop movement at first, it only took a little more than half a day.

Faced with this situation, Zhu Cilang immediately realized that there was a problem within the Qing army. He then handed over the affairs of Xuancheng to Chang Guanlin for settlement. When he felt that everything was ready, he led the guards north.

In fact, Zhu Cilang originally wanted to return north with Chang Guanlin and his subordinates.

After all, Yingtian and Wuhu have a total of 70,000 to 80,000 troops. Due to various reasons, these two groups of troops were only passive in the attack earlier. But now that Duoduo has returned, such a large army will naturally become a huge variable.

It seemed that it would be necessary to lead a group of people back, but after weighing the pros and cons, he still made a choice.

In Zhu Cilang's original plan, the best outcome was to force the Qing army back to southern Jiangsu, and he would take advantage of the Qing army's time to reorganize food and manpower to digest Jiangnan as quickly as possible.

After all preparations are made, the real decisive battle in Jiangnan will come.

Although this judgment was not discussed with the ministers, it was made by Zhu Cilang based on the strength of both sides.

To put it bluntly, he did not have many troops who could be mobilized to fight in the field, and there were few interconnected water networks in the Yingtian and Zhenjiang areas.

When the navy could not be mobilized smoothly, it was nothing but a pipe dream to drive the Qing army back to Jiangbei.

If we force a fight, not only will we not gain anything, but we may even lose all the gains we have made.

Based on this, it became a top priority to digest the acquired territory and troops as quickly as possible. It was reasonable for Zhu Cilang to leave Chang Guanlin in southern Anhui as the basis for his subsequent strategies.

As for what Sunan should do.
Zhu Cilang saw this very clearly. With the war situation at this point, the Ming army was unable to drive the remaining Qing army back to Jiangbei, and the Qing army did not dare to rashly set foot in the area with dense water networks.

Under such circumstances, a temporary ceasefire became a last resort.

With this understanding, Zhu Cilang's purpose of returning north became very clear.

One is to arrange the defense behind it, and the other is to further strengthen the influence on Yuan Jixian's troops through various means.

At this point, some people may ask why only Yuan Jixian was mentioned but Zuo Menggeng was not.

To explain this, we have to talk again about Zhu Cilang's division of the troops.

As mentioned earlier, Zhu Cilang had already divided the armies into different levels in his mind, and Zuo Menggeng's army was the most difficult one to deal with.

Therefore, he had no intention of doing anything to this group of people before driving the Qing army back to Jiangbei.

Zhu Cilang's plan is in line with the actual situation in Jiangnan, but...
"Governor Yuan, please help me with this."

As they were about to enter the camp, Zhu Cilang only said this to Yuan Jixian and then went to the military tent impatiently.

Seeing His Royal Highness like this, everyone knew that there was something important to discuss, but His Royal Highness the Crown Prince did not ask others to leave, and the generals finally followed after some hesitation.

". Therefore, I want to use Liyang and Changzhou as bases to lock the Tartars in southern Jiangsu."

He explained his ideas in detail, and after everyone seemed to have digested them, Zhu Cilang then shared his ideas about defense.

There is not much particularity in choosing these two places. To put it bluntly, they are both located at key points and are surrounded by waterways connected to Taihu Lake.

This kind of strategy may seem unremarkable, but it can be said to be a way of playing to one's strengths and avoiding one's weaknesses.

Therefore, after a brief consideration, Yuan Jixian expressed his support and approval.

However, he had only been in contact with the "imperial court" for a short time. Although he was not completely in the dark about the situation in the court, he had no idea about the strength of each army.

So, after praising Zhu Cilang for a while, he casually asked His Royal Highness the Crown Prince about the intentions of the two hosts.

"this."

Zhu Cilang hesitated, but his hesitation was neither because he was unwilling to reveal his candidate to Yuan Jixian nor because he had not thought it through.

If we want to trace the root cause, we have to talk about it together with the situation in the Suzhou and Songjiang areas.

At this time, the main forces of the Qing army in Susong were all huddled in the city of Suzhou. The scattered troops in other counties were either besieged by the Ming army on the way to gather, or were still holding on in their respective cities.

In general, although the strength of the Qing army in Suzhou cannot be underestimated, because it is located in an area with dense water networks, they dare not make any unnecessary moves.

From this it can be seen that the recovery of Suzhou and Songjiang would not take much time and effort.

Then the problem arises.

Almost all the Ming troops in Suzhou and Songjiang were busy with their work and could not move easily. Only Wu Zhikui's troops were able to spare time to recover the city. If the whole area really fell into his hands,
Will there be another left part popping up?
This kind of thinking may seem to be thinking too badly of others, but if you think about it carefully, it is something that cannot be ignored.

The so-called prevention is better than cure.

Wu Zhikui's performance in the previous wars was acceptable, but in reality, Zhu Cilang had no other means to control his army except to influence him through military pay.

Of course, this situation actually existed widely among the Ming army in Jiangnan, and it was not unique to Wu Zhikui.

However, due to the development of the war, Zhu Cilang no longer had any military presence in Suzhou and Songjiang.

It can even be said that if the war situation develops according to Zhu Cilang's idea, he will not be able to deploy his forces to this area for a long time.

Under such circumstances, if Wu Zhikui were allowed to continue to develop, the emergence of another warlord who would only obey orders and not declarations would almost be inevitable.

Therefore, Zhu Cilang also thought of taking this opportunity to transfer him away from Suzhou and Songjiang.

just
"To be honest with you, Governor Yuan, I want Wu Zhikui, the general of Wusong, to join forces with Mr. Yang Tinglin to take Changzhou, and let Commander Hou and Zhang Guowei and Zhang Butang take Liyang. However, the Tartars in Suzhou and Songjiang have not been completely wiped out. If General Wu is transferred..."

As he was speaking, Zhu Cilang stopped talking. It was obvious that the key point was giving him a headache.

On the surface, it seemed that he was worried that after Wu Zhikui was transferred away, the Qing army in Susong would take the opportunity to cause trouble.

But how could Yuan Jixian's governorship just fall from the sky?
Seeing that Zhu Cilang stopped here, he naturally understood where the key point was.

"As far as I know, the ones besieging Suzhou are Huang Fei and Wu Yi. Their subordinates are not good at land warfare. It would be better to order Wu Zhikui to take Suzhou first."

As the old saying goes, an old person in the family is like a treasure.

After hearing this, Zhu Cilang couldn't help but think of this sentence. Although Yuan Jixian was deceived by Zuo Liangyu with lies, a big factor in this was due to the friendship between the two.

He had managed to get to the position of governor-general in charge of military affairs of several provinces, so how could he be weaker than others in political struggles?
According to Zhu Cilang, he was hesitant about whether to transfer Wu Zhikui because the Susong Tartars had not been destroyed yet, but Yuan Jixian understood the Crown Prince's real concerns in a moment.

Based on the current situation, everyone can see that Su Song is the fat meat lying in front of them.

If His Royal Highness the Crown Prince left the Qing troops in Suzhou and Songjiang alone and instead transferred Wu Zhikui to Changzhou, then the implication of being on guard would be quite obvious.

In this case, not to mention Wu Zhikui, even people like Huang Fei and Zuo Menggeng would feel sympathy for their own kind.

Prestige is like the porcelain from Jingdezhen. It takes a lot of effort to forge one, but it only takes a little carelessness to destroy it.

With such an example, although the people's hearts that Zhu Cilang had worked so hard to gather would not be completely dispersed, no one could say whether it would sow the seeds of some disaster.

Yuan Jixian was naturally very pleased that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince could think so deeply, but what made him even more pleased was the other meaning contained in these words.

In fact, Yuan Jixian's troops now already have the rudiments of the Zuo Zhen. As long as he is unwilling to obey orders, Zhu Cilang's small court probably has no immediate solution.

From this perspective, he actually belongs to the same category as Wu Zhikui, Huang Fei, and Zuo Menggeng, but His Royal Highness the Crown Prince actually came to ask him for advice even though he knew this.

What does this mean?
Because everyone has different thoughts, they will naturally have different understandings of such behavior, but in the eyes of Yuan Jixian, an old minister, this frankness clearly represents full trust!
The fact that he could think of expressing his trust in his important ministers in this way doesn't it mean that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is not only good at military strategy but also quite mature in politics?
As an important official of two dynasties who was willing to die for the Ming Dynasty, how could he not feel comforted after discovering that the heir to the empire possessed such qualities?

"What Governor Yuan said is absolutely right. I will revise the letter right away."

Yuan Jixian watched Zhu Cilang writing furiously, and he could not hide the relief in his eyes. However, after he read the contents of the letter, the relief was replaced by a hint of worry.

Zhu Cilang did not pay attention to this. After handing the letter to the guards to send it out, he asked about the situation on the defense line in the past few days.

"Governor Yuan, has there been any abnormality on the other side these days?"

The generals were still somewhat confused about the previous conversation. Moreover, since it concerned the imperial court's strategy, they could only stand aside quietly.

But now that the topic has turned from His Royal Highness the Crown Prince to their main business, the generals are naturally eager to try.

However, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince was asking Governor Yuan a question, so it was not appropriate for such people to rush to answer.

"The generals have been guarding the front all day long. They know much more about this than this old minister."

Yuan Jixian was a kind boss after all. After hearing what Zhu Cilang said, he gave the opportunity to answer the question to the generals.

On the surface, this move gave Zhu Cilang the opportunity to contact and understand the generals, but on a deeper level it was also an expression of his own attitude.

If he really wanted to keep this army firmly in his hands, he would have to isolate the upper and lower levels so that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince and the generals would not know each other. How could he create such an opportunity?
Now that the opportunity has come, both Zhu Cilang and the generals cherish it extremely.

Afterwards, the generals present reported the situation at the front to Zhu Cilang in detail, and he encouraged each person after listening to their report.

After everyone had finished speaking, more than half an hour had passed, and Zhu Cilang had a general understanding of the situation ahead based on the information.

Strangely enough, Yuan Jixian was anxious to go to Yingtian to rescue the prince, so he drove his men towards the well-equipped Wuhu defense line as if they were risking their lives.

But when the situation changed, the main battlefield in Wuhu moved from the defense line outside the city to the river two or three miles away.

At this time, although the Qing army also attacked every day, the intensity of their attacks was far inferior to that of the previous Ming army. In the past one or two days, the Qing army only rushed forward once and then returned directly, but they seemed to be tired of acting.

Regarding this situation, all the generals were only surprised by the strangeness of the Qing army, but no one could have imagined that this was just a tacit understanding reached between the top leaders of both sides.

Therefore, when reporting to Zhu Cilang, these things were mentioned more than once a day.

"Well, what you said makes sense. Why don't you accompany me to the front to take a look?"

As soon as the words fell, the military tent, which had been quite lively, immediately became quiet.

Are you kidding? Not to mention that the young man in front of him could be considered the true emperor of the Ming Dynasty, even if he was just the crown prince, how could these generals present dare to lead him to the front?

"What are you afraid of? I have fought in battle before. I am just going to take a look ahead. What's the problem?"

As soon as Zhu Cilang finished speaking, all the generals turned their eyes to Yuan Jixian.

After all, a boss is someone who is used to take the blame. Do you really want him to be bossy all the time and then stand aside at the critical moment?
Yuan Jixian didn't care about this. He took a few glances at Zhu Cilang's armor and said with a smile, "Your Highness, it's fine if you want to go and take a look, but swords have no eyes, so you can't get too close."

"Well, I understand this. I will follow Governor Yuan's instructions in everything."

Having said that, everyone naturally had no reason to stop it, not to mention that the situation these days was probably only slightly more tense than the opera troupe's performance.

Not to mention that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has already agreed not to go forward, even if he really went to the front, it is not certain that anything would really happen.

The meeting finally ended in a relaxed and harmonious atmosphere. In order to prepare for the Crown Prince's upcoming visit, the generals even sent soldiers to the front to make some preparations.

About half an hour later, Zhu Cilang stepped out of the camp gate and headed northeast. Even though some generals' defense zones were not in that direction, they rarely met a noble person, so how could they miss this opportunity to have more contact with His Royal Highness the Crown Prince.

If you want to know why it took half an hour.
All we can say is that Zhu Cilang came here to build relationships with Yuan Jixian's subordinates, not to seek him out.

Taking this as the starting point and leaving some time for preparation in front, it can be regarded as saving face for both myself and the generals.

After another three or two cups of tea, the group finally reached the riverside defense line.

As Zhu Cilang expected, except for the soldiers on duty on the defense line, the rest had lined up in an orderly manner waiting for the arrival of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince.

Needless to say, we can all imagine what happened next. It was nothing more than His Royal Highness the Crown Prince being cordial and caring about the soldiers, and the soldiers were grateful to His Royal Highness.

Although this process was long, both Zhu Cilang and the generals and soldiers at all levels enjoyed it.

But when the process was only halfway through, a knight came galloping towards them on his horse. Even though he was still a hundred or two hundred steps away, Zhu Cilang could hear his anxious cries.

"Get out of the way! Urgent military information!"

(End of this chapter)