Prince Chongzhen

Chapter 22 Helpless
I really regret not bringing Chang Guanlin here.

This is Zhu Cilang’s truest thought, but Chang Guanlin also has important matters to deal with now, so how can he leave easily?

"How long will it take to fully equip 60,000 people?"

“What are these 60,000 people used for?”

"Fight." Zhu Cilang said in a deep voice, obviously feeling a little impatient.

In the past, his temper was still pretty good, but he was already tired after a sleepless night, and with a powerful enemy at hand, his tone was naturally a little unfriendly.

"May I ask who your Highness is fighting against?"

"Tartar!"

Of course it’s the Tartars, are they fighting against the Air Force?
"Are they the Tartar Manchus or the Tartar Han army?"

Wang Quangui's persistence finally made Zhu Cilang angry, but when he was about to scold him, he suddenly woke up.

How come you can't tolerate others speaking after only being in power for half a day?

Besides, is there anything wrong with asking customers what they need?

Thinking of this, the anger in his heart gradually subsided.

A good account manager must understand the industry the client is in, and doesn’t he have an account manager right in front of him?

"May I ask what the difference is?"

When Wang Quangui heard the word "father-in-law", he immediately lost the confidence he had when talking about his profession. He kowtowed to Zhu Cilang repeatedly and said, "I don't deserve to be addressed as such by Your Highness. Just call me Old Wang."

Zhu Cilang felt helpless when seeing this situation, but there was nothing he could do. He could only comfort Lao Wang a little and wait for his answer.

"The Tatar Han army mostly uses firearms, so they need to use cotton armor, but only ordinary weapons are needed."

"Cotton armor?"

"Yes, cotton armor."

"Made of cotton?"

"Yes."

"Can it protect against firearms?"

"Yes."

Zhu Cilang thought of the "cotton-padded clothes" in the armory, and then thought of the paper-made things, so he asked tentatively: "Are those paper-made things also real armor?"

"Yes, paper armor is more commonly used in the south."

"Can that thing be used?"

"Paper armor is quite effective in resisting arrow penetration."

After Wang Quangui's explanation, Zhu Cilang finally breathed a sigh of relief. Those "cotton clothes" and "paper clothes" in the warehouse were also real armor.

But in his concept, armor is better made of iron after all, so why are cotton and paper used on such a large scale?

After expressing his doubts, Wang Quangui indeed gave an explanation.

"Although iron armor has strong defense, it is too expensive and difficult to maintain. If used on a large scale, cotton armor and paper armor are more cost-effective."

After Wang Quangui's explanation and thinking back to Chang Guanlin's statement, Zhu Cilang finally understood something.

Although the Manchus numbered several hundred thousand, they were rare animals compared to the Ming Dynasty, so they had to take the elite route.

If the Ming Dynasty was in its heyday or in its middle period, they would be able to wipe out his entire clan with their huge numbers, but what they encountered was a Ming Dynasty in ruins.

In this way, they were able to accumulate small victories into big ones, and gradually transformed from bandits hiding in Liaodong into the well-equipped armed group they are today.

But their shortcomings are also very obvious.

The Qing Dynasty had only just entered the country, and its rule over the north was far from stable. If they encountered a large-scale defeat at this time, the strategy they had spent two generations building up of “If there are less than ten thousand Jurchens, ten thousand or more will be invincible” would vanish into thin air.

By then, let alone what choice the Han army surrendered soldiers will make, I'm afraid even their Mongolian allies will have some ideas.

But how could such a large-scale defeat be easy? Yingtian had only 60,000 soldiers who had never seen battle. To make matters worse, due to Hongguang's escape and the reputation of the Eight Banners, the morale of the army was low.

Fortunately, we were defending the city, and most of the soldiers' families were in the city, otherwise it would be hard to say how many people would be left now.

Zhu Cilang collected his thoughts and thought of the problem before him. He asked the professional again, "Foreman Wang, we still have a lot of armor in the arsenal, but the weapons are unusable. Do you have any solution?"

"Your Highness, it won't take much time to remelt it, but it will take a lot of time to rebuild it."

The Tartars are about to arrive at the city gates. In order to prevent Yingtian from being like Yangzhou, everyone is willing to contribute to defending the city. However, the situation is stronger than the people. How can weapons for tens of thousands of people be made in such a short time?
Finally, Zhu Cilang sighed, pointed at the long iron billet on the forging table and said, "If it doesn't work, just hammer a handle on your iron rod."

If there was any other way, he would not let his soldiers fight the enemy with such things, but what else could he do? This was better than using bare hands.

If it really doesn't work, wait until you get kills or deaths.

MD, this is not the Battle of Stalingrad.

It's hard to describe Zhu Cilang's mood when he left the Carpenters' Camp.

"Which is the nearest government office?"

"It should be martial arts."

“Is there a spot set up there?”

"Yes."

"Go take a look, then return to the barracks."

"Your Highness, why don't you take a rest for a while."

Zhu Cilang did not put on any pretense. He just said "I don't have time" and signaled Wang Fuping to lead the way.

During the whole day, except for the trip to Duke Wei's Mansion where he took a carriage, he used his two feet for the rest of the time.

Fortunately, except for the military camp, the other places are not too far away from each other, otherwise with Zhu Cilang's current physical condition, he might die before he could even start his mission.

With his current status, it would be no problem for him to find a carriage, but that thing was too bumpy, and he couldn't ride a horse, so this was the only way.

The group arrived at the martial arts school in no time. Perhaps because it was lunchtime, no one stopped them at the entrance.

When they walked into the lobby, they saw more than twenty clerks gathered in circles and feasting.

"Are there any left?"

Everyone looked in the direction of the voice and saw a dusty young man asking questions, followed by a middle-aged man dressed like a prison boss and a few older clerks.

"Greetings, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince." Someone with quick reactions easily identified their identities from their outfits.

"You guys eat yours, don't worry about me, if there's any leftovers give us some."

"I didn't know His Highness was coming. I will go and get it right away."

"No more left? I see there are still quite a lot of steamed buns here."

As he spoke, Zhu Cilang walked to the circle of stools closest to him and sat down.

"Your Highness, of your status, how can you eat our leftovers?"

"What's the big deal? I heard that the chef of the Xincheng Earl's family can cook delicious dishes." Zhu Cilang grabbed a steamed bun and picked up a pair of unused chopsticks from the table. When he was about to pick up some food, he saw that everyone, including Wang Fuping, was still standing there. In desperation, he used his ultimate move: "You eat too, otherwise you will be treated as collaborators."

After all, Wang Fuping had been with Zhu Cilang for a long time, and he knew that this prince was not arrogant, so he took the lead in sitting down.

Although everyone was sitting down, they were as stiff as clay sculptures or wooden carvings. Zhu Cilang knew that this was the limit so he said no more. He picked up the chopsticks and started eating from the plate, wanting to finish eating as quickly as possible and leave so as to relieve everyone's restraint.

Wang Fuping looked at the dishes that had been mostly eaten and said tentatively, "Your Highness, please add two more dishes."

"No need. My father is frugal and the meals in the palace are just seasonal vegetables. We are used to it."

Zhu Cilang spoke casually, but the clerks were greatly shocked.

Of course, they had never seen what the emperor's meals were like, but they had seen the officials in their respective yamen eat.

It's okay if it's a government office with low income, but if it's a government office with more money, they will all have tasted the liver and gall of dragons and phoenixes.

The emperor is so frugal, why has the world come to this? !
(End of this chapter)