Prince Chongzhen

Chapter 237 Are you worthy of being called the prince?

Just when Ding Kuichu in Zhaoqing City was wondering why the Zheng family fleet was flying the bright yellow flag, someone in the rebel camp two or three miles outside the city finally noticed the change in the situation.

"Your Highness! We are surrounded!"

The one who came to report to Prince Jingjiang was a general in armor, but his face was pale and he didn't look like a soldier at all. Instead, he looked like a young master of some family who was doing cosplay.

This man's name was Yan Tianfeng, and his official position was military counselor.

It has been mentioned before that this uprising was supported by Guangxi General Yang Guowei and some officials. After occupying Guilin, Prince Jingjiang decided to send troops to attack Guangdong on the grounds that "Guangxi is a small place and soldiers, horses, money and food are limited."

After this decision was made, Prince Jingjiang led his assembled troops straight to Wuzhou, while Yang Guowei stayed in Guilin to guard his old nest.

At first glance, this move seems extremely reasonable, even a bit far-sighted, but if you think about it carefully, you will find that it is not that simple.

Since they were going to attack Guangdong, the troops he led would definitely include the Prince of Jingjiang. No, it should be the majority of Yang Guowei's men. And this Prince of Jingjiang had kept his troops in place after capturing Qu Shisi in Wuzhou, and only followed Ding Kuichu out leisurely after he was defeated.

This is actually very obvious. The people that Prince Jingjiang uses to lead the army are either his confidants or local allies. As long as he can make full use of the time when Yang Guowei is no longer in the army to control the army, even if there are still people loyal to Yang Guowei in the army, Prince Jingjiang will not be treated as a puppet.

Of course, there may be other reasons for his inaction, and it does not necessarily mean that he is trying to digest Yang Guowei's subordinates through various means.

Regardless of whether it was out of his own will or not, Prince Jingjiang's control over the army would definitely be much stronger during this period of time. It could even be said that if he were given a little more time, it would not be impossible for him to have a group of people who were loyal to him.

From this point of view, the Prince of Jingjiang is obviously much stronger than those guys. If he is really allowed to gain a foothold, it is unknown what the future of the Southern Ming Dynasty will be.

However, with Zhu Cilang present in this time and space, this extremely ambitious and courageous guy naturally has no chance.

boom! boom! boom!
boom! boom! boom!
As soon as the report was made, before Prince Jingjiang could inquire carefully, bursts of roars were heard.

In such a situation, anyone else would have hurriedly run out of the tent, but Prince Jingjiang suppressed his fear and waited until he had clarified the situation with Yan Tianfeng before striding out of the tent.

"Your Highness, that fleet is coming from downstream."

Seeing that Prince Jingjiang was heading towards his own fleet upstream, Yan Tianfeng kindly reminded him, but who would have thought that his "Crown Prince" not only did not change direction, but his pace was even faster.

"temple"

"Shut up!"

If it were someone else, they would not say anything more after seeing that the host had no reaction. However, Yan Tianfeng was a young man from a noble family in Guilin. Although he was smart, his eyesight was not good enough due to lack of experience. That was why he was treated poorly.

In this situation, Yan Tianfeng was naturally surprised why "His Royal Highness the Crown Prince", who had always been quite kind to him, suddenly turned hostile. However, he did not have the courage to offend him again, so he could only follow behind with a sullen look on his face.

After a while, the two arrived at the place where the fleet was anchored. Prince Jingjiang saw that this place was relatively safe, so he boarded a large ship to gather information from all directions.

The situation on land was not very clear. Apart from seeing a military formation lying across the north of the main camp, which seemed to indicate no attack, the other details were not very obvious.

As for Jiang Shang
One after another, the enemy's large warships were pouring fire onto the land, leaving their own soldiers with nowhere to escape. The smaller enemy warships had already broken away from the fleet and engaged in battle with more than a dozen of their own warships, apparently acting as escorts for the large warships.

How could the King of Jingjiang not see the gap between the enemy and us in this situation? He made up his mind and gave the order directly: "Leave the shore! Go upstream to help the army meet the enemy!"

As soon as the words fell, the command flags on the ship moved, and one after another, the modified civilian ships with no combat power left the shore and went upstream to help the army fight the enemy.

At this point, even if Yan Tianfeng was a fool, he would understand that his "Prince" wanted to escape, but looking at the situation on both land and sea, he had to admit that this was the only choice.

No way, really no way.

If they had started an uprising in Guangdong, they might have been able to piece together a navy capable of fighting the enemy for a while, but they were in Guangxi, and even with the help of the general they could only barely get enough boats to transport soldiers, and the only ones they could use for combat were the old-fashioned ones with only a cannon installed on the bow.

In this situation, the firepower of three or two enemy warships can almost match that of more than ten of their warships. How could Yan Tianfeng be lucky?

just
After all Zhu Cilang had planned, how could he allow the rebellious King Jingjiang to escape?

Just as the rebel boats started to move, thirty or forty small shuttle-shaped boats immediately broke away from the battle group and rushed upstream at a very fast speed.

Zhu Cilang's trip south this time brought with him large inland warships that were slightly smaller than seagoing ships. If he only used these warships to fight, winning would be no problem. However, without any guards, if an enemy small boat suddenly approached him, the resulting damage would be unacceptable to him.

At this point, we have to talk about the benefits of having the support of local forces.

Not only did Guangzhou transfer nearly 30 small warships from the navy for breakthrough and close combat overnight, but it also assembled a group of medium-sized warships for escort.

In this way, coupled with the large warships brought by Zhu Cilang, a fleet capable of being used for inland river warfare appeared on the battlefield.

"Try harder! We can't let the Rebel King get away!"

Xu Renjue half-crouched at the bow of the shuttle boat. Although he kept encouraging the soldiers who were paddling hard, his eyes were fixed on the largest ship in the rebel fleet.

The gap in strength between the two sides was too great. Not to mention how powerful the firepower of the warships with guns mounted on the side of the ship was, just looking at the soldiers fleeing like headless flies under the bombardment of the artillery, one could tell that the rebels were no match for them.

This gap has nothing to do with training, courage and the like. Even though the soldiers in the southwest have always been known for their bravery, what can they do when faced with an attack that is beyond their cognition?
"Not far away! Don't let up! Capture the Rebel King, and His Highness will reward you handsomely!"

Realizing that the shuttle ship's speed seemed to have slowed down slightly, Xu Renjue shouted again.

Fifty feet.

Thirty feet.

Twenty feet.

As the oars continued to swing, the distance between Xu Renjue and the big ship was shrinking at a very fast speed.

When the distance was close enough to be shot by an arrow, he shouted "Get ready", and suddenly many archers appeared on the enemy ship, followed by a whistling sound.

"Raise your shield!"

As soon as the words came out, the soldiers who had been prepared immediately raised their wooden shields. After all, the shuttle boat was long and thin, with the crew sitting on both sides and the soldiers sitting in the middle. Even if there was space, it would not allow for a large shield to be on board.

In this situation, although the soldiers holding shields tried their best to protect the crew members on both sides, they were unable to block all the arrows due to the size of their shields.

As a result, as the rain of arrows fell, screams of agony were heard from the shuttle boat fleet, and the speed of the fleet was reduced.

However, the arrows used by the navy were no match for those of the Tartars. Although the screams sounded severe, only a few people were actually killed by these arrows.

"Prepare!"

Another round of orders was issued. The soldiers holding shields remained unmoved, while the others had already put bundles of ropes with handles on their arms.

At this time, the two sides were less than ten feet apart. Xu Renjue knew that he would have to jump on board after enduring another round of arrow rain. While giving orders to the soldiers, he also held his sword in his hand.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

Arrows rained down again. Although Xu Renjue hid behind the shield, his ears were always paying attention to the sound of arrows hitting the shield. When the sound gradually faded, he suddenly stood up from behind the shield, and then the ropes with handles rushed towards the enemy ship like poisonous snakes.

Bang! Bang! Bang!
Following a series of crashing sounds, the sailors finally let go of the oars, and several of them grabbed a rope and started pulling hard.

Upon seeing this, someone on the ship immediately started chopping at the rope with his weapon, but the rope seemed to be as thick as a child's wrist, so how could it be cut in a short time?
As a result, the shuttle boats and the big ship were closely together in a short while.

"Your Highness! Abandon ship!"

Seeing that his own ship had been locked by the enemy, Yan Tianfeng knew that he would be captured if he stayed on the ship. But who would have thought that after he shouted, he didn't hear even a single response.

When he turned his head, he saw that the usually calm "His Royal Highness the Crown Prince" seemed to have lost his soul and kept muttering to himself.

"How could it be? Impossible!
I have defeated Ding Kuichu, and I can conquer Guangdong as long as I occupy it.
How could this happen? ! "

"Don't panic, Your Highness. Don't panic, Your Highness. We still have Guangxi. We still have Guangxi!"

Yan Tianfeng's anxious shouts seemed to have helped Prince Jingjiang recover a little, but they had been delayed for quite a while and it was now extremely difficult to escape.

"Surround them! Surround them! Don't let the Rebel King escape!"

From the moment he boarded the ship, Xu Renjue had already set his eyes on the figure in the bright yellow python robe. However, the enemy troops on the ship had not been cleared out at that time. Without being 100% sure, he did not make any move to alert the enemy.

"Traitor! The Crown Prince of the Ming Dynasty is here! How dare you commit murder?!"

"Bah! Shameless person!"

Xu Renjue was extremely brave, but that did not prevent him from appearing elegant in his daily life. However, when Yan Tianfeng finished speaking, he could no longer control his anger and spat at him.

His Royal Highness the Crown Prince saved the country from collapse in Jiangnan and turned the tide. Not only was he repeatedly in danger, he was also injured many times. Such a person is only called the Regent until now. But this evil creature actually used the Eastern Palace guards from hundreds of years ago to try to covet the throne. How could Xu Renjue swallow this?

The battle had reached this point and there was no longer any suspense. When Xu Yinjue slowly sailed back in the captured boat, there were only one or two "warships" on the river still resisting stubbornly, while the rebel camp on land had been almost wiped out, and Hu Maozhen's troops had already begun to sweep the area.

Xu Renjue could see this situation clearly from the river, and Zhao Qing, who was in a high position, could naturally see it as well.

"Commander-in-chief, these people are probably not from the Zheng family."

Zhao Qiansi said this in a hoarse voice, and then did not care whether anyone responded or not. He just watched the soldiers outside the city gathering the scattered rebels like driving away chickens and ducks.

There was actually no need for him to say this.

Guangdong and Fujian are closely adjacent to each other, and there are many conflicts due to maritime trade, so the people of Guangdong know the details of the Zheng family best.

The Zheng family is fierce at sea, but that doesn’t mean their land camp is also fierce.

The artillery on the river stopped after blasting the rebel camp into pieces. Afterwards, the army divided into several formations and launched a siege while the rebels were still unable to recover.

The Zheng family's land camp could not dare to encircle and suppress the party with superior forces with inferior forces, even with artillery bombardment as a backup.

Originally, everyone in Zhaoqing City was only impressed by the abundant firepower of this group of troops and did not have too many thoughts about the battle on land.

However, in less than half an hour, the battle on land had entered its final stage. By the time they realized what was going on, the large formations had been divided into countless small formations, and the several groups of troops that the rebels had finally gathered together had already scattered.

There were people in Zhaoqing who saw the whole process, but when they were asked to describe it, all they could get was a "don't understand" response.

How can I understand?
Hu Maozhen's troops were already powerful, and these 5,000 men were carefully selected by him from tens of thousands of people. When such a group of people encountered a team that was cobbled together, it was natural for them to defeat them like cutting melons and vegetables.

The officials in Zhaoqing who were unaware of the inside story naturally couldn't understand why the Guangxi army that had driven them from Wuzhou to Zhaoqing was so weak.

At this time, Ding Kuichu had also realized that it was not that the Zheng family had usurped the authority to change the flag to bright yellow, but that the commander of this army was qualified to use this color.

"Listen up, everyone in the city. His Royal Highness, the Crown Prince of the Ming Dynasty, has ordered everyone in the city to meet him at the riverside!"

Just when everyone was shocked at the decisiveness of this battle, a rider came flying from the riverside, shouted several times at the foot of the city, and prepared to turn around and leave.

"Your Excellency, please wait a moment! Excuse me, is this the Crown Prince of the former Emperor of Yingtian?"

"How dare you! Who else in the Ming Dynasty has a crown prince besides Your Highness?!"

After saying that, the knight left immediately, but the officials on the city wall glanced at Ding Kuichu intentionally or unintentionally.

"Why are you panicking? We were too busy suppressing the rebellion of Prince Jingjiang to send a congratulatory letter to Your Highness in time. We will explain this to Your Highness when we meet. As for the defeat," Ding Kuichu said with a long tone, scanning the expressions of the people present. When he saw that everyone seemed to have calmed down, he continued, "The Ming Dynasty has lost half of its territory. We are not the only ones who lost the war. If Your Highness wants to punish me for this, you should also think about how to stop the people from talking."

Having said that, not only did all the officials feel relieved, but even Ding Kuichu himself felt confident.

"Let's go, follow me to welcome the Crown Prince!"

(End of this chapter)