Prince Chongzhen

Chapter 242 Do you want to be the oriole?

"Send! The Crown Prince of the Ming Dynasty has issued an order! All warring parties must withdraw to their main camps within the next incense stick. Those who disobey the order will be subject to military law!"

When the military order was conveyed, the cavalrymen neither explained nor stayed, and before the generals could react, they ran back to the formation and bowed before a general.

"Bah! You're using a chicken feather as a token of authority! Why would the prince come to this remote place?"

Seeing this situation, Cao Zhicheng, who was a little surprised at first, started cursing immediately.

When he first heard the military order, he indeed thought that it was the prince from the north who was leading the troops. However, when he saw that the person the soldier reported was dressed like the generals, he immediately came to his senses.

This was probably because Guangdong and Jiangnan had established connections on the sea. Later, Ding Kuichu received rewards such as the fake imperial seal and axe, so he sent an army in the name of the prince regent. However, the general who came was ignorant and thought he was very powerful after receiving such military orders.

That's why the previous incident happened.

Thinking of this, Cao Zhijian suddenly felt relieved.

To be honest, he is not Mr. Rao's grandson.

He did not originally serve under He Tengjiao, but the previous officer was really unable to do anything with him, so he was sent to the governor's account to serve.

However, Cao Zhijian did not have the military strength of a warlord but had the temper of a warlord. When he first arrived in Changsha, he clashed with other generals under the governor. Seeing that this man was really difficult to deal with, He Tengjiao sent him over when Jiangxi was seeking help.

"Your Majesty, I heard that the Crown Prince has become the regent. If you falsely pass on the order to become the regent, you will probably be beheaded, right?"

"Ah, probably. Probably."

After making a joke to Prince Yongning, Cao Zhijian looked nonchalantly at the army coming from the south.

He now really hopes that the general can make things bigger, so that he can take this opportunity to show the fighting power of his subordinates and let those ignorant people see the situation clearly.

"Your Majesty, whether the generals here are false or not is not my business, but if they really cause trouble... humph!"

As he spoke, Cao Zhijian waved his hand gently, and then a general came over.

"Pass the order down, have each team prepare. If the enemy makes any unusual movement, we will line up to meet the enemy!"

"Order."

Seeing this military order being passed down, although Prince Yongning wanted to stop it, he also knew that he had to be careful in front of his dog-faced relative Cao Zhijian.

"General Cao, the other party is not doing anything radical right now. Why are you so..."

"What nonsense! He is about to be tried by military law, how can you say it is not excessive? Do they have to tie me up to be considered excessive?!"

"My king."

At this point, Prince Yongning immediately panicked. But just as he was about to explain in detail, he saw Cao Zhijian change his expression and suddenly soften his attitude.

"Your Majesty, you still don't understand Lao Cao's painstaking efforts."

what?
Hard work?

you?
Pooh!
"When a large army is fighting, there can only be one voice. Now there are no less than ten troops from Ganzhou, big and small. Who can you command, Your Majesty? If you can't find someone who can win the support of the army, I'm afraid there's no need to fight this battle."

Ok?
That makes sense.

As Cao Zhijian spoke, the expression on King Yongning's face changed again and again, and in the end, he even had to agree with this statement.

It was not that he was unaware of the importance of having direct descendants, but he felt the real pain only after he had almost completely lost his direct descendants.

If those 30,000 troops were still there, how could I, a member of the royal family, be so humble as to bow down to you, lowly generals with only 3,000 or 2,000 men under my command?
Thinking of this, King Yongning's expression naturally became strange.

However, Cao Zhijian, whose eyes were always on the army coming from the south, did not pay any attention to it and just continued speaking according to the words he had prepared.

"I am a dumb man, I can't think of any good tricks, and I have a grudge against Zhang An anyway, so why not take this opportunity to defeat the bandits?"

No matter what Cao Zhijian's fundamental purpose was, King Yongning highly agreed with what he said.

But he was still listening intently when the endless chatter suddenly stopped. When he looked up, he saw that Cao Zhijian's face was full of surprise.

Seeing this scoundrel showing such an expression, King Yongning followed his gaze and looked towards the army coming from the south.

But it didn't matter that he just took a look. After seeing what was happening in the distance, King Yongning's face showed the same expression as Cao Zhijian's.

"They...are they really going to fight?!"

"Arrange the troops! Form a battle line! Damn it! Do you really think I was brought up by being scared?"

"General Cao! Be careful! I see that the formation of the Southern Army is not much different from yours. They don't really want to fight!"

"MD, we are just fighting! They are attacking us with an army formation. If I can't stop them, how can I convince others in the future?!"

Seeing that this Cao thief seemed to be serious, King Yongning was anxious and suddenly thought of going to persuade Wan Yuanji from the other two departments.

If we can really persuade the other two groups, this Cao thief alone won't be able to cause much trouble.

With this in mind, King Yongning began to look for Wan Yuanji in the field. However, when he looked into the distance, the red figure had already ridden out and headed straight for the Southern Army.

Oh no! Lord Wan was so reckless! What if the general who came was also as reckless as Cao? What should we do?
With this in mind, Prince Yongning turned his head to look at Cao Zhijian who was arranging the military formation. Then he made up his mind and spurred his horse to chase after Wan Yuanji.

The two figures, one yellow and one red, stood out extremely in the scene. Not only did the three generals who were fighting among themselves notice this situation, but Zhu Cilang, who had been paying attention to the situation ahead, also noticed the two of them.

"Your Highness, do you want to stop them?"

After a little hesitation, Hu Maozhen, who was always insightful, finally asked a question.

As a veteran with many years of experience, he has not only seen such internal strife, but also has many ways to deal with it.

Although there were only about 1,500 men in that battle group, it had lasted for such a long time that it was obvious that the Ganzhou commander had already lost control of his various units.

In this situation, there is really no better way except to suppress it with the force of thunder.

Based on this, it becomes extremely necessary to stop those two people.

"Nothing, let them come over."

After hearing His Highness' words, Hu Maozhen stood quietly where he was. After only seven or eight breaths, the red-robed figure in the lead stopped seven or eight sticks away.

"I am Wan Yuanji, Junior Minister of the Imperial Household. May I ask if the person coming here is under the command of Ding Bu Tang?"

Like Cao Zhijian, after talking with the Yunnan generals for a while, Wan Yuanji also felt that the visitor was probably Ding Kuichu's subordinate, but for some reason he did the stupid thing of falsely conveying the superior's military order.

But who would have thought that as soon as he uttered this voice, the Southern Army soldiers not far in front of him all showed extremely strange expressions, and then, before he could think about anything, he heard a burst of shouting in his ears.

"His Highness has ordered! Send Wan Yuanji to come into the battle array and see him!"

As soon as the words came out, Wan Wanji's head suddenly buzzed, but when he instinctively wanted to urge his horse forward, he heard an extremely harsh rebuke from the mouth of the soldier who came to lead the way.

"How dare you! Dismount!"

The sound was deafening, and coupled with Wan Wanji's sense of duty, he instinctively prepared to dismount and walk even though he had not yet recovered.
"Your Highness has ordered that Wan Yuanji be allowed to come on horseback to see you!"

The military order was issued again, and the soldier no longer cared whether Wan Yuanji dismounted or not. Then, seeing that the man seemed to have not yet come to his senses, he led his mount directly into the military formation.

The soldiers were accustomed to such situations, but how could Wan Yuanji, who had never imagined that the person coming was actually the prince, remain calm?

Is it really His Highness?

But how could that be?

These two questions lingered in his mind for a while, until the horse under his crotch stopped because no one was pulling it, and then he saw the young face wearing the standard armor of the Ming army.

"Your Highness! Imperial Household Minister Wan Yuanji pays respect to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince who is the Regent!"

"Be flat."

"temple"

Wan Wanji, who had come to his senses, still had many doubts in his mind, but the incense stick time was almost up, so he did not bother to ask more questions and prepared to directly persuade His Royal Highness the Crown Prince to withdraw the previous military order.

But how could Zhu Cilang guess what Wan Yuanji was thinking? As soon as he opened his mouth, he was interrupted by Zhu Cilang: "What crime should be imposed for such behavior according to the military law of the Ming Dynasty?"

"Behead him immediately, OK."

"No buts."

A gentleman deceives others.

When the words "Ming Dynasty Military Law" appeared, Wan Yuanji had ten thousand reasons in his mind but could not utter a single word.

Seeing this, Zhu Cilang did not say anything more. After taking a look at the few remaining incense sticks, he directly ordered, "Guards!"

"exist!"

"I will help you to defeat the current battle group! Anyone who tries to stop me will be killed without mercy!"

"Order!"

As soon as the military order was issued, the heavy footsteps of five hundred heavily armored infantrymen immediately sounded on the field.

King Yongning, who was originally more than ten feet away from the army formation, immediately turned his horse and ran back in fear.

"Heavy armored soldiers! They are heavy armored soldiers!"

No one knew how far this howl could be heard, and no matter whether the other two parties in the internal strife could hear it, the bandits from the mountains knew clearly where the Southern Army's confidence came from.

"Leader! Let the brothers retreat! These are heavily armored soldiers! We can't hold them!"

"Shut up! Since the Han people have invited us to fight, why should we retreat?!"

After hearing what his subordinates said, Zhang An immediately dismounted. He then took a sword from a soldier, raised it above his head and shouted, "If we retreat, we will be laughed at by the Han people! Brothers! The reputation of the Dong people depends on us!"

Boom!

Boom!

Boom!

Just as Zhang An was boosting his morale, the Yunnan generals were still hesitating, and Cao Zhijian was still shouting at the top of his lungs, bursts of roars suddenly came from the direction of Ganzhou, and then everyone present felt the ground beneath their feet tremble slightly.

This is?

Wan Yuanji, a civilian official, knew nothing about this commotion, but as a veteran general, how could Hu Maozhen not know that this was only possible because of a large group of cavalry charging into battle?
"Your Highness!"

"Let's follow the plan."

"Order!"

After saying only three or two words, Hu Maozhen went straight to the rear of the army. Afterwards, the generals conveyed the military orders one by one according to the plan that had been decided long ago, and the entire Southern Army formation immediately began to move.

"Your Highness?"

"You are here to stir up internal strife. Do you really think the Tartars will let go of this God-given opportunity?"

When Wan Yuanji heard these words, he felt so ashamed that he wanted to slap himself a few times, but at the same time he had to be thankful that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince was well prepared.

just
"Raise this palace's banner!"

"Your Highness! You must not do that! The Tartars are well prepared, and our army is... If the Tartars really charge straight into our camp, you..."

In Wanyuanji's opinion, raising the banner was tantamount to inviting the Tartars to attack here. But who would have thought that he had just said half a sentence when he saw His Royal Highness the Crown Prince raise his hand to stop him. Then he saw His Royal Highness draw the sword from his waist and then shouted loudly: "Gentlemen! I have never retreated a single step since the day I led the army. Today, the guards are in front to kill the enemy. Do you have the confidence to stop the Tartars?!"

"I am willing to die for your Highness!"

"I am willing to die for your Highness!"

"I am willing to die for your Highness!"

There were only six or seven hundred infantrymen left by Zhu Cilang's side, but the noise they made actually suppressed the entire battlefield.

Facing this situation, Wan Yuanji, who had been fighting the Qing army in Jiangxi for several months, suddenly felt a surge of heroism in his heart. He immediately drew out the sword from his waist and shouted like the soldiers: "Your Highness, I am willing to die for you!"

"Well, since Mr. Wan is so willing, then let's go with me and see how the Tartars are defeated!"

"I can't ask for it!"

Wan Yuanji answered very proudly, but he felt a little insecure in his heart.

The defeated soldiers of King Yongning probably had only three or two thousand, and the new troops he recruited in Ganzhou were about four thousand, plus two thousand soldiers from Yunnan and two thousand soldiers from Hunan. Even if the three or four thousand bandits without any armor were counted, the total number of soldiers in the entire Ganzhou was no more than fifteen thousand.

In the earlier years, this amount of troops would certainly be enough to garrison an area, but things are different now. As far as he knows, there are nearly 150,000 to 160,000 Qing troops in Jiangxi. Even if we only count those who came to attack Ganzhou, there should be 30,000 to 40,000 troops.

What's more, except for His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, the rest of the troops outside the city were only concerned with internal strife and had never thought about what the Qing army was doing.

Under such circumstances, even if His Royal Highness the Crown Prince had 500 heavily armored infantrymen to rely on, how could he possibly win this battle?
Your Highness should be allowed to enter the city first.

Thinking of this, Wan Yuanji couldn't help but regret his previous impulsiveness.

But the atmosphere had already reached this point. Even if he wanted to go back on his word, he was worried that the Crown Prince would not agree because of what he had said before.

In this situation, Wan Yuanji's inner struggle was involuntarily revealed on his face. Coincidentally, Zhu Cilang seemed to want to say something to him at this moment. Seeing his expression, he asked curiously, "Mr. Wan, are you worried about those three soldiers?"

what?
Which three?
Hearing this, Wan Yuanji, who had been concentrating all his attention on how to persuade the Crown Prince to enter the city, was stunned for a moment. Seeing his expression, Zhu Cilang thought that he was worried about the three groups of people being caught in the middle, and then he explained his arrangements.

After about three or two sentences, Wan Yuanji roughly understood the cause and effect, but at the same time, doubts arose in his mind.

Is this really possible?
(End of this chapter)