Prince Chongzhen

Chapter 25 Discussion
In the original history, Qian Qianyi's performance was quite contradictory.

His story of "itchy scalp and too cold water" was widely circulated, but strangely, it was said that after he resigned from office and returned to his hometown, he vigorously funded the anti-Qing cause.

Because of this incident, it seems that Mr. Qian’s shameless actions were seen by some people as “saving the country in a roundabout way.”

We don’t know whether they provide funding or not, but if we speculate on their behavior with malicious intent, we seem to be able to come up with a very interesting answer.

When Yingtian fell, Qian Qianyi thought the Manchus needed him to stabilize the scholars in the south of the Yangtze River, so he cooperated vigorously, but afterwards the Manchus only gave him a minister of rites.

This made Mr. Qian, who regarded being the Prime Minister of the Cabinet as his lifelong pursuit, very angry, and he immediately offered to resign.

We don't know whether this was a strategy of retreating to advance or whether he was the Xu Shu of the modern times, but the Manchus were quite happy to agree anyway.

Later, Mr. Qian's act of funding the anti-Qing movement could be understood as revenge, or as an attempt to whitewash himself. But if anyone thinks that this was out of patriotism, then they are definitely missing something.

"Your Highness is kind."

As everyone praised, Zhao Zhilong and Wang Duo were convicted, but the aftershocks had not yet completely dissipated when an old man in a red robe with white hair and beard walked out of the team.

"Your Highness, I, the governor of Henan, Yue Qijie, have something I don't understand and would like to ask for your help."

"Please say."

Zhu Cilang was very sure that this person was not among the civil servants invited by Zhao Zhilong that night, but why was he not among the invited officials since he was such a high-ranking official as the Governor of Henan?
"Your Highness is able to save the country from danger, but where did you get the order to arrest the nobles and ministers?"

Are you here to cause trouble?

This was Zhu Cilang’s first reaction, but at the same time he felt that such a guess seemed a little wrong.

After all, Zhao Zhilong and Wang Duo were caught in the act, so if they really wanted to cause trouble, they would not do so because of this.

"So what does the Yue Master mean?"

"I ask Your Highness to supervise all matters related to the defense of Yingtian."

The more Yue Qijie spoke, the more confused Zhu Cilang became.

Isn't this what I'm doing today? He doesn't know or...

As he was thinking, a sentence suddenly appeared in his mind: If the name is not right, the words will not flow.

Yes, he is the crown prince, but the crown prince is just an empty title with no power.

If what he did on that day happened at a different time, Xumi would have accused him of treason.

But the current situation is special. Is it necessary to do all these nonsense things?

Forget it, since someone has suggested it, let’s just go with it.

Anyway, it's not like he'll be allowed to ascend the throne or act as regent, so it won't have much impact anyway.

"Lord Yue is right. I was negligent. I hope you and the two lords can come up with a conclusion on how to deal with this matter."

"As your Highness commands."

Zhu Cilang was not interested in this bureaucratic thing. After everyone finished talking, he continued, "There is one more thing. The righteous people in the city have helped me a lot. I intend to recruit them as guards of the Eastern Palace. Do you have any objections?"

This kind of thing does not harm anyone's interests, so naturally no one will raise any objections.

Then Zhu Cilang said to Chen Si who was standing in the corner: "Fourth brother, do you want to join the army or stay with me?"

If it were the day before yesterday, Chen Si would probably have rarely seen an official of the seventh rank, let alone standing in a hall with so many high-ranking officials to "discuss matters" like today.

So until Zhu Cilang called him, he had been hiding in a corner with Wang Fuping and Xiang Rensheng. "Your Highness, I want to go to the army."

At this time, Chen Si had already changed his ideal to becoming a marquis or a general. How could he have the chance to make any achievements if he stayed beside the prince?

"Then you can be promoted to a thousand-man commander first, and then take up a real position after you are familiar with military affairs." At this point, Zhu Cilang said to Chang Guanlin who was standing in the distance: "General Chang, thank you for your help."

"I obey."

At this point it should have been Wang Fuping's turn, but Zhu Cilang had other plans in mind so he just said that he should continue to stay with him as a thousand households, and that was all.

Next, Zhu Cilang proposed to give some subsidies to the clerks who participated in the recruitment of militiamen, but he did not expect that this small matter would be strongly opposed by all civil servants including Qian Qianyi.

"Your Highness, once this precedent is set, whenever the court has a transfer, someone will have to be subsidized. How much silver can the court give out?" Qian Qianyi said.

"Your Highness, if we give subsidies to clerks, should we give them to soldiers? Should we give them to officials? Should we give them to the people in the city?" These were the original words of Master Xu.

"Your Highness, these are their responsibilities, and they should not be treated like this." Yue Qijie's words were relatively tactful.

To be honest, these clerks only number a few hundred people, and even if they were paid half-monthly, it wouldn't cost much money.

Zhu Cilang really couldn't understand why all the adults in the room would spit in his face over just a few hundred taels of silver.

But the reality was, not only did they spray, but they also sprayed very resolutely, and even maintained a very uniform formation, which made Zhu Cilang a little confused about the situation.

But the situation was special now, and he didn't want to get into a bad rap with the civil officials over this matter, so he could only think to himself: If it's denied, then it's denied. Anyway, I'll open the gift package tomorrow, and I'll give it to myself then.

Opening the gift package was what Zhu Cilang had been thinking about ever since he arrested Zhao Zhilong, but Zhao Zhilong had not been convicted before, so he couldn't just send people to confiscate the nobles' property.

Finally, Zhu Cilang ordered Xu Yinjue and Chang Guanlin to train the militia, and ordered Zhu Guobi, Qian Qianyi, Xu Yu and others to coordinate all logistical matters. The meeting ended only after everything that could be thought of had been arranged.

"Brother Wang, Brother Xiang."

The two were about to leave with the others, but after taking a few steps, they heard His Highness calling them. They looked at each other and without saying anything, they trotted a few steps and followed Zhu Cilang to the back of the hall.

"Brother Wang, does His Highness want to arrange something?"

"not sure."

Wang Fuping said he didn't know, but he had some guesses in his mind.

After a while, Zhu Cilang entered a side room with a bed. After they sat down, he said to the two men, "Brother Xiang, Fourth Brother Chen has gone to the army. You will be in charge of the brothers now."

"Yes, Your Highness."

Xiang Rensheng was an honest man, and he never had any other thoughts because of Zhu Cilang's misfortune, so Zhu Cilang was relieved to hand over the men under Chen Si to him.

"Let the brothers find a place to camp on the mountain outside the city. We will spend the night there tomorrow."

Zhu Cilang knew that moving tens of thousands of garrison troops to live under the outer wall would cause dissatisfaction, but this was a necessary part of his plan and could not be changed, so he planned to live outside the city himself to calm the soldiers' resentment.

"I'm just sorry to wrong my brothers."

"Your Highness, it's alright. We still sleep outside when the work is tight."

Zhu Cilang nodded and looked at Wang Fuping again.

Wang Fuping thought that His Highness was going to make arrangements for him, but he was so frightened by the first sentence.

"You don't have to follow me starting tomorrow."

(End of this chapter)