Prince Chongzhen

Chapter 255 I wonder if you are here?
"Your Highness wants to meet with the generals of the Chuang army. The location will be chosen by them."

As soon as the words fell, the hall fell silent.

The location was chosen by the generals of the Chuang Army, which meant that the Crown Prince Regent of the Ming Dynasty had put his own safety in their hands.

If the other party has any intention, then Chuang’s army will achieve the achievement of killing two of the highest authorities in the Ming Dynasty.

More importantly, this achievement was achieved in Hunan.

Faced with this situation, no matter what the Hunan officials were thinking, they did their best to block this path.

"This is absolutely not allowed!" Following a round of shouting, Fu Shangrui took the lead and said, "The Chuang army is a new ally, and its generals are all unsettled. How can His Royal Highness meet with them at this time?!"

Now that someone had taken the lead, the officials present no longer had any reservations.

Afterwards, whether it was Zhang Kuang and others who were already wary of Chuang's army, or Du Yinxi who advocated cooperation, they all expressed their firm opposition to this matter.

"The Chuang army surrendered only because of the situation. If Your Highness really walked into the tiger's den, wouldn't that give them another chance to choose?!"

"That's right. These generals were born as bandits. How could they know what loyalty to the emperor and the country is? Even if they have no other intentions, it will be difficult to end it if they offend Your Highness with their words!"

"Ji Ren, His Highness was in a hurry, why didn't you stop him? Do you really want to learn from that flatterer?!"

Wan Yuanji was not good at adapting to changing circumstances, and after listening to the officials speaking one after another, some of the officials even accused the Crown Prince in the end. Although he was annoyed in his heart, he was too anxious to respond.

"Okay," just when everyone was speaking righteously, He Tengjiao interrupted leisurely, and then everyone stopped talking. He naturally expressed his attitude: "Don't blame the lucky people. Your Highness is concerned about the safety of the Ming Dynasty. They are also worried about the country, so they are a little outspoken."

The good and the bad had all been said by this group of people. If Wan Yuanji continued to harp on it, he would seem a little petty. But after all, he was just not good at adapting to circumstances, and it was not that his mind was scattered and he didn't know what was going on. After a moment of hesitation, he slowly began to speak.

"To be honest, I was also strongly opposed to this matter at first."

When they heard these words, everyone in the hall thought that Wan Yuanji had changed his ways because he couldn't bear it anymore.

Seeing this situation, they could not help but feel contempt while they were thinking about how to make His Highness give up this idea through Wan Yuanji.

But how could Wan Yuanji be so weak-minded if he could hold out in Ganzhou for more than a year? Just when someone in the hall was about to speak, he continued.

"But then I thought, Your Highness was able to defeat the Qing army with an old and weak army in Jiangnan, and to defeat the Jingjiang rebel king and pacify Guangdong and Guangxi in an instant. This ability is no less than that of Taizu and Chengzu. How can I, a mediocre person who can barely defend Ganzhou, have the qualifications to comment on Your Highness's plans?"

Refers to Sang and curses Huai!

It's really a veiled criticism!
Even though the Hunan officials had thousands of reasons and eloquence, after this sentence was heard, they could only stand there like a fool and no longer had any of their previous momentum.

"Ji Ren is right," He Tengjiao had to step out to smooth things over when he saw his men all defeated like roosters. "Your Highness has come a long way and has overcome many difficulties. Even if he has accomplished great deeds, it is reasonable. However..."

As He Tengjiao's voice spread, everyone present couldn't help but focus their attention on him, and the slightly awkward atmosphere from before gradually dissipated.

But then again, he is still the leader of this gang. Even though he knows in his heart that he can't change anything, necessary counterattack is still needed.

"Your Highness is taking a very risky step this time. Even though we are not as thoughtful as Your Highness, we must still fulfill our duties as subjects and must not allow our master to be in danger."

He performed his duties as a subject and left his master in danger.

Others might not understand the meaning of his words, but Wan Yuanji had been in the officialdom for so many years after all. As soon as He Tengjiao finished speaking, he had already keenly grasped the key point of his words.

The officials in Hunan have fulfilled their duties as subjects, but Wan Yuanji was blindly obedient and only knew to follow the orders of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince without understanding the overall reality.

The remaining thing is that he cannot "let his lord be in danger." As long as he can come up with one or two decent reasons and the Hunan officials make some arrangements, then this one will be considered passed.

"Your Highness gave me a golden sachet when he left."

"Oh? I wonder what's in the brocade bag?"

"Your Highness only told me to open it when I met the generals of the rebel army, and he didn't say anything else."

At this point, the doubts in the hearts of the Hunan officials were resolved. After some polite words, He Tengjiao sent some soldiers to the army to deliver the order.

To be honest, the reactions of the Hunan officials can represent the true thoughts of the Ming Dynasty officials at that time.

When the monarch does something wrong, most of the ministers will do their best to persuade him within the rules, but if the persuasion is ineffective, then it comes to the next stage: you can do whatever you want, as long as I don't have to take the blame.

This mentality can be understood as just getting by, or it can be understood as being cautious in the face of helplessness.

But it is undeniable that when a system has become so corrupt that it is unable to cope with any external crisis, such a mentality becomes a catalyst that accelerates the collapse of the system.

This is probably the principle of how the system turns good people bad.

In any case, the news that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince was going to meet with the generals of the Chuang Army finally spread, and Wan Yuanji's mission was half completed.

But then again, the two armies were stationed at both ends of Dongting Lake, and it would take some time for information to be transmitted. In addition, the various troops were not of one mind, so they were more concerned about guarding against themselves than against the Ming and Qing dynasties.

In this way, the news from the two places was gathered in Changsha, and then distributed to the two ends of Dongting Lake after some consideration. It took a lot of effort to decide the meeting place, and when the representatives of the two departments arrived in Xiangyin, it was three days later.

Xiangyin is located north of Changsha. Coincidentally, it is located right in the middle of the southern bank of Dongting Lake, and is roughly the same distance from the two rebel armies' garrisons and Changsha.

Therefore, after some discussion, all the families unanimously decided to set the meeting place outside Xiangyin City.

At this time, a camp had been set up two miles outside the city. Although the scale of this camp was not large, the officials of Hunan had the camp decorated with lights and colors, as if it was going to be the New Year.

"Generals, thank you for your hard work during the journey."

Seeing several generals of the Chuang army arriving, Du Yinxi and Zhang Kuang, who were helping Wan Yuanji make contacts, immediately went to greet them.

It is not unreasonable for the two of them to be the receptionists.

After all, one of them was responsible for signaling the surrender of Li Guo and Gao Yigong's troops, while the other was in charge of the negotiations with Hao Yaoqi, Liu Tichun and other generals. If they left Hunan, they might not be able to find someone with the right identity to serve as the receptionist.

"Thank you for keeping me waiting for so long, my lords. I apologize for that."

"Come, come, let me introduce you to the generals first," Zhang Kuang said as he led a few people to Wan Yuanji. After they all paid attention to him, he said with a big smile on his face, "This is Wan Yuanji, the governor."

"I, General Tian Jianxiu, Yuan Zongdi, and Liu Fangliang, greet His Excellency the Governor."

"No need to be polite, no need to be polite. You are all loyal subjects of the Ming Dynasty. No need to be polite, no need to be polite."

Although Wan Yuanji's words were just ordinary politeness, they had a different feeling in the ears of Tian Jianxiu and others. At the beginning, they were a group of poor men who followed Li Zicheng to start an uprising. Although he was unable to follow him into Beijing because he was stationed in Shaanxi, the death of Chongzhen and the fall of the Ming Dynasty were inseparable from him.

But now?

In the past, a group of people under the command of King Chuang had caused unrest in the Ming Dynasty, but now they had all become "Ming Dynasty's loyal ministers." Even though this was only a period of more than a year, he couldn't help but feel that the world had changed dramatically and the people and things were no longer the same.

No matter what kind of feelings Tian Jianxiu had because of Wan Yuanji's words, it is undeniable that his words were full of kindness.

Seeing that Tian Jianxiu was in a daze and that his kindness was about to fall to the ground without anyone to take it, Yuan Zongdi, who was standing beside him, said hurriedly: "Luckily, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince and He Butang took us in, otherwise we might have been hunted down by the Tartars, and how could we dare to call ourselves their right-hand men."

In the eyes of others, it was He Tengjiao and others who took in the remaining troops of the rebel army, and Yuan Zongde added "His Royal Highness the Crown Prince" in front of "He Bu Tang" probably just out of courtesy.

But if you really understand their experiences, you will find that perhaps the importance of something in their hearts is really related to the context.

When Li Zicheng led his troops northward, the landlords and gentry in the Hubei and Henan areas launched an extremely violent counterattack against the rebel army, making it almost impossible for Bai Wang's troops stationed in central Hubei to resist.

Although the situation had become critical, how could Li Zicheng give up this God-given opportunity to seize Beijing?
Afterwards, he sent troops south to help Bai Wang stabilize central Hubei, while continuing to lead the troops north.

As a result, Yuan Zongde and other generals who were supposed to go to Beijing turned south to fight with Bai Wang.

There is no need to say much about what happened afterwards. Li Zicheng died unexpectedly, and the Dashun Army, which had been so unstoppable a moment ago, immediately fled in all directions.

During this process, Bai Wang, who had formed a deep friendship with Yuan Zongde and others, died at the hands of Wang Tizhong, and they were unable to avenge their comrades for various reasons.

Originally, these generals who had suffered several blows felt that they would never be able to fight back.

But who knew that there was always a way out, not only did they restore the superficial harmony with their battalion commanders, they also received the head of Wang Ti Zhong sent by His Royal Highness the Crown Prince!

You must know that this head not only represents the revenge of a good friend, but also represents the goodwill from the Prince Regent of the Ming Dynasty.

Under such circumstances, even if they have been fighting with the Ming Dynasty for half their lives, how can they not feel grateful to the prince whom they have never met?
Of course, gratitude is just gratitude.

This group of people were able to make a name for themselves in the troubled times, but who among them would be willing to sacrifice their lives just out of gratitude?

They understood clearly that at that time the rebel forces had nowhere to stay, and the Ming Dynasty was in turmoil. All the actions of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince were probably just stopgap measures to join forces to fight against the Qing Dynasty.

Once the crisis is over, who knows what the situation will be like?
"Excuse me, Young Master Zhang, have they arrived yet?"

"General Li and General Hao have already arrived. We can start after you arrive."

"Oh, I am sorry to have kept you waiting. What a shame, what a shame."

No matter what Yuan Zongde and others think, they need to put on a good show at this time.

When he heard that they were the last to arrive, he apologized again. The two groups of people exchanged pleasantries for a long time before they entered the tent one after another.

Now that the people who should have arrived have arrived, this meeting has truly begun.

After Wan Yuanji's semi-literate opening speech, everyone discussed things related to etiquette and regulations, which were irrelevant to reality but quite important.

In his opinion, since all the rebel forces had already surrendered to the Ming Dynasty, there would be no disagreement on these matters.

But who would have thought that when everyone had not raised any objection to the etiquette required for a visit to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, Li Guo suddenly said something.

"I wonder how His Highness will deal with my queen?"

The queen he was talking about was Gao Guiying, Li Zicheng's third wife. Ever since Li Zicheng's life and death and the disintegration of the Chuang army, he, the nephew of the Dashun Emperor, and Gao Yigong, the Dashun Emperor's uncle, had been protecting Queen Gao as they retreated from Shaanxi to Hunan.

How do you say that?

If it's not weighed, it weighs less than 300 jin. But if it is weighed, it weighs more than 1,000 jin.

This is roughly the current situation of Empress Gao.

If Li Guo had not mentioned this, then neither Zhu Cilang nor the Hunan officials would have pretended that this person did not exist.

But now I don't know what this guy was thinking. Not only did he bring up this matter, but he also chose a serious public place to do it.

Under such circumstances, not to mention that Wan Yuanji was not good at making changes, even if someone with sharp words and quick mind came here, he would just remain silent.

"This, um."

Wan Yuanji froze.

He knew very well that even though the generals of the rebel army secretly thought that Li Guo was reckless, if he could not give a suitable answer, then this contact would definitely end in a bad mood.

But what appropriate answer could he give?

Not to mention that she was Li Zicheng's queen, she would inevitably be affected by Chongzhen's blood feud.

Even without this layer, just considering this woman's own abilities and her influence on Li Guo and Gao Yigong, it would be extremely difficult to deal with.

Under such circumstances, what else could Wan Yuanji do except stand there in a daze?

"Alas, General Li, this matter involves a lot of implications, and it is beyond our ability to decide. When Governor Wan returns to report to His Highness, he will definitely come up with a proper solution."

Seeing that Wan Yuanji didn't move and the contact was about to break down because of this question, Zhang Kuang, who had been standing quietly by the side, suddenly spoke up and finally skipped this difficult question.

just
Just when Zhang Kuang breathed a sigh of relief, he suddenly found that all the generals of the rebel army in the tent seemed to be staring at him.

Afterwards, he carefully reviewed his previous words in his mind and felt that there was nothing wrong with them.

At this point, he also realized that the focus of everyone's attention did not seem to be on him, and then he looked behind him with confusion.

"found it!"

With a cry of surprise, a brocade bag escaped from Wan Yuanji's arms. He then quickly opened it and read out the small words written on the note inside.

"I was once taken captive to the old camp of the rebel army. According to the guards, if it weren't for the letters from Empress Gao and the generals from the north and south asking for mercy, I would have died long ago. I wonder if you are among those who asked for mercy?"

(End of this chapter)