Prince Chongzhen

Chapter 29 Breakfast
Now Zhu Cilang can’t even say that he can fully control the affairs within Yingtian City, let alone the farms and shops of the Zhao family spread across Jiangnan.

Of course, he is not completely without ideas, but considering the current situation, it is indeed a bit too ambitious to talk about them.

Zhu Cilang frowned and looked into the distance for a while, but ultimately felt that his thoughts were a bit naive.

"Forget it, let's consider defending Yingtian first." Zhu Cilang sighed lightly, then sat back on the stool, picked up a piece of fat meat from the bucket and took a big bite.

His Highness is in a bad mood, and as a subject he should comfort her. However, Chen Si and Xiang Rensheng have not yet come to their senses, and Chang Guanlin has no idea why His Highness suddenly became like this. It seems that Duke Wei Xu Yinjue can now take on the responsibility of a subject for everyone.

Compared with Zhu Guobi, Xu Yinjue's mind was slower and he was not very eloquent in words, but it was always okay for him to say a few words to comfort people.

But when the confused Chang Guanlin glanced at him, he found that the Duke had a troubled expression and seemed to be even more uncomfortable than His Highness.

Xu Yinjue felt Chang Guanlin's gaze and naturally knew his intention, but he knew his own business and he didn't know how to start the conversation in this situation.

In his opinion, His Highness must have been depressed because he associated the huge wealth of the Earl of Xincheng with the fundraising of the late emperor. What could he say as a top noble?

Just when Xu Yinjue was in a dilemma, he heard Zhu Cilang ask out of the blue: "Duke, do you think these militiamen are still useful?"

Xu Yinjue was a little unsure of the reason for His Highness' question, so he could only say, "Your Highness, the army values ​​individual bravery and discipline. I see that although these militiamen are new recruits, they are able to follow orders. If they are properly trained, they will surely become a strong army."

Of course, these words were meant to comfort Zhu Cilang, but if you look into it in detail, there is nothing wrong with them.

However, a piece of blank paper may indeed become a classic painting passed down to future generations, but it is more likely to just become a worthless draft. The difficulty of this is not as simple as a few words.

What's more, is there still time?
If everything develops as planned, perhaps we will be able to see the Tartar vanguard tomorrow or the day after tomorrow.

Although the identities of the people present were very different, except for Chen Si and Xiang Rensheng who were still in a daze, they could all think from the training of the militia that the Tartars were about to arrive at the city.

For a moment, everyone's mood sank.

Noticing the change in atmosphere, Zhu Cilang couldn't help but sigh at the pressure that the Tartar military might brought to the Ming Dynasty.

But no matter how much we feel sad, we can't just let them stay depressed like this.

"My Lord, I promised you that day to try for ten days or half a month, so don't let me down when the time comes."

Although Xu Yinjue did not know what "dropping the ball" specifically meant, he could roughly understand its meaning. Thinking about his feelings just now, he naturally understood the intention of His Highness's joke.

"Please rest assured, Your Highness. Although I cannot train the civilians into a strong army in ten days, it will be more than enough to defend the city!"

Xu Yinjue had never actually led troops, but the Xu family's hundreds of years of accumulation were not given in vain.

After the meeting last night, he rushed back home and took out all the books about city defense. He even discussed them with Chang Guanlin without hesitation, and only then did they decide how to train these militiamen.

"only.."

Xu Yinjue agreed confidently, but then seemed to be unsure whether he should ask about his doubts.

"The Duke is worried that I won't be able to delay for ten days?"

Having said that, Zhu Cilang naturally understood why Xu Yinjue was hesitating. He asked with a smile, and then whispered a few more words without waiting for Xu Yinjue to speak.

Xu Yinjue, who was still worried, was surprised at first, and then he showed a strange expression after he recovered. Obviously, he did not expect His Highness to use this method to delay time. Chang Guanlin thought about it in his mind and then relaxed. Regardless of what everyone was thinking, Zhu Cilang picked up the bowl after he finished speaking, scooped a spoonful of soup from the bucket and poured it on the rice before saying, "There should be a few less small flags."

The fact that the Tartars were about to arrive at the city did not make Zhu Cilang's mood any worse. After all, this was expected, and he already had ways to delay it. Now he was more concerned about how to make this huge makeshift team more perfect.

As the actual executor of the training, Chang Guanlin immediately put the bowl on the ground and prepared to stand up to answer, but then he heard Zhu Cilang's voice: "Why are you so polite? You know I can't stand common etiquette."

Hearing this, Chang Guanlin hesitated for a moment before sitting back on the stool: "Yes, Your Highness, you selected 2,432 people yesterday, and there is still a shortage of 1,500 people."

"I'll go patrol the city later and pick out some more."

Zhu Cilang shoveled all the rice mixed with soup into his mouth, then said hello to a few people and walked down the stage to the outside of the training ground. Xiang Rensheng, who had just come to his senses, also immediately followed.

"Is this meal enough to fill you up?"

"It's filling, and there's a lot of fat in it."

"How do you guys usually eat?"

"That's certainly much better."

The Chinese are different from those barbarians. The legitimacy of the rulers has always come from who can feed the people. If this can be achieved, they will naturally be supported by a large number of people.

Unfortunately, how many emperors in China over thousands of years dared to say that they could feed everyone?

“Your Highness~~~~! Your Highness~~~~~! I am Wang Quangui from the Artisan Camp!”

Zhu Cilang had just stepped down from the stage when he heard several people who were stopped by soldiers shouting loudly in the distance.

This sound would not matter at any other time, but now there are tens of thousands of people in the parade ground. The teams closer to the platform are fine, but those who are a little further away only then realized that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is still here.

"Meet His Highness the Crown Prince."

A clever little flag bearer was the first to bow down, and then the surrounding militiamen reacted and followed suit.

"what happened?"

Zhou Xiancai's team was at least dozens of feet away from the stage. When they first noticed the noise in front of them, they didn't know what was going on. Only after they heard what the people in front of them were shouting did they react and bow down.

"Meet His Highness the Crown Prince."

Looking at the strong men kneeling before him, Zhu Cilang felt mixed emotions and felt as if he was carrying a heavy burden on his shoulders.

The Chinese people have always been kind. Even though the Zhu family has turned the country into this state, they will still respect the prince as a god, hoping that he can rescue them from the crisis.

At this moment, he seemed to understand why Chongzhen chose to hang himself on Coal Hill.

If he had not made this choice voluntarily out of deep guilt towards this country, this nation, and his ancestors, could the officials in Beijing really have stopped him from moving south?

(End of this chapter)