Prince Chongzhen

Chapter 3 Posture
"I am here! Who is coming?!"

The voice was not full of energy, and because the body was in the voice change period, it even made people want to laugh, but it was this voice that made the original noise suddenly quiet down.

The strong men who were searching in the cell were at a loss when they saw the young man with bloodstains all over his body appear in front of them.

For these poor people living in the market, even though the young man is in prison, his identity as a prince is still a great deterrent.

Of course, this deterrent effect is only for these men who make a living by their physical strength. It is hard to say how much effect it can have on a leader like Chen Si who has seen the world.

After a while, a tall and strong man came up to Zhu Cilang surrounded by a crowd of people.

Looking at the young man in front of him, the man hesitated for a moment and then bowed slightly. Then, without waiting for Zhu Cilang to speak, he stood up and said, "My name is Chen Si. I heard that the emperor was frightened by the Tartars and fled overnight, so I brought my brothers to ask the prince to take charge of the situation."

"How dare you! How dare you disrespect His Majesty! I think you are a Tartar spy!"

As soon as these words were spoken, Chen Si stood there in a daze, not knowing how to respond.

In his opinion, Zhu Cilang had been imprisoned for several months and must be full of resentment towards Hongguang. At this moment, he would do anything to rescue him.

But who would have thought that before I could even finish my words he would actually scold me for this!
Chen Si couldn't help but think in his heart: "Is this prince stupid? He is still speaking for the tyrant emperor."

Zhu Cilang naturally harbored resentment towards Hongguang, but after all, he was the emperor and represented the majesty of the royal family.

If these people have completely lost their respect for the royal family, then what does his status as a prince mean?
Chen Si was still in a daze, but the shorter, red-faced man next to him knelt on the ground and explained, "Your Highness, it's unfair! His Majesty left the city last night, and many people saw it with their own eyes when Lord Ma and the other gentlemen left the city this morning."

Chen Si heard the words, and although he did not kneel on the ground like the red-faced man, he also said: "Your Highness, we have a heart to serve our country, and the sun and the moon can bear witness to it!"

Zhu Cilang ignored Chen Si and turned to look at the red-faced man: "Who are you?"

"I am a commoner, Xiang Rensheng, making a living as a laborer in the north of the city."

"Have you checked the matter of His Majesty's tour?"

"No, but the whole city is full of them."

Seeing Xiang Rensheng's hesitation in answering, Zhu Cilang shouted again before he could finish his words: "Such a serious matter, you dared to gather a group and break into the prison of the Ministry of War without any investigation. Do you think the law of the country is nothing?!"

In the eyes of others, dozens of strong men in the cell were so scared of making a sound by the shouting of Zhu Cilang, the fallen phoenix.

But Zhu Cilang, the person involved, knew that creating such a scene was just a trick.

If he had not heard the conversation between Wang Fuping and the other man before, he would not have known the details of these people, and would not have concluded that only a very small number of them had such ignorant thoughts.

Based on this, as long as he maintains the status of the crown prince, these people will not dare to act rashly in the short term.

Of course, this short period of time is really a short period of time. Once Chen Si, the leader, comes to his senses, he can only leave it to fate.

At this point, no laborer dared to respond, and Chen Si's eyes flashed, obviously intending to say something to reverse this somewhat passive situation.

Zhu Cilang's mind was as clear as a mirror, so how could he give him this opportunity? "I know you are not the kind of people who would cause trouble, but you are acting too rashly. If His Majesty is still in the city, can't the imperial army destroy you even if they can't defeat the Tartars? How can I save you then?"

"Fourth brother, His Highness is right, let's send someone to take a look."

When Xiang Rensheng said this, Zhu Cilang secretly said in his heart that he was a good teammate, but Chen Si had a gloomy face and just hummed.

He mingled among the people in the market and had extensive contacts in the city. He had already received the news as soon as Hongguang left the city last night.

To be fair, at first he was just worried about the impending war, but during that night, the phrases often heard by storytellers, such as "using the emperor to command the princes" and "Are kings, princes, generals, and ministers of different species?" kept appearing in his mind.

At dawn, when the news of the escape of the elders and lords came, he could no longer suppress his ambition. In his plan, as long as he had the crown prince in his hands, with the more than a thousand strong men under his command and the complicated network of relationships, it would be no problem to raise a team.

By then, Chen Si might be able to make a name for himself like Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong.

The future is so bright, but who knew that some small problems would arise as soon as he met the real owner.

Not only was the prince not grateful, he even scolded himself for just one sentence.

This performance was beyond Chen Si's expectations.

But these are not big problems. The emperor and the ministers did escape. If the fallen phoenix still treats him like this when the people who investigate come back, then he will naturally not be as polite as he is now. However, his brothers are all honest people, so he needs to carefully consider how to proceed.

Thinking of this, Chen Si stopped talking and stood upright in front of Zhu Cilang, while he and Xiang Rensheng continued to chat about family matters.

“What is the current price of grain?”

"To reply to Your Highness, yesterday the price of a dou in Li's shop was 190 wen."

"Then your income can probably provide food and clothing for your family?"

Xiang Rensheng was obviously a little embarrassed when he heard the question, but under Zhu Cilang's encouraging eyes, he still said shyly: "To answer your Highness, when I was working hard, I could earn 500 to 600 coins a month. I didn't starve before, but in recent years."

As he spoke, Xiang Rensheng's voice became softer, and it was obvious that his life had been quite difficult in recent years.

"Is it because of the imperial court's taxes?" Zhu Cilang's voice became noticeably softer.

"It's not all because of the court's taxes, but also natural disasters and bandits. Anyway, there are fewer and fewer jobs and the price of grain is getting higher and higher." Xiang Rensheng stopped talking here, but before Zhu Cilang could ask anything else, he added, "These days, Mr. Li has raised the price of grain by more than a hundred wen, leaving no room for survival!"

When whispers were heard in the prison, it was clear that everyone was suffering from the rising food prices.

"The people were in such a difficult situation, the late emperor always thought it was because he was not diligent enough, but he only slept for three or two hours a day, and even had no meals on weekdays." Zhu Cilang raised his sleeves to wipe the corners of his eyes in the surprised eyes of everyone, and then continued: "Don't be afraid of being laughed at by you, the late emperor's inner clothes may not be as good as those of Fourth Brother Chen."

As soon as the words fell, there were bursts of exclamations from the crowd.

He gave a bitter smile and continued, "There have been constant natural disasters and wars over the years. I thought the Ming Dynasty had run out of luck, but after living among the people, I realized that most of the military expenses and disaster relief funds saved by my father went into the pockets of officials at all levels. That's why..."

Zhu Cilang certainly had no idea how Chongzhen was living, but there was no news from Wang Fuping at all. He could only use his shared hatred for the enemy against the superiors to put himself and these men on the same front in case of emergency.

If Chen Si really uses force on himself later, maybe someone will stand up because of what he said.

Even if that hope is very slim.

"Your Highness, as long as you give the order, I will bring the heads of those corrupt officials to me!"

"Yes! Your Highness, there are still many corrupt officials in the city now!"

The atmosphere in the prison became increasingly tense, and the simple men simply believed that life would be better if they killed all the corrupt officials in the world.

"Be quiet, don't disturb the prince."

Chen Si said this lightly, and the prison became quiet again.

Then he turned to Zhu Cilang as if he wanted to say something, but a burst of noise was heard outside the door again.

"Something bad happened!"

(End of this chapter)