Prince Chongzhen

Chapter 30 Enemy attack?

The water flows rapidly in the west and north of Yingtian City, and there are mountains surrounding the east and south of the city. In addition, Zhu Yuanzhang had extremely strict requirements when building the city walls. Therefore, in terms of the defense capabilities of a single city, Yingtian is considered to be the best in all of China.

Strangely enough, such a majestic city was rarely able to hold its ground when attacked by the enemy.

Of course, ordinary people in Yingtian have no responsibility in this matter.

As one of the most important cities in the heart of China, whenever the enemy attacks here, it means the situation has become so bad that it is difficult to handle.

At this time, the better ones in power are still planning to trade space for time, while the worse ones are only thinking about how to preserve their own property. What else can the people without organization do except be like lambs to be slaughtered?

Fortunately, the Zhu Cilang of this time and space came from later generations. With the blessing of the great man's wisdom, he was well aware of the importance of mobilizing the masses and the unreliability of the old system. That's why he used various means to strengthen his ties with the grassroots and try to minimize the constraints of the old system.

Such an idea is difficult for people today to understand. Even experienced people like Zhu Guobi and Qian Qianyi, who had experienced the ups and downs of officialdom and the vicissitudes of life, only regarded it as the Crown Prince's precautions against a single individual after noticing some clues. They did not expect that the Crown Prince had already been on guard against the entire civil service group.

Senior officials could still sense something was amiss, but military officers at the lowest level like Li Chaodong had no other thoughts except to perform well and strive to be promoted by His Highness.

It was already late at night when they arrived at the outer city yesterday.

It was impossible to set up camp in the dark, so they could only hastily set up a few tents to spend the night.

I woke up very early this morning and started to settle down carefully.

"Open your mouth up there~~~~, and run your legs off down there~~~~."

"Wu Changrui! If you don't want to work, go find your uncle. If you want to stay here, work honestly, otherwise don't blame me for using military law!"

Li Chaodong usually just muddles through things, and when soldiers occasionally complain he pretends not to hear them. But today, as soon as the troublemaker opened his mouth, he retorted back, leaving the soldier named Wu Changrui stunned, not knowing how to respond. Even the soldiers couldn't figure out why their own captain was acting so abnormally.

Seeing this, Li Chaodong put down his work, glanced at his soldiers and continued, "I let you do whatever you want on weekdays, but now the Tartars have crossed the river, and they may arrive at the city any day. If you don't want to be wiped out like in Yangzhou, stop complaining."

To be honest, how many people in Yingtian City now don’t know what happened in Yangzhou?
However, these ordinary soldiers who came from military households had long been cut off from any path to advancement. They had been living in a muddle-headed state since birth, and almost no one had thought about what would happen in the next three or five days.

In addition, they had spent the night in the wild last night. Even though they knew the enemy was about to arrive, venting their resentment was still their top priority.

Of course, Zhu Cilang would find it difficult to understand such a mentality, but Li Chaodong had been a centurion for more than ten years and was born into a military family, so how could he not know their mentality.

"Remember, this city is for us to defend!"

After saying this, Li Chaodong picked up a few bamboo poles from the ground and set them up again without caring about the effect of his words.

His words undoubtedly hit everyone's soft spot.

The household registration system of the Ming Dynasty was extremely strict. The emperor and other nobles could escape, but they, the military households, could not and had no way to survive except to hold on.

For the next period of time, the soldiers just focused on their work and even talked less in whispers.

Although the atmosphere was depressing, people worked very quickly. It was not until someone delivered the few days' rations that the atmosphere in the camp became cheerful again.

"Sir, what day is this?"

"Five days."

"Five days?!"

"Five days."

Hearing Li Chaodong's affirmative answer, the long-faced Xiaoqi who asked the question opened his mouth wide, not knowing what to say.

Normally, the imperial court's food and wages would be extorted at every level, and if 50% to 60% could be retained when it was distributed to the soldiers, it would be considered a sign of benevolence on the part of the superiors.

But the food delivered today was 700-800 kilograms. If it was really five-day rations, then it had not been deducted. How could he not be amazed? "You can count shit," Li Chaodong kicked the little flagger who was writing on the ground, and then said, "The person who came said that there are 67 of us here, and the five-day rations are 670 kilograms."

"My Lord, why is this?"

"Your Highness has captured all those people up there, so the food he sent will naturally be sufficient."

Xiao Qi sorted out the logic behind it, but then glanced at Li Chaodong stealthily.

"Why are you looking at me? I'm just a small centurion, how can I be allowed to do such a good thing as withholding food and wages?!"

After saying that, Li Chaodong didn't care what the long-faced little flag man thought. He greeted the soldiers who were happily gathering around the food and continued working.

After this incident, the previous depression in the camp was swept away, and everyone felt much more energetic when working.

After a few more cups of tea, Li Chaodong saw that the camp had been basically set up and was about to ask people to start cooking, but at this moment he heard Wu Changrui howling at the top of his lungs.

"Sir, there's a signal from the city!"

Li Chaodong was stunned at first, but he reacted in an instant.

"Get your weapons! Go to the city!"

I don't know if it was because of his previous words or the encouragement of the full quota of food, but the soldiers who were always slow to prepare were ready in less than half an incense stick of time.

Then Li Chaodong greeted everyone and rushed towards the city wall first.

"How come they came so quickly? If it was later, when those militiamen arrived, we might be able to keep the Tartars out with the strong city, but now..."

Li Chaodong was nervous, but his pace did not slow down at all.

"Forget it. Since the Tartars have chosen this place, it is my fate. I just hope to buy some time for Your Highness to defend the inner city."

The camp was only a hundred steps away from the city wall. After Li Chaodong had thought for a while, one of his feet had already stepped onto the stairs leading to the city wall.

The only difficulty in life is death.

No matter what he thought in his heart, Li Chaodong couldn't help but stop at this point.

But in this moment of hesitation, the scene of his family being brutally tortured by the Tartars reappeared in his mind.

"It doesn't matter if they die, as long as they can survive!"

He originally thought that he was being so active just to get promoted, but only then did he realize that he was doing it just for his family.

Li Chaodong shook his head fiercely, forcibly dispelling these images, and then turned to his soldiers and shouted: "Brothers! Even if we die here, we must not let the Tartars set foot on the city wall!"

"Order!"

Li Chaodong was surprised by the firmness in the soldiers' words, but he immediately realized that his wife, children and the elderly were in the city, so were theirs as well.

Thinking of this, Li Chaodong suddenly felt relieved: It seemed like it wouldn't be a bad idea to die here with these guys.

"Kill the Tartars!"

With a loud shout, dozens of soldiers who were never treated as human beings by their superiors rushed up the city wall without hesitation. However, when they saw the people standing on the wall, they just stood there in a daze.

(End of this chapter)