Prince Chongzhen

Chapter 36

Although Duoduo could not be sure of the exact time when Hongguang escaped, common sense would indicate that it was no more than four or five days.

The so-called prince must have taken advantage of this opportunity to seize the military power of the defending general with the support of some people, and then sent people to ask for surrender.

In this way, although the control of Yingtian has fallen into his hands, there must still be a lot of resistance forces in the city. Otherwise, they could just wait for his army to arrive at the city and then sell themselves for a good price. Why would they send people in a hurry and lose the initiative?

Yes, in the eyes of a commander like Duoduo who had fought many battles, although his side could decide when to attack the city, the defenders of Yingtian could completely offset this with the advantage of the city. In addition, factors such as being well-rested and waiting for the enemy to tire themselves out ultimately led to the Qing army seeming to have the initiative, but in fact they did not have much advantage.

If Duoduo's army had not wanted to take advantage of the Ming army's failure to stabilize its position and tear a hole in the natural barrier of the Yangtze River in one go, it is possible that they would have returned to rest and recuperate as soon as they captured Yangzhou.

This is not surprising. The Qing army has been fighting against the Dashun army since entering the Pass. Although they have won victory after victory and rarely suffered defeat, they have won each battle with all their might.

With such an experience, even if Liu Liangzuo's troops and the original Gao Jie's troops surrendered, he only regarded it as an internal struggle. When planning the battle after crossing the river, he still considered it in the context of the Dashun Army.

On this point, not only Duoduo thought so, but the entire Qing army, except for Liu Liangzuo and others who had just surrendered, even the people of the Han Army Banner thought so.

After all, the Qing court leaders, including Duoduo, were not carried away by a series of victories and still maintained a very clear understanding of their own strength.

In comparison, the Southern Ming regime, which repeatedly misjudged the situation, was like a pig. With such an opponent, it was natural for the Manchus to clean up when they took control of China.

However, Duoduo now learned about Hongguang's escape earlier than in history, and he also misjudged the situation in Yingtian. Even though Zhu Cilang was still unsure whether he could defend Yingtian, with this effort, the process of the Qing Dynasty's unification of China would no longer be as smooth as in the past.

In fact, Duoduo's misjudgment was not intentional by Zhu Cilang. His main purpose of sending Ji Qingyuan into the Qing army camp was to let Hongguang share some of the pressure.

In the original history, Duoduo learned about Hongguang's escape only after he entered Yingtian, and then he calmly sent a large army to pursue him.

But now Yingtian has learned about this before he has acquired Duoduo, so he must make a choice between Yingtian and Hongguang.

In Zhu Cilang's opinion, there are only three options for Duoduo to consider: to attack Yingtian with all his strength, to pursue Hongguang with all his strength, or to divide the troops and act.

From the perspective of defending Yingtian, the worst of these three options is for the Qing army to attack Yingtian with all its might, but Duoduo had originally planned to do so. Could he have summoned Ultraman just because he got this news in advance?

So for Zhu Cilang, this is a deal that is sure to win him money.

As to whether the Qing army would postpone the siege because Yingtian showed signs of surrender, it was not something Zhu Cilang could control.

After leaving the Qing army camp, Ji Qingyuan began to ponder over Duoduo and Nikan's words and actions, trying to find out whether he had made any mistakes.

But to be honest, how could Ji Qingyuan, who could cry bitterly in front of Zhu Cilang, have the ability to read anything from the faces of those two people?
Ji Qingyuan sped along and thought all the way, but he still couldn't come up with anything. In the end, he could only shamelessly report all the details he remembered to Zhu Cilang.

But when he nervously told Zhu Cilang what he had seen and heard, the prince's indifferent expression left him a little confused.

"This is an open conspiracy. Even if they know you came here specifically to deliver a message, it doesn't really matter."

"What about the false surrender?"

Seeing that Ji Qingyuan still didn't understand, Zhu Cilang smiled and began to explain in detail.

The false surrender was just a half-hearted attempt. If the Qing army really delayed the siege, that would be good, but if it had no effect, that would not matter. After all, in Zhu Cilang's eyes, there was no difference between the militiamen who had been trained for ten days or half a month and those who had been trained for four or five days.

To be honest, the purpose was to train militiamen to unite the city defenders and announce to the people of Yingtian their determination to resist the Tartars.

After the explanation, Ji Qingyuan suddenly understood and had a deeper understanding of Zhu Cilang.

In his impression, Zhu Cilang was studious, inquisitive, honest and polite, but this trick of shifting the blame made him realize that the Crown Prince, who had gone through so much hardship, was no longer the pampered young man he used to be.

"But..." Ji Qingyuan sighed in his heart, and then walked out of Zhu Cilang's tent with a lot on his mind.

He knew very well that if it were not for His Highness's wisdom and strategies, Yingtian would probably be preparing to welcome the Tartars into the city, and the defeat of the Ming Dynasty would be unstoppable.

However, His Highness' actions are somewhat unscrupulous. Without the advice of loyal ministers, it will not be a good thing for the country and the people.

Thinking of this, Ji Qingyuan, who had already walked out of his tent, glanced towards the center of the camp. When he turned his head and lifted the tent curtain, the hesitation on his face had completely disappeared.

Zhu Cilang naturally didn't know that selling Hongguang had caused Ji Shidu to have so many thoughts, but even if he knew, he didn't have much energy to explain it.

It was almost midnight last night when he distributed armor and iron rods to the guards. This morning he patrolled the city again. When he finished patrolling the last section of the city wall and was ready to return to the camp, he had no choice but to go up the mountain in the dark.

By the time Ji Qingyuan left, his body was already somewhat exhausted.

He knew that the power in his hands would be dispersed to others sooner or later. If he did it all by himself, not to mention that he was injured, he would not be able to hold out for long even if he was a good person.

But what can be done?
Whoever is in a reasonable mind would entrust the right concerning his life and death to someone he has only known for three or four days at most?

What's more, many of these people had wanted to take his life or use him as a puppet.

That is why Zhu Cilang holds power firmly in his hands. Even if he has to give up some of it due to lack of time, he must always keep an eye on it to ensure that it is under his control.

But this situation won't last long.

If Yingtian City was breached by the Tartars before it could hold out for a few days, then everything would be over and there would be no need to worry about becoming a puppet.

But if he could keep the Tatars outside the city and even launch a few successful counterattacks.

As the greatest contributor to resisting the Tatar invasion, Zhu Cilang was not only able to gain the loyalty of Yingtian's military and civilians by catalyzing the war, but also to suppress those with evil intentions.

By then, the burden on my shoulders will be heavier, but I won't have to worry about everything like I do now.

Thinking of this, Zhu Cilang couldn't help but look forward to the wonderful life after the Tartars retreated, and his eyes gradually drooped.

But before he could think of the part of choosing a concubine, a series of numbers appeared in his mind one after another, and he jumped off the bed just as he was about to fall asleep.

"Oops! How could I have forgotten about this?"

(End of this chapter)