Prince Chongzhen

Chapter 58 Farewell
The sound of beacon fires meant that they were under attack, and if beacons were sounded at all the gates in the southeast, it meant that the entire Tartar army had been dispatched.

What made the Tatars launch a full-scale attack under such circumstances?

According to the gentlemen in the camp in the north of the city, the only thing that could have caused the Tartars to create such a situation was the fall of Yaofang Gate.

As the soldiers left, the military tent, which had been filled with a lively atmosphere, fell into complete silence.

Even Zhu Guobi, who wished Zhu Cilang would die in the outer city, closed his mouth with a grim face.

Seeing this, Yue Qijie, who had been silent since entering the camp, finally spoke.

"No matter what you think, you must defend the inner city before making any plans. Otherwise..."

When Yue Qijie was the governor of Henan, his main job was to sort out the relationship between Gao Jie's troops and the imperial court. However, on the way to the expedition, Gao Jie was lured and killed by Xu Dingguo.

Subsequently, Xu Dingguo led 50,000 troops to surrender to the Qing Dynasty. In order to protect themselves, Gao Jie's troops were at loggerheads with the other three towns. Shi Kefa's plan to march into Henan and control the Yellow River defense line was completely thwarted.

Afterwards, Shi Kefa retreated to Yangzhou, and the troops of Liu Liangzuo and Gao Jie in Jiangbei surrendered to the Qing Dynasty. Liu Zeqing abandoned his troops and fled to the sea. Duoduo gained a large tract of land in Jiangbei without losing a single soldier.

It took only two months from the time the vanguard troops entered Henan on February 24th to the time Duoduo led the army to arrive at the city of Yangzhou on April 17th.

But in just over fifty days, he traveled thousands of miles with only more than 30,000 Eight Banners troops. It really makes people wonder whether we should admire the swiftness of the Eight Banners troops or praise the hospitality of the Southern Ming and the proper arrangements of the officials of the time.

Everything that happened during this period has its own comments, but as a starting point, Yue Qijie believes that it was because he failed to stop Gao Jie that all this happened.

Therefore, after returning to Yingtian, he was depressed and seriously ill.

After Hongguang fled and his fellow villager Ma Shiying abducted most of the garrison troops in Yingtian, he became even more disheartened and was like a walking corpse.

If things had continued along the original trajectory, he would have eventually died of depression not long after Yingtian surrendered, but at this time.

Everyone present was a pillar of the Ming Dynasty. Although they felt that Yue Qijie's words were veiled, they could not deny that what he said was indeed a top priority.

But now the situation has changed, and we still have to think again about what to do that is in the best interest of our own.

"Your Excellency Yue is right. If we are defeated by the Tartars in one battle, everything will be over!"

Zhu Guobi glanced at Qian Qianyi who was still talking. Although he couldn't help sneering in his heart, he became more and more excited: "No matter what, the soldiers in the outer city still need to be gathered, and the news about His Highness needs to be inquired. I will take this task. Goodbye!"

As he spoke, he bowed slightly to everyone and strode out, which made people think of "The wind is whistling and the Yishui River is cold."

"Since you are willing to take the risk yourself, I, an old minister, should also do my best." When everyone was still amazed at Zhu Guobi's righteousness, Qian Qianyi also expressed his plan: "It will be dawn in a while, and the matter of stabilizing people's hearts will be left to me. Goodbye."

Although Yue Qijie was not sure what the two men were planning, he absolutely did not believe that their only intention was to stop the Tartars.

But it doesn’t matter. As long as the Tartars launch an offensive, the inner city will probably not be able to be defended.

By then, he would have gone to see the late emperor. What did these monsters and ghosts want to do to him?

But Your Highness is too stubborn. If you could abandon Yingtian and then slowly work things out, maybe...

In the eyes of Yu Yingtian's other noble ministers, Zhu Cilang was even more resolute than the late emperor, but in his own opinion, everything was just forced by the situation.

Just like this act of snatching the sword and charging into the battle line, if he had not used this move to inspire his soldiers, the Tartars would have killed him in no time.

Therefore, instead of letting the Tartars come to kill them, it is better to take the initiative to kill them. In the end, it is just a matter of death. What difference does it make if it is a little earlier or later? However, with Zhu Cilang's prestige in the army, how can the soldiers let His Royal Highness the Crown Prince rush in front of them?
"Your Highness! You must not do this!"

"Protect His Highness!"

"Your Highness! Danger!"

"Your Highness can't!"

Just when he was about to charge into his own army, several soldiers rushed up and surrounded him.

But then again, daring to surround His Royal Highness the Crown Prince and persuade him was already the limit of what the soldiers could do. How could they dare to really use force?
In this way, every time Zhu Cilang took a step forward, the soldiers surrounding him would follow suit, and every time they got closer to the battle formation, more soldiers would join in.

By the time the few people in front had made contact with the back row of the battle formation, Zhu Cilang was surrounded by at least thirty or forty people.

Seeing that His Highness had no reaction to his persuasion and just held his sword and moved forward desperately, a tall and thin soldier simply stopped trying to stop him and shouted to the people around him:
"If it weren't for Your Highness, how could we dare to hope to have a full stomach? Now that Your Highness is determined to move forward, I will fight my way out even if it costs my life!"

After saying this, the soldier bowed to Zhu Cilang and then squeezed into the depths of the army formation.

"Not bad! Your Highness treats us as human beings, and we will clear the enemies in front of Your Highness! Farewell!"

"take leave!"

"take leave!"

"take leave!"

With each farewell, the area around Zhu Cilang gradually became empty.

Soldiers merged into the formation one by one, and the scattered formation gradually became denser.

To be honest, isn't what Zhu Cilang has been doing these days just to make the soldiers fight forward to the death at this time?

But when this moment really came, he finally realized that he had overestimated himself.

How can a soul from this world of pleasure endure such enthusiasm?
Is it for nothing that Zhu Cilang has earned the reputation of being a tough guy?
All the soldiers under his command have already rushed forward, so how can he allow himself to fall behind?

"take leave!"

He roared like the soldiers and moved forward with his sword in hand. Only then did he realize that the army formation, which was only three or five steps away from him, had actually moved forward several steps.

To say that this was expected would be sheer nonsense, but to say how surprised Zhu Cilang was would also be somewhat untrue.

The Tatars who climbed the city wall must have been well-equipped and well-trained. No matter from which angle you look at it, they were able to crush the Yingtian defenders.

But do they have three heads and six arms? Do they have magic to protect them?

If not, if one cannot defeat them, send in three. If three cannot defeat them, send in ten. They are mortals after all. They will get tired, hurt, afraid and timid. As long as the defenders are fearless and brave, the Tartars will never be able to seize the city gate with just such a small number of people!
just.

The huge gap in strength will eventually require human lives to fill. Even though the Ming army in the battle group no longer cares about their own life or death, Xu Renjue, who is at the front, still feels tremendous pressure.

What made him most depressed was that most of this pressure came from his own comrades.

(End of this chapter)