Prince Chongzhen

Chapter 64 Shameless?
May 5th, 16: am

There were still few people on the street at this time, but the recruitment point outside the Ministry of Rites had already been set up.

In the past two days, the number of militiamen coming to various departments to apply for recruitment has obviously decreased, so Secretary Liu has become less idle.

However, His Highness secretly gave each of these clerks a bonus of 2 cents of silver. Even if he had no more time, he would always set up his stall outside the yamen early to avoid gossip from the officials.

In just half a day, the news that His Highness wanted to give some subsidies to everyone but was rejected by the civil officials spread among the clerks.

Under the accumulated power over the years, the clerks naturally dared not show the slightest dissatisfaction, but they could not avoid criticizing in their hearts.

When Wang Fuping distributed the silver to everyone like a thief, these people who had always been treated as tools suddenly became motivated and just wanted to earn some face for His Highness.

To be honest, although two cents of silver is not worth much, it contains the value of His Highness.

For these clerks who are looked down upon even by common people, this gesture of gratitude may be worth more than a thousand or a hundred taels of silver.

". He led the army to kill 200 in battle, captured 60, and the rest were routed!"

Just as Secretary Liu had arranged the account books and writing materials, there was a sound of horse hooves and shouts coming from afar.

Killed in battle? Captured? Totally defeated?
A fight started so soon?

Although the news that the Tartars were at the gates of the city was not known to everyone, it was no secret to Secretary Liu.

But how could it be so fast?

Although Liu Shuban was not from the Ministry of War, he knew that various preparations had to be made before attacking the city.

The Tartars started attacking as soon as they arrived. Could it be that they built the siege equipment in just half a day?
After thinking about it for a long time, he couldn't find a reasonable explanation, so fortunately he stopped thinking about it.

"Who cares? He was repelled by His Highness anyway."

In the past few days, he had already thought over Zhu Cilang's actions several times in his mind, and the only conclusion he came to was that the Tartars would definitely suffer a bloody defeat under this fortified city.

To be honest, 30 to 40 percent of this conclusion was based on trust in Zhu Cilang, but the rest was based on his many years of experience as an official.

To put it bluntly, there is not much difference between these clerks and the soldiers. They are all unwelcome. As long as they are treated properly and have a little respect, how can they still be like before?
With this strong city as a support and the soldiers fighting bravely, the Tartars are not made of steel or iron, so how could they easily take Yingtian?
Liu Shuban was naturally delighted when his guess was confirmed, but this was all within his expectations, so he didn't react too much.

While humming a little tune, he was sorting out the account books from the previous day. Just when he had finished and was about to satisfy his stomach, he heard someone talking behind him.

"What did the man who passed by earlier shout?"

Shuban Liu looked in the direction of the voice and saw an official in a green robe standing behind him, looking in the direction where the knight disappeared.

"Greetings, Mr. Huang." Secretary Liu first bowed respectfully, and then recounted in detail what he had heard.

"Two hundred killed in battle, sixty captured?"

"Yes."

"The rest are all defeated?"

"Yes."

“This, this…”

Manager Huang talked for a long time but didn't say a word. It was obvious that he was shocked by the news.

"Master Huang?"

After a while, Liu Shuban saw that he was still in a daze and could not help but remind him, but when he came to his senses, he did not return to the government office, but ran to the other end of the street. This Huang Zhushi was called Huang Duanbo, and he was the head of the Ministry of Rites and Ceremonials. In the time and space without Zhu Cilang, he would have been imprisoned in Jiangning by Duoduo for refusing to surrender, and was executed calmly more than a month later.

However, in this time and space, everything has changed dramatically. Huang Duanbo's first reaction after hearing about this was to go to his boss Qian Qianyi for confirmation.

After running for a long time, Huang Duanbo finally arrived outside the Qian Mansion. When he was about to knock on the door to pay his respects, he saw the door slowly open from the inside.

Soon after, a large group of people came out, and the leader was his superior, the Minister of Rites Qian Qianyi.

"Yingxiang, why are you here?"

"Sir, was the battle on the city won?"

"Yes, is this true? The soldiers who reported the victory were almost shouting their throats out."

Qian Qianyi had a smile on his face and his white beard fluttering as he spoke, fully demonstrating the demeanor of a leader of the literati. However, the hint of emotion revealed in his words made Huang Duanbo feel that something was wrong.

It is said that the crown prince's victory over the Tartars was a great thing. Why did the minister's words seem so
After a few more words, Huang Duanbo saw that this group of people seemed to have something to do, so he said goodbye and went back, while Qian Qianyi and the others went straight to the outer city.

Just kidding, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince went to congratulate in person after winning the battle, but how he was able to gather so many people in such a short time was unknown to others.

By this time the sky was already bright and the streets were gradually becoming lively. Influenced by the prince's victory, some people even started dancing directly on the street.

"Get out of the way! Get out of the way! Don't block the frame!"

Hearing the servant's scolding, Qian Qianyi slightly opened the curtain and said, "Don't be so, it won't hurt if we wait for a while."

"Yes."

The servant responded and stopped driving them away, but seeing this, how could the people on the street dare to block the carriage?

Soon, the road was cleared again and Qian Qianyi and his party drove out of the city again.

"Ah~~~!" Liang Yungou, the assistant minister of the Ministry of War who was traveling with Qian Qianyi, seemed to have encountered a huge difficulty. He sighed heavily and said, "Yingtian may not be able to escape the fate of Yangzhou."

"Master Jiang, please don't be like this. After all, we have won the battle, so we should be happy."

Liang Yungou was a member of the Donglin Party like him. Although they were of different ranks, they had a long-standing friendship, so Qian Qianyi was not too secretive when speaking.

"It's not like we're going to drive the Tartars back to Jiangbei. What good will that do? It will only anger the Tartars and make Yingtian's fate even worse!"

"It's over, it's over, this isn't in my house, why are you so outspoken?"

Qian Qianyi's tone was already somewhat unhappy, and Liang Yungou seemed to feel that what he said was indeed inappropriate, so he frowned and stopped talking.

Although both of them believed that surrendering directly was the best way out, they had different opinions on the details.

In Liang Yungou's opinion, these knowledgeable people should be more proactive and should not passively wait for opportunities as they are now.

But in Qian Qianyi's view, although there is only one word difference between active and passive, the dangers involved are incomparable.

What's more, Wang Fuping has been very close to the Jinyiwei in recent days. If he reveals his true identity by accident, wouldn't he be putting himself on the chopping block for nothing?
For the rest of the journey, neither of them said anything more, but just secretly figured out how to deal with the current situation.

The carriage left the inner city much faster than before. In a short while, Qian Qianyi and more than a dozen civil servants were standing on the city wall.

But when they saw the nobles kneeling on the ground, no matter whether they were thinking actively or passively, they couldn't help but curse in their hearts: "Shameless!"

(End of this chapter)