Prince Chongzhen

Chapter 9 Help
"Xu Yu has met Duke Wei, and Xu Yu has met Duke Bao."

Mr. Xu is extremely polite and is truly a role model for teachers.

"Master Xu is too polite."

Zhu Guobi greeted Xu Yu warmly, but Xu Yinjue noticed that the young man dressed as a prisoner behind him did not even greet him.

If you don't want to be polite, then don't be polite.

Xu Yinjue was so troubled that he had no time to care about these things.
"I wonder what Mr. Xu is doing today..."

Hearing the question, Xu Yu turned his head to look behind him, but the words of the young man in prison clothes made the two dukes laugh in anger.

"I have come here to save the lives of the two dukes and their families."

Xu Yinjue is in his thirties. Although he is no longer young and energetic, how many people have dared to speak like this in front of him since he was born?
Just as he was about to call his attendants to drag the lunatic away, the old wily man took the initiative to say, "Who is this young man?"

"My Lord, do you know the Crown Prince from the North?"

"Is it the fake guy named Wang Zhiming?" Zhu Guobi sneered, but his eyes kept glancing at Zhu Cilang.

However, Xu Yinjue took a look and no longer paid attention to the fake product. Instead, he focused his attention on Xu Yu's real purpose.

Zhu Cilang noticed these reactions and had some understanding of these two people. Then he said proudly:

"Everyone knows whether it is true or not. Duke, you should think more about how to protect your life and property."

Zhu Cilang answered confidently, but the two dukes seemed not to have heard him. They were only thinking about their own affairs and forgot to respond to his rudeness.

Xu and Zhu certainly had their own opinions on the matter of the Crown Prince coming from the north, but this meant nothing. After all, in their hearts, their own foundation was the most important.

Moreover, the Tartars had already crossed the river. Even if all the civil and military officials in the court recognized him as the true prince, what would it matter? Could he still drive the Tartars across the river?

After a moment, Zhu Guobi's face turned grim, and then he said in a deep voice: "Master Xu, are you here to entertain us?"

Actively asking is seeking advice, while passively responding is explaining.

Although Zhu Cilang was able to speak out his prepared remarks in the end, different approaches would have a subtle impact on the status of both parties in subsequent cooperation.

"Are the two dukes planning to surrender to the Tartars?"

"presumptuous!"

The light tone completely angered Xu Yinjue.

He was planning to surrender to the Qing Dynasty, but it was a helpless move. If he had enough chances, who would give up his position as a Duke?
Zhu Cilang ignored the angry Xu Yinjue and continued to talk to Zhu Guobi: "A wise bird chooses a good tree to roost in, but is the Tartar really a good place to go?"

"Are there any other options?"

"Of course there are choices."

If there is really a choice of emperor and prime minister, would you make yourself like a stray dog?

Zhu Guobi snorted and leaned back in his armchair with his eyes closed, apparently having lost interest in continuing the conversation.

"How to choose?" Xu Yinjue, who had been ignored before, seemed to be interested in this sentence.

"The Duke wants to surrender to the Qing. No matter how you put it, it's just that he feels that he can't defend the country. If he flees, he will encounter this kind of situation sooner or later. It's better to surrender while he is still valuable. Then the Tartars will treat him well in order to win people's hearts."

"You can see clearly."

Zhu Cilang ignored Zhu Guobi's ridicule and continued, "But you two are wrong. You can't be horse bones."

"Ok?"

"Ok?"

Two voices sounded at the same time, but they didn't say anything else, just stared at Zhu Cilang.

"One horse bone is enough. The extra ones can be made into fertilizer."

"Doesn't necessarily mean that the excess should be made into fertilizer?"

"If the year is good, of course it's not necessary. In recent years, the Tartars may think that there is not enough fertilizer."

Zhu Guobi never expected to become horse bones, all they wanted was to avoid being made into fat. But for a rich man like a noble, they could eat a whole stomach by slaughtering one, even if the Tartar emperor could bear it, how could the people below bear it?

"Oh, by the way, I heard that Dorgon, Duoduo and Cao Cao have the same hobby, that is, the beautiful wives of Tartar officials will regularly enter their houses." After saying this, Zhu Cilang glanced at Xu Yinjue as if inadvertently.

"Could it be that the rumors about Huang Taiji's widow and Fan Wencheng's family are true?!" The old man Xu Yu arrived in time to assist.

"boom!"

Xu Yinjue slapped him hard, then gnashed his teeth and cursed: "You are worse than a beast!"

Zhu Cilang saw that Xu Yinjue was not too old and must have a beautiful wife at home. Originally, he just wanted to take advantage of him, but seeing his reaction now...

The relationship between husband and wife should be good.

Zhu Guobi looked helplessly at the furious Duke Wei, and he no longer had the mood to make any more witty remarks.

"I can't go left or right, do I still have to defend?"

"Please understand, Lord Baoguo."

"What the hell!"

Zhu Guobi swept the tea bowl on the table, then stood up and paced back and forth in the room.

"I shouldn't have seen you today!"

"I was thinking of making some contributions, and then distributing my wealth to keep my family safe."

"But who can protect themselves when they are forced to spend all their wealth?!"

"What's more, they are Tartars who are no different from beasts!"

"Now that you have escaped from prison, you should find a place to spend the rest of your life. Why bother disturbing my mind again?!"

"I can neither advance nor retreat now, what do you want me to do?!"

Zhu Guobi took a few steps forward and pointed at the smiling Zhu Cilang and cursed him. Such behavior shocked both Xu Yu and Xu Yinjue.

In the minds of court officials, Zhu Guobi has always been a representative of smoothness and cunningness. No one has ever seen him lose his composure like this.

But the harder he cursed, the bigger the smile on Zhu Cilang's face.

Why did he let Xu Yu bring him to the Duke's Mansion? And any one of them would do?

In the final analysis, it was just hitting the weak spots of the nobles.

In the minds of this group of people, loyalty to the emperor and patriotism cannot outweigh family inheritance.

For this reason, they could persuade Hongguang to flee and surrender to the Qing Dynasty without any psychological pressure, but the root cause was that they felt that there was completely no hope for the Ming Dynasty.

Since the beginning of the chaos in the Southern Ming Dynasty, these people have lost confidence in the ministers, the court, and the emperor.

Now that Hongguang has escaped, even the last bit of his thought has been completely wiped out.

If they were in their shoes, how desperate would they be when they thought that their family’s century-old foundation would be destroyed in their own hands? How desperate would they be when they valued family inheritance more than their own lives?
Despair means seizing every opportunity that comes your way, no matter how illusory it may be.

Now, surrendering to the Qing Dynasty and distributing their wealth are the only opportunities they have found through self-hypnosis.

What Zhu Cilang had to do was to wake them up from their self-hypnosis and completely shatter their fantasies about the Tartars.

But this doesn't require much effort. As long as we make the matter clear, do we still need to worry that you dukes have not read history?

In history, was there any nobleman of the previous dynasty who had not made any contribution to the new dynasty and could live in peace?
As for Xu Yinjue, this Duke of Wei who is still in the stage of despair, let him savor it slowly.

After pacing and cursing for a long time, Zhu Guobi could only say a few words.

Zhu Cilang watched him go from walking briskly to breathing rapidly, and finally slumping in the armchair, muttering to himself. He also realized that it was time to move on to the second stage.

"It doesn't mean that Yingtian can't be defended, and it doesn't mean that the Tartars can't be driven back to Jiangbei. By then, you will still be the Duke of Ming!"

(End of this chapter)