Prince Chongzhen

Chapter 96: The Dianshi Plan
The name Yan Yingyuan was well-known to Zhu Cilang.

Tens of thousands of volunteers held off the Qing army for 81 days. If the city walls had not been destroyed by heavy artillery, it is unknown whether Jiangyin would have become a fishing city again.

However, at that time, he was just a minor official who had just entered the ninth rank. Let alone being famous throughout China, he was probably not known to everyone in Jiangyin County.

Of course, this did not prevent Zhu Cilang from confirming the authenticity of the news based solely on Yan Yingyuan.

The reason is very simple. If Zhu Baozi was really a Tartar spy, how could he know the name of Yan Yingyuan?
As for whether it was a trap set by the Tartars.
If Yan Yingyuan was not absolutely sure, would he not have paid such a heavy price for spreading the news into the city?

In short, he believed in Yan Yingyuan's judgment.

So the question is, how can we make good use of this opportunity?

According to Yan Yingyuan's idea, although the number of Ming troops in the city and Qing troops outside the city was not much different at this time, the huge gap in combat power was difficult to make up for in numbers. In this situation, he could only resort to surprise tactics.

As for what kind of trick it is.
In the end it was just a night attack.

"Your Highness, this must be a conspiracy of the Tartars. Don't believe it."

Zhu Baozi explained the whole story again in front of Zhu Cilang's trusted ministers, but before he finished speaking, the battle-hardened Chang Guanlin jumped out.

His reason was actually not much different from what Zhu Cilang had thought before. He just didn't believe that Duoduo, who had been fighting for half his life, would divide his troops at this time.

Zhu Cilang naturally understood this idea very well.

Although it was understandable, he now felt somewhat helpless except for trying his best to guide them.

"I seem to have seen a memorial from my father some time ago, which seemed to say that the Jiangyin Dianshi had great experience in judging the enemy's situation. I don't know if it was referring to this Yan Yingyuan."

"Yes, yes, yes. My master has been serving as the governor of Jiangyin for many years. The memorial must be referring to my master."

As soon as Zhu Cilang finished speaking, Zhu Baozi hurriedly agreed, and the news became more credible because of the words in the memorial.

Are you kidding? A small official like him could hear directly from the emperor, so his ability to judge the enemy's situation must be outstanding. Otherwise, do you really think that the ministers of the Ming Dynasty all loved to chat with the emperor in memorials like those of the Qing Dynasty?
"In that case, the news is credible."

Xu Yinjue responded and turned his gaze to Chang Guanlin and Yue Qiji, then closed his mouth tightly.

Although he had never actually led troops, he knew that without the support of combat experience, all decisions made were basically just talk and had no practical value.

Among those present, Xu Yu and Qian Qianyi are needless to say. His Highness probably only called them to express his approval.

Although I and His Highness have been in battle, one has seen battle and the other has read military books, to be frank, I am only slightly stronger than the other two.

After much thought, the only people who could express their opinions on this matter were Chang Guanlin and Yue Qijie.

Knowing that they were entrusted with great expectations, Chang Yue and the other two had no intention of hiding their abilities and expressed their ideas without waiting for others to urge them.

"Night attack!"

"Sneak attack!"

After the words fell, the two smiled at each other. Although their wording was different, the meanings they wanted to express were not much different.

Since the only two people present who had some military knowledge expressed the same opinion as Yan Yingyuan, everyone felt that the matter had been roughly settled, and the rest was just specific matters such as choosing a time to mobilize troops.

Just when they were about to give the Tartars a taste of their own medicine, Qian Qianyi, who had been keeping an eye on His Highness, noticed something unusual in his expression.

"May I ask Your Highness, is there anything wrong?"

As soon as the words fell, everyone turned their eyes to Zhu Cilang. Only then did they realize that the newly promoted Regent seemed to be troubled by something. "Your Highness?"

"Wait a minute, let me think about it."

Xu Yu asked, but Zhu Cilang just frowned and waved his hand.

In this case, everyone stopped asking questions and just waited quietly for him to figure it out.

"There's no problem with a night raid."

After a while, Zhu Cilang finally spoke, but what he said made everyone present a little confused.

If it is correct, then what are you thinking about?
"What purpose do we want to achieve through the night attack?"

The more Zhu Cilang asked, the more confused everyone became:

The purpose of a night attack is naturally to strike at the Tartars in order to weaken the enemy and boost morale. Could it be to send midnight snacks to the Tartars?
"To put it another way, how far should we go in this night raid?"

"Your Highness, of course we will kill as many Tartars as we can."

Zhu Baozi has learned to answer quickly, but Zhu Cilang could only smile bitterly after listening to him.

"You see, since we moved south, our dynasty has not put any effort into strategy. At most, the court decided to defend Jianghuai and arranged for four garrisons to be stationed here.

As for how to defend and what to do if it fails, there is no detailed plan.

That’s why they were so flustered after Gao Jie was killed, and eventually all the troops in several towns fell to the Tartars.”

Hearing these words, no one knew what others would think, but Yue Qijie, the person involved, clenched his teeth and his heart was in turmoil.

No one knew better than him how great the connection was between Gao Jie's murder and the fall of Jianghuai.

Similarly, no one has hypothesized more times than he has what would happen if the court had changed its response after Gao Jie was killed.

Of course, assumptions are just assumptions after all. Once something has happened, even if a god came, he would be powerless to reverse the situation.

In the end, Shi Kefa made Gao Jie's son recognize the eunuch as his godfather.

After the Yellow River defense line was lost, the town commanders would still be ordered to defend it to the death.

But when he heard what Zhu Cilang said, he realized, what if all these assumptions were put forward before things happened?
Shi Kefa would probably still despise Gao's troops for their "bandit" origin, and the town commanders would probably remain the same as before.

But if we can make some arrangements in advance, we won't be so confused and at a loss even if we are unable to change the situation.

"I understand!"

Zhu Cilang didn’t know whether Yue Qijie really understood the meaning of his words, but judging from his expression, he probably understood.

He had not actually studied the strategic issues of the Hongguang court, but as Yue Qijie was the only provincial governor under his command, Zhu Cilang would naturally make a point to learn about his past.

Don't ask, don't know, I'm startled when I ask.

After some investigation, he realized that the Hongguang emperor and his ministers only wanted to "use the enemy to suppress the bandits", and never thought about how to deal with it if the enemy turned their butcher knives against them after suppressing the bandits.

This made him realize the strategic level of the Hongguang court.

But then again, Yingtian was originally a place similar to exile for the elderly, and it was a bit difficult for such a group of people to deal with such a change.
(End of this chapter)