Strategy for the Revitalization of the Late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 19 Military Power
Zhu Cilang must have direct control over the army in his own hands. This is his bottom line, especially since he has just recruited such a powerful general with extremely high prestige in the army.

Trust is one thing, but taking no necessary action is foolish. The true test of a leader's ability lies in how to strike the right balance in this process.

For a prince to win over the hearts of the people, it is definitely not enough to just kill someone and give a few words of encouragement. Rewards with real money are necessary. This is the most basic and also the most effective method.

At the same time, Zhu Cilang naturally wanted to take this opportunity to "reward the three armies" to personally meet with these newly recruited soldiers and let them dispel their concerns - His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has made a promise that even if he borrows money, he will reward and pay them, and his other promises are not empty words.

This is crucial for him to establish his prestige in the army.

Seeing this, Li Banghua knew that his own prince was trying to win people over. He immediately became dramatic, clasped his hands together, and came forward to persuade him:

"Your Highness, the wilderness is fraught with danger. It is not advisable to linger for long! If the scouts of the intruders discover us, the consequences will be disastrous. As for the reward, I think it is best to wait until daybreak."

"What are you afraid of?" Zhu Cilang immediately understood what he meant.

Li Banghua might have said something like this on the day of breaking out of the city, but now, the old man was completely convinced by him as the crown prince, so what he said now naturally had other deeper meanings.

So, he immediately echoed the other party:
"All the soldiers are fearless, so why should I be afraid? If I don't even have this little bit of courage, wouldn't it be a joke to tell others? How can I lead the three armies and suppress the rebels in the future?"

"I think your Highness is absolutely right!"

Chen Fu smiled inwardly upon hearing this, then he also clasped his hands and said:

"I have already dispatched four night guards within a ten-mile radius. If there is any enemy activity, they will immediately sound the alarm. The General Secretary does not need to worry."

These are all acting geniuses!

"Very good, you've thought it through, arranged it properly, and it's watertight. I was right. General Chen is truly a rare and talented general! When we get to Yingtian Prefecture, I'll definitely promote you. Let alone a mere battalion commander, even a general commander of a town or an admiral of an army would be nothing."

As soon as Zhu Cilang opened his mouth, he mentioned hot pancakes, which stunned even a smart man like Chen Fu. The latter quickly knelt on one knee on the ground, ignoring the tightness of his armor and belt, and saluted with a military salute to thank the emperor for his grace.

After this performance, Zhu Cilang distributed all the borrowed gold and silver. Except for Li Laoer and his seven confidants, the remaining sixty-three people, as well as Zhu Cilang's original twenty-four guards, all received a share.

After personally distributing the rewards, Zhu Cilang's relationship with these soldiers was completely different. This was the emperor's grace, which in this era could not be underestimated. It was also one of Zhu Cilang's greatest reliances on this journey south.

Soon, under Chen Fu's personal protection, the group rested for a night in a nearby deserted village. Zhu Cilang personally arranged the duty and alert for that night.

At the same time, Zhu Cilang quickly summoned Li Banghua, Chang Denggui, Zhou Shixian, Chen Fu, and Lin Changfeng, and held a military meeting overnight. Taking the opportunity of assigning escort tasks, he immediately redistributed the three groups of troops in the current army.

Chen Fu still led his old subordinates, and Li Laoer's troops and Zhu Cilang were directly assigned to him. Chen Denggui and Zhou Shixian also continued to lead their old subordinates, and then supplemented their troops according to the allocation of escort tasks.

Zhu Cilang was blatantly trying to split up Chen Fu's subordinates, especially Chen Fu and Chang Denggui, who were responsible for the front and back of the team respectively, and Zhou Shixian was responsible for the two wings. He had to withdraw at least ten Nightmares from his team to reinforce them.

Chang Denggui had been craving the Three Thousand Night Guards since breaking out of the capital, and now he finally got them, though he was a little worried about Chen Yanluo's resistance. And because Li Laoer's men were still under Chen Fu's command, this trip and return had invisibly weakened his absolute advantage over the guards.

After all, he had only 38 men under his command. The reason why Li Laoer's eyes lit up when he saw the 20 or so men under Chen Denggui and Zhou Shixian, and why he was eager to show off and win the two over, was because he thought that his own men plus this group of men would be able to defeat Chen Fu.

Secondly, Zhu Cilang wanted to reorganize his own personal guard and select soldiers from various departments. Chen Fu's subordinates, Li Laoer's old subordinates, and Zhou Shixian's subordinates were naturally the focus of the transfer.

Lin Changfeng is naturally the commander of his personal guard, and this warrior has the absolute support of his younger brother.

Of course, Chen Fu knew what the Crown Prince, who had just called him a good general and wanted to give him the titles of general and admiral, was thinking.

However, the more Zhu Cilang acted like this, the more at ease he felt - decisive and resolute, this was the style of an emperor, and he was not wrong about him.

If Zhu Cilang were still hesitant and hesitant in this situation, fearing both the wolf in front and the tiger behind, he would really need to reconsider his choice. His life was now practically in the hands of the other party.

Chang Denggui had heard about how tough Chen Fu was, and now he was very surprised to see him being so docile and obedient in front of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince.

He was a little worried when he heard Zhu Cilang suddenly announce the adjustment of troops, but now it seems that it was completely unnecessary. His Highness is worthy of being the Crown Prince of the Ming Dynasty!

After a night of rest, Zhu Cilang led his escort of nearly a hundred cavalrymen southward the next day, heading straight for Qing County. With so many cavalrymen at his disposal, each with two horses, he wasn't afraid even if he encountered a Shun army detachment of a thousand men.

There were no cities they had to enter or supplies they had to obtain along the way, and the journey was not far, so at noon that day, they entered the territory of Qing County.

Qing County is located in the eastern part of the Jidong Plain and belongs to Hejian Prefecture. It is backed by Jinghai in the north and Cangzhou in the south. It has a very advantageous geographical location. The Grand Canal, the economic artery of the Ming Dynasty, also passes through the county.

Thanks to the convenience brought by the canal and the flat and fertile land, the local products were abundant and merchants gathered. Before the Manchus invaded the Great Wall six times, all industries were thriving and the population was dense.

Since Chongzhen ascended the throne, unrest in various places has intensified. When the officers and soldiers were weak and unable to protect, many rural clans in Qingxian, Cangzhou and other old areas of Yan and Qi, where the people were tough, chose to build strongholds to protect themselves and organize local armed forces, which were no different from those Zhu Cilang had encountered before, except that they were a little larger in scale.

Of course, there were also many people who joined the army, such as serving as soldiers in the Beijing camp near the north. These villagers who had practiced martial arts and strengthened their bodies since childhood were very popular in the army, and most of them became servants and guards of generals and officers.

The soldier under Chang Denggui had such an origin. It was only after Zhu Cilang learned about the basic situation of Qing County from him that he finally decided to board the boat here and go south along the canal.

At the same time, he had sent people to investigate the latest situation in Qing County last night. Now there was only a newly arrived Shun Dynasty county magistrate in Qing County, with more than 300 Shun soldiers and 700 to 800 Ming soldiers who surrendered on the spot. They were all infantry and their combat effectiveness was almost negligible.

Zhu Cilang had no need to enter the city. He now had nearly a hundred fully armed cavalrymen. If he wanted to buy food, most villages would not dare to refuse him, and there was no need to alarm the defenders.

You should know that Jinghai County, less than a hundred miles north of Qing County, is home to thousands of elite Shun troops, led by Hao Yaoqi, a famous general in the late Ming Dynasty. Especially since the enemy has cavalry under their command, the consequences would be disastrous if they were entangled by this army.

(End of this chapter)