Strategy for the Revitalization of the Late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 2: Restoring the Majesty of the Heavenly Family
Relying on his understanding of history and Ming Dynasty military, Zhu Cilang traveled to this time and space yesterday. After figuring out his situation, he already had a rough plan in mind to break out to the south.

The Shun army was sure that Beijing would soon be captured, and their unstoppable advance, especially the major victory of successfully capturing the outer city of Beijing after two days of siege, had already clouded Li Zicheng's mind.

For Zhu Cilang, this is the last chance to escape from the desperate situation.

He saw the change in Chang Denggui's expression, and then he smiled again and said soothingly:

"It should be two or three hours before the rebels break into the city. We should move quickly. Once the rebels break through the west and north gates, we will immediately break out from the east.

When the time comes, you can put on a robe over your armor. If you don't look carefully, even if you are discovered by the scouts of the rebel army, they will just think you are the servants of a wealthy family in the capital. They will definitely not make a big fuss and send a large number of troops to pursue you.

Li Zicheng has gathered so many surrendered soldiers along the way, and his army has expanded to over a hundred thousand. It will be impossible to control them all in a short period of time. When they enter the city, the situation will be chaotic. There are no trenches dug outside the city, so this is our opportunity."

"Your Highness has been prepared for this!" Chang Denggui said in surprise. He did not expect Zhu Cilang's plan to be so thorough.

Zhu Cilang smiled, looking confident that everything was under control, and then ordered:

"Wang Zhixin originally wanted to surrender and even wanted to hold me hostage. You can rob the palace as you please. If you can catch him, you can kill him.

But tell your brothers to only take the gold and horses. When you arrive in Nanjing, I will reward you with whatever you want. Don't lose sight of the big picture and miss the opportunity."

Even when Chongzhen was about to die, he still did not know how to judge people. The three people he thought were reliable, Wang Zhixin, Li Zongzhou, and Wang Zhijun, directly divided his three sons. Wang Zhixin, who was the most trusted and powerful, even took the Crown Prince Zhu Cilang into his hands, intending to use him as capital to surrender and preserve his wealth.

The so-called governor of all the armies at home and abroad and the noble who assisted the crown prince, Duke Chengguo Zhu Chunchen, was now heading to Chaoyang Gate with his servants, ready to surrender and prove his loyalty in order to gain a foothold in the new dynasty.

Fortunately, the East Factory's troops had already been defeated, and Wang Zhixin could not gather enough people, so he could only transfer troops from the Beijing camp. However, as usual, he did not treat these soldiers as human beings at all. This gave Zhu Cilang the opportunity to reverse the situation.

"Yes, Your Highness!" Chang Denggui bowed and clasped his hands, accepting the order respectfully.

He had always been in awe of the royal family and the Crown Prince Zhu Cilang, and now he dared not show any contempt for them.

Seeing this, Zhu Cilang nodded and waved his hand.

"Go down and do your work. Move quickly. The guards from the East Factory and the servants from the palace are just bullies relying on the power of others. They are definitely no match for you."

After saying that, Zhu Cilang actually closed his eyes and rested. Chang Denggui bowed and clasped his fists, and as he retreated cautiously, he secretly glanced at him. He immediately felt admiration for his fearless demeanor in the face of danger, and his heart became more determined.

Soon, there was a sound of fighting and shouting outside the house. The flickering light and shadow of the torches were reflected on the white paper of the door. The sound of weapons clashing and the friction were harsh.

However, the battle did not last long. As several human-shaped black shadows on the white paper at the door fell down, a few wailing sounds were heard, and the sound of clashing swords stopped.

Upon hearing the sound, Zhu Cilang did not stay in the house. When the fighting and shouting in the yard outside stopped, he pushed open the door with a "whoosh" and saw two teams of soldiers from the Beijing camp with swords drawn and looks of surprise.

The eight men under Chang Denggui were unharmed, but six bodies were lying on the ground. Under the orange-yellow light of the torches, black blood was constantly oozing out.

The other dozen or so soldiers from the Beijing camp were completely at a loss as to what to do with what was happening before their eyes. They were in groups of three or five, and some were even alone, and they were all wary of each other.

Not only that, as the sounds of fighting, shouting and screaming were heard, other servants in Wang Zhixin's mansion also came to the gate of the yard with guns and sticks.

At the beginning, these servants of the palace, who were relying on the power of others to bully others, were yelling and swearing at the soldiers of the Beijing camp in the yard. But when they saw the corpses lying on the ground, they immediately became cowardly. Not only did they not dare to move forward rashly, but the few people who were originally in the front even took a few steps back in fear.

So, when the door opened with a whoosh, everyone's eyes were focused on the Crown Prince Zhu Cilang who pushed the door open at the critical moment, with sharp eyes and imposing aura.

Zhu Cilang knew very well that this was his chance to restore the majesty of the royal family. His status as crown prince gave him a natural advantage, but if he did nothing, such an advantage would be wasted.

You know, the most fundamental reason why a person is trustworthy is that he can win and bring tangible benefits to his subordinates.

Raiding Wang Zhixin's house was Zhu Cilang's first step in bringing practical benefits to his Beijing guards and establishing their authority. "Wang Zhixin, the eunuch in charge of the Imperial Household Department, has been corrupt and perverted the law, colluding with bandits to plot rebellion. This has been discovered by me, and I have specially ordered Chang Denggui, the captain of the Fifth Army Battalion, to execute his accomplices.

All officers and soldiers of the Beijing camp, obey my order! Immediately capture the traitor Wang Zhixin and confiscate his property to finance the army's march south. Anyone in the Wang family who resists will be killed without mercy. Anyone who strays and returns to the right path will be led by our soldiers to help us destroy the traitor.

The situation is critical now, so we should act prudently. The confiscated property does not need to be stored in the warehouse. Each soldier can take it with him and execute him immediately."

"I obey your command. May Your Highness live a thousand years and a thousand thousand years!" Chang Denggui was the first to react when he heard the words.

Immediately afterwards, the other soldiers of the Beijing camp in the yard also shouted "Long Live the King". Even the servants of the palace who had been relying on the power of the king, after hearing that Wang Zhixin had been sentenced as a traitor and that they could take the spoils of the confiscation of property, immediately knelt and worshipped. Then they immediately stood up and rushed to the inner courtyard and cellar where their master had hidden gold, silver and jewelry.

After seeing the three servants lying on the ground covered in blood, how could they have the courage to resist?

Now that the Crown Prince has come out in person to give orders, they have both the legitimate reason and can take advantage of the chaos to get money, so naturally they are willing to act as guides.

They knew a little about how rich Wang Zhixin was. The rebels were about to break into the city and the Ming Dynasty was about to be destroyed. If they didn't rob him, the eunuch of the Ming Dynasty, at this time, when would they rob him?

So, dozens of servants on the periphery suddenly changed their positions and shouted "Kill the traitors and capture the eunuchs", and the dozen or so soldiers from the Beijing camp followed suit and wanted to search the house.

Chang Denggui acted decisively, leaving two armored soldiers to guard Zhu Cilang and sending three others to search his house. He also secretly told them to take more gold, silver and jewelry without telling Zhu Cilang, just in case.

In such a situation, if he wanted his brothers to obey, relying solely on the authority he had accumulated in his daily life would not be enough. Moreover, if the final breakout failed, these gold, silver and jewelry might even be able to buy his life.

After giving these instructions, he took his three confidants and went straight to the stables in Wang Zhixin's mansion to get the horses.

Zhu Cilang looked at the excited crowd, his lips curled up slightly, and then he walked straight towards a corpse lying on the ground, picked up the dagger that fell in front of the other person, and then completely ignored the blood oozing from under the corpse, and directly took off the chain mail worn by the Dongchang man with his bare hands.

The two armored soldiers from the Beijing camp who were guarding him didn't know what to do when they saw this. In this situation, it was not right for them to dissuade him, but it seemed even more wrong to allow the crown prince to strip the armor off the corpse.

What they didn't expect the most was that after seeing the blood all over the ground and the hideous corpses, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince was not afraid at all. This showed that it was definitely not the first time for him to see such a scene of killing.

In other words, the people they were going to protect heading south were at least accustomed to life and death, and were not cowards who would scream and howl at the sight of blood. This made the two men's trust in Zhu Cilang deepen.

"What are you standing there for? Go and take off the armor of the other two and put it on their horses. When we break out, swords and knives have no eyes, and an extra layer of armor means an extra layer of safety." Zhu Cilang turned his head to glance at the two of them, then said:

"From now on, the two of you will stay by my side. This is the most important and dangerous responsibility. You must do everything you can to protect yourselves. Only if you are alive can you escort me south. Do you understand?"

The two armored soldiers were stunned when they heard this, then they looked at each other and nodded in unison, their hearts filled with excitement. This meant that the prince wanted them to be his personal guards, or even his confidants. What an honor!
After they came to their senses, they immediately stepped forward and stripped off the only chain mail armor that the other two Dongchang men had.

As for the other three palace servants who fell to the ground, they had no armor on their bodies and only held a long spear in their hands. They were no match for real field soldiers.

Chang Denggui quickly brought all the war horses in Wang Zhixin's mansion, a total of twelve. When he saw Zhu Cilang holding a dagger in his hand, he was not worried but relieved. With such a brave prince, the hope of breaking out was undoubtedly greater.

But at this critical moment, the three trusted subordinates who followed the crowd to search the house and collect gold and silver had not returned yet.

At this time, the palace was already in chaos. The servants who had been humble in front of Wang Zhixin, and even the maids and old servants, were completely out of control. They were burning, killing and looting wantonly in the palace. Fires were burning everywhere, and screams and wails were heard constantly.

Among the Ming court nobles and ministers in Beijing, the wealth of Wang Zhixin's family was second only to that of the emperor's father-in-law Zhou Kui. In the original history, Liu Zongmin tortured Wang Zhixin into extracting a full 150,000 taels of silver and jewelry and gold of equal value. Faced with such wealth, how could the retainers and servants of the palace not go crazy?
Zhu Cilang had no interest in the gold and silver he couldn't take away, but Chang Denggui and the others were different. However, he didn't rebuke these people for their selfishness. Now was not the time to worry about it, let alone take the opportunity to intimidate them.

"Your Highness, Your Highness, I am innocent! I am innocent!"

Suddenly, a sharp wailing sound came from the gate of the yard. Zhu Cilang looked up and saw two tall and fierce-looking men dressed as servants. They came to the front of the yard with a knife in one hand and Wang Zhixin, whose hands were tied behind his back, in the other.

(End of this chapter)