Strategy for the Revitalization of the Late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 26 The Real Enemy

With Lin Yongan's quick action, Lujiazhai was soon completely under control, and all the surrendered villagers were gathered in the open space in the village. Under the supervision of Chen Fu and Zhou Shixian, Lin Yongan's two sons began to move all kinds of seized materials onto the boat.

Although Lin Yongan killed the entire family of the Lu Family Village patriarch, he spared no one from harming any of the other villagers who surrendered. To some extent, he was a man of integrity.

Of course, the most important thing is that he dared not disobey the orders of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince.

The battle went so smoothly that hundreds of bandits were killed in the blink of an eye. He almost saw it with his own eyes.

Lin Yongan knew very well that if he did not obey, he might be killed at any time by the Crown Prince who looked elegant, noble, unattainable, and cruel, and he would have no ability to resist.

Zhu Cilang was quite satisfied with Lin Yongan's performance. What he needed was an obedient and capable person. He immediately gave him the ten captured war horses, twenty sets of armor, and matching weapons, and asked him to select twenty elite soldiers from the village guards to equip them.

This is a great trust, and it also means that Linjiazhai belongs to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince from now on.

Lin Yongan was naturally very grateful. He immediately knelt down in front of Zhu Cilang and kowtowed several times.

As for the remaining armor, weapons, and war horses, Zhu Cilang had other uses for them.

These were his most important capital for recruiting soldiers and horses on his way south to Xuzhou. Although there were still many arsenals in the provincial capitals along the Shandong section of the canal, there were probably no usable weapons and equipment in them.

Zhu Cilang did not make things difficult for the ordinary people of Lujiazhai, nor did he plunder their property and food. As the head of Lujiazhai was the richest man in the entire village, it was enough to raid his house.

Zhu Cilang even allocated some food and silver to the more than 300 ordinary people in Lujiazhai to help them escape. More than a hundred Shun cavalrymen died here. If they did not escape, according to Hao Yaoqi's character, he would definitely massacre the village.

And taking them with us is simply impossible.

Firstly, there were not enough boats; secondly, many of the family members of the more than 400 households in Lujiazhai were killed in the recent melee. They were extremely resentful at this time, but were powerless to resist.

In this world, there are too many things that are not absolutely right or wrong, and there is no so-called best of both worlds. All Zhu Cilang can do is try his best to live up to his conscience!
Zhu Cilang naturally took away the last few extra boats in the village. He would never leave these boats to the Shun army heading south.

You know, if these ships were left to the common people, the Shun army would definitely seize them from them. In fact, these ships might even bring them death.

After requisitioning all of the more than 30 large and small ships from Lujiazhai, this huge fleet formed by the merger of the two major canal gangs in Qing County now has thirteen large ships of 100 tons.

Including the old and young people in Linjiazhai, the number has expanded to more than 2,000, with more than 400 war horses. Among them, the southward team of nearly 500 people, including the guards, armored soldiers, and Linjiazhai guards, finally has sufficient transportation capacity.

Zhu Cilang specially cleared out a large ship to accommodate the six wounded soldiers who were injured in the night attack and the fifteen people injured in Linjiazhai, and asked Lin Yongan to find a doctor from the village to take care of them.

Zhu Cilang ordered the bodies of the armored soldier who died in the battle and the three guards of Linjiazhai to be burned overnight, and placed the ashes in a jar, preparing to take them to Nanjing to build an ancestral hall for worship.

When the officers and soldiers in the army, Lin Yongan and his two sons, as well as the guards of Linjiazhai heard this, they were all shocked for a moment. This was a great honor, and it was no exaggeration to say that it brought honor to the family!
When Li Banghua heard Zhu Cilang's idea, he secretly admired it in his heart - His Highness's method of winning people's hearts was so subtle and amazing!

What he didn't know was that the Crown Prince of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Cilang, was no longer the royal son who was out of touch with the world and ignorant of the sufferings of the world. What he did was truly sincere.

By noon of the next day, all personnel and supplies were ready. This huge fleet disguised as a merchant caravan then set off in a mighty procession, beating drums and blowing horns, heading south along the canal.

Besides transporting the army's baggage, fodder, the Lin Family Village residents, and Zhu Cilang's personal guards, Zhu Cilang divided the remaining troops into three teams of twenty men each, led by Chen Fu, Chang Denggui, and Zhou Shixian. They were to follow closely along the canal, overseeing some of the horses and acting as guards to protect the fleet's safety. Of course, these three teams would take turns aboard the canal to rest and recuperate, ensuring Zhu Cilang would be aware of any changes in the surrounding situation.

There was no disturbance on the road, and the passage through Cangzhou was very smooth. Zhu Cilang and his troops had a rare few days of peace. By the evening of March 24, the fleet had passed through Botou Town.

After making sure that there were no Shun troops pursuing them, Zhu Cilang immediately began to arrange for Lin Yongan to use his decades of connections in the canal to win over the tracker leaders along the coast and purchase the food, fodder, and even medicines for treating injuries and preventing colds and epidemics needed by the team.

These things and things seem to be able to be solved as long as there is money, but in such a chaotic situation, without a middleman, it is actually impossible to get things done in a short period of time, let alone buy things.

You know, the more chaotic and dangerous the time is, the more vigilant people will be, and the more hidden those scarce supplies will be. It is impossible to get the goods without so-called acquaintances and connections.

Moreover, not only can you not buy things, but no one dares to sell things like this. Even if you are stupid and rich, and don’t worry about others selling inferior products as good ones, or even robbing you, others will still worry that you are here to rob them!

In today's world, there are no rules, let alone laws. Burning, killing, looting and plundering are the norm!
Therefore, Lin Yongan, who had escorted ships and delivered goods on the canal for decades, and no one on the road knew that they had moved south, still had strong credibility. He could contact local tyrants everywhere and buy almost all the supplies the fleet wanted, even including gunpowder and a small amount of weapons.

The appearance of Zhu Cilang has changed history to a great extent. Although Emperor Chongzhen also died for his country, so many days have passed, and Li Zicheng must have discovered that he had broken out of the capital and responded.

In other words, history is very likely to have a dramatic butterfly effect as a result, even affecting the situation in Southern Zhili.

Would this change the historical outcome of the Battle of Shanhaiguan? Could the Qing army still successfully enter the pass? What decisions would the civil and military officials in Nanjing make?
As for the so-called "Four Towns of Jiangbei" in history, would Lu Jiude, who supported Prince Fu, send his troops to do some extraordinary things and ambush them on the way in order to regain the orthodoxy of Prince Fu's line? These are things that Zhu Cilang must always be vigilant about.

Li Banghua, the old fox, naturally saw that Zhu Cilang had something on his mind, especially when he saw that the other party only gave Linjiazhai 20 pieces of armor and asked Lin Yongan to contact the boatmen team along the way.

"Your Highness, are you planning to recruit soldiers on the road?" Li Banghua came to Zhu Cilang's side, stood at the side of the ship, and asked with his hands clasped together.

Zhu Cilang turned his head to glance at Li Banghua and smiled. The old man had regained a lot of energy after the boat ride, and he no longer complained about his sore buttocks behind his back all day.

"Why does Mr. Meng say that?"

"I've been in charge of the Nanjing Camp before. On paper, there were 60,000 troops, but in reality, there were less than 3,000 available to resist the rebellion. Your Highness must have known this long ago, right?"

Li Banghua now had no idea how much the crown prince in front of him knew, but he knew that Zhu Cilang must know much more than he expected.

"Hahaha, Mr. Meng is indeed different. If other civil officials came, I'm afraid they would all think that the Ming Dynasty still has millions of soldiers and there is no need to fear the so-called rebellion."

Zhu Cilang chuckled softly, but then changed the subject and said with a wry smile, "Although we are temporarily safe now, if we cannot quickly form a new army in Jiangnan, the situation will remain precarious!"

"Yes, the bandits are powerful, and the troops in Jiangnan now are definitely unable to resist them!" Li Banghua also sighed and said with a sad face.

"It's not bandits, it's Tartars!" Zhu Cilang shook his head and said, "Our real enemy is the Tartars outside the Great Wall!"

"Tartar?" Li Banghua opened his mouth with an incredible look on his face.

(End of this chapter)