Strategy for the Revitalization of the Late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 6 Twenty-five Riders
In the original history, after the news of the fall of Beijing's inner city came, Li Banghua was disheartened. He bowed three times to Wen Tianxiang's wooden tablet, and then wrote a suicide poem saying: "A real man is a disciple of sages, loyal and filial, and I swear to never change until death. I have no regrets for accepting the mission in a time of crisis", and then hanged himself.

It can be said that he was an old minister who used his life to prove his loyalty and integrity. He was a rare clear stream among the bureaucrats of the late Ming Dynasty who first surrendered to the rebels and then surrendered to the Qing Dynasty and had no bottom line at all!

But now, the butterfly wings fanned by Zhu Cilang have changed many things. This is true for unknown little figures in history such as Chang Denggui and Lin Changfeng, as well as royal relatives and ministers such as Zhou Shixian and Li Banghua.

But because the incident happened suddenly, he did not have much time to prepare for the breakout. The whole process seemed very hasty and sloppy. Even the team to go south to rebuild the court was not formed in time.

Therefore, when Zhu Cilang heard Zhou Shixian's report, he immediately thought of taking the other party south with him. Li Banghua was much more useful to him as the crown prince than Chongzhen.

He still has some political sensitivity.

At the same time, Zhu Cilang was also well aware of the huge difficulties he would face after breaking out to the south. He also had enemies in the south, and the supreme throne had long been coveted by others.

Although he was the crown prince and legally the first heir to the Ming Dynasty, he only had twenty-four riders under his command. In the bureaucratic system of the late Ming Dynasty, he had almost no status. Zhou Shixian was considered a royal relative, but his status was also not high.

Therefore, after Zhu Cilang went south, he had to find ways to win over various forces and use them for his own purposes. Otherwise, it would be difficult to quickly organize enough forces to expand the army and prepare for war.

Li Banghua, who is highly respected, versatile in both civil and military affairs, and has close ties with the officials who stayed in Nanjing, and even Huang Degong who came from the Beijing camp, is his very important reliance, and can even overwhelm the Nanjing officials without any dispute.

On the street west of Dongzhimen, Li Banghua was so excited when he saw the heroic and vigorous Zhu Cilang that he could hardly control himself.

He had also seen the Crown Prince riding a horse and shooting arrows, but he had not expected that he would be so majestic after putting on armor, with eyebrows and eyes like an eagle or a tiger, and an imposing aura.

"This old minister pays homage to His Highness. May Your Highness live a thousand years and a thousand thousand years!"

Zhu Cilang immediately stepped forward and helped Li Banghua up, saying with a look of relief, "It is a great honor for the Ming Dynasty that Mr. Meng can go south with me."

"Your Highness, you are embarrassing me." Upon hearing this, Li Banghua was about to kneel down again.

"Mr. Meng's integrity and moral integrity are worthy of this respect from me. How can you say that I am being disrespectful?" Zhu Cilang shook his head, then added, "The situation is critical now. This is not the time to discuss such matters."

Li Banghua was, after all, a veteran who had seen countless battles. He quickly recovered from his surprise. He looked at Zhu Cilang, then at the twenty or so riders surrounding him, and cautiously spoke tentatively:

"Your Highness, are you planning to break out of the city this time?"

Seeing Li Banghua's expression, Zhu Cilang knew what he was thinking. He was an old minister who knew military knowledge and had been in charge of the Beijing camp, managing tens of thousands of troops very effectively. Naturally, he thought it was a fantasy for Li Banghua to want to break out of the city with only twenty or so riders.

"I, under the orders of my father, am taking advantage of the chaos to break out of the capital and travel south to Yingtian to inherit the throne. I also ask Mr. Meng to accompany me south to assist me in reviving the Ming Dynasty and restoring our country."

Zhu Cilang's tone was very resolute, and he then, just as he had just said to Zhou Shixian, stated Chongzhen's determination to die for his country. And if he wanted to persuade an old minister like Li Banghua, he naturally had to borrow Chongzhen's name again.

In fact, Li Banghua is not a stubborn person, nor is he pedantic.

As early as February, he secretly wrote a letter to the Emperor, requesting that Emperor Chongzhen, while defending the capital, follow the old practice of Emperor Yongle and let the crown prince go to the Southern Capital to supervise the country.

After not receiving a reply from Chongzhen for several days, he requested that Prince Ding and Prince Yong be enfeoffed in Taiping and Ningguo prefectures in Nanzhili, so that they could protect Nanjing.

After receiving the memorial, Emperor Chongzhen was actually moved, but in the end he missed the opportunity because he did not want to bear the crime of abandoning his ancestors' country and wanted the ministers to take the initiative to raise it in the court so that he could shift the blame when disputes arose in the future.

You know, all the high-ranking officials in the court are shrewd people. Who is willing to take on this responsibility?
As a result, Li Banghua's proposal was not implemented until Li Zicheng broke through Changping and approached the city of Beijing, and the situation was no longer reversible.

But now, Chongzhen was going to die for his country, and as a minister, he had to have a big enough step to step down. Otherwise, he couldn't even get over his own hurdle, let alone make others shut up.

If others don't care about so-called ethics, then Li Banghua, who was honest and dedicated throughout his life and devoted himself to the Ming Dynasty until his death, probably really cared about it.

Therefore, Li Banghua had to be the "minister entrusted with the care of the young prince", and only by being the "minister entrusted with the care of the young prince" could he take charge of the power after going south and contribute to Zhu Cilang's political goals.

In political matters, legitimacy is the most important thing, otherwise one will be constrained everywhere, especially Zhu Cilang's power, which originally came from the legal system of the Ming court.

After hearing this, Li Banghua actually understood Zhu Cilang's intention, but he was still a little hesitant. Even ants try to survive, so how could he be so determined to die? Moreover, from Zhou Shixian's words and his observation of the dozen or so soldiers surrounding him, he had already grasped the clues. At the very least, the Crown Prince was extremely capable of manipulating the hearts and minds of his subordinates. Otherwise, he would not be able to control these impromptu soldiers.

Emperor Chongzhen knew Wang Chengen too well. Wang Chengen was an honest man, while Wang Zhixin, Zhu Chunchen and others were not concerned about being loyal to the emperor and serving the country. In addition, the appearance of Zhou Shixian, the son-in-law of the emperor who should not have appeared, made the matter very clear.

Li Banghua had been in charge of the Beijing Camp and knew how difficult it was to control those small-time military leaders and veteran soldiers. However, if they could be convinced, these people would be far more reliable than those so-called knowledgeable middle and high-level generals.

"Your Highness, if we try to break out of the capital without a strong force to protect us, we will be like a sheep entering a tiger's mouth, with no way back!"

Li Banghua hesitated for a while, but finally wanted to hear Zhu Cilang's plan. He always felt that it was too unrealistic and impossible to break out of the capital with only such a small number of people.

In fact, he wasn't the only one worried. Zhou Shixian was equally uneasy, even ready to die, just wanting to fight for that glimmer of hope!
"How many elite troops does Mr. Meng mention?" Zhu Cilang asked in a deep voice.

Just as he finished speaking, there was another loud noise from the west of the city. A light flashed in the western night sky, and then quickly dimmed.

However, no one, whether it was Zhu Cilang, Li Banghua, or the surrounding Beijing camp soldiers, turned their heads to look. They had long been accustomed to the sound of artillery fire.

"We need at least three thousand elite cavalry, otherwise it will be impossible to break through the encirclement of the bandits." Li Banghua sighed and said with a bitter face:

"The Shun army has been besieging the city for over two days. Tianjin has probably fallen by now. Jinghai, the canal hub to the south, is also likely in the hands of the rebels. The only way to move south is by land. This requires obtaining supplies from post stations along the way, and ensuring at least three horses for each person."

After hearing this, Zhu Cilang couldn't help but smile. Li Banghua was indeed worthy of his reputation. He had already guessed his plan. But at this time, Wu Sangui probably didn't have three thousand elite cavalry. If he did, he would have rushed out of the city long ago. There was no need to be so cautious.

You should know that the so-called "elite cavalry" mentioned by Li Banghua actually means the household cavalry, and the Guanning Army has been in western Liaoning for so many years and has repeatedly entered the pass to suppress the bandits. In fact, it relied on the nearly 10,000 "elite cavalry" trained in the early years of Chongzhen. The remaining tens of thousands of troops, except for a few armored combat soldiers, are actually mostly unarmored auxiliary soldiers and civilians.

In the original history, the most important reason why Li Zicheng's Dashun Army attacked so quickly in the early stage of the "Battle of One Stone" was that Wu Sangui only had more than 20,000 Guanning troops left at that time, some of whom were defenders of Shanhaiguan, and the others were able-bodied men recruited by local gentry, so their combat effectiveness was naturally poor.

"Mr. Meng, if I had three thousand elite cavalry, I wouldn't have to wait until today. I could have just broken out of the city in broad daylight. Could Li Zicheng's several thousand cavalrymen stop me?"

"This..." Li Banghua was speechless for a moment.

Seeing this, Zhu Cilang looked at the other party and asked in a serious tone, "Mr. Meng, although I don't have three thousand elite cavalry here, I have twenty-four loyal and righteous men. Do you dare to follow me and break through?"

"Your Highness." Li Banghua's face was full of horror. He had never expected that Zhu Cilang would have such courage and boldness. Somehow, a sense of heroism arose in his heart. Although he knew it was impossible, he still wanted to take a gamble. Even if it was just to repay the emperor's kindness, it was worth it.

Zhu Cilang did not stop, but instead drew the Yunti Knife from his waist and handed it directly to Li Banghua: "Mr. Meng, are you still able to wield the knife?"

Seeing this, Li Banghua was stunned at first, then shook his head and smiled bitterly twice, and finally took the knife handed to him by Zhu Cilang. Not only did he not look weak at all, but his strength and accuracy were the same as those of an ordinary person. Then he laughed out loud.

"Two years ago, I was in charge of military affairs in Jiangnan. I fought alongside the troops, sharing the hardships with them. I traveled dozens of miles a day for several months, beheading countless rebels and deserters. Wielding a sword was nothing, even riding a horse to kill the enemy was no problem at all!"

As he spoke, Li Banghua took off his official uniform and pretended to put on armor.

Zhu Cilang looked at this old hero who was nearly seventy years old and could not help but feel a little surprised. He originally wanted him to sit in the carriage and took the knife just for self-defense. Now it seemed that he had underestimated him. Then he laughed and said:

"Hahaha, good! In this way, there will be a total of twenty-five riders breaking through the encirclement and heading south with me!"

At this moment, the sentries on the Drum Tower, who were looking towards the west and north of the city, blew the bugles one after another. Once these two signals were sent out, it meant that the city gates in the west and north of the city had been breached by the Shun army.

"Your Highness, I have bribed the garrison commander of Dongzhimen. The city gate is now open. Let's go!" Upon hearing the voice, Chang Denggui immediately bowed and clasped his fists.

Zhu Cilang nodded after hearing this, and then calmly gave orders to his guards. After he finished giving the orders, he looked at Li Banghua, who was also calm and composed, and said confidently:

"Mr. Meng, please follow me closely when we break out. I need the assistance of a renowned minister like Mr. Meng to restore the empire when I go south this time!"

(End of this chapter)