Strategy for the Revitalization of the Late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 75: Only Win, Not Lose

After more than half a year of repair and reinforcement, the three inner and outer city walls of Zhongdu Fengyang have now been completely renovated. It can be said that the city walls are high and thick, and are as solid as a rock.

As the Dingwu court made a smooth transition and quickly operated here, the various armies in Jiangbei stayed in their positions, reorganized and prepared for war, and there was no news from the north that the Qing army would continue to advance south. The originally tense atmosphere in the court also gradually eased.

But perhaps because there had been peace for too long, a group of officials in the Dingwu court began to use their traditional skills again - attacking each other.

As a result, those things that were originally on the verge of becoming a mess, such as Lu Jiude's rebellion, the issue of supporting Prince Fu, and even the performance of a group of civil and military ministers such as Gao Jie, Liu Zeqing, Shi Kefa, Li Banghua, and Zhou Shixian when Beijing was broken, all became the focus of these civil officials' mutual attacks.

As news came that Duoduo's army changed its route from Weihui to the west, quickly captured Huaiqing, and repelled the Shun army, the civil servants who had originally been afraid to give their all instantly let down their guard and began to attack their colleagues in the court with all their strength.

However, the mutual attacks among these civil officials did not have much impact on the court situation. They were almost just verbal attacks. Without sufficient evidence and the right opportunity, it would be impossible to use them to bring down the hostile ministers.

The Palace Army, the Beijing Camp, and the armies of Gao Jie, Huang Degong, Liu Zeqing and others were all under the control of Zhu Cilang, and their verbal battles had little impact on the military deployment.

But there were still some people who were so short-sighted that they dared to fabricate facts and attack Li Banghua and Zhou Shixian. This really touched Zhu Cilang's sore spot and constituted an extremely serious political mistake.

For Zhu Cilang, anyone who made such a low-level political mistake must not be allowed to stay in the court no matter what.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, he acted quickly to kill the chicken to scare the monkey, and directly demoted two of the ministers and one deputy censor-in-chief to serve as county magistrates in Guizhou and Guangxi. This intimidated the officials in the court who were ready to make moves.

But apart from not daring to provoke Li Banghua, Zhou Shixian and other loyal heroes, they continued to attack each other in other aspects. The endless party struggles in the Ming Dynasty were still endangering this empire that had just recovered a little vitality.

Seeing these chaotic scenes, Zhu Cilang became more determined to reform the court and reshape the Ming Dynasty bureaucracy as soon as possible after this battle.

However, the common struggles in the court were ultimately just a minor incident for Zhu Cilang. The back-and-forth attacks and constant verbal battles between various factions were far less important than the training of the armies in various places.

At the same time, Zhu Cilang did not easily believe Xu Dingguo's promise to march south. Chen Qianfu and Sang Kaidi also clearly expressed in the report they sent back that Xu Dingguo's promise to march south with his army might be a deliberate delay.

As expected, three days later, Chen Qianfu and Sang Kaidi quickly reported back that Xu Dingguo was deliberately delaying the march south on the grounds of insufficient food and fodder.

As the news came that Xu Dingguo was unwilling to go south, the quarrel in the Dingwu court became more intense.

But there was one thing about which there was almost no dispute. All the ministers in the court, including Gao Hongtu, expressed their willingness to send troops to quell the rebellion.

Zhu Cilang allowed these civil officials to argue briefly for two days, and then summoned Gao Jie, Huang Degong, and Liu Zeqing, who were well prepared and ready to go, to Fengyang.

They didn't dare to fight the Qing army, but if they went to fight Xu Dingguo, these three people would not be afraid at all.

"Your Majesty, I believe we must send out cavalry to go around Suizhou City from the west and north as soon as possible to cut off Xu Dingguo's retreat. Otherwise, when he sees the situation is not good, he will definitely abandon the city and flee north." Gao Jie stepped out first and bowed to Zhu Cilang.

"That's right. Xu Dingguo has repeatedly disobeyed orders. He must have been prepared. We must cut off Suizhou City's west and north before he notices our army's movements. Both directions are crossed by rivers. As long as we have a cavalry unit to contain him, Xu Dingguo will have nowhere to escape."

Huang Degong rarely agrees with Gao Jie, and even seems to want to take credit for it:
"Your Majesty, I have brought two hundred cavalry with me this time. Although I cannot control the entire situation, it will definitely not be a problem for us to cut off Xu Dingguo's retreat in the west."

After hearing this, Zhu Cilang couldn't help but smile. Gao Jie had a lot of cavalry under his command. Huang Degong was not as strong as the other party and did not dare to compete with Gao Jie directly for the north. Instead, he fought for the west which was originally supposed to be assigned to Liu Zeqing.

"Xu Dingguo is nothing but a clown. There's no need for me to send out all my mighty generals. I summoned you all here just to have you observe the battlefield."

"Battlefield observer?" Upon hearing this, all the generals showed expressions of surprise and doubt on their faces.

However, Zhu Cilang did not answer them directly. Instead, he turned his head and looked at Zhou Shixian and said:
"Zhou Shixian, tell me about Xu Dingguo and the Qing army in the north!"

"Yes, Your Majesty!" Zhou Shixian seemed to have been prepared. After receiving the order, he immediately clasped his hands and said:
"After Xu Dingguo was reappointed by the late emperor as the commander-in-chief of the Henan support force, he fled. When he arrived at Guide Prefecture, he only had a few hundred scattered soldiers under his command, but he had nearly three hundred war horses, and all of them were armed with sharp weapons. He must have been the elite of the Henan army.

Relying on this elite force in his hands, and the fact that he was originally from Taikang, Kaifeng Prefecture, he was quite familiar with Suizhou, Ningling, and even the entire Guide Prefecture. He quickly gathered a group of bandit soldiers, estimated to be about one or two thousand people.

Now they have occupied Suizhou and Ningling, and have colluded with the local militia of Luyi, constantly plundering the area. The local militia of Guide Prefecture, and even the battalion troops, are unable to fight them."

"A mere hundred or so scattered soldiers and defeated troops are nothing to be afraid of. Tell me about the situation of the Qing army in the north." Zhu Cilang did not take Xu Dingguo seriously at all. The only thing that influenced him to send troops was the movement of the Qing army in the north.

"The Qing army in the north is currently divided into two parts. One is the main force of the Qing army led by Duoduo. They originally planned to invade our dynasty from the south, but now because of the counterattack by the rebels in Huaiqing, they have changed their route to the west and should have entered Henan Prefecture.

At this time, Li Jiyu, the general of Henan, who was in western Henan, had already secretly communicated with the Qing army, just like Xu Dingguo. As the Qing army advanced westward, he might have surrendered.

Another part of the Qing army was the Hauge who stayed behind in Henan and the prefectures in the north of Shandong. He had few soldiers under his command, and his specific deployment had not yet been clearly explored.

However, the main force of the Qing army has now headed west. Aside from Hauge's army, there are no organized Qing troops in the entire Central Plains. Hauge's troops are not strong and would not dare to move south easily. They are currently hiding north of the Yellow River."

After hearing this, Zhu Cilang nodded. The Jinyiwei was not used by him as a tool of imperial power that only engaged in internal strife, but became the eyes of the army, monitoring the movements of various forces in the north of Nanzhili.

"Huaiqing was lost again, and the main force of the Shun army has basically withdrawn from Henan. The Qing army has no time to look east. This time our army goes north to attack the traitor Xu. There should be no danger, right?" Zhu Cilang concluded.

"Your Majesty is right. Xu Dingguo's troops are not to be feared at all. As for the militiamen of Guide Prefecture, they are completely unable to fight." Zhou Shixian replied immediately.

As a result, all the civil and military officials who had been worried about the Qing army's southward intervention breathed a sigh of relief and began to flatter Zhu Cilang for his brilliant strategy and planning. Even Liu Zeqing, who had just dared not say a word, wanted to take credit for it.

"Your Majesty, my scouts have always been investigating Runing Prefecture, but they have also entered Kaifeng. They are very familiar with the situation west of Guide Prefecture. I ask Your Majesty's permission to lead the troops to block the west. Please do not let the traitor Xu Dingguo escape."

"Liu Zeqing, what do you mean?" Huang Degong asked on the spot after hearing this.

However, Liu Zeqing did not answer Huang Degong after hearing this. He continued to bow to Zhu Cilang and said:

"Your Majesty, what I have said is true. If Your Majesty entrusts me with the task of blocking the west, I can guarantee that it will be foolproof."

"Your Majesty, I can also ensure that this matter will be foolproof." Huang Degong saw that Liu Zeqing did not face him directly, so he immediately issued a military order to Zhu Cilang.

"If Xu Dingguo escapes from the direction I am defending, I will leave it to Your Majesty to deal with!"

"All right."

Zhu Cilang immediately stopped the quarrel between the two. They were so active in attacking Xu Dingguo, but if they took the initiative to attack the Qing army, I am afraid that everyone would shrink their heads and dare not speak.

"A mere Xu Dingguo is not worth the wrath of our two great generals. It's rare for Liu Qing to be so proactive, so leave the western defense to him. Gao Qing will handle the northern defense. Both of your armies have conducted scouting of the respective directions. This operation must not fail."

"Your Majesty!" Huang Degong's eyes were red with anger, but he did not dare to roar in the court.

Liu Zeqing and Gao Jie both looked smug and gloating, and kept bowing and agreeing.

You know, as long as the Qing army does not move south, half of the Ming Dynasty's territory will be impregnable. This is a great opportunity for them to show their strength in front of Zhu Cilang.

As for how to fight Xu Dingguo, Gao Jie and Liu Zeqing didn't think much about it. They just needed to sweep away the few troops near Suizhou-Ningling. Why would they need any strategy?
However, Zhu Cilang looked at Huang Degong and smiled, then said:

"Huang Qing doesn't need to take action against a mere rebel general. This time, you will lead the cavalry you brought with you to protect me. I will personally lead the troops to suppress the rebellion!"

"Your Majesty!" A burst of shouts rang out immediately, but this was not because Huang Degong was too moved or the shouts were too loud. He didn't dare to move at all. Because these were the shouts of the horrified ministers who heard that Zhu Cilang was planning to lead the army in person.

"Your Majesty, absolutely not. The situation in the north is uncertain. What if Xu Ni has already colluded with the Qing army, and Duoduo is just feinting to advance westward? That would be extremely disastrous. Moreover, how could a mere Xu Ni be worthy of Your Majesty's personal intervention?"

"Gao Qing, you..." Zhu Cilang looked at Gao Hongtu, who had spoken first, and was somewhat surprised. It turned out that the other party's move to Zhongdu was really just a move to Zhongdu, and in fact, they were also opposed to his personal presence on the battlefield.

Shi Kefa, Ma Shiying and others did not rush to oppose Gao Hongtu this time. On the contrary, they all stood on the same front with Gao Hongtu, which was rare.

Firstly, they were all worried about Zhu Cilang's safety, and they felt that this was inappropriate. As the emperor of the Ming Dynasty, doing this was simply lowering his status and showing a lack of self-respect.

Secondly, Gao Hongtu was actually quite opposed to Zhu Cilang's closeness to military men. It was okay for him to lead the army in person, but if he did not prioritize the pillars of the country but instead prioritized military men, that would be putting the cart before the horse.

Thirdly, when it comes to using civil officials to control military officials, all the civil officials are united. They are all worried that Zhu Cilang is aiding and abetting the evil, and that the ban on military officials will be lifted, which will ultimately cause endless harm.

When they were in Nanjing, these things were not obvious because the generals from all over the country were stationed in the military camps. But once they arrived at the front line and on the battlefield, things were completely different.

Zhu Cilang's new military posture has aroused the collective vigilance of all civil officials in the palace and court.

After all, for people in power, there are never eternal friends or eternal enemies, only eternal interests!
And using civil officials to control military power is the eternal interest of all civil officials!

But how could Zhu Cilang be manipulated by them? His attitude was very firm and he would not even allow for doubt:
"I have made up my mind. There is no need to discuss this matter further."

"Your Majesty!" The ministers shouted in unison again.

The military generals had been in low positions for many years and were very afraid of the civil officials. In addition, Zhu Cilang was so powerful that they could not control their own troops. At this time, no one dared to speak out. Even Liu Zeqing lowered his head and wanted to be a camel.

"What? As the emperor, my words are no longer effective?" Zhu Cilang frowned coldly, with no sign of softening his attitude.

"Mr. Gao, you've been insisting that I personally lead the army. Now that I'm really planning to, why are you trying to stop me? Do you think Gao Jie, Huang Degong, and Liu Zeqing are untrustworthy, or do you think my Palace Guards are untrustworthy?"

"Minister" Gao Hongtu paused and immediately defended himself:

"I simply feel that the lessons of the past are still fresh in your mind. Your Majesty should not act this way. This is neither legitimate nor appropriate to the current situation. I implore Your Majesty to reconsider."

Gao Hongtu actually knew that if Zhu Cilang insisted on his own way, he would not be able to stop him. After all, he was just a minister and had not yet received the full support of ministers from various departments.

At this time, Chen Zilong, Lu Daqi and others who should have come forward to help him were still watching. Shi Kefa and Ma Shiying even wanted to make him fall out of favor and had no intention of helping him immediately.

These are the so-called civil servants who claim to be the pillars of the Ming Dynasty. Even when the Qing army is about to arrive, they are still waiting for their colleagues to fall so that they can take over.

After hearing this, Zhu Cilang glanced around at the ministers who were watching the show, as well as the generals who were looking down at the ground and didn't dare to get involved in this battle between gods. He couldn't help but sneer.

"Alright, you want me to be a sage, but you don't want me to have the courage and determination that a sage should have; you want me to establish an unparalleled legacy, but you don't dare let me personally lead the rebellion; you want the Ming Dynasty to have a strong army, to drive out the Tartars and recover our lost territory, but you don't want to let your generals gallop across the battlefield and achieve great things."

Every word struck a chord in the hearts of Gao Hongtu, Shi Kefa and other civil officials. It was like mercilessly tearing off the fig leaf that they used to fight for power and maintain the rule of law by controlling the military with civil power.

"This is the capital of the Ming Dynasty, the birthplace of Emperor Taizu. If Emperor Taizu had been surrounded by cowardly ministers like you, hiding in Yingtian day and night, afraid to personally go to the battlefield, would there still be a Ming Dynasty?"

As soon as these words were spoken, the court in Fengyang Palace fell into absolute silence, and one could hear a pin drop.

Zhu Cilang had long been fed up with the behavior of these civil officials who would advise him on every little thing, no matter how big or small, as long as they were not satisfied. In many cases, they completely ignored the facts and even took the opportunity to attack each other.

When he was in Nanjing, he couldn't get angry, but now that he was at the front line, he wanted to make these guys shut up!
"The Imperial Guards have already gathered all the military intelligence. The situation in the north is crystal clear. If anyone has any doubts, they should have raised them earlier. Otherwise, will all the military intelligence gathered by the Imperial Guards at the cost of their lives be thrown out?"

Zhu Cilang glanced fiercely at the ministers in front of him, and without waiting for them to explain, he continued:

"What I want to hear now is not your safe and sound strategies. What I want to know now is, who among you has the courage to be my Xu Da and hold up the Ming Dynasty for me?"

"I am willing to die for Your Majesty!" Chen Fu was the first to stand up and expressed his stance with a bow.

"I am willing to go to war for Your Majesty and will not refuse even if I die!" Chang Denggui also bowed and clasped his fists, followed by Huang Degong, Gao Jie, Liu Zeqing, and even Liu Liangzuo, who had remained silent, also came forward to express their views.

Almost instantly, the atmosphere in the court was reversed. The military generals who had been humble at first straightened their backs again when they saw Zhu Cilang scolding the ministers.

Now that Zhu Cilang had said this, Chen Fu, Chang Denggui, Huang Degong and others also expressed their opinions. Naturally, things became much simpler, and then it was time for the specific implementation.

Xu Dingguo's strength was not strong. This time, Zhu Cilang asked Gao Jie, Huang Degong, and Liu Zeqing to bring hundreds of their elite servants. It was easy to annihilate him.

In fact, if it hadn't been so easy, Zhu Cilang wouldn't have been so resolute. Not fearing danger is one thing, but whether it's worth it is another. This time, suppressing the rebellion itself carries the connotation of a political show.

Soon, facing this group of civil officials who dared not speak out, Zhu Cilang also retracted his magical powers and immediately, together with the other generals, deployed the war to quell the rebellion in Suizhou.

Gao Jie led more than 400 cavalrymen under his command northward, bypassing the north of Guide Prefecture, Huanghe Xinji and Taohuaji, and heading south to Diqiudian on the west bank of Sui River, ambushing along the river to cut off Xu Dingguo's possibility of escaping to the north.

Liu Zeqing led more than 200 cavalrymen under his command westward, bypassing Taikang in Kaifeng Prefecture, and then advancing eastward, blocking Xu Dingguo's escape route to the west at the ancient river channel of Huiji River.

Huang Degong led his cavalry to guard the emperor's carriage. The Tianwu Left Camp and the Tianqi Camp of the Palace Army were fully dispatched. After meeting up with Chen Qianfu and Sang Kaidi's two troops in Haozhou and Guide cities, they marched westward in a hurry.

Of course, in this process, it is crucial to know how the army can hide and how the Tianqi Camp can clear out the scouts deployed by Xu Dingguo in Suizhou-Ningling without anyone noticing, and to win this first outpost battle.

Xu Dingguo's strength was limited, and the two battalions of the Palace Army would basically not be noticed before they left Guide.

The two places are about sixty miles apart, which is a half-day march for soldiers. How the cavalry, as the vanguard, can contain Xu Dingguo during this time is also crucial.

"In this battle, we can only win, not lose!"

After Zhu Cilang and the other generals finished deploying their troops, he immediately said passionately:

"I will use Xu Dingguo's head to show those traitors in the Central Plains who pretend to obey my orders but secretly disobey my orders, whether the troops I have are strong enough and whether they can fight!"

As soon as Zhu Cilang finished speaking, Ma Shiying stepped out, clasped his hands and said:

"Your Majesty is mighty and majestic. I beg Your Majesty to allow me to accompany you in person and beat the drum for the Ming soldiers!"

Once Ma Shiying said this, the situation was completely opened up. The civil officials who had just opposed Zhu Cilang's personal expedition were shocked and jealous, and they also stepped forward and scrambled to follow the emperor in the expedition.

Such a good opportunity to perform cannot be monopolized by Ma Shiying alone!

　Thanks to book friends "粤根路大庄" and "20190212202436605" for their rewards.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)