Prince Chongzhen

Chapter 231 I have some news. Do you want to hear it?
Pearl River, a rather confusing name.

If an uninformed person sees this, he will most likely think it is a big river like the Yangtze River or the Yellow River, but in fact it can be divided into broad and narrow meanings.

In a narrow sense, it refers to a section of waterway about 200 miles long from Guangzhou to the estuary of the Pearl River, but in a broad sense it refers to the general term for the West River, East River, North River and various rivers in the Pearl River Delta.

But it’s not a big deal.

It took more than a thousand years for this water system to use the silt it carried to build a delta with flat green fields and dotted towns on a funnel-shaped shallow bay.

Compared with this, whether the name is broad or narrow is not so important.

Having said that, I still need to say a few words.

Human production activities in the upper reaches of the Pearl River have provided it with enough silt to form a delta, and the formation process of this delta can provide a reasonable inference on the strength of local forces south of the Yangtze River.

During the Three Kingdoms and Wei and Jin Dynasties, this place was still a bay, from which we can imagine that the local forces south of the Yangtze River were limited in strength.

By the time of the Song Dynasty, although some sand fields had appeared in the delta and the mouths of the tributaries had also advanced significantly, its scale was still limited. It was not until the Shaoxing period of the Southern Song Dynasty that a county seat was established here.

Afterwards, perhaps due to climate change or the substantial increase in human productivity, human activities in the area south of the Yangtze River became increasingly extensive, and the rate of siltation in this delta naturally increased day by day.

By the Ming Dynasty, a large piece of land had formed at the mouth of the river, and many islands from earlier years were even connected together due to the expansion of land.

At this point, the local forces south of the Yangtze River have already had the ability to compete with the north.

The three migrations to the south resulted in completely different situations.

When the Southern Ming Dynasty was about to be established, it probably had no clear understanding of this.

For example, during the Hongguang period, officials in power in the court were either from the north or the southwestern provinces. On the contrary, local forces and officials with strong influence in Jiangsu and Zhejiang were under constant suppression.

Everyone is familiar with what happened next. As soon as the Qing army crossed the river, the people of Jiangsu and Zhejiang surrendered.

At that time, not to mention rising up to resist, even if the local officials were slow to submit their surrender letters, they might be directly tied up by the aristocratic families. It was also a spectacle.

Later on, perhaps someone saw the reason or they were forced to act, but in any case, the people in power in the small courts of the successors were mostly locals.

Lu Jianguo was established in eastern Zhejiang and was supported by local gentry; Longwu was established in Fujian and Huang Daozhou was the one who was valued.

The same was true for Shaowu, Yongli, and even the rebel king of Jingjiang. They had obviously learned enough experience from the incident of Hongguang.

But this brings up a huge problem.

Although these regimes did not suppress local forces as much as Hongguang did, they went from one extreme to another.

As a result, after the fall of the Hongguang court, the decision-making center of the Southern Ming Dynasty increasingly lost control over the local areas, and subsequently became a local regime that was essentially no different from the local governors.

Zhu Cilang was well aware of this.

Therefore, in his small court, there were not only Qian Qianyi who represented Nanzhili and Liu Zongzhou who represented Zhejiang, but also Ma Shiying, Yuan Jixian, Huang Daozhou and others who represented other provinces.

It was even said that he would ruthlessly weaken and suppress these forces by overt or covert means, but would never expel them from his own small court.

To use the words of a great man, this means making more friends and fewer enemies.

Let’s put aside the idle talk for now.

According to the original history, when Prince Jingjiang declared himself king, Longwu had already ascended the throne in Fujian.

As the Governor-General of Guangdong and Guangxi, Ding Kuichu not only did not suppress the rebellion with thundering means when it was about to break out, but was hesitant and looked ambiguous.

It was not until the governors and governors-general of various places expressed their support for Longwu that they succeeded in launching a surprise attack in a way that made people have to make associations.

But in this time and space, King Jingjiang was actually on guard against him.

When Ding Kuichu led his troops to Wuzhou, the Guangxi soldiers rushed out from the mountains, and then five or six thousand Guangdong soldiers were caught off guard and suffered a devastating blow.

Afterwards, knowing that he was no match for the enemy, Ding Kuichu fled in panic. If the Guangxi soldiers had not lacked siege equipment, they might not have been able to defend Guangzhou, let alone Zhaoqing.

"Hurry, hurry, hurry! Be quick!"

At the dock outside Guangzhou, a group of coolies were transporting wooden boxes that looked very valuable to the ship, while a middle-aged man in silk clothes was urging them on.

At this time, the news of Ding Kuichu's defeat had reached Guangzhou. It was fine for ordinary people in the city, but the wealthy families had to make some preparations in advance for the possible war.

As a result, the already busy docks outside Guangzhou became even more difficult to find a seat, and the owner, who had finally found a vacant space for his own boat, could not help but urge the laborers to work harder.

"Butler Chen."

Hearing the shouting from behind, the man in silk clothes couldn't help but look back.

"It's Butler Liu, what's the matter? Have you finished shipping all your stuff?"

Seeing that the visitor was an acquaintance, Butler Chen did not bother to exchange pleasantries. He just asked a casual question and then turned his attention back to the busy laborers.

"Oh, everyone has a boat docking today. I've been looking for half a day but can't find an empty spot. How can I talk about shipping it all?"

"Oh? With your master's connections, it shouldn't be difficult to find a vacant seat. How could this be possible?"

At first glance, Steward Chen's words seemed to express concern for the Liu family, but the two of their masters had some conflicts over business, so there was some sarcasm in his words.

"Hey~~~~, who knew there would be so many ships today."

If it were in the past, the two would have engaged in a verbal battle without any reason, but today, upon hearing the provocative words, Butler Liu only sighed and had no intention of retorting.

However, who among the butlers is not a smart person? When Butler Chen saw the other party's behavior, he was only slightly stunned and then he figured out the reason.

"That's right. Who would have thought that Governor Ding's several thousand elite troops could be defeated by the troops that King Jingjiang put together."

What Butler Chen said naturally caused doubts in the hearts of the people of Guangzhou, but at this moment, Butler Liu was most concerned about the ship's position. Seeing that the other party was talking about other things and had no intention of responding, although he was dissatisfied in his heart, he had to bring up the topic directly under the pressure of the situation.

"Once you have finished transporting your belongings, this boat space will be left to my family."

Enjoyable! Refreshing!
The two families had been able to compete in Guangzhou for many years, so they were evenly matched and had won and lost against each other. So when Butler Liu's cry for help reached his ears, Butler Chen felt that all ten thousand pores in his body trembled, and his whole body felt as if he had taken tobacco.

just
"Oh, according to our friendship, I shouldn't offend you with such a small matter, but the house is not tidied up yet, and I'm afraid it will be too late to wait for the ship to be vacated." What the hell are you tidying up!
If it were any other day, these words would have come out of Butler Liu's mouth, and countless spit would have hit the other person's face.

But the situation is stronger than people.

Governor Ding has been defending Zhaoqing for quite some time with his few remaining troops. It is possible that the city will fall in a day or two.

If they really wait until the impoverished Prince Jingjiang enters Guangzhou, the military pay will be enormous. If these wealthy families do not move their wealth out as soon as possible, wouldn't they be wasting their savings of several lifetimes on helping others?

"Let's be frank. We don't want your seat for nothing."

Hearing this, Butler Chen's eyes rolled and he put away his rather embarrassed expression. However, the other party had not yet said what to exchange, so he just maintained a warm smile and did not make any other moves.

"His Royal Highness intends to use the power of the court to reopen the sea route."

Hiss~~~~~~.

After the words fell, Butler Chen couldn't help but take a breath of cold air, but in the blink of an eye he extinguished his thoughts one by one, and finally asked with a sneer: "Which prince? The one in the west?"

Upon hearing this for the first time, Steward Chen was naturally surprised but also a little happy. However, according to the news received a few days ago, although the war in Jiangsu and Zhejiang has come to an end, where does the prince of Yingtian get the power to talk about "opening the sea route again"?
Therefore, after feeling teased, he no longer gave the other party any face and directly refuted the other party by calling him the shameless Prince of Jingjiang.

"I know your family has no connections in the court, so it's inevitable that you will be slow to realize such a major event. But I, Old Liu, can guarantee you that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince not only has the idea of ​​opening up the sea route again, but has also sent a fleet to explore the way."

Butler Liu spoke with great confidence and even added some details, but Butler Chen was not the kind of person who would easily believe what others said. After hearing what he said, he just frowned and thought about it, and left the other party aside.

real or fake?

Judging from his expression when he spoke, it seemed that he was not lying.

But the Ming Dynasty had powerful enemies outside and chaos inside. Even if the prince was a reincarnation of a god, why would he talk about opening the sea route at such a critical juncture?
After thinking about it again and again, Butler Chen still couldn't determine whether what the other party said was true or false. However, opening the sea route again was a matter of great concern to his family's survival, so he had to make some choices in his mind.

Forget it, the things are almost delivered anyway, so what if he gets the advantage?

With this in mind, a warm smile appeared on Butler Chen's face again, and even his voice was a little flattering.

"Your family has many connections, so you can learn about such important events early. However, you also know the situation at sea. I am afraid that given the current situation of the Ming Dynasty..."

"Alas, the master asked me to find a place for the boat, but I am here chatting with you. If I delay things, I might get scolded. I will take my leave now."

"Hey! Hey! Hey! What are you talking about? With all the years of our relationship, how can I bear to see you running around? Wait a moment, I'll go and urge you!"

After a while, Butler Chen returned again, and one of the boats docked at the pier was about to leave.

Seeing this, the housekeeper Liu was naturally very happy, and he did not hide it anymore, saying directly: "After the war in the north, Jiangsu and Zhejiang are short of a lot of food. His Royal Highness the Crown Prince also learned from somewhere that Champa and Siam are rich in rice, so he found some Zhejiang merchants to inquire about this matter."

"What does this have to do with reopening the sea route?"

"What's the hurry?" Seeing the anxious look of Butler Chen, Butler Liu rolled his eyes and said, "Since there are sea merchants, they will definitely talk about the fact that the red-haired people did not allow us to dock. Your Highness the Crown Prince will know the reason why the sea trade has not been prosperous in recent years, so."

"Hey! Stop lying to me. We merchants pay money to the Zheng family, to the red-haired and Portuguese, but never pay a penny to the imperial court. Even if His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has the money to spare, why would he help us open the sea route?"

Hearing this, Steward Chen refuted the words and raised his hand to stop the boat that was about to leave the shore. Steward Liu, after seeing this situation, hurriedly explained: "Why are you so impatient? Can't you just listen to me finish my words?"

"Say!"

"Use your brain. The imperial court claims to control half of the country, but how many governors and governors in the Ming Dynasty listen to the imperial court?"

"Well, not many."

"That's right. Judging from what His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has done, he seems to be a wise ruler. How could he allow other places to disobey his orders?"

"Tell the important point!"

"You are short of money. If Your Highness wants to achieve something, you need money. Anyway, I have heard that someone is making contacts everywhere. It's up to you whether you believe it or not."

After hearing this, Butler Chen had already believed most of it, and understood why Butler Liu would exchange such information for a small seat.

To put it bluntly, if there really was someone contacting people for this purpose, then their Chen family would definitely be among those invited.

Thinking in this way, even if Mr. Liu didn't say anything, my family would receive the news sooner or later.

Thinking of this, Butler Chen felt as nauseous as if he had eaten a fly.

But since he had previously agreed to exchange the ship space for the information, even if he wanted to understand the trick now, he could not deny that the information was indeed valuable.

Therefore, no matter how unhappy he was, he had to give up his seat on the ship as agreed.

But who would have thought that when he was about to order his boat to leave, he heard a sudden commotion at the already busy dock. When he looked in the direction of the sound, he saw the laborers putting down their work and looking towards the river mouth.

"What are you looking at? Why don't you work? Don't you want your wages?!"

While cursing, Butler Chen stood on the wooden box beside him, but when he steadied himself and looked towards the river mouth, he just froze in place like those coolies.

At this time, a huge fleet was sailing along the river. Although these warships were not too large, the Ming Dynasty flags hanging on them and the gun muzzles on both sides of the hull made them look like ferocious beasts on the river, causing fear to everyone who saw them.

Oh my god! Where did all these warships come from?

Could it be.
Zheng family?!
Thinking of this, Manager Chen didn't care whether the things at the dock had been transported away or not, and immediately ordered his boat to sail upstream along the river.

"At this juncture, I wonder why the Zheng family is joining in the fun again."

“Not the Zheng family.”

"Who else could it be if not the Zheng family?"

"look."

After saying a few words, Butler Liu pointed to the largest ship in the fleet. When Butler Chen looked over, he saw a large, bright flag hanging on the warship.

"This is... the crown prince's banner?!"

(End of this chapter)