Prince Chongzhen

Chapter 256 A Drunkenness

(Note, this chapter is 256)
"Yingtian, this is a long story."

Originally, Zhang Kuang just wanted to change the topic a little further away from Chongzhen's martyrdom, but who would have thought that when Zhu Cilang heard this, his eyes, which were a little blurry due to the alcohol, suddenly lost focus.

Seeing this, he kept begging His Highness in his heart not to mention the late emperor's martyrdom, but at the same time he could only nervously wait to see what His Highness the Crown Prince would recall.

"I can't remember much else, but it's a pity for the brocade robe that Meichu gave me."

As soon as the words fell, Zhang Kuang and the other officials from Hunan felt relieved. However, when they realized that the princess mentioned by His Highness was Princess Kunxing, they couldn't help but feel worried again.

Princess Kunxing was the eldest daughter of Chongzhen, and now it seems that she has been changed to Princess Changping by Dorgon.

However, these are not important. The key point is that among the rumors about His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, there are only rumors about the period before the defeat of the Chuang army and after he reappeared in the south. No one knows what happened in between.

As the saying goes, serving the king is like serving a tiger.

Everyone knows that this prince's methods and schemes are extraordinary. If he really said something that is inconvenient for others to know when he is drunk, then...
With this in mind, not only Zhang Kuang and other Hunan officials, but even Wan Yuanji, who was not good at adapting to changing circumstances, realized the risks involved.

But who would have thought that just when they were about to change the subject, an unclear voice came from the tent.

"Your Highness, that Meichu is your lover, right?"

When the words hit their ears, not only did the Hunan officials feel a sudden shock in their hearts, but even the slightly more sober generals of the rebel army realized that there was something wrong with these words after seeing their expressions.

"Your Highness, please forgive me! Yuan Zongdi was just talking nonsense after drinking," Tian Jianxiu, who had already prostrated on the ground, said as he pulled the bewildered Yuan Zongdi hard, and glanced at his superior nervously. When he saw Zhu Cilang looking in their direction, he anxiously scolded, "You can't control your mouth after drinking some horse urine! Hurry up and apologize!"

"It's okay. Ignorance is not a problem."

Seeing Tian Jianxiu's behavior, Zhu Cilang, who seemed to have just come to his senses, just waved his hand casually and continued, "Mei Chu is my eldest sister. Since I escaped from the old camp, I have only seen her twice in the father-in-law's house. Unfortunately, Beijing was already in the hands of the Tartars at that time. She advised me not to show up again and just go south. No matter what, I can save my life."

The voice slowly spread, but His Royal Highness's voice became smaller and smaller. In the end, the word "life" was almost inaudible, and his eyes lost focus again. It was unclear whether he was recalling the last meeting with his sister or recalling how difficult it was to save his life.

However, his emotions failed to infect everyone, except for the few rough guys among the generals of the Chuang Army, high-ranking officials like He Tengjiao suddenly thought of something.

At the beginning of the year, Yingtian had a case of a fake prince, but at the end of last year, Beijing also had a case of a fake prince.

It is said that the fake prince from the north was driven out of the mansion by the father-in-law after he came to the mansion several times. Coincidentally, it was night time and the fake prince's whereabouts were exposed under curfew.

In the subsequent accusations, both Zhou Guozhang and Princess Kunxing said it was authentic, while Prince of Jin Zhu Shenxuan and former Cabinet Grand Secretary Xie Sheng said it was fake.

For this reason, Qian Fenglan, the Langzhong of the Criminal Department who was in charge of presiding over the case, "angrily insulted the King of Jin", and even the people of Beijing said that Xie Sheng was "a beast without moral principles" and "scolded him to his face for being disloyal".

In the end, the "prince" in the north died on the tenth day of April because the people attempted to break into the prison.

In He Tengjiao's opinion, there are many doubts about this matter and it cannot stand up to scrutiny at all.

According to common sense, the reason why Father-in-law Zhou did not directly hand over the "prince" to the Tartars was probably because he was afraid of being implicated.

But if he was really afraid of being implicated, he should have found a suitable time to send him away. Why didn't he send him away earlier or later, but had to drive him out of the mansion during curfew? Wasn't he afraid that the Tartars would know that he had secretly kept the "crown prince" of the previous dynasty?
As for that accusation, although the official of the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Personnel seemed to be very sure about it, even the senior officials of the court did not necessarily know the prince, so how could a mere fifth-rank official like him have such an opportunity?

What's more, this man was the chief judge of this case. When he saw that Prince Jin and Xie Sheng had denied his judgment, it was understandable that he would insult them in a hurry.

Princess Kunxing, on the other hand, was the only one who had a good ending over the past few thousand years, even the previous crown princes of the same dynasty. As the eldest daughter of the royal family, she should also understand this truth.

Thinking in this way, the identification between her and that father-in-law Zhou makes sense.

When I first heard the news, Yingtian happened to be involved in a "fake prince" case.

After some consideration and comparison, He Tengjiao was certain that the one in Yingtian was real and the one in the north was fake.

Afterwards, in his capacity as a local governor, he asked Hongguang to treat the prince of the previous emperor well, but he never connected the two things together. But now, when he heard Zhu Cilang mention his past experiences while drunk, he suddenly realized a problem.

usually
Both the northern and southern princes are real, but the one in the north listened to Princess Kunxing and went directly south after visiting the father-in-law's house. Later, it was not known whether the Zhou family found someone to kill him, or if there really was someone so ostentatious that he ran into him himself.

As his mind turned, He Tengjiao immediately felt as if he had seen through the mystery, but although this situation could be called secret, it would not have any impact on the present.

For him, the most urgent task was to end the banquet before the Crown Prince, who was already a little drunk, changed the topic to the late emperor.

"Your Highness, it is late at night. You are exhausted from the journey. It would be better for you to take a rest first. I will accompany the generals on your behalf."

"Ah? Is it too late? I still want to chat with you generals for a while longer."

As he spoke, Zhu Cilang glanced around the tent with dazed eyes. Then, perhaps realizing that he could not drink much or that no one could enjoy themselves with him around, he stood up from his chair.

"Well, I'll go take a rest now. You guys should continue to have fun."

Seeing that His Royal Highness was about to leave, all the officials from Hunan and the generals of the Chuang army stood up to see him off. However, when He Tengjiao and Wan Yuanji supported him on the left and right, they turned around and said to the people in the audience, "Today's banquet is sumptuous. Don't just drink and waste the food."

"sure."

Originally, Wan and He thought that they could send His Royal Highness the Crown Prince back to rest after dealing with this sentence. However, the Crown Prince, who was usually taciturn and very mature, had obviously lost control under the stimulation of the wine. Even though the two old ministers had used a little force on his hands, he still stubbornly continued to nag.

"We can't waste it. We absolutely can't waste it. Hunan is short of money and grain right now. I'm afraid it will be difficult to provide for these hundreds of thousands of people."

Snapped!
As soon as the words fell, someone did not hold the wine glass firmly, and a crisp sound was heard. Afterwards, the faces of the Hunan officials froze, and the smiles of the rebel generals disappeared. The atmosphere in the field immediately became solemn.

"If it doesn't work, then... burp."

As His Royal Highness the Crown Prince was half-forcibly taken away, no one in the tent knew what he said afterwards.

However, everyone present had seen many storms, and after a brief silence, the tent returned to its previous bustle. "Come on, Young Master Zhang, we must have a few more drinks. If you hadn't come alone that day, there might have been another misunderstanding that led to a fight."

It was not known whether it was due to the lack of participation from those in higher positions or for some other reason, but although the bustle in the tent was somewhat strange at this time, the frequency with which the generals of the Chuang army toasted to the officials of Hunan increased a lot.

Just when Zhang Kuang was suppressing his worries and dealing with the generals, Hao Yaoqi, who could be considered the strongest in the army, appeared in front of him with a wine glass in hand.

When Hao Yaoqi's troops arrived near Changsha, all the officials in Hunan could only gather three or two thousand newly recruited soldiers.

Faced with such a situation, investigating the strength of the incoming army naturally became the top priority.

Afterwards, Changsha prefect Zhou Ernan requested to go for reconnaissance, and in order to protect him, Changsha even squeezed out a thousand soldiers to accompany him.

But facing so many powerful rebel troops, what help can such a small number of troops provide?
After the defeated soldiers reported the news, not only did the gentry and common people in the city flee in a hurry, but He Tengjiao, who had no soldiers or generals, was even ready to die for his country.

At this moment, Zhang Kuang keenly noticed something unusual, and then he went again to negotiate with the incoming army with only one general.

In this way, Hao Yaoqi and other rebel troops who entered Hunan from Hubei finally returned to the Ming Dynasty.

With this relationship, Zhang Kuang was naturally closer to this group of people, and Hao Yaoqi's toast was naturally reasonable.

"General Hao, this is too serious. If you didn't have the heart to serve the court, what would it matter if I, Zhang Kuang, was full of mouth?"

After drinking the wine happily, the two started chatting again. However, during this process, Hao Yaoqi's words seemed to always revolve around a certain point, and Zhang Kuang seemed to be covering up something in his responses.

In this way, although the two of them talked passionately and even kept raising their glasses to drink together, if you heard their words clearly, you would only feel that they were all irrelevant.

This situation not only happened to them, but also to every Ming general in the big tent who had a connection with them. However, each person was different, and what they gained was also different.

After a long while, Wan and He returned again, and it was time for the banquet to end.

He Tengjiao explained the Crown Prince's slight loss of composure tonight by saying he was tired from the journey and couldn't drink much. Wan Yuanji then used extremely obscure words to express that the Ming Dynasty had sufficient money and grain and was absolutely capable of supplying the various departments in Hunan.

Faced with the statements of the two senior officials, the generals of the Chuang army naturally agreed with them, and some even half-jokingly teased the Crown Prince about his drinking capacity. It seemed that the two families had become one, and the atmosphere of the banquet was as relaxed and warm as it was at the beginning.

just
"Did you find out anything?"

"He Tengjiao doesn't have much food and grass. We have about 270,000 or 280,000 people here. I'm afraid we can't rely on Hunan."

After the banquet, all the generals dispersed of their own accord. However, it was not known whether it was discussed in advance or because of a tacit understanding among comrades-in-arms for many years, but Tian Jianxiu returned to the military tent. Less than an incense stick of time later, Yuan Zongde and Liu Fangliang also arrived one after another.

"Why not send someone to the Tartars again?"

After hearing the conversation between Tian and Yuan, Liu Fangliang asked hesitantly, but neither of them responded to his suggestion, which made the original left camp general somewhat dissatisfied.

"Rather than being bullied by those bastards here, it would be better to just surrender to the Tartars."

"Would you like to shave your head?"

"Didn't Tong Yanghe say he would help us deal with this?"

"Hey!"

After talking to Liu Fangliang for a few words, Yuan Zongde just snorted and said no more. When Liu Fangliang was about to argue with him about his attitude, Tian Jianxiu, who had the best popularity among the Chuang army, rushed to explain.

"The Tartars issued an order to shave the heads of birds as soon as they entered Beijing. If the people had not been making a big fuss, how could they have stopped it? Now that the war situation in the south is unfavorable, they can naturally promise anything. But what if we help them defeat His Royal Highness the Crown Prince?"

After asking two questions in a row, Liu Fangliang fell speechless.

Seeing this, Tian Jianxiu said no more, and the tent fell into silence again.

What Tian Jianxiu thought was actually right. In the original history, Dorgon issued a second order to shave the hair when he saw that the war in the south was going well.

The resistance aroused this time was far greater than the previous one, but because the Southern Ming Dynasty was in ruins, the Qing court had no scruples and did not withdraw the order.

In this section, Duoduo was defeated in Jiangnan, so the second order to shave the hair was naturally never issued. However, since there was a precedent, it was not easy to make these rebels believe that they did not need to shave their hair.

"Did His Highness say anything before he left the tent?"

"It seems that he couldn't say what to do, but I didn't hear the rest clearly," Liu Fangliang answered Yuan Zongdi's question casually. But as soon as he said this, he seemed to have thought of something: "Are you saying that the Crown Prince has food?"

"Well, there are quite a few. When I was drinking with those civil servants earlier, they said that His Royal Highness seemed to be buying grain from overseas. I guess His Royal Highness originally wanted to transfer some of that grain."

"Oh? That's a good thing. If there is such a batch of food, then our supply..."

After hearing what Yuan Zongde said, Liu Fangliang's mood immediately improved, but before he could finish his words, Tian Jianxiu interrupted with a helpless look on his face.

"Mo Duo thought that this batch of grain from His Highness must be used to stabilize Jiangnan. Besides, he has so many mouths to feed, how could he care about us?"

As soon as Tian Jianxiu finished speaking, Liu Fangliang's face immediately fell, but he also knew that what he was thinking was just wishful thinking, and this was what was really likely to happen.

After all, these people have their own system, and it is a bit of an exaggeration to say that they were raised by a stepmother. What's more, there is a shortage of food in the Ming Dynasty, otherwise how could the dignified Prince Regent say "don't waste"?
"Someone, come here! Make a bowl of soup using my family's recipe for sobering up!"

"Admiral, what are you doing?"

After hearing Tian Jianxiu's incoherent shout, Yuan and Liu were naturally puzzled. But when they asked about their doubts, they heard him say solemnly: "Let's use this bowl of soup to find a way out for our brothers!"

(End of this chapter)