Prince Chongzhen

Chapter 293: The End of the South is Decided
Huaian
Prime Minister's Residence
The prime minister is the highest-ranking minister who assists the monarch in governing state affairs. His power was so great that at one point he could compete with the imperial power.

Therefore, the Ming Dynasty never established the position of prime minister after Taizu gradually consolidated power. Even though later generations created a variant of the position, its powers and responsibilities were far inferior to those of the prime minister.

Hong Chengchou was naturally clear about this evolution process, and he also knew what kind of reputation this position of prime minister would leave him in the future.

But once you embark on some roads, there is no turning back.

He had no choice but to do his best to help the Qing Dynasty unify the country and hope that the Manchus would be lenient in their writings when writing history.

"How many days has Ustu been gone?"

Sending people south to raid Guangzhou was indeed a very important decision from a strategic point of view, but it was really nothing from a tactical point of view.

So after making all the arrangements, Hong Chengchou acted as if nothing had happened. Not only did he not ask about the effects of the special training, but he also suddenly asked such a question only after such a long time.

"Maybe almost a month."

In response to his master's inquiry, the old servant waiting by the side thought for a moment before answering with some uncertainty.

When the master was preparing for this matter, he attached great importance to it. He contacted Beijing and colluded with the Red Hairs. I don't know how much time and effort he put in during the process.

At that time, the old servant felt that this plan must be extremely important, and the situation of confrontation between the North and the South might change because of it.

But who would have thought that subsequent developments would be far beyond his expectations. His master had to wait for such a long time before remembering that he had sent another three or two thousand troops to the south.

To be honest, this plan was the key that Hong Chengchou used to break the deadlock between the North and the South.

Duoduo was able to realize early on that the Eight Banners soldiers were fascinated by wealth and prosperity, and Hong Chengchou naturally could realize it as well. Moreover, due to his many years of experience as an official in the court, he had a deeper understanding of the current situation than Duoduo.

Although Emperor Jingwu was guarding the south of the Yangtze River and the Qing court occupied the north of the Yangtze River at this time, the situation seemed to be very similar to that of the Southern Song Dynasty, but no matter what, the "crown prince" of the previous emperor did not have the same burden as Zhao Gou.

With the abilities he has demonstrated in the past few months, as long as he is willing to launch a northern expedition, even if he does not have a general like Yue Fei under his command, he can still pose an extremely serious threat to the Qing Dynasty after he has recovered.

Under such circumstances, time is naturally on their side. If the situation continues to be deadlocked, the northern regime will have no choice but to retreat to the bitter and cold land.

Therefore, in Hong Chengchou's view, coming up with a brilliant plan to break this deadlock and eliminate the "crown prince" before he could sort out the internal affairs was the real priority and the most important thing.

Therefore, he made this plan after careful consideration. Even though many Manchu nobles were opposed to it, he tried his best to implement it.

It seems that after making such efforts, Hong Chengchou should not ignore the key points of this plot, but.
"Oh, by the way, we need to pay attention to the news from Prince Ying."

"Yes."

The way of thinking of big shots is different from that of ordinary people. Just when the old servant thought that his master would continue with this conversation and pay more attention to the troops heading south, Hong Chengchou talked about Jiangxi.

According to common sense, since the master didn't say anything else, the old servant shouldn't say anything more. However, he had been serving Hong Chengchou these days, and even though he didn't help with government affairs like the eunuchs in the Imperial Household Department, he was more or less aware of the involvement between Prince Ying and the people heading south. So after realizing that his master attached great importance to Prince Ying, he hesitated and asked a question.

"Master, should we pay attention to the news from the south?"

"No need."

"Can"

Seeing that his old servant was full of worry, Hong Chengchou put down the things in his hands.

As the saying goes: If the people can be led, they know it; if they cannot be led, let it be.

Since the people around him had doubts about these things, it was reasonable for him to spend some time explaining them.

"The outcome in the south is already determined, so there is no need to invest too much energy. There are many variables in the British prince's place, so you have to pay more attention."

After he finished speaking, Hong Chengchou once again turned his attention to the government affairs in front of him, and the room became quiet again.

But the old servant couldn't help feeling a little confused.

His Royal Highness the Crown Prince of Jiangnan has already traveled around Guangdong, Guangxi, Hunan and Jiangxi, and no matter how many troops there are, he must have left some behind.

Under such circumstances, how could my master have such confidence in the three or two thousand troops who had traveled thousands of miles, and why was he so sure that the fate of Guangzhou was already decided?

Although the old servant's doubts were not resolved by Hong Chengchou's words, he knew that his master had already made up his mind, so naturally he would not continue to ask questions.

After all, as a personal servant, he was just an extension of Hong Chengchou's will and body, but he did not need to have too many personal ideas like a general leading troops outside.

For example, at this moment, after discovering Xu Renjue, with whom he had fought in Yingtian City a few months ago, Ustu's doubts gradually increased, and he was no longer as confident as before that he would capture Guangzhou City.

Why?

Judging from the situation that night, this white-faced general was most likely the personal guard of the Ming Emperor. This either meant that the Ming Emperor was in this city, or it could only mean that the Ming Emperor attached great importance to Guangzhou.

Under such circumstances, how could he believe such nonsense as "Guangzhou's city defense is weak" and "Guangzhou's defenders are not to be feared"?

"Ding!"

Just as Ustu's thoughts were distracted by this sudden situation, a crisp sound of metal clashing came from five or six inches to the right of his face, and then he noticed an arrow that had lost its momentum falling down.

Seeing this, how could he still not know what was going on?
Then, this brave soldier who had fought on the battlefield for most of his life immediately put aside all his thoughts and focused only on the enemy in front of him and the continuous cold arrows.

At this point, Wustu had figured it out. Not only did the brave general come from Yingtian, but it was also very likely that this group of Ming troops had fought with the Eight Banners headquarters.

Otherwise, how would they know that ordinary arrows could not break their defense? Then, instead of placing the crossbowmen on the top of the city wall as usual, they insidiously placed them all on a slightly higher wooden platform on the earthen slope behind the ruins.

“Swoosh~~!” “Ah!”

Another noise was heard, and Ustu knew without turning his head that someone beside him was hit in the face by an arrow.

If it were an ordinary battle, this brave soldier who was used to life and death would naturally not have any fluctuations in his heart. But now they were alone in deep territory after all, and the enemy in front of them would not be defeated in a short time with the help of those crossbowmen.

Under such circumstances, even though Ustu was brave enough to fight against ten thousand men, he was still in a difficult situation.

"How dare you let your mind wander?!"

At this moment, a spear stabbed towards him like a dragon. After he dodged it with the instinct he had developed over the years, a burst of shouting and cursing came into his ears.

Ustu understood that this was a provocation by the white-faced general in order to drag him here, but in his opinion such means were really unnecessary.

To put it bluntly, there is no Crown Prince of Ming around now. Even if he can really get rid of the entanglement of this white-faced general, the worst that can happen is that he can kill three more soldiers. It will not be of much help to the whole battle situation. It would be better for the two of them to fight here and see if they can make a breakthrough with the gap in the soldiers.

just
"Whoosh~~!"

"Ding!"

"what!"

Because of the provocation of the white-faced general, Ustu once again focused all his attention on fighting with him, but at this time two noises came from his left and right at the same time. Ustu, who had been suppressed for a while, finally could not control his anger, and immediately raised his knife and attacked forward with a few moves.

This sneak attack is really disgusting. If we keep wasting time like this, let alone taking the city, I'm afraid all these 300-plus people will die here.

Once the thought came to his mind, Ustu, as the leading general, could no longer focus all his energy on fighting the enemy as he had in the past.

Seeing that the opponent seemed to be distracted again, although Xu Renjue had the intention of killing Yingtian with one blood in his heart, his hands became extremely cautious. It seemed that he was worried that the fierce soldier on the opposite side would suddenly attack, and it seemed that he wanted to wait until his mind was more occupied before defeating the enemy in one fell swoop.

Stalemate.

At this time, the gap in the city wall was in a complete stalemate.

Even though in terms of overall combat power, the 300 flag soldiers led by Wusitu were stronger than the Yingtian soldiers led by Xu Renjue, but with the assistance of the more than 100 Zhutang young men, the situation on the battlefield was completely stalemate.

As time went by, more and more defending soldiers fell under the swords of the Qing army, but at the same time, many Eight Banner soldiers who were exposed were shot in the soft spots by cold arrows from nowhere.

Seeing this, Xu Renjue not only became calmer in his heart, but his hands became more steady as well, waiting for Ustu to make any mistake so that he could avenge the kick on His Majesty's behalf.

Although he has a family background in education, the other party is also experienced. How could he not try to resolve the situation when he was in an extremely passive situation?
"when!"

"retreat!"

After fighting for a while, Xu Renjue finally found the opponent's weakness, but just as he was about to stab out with his spear, the fierce soldier blocked the sudden attack with a knife, and then let out a loud shout and retreated in his extremely surprised gaze.

this.
How?

How dare you?

Doesn't he know that if we miss this opportunity, we will surely fill the gap as quickly as possible with the advantage of terrain and people, and be prepared? Even if the red-haired warships have the ability to blow down another section of the city wall, how can they then face only a defense line built of flesh and blood?

Are they going to run away?

It's impossible. If I take on such a mission and return empty-handed, I might as well die here. But if not.
The Tartars must have a backup plan!

The thought only lasted a moment, but at this time, the Tatars had already retreated under the ruins while fighting. Seeing this, Xu Renjue suddenly became alert and shouted to his soldiers who were chasing the enemy: "Don't chase! Hold on!"

He could see clearly that his own men were able to withstand this attack because of the geographical advantage and the assistance of the Zhutang boy. However, if he really chased them out of the city, the Zhutang boy would lose the angle and would have to choose to hurl them.

Under such circumstances, how could their light arrows pose any threat to the Tatars?

As the military orders from the generals of both sides were issued, the battle that had been going on for three or two quarters of an hour came to a temporary end.

For the Qing army, retreat was an inevitable choice, and for the defenders, stopping the pursuit was also a safe strategy. But for Brenden, who had been watching the show on the river for a while, this was the situation he wanted to see the most.

Without the credit for capturing Guangzhou City, Caron's plan to secure his position as governor would have been in vain. From then on, as long as his backers made a move in the council, the position of governor might fall on his head.

It is truly God’s blessing.

Brundon's pride was immediately evident at the thought of becoming the Governor-General of Taiwan in charge of trade with the Ming Dynasty.

"You see, I have long suggested to the Governor that these uncivilized barbarians are unreliable, but I don't know if he was cursed by the devil. He actually dared to launch such a large-scale military operation behind the back of the Council just to gain merit. It's really... Alas~~~~~."

These words were naturally addressed to the first mate, but the first mate was Governor Caron's man. Even though the backer behind him might very likely fall because of this, how could he not lose all his face in such a short period of time?
Therefore, when faced with such a dilemma, he could only neither agree nor refute, but maintained a slightly surprised expression, as if the Qing army's failure to break through Guangzhou's defenses in one go was far beyond his expectations.

Brenden had some guesses about what the first mate was thinking, but in his opinion, no matter whether he could become the governor in the future, Caron would never have a chance to turn things around.

Under such circumstances, instead of him being a small chess piece and showing such an attitude, how could Brunden, a strong contender for the next governor, feel happy?

"You have to know that sometimes not expressing your opinion is also an attitude, and when you express your attitude, you have to be prepared to pay the price for it."

When Brenden said this, his tone seemed very calm, without revealing any emotion in his heart. But the first mate had heard his previous smug words after all. In comparison, how could he not know that the commander's emotions had been affected by him?
"Commander, I am not just..."

Few people who depend on this salary for a living could remain calm in the face of threats from their superiors. But when the first mate was explaining to Brendan that he did not intend to hang himself on a tree, he was interrupted by a shout.

"Liu Sanshun! Please inform me that I want to see the Dutch general."

(End of this chapter)