Prince Chongzhen

Chapter 314: The Courage to Burn Themselves Together

"You all think I'm a little anxious these days, right?"

"The general will not dare."

As soon as the words came out, everyone in the cabin knelt down. But when the generals wanted to explain themselves, Zhu Cilang continued, "There is nothing to be afraid of. I know this is a bit risky, but the situation is like this, so I can't do it slowly."

He never expressed his concerns about the coast in front of his generals, nor did he believe that the generals who were influenced by the landing rights could understand that the world was changing.

This is inevitable. Since the emergence of the word "China", all civil officials, military generals, kings and heroes have kept their eyes fixed on the land.

Even though the Japanese pirates had been causing trouble for a while in the early years, the Ming Dynasty only regarded the enemies at sea as minor problems and never thought that one day they would be able to shake the Central Plains dynasty.

Knowing this, Zhu Cilang could naturally guess how his ministers viewed the loss of Guangzhou, and he could also understand what they thought of his series of rather risky military strategies.

"Your Majesty, please forgive my stupidity. I took the risk of raiding Anqing because of the war situation. But now our army has entered Poyang Lake. We just need to advance steadily and we will definitely defeat Ajige."

Sure enough, after Zhu Cilang finished speaking, Fang Guoan, who was still kneeling on the ground, expressed his doubts. Even though he did not dare to finish his words, the meaning of them was still fully expressed.

"Well, you all think the same way, right?" Zhu Cilang said with a smile, and then he scanned the expressions of the generals. When he saw that everyone was laughing, he continued to ask, "According to what you have seen, the biggest enemy of our dynasty is the Qing Dynasty. I'm afraid that the red-haired man is not even a minor problem."

Ok?
We were clearly talking about military strategy, why did it bring up the red-haired guy?

After hearing this, doubts immediately arose in the hearts of the generals present, but after His Majesty asked this question, he stared at them with a burning gaze, so the generals could only answer according to what they thought in their hearts, without much time to think.

"Your Majesty's lesson."

Zhu Cilang had expected the answers from the generals, but after seeing this situation, he did not explain immediately. Instead, he raised his hand slightly and waited until all the generals stood up before speaking carefully.

"The Qing court is our great enemy, but its people only number a few hundred thousand. As long as the civil and military officials of our Ming Dynasty stop fighting among themselves, they will be just as powerful as the Jin Dynasty," Zhu Cilang couldn't help laughing when he said this. He then continued, "I am not Zhao Gou. I won't guard the south of the Yangtze River and issue you golden medals and orders at every turn."

"hey-hey."

"Your Majesty is joking."

"How can he compare with your majesty?"

Although people's reactions to Zhu Cilang's words were different, they all expressed the same meaning.

Zhao Gou, despite his title of Grand Marshal of the Army, was chased into the sea. If the Jurchens had not been unable to unify the world due to various factors, the Song Dynasty might have come to an end.

In the minds of the generals, such a king was naturally not qualified to be compared with their own Majesty, and they would naturally regard the latter sentence of their Majesty as a joke.

But Zhu Cilang's purpose in saying this was not to flatter others. Even though he felt comfortable with these words, after just a moment, he gently waved his hand again.

"I am not afraid of the Tartars, nor am I afraid of the Red Hairs. But if the two gangs of bandits are completely linked together, then my Ming Dynasty will be attacked from both sides. So I plan to let the Red Hairs know what pain is after this battle."

Having said that, although the generals present were still not very clear why His Majesty was so afraid of the red-haired man, they roughly understood the reason why His Majesty had been taking risks again and again in the past few days.

just
"My dear Minister Zhang, do you have anything to say?" At this time, many of the generals in Lu's camp had a look of realization on their faces, but Zhang Pengyi was hesitant, and it was obvious that he had something else to say.

Honestly speaking, Zhu Cilang was not a person who did not like to be talked to, but he had very little contact with Zhang Pengyi since he joined his army. This time, his army was blocked in the Anqing area, which finally forced His Majesty to lead the army in person to make up for the lost time.

Under such circumstances, although he had some doubts in his heart, he swallowed his words after thinking about it. If His Majesty had not noticed the hesitation on his face, he would not have the courage to say anything more.

"Your Majesty, I am your subject."

"You have also made contributions to the court, why are you so hesitant?"

Zhang Pengyi felt warm in his heart when he heard the words. When he saw the encouraging look in his majesty's eyes, he hardened his heart and said directly, "Your Majesty, I understand your intention, but our navy cannot fight at sea. If we only rely on the Zheng family fleet, I'm afraid we won't be able to hurt the red-haired people in one go."

As soon as these words came out, the expressions of the generals present changed. It was obvious that this sentence made these fighting men think of something.

After all, Zhang Pengyi was the only naval commander here. Although the others knew that inland warfare was different from naval warfare, since His Majesty had said that they wanted to "hurt the red-haired people", they just instinctively thought that they could do it without really thinking about it.

So when Zhang Pengyi, a professional, raised objections in front of His Majesty, they had to use their brains.

This is not to say that people like Fang Guoan only know how to respond. The key point is that after Zhu Cilang won battle after battle with the navy, in the eyes of these land camp generals, their majesty is naturally an expert in naval warfare.

As a result, when talking about fighting with the red-haired man, they knew that they did not understand naval warfare and instinctively stopped thinking.

"My dear minister, what you said makes sense, so this time I will not only rely on the Zheng family fleet, but also transfer my dear minister Shen over there."

"Your Majesty is going to send out those new ships as well?!"

"Ah."

Zhu Cilang said it calmly, but Zhang Pengyi was suddenly shocked.

Since the situation in Jiangnan gradually stabilized, Shen Tingyang rarely appeared in the sight of court officials, but because of the experience on Chongming Island, Zhang Pengyi's relationship with him was extraordinary.

From this, Zhang Pengyi knew that Shen Tingyang, who never interfered in the affairs of the court, had been supervising the construction of new warships, and he also knew the detailed information of those warships.

As far as he knew, those newly built and modified ships could all be considered powerful, but he was a serious naval commander after all, so he naturally knew that the combat power of the navy did not entirely depend on the quality of the warships.

Based on this, when he heard that His Majesty was going to transfer the navy whose soldiers and warships had not yet been fully familiar to join the war, he would of course be extremely surprised.

"Your Majesty, this is absolutely impossible. The soldiers are not familiar with the new warships yet. If they are deployed to fight the red-haired people, they will suffer heavy losses."

Zhang Pengyi's words were obviously spoken on impulse, otherwise why would he word them like that?

But when he looked up in fear, he saw that His Majesty did not show any anger on his face. He just hesitated for a moment and said firmly: "The red-haired people are naturally bullying the weak and afraid of the strong. We cannot show any weakness. Even if we are defeated this time, I will let them know that the Ming Dynasty has the courage to perish together with the enemy!"

(End of this chapter)