Prince Chongzhen

Chapter 376 How Can I Take All the Benefits

January 6

Chongqing
"What? The thief won?!"

As soon as the soldier finished speaking, Zhu Cilang's face showed disbelief. Even though he was holding the letter sent back by Zeng Ying in his hand, he still asked another question in surprise.

The soldier seemed to have anticipated his Majesty's reaction, and as soon as the words fell, he poured out all the information he had worked so hard to find out.

"That night, Zhang Xianzhong first launched a surprise attack with Sun Kewang, and when he attracted the Qing army's attention to the mountain pass, he let Liu Wenxiu and Ai Nengqi's troops take the opportunity to sneak into the mountains on both sides. Later, these two troops took advantage of the Qing soldiers' hardship and suddenly rushed out, easily defeating the two Han armies and forcing them to flee in all directions."

Upon hearing this, Zhu Cilang did not retract the expression on his face in time, but without waiting for the soldiers to say anything, he guessed what would happen next.

The most powerful force in the Qing army was the Eight Banners headquarters, but if the huge number of vassal troops were discarded, its capabilities would mostly be limited to the tactical level, and it would be difficult to have much impact on the general situation in the world.

Zhang Xianzhong must have seen through this, so he used the hard-won opportunity of a night attack to target the surrendered troops who had the weakest combat power and the lowest morale.

"That night, Zhang Xianzhong's entire army went out and almost all the camps of the surrendered Tartars were swept away. The next day, Hauge saw that the situation was hopeless and withdrew his troops directly."

Sure enough, just as General Zhu Cilang thought of this, the soldier's words confirmed his guess.

After all, with a huge number of surrendered troops as servants, the Tartars could sweep across half of China. But without these cannon fodder, even if his Eight Banners headquarters were made of iron, how many nails could they drive?

Thinking of this, Zhu Cilang felt somewhat helpless.

As he had originally expected, Zhang Xianzhong and Hauge would be in a stalemate in Guangyuan for a long time. Even if both sides did not suffer losses in the end, they were exhausted.

At that time, he, the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, will lead his army northward calmly, and it will be no problem to subdue the Dashi Army.

But now.
"Where is your general now?"

"Reporting to Your Majesty, my general is eighty miles north of Qu County."

"Qu County?"

After hearing the soldier's answer, Zhu Cilang turned his gaze to the map on the table. When he saw the location of Qu County clearly, he fell into deep thought again.

This county is located at the junction of various terrains in the Sichuan Plain. To the north, it leaves the Sichuan Plain and enters the Daba Mountains, and to the east, it embarks on the road out of Sichuan through Kuimen.

It is obvious that Zeng Ying's decision to move north along the edge of the mountain range was the result of considering various factors.

This route would neither stimulate the Dashi Army in the Sichuan Plain nor provide immediate support when the battle situation in Guangyuan changes. This can be regarded as a full understanding of Zhu Cilang's strategic thinking on this matter.

But now Zhang Xianzhong has already repelled the Tartars, and his original plan has completely failed.

Under such circumstances, the value of Zeng Ying's team was naturally greatly reduced, and it was a waste of effort.

"Get up first," Zhu Cilang said to the soldier and then turned his gaze to Fan Yiheng: "Mr. Fan, I'm afraid it will be difficult for us to make peace with Zhang Xianzhong."

He understood clearly that if Zhang Xianzhong was desperate, he would naturally let him control him. But now his military strength had not suffered too much damage, not to mention whether Zhang Xianzhong would be willing to surrender under such circumstances. He, Zhu Cilang, did not want to have such an independent force under his rule.

This was not directed at Zhang Xianzhong.

Since he started his rebellion, Zhu Cilang has never pursued how many troops he has or how much territory he controls.

Each time of conquest and acceptance is carried out only when the other party is left with no other options and has no choice but to accept reorganization.

Only in this way can we expand our territory rapidly without laying any hidden dangers.

In the final analysis, someone like Li Zicheng who made his fortune on his own had to kill Luo Rucai and Yuan Shizhong. If he, who had no support at all, was indiscriminate in his treatment of people, he would most likely end up like Hongguang and Longwu.

"Your Majesty, our army is well-trained and well-fed, but the bandits have been consuming too much food in Guangyuan for a long time. If we really start a war, our chances of winning should be more than 70% to 80%."

Although Fan Yiheng was not very clear about his Majesty's thoughts before, he understood it when he heard this sentence.

But as soon as he said this, he saw that his Majesty looked conflicted. Even though he had been with Zhu Cilang for quite some time, he was still somewhat confused about his emperor's thoughts.

Zhu Cilang is naturally not afraid of war.

At this time, Chongqing not only had the troops from central Sichuan under Fan Yiheng's command, but also Li Guo's troops and the two armies of the Suwei Central and Rear.

There is no need to say much about the people in Sichuan. After so many years of battles of all sizes and Zhu Cilang's early intervention, these people have strong combat capabilities, but without the factional disputes that were originally in history. They can be regarded as an elite force.

There is no need to say more about Li Guo's troops and the central guard. One of them was reorganized from Li Zicheng's central army, and the other was Zhu Cilang's personal guard. Naturally, their combat power was extraordinary.

In addition to these, the rear guard led by Mei Chun also rushed over after Yunnan was generally pacified. With these troops, defeating Zhang Xianzhong was naturally a piece of cake.

But he still felt reluctant.

If a war were to break out with Zhang Xianzhong, people like Sun Kewang and Li Dingguo would most likely have no chance of returning to the Ming Dynasty.

Don't be fooled by the fact that he seems to have many generals and civil officials under his command, but the vast majority of these people are from the old system.

If one day he decides to make changes to this old system, who knows if they will become Wu Zhikui?

This is the balancing strategy that Zhu Cilang has been adhering to for a long time.

At the beginning, the garrison troops of Yingtian were used to balance the various troops scattered in the south of the Yangtze River. Later, the reorganized surrendered troops were used to balance the troops from Jiangsu and Zhejiang.

Later, whenever he controlled a place, he would deliberately cultivate local troops in order to prevent the generals of the Ming Dynasty from being concentrated in one place.

By this time, the team he used included not only people from Jiangnan, but also people from Shaanxi.

He even said that once the settlements in Hunan, Jiangxi and Yunnan were stabilized, he would be able to recruit several absolutely loyal new troops from these people.

But this is only in the military. In comparison, his power in the civil service is a bit weak.

Of course, the clerks in the Advisory Council can also be used as civil servants.

But if you want to integrate them into the civil service system, you will not only have to spend a lot of effort, but also spend a lot of time.

Under such circumstances, he naturally became salivating over internal affairs talents like Sun Kewang and Liu Wenxiu who were outside the old system.

just
Forget it. We can’t keep Zhang Xianzhong, this unstable factor, just for a few people.

After thinking for several times, Zhu Cilang finally gave up the plan of conquering the Dashi Army with great reluctance. Afterwards, he discussed with Fan Yiheng and planned to let the soldier go back to pass on the message. However, who would have thought that when he looked at him, he saw that the soldier seemed to have something unfinished to say.

"Do you have anything else to say?"

When His Majesty asked, the soldier immediately knelt on the ground. Seeing this, Zhu Cilang was a little strange, but before he opened his mouth to ask, the soldier's somewhat nervous voice came over.

"Your Majesty, my general also mentioned the situation in northern Sichuan in the letter. Please give me your instructions on how to deal with it."

After he finished speaking, Zhu Cilang turned his gaze to the letter in his hand. Only then did he realize that his attention had been focused on what the soldier said, and he had not yet finished reading Zeng Ying's letter.

"Get up, I was negligent."

After comforting the soldier lying on the ground, Zhu Cilang placed the letter in front of his eyes. As the elegant words came into his eyes one by one, his expression changed again.

Somewhat different from what the soldier said, this letter not only gave a detailed description and speculation about the Guangyuan battle, but the second half also included the reaction of northern Sichuan after the war.

After Hauge retreated northward, Zhang Xianzhong sent a large army to follow along the old road to attack him. Although the results and purpose of the battle are not known in detail, it is likely that he wanted to capture Hanzhong and completely block the road into Sichuan.

This is understandable.

After all, Hauge's retreat was forced by necessity, not because Zhang Xianzhong had caused him any great losses.

Once the Qing army retreated to Hanzhong, they would be able to gather all the defeated troops and form another army of the same size without any problem.

If Dashi and Daming go to war in the south by then, it will be a big trouble for the Qing army whether they take advantage of the situation or reap the benefits.

It would be better to attack all the way and kill as many Qing troops as possible. If possible, it would be best to seize Hanzhong.

In this way, the Qing army would be driven off the table in central Sichuan, and Zhang Xianzhong could focus on dealing with the Ming Dynasty in the south.

However, Zhu Cilang was also a veteran of battles, so even if Zhang Xianzhong had made huge profits, he would not have changed his expression. But at this moment, his expression kept changing, and it was obviously caused by several emotions.

Seeing this situation, even an important court official like Fan Yiheng couldn't help but ask a question in a low voice.

"His Majesty?"

It was not known whether it was because of the reminder or because his thoughts had already turned over in his mind, but after Fan Yiheng finished speaking, Zhu Cilang's expression finally stabilized. However, he did not explain a word to his loyal minister, but instead asked the soldier again.

"Have you found out the situation in Dazhou?"

"Your Majesty, Dazhou is only about 60 to 70 miles away from where we are stationed. I guarantee with my head that all the troops stationed in Dazhou have left."

After hearing the soldier's confident words, Zhu Cilang fell into deep thought again, while Fan Yiheng, who was in the same room, was at a loss.

Since His Majesty mentioned Dazhou in his words, his emotional changes were naturally caused by it.

However, not only is Dazhou far away from the Guangyuan battlefield, the military generals there also seem to be disliked by Zhang Xianzhong.

Under such circumstances, he asked himself if he knew the situation in Sichuan very well, but he really couldn't understand why His Majesty was so concerned about this place.

As time went by, Fan Yiheng became more and more confused. At the same time, Zhu Cilang had stood up and walked to the map.

"Do you know where the Dazhou garrison went?"

"Your Majesty, I have not found any."

"Have you ever come across anyone who looks suspicious?"

"Your Majesty, I have never encountered one."

After a while, Zhu Cilang asked the soldier two more questions. After hearing the soldier's answer, he finally moved his eyes away from the map.

"You have to work hard. Go back now and meet your general. Ask him to find out the movements of Zhang Xianzhong and the troops stationed in Dazhou."

"Order!"

Because of His Majesty's words "You have worked hard", the soldier seemed to have received a great reward. Then he bowed on the ground and retreated, but Zhu Cilang's brows were still tightly furrowed.

"Liu Jinzhong Liu Jinzhong."

Zhu Cilang kept repeating the name and paced around the room as usual.

He had some impression of this name, but at this moment, he was not sure whether this was the person he knew, and he was not sure whether this person would surrender to the Qing court as happened in history.

After all, the development of the situation was already very different from what he knew. Moreover, it would not be surprising if there were one or two people with the same name among the hundreds of thousands of Dashi troops.

With the two factors combined, he was no longer able to grasp in which direction the situation in Sichuan would develop.

According to his original idea, since Zhang Xianzhong had already won, he only needed to prepare for a fight with him.

But then another character emerged.
Oh~~~~ It's really like putting on shoes. It's so uncomfortable to look back and forth.

Thinking of this, Zhu Cilang couldn't help but laugh at himself. Then he stretched out his hand and rubbed his face vigorously. Then he said loudly: "Send an order, order Yang Zhan to lead his troops to meet Zeng Ying, and the rest of the troops will follow me north in two days."

"According to the order."

Faced with this sudden order from his Majesty, although Fan Yiheng was still a little confused, he felt a little calmer.

He had been stationed in Sichuan and Guizhou and had not experienced the previous major wars.

But it was precisely because of this that he obtained detailed information about those wars through various channels after receiving the news that His Majesty had personally entered Sichuan.

After careful consideration, he felt that his Majesty's use of troops was not only extremely decisive, but also unexpected. However, when he followed the Majesty into Sichuan, he found that the situation was not as he had expected.

It would have been fine if he had told Zhang Xianzhong earlier that he would not take advantage of the situation, but in the end he was also planning to reap the benefits while sitting back.

But in the following days, Your Majesty often considered the possibility of provoking the traitor in all his decisions.

Zhu Cilang's behavior not only caused Fan Yiheng, who was unaware of the inside story, to overturn his previous judgment, but also made him realize that he was being a little hesitant.

Fortunately, when the uncertain factor Liu Jinzhong appeared, the situation fell into chaos again, and after thinking about it for several times, he could not find a safe way to have the best of both worlds.

As a result, Zhu Cilang, who had been drooling over Sun Kewang, Li Dingguo and others, had to give up his plan to conquer these people.

From then on, decisiveness and resolution returned to him, and Fan Yiheng also met the Ming Emperor who was famous for his toughness.

"I still lack the courage I had in Yingtian. I always want to take all the benefits."

Looking at Fan Yiheng leaving the room, Zhu Cilang couldn't help but have such thoughts in his mind.

(End of this chapter)