Chapter 6: Siege of Nanjing (Sixth)

"Your Majesty, the urgent matter of Governor Xiong of Huguang." As he was speaking, a anxious voice suddenly came from outside the door.

"Pick it in!"

Zhu Yinglong took apart the urgent documents sent by Xiong Tingbi from Wuchang, and quickly opened them and looked at them. First, he showed a hint of joy, but then his face suddenly became solemn.

"Your Majesty, what happened?" Yuan Chonghuan asked.

"Mu Qiyuan, the Duke of Qian, died of illness half a month ago." Zhu Yinglong put down the letter in his hand and said, "His son Mu Tianbo inherited his title."

"Emperor, the Duke of Qian died of illness, and the court should send someone to pay his respects." Yuan Chonghuan said.

"Yes, the court should do this in terms of etiquette, but..." Zhu Yinglong didn't continue to say this. This news was obtained from Xiong Tingbi, so naturally there would be no falsehood. But now it is the moment when the court and the pseudo-dynasty decide their life and death. The Mu family has been guarding Yunnan for generations, and they don't need to say that they are loyal to the court, but they rarely get involved in political struggles and have always remained neutral. Whoever settles firmly in the end will be loyal to the people. According to the inner thoughts of the Mu family, as long as the river is still from the Zhu family, he will never have a second intention. The Mu family has not reported to the court for such a big deal that Mu Qiyuan died of illness. The implicit meaning here is to wait and see if he is orthodox, he will be loyal to him. The Mu family will still be in the state of Yunnan.

"Your Majesty, since we can learn this news, Wei Zhongxian may also get this news. Maybe the news of Mr. Mu's death was deliberately spread by Mu Tianbo himself. Therefore, the Wei minister suggested that at least send a minister to Yunnan to see it first." Hong Chengchou suggested.

"My memory agrees with Lord Hong's words," said Yuan Chonghuan.

"Do you all agree that I will send a minister to take a look first?" Zhu Yinglong asked in surprise.

Everyone said in unison: "Yes, the emperor."

"Who will go?"

"If the news is fed back to the capital and the cabinet will select candidates, it will definitely take a lot of time to go back and forth. Weichen suggested that you just select a minister nearby." Hong Chengchou said.

"Then Hong Aiqing, tell me, who is the right minister around me now?" Zhu Yinglong asked with his head raised.

Hong Chengchou thought for a while and said, "Formerly the youngest Zhan Shifu, the current prefect of Yangzhou, Jiang Riguang, is agile and knowledgeable person, and is the best candidate to pay homage to Duke Mu this time."

"Well, he's a good candidate." Zhu Yinglong nodded and said, "But who will do this Yangzhou prefect?"

"You can take the position of Yangzhou Prefecture for a while, and after Lord Jiang comes back, he will become his prefect." Hong Chengchou said.

"Okay, that's it." Zhu Yinglong nodded in agreement with Hong Chengchou's suggestion. This matter that was inserted in the middle was temporarily resolved. The next issue was whether to send small troops to land on the eastern coast of Zhejiang.

According to Hong Chengchou's plan, the troops landing in Hangzhou Bay need between 5,000 and 10,000. He is very confident that he can fight this battle, but it is not easy to withdraw 5,000 to 10,000 from the stretched forces. In particular, Hong Chengchou also asked to equip his own troops with at least twenty artillery pieces and two thousand new flintlock rifles to form a mixed army. After the raid was launched, he occupied Hangzhou and held on for half a month to a month, cut off Wei Zhongxian's possible way to escape south, wait for the army to move south, abandon the unrealistic ideas of occupying the entire Zhejiang, and to maximize the possibility of Zheng Zhilong preventing the north.

Thinking of this, making the original adventure landing a arduous task that must be done. As long as Hong Chengchou did not act without permission and conquered Hangzhou, he honestly defended Hangzhou City and did not go anywhere. Yuan Chonghuan made a little concession and compromised, basically agreed with Hong Chengchou's plan, but he expressed some doubts that Hong Chengchou wanted to take down Hangzhou City with just a little force.

Although after a while of bargaining, although it was not possible to achieve what Hong Chengchou wanted most, at least the emperor and the head coach Yuan Chonghuan had nodded to agree to his combat plan for landing in Hangzhou Bay on the eastern coast of Zhejiang. He added many restrictions and his troops were slightly less powerful. However, all this was not difficult for Hong Chengchou. He squeezed out about 7,000 troops from the emperor and the head coach. It was obviously a bit thin, so he began to borrow troops, especially the canal transportation yamen, which lent Hong Chengchou a thousand soldiers. As the navy was formed, there were not so many ships, and Hong Chengchou gathered them all. Just as the weapons and armor that the troops had changed into, they were soldiers. There were more than 3,000 people in this part.

Then there is the capture of strong men. The beggars, gangsters and gangsters in Yangzhou City were arrested into the military camp and put on armor and uniforms. Then someone told him, "You are already a soldier of the Ming Dynasty. Everything you belong to the court. As long as you fight bravely to fight the enemy, you will definitely be promoted and rich. A beautiful wife and maid are no longer a dream. The pain of starvation has become a thing of the past. However, if you take a step back on the battlefield, all of this will be said to you forever!"

No one dares to express dissatisfaction because their commander is a world-famous "Hongshu" and they cherish their lives very much.

In the past three days, Zhu Yinglong heard the most complaints about Hong Chengchou. Many rich salt merchants in Yangzhou City were also taken to the military camp by Hong Chengchou. The reasons were different. Some were because they were jealous of others, some because their behavior violated the national law, and some caused a little Shanghai to the common people. In short, they all made mistakes. Hong Chengchou's conditions were also very fair. One young man replaced ten servants or two guards in the hospital (those who passed the assessment were counted). In this way, by pulling men in three days, Hong Chengchou was able to achieve a high level of two or three thousand soldiers. The quality of the soldiers was not bad. The difference was just regular military training. He was confident that after one or two months of practical training, these people would become the most elite soldiers.

Based on Zhu Yinglong's understanding of Hong Chengchou, he was either a person who killed innocent people or was a little cruel. Therefore, he turned a blind eye to Hong Chengchou's behavior in the past three days. As long as he did not do too much, it caused public grievances and completely acknowledged his behavior. Besides, Hong Chengchou's move was real and beautiful, and he beat the playboys one by one. The market in Yangzhou was a clean-up, and the people even missed Hong Chengchou's life as a prefect in Yangzhou.

Another point is that these ideas do not come entirely from Hong Chengchou's head. Song Xiance also played a very disgraceful role in it. A cynical person meets a cruel and ruthless person. Is this combination right or wrong?

Just like this, Hong Chengchou had enough force to complete 15,000 troops, of course, less than 10,000 of them had combat power. The remaining 5,000 can only be regarded as a foil at present, but what will happen in the future depends on Hong Chengchou's ability.
Chapter completed!